Articles, chap 2

During the lunch period the group headed towards the Journalist table -- strange how everyone had specific places, but then… that's what happened, Roxas supposed. That's just what happened when you went to a school. There were places you liked, and others you didn't… of course, not all had a choice either….

"Aerith." Cloud greeted, nodding, at the same moment Sora grinned and waved as he said (quite loudly…), "Hi Nammie!" Sora giggled as his boyfriend stared at him, then grinned broadly at the blonde Artist. He had friends in all circles… made things easy when the group needed something.

"Cloud, Sora--Roxas, everyone. Can we help you?" Aerith asked softly as she stood, eyes on Cloud--since he was the one that spoke first, of course. "Yes, actually. You can." Well then; it was a blonde that spoke--just not the one she was looking at. She looked to Roxas and smiled again, although she looked somewhat surprised. She waited patiently.

He did hate to disappoint, after all. "The paper. The front page. I'd like to know who wrote it." He said. Aerith was surprised by his bluntness; generally he preferred to dance around the subject, finding amusement in the way you tried to figure out what on earth he was trying to tell you. She looked puzzled, turning to look at the table. "Why would you be interested in the paper?"

Aerith frowned, taking up their edition. Her eyes widened, before she turned to Tifa. "Well, at least now I know what you were talking about. Sorry boys. Only one who knows who wrote THIS is Tifa; she's in charge of the layout of things."

Tifa grinned, looking at Roxas. "Why, Roxas! I didn't know you cared about what was being written about you! Sorry boy. It'll take some serious bribing if you wanna know." After all… Why should she tell anything worthwhile?

"Court time for a week." Cloud promptly offered, watching as Tifa slowly turned to him, eyes open, mouth gaping. "Court time for a week?! You can do that?" Tifa stammered. When Cloud simply nodded, she opened her mouth to shout yes, before she hesitated. "Well… I mean, this person has a lot of trust in me… I wouldn't want to--" She was cut off as Roxas spoke up. "Court time for a week, and an extra free class to your schedule."

Opening and closing her mouth, she stared at the two blondes, before suddenly grinning. "Fine. But no names. And the conditions go into effect immediately." "Done." Roxas smiled, taking out a notebook. "Now then. Let's begin, shall we?" He sat at the table, taking out a pen as well, before looking at Tifa.

"Gender?" "Female."

"Hair?" "Brown."

"Eyes?" "Ditto."

"Height?" "Uhm…I think maybe around 5'5, 5'7... I don't really know. I think she might be a bit shorter then me."

"Initials?" "Sorry Roxas. No-can-do. Too easy to match up."

"So. A brown-eyed brunette with an average height. That narrows it down some." He summarized, looking down at his notes, and adding something. "And she has a huge sweet tooth." Tifa added, grinning. "Not even Sora's can add up to it." Here everyone stared at her, then the little brunette, before looking back to Tifa again. "Woah. Is she like him, or just obese?" Axel finally spoke, smirking at the annoyed look on Tifa's face. "Neither." She retorted, glaring at the redhead. "I said she has a huge sweet tooth. Doesn't mean she actually EATS the stuff. Wishes she could, but she tries to hold back, because she wants to be more healthy. But she caves pretty fast." The busty brunette added, grinning.

Aerith had been watching the group, and her eyes flew to Leon, seeing him jerk slightly as he looked at Tifa sharply. "Leon? Do you know something?"

Leon looked at her, then Tifa, before finally speaking. "If it is who I think it is, she's got more nerve then I thought."

Tifa looked at him, blinking. "Wait a minute. Does she really like swords--" "--And knives--" "--and magic--" "--and books." Tifa and Leon listened to each other, realizing how they sounded, before they both nodded.

"My my my. Is that a smile I see?" Yuffie quipped, grinning at Leon, who indeed was sporting the tiniest of smiles. "She has got to be kidding. I can't believe she'd do something like that…" Leon muttered, shaking his head. He looked at the group, and considered them, frowning. "Riku might know her, but I don't think he actually KNOWS her. Sora has certainly seen her a lot, but I don't think they're friends."

"She certainly doesn't know the others--or, correction, they don't know her." Tifa added, beaming at Leon. She'd never heard him say so much!

"She's crazy if she thinks she can pull this off." Leon grumbled. Tifa giggled. "Ah, so you fell too eh? She seems to be like Sora. No matter how much you hate her, you just can't help but love her." She commented, grinning. "Although she's practically the opposite of him personality-wise." She added doubtfully, eyeing the small brunette.

Leon eyed Sora, before frowning thoughtfully. "I wouldn't have said so." He contradicted. Tifa blinked. "Are you kidding? He's loud, she's quiet; he gorges himself, she tries to limit herself; she likes violence, he doesn't--video games not counting here; she's shy, he's not. Should I continue? I mean really, they're total opposites!" She exclaimed, looking at Leon in puzzlement.

Leon shook his head. "She is not. She hates violence. She eats all the time. She isn't shy at all. And she can be as anyone." He contradicted calmly, frowning faintly. "She's just like Sora. Loud. Outgoing. Prone to laughter. Oblivious and dense." His last bit had the group laughing, although Sora cried, "Hey!" in his own defense.

…Pathetic.

Tifa blinked slowly, imitating the person they were talking about. "You don't know her very well." "I know her better then you think." Leon countered, practically growling.

Tifa smiled smugly, crossing her arms over her chest. "Well then. I've known her for two years. What about you?"

There was silence before Leon finally met her gaze, calmly replying, "At least four times that, if not longer."

Yuffie was now loudly laughing--once she figured it out--although everyone else was staring blankly at him. He looked at them slowly, looking irritated. He looked at Cloud, silently demanding to tell him why he was suddenly being stared at.

"Uh… Leon…. We didn't know you were friends with ANYONE that long." The blonde finally explained, grinning as he saw the brunette twitch. "I'm not that anti-social…" Leon grumbled, looking utterly surprised when everyone immediately chimed, "Yes you are." The look on his face had the majority laughing.

"…Maybe we aren't talking about the same person." Tifa finally said, frowning doubtfully. Leon shook his head, looking at Riku quietly. "Riku. How dense and oblivious is Sora… really?" He suddenly stood, heading out of the cafeteria. The bell rang, and there was suddenly a mad scramble to get out of there.

Riku watched him go, before looking down at his boyfriend, a look of understanding dawning. "I get it…. Right. My house, after school." He told the others as they moved out to the hallway, briefly kissing his boyfriend before heading to his class, not bothering to check if anyone couldn't make it. They all knew they only had homework, anyway.

Authors Note:

Hey! Sorry if you at all got confused, or if Leon seemed OOC, lol. The point I'm trying to make is that he really is comfortable around this girl, or talking about her. You know Leon/Squall. He loosens up on subjects he knows a lot about… just not much. So he's still OOC, which is always too too fun.

Also, Court Time is something I'm coming up with here--this isn't a no-magic fic; it's got stuff in it. And Tifa uses martial arts; Court Time is the time you get during a certain time during only special classes, and only if you qualify for it. It's a highly specialized gym that's part indoors, part outdoors; used mainly by fighters. Magic-uses almost never use it, since they've got something else for that. It's unpredictable in what it will throw at you. And usually, you only get it as an award for something VERY well done, and only for a day, max. So having a whole week is like, "WOAH!"--something the majority of the fighters work really hard to get time for.