"She's fifteen!?" He raised his sword.

Zack laughed and lazily parried the equally lazy swing of the Masamune. "She's cute though, right? Come on."

"I'm a damn cradle-robber." He muttered as he made a low swing.

"You're still nineteen." Zack parried that aswell, and gave a lazy swing of his own.

"I'm turning twenty in three months." Sephiroth parried Zack's blow before relaxing his sword. "Ugh, I feel so filthy."

"Why? What happened when I passed out?"

"Nothing!" He answered with a vicious swing aimed at Zack's neck. Zack parried it, aswell as two more he found himself on the recieving end of.

Zack grinned broadly. "Did you kiss her?"

"What?? Why would that be any of your-"

"Hey, I did hook you up, right? So did you kiss her?"

"No." He scowled. "You know, I never asked you to 'hook us up' in the first place."

"So it's an 'us' now, is it?"

"Will you shut up and listen for one second?? I went out with you two purely for lack of anything better to do. We talked, we ate, and we dragged your sorry drunk ass home. Nothing became of it, is that clear?"

"Hey, I'm cool with that. Whether or not you consider it a date, though, I want details."

"Why??"

"Hey, just because you're doomed to be a loner doesn't mean I have to be. What is her favourite thing to recieve as a gift?"

"Damnit Zack, we didn't talk about stupid stuff like that."

"Then what did you talk about?"

"..."

"Well?"

"Zack, I have a mission for the both of us."

"What?? Now? Wait, are you trying to get rid of me again, like that time you got your hand stuck in-"

"No. Something I didn't think about before. Last night, when we first walked into the bar, she noticed a couple of Turks right away, I saw her look over at them. She's a fan of Wutaian foods because of a 'friend'. She used to go to private school until recently, which is why she was able to dine with us, yet she lives below the plate in the slums. And she was orphanned at a young age for some unspecified reason."

"So the objective is to find out who her friend is?"

"No, that I have a pretty good idea of. What bothers me is why she's in hiding. Or feels she has to hide."

"Objective: Discover the Flower Girl's big dirty secret. Gotcha."

This was perfect. The Ancient had discovered boys. Most of all, his golden boy, his secret pride and glory all these years. This never would've happened if he hadn't torn him from that meddling woman. Everything was going according to plan, twenty years in the making. And here, he passed the boy in the hallway.

"... Bonus points if you get her pregnant."

"There is something fundamentally wrong with you, little man." Sephiroth glared down at the wretched man in white.

Hojo stalked off, hands clasped behind his back, cackling like the looney everyone in the Shinra building knew he was.

The pen was angrily thrown across the table. It would've hit my friend in the forehead had he not reflexively caught it.

"When am I ever going to need to know the length of the side of a triangle by the angles closest to it!?"

"Patience, Aeris. This is part of the curriculum, you know." He set down the pen and slid it back across the table to me. "And the reasoning for it is so that if you only know the length of the one side-"

"Why not just take the length of the side I do know and divide it into simpler units, then use a ratio to find the missing sides?"

That made him pause for a moment. "Well, I suppose that could work in theory..."

"See? I know stuff!" I huffed proudly.

"... But the easiest way to do it accurately is by using sine, cosine and tangent."

"Easy my skinny little-"

The doorbell rang. I quietly yet hurriedly closed the textbook and gathered the papers I was working on. He grabbed our teacups and plunked them into the bubble-filled sink, while moving his chair to rest against the wall. Elmyra scurried down from upstairs while we scurried up two steps at a time, and I laid on my stomach at the top of the stairs, out of sight but clearly able to hear. The doorbell rang again.

"Just one minute! I'm doing dishes and need to dry my hands!" Elmyra called, taking bubbles from the sink and wetting her apron with them, then picked up a drying cloth to carry to the door. She opened it with a "Yes, can I help you?"

"Hi ma'am, is Aeris home?"

"I think you have the wrong house, there's no one by that name-"

"I mean no disrespect, but I'm pretty sure I have the right place."

There was a confused pause, then; "Oh! You're one of the boys that was here last night! Come inside." I heard a low 'Thank you' from him, his heavy footsteps entering my home, and the door closing behind him. "Aeris honey, come on down. It's your friend Zack!"

"Zack, from Soldier?" My partner in crime inquired in a low voice. I smiled and nodded my response before rising to my feet and walking downstairs, signalling him to stay there.

"I'm coming!" I said cheerfully as ever. After all, it wasn't like I was harbouring a fugitive or anything. Upon seeing him I smilled broadly. "Hi Zack. How are you feeling today?"

"Still a little dazed, but overall okay."

"That's good. Here, have a seat." I went over and pulled the chair away from the wall and set it down at the table for him. I took a seat across from him. "So, what brings you here today?"

"Well, first off, I was wondering if you'd come to dinner with us again?"

"I'd love to, I had a great time."

"I hope I wasn't too bad, I'm usually much better when under the influence."

"Hmm. About that," I grinned slyly. "Next time, I will make you eat an entire loaf of bread before we walk in the place." I waved a finger at him.

"Oh come on! Was I really that terrible?"

"Well, I wouldn't say terrible, but Sephiroth certainly had a lot to say about you while you 'under the influence'. Did you really break his nose?"

"He'll never let me live that down. Say, what did you two chatter on about last night? Heard you got home at two in the morning."

"Oh, just stuff. He said he hated being treated like a celebrity, so I suggested we switch clothes-"

"Wait wait wait, you said something kinky like that and I missed it?"

I turned red and buried my face in my arms, giggling like a madwoman. After a moment I looked up and tried to justify myself. "Nonononono, I just meant-"

He laughed. "So, about staying out until two in the morning..." I grinned and looked away. "What? What was that?"

"Oh, nothing!"

"No seriously, what happened?"

"He'll kill me if I ever told you."

"Now I have to know."

"Well... About when you passed out, he switched spots to sit next to me, for fear of you smashing his face on the table again. After a short while I felt myself getting tired, so I leaned back and he put his arm around me. We kinda snoozed like that for a while."

It was Zack's turn to giggle insanely. "And he claims to have not a single romantic bone in his body, no wonder he wouldn't tell me. So... Did he kiss you?"

Elmyra dropped a metal teapot on the floor at this, making a loud clang. I blushed and answered honestly: "Nope. We left, threw you into a pool, and went our seperate ways." I could hear a small sigh of relief from the direction of the kitchen sink.

"Mmhmm. I kinda figured he wouldn't have the guts to do it." I blushed profusely. "Say, would you be on for Friday? There's some kinda Shinra company thing going on, and we're each allowed one guest..."

I felt myself getting tense at the mention of Shinra, but I think I masked it well. I know Elmyra would have words with me later. "Uhm, I'll need to think about it. What is it exactly?"

"A dance on the sixty-first floor."

"They're letting civilians past floor sixty now?" I asked incredulous, then I froze as I realized what I had just said. "I mean... I heard that it's rare for non-employees to get past even the first floor, let alone all the way up to sixty-one." It was a pathetic save, but I'm sure he bought it. I think.

"Yeah, it's some supposed morale-boosting thing. I heard talk about lots of events for the staff like this to be coming up in the next few months. So, will you come?"

"I said I'll consider it. Why don't you or Sephy stop by tomorrow afternoon and I'll give you my answer then? If my answer is yes, that gives me time to get a dress together."

"Sounds like a plan. We'll catch you then."

He rose from his seat and threw me a dashing smile before he waved and left my house. I got up after he left and watched him walk down the path through the window until I couldn't see him anymore. I sighed, and snapped my fingers three times, signalling Tseng that it was safe and his coworker was gone. He slowly came downstairs, his face with highlights of concern and distress in his eternally-solemn face that only a master of Tseng-ism's could pick out.

"I wasn't informed of this party," he stated. "And it seems rather unlike any of the higher-ups to authorise this sort of thing."

"So... Do you think I should go?" I asked sweetly.

"Now wait a minute young lady..." Elmyra attempted to intervene.

"Yes, I know it sounds dangerous..."

"It sounds like a trap." Tseng interrupted sharply.

"... What do you think I should say?"

"For now, say no. I'm going to look into this tonight, find out what's really going on. I don't like this at all. I'll try to get an answer for you tomorrow morning." He bowed and made his way out of my house, taking a sidepath in the back that would lead him away from any prying eyes around.

Elmyra stood and stared at me, arms crossed. "You know, I could technically ground you for the evening."

"But would I listen?"

She hesitated, then sighed, and I gave her a big hug. "I just can't forget how I first came to have you here, sweetie, and I can't in good conscience see you walk back into the very building your mother..."

I rubbed her back. "I know, I know. There's a lot of risk involved. Maybe Tseng can go to the dance and make sure nothing happens to me, plus I'll have two Soldiers catering to me. Please trust me when I say that I am considering everything and I won't go if there's too much risk."