My chapters are seeming to get progressively longer. Oh well, I know there won't be any complaints about it :) Hope you enjoy this one, especially the ending half of it.

Thanks to Baby Capri 1990 for proofing this. As always :D And also thanks to her for the idea at the end. Still makes me laugh just thinking about it.


The Simple Life

Chapter 10

The steady beeping of a car alarm on the main road succeeded in pulling me from my slumber. I groaned softly before snuggling closer to the warm body that was occupying the bed beside me. A whirlwind of events flooded my mind. Fang and I saw the sun start to come up before we finally passed out from pure exhaustion. My eyes finally opened to look at her. Her eyes were still closed, her mouth parted just slightly as she breathed steadily. She was still asleep.

Blindly I reached for the blanket that had us both wrapped together and pulled it up to our necks. I just wanted to go back to sleep. I dared to look at the clock on the wall. It was 10 A.M. My hand came to rest on her toned stomach, my head on her shoulder and my eyes fell shut again.

"Sunshine?" The words barely broke into my subconscious. I shifted just a bit and clung closer to Fang. "Claire, wake up, it's past noon."

My eyes finally forced themselves open and I looked up at her. "Morning," was all I was able to mumble. My body ached in places it hadn't in months. Last night's romp was wonderful.

"How'd you sleep?" Her arm tightened possessively around my shoulders."

I shifted to look up at her. "Woke up to a car alarm," I sat up to look out the window, then up at the clock, "guess I fell back to sleep."

"We need to talk, love." She stood up and dressed herself in just her blue robe. Then grabbed my white one to hand it to me.

I hesitated before sitting up and taking it, "about what?"

She took a deep breath. "I did a lot of thinking about what we talked about… well… fought about." I opened my mouth to speak but she pressed her finger to my lips. "Let me finish sunshine," she let out a sigh, "I made a few phone calls while you were at Serah's. I've got an appointment tomorrow to look at a few store fronts downtown."

"Store fronts?" Alright, now I was confused. I just wanted her to fight in a more controlled environment, not open up some kind of retail store.

Another sigh, "I quit the bar." Again she silenced me. "The store fronts are for setting up my own self defense classes. I had a lot of time to think while you were gone. I have it all planned out," she pulled a notepad out of the side table's drawer and handed it to me. While I skimmed it, she continued talking, "basically, it would be Monday thru Friday, evening courses, since a lot of people work during the day. Saturday would be early afternoon. Each class would run 100 gil per person and be two hours long-"

"Different levels too?" I thumbed through the six pages full of randomly scribbled notes.

"Yea…and the Thursday course will be women only, if that's alright with you?" She grinned at me. A look I couldn't return.

I started to feel bad. The tone in her voice told me that she wasn't a hundred percent sure of the change of career paths. It would be safer, I wouldn't have to worry about losing her in some bar fight. The only thing I'd have to worry about though, would be a few stray punches, or a student getting a little carried away on her. "Is it what you really want to do?"

"What?" She was taken aback by my words.

"You heard me Fang…" I handed the notepad back to her, "is this what you want?"

Her tone softened. "It is." She sat down beside me. "Claire, I told you I did a lot of thinking. I barely slept because my mind was running rampant." Her fingers turned my head to look at her. "I'll do anything that'll make you happy."

I nodded and looked away from her yet again. "What time are you suppose to be downtown to look at the store fronts?"

"Two."

"Do you mind if I come along?"

"Of course you can, I wouldn't want to go without you anyway." She stood and grabbed my hand. "Let's go shower and get ready."

"This last one here is the most open of any you've seen today."

The agent stayed near the door as we both walked through the forty by forty open room. It was, as she said, the most open layout thus far. It was most likely a small retail store before. There were a few left over book shelves along the wall, some damaged pale blue carpet. It would definitely need some work, but nothing that her and I couldn't handle. The carpet could be replaced, most likely with hard wood flooring, the walls repainted. The bookshelves could even be kept and moved into the small office in the back of the building.

"I like it." She spoke the words that were in my mind. "It's the best one yet. It would be perfect." I followed her into the office where there was an old metal desk left over by the last owners. "It's just right, what do you think love?"

"It's going to take some work, but the price is right. We could easily afford the payments on the loan…" I smiled at her. "I think you said it best, it's perfect."

I jumped when the agent cleared her voice from the doorway. "So, it sounds like this one is it then?" We both turned to look at her, she was smiling just as much as we were.

"Yes, it is."

"If you'd like, I can put in an offer to the previous owners today. The sooner the offer is placed the better the chances are of them selling. I've had a few other people interested in this building as well, but no other offers have been placed yet."

Fang looked at me for permission. It was a silent request which I gave her my response with a nod. I stayed behind in the room to examine it as she walked out with the agent to propose an offer. The paint in the office was chipping near the base boards and molding, but that was nothing that had to be fixed before the grand opening. The only people that would see the office would be Fang and I. Opening a business together. It was overwhelming yet exciting all at the same time. Neither of us had any experience, but, how hard could it be? We could always enlist Sazh's help. He was good with that sort of thing.

"Ready to go lovely?" I smiled when she popped her head back into the office.

"Yes, I am." My hand instinctively reached for hers as we left the building and began walking down the street. It was obvious that neither of us were in a rush to get back to the house. Simply enjoying her company was all I needed now. "So what did she say?"

"She'll call me when she gets a response from the owner. There's always a possibility of a counter-offer. But we'll cross that bridge if we come to it." She pulled her hand away from mine and slid it possessively around my waist when she noticed a few younger men looking at me.

Changing the subject was always something I seemed to be good at. It's what I did when I felt I had nothing else to say on the current topic. "Do you want to stop somewhere for dinner?" I looked up at the clock in the center of the town's square, it was already nearing five and neither of us had eaten yet.

"That," she stopped and turned me to face her, "sounds wonderful." A sly grin began to play on her lips as she looked over my right shoulder. "But first…" her voice trailed off, her eyes lighting up some at something that was behind me.

I turned to look at what she was looking at. It was another store front, this one was occupied though. The windows were blacked out, on the door was written Adults Only. My eyes grew wide. "No!"

"But why not sunshine?" She started to drag me toward the door.

"Because we don't need anything like…that…" The temperature started rising to my cheeks.

She sensed my awkwardness and fed on it. As usual. "But just think of how amazing our sex life will be."

"It already is amazing." I stood my ground.

"But," she emphasized the word, the grin never leaving her face, "it'll be even more amazing. Don't you want to experiment-"

"-No."

"Please?"

"No." I pulled my hand away from her and folded my arms over my chest.

"For me?"

That damn look. That damn tone of voice. The one that made my walls melt away to nothing every time I heard it and saw it. "Fine." I threw my hands up in defeat. What could it hurt? Right? The color never left my cheeks, in fact, it was traveling to my neck and across my chest now. I looked around before following her in. Please don't let there be anybody I know anywhere near here.

"See sunshine, not so bad." She disappeared down an aisle of movies, I could see she was heading right for the lesbian section. If she thinks, for one minute, that I'm going to watch any of that trash, she's out of her mind.

I took a deep, shaky breath before beginning to explore on my own. Eventually I ended up in a section full of packaged multi-colored penis'. I couldn't help but think to myself, if I wanted to feel one, I'd have slept with a guy. There was nothing wrong with the sex life Fang and I currently had. Unless… oh god, the realization hit me like a sack of bricks. Fang was bored with it. I turned the corner to try and find her amidst all the movies that were covered with naked men and women in various sexual positions.

"Fang?" I rested my hand on her shoulder, the blush returning to my cheeks when I saw what she was holding in her hands. It was a movie, on the cover were two women, one was wearing a fake penis, strapped around her waist. "What in the world is that?"

She laughed softly. "Claire, it's called a movie. And I'm going to buy it."

"Why?" I felt like such an idiot with all of the questions.

"Why are you so shy?" She read me like a book. She always did.

Now or never. "Is our sex life boring to you?"

Again she laughed. She cupped my cheek and placed her lips gently against mine. "Not one bit."

"Then why…" I stumbled over my own words, "why all of this?" I motioned randomly to the movies that surrounded us.

"Not just the movies love. There's somethin' else I want to look for." She grabbed my hand and led us back to the section I was just in.

"Lightning?" I froze, every muscle in my body screamed in protest at the inability to move. "I never thought I'd ever see you in a place like this."

Serah. And… where there was Serah. I held my breath as I turned to look. Right behind her was Snow. Could this day get any worse? "Not my decision."

"Oh grow up sunshine. Everybody's here for the same thing." She waved at my sister and brother-in-law before tugging on my hand again.

Dare I turn to see what she just picked up? A heavy sigh later, I glanced at her to see a package in her hand. It was dark navy blue, with black elastic straps. It looked very similar to what the woman was wearing on the cover of the movie in Fang's other hand.

Won't someone shoot me?

"Can we go yet?"

"Anxious to get home and try it out?" She smirked, stealing another kiss before heading for the counter.

I stood there for a moment just staring at her. Off to the side I could see my sister and Snow looking at movies. They were off in their own little world. A world that I would now be imagining for the next few days. A world that I wanted nothing to do with. I shuttered at the thought.

"So, what did you mention earlier about grabbing some dinner?" Her words pulled me from my thoughts. In her hand was a solid black bag. I can't believe she just brought me in here, spent I don't know how much gil on things that I'm too embarrassed to even talk about, that I'm too scared to even think about using.

Fuck my life.

Don't forget to review people. I know you really really want to xD

Poor Lightning, Fang's so mean to her. And the "fuck my life" is something that I hear all the time from Baby Capri 1990...it was suiting for the chapter's end.