(Disclaimer (the last one for this story): My co-author and I don't own anything but our OCs.)

(A/N: I apologize for the long wait for this edited chapter, school has been demanding just about all of my time as of late and it appears that it will continue to do so. And since this chapter is shorter than usual I'll be posting another chapter today.)

Dear Journal

A Final Fantasy VII Fanfiction

Chapter 4

Kasumi

Later that evening as Kasumi entered the apartment she called home; she couldn't help but feel guilty like she always did after hanging out with her friends... Miki and Yuri were still in the dark and were, as expected, worried due to Kasumi's refusal to talk about work because of the large amount of information that could get a lot of people killed if she told anyone thus she could tell no one, not her friends, not her family, not a soul – dead or alive… If she were to write the information in her journal, she would have to burn the entries of the journal that received it; the knowledge would have to go with her to the grave, there was nothing else she could do. But she didn't know when she would meet her end and that was both a blessing and a curse…

"What am I going to do? I can't keep these secrets forever, but I can't share them either." Kasumi was leaning against the now closed front door as she worried aloud – something she did rarely. Slowly, she lifted her head when she heard her cat, Naminé, mewing; Kasumi figured Naminé was hungry.

Naminé was a small cat, her shoulders being level with Kasumi's shins; Naminé was a tan cat with darker fur along her back and down the top of her long, bushy tail and lighter fur running on the underside of her body. Naminé had lovely, chocolate colored eyes and a dark pink nose.

Kasumi looked around her home for a brief moment, taking in the carpet with its many holes; the mismatch chairs, table, and couch; the off-white walls with the peeling paint; and the small TV in the corner of living/dining room. She could buy herself a house, a nice one with two or three stories and many rooms, but why should she? If she did that then everyone who knew her, would be asking where she got the money; she didn't want that, but she was sick of this place… seven years or so in a place they never really liked could do that to a person, make them wish for something different.

Maybe I should upgrade this place to something better.

Kasumi sighed and headed to the very simple and plain kitchen with Naminé complaining the entire way. After Naminé had been fed, Kasumi headed to her room and looked at her surroundings from the doorway. The walls of this room were no different from the walls of the rest of the apartment, off-white and peeling. The flooring was also the same, off-white carpet and riddled with holes. The only thing different about this room was the fact that the furniture actually matched. Kasumi sighed again as she moved to the desk and started up her new laptop. Kasumi turned it on and as soon as she could she connected to the internet and her work email; there were three new emails, each from a different person. Kasumi was used to this; the first email was from her former employer, Mr. Joshua K. Beastly. Mr. Beastly was hoping to get Kasumi to continue being his employee, but Kasumi was sick of working for the creep and wanted nothing else to do with the man; her reply was her politely telling him that she wouldn't be working for him, but she really wanted to just tell him to fuck off even though she had been taught at a very young age to never do so in a business letter, email, report, or anything else business related… it wouldn't do her any good if Mr. Beastly was to tell other possible employers that she was so un-professional because of one email she sent.

Sighing, she turned her attention to the other two emails to find that they were from some potential employers looking for some to fill the role of bodyguard. Kasumi frowned, slightly disappointed that there were only two emails; she could remember some nights when she would look at her email and find five or six times the number of emails from possible employers. After replying to both that she would be willing to meet with them, she signed out of her work email and signed into her everyday email. A few hours later, Kasumi looked at the clock and sighed; it was almost midnight and she needed to get some sleep, she didn't need to start pulling anymore all-nighters again for a while.