Eight

"Esmeralda, where's your sister?" I asked her again.

"I'm not entirely sure." she finally spoke up. "Oh!"

"What?"

"She's at the beach. Ha. She goes every once in a while. Sorry, I forgot about that."

I sighed in relief, knowing that Alina was okay. "Geez, Esmeralda!"

"Sorry." she laughed.

"Is everything okay?" I asked. She wasn't acting like herself.

"Maybe... maybe not..." she spoke softly.

"You need to talk about it?"

"This... scary looking guy came in, silver hair..."

"Sephiroth." I said. She didn't hear me. She was staring off in another direction.

"He was wearing an angry expression, but he looked somewhat... gentle."

"Sephiroth." I muttered again.

"He said he was new here."

I waited.

"He's with my sister." she coked out, jolting her head my way. Her eyes widened.

"WHAT?!"

I ran out. "I'm bringing her back. Wait here Esmeralda. Come on Cloud."

We drove to the beach. I was furious, I couldn't believe he was here, with Alina for that matter. This was her spot. Why did she bring him here?

"Zack, why is he with her? Isn't she afraid of him?" Cloud asked.

"Probably not. She's not afraid of anything. Although, I can't figure out why she's with him at her favorite place. It doesn't make sense." I was hoping that this was another one of Esmeralda's dirty tricks. If it was, she definitely caught my attention.

I parked the car and turned it off. I saw Alina standing beside Sephiroth, only inches away from the front of the car. It was like they were expecting me. Cloud and I stepped out of the car.

"Sephiroth, what are you doing here?" Cloud asked darkly.

"I came to see you both." he smiled.

I looked at Alina. She was wearing light colored jeans- at least 4 holes in them and a black sweater. She looked great, but her face said otherwise. She was wide-eyed and it looked like she would start crying any second now. "You're back." she smiled, but looked uncertain to wether she should or not.

"Alina, what the hell are you doing here? With him?!" I asked her. I walked forward.

"He came to the shop and asked if I knew you. He said that If I went somewhere with him, you'd be there. And of course, I lead him here because I knew you'd be able to figure out where I was." A tear rolled down her flushed cheek. "And I just... really, really missed you."

My eyes widened as I watched her fall to her knees. Sephiroth put a hand on her shoulder. "I'm so sorry Zack. I'm so selfish." Alina cried out.

"No you're not. You saved me the trouble of hunting those two down." Sephiroth chuckled.

Alina slapped him hand away. She must've figured out that he was bad news. She got to her feet. "Don't touch me."

Cloud stepped forward, a few inches in front of me. "What do you want Sephiroth?"

"I want you and Zack to work for me."

"Work for you?" I snapped. "Why would we want to do that?"

"I need some strong partners is all." he looked at me, smiling.

"Sorry, we're not interested." Cloud said, putting a hand on his sword.

"Calm down Cloud. I didn't come here to fight." Sephiroth threw up a hand and unleashing a big black wing, disappeared.

"Damn." Cloud mumbled.

"Alina, are you okay?" I asked.

She looked up at me with her big, beautiful green eyes. "Yes. But I guess it would be a bad idea to say 'welcome back' at this point.

"No it wouldn't." I smiled.

"Well then, welcome back, Zack the puppy." she smiled, throwing her hand up.

I ignored the last part. Throwing my arms around her in a hug. I said "it's good to be back. Thanks."

"So, this is Cloud. Cloud, this is Alina." I introduced them to each other.

"Hello. It's nice to meet you Cloud." Alina bowed.

Cloud nodded his head in response. "Nice to meet you too."

Cloud was quiet, just like Vincent. Alina sighed. She probably thought that too.

"What's the matter Alina?" I asked her.

"They're both so quiet. Vincent and Cloud." she leaned to whisper in my ear.

I laughed. "Can I talk to you when we get to the shop?"

She nodded.

Back at Ceres' (Alina's POV)

"Alina!" Esmeralda ran up to me right after we walked through the door.

"Hey. Esmeralda, look who's back." I smiled, then pointed at Zack.

"I know are you okay?" she asked me.

"Yes. I'm fine. I'm sorry for making you worry." I said. "So, Zack, lets go. You wanted to talk right?"

Zack I left Esmeralda and Cloud inside so we could talk. It was starting to get dark now.

"Alina, are you sure you're okay? Sephiroth didn't hurt you did he?" Zack asked me. His face had worry written all over it.

"I'm fine. I promise. He didn't do anything. But... I want to say sorry for putting you and Cloud through that. I missed having you around." I smiled at him.

"I missed being here. No matter what he says, don't even believe Sephiroth." Zack said.

I nodded. Zack looked at me, his bright blue eyes shining. He smiled. I couldn't stand it any longer. I threw my arms around him to give him a hug and he put his arms around me in response. "Thank you." then, the tears started pouring.

"Alina, why are you crying?" he asked softly.

I didn't want to ruin this, I didn't want to look up at him. "Just... let me hug you a little longer, please?" I begged.

"Sure." he tightened his hold on me.

I close my eyes. I wanted to keep this moment forever. I grunted and tightened my closed eyes. Zack moved back.

"Alina?"

I threw my eyes open, and grabbed him, pulling him back against me. I shook my head, as if to tell him. "No."

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"I'm trying to concentrate."

"Concentrate? On what?"

I squeezed him. "This."

He laughed, and pushed me away gently. "This us our first intense hug."

I looked at him. "Yes."

He turned around, and looked over his shoulder. "There will be more, you know. But... it may have turned out to be more than a hug if you kept squeezing me." he winked.

"Zack." my face felt hot. I was blushing.

"Hey. You coming? Grunty." he said, then walked back inside.

I smiled and followed him.

"This is Cloud. Cloud this is Esmeralda." Zack introducing my sister to the blonde stranger.

"Hello." she said.

"Hi." Cloud replied. I could tell that Esmeralda wouldn't talk to him after that. She didn't like quiet people. I laughed.

Cloud looked at me in confusion. "What's funny?' he asked me.

"Nothing. Hope you find yourself comfortable here. Make yourself at home. Okay?" I smiled.

He nodded.

I wanted to go back outside, so I stepped out. I couldn't stop smiling. I was glad to see Zack again, back in the shop. Although, I was stupid for letting myself follow Sephiroth. He now knows where to find Zack and Cloud. My head dropped.

I leaned back against the wall, and slid to the ground. I crossed my arms and placed them on top of my knees, I hunched over, grabbing the sides of my legs and placed my head to the side, laying on my knees caps. I felt as if I couldn't sit still. Then, the door came open. I looked up without lifting my head. It was Zack.

He bent down and looked me straight in the eyes. "You okay?"

I smiled. He sat beside me and looked out in front of him. A cool breeze blew, ruffling our hair. I watched him, wondering why I hadn't blushed yet. I was fascinated by him, and for some weird reason I liked watching the wind blow through his hair. His face was gentle and I wanted to touch it. His muscles were perfectly portioned, and he was relaxed.

Seeing him like this made me happy. I was still smiling. I looked away and out in front of me to watch the people go by. I closed my eyes and let the wind wrap around me. It was light and powerful at the same time. At that moment I felt Zack's eyes on me, but I didn't look his way. Instead, I kept my eyes closed and imagined being the wind, wishing I could run my fingers through his hair, caress his beautiful face, wrap my arms around him.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked.

I looked at him, then buried my face in my arms, blushing again. "It's nothing really."

"Right. I don't believe you." he laughed.

"Well," I stood up and put my hands behind my back. Then, I slowly turned to look at him. "I was... thinking..."

"Yeah?..." he waited for the rest of my answer.

"About...you." I smiled and I felt my face get hotter. My cheeks were probably scarlet now.

He pointed at his chest. "Me?"

I laughed and turned back around to look In front of me. "Yes, you."

"Hm..." he crossed his arms, placing them behind his head and closed his eyes.

"Zack?" I bent down to look at his face.

He smiled, then grabbed my hand to pull me down to his level. I was only inches away from his face, staring into his beautiful blue eyes.

"Hey you two–" the door flew open as my sister stepped out. I looked at her, her eyes grew wide. I jumped, taking a few steps back. "Uh.. Alina, someone made a house call."

"O- okay. Did you write everything down for me?" I asked shakily.

"Yes. The list is on the counter. I wrote the address on the back." she answered. "I'll get the stuff ready for you." she grinned and went back inside.

Zack sighed, looking at me with his head slanted. I put my hands on my burning face. The heat felt as if it was rising from my toes. He laughed at me and stood. "Gotta love your sister."

"Yeah..." I trailed.