I wrote this some time ago, but for some reason I didn't feel that it was up to standard, so I didn't post it up. Not to mention that I was changing the last chapter... Sorry guys.

It's now edited, so hopefully it's better now!

Yep, Cloud's the brother! Guess who's good ol' Daddy.

That'll be revealed...

In this chapter.

By the way, sorry for confusing you! In chapter... five? I think I put that her father died somewhere around there. Don't worry, it'll be explained somewhere in this chapter!

-Chapter Eight-

It took one hour to stop Vanille from screaming, forty minutes to persuade her to come back down, and another one hour to snatch the pillows and the blankets away from her and half an hour to pull the paper bag off her head.

All I could say was, thank God Serah was here or it'd take twice as long.

Cloud wasn't much help though. He just stood there, in what I shall now call the 'emo-corner', and laughed his bloody ass off. I swear he pissed in his pants, but I didn't point it out. Yet.

All that time, Noctis looked like he was trying not to burst out laughing, so hard that at times he looked slightly constipated. Bradley was smothering his laughter because he knew she'd have a hissy fit about it, but he was close to failing.

I managed to stop Vanille from running away again by saying that she could doll me up.

Cloud looked like he was really going to piss in his pants now.

Serah offered to help, and I was dragged upstairs while Mom whiled away her anxiety by chopping up the potatoes Dad brought back and mashing them. The chefs had a day off today.

Dad was shoved into the television room before he had the chance to say hello to me by Vanille, who just went in her cutely clogged up voice (I hate my sister sometimes; she sounds like a sugar mouse), "You can talk to her when she looks pretty!" to which I replied, with a pout and faked insult written on my face, "You mean I'm not pretty now?"

"No, not really!"

She's lucky I knew she was joking.

Cloud wasn't, though.

I don't think he saw my fist coming at him.

So he's now cursing fluently under his breath, holding his jaw. "Language," I mocked him as Vanille shoved me up.

He merely scowled in reply.

"Okay! So Noctis is here, which means you gotta wear something sexy and casual-" Vanille started

"Lightning likes Noctis?" Serah asked, her eyes lighting up. "Are we gonna play matchmaker? He's kinda hot, right Lightning?"

Vanille shushed her, and dug around in my closet. "Dad's here as well, so it means you can't settle for anything less than expensive, and it can't be too sexy either. Soo... this one would do!" she crowed triumphantly, and tossed me a sleeveless long red-and-black shirt that went down to my thighs.

"Vanille, I am wearing pants with this, aren't I?"

"Of course not!"

"What?! Dad will kill me! Mom will gut my corpse and hang my intestines over the fireplace! My ass will be seen!! You know what that means!"

Serah wrinkled her cute nose. "Gross, Lightning."

"Shut up Light, she won't do that, and no I don't know what that means! And I was kidding... here." She tossed me a pair of jeans, and sat back. "Go change, Serah and I'll see what we can do about your makeup..."

"Makeup?" I gulped audibly.

"Just go get changed! I need to change too..." she frowned at her t-shirt and shorts, then bounded off. How could someone with the cold be able to still be so perky and hyper?

Serah was already dressed up nicely, like always. She was in a pink summer dress and a white short-sleeved jacket, and her makeup was light. I stared at her thoughtfully, then said, "I want you to do my makeup."

She grinned. "I know. Vanille wouldn't let me, though."

"Too bad. It's my face."

"And her makeup."

I scowled, and went to the bathroom to change.

When I came out, Vanille was in a deep green sleeveless, strapless short dress (fortunately, not that short). She took one look at me, shook her head, and delved back into my closet. I groaned.

"Vanille! This is fine! In fact, it's too much."

"Nope! You gotta be perfect for your dark knight." She came out with a knee-length rose red dress, with, thankfully, straps. I snatched it out of her hand and stormed back into the bathroom to change.

Curse you, Prada.

I came out again, and noticed immediately that Vanille already had her makeup done and was waiting for me with a compact in hand. I paused, and glanced at the bathroom with a frown. "How long was I in there again?"

"Five minutes," Serah said helpfully. She was lying on her back on my bed, looking at my ceiling. "I like your bed."

"Thanks."

Vanille shoved me into the chair, and started the special kind of torture.

I resigned myself to it.

It's hard to argue with the force of nature called Vanille, so it's safer and better not to even try.

--

I change my mind.

This – insert wild gestures at everyone sitting around the table here – is torture.

It was so quiet – except for Serah and Vanille's nervous jabbering, and Bradley and Noctis' quiet answers to my parents' small-talk queries – that it felt strained. The only people who didn't look perturbed were my father's 'companions'. They were more like bodyguards really. There were four of them – the redhead: Reno, the bald guy: Rude (what a name! But then again, who names their kids after things in the sky anyways?) , the stuffy looking guy who seems partial to my littlest half-sister: Tseng, and the blond woman who seemed like she was trying not to laugh at something Reno was doing: Elena.

I glared at Cloud over my plate of food. He looked slightly uncomfortable to be honest... but it could just be me.

Noctis was sitting between Cloud and Reno, directly opposite me. He looked kind of uncomfortable.... but that might be because Reno kept flicking bits of potato at Elena, and she was flicking them back and missing. Bits of potato kept flying underneath his nose... poor guy. (Thank goodness Tseng finally put to a stop their childish antics with a glare)

I didn't meet my real father's eyes – no, my birth father.

Rufus Shinra was the man who made me, Cloud, Vanille, and Serah, and then ran off with Cloud and Serah after she was born. My real father was the man my mother married after Rufus left her – Cid Highwind, the cussing, tough yet gentle pilot whose wildness caused for his early death. We all loved him – at least, Vanille and I did... Serah and Cloud never knew him.

He was the man I always wished was my real father. He had his quirks, but he was lovable all the same...

I hated my birth father with a passion for leaving us.

Vanille didn't mind 'Dad'. In fact, right now she was chattering to him excitedly about something... clothes? The latest Shinra technologies? I'm not really listening.

Someone kicked me.

Ow.

Noctis raised his eyebrows, then asked quietly, "Are you okay?"

I shrugged and my eyes cut sideways slightly to glare at Rufus.

He looked at me. And smiled.

That's right.

Smiled.

I scowled back.

He grinned.

Fuck you too, Dad.

"So, Lightning. Is Noctis here your boyfriend?"

Noctis, who had just taken a mouthful of water, proceeded to choke to death. Cloud helpfully hit him on the back – maybe he's not that bad after all. Or maybe it was some kinda guy rule that you have to help each other.

I didn't reply. At least, that was what I planned to do until my mom reached past Vanille and flicked my knee. Ow. That woman has sharp nails.

"No, Dad," I ground out, giving Noctis an apologetic glance. He shrugged.

What he did next killed me, then resurrected me to kill me all over again.

He grinned at Rufus. "Well, sir, I plan on asking her out, but I'm afraid she'll reject me like the other guys."

"What other guys?" Cloud and I muttered under our breaths in unison. We immediately returned to glaring at each other.

"You're a nice enough boy," Rufus smiled, although there was something else in his eyes I wasn't really sure about, "I'm sure she'll like it if you did ask her out, despite everything she says and does."

"She did run away the first few times," Noctis offered. Promptly, I turned to Vanille and went, "Is my face on fire?"

She shook her head.

"Do you have gas on you?"

She shook her head again.

"Well damn."

Rufus laughed and reached over Serah to pat my cheek. I stiffened automatically. "She's sweet enough on the inside; you'll win her heart, if you haven't already."

I scowled again.

Noctis smiled, and looked at me. Immediately, my embarrassment was replaced with... more embarrassment.

"I'll make it, sir."

"Good, good. How's your drawing going, Light?"

"Fine."

If my father noticed the irritation in my voice, he didn't comment on it. He seemed like he was going to ask more, but fortunately at that precise moment, Reno decided Rufus would look good with potato as his makeup.

I promised to myself then I would hug Reno in thanks later, even if he had the tendency to slap my ass every time I walked by him.

Rufus looked so shocked that no one could keep their faces straight; we all burst out laughing.

"Whoops! Sorry Prez!" Reno laughed, clutching his sides. "I didn't mean to hit you, yo. I was aiming for Tseng."

Tseng rolled his eyes, but even he was having trouble keeping a straight face.

Stiffly, my father said, "Reno, we'll talk about this later. For now, keep your potato to yourself."

"Yes sir." Reno fixed on his face a contrite mask, and looked down, but I saw his lips twitching with mirth and his eyes sparkling with good humour.

I doubted that it was Tseng he was really aiming for. All the more reason to thank him later.

Bradley wrapped an arm around Vanille, still laughing.

"Dad, you should really wipe that off," Cloud told him in a stiff tone. Cloud probably doesn't really like him all that much either.

Rufus took a napkin and wiped the potato off his face, then excused himself to rinse off the last bits. I mouthed 'thanks' to Reno, who smirked and winked back.

Yay for bodyguards with humour!

Someone's phone rang, playing the song 'Evil Angel'. All eyes went to Noctis, who excused himself as well to answer it. "Hey Mom," he said as he went to the living room.

Rufus came back in then, his face potato-free... mostly. My mom laughed when she saw him, and licked her finger, beckoning him to come closer. "Here, you missed a spot." She rubbed the bit of potato off his cheek.

I wondered if they realized how close their faces were to each other.

Then, my mom's finger stilled, and she looked up at him.

Yep, they did.

Vanille nudged me, and giggled. I resisted the urge to hit her – this man left us! He can't just... waltz back into our lives permanently.

My mom blushed, and pulled her hand back. Rufus didn't move. Until I cleared my throat. Then, he seemed to remember that he was surrounded by people... and went back to his seat.

Thankfully.

When I glanced at him, Cloud wasn't looking at them. He was staring at his plate, looking uncomfortable. I frowned.

Noctis' voice reached my ears.

"Mom, you can't- Just- Hey, don't- Mom, can we talk about this sometime else? This is not- Look, I know she's Dad's friend's daughter-," he paused here to listen to his mother, "Fine, whatever, the partner's daughter, but that doesn't mean I'll like her- damn! Mom, I'll talk to you when I get back," Noctis finally said acidly, and hung up. My eyebrows rose. He looked and sounded extremely pissed off.

"What's up?" Bradley asked when he came back in.

"My mom wants me to meet this girl," he grumbled, sitting down. "Some kinda blind date..."

I suddenly found the patterns on my plate extremely interesting. Vanille rubbed my arm. Rufus didn't say anything, but I saw his lips turn up slightly. Toni turned to Serah and started to talk about... clothes. What a surprise.

"That reminds me," Rufus said suddenly. "Lightning, you're going to have to meet someone tomorrow-"

"WHAT?!" I yelped.

"It's an arranged ma-"

"DON'T GIVE ME SHIT, WHO THE HELL AM I MEETING? AND WHY CAN'T CLOUD DO IT?!"

Cloud looked up and grinned slightly. "Because I'm not gay."

"Could've fooled me. What about Serah? Or Vanille?"

"You're the oldest daughter. Cloud's not taking over my business, so you-"

"I'm not doing it either!"

"Well, you're going to have to, young lady!" my father finally exploded. He stood up and glared at me. "You will be taking over Shinra Enterprises-"

"Yeah! Over my fucking dead body!"

"That can be arranged, yo," Reno offered, then was hit in the head by Rude. "Ow!"

"Rufus, you can't force me to-"

"It's Dad to you, sweetheart," my mother the traitor murmured.

"'s not! Cid's my father, not... him. God, mom, what the hell do you see in him?"

"Enough!" my father rumbled, stopping all argument. Noctis shot me a sympathetic look that I ignored. "You are the oldest daughter, therefore you will take over Shinra Enterprises, or else! Understood?"

I opened my mouth to argue, but something in Noctis's eyes forced me to close my mouth. "Yes, father," I snarled, shoving my chair back. "If there's nothing else you need from me, I'll be out. Away from you."

My father narrowed his eyes, but said nothing except, "You'll thank me later."

"Only when Hell freezes over." With that, I fled the room. I heard someone following, but ignored it.

At least, until I was yanked back.

"Ow!"

"Lightning, are you-"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm peachy."

Noctis smiled slightly. "If it helps, I'm meeting someone tomorrow too."

"I know. And it doesn't, not really." There was a small silence, then I had a brainwave. "Hey! Should we pretend that we are madly in love and are going to get married like that show... what's it called again?"

Noctis laughed. "I don't watch chick flicks," he teased.

"Are you sure?"

He laughed again, and leaned in to kiss my cheek. "Can we go for a walk?"

I looked at him, then at the place where my family (and friend) sat, and shrugged. "Why not?"

A little cliffie right here!

And this, my friends, is where I stop. I will be updating not very often, so just pray that I find the sudden inspiration for this story and decide to continue it!

Reviews are appreciated!

Ciao, amigos!