Disclaimer: I do not own any character in any shape or form. They belong to Square Enix :)

Author's note: Thank you FlawsDiamond for following this story! :D Alright guys here's the next chappie! Please forgive any mistakes, English is my second language after all ^-^ Enjoy!

Popularity Feud

Chapter 9

Sephiroth sat on a chair next to her bed. After he took his rest he noticed that she was still sleeping, taking this opportunity, Sephiroth decided to study her for a little. He noticed that she looks like the ideal woman to fall in love with, that is if he were a normal and regular person. Thankfully he thought, that he was himself and he would never fall for such features especially for her assets. It might be degrading for him to look at her sleeping form and study her well… body, but he only did it to know the benefits and disadvantages he would receive if they were to be an item.

He heard her stir in and landed his eyes on hers. Her eyes were still groggy from her sleep but confusion can be seen in it. She looked up at him, confused as to why he was here, but immediately broke off her gaze when she remembered. The roof scene was such a blur but the words that came out of his mouth were crystal clear. But how, she thought, how could he love a person like her? Tifa was still wrapped up in her mind worrying, that she failed to notice the nurse approaching towards them.

"Ah, it's a relief to see you awake Miss Lockhart," The nurse said with a smile, pressing a folder against her chest. "We were thinking that we should bring you to the hospital instead when we noticed you weren't waking up a few hours ago." She sighed but then smiled in relief.

"We…? How long was I out?" Tifa asked, trying to sit up but failed. Sephiroth noticed this and helped her, causing the teenager to raise a brow at him. When she was finally able to sit up, she raised her head to look at the nurse, eagerly waiting for her response.

"You were out for 8 hours, Miss Lockhart. And by we, I meant your companion and I. He was very worried when he found out you were still sleeping after he woke up from his nap. Which lasted about for 2 hours," The adult said with a smile on her face.

'Sephiroth…? Worried about me? That's kind of… odd.'. Tifa looked at the man beside her who was looking back at her. She could the heat rise to her face and she dropped her head. Hoping that somehow, he wouldn't notice the blush on her face. She was still confused on what happened on the roof and didn't know how to respond to it. 'Should I tell him off or should I accept his confession…? Ahhh! So confusing! But what about Cloud…?'

"Now that we know you are ready to go, you can leave whenever you want," The nurse said, bowed and left to go tend to the files on her desk.

There was an awkward silence that covered the room. Tifa still had her head down and Sephiroth was still looking at her. The afternoon rays shone brightly in the room and the air conditioner blew cold winds that sent shivers down Tifa's spine. Standing up, Sephiroth took Tifa's bag by the bedside table and slung it over his shoulders. He offered a hand to her, and coughed in order to catch her attention. She looked up at him wide-eyed, her face still in a shade of pink, and then looked at his outstretched hand. She studied it carefully before accepting it with hers. What she noticed though, that even though he was rumored to be a cold-hearted person, he had surprisingly warm hands.

He gripped her hand gently, making sure that it wasn't too painful for her and waited for her to slip into her shoes. Once she was done, they left the infirmary hand-in-hand, not noticing the smiling nurse nor the camera in her hand.

Tifa looked at him, walking in the hallways with his hand still holding onto hers. Her heart was beating fast, and clutched the fabrics on her chest in order to calm it down. She tried to even out her breathing and noticed something around their surroundings. The hallways that are usually packed and buzzing with people is empty. She looked out the window to her left to find the sun setting down, her eyes widened when she realized that she stayed in the infirmary for far too long. Sephiroth stopped walking, his hand slowly losing the grip he had on her and turned to look at her.

"Tifa," He said, causing her to avert her eyes from her hand to his.

"Y-Yes..?" She asked, her calm heart gradually beating faster. 'Why is my heart beating so fast…? I don't even like him…Do I?'

"It must've been sudden and out of the blue for the confession, but you should know… What I said was true," He said in a low voice that it was almost like a whisper. 'Not at all.'

"The way I have been treating you, the teasing, and the kidnapping was just a way of how I liked you. I couldn't even think of what to do if you were to be someone else's." He looked down at the ground, inwardly smirking for his acting. "I guess you could say… it would break my heart. I'm sorry for being such an ass to you… but it was hard for me too. I couldn't display my affections in the right way. And for that I hope you forgive me."

Tifa stared at him, wide eyed, letting the words sink in. 'Maybe it is true… Could I accept him for what he did..? For what he is?'

"W-What if…" She started, looking down. He looked at her, a bit of shock etched on his face and quickly put his mask back on.

"W-What if… I gave you a second chance…What would you do then?" she asked, playing with her fingers due to nervousness.

"I would ask for your approval to court you and try the best that I can to not upset you," He replied, lacing sincerity and gentleness in his voice. 'Although that will only happen for a short period of time.'

"And if I accepted?"

"Wh-what?"

"If I accepted your confession and you were to court me, what will you do?"

"I will love you with all I can, hoping only that you will be able to love me back."

She stared at him, tears dwelling in her eyes. Could she believe the words of this man, this popular and accept it? It all sounds so real, so honest that she couldn't trace the venomous tone he had in his voice. He looks so gentle, his eyes filled with care and love. His let his hand go, letting her hand drop to her side, as if saying that her acceptance would be determined if she were to take his back. The feeling of his warmth left hers and her hand yearned for it to be back. But could she? Could she accept him?

"My friends will kill me for this… and so will yours…." Looking up at him, she took both his hand and squeezed ever so gently. "Falling in love with the enemy isn't as easy as one would think."

"So you accept me then?" He looked down at her, with a small smile on his face. She smiled brightly at him, as he let go of one hand and used it to caress her cheek. Slowly bending over as he brought her face up to his.

"There's always a second chance in life," she replied just before he took her lips upon his. The kiss wasn't passionate, nor was it sad. It was a simple kiss, a kiss of understanding. Symbolizing the beginning of their relationship. What it holds, nobody knows, but one prays that it may heal each other rather than the destruction it may cause. They kissed there, in the hallway, the orange glow of the sun illuminated through the glass panels. If no one knew who they were, they would look at them as two people perfectly matched for each other, as if they never had problems in the past.

"Wh-What did you say?" A man exclaimed.

"I-It's true! I saw it with my own eyes…" A young girl replied, throwing her arms everywhere.

"It couldn't be… He wouldn't… No he couldn't love her. Especially since he knows she's his enemy." The man said, placing his hand on his chin. Carefully thinking over the information he had just received.

"B-But what if it's true? I mean… I always see him staring at her. And he seemed worried about her today," The girl reasoned, sitting back down on her chair.

"No… He must be up to something, and what ever that is, we can't let it happen." He replied.

"Aye, but what we gon' do when he finds out?" Another man said, lighting a cigarette in the room.

"That is if he finds out," A monotone cold voice resonated through the room. The three people that were in the room turned their heads to look at the source.

"Are ye sure?" He said, blowing the smoke in front of the girl.

"H-Hey! Stop doing that you jerk!" She then looked at the man that lurked in the shadows. "He's right. How would he not find out? Oh he's going to be so heart broken."

"He will find out eventually, but we must leave it as that. None of us should do anything about it." He said calmly. "We must continue on our current problems, which is to get them off our backs. They have been very persistent on getting rid of us from this school."

"And for a damn popularity! I could care less what we become but I know for a damn sure that I didn't come here to be popular." The first man spoke, crossing his arms and huffed.

"Aye, he's right." The second man nodded.

"It's not just the popularity." The third man said, pulling out a paper of the current student ranks and the past ranks. "If you all look at it, most us have out passed them in the ranking, which means… before us, they were the top students in the whole school. Not only that, they paid in order to be in this prestigious school and worked their hardest to achieve their goals. While we all came here with scholarships walking all over their hard work. It would not look good for their transcripts now would it?"

"It ain't my fault that happened. I mean we're all working just as hard aren't we?" The girl argued.

"That may be true, but now that they have found a challenge, they have to study twice as they normally would in order to regain their previous rankings."

"So why can't they just do that?" The second man said, putting his cigarette out.

"Why would they? When they can just drive us out and regain it back right? Apparently that's what their thinking. And in order to do that, they're making our lives like hell in this school."

"But it seems here that he's still 1st top student, even if we're here," The girl pointed out.

"That is true. But look at it closer, she's the 2nd top student in school and the difference isn't that big."

"Ohhh…"

"Dang."

"And if they knew about them… The chances that they will aim for her is a high probability. Or worse…" He looked dreadfully at the ground. The girl looked at him in confusion, then her eyes widened.

"He will break her…"

"Holy shit." Both men said in unison.

"Thank you for walking me home," Tifa said, smiling at him. "Although I thought that you would just leave in your car once we reached the school gates." She giggled afterwards.

"It's not a problem, I did say that I will try my hardest right?" He replied. He gave a small smile, his face hurting from the strain on the muscles on his face. He never showed such discomfort though, or else she would notice.

"See you tomorrow?" She asked hopefully. He nodded and took out his phone.

"If you ever want to talk about anything just call or text me. Here I'll give you my phone number." She nodded and took out her phone from her bag and they exchanged numbers. She quickly got on her toes and quickly kissed him on his cheek.

"Good night Sephiroth. I might just text you later, who knows right?" She chuckled and went inside after her wave goodbye.

He stood there for a while and chuckled to himself, knowing that his plan is in full effect. He walked down the stairs and towards his car that was parked outside.

A blonde man who was just turning the corner caught a glimpse of silver hair for a second. He shook his head and continued to walk towards the nearest supermarket, hoping that it was just the night deceiving his eyes.

'All this studying is making me sleepy. Oh well, good night!' Sent 10:45 pm

'Well I still have to continue studying. Pleasant Dreams, Tifa.' Sent 10:47 pm

A/N: Did you guys like it? Leave a review or not! It doesn't matter! Leave some ideas too if you want! They are all welcome ^u^ Thanks for sticking with me! :D