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

A/N: Enjoy!

POPULARITY FEUD

Chapter 15

It was in the middle of February and the weather gradually got worse. Constant snow storms occurred in Midgar and they had nothing to do but stay warm inside their houses. This of course caused a lot of sourness amongst the people. They had never expected the weather to turn out this way, after all the last snow storm they had was four years ago. Many people blamed it on the pollution causing the climate change and the others blamed it on the factories causing the pollution. It was hectic.

Due to the level of snow on the ground everyone was mostly shut in. No stores were open and people were starving. They never expected for this to happen so they had not stocked their supplies, mainly food. Enough about this gloomy atmosphere, I bet you all are wondering what happened after Christmas Eve. Well let's have a look, hopefully that would be able to change the mood of this story.

FLASHBACK

A shrill sound echoed throughout Tifa's room causing the man to shift his position. He was about to sit up until he realized that she was asleep on him so he decided to search for the source of the annoying sound. His eyes landed on a small clock neatly placed on top of her desk. He groaned hoping to tune out the sound but he failed. He took his hand from Tifa's waist and looked at his watch; it read 8:00 a.m. He groaned at the fact that the alarm clock ruined his peaceful sleep, he looked at Tifa and found her silently snoring while sleeping comfortably on Sephiroth's chest.

He tucked the strands of her hair behind her ear in order to see her face clearly and smiled. He chuckled causing her to wake up. He ultimately regretted that decision mainly because he ruined her sleep just like that annoying alarm clock that is still ringing. She opened her eyes and smiled at him.

"Good morning Tifa,"

"G'morning," she said as she sat up and yawned. "What time is it?"

"Eight in the morning," He replied, also sitting up.

"That early?" She asked and stretched her arms and cracks her neck.

"Well apparently your alarm clock wanted to wake us up that early,"

"Oh shit! I forgot to turn it off!" She scurried towards the clock tripping on the blanket that was sprawled all over the floor. "…ow…"

Sephiroth laughed at the scene that played in front of him and Tifa sent a glare his way. He stopped and cleared his throat. He stood up and helped Tifa off the floor and turned off the clock for her. Tifa gasped and searched her room frantically. Sephiroth merely looked at her as if she was crazy.

"What's wrong?" Sephiroth asked. Confused as to why she was panicking.

"It's Christmas! I forgot to give you your gift!" She exclaimed without looking back still focused on her present. After all, she did wrap it and all. Sephiroth sat on her bed and looked at her.

"You didn't have to get me anything," He looked at her back. She turned around to look at him.

"Of course I do!" She turned to look for said item again, "I know it's in here somewhere."

After a few minutes of searching she was finally able to find her gift. It was a small box covered in black wrapping paper and green ribbon. She approached him with a big grin on her face and he looked at her with a raised brow. Tifa sat next to Sephiroth on her bed and gave him the present. Sephiroth looked at the box on his hand and looked at her.

"Can I open it now?" He looked at her and she giggled in response.

"Of course silly!" she playfully punched him on the arm. After a few minutes Sephiroth began to unwrap it. He took his time with it and Tifa was about to unwrap it for him but he finally managed to fasten the pace. He opened the box and it revealed a black Rolex watch and it had a note attached.

"Merry Christmas my stoic boyfriend," He said aloud. Tifa blushed and looked at him and then at the watch she bought with her hard earned money. He chuckled and turned his head to look at her and smiled in gratitude. "This must have cost a fortune,"

"Well yeah but it was worth it!" She replied. "Besides I have a job so it only took a couple of weeks and overtime to buy it."

"You didn't have to do that," He said caressing her cheek tenderly.

"I wanted to," she gave him a smile.

"Do you know what I got for you?" Sephiroth asked with a sly smirk on his face and leaned in closer to her ear. Tifa shivered at the close proximity –yes she is still shy around him at times—and blushed.

"N-No…" she stuttered. His head went down to her neck inhaling her scent which gave Tifa goose bumps. He chuckled and whispered seductively to her ear.

"Me," he moved his face away to look at her tomato red face and smirked. "Merry Christmas beautiful."

"W-W-Wha-" Tifa was cut off with Sephiroth's lips upon hers as he started to kiss her tenderly and passionately. His hand cupping her face and his other hand on her waist. Tifa –enchanted by his kiss—gave in and kissed back. Her hands wrapped around his neck and she played with his silver locks.

Sephiroth moved his hand from her face to her neck to deepen the kiss. His tongue licked her lower lip for entrance and Tifa gladly complied. They played with each other's tongues until Sephiroth broke the game. He laid her on the bed with him on top of her. His arm supporting him –so he doesn't crush Tifa—and his hand still placed on her waist. He started left a trail of kisses from her mouth to her neck and sucked on it, leaving a love mark. His hand unconsciously started to go down towards her thigh.

"S-Sephiroth…" Tifa said slowly. This seemed to wake Sephiroth from his trance and his brain began to function. His hormones died down and his conscious told him what they were doing was wrong. He looked at Tifa and saw how disheveled her hair were and her lips were red from his kisses. He took his hand from her thigh and he was guilty for letting this get out of hand. Sephiroth sat up and Tifa followed his suit.

"I-I'm sorry… I got excited," He said apologetically as he looked at the floor, not wanting to look at her after what he did. He reprimanded himself for almost taking advantage of her in that way.

"I-It's okay," She pulled up her turtle neck sweater in order to hide the love mark. He didn't respond and Tifa was worried. She sat turned his head to look at him. "It's alright Sephiroth."

"No, it's not alright." He looked at her apologetically. "What if we went through with it and you got pregnant? I'm not saying that I don't want to be intimate with you but I would rather do it when we are married with stable jobs."

"At least we managed to stop, I heard that it's really hard to stop when you start." She smiled. "I know you have better self control than that."

"You're right," he returned her smile. "Come, I want to show you my real present…"

They walked out of her room and towards the living room where he took the present from under the tree. As expected Tifa was overjoyed and she smothered Sephiroth with kisses, after helping her put on the necklace Sephiroth made pancakes for the both of them. Yes, Sephiroth spent the whole Christmas day at Tifa's to keep her company but his parents didn't mind. In fact they were content with it but of course Hojo never stopped pestering Sephiroth about how they won their bet. Sephiroth went home that following night bidding goodnight to Tifa. He didn't leave without a kiss though.

Her parents finally came home on the 27th and they spend the whole winter break with each other. She was glad that they were able to stay for a whole week. Sephiroth wanted to meet them but apparently he was busy during the break with helping his father, mother and brothers with things they needed. He did call Tifa from time to time to see how she was faring during his breaks.

Well now that we know what happened to Tifa and Sephiroth after their little sleepover, we'll be coming back to the present where everyone is trying to keep themselves warm from the freezing cold.

"Achoo! Ugh I hate this weather…" Tifa complained next to Sephiroth. Oh I forgot to mention that Tifa stayed in Sephiroth's house during the storm since they had plenty of room. Of course the Crescents knew that there was a storm brewing before hand so Sephiroth asked Tifa to stay with them for a while. They did not know that the storm would last more than a week.

"Tell me about it, this fucking weather fucking sucks like shit." Kadaj replied holding up the hot chocolate to sip it scalding his tongue in the process. "FUCCCCCKKKK."

"Language Kadaj," Sephiroth reprimanded and Kadaj glared at him. Living here for a couple of days got Tifa closer to his family. Kadaj was against it at first but after a while he thought that she was alright and wasn't as cold as he usually is. He still curses all the time though. Loz was alright with her being here and was happy to have a girl around. Yazoo is well… Yazoo. He had his nose buried in a book all the time, but he does talk to Tifa from time to time.

"You're just saying that cuz your girlfriend is here," Kadaj stuck his scalded tongue out at Sephiroth which earned him a whack from Yazoo.

"Kadaj behave yourself," Yazoo said and took his own cup of hot chocolate and drank from it.

"OH YOU KNOW WHAT WE SHOULD DO GUYS?!" Loz exclaimed with mirth in his eyes.

"What?" Tifa asked, snuggling into her blanket and holding her cup of hot chocolate. She took a sip from the drink and looked at Loz.

"We should make a fort!"

"That's STUPID Loz,"

"Kadaj…"

"Don't be mean to him, I think a fort is wonderful."

"Seeeeee, Miss Tifa is nicer than you guys," Loz said and hugged her causing Sephiroth to glare at him.

And so they made a fort but it ended up as a fail since there were countless sheets sprawled all over the floor and pillows ended up everywhere in the living room. Feathers were floating around in the air and Tifa was having a sneezing fit. Kadaj laughed at her and Sephiroth threw a pillow his way, Yazoo managed to duck while reading at the same time. Loz was laughing everywhere clearly hyper from the chocolate. And Tifa smiled, she was glad that they were able to have fun in this gloomy weather. She yawned and fell asleep on the sheets and pillows on the floor.

Yazoo noticed her sleeping state and silenced everyone, telling them that she was sleeping. Kadaj and Sephiroth ended their fight and Kadaj went back to the couch where he lay and played with his PSP. Loz fell asleep on the floor as well and snored quite loudly. Yazoo continued reading his book but couldn't help but look at his brother gently placing himself next to Tifa and holding her in his arms. He returned his focus on his book but he couldn't concentrate. His thoughts kept wandering to the rest of the Populars especially Genesis. What he had told him during the Christmas party bothered him.

FLASHBACK

Everyone was having fun dancing with each other but Yazoo was having none of that. He was sitting on the windowsill reading a book called Dorian Gray and blocked out the world he was currently living in. He was having so much fun reading his book until a certain redhead approached him and ruined his concentration. Genesis tapped him on the shoulder –Yazoo being the good mannered person that he is—turned his head to look at him. He gave him a goofy grin and it meant that he wanted to talk to him. Yazoo sighed and closed his book shut placed it on the windowsill and stood in front of the redhead.

"Can I talk to you for a moment? Alone?" Genesis asked dropping his grin which is replaced by a serious look on his face. Yazoo nodded his head and leads him towards his room. Once they were in, Yazoo locked the door and crossed his arms waiting for him to start.

"As you know Yazoo…your brother wanted to bring down the Avalanche," He walked towards Yazoo's bookshelf and took out a book. "He thought that one way to do it was to hurt their most precious asset, Tifa Lockhart."

"But did you really think he wanted to use her?" He turned to look at Yazoo and petted the spine of the book. "No, of course not. He only thought of that when he rescued her. He thought that maybe she was valuable enough to the club, scratch that, to the leader of their little group."

"Didn't he say he would never fall for her?" He approached Yazoo. "Well look at him now, how pathetic he has been because of her. He failed to carry his mission. Do you know why?"

Yazoo shook his head. Genesis laughed.

"Of course not! He never tells you anything now does he?" He sat on his bed and opened the book. "The reason why your brother acted cold towards her, throwing insults at her, want her to be a pawn in his hands is because he once loved her." He looked at Yazoo's surprised expression.

"Hey, it's true. In fact that's the reason for the start of hatred towards the Avalanche, of course we didn't give a shit about it before but now we started hating them for fun. Sick isn't it?" He smirked. "Do you know why he hates the Avalanche, Yazoo?"

Yazoo shook his head without saying a word. Genesis motioned for him to sit beside him.

"Sit down, it's going to be a long story,"

It was in the start of our sophomore year and the Avalanche transferred to our school. Apparently before they became the Avalanche they were merely a bunch of goody two shoe honor students. They were the top of their class in their schools. Tifa and Cloud went to the same school while the others went to another school. They met during this year when Tifa and Cloud wanted to make a Judo club.

It began when Sephiroth was called into the Principal's office along with the top ten of the class. They were assigned to become the escorts of the new students who got in through scholarships. He was assigned to a person named Tifa Lockhart. He met her in the lobby and he spotted her with well, her childhood crush Cloud. Of course at that time Sephiroth never really cared for her, but he did have a heart.

"Hello Miss Lockhart, I will be your escort and guide, Sephiroth Hojo." He bowed. Tifa looked at him and bowed as well.

"Pleasure to meet you Mr. Hojo," she smiled. Sephiroth was surprised when she smiled at him; it was probably the first time someone smiled sincerely at him. Since he was usually being flirted with girls he had no affections for what-so-ever.

They started the tour of the school, she had a ton of questions to ask and he answered them freely without the need to think. When lunch rolled in, he asked her to sit with us since she barely knew how the cafeteria worked. She nodded in agreement and looked around for her friend which was nowhere to be seen.

Truthfully I don't know how it started but they gradually got closer, the principal thought since he was her escort it was best to put them in the same classes. She was up to par with his intelligence as well. She might not speak it but she is an intelligent woman. Sephiroth and Tifa became inseparable and he developed feelings for her. It had been halfway through the year when he confessed to me his budding love towards his female friend. I told him to go ahead and tell her before she slips away and he agreed… but apparently he was too late.

The day he was going to confess to her was during Valentines, cheesy I know. Don't roll your eyes at me Yazoo! Anyways, he had flowers and chocolates prepared and everything. Apparently when Tifa arrived to school there were plenty of boys giving her chocolates in hopes that she would give them a chance but Tifa politely declined and told them that there was already someone who she is in love with.

He was planning on confessing to her at the end of the day but something happened that sparked the hate inside his heart. He told me that they were walking to the place where he had planned to reveal his love to her but they were interrupted by her friend Cloud. He asked her if he could talk to her and glared at Sephiroth. He merely shrugged it off, hoping that she would not go with him but he was wrong.

"I'm sorry Sephiroth, but I have to talk to Cloud. I'll see you tomorrow okay?" she said and rushed off with the blonde man and he fumed with anger. He followed them, keeping a good enough distance to remain undetected. They settled inside a classroom and Sephiroth stayed outside to hear what they were talking about.

"I don't trust him,"

"But Cloud he's actually a nice person!"

"Yeah, I bet he's just pretending, I heard that he shags the girls that like him for fun."

"You've got to be kidding Cloud. You're judging him way too much."

Sephiroth balled his fists and tried to calm his anger.

"Do you like him Teef?"

"W-What no… I like someone else,"

Sephiroth's eyes narrowed in woe.

"Good, don't ever develop feelings for him Teef, I want you to be safe."

"I am safe though and like I said he's not a bad guy,"

"That's what he wants you to think."

"Okay fine, I'll stop talking to him. Are you happy now?"

"Yes, it's better this way Teef. We're new meat in this school, we need to lay low," He told her and placed his hand on her shoulder. Sephiroth was fuming. Did he hear it right? Did she agree to never talk to him because of his friend's wish? Is she that weak?

"She must be…." He muttered to himself. And as he was about to leave he heard her tell him the two words she never told him on that day.

"Happy Valentines, Cloud."

After that Sephiroth built his wall of ice around his heart. She had broken his heart. She made him cold. They were rarely seen together after that day and his fan girls were delighted to hear it but it made Tifa confused. She wasn't planning on actually obeying Cloud, she likes Sephiroth. He was a good listener and was always there for her. So she decided to confront him.

"Sephiroth! Wait!" She ran after him. "Why have you been avoiding me?"

"I don't know what you're talking about Miss Lockhart." He said emotionlessly. She stopped in front of him and looked up.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Nothing's wrong except for the fact you are making me late to class," He replied.

"Why are you so cold? What did I do wrong?" She asked, tears dwelling up in her eyes.

"You did nothing wrong. It is I who you should be afraid of Lockhart, especially since you're new meat in these grounds. If you're not careful your friend might be right about me," he said in a cold tone and with that he left. Leaving Tifa alone with tears rolling uncontrollably down her face.

After that they stopped talking and acted if the other didn't exist. And of course The Avalanche started their own little club which took most of our members solely because they were entranced with the female Judo teacher. And it was then that Sephiroth started hating its group and the man who made the woman he love a source of his hatred. So instead of putting his hate into Tifa he threw towards Cloud instead. We were confused at what was happening but we eventually enjoyed insulting the blonde and his friends. Their reactions were simply hilarious! But did Sephiroth eventually forgive Tifa? Yes, he did… but he no longer had it in him to rekindle their friendship after what was happening. Especially when she defended the chocobo haired boy.

"I spoke way too much!" Genesis exclaimed and plopped himself on Yazoo's bed. He stared at the ceiling. "But now they're together and I can't let him ruin it because of his mission. I'm going to be the one who will destroy The Avalanche for his sake…."

Yazoo looked at him, waiting for him to continue what he was going to say.

"But in order to do that, I might need your help…" He turned his head to look at him. "Will you help me Yazoo? To ensure your brother's happiness?"

Yazoo nodded and Genesis smiled. The redhead sat up and gave Yazoo a quick peck on the cheek before leaving the room. Yazoo was alone now and he went over what was revealed to him. The truth was heartbreaking. So he lay down on his bed and looked at the ceiling.

For brother's happiness….

Hojo and Jenova looked at their children and guest having fun together and took pictures in secret. They didn't mind having Tifa here, in fact they were happy that she was here. It made their sons closer than ever before. They looked at each other and smiled. Taking their last pictures where Kadaj is playing with his games, Sephiroth and Tifa sleeping together, Loz sleeping a few feet away from them and Yazoo reading his book, they left them alone to themselves and went to make some food.

A/N: I managed to get another chapter the following day! I'm on a roll! I had to get this off my chest WHEW. Now off to do Physics homework! *throws love around*

P.S The story is almost about to end! but not to worry this is going to be a trilogy! The second part mainly focuses on Cloud and Yazoo but you'll know why. There will be plenty of SephTi though! So I suggest you wait for it after this ends. I'll probably post up the 1st chapter for the 2nd part when I post the last chapter for this one. 5 more chapters to go!