Chapter 2

Lightning tossed and turned on her bed, trying miserably to obtain a moment of peace - of obscure nothingness - a moment where Serah's face didn't haunt her every waking moment. Lightning shifted into a fetal position and then returned to laying flat on her back to stare at the blank ceiling overhead. She let out a sigh and lay an arm over her eyes as she pondered over the day's events. She still couldn't believe she brushed Serah aside so coldly back in the dojo. Why had she pushed her away - Serah, the girl she loved more than anything else in the world. Lightning knew the reason why, but refused to confront the truth. She looked over at the clock sitting beside her on the nightstand and saw that it was already two o' clock in the morning. These days, she never could get much sleep.

Serah stared at the empty side of her bed and longed for company to keep her warm throughout the night. It wasn't Snow she desired to hold - it was somebody else. Somebody she's loved her whole life. "Claire…" Serah sighed, wistfully and hugged a pillow close to her chest. She imagined the pillow was her beloved sister and felt her heart flutter with want and need. Serah gasped and opened her eyes, exiting her fantasy of her own flesh and blood. It can't be… her mind echoed her disbelief at her own strange desire. Serah turned over onto her side and saw her clock's big red numbers read two o' clock. Claire must be asleep by now, she thought to herself and tried in vain to get some sleep.

Serah awoke to the urgent buzzing of her phone as the lights on the device flashed in colors of red, pink, and blue. Serah lazily reached out for her phone and quickly checked the caller ID - it was Snow. "Hello?" Serah said, still half-asleep - she had barely got any sleep last night.

Snow's chipper voice boomed from the other end of the line, giving Serah a bit of a headache. "Serah, baby!" he greeted enthusiastically. "Hope you got a good night's sleep!" he exclaimed.

Serah didn't want to bother telling Snow that she hadn't had a good night's rest, so she lied. "Yes, I did, Snow. Thank you for asking."

"That's good, baby. Listen," Snow said in a slightly rushed voice. "I really want to take you out today."

"Where to?" Serah asked, pretending to be interested, but she really wasn't in the mood to spend an entire day with Snow. She just wanted to stay home and spend some time with…

Snow interrupted her thoughts. "Let's go to Bodhum beach - you love that beach. We'll have a picnic and watch the sun set - It'll be so romantic," Snow's voice started to become sentimental and that made Serah feel guilty because she was not feeling the same way.

"Okay, Snow," Serah replied. "I'll see you soon then?"

"You got it, baby! See ya! Love ya!" Snow said proudly.

"Loveyoutoo," Serah mumbled quickly and hung up the phone. She really did not know what had gotten over her lately. Usually, she'd be so excited to hang out with Snow, now, she felt like she was obligated to. With a sigh, Serah pushed herself off from the warm and comfortable bed to head towards the bathroom. As she walked down the hallway, she bumped into Lightning on her way towards the kitchen.

Lightning froze in mid-stride as she saw an adorably tired Serah running a hand through her bed-head hair of strawberry-blonde locks. She felt a blush creep up from her neck towards her cheeks at the endearing sight.

Serah stopped too as she spotted Lightning staring at her as if she was lost in thought. Serah wanted nothing more than to read her mind to know what she was thinking. Serah put on a smile and said, "Good morning, Claire. Are you getting ready to go to work?"

Lightning gulped and replied, "I don't have work today - I got a day off."

"Oh," Serah lamely replied, not sure what else to say amidst the awkward tension in the air that had never been between the two of them before.

Lightning spotted Serah holding a change of clothes in her arms and asked, "Are you getting ready to go somewhere?"

Serah was reluctant to respond, "Snow called and said he wanted to take me out today, so he'll be over to pick me up soon."

Lightning felt a stab of pain shoot through her heart at the mention of Snow. "Oh… hope you have fun then," Lightning quickly said, and walked past Serah towards the stairs.

Serah instantly turned around to see Lightning walking - almost running - away from her. Serah couldn't take Lightning's enigmatic personality anymore, so she ran after her and grabbed a hold of her arm.

Lightning felt a warm, soft hand grab firmly on her right arm and turned around to see Serah looking back at her with a determined expression on her face. Lightning could hear her heart beat so hard and fast - it was throbbing in her ears. "Serah, wha-" Lightning whispered in surprise as Serah moved in closer until their noses almost touched.

Serah didn't realize what she was doing until it was too late. She was only an inch or two away from kissing her own sister. Her head was dizzy with want as she locked her eyes with Lightning's own strikingly blue ones. She was on auto-pilot and nothing was going to stop her from reaching her forbidden destination.

Lightning's eyes opened wide in surprise as she stared dumbfounded at her baby sister trying to kiss her. She couldn't believe this was actually happening. Lightning couldn't think straight as her senses took over any logical reasoning. Serah's firm body pressed against her as their breath mingled with each other in a haze of lust. This moment was everything Lightning had ever dreamed of - the moment she thought could never be.

Just as Serah was about to press her lips against Lightning's, a loud ring ring rang throughout the house. Lightning and Serah sprang apart from each other in surprise as neither one of them looked each other in the eyes. Another ring ring caused Serah to walk away first to greet the guest outside the door, which she knew was inevitably Snow.

Lightning stood frozen in one spot as she processed the bizarre moment that passed between her and Serah. Something strange was happening amongst them and Lightning didn't really know where it would take them, but she knew she was liking it already.