AHHH just like I promised, update for 3 reviews! -celebrates, then hits herself because she actually wanted to update a month ago but her friends bought her GarrysMod and invited to join their Let's play channel and now she's busy cutting videos all day-

I have read over and corrected all chapters until here, at least the mistakes I could find with my crappy-tense-self!

My Choco Caramel got cold though qq

Also, my lovely beta reader Kitto from FR will correct all chapters as soon as she has time :3

izek: SEPH IS THE BIGGER TEASE I swear to GOd you will suffer like I do and poor puppy does FGDfG *heavy breathing*

No worries, there will be action that makes my nose bleed AHHHH i'm too shy to write it *first world author problems*

Moar pls: yes

Angelpenguin: Aw, thank you so much ^_^ Ahh, I'm glad some people think like that! I remember a quote from Doctor Who, don't remember the exact one but it was something like "The excitement lies in the hunting, not the time after the capture" o..o It's been some years and I watched it in german, so don't know the exact wording anymore. Erm, anyway, here it is! *-*

There it was. The little E-Mail with the subject "Your Third Rank Examination Results". I gulped. By "ShinRa Head Office". Sounded formal...

I barely dared to click it. If I hadn't passed, I couldn't attempt for another 6 weeks and would be stuck repeating my 3rd Rank training until then... and as much fun it was, it wouldn't let me proceed further.

Pressing both of my eyes closed, I pushed my finger down on the left mouse button. Gulp.

Hesitantly, I opened one eye. "... Therefore, we are glad to inform you that..." were the first words I read, and my eyes widened immediately. I saw a score of 96/100, which was probably as good as it could get. A tiny bit lucky, too, since we were only allowed to miss out on 7 points.

I sighed in relief, deciding not to jump up in joy since Kunsel was pretty sure he hadn't passed. 'I really hope the best for him... although he already mentioned that it wouldn't hurt him since he's not done many field trainings yet...'

A lot of things would change for me now, though. One of them would be me moving out to the 2nd Rank dorms. They would be larger, have computers and even internet. 3rd Ranks only had one small TV, 2nd Ranks one bigger TV per bedroom. One bathroom per person as well, but I had never been one to spend ridiculous amounts of time in them, anyway. I DID take a bit longer than a few weeks ago whenever I was going to field training, but that was just for the sake of not smelling sweaty after a few minutes. A shower before and after each field training did the job just fine. Also, maybe a little more time spent on my hair as well... 'Since he likes it...'

I didn't really know if I should tell Kunsel that the E-Mails were sent. Since I heard no sound from his room, I guessed that he either wasn't checking or didn't pass. I decided to leave him alone first and prepare some food.

Therefore I went to the kitchen made some quick dinner. Something like a simple bread and a yogurt drink, since I wasn't a heavy eater. More like the opposite. Moving away from home had taken my daily warm meal from me, now I either had to use lunch coupons at the cafeteria, of which each Rank got a different amount per month – or the small store to buy a few groceries to make food for myself. I mostly chose the latter since I only had coupons for a week. Kunsel didn't visit the cafeteria often, Zack did but not now that he was busy doing Seph's paperwork... and I didn't know anyone else there – sitting alone felt awkward when you looked at all the people around you chatting in groups. Since I was the only recruit from my town, I was alone.

Usually, I didn't mind so much. The only thing was that I wasn't exceptionally good at making new friends. I didn't have any special hobbies or interests, therefore I would always think whomever I talked to and me wouldn't find a common topic.

Beside my two friends was this strange relationship with the General. I wouldn't call it friendship, but it felt similar. With a touch of flirting... even though it was forbidden since he had a girlfriend, as well as that he was my superior. Although I was not sure about that point being true. Why would he not flirt back to a student if he wasn't at least sort of interested? 'I just doubt anyone's ever tried it with their instructor or even the General himself... or at least was serious with it.'

I myself considered that I was pretty serious, as much as I could tell from only having known him for a few weeks. At least it felt more like love than it did with my first girlfriend - there hadn't been any butterflies or excitement whenever I was interacting with or going to see him. Well, HER at that time... this just felt so new to me. New in a good way, though, it let me wear a goofy smile throughout most of the day.

Talking about that, it returned when I heard my phone buzzing on the table. Might as well be Zack, but... okay, it was Zack.

*Hey, Spike! Sorry if I'm late, but work's keeping me busy. How was your exam today? You had yours today, right? I remember you being on the list... ah, nevermind. Tell me, tell me! :D :)*

I had to chuckle. Even in his texts, he was a man of many words. Much unlike Seph, who would probably love answering each text with only one word, if he could.

I decided to answer him that I had passed, before he would spontaneously combust from excitement. That was pretty much what his message looked like...

When I was about to dim my screen, I noticed Sephiroth's name right under Zack's in my SMS list. Maybe I should let him know, too... 'But I don't wanna bother him... After all, he left earlier. What if he's not back yet? What if he's...' Being too busy thinking, I didn't notice how my fingers had already typed in "I passed =)" into his message box and pressed "send". So much for that.

Anxiously, I watched my background screen as for who would reply first. To my surprise, it was the General.

*Congratulations :) I knew you could do it. Will head to bed now. Don't dream about anything weird!* At the second part, I had to think for a minute until I remembered our previous talk about... showers... and him being naked... aaaand I was blushing again.

*Thanks =)* I smiled, then added: *Maybe shower... *_* O_O :* * 'Haha, I wish...'

Putting my dishes away, I walked from the kitchen to my room. When I looked at Kunsel's door, I noticed the lights had already been turned off. 'Maybe tired... or bad news...' I decided not to disturb him, I would eventually learn it tomorrow.

Buzzing sound from my phone.

*He he, maybe even together...* My heart skipped a beat when I read that. Once again, I really wished I knew what was going on in his mind when he was talking to me like that, whether he was serious or not. Whatever it was, I wanted him to stay that way forever. Only with me, of course...

*;) If you want it, then definitely...* It had become a habit to create imaginary situations in my head where he and I would be together. Now, it was in the showers... fog covering our bodies below the belt, as I hesitantly stepped closer. Mako eyes pierced into mine; my feet came to a halt. I heard the shower water splashing faintly in the distance, but all I could look at was the General. When he realized I had stopped, his eyes softened to let me know it was okay. I then would step up right in front of him, gaze glued to the ground until I'd find a hand lifting up my chin. My lips would part in surprise, as I would try to lean up towards him... The hand on my chin would hold me in place firmly but gently, though, not letting me reach up. He was in control... My right hand would rise up and tangle itself in long, silver locks, slowly running through them. I had honestly always wanted to do that, or touch his flawless face...

Bzzt bzzt.

*Then there will certainly be more than taking a shower in the dream... ;)*

I felt a lump in my throat, suddenly blushing furiously. 'Is he serious? Or just teasing again?' Whatever it was, I felt my heart beating wildly, as I closed my eyes to continue my daydream... in which my hand would now move towards his face, but getting caught before reaching it, by one of his own hands. One that would pin mine down above my head, while his other one wrapped around my waist to switch our positions. I wouldn't know where this was going until I'd feel the cold tile wall press against my back, his free hand now taking my free one, to make it join the right above my head. He'd skillfully hold them in place with one of his, head now lowering until it was at my neck. I'd feel a huff of warm breath on my skin, before it was replaced by a hot tongue and a hint of teeth. A first moan would escape my lips as he'd move his mouth around until he found my sweet spot, sucking on it, looking forward to my reaction...

An embarrassing twitching of my erection against his leg was the result, causing me to want to attempt to free my hands in order to escape. Sephiroth took note of that, right hand keeping my limbs in place, as his left hand moving down to wrap long fingers around me. His mouth never left my collarbone, sucking and nibbling on it while his left hand worked its magic on me. The whole situation had me feel as if I was getting closer, until...

The ringtone of my phone violently ripped me out of my hallucinations and made me deadly aware of my tight pants, but that didn't matter now. Who the hell dared calling me now? Did Sephiroth just imagine the same thing as me - although this was not a smutty romance novel - and feel the need to talk to me?

Obviously not, because it was only Zack. 'What a turn-down...'

"Hey", I sort of huffed out, still on my way back from la-la-land.

"CONGRATULATIONS, Spike!", my friend shouted in my ear, and I could almost feel the breeze blowing through the phone.

"Haha, thanks.", I muttered sheepishly, rubbing the back of my neck, although he couldn't see it.

"How many points? I heard only a handful passed! I got a perfect score on my second attempt! Okay, I had been slacking a bit...", he babbled enthusiastically.

"96. Really? Only a handful?", I blinked. Had it been that tough? Although I knew why I was so ambiguous to study...

"Yup, but that's normal for the first opportunity exam. By the way, who you gonna move in with?" I heard a voice muttering in the background, so I assumed he had visitors.

"Uhm, no idea, to be honest." I would have said Kunsel, but since he probably didn't pass, I'd most likely get a new roommate now. Only first Ranks were allowed to have their own apartment. 'I don't really feel like getting to know someone new, though...'

"Oh, I can check the lists for you for tomorrow, if you want! You should better start packing already. How about I'll call you in the morning?" I heard the background noise again, which turned out to be a female one... and not Cissnei's, as far as I remembered...

"Sure thing, and thanks!" I was about to hang up, when a thought came to my mind. "And have fun, you guys!", I exclaimed, shutting off the call right after I heard an embarrassed noise.

It was probably the girl he was head over heels over. Or girlfriend, by now... not that I was very interested, but I did not want Zack to find the wrong kind of girl and end up getting hurt. Meeting her to find out more didn't seem to be a bad conclusion. 'Maybe I'll invite myself for a coffee some time...'

But now, to less fun things... packing.

Packing my things turned out to be less work than I had imagined... after all, I was practically only moving my clothes and books to another place. I had carefully stuffed most of my belongings into the suitcase I had arrived here with, leaving it open a tad to add my shampoos, toothbrush and other stuff I would need before moving out tomorrow.

The light in Kunsel's room was still off, but I had to tell him tomorrow morning, not that he didn't already know. He'd probably heard Zack's loud congratulations through his closed door... I still felt bad for him, even though he had said that he himself still wasn't feeling ready to proceed.

With that thought, I went to bed... but falling asleep did take a while because of the excitement I'd never known I felt.