Sunlight is so annoying, I thought, as the beams of light peeked in through the window above my bed. I rolled over and stuck my head under my pillow. Why even bother getting up? The same old thing will happen anyhow. Tseng will come, I'll talk with him, and he'll let me get out before any other Shinra folks decide to try and kiddnap me. Tseng is too nice. Of course, I've known him forever . . . I honestly didn't think he wanted them to get me, but I really don't know. I knew why they wanted me; I'm not an idiot. But there was no way I was going back to Hojo. I can't keep running forever, but I have to try. Ugh, I have to stop thinking about all this crap, I thought.

I really could have stayed in bed all day. Mom wouldn't have liked that though. I dragged my self out of the warm blankets and stretched. Still, those flowers weren't going to water themselves.

I trudged through the usual cat-calls on the way to the church without much care. I got them all the time. I guess all perverts hit on anything female that walks. I'm used to it. Don't like it, but if I talk back, they'll immediatly assume I want to make passionate love to them. Well, quite the contrary, my horny little friends. Walking along, I got to the church.

As far as I know, he church doesn't have a name. I didn't take it upon myself to name it, I just thought of it as my own special little place. I go here all the time to get away from Midgar. For some reason, flowers grow here, thanks to a hole in the ceiling. The sunlight beams down upon a path of soil, and that's where the flowers are. I water them and take care of them, but I don't sell these ones. Maybe it's cause I just feel that they were put here for a reason, and I shouldn't mess with them. The ones I sell are the ones I sorta forced to grow in my yard. I guess I have a knack for gardening. I think because of the connection I have with the planet.

I set to work, picking out the weeds and tossing them to the side. I saw a particularly nice flower, and went to grab it. Then *he* appeared. A little bee buzzed out from behind it. Oh my god, I almost screamed. Yes, I have a massive fear of things that have six legs. Nasty little things, that sting, is not my idea of fun. I sat back on a broken down pew and watched the little guy. And I waited. And waited, and waited and -

"Just buzz away, you little annoyance," I grumbled. If I had the guts and if I wouldn't feel bad about it afterwards, I woulda swatted the little bug. As I pondered this, a huge, loud sound errupted. It must have been an explosion. It seemed to have come from the plate above sector five. I stood up, and then it happened.

Bam. The roof of the church just . . . imploded. Pieces of wood and metal just fell in and spread everywhere. Dust rose up from the impact, and a creaking noise came from the now destroyed ceiling. I looked up in shock to see a last beam fall into the rubble, and then silence.

Now, mind you, this was a pee-your-pants moment. I mean, *something* fell through the roof, *something* caused the explosion, and *something* was moving - MOVING???

"Ehhhh . . . now what?" I asked myself, the sound of my voice oddly out of place in the newly found silence. From my position I saw blue. Just blue. Turks? I don't think so. I mean, what, are they parachuting down from the sky now? I doubt it. And I doubt that any Turk would have made that much noise. Work silently or something, right? I decided I had to go investigate, because that was the only thing I could do at the moment.

Oh man, this is how horror movies start, I thought, walking over to the rubble. Oh great, the junk just smashed the flowers. Well, so much for the bee . . . By now I was standing at the edge of the fallen debris. I saw that it was indeed a person. A guy. A really . . . hot guy. . . Woo, I mean like H-O-T hot . . . Oh geez Aeris, get your mind outta the gutter, I don't know who this guy is!! But he did look awfuly familiar.

"Hello? Are you alright?" No response.

"Helllllloooooooo!?" He flinched.

"Are you alright? Hello?" He groaned.

"What . . ." he managed, as he sat up. I stepped back and gave him time to gather his thoughts as he shook his head. He pulled himself to his feet, and from the looks of it, he hadn't hurt himself too badly. He looked around the church for a second, then turned to look at me.I imediatly took my gaze away from his butt as he turned, and then I looked him in the eyes. Woa, those baby's glow!

"Where am I?" he asked, dusting of his pants. He looked like he had been attacked by a rabid group of dust bunnies.

"You're in a church in the Sector 5 slums," I said, resisting the urge to add "hot ass" to the end of my sentence. He nodded for a second."What happened?" I asked.

He just shook his head. "I . . . fell." Woo, workin' with a smart one here. Oh well, maybe he's the sterotypical "dumb blonde". Wait a second, blonde, glowing blue eyes . . .the guy! The hot guy from the other day!

"So we meet again. Do you remember me?"

"Um . . . you were . . . the slum drunk, right?" WHAT?! Well, if he didn't remember me at least he could have said he didn't. That was rather mean.

"That's not very nice!" I snapped. Oh great, here I go again. I always have a way of making things I say sound mean or witchy. But to my surprise, he just laughed.

"Okay, okay, guess you can't take a joke. Sorry. No, I remember you. The flower girl, right?" However upset I was at his accusation that I can't take a joke, the fact that he remebered me kinda made up for it.

"Right. Well, now that we know each other, uh, well sorta, what's your name?"

". . . Cloud."

I put my hand out. "My name's Aeris. Nice to meet you Cloud." He just looked at my hand, and I put it back at my side."Um . . . I sorta feel like talking. You up to it?" I asked.

He shrugged."Sure."

"Hmm, so Cloud, do you have any Materia?" He looked at me like I was stupid.

"Yeah, doesn't everyone? It's a pretty common thing to have."

"Well, I do too, but mine doesn't work. It doesn't do anything at all."

"You just don't know how to use it."

"Oh, but I do. It was my mothers. She died a long time ago. I just feel safe having it by me . . ." Wait, why did I just tell him that?

"Oh." Exactly, what do you say after somethig like that? Okay back to silence. Think of something Aeris . . .

"So Cloud, what do you do for a living?" I asked.

"I'm a mercenary. I basically can do whatever anyone pays me too."

I resisted a giggle as my mind took a little trip on just what he may have done to get that money.

"Hmm, a jack of all trades?"

"Pretty much."

I had an idea. He can do anything right?

"Hey Cloud, have you ever been a bodyguard?"

"No. But I probably could be. Why, you asking?"

". . . Yes.""Alright, but you'd have to pay me."

"Oh . . . well I don't have any money. How about . . . " - Dare I ask? - "A date?"

He looked a little surprised and was about to say something when I heard the door to the church creek open. We both looked over.In the doorway was one of the infamous Turks. Cloud took a step toward the door.

"Oh, don't pay any attention to hi-"Cloud put his hand up to signal me to be quiet. He walked over the the door.

"I don't know who you are but . . ." He paused for a second then kept walking. "Oh yeah, I know you."

The Turk smiled. Which one was he again? Tseng, Rude, and . . . oh yeah, he was Reno.

"Um, Cloud, we really should be going now, Mr. BODYGUARD," I said loudly, and he turned around. He started to walk back towards me.

"Got it. What now?"

"There's an exit back here," I said, nodding my head in he direction of the exit. Cloud nodded and I ran back there. Here we go again, I thought, it's always a hassle with these Turks. Several Shinra guards were with Reno, I noiced. No surprise there. Cloud hadn't followed after me yet.

I called back, "Don't fight here, you'll ruin the flowers!" Oh wait, they already were ruined.

Cloud finally caught up with me. We worked our way up the stairs in the back that lead to the church bell. We came across a giant, gapping hole in the floor boards. Cloud cleared the jump as if it were a centimeter wide. Now, I'm not exactly Miss Athletic here . . ."Uh . . . no," I whined.

Cloud sighed. The soldiers took that moment to make their entrance. Reno gave the order and they shot up at us. A few bullets hit the floor in front of me, and I fell.The next few minutes were a blur. I remember falling, and hitting the ground hard. When I finally got my senses semi-back, I shakily stood up. The following events were a bit strange. Something about running and an elaborate display of the usefullness of barrels. Basically, Cloud had some sort of sixth sense of which barrels to knock of the top of the ceiling beams to hit the guards below. Yeah, it was pretty dumb, but it worked. A few minutes later, I cleared the horrifying hole in the ground and I was set.

We took a few seconds to catch our breath on the rooftop. After a while Cloud asked the question I knew he was going to ask.

"So why are they after you?"

"I'm not sure. They've been after me for quite a while. Almost all my life."

"Those are the Turks. They're sorta Shinra's little helpers. They're into alot of bad stuff, murder and the like." I nodded. I knew that, and I knew why they wanted me. But I wasn't going to tell Cloud just yet. After all, he was in a SOLDIER uniform. Maybe he worked for Shinra and just lied to me?

"But they also recruit people for SOLDIER," he said. He looked over at me and half smiled. "You think you got what it takes to be in SOLDIER?"

I laughed. "Only if there's a Frail Girl Division. But seriously, I don't know." Maybe they did want me in SOLDIER. Maybe because of my abilities. But I don't see how they would help them. Of course, they really don't know everything about them . . .

"Well, we better get going before Reno comes back," I said, hopping to my feet. Cloud stood up and we made our way off the roof. There was a pile of old machine parts and metal next to the church. Cloud jumped off and made his way quite easily down to the ground, walking on anything that would support his weight. Soon he was out of sight as I cautiously made my way after him.

"Hey, slow down a sec. I can't . . . run that fast . . ." I gasped, finally catching up with him. When I got within hearing distance he started to laugh.

"I thought you had the stuff to be in SOLDIER," he said sarcastically. I laughed.

"Well, my house is through the slums over here," I said, pointing toward the grungy buildings on my left. He nodded and we walked through the Sector 5 slums.

"So, which one's your place?" he asked. I lead him to the front walkway to my house. He looked a little shocked at the look of my house. From a hole up in the plate, sunlight streamed down to a garden in my yard. The house did always look out of place in the slums. I walked up to the front door and as I opened it called out, "Mom, I'm home."

Elmyra dried her hands on a dishtowel as we walked in. She must have been doing the dishes. As she looked up she said, "Hel- Oh, Aeris, who's this?" she asked a little alarmed. I couldn't blame her. I really didn't bring home friends often, ecspecially boys who looked like they got run over and had a sword the size of me strapped to their backs.

"This is Cloud. He saved me," I said. Mom put her hands on her hips.

"They were after you again?" she asked. I nodded. I gave her a little run down of the events that had occured earlier. After I was finished, Mom went to cook dinner and Cloud turned to me.

"Aeris, have you ever heard of a bar called Seventh Heaven?" he asked. I shook my head.

"Well, do you know how to get to Sector 7 from here?" That I did know.

"Sure, I'lI take you there today," I offered and he seemed to tune me out.

"Hmm, I gotta go see Tifa . . ."

"Who's Tifa?" I asked suddenly. Oops. He looked up.

"Huh?" he asked. Apparently he hadn't realized he said that outloud. I asked again.

"Who's Tifa? You're girlfriend?" Oh great job Aeris! No he'll know for sure you like him!

"Well . . . not exactly," he said, and left it at that. Obviously mom had been listening to our conversation.

"Aeris, isn't it getting a little late to go out? Maybe you should go tomorrow?" she said, setting the table. I looked over and Cloud shrugged.

"That's okay," Cloud said. He seemed a little disappointed. We ate dinner, and Cloud didn't say too much. Mom would ask him questions and he would answer them, but never with too much detail. After that I showed Cloud to his room. I helped mom clean up then I went to bed. I woke up to the sound of a door opening. Cloud was up, I figured. I got up and got changed. Oh god, I thought, another pink dress? Geez, why did I ever buy these god awful things? I threw the walking fashion disaster on and headed outside. Cloud was already gone when I got outside. He was leaving me at home? Well, at leat he could have said good bye. I decided I'd at least say it and I started through the Slums. I don't really know how I beat him to the gate, but I did. I stood there waiting for him.

He looked generally shocked to see me there. I shook my head. "Well, you're up bright and early."

He sighed. "How could I ask you to go along when I knew it would be dangerous?"

I didn't budge. "Are you done?"

He ran his fingers through his hair and frowned. "I need to get to the Seventh Heaven, I can go by my-"

"I'll take you there!" I said, starting out the Sector 5 gate. I heard him groan as he followed me. After turning the cornor, we were in the old Sector 5 playground. It was pretty much demolished, but I could remember when it was brand new. I smiled as I looked around.

"Well, the gate's over there," I said, guestering tword the giant iron gate leading to Sector 7. Cloud started toward it.

"Thanks. I guess this is goodbye. You gonna be all right going home?"

I put on my best damsel in distress face and clutched my hands to my chest. "Oh no! 'Whatever will I do!?' ...isn't that what you want me to say?" I dropped my arms back to my side and looked at him.

"Well . . . I guess you could come to Sector 7 with me . . ." he trailed off. I got the idea that he didn't want me to go with him. I looked at the ground.

"I could do that. But won't I be in your way?" I asked. He scratched his head.

"What do you mean in the way?"

I smiled. "Nothing!" I put my hands behind my back and looked at him. "Can we take a break?" I asked. He shrugged. I wanted to talk to him a little before he went back to Sector 7 forever. I walked over to the giant Moogle Slide. "I can't believe it's still here." I climbed up on top of it's head and patted the area next to me. "Well, come on!"

Cloud climbed up next to me. We sat in silence for a second. Then I figured I'd break the silence.

"So what rank were you?"

"Rank?"

"You know, in SOLDIER . . ."

"Oh, I was . . . first class."

"Hmm, just like him," I muttered, under my breath. He heard me.

"The same as who?"

Oh, I guess I have to tell him, I thought. "My old boyfriend."

"You were . . . serious?"

Hmmm, and why do you want to know? I thought, smiling. I said, "No, but I liked him for a while." Cloud nodded.

"I probably knew him. What was his name?"

I shook me head. "It doesn't really matter." Cloud seemed to be about to say something as the gate to Sector 7 opened with a massive creak. We both whipped our heads around. A Chocobo-drawn carriage came out.

"What the?" Cloud asked. He stood up. I glanced at the carriage again, and noticed someone was standing in the back. It looked like a girl.

"Tifa?!" Cloud said, startled. I squinted to see her better, but the carriage disappeared behind the Sector 6 gate.

"That girl in the cart was Tifa? Where was she going? She looked kind of odd..." I said, hopping of the Moogle's head and chasing after the cart. Cloud ran after me.

"No, wait, I'll go alone! You go back home!"

But I didn't listen.