• Aerith watched Squall pick up the umbrella to examine it, checking the blade and dexterity of it. "That's no ordinary--" she started as she winced when he slammed the tip of the umbrella to the ground, afraid that he was actually going to break it. When nothing happened to it, she was surprised. "Was...that really necessary?"
  
  Her face went into pure happiness when she found Squall was satisfied with this choice of hidden weapon. At least it had its uses. Taking the umbrella from Squall, she examined the top and tried to figure out why it wouldn't break. "Hm, you're right though, it is pretty durable." She couldn't figure it out. "So I guess we're taking this one with us, then?" Not waiting for a response, she sauntered herself over to the cashier, put the umbrella (which was quite long enough to hide a sword in it) onto the counter and stood with her Prism Staff in hand. She rang the small bell on the counter for assistance because the storekeeper was still in the back sharpening Squall's gunblade.
  
  "I'd like to buy this, please," Aerith said to the storekeeper who was eyeing her, as she was gesturing to the katana. She pretended not to notice, but kept a stern look on her face to indicate that he should back off.
  
  "I-it's 400 munny, miss. But half off if you'd like to trade in your staff."
  
  Aerith had to think for a bit. Was it worth it? She wanted to keep her collection of staffs and rods, but she wasn't going to use them now that she was going to be a master swordswoman.
  
  She looked at her staff and never made eye contact with the storekeeper. "I have enough munny to pay for it full price, kind sir." She took out her thin wallet that was hooked to a chain connected to a belt loop and took out her cash, dropped it onto the counter and took the umbrella-sword.
  
  "A-all right, m-miss." The storekeeper was shy but couldn't get the guts to ask Aerith out. Not with Squall behind her, at least.
  
  "Now unless you're done sharpening my boyfriend's gunblade, we'd like to be on our way please." Her eyes narrowed slightly. She wasn't going to part with any of her collection for one minute, and especially not to a guy that was trying to flirt with her!

((These are times when you know you've been playing Soul Calibur 3 too much))

((I love that game. :] Sorry it took so long to reply, too, I've been loaded with homework and whatnot.))

The man handed Squall his gun blade in the process, and Squall immediately begun checking it for scratches and anything else he could possibly kick his ass for. Nothing. It was wonderful; sharp; even polished! Squall was a happy man then and there, marveling at his gun blade's newly-finished sheen.

Then that's when it happened.

Boyfriend? Squall looked at Aerith quizzically, clearing his throat at her. He didn't really noticed she'd said it until he was done smiling at his weapon. He, then, blushed a bit, and turned away. He knew she was doing it to get the odd-looking shopkeep off her back, but Squall still felt a little weird when referred to as her "boyfriend".

"Uh, yeah," Squall said, his back turned to the both of them. "What she said."
He motioned to have Aerith follow him, but he kept ahead. He was still blushing a bit, and he didn't want to let Aerith think he had a "thing" for her. Biting his bottom lip, Squall swung the door open, finally looking at Aerith to hurry her along.

"Come on, dear," he said. "We need to go train."

((Oh it's okay. I came home from school yesterday after working out at the gym and totally crashed and burned going to sleep. So don't freak.))

"Gladly," Aerith replied. Was she bipolar or something? No, not really. Just that she hated strange guys that tried to hit on her. Heading out the door, she couldn't help but laugh with tears in her eyes. "Ahahaha--hahaaa! Sorry, Squall--haha--but that guy was just getting on my nerves. I had to say that to get him off my back, so I couldn't help it. He's like what...a high school boy or something. So forgive me?" she asked.

"Anyway you're right, we need to start training somewhere. This is gonna be fun." She took a long strip of loose fabric (some long bit that was sticking out from her top), wrapped part of it around the middle of her Prism Staff, and tied the fabric from one side of her shoulder down to the other side of her waist and let it stay there. "Can't really put this thing anywhere else, you know?" Aerith explained, hanging on to her new sword/umbrella combination. She smiled, proud of herself and thankful for Squall for helping her choose something new. Back to her intentions again -- she didn't want to be useless, and hopefully she definitely won't be soon enough.

"It's okay," he said as she apologized for stamping him as her boyfriend. He felt a little weird, especially when she started laughing so hard. Was it really that funny? Was it impossible that Squall could, indeed, be her boyfriend?

"I don't care where we go," he said, glancing over at her being crafty and whatnot. "I'm sure you've been out at least once to scan the surroundings. Where ever you wanna go, I'll go."

He tucked some of his hair behind his left ear, looking away from her. Not sure what to say or do, Leon sighed a bit. She was right. Squall couldn't be her boyfriend, could he? He was a bad boyfriend to Rinoa; he let her die. He was a bad friend to Aerith; he stressed her out.

Squall decided to let his ideas leave his head before he stressed himself out.

• "I wish we were home in Hollow Bastion...there were more places to go around to," Aerith said, voicing her thoughts. She missed the large crystalline Ravine Path but Traverse Town was all they had.
  
  "Someday we'll go back, right?" she asked Squall. "And maybe travel the universe in our own Gummi Ship, just the two of us." Cid probably wouldn't trust Aerith to pilot a Gummi Ship. She didn't even know how to make one, and he would have a hard time trying to teach her how. He knew the girl had a wild side inside of her but she was afraid to let it out. But they all wanted to go home to Hollow Bastion. Currently, Cid was repairing his Highwind Gummi Ship as well as selling minor Gummi Blocks they didn't need to buy better parts for the ship. It would take someone else to open the way to Hollow Bastion though.
  
  Wandering aimlessly through the town, she happened upon the Gizmo Shop on the other side of the District. Looking up at the rooftop, she pointed. "There...I want to go to the clock tower. That way you can train me and we won't be too distracted from many Heartless until you think I'm ready to take them on with the sword." Of course the two would have to go through the Shop and climb a ladder, and do several other things to reach the rooftop, but there was a nice view of the whole town from up there.
  
  Aerith waited for Squall to follow. 'Maybe the moment we had was just that -- a moment. But it feels like it's gone now.' She didn't understand Squall constantly distancing himself from her. Was he scared? If so, what was there to be afraid of? But he seemed to be in his own world.
  
  She went up to him as he didn't look at her. "Hey," she started. "Are you all right? We don't have to go there if you really don't want to." He seemed like he was closing himself again, slightly. All she wanted was a reassuring smile. Something like that.

"Aerith," he said, his blue eyes trailing to her. "I promised you I'd help, and I'll help. Don't worry about it, okay?"
Hoping he wasn't becoming a nuisance, Squall maneuvered around Aerith and led the way to the tower. The girl had genuinely good ideas; he knew she'd be easy to teach. She would get the hang of it very quickly.. then she wouldn't need him anymore. She'd be making a lot of munny slaying Heartless, and she'd be able to protect herself. ...Why did he care? She'd be one less thing to worry about!

So that would leave him with nothing.

Leon stopped at the ladder, looking over his shoulder to check for Aerith. He sighed as he accidentally locked eyes with her, and moved out of the way to allow her to go first.
"So I can catch you if you fall," he explained, knowing she wouldn't fall. A part of him was hoping she would, so he could save her from harm and she would giggle a little while thanking him. Snapping out of his small daze, Leon nodded her on.

"I'm sure you'll do really well, Aerith," he said, finally. "I can't wait to watch you progress."

• She sighed in relief. 'Good, then I'm not being a pest yet,' she hoped and followed Squall towards the clock tower. Aerith expected her companion and mentor would go up the ladder first, admiring how he stared into her eyes for a millisecond, and snapped back to reality when she realized Squall was actually letting her go first.
  
  "I don't know, Squall...I'm sure I can handle this." Aerith was strong-willed, and sure of herself. But with a pair of boots she wasn't used to yet, she started climbing up the ladder, and halfway up, her Prism Staff got caught on one of the rungs. She gasped and lost her footing as she tried to jostle the staff from its stuck position. The process ended up with Aerith ripping the strap of her shirt that was temporarily supporting the staff and it clattered to the ground, thankfully missing Squall by a couple of feet.
  
  She tried to reach it before it fell to the ground, as she slipped and fell, sharply intaking a huge breath before falling then screaming.
  
  ((Well you expected it so I obliged))

Squall was momentarily distracted by the falling staff, but snapped back into reality upon remembering Aerith. He almost laughed at this little situation, but kept it inside until he, at least, secured Aerith's safety. Her scream pierced his eardrums.

Squall held his arms out, bracing himself for the small bit of weight he was going to have to secure. She fell into his arms, as if it were a play or something, and he wrapped them around her. He cradled her, like a baby, if you will, with her calves dangling over one arm and her shoulders resting on the other.

Leon, then, begun laughing a bit. Her face was flushed, red, and she looked slightly out of breath. He wasn't laughing at her face, though, he was laughing at how ironic the whole thing was. Once his deep laughter died down, he gazed into her eyes with a pure, caring softness. He couldn't believe this happened, but was, at the same time, slightly happy to hold her once again. It seemed right to Squall; he couldn't help but smirk a bit.

"Maybe this isn't going to be as easy as I thought it was," he mused.

• She flinched, expecting to meet solid ground, but was surprised to find that Squall caught her.
  
  "Um, could you please...let me down?" she asked. Aerith squirmed herself out of his grasp. Finally letting a long leg touch the ground, she got the other one on the ground and straightened herself out. "Ah, there we go." She looked down at her Prism Staff. "This is a nuisance. Let's see if I can do this."
  
  Standing a safe distance from Squall, Aerith held the end of her staff and spun around in a circle a few times, slightly faster each time and finally throwing the staff up onto the roof where she and Squall would be momentarily. Hearing the clatter on the roof affirmatively clearing that her Prism Staff was safe, she fell over from dizziness.
  
  "I think I overdid it a bit...ha...just let me sit here for a while." She smiled. For being a new person, she sure was quite clumsy. It wasn't in play either. "Okay, I think I'm good." Aerith got herself up off the ground, and even as being a little bit wobbly, made her way back to the ladder and started climbing, slowly, slowly. "I'm good...it's all right, don't worry about me."
  
  Until she finally reached the top and pushed herself up onto the rooftop and in front of the clock tower. She sat on the edge of the roof, still a bit dizzy, but also with a slight fear of heights. Letting out a breath, she was amazed at the large sight of Traverse Town around her. "Squall...come up here. It's beautiful," she exclaimed. Aerith herself had never been up on the rooftop of the Gizmo Shop so this was a new feeling.
  
  The land was dark, as it always was, but the neon lights from a birds-eye view made it look more like an actual city instead of a small town. "Why can't it just be peaceful here? There's always Heartless abound, and it's annoying to have to see them all the time. We're here, there are refugees living in fear of the Heartless and very few people actually have the courage to fight them. People like you fight them for sport. It's my turn."

{{Sorry I've been gone so long. >< ))

He slowly climbed up the stairs, still slightly confused by Aerith's antics and whatnot. Standing next to her, Squall let the blade of his weapon hit the building top very gently, and he placed his other hand on his hip. It was beautiful. He'd been on top of buildings before, of course, but he'd never really looked. Constantly battling Heartless, and never having any time to himself. His life was dreary; he knew it.

"I wouldn't say it's for sport. I wish I could compete in it if it were, though," he said, trying to smile. "Life around here is hard to enjoy, though, with the everlasting darkness and all the Heartless that tend to pose as distractions."
Squall begun walking off, knowing Aerith would follow soon enough.

To the clocktower it was.

• ((It's fine. I'll probably be gone this week {yeah right} because of finals.))
  
  "Like the view?" she asked. "It's actually my first time being up here." She looked to Squall when he answered her question about killing the Heartless for sport. "I meant because we don't have much else to do around here. But people actually compete for these things? Like what?" He wouldn't answer yet as he began to walk away.
  
  "H-hey, wait for me!" Aerith called out, quickly getting up from her perch and running towards him. She wanted badly to hug him then and there but kept herself a few feet away. That was just the way she was. "So...do you wanna start my training now?" They stood there in silence, as she looked at him. At least the Heartless weren't up here, not yet, but they could appear anywhere. There were some on the ground level below them, the ones Aerith had to blow up by casting spells.
  
  "Oh yeah, let's see if this thing can hold Materia in it." She examined her parasol, opening it...but it seemed like there were no places for Materia slots. Except...
  
  "All right! I can hold some in the sword handle! This should make things a bit more easier." She ran over to her Prism Staff which was left alone and popped out some of the Materia from there. "Ice, Thunder, and Fire should suffice for now. Just the basics."

"Well, you've already got a few ideas, huh?" he said, not looking at her. Or, for that matter, even in her general direction. "How long have you been thinking about this?"
His stomach knotted up for some reason. Maybe she was doing this to get enough Munny to move out of their house. Maybe she was doing it to be able to protect herself, so she wouldn't have to rely on Squall for anything. Both? After all, Squall wasn't exactly a ray of sunshine. He cleared his throat.

His hands were in his pockets; he was standing tall, as if he were some kind of gallant gentleman peering over the town he protected. Quite the opposite was he, really. He was all brute strength; he had nothing to be proud of but the skill with his blade. In Squall's eyes, that was complete failure. His physical attributes would soon fade. Then what? Nothing. Squall had nothing.

Squall turned on his heel, and, as he swiveled, his hands were, then, transferred to his blade. He had a morbid twinkle in his eyes; the blue seemed to glow and penetrate the darkness. He had to get his mind off of his self-pity; he was making himself sick.
'Nothing's gonna change 'till I make it,' he thought to himself, giving off a faint smile to Aerith. He wouldn't lose her like he did Rinoa.
"Let's get started, then, shall we?"

• "Not really." She tried to manage a smile but her face just wouldn't do it. "I've only begun to think of this today, you know that, Squall! You heard me earlier: I said I didn't want to use my staff anymore because it made me useless, and I didn't want to be a nuisance to you, either." Then again, Aerith wanted to keep her distance from Squall because he still loved his Rinoa. In Aerith's own case, Zack didn't mean much to her because he was rarely around.
  
  Aerith didn't know at all that he was afraid for her to leave, if he was afraid at all. "Someday though, I'd like to earn enough munny for Cid to build a new airship so we can all go back home. Either that or I'd have to catch up with Yuffie to wherever the heck she may be now." Hollow Bastion was where Aerith felt more comfortable. At least there was daylight here. The constant night sky made her feel unhappy and uncomfortable.
  
  She smiled though. "I'm surprised you haven't objected to me calling you by your real name instead of your adopted one for a while." She was teasing by now.
  
  Noticing Squall was readying himself for her training, she noticed his somewhat evil-like smile. She knew he was teasing her at this point.
  
  "I guess it's time then." She couldn't pretend that Squall was unknown to the fact that the umbrella actually was a weapon in itself -- he was the one that chose the sword for her!
  
  Pivoting on her toes, she turned to face him; her right hand on the handle and the left on her umbrella sheath. "Don't rip my parasol now," she warned, chuckling, and waited for him to make the first move. She was a bit worried though -- his gunblade was quite strong, hoping the thickness of his blade wouldn't destroy her thin one.

"Leon doesn't fit me very well, does it?" he asked, charging forward a bit. Squall was slowly falling back into reality, and he wasn't completely sure why. When he changed into 'Leon', he had planned it; this change back wasn't staged. It bewildered him, actually. As Squall, he should be thinking about Rinoa, shouldn't he? He shouldn't be smiling and bouncing around with Aerith, right?

Before he knew it, Squall was fairly close to his friend. He hit her with the flat edge of his blade, jumping back. He smiled, due to the fact it was more of a childish hit than anything else. He was trying to annoy her; people tend to fight better when their emotions are in a mess.

"Alright. Seriously," he murmured, extending a finger and curling it up again. He was saying 'Come and get me', but without the words. He cocked his brow a bit. He needed to teach her offense before defense, because not many Heartless needed to be fended off. They were usually two, three hits tops. Except for the rare ones, of course, but those weren't Aerith's problem for now.

• Aerith attempted to deflect his attack by opening her umbrella to use as a shield, but failed on timing it properly. She gasped, and tried to dodge it. "No, Leon doesn't fit you or your personality. I prefer your given name better." She knew he was trying to taunt her, so Aerith smirked. She then spun reversely, her body sideways with Squall's, and pulled out her blade to clash with his gunblade.
  
  Aerith also had to learn how to taunt her opponents as well. Using her charm against whoever she was fighting with, she could probably get them to let their guard down. 'But no, not Squall, oh ho, he already knows about my tricks. Damn, how am I gonna do this?' Aerith had to giggle. She jumped away from Squall after clanging her sword against his gunblade.

He had a wicked smirk placed upon his lips; he stepped once, pushing her back. He leaned forward a bit, his nose almost grazing hers. Instead, Leon pulled his gunblade away from the sword clash, ducking and winding himself around to her backside. He chuckled in her ear.

His plan was to keep provoking her, seeing if she'd lose her cool.

• "That's a little too close for comfort, but if that's the way you want it..." she huffed. 'He's quick too, but why should I have expected anything less? Aerith, just remind yourself this is purely training.' At the moment he was at her ear, she pulled her sword behind the both of them to graze the back of his neck.
  
  "Checkmate," she said. But she knew that they were far from it.

The cold, light graze was enough to make Squall shiver, but he didn't falter much. He grabbed the girl's blade with a bare hand, the sharpness of the blade slitting his hand open. It was a minor injury to Squall; it was more or less a papercut to him. He wondered if she would freak out.

He jerked downward on her blade; either she'd fight back, let go, or get flipped over him.

• She flinched as he just took the blade into his bare hands. 'Is he crazy?!' Her face had a look of surprise and concern over it. 'That's just the way he is.' Aerith refused to concede defeat. This was still far from over. What next? She thought for a bit. 'I'll just do it.' "Sorry, Squall," she said, pulling the blade back, and jumping backwards to do a backflip. She then put her sword into its main umbrella sheath and charged forward to throttle him with the actual umbrella being opened.

"I don't want to break your pretty umbrella, so you'd better watch yourself," he said, hopping over the girl and her umbrella. If he'd wanted to, he would've just blew the pretty parasol away with a shot from his gunblade. His eyes locked with hers before he completely hurled himself over the girl.

He wrapped his arms around her waist as he landed, across her arms, as well, suction-cupping her arms to her body. An eyebrow raised. She was still bent on taking him down; she wasn't really thinking.

• She gasped as Squall completely flew over herself and landed behind her. Aerith felt a chill up her spine as Squall held her from behind and closed her eyes. Not wanting to let out the breath she was holding, her heart was pounding. Squall being there just felt so...right. Or not.
  
  'This could be the man that would easily break me,'she thought. Her eyes flashed open. 'But I still don't back down that easy.' She contemplated trying to jump to make Squall pull away, but know he wouldn't let her. Instead, she jerked herself a bit and slid down from his grasp since she just couldn't pull away, rolled away from him on the ground for a bit, got herself back up, attention going back to her umbrella to pull out her sword and aimed it at his neck.
  
  "Are you always like this with your enemies in battle?" she asked. Picturing Squall holding Heartless from behind as he did with her looked completely absurd, and she started to giggle a little, which was bad because she was letting her guard down. Her arm didn't falter because just as soon enough, she regained her composure.

Click.
Squall's finger was resting on the trigger of his gunblade. Squall pressed the blunt side of his blade against Aerith's stomach, pushing her back with a large forceful blow. His aim wasn't to hurt her, by any means, but he had to teach her something. Squall knew he wasn't a good teacher, though. He wished he could unleash his full potential on her, but he was waisting too much time and energy on not pulling the trigger; on not pushing the sharp end of his blade against her.

"Always like this?" he asked innocently as her blade came scarcely close to his throat. "What do you mean?"
He pulled away rather easily, throwing his gunblade away from his own grasp. He couldn't risk getting too into the fight and injuring the girl. She was making it fun, and when Squall was enjoying himself, he tended to go overboard.

He would play defense.

• Aerith soon realized that this wasn't training anymore, this was two people fighting for dominance. She had felt the cold metal rest against her stomach and flinched. When Squall tried to play naive, she responded. "You know what I mean. I don't think you'd fight many girls in battle, but if your idea of winning is by hugging some Heartless, then I don't think that's going to get you anywhere, Squall," she smirked.
  
  But she was surprised that Squall would toss his gunblade away. 'Just what the hell are you trying to pull, Squall?' she wondered, never voicing her thoughts. Aerith was treading on dangerous waters at this point, but she didn't care. They were still atop the clock tower and she was amazed she hadn't fallen off at this point. She was still ready for whatever would happen. Her smirk was one that gave out the message, 'Come and get me.'

'Oh, so this is how you want it?' he spoke to her in his head, as well. If only they'd talk openly, they could probably develop something other than mocking each other and smacking each other around on a rooftop. Noticing and smiling at the menacing smirk Aerith gave off, Squall hunched over a bit. It had been quite awhile since he fought fist-to-blade.

His steady, penetrating stare was broken as a Heartless popped up near his gunblade. It seemed to sniff it, and it used its disgusting little paws to knock it off the tower. Squall's right eye twitched, and he ran at the little beast. Kicking it square in the temple, the small Heartless flew quite a way, making a sickening clicking noise. Squall had never heard anything like it before.
"Aerith," he said aloud. "I'll be right back."

Squall threw himself from the roof, seemingly flying through the darkness. He landed, knees bent, his hand on the cold ground. He swept his gunblade off of the ground, which had, unfortunately, gotten dirty from the drop. Pissed, vengeful, the weapon-holding Squall cursed under his breath.

Large Heartless, then, surrounded him. He looked up at Aerith, who was being surrounded, as well. So that's what that noise was all about. Greaaaat.
"Hang in there, Aerith!" he said, looking away from her to face his challenge.

• "Squall?" Aerith called out barely audible as she kneeled over at the edge of the building. There were Heartless around him and she was surprised he could survive that jump. But he did it and was unfazed, to her point of view. Suddenly having a fear of heights, she scrambled backwards to get to the center of the tower. Bad idea.
  
  She gasped as the Heartless formed a circle around her. They shouldn't have been THAT bad, but this just became a true test of her skill. Squall was already fighting his own battle on ground level, here, she was on top of a building and very well may fall off. She wouldn't let herself.
  
  Her Prism Staff was over to the other side of the building, as the two had previously "fought" or pretty much fooled around. At this point, her umbrella portion was useless unless she wanted to use it as a shield. "No time for delayed thinking." The Heartless tried charging at her, but she stuck out her sword and just spun, slashing some of them. She thought possibly, just possibly, wielding her staff and sword in both hands could work. Instead, it would slow her down.
  
  Aerith had run so she wouldn't be as surrounded. Soon enough, she had to cast some of her magic to stun these Heartless. "Materia, PLEASE work!" she hissed. Soon after, she called out, "THUNDER!" Flashes of lightning had hit several of the Heartless, but just as much some of the Heartless were knocked out and went back to oblivion, more Heartless had come out.
  
  Her mind flashed one word. 'Run!' Not to run away, but to charge at these Heartless, and slashing at them every which way she can. Her new sword had seemed to be doing the work, and thank Hyne, or whatever supreme being was up there. There were Heartless slashed in half, or whatever else. They didn't seem to have any blood unless it was the blackness that oozed from them. A few actually ended up attacking clawing Aerith a bit, yet she was unfazed because those Heartless easily met her blade.
  
  She crouched down as some of them were about to try and surround her again, when she sprang up and slashed around her again. She landed on her feet and one hand since the other was holding her sword, and she ended up on one of the nearby roofs of a house. Aerith looked down at Squall, wondering how he was taking things in his situation. "That's probably easy stuff to him," she murmured to herself.