"Hope, you were right. I shouldn't be talking to a therapist, I need to talk to you." she says, pulling away but not too far.

"What's wrong?" I ask, unprepared for what I hear next.

"I never thought it would happen. I thought I was safe in playing it my way, but I was wrong. I was always so wrong, Hope." She pauses to breathe in before continuing. "...I never told you about how my father died, did I?"

"Um, no, you never told me that," I respond, curious as to why she would say something like that, out of the blue. And what it has to do with the way she just acted toward me.

"No one ever had a clue. I got away with it, Hope. Nobody ever knew it was me," she explains, which seems to stop her tears. "Only you know. I trust you, Hope... so there's a lot I need to tell you."

"Anything, Light. I won't judge," I promise her.

"When I was... really young..." she starts off, removing herself from my lap to sit next to me, our backs pressed against the wall, "my father was abusive and everyone was clueless. I didn't want to tell anybody because I knew nobody would believe me. I was always a trouble maker when I was a kid. Well... it kept up, and I was old enough to remember it all. Serah was still too young to know what was going on, and as far as I know, he never laid a hand on my sister. It scarred me for life, though... so I killed him. He just happened to be on medication at the time, for whatever reason, so I made it look like it was suicide. I waited until he was all alone, and he thought I was gone. I put on my gloves, grabbed the bottle of pills and opened it... took a knife from the kitchen, and I waited for him to get out of the shower. I told him if he didn't swallow everything, I would castrate him."

"Castrate him? Light, did he rape you?" I demand to know, with every motivation out there to murder the guy myself if he wasn't already dead.

"No. He never got that far. But I can never forget, even today, what it was like to have that disgusting pig on top of me and forcing me to do things to him. Every chance he got. When mom was grocery shopping with Serah, he found his chance. When we were at the god damn dinner table, he would sit next to me and always run his hand up my thigh. I was only a kid, Hope," she says with an angry calmness in her voice.

"I... I'm sorry, I don't know what to say."

"You don't have to say anything. But from that point on... it changed me, Hope. For the longest time I couldn't eat because of what always happened at dinner. Hell, I was anorexic for a good amount of my teenage years because of that. Needless to say, I didn't want to get close to anybody as a direct result of it... but you know, there was always something different about you."

"It's because I'm young and don't intimidate you, probably," I piece together rather quickly.

"You're just... well, I've never met anybody as sweet and kind as you before, Hope. And that's exactly my problem... You're everything I want, and I'm still not happy."

"Did I do something wrong?" I wonder aloud.

"No, Hope. It's just that..." she takes in a deep breath before she says what's next, "I promised myself it wouldn't happen. I vowed to never let my feelings get the best of me, because people are never who they seem to be. I told myself time after time, over and over again, that I wouldn't fall in love, but you just make it so damn difficult, don't you?"

I wasn't prepared for this. It's hard to tell if she's being completely honest or is just confused, and I hope it's the case of her being totally honest... I don't know what I would do if I found out her feelings for me were all just an illusion.

"And that's what I don't get... I've never had to face this type of situation before. I always told myself I didn't want it, so if it happened on someone else's part, it wouldn't matter. I was never even in a situation where I liked someone who just ended up betraying me, because I avoided everyone and everything. Except Serah, of course. She was always the exception to everything. But that's beside the point... I don't what to feel now. And to make it all even more confusing, I'm the adult in this relationship and I'm the one who's acting like a child."

"You're not acting like a child, Light," I assure her, but I know she will have some difficulty believing me. Despite it all, I'm here for her.

"Thanks, but I feel like I am... I guess it's gonna hurt no matter what, right?"

"It doesn't have to," I start to tell her, brushing the backs of my fingers along the side of her face. "Look, I know it's tough... and I don't expect you to just take what I have to say right away. But I want you to at least give it some time to sink in. I will never hurt you. I know people say it alot and go back on their word, but Light, I could never do that to you. I would rather stab myself in the chest."

"... I believe you," she says, and I can tell it kills her to say it. Careful not to make anything more stressful, I do and say nothing. "I believe you would never intentionally hurt me. I would never intentionally hurt you either. But I already hurt. See, I thought I could play it safe if I didn't allow myself to fall for older, stronger, more powerful men. So it was only okay if I thought I was falling for someone who couldn't hurt me. Someone younger and weaker with less life experience. Someone I could control, dominate and have fall for my every command. Like you, Hope. Someone that I thought, it wouldn't matter if I loved the person or not. They can't love me back, they don't understand the concept of love. So it just wouldn't exist. And I wouldn't get hurt, because we'd never get to know each other. I eventually convinced myself that it just wouldn't be possible to love someone incapable of loving me back, but I was so wrong. That's why I'm a total mess."

"For what it's worth, don't think that just because I'm fourteen years old that means I can't love you back. I'm not like most people my age," I tell her, hoping it would hurt less but I really just have no idea anymore.

"I... don't know how that's possible..." she mumbles.

"If there's anything I could do to prove it, I would, Light." Nothing is said for the next minute or so, but I know she's deep in thought. I turn my head to look at her, still resting against the wall.

"Show me..." she starts quietly, "that it doesn't have to hurt. To be the one with everything to lose."

I pull her into me, softly, and her head rests on my shoulder. My fingers run through her silky hair. "You're not going to lose anything, Light."

She pulls away just to gravitate right back to me, except this time her forehead rests against mine and she finds her way back into my lap.

"Hope..." she whispers.

"Yeah?" I respond, followed by a long, breathy pause.

"I think I'm in love with you." I can tell that saying that felt like a knife through the heart for her, despite it not even being a definite statement. She cuts it down and it still hurts.

"I am in love with you," I confess, hoping to ease the pain. A smile makes its appearance on Lightning's face, although not a big one. She looks relieved for a moment before resting her head on my shoulder and sliding her fingers between mine.

"I trust you, Hope," she whispers. With my free hand I caress the back of her head, gently stroking her light curls. "And I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Light." After I say this, she pulls her body down so her back rests on my mattress, taking me with her.

"We're finally alone again," she reminds me, quietly.

"Not really. My dad's in the next room sleeping," I inform her, although it doesn't make much of a difference. Snow and Serah were in the next room during our first time.

"We'll just have to be quiet then," she suggests before reaching up to my lips. Her fingers run through my hair as my body presses against hers. I worry that I might be crushing her but she's the one pulling me toward her. She cocks her head to one side and then the other as her warm, wet lips press against mine and my fingers travel up her sides.

"I don't want to worry anymore. This time... I really want to just let go," she says between kisses.

"I can make that happen," I tell her, hoping I didn't just come off as too corny. I kiss her lightly on the neck while my hand on the opposite side of her travels down and back up her leg. My fingers sneak inside her skirt and clutch on to her panties, pulling them down. She lifts herself up to make its removal easier and starts squirming when my fingers lightly brush down her thighs. I pull away from her neck and prepare myself to taste her. She moans lightly when she feels my tongue against her. I lightly move it up and her leg twitches. I hold her in place by the thighs as I continue to lick her, watching her tightly clutch onto the bed sheet. I move my tongue in circles outside her lips, taking in the sweet scent and taste of her juices.

"Hope... you're amazing..." she can barely let out. I slide my tongue into her and up, back down and inside as her lips find their way between the lips on my face. "Stop teasing me."

"You want me to stop?" I question, refusing to pull away from her.

She tries hard to respond through her heavy breathing. "I want... something else."

I take myself away from her and watch the bottom edge of her shirt rise up above my hand. It reaches the bottom of her breasts, and her arms rise above her head as I pull the rest of it off, exposing her little black bra. She kisses me passionately and our tongues explore each other's mouth while my hands preoccupy themselves with the hooks on the back of Lightning's bra, which soon comes off, revealing her perky breasts and pink, hardened nipples.

She does the same to me, turning my shirt inside out as it comes off of me. I lean in closer to Lightning, and her warm, soft skin presses against mine. I unzip my pants, still caught up in her tongue and I let myself out. Without much further thought, as soon as I let myself out I find my way into her. She gasps and squeezes her eyes shut, and for a moment I think she might be hurting but she relaxes everything else. I press my face against hers and her tongue runs along my bottom lip before entering my mouth. I thrust deeper into her as I hold on to one of her legs to keep myself at the perfect distance. She moans louder. Without stopping my thrusts, I put a finger to her mouth.

"Shh. We'll wake up my dad," I remind her. Not that I care about waking up Snow or Serah, or if they'd even hear us... but not my dad. Who knows what he would do if he walked in on us. I don't really care about what he might do to me, but Lightning is an adult. It's her I'm worried about if that happens.

"Don't expect me to be quiet," she says, still panting with every thrust, "when you're doing this to me."

"Should we stop?" I ask, slowing down.

"No!" she quickly responds, wrapping her arms around my neck as I regain my speed. Every inch of her chest and stomach presses roughly against mine as she holds me closely and I continue to pump into her as fast as I can. I start to lose my breath and can feel the sweat surfacing. Her breath becomes heavy and I'm convinced that every time this happens, I'm going to cum. With every pump now I feel her getting wetter and wetter. She pushes me over the edge when she moans my name and I cum inside her, letting out a final moan of my own.

It takes a minute for me to catch my breath. "Are you satisfied?"

She smiles and I know she is. "Couldn't be more," she answers with exhaustion and pleasure in her voice. I rest at her side with my arm spread across her stomach. For a few minutes we lie there motionless, letting our heart beats slow down and our breaths catch up to us.

"Hope, why don't you come back with me to my house?" Lightning offers, quietly.

"You won't kick me out?" I question before I answer her.

"No. I'm sorry about that... but I promise, that will never happen again," she assures before kissing me gently on the cheek.

"Let's stay for just a few more minutes," I suggest, tired. She does not dispute this, and after a few minutes pass we put our clothes back on. She stands up before me.

"Ready?" she asks, pulling the hair out of her shirt.

"Whenever you are," I answer, following her to the door, where she stops and turns around.

"I never told you something," she states before opening the door. "Right before I left with Serah, you asked me something... and I never did answer you. But..."

She chokes on her words and I try to think of how to make everything alright. All I can think of is, "You don't have to answer me if you're not sure. You don't have to say you want to be my girlfriend if you're not ready for that-"

"I am your girlfriend," she declares, interrupting me. I smile.

"Cool," is all my dumb ass can think to say. She kisses me on the lips before taking my hand in hers and leaving my room, closing the door behind us.