Spring break. Seven days of nothing but pure relaxation and laziness. A time where I can rest my sixteen year old brain and flop around on a hammock all day reading a gameinformer. Heck if I'm really feeling adventurous I might hop on fanfiction and see if any new stories were added to my favorite game, Final Fantasy XIII, and see if my favorite pairing has any updates.

"Hey come on." However as 'her' pouting voice graces my ears I just want to die. "Aren't you going to let me in?" Maybe I should drown myself in the toilet?

"Go away." I grumble as I walk briskly down the beach, towards the cabin my father rents every year.

"You're not being very nice." 'She' says, 'her' sandals making an odd sound as she tries to sneak up on me.

Why was she here? How in God's green, well mostly blue, earth did she wind up here?

Actually I should have expected it. I've been depressed for the better part of a year, with my mom and dad always fighting and my girlfriend, Vanille, leaving me a year ago I guess it's pretty normal.

Most guys get depressed when the girl of their dreams just dumps them, out of the blue without any reason. And she did it with such a smile, such a peppiness, that it makes me think I never meant anything to her. Made me want to die, sure as Hades made me swear off girls for the rest of my life. Seriously, nothing but heart break and I don't need that. Not with my parent's marriage falling apart and Eden University having a problem with my application…

Beside the point. The point is when I saw my mom smiling so brightly during the drive here I should have suspected something. I mean sure at first I thought maybe she had patched things up with dad and they were going to stay together. Maybe I thought, no I hoped, she was just happy spending time with me for once. Hell, I would have settled for her being on something….

"Come on Hope." 'She's' walking up next to me. "You know you want to; I mean what straight guy wouldn't want to hang out with a beautiful girl like me…" 'She' was beside me now.

"You're not that pretty."

Mom had opened the door and tossed me and my suitcases out. Then in a display of just atrocious driving mom peeled her tires out before rocketing down the black top and out of sight.

I should have ran after her, screaming and shouting for her to slow down. Heck it would have even been better if I just jumped out in front of a truck and got killed…

"Hey!" 'She' shouts before punching me hard in the arm. "I'm the hottest girl that's ever hung around you." I stumble forwards and trip, landing hard on my back. That was one heck of a punch.

"Why'd you hit me?" I grab my arm and curl up a little, I'm a weakling when it comes to fighting and 'she' didn't hold back at all.

"Because you deserved it." I look up at her face.

It would have been better to be put in a coma then be forced to hang around 'her.' 'Her' skin is bronze, admittedly a very attractive bronze, and 'her' hair is a dark wavy mess, that looks kinda soft.

'She' was wearing dark tan sandals that hugged her feet firmly. 'She' wore a pair of black swim shorts which came down 'her' muscled legs and hung loosely by 'her' knees. And while I'll admit I wish 'she' wasn't wearing shorts, since we are at a beach, the blue tank top more than made up for it. The blue fabric gave 'her' upper body form, highlighting a muscled stomach and leaving lithe though strong arms bare to the world.

And then 'her' face. The way 'her' long wavy, dark brown, hair framed that animal like smirk was kinda pretty. So were the purple claw ear rings, not that I'd admit any of this.

"Why can't you just jump off the pier and leave me alone?"I growl and push myself up, holding my injured side as pain shot from what I just know will become a bruise on my arm.

"Hey Hope are you okay?" 'She' sounded worried, and judging by the frown on her face and the way she looked at my injury she was sorry to. "Here let me carry that…"

"Just jump off the damn pier and leave me alone." I growl and walk, heh actually it's more like an unbalanced hobble, towards the cabin.

"What's with the hostility?" 'She' didn't sound happy. "Aren't we buddy's?"

Buddies? I kind of wonder what drugs she must be on. Because 'that' is not my friend.

'She's' always doing something to me. From throwing books at me during class to stealing my lunch. Hell she beat me up once, though since it was after Vanille broke up with me maybe she thought I did something... But still she beat the crap out of me!

"No, we're not." I say harshly, praying it deters her from talking to me.

"Why not?" But of course that prayer is ignored, thank you very much Kami-sama.

"You're always bullying me." I fix her with my sternest stare, for good measure of course. "Embarrassing me in front of girls, forcing me to do your homework, borrowing my moped only to return it to me in pieces and." I pause a second, she's looking away from me and I want her to know the emphasis on this last one. "You hung me, by my underwear no less, from a flag pole in front of Lightning last week. Lightning, the girl I've had a huge crush on since Vanille broke up with me… which I kind of think was your fault to actually…"

"Hey, how was that my fault?" 'She' crossed her arms and shot me a glare. "I had nothing to do with Vanille breaking up with you…"

"Fang, you're her sister." I state simply, I don't want to confuse her with too many big words here. "And since the day I said hi to Vanille you've been trying to get rid of me."

"I…" Fang bit her lower lip, still not looking at me.

"That's what I thought." I turn my back to her, half expecting to get hit in the head, and walk towards the cabin.

After a moment I hear her footsteps following me, much to my chagrin. Why can't Fang leave me alone? I know she doesn't like me; heck since Vanille broke up with me Fang's been picking on me even more than normal… maybe she thinks I broke up with Vanille?

I shake my head, thinking about Fang is the last thing I want to do on my vacation. Too much stress revolved around my thoughts of her, and this was my break. No stress, no worries. Just me and about a dozen hot pockets in front of the TV watching some brain deadening program until I can't feel anything anymore.

So I take the last few steps up to the cabin. I grasp the polished bronze knob and with a push opened the door…

"Wow." To reveal what was possibly the worst mess I've ever seen. "Are you a hoarder Hope?"

I deliver the best glare I can must to Fang, who just rolls her eyes and smirks devilishly. At Least now I know why dad said I could hang out here for a week. This must have been where he goes when he has a fight with mom, and he figured I'd clean it up for him.

The living room was a large dark room, with pleasant blue walls and oaken floors. A large L couch was situated in a corner, across from the TV, with a nice coffee table in front of it. A very nice Persian style rug was under it, illuminated by the lights on the white ceiling fan which spun slowly over head.

Honestly it would be a nice place if it weren't for the mess. Clothes were thrown everywhere; trash littered the floor and on the ceiling was…

"Are those boxers yours?" A pair of black boxers, which were mine, that had white fangs on them were hanging from the ceiling fan, spinning slowly, mockingly… how did those even get here anyways?

"Maker take me now…" I beg as I feel her pat me hard on the back.

"Ah, you must have a secret thing for me then." I really hate the way she says that, makes my face hot and uncomfortable. "Don't worry I won't tell anyone." Oh and that wink! I think she's trying to lull me into a false sense of security before killing me.

Then again her names Fang. Maybe she's a vampire? Biding her time until she can suck my blood…

"I do not…" I take a few steps away from her, just in case. "And why the hell are you in my cabin anyways? I don't remember inviting you to join me."

"Ah." Fang pouts, but really it's not innocent and cute at all. "You don't want me here?"

"Nope, I don't want you here at all." And if a pout isn't cute and innocent it won't work on me. "Now leave." Which is probably why Vanille got away with pretty much anything she wanted to when we were going out.

"Hey come on Hope." Fang gave up on the pout and settles for a frown instead. "I need a place to stay for awhile, Vanille dropped me off a couple hours ago and with my driver's license revoked I can't really leave…"

"Your driver's license is revoked?" I raise an eyebrow at this. "How did that happen?"

Fang may have been irresponsible, annoying, mean and downright evil to me. But when it came to driving she loved it too much to do anything really wrong. She said it was the most free she's ever felt, so I don't think she'd be too irresponsible about it…

"Well I kinda got a ticket for speeding last week…" Fang grumbles, looking away from me and towards my boxers that are still spinning, tauntingly, from the fan. "Vanille screwed up my speedometer so I was going ten miles an hour faster than I thought I was… honestly Vanille has no talent when it comes to machines so I don't understand why she always thinks she can mess with my stuff."

I sigh. I completely understand, Vanille was always trying to 'fix' my stuff to. From the alarm clock, which short circuited and blew the houses breakers, to my moped, which literally blew up in a ball of flames one morning… I was just glad I wasn't on it when it decided to go.

"Fine." So I gave in. "You can stay here." Her pout may not have worked, but I just never could turn down someone who needs help. "But." Which is not to say she can do whatever she wants. "You have to listen to me here. This is where I'm staying and you can join me as long as you listen to me, alright?"

"Yes sir!" Fang had a Cheshire grin as she saluted me, with the wrong hand of course. "I'll listen to whatever you say as long as I'm here."

Why do I have the feeling I'm going to regret this? Probably because I will…

"Alright then." I toss my suitcases towards the couch. "I'm going to go find the hammock, you do whatever you want." And they land with soft thud sounds.

"Aren't ya going to clean the mess?" Fang cocks her head to the side and gives me what I can best describe as a 'mom' look. That look a mother gives her child when he needs them to do something now.

"No, I have no interest in cleaning my father's mess." I say honestly. "That's probably why he let me stay here so I would clean it. And I have no intention of giving in to his selfishness."

Fang locked eyes with me. One eyebrow was raised and her lips twitched in a vain attempt to stop a smirk, one of those lopsided 'you're an idiot' smirks.

"So you're going to leave the mess and become a sloppy pig instead?" Oh! There it is again, that smug voice. "I guess I should have expected it of you, I mean have you seen your locker at school…"

"You've been in my locker?" I knew instinctively that there was a blank, probably dumb, look on my face. An eyebrow was most definitely raised, one emerald eye was opened further then the other and my lips were drawn into a slight frown.

"…You trying to change the subject." And with that Fang turned her back to me, grumbling something under her breath that sounded like 'perceptive devil.'

"Even if I am what were you doing in my locker?" I have to know, after all if she set up some kind of trap that's just waiting for my return I should know about it right?

"I didn't do anything." I'm not sure because of her bronze skin but was her face a shade redder then normal? "Just returned a book Vanille borrowed, she said you were sad whenever she was around so I did it for her."

Actually that was pretty believable. I found a book I had been missing in my locker recently, but why would she be blushing then?

"Whatever." Doesn't matter, I need to find that hammock so I can…

"Hey ya still need to clean this mess." Fang's being very stubborn about this whole cleaning thing.

I look at her, trying to throw a glare her way. Fang's leaning against the wall with arms crossed over her stomach. Her face was neutral, which didn't help me figure out why she was so adamant about cleaning.

"Why should…" She unconsciously bit her lower lip, and it was cute. "…Alright fine." Way cuter then the pout, I hope she doesn't figure that out. "But don't try anything screwy." Because I do not need Fang, of all people, knowing how to manipulate me.

"Scouts honor." She grinned and I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my being...

"I hate cleaning." I groan as I lay down on the couch.

"It's only been ten minutes." Fang says, looking down on me with that damnable smirk. "You're a full fledged nerd, aren't you?"

"At least I'm not some muscle bound girl." I complain and roll over.

"Hey!" And get a foot in my side. "Ya better take that back." She's pissed, and that sandal clad foot is starting to hurt.

"Why, I thought you were proud you were so strong." I remark stubbornly, there's no way she's going to bully me on my vacation. Not as long as I have anything to say about it!

I was moderately surprised when I felt the weight of her foot leave my side. In my gut I felt like it was a trap, cleverly designed for me to look towards her and get her foot in the face instead of the side.

But trap or not curiosity got the better of me and slowly I look her way. Fang is standing by the couch, staring down at me. Her eyes are narrowed oddly and her lips are drawn in a thin line. A hand was on a hip and she seemed to be thinking about something.

I really can't read her body language; I never have been good at that. It's something that got me in trouble with Vanille when I mistook the pissed off pout with hands on hips for the cute pout that meant she was happy with me and kidding around, I got in a lot of trouble with that one.

But however in adept I was at reading body language even I could tell I was either about to be beaten to a pulp or, if you'll excuse the pun, hopefully ignored.

"What do you like about Lightning?" Fang asks, voice serious.

Well that wasn't what I expected, not at all.

"What?" I blink once disbelievingly.

"I asked what you liked about Lightning." Fang crosses her arms and starts to look annoyed, a look I'm very familiar with. "Is it her hair? Maybe it's that stupid jacket she likes…" Then Fang narrows her eyes at me, which probably isn't good. "Or are you staring at her…"

"Hold on a second." I interrupt because I know whatever was at the end of that sentence will be awkward, and I'm not ready for awkward right now. "Why do you want to know? Don't tell me your planning on ruining my shot with Lightning now." Yeah, let's piss her off Hope… good thinking…

"I-I." Did Fang, arguably the toughest person in school, just stutter? "Just wanted to know, what's so wrong about that?"

Maybe I should push my luck? Because there has to be a reason she wants to know about Lightning. Then again she just stuttered in front of me, do I really want to push the issue and get killed? No I don't! Not before I get to lie in the hammock and sleep all week.

"She's really pretty." I have to sound like some love sick puppy. "And she's great at everything she does." Then again I feel like a love sick puppy so I guess it fits. "And she's strong, really strong. I kind of want to be like her…"

"So you don't mind strong women?" Fang seemed awfully keen on this line of questioning.

"No, honestly the only girl I've ever really like who wasn't strong was Vanille." I mutter, though Vanille had a different kind of strength. I decide not to tell Fang that, it would take more time to explain and I'm not totally sure Fang would understand it anyways.

"Good." Fang smiles and sits on the couch next to me. "Then we don't have a problem."

Fang leans back and put's her hands behind her head and reclines like she doesn't have a care in the world. She even props her feet up on the coffee table and smirks, that devilish smirk that always makes me worry.

Maybe I'm over reacting. I try not to put much thought into it as I roll over and nestle into the side of the couch intent on taking a nap.

And I almost made it to the safety of dream land when Fang's laugh came. Now I would like to describe it as some evil bestial sound, but I would be lying. No it was actually a pleasant sound, light and happy if not a little gruff around the edges. And that stupid accent made it even cuter… if you could call anything about her cute.

"Hey Hope." I felt her hand on my shoulder, shaking lightly. "Come on, wake up." Her palm was surprisingly soft, not that I cared of course.

"What do you want?" I asked exasperatedly, tilting my head to the side so I can look up at her.

"I'm bored." She said with a grin.

"Good for you." I mutter and let my head drop back to the couch.

"Oh come on." She's leaning over me; I can feel her body press to against my back. "You're the host." Her head is right behind mine, A couple strands of wavy hair brush against my ear. My face is definitely bright red, and why does my stomach hurt so much?

"What does that have to do with anything?" I silently congratulate myself on keeping an even tone of voice, because I almost squeaked and I am not giving her the satisfaction of hearing me do that.

"Come on, I'm bored!" She's still complaining, and in my ear no less.

Maybe I should give in and tell her where my laptop is? I'm sure even Fang, the least tech savvy person I've ever met, can find something to occupy herself with online…

Then again do I really want to traumatize my laptop like that?

"You can clean?" The answer is no, the poor thing went through enough when Vanille used to borrow it. There's really no reason to let Fang kill the poor computer.

"Clean?" Fang moved away from me, standing up and crossing her arms again. "Come on Hope, we can play soccer. It'll be fun; I'll even go easy on you."

"I don't like sports." I muttered and try to burry myself further into the couch.

Okay not liking sports is a bit of a lie. I used to play on my old schools football team, and before that I was pretty good at soccer and surfing. But Fang's involved. And whenever Fang and sports get together someone almost winds up dead… actually that seems to happen whenever I'm around Fang at all, she almost killed me with a magazine once which is nothing compared to the damage she did to my house with a text book…

"Then why do you always watch the girls playing soccer?" Fang asks, and I know there's a raised eyebrow.

"Because Lightning's on the soccer team and those shorts are really cute." I answer without hesitation, better then admitting I kind of wanted to play soccer again and since there isn't a guy team the best I can do is watch.

"What about me?" I can practically hear Fang's pout. "I play soccer to, and I'm way cuter then Lightning."

"Not really."Fang is not cuter then Lightning, and even if she was I'd never admit it to her.

"Hey!" Fang shouts, she sounds pissed off. "There's way more guys interested in me then Lightning."

I roll over and stared up at the angry Fang. Arms crossed, eyes narrowed and a scowl which showcased her sharp teeth in a threatening manner. This look reminded me of a pissed off wolf about to brutally maul someone, namely me.

"I think that's because she scares most guys away." I say as I rise to a sitting position, napping is out of the question for now anyways. "I mean just look at Lightning, she looks scary with those narrowed eyes. And she's beaten up every guy in school…"

"Except you." Fang frowned, thinking about something for a moment, and then shrugged."Guess you look to fragile to really hit, kind of like a girl…"

I do not like it when Fang has a contemplative expression. It can only spell certain doom for me.

"I do not look like a girl." I protest angrily.

Okay I'll admit my face is softer than most guys. And my body may have a more feminine shape than most men. But I am not a girl, my voice is soft but it's still a guys. I mean okay there was an old lady at the store who thought I was a girl because my hairs longer than most males… But Fang do you seriously think I look like a girl? I don't know why but that kind of hurts…

"Hey I think it's kinda cute." She says so simply, like she was pointing out the sky is blue or that it sucks to get sand in your underwear. "Besides I guess since you don't want to play you can't really prove me wrong can you?"

Oh so that was her game. Bait me into playing with taunts. Does she really think such a childish strategy will work on me? What does she think I am, fourteen?

"Guess you're not tough enough for Lightn'in." Fang grins, she knows my weakness. "I mean Cid would have taken me up on that in a heartbeat. Maybe she should go out with him?" Curse you Fang, curse you.

"Fine." I say in a half sigh half growl. "I'll play soccer with you." She seems to beam at this, making me wonder if I just signed my death warrant.

"Then let's go…"

"Ya ready Hope?" Fang asks, putting a soccer ball on the ground in front of her bare feet.

"No, but let's do this anyways." I mutter, giving my bare feet a glance.

We were behind the cabin with the ocean to our side. For some reason Fang had insisted on playing without sandals so we were both wearing swim trunks and a shirt, for me a yellow T-shirt and her that blue tank top.

She grins and I start to regret this. Maybe I should have kept trying for that nap?

But as Fang brought her foot back to kick I realized it was too late to turn back now.

Fang's foot moved fast as she kicked the ball with her toe. It became a white blur heading straight for my head, but that wasn't a problem.

Her kick was very straightforward, very practiced. And since I've watched her play against Lightning so much it was also very predictable.

I gave the fast moving ball a head but. For a second I thought it would force my head back violently, because that sucker hurt. But that split second passed and it went towards Fang's stomach.

"I guess." With a quick, and low, spin she kicked the ball with her heel. "The rumors are true." It was far more reminiscent of a fighter then a soccer player. "You did play soccer."

The ball was moving way faster. I wasn't going to get away with another head but, not that I was going to anyways.

"Not just soccer." I move my body into a back flip.

The side of my foot connects and sends the ball airborne. I land on my feet and do a quick spin, keeping my limbs close to my body to maximize speed, and kicked the ball back at her.

"Good." Unfortunately for me she's not playing nice anymore, and her reflexes are infinitely superior to mine…"I guess I don't feel so guilty about this then!"

She kicked it. And this time I swear it made a sonic boom as it came at me.

"Ah shi…" I think there was a cracking sound as the ball impacted me squarely in the crotch.

The impact was enough to force my body to flip over. I landed hard on my face, loud groans of pain escaping my lips.

"Ah crap!" She sounds concerned, that's nice if she sounded happy I'd be really pissed. "Hope are you okay?" Why yes I am, you just turned my privates into a pancake and probably ended my ability to have children when I'm married. But I'm really just peachy.

"Man oh man." She does sound worried… wonder If I can guilt her into cooking dinner? "I'm so sorry!" Good, now I want pizza… Wait is she picking me up?

Fang had rolled over me and was picking me up. I was shocked enough that the intense, no mind killing, pain in my groin seemed distant for a moment as she held me bridal style in her arms. This was weird… but I'm not sure if I mind so much. Under other circumstances it might have been kind of nice.

She rushes into the house and sets me down on the couch. She looks… kinda worried. I've never seen her look like that concerning anyone but Vanille.

"F-Fang." I groan, the pain really is overwhelming.

"Hey just go to sleep for awhile." She grins, okay now I'm worried again. "I'll wake you up later. Right now you need to rest, okay?" She's trying to comfort me. Wow, I can feel my face heating up again.

And as I start to black out I can't help but think that this vacation is going to be anything but boring…

(A/N)

Hey. I'm not dead, life's just been a… well you know. It rhymes with itch. I've been super busy with my school deciding it was a good time to start testing, I hate math by the way, and getting ready to take my college entrance exams I've just been super busy. It's just been a stress full time of my life…

That's not an excuse for not getting my stuff done on schedule, but it is the reason why.

Now why did I start a HopexFang piece? Well normally I'm a hopexlightning guy, it just makes sense to me. But a friend wanted me to write a FangxHope piece because he said it's an underserviced part of the community. I told him it'd have to wait until after I finish my other story's, he offered me twenty bucks… Now I'm a typical perpetually broke teenager. And I'm going to be meeting this really cute girl next week, who thinks I'm cute(: so I need some pocket money. It's what I call equal exchange… and I kind of find hopexfang interesting anyways, so I have an excuse to write it.

Not to mention it gives me a chance to try out a first person perspective before I publish I'm a guy, I swear. So, if you'll forgive the pun, it lets me sharpen my fangs a bit before hand.

Now I know Hope's OOC (out of character) but in the game he was fourteen. Even over two years teenagers tend to change drastically. Fang strikes me as OOC as well. Honestly she's one my favorite characters from the game, but I've never written a character like her so I probably got it wrong. Give me some time and I'll get 'er right. Or at least figure out how to write that cool accent of hers...

And honestly I've been gone from Because you are my Hope and Legacy of the forgotten for three weeks now. I need to read over them before continuing so I can remember where I was going with those story's.

And as my final note I will be posting another fic tonight. The rewrite of the FFXIII story. I've gotten more messages concerning that anything else so I think it's only right to post what I've got, and since I've found a site that has the game in watchable format I can write it fairly quickly… and I'm really enjoying that one so I want to share.

Bah, sorry it's a long Authors note…

Disclaimer:

I do not own it. Final Fantasy XIII is the property of square enix… except a copy of the game. That's mine and they ain't getting it back…

Laters!
Chazz