(Disclaimer: I and my best friend and co-author for this story only own our original characters. We can dream of owning the Final Fantasy characters but it's not too likely that it'll ever happen.)

(A/N: Okay, so I'm been uber busy. School, homework, other stories… editing this story… *sighs* it's a lot to deal with. Anyways… this is the first chapter that's been edited; I'll be posting the newly edited chapters once a month if all goes well. Also I've removed all stand-alone Author Notes. Hope you enjoy the story and the changes that have been made and the ones that are to come. Oh! And one last thing, at the start of each chapter underneath the chapter number it'll say from whose point of view the chapter is in.)

Dear Journal

A Final Fantasy VII Fanfiction

Chapter 1

Kasumi

Dear Journal,

This is my first journal entry in this book… that I suppose is supposed to be a record of my life, my thoughts, my dreams… or whatever I think should be in here… Anyways, I guess I should write a little about me, right?

Well, I'm normal… I guess, I mean everyone thinks of themselves as being normal and there's really no such thing as normal… I mean, what's normal to one person would be odd or rather weird to another because what's normal to one person is not normal to another…

Darn it… I'm rambling…

Anyways, about me… I'm your typical newbie at college… and school hasn't even started yet… School begins in a little over a month and I just had orientation a few days ago… I'm sad to say that I had an embarrassing moment at orientation, I was sitting in a broken chair but didn't know it, one of the back legs of the chair was split, and I leaned back slightly to see around a pillar in the meeting room and… the chair fell backwards and everyone… I do mean EVERYONE was staring at me… It was nice of our group leader to ask if I was ok, but I wish I had known that was going to happen so I could have avoided it or even been prepared for it ya know?

Moving on, I was like almost everyone else there: worried and nervous and full of hope and wonder. I'm not one of those girls who turn heads as she walks into a room, I'm not breath-taking, and I'm not the smartest person out there.

But I am one of those people who won't leave a friend behind, I refuse to give up writing or drawing or reading for that matter… I couldn't live without paper, pen/pencil, or a book… I love music, I love my pet… She is family no matter what anyone says… Several of my guy friends say that I'm pretty or beautiful or something along those lines, but I don't see it… I'm not ugly, that much I know, but beautiful? You've got to be kidding me; I'm not beautiful or pretty… just not ugly.

I'm 19 years old, but I'll be 20 in a few months.

I've got long hair that comes down to my lower back… I'm debating on getting it cut; it is a pretty color and natural too… it's a shade of blue similar to the color of the night sky with highlights of lighter shades of blue. My eyes are a mix of a stormy gray and an ocean blue color. More often than not, I'm wearing clothes that are considered to be Goth or Punk, but I don't really fit in any single category… by category I mean like Goth, Punk, Prep, Jock, Nerd, Loner, etc. I don't fit into any one category because depending upon who I'm with changes how I act and which category/categories I fit into. Some of my friends say I'm a 'wild card' because of my ability to fit in with many different groups.

So, my summer is almost over and everything seems to be going alright… my friends are getting on my case about my decision to not have a boyfriend. Miki is always telling me, "Kasumi, you need to get yourself a guy."

But Yuri says, "Kasumi, don't mind Miki; she's just jealous of your resolve."

And then Miki's like, "Yeah, right. Just watch Kasumi'll keep with that promise and she'll end up as the little old lady with like a million cats."

In response to that I say, "I won't mind being 'the little old lady with like a million cats'," but I really do mind… I don't want to be an old woman with only cats to keep her company; the idea scares me. And, yes, my name is Kasumi; it means 'mist' in Japanese, original I know. I'd roll my eyes at that but it's not like this journal is a video recorder, oh well. Anyways, I'm sick of my friends fighting over why I do/don't need a boyfriend and some of my guy friends keep asking me out, but I think of them as my brothers or just friends… I don't think of them as anything more or less, why can't they see that?

Sorry, rambling again… but I suppose this is the place to do such things as rambling and just writing my own thoughts and feelings.

So, I guess that I should tell you how tall I am, but to be honest, I haven't the foggiest idea… I know, I know, it's something I should know, but who truly can say how tall they are? I mean a lot of people claim to be something like five foot six and doctors will claim that your five foot five and a half or even something like five foot six and a quarter. So, since I don't like trying to remember what the doctors claim I am, I decided that I just won't try.

So, it's July here and I'm hoping college goes well, wish me luck!

Lots of Love,

Kasumi Mizushima

Kasumi had just finished looking back at the first journal entry in her journal that she had written when she had been getting ready to enter her first year of college. It often surprised her just how sweet and innocent and naïve she sounded in her first journal entry. That was before she started college; now in her third year of college, she wasn't sure she could say that she was that sweet and innocent girl anymore… well, she was kind of like her old self when around her friends. She flipped through the pages, through the different journal entries, looking them over and reminiscing about the past. She sighed and silently wondered how she could've changed so much in the time that had passed; how could she have changed so much between the ages of nineteen, going on twenty, and twenty-one, about to be twenty-two, she wasn't sure.

It had been almost three months since she had last had time to sit down and actually write in her journal; she had just flipped to a new page near the halfway point of the journal and gotten the first words 'dear journal' down on paper when two girls entered her bedroom. "Kasumi, love, what are you doing?"

Kasumi blushed, "I was writing." She stuttered slightly as she looked up at her best friends from her seat on the floor; her attire was a simple black dress with a blue ribbon wrapped around her waist.

"Why are you sitting on the ground?" a girl with shoulder length, blond hair asked in her usual exasperated way; her blue eyes half lidded and her lips pursed.

"Miki," the other girl fended surprise, "Kasumi, usually sits on the ground as she writes or draws something. I think it makes her remember her family in Japan some." She had long, black hair that fell to her hips and had green ends. Her eyes were an orange color and were shining with mirth.

"Oh, right, thanks Yuri! I keep forgetting that Kasumi has family overseas on the islands that make up Japan." Miki said, as blunt as always; Miki didn't like beating around the bush much, unless it was something she really didn't want to talk about something which didn't happen that often. Kasumi stood up, journal and pen in hand, rushed over to her closet, grabbed one of the few pairs of shoes she had, slipped the black flats on, and was ready to go to the movies after dropping the writing tool and the journal on her desk next to the black and red laptop and a pile of books.

They had been planning this day for weeks, not out of boredom, but because they three had just been uber busy. Yuri had her job at a casino and was still dressed in the mini skirt, tank-top, and black heels that made up her uniform. Miki was a salesclerk and was dressed in her work uniform which was a nice green blouse, black slacks, and some cute shoes that matched. Kasumi spent most of her days doing odd jobs; most of her jobs were to protect people, usually CEOs or other wealthy people… she was good at it, although her friends didn't know that she was a bodyguard, and she hated lying to them… but what could she do? The best way to protect them was to not hang out with them as much as they all would like and to keep them from finding out. She had just recently finished being a bodyguard for a very powerful man and she was glad, he was creepy. She just hoped that she wouldn't get a call from a possible future employer while she was out with Miki and Yuri; she didn't want to have to leave early, they had been planning this day for far too long.

"Well, let's get going!" Kasumi latched onto her best friends as they left her room and headed for the door, after making sure that everything was locked up and the lights were off.