Chapter One- The Fitting

Hope had thought that all the fuss about attending the New Bodhum Educational Facility had died down, as no one in the household had brought it up since the argument a few days ago. Stepping out of his bedroom, a small grin spread throughout his face, reaching his green eyes. He was safe.

Lightning stepped out of her bedroom, glancing at the mop haired teenager before calmly making her way to the kitchen to start breakfast, already dressed in her uniform. Unfortunately for Hope, he was unable to register the smirk that had formed on the older woman's lips as she brushed past him.

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"Hope, get the door. It's probably Serah." Nodding his head, Hope cleared the last plate that had been used for breakfast and placed it in the basin before running to get the door. Lightning would punish him if Serah even cracked a joke about having to wait for ages to be let in… much like last time.

Serah had apologized to Hope a countless amount of times for that occasion.

Wrenching open the door, he breathlessly welcomed the short young woman back into their humble abode.

"Hi Hope!" Serah chirped gleefully as she made her way into the house with Hope in tow. Gently placing the grocery bags onto the kitchen counter, Serah made a beeline for her warm plate of food with watery eyes.

"All of this for me?" Blinking repeatedly, in a great show of everyday Serah-emotion, she threw Lightning and Hope watery smiles before digging in hungrily. Hope winced at the gusto in which Serah inhaled her food.

It was no wonder her and Snow were a perfect match for each other.

Speaking of Snow…

"Light, did you send Snow off for an errand too?" Serah began to choke, spluttering her food around, though the way she did it, she made it look cute. Hope had a feeling that if he did the same thing, he'd end up getting socked in the face by Lightning.

Hope turned to Lightning, expecting to see her grimace at Serah's lack of manners.

To his surprise and utter amazement, Lightning was completely engrossed in the task at hand- vigorously scrubbing dried egg yolk off a ceramic plate. He had completely missed the suspicious glint in her eyes as she worked her magic on the stubborn dish.

"Uh, Light?" Her eyes widened at Hope's voice. Regaining her stoic posture, she shut off the tap and gave a curt nod to the young silverette.

"You could say that."

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Hope had quickly dressed himself for a day out in New Bodhum's Commercial District. It had been a very long time since the whole family was able to take a day off and spend time together. Sure, Snow was still no where to be seen- but Hope was just grateful he could be a kid again.

A blissful smile graced his youthful features- his worries were finally spent. As a matter of fact, he had not a worry in the world.

That was, until he caught a glance of the blond giant waving his arms at the three newcomers. Usually, this wouldn't bother Hope all that much; after all, the family had built up a resistance towards getting embarrassed in public by Snow. They preferred to laugh at him now rather than run away, faces as red as organic tomatoes.

But the sign a few centimeters above Snow's head shouted 'DANGER' to Hope's survival instincts. If he moved one step towards that building- that man- THAT SIGN, he'd have no chance for survival.

Gulping, Hope did the one thing he was sure he had mastered during his l'cie adventures.

He ran.

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"I can't believe I'm actually raising this idiot." Hope sulked openly in front of Snow, Serah and Lightning. The soldier sighed and rubbed her temple, indicating the level of her severe annoyance. Hope's head sunk further towards the ground, perpendicular to his shoulders as Serah shook her head in disappointment along with her older sister.

"I can't believe he actually tried to run away…" Snow muttered to himself. Ignoring the man who had crash tackled him onto the unforgiving pavement, Hope sighed, his shoulders slumping even further in defeat.

He had lost this battle.

A squeal shook the young teen out of his misery, his eyes darting over to a gleeful looking Serah. His eyes widened in horror as he caught sight of the source of Serah's happiness.

Lightning grinned, despite herself.

"Like your new uniform Hope?"

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Hope gulped loudly as he took in the magnificent- yet freaky- sight of the fitter before him. The man's pointy light blue hair and vein-y face had Hope on edge. But what had really scared him was the typical soft spoken voice that screamed 'PEDOPHILE'. Hope's eyes landed on the man's nametag.

"Seymour Guado, at your service my dear boy." The man supplied, a smile too kind to be genuine plastered onto his features. Hope gulped yet again. He suddenly started feeling VERY thankful that Snow had been forced to accompany him into the fitting area by both Farron sisters.

"And now, my boy- it's time for you to shed your clothes." Hope shot a panicked look at an equally stricken Snow.

"Man, is that absolutely necessary?" Despite his situation, Hope snorted sarcastically.

"Is going to school necessary?"

Poor Hope had been completely ignored.

"I'm sure our dear boy here would want decent school attire for the year, am I right?" Another creepy smile was sent Hope's way. The young boy shuffled away from the pedophilic man and shook his head.

Snow, despite the awkward atmosphere, shoved Hope back in the direction of the shady fitting man.

"Fine, just be quick about it." Snow muttered. A ghastly scowl took over Hope's scandalized expression.

"HEY! I think that's a decision for me to make for myself-" A shiver passed over his cool skin as he spoke. Funny, he could have sworn it was quite warm in the room just a minute ago…

"Milky white skin… typical for a juicy young boy such as yourself- hmmm." Hope stumbled backwards as the blue haired freak's breath invaded his personal space- quite horrifically if he could say so himself.

"LIGHTNING! HELP!"

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Hope trudged out of the uniform shop, hating his while collared button up shirt and black fitted slacks. He could not and WOULD NOT see the point of having a uniform in the first place. So yes, he had to go to that 'school'. He'd accepted that begrudgingly a few hours ago, but the uniform… Hope shivered at the memory of the fitting man.

"I'm never going back there again." Hope dead panned as an apologetic Serah patted his head soothingly while a smirking Snow and satisfied Lightning followed close behind.

"At least we've finished the hard part!" Serah encouraged, with a slight punch to Hope's side. The boy smiled wryly at her. He wanted to get mad and claw someone's eyes out- but Serah's kind temperament made that hard to do.

So he settled for sulking back home.

Wallowing in his pitiful sorrows, he failed to witness Snow begrudgingly pass 40 gil to a smug looking Lightning.