Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction / Kingdom Hearts Fan Fiction ❯ Jenova's Children ❯ Decadence ( Chapter 18 )

Jenova's Children

By Kawaii and Junsui

 

Chapter 18

Decadence

 

Riku would rather be back on the islands cutting himself than subjecting himself to this torture.

Haruki yanked on a fistful of silver hair and the pale boy's head was jerked harshly to one side. He winced as she pulled them taut and for a split second, he feared that he was going to loose the large clump.

“I've always wanted girls soooo badly…” Haruki groaned, grabbing another piece of loose silver hair to continue the French braid, “Its great that you grew your hair out Riku! Now I can play with it whenever I want!”

“… my head feels greasy…” He mumbled to himself as Yuffie turned around from where she was watching an anime on TV with an obnoxiously large amount of sparkles and teenaged sailor girls.

“That would be the gross amount of product Haruki used!” The Wutianese girl explained with a mischievous grin. Haruki scoffed lightly, hazel eyes flicking to the tiny young woman on her couch.

“It's a perfectly healthy amount and I do think it softens his hair wonderfully—its like silk!” She added breathlessly, raising the unbraided strands to her cheek and rubbing against it with a sigh, “Oh, I remember how much Sitoshi hated it when I played with his hair—your brother, too! Nearly lost three fingers doing that brat's hair in a twist, can you believe that? I'm just glad you're not like that, Riku.”

`Must… resist… urge… to… kill…' Riku thought with a twitch of his eye, “Uh… yeah.”

“You turned out to be such a beautiful boy!” Haruki gushed, absolutely fawning over the teen whose hair she was still braiding into a dangerously tight plait, “So androgynous!”

`I don't know weather to take that as an insult or a compliment…' The teen thought, exasperated, but kept his words to himself as Yuffie cackled and turned around on the sofa completely, sitting on her knees and resting her arms on the back.

“Yeah Ri-ku, you should cosplay sometime! Or better yet—crossplay!” She grinned deviously as Haruki squealed in delight. Riku had no idea what crossplay meant, but in his minds eye, he conjured up an image of himself dressed in a frilly lolita dress whilst Yuffie and Haruki primped him with makeup.

But, thankfully, before that nightmare became a reality, Yuffie's cell phone began to blare a frighteningly cheerful tune from within her pocket—Riku recognized it from a show Kairi and Selphie had once watched obsessively (The Melancholy of Haruhi Something-or-another). Yuffie flipped open the device and pressed it to her ear, beaming all the while.

“Hi-hi! This is Yuffie!” The ninja answered brightly, she blinked several times, her eyes brightening, “Vinnie!? HI VINNIE! HOW—?” She paused, her face relaxing considerably, “Yea. Yea, he's right here, so's Haruki—we're doing fiiiiiiiine, we just went shopping today!” She paused to giggle happily, “I got a new sweatshirt and a new pair of boots and some cheesy poofs and a couple of phoenix down—.” She stopped in mid-sentence, intent on listening, “Yeah? Okay....OOOH!” She perked up suddenly, eyes becoming the size of saucers before she flailed one arm wildly, grinning like an idiot, “OOH! OOH! VINNIE! We should go to Wutai! No, I'm not on crack!” She scowled to herself, but quickly regained her cheer, “Seriously, we should! Listen, Vinnie… LISTEN! Okay! So, we can meet you at that port and from there, we can go on a—boat…” Yuffie spat the word with as much distain as she could muster, “To Wutai, and there we can get a chance to stock up on a bunch of really nice supplies and maybe even a few mastered materia. It would be good to have a lot of supplies in case… well, ya know.” She stopped to listen to him, scratching patterns into the couch before she smiled triumphantly, “Okies, Vinnie! We'll meet you at the dock later tonight—and we'll be sure to bring some potions for retard.” It could only be assumed that `retard' was Kadaj, still suffering from his arm injury, “Alrighy then, I loooooove yooooou... bye-bye!”

She snapped the phone closed and peered at Riku and Haruki, whom were still sitting on the living room floor staring up at the girl expectantly, “Hey Riku,” She beamed, “We're going on an adventuuuuuuure.”

The first sound Kadaj heard was water: swelling, crashing, hissing, and ebbing away before repeating once more. Swelling, crashing, hissing, and ebbing again and again. The second thing he heard was footsteps: heavy, metal footsteps upon stone.

There was a clicking noise and then the sound of fabric rustling. “Yuffie, this is Vincent.” There was faint, distorted squealing from what could only be on the other line of a phone, “Fine. We're fine. Where's Riku?” He stopped to listen, releasing an exasperated sigh, “Yuffie. Yuffie. Listen. We're in a cave just off of the shore, about a twenty minute walk from South Ridge port. Do you think that you could meet us there later tonight or tomorrow morning?” Kadaj cracked open an eye to see Vincent jerk the phone away from his ear, frowning slightly, “Yuffie… are you on crack?” He raised his hand to his temple rubbing slightly, “No, Yuffie. We don't have… fine, I'm listening.” He paused to hear her out, his claret eyes flashing as they darted to see Kadaj beginning to push himself off of the ground, “… that does sound reasonable. Would it be too much to ask of you to meet us at the dock tonight? I'd like to get going as soon as possible—also, when you come, could you bring some food and a few potions, Kadaj's arm still seems to be bothering him.” He nodded, even though Yuffie could not see him from the other line, “I love you, too, Yuffie, goodbye.”

He closed the phone and looked down at Kadaj, “How are you feeling?” He inquired; Kadaj rested his back against the wall of the wave, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before he opened them once more to scour the cave.

“Like shit.” He choked out, grabbing at his forehead, “I feel like I passed out and then someone put me on a twirl-and-hurl.” Vincent smirked and laughed softly, turning his head to watch the ocean crash against the beach below them. “What the fuck happened anyway?”

“I had to escape off of a cliff. I used to my cloak to fly us here and I presume you passed out during the experience.” Explained Vincent, reaching into the folds of his cloak and removing a small, silver packet, “Here.” He tossed it to Kadaj, whom caught the parcel from midair with ease, despite his discombobulated condition. He raised an eyebrow, turning it over several times in his hands, “It's a power bar.” Vincent explained, “Like the kind you get at gyms.”

“O… kay?” Kadaj peeled it open and took a bite, staring at the inconspicuous bar. It didn't necessarily taste bad, but it didn't taste like anything he'd ever eaten, either. However, he found that he was strangely hungry and began to munch on it while Vincent glanced at the clock on his cell phone and then at the silent teen beside him.

“Are you alright? You're acting strangely calm.” He asked, quirking an eyebrow at Kadaj, whom shrugged.

“I have no fucking clue, really.” He took a bite out of his power bar and chewed thoughtfully, swallowing before continuing, “I guess I'm just still in a state of shock THAT WE JUMPED OFF A FUCKING CLIFF.”

Yes, there was the true Kadaj. Vincent let out a sigh of relief he hadn't even been aware that he was holding and stood up, “If we want to meet Riku and Yuffie in time, we're going to have to start our walk now.”

Kadaj agreed quietly and stood up with a light grunt, cradling his throbbing arm to his chest before he followed the red-clad gunman out of the cave, which was nested within a rocky foothill that dropped down into a small beach—lights glistened through a thin fog down the beach, marking the port. Kadaj followed Vincent down a steep, narrow path that had been haphazardly beaten into the mountain. The various empty bottles of booze and condom boxes gave Kadaj the impression that the cave was a popular spot for teenage romantic trysts. He smirked, recalling his teenage years in Nebelheim (however short-lived) and followed Vincent down to the beach.

The sand was an odd shade of blue-grey beneath the moonlight, and sea spay from the waves crashing against the jagged rocks mixed with fog made the fall air pleasantly wet, yet fairly crisp at the same time. Kadaj was content to follow Vincent in silence (save for the crinkling of his power bar's wrapper) recalling the last time his entire family had been to the beach.

The memories were vague, and included his parents holding his hands and swinging him above the waves and attempting to burry Riku in the sand, later having to justify his actions to his mother. The memory that stood out the most, however, was the one where it had been at night, much later than he had usually stayed up at the time, and they were sitting upon a large blanket underneath the moon, watching the waves roll up and down the shore, his father's strong arms around him. Haruki sat beside them, holding a slumbering Riku, smiling gently down at the toddler.

“It should only take about twenty minutes to reach the dock.” Vincent said, jolting Kadaj out of his memories, “Thirty at most. Unless you'd like me to fly us?”

“Ugh, fuck no.” The faux-black-haired teen shook his head, clutching to his temple, “The world just stopped spinning. I swear to God I'll blow chunks.”

“Fine then.” Vincent replied, “I'm not to keen of the idea of getting vomit on my cloak, anyway.” He smirked at Kadaj as he spat a usual “keh” and glanced back to the sea churning beside them.

`Screw being back on the islands,' Riku decided, holding onto what Sora had dubbed the `oh, shit' bar above the window, `I think I'd rather be dead than this.'

Yuffie had made but one quick phone call, and a handsome WRO rental vehicle had pulled up to the house in less than fifteen minutes. A young man in a blue dress shirt and a pair of slacks had exited the vehicle and walked up to Yuffie with a polite bow, “Good evening Miss Kisaragi, and how is your vacation time going?”

“It's great!” She replied, bubbly as ever, before he handed her a set of keys.

“I hope this car is to your liking, Miss Kisaragi. I came as fast as I could when I heard you'd be in need of one— I'll have a friend pick me up later tomorrow morning, so you needn't worry about me.” He explained with a polite smile, “Have a wonderful trip!”

Wonderful indeed. Yuffie had the driving skills of a highly-caffeinated student driver; she nearly had to stomp on the breaks when she hit a light, the car seemed to jerk around whenever she turned, and Riku got the vague feeling that the way her foot seemed to pump the gas up and down was making his head bob like a chicken's.

That, and Haruki had become a backseat driver, gasping and screaming whenever she thought that the car was in the slightest of danger.

“OH, YUFFIE!' Shrieked the woman, gripping onto her armrests in sheer horror, “Be careful! Don't hit that biker! WATCH OUT FOR THAT TRUCK! Oh my goodness, you nearly gave me a heart attack!”

Riku was slammed harshly against the door as Yuffie turned before they went into a sharp correction. The ninja beamed all the while, listening to a Wutianese candy-pop station on low to drown out Haruki's antics.

Whilst coming to the conclusion that he might in fact die in the process of getting to the docks, Haruki gasped loudly and pointed out the window, “Oh, look! It's a Quick Dragon drive-through! Take a right here Yuffie!”

“Okies!” Beamed the ninja, and proceeded to cut across two lanes of traffic, eliciting a chorus of jeering horns from the rest of the drivers and turned into the Quick Dragon parking lot, driving into a small alley behind the restaurant that acted as a drive through line. A small illuminated board displayed a plethora of Wutianese dishes decorated with silly-looking dragons, among other deformed characters.

“Oh, the teriyaki chicken bowl looks really good, I think I'll have that…” Haruki decided, “What about you, sweetheart?” She asked, glancing over her shoulder to face Riku.

“Uh… I've never been to a Quick Dragon. The only fast food places we have where I come from are Ricky D's and Metro Sandwiches.” He explained, scratching at the back of his head.

“I'll have the orange chicken and fried rice… I should get Vinnie a bowl of hot and sour soup—he likes that.” Yuffie decided, turning to face Haruki, “What does Kadaj like?”

“Eh, I dunno.” The woman blinked, scratching her head thoughtfully, “I think he likes the walnut prawns, but I'm not too sure.”

“That sounds good to me.” Riku decided. He was very familiar with seafood, having grown up on an island, and hadn't had any for a long while, “I'll have that with white rice and a Coke.”

“I'll get Kadachuu the same thing.” Haruki decided happily, “Whatever you eat, I bet he'll eat it.”

“Okay.” Riku nodded and Yuffie drove up to the ordering box, rolling down her window.

“Hi, welcome to Quick Dragon, how may I help you?” An accented voice inquired from the box.

“Hi, I'd like an orange chicken meal with two servings of orange chicken and fried rice, with a root beer, and I'd also like a large bowl of hot and sour soup with an iced tea.” Yuffie replied.

“And then?”

Riku paused and shot an odd look at the small box.

“A teriyaki chicken bowl with—I'm sorry Haru-chan, what did you want?” Yuffie asked.

“With a Sprite!” Haruki shouted into the box.

“Uh huh, and then?”

“And then two walnut prawns meals with white rice and two cokes.”

“And then?”

“And that'll be it!” Yuffie beamed.

“Thank you. Total comes to…”

Riku sniggered to himself, relaxing into the seat. Haruki twisted in her seat to smile at him, “What's so funny, you?”

“Nothing, just a movie.” Riku smirked as Yuffie pulled up to the window, beating a small tune onto the steering wheel whilst whispering the words under her breath.

There was a quick exchange of money and food moments later, and Yuffie was speeding down the roadways like a chipmunk on crack once more, while Haruki provided play-by-play `things Yuffie could run into' from the passenger seat.

“The port's here, take a right!” The raven-haired woman directed as Yuffie reluctantly turned on her blinker and merged into the right lane, turning into a port where a medium-sized ship was preparing to leave for Wutai. Yuffie sped though the rows of parking spaces towards a set of familiar silhouettes below the yellow haze of a streetlamp. Throwing the car into park, she tossed open the door and ran into Vincent's arms, squealing like a twelve-year-old fangirl. Riku went around to the trunk of the car to remove their luggage whilst Vincent filled the group in on what was happening.

“We arranged to leave on tonight's departure. We should arrive in Wutai by mid-day tomorrow.” He explained, “We'll stay the night and leave the next afternoon, alright?”

“Okay!” Yuffie replied as Vincent picked up her navy blue pack and slung it over his shoulder next to his black one. The two headed off towards the ship while Riku walked up to his elder brother, handing him his pack.

“So, what happened?” He asked as his brother poked at a small cut on his hand.

“I'm way too tired for story time.” He grunted, “I'll tell you in the morning.” His eyes his brother's hair, a smirk curling onto his pale lips, “Nice braid. Did Haruki get a hold of your hair?”

Riku growled and started, but calmed as he felt a set of warm arms wrap around his arm. Haruki placed her cheek against his upper arm, tears glittering in her hazel eyes, “Take care, okay?” She whispered softly, giving him a tight squeeze. Riku made a slight noise and then turned to embrace her; the woman smashed her face into his chest and began to bawl, her body trembling with the force of her tears.

“I'll be fine, Haruki, I promise.” He said softly, lightly kissing the top of the woman's head, “It's been so wonderful meeting you, and I wish we would've had more time together.”

Haruki nodded wildly, and let out a nerve-racking sob. Riku glanced up at his elder brother, whom was looking away, his eyes narrowed with just a hint of… envy?

But before Riku knew it, Haruki was storming over to Kadaj, tossing her arms around him. He stood there, feline eyes wide with shock before she pulled away and took him by the shoulders, shaking him firmly, “If you die, I'll kill you.” She hissed threateningly. Kadaj nodded slowly before she pecked him on the cheek and then went back to Riku to do the same before looking from him to Kadaj and smiling fondly.

“My boys…” She whispered, wiping the tears away from the corners of her eyes, “I love you so.”

“We love you, too, mom.” Riku smiled whilst Kadaj mumbled: “Love you…” And then Haruki turned away to get back into the car, still wiping furiously at her eyes.

Riku and Kadaj then headed towards the boat in silence before Kadaj made a slight noise and the younger teen faced his brother, blinking in surprise, “Kadaj… are you… crying?”

“Shut up.” Kadaj growled bitterly, using his palm to wipe away the tears, “Just shut the fuck up.”

Riku frowned, concerned, and followed his brother until they met up with Vincent and Yuffie whom were standing before the ship's bridge. Yuffie had her arms folded across her chest and she was tapping her foot irately, “Come on, retards!” She snapped, “I want to get to sleep as soon as I can so I don't start tossin' cookies.” The ninja promptly snatched Vincent's hand, turned on her heel, and began to march up the bridge, Riku and Kadaj followed, to where they were greeted by a smiling hostess dressed in a floral-print kimono, her dark hair drawn into a bun at the nape of her neck.

“Welcome aboard, My Lady,” She bowed deeply to Yuffie, whom responded with a shallow bow just enough to be polite, and not curt, “Master Valentine.” She bowed once more, Vincent replied with a polite nod, “And the friends of Her Grace.” She smiled at Kadaj and Riku and bowed one final time. The exchanged glances, looked at Yuffie, and then at the hostess before bowing to her as well.

“Will you be joining the captain for dinner tonight? We're serving a decedent cut of tenderloin seasoned with Wutai's finest soy and teriyaki sauce, served with lightly fried agedashi tofu. I'm sure we can make last minute arrangements.” The woman inquired happily. Yuffie shook her head and raised the bag of fast food.

“Nope! We got Quick Dragon!” She beamed, “But thanks for the offer! Maybe these three will go for breakfast. I'm sure I'll just be busy puking my brains out!”

“As My Lady is quite prone to seasickness.” The woman nodded sadly. Riku and Kadaj stared at each other again. This scenario was becoming weirder by the second, “Would you like me to send some motion sickness medicine to your room?”

“Nah, its better just to ride it out!” Yuffie replied cheerfully, as always, “But thanks sooooo much! Bye-bye!”

With that, she drug Vincent along by his clawed arm towards the general direction of their cabins. Riku and Kadaj stared at each other strangely once more.

“She did help save the world once. I guess the people really like her.” Kadaj shrugged, “Dunno why, though.” He added sourly.

“But didn't Vincent help?” Riku asked, now completely confused, “So he should be getting the star treatment, too, right?”

“Maybe it's just because it's her home country. They probably treat Vincent like a king wherever Vampires are cultivated.” Kadaj explained with a smirk. Riku couldn't help but laugh at his brother's remark as they entered an elevator and Yuffie started to search for the correct button before Vincent reached out and pressed it for her, only to have the elevator descend one floor.

“Well that was kinda a waste…” Riku grumbled to himself as they sought out their cabin. The halls were strangely silent, and one could only assume that this was the `off' season for the ship.

“How the hell did we get onto this thing so fast? The time I took a boat to Wutai, it was shit compared to this,” Kadaj gestured towards one of the many fancy tapestries adorning the wall to prove his point, “And we still had to make reservations three months in advance!”

“Connections.” Vincent answered in his usual stoic matter as he slipped a card-key into the cabin's knob. A tiny green light upon it blinked several times and he pushed it open to reveal a luxuriously-sized cabin with a goldenrod and lush red color scheme, hinted with undertones from the dark brown furniture. Two queen-sized beds sat comfortably next to each other, wrapped in golden sheets with red comforters folded neatly into rectangles at the foot of each bed.

“I get all the toiletries!” Yuffie cried, dashing away to loot the bathroom. Riku craned his head into the room after her, eyes widening in shock as he took in the master-sized bathroom made completely from marble that blushed faint gold with deep brown and black streaks running across it. Yuffie cackled in triumph, selfishly grasping a large armful of toiletries to her chest before dashing past the stunned teen, “Vinnie! They have sugar scrub and really, really nice lotion!”

Riku turned on his heel to where Vincent was removing dinner from the Quick Dragon bag (which looked grossly out of place in the posh cabin) quietly regarding the chipper ninja, whom was waving a tiny bottle of lotion in his face.

Kadaj was sitting on the bed among his pack, where Riku dumped his pack as well, plopping down beside him unceremoniously, “You look ready to kill something.” He commented, trying to repress a smirk.

“I lost six months of allowance for a crappy cabin that smelt like Pine Sol that wasn't even the size of my fucking bedroom.” Seethed the elder brother with a twitch of his eye, “This room has a plasma TV.”

“Quit your wining and get to eating!” Yuffie demanded, shoving a plate of fast food, complete with chopsticks and soda, into each boy's hands, “I need to get to sleep super fast so I don't start barfing! Chop-chop!”

She quickly returned to her own meal set out upon the desk where Vincent was seated, unclasping the buckles of his heavy mantle.

Kadaj snorted and ruthlessly pierced one of his walnut prawns, glittering in white sauce, “I'm taking a shower after this.” He tore the prawn in half with his teeth, “Bother me and you die.”

Riku was silent as he watched his elder brother devour his meal like a rabid lynx, “… what the hell happened to you today?”

The streets were desolate and quiet, the only exception being the occasional clinking of glass. The sound peeled and rolled through the still smoking houses, echoing back to the two figures striding through the rubble. One was shorter than the other, shaggy black tresses falling about his face, which appeared slightly haggard and weary. A smooth hand brushed the hair from his eyes as he cast about, looking for something. His companion was considerably taller and thinner. He too wore a suit, although his looked more rumpled and unkept. An empty bottle hung from his hand, and as he swung it, the little glass marble rolled around inside.

“Reno, won't you just throw that damn thing away?” the first man snapped irately.

“Muh?” the redhead looked up, pulled out of his stream of conscious. “What was that?” Blue eyes looked down innocently.

“Oh please.” Reeve growled, usually happy demeanor gone.

“No really, what?” Reno persisted.

“If you didn't have your heads in the clouds, we probably would've found the place by now! And through that bottle away. It's getting on my nerves.”

“What's left of them.” Reno said under his breath. “Naw, I'm collecting these babies.” He grinned broadly, giving the Ramuné bottle an extra hard swing.

“Why?” Reeve stopped in his tracks and sent the redhead a skeptical look.

“Mainly to piss Rude off.” The Turk laughed. “I still haven't forgiven him for painting my bedroom pink after our last argument.” There was a brief silence.

“And collecting Ramuné bottles will achieve… what, exactly?” Reeve pondered aloud.

“He has OCD.” Reno said, is if that explained everything. They walked forward for a while before Reno piqued up. “Uh, so… where were we going again?” he scratched the back of his neck sheepishly.

“Seventh Heaven.” Reeve growled. “Were you drunk when we had that briefing? …Again?”

“Eh… heh… maybe?” Reno supplied. “Erm, where are you going?”

“To find a more functional functional drunk.” The other replied dryly.

“Well, if you want to find the Seventh Heaven, it's this way.” The redhead pointed.

“No, Reno. I'm pretty sure it's this way.” Reeve argued, heading in the opposite direction.

“No, really. It is this way, I-“

“What's what way?” a third voice spoke up. The Turk spun on his heel violently, drawing out the electric rod.

“Cripes, Tifa! You're gonna give me a heart attack, yo!” Reno laughed shakily. “Thought you were an enemy or something.”

“Not hardly.” Tifa smiled tight-lipped.

“Miss Tifa!” Reeve beamed for the first time in several hours. He had taken more than he had bargained for when he agreed to letting Reno come along with him. “We've news for you!”

“You better come along with me then.” She replied quietly, balancing a box on her hip.

“Guess you already heard, then.” Reno observed, eyeing the box. “About the refugees, I mean.”

“Yes, we have. This way.” She struck out ahead of the redhead.

“HA!” the Turk stuck out his tongue at Reeve playfully. “Told ya it was this way, yo!” Within a minute the trio had arrived at the front of the small bar. “Whoa… what happened here?” the redhead stared wide eyed at the blown out windows and torn metal frame.

“Sephiroth happened.” A grim voice called. Cloud stepped out from the doorway of the bar, taking the box from Tifa. He eyed the two visitors and beckoned them inside.

“S-Sephiroth?” Reno winced, eyes darting around worriedly. “He's not still here, is he?”

“You know, for a Turk, you're a bit of a wimp.” Reeve commented dryly, sitting at the bar as Tifa passed him a water.

“Forgive me for not wanting to get skewered!” Reno jumped defensively. Cloud winced beside him.

“I can testify that it's not a fun experience.” He laughed bitterly. “So, what brings you two here?”

“Well, it appears that you've become aware of the refugee movement to the Forgotten City.” Reeve began. “Good to know that you are all preparing to leave. No telling what'll become of this place, now that most of the residents have up and left. Nothing good, I'll wager. But… there is talk of an underground group. This one in Sephiroth's favor.”

Tifa shuddered. “You mean there are actually people siding with… but why?” she wiped at an invisible spot on the counter. “You don't think he's using them, do you? I mean, you know. Like Yazoo and Loz and-“

“Yes?” the tallest `brother' asked. “I heard my name.”

“Sephiroth has followers. Consensual followers.” Reeve rephrased. Yazoo's eyes narrowed into slits.

“Are you implying-?!” his voice rose dangerously.

“Chillax, yo.” Reno drawled from the corner. “We're just saying these guys are different than you and your `brothers'. There's no telling what they're planning, but chances are they are ordinary civilians. So… any secret plans would be shot.” He glanced pointedly at the barmaid. “Heard anything suspicious in here, before all this?” he asked, gesturing to the ruins.

“Nothing more than what you already know. Leaving has been on everyone's mind lately. There has been so much stirring up, it's not surprising.” She replied, a troubled expression drawing her eyebrows together.

“Well whatever they are planning, you know it won't be any good. We think there will be an attack in the Forgotten City. So long as the people keep trusting each other and talking, this group is likely to know what's going on.” Reeve sighed. “So Sephiroth will know where we are, every step of the way. If you weren't all so idolized!” he chastised half-heartedly. “I think that's the point, though.” He added thoughtfully, stirring his ice cubes with a straw. “Promise finance to the poor, family to the homeless and social outcasts, power to the unappreciated. Sephiroth could cajole them into his fingertips, lulling them into a false sense of security. Easier to use them that way… place them among the people, learn whatever he wishes. If suspicion reaches the people, there will be a lack of communication. It hurts both parties, but ours more than Sephiroth's”.

“What do you mean?” Yazoo frowned, taping a box shut with duct tape. He flipped his long hair over one shoulder and sat down against a pile of wrapped furniture. “If the people don't talk, then no one would be safe.”

“Precisely.” Reeve nodded, draining the remnants of water from his glass. “While Sephiroth would loose the contact of what is happening with the civilians, he would also achieve causing pandemonium and disorder in the refugee's society. More people would be subject to coercion, more information is likely to be leaked. It's a mess, no matter how you look at it.” He groaned in defeat, letting his forehead sink to the cool countertop.

“What if you say to hell with the refugees?” Reno quipped, gesturing with his Ramuné bottle to Cloud and Tifa.

“Reno, what the hell is that?” Cloud asked, running over Tifa's startled squeak.

“Huh?” the redhead looked at the bottle. “Oh this?” he grinned devilishly. “Revenge.”

“Last I checked, Sephiroth didn't have a fear of empty bottles.” Yazoo said exasperatedly from his perch. “Or glass, for that matter.”

“We can't just abandon those people.” Tifa said resolutely, redirecting the conversation. “They'll need our help.”

“But Sephi would know where you're at if you do.” Reno pointed out.

“Catch 22.” Cloud sighed. “But Tifa's right, we can't just abandon them.”

“Just as well.” Reeve sighed. “We were planning on sending Cait Sith to go collect Vincent and the others. I doubt it's safe for you all to be split up like this.” He slid the glass over to Tifa. “We're tracking him by his cell phone. Conveniently he has one.” He chuckled to himself. It was a humorless laugh.

“They can do that?” Tifa asked, shocked. “Track people by... oh shit.” She bit her lip and looked to Cloud apprehensively.

“Reeve, do you think that anyone within the reformed Shin-ra company, or the WRO even, would be a traitor?”

“It's likely, isn't it?” Reeve shrugged. “Sephiroth himself came from Shin-ra. It's only natural that he'd have allies there.”

“Then it's decided.” Cloud nodded to himself.

“Decided?” Tifa frowned. “What's decided?”

“We'll all regroup in the Forgotten City.” He turned to Reeve. “Be sure to tell Cait Sith that. We'll be long gone before they could ever catch up to us. Meet at the City.” He turned back to the others. “We'll start over from there. New clothes, new numbers. My work phone and cell phone number were the same. New phones maybe, even. We need to be as inconspicuous as possible. New information that only we will know.” He turned to Reeve and grinned in an uncharacteristically determined way. He looked younger, excited. He looked like Zack. “Looks like AVALANCHE is back.”

Everyone slept peacefully that night, even with Yuffie's several trips to the bathroom to empty the contents of her stomach into the toilet from either sea sickness or morning sickness. Kadaj and Vincent were dead to the world until ten in the morning, getting an entire twelve hours of sleep, due to their little excursion into the Shin-Ra facility, which Yuffie insisted on hearing every little detail of while they went to get fresh air on the top deck.

“Are you feeling any better?” Vincent inquired, walking Yuffie over to the railing. She took a deep breath and raised a hand to massage her temple, smiling weakly at him.

“A little. The fresh air really helps. Can I sit down and maybe get some toast for breakfast?” Yuffie asked with an unusual timidness to her voice. Vincent gave her a chaste kiss before saying “Of course.” And leading her over to a plastic chair next to a small table where she laid down her head into her folded arms and let out a miserable groan.

“It's nice to see the ocean again.” Riku commented, brushing a strand of hair that had gone astray from his braid behind his ear, “It's really what I've become accustomed to…” He sheepishly reached behind his head to scratch at the back of his neck, “It actually kinda makes me miss home—“

He trailed off suddenly, catching a shocked look on Kadaj's face before he turned away sharply to stare out at the ever-nearing land mass upon the horizon. Riku frowned and leaned down onto the railing.

“Hey, what's up?” He asked, concerned. Kadaj suddenly turned towards him, eyes narrowed in anger, blazing emerald and cobalt.

“So you're just going to leave us?!” Kadaj shouted, jerking his face closer to Riku's; the younger boy flinched away and opened his mouth to shout in reply; however, he was interrupted by Kadaj before he could even start to say something, “I don't wanna hear it Riku! Because I know you're thinking about going back to that place,” He spat, as if he was referring to a place of disgusting habit rather than Riku's previous home, “Even though this is your home!” He threw out his arms to illustrate his point gesturing to the world around them. To Gaia. “This is where your family is! I've—we've spent so fucking long thinking you were dead; and Haruki had to go through not one, but two sons—and Dad!” He shouted. By this point, several of the employees were staring and Riku felt immensely embarrassed, glancing away from his brother sharply.

“I know this is my home.” He whispered bitterly before his eyes met with Kadaj's, “But so are The Islands. That's the life I know, Kadaj. I have friends there, too. I have… family,” He winced, recalling the image of his foster mother, white-blonde hair falling over her tearstained eyes, “And it would be impossible to choose one over the other.” Riku watched as Kadaj glanced away with a soft “Keh”, his hand tightening around the ship's railing, “But it's not like I'm abandoning you.” He continued, “I love this place—and you're right. I do have friends here,” He turned to smile at the sight of Vincent attempting to console a groggy Yuffie with some toast, “And I have family here, too…” He faced Kadaj, smiling softly, before his lips quirked into a smirk, “… however insane they might be.”

Kadaj laughed, smirking as well, a sheet of fading black hair falling over one of his eyes, “Like they say: its all in the family.”

Without warning, Vincent dashed over to the railing between them in a blur of red, garnet eyes narrowed at the ocean innocently lapping against the side of the boat, “Something's coming.” He growled darkly, his hand automatically seeking out the gun resting in its holster. Kadaj slid flawlessly into a defensive pose, while Riku's fingers twitched in preparation of summoning his Keyblade.

Small bubbles began to break the surface of the water, growing by the second, until the bubbling water began to ripple so violently that Vincent tore out his gun and cocked it in one fluid motion and the Keyblade flashed into Riku's hand.

With a dramatic splash, water burst into the air, along with what seemed to be a giant pink blob tipped with black and white.

“LA-LI-HO!” A Scottish-accented voice trilled brightly, and a giant pink mog leapt onto the ship. A sopping wet Cait Sith leaped from its top and landed with a small front flip, shaking his hind paws out before turning his head to one side, lightly hitting the other side to allow a ridiculous amount of water, along with a tiny minnow, to fall from his ear, spilling over the deck, “Goodness gracious!” He cried, removing his gloves to wring the water out of them, “You leave for a beautiful Oriental cruise and don't invite your dear pal Cait Sith along with you?” He asked, placing his hands on his hips and leaning foreword.

Riku blinked and banished his Keyblade as Vincent twirled his gun back into its holster and Kadaj slid from his position with an annoyed grunt, “I thought you were heading back to help out with the others in Edge.” Vincent said to the small feline, currently working on wringing the water out of his tiny red cape.

“New message about a quarter of the way there: in fact, I think there's someone who'd like to talk to you lot in a minute—but in the meantime, how've you been fairing?” Yuffie responded by springing over to the railing and beginning to heave into the ocean.

“… that about sums it up.” Riku commented lightly as Kadaj raised an eyebrow, “So you swam all the way here?”

“O'course! No problem for Molly-girl `ere!” The robot turned around to pat the mog on its giant stomach as it bobbed up and down in midair, raising its fists triumphantly, “What with the modifications Reeve has made—speakin' of the devil himself!” The black and white feline went limp for a split second before standing up straight once more.

“Hello there gentlemen!” He greeted them pleasantly, “Miss Kisaragi as well, wherever she may be!” Reeve continued, obviously not having any video feedback to see that the ninja in question was currently hurling off of the side of the boat, “I tracked you from where Vincent's cell phone signal was heading, and I'm glad to see that you're already headed towards Wutai.”

“Already?” Riku asked, folding his arms in confusion, “We were just headed there to get supplies—“

“Ah, but there's evidence of a `leak in the system', if you will,” Cait Sith automatically crouched slightly, one hand cupped around his mouth, ears pinned to his head, “There's already rumors of various people taking sides with Sephiroth, in order to save their own skin. I'll let my cohort continue, as he seems to be keen on talking to you, lest accidently stab me with his electric rod.” Cait Sith shifted from foot to foot, his mouth moving as if he were mumbling incoherently, soft voices conversing on the other line as his controls were passed along to another.

“Hey there, yo!” The small cat saluted nonchalantly as voice changed completely, “The largest rumor circulating concerns a Mister `Nai Ocha', whom just inherited Wutai's oldest and most prestigious tea house, not too far from the Pagoda of the Five Gods. Supposedly the family's been up to shady business since Wutai got reduced to a tourist trap, but no one ever went as far as to prove it, since it seemed to be a good income at the time. The rumor says that this Ocha guy's made some sort of a deal with Sephiroth himself, so you should go check it out as soon as you can, okay?”

There was another shift and Cait Sith regained Reeve's voice, “So there you have it!” He clapped is paws together and bowed slightly, “I assume this will not be a problem, as you're merely just doing a quick check on things.”

Kadaj snorted, tossing his hair with a jerk of his head.

“And I do assume Vincent's interrogation skills will come in handy, right?” Reeve continued, his voice taking on a slightly dark undertone. Claret eyes flashed slightly at the cat and Reeve cleared his throat, obviously feeling the tension by the complete silence (save for the retching noises compliment of Yuffie dry-heaving off of the side of the boat), “And, as always, I sincerely thank you for the time you've taken out of your side-trip to help us out with this.”

“Anytime.” Riku offered, as Kadaj had suddenly gained an immense interest with his fingernails and Vincent went off to avoid brooding by rubbing circles on Yuffie's back.

The cat smiled and waved pleasantly before falling limp once more and snapping back into his bouncy posture, leaping around the pink mog, Molly, and shouting encouragingly to his comrades.

“Yahoo! La-li-ho! We're a'gonna get that man and put him behind bars! He's not gonna know what hit `em!” Cait Sith cried enthusiastically, punching at the air with tiny fists, “No one messes with AVALANCHE and gets away with it!” He spread out his gloved paw, as if to hi-five Riku, whom merely walked by him to join Yuffie and Vincent.

The ninja was hung over the railing of the ship, body completely limp as she made a soft sort of gurgling noise, while Vincent held her from behind; more so to keep her from falling into the water than to be romantic. Riku leaned on the railing beside the incapacitated Yuffie and stared out into the sea, watching the ocean froth lightly in the vessel's wake.

“As I've told you, I was once a Turk, working for the Shin-Ra Electric Company. A bodyguard.” A grim smirk curled on his lips, just barely visible from under the collar of his heavy mantle, “No… not a bodyguard… an assassin.” Yuffie made a slight noise of protest, but he squeezed her shoulder gently and resumed, “I was trained to think and act like a weapon—no care or remorse for what I did or who I killed. At one time I was known as the best interrogator in the entire history of the Turks, however short it was at that time, and I do believe that record holds to this day.” He turned to face Riku, eyes glowing dimly, even in the sunlight, “Cold and emotionless. Sometimes I'm still surprised I have a heart.”

“Nuuuu…” Yuffie moaned, squirming beneath him, “Dumb Vinnie…”

Vincent smiled softly at his love and Riku turned his head away suddenly, feeling the familiar rush of heat that came to his face whenever we witnessed a `moment' between the couple.

“Yuffie has a point you know.” Riku mumbled to himself, raising his eyes from the dark ocean to the azure skies festooned with wispy nimbi, “People can change—and hell.” He grinned sheepishly, “Even I think you're a good person.”

“HA!” Yuffie shrieked triumphantly, gagging and retching several more times as Vincent's eyes widened at Riku's comment and he looked away sharply.

“Thank you, Riku.” The raven-tressed man said softly, “But you do understand,” He turned to face him with just a hind of mirth in his exotic garnet eyes, “That that works both ways, correct?”

Riku blinked several times before Vincent's statement sunk in and he smiled to himself, eyes drifting back to the strip of land betwixt the sea and the sky, “I know.”

“My Lady?” A soft voice inquired; Riku and Vincent turned to see the same, small woman from the night before standing behind them with a pleasant smile on her face. Yuffie turned her head slowly, making a noise something akin to that of what a dying animal would make, the woman bowed apologetically, her cheeks darkening with blush, “Ah—we are about to arrive in Wutai, and I was instructed to inform you that the staff has readied all your belongings, so there will be no need to return to your room for them before you depart.”

“Yaaaay…” Yuffie moaned happily, feebly waving her arms at the land mass before them, “Laaaand.”

“Thank you.” Vincent replied for her, bowing his head to the hostess, “We'll be down to the bridge in several moments.”

“Is there anything you would like before you leave?” The hostess inquired, her dark eyes twitching from Vincent and Yuffie, to Riku, and back.

“No thank you.” Replied the gunslinger coolly.

“Well, then what are we waitin' for?” Molly bounded over to the group, carrying a cheerful Cait Sith upon her head, “Let's get a'goin!”

“I have to side with the cat.” Kadaj added in nonchalantly, walking up beside the oversized mog, “I'm getting kinda tired of watching her puke her guts out… though the silence is a nice change.” He added as an afterthought, Yuffie raising a shaking middle finger to him before Vincent hoisted her into his arms and they started towards the middle deck.

“So what's Wutai like?” Riku asked Kadaj conversationally as they traveled down a flight of stairs. The elder Nonaka brother shrugged nonchalantly, folding his arms behind his head.

“Haven't been there in awhile—last time I went it was just a huge tourist trap. The area around it was pretty mountainous, and there were a lot of vendors selling cheap junk.” A nostalgic, yet slightly perverse look came over his face and he grinned at his brother, “But they did have a lot of these cute little girls all dressed up in fancy kimonos—maiko I think they're called, apprentice Geisha or something. They did fan dances and acted all shy— which reminds me, they had these maid cafes.”

“Maid cafes?” Riku asked, arching an eyebrow. Kadaj positively smirked, his eyes flashing.

“Yeah, little cafes which were worked by these waitresses dressed up in maid outfits with high-pitched voices, and they'd hit on you and pretend to be all shy and embarrassed.” He laughed to himself, “Loz would get all confused when they hit on him… God that was funny.” Riku nearly sighed in relief, but then mentally slapped himself, reminding himself that he was never supposed to have found those notes in his brother's closet.

Kadaj rested on a stretch of wall near the door that opened to the bridge, “You know we're part Wutianese, right?”

“Really?” Riku started, blinking in surprise. Kadaj nodded.

“Yeah, Haruki's dad and dad's dad were both from Wutai. Haruki's mom was from Nebelheim and I think dad's mom was from Junon or something.” He explained, “It explains the foreign names, though—and our middle names.” Kadaj added with disgust, “Haruki spent the first fourteen years of her life in Wutai, so she wasn't used to names like those.”

Riku glanced quickly at Kadaj, and then at the short-tressed girl, poorly attempting to regain her balance while Vincent supported her back. While the two of them were deathly pale compared to the girl with the sunkissed skin, there was obviously some racial resemblance between them, especially in the exotic eyes.

“Huh.” He concluded softly as a ship worker came around to unbolt the hinges upon the heavy door the opened up to the bridge. Just as the small man was about to tug it open, Vincent glanced as Kadaj and Riku, a deadpan expression on his face.

“Brace yourselves.”

Before either had a chance to ask what he meant, the door was opened and their ears were filled with the deafening roar of a crowd. Yuffie beamed to herself, and a bit of the color returned to her face as she walked out onto the bridge, waving cheerfully to the masses of people.

“How's it going guys?” She quipped loudly, as if she were walking into a party full of close friends, a six pack of beer tucked under her arm, rather than out into what seemed to be an entire country congregated into one tiny port. The crowd replied with a happy, roaring cheer.

Riku and Kadaj stared.

“I… I guess they really must like her.” Riku concluded.

“Of course they adore her!” The hostess explained cheerfully as Cait Sith bounced down the bridge. Riku and Kadaj jumped, not used to the petite woman sneaking up behind them undetectably, “She is our reigning princess after all—and savior of the world, no less!”

“P-princess?!” The Nonaka brothers sputtered in astonishment, both swiveling their head to Vincent for answers. He raised an eyebrow, folding his arms over his chest.

“I thought you would've figured it out, with the amount of respect the crew showed her—and the fact that we took a yacht here.” He explained before following Yuffie with a melodramatic swish of his tattered cape.

“That—“ Kadaj looked back and forth between the yacht and the crowd adoring the hyperactive ninja, “A yacht?!”

Riku shook his head slowly before following the rest of their small party, nearly having to drag his elder brother along with him. Yuffie was standing in a small circular clearing of people, looking around at them cheerfully.

“What a welcome party!” She remarked, obviously surprised, clinging onto Vincent's arm.

“Its surprising that they all turned out to see a little punk.” A snarky voice commented. Yuffie's eyes lit up instantly before she forced her face to become a convincible cold mask.

“Who're you calling a little punk?” She snapped in reply, wheeling around to face a young man clothed in light colored kimonos, jet black hair falling over his piercingly bright violet eyes. He smirked, and then his eyes widened in horror as she sprinted up to him, easily gathering him in his arms, as he was about a head shorter that her, “SHAKE AND BAAAAKE!” Squealed the ninja, rocking back and forth as she nearly strangled him with the force of her hug.

“WHA—LET GO OF ME YOU STUPID BIMBO!” Shouted Shake, attempting to pry the younger girl off, his eye twitching rapidly.

“No!” She cried cheerfully, just before Vincent peeled her off of the nearly-hyperventilating man, “Awe, Vinnie! You ruin eve-ry-thing!” She whined playfully, latching onto his arm.

“It's nice to see you again, Shake-Sama.” Vincent greeted the bright-eyed young man, whom was busy smoothing the wrinkles out of his formal wear—or maybe just attempting to brush off the imaginary Yuffie-germs.

“Wish I could say the same.” He grunted sourly, eyes narrowing at Yuffie, whom playfully poked her tongue out at him, “But whenever you come around, you just happen to bring the bimbo with you.”

Vincent blinked and cocked an eyebrow, “She is my fiancé, and your cousin, after all.”

“Tch,” Shake brushed off Vincent's comment and turned to study Riku and Kadaj, standing awkwardly before him, in his fine robes, Riku wearing a new generic sweatshirt and a pair of wrinkled jeans, and Kadaj in a fresh tee shirt proclaiming `Fuck The System'. He sized them up, piercing eyes snapping over the entirety of their bodies before he caught sight of Riku's hair color and Kadaj's fading black tresses and snapped into a Cat Stance, hands raised before his chest, ready to strike, weight rested on his right leg, while his left was pushed up to the knee.

“Oh chill out, Shakey.” Yuffie scoffed, breaking free from Vincent to swat her older, albeit shorter, cousin on the shoulder reprimandingly, “They're with us.”

Shake's eyes narrowed slightly before he relaxed and glared at the boys in turn, “And what would their names be?”

“I'm Riku Tsu— Riku Nonaka.” Riku quickly corrected himself, still used to referring to himself by the last name of his foster mother.

“Kadaj Nonaka.” His brother offered sapphire and emerald glowing at Shake with disdain from behind a sheet of rapidly fading black. The two locked gazes for several moments before the smaller of the two slowly nodded.

“And I am Shake: second God of the Wutai Pagoda.” He introduced himself; upon hearing the word `God', Riku cocked an eyebrow, but said nothing as Shake reluctantly turned to address his cousin. Kadaj kept his eyes trained on Shake's back, flashing with something nearly unrecognizable before turning his head to gaze up at the carving of Da Chao high up in the mountains.

“Uh-huh. Enough with the dramatic introductions! Where's the old fart?” Yuffie demanded, tapping one foot impatiently. Shake scoffed loudly and placed his hands on his hips firmly.

“I can see you haven't matured a bit.” He growled, glaring daggers at the girl, whom stuck out her left hand, waving it around in his face so that the sun played off of her engagement ring in elegant little sparkles.

“Do you see this Shake and Bake? Huh-huh? Seeeee?” Yuffie egged him on, her mouth pulled into a shit-eating grin, “What about you? No pretty lady think you're mature enough to slip a band on her finger? Oh— I'm sorry, the pretty boys must be the ones trying to get rings on your finger.”

“YOU DAFT GIRL! I SHOULD—“

“Oooh, you said a big word, I'm sooo scared—“

“I get the feeling they always fight like this.” Riku mumbled to Vincent as the two cousins continued to quarrel with one another, their voices reaching shrill pitches previously unreachable by the human voice box as they attempted to match the other's volume.

“You've no idea…” Vincent mumbled, reaching up to warm his temple with his thumb and forefinger as the crowd around them began to disperse.

“—newsflash Shaky, I'm gonna be a mom! So I WIN! HA!” Yuffie continued, pointing triumphantly at the tiny God, whom began to sputter, violet eyes twitching from her to Vincent to back.

“Y-you—?!” Shake stuttered, pointing at the ninja and then at Vincent, whom nodded calmly. He proceeded to throw his arms up in the air, shaking his head in disbelief, “Leviathan help us all.”

As it turned out, Yuffie was more insane than Haruki when it came to cats.

“KITTEHS!” She cheered happily, throwing open the door to what appeared to be an abandoned studio flat, or possibly even a large, decaying shed. The smell of litter and cat food that poured out of the building was so offensively strong to Riku's keen sense of smell that he shied away from it, covering his nose. He looked to check his brother's reaction, which was that of mixed horror and euphoria.

At least fifteen cats were scattered about the little, heated room, curled up on threadbare armchairs or nestled up in surprisingly clean cat apartments. Mewling happily, they gravitated towards their human pet, purring and keening against her outstretched hands happily.

“Awe, have my babies missed me?” Yuffie cooed, scratching them behind the ears and under their chins, “Have my widdle biddles poo kittes missed their mommy?”

Vincent's eye visibly twitched and Riku surprised a smirk, knowing that if Yuffie had been any other person, he'd have threatened to shoot her if she ever talked to their children in that way.

“They've been taking good care of them.” Yuffie smiled pleasantly, slapping Kadaj's hand as he bent over to scoop up a tuxedo kitten with large, innocent green eyes. He grabbed his hand, offended, and glared at the ninja before picking up the kitten, regardless, and holding it to his chest, “That's a good sign that I have at least SOME respect around this dump!”

“Yuffie… I'm tempted to ask… where the fuck did you get all these cats?” Riku asked, stunned as a mother cat squeezed in through a cat door, followed by a litter of eight kittens. Kadaj made a slight noise and rushed over to them, kneeling down to set down the larger kitten and taking to stroking the preening kittens.

“I didn't get them, they came to me!” She beamed mysteriously before skipping out of the cat's house, towards a slightly larger building. The three men followed closely behind, Kadaj bringing a Russian Blue kitten with him. Yuffie pushed open the thin door and sighed pleasantly, “Home sweet home!”

The room itself was about the size of Merlin's house back in Hollow Bastion, accented with simple Asian decorations, complete with an elegant screen that separated the sitting area from the sleeping area.

“Blek, it's so dusty in here!” Yuffie wrinkled her nose as she ran a fingertip over the windowsill and it returned grey with dust, “Goddammit, we're gonna have to sleep in the stupid mansion tonight.”

“Stupid mansion?” Kadaj started, turning to the ninja in disbelief.

“Its only stupid `cause my Dad is in there and I'm gonna have to talk to him and stuff.” Yuffie groaned, starting out of her house, gesturing the others to follow, “I bet that's where they had the luggage taken to anyway… oh wellllll,” She singsonged, “I guess it's inevitable.”

“Yuffie,” Vincent began, his eyes darting towards the small ninja as he slid the door to her small home closed. “Shouldn't we be making reservations for the tea house?”

Yuffie stopped in mid-frolic, blinking in realization, “Oh yeah... eh, who cares! I'm Princess of this whole place!” She struck a `V for victory' pose before continuing up the cobblestone path that lead to the lush gardens surrounding the Kisaragi manor, “We can call after my dad yells at me for being a slut or something.”

Vincent sighed, but continued to trail along after Yuffie, whom began to trill a cheerful tune in Wutianese; spinning in small circles underneath the scarlet and bronze fall leaves fluttering down from the ashen limbs of the maple tress lining the small path.

“Yuffie grew up here?” Riku asked in disbelief as the towering mansion came into view. It reminded him of one of the many pictures he'd seen of feudal-era oriental palaces he'd seen in his textbooks; the main building was six stories high, constructed of light wood and stone painted with vibrant red, with light grey curved roofs accented with intricate golden carvings. Upon each point of the uppermost roof rested a grey carving of a zodiac animal—the rat, the snake, the horse, and the boar, watching the grounds with their keen stone eyes as they had for hundreds of years. Smaller buildings spread out over the grounds, diplomats dressed in deep fall colors rushing between them.

“Hard to believe, I know.” Vincent said quietly, scouring the grounds for danger with an assassin's eye before falling into a comfortable state of relaxation, “But Yuffie was more or less raised by her own standards. Which is why she turned out so…”

“Un-princessy?” Kadaj suggested snidely, watching the ninja hop over to a pile of leaves, squealing like a sugar-high child.

“I was going to say something along the lines of `average', but I suppose that works, too.” He made an exasperated noise and swiftly crossed over to where Yuffie was tossing the leaf litter into the air, laughing as it drifted down onto her.

“Christ.” Kadaj grumbled to himself, “I don't wanna be here when she takes over, that's for sure.”

“Its like Tifa told me once:” Riku began with a smirk, “If it wasn't for Vincent, Yuffie probably would've run into a pole and killed herself by now. Maybe that's what it's going to be like when it comes to running a country.”

Kadaj snorted and rolled his neck to one side, wincing as it cracked several times.

“You shouldn't do that. It isn't good for you.”

Both teens started, Riku actually shouting as he spun to face a woman several inches smaller than Kadaj, dressed in a small, high-collared pink robe fringed in violet. Underneath it was a pair of silk hakama secured at her ankles, and her tiny feet were covered in black slippers; the woman's eyes were an opaque blue violet and her cherry-red lips were brushed onto her face in an eternal pout. A tiny, brass hair ornament jingled as she trotted over to Yuffie and Vincent, not even taking the time to face the two boys.

“I'm starting to get the feeling that everyone here has the ability to sneak up on you…” Riku muttered suspiciously, his eyes narrowing at the petite woman.

“Yuffie.” She spoke softly, and the princess turned from where Vincent was busy brushing leaf litter from her hair. Yuffie's chocolate colored eyes instantly lit up upon seeing the older woman and she rushed over, managing a quick bow as she came to stop before the woman with the painted face.

“Hi Aunt Chekhov.” Yuffie smiled pleasantly, a bit calmer than Riku had ever imagined her being. It was apparent that Yuffie held some sort of respect for the woman. “It's been awhile… hey, why aren't you in the pagoda?”

Chekhov cocked her head to one side, “Is it impossible for a woman to get some fresh air? Come now, Yuffie. You mustn't expect me to stay couped up in that tower all day long.” Her pouted lips quirked into a smile and she turned to Vincent, lowering herself into a bow. “It is good to see you again as well, Vincent.”

“As it is to see you.” Vincent replied, bowing to Chekhov politely before glancing at Kadaj and Riku over her head. “I see you've met our traveling acquaintances.”

“Yes, but I did not have the pleasure of formally learning their names.” Chekhov explained turning to the two teens and bowing a third time. Kadaj and Riku awkwardly lowered their upper halves before walking over to the small group congregated below the maple tree.

“I'm Riku Nonaka.” Riku explained, “It's nice to meet you, Miss… and, uh, this is my brother—“

“Kadaj Nonaka.” He said quietly, Riku turned at his brother's odd tone of voice to find him staring incredulously at the woman before them.

“It is a pleasure to meet you Yukio and Kadaj Nonaka.” Chekhov said quietly, shooting chills up and down Riku's spine. Kadaj made a slight noise and Riku felt his eyes widen, “My name is Chekhov. I am the third God of the Wutai Pagoda.”

`How did she know—?!' Riku shook himself and attempted to act as if nothing had happened before Chekhov turned back to Yuffie and Vincent.

“The Master would like to see you know, Yuffie. He's anxious to find if the news that Shake brought him was true or not.” Chekhov explained calmly, slowly blinking her eyes.

“Oh, so I see what's going on with all the formalities.” Yuffie grumbled, folding her arms childishly across her chest, “Shake snitched to Dad, so now you have to watch me to make sure I go see him instead of running off with Vincent and my unborn bastard lovechild. Thanks, Aunt Chekhov.”

The woman's painted mask faltered for a mere moment between amusement and exasperation before she glanced emotionlessly around at the group at turned on her heel, “If that is the way you see it, then. Come, Yuffie. Lord Godo is expecting you.”

Yuffie heaved an exasperated sigh and stormed towards the entrance of the mansion, dragging Vincent along with her. Riku and Kadaj started after them, but stopped as soon as Chekhov threw an arm into his path, “This is family business.” She explained, turning to face them, “My son Shake will be here shortly to escort you around the city. It shall be easy for you three to find something to occupy yourselves with.” With a curt bow, she turned on her heel and followed after the future rulers of Wutai.

“What a bitch.” Kadaj growled as soon as he was sure Chekhov was out of earshot, “How the fuck did she know your name?! Fuckin' stalker…”

“I don't know, and I'm not too keen on finding out.” Riku shivered, shaking himself visibly, “She barely even looked at us, and when she did…”

“That's mother's power.” Shake drawled as he sauntered over to the two, they leapt in surprise yet again, still unaccustomed to being approached from behind. Shake appeared to have changed into a more casual outfit of a men's dress shirt over a pair of black slacks, over all this was a thin leather coat that brushed his hips. “She takes from you without you even seeing it.”

“Doesn't surprise me.” Riku commented lightly as Kadaj quirked an eyebrow at Shake's attire.

“What are you looking at?” Shake demanded, ignoring Riku's comment completely as he glared daggers at Kadaj.

“Nothing. I shouldn't've been surprised that a pretty boy like you would wear something like that.” He replied in a smirk, folding his arms over his chest. Riku wasn't sure if `pretty boy' had been an insult or a complement, but by the way Shake was reacting, he supposed it had been taken as both.

“Wh-why you—!” Shake sputtered, squeezing his hand into a fist and raising it dangerously as Kadaj glanced around nonchalantly, finding it the best time to change the subject.

“What do you have to do around here anyway?” He asked, before his eyes widened in sudden realization, “Hey… you know what… we should find us some bitches!”

Shake ceased swearing to himself and Riku jerked his head backwards, making a face at his elder brother, “Wha…?” They gaped in unison at the smirking katana wielder.

“Yeah! Hey, kid!” Kadaj turned to Shake suddenly, causing him to jump, and then compose himself angrily.

“That's Lord Shake to—“

“Do you still have that Maid Café? You know the one in the shopping district next to the arcade?” He continued excitedly, a genuinely hyper look on his face. Shake starred and blinked in confusion several times.

“Uh… yes, but—!“ He was cut off by Kadaj once more.

“Perfect!” Kadaj grinned deviously and looped one arm around Riku's, seizing Shake around the wrist, eliciting an indignant squawk, fairly reminiscent of one of Yuffie's, before dragging them away.