Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Path of Seduction ❯ Chapter Twenty ( Chapter 20 )

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Path of Seduction

Chapter Twenty

 

 

Sephiroth made his way easily down the Nibel Mountain. His feet never touched the ground. He could have flown over the whole thing easily, but the air was thin and cold and decidedly uncomfortable. Besides, it was much more fun this way.

 

There was something exciting in floating along just a few feet above ground. The flinty rubble could not stop him. Wild creatures could not catch him. Anything that dared to leap out learned the error of its ways in a shower of sparks or searing flame. It was an exhilarating little game and more importantly, it let Sephiroth focus on something other than the clammy, grasping obeisance of his Mother's clones. Their blind worship of him was decidedly sickening. The brief contacts left cold trails in his mind. Sephiroth was eager for the day when Mother would finally allow him to obliterate those mindless snails.

 

Something moved a few feet ahead of him. He did not wait to see what it was. He channeled the power within him, calling down the wrath of heaven. Electricity answered and shards of rock flew. Whatever unfortunate creature had made its presence known was seared to a crisp. He floated by it with a sneer. If only he could do that to the hooded men and be rid of them.

 

“I'll let you destroy them soon enough, son.” Mother was calm now that they were making some kind of progress. “You're lucky you didn't kill that other one though.”

 

“Kill him?” Sephiroth was surprised. “All we did was talk.”

 

Mother flitted past the recent memories in his head. “You hit him in the stomach with materia.”

 

“Oh, that.” Sephiroth brushed it off. “He was blocking the exit. I had to get him out of the way somehow.”

 

“By throwing materia at him?”

 

The man shrugged. “I couldn't very well hit him with a lightning bolt. I might have brought the whole house down on top of my head.”

 

Mother pressed coolly against his consciousness. “You mean HER head.” Sephiroth rolled his eyes.

 

“Yes, Mother, whatever you say.” The presence in his mind was silent for a while, gratified at his oblique confession. Sephiroth began to enjoy the cold wind rushing past his face. The evening was chill but the winds were calm. The sky was turning the most interesting shade of orange and grey and the air had a certain tang to it. There would be rain when night fell.

 

“You did it on purpose, didn't you?” Mother broke in.

 

“Did what?”

 

“You gave the puppet a perfectly good piece of materia. A powerful one too, I might add.”

 

Sephiroth shrugged. “I don't really have need of it.”

 

Mother bristled. “Still, there was no reason to go handing that kind of power to the puppet. I assume you have a reason for that.”

 

Sephiroth sighed and whizzed past a sharp boulder. “It would do us no good if he got himself killed before playing his part in this.”

 

“It's odd that you're talking about keeping him alive, considering that you almost sent that thing through his gut,” Mother said archly.

 

Sephiroth shrugged. “I honestly thought he would duck, Mother. It's not my fault he's even blonder than he looks.”

 

Mother coiled into her familiar corner. “I suppose giving him something so strong had nothing at all to do with trying to get him to take better care of the girl.”

 

“No, not a thing,” Sephiroth said blithely, smirking all the while.

 

“Really.”

 

“Really,” the swordsman replied, even though it had not been a question. He glided smoothly along, keeping an eye out for convenient cracks and caves in case the rain caught him.

 

Mt. Nibel was a bare place, high peaked, ominous and grey. It was a rough climb for the grounded traveler, all sharp handholds and steep escarpments, its few trails narrow and marked by dangerously loose rubble. The wind had never voiced anything pleasant and a permanent cold mist hung heavy around the it.

 

Sephiroth did not mind the harsh monotone much, though it was sharper now than it had been in memory. He felt the need for a softer color to rest his eyes on than the endless dark grey. Here and there, straggly scrub grew, but they were hard, dark and thorny. Sephiroth did not know exactly why but he was disappointed at the lack of green.

 

Life could find a way in the strangest conditions. Something pale and windblown caught the swordsman's eye. He floated over to the side of the trail to investigate. There, clinging fiercely to the rubble, was a dark, slender plant with narrowly bladed leaves and a tiny white bud of a flower. Sephiroth descended gracefully to the ground and knelt beside it.

 

He reached out with one hand to touch the thing. It was interesting how a flower could grow even in such harsh conditions. It reminded him of her. Long fingers closed around the tough, slender stem and waited. Sephiroth considered plucking the thing and leaving it on the path for Aeris to find, but he remembered the last bud he had picked, how it had withered before his sight. This tough little bud had gone through so much just to be able to live. The swordsman's grip on the stem became a gentle caress as he rose into the air again. He was smiling a little as he drifted away.

 

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Cloud gasped and heaved and finally gave in. “Let's stop here for a breather.” The Nibel mountains had not changed. He had pushed the team and himself to the absolute limit. They were about halfway down the mountain now but a rest was definitely in order. His friends needed a break. It had nothing to do with his aching ribs. Not a damn thing.

 

Some of the others exhaled in relief but none of them seemed thoroughly exhausted, not even Aeris. The long days of hiking had toughened her a bit. Cloud watched everyone spread out along the trail. Yuffie took the chance to stretch a bit. Tifa and Aeris shared a space on a rock and sipped elegantly from their canteens. All was as it should be, so long as Cloud could ignore the pain in his midsection. He had not bothered to check it, but he was sure it would be a nice shade of purple by now. Even for those who had seen and knew, it was difficult to believe just how powerful Sephiroth was.

 

Cloud forced himself to sit straight and look at the team again. The newcomer, Vincent, stayed far to the back. He stood stiffly with his face mostly hidden by his red cloak. The wind blew the deep folds open but Cloud noticed that the man kept one side in a firm grip, possibly to hide the metal claw. Cloud did not know where the metal limb had come from but he knew that it would do no good to ask. Vincent seemed to know more than he had said but answers were not forthcoming. The former Turk cut all attempts at further questioning with a hard gaze and cold silence. He seemed so disinterested in getting to know the others that Cloud wondered why the man had bothered to come at all. The blond was not about to buy the line about not sleeping well lately.

 

The others accepted him to differing degrees. The women seemed more than a little intrigued, though they mostly did not bother the man. Cloud did not really understand it but it was better than Barret's cold shoulder. The large gunman had some odd idea that Vincent should have taken a greater interest in confronting Sephiroth. At least nothing serious had broken out. Cloud tried to take a deep breath in relief and was stopped by the sharp pain. He clenched his fists and stifled a groan.

 

It was completely unfair. Sephiroth always seemed to go for his gut. A cut to the face would have been better. Cloud rubbed his cheek. A scar might actually add some rugged character to his boyish face. A slash on the arm would have been acceptable too. Then Tifa or Aeris could come over and bandage him up with a strip of torn cloth and tell him how lucky he was in that lovely worried tone that was strictly in the female domain. That way he could brush off his wound as a mere scratch, shoulder his weapon and be on his manly way.

 

But there was no way anyone could look tough and rugged clutching his gut. Cloud tried to breathe again but the pain was too much and the cold air only made it worse. He whimpered softly and hunched down in pain, still unwilling to show any sign of distress, or Heaven forbid, actually ask for help.

 

Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he flinched. He looked up to find Aeris smiling knowingly down at him. “Need some help?” Cloud did not answer. He could feel his cheeks coloring up. Aeris knelt down beside him and tugged boldly at his shirt. “Come on. Let me see.”

 

Pain or no pain, Cloud sprang to life. “What do you think you're doing? Let go of that!” Firm hands grasped his shoulders and forced him back to his seat. He turned his head to find Tifa giving him that same knowing smile.

 

“Sit down and let the girl help you, Cloud. Don't be stubborn.”

 

Cloud flailed and tried to push them away. “I don't need help. I'm fine.” The women shared a glance over his head.

 

“Nice try.” Aeris reached for Cloud's shirt again while Tifa held him down. “Don't think we didn't hear you wheezing your way up the mountain. We were waiting to see how long it would take you to ask for help.”

 

“I'm surprised you didn't keel over,” Tifa scolded him. “You know the conditions here aren't great.” Cloud stilled, only somewhat chastened. Aeris lifted his shirt and both women marveled over the color of his stomach.

 

“That's one fine shade of purple. I've grown flowers that weren't that vivid.” Aeris put her fingers to the discoloration. Cloud grimaced, gasping. Aeris looked up at him. “Did that hurt?” Cloud tried not to growl. Aeris went back to her exploration. “Hmm, its mostly bad bruising. Oh, you've cracked a rib!”

 

“I didn't crack it! Sephiroth did!” Cloud protested.

 

“Doesn't matter who did it, Cloud.” Tifa tightened her grip on him. “Suppose it had punctured your lung? You know the air's thin up here. And you went fighting with that injury too.”

 

“You heal quickly,” Aeris murmured. “It's just a hairline break and most of the bruising is changing color already. Still,” she pressed her fingers down on the injured bone, “running around injured wasn't a smart thing to do.”

 

Cloud gritted his teeth. Aeris was looking a bit too satisfied with the whole thing. She gave him a wicked little glance and held her hands just above his skin. “Just a moment now.” A rush of warm air passed over his bruises. His middle felt hot and his insides itched. He tried to wriggle away. “Stop moving, Cloud.” Aeris was firm. “Let it heal.”

 

It was soon over. Tifa released Cloud. Aeris stepped back to let him sit up straight again. He passed his hand over his stomach and took a few deep, easy breaths. He looked down at himself. Instead of bright purple, there was just a very faint trace of the sickly greenish color that marked nearly-healed bruises. “Hey!” He rubbed his belly one more time to be sure then scratched the back of his head. He always itched when he was nervous. “Thanks,” he murmured sheepishly.

 

“Don't mention it,” Aeris winked at him and got up to go. “By the way, nice abs!” She and Tifa made their way giggling back to their seat, leaving Cloud turning a nice shade of red behind them.

 

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Red sniffed the air as they walked. “Grass. We're almost down.” He scampered ahead a bit.

 

“Good!” Barret threw his fist in the air. “Cloud, I been around mountains most of my life but your place is creepy.” Cloud only shrugged and pressed forward. The team followed close behind him, eager to find somewhere more hospitable to spend the night.

 

Aeris felt more at ease than she had before. The climb had been tough and wearying, especially considering how tired she had been before, but the air had been just chilly enough to keep her alert. The Planet's voice was reduced to blissful humming far in the back of her mind. The voices of the Cetra were silent. Aeris wondered if they had disowned her. Whatever they decided did not matter. It was the Planet that had the final say and it seemed quite pleased with the recent turn of events.

 

Aeris had been able to distract herself from more serious things by playing a little game of Cloud-watching with Tifa most of the time. It had not done much to improve her newly-dubious estimation of SOLDIERS, but it had been fun until they gave it up to keep the spiky-headed one from suffering further.

 

She took a deep, appreciative breath. The air was warmer now and bore the scent of approaching rain. There was even some scrub growing on the side of the rocky trail. Aeris recognized the pattern of their tie to the Planet. They would ease respiratory ailments if processed and administered right. She stopped to pick some of the more tender shoots.

 

She paused for a minute, attracted to a tiny flower growing in the midst of the grey scrub. It was a pale thing almost enfolded by narrow, dark leaves, unique and alone among the ordinary bushes. It reminded her of him. Aeris stroked the small bud gently. She still had not revealed anything. With her lover gone ahead once more, there was no urgent need to do so.

 

That did nothing to ease the tight knot inside her. The longer she kept quiet, the more deceitful she was being to the people who had taken care of her and protected her from the very moment of meeting her. She knew now that she should have told them about her encounters with Sephiroth from the start, before things had become this serious. Hindsight was damning like that. There was no way their reactions would have been good after learning that the man expressed a more than casual interest in her. Telling them that she was now an active, willing, eager participant would likely result in a fit of collective apoplexy. All she was doing now was postponing the inevitable.

 

The girl looked up from the flower. The sky was darkening, turning a ruddy shade of purple. The brightest stars came out to stare down at Aeris' indecision. She rose and hurried to catch up to the others.

 

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Avalanche arrived at the outskirts of a small town just before nightfall. They had pushed even harder to make their way to it in the failing light. Fortunately the tilting, towering obelisk made a perfect target against the purpling sky.

 

“Thank Leviathan,” Yuffie gasped. “I don't wanna walk no more.”

 

“Yeah,” Barret gasped, looking back the way they had come. “Man, I miss the buggy.”

 

“Me too.” Cloud looked mournfully back over the mountain. The little car just had not been equipped to cross that kind of terrain. Both men sighed, then turned away. “Come on, guys,” Cloud waved everyone forward. “Let's find a place to rest. Anything else can wait till morning.”

 

Inns were always fairly easy to find. They were usually well-lit at night. They had bold signs and luckily for the weary traveler, were usually near the main street into town. Aeris knew she was not the only one who was grateful that it was only a short distance away. Just as they entered the gate, the sky broke and the rain came pouring down.

 

Cloud made it first and held the door open for the rest. Tifa hurried forward squealing from the cold rain. Yuffie rolled her eyes. “You're not gonna melt, Tifa. It's just a little water.” But she raced inside too, running right into Tifa's back.

 

The small restaurant and bar beneath the inn was bright and warm and full. The crowd was boisterous. Drinks were passing back and forth. The laughter was loud. Someone at the far end of the hall was singing some very off-color tunes to the accompaniment of some kind of stringed instrument. The patrons were joining in with varying degrees of success.

 

Tifa steadied herself and looked around, mildly disapproving. “It's pretty early in the evening to be getting this soused.” Several people heard her and turned around to meet the challenger. Tifa was aware of the press of Avalanche behind her. The team filled the doorway like one giant, wet, miserable cat, but she did not back down from the stares. Just as she expected, the drinkers' scowls turned to sly grins. One of the heavier men got up and offered her a seat

 

“I'd be happy to buy youse a drink anytime, purdy lady, if you wanna join in the fun! Whaddya say?” He bowed clumsily and his friends encouraged him with loud hoots.

 

Tifa put her firm, haughty face on but she was laughing inside. This was a familiar dance. “Would you mind actually looking at my face next time you ask?” She folded her arms across her chest, smugly making sure to let her gloved fist stay visible. The men reared back with a collective, admiring, “Whoa…”

 

Barret nudged Cloud in the back. “Boy, don't let the woman hold those idiots off on her own if she don't have to.”

 

“Huh?” Cloud glanced back, confused.

 

Aeris shook her head. “Cloud, you're so clueless sometimes.” By the time the blond got the idea, it was too late.

 

Vincent had separated from the group to glare down at the occupants of one of the nearer booths. They slowly froze when he did not return their inebriated smiles.

 

“Uh, hey, uh,” one of them started. “We didn't mean nothing by it.” Vincent kept silently staring at them.

 

“Hey, uh,” a second man started. “Hey, if you want the seat you can have it!” His buddies hastily agreed with him and cleared out quickly. Vincent stood aside and gestured to the available seats.

 

Tifa smiled graciously at him and slid into the seat. “Thank you, Mr. Valentine.” Vincent held his position while Yuffie and then Aeris slid in beside their friend, echoing her gratitude to him. Vincent nodded and turned away.

 

“I shall return shortly,” he said and wandered purposefully away.

 

Barret smacked Cloud upside his head. “You're completely useless, you know that?”

 

“Hey! I thought she was handling it.” Cloud frowned, rubbing his head. “I didn't want to butt in. You know how women get sometimes.”

 

Barret considered that for a while. “Yeah, you're right. Let's go get the rooms. And some room service to go with them.” They headed to the main desk together. Red and Cait Sith trailed after them, unable to bear the noise.

 

Aeris sat absorbing the warmth and the good feeling all around. Drunk or not, these people were happy and it filled the room. “Way to handle the drunks, Tifa!”

 

The other woman grinned. “I'm in the business, after all.” She tapped her feet in time to the music and looked down at her shirt. “Oh, now this is why I don't like to get wet.”

 

The ninja blushed when she realized what Tifa was talking about. “Sorry,” she murmured, ducking her head a bit. “I didn't realize.” She glanced down at her own green knit top. “I don't exactly have that problem.”

 

“Just a second, you guys.” Aeris held her hands together and concentrated. Directing air was getting easier with practice. A controlled surge of heat warmed the current as it swirled all around them.

 

“Wow.” Tifa smoothed her shirt out. “That was great, Aeris.” The flower girl winked back and looked around. There was something about the strings and drums in the air.

 

“This music sounds kind of familiar.”

 

“It does, doesn't it? Tifa turned to look at the far side of the wall where the noise was centered. “Oh, it's Master Sagara's group! I didn't know they were here.”

 

“Master who?” Aeris blinked.

 

“You know,” Tifa said, grinning. “The group that was at Cosmo Canyon. Oh, I forgot, you didn't come down that night.”

 

Yuffie slapped the flower girl good-naturedly on the back. “Good thing you're feeling better now. You didn't miss out after all.” Tifa grabbed Aeris' hand.

 

“Come on. Let's get a better seat!”

 

“What?” Aeris blurted out.

 

“I said come on!” Tifa pulled Aeris up out of the seat. “You've got to see this. The drummer has some great moves.”

 

“What about Yuffie?” Aeris asked, looking back. “I don't think she should be listening to some of these lyrics up close and the crowd's kind of rowdy up front.”

 

“Don't worry about it. I'll stay back here and watch our stuff.” Yuffie waved her off. “Besides,” the girl mumbled to herself, “I've been singing those folk songs since I was a kid.”

 

Tifa was soon able to scare up a couple of places closer to makeshift stage area. An appeal to drunken chivalry worked fairly well when paired with an arm-wrestling match. Soon the two women were sitting within spitting distance of the musicians.

 

Aeris smiled as she took it all in. Tifa was right. This really was something that had to be experienced up close. The drummer was a handsome, smiling young man with well-muscled arms and a fine sense of showmanship. He twirled and spun and tossed his sticks in the air, and clapped in rhythm while they were airborne. Aeris had never guessed that drumming could be such an experience.

 

There were five others, all clad in colorful Wutan-style garb and playing strange flutes and stringed instruments that Aeris did not even recognize. They looked like a well-seasoned group, arranged on the floor around one grey-bearded man. If not for his vigorous playing and the powerful voice that emerged from his emaciated form, Aeris would have said he was well past his expiry date.

 

His body was apparently the only thing that was wasted. He reigned his group in with barely-perceptible signs. His fingers flew over the strings of his instrument. There was a light in his eyes from the energy in the room. He made it all seem so effortless. Aeris knew that had to be the Master.

 

He finished up the song with a rousing flourish and the crowd cheered. “Thank you,” he said above the noise in heavily-accented continental speech, then burst into a mild fit of coughing. One of the flute players beside him stood quickly.

 

“A drink for the Master, please. Water, preferably.” The call went around quickly for some water and soon a tray with six glasses was being passed to the front of the room.

 

Tifa turned around, breathless. “That was really something, huh?” Aeris nodded. Tifa glanced back at the performance area. “I'm going to go say hello to Tanjiro for a bit.”

 

“Tanjiro?”

 

Tifa glanced askance with a little smile. “The drummer.”

 

“Oh.” Knowing smiles passed between the women and Tifa left the table. Aeris leaned back in her seat to take in the relative quiet around her. It was easier to make out the individual voices now. Aeris closed her eyes and let the waves of mellow happiness wash over her.

 

“That's the girl, right?” One voice came at her from somewhere behind her. “Why don't you go over?”

 

“What's the point?” Another voice, younger and more sullen, replied. “It's not going to make any difference. Why bother?”

 

Aeris open her eyes a bit and turned slightly to peek in the direction of the voices. She spotted two figures at a small table, a man in simple black and a teenager in a blue Wutan outfit. Aeris made a note to ask Yuffie what it was called later. The man was looking at something, or someone, at the back of the room. The boy was trying very hard not to.

 

“You're not looking carefully enough, Yuki.” The dark-haired man nudged the boy with his elbow. “The one night Sagara-san lets you off training, she walks in. It's a good sign.” Aeris was intrigued and had to try hard not to lean in too close.

 

The boy sighed. “If I go over there, do you promise to shut up about it?”

 

“Not a word more. Now get over there!”

 

The boy groaned in a patently melodramatic adolescent way and rose from his seat. He marched straight to the back of the room where Yuffie sat minding her own business. She spotted him when he was just a few feet away and it was too late to duck and run. They stared at each other for a long while, frozen.

 

“Hello,” the boy said.

 

Yuffie looked away. “Hello.”

 

The boy gulped. “Can I sit here?” He indicated the seat opposite hers. Yuffie shrugged.

 

“If you want to.”

 

Aeris would have given anything to know what the two had said. She saw the boy sit down stiffly. Both young people studiously found other things to look at and neither appeared to be about to start an actual conversation.

 

The man in black turned his head and looked her straight in the eye. “It's a start at any rate, isn't it?” Aeris jumped.

 

It was the healer she had met in Cosmo Canyon. He smiled, obviously holding in laughter as he watched her catch her breath. Aeris put her hand to her chest and breathed deeply, in and out. “I'm sorry. I shouldn't have been eavesdropping.”

 

“No harm done.” The man took up his glass and walked over to claim the empty chair at her table. “Yuki might be a bit embarrassed if he knew you were listening, but he doesn't have to know.”

 

“Not a word from me.” Aeris smiled. She looked up quickly at the young healer's grey eyes and noted once more that he was not from Wutai himself. “You know, I never got your name.”

 

“Adrean.” He held out one hand. The flower girl took it and shook it firmly.

 

“I'm Aeris.”

 

The healer leaned back and studied her for a while. Aeris wondered what he was thinking. Finally he leaned forward again, huddling in close. “You look much more at ease than you did the last time I saw you. Did everything work out all right?”

 

Aeris might have blushed at some other time. Now, she just nodded. “Yes.” She could not keep the devious look off her face. “I caught up with him eventually. I think he's learned his lesson.” A weight lifted from her shoulders. At least there was somebody she could talk to about her secrets, however vaguely.

 

“Good for you.” The man straightened up and watched Yuffie and Yuki not talk to each other. It was almost too painful for Aeris.

 

“So, your friend, Yuki, he's…”

 

“He's Master Sagara's apprentice.” Adrean turned away to give the poor children some privacy. “He stays close by me because I'm the only one in the group who can't give him grief over his music.”

 

Aeris shook her head at the man, though she kept smiling gently. “And yet you push him into uncomfortable situations anyway.”

 

The healer shrugged lightly. “He has to learn how to talk to pretty girls sometime.” He swirled his glass around to make the ice settle. “Besides, the Master pushes him very hard. The boy's a bundle of nerves. He needs to be with people his own age sometimes.” Aeris considered that.

 

Adrean broke her train of thought. “I did not know you would be passing this way.”

 

“Neither did I,” Aeris told him honestly. “We go where my friend leads us. This was just the next stop after Nibelheim.” That brought an interesting thought to mind. The actors Shinra had hired had not fooled Avalanche, but how effective were they at convincing people who did not know the truth? “Did you pass through there?”

 

“No,” the healer shook his head. “Sagara-san would never make it over those mountains with his health. We caught a ride in a small fishing village instead.”

 

“Oh.” Aeris tried to hide her disappointment. “So where are you headed to next?”

 

Adrean stared into his glass. “Wutai.”

 

Aeris beamed at him. “You're going home! That must be wonderful after a long trip.”

 

The man gave her a wry smile. “They're going home.” He tilted his head in the direction of the musicians, who were drinking their water and bantering with the locals. The Master was tuning his instrument. “I haven't been home in ages.” His voice was light but there was something sad in his eyes as he said it. Aeris felt sorry for her outburst.

 

The healer took a deep sip from his drink. “What about you? Any idea where's you'll end up next?”

 

Aeris had to shake her head. “None. I never really expected to come this far from home in the first place.” She caught the inquisitive look on the man's face. “I'm from Midgar.”

 

“Oh, a city girl! That must be something.”

 

Aeris nearly laughed. Midgar impressed everyone but its own. “It really isn't all it's cracked up to be.” She wanted to ask him what his home was like, but his earlier reaction kept her quiet.

 

Adrean picked up on it anyway. “I'm from a little place far to the south,” he said, staring at his glass. “You'd completely miss it if you don't know how to look.”

 

There was some commotion near the make-shift stage. Master Sagara was declaring the break over. Hurried last gulps were taken and the musicians moved back into place. Aeris scooted her chair around a bit and stifled a yawn.

 

“How remiss of me.” Adrean signaled for a waitress. “Another of these for me,” he said, handing over his glass, “and spiced tea for the lady.” He halted Aeris' protest with a small gesture. “You've had a very hard day, haven't you?” Aeris nodded sheepishly.

 

The drinks arrived just as Master Sagara began to sing an intentionally off-key ditty about a jilted lover intent on drinking himself into an early grave. Soon the whole room was full of laughter and Aeris was grinning along with them.

 

Adrean raised his glass to her. “Here's to good journeys,” he declared above the noise.

Aeris raised her floral teacup to his toast, smiling over the rim. It was good.

 

 

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A.N: Twenty chapters! A big `Thank You!' to all the readers. I might not have gotten this far without your prodding. Punch and pie for everybody! =P I'm roughly estimating that there are about ten more chapters to go. If nothing comes up to keep me from writing, I might actually complete the story in a year. I'm treading carefully around `Gary-Stu' territory right now. `Yuki' is Japanese for `snow', for anyone who's interested. `Adrean' has an applicable meaning too and it provided a convenient anagram. ^_~