Chapter 1.
It was dark and cold. Tall brunette was walking in the dark street, hugging herself. She tightened red, knitted scarf around her neck and hugged herself again. January was a really cold month in Midgar.
She sighed and hid her nose into a scarf. Only a few days and she could spend warm nights at the beach with her beloved husband. Cloud promised her. He was working really hard for this past few weeks. It would be their honeymoon too. Unfortunately, they didn't have a honeymoon because of her sister, but Cloud was patient. He waited until Yuffie found an apartment for herself and reassured Tifa that she was a grown woman and she could take care of her. Tifa believed her. And she was glad that despite her rebel and careless personality, her little sister was doing well. So she could spend some time with her husband at warm sands of Costa Del Sol.
She stopped in front of a grocery shop and sighed before entering it. Cloud was coming home today and she needed some ingredients for their dinner. She wrapped her long fingers around doorknob when her PHS rang. She thrust her hand into her handbag and grabbed small, black phone. The brunette looked at screen before answering it. It was Yuffie. The woman pressed on 'Answer' button and brought the phone to her ear.
"Yes?"
"Teef." Cheerful voice rang into her ears. "How are you, sis? How's your emo husband? What are you doing now? How's your..."
"Yuffie." Tifa cut her sister off. "I'm good. My husband is doing well. I'm in front of grocery shop now." She took a long breath and glanced at the empty street. "By the way, why you called me? Something's wrong? " she asked, her voice full with concern. Her little sister chuckled.
"Nah, just wanted to hear your voice." She answered. "I'm so tired from school, you know, and my calculus teacher, Ms. Scarlet Fever is the queen of bitchiness. ARGH! Sometimes I want to wrap my fingers around her pretty neck and choke her, until her pretty face will be as pretty blue as wild tides of the ocean." Yep, Yuffie could be a very poetic person when she was fantasizing about choking her hateful teachers. Tifa giggled. How cute!
"I think, it's pretty rude to call your teacher queen of bitchiness." She chided her little sister. Tifa closed her eyes and imagined how furiously shook her sister her pretty little head.
"Oh, no, sis. Everyone calls her that. Even her crush, Mr. Shinra. They're synonyms, Scarlet and Bitchiness. And she's slutty too. You should see how she batted her eyelashes yesterday when she ran into Mr. Shinra and pressed her boobs on his chest. But that didn't work. Mr. Shinra either is impotent or gay." Young girl announced. Tifa giggled again.
"Or he just doesn't like your calculus teacher." She answered. Yuffie snorted.
"Hell yeah, sis. If he sees you, he'll be head over heels in love with you. But, apparently you're taken by some emo Chocobo-butt. So, keep dreaming Ruffie-boy."
Tifa laughed. It was refreshing to talk to her sister again. She opened her mouth to say something, but closed immediately when she heard soft voices from behind her. She spun around and eyed street. The street was dark and empty, but she was standing in front of bright grocery shop. No one would kidnap her. It was just her imaginations.
She opened her mouth again and slender, bony fingers cupped her mouth. She shivered when she felt someone's lips on her ear. That someone breathed in her neck. His fingers curled around her neck. They were thin and cold. Oh, so cold. Like winter itself wanted to wrap its fingers around her. She shuddered.
"You know, you don't belong here." Voice murmured in her ear. It was quiet, husky voice. She tried to scream, but kidnappers right hand was muffling her voice and his left hand was traveling from her wrist to her long, graceful neck. He wrapped his fingers around her neck again, like warrior grabs hilt of his trusted sword and Tifa could feel how oxygen disappeared from her lungs. Cold lips touched her ear again and murmured quietly:
"You're too beautiful to our harsh reality. Angels like you don't belong here. You don't belong here."
Last Tifa could remember was how Yuffie frantically called her name from PHS.
Yuffie Kisaragi was standing in front of her sister's coffin, clutching a bouquet of blood-red roses, watching her sister's pale, emotionless face and listening to some freak, who was saying how compassionate and strong woman Tifa was.
Pfffft. Like he knew her.
The short girl stared at lifeless body and reassured herself that that woman wasn't Tifa. Because that woman was cold and fragile, unlike Tifa. Tifa was strong, Tifa was protective toward people she loved, Tifa was friendly, Tifa was lively, Tifa was warmth and Tifa was love. Tifa was good memories of her cold, painful childhood. She was beautiful, she was a woman with golden heart.
And she was dead.
Some monster killed her.
Yes, monster, because no sane man would kill a woman like Tifa. Almost everyone loved Tifa.
Almost.
Yuffie glanced at the sky. Unlikely from movies, pouring rain didn't soak her. Warm, bright sun was smiling to Gaia from blue sky and it was quite warm day in January. Yuffie could think that everything was all right.
Except her sister was dead, lying in white coffin, clutching a bouquet of her beloved red roses.
Yuffie glanced at the people around her. Her sister's best friend (since Aerith died seven years ago), Jessie was sobbing in her boyfriend's chest. Her boyfriend, Biggs was silently watching the white coffin, biting his lips. Barret Wallace, a man who was practically a father to Yuffie and Tifa, was calming his little daughter.
Finally Yuffie's brown eyes landed on blond man, who was practically an elder brother to her past seven years. His blue eyes were dull and emotionless, his face was paler than usual, his long, white fingers were tightly holding single red rose and Yuffie could see how tiny stream of blood flowed from a wound that caused sharp thorns of red rose.
Freak ended his speech with words "We'll always remember you, Tifa Strife" and signaled that they could place flowers on coffin and say something to deceased woman. Yuffie stepped forward and placed red roses to her sister's head. She didn't say anything. She didn't have words to express her emotions. First in her lifetime, Yuffie Kisaragi was speechless.
She nodded quietly and stepped back. Cloud placed flower on his wife's chest and caressed her cheek for the last time. Blood smeared young woman's cheek and Yuffie shuddered when she remembered her sister, lying in the pool of her own blood. Yuffie glanced at the body again. Deep cut on her neck with high collar of the white silk dress. Yuffie frowned. She read in books how dead people looked like they were sleeping. That woman didn't look like sleeping beauty. Hell, she didn't even look like Tifa. She looked like a mannequin, like she didn't live one second on Gaia.
Suddenly Yuffie realized that she feared and hated that woman in the coffin. Warm memories were fading and replacing by cold new ones. She averted her eyes from the corpse and glanced at sobbing people. Cloud was standing silently, watching his wife, probably saving their last time together. He met Tifa in the graveyard, when she brought white and yellow lilies for Aerith. Apparently she was the best friend of Aerith and he was the best friend of Zack, Aerith's boyfriend, who died with her because of a car accident. They shared same pain, the pain of loss someone, who is close to you, who is like a member of your family. After that fateful meeting Cloud became a permanent member of Kisaragi-Lockhart Family.
Ironically, they first and last met on graveyard.
Yuffie would burst into laughter if the dead one wasn't her sister and brooding one her brother.
Cloud closed coffin and stepped back. White coffin lowered into the earth and vanished from their sight.
It was over.
They said their goodbyes. Now Tifa vanished from their lives like a meteor, that could bright everything and then disappear from the sky. Yuffie heard how Cloud told her that he could take her to her house, but she shook her head. She needed to be alone. She needed time to meet harsh reality, where her lovely sister was dead, butchered by some madman.
Yuffie went to her home and glanced people around her. They were laughing and her heart squeezed. It was unfair. She lost her sister, her best friend and they were laughing, like nothing happened.
Because nothing happened to them.
Dark haired girl stormed into her house, hastily freed herself from the thick black coat, black dress and high, heavy black boots and slipped beneath heavy blankets. She curled up and sighed. She needed long sleep, then she could think about her new life.
She dreamed about her sister. She was tall, warm and with a lovely smile on her face. Beside her stood Aerith and Zack and Yuffie thought that everything would be okay again. She wasn't alone. She had uncle Barret and elder brother, who could take care of her.
But her hopes shattered when the ringing of her PHS woke her up. She yawned and lazily climbed from the bed. Young girl slipped her hand in the pocket of her black coat and grasped PHS. She glanced at the screen. The number was unknown, but she still answered.
"Yes?"
"Are you Yuffie Kisaragi?" Voice from other side asked. Yuffie scratched her cheeks.
"Yes." She answered.
"Are you related to Cloud Strife?" Voice asked.
"Yes, he's my brother." Dark eyebrows furrowed. "What's wrong?"
A voice from the other side sighed.
"Miss Kisaragi, I'm sorry, but your brother died half hours ago. His motorcycle crashed into a tree. He died immediately."
PHS dropped on the carpet and Yuffie felt how her world and hopes shattered once again.
What have i done! :o *gasps* I killed my favorite female character. *sobs* Someone kill me! ;-; Well i needed her death. Oh and sorry, Yuffie is too bitter and broody in this fic. But hey, she lost her sister and brother. Tragedy changes everything.
Okay, now i can kill myself. What have i done! ;-;