A/N: A three part story that has Nanaki as the main character! I say Red in here but… ah… same thing… ne? I like Nanaki though… heheh… I always wanted to write a story about him. :koosh:

Disclaimer: All the FF7 characters don't belong to me… nor do the places I will mention in here. :cough:

Human Years
Part 1

First Encounter

I couldn't sleep… not because Cid and Barret's loud snoring were keeping me up, but, because I had a strange feeling that something was going to happen. We were currently residing just outside of Cosmo Canyon. We came from Rocket Town, due to a certain 'Captain' that wanted to visit Shera just for the heck. I felt kind of bad. He was always yelling at the poor woman, and yet, she never seemed sad or scared by his loud yelling. She was tough… maybe even tougher than I thought. After what was supposed to be just a day of visiting, we headed towards my place to stock up on some items… a week later. But, I wanted to give a little "hello" to my grandfather, since I haven't seen him for like… maybe about a few months since we left.

I shook the irrelevant thoughts out of my mind and concentrated on reality. It was dark outside and we set up camp out in the middle of nowhere. Where we were vulnerable for any assaults. Yuffie was on guard duty for a couple of hours, then it was my turn… now that I mentioned it… I haven't seen her in a while.

Without making a sound, I slowly walked away from the sleeping group and took a quick glance around the meadow. No signs of Yuffie. Where could she be? I hope she wasn't planning anything sneaky… or even worse… what if she was in trouble?

A few moments later, screams echoed throughout the area, causing everyone to wake up from the sudden eerie noise.

"What the hell was that?" Cid grunted, sounding really groggy and pissed at the same time.

Completely ignoring what he just said, I growled and quickly ran towards the sound. When I stopped and thought about it… that scream sounded just like Yuffie.

No sooner that I completely left the group, I spotted Yuffie cornered by a gigantic dragon. I gasped then growled, attempting to scare off the monster. But, it just looked at me for a second then resumed to its prey. Yuffie took out her oversized shuriken and sliced its throat. It grunted and let out a poisonous fume that escaped from its open mouth. Without realizing the danger I could get into, I quickly went in and pushed Yuffie away, who was just standing there, completely frozen.

"Red!" she yelled and narrowed her eyes and threw several shurikens at the monster. It collapsed to the ground as green liquid oozed out.

My whole body felt numb and I could barely breathe. I guess that poisonous fume had the power to paralyze my whole body… including my lungs. My body flinched as Yuffie kept shaking me. I just wanted to yell and tell her to stop, but I couldn't. I felt weak.

"Red… don't….on me…. dog!"

Those were the only words I could make out before I completely blacked out.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

A zone of darkness… and I was the only one present in this… never-ending void. I had no idea if I was dead or alive. Quite hard to tell… my mind seemed to work but my body felt… nothing. I didn't feel anything. I tried calling out, but only grunts came out and it seemed to echo inside my ears, giving me this ultimate headache that seemed never ending.

A bright light shone over me, giving off this warm feeling that seemed to soothe my body. It felt really nice… I just wanted to stay in this spot forever. Before I realized, I was lifted off from the ground, heading straight for the light, giving off a very powerful energy that circulated throughout my body.

"Nnn…" I managed to say, before I disappeared inside the bright light.

But, this light… turned out to be something more than giving off such a nice feeling. My front and hind legs felt like they were going to crumble, and my face felt like I've been slapped for hundreds of times… and my heart felt like it stopped beating. I couldn't take the pain I was feeling anymore… I had… to escape…

My eye fluttered open. It took me a while to adjust to my surroundings until I realized I was inside my grandfather's room. I looked around then shifted to my belly, burying my head underneath the covers of the bed. I still felt kind of weak. Maybe a little bit more sleep.

The blinds of the window suddenly opened, giving off a bright light that even blinded me when I had my eyes closed. No… not that light again… I moaned to myself. Something patted my head and snickered. I opened my eye but I was too lazy to look at who was doing that, but, I knew only one person with that chuckle.

"… unn… grandpa?"

"Ho ho ho! That's right!"

"Close the windoooowww…" I whined in a child-like manner, but he just laughed it off and exited out of the room.

I grunted, telling myself that sometimes he can be such a pain in the butt. I shifted to my back and stretched, feeling a new sensation flow throughout my body when I did that. I rubbed my eye with my hand and yawned…. wait. I paused and looked at my hands. I… never had hands before.

I quickly sat up and took the covers off me, revealing… not a body of a beast… but a body of a human boy! I paused then yelled out loud, quickly grabbing the blanket and covering myself. Why… was I a human?

Cid's head popped up to my room as I quickly hid myself deep in the covers. I couldn't show anyone my present state. He walked over and grunted at me.

"So, you're finally up, huh? Geez. Took you long enough."

I remained silent. I was still shocked. He poked my back, making me move away from him. He growled and tried grabbing the blanket away from me, but I tugged back.

"Stop it, Cid!" I growled at him.

"Get up already! You're fine now!"

I panted loudly, realizing that my energy was quickly being drained from all the tugging. Finally giving up, I let go of the blanket, making Cid smile victoriously as he finally removed it from my body. He paused with his mouth wide open, making the cigarette fall out from his mouth. I stared back at him, embarrassed and shocked at the same time. He yelled really loudly and fell down the ladder.

"GAH! THERE'S A NAKED KID UP THERE!" he yelled to whoever was down there.

I slapped my head and felt my whole body warm up. I panted and covered the blanket over me, trying to hide myself from all the embarrassment. What… was going on?

A/N: End of Part 1! Ahhahaha… I dunno if a story like this has been done before, but I like stuff like this. Hehehe… anyways! I hope you enjoyed and please tell me how you thought of it! Also, look out for Part 2!