Author's notes: I give up, short chapters seem to be my specialty.
Disclaimer: I do not own Final fantasy VII, nor Inuyasha.
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Chapter One
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Shippo was both amazed, and slightly scared as the two men, Zack and Angeal, lead them down the steel corridors. This place was so strange! He had never seen anything like it, even the stories Kagome had told him didn't compare to this! Truth be told, he wish Inuyasha, Miroku, Sango, and Kirara were with them. The two men didn't seem mean, actually Zack was kinda funny, he kept looking back at him with a look of surprise, like he never saw a kitsune before. And while Angeal didn't say much, he didn't seem like a bad person. But Shippo knew better, he knew appearances could be deceiving. Just because they seemed like nice people, didn't mean they were. Hence why he wanted the others with them. He would try to protect Kagome, she was like a mother to him! But as strong as he was, he could admit to himself that the others would be handy in a fight.
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Zack's eye trailed back from the path in front of him to the two behind him and Angeal. More specifically, the little kid, Shippo, sticking close to Kagome. Or at least, he assumed it was a kid. Actually, it kind of looked like a child of a fox and a human. He didn't act like a monster, so mutation from the Mako was out of the question. To his knowledge, if a person, let alone a kid, was exposed to enough mako to mutate, they would probably act like a monster too.
"Staring is rude, you know." He looked up at Kagome, embarrassed that he got caught. To his surprise, there was a small smile on her face, making him pause long enough so he could walk beside her.
"Hehe, sorry 'bout that." He apologized, not just to her but also to Shippo. "I just… never saw a kid with a tail…"
Shippo looked back at him "… I never saw a guy with such weird hair." He laughed as Zack pouted.
"It's not my fault!" He argued, "It's like that naturally!" Despite the comment, he smiled when both Shippo and Kagome gave small laughs. Or rather, Kagome chuckled softly, Shippo laughed loudly.
However, Kagome's smile dropped as she looked ahead and saw Angeal walking ahead of them. "Hey, Zack," she said, looking back to the teen beside her, "what can you tell me about Angeal?"
Zack frowned, that was a weird question. "Not much… He's my mentor, well, the mentor really for all 2nd class SOLDIERs, along with some 3rds. He lecturers everyone about doing their job and keeping their SOLDIER honor. Why?"
She looked embarrassed as she frowned and looked away. "No reason… it's just… he reminds me a lot of my dad. His name was Angeal too. Angeal Hewley."
"WHAT?!" Zack stopped, looking from Kagome to Angeal, who was looking back at the trio after his outburst. "Angeal, you're her dad?!"
To his surprise, Angeal looked calmly from his shocked student to the embarrassed girl with the confused child hanging on her shoulder. "Is your mother Asako of the Higurashi shrine in Tokyo?" He gave a small smile when she nodded silently. "You were only nine when I left, I'm surprised you remember."
Zack gaped between the two, Angeal was supposed to be the same age as Sephiroth, 25, and Kagome looked like she was 16. "25 minus 16 equals…"
"You had a kid when you were 9 years old?!"
Angeal sighed at Zack's outburst. "Time here and there passes differently. A few weeks here is a few years there…" He trailed off as he heard something coming their way, holding up a hand for silence when he heard Zack ready to ask more questions. Zack paused when he saw the serious look on his face, before hearing the same sound. "There's an emergency exit two floors down." Angeal turned back to Zack, " Take Kagome and Shippo to Sector 8."
"Wait…" Kagome protested as Zack grabbed her hand.
"I'll explain everything later." Angeal assured her, "Now go!" Zack tugged Kagome's hand. She hesitated before letting him lead her and Shippo back the way they came, running as fast as she could to keep up with him.
After they ran a good distance away, Zack slowed down to a fast walk, but didn't let go of her hand. "No offense," He started out, "But I can't believe you're Angeal's daughter. I mean, you're…" "cute" "a teenager, and he's in his mid twenties."
"You think you're confused!" She gave a small laugh, "I thought my father died seven years ago, and it turns out he was here, in a different time, or maybe a different world, and he hasn't aged at all." The rueful smile died away. Did her mom know? She could never remember her mom really being sad about him leaving, or dying, or whatever was going on.
"Just be glad he's alive."
"Oh Shippo…" She let go of Zack's hand so the kitsune could move from hanging on her shoulder to being held in her arms. It hadn't been a year yet since he lost his father, so it was no wonder to her that he was a bit sore about the subject. He would probably give anything to have his 'Pa' back, and she was the one who was seemingly ungrateful to have her father back. It wasn't that she was ungrateful, she was just extremely confused.
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Zack pushed the sewer plate aside, and climbed up into a back alley. A quick check on the GPS on his phone confirmed that they made it to Sector 8. "Woah!" He looked back at Shippo after hearing his surprised shout, and saw the boy looking around excited at the city beyond the alleyway before looking back to Kagome. "Is this your world, Kagome?"
There was a hint of a frown on her face as she walked towards the street. "No… but it looks sort of like Tokyo…" As far as Shippo could understand, coming from Feudal Japan. The sky was smoggy, but it smelled different, worse, than the smog in Tokyo. The close compact buildings were a lot like home, except rising up in what seemed like the center of town was a giant building she had never seen before. She turned back to Zack, giving a slight blush when she realized he had been looking at her while she too gaped at the strange settings like Shippo. "Where are we supposed to meet Angeal?"
It was his turn to blush as he scratched his head. "Honestly… I don't know. I know he has an apartment in this sector, but I don't know where." At least, he assumed Angeal had an apartment in Sector 8. Most SOLDIERs had apartments here, since it close to the Shinra Building, and the rent was usually pretty reasonable.
He could always take them to his apartment, it was close by, and Angeal knew where it was. "It's too bad she's Angeal's daughter..." He pushed that thought aside. There were more important things to worry about than wondering if he could get Kagome to go on a date with him. Sure he was a guy, and could appreciate the fact Kagome was a cute girl, but there was a time and a place, even he knew that! "Besides, she's got a kid!" At least, there seemed to be a mother-son relationship between her and Shippo. Or maybe a very strong sister-brother, but he was leaning towards his first thought, the way she was worried about Shippo when he first met her. Even if he was adopted (which he seriously did, Shippo seemed to be at least 7 years old), Kagome probably didn't have the time, or probably the desire, to date.