Disclaimer: Final Fantasy is owned by Square-Enix. I have this story, s'bout it.

Liminality

Chapter 3: Blood Heritage

--

"Yes, Mrs. Kisaragi, I knew your daughter."

The Wutainese mother broke out into a wide grin that reminded Aeris of a certain mischievous teenage ninja. "Really? Tell me, how is she? Has she grown into a beautiful woman? Does she get along with that idiot of a father she has? How did you meet her?"

'Wow… she really is, no doubt, Yuffie's mother.' Aeris smiled at the woman's excitement. "Don't worry, I'll tell you all about her, Mrs. Kisaragi."

The two of them sat down together within the swirling mass of consciousnesses, as if they were meeting up for an afternoon tea session. "Mrs. Kisaragi, the last time I saw Yuffie, she was 16 years old. She should be 18 years old now."

Mrs. Kisaragi nodded eagerly, but paused, realizing that she has yet to introduce herself. "Oh, I'm sorry, I was so excited I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Umeko; please refer to me as that from now on."

Aeris smiled and nodded. "Okay, Umeko. My name is Aeris."

"Aeris… you have a very nice name. Your mother must have wished the best for you when she named you." Umeko smiled gently, making Aeris wonder if Yuffie would also grow up to be this way. If she would, Aeris would be so happy for her.

"Then you, also, must have wished the best for Yuffie when you named her, right Umeko?"

"Yuffie's name…" Umeko paused, as if hesitating. Shaking her head, she looked at Aeris. "Please continue, Aeris."

Aeris smiled and nodded, though she could tell something was wrong. She wouldn't ask about it if it was something Umeko would rather not mention. Aeris told Umeko everything, from how they met Yuffie, to their ordeal in Wutai, to how Yuffie has assisted in saving the world from the wrath of Sephiroth, and then later assisted in the defeat of Bahamut SIN during the events of Geostigma.

When Aeris was done, Umeko looked as if she was about to explode with pride. Yet, in a flash, the prideful look upon Umeko's face faltered, as she spoke out with an apologetic tone, "I apologize for the trouble she's caused you. It must've been tough when she took your materia. I hope everyone had forgiven her?"

Aeris shook her head. "It wasn't that much trouble. We all knew why she stole the materia, so we all forgave her after she returned it to us."

Umeko's face lit up with curiosity. "That reminds me… why DID she take your materia?"

Aeris frowned. 'That's right… Umeko doesn't know about what happened to Wutai.'

With her face now filled with worry, Umeko grabbed Aeris's hand in urgency. "What? What happened to Wutai? I remember, before I died, we were in a war. What happened to Wutai?"

Aeris sighed, scolding herself for forgetting to watch her own thoughts within the Lifestream. "Umeko, Wutai isn't like before anymore. It's more of a… tourist resort now."

"A tourist resort?" Umeko looked confused for a second, before her face contorted into anger. "What did that idiot Godo do? Don't tell me that idiot actually did what Shin-Ra had asked him to do!"

Aeris attempted to calm her down, but to no avail. Suddenly, Umeko's anger disappeared as quickly as it came. With a sigh, Aeris replied. "I'm not sure exactly what Shin-Ra had asked Wutai to do, Umeko, but the reason why Yuffie stole the materia was because she believed that materia would help Wutai return to the way it was."

When Aeris received no reaction, she tried calling her, "Umeko?" Umeko suddenly looked up at Aeris, as if she had just jerked out of her thoughts. Apparently, Yuffie's mother was just as bad as paying attention to people just as Yuffie is now.

"Sorry, I was thinking about something. What did you say? Yuffie stole the materia to help Wutai?" Aeris nodded in reply. At least, her mother wasn't as bad as Yuffie was when it came to splitting her attention. Umeko sighed, "That silly girl…"

"What do you mean by that?"

Umeko shook her head. "What Wutai needs isn't materia. What our country needs is a Kisaragi to lead it. That's all it'll take to bring Wutai to glory once again."

"Isn't Godo a Kisaragi?"

Umeko blinked a few times, her face looking surprised. "You guys didn't know? The Kisaragi line has always been continued on by females. Never once in our country's history did any Kisaragi bare a male child. All males so far have been married into the family name. Yuffie never mentioned it?"

"No, Yuffie never mentioned a thing."

"That's interesting. All of the females in the Kisaragi line learn of this when they turn eighteen after they've undergone and passed the trials of the Five Gods of the Pagoda. Yuffie's eighteen now, and you mentioned earlier she already passed the trials of the Five Gods, right?"

"Yes, but… Umeko, Yuffie finished the trials when she was sixteen. So maybe, Godo didn't tell her yet. She probably only recently turned eighteen."

Umeko suddenly stood up, flailing her arms around as she spoke. "She went through the trials when she was sixteen? You didn't tell me that!"

Aeris blinked. "Um… was that important?"

Umeko stopped flailing and looked at Aeris. She rubbed her forehead and sighed. "Right, right, of course. None of you guys knew any of this. Sorry for that outburst."

"It's alright, I understand. So… what's wrong with her taking the trials at sixteen? I mean, it's alright as long as she passes, right?"

With a sigh, Umeko sat back down.

"Actually…"

--

"He's in a coma? What do you mean by 'in a coma'?"

Yuffie grabbed the guard that had spoken to her by the armor, shaking him roughly.

"L-Lady!" The guard found it terribly hard to speak any further under the circumstances. Yuffie seemed to notice this, and let go of the guard.

Crossing her arms, she glared at him accusingly. "What happened?"

While the other guard attempted to recover his lost air and calm his shaken head, the guard next to him explained. "We really don't know, Lady. One day, we sent off some men to search for the children. We waited for news from them for three days, but they've yet to return. Each day, we continued to send a new group to search for the old, but none of them have returned thus far."

"So… this has something to do with the coma… how?" Yuffie put her hands at her waist and began tapping her foot, patience running thin.

"We HAVE been taking men from the defense, Lady Kisaragi. The remaining guards suspect that it must have been an assault from an unknown enemy, taking advantage of our lack of soldiers."

Yuffie stuck a hand out to stop him. "Wait. What about the other four Gods of the Pagoda? Wouldn't they have protected Godo?"

The guards winced at the mention of the four Gods. "Lady Kisaragi… Staniv is… the only one out of the four Gods still here." Yuffie was about to explode. The guard quickly continued, "A-After the first group we sent out never came back, Gorky, Shake, and Chekhov led the groups that went out to search for them."

Yuffie's fists clenched tightly together. 'Okay, gotta keep my cool here… Godo can't do anything. Most of the Gods have gone missing. I'm a Kisaragi, I can do this. Mom would've been able to.' Yuffie cleared her throat, and began to speak in a clear and commanding voice. "How many men are left?"

The two guards immediately stood straight. The previously strangled one replied, "Right now, there is only Staniv and a few guards left over that are protecting the city. The rest of them are all men that haven't gone through proper training yet, but are doing their best."

Yuffie tapped her chin in thought. 'Wait a second…' Yuffie stomped a foot into the ground. "Gather all the men and women who can fight in the city's center. Don't bother alerting Staniv; let him keep watch at Godo in case anyone decides to attack, I'll speak to him myself later. One of you, keep watch here at the gate, the other, go do what I said."

The two guards bowed and split to do their individual tasks. Once they were out of sight, Yuffie's shoulders immediately slumped and she let out a loud groan.

"Gawd, this is so annoying!"

With that, she stomped her way over to Wutai's center to wait for her people to gather.

--

"Yo, partner. Take a look at this!"

A bodily built bald man made his way over to the source of the call. Once arriving on the scene, he whistled at the sight. "That's pretty bad…"

"I know, man. Who in the world would do this, 'specially to a whole buncha children. It's sick." The redhead knelt down to examine the bodies closer, although he found the action pointless even to himself, as anyone could see from first glance that the bodies were too mutilated to even examine.

"Are they kids from Edge?"

"Man, I don't think there's any way to tell. The bodies are too screwed up. I see whip marks, slash marks, burnt marks, even signs of frostbite, all mixed together, stacked over, one by one."

"Materia."

"It's not the only thing, man…"

Another voice called from behind the trees and bushes. "Rude? Reno? What's going on with you two?"

Reno looked at Rude, who shook his head quickly. He shouted towards the direction of her voice. "Elena! Don't come over here. Go tell Tseng we found somethin'!"

Elena stepped out from behind the trees. "And just why not? What the hell are you guys-…? Oh my… god…" Elena cupped her mouth with her hands, resisting the urge to throw up at the sight.

"I warned ya."

Elena shook her head in disbelief. "I'll… I'll go get Tseng." Her voice was terribly shaken as she began to walk away.

"Yo, Rude, you better go with her, man." Reno gestured to the bodies before him. "I'll stay here; see if I can find anything. Just make sure 'Lena doesn't lose it."

Rude nodded and went after the blonde Turk. Reno was having a hard time doing anything besides staring at the corpses.

--

"After passing the trials of the Five Gods of the Pagoda, the survivor is bestowed the ability to use All Creation. It's like a rite of passage gift. The age sixteen is still too young to use the ability All Creation, because along with gaining All Creation, Yuffie should also have been told some secrets passed down generation through generation." Umeko glanced at Aeris. "But, from what you've told me. Yuffie doesn't seem to know a thing about any family secrets!"

Aeris tapped her forehead gently. "But it's okay… as long as Yuffie can still pull off the attack, right?"

Umeko's head shot up. "Attack?"

"Yes… All Creation is an attack, isn't it? She's used it plenty of times already."

Umeko shook her head and began pacing back and forth. "No… no, no, no… that's all wrong. All Creation… I mean, Aeris, just think about the name itself!"

Aeris blinked a few times. "You know… that's… true. Why would an attack that can kill be named All Creation?" Aeris couldn't believe the amount of time it took for her to realize something was wrong with the name. She highly doubted the others noticed, either.

"What happened whenever she used it?"

Aeris tapped her forehead again, trying to recall the moments when she's seen Yuffie perform the attack. "I remember… Yuffie seems to go into deep concentration, and then a huge ball of energy just appears and razes through the enemies. Then she gets really, really tired afterwards."

"I see." Umeko tapped her chin in thought, an action similar to her daughter's. "Well, hm… have you seen her perform something called Clear Tranquil?"

Aeris nodded, clearly remembering that useful skill. "With it, she helped us out in a lot of jams. I could never figure out how she did it, though."

"Clear Tranquil is a skill that all Kisaragi's must have. It's the skill they use until they can properly process the energy required for All Creation. Because Yuffie has not properly learned what is required to execute All Creation correctly, all she ends up doing is releasing a whole bunch of energy." Umeko paused and sighed. "It's very dangerous to her body if she continues to use it that way. Hopefully, having turned eighteen, she'll start to use it properly."

"Then… what'll happen when she uses it properly?"

--

Yuffie stood at the center square of Wutai, her eyes closed as she mentally prepared herself. The people of Wutai quietly waited to hear what their Lady had to say. Yuffie was glad that her people were not putting any unnecessary pressure on her as she prepared to speak.

Yuffie took a deep breath, and opened her eyes. "Actually…" Once she started, all eyes had turned to her. "I don't have that much to say. I just thought of this when I got back and heard the situation. This whole time, we have been moving in groups." She took another deep breath. "We are trained, or currently within training, to be ninja. We practice stealth. None of us have been specially trained to fight within groups."

Yuffie paused and took a look around before she continued. "Yet, groups and groups of our people have been sent out. In groups, our capabilities become limited. Stealth becomes harder with a large group, we are highly noticeable. I believe this is why so many of us have gone missing."

Seeing the people each slowly nodding in agreement, Yuffie beamed. "And hence, I would like the remaining of you to stay in Wutai. Every one of you will work as partners, each set of partners positioning themselves in a certain part of Wutai. As to where, I'll leave that to the guards. I will go by myself and scout the areas nearby for any signs of our missing family."

At this announcement, the people began to protest. Yuffie immediately silenced them. "I say this again. We are ninja. We must separate and work individually where others cannot. That is our strong point, and we will use it to our advantage."

The people reluctantly, though surely, saw their Lady's point and nodded in acknowledgement. Yuffie continued. "No matter the circumstance, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT come searching for me. Everyone MUST be able to watch out for themselves. Everyone, including myself, must be able to. Failure to do so means failure as a ninja. I would rather die than fail what I have been raised my whole life to be."

The citizens of Wutai nodded gravely. Finally, Yuffie concluded her speech.

"Everyone, I leave the safety of Wutai in your hands. Please don't let me down. Remember, this is Wutai's problem, and it is its people who will solve it."

Flashing her trademark Kisaragi grin, she left for Godo's house.

Once there, she was immediately greeted by Staniv's warm smile.

"Lady Kisaragi! Yuffie, I'm so glad you're back!"

Yuffie took a good look at Staniv. He seemed lively, but she could imagine the stress he must be undergoing. The other Gods were missing, and the strongest of them, her father, and the leader of Wutai, is in a coma.

"I heard about what's been going on."

Staniv sighed, and shook his head. "I'm very sorry, Yuffie, that this is the situation you had to come home to." He shook his head again, looking at Yuffie sadly. "You, alone, head out to face the threat of the planet once more, saving the whole planet with your friends. We, your people, couldn't even protect our own homes…"

Yuffie tapped her chin and shook her head at Staniv. "It's a bit too early to say that. We're saving our city right now, right? We haven't failed yet. And trust me; I don't plan on failing, either." Again, she flashed her trademark Kisaragi grin.

Staniv smiled as he could feel the confidence pouring from Yuffie. 'I suppose, this is why this country has always depended upon a true Kisaragi.' His brows furrowed as another thought came to him. 'Yuffie… doesn't know about her own family secrets yet… I could tell her what I know, but… it would be better if Godo were to tell her everything at once.'

"Staniv?" Yuffie waved her hands in front of him, attempting to call him back to reality. She couldn't help but wonder, 'Y'know… this isn't the first time something like this happened.' Her mind flashed back to Vincent. 'I wonder if it's me. Gawd, how lame.'

"Ah, I apologize, Yuffie. I was lost in my thoughts for a while." Staniv shook his head and gestured towards the house. "Would you like to go visit Lord Godo?"

Yuffie nodded and headed inside with Staniv. He led her to Godo's room, opening the door for her and allowing her inside while he, himself, stayed outside, allowing Yuffie her privacy. Once inside, Yuffie immediately noticed the surroundings were different from the last time she'd been here. Although she had only been away from Wutai for a few days due to Geostigma, the reality of it all was that she hadn't been in Godo's room for at least a year. Before that, she had only entered his room to hide from Avalanche when she had stolen their materia previously.

In her eyes, the room looked so worn, like the contents within it haven't been touched in years and have well past the stage of just sitting idly by and attracting dust. Maybe it was just because there was no Godo and his colorful purple clothing to decorate the room, as it was hidden by the comforters which covered him. Yuffie found the situation slightly funny. Godo was never one to be under the covers, he was always sprawled out over them in an awkward position unfitting for the ruler of Wutai.

Yuffie rolled her eyes, as she could only guess this is where she got her rebellious attitude towards their culture from. She walked towards Godo's sleeping figure and plopped down next to him.

"Hey, old man, you just leave Wutai to me, alright? You're so old… you probably need the rest, anyway. So, you just rest, and by the time I get this all under control, you can wake up, see what I've done, and I can laugh at your face at how much better I am than you at doing things, 'kay?" Yuffie let out a small laugh, and reached forward to pat the covers. Jumping up and heading towards the door, she looked back at him once again.

"Sleep well, dad. I'll take care of everything."

--

"Reno… this is…" The black haired leader of the Turks stared in disbelief. Even for a Turk, who should easily turn away from his emotions at the sight of death, this was hard to swallow.

"Yeah, I know… it's sick. Where's 'Lena?"

Tseng shook his head. "I gave her orders to stay at the lodge with the president. She doesn't need to see this anymore than she should have to. She was already badly shaken up when she came to me."

Reno nodded in understanding. "Then… what do we do with these?"

Tseng looked clearly displeased, hesitating before speaking again. "Leave them as they are. We'll examine the bodies that are somewhat intact still and see if there's anything that could tell us something about why this happened."

Reno and Rude nodded silently and began examining the bodies. Tseng looked around the area. Reno, clearly unhappy, had stopped examining in a few moments, deciding that this was clearly an act of insanity and had no reason as to why. Tseng had returned to the two, having found nothing in the surrounding area. Rude, though, had produced different results. Motioning for Tseng and Reno to come over, the silent Turk pointed at the ground beneath the bodies.

"Scratches on the ground… Maybe a message?" Rude looked to Tseng and Reno for their reactions. Tseng moved in and took a closer look.

Having found deep and thin scratches on the ground rather than marks that shown the bodies were dragged into the area, Tseng nodded at Rude. "Yes… you might be right. These are intentional." Tseng then looked uncomfortable, his voice clearly pained as he spoke, "Move the bodies. Lift and carry them, don't drag."

Rude began to do as commanded wordlessly. Reno shook his head and began to work as well, but not before adding his own commentary. "Man, I'm so going to Hell." At this, Rude turned to Reno and raised an eyebrow, though his eyes were still hidden by his sunglasses.

Reno just waved him off. 'Not like it matters. I've been damned to Hell so many times anyway.' Rude seemed to understand, and continued to work silently.

By the time the three men were done, Rufus and Elena had arrived, under Rufus's persistence in the matter. Indeed, under the bodies was a message.

Rufus read the message, which was written in Wutainese, "Maiden of Jasmine… just as these children, Wutai will be in shambles. We will destroy Wutai's past and present, as we have done its future."

"Whoa, Mr. President, you can read that?" Reno, obviously sharing Yuffie's lack of attention trait, paid more attention to the fact that Rufus could read Wutainese than the actual message itself.

Tseng, on the other hand, was different. "President, will we be doing anything about this?" Rufus remained silent, thinking of the best course of action.

Reno scratched his head. "Hm… why were the bodies all the way over here near Healin?"

Tseng crossed his arms, thinking of a possible reason. "Probably… in case that Kisaragi girl didn't take the airship back to Wutai. She probably has to cross this area to return to Wutai." Tseng looked off into the forest. "Whoever planned this… obviously knows what he's doing. It's close enough to grab the attention of someone whose mind was already on the situation, but far away enough not to attract any other attention."

Elena was slightly baffled at this. "Sir, you mean to say that Kisaragi knew about this already?"

Tseng shook his head, and explained further. "Not necessarily. If these children were from Wutai, she probably knew they were missing before she came here. Then, since the missing children were on her mind, she would search for them as she headed back and find this scene here, unlike others, who would just continue forward on the main forest path."

"What would make her search THIS area, of all places?"

Reno smirked as he answered. "Really, 'Lena, I thought you were smarter than this, I guess I gave you too much credit. Geostigma, y'know? The Kisaragi girl probably thought the kids from Wutai were on their way here 'cause of Geostigma."

Elena's cheeks puffed up in slight frustration. Tseng nodded at Reno. "That's probably it. I can only imagine… if this is the situation here, then… how many corpses would be placed around Wutai?"

The Turks remained silent at this. They could only imagine how many deaths would be at Wutai currently. Even worse, as ever since the war between Wutai and Shin-Ra, Wutai hadn't repopulated much. Being a country with so many customs and traditions, they couldn't just bring more people into their country, as Shin-Ra had just hired more soldiers to replace the ones they lost. Wutai required time, and that time had never been given to them.

Rufus cleared his throat and, with a flip of his bangs, began heading back to the lodge. "Let's go. We're going to Wutai."

--

Yay, another chapter! I'm very happy that you guys are enjoying this fanfic, probably as much as I enjoy writing it! Thanks for reading, and thanks for the reviews!

To the reviewers:

saharasfury: Yes, it will include some angst. But not to worry, it won't fall completely under it. I don't think I'd be able to last making an all-out angst fic. Thanks for the review!

ignoredflower: Yeah, since the Avalanche members mentioned what they were going to do in the near future during the past, I was kind of having trouble deciding which verb tenses to use. Well, I just hope that it wasn't that hard to understand… Thanks for the review!

Maddy02: Yes, poor Yuffie… ( I feel bad for her as I write this, and I feel worse knowing what I have planned for her, too. T-T I'm horrible… On another note, thanks for the review.

Keezz: I'm glad that you enjoy this so much! Oh, but don't faint just yet, it'd be a little hard to read fanfics if ya pass out, huh? Hehe, thanks for the review!

chibified kitsunes: Yuffie does get to mature really fast, that's true. But hm… maturing can't be all:D I'm glad you love it! Thanks for the review!

Chaotic Rei: Aw, I'm sorry. -gives you Hi-Potion- Thanks for the gold star, and thanks for the review!

GirlEnigma: Lol, I will try my best to update as soon as I can, while not rushing the fic. Sadly, I'm going out of town on the 19th and won't be back until a month later. ( I wonder if I can still update from there… I hope I can. If not, I'll make sure to come back and update, update, update:D

Ah, in case some of the readers skipped the section above…

I'll be going out of town, actually, out of country, for a month on the 19th of June. I will update when I can before I leave, and try to update during the time I'm out of the country. If I can't, I'll be sure to make it up to the readers by updating, updating, and updating, by the time I'm back!

Thanks to everyone for reading!