Diclaimer: I own only my OCs. Square Enix owns all Final fantasy VII Characters.

"You could have been killed!" Yuffie practically yelled at Kaia who was walking towards the couch, filing her nails.

"Could have been. But I wasn't was I?" Kaia said calmly. She set down the file and pulled off her cloak.

"Would have thought you'd traded in that uniform for something else by now." Vincent commented.

"Well Vincent, like you, I find the need to be in the same outfit all the time when I'm around people." Kaia shot back.

Vincent glared at her.

"So what are you doing here?" Tifa asked.

"Thought I'd drop in. See my friends and try to catch up. Haven't been here for five years." She said easily.

"Why don't you tell them the real reason you're here?" Vincent said, slipping into Kaia's mind so he could communicate silently with her.

Kaia scowled. "And what would that reason be?"

The door opened and Cloud walked in looking very annoyed and as though his day couldn't get worse.

"Hi, Cloud."

Upon seeing Kaia, his face clearly said it just had.

"Oh great, what do you want?"

"Is it a crime for me to want to see my little brother?" Kaia asked standing up.

"We're twins. You're only older by 2 minutes." Cloud growled.

Kade looked between the two. "They're twins?"

"I know we don't look a thing alike do we?" Kaia asked.

"Thank god." Cloud muttered.

"Why you-,"

"They have serious sibling rivalry problems. I don't think they have ever gotten along since Kaia ran away." Tifa said shaking her head, as the two began a staring contest.

"Ran away?" Kade asked.

"That's right. She ran away from home when she was 12 and disappeared. Cloud met her again 6 years ago and they haven't gotten along to well since then. Physically they're both just as powerful as the other. But mentally…." Yuffie trailed off.

"No one knows what happened to Kaia while she was gone, except that she's a former 1st Class SOLDIER. We all have our own theories as to why, but she is the strongest willed person I know other than Cloud. She has never run from a fight, and will stand up to anyone even if they're twice her size." Tifa explained.

"But there are similarities between them." Yuffie said. "They both have blue eyes, and they're both obsessed with their hair. Cloud spikes his and Kaia dyes hers."

"Not exactly." Muttered Vincent. Kaia threw him a look.

"Wait a minute!" Cloud irrupted. "I know why you're here! You heard Sephiroth made an appearance last month and you came to investigate!"

"And then there is the obsession with Sephiroth that ties their dysfunctional family together." Yuffie said.

11:00 that night found Kaia on the roof, looking out over the city, her hair blowing freely around her shoulders. Her blue eyes were distant, staring off into the darkness recalling memories that haunted her.

"You're going to catch a cold if you stay out here without a jacket." Her cloak fell around her shoulders as Vincent came to stand beside her.

"Thanks." She said quietly.

"Thinking about him again?" Vincent asked

"This city, it brings back memories. Memories I would prefer to forget." Kaia replied softly.

"But you can't. You never can." Vincent told her.

"How do you do it?" Kaia asked, turning to look up at him.

"Do what?"

"You've done so much wrong and it doesn't seem to faze you a bit." Kaia replied.

"I learn to live with it." Vincent said darkly.

"Which is short for: 'I keep it all bottled up inside so that when I die I'll know I deserve it.'" Kaia said more to herself than to Vincent as she turned back to the city.

She could feel him glaring at her.

"Remind me again how many times I've gotten you out of trouble." Vincent reminded her.

"Whatever." The young girl scoffed.

"So, you are here because of Sephiroth?" Vincent asked.

Kaia rubbed her arm uneasily. "Kind of. I got a call day before yesterday telling me to come back."

"Call from who?" Vincent's red eyes glowed softly.

"Tseung. They want me to track down some 'thing' that escaped. I bet it was Hojo's fault it got out in the first place." Kaia reported.

"Is that the only reason?"

"Tsung also said something about Reno being obsessive about me and driving them all insane but I think he was lying through his teeth on that one." Kaia smirked.

"What are you going to do?"

"What do you think? I'll go in, see what they want, see how much materia they're willing to give me and ask if I can kill Hojo." Kaia said an evil glint in her eyes.

"So you're going to help them catch whatever it is?" Vincent was quite surprised at this.

Kaia snorted. "Are you out of your mind? I'm not going after the thing. That's the Turk's job. They pay me in advance because I'll say I'll do it. I get a new cell number and go back to Banora."

"Have you told anyone else yet? About…," Vincent trailed off. She knew what he was talking about.

"No. Not yet. I'll get around to it some time." She replied.

"So you're a runaway?"

"Yeah. I guess you could say that." The teen replied shrugging.

"And Kaia said she would help you?" Cloud asked from across the room where he was cleaning his swords.

"Yeah. How many of those things do you have?" Kade indicated the swords.

Cloud glanced up at her. "Let me just say a lot and leave it at that."

Kade stood up and walked across to where he was sitting at the table. "My brother was a sword collector. He owned almost 50 until-," She trailed off as she ran the tips of her fingers gently over the side of one blade.

"You know how to use one?" Cloud asked.

Kade shook her head. "No. My brother offered to teach me but he never got around to it."

"What happened to him?"

"He-," Kade looked away, though she could feel those beautiful blue eyes watching her. "He died when I was 9. He was killed for standing up for what he thought was right."

"I'm sorry." Cloud said softly.

"No. It was a long time ago."

Cloud could see the pain in her downcast eyes and felt something pass through his mind. An impulse to comfort her as best as he could.

"I could teach you. If you wanted me to." He offered.

"Huh?" Kade looked sharply up at him, puzzlement in her gaze.

"To use a sword. I could teach you if you want."

Kade laughed a little as she brushed her hand over the blade again. "I bet these things weigh more than I do."

"There are others. Kaia probably brought her entire stash." He told her. Then muttered. "She owns at least 200. Unless she couldn't pack them in with all the other weapons."

"What is she?" Kade asked.

"What do you mean?" Cloud met her steel gray eyes.

"Kaia. What does she do?"

Cloud sighed rubbing the back of his neck. "To tell you the truth I really don't know. I know she's been hiding from Shinra for the past few years and jumps at any sighting of Sephiroth that's reported."

"Sephiroth?" Kade turned her head to the side, her eyes questioning him. Cloud thought she looked cute.

"He was a member of SOLDIER. You know, the group that Shinra had to defend it. We were all injected with a certain type of shot. But Sephiroth was different. He was almost blood related to Jenova. You heard about her I imagine."

Kade nodded. "The calamity that fell from the sky and nearly wiped out everyone."

"That's the one. Sephiroth was related to that calamity and Shinra had put millions into bringing him to life as a sort of mega human. Or something along those lines. But when he found out about everything, he started to hate Shinra for what they had done. Then he began to hate everything and attempted to take over the planet. I was able to stop him with help from members of the group you met today. There are a few others you haven't met though." Cloud shook his head at the memory.

"When you say 'we were injected…' what do you mean? Where you part of SOLDIER as well?" Kade asked, she had taken a seat on the arm of the couch by now.

Cloud hesitated. "That's.. complicated."

A sudden outburst of raised voices and a loud crash from downstairs drew their attention. They looked at each other and headed for the door.

R&R