Chapter 3: Deprived

"Wait!" Ria screamed despite the raw pain at her neck.

"Is there a catch?" Kadaj taunted; taking obvious delight at her fear for him, pausing despite the death blow.

"I used to be with Shin-Ra. Maybe they have answers about the Mother you're looking for," Ria finished in a rush, her words coming out in wisps of clouds.

She only said them to stall for time and delay. She could've been lying, but no matter. It was enough to get herself away from him in a few days.

Deliria's POV

I froze. The blade is still pressed lightly at my neck, his body is close. I can feel his breath beating down on my numb cheeks—from the cold, and from raw fear. I waited as he dreadfully thought of my words, weighing them with the possibilities and negativities, his gains, and losses. I'm getting slightly impatient, anger roiling in my veins, but he pulls back and sheaths his sword once more.

"In that case, help us figure out where Mother is, and I set you free. Prove yourself useless, and you're good as dead," he raises an eyebrow and scrutinizes me.

"What do you mean 'us'?" I ask, ignoring the warm trickling of my own blood that was staining my shirt.

"Me and my brothers of course." He smirks and adds. "Something tells me you're good at sneaking around and stealing important information." He turns his back to me. "Probably as good as I am, but... we'll see."

Without looking, I know he's smirking, and he seems to have forgotten about the damage he's done to me. I bite my lip, and move my finger and traced the thin shallow cuts. Blood smeared onto my bandaged finger. It's not that bad, and I know I'll heal in a matter of days. Besides, he doesn't care.

"Yazoo!"

Just as his voice rings out, a tall person comes in from the direction of where the kitchen might be. He has long silver hair just like his brother's and had the same cyan eyes. Mako eyes. Both of them had Mako eyes. It's a trademark of a SOLDIER. Could these guys possibly be...? I shake my head. No. Impossible. SOLDIER is gone. Cloud's not a part of it anymore. It doesn't make sense.

The latter comes in and was beside the couch in a flash. He looks like a girl. What's with him and his brothers with girl facades? So he was Yazoo. What could my abductor's name be?

"What is it brother?" My eyes widen at the sound of his voice. Velvet soft, with the same dangerous purr as his, but Yazoo's voice had a more feminine quality to it. And as before, I find the second brother attractive.

"We have a new helper," he turned back around to face Yazoo. "Looks to me like she's helping us find Mother now. I'll go check on some stuff. You don't mind looking after her do you?"

Yazoo smirks and I caught him glance at me...

"'Course not brother."

vVvVv

Normal POV

Kadaj had gone to the back to check on 'some stuff', Loz was in the kitchen doing Gaia knows what, and Yazoo sat on the carpeted floor, polishing his Velvet Nightmare. Ria stared and stared at the middle brother, and not even bothering to make small talk. Yazoo was as talkative as a rock. Ria, however, had finally learned the art of ignoring her new cuts. It was starting to close off by now anyway.

So, of course, it surprised her when his velvety voice broke the comfortable silence.

"So when did he you find you?"

"Who? Him?" Ria asked, sounding somewhat lost for the moment.

Yazoo looked to her and nodded once in agreement. "Kadaj. When did he find you?"

'Kadaj. What a... different... name...' Ria thought.

"In the abandoned Shin-Ra buildings."

She shrugged mentally. There was no point in hiding that now. She was going to help them find Mother after all, and get some answers from Shin-Ra which they didn't have—according to Ria's thoughts.

"He says you know something about Mother..." Yazoo stood up.

"I don't. Who is she by the way?" Ria asked cautiously.

"It isn't my place to speak."

"Okay, so what's Reunion?"

Yazoo clenched his jaw. She was getting a tad fit annoying. His fingers tightened on his gun's hilt. Without further hesitation, he cocked it pointed the double barrels under her chin.

"You ask too many questions," he spoke with a regal yet deadly tone.

"You make it sound like it's a bad thing," she scoffed sourly, not caring if the weapon was loaded or not. Most people used guns as threats, and ninety-eight percent are the chances of it empty.

"Kadaj won't like it if I lodge a bullet in your head."

"Yeah, right. Like that thing's even loaded," she smirked arrogantly at him, and it was all the more reason for Yazoo to be on edge.

The middle brother sighed heavily. It wasn't worth it. He re-holstered his Velvet Nightmare and went to a far corner of the room and picked up some random reading material that had survived from one of Kadaj's raging tantrums. He was keeping an eye on her, yes, but it wouldn't hurt to slack off a bit.

Ria made a move, and stood up.

"Don't even think about it," Yazoo warned with a deadly undertone, the magazine covering his face and only exposing the crown of his head.

"I'm just going to the kitchen for a glass of water. Is that alright, sir?" she interjected him mockingly.

Yazoo jerked his head to the doorway that led to the kitchen, but as far as the middle brother knew, Loz was still in there.

Deliria's POV

I let myself in the kitchen and spot another burly silver-haired man sitting on one of the chairs in the dining room table. He looks older, and if the three are brothers, he was by far the oldest of them—evidently. He looks up at me with a vacant expression, but with a glint of mischievousness in his Mako cat's eyes. It's still a mystery—as to why they have SOLDIER trademarks when the elite group had been forgotten two years ago since the Meteor Incident.

I can feel his eyes glued to the back of my head, scrutinizing me, questioning me with every motion I make. I spot a cupboard filled with drinking glasses, and I make my way shamelessly to one. I grab a glass, and turn to him, acknowledging his presence voluntarily for the first time since I bantered into the room. He is bent over a certain weapon, examining it.

"It's fine to get a drink right?" He nods. Hm... Must be shy...

When I had finally quenched my raging thirst, and sated my hunger for a little while, I turn to him—glass still in hand—and ask a particular question.

"Are you guys, brothers?" Again, he replies with a nod without looking up at me. "And Kadaj is the youngest?" Another nod. "He's a pain in the ass. You should tell it to his face some time."

"Unfortunately though, I think he knows what you think of him already."

A chill vibrates my entire body, but that's probably because of the cold wind coming in from the back door that was open, and a certain pain-in-the-ass was already standing in the doorway, his sword clutched in his left hand.

Shrugging, I keep my demeanor cool nonetheless.

"Yeah. Too bad." I'm kind of a hard-person—everyone says that—who's fickle regarding her own sensitivity towards other people's feelings. And I think I've met my match.

Kadaj comes closer. "Too bad you just had to question a person of authority. Your parents must be irresponsible to even raise you like this."

My parents have always been a sore subject on my part. I'm an orphan, and I long figured that maybe they just didn't care about me. I was taken from the Midgar Orphanage by some of Shin-Ra's personnel. I never trifled, but I'm never the obedient one to start with. That was what my siblings would've been for—if I had any.

I didn't realize I was silent, until a general smirk came on Kadaj's face for the time-being of my silence.

"You're coming with me tomorrow to Shin-Ra's house."

vVvVv

An earlier while back, I asked Kadaj if he had any extra rooms in the house for me to sleep in. And what a pretty answer I got... none.

Few hours earlier...

"Kadaj, do you have any extra rooms in this house?"

"For what?" He asked, sounding unsurprisingly annoyed at the sound of my voice maybe.

"For me to sleep in... duh?"

He was silent for a moment, it nearly took him forever, and I was ready to flip.

"We don't have an extra room in this house. You're staying with me tonight." I gasp involuntarily as an evil smile forms on his lips. "And even if we did have an extra room, I wouldn't be letting you sleep in there either."

"Why not?"

"I don't exactly trust you enough to leave you alone..."

So, I shuffle slowly towards his bed, I really didn't want to curl up in, especially with him resting next to me. I shudder. Right now, he's in the restroom, probably taking a shower, and I would've stepped out of the room to wait for him to change. I don't exactly want to see him half-naked. It ticks me off. I don't know why though. I told him about the idea earlier—before he decided to shower—and he threatened me that he'd lock me outside of his room with no place to sleep. He would have Loz adopt me in his room. Let me get this idea straight. I can hear Loz snoring, and there is no way am I sleeping in a room where night noises abound. I'm a girl, and they can't exactly blame me for needing a quiet place to rest.

So here I am, curled up in a tight ball with the billowing sheets all over me. They were surprisingly comfy for a guy who loves brutality. Tired as I am, my eyes drift closed as tight blinds would shutter for the night.

Kadaj's POV

I love showers. They're one of the many pleasures in this planet I cherish. Too soon that it's over, I wrap a towel around my waist, and sigh heavily as I run my hands through my silver hair that's soaked through.

Grabbing my clothes from the counter, I put on a pair of black sleep pants, and a white shirt. Normally, I would've slept without a shirt on. It's more comfortable, but seeing as I have my captive spending the night in my room—and seeing as she's a female—I don't want to give her any ideas. I know you're thinking how decent of me, but she's not exactly the type I kidnapped to "play" with. She isn't my toy—not yet. For now, she's a tool for my specific task.

I open the door that leads to my room, and catch the girl fast asleep already. She was spread out eagle on my bed—how convenient. Nevertheless, I make my way over and shove her onto her side of the mattress. She grunted and her eyes snapped open with a start. A glare was what met me when her amethyst eyes find me.

"What's your problem?" She might've meant to sound threatening, but seeing as she's partnered her desirable question with an exhausted yawn, I like to think of it as a big joke. I smirk.

"You sleeping on my bed, with your wickedly lengthy and wide body spread out. Maybe you should cut your eating fads," I'm not in the mood to kid around but I do so sourly.

It earns me a frown as she starts examining her own body.

"I'm not fat or overweight at all."

I roll my eyes; too tired for games. There'd be plenty of time for that in the morning. A good night's sleep is what I crave. I shrug myself under the covers with her still staring.

"Shut up, and go to bed." I hear a scowl from her direction and feel another weight settle on the mattress.

"Aren't you worried I might sneak out?"

My back's turned, but I know how pointless her question is.

"Hardly. I locked the door from the outside, and besides, I could always turn myself to mist and get out with much ease. Unlike you."

vVvVv

Deliria's POV

I take it he's been asleep for hours now. It's past midnight, and I'm still awake. My mind refuses to shut down. I've tossed and turned to no avail, and I still couldn't get the pleasures of a good night sleep.

What am I doing here? Where are my stuff? He's hid them somewhere, but I have the feeling that every drawer's probably locked. And he actually had the nerve to rub it in my face about how powerless I was in my situation. I roll over and get a good view of his back. The moon shines faintly through the window and forms a shaft of light just like a flashlight would. His silver hair seems to radiate an unearthly glow. But knowing him, he apparently is.

Oddly, I have the unexplainable urge to run my fingers through his hair to get over the thoughts that are debating whether it was as silky as it looks. I sigh and turn my back on him once more. I needed sleep. He mentioned something about me going with him to Shin-Ra's house.

If anything, and if I'm right about Shin-Ra's obvious nature—sneaky, he'd be keeping a laboratory in his house. A smile brightens up my features despite the gloom the room was submerged in. Kadaj is looking for Mother, and I'm in for some research regarding Shin-Ra's past agents and what happened to them once they were in REJECT. Shin-Ra holds the answers to my questions, but who holds the answers to Kadaj's?