Author's Note: Okay, okay! I promise, after this, we'll have more Sephy! But I couldn't just leave the Valentines like that, could I?

Disclaimer: Although I occasionally act otherwise, I own the game, not the people in it.

******

Kyoko did feel a little remorse the next morning, but she knew that, if she stayed, she and her mother would eventually fall out permanently. Tat's friend with the truck was out of town, but he and Vincent had borrowed some Chocobos. Without a word, one of Tera's lieutenants led up a beautiful, black Chocobo and handed Kyo the reins. Amid much warking as the black exchanged remarks with the two other, yellow birds, Kyo and her brother loaded up her stuff. Tat's normally dark blue eyes were nearly purple from the red highlights all of the Valentine children had from Vincent. "Are you sure you're going to be okay?" he asked.

"I'll keep my head down, Little Brother, don't worry," she replied lightly. "If I'm not safe with Verdot, where will I be? It's long past time I moved out anyway. Mom and I were about to kill each other as it was." She patted the black Chocobo, who was butting his head against her shoulder and warking.

"You didn't even think you were leaving without saying goodbye to us, did you?" Harumi demanded, as she and her twin ran out. Kyo threw her arms around them both, and Tat hugged all three of them.

Looking ostentatiously at his watch, the older boy said, "Well, Dad'll lead one of these fellas, but I have to get going, so I guess you two will have to give Kyo a hand, right?" He hugged Kyoko again. "Don't be a stranger, Big Sister."

When Vincent joined them, he only looked resigned when he saw the twins rather than Tatsuya. "Your mother will have a cat," he sighed.

All three of the younger Valentines shrugged, and Kyoko handed the black's reins to Masaru and picked up her backpack, which held only personal things (including Seph's drying bouquet). They knew she could easily handle three trained birds by herself, but no one wanted to talk about the real reason the twins and Vincent held the lead ropes. Bending her head, ostensibly to sniff her flowers, she said, "Shall we? If we take too much longer, Verdot will be late for work."

As they walked through Midgar, Saru and Kyo talked about pretty much anything but this morning's walk and the reasons behind it. The black Chocobo the boy was leading was clearly someone's personal bird, because he kept butting for caresses any time they stopped to let traffic pass. When Vincent stopped them to readjust a pack on his bird, Kyo saw a scrap of paper in the black's halter. Picking it out with her fingernails, she saw it was a piece of the ultra-thin paper Scouts used to pass messages. Unfolding it, she saw her mother's most hurried writing. The almost unreadable scrawl said, "His name is Shadow. He's an excellent bird, take care of him." Kyoko blinked back tears and handed the note to her father.

Saru, reading over his father's arm, said, "No way. Mom's spent ages on her Chocobo breeding project, and Blacks are hard to get. And he's mostly trained."

Vincent half smiled. "Don't make the mistake of thinking your mother doesn't feel bad, Masaru. She was in tears last night, though she'd flay me if she knew I'd said anything. She'll actually miss having you to snipe at, Kyo."

Kyo chuckled. "Sorry, Dad, but it looks like you'll have to take my place. She doesn't want to alienate Tat as well, and the twins and Shiori are too precious to go after." Haru rolled her eyes, and Saru laughed. Unlike her siblings, Kyo realized that her mother wasn't the only one who'd gone too far last night. "I suspect Shadow has hidden depths, as befits a Scout Chocobo." The subject of their discussion warked at the sound of his name, making all four of them laugh.

Goodbyes were just as awkward as she'd known they would be. Verdot's servants carried off her stuff, and she was left standing empty-handed next to her new Chocobo, wondering what to say. The twins ended the awkward pause by rushing to hug her, both at once. Vincent joined in, not bothering to hide the fact that he was feeling a bit emotional. "I'm your father," he said. "I'd be a failure if I wasn't a bit upset at my little one growing up." At that, Kyoko was hard-pressed to keep from crying like her sister already was.

Finally, reluctantly, the other Valentines led the two rented Chocobos away, leaving Kyo by herself at her new home. Verdot, who had been standing unobtrusively by the stables, motioned to her. "Your lovely fellow there will be sharing his new home with my spoiled ladies, Buttercream and Oakleaf." Hearing their names, a yellow and a green poked their heads up from their water and greeted the new male with coy enthusiasm. Verdot laughed. "Good thing they need Nuts to breed or we'd be overflowing with Chicabos in no time."

Kyo laughed as well. "And, just to annoy the 'serious' breeders, at least one of them would be a Gold, and we'd never hear the end of it." They were discussing the vagaries of Chocobo racing over a late breakfast when a tall man, strange to Kyoko, joined them.

"Ah, Angeal," Verdot greeted the new arrival. "I know I'm not late yet, so what brings you here?" A Scout to her core, Kyo studied the man. He was confident, like all of those in SOLDIER, she figured, and was dark where Seph was pale. A massive sword was slung across his back, but from the way he stood, she could tell he was no stranger to hand-to-hand combat.

"Two reasons," Angeal said, winking at the redhead, who blushed. "I'm glad to see your guest here, because both reasons concern her. First of all, Sephiroth asked me to give Kyoko this." He handed her a small envelope. As she carefully opened it, the older man continued, "Also, I'd rather like to get to know you. You seem to have made quite an impression on Sephiroth, and that makes me curious."

Verdot, seeing her trying to be politeand not look at her message, said, "Why don't you get your room set up while I make coffee and ask Angeal some questions. I can easily tell the Board I was late because he had a message for me."

Upstairs, Kyo pulled the three items out of the envelope: A high-security keycard, a map of the Shinra building with one set of rooms circled in red, and a cryptic note: "Kyoko, this will probably sound three-quarters crazy and the rest unbelievably arrogant, but I would not be so bold as to send you a message I did not believe myself was important. Please keep an extra (underlined twice) vigilant eye out for Hojo, and, if you need to escape him in a hurry, the key opens the door to my rooms. I set up a special lock that keeps Hojo out no matter what, so it's the safest place I can think of. I realize this sounds unbelievable and insanely paranoid, but you can ask Angeal: When I have these feelings of (several words crossed out) doom, I guess is the word, they have yet to be proven false. Be safe. Sephiroth." For the second time in about a week, a note from the enigmatic General had her floored. Sighing, she put the key and the map in the pouch she only took off when she slept, with the rest of her important things. Grabbing her Scout gear, she went back downstairs.

In Verdot's kitchen, the two men were drinking coffee and discussing Shinra's politics when the young Scout entered the room, still looking a bit disturbed. "The board meeting was postponed so I can actually get something done today instead," Verdot said, turning to greet her. Seeing her expression, he and Angeal frowned. "Bad news from Sephiroth?"

"Not…exactly," she replied. "Angeal, I realize you came here to ask me questions, but I have some for you first: Sephiroth said he has a 'bad feeling' about me and Hojo, but it sounds more specific than what I already know, which is that the creepy bastard would love to get his clammy little hands on me. He said you could attest to how reliable these feelings are. I've had something of the sort myself, but there's no way for me to know if mine are reliable, let alone his. My mother gave me a Chocobo that is out of her specially trained line, which means she feels it, too." Kyo looked hard at the SOLDIER. "In short, what the hell is going on?"

Both men looked surprised, but Angeal answered, readily, "As to the first part, Seph's 'feelings' have warned Zack, G, and me of more than one potentially dangerous situations. To the second part, Hojo regards your father as a traitor and a failure, and you are correct in saying that he would go to extreme lengths to 'obtain' him or any of his descendents. Also, Tera has balked him more than once in the past. I would guess that he has no plans in motion, and Seph doesn't know you well enough to have anything more solid than a bad feeling." He frowned. "It was Hojo who called off the meeting, but it can't have anything to do with Sephiroth; he's in Kalm, supervising some construction work."

Verdot looked thoughtful. "Lately, all of his serious projects have involved Sephiroth. He was talking about cloning at some point; Gaia preserve us if he's been successful."

Angeal shook his head. "As egotistical as he is, he'd let everyone on the Continent know, seeing as it's supposed to be impossible. Besides, all of the plans I heard about involved the special reactor in Nibelheim, and he can't get away from Midgar right now."

At the word "Nibelheim," Kyoko suddenly saw flames in her mind's eye and heard terrible laughter. She shook off the unease that the brief vision had called up and resolved to talk to Seph about it. "Well, I know you'll keep an eye on the twisty bugger, so I won't do anything ostentatious, just stepping up my personal security, which I was going to do anyway. I have a patrol in a couple hours, so why don't we talk about what you came to talk about, Angeal."