Chapter 25

Greetings

"Nanaki! I've missed you so much!" she squealed, nuzzling the soft red fur of his neck.

"What about me, lassie?" Cait Sith asked in his strange accent. She smiled and hugged him too.

"Of course I missed you. What do you guys think of the decorations?" she asked. They looked around and nodded with approval.

"They're great Aeron. Even better than you did last year." Nanaki replied. She smiled and remembered Reno.

"Reno helped me this time though. Have you met him yet?" she asked. When they both shook their heads, she led them over to Reno, who was watching curiously. He'd seen Nanaki before but had never seen him up close. Now that he did, he saw that his eye remained closed because it had been injured and had a large scar over it. His fur was a rusty red color with dark tattoo like markings on his shoulder and hip. The most distinguishing feature Nanaki had though, was the ball of flame on the end of his tail. He was truly a fierce looking creature.

"Hello Reno. It's nice to meet you." he said. Reno looked a bit nervous for a moment before Aeron intervened.

"It's okay Reno. Just say hello. He won't bite." she said, kneeling beside him and scratching behind his ear.

"Sorry. Hi Nanaki. Nice to finally meet you too." he replied. He reached out tentatively to pet him when Aeron motioned for him to. Nanaki sniffed his hand and lowered his head, granting Reno permission. He was surprised by how soft his fur actually was.

After a few moments of small talk, they heard the sound of children running down the stairs. Marlene and Denzel ran into the room and jumped on Aeron, who caught them easily. After they had said their hellos, their attention turned to Nanaki and Cait Sith, who were all too happy to entertain them. Reno and Aeron watched the little group as they ran around the big room, playing happily.

"They're cute, huh?" said a familiarly gruff voice behind them. Aeron knew immediately who it was and whirled around to throw her arms around the pilot.

"Cid! I thought you couldn't make it." she said as he hugged her back.

"It's a lot easier to get the pilot to fly through dangerous weather when you are the pilot. And besides, I couldn't miss this party. What is she now? Twenty-two?" he asked. Aeron nodded and Reno noted that the young ninja was the same age as him.

"The others will be coming down soon. I have to pick up the birthday girl." he said, walking out the door, nearly tripping over the children as they played. As he walked out, Cloud came in. His hair had a light dusting of snow which Aeron promptly dusted off of him the moment he got within reach.

"It's starting to snow again. I hope we don't get snowed in. There are way too many people here to deal with." he grumbled. Even though he was from a cold climate and he was Mako enhanced, the cold bother him greatly. He hated it as much as Aeron.

"Go take a hot shower. Cid just left to get Yuffie, you've got a while." Aeron said, pushing Cloud towards the stairs. He smiled tiredly and disappeared through the door, only to quickly be replaced with Reeve and Vincent, both of them looking quite harassed. Their expressions were quickly explained when a loud, rather obnoxious voice was heard.

"Hi Barret!" Aeron called. It could only be him, since no one else could make the two more docile men appear so irritated. They immediately walked into one of the smaller booths in the bar, hoping to escape the loud man.

"Hello Aeron." Reeve said quickly before disappearing behind the wall with Vincent. She hadn't expected a cheerful welcome from him. It wasn't that he disliked her or anything. He just wasn't the kind for hugs and cheerful greetings. Barret came through the door, following them, and immediately launched into a conversation with Aeron. The same one, she suspected, that had sent Reeve and Vincent running. But unlike them, she liked Barret's wild (and usually quite exaggerated) stories and sat quietly as he talked.