Chapter 4

After their first acupuncture session her progress had indeed increased a little; since then it became a regular thing, helping her to make even more strides in her recovery. Soon she had discarded the wheelchair in favor of crutches, and little by little her legs were returning to their old shape.

As she was now able to move around much more freely, the doctor had offered to relocate her, giving her one of the vacant rooms of the private living space on the second floor of the clinic.

"My daughter's been gone for a long time now, so why let a room go to waste?" he had said. Tifa was just happy to be out of that sterile, white hellhole. The room wasn't anything fancy and much smaller than the one she used to have back home, but it felt homely and that was what mattered.

As luck would have it, some of his daughter's old clothes were also still around, making her able to dress in something much more comfortable than a hospital gown. Even if their sizes differed in certain areas of their bodies, much to her chagrin.

They were currently sitting at the table inside his small kitchen, eating a modest meal that he had cooked up. Maybe she should try lending him a hand in cooking once she was better?

Neither of them spoke as they ate. A rarity. Usually Dr. Hiragi engaged her in conversation, but today he was uncharacteristically quiet. It made her a bit uneasy.

All of a sudden he nodded to himself and said: "I think you're well enough for us to talk now."

She looked at him quizzically. "About what?"

"About what happened. Zangan only told me that your hometown was destroyed, but not the details behind it all." He put his fork away and looked at her, his face taking on a serious expression. "I was hoping you would tell me."

Tifa looked down at her plate. Honestly she didn't want to talk about it,would rather forget it ever happened; but she knew that would dishonor everyone that died that day. Besides, for what Dr. Hiragi had done so far, it was the least she could do.

"It...all started on the 22nd of September, when a Shinra team was deployed to check up on the Mako reactor on Mt. Nibel." And so she told him everything that happened, as painful as it was; but she needed to get it off her chest.

"It was the first time I saw the great Sephiroth in person." One of her hands squeezed the side of her chair tightly. "He really was like the stories always said: a legend. He dispatched any monster we encountered, together with another SOLDIER named Zack, like it was child's play."

She told him how she had led the group to the Mako reactor on Mt. Nibel and how he had locked himself up inside the old Shinra mansion afterwards. "Nobody knew what was going on, not even Zack or that shy trooper that was always 'round...and then, roughly a week later, he emerged from inside…" only to slaughter the entire population of Nibelheim.

"When I followed him up the mountain, I wasn't sure if I could do anything to stop him, but I couldn't just stand by as he killed us all. Inside I..." She took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself as she saw her father's lifeless body in her mind's eye, her knuckles growing white. "I found my father."

She told him about the immense hatred that she felt in that moment; that it had made her snap and throw caution to the wind by trying to kill a living legend, only to be struck down in return. By the end of it she felt tears of rage roll down her cheeks, and she hastily brushed them away.

"And the next thing I know, I woke up here," she concluded her story, looking at the doctor. She saw that a frown had formed on his face, making her shake her head. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"No, that's not it. I do believe you," he said and rubbed a hand over his face as he rose from his chair. "Believe me, I've heard and seen enough of Shinra's cruelties to know you're speaking the truth. But I believe there's something you need to know."

He left the kitchen, leaving her to her own thoughts. Talking about it just made her feel even more helpless in her current situation, and that helplessness just made the anger boiling inside her increase a hundredfold. She hated Shinra with every fiber of her being. They destroyed her life, and they had to pay for that!

After a while Dr. Hiragi returned with a newspaper, placing it in front of her. Tifa gave him a confused look, before leaning over and reading the headline out loud.

"'War Hero Killed in Action!'" She looked at him in disbelief. "'It is with great regret that Shinra Corporation had to confirm the death of its most elite SOLDIER, Sephiroth. The great hero of the Wutai war was returning from a routine mission, when he was ambushed by a group of terrorists, resulting in the death of him and his entire team.' What the hell!?"

No, that couldn't be… "Sephiroth is dead?"

"It's either that, or he has been taken care of in a different way." He sat down opposite of her. "But, did you notice how there is no mention about what happened at Nibelheim?"

She read the article, checking every word, but no word of Nibelheim at all. "What does that mean?"

"It means," he leaned forward, looking her directly into the eye. "Shinra is covering it up."

"What do you mean, covering it up?" she asked.

Dr. Hiragi took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Exactly what it means. It's nothing new with the likes of Shinra, ruining lives and covering up their atrocities afterwards. I've seen it enough times."

So they wouldn't even acknowledge all the lives that had been lost. Just sweep it under a rug and pretend it never happened.

"Ms. Lockhart..." he sighed. "Tifa, you have to listen to me right now. This is important."

Tifa bit the inside of her cheek, her eyes burning with tears that she refused to shed as the anger inside her threatened to burst forth in an explosion of violence. She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths. Inhaling. Exhaling. Just like her master had taught her. After having calmed down once more she looked Dr. Hiragi in the eye and nodded.

"Tell me, do you have anyone that you know in this city?"

A flash of spiky blond hair appeared in her mind. "Some of my friends from Nibelheim had left to find work in Midgar."

"I don't want to scare you, but if Shinra knows about them it might be that they are watching them. They have a group of agents called the Turks, who specialize in observation, kidnapping and murder," he told her, leaning back and crossing his arms in front of his chest. "Worst case they might already have...disposed of them."

Her eyes widened, her heart thumping wildly in her chest as she realized what he meant. All of her friends; Jeremy, Bryan, Timothy, Daniel...and Cloud. They could all be dead. Or worse. No, please…

"It's imperative that you don't mention what happened to anyone. Shinra has eyes and ears everywhere. It's for your own safety."

Hearing his words was painful, and she wanted to grab and scream at him. That he was wrong, that Shinra had to pay for what they had done. But deep down she knew he was right. If she went around shouting like a mad woman that Shinra had destroyed her hometown she would only make all of her master's effort to save her life be in vain.

She shakily brushed a lock of hair behind her ear. "How do you know so much about them?"

He gave her a humorless smile. "I fled here with my daughter during the war. I was sick of my country's stubbornness, didn't see the point in waging war just because Shinra wanted to spread technology. Once I was here, I realized that the people in the slums needed help, so I spent all of my savings to build this clinic and offer my help."

"And for a while it went alright. Then one day a young man stumbled into this place, heavily injured and near unconsciousness. I treated him, but as I did so I noticed a very particular tattoo on his back, one that marked him as a shinobi of Wutai. He was here on a sabotage mission. So before I knew it, I was harboring a war criminal. I could hardly send him away, so I did my best to hide him. But I messed up, and someone noticed." He exhaled a long breath and shook his head. "Then they came, all dressed in black suits and asking for the wanted war criminal. They gave me a choice: hand him over, or they would take us all in. So, I told them where I was keeping him hidden."

"I had to do it. I couldn't have them take my daughter. But there isn't a day I don't feel guilty about it. That was the day where I realized that what everyone said about Shinra was true. I swore to myself that day, that it would never happen again. Ever since, I did what I could to help against Shinra's cruelties wherever possible. And I guess that's also the reason why your master brought you here in the first place. He knew I would do what I could to protect you from Shinra."

Tifa watched the older man, realizing that there was more to this kind faced doctor than met the eye. She felt like she understood him a little better now.

"I understand. I promise that I won't do anything stupid," she told him, and offered him a smile. He looked at her and slowly mirrored her expression.

"Good." He nodded and they slowly returned to eating, the food long since having gone cold.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"You mentioned your daughter a few times. Did she…?" she stopped herself from finishing that question. Midgar was a dangerous city.

He looked at her for a moment, then burst into laughter. "Oh no, no. After the war ended she went back to Wutai, to help in rebuilding it. She's doing quite well, recently got married to that girlfriend of hers."

Ah. Now Tifa felt a bit stupid, of course she would eventually move out...Wait, did she hear that right?

"Girlfriend?"

"There's all sorts of people out there, my dear Ms. Lockart," he said with a chuckle.

I guess there's a lot I have to learn about the world.

Alright, now things are going to become interesting for our dear Tifa. What's gonna be in store for her later, I wonder?
And we learned some stuff about the good doctor as well!

If you like what you're reading, consider dropping a review if you like :)