Chapter Three: Home Again, A Stranger
It was sunset when she saw Wutai again, the sky flushed with crimson. From her perch on the top of Da Chao mountain, she saw the temple outlined against the sun, dark and forbidding. Beneath her, Wutai town stretched out, silent and peaceful at the day's end. The town dwellers generally slept and woke with the sun, but even so it was unnaturally still. It was as if the whole town lay dormant, waiting for something. Waiting for me, Yuffie thought. Just looking at the building etched against the skyline was enough to make her shiver. She really didn't want to go in there. But I have to, she told herself firmly. Not for my father, but for Carrie, for Wutai. And it's the only way the nightmares will ever stop. Forcibly pulling her mind back to the task at hand, she began to descend the steep path that led to the town.
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She could feel the eyes on her as she walked along the empty street towards her father's house. A couple of times, she looked around quickly enough to catch sight of a head disappearing behind a curtain. Let them stare, she thought grimly. Let them whisper amoungst themselves. Let them wonder what I'm doing here, and why I'm alone. Let them call me a thief and a coward, let them think what they like. I don't care anymore. I don't care about any of them. She fixed her eyes on the tower, and, head held high, went to talk with her father.**********
"So." Lord Godo's voice was cool, haughty. "You were brought back. Leviathan will be pleased. And where is your captor?""Carrie is dead, Father," said Yuffie, her voice even colder than his. "I have come back to take the trials for my own sake, and for Wutai's. Not for yours. I am here to honour Leviathan, not you. I will go to the temple at dawn tommorrow. Alone."
"I see," Godo's voice betrayed no emotion. "A pity about the girl. I thought her a rather promising fighter, if a little hot-headed. I am glad you have decided to repect your home's tradidtions. If you feel you must go alone, then it will be so. I shall instruct the guards to let you pass. In the meantime........may I offer you a room for the night?" His courteous voice seemed absurd to Yuffie, and it angered her. How could he speak like that to her after what he had done? Perfectly controlled, but inwardly shaking with rage, she said calmly, "I will accept no hospitality from he I deem my enemy. I will not eat of his food, or rest under his roof, for I consider what is his unworthy of my touch." It was a quote from one of her father's favourite books, 'The Blackened Path', and she was glad to see some sign of a reaction from him.
"Very well," Godo said tightly, his face red with anger. "Sleep where you can, then. I wish you a good night's rest, for you will need all your strength in the morning."
Yuffie bowed, smiling slightly. She had got the best of this round, and she knew it. Her father had always advocated total self control, and he had come dangerously close to losing his. She left the room before he could make any further comment.
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Wrapped up in her sleeping roll, Yuffie shifted uncomfortably. She realised now she had probably been foolish to refuse the offer of a warm, comfortable bed, but her pride would not have allowed any other course of action. Gazing up at the stars, she saw the Great Snake winding its way across the heavens. When she was little, she had always loved the stars, and memorized their names and patterns. Carrie was the one who had first shown her the constellations, and had taught her about them. She blinked back the tears that were threatening. She had never cried over Carrie. It was not the ninja way. Any warrior killed honourably in battle should be celebrated, not mourned, for they had done their duty to its full extent. Duty. Yuffie hated that word. Carrie had done what she had done because it was her duty. Tommorrow, Yuffie would do the same. Well, she decided, it would be the last time. If - no, when - she completed the trials, she would take over from her father, and she would force Wutai to change. She would drag it into the present, by whatever means necessary. People would do what was right because it was right, not out of duty. People would be loyal to Wutai because they respected it, not because it was their duty to do so......Still planning how she would rule, Yuffie drifted into the most peaceful sleep she had had for weeks.
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The guards crossed their axes across the temple doors as she approached. They looked magnificent, wearing shining bronze breastplates and high, red-plumed helmets, the traditional armour of religious warriors and temple guards. Their skin was tanned, and the muscle of their arms rippled and bulged. Their axe blades glistened in the light of the rising sun. Yuffie suddenly felt very small. The temple towered over her, the first of the sun's rays casting long shadows across the ground behind it, and throwing the carvings on its walls into sharp relief. The one just over the doors looked like some giant beast; Yuffie shuddered."I am firstborn of the ruling house of Wutai, and I demand you let me past," she declared, filling her voice with far more confidence than she felt. Then guards looked down on her, silently, and stepped aside. They were forbidden to speak whilst on duty. The great double doors swung open, seemingly of their own accord. To Yuffie, they looked like the gaping maw of some hideous beast, waiting to devour her. Inside, she could see nothing but blackness, total and absolute. But from somewhere deep in the heart of the building, a half remembered voice seemed to beckon her onwards like a siren's call. Squaring her shoulders, she marched determinedly in, and the doors swung shut behind her.
END OF CHAPTER THREE
To be continued......AUTHOR'S NOTES: Dedicated to the lovely Crunhcbucket by way of apology for slashing Reno and Rufus. Please don't kill me, or I'll never finish this ;-) If you are reading this on FanFiction.Net, you can see the illustration for this story here.
