Knowing LUNARBLADE Z. VALENTINE LUNARBLADE Z. VALENTINE 1 0 2001-11-07T10:57:00Z 2001-11-07T10:57:00Z 7 3548 20229 Mega Bored Inc. 168 40 24842 9.2720

Knowing

Act 1

The sun was coming and going, as if playing hide and seek behind the clouds. The air was crisp and fresh and the grass a lush green. Katai tried her best not to think of her parents, and by doing so, thought about them.

She then let go of Sether's arm, preferring, at the moment, to inhale the beautiful sights, sounds and scents around her.

"What a wonderful day!" She chirped.

Sether wouldn't look at her, he just marched ahead, his trademarked 'decisive frown' on his face. They had settled for a pace that was comfortable for both of them.

"It'll rain again at night." He said darkly.

She gave him an annoyed glare, scoffed and continued to chirp happily,

"What a wonderful, marvelous day! The skies are pretty, the land is pretty, that big monster is pretty…!"

"…"

Then Katai started screaming in fright.

Sether stopped his walking. His shoulders sank with a heavy sigh. If Katai hadn't started screaming, that mountain lion wouldn't even notice them.

Now, though, it was rushing straight towards them.

Sether sighed again, not seeming to care that the beast was heading to attack Katai.

"Sether!" Katai yelped, pointing with hysterical movements at the approaching form.

Sether still seemed to prefer sulking. He adjusted his sunglasses, and turned his back to Katai, as if saying 'your problem'.

Katai started screaming harder.

The lion was closer now.

Sether turned his head to look at her.

Katai was running in circles, screaming and yelling.

"Sure, that'll help, you moron!"

But Katai didn't listen.

Sighing heavily, Sether gave the approaching monster a tired look.

When the lion was close enough, he took one step towards Katai, now standing directly at the monster's path, and the lion attacked.

Katai yelped and jumped aside.

The lion's immense weight tackled Sether to the ground. As an instinct, Sether thrusted the monster off him with his legs and pounced to his feet.

He then proceeded to dust himself off and readjust his slim sunglasses.

Katai stared at him,

"That's it??!"

She then turned to look at the lion. It was motionlessly lying on the ground not far from them. A rather peaceful look on its feline face.

Sether smiled at her, producing a Materia from under his shirt,

"Sleep Materia." He said, "Works only with direct contact, you know."

Katai then turned red, and because Sether's smile was growing wider at her anger, she proceeded to reach up.

"Huh?" He followed her hands with a clueless look on his face.

She grabbed his bangs.

"This…"Sether's expression turned miserable, "…is going to hurt."

She yanked.

Katai scoffed, fluffed her hair, fixed her glasses back up the bridge of her little nose and started walking again.

Sether got up slowly, rubbing both his nose and the roots of his bangs with one hand and returning the yellow orb with the other.

He was happy she didn't wear high heels, and vaguely wondered if he had little footmarks on his black shirt and why was it considered healthy to one's back if someone walks on you.

Sighing again, he caught up with Katai. She was walking that condescending walk-thing she did that made him smile:

Her head was held high and her mouth was slightly pouting. Also, her eyes were closed and her blond brows wrinkled in a martyr's frown.

"You really thought I'd let you be eaten?" Sether smiled at her, his voice teasing.

"And why wouldn't I believe that?" She hissed, still refusing to open her eyes and look at the silver-haired warrior.

He smiled wider, but couldn't answer. Instead he said,

"You can't see all the new monsters if you walk like that."

She opened her eyes with panic, and Sether chuckled.

She smacked his arm,

"Baka!"

Her expression then turned slightly mean as she mused out loud, "Hey, I think this is the first battle you've actually finished without getting totally creamed!" She punched his arm in a teasing 'way-to-go' way.

"Huh?" He blinked down at her, then frowned, "Hey! That's not true…!"

He thought about it a moment.

"Okay, it is true, but I can recall only one fight! It is not my fault if the Rockadillo is twice my size."

She hesitated a moment before saying in a small voice,

"You didn't fight back when those people attacked you…"

Sether didn't seem to mind the reminder of the incident,

"If I had, I would've killed them all."

Katai gave a start,

"W… Why? I mean," She stuttered, "I understand why, but why kill-"

"Not intentionally, of course, but…" His eyes became dark, "I'm not very good at controlling my strength on a day to day basis, let alone when I'm…"

Katai was silent a long moment, she just walked by his side, watching his profile with worried eyes.

"Stopstaringatme." He grumbled, not looking back at her. She blushed slightly and looked down.

Sether inhaled deeply before asking,

"Would you… Maybe like to try and… Call your parents on PHS?"

"I don't have one." She replied rather harshly. She was trying very hard not to think of them right now. "I dismantled ours when I was three and it never worked since."

Sether smiled,

"Would you like to use mine?"

He then pulled one of his trenchcoat's flaps to get to his pants, and produced the little gadget from his pocket.

"!!"

Katai lifted a brow,

"What kind of things are you keeping in your pocket?" Katai addressed the various pieces of plastic and electronics that were scattered in Sether's big palm.

Sether just stared at the things in his hand. It took Katai some moments to understand his distress. Those pieces of plastic were the PHS, or at least formally were, that is. It was hopelessly broken.

"…They… Those people… Broke it." He mumbled. Katai looked at Sether's face. It was showing emotion, and she wasn't too used to it yet.

Disbelief, shock, sadness.

After but a moment or two, Sether's face returned to his cold self, and he returned the junk to his pocket.

Without another word, he continued on.

At noon, they stopped to have a short lunch. They spoke of unimportant things and simply enjoyed the quiet time.

Since they were completely alone in the green valley, Sether packed his hat and sunglasses back into his Store Materia. He kept his trenchcoat, though.

A chilly breeze whistled about, and dark clouds were gathering from the north, but in the meanwhile, it was sunny, if somewhat cool.

Sether and Katai enjoyed each other's company that meal, and did not fight even once. Partly because every time Katai would say something controversial, Sether would not rise to the challenge. He himself never said anything that might lead to a fight, and that only made Katai angrier.

Sether seemed totally distracted; He spoke almost completely in his 'Fartsy' way, and only here and there used contractions. Katai wondered what might have caused this.

Well, probably dying was hard on him, but it seemed to Katai there was more to it than that.

They both stopped talking while they ate. Her mom's food was hard for her to swallow, but it also filled her heart with certain warmth.

Besides, she wasn't alone, was she? She had Sether with her…! And although he probably would not be around for long…

Her train of thought sent shivers down her spine. She glanced up at him.

He was calmly chewing on his food, staring into his plate, deep in thought.

His expression seemed cold to Katai, but also a bit sad.

Was he sad about dying? Na, a strong guy like him wouldn't be afraid of something trivial as death- Death wouldn't be much of a startler for his type of person, she gathered. And there was no chance something little as a broken PHS could discourage him so deeply.

Why then? He looked perfectly ok earlier…

She hadn't a clue.

She didn't know him.

Sure, she knew he was claustrophobic, and that he had killed Ryuto.

But… What else did she know?

That he liked books. That he liked training.

What didn't he like? What was his childhood like for him? Did he have stories he never told anyone? Was he ever really afraid of anything? Ever really lonely or really happy?

She didn't know him.

And soon, she will never have the chance to find out.

Katai found this thought startling.

…Never to find out?

Never to know what's beneath the mask? The mask that managed to trick her so many times, probably even now?

It disturbed her deeply, as a scientist and a researcher, of course.

All the little things that made him himself, all the tiniest things that he had in his head that nobody knew about. His dreams, his despairs.

If she won't ask soon, she'll never ever know.

"I really cannot eat properly while you are staring at me like that." He said with a full mouth, making it sound like 'Ah biwi cawot eat broberwy wiwu awe fwering at ee eik at."

Katai burst with laughter not only because of the silly sounds, but also because she actually understood what he had said, if only by his tone.

He looked up at her from his plate, slightly embarrassed.

The rest of the afternoon, when they had finally got going again, was spent in silence. They both had a lot on their minds, and spoke very little to each other. They would reach their destination in the next morning, if they would keep a good pace. Katai hadn't a clue of their whereabouts, but found the scenery pretty familiar. From what she could tell, they were heading straight for some pretty steep mountains.

Act 2

Just before it got too dark, they decided to make camp.

Sether had just finished building his tent as he turned around to find Katai staring at him with watery eyes.

"What's wrong with you?!" Her face highly startled him.

"I…" She then turned away, blushing a bright red, "forgot my to pack my tent last night. So…"

Sether's jaw dropped,

"You mean it's still in Corel?!"

Katai looked further away and nodded.

Sether gave her an exasperated look,

"How could you forget something like that?"

Katai blushed even deeper,

"I… I… I… I ran out to give you your glasses and trenchcoat, so I didn't really get to pack all my stuff…" She then looked up at him with angry eyes, "You're sleeping outside!"

"Are you crazy?" Sether crossed his hands over his chest, "I'll be eaten for sure. We'll share my tent."

Katai's face grew even redder at this, and while Sether turned around to get some more blankets from his Store Materia near the fire, she placed her hands on her burning cheeks,

"Sh… Sh… Sh… Share a tent with a boy?! What a devilish mind you have! Hentai!"

Sether rolled his eyes, but kept ramming through the contents of his Materia,

"Oh, so you know the word 'pervert' too, eh? I bet you got to hear that a lot."

Katai was about to start fighting when Sether's shoulders drooped,

"Forget it. Sorry." He said.

He was doing that all day! Not really rising to any fight. Katai really wanted to fight with him.

Sether then got up,

"I don't have any spare blankets or pillows. Do you?"

Katai shook her head, and Sether sighed again,

"Use mine. I don't need them."

Act 3

"You go to sleep, I'll go and train a little. I have not trained for several days."

Katai looked up from her empty dinner plate. Sether didn't have an appetite.

"Huh? Oh… Okay." She turned to the tent while Sether took off his shirt. He cursed under his breath for some reason, and seemed to be in some pain. Katai was happy, in a professional way, of course, to see that most of the major wounds were closed. He still had some visible scars, but those would probably disappear soon enough. The stab wound on his shoulder was almost completely closed, though it still look painful.

"And close the tent flaps tight, it's going to rain soon."

Katai entered the tent. She changed her clothes with some hesitation, but their small fire projected Sether's shadow on the tent's side, and she could tell where he was and what he was doing.

When she finished, she laid on her stomach, her head peeking from under a tent flap. She observed Sether as he trained.

He seemed deep in concentration as he executed various slow stretches. After a few of those, he moved to combat.

His motions were beautiful; precise, clean and graceful.

After a few sets of those, he practiced backflips and various acrobatics.

Katai didn't know he was so good at fighting… He seemed so… Right, doing it. His body seemed to move as though it was born to do just that- fight.

His muscles were accented in clean lines as he strained them, and made him look all the more masculine. They were fit in a way that implied proper use, and not just pumping them.

Katai placed her cheeks in her palm and watched him.

…Beautiful.

He was definitely beautiful, in some dangerous way…

She shook her head to clear her thoughts and returned back into the tent.

She pushed the blankets and pillow aside, giving Sether enough room to lie in. He said he didn't need them, right? Katai thought that was pretty strange, to sleep with no blankets and no nothing, but- Sether was a pretty strange person.

After going to a nearby lake and washing up a little, Sether returned to the camp.

He snuck in quietly so Katai wouldn't wake up, but was surprised to see that she was awake.

"Hey." She greeted him.

"Hey." He replied.

He sat down on the bottom on the Tent.

"Umm…" He said, his hands patting the ground pointlessly, "Good night."

He spread on the bottom of the tent, his back to her. He rested his head on one arm and tried to find a comfortable position.

"Good night." Katai said and cuddled in the sleeping bag, her back to him.

Some small tapping sounds started a few breaths later. The tapping sound grew harder as the rain outside took more power.

Katai listened to the soft noises a long moment. She could not make out any sound from Sether with this sound, not even his breath.

"Did you ever have a pet?"

He turned his head to look at her from the corner of his eyes. What was she up to now? He was trying to sleep. What kind of strange question is that, anyway?

"What?"

"A pet, you know! A cat, a dog, something!" She turned over to look at him.

He smiled coolly,

"A cat. I don't like dogs."

"Really?" Katai smiled sweetly, "What was its name?"

He blinked at her for a moment before answering- why on Planet would she be asking about the cat?

"Neko-peko."

Katai snorted in chocked laughter, "Neko-peko?!"

Sether looked away, embarrassed,

"I was little."

She laughed some more before asking,

"Do you still have it?"

He smiled again, this time with more warmth. He found these questions amusing.

"No. It was run over."

"I'm sorry."

Sether's smile widened. He turned over to his back, folding his arms behind his head and looked at the tent roof,

"Don't be- you did not run him over, did you?" He then added, "I was so sad when he died…" His smile became lopsided, "My parents got worried sick over me- Depression is a problem in the Valentine blood."

She nibbled on her lower lip a moment before inquiring,

"Does the Valentine blood have any genetic diseases?"

Now Sether turned to look at her again,

"Why on Planet would you like to know that?" His voice expressed disbelief and wonderment.

She continued to chew on her lower lips,

"I… I'm a scientist, I'm curious about these things. Besides," She suddenly found a good excuse to use, "I'm a great admired of Mr. Valentine senior, so I want to know things about his family!"

Sether shook his head in a 'whatever' way and, smile fading, he said,

"HMI."

"Huh?"

"Hereditary Mental Instability. HMI. It's a genetic disease of all Valentines. Though my mother's no big help…" His lips contorted into a cruel version of his lopsided grin. Still, Katai noticed that there was a lot of pain in his eyes.

After a short pause Sether said without looking at her,

"Anything else you want to know?"

Katai seemed very much enthusiastic about this suggestion, even if he did say it sarcastically. She sat up abruptly, startling Sether, and reached for her Store Materia.

"Oh, yes!" She exclaimed, pulling out her notepad and a pen, "Tons!"

Sether rolled his eyes- he'll probably won't get a lot of sleep tonight.

Endure one more night, Sether- tomorrow; She's gone!

Is that good… or bad?

She smiled radiantly at him. Last time she smiled at him like that was when she learned he had Jenova cells in him, or when she told him what she researched.

"Ok!" Her smile was getting happier each moment, "Where did you grow up?"

Sether sighed in defeat and said,

"There's a price."

"A what?" Katai blinked.

"Every question you ask me, you have to answer yourself, and I get a question or two myself."

Katai got a sly look in her eyes,

"You wanna know more about me?" She fluttered her eyelashes.

"No." He smiled, "It's just a way of keeping you from asking terribly personal questions."

Katai pouted and decided to be professional and carry on;

"Where were you born and raised?" She repeated.

"Born? In 'Lucrecia's Cavern'. I was raised in Wutai." He was looking at her intently.

"At what age did you have Pookie-Dookie?"

He frowned,

"That's Neko-Peko- I had him since I was four. My parents brought him in so I'll stop talking to myself."

"Huh?" She peeked over her notepad a moment to give him a strange look.

"I used to talk to myself. Well, it wasn't really myself. I used to talk to my imaginary… Umm…"

She was still staring at him.

"…Now that I think of it…" He mused, still looking back at her, "I was probably talking to Sephiroth."

"Correct!" Chirped a voice from outside the tent. Sether closed his eyes briefly with annoyance before returning to look at Katai.

"What are you doing here?" He murmured. Katai was busy scribbling and didn't notice.

"Ya think I'll let my little brother spend the night in the same tent with a gorgeous babe, and not hang around??"

"You're sick." Sether said. This, Katai did notice.

"What did you say?!"

Sether smiled apologetically at her,

"You're sick, the way you write everything down like that."

She stuck her nose up in that stuck-up way that made him smile wider.

"Well, if you mind so much just answering some little questions then I think I-"

"I don't mind." He said softly. Katai gave him a surprised look. Sether, being talkative about himself?? This was a once in a lifetime opportunity!

Once in a lifetime… Depends on your life-span…

Shaking that thought from her mind, she went on with her questions,

"What's your favorite food?"

"Ah-ah." He shook a finger at her before returning his hand to support his head, "First answer the question yourself. Where were you born?"

Katai sat in a more comfortable position and chewed thoughtfully on the tip on her pen,

"Well, Our house has always been in Rocket City, but we used to travel so much!" She smiled widely, "You can say I was raised onboard the Highwind." She smiled wider with sweet memories, "Now answer!"

"Pancakes."

"Pancakes?"

"The greatest thing in the world." He smiled a happy lopsided grin, "When there're made just right with real maple syrup on top…" He was smiling like a happy kid as he thought of it, and it reminded Katai of Seth-kun.

"Mine," She said, "Is this special kind of brew that my dad used to make!"

There was amusement in his eyes as he asked, "You favorite food is a drink?"

"Weeell," She intoned, "You should have tasted it! It's the best alcohol known to man!"

Sether was incredibly tired, and he wondered how was it that Katai was all energetic like that. They both had a rough night before, and he felt ill.

What gave her the energy to stay up so much? Sether was certain she always loved to go to sleep early…

Doing some mental calculation while she was telling him in extensive length about how her dad makes that winebeer thing, and Sether realized that it wasn't all that late.

…It was properly his illness that made him so tired, so early.

He felt like sighing, but did not want to disturb Katai's babbling.

At long last she settled back into her the covers, cuddled herself tightly and continued her interrogation,

"Okay," She chewed on the tip of the pen- apparently she had cuddled with her notepad as well, "How many girlfriends did you have? Counting also little crushes."

"Huh?" Sether gave her a dumbfound look, "What do you mean?"

Katai laughed,

"Girlfriends, you know! Don't act shy! I had three boyfriends, myself." She smiled a nostalgic smile, "The first one was when I was just starting junior-high."

"Three?"

"Yup! What about you?"

Sether frowned and looked away, as if calculating something difficult.

"None." He finally admitted, his face as if he never really thought about it before, "Not one."

"What?! You want me to believe that?!"

Sether was still wondering about this. It never really occurred to him. He shrugged,

"I never had time for all that nonsense."

"Nonsense?!" she was becoming more shocked by the moment, but at a certain level, it seemed un-surprising.

Sether shrugged again,

"I never thought about that before."

"Man, you're stupid." She pouted.

Here he frowned,

"I am certain my intelligence has nothing to do with it."

"Or lack of…" Katai gave him a mean smile.

Here Sether asked,

"Why are you trying to show how smart you are all the time?"

He didn't say it in a mocking tone, rather, a curious one. Katai was taken by surprise.

"Weeeell…" She intoned uneasily, fumbling a short moment before continuing, "I'm the daughter of Cid Highwind. I was getting that all my life. 'The daughter of the great Cid Highwind'. The best pilot in the world." She got a sad sort of smile on her lips as she remembered, "Then people would always turn to me with the sort of look on their face that asked 'what can you do?' how are you amazing? You have to be, if you're the daughter of Cid Highwind and Shera Trilock. Since my little brother was gone, someone had to uphold the family honor." She then realized that she was telling all this to Sether, of all people.

He was just looking at her with a gentle look in his eyes.

Not knowing what to do, she scoffed, and tried to be professional and carry on.

She chewed on her lower lip again a moment before asking one last question,

"What about Limit Brakes? Do you have them?" She didn't know if the cat-eye thing was a Limit Brake, and she wouldn't dare ask about… Ryuto.

"I have three," He said and yawned, "Whatthe, Laugh and Desire. I haven't found the forth yet, and I don't ever want to."

"Why?"

He gave her a leveled look mixed with slight annoyance,

"Cloud, for example, had Omnislash. My Father had Chaos… Sephiroth had Super Nova, which, I might add, destroyed the entire solar system, and he could do it more than once… So: I do not wish to discover what is my last limit brake. What about you?"

"Me? I'm no fighter, thank holy, so I don't have them."

"Oh."

"I have another questi-"

Sether turned his back to her,

"Let me sleep." He mumbled, hugging himself to fend off the cold.

The rain outside continued in a steady rhythm. Katai realized that the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to find out what she could- had ended. She sighed heavily and tried to go to sleep as well.

Sether stayed awake for long minutes. His mind bothered by various disturbing thoughts. After some time he started hearing a soft tune being hummed. It wasn't Katai humming it, because the voice humming it was unmistakably male. It resembled Sether's voice; a deep bass with a mean reverb to it.

It was the tune his mother used to hum when he was little so he'd go to sleep.

"Stop it." Sether pleaded in a whisper. His voice strained.

Sephiroth stopped.

Sether hugged himself tighter. He was cold, and uncomfortable.

"…I…" He whispered, "…I miss mom and dad."

Sephiroth was silent. Sether continued, though he hadn't a clue why he was telling this to his dead brother,

"…I was selfish… All I wanted was to calm my anger… I should have stayed with mom."

"…You did what you thought was right." Sephiroth said quietly.

Sether continued,

"…I was so angry with myself that I failed to protect him… I wanted to beat up those people so bad…" He cuddled into a tighter ball, trying to suppress the lump in his throat, "Now I'll never see them again… And I can't even call them before I…"

Here Sephiroth sounded cheery,

"That's one worry you shouldn't have, Otouto."

"Huh?" Sether cringed, fearing his whispers would wake Katai up.

Sephiroth smiled, though Sether could not see it through the tent cloth,

"You don't need to actually talk," He said, "Moving your lips is enough. What a bore…" Sephiroth then chuckled, "Nothing happened between you and Katai."

Sether blushed deep red and mouthed wordlessly,

"What are you thinking about?!"

Sephiroth chuckled some more,

"Don't get all upset- I wanted to protect you! She's one scary chick, and you're too naïve."

"I am not naïve…" He mumbled in a petty tone, feeling stupid because he didn't totally understand what Sephiroth was talking about.

…Maybe he was a little naïve. Just a little.

Katai dared not show any signs that she was awake.


Please tell me what you think! Oh, and don't forget to visit my site (At my profile page) if you want to see fanart of Sether and Katai.
I hope you liked it! More to come in a few weeks.
Thanks for reading my stuff!
LunarBlade.