Angel Trapped On Earth

Chapter Twelve

.+. Sneaking Onboard .+.

[ Author's note : Hehe, I said that the company didn't trust Sephiroth didn't I? Yes well, I never said TSENG didn't. ^_^ Well, don't worry about the plot..keep reading and you'll find out! Although I must say, It's entertaining to have readers wonder and be skeptical! I can't blame ya, I'm a crazy little writer with lots of evil thoughts running inside my head. Muwaha! ^_^ JuUuUST kidding! Oh and for Rufus (yes he's gay…lolz it's not that much of a surprise.) Any complaints? Comments? Requests? REVIEW! ^_^ ]

Sephiroth looked around confusedly. Everyone seemed to know what they were doing. Why the hell didn't he? He growled in frustration and wondered how the hell he was going to put up with this for the mission that he didn't remember volunteering for. His impatient, jaded, green eyes fell upon Rufus and he decided to ask.

"Rufus. A word with you if you please." Sephiroth said as he cleared his throat to catch the attention of a passing-by Rufus.

"Oh. Yes of course. What is it?" Rufus said, not looking at all like he wanted to talk to Sephiroth.

"That's what you call a meeting?" Sephiroth asked in a superior tone.

Rufus looked highly confused at what Sephiroth was saying, then his expression changed to someone who looked as if they just had discovered something forgotten. Inddeed he had.

"Oh that's right..you weren't in your room all night." Rufus said, narrowing his eyes slightly. He did not like the idea of Tifa and Sephiroth together. In a room. All. Night. Long.

"We didn't do anything." Sephiroth growled impatiently. Now that was a lie. The memory of Tifa's soft lips upon his flashed in his mind and it suddenly felt hotter in the room to him.

"What kind of meeting was that?" Sephiroth changed the subject quickly.

"If you were in your room the whole night, you would know." Rufus replied smoothly, idly examining his fingernails.

He cast a subtle glance at Sephiroth's retreating back as his cloak fluttered with every thundering step he took. Rufus sighed heavily. How the devil was he going to keep Tifa away from him? Or worse, how was he supposed to keep Sephiroth away from Tifa? If only he knew that Yuffie, one of his now close friends, was against him on this one.

~.+.+.~

[ Side note : Watch out for a sequel to Wine Mixed With Blood! ]

.+.+.+

Tifa blinked three times and looked at Yuffie incredulously. Did she just hear her friend correctly? Yuffie had the details of the mission and was willing to share? She blinked twice again rapidly.

"Oh Tifa, stop that! I'm not kidding! I wanna go just as much as you do!" Yuffie exclaimed.

"….You're not by any chance…setting me up…are you?" Tifa said suspciously.

"Of course not! Since when did I ever?" Yuffie replied, offended that Tifa would ask such a question.

Tifa gave her friend an Oh-Really-Now look, and Yuffie remembered her little plan yesterday. Okay sure, she did set Tifa up a little. But only just a little. She searched her trouble-making mind frantically for a reply that would smooth things over.

"I set Sephiroth up. Not you. Never you!" Yuffie said with a reassuring nod. "Honestly!" She added when Tifa still stared at her disbelievingly.

"Okay…so tell me. I know you're dying to go with Vincent." Tifa said with a bright smile. She was willing to forgive Yuffie in exchange for details of the mission.

The kiss traveled across her mind again and unfortunately across her lips as she remembered how wonderful Sephiroth's lips felt. The sad thing was, it was her first kiss. She had never been kissed before, and it was ironic that the person to give her that first kiss was Sephiroth. Tifa snapped back to reality when she realized that Yuffie was looking at her impatiently.

"Were you listening to a word I've been saying?" Yuffie asked in exasperation. Tifa gave her head an apologetic shake.

Yuffie sighed heavily, and replayed what she had heard in the meeting room the Tifa. Tifa was lost in comtemplative thoughts for a few brief moments before planning with Yuffie.

"That's funny..how come they didn't say where we'll be going or…what will be our means of transportation?" Tifa asked slowly. Yuffie thought of this too.

That was funny. Tifa was right! They didn't mention a single word about any further details of the mission. Both of them thought of this mere seconds before Yuffie exclaimed, "Of course they would use the Highwind! As for why they would leave out any more details..I have no clue." Yuffie said with a deflated sigh.

"You say that they'll be leaving at midnight?" Tifa asked.

"Yup. Looks like we have about…..ten hours." Yuffie said, checking the clock on Tifa's drawer.

"Okay we'll pack and get ready. But pack light because we'll have to sneak onbaord earlier than midnight and stay on the ship until the mission is ready to executed. You stay in Vincent's, and come out only when the ship has left for its destination a good distance away from here. I will stay in--" Tifa began in a military-like tone.

"SEPHIROTH'S!" Yuffie squealed and doubled in laughter. Tifa gave her a glare.

"The hell I won't! Anyways…knowing Rufus and Tseng, they probably hid some things from us. They probably went over things with Vincent and the others before leaving us in the dark like this. When they take off, we'll follow Team A seeing as how Vincent is in it." Tifa said.

"And Sephiroth." Yuffie chirped, and was silenced again by another glare.

"Okay. Plan set. We'll worry about other things, but for now we have to pack. We'll have to wait until a little past midnight to come out of hiding…" Tifa said and trailed off. She was a little doubtful of Yuffie's ability to stay still in hiding for long periods of time.

"We'll have a hell of a time finding the Highwind." Yuffie stated, and Tifa nodded simply. It would take hours for them to find it in this large of a place.

.+.+.+.

Sephiroth glanced at the manual that lay before his eyes. So this was waiting for him in the room while he was in Tifa's? It had detailed plans for Team A including a floor plan and a letter from Tseng himself.

Sephiroth,

The information on how and why you managed to escape the lifestream still remains a puzzle, but we're working on it. --Sephiroth felt a surge of annoyance shoot through him. When did he give them permission to nose around his buisness? He read on.

I know the others don't trust you, at least not yet. I trust you regardless because we monitored your activity while you were in Nibelhiem with Tifa. One of our gaurds, while lurking around, saw you save Tifa from Cloud. Your mission is NOT to kill Cloud, do you understand? You are to bring him back here for questioning. Harm him if you must, but bring him back alive.

Tseng.

Sephiroth's eyes were clouded with anger. He was never meant to follow orders.

.+.+.

Vincent looked around his room. He had gone off to check some things with Tseng and had hoped to talk to Yuffie about taking care of Tifa while she was to remain here. She wasn't in their room, and he wondered where she had gone off to. A realization hit him. She was going to try and sneak onboard. He felt pride swelling inside him. He loved her troublesome streak, and he wanted her on the mission as well. This was working out well. Damn, if only she had told him about this he would've gladly shared the details of the TEAM A plans with her.

.+.+.+

A good nine hours and exactly thirty minutes later, Tifa and Yuffie were puffing and huffing. Three hours of going over things, packing, and going over things all over again. Two hours of sneaking around the large and massive headquarter to search where they had landed the Highwind. Three MORE hours of getting distracted by a restaurant that was directly inside the building; afterall they were famished and after they finished eating one thing, they ate another. One hour and thirty minutes later, they found themselves on the Highwind with two small satchel bags for each of them.

Tifa's contained her 'Premium Heart' glove and Yuffie's new and improved weapon called, 'Death Star' (side note : Yes I made it up). It also contained two outfits for both of them. Tifa gave Yuffie a bright triumphant smile, and Yuffie returned hers with a mischievious one.

"Finally! We made it!" Yuffie beamed with pride.

"Yup! Okay…do you know where Vincent's room is?" Tifa asked. Yuffie gave Tifa a confident nod.

"He stays in the same one everytime we're on the Highwind." Yuffie assured Tifa.

Tifa gave her friend an affectionate smile before suddenly hearing footsteps boarding the ship. Yuffie, however, looked clueless as she complained about why they didn't just keep the ship where they had landed before instead of moving it.

"Shhh!" Tifa interrupted.

"Wha-? Ohh." Yuffie replied, realizing that people were starting to get on the Highwind.

She snatched Tifa's hand and quickly darted in the direction of Vincent's room. Then they stared at each other as they tried to figure out where Tifa should stay.

"…I don't know where the others' rooms are, Tifa." Yuffie said with an apologetic smile. They had left that little part out.

"Too late." Tifa said in a hushed whisper as she quickly darted inside a room across from Vincent's while Yuffie darted inside Vincent's room.

Tifa looked around the room. She hoped it wasn't Ling-Nhi's room because Yuffie had told her that Ling-Nhi would be going on the mission too. She felt a prick of jealousy as she wondered why the hell couldn't she go on the mission and Ling-Nhi could? The room was plain and near a bedside table was a small closet. She looked at the large-sized bed, and then she froze.

On top the bed's mattress was a name tag that had Sephiroth written across it in elegant font. She groaned at her stupidity and cursed under her breath. She should've known. At the way fate was playing her, she shouldn't even be surprised.

Thud Thud Thud

Tifa stiffened. Somebody was coming down the hallways, and possibly in this room! She scurried over to the small closet and stuffed herself in, thanking gods above that it was big enough for her. She heard the turning of the door knob and the closing of the door. The heavy footsteps told her that it was none other than Sephiroth. She heard his footsteps a good distance away from her, and heard the clanging of metal against the wall.

Then, she held her breath. He was coming closer to the closet. She felt her lungs begging for air, but she was much too scared to even breathe. She searched her panicked mind for an excuse as to why she was in here when he had discovered her. She felt his heavy presence looming right in front of the closet now.

His hands brushed against the handle of the closet door and Tifa felt a panic chill run down her spine. She was going to get discovered and he was going to kill her for her little stunt.

[ Author's Note : Ahhh a sweet little cliff-hanger. ^_^ I'm so sorry, it was just too tempting. Well, please please please review!!! Hope you guys had a good Christmas! Happy Holidays everyone! *waves* ]