By: General Quistis (generalquistis@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my own mind that forced me to write this thing, thank you very much.
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That night, Dark Nation was allowed to sleep in the living room. For safety, since Cloud still doubts the feline, he just let Red XIII sleep in the living room too instead of making him sleep upstairs with Yuffie, Marlene and Tifa.
Dark Nation could not sleep because of the surroundings and the texture of the floor. "I miss Master's bed… it's so soft and fluffy… and it's cooler in his room." She told Red XIII.
Red didn't answer. He just stared at her in the darkness of the room.
Dark Nation yawned and got up, stretching, and then plopped down again. "Red?" she asked.
"Yeah?" he asked sleepily.
"Tifa didn't eat dinner." She told him.
"I know… everyone knows…" he replied.
"Is she sick?" she asked.
"No. She's just tired and went straight to bed." He replied.
Dark Nation jerked upright when she heard some noise from the roof. "What's that?" she asked.
"That's probably Tifa up in the roof…" Red replied.
Dark Nation stood up and headed for the stairs while Red remained on the floor watching her. She slowly went upstairs until she reached the last bedroom to the left and saw that the door was half open. She entered and saw Yuffie and Marlene already asleep on their beds, but Tifa's bed was empty. Dark Nation turned to the window and saw that it was open. Carefully, she got up on Tifa's bed and jumped out of the window, landing on the roof of the other house, then leapt up again until she reached the roof where Tifa was.
Tifa turned her gaze to Dark Nation who just got up beside her. She smiled gently. "Hello, Princess… how'd you know I was here?" she asked as the black panther snuggled closer to her and started to purr. "Red XIII told me where you are," Dark Nation thought as she gazed up at the lovely night sky and then saw the ShinRa Tower. "Meowrrr…" she uttered as she stared at its majestic appearance by the moonlight.
Tifa smiled sadly as she looked at the Tower. "It's funny how one could hate someone so much just because that someone did something bad to her family…" she said.
Dark Nation turned to her with a "Mew?"
She chuckled lightly as she embraced Dark Nation. "…and then she ends up falling in-love with the enemy…" she said softly with tear-stained eyes.
Dark Nation twitched as her eyes narrowed when she turned hear head to Tifa's direction, as if meaning to say, "Sephiroth?!" with a low growl.
Tifa let her tears fall as her embrace tightened around Dark Nation and whispered with a trembling voice, "Rufus…" she smiled miserably.
Upon hearing that, Dark Nation's heart began to race. "WHAT?! You're… you're in-love with… with Master!?" she wanted to say, but all she could do was utter a "Meowrrr?!" with an inquiring tone.
Tifa didn't answer. She just rested her head on Dark Nation's fur. "Is there even a way for him to know that I exist?" she whispered miserably.
Dark Nation could sense the sadness from Tifa and she felt so sorry for her. "Don't worry, Tifa… I can do something about that! We… we can go to ShinRa and I'll make sure that Master will let you stay there with us because you are such a nice girl and I like you because you are very kind and gentle!" she thought as her purr grew louder and she rubbed her face against Tifa's cheek to reassure her that everything is going to be alright.
With that, Tifa wiped her tears away and smiled sheepishly at Dark Nation. "I'm sorry if I'm crying, Princess…" she said as she turned her gaze to Dark Nation. "Is that even your real name?" she asked.
Dark Nation stared at her unbelievably. "Uh-oh…" she thought.
Tifa smiled gently before standing up, but she almost lost her balance when someone threw a stone with a sharp edge at her. It did not really hit her, but it scratched her cheek. She winced in pain but did not say anything.
Dark Nation hissed and looked down, seeing a couple of gangster boys standing there with impish grins on their faces. "Aha, so the lovely lady has a kitty." She heard one of them say.
Tifa took a few steps backward and summoned for Dark Nation to follow her. "Let's just go, Princess… they're mean and ugly and…" she stopped when she saw that Dark Nation jumped off from the roof and started to attack the goonies. "No!" she screamed.
***
Everyone who was asleep in the house woke up by the sound of Tifa's scream.
Yuffie gasped when she saw that Tifa's bed was unoccupied and that the window by the bed was open. "Tifa!" she called out as she looked outside the window, but backed off when she saw Tifa entering.
Cloud rushed inside their room, wide-eyed, "Where's Tifa?" he asked.
Tifa got inside and pushed everyone away from her as she grabbed her gloves and rushed downstairs.
Red XIII was trying to open the door but he couldn't. "Get away!" Tifa told him before she opened the door and rushed outside, seeing Dark Nation fighting the goonies all alone.
Red XIII rushed outside and attacked the other goon, leaving the other one for Dark Nation alone. The goon that Dark Nation was battling with was holding a dagger in his hand but somehow, he could not stab her because she was too damn fast for him.
Tifa watched in awe by the doorstep, seeing the way Dark Nation was fighting. "I think she's been trained to protect someone…" she thought. But she saw that there were other goonies lurking around. "Must be with those two…" she thought as she saw five more of them coming out from the dark alleys and heading for her direction. "Uh-oh…" she muttered as she prepared to attack them.
"Tifa!" Dark Nation saw that she was in danger so she left the goonie alone and ran to Tifa, standing beside her and hissing at the other goonies, warning them to stay away. When they insisted on attacking Tifa, Dark Nation began to cast a barrier.
Cloud saw everything from the door and he was really in awe upon seeing Dark Nation really protecting Tifa. Quickly, he got his sword and helped Tifa with the battle.
Barret, Cid and Vincent also joined in…
***
"Nice goin' Tifa. You had to wake us all up and @#$%^$ fight those goonies." Cid told her as he started to nurse his black eye with an icepack.
Tifa frowned at him. "You should've just stayed inside then and minded your own business. I had to help Princess and Red XII, you know? You don't know those goonies. They've been after me for a month now because…" she trailed off and looked away.
"We know why. Those foo's are maniacs… but we beat their asses hard enough! Ha ha hahahaha!" Barret laughed gaily.
Aerith bit her lower lip as she applied some Povidone Iodine on the wound on Tifa's cheek. "I thought you said it was only a scratch. How come it's bleeding badly?" she asked Tifa.
"I didn't realize that it was that deep. That stone's really sharp." Tifa told her while trying to mind off the pain.
Cloud was observing Dark Nation while she was licking her wounded right leg. "She's been stabbed on her right front leg." he told them.
All eyes turned to Dark Nation. Tifa's eyes grew wide as she gasped and ran to Dark Nation, kneeling down beside the injured animal. "Oh my God… are you okay?" Tifa asked as she examined the wound.
Dark Nation stopped licking and looked up at Tifa with hurtful eyes. "I'm fine… but I won't be able to walk properly for a few days until this thing heals… but as long as you're safe from those goonies…" she wanted to say, but she just uttered a soft "Meowrrr…" and started to purr as she nuzzled her head against Tifa's hand. Tifa smiled gently as she patted Dark Nation's head. "Good girl…" she said.
Red XIII sat down beside Dark Nation who was plopped lying on her stomach on the floor and licking her wounds. Tifa moved away from them and got up, going back to Aerith who was already telling her to be careful next time.
"What do those maniacs want with Tifa anyway?" Dark Nation demanded from Red.
Red just stared at her.
Dark Nation stopped and looked up at Red. "Reorrr…" meaning to say, "Why are you looking at me like that?"
Red snapped out of his trance and plopped down facing her and started to lick her wound for her.
Unknown to them, everyone was watching Red XIII take care of Dark Nation.
"Meowrrr!" Dark Nation reacted, meaning to say "Stop that!" and scratched his face with her left paw. He wasn't able to turn his face away so he ended up having small scratch marks on his face; but seeing the marks made her cringe "Meow…" and she moved closer to him to lick his face before purring. "I'm so sorry," she told him as she continued to lick his face.
Cloud turned to Vincent with a glum look on his face. "How do we explain to Rufus that his cat likes Red XIII?" he muttered.
Vincent just looked away.
Tifa smiled as she saw Dark Nation snuggle closer to Red XIII until she fell asleep. After she did so, Red XIII yawned and leaned his head closer to Dark Nation's face, closed his eyes and fell asleep too.
"They look so cute…" Tifa said softly.
"It's nice to know that Red finally found a friend who also walks with four feet…" Barret told them with a wink.
Cid looked at the clock. "Well… it's late. I think we should all get some sleep." He told them as he got up from the chair and left the kitchen to go upstairs, careful not to step on Dark Nation and Red XIII.
With that, all the others followed.