Sephiroth drew his sword and looked at the approaching black figure, small but with the ability to destroy their lives. He must have just been running here, he can't have seen them.

 "Sephiroth?" Kitty gulped as they held their breath. Now they could see the features on the man's face. He was obviously running towards them, an expression of disbelief on his face and judging this the barrier was down. Sephiroth's face was like a marble statue, the look of calm carefully carved into his face. There was nothing to fear after all, he had been sure of his power since a young child and would protect them all. Among them he'd always been known as the ruthless one, he had no trouble killing humans, animals, monsters… Any thing that stood in his way could taste his blade. The thought of killing the man almost drew a smile to his face.

  Suddenly ashamed he turned to Kitty. " Let me handle this." He tried hard not to show his amusement. Kitty however smiled, not holding anything back.

 " There isn't anything to be afraid of Seph," her eyes blazed with blue fire. " It's what we were trained to do. No point in giving it up now." Kitty pulled out a small carved dagger and prepared herself for battle. Before Rania had let down the barrier and they'd killed all who saw them and waited until Rania got better.

  One swift blow of the sword injured the man while Kitty stood and laughed. Sephiroth brought his sword up again and prepared himself for another blow. The man looked at the cut on his arm and stood there wordless at the two strange teens in front of him. Sephiroth smiled as the fool brought out a pistol and held in front of him with shaking hands, his eyes livid and scared. Kitty gave a manic giggle as she advanced towards him, her dagger in front of her.

     Sephiroth stabbed teasingly and laughed at how the man clumsily dodged as is he had been aiming to hit him. With one fluid movement he had him pinned to the tree and squirming with fear. He dropped the gun and almost fainted from the thought of death like this, from the hands of these two monsters. Kitty smiled brightly.

 " Well he wont be telling anybody about us now will he?" She lifted her dagger for the final blow.

 " Stop!" Kitty turned round in time to see Aeris glaring angrily in front of her, blood staining her cheeks where the dagger had caught her. The calm serene expression in her eyes had been replaced by one of anger and hurt and her fists were shaking. " What are you doing?" She looked at the man pinned to the tree by Sephiroth's sword with disgust. Sephiroth slowly removed his sword and instead brought it to the man's throat.

 " He saw us through the barrier." Sephiroth pushed a little harder so the blade rested closer forcing the man to shrink back. Aeris glared at him.

 " That doesn't give us the right to take his life! She pushed Sephiroth out of the way and knelt near the man, using her materia to cure him of the cuts. Kitty lifted the dagger again.

 " Do you realise that if this man went back to tell the others it could mean the end of us? Now get out of the way." Kitty brought it above her head. " His death will be quick and painless." She added as if that could reassure Aeris. However Aeris turned to face her.

 " Don't talk about him like he was some sort of animal." Her face was flushed and eyes narrowed. " He has as much of a right to live as you."

 " Tell that to Hojo." Kitty looked down upset. " We weren't given a right to live, were we? It's alright for you Aeris, you had a family before." Aeris frowned, obviously confused. She never had been told about the Jenova project.

 By now the man had run away and the barrier up again but nobody noticed, too deep in thought to care.

 Aeris was shocked to the core. She'd always thought of her friends as vaguely empathetic but now she felt uncertain. Who was Hojo? And what life did she have before now?

 " I'm going to gather vegetables for dinner." Aeris was shocked at the amount of raw anger in her voice as she stormed away. Wiping the cut on her cheek she headed towards her flowers. By now the sun was setting and Maht was sitting on the log near the roses and watching it go down.

" You saw them try to kill him, didn't you?" His voice shocked her as he seemed so absorbed in the view. Aeris ignored him and started gathering the carrots, trying not to think of the expression on their faces, e looks of amusement. However Maht continued.

 " You can't make us change you know. It's in our nature."

 Aeris once again ignored him and left to talk with Sephiroth.