(Author's Note: Hey! Sorry for leaving off in bad places there…it…*might*…not happen again…*evil smile*…but really I'll try to leave off in good places from now on. Enjoy chapter 10!)
Disclaimer: Don't own FF7 or Squaresoft! And as usual Cassandra is mine!
Chapter 10
Sephiroth leaned back in the uncomfortable chair in the eye hurting white room. This room was in the hospital ward of the Shinra tower. For almost a week everyday he sat in this chair. Cassandra was still as she lay in the bed across the room from him.
Her skin was white. So white that the markings around her eyes stood out even more. Not once during this week had she regained consciousness. He was beginning to think that she wouldn't wake. The doctor that had taken care of her had talked to him after he was done with stitching her wounds. He had said that the piece of metal hadn't been very big and hadn't caused a lot of damage. Neither had the bullet that had hit her in the chest. The bullet that would have hit him had she not pushed him out of the way.
He shifted until he was more comfortable. He wanted to drift to sleep for a few minutes to completely forget about what had happened. Just as he was closing his eyes the door on his left opened. He was beside the door and now was hidden behind it.
Hojo walked over to Cassandra. "I don't get it…how did you 2 recover your memories? It doesn't make sense. But…it won't matter…I'll deal with you now while you're defenseless," Hojo smirked and pulled a syringe out of his lab coat pocket.
"And just what do you plan on doing with that?" Sephiroth asked in a low voice. Hojo froze and slowly turned to look at him. Sephiroth stood and closed the door with his foot as he took a few steps forward.
"I wasn't expecting to see you here," Hojo said darkly.
"Same here," Sephiroth said standing at his full height.
"Why don't you go and find something useful to do with your time," Hojo said taking one step back towards Cassandra.
"My thoughts for you exactly. But…you wouldn't listen to me would you?"
"No…I'm sorry to say that this creature," Hojo waved his hand at her, "has become a failure. I need to get rid of it before it ruins other experiments of mine."
"Get out of here. If I catch you near her again I'll kill you…and it won't be a quick death," Sephiroth said in a deadly tone.
"My my…I was correct…she's already ruined one of my experiments," Hojo said starting to turn his back to Sephiroth. The next thing he knew was that he was grabbed by the back of the neck and turned around. He was eye level with Sephiroth.
"If you try to do anything to her I will give you hundreds of cuts smaller than paper cuts and tear you limb from limb…got it?" Sephiroth snarled. Hojo paled and nodded numbly. "Now get out of here…masamune is over there…I might just change my mind about what I said and just do it." Hojo was dropped on his feet.
He fled the room shaking and his fists clenched while his face was beet red in anger slamming the door behind him. Sephiroth watched the door for a few minutes to make sure he was gone. A slight groan behind him made him turn. Cassandra's head turned to the side but her eyes were still closed.
"Cassandra?" he asked moving closer to the bedside. Her eyes fluttered as she turned her head to face the voice.
"Sephiroth?"
"You're awake. How do you feel?" he asked.
She started to shrug but winced and stopped the movement. "I feel…tired," she said with a weak smile.
"But you're awake. You'll be fine. The doctor said you'll recover faster if you don't try to do too much. You'll stay here for a few days and then if the doctor says so you'll be released," he told her.
"All right. How long have I been out?" she asked.
"A week…you're lucky you know that? You didn't have to take that bullet," he said.
"I know but you're the general…the most important thing to your troops," she said.
"That doesn't matter right now. What matters is that…"
"What?"
"…"
"Thought so," she gave a slight nod.
"Well…you didn't have to do that. You shouldn't have done that," he said,
"And why not?" she asked.
"I was perfectly capable of dodging it," he said.
"Oh forgive me if at the time it didn't look like you could!"
"You know what? We'll just talk about this later," he said and walked to the door picking masamune up from where it leaned in the corner. The door shut softly behind him.
"What's there to talk about? Oh…you can't even admit that you're thankful," she laughed softly to herself.
****
"Promise?"
"Yeah…when you become a SOLDIER…will you rescue me whenever I'm in trouble?"
"I promise! I will!"
"Thank you! I'll hold you to it!"
"And I'll keep it!" the boy ran towards the town's entrance and the SOLDIER recruiter.
The girl watched after him.
"I'll hold you to that promise Cloud Strife," she whispered. The boy reached the gate and turned to look at the well in the town's center. He waved one last time.
"I promise you Tifa!" he said. She waved back with a smile on her face.
****
