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My Eyes Can't Lie...
Vincent woke up to his head pounding.
Chaos? What is your d*mn problem now? Why won't you let me have even a little rest?
Well, first, because you had enough sleep for your lifetime, and second, because your love monkey is missing.
You mean Yuffie? She can't be. She is sleeping as I was, until you woke me up. ~*~
If you say so. Don't say I didn't warn you, though, when you find her dead...because of the Dark Ninjas.
What? Chaos? What's today!?
...
Oh, now you ignore me! Curse you, demon!
"Yuffie! Tell me you are there!" Vincent yelled as he jumped out of bed and ran to hers. He saw a form under the sheets, but to his disappointment, anger, and sadness, it was only a pillow with a note on top.
Hey everyone!
This is Yuffie. Yeah, yeah. I can hear
you all now. I can imagine it very clearly. "You
could have gotten yourself killed!" and "Are
you stupid?" and "Why the )*&%#@~ hell did
you ~#)*^@ leave without our (^*%#~ help,
you (*^@%$~ brat?!" is what I can imagine you
all yelling at me. The last one is especially
Cid. You are, aren't you? Yeah, well, I can put
this all simply and bluntly. This really isn't your
business. You all not being royal Wutainese,
even less having Wutainese blood in your veins,
you shouldn't even had known about the Eye.
This is my problem that I need to try to handle.
I can't tell you where I am going, because if I
do, then the Dark Ninjas may find this note
before you, or take it from you, then find me
where I am. I'm sorry I have to be so secretive,
but if I am not back in Wutai by noon on the 20th,
then just assume I am dead. I hand leadership
to Gorki, being wisest. He can choose leader
from there. He knows the rules. But yeah. Oh,
and if I am not back by that day, then Tifa? I
want you to tell Vinnie. Everyone else, too.
Since I won't be here, I won't hear it and won't
be embarrassed. Oh, and...don't forget me.
You can have what materia I have left in the
basket in the closet. Take what was yours.
Bye, everyone. I love you all, even though I
had a weird way of showing it.
Love,
Your friend Yuffie
"What an idiot. Yuffie, you fool! Have you not thought of what we would feel if you died? Have you thought of how I would feel?" Vincent yelled to no one in particular.
"Vincent? What is going on?" Cloud walked in along with the rest of the group. Tifa was rubbing her eyes and yawning, while Cloud was scratching his back. And Cid...well, he had a shower cap like thing on, only it was for bed. Barrett was wearing pink chocobo pajama pants, and Nanaki was wearing nothing, put had a stuffed animal on his back. Cait Sith and his moogle thing were wearing Santa Clause type hat things, only one light blue, and one purple, and they didn't have fuzzies on it. In other words, all had something different about them than normal.
"Yuffie. She left to hid the Eye and herself without our help!" He growled.
"What? She couldn't! She can't!"
"Why the )*&%#@~ hell did you ~#)*^@ leave without our (^*%#~ help, you (*^@%$~ brat?!" Cid snarled under his breath.
"Yeah, I know. She was trying to be noble, but didn't think about how others would feel." Vincent said.
"Well, I guess there is nothing we can do. As much as I disagree with the plan she has, no one can really disagree right now, because she is already gone, there was nothing else we could do, and because if we were to look for her and find her, we would actually kinda be helping the Dark Ninjas." Cloud said, looking at the ground, his fists clenched tightly.
"Yeah...hey! What is that on her bed, Vincent?" Tifa said, pointing to the note on her bed.
"Oh, that's the note Yuffie wrote before she left." Vincent replied. Tifa picked it up and read it. Then, she chuckled slightly.
"What the (*&%#~ is so d*mn funny? Especially at a (*&^%#~ time like this?!" Barrett yelled.
"Geez! You don't have to be so crabby, Barrett! It's just that Cid said exactly what she wrote! I guess she really knows you, Cid." Tifa handed the note to Cid. He read it, and turned around, and started banging his head against the wall.
"I. Didn't. Want. Her. To. Think. Of. Me. As. A. Swearing. Bastard." Cid said, banging his head once for every word. Barrett eventually pulled him away from the wall to stop him.
"I have a head ache. Anybody got an aspirin?"
"You deserve that for banging your head. Deal with the pain, dumb@$$." Tifa said, handing the note to everyone to read themselves.
"Hot d*mn. I mean, darn." Nanaki said. Everyone looked at him.
"What? You always swear, and I just...don't. I can slip sometimes, can't I?"
"Oh my God. What is the world coming to?" Cait Sith said, shaking his head.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
It's only been two hours. It seems like two years. I think I am going to die.
Yuffie was laying on about five layers of blankets, so she wouldn't feel the coldness or hardness of the cave floor. She had the clothes she traveled in on, and was under a heavy blanket as well.
I have so many layers of clothes, and I am still freezing! What is the problem here? I bet it is because I am here trying to hide in silence, isn't it? Stupid luck. Why me?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"OK, so...what do we do? Should we pray? Go after her anyways? Set up a "You're so f*cking lucky your alive and that I don't kill you right now where you stand" party?" Cait Sith asked.
"Just shut up, cat." Barrett yelled. Everyone was sitting in the top floor of the Pagoda. Chekhov, Shake, Gorki, and Staniv were having breakfast, and didn't know about Yuffie's "plan." They hoped they wouldn't ask about it either, but the chances of that were slim.
"AAAAAHHH!" Tifa stood up real fast and looked as if she was going to cry.
"What?! What's wrong?!" Cloud asked as he jumped up as well.
"I just remembered! Today! Today is...is...Yuffie's b-b-birthday!" With that, she started to whimper quietly.
"Is that it? I thought you were dying!" Cloud said, plopping back down onto the couch.
"YOU ARE EVIL! Don't you understand what this means? She never had a normal birthday, because of the Dark Ninjas! If they are defeated, then maybe...she can...have a normal birthday." Tifa said, growing quieter with each word.
"You know what it is like to not have a birthday?" Cait Sith asked.
"No one cares about you, though!" Barrett said.
"Even worse!"
"Shut up, cat!" Barrett yelled again. Nanaki then walked out and back in with a heavy book in his mouth.
"This is going to tell us a little about the Dark Ninjas. I got it from the Library."
Myths from the Wutainese Culture
A long time ago in the times of Gods and Knights, there was a great war. A war between the great God Leviathan and the evil demon brother, Goliath. Leviathan wished not to fight, but for the sake of the inhabitants on the planet, he fought his brother. Goliath craved power, and was jealous that his brother had more than he. He, after all, trained endlessly. He did many mental exercises, and physical drills. Why didn't he have the glory and power of his brother? Thus, power was the reason that this demon fought with his only brother. He was evil, and cared not that because of his selfish ways, he would hurt his brother, or himself. He was possessed by an inner force.
The battle was fought by the two brothers and many of their followers. Those who fought eventually died in battle. No one survived. Over 80% of the people died. In the 20% lived on the Kisaragis. The rulers of Wutai. The great, well-known worshipers to Leviathan. They agreed after seeing all the destruction that they were to aid their majestic God in battle. After the war raged on for eighteen years, Leviathan managed to trap Goliath in a different dimension with all of his followers, receiving a wound in his right eye in the process. Feeling sorry for his wicked brother, Leviathan granted him a day in the human world. The day he was trapped in. The only way to stay in the world of the humans, he would need the key. His brother's eye, for it was what proved he had some power against his brother. If he could obtain it, he would be free. If he couldn't, he would have to again wait for a year to pass before his chance could arrive again allowing him to escape.
The eye was passed down from each Kisaragi generation, to watch over and keep secure. It was prophesized that one day, a child was to be born and become the last Kisaragi. Being such, the eye had to be given willingly. The only way Goliath could escape from this curse was to either be given the eye by the heir, or to take the blood of the heir and combine it with his own. Then take the eye and replace it with his right eye, therefore taking the power of his brother and containing it within his vessel.
"So, that is the whole history of the eye. Wow. Once you look at it, it is kind of complicated." Cait Sith stated after Nanaki read the page out loud from an old book from the library.
"Shut up, cat. We don't need your stupidity right now." Cloud said as he tore the page from the dusty manuscript.
"Look and make sure there isn't anything else we need in this thing. If we don't need anymore, then we can give it back." Cloud picked up the heavy volume and placed it on the floor for him.
"Sure thing. I just don't get why you all get me to do this when I have difficulty turning the pages. I don't have fingers you know." Nanaki held up his paws.
"Yeah, but you are the smart logical one."
"OK. Fine. Whatever. If it gets Yuffie back, I'll do it."
"What if it was me?"
"...I don't know..."
"Huh? But..."
"I'm just kidding."
"Oh."
"So...since there isn't really anything else the rest of us can do, why don't we just think for the best and make a surprise birthday party for her for when she comes back?" Tifa asked, trying to cheer everyone and herself up.
"I guess so..." Cloud agreed.
"Yeah, why not?" Barrett accepted. Everyone else did, too, except for Vincent.
"How about you, Vinnie?" Tifa asked.
"That is a name only Yuffie can call me! And only when she returns will I rejoin the group!" Vincent ran out of the Pagoda, and into the forest. No one knew how to react.
"Well...ummm...should we get started?" Tifa asked.
"What do you mean, "Get started"? Didn't you see how he reacted?" Cait Sith questioned, fearfully.
"No man has ever stopped me do what I wanted to do, and there ain't no way in f*cking hell that Vincent Valentine is going to yell at me and expect me to worry when I could be doing something that will be of some kind of use for Yuffie when she returns!" Cait Sith backed away slightly.
"How will a party be useful?"
"It will make her happy! It will take away her stress! It will make her see that we CARE!"
"Whatever. I don't think that will work."
"SHUT UP, CAT!" Everyone yelled, and was silenced when Barrett hit him over the head with his gun arm. "Much better. Someone gonna help me throw him in the dumpster?"
"I will!" Cid said, jumping from the couch to join Barrett.
"Why would you throw him in the dumpster?" Nanaki asked, trying to defend the mechanic thing with a dent on its head.
"Because he still needs to be taught a lesson about kindness. And plus. He never really did get paid back for what he did to Yuffie a long time ago." Cid said.
"What, with the whole parade thing?"
"Yeah!"
"Oh. OK." He changed his mind about protecting him, and continued back reading through the book.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
OK. Only 16 ½ hours left to go. I'm gonna die! I can't take this silence! I have a major headache! AAAAHHH! I'm gonna go crazy!
Yuffie was staring at the ceiling of the cave with wide eyes. She tried to sleep, but she had one of those 2 minute naps where she woke up from a nightmare that she was snoring and the Dark Ninjas found her, only they were dressed up as frogs. (A/N: I always have a 2 minute dream where I jerk awake dreaming of giant frogs. Is that normal?) So, she wasn't able to sleep.
When I get home, I'm going to take a long bubble bath. Then I'm going to sleep for a week. Then eat. No, I have to do that first. Hmmm...I'll just eat while taking a bubble bath. I've always wanted to do that, just like those people on TV.
She go so involved in thinking about what she would do when she got home, that she forgot about the time, and when she looked at the watch, she noticed it had been half an hour already.
WOW! I should think some more. That worked well in passing the time.
She started thinking of other things, and smiled. She was actually kinda happy to be by herself, free to think and not do what others wanted her to do.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Lady? My Lady? Where are you?! The Dark Ninjas! They..." Gorki was running around the Pagoda, obviously part of a search party.
"They are freed and she is gone, hiding herself and the Eye." Cloud finished, just before sipping his tea. He had seven different types of wrapping paper in front of him, and was sweating heavily. He was the only person in the room, besides Gorki that is.
"And you know this how?"
"A letter she wrote. You can help me. This is probably the most difficult decision I ever had. Which wrapping paper should I use to wrap Yuffie's present?" Cloud asked, as if nothing was wrong.
"...I'm sorry, but I can't let her be alone at a time like this. You don't know how much danger she is in right now."
"Actually, I do. I know everything about the Eye and her and the duties of the leader of Wutai. I know what she is up against, and I think she is mature enough to take care of herself."
"No. you don't understand. You just don't understand." Gorki ran out of the Pagoda continuing his search.
"CLOUD! Are you still wrapping her present? We need help in the kitchen!" Tifa yelled as she entered the top floor.
"I don't know which paper to use!"
"Oh my God! Cloud! It isn't that difficult! Does she like chocobos, gil, materia, stars, presents, birthday candles, or the color 'neon orange' more?" Tifa asked, rolling her eyes.
"Ummm...materia?"
"Good job! You are such a genius!" Tifa said sarcastically. "Now, hurry up and wrap it, and get into the kitchen!"
"OK! Geez!" Cloud said as he picked up the pair of scissors.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
^^ Chapter 12, chapter 12, chapter 12! Hope you liked it!
XOXOXOXOXO
Ruri-sugar