Chapter 27
A Slight Problem
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or it's characters; all OC's are mine...umm, the name Mifune came from Noacat, and my thanks go to Celtic guardian for giving me a series of names that if I use I'll be sure to point them out.
A/N: Well…the fair's in town and it sucks. Now tell me how screwed up this is: 1) you have to pay to get through the front gate $7-$15, 2) you have to pay for a wrist band so you can the rides, and 3) you even have to pay to get into the grandstand! Normally all we had to pay for was to get in and in the grandstand; the seats down in front of the stage…witch there not even having a concert this year, sure in the beer gardens. About the only thing free this year is the parade…knock on wood, next thing I know they'll make you pay for that too!
Anyways, I'm not planning on going out there too much but I may be a bit slower on updates. For now…here's THIS one!
Note: Originally I was going to call this chapter 'Some Changes are in Order,' but I don't think that fits anymore…LOL
A Slight Problem:
Daitona opened her eyes tiredly and was met with more darkness. 'How long have I been out…and where am I?' She tried to lift her head but it came in contact with the cool earth. In front of her she found her nose to be about an inch from the wall. Her back was firmly pressed against a warm body.
"Seph…" she whined and nudged him with elbow.
"Shhh," he warned and put an arm around her to keep her still. "There are Wutain soldiers all over the place," he whispered.
"Where are we?" she asked softly.
"In an abandoned monster's den…well, at least I hope it's abandoned. How do you feel?"
"Fine, why do you ask?"
"After that attack you were really out of it and by the time we crawled in here you passed out. You…still have those stripes on your face and arm and your hair didn't turn back. It darkened but it's not gold and those red highlights…"
"Be happy that I don't have fangs and claws right now…I don't like this at all…it's too crowded," she complained.
Sephiroth could hear plainly in her voice what the real problem was. Daitona absently did not like small areas and this was extremely small and quite a tight fit for the two of them.
"If you want to chance it…there should be a larger room at the end of this tunnel. It's not safe to go up, the Wutain's are patrolling the area like dogs. I'll go down first." With that, Sephiroth carefully scooted down the narrow tunnel that had been dug into the ground.
When he reached the bottom the entrance was near the roof of a fair sized room. A quick glance around told him that it had been abandoned for some time. He reached into his pocked and retrieved a package of glow sticks and broke them so that they would light up the area.
"Daitona," Sephiroth called softly back up the tunnel. "Come on, there's nothing down here."
After some difficulty, Daitona's feet finally made it to the end of the tunnel. "Hey down there…a little help?"
Sephiroth reached up and pulled back on her feet until she was up to the waist out of the tunnel. Then he adjusted his grip to her waist and helped her down to the floor.
"So, how's this room, roomy enough?" he asked and swept his hand to the room.
Daitona frowned shamefully. "I'm sorry…it seems today is just not my day. All I've managed to do was cause a lot of people a lot of pain and trouble. All those people died today because of me…because I made a mistake and couldn't recover from it. The result was our soldiers being slaughtered."
Sephiroth frowned at her. "You can't put all the blame on yourself. You weren't the only one in charge out there, you know? But just think; if you hadn't split the troops up into small groups like that we would probably all be dead or prisoners right now. You made it harder for the Wutain's to find us and you gave everyone a place to hide."
Daitona closed her eyes with a sigh and leaned back against the wall crossing her arms. "…so many have died…"
"On both sides. With those three attacks that you and I executed, we depleted the Wutain numbers drastically. We killed more of them than they did us." Sephiroth's eyes softened and he smirked. "I never knew you had it in you."
"Had what in me?" Daitona grumbled.
"That power. I've never felt such power in my entire life."
Daitona opened her eyes and examined her arms and hands. "Earlier you said my strips didn't go away, but I don't see them?"
Sephiroth reached out and brushed his fingers over the silvery strips of her left cheek, "two here," then the other cheek, "and two here."
"And to think, you're not even Divinian," Daitona smirked. "But, you have one stripe right here…" She did as he had and brushed her fingers over one of the strips. "And one here." She traced the last one with the tip of her index finger.
Sephiroth winced slightly as the same burning sensation from before came back with her touch.
"They actually look pretty cool. They go with you silver hair beautifully (did I just say beautifully? Aw well…) and they both have a hint of red in that silver," Daitona said.
Sephiroth arched his eyebrows. "Beautifully, eh?" He grinned when she turned her head away from him. "Aww, now…"
Daitona was about ready to come back with a nasty retort when a puff of dirt came out of the tunnel. Sephiroth and Daitona both fell silent and stared at the entrance in wait.
Sephiroth almost laughed as a figure popped out of the whole and fell clumsily to the dirt floor. Daitona recognized the figure instantly for who he really was.
She wrinkled her nose in distaste and glared down as it tried to sit up. "If you didn't bring my swords back you're going to wish you had never fell through that blasted hole."
The dark haired Wutain boy slowly stood up brushing himself off and trying to catch his breath.
"Tseng…" Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. "What's going on?"
"The Wutain soldiers…" Tseng held up a hand and took a deep breath. "They know the SOLDIER's are hiding in the woods and they are trying to find them. If you two don't get out of here now they're going to find you."
"And you?" Sephiroth asked in a voice of warning.
"All due respect sir, but I'm still Wutain…hey…I have an idea," Tseng said slowly and eyed Daitona; Sephiroth also turned to see if she was doing something.
Daitona creased her eyebrows, she didn't like that look. She tried to look stern by narrowing her eyes but unconsciously took a retreating step back.
Sephiroth looked thoroughly confused and looked back at Tseng. "What?"
Tseng crouched down with his supply back and started to rummage through it. "What if I told you we could waltz right through the Wutain ranks without being given a second glance?" He grinned as the plan formed in his head.
"And how do you plan on doing that?" Daitona growled uncomfortably.
"Do you have any idea how close you look to being Wutain?" Tseng asked looking up at her.
"What?" Daitona took another step back.
"Really, look at you. The only major difference is that you have light colored hair where most Wutain's have dark. But there are always the few exceptions."
"Why do I not like where this is leading?" Daitona crossed her arms again.
"Hear me out," Tseng protested, holding a hand up. "Say we dress you up as a Wutain woman; that gets you and me through. Now Sephiroth…Daitona can get you through, no questions asked."
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes right along with Daitona. "And why's that?" Sephiroth asked.
"A few reasons. One being that when the Wutain army catches the enemy they are either killed or sold off into slavery, and used for what ever…Two in being, no Wutain man in their right mind would dare to accuse one of the women. You see, our women tend to have very bad tempers and do not take well to suspicion. And lastly…from what I've seen…one of your parents had to be Wutain, Sephiroth," Tseng stated boldly.
Sephiroth's eyes glowed with newfound interest. "Why do you say that?"
"Well…I know what I see in Daitona…and well…don't take this in the wrong way; the way you move is very similar to her and the Wutain's…and some of your facial features…"
Daitona laughed. "So now you've been checking Sephiroth out, eh?!"
"Hey!" Tseng protested then grabbed something out of his bag as she persisted to laugh.
Daitona was almost knocked over when a wad of cloths was shoved at her. She glared at Tseng then looked at the cloths he had thrown at her.
"You what me to wear THESE?" She hesitated. "Ok…but I ain't changing here with the two of you."
"Wouldn't think of it," Tseng lied smoothly, then motioned Sephiroth to follow him out.
-10 minutes later-
Daitona crawled out of the narrow tunnel into the early morning light, looking less than happy. She had on her black vest that was unusually zipped up all the way. Here boots were put on carelessly and her pants were obviously pulled up over the other cloths.
Sephiroth mirrored her look of irritation as he had been conned into putting on a native Wutain shirt that was two sizes too big for him.
"I changed my mind," Daitona announced waveringly.
Sephiroth almost laughed. "Oh come now, it can't be any worse than this," he said and tugged at the exotic looking shirt.
Daitona shot him a look that clearly said she was in no mood to argue over it, but he decided to ignore it.
"Oh come on, let us see," he prompted.
"See WHAT exactly?! What ARE those cloths suppose to cover Tseng? I've worn swimming wear that covered more than those cloths, with less material!" she yelled more out of desperation than anger.
"Lets see." Sephiroth crossed his arms as Daitona gave him the look of a trapped animal, then she grumbled.
"I swear, if EITHER of you say ANYTHING, and I mean ANYTHING, or look at me in the wrong way…I swear I'm going to knock ya into next week," Daitona warned; Sephiroth couldn't believe what he was hearing in her voice. She gave them both a withering look. 'Aw man…I don't like this, I REALLY don't like this.'
Suddenly felling completely self-conscious she gave them a stern look. "Turn around," she ordered.
Sephiroth stifled a laugh. "Come on Daitona, it can't be that bad."
His inquisition was rewarded with a boot being hurled at his head. He easily dodged it, but the other one hit his arm. "Now what are you going to throw at me?" he challenged.
*Zziiiipppp*
In a flash the black vest was off and being swung at him. Sephiroth was caught by surprise and the armored vest hit him hard.
"Oof!" Sephiroth grabbed the vest away from her then smirked. "Now why don't you just make this easy on yourself?"
"You've never beat me in hand-to-hand combat before," Daitona growled.
"Ah…we don't have very much time and this doesn't look good…you two fighting and all…" Tseng warned.
Daitona sighed. "Ok, I give. There, now you happy?" She pulled her normal pants off from over the Wutain cloths she wore then straightened.
Sephiroth was a perfect picture of shock. "Daitona," he gaped. 'She wasn't lying…' "You-You're so…so…so tiny. How can you hit so hard?!"
"I'm warning you…" Daitona growled.
Tseng looked thoroughly pleased, she did look Wutain, even with that angry glint in her eyes.
"Here." Daitona was given her swords and belt, which she took gratefully and put them on. "Well, come on…lets go find a safe place to wait till these soldiers move on, then we can fine your guises soldiers," Tseng said then led the way towards to enemy ranks…
****
-End Chapter 27-
A/N: *laughs evilly* Bad spot to end the chapter, eh? But that gives me a good start with the next chapter. A show of hands, who thinks Daitona was tricked?