Chapter 30
One Big Family…
(Right)
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy or it's characters; all OC's are mine...umm, the name Mifune came from Noacat.
A/N: Well…I have an idea for another story, but I have to get to a point in this one before I can post what I have typed so far...(there's my excuse for taking so long) The idea is along the lines of…well, what if one key thing was changed in this story that would affect everything? Well, that's the idea but I'm not going to tell you what the change is, it should be fairly interesting because everything here is disregarded for another dimension. I think it'll be called 'In the Dimensions of a Different Time and Space' yeah…long name huh? Well, what do you all think?
One Big Family…(Right):
Sephiroth examined the Wutain uniform in the full-length mirror in the bathroom. It was almost too small and he didn't care for the style or the color very much. He ran a comb through his wet hair once more before tossing it all over his shoulder where it settled on his back; leaving the back of the shirt damp and uncomfortable.
He growled in irritation before leaving the bathroom and flicking off the light. The room he walked into was dark now. The sun was completely set now and it only cast dark shadows throughout the room.
"Hmmm."
His glowing eyes swept over the room in a brief search and found Daitona still curled up on her bed covers, sleeping peacefully. 'She seems tired…I wonder why? We haven't really done anything today.'
Sephiroth sighed and lay down atop his own bed. He lay awake thinking things over and some time later he finally drifted into a half sleep state; he was startled awake by pounding on the door.
Grumbling, Sephiroth pulled himself out of the comforts of the bed and moved to the door. Growling, he snatched the door open, the light from the hall nearly made him flinch, nearly. He glared daggers at the shorter man at the door.
"What do you need so badly that you have to be so rude?" Sephiroth growled.
"Commander Mifune sent me to tell you dinner would be ready shortly and to be down in the dinning hall in 30 minutes," the Wutain retorted indignantly.
"Yeah, thanks a lot," Sephiroth said sarcastically and slammed the door in the soldiers face.
Sephiroth growled as he walked back into the room. 'Jerk, who did he think he was talking to?' He snapped out of the angry thought when Daitona stirred in her sleep, she fell silent again after a few seconds. "Oops, I forgot she could hear my thoughts quite well. I nearly woke her up," he whispered to himself. "I doubt she'd be very happy if she woke that way…"
He silently walked to the side of her bed and turned on the lamp that was on the nightstand beside it. It was dim but it was bright enough for him to see Daitona's sleeping form more easily.
He sat on the bed next to her and ran a hand across her face. "Daitona…"
She sighed softly and slowly came out of her slumber. His touch must have startled her because once she became more aware she flinched away form his touch, her breath coming in as a hiss of surprise.
She raised her head enough and the dazed look in her eyes slowly faded and she focused on his face. "Sephiroth? What are you doing? Why did you wake me up?" she asked tiredly.
"Almost time for dinner." Daitona wrinkled her nose and rolled her eyes before stretching out.
Daitona yawned before sitting up. She wore a silly look as she ran her hand through her tangled hair; it had dried mostly as she slept. "Dang, how long have I been sleeping?"
"Two maybe three hours. You feeling better?" Sephiroth asked and stood up to let her off the bed.
Daitona slid her feet to the floor then looked up at him with a questioning look. "What's that suppose to mean?"
"You weren't in a very good mood when I went to take a shower."
Daitona sighed and lay back on the bed. "I'm sorry about that…you know how it is. I knew you were just teasing but…I guess I really did need a nap. We haven't gotten very much sleep in the past few days you know?"
"I guess you're right…but that doesn't mean you had to try and strangle me, did it? I know, I know." Sephiroth raised his hands in a gesture and Daitona sat back up to watch him. "I shouldn't tease you like that but it's kind-of funny watching you when you're mad…"
Daitona stared at him with a dull look in her eyes. "Either you're being extremely rude right now or you're trying to tease me again, and all's your doing is ticking me off again. So why don't you quit while you're still ahead?"
"Umm…yeah…I think I will…" Sephiroth promptly became quiet.
"Much better," Daitona complimented. "Now, where did you put that hair brush?"
Sephiroth pulled it out of one of his pockets and handed it to her.
"Thanks a bunch." Daitona quickly ran the brush through her hair until it was untangled and to her liking. "There," she said with a nod of her head. "Much better. Are you ready to go down to the dinning hall…and do you know where it's at?"
"Umm…no…and I am ready to go. We can ask someone where it is or just follow where everyone else is going," Sephiroth suggested with a shrug.
"Uh, okay. Aren't you the optimistic one tonight?" Daitona shook her head at him and stood up. She stretched once more then headed for the door; Sephiroth followed her.
"Aren't you going to take your swords?" he asked as she reached for the door knob.
Daitona turned back to him. "Why would I need my swords here?"
"You never know," he warned.
"Oh all right," she sighed and walked back over to her bed. She knelt down on the floor and reached under the bed. After a few seconds she pulled out the twin swords and her belts.
She straightened and secured the two belts around her waist then turned back to Sephiroth. "Better now?"
"You don't have to be mean about it. It's just, you never know when you might run into trouble and need your weapon." He watched as she walked past him and without a word she opened the door to the hall and went on her way.
Sephiroth sighed and followed quickly, as to not loose her and get lost himself.
**** -The dining hall: 15 minutes later-
"Oh great," Daitona grumbled, peeking through a heavy wooden door. "We're late and they're already eating."
"Then why are we still standing out here? He's your uncle, I'm sure he'll understand," Sephiroth whined to her.
"After you." She made a gesture at to let Sephiroth ahead of her.
Sephiroth sighed and pushed the door open and led the way into the spacious room. The smell of food was sweet and Sephiroth noticed just how hungry he really was.
'Where to now? Where do we sit?' Sephiroth looked to Daitona.
"Um…I'm not…"
"Daitona," a voice called.
Daitona and Sephiroth both looked to where the voice had come from. Mifune sat at one of the tables and there were two empty chairs to the left of him.
"Well…how about there?" Daitona suggested.
Sephiroth rolled his eyes and followed Daitona to the table. Daitona sat in the chair next to Mifune and Sephiroth sat in the other chair.
"Did you have a problem finding your way here?" Mifune asked, not looking at either of them.
"…umm, no. Not really. It's just this place is so big and I've always had the habit of wanting to look around," Daitona admitted.
"I see; Sasha was the same way. You remind me a lot of her…that's why I didn't say anything before. I wanted to be sure you were who I thought you were. So, tell me about yourself, Jeozyhe," Mifune said softly.
"Jeozyhe…no one ever calls me that…it's just another name. Call me Daitona." Mifune nodded. "Well…to tell you the truth, Sephiroth probably knows more about my parents than I do. I just found out not too long ago just who my mother was. The Shinra scientist, Hojo…he is the one responsible for Sasha's death."
"Hojo," Mifune repeated. "He's the head of the science department in Shinra, isn't he?"
"Yeah…he is." Daitona frowned to herself. "He is the one who raised me after I was 9 or 10 years old, I don't remember. I tried to escape a number of times and failed. During all that time I met Sephiroth and we became friends. I guess it was when I turned 13, I began training in the art of sword play; I got my Excalibur Moons." She patted the dagger-sized swords that were at her sides.
"I see," Mifune said; there was a distant look to his eyes that Daitona couldn't help but to notice.
"Well…the skills in sword play came easy to me and not too long after I was transferred to another trainer and I got to train with Sephiroth as my sparing partner. Since then all's we've been doing in honing our skills to the best of our capability. As it was, we were put in SOLDIER and now we're here." She ended in a soft voice so that no one else would overhear.
"Shinra will pay for their crimes against Wutai and my family," Mifune growled.
Daitona sighed. "Don't be so sure about that…I myself, am quite powerful and capable of great destruction alone. Sephiroth is no less of a fighter than I am…if not, he is even better than I am, which in many things he is. As you said earlier…after this we will be enemies. Family or not…I can't stand back and watch my troops being slaughtered. That attack we use yesterday afternoon is only the tip of the power I am capable of with Sephiroth's direction. How many were killed in those three attacks we did?"
"Too many to count," Mifune responded with interest.
"Exactly." Daitona looked stern. "The first two attacks were done separately. One from Sephiroth and one from me; mine was an attack that Sephiroth wasn't capable of doing until then, so he can now use that same power. The attack we did together was a small percentage of energy and Sephiroth can now use alone at his own will; I will never use such power unless something happens like it did yesterday."
"And why is that?"
"Why?" Daitona snorted. "Do you really believe all the Shinra SOLDIERs like killing? I'll kill because I know this is war and it would have been in self-defense. But using that power on my own accord is deadly. It will spare no one that is in its path and I don't like that considering that when I use it I can kill anything and everything around me that is alive."
"But you used it yesterday," Mifune pointed out.
Daitona almost looked angry. "What choice did I have? You were slaughtering my cadet and the SOLDIERs, I had no other choice or risk being killed myself."
Mifune could hear the venom in her voice. "Whoa now, there's no need to be getting mad now. What's done is done now. I didn't mean to make you mad."
Daitona sighed and sulked to herself.
"Why don't you enjoy this dinner and then get a good nights rest," Mifune suggested. "I didn't mean to upset you, but if it makes you feel better…we really didn't kill that many yesterday. They were all in small groups and came out of nowhere then just disappeared. We had a hard time finding where they were hiding, and the few we found we released after taking their weapons."
"You didn't kill them?" Daitona looked up from her glass of tea at him.
"No, not after I heard what that dragon said. I couldn't risk killing my sister's daughter if she was really there. I was beginning to think I was wrong and misunderstood the dragon when you guys showed up at our camp. In my tent I could see the glow in Sephiroth's eyes…but not yours," Mifune stated in confusion.
"She closed them," Sephiroth spoke up as he set his fork down on his plate. "This is really good, even back at the Shinra Tower we didn't get food this good."
"Have all you like," Mifune assured. "So, where were you two…three, heading before you ran into us?"
"…" Daitona wasn't sure if she should tell him. 'He is the enemy after all…'
'What's the worst he could do? Warn the target, but that won't help them very much,' Sephiroth responded to her thought.
Daitona wrinkled her nose at him. "We were on our way to pay a visit to General Lazarus…at Fort Natic."
"Ahh," Mifune nodded in recognition. "My mom and dad live in the town around the fort. Lazarus was an old friend of our family…but I guess he's had it coming to him for a long time now. The only thing I'll tell you is his reputation accedes itself. It's his army that has the true power and Fort Natic will not fall easily."
"We weren't planning on taking the fort," Sephiroth responded pushing his empty plate away, he wore a satisfied look plainly on his face. "Don't get me wrong, if they fight we fight. To get to where we've been ordered too we have to go through Natic."
Mifune laughed softly. "I see how it is. You weren't ordered to fight them, but it's kind of impossible not too. Your commanders are crude people."
"What commanders?" Daitona asked sarcastically. "Sephiroth and I were in charge of that army along with Lieutenant General Otto."
"You're both officers?" Mifune asked in surprise.
"Yeah…"
"You sound reluctant when you say that. What's bothering you now?" Mifune asked.
"One day the only family I have is a friend and the next…" Daitona laughed somewhat and shook her head. "It's just all too strange…now I wonder if I fight for the wrong side, but then again I can't do anything about it and now I have to worry about fighting family." She fell silent then sighed heavily. "I have no intention of going back to Midgar after this war is through, no matter which side wins…"
"Then I'll make you a deal then. After this war is through, go to the capital, Wutai, and I'll take you home with me. My mom and dad would take you in and give you a place to live," Mifune offered.
Daitona narrowed her eyes and shook her head. "I don't know…that's thinking to far ahead if you ask me…I don't know where we'll be after this and I don't want to be surrounded by people I don't know, not right away."
Mifune nodded and finished his dinner; Daitona had hardly eaten any of her dinner and was just picking at it at that point.
"You not hungry?" Sephiroth asked, turning his attention to Daitona.
"Nah…not really." She looked up when Mifune stood up.
"Well, I'll send someone for you in the morning for breakfast…"
"NO!" Sephiroth said rather loudly. "That's not necessary. Just…what time is it served?"
"9 o'clock…" Mifune answered hesitantly. "Anyway, I'm retiring for tonight. I'll see you both in the morning." Mifune nodded and left the dinning area.
"Well, Tseng is noticeably…not noticeable tonight," Sephiroth commented.
Daitona's eyes were narrowed at her food. 'What would you do if suddenly everyone of these Wutain's staring at us dropped dead?
Sephiroth stared at her intently for a few seconds then looked around…indeed; they did have the attention of a lot of the Wutain soldiers. 'That may not be a good idea Daitona. I'd say go for it if there wasn't so many…but if you did now it'd be noticeable.'
'Darn!' Daitona snapped her fingers. She leaned towards Sephiroth when the guy next to her turned a toothy smile to her, and not an all too nice smile at that. "Eahhh…" She wrinkled her nose and leaned closer to Sephiroth.
Sephiroth frowned at the soldier.
"Stop looking at me like that," Daitona ordered in a low growl.
"Or what, sweetheart?" the soldier asked bluntly. "What are you going to do, tell Commander Mifune on me?" he laughed.
"There's nothing to be laughing about…and I won't tell Uncle Mifune, I'll let him find out himself when he finds your hacked remains up on the walls," Daitona growled at him.
"Ooh, I'm so scared," he taunted then laughed; he hadn't caught the Uncle before Mifune, otherwise he'd have been smart enough and left the girl alone.
'Can I kill HIM?' Daitona thought angrily.
"I'm behind ya, but I still don't think it's a good idea to push our luck here," Sephiroth warned her; the soldier was still laughing as he spoke to some of the other nearby ones.
They too began to laugh, and Daitona started to shack with rage. It a flash she tore one of her swords from its sheath and the first soldier to laugh fell in a heap rather suddenly. The other soldier murmured amongst themselves for a few seconds before they looked up to meet the blazing eyes of the one who they'd been laughing at. All of a sudden the harmless little girl didn't seem so funny and harmless. No, now she looked like a warrior that knew perfectly well what she had done and was more than willing to do it again.
Wisely the soldiers shut their mouths and left the room. Daitona growled deep in her throat as she wiped the blood off her sword; there wasn't much because the blow had been so quick.
"Well…" Sephiroth said slowly. "I guess that takes care of that problem. Feel better now?"
"Actually, no," Daitona replied coldly. "I have a headache and my stomach is doing summersaults…not to mention I'm feeling quite strangely for no reason."
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean you feel 'strangely'?"
"Light headed, a bit dizzy…sluggish maybe…I don't know. Just strange."
"What did you have to drink?"
"Huh? Are you trying to say I feel weird because of what I drank? Come on," Daitona said disbelievingly.
"You've never drank alcoholic drinks before…" Sephiroth reached over to her glass and took a sip of it. It had a tangy taste to it but nothing he recognized as alcohol…then he smelled it. "Uh!" Sephiroth wrinkled his nose in disgusted then pushed the glass to the other side of the table. "Not very sober right now are you?"
"What are you talking about, I've never drank in my life and you know it!"
"All the more reason you wouldn't recognize it when you drank it without knowing it." Sephiroth was getting mad at the idea that someone had deliberately tried to get Daitona drunk without her knowing it. He gowned inwardly at the thought of her not feeling to well in the morning because of this.
"I think I'm ready to go back to the room…I've had enough of these Wutain's for one day," Daitona growled in annoyance.
Sephiroth agreed and stood up. Together they left and headed back for the room they were staying the night in. Sephiroth kept a close eye on Daitona on the way to make sure she was ok. She looked normal enough…she really hadn't drank to much but he wasn't sure of how much alcohol was put in her drink.
Daitona was really starting to feel tired as they neared their room and her mood had taken a change for the worst back there. She took a deep breath and released it slowly in an attempt to unwind her tightly wound nerves that were making her more irritable than she liked.
Sephiroth had done nothing to her and she really didn't want to be mean to him and loose what patience she had on him again. She already felt bad for trying to strangle him for no reason earlier…and now…she was in a mood…
"You feeling ok?" Sephiroth asked warily.
"Yeees," she growled at him, her eyes still burned from killing the soldier, and her temper was just about to boil over…
Sephiroth could sense her raging thoughts and he didn't bother to try and find out what was bothering her at that point. She was wound up…it was as simple as that.
They got to the room without incident and Sephiroth opened the door to allow Daitona in. She murmured her thanks and walked into the dark room. She took a few steps then stopped when the door closed leaving the room in complete darkness.
"Seph…" She hissed in surprise when his arms came around her from behind. "What…?"
"Shhh," he soothed and rubbed one of her shoulders.
The irritation Daitona had felt fled to be replaced by confusion. What was he doing and why was he doing it? "Sephiroth…" she tried again.
He didn't answer her only kissed the side of her lower jaw softly. He kissed a trail across her cheek until he got to her lips; he gently pressed his lip against hers in a fleeting touch, then again.
Sephiroth had successfully startled Daitona again with kissing her. The first time she had got him back by kissing him at the Wutain camp, but she had also saved herself from having to kiss the grimy officer.
After Sephiroth had thoroughly tasted her lips his lips moved up her cheek until he kissed her eyelid. Daitona remained still in his arms and he pulled back a bit and nuzzled at her ear, then kissed it tenderly.
Daitona stood perfectly still…again not sure of how she was suppose to react. How was it that Sephiroth could do that to her? He seemed like he knew exactly what he was doing when she knew nothing. No one had ever given her this kind of attention…at that, the only attention she had ever got that was friendly was from him.
His lips moved down her neck, always gently kissing till he got to the smooth skin where her neck and shoulder came together. He gently kissed the sensitive shin there.
"Sephiroth…" Daitona's voice was shaky and she hated the way her voice sounded so weak. "Stop…"
It didn't sound like she meant it and Sephiroth ignored her. She was silent again until he nipped her a little harder than he had meant to and she jumped in his arms. He pulled his head back quickly.
"Stop," Daitona repeated more firmly this time and turned around in his arms to face him.
Sephiroth couldn't help himself…he kissed her again. When he finally did release her he apologized. Daitona panted for breath as he spoke.
Sephiroth walked her over to her bed and made sure she got in before he went to his own. He laid on top of the covers for a long while, just thinking. He didn't know what had compelled him to hold Daitona like that, but it had felt right. After the first time he had kissed her he didn't think Daitona would give him the time of day to repeat the act, but she had proven him wrong.
SHE had kissed him just that morning; she had startled him as bad as he had her the first time. He had startled her again tonight, he knew, but she had kissed him back without hesitation. That had to mean something…didn't it?
He grinned to himself. He hadn't meant to bite her like that either…he got a little too carried away. He'd have to be more careful about the way he acted…he didn't want to put her in a position she was completely uncomfortable with. He knew it was ok sometimes, just so long as he didn't get carried away…he didn't want to loose this growing feeling that he couldn't quite put a finger on what it was. All he knew was the feeling became stronger ever time he was near Daitona like that.
No, he didn't want her to be mad at him because of something stupid. He was thankful to her because the voice he had heard in his head had long since become silent because of Daitona's presence. 'What would happen if something happened to her?'
Sephiroth frowned at the thought and decided to try and get some sleep, but his heart was still pounding and threatened to leap out of his chest. After a long while he managed to calm himself enough to go into a light sleep. He slept soundly the rest of the night.
****
-End Chapter 30-
A/N: Yes, sorry this chapter took longer but it was somewhat longer than the rest and I'm a little self-conscious and not very good at writing romance…also, I spent like the entire day over at Juzu's house giving and getting ideas for various stories. You all should check out her story 'Return to Love.' It's quit funny and so is 'Fun, Trouble, and an all out Blast in High School'. Just a suggestion, I have helped co write 'Return to Love,' and I think it'll turn out to be a pretty good story. Anyways, if anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears. Anything at all, just tell me. Until the next chapter!