Chapter 31
Goodbyes
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: Hey all…do me a favor? If you have time could you go R/R Inazumayu's story 'An Angel's Wish.' I've read it and I thought it was pretty good, and no one else had reviewed it. I'm just asking, thanks.
Anywho, has anyone else found the word count on FF. Net wrong? That last chapter had 4200 some odd words when I had it on Microsoft Word. When I put it on FF. Net I forgot to save it as a web page and it had 4100 some words…and was one big paragraph…*sighs* Then I corrected my mistake and the number of words went down by a lot. Now it says there are only 3700 some odd words. What's up with that?
Goodbyes:
Sephiroth woke how he usually did when the dawn's sun began to rise. The room was barley lit by the few stray beams of light; it took Sephiroth a little bit to remember where he was. At first it brought a worried look to his face then he smiled at the memory of Daitona in his arms.
With out any need to rush, he slowly sat up in the comfortable bed and stretched his arms over his head and arched his back. That done he slid his legs out from under the sheets and put his feet on the cold floor.
He yawned and wondered if he should just lie back down. Shacking his head he decided that that wasn't a good idea. He didn't want to have to take another cold shower so he'd take his before Daitona got up.
"Oh great," he grumbled and looked around the room for his normal cloths. The Wutain uniform was itchy and uncomfortable for him; he could hardly wait to get it off but… "Where are my dang cloths…and…Daitona?…"
Sephiroth frowned and crept silently out of his bed and soundlessly mad his way to the side of Daitona's bed.
"She…she's not here…" He sniffed at the thought of another cold shower, and then looked towards the bathroom.
The light was off and the door was open the way he had left it the night before. In the back of his mind a thought played out that was totally ridicules.
Daitona was watching him, watching and waiting…for what? To be mean of course. He walked through the room looking for her, totally oblivious to her hiding place since the room was still cast in darkness. He walked right past her; time to strike! Her arm snacked out and she grabbed his foot and yanked. He wind milled then fell flat on his face after not being able to regain his balance…
Sephiroth shook his head. 'What a stupid thought. Daitona's not that childish…or is she? She wouldn't do something like that…would she?' Just to be sure, Sephiroth stooped down and checked under each bed.
His frown grew when he found her swords still under the bed where she had decided to put them for some reason. He stood back up and shook his head in confusion. "Where could she have gone at this time of morning?"
"Where could have who gone?" Daitona slipped through the door and closed it when she was through.
"…you…where were you?"
"I forgot last night to get my normal cloths cleaned so when I got up I went and did that…I got yours cleaned too. Hope you don't mind."
"No, not at all…umm, thank you." Sephiroth shook his head in disbelief. 'Maybe I'm still asleep and dreaming?'
'Really,' Daitona's mind invaded his.
"Well!" he said in exasperation, throwing his hands in the air.
"Well, what?" Daitona crossed her arms.
"Well…you never get up this early! What's up with that?"
Daitona raised her chin in her own defense. "What? I can't be nice sometimes?"
"OH! No, no, no, no! Nothing like that," Sephiroth stated guiltily, waving his hand frantically to say he meant no harm. "It's just you never get up this early…"
"Uh-huh…riiiight. I took a fairly long nap yesterday, remember?" Her expression turned dull.
"I remember, but still…" Daitona held his clean cloths out to him. Sephiroth took them then quickly, "Thanks, I really appreciate it."
"Were you going to take a shower before me this morning?" Daitona wore a cool smile across her face.
"That was the plan…" Sephiroth grumbled bowing his head.
Daitona smiled all the more. "Well, it's all yours." Sephiroth looked back up with hopeful eyes. "I already took mine."
Sephiroth's expression dropped in an instant. "AW! You're MEAN!"
"I, washed YOUR clothes," Daitona justified.
"But…"
"But…what?"
"Never mind…thanks for washing my clothes…I'll go take my cold shower now." Sephiroth trudged past her sulking, into the bathroom.
**** -After breakfast-
"Jeo…I mean Daitona," Mifune corrected himself. "I heard you had a little problem with one of my soldiers last night…"
"Yeah, I did…" Daitona hesitated, "but I took care of it."
"You killed him." Mifune narrowed his eyes at her. "Is that how you take care of ALL of your problems?"
"No…" Daitona kicked at the dirt that was in the stables they were walking through. "But that guy really ticked me off…did you know one of them put alcohol in my drink?"
Mifune frowned and released the latch on one of the stall doors. "No, I didn't. There's not suppose to be any alcoholic beverages in my base…" He reached up and patted the golden bird on the head.
"You're being awful quit Tseng," Sephiroth snickered to the younger boy.
Tseng gritted his teeth when Daitona's hateful gaze fell on him. "I just have nothing to say."
"Right," Daitona retorted venomously.
"You two can ride this chocobo," Mifune interrupted. When Daitona looked back to him he handed her the birds lead.
She looked at the rope in her hands and the gold animal that stood proudly before her. Sephiroth came up beside her and took the lead.
"I'll take care of THIS one," he assured.
"Sure," Daitona raised her eyebrows and stepped back. "Just like you took care of the last one…"
"I heard that," he grumbled and led the chocobo out of the stall.
It warked happily and pranced excitably from foot to foot; Sephiroth patted it's head and it calmed itself. Sephiroth leaped gracefully onto it's back then held his hand out for Daitona.
She stepped up closer and he grabbed her around the waist and pulled her up behind him easily.
"You better be happy you're light, otherwise we'd have a problem getting you up here," Sephiroth teased.
"I never said you had to pick me up like that. I can jump too, you know."
Sephiroth laughed. A minute or so later Mifune and Tseng came back riding their own chocobo's.
"Lets get on our way," Mifune said and lead the way out of the stables, through the base, out the walls, and back to where Daitona's and Sephiroth's troops were the day before…
**** -The camp sight the Wutain army was at-
Sephiroth dismounted first then helped Daitona down. Mifune walked up to them with Tseng close behind. Sephiroth offered the gold chocobo's reigns to him. Mifune took them then looked Daitona in the eyes.
"I glad I got to meat you, at least once even though we are enemies," he said wistfully. "I'm sure mom and dad would have loved to meat you also, but not in these times. I sincerely hope we'll have the opportunity to meat again after all this senseless fighting. Keep safe, you hear?"
Daitona gave him a soft smile. "You too…and…thank you. Because of you I know now I do still have family left. Stay alive and we're sure to meat again."
Mifune nodded then jumped aboard the chocobo he had rode. He tied the gold chocobo's lead to the pack behind him along with the chocobo Tseng had ridden. "Oh, before I forget." Mifune reached into the pack and pulled out a small bad. "Daitona, this is a gift for you."
He leaned over and dropped the leather bag in her hands.
"What is this?" she asked looking up at him.
"I was looking at those swords of yours. The jewels in it aren't real…I think those will be better suited. Those jewels have been specially crafted. Their cut materia…various kinds, very hard to use because they are not like ordinary materia." He smiled at her. 'She has the same look as my sister, but she's a totally different person.' "I'm sure you'll be able to use them just fine after some practice."
"Thanks…Uncle Mifune. If we happen to never meet again…I'll never forget you."
He nodded then slowly turned the chocobo's and rode back the way they had came.
They were silent till Mifune was completely out of sight.
"What a nice guy," Tseng commented, Sephiroth and Daitona both turned to stare at him. "What? Did I say something wrong?"
Daitona narrowed her eyes. "Why are you still here?"
"What do you mean?" Tseng asked in confusion.
"What I mean is…why did you come back with us? You're Wutain, you had the chance to stay with Mifune's army. We wouldn't have stopped you," Daitona answered.
"Why would I do that? I'm just starting to enjoy the both of yours company. I think I'll stick around a while longer."
"Oh…great." Daitona stated sarcastically.
"Anyway, Daitona don't you think we should try and find Otto and the others?" Sephiroth suggested.
"Lead the way oh fearless leader." Daitona was not happy with Tseng's bad decision of tagging along with them. 'What's going to happen when we encounter another friendly army and we have this Wutain brat with us?'
Sephiroth flashed her a look as he lead the way into the woods where the troops were suppose to meet after the battle. 'You have a point there…maybe you should just take him on as a cadet and get it over with. I think he had proven his loyalties, and we'll still keep an eye on him of course.'
'You want me to train HIM?' Daitona's gaze sharpened on what lay ahead as she walked slightly behind Sephiroth.
'Well, I don't think he going away any time soon, so why not? It might actually turn out for the best. He's Wutain and he knows stuff we don't.'
'Fine, but YOUR training him; I'll take care of him being a cadet part. Agreed?'
'Agreed.' Sephiroth slowed his pace a bit so that Daitona came up beside him and they shook on it to close the deal.
It didn't take them long to get to the clearing where they were to meet, but when they got there no one was there. There wasn't even a hint they had been there at all, only a note that had been stuck to a tree.
Sephiroth retrieved it; it was addressed to: 'Any Shinra soldier left behind.'
"Open it," Daitona commanded.
Sephiroth obeyed and opened the envelope and read the letter that was within it's folds to himself.
To any soldier of the Shinra army that was left behind:
You are to wait where you are for two days for any other who may have been left behind. Then you are to head south towards Fort Natic, be there by the last week of this month, that is when we attack. If you are luck you'll catch up with us.
To Sephiroth and/or Daitona:
I am sincerely sorry for having to leave you two like that. With those explosions so near you two I though you may have not escaped with your lives. Surprisingly enough, not many were killed in that last battle. There are 84 cadets left and 100 or more Soldiers.
We are in bad shape though…many of the soldiers were caught up in those explosions and injured. The going will be slow and I'm going to detour us around Fort Natic if we are not in better shape soon. We are not on orders to take or even fight the fortress. We will meet at the next Shinra base, but…if you're alive and reading this…I ask of you two to go to Natic and attack it with all you've got. I have faith in your abilities and I know you two were responsible for those blasts that nearly wiped out 2000 Wutain soldiers. May the gods be with you two and keep safe.
Lieutenant General Otto-
Daitona sighed. "You and I," she said staring Sephiroth right in the eyes. "We will take Natic on our own. No fear of hurting our own…no restraint…we'll do it for our friends who were killed…and we'll do it to send a message to the rest of the Wutain's. You and I, we are a team and we will not fall by the likes of them no matter what the odds."
Sephiroth was surprised, but nodded. "We'll do it to prove we can. None of the Shinra armies have had nerve enough to attack Natic…we'll do it alone…and we'll win."
"You got that right, lets go." Sephiroth nodded and the two Shinra Officers walked side by side to the south.
Tseng stood still wondering what he had just witnessed. 'Is it just me or did those two just go completely nut? What did that note say? He didn't read it out loud…'
He finally noticed the two departing officers. "H…h-hey! Wait up guys! I'm coming too!"
****
-End Chapter 31-
A/N: Hey! I finished this chapter quickly because…ok don't be mad…I'm going on vacation…really, I am. Not to my friends house or anything so there will be no chance of me getting to a computer. I'm leaving Friday to go to Orlando, Florida. We'll leave there the 7th of August and I'm guessing will be back in Missouri by the 8th…I think. When I get back I'll try and update as quickly as I can. I should be able to get one more chapter up after this one…hopefully. Lets just hope I'm motivated enough.
Well, I just thought I'd give you all a heads up so you wouldn't be mad at me for neglecting this story again. Well, I better start on the next chapter…see ya!