I Will Always Stay the Same
Chapter Three
"They killed Shun Lee…"
The little girl stood at the entrance of her father's room. He was seated on the floor, one leg on top of the other, meditating. He always meditates before making a decision. The girl remembered her father's words…
One must have a clear mind before making decisions. You will understand more when your time comes.
She never understood why he was so unemotional when it came to deaths. Many of their ninjas and soldiers died in the war, some of them close and some of them not. Shun Lee was her brother, the son of the Great Godo, the ruler of Wutai. Yet, when the girl told her father the news, he did not budge…
"Father…" She started to say, but was interrupted by a gentle hand on her shoulder. She turned around and looked up at her mother's swollen eyes. The wife of the Great Godo was a beautiful woman; she was picked out from many other beautiful women to be the wife of the ruler of Wutai. Her beauty did not show at that moment, she was mourning the death of her first born and only son, Shun Lee.
"Do not bother your father, Yuffie, the death of your brother cut him deep. Please, just let him be…"
Yuffie nodded her head and looked down again at her feet. She waited until her father opened his eyes and stood up. Godo turned to the statue of the great god of war, Guan-di. The young girl sighed; ever since the war started her father always locked himself in his room and prayed to the god of war. Finally, the man turned to face his wife and daughter, and to their surprise, they saw tears. Hastily, his wife ran to his side and embraced him tightly and so did his daughter.
"I want to see the messenger." Said Godo, pulling away from the embrace. Yuffie nodded her head and ran out of the mansion to get the messenger who brought the news of her brother's death.
Yuffie ran outside and scanned the streets for the messenger. Where IS Lui? She spotted his mother walking slowly to her house and ran over to her. "Mrs. Lui! Mrs. Lui wait!"
The young woman stopped and turned around as young Yuffie Kisaragi, daughter of the great Godo came running to her side. "Miss Yuffie? What are you doing out here? There might be evil lurking any where! Go back inside!"
Yuffie's lips closed together forming a pout. This how everyone treated her. Always frightened something bad might happen to her. "It is all right Mrs. Lui, my father sent me looking for your son."
"Oh Lui?" The young woman said as her brows rose in slight confusion. She was young, still in her 20s, she was married when was only 12 and had her son not very far after. She had a very unique beauty and her eyes shone whenever she was confused. Yuffie always made fun of her because of that, but now she was too depressed to speak of jokes. "He's back home. The death of your brother injured him deeply. You know that they were great friends."
Were…always were…that's what I hated most about Wutai, its people always said were. Don't they know that real love and great friendships never die! They stay forever in your heart and never leave! Even though my brother is gone, he still lives inside me. Every time I look at my father I see him…and every time I look at him…I hate my father even more for letting him go alone…
She stood in front of the Lui residence, a small house built only for two: Mrs. Lui, and her only son, Lui Pan. They called him Lui ever since he learned to speak, mainly because he never liked his original name, Pan. Yuffie reached out for the door, hesitated for a moment and then knocked. A muffled voice came from inside instructing her to come inside. Taking a deep breath, Yuffie opened the door and went inside. She made her way to the kitchen where she found Lui seated on the floor, his head resting on his kneecaps, crying...
"Lui?" She said in a small voice.
He looked up; his once clear eyes looked swollen and bloodshot. It amazed her how it changed so fast. He looked normal earlier when he told her the news of her brother's death. Now he did not look like the handsome Lui she knew. Lui never cried, not in public that is. He didn't cry at his father's funeral, but Mrs. Lui told her that he cried for long hours back at their house. Just seeing his pale face and swollen eyes made her eyes water and her whole body shake with anxiety. Reality hit her. Shun Lee was really gone. Her eldest brother…her one true friend…gone…never to be seen again. She felt her legs give away and she fell on the floor, Lui went to her side and touched her shoulders. Yuffie through her arms around his neck and buried her face in his chest, letting her tears burst and her sobs followed not very far after. Lui embraced his friend's younger sister and cried himself. They were like that for what seemed like hours. The first to break the embrace was Yuffie. She sniffled and rubbed her teary eyes with the back of her hand.
"My father wishes to see you." She said between sobs. Lui nodded and got up. He rubbed his eyes with the back his hands and walked to door. He turned to the little girl motioning for her to follow. Yuffie got up and followed. She wondered what her father wanted to know…
Shun Lee was a lot older than me. He was 15 when he died, in Wutai, once a boy or girl reaches the age of 5; he or she is trained in the arts of martial arts. At the age 15, they are given the title of a ninja and are sent onto a mission to see if they are worthy of being stealth assassin or not. Unfortunately, my brother was not worthy of such title…that was why he died. I still cannot forget that day…
"Tell me Lui…" Godo stood in front of the statue of Guan-di, God of war, his back to the messenger and his family. "How did he die?"
Lui averted his eyes to the ground, "He was caught kneeling beside a woman in Mt. Nibel, your majesty. The woman was already killed by the Mako driven monsters and Shun Lee was checking for her pulse. I warned him not to go near her, but he would not listen. Seconds later, light shone from the other side of the mountain and we heard sounds and shouting. I called out for Shun Lee to run, but he was mesmerized, frozen in his state. I pleaded for him to run, but he would not listen. When I saw that the men's voices came nearer, I practically begged your son to run, but still, he stood staring into space and murmured something…I think it was, 'It is my time, Lui Pan, though it is not yours yet. Run…run while you still can. I can see the end coming…'" He stopped for a few moments to collect his thoughts, and then continued after taking a deep breath, "He would not budge. I had to run after that. I had no other choice. It was one of the rules of the ninja: you should never let your enemy know your identity. A few weeks later, I got undercover and went to the town to learn of any news on Shun Lee. I was surprised to see the whole town crowded around something, I went and asked about it and they said…" He closed his eyes, "They said that they were executing a Wutai ninja…I knew then for sure that Shun Lee was that ninja they were talking about. I watched them as they hanged him in front of the will. He was innocent…but they still killed him! Those SHINRA bastards! They only look for death!"
Godo did not budge; he stood in front of the God of War still as a rock. Yuffie feared him in that state. She wished he would yell or scream or hit something, but he was still… Finally, he spoke…
"He deserved what he got. He broke the law of the ninjas and he deserves to die. If he believes so much in the God of Underworld, then he got what he deserved. He is now part of that world. Now, please leave me as I meditate." He sat on the floor, still facing the Guan-di, and meditated.
Yuffie, her mother and Lui stood puzzled, shocked and most importantly, frightened…frightened of the Great Godo, ruler of the Wutai. The war certainly had changed him.
Lui was the first to move; he turned around to leave and looked at Yuffie's frightened face. He leaned down to whisper in her ear, "Meet me by the dojo after midnight. I need to tell you something." And he left.
There is one thing about Lui that I despise. It was his way of always ordering people to see him instead of asking them to do it, but there was one thing that I adored about him…it was his way of handling his anger. He never yelled or hit anything. He was very calm and collected…ever since he was young.
"Lui…?" Yuffie questioned the night sky.
She stood by the dojo looking at the stars above, wondering where her brother's childhood friend was. She scanned the area surrounding the dojo hoping to see the familiar friendly face, but to no avail. Lui was no where to be seen.
Sighing and giving up, Yuffie turned around to leave, but just as she did so, she heard faint movement from behind her, the sound of feet hitting the ground. Only a skilled ninja or student could catch that sound. Slowly, she reached for her katena and turned around. She was shocked as she pointed the sharp object in the direction of the new comer to see that the new comer was indeed Lui. He stood, smirking. His smirk wasn't playful. It scared the little girl and sent shivers down her spine. "Lui…? What are you doing? I thought you wanted to tell me something."
His smirk never left his lips. He closed eyes and ran a hand through his long black hair that was held loose on his shoulders. "I'm leaving…tonight, For Nibelheim."
Nibelheim? Wait…wasn't that..? "Nibelheim? Why? Why do you want to go to that town? Are you asking for a death wish!?" She didn't mean for her voice to rise, she didn't mean for her voice to quiver either. She felt tears sting her eyes and was shocked as a few drops made their way to her cheeks. She made no efforts to rub them off.
Lui's smirk left his face and it was replaced with a worried pout. He took a few steps foreword towards Yuffie, but she only took a step backwards. He sighed and hung his head, "I'm sorry Yuffie, but I'm going. I need to avenge the death of my best friend. If his father, the Great Godo won't do anything, then I will."
A wave of silence made its way through the night's sky. Both Lui and Yuffie stood in silence staring at each other. Finally, Yuffie spoke…
"What if you die?"
It took Lui by surprise. When he made the decision of going back to the town of Nibel, he never considered the possibilities. Certainly, he never considered that he might die. He took a deep breath and said in his most certain voice, "I won't die."
"But what if you do? What if you do die? Then what will I do? How will I tell your mother? How will I continue to live? I already lost one brother, Lui, I don't want to lose another." Tears roamed freely now on her cheeks and were even hitting the ground.
Lui took her in his arms. He never knew that Yuffie felt that way towards him. In all his life, he wished for a sibling, never did he realize that his relationship with his best friend and his sister was almost like the relationship between siblings. He felt his own eyes sting as tears fell and landed on cheeks. "I will come back, Yuffie, I promise." After that, he let go and walked away into the darkness leaving the young girl crying her eyes out.
END!
Author's Note:
That took a long time to write. I'm so hungry…didn't have breakfast or lunch xX I so totally suck. I think I'll go eat while you read this. I hope you enjoy and review. Reviewing is good. I love reviews. You get a Yuffie and Cloud plushie!