a/n: Thanks to Ninja Girl Emi for sending the idea about the couches and all…everyone'll understand when they get there…I'll probably credit you in the next chapter too, so, yeah…thanks again =)  Still accepting band stories and taking a poll…should there be a sequel to this or no?  (No matter what you vote, I'm going to write one for my own fun anyway.  Hehe.)  Hope you enjoy the chapter! =)  ~Xifa

Chapter VI: The Plan

            Tifa, Shera, Aerith, and Yuffie sat in Tifa and Aerith's room, which was actually conjoined to Shera and Yuffie's, which was turning out to be very convenient.

"I need your help," Tifa told them seriously.

"Anything," Aerith smiled.

"As long as you help me with the revolt," Yuffie grinned, naturally unable to help anyone without getting something good out of it herself.

"What can we do for you, Tifa?" Shera questioned.

"Elena—"Tifa started, and then paused.

            Just at the mention of Elena's name, Yuffie gagged, Shera made a face, and Aerith's once bright smile lost some of its luster.

"Gee, what's she done this time?" Shera rolled her eyes.

            So Tifa explained that evening's conversation to the group, who all frowned.

"No problem, Tifa," Shera nodded.  "So whatcha want us to do?"

"I was hoping you'd have an idea," Tifa admitted sheepishly, blushing.

"I do!" Yuffie grinned.  This didn't really surprise anyone.  Know those couches out in the hallway?"

"Yeah…" Shera smiled, already catching on.

"I'm thinking couches + doors = no Elena for us to deal with…" Yuffie rubbed her hands together, smiling deviously. 

"I'm game," Shera said quickly.

"So am I," Tifa grinned.  "Thanks, guys…"

"Well, I wouldn't miss out on a bit of evil action for the entire world," Yuffie snickered.

"I dunno, guys…" Aerith stood up.  "I'll think about it, okay? It's just, I don't even know her, you know?"  Granted, what Elena had done to Tifa was mean, but still…there are just people like that out in the world, and Aerith had no reason to go and get revenge on Elena, really, if you thought about it.  "I'm gonna go talk to Sephiroth or Cid…"

"Okay, talk to you later!" Shera waved as Aerith walked out.

            Aerith sighed and trudged up the stairs to the third floor, where Sephiroth, Cid, and some of the other band campers had their rooms.  However, Sephiroth, nor Cid, nor even Barret were out in the open area, and Aerith had no idea what their room numbers were.  She also didn't have the desire or the will right now to ask around until she found out, not feeling like dealing with idiots like Hojo at the current time.  She glanced around one more time though, and wondered how she'd missed one table by the window, isolated from all the others.  Actually, she wasn't wondering how she'd missed the table…she was really wondering how she'd missed who was sitting at the table.  Cloud was sitting there playing solitaire, but glanced up as soon as he felt her eyes on him.  He waved at her, and she walked over to him.

"Winning?" she asked politely as means of starting a conversation.

"Nah, not really," he said pulling a chair out for her.  She smiled and sat down.  "Whatcha up here for?" he inquired.

"I just needed to get away from Yuffie and all forms of all her evil plans…" she admitted rather sheepishly, blushing, and feeling slightly guilty…she should try and have more patience with Yuffie…

"Nothin' to get about," Cloud shrugged good-naturedly.  "We all have our limits."

            Cloud shuffled the cards, and then set them aside.  A stack of papers with the scales written all over them in Cid's messy handwriting littered the table.

"He was trying to memorize them so Commander Leonhart wouldn't make him run all those laps," Cloud explained. 

            Aerith reached over and picked up one of the small pieces of square paper, folding it into a flower.  She glanced up, and Cloud had just finished folding one into a pinwheel-shruiken type thing.

"We learned how to do this in my Japanese class," he nodded.  "It's all I can do, though."

"I can show you how to make my flowers, if you'd like," Aerith offered.

            So they spend the next two hours talking about everything and exchanging different ways of making origami shruikens and flowers.  By the time it was over, Cid's scales had been folded into tiny flowers and pinwheels of all sizes and Aerith had to get back to the second floor before she got in trouble.

"Thanks for everything," Aerith grinned, holding a few flowers and pinwheels.  Cloud was holding an entire armful.

"Talk to you tomorrow," Cloud smiled as Aerith walked downstairs.

"Wow, Aerith, what an interesting person you are," Elena walked up.  "What a great way to win a man's heart!  Just go up to 'em and say `Hey, let's make flowers`!"

            Aerith said nothing, but just nodded; hoping Elena would get bored with her and leave.

"Can I see a flower?" Elena asked.

            Aerith handed her one that she had made, and Elena dropped it on the ground and stepped on it, smashing what was once a beautiful flower into a mere wad of worthless, dirty paper.  She giggled and walked off.  Aerith returned silently to the room.

"Hey, guys?" She asked as Shera, Yuffie, and Tifa looked up from an intense game of spoons.

"Yeah?" they asked, almost in an eerie perfect unison.

"The plan?  Count me in."

                                                            ~//~

A/n: Again, thanx to Ninja Girl Emi for the idea, Sefie Lynne for loving this story so much =)  and anyone else who ever read this at one time or another…I'm gonna hurry up and finish this while I still have time, hehe…hope you all are enjoying it!

Oh yeah, and for those who don't know, spoons is a card game…I don't feel like explaining it, just IM and ask sometime or something .  Hope you all liked the chapter and keep reading!  Love and peace, ~Xifa~