The House of Strife

By GQ and Zhak

XoXoXoXoXoXoXoXo oXoXoXoXoXoXoXoX

Chapter Five: Half a Year Later…

"Finally you've arrived from Wutai. How's your family?" Tifa asked happily as she hugged her old friend, Yuffie. Yuffie embraced her tightly, "Whee!!! It's so nice to be back here in Midgar!" she said happily before letting her go. "Well we're alright but we still have no place to stay here. We sold our old house before we left Midgar to live in Wutai with my dad, remember?" she asked.

"Oh… yeah… but how come you left Wutai and decided to return here?" Tifa asked as she led the way to the 70th floor where Rufus's office is located. Zack and Kairi were tagging along.

"I wanted Kairi to finish her high school here in Midgar and then go to college in Junon. Besides, my father already said that he's willing to let us go." Yuffie explained.

"Oh that's good. That way you can be on your own, huh?" Tifa asked with a wink before turning to Zack. Zack just stared back at her with a sad look on his face. "I've heard the news," he said.

Yuffie's smile faded. "Oh… that…" she muttered.

Tifa just swallowed hard and nodded. "Cloud and Aerith… and the others… yes. It was a year and a half ago… but things seem to be peaceful now. But we really don't know what happened, still." She said softly.

"What about Sora?" Kairi chimed in with a sad look on her face.

The three adults were just quiet. Kairi bowed down her head. "He's dead, isn't he?" the 14 year-old girl asked.

"Well… we really don't know. He's still missing up to now." Tifa stated flatly.

"What do you mean? He's alive?" Zack asked.

"Possibly. When Cloud and Aerith died, he wasn't there at the house." Tifa explained. They were all quiet as they reached the 70th floor. Rufus was just standing by the window and gazing outside with a blank stare on his face. He turned around to look at who just entered. He smiled welcomingly at his wife, "Tifa," he said, then his facial expression stiffened again when he turned to look at Zack, Yuffie and Kairi. "Oh. You." He said stiffly.

"Hey, old buddy!" Zack greeted as he ran to Rufus and gave him a friendly hug. "Please don't hug me." Rufus muttered with a disgusted look on his face. Zack released him. "Oh. Sorry." And moved away.

"So… why have you come to me? Are you here to visit? Sorry, there isn't any tea." Rufus told them coldly. Tifa rolled her eyes. "Rufus, please be friendly. These are your friends too."

"Don't worry, I was just joking. Now, I understand you have a problem finding a house to stay in Midgar?"

Yuffie nodded. "Well, you know, just in case you can't find a place for us, we've already found this nice place in Kalm, and…"

"Nonsense." Rufus got a folder from one of his desk drawers and pulled out a sheet of paper with encoded addresses on it. "Here, a list of vacant spots in Sectors 1 and 2… the other sectors aren't suitable for a family."

Zack got the paper from him. "Gee… thanks, Rufus." He said. He scanned the piece of paper; most of them were either apartments or condominiums. Kairi looked over his shoulder. Her eyes fell on the last address on the list. "That's Sora's house," she stated.

Rufus and Tifa looked at each other briefly. Rufus snatched the paper back and blacked out the last address. "You don't want this one…"

"But Rufus! That's the only house in the list!" Zack said.

"But… uh…" Tifa began, but didn't exactly know how to continue.

"What? Is the house cursed or something?" Yuffie teased.

The ShinRas froze.

"Yuffie! Speak only good of the dead, remember?" Zack told her.

The room fell silent. Rufus cleared his throat. "Well… I just don't want any complaints…" he said. He didn't want to tell them that more than 10 people already died in that house.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXoXo oXoXoXoXoXoXoXoX

"Nope. This one's no good…" Yuffie crossed out the last address in the list.

Zack leaned his head against the steering wheel. "Great… I guess we're living in Kalm…" he said.

"But, Dad… it'll be hard for me to go to school…" Kairi said, still depressed.

"Well… I guess we better brainstorm on this one," said Yuffie as she leaned her back in the passenger's seat. They fell silent for a few moments, thinking about their options. "Well… I can't think of any other place in Midgar, other than the ShinRa Tower…" mumbled Zack.

"Hey! I know!" Yuffie snapped her fingers. "Zack, let's go to Cloud and Aerith's old house!"

He looked uneasily at her. "I don't know… Rufus and Tifa didn't want us to…" he reminded her.

"Well, they didn't exactly say why, did they? Rufus just told us that he doesn't want any complaints… whatever that means…" she replied, fastening her seatbelt. "So… come on. Even though they didn't want us to go there, I asked for the key to the house."

"But…"

"Come on, just a look. Doesn't necessarily mean we'll live there."

Zack sighed. He looked at Kairi through the mirror and saw that she wasn't exactly complaining. He turned the ignition key and they sped off towards the house in Sector 2.

"Yep! There it is…" Yuffie pointed at the house. The family got down from the car and looked up at it in awe. "Well… shall we come in?" she asked.

They walked towards the front door. Yuffie fumbled for the keys in her jacket, but Zack tried out the door knob and saw that it wasn't locked. "Well… that's weird. I wonder if somebody stole some stuff here," wondered Zack before he went in.

Yuffie looked over her shoulder and saw that Kairi was just staring at a window on the second floor. "Well, Kairi? Don't just stand there," she called out.

Kairi dropped her gaze and nodded. She trailed behind her parents.

They walked in and out of the rooms, first the living room, then the kitchen, then the guestrooms, then upstairs. Before they reached the attic, Zack stopped in his tracks.

"Geez, guys. I don't like this house. I mean… I just don't." He said, scratching his head.

Yuffie nodded. "That's good. This place gives me the heebie-jeebies… You guys still wanna look at the attic?"

"Nah, I'm good. Let's get back to the car…" The couple started to move towards the stairs when Kairi piped up, "No!"

They turned to her. "I want to live here. I want to stay here, Mom. Dad." She told them. She was turned towards the attic.

"Nope. Sorry, princess, but this isn't fit for the three of us. You know, Yuffie, one of the condominiums we visited in Sector 1 isn't so bad… maybe we could stay there," said Zack as he went downstairs.

"Well, all right. Let's look at it again. Come on, Kairi," said Yuffie as she took her daughter's hand and dragged her downstairs with her. Kairi gave a last look towards the attic and followed her mother towards the car.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXoXo oXoXoXoXoXoXoXoX

The school year started a few weeks later.

Kairi's high school is found in Sector 2. Every afternoon she waits to be picked up by her mother outside the school.

But one afternoon, Yuffie called her by PHS. "Kairi, I'm sorry, but I couldn't drive you home today. You know how to take the train to Sector 1, right?"

"Yeah, mom. Ok, I'll see you home," she said. She ended the call. "Great. I'll have to go home by myself."

She started walking towards the train station. But somewhere along the way, as she passed by streets and alleys, she froze.

Across the street was the old Strife house. She stared at it.

Across the street, Sora stared back at her.

Not being aware of her actions herself, she started walking across the street towards the house.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXoXo oXoXoXoXoXoXoXoX

She arrived home sometime in the evening. Zack was in the middle of cooking dinner when she entered the kitchen. "Kairi?! How come you arrived just now?!"

"I.... I'm sorry, Dad. I visited a friend's house, and… well, I lost track of time." Kairi replied meekly.

"Gee, you should have called me or your mom! I was worried sick! Good thing your mom isn't home yet; she'll throw a fit…" he said as he got back to frying some pork chops.

"I'm really sorry, Dad…"

"Well… okay, as long as you don't do it again." Zack patted her head. "I'll let you out easy today, but the next time, I'll have to ground you."

It was the last time that Kairi arrived home late, but it wasn't the last time she visited the house. She told her mother Yuffie not to pick her up at school anymore. She continued acting strangely. The cheerful girl that they once knew didn't recover from depression.

Zack would get suspicious sometimes; is it a boy? But he just shrugged it off. It's not like Kairi's grades were getting lower and lower. And she's not on the phone 24/7. So it must not be a big deal.

But one time, when it was Yuffie's birthday, he wanted to surprise her. He planned it all out; he'll ask Tifa to keep Yuffie busy until the evening while he and Kairi fix up the place after school. Then, when Yuffie comes home, there will be a small surprise party waiting for her.

But he forgot to tell Kairi that he was going to pick her up after school.

"Kairi? Kairi!" he waved at her from in front of the school amidst the students, the cars and the faculty streaming out of the school.

She didn't hear him. She kept on walking towards the station.

"Well… I guess I gotta follow her… Maybe I'll spy on her. Heheh…" Zack thought to himself as he tailed behind her inconspicuously in the car.

After walking through familiar sidewalks, Kairi stopped. Zack frantically stepped on the breaks and waited in the shadows of a tall building.

She walked across the street and into the Strife house's front yard.

"Hey! What's she doing there?" Zack asked out loud as he got out of the car. He locked it up first and jogged towards the front of the house. Kairi had already entered the house when he arrived.

"Geez… is there a club or something in this house?" Zack thought to himself as he tried the knob. It was open. He looked around the house and saw no one. "Kairi? Where are you?" he wandered in the first floor, looking in the rooms before trying the stairs. "Hey, princess? Where are you?" he called out as he walked the stairs step by step.

He reached one of the rooms. He saw a light glowing from the cracks of the doors. "Kairi?" he opened the door.

He gaped at what he saw. Kairi was there, sitting on the floor, her back turned to Zack… talking to Sora.

"What the… Sora?" he said in total confusion. Kairi and Sora turned to him sharply. "Dad?!" Kairi said in surprise.

Sora just rushed upstairs, leaving Kairi and Zack. "Sora, wait!" Kairi called out as she went after him.

"Kairi!" Zack called out as he rushed further inside the house to the stairs to go after his daughter, but as he got a hold of the banister, he heard a loud croaking noise coming from somewhere in the house. "What the…" he stopped in his tracks and looked behind him just when the door shut by itself. He gasped in surprise. Then he jerked and shuddered when he felt a cold hand grasp his wrist. He turned to look at who was holding him… and his eyes widened when he saw Cloud Strife looking like a deranged psychotic killer but he was so pale and bloody. Zack screamed.

XoXoXoXoXoXoXoXo oXoXoXoXoXoXoXoX

Kairi stopped in her tracks when she heard her father scream. "Daddy?" she said hoarsely before turning back to the stairs and decided to go down. When she got down, no one was there anymore. She began to search around the house. "Daddy!!!" she shouted, getting worried about him. Still, she couldn't find him. When she reached the first floor again and passed by a mirror hanging on the wall, she thought she saw the reflection of a woman with long brown hair standing before it. She stopped in her tracks, her eyes widening. "Auntie Aerith?" she thought before turning back. No one was there. Then she heard the horrible croaking sound that made her shiver. "Daddy?" she called out in fear as she took a few steps backward and then finally ran to the door, rushed out of the house and ran into the streets of Sector 2. She kept on running and running until she finally reached their condo unit in Sector 1 near the ShinRa Tower where the President and his family lives.

"Mommy!!!" she cried out in fear and hysteria as she reached their suite and went to her mother who was standing by the window. "Kairi?" Yuffie said in awe upon seeing her daughter crying and looking so messed up. She took her daughter in her arms, embracing her tight. "Kairi, what's going on?" she asked.

Kairi kept on crying, "Mommy! It's daddy!!! I can't find him! He's lost!!!" she said helplessly. "What? But… where did you come from? How come you're…" Yuffie trailed off when Kairi spoke up again, "I went to the Strife's house to play with Sora but…" she suddenly stopped talking and then lost consciousness, collapsing in her mother's arms. "Kairi!" Yuffie exclaimed, feeling more worried…

Onward to the 6th chapter, please!!! XD