Chapter 8:

Four…

I had walked through the forest for several hours when I finally collapsed. I sobbed heavily before standing and wiping my eyes. If Sephiroth didn't care for me enough to risk missing the portal to find me and say good-bye, I wasn't going to cry about it anymore. After collecting myself, I began walking in search of Cloud.

"Where the hell are you?" I muttered to myself. I saw no sign of him until what I suppose was late morning, maybe even noon. I saw him crouched by a stream, washing his face. A plan slowly formed in my head, and I approached cautiously. He turned swiftly when he heard me step on a twig.

"What do you want?" he snapped.

"Relax, it's me, Takako," I told him, trying to make my voice sound more like her. I prayed silently that he knew nothing of her death.

"Oh, right. That's what I hate about you two being twins," he groaned. He turned back to the stream. "Report."

"I was unable to subdue Sephiroth. I approached camp a few nights ago to find Michiko seducing him. She had gone missing earlier that day, so it was no trouble pretending that they had found me instead of her. I managed to get Sephiroth angry and forget about Michiko. He attacked me, but I got him on his back and kissed him. I guess my sister and I kiss alike, because he returned it and actually believed that I was his wife. The other girl stuck her sword through Michiko. They burned the body, and Sephiroth, still believing I was Michiko, made love to me later that night."

"And you didn't take the opportunity to stick an arrow through his neck?" Cloud demanded as he began to undress.

"What are you doing?" I asked in slight disgust.

"I'm filthy, so I'm going to go bathe. Now answer the question."

"This is the kind of thing that takes time," I explained as I turned away. I heard a splash as he dove into the river. I turned back around. "My plan was to kill the other two first, in order to eliminate witnesses and anyone that might avenge him, but Sephiroth always held me close at night and insisted that we go to bed at the same time. He has very strong arms. I could hardly even roll over. Anyway, when Vincent joined us, he figured out who I was. He held me at gunpoint last night after the others went to bed and demanded that I leave. Sephiroth started to follow me, but I lost him."

"Why the hell would Vincent want to keep Sephiroth safe?" Cloud pondered as he waded.

"It seems that Vincent thinks you are a jerk, but he cares about Sephiroth, almost as a son or close friend, at least. He said last night the he only joined you so he could have revenge on SHINRA and Hojo," I said. Please, forgive me, Vincent, I thought to myself. "I did find out that they're heading for Kauko, and the portal there closes in four days, including today. If you make it through before them, they will be stuck here. You will have no more worries about Sephiroth or that traitorous Vincent."

"Good. Do you know the way to Kauko?"

"Yes," I nodded. He began to climb out of the river.

"Then that's where we're going."

"Okay," I replied as he started to dress.

We ate a light lunch before heading north. Cloud and I chatted a little, and I learned why Vincent thought he was a jerk. All Cloud wanted to talk about was himself. And believe me, he is not the most interesting person in the world. We sighted Sephiroth and my original group once. I longed to run to him and wrap my arms around his waist, but I knew it would give away my cover. I would be dead before Sephiroth even saw me. Cloud and I decided to move to Kauko parallel to them, but about one mile between our groups. I kept slightly behind Cloud after we saw my friends. I secretly hoped that Vincent or Anima had seen me (Sephiroth and Luben were facing away from us the whole time) and followed us, waiting to snatch me away. I also hoped that Cloud would stop to sleep, but he kept going through the night. I had intended on waiting until he was asleep and at least maiming him, if not kill, but that was not going to happen. We stopped only to eat dinner.

"Why exactly did Vincent stop you from going to bed last night?" Cloud asked suddenly. I stopped chewing my food, stared into the fire, and formed an excuse: the truth.

"Sephiroth refused to talk with Vincent, so he went to bed right after eating. The rest of us stayed up and talked. That's when I found out Vincent's feelings towards you. He went to bed right before Michiko's friends and I did. Sephiroth was still awake. That put a dent in my plan to begin with. I had planned on stabbing him in his sleep and then going after the others. Sephiroth left the tent to talk to Vincent."

"I thought you said he didn't want to speak with old Vince."

"Not around us, anyway. I'm sorry to tell you this, but you'll have to kill Vincent, too. Sephiroth doesn't think he'll win the next fight with you. If he loses, Vincent will be coming back here to take his place. Anyway, they saw me listening and called me out. Sephiroth explained the situation to me and went to bed. Vincent held me back and told me to leave. He's probably told Sephiroth who I really am by now."

"I see. Well, with luck, I'll be able to get rid of them before I go through. Neither of us will worry about them again."

"Good," I said. I tried to hide my sadness, but it didn't work.

"Are you okay?" Cloud asked me.

"Perfectly fine," I smiled. Cloud came over to me and took my hand.

"You know, since they killed Tifa, I don't have anyone. I remember you telling me when we met that you don't have anyone, either."

"Yes, that's right."

"You know what we could do," Cloud whispered. I grimaced slightly as he brought his face to mine. I somehow knew he was about to kiss me. "I could…"

"What?"

"Send you to the Lifestream where you won't be lonely anymore."

"What?"

"You've been careless today. You're not Takako. You're Michiko. You've spilled too much. I have no use for you anymore," Cloud snarled. He drew his blade and made to slash at me. I dodged.

"You're right. I am Michiko. Vincent did stop me from going to bed last night, but you know why? He wants you dead! He wants me to get you weak enough that Sephiroth can beat the shit out of you and finally send you to the Lifestream! AH!" I screamed as the blade came down on my arm. I managed to move enough that it wasn't amputated, but it still caught and started bleeding. I drew an arrow and tackled Cloud.

"Get off me!" he yelled in surprise. The sword was thrown from his hand and landed two yards away. He scratched at my face with his clawed hand.

"Ah! No! Eck! Stop! Bastard!" I yelled. He continued slashing until my face was so bloody, I could hardly see for the blood dripping down my face and into my eyes. Arrow in hand, I managed to find his hand and stab it with the arrow.

"ARGH!" he screamed in pain. The weapon went cleanly through the palm of his right hand. I could see the arrowhead covered in blood and glinting in the firelight. "YOU BITCH!"

"That's for me. This is for Sephiroth," I growled. I grabbed another arrow and stuck it through his chest. I meant to hit his heart, but he jerked and I hit the middle of his breastplate instead.

"I'll kill you! I swear to god, I'm going to kill Sephiroth and Vincent, and then I'm going to come after you!" he screeched.

He grabbed my leg hard with his claw and drew even more blood than was on my face. Tears mixing with blood, I grabbed yet another arrow. Cloud was getting smarter, though. He grabbed my hand and broke the head off. Fortunately, he had knocked the shaft away. Arrowhead in my hand, I tore his face open multiple times as he had done to me. I nearly puked when I realized that I had just cut open his eye. He would have a scar similar to the ones Red XIII and Auron had on their eyes. As he lay writhing and screaming in agony, I stood up and tried to walk. The cuts on my leg were deep and hurt like hell. Trying to ignore the pain, I picked up my bow and half ran, half limped towards Kauko. The entire time, I could hear Cloud screaming behind me.

"You bitch! When I'm through with Sephiroth and Vincent, you're next! Sephiroth's going to get it worse now! He can thank you for that! You're lucky I let go of the sword when I did! When I'm through with you three, you'll be lucky to have blood left in your veins at all! A rocket scientist won't be able to put your body back together!"

He eventually shut up. I wouldn't find out until later whether it was because he was dead or just tired of yelling.

NINJAMAGEGAMAJNININJAMAGEGAMAJNININJAMAGEGAMAJNININJAMAGEGAMAJNIN

Me: Wow, over a month without an update! I got back three weeks ago, too. Sorry people!Sephiroth: ((cough)) Lazy! ((cough))

Me: I am not lazy! I'm just… ((thinks)) ENERGETICALLY CHALLENGED!

Squall: Well, that's true. You've been getting up at noon every day for the past two weeks. You've had writer's block, too. Talk about a short chapter.

Me: ((rolls eyes)) Gee, thanks, Leon.

Squall: ((skulks off))

Me: ((smiling)) Okay, on to review thingamajiggers!

Soul Vagabond: I finally updated! Yay! Auron came from his closet. Yes, you did! We found it! I told you it was funny! Always remember: Chocolate is the ultimate Sin! HeHe. Seymour's giving me a dirty look… Anyway, what's with the jig? You won't even dance at the school dances. Anyway, sorry it's been so boring on FF. Beware the dreaded 'R' section of Final Fantasy X…

Mediciner: Sorry I haven't read your stories yet. I'll R&R ASAP. LegendaryFrog makes the BEST flash cartoons, doesn't he? TLF is good, too. He animates the 8-Bit Theatre web comic. I think LegendaryFrog has some stories on here, too. SV and I looked it up, and there's a guy named LegendaryFrog, and his bio sounds exactly like the one from Newgrounds. He hasn't updated anything here for at least 2 years, though. I found out about FF7:AC. They decided to release the movie after 'Before Crisis', a game for cell phones that's a sequel to the game and a prequel to the movie (follow that at all? Good, because I didn't). The game comes out in (I think) September for Japan, so it'll be next year when the movie comes out over here. But good news: Kingdom Hearts Chain of Memories for Game Boy Advance comes out either on September 13 (IGN) or November 15 (Gamespot). My holiday was good, thank you. (Learned to ride an ATV!)

Trance: Yes, he is angry again. No, it's no trick, but he will be less so at the end.

Zell: ((is eating a two-foot-long hot dog)) And don't forget about her newly added screen name, found on the bio page!

Sephiroth: How many chapters left, anyway?

Me: Let's see… ((ponders)) about four, maybe five.

Sephiroth: Yes! No more wife!

Me: That's what you think…

Sephiroth: What?

Me: Oh, nothing…

Zell: ((laughs)) I think someone likes you, Sephiroth.

Sephiroth: Don't make me smite you, chicken-wuss.

Zell: Hey! Only Seifer's allowed to call me that!

Me: So much for Final Fantasy character interactions. Guess it's back to the closets for all of you.

All: NO! ((run to tackle me))

Me: ((hands flame))

All: AH! ((return to closets))

Me: ((sighs heavily)) Why do I have to fall for wimps all the time?

NINJA MAGE