And that grin was blasted on Yuffie's face even as she walked to the Cosmo Canyon's Inn. This was going great. Her plan was ready. Everything was great. She was going to go to Wutai richer than ever. The plan was so evil, it almost killed her. She was going to…

And then, suddenly, she saw an image of Nanaki's face in front of her. An image of how he would probably look like, if he knew about her plan… Her evil plan in order to restore Wutai's glory. It was way too horrible. That was something she could do to a total stranger, but not Red. But now he would travel with her to Rocket Town. All the way to Rocket Town! Yuffie thought. With Red! With boring, precocious Paws! Yuffie gasped. She was going die out of sheer anger towards him, never mind the frustration of travelling with him. Travelling with Strife's gang had been fun, because of various things, Cid cracking up jokes and Barret getting pissed off at Cait Sith. But alone in the world, with Red… Gawd. The idea didn't exactly lighten up Yuffie's mood.

Nanaki wasn't so thrilled about this travel himself. He and Yuffie had planned to pack up tonight and leave as soon as possible. "My father's going to be upset, because I'm coming late, but I'll just explain him everything. However I gotta get to Wutai" Yuffie had stated and there wasn't anything to debate after her word, Nanaki had figured out. She was just a brat, after all. Stupid brat, he thought. But I must find out what she's up to. Besides, the sooner I get rid of her, the better.

"HURRY! C'mon!" Yuffie was screaming as the Elders were saying goodbye to Nanaki. She was already at the gates and was tired of handling with the packages by herself. The Elders seemed to think it was a huge shame that Nanaki had to leave only after such a small period of time that he had spent in the Canyon. Nanaki apologised and promised to return as soon as possible. Then he glanced at Yuffie, who was looking bored and bothered. Maybe she wishes that someone would say goodbye to her… Nanaki thought, but dropped the idea. How silly, Yuffie doesn't care what the others think, he thought. That's realr honourable. He glanced at Yuffie once again. This time Yuffie noticed and rolled her eyes.

"Come on, One-eye, we ain't got all day, y'know?!" she said, her voice full of frustration. Nanaki sighed and said his last byes to the smaller children of Cosmo Canyon. One of them patted his nose and said:
"That giwl is scawy. Be cawevul, Nanaki."

Nanaki smiled a little. "I will," he said and turned to Yuffie and began walking slowly towards her. Yuffie was glad to see he was finally getting a move on. How long can one take to say goodbye to a bunch of kids and old men? she thought, annoyed as she tapped her foot against the sandy earth of the Canyon.

"We got a long travel ahead of us, Red. Are you sure you've got your best weapon equipped?" she said and grinned.

That grin again, Nanaki thought. It was obvious she was up to something.

"No, actually I left it home. I figured I do not need it on this travel. The enemies are fairly easy to beat and all I need is a couple of X-potions and a tent," he said and put on one of his and one of Yuffie's bags on his back. Then he walked down the stairs, leading away from Cosmo Canyon. Yuffie just laughed. He doesn't trust me. Not for the least bit, he doesn't. Poor Red. He doesn't seem to understand I wouldn't do anything to harm him during this travel, Yuffie thought and sighed after laughing. Then again, I might just …play with his own mistrust with me… she thought and giggled inside. This was going to be fun.

"You sure you won't need it?" Yuffie asked, teasingly.

"Yes, positive," Nanaki replied curtly.

"Damn," Yuffie muttered under her breath, but made sure Nanaki heard this.

"Wh-what?" Nanaki stared at her.

"What did I say?"

"You said damn." A pause. "Yuffie, you weren't going to… steal my weapon, were you?"

"Of course not, One-eye. I'm done with thievery. It gets easily boring."

"Oh," Nanaki replied, when he couldn't think of anything better to say. Yuffie giggled victoriously inside. Gotcha, Paws. Gotcha.

In silence, they continued their travel to the other side of the Canyon and into the green grass fields before Midgar. Yuffie's objective was clear in her mind, but she had completely dumped her cunning plan of exploiting Nanaki and his knowledge of the Planet. Right now she didn't felt like she really needed him to be there, but then again, it was nice. To have company on such a long trip, Yuffie thought.

Er, what am I thinking?! Nice to have company… Company like One-eye?! She snorted at herself. Get real, Kisaragi. Just get real.

"We gonna visit Cloud and Tifa?" Yuffie asked, after they had noticed the first Nibelwolf attack them.

"They live in Midgar." Nanaki said. Doesn't she know anything? Oh yeah, maybe she just doesn't care, he then thought and shrugged. He couldn't help but be a little frustrated with Yuffie's comment a few days ago. Of course she doesn't care… She doesn't care for anyone, or anything. Something stung his chest, because inside his mind, he knew this wasn't true. She had cared for Aeris, she had cried against Cloud's shoulder when Aeris had died… She had fought bravely and she had… She… She's really alright, if you think about it. She's really just Yuffie, fighting for the people of Wutai. Just like I was fighting for the people of Cosmo Canyon.

"They've got a summer house in Nibelheim, dorkus. " Yuffie stated and pointed at the Mountains. "They bought it for the old times' sake", she explained knowingly.

"Oh" was the only thing that Nanaki could say. Then again, he added, she's still Yuffie. Ignorant and spoiled Yuffie. Yuffie, who just does not care.

**********************************************************

The moon was shining already, as they climbed up the Nibel Mountains. They had visited Vincent, who lived in the Shinra Mansion, not for old times' sake however, and had realised that all of the monsters were gone out of the Mansion. Then Yuffie had forced Nanaki to continue travelling. Right now he was almost short on breath, but Yuffie was already a few long steps ahead of him.

"Come on, Red! Where's your top condition? Where's your strength? C'mon!" she yelled at him from above. The moon was shining behind her. She was grinning. Nanaki cursed the way Cid had once taught him to, but so quietly, that she couldn't have possibly heard him.

"This.. has.. nothing… to do with .. strength, Kisaragi…" he huffed.

"It's Miss Kisaragi to you, Red. Now come on, we're going to be late!" she said and continued to walk uphill.

"Miss Kisaragi, do you.. uhh…" Nanaki was still short of air, and he huffed. "Want this piece of Materia?" he continued. Witless or ingenious, matters not, he thought. Now Yuffie would come down and pick up the material, which didn't exist. Then he could set up a tent and make her rest. It was an impossible plan, but he had no other solution. He needed to rest. She needed a rest.

"Materia? Don't be silly, Paws. Materia doesn't exist anymore!" She was amused. Where is he getting at?

"How come there is a shiny, gleaming piece of Materia laying in front of me then? It isn't a moonstone, Yuffie… It's a real deal. The last Materia," he said and grinned at himself. This was going great. He could see her eyes lighten up and she was being tempted.

"What kinda materia is it?" Yuffie asked and looked both happy and curious. The last Materia? Oh Shinra, if I could have the last Materia on this Planet… Wouldn't that be something, bringing it back to Wutai…

"Oh, just a mastered All-materia" Nanaki said and glanced at the ground to avoid showing his grin. He heard Yuffie running downhill towards him.

"Where is it, where is, where—AAAH!!!" The next thing Nanaki saw was Yuffie rolling downhill towards him. She must have tripped up. Yuffie looked amusing, her whole body wrapped up into a small ball. It was so amusing, Nanaki had to laugh. Yuffie stopped rolling right as she reached him. She sat up.

"That really hurt," she stated, pouting and noticed her hair wasn't like her usual hairdo. Her hair had fallen down on her shoulders, not placed at the back with her usual two odd ponytails sticking out from the sides. Her brown, layered hair was now resting on her shoulders. Yuffie panicked.

"Wh-where's my ribbon, where's my hair-bands?" she asked and crawled on the ground looking for them. Nanaki stared at Yuffie. Her hair was really nice like that. She looks a lot prettier when her hair is like that, he thought to himself, but shook off the thought. Then her eyes met his. She looked angry.

"Will you stop looking at my stupid hair and start looking for my hair-bands?" she said, annoyed. Weird Red was just staring at her with his one eye, when she had lost her official Gold Fish Ceremony Winner-ribbon. Red didn't reply, but she continued, crawling in the ground:

"It's green, not like puke-green or light-green but like dark leaf-green, okay? It was three hair-bands and one ribbon. Make sure you find the ribbon, because if we don't, we'll spend a forever looking for it!"

Nanaki knew she meant what she said, her voice sounded very serious and upset. Even though he was amused by her "it's not puke green or light-green"-ramble, he began looking for the bands and the ribbon from the cold ground of Nibel Mountains. It was very dark and the moon's light was fading behind the clouds. Suddenly Yuffie couldn't see Red anywhere! She was in a small cave, where they went in, looking for the ribbon. The three hair-bands had already been found. She got scared and her voice stuttered as she yelled for him. No reply. This isn't funny, she thought and yelled for him again. She was too scared to move, so she stayed put and took out her Conformer, in case any enemies happened to appear. Then she heard a growl behind her. Yuffie jumped and screamed as loud as she could, but then realised she had her weapon and turned around to attack. Yuffie felt so much relief when she saw it was Red's one eye staring at her and his tail giving them the light in the dark cave. She almost wanted to hug him, but then she saw what he was holding something between his teeth.

"My RIBBON!!!" she squealed and this time hugged Red without doubting. Red was taken by surprise, but he hugged her back.

"Now we rest. Seriously, I'm not climbing anymore mountains... Not until tomorrow, that is. I noticed we can put up a tent in here. But before resting, let us eat," Nanaki said and dropped the bags from his back. Yuffie was so glad to get her ribbon back; she didn't argue and even helped Nanaki set up the fire.

"What's so special about that ribbon?" Nanaki asked when he noticed how Yuffie was treating it like it was worth much more than one thousand mastered Knights Of the Round-Materias.

"I won it. When I was 8, I started practising for the Gold Fish Ceremony-contests. Gold Fish Ceremony is like Tea ceremony, but more holy in Wutai. It starts with the mistress of the ceremony catching 4 gold fishes from the rivers of Wutai into a crystal bowl. Then she brings them to the table in a sacred gold fish ceremony-kimono. After that she, ahem…" Yuffie explained and coughed suddenly. "It's kind of weird, but it is a tradition."

"Tell me more, please," Nanaki asked. He was getting interested; in all honesty, he knew very little about the Wutain culture. Yuffie sighed and fiddled the ribbon while gazing into the fire.

"Then the mistress of ceremony puts dust into the water of the bowl. Then there's these spells that you have to mumble so that the fishes start to, ahem, sing."

"Sing?!" Nanaki was surprised. There were so many things he didn't know about Wutai.

"Yeah, they sing. They sing about the spring, the gods, the water, Wutai… It's beautiful. So beautiful," Yuffie said and stared at the campfire. She was all silent, thinking about how much she missed Wutai. How much she wanted to meet her relatives, her father, everyone. This ribbon reminded her of Wutai strongly. She loved it. It almost hurt her chest. Home… Never has it felt so much like home before. I know it is home now. I know it's home, even though it's not glorious anymore… Just a tourist resort; is that my Wutai? She sighed deeply, fighting back tears.

"So, these contests are about the songs?" Nanaki then asked. He looked at Yuffie, who seemed to be out of this world. She's in Wutai, he thought. In her mind she's always in Wutai… And she wishes to be in Wutai… Just like I wish to be in Cosmo Canyon. Always, He sighed. They were so different, yet so alike. It was quite amazing.

"Yeah, who ever gets the best dust and gets the spell correct, wins. I won this ribbon when I was 12. Number one spot. I was so proud. Father was proud as well," Yuffie said and smiled at Red. Sweet smile, not a grin. She wasn't joking or planning something. Not this time. She was just, genuinely, smiling at him.

"I wish I could visit Wutai now," Nanaki said exactly what he was thinking of.

"So come with me." She hadn't even realised, when the words escaped her lips.

"You want me to?"

"I don't know."

"…I could."

"Good."

Yuffie smiled again. Red had found her precious Gold Fish Ceremony-ribbon. Now she could go to bed without worrying. Everything was fine. Everything would be fine. I'm not alone.

"Go to bed?" Nanaki asked her as she went inside the tent.

"Yes," Yuffie responded.

"Goodnight, Miss Kisaragi."

"Night One-eye."