A/N: Eep! I'm sorry for putting you into such horrible suspense for 2 days. I would have continued with the previous chapter, but since this story will be ending soon, I didn't want to add too much. Or else, this would have been the last chapter. (bows down, revealing thousands of chef knives stuck to my back)

Disclaimer:

Author: (draws sword out) I challenge you… to a duel!
Cait: (draws out megaphone) Ye shall walk the plank!
Author: Hey! We're playing knights! Not pirates!
Cait: PIRATES! PIRATES!
Author: KNIGHTS! KNIGHTS!
Vincent: (shoots out several bullets to the sky)
Author,Cait: O.O
Vincent: You people are annoying me!
Aeris: Annoying me!
Vincent: Stop playing the copycat game!
Aeris: Copycat game!
Vincent: (moans)
Aeris: (moans)
Vincent: …you do the disclaimer, Aeris.
Aeris: FF7 doesn't belong to Miss Author!… hey wait…
Vincent: OH! I WIN! WHAT NOW!
Aeris: What now!
Vincent: (slaps face)

Back To Those Human Years
Chapter Fourteen

Never Ending

"M-My head…" I moaned, tightening my grip on my head.

"Don't move, Red! I'll call for help!"

"No! Don't!" I told Tifa before she and Cloud had the chance to move. "I have… to see Y-Yuffie!"

"Are you fricken crazy? What if you collapse again, damnit!" Cid pointed out, helping me up to Barret's back.

"No! L-Let go! I have to see her!"

"Ow! Quit kickin' and punchin' like that!" Barret yelled.

I didn't listen. Now that Yuffie finally knew the truth behind Shougu's mask, I just had to see her! When she looked at me before, she was so sad. Her father was on his way to find her… but I couldn't let him get to her before I did! He wouldn't know anything! He'd probably retell his all-time famous speech about how he wanted Yuffie to be happy! When in reality… it was actually making her feel terrible.

My head rested against Barret's shoulders as Vincent held my arms and legs from moving around. Hot streams of tears poured down my face as I hit my head against Barret's hard plated shoulder.

"LET… GO!" I repeated, not even caring if people were giving me strange looks. "You don't understand! I HAVE TO SEE HER!"

"Get a hold of yourself!" Vincent hissed in my ear. "This is what I have feared…"

"What? What is it?" Cloud asked in a worried tone in his voice.

Vincent bowed his head at that. "It's… that potion I gave him… the effects after he took it…"

"WHAT! VINCENT!"

He remained silent at that.

Cloud clenched his fists then tugged him closer. "YOU… The way he's been acting was all because of-"

"STOP IT!" I yelled.

That was it! This was getting ridiculous! I broke out of Vincent's grasp then bit Barret's shoulder extremely hard, causing him to let go of me. I fell to my side then slowly sat up and faced the fighting friends.

"It's not Vincent's fault! It was mine! I took the stupid potion on my own! I was just being stupid back then! I KNEW I should have just stayed inside the Highwind and missed the festival! I created so much trouble that not ONE of you enjoyed yourselves!"

"Red!" Cloud called out.

I shook my head. "No! I'm going to find Yuffie, even if it kills me!"

I clenched my fists then quickly exited out of the silent Pagoda.

As I reached the bottom of the stairs, my head was starting to throb in pain again. I paused for a second then continued my search. There was no time to worry about that now! All I wanted was to find Yuffie!

I slowly made my way across the bridge and spotted Godo in front of a building. He seemed kind of angry, but worried at the same time. He probably lost her. I hid behind the building and made my way toward the Highwind. Yuffie was probably there!

"Yuffie!" I yelled from the bottom of the ladder. "Are you up there?"

There was no answer to that. I sighed then decided to climb up the ladder. "Yuffie!" I called out again.

Her glowing head finally revealed itself through the railing. "R-Red?" She choked through her tears.

I sighed in relief. "I'm so glad you're all right!" My chest grew warmer each time I got closer to her. "Yuffie, you must listen to me! I-"

"Don't you DARE listen to him, Yuffie!"

Yuffie and I looked down and spotted Godo with a furious look on his face. His fists were clenched together, practically turning blue. I gasped and quickly made my way up to the Highwind. However, Godo didn't like that. Two black orbs suddenly cut off the bottom of the ladder, leaving me hanging over the edge of the ship. I looked back down as Godo stepped back and swung his arm to his side.

"He tells nothing but lies! Yuffie! Get down here right now!" he roared.

"How am I supposed to when you just destroyed half of the ladder, oh sweet father of mine!" she said so sarcastically. "Besides! I already know the truth! I believe my friend… Nanaki!"

Godo widened his eyes. "N-Nanaki? You mean that beast?"

"He's not a beast! He's my friend! And he's right here!"

I froze. S-She told him my identity! "Y-Yuffie!"

"WHA… oh… shiiiiittt…"

"…BEAST!"

He shot out several black orbs towards me. Yuffie quickly pulled me up and fell over on deck. The whole ship shook around at the collision of the orbs. Yuffie pulled me up as we ran over to the other side. She gestured me to climb on top of the railing.

"W-What a-are you crazy!" I yelled back. "It's more than a mile down! We'll get killed!"

"It's the only way! Now… you first!"

"Ohohhhh no! Ladies first!"

"Yeah, you go!"

"Hey! I'm a boy!"

"OKAY! We'll both go on three."

I nodded. "Fine… one-"

The ship leaned the opposite direction, causing us to lose our balance. I buried Yuffie's head to my chest and made one lunge forward. The loud blasts behind us began to fade away as we dove headfirst into the forest below.

"Nanakiiiiii?" Yuffie managed to say.

"Y-Yes?"

"I… I'm sorry! Everything's my faaaaaauuuuuuulllllttttt!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

My body shivered at the sudden touch of cold on my chest. I moaned and shifted my head away. Now, a warm touch rested on my chest, leaving such a soothing feeling. I sighed and fluttered my eye open. It took me a while to realize that Yuffie and Shougu were staring at me. I gasped then lifted my head up, forcing the pain to return. I moaned then lied back down.

"Nanaki! You're all right!" Yuffie happily said, nuzzling her cheek into mine.

I blushed. "Are you all right, Yuffie?"

She nodded. "Yep! It's all thanks to Shougu."

I turned to him. He was staring right into my eyes without blinking once. I blinked a couple of times and leaned back. "… thank you… Shougu."

He grunted at that. "I just owed you for putting yourself through all that crap."

I smiled then took a good look at my surroundings. We were inside somewhere cold with nothing but a little fire lit in the center. It was definitely evening from the way I can tell. "Where… are we?"

"We're in one of the caves of Da-chao," Shougu answered. "It should take a while for Godo to find us."

"How long have we been…"

"Only for an hour. You slept like a rock."

I grunted at that, somehow making the fire move. "Well, you could have woken me up sooner!"

He peeked over his shoulder and grinned. "Nah… didn't want to disturb your little flame."

Flame? I stared into the fire and examined it for a while. The flame looked similar to… my tail flame. I gasped then shook my tail around, making the fire move around.

"W-What? Why is my… am… I…?" I sat up and quickly examined my hands. They were still human. I patted my face then my head. Still felt the same. "…h-huh?"

"You're… changing back into your original form," Yuffie said stroking my tail gently.

I bowed my head away from her. "…the effects of that potion…"

"Huh?"

I turned to Yuffie. "I… took a potion… to turn me into a human… but Vincent said that it had side effects if I took it…"

Yuffie slapped my face at that. I widened my eyes then rubbed the red mark on my face. Shougu stared in shock.

"You fricken SCARED me! When you changed into a human, I thought it was because of before! Why the hell did you take it? What if you died?"

"… I just wanted to… be with you…"

She sat closer to me and rested her head on my shoulder. "You are…"

I clutched my chest. "Yeah… but before. Godo…"

"Forget about that old geezer! You know that it doesn't matter what people say about your appearance!"

"I know… but… I felt that I had to change into human. Everything I did led up to this. Helping Shougu… and being here with you now. Yuffie… I'm sorry for what I have done before…"

That made Yuffie turn away. She stared at Shougu who turned his head away. But, he nodded his head, making Yuffie nod hers also. "…no… you don't have to say anything. Everything was my fault from the day we came here."

"…what?"

"… I know I should have told you before. You've been probably wondering why I've been fighting with my father lately. It was because… he wanted me to fall in love with someone."

I widened my eyes. "…f-fall in love?… with Shougu?"

She slowly nodded her head. "I resented the idea several times. But he said that if I don't do what he says, he would…" she paused and turned away. "… he would find you… and… have you… ki-"

"Yuffie…" I interrupted. I already knew what she was going to say… but I didn't want to hear such a horrible thing from her. "…why didn't you tell me before?"

"… I thought… you would hate me and get the wrong idea…"

"I'm your friend… I'll understand anything you say to me." I wrapped my arms around Yuffie and rested my chin on her head. "I mean every word…"

"…Nanaki…"

Shougu moaned in the back. Yuffie and I released our grip and blushed. He waved his hands up and down. "Oh, no. Don't mind me. You two 'glowies' have fun with… whatever."

"Shougu…" Yuffie said. "… I'm sorry about… everything. You probably think that-"

"Nah, it's all good." He stood up and yawned. "You two have each other and I deserve to be alone. Kimara never came."

"I'm sorry…" I said. "…she said she would…"

My eyes slowly moved away from Shougu to the exit of the cave. A figure entered the cave, but I wasn't sure who it was. Suddenly, a black orb collided into my chest, sending me to the back of the cave.

"Nanaki!" Yuffie yelled.

Shougu growled and stomped his foot hard on the ground. "How did you find them?"

"It's hard to miss their glows."

I slowly opened my eye and swung my tail flame in front. The light finally revealed who it was. It was Godo. He cupped his big hand to Shougu's neck and pushed him against the wall. Godo stepped forward and lifted his hand in front. A black orb formed, only this time… it was bigger than before.

"You're mine."

A/N: End of chapter fourteen! Ah! Godo has made it to yet another suspense ending… thing of chapter! It's like… he's some kind of evilness villain! Wow… what have I done? (panics) But, I never really liked him anyway. Hehe… can't help but feel sorry though. He just doesn't realize how much Nanaki really likes Yuffie! (grabs a chainsaw) RAWR, GODO! (throws chainsaw away) Anyways! I hope you enjoyed and please tell me how you thought of it! I have some chef knives just in case! (nervous smile)