Gining - No one can hate Sephy! He's too much of a bishie! Read on!

DemonSurfer - I never said a triangle, did I? -grins wickedly-

Banana peel - Already started DB: Divinity Never-ending. So far, so good! And I've got it alllll planned out. No one's gonna like this ending, though... -grins-

DarkSpades - Hee hee... You're all REALLY gonna hate this ending...

Depressed Mizuki - Poor Yuffieplushie! -Gives Yuffie, Vincent, & Sephy plushies with magnetic lips- There ya go! I'm really thinking that no one's gonna like this ending, though... You're all gonna kill me!

Divine Being

That must be horrible... To have no one to miss you...

Once you return, he could return...

Tch, whatever! Here I am, arguing with myself again. I was lonely yesterday, and this morning, that was why I kissed him. We're on civil terms until we find a way back.

But why would he care if you found a way back? He cannot leave.

He doesn't believe Kais...

Whatever...

Whatever!

Chapter Four

Yuffie walked with the normal bounce in her step, her leg no longer hurting. Occasionally, she would complain good-naturedly about the long trek, but it was mainly to make Sephiroth glare at her - to make Sephiroth acknowledge her. She was a normally social person, but both Surka and Sephiroth wanted to remain in their brooding, leaving her to chat with Kais. She had to give in to her need for conversation and jogged up to walk next to him.

"So... What exactly are you and Reina?"

He chuckled. "Good question. We started out as war lords, the two of us side-by-side, but something happened... We became cursed by one of the Cetra commanders, but it kinda back-fired on them. We were there when Jenova came. Boy, oh boy... Reina wanted to possess Jenova so badly! But, for some reason, we couldn't. I saw the destruction it caused and wanted no part in any of it, but Reina... She kept going."

The ninja wrinkled her nose in distaste. "So, Reina helped kill off the Cetra?"

Kais pondered this, then shrugged. "In a way, I suppose. But she gave them a more graceful death than Jenova would have. The alien was trying to poison their souls... Reina took mercy and gave them a 24-hour plague. It was a lot like the flu that you know of today... Except that one vomits everything up... Stomach and all. It was disgusting, but Reina took pride in it." Yuffie turned pale and Kais chuckled again. "Okay, so it's my turn to ask a question, right?"

"Oh, you like to play Questions too?"

"Best verbal game ever," he replied with a handsome grin. "Okay, Yuffie... Why aren't you awake? I don't know everthing, y'know..."

She huffed in agrivation. "After we got done fighting him," she nodded toward Sephiroth, who was walking ahead of the duo, "Then we had to escape the North Crater. A boulder hit me... That's the last thing I remember before Reina and Sephiroth came to me in my mind." She grinned her childish grin at him. "My turn! Do you know how to get out of this place?"

He shook his head sadly. "I am sorry, but Reina never let me in on her tricks. S'matter of fact, I had not seen nor talked to her in fifty years, when she took Surka to my home beneath the ocean floor. Me, again... Why did you run from Wutai?"

She scowled. "I didn't run! Godo pissed me off, so I took off to find a way to make him proud. After the war, Wutai sucked and I had to grow up with that... It was horrible! I had to keep as far away from SOLDIERS as possible because they would taunt me and try to get me to fight. But I out-smarted them and stole their stuff. Godo got pissed about me stealing and blew up on me one too many times... I joined AVALANCHE soon after my sixteenth birthday..."

The quartet fell into a peaceful silence as they neared Junon after nearly a day's walk from Kalm. Kais and Yuffie raced ahead like childhood friends, leaving a wondering Surka and confused Sephiroth. "Why do they run toward Junon?" he asked aloud, not meaning for Surka to overhear and answer.

"Because they have similar needs. Kais wants a companion to laugh with... Yuffie needs someone to talk with." She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "She needs someone who will not betray her and will trust her."

Sephiroth hmphed and began to walk a little quicked toward their destination. He would not lower himself to their standards and run, although the ninja had tempted him to do so when she first took off, laughing merrily. Had Kais not soon joined her, his laughter also cutting through the silence, Sephiroth might have followed suit.

Vincent had fallen asleep knelt over the ninja and awoke with his head upon her flat stomach. She was still in a sleep-like state, so he left her as she was, trying not to bother her. "Yuffie, if you can hear me at all... Do not allow her to take you... I cannot afford to lose another friend..."

He sat down on the floor beside her bed and closed his eyes for a moment. Please, Yuffie... Return to us... I need your guidance, as I once needed it for my meeting with Lucrecia. Just smile or sing or let me know that you hear me...

Please, Yuffie... Return to us... I need your guidance, as I once needed it for my meeting with Lucrecia. Just smile or sing or let me know that you hear me..."

The ninja leaned heavily against the building, still gasping for breath from the race that she had won. Kais soon caught up to her and leaned next to her, panting as well. "I heard his voice again," she told him. "He was begging me to go back." She looked up at him with pained lilac eyes. "Is there a way to let him know that I can hear him? That I'm okay?"

Kais frowned. "I'm sorry, Yuffie, but I can do nothing unless he is your one true love. Do you love him?"

She bit her lip, then nodded. "With all my heart..." He sensed her dubt and made her look up at him. "But we are like siblings," she continued softly. "I love him like a brother, he loves me like a kid sister... That's all there is between us." Something inside her hurt as she said that. Hadn't she wanted something more? Could there ever be something more?

Kais nodded in understanding. "Then I am truly sorry... I cannot do anything."

Sephiroth and Surka came a few minutes later at their lenient pace, not willing to act like fools. Sephiroth spared a soft look at Yuffie before glaring at Kais and continuing toward the docks. Yuffie furrowed her brow in confusion and jogged up to Sephiroth, leaving Kais with Surka. They reached the docks in silence and Kais wove his magic over the ship to take them to their destination.

Surka was soon asleep in her room, Kais had disappeared somewhere, and Sephiroth was standing on the deck, looking up at the star-speckled sky. Yuffie, oddly enough, was not ill. Kais had promised her that if she felt ill, he would cast another Esuna spell upon her... That had not been something that had crossed her mind. Tonics, yes... but Esuna?

"Are you okay?"

Sephiroth glanced over at her, but answered with a curt nod. "Are you sure?" Again, he merely nodded. She sighed. "Ok, whatever. You don't wanna talk, that's fine with me!" she said heatedly and turned to leave. His hand wrapped around her upper arm and he brought her to him, giving her an earth shattering kiss that left them both gasping for air.

She stared up at him with wide eyes, confusion unhidden within their amethyst depths. "What... Why did you... Sephiroth?"

He looked away quickly, releasing her and staring down at the black waters. "I... I am sorry. I did not mean to... It was just..."

She grinned in understanding. "You enjoyed that kiss as much as I did," she said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Green eyes glared at her as she grinned up at him. "I did not," he retorted.

"Did too... And you want more."

He glared down at her. She was so infuriating! Did she never stop acting so damned cocky? She, with her innocent purple eyes... With her childish, warming grin... With her soft, tempting lips... With a taste that could rival any sweet fruit... He pulled her to him and kissed her again, needing her more than he had ever needed anything.

She did not pull away... Even the thoughts of him being the enemy did not make her pull away. Only a single thought sparked any interest in her at all... I always did go for the bad boys... Needless to say, that did not hault the kissing either...

"Sephiroth!" an extremely irate voice screeched, making the two separate and look around in confusion. Reina appeared in front of them, her aqua eyes making Sephiroth's emeralds glare as he shuddered... She had absorbed his body.

"Reina," Yuffie hissed, drawing her Shuriken.

Reina raised an eyebrow. "Did you just call me... Reina?"

Yuffie smirked. "Yeah, Rumplestiltskin, I did. And I'm so gonna take you down!"

The ninja darted forward, but two large hands caught her around her middle and pulled her back against him. She glared back at Sephiroth, but he merely watched Reina. "Don't," he murmured, his mouth beside her ear. "She is stronger than us. We need Kais and Surka." She continued to glare at Reina, who laughed her laugh that was so familiar by now.

"Oh, Kais will not be joining you, nor will Surka... I have put a stop to them once and for all. As I was screeching before... Sephiroth, how do you use materia?" Sephiroth dead panned, looking at her as if she had lost her mind. "Don't play stupid, general! How do you use materia?"

Yuffie began laughing at the divine being. "You don't," she laughed some more. "Know how to u-use m-materia?" she gasped. Sephiroth, too, was forced to laugh at their enemy's lack of resources. "Oh my GAWD! You're so DUMB!"

Reina, tired of the ridiculing, growled and vanished. It was not worth it to her to destroy them just yet... She might have uses for them later. Yuffie continued to laugh as she folded her Shuriken and put it away. Sephiroth's arms dropped away from her and she walked toward Surka's room below deck, suddenly serious. "Sephiroth?" she asked softly, but he knew what she meant.

"I do not know," he replied, following her. As they crept below deck, still without sign of Kais of Surka, Yuffie's small hand found its way into his larger. He glanced at her, but squeezed her hand reassuringly. She smiled up at him, then they continued looking for their two comrades. Yuffie had to wonder at Sephiroth's sudden expessing of affection. She had only met him a few times, one time being whilst he killed Aeris right before the ninja's eyes. This Sephiroth was different... Perhaps it was because he was not a puppet in this world? Because there was no Jenova to control him?

Sephiroth opened the door to Surka's room, but the bed was undisturbed, as if she had never been there. Sephiroth could practically feel Yuffie's hope fading. He turned to her, but her eyes were down cast. She looked so young, then... So fragile... Even though he knew her to be strong and brave in battle, he had nearly forgotten that she was only sixteen.

He lifted her chin to make her look at him. "Do not let your hope waver," he told her in his usual icy voice. "For that is when Reina will have won."

End of Chapter Four

R:: That was a bit fluffy... I think he was too OOC, even for my taste... Gonna hafta remedy that next chapter... Anywho, review!