"Sure thing." I said, flipping him a thumbs-up sign.
"Hope I'll be able to take off with all of your crap back there." He said, jerking his thumb towards the back of the plane, where my luggage was stored. I glared at him and he laughed.
I was going home. Cid had, of course, offered to fly me to Wutai, which I reminded him of yesterday. I offered to pay for the fuel, which he waved off since he had plenty of money from our days with Cloud and Co.
Takeoff and landing were smooth, as usual. I felt a sort of sadness when Cid helped me offload my stuff; he'd been nice to me in the week I'd spent in Rocket Town, which is more than I can say of the people I was about to rejoin in Wutai.
I watched him take off, waving, and then slung my bags about my person and walked into the town.
The casino was even more lurid from the ground. Lights flashed and blinked, neon signs declared things I couldn't even begin to understand (something about five something stud, I think it's a card game), and revolving doors catered to the needs of what seemed to be a never-ending stream of tourists. I frowned and headed towards my house on the south end of town.
I settled my stuff in my house and gathered my materia to take to my father. A few favorites (Enemy skill, restore, and Contain...all mastered so I had extras to give Godo) I kept, but the rest of them I planned on giving him.
I walked into the house. I'd never had to knock, even when Godo and I were at odds. Technically, the house was my mothers, and had been left to me at her death, but I didn't feel like fighting my father for it and just got my own house once I reached the age of majority (which is fifteen in Wutai).
Godo was napping in his room. I rolled my eyes. "Pathetic." I said.
"Yuffie?" He said, jumping to his feet, incredulous. "I haven't heard from you in over a year! We were afraid you were dead!"
I stood at the door, my hand on my hip.
"Did you get the materia?" He asked, eagerly. I sighed.
"Yeah." I pulled the paper bag I'd put them into out and gave it to him. He eagerly opened it.
"That's all?"
"Most of those are mastered."
"But still...not very much."
I glared at him. "I mastered those myself. If you can't be happy with it, fuck off." I stormed from the house and back to my place, throwing myself on the bed and wishing that I was still in Rocket Town.
The next few weeks I settled down into a pattern. Mostly out of boredom I'd go out and fight every day, ostensibly to keep myself in shape. I tried very hard to practice the centering of the chi that my masters had talked about; I learned that I was too easily angered in battle and I made too many mistakes. Within a month I was pretty good at it.
While at the store one day my father walked in, and just to spite him I bought a pack of cigarettes; two even, there was a special two-for-one on a new brand, Marlboro No. 27's. I also bought a lighter, because my dad was looking at me. Godo stared at me, stunned, as I stalked out carrying my groceries and cigarettes.
And at home, I lit one up, out of anger, mostly. It tasted a lot better than the nasty cigarettes that Cid smoked, and I found myself kind of enjoying the flavor, and the rebellion.
So I started smoking them. Not as often as Cid does, of course, but a few a day. And when I ran out, I bought a lot more; ten cartons, which I figured was enough to last me at my current rate for like a year.
But since I had more avaliable I smoked more often. Still not as many as Cid did, but about a half a pack a day. I worked out and couldn't see any affect on my lungs...not yet, anyway.
One day I lit a cigarette on my way into town, after a hard day of killing monsters. I passed my father's house and glared at it, angrily. He'd never apologized to me for the materia, and I was still pretty pissed.
I felt a sharp pain at the base of my skull. The cigarette dropped from my mouth, and everything went black.