Author's Note: Its been a few days since my last update. I apologize for the delay and hope you like the next couple of chapters. The story is starting to take shape now, with Kako and Yazoo being the main actors in this tale. Future chapters will bring back the Others and I hope to provide a more definitive explanation of who they are and what they want. We will also see what Yazoo plans for Kako and how he reconciles his own desires with his dead brother's grand plan. Stay tuned and send reviews.

Chapter 8 – Gathering Storm

Tifa spent the rest of the morning doing her usual chores around the bar, but her mind was elsewhere. There was something about the look in Kako's face when Tifa asked about bad dreams that told her Kako was hiding something. Her suspicions only grew when she couldn't read her. She had always been able to reach Kako; it was something they had always shared, even though she had tried to discourage her from using her abilities too much when she was little. Tifa knew that Kako possessed very special abilities, more so than she. Kako seemed to be able to read other people much easier than she could; she seemed very sensitive to those around her, and especially her mother.

Cloud watched her move around the bar. She was obviously preoccupied and he guessed it was with Kako. While he didn't possess the same sensitivities as Tifa and Kako, he knew something was up with his daughter. He too had seen her reaction to Tifa's question about her dreams and he was immediately brought back to the time almost seventeen years ago when Tifa herself had struggled so violently with Jenova in her own dreams. He knew, although he had suppressed the thought, that Jenova may not have been defeated and that the two brothers still were still alive, somewhere.

Cloud and Vincent searched for Yazoo and Loz after they had taken Tifa and Kako back to Midgar and safety. He had left them with Barret and Cid and had returned to the mountains where they had found Tifa after she had been abducted by Kadj. They found the mansion but not Yazoo or Loz. Cloud had stood in the room in which Tifa had been held captive and saw the splintered doors she had punched her way through. He ran his fingers over the broken padlock and felt the dried blood Tifa's fists had left on it when she punched her way through the bulkhead door. His anger boiled inside him as he imagined what Tifa had endured at the hands of the three brothers. He wanted to strike out at them, at the house which represented everything they stood for but there was no one there to punish. So, Cloud torched the building and watched as it burned to the ground.

Cloud returned to Midgar and Tifa. Vincent disappeared that night and he had not been seen since. Every once in a while Cloud caught a rumor of a tall dark man wearing a red cape traveling through a distant town, but he could never confirm the rumors. For the first few years Cloud kept a watchful eye on Tifa and Kako, always vigilant for any sign of the two remaining brothers. But as the years passed his vigilance faded as he settled into family life. He was content now with the school and Tifa and so at first he didn't give much importance to his daughter's strange mood that morning; he put it down to normal teenage hormones and dismissed it from his mind. That changed however when he saw Kako react to Tifa's question.

"She's been dreaming . . ." Tifa said softly to Cloud. "I found her sheets. She stripped them off her bed last night. They were soaked in sweat."

"One bad dream doesn't mean anything," said Cloud. Even as he said the words, he knew he was wrong. He could see it in Tifa's face. His shoulders slumped and he put his head in his hands.

Tifa walked over to him and slipped her arm around his neck. She leaned down and kissed his neck. She knew what he was thinking. "It's not your fault, my love. Hiro did this to you, to all of us. Whatever she's going through, she will not have to do it alone."

Cloud looked up at Tifa and saw the pain in her eyes. He pulled her into his lap and wrapped his arms around her. He laid his head on her chest, listening to her heart beat.

"Why do all the women in my life have to suffer from knowing me, from being with me?" he asked softly.

Tifa's heart broke to hear the anguish in Cloud's voice. She gently kissed him on the forehead and held him close.

"Something is about to start," she whispered.