For Aurora-Kayd
Yuffie laid on the bed facing the wall, her sweat plastering her short hair to her face and neck, her legs pulled up to her chest and cradled by her arms. She rocked herself to the steady rythmn of the whoomp-whoomp of a cooling fan somewhere in the belly of the Highwind, the noise beating a counterpoint to the throbing in her chest. She tried not to breathe; she felt some measure of her control over It loosen with each painful rise of her chest.
Return. It is done. He had said.
What had that bastard done to her? She would make Godo pay for this--she never wanted this. She could think of a thousand ways, each more painful than the last, to make him regret what he had done to her. Her claws sinking into his soft flesh, his warm blood filling her mouth while even more succulent screams of pain filled her ears.
"NO!" she screamed as her chest burned painfully as It rose to the surface. That moment's loss of control was all it took. It roared as she desperately struggled to shut that final inner barrier that seperated It from freedom.
/Why do you fight? you will succumb to me eventually./ It purred, as it paced behind the wall.
"Fuck you, buddy," she gasped out, "you ain't goin' nowhere."
/Why do you fear me so? I offer you power Yuffie. The power to have anything you ever wanted--the ultimate freedom. Is that not what you desire/
"I don't want anything! Please just go away," She said as she writhed on the bed as the pain became unberable. She wouldn't scream, she promised herself not to scream.
/Begging already/ She felt It laughing at her. /You can make it stop at anytime. Don't fight me. Open yourself to me./
/I can't/ she sobbed.
/OPEN THE GATE, YUFFIE/ Its claw slashed out, and Yuffie felt a felt a pain so brilliant she was momentarily blinded.
/FUCK YOU/ she roared, as she used everything she had to shove It back to the dark hole she had kept it in.
The door to her room busted open, and as she slipped into darkness she heard Red XIII call out her name.
Yuffie awoke to an unfamiliar ceiling and a head throbbing so hard it made her naseaus. The room was filled with the delicate hues of a sun lowering for the evening or rising for the morning. The softness of the sheets and mattress she laid on and the pleasent absence of the fragrence of jet fuel and sweat alerted her to the fact that she was no longer on the Highwind.
She sat up suddenly and the room rolled around sickeningly, "Uhh...this is like airsickness times a million," she groaned softly as she fought the urge to vomit.
"Don't try to get up. It'll just make it worse," Red XIII muttered. "You need to rest."
Yuffie stiffened and slowly looked in the direction his voice had come from. He sat in an arm chair with a blanket covering his lap and a haggard expression on his face. The clothes he was wearing were throughly wrinkled, and she recognized them as the ones she had seen him in the night before. He looked like the one who needed bed rest, Yuffie thought to herself, an ironic smile twisting her lips despite herself. "I feel fine," she insisted.
"Fine," he said with rare impatience. "Come over here and tell me that, and I won't have anything more to say."
She glared at him defiantly, ripped her covers off, and got to her feet abruptly. "There," she said as black spots danced across her vision. She walked towards him unsteadily and stopped a few feet before him with her arms crossed. "You see? I'm fine. You can go now."
He was silent. The fact that she found herself becoming uncomfortable under his stony gaze agitated her further, but she gritted her teeth and wondered how much longer she could remain standing.
Red XIII sighed, "Yuffie, I'm just trying to help; you can barely stand," he got up to help her back to the bed and she shoved him away violently. "Just let me--"
"Get out, Nanaki," she repeated through clenched teeth. "Who the hell do you think you are coming in here and acting like nothing fucking happened? Get out of my--" In her mind's eye she could see It, a pair of yellow eyes and a carnivore's teeth glinting malevolently in the darkness. In her rage she hadn't noticed its escape. It began to laugh, a frightening half-human, half-animal growl that echoed through Yuffie's skull, and a horrible realization dawned on Yuffie.
She had wanted it to escape. She had lost.
"Yuffie, I'm sorry about what happened the other night. I, well, when you're better I wanted to talk it over with you. I value your friendship, Yuffie, more than I can say and...Yuffie?" Her features were blank, but her eyes were wild with fear. "Yuffie?" he asked again, growing more apprehensive with each passing moment.
An animal's howl escaped her lips, "NOOOO!"
"YUFFIE!" he lunged at her and shook her once hard. "Snap out of it, Yuffie!"
Yuffie didn't fight, but her body was rigid and her breathing was heavy. Then she relaxed completely, her head lolling back strangely. The fear had melted away from her features when she rolled her neck up to look at him. Her lips were pulled into a lopsided smille that reached to yellow eyes. He let go of her and stumbled backwards. He was flooded with an unexpected rush of adrenaline; as if the more primal parts of his brain were reacting to the threat of a strange predator. In a voice much harsher than he intended he demaned, "What's wrong with you, Yuffie?"
A voice that was half-Yuffie, half-animal purred in his head/Are you scared of us/ The voice slid into his head with the warm softness of fur and the clandestine menace of sheathed claws: a sensation as disgusting as it was irresistable to Red XIII.
"What is there to be afraid of?" he asked hoarsley.
An annoyed look crossed Yuffie's face, and she started closing the distance between them. He recognized the predator's grace, the deadly sensuality as she walked towards him. "Yuffie...?" he asked in disbelief.
Her hands touched his face and held her face close enough to his to breathe in his scent/My name is/ she let her hands roam, dragging her nails past his neck, and over his chest as she began to nuzzle his neck, "Namir," Yuffie finished.
His eyes widened in surprised, and when Yuffie saw his reaction she started to laugh. He threw her off of him, hurling her back on to her bed. "How dare you call yourself by my mother's name!" he hissed.
Namir continued to laugh/Aww, and we were just starting to enjoy ourselves./ Red XIII seethed silently, but did not move towards her.
"How did you know her name?" he asked quietly.
/She chose you at her Henkan. We are of you. We know you./ Namir said with her head propped on one hand, one leg swinging lazily over the edge of the bed as if it were a tail.
"What? Chose me? What are you talking about?"
She sighed exasperatedly then looked at him with hooded eyes/Come to bed with us./ He felt the tantilizing sensation of fur and claw in his mind again, and as he closed his eyes to ward it off he was suddenly overcome with a scent he had not smelled in almost two years--home. It was her. His eyes snapped open and when he looked at the bed Yuffie was gone, and Namir remained.
She was smaller than he had been in his original form. Her fur was so black it shone blue over her feline musulature. A tail tipped with blue flame made the same languid circles as the foot it replaced. Her eyes were yellow, and glinted at him with a look not unlike the one a cat gave a mouse before she devoured it. She bared her teeth in a predatory smile, and suddenly she was Yuffie--human--again. /Come to bed with us, Nanki/ she purred.
He surveyed the creature that looked like Yuffie, but clearly was not. There was a certainty in her gaze that knew he would never harm the body she had so conviently chosen as a sheild. He was suddenly filled with cold resolve.
He would disillusion her.
His lips were drawn into a lazy smile that mirrored hers, and he moved with an easy grace to the bed. Her smile broadened as he worked his way onto the mattress, straddling her hips and capturing her mouth in a deep kiss. As he kissed her, he coaxed Namir further into his mind. He ran his hands through Namir's fur as he allowed his real hands to slide down the length of Yuffie's body. Namir purred and Yuffie moaned with pleasure. He could feel they were almost far enough. He could also feel that if Namir realized what he was doing for one moment everything would be ruined, and he didn't know if she would allow him this opportunity again.
Yuffie rolled him over unexpectedly, and started working on removing his shirt. When she tried to take his shirt off he grabbed her hands to stop her almost reflexively. She growled and with surprising strength wrenched her hands away and ripped away the shirt. Then to show him she meant buisness, she leaned forward and bit down on Red XIII's lower lip. There was a warning edge to the nip, as if daring him to attack. At that same moment, her hand reached the front of Red XIII's pants, and gave a slow, agonizing tug. He bucked into her palm, startled. His amber eyes flashed angrily and Yuffie looked pleased. He tangled their legs and flipped her onto her back, and in turn, bit her around throat, drawing blood from the soft tissue. This time he smiled, her blood still wet on his lips.
An uncertain look crossed Yuffie's face as if she wasn't quite sure how to proceed, but Namir knew exactly what to do. /How dare you mark me/ she rounded viciously on him and her claws flashed as she struck out at him, causing a brilliant pain to streak through his head like a lighting bolt. He didn't back down, and she stared at him with eyes filled with equal parts lust and violence. She was so intently focused on him, she didn't realize what was happening until it was too late. It was an ambush.
It was the blood that had called what was left of the beast in him, and it seemed that sex merely egged him on. He rose from the darkness with a howl that erupted from Red XIII's throat and signified the beginning of the hunt. In his mind eye he could see a vision of himself as he was lunge with claws extended after Namir.Red XIII struggled to maintain control over it, digging his fingers into the mattress in order to protect Yuffie from himself.
The menacing presence of this interloper was enough to send Namir beating a hasty retreat into the recesses of Yuffie's mind. /Do not doubt that I will return. Very, very soon./ She hissed from the safety of Yuffie's mind like a sullen cat screeching defiantly from the protection of a high tree. "I pray for your sake that you don't," he said wry and exausted.
Namir was silent.
Yuffie laid beneath him with her arms crossed protectively over her chest, and her features marred with confusion and panic. Then she began to sob. "I'm so sorry Nanaki. I didn't mean...Oh what have I done?" she choked out between sobs. "I'm so sorry. I'm a monster! I'm a fucking freak! What have those bastards done to me?"
"Shhh, Yuffie it's alright she's gone now. It's ok, it' ok," he said soothingly, lowering himself beside her so he could hold her. "It's alright. I'm fine, you see?"
His arms were wrapped around her and her tears wet his bear chest and the tatters of his shirt. Slowly her sobs quieted to silent tears and she allowed herself to relax into the warmth of his body. "I'm so tired, Nanaki," she whispered.
"So am I, Yuffie," he sighed into her hair. He had never summoned his beast like that before. It was usually only in the heat of battle that he would call upon the primal part of himself that remained from Shiva's curse. He decided to ponder the potential of that ability later.
"Will you stay with me until I fall asleep?" Yuffie asked timidly. The fragilty in her voice felt like a knife in his chest.
"Of course, Yuffie," he murmured, pulling her closer to him.
"Thank you, Nanaki," she took a deep breath, snuggled closer to him, and her breath evened out to the calm breathing of the unconscious. He closed his eyes and gave in to the warm pull of sleep.
The next morning Cid threw Red XIII's door open. "Yo Red, we need to talk about tonight--Oh shit! Sorry!"
Red XIII opened his eyes groggily and looked at the shocked pilot " Oh no, Cid. It's not what it-"
"Cid do you have to be so friggin' loud, some of us are tryin' to sleep, jeez," the brunette head on Red XIII's chest grumbled.
"Well, s'cuze me for wakin' you kids up at the crack of noon," Cid muttered, forgetting his initial shock.
"You're forgiven," Yuffie said before turning over and going back to sleep.
Red XIII's face was almost as red as his hair, but he managed to maintain composure as he walked stiffly across the room to Cid. "We can talk outside."
Cid smirked knowingly and allowed himself to be pulled out of the room by Red XIII. "Wild night, I'm guessing," Cid said after Red XIII had closed the door behind him.
"Yeah, you could say that," Red XIII said nonchalantly, making Cid's smile only get wider. "It's really not what you think," he repeated exasperatedly.
"Oh? What is it then?" Cid inquired, looking pointedly at the tattered shirt, the claw marks on his chest, and Red's slightly swollen lower lip.
"It's," he began, but stopped himself as he remembered Yuffie's self-loathing from the night before after he had been confronted with Namir. He didn't know if it was his place to tell Cid anything, so resolved that ambiguity would be the best idea. "Complicated," he finished.
"Not if you're doin' it right," Cid chuckled, making Red XIII blush again. "But I'm glad you two kids worked it out. The sexual tension was getting unbearable."
"You are aware I'm fifty, right? I'm old enough to be her grandfather."
"Fifity with the body and mind of an 18 year old, heh. Kid, it really doesn't count. Now, the real purpose of my visit was to tell you that I got directions from the hotel manager on how to get to this Master Materia Forger's place from here. He drew up a map, and I'll hand it over to you later," he took a deep breath before continuing. "The second part is to tell you, well..." he trailed off and stuffed his hands into his pockets as he considered the best way to phrase his thought.
"What is it?"
Cid let out a whooshing sigh, "Well, there's no point in sugar coat this, so I'm gonna tell you straight up: me and Vince are bailin' on you."
Red XIII was stunned for a moment, "What?"
"Well, I thought it over and decided a little while after dinner. What it comes down to is this: Vince was shook up pretty bad about what happened in Mideel, worse than he'd care to admit even to me. So, I think that maybe it would be better if maybe we spent this time off together, rather than tripping around the world with you two youngin's," he scratched the back of his head frustratedly. "Don't look at me like some kinda orphan, Nanaki. I feel like a grade-A asshole dumpin' you two midstream like this, but I'd be lying if I didn't say he was my biggest concern. I thought this would be good for him, you know? I thought he'd like the excitement, a change of pace. He always seems bored just hangin' around with me in Rocket Town like some kinda middle-aged housewife," he looked at Red earnestly. "I wanna do right by him, but I have not a damned clue where to start," he finished softly.
Red XIII thought of Yuffie as she laid her head on his chest. The feeling of her soft hair under his chin, her warm breath on his skin, the way her body seemed to mold so perfectly against his, and his realization that he would rather die than let anything harm her. "Yeah, I know exactly what you mean, Cid. Do what you think is right. Between the two of us Yuffie and I can figure out some way to get back to Wutai."
"Great," he said relieved. "I thought you would understand, but I wanted to explain to you anyways," he blushed slightly. "Sorry for goin' all angsty on you; it seems to be catching and I happen to be married to someone who's got it bad."
Red XIII shrugged dismissively, "When do you plan on leaving?"
"I'm not sure, maybe we'll tool around the city for a while. There's really no rush when you have the fastest ship in the world," he said proudly. "Here's the map, by the way," He said as he reached into pocket and retrieved a slightly crumpled piece of paper. "Best of luck with your search and all."
"Thanks, Cid. For everything."
"No biggie, we've literally been to hell and back together, the eight of us. If that doesn't make us family, I don't know what could," he smiled.
Red XIII was suprised by the truth of the idea. He had considered the other members of AVALANCHE to be his closest friends, but family? He supposed Cid was right, and the realization made him smile in return, "Yeah, family, right."
They clasped eachother on the back and went there seperate ways. Cid promised to send Red XIII's regards to Vincent, and Red XIII promised to tell "that brat" that there would be a fee next time she expected Cid to play chauffer for her.
The hot water felt good as it poured down from the shower head onto Yuffie's skin. The steam and heat purged the horror of the night before from her flesh; she felt clean for the first time in almost a day, in control. She had been a prisonner in her own body when Namir had taken over. But...wasn't that what she had wanted? The helplessness had been miserable, but the power, the power was a thing of beauty. She had been flooded with a sort of self-assurance that made her feel invincible, untouchable. Every inch of her body had come alive, as if every sense was magnified and then rendered her previously monochromatic world in glorious, brilliant colors. The paradox of helpless strength was wonderous and abhorent all at once. When she had told Red XIII the night before that she was a monster, she hadn't meant because Namir resided within her. When she looked at the shirt she had ripped in half, the scratches she had left on his chest on shoulders, and the cut where she had bitten into his lip she knew she had enjoyed every moment of it. It was the sadistic self-satisfaction she had felt in the back of her mind made her a monster.
Yuffie let her hand wander up to the healed flesh on her neck where Red XIII had bitten her. She remembered looking at the bite marks in the mirror that morning, and for a fleeting second considered leaving them unhealed. Namir had said he had marked her, and had been horrified at the idea of someone declaring themselves alpha at her expense. She had considered the marks, wondering if there was something wrong with her for wanting to keep this small reminder that she belonged to him. Then she envisioned Cid's knowing smirk and decided to heal the marks with a Cure 2 to be doubly sure that no trace would be left.
As she turned off the water, she began to wonder exactly what the extent of Namir's influnence was--where exactly did Namir's desires end, and her own begin? Her escape the other night had blurred the line, and the idea of her emotions being so thourougly manipulated disgusted her. She was toweling off as she heard a door close in the other room, and wondered why Red XIII would return so soon. Then, it struck her: this was Nanaki's room. She suddenly felt sheepish as she realized that she had slept in his bed the night before, and had just finished taking a shower in his bathroom. Deciding she might as well just go along with it, she snagged a robe off the hook on the back of the door leading to the bedroom, and finally returned to the next room.
Red XIII stood with his back to her as he crained over something on the room's only desk. His hands were flat on the desk and his plaited hair laid down the length of his bare, tanned back. She stepped over the tattered heap that had been his shirt, and he looked at her over his shoulder. "Morning," he greeted her. "Or afternoon, rather."
"Hi," she said, feeling uncharecteristically shy. She felt a twinge of wariness like a warning growl in the back of her mind. She recognized immediately that it wasn't her own emotion and tried her best to ignore it, but couldn't help smirking--Namir had apparently gained a healthy respect for Red XIII the night before, or at least a sizable grudge.
"Come over here and look at this," he said moving over to make room for her. "This is the map to the Master Materia Forger's home."
She crossed the room and examined the map, after a moment she shrugged. "We could probably make it in a couple of hours, maybe longer because of the forest and all. Word on the street is that the Kalmian forests aren't nearly as nasty now as they were during the first years of Reconstruction."
"From the overabundance of monster hunters, I'd assume."
"Probably," she looked him over before she said. "Maybe I should go so you can get ready. I'm guessin' that you wanna go ASAP, right?"
"Sure, in a moment," he said abstractedly. "Yuffie," he began softly. "I think we need to talk about last night."
"There's nothing to discuss, Nanaki," she started stubbornly, but she saw the look in his eyes and finished "but if you think so, then fine. Fire away. I'm not gonna promise to know everything." She took a seat on the edge of the bed and looked at him expectantly.
"Ok. How long has this been going on?"
"Has what been going on?"
"Yuffie, could you not be difficult for once?" he said pleadinginly.
She rolled her eyes and looked pointedly at his feet, "Technically, it was probably the night of my Henkan ceremony. The same night I kissed you," she explained. "Officially, I dunno, I felt her for the first time yesterday night, but this is the first time she ever "emerged", I guess."
Red XIII was puzzled, "But I thought you missed the Henkan Ceremony."
Yuffie scoffed, " I wasn't present for my Henkan Ceremony, but I didn't miss it. That wily old bastard and his cronies have never felt the need to fight fairly. Either way, I knew that they had figured I woulda stuck around after they had forced The Bitch on me. Must've been a helluva a surprise when he came back yesterday morning and I was gone," she said with a satisfied smirk.
"Maybe you should have stayed, Yuffie," he suggested after a pause. "At least until you knew how to control this thing."
Her eyes became wide with indignation, but not wanting to tempt fate she continued calmly, "I thought I would have more time. I mean, I had always heard you were "bound" to your Henka, or whatever, but I guess I had never really thought about what that meant. Maybe I just ignored it cause Godo had always told me that it took months of training for you to even assume your Henka. Guess the part about the nasty psychological side effects slipped his mind."
"I see."
There was a pensive silence after he spoke. His gaze seemed to have turn inward as he weighed this new information, leaving her alone in the quiet. She studied him as he thought, taking in the deep scratches on his chest that ran like raw red ribbons on the patchwork of his already scarred chest. Her handiwork. The knowledge both humiliated and aroused her, so she chose to let it slip through her notice. She had a sudden urge to escape his room, the walls that were beginning to close in on her, and his presence that was like a constant unpleasent reminder of all that seemed to have come undone so quickly. "Well, if the Q and A is over would you happen to know where my room is?"
He looked at her as if awakening from a deep sleep. "It's right next door. All your stuff should be in there."
"Thanks," she said getting up to leave.
"Wait, Yuffie," he stood as well, touching her shoulder lightly as she passed. She jerked away as if she had been burnt.
An uncomfortable moment passed where Red XIII's stunned and slightly hurt expression was reflected back at in him in Yuffie's guilty one. "I dunno why I did that," she admitted almost too softly for him to hear, the truth of it like a punch to her gut. "What did you wanna ask me?"
"It's not important. Don't worry about it," he said tightly before returning to the map.
Yuffie could think of nothing to say that could take back the moment. She managed an apologetic look before heading out the door.
Later, she sat on the edge of the bed in her own room staring at the wall that connected her room to Red XIII's and replayed the moment in her mind, letting her mind roam to the night before as her hands had roamed his body. Where did Namir's desires end and her's begin? The question was like a Sphinx's unsolvable riddle sent by her father and his cronies to slowly drive her insane. "Good for nothin' ol' dirt bag," she screamed before dramatically chunking a pillow against the wall. A picture of the coast fell from the wall to the floor, its glass shattering into a thousand shinning shards. She was surprised, then pleased. The small act of destruction appeased her frustration like a blood offering to an angry god. She felt ready to face the day. She'd leave the cost to house keeping.
Red XIII walked out into the light and noise of the afternoon. Kalm had grown considerably since he had been here almost a year ago, but it held on to its small town feeling despite all the new comers. Their hotel was situated in what used to be the center of town, but was slowly growing into the commercial center of New Kalm as old tenants of the little huddled buildings were replaced by new buisnesses. He had seen an outcropping of small houses around the outer ring of the city as they had flown-in which, according to one of the men on the ship was called a "suburb" by the natives.
He looked around impatiently for Yuffie who said that she would only be a minute when he heard her footsteps skittering down the stairs behind him.
"Took you long enough," he grumbled.
"I told you I had to grab something from my room," she looked around. "Hey, where are Cid and Vincent?"
" They decided to go back to Rocket Town," Red XIII explained.
"What! How the crap are we gonna get home, then?" Yuffie exclaimed.
"We'll figure something out," he shrugged.
"Well, they better of at least had a good excuse as to why they're friggin' strandin' us up like this," Yuffie sniffed.
Red XIII was silent for a moment as if he were trying to find the magic words that would keep her from causing a scene in the middle of a busy street. "Personal reasons," he decided finally.
She looked at him consideringly before finally rolling her eyes, "Whatev, I could really give anyways. Let's go before I die of boredom. C'mon!"
He shrugged, "Alright, that way," he said pointing north towards the Kalmian Forest.
The Master Materia Forger lived in a two story house in the general seclusion of a clearing a few miles outside of Kalm. Red XIII pushed open the ivy-laden gate, and he and Yuffie walked into the grassy courtyard.
Sunlight streamed in through the leaves making bright splashes of light and dark shadows dance together across their faces. They came to a wooden porch and Red XIII knocked on the door three times. Behind the door, they could hear a muffled voice answer "Coming!". They stood back and waited, and waited, and waited until a little girl opened the door.
The child carried a wooden spoon coated in a gooey mess of chocolate chips and dough.Her face, apron, and cotton candy pink pig-tails were all covered with a fine layer of flour. The girl's pig-tails fell behind her shoulders as she tilted her head back to look up at Red XIII. " Hiya! Umm, can I help you guys with something?" she asked, absently wiping flour from her hands to her already flour covered apron.
Nanki squatted down so that he was eye level with the girl. " Hello, Miss. We wish to speak with the Master Materia Forger. Is she here right now?"
"Sure," she smiled. "C'mon in!" she said welcoming them in with the wave of a gooey spoon. They followed her to the living room. "Make yourselves comfortable, it'll be a second," she said right before disappering behind another door.
Yuffie inhaled deeply, the smell of freshly baked cookies saturated the air. "Wow, that smells really good," she remarked appretiatively.
"Yes it does," he agreed.
"Thanks, I'm making a fresh batch," the little girl said. She had reappeared wearing a clean dressed that matched the color of her pig-tails, and her hands and hair were free of flour. She climbed into a large easy chair, and took on a business-like air despite the fact that her feet did not touch the ground. "So, how can I help you guys?"
Red blinked in confusion for a moment, then laughed. "No, no, you misunderstood me. I wanted to see the Master Materia Forger."
"I AM the Master Materia Forger," she answered indignantly.
Yuffie snorted, " C'mon kid, it's really not cute anymore."
"I am and I'll prove it to you!" she jumped off the chair and pointed her spoon at Yuffie. "Chantez." she said in a commanding tone.
" What are you going to fo? Point me into submission?" Yuffie asked sarcastically.
" This is not enough.
I'm in serious shit, I feel totally lost.
If I'm asking for -"
She quickly covered her mouth to keep herself from singing. She removed them again hesitantlly
"What the hell is wrong with me?
My friends say I should act my age
What's my age again? What's my age again?"
She put both hands firmly on her mouth and kept them there this time.
"Do you believe me now?" the girl asked with both hands on her hips.
"What did you do to her?" Red XIII asked as he watched Yuffie desprately trying to stifle the next song that was trying to escape her lips.
"The "Sing" materia was one of the first I ever synthesised. I think it was a "Manipulate" materia infused with a Siren's harp string. It makes the target sing bad pop music. Intresting effect, huh?" she said watching Yuffie with a look of childish amusement on her small face.
"I dont care who you are
Where you're from
As long as you love me."
Yuffie interrupted, then immediately slapped her hands back on her mouth.
"Could you please take it off of her? It's really killing her. I'm sure she'll be more polite afterwards, right Yuffie?" Red XIII said casting the brunnette a look. She quickly nodded her agreement.
"Umm, okay," she threw Yuffie a Remedy, which the ninja girl drank gratefully.
"Who the hell do you think you are!" Yuffie barked at the younger girl. Red XIII facefaulted: was Yuffie actually trying to piss off this girl?
"I'm Minnie Aruna, Master Materia Forger. Please to meet you," she curtsied.
"You know that's not what I meant you little-" Red XIII glared daggers at her and she immediately shut her mouth.
"We'd like to ask for your help Miss Aruna."
"Minnie, please."
"Yes, Minnie, I'm looking to have a rare type of materia made. It's called "Fenris". Are you familiar with it?"
She tapped her chin with her spoon thoughtfully, then said finally "It's been sometime since I was asked to make Fenris." She appraised him consideringly, her eyes suddenly too old for her youthful face. "The last Fenrir," she said with sadness in her voice. He nodded and she smiled gently at him. She looked at Yuffie with a mixture of amusement and new appreciation, "Your friend suddenly makes sense."
Yuffie, apparently sensing the shift in their hostess as well, was astonished for a moment, "What the hell kinda kid are you?"
Minnie giggled, childish once again, "A cute one? But oh!" she squealed clapping her hands together, "It's just like a fairy tale! The frog prince, you know?"
"Not this again," Red XIII groaned, and Yuffie couldn't help but smirk.
"I apologize, I thought everyone liked that story," she said crestfallen, but then immediately perked up again. "Well, I think I can help you. I'll need a few things though, some I probably have here. Lesse, I have that, that, and a lot of those," she said counting the list on her fingers with the spoon. "Ok, so all I'll need are mastered "Transform" and "Heal" materias, and a Christened Blossom."
"We have the materia, but where can we find this Christened Blossom?" Red XIII asked.
" Oh they only grow in one place, and it's very close-by. Lucky for you two, huh?"
"So...where is it?" Yuffie inquired impatiently.
"Midgar, actually. There is, well, was a church in the Sector 5 slums where flowers were grown by a Cetran woman. Beautiful flowers," she sighed dreamily. "Powerful, too. You gotta promise to only take one, because they're really special," she said looking at them sternly.
Both Red XIII and Yuffie's eyes had gone wide, "Aeris' flowers?" Red XIII breathed.
"It can't be..." Yuffie trailed off.
Minnie looked between the two of them puzzled, " Is something wrong."
"No, just a strange coinicidence, that's all," Red XIII answered. "Is it still necissary to get clearance before going into Midgar?"
Minnie tapped her chin with her spoon again, "I'm not sure," she shrugged finally. "You'll just have to ask around about that."
"Real helpful, kid," Yuffie muttered.
"I know. Momma always used to say so," Minnie agreed brightly.
Yuffie rolled her eyes and seemed to be on the brink of making another comment when Red XIII interrupted. "Thank you Minnie. Here," he handed the girl the "Transform" and "Heal" materias. "We'll be back with the Christened Blossom."
"Alright, I'll have cookies for you when you come back," she grinned.
"Let's go, Yuffie," he said nudging the Ninja girl.
"Yeah, let's go," she said sparing the little girl a wary glance.
Yuffie streched in the inconstant sunlight of the front yard. "Is it just me, or does it seem like every five minutes someone's sending us somewhere? ' Go see blah-blah in Kalm on the other side of the world." Or ' Fetch blah-blah from the world's biggest hell hole, tee-hee'" she said imitating Minnie's high voice. "Don't you ever get tired of it?"
Red XIII was lost in his own thoughts. Something had been nagging at his memory since Minnie had told them what would be necissary to make the "Fenris" materia. He groped at whatever it was that danced elusively on the edge of his recollection, only to sense its importance but remain incapable of fathoming what that importance was. What was so important about flowers?
He realized that Yuffie was staring at him impatiently, and he guessed that she had been talking to him, "What?"
She sighed dramatically, "Never mind. You're friggin' hopeless." Her stomach rumbled loudly, "Ugh, I'm starved! Let's grab somethin' to eat when we get back to Kalm." He agreed and they set off for town.