Ch. 4. Pancake breakfast and shopping.
Waking up turned out to be quite a trial for me. I had never slept in such a comfortable bed before. I finally rolled over and opened my eyes to see a mass of silver on the opposite side of the bed. Sephiroth was asleep. I guess it was expected since he had possible stayed up for two days. As quietly as I could I slipped out of the bed and out the door, making my way downstairs. My stomach let out a roar letting me know it was hungry. I went into the kitchen which was rather small compared to the rest of the apartment. The counter space was limited but much larger than my own at home. I searched through the cupboards and found pancake mix along with eggs in the fridge. And so I prepared my favorite breakfast, pancakes with two eggs over easy on top. Very good.
After words I cleaned up the dishes, I didn't want to make the clean place look bad. I grabbed my newly washed clothes and a bag of gil from the table and set off out the front door. The part of Junon we were in was run down indeed. There were no people in sight and there weren't even any shops until two levels down. I didn't see a tram coming up any time soon so opted for a set of steep stairs on the edge of the street. One hundred and twenty five steps later and I was now on what seemed to be a street like an outdoor mall. I walked past clothes shops, food stores, restaurants and even an antique shop before I came to a weapons dealer. I walked in and was suddenly surrounded by silver weapons. Swords, spears, guns, throwing stars, staves, and everything else you could think of. I walked over to the sword case when one behind the counter caught my eye. It was a long black and red katana. It was very plain but very beautiful. Unlike my own sword this one had a curve to the blade and was a little shorter, maybe two feet instead of my normal three. The sheath was wrapped in black and red cloth kind of woven in together. The shop owner finally noticed me and approached the counter.
"I'd say that one is a little out of your league little lady"
"Just hand me that sword." I instructed. He gave me a funny look but did as he was told. Apparently I didn't look strong enough to handle a sword in his opinion. He held it out to me and I took it in my hands.
"Now careful little miss, that one's pretty sharp. Wouldn't want to scar that face of yours." He practically laughed in my face. I pulled the blade out of it's sheath and put it to his throat. He shut up after that. I stepped away from the counter and practiced some stances with it, then a few swings and jabs.
"How much?" I asked.
"Oh, you wouldn't be able to pay for that one." He replied, closely watching where the blade went.
"I asked how much, not your opinion." "It's, uh, five thousand gil." He finally got out. I took out the pouch and handed him the gil. "Thank you little miss." He said as I walked toward the door.
"If I ever hear of you giving a woman trouble I will come after you. And don't call me little." I tied the sword to my left hip and walked out. I hated my shortness, why must people rub it in? Then I made my way down to one of the many clothes shops on the street. I ended up buying two more pairs of black pants, a second pair of boots, and two more tops, one a black tight t-shirt, the other a black halter top. I was on my way back to Sephiroth's apartment when a store window caught my eye. There was a skirt in the window that looked almost exactly like Yuna's gun mage skirt. I walked in and inquired to find out that it was one of a kind. It was the same except it was black and silver instead of blue and purple. I left and headed back up the stairs to the apartment, bags in hand.
Upon return to the apartment I found no sign of life. It seemed like Seph had just disappeared. 'oh well' I thought, throwing down my bags and trying on an outfit. I was just putting the finishing touches on my black pants and halter when Sephiroth walked in the door. "We will be leaving here in two days." He said as he walked past and sat down on an overstuffed couch. Typical a man wouldn't notice something new if it slapped him in the face. "That 'shirt' isn't exactly something for travel." He stated without even looking up. I took back that thought. The afternoon was a lazy one in which he sat on the couch, and me on the floor watching the news. The only thing that had played all day was the footage of an explosion. Of course I knew it was AVALANCHE'S doing. My plan of action had been slowly forming as we sat in silence. I would try to change Sephiroth's mind. And if that didn't work, which I seriously doubted it would, I would at least stop him from killing Aeris. She had been one of my favorite characters in the game. I loved her personality and how innocent she was. Just to be murdered in front of her friends. I had cried the first time I saw it.
"You have been silent." Came a voice from behind me.
"I have a lot on my mind." I replied, taking on my cool 'not caring' attitude. "May I inquire as to your plans and how I am involved"
"I am on a.. quest." He began. I knew he was going to make it sound like something wonderful or something. "I am searching the world. I'm not sure what for, I won't know until I find it." "And you need me to do this?" I asked.
"There are those out to stop me. And I could use assistance in that department." I decided to leave it at that, knowing I wouldn't get anything else out of him. Besides, I really didn't want to piss him off. I may be in love with the man, but I am still terrified of him. But me being me, I have to shout at least one random thing per day, and I was obviously lacking for the past two. Sephiroth had apparently decided to look through my shopping bags when he pulled out the skirt.
"My hard earned gil was spent on this? I can't even tell what it is?" I jumped up from my spot and grabbed it from him.
"It's a skirt you Seph! And it's mine..my own…..my precious…" I stood there staring at the cloth in my hands then realized how stupid I must have sounded. The expression on Seph's face was..different. It was a mixture of confusion and humor. At his face I threw the skirt back at him and dropped to the floor laughing. Apparently he didn't mind the nickname too much. I had always wondered how he would react to being called Seph.
"Don't use that name for me again, or your travels will be short." Sephiroth was giving me a death glare and it sent chills up my spine. I sobered up right quick and headed to bed after that, not wanting to provoke his anger.
The next morning was a calm one, in which I raided Sephiroth's fridge to find eggs and bacon. After eating I ended up going up to the roof of the building with my new sword for some practice. For three hours I thrusted, parryed, slashed, blocked, and destroyed my imaginary foe. By the time I was finished it was at least eighty degrees out and very humid. Needless to say, I was sweaty.
I went back in for a much needed shower. Afterwords I noticed something. No Sephiroth. I checked every room, even the closet, and found no sign of him. You would think he would tell me he was going out! I proceeded to find a radio and turned it on, scanning through stations. To my pleasant surprise it was playing Sean Paul. Who would have thought! I figured I would ask about it later but for now was content to put on my skirt and black halter top to dance around and clean up my mess. I know, I'm weird but hey, when else was I going to get to wear it?
I continued dancing around as I made my way into the kitchen to make some lunch. Mac and cheese ladies and gents. Oh yes. I'm a good cook, hee hee. The song had switched to S.O.S and I was singing along stirring in my cheese when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I stopped swaying to the beat and turned slowly to look into two glowing green eyes staring at me, one eyebrow raised. I blushed and said " Ahh ta heck with it", and turned around to continue singing. I don't think I'm a good singer, but Sephiroth never did tell me to stop, so I assumed it wasn't too horribly bad.
After I dished out the mac and cheese and we ate in silence, I picked up the dishes and took them to the sink to start washing. That's when 'be with you' by Mary J. Blige came on. I love the song and started softly singing again washing up our bowls. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but before I knew it, Sephiroth had grabbed my hands from the sink, and began dancing with me. It's one of those moments you know you will never forget. And of course, I fell even deeper in love with the man. The song ended, and as fast as he came, Sephiroth was gone.
I quickly finished up the dishes and cleaned up. We spent the rest of the day in silence, then went to bed.
Sounds good right? Well, then you have to consider that I was woken up at two o'clock that morning. "What the hell?" I yelled. "Don't ya know it's night time!"
"It's time to leave." His voice was cold again. I moved quickly, and ten minutes later, we were heading down to the dock in Junon.