Title: Happily Ever After
Chapter: Initial Encounter
Author: Raserei Hojo
Summary: FF Crossover. When you die, you're not really gone. In two separate worlds, two young men with different goals died. In the darkness, they meet. But, within a short amount of time, will their souls be erased from time as the law states?
Rating: T
Feedback: Very much so desired!
Story Warnings: Male/Male, shounen-ai
Pairings: Kuja/Sephiroth
Disclaimer: Any recognizable characters of Final Fantasy VII or Final Fantasy IX belong to Squaresoft. Any that are NOT recognizable belong to me. However, feel free to use them in any story you wish.
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Frost must have been covered the ground a while after Kuja had fallen asleep. His body's natural reaction was to shiver, which woke him up several times during his sleep. He lay there with his eyes closed the entire time in hopes of finding warmth in his sleep. The argument with that Sephiroth person had really wore him out. As the minutes crawled by, Kuja angrily found that he was growing restless. With a sleepy groan, he pulled his face from the crook of his arm, hauling himself into a sitting position. Sighing heavily, he opened his eyes and looked around his world which was no longer depressingly black.
Kuja was sitting on some kind of cobblestone road that didn't particularly seem to have an end. Excited with his new discovery, he jumped to his feet and eagerly looked around. Confusion soon masked his features as he realized he was the only one in his 'private' prison.
"Oh, just lovely! I can't believe I was talking to myself for so long that my brain invented an imaginary friend." Kuja shook his head and ran a hand through his silver hair. "The silver in my hair looks gray." His eyes took in the condition of his clothing. "At least my clothes are fine. But still, I can't help but feel I need a bath."
Looking around his prison again, he realized that chances of soaking in a soothing hot bath where non-existant. "How cruel. At the very least, couldn't I have been locked in some place like a house!"
The mist clinging to the ground became suffocating to Kuja. Glaring around in search for Sephiroth, he took a few steps forward with absolutely no idea where he was going.
"Sephiroth! Where are you?" he called out hopelessly. "I know you're here. You've got to be here. I'm not quite that insane yet!" He waited for an answer, grumbling when he received none. Refusing to believe Sephiroth was a figment of his imagination, he continued. "I swear, I will hunt you down and Magick you until you're dead, or as close to dead as you can get here. We are dead, aren't we?"
Silence. Not even the sound of wind reached his ears. "Sephiroth...? You're not a figment of my imagination, right? Please say no." Kuja wrapped his arms around his waist. "Say anything!" Perhaps my mind did create him...
"Do you ever stop rambling?"
Kuja gasped, spinning around. Or not, he concluded. His ocean-blue eyes blinked, staring at a broad chest with crisscrossed leather straps. Hesitantly, he forced his eyes to travel upward. "Sephiroth, I take it?" Now that there was proof, Kuja didn't feel so alone or afraid anymore, and he most certainly didn't feel insane anymore. He was confident that there would be a way out.
"Kuja." Sephiroth sardonically stated.
"Yes, that's my name. When you say it though, it seems wrong." Kuja quirked an eyebrow, trying to forget about the short lapse of concentration on his surroundings. If Sephiroth had wanted, he probably could have shoved a dagger through his back. He swallowed dryly at the thought and forced himself to glare into the other man's eerie deep green eyes.
Sephiroth ran a leather gloved hand through his mass of long silver hair, smirking maliciously. "So?"
"Arrogant, aren't we." Kuja glared moodily at the tall man. "You think you know everything."
"Maybe I do know everything, have you ever thought about that?"
Kuja crossed his arms over his chest. "No one knows everything."
The smile on Sephiroth's face twisted into a dark scowl. "Just who do you think you are, talking to me like that." He advanced towards Kuja. "Do you think you're a god or something? Do you think you're better than me?"
Backing away slightly, fully aware that Sephiroth was a full head higher and twice as muscular, Kuja gathered his courage once more. "Well, who do you think you are? Do you think you're the ruler of this place? Because obviously, you're not. You most certainly don't look very bright, and I bet you've been here for years without figuring the way out of here."
Both of Sephiroth's brows were raised. "I think you're the arrogant one. I gather that from the way you dress, you like to show off."
Kuja rested his hands on his hips. "Maybe I do."
"It's not an accusation really. It's a true fact. I can tell." Sephiroth leaned forward to more clearly examine Kuja's attire. "You should be wearing pants over...what is it, a thong?"
"What I wear is none of your concern! I could walk around with nothing on except the thong, and I wouldn't give a damn about what you think."
Sephiroth shrugged and rested a hand on his waist. Kuja watched him, noticing the hilt of an extremely long and narrow sword strapped to the man's side. Sephiroth smiled keenly as he watched Kuja's eyes widen with fear. "Do you like my sword? It's called the Masamune."
"You...you name your sword?" It must be a seriously lethal killing weapon.
"Hmm, I didn't name it, but I do like the sound of it, so, I kept the title." He tilted his head sideways, still grinning. "It can cut through Mythril. Yes, I said Mythril."
Kuja gave a feeble smile and nodded. "I-I see."
"It can cut through flesh quite easily... It's been covered in blood many times, but it's never once actually stained the metal. Amazing, isn't it."
"Yes. It... it is." Kuja took a shaky breath and tried to calm himself down. "It's very amazing indeed." He's trying to scare me off, isn't he?
Sephiroth continued to watch him, staring at Kuja as if the younger man was to be the next victim of the Masamune. The smile on his face was looking much more pleasant now. Suddenly he lunged forward, sword drawn.
"Ah!" Kuja quickly staggered back, desperately wishing magic worked in Hell.
The older man skidded to a stop an inch away from Kuja and leaned over him. "Boo."
Kuja growled and shoved him back. "What the hell did you do that for?"
Sephiroth shrugged again and straightened. "I don't know." He brushed his hair behind his shoulders and turned, heading off into the distance. "You scare very easily."
Breathing heavy, Kuja placed a hand over his chest to feel his rapidly beating heart. "You're insane," he said breathlessly. "And where do you think you're going?"
"To find the way out. Care to join me?"
Kuja scoffed and looked aside. "Not really."
Sephiroth shrugged once more and rotated his shoulders a bit. "Suit yourself. I don't care, I was just showing that I have 'manners'. I would prefer if you didn't come anyway."
Snarling, Kuja stomped after the swordsman. "Oh shut up."
Sephiroth glanced back at him. "I thought you didn't want to come."
"I don't."
"And yet, you're following me."
"Consider it payback for trying to scare me senseless."