Disclaimer: Nope, FF7 not mine. Sowwy…

Chapter 6

"- OW" Barret yelled, toppling over from the impact.

Everyone circled around Barret trying to spot who, or what, it was. Weapons were out, and everyone was on edge; considering they were surprised from an unidentified foe from behind, that's likely…(I'd have my sword out too…)

Shade stepped forward a little, with his sword hanging from right hand. "Harper?" he called "Harper, is that you?" he paused. "Come on out! It's me."

Tifa looked for the 'Harper' character but could see no one in sight. She was just about to suggest it might not have been this person he was looking for. She opened her mouth to speak her mind but closed it after seeing a head poke out from the shadows, a form following.

"Harper! I knew it was you!" said Shade, running to greet her.

"Shade! I'm so glad I found you!" she said hugging him, "I thought you had died."

"Why would you think that?" He asked, holding her from him by her shoulders, examining her.

"Well…considering I saw about 34 or 35 bodies of Shinra soldiers with a lot of blood and some of it was yours…yeah, I think I have the right to make some conclusions."

Cid just laughed spontaneously "HA!" He was cut off then when Tifa glared at him. But Harper had already noticed.

"So? Who are these funny looking people?" she asked him.

"Funny people? Who you calling funny?" Barret yelled defensively.

Tifa thought she wasn't that funny looking at all. She was nearly the same height as Shade, around average, and in a lot of black. Black boots, black pants, black belt and black shirt. One so black would've looked kind of funny, but it actually seemed to fit her personality, making it look even better. She had a deep blood colored trench coat where Tifa could see a few various guns. The coat and her hair matched almost perfectly.

"Yeah! We aren't funny!" Yuffie yelled in defense of herself; being the funniest looking of the lot.

"Oh really…" she paused. "Maybe one or two of you want to prove to me who looks funnier eh?"

No one moved.

"I'm just kidding." She said after she realized she couldn't hold it in much longer, she laughed…like an idiot…like a maniac…like a baboon or something. Barret actually had to step back a few feet.

"Guys." Shade addressed, holding back his own laughter, "This is my friend, Harper."

"Hi!" she said with a wave, as if it were a funny joke.

"Barret" Barret gruffed

"Yuffie"

"Cloud"

"Tifa"

"Vincent"

"That's all of you, right?" Shade asked, looking around. "Yeah I think so…there's also Red, who's back at Avalanche base babysitting Marlene, Barret's daughter, and the bar while they wait for their neighbor to come home; so he can catch up later." He explained to her.

"Avalanche huh?"

"And proud of it!" said Barret.

"I see" she replied, pondering. "Oh yeah!" she said, turning to Shade, "Follow me. I brought you some of your stuff."

Harper turned away walking in the direction from where the Avalanche group had come, after about three minutes they were standing in a camp that they had somehow passed up without noticing.

She walked into the small tent for a minute and returned with a handful of things. "Here" she said, dumping into Shade's arms "Its your coat, gun, extra clothes, boots, spare knife, sweat band, and medicine…" she told the funny look he gave her. She sighed in mock frustration, you can get ready in my tent; just make sure you close the flap while you strip if you don't mind.

Shade broke out in a grin and walked inside, closing the flap behind him.

"Medicine?" Cloud repeated "For what?"

"Oh, it's nothing. Ever since I met him he gets awfully bad headaches at random moments. I mean, any second he could just fall over clutching his head in pain. I was afraid they would kill him because nothing would work to help him, and one day he just knew how to make one that could." She explained.

'That isn't nothing now is it?" Vincent muttered

"What kind of headaches?" Tifa asked, ignoring Vincent.

"Bad ones. I've never seen anyone with those kinds of headaches. He doesn't get them so often anymore, only about once a month or so, but they've hurt him more as he gets older. The last one almost made him pass out; I'm guessing the next one will. And if it's not one of those it's almost like a regular headache that keeps you from thinking straight. He gets that kind all the time."

"Why didn't he ever tell us?" Barret asked

"Maybe he didn't want us to worry" Yuffie suggested

"Maybe…"

"Anyway…I'm really glad you helped him out after he was attacked, if he didn't have those headaches he probably wouldn't have needed the assistance."

Tifa wondered if that was why he ended their duel so quickly the night before "I'd like to see him fight with a clear head…" Tifa said aloud

"No…you wouldn't." she warned. "He's a freak when he does that. I've only seen it once, and I could barely see him."

The conversation was ended when a black and red dressed character came out of the tent. He looked a lot like Harper in dress color and everything…but was actually quite different. Their trench coats matched. He had his sword strapped to his back with the gun and knife on his belt. He wasn't wearing his sweatband, but had wet his hair. As he walked over to stand next to Harper, Tifa began to think they were a couple.

"Well? How do I look?" he asked running his right hand through his damp hair.

Tifa thought he looked better than Cloud in that particular dress, but she couldn't judge.

"Very nice…" she said aloud. Yuffie turned and looked at her funny. Tifa could only keep looking forward.

"Hey" said Yuffie, turning back over to Shade "What's that?" she asked, pointing to something hanging from his neck.

"Huh?" he said looking down; he spotted the amulet on the chain (the one that was his mother's) and stuck it inside his shirt. "Don't mind that. It's just something that belonged to my mother once…Well?" he asked, changing the subject, "Shouldn't we get going?"

The group mumbled their agreement and in a few moments the camp was packed up and on Harper's back. There really hadn't been very much. She walked over to a small cave and stuck her bedroll and other camping stuff inside, keeping only what she needed. "I'll come back for it later." She explained to the group "I don't expect I'll be needing to carry it with me for no reason."

She walked over to Shade in the front and grabbed his hand and began walking with him side by side. When Shade noticed they weren't following he looked over his shoulder "Well…? Let's go!"

"At least someone knows how to do it…" Barret muttered to Cid louder than necessary, referring to Cloud's usual 'Mosey' phrase. Cloud scowled at him, mumbling something to Tifa. But Tifa wasn't listening. Her eyes were focused ahead.

She didn't know exactly why, but she felt her face was going redder than Harper's trench coat.

They walked for a few more hours until dark. Harper and Shade were in deep conversation, as well as everyone else. The group was separate but together. The conversations weren't loud, so as not to be overheard.

Yuffie had come up to Tifa some time ago spurting out question about Shade and Harper, and wanted to know Tifa's opinion. It was hard for Tifa to keep her face at a normal color.

Up ahead…

"You didn't tell them yet, did you?" Harper asked.

They had been recollecting memorable events form their childhood when she came with the question.

"About what? How I love you and we're married? My mother being an Ancient and me being that last? How that's why I have headaches? Which one?"

"All of it. Look, Shade. You can't hide all of this forever. You're going to have to tell them you're an Ancient sooner or later…"

"I know. But not yet. I need more information first."

Harper sighed.

"What?" he asked.

"What do you mean 'what'?"

"I mean 'What?' I know that sigh. It's what you do when you want to say something because your frustrated and then you don't because you're afraid to hurt my feelings or offend me or something…"

"I'm not frustrated. I guess it's just your stupidity." She told him.

"What stupidity?"

"Shade. You didn't even tell them we're married…and to tell the truth I think that Tifa girl likes you. Yeah, I know Yuffie thinks you're hot and all, but Tifa likes you. Like, likes you likes you. But we are married. You are going to have to tell her that eventually. Unless you plan on divorcing me and running around for other women

"You know I wouldn't do that." He told her. He was shocked she would even mention such a thing about him.

"Yes, Shade, I know. I'm just making a point. But you are going to have to tell her sooner or later."

"Me! Why me?"

"Because you started it"

"No I didn't. I didn't even think she'd like me. Besides, I hear she fancies Cloud, according to Barret. And she always has, for years."

"Barret huh?"

"Yeah, Barret. And that's all the assurance I need."

"Well, maybe Cloud doesn't like her and she's going for a new outlook. Apparently they haven't gotten together if she has like him for years." Harper pointed out.

"Harper. I'm sorry to say this…but you make things so damn complicated it's an effort just to think."

Harper laughed, "Well, we ARE supposed to argue aren't we? I mean, we are married and all."

"Good point."

Harper was just about to turn and smile at him, but before she could do so their hands were separated and he was going to his knees on the ground, clutching his head with his hand and his eyes shut tight.

"Shade!" Tifa and Harper yelled at the same time. Harper somewhat caught him and helped him to his knees so he wouldn't fall.

The whole group came at once to see what was wrong.

"Shade, the pills!" Harper said, kneeling next to him, holding his head.

He put his hand in his pocket with eyes still closed and handed them to Harper, who tossed it to Cid to open it. She began to talk to him to make him calm down before he panicked and blacked out.

"Why do they make these damn things so damn small? They're so damn hard to open." Cid said, fumbling with the top.

Shade yelled aloud in pain.

"I mean, why don't they do some screw-on stuff instead of this pop-the-top thing. It's just to damn complicated…"

"CID!"

Shade yelled again, seeing only black. Harper kept whispering to him.

"Gimme those…" Vincent gruffed, swiping the pills from Cid.

YESS….It's longer! Like 6 pages! RECORD! REVIEW PLEASE!

P.S. Oh, about the marriage thing…sorry Harper, I thought it would be great to actually see Tifa and someone else fight over someone other than Cloud. To me it sounds like a cool idea, so I tried it. If you don't like it then let me know. I PROMISE we won't have to do that for our 'thing'. Later girl! Tell me how you like it!

…Chewing gum is really gross, chewing gum I hate the most! MWHAHAHA