Okie…Chapter Seven.
Disclaimer: Don't own FF7 characters…
Starlit Anabelle: Grin evilly So…going to get cozy with a certain guy?
Vincent'sgirl06: blush Shut up! Um…maybe sheepishly
Starlit Anabelle: XD
They somehow managed to find a vacant room in the tiny hotel of Icicle Village. The room was big enough; it had enough space to hold two beds, a recliner, and a small bathroom. Yuffie let out a 'whoop' and lunged for the closest bed, the ninja over shot and landed on the edge of the bed; the bed springs bounced back and deposited Yuffie on the floor in a heap, the ninja lay there with swirly eyes. "Not coool." She moaned as Dena stifled a laugh at the poor girl's expense; the room was warm and was greatly appreciated.
"Poor Yuffie." Dena chuckled as Yuffie pulled herself off of the floor and deposited herself on to the bed, the ninja sighed in satisfaction and rolled over on to her back; she asleep almost instantly. "So...her sugar high does have its limitations..." Dena smiled
Vincent chuckled. "I suppose it does." He replied…At that moment, the 'Great Ninja Yuffie'...the 'White Rose of Wutai'...began to snore. Vincent sighed, sitting down in the recliner. "Even when she's asleep..." he started.
Dena sweatdropped as the tiny girl started snoring, putting her father in the other world to shame. "Hey Vincent...let me borrow your gun for a minute." Dena said. Vincent blinked in response.
"No." He replied which caused Dena to sighed.
"Okay fine..." She said as she crept over to the sleeping ninja and gently poked her in the side...once...twice...three times… Yuffie groaned and swatted away at the bothersome intruder. The sleeping ninja rolled over on to her side and stopped her snoring, "Well...that takes care of that." Dena said as she climbed on to the other bed, she leaned her back against the head board and drew her knees to her chest. "I wonder how long it will take the others to reach us..." Dena said as she rested her chin on her knees, she could feel her eyes become heavy and sleepy; the first time in a long time, she didn't like it...the feeling of not being in control.
"Not long..." Vincent replied. "But they can only land their ship on flat, grassy areas. They'll have to land on one of the snow-less peninsulas, and then the hike up here will be about a couple of hours... I'd say about four hours or so."
"Hm..." Dena mumbled as her eyes began to drift close despite her mental orders not to.
"You need to go to sleep...the potion healed your wounds but it did not give your body the rest it needs." Vincent said and Dena nodded ever so slightly.
"You're right." She said her voice was soft and her eyes had begun to un-focus. She moved away from the head board and lay down on the bed; she curled up on her side and pulled the comforter on top of her, she rested her head on one of the small pillows.
Vincent watched her slowly drift off to sleep before walking over to the fireplace and tossing another log in. He glanced back at her and realized that this was the first time he had ever seen her actually and truly sleep…not the empty sleep that she had gotten in the reactor. She seemed so peaceful... He smiled lightly and walked over to the window seat and sat down to watch the white crystalline flakes drift softly onto the fields of snow.
Dena curled deeper in the warm comforter, her mind drifted in-between the worlds of awake and sleep; even so...she didn't expect the abrupt wake up call. "DENNAAA!" A voice screamed and a body landed on the bed almost launching Dena; it didn't take three guesses to see who it was. "Kaori...let go." Dena groaned as she squirmed in her friends grasp, her friend had her arms wrapped around Dena's mid section and it felt like Kaori was trying to pinch her friend in half.
"Why! We were all worried-we thought that something really bad had happened to you! Well...something bad had technically /already/ happened, but we were half-expecting something worse! And it didn't help that the baka ninja took so freakin long to tell us that you were alright!" Kaori said in her quick voice that tended to easily turn her words into rants.
"I'm alright. I'm breathing but not for long if you don't LET GO..." Dena said as she squirmed, they had already fallen off the bed and in to the floor; Vincent watching from the window in mild interest.
Kaori finally released her, sitting up and rubbing the bump on her head that she had gained from hitting the floor. "Owwie..." she muttered. She then smiled and sweatdropped, tilting her head. "But bottom line...we're glad you're okay. I think you get my drift already, though..."
Dena sat up from her position on the floor, Kaori leaned her back against one bed while Dena did the same with the other. "I'm grateful but...geeze...I was having a good dream." Dena sighed as she started catching her breath since half of it had been knocked out of her when they had fallen to the floor in an awkward heap. "It's been a long time since I slept that good..." Dena said as she stretched her arms since they were stiff from the weird position she had some how managed to twist her self in to before Kaori had woken her up.
"A good dream...?" Kaori asked as she blinked. She then grinned and leaned back as she crossed her arms. "About you-know-who?"
Dena blinked, "You-know-who?" She asked, obviously confused. Kaori did a Jack Sparrow nod a few times over toward Vincent, thankful that he was looking out the window again and absorbed in his own thoughts.
Dena sweatdropped slightly, "I don't really remember all that much...especially since someone had to wake me up so abruptly." Dena said as she gently poked her friend's leg, she unconsciously stuck her other hand in her pocket to feel her diary only to find it not there. She nearly cried out, "The diary." She moaned as she dug further in her pocket, "I didn't think about it until just now. It's gone."
Kaori frowned slightly. "Maybe Vinny picked it up...?" she suggested.
Dena shifted around so she could see Vincent clearly, "Hey, Vincent. Do you know where my mom's diary is?" She asked, Vincent looked at her and shook his head no. Dena groaned sadly and sank back down to the ground.
"Oh man...I had it with me when I was kidnapped but the stupid pervert knocked me out. He probably took it when I was unconscious." Dena sighed as she cradled her head in her hands.
"Maybe, but...why would he take a random book? It's not like it was a weapon, and I seriously doubt that he would've known your mom..." Kaori pointed out.
"I don't know...probably thought that it was mine and that he would get a couple of kicks out of it." Dena said.
"Meh..." Kaori muttered as she shook her head and then climbed to her feet. "So, are you hungry? The others are waiting for all of us to come down to breakfast..."
"I guess." Dena sighed as she climbed to her feet and smoothed out the wrinkles from her clothes. Maybe she could go shopping after they ate and get some new clothes despite how much she hated shopping...Dena sighed when she remembered she had no gil, maybe she could get some from Tifa.
Kaori nodded and started heading out of the room with Dena and down the stairs with Vincent following. Kaori then grinned slightly, muttering over to Dena, "Oh, and you know, Yukiro's been pretty worried about you..." she said.
Dena blinked which caused Kaori to smirk. "Of course he was worried...everyone was...right?"
"Well yeah, everyone," Kaori said. She then grinned slightly while lacing her fingers behind her head. "But I gotta say that I think he was one of the ones freaking out the most... Seriously, he wanted to go with Vincent and Yuffie, but Vincent pointed out for some reason that he would be a bit too obvious..."
Dena nodded with understanding; she and Vincent were /familiar/ with Yukiro's fire materia wielding ability. "Yea…that makes sense." She said as they exited the hotel and just in time for a big gust of air to hit their faces.
Kaori blinked. "So...what all did they mean exactly? I mean...I don't really see what's so obvious about him except for maybe the fact that his albino-like traits might stand out in the shadows and all..."
Dena scratched her cheek lazily as they walked through the fresh powder snow toward the restaurant that they were evidently meeting everyone, "Well...Yukiro almost fried me when I accidentally eavesdropped on a conversation he was having with Connor. Luckily the fire went off in some other direction..." She said and she could see Vincent shaking his head though the corner of her eye.
Kaori sweatdropped. "Seriously...?" she asked. She then shook her head. "Sheesh... When people go out and buy a flamethrower, they should really learn that one-it's bad to use on friends, and two-they need to figure out how to use it." she commented, not knowing that it was actually not a flamethrower that Yukiro had used but fire materia.
Dena shook her head and smiled, they quickly arrived at the restaurant; the group had already claimed two of the tables off to the side. Everyone paused with what they were doing as the tiny group entered the building. Yukiro looked up and blinked, he then stood and hurried over to her. "Dena... It's good to see that you're all right. You /are/ all right, right? No injuries or anything?"
Dena sweatdropped as Yukiro looked at her for any possible injuries, "Yes...I'm fine. None the worse for wear." Dena said as she waved her hand side to side. "Vincent gave me a potion..."
Yukiro blinked. "Oh, right... Yuffie did mention that..." he said, now looking a little embarrassed.
Cid chuckled as went to light up a cigarette, "Old man Vincent is getting soft. Never thought that I would see the day." He said, Tifa sighed and leaned over; snatching the cigarette from his lips.
"No smoking..." Tifa said as she tore the cigarette in half.
"Damn it, woman!" He cursed.
Kaori wrinkled her nose. "Yeah...please don't. If nothing else, not around me. Cigarette smoke makes me ill..." she seconded.
Cid grunted as he conceded but was not pleased so he decided to vent his frustrations out on a certain dark haired ex-Turk. "So...Vincent...never saw you grow so attached to someone over so short a time."
Vincent looked over at him and raised an eyebrow. "I hang around you guys, don't I?"
Dena leaned over to Tifa, "Why is Cid making the potion thing such a big deal?" She whispered.
Tifa smiled and sweatdropped. "Probably trying to get his mind off his lost cigarette," she assured her.
Dena nodded, "Right...I hate those things...death-in-a-stick." She said
"No kidding. We've been trying to get Cid to chew something like straw or toothpicks instead of cigs," Tifa agreed.
The waitress came by and everyone took their seats; Dena ended up sitting in-between Yukiro and Vincent. Kaori wasn't in a better position, she ended up sitting next to Cloud; Dena smirked when she saw her friend as stiff as a board.
Kaori blinked as she glanced over at Dena and then told her silently, 'Don't give me that look!' Glancing over at Cloud again, she quickly looked away and down at the menu, blushing.
Dena's smiled seemed to widen, 'What look?' She silently asked.
'You know what I mean!'
'I have no idea what you're talking about...'
'Do too!'
'Do not.'
'...I'm gonna throw a fork at you...'
Dena stuck her tongue out at her friend playfully, only when she looked around did she realize that everyone at the table was staring at the two girls. "Heh...heh." Dena laughed nervously, she didn't realize that they had been carrying on a conversation by lip reading; it must have looked very strange. Kaori turned red and buried her face in to her menu; Dena coughed slightly and turned to look at her own.
"...I've said it before, I'll say it again: women are damn crazy," Cid finally said.
Kaori stuck her tongue out at Cid, "We're not crazy...we're normal. Everyone else is the crazy ones."
Dena sighed, "Kaori please...wait until after breakfast to mess with everyone's minds." She said as she set her menu down and cradled her chin in one of her hands. She skimmed the menu…almost everything on the menu was /way/ too much food for her or Kaori. She finally settled for a fried egg.
Tifa blinked, "Aren't you going to eat more? A single egg isn't a lot." She said to which Dena and Kaori just shrugged.
"We can't eat any more than that...we just can't." Dena said as she took a sip of her water.
"Why in the hell not...sound's like some stupid diet to me." Cid said as he chewed on the butt of his torn up cigarette, probably wishing that it was lit.
Kaori sighed, "I will explain it once...and as simple as possible." She said, "Captured by Hojo...held in his lab for one year in test tubes...didn't eat for the entire duration of the time...Easy enough?" She then considered for a moment. "Or, even more simply...I guess there were nutrients in the water or something...like fish food."
Dena suppressed a laugh, "Nice analogy." She said as she brushed a piece of hair behind her ear, "But seriously...Our stomachs shrank to a point that only a few bites are enough. You should have seen us the first couple of days...Yukiro and Connor were freaking out and trying to get us to eat, thinking that we were trying to starve ourselves to death." Dena pointed out. Yukiro, who sat to her right, seemed to grow a bit pink and sink deeper in to his chair.
Connor across the table smiled, "Do you blame us?" He asked.
Dena smiled, "No...I don't really like being fussed over. Not one of my favorite things in the world." She said as she waved her hand side-to-side dismissively.
"Guess I should've figured it out, though..." Yukiro muttered. "After all, Connor didn't eat very much either after escaping..."
Yuffie blinked. "Escaping...?" she asked, tilting her head. "Escaping from where?" Yukiro looked up and blinked.
"Oh! Um...well..." he started, a bit hesitant to say.
"From our father..." Connor spoke up. "And the other people working in his lab..."
The table fell in to an uneasy silence; Yuffie amused herself by leaning back in her chair; balancing on the two back legs, keeping balance by hooking her toe under the table's edge. Dena smirked and scooted deeper in to her chair, Vincent looked at her through the corner of his eye. 'What is she doing?' He questioned mentally, he was answered when Yuffie suddenly let out a shriek and fell backwards; depositing her and the chair in to the floor. Dena slowly sat up in her chair and pretended to be innocent.
Kaori sweatdropped, she as well as everyone else looked down at Yuffie but they didn't find it /too/ surprising. She then rolled her eyes and turned back to Yukiro. "How did you find him..?" she asked. "I mean...where you both already in the lab, or..."
Yukiro shook his head. "No... Connor was actually kidnapped. It took me a while to find him, but I found him nonetheless. You see… a person who's never been there would have a difficult time finding it without any clues to go on at all, Connor and I are connected through an empathetic bond since we're twins. We can sense each other's emotions, and no matter how far apart we are, we can still sense each other while the both of us are still alive. It just grows more difficult with distance."
Dena leaned forward on her elbows, "That's really something..." She said as she turned to Kaori. "Wasn't there something like that back 'home'?" Dena asked, she thought she remembered Kaori mentioning it once during one of her conspiracy rants.
"Hm..?" Kaori asked, blinking. "When..?" she asked as she rubbed one of her eyes and shook her head. "Sorry if I seem a bit clueless right now...my brain doesn't normally work at full capacity this early in the morning..."
Connor blinked and he turned slightly toward Kaori. "Did you remember to give Dena her diary back?" He asked… there was a long silence...Kaori's sweatdropped and slowly turned to look at Dena who was scowling at her.
"Heh...oops." Kaori sweatdropped as she flailed a little. "Whaaat? My memory never has been all that great since I never got any sleep back home! You know that..." she said as pulled out the diary from her pocket and slid it over to Dena. "Besides, at least I didn't accidentally leave it just sort of lying there on the ground..."
"At least you were aware enough to do that..." Dena said as she reached over and grabbed the small book, she was mad a first but yes...it was true about what Kaori had said. Dena held it in her lap under the table, Yukiro blinked. "I thought that you didn't have any belongings..." He said.
"Yea...and that diary looks really old..." Yuffie added as she had picked herself off of the floor and had resumed her place in her chair; all four legs firmly on the ground.
Dena shifted uncomfortably, she hated being the center of attention; she stroked the binding of the diary. "Um...heh...not yet guys. I haven't figured everything out yet." She said as she lowered her head, Vincent knew…and Cloud might have an idea...why did she have a problem with telling the others? She turned to Kaori, "On another note...have you remembered anything yet?" Dena asked her friend; she knew that Kaori would know what she was talking about.
"Meh..?" Kaori blinked and then shook her head. "Not really...then again, when do I ever remember anything?" she replied with a slight sigh. "Then again, I do seem to remember things that happened back when I was two rather than earlier in the day...I swear it's Alzheimer's...but I'll be sure to tell you if I remember anything."
Dena nodded, but Yuffie blinked obviously a bit confused. "Hey...stop having conversations that the rest of us don't know what you're talking about." She ranted slightly, Dena and Kaori sweatdropped.
"Sorry." Dena said.
Kaori then smiled a bit sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "Yeah, I guess that is kinda rude... Sorry, guys. I guess we just keep forgetting that we're not being watched constantly by the US government around here...or something..."
Yuffie blinked, "US government? What are you talking about?" She asked.
Dena sighed. "I think its best we stop talking before we dig ourselves a hole that we can't get out of..." She said to Kaori.
Kaori shrugged. "Suit yourself..." she said. "Besides, if I get started on just the conspiracies of our world, I'm going to need to explain a lot more background info, and I'm not really up to doing that right now..." she said, leaning her head back and closing her eyes sleepily.
The waitress came with all their orders, she had to make several trips though because of the large group; Kaori ordered toast and jelly…after that she changed her position from leaning her head back on the chair to laying it down on to the table. Dena was chewing on a bite of egg when an idea suddenly popped in to her head, she took the paper that her straw had been wrapped up in and balled it up; she laid the little ball on the table and flicked it in Kaori's direction.
It bounced off her friend's forehead, Kaori sat up sleepily; her eyes half closed, and one cheek was red from the table. "Who threw that?" She asked as Vincent looked over at Dena who continued to chew on her egg.
"You're such a trouble maker." He stated.
Dena smiled, "Only when I'm bored." She replied.
Kaori raised an eyebrow, and then looked around, picking up a straw. Unfortunately, she had gained a certain trait from her dad growing up...revenge was sweet. Yanking off the end, she blew into the straw, causing the little wrapper thingy to shoot across the table, hitting Dena smack in the middle of her forehead.
Dena and Kaori glared at each other for a moment, Yukiro blinked; he thought he saw sparks fly between the two girl's gazes. Dena and Kaori suddenly broke out in to laughter, "It's been a long time since we've done that." Dena said as she picked up the discarded straw wrapper that Kaori had blown at her, she balled it up and placed it by her plate. She went back to her egg, she took a couple more bites until she felt satisfied.
Kaori finished eating her toast, and then dropped her head back again. "Nap time..." she said. Dena sweatdropped and went to poke her friend's forehead only to have her wrist grabbed by Kaori. "Don't start...we'll be at this all day...and all I care about right now is sleep." Kaori mumbled her face against the table; Dena tried to pout.
"Okay..." She said as she leaned back in to her seat and watched as everybody ate; she blinked when she realized that Vincent had an empty space in front of him. "Aren't you going to eat?" She asked.
Vincent looked over at her, and then shook his head. "I ate a little earlier..." he replied.
"He's a vampire... Just offer him some garlic..." Kaori muttered, still half-asleep.
Dena sweatdropped when she heard what Kaori said Vincent raised an eyebrow at her friend's comment. "Don't mind her..." Dena said as she contemplated flicking the paper ball that lay beside her hand at her friend, she sighed and decided not to; that would only lead to Kaori getting pissed and Dena would probably end up with a plate of food to the face. "Her brain never stays far from conspiracy theories or the supernatural...I think it's genetic."
"Genetic? My mom and dad are more or less skeptics and I don't have a kid. The aunt that I barely know supposedly is kinda into the same stuff...but I don't think she is entirely. So how is it genetic?" Kaori asked, opening one eye up to look over at her.
Dena smiled at her friend, "Well...I see someone isn't tired enough to come up with a good argument about her sanity." She said as she rested her chin in one hand.
"Almost always in the mood to argue..." Kaori said, raising an eyebrow. "I'd possibly become a lawyer, but I'm really not all that interested in law... Besides, there's too many of them already."
"That and lawyers are cheating scum bags." Dena replied.
Kaori nodded. "That too... I actually considered mentioning that, but I couldn't figure out a way to make a subtle implication to that fact..." she replied with a slight shrug. Kaori then stood. "Well, anywho, as much as I hate to suggest it... We've gotta go shopping. I really don't wanna go back to my nap being stuck with the same clothes that I've had since waking up. Plus...I need another pair of hiking boots."
Dena nodded, "You're absolutely right. We need to get some clothes of our own..." She said as she cradled her head in her hand, she turned her head lightly to see Yuffie and Tifa looking at them with big smiles on their faces. "I think we just made a mistake." Dena said as she sweatdropped, Kaori did the same.
Kaori sighed. "...All of a sudden I feel like I'm not too far from home at all... Mom and Elena have still managed to somehow follow me..."
"This is why I hate shopping..." Dena sighed.
Kaori rolled her eyes. "Just give us some cash and we'll see what's out there..." she said.
Some of the guys blinked and looked a bit clueless. "Cash..?" Cloud asked.
"Yeah... You know... Cash? Money..?"
"You mean gil..."
Kaori sweatdropped. "Um...gills are what fish have... We're not planning to go swimming (especially not in this weather!). We're planning to get some better clothing..."
Dena shook her head, "I think he means that 'gil' is the type of currency...Like the yen from Japan." Dena said as she took another sip of water.
Tifa and Yuffie suddenly stood up and coughed, "Well...I think that Yuffie and I should go take Dena and Kaori shopping for some clothes. We know the way around and we don't want them to get lost." Tifa said.
"Right." The hyper female ninja said as she nodded her head enthusiastically.
Dena and Kaori sweatdropped, "We're in trouble." Kaori whispered and Dena nodded in agreement. Tifa and Yuffie dragged both of the poor two out of the restaurant but not before grabbing the money bag from one of the guys, "I feel sorry for those two." Cloud said as he chomped down on a piece of toast, Yukiro raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He asked, Cloud sighed. "You've never been shopping with Tifa." He replied.
Dun dun Duuuuunnnn….Oh good lord! What are Yuffie and Tifa going to do with us now that they have managed to tear us away from the group and in toward the dreaded shopping mall…Remember…Reviews are highly prized and accepted.