The desire to kill and maim the human rose, and keeping the destructive urges from showing themselves or being released was getting more and more difficult, especially today. While getting caught off guard by Cloud's compliment didn't really affect Jenova in any way, the human's look of pity did. Jenova had struggled to keep any trace of her inner thoughts from revealing themselves, had instead paid some attention to the silly yet entertaining argument between her son and Cloud. There was no outlet for her frustration, no way she could mutilate herself or something else without retreating and, in turn, implying to her son that she had lost this round of the game.
It was almost painful. But there was nothing Jenova could do about it, not now. She would wait it all out, see what plan Sephiroth had in mind to gain the upper hand and try to win, then strike. There weren't any rules, so there wasn't any cheating, either. To be more "fair", however, Jenova decided to stay out of Sephiroth's mind instead of prying into it to sabotage his plan before he could even put it into action.
Though Jenova was only out and about because of the human, having a long-needed look at the bond between Sephiroth and Cloud was a bonus. In the beginning, it had been very important that her son interacted with the boy as much as possible and got along with him, though now it was obvious that it would take a lot to separate the two. It was a little bit beyond what Jenova had originally wanted, but that made everything better.
Sephiroth leaned on the table with his elbow, holding his head up with his hand. His legs bounced up and down repeatedly, as they had been doing half the time he was at the table.
"How long are you going to sit there?" Sephiroth asked impatiently.
"How long are you going to sit there?" Jenova repeated back at him.
"Now you're stalking me? Why; what for?"
"Why not?"
"...Can't argue with that answer."
"Can't you?"
"Can't I?"
"I'd say you're capable."
"Would you?"
"Would I? Ah, what's the point in going around in circles – let's do a triangle instead."
"Triangles are odd and uneven. How about a square?"
"If squares are what is making conversation with you not boring for once, then yes."
"I really hate speaking 'your language' sometimes."
"Do you?"
Sephiroth didn't reply, instead saying, "Do we have sit around all night?"
"What would you rather do instead?" There was something better to do than stay extremely still right beside the human's door? Jenova lifted herself upright, standing at attention. Nah, there couldn't be, unless it involved Sephiroth taking Cloud and leaving the human open to anything that could happen to it. However, Sephiroth wasn't one to give up easily, and he wouldn't have been a very good second player if he was like that.
"Give me a minute to think."
Sephiroth didn't need a minute. Jenova decided to humor him with the first thought that came into her mind. She held out a hand in offering.
"You and I, shall we rendezvous?"
Sparing no explanation to Sephiroth's expressed confusion, Jenova held him just above the wrist and dragged him out of the seat and ran straight into a corner of the wall.
Smears of black, gray, and white flew by as Sephiroth held tightly onto the hand gripping his. He didn't dare to let go; if he did, he would end up who knew where with no way of getting home other than the long way.
Sephiroth was abruptly released, and he stumbled, quickly regaining his balance and raising an open hand to catch the fist coming his way. He grit his teeth and flipped his mother backwards. She suddenly yanked her hand from Sephiroth's and took off running.
Damn. It was times like these where Sephiroth regretted never learning to travel by shadow. As he ran after Jenova, he couldn't help but remember a story he had been told ages ago by his mother, back when he was still a little kid.
Through the grass and between the roots of the trees...
He slid to a halt, having lost sight of Jenova. No wind blew, and he strained his ears for any trace of noise. Cautiously, he stepped further into the wood.
...Rabbit strode, looking for his friends. Looking up...
A branch snapped. Sephiroth whipped his head to the right, catching a fleeting glance of a shadow rushing off further into that same direction. He wrapped his arms around the nearest tree trunk, using his feet to search for a good hold and reaching for a thick branch to pull himself up with.
...he saw Woodpecker, drilling away at the trees as he always did.
"Woodpecker," Rabbit called, "come down, come down! I have something to tell you."
"What is it, friend Rabbit, what is it?" Woodpecker stopped his noisy pecking and flew down to where Rabbit had no problem speaking to him.
"I'm having a celebration, dear friend, and I would like you to join me. There will be a feast with plenty of Mouse's best berry juice. Then we will have a dance."
Woodpecker, who enjoyed dancing as much as all of the other animals, accepted friend Rabbit's invitation and offered to help look for their other friends. Rabbit looked through every bush, Woodpecker through every branch. The two friends found...
Sephiroth spotted a silhouette and jumped for it. He knocked Jenova off and out of the trees, falling down with her.
…friends Duck, Quail, Raccoon, Frog, and Squirrel. Now that Rabbit had found all of his friends, he led them to the clearing near his burrow. On the way to that clearing...
Pitch black became all he could see, the smears of gray-black-white again entering his vision, though it was a much shorter amount of time before he found himself seeing the same trees. Jenova knocked him down before scrambling up a tree, this time moving even faster.
How unfair. It should have been his turn to hide and for her to seek.
...Rabbit and his friends came across Fox.
With a friendly smile, stranger Fox asked, "Where are you going, fellow neighbors?"
Every animal was considered a neighbor, whether he was friend or stranger. Rabbit, being kind and polite as he should be, responded, "We are going to a feast of the greenest greens, the juiciest fruits, and to the best berry juice in the entire forest. Afterward, we are going to have a dance."
"How lovely that sounds! May I join, too, fellow neighbor?"
"Of course, of course!"
"May I bring my friends, too, fellow neighbor?"
"Of course, of course! The more the merrier!" Rabbit gave stranger Fox the directions to the clearing and led his friends to the celebration. Once there...
Using the small and prickly bushes as cover, Sephiroth lied in wait. If he didn't go after Jenova, then she would come after him.
...they feasted, and they feasted, saving food for stranger Fox and his friends. Most of the berry juice was drunk, and soon, Rabbit, Mouse, Woodpecker, Quail, Frog, Raccoon, Duck, and Squirrel held paws, wings, and webbed feet, standing in a circle, ready to dance. They waited and waited for Fox, but he never came. They decided to dance without him, skipping and cheering in that circle of theirs until they grew tired and sleepy. Rabbit was the last to go to sleep. He slept, full of food and drink and very, very happy. He continued to sleep until he heard noises. He opened his eyes...
The rustling and snapping of leaves and twigs did not disturb Sephiroth. He settled further into the bush, paying no mind to the thorns that threatened to prick his skin. The noise died away, and he was in silence once more. He tensed, ready to make any quick movements, whether it was to attack or to get out of the way.
...and saw Fox smiling and swishing his tail. Fox's friends – Wolf, Weasel, Owl, and Bear – were also smiling. Their smiles had no warmth, no merriment, no friendship. Rabbit leaped to his feet and said...
An intense feeling shot through Sephiroth, the sense that something was watching him and preparing to attack. He looked up and dodged, turning around and running full speed into Jenova, tackling her to the ground and pinning her down. He sat on top of her back, caging her and preventing escape.
He fought to keep her down, sometimes being overpowered, and sometimes doing the overpowering. The roles were reversed multiple times, though no attempts at causing injury were made. The wrestling, running, hiding and seeking continued, and Sephiroth refused to give in even as he found himself out of breath.
Dawn approached, light yellow and blue starting to paint the retreating night sky. Sephiroth agreed with his mother on a draw – there were no winners to this game. He gladly returned home through the shadows, relieved to see the kitchen interior again.
A small pang hit him; it was the wish to see more of the familiar landscape that was near the place he and his brothers had grown up and spent most of their lives in. Sephiroth didn't get the chance to appreciate being so close to his old home. The final line of the story he had heard during childhood recited itself in his mind, staying in the original language instead of being translated into the newer one.
...Urani dotosta, "Nae omoa-taku lauka de?"
Notes:
Started: 2013年5月2日（木）
Finished: 2013年5月6日（月）
Translation of the last sentence: ...Rabbit said, "Why are you smiling?" Urani - rabbit, dotosta - said, nae - why, omoa - you, taku - (makes things plural), lauka - smile. It's a language I made up. In every fic I've seen, when something is in another language, it's almost always in Japanese. I friggin' love a bunch of stuff from Japan and have been trying to learn Japanese through the internet for a while, but my knowledge of the language is very limited, and the idea of a second language being Japanese has been done a bunch of times already. Also, since I've made up my own language to make them speak, I can make them say whatever I want them to and it won't be wrong! XD
One more day of November, and then we'll be moving on to December.