Unspoken

By mihoyonagi

Chapter 30: Disguise

Sephiroth didn't like his plan from the start, but could think of no better way than to get himself inside the ring of kidnappings than to get kidnapped himself. Though Zahi was smaller and more petite than he was, Sephiroth felt as though putting the boy in harms way was the last thing he could do. Besides; were Aerith to find out he had put someone as innocent as Zahi in harms way she would kill him.

Or at least be extremely disappointed with him, which was just as terrible of a punishment, if not worse.

Getting kidnapped, however, involved cross-dressing.

Sephiroth was not thrilled.

In fact he was giving himself a liberal inner beating. Questioning his masculinity thoroughly as Zahi tied the knot of the classical Wutain womens garment, Sephiroth felt both ashamed and pleased with himself as he looked in the mirror. Though he was over six feet in height and had had rather broad shoulders for a man, he was secretly admiring himself in the mirror. Now, not to mix up fact with assumption, Sephiroth was simply pleased he could pass for a woman with a rather average amount of make up and two grapefruits pressed against his chest. It wasn't something, however, he would be willing to do again.

Ever again.

The general watched as Zahi took a step back to admire the work he had finished. "Well, you're not a babe, but a drunk man would be willing to take you home."

Sephiroth wasn't sure if he should be insulted and take offend, or assume the boy was complimenting him. He decided that the latter would take less effort.

Passing his notebook to Zahi, Sephiroth waited for a reaction from the boy.

'This isn't going to be easy. I'll need you to stay out of trouble. Promise you won't follow me.'

Zahi's face scrunched up most unpleasantly, and Sephiroth knew he had an argument on his hands. Thrusting the notebook back to Sephiroth, Zahi shook his head. "Look, you can't do this alone."

Scribbling almost franticly, Sephiroth attempted to set a stern look across his face.

'I am not asking you to stay here. I am telling you. What if you get caught sneaking about? You won't get as lucky as you did back in Junon and merely get tossed out a door. You could get killed. I know what I am doing.'

Zahi stomped his foot in a childish manner, his eyes brimming with tears. "They have my sister in there, dammit!"

Shaking his head, Sephiroth placed his hand on Zahi's head in a silent gesture of comfort. He took up his notebook and again wrote what his voice could not tell.

'I, too, have someone precious to me that was stolen. But the problem herein lies not with you, Zahi, but what these men are capable of. They steal away sisters and friends alike. Do you honestly think they'd think twice about killing you on the spot? Then what would you sister do? Who would she look forward to seeing when she is free?'

Watching as Zahi bit his lip to keep from crying, Sephiroth tired to level his temper. The boy was not easy to deal with, albeit a tad easier than Aerith, but nonetheless was still trying his patience.

"What is she to you, anyway?"

Taken by surprise, Sephiroth let his facial mask slip for a fraction of a second. Zahi, however, had noticed when he had glanced up at the general and was, too, taken by surprise. Cocking an eyebrow, Zahi wiped away a tear that was almost shed as he gazed up at the man in women's clothing before him.

'Precious to me, in the least. Aerith is life.'

Zahi would never understand how truthful Sephiroth's words really were. Closing his eyes for a mere second, the general took himself back to when he had made his blood pact with Aerith, after she had purged his body of all remaining Jenova cells. Though he had to promise never to kill again else they would both die, Sephiroth knew that Aerith had been given the short end of the stick as far as their deal was concerned.

She had, after all, given up her birth right of the promised land simply so they could walk amongst the living once again. Aerith couldn't have known that Sephiroth would have agreed in the long run, either. He could have killed someone the second they returned to the planet's surface, then she would have really been screwed. Yet she trusted him when no one else would ever think to.

Aerith had given him a second chance at living when those in his previous life hardly gave him a meaning in the first place. Hojo had been anything but a father, and his mother Sephiroth knew little of. She was human, that much was now for certain, but her name? Her birthday? He knew nothing of who she was.

"Aerith. That's a pretty name. She must really be something if you're willing to cross dress to save her." Zahi's comment was spoken without manners or a second thought, yet it earned a small tug of a smile at the corner of the general's lips.

'You have no idea.'

Sighing heavily, Zahi rolled his eyes despite the fact that they were still slightly puffy from a few minutes before. "I guess I'll have to stay here. I mean, I love my sister and all, but cross dressing? I'll pass."

Sephiroth caught the wink that Zahi threw his way and knew instantly that the boy was masking his sorrow with sarcasm. It would, at least, hide the pain. Sephiroth allowed a small smile to befall his lips. Placing his hand on Zahi's head once again, the general offered the boy silent comfort.

'I won't come back until I have every last one of those bastards on the floor in tears.'

A smile flooded Zahi's face. "Give 'em a good one, right in the kisser, for me alright? Don't let a single one of them escape. Rescue my sister, and this Aerith girl."

Sephiroth nodded and walked out of the inn room and into the night air. "Walk a little nicer!" Zahi's voice was audible despite the hustle and bustle of the crowd. Shaking his head, Sephiroth attempted to walk. His newly acquired garments, however proved to be fighting him.

How did women walk in these blasted things, let alone enjoy them?

The paradox of the female mind would have to wait until another day, Sephiroth decided. Trying his best not to trip, the general dressed in drag slowly made his way across one of the many wooden bridges that made up Wutai's central pathways.

First stop? Turtle's Paradise, of course.