Chapter Eighteen: Calm Before The Storm

Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah; you know the drill. I don't own Final Fantasy VII, the name Kyou, or any Naruto references that may pop up from time to time.

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Yuffie couldn't help herself; she narrowed her eyes to mere slits and clenched her fists. Talbot was sitting there: smiling…no, smirking. Gawd, what's this guy's problem? How can he sit there like that! Yuffie thought, trying to hold herself back from tossing all of her paper bombs at him at one time in a desperate attempt to knock that disgusting content look off of his smug face.

"What do you want, Talbot! Why did you do all this?" Yuffie near shouted.

"Did what?" He asked coolly.

Yuffie almost reeled forward.

"You know what you did! Don't play dumb with this ninja!"

Talbot waved his hand about in the air beside him.

"Oh, you mean that old man in Wutai? How is he?"

Yuffie's eyes were clouded over.

"Y-you killed him."

Ashton Talbot turned his head to the side.

"Huh? What was that?"

Yuffie leaned forward and threw her arms back.

"You know what you did!"

"I suppose I do."

Yuffie glared at Talbot as her right hand moved slowly to a side pocket in her backpack. If I could only get that smoke bomb…! Yuffie thought. Her fingers grazed the smooth surface of the object. Got'cha! Uh-hey! A hand grabbed her arm and pulled it away from the pocket and spun her around. She found herself looking at Kyou who had grabbed her other arm, pinning it behind her back. Dangit!

"Kyou," Talbot said, "take her to the holding cell until he gets here."

The young man holding Yuffie's arms nodded.

"Understood; but about the others?"

Talbot leaned his chin on his hands.

"I'll deal with them accordingly."

Yuffie lowered her head as she was lead out of the room down and down the winding hallway again. The 'he' they were talking about…could that possibly be Vincent? Wait- the heck am I saying? Of COURSE it's Vinnie! But for now…what am I going to do? She looked up at Kyou who seemed to be in deep thought.

"Who were you talking about?"

Kyou looked down at her.

"Excuse me?"

"Who were you talking about just then?"

They turned down another hallway.

"A man; he entered the perimeter less than ten minutes ago. I believe you know him, a Mr. Valentine."

So it is him…

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Vincent stood in front of a dead end. Cid and Cloud were exhausted and leaning up against a nearby wall. Cloud wiped some sweat off of his forehead and sighed.

"It looks like we're going to have to turn around."

Vincent pulled out his riffle.

"No we won't."

Vincent shot at the wall ahead of him. A few seconds of heavy silence passed while the ring of the gunshot still echoed off of the surrounding area. Then, the wall opened up revealing an elevator. Cloud and Cid by this time stood beside Vincent with their jaws dropped.

"Uh, how did you know that the wall was a door" asked Cloud.

Vincent walked into the elevator. "The cracks in the wall were obvious."

Cid jogged in after them.

"Vincent can figure anything out if he has the right motive, ya'll."

The elevator began to descend.

"Are you trying to imply something, Highwind?"

Cid scratched his chin.

"We all know you like Yuffie."

Cloud's eyes were wide now.

"We did?"

Cid hung his head.

"Cloud, yer as dense as ever, but yeah Valentine, everyone knew…except chocobo-head here."

'Chocobo-head' turned to Vincent.

"Did you ever tell her why you agreed to help out in the first place, Vincent?"

Quiet filled the air for a moment.

"…no. No I did not."

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Yuffie cringed as Kyou took her bag away from her and led her into the holding cell, locking it behind her and sitting down on a stool nearby. A light flickered on and off in the corridor which was empty with the exception of the captive and the captor.

An hour or so passed in absolute silence. Yuffie had fallen asleep on her cot next to the cell wall and Kyou sat with his eyes fixated on the floor. Why did he tell her about his association with Talbot? He himself did not know that answer. Kyou's mind was filled with questions of that sort: Why did he begin feeling again when Lady Kisaragi was near? What was Talbot going to do once he no longer needed the girl? Would he…dispose of her? Let her go? The first was more likely that the second. But why did he care? He began pondering the previous question deeply when he heard a soft voice from the cell he was guarding.

"Vincent?"

Kyou shook his head.

"This is Kyou."

"Oh."

A moment passed before Yuffie spoke again.

"Why do you stay?"

Kyou felt like a shock surged through him.

"Excuse me?"

"I said why do you stay?"

Kyou leaned forward.

"I don't know. I have always felt like I wanted to leave, but couldn't just yet; like I had something to fulfill."
Yuffie walked up to the door of the cell.

"Have you found out what that thing is yet?"

Kyou didn't answer. A guard marched up and announced that Vincent was inside the building, two corridors away from the laboratory. Kyou nodded and opened the cell and pulled Yuffie out, leading her down the hall hurriedly. The ninja eyed her backpack. If only I could get out the smoke bomb...but I can't. Vinnie…

She was led into a large, dim lit room with needles and test-tubes everywhere, along with large cabinets full of contaminated blood. Talbot stood in the middle of the room surrounded by guards, holding a pistol himself. Kyou stood Yuffie up on a platform at the end corner of the room and chained her to a wall. She had begun to speak, but two guards put her headband in the mouth and tied it shut.

Everything was silent.

After a good two minutes, the sound of boots and the ring of guns sounded in the hall. The large double doors to the lab were flung off of the hinges by a tall man with long black hair and a flowing crimson cape.

"Where is she?"

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Author's Note: MAN! This took FOREVER to update! Lemme see, I've been busy with Summer Camp, which is over now…and other junk, so I will be updating a lot more frequently. Ta-ta for now and don't forget to review!