DIFFERING ORIGINS

BY WANDERINGQUILL

Thank you so much for your reviews! I'm very happy to find several people had added this story to their favourites, and hopefully you'll continue to enjoy it.

A reviewer inquired about Cloud's mother's reasons for going to a completely different country. I will be addressing that in an interlude that I'll be posting later.

This chapter is unexpected and hopefully moves the plot forward.

WWW

III.

The woods were silent.

Cloud's eyes were narrow, darting to and fro. He was in a slightly crouched position, a shadow behind a large bramble bush. A signal to his left, a flickering of gloved fingers almost too fast for comprehension, and he ran on tiptoes straight down the forest path.

He leapt up as a spray of flying daggers erupted from his left. He landed on the branch above him, and it creaked at his slight weight. Cloud winced at the sound.

Swiftly, he brought up his short sword and it hissed as another blackened sword slid along its edges. Cloud swayed on the branch, breathing hard as he swung his sword to meet each powerful blow. Then he gasped as a second weapon was put into play and he instinctively moved back to avoid the underhanded swing of the dagger. His back foot landed on air, and he fell.

Thud. Unprepared for the fall and too close to the ground, Cloud landed loudly on the balls of his feet. He grimaced as he felt the fall vibrate up his spine painfully, his knees trembling. Then it was over. Unable to recover fast enough from his fall, the enemy ninja had landed behind him and held a blackened steel edge along his throat.

"Yield," he gasped, still breathing heavily.

The sword fell away and the weight at his back disappeared. Cloud remained on his feet through sheer effort.

The ninja stepped in front of him, pulling off the heavy black cloths that hid his face and hair. A short, slight man with a weather-beaten face and narrow grey eyes, Master Shuji Nezu had been a ninja for over four decades and was currently the Training Master of the Bloody Hawk Clan. He was renowned for being an almost inhumanly patient man, as fully capable as a snake to await silently and unobtrusively for its prey. This translated to a remarkable tolerance for his students, which led to him receiving students that other Training Masters had rejected for one reason or another.

Cloud met the Training Master's eyes squarely. He was exhausted from that day's exam, and his body hurt. But even worse than his body's pains, was the knowledge that he could have done better and he hadn't.

"You have spent four years under our Clan's Study Halls," the Training Master stated in his quiet voice. "You have improved greatly from when you have begun, yet you improve little in certain things."

This time, Cloud's eyes fell to the floor. Unlike the other shinobi students who seemed to have little problems with stealth and balancing on precarious heights, Cloud was always making some noise or other. He was also uncomfortable when he needed to balance on narrow and high places, such as tree branches or fences.

However, Cloud's speed and ability to fight evenly with an opponent much bigger and heavier than him was awe-inspiring. He had the strength of two adult shinobi, and when he wielded a sword as if he was born to it.

But shinobi fought in the hidden shadows. They struck swift, glancing blows aimed to assassinate or incapacitate in the quietest, most unobtrusive way possible. They did not stand their ground and fight their opponent to a standstill. They did not wield materia as if they were fighting Bahamut.

Some of Cloud's jealous and unkind classmates called him "SOLDIER Cloud", after ShinRa's notorious, overpowered warriors. While in Midgar and other ShinRa territory that would have been an admirable label, in Wutai, it left him subject to scorn and ugly jokes.

Cloud had ignored the jibes, the pranks, and the jeers. He focused instead of honing his skills, spending hours more than his training mates on the fields or in the practice halls. Yet, the more Cloud trained to become a ninja, the more Cloud was starting to understand that he wasn't meant to be one. Something deeply ingrained in him refused to react like a shinobi would in certain circumstances, which would be fatal if he was ever sent on missions.

The problem was that Cloud was now 15. This was the age when shinobi, most of whom having been training since they were six years old, received their full certification as shinobi and would be assigned to working teams and on missions. If Cloud failed this final assessment, he would be denied his certification and forced out of the Clan's Study Halls.

"You have failed the assessment," Master Shuji said. Cloud closed his eyes and breathed out, a long pained breath whispering his disappointment and shame. "However, if you are willing, there is one mission that may be suitable for you."

Cloud opened his eyes and met the Training Master's, distantly curious.

"Our Emperor is looking for young men to infiltrate ShinRa's military ranks. The negotiations have been deteriorating rapidly, and it is only a matter of time before ShinRa declares war on Wutai. We may have as little as two or three years, maybe only one. We need to be prepared."

The boy nodded slowly. Wutai needed spies, informants, saboteurs. Perfect work for shinobi but for the fact that most Wutaians were distinctly identifiable due to their unique features and small stature. Light-coloured hair and eyes were recessive within the Wutaian gene pool, and thus uncommon, whereas they were more common in Midgar and among the ShinRa-held areas.

If he accepted, it would be exile for as long as the war lasted. If he survived. If he died, his mother would not have the consolation of his dead body nor the closure of knowing that he was actually dead. It meant leaving everything that was familiar to him to enter a world completely unfamiliar and potentially dangerous.

But Wutai needed him, and his years in Wutai and among its people had taught Cloud loyalty and affection towards his adopted country.

Wutai needed him and he would go.

A closed fist hit the open palm of his left hand, and Cloud bowed, his upper body perfectly parallel to the ground. "I accept."