Sephiroth was walking to the cave that lead to the other side of the mountain range that split the continent in half. With Junon behind him and Fort Condor to his right, it was only a couple of hours to Kalm. Five years has past sense Reno came and tried to recruit Vincent for the mission to Nibelhiem.

Sephiroth, a teenager now, decided he would spend some time abroad. So, with his katana in hand and black coat and white armor on, he left.

As he neared the cave, he saw someone come out of it. As he got closer, he hailed the traveler and went to greet him. But when the other was in striking distance, he pulled out the masamune and tried to strike Sephiroth down. Blocking it with his blade, he went under the blade and went to place a finishing strike.

The masamune blocked the attack and knocked Sephiroth back. "I know that blade, it struck down many of the Wutian warriors in the war. You're Ganglere! And the son of Hojo!"

"You know me, may I have the name of the impudent boy I'm about to kill?"

"My name is Sephiroth! But you won't be killing me!"

"Sephiroth…Sephiroth… Ah, now I remember. You were supposed to be the son of Hojo. But Valentine took Lucrecia away from him before he could make his move."

"For which, I will be externally grateful. After all, I don't like the thought of being a clone of Jenova."

"Interesting, how do you know that?" making a slash as he asked.

"My father made an investigation in your wake after what you did five years ago," returning the attack.

The two attacked and counter attacked for five minutes. And it became very clear that at this level of experience, Sephiroth was the lesser.

A finishing attack slashed Sephiroth in the chest and dropped him.

"You're not dead, boy. I'm interested in how good you'll be when you get stronger. If you want to fight me again, there is a group coming this way, two males, two females and a Cosmo canyon warrior. Join up with them and we'll meet again." Ganglere then turned and left.

"Damn you."

"I already am." And the way he said it told that he was proud of that.

"Cloud! I found someone! He's injured badly!" A girl in a pink dress that smelled of flowers knelt by him. "Don't worry, we're going to help you," she said soothingly.

Cloud, that name, it's so familiar. Where have I heard it?

The girl place her hands on his chest and a cure spell went through him. Sephiroth opened his eyes and saw a guy with spiky, blond hair looking at his wound. "Tifa, isn't that the same cut you got from Ganglere?"

"Yes, it is. If he did this to him, he's lucky to be alive."

"So, what do we do with him? The wound isn't that bad for now but if we move him, it will tears open in a thousand places." A big, black man with a machine gun on his left hand said that.

"We can cauterize the cut and take him to a doctor or camp here for a few days and let it close up." That came from a Cosmo's warrior.

"Cough, cough. I guess I found the right group." Sephiroth said before slipping into unconsciousness.

He woke up in front of a fire. It was night time and, guessing from the position of the stars, two days later.

"I see you went with keeping me put plan."

All of them turned to look at him. "Well, sleeping beauty has finally decided to wake." Said the one with the machine gun arm.

The flower girl came over to him and gave him a drink of water. "Feel better?"

"Yes," Sephiroth put a hand to the wound and found it gone. "I'm going to kill him for this."

The group looked amongst themselves and the one with spiky hair asked, "Who?"

"The same guy you're looking for, Ganglere." Picking himself up, he examined the damage to his shirt. It was bad, with the slash and the blood it was beyond repair. He took it off and tossed it in his fire, went through his second change of clothes and grabbed that shirt and put it. "The name is Sephiroth. And you are?"

"My name is Cloud." Said spiky. "I'm Aeris," came from the flower girl. "Tifa," from the well endowed woman. "Barret," from the one with the machine gun. "…People call me Red XIII." And that came from the Cosmos Canyon warrior.

"A pleasure to meet all of you. So, when are we going after him?"

"We are continuing on tomorrow morning. You are going to the nearest hospital to have that looked at." Said Cloud.

"The wound is fine, Ganglere purposely made it shallow so I wouldn't die. He wants me to follow him. And I'm going to. But I would prefer it if I went with you."

"…"

"Cloud, I can tell that what he said is true. And I can also tell he will be useful." Said Aeris.

"Fine, boy. You want to come, prove how good you are with that blade against me."

Sephiroth drew his katana while Cloud took out the Buster Blade.

"Big sword, compensating?" Behind them, they could hear a couple of muffled laughs. "No. Actually, I always thought the sword described the wielder. And seeing your sword, it's obvious that you are weak, thin, and flimsy." More laughter came from behind them

Cloud did a downward slash, knowing that Sephiroth would sidestep it. But he didn't. He raised his katana up, put his left hand behind the blade, and blocked the attack from the far heavier blade. "Weak, thin, and flimsy, we are not."

A kick to the chest knocked Cloud back ten feet. And even before he prepared himself for the oncoming attack, Sephiroth was there. He did a spin, knocking the sword out of his hand and ending with the blade under his chin.

"Am I good enough?"

"More than," came from Tifa. "Cloud was once a First Class Soldier."

"…First Class Soldier…Cloud Strife…"

"I never told you my last name. How did you know it?"

"Where did I …Ah, yes the Roster. Five years ago, a friend of my father came by and asked him to join a mission for Shin-Ra. I don't remember all the names. But I do remember that Ganglere was in it and you were there to."

"Just who is your father?" Cloud asked as he put the Buster Blade away.

"Vincent Valentine, former Turk. After the Nibelhiem incident, he kept berating himself for not going and saying that if he was twenty years younger, he could have killed Ganglere before all those that died, did."

"I doubt he could have, Ganglere is good." Stated Cloud.

"I know how good he is," Sephiroth said, placing a hand on his chest. "And I know how good my father was. And I can tell you, quiet truthfully, that if he were younger, my father would win. Even now it would be a toss up."

"Not a person you would want to meet on a bad day from the sounds of it." Red XIII said.

The next day, Sephiroth found himself going back to Junon. They stopped by Fort Condor to get him checked over anyway and helped with the battle there. But that didn't take long so he wasn't needed.

On their way to Junon, they decided to go through the forest. The monsters within were stronger than those without and Cloud said they needed to be stronger. Sephiroth didn't argue that point, rubbing a hand over the place the wound was.

After an hour of fighting, the monsters were no longer as troublesome as before. Magic was no longer needed to kill them.

"So, how much longer will we stay in here?" Sephiroth asked when his group, Aeris, Red XIII, and himself, met back up with Cloud's, Tifa, Barret, and Cloud.

"Five minutes to rest up, then we go," he replied.

After three minutes, a trap was sprung, dropping a net. It wasn't meant for a group spread out as they were so it only caught Tifa, Barret, and Red XIII. Cloud and Aeris went to help them.

"Don't! Leave it for now!" Sephiroth called to them.

Looking at him, they saw his katana out and in his right hand, held up with the curve going down, and his left hand at the end of the blade. He was casting about, looking for the person who dropped the net.

A four point shuriken flew at him. He caught it with the katana. Then, almost faster than the eye could see, he spun, keeping the momentum of the throwing star going, and returned it to the sender. They caught it but not before it cut the branch she was on off the tree.

"WHOA!" A girl ninja fell to the ground in front of them. "Ouch," She got up and pointed at Sephiroth. "Alright samurai, just because you got me to the ground, doesn't mean you won, I'm still fighting!"

"Fine, have it your way."

When the fighting was done, she was on the ground, breathing heavily. "Think we over did it?" asked Aeris. "No." Sephiroth replied, going over to her. He had sheathed his blade but hadn't returned it to his belt. "Hello."

She jumped up and said, "No fair, you ambushed me!" Someone was going to protest that but Sephiroth beat her to it. "Sorry."

"What are you going to do, leave? Stay and finish this fight!"

"No thanks." The others realized what was going on, a game of words. It would go until one loses and… Well, they didn't know what the 'and' was but they had a feeling that if Sephiroth lost, their wallets would to.

"Why? Afraid?"

"Terrified."

"Of course." She said and made to leave. "I really am leaving."

"Hold on a moment."

"Why? Oh I get it. You want me to join you."

"… Yes."

"I can see why, I am the greatest ninja in the world!"

"Let's go." Sephiroth turned, got the net off the other, and motioned them to leave.

"Hey! Wait up; you don't even know my name! It's Yuffie, glad to meet cha." She ran to catch up with them. "How did you know I was still playing?"

"You don't seem the type to give up."

"You're right. Actually, if you lost I was planning on taking some gil from you."

Author's Notes: I don't own Final Fantasy 7