Like The Sun, Like The Moon

Chapter One

Since the very minute the Great General Sephiroth had entered the battered town of Wutai, things had improved for everyone. Everyone except for those who had disobeyed him, that is.
Being the reasonable general he was, he had set things straight immediately.
He had proclaimed that the soldiers had never been allowed to mistreat any civilians and would therefore be punished severely – which was his way of apologizing, Yuffie guessed. Furthermore, several inspectors would arrive in the near future to investigate the area regarding its mako resources. Beyond that, however, ShinRa wouldn't interfere with Wutainese politics as long as their superiority wasn't opposed.
Quite frankly, this solution had been approved pretty quickly without anybody refusing. Of course having power plants standing all over Wutai wasn't much of a thrilling prospect, but at least there ShinRa hadn't demanded anything else.
As luck would have it, there weren't even any mako resources to be found in the Wutai area. Realizing this pretty quickly, the ShinRa inspectors left again after only two weeks. Not much later, the soldiers stationed there were ordered back to Midgar as well.

In the end, all that was left was what had been there in the first place. Only with the slight difference that everything had been marked by a worthless war: Wutai's landscape, its buildings and most of all, its people themselves.
It wasn't any longer the wealthy, powerful nation it had once been. Its people had lost their will to fight for their hometown's glory and turned it into tourist attraction instead.

Yuffie could understand the initial reaction her fellow citizens had shown. Even if she hadn't been present at the battles themselves, she had witnessed Wutai's occupation and lived in fear of the soldier's cruelty for many frightened days. Therefore, she was somewhat able to relate to her people's…brokenness. She could comprehend their desperation, and she certainly wasn't about to accuse them of trying to go on with their lives. What she couldn't understand, however, was the way they had adapted to this new situation.
They had buried their pride underneath their feet and were stomping over it on a daily basis, serving tourists from formerly hostile countries with a brainless, subordinate smile plastered all over their faces.

Yuffie hated this pathetic, humiliating attitude of theirs, and she had no problems showing her displeasure openly.

"Let's throw all the tourists out of Wutai and strengthen our ee-connemy instead!" she suggested enthusiastically, when one day she found her father to be in an exceptionally good mood, "We can grow tomaccos in the south, cotton in the north and we can have tasty jellyfish caught by huge vessels. And then we'll sell everything to other countries, and within a jiffy we'll be rich again!" She made a short pause while beaming meaningfully at her father and eventually concluded her speech, "Let's return to the proud and wealthy nation we once were! Let's rebuild Wutai!"
She had used everything to convince him – passionate gesturing, great arguments and her indestructible optimism. In her humble opinion, she had done a great job in presenting her plans, and nobody would have another chance but to listen to her advice.
Yet sadly, convincing someone was only possible as long as there was a small chance of success to begin with.
But trying to convince Godo to develop some national pride was like…like…like telling a cow to respect the mountain it's living on.

He had never understood his daughter's motives, he hadn't even attempted to do so, and somehow he didn't appear willing to start now.
During her little speech, he had merely been sitting there, listening to her ideas without ever really taking them into account. However, she only realised this after hearing his final decision.
"Yuff, I'm glad you are developing such nice plans to help our nation," he claimed, not without a tiny hint of pride in his voice, "and I really appreciate your enthusiasm, you see." In a way that strangely reminded her of a father forbidding his child some sort of candy, he smiled at her with sympathy. And already was his behaviour driving her mad. Yuffie wasn't dumb, she could see what was going to come next, and she didn't like it one bit.

"However I am afraid we can't realize your plans," Godo declared, pathetically feigning a genuine look of apology. She was tempted to slam her knee staight into his ever so harmlessly smiling face, when her father, albeit somewhat aware of her steadily intensifying fury, happened to carry it to the extremes. "We are already doing what is best for Wutai," he spoke seriously, "Thanks to the tourists, and thanks to ShinRa, we have been able to start a much more profitable business than ever before, and we fully intend to keep it going this way. Your plans and goals are honourable, Yuff, but at the moment, they are just impossible to accomplish."

These words had been the last straw.

You could practically see the steam shooting out of her ears as she jumped up, yelled lots of inventive phrases at her father and stomped out of the pagoda.

It was times like these when she really hated him for his spinelessness.

Really.

Some weeks later, when he was finally back in town, Yuffie confronted Sephiroth with her problem.

"I've noticed it as well," he admitted as he comfortably leant back against a certain tree in the wilderness that had become their secret meeting point. "It's utterly sad to watch a proud nation go down like this. Half a century ago, the same happened in Costa del Sol, and you know what's become of it by now." Sometimes, when doing paperwork back in Midgar, he found himself wondering just how he had ended up as her friend. Just why he kept visiting her. But every time he did visit her, he realized the answer to these questions anew: It was so terribly relaxing around her. No need to be on guard all the time, no need to be the General. And besides, the girl loved him like a brother, and, well, he couldn't claim he didn't somehow like her too. So in some weird kind of way, Yuffie had become the family he had never had. Although phrasing it this way made it sound far too absurd for his liking. Hence he simply cut that train of thought and glanced upward to watch the girl's reaction to his words.

Up in the tree's branches, brown eyes were widening in surprise. "You mean Costa del Sol has been in-dee-penn-dent once, just like Wutai?" She stared down at him disbelievingly.

"Yes, it is true," he answered in his smooth, calm baritone whilst returning her gaze, "although its situation didn't change due to a war, but rather because it had no problem with giving up its pride to begin with."

"I don't want Wutai to become like Costa del Sol!" Yuffie whined, emphasizing her point by squirming around in the tree's crown, sending many leaves down at her silver haired friend. Her silver haired best friend, mind you.

Her antics didn't really bother Sephiroth. Snatching one of the falling leaves, he absentmindedly studied it while continuing the conversation rather nonchalantly, "So what are you going to do about it?"

"I want us to dee-pennd less on tourists and more on things like farming and such," she responded confidently, "and once we've got enough for ourselves we'll ix-poat the rest and become wealthier than ever!"

If things were only that simple…

"That's a really good idea," he encouraged her, unable to suppress a smile at her optimism. "Even if it still needs some tiny improvements."

"Yeah, it ain't perfect yet," Yuffie admitted somewhat grumpily, "but at least it's a step in the right direction, y'know."

She looked down at him meaningfully.

He looked back.

"I only wish my father would notice that," she finally concluded.

"You haven't been able to convince him?" Sephiroth asked with a frown.

"He wouldn't even listen to me!" she whined, squirming once again.

He chuckled lightly at her admittedly fairly funny behaviour and offered, "Then you'll just have to try harder." Although he wasn't watching her right now, he could practically feel a pouting eleven-year-old's piercing glare on the top of his head. "You'll have to be persistent," he went on with a shrug, "I could certainly pull a few strings for you, but I doubt me trying to persuade Godo would be a very good idea." He straightened somewhat and continued, "Thus, you will have to convince him yourself. I don't think this will be too much of a problem for you. Just give him some time to think about it. Occasionally you might want to drop some remark to remind him. And after a while, once he's gotten the idea, you explain your plans again." He paused briefly and finished, "At least that's how I would do it." Looking back up at her, he realized his last statement wasn't completely true. "…If I were you, that is."

Obviously deep in thought, Yuffie merely nodded while she was subconsciously already thinking of some smart remarks she would pester her father with. "I only hope it will work," she eventually mumbled.

The answer she received was a confident "Naturally." from below her.

And she really hoped it would work.

Well, at least she had a plan now. And once she would have persuaded her father, she knew Sephy would support her achieving her aim. He was a powerful fellow after all. So nothing could go wrong, right?

Suddenly he broke the comfortable silence that had fallen between them as he gently rose from his sitting position. Alarmed by the rustling of leather, a sound she dreaded every time they were sitting under their tree, Yuffie got up as well. She almost fell off the tree as she scrambled on a lower branch in order to stare at her best friend pleadingly. "You aren't leaving already, are you?" she whined.

"I'm afraid I must," he told her somewhat apologetically as he took her out of the tree's crown and placed her safely on the ground. "I've got to go to Nibelheim next week. Of course I would love to skip it, but Hojo insisted on my attendance."

For a while, she just stood there pouting with her arms folded in front of her. Yet eventually she gave in. "Next time you'll stay longer, okay?" she demanded, staring up at him with that horribly cute expression of hers that was actually meant to be reproachful.

Patting her head, he bent down to her and smiled gently. "Promised."

The sad thing is, there had never been a next time.

Yuffie had always been aware of her best friend's busy schedule. Important people tended not to have much free time. She knew that.

However, Sephiroth had always found an opportunity to pay her a visit once in a while.
Sometimes, he would come officially to discuss certain matters, as he used to put it, with her father.
Sometimes, when on holiday, he would spend whole weeks in Wutai, much to Yuffie's delight.
Usually, he wouldn't stay away longer than a few months.
Usually, Yuffie wouldn't have to look forward to their next meeting too long.

Usually, Sephiroth wouldn't get himself killed in the meantime.

After two months without as much as a message, Yuffie began to feel anxious about her best friend. Not much later, she was worried sick about him and wouldn't stop asking everyone if they knew of his whereabouts. Eventually, after six months of uncertainty, a Junonian traveller told her some news that caused her world to crumble.

Sephiroth had died.

He was dead.

Dead.

Dead like in 'returned to the Planet'.

Dead like in 'gone forever'.

Dead like in 'never to be seen again'.

Yuffie had been crying for days.
She had been suffering for weeks.
She had been grieving for months.

She had been remembering…forever.

End of Chapter One

A/N: Well, apparently the real plot still hasn't begun yet :p I guess one can consider this chapter as some kind of transition, showing what kind of bond has developed between Yuffels and Seph and what else has happened between their first and their, well, last meeting.
But don't worry, he won't stay dead forever. Actually, he might reappear in the next chapter already… but that you'll have to find out yourselves. I am going to update very soon, so you won't have to wait too long.

In the meantime, you might want to send me review and tell me your opinion about the chapter, the whole story, the story's development or anything else you want to inform me about. I really appreciate it.
You see, just like any writer, I love reviews, and subsequently, I love reviewers. And where we are already at it – I've really got to thank all those lovely people who had the heart to review the prologue, namely Magenta Rain, Music Lover Always, Vanya the Elven Maiden of the Valar, saharasfury, ShadowSessMarlfox and Miiake. You guys are great, and I hope you liked this chapter as well, even though I didn't exactly give Yuffie her materia back. Yet. Indeed she might regain it, but only much later in the story.

Anyways, thank you all for reading and (hopefully) reviewing this little story of mine.

Greetings,
Linnya