Like The Sun, Like The Moon

by Linnya

[Warning: This will not be finished anytime soon, sorry!] She, as bright and lively as the sun. He, as dark and mysterious as the moon. They couldn't have been more different. But then again, opposites attract, don't they? This is the story of Yuffie and Sephiroth.

12. Let's Talk It Out

Like The Sun, Like The Moon

Chapter Eleven

Under a pitch-black sky filled with tiny, shiny stars, the shimmering blaze of a huge bonfire was the only source to light the otherwise dim town set at the cliff of an enormous canyon. The warm shades of red it cast onto its surroundings created a calm and relaxed atmosphere among the eight persons seated around it – and yet, the heavy silence that had fallen many moments ago only improved this mood insofar as it added an austere, even creepy undertone to it that disabled every kind of relaxation completely, despite the warmth radiated by the bonfire.

Seven pairs of eyes were more or less attentively watching the blond fighter they had unhesitatingly proclaimed their leader quite a while ago, on account of his special experiences as well as his special knowledge – and yet, regardless of the magnificent qualities that had made him the captain of the crew, this very same blond fighter had now remained silent far longer than what could have been considered a pause for stress.
It only occurred when most members of his clique had already quit expecting him to say anything that he finally resumed speaking.

"And this is my reason for chasing Sephiroth."

His voice was low, his tone was grave.
And his listener's reactions proved his speech had made an impression – arched and furrowed eyebrows all around – even if not a good one…

"Spikey, darling," Yuffie eventually pointed out in the most conciliatory tone she could muster in this situation, "You haven't exactly…"

Cloud eyed her questioningly.

"…told us anything…"

Cloud furrowed his eyebrows.

"…at all…"

Cloud's reaction to Yuffie's statement was unmistakable: his left eye widened in surprise, his right one narrowed in disbelief, forming half a frown at last, while on the other end of his face, his mouth adopted a wavering, indefinite shape of utter indecision.

Finally, he turned to his remaining team-mates, seeking assistance in each of their faces, but finding none after all. Only then he admitted defeat, straightened from his half sitting, half lying position on the bonfire's little platform and began – who would have guessed? – scratching the back of his head in a mock-apologetic fashion. "I'm not a good story-teller, you see," he laughed awkwardly, "And I don't really feel like explaining all this stuff over and over again…" As he realized his companions were not quite satisfied with his excuse, he quickly cleared his throat and went on, "I mean, our group's been growing and growing and growing and growing and growing – and always it's poor ole me –" For two meaningful seconds, both his index fingers were pointed at himself. "– who has to do the explaining!" And with that, he stuck out his lower lip, crossed his arms and legs and voila! The fountain of youth was found – the fearsome, adult leader of AVALANCHE had successfully outwitted the normally unavoidable process of aging by changing into a small, pouting child.

At least that's what it looked like.

In reality – as shocking as it may sound – he was still the very same adult that had been sitting at this very same spot the moment before, only with the slight difference that, at the moment, he was pouting. And this certain, annoying pout made him – supposedly adult – appear more bratty than even Yuffie – on her worst days.

As this realization hit him, Sephiroth, still in the disguise of Leon, began to wonder just what kind of mess he had gotten himself into. When he had first realized that this journey was an inevitable mission only he could master, he had quickly accepted it as his obligation and ever since then, he had never missed a single chance to get a step closer to his aim.

However, seeing the clueless expression on the face of the very man he'd have to entrust certain parts of his mission with, Sephiroth suddenly wasn't that sure anymore whether he'd indeed be able to fulfil his duty.

Certainly, fighting didn't necessarily require too much intelligence – especially in a world that disabled an eventual, finite death by providing countless lives and a restricted amount of choices in battle – and anyways, the blond at least had something to compensate for his obvious lack of brains; brute strength and agility were what really mattered against strong foes and, judging from a quick glance at Cloud's status menu, Sephiroth could tell that, mysteriously, the chocobo head was indeed improving those qualities steadily and even somewhat quickly.

So maybe, there was still hope.

And maybe – unlikely but still possible – Cloud might even develop something akin to a brain during their remaining journey if his fellow travellers could afford both time and endurance to teach the guy some thinking.

Hm…might be worth a try… Sephiroth mused as he once again focused on their so called leader, who was still sitting cross-legged on the ground in front of the bonfire. But thankfully, and not without a little, cheery help on Aerith's part, Cloud had stopped pouting and surrendered.

"Alright then," the blond eventually spoke in a surprisingly composed manner, yet not without a hint of reproach in his voice, "I'm gunna tell the story again – but no interruptions!"

---

Under a pitch-black sky filled with tiny, shiny stars, the shimmering blaze of a huge bonfire was the only source to light the otherwise dim town set at the cliff of an enormous canyon. The warm shades of red it cast onto its surroundings created a calm and relaxed atmosphere among the eight persons seated around it – and yet, the heavy silence that had fallen many moments ago only improved this mood insofar as it added an austere, even creepy undertone to it that disabled every kind of relaxation completely, despite the warmth radiated by the bonfire.

Seven pairs of eyes were more or less attentively watching the blond fighter they had unhesitatingly proclaimed their leader quite a while ago, on account of his special experiences as well as his special knowledge – and yet, despite the magnificent qualities that had made him the captain of the crew, this very same blond fighter had now remained silent far longer than what could have been considered a pause for stress.

It only occurred when most members of his clique had already quit expecting him to say anything that he finally resumed speaking.

"And this is my reason for chasing Sephiroth."

His voice was low, his tone was grave.

And – finally! – his listeners reacted the way he had intended them to: Everyone was silent, faces downcast, brooding over all those formerly unknown details and connections Cloud's speech had finally enlightened them about. His unexpectedly detailed version of the Nibelheim incident as well as its repercussions rendered even the party's most talkative members speechless – which, certainly, didn't keep the most reticent one from raising his voice.

"So if I understand correctly," Leon's low voice pierced the silence, "your main objective is to save the Planet?" At this, he snorted ever so silently. "Quite a noble goal, if you ask me – but what I don't get is to what extend you assume Sephiroth to be connected to all this."

Even though he could hear Yuffie's incredulous gasp from next to him, he didn't bother taking a look at the questioning glance she was undoubtedly sending him, but was content with staring down their blond guide instead.

Their blond guide who didn't quite feel addressed, I may add. Looking anywhere but at his friends, Cloud reminded them once again – more or less consciously – that he wasn't known for his eloquence.

"Sephiroth is the best lead we have right now," Tifa finally took over after scowling at her still oblivious childhood friend, "He used to be with the Shinra and now, he suddenly shows up again, only to kill their president."

At this, Yuffie flinched slightly. Certainly, Cloud had enlightened them about most things that had happened so far, but the thought of Sephiroth slaughtering that not-so-poor old man gave her the creeps nonetheless. While wondering whether she should take part in the conversation or not, she made it her business to chew on the straw that was the only thing left of the Caipirinha she had earlier made Sephiroth buy.

"I don't know what you think about this," Tifa went on, "but I for one can't think of a good reason for him to do so."

It had been really nice of him, really.

"He's got to be insane!"

After all, she hadn't even needed to force him or anything – she had merely had to ask him a dozen of times and already had he given in.

"We've already seen," Tifa rambled on, "or rather heard of what he did in Nibelheim."

So since he's been kind enough to buy me some alcohol, Yuffie reasoned, why shouldn't I return the favour?

"I can't deny that he's strong," Tifa admitted somewhat ruefully, "possibly stronger than all of us together."

Honestly: she'd only voice her thoughts because she felt obliged to defend her friend – not because she wanted to know more about him or his motives or whatever further curiosities he might be hiding – oh no, her reason was a completely selfless one, as usual.

"Still we've got to stop him."

But before her inner struggles were lasting too long, Yuffie decided it was best to take the initiative before it was too late and to speak as soon as she had the chance.

"Because he's definitely a serious threat to the Planet," Tifa concluded. Finally.

"Killing people ain't a good thing, alright," Yuffie responded with a light shrug, "But since the Shinra are the bad guys here…shouldn't we be kinda grateful Sephiroth killed that old geezer?" In fact, this had been everything she wanted to say, but a light twitch of Tifa's right eye reminded her to go more into detail, or else her words might be easily gotten wrong.

Oh well, people tend to draw different conclusions from the same clues, she told herself wisely and sighed. "What I'm trying to say is…" she began awkwardly, careful not to choose her words too inappropriately, "Whatever happened in Nibelheim…is really……bad." Watching an angry Tifa rather nervously, Yuffie cleared her throat. She herself preferred not to form much of an opinion about this incident before she had heard both versions, but talking about Nibelheim if two, or rather three, of the assembled had been directly affected by it certainly wasn't an easy thing.

Oh well, at least Sephiroth and Cloud weren't about to crush her ribs if she said the wrong thing… At least she hoped so…

"But you see," Yuffie finally went on after a rather long pause of preoccupied straw-chewing, "it happened five years ago, and five years are a long time. A lot can happen in five years. And, umm, you might not believe it…" At this, she leant forward and lowered her voice to a mere whisper, "…but people can actually change."

"Just look at me!" Straightening once more, she pointed at herself, "I went through all puberty in five years! And now, I'm much calmer, wiser and more knowledgeable!" Noting the suppressed chuckle coming from Leon was, quite surprisingly, the loudest one, Yuffie tried her best not think much of it. Her current task was much more important after all! "You see, we don't quite know just what he's been doing these past years," she went on rather insistently. "Maybe he's been plotting to destroy earth," she guessed with a shrug, "Maybe he's been working at a souvenir shop in Costa del Sol all the time. Who knows?"

Settling back into the comfortable albeit cross-legged position she had been in earlier, she casually took the straw out of her mouth and twirled it around her fingers. "I don't know enough to judge his past self, but his latest actions aren't too wicked, are they?"

And once again, or rather still, she received several doubtful glances from just about every direction – and a death glare in Tifa's case. "I mean, he killed their president," Yuffie began once again, stealing a glance at Leon's rather blank face every now and then. "In that one Simpson episode, they only had to get rid of the main zombie in order to turn everyone back to normal," she explained with a wild combination of bemusingly ninja-esque gestures, "So, with their president gone, all those Shinra lackeys might actually realize what horrible things they've been doing all this time!" When finally, realization dawned upon most faces, she breathed a sigh of relief.

"That's right, they might," Red agreed from the sidelines, "But we can't expect everyone to stop enjoying the luxury of Mako energy. Therefore, killing the president won't help much on the long run. He'll simply be substituted with someone else, possibly someone much more immoral."

Half of the troupe nodded in grave agreement, half of them frowned in light confusion – and of course, none of the latter ones were about admit they were confused.

Except for Yuffie, that is.

Certainly, she had just rediscovered the joy of chewing on her straw, but never mind that…

If the others weren't brave enough, she would be the one to voice the problem, "If it's so useless, then why kill the president at all?" In all actuality, this question was directed at Sephiroth, aka Leon, rather than anyone else. But as luck would have it, said question was apparently the only one answered "easily" this evening.

"Yeah, why kill him?" Tifa repeated airily and went on in a much more foreboding kind of voice, "Old Shinra used to be his boss." Looking around meaningfully, not to mention dangerously, she made a short pause. "Many people would love to kill their bosses, to be sure – but only those who've finally lost it would ever do such a thing."

"Maybe he just realized Shinra's true intentions?" Yuffie suggested, fumbling innocently at her straw.

And all of a sudden, she noticed rather painfully just which straw she had been chewing on.

This had been the last straw.

And within half a second, all hell broke loose.

Quite literally so.

"Just why are you defending him?!" Tifa exploded, jumping up in the same fashion volcanoes tend to erupt: sudden, forceful, deadly. "You don't know anything!" she roared as she stomped around the not-so-bon-fire and came to a boiling halt before the trembling form of Yuffie, "And still you dare to defend him!" As she was towering over her defenceless victim – to said victim only visible as a deadly black silhouette thanks to the hellfire behind her – it wasn't difficult to mistake Tifa with the devil. "You've heard our story – WHY?!"

Like the devil indeed.

And for a while, they stood, respectively cowered, without any further movement.

The tension between the two was so incredible not even Cloud's excited "Catfight!" could break it.

Not even when he yelled it for a second time.

Or a third time.

Or when Barett joined in.

Or when they composed a song out of it that vaguely sounded like those questionable Christmas songs barked by dogs.

Or when they…

"I wasn't defending him, really!" Yuffie finally piped up, pleading The Devil for forgiveness with the hugest, cutest and most persuasive puppy dog eyes she could muster – and all of a sudden, the Devil turned back into Tifa.

A surprised version of her, one may add.

"You weren't," she choked in bewilderment.

"I don't know much about that matter yet," Yuffie justified herself as she carefully and slowly skidded far enough backwards to be out of hell's reach, "I really didn't mean to offend you. Honestly! But I'd like to actually know why we are fighting whom, you know?"

Finally, Tifa's devilish grimace melted into an apologetic look of compassion. "Oh Yuffie, I'm sorry!" she exclaimed as she bent down in front of the ninja, placing her hands on her team-mate's shoulders in a surprisingly conciliatory way. "I didn't mean to flip out right now," she whispered sadly, "It's just that Sephiroth and what he did at Nibelheim…coined my whole life. In this matter, I just can't keep a clear head." She laughed humourlessly and placed a fake smile on her face. "But it's good that some of us aren't as prejudiced. This way we can find more ways to settle whatever problems might arouse."

Unsure what to do, Yuffie contented herself with smiling back wordlessly.

And somewhere in the far, far distance, Cloud's disappointed whimper could be heard. "…No catfight?"

Certainly, a quick smack in the gut might have snapped the blond out of his depression rather neatly, but for some mysterious reason, Tifa decided against it and sat down instead. On the very same spot Yuffie had just now cleared.

Oh great, now she's mistaken my fear for a peace offer, the ninja frowned, realizing in slight dismay that she no longer sat directly next to Leon.And I bet he's been enjoying himself greatly just now, she added as an afterthought.

And suddenly, she wasn't angry about not sitting next to him anymore.

Not at all!

"So basically," Yuffie summarized after a short pause, "we're just following Sephy around to stop him from whatever evil he is planning?"

"That's right," Tifa nodded enthusiastically. "We can't exactly do much against the Shinra right now, but concerning them, we at least know what we are dealing with. But concerning Sephiroth…"

"…we don't know what we're up against," Cloud concluded bitterly, "That's why we've at least got to ask him."

Completely taken by surprise, Yuffie choked. "It's taken quite a while to make you spill this information, you know?!" she exclaimed helplessly and stole a quick glance at Leon who barely seemed able to believe his sudden luck as well.

And as if his former statement hadn't already been enough to enthral his listeners, Cloud decided to speak on still. "I used to admire him, but then…" he told them in an uncharacteristically sad, almost desperate voice, "I don't understand him anymore…I need to know what he's thinking."

Without realizing it at first, Yuffie suddenly found herself gaping. So their guide wasn't as shallow a fellow as she'd originally thought after all! However, she didn't have a chance to celebrate this revelation – because, as much as she enjoyed Cloud showing human feelings as well as some kind of intellect, watching him like that both depressed and unnerved her. The poor guy must have suffered a lot…

She exchanged glances with Leon, but didn't manage to get her message across. Maybe you should cheer him up, she wanted to say.

But it would have to wait until later on…

"Apropos…"

Everyone's attention shifted to the inconspicuous wolf in their midst. "We may not be able to understand his reasons for doing so, but I am rather interested in that creature Sephiroth seems to be carrying around," Red calmly spoke in his deep voice as he turned his head in the general direction of Yuffie and Leon, "When we first met you, you claimed to be following this Jenova rather than Sephiroth himself – I wonder why."

This time, everyone's eyes turned to Yuffie.

She sighed.Why is it always the more open-minded ones who have to answer all questions? she wondered in light annoyance and decided to hand on the question. "Yeah, why are we following this Jenova thingy, Leon?" she demanded rather noisily, glaring at her friend so that everyone else would look at him as well.

If he sensed her annoyance, or her resulting urge to be annoying, he certainly didn't show it. "Well, guys," he began rather pleasantly, "My father used to work as a scientist at Shinra's laboratories. This way I received, more or less willingly, quite a lot of restricted information." Being the nonchalant gentleman he was, he didn't exactly react to the somewhat disbelieving gazes he was receiving and plainly went on, "I never really bothered digesting everything properly, mainly because I never needed to. But when I heard last week that Jenova had vanished, I realized that something better prevented is about to happen."

"Your father told you about Jenova, then?" Red inquired.

"It is considered the most dangerous threat the Planet had ever faced," Leon explained with a slight nod and looked up at the starry sky, "Thousands of years ago, it landed on this earth and infected its inhabitants with evil. Eventually it was defeated by the few Ancients that had survived its malevolence and fell into a deep slumber, but…"
"But it was reawakened," Yuffie concluded in a dry voice.

"Yes," Leon answered with a little nod and looked around to observe his listeners' reactions. "About thirty years ago, scientists found it buried in ice and dug it out," he informed them rather tonelessly, "They mistook it for an ancient and decided to bring it back to life – and by that action, they caused evil to spread once more."

Silence.

"Isn't that a bit…far-fetched?" Barrett finally remarked rather huskily.

At this, Leon merely shrugged. "If you think about it, it does explain quite a lot," he responded, "For example, the generation and usage of Mako Energy were discovered around that time."

"Yes, I remember," the odd cat they had somehow ended up picking up at the Gold Saucer suddenly added, "About then Shinra gained most of its influence."

"Thanks to the war," Yuffie concluded darkly.

"You mean there's never been war before the one in Wutai?" Barredt wondered aloud.

"It's true," Aerith agreed in slight astonishment, "I've always wondered why people have become so greedy and…war-obsessed all of a sudden."

"You see?" Leon spoke firmly, "There are way too many facts for it to be a mere coincidence." Propping his elbows on his knees, he leant a bit forward as he went on, "One way or the other, Jenova caused many people's miseries and… who knows what it's going to do if let loose?" He waited for a moment to let his words sink in and finally voiced his final conclusion. "I for one am not keen on knowing, so I'd love to get rid of it before it can do any more damage."

"You mean Jenova's the true antagonist," Yuffie inquired with a frown, "and Sephy is only some kind of evil pawn?"

"If I could tell you what role Sephiroth is playing in this game, I would certainly do so," Leon responded flatly, and yet he managed to stress the "roth" in such an indignant albeit barely perceivable manner that only those who were used to his unnerving nonchalance – namely Yuffie – would notice it. "But since I currently can't," he went on smoothly, "I am sorry to disappoint you."

Even though about a thousand more or less appropriate retorts flashed through her mind at this very moment, the ninja contended herself with eye-twitching her friend for evading the topic so shamelessly. She had, to be sure, learnt more about him, his past and his so called mission during the last few hours than during seven freaking years of knowing him – but that didn't necessarily mean it had to make sense.

Finding out about the blood-thirsty villain everyone believed him to be didn't exactly help uncovering the truth, for she knew what he was really like: He might appear cold and detached, he might not talk much. His rather dry humour and deadpanning tended to turn people nervous rather than amuse them – which, Yuffie guessed, was fully intended – but he just couldn't be considered as frightening and evil as her new friends seemed to think.

Not quite.

She might not have witnessed it too often and yet had he demonstrated her often enough that he genuinely cared. He had simply decided not to let that surface very often, which she could fully understand, considering his unique character.

What she didn't understand, however, was just why he kept pretending to be the exact opposite of what he truly was. It felt as though he was purposely making Cloud and company believe he was the devil himself.

And Yuffie wanted to know why.

Therefore she would definitely take him at his word – once the others would be out of earshot, he would be able to tell her.

And then she would definitely make him do it.

End of Chapter Eleven

---

A/N: I humbly apologize for taking so long, and as I'm already at it, I humbly apologize for this chapter's missing action as well. I'm not exactly fond of explanatory chapters at all (which is partly a reason for it taking so long), but any kind of story needs them. So well, with this one I tried to clarify a bit of what anyone was aiming at. In a way. Oh well, I hope you weren't too bored ;P

Anyways, next chapter, there'll be a lot more action and a lot more Sephy-Yuffie-interaction, that much I can promise. Unfortunately, I can't tell you when it'll be out, but I definitely won't make you wait for another four months ;)

So now, I've got to thank all those faithful reviewers who hopefully haven't grown tired of my extraordinarily slow writing yet: saharasfury, Chaotic Rei, TOWTWUKER, Sonicron, the Dah, Kadaj-chan and PerfectAbuse - Thank you!

And happy new year, everyone! xD

Greetings,
Linnya