Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Final Fantasy characters. They are the property of Square Soft and Square Enix. I do however own Kaira, any other character I create, and the storyline. Please don't steal this because I have worked very hard on it.~~…~~ denotes flashbacks, dreams, nightmares; '. . .' denotes thoughts; **. . . ** denotes scene changes; * denotes notes at the bottom
Author notes:
Chapter 5 ~ The Truth Comes Out
Reno had led Kaira back to her room. As they walked, he had become really worried about what she had said. He held Kaira tighter as they continued to walk.
"They're coming," Kaira whispered almost inaudibly.
Reno had to strain real hard in order to hear what Kaira had just said. He stopped walking and made Kaira look up at him.
"Who's coming, Kai?" he asked her worriedly.
Kaira tried to look away from Reno but couldn't. She knew she had tears shining in her mismatched eyes. She reached up and wiped away a couple of stray tears.
"The ones who attacked you guys at the Northern Cave," she said to the man looking down at her.
Reno just stared at Kaira with a confused look on his face. He knew that he didn't tell Kaira about them being attacked earlier that day. He continued to look down at her.
"Kaira, how did you know we were attacked up at the Northern Cave?" he asked her.
Kaira sighed as she finally pulled her eyes away from Reno. She had really gotten herself into a pickle now. She turned her back on Reno and looked up at the ceiling.
"Lucky guess, I suppose," she said back to him as she turned back around to face Reno. "Believe me when I say that they are coming here for Jenova's head."
Reno fell back against the wall when he heard Kaira's words. He quickly regained his composure as he slowly walked over to Kaira.
"Do you know the names of the ones who attacked us at the Northern Cave?" he asked her in a calming tone.
Kaira slowly nodded her head as she answered Reno, "Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo."
Reno reached out and pulled Kaira to him. He held her close to his chest.
"Let's go and tell you father what you just told me," he said to her.
Kaira grinned slightly as she nodded her head. She could tell just by the look in Reno's eyes that she was going to have to explain more in depth about how she knew what had happened up at the Northern Cave.
"That sounds good to me," she said as they started walking towards her father's room. "And I will explain to you later how I knew about what happened at the Northern Cave."
Reno smiled as they continued to walk. He then felt Kaira lean into his left side.
"I will tell my father everything that has happened to me since he left," she whispered quietly.
Reno just held Kaira even closer to his side.
"And I will be there every step of the way," he said back to her as they came to a stop in front of Rufus's room.
"Thank you," Kaira whispered as she reached out and knocked on the door before them. "Dad?"
**inside the room**
Rufus had been discussing some things with Rude when he heard a knock on the door and then Kaira's voice. He looked over at Rude and nodded to the tall man to open the door.
Rude walked over to the door and opened it to see Kaira and Reno standing there. He glared at Reno as he stepped aside so they could enter the room.
Rufus looked up at Reno and Kaira from his wheelchair and sighed. Somehow he knew that Kaira and Reno were together. He shook his head as he looked directly at his daughter as best as he could.
"What brings you here, Kaira?" he asked in a pleasant tone.
Kaira looked away from her father and buried herself further into Reno's side. She could feel her heartbeat quicken as she prepared herself to tell her father what she had told Reno a few minutes earlier in the hallway. Kaira took a deep breath as she looked back down at her father.
"There are some things that you need to know, dad," she whispered as she drew more of her strength from Reno so she could continue. "I know who attacked you and the others at the Northern Cave."
Rufus stared at Kaira for a few minutes before he turned his cold blue gaze towards Reno. He could tell just by the look in Reno's eyes that he didn't tell Kaira about their trip to the Northern Cave.
"And who were we attacked by, Kaira?" he asked her back.
Kaira sighed once more as she replied, "It was Kadaj, Loz, and Yazoo who attacked you, dad. They need Jenova's head for something special. And, dad, Kadaj was the one who almost raped me in the alley two years ago."
Rufus and Rude just stared at Kaira and Reno with looks of awe on their faces. Neither of them could believe what Kaira had just told them. Rufus wheeled himself over to Reno and Kaira and looked up at her.
"There's more that you aren't telling me, Kaira. What else are you hiding from me, my dear?" he asked his daughter cautiously.
Kaira then felt Reno gently squeeze her left shoulder to remind her that he was still there for her, Kaira then glanced up at Reno and smiled slightly at him before looking back down at her father. She then let out the breath that she had inadvertently been holding.
"What I was about thirteen or so, a couple of people who worked for Grandfather showed up at the house," she said as she looked down at the floor in order to hide the tears shining in her blue and lavender eyes. "They killed mom in front of me. They then hauled me out of the house and back to the Shinra building where I was handed over to a weird scientist named Hojo."
Rufus could feel his anger start to rise when he heard what had happened to Cora. But he was more interested in who had killed his wife and what Hojo had done to Kaira.
"I know this is going to be hard for you, sweetheart, but I need you to tell me who killed your mother," Rufus whispered quietly.
"It was a woman named Scarlett and a fat man named Heidegger," she said just as quietly as her father.
Rufus finally let his anger completely come out. He couldn't believe that his father would do that to Cora and Kaira. He banged his fists on the arms of his wheelchair, causing Kaira, Reno, and Rude to jump slightly.
Kaira could see and feel her father's rage. She knew that he would get this furious when he heard about her mother. 'If he is this mad about mom's death, then there is no telling how he is going to react when I tell him what Hojo did to me,' she thought to herself. Then without anyone knowing, Kaira hid herself behind Reno.
"There's more, dad. I still have to tell you what Hojo did to me," she whispered from behind Reno with her eyes closed.
Reno turned around and looked down at Kaira as did Rufus and Rude. All three men stared at her.
"Then please tell me, Kaira," Rufus spoke calmly to his daughter.
Kaira smiled slightly as she slowly opened her eyes. She then looked up at all three men with slightly glowing eyes.
"You have to promise not to get mad at Reno for any of this, dad," she stated back to Rufus as her eyes glowed even more.
Rufus looked between Reno and Kaira with a slightly confused look on his face. He didn't understand what Reno had to do with all this.
"I promise not to get mad at Reno, Kaira," stated Rufus with a slight nod of his head.
Kaira nodded her head as she slowly backed away from Reno and the others as she began to speak. "I was kept locked up in a special part of Hojo's lab in the Shinra building, away from everyone else while Hojo performed many experiments on me. But don't bother asking what type of experiments because Hojo never told me what he was doing to me. Then one day when I wasn't being experimented on, Reno had found me. I made him promise not to tell you that I was there, dad," Kaira said to her father.
"But why are your eyes glowing like that, Kaira?" Rufus asked as he pointed to his daughter's mismatched glowing eyes as he let what she had just told him sink into his brain.
Kaira let the smile fall from her face. She looked down at the ground as she tried to remember what Hojo had injected her with in order to make her eyes glow.
"I don't remember why," she said as she looked back up at her father.
Reno reached out and pulled Kaira into his chest as he looked at Rufus. He could see the mixture of anger and worry in his boss's eyes.
"Hojo injected her with a combination of Mako energy and Jenova cells," Reno said as he held Kaira even tighter. "It was more than he normally injected into someone that he would experiment on."
Rufus just looked at Reno with an awestruck look on his face. Once again he couldn't believe what was done to Kaira. He slowly wheeled his way over to Kaira and Reno. Once he was close enough to Kaira, Rufus reached out with his right hand and took Kaira's left hand in his own.
"I am sorry you had to endure all that alone, my dear," he said in a comforting tone.
Kaira looked up at her father as her eyes stopped glowing. The tears that she had been trying so hard to keep from falling, started to fall freely down her cheeks.
"It's not your fault, daddy," she said in a childlike tone as she launched herself at her father.
Rufus caught Kaira in his arms and held her tightly. It had been so long since he had held his daughter in his arms. He then looked up at Reno.
"I don't blame you for not telling me that Kaira was being held by Hojo all those years ago, Reno," Rufus said quietly as he heard a quiet snore come from Kaira. "Take her back to her room, Reno."
Reno nodded his head as he picked Kaira up in his arms. He then turned and started walking out of the room but stopped at the door.
"I'll stay with her," he said back to Rufus.
Rufus smiled even more at Reno's back. He could tell that Reno meant what he said about staying with Kaira.
"Protect my daughter well, Reno," he said to the man holding his daughter.
"Don't worry, sir. I will protect Kai with my life," Reno said as he left the room and headed towards Kaira's room. As he walked down the hall, Reno felt Kaira shift in his arms as she cuddled closer to his chest.
"Don't ever leave me, Reno," Kaira mumbled in her sleep.
Reno smiled down at the girl in his arms. He would never leave Kaira alone again. When he reached Kaira's room, he gently pushed her door open with his left shoulder and walked into the room. Once he was in the room, Reno kicked the door shut and it closed with a quiet thud.
Reno then walked over to Kaira's bed. As he went to lay Kaira down, Reno felt her grip tighten on his white shirt.
"Okay, Kai. I'll hold you while you sleep," he whispered in her ear.
Reno laid down on Kaira's bed with his back up against the headboard. He then felt Kaira shift into a better position against his chest. He wrapped his arms tightly around Kaira as he watched her sleep.
"Get Cloud's help," Kaira whispered as she fell into a deeper sleep.
"We will," Reno whispered back to her as he too fell into a deep sleep.
Kaira smiled in her sleep even more. "I love you, Reno," she whispered in an inaudible tone.
Reno's only response to Kaira's words was that he held her even tighter, He slowly let his mind slip into dreams of being with Kaira forever.