Second Chances Chapter 5: When Angels and Serpents Dance, a final fantasy vii fanfic

Disclaimer: I find myself once more saying this. says in monotonous, robotic voice I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Sephiroth, or any ideas that belong to Square Enix. Please read and review.

CHAPTER 4- WHEN ANGELS AND SERPENTS DANCE

He had carried her home, white wings dragging the ground, much to the discomfort of the townspeople. Once inside the house, he had carried her into the bathroom and proceeded to wash the dirt and blood from her body. It wasn't as though he hadn't ever seen her naked before, but this time was different; this time there were two ten-foot long wings to deal with, too. He was still in shock at the transformation that had taken place with Shakura. It must be the Jenova cells. Her body must have accepted them far better than any of the SOLDIERs that Hojo had experimented on. And that look in her eye... like she blamed me for her pain. It's just too much to think about. Kneeling by the edge of the bathtub, he stretched her right wing out to its fullest length. It was beautiful, to say the least, once the blood was washed away. But he also knew that it was unwanted. It looked very much like his own, with the exception that hers was as white as ivory, and his was as black as ebony.

When at last all of the blood had been washed from her slim figure, he decided that it would be too hard to try to dress her when her wings were unfurled, so he laid her on the bed as she was and covered her in a thick blanket. Knowing that it was a cruel thing to do, he also bound her wrists to the headboard, and her ankles to the foot-board. If she woke up and still had that wild gleam in her eyes like out in the street, he wanted her to be safe from herself. He was frightened, too, because there was no doubt in his mind that she was just as strong as him, if not stronger. He did not want to find himself fighting this poor girl, who didn't have a clue as to what was going on, and who was also not even in full control of her body.

Remembering that he had dropped the things he had bought on the ground outside the alley-way, he rushed out of the house, and returned a short time later with the merchandise. Setting the bags and boxes on the kitchen table, he began unpacking them, pulling out cans of food and articles of clothing that he had bought for Shakura. She obviously needs a lot of clothes, as she seems to go through them fairly quickly. She also can't seem to stay in them, either!He smirked a little as he pondered this fact. Finally, he unpacked the things he knew that she would need, since she didn't seem to have any of her own. He had bought her a set of standard materia; Ice, Fire, Thunder, Restore, and Heal. Finally, he brought out the thing that had taken him so long to decide upon; a weapon for the girl. He wanted something that was perfect for her; something that she could wield easily and with grace, and after looking at guns, daggers, spears, and shruikens, he had finally decided upon a beautiful, crimson-bladed sword. It was about five and a half feet in length, the thin, wickedly sharp blade curving slightly, with emeralds set into the hilt. Silver wire was wrapped around the glittering stones, holding them in place, and the stones themselves looked like liquid green fire. A long white silken ribbon was wrapped around and around the handle, the ends of which hung down freely, underneath the pommel. The names "Tiger Lily" and "Shakura" had been etched into the blade in fragile script, at Sephiroth's request. The blade was beautiful, and he sincerely hoped that he wouldn't find it against his throat one of these days.

Slipping it into its wine-red leather sheath, which was also wrapped in silver wire, he set the weapon aside and brought a chair from the kitchen table to the bedroom. Sighing, he eased himself into the chair, and cast his eyes upon the sleeping girl. As he thought about her, he realized that he had never met anyone like her. There was still so much he didn't know about her, and she didn't seem to know much about herself, with the exception of her name. She claimed that she didn't know anything about materia or ShinRa, or anything that was common knowledge to the citizens of Gaia. He remembered that he had died, and had been brought back to life by the Cetra. Maybe she had been too. He recalled something that the Cetra had told him last time. "If she dies, it will not be the first time, and it will mean that both of you have failed." He had not paid much attention at the time, but it seemed as though she really had died before. But while he had retained all of his memories, she had not. It was strange...

Training his gaze back on her lifeless body, he decided that the only thing that he could do was try to keep her safe, and try to keep Jenova from completely gaining control of her mind. And even that seems to be a hard task; she keeps getting into trouble. It worried him that she had been mostly unconscious all of the time that he had known her. And I thought she would be safe staying by herself in this house for a couple hours. Shows how wrong I was...he mused. Just then, Shakura gave a sleepy moan, and tried to roll over onto her side, but her bonds prevented that. She struggled in her sleep, and suddenly, her eyes shot open, blazing green in the near darkness. She looked wildly about the room, and seeing Sephiroth by her side, her eyes softened noticeably. He was glad to see that she was back to normal.

"What... happened?" she asked cautiously. She struggled once more against her bonds, but gave up when they didn't budge. She looked at Sephiroth for an explanation.

"I'm sorry, but I wasn't sure what mood you would be in when you woke up, so I decided to make sure you wouldn't hurt yourself. You kind of had me scared back in that alley-way, and that's saying something, from me." he smirked apologetically. "Here, let me help you." he said as he stood and untied the rope that had bound her to the bed. She rubbed her wrists and he saw that the skin had become raw and agitated during the hours that she had been sleeping. He caught her wrist in his hand and lightly brushed his fingers across the torn skin. She shivered at his icy touch, and watched as he pulled his mastered Restore materia from the depths of his cloak and pressed it to her wrist. In an instant, the raw marks were gone. He allowed her wrist to drop, aware of the crimson blush that had crept over her face. She broke his intense gaze and looked about the room once more. She stood and stretched, still seemingly unaware of the two wings that were hanging from her shoulders.

Quite suddenly, however, she gave a deep gasp as she discovered what it was that had been causing the unfamiliar weight. She looked at him for an explanation as she ran her fingers down the length of the white plumage.

"You can control them, you know." he told her. "Try, but be careful, because those wings are extremely powerful. We wouldn't want you to break anything in the house, now would we?" he had a mischievous grin on his face now.

I was astonished. Humans weren't supposed to have wings! Slowly, I did as he suggested, and tried to move them by myself. Amazingly, they did move, and they were indeed powerful. As a thought came to my mind, I panicked, realizing that I wouldn't be able to go anywhere ever again. How could I hide them? I posed the question out loud to Sephiroth.

"You just need to draw them closer to your back, and they'll become hidden." he stood, and walked closer to me. I shivered as his icy cold fingers touched my feathers. Was it my imagination, or did he just trail his fingers down my back on purpose? I shivered once more as his fingers made contact with my bare flesh. I felt him bring my right wing closer to my body, and then do the same with my left wing. Somehow, they seemed to disappear when they were close enough to my back.

Again he spoke. "I bought you some clothing yesterday. Hopefully, you can stay in them this time..." he said with half a smirk on his face.

"Wouldn't you rather I didn't?" I asked playfully. Where in the HELL did that come from?He froze, and he raised his eyebrow. "I'm sorry." I apologized as I became more and more embarrassed. "I shouldn't have..." My sentence was left hanging in the air, though, as I felt his lips upon mine. My eyes grew wide in surprise, as I peered up into his face. His own eyes were closed. I smiled to myself, and leaned upward, deepening the kiss. I felt his arms come up behind my back, and embrace me. I cupped his face in my hands and kissed him passionately. I unfurled my wings once more, and wrapped them around our bodies. Slowly, he broke the kiss, and gazed into my eyes. I withdrew my wings and whispered a simple question into the air. "Why?" He simply shook his head. "I don't know." was his reply.

He didn't know what had come over him. He had never felt this attracted to a woman before. It had seemed the right thing to do, under the circumstances. And he was glad that she had not pulled away.

"Here, get dressed." he said, handing her a pair of clothes. "I have something I want to show you." She quickly obeyed him, and they left the house together, Sephiroth carrying the sword and its sheath under his cloak. They walked on and on, and thankfully, Shakura did not ask to stop once, the entire trip. Finally, Sephiroth stopped walking once they reached a small forest clearing. After resting for a short time, he pulled the sword out of his cloak and offered it to her. Her eyes grew wide as she took the blade in her hands.

She gasped loudly as she pulled the sword free of its sheath. "It's beautiful..." she said in awe. "But, why did you buy it for me?"

"You needed a weapon, and I thought that one would suit you best." he said as she turned it around in her hands.

"Tiger Lily." she read aloud. "You had his name and mine engraved on him?" she asked, deciding that the sword was male. She peered into his green eyes. "But I can't use this. It's too beautiful... and besides, I don't even know how to wield a sword. What if I break him?" she looked worried.

"That's why I brought you here. I'm going to teach you to use it. By the end of the day, you'll be able to wield it with grace and accuracy. And as for it breaking... well, it's stronger than it looks. Like you..." he said hesitantly.

She smiled at him, and watched as he pulled an extremely long blade from his cloak. It had to be at least six and a half feet in length and it was extremely thin. "Holy shit..." she murmured.

"This one's name is Masamune." he said in response to the look on her face. "Don't worry about it's size; I'll go easy on you." he said, smirking a little at the double meaning.

She grinned in response, and told him not to go easy on her. "I'm tougher than I look, remember?" she said, quoting him.

"Well, we'll see about that." he stated, lifting the katana. He nodded, and she rushed him, almost catching him off guard.

"Now, that wasn't very smart." she said. He swung the blade at her, but she dodged easily, and he suddenly felt the tip of her blade against his throat. She lowered the blade and gave him a look. "Is that all you've got?" She lowered her self into a defensive position and easily caught his blade on hers.

She was definitely a lot stronger than she looked. It seemed as though she didn't even try or notice her own strength. Deciding to turn up the volume a little, he swung furiously, his blade gleaming silver in the dim sunlight. She blocked and parried most of his moves. "Come ON!" she cried. "This is too easy!" Becoming a bit frustrated that his female opponent was getting the best of him, he fought as hard as he could, and they became locked in a furious dance.

After thirty minutes, she still did not seem tired in the least, but he felt the weariness seeping through him. How long is she going to keep this up? His thoughts were broken, though, as he felt his blade make contact with something soft. He looked up in time to see her pull his blade from her shoulder and keep fighting. The injury did not even seem to slow her down. Finally, when it seemed as though he couldn't take any more, she stopped and raised her hand, signaling him to stop. He stopped himself just in time, his blade inches away from her chest. She finally seemed to be tired, he noticed. There was sweat dripping from her brow and she was slightly hunched over, panting from the exertion. She slid the blade into its sheath, and set in on the ground. Silently, she pointed at the stream that ran through the forest clearing, and he nodded.

Well, there's another chapter for you. This one tested my writing abilities in ways that it hasn't been tested before, and personally, I love the way this chapter came out. Please, though, PLEASE review. Reviews are like candy for a young writer.