All right, I know that it has been a while(over a month) and I'm really, really sorry. That won't happen ever again. My grandfather is doing fine now but we will still be taking care of him so while I have school and work, I will be taking care of him so the chapters will be coming every other week. Please hang in there, guys :)

Chapter Three

Hate

"Are you ready?"

"Do we have to do this?" Sienna asked with a dull voice. "I wanted to walk the city today."

"You know that your training must be done."

Sienna was now 12. It had been five years since she had awakened from the tube. She had taken Sephiroth's words to heart and had tied her hatred and anger for the two scientists down over the years. Gast had tried to get Sienna out into the public with children her own age but she refused to do it, resulting in Sephiroth being the only one she even glanced at, though that wasn't often. Hojo had done his hardest to keep the two of them separated from the other but he couldn't do it for ever.

Sephiroth made Sienna so mad but at the same time she liked being around him. She hated him for his strength still and she tried her hardest to do everything to prove that she was stronger; she never won. Sephiroth was still number one. And Hojo was pleased with that. Hojo. If you wanted to know who the most annoying man on this planet was, this scientist was the answer. Everything about him, from his looks to his voice, annoyed the woman so bad that she wanted to stab him with her sword or her ice over and over again; sometimes both.

Next week was the tests for Sienna And Sephiroth. The tests for their acceptance into SOLDIER. They were only twelve and thirteen but they were 'special cases', as Gast liked to tell her. They were getting ready to see if they were good enough to join 3rd Class yet. Sienna had already promised herself that she would try as hard as she could to be accepted. She wouldn't be able to bear Hojo's taunts if Sephiroth got it and she didn't. It would send her over the edge and she would not be able to withhold her anger. Just one more word from that monstrous man…

"That's enough for the night, Sienna." The woman turned at the voice to find Gast standing there, a smile on his face like always. "Go and get some rest."

"But, Professor," The trainer began but Gast cut him off.

"She has been at this all day. Let her rest. She will do fine next week; you can't wear her out."

Sienna gave a snort before pushing her away out of the Training room.

Gast watched her leave, that smile still on his face. "How has she been?"

"She's getting stronger and stronger as the days go on and she still doesn't use her full strength, just like Sephiroth. It's amazing what the two of them can do. I makes me wonder how they would be if they acted together instead of against the other."

"I don't think that it would be a good idea," Gast shook his head. "If the two of them got close…it might mean the end for everything…"

"What do you mean?" The man asked.

Gast was silent for a moment longer before smiling again. "After she is given the 3rd Rank, come with me on a little trip. There's something that I need to…to do."

"What do you need to do?" The man asked, a bit surprised on him being the chosen one.

"It's a little…complicated, so I can't tell you until we start the trip."

"Then…where would we be going?"

Gast turned to leave the room himself. "Nibelheim."

~Shhh... quiet, you might piss somebody off
Like me motherfucker, you've been at it for too long
While you feed off others' insecurities
You stand in front of me and bite the hand that feeds~

The city was rowdy this evening. Sienna kept to the shadows and the sides as she moved through everything on the streets. She found a small smile on her face as she moved through, taking in the sights and sounds and smells of the city. Tonight was apparently someone's wedding and the celebration had passed through the entire city. Sienna had to ask what a wedding was and she was looked at like she was an idiot as they explained it to her.

The man and the woman have come together to create a family and live with one another for the rest of their lives. Why did they choose to do that? What was this love that everyone was talking about? It was a feeling, but what kind? Was it like the hate that she felt when she thought about Hojo? Or was it more like the anger she felt when she saw Sephiroth? They told her that she would understand one day, but when you that be?

And the children. How were they made? Were they in the tubes like she had been? It had to be, there was no other way that they could be born, right? That's why she was born there. How did they make it a boy or a girl? Were they tests or something or just a roll of the die? All of this was just so confusing but at the same time in interested her. She wanted to ask about it but she didn't know where to turn so an idea came down upon her mind. She would find a book about it…somewhere. She found that she understood so much more through reading than from the lips of the scientists.

"What are you doing out here?"

~Speaking of anger~

Sienna turned to find Sephiroth standing beside her, his hands shoved in his pockets as he gazed through the streets. Her anger boiled up but she shoved it back down, cooling herself off like she could during battle. She always wondered why it was just Sephiroth and the scientists that angered her. No one else ever seemed to be the cause of it. She often found herself wondering about it but at the same time didn't really care to think about it for too long.

~So confusing~ She shook her head.

"I dislike being kept in the tower." She referred to the Corporation. "Does it matter?"

"I suppose not," The thirteen-year-old shrugged. "I don't care for it too much, either."

"Why do they keep us there?" Sienna found herself asking him. She hated him but he was the only one that she felt that she could truly talk to. "why is it that we can barely ever leave?"

Sephiroth was silent for a moment before closing his eyes. "It's because we are…different."

"Different?"

"Haven't you noticed?" He looked at her. "Compared to all the others our age, we are extremely different. They play and go to school. We are stuck in the tower, training and fighting with tests. We are just…different."

"It still makes no sense to me," Sienna scowled, crossing her arms. "And I doubt that it ever will."

"It will, one day."

Her scowl deepened at his tone. He seemed to think that he knew more than she did, had more experience. Sure, he was a year older than her but that wasn't too much. It was completely-

"Walk with me."

Her scowl turned into a look of surprise. "What?"

"Walk with me," The silver-haired teen wore a smile as he looked at her. "It would be dangerous for a lady your age to walk alone this late at night."

She frowned slightly. "I do not need you to protect me. I can take care of myself."

"I know that," Sephiroth told her before walking off. She frowned a bit longer before moving to catch up to him.

Most of their walk was in silence but something about Sephiroth made the barriers that Sienna had fade away for the moment. It was very different between the two of them out here in the fresh air next to how it was like in the tower. Perhaps it was because out here they weren't being forced to fight or train. Out here it was peaceful and full of joy in the streets due to the wedding and it passed through all of them, not the normal anger and annoyance that she would receive from the scientists.

They found themselves in a darker part of the city now, the streets silent as the party continued on behind them. Sienna paused for a moment and turned to the right to gaze up at a large building. It was white; not like a mansion but it's size was much larger than of the regular houses that she had seen in the city. The building was falling apart and old, though. Its windows were busted; the garden before it dead, and the white paint was flaking off. It looked like it hadn't been touched in years and for some reason, Sienna liked it.

Without a word, Sienna walked up the front steps and pushed the door open; it was unlocked. Inside looked worse than the outside. The carpet had been torn up and the walls were peeling and it held a musty smell to it as chandeliers were broken and crashed across the floor. As she moved through it and took in the site of the ruined house, Sienna found a large smile spreading across her lips; especially when she reached the backyard. The grass and weeds had grown all over the place and the small pond was nasty as the patio looked like it was ready to give way. And she liked it. She liked it a lot.

"What is it that has you smiling?" She turned to see that Sephiroth had followed her. His hands were still in his pockets as he watched her with a soft, intrigued look.

"I'm not quite sure," She told him truthfully. "But I like it."

"This?" He raised a brow. "You can't be serious."

"Why can't I?" She frowned at him. "Nothing that a little remodeling can't fix." She closed her eyes for a moment as ideas of what the house could look like flashed through her mind. A scarlet carpet. The walls fixed and repainted. And all across the backyard would be flowers. "Yes," She opened her eyes again with another smile. "I can see it now. I can fix this place up and then leave that blasted tower. I would live here, instead, not trapped in that damn place day and night any longer."

"A place all of your own, huh?" Sephiroth gave the place another look over before turning to lead the way back outside. "Hojo wouldn't like that."

"What do I care if he likes it or not?" Sienna hissed as they made their way back to the tower. "If it makes him angry, all the more reason to do it."

"You truly do hate him, don't you?" Sephiroth asked her.

"Don't you?" She returned. Her answer was a sigh, giving her an answer; she smirked.

Things were silent again as they continued on to the tower before Sephiroth decided to speak again. "What do you think about the tests next week? For SOLDIER?"

"What do you mean?"

"Do you…want to do it?"

Sienna glanced at him for a silent moment before shaking her head. "Not really but that's what all of this training is for. Gast told me…told me that I was needed to make it to 1st Class for him. I'm thinking about failing it instead." She told him.

"Failing it?" He raised a brow before smirking. "That would just anger the two of them."

"That's the point." She replied. "That's all that they're doing to us. Training us like we're some kind of…of weapons! I hate it. I hate them!" She clenched her fists as she stopped in her steps. Sephiroth turned and watched her. "I wish that I could…could just pay them back. I could kill them not but I…where would the fun in that be? It would be over too quickly."

He was silent for a moment before a smile spread out across his face. "You want to make them suffer for all of this, do you?"

"Don't you?" She repeated herself.

Sephiroth closed his eyes before stepping closer to her. He was taller so she had to tilt her head back. "Then do what I'm going to do."

"And what is it that you're planning on doing?"

"I plan on doing exactly what they want and then making it as hard as I can for them along the way. I already make Hojo beg me to get in the training room. He thinks that he can control what I do but he's an idiot. If I didn't want to do it then I wouldn't. Hojo will regret all of this in the end; there's no doubt about that."

As those words came from his mouth, Sienna found herself surprised. She always thought that Sephiroth to be an idiot in doing everything that Hojo or Gast told him to do. It seemed that she had it wrong. "So, going to make it miserable for them all along the way, hmm?" She moved around him and began to head back to the tower.

Sephiroth turned and watched her in silence as she walked away, a small grin on his face. He could feel all that hatred pouring off her in gallons. He just didn't know who it was against. The people? Hojo and Gast? Himself? Or was it…was it against just every little thing? He wasn't sure, and he didn't know why it intrigued him so much but at the same time he knew that he held the same feeling inside himself. He just learned how to hide it from others. It seemed that Sienna still had quite a lot to learn.