Discovering Myself
Summary: Do you ever get that feeling where you might be missing something important? You know, it's on the tip of your tongue but it just won't come out? I get that feeling everyday. It's plagued me day in, day out for almost five years now…
Disclaimer: This is a Fan-fiction story of the Anime & Manga series; Naruto and the game; Final Fantasy VII and is in no way affiliated with the actual series. All characters and other materials related to the show that are used are not intended to infringe on any Copyrights. Elemental-Zer0 takes sole responsibility for any mistakes or offence that may be taken but truly not meant.
However, this story plot and all Characters not affiliated with the show are Copyright © 2010 to Elemental-Zer0.
Warnings: Welcome to the Zer0-Express line where action and adventure await. Step inside and take a seat as we journey to a place where the words may be harmful, the mysteries are hazardous and the potato chips just plain suck – sorry not a lot we can do, they're from our sponsor.
So keep your arms, legs, hairspray, grannies and nuclear warheads inside the cart and hold on to your hats! It's gonna be a bumpy ride! Yeeehaaaaaa!
A/N: Meh, it's been written for a while now… so I thought I'd upload it. Enjoy.
Let me know what you think, but no flames please. If you have any criticism to make please do it politely otherwise I shall ignore your words. (It's happened before, I'm sorry to say, and I hadn't even posted any chapters…)
Chapter Four: Determining a Fate…
"Clooouuuu-aaaaaaaaahhh!"
Tifa froze for a second before realising that Cloud had raced off ahead of her. She followed instantly, her own heart beating so hard that she could feel the blood pushing against her pulse points. There was a scraping, shuffling sound before all went deathly quiet. Cloud stopped, uncertain now of where his young ward was.
"Seiko!" He called out, his strong voice carrying itself deep into the facility. Tifa stood next to him, hardly daring to breathe lest they missed the slightest noise that could tell them where their fostered son was. Tifa's hand found Cloud's arm as she began to panic, her heart beating loudly, her lungs burning with the effort to stay quiet. Suddenly, a warm hand covered hers and she looked up at the man she'd come love as a brother and close friend. Cloud's eyes were a fierce mix of moss green, baby pink and sapphire blue. The very same colour of Seiko's. He turned away again, surveying the room they were in. Her own eyes began to water.
"We'll find him." It wasn't a 'maybe'. It was a fact. A promise.
Suddenly, a high pitched beeping sound echoed around the room, beeping in a staccato rhythm. It took them both a moment to realise what it was they were hearing.
"His watch!" She cried, she'd know that familiar beeping pattern anywhere! He'd used it as his alarm all the time since the day Marlene and Denzel had given it to him on the first anniversary of him joining their little dysfunctional family.
Cloud took off, following the sound to the level above them. Tifa followed, matching him pace for pace. They raced up the rickety stairs and stopped in the doorway of the Mako Tank chamber. Burning memories took her again as she dozed back into the past. They'd been under rapid fire and taken refuge in this room. She'd noticed him first, floating in the tank like a lifeless puppet wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and an oxygen implant over his nose and mouth. It had been Cloud who'd fished the kid out and decided he was still alive. He'd been so cold, so close to death.
The beeping had stopped, Seiko's alarm having turned itself off. Cloud surveyed the room critically then noticed a small tuft of blond hair poking out from behind an upturned desk. He let Tifa dash in front of him but followed closely behind her.
She gasped and quickly fell to his side, cradling his head in her arms and calling out to him softly. Cloud crouched down and visually assessed the kid's condition. He was alive, a few cuts and bruises but otherwise ok.
"Cloud." Tifa's voice wobbled as she said his name with a slight hint of panic. He looked up and found the source of her distress. Seiko's nose was bleeding heavily; a memory, or several by the looks of it, had hit him recently. The small puddle on the floor where the kid's head had been, gave enough evidence to prove so.
"Damnit kid. Why do you do this to yourself?" He asked frustratedly to himself while frowning at the unconscious boy. "Try and wake him up. I'll call off the search." He muttered, before standing up again and moving several paces away.
Tifa just stroked the kid's blond spiky hair, letting the tears well up and fall down her cheeks. Thank heavens the kid was ok… or at least as ok as he could be.
"Seiko…?" She tried softly, bringing her fingers up to caress his soft smooth cheek. It hadn't always been like that, she remembered. Back when they'd rescued him from this very room five years ago, he'd had a strange set of whisker-like scars on his cheeks, but as the Mako finally stopped altering his body, the scars had disappeared along with any other abnormalities that may have been on him. That was what Mako did to you though, if you were compatible that is.
Seiko stirred in her arms, a small frown burrowing on his forehead. Tifa smiled a little, he looked so much like Cloud that anyone could mistake them for father and son, especially since their eyes were the same mottled Mako blue.
"Come on sweetie, Tifa needs to know you're ok so she can stop panicking." She cooed and spoke about herself in the third person narrative as she always did when she spoke to the children. The kid seemed to hear her and graced her with his pain-filled dazed gaze.
"…Ti…fa…?" His voice was harsh and rasped irritably in his throat. His tired eyes began to roam the room but fearing another memory could be triggered, Tifa quickly grasped his chin and forced his gaze to look at her and her alone.
"Don't look Seiko, you'll only force another memory attack, focus on me." She said sternly, her earlier panic now dissolving into authoritative orders. She had a goal now, a mission that was less distressing than the previous one she'd given herself. "Why did you do this Seiko?" She asked suddenly, her eyes showing no understanding to his actions or his obsession with his non existent past. His multihued eyes stared tiredly back at her, his gaze never wavering from her face. And she finally saw the abyss behind them; the utter void he felt.
"You have… your past and your pride… I apparently have nothing…to be proud of… to share with others… I don't even know when… my birthday is." And just like that, she could understand his despair and his obsessive longing to find his past. "I have no stories… to tell." He coughed, closing his soulful eyes as he did.
"Then make new stories. With us." His eyes opened again quickly as Cloud's stoic voice resonated from just beyond Tifa's shoulder. She turned to him, allowing Seiko a view of his strong profile too. "Together," Cloud continued, "we'll create a past you can be proud of." He said, giving the blonde boy a small smile for emphasis.
"That's right Seiko," Tifa added, turning back to the boy in her arms. "You've got us now. Let's start a new past together." She said, smiling more widely than Cloud. Seiko couldn't hold back the tired grin that escaped from his lips. He could do that. He could live happily with these two. He'd still hunt for his past and it'd still haunt him how he'd probably never know what his real name was, but that was ok as long as he had his family to support him.
"Ok." He agreed.
Getting Seiko out of the abandoned facility was proving to be a difficult task. The second he'd tried to stand had him right back on the floor in a flailing heap and the moment he looked around for a hold to pull himself up with, had him making eye contact with the tank again which sent him into a memory frenzy again. In the end, Tifa stole Cloud's bandana from around his arm and used it as a blindfold so that Seiko couldn't accidentally look up and see something that might trigger his memories again. The Healer's had been very strict with their warnings, Seiko's mind was not ready for his past yet and any prolonged exposure to agonising fits like he'd been having would reduce the chances of his memory coming back at all and increase the risks of brain damage ten fold.
After that and a few rounds of bumping into things and falling over, Cloud gave in to his concerns and frustration and just all out yanked the kid up onto his shoulder in a fireman's carry and marched out. Tifa following closely behind.
When they finally exited the building, Cid was there leaning against Fenrir as though he owned the bike, waiting for them.
"You found the brat then?" He asked, swirling a toothpick around his lips.
"Cid?" Seiko's confused voice asked as Cloud carefully set his ward down and placed the kid so that his back was to the facility before removing the bandana from his eyes. Seiko's pink smudged blue eyes found the man who'd spoken earlier with curiosity and confusion, then lit up at the airship tethered just behind the man. Forgetting altogether to respond to the 'brat' comment.
"You sure like to get us all worked up kiddo." The older man said, standing up from his leaning crouch and stretching his back out a little whilst subtly scrutinising the kid for any scratches or bruises. His eyes fell on the red blood stain that seemed to originate from his strong nose, leading down the side of his high cheekbone into his hairline just beyond his right ear, staining a small patch of blond hair slightly blood pink. His eyes asked Cloud his questions, to which Cloud just gave a small shake of his head; the kid was fine.
"Sorry Cid… and to you too Cloud, to all of you. I didn't mean to make you worry; I just thought I'd find some answers here." Seiko explained sheepishly, "I didn't expect to, well you know…" He trailed off, not wanting to relive that memory ironically.
"Don't worry, between you and me… I'd have probably done the same thing." Cid relented with a smirk and Seiko found himself smiling back at the older man. "Besides, I should be thanking you. You gave me a reason to test her out." He said pointing behind himself to the airship with his thumb. "She's a new model, just finished calibrating the engines this morning. Seemed like the best opportunity to test her out. Let me tell you she flies like a dream…" He explained, knowing that although Tifa may not understand all of what he just said, he knew Cloud and Seiko would. Well, definitely Seiko at least, Cid was teaching him the basics… or not so basics. Maybe. "You want a ride or not?" He asked cheekily. Seiko's eyes practically glowed with excitement, just like the cute child he was when they first found him five years ago. Unthinkingly he turned to Cloud who was stood mere millimetres behind him as if to ask permission to board the airship, without thinking about whether another memory would attack if he caught sight of the building they'd just rescued him from. Which was probably the reason Cloud had placed himself where he had. For a young adult, Seiko really did act like a child sometimes but then the kid had no reason to act grown up; he'd never known the experiences other kids of his age had. Or if he did, he had no memory of it.
It took less than two seconds for Cloud to cave at Seiko's addictive grin and excited wide eyes. Nobody seemed to know why or how it was possible to begin with, but there was something about Seiko that brought out the human side of Cloud. He seemed to be the only one who could crack open the shell that Cloud had built around himself and with little effort too. Many had speculated that it was because Seiko looked so much like him, that he just thought of the kid as his own son or younger brother. It was no secret that they looked so alike and in some way it was probably possible for them to be related, the gene pool had been specific in that area but with Cloud's past still in such a pickle and Seiko's past being practically nonexistent it was impossible to know for sure.
Either way, none of that mattered for now. They were just content to live together with one another in their lives, for as long as they could. They'd cross that bridge when they get to it.
"Go, take Tifa, I'll meet you all back at the Inn." Cloud relented, failing to hide the small smile at Seiko's yell of excitement. He really was just a kid inside... a kid with a powerful weapon at his fingertips.
Cloud's small smile tightened.