YAY I actually got reviews! Thank you for them and all your good advice! I'll try to restrain myself from describing too much, but once I start writing I just write, write and write. Damn my imagination. Anyways, on with the show.

Aeris had stopped her tired chocobo at the first pond she saw. She hadn't realized just how much she had pushed him to run until she heard his gasps for breath. As Earl, her green chocobo, took great gulps of water, Aeris decided to relax her jittery nerves by exploring the area.

Huge and lush forests now covered the plains her world had once been dominated by. As she made her way further into the flourishing greenery she was reminded of the planet's absence. Abruptly she stopped dead in her tracks realizing that the silence was not just in her head, it was all around her. No birds were singing, no branches rustled in the wind and she didn't even feel it in her hair.

Something was terribly wrong, Aeris suddenly grasped. She quietly spun around trying to see anything amongst the dense trees but she only managed to get her cape caught on a twig. Groaning her frustration, the young woman kneeled down in an attempt to gently pry the cloth off.

Out of nowhere, two knives pierced the silence as they pierced the tree behind Aeris's crouched body. The Cetra's eyes widened at the two deadly weapons firmly embedded in the trunk. She realized that if she hadn't snagged her cloak, those knives would have been in her instead!

Aeris bolted up and ran blindly through the dense foliage not paying attention to the sharp branches hitting her face. A swift set of footsteps immediately followed closely behind her trying to catch her. She mentally kicked herself for leaving her brand new staff on her chocobo's saddle.

The young woman let out a small cry when another knife flew dangerously close to her head. The Cetra feared she had picked the wrong way to run because she couldn't see Earl. If only the planet was here to guide her like it used to, she thought in despair.

Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed a black blur running alongside her running form some ten meters away. If they were trying to surround her, they had another thing coming! Aeris took a sharp left behind a massive tree hoping to lose the pursuers, but she hadn't anticipated the abrupt hill that would be in her way. Aeris desperately tried to stop but her momentum wouldn't allow it and so she went tumbling down the hill rapidly.

Aeris rolled and rolled until she eventually hit the ground getting the air knocked out of her lungs. She struggled to get up but her head was spinning and she couldn't seem to breathe. Suddenly a gloved hand grabbed her arm and pulled her forcefully to her feet before shaking the dazed Cetra.

Aeris's confusion quickly turned to full fledged horror as she recognized the flowing silver mane.

"Let go of me!" Aeris screamed shrilly as she tried to fight against his iron grip.

Sephiroth didn't respond to her outburst, instead he merely strengthened his hold on her as he lowered his unique mako eyes to meet her emerald ones. Aeris whimpered as she saw the coldness in his jade stare.

"I will let go of you once I make sure that you are not in danger," Sephiroth stated plainly.

His words sounded like a grim prediction but she didn't get the time to dwell on them for the pursuer had found them. Without hesitation, the assassin threw two more blades at Sephiroth who responded by unsheathing his katana from his back at unnatural speed to deflect the flying weapons.

The silver haired man turned fully to face his opponent and to shield the small Cetra behind him. The other man wasn't nearly as tall as Sephiroth, but Aeris could see that there was more to him than met the eye. There was something about the way he stared that made the hairs on her neck rise. She realized it was because his gray eyes didn't have pupils. His shoulder length black hair covered most of his eyes and face making him look even more menacing. He stood immobile and unblinking not showing any sign of life.

She was disturbed to find herself relieved to be standing behind Sephiroth, at least he blinked. But she wasn't planning on sticking around for them to hack each other to pieces.

As she began backing away slowly, Sephiroth growled,

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

Aeris immediately froze at the threat in his voice. Sephiroth on the other hand calmly extended Masamune to his side readying himself. As he had expected the attacker lunged towards him, his two scimitars held near his body. Sephiroth noted with interest his enemy's choice of weapon but wasn't fazed by it. He had other things to worry about, like the weak girl behind him.

Katana and scimitars clashed as the two men came face to face. He was astonished to find the other man's strength nearly matched his own as they fought to keep their weapons leveled. Sephiroth didn't waste any time as he pushed the attacker away, however the assassin didn't even stumble at this action. Instead he focused his empty eyes on the trembling Cetra completely ignoring the silver haired man's presence.

Aeris knew what he was going to do but before she could react he had already crossed the vast distance between them in one extraordinarily long jump. Aeris screamed and fell backwards as she saw him raise the sharp scimitars.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion as Aeris stared horrified at the deadly weapons being lowered. All of a sudden, Sephiroth's katana appeared and blocked the scimitars just as they were about to strike her. Stunned, she turned her wide eyes to Sephiroth's face only to be astounded when she saw one side of his lips curve upwards as if in a grin. Just as quickly it was gone as he narrowed his eyes dangerously at the scimitar wielder.

Sephiroth deftly kicked the man in the stomach sending his rolling away from Aeris. He hastily put one booted foot on the gasping man's chest pinning him to the ground. Cocking his silver head slightly, Sephiroth brought the tip of Masamune to the struggling man's throat. Immediately the struggling stopped and there was an audible gulp.

Aeris instantly joined the pair wanting to prevent any blood shed.

"Please don't kill him."

Sephiroth didn't even bother looking at her as he said simply, "Very well. But he leaves his weapons here."

The man under Sephiroth's foot nodded slightly at the demand. The General grunted as he removed his foot but kept his katana pointed in his direction. He was wary of any more flying knives. The assassin's expression had remained neutral the entire time but as he was running away Sephiroth noticed that he looked very much relieved.

Watching the retreating figure Sephiroth said out loud, "Personally, I would feel insulted had they sent such a poor fighter to kill me."

Aeris decided she must have heard wrong, heck she must have seen wrong as well because she could have sworn that he had let the man live.

"I don't understand," stated Aeris numbly. "I don't understand any of this."

"He wasn't trained in hand to hand combat, much less with a sword. They must believe you to be a very easy target if they sent a meager dagger thrower," the General responded simply. He put Masamune back onto his back, confident that the danger had left for now.

Aeris's mouth opened and closed a few times but no words came out. This couldn't be happening, how did these things always happen to her? First she was brought back to life a hundred years too late, then chased and almost killed but alive because her murderer had saved her.

The air was suddenly filled by the sound of her hysterical laughter as the situation began sinking in. Sephiroth turned slowly to stare at her blankly. Her laugh soon turned into painful sobbing and she let herself collapse onto the mossy ground. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be she repeated in her mind endlessly. She was so tired of everything, if she could just rest for a while. The young woman's crying became uncontrollable and soon she was hyperventilating.

Two hands grabbed her shaking shoulders, nudging her gently onto the ground to lie down. Aeris wasn't paying attention to her surroundings by then otherwise she would have felt Sephiroth gently rocking her back and forth in an attempt to soothe her. He didn't have a clue about what to do, but he had seen people comforting each other with this movement. Looking down at her gentle face, he realized that Aeris had fallen asleep.

Sighing slightly, he picked the girl up in his arms and started to walk towards her waiting chocobo. This was going to be more trouble than he had initially thought.

Aeris stirred slightly in the man's arms opening one eye. Her last thought before falling asleep once again was how she just wanted to sleep forever.

Not much of a cliffhanger but oh well. Comments? pls be gentle! I have a mathematics exam this week so i dont think i would be able to handle it :)