::The Last Avatar::

Gamer Edition

BOOK ONE
LEVIATHAN

1.2

The Two Ninja-Girls

"And did you know that if you play the right song on a piano that sometimes they burp stuff out at you?" the grin on Rue's face got wider as the two guards listened to her prattle on. She'd been at this for a while now as she leaned against her door frame and was impressed that neither of them had broken yet. However, she could see the one on her left twitching from time to time, usually when she said something inherently stupid. Like burping pianos. Talking robotic cats with accents and flying monkeys had also been covered during her inane rambling. There was one thing she hadn't mentioned yet, glancing back into her room Rue almost cackled. "Oh, did I mention that an anvil almost fell on me in my room a little while ago? Well see ya!" at that Rue slid the door shut abruptly just as the two uniformed men started at her words.

"Did-did she just say there was an anvil in there that almost fell on her?" one of them asked the other. They didn't expect the screen to slam back open as abruptly as it had closed the moment the words had been spoken.

"HA!" Rue cried victoriously as she pointed at the two of them. "And yes, yes I did, there is is over there," the smug teen jerked a thumb over her shoulder to where the anvil sat, in it's nest of broken tatami mats, next to her futon. The two guards turned properly to look into the room, astonished to find that the teenage girl they'd been tasked to guard did, in fact, have an anvil in her room.

"How-?" needless to say both men were flummoxed as to how she'd gotten it in there.

"I honestly have no idea, all I know is that I was laying in bed trying to figure out how to use my Restore Materia when this thing lands next to my head!" Rue exclaimed innocently. She wasn't exactly lying, Rue really did have no freaking idea how 'B' had gotten the anvil through the screen. Or anything for that matter.

"Uh-maybe we should tell someone about this?" one of the guards muttered to his partner.

"You know, I think Godo would be rather interested in seeing this," Rue interjected with a smile. "One of you should go get him," Both the guards focus came back to the teenage girl they were supposed to be guarding.

"Right...thats...right," they both seemed a little stunned. Looking at each other they nodded and Rue watched as one of them turned and hurried down the hallway, her head poking out of the doorway to see which way he went. She hadn't exactly paid much attention to where she was being taken the night before when Godo had dragged her to the room so she needed to get her bearings as soon as she could.

"So, what should we talk about?" Rue turned her attention back to her remaining guard. The man seemed to tense when he realised she was practically hanging out of the room by the door frame and talking to him. Again.

"Go back inside and close the door," he told her stiffly. Rue just allowed a carefree laugh escape her, rather than the conniving snicker rolling around her head currently.

"Why?" she asked lightly.

You aren't really going to try that? Her invisible companion knew her plan, she'd used it frequently on her best friends when in a mischievous mood. Sometimes it had taken them forever to realise what she was doing. They often threw pillows at her afterwards in retaliation.

"Because I'm not supposed to talk to you," was her answer.

"Why?" Her head tilted to the side.

"Because Lord Godo commanded it," he answered it flatly. Rue seemed to pout at his words.

"Why?" her tone was sulky.

I can't believe this guy, Rue really wanted to cackle right now.

"I'm pretty sure you know the answer to that better than I do, all we were told was that you were highly dangerous," the guard sighed and leaned back against the wall near Rue's door. She snorted at that, Godo told everyone she was dangerous, huh?

"Why?" she asked again. Her grin was fighting to get out with every utterance and Rue wondered how long it would take for him to recognise her game.

"I don't know, you don't seem all that dangerous to me," little did the guard know that there were different kinds of dangerous. Rue was, as her friends called her, an 'Ammo Ninja'. She could have a conversation with someone, mentally noting any and all weaknesses to be used against someone at a later date, sometimes days or even weeks later. Admittedly this skill was usually used for friendly teasing and irritating her friends, but it could be useful for this situation. She just had to be careful of how she gathered her information and what she used, on who and when. That would be the real test.

"Oh, why?" Rue changed her answer slightly. She'd found that adding another sound with her repeated question made others still think she was actually part of the conversation rather than just prompting for more information to pour out of them.

"Well you're just a teenager, no-one even told us your name," he sounded thoughtful now. She kind of cursed that he was wearing that damned mask, it would have been easier to read him if he weren't.

"Why?" Rue asked again. She had a feeling he was going to call her on her tactics soon, he really didn't know anything after all.

"I don't know, maybe only the-" the guard trailed off and stared at her slightly grinning face for a long moment. Rue could almost hear him blink at her stupidly as she leaned on the wall next to him after surreptitiously leaving her room during their 'conversation'. "Hey!" he exclaimed loudly. "You aren't supposed to be out of your room!" Rue's grin just grew a little and she looked down at her horrendously chewed nails. She'd forgotten how bad she'd bitten them when she was younger.

"I'm also not supposed to be talking to you, or rather you weren't supposed to talk to me, but we've been doing plenty of that," she pointed out smugly. The guard spluttered at her as she stood there like she had not a care in the world. Inwardly Rue wished she could be this damn cool all the time, but alas, she knew it wouldn't last.

"WHAT IS MY HONOURED GUEST DOING OUTSIDE HER ROOM?!" roared Godo from the other end of the hallway. Rue jumped slightly and glanced at the man as he stormed towards here, she was, admittedly, a little scared. Okay, a lot scared. She knew he was a good fighter at this point in his life, antagonising him would get her nowhere. The problem was that in the state he was in and the mood she'd put herself in, it was just so damned tempting to troll him. Ah screw it, she always preferred laughter over fear anyway. It was her thing.

"I-She-We-Uh," the guard next to Rue had jumped to attention the moment Godo had roared at them. Now he was floundering as Godo approached and Rue's heart went out to the man she'd just been borderline screwing with, just a little bit.

"I'm outside the room, your lordy-ship, because I was waiting for your royal assness to come and visit your 'honoured guest'," Rue straightened as she spoke, her voice dripping with sarcasm. She nodded her head to the open doorway, "the anvil is in there," she added with an amused smile.

Godo glared at her as he stopped before the door, Rue got the 'get in there now, girl' message loud and clear, and, with a rather dramatic sigh she sauntered back into her room, giving the guard a wave as she did. The Lord of Wutai followed her, he was probably planning on closing the door behind him and then verbally tearing her apart, of course that plan seemed to fly right out the door, she had no windows after all, upon sighting the anvil embedded in her floor next to the futon just like he'd been told.

Rue tried not to laugh as the man stared dumbly at the lump of metal across the small room, his bushy eyebrow began twitching as his face turned red. Whether it were from rage, confusion, both or something else entirely Rue wasn't sure, but it was very amusing to watch nonetheless. His grey eyes turned to her and Rue felt the fear come back, reminding her of the night before in his throne room. She took a deep breath through the nose and carefully exhaled, keeping her cool gaze on Godo all the while.

"Where did it come from?" he asked after a moment. His voice had returned to that deadly gut punching quiet that he'd used when asking her where she'd been. Rue was beginning to hate that voice, it brought guilt up that wasn't hers and it wasn't fair because it wasn't hers, but another Avatar's entirely. She knew that, and yet, there it was in the pit of her stomach. The mischievous confidence she'd had moments before started crumbling around her and it was all Rue could do not to visibly flinch.

"I don't know, I had a pillow over my face to muffle my frustrated screaming when it nearly fell on me," she answered with a slightly shaky voice. Godo's glare intensified and he looked back at the anvil.

"Is this another Avatar trick? You think this will get you out of here?" he asked suspiciously. Rue repressed the urge to sigh, the man was paranoid.

"Do you really think a girl who only just found out, last night, that she was the Avatar, would be capable of 'Avatar tricks'? Besides, anvils aren't part of my repertoire," Rue's arms folded defensively over her chest and she frowned at Godo. The man just glared back at her and then the anvil again, his eyebrow was twitching again. Watching as he took a deep breath and looked back at her Rue found herself raising an eyebrow curiously. "Did you decide what to do with me yet?" she asked without thinking.

"You will remain in here until further notice and," three steps were all it took for the heavy set Lord to be towering over Rue. "You will refrain from talking to my people," there was a threat in the words that Rue didn't miss. Though she saw it as more of a challenge: how many people could she talk to before Godo found out?

"Can I at least have something to amuse myself with?" it wasn't an impossible request. They both knew that, but it seemed that Godo wasn't going to allow her any room to move if he could help it. At least that's what it seemed when he turned on his heel and removed himself from her presence without answering her question.

Rue hrumphed and rolled her eyes as her tense body relaxed once the door was closed. She hadn't realised how uptight Godo had made her with very little effort on his part. She wanted to cry a little again, the man scared her, no doubts or arguments with that, but she wouldn't give in to the obvious intimidation tactics he'd used on her.

Sitting back on her futon Rue took a deep calming breath and tried to take stock of everything she'd learnt so far, which wasn't much, but what else could she do?

!*~*~*BONUS SCENE*~*~*!

The Imperial Palace had been abuzz with rumours for the last few days and she'd heard everything from her father battling The Silver Demon, to him having captured a dangerous ShinRa spy. With all manner of ones in between, though the spy one was quite popular and she'd even heard that the spy was being held somewhere in the huge sprawling building she lived in. That was exciting, she could find the spy and get them to spill all their spy-y information and then her father would commend her skills and tell her how proud of her he was.

And so, the five year old Princess of Wutai began to hunt through her home for some sign of where the ShinRa spy was being held. From the rumours she heard around the kitchens the prisoner wasn't in the dungeons for some reason. That was good, the dungeons were dark and scary and she hated it down there. It smelled nasty. From her hiding spot under one of the large work tables in the stifling hot room, Yuffie heard one of the women complaining about having to take some food to a 'strange girl' her father was keeping in the Eastern Guest Wing and how the girl was constantly trying to engage her in conversation. From the sound of it the woman didn't really mind other than the fact that 'Lord Godo' had forbidden everyone from talking to the girl.

This conversation was one Yuffie had listened to intently, this 'strange girl' just had to be the ShinRa spy! Nodding to herself the small girl snuck out from under the table, trying very hard to be stealthy like her teachers had been drilling into her brain, and followed the woman holding a rather plain looking lunch on a tray out of the kitchen. Not before sneakily grabbing a small packet of onigiri on her way, of course. Hunting for a spy was hungry work after all. Even for a skilled Ninja like Yuffie.

Trailing the woman carefully, she could just hear the awesome theme music playing, the young Princess soon found herself poking her head around a corner to find a pair of guards allowing the maid admittance to one of the lower class guest rooms usually reserved for guest's servants. Yuffie knew for a fact that these rooms had only one entrance, having explored every inch of the huge, and rather boring, building. Getting in was going to be tricky, the guards would just stop her if she just walked up to the door. Maybe she could distract them while the door was open and sneak in? She had some smoke pellets, but they were too obvious. She needed complete stealth for this mission.

After a few minutes of trying to figure out a way into the guarded room the door opened again and the woman exited looking a little distressed. Yuffie could hear a voice coming from beyond the open doorway, probably the spy, and pouted. She wanted to see the ShinRa spy! She wanted to crack them like an egg and then tell her father how awesome she was! He always frowned at her lately, like she wasn't good enough. She'd show him! She'd break the spy and-

A crash of crockery brought Yuffie's inner tirade to a halt as her grey eyes widened at the opportunity she'd just been given. The maid must have tripped or something because now there were things on the floor and the guards were asking the woman if she was okay and focused on her and-oh my gawd!-the door was still open!

Not thinking of the consequences the small bundle of energy that was the Princess of Wutai practically flew down the hallway as stealthily as she could towards the open door. The guards were helping the maid up as Yuffie tumbled into the room rather ungracefully and quickly pressed herself against the wall so they wouldn't see her when the guards closed the door.

She was breathing hard when the door slid shut, the guards murmuring to themselves about how 'cute' the maid had been, Yuffie took a deep breath and slid down the wall feeling rather proud of herself. Her infiltration tutor would be hearing all about this!

Turning to get her first look at the spy Yuffie found herself blinking in confusion, the only person in the room was a teenage girl who was looking rather stunned. This was not the ShinRa spy Yuffie had been expecting, after all, weren't spies supposed to be tied to chairs in a dark room so they could be interrogated? This girl was sitting in the empty room on her futon with a plate of sandwiches and a cup of water and did not look remotely dangerous to the young Princess.

And why was there a lump of blackened metal in the floor?

What in Leviathan was going on around here?!

!*~*~*~*~*!

Rue had been pestering people for days now, there were three different women who brought her meals, two so far had been conversed with on multiple occasions. They were still very wary of her, but the two of them seemed to be warming up to her. Her guards had become very tight lipped, she'd worked on them a little more and had a little progress. Not much, but a little.

Godo had, it seemed, deemed her unworthy of something to pass the time, and she'd heard nothing else from the grumpy Lord since the anvil incident. 'B' had complained to her through the screens a few times, but seemed to realise that the teen had no real control in this situation. It was a waiting game and Rue really hoped Godo was actually trying to figure out what to do with her. Rather than letting her stew in here until she lost her temper or her mind from boredom. Whatever came first.

Her personal peanut gallery hadn't been much help either, she'd tried asking for explanations from them, but they'd clammed up pretty quick after that. Which in itself was a little telling. Whatever had happened, it was huge, that was certain.

The woman who had brought Rue her first meal had just brought her lunch, she still didn't talk much, but she did a little and Rue was getting somewhere since the woman had even given her name at breakfast. Keiko. Rue had told her it was pretty.

Directly after the Keiko stepped out of the room and before her door was closed the teen heard a crash of her empty breakfast tray the maid had taken with her hitting the floor. Rue wondered if one of the idiots outside her room had tripped her so they could talk to her. She'd heard them muttering about it a few times and had had a field day with it once she'd caught wind of it. She was certain both of them had been blushing under their helmets when she had smugly brought it up.

Rue was about to call out to see if everything was alright when a small bundle of black, yellow and green practically dove into the room and took cover against the wall. She knew she should probably alert the guards about her unexpected visitor, but Rue couldn't quite wrap her head around what she was looking at.

There, sitting against the wall, was a teeny, tiny, Yuffie Kisaragi. Her big grey eyes were staring at Rue with as much surprise as she herself felt. Rue felt her mouth open and close a few times, completely blind-sided by this development and uncertain on what to even say to the little girl.

Dark brows furrowed on the child's face as she studied Rue, it seemed that she wasn't what Yuffie had been expecting. Though she couldn't fathom what the girl had been expecting when she'd thrown herself into a guarded room.

"Are you a spy?" Yuffie Kisaragi asked her with a small frown on her itty bitty face.

What?

AN: Yeah, Godo wasn't as easily trolled as Rue thought. She needs to work on her self-confidence and her not-guilt stuff. She'll get there.

So, now we have a five year old Yuffie in the mix. Godo is not going to be impressed with this development.

We only have two main tutorials left, those being the 'Player Perks' and 'Battle Tutorial' sections and then Rue can get her EXP bonus and that 'Sponsored Item' she's been wondering about.I don't normally name NPC's, but Keiko is going to be one of the people Rue will be interacting with fairly regularly in Wutai so she needed to be named. She's not hugely important to the plot though, just a background character for Rue to talk to when she's not training or getting into Shenanigans with Yuffie. She also probably won't be seen again after this arc is over either(as far as I know).

I love the 'why' game.

Thanks to everyone who has faved, alerted and reviewed so far. I didn't expected this much response to this fic so I've been pleasantly surprised.

See you next chapter!
RLK