Chapter Ten


A month has passed since Tifa and Cloud have taken over the Pekara House. Since then, the dorm's appearance has begun to change for the better, thanks to Cloud and Tifa's carpentry skills. However, to Sasuke, Akira, and Kenta, it was as if the dorm had fallen under a virtual dictatorship. They refuse to admit that they had done anything wrong to Sakura and had tried to abuse Tifa and Cloud the way they did with Sakura but had failed miserably.Kazuya and the three younger residents of the Pekara House had no problem with the interim landlords. But to Sasuke and Akira, having to clean the house while Kenta paid Sakura back every yen he had swindled and blackmailed from her was starting to become too much. On top of that, the resident fox of the Pekara House was also barred from drinking at Kenzo's teahouse, as well as some of the local bars in the neighborhood, due to the large bar tabs he rang up. Whenever Kenta wasn't drunk, he would whine, which fell on deaf ears.One day, Sakura was studying in her room, which was on the third floor when she realized that she was missing a critical textbook from her studies. Upon realizing that the book she needed was in the landlord's room, she got up and walked out of the room. The dorm was mostly empty, save for Sasuke, who was in his room, and Kenta, who was nursing a hangover from drinking at the new bar and grill which had opened (surprisingly, he had paid for his tab).When she reached the second floor, she ran into Cloud outside the landlord's room. "Good morning, Sakura," he greeted her.Sakura nodded in greeting. "Good morning, Cloud. I left a textbook for my exams in the landlord's room. Do you mind if I can go in and get it?""Go ahead," Cloud replied.Neither person knew that Sasuke was listening through the hole in the ceiling. At that moment, Sasuke decided that once Cloud was out of the picture, then that perverted bitch would have some explaining to do.Meanwhile, outside, Sakura continued to talk to Cloud. "This place is looking a whole lot better.""You can thank me for that. I have a natural talent for carpentry. Tifa helped though. Anyway, I won't keep you, Sakura." Cloud turned and walked away.Sakura walked into the room. After a few moments of rummaging through her desk, Sakura found the study guide and exited the room. Sasuke, who was watching her leave, slid the board back and jumped down into the landlord's room.He caught up with Sakura halfway down the hall. "Stop right there, Sakura."Sakura turned around. "What is it, Sasuke? I'm busy."Sasuke marched up to Sakura, with anger being the dominant expression on the raven-haired's face. "What the fuck were you thinking hiring Tifa and Cloud as the landlords? You are supposed to be the landlord!"Sakura glared back at the woman, not showing any of her now-gone fear. "You got a lot of nerve to tell me what I should be doing, Sasuke. You are not in charge of this dorm. I am, and I stand by my decision.""You saw what Tifa did to Akira!" Sasuke half-shouted, remembering the duel. "She could have killed him! Why didn't you do something about that?!""Akira had it coming sooner or later. Tifa should have knocked him out and then I wouldn't have to deal with you, Kenta, or that Kendo bastard!" Sakura shot back. "You three, in my opinion, are lucky that I decided to take a break. You and Akira go on about how I should just leave this place, but I won't do that. You are the tenants and I am the landlord, so I have the say over who stays and who goes. I should have evicted the three of you months ago." Sakura was now ranting. "You three are nothing but spoiled brats!""You fucking bitch!!" Sasuke screamed, cocking one fist back and sending it hurling toward Sakura.Sakura raised her hand, knocking the Uchiha-Punch to the side. When he tried to punch her again, Sakura grabbed his wrist. In the back of her mind, she was thankful for the self-defense trick that Kenzo had taught her."I have had it up to here with your shit, Uchiha," Sakura said. "You're violent and mean, and you basically treat me as your personal punching bag after I bend over backwards to keep the dorm running and the tenants happy! You, Akira, or Kenta don't even lend a helping hand or even give a 'thank you!' I have had it!! If you ever lay a hand on me again, I will personally throw you out of this dorm!!"Sasuke pulled his other fist back, preparing to eject Sakura from the dorm himself.However, a hand reached out, catching Sasuke's fist in an iron grip.Not really thinking, Sasuke wrenched his other hand free from Sakura, spun around, and clocked the person who interfered. Much to his horror, his fist glanced off of Cloud's face, rocking his head to the side, drawing blood from his lip.Apparently, Cloud had heard the argument from upstairs and went to investigate. Now, he was mad as hell. His hand balled into fists as a vein pulsed in his head. Sakura backed away from the older man, and good timing too, since…"Why you little…" Cloud hissed through clenched teeth as he made his move.[KA-POW!]Cloud didn't miss. The Uppercut From Hell caught Sasuke squarely in the jaw, snapping Sasuke's head back and propelling him into the air. Cloud quickly followed with a powerful kick that sent him through Kenta's door.Kenta, who was aroused from his nap by the argument, was now fully awake when Sasuke was sent flying through his door, followed by a furious Cloud. Sasuke landed amongst the destroyed door, but Cloud was already upon him. Grabbing the raven-haired ronin by his hair, Cloud pulled him to his feet and pinned him to the wall, with one arm painfully twisted behind his back. Kenta tried to intervene, but a death glare from Cloud froze him in his tracks."I'm only going to say this once so listen up and listen good," Cloud hissed, with one hand holding Sasuke's arm while the other hand had a handful of his air. "If you attack Sakura one more time, and I hear about it, I will throw you out to the streets myself. I also got connections with the National Police Agency here and I will personally see to it that you are arrested and tossed into the deepest hole on this side of the Pacific Ocean!!" He pulled on Sasuke's hair, causing him to cry out in pain."Assault in the first degree, reckless endangerment, destruction of private property, attempted murder, attempted manslaughter," Cloud continued. "I can go on. By the time I'm finished with you, you'll be an old man when you get out of jail. Do you understand me?""YES!!!" Sasuke screamed, with the pain now unbearable.Cloud threw Sasuke to the floor, with the latter whimpering as he held his sore arm as he scampered back. "Ungrateful little bastard," Cloud muttered as he stormed out of the room.


Several days had passed since Sasuke's confrontation with Sakura and Cloud. Since then, Sasuke has been avoiding Cloud like the plague. The confrontation between the male landlord had been a rude awakening for him. No one had decked him like that before. Since then, Sasuke, Akira, and Kenta had been conspiring to get rid of the two landlords by force. Unfortunately, their last plans had backfired, so the only choice they had was to stick out the remaining month, and once the month was over, Sakura would return.

Akira, despite his respect for Cloud, still thought that Tifa had enchanted him into following her orders, but that was anything but. One thing was for certain, Sakura Haruno will have a lot to ask for once the two months are over.


Sasuke was outside again, sweeping the stone walkway. The bruise from Cloud's blows were healed, but the hatred for the American martial artist was evident on his face. Inside the dorm, the voices of Sakura, Mina, and Hinata were heard, laughing and talking among each other which inflamed Sasuke even further.

Akira came from the dorm, while Kenta came from the teahouse with Kenzo. Apparently, Kenzo had heard about the incident with Cloud and as usual, did nothing. "You had it coming," Kenzo had told Sasuke, shrugging his shoulders.

"I told you, Kenta," Kenzo was saying. "It's out of my hands. I'm not the landlord here. Although to tell you the truth, I'm actually impressed with my sister."

"Impressed?" Kenta repeated. "Kizashi and Mebuki were better landlords than your sister."

Kenzo turned to Kenta upon reaching the landing. "That is a matter of opinion. But you, as well as Sasuke and Kenta have to realize that even though Sakura is on the clumsy side, you can't go abusing and blackmailing her. You should have realized that although Sakura may forgive easily, even she has a breaking point. In any case, you three got off lucky. Sakura was considering throwing you three out and filing charges against the three of you. And to tell you the truth, I really don't blame her."

With that said, Kenzo walked into the cafe. Sasuke and Akira watched his departing figure. "Even Kenzo has turned against us," Akira said.

Sasuke huffed. "That perverted bitch wouldn't have the guts to call the cops on us. After all the times she peeked at us, the cops are more liable to arrest her before arresting us!"

"But she did show leniency in getting those two to act as our landlords," Akira pointed out. "Maybe Kenzo does have a point in us pushing Haruno over the edge. She may be a perverted female, but the last thing I want to do is go back to Nagano in disgrace."

Before Kenta could say something, someone interrupted their impromptu war council meeting.

"Excuse me, but is this the Pekara House?" an accented voice asked in Japanese.

The three boys turned to the source of the voice. Two more men were standing there. The first one has green cat-like eyes and silver hair; his hair is long and layered, extending partway down his back. He has a body in which Kenta could match, while the other boy had shoulder-length silver hair that partially covers his face and green cat-like eyes, which framed his face, and a slender, wiry frame. Both were dressed in black leather clothing that consisted of a long coat, boots, and trousers. The boys also noticed the silver gauntlets on their arms.

"It is," Kenta replied. "Are you two looking to rent a room?"

The long silver-haired man shook his head. "Actually, we came to see Tifa Lockhart and Cloud Strife. We came to settle up with them in battle."

Almost immediately, the three boys' faces were lit. "Really? They've put us through hell this past month and a half," Sasuke said.

Akira nodded. "I agree. Although I have nothing against Cloud, maybe upon defeating them, we can finally throw them out of this dorm."

"And I can finally bring my rice wine back to the dorm," Kenta said with relief.

The slender man chuckled lightly. "You misunderstand, sir. We are not here to help you throw them out. We are here to kill them."

That stopped the three boys cold. Even though he disliked them, killing them was a bit extreme, even for Sasuke. "Run that by us again?"

"Allow us to introduce ourselves," the silvered-haired man said. "I am Yazoo."

"And I am Kadaj," the short-haired boy replied.

Sasuke and Kenta paled. They have heard these names from Tifa and Cloud before. At that moment, Kenzo came out of the dorm. "What's going on?" he demanded.

Sasuke turned to Kenzo. "Kenzo, we got problems!"

Kadaj sighed. "Oh dear. We came only for Tifa and Cloud, but this changes things. You know what we look like and you know what our intentions are. I'm sorry, but we can't leave any witnesses." The look on his face chilled Sasuke to the bone. "All of you must die."

Before Kenzo could say anything, he saw Kurama and Alex from their place on the roof and immediately knew what they were planning. "Kurama! Alex! No!!!"

Too late. Kurama and Alex were already in the air, with Kurama's foot outstretched in a diving kick, heading for Yazoo, while Alex had a clay artifact raised over his head. To the boys and Kenzo's horror, Yazoo merely countered by performing a vicious Electric Wind God Fist, knocking the Mobian prince, while Alex was decked by Kadaj.

Kenzo turned to Kenta while Sasuke and Akira attacked. "Find Tifa and Cloud! Now!!"

Kenta rushed inside. Meanwhile, Sasuke charged in and threw a Super Uchiha Punch at Kadaj. Kadaj merely parried the blow and backhanded the ronin, sending him to the ground. Akira, armed with a bokken sword attempted an Exploding Dragon God Thrust on Kadaj, who leaped over the attack, landing behind Akira. Akira felt Kadaj's hand wrap around his waist before he was suplexed onto the hard stone pathway.

With Sasuke down, Kenzo and Akira attacked. As long as he had known the male Haruno, Akira had suspected that Kenzo had martial arts training, and seeing him fighting had verified it.


Kenta found Tifa and Cloud inside the changing room. The couple had just finished their bath together and were fully dressed, Tifa in black leather, a white tank top under a black vest with a zipper going up the center, black leather overhauled shorts with a long cape at the back of Tifa's waist and black gloves and black boots while Cloud wore his Cloudy Wolf attire when Kenta came running in.

"What do you want, Amano?" Tifa demanded.

"There are two men outside," Kenta replied, out of breath. "They want to kill you!"

"That's nothing new," Cloud replied, shrugging his shoulders. "What's their names?"

"Yazoo and Kadaj," Kenta said. "Akira and Kenzo are fighting them right now."

The couple's reactions were automatic. "Get everyone inside and call the police," Tifa ordered. "We'll handle this." They rushed towards the lobby, where Sakura and the others were watching the battle from the safety of the lobby. Thankfully, Kazuya had fainted earlier and was stretched out on the couch.

Sakura, at that moment, saw the downed Kurama and Alex. She started to rush out but was held back by Denzel. "Sakura, no! Let Tifa and Cloud deal with this!!"

Before Sakura could reply, Sasuke's unconscious form was sent flying through the sliding floor, crashing into both the vacationing landlord and the Kyokugenryu Karate trainee. Tifa and Cloud moved out of the way as the three slid across the floor. The two assassins were still fighting Akira and Kenzo as Cloud and Tifa stepped outside.


Kenzo may have been trained by Kizashi, but Yazoo and Kadaj had the upper hand. Akira had his bokken sword broken by Yazoo and was knocked back. Before Yazoo could attack Kenzo, Tifa came in with a hard jump kick to the face, knocking him back. Distracted, Yazoo saw Tifa's arrival and Cloud came in with a vicious right kick, knocking Kadaj back.

Cloud looked at the downed boys, especially Kurama and Alex. "They are only children!!" he yelled.

Without turning to Kenzo, Tifa said, "Get the boys inside and stay there. Leave this to us."

Kenzo nodded and with the help of Akira, had taken Kurama and Alex back into the house, closing and locking the door behind them.

Yazoo shrugged his shoulders. "Children or not, it makes no difference to us. Civilian casualties are a way of life. You should have seen this coming, Detective," he said, addressing Cloud by his Interpol title.

"You took everything from us," Kadaj continued. "Our brother is gone. Everything that we ever knew is gone."

"Sephiroth is not your brother," Tifa replied coldly. "You attacked innocent people."

"Innocent?" Yazoo scoffed. "When we kill them, as well as the two of you, it will serve as a reminder to all those who crossed ties with Shinra."

The four went into their fighting stances; Cloud squared off against Kadaj while Yazoo faced Tifa.

Then the battle began.

In perfect synch, Yazoo and Kadaj charged at their opponents. Yazoo went high with a Trap Kick. Cloud ducked while Tifa flipped over the attacks. Spinning back around, they saw that Yazoo and Kadaj had both recovered and were closing in. Knowing full well that they would attack first, Tifa and Cloud went on the defensive.


Inside the Pekara House, Riku was on the phone with the police while the battle continued outside. "Yes. Pekara House, Konoha City, Okayama. Please hurry." He hung up the phone and turned to the others. Kazuya was still passed out on the couch while Sakura, Kenta, and Kenzo tended to a whimpering Kurama and Alex. Sasuke was still out cold and Denzel was keeping an eye on him.

Mina and Hinata looked outside and saw the fight. "Whoa! Who's the two foreign hotties fighting Tifa and Cloud?" Hinata asked.

Kenzo grabbed both girls by the back of their necks and pulled them back. "Stay inside, if you want to live to see tomorrow," Kenzo sternly ordered, with a fresh cigarette hanging from his lips. He looked like hell, and neither girl was going to argue with him.

Akira, in the meantime, had left the lobby, heading up the stairs towards his room.


Outside, Tifa and Cloud were fighting not only for themselves but for the lives of those inside the Pekara House. Tifa knew that Cloud could take care of himself, allowing her to completely focus on Yazoo.

The Kyokugenryu Karate fighter winced slightly as she blocked a blow from the long-haired assassin, with the heavy gauntlets striking against her arms. She would definitely have bruises from those when this fight was over.

Kadaj, in the meantime, had leaped into the air, wrapping his legs around Cloud's head. Using his leg strength, the former Shinra assassin flung Cloud across the stone pathway, causing the former Interpol agent to land hard on the ground. Luckily, he missed the stone path, otherwise, something would have definitely been broken.

'They've gotten better,' Cloud thought as Kadaj closed in. The American martial artist rolled out of the way, avoiding Kadaj's boot, with the foot hitting the ground where Cloud's head was moments earlier. Cloud then knocked the silver-haired man off his feet with a power foot sweep. Once Kadaj was on his back, Cloud spun around again, this time catching him across his face with his other foot.

Yazoo, in the meantime, was behind Tifa. Wrapping his arms around Tifa's waist, he attempted to suplex her, but Tifa, having been suplexed one too many times (mostly by Barret Wallace), reacted automatically. Tifa snapped her elbow back, catching Yazoo full in the face. When Yazoo released his hold on her, Tifa spun around, only to be knocked to the stone path by the Tornado Kick.

As Yazoo flipped back to the ground, he saw that Tifa had gotten back to her feet. He was helpless for her next move.

"Mekki Zankuu Ga!!"

Tifa didn't miss. The Kuuga knocked the air out of Yazoo as the American fighter's fist slammed into the tall man's torso, knocking him back.

Kadaj looked up and saw his brother being knocked back. Bad move on his part, for when he turned back to Cloud…

"Rising Tackle!!!"

Kadaj's head was rocked to the side as Cloud spins upwards whilst upside down, one leg tucked into his middle and one arm stuck out.

From his position on the second floor, Akira, having retrieved the Muramasa Sword, watched as the fight continued. As he continued to watch the two interim landlords fight the would-be assassins he was thinking to himself.

'They would risk their lives for us. This is what Big Brother was talking about. This is what he meant by telling me that the highest of distinctions is service towards others.'

Knowing full well that Kenzo would stop him should he try the front entrance, Akira quickly went through the back door, thus bypassing the older Haruno and the others.


Outside, the battle continued as the residents of the Pekara House watched from the inside.

As they watched the battle, they saw Tifa slowly gaining the upper hand on Yazoo. The Kyokugenryu Karate master and Yazoo traded blows, but even with the gauntlets on, it wasn't enough for Yazoo to topple Tifa.

Having enough of the gauntlets, Tifa caught Yazoo's right fist and yanked the gauntlet off, before doing the same with his left hand when he tried to punch her. Holding the gauntlet in one hand, Tifa backhanded Yazoo with it, and Yazoo responded with another roundhouse kick to her face. Tifa came back with a punch which caused Yazoo to stagger. Yazoo quickly shook it off and attacked Tifa trying to catch her in the face, but Tifa caught his fist with one hand, kicked him in the gut, then flipped him over, with the tall man landing on his ass.

Tifa decided that it was time to finish this little dance. She felt her ki surge into her fists, her veins pulsing in her arms as she moved in for the kill. Yazoo hopped to his feet and saw Tifa coming, but it was too late.

"Shin…"

[CRACK!]

Yazoo felt his ribs break from the monstrous impact of Tifa's right fist slamming into his right side.

[CRUNCH!]

The tall man's eyes bulged as he coughed up blood as Tifa's other fist slammed into his other side.

"Sho..ryu…KEN!!!"

[CRACK!]

Tifa's fist met Yazoo's jaw, propelling him into the air. Tifa landed on her feet while Yazoo landed on his back, moaning, holding his sides. He was out for the count.

Meanwhile, Cloud was on the offensive. Kadaj had come at him with another Tornado Kick. Cloud, however, jumped straight up, legs stretched into a vertical split, with the outstretched foot catching the silver-haired man full in the face, knocking him to the ground. That didn't stop Kadaj, as he was back on his feet and attacked Cloud once again. But the former Interpol agent was now on the offensive.

Punches to the face, followed by a volley of punches anywhere that was an opening. Cloud then concluded the assault with the vertical split kick which launched Kadaj into the air. It was all the time Cloud needed for…

"Buster…Wolf!!!"

Cloud unleashed a concentrated, yet incredibly powerful ki blast, which caught Kadaj and sent him flying not too far from where Kadaj was, still moaning on the ground.

As Cloud looked at his handiwork, Tifa approached him. Nearly out of reflex, Cloud tried to deck her, but Tifa caught his wrist. "Calm down. It's only me," she said. "Are you okay?"

Cloud nodded. He was bruised and Tifa looked no better than he did. "I'm fine."

What they didn't notice was Kadaj staggering to his feet. They did, however, hear the unmistakable sound of a gun being cocked and turned. Kadaj was holding a pistol, aimed at the victorious couple. With the way he had it aimed, the shot would have been lethal.

Tifa held onto Cloud and spun so that she would be the one to take the bullet. Instead, fate intervened.

"Kouyokujin!!"

Kadaj was struck by a massive wall of ki energy, which lifted him off the ground and sent him slamming into the side of a street, with the gun clattering across the stone pathway. Akira had arrived just in time to see the final moments of the battle. He saw that Kadaj was going to gun down the couple in cold blood and quickly reacted.

The couple looked at the fallen Silver-Haired Men, then at Akira, still gripping the Muramasa Sword in his hands, and realized what had happened. The Matsushiro heir had saved them both.

The battle was over. The Pekara House was safe.


The police, as well as Interpol, were on the scene. Yazoo was taken to the hospital under heavy guard, while Kadaj was led away in handcuffs. Inside the lobby, Tifa, Cloud, and the others were getting their wounds treated by the medics.

It was there that they received an unexpected guest. A tall, well-built man with long spiky hair, sky-blue eyes, an X-shaped mark on his cheek, a silver stud earring on his left ear, and a single lock of hair hanging down in front of his face.

"Good to know that you two are still on top of your game," Zack Fair remarked dryly as he stood before the battered couple, arms folded.

"You're working for Interpol now?" Cloud asked.

Zack shook his head. "Actually, I was working with them in trying to track the Remnants of Sephiroth down. When I found out that they were coming after you, I took the earliest flight down here. Looks like I missed the reunion." He looked around. "I thought you were opening up a bar and grill and a dojo."

"We are," Tifa replied as a medic worked on bandaging her arm. "This is only temporary."

"Anyway, I'm glad you two are okay," Zack replied. "Do you know how much paperwork this saves me? You do know that the police and the International Criminal Police Organization need your statements, right?"

Cloud nodded. "I know the drill. We'll give it to them tomorrow."

After Zack had left, Sasuke, Akira, and Kenta entered the room. With the exception of Kenta, Sasuke, and Akira were bandaged up. Tifa looked at the trio. "What is it now?"

Sasuke spoke up. "We…we owe you two an apology. We've been acting like complete jerks ever since you showed up. And today, even after all that we've put you two through, you defended us. You saved our lives."

Tifa shrugged her shoulders. "It was the right thing to do."

Sasuke turned to Cloud and extended his hand. "Truce?"

Cloud shook it. "Truce."

With that, things have finally calmed down at the Pekara House. For the moment anyway. Nevertheless, Sasuke, Akira, and Kenta had learned a valuable lesson in humility and sacrifice. One that will change on how they treat their landlord upon her return.