Author Notes: I am officially no longer a high school student. I cannot begin to explain what joy it brings me to know that I'm going to be in college, and high school and its stupidness is done with for me. I never, ever want to do that again. Now it's summer, and except for a few times I go on vacation, I will be spending it writing. I want to finish Tenacity before the summer is over and start the sequel. That doesn't mean you'll be getting tons of things everyday, as I'll probably spread out updates to a regular time, but it does mean that there probably won't be dry spells. Who knows how it'll go right now?

NOTE: Thank you, Quiet N Cryptic for looking over this chapter for me! I lurve you! (Quiet is one of my betas, now. Poor thing. So, go huggle her and read her porn. It's gooooood!)

Disclaimer: I, Strange and Intoxicating -rsa-, do not own, think I own, or will ever own Final Fantasy VII or its Compilations. I write this because it's fun and I have no life—the end.

Chapter Seventy: Don't! Wait!

Yuffie crawled off the makeshift boat (Cid had been correct when he stated that he would be able to make the Tiny Bronco into something that could at least float them to shore) and vomited the contents of her stomach onto the bleached-white sand. Zack had been watching the girl become increasingly nauseous over the ride, grumbling and clutching at her stomach. Not even Cait Sith, who attempted to soothe the aching girl with light pats to her head, was able to keep Yuffie from curling in on herself like a bug.

"Are you all right?" Aeris asked as she stumbled onto the beach, her backpack dropping unceremoniously onto the warm sand. Zack watched as she dusted her hands and leaned down next to Yuffie, placing her hand on the girl's forehead. "You're not really warm. So, at least you aren't sick. Would you like to rest for a little while, maybe drink some water?"

"Nnnnnngh." Yuffie hocked a spitball into the sand. It landed a few feet away in the salty waters.

Zack cracked his neck as he slid off of the Tiny Bronco, his feet splashing water and sand against the rusty red side of the makeshift boat. The water, he knew, had once been a beautiful blue. Now, there was a thin film of grime sloshing against the rocks. The scene did not fit into the Wutaian sands or the majestic mountains that surrounded the island, embracing it like a mother would its child. The pollution had been less noticeable further out.

The ugliness of Crondrel probably caused the waters to become like this. When they burned it to the ground, so many ships and gallons of mako spilled into the ocean. Used mako from the boats, as well. Zack remembered that the city had been larger than Midgar, though it was now nothing but untouchable rubble. The fires had burned for years, and though the areas that were barely touched still held the poor as a haven, there was nothing else. No one traveled there; who would want to sleep under flames and the charred dead bodies of others?

Zack's toes twitched at the odd feeling of water and sand, but he stealthily ignored it; it was merely bothersome, and he could clean them out later. He held out his right hand for Tifa to grab onto as she splashed her way down, but the woman just tossed him a bag that he nearly missed catching. He just managed to grab the strap before it fell into the water.

"Oh, sorry, Zack!" Tifa yelled over her shoulder as she grabbed another pack, tossing it over her shoulder before she jumped down to the beach. She was still only wearing her black bra, and Zack could see that her arms and face were tinged red with sunburn. It probably wasn't a great feeling for the bag to be rubbing against her tender flesh.

"Need some help?" Zack asked, holding out his unoccupied hand for the bag, but Tifa waved him off.

"Don't worry about it. I've got it. Oh, Barret, don't try throwing Red overboard. You're going to-" the woman said exasperated.

Splash.

Zack heard the sizzling of water and Red's undignified yelp. He looked over at the beast who was laying half in the water and half on the shore, his legs splayed out in a vaguely amusing pose. Waterlogged and looking quite miserable (though the tail continued to burn merrily and without change), Red growled, "I am not pleased," his normally mild-temperament struck down. He shivered slightly as he wobbled back up, pushing through the murky white sands.

"Nice going," Tifa said, rolling her eyes at Barret. The man didn't have the decency to look ashamed of his wayward actions, even with the woman chastising him.

"No, that was not any form of 'nice,'" Red hissed as he finally managed to get himself fully to shore. Red's one golden eye looked up at the man, though it was clear even from his height that Red was towering over the man. He shook his fur, attempting to rid it of the water. It slid down his back and his paws, spraying out in all directions; Zack thought that he looked a little like a red puff ball. "I assure you that next time we're near a body of water, you should acquire a life jacket, as you will surely sink to the bottom with that hunk of metal on your arm."

Barret laughed raucously. "'Course, dog-beast. I'll jus' make sure I don't get near ya when we's on a boat." He hoisted a backpack from under Mog, whose light pink fur seemed to glisten in the light of the setting sun. The machine rumbled up, lifting its leg before hopping onto one of the wings, nearly knocking Barret himself over.

"If you are quite done..." Vincent slid his gun back into its holster, underneath the red layer of his cape. The man's eyes looked sharply to Zack, who didn't even bother with an answer. The man hmphed in response before gliding (the ex-SOLDIER didn't know precisely how Vincent was able to glide) down into the milky-white sand, away from the water's glistening edge. "We should move forward; it will only take a few hours to get to the lower city of Wutai, and find these acquaintances of yours, Barret." Vincent jerked his left shoulder forward in what looked to be pain (however, Zack knew that it was his way of stating without words that he was finished) before stepping back, his metallic shoes crunching.

Aeris hoisted the ill and pale-looking Yuffie up, her own hair sticking to her skin, a fine sheen of salt water and sweat on her brow. Aeris, in fact, looked almost more sickly than Yuffie did for a moment-skin flush, burned, her face devoted to a grim frown. The girl wobbled and spat back into the sand, Aeris patting her shoulder, like a mother to an infant.

"You okay?" Cloud asked the two.

Yuffie grunted something that no one even tried to interpret while Aeris gave a strong cough. "I'm fine. Just a little wet, again. And burned. Let's get Yuffie somewhere away from the water; she's going to become ill again." Aeris hefted the thin Wutaian girl up, stumbling in the sand.

Cloud grabbed both before they could tumble over, steadying them with the hand not occupied with luggage. He twisted his body around to let Yuffie's head sit against his shoulder, and Zack quickly grabbed the bag from the boy's hand so he could properly help the two.

"Oh, Shiva on a stick," he uttered as he helped the two stumble off in the general vicinity of a road. "We'll be up here..."

"Wait!" Tifa yelled, holding out a backpack in silent offering.

Zack swiftly took the pack, switching it with one of his less heavy bags. "Medicines and materia. Whatever's in here should be able to help settle ninja-princess's stomach. Just get her up there and away from the water." He jogged forward with the small case slapping at his thigh before reaching out and slipping the strap around Cloud's pale throat. "There's some tranquilizers somewhere in there; maybe those will work? Just keep her occupied." He lifted his hands away from Cloud's throat, only letting the tips of his fingers slip over the blonde's neck.

Cloud's blue eyes flashed with a mixture of innocent embarrassment and mature, sardonic amusement. "Yeah, sure." He gave a quick half-smile, which looked more like a sneer, before tapping Aeris on the shoulder and tightening his arm around the woman, who was still holding a shaky Yuffie.

"And make sure miss Princess doesn't suddenly decide that's she's perfectly fine running off to go chasing treasure. I remember having run-ins with a little kid like her that would run off into the wilderness and get herself into trouble just for the kicks." Zack swatted the girl's back playfully as they began to move forward, a misshaped and deformed train going at varying speeds.

"Damn brat, yackin' everywhere. If this was still my baby, flyin' like she should be, I woulda kicked her little butt right into the West Ocean. Conniving little brat," Cid gruffly stated, chomping on the filter of his cigarette. There were a few dried tobacco leaves stuck in his gums from his earlier chomping on the actual cigarette by accident. Zack has seen many habitual smokers shove the wrong end of their sticks in their mouths and light it; or bite down on the wrong side only to realize that they were wrong when they had the disgusting flavor of rat poison on their tongue.

Zack used to smoke. He hadn't really been addicted to the nicotine or even the flavor, though. He didn't care so much for the taste of the ash in his mouth, but it was something he had done without much thought. At first it had been just good, old-fashioned showing off when the older kids in town would manage to get their hands on a pack of their father's packs. Most of the other kids and parents had expected it from the "wild child" he'd been. Fairs were everything and more-little hellions with penises and a vulgar enjoyment for breaking the rules. Not cruel, but not well behaved either.

Then, when he got to Midgar, it had become a social activity-sitting in the middle of the bunker, chatting about the latest shit (as SOLDIERs didn't talk gossip in the way teenage girls did) and looking at old porno mags, wishing that they could go down below the plate for some fine ass and tits. He did it because he was Zack, and everyone loved Zack.

After Angeal, once he became closer with Reno, it had been something that was just him. Stress, overworking, continued mourning; Zack didn't know if it was one or all of the above. Reno always smoked shitty and cheap cigarettes, something that seemed to befit him-them. Aeris never liked the smell of smoke and once she found out about Reno, it became a calling card for guilt.

Cid held out his red and white striped pack in offering.

"Naw, don't smoke anymore." Zack waved his hands around in circles before tucking one behind his head, even with the weight of the bag in the crook of his elbow.

Cid cackled as he lit himself a smoke. "That's the first time I ever heard of someone sayin' that they don't fuckin' smoke anymore. You're a weird kid, kid. Now... Titties, I'm gunna need you to scoot your ass over, 'cuz this baby's gunna need to be pushed. No matter what she looks like, she's still my baby, and I ain't into the idea that she'll go floating down to Mideel. You three-" Cid jolted his thumb to Zack, Barret and Vincent, "You get offa your asses and come help me push this girl onto the sand, 'way from the shoreline. I ain't hearin' nothin' about how you don't fuckin' wanna."

Vincent glowered. "I am... indisposed at this particular moment in time," he said, nonchalantly waltzing off with Red near his heels. "We will be off. Doing something that will involve nothing, I am sure."

Zack licked his teeth, running the tip over the pointed edge of his canines. "Well, I don't think they're be much help."

"Oh, you shut your mother-fuckin' asswipe mouth and grab one of the propellers. You too, Boobs. The ones with the dicks, at least I think Vampy has a dick, ran off and so I get stuck with you." Cid kicked something inside of his cockpit and swore indecently at the sound of his foot hitting painfully against the side.

"You deserved that one," Tifa growled as she dropped the bags into the sand, now that she would have to play pulley to the machine. "Sexist pig; if I was that poor lady I would have whapped you over the head with your precious tea pot by now."

"Shut yu'r mouth and get movin'!"

"And you're not gunna help, Cid? Let me guess, you're just gunna sit up there and let us do the hard work." Tifa snorted appreciatively. "That's a great way of making the damn thing heavier. And it's your plane anyway!"

"That crashed because you're a buncha fuckin' terrorists who wanted to steal it in the first place," Cid replied hotly. "Don't get Holier-than-thou on me, Boobs. You ruined my baby-I coulda thrown you and your nutjob friends overboard."

Zack wanted to smack his hand against his forehead in frustration, but a wild, electrifying scream shattered the bickering and the dull thud of the engine. Zack looked up, his head twisting sharply to the area that he knew Cloud and the others had ran off to. It was the same area that the scream had come from.

Tifa and the ex-SOLIDER shared a quick glance before running off, the sand flying from their feet, tiny pinpricks of pain shooting into Zack's eyes as the wind picked up the particles, whirring them around his face. They hadn't gotten too far off, just at the edge between the beach and the rocky, muddy slope that lead to the roads. There was smoke and steam in the air, a humidity that made Zack's spikes stick to his neck and reddening cheeks; Tifa looked even worse. Even if his body couldn't feel it as much as others' Zack knew that they were standing in the middle of an egg cooker.

"Cloud! Aeris-Yuffie?!" Zack yelled through the dense smoke and fog. Tifa coughed behind him, waving her hands around to clear the air so that she could breathe. "Guys? Guys! Scream if you can hear me." Zack's boots thudded into something wet.

He leaned down and touched whatever it was, only to pull his hand back bloody, slick red warmth and hair. He couldn't tell what color it was from looking, only that it was stained red.

Zack fell to his knees, rummaging through the fog, noticing that it was slowly diminishing. He grabbed onto the body, pulling it forward and towards him. The body was slack, not breathing. He, as it certainly didn't have a female body, was wearing simple garments with a shoulder brace-SOLDIER garb.

Cloud, oh Holy, no. Zack's fingers shook as he guided his hands to the face, feeling it. The skin was soft, but there was perspiration and the muggy air's chill to his bloody skin.

Finally, the smoke cleared enough for Zack to see that the person's face wasn't the one that he had panicked over. It was a SOLDIER Third-Class, that much he could see from the helmet nearby and the color of his clothing. Zack wanted to scream in joy, do something, but instead he only closed the boy's mako green eyes and lightly placed him back on the ground, the back of his skull caved in. It wasn't Cloud, but he was still a person. A person who had died-but why?

Zack looked up to see Aeris next to Cloud, both tucked in the mud, their eyes closed as if they were dead. But, they were only asleep...

Tifa stood next to the two, brushing her hands over their faces and their shoulders, gently jostling them in hopes of waking them from their sleep. Why were they asleep? And where was Yuffie?

"Yuffie?" Zack yelled, wiping his bloody hands on his pants, leaving gory matter to stain it. "Yuffie! Where are you?"

"Don't you see," Tifa began, more forcefully pushing at Aeris and Cloud, to the point where she was holding Cloud's shoulders and shaking him. "She did this!"

And, indeed, she had.

And got away with most of their materia, too.

Once awakened with a face full of water, Cloud recounted the story of exactly what had happened. Apparently, the blonde said with sarcasm, the little brat was faking most of her pains and shakes. The brat (Cloud refused to admit that the girl was human, let alone Yuffie) got them to go far enough out that she could ransack them in peace and make a clean getaway. However, a few Shinra SOLDIERs hadn't been lucky, as they got into a fight with them as she tried to pick them blind, and had been caught in the crossfire of Ifrit and Leviathan, who had both faithfully attempted to protect their masters.

That was why there was such scalding steam everywhere-fire and water both kicking into one another, Zack thought as he listened to Aeris's steady breathing and Cloud's angry rants. The blonde was pulling at his hair and fuming-it was as if Ifrit had lit him on fire, as well.

"And when the smoke was up, she grabbed my materia from my wrist--" Cloud lifted up his arm to show that the little bracelet he wore with his summons materia was nowhere in sight, "and ran her little ass back to wherever the fuck she came from."

Zack rubbed at his eyes, seeing speckles of fatigue. "Well, did you see what way she ran? Red, can you smell her?"

Red, who had his head resting on his paws, lifted up his nose and took a few, half-hearted sniffs. He didn't look pleased with whatever he smelled, and placed his head back down near the dirt. "Nothing. She is a smart girl-water, steam, fog-they all displaced my sense of smell. And since she hasn't had any candy for a short while, I can't use that as a placer. I'm sorry; I wish there was something I could do." The beast looked guilty and off-put.

"Don't blame yourself," Aeris said as she leaned down, running her fingers through Red's dirty, matted fur. "You tried your best, right? Then we'll just have to figure out another way of taking care of this messy situation."

Cloud scoffed and kicked dirt into the air. His face was contorted with anger, eyes slitted and lips drawn into a thin, sliver of a line. "By the time we find her she'll have pawned off our valuables and we'll have to go searching for them, as well." He worried the tip of his thumb, biting at the nail and pulling at the skin. "She's probably to the capital now, doing a circle-jerk with her materia and trying to catch the next ship to Midgar. She's going to get there and rip someone else off, probably worse than us."

"There is still time for us to get to Wutai and perhaps find her and retrieve our materia. I am unaware of the dealings of Wutai merchants, but Yuffie is a smart thief. She will want someone to pay the highest price for the materia she's smuggled off. That means black market dealings, because materia is essentially banned from the country." Red lifted his head up and accepted Aeris's soothing touches. He sighed and closed his one good eye.

Vincent, who had forgone polishing his gun or his metal arm, stood diligently before them, his head up, eyes scanning the surroundings. It would be dark soon and Wutai had been known for its brutal monsters and landmines left as a memorial to the death of their once prosperous nation. He was poised and ready for an attack in any direction, even the ground they were standing on. "We can get to the city within a few hours, if we are lucky. There will not be enough light, so we must take precautions against entrapment by Shinra forces and landmines. Unfortunately," Vincent pulled his cape down, revealing his pale mouth and thin lips, "we will not be able to do both. To stay on the path means meeting foes, while leaving the path can cause explosions that will give away our position."

"Tactically, it would be best to simply walk the paths," Zack said once Vincent pulled his cape back up, covering the exposed mouth.

Vincent nodded his head twice before turning, his cape a flash. He walked swiftly toward the nearby trail that would lead through the thin smattering of mountains, pulling his gun from his pocket. "I will scout ahead. I will send my summon should I run into anything. He will know the way."

"Mister, what summon do you have?" Cait questioned, his ears drooping down, crown lopsided around his head.

"He is Odin. He is the horseman of the Apocalypse, or so they say. He will not attack, so do not fear him." Vincent's voice was filled with hidden humor. Of course he would find it funny. The man continued to walk, his back to the group, long cape fluttering behind him, and Zack glanced away from Vincent to the others.

"Well, we'll just have to do what the vampire says, don't we? Shit, I don't like this, and I sure as fuck don't like the idea of that little brat runnin' around with my shit attached to her back like a fucking shop. I say when we find her, we hang her upside down from a tree and leave her there to figure out her own fuckin' way back to her daddy," Cid stressed, fingering the new pack of cigarettes in his jean pocket. "I ain't got the time to be lookin' for the little shit for long, and we gotta get out of here." Scratching the shadow of hair on his cheek, rubbing engine grease against the blonde hairs, Cid reminded Zack of the technicians that played in the bomb field a few miles away from Midgar, where they would set their explosives off for the kicks.

Cait Sith sighed and rubbed his gloved hands together. "Oh, dear me. I can't believe she would do something like this-and I liked her, too!"

"I think we all feel that way," Aeris said as she picked herself up off the ground, dusting her hands on the other side of Red, who didn't even bother to look up. "But, there isn't anything else that we can do except find her and find our materia before it disappears. Now, who's with me?" She smiled, her cheeks a little burned and her eyes a little more dull than usual. Zack also noticed that he hands were shaking a little, just the slightest of tremors that Zack only noticed because Aeris was usually so composed.

He wanted to ask her if she was feeling well, but didn't. Aeris wouldn't like all of the attention on herself; she just wanted everyone to get moving, to follow the trail that Vincent was leaving behind, to maximize the last hours of daylight before the Wutaian darkness took hold. There were few things darker than that, Zack knew. Even with his mako-enhanced eyesight, it would be no prance through the fields. And since there was only one Mako Reactor that gave power to the tourist parts of the country, there wasn't even the usual haze of mako pollution, its stringy green clouds, to help guide them.

"We better get going soon," Tifa said as she also pulled herself up, grabbing a nearby pack, pulling out a bottle of water and tossing it to Barret before zipping it up and pulling it across her burned shoulders. "We should get this done with so we can get our materia. She took all of our healing materia, and I want to get to the headquarters as soon as possible. I'm sure someone there will be able to heal us and then tell us where we can get hold of some black market materia."

Barret took a large gulp from the water before passing it to Cid, who then passed it to Cloud. "Fine," Cloud said as he removed his thumb from his mouth, popping the top of the bottle with his teeth and taking a long swig. "Let's get to it. Get the Mog and we'll get going."

They reached the downtown area of Wutai about an hour after the sky filled with darkness. The place was easily seen in the dark, and they followed the dirt path and the paper fans that glowed with mako electricity on the outskirts of town. The bright colors threw techincolor lights in all direction, and Zack thought that it was beautiful. The last time he had been anywhere near Wutai he had been branded as an evil monster and blew up Fort Tamblin. So... an evil monster wasn't too far off the mark when concerning Wutai's opinion of him.

Zack watched the bugs, large cicadas with overlapping wings and large bodies, circle and land on the paper lanterns. The spun in the wind, around and around, the lights and the colors flashing. They chirped a song of warm nights (nevermind the fact that in Midgar they were probably facing freezing temperatures) and warm beds. Peaceful, even while surrounding a city that was, for all intensive purposes, a broken huddle in the middle of a mine field.

They walked down the path, streamers and thin confetti snuggling against their boots, cicadas the size of two of their fingers flying around their heads, knocking into lanterns and branches. Thick trees, ones that had stood erect for hundreds, possibly thousands of years, enveloped them with their green leaves and thin, willowy branches. The tress were refuge from the moon; it didn't shine tonight, and it would probably not shine the night after, nor the night after. However, moon lilies sprouted from the ground, more exquisite and pale than the glorious orb that rotated around Gaia.

"Was there a party?" Cloud asked as he inspected the crumpled pieces of paper from the ground, twisting them into a tiny knot between his fingers.

"Probably a festival," Tifa answered. "I think there's some kind of holiday soon for Wutai. I wouldn't know, though. Zack?"

Zack continued to walk down the winding lane, surrounded by paper and light. "I don't know. Maybe? Couldn't say for sure, anyway."

"Don't you know the language?"

"Yeah, some. I haven't used it in years, though, Tifa. I haven't been here since I was... I couldn't even say, to be honest. I think I probably still know the basics, at least. Enough not to get me shot for having mako eyes." Zack clucked his tongue and stopped in front of a tree, leaning forward to run his hand over the old, twisted bark. It radiated its age, twisting the wood and sap into a memory of its years it had been alive, breathing in and out. Like a human, Zack thought as he whisked his hands from the bark, rubbing the sticky-sweet substance onto his trousers.

There were people around, though Zack could only see the silhouettes of their faces, hidden within the trees and the darkness. Zack knew they were staring at their group, more particularly at Cloud and himself. Their eyes were bright; enemy eyes. No one said anything, however. They were supposed to be subservient to Shinra, now that they owned their land. Even if Wutai was the home of terrorist organizations, they had to pretend like they were powerless-weak like an infant in the mouth of a beast.

Zack didn't go up to anyone to ask for directions. It was safer that way-and anyway, if they knew who Yuffie was, they would only lie and give them trouble.

"Keep your head down," Zack whispered to Cloud, taking a few mock steps, allowing the man to catch up with him.

"And what about you?"

"The sword gives it away. Just keep your head down, and everything will be. Well, not okay, but not bloody." Zack tried to laugh, but it didn't work.

They walked through the large, weathered gates to the lower district, and the first thing Zack noticed was the smell of burning wood and metal. It fluttered in the weak, fluttering wind, and melted together with the scent of old fish and sea salt. It was a potent smell, but not too disgusting, Zack acknowledged. In fact, it was more than acceptable if compared with Midgar's heady, cloying smell of mako and rot. It was a mix of wooden and metal buildings next to each other in a miss-matched pattern that Zack could only follow for a little while before starting over again.

"Where would she go?" Aeris questioned, pulling at her bangs, willing them to cover her forehead. Her cheeks were flushed red; there were many men who gave her looks, though none would come up to her. She was a foreigner-they could almost smell it on her, something different than what they were acquainted with. She may have been the prettiest person for all they knew, but they wouldn't look at her as anything but a tourist or an enemy. That was how the people of Wutai lived throughout their day-to-day lives-their heads down, hoping that Leviathan and the Goddess would understand.

Until they got their hands on some materia and bombs, anyway.

"It's so clean," Tifa said, running her fingers over one of the nearby railings of a small metal commuter's bridge. The metal was tinged with the rust caused by being so close to the sea, the salty water blowing through with the evening breeze, setting a film of red across most of the metal. However, aside from its rust and age, there was none of the graffiti that littered Midgar; no trash piling up, stacking taller than the buildings before it. There was no smell of corpses and body odor, even though Wutai was still considerably poorer than many other cities. Its 'urban' setting was still so very new compared to what it had been twenty years before-thousands upon thousands of standard, beautiful Wutaian homes and businesses made from the rocks of the mountains and the bountiful trees the land and their deities blessed them with.

"They respect their land," Cloud answered, diligently looking around to see if anyone was nearby. His head stayed low until Zack could see that the surroundings were clear. When Cloud noticed, as well, they looked up. "Even with Midgar and Shinra heavily influencing Wutai and the mainland, it is against their ways to treat the land disrespectfully. The people would still plow and sow their land if they were allowed to, you know. It's a shame, actually. Wutaian people are generally peaceful, but they can be brutal when it's called for. They're kind of like the land in that regard."

Cid tossed his empty pack of cigarettes to the ground, crumpling the cellophane with the heel of his boot. "I ain't gunna give two shits 'bout keepin' this place clean. They didn't care 'bout that when they went and burned down Crondrel, now did they? That caused a massive fuckin' explosion, killed a million or so people. Good people-jus' 'cuz they were across the way."

"That's not true." Red sat down near the bridge, watching a few cars pass by. "It was Shinra who did that."

"Red's right, it was Shinra," Cloud said, huffing as he flicked hair from his face, reaching subconsciously for Orios. "Trust me-my mother was there."

Cid's eyebrows rose. "You gotta be shittin' me. Ain't Crondrel one of the damn reasons that the war started? I know it was cuz Shinra wanted to plant their reactors here, which they got, but wasn't it Wutai who attacked first?"

"Propaganda."

Cid didn't say anything after that, but neither did he lean down to pick up the trash he littered the street with. Barret, oddly enough, was the one who huffed and puffed, but ended up picking it up and smushing it into a tiny ball, before throwing it into a nearby container. He cursed at Cid, who didn't do anything but tap his spear against his shoulder and adjust the goggles around his throat, the grease and oil wiping against the glass. But, it wasn't so bad, Zack admitted. It was a quiet walk, considering how large the city was, how many people lived within its confines.

Zack, after about thirty minutes of wandering the street almost aimless with confusion, tapped on a man's shoulder. He was sure after a minute that the man was displeased, even going so far as to brush off the place that Zack had touched him for imaginary dirt, but complied to his question.

"Where can I find Kisaragi?" Zack asked in the man's native language.

He looked taken aback-most Continental wanderers didn't bother with other languages; they expected to be handed what they wanted while talking in thick, Kalm or Corel drawl. "Kisaragi? As in the Kisaragi?"

"There's more than one?"

"There's the child and the father," he said, whisking has hands around. "Which one?"

Zack could have gone with the father-gotten the brat's father to give up where she was hiding, but Zack remembered that Yuffie didn't seem so fond of her father, at least in the few off-color comments that would occasionally sneak out of her. "The child, if you would."

The man nodded, but looked confusedly at the trailing group, shaking his head in wonderment. "All of you?"

Zack told the man yes, impatience chewing at him. Who cared if it was everyone? Unless the girl really was royalty... but Zack snorted and chewed on his tongue before he said anything. No reason to bother the man with a foolish girl's ranting and raving.

"That cat, as well? And the... women? How bizarre." The rest of the sentence was mixed and muddled, too complex and wordy for Zack to understand. He caught a few words, something about butterflies and nighttime, but it meant little to Zack.

"This guy is gunna bring us to where she is. Apparently she's somewhere around here."

Cait Sith's ears finally perked up. "You mean we'll find the lassie, bring her back with us?"

"No, most certainly not," Tifa said heatedly. "She lied to us! And-she's do it again if given another chance. Do we really need to be watching out for monsters, Sephiroth, and a sneaky little thief? Someone say they agree with me. Barret? Vincent? Cloud?"

Vincent, who stuck to the shadows of the town, hiding between the buildings and the trail of people, made his presence known by stepping out, allowing the others to catch a glimpse of him. He said nothing, but that was not an affirmative. He swiftly turned back around after a moment, clinging to the shadow again.

"I'm gunna 'gree with Tifa-ain't no way we're lettin' sticky fingers back wit' us! She's lucky if I don't fill her wit' lead, little shit. We ain't got the time ta be runnin' 'round trying to catch her an' all this. Fuck playin' this game again. We find her, take our stuff back, and leave her with her mommy an' daddy, let them deal wit' her." Barret hmphed in anger, wiping his head with his bear-sized palm. "Let's jus' go find the little shit an' get our stuff back. Then we can jus' go find Avalanche's headquarta's an' come up with a plan. They can probly' tell us what's goin' on with Shinra-where they're headin' and what we can do ta stop 'em."

Zack didn't say anything about what he wanted to do to the girl, though it seemed less than painful when compared to what the others were thinking.

Zack entered a sturdy building made of wood about ten minutes later, giving the man who had lead them there a confused look. He had asked, just to make sure, if it was the right place, but the man was adamant. Unsure of whether he had stated the name right, Zack rephrased the sentence, but the Wutaian just said again, "Yes, I'm sure. It's here. Right here."

The smell of perfume and tea wafted around the lavishly furnished foyer, many men sitting on the ground with greenish tea before them, being stirred by an assortment of beautiful, painted people. There was a boy who couldn't have been older than twelve, his lips bright red and his eyes garish with color.

A girl probably younger than fifteen, wearing a form-fitting red and black kimono, sat with her feet under her, chest heaving as the man she served tea to stood and gestured to another man. She stood on her dainty feet, her inky black hair combed back ceremoniously. The obi was tied in front of her, the bow around her waist covered in beautiful cherry blossoms. Zack tried to remember the meaning of the obi tied in the front, but it simply escaped him. The girl did look vaguely familiar, however.

So many men, though. She was the only girl that Zack could see.

The others had stayed outside, fearing that too many people would cause a scene. It was good that only Zack was let in, though. This wasn't the place that it looked like from the front, that was for sure.

"I help you?" a boy dressed in traditional robes asked, his face pale and slender, powdered with makeup. He was young, as well. They all were...

"Uh, Kisaragi?" Zack asked.

The boy looked down at the papers in front of him, his hands running over the thick books. He grabbed a volume and flipped to a page, beautiful and neat Wutaian writing calligraphed from right to left. "Appointment, just now." He gestured to the woman who had walked by with two business men a moment before.

"You're sure?" The boy looked confused, so Zack repeated himself in Wutaian. "That's Kisaragi? Are you sure that that was her?"

A smile split across his face, and he answered in Continental. "She? Kisaragi is good, too good. That is 'she.'" The boy's cheeks were a rosy blush like the roses surrounding the foyer, and he seemed to be eyeing Zack. In fact, many eyes were staring at him between thick, mascara-ed glances.

Oh, damn. Is this the place that Yuffie said she knew about, the Butterfly House...? Zack waved shakily at a few of the hungry, doe-eyed boys who stared at him with their red lips moist and parted. "Uhm, uh. I need to see her, now."

"Five hundred gil," the boy said, promptly picking up a calligraphy pen, dipping it in the onyx inkwell. "And name. Busy until tomorrow night. You come back then."

"No, now."

"No, busy," he said, once again gesturing to the way the girl had gone off. "Tomorrow."

Zack huffed before placing his hands over the boy's, gently but firmly. "Now, please."

"No."

"Fine," Zack seethed before ripping his hands off the boy's and spinning around. He took large strides, faster than the boy running in his traditional robes, towards the door that the girl, Kisaragi, had gone into before with two other men. Damn it if the girl was doing something lewd; Zack had seen boobs before-it wouldn't kill him. He wasn't going to wait around with his thumbs up his butt, either. They needed to find Yuffie, and if this was in fact the Butterfly house connected to Avalanche, they would understand.

"Stop him! Akina--guards!" the boy yelled loudly in Wutaian as he skirted around the other customers. Zack, one the other hand, splashed hot tea from bowls and knocked over the men (not the boys, because they were faster than the aged men who were their company), not giving a fuck.

Zack finally got to the closed door, the wood cold against his fingers. He grabbed the handle. It was locked. So, rather than wait for the Wutaian boy and the guard to come get him, he smashed his foot into the door. The customers were in a panic, and the workers were attempting to calm them from the ruckus. Zack didn't care. Why would Yuffie be here? And why mention this place specifically?

The door cracked open, thudding against the wooden door, spraying splinters across the room. Zack knew that it probably wasn't in his best interests to be making such an intense fuss about this, but what if it was Yuffie? Zack didn't think the girl was a prostitute-but what if she owned the place and was escaping out of the back room right now?

Obviously that wasn't the case, he noticed the minute he looked over at the bed, seeing the girl on the bed, her chest exposed, obi wrapped around her genitals, which was a phallus, not a vagina. The two men had their pants pooled around their waists, but were pulling them up as they saw Zack at the door, eyes round like materia. The girl (Zack didn't know what she... he...it? Was) glared at him through Kohl smudged eyes and hissed as she pulled her obi from her... extremities and draped her kimono back over herself. She then pulled up her sleeves, avoiding her face with the expensive material. She yelled something of a curse and brandished her finger, pointing at Zack.

By the time Zack looked away from the girl (or not girl, whichever) the guards and the boy had caught up to him and the men were running out of the hallway to the exit.

"Kisaragi! Yuffie Kisaragi--I need to see her!" Zack mangled in Wutaian, hoping that his pitiful and nervous face would stop the girl from letting the guards drag him away. "You're Kisaragi!"

The girl stood, stumbling with the long draping ends of her obi, adjusting herself. The two guards and the boy, who was huffing with overexertion, looked at the girl, whose slanted eyes looked pointedly at Zack's face.

She didn't speak any Continental, and Zack had difficulty understanding her because of the old, almost archaic form of Wutainese she spoke. However, then men seemed to understand her, and the boy told Zack, "Akina want to know why you looking for beloved sister."

So, I told you Yuffie has interesting family members. I, for one, love Akina (or, as you will find out next chapter, Akira is her biological name.) You'll probably love her, too. I've had her planned out even before this story—I've just struggled with naming her and what I'd write her in. She was originally meant for a Reno/Rufus story I wrote a long time ago, while the Wutai War was going on, but I figured that she would have a better place here. Anyway, more will be discussed on her in the next chapter, when you finally get to understand a little more about Sephiroth, the Wutai War, and Yuffie. Woohoo! Also, a quick note, an obi tied around and bowed in the front is a signal of a prostitute. Thank you Sakura (Orchid Butterflies) for helping me out with that and Akina's name(s)!

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