They Live!

By: GQ & Zhak

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One: Homecoming

Much to Yuffie's frustration, she's back in her hometown, Wutai. As much as she wanted to hang out with her new-found friends, she could not. Unfortunately, when she was about to think of staying with Tifa Lockheart, Barret and Marlene in Seventh Heaven, her father had sent some men to pick her up. Obviously he had heard and eventually found out about what happened to her and the rest of the gang. Now he wanted to find Cloud Strife for putting his only daughter's life in danger. Even if Yuffie had already reasoned through a letter (which she tied to a dove and ordered for it to fly to her father) that she was fine and she was alright, he was still insistent. Meanwhile, the men who were sent to fetch her had to be on their knees to convince her to come home because her father said so.

With enough persuasion even from Tifa herself, Yuffie finally agreed to go home, but with a promise to come back to Midgar. Although she was thinking to herself that her friends probably do not want her living with them, she still said that she would return… but she began to have second thoughts when Barret told her jokingly, "Have a safe trip and I hope you get lost on your way back here, just in case! Bwahahahaha!"

With a forced cheerful smile on her face, she pushed open the front door of the big Kisaragi household and entered as if she was the most important person in the house. "I'm home!" she yelled out, surprising every single servant cleaning the place.

The Kisaragi Family had always been one of the most influential ones in Wutai. Lord Godo (Yuffie's dad) had always been of good service to Wutai's rulers… but since poverty struck the land (thanks to ShinRa), even the richest of the richest citizens of Wutai had to suffer… even the Kisaragis.

Stunned but not wanting to bother her, all the servants went back to work. She clenched her teeth. "Heeheeheehee!" she giggled stiffly, feeling a little annoyed upon being ignored.

"Lady Yuffie, welcome home!" the majordomo greeted, emerging from one of the many doors.

"Oh it's you. Where's father?" she asked rather miserably before putting down a sack on the floor. The Majordomo stared at the sack. "What's in there? You gathered a lot of Materia?" he asked excitedly.

"Not exactly. It's Meteor Dust! You can sell it for 10 Gil per 1 kilo at the tourist attraction store." She said with a sarcastic smile before proceeding to look for her own father instead of just asking the people around her.

She headed straight to her father's quarters where she instantly found him seated on his bed and sprinkling foot powder on his left foot while singing a song in Wutaian language (which probably sounds like Japanese or Chinese in our world). She cringed at the "horrible" sight. "Ugh…" was her initial reaction.

Lord Godo instantly stopped and hid the foot powder under his mattress. "Oh, daughter. You're home!" he said casually before he slowly got up.

"Still got foot fungus, huh, pop?" she asked with a teasing smile on her face.

He frowned upon hearing that, "Speak ill of my foot and the same harm might befall you, dear!" he warned while waving a fist at her. She just giggled before putting her hands on her hips. "Okay, what's the big deal and you wanted me to come home here?" she demanded.

"Well I— ."

She cut him off by raising her hand to his face, "Or maybe you're already dying and since I'm your only heiress, I'm going to inherit already all of your treasures?" she asked eagerly.

He frowned at his daughter, "I'm not dying, you ingrate! And how dare you speak to me like I am not your father!" he scolded. She just shrugged it off, "Yeah, yeah. Now what's up and you're so cranky like you're about to boil your own head in your hot blood?" she asked casually. Clearing his throat, he pushed her slightly aside and walked out of the door, but motioned for her to follow him. "Our elders and our local priestesses have cast some spells during the last full moon… which I think resulted in such trouble…" he began.

Her eyes widened. "Trouble?" she asked as she caught up with him. "What are you saying? Is Wutai really falling apart? But ShinRa is gone!" she told him.

"No, this is not about Wutai's downfall." He told her before his face suddenly lit up in curiosity, "By the way, were you able to steal some Materia for us?" he asked.

She just stared glumly at him. "No."

With that, he proceeded, but with a much faster pace. Yuffie could tell that he was disappointed about her not being able to bring home any Materia. "Oh come on! They'll kill me if I did that!" she whined.

"But you're agile! You can easily run away from them!" he told her.

"And when they catch me, you'll never see your daughter again." she said airily.

"Oh don't say that!" he told her before going back to her, taking her in a warm and loving embrace. She could not tell if he was really crying or just mock-crying as he said, "You're my only beloved daughter and if I lose you, your mother's soul is going to haunt me forever!"

She raised an eyebrow. "Ew! Get away, old man! I'm a big girl already and you must not hold me that way! GROSSNESS!" she shrieked as she pushed him away from herself.

Regaining composure and wiping away his own tears, Lord Godo just nodded while sniffing. "Alright, alright. Forgive me. It's just that you are my one and only baby girl and… and now you're all grown up!" he turned away from her, "Sooner or later you'll leave home, start your own family, have kids…" he cited dreamily.

"Grossness…" she said disgustingly while cringing and making faces as she continued to follow him to one of the rooms. "Anyway, I don't think I'll be marrying soon. I don't even have a boyfriend yet. Unless you have betrothed me to some Wutaian dork just like what tradition did to you and mom!" she told him.

He just ignored her statement and remained silent.

Snorting, she said, "What was that trouble again?" she asked.

"As I was saying, priestesses and elders cast a spell on a last full moon. There was a ceremony and it was the first time they did that in 1,000 years. It was a spell of bringing back the dead to life." He explained.

"GAWDS! So you're saying there are zombies lurking around Wutai?! But I haven't seen any… OH MY GAWD!!! Don't tell me they all come out at night and eat people?!" she freaked out.

"No! There are no zombies! But they knew that it's against the natural laws of our beliefs on death to raise things back to life once they have met their creator already… but the evening they cast that spell, our hunters found a man in the forest near Gongaga and he looked like… a zombie…" he began.

"YOU SAID THERE ARE NO ZOMBIES!!!??? But what do you call…"

"I am not yet finished!" Lord Godo yelled.

Silence.

He cleared his throat, "He is not really a zombie… we just thought he was one because of how he looked. He looked so dirty and messy… and mind me, he wasn't even wearing anything!" he pointed out.

She raised an eyebrow as she felt her ears turn red. "GROSSNESS! He was naked?!" she exclaimed.

"We asked where he came from. He seemed shaken and out of his mind for a while. But he answered that he doesn't know where he had been, but it was like a hospital." He explained.

"Hmf. If that was a hospital, how come he's naked?" she asked rather embarrassingly. The thought of naked men are giving her the shivers. "We don't know. But he said he just escaped. When our hunters returned here, nobody would like to take him in, so I offered to help him in exchange for him working for our family!" he told her.

Yuffie was quiet for a while, staring unbelievably at her father. Lord Godo had a pleasant smile on his face, "Isn't that wonderful, daughter? We have a new slave!" he cheered.

She smacked his arm, "GAWDS!!! Didn't you even care to think that he could have come from a mental hospital and he's a psychotic killer who kills old men like you and sadistically rapes young women like me?! GAWDS!!!!! Daddy! How stupid and insensitive could you get! You're putting your only daughter's life in danger here, y'know?!" she shrieked angrily in panic.

Lord Godo was stunned. "I… I haven't even thought of that… well he looked and sounds… nice…" he stammered.

"Of course he'll look and sound nice! All psychos are like that at the start, but their minds aren't nice, mind you! Take that Sephiroth guy we just got rid of, for example. Outside is the macho appearance and the handsome face, but his mind? GAWDS!!! You should've been there! I almost died!" she snapped impatiently.

"What? You almost died?" he demanded.

"Hell yeah! He was too strong ya know?!" she argued.

He embraced her again rather tightly. "Oh daughter! You almost died! And daddy never told you how much he loves you!!! So I'll tell you now before it gets too late again! I love you, daughter! And I'll make sure you know that each and every single day from this day forward because death comes unexpectedly and…"

"Dad, dad, dad! Stop it, stop it, stop it!" she squirmed away from him. He let go of her. "I'm sorry… I'm just over-flowing with emotions right now… sniff" he told her.

She dusted herself. "Grossness…" she muttered miserably before proceeding, "So, where's that new slave you're talking about?" she asked.

"That's where I'm taking you right now. In his room. But I'm reminding you, Yuffie, he's just working for us as payment for our kindness in taking him in here to help him get well." He told her before he walked ahead of her and then stopped before a door.

"Well he's not working right now?" she asked stubbornly, crossing her arms. She was not really interested in looking at slaves or anything like that.

"It's his break time." He told her.

"What kinds of work are you making him delve into anyway?" she asked.

"Usually he escorts me around town… and acts like a bodyguard. Now, I want you to help me, Yuffie." He told her.

"Like how?" she asked glumly. "You are my only heiress and you must know how to fend for yourself." He told her.

"I know how to fend for myself." She muttered miserably.

"Really now? And what was the thing I found out about you getting kidnapped by that Corneo guy and you almost lost your virginity to that evil ugly corrupt man!?" he asked threateningly which made her eyes widen and she shuddered as she took a few steps backward. "I… I…" she stammered rather shakily.

He turned to face her and walked over to her, his facial expression scaring her out of her wits. "And you were not able to escape faster than expected!" he told her.

"AAARGH!!! I was gonna do that and help Elena out too… but… but…" she felt her tears welling up in her blue-violet eyes. She sniffed. "I DIDN'T TAKE MY ROPE LESSONS SERIOUSLY!!!" and she started to cry.

Lord Godo was stunned. "Oh dear, dear…" he took his crying daughter in his arms and patted her back gently. "There, there, my little Yuffie. Don't cry. Daddy is going to help you." He said.

She let go of him, wiping her tears away. "Really? How?" she asked.

"You're going to undergo training once more!" he said cheerfully.

She froze. "Wh…what?" she asked.

"Like I said, you are my heiress. You must know how to defend yourself properly… every Kisaragi is a great warrior, and you must become one too. Unfortunately, only great men in our family became great warriors…" he began.

She rolled her eyes. "Aw man! Are we gonna go through that again?" she whined.

"Go through what?" he asked mindlessly.

"Your sermon on your disappointment that you have a daughter instead of a son?" she replied with a sneer as she clenched her fists and crossed her arms.

He shook her head in disbelief as he scratched his head. "You don't get it do you?" he asked.

"Yes, I do, daddy." She replied sarcastically as she rolled her eyes, "You are disappointed that I am a girl and not a boy." She pointed out.

"You're missing out the point." He told her.

"No, you're the one who's missing out the point." She argued.

"Even your mother underwent intensive training in her youth! Men and women are equal here in Wutai!" he told her.

"Right… so that's why when we're walking together in the street when I was younger, you were walking ahead with your male bodyguards while me and the rest of the female bodyguards trailed behind you… and I was never really introduced formally to society." She said.

"Your introduction to society will take place when you turn 18." He told her. "Anyway, since our new slave is an ex-Soldier. I'd figure we could make use of him in training you." He told her.

She was stunned. "Wh…what?" she asked in awe. "Ex-Soldier?" she thought silently in complete wonder.

Lord Godo proceeded to open the door, revealing a small guest room. "You there, boy?" he called out.

"Yes, sir." A very masculine voice replied. The accent sounded somewhat Midgarian, but she could not really make it out well. Lord Godo stepped inside the room. "My daughter is here. She's the one you'll be training starting tomorrow morning." He told him.

Yuffie stepped forward, but not wanting to go further inside. She just stood behind her father as she gazed around the room. She peeked from behind him, revealing to herself a tall muscular man standing by a small closet where he was carefully polishing a sword which resembled so much of Cloud Strife's Buster Sword. He had long black hair… and spiky at the topmost part. She raised an eyebrow because he reminded her so much of a hedgehog.

Lord Godo noticed that she was hiding behind him, so he got her and dragged her so that she could face him.

The man stared strangely at the young woman being presented to him by Lord Godo. She flashed a weak smile at him. He just stared at her with his wide blue eyes before turning back to Lord Godo.

"Zack, I'd like you to meet my one and only daughter, Yuffie. Yuffie, this is Zack." Lord Godo introduced.

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