Like The Sun, Like The Moon

Prologue

Seven years ago, Wutai area

Anger.
Fear.
Frustration.
Fear.
Annoyance.
Fear.

Panic.

Hiding behind a tree, she sat shivering with fright. Hopefully the Bad Men wouldn't find her. She was afraid of them. So very afraid of them.

Ever since they had marched into her hometown, they had been doing bad things. They had burnt houses, hurt her friends, scared everyone. And they just wouldn't stop. Oh, why wouldn't they stop?

They had hurt so many, and she was afraid it would be her turn soon.

But she didn't want to be hurt! She wanted things to be the way they had always been. She wanted to be with her daddy again, laugh with him, play with him.

And she wanted her mommy back. Oh, how she missed her.

Rummaging in her shorts' pocket, she pulled a small red orb out of it. Watching it always made her sentimental. It reminded her so much of her mommy. Well, this was not that much of a surprise, considering she had got it from her.

Smiling sadly at the only thing she had left from her mother, she could not help but sob.

She had wanted to cry for hours, yet so far she had been too busy escaping from the Bad Men. Now, however, as she was finally given the chance to rest more or less peacefully, one tin sob quickly turned into lots of them, getting louder and louder every time. The hot tears of sorrow just wouldn't stop rolling out of her eyes. She tried to wipe them away, but it wouldn't help one bit.

Trying vainly to compensate for her fruitless attempts at stopping her own weeping, she cowered further against the tree. Now at least deaf passersby wouldn't notice her. Anybody else, however, didn't have much of another chance but to perceive her not exactly quiet wails.

Fortunately – or is it unfortunately? – it weren't the Bad Men who found her first. Instead a massive brown birdlike fiend emerged in the sky. If she remembered correctly, it was called a thunderbird. And, as luck would have it, this particular thunderbird approached her in an alarming tempo.

Indeed it was so fast, she could barely stop crying and let her eyes widen to a degree matching her surprise and – whoosh! – it was right in front of her. But instead of ramming her frail frame into the tree with all the force it undoubtedly had, it merely grabbed the shiny red orb that was her treasured Leviathan materia and flew off, never to be seen again.

For a moment, the tiny girl sitting on a great oak tree's roots stared after the retreating monster, unmoving, shocked and full of disbelief.

But after a while the new information registered, and in one sudden movement, the girl jumped up, former fear and sadness completely forgotten. Or rather turned into an emotional outburst of pure anger.

Running after the thunderbird, she kept screaming as though all hell had broken loose.

"Give it back to me!" she shrieked in the shrill, high-pitched kind of voice only a nine year old girl could muster. And she did it over and over again. But even her yelling awfully colourful phrases one Cid Highwind would be ashamed to use was not convincing enough for the bird to return the precious materia.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity but actually wasn't much more than a minute, she ran out of stamina. After all a pre-teenage girl can only chase a bird so long.

Thus, having conveniently spent all her resources, she collapsed on the spot. Wailing once again.

Never did it cross her mind that she was technically still on the run from the Bad Men.

Never did she realize that maybe she would be better off not crying audibly, sitting in the open.

Never did she notice someone sitting down next to her. Until he made his presence known, that is.

"Want an apple?" he asked in a low, smooth voice, while holding the temptingly red fruit right in front of her face.

Yet with said face currently buried somewhere between her knees and her chest as well as her ears flattened by her shoulders, she only vaguely acknowledged him. Not to mention that her thoughts were currently somewhere else anyways. Weeping, crying and fearing all day can do that to a child.

Fortunately, her company seemed to be the patient kind of person. And so, after just another little while, he repeated his offer, "Are you certain you don't want it?"

She shook her head, causing him to raise an eyebrow. "So you do want it," he stated, the corner of his mouth curling upward ever so slightly.

For a rather long time, it seemed as though she wouldn't react at all. But then again, her sobbing grew quieter, and after another while, she ceased crying completely, so she could fully concentrate on watching the man next to her out of the corner of her eye.

Well, she wasn't really able to see that much of him, with her face still hidden in a rather awkward way, but the strands of long, silvery hair and the bits of shiny black cloth she actually could see certainly intrigued her.

Finally, she raised her head a bit and cast another glance at him.

Classy, silver hair, spectacular, emerald eyes and a black leather coat that screamed "cool" in every way she looked at it, gave her the distinct feeling this was someone she should recognize. Some time ago, her father had told her about a man with silver hair and a awfully long katana. Her eyes widened as her gaze landed on the mighty sword lying peacefully yet lethally at the man's side, and she sincerely wished that, just this one time, she had listened to and actually memorized her father's words. But forgotten was forgotten. And thus, she would just have to find things out herself.

After clearing her throat – it would be most embarrassing to stutter her very first words in front of him – she spoke in a somewhat hesitant voice, "Are you a Bad Man?" Granted, this wasn't exactly the best thing to start a confrontation with, but she preferred knowing such things before she decided whether to like him or not.

She had learnt from her father that eye contact was necessary to show others you are an honest person. Thus, she kept looking directly into the soldier's green orbs, while he was considering his answer with a slight frown. The silence didn't last long, and soon he returned her gaze, answering rather thoughtfully, "Well, it depends on how you define 'Bad Man'."

Even if he hadn't been watching her reaction, he would have been aware that this answer wouldn't satisfy the girl, so he added, "However, I don't consider myself a 'bad man'. I'm merely doing whatever is necessary, you see."

"And doing what's necessary can't be a bad thing, can it?" the girl concluded, her youthful face wrinkled in concentration, "I mean, if it's necessary, it's in-e-witte…" She coughed, flushing a little, "it must be done anyways, right?" With that, she broke into a huge grin and exclaimed cheerfully, "So you are one of the good guys!"

Somewhere in the back of her mind, she might have been aware that her logic wasn't half as logical as she was thinking. But as she truly couldn't find anything bad about her new companion, putting him into the Bad Men category would be utterly unfair.

With that precaution being eventually taken care of, she made her final decision in favour of liking him. But it wasn't only the fact of him belonging to the good guys, but also his whole appearance: After all, he did look strong, and cool, and still somewhat nice. He was trying to cheer her up after all, and beyond that, he appeared to be an honest person. He didn't seem to smile very often though. That she would have to change, she decided, as a smile really suited him. Yes, he would definitely have to become her friend!
Grinning even wider, she turned on the spot. As she now faced him fully, she held out her right hand and exclaimed merrily, "I'm Yuffie, and I'm o-ner-t…" She cleared her throat before continuing, "and it's great to meet you!"

Her companion couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm, yet his face darkened a bit when he looked at her hand. Following his gaze, she shrieked in shock. Her hands were all bloody! And eventually she realized they were aching horribly. It must have been that mean bird's work. The bird that had stolen her mother's materia. Which caused her to start sniffing all over again.

Realizing that this might very well turn into another fit of wails every moment now, her company reacted quickly, turning around and patting the girl's back carefully. "Yuffie, come on, it is only half as bad," he spoke as soothingly as possible. "Just let me heal it, okay?"

Albeit sniffing bitterly, she complied holding out both her hands, which recovered promptly under the cure 2 spell of an experienced materia user.

"Thanks," she muttered. Yet she wouldn't stop sniffing.

"How did it happen?" he asked her in a quiet voice.

"There was a huge bird," she blubbered, "A big, fat, mean thunderbird." She sniffed quitely. "And it…" She sniffed noisily. "It STOLE MY MATERIA!" What followed was a long, ear-piercing wail. Yet even this one had to come to an end eventually. Afterwards, she was only snivelling quietly. She realized how childish she was behaving, so she tried to suppress her sorrow. She also noticed how stupid it must appear to be wailing over some materia, so she quickly explained herself, "It was my mother's Leviathan, you know. And there's only one of these in the whole wide world." She sniffed one final time and cast a quick, sad glance at her companion.

It wasn't much of a surprise that his reaction wasn't a very obvious one. Since the moment she had met him all those ten minutes ago, she had slowly come to realize that this man wasn't someone to show much of his emotions. But as she watched him closely, she could see his features soften into an almost sympathetic look. "I'm afraid I can't retrieve it for you," he stated softly, "But I can give you some sort of replacement instead." With that, he pulled a random orb out of his bracelet and offered it to the surprised girl in front of him. It was his mastered Enemy Skill materia, he realized. One of his favourites. But oh well, he could always get a new one later on.

Meanwhile Yuffie's eyes had widened immensely. "Is it really for me?" she asked shyly, eyeing the materia with both disbelief and desire. He simply nodded and let the yellow orb drop into her hands. "It's an Enemy Skill materia," he explained, "If the thunderbird ever decides to attack you again, you should just use it. It ought to handle such an enemy pretty quickly."

At this, Yuffie's wide eyes looked up at him in helpless puzzlement. "But I don't know how to use materia," she stated flatly.

One eyebrow rose, and almost did his lips curl upward at the irony of the situation. "I'll show you later on, okay?" he offered and got up from his sitting position, "But not right now. Let's first get back to Wutai, shall we? I bet they are looking for you already."

Suddenly, a panicked expression crossed Yuffie's features. "But," she blurted out anxiously, "But the Bad Men are still there!" She looked at him pleadingly. "We really shouldn't go back," she exclaimed gesticulating wildly, "They're dangerous! They yell and scream and destroy and they hurt everyone and they won't spare us and –" She stopped as her eyes once again wandered to her companion's six feet sword and after a while back to his face. "You are a warrior, aren't you?" she inquired, "And you're strong, aren't you? After all, you carry that huuuge sword around!" She gestured towards his katana and looked at him with the hugest puppy dog eyes she could muster. "Will you make the Bad Men go away?"

For a moment, he merely stood watching her hopeful yet heartbreaking appearance. So this is why she is here in the first place, he thought quite ruefully, my subordinates have been hurting her. And obviously, other civilians as well.
Unfortunately he had been called back to Midgar shortly before the war had officially ended. Nonetheless, his orders concerning the occupation of Wutai in the case of capitulation had been unmistakable: the soldiers were to exterminate any still existent resistance without harming innocents in any way. Unnecessary violence was to be prevented at any cost – in war bloodshed was inevitable, but certainly not afterwards.

Even if there had any been riots, whose non-existence he was completely aware of, children as young and naïve as Yuffie couldn't honestly be evaluated as a threat. His soldiers had dared defying him, and they would have to deal with the consequences…

A cruel smile crossed his lips at the thought of how exactly he was going to punish those who had disobeyed his orders, but he decided to let this decision wait until later. He wouldn't risk intimidating the girl any further by releasing one of his infamous Evil Smirks™ at her, even if only by accident. For now any cruel ideas had to be stored away in the back of his mind, so that he could focus again on the matters at hand, namely a small Wutainese girl called Yuffie. Smiling at her encouragingly, he told her truthfully but without revealing more than necessary, "I might not make them go away, but I guarantee you that they'll behave much better once I'm done with them."

Judging by her reaction, this answer obviously satisfied the girl: it didn't even take her half a second to shift from lamenting back to grinning widely. And apparently, all her energy had been restored along with her good mood; without any kind of warning, she jumped up and hugged him tightly. Or rather his leg. Anyways, once she let go of him again, she looked up at her rescuer and exclaimed happily, "Thank you so much! You are such a nice man –" She hesitated, frowning a bit. "But I still don't know your name!" she pointed out.

"Oh, my manners…" he spoke with a sigh as he squatted down in front of her so their eyes were on one level. "My name is Sephiroth, and I am pleased to meet you, too."

He smiled, she grinned and then they shook hands.

As Sephiroth and his self-proclaimed travel guide (she had insisted upon leading them) wandered peacefully in the general direction of Wutai, the flinch that usually accompanied the recognition of his name never came. Instead, he found himself flinching more often than not. And there was only one reason to it:

"Sephy, why do you wear gloves?"

"Sephy, do you still have that apple you offered me earlier? I'm starving!"

"Sephy, did you know I'm technically a Princess?"

"Sephy, are you really that strong?"

"Sephy, you are in the military, aren't you?"

"Wow, Sephy, you are a GENERAL!"

"But Sephy, doesn't that mean you are an enemy?"

"Yeah, the war is over. But, Sephy, why did there have to be a war at all?"

"Sephy, Wutai will get back to normal, won't it?"

"Sephy, you are in charge of those Bad Men, right? And you are one of the Good Guys. SO the Bad Men will have to become Good Guys as well!"

"And with everyone being good in the end, Wutai will get better too, won't it, Sephy?"

The questions he could stand. In fact, he liked the way Yuffie was interested in just about everything. And it was also somewhat nice to answer her questions. Even when he told her he was ShinRa's General, she wasn't afraid of him. Not quite. She tended to see positive aspects of life, which was something he valued greatly.

No, the questions themselves weren't the problem. It was the horrible mutilation of his name that gave him the creeps.

"Yuffie, do you mind not calling me Sephy or anything similar, at least not in public?"

"Why?" Wide, pleading eyes looked up at him.

"I've got a reputation to maintain, you know."

She pondered for a moment, but eventually agreed. "Okay – but only if you call me Yuff!"

An eyebrow rose in disbelief. "Yuff."

"All my friends call me Yuff!" she exclaimed merrily, bouncing all the time.

"So we are friends now?"

"Of course we are!"

Indeed it was an utterly hilarious sight: the Great General Sephiroth, cruel leader of the ShinRa army, befriending young Yuffie Kisaragi, innocent and permanently laughing Princess of Wutai, shortly after a war that ought to have triggered off hatred on either side. Not to mention that this would be his first so-called friendship ever.

The irony just couldn't have been greater. And still, if fate wanted it to be this way, he had no problems humouring it.

"So let's be friends, Yuff."

"Yeah! Sephy – ahem – Sephiroth, you are the greatest!"

…

"May I at least call you Sephy as long as no one's listening?"

End of the Prologue

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A/N: I hope you liked it, even if it was only the prologue – the very beginning of a story that is actually set during the game. But, you see, Yuffie and Seph had to get to know each other somehow, and I rather like the idea of them befriending before the Nibelheim incident.

Oh, and before I forget it…

Disclaimer: I don't own FF7 or anything even remotely connected to it.

Anyways, thank you for reading. People reading my stuff really means a lot to me. But what means even more to me is people reading and actuallyreviewing my story. So I'd really appreciate if you clicked that nice, little button that must be

v under here somewhere v and tell me your opinion straight away!

Greetings to all of you (especially my dearly beloved beta JP Stone)

Linnya