Adult-FanFiction.org : Final Fantasy

Final Fantasy	By : harathor Category: Final Fantasy Anime > General Views: 843 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy thats own by Squaresoft. Nor do I make any money from this

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
   "I am not a babysitter." Cid said firmly.
   "It's not like he's a helpless child. He's a teenager, mostly able to take care of himself." Aero snapped.
    "You say that, but you clearly want me to look after him." Cid returned
   As the others watched the argument in various degrees of amusement Dao Ming turned to Galen and Kage. "Alright. How about we go get Galen a couple of outfits and get you two fed?"
   Kage perked up in obvious interest, as Galen looked over at Aero nervously. The mage had caught the suggestion, and nodded at the boy.
   Dao Ming pulled the youngest of their group away, and towards the market stalls. Cid ran his hand through his hair. "Look. I don't doubt he's a good kid, but he's your.  You took responsibility for him when you bought him. If you want to let him loose in a world he's got no training for I can't stop you. But I won't help you. You're all he has in the world."
  "He's in danger with us. We're going into dangerous situation. Rossima is targeting us for the love of the Goddess! "
    "Rossima is very fond of targeting those close to his enemies." Cid said quietly. Aero stilled, focusing on Cid intently. "When that happens, when he goes after your boy, do you want him half a continent away unguarded and ill trained? Or do you want him in reach, trained enough that he might escape, with you and your allies there to watch over him?"
"You fight dirty old man."
   "It isn't a matter of if Rossima attacks, It is a matter of when. I can escape when he comes for me, even with the airship broken, but I'm not enough by myself to protect the boy as well. The numbers are your ally."
  Aero looked away. "Tch. I wasn't crazy about leaving my apprentice with you anyways."
Cid smiled, "You'd be surprised at how often I get that."
"I probably wouldn't." Aero walked over to grab his bag, plopping down on a chair as he began to rummage through its contents. The others decided their entertainment was over, and returned to their own activities. Aero snorted. They hadn't even tried to pretend they weren't listening.
  "What are you doing?" Soo Jin asked.
"Making sure I have what I need to teach Galen to make you all miserable." Aero said  flatly.
The samurai chuckled in response. Her laughter turned a bit nervous when Aero didn't join in. She got up to go strike up a conversation with Antiope, snubbing Tristan whom she was still angry with. Tristan's hands balled into fists, before he forced himself to relax and returned to sharpening his sword.
Eventually Aero set aside his bag, pulling out a large tome and quietly reading. It was still like this when the other three returned, quietly speaking to each other carrying several bags.
    "You seem in high spirits. Shopping went well then?"
    "Yep!" Kage chirped, holding up a bulging coin purse.
"Shouldn't you come back from shopping with less money?" The rest of Soo Jin's question hung in the air, unasked  instead of more?
"Where's the fun in that?" Laughed Kage.
"Can't you do anything about her?" Kris snapped at Dao Ming.
"She's not doing any real ham. No one is getting hurt, and she promised only to take what can be spared."
   "You're supposed to be a healer! All goodness and morals and whatnot!"
     Dao Ming tilted her head. "I'm not sure where you're going with this."
Kris threw her hands up and stalked away.  "What's her problem?" Kage asked.
  Really now -even Tristan and Soo Jin only gave her disapproving looks. Dao Ming shrugged. "Anyway, we got Galen some nice sturdy boots, a pair of sandals, some durable outfits, a bedroll, a few other supplies, and a good size bag to put them all in. Also, I hope you don't mind, but I picked him up a brace of throwing knives."
Aero looked over at Galen, now clad in said sandals, brown trousers, red shirt, knives strapped to each arm, and a warm looking read cloak.  "You really did presume a lot didn't you?" Aero asked neutrally.
Galen stiffened nervously, relaxing when Aero smirked. "Luckily you guessed right."
  Dao Ming smiled. "Who else would you trust to look after Galen if Cid wouldn't?" She felt a familiar rush of warmth; he really would make a good father. "Did you get food for the rest of us too?" interrupted Tristan.
     "Of course." The healer answered separating one of the bags, giving out a tempting aroma. The others crowded around, save Cid grabbing their own shares. Even Kris, head held high, came over for hers. It was half way through the meal that Cid came in, grabbing the remainder and announcing. "I've figured out which mountain you need to travel to."
You could gave heard a pin drop in the ensuing silence. As they listened expectantly he gave them the mountain's location.
                                                                                                Meanwhile
     Akira fell to the ground, bleeding profusely. He attempted to rise, but didn't even get halfway before falling back. Rossima chuckled darkly.
"Damn you!" Swore Akira.
"Is that any way to talk to the man who holds the lives of your villagers in his hands?"
"I'm not a fool! They're already dead!"
  "Ah, but  that's not so." Rossima gestured around at the people encased in crystals. "They are merely trapped, waiting to be awaken. You can save them still."
  "How?" Demanded Akira weakly, blood loss kicking in.
"By a mutually beneficial agreement/ You do me a favor, and I do you one."
"What? What do you mean by that?"
  "For every task you accomplish for me, I shall free one villager." The ninja stared in disbelief. "And if I say no?"
  Rossima smiled pleasantly "Then I start breaking crystals. And the people within of course."
Akira closed his eyes in despair. The monster before him has already proven that he could do as he wished, and Akira was unable to stop him. "Agreed." he whispered, knowing he made a devil's bargain.
"Then we have a deal" the devil in question smirked. With a quick spell the worst of Akira's injuries healed enough that he was no longer in danger of dying. "I already have your first task. There is a certain group. I believe you've already familiar with them. You are going to delay them."
"Delay?" Akira asked suspiciously.
"Yes, traps and such I leave the exact method to you. Don't fail."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Galen tripped over a loose rock and blushed as he took Kage's hand to help him up.
"Why exactly couldn't we leave the klutz behind until we got an extra chocobo?" Kris sneered.
     In a gesture that was rapidly becoming habit Dao Ming gabbed Aero's arm before Kris became a smear on the ground. "Because it would take too long to head to the nearest town selling chocobos then come back to the beginning. It's just faster to double up, even if that means occasionally walking them." Tristan snapped. Everyone was loosing patience with the gun woman. She was acting like a child whose parents brought home a new baby and felt threatened.
     It was in this moment of distraction that Kage found the rope trap. "Aargh!" Found as in set it off.
Kris and Tristan smirked at the ninja tied to the tree. "Yeah, yeah real runny. Now get me loose." Galen moved to comply, pulling out one of his knives. "Someone's going to get it." Kage muttered. This did nothing to stop the mirth.
Three days and seven traps later Kage was about to pull her hair out. "I know I caught a glimpse of him. It almost looked like-but would- oh!" Kage suddenly got a smug cat like grin on her face. "I guess I made quite an impression." She got up heading over to her bag.
  "What are you doing?" Dao Ming asked in worry. It seemed like Kage was the only one getting caught in those traps.
"I'm going to set some traps of my own." Kage answered with a wink. They didn't see her for the next two nights, much to Dao Ming and Galen's worry. Even Tristan, Soo Jin, and Antiope felt twinges of concern. As far as Aero was concerned, she was a big girl who could take care of herself. Still even he wasn't prepared for the sight he awoke to. "Why is that one ninja-Kira or whatever-tied up in our camp?"
"I caught him." grinned Kage.
"I... see?"
"Kage said something about courtship traps." Offered Dao Ming "I decided not to ask too closely after that." Aero made a noise of agreement.
  Galen was glaring at the bound ninja he noted. Well,hopefully this would at least take care of that puppy crush. Still he looked over at Kage, not entirely certain he wanted an answer "Courtship traps?"
  "Yeah. He did them really well. I'm still not sure how he managed to only get me. It's pretty impressive. And he took something really valuable from me right under my nose and gave it back. If neither is a teacher, that sends a signal. I can't believe I missed it before." She nodded sharply and Akira's face went red. "How'd you let Dao Ming know you were interested without showing off your skills?"
He growled at Kage and stalked away. They continued on after breakfast, Akira now untied, but looking rather embarrassed. It was nearly lunch time when they reached their first destination: a town that sold chocobos, on their way to the mountain. Unfortunately, in that short time an amazing amount of drama had sprung up.
It had taken next to no time for Akira to pick up on Galen's hostility towards him and its reason. The two began sniping at each other, and  that got Aero's back up. Akira went a bit far when he made a comment about selling Galen, and only Kage's speed saved Akira from Aero's retaliation before Dao Ming calmed him down.
Kris developed a crush on the handsome elite ninja. She was a bit obvious about it, and kept shooting Kage glares. Akira had developed a twitch whenever she talked to him, and if she wasn't careful Kage was going to have an "accident" with her shuriken.
   Tristan bristled each time the older man gave instructions. Soo Jin seemed mistrustful of him any ways, but each time Tristan got agitated she got worse. It was pure luck no fights broke out all through  out the purchasing of the chocobos. But they eventually made it to the village next to the mountain.
    Things got weird at the inn.
"So what's that mountain called anyway?" Kage asked curiously.
"Shadow mountain." Antiope replied.
"Someone told me its called Terror peak." Kris saod.
  "According to the map its official name is Mount Doom." Soo Jin said. "Well none of those ominous names at all." Kage said, deadpan.
"I talked to some of the locals." Tristan said "According to them there are living shadows on the mountain. Shadows that eat people."
"Can we skip this one?" Kage asked. Tristan's look was answer enough.
---------------------------------------------
Kage was the first to find the lethifolds. "Aargh!" Found as in was attacked by. She'd been poking around in a pile of stuff by a human skeleton when what had seemed like a cloak latched onto her face. "Get it off! Get it off!" came the muffled shriek.
  "Knock it off." Tristan rolled his eyes.
   Akira went to pull it off her face, frowning when he felt resistance. Finally he pulled a knife. At the touch of the blade the "cloak" gave a shriek of it's own, lunging at Akira only to be sliced to ribbons. "What The Hell?" was everyone's sentiment.
    "I guess we found the living shadows?" said Kris. "What's with the evil shadow cloak and everything."
    "Shit."
"Whatever. It's just a cloak." Kris said. Kage and Akira glared at her.
   No one said it was just a cloak after they stumbled on a cave full of them. They kept a fire going to drive off more of them, keeping a night watch.
"Seriously Kris? Sleeping on your watch?" Kage snapped. "Pulling        your cloak over your face-shit!" Dao Ming!" They killed the lethifold and revived Kris. Shaking her head Dao Ming went to find Galen. He was a bit out of sight from the group, which was worrisome, kneeling by some bushes.
"What's up?"
"I...I heard some noises."
The she saw what he'd found. Tiny lethifolds, each no bigger then a handkerchief, making small squeaking noises. She wasn't aware of what she was doing until she was running her fingers along one. It let out a louder squeak, rubbing against her hand, the others also crowding close.
"Like kittens." She murmured.
"Yeah." Galen agreed, "They're so...tiny."
   She had some jerky in her pocket. She tore a strip off, feeing one of the babies. It fell on it enthusiastically, and she fed the others. She giggled at the dark kerchiefs with their bulging stomachs, then started picking them up.
     "Are you sure that's okay?"
  They cuddled against her, making sleepy contented purring noises that differed from the urgent squeaks of before. "If you get to babies early you can train them."
   As expected, the others objected to Dao Ming's new pets, but she wouldn't budge. "They're killers!" was met with. "They're babies!"
    "Baby dragons are still dragons. Baby evil cloaks are still evil cloaks." insisted Kage.
   Dao Ming calmly rocked the lethifolds, making soothing noises in the back of her throat. "In the healing enclave the temple children would be told stories of the past. One of my favorites was of a visitor, a strange foreigner. No one knew what village he came from, but he was heavily armed and woe a living cloak that he fed off his own plate.  It was said to have attacked thieves that set upon him."
   "So you want to have an attack cloak?" snapped Kris.
"I think they fell asleep." Commented Dao Ming.
"If you really want something to focus your maternal urges on just have a baby." Kage said.
"That'll probably be a way into the future." The healer replied, "anyways that's no this is about."
"Really?" asked Soo Jin. "I mean you took every chance to wok in the creche that you could."
"Usually they thought my talents could be better used elsewhere." she grumbled.
"The temple's pride and joy." Soo Jin smirked "At least it meant we found each other."
"Found each other?" asked Tristan.
"Mmm. I was taken on a trading trip to the samurai temple, and saw Soo Jin. Its really a miracle we remembered each other. We only met like twice before being given to our respective temples."
"You could be more accurate and say abandoned at."
"My parents couldn't afford to feed us all. I can understand that."
"But they could feed your brothers? Or how about giving up their youngest children, who wouldn't even remember their abandonment!"
   "I believe that our family loved us." Dao Ming said firmly, ignoring Soo Jin's scoffing. "They made sure we were taken care of. Other daughter have had it worse. We wee not sold to a brothel, we were not left in the woods, or turned out into the street. I saw the results of that often enough in the healing clan."
"Had we been sons-"
"It's a moot point now."
"Why would it matter?" cut in Kage.
Dao Ming hesitated. "Many parents...don't want to have to pay their daughter's dowries anyway, and when things get tight financially-"
"Daughters are the first thing to go." Soo Jin snarled angrily.
"The creche at the healer enclave was about 85% unwanted daughters." Dao Ming said matter-of-factly. "Is it different elsewhere?"
  "With ninjas there is no dowry. When two wish to marry it is expected that husband and wife provide the money gained from their own skills to start their household. A daughter is just as valued as a son." Akira said while Kage nodded in agreement.
"Daughters are very valued for the bride price their husbands bring to the family. Sons are loved of course, but not always considered as valuable as daughters." Antiope said
"It's considered traditional for sons to be chosen to follow their father's footsteps, but nothing stopped daughter's from taking over their parent. And of course only nobles expected dowries." Kris told them, and Tristan told them it was such in his home.
  "How about mages Aero?"
"Mages don't sell their children into marriage. And gender doesn't matter to magic." Aero replied coldly.
"Yeah, we always thought it was weird how your villages said you didn't do slavery but you sold your kids into marriage." Kage nodded.
With the discussions of gender roles and marriage attention was diverted from the original argument. Dao Ming lightly stroked the baby lethifold. "I think I'll call this one Cloaky just to annoy them"
A/N I hope you enjoy this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing. Please leave a review PLEASE!!!! AND THANK YOU
- 13
- 14
- 15
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story