By: General Quistis (generalquistis@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my own mind that forced me to write this thing, thank you very much.
Author's Notes: Hahaha! It's me again! So here it is… The Lady & the Tramp… now what does this have to do with the Disney cartoon about dogs? Nothing, really… this isn't really a parody of that cartoon… in fact, it's just the title… Okay, fine, enough with the chitchat, I'll proceed…
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"Meowrrrr…"
Rufus shifted to the other side, avoiding the face of his pet before he opened his eyes. "Oh, good morning, Dark Nation…" he greeted sleepily.
"Meowrr…" she purred as she nuzzled her head against his neck. He sat up and patted her head. "Good girl." He said before getting out of bed. Before he could enter the bathroom, he stopped when he heard some footsteps outside his bedroom. "Incoming…" he muttered.
"Meow?" Dark Nation asked, wondering what he meant by that.
To her surprise, the door just burst open and there was General Heidegger together with Scarlet.
"Oh no… it's them again…" Rufus thought miserably as he grabbed his robe and put it on as quickly as he could so that they would not tease him about wearing silk boxers for sleeping.
"Gyahahaha… pleasant morning, President Rufus, sir!" Heidegger greeted.
Rufus just stared at them.
"Kyah… how was your sleep, sir?" Scarlet asked.
Rufus just snorted and stomped his way to the bathroom, banging the door as he got inside.
"That was some greeting…kya~h…" Scarlet muttered to Heidegger.
Dark Nation hissed at Scarlet, meaning to warn the human woman about saying snide remarks about Rufus's current mood. "Who wouldn't get angry at the sight of you dweebs first thing in the morning?" Dark Nation thought.
Scarlet stuck out her tongue at Dark Nation. "Kyahahahahaha! Nasty panther!" she teased.
Dark Nation turned her head away from her, as if saying, "Hmf!"
"Gyahahaha… that thing is like her master: snobbish…" Heidegger remarked.
Scarlet made a disgusted face. "What are we doing here, anyway?" she asked.
"Gyahahahahaha! We're here to wake up the President if he's still asleep, but he's already awake, so all we have to do is to wait for him to give out orders to us before he leaves for Nibelheim." He explained.
Dark Nation's ears twitched. "Nibelheim? Master Rufus is leaving for Nibelheim?" she thought as she turned back to Scarlet and Heidegger, then turned to the bathroom door with a nervous look on her face. She ran to the bathroom door and began to pound on the door, as if knocking. "Mew…mew…" she called out.
Heidegger and Scarlet stared at Dark Nation for a while. The former made a comment, "Gyah… I could've sworn that cat's beginning to act almost like a human… if only she could talk…" he said.
"Kyahahaha! In your wildest dreams!" Scarlet said.
Rufus got out of the bathroom wearing his black long-sleeved turtleneck, white trousers and brown boots. He was drying his hair with a battery-operated hair dryer as he saw Dark Nation by the door. He raised his eyebrows at her as if asking, "What?"
"Meowrrr…" she rubbed her head against his left leg as if asking, "Where are you going?"
Rufus ignored her, not wishing to show his affection to his pet in front of Heidegger and Scarlet. "I'll be leaving Dark Nation here in Midgar and I want you to take good care of her while I'm away for three weeks." He commanded the two.
Dark Nation lowered her gaze to the floor, suddenly feeling so disappointed. "Meowrr…" she said with a low tone.
Rufus put down the hair dryer, leaving his hair a little damp before proceeding to comb it backwards. "I'll be taking the Turks with me to Nibelheim… we need to restore that town, you know?" he asked.
"Gyahahahahahaah! Yessir!" Heidegger laughed, but deep inside, he was thinking, "He was able to survive the explosion… but did he hit his head or something? Why would he want to restore that town?"
Scarlet snorted and watched quietly as Rufus started to apply some gel on his hair. "Oh, and Scarlet, I want you to design a new weapon as strong as that Diamond Weapon that nearly destroyed me…" he said with a sly smile on her face.
She thought for a while. "Sure, President Rufus, sir." She said.
"Oh, and try to make it appealing. I don't like the weapons you designed during old man's regime… they suck… no wonder Cloud Strife and his gang was able to defeat some of those easily…" he added with a nasty tone. Scarlet stifled a "Kya~h" that could reveal her anger upon being insulted. She just said, "Yes, sir, I'm sorry, sir… kya~h…" and then turned to Dark Nation who seemed to be laughing in one corner of the room.
"Heidegger," Rufus began.
"Yes, President Rufus?" Heidegger asked.
"By the time I return here, I want some progress on every single division of this company. Everyone should be able to make a full executive report including you. That's the reason why I'm taking the Turks instead of any of you turds." Rufus said before heading to his coat rack and got his two coats and put them on. Afterwards, he opened a closet and pulled out his shotgun. "Don't worry about me, I can take care of myself," he said before facing them with a hard look on his face. "So, is the chopper ready?" he asked.
***
Dark Nation watched quietly as the chopper finally took off. "He didn't even pat my head for the last time…" she thought miserably as she lied down on the floor.
"And he left me under the care of these miserable idiots…" she thought angrily, remembering Scarlet, Heidegger and Reeve. "Except maybe for Reeve… he likes kitties… he never harmed me… he never insults me…" she thought before standing up, proceeding to look for Reeve.
She began to roam around the whole building but she couldn't find him. "Where is he?" she thought frantically as she began to run. "Meowwrr!" she meowed, as if calling out "Reeve!" But she stopped in her tracks when she received a surprise from Heidegger who was holding a leash and a muzzle. "MEOOWWWRRR!" she screeched as she ran to the other direction, surprising Heidegger. "Hey, Dark Nation! Come back here! It's time for your breakfast! Gyah!!!" he said, running after her.
She ran as fast as she could until she was able to ride the elevator heading downstairs.
"Smart kitty…Gyah! She's so darn fast!" he said while panting as he rode the other elevator.
Dark Nation pressed the button for the Lobby and she arrived there before Heidegger could, but the moment she stepped out of the elevator, Heidegger came out from the other one. "GYAH! There you are!" he said.
She hissed and ran off heading outside the building and out of the ShinRa HQ grounds, making Heidegger panic all of a sudden. "OH NO!!!!??? She got out! PRESIDENT RUFUS IS GOING TO KILL ME!" he said aloud in a very frantic manner before fainting.
Scarlet stood in one corner, tapping her feet as she crossed her arms across her chest, staring at Heidegger who just passed out on the floor. "Tsk, tsk, tsk… Kya~hahahahah… pathetic…" she muttered with a mocking smile on her face before she finally started to laugh out loud, shocking everyone at the lobby with her loud cackle: "Kya~h ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!!!"
Reeve shook his head in disbelief. "I told you to hide that first before you go and tell her to eat her breakfast, General Heidegger…" he muttered as he stood beside Scarlet.
"What's he doing with that thing anyhow?" she asked.
"It came from the lost and found and he wanted to take it down to Hojo's old lab… Dark Nation must've thought that he's gonna put a leash on her and a muzzle…" he explained.
***
"That man is really the most evil in the company next to Rufus's daddy!" Dark Nation thought as she continued to run until she reached a place filled with too many people. "EW! What is this dirty place?!" she demanded angrily in her thoughts as she tried to avoid everyone.
"Oh my… what a big kitty!" she heard one woman say.
"I think that one came from the zoo…"
"Maybe she belongs to one of the elites from Sector 1!"
"That cat must be worth a million Gil!"
Dark Nation stopped running because she was already beginning to get tired. She just decided to walk slowly, trying to catch her breath as she still tried to avoid the people.
"I think this is the place that Master Rufus calls the slums." She thought as she gazed up at the structure of the houses around her and the way the people are dressed up and going about their business. She twitched her nose. "Man, this place stinks!" she thought miserably as she tried to hurry it up a little, but she stopped and screeched when somebody bumped against her. She scratched the big ugly stranger and ran off after hearing him say, "OW! The fuck?!"
Some people tried to touch her but she hated everyone… "ARGH! Get your filthy hands off me!" as if meaning to say that while growling and hissing an scratching and biting anyone who tried to touch her or catch her.
She continued to run until she reached a dark alley where there were trashcans and old fertilizer sacks scattered around the place. She wanted to get out of that horrible place but she knew she had to hide from those evil civilians. "They're so uncouth! They're all ugly!" she thought, suddenly missing the handsome face of her master. "…I wonder what Master Rufus is doing now?" she thought sadly.
She could feel her stomach rumbling and she was already very thirsty. "…and I'm already very dirty…" she thought miserably. She let out a low "Meowrrr…" as if declaring to the world "I wanna go to Master Rufus so that he could feed me and bathe me… I miss him already… and now I'm in this strange place with nobody to take care of me… that evil Heidegger is really a bad man…" she wanted to cry but cats don't cry. She just whimpered and lied down on her stomach, feeling so miserable. "I'm going to die in this stupid place… feh… but I'm gonna bite their hands off if any person from the slums tried to touch me! I can't let their ugly filthy hands touch me… they're so uncouth! How dare they treat the presidential pet this way!" she thought miserably.
Then, she heard someone singing from behind her. It came from inside one of the houses. Dark Nation raised her head to the direction where the voice was coming from and her eyes widened when she saw a door open, letting some light seep through that dark alley.
It was a girl with long brown hair in braids. She was wearing a pink dress and she was carrying a plastic bag with dead flowers in it. She stopped singing as she threw the trash against Dark Nation, hitting the poor panther.
"MEOWWR!" Dark Nation reacted as she jumped away from the trash and then hissed at the girl.
The girl blinked and covered her mouth in awe as she gasped. "Oh my goodness… I'm so sorry!" she said in apology.
Dark Nation hissed again.
The girl smiled gently at her and invited her to come nearer. "Here, kitty! C'mon! Don't worry, I won't bite!" she said to Dark Nation.
Dark Nation just eyed her, studying her green eyes, trying to sense if she was some other mean girl. "You won't bite but I will bite you if you do something bad to me!" she thought snottily as she hissed again.
The girl sighed heavily. "You look very hungry. Come inside… come on, kitty." She said, not giving up on her.
But Dark Nation still didn't trust her. She couldn't smell her well because of the over-powering stench of old fertilizer.
"Aerith, c'mon! Let's eat this before it gets cold!" they heard someone call from inside.
Another girl, Dark Nation realized.
Aerith turned back inside. "Tifa, come over here! There's a pretty black cat out here in the alley and she looks so hungry. Can we take her in?" she asked with an excited smile on her face.
"Tifa? Aerith? Now where did I hear those…" Dark Nation stopped her thoughts when she saw a dark haired girl with crimson eyes join Aerith by the doorway.
Tifa smiled when she saw Dark Nation. "Oh my God! She's so beautiful!" she said happily as she bent down, reaching her hands to the black panther. "Here, kitty, kitty, kitty!" she called out gently. "C'mon, come to Mommy Tifa…" she said.
Dark Nation studied Tifa for a while but she did not come near her. She just ran off. "Who are these people?!" Dark Nation thought as she ran away from the two girls.
Tifa blinked as Aerith groaned. "I think I frightened her…" Tifa said in disappointment.
"Nah… it's okay… let's just eat our breakfast before the boys come down and gobble it all up," Aerith said reassuringly as Tifa stood up again and went inside. Aerith closed the door before heading for the refrigerator, grabbing a bottle of milk and then a big empty dish with the name "RED XIII" written on one side. "Here, Red!" she called out as she poured some milk on the dish and placed it on the floor by the sink.
Tifa sat down by the table. "I don't think Red's here, Mrs. Strife." She said as she looked around.
Aerith sighed heavily. "Oh well… maybe he just went outside to do his business since he's not allowed to use the bathroom upstairs." She said with a silly smile on her face before sitting down beside Tifa.
***
"Meowrrr…" Dark Nation let out a miserable meow as she plopped down by the sidewalk, not caring if there were people there. The sun was already blazing hot and she had never felt so uncomfortable in her entire life. "It was better in ShinRa because they have air-conditioning units everywhere I go…" she thought miserably.
Then, she looked up when somebody blocked the sun from her, casting a shadow over her head by just standing there before her. "Mew?" she said as she twitched her ears.
"What are you doing lying on the sidewalk?" it asked.
"It can talk Human language?!" Dark Nation thought in disbelief, her mouth dropping open in surprise. "Meorrr…" she responded, meaning to say, "I'm tired and hungry and I want to take a bath!"
To her surprise, he understood. "Then why don't you go back to where you belong?"
She got up and hissed at him. "As if I could do that?! Those nasty people from ShinRa are going to tie me up and keep me in a cage until Master comes back!" she replied through thought.
"ShinRa?" the red animal asked in disbelief.
"You know? ShinRa? The most powerful Company in all of the Planet?" Dark Nation responded with a snobbish look on her face.
The red animal just stared in awe at her. "If you're from ShinRa, then what are you doing here?" he questioned.
"Call it animal abuse." She said before turning away and plopping down again towards the other direction.
The red animal stared down at her as he moved beside her, "My name is Red XIII. What's your?" he asked.
"Dark Nation…" she replied miserably with a low "meowrrr".
"I see…" Red replied, realizing who she really is. He just nodded, pretending not to know her at all. "You really look famished." He started.
"Isn't it obvious? Now, give me some food, you filthy animal." She said in a commanding manner.
"Like owner, like pet…" Red thought with a funny face before he sat down beside her. "You're in the slums. You're not in your Palace. We get our own food here." He reminded her.
"WHAT?! So this is really the… the most unpleasant place in the Planet!" she snapped snobbishly as she stood up and moved away from him.
"Most unpleasant for you, because you don't know what it's like living here. But really, my human companions are happily living here even if they're not raised here because life is simple and free. I was just trying to help you but you don't seem to like to appreciate it since you're a Princess and I'm just a mere animal roaming the streets that could qualify for the pound. Now if you'll excuse me, Miss Dark Nation, ma'am," he said sarcastically before finally deciding to live.
Dark Nation covered her eyes with her front paws. "Oh man… if only I ran into the arms of that girl a while ago… I wouldn't die of starvation here…" she thought miserably before finally deciding to stand up and go after Red XIII. "Wait, sir!"
He stopped and turned to her. Finally, they were walking together. "Can I come with you? I'm really hungry. I promise that when Master gets back from Nibelheim, I'll tell him to give you a reward for taking care of me." She said.
Red XIII studied her for a while. "Oh yeah? What kind of reward?" he asked with a challenging tone.
"Uhm… like a new litter box?" she asked.
He laughed at her. "Ma'am, I can live without a litter box. Besides, I'm not a cat. I don't need kitty litter." He told her as they continued to walk.
Finally, they arrived at medium-sized house with two stories. Red XIII began to knock by banging his right paw against the door. After waiting for a few seconds, a spiky-haired blonde man opened the door and upon looking down at Red XIII and seeing Dark Nation, he almost gasped and took a few steps backward away from the door. "What the…" he stammered.
Dark Nation hissed at Red XIII and at Cloud. "You tricked me! You're with this Cloud Strife!" she snapped at Dark Nation.
Red XIII just ignored her as he stepped inside. "Don't you wanna come in, Miss Dark Nation? I thought you're hungry?" he asked.
Cloud was still in awe. "W…what?! Red, what the… how… of all the females animals, why her?!" he said in disbelief.
"I didn't mate with her, okay? She's just hungry." Red replied with a disgusted facial expression.
"What's going on, Cloud?"
Dark Nation turned to the woman with brown hair. "It's her again…" she thought.
Aerith smiled. "Oh my… it's that pretty kitty again!" she said in disbelief.
"You've seen her around?" Cloud asked her.
"Yeah, she was there at the back alley early this morning. Tifa and I were inviting her in but she wouldn't come inside…" Aerith explained before Tifa arrived. Tifa gasped happily. "Kitty!" she exclaimed before running to Dark Nation.
Dark Nation, upon shock, wasn't able to move. Tifa knelt down and embraced the black cat. "Oh, you're the most adorable black panther I've ever seen in my entire life!" she said happily.
"Uh… Tifa… you wouldn't wanna embrace that cat…" Cloud began nervously.
Tifa looked up at Cloud. "Why? She's very beautiful! Her fur's very shiny and thick…" she said.
"Yeah, Cloud. What's so wrong with that cat?" Aerith asked.
Cloud fell silent and turned to Red XIII before turning away from everyone and headed upstairs. "Never mind…" he muttered glumly.
Suddenly, Dark Nation felt so secure in Tifa's arms. She found herself purring and nuzzling her head against her neck. "Meowrrr."
Tifa giggled and patted Dark Nation's head gently. "I wonder if somebody owns you already… you're really very beautiful…" she whispered gently as Aerith came to them and patted Dark Nation's head then tickled her chin.
"Of course, I'm the most beautiful pet! Hah!" Dark Nation thought proudly.
Red XIII rolled his eyes.
"Is she your new girlfriend, Red? When's she giving birth?" Aerith asked.
Red and Dark Nation sneered. "NO!" the two said, but Dark Nation could only let out a hiss.
Tifa giggled. "Do you have a name?" she asked Dark Nation.
"Her name's Princess," Red XIII lied.
Dark Nation turned to him. "That's not my name!" she snapped.
"I know, but do you think that if I tell them that your real name is Dark Nation, they'll still let you in?" Red muttered, loud enough for only Dark Nation to hear and understand.
"You're saying something, Red?" Aerith asked, turning to him in surprise.
Red XIII jerked and looked away. "N…no, I was just yawning…" he replied sheepishly.
Dark Nation turned to Tifa with pitiful eyes. "Mew…" she started.
Tifa could feel her heart sinking. "Awww… you're such an adorable little Princess…" she said before she kissed Dark Nation's head, but she made a face. "Ugh… you really need a bath, Princess…" she said.
Dark Nation just nodded her head in agreement. "Mowrrr…"
Aerith patted Dark Nation's head. "Tell you what, Princess, we'll give you a bath first and then we'll feed you anything you want!" she said reassuringly.
"Anything?!" Dark Nation's ears twitched in delight.
"You wouldn't wanna spoil the Princess, girls," Red XIII warned.
"Why?" Tifa asked.
Aerith narrowed her eyes at Dark Nation and smiled teasingly at him. "Oh, I see… my little pet here is jealous of a black panther…" she said airily.
Red XIII frowned. "No, I'm not jealous…" he replied. "…you'll change your mind about spoiling her if you knew who she really is…" he thought silently as he made a face at Dark Nation.
"Hmf!" Dark Nation thought as she nuzzled her face closer to Tifa's face.
Red XIII sighed before running upstairs.
"Where is that guy going?" Dark Nation thought.
Aerith got up. "I'll prepare a nice warm bath for her. I'll call you when it's ready, okay?" she asked before heading upstairs.
Tifa nodded. "Thanks, Aerith," she called out before turning back to Dark Nation hugging her tightly. "Let's go inside, Princess," she said before standing up and stepping inside.
Dark Nation got inside the house in a hurry and gazed around the house, looking up at the not-so-high ceiling. "Master's bedroom is bigger…" she thought snottily before she remembered Red XIII's words earlier that day, "But really, my human companions are happily living here even if they're not raised here because life is simple and free." She turned to Tifa, observing her movements: simple yet graceful. Dark Nation remembered the other girls trying to flirt with her Master Rufus but Rufus had succeeded in warding them off because he hated all of them. Those girls' movements were nothing compared to Tifa, because they were plainly exaggerated.
"Tifa! It's ready!" Aerith's voice called out from upstairs.
"Coming!" Tifa called out before turning to Dark Nation. "Let's go, Princess." She said as she led the way upstairs.
Dark Nation followed shyly and slowly, examining and smelling her surroundings and the floor.
The second floor hallway wasn't that big either, but there were four rooms. All doors were open so she could see what's inside as she passed by. The first door to the left, she figured, must be Cloud Strife & Aerith's room because she saw Cloud seated there and talking to Red XIII and she also saw that rod-like weapon that Aerith uses for battle. On the other side, there was this other door and a big fat man whom she was able to recognize as Barret Wallace was seated on the bed, stretching, but he stopped his current activity when he saw her. "Holy shit! What the…" he said, rushing outside, startling Dark Nation, so she ran to Tifa and hid behind her as the human turned to face the big fat man.
Barret stared unbelievably at Dark Nation and then at Tifa. "Teef… that's a big stray you got there…" he said.
Tifa smiled and patted Dark Nation's head. "It's okay, Princess. His name's Barret. Don't worry, he's nice," she told her reassuringly before turning back to Barret. "Red brought her home." She said.
"Are you keeping her?" Barret asked, wanting to come near Dark Nation but she hissed. "Whoa… nice kitty…" he said.
"I don't know… I'll think about it… she could be lost or something… judging by the looks of her fur, I think she must've come from Sector 1 or so…" Tifa said as she stroked Dark Nation's fur.
The door next to Barret's room revealed a room two separate beds on each corner with two sleeping men, and the door next to Cloud and Aerith's room revealed a small room with three separate beds. The wall was covered in faded pink wallpaper. A girl with short hair was seated on the bed, putting on her shoes, while a little girl was combing her reddish brown hair in front of the mirror.
At the end of the hallway was the bathroom. Aerith was there, checking the temperature of the water inside the tub. "Is it okay if we use the shampoo we use on Red?" she asked Tifa.
"I think so…" Tifa said.
Dark Nation twitched. "Oh no…" she thought miserably.
***