The Ashes of Burnt Books

By: Fantasie in D Minor

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any of the sequels. The dreadfully complicated terms, which my speech can't quite get rid of, are mine, unfortunately enough.

Summary: Yuffie wanted to desperately alleviate her encroaching ennui, but the sought after entertainment that she received, wasn't quite what she had in mind.

A/N: Hope you will enjoy the first chapter of this story! This plot got stuck in the hazy confines of my mind, and I simply couldn't get it out any other way besides writing this story XD There are just a few details I would like to inform the reader of for the tale to make more sense: it's told in first person (Yuffie's point of view), and there will be a pairing in this story. I am going to keep the pairing secret, however, because that simply adds to the mystery Mwa ha ha…you'll understand what I mean. XD Enjoy!

&&

Ennui

I could hear the sound of my own voice resonation, echoing off the empty walls of the narrow, dark alley. I screamed, as nearly as I can recall the event, out of pure frustration at having, yet again, succeeded in tumbling off the balcony and onto the hard concrete below. Star gazing is not an activity I relish engaging myself in, but I was caught in a battle with the encroaching ennui and found my gaze traveling skywards without the proper consent. I, apparently enough, overbalanced soon thereafter, and the next thing I knew, the paved road was accelerating towards my panicked face at an alarmingly large rate…an alarmingly large rate of 9.8 meters per second squared, to be exact. Of course, to get even more technical, I was accelerating towards the said road rather than the other way around, but that's beside the point. The effect was the same: the unnecessarily forceful collision with the ground hurt! I semi flipped in midair and impacted the unforgiving concrete in a, less-than-graceful, sitting position. My ass was certainly not pleased, but the gray matter between my ears was utterly grateful…after all, my originally presumed landing position was to most certainly involve a cracked skull.

I rubbed the sure-to-be-bruise affectionately, as my malfunctioning legs were lethargically carrying me out of the alley. With no clear destination in mind, I arrived in the Third District at a complete loss as to how to occupy my time. Traverse Town isn't a particularly entertaining world; once the prospect of irritating Squall is taken out of my daily routine, I turn into a squirrel on a sugar high: too much energy, and nothing to exert it on. Squall, to my utter disappointment however, was nowhere to be found.

My gaze started sporadically darting about the Third District in a somewhat desperate manner. I've perhaps scanned the scenery three times before my eyes landed on something of interest. Right down the elevation and across the main square, I could see a faint, red glow emanating from the hazy outlines of a door, hidden within one of the farthest, darkest corners. I must have looked like a grinning idiot the moment my mind decided to comprehend what exactly that door connected to: Merlin's House. How could I have possibly forgotten about gramps?

With a triumphant grin I jumped onto the square, and darted towards my savior from certain demise by boredom. My butt and legs protested, mind you, but my cerebral cortex decided to ignore the feeble stinging in light of my newfound amusement. Without halting my momentum and with a weak Fira spell cast, I was inside and running towards the elevated hut, which I was bound to reach in a matter of moments.

Unfortunately, however, fate—the cruel hag—would have none of that. In the rather dark surroundings, my vision failed to see—and my mind failed to remind me—that between myself and Merlin's dwelling was a nice, long stretch of cold, murky water, which I so promptly fell into.

The experience is not one I'd like to repeat, to express my discontent mildly. With a mouth full of water, frozen and contracted muscles, and my earlier grievously injured bum, I stumbled on shore at the foot of the hill, which Merlin's House was innocently sitting upon. My disposition was not one of happiness, needless to say.

And what do you know? Who should come stumbling out of the house with a panicked expression and five million towels, but the acclaimed wizard himself?

"Oh my, Yuffie!" I shakily got to my feet and waved at Merlin, who was already half-way down the winding stairs by that point. I tried my best not to shake at the sudden drop of my body temperature, but was rather painfully aware that my efforts were failing miserably.

"Hey, gramps!" The elderly wizard let the informal greeting slide past his ears as he started wrapping me in one of the five million towels that he had slung over both of his shoulders.

"Come, come inside! You must be cold!" Merlin's sentences came out in fragments as he worriedly ushered me into the house. I tried saying something, but was promptly interrupted on a few occasions, as the wizard's permanent mantra of "you need warmth" resounded through the large hut.

I was sat on the peach-colored, comfortable armchair, as Merlin dumped the whole ton of aforementioned towels onto my lap, before disappearing huffily out of the study. I think he mentioned something about making tea, but I wasn't quite able to discern all of the soft mumbling.

With a barely held in, and rather audible, laugh, I squeezed myself out of the chair and after struggling with the blankets for quite the long period of time was finally free to roam the circular room.

As usual, the shelves suspended about the circumference on the brick walls were filled with vibrantly colored book spines, with rather interesting titles, if I may say so myself. The table, situated in the center of the room, was just as vibrantly decorated by fascinatingly shaped vials, with vivid, varyingly colored liquids inside.

I could have kept walking in circles to get a better look at all the—useful, as Merlin would have everyone believe—decorations, but my keen ninja eyes (I'm not one for modestly, as you might have guessed) landed on something I found to be particularly unsettling. Close to the left edge of the round table, I could see a cylindrical glass labeled "Teleported into a Book."

With a skeptical expression and a quirked eyebrow, I picked up the said glass and examined the liquid inside. With its lime green, glowing color, it certainly didn't look very trustworthy. I put the glass down carefully and started walking past it. I'm a rational person, I wasn't about to do anything stupid…that's right, I'm a rational person…oh, who was I kidding? With a conspiratorial look around the study, I rushed towards the glass and before my desperately crying common sense could but in, I took a long swig.

Nothing happened.

In fact, I don't believe I quite tasted the concoction; it was as if nothing entered my mouth. With a sigh of disappointment, I lethargically dragged my feet towards the armchair, littered with the numerous towels.

I didn't quite reach the destination, however. My feet froze mid-step and I had to adjust my eyes to keep the scenery from swimming. I tried calling for Merlin, but my efforts were not rewarded, as I didn't hear the sound of my own voice. I struggled to keep my eyes from closing, struggled to move, but didn't accomplish either. Before I could get a nice grasp on the situation at hand, consciousness has absconded my slippery grip, and I fell onto the cold floor.

A/N: Thanks for reading the first chapter; I hope you've enjoyed it. I'm sorry for the shortness, I can promise that the following chapters will be much longer. Please let me know what you think, so I know whether to go on with this story or not? I have a rather tight schedule and if the plot doesn't appeal to anyone, I can certainly do without the responsibility. But if you like it, I can promise that I'll keep a regular update.