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-Squirrel Tamer

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

Chapter 1: Separated

The sun was shining gently on the very tips of the castle, a small breeze drifted lazily through all the cracks and crevasses of the palace on their fourth day back at Hollow Bastion. Aerith had already been busy planting flowers along the castle walls and they were beginning to bloom thanks to her tender care. Four lone stragglers by the names of Aerith, Leon, Yuffie and Cid were slowly but surely cleaning off the cobwebs and trying to turn Hollow Bastion back to how they remembered. Although Yuffie seemed to be having troubles, seeing as how she had only been six when they left and had no idea how things had once looked. But she had been trying her best and that was enough for her friends.

"No Yuf," Aerith's bright emerald eyes were full of understanding, "Those blankets go over there," She pointed to a closet, packed full with an assortment of pillows. Yuffie groaned and picked the big pile of blankets back up and walked towards the closet trying her hardest not to drop anything. Unfortunately as a sixteen year old, she seemed to be graced with the gift of clumsiness.

Yuffie tripped over one of her own shoelaces and fell forward; the blankets were flung into the air. Aerith groaned and shot a very displeased glance toward her younger friend who smiled sheepishly at her.

"Oh Yuffie!" Aerith mock yelled. Aerith was not the one to really yell at anyone, instead she was much more laid back and did what Yuffie and Squall called a "mock yell" where she wouldn't raise her voice and her eyes would still hold a smile to them, but she was still really angry or annoyed. Yuffie glared at her friend and stood up quickly, she didn't appreciate being yelled at.

"It was an accident! I tripped!" Aerith just shook her head at Yuffie and bent to pick up a deep blue blanket, which was now lying in a rumpled heap. Yuffie stuck her tongue out at Aerith's retreating back; the green-eyed woman didn't seem to notice.

"Why can't you start being more responsible. You are sixteen, you know? You could at least learn to properly tie your own shoes!" Yuffie rolled her eyes and turned away from Aerith. She didn't even glance back as she exited the room; Aerith sighed and bent down to pick up more blankets.

Yuffie felt anger welling up inside of her and it didn't help when she stubbed her toe against the corner of a wall. She swore darkly and leaped down the stairs. She heard a popping noise and felt the color run out of her face as she remembered that there were still Heartless running about, since Sora had still not closed the door. They knew he was close, but she had forgotten that just because he was close didn't mean it was safe yet. Yuffie reached for one of her shurikens and tossed it towards one of the large defenders blocking her escape. It bounced off its shield and flew back at her, she screamed and ducked, narrowly missing her own shuriken.

She looked back towards her opponent as the eyes of its shield turned white, Yuffie leapt to the side as a spray of ice floated from it. She breathed hard as the defender turned back to her. She jumped towards it, propelling herself off of its own head. She landed behind it and shoved one of her shurikens right through its stomach. The defender disappeared quickly and Yuffie ran out the front doors before anymore Heartless could appear.

She panted heavily, placing her hands on her knees and bending over trying to catch her breath. She opened her eyes but closed them almost immediately, Hollow Bastion was a whole lot brighter than the much more familiar Traverse Town. She had always loved being outside, but ever since she had gotten back she had found herself staying in the darkest rooms of the castle. In fact this was only the third time she had been outside since they had gotten back.

"I take it Aerith didn't want you there anymore?" Yuffie whirled around and scowled at the solemn figure of Squall Leonhart, wielder of the Gunblade and one of Yuffie's only companions since the Heartless had destroyed Hollow Bastion. She crossed her arms over her chest and stared darkly at him.

"Just leave me alone Leon," Squall raised an eyebrow at her, Yuffie was usually the little bratty kid who would rather fool around and play nasty pranks then act serious. But she seemed to have turned into a mirror image of Squall himself since they had gotten back home, while Squall was beginning to loosen up ever so slightly. He knew something was wrong with her and that he should try and help her, but too many years of her picking on him for no apparent reason had completely overrun the last few shreds of humanity that he had left.

"Oh no, something wrong with the poor ninja?" He watched as Yuffie clenched her fists and turned away from him. What he didn't see were the tears streaming down her cheeks, washing away year's worth of dirt. She hadn't cried since she was thirteen, when she broke her arm falling from the balcony of the hotel. Of course she completely blamed Squall for that, saying that he had upset her so much that she had run out the door and forgotten that the floor would be ending soon. Squall had his ear chewed off by Aerith that night. Yuffie smirked a bit, but still didn't face him. She knew her eyes would be all red and puffy, giving her away.

"I said; just leave me alone, Squall." Yuffie made sure to put an extra emphasis on the man's real name. She could almost hear him stiffen and could swear that she felt the hairs on the back of her neck burning off from the intensity of his glare. She smiled to herself and turned to face him, forgetting that he would be able to tell. She smirked at him and then stuck her tongue out. He let out a low growl and leapt towards her.

Yuffie screamed and rolled to the side. But Squall was already ready to strike again. She felt him wrap his fingers around her throat and lift her off of her feet. She let out a whimper mixed with both pain and fear. He snarled at her and pushed her hard against the wall, she felt the back of her head smack against it and she whimpered again. It hurt like hell.

"Squall?..." She managed to choke out and his scowl darkened.

"Don't you ever call me that again, all right kid?"

Kid? Yuffie felt her insides began to boil. She was most certainly not a kid. In fact she had been through the same things that Squall had, maybe worse and he had the guts to call her a kid? He dropped his arm and she fell from his grasp, but she was up on her feet again in a second, this time she leapt towards him. He bent down and put up his arms to block, but she wasn't aiming to hurt him, instead she flipped neatly over him and then, while he was bent forward reached out and pulled his Lionhart pendent from right over his head.

"Yoink!" She cried happily and then sped off towards the inside of the castle heading for the next lift stop. Squall recovered a few seconds after Yuffie had left, he snarled and chased after the ninja, dragging his Gunblade behind him.

Yuffie had no time to fight Heartless, she simply ran past them, laughing while she did so. She slipped the pendent around her neck and darted onto a lift. She looked down below and giggled as she saw Squall gazing up at her, his eyes full of a fierce anger. It had always amused her when she bugged Squall, but he was so easy to bug. When she reached the next level she glanced around nervously, she knew that Squall would be coming up right behind her. She spotted a pile of rubble on one side of the ledge, she began climbing, heading for the roof of the castle.

She held her breath as she heard the lift coming up to the top. She had managed to make it three fourths of the way up of the rubble, before he appeared. He looked around for her, but apparently didn't notice her from her uncomfortable position on the rocks. He headed towards an open door and headed into the Bastion. Yuffie sighed and then climbed upwards even farther.

When she reached the very top she turned around and looked out at the whole world below her. She frowned.

She truly hated Hollow Bastion.

Sure, it had a much better view than Traverse Town ever had, but it was a lonely view. At least there were more than four people in Traverse Town. And what was she supposed to do if she ever decided that she would be willing to settle down and have a family? That left her with a ton of options, she thought sarcastically. Oh yeah, Cid and Squall the world's most charming men, and Cloud too if he ever came back.

Of course if Cloud ever came back Aerith would be on him faster than you could say: I love you. So that left just Squall and Cid.

Yuffie stuck her tongue out and made a gagging noise. Cid was old. Like father age old. It would be really creepy to marry Cid, not too mention completely wrong. And Squall...

Yuffie felt her cheeks redden. She had to admit that she enjoyed being with Squall. He made her feel safe and protected, but could she ever marry him?

No way, said the biggest part of her mind, he's nine years older than you for goodness' sake!

But there was this small part of her mind that whispered over and over again. Yes! Yes! Yes!

Of course she could never tell Squall that.

What was she thinking about marriage for anyway? She had vowed a long time ago that she would never get married. Too much of a hassle. Besides no man on earth could keep up with the spunky ninja. She turned her thoughts in a completely different direction. Homes.

She could barely remember anything from before the Heartless. All that remained of her past life in the Bastion were snatches of her memories combined with Squall, Aerith and Cid's stories. But she did remember a ton of things that had happened in Traverse Town. And maybe that's why she truly preferred Traverse Town; her memories were there.

She remembered a long time ago, when her family went broke and they had to live in the poor section of Hollow Bastion. She had come back one day and said something like 'home sweet home'. She remembered her mother looking at her, a sad look in her eyes. She had pulled Yuffie close and told her:

'No. A home is the place you know and love, home is a place you truly enjoy going back to,' At that point her mother looked at the small place and tears rolled down her cheeks. She had always been pampered; she didn't convert to the normal way of survival easily. But then she turned back to Yuffie. 'This is NOT a home.'

And to Yuffie Hollow Bastion wasn't a home either.

Traverse Town was.

She grew up there; all her best memories were there. Sure the sun never shone there and it was somewhat crowded. It had a funky smell to it and the hotel charged way too much for a room, but it was more of a home than her real one. Yuffie gently fingered the Lionhart pendant around her neck and whispered softly to herself.

"Traverse Town is my home."

Crash.

Yuffie screamed and leapt off of her pile of rocks, landing hard on the ground. But it was a strange kind of ground; it was white and reminded her of a storm cloud. She stood up quickly and was about to leap off of it when suddenly it broke away from the rest of Hollow Bastion. It was floating out in the middle of the sky, with Yuffie on it.

She had to get off.

She looked about frantically and spotted another piece of land floating towards Hollow Bastion, this one with a certain blond spiky haired old friend of hers. She called out to Cloud, but he didn't seem to hear her. She screamed out again, but he still didn't look towards her.

"Yuffie!" Yuffie turned back to the same ledge with the rocks she had been sitting on just moments before. She saw Squall staring at her, his mouth slightly ajar.

"Squall!" She cried out, tears streaming down her cheeks as she reached out for him. He pulled himself together and reached back. Yuffie struggled to grasp his hand but it was just out of her reach. They both fought for the other, but Yuffie's piece of land kept drifting further away.

"JUMP!" Yuffie could see the fear in her friend's eyes, she nodded preparing to jump, but she made the mistake of looking down first. She screamed and fell backwards. It was endless; if she fell she'd probably fall forever. She rubbed her eyes and held her hand out towards Squall; he couldn't do anything to change what was happening though.

"Squall..." She sobbed, wanting nothing more than to go back to him and Aerith and Cloud and Cid. But she was drifting away on her own little piece of a world.

"Yuffie!" She heard him call to her, "Don't worry! I'll find you, Yuf! I promise! Even if we're worlds apart! I'll find a way to bring you back!"

Yuffie pulled his chain off her neck.

"Here Squall!" She pulled her hand back, ready to throw it.

"No keep it!" His voice was fading and she could barely see him, "It's my promise!"

"I love you!" She screamed to him, before she could stop herself, but she never knew if he heard or not, because the next thing she knew she was floating on her little piece of a world, heading to a darkened world, full of neon lights. She could hear snatches of conversations floating around her, they were all different, but they all held the same reoccurring word.

Home.

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A/N: At the moment I am dropping all my other stories. I just kind of lost interest. But hopefully I'll finish this one. I've been working on other stories so I think I'm sort of improved...a bit...

It'll probably be Squiffie. It was just another of those weird ideas of mine. I thought if Kairi could go back to Destiny Islands because that was where she grew up and consider her home, than couldn't it happen to other people? Anyway, I suppose they'll probably spend the better part of this fic searching for each other.

Aren't you all so glad the Squirrel Tamer's back?

^-^