A/n: Not to give anything, but to avoid confusion I should note that the Nibelheim incident in this story never happened, as well as pretty much all of Final Fantasy VII and on. So, in other words, THIS STORY IS AU. Thanks for choosing to give this story a chance, and please enjoy. Requested by Wolf8754, sorry it took so long, and sorry it's not exactly a T+ rating.

Loss Of Me

Maybe Godo was right, maybe playing with Shinra's SOLDIERs is a little too dangerous. I gave a mental snort at that idea as I continue to stare down probably one of the most dangerous SOLDIER of them all. Nothing is too dangerous for the beautiful white rose Wutai, the great ninja, Yuffie Kisaragi! Ever since I was a little kid I've been dealing with SOLDIER. Not the easily duped 3rd class SOLDIERs either, but the 1sts, starting with Zack. After all, Zack's been a good friend of mine for about ten years now, ever since he started to work for me. I admit, when I was just becoming a teenager, I had a crush on him, but now he's more like a big brother. Besides, he and Aerith make such a cute couple, and a very oblivious couple that draw 'awwws' from about everyone in the general vicinity, letting me work my magic.

Godo figured out where I was getting my loot when I was fifteen, and that's when he told me the whole 'SOLDIERs are too dangerous' and 'I will not have my only heir risking the name of Kisaragi'. Actually, telling is an understatement. Yelling until his face was red and Leviathan was covering his ears would be more exact. He wanted me to stay in Wutai and 'become a proper princess' so that I could flirt and seduce my way into Rufus' heart. There is only two problems with that idea.

One: Rufus doesn't have a heart.

Two: The day I'm a proper little princess (even if the plan was to stab Rufus in the heart, quite literally) is the day the world comes to an end. With a meteor crashing into the planet and a super nova wiping out the whole solar system.

I mean, come on! Zack would never hurt me! I guilt tripped him into hunting up all sorts of ridiculous things (though, at the time I thought they would be valuable.) He's even saved me a million times when I got in trouble.

Not that I will ever admit I was in trouble. I can never get into a scrape I can't get myself out of. Not even against a King Behomth. Or a Great Morolbo . After all, I am the greatest warrior of Wutai!

Anyways, after that lovely conversation with my old man, I decided that I was no longer going to take his commands. Wutai needed a better ruler, who would fight against Shinra and restore Wutai to its former glory. Except, you know, I would make it better than it had been. Now how do I do something like that? Especially since I was just a 15 year old shinobi who, in the eyes of the Wutai people, couldn't hope to take the throne until Godo died or declared me ruler? No, I didn't kill him, that would have just made everything worse. Instead, I left Wutai, determined to prove to Wutai that I was strong enough to rule them, that I was better than my old man.

Three months later, I ended up alone in a cave in the Northern Crater, thinking I was going to die. If I would have brought back the severed head of a Dark Dragon or another ferociously tough monster everyone would be groveling at my feet. However, my plan went wrong, leaving me to die a slow painful death from poison alone in the Crater. My head became so messed up that I don't remember emailing gibberish to Zack. He never told me what exactly I said (I hope to Leviathan it wasn't a sappy love letter) but it worried him enough he somehow figured out where I was (then again, I might have told him that in the email) and saved me. The first thing I can remember is waking up at Aerith's house to the smell of pancakes. Those chocolate chip pancakes Elmyra made were, are, the best thing I ever had. I swear I'm getting a little pudgy because of them!

Long story short, I ended up staying with Aerith and Elmyra. At first it was to keep an eye on my rival for Zack's affections, but for some reason, it's impossible to hate her. She knew that I wanted to steal Zack away from her, yet she was always nice to me. for a long time I waited for the other shoe to drop, so to speak, and for her to go all psycho on me. Then I realized that she trusted Zack enough to not be drawn away by a 15 year old girl. Looking back, I realize she was right. No 22 year old guy dating a sweetheart like Aerith is going to go after a kid.

After staying in Midgar for a while, minding my Ps and Qs, the old urge flared up again. Like old times, I recruited (blackmailed, actually) Zack into finding treasures for me. To my luck, Midgar is full of secrets and rumors. Whenever he had the weekend off, I had him running all over the Planet. Costa de Sol, Modeoheim, even his hometown Gongaga. However, like years before, there wasn't much, so I decided to stop slumming around the slums and scope out the upper plate.

That idea was both brilliant and my downfall. The gossip on the plate was nothing like in slums. For one thing, most of it was useless. There's nothing profitable knowing who's sleeping with who. But the stuff that I did get was worth the useless rumors. Before long, the Materia, accessories, and gil that my 'assistant' brought back was worth more than the Pagoda of the 5 gods.

Oh yea, I knew that my plan was going to succeed. I would become the Lady of Wutai. Except, I realized as I grew up and developed strange family bonds with Zack, Aerith, Elmyra, and the cute blonde Chocobo head army guy that followed Zack around sometimes, that eventually I would have to betray them. Zack and all the other SOLDIERs he introduced me to would be fighting against my countrymen. I was flirting with the enemy, quite literally half the time.

I needed to get out and distance myself, but I didn't. Like I said, they were my friends, my family. Next year, I told myself when I was 17. And 18, and now. I need info that would help the war. And I was gathering info. It just happened to be in General Sephiroth's home.

"Well," I nagged as he continued to stare at me. "Yes, or no?" My heart continued to flutter in my chest. If you know Zack, sooner or later you're going to meet Sephiroth. I've known him for about 2 years and I still don't know what to feel about him. He is the main reason why Wutai is nothing more than a tourist trap. Rumor has it he killed my mom personally. Logic says that I should hate him, and at first I did. But then I got know the man behind the 'hero' stuff.

I got to know a lot of SOLDIERs, and the thing is, they're mostly boys and girls my own age, doing the same thing I was. Trying to be a hero. Except I was trying to be a hero to Wutai, and they wanted to be a hero to their own hometowns.

Except for Sephiroth. He just was doing what he was told, because that was how he was raised. He didn't want all the attention he had, he wanted a quiet life. The great and might Sephiroth, actually liked playing cards and watching the sunset.

Unfortunately for me, he's really good at the cards bit.

"You don't have anything more to gamble," he pointed out quietly, a small smirk on his face. I really hate that smirk, it turns my stomach try and eat itself, and my mind goes blank for a few moments.

He's right though, he has all my Materia, my 4-point Shuriken, my Minerva band, fairy earrings, all my potions, ethers, elixirs, and even my cherished Phoenix Down. But I'm not giving up. I can still win this. "I have the clothes on my back." I grin at the flustered look that briefly passed over his face. Oh yeah, Sephiroth is human and thinking about me without my clothes on…

Or maybe thinking about wearing my clothes. Eww, that's not a pleasant image.

"What use would your clothes prove to be?"

"They're nice clothes!" I defended, "I bet you could sell them for a million gil!" That's a total lie. My short's zipper is stuck, so I have to use a belt to keep them up, and my shirt has a hole in the back big enough Elmyra wants to turn it into a halter top.

Obviously, he knew it too. "No."

"Tch." I leaned back in the soft chair I dragged halfway across the room earlier that evening and crossed my arms. I needed my stuff back, no matter what! There was only one thing left, if he wouldn't accept my bet. "I wage myself." Despite the serious situation, I laughed at the startled look on his face.

"Your…self?" The startled look on his face melted as he mimicked my posture, leaning back in his own chair, crossing his arms in a similar way. But instead of looking like he was pouting, he looked curious and really, really…

Nope, I was not going down that road. That's how I lost the last couple (dozen) games. Instead I nodded my head, self assured. "Yep! I'm one of a kind! Worth everything you have, including your Ifrit Materia." I eyed the beautiful red Materia, sitting innocently on the table as if it wasn't the cause of all of this. Sure, I already had a few summons, after all, what was Zack's was mine since I was his boss. But it would be better to have my own, personal, stock. Besides, this Materia belonged to Sephiroth, it was bound to be better than Zack's. It was probably mastered, with neat stats like 'immune to everything on the Planet and then some'.

To my surprise, he accepted my wager. "Fine, if I win, you're mine." Not for the first time, my heart tried to escape my chest. This was a bad idea. This was a really, really, bad idea.

I grinned as I leaned forward, gathering the cards from our last game. "Bring it!"

…

…

…

This. Was. Not. HAPPENING! A small scream escaped my mouth about twenty minutes later as I jumped out of my chair. "No! No way!" I looked between the full house displayed on the coffee table between us, and Sephiroth's smug face. I lost. Again. How could I lose to Sephiroth, who didn't know how to play Kisaragi hold 'em 3 hours ago. (Of course, it didn't exist more than 10 minutes before that.)

"I think you belong to me now." I screamed again as Sephiroth stood up, grabbed me, and pulled me back into his lap as he sat down. I wasn't afraid of him, really, I wasn't. My ninja reflexes didn't like the sudden change of being safe to being in a questionable situation. I tried to get out of the slightly tight grip he had around my waist, but even I can admit Sephiroth is a bit stronger than I am.

"You can't really own me!" I objected, a bit embarrassed about the way my voice cracked. "That's against the law!"

"So isn't stealing, blackmailing, and about half of everything that you do." He wasn't laughing, but I could feel his chest behind my back shake as if he was trying not to.

Was he… playing with me? Cold, aloof Sephiroth was toying with me… or was it flirting? For some reason, I relaxed at that and stop struggling.

"So, what are you gonna do with me now?" Okay, Yuffie, probably not the best way to say that. "I mean, I'm small, scrawny, annoying, and…"

"The princess of Wutai and probably more dangerous to Shinra than Avalanche ever was." The good, if a bit dangerous, mood disappeared instantly. He knew? How did he know! Oh crud, I was so in trouble now! "Relax, I'll be the last to stop you, let alone turn you in."

The disaster scenarios in my head paused, shocked by the admission. I turned around in his hold, completely serious. "Why?"

"They've killed my friends and colleagues, and I want revenge." I was surprised as he pressed a hand to my face, cupping my cheek slightly. "I've done horrible things, especially to you and your country, yet you don't hold it against me."

"Not anymore," I admitted. "You're really not going to turn me into Shinra, or my dad?"

"No, I'm not…" Before he could finish, I impulsively leaned up and kissed him right on the lips. Normal people are embarrassed after kissing people at random, but I just grinned at the shock look on his face…

Until he returned the favor, then it was my turn to be shocked. Okay, playing with SOLDIERs can be dangerous, but all's fair in love and war, right? Maybe I had just found a way to become Lady of Wutai, destroy Shinra, and keep my SOLDIER friends. And my SOLDIER that wasn't quite just a friend anymore. All it cost me was my body, but, that wasn't such a big thing, he'd take good care of me, I bet.