A/N: Hi all! Welcome to my first Kingdom Hearts Fan fiction. Well…my first fan fiction period, but that's beside the point. Anyway, a few quick things about the fic:

Cloud is very OOC, but it's vital to the storyline that he is. I also made Yuffie a bit more mature, because I like a more level-headed Yuffie way better than the brain dead ditz she is often portrayed as. This fic could be considered in-game, provided Cloud returned to Traverse Town after leaving the Stadium (which, for the purpose of this fic, he has) I will also ask you to please excuse the grammar and spelling mistakes, seeing as spell check won't fix anything and I have no beta.

Disclaimer of Awesomeness: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or the characters (sadly.). All I own is a computer, a notebook, an overactive imagination, and a lot of free time on the weekends.

That being said, I believe we can continue with the fic. Enjoy!

-Chapter One: Fall Behind Me -

-x- -x- -x-

Yuffie sat on the couch in the living room fuming. She rarely fumed but there was one thing that always got to her. They knew it too. She was sure of it. "That's why the do it," she mused silently. "They do it because it annoys me and they know it." If there was one thing Yuffie hated, it was being left out. And this morning was no different.

They were Cloud, Aerith, and Leon (who refused to be addressed by any other name, but Yuffie still liked to call him Squall) and right about now they were sitting hunched over the coffee table discussing something. What that something was, Yuffie would probably never know. These morning discussions were ritual ever since Cloud returned to Traverse Town a few months back. Since then, he and Aerith were pretty much inseparable, and along with this, they took the liberty to include Leon in all of their discussions.

Yuffie grabbed a bagel and began to munch angrily wondering if her three companions knew just how much it annoyed her that they wouldn't treat her as an equal.

"Of course they don't." And really why would they? She never gave off any emotion that would so much as suggest to anybody how much they were wearing her down. They had no idea how much it hurt her that she could never gain their trust, despite her best efforts. "Cloud did," she thought, "and he sold his soul to Hades for fuck's sake." She just couldn't get over how unfair the whole thing was. It was like some elite club she could never hope to gain access to, and that was enough to upset and frustrate her to the point of tears.

The tears she kept to herself. Yuffie would always put on a smile and tried her best to keep her little façade going long enough to fool everybody, which luckily for her, it did.

Of course, this cheerful mentality often got her into fights with Leon. Actually, it got her into fights with Leon almost daily. It was a ritual. She would say something---most likely call him Squall or make fun of him in some way---he would get mad. She would continue and then he'd yell. After the yelling was done he would storm out of the hotel and not come back until dinner. Then as they ate, Cloud and Aerith would make forced conversation with Leon and Yuffie would go back to being cheerful and all the while trying to forget the sting in her heart at the sound of his harsh words or the anger held in his cold blue eyes.

Sadly, despite all the arguments Yuffie could not deny the fact that she harbored deep feelings for the silent brunette. To this thought most people would say something similar to "opposites attract" and, it would seem they were correct. Seem. Leon, stoic and quiet, Yuffie, who always spoke her mind and wore her emotions on her sleeve for all to see. But most people didn't know that there was much more to Yuffie than a few casual conversations would reveal.

As she sat there, she recalled that in the nine years she'd been stuck sharing a hotel with Leon that was about all they'd had. If you could even consider their constant bickering conversations, for they rarely talked without fighting. Yuffie got along with Aerith pretty good, seeing as the older woman sort of saw Yuffie as a type of "younger sister" and took to trying to mentor the little ninja on being a refined young lady. Yeah right. Still, it was better than all of the fighting and headaches she'd endured over the years from Leon.

In reality she wasn't even sure why she'd fallen for him in the first place. As far as she'd known him he'd never possessed any special qualities. He was not kind or gentle, she had never heard him laugh without sarcasm or make a joke. No, Squall Leonheart was not anything special. He was quiet, serious, and well, quite frankly, boring. Why was it that he could put Yuffie on top of the world with a few kind words but bring her crashing down just as easily? It was something Yuffie really didn't want to think about.

As she chewed the remaining bit of bagel she marveled at how much personal reflection she could fit into just a few minutes. And in the morning, no less! This had to be something special. A small sigh escaped her lips that went unnoticed by the three adults conversing nearby. Propping her feet up on the little footstool by the sofa, she picked up a newspaper and began to read.

-x- -x- -x-

Leon stared blankly at the couple sitting across from him at the table. Fighting the Heartless used to pay massive amounts of money. But soon after Cloud returned the number and value of Heartless were slowly decreasing. Nowadays, a person was lucky just to find one, let alone find on that would be worth enough to meet the basic needs of four people. That was quite nearly impossible, which is what brought the group to their current situation.

A place like Traverse Town was overcrowded, dirty, and impoverished. So many people had ended up her after the Heartless destroyed their worlds that jobs were in short supply. But, actually, it didn't bother Leon, though he would never admit it. He wanted as little to do with this town as possible.

It hadn't always been this way. Several years ago it was a nice, quiet, peaceful town. But in the past few years the Heartless had caused so much mass destruction that it had quickly become overpopulated. Most of these people were poor; and having lost everything, and trying to survive and cope with their loss and grief, they turned to a life of crime. Robberies, stealing, muggings, all of these things were common in Traverse Town.

It made Leon sick to think about it all really. Morals and values seemed to be utterly nonexistent here, and he couldn't see any escape in sight. No light at the end of the tunnel. No hope. No, he did not regret not being able to find work, because work meant interaction with these people, and while he wasn't the most social person, he still believed the less interaction with these people, the better.

"So, you're sure you really don't mind?" Aerith said quietly. She knew he minded, I mean who wouldn't? They were so low on money they had to move from their normal three-bedroom hotel room, to a two-bedroom. Of course Cloud and Aerith didn't mind. They'd been sharing a room for the longest time, so it wasn't a matter of their preference. It was Leon. He was going to have to share a bedroom with Yuffie. She was so hard to get rid of during the day, and then at night she would be with him too. He was going to go insane. But he wasn't about to piss and moan like a baby about how he didn't want to share a room with her. No, the day Squall Leonheart threw a temper tantrum about anything, would be a sad day indeed.

"I don't mind." He said flatly. No need to conceal how he felt. "You're sure? I mean it's settled then?" Aerith continued, more out of politeness than anything else. She felt bad for putting him in this situation. Sure, he could tolerate Yuffie, to some extent, but Aerith didn't know if he would really be able to spend all night with her without sacrificing his sanity in the process. It wasn't that Yuffie was a bad kid, the opposite really, she was always nice and friendly, unless she was arguing with Leon that is, and had yet to commit a serious crime or anything that would warrant her being considered a delinquent. She was just always happy and a little immature as well. But, Aerith guessed, they were all like that at that age, and it was no excuse trying to turn her into something she wasn't by forcing her to grow up.

"I said ok." Leon repeated, in the same monotone voice he'd used before. He really just wanted to end this conversation. It wasn't doing anybody any good, really, just going in circles for the past half hour like they had. It was all pretty pointless.

"Hey don't worry. She won't bite your or murder you in your sleep or anything. She's just a kid!" Cloud said cheerfully. Sometimes he could be as bad as Yuffie.

Leon hated to think things about the man who was his best friend since childhood, but he couldn't help it. Cloud had always been kind and cheerful, yet calm and collected. However, since he'd stopped working for Hades and come back to Traverse Town, he'd been making more and more jokes. Granted, some of them, Leon would admit, were clever and kind-spirited and actually halfway funny. But more often than not, they were cruel and mocking, with Yuffie as their subject. Leon would never tell his friend how much it annoyed him to hear him pick on Yuffie when she usually wasn't around. In truth, Cloud treated Yuffie like she was a two year old. Always underestimating her, which annoyed Leon, because that was about all he heard from Cloud anymore, was rude comments and jokes about Yuffie.

"I realize that." Leon said in response to his friend's question. He just wanted this conversation to end so he could go back to his room for a while before they had to start packing to leave. The sooner they got out the better off they were, financially. But then again, in his opinion, there was no place they could go in this town that would make him consider the four of them "well off." He had realized a long time ago that his heart was still in Hollow Bastion and would be there, perhaps forever. But there was no hope of going back and he knew it. It didn't help to pretend to hope for what was not going to happen. He sighed and walked to his room as Aerith and Cloud went to tell Yuffie about their new change in living arrangement. He wondered if he would ever really find his place in life within the confines of a hotel room.

A/N: Well that's it for the first chapter! That was, for the most part, some background information and insight into the characters. The plot will pick up more in the next chapter, which will be posted soon, hopefully, if I get some time to finish it this weekend. I won't beg for reviews, but they would make me very happy, and might motivate me to update faster.

Until next time,

Bright Eyes.