Hey Everyone!
Well this is my first story in a long time! phew! I hope you all enjoy, be sure to review because it makes me happy. :)
Clouffie.
Loooove it.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters pertaining to Kingdom Hearts.

Yuffie stared into the water, searching her reflection. How had so much changed in such a short time? It seemed like yesterday she knew herself and today the mirror-image of her was a complete stranger. As the heartless slipped farther away, appeared less, so, it seemed, did Yuffie's confidence. Where was she supposed to go now? What was her purpose? How should she spend her time? She sighed audibly.

"Hey" came a low, soft voice. She turned and smiled softly.

"Hey Goldilocks"

"I thought we discussed the use of the nickname"

"I'm pretty sure you just discussed it with yourself then"

"I'm pretty sure that's always the story with you" Cloud sat near her on the water fountain, "I love this time of the day, most people have gone in for the evening…it's so peaceful. Good time for thinking. Being alone"

"Which is exactly why you're talking to me? Because you want to be alone?" Yuffie tilted her head in gentle sarcasm.

"Ouch little mouse…ouch."

"You'll be fine. So? What are you here for?" She watched curiously as he bent down and started taking off his shoes.

"You" He rolled down his socks, taking them off, and glanced up at her, "if you want". He swung his body around, slowly dipping his feet into the fountain. "Argh! That's cold" he laughed as goose bumps became visible on his bare arms.

"You're ridiculous." She laughed with him.

"You're sad" Silence was loud.

"I'm deciding my new path, that's all" For some reason, Yuffie always felt comfortable with Cloud. With Squall her emotions were always so…jumbled, confused, and she could never decided exactly how she felt, or what she wanted to say. Usually she ended up coming off as childish and annoying. She felt so different inside. "Now that everything's kind of…settled…in the world, there isn't much room for a fighter. But I can't imagine anything else I would be good at."

"I know. It seems like I spent so much of my life fighting that I just can't imagine…not fighting. It's my way, my life. Aerith has her healing, that can be used for a lot of things outside of an arena or battlefield. She's head nurse at the hospital for heavens sake while I just sit around being lazy all day."

"Yeah, but at the same time, you've made your fortune and worked hard for it. Aerith rarely took part in battles. She was the worried onlooker. The healer in time of need" Yuffie gasped, "Oh my! That sounded bad, but I meant it genuinely. She's found something she loves at the hospital. That's good. Our good times, our callings have passed now. We just get to be….we just are."

Cloud looked at her blankly. In fact, he stared. She blushed.

"Oh for heaven sake what are you looking at!"

"You are so mature." He tilted his head to the side, "How come you never show this side yourself outside of 'down time' "

"I do" She looked in his eyes, "nobody notices me, or I have trouble explaining my thoughts in the daytime. I get confused, give up, and sound childish."

"Yuffie give up? Words I never thought to hear from you" he chided.

"Well times are a-changing aren't they? Squall's found something too."

Cloud grunted, obviously disgusted. "Yeah… Aerith"

"I thought you were okay with it. I thought you all talked?"

"Talked? Maybe that's what they say. I was talked at, though never asked my opinion; I was told like some animal or unfeeling beast that the woman I slaved for, for years I might add, has suddenly and unexplainably fallen for my best friend. I think I'm past the worst of it now. The pain has dulled. I can at least understand now, or see that Aerith and I were never suited. We eventually would have driven each other crazy. In the end, we would have hurt more."

"Nobody told me. I get sugar-coated explanations of things, everyone still sees me as a child, just because I'm a few years younger than all of you. Have I not been through the same things? Have I not seen what you have seen, have I not fought beside you? For you? I fail to see how I am so much younger."

Cloud was quite. For a long time the sat in comfortable silence. Cloud slowly swirling his feet around in the water and Yuffie lost in thoughts she couldn't voice. After a while the sun shone a little less as it started the slow yet steady decline, shining the vivid colors of the rainbow, blue, orange, yellow, and the like. Yuffie caught a look of awe on Clouds face in her peripherals. "What is it Cloud?" she asked without looking at him.

"You look like a shining angel" he whispered, "You are so beautiful Yuffie. I'm going to remember you like this always. A shining sad angel who can light up everyone's world but her own."

Yuffie slowly curved her neck to look at him, tears lining her lids. "Thank-you" she murmured.

Cloud quickly closed the space between, but to Yuffie the moment seemed slow and drifting.

The kiss itself, if Yuffie ever had to describe it, was soft yet possessive. The kind of kiss that makes your lips start tingling until it spreads to the very tips of your toes and back. The kind that leaves you gasping though it wasn't very deep, and breathless like you've run a marathon. The kind that leaves tears in your eyes when you watch it on television, the kind that is glamorized in Hollywood. The kind that never happens in real life, but it was happening with Yuffie.

"My sad angel" Cloud whispered against her cheek, "Will you ever smile again?"

"Only and forever at you."