Hi guys! Yep, this is the fic I entered into the LJ Squffie Community contest! I'd like to say a big 'Well Done!' to Devin Bloom and October Breeze for coming first and second in the contest. Your stories rocked guys!!
Disclaimer - All trademarks, locations and characters belong to thier respective owners.
"I hate him, Aerith."
"No you don't. Even if you did is still doesn't explain why you kicked him, Yuffie."
Yuffie flinched at the sharp edge to Aerith's voice. Yuffie turned her back to the flower girl. Sulkily she crossed her arms over her chest and frowned.
"You should have heard what he said to me Aerith. He deserved a swift kick in the behind." Yuffie said turning her head briefly to glance at her friend from over her shoulder.
"Yuffie…" seeing that the ninja wasn't going to swallow her pride and apologise to Leon, Aerith had to compromise. "Listen Yuffie," Aerith began as slowly and calmly as she could when dealing with the teenager. "I'm going to keep you and Leon far away from each other. I hope you both simmer down before dinner."
Silence, the only form of agreement Aerith was going to get from the girl. Turning she left the Green Room closing the door as quietly as she could.
It was a few moments before Yuffie moved to the table in the centre of the room. She flung herself into one of the wooden chairs and pressed her forehead against the table surface.
'Stupid Squall. He makes me so mad.' Sighing she sat up and stared at the ceiling.
"Then why do I like him so much?"
"Yuffie?"
Jumping up from the chair as if it had burned her, Yuffie grabbed a shuriken from her side and turned to face…
"Cloud!?"
The blonde in question was standing in the doorway that connected the Green Room to the Red Room, amusement apparent in his expression.
"Dinners ready. Why don't you tell Leon that you like him?" Cloud smirked as a hot, pink flush spread across Yuffie's cheeks and nose.
"Is it that obvious…" she mumbled more to herself than to Cloud. "It's… not that simple. I mean it's Leon, you and I both know how unpredictable he can be." Yuffie said looking down at her yellow sneakers. Cloud nodded his head in agreement.
"Cloud?"
"Yeah?" he looked up only to have Yuffie yell,
"Don't interrupt me when I'm talking to myself!"
To say dinner was tense was a little bit of an understatement. The tension in the air was so thick Aerith was finding it hard to breath. Or it could have been caused by panic, when Squall and Yuffie were both mad at each other; their actions were never predictable. It if looks could kill… well, lets say there would be an awful amount of bloodshed.
'Keep us far away from each other? Yeah right.' Yuffie glanced up at Aerith, who was avoiding eye contact with her.
'Sheesh, she knows how moody Squall gets after a fight, and where does my friend Aerith sit me? Right in the firing line.' Yuffie thought grimly looking at Squall who was sitting opposite her. She could swear that her skin was tingling from the heat and the intensity of Squall's glare. Yuffie sent a pleading stare in Cloud's direction.
'C'mon blondie, take the hint.'
It was a few moments before the plead registered with Cloud.
"So, everyone finished?" Cloud didn't wait for a reply as he rose from his seat taking his a Yuffie's plates with him towards the kitchen. The relief in Aerith's eyes was a little too obvious for Yuffie's liking, but at least Squall stopped glaring at her.
"Hey Yuffie? Could you help Aerith in the kitchen please? Me and Leon are going on patrol." Cloud asked when he walked past her on the way to the hallway.
"Yeah, sure." Yuffie called after him.
Five tedious minutes later found Yuffie daydreaming on a kitchen counter drying dishes and various pieces of cutlery, listening to Aerith ramble on about events from the day.
"Are you okay Yuffie?"
"…Huh?"
Looking up at Aerith's calming emerald eyes made Yuffie relax almost instantaneously.
"Will you be okay?" Aerith repeated.
"Yeah…" This anger directed at her from Leon hurt Yuffie more than she'd like to admit. Not just from a fight but all the time. He always seemed angry with her for some reason or other.
"Don't let it get to you. He's stupid for not realising what a great thing he has, right in front of him."
Aerith's words lifted Yuffie's spirit a little. Feeling much better and slightly more confident with her feelings for Squall.
"Thanks Aerith." Yuffie said, beaming up happily at the flower girl. Aerith was about to offer the young ninja some advice but was cut off when the doors to the hotel could be heard being slammed open. Frantic, heavy footsteps headed towards the kitchen revealed a flushed, breathless Cloud dragging the Buster Sword behind him.
"Heartless. First District. Need help," came his simple explanation.
"'Kay. Where's – " Yuffie started hopping off the counter as she spoke.
"He's holding them off. We've got to hurry. Let's go." Turning Cloud hoisted the Buster Sword onto his shoulder and sped off back to the First District. Yuffie grabbed some shurikens from her pouch that never strayed to far from her and ran after Cloud.
When Yuffie reached the First District so noticed Leon had done a pretty good job of holding the Heartless off, there weren't as many as she was expecting. In fact it only took a few swipes of shurikens, swords and a few thunder spells from Aerith to get rid of them.
After the 'fight' with the Heartless, Aerith was healing some of the injured, Cloud was talking to two ladies, Squall was being himself (leaning against the wall, brooding), which left Yuffie standing alone. First she decided to listen in on Cloud's conversation that consisted of:
"So you help protect this town?" said one lady.
"Yeah," you could tell from Cloud's tone that he wasn't really paying attention.
"Oh, with what?" said the other, particular flirtatious, lady.
"Sword. Over there." Cloud answered good-naturedly, pointing to the Buster Sword that he propped up against the wall.
"Oh my, that's big!" exclaimed the flirtatious female.
"Err…yeah."
Yuffie blinked; maybe she won't get involved in that conversation after all. Looking around she saw Aerith was still busy which meant she had to face the thunderstorm himself.
"Hi Squall!" Yuffie chirped.
"…"
"Um, so…" Yuffie looked down don't at her feet, not really knowing what to say. Squall barely suppressed a smile. Did she still think he was mad at her? Lately Squall kept finding it harder and harder to stay mad at her.
"Yuffie…" Leon pushed himself of the wall. Yuffie tensed a little, thinking she was going to get yelled at. A small frown graced Leon's lips; did he really make her this nervous? Maybe he'd been a little too hard on her. He didn't mean to yell at her like he did, he was just easily wound up with her childish taunting. He brushed past her.
"It's Leon."
Yuffie let out a small breath of relief and skipped over to Aerith. She handed the mentally tired flower girl an ether.
"All is forgiven," Yuffie was more or less bouncing on the spot waiting for Aerith to speak. Aerith smiled and sipped on the ether.
"That's good to hear. Why don't you go back to the hotel? I know it's still early but you never know what will happen in the morning…"
Yuffie nodded. She was glad she managed to convince Cloud to come back to Traverse when she saw him at the Coliseum. If she hadn't she didn't know whether her and Squall could deal with the Heartless by themselves, they were getting stronger and increasing in number. Speaking of Cloud…
"Aerith!" Yuffie pointed to Cloud and the two ladies. "I'd get Cloud away from pinky and perky before they pounce or something!"
Aerith looked over and glared a little.
"See you in the morning Yuffie."
Yuffie proceeded to skip back to the hotel while Aerith yelled at and dragged Cloud away from the giggling ladies. Aerith screaming, Yuffie shuddered at the sound. No offence to the flower girl, but her voice was like the sound of chocbos crowing in the morning. Not pleasant.
Yuffie hadn't managed to get very far before a gruff voice yelled:
"Yuffie!"
Yuffie flinched; she turned to face Cid – who was still smoking his little white cancer sticks. Shifting uncomfortably from one foot to the other for a few seconds she managed to drag her feet towards the man.
"…Yeah?" she said after a while.
Cid wasn't a man for idle chitchat and went straight to the point.
"The hell have you been doing to the moogles synthesis shop!? I've never seen them so damn angry! The moogles are threatening to attack for god's sake!"
Yuffie glanced over Cid's shoulder and saw a small congregation of moogles, none of them looking too pleased. Yuffie coughed, she had a feeling they wouldn't have liked the little redecorating job she had done. With silly string. Coughing once more she looked up back at Cid.
"What? I'm supposed to be scared of a bunch of little fluff balls?"
"Have you seen what those little fluff balls can do?"
At this Yuffie looked over the mans shoulder again and noticed that all of the moogles were glaring at her as much as moogles can. Come to think of it she never had seen any of them attack anything before. Well, she wasn't going to be the first to see them in action, no way. Sending them another nervous glance she said:
"Sorry guys!" loud enough for them to hear her. The group glanced at each before walking back into the Accessory Shop, mumbling what sounded like obscenities under their breaths. Yuffie blinked, living above Cid must have corrupted the moogles, she'd never heard them use language like that. Turning, she carried on skipping back to the hotel hearing Cid yell:
"Don't do it again!" from a distance behind her.
Yuffie was still skipping when she entered the Green Room. Squall was already dozing on his side of the bed.
'Sheesh, taking out invisible enemies must be more tiring than it looks. He did look tired when we were taking out those Heartless. He needs to learn to take it easy.'
Yuffie glanced up at the huge clock above the door that connected them to the Red Room.
'Aerith was right, it's only early.'
Rummaging around in her part of the draws for her pyjamas, Yuffie thought:
'Might as well go to bed. Nothing else to do anyway.'
After cleaning her teeth and changing into her pyjamas, Yuffie clambered over Squall – which got a loud 'oof!' out of the man – to her side of the bed closest to the wall.
"Did you need to do that?" came the disgruntled, but sleepy question from the man.
"No." was Yuffie's simple reply.
There was an awkward silence between the two. Sighing, Squall got up and pulled on a t-shirt and his boots (he was already wearing sweat pants). As he was pulling on a thick, heavy coat he answered Yuffie's questioning gaze.
"Put on some warm clothes, I want to show you something," he told her.
As soon as he left the room Yuffie tried to jump out of the bed, only managing to get herself tangled in the sheets and landing in a heap on the floor. Untangling herself from the sheets, she scrambled for her sneakers, which she discarded on opposite sides of the room when she walked to the bathroom. Successfully getting the shoes on she pulled on her jacket over her vest top and pyjama bottoms and wrenched the door open running smack into Squall's back.
From what Yuffie could see from her position on the floor she couldn't decide whether Squall's eyes were laughing at her, or whether she was just seeing stars.
'Ouch, that hurt,' Yuffie thought wincing from the pain in her back.
"I was meant to do that," she told Squall.
Squall stood over the ninja barely suppressing a smirk.
"Whatever."
Offering his hand to Yuffie, he pulled the ninja to her feet with ease. Walking side-by-side, barely a few inches separated them. Yuffie rubbed her lower back, that fall really hurt!
'Sheesh, I forgot just how strong Squall is.' Yuffie's eyes ran over Squall's toned, muscular arms. She felt a light pink blush spread up her neck as her bare hand brushed with Squall's.
'Oh gawd, since when has Squall let anyone get so close to him.' Yuffie became increasingly aware of the warmth emitting from Squall's body as they approached the Gizmo Shop.
Sitting on the edge of the Gizmo Shop roof next to Squall was a little awkward for Yuffie. He was sitting so goddamned close!
"Um Sq-err-Leon? Why'd you bring me up here?" Yuffie asked not looking Squall in the eye, she was worried she'd go red in front of him.
Squall glanced down at the ninja. Why was she avoiding eye contact with him? Shaking his head slightly he pointed at the sky.
"More planets have been restored."
Following Squall's gaze, Yuffie looked up at the sky. It was beautiful. Yuffie couldn't remember seeing so many stars all the time she'd been in Traverse Town.
'I guess Sora's nearly finished. Poor kid, so much pressure on someone so young.' Yuffie thought swinging her legs back and forth idly.
"Leon, what are we going to do when the Heartless have been defeated?"
"What do you mean 'we'?" Squall said, a little harsher than he meant it to sound. Even Yuffie flinched slightly. Yuffie cleared her throat before continuing.
"Well we're a team, aren't we? Won't you miss working like that?" Yuffie glanced up at him with her pretty violet eyes shining. Squall smiled, he couldn't help it. Especially when Yuffie looked at him like that.
"I won't miss you yelling 'Fear the ninja!' every time you start attacking anything."
Yuffie giggled a little bit but stopped when Squall went into 'serious thinking mode'.
Squall was a solitary man by nature, but after spending nine years fighting he found it hard to think about the peaceful times ahead.
"I suppose I'll go back to Hollow Bastion. It is my home," Squall said. Yuffie's face faltered, causing him to worry.
"Don't get me wrong I know I came from there. But, I want to stay in Traverse it feels more like my home. All my happiest memories are here in Traverse. All I remember from Hollow Bastion is the Heartless attack and losing my parents…" Yuffie trailed off and just stared back at Squall. Squall felt something like dread in the pit of his stomach. Him and the others had planned to back to the Bastion once the Heartless had gone. After spending nine years with Yuffie he'd grown to love her more than anyone else he knew, it was difficult not picturing Yuffie standing next to him as they arrived in the Rising Falls…
The moment was silent. Yuffie and Squall quietly observed each other. Both feeling as if they finally understood the other. And well… all it takes is a moment.
Yuffie lost all train of thought as Squall's lips descended on hers. The kiss was brief and chaste but Yuffie was still disappointed when Squall away just enough so that their faces were a few inches apart. Squall cradled Yuffie's face in his hands before pulling away completely.
"I don't think I'll stay in Traverse, after all," said Yuffie after a minute or two.
"Oh?" Squall asked.
"Yeah, I'm going to go to Hollow Bastion with you, Squall." Yuffie's smile grew a little wider when he didn't correct her on the name issue. Yuffie finished the conversation with:
"It would be a shame for us to separate. I mean we are a team, after all."