A/N: This takes place 5 years after Hollow Bastion was invaded by Heartless, which means it's 4 years pre KH1. Leon's 21 and Yuffie's 12 years old. This was originally chapter 1. Beginning, chapter 71. Valentine, and 72. Shooting Star from my story "100 Hopes and Wishes." I decided to expand the drabbles and make a one-shot of it. It's my first attempt at writing Yuffentine, so please be gentle.

Oh, and the cover for this story was drawn by the lovely ~KeepCalmForKpop (on dA). Please don't use the picture without her permission!

~ "Squall, you're the definitely, without a doubt, the most handsome guy here," she exclaimed. "And just so you know, I'm counting Cloud too." ~

It was very early in the morning in Traverse Town. Not as in "the sun was about to rise and the stars were disappearing from the sky one by one," because the sun never shone here. This town had a perpetual night. Only now, it was the time of "day" where the streets were deserted, now that everyone was sleeping.

Well, almost everyone, since the moogles were busy with synthesizing new stuff for new customers. They were hard workers and somehow, they worked better during this time of day, night, or whatever you liked to call it. Why? Because there were no nosy people around them who could distract them and possible even sabotage things, like that hyper little ninja that lived in the hotel.

All in all, it was pretty quiet in the streets, but the lamp posts were on, as always. Light was a sign of hope here. The residents of Traverse Town didn't (want to) know what would happen if all the lights went out. It had to be terrible, even more horrible than the sight of some stars that went out every now and then. It reminded them of their dark past, when Darkness had invaded their homeworld and killed the ones they had loved.

Many people still had nightmares from that fateful night (or day). During daytime, they tried not to think about it and just live life as much and as good as it was possible, but at night they couldn't hide from them anymore.

Everyone was defenseless against the dark shadows of their subconscious. Some people didn't know how to fight back against that one memory that had changed everything for them. They became a victim of their own mind, and that could be fatal...

Unfortunately, Leon was one of those victims. He was tossing and turning in his bed constantly, trapped in yet another nightmare. Sweat was starting to form on his forehead, while the sheet had magically wrapped itself around his legs and torso, like a snake.

Suddenly, he sat upright in his bed, as if he just got an electric jolt. His eyes were as wide as saucers and he looked like he had run a marathon without stopping, because he couldn't stop panting. When he had calmed down a bit, he ran a hand through his dark, damp hair. After that, Leon checked if his Gunblade still was within reach, just in case.

Apparently, it had all just been a dream. Again. Leon's mind was in a fog and it wouldn't be the first time that such a thing happened. The only difference was now that he didn't know the difference between reality and dreams anymore.

What had really happened and where exactly did the dream start? Now that he tried to remember his dream, it felt like he forgot things faster than he could recall them. It was as though he was trying to grasp water with his hands.

He remembered that he was in a huge ballroom. Leon knew that this was the annual party of Hollow Bastion, a celebration of the day that Ansem the Wise had become their ruler.

A three years younger version of himself was standing lonely under a pillar. He had quite a good view on the room from that place. There were lights everywhere around him. In the background, Squall could hear the rather boring music the orchestra was playing, along with laughter and the buzzing of talking people.

He had to admit that whoever had decorated this huge room, had a good taste. Everything looked spick and span, from the big table with drinks and other food, to the beautiful garlands that consisted of white lilies. They almost looked real in the lighting.

Nevertheless, he already knew that this was going to be a long and boring night, because nothing exciting would happen. He hated dances and this one brought dullness to a whole new level. Squall sighed wearily. There wasn't much choice to escape this, for unfortunately, it was an obligatory occasion.

Squall was standing like a statue almost all the time. He only moved when he took a sip from the liquor in his hand. This drink was pretty much the only good thing about this party. It was a good thing that he was allowed to drink, otherwise his father would kill him afterwards this hell, too. Honestly, all the sounds around him were getting pretty annoying by now. The only thing Squall could think of, was to look at the beautiful night sky above him.

The color of the sky was so dark that it looked like it was black, with some dark blue spots here and there, lightened by the full moon. Was it just Squall - or him having had too much liquor - or did the moon look bigger and brighter than ever? It was almost magical.

And, as if that wasn't beautiful enough, there were stars shining everywhere, the one brighter than the other, almost as if they wanted to be better and brighter than any other star. It was breathtakingly beautiful.

Right at that moment, a shooting star flew across the sky above Squall, leaving a trail of slowly fading light in the sky.

His eyes followed it intently, as he wished for something exciting to happen. He was almost dying out of boredom.

Squall's eyes travelled back to the ballroom again. He saw a girl around his age standing there all alone, watching the sky with the shooting star, too. She was obviously admiring its beauty. She had long, straight black hair past her shoulders. It fell perfectly around her heart-shaped face. The girl was dressed in an ivory-coloured dress that barely reached her knees, and ditto coloured shoes. She had a bracelet and a necklace with a pendant, but he couldn't see what shape it was from that far.

Almost as if she had felt his eyes resting on her, she turned around and looked him straight in the eyes. The young woman smiled sweetly. She had the warmest smile he had ever seen. She pointed to the sky with her index finger. Squall cocked his head to the side, wondering what she meant with that small gesture. The young woman dropped her hand, her beautiful smile never leaving her face.

Whatever solitude he had planned for the rest of his stay under the pillar was immediately shot to hell, as she approached him. Her shoes were making little click-clacking sounds. Squall wanted to do something in order not to look that stiff, but found that his feet, nor his hands, wanted to coöperate with his brains.

At least now he had the time to notice that her large eyes were the darkest brown he had ever seen. They were just like dark chocolate, surrounded by long, soft and delicate eyelashes that looked like feathers. She was shorter than him, but that only made her look cute. Her hair had two light brown streaks on the side. Somehow, she reminded him of an angel.

However, as she was still approaching him, she started to change. She shrunk a couple of inches. Her hair became much shorter too, but it was still black. Yuffie was now standing in front of him, smiling broadly at him and examining him... The pretty girl that looked a lot like Rinoa was gone, but Squall still didn't look away. He wondered brieflly what had happened and why Yuffie wasn't younger like himself.

"Squall, you're the definitely, without a doubt, the most handsome guy here," she exclaimed. "And just so you know, I'm counting Cloud too."

Yuffie winked at Squall. He was about to comment on that and ask her what the hell she had drunk, when he saw that Yuffie's hands had blood on it. Dark, crimson blood. It was spreading faster and faster over her arms, then her torso, until it had reached her legs and chin. Yuffie's own eyes widened and she yelped. He didn't want to know what would happen if the blood reached her mouth...

She started to lose her balance and Squall managed to catch her before she fell and got hurt. As soon as his skin made contact with hers, though, she started to fade. Only a black substance was left and Squall's hand had blood on them. The blood trickled down on the floor and was starting to spread over his arms.

That was when he had woken up, horrified to the point of feeling sick.

Leon shook his head to clear the nasty thoughts. Maybe Aerith was right, he mused. Maybe he had to take a small break for visiting worlds and killing Heartless, for his sanity's sake. After all, he couldn't be of much help for other victims when he was in such a bad condition himself... He hated it when Aerith was right.

First the promise to Cloud to "take care of her" (Aerith) for him, before Leon had lost consciousness, now this madness. Would it - whatever the heck this it was - ever stop? Life was hard enough the way it was already.

Sighing, Leon lied down again. He knew that he probably wouldn't fall asleep again, but it was far too early for breakfast, anyway. Besides, the chance of having to answer awkward questions was too big to go anywhere else.

Yuffie was busy devouring her third pancake already, but Squall still hadn't showed up for breakfast. Even Cid was awake, and that meant a lot.

"Where did you say Leon was?" he asked Aerith.

"'S weepin'," Yuffie replied, her mouth full.

"Weepin'?" Cid repeated, dumbfounded. "What for?"

Aerith gave Yuffie a strict and disapproving stare, before saying, "She means he's still sleeping. And Yuffie, please don't talk with your mouth full."

Yuffie first swallowed her bite to please Aerith and then said, "Sorry, Aerith."

Right that moment, they heard stumbling, coming from the hallway. That could only be one person. At once, Yuffie felt how her heartbeat quickened, as it did every day. She tried to concentrate on her food to get rid of those stupid butterflies that were bombarding her, but it didn't help.

"Morning, sleepyhead," Yuffie said, when Leon entered the room.

He wore his usual attire and his hair looked silky smooth and shiny. Yuffie swiftly wondered if his hair would still feel that smooth as it had years ago, when she had run a hand through his hair while he was asleep.

Stop it, Yuffie. This isn't helping. Focus! she thought.

As always, Leon didn't even acknowledge that he had heard her. It always hurt when he did that, but Yuffie never told him about it. It wouldn't help, anyway, and he would probably take revenge by beating her so hard during training that she would feel that bruise for weeks.

Just then, something utterly strange happened. It was as though Yuffie remembered a far-off memory, but she couldn't place when or where it had happened...or if it had happened at all.

"Morning."

"Where... who are you?"

"I'm glad you asked. I am the champion of the earth and the sky. I am the conqueror of evil. The single white rose of Wutai. Yuffie Kisaragi!"

She had no idea what a Wutai was, but she did know that a terrible headache was about to plague her. A shot of pain through her head caused her to wince slightly and shake her head. Apparently, this didn't go unnoticed by someone.

"Yuffie, are you okay?" Aerith asked softly, sounding worried, from the other side of the table.

For a moment, Yuffie had completely forgotten that she was sitting at a table, having breakfast. She looked around. Everyone was looking at her. Even Squall had lifted his gaze from his bowl for a change. When her dark eyes met his stormy ones, he quickly looked away, though.

"Oh, I'm fine. I just...accidentally bit my tongue," she lied.

Honestly, Aerith would only get more worried if Yuffie told her about the voices she heard in her head. Well, when she put it that way, she couldn't blame the flower girl. Cid would probably only pester her about it until Aerith kindly asked him to stop. As for Squall, the cold-hearted bastard probably wouldn't care at all...

Cid snickered and said something, but Yuffie was too preoccupied with her own thoughts to notice. This was the fourth time in two days that such a strange thing had happened. She didn't even know if she had dreamed this once, or if they were memories she had forgotten about a long time ago.

In these "memories," for a lack of a better word, she was talking to a man with a slow, deep voice. Much deeper than Squall's, Cid's, her dad's or any other man she had ever met, but it was pleasant to the ears. She knew what she had said next too.

"Come on! Aren't you at least a little concerned?"

"Oh, Yuffie. It's been a while... How's your head?"

"You-" A sigh had escaped her, before she had said, aggravated, "Could you at least pretend to be sympathetic?"

There was one sentence in that conversation that really made her feel strange.

"You were always "different," but... I guess that's why you're still breathing."

Perhaps she had read too many scary novels, where male vampires were creepy stalkers who watched the one they loved in their sleep... Aerith had told her that those were good books. Apparently, Aerith had no taste. Wait, that was nothing new. The same went for Squall ignoring her like she was air.

Yuffie could still remember the day that their new life in Traverse Town had started. Squall hadn't cared how beautiful the stars had looked, or how dark it had been. He had only cared about finding the girl he had lost when the Heartless took over their world.

As time passed, Yuffie started to wonder why Squall didn't see that the people who really cared about him were right here. Why couldn't he see the truth that was hidden behind Yuffie's dark eyes?

Yuffie then had made a promise to herself: she would open his eyes and let him see the deeper meaning of things.

It was sad to say, but she still hadn't succeeded in that. Every time he returned from his long journey, he seemed to have grown older and become sullen. She could only watch, because Squall never let her come close enough to him to change things for him.

It was a good thing that it wasn't her turn to do the dishes today, because she wanted to try something. From her shared room with Aerith, she grabbed her pencils and a piece of paper. She took a black pencil first and started drawing like a madwoman.

"Yuffie... what are you doing here?"

"Me? I'm just helping... So, I saved you! Imagine that: me saving the great Vincent Valentine! Do I get any thanks?"

In her head, her own laugh erupted from out of nowhere.

a soft chuckle was heard, but the man with the deep voice replied, "Thanks, Yuffie."

"No, no, whoa. I didn't mean for you to take me so seriously. Anyway, he wanted us to contact him as soon as you woke up..."

Vincent Valentine, huh? Was that the man's name?

There was something with that word. Valentine... Why did it sound so...so what?

Mysterious?

Familiar?

Sure, Yuffie liked Valentine's Day (or, to be more precisely, she liked all the delicious chocolate she got from the rather desperate boys (read: scared moogles) who all wanted her to be their Valentine. It was almost sad, because there was only one man who could steal her heart), but she felt that there was more to it. This was about something completely different.

Was it the name of some place, or another world? Or maybe the name of a certain person she had known once in her life?

Then why couldn't she remember anything at all? It was getting pretty annoying, because it held her awake, every night. Well, until she fell asleep, of course, but the next day she was so exhausted, that she hardly knew what she was doing. And training with Squall didn't really help, either.

Suddenly, Yuffie stopped drawing. She looked at the piece of paper. Yuffie had never been much of an artist, but it wasn't that hard to distinguish a man with long, black hair and a red cape. her eyes were black, too. Or no, they had a gold, crimson-like glow.

Just what did all this mean?

Yuffie's heart almost stopped beating, when Aerith suddenly popped out of nowhere and remarked, "Wow, that looks nice. Who is it?"

"I... I don't know..."

Okay, so maybe drawing hadn't really helped her to get answers. She wouldn't give up just like that, though. She would find out what this was all about, even if it was the last thing she would do. After all, she was the great ninja. The champion of the earth and the sky. The conqueror of evil. The single white rose of Wutai. Yuffie Kisaragi!

A/N: Thanks for reading! Hope you liked it. I'm not sure if I like it, though, and I have no idea where this came from... Reviews are more than welcome. :) Also, this is my 8th entry for Bookaholic711's Project PULL.