An Advent To Remember
By Outfoxed

Yuffie shivered, cursing the weather as she trudged through the snow. It wasn't just cold out there. "Cold" was simply something that happened in the absence of warmth. It felt more like all of nature was out to turn her into an icicle tonight, and the surrounding trees of the forest offered surprisingly little protection from the bone-chilling winds.

It felt as if she'd pissed off the resident weather gods, and they were trying to get even with her, and then some. The young ninja tried to recall if she'd filched or defiled any graven images or idols recently, but couldn't think of any in particular.

Even wearing a thick coat over her normal attire, the young ninja struggled to keep the cold at bay. Her companion, on the other hand, seemed perfectly oblivious to the icy weather, even though he lacked any sort of overcoat. From what she could tell, he was completely unfazed by the almost-but-not-quite-a-blizzard, as he walked briskly ahead of her, leading them to their as-yet unmentioned destination.

"Hey, Cloud. If you hadn't noticed, it's fricking cold out here." She complained. And her choice of words was an understatement, to say the least.

"Kinda.." The blond swordsman replied, not turning his head.

Yuffie wondered what had possessed the Avalanche leader to drag her from the Christmas party... scratch that, the warm, cozy Christmas party that was taking place indoors. Indoors, as in "walled off from raging blizzards hell-bent on turning poor Yuffie into a Ninja-sickle".

Yuffie sighed inwardly, following the young man in front of her. He still hadn't told her why he had wanted to drag her, and only her, out into the cold like this. Not only that, but tonight of all nights. And besides, how could he simply ignore the freezing weather the way he did? Maybe, she mused, Hojo and his team of quacks had injected him with "Frosty the Snowman" genes when he had been subjected to all those experiments, seven years ago..

"Frosty the Snow Mutant.." She mused absent-mindedly, not noticing that she had accidentally spoken the words aloud.

Cloud turned around. "What?" He asked, confused.

"Uh, nothing!" Yuffie replied sheepishly, waving her hands dismissively. "Freudian slip."

Her companion gave her a strange look for a second, but said nothing.

The two of them kept on walking through the snowy forest for a while, before she spoke up again. "Why'd you want to come out here, anyway?" Yuffie asked, a slightly whiny tone to her voice. "There's nothing here".

"You really think so?" Cloud asked rhetorically, looking at the young ninja briefly, before continuing on his way.

Yuffie sighed, her breath vaporizing in the cold as she did so. She wondered what would happen if she simply froze to death on the way to wherever the hell they were headed. She would probably remain frozen for thousands of years, only to be discovered by historians and scientists several millenia later, and possibly categorized as the fossilized remains of a kunoichius kleptomanicus or a ninjamus hyperactivus. She shuddered at the thought... And the cold.

"We're here." Cloud said suddenly, breaking into her thoughts.

Yuffie stopped, taking in their new surroundings. They had reached a small clearing in the forest. The appalling weather had subsided somewhat, and the snow had changed from a blowing torrent into a light shower of snowflakes.

Cloud turned around, looking at the young ninja girl. "Do you know where we are?" He asked.

"In a forest." Yuffie replied, shrugging her shoulders. "So what?"

Cloud said nothing, but merely regarded her with a kind expression, as if waiting for something.

"Can we go back now?" Yuffie asked, rubbing her hands together. "Pleeeaaase?"

"Just take one last look around. That's all I ask." Cloud replied, his tone of voice unusually soft.

Yuffie sighed again, closing her eyes. "All right." She replied testily. "This is stupid.." She said inwardly to herself. "I want to get out of this frigid hell and back inside.."

She spun around slowly, looking over the clearing again. She didn't see anythi-

"Wait.." She whispered suddenly, as she noticed something.

The narrow path, leading through the forest..

The nicks and cuts in the trees..

The broken branches..

"This is where we first met." Yuffie said, recognizing the location at last. She turned back towards Cloud. "Right?"

Cloud nodded, smiling. "Notice anything?" He asked.

"No, wha-?"

Cloud said nothing, but glanced upwards for a brief moment. Yuffie followed his eyes, looking up. She hadn't noticed just how close the two of them had been standing together, but at that moment, just before she could spot whatever he had been looking at, he leaned in closer, gently brushing his lips against hers.

Yuffie's eyes went wide with surprise, but quickly decided to cast reason aside, and simply enjoy the moment. She began to return the kiss, as the blond swordsman wrapped his arms around her small frame, making her feel a bit warmer.

After they finally broke off, she quickly glanced up again, to see what it was that Cloud had been gesturing at, before making his move. And there it was. A small patch of mistletoe, resting on the tree branch above them.

"Oh.." She breathed quietly.

"Merry Christmas, Yuffie." Cloud said, smiling warmly at her.

Yuffie had never been one to find it hard to smile or grin, but now she simply couldn't keep herself from doing so. She had never felt happier in her life. Even though she still felt as if she were frozen half-way to death, that didn't seem to matter right now. All that mattered was the two of them, together.

Later that night, in the forest, two figures could be seen heading back in the rough direction of civilization. Or rather one figure, carrying the other on his back.

"You really don't think you can walk back?" Cloud asked, turning his head towards his charge.

"Uh, my legs are completely frozen solid, so no, I can't." Yuffie replied. "Hey, it's your fault for bringing me out here, you know!" She added, seeing that her ride was about to complain.

"Yes, your highness." Cloud grumbled.

Yuffie giggled slightly, leaning her head down on her boyfriend's shoulder, sighing happily. She had a feeling that, even though he would never in a million years admit it, he didn't really mind..

-The End-

Author's Notes:

A little corny, I know, but I figured that I might as well write a short Clouffie piece for Christmas, since no-one else seemed to be doing so. For those waiting for the next chapter of "Through The Ashes Of Empires", I'm still working on it. I've just been insanely busy this past month or so, having to take care of a double college graduation, enrolling in university and moving into a new place. All while taking care of Christmas preparations, of course... so for the next couple of days, I intend to relax hard.

But rest assured, chapter 13 will see the light of day sooner or later. Knowing my writing pace, it'll probably be the latter. In the meantime, merry Christmas, happy Hannukah/flying spaghetti monster day or whatever it is that you're celebrating. Cheers!