On Cowardism
By: The DayDreaming
Dedicated to: My friend, Jupitersky2364.
Pairing: YuffiexDemyx
Warnings: Uh, it's a bit sad at the end. And I didn't check over for mistakes.
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Yuffie had never seen a stranger kid, or teenager, as the case was. Fitted in a supposed-to-be-menacing cloak and wearing the end results of a Frankenstein-style hair experiment which consisted of a Mohawk-mullet transfusion, the guy screamed weird-at-a-distance-crazy-at-short. Yuffie never complained about these types of people, in her terms, "They're soo cool!"
To her, meeting anyone that wasn't a drab shell with a serious case of The-light's-on-but-someone-got-stuck-in-the-time-machine was like the prophetic meeting of humor and sadism.
It was with relish that she ambled over to the strange kid in hopes of a friendly chat of cat and mouse.
"Hiiii!" Yuffie grinned good-naturedly towards the boy.
The aforementioned boy gave a startled jump before swinging around with his arms spread open like he was about to tip and fall over. He glanced at her before giving a nervous smile. "Hey."
Yuffie grinned a bit wider at the response. "I've never seen you before, are you new here?"
The boy scratched his head with a wide grin tugging at his lips, not being one to turn down infectious smile bouts. "Yeah, you could say that." He turned his head to look around. "But I'm only going to be here for the day. Honestly, I don't even know why I'm here."
Yuffie sidled up next to him and draped her arm around his neck, almost as if she were trying to prevent him from an escape.
"How about spending the day with me? It'll be great! The entire day without that meaniehead Squally around to be my own personal mother hen!" Without waiting for a reply she pulled the boy towards the bailey.
"H-hey! Don't I get a say?" The boy muttered while being squeezed by the vice-like grip around his neck.
"Nope!"
The pair walked past the bailey, and through the main gates, before Yuffie set a punishing pace through the winding trails between the purpley-blue cliffs surrounding Hollow Bastion's only known city. She had relinquished her death grip of the boy's neck a while ago and they were chatting amiably to each other while Yuffie marveled at the sheer lack of heartless around.
Through idle conversation Yuffie had found out that the boy's name was Demyx, that he liked to play the sitar, and that he was a water fanatic. While talking he made wide arm gestures and expressed himself with wide ranges of face making.
Demyx, on his part, learned that Yuffie was, well, Yuffie, had been one of few survivors of Hollow Bastion's take-over, a member of the Restoration Committee, a drama queen, and a ninja.
"I'll be the GREATEST ninja EVER!!" She said it with such enthusiasm; Demyx felt vibrancy in every word. "And you know why?" She grinned at him while swinging her legs over the side of one of the many cliffs in Hollow Bastion.
Demyx shrugged, just to keep her talking. "'Cause I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie!" He could only grin at that.
"Ya sure, Yuffs?" Demyx spread his arms out, looking like he was trying to encompass all the worlds in his gesture. "You could be a great ninja, but what if there's a world out there, full of them? Then there would have to be a better ninja than you! You can't beat a world!"
Yuffie seemed affronted at this, and expressed said affronted-ness by standing up with her hands on her hips. "Then I'll kick their asses until they cower from my might!" She flexed her biceps in an attempt to look intimidating.
Demyx stood as well. "What's in a coward anyway?" He looked at her questioningly.
"Dun know, dun care. I'm not a dictionary."
"You mean encyclopedia?"
"Heh," Yuffie gave a twirl, and then faced Demyx. "I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie! That's all I'll ever have to be!"
Demyx faced the setting sun at this. "You think so?"
The ninja turned to look at the sunset as well. "If people stopped bothering me about changing, I'd be fine! But no! It's always: "Yuffie, clean the table." "Yuffie, come help us!" "Yuffie, get off your lazy ass and be useful!" She huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.
There was a bit of silence after her outburst, they simply watched the sunset, one of Hollow Bastion's most magnificent features, besides the always-omnipresent dawn sky.
Demyx looked towards Yuffie, contemplating, wondering if it was okay to open up to such a girl, a wildcard in a pack of blanks. Yuffie, meanwhile, was thinking, just thinking. Being around Demyx, just made her think.
"I'm a coward."
Yuffie was startled by the sudden and unexpected utterance.
Demyx continued slowly, almost as if he was treading in water and any moment he might not be able to swim to the surface. "I always have been, always will be. I'm afraid to fight, to lose myself, I'm afraid of heartless, I was even afraid of you before I got to know you."
Yuffie stayed silent at his confession.
"Will I always be this way?"
She sent a dazzling smile towards him, something she never gave anyone. She always grinned, or gave that too-big-for-my-face smile. But in the sunset, it was dazzling and shining, and made her tomboyish air seem like something so natural that it hurt to think someone wanted to change it.
"Cowards always find each other. But, what's in a coward? I think, there's always something brave, that a coward has more courage, even more than the hero of the story."
Demyx seemed confused by her statement, but smiled a dazzling smile of his own anyway.
Yuffie continued, almost wistfully. "I've always wanted to be the hero, the person that was brave enough to save the world! Or defeat someone really powerful, that no one else was able to defeat. But," Yuffie stared towards the horizon, where the sun was almost fully set. "I'm too afraid to try."
Demyx felt a melancholy set in the air. "Maybe when we see each other again, we can get together and be heroes, you know? Find someone and fight, and be heroes!" He was excited at the thought.
"Will we see each other again?"
Demyx grinned at Yuffie; she had her dazzling smile back. "Yeah, cowards always find each other!"
With those last words, Demyx walked away.
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The next day, the heartless war began.
Yuffie never did meet Demyx again.
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This was a short little thing I did while inspired. Not very good, I haven't even checked over it for mistakes. I just want to get this out here. I was thinking, "I haven't seen a YuffiexDemyx fic that I've liked yet, so I'll make one myself!" Turns out that this didn't help much. Meh.
I hope I kept them in character; this is good practice for my fic, A Memory Like a Scattered Dream, where two main characters are Demyx and Yuffie.
And yes. I'm aware cowardism isn't a word Ellen! Don't say anything!
The DayDreaming out!