AN- Okay, so this is my first Kingdom Hearts fic, so please go easy on me. It's a nice little Clouffie oneshot to show my support to the Clouffielution.

Disclaimer: (sigh) How many times do I have to go through this spiel, again?

Silence is Golden

Hollow Bastion, or rather, Radiant Garden, was experiencing a bout of absolutely gorgeous weather. The sun was shining, the birds were singing, and a slight breeze accompanied by the warmth of the sun kept the whole place a perfect temperature. Yes, it was most definitely the sort of day that made everyone happy.

Cloud Strife was not happy. The sun was too bright, and burning his eyes. Those stupid birds were annoying, and in his getup, he was boiling. But worst of all was the fact that he had a hyperactive ninja babbling away right next to him. Cloud was going to kill Leon for putting him with Yuffie of all people- and on his first day as a Restoration Committee member, too!

This wasn't exactly how he'd envisioned his life after finally ridding himself of Sephiroth, that was for sure. Maybe apologizing to Tifa and Aerith for making them worry, or possibly even take up sparring with Leon again, but definitely not babysitting some immature girl who couldn't mind her own business. And that's exactly what this seemed like- babysitting.

All Leon had told the pair to do was help out the people in town, and yet Yuffie had turned the job into an entirely different task with her antics. When she thought Cloud hadn't been paying attention, she tried to charge people for their services, even though the Restoration Committee had already guaranteed that their service was completely free. In her haste to kill a faraway Heartless before Cloud (as if it were some kind of race…), Yuffie had also ended up destroying part of a house that they had just fixed. Not to mention the ten million other things she'd done that day. So yeah, he was pretty ticked at her.

Turning his attention to the aforementioned girl, he tugged on his collar, internally cursing at the heat. Oblivious to his anger at her, the girl grinned on, hammering in nail after nail on the house they were rebuilding, occasionally taking out any Heartless that dared approach her swiftly and effortlessly. Now, Cloud could forgive her eccentric behavior. What he couldn't forgive was…

"So as I was sayin', Cloudy, that's why we need some kinda way to use magic without actually learning it. I mean, magic's awesome, but learning it is real hard, and totally boring! O'course, that could just be 'cause Aerith and Old Man Merlin are the ones teaching it…"

Cloud shut his eyes, trying his best to drown out her voice and all the incessant and annoying babble coming from it. He couldn't forgive the fact that she would not shut up- or the fact that she actually thought she could call him Cloudy. He'd been listening to her go on about something or other for over three hours, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could take it.

See, above all else, Cloud treasured silence. He was a deep thinker, and that was a task impossible to do without the proper amount of silence. If he couldn't think, he might end up doing something irrational and dangerous. So, he valued his silence. Yuffie was the polar opposite of silence.

Yuffie was loud and noisy, never able to sit still, and above all, impulsive. She probably never thought things through, which shows why Leon never places too much responsibility with her.

"Phew! Okay, I think we're all done for now." Cloud stood and watched in silence as Yuffie stood up and brushed herself off before turning to him. "Hey, Cloudy! Ya could of helped more, you know!" He twitched. She was asking for it. Suddenly, her attention was drawn to his hair, as it often was. Cloud's hair fascinated her to no end. "Say, how do you get your hair like that, huh? You must have to use, like, cement or something to get it to stick straight up! Would that make it rock solid? If I poked it, would my finger just sift through like with normal hair, or would it get stopped by a wall of brick hard hair?"

Cloud twitched again. That was it. He was not going to let her behavior and comments slide any more. In a flash, he was right up in her face, glowering. She recoiled in surprise, but didn't back up, choosing to stare at him in suspicion. "Yuffie…" he ground out.

She eyed him for another moment before backing up just a bit and grinning. "Lemme guess: I'm annoying you and you want me to shut up, right?"

"Yes…" he growled.

She shook her head. "Sorry Cloudy, not gonna happen! I won't shut up just 'cause you want me to. I have the right to talk all I want!"

Yuffie was, unfortunately, right. Cloud glowered at her for another moment before sighing and turning away, deciding it was time to head back to base. What else could he do?- besides slicing her with his sword, he means, because that wouldn't be right, no matter how appealing it seemed at the current time.

Taking his silence as her victory, the ninja followed and started talking once more, making Cloud wince. "Really Cloudy, just loosen up some, 'kay? Sephiroth is gone, and he won't be coming back, so just relax. Sheesh." Cloud resisted the temptation of reaching for his sword. Yuffie grinned at him, a devious sparkle in her eye. "Say, Cloud…" she drawled out. He eyed her suspiciously. "…What's up with you, Tifa, and Aerith, huh?" Had Cloud not been the cool and emotionless guy he is, he would have face faulted. "I mean, which one do ya really like?"

He glared. "Neither. That's none of your business."

She rolled her eyes. "Hey, I'm just tryin' to make some conversation, geez…" She grinned like the little demon she was. "But ya know, I think that you should choose-" Before she could finish her sentence, Cloud descended on her, towering above her with a look of EVIL. At least, that's what it looked like to her. "…What? You're not gonna tell me to 'shut up' again, are ya? I've already said that won't work."

Cloud had had it with her attitude, and her personality, and most of all, her inability to shut up! It all came down to one conclusion: if she wouldn't shut up, he'd do it for her.

Yuffie eyed him as he slowly leaned in, eyes growing steadily wider at his closeness. "Uh, Cloud? What're you do- Mnmph!" Her eyes were the size of saucers as he kissed her, and her words escaped her completely.

Had Cloud bothered to think, he would've found that doing something like this was too drastic, and stupid, too. What a waste of a perfectly good kiss. He'd later blame Yuffie for not allowing him the silence he needed to think of a better plan to shut her up. For now, though, all he cared about was the fact that the plan had worked- for once in her life, Yuffie Kisaragi was speechless. Ah, silence. How he'd missed it so.

He pulled away a minute later, satisfied, and began walking towards the headquarters, which had just come into view moments before, leaving a stunned Yuffie standing there. He stopped long enough to comment, "I'm shutting you up."

She recovered just as he reached the door. "Hey! Jerk! Get back here! You can't just go around doing things like that! I'll make you pay!"

He stopped, hearing a shuriken whistling as she charged him. She wasn't serious, was she? His hand inched toward his Buster Sword, which he didn't really want to use, but would if he had to.

He sidestepped an oncoming shuriken; it thudded into a halt at the wooden wall of the base. Hearing them whistling through the air, he quickly pulled his sword out and deflected a few throwing stars back at Yuffie, albeit slower than usual, so as not to hurt her. As he expected, she easily jumped up and avoided all of them. Before he knew what had happened, however, she was right up in front of him, another throwing star at his throat. She was faster than he'd thought, and his underestimation would cost him. His hand tightened around his blade.

She glared for a moment before pulling the star away and pocketing it. He released his grip on the sword, wary of where she was going with this- after all, she had him pressed up against a door. What was he supposed to think? Suddenly, she smiled and leaned in close- far too close for his comfort.

"Yuffie…?" He sounded more timid than he cared to admit.

She grinned. "I don't accept weak kisses like that, Cloudy, even if they're just to get some silence. If you're gonna kiss me, do it right."

His eyes widened considerably, and suddenly, he had his back pressed uncomfortably against the door as she forced a less-than-innocent kiss on him. He never knew she was so bold.

She pulled away a moment later, grinning like the devil himself and obviously savoring the look of absolute shock that Cloud just could not hide. She winked before shoving him out of the way and walking inside, door slamming in his face behind her.

Cloud stared at the door for a moment before turning and walking the other way with a sigh. Licking his lips, he discovered that they tasted like chocolate, courtesy of Yuffie. Cloud did like chocolate, so…

He'd forgive her for her eccentric personality and inability to shut up, just this once.

AN-So? What'd ya think? As my first Clouffie, I think it was okay, but it could've been better. It came out a bit longer than I intended, actually. I just couldn't seem to stop typing. This fic is sort of dedicated to Blue3, a friend of mine (and excellent writer) who I actually haven't spoken with in a while for some reason. Anyway, we both like Clouffie, so… Well, review please! But be honest, okay?