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"Dammit," Leon muttered under his breath, "I know it is here somewhere."
"Looking for this?" a female voice called in a sing song manner, followed by the sound of jingling keys.
Leon turned towards the source of the voice to see Aerith in the doorway, holding a keyring full of keys. "I've been looking for that everywhere!" he exclaimed, frustration evident in his voice.
"You know," Aerith said carefully, hoping that he would not take it as a chiding, "If you'd just agree to take Yuffie with you to the Coliseum like she so nicely she asked you to, she wouldn't have to hide your Gummi Ship key in retaliation."
"...Whatever," he deadpanned, one hand outstretched to take the keyring away from her.
She snatched it away from his grasp at the last second, hiding it behind her back. "Ah, ah, ah. What are the magic words?"
"...Please?" he said after a moment of hesitation, with a barely disguised question mark at the end.
"I said words, Leon. 'Please' is only one word. Try again," she said as she danced away from his grasp.
He groaned inwardly. He really was not in the mood for her teasing. "Aerith," he warned.
"The magic words, Leon," the seriousness in her voice was negated by the playful twinkle in her eyes. "Alright, let me give you a hint. I helped you out by finding your keys for you, so what do you say?"
"...Thank you," was another deadpan delivery.
"Now, that's not so hard, is it?" her playful smile was back. "Although you really should work on the expression next time. It never hurts to look a bit grateful, you know."
"Whatever," he said, as he snatched the keys out of her hand and practically ran for the Gummi Ship hangar. Aerith had taken up a lot of the precious minutes he had left before Yuffie returned from her patrol and would nag him again into bringing her to the Coliseum with him.
Once he had reached the hangar, he surreptitiously checked that the coast was clear, or more precisely, that there was no hyperactive little ninja around, before making a dash for his Gummi Ship. Had Cid been there, he would have remarked that Leon took off like a possessed man, but he was not there, so Leon did not pay much mind to how he looked, as long as he did not have to suffer Yuffie's non-stop talking during the long flights from and back home. It was rather surprising how the ninja could still continue to talk despite her airsickness. It was usually even worse on the way back home, when she was still all keyed up with adrenaline rush from the tournament battles.
Leon visibly relaxed once the Gummi Ship entered deep space and he could see stars all around him. That is, until he heared a squeak, followed by a loud thud from the vicinity of the cargo closet. He sighed resignedly, not even bothering to check the identity of the stowaway.
"Hiya, Squall!" Yuffie's eternally cheerful voice filled the small cockpit. "Guess who decided to tag along?"
XXXXXXXX
Cid was a bit surprised to find Aerith drinking tea all alone in the dining room. "Huh? Where are the others?" he asked.
"Leon went to the Coliseum. He got an invitation to participate in the tournament," she answered, as she moved to fetch a teacup from one of the shelves and proceed to pour Cid a cup of tea.
"Oh yeah, that," he nodded, pulling out his chewing straw to sip some tea. "Where's Yuffie then? Didn't Leon prohibit her from going with him?"
"Yuffie? I wonder, where could she be..." she answered, trying (and failing) to stifle her giggles.
A/N: Hope you enjoyed the story. :)
Edit: Corrected some things with the help of my beta WishingDreamer5.