Root of the Matter
By Rhino7
Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, its characters or storyline. This oneshot is mine. Oh the multiple moods that were gone through while writing this. I'm still not sure if I was attempting humor or attempting drama…something in between…we'll call it dramor. Mostly I just wanted more practice writing Aerith and Yuffie. Feedback is always appreciated!
..:-X-:..
"Yuffie!" Aerith scolded incredulously.
"What?"
"Those are personal files!"
"So?"
"Do you have any idea how nosy that is?"
Yuffie gave a long suffering sigh, "But I'm so booored."
Aerith folded her arms. "It's been ten minutes."
"We could be in here for HOURS!"
"I doubt that." Aerith chided, eying the younger girl.
Yuffie was sitting on the cold concrete floor of the storage room, legs stretched out in a V, the brown cardboard box marked 'personal files K-Z' between her knees as she rifled through it.
Both Aerith and Yuffie had been forcibly contained in the hard copy storage room below the Postern. Leon had sent Aerith to fetch the paper file on Radiant Garden law regarding parameters for public park services—of all things, geez—and she had eventually called Yuffie for assistance. Even though Yuffie was the poster child for ADHD, she had an uncanny ability to locate files in the massive storage chamber.
Before, during, and after the war with the Heartless, the heads of Radiant Garden had stored all public and private information in paper files. Birth certificates, death certificates, marriage licenses, court proceedings, criminal records, business licenses: every kind of information about the town, the people, the government, it was here on file.
Needless to say, there were hundreds of boxes.
"You worried I'm gonna find something?" Yuffie grinned devilishly at her.
Aerith scoffed, "Those files are none of your business. That's all I'm worried about."
"K-Z…Kisaragi…" Yuffie plucked out her file.
It was a little on the thick side. Yuffie's family had been very wealthy and therefore there was a lot of paperwork about their education, their family, their politics, their charity work, as well as their impressive last testaments…but Yuffie was well acquainted with her own history. Aerith doubted that's what the girl was prying at.
"That doesn't include G for Gainsborough." She quipped. "So you don't get to—"
"I already skimmed through A-I." Yuffie beat her to it. "Your file is totally boring…although I didn't know you had your gun license."
Aerith exhaled in disbelief. "Yuffie, you've always had trouble with boundaries, but surely even you can see that this is just—"
"S for Strife." Yuffie plucked out the file, giving Aerith a shit-eating grin.
Aerith drew a slow breath, "Put it back."
Yuffie blinked, taking the file out completely and flipping it open. "You're not the LEAST bit curious about what goes on behind those glowing blue eyes?"
"Of course I'm curious, but…" Aerith lifted a hand to stop her. "That is a personal file. Neither of us has any right to—"
"Maybe he's a mass murderer on the loose. He is kinda twitchy, you know."
"Yuffie—"
"Or has this giant dragon tattoo all over his chest. That'd be badass."
"Yuffie—"
"I bet he had a sex change. No red blooded human male is just born with cheekbones like that. He's definitely had work done—"
"Yuffie!" Aerith snatched the file away from the girl while the ninja was distracted.
"Hey!" Yuffie made a sloppy attempt to grab it back.
Aerith closed the slim file. There could only be a few pages in it…That didn't make it any more public knowledge than her own file. "It is none of your business."
"And apparently it's none of yours either." Yuffie snickered, her hands drifting back to the box of folders.
Aerith carefully held onto the file, pressing it firmly closed. "What is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh, come on, Aerith." Yuffie snorted, "You could get Leon to sing opera while dancing naked in a blizzard before you could get Cloud to tell you his blood type."
And if THAT didn't paint a mental picture…
"Face it." Yuffie plucked out another file, a much thicker one, and flipped it open. "Cloud is playing the enigma card very well. And you are falling for it hook, line, and sinker."
"Ten years around Leon, we're both used to the enigma card." Aerith snorted.
"Not necessarily." Yuffie mused aloud, skimming down the pages of the new folder. "Sure, Squall can be a little stingy with the details, but you get him drunk enough and he's downright chatty. He doesn't have the enigma card. He has more of a…'ask me no questions, I'll tell you no lies' card."
Aerith narrowed one eye at her. "You're making stuff up now."
"I'm just saying," Yuffie grinned at her. "Leon doesn't disappear for weeks at a time."
Aerith frowned, "He also doesn't have to deal with Sephiroth." She huffed. "Cloud is going through a difficult time. He doesn't trust people easily." She held up the file. "It's stuff like this is why."
Yuffie looked uncharacteristically passive at the remark. "Did you know Cid's been calling the Traverse Town Tavern four times a week AT LEAST for the past five months?"
Aerith groaned, setting Cloud's file on the shelf behind her, away from the ninja. "Do you just enjoy putting your nose in other people's business?"
"I am the great ninja Yuffie. I must always be prepared." She answered glibly.
"What…in case Cid's drinking tab gets the jump on you?" Aerith snickered.
Yuffie lifted a finger, "You'd be surprised. His phone records are in his file. He calls the Tavern on the same days, at the same times, and it's always for at least half an hour of conversation. You know what that means?" She winked, "He's specifically calling to catch someone in particular on their shift. I'm thinking this someone has boobs."
Aerith just eyed Yuffie for a long minute, "Who ARE you?"
Yuffie beamed, "I helped the Radiant Garden Police Department track a few ne'er-do-wells a while back…some of their mojo rubbed off on me."
"Like hijacking personal information?" Aerith jibed.
"Not hijacking…selectively interpreting." Yuffie reiterated.
Aerith sighed and rubbed her eyes. This entire sector of the town had been put on lockdown for the past…close to a half an hour now. Cid had growled something over the citywide intercom system, but all Aerith had been able to understand through the garble and the static was that a prisoner had escaped from jail and they were on lockdown until the individual was recaptured.
So now she and Yuffie were stuck down here, surrounded by nothing but tons upon tons of paperwork files and confidential information about their friends, colleagues, and allies as a whole. They had no right and no business leafing through these things…but clearly Yuffie had no qualms about it.
In fact, looking at her now, the younger girl looked pretty interested in what she was reading. That made Aerith nervous. Leon had managed to tame the savage beast by introducing her to electronic books. Yuffie had never had the patience or attention span for books, but Leon had worked his brand of magic and tricked her into reading actual literature.
Aerith caught Leon reading a lot. Sometimes it would take him a month or longer to tackle a novel, when Heartless activity was up. But other times, he could go through two or more books a week, when the action was hard to come by. About the only thing that had ever gotten the hyper-active ninja to focus on anything was the idea of mimicking the older boy.
Yuffie and Leon had been born and raised in similar neighborhoods. Their families had been wealthy, but Aerith wasn't sure if they had actually known each other before the Heartless threw them all together. While Aerith had grown up on the other side of town, with Cloud and Tifa, Cid worked the in-between, living on their side, but working on Yuffie and Leon's side.
It was hard to believe that there had been sides at all.
Aerith snapped out of her reverie as Yuffie popped up to her feet, file hooked in one arm, and traipsed down the aisle of storage boxes. She found the box she was looking for, tugged it out from the shelf, plopped to her seat again, and resumed picking through it.
"Now what are you up to?" Aerith inquired.
Yuffie gave a light shrug, not looking up. "I'm bored. Gotta keep myself entertained."
It was weird to imagine Yuffie sitting down to read a book like Leon did. But ever since the Heartless, Aerith knew that one of the girl's goals had always been to imitate Leon. It fluctuated between the behavior of a little sister trying to copy her big brother and the behavior of a girl trying to get the attention of a crush.
Maybe Leon was a little of both. The age difference made it lean more toward the first option, but Aerith had noticed, especially recently, that Yuffie was always trying to wiggle her way into Leon's affections. Even then, it was pretty scattered. Sometimes it slipped out in the way the teenager looked at him. Sometimes she just attempted to annoy him to death.
Considering that Leon had been the only boy close to their age-range that Aerith and Yuffie were in contact with for months after the Heartless took Radiant Garden, Aerith could see why the younger girl had latched onto him. She would be lying if she said that she hadn't thought about it herself.
But...they had all been so emotionally wrecked that first year after they lost their home. Between Cid's drinking and Yuffie's temper tantrums, Aerith's nightmares and Leon's depression, there hadn't been time or energy to even think about normal things like relationships and flirtatiousness.
Aerith and Leon were the same age, but she had permanently and carefully placed him in the 'brother' category. He fit the bill of tall, dark, and handsome to a mighty fine tee, but with the war and the fact that there were only the four of them in their circle of survivors, of people they could depend on and trust…Complicating matters by adding that drama wouldn't have helped anything. Besides, he had been Hell-bent on finding Rinoa just as she had been determined to find Cloud. A decade later, that dynamic hadn't really changed, and she took her role in his life as 'sister' as a comfort.
From her spot on the floor, Yuffie sat up a little, rummaging more earnestly through the box until she found what she had been looking for. With a triumphant flourish, she began reading through the papers. Aerith sighed. Leon wasn't even here to witness her mad reading skills and the girl was still pursuing the hobby. Leon was good; Aerith had to give him that.
If it hadn't been for Aerith and Leon's efforts, Yuffie probably wouldn't have progressed beyond a young child's education level. Reading, writing, arithmetic, biology, science, even some philosophy when you caught the girl in the right mood for it: all thanks to those cold months between traveling to worlds and finding old textbooks for cheap.
"What are you looking at?" Aerith asked, noticing how enthused the girl had become.
"Are we curious?" Yuffie shot her a devilish look.
Aerith folded her arms and looked away. Yuffie answered anyway.
"Just a little scoop about our favorite Gunblade wielder." She dangled the carrot.
Oh, this was just like the Cloud thing. Cloud's business was Cloud's business. Leon's business was Leon's business. Neither Aerith nor Yuffie had any right to snoop into their secrets.
Then again, neither of the men was going to tell them on their own.
"Is it personal?" Aerith said, trying not to look interested.
"They aren't called 'personal' files for nothing." Yuffie snickered, "Although I must say, he has a kickass credit score."
Aerith sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Just put it back, Yuffie. Whatever it is, I'd rather not—"
"Squall was adopted." Yuffie blurted.
Aerith paused, surprise and curiosity getting the better of her. "No, he wasn't."
"Yes, he totally was." Yuffie countered, opening the file again. "Colonel Blake Leonhart and Marisa Leonhart are listed as his foster parents right here." She held out the folder.
Aerith hesitated, sighed in defeat, and took the folder, looking for herself. Guilt for invading her friend's privacy was shelved as she read over the information. Sure enough, she was startled to see, the names of Leon's childhood guardians didn't match the names on his birth certificate. Rather, the name on his birth certificate. His father wasn't even listed.
"Huh." She murmured.
"Huh?" Yuffie mimicked, "We just found out that Squall Leonhart might not be Squall Leonhart, and all you have to say is 'huh'?"
Aerith looked at the girl flatly. "He's still Leon, no matter who his parents were—" She read further. "But there was no requested name change, so his real name is Leonhart."
"Who are his real parents?" Yuffie queried.
Aerith sighed, looking away. "It's none of our—"
"Read it!"
"Raine." Aerith blurted, reading the name. "That's his mother's name. There's no father listed. Leonhart must have been Raine's maiden name." She squinted, thumbing through a few more pages. "The Colonel Leonhart must have been related to her."
"Is there a picture?" Yuffie said, standing and dusting herself off.
"No." Aerith suddenly realized what she was doing and closed the folder. "We need to put this back."
"But it's just getting good!" Yuffie protested.
"If Leon doesn't know about this, then neither should we." Aerith said, placing both Leon and Cloud's files in the box and closing it.
"Who's to say he doesn't already know?" Yuffie suggested. "It's not like he ever talks about his childhood anyway."
Aerith picked up the box and put it back on the proper shelf. "You know what they say about assuming."
"Should we tell him that he's adopted? I think he has a right to know."
"Yuffie!" Aerith scolded.
"He's a grown man, Aerith. I think he can handle it." Yuffie lifted an eyebrow.
"No." Aerith put her hands on her hips. "We don't speak of this. Ever."
"If I was adopted, I'd want to know." Yuffie mimicked Aerith's stance.
"Would you?" Aerith snapped. "Because that little factoid could open up a huge box of questions that nobody can answer. Leon already nearly tears his hair out enough with unanswered questions about Rinoa."
"Oh…like what?" Yuffie pried.
Aerith sighed. There was no talking sense to this girl. "Yuffie, how would you feel if someone you trusted read your file?"
"I wouldn't care." Yuffie shrugged.
"You say that now." Aerith gestured. "But what if me or Leon read your personal file and found out that the parents that raised you, took care of you, and loved you were not your biological parents? Just think about it."
The girl paused, looking thoughtful. "It depends…Are my biological parents really cool?"
"Who knows?" Aerith lifted her shoulders.
"But—" Yuffie pointed at her. "If you're gonna turn the tables on me, at least give me cool real parents."
"Nope." Aerith shook her head, "There is no way to say how or why you were adopted. And if you didn't even have a father listed? Where was he? Did he not care? Did your mother give you up? Can you imagine thinking that your birth mother didn't want you?"
Yuffie averted her eyes. "I didn't think about that."
"Or what if your father ran out and your mother died? Would you feel better knowing that? Or not knowing that? Because there's really no way to prove it, these files are so old."
"Okay, okay, I get it." Yuffie pouted. "So what? We just pretend like we never found out?"
Aerith exhaled, rubbing her forehead. She didn't know what to do. They couldn't un-learn what they'd learned. What was the lesser evil here? Tell Leon what they'd done, probably shatter his entire perception of his childhood, and possibly open a bad can of worms with the impossible questions that couldn't be answered? Or play dumb and never speak of it, letting him traipse along in ignorance, if he didn't really know in the first place.
Oh, this was why you didn't stick your nose in other people's business!
"I know!" Yuffie punched her fist into her other hand.
"Know what?" Aerith looked at her.
"We could get him drunk. Ask him questions and find out what he knows."
"Leon doesn't drink."
"So we give him a 'virgin' drink that isn't really 'virgin'."
"He's not stupid."
"Well, I don't see any other options here." Yuffie remarked smartly.
"I've got one." Aerith glared. "How about we go back in time and listen when I say don't read it!"
Yuffie tapped her chin, "It might be worth a shot—"
"Yuffie!"
The door at the top of the stairs to the storage room clunked unlocked and opened. Cid stood in the doorway.
"Anybody down here?" He called down.
Aerith lifted a hand, "We're here." She suddenly remembered why they had been locked down here. "Did they catch him?"
"Him turned out to be a her." Cid remarked, coming down a few steps and stopping. "And she has been taken back into custody."
"Whew, that's a relief." Yuffie said in mock-nonchalance. "I am relieved. It is such a relief to know that—"
"What'd you do?" Cid quirked an eyebrow at her behavior.
Yuffie and Aerith both deflated, caught.
"Um…You used to be chummy with Leon's dad, right? The Colonel?" Yuffie crossed over to the stairs.
Aerith helplessly followed, feeling the hole being dug deeper by the second.
"Yeah." Cid answered flatly, going back up into the main room to let the women out.
"So you were around the family when Squall was a squirt, yeah?" Yuffie pried.
"I guess. What are you gettin' at?" Cid looked to Aerith.
Aerith just rubbed the back of her head and let Yuffie continue.
"We were just wondering—I mean, we happened to see that—"
"You snooped the files." Cid folded his arms.
Both women tried to look innocent. Yuffie had more practice at trying to butter people up, and Aerith could feel herself sweating.
"A few might have…fallen open…" Yuffie clasped her hands behind her back.
"I'd expect that shit from you, but Aerith? Really?" Cid looked disappointed and impressed in the same expression.
"We came across something interesting—" Yuffie started.
"Cloud used to be a chick?" Cid suggested.
"No, who knew right?" Yuffie gestured.
Aerith rolled her eyes. "Oh, come ON."
"I've never met a man with cheekbones like that." Cid shrugged.
"Anyway," Yuffie went on, "A few documents seemed to suggest that—"
"I can explain those Traverse Town calls—"
"No!" Yuffie stomped one foot. "Was Squall adopted?"
Cid blinked, reaching for a cigarette. "Yeah."
The bluntness of the answer made both women blink.
"You knew?" Aerith leaned forward, "Does he know?"
"Yeah." was the response as Cid lit his cigarette.
"Ha!" Yuffie poked Aerith's arm.
"But you two got no business knowin' it."
"Why not?" Yuffie pouted.
"What if one of us knew that you were adopted and—"
"Ah, okay, okay, I get it. Stop with the hypotheticals." Yuffie waved an arm. "So what happened?"
"Don't." Aerith lifted a hand. "It's none of our business."
Cid looked at her dryly. "But reading classified files is okay?"
Aerith's shoulders slumped guiltily at that.
Yuffie just looked more curious than ever. "Were his parents underground drug lords? Did they have to go into witness protection? Was his father a secret agent, is that why he's not listed on his birth certificate? Or—is the birth certificate real at all? Did he pull a Clark Kent and just fall from the sky?"
"They're dead." Cid interrupted her.
Yuffie immediately fell silent. Aerith dropped her gaze. She had been afraid of that.
"His father was reported missing in action, never returned home. His mother died a few days after he was born. Complications." Cid explained seriously. "The Colonel is his maternal uncle, took him in after he and his wife couldn't have kids. Satisfied?"
Yuffie fidgeted. "Not really."
"Good." Cid scolded harshly.
"Does…" Aerith bit her lip. "Does Leon know all of this?"
"He knows enough." Cid exhaled smoke, looking pointedly to Yuffie. "But Aerith's right. It ain't none of you two's damn business."
"I just wanted to know—"
"Well, now you know. The world can continue to spin." Cid growled. "Both of you's better keep your mouths shut. Kid's got enough shit on his plate to deal with without dredging up the ugly past."
Like two kids caught up after bedtime, Aerith and Yuffie nodded.
"Now get outta here." Cid nodded toward the exit.
Neither needed any encouragement, booking it out of the old office.
As soon as they were out in daylight again, Yuffie sighed.
"Wow…" She hopped forward a few steps.
"I feel terrible." Aerith hugged her arms to herself.
Yuffie walked alongside her. "At least we know that he knows."
"But he doesn't know that we know…or that we know that he knows." Aerith rubbed her temples. "Why did I let you drag me into this?"
"If you had just read Cloud's file like I did, then we would have been distracted by something else entirely." Yuffie clasped her hands behind her back.
"I took Cloud's file from you." Aerith remarked.
"Please, I read it long before I let you think I found it." Yuffie chirped.
"There was like two pieces of paper in there." Aerith argued.
"Two words: embarrassing birthmark." Yuffie held up two fingers.
"Cloud does not have a birthmark." Aerith tutted as they made their way back toward the Borough.
"Ooh, he'd like you to think that." Yuffie teased.
Again, Aerith tried to resist, but curiosity had truly killed the cat. "Why do you say that?"
"Why are you so sure that he doesn't?" Yuffie turned the tables on her.
"He…broke a few ribs once and I wrapped them for him." Color touched her cheeks.
"Oh, right, because a human being can't possibly have a birthmark south of the bellybutton." Yuffie rolled her eyes.
"Yuffie!" Aerith felt her face turning red. "I'm not hearing this."
"It was in a doctor's report. Turns out the mark kinda looks like an upside down—"
"Shut up, shut up!" Aerith covered her ears, picking up her pace.
Yuffie kept up with her until they reached the Borough. Aerith lowered her hands, thinking it would be safe and the girl had moved on to ranting about something else.
Instead, all she heard was: "I wonder if it dances when he flexes?"
"Oh God…" Aerith hung her head and walked into Merlin's house.
Who else was inside the house than Leon, poring over papers on the table. Both women stood still as soon as the door closed after them. He looked up, chewing on the end of a pencil.
"What?" He asked at their expressions.
Yuffie leaned forward to recover the situation. "You're pretty." She poked his nose.
He rolled his eyes and looked to Aerith. "Did you find the paperwork on the public park services?"
"Something came up." Aerith twitched. "I need a drink."
Leon blinked, "It's two in the afternoon."
Aerith found Cid's secret stash of whiskey and popped it open just as Yuffie sat in the chair opposite Leon.
"Hey, Squall, did you know that Cloud has a birthmark on his—"
Aerith tipped the bottle all the way back. It was five o'clock somewhere.