Gothic Angel
YK2
Summary: She left, but returned a different person... And with a new friend. What does Leon think of her now? Squffie? Yuffie-OC?
"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."
Moulin Rouge
She had done it again. I turned my back for less than two seconds and she had cleaned our room! Now, I don't mind cleanliness, but she friggin' re-organizes things and confuses the hell outta Squall and me. Why can't she leave our room alone?
Leon smiled sadly as he read through her old diaries. She used to get so irritated about the little things. Aerith would organize the things on her dresser, her clothing, the salt and pepper shakers... And Yuffie would throw a fit! He would spend most of the night listening to her complain about Aerith being a neat freak. Personally, he was a slob and could care less if Aerith felt inclined to clean up after him. Meant that he did not have to do it.
The old Yuffie... How long had it been? He checked the date of the journal entry and sighed. August 21, 1999. She was seventeen. The current date was September 25, 2005... She would be twenty-four in only a few months. Leon groaned. He was thirty-three already.
He had fought alongside Yuffie Kisaragi since he was twenty and she was eleven. Even as a child, she had seen and killed more Heartless than most had even seen. She had escaped from Hallow Bastion with Aerith, Cid, and Squall, become Leon's fighting partner, become Traverse Town's only sunshine in the darkness, and turned twelve all within the same month. He had promised himself to never forget that. The teenager had tried to be as normal as possible, but she had seen and done so much more than others her age. She matured faster than those her age but stayed immature to keep the smiles on everyone's faces. For eight years, she was their sunshine. When she turned nineteen though...
February 15, 2001
I've given up. Leon's a prick. Aerith is irritable. Even Cid and Cloud will hardly speak anymore. I've stayed here at Hallow Bastion for as long as I can, but my happiness, my emotions, my sanity in general is fading away. I don't know how much more I can take before I reach my breaking point. I threw a Valentine's Party to lighten the spirits, hoping to cheer them all up. I swear that my cheek STILL hurts from Aerith's slap. She told me I was being "childish and selfish" and to "grow up" because she was tred of my "immaturity". Cloud didn't say anything but helped me take down my decorations. Cid ignored the entire thing. But Leon... Leon shot me a glare that hurt worse than a thousand of Aerith's slaps! I was honestly knocked breathless by his icy glare. I didn't mean for it to be selfish or childish. I was trying to cheer them all up! Everyone's been so edgy lately... I think the memories are sapping away our happiness!
So, I'm going to leave tonight. I hope that everyone forgives me for being "selfish" and "childish" and such. I was trying to make you all slightly easier to live with. My heart goes out to you four because you were too ignorant to recognize kindness. Please, by all means, be angry with me for leaving, hate me for it! But it's to keep my own sanity. By the way...
Leon ran a hand over his eyes. She had left that night. When Aerith found out, she flipped. The entire castle was searched; Cid, Leon, and Cloud got sent to every known planet to search for her; Sora, Riku, and Kairi were contacted. No one could find her. She had taken her gummi and vanished.
In the room that she stayed in was an un-made bed, empty dresser, and five journals. No one dared touch the journals until Leon... And by then, she had already returned. She had returned with a new personality, new style, and a new friend. Her new boyfriend's name was Edge. Leon despised the twenty-nine-year-old.
... I want to say thanks to you all for saving me. I love you like and uncle, Cid... Even though that probably embarrasses the hell out of you... Aerith, you're like a big sister. Cloud... You always have been and always will be my big brother... For now and for always! Leon... Leon, Leon, Leon... Since I'm too chicken to say this to your face...
Edge had long straight platinum blonde hair and dark brown eyes. He wore baggy black jeans with chains called "Tripps" that revealed his boxers, usually plaid. He always wore a black tee-shirt with a death metal band logo on it. A portable cd player resided in his pocket, the headphones around his neck. He looked more like a fifteen-year-old rather than the twenty-nine-year-old he was supposed to be. Cid made fun of him because he wore black eye-liner, black nail polish, and - on occasion - black lipstick.
On top of her new "Gothic" boyfriend, Yuffie had changed. She had grown her hair out to just past her shoulder blades and kept it dyed black to match her clothing. She wore black flare-leg jeans, a black half-tank, black fishnet, black "skater" shoes, and black make-up. She, too, looked like a deranged high school student. She had taken an interest in Edgar Allen Poe and other dark literature, vampires, and creatures of the night - excluding the Heartless.
She and Edge had gone to Hallow Bastion in April of 2004.
... I love you, Squall. I've always loved you and I'll always love you. Stop correcting us when we call you "Squall" because I think Leon's a dumb name! I love Squall Joseph Leonhart, not Leon Idiot Leonhart. Stop pretending you don't care. Stop faking! Just... Just stop being a prick. Remember, I love you as Squall!
Yuffie M. Kisaragi
Feb. 15, 2001
They shared a room down a different corridor than Yuffie's old room. Leon could not help but glare at the blonde every time he passed. Yuffie rarely spoke unless it was about her or Edge. No one liked the new Yuffie or her boyfriend. Cloud had tried to talk to her but she yawned in boredom. The couple had been at Hallow Bastion for five months and Yuffie's former friends had begun noticing microscopic holes in Yuffie's and Edge's relationship.
P.S Do me a favor, Cid. Next time I come 'round, make sure that Leon knows I still love him. I'm pretty sure that Cid'll be the first to read this...
-Yuffs
Leon finished reading her last entry and stared down at it in disbelief. "She... She loved me?"
"Yeah," an unfriendly voice replied from the doorway. Leon looked up to see Edge wearing a black suit with frilly white sleeves and collar (think eighteenth century French noblemen). "When she met me, she told me all about her love. He was this tall, dark, and mysterious man with perfect blue eyes and shaggy hair that made him look like a cute over-grown sheep dog."
Leon glared at Edge from his seat on Yuffie's old bed. "... And you are telling me this, why?"
Edge laughed, revealing perfectly white teeth in a straight row. "Because you deserve to know how jealous I am of you."
"Even now that she is with you?"
The blonde swiped a strand of white hair from his face in aggrivation, watching Squall with dark eyes. "She may be with me, but she still calls out your name. Her sobs are meant to be answered by you." He paused, flipping his long hair away from his face again. "That's why I'm leaving. She'll be your old Yuffie in no time... Especially with me gone."
Squall stood to look at Edge. "... And you think that I care about her? Obviously, I don't."
Edge laughed again. "Oye, amigo, you are muy estupido. Much dumber than I thought!" He leaned against the door frame. "Estupido, senor Leonhart. Ella es en amor... Or something like that... My Spanish is not too good¿Si?"
Squall pieced together the poorly spoken foreign language. "She is in love?"
"No shit, Sherlock! So, s'cuse me while I get my things packed." He began to leave but stopped to look back at Squall. "She dumped me, by the way. I... I really thought that I loved her but things weren't working out. Said she still loved another. Wonder who that could be, eh, senor?" The Gothic man walked from the room to collect his belongings, leaving Squall to go to his own room, adjoining Yuffie's old room via door.
With the Gothic man leaving, Leon had his chance to tell Yuffie how he felt. But... He was nine years older than her! How the hell could he ever get over the age difference?
"That is disgusting, Yuffie. That man is more than a decade older than her."
The teen stuck her tongue out at him in a most immature fashion. They had been watching some television drama movie about love. The man was thirty-five and the young woman was twenty-one.
"I think that if two people really love each other then it shouldn't matter! I mean, ages should never matter!"
Leon snorted in disagreement. "... Whatever."
She smiled secretively. "Guess I know where you stand on that subject," she mumbled.
"What?" he asked, looking at her with cold blue eyes.
Her cheeks blushed a rosey color and she shrugged. "N-nothing, Squ-er, Leon!"
A tear, cold against the heat of her usually pale cheeks, streaked down as she threw a pillow across the room. Her many belts clanged loudly against all of her chains, making the dull ache in the back of her head increase. She cranked up her "death metal" to an even louder volume and proceeded to sing along. Her long, dyed black hair was soon up in a sloppy ponytail, her sleeves rolled up in a tank top fashion.
"Take so much away from inside you, makes no sense you know he can't guide you, he's you fuckin' shoulder to lean on! Be strong!" she growled along with some all-girl heavy metal band. "Sit and watch me burn!"
A knock went unheard by the upset ninja as she threw Edge's clothes into a bag. She even went so far as to take off the necklace he had given her. It was a sword with a red gem at the base of the hilt. The sword, including the hilt, was seven inches long, but the ruby made it worth a small fortune. She wanted absolutely nothing to do with her Gothic ex-lover since he was leaving.
"Yuffie," a voice said from the doorway.
She glared over, not realizing that she was still crying. Leon flipped off the stereo and locked his gaze with her indigo.
She wore black jeans with three belts criss-crossing, chains hanging from every possible latch, crimson skull patches down the front. Her black shirt had the short sleeves rolled up to look like a tank top and had a scroll-like font that read "Kittie". Her mascara had run and she honestly looked like she would bite his head off if he spoke.
"Turn my music back on and get the fuck out," she told him, returning to the packing of Edge's things. Obviously, she had forgotten how stubborn Leon could be.
"No, Yuffie," he replied evenly. "We're going to talk."
She turned on him viciously. "Fuck you, pretty boy! You don't know a damn thing about me!"
He swallowed. Now or never, he told himself mentally. "I know that you once loved me... And Edge says that you still do."
This caught her off-guard and successfully silenced her. Her indigo eyes, a vivid purple beneath so much black make-up, stared at him in disbelief.
Leon stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. "Are you going to talk to me now?"
All at once, tears from long ago broke free of their dam. Emotions burst free. She collapsed into sobs in the middle of the floor, not caring that Leon was there anymore. She was tired of hiding like a scared child behind her pale mask of black make-up and Gothic clothing. She wanted to be herself again. She wanted to wear short shorts and green halter tops with thigh-high socks and gym shoes. She wanted to quit being Ms. "Bad-Ass-Gothic-Vampire" and be the "Great Ninja Yuffie" once again.
Leon wrapped his arms around her and allowed her to sob into his chest, knowing that her black make-up would leave lovely gray stains on his nice white shirt. "It's okay, Yuffie," he hushed her quietly. "Shhh... It's going to be fine."
A cheerful grin replaced the mock anger as the ninja held up a small yellow orb. Leon looked at it momentarily, then quickly searched his pockets. The teen laughed with glee and fled the scene, and an angry - but slightly bemused - Leon chasing after her.
"Yuffie Kisaragi! Give me back my Munny or I'll shove my gunblade up you ass!" the twenty-two-year-old screamed.
A few townspeople watched them run by before continuing their daily lives. Thus another day in Traverse Town had begun.
"You probably hate me," she sobbed defeatedly.
"And why would I do that?" he asked, his words muffled by her soft hair.
She sniffed and looked up at him, realizing that they were in the middle of her floor and wondering why exactly she had chosen the floor instead of a chair or her bed. "Because I've been a real bitch these past couple months."
He chuckled, surprising her. "Ah, but I've been a jackass for how long? And you still loved me, right?"
"What do you meaned, loved?" she asked after a brief pause.
He looked down at her in confusion. "Your diary said-"
She smiled for the first time in ages. "Don't make it past tense," she told him with a smile. He returned the smile and she snuggled up next to him. "Leon?"
"Hm?"
"Still think... Still think that a decade is a big age gap?"
"Yes," he replied after a moment.
"Oh..."
He pulled her closer. "But age shouldn't matter, right?"
Yuffie looked up at him, an old cheery grin creeping into her face. "Right!"
With another chuckle, he pulled her tightly against himself. "So, are you done playing Gothic Angel?"
"Uh-huh," she replied. "Just... Can't we stay like this for awhile?"
He smiled. "Sure, Yuffs... Anything for my Gothic Angel."
.fin.