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secret spot .

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"Yuffie?"

She ignored the call, like she always did when she wasn't in a good mood. Her dark eyes closed as she rested her head against the scratchy bark of the tree she was resting against, fingers clasped in her lap. Lazily, her feet dangled over the edge, as she was sitting on one of the large, higher up branches of this tree, her toes barely touching, courtesy of her thick boots. One eye opened as she peered through the hole the leaves made, hearing her name called again, but why did he care? He was the one who had yelled at her to begin with, so honestly, the young ninja felt no need to bring his attention towards her. He was the reason she was here, and she didn't want to see him right now. It took all her restraint to keep herself in the tree instead of running off, because she knew that she'd go off in a way that she wouldn't be able to find her way back because she'd just go and go and go and not pay attention.

And even if he wouldn't miss her, she knew Aerith would. And Cid would too, even if he called her a little brat sometimes, and told her she was too hyperactive and it was her fault when the computers didn't work because she bounced around and made them skip or something. But Yuffie knew that deep down, Cid felt she was like his daughter, and he was like a father to her, too, so he would miss her. And she would miss him, and she would miss Aerith, and she would miss that loopy wizard, and the way she always found Cloud wandering the streets, and talking with Tron in Ansem's study, and Sora's spontaneous visits with Donald and Goofy and the King. She would miss it all. So she would stay in this tree, and hope to Kingdom Hearts and back that he kept walking.

"Kisaragi Yuffie!"

She would have no such luck, would she? Her other eye opened now, too, and she stared at the ground through the leaves with her dark gaze, slowly inching her way back against the tree so she was sitting with her back straight, pulling her legs closer as if that could help her disappear. After taking in one quiet, deep breath, she held it in, trying her hardest not to breathe, not to move. He was getting closer, the footsteps, she heard them getting nearer and nearer, tapping on the hard ground courtesy of his boots, or stepping on the occasional leaf or stick. Why wouldn't he just go away?

"Damn it, Yuffie… C'mon. You're holding everything up."

Oh, that was why he came. Because she was holding things up back at the place. Not because he cared that she had been on the verge of tears, not because he liked having her around, not even because someone else wanted him to come find her! Bastard. And because of that, she pressed herself against the tree even harder, trying that much more to blend in and become invisible. She was the great ninja Yuffie, too! She should be able to do that… so why did she feel so out in the open?

"YU-"

He was going to yell. Going to, going to, going to, but she didn't want that, so against her better judgment, she angrily produced a small shuriken and flicked it through the leaves and branches towards his feet. She couldn't see him now, but he bent over, picking the metal up, twirling it between his fingers as he stood back up.

Her eyes tightly closed as she heard a low mumble, but couldn't decipher the words, and she heard the metal clang as he threw her shuriken against the street, and from the corner of her peripheral vision, she saw the light glint off of it.

"Fine, Yuffie. Have it your way."

And she was glad for that, because with the finality of his tone, she knew he was going to leave her, go back to the base and do whatever. Maybe they'd send Aerith after her next, because unlike him, Aerith had a heart, and she knew how things affected Yuffie. She was also the only one who knew where she went, where these many secret spots she had were.

After a few minutes of barely breathing and still pressing her back against the tree, Yuffie relaxed; he didn't have the patience to stand there and wait for her to come down like that. So she reached forward, leaning over, wrapping her arms around the branch, dropping her skin to the bark, looking down just to make sure. With nothing in sight, she swung over to one side and dropped from the tree, landing easily on the ground below her, reaching out to pick up her weapon and pocket it, brushing her dark hair out of her face. "God…" She whispered quietly, staring straight ahead of her.

Wrapping her arms around her tightly, she kicked one foot against the other, biting her lip. This wasn't right. Kisaragi Yuffie was supposed to be the amazing, always cheery, great ninja that looked at life as a glass half-full, not half-empty! There was always a smile on her face, a twinkle in her eye, a bounce in her step, a ring to her laughter… why did that one comment cause her to melt and frown and be angry?

"Yuffie."

Oh, somebody up there had it in for her today.

Her entire being tensed, but she didn't turn around to face him, didn't want to see his face or the way he stood there, probably all smug because he caught her, or expectant, wanting an explanation.

"Squall."

She answered, a dark edge in her tone that was uncharacteristic and out of character and unexpected and strange and weird and it just didn't fit her. That was probably the reason behind the pause in his answer, and the way he didn't force upon her his new name, his right name, Leon.

"You… need to come back. Cid and Merlin and Aerith are worried. Hell, even Cloud asked why you'd run off the way you did."

Nah. She shook her head, and took a step forward, her eyes focused on some place ahead of her, away from the place he wanted her to go to, because she didn't want to please him at the moment. Maybe she'd go see Scrooge; he had just recreated a new flavour of ice-cream that was supposed to be really good. She could go try it, walk around, something, anything as long as it didn't make him happy.

But she felt his gloved hand on the bare skin of her right arm as she started to walk away, and she cursed him, wondering when he'd gotten that close. "What do you want, Squall?" She forced past gritted teeth, not even trying to shake his grip, knowing it wouldn't work.

"I told you, Yuffie. Come back to Merlin's."

She shook her head again, balling her left hand into a frustrated fist. "No. I left for a reason. I'll come back later. I want time alone now." Or at least time with Aerith, not with you…

Slowly, his grasp on her loosened until he finally dropped his hand, back to his side and she took a step forward. "I see." He answered her quietly, and that caused her to whip around, confusion and anxiety glittering in her eyes, and the effect she had on him, staring up at him in defiance like that, it made his thoughts stop.

"You see? It wasn't my fault, Leon! You can't just blame me, because you weren't even there! Everything you heard came from… came from Reno, or whoever, but I know it wasn't true because if you had heard the truth, you wouldn't have yelled at me!" She told him angrily, her voice barely rising as she jabbed a finger into his chest. "Maybe if you knew what had really happened, or if it really was my fault, things would be different! Just… just go away, okay? I'm appalled. Disappointed. Not happy. I don't want to see you!" A tear slipped past her defenses as she shoved him and turned around, taking off at a quick run, pushing and pushing with her feet to make her go faster, biting her lip to stop from crying, and wishing wishing wishing she could just grow wings and fly away. That would be so much easier than this.

"Stop, Yuffie…! Stop!"

But she didn't. She didn't stop, she ran and she ran and she regretted coming down from the tree because this was exactly what she hadn't wanted to happen.

She had looked up to him. It didn't matter that he was so ashamed of himself that he had to change his name, she looked up to him. Always and forever, as long as she could remember, she wanted to be like him. But more than that, she had realized, she wanted him to recognize her as someone special, someone with talent and someone who could do good things for the world.

And, then, somewhere along the line, she thought she sort-of-kind-of-maybe-might-have-definitely-yes, yes, she had fallen in love with him.

So she couldn't take it. The last thing she wanted was to have him yell at her like that, the disappointment so thick in his voice that she would have let an entire world down like that. Coming from the man she loved, the man she wanted to be like, the one man that she cared about what he thought of her. Coming from him, it stabbed deep into her and she hated it, and for a second she hated him, as she had stood there, looking up at him, wondering why and wishing for a different outcome, but that second was over fast and she loved him again, looked up to him again. But she was still mad, frustrated, angry, and she wasn't sure what else she would yell at him.

Her hand reached out, curling around the edge of a building as she pulled herself across the street, turning sharply down an alley which led to a bunch of boxes. Only she and Aerith knew what lay underneath the boxes, though, and as she choked on air she shoved them out of her way and fumbled around her neck for the necklace that was the key, clipping the silver locking mechanism off the chain, shoving it into the keyhole of the door's knob. A satisfying click sound filled her ears along with the pounding of her heart and she quickly raised the lid of the trapdoor-styled entrance, clumsily pulling the boxes back over the door, to hide it, dropping into the darkness of the small cave-like room.

As soon as her feet hit the floor, her back followed by hitting the wall, and she slowly sunk down, pulling her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around her legs. She didn't bother finding the candle or lighting it, she ran her fingers over the silver key, digging her fingernails into the pale, ivory skin of her knees, leaving more half-moon marks that most people would disregard as battle scratches.

Her heartbeat quickened as she felt the pounding of footsteps, quick in succession, one after the other after another, above her and she shook her head, hoping it was Aerith, running to her… but she didn't make sounds like that; she was light and Yuffie hardly heard her footsteps. So, no, this had to be Leon.

She cursed, digging her fingernails harder into her naked skin, because now he would always know where to find her. No longer was this secret to her and Aerith.

But… he didn't have a key, at least, so he couldn't get in if she didn't want him to. She heard the familiar scraping of boxes as he moved them around, and she heard the tugging of the door, and managed a laugh as it didn't budge for him, and she heard the low curse that came from him before he pounded on the wood, saying her name and telling her to open the door, or let him in, or something, but she shook her head, ignoring him.

"Yuffie. I'm sorry, okay? Please, understand that I was told by Reno himself. It's my fault I believed him anyways, he makes things sound worse than they are. Just… come out of there. I don't want to break in with my gunblade."

The sad thing was, she thought, raising her head and stretching out her legs, that she knew he would do it. "If you don't want to do it, then just don't do it, stupid." She scowled, her voice rising in pitch so he could hear her, and while Yuffie, under the ground, stared at her feet and squeezed her eyes closed and her hands together, Leon, above the ground, crouched with one hand on the wooden door, his own eyes closed, hair falling in his face.

He took a second to breathe, a second to think. Why had this affected her so badly, that his critiscism and disappointment would hurt her so much? She'd never cared about these things before, and, hell, Cid had screamed and lectured at her worse than he had. So what god damn difference did it make that as soon as he expressed his feelings, she got upset and took off? His fingers curled slowly, his gloved hand forming a fist that he refrained from using to bash open the door, and he tried not to even think about the gunblade. Obviously, Yuffie didn't want him here. It would be better, nicer, wiser, more mature of him to get up and leave.

But he couldn't. His feet wouldn't take him anywhere, so he (slightly uncharacteristically) just dropped backwards, landing flat on his backside, crossing his legs indian style. Resting his elbows on his knees, he leaned forward and placed his chin in his palms, one heavy sigh leaving him while he contemplated.

Six, seven, eight, nine feet underneath him, Yuffie had position herself in a manner that mimicked him, though one hand had reached out, her index finger tracing circles, hearts, stars, triangles in the ground by her left shoe. She knew he wasn't gone yet, she hadn't heard the tell tale stomping of his thick boots leading away from here, so she knew he was still there. Sitting, waiting, thinking, whatever, he was there, and so while he was still there, she was still here. Stuck. Prisoner in her own secret spot, all because he'd found it.

"If you're not going to say anything, would you mind leaving?" She asked rather rudely, lifting her head to face the dirt ceiling, finger pausing in the middle of drawing a star, dark hair falling into her face when she abruptly brought her gaze back to the ground, since she heard shuffling up there.

He stretched his legs out one at a time, boots scuffing on the ground, taking in one deep breath. "Fine. I'll say something. I'll tell you that I don't know what it was I did to you, why you got so frustrated when I said something, but when Cid did worse, it was fine. I'll tell you that I don't really know why I came to find you, because no one had actually suggested it. Cloud had asked, but that didn't matter, doesn't matter, really. And you weren't, aren't, holding anything up; nothing's going on. I'll tell you… I'll tell you, for some reason I was… I was hurt, when you took off like that, I was scared that you'd get yourself in trouble. I'll tell you, that I didn't mean to be so hard on you, but it reminded me of my own failures. Now, since you don't want me here, I'll leave."

With that, he stood up, slowly, and turned around to walk back, hardly believing that he had just spent five minutes talking without a break besides a few hesitations, and saying things he meant, and just being serious with Kisaragi Yuffie, of all people.

And from below, Yuffie had to bite down hard on her lip and dig her fingernails into her skin and close her eyes and curl her knees up to her chest so she didn't cry and let him hear her. But, she had to do something. It took her almost half a minute to register this, and she suddenly shot up, realizing that his footsteps were fading, even as loud and heavy as they were, and she decided she couldn't just let him walk away like that.

She had to jump, she always had to jump, even after pulling out that little stand she stood on, and pushed the door open. Her hands were the first to reach out, and as she hoisted herself up, her arms lying on the ground, the muscles in her thin arms bulging with the effort, she bit her lip and heaved herself out, noting in the back of her mind that, yes, she needed to learn to jump higher. "W, wait!" She called out to his retreating figure, standing up and kicking the door back to where it belonged, completely forgetting (or had she just ignored them?) the boxes around her, all she wanted to do, all she could think of doing, was to run.

To run right at him.

So she did, and she crashed into him at full momentum, and in the half second before they connected, he had turned around because he'd heard her, and he'd felt the vibrations her little feet made as she ran. Her arms wrapped around his middle as she used him to stop herself, and she pressed her face into his chest and at that moment, the tears escaped her defenses. And even taken by surprise, Leon didn't fall anywhere, only stumbled slightly backwards, but caught himself, one hand resting on the top of her head, looking down, confusedly at her.

"Yuffie… What…?" He tried, but failed miserably because she pulled away, and sighed, one hand moving to rub at her eyes.

"I'm sorry… This… I got upset when you yelled at me because you're the one person in this place that I really look up to. And… I know, you just think of me as a little kid, just an annoying pest… but I'm not, and…" She mumbled slowly, looking up at him, her dark eyes meeting his gray. This was a little surprising to him, but he didn't show it, keeping his emotions locked, expression composed.

"I… don't think of you as a kid, Yuffie. Or a pest. I… think I understand what you're saying." And what you're not saying, as well…

She looked up, the confusion evident in her eyes, but this only brought the tug of a smile at the ends of his lips. Before she could form any words, or even really think about it, he reached out, his hands on her hips, and after a moment to make sure she didn't object (she didn't, rather, she took a small step closer) he leaned down to press his lips to hers, and she leaned up, her hands slowly curling into the fabric of his shirt. Their lips melded perfectly, and her body fit to his, small and agile to his tall and lithe, and she felt safe, perfect, and beautiful in his hold like this. It was electric and passion-filled and everything she had imagined it would be, and more, because she could taste the way he cared, she felt the way he loved, and most importantly, she knew he did understand. Completely and utterly.

"I'm sorry… Leon." She whispered quietly, pulling back, running her tongue slowly over her freshly kissed lips.

"Squall." He corrected quietly, reaching down to slip his fingers into the spaces between her own, squeezing lightly.

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an: my first longg kh piece (: i've always liked yuffie,
and i've always preferred her with squalleon. or cloud.
but, there. forgive me if either of them are out of character.
it's not my first time writing yuffie, but she's in a slightly ooc
situation, and it's simply my first time writing leonn. so yeah,
haha, and like always, thankks for reading! i really appreciate it :3