A/N: Obviously I don't own anything of Kingdom Hearts, only this one shot, which takes place after KH1 and before KH2, after Cid had brought Cloud to the library in Hollow Bastion (at the end of KH1). This one's because school has started for me and I don't think I'll be able to update in a while, oh and because Yuffie's my favorite hyper ninja. Enjoy reading. :)

Oh, and the cover for this story was drawn by the lovely ~KeepCalmForKpop (on dA). Please don't use the picture without her permission!

~ "Oh, how great. Seems like here we have the perfect copy of an angsty Leon, only this one has blond hair," she muttered under her breath. ~

Yuffie might be the youngest person in the house, but she really wasn't stupid. At least, not as stupid as most people who knew her probably thought. Pretty much the same could be said about Cloud, well, except that he wasn't stupid.

What Yuffie actually meant with that, was that Cloudie might seem oh so calm and dispassionate on the outside, but from the inside he was busy with thinking about different strategies and plans to get himself away from here, without having him to go to a crowded place, because for some unknown and strange reason, he didn't like crowds (so maybe he was crazy after all, Yuffie mused). She saw it in the little movements he made, and she could feel it. She knew that Aerith felt it too, because she didn't seem to leave him alone for one moment. Well, unless he had to, you know, go to the bathroom, or take a shower, or went to sleep, of course.

Yet he succeeded often enough to suddenly disappear mysteriously from the place, without saying anything to any of them and then come back hours later. And the poor Aerith still was waiting for him in the kitchen, probably risking much more than only a heart attack with all those pent-up worries.

They couldn't do that much about it, for Cloud was Cloud and that was probably the most important reason Aerith still cared about (loved?) him after all those years of loneliness. Either that or she was disturbed, too. That would explain her behavior, 'cause she was so nice that it was almost inhuman. Plus, didn't they say that like attracted like, or something like that?

So, as surprising as it seemed, Yuffie had taken her own, somewhat drastic, and in her eyes disciplinary, measures to keep him here, in a way that only Yuffie could get away with without being called a thief. How incalculable Cloudie might be, she almost certainly knew that he would never leave this place without his cool, dark, wine red vampire cape, even though that thing seemed to be so old that he was probably going to fall apart if Cloud decided to have another grand battle with the unknown demons inside - and probably also outside - of him.

How she had achieved that? Well, quite easily, with her super awesome ninja skills and a little bit of sleeping powder in Cloudie boy's glass of cherry juice, which she had bought from a Moogle (the sleeping powder that is. Aerith had bought the cherry juice and the glass, somewhere). Yuffie really loved moogles. They were awesome and always wanted to help out those in need! Life would have been so boring without them. Oh, she was getting off-topic.

He had really looked like a vampire back then, because it had almost looked like he was drinking a glass of blood. She had spontaneously started shivering and the hair at the back of her neck had stood all upright, but more because she had thought it had looked so cool.

Actually, Cloud wasn't a boy anymore, but it sounded just plain wrong to call him Cloudie man, as if he were some kind of a superhero, or something. And that couldn't be possible, because his cape was too old and badass for it. He looked more like a hot and scary vampire. But she shouldn't stray from the subject, again.

Cloud had been out cold for a good few hours. Yuffie hadn't expected for the powder to be that strong! Aerith was the one who had found him, sitting on a chair with his head in his arms, on the kitchen table. She had lovingly placed a blanket over him and hadn't even noticed that a garment of his was missing.

Or maybe she actually had noticed, but hadn't said anything about it, because now his muscles were more visible. Aerith always had a thing for muscles, Yuffie knew that. Fortunately, nobody had seen that Yuffie had taken the cape and nobody would ever find out, so no one could ever consider her as a suspect.

Meanwhile, Cloud was busy with searching for his precious cloak in his room, at an inhuman speed. He didn't get it. Where could he have left that thing? The only time he took it off, was when he went sleeping, or showering. Maybe someone else knew more about it. Aerith for example. She always seemed to know everything that was going on in this house. It was worth a try.

He headed to the living room. Aerith and Yuffie were discussing what seemed to be a new plan to welcome and cheer for the new residents of Hollow Bastion, because that was one of the tasks of the Hollow Bastion Restoration Committee, with Leon as their leader.

Yuffie was holding a milkshake in her hands. The cup was already half empty (yes, he was one of those types that said that the cup was half empty. He always looked at things in a pessimistic way. Aerith however, would probably have said that the cup was half full). They both looked up from their discussion immediately when they heard his footsteps, but Yuffie was the first one who said something.

"Hey, Cloudie. Watcha doing?"

"...Don't call me that."

"Why not? You've said yourself that I was allowed to do so, ten years ago, remember?" Yuffie helped remind him, acting quasi offended.

He remembered it like yesterday, but he didn't say that. He also didn't bother to tell her that he was a little snot ape then, or not that bright as he was now, or... well, he should ask Squ- Leon what else he had been back then. He was sure that his best friend could remember that great time, too.

Instead he asked, "Have any of you seen my cape somewhere?"

He first looked at Aerith, especially because this question was intended for her to answer.

"No, sorry," Aerith said as she shook her head.

He then went for looking at Yuffie. His overly blue eyes pierced through her brown eyes with the intensity of a lightning strike.

"Nope," she replied, hastily.

However, he still kept looking at her, because he didn't trust the girl completely. He had heard too much about her to believe her just like that. He was rewarded for it, as he saw that she blinked her dark eyes a couple of times and then looked away quickly, as if she couldn't bear looking in his eyes. Bingo. His gazing had had the desired effect. Aerith didn't seem to notice anything. Cloud turned and looked over his shoulder at the two.

"Okay. Tell me when you've found it. I'll continue searching," he said.

He saw that Yuffie looked up, slightly surprised, but once again as they happened to make eye contact, he started eyeing her a bit sharper. She quickly averted her gaze again and blushed slightly. Now he was sure that she knew where his cape was. Cid already had warned him of the smallest and youngest member of the committee on their way back to Hollow Bastion, back to home. Apparently, it hadn't been all for nothing.

"That's okay, but in half an hour we'll be having dinner. Be sure to be back by then, okay?" Aerith said.

He nodded briefly at her and walked out of the room. He would make Yuffie talk and admit what she had done. He knew exactly how he should do that.

Dinner went just like it did normally, except that for the first time Cloud didn't only look at his plate all the time, but was mostly watching Yuffie, as if he was intrigued by her. At first it was very short, just one second, or maybe even less, but the glancing became longer and longer, and the look in his eyes intensified as time expired.

Yuffie even began to feel quite uncomfortable under the invisible pressure of the overly blue lasers. The others at the table didn't seem to notice anything, or they simply pretended that. He wished he could read minds, so he would know right away what the others were thinking.

Oddly enough, Yuffie hadn't finished eating first today. Sq-Leon had beaten her to the punch this time. Cloud still wasn't used to call his best friend with a different name. Said best friend got up from his seat and put his plate in the sink. He didn't bother to wash it, because today wasn't his turn to do the dishes.

Without saying anything, he walked away, probably to read the rather exciting novel that he had gotten from the library of the big castle that loomed over Hollow Bastion. Cid and Aerith followed suit soon after.

By that time, Cloud had already gotten up to start already with the small stack of dishes. He was lucky today, because it was Yuffie's turn to dry, while he washed. She always managed to make a huge mess if she had to wash. Somehow, the whole kitchen would become wet of all the water and suds. He had experienced it once already and he had felt sorry for everyone who had to live with the hyper ninja. On the other hand, a little exercise every now and then wouldn't hurt anyone. It even prevented them from becoming rusty after all these years.

It remained silent for a while between the two. For the first time, Yuffie made no intentions to change that and for the first time Cloud wanted to say something voluntarily, just to break the uncomfortable silence. He almost shocked himself, but continued anyway.

"When do you plan to give me my cape back?"

He had said it very softly, it was almost a faint whisper, but apparently he had startled Yuffie so much that she nearly dropped the plate she was holding out her hands. She turned her head and stared unbelievingly up at him, her eyes wide open.

"I won't tell. How did you know that I had it, anyway?"

"You just admitted it," he replied.

She gasped softly, but audibly, for breath. Unbelievable, she just fell for that trick!

Then she recovered from her initial shock and said almost as softly as him, "Ooh! You're good!"

He said nothing, but waited for her to talk again, so he would know what she wanted from him. She had to have a reason why she stole his cape, and it'd better be a good one!

"You know, Aerith and I have thought of a new plan to make the residents a bit happier. It's a small plan, I know, but still very effective..."

She paused, seeming to hesitate about something. Cloud wondered where this was going to and what he had to do with it, - or even if he wanted to have anything to do with it - but before he had the chance to ask any further, she started talking again.

"The plan is to give away my Super Deluxe Homemade Lemonade, but everyone is way too busy with other things to help me. Aerith is busy planting the gardens; Cid's designing a defense system with Merlin and Leon goes completely berserk - as always - when he spends the whole day patrolling to protect the town's folk from Heartless. So that means that it's only me and you who have some time... right?"

Cloud sensed that something was wrong here. He didn't like that implying tone in her voice at all. He had a dark suspicion where this was going to.

"So I was wondering if you and I could d-"

"No," he interrupted her quickly.

He didn't have to hear the rest to know what she wanted from him. Didn't she know by now that he'd not want to draw any attention to himself? It wasn't that hard to see, now was it?

"Aww, come on, Cloud! It's for a good cause!"

So what?

"No way in hell," he muttered fiercely.

Yuffie sighed wearily. That guy was strong-headed! She decided to try her last chance of success. If this didn't work, then what should she do to convince him? What could she do?

"You'll get your cape back," she tried in a sing-song voice.

Those five magic words did their work pretty nicely. These were the words he'd wanted to hear all this time, but it still made his chest tighten. Cloud stopped washing to look at her. It seemed that he really had no choice. That cape was very important to him. It had an emotional value, as they called it. Of course, that didn't mean he would cooperate just like she wished. She couldn't have all the fun.

"...Fine."

"Great! You won't regret it. Promise!"

Little did she know that he already did, but there was no need to tell her that. It wouldn't solve any of his problems.

"I still don't understand why you want that cape so badly. It's so old that it makes you look like a tramp too. Seriously! Well, at least I already know what I'm going to give you for your birthday this year, so I guess there's a good thing about it too," she remarked.

"..."

"You're not much of a talker anymore, are you?"

"..."

"Oh, how great. Seems like here we have the perfect copy of an angsty Leon, only this one has blond hair," Yuffie muttered under her breath.

This time, he actually did bother to say something. It made Yuffie almost think that he was offended.

"I'm not like Leon... at all."

"No, you're right. He is more like a Cloud with brown hair. And oh, so you can actually talk?"

"..."

She sighed wearily.

"Never mind. Sometimes I feel like I'm talking to a wall."

They continued doing the dishes in silence after that, but Yuffie still couldn't help but mutter some things under her breath, from which she thought Cloud wouldn't hear, anyway.

Aerith seriously almost fell off her chair in surprise when she heard that Cloud, Cloud Strife out of all people, would help Yuffie with handing out her lemonade. It was just too bizarre to believe, too unreal, too not-Cloud-like. Although she said nothing like that about it, Yuffie still noticed. She could read it in her slightly widened, emerald-colored eyes. Oh, and the fact that her eyebrows decided to hide behind the light brown strands of hair that danced around her face.

"Oh, well, the more the merrier, right?" she said smiling.

"Normally, I would say yes, but I don't think this one actually counts if he won't talk," said Yuffie.

"Oh, but I'm sure that it won't be that bad, eventually," Aerith thought.

Shyeah, right. Maybe if she fed him that drug she bought. Nah, she shouldn't do that, 'cause then he would sleep for the rest of the day (and she would get to hear his snoring all the time), because Cloud was Cloud. Besides, if anyone should be fed that drug, it was the aloof, Mr. Tall, dark and handsome Leon. She still had to try that on him, but only when he was too tired to notice that something was out of place...or in his glass.

Aerith got up from her seat and walked to the refrigerator. She picked a huge can of yellow liquid out of it and handed it to the hyper ninja, along with lots of plastic cups.

"Here. Cloud already brought the other three cans and has already gone to the stall," she said.

"What? Which stall?" Yuffie asked, surprised. "Did I miss something?"

"Cid and Leon made it early this morning-" Aerith began, but Yuffie didn't let her finish her sentence.

"When I was still sleeping, you mean?"

"Yes," the woman nodded. "At the Marketplace."

"Wow, those two are early birds. But I already knew that, of course."

That came with living with them for ten whole years. It was true that Leon was in an extremely bad mood when someone woke him up earlier than, let's say, nine o'clock, which happened every day. One just never noticed, because he always seemed to be in a murderous mood, especially with Yuffie around, because then his self-control was always tested even more. Cloud was another story however, but on the other hand it wasn't at all, because those two were so much alike, that it was almost getting scary at times.

"Okido! Then I'll head to the Market Place, too," she said with her trademark big grin plastered on her face. "See ya!"

Aerith smiled and waved back at her, but by that time Yuffie had stepped out the door already. The weather was pretty nice for this time of the year. It wasn't too hot, or too cold. The sun played hide and seek behind the white clouds. Yuffie hummed a random song she had in her head. The fact that it sounded pretty off-key didn't stop her at all as she continued.

As expected, Cloud's blond, Chocobo-like head was even recognizable from miles away.

"Hey! Cloud!" she screamed hard and she began to wave at him to get his attention.

It worked, more or less. Cloud turned his head slowly - why did he always move like a zombie when he was not on a battlefield? Was it for creating drama? Maybe she had to go and ask him - at her direction, but didn't indicate that he even cared that she was there. He leaned casually against the gray wall beside the rickety stall where three huge pitchers of lemonade stood. He stared into the horizon, eyes as blank as ever.

If she didn't know any better, she'd probably think that that man was (dead?) another philosopher, with his vague behavior. Nah, he was far too young and handsome for that. The lemonade in her hand lapped over the rim of the can as she ran as fast as she could to the blonde ex-SOLDIER.

"Couldn't you wait for me, or something?" she said indignantly.

"Why?"

Was he seriously asking that question? She smacked her forehead with her hand. Why did she always get the feeling that she had to explain every-friggin'-thing to every-friggin'-one?

"Why? Duh! Because you should always wait for your partner, that's the first law of the jungle ... or was that "what you find, you can keep?"" She scratched her chin thoughtfully. "Hmm. Doesn't matter. Anyhow, have you had your first customer yet?"

He slowly shook his head.

"Ugh! Guess this is gonna be a looong day."

Even if it meant that she had company of one of her favorite swordsmen. He only shrugged.

"Why... don't you sell it?" he asked.

Oh, so the guy could freely ask questions? That was new, too.

"Because Aerith didn't allow me. We have to hand it to any passersby, and hope that they'll read the letter that's attached to the cup, before they throw it away as junk and don't recycle it."

"Hm."

He could imagine Aerith saying that, indeed. She was much too nice for this world, for any other world, too. No wonder Zack-

He closed his eyes with a painful expression and when he opened them, the color of his eyes had changed, along with the expression that lay in them. There was only emptiness and a depressing shade of blue that could be seen in his eyes.

Yuffie didn't seem to notice anything, however, because she went on talking about... something, and... something else. He hardly heard her. It sounded like some mindless chattering in the background, because he was good at tuning in and out of reality.

"Okay. This sucks! We've been here all this time and nobody has even come to us! Do they even know about our existence?" Yuffie whined. "What time is it, anyway? Eleven o'clock? Half past twelve? Do you have a watch or something?"

"It's... five pas nine," Cloud replied, somewhat amused.

It seemed that Yuffie wasn't changed one bit. That thought was once again confirmed when she shrieked.

"WHAT? Are you saying that we've been here for only five minutes?"

Apparently, she found it hard to believe and she had no sense of time. That surely promised no good.

"Apparently," he answered calmly, still eyeing her.

"Well, then it's time for a break. I'm gonna get me something to eat. You want something, too?"

She looked up at him, expectantly.

"No. Thanks."

A long-suffering sigh escaped her lips, as she muttered, "Now, what a surprise."

As Cloud watched her walk away to a shop, he suddenly found that he had a bit trouble with hiding the small smile that threatened to appear on his face. Maybe it had been a good idea after all to come back again. He could really use someone like Yuffie around him. It made everything so much more... pleasant.

"Well, seems like some things never will change," he muttered absent-mindedly.

He was more than surprised when Yuffie turned and came running back at him, with nothing in her hands.

"Let me guess, all the money was sold out?" Cloud asked.

"No, but I uh... he he he. I just realized that I don't have any money with me. So I was wondering if uhm..."

He saved her from more embarrassment - that was, if she felt embarrassed at all, which he doubted - and put something in her hands. It was twenty Munny, all he had.

"Uh, thanks! You sure you don't want anything?" she asked.

"Only if you treat me," he replied sarcastically, which earned him a funny look.

"Right..."

All in all, distributing the lemonade didn't go that fast, but not very slow, either. At least Cloud didn't die out of boredom. Yuffie ensured that with her strange yet funny remarks. There were mostly girls of Yuffie's age and older who visited their stall, which was much to Yuffie's chagrin. Why? Because they were only those annoying, giggling girls, which had at least six layers of make-up smeared on their faces full of zits. They looked actually more like scary giggling clowns, which you only met in your worst nightmares. They just looked at Cloud the whole time and giggled even more, when their eyes met.

"Hey, I don't remember ever seeing you here before," the girl with the long, blond hair said.

Her voice was as smooth as silk and honey combined.

Yeah, well that's because we don't hand out lemonade every day here, smartass. Guess that because of the sixty layers make-up, her brains don't get any oxygen, Yuffie thought sarcastically.

"..." was Cloud's non-response.

"Are you new around here?" she tried again.

Yuffie didn't know why Cloud answered this question, but she didn't like it.

"Not really. I used to live here before the fall of Radiant Garden."

"Oh, I see. I'm Rebecca by the way and this is my friend Nannette."

He gave the two ladies a curt nod.

"What's your name?" the other one said.

Yuffie gave her a quick look. She had long, brown hair, green eyes, and, as Cid might've put it, 'damn nice curves,' just like that Nannette.

"...Cloud."

"Ooh, I like clouds! They're all so... fluffy!" Rebecca cried delighted.

Yuffie thought she would throw up, but thank heavens it was false alarm, because the cans were still full. Why didn't Cloud just ditch those two? Couldn't he see what they were up to? Or didn't he care at all?

"So, Cloud. I guess then you also know the tall, dark and handsome Mr. Leon?" Nannette asked, sounding a bit too eager and interested in Yuffie's opinion.

Cloud nodded, "He's a friend."

"I see. Hey, I've got a brilliant idea. How about we all go to the movies? Of course I realize it wouldn't be fair for anyone if it's two girls-" Nannette pointed at herself and her friend "and just one guy, so why don't you ask Mr. Leon with you? You two can choose the movie. We don't even mind watching horror. What do you think?"

Yuffie simply couldn't believe this. Was everyone blind here? Didn't she - the great ninja Yuffie - have enough curves to go with them? In that case, she thought it was a damn good excuse to roll her eyes and spill a great part of the glass of lemonade "accidentally" on the clothes of the most annoying one, hoping fervently for the tank top to be ruined.

"Oops. I can be sooo clumsy at times."

"AAAAAGH! My top! It was all new too! You stupid! You're so gonna pay for a new one!" the girl spoke furiously.

Wow, they finally had turned their attention to her, though they were furious like hell. Yuffie didn't mind it one bit, though. After all, nobody was scarier than Mr. McGrumpy Leonhart when he was angry.

"I don't think so, plastic fakeness. If you stop botoxing your face, then you can give it to the cleaners without living without bread for a whole month," Yuffie countered fiercely.

Apparently, the brown-haired girl had nothing else to say to defend herself and her dirty top, because she walked away with a loud "Hmph!"

Nannette followed her as she tried to calm her best friend down a bit. Mission accomplished. The smirking Yuffie looked away from those two and caught Cloud looking at her with another blank expression that would put a blank piece of paper to shame.

"Now what?" she asked impatiently.

"Care to explain what that was all about?"

She gave him a 'what-did-it-look-like-to-you-stare' in return, but it didn't affect him at all.

"Oh, believe me; I've done you a favor. Those two are no good for you. And I know you like mini-skirts and high heels and all that fake and cheap crap, 'cause you're a man after all, so I guess I should forgive you this time, but they're sluts," she replied confidently.

Cloud was still looking at her in a strange way.

"What?" she repeated.

"Leon was right. You really are bad at lying."

Yuffie's cheeks started to color a faint red. What more had Leon told him about her?

"What the heck is that supposed to mean? Just shut up and go back to work, otherwise we'll still be standing here till the next day. Those cans really have to be empty today."

"...What am I supposed to do? Look around, there's nobody here."

Yuffie sighed and put her hands on her hips. Did she really have to spell it out for everyone? Things sure were a lot easier when she was younger than seven.

"Cloud, Cloud, Cloudie cloud. This attitude gets you nowhere. Be positive, you almost drag me along in your never ending depression."

"...Whatever."

That made her brows furrow in confusion.

"Hey, are you sure you're not Leon's long lost brother, Chocobohead?"

"..."

Oh great, so now he was back in his silent blankness mode, if that was a word. Oh well, at least he was still here with them, and not somewhere else, hunting some silver-haired man-demon thing, called Seriphoth. Sethiroph. Sephithor. Sephiroth, or whatever the heck the guy's name was. And that was quite an achievement, too.

She started to wonder whether all men held some sort of secret competition of who had the longest, largest and heaviest of all weapons, because those things seemed to be growing every day. If another sword decided to show up, with another random guy holding it, then they would probably have to kick someone out of the house, because otherwise there was no place for all of them to stay.

Well, if that had to happen, then she preferred for that someone to be either Cid, or Merlin, 'cause Leon was too much fun, in his cold, grumpy, and annoying way. She couldn't miss Aerith's cooking (although she could miss her whining like toothache); otherwise they would all starve, especially if Yuffie was the one who had to cook. Food poison would only be the beginning. And Cloudie just had to stay, because he would flee as soon as he was free. And then Aerith would start being all sad and depressed, so nobody could cook for them and that would be so hard. They would all starve for sure.

A large crowd of angry people blocked the view of Merlin's house the next day, so he went outside to ask what all this fuss was about. He did have an idea, because this wouldn't be the first time such a thing had happened.

"Oh my goodness!" was his first reaction. "What happened to you poor souls?"

The answer to his question didn't surprise, nor shock him. He knew Yuffie too long to be surprised of anything. Apparently, the young and hyper ninja had accidentally - or perhaps on purpose (which was even more likely), because you never really knew for sure with her - put some dye in the home-made lemonade, because everyone who had been drinking it, had yellow teeth. It didn't escape him that most of them were women, too. It was a remarkable view.

"I'll come up with something. Give me one day. That's all I need," the great and wise wizard promised.

It seemed that one day was still too long for some people, but they realized soon enough that they didn't really have another choice. So they had to stick with this one. The great wizard closed the door behind him, wondering where the subject of this problem was.

"Hey, old fart. What's all that ruckus about outside?"

Merlin, the "old fart," turned around, clearly annoyed with the young ninja that had entered the room. He sighed wearily.

"For the last time, young lady, my name is not Old Fart. I'm Merlin, the great wizard. You should respect your elders."

"Blah blah blah. So tell me, what's the big deal?"

He sighed once again. Apparently, all he had said, had been for nothing, for the girl would never learn.

"Yuffie, it's not nice to call people names," Aerith noted.

Yuffie just shrugged.

"I know. I'm gonna go to the kitchen. Breakfast," she replied.

Aerith gave Merlin an apologetic look, but Leon didn't even bother to participate in the conversation.

And, as promised, everyone's teeth looked normal again at the end of the long day. Nobody punished the young ninja, because they were used to her immature pranks. If you said something about it, then it would only get worse and worse and you would certainly become her next victim. And of course, nobody wanted that to happen. Right?

Yes, that was right, nothing could ever stop the great ninja Yuffie Kisaragi from pranking people. Right now, she was sitting on her bed in the bedroom she shared with Aerith, thinking about new and better pranks.

"Hehe, let's see if Squalliekins and Spikes would like some color in their life," she muttered to nobody in particular.

She couldn't wait till it was day again, so she could go shopping for the things she needed. Tomorrow would be a great day. She was sure of that.

A/N: Thanks for reading! =) I really hope you've enjoyed it. ^_^ So, was it good? Bad? Let me know what you think of this one-shot by reviewing. I would really appreciate that, since nobody seems to be reviewing lately.