Treasure
"There's nothing left for me here," he snapped.

Word Count: 4,420
Pairing: Yuffie/Leon...although it could be interpreted as good old brother-and-sister-ness
A/N: ...hey, so I'm not dead? I had this one-shot collecting dust on my hard drive for maybe three or four years now, but I never got around to finishing it...until now, that is! So here's a hella long one-shot. Takes place pre-KH2 universe, so all the Organization and Nobody stuff hasn't even been thought of yet.


Yuffie P.O.V

It was times like these that make me I wish I was the Hulk, or Superman, or, at the very least, somebody else but me.

Don't get me wrong, being tiny isn't so bad. My size has gotten me out of many sticky situations (although my small size was usually the reason why I got into those situations in the first place). Sometimes I even forget that I'm just barely five feet tall. But Squall--oh, I'm sorry, LEON--seems to revel in the satisfaction of constantly reminding me of my minute height and proceeding to make me feel only an eighth of an inch tall.

Obviously today wasn't going to be any different.

Note to self: Remind self to kill whoever came up with the term "spring cleaning." I blew away a strand of hair with an upturned lip, shifting the box in my hands so I could get a better grip on it. Who knew we had so much junk lying around the Green Room?

My knees buckled underneath the weight of the box. A pair of arms caught me around the middle, preventing me from hitting the ground. "Thanks," I said sheepishly. "I guess I don't know my own limit."

Leon lifted the box from my grasp. "Whatever." I managed to hide a smile at this. Of course I'd never expect Leon to openly acknowledge the fact that he'd actually helped me. No, I'd let him keep his pride...for now. "What are you doing with all this stuff, anyway?" he pressed.

"A little late spring cleaning. Aerith's idea." I looked around the room, which was pretty much boxed up and in complete chaos. "If there's anything you treasure in this dump, you should probably put it away somewhere where I can't get to it, otherwise it's going in the trash."

He shrugged. "I don't treasure anything."

My mouth dropped open at this. Everyone has to treasure something. "Nothing?"

"Nothing," he confirmed.

Sure, Leon didn't seem like the type to store his stuff in a memory box, but it still didn't make sense. He was a very private person, so he had to have some sort of secret stash of...secrecy somewhere in here. "No pictures, journals, old toys, Mr. Blanket, anything?"

"Nothing."

"Are you sure? No lucky underwear or rabbit's foot? No hidden porn magazines?"

After pinning me with a particularly toxic glare of doom for the porn remark, he firmly repeated, "Nothing."

I found this pretty hard to believe. "There has to be something--"

"There's nothing left for me here," he snapped.

I winced, sensing his anger. Apparently I'd stepped on a nerve. Again. That's all I'd been doing lately, it seemed. "Sorry," I mumbled. "Well, I'm going to get back to cleaning."

He stomped away, his heavy boots thudding and chains clinking as he went. He grunted something under his breath, which I interpreted as, "I'm going to the waterway." For all I know he might as well have said, "I'm going to play dress up with the little girl next door" or "I'm going to buy a size five itsby bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini. Don't wait up" and I wouldn't have thought anything of it...is it frightening that I could actually see both of those events happening?

With a sigh, I returned to the task at hand. Judging from the heap of junk, I'd be done in...oh, say three millenia?

I shimmied underneath the bed to retrieve some of my stuff. Y'know, old diaries, baby pictures, "feminine products" and other things I'd be mortified if Squall saw. Pushing aside a few socks and shoes, I came across a sleek leather box. I grabbed it and slid it out from underneath the bed. A brass lock kept the contents of the box a mystery. I thought of putting my ninja skills to use and picking the lock. Then I thought about running after Leon and asking him about it, as it certainly wasn't mine, but then I recalled what he'd said. "There's nothing left here for me."

Well, fine. He wanted to be that way? I could be that way too. Without further hesitation, I tossed the box into an empty trash bag, thinking no more of it.

"Where is it?!"

I shot up in bed, looking around frantically while groping for my shurikens. An intruder? Wait a minute...After seeing that it was just Squall, I flopped back down and pulled the sheet over my head. "Squall, it's three in the morning," I said pointedly. "Could you have a mental breakdown some other time? Like when people aren't trying to sleep?"

"It's just that..." I could just make out his frame in the dark. He ran a hand through his shaggy mane, combing his bangs out of his eyes. "When you were cleaning, did you see a black case? It had a huge lock on it. I could've sworn I'd left it under the bed..."

I sat up slowly this time and felt my stomach lurch. Remember what I told you about feeling an eighth of an inch tall? He wasn't even trying to make me feel bad, yet I still felt like the scum beneath his shoe. "A b-black case? With a brass lock?"

"Yeah. Where is it?" he demanded.

"Um...well, there's actually a very funny story about that..."

Hardened sapphire eyes glared at me. "Spare me the details."

"Well, you'd said that there was nothing left for you here so I..."

His long bangs hid his expression from me, but I didn't have to see his face to know that he was contemplating homocide. "Don't tell me that you..."

Well, he didn't tell me, so I wasn't completely at fault. "I threw it away." There. It was out. I vaguely wondered if the window was unlocked, in case I had to make a quick escape.

To my surprise--more so to my confusion--he said nothing.

"Squall?" I noticed that I'd called him "Squall" twice tonight and he hadn't corrected me once. "Hey! It's not my fault! If you'd told me about it, I would've made sure to put it somewhere safe!"

But I don't think he was listening. He seemed to be staring at a nonexistent point in the room, his eyes taking on a glassy look. It was slightly unnerving. He was Squall "Leon" Leonhart. He wasn't supposed to have feelings, he wasn't supposed to care. As quickly as the mask had slipped, it returned with a glare a thousand times worse. He opened his mouth to say something, thought better of it, and instead swept out of the room.

"Squall, wait!" He hadn't even taken his Gunblade! The Heartless were getting stronger each day. My Conformer sometimes couldn't even hold against the massive numbers we'd been getting lately. What was he thinking, storming off at night without a weapon?

"It's Leon," he finally corrected almost tiredly before wrenching the door open and disappearing into the dark. I hurried out into the hallway to run after him, but he was gone. I sat down heavily on the bed. That box must've been more special to him than he even realized. But he'd have to come back sooner or later, right? ...right?

"I haven't seen Leon all day. Any idea where he is?" Aerith asked as we sat in a booth at the cafe.

I sighed miserably. It was morning now, and still no sign of Leon. There must've been something extremely valuable for him in there to take off for the whole night and skip breakfast. This is why people shouldn't be heartless bastards; everyone ended up getting hurt somehow. I hoped Squ--Leon--would learn a lesson from this. "No."

"I wonder why he left without telling anyone."

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking. I should've told Aerith. I knew I should've too. But there was this part of me that was determined to fix things on my own. I guess I should also mention here that this was the same part of me that would take on thirty-something Heartless with a plastic knife. People have told me that I have a knack for biting off way more than I could chew. "Hey Aerith, when's the garbage being collected this week?" I asked.

Aerith, obviously confused and dumbfounded by the sudden subject change, stared. "Why?"

"Uh, it's my turn to take out the trash, and I forgot."

"You'd better hurry then," she answered while glancing at her watch. "The truck usually come around by nine, and it's already nine-oh-seven."

"What?!"

She blinked. "Yuffie, it's just garbage. We can always take it out to the dumpster."

But I was already up and gone, headed for the garbage dump. Remember what I was talking about before? You know, the part about me being reckless and dumb enough to take on a zillion Heartless with a plastic knife. Well, said reckless part of me apparently decided that I was going trash surfing too. The things I did for that bastard...

After a long--and I mean LONG, damnit--day and what seemed to be an even longer shower (sour milk so doesn't wash out easily), I finally trudged into the Green Room, still case-less. I was half-expecting Leon to be sitting at the table reading a book or something, looking at me as I walked into the room, asking me why I smelled like sour milk.

Keyword was half-expecting, so I was half-disappointed when I found that he wasn't there.

I'd never seen him act like that before. Sometimes he took off for the day, but he was always back by the time I woke up in the morning. It was weird, having the room to myself. Of course I'd often daydreamed of the day I could get my own room. Now that I had the biggest room to myself...I wasn't so sure I liked that idea anymore.

Well, you can't have your cake and eat it too, Kisaragi.

Sure I could. Now that he was gone, I could hog all the covers! I could even jump on the bed. Even better: I could have breakfast in bed and not have him complain about crumbs! This was great, this was the best thing to ever happen to me, this was...

...who was I kidding? This sucked. Not only did I feel guilty about Leon's sudden departure/mental breakdown, I felt...well, lonely, believe it or not. Maybe lonely wasn't the proper word to use, seeing as Leon did anything but keep me company. He might as well have been one of the four walls in the room. It was more like...his presence comforted me. The last time I'd had a room of my own was when the Heartless attacked. Ever since then, I don't think I've ever spent a night on my own. Well, a horde of monsters storming your bedroom at some godforsaken hour is a traumatizing event, especially if you were seven at the time. Although it's unbecoming of a Great Ninja such as myself, I'm afraid of the dark. So sue me.

A soft knock interrupted my thoughts as Aerith poked her head into the room. "Hey," she greeted softly. "I haven't seen you all day."

"Yeah well, since Mr. Tall, Dark, and Moody disappeared I had to carry all of the slack and take out a crapload of Heartless on my own," I answered bitterly.

"You missed dinner."

"I'm not hungry. I'm just really tired, so I thought I'd turn in early."

"Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"It's just that I've never heard you turn down a free meal before."

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine."

She hesitated for a moment, seeming to choose her words carefully. "I was wondering..." she began, reaching up and twirling a lock of her hair around her finger. "There's a leak in my room, and Cid said he'd come by tomorrow morning to fix it. Do you mind if I bunk here tonight?"

"Sure." I rolled over to give Aerith some space. Aerith was always more of a people person than I was, and all of a sudden, at that moment, it struck me then just how grateful I was for it. If she hadn't come to keep me company, I probably would've begged. But Aerith, being the oh-so wonderful person she is, senses these things. She always knows just what to say.

"Yuffie, why do you smell like spoiled milk?"

Sorry, did I say always? Scratch that.

It was amazing. Simply a-frickin-mazing.

Who knew that one stupid little district of maybe fifty--possibly only thirty--people could produce so much waste?

So Day 2 of the hunt wasn't much better than Day 1. The only bright side was the fact my nose had shockingly gotten used to the stench...although I'm not sure if that's such a good thing, in retrospect.

"Do you realize that you're looking through garbage?"

Speaking of stench...I certainly was not in the mood. And that's just putting it nicely. I was swimming in trash heaps twice my size, thank you very much. I turned and glared at the person who'd spoken. "You'd better haul ass before I tear out your jugular vein," I hissed through clenched teeth.

Cid stuck a lit cigarette between his lips and laughed heartily. "That is if you don't drown in garbage first."

"Shut up."

"What're you doing, brat?"

"Are you kidding me? I'm up to my freaking ears in the city dump, and you still can't tell what I'm doing?"

"What I meant to say was why? Why are you dumpster diving?"

"Because I have a garbage fetish. Why else would I be looking through garbage?"

"What'd you throw out?"

I stopped. I didn't even actually know what it was that I threw out, but all I knew was that Squall wanted it back. "This black case with a gigantic lock. I found it in the Green Room while I was cleaning."

"Why d'you want it back so bad?"

"It was Squall's."

Cid's expression became thoughtful and pensive. "Wait, you said you threw out a black case with a huge ass lock?"

"Yeah...why?" Had he seen it? Did he know where it was? Or, more importantly, did he know what was inside of it?

Cid's few remaining brain cells, straining under the unaccustomed pressure of thinking, gave up, and the pensive expression vanished as suddenly as it appeared. "Dunno."

Damn. I knew I was expecting too much from him. "Stupid old fart," I muttered, angrily kicking an old cardboard box aside.

"I'm not the one playing with garbage."

Hm. He did have a point...gah, I hate being outsmarted by Cid. Note to self: don't let self be outsmarted by Cid again. Ever. "Anyway. Could you do me a favor and keep an eye out for Squall? Aerith's worried about him."

Cid grinned, taking on a shrewd look that didn't look right on him. Something was definitely wrong because of the following reasons: 1.) Cid wasn't supposed to be shrewd. 2.) He was the drunk and/or high ex-pilot whose every other word was a curse word. After some quick detective work, I came to a conclusion: he knew something I didn't. Before I could say anything, however, he turned away. "Sure," he answered, waving a hand over his shoulder as he strolled away.

Ugh, what the hell was I thinking? You're standing in garbage, Yuf, GARBAGE! It took you forever to get out sour milk, and I doubt that moldy frozen yogurt is any easier. But for some reason, I felt compelled to find that box. Why, I honestly didn't know. I didn't know how Leon could stand being so cold-hearted and bastard-like all the time. Surely it must be a difficult facade to keep up. He has to have some shred of humanity.

Another day had passed, and there was still no sign of Leon. Aerith sat across the table from Yuffie, watching said ninja scarf down four pancakes, a chocolate chip muffin, and a tall glass of milk in a span of about five minutes. It was a wonder that the girl didn't gain a single pound. "Have any plans for today?" Aerith asked. "If you aren't busy, I thought we could go shopping, and then go to Merlin's for lunch."

Yuffie froze in mid-bite. "Uh, well, I'm sorry, but I already agreed to...uh, babysit Pinocchio this afternoon!"

"I'm sure Gepetto wouldn't mind if we took Pinocchio with us. Pinocchio would love to get out of the house anyway."

"Oh, uh, but after that, I have to go help Cid with inventory!"

"Then you could meet me for lunch. I'm sure Cid wouldn't mind. He'd probably want to tag along for lunch."

"But then I have to...uh...help the Moogles?"

"Yuffie, the poor Moogles are afraid of you."

At this, Yuffie laughed nervously. "You play one prank on the stupid little things and they hate you for life. Well, at least they don't 'kupo' me anymore."

"...if you don't want to come, you can just say so."

"No I do, really I do...but I can't."

"Why not?"

The teen hesitated. "I can't tell you," she admitted finally. "But I promise it's not illegal or harmful to my or anyone else's health."

Aerith nodded, accepting the answer. "Okay...but try to be back for dinner today?"

"I'll try." She finished off her breakfast and stood up. "I guess I'll go now. Later, Aerith!"

It took Aerith a few moments to realize something. "Hey Yuffie wait! The bill!" The flower girl sighed. Damn. Not again...

"Hey."

Leon groggily opened his eyes at the sound of a voice. "Go away," he mumbled, rolling over on the thin futon bed.

"I said 'hey.' Don't you turn away when an elder is talking to you," the newcomer spoke, prodding Leon in the side with a booted foot.

"What time is it? What day is it?" Leon wondered, sitting up with some difficulty.

"You've been holed up in the Synthesis Shop for three days. The Moogles are too polite to say anything, so they asked me to deliver a message."

"And what's the message?"

"Get your act together and get the hell out of here."

Leon glared at the old pilot. "I'll get out when I feel like it."

"Listen to yourself, you're worse than the brat!"

"If you just came here to lecture me..."

"Okay, fine. What I meant to say is that you're worrying everyone."

"Why do you care?"

"I don't," Cid answered bluntly. "I just want those damned Moogles to stop 'kupo'ing me to kick you out. Aerith's worried to death about you. And the brat's hanging out with garbage to pass the time."

Leon sat up a little straighter at the mention of Yuffie. "What?"

"I mean just what I said. She's been going down to the dump and spending hours looking for something. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this, would you?"

Finding the pattern of the thin blanket he was covered with suddenly interesting, Leon said nothing.

"Here." Cid thrust the previously missing case into Leon's hands.

"Where did you--?"

"This is why you're here and why Yuffie's at the dump, isn't it?" Cid asked impatiently. "If you're smart, you'll take it back to the dump, let the kid find it and bring it back to you, and apologize for being a dick when she comes to you."

"But what--"

"The girl has been looking like crazy for that damn box of yours. The least you could do is let her find it."

"Why?"

Cid shrugged impatiently. "Figure it out yourself." He shuffled out of the room, shaking his head while muttering to himself, "And you kids call me dumb..."

Yuffie P.O.V.

Four days.

Four damn days and still no case.

I think I've finally lost it. Honest to God lost it. I'm ten cents short of a dime. I've lost my marbles. I have one too many screws loose. I'm out of my frickin mind.

Well, that's what caring for someone entails, Yuf. You normally wind up doing the craziest things for them.

Oh, peachy. Voices. Because losing my mind wasn't enough. No, of course not. I get to be a damn schizo too.

Denying it doesn't solve the problem.

There is no problem!

So you actually enjoy rummaging through trash?

I hate to say this but...point taken.

You care about the jerkface.

Okay, maybe "care" is too strong of a verb.

Well, it's gotta be something pretty strong.

How can you be so sure? Maybe it's just something in the water.

Face it: you wouldn't go through all this trouble just for anyone.

Hm. Point taken. Again.

I stood up, gingerly picking at a piece of chewed gum that had attached itself to the front of my shirt. Grossness. "I think it's time Traverse Town learned about a little thing called recycling," I said to no one in particular.

"I second that."

I'd recognize that snarky tone from anywhere. "Where the hell have you been?!" I demanded, rounding on Squall who stood a good distance away from the dump with a smug look about him.

"Around."

"For four damn days and you didn't even send a note?" I marched towards him, thinking of the large can of ass-whoop I was going to unleash upon this man. "You could have died without your Gunblade to protect you, and we all would have gone on with our pathetic lives thinking, 'Oh, well, he'll have to come back sometime' but you wouldn't have, because you would've been dead and that would really, really suck because--"

"Because?"

"Because you're Traverse Town's residential cold-hearted bastard. Without you and your icy exterior, there'd be no snow or winter or Christmas and everyone--and this stupid, worthless planet--would die, all because of you."

One of his slim eyebrows arched at this. "Because this world needs snow to survive," Leon said slowly, a smirk spreading across his lips.

Yeah, so it was a tad bit irrational, but he was lucky I hadn't gone irrational on him. "Great. NOW you want to be talkative, right in the middle of my tirade! Well, you're gonna have to take a number, buddy, 'cause I'm talking and you're going to have to wait for your turn."

"Fine. I'm listening." He stood silently, arms folded arrogantly across his chest.

Ugh, why did I want this pest back in my life? I stumbled over my words for a moment, only to realize that I really didn't have much else to say. Damn. Note to self: when yelling at Squall and belittling him, make sure self has something to yell about. "Just shut... up."

"I didn't say anything."

"I said shut up." Even though he hadn't said a word, his smirk seemed to say it all. "Whatever. Aerith's been worried sick about you."

"Really," he returned, his smirk widening ever so slightly.

"I haven't gotten a damn minute of sleep in four days because of you."

"How is that my fault?"

"Aerith decided to move into our room to keep me company while you were off doing God knows what for days, and you know that Aerith snores up a storm."

"Or maybe it's because you've spent all your time hanging around here...what exactly is it you're doing here?"

"Well..." Okay, let's pause for a minute. I knew what I was doing here, and, judging from that ever-growing smirk on Squall's face, Squall knew what I was doing here...but did he know why I was here, doing what I was doing?

...I think I just confused myself. That's new.

"Well what?" he prompted.

"I've been coming out here in the four days you disappeared to find that stupid black case of yours that you seemed very attached to, which I thought was weird because I could've sworn that you'd said you had nothing left here for you." That shut him up, which gave me the upper hand.

"I guess I'm...well...what I'm trying to say is that I didn't mean to...that I shouldn't have..."

"Apology accepted."

"I'm not apologizing--"

"Apology accepted." I'd known the man for almost ten years now. I knew an apology--as rare as they were--when I heard one.

"I was wrong."

I swear my jaw hit the ground. "I'm sorry, could you repeat those three words again?" I really ought to consider carrying a tape recorder with me one of these days.

Ignoring my remark, he continued. "There are still things around this place that are important to me," Leon said quietly, holding my gaze. After a few moments, he abruptly turned and began to walk away.

"Wait! Don't you want your stupid box?"

"It can wait. I was going to get something to eat."

"Are you kidding?" I exclaimed in disbelief. "You're telling me that I spent four days looking for your piece of crap box that you made a huge deal about and now you don't even want the thing? Gawd, this sucks."

"What're you waiting for? I'm not going to stand around all day."

My jaw dropped yet again in disbelief. Perhaps he really had learned from this. The man was a roller coaster of a emotions! One minute he's on the brink of homocide, the next he was all "...whatever." Then it struck me: I really wouldn't have him any other way.

It took me nearly a full minute to react and jog after him. Again, I'd known the man for almost ten years now. I knew an invitation--as nonexistent as they were until now--when I heard one.

"So what'd you keep in that box anyway that's so damn important?" I asked as I trailed along behind him. "Porn?"

"Yuffie?" He stopped walking for a moment, and I nearly plowed into him.

"Yeah?"

He turned and looked at me seriously with those deep navy eyes of his. "Would you do me a favor?"

An apology, an invitation, and now this? Talk about major bonding time! At the rate things were going, we'd be having sleepovers and painting each other's toenails and giggling about crushes. I hid a smile. I couldn't explain why, but I was looking forward to the idea of spending more time with Squall."Yeah, what is it?"

"Could you move back three feet and stay down wind? You stink."

"...touche, jerkface."

"...whatever." He turned back and allowed a small smile to cross his face.

Yes, this was the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

END.

A/N: ...hmm. It's been a while since I've written anything. I don't know, I was in the process of doing some of my own spring cleaning and I was going through old files on my computer I happened to come across this (which is, ironically, a fic about spring cleaning). Hopefully this will help me get back into the whole writing thing...? Who knows. Reviews are much appreciated. It's been a while since I've last been on FF-dot-net (a while as in almost three years) and it's strange to see how things have changed. God-willing, I'll be sticking around to maybe publish some more stuff, or at least finish what I already started.