A/N: I don't own anything of KH, except for this story-idea. This story takes place 8 years before the events of KH BBS and 9 years before the events of KH1. Squall is nine years old, Cloud and Aerith are six and Yuffie's one week old. Yay, I finally got over a 1000 hits! I'm happy now. :D

WARNING: This one-shot may contain some BBS spoilers about who's living in Radiant Garden. So if you haven't spoilered yourself yet, you could go to chapter 2. You won't miss any important details.

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

Enjoy reading! :)

~ "Aren't you flattered? You're probably the first guy to whom she has smiled, not counting her father, of course, because that doesn't count." ~

Today was quite an exciting day for some residents of the neat and beautiful Radiant Garden, because exactly one week ago a new baby was born. It was a girl and Mr. and Mrs. Kisaragi had decided to give her the name Yuffie.

Today she would get her first visit from people who weren't family of her. Squall was one of them, along with his thirteen year old sister Ellone, his best friend Cloud and a girl Cloud knew: Aerith. She could be called a friend of Squall, too. Maybe. He didn't mind having her around that much, because she respected how anti-social he could be.

This was all very special to them, because strangely enough there hadn't been a child born for six years or so. The last one that was born, was Aerith, a girl with emerald-colored eyes and long brown hair in a braid. Squall didn't remember that, which wasn't that strange, because he had only been three years old. Besides, he didn't know Aerith for that long, anyways. Cloud had been a few months old, so it was also impossible for him to recall that day.

Laguna, the most famous journalist of Radiant Garden and Squall's father, would bring them all to the Kisaragi's, because he knew them. Laguna had been friends with Mr. Kisaragi for years on end. Squall wore his neatest clothes today: a white, long-sleeved shirt with dark blue, vertically stripes that matched the color of his eyes perfectly, and new, black pants.

Ellone wore a red T-shirt with a black and white skirt and high heels (that just had to hurt, because you were standing on your toes for hours on end. Only looking at it made Squall cringe. He didn't get why girls wanted to be taller. It wasn't like they immediately looked any different, or stronger, or dominant.). Cloud wore jeans and a navy shirt with long sleeves. The name of a famous academy was written on his shirt, in white and yellow letters.

Aerith was, as always, dressed in pink. She wore a cute pink dress with white dots on it, that reached her knees. Instead of the red ribbon she normally had in her braid, she now wore a pink one so it matched her clothes.

She looked so incredibly sweet that Squall's teeth started to ache just by looking at her. He also knew that her behavior was just as sweet as she looked like today. Maybe even sweeter. That was why Cloud probably liked to play with her all the time.

It was true what they said about girls, though; they really were strange. Aerith just proved that point with everything she did, although she wasn't as strange as some other girls he knew (Tifa for example punched walls for absolutely no reason, although she said that she only did it to look for secret rooms). At least she didn't like to gossip, unlike many girls, so that had to be a good thing, right?

Laguna rang the front door, looking patient from the outside, but the tapping of his foot gave him away. A smiling Mr. Kisaragi opened the door.

When he saw who it was, his grin became even wider, if that was possible. "Come in, come in! I thought you would never come," he said to Laguna, as they shook hands.

They followed him into the big living room. They saw that it was already pretty crowded in the living room. A bit too crowded. Squall estimated that there were about thirty visitors, including them.

He didn't like such crowded places so much, where all the adults talked at the same time and didn't listen to the other at all, as if what they said themselves was more important than what the other said.

What they were talking about was usually uninteresting, not to mention dull, even for someone who already was nine years. It usually was about politics, tax and other boring things he had no interest in. Even the anecdotes they told weren't funny.

He was quite sure he would never be so boring and weird when he was a grown-up. At least, that was what he was hoping for, because you never know in advance how much you would be brainwashed in the future. It was a small blessing that his father wasn't like that, but his clumsiness cost him some points.

The brunet boy knew all the children that were present in the room. Tifa was a fierce girl with long black hair and chocolate-brown eyes. He sometimes confused her with another girl - who also had to be here somewhere, - simply because they looked so alike from the outside. Lea, a red-haired boy was one and a half year younger than Squall and his friend Isa, who had light blue hair was just half a year younger than him. They were known as the troublemakers of Radiant Garden. The other children weren't that known, so he didn't bother to look at them.

Out of the grown-ups, he saw the guards of Ansem the Wise and the wise man himself, surrounded by many people who admired him. He even knew all their names, Braig, Dilan, Even, Elaeus. Maybe someday he would become a guard of Ansem, too. His father had promised to give him a Gunblade for his fifteenth birthday, so he had only six years to go.

Merlin the Great Wizard - although he didn't seem to be all that great as he looked like - was also invited, as was the rich Mr. Scrooge McDuck - his seasalt ice cream was delicious! - and his three nephews, Huey, Dewey and Louie and a few people whose names he didn't remember now, but they were vaguely familiar to him.

They all got a piece of pink colored cake on a plate, - yay for Aerith, he thought sarcastically - with a drink from an extremely happy Mrs. Kisaragi, who also couldn't stop smiling just like her husband. It was their first child after all. That was always something special.

Squall now had the time to give everything in the room a good look, even though he came here quite often with his father to visit them. Eying the decoration of the room, he couldn't help but notice once again that Mr. and Mrs. Kisaragi really seemed to love the colors red and white.

The whole room was filled with balloons and pink and white streamers, that showed that their parents celebrated the birth of their newborn child. These decorations were everywhere: on the walls, on the ceiling, and even on the white cot that they had put in the living room, so they could put the baby in there later, so she could be admired by everyone in the room. After all, that was the whole plan, right?

"You know, it's quite strange, after six years I'm no longer the youngest resident of Radiant Garden," said Aerith to Cloud, who was listening to every word she said, almost as if he actually found it interesting.

"I can imagine that very well," Cloud said, nodding.

"You immediately become a lot less important. And I guess I'll have to pay for all the sea salt ice-creams I get from now on. After all, second youngest doesn't sound as cool as the youngest, right?"

Cloud nodded. "Yeah, you're right about that one."

Squall rolled his eyes, a habit he had received since Cloud and Aerith had met, but fortunately they didn't see it, otherwise he would have to explain a lot and he certainly wasn't in the mood for that. But then again, he never was in a good mood.

Cloud had become a spieler. He almost looked like a girl sometimes. He chatted so much and Squall didn't actually find it much fun. It just went on and on and on, until he kindly asked had to ask him to shut up, because he had given him a massive headache. The only good thing about that was that Cloud filled in all the silence, so he didn't have to talk too much.

Squall on the other hand, was more of a quiet and shy boy. Sometimes he wondered, why couldn't everyone else be like him? He totally forgot about his reverie, as soon as Mrs. Kisaragi came into the living room. In her arms she held a small, light blue colored bundle. It was a blanket.

That's the baby, he thought, realizing.

He placed his now empty plate and drinking glass on the table and walked to the cradle, so that he could be the first one there without the other kids blocking his sight with their heads and he could actually catch a glimpse of the baby. It was something he suddenly wanted so badly, though he couldn't really explain why. Perhaps it was just curiosity. The other children followed Squall's example soon after, noticing the sudden change of scene, too.

Squall was more than satisfied when he saw that he stood at the front. He possibly couldn't get any closer to the cradle. On his left side sat a boy with bright red, spiky hair and emerald green eyes, which he recognized as Lea. To his right was Lea's best friend, called Isa. He had longer, bluish-silver hair and deep blue eyes.

The excitement could be read on all the children's faces. They all made room for a smiling Mrs. Kisaragi, so she could put the baby in the crib. When that happened, the kids curiously bent forward to get a better look of the little baby.

A little head appeared on top of the sky blue blanket. The head looked perfect, as though it was of an angel's. Her pinkish skin looked even softer than a cushion. They could already see that she had some black hair on her head. Her black lashes framed her eyes like tiny, soft feathers. She had her dark, chocolate-brown eyes open and looked around surprised, while she tried to recognize something. With her hands she had a firm hold of the blue blanket, as if she was afraid to fall if she let go of it. She looked so breakable. Some people gasped, amazed by what they saw.

"Aaaaaww," said a chorus of girls, which was to be expected.

"Look at the baby's hands. They're so small!" the girl who really looked a lot like Tifa cried, squealing like some crazy fangirl.

What was her name again? Rhin... Rinoa?

"Well, it would be kinda wrong, not to mention scary, if she had hands the size or her father's already, now don't you think?" Isa replied somewhat coolly.

The girl just ignored him and continued quite cheerfully, "I just can't imagine that I've ever been so small. It's amazing! But those small nails save lots of nail polish."

Some adults who heard that, almost died of laughter. Even Elaeus, the guard who never seemed to laugh, had a trace of a tiny smile on his hardened face.

"What? It's true!" she exclaimed, while giggling and looking around.

"I wish she was my sister," said Aerith, sighing.

"Yeah, me too!" Rinoa and Tifa uttered excitedly, agreeing simultaneously.

Suddenly, the baby made eye contact with Squall and laughed shortly, so that her toothless mouth was visible for everyone.

"Hey, she smiled at me!" Lea shouted suddenly, surprised, but also delighted by it.

"Nu-huh. She smiled at me, obviously," Isa countered, shaking his head at his best friend.

That was the start of round one hundred and something in their bickering.

"No, she didn't!" Lea shouted loudly.

"Yes, she did."

"That's not true!"

"Yes, it is," Isa said with a calm expression on his face, although he was far from calm at that moment.

"NO, IT'S NOT, OKAY!"

Squall was getting a terribly headache of those two, especially because he stood in between them and they were practically shouting in his ear. He looked up from Yuffie, who actually clearly had smiled at Squall only and caught Aerith staring at him, a small smile tugging at her soft pinkish lips.

"What?" he said flatly.

"Aren't you flattered? You're probably the first guy to whom she has smiled, not counting her father, of course, because that just doesn't count."

Of course he was flattered, but she didn't have to know that.

He shrugged as nonchalantly as he could and looked at the tiny, perfect little angel that was surrounded by a sea of blue blanket. "Not really. A baby like her only sees a balloon instead of a human's face. So she only likes me, because she thinks I'm a balloon with nice colors, not because I look great today, or something. I don't know why I would be proud or flattered at that," he said with a monotone voice.

Laguna who had heard his son, started to laugh. "Squall, you're reading too many informative books. It's almost scary, 'cause I didn't know this much when I was nine," Squall's father exclaimed.

...Obviously, his son thought, sarcastically.

Baby Yuffie let go of the blanket and started moving around with her little fists. She yawned in a way that made it look as if she was exhausted and hadn't slept for ages, her mouth forming a small, but adorable "o," making the choir of girls sing "Aaaaaww," at the same time again.

Squall almost wanted to join the choir, but he managed to control himself right in time. He had to admit that he hadn't thought it was possible for such a small creature to steal his heart already by only smiling at him, but she was just so incredibly sweet and cute and well, even beautiful (didn't that go too far?), even though it was just a baby.

He fervently hoped that she wouldn't get as annoying and hyper as Isa and Lea when she had grown up. That would be such a sin, not to say frustrating. From that moment on, he swore he would do everything to protect her from any harm, always and everywhere. He felt responsible for her safety, because she was just so small. She depended on him and obviously couldn't take care of herself. So he would do it for her, until she had grown up.

He slowly reached up to one of her hands and touched it lightly with the tip of his pinky. Her skin was softer than anything he had touched before. Yuffie held his pinky with her small hand, as if she didn't want to let go of him and Squall realized that he was feeling warm and happy with what she was doing.

A/N: So, this was the first chapter of this series. What do you think of it? Reviews are more than appreciated.

Next chapter: Sweet little Yuffie gives her first hug in public... to a guy. His best friend gets jealous...