The Mysterious Moogle

One: Enter the Moogle

"AND DON'T EVER COME BACK, YOU ROTTEN TROUBLEMAKER!" the greasy storekeeper shouted as he chucked a stale loaf of bread at the ninja's head. He had been chasing her throughout the entire store until they eventually reached the main doors again. That was the point where the ninja saw her chance to escape Mr. Big-Fat Ugly's rant.

She turned around and stuck her tongue out at him after she dodged the stone-hard loaf of bread. Damn! That brick could've done some serious damage if it would've nailed me. She wiped the invisible sweat from her brow with a sigh. Eh, the silly fat man was just overreacting. At any rate, I guess it's a good thing that I didn't end up buying anything there!

"Who knows what other crap they're trying to sell at that dumpy joint!?" she laughed to herself.

Yuffie had been sent on a grocery run to pick up some ingredients for the cake Tifa was making. It was going to be Marlene's birthday as well as her party tomorrow. Tifa had been panicking about what she was going to make for the appetizers, who was coming to the party, and what she was going to give the soon to be 10 year-old as a gift. It was really starting to grate on Yuffie's nerves.

I don't know why she's making such a big deal about it. It's gonna turn out dandy just like everything else she plans for…and Marlene's gonna love the party!

"Aw, little Marley's getting so old!" Yuffie said to herself, crossing her arms. "It seems like just yesterday I was teaching her and Denzel how to pick the locks on all of Cloud's lockable belongings!" She started to skip and whistle an off-key tune as she turned in the direction of the bar.

When Tifa asked her to go to the store for her, she said yes right away. Anything was better than staying in the bar with a stressed Tifa who was acting like a crazy chocobo with its head cut off. Plus, Reno seemed to always be at the bar now, bugging the crap out of everybody there. And Yuffie didn't want to deal with his failed attempts at pursuing Tifa today.

"Stupid Turkey," she muttered, shaking her head in exasperation.

Yuffie was convinced that Tifa was the next beautiful woman on his long list of conquests. And when he put his mind to something, he never gave up until he got what he wanted. Yuffie could only hope that in this case, there would be an exception. She felt like puking her guts out every time she pictured the Turk and her best friend together.

It was truly a surprise to everyone that Reno had even managed to come to the bar everyday without getting his skull mashed in by Cloud yet. Yuffie guessed that ever since the whole silver-haired trio deal, Cloud had been on better terms with Shinra and the Turks. That didn't mean that Yuffie had to get along with them, though!

Well, I do work with them a lot in my reconnaissance field for the WRO. Rufus is pretty sexy, I guess, and at least he's not trying to destroy the world with draining all the mako from it anymore!

Hmm, and Elena's actually become a pretty decent friend! And Rude is…well…Rude is just Rude. What more is there to say for him?

Reeve's an okay boss, I have to hand it to him. He's a very smart guy and he gets done what needs to be done…He just kinda creeps me out a little with his fetish for robot Cait Siths.

So out of everyone in the new Shinra building, Reno is the only one that I CANNOT stand! Pfft. How did that work out?

There was just something about Reno that drove her crazy. She didn't know what if was for sure, but the feeling was definitely there. Oh, well. I'll just ignore the dumb Turkey when I get back!

She stopped skipping suddenly. "Wait a minute! Why am I in such a hurry to get back to the bar? Tifa's just gonna chew me out, drunk Turkey will side with her because he'll take any side that isn't mine, and Cloud will back her up 'cause he's…well, her secret boyfriend." She let out her infamous cackle, "Nyuk nyuk nyuk." No one knows that I know about their secret little dates! Nyuk. The Great Ninja is very observant!

"Who aw yoo tawking too?" a little boy with a huge lollipop in his hand asked her. When she whirled around and gave the little boy her trademark glare, he stuck the candy in his mouth to stifle his scared little squeak. He instantly looked down at his feet so he wouldn't have to make eye contact with the ninja.

Poor guy. He was just curious. Maybe a little too curious for his own good, though.

Yuffie put her hands on her hips and huffed. "Have you been following me, kid?" He shook his head quickly. She sighed and squatted down so she was face to face with the tiny kid. "It's not okay to eavesdrop, you know!" She laughed as a sudden thought came to mind. "Well, it's only okay if you're a great ninja like me, but you're obviously not, so…skedaddle, little dude!"

"Okay, lady! Buh-bye!" he smiled and waved at her with his free hand before skipping away, and Yuffie noticed that he was missing all of his front teeth. How can he possibly eat a lollipop when he has no teeth? Dumb kid…

She groaned and slapped her hand to her forehead. "Kids," she muttered. "I have no idea how Tifa dealt with Marlene and Denzel when they were younger. They were so annoying!" She sighed again. "Speaking of Tifa…she'll probably be wondering what's talking me so long. I better get back before I get lectured…again!"

Yuffie turned again to make her way back to the bar, but the next thing she knew, she had tripped over something soft and landed face-first on the hard pavement. "What the hell!?" She twisted her body around so she could see what had done the Great Ninja Yuffie such a huge offense.

Her eyes were greeted with a stuffed animal. A very cute stuffed animal at that. It was pink, fuzzy, and fairly small. Yuffie mentally berated herself. How the hell did I not notice that there?

Suddenly the stuffed animal twitched slightly, and the violet wings on its back started to flitter. "…K…Kupo…"

"Oh, my gawd. It just moved." Yuffie got on all fours and carefully crawled over to where the thing was laying. When she was right next to it, she gave it a forceful poke, emitting a loud "KUPO!" from the tiny creature. Yuffie squealed in fright and flinched backwards, landing on her butt.

The creature's limbs started rustling around. It looked like it was trying to get up. Is it really alive? It bolted to its feet and whipped around to face her with an inquisitive look. Er, what Yuffie thought looked like an inquisitive look. It tilted its head to the side and stared her down.

"What are you?" Yuffie asked, then shook her head slowly. "Nevermind. You probably can't even understand me, can ya?" She giggled at the creature's expression. Its head was still tilted to the side, which caused the giant, red pom-pom attached to the antenna-like appendage on its head to droop to the side too. Yuffie giggled when she saw a pink bow tied to the base of the antenna. So maybe it's a girl fluffball, then?

She shook her head again and finally took in the complete sight of the cute little creature. It had a fairly large nose that was same size, shape and color as the pom-pom on the top of the antenna. There were whiskers on either side of its nose, which would twitch every now and then as the creature took in new smells that drifted by them with the wind. Its eyes were squinted so tight that it looked like they were shut, but Yuffie could only guess that it could probably see just fine. The stuffed animal-like creature seemed to be staring directly at Yuffie.

Waitaminute! This is a moogle. Real. Alive. Staring right at me for no reason. Oh, wait, I tripped over it. That's why it's staring at me…but still! If it didn't look so realistic, I would think that it was another one of Reeve's robots. I wouldn't put it past him to send one after me just to see what my reaction would be. She sighed dramatically. He's been around me too long. His love of pranks and jokes almost rivals mine now…

Yuffie stood up and brushed the dirt off her shorts. "Sorry, little guy. I didn't see ya there!" She patted the moogle on the head. Wow, it's softer than I thought it would be. "I gotta go now! Bye!" She waved and turned to get back to the bar as fast as she could. I'm so late. Teef's gonna freakin' kill me.

She felt an odd sensation on one of her legs as she tried to walk. She stopped and looked down, jaw dropping when she took in the sight. The moogle had latched its stubby little legs around her leg in some sort of an attempt to get her to stop walking away from it. "Wha…?" Yuffie lifted her leg in the air and tried to shake the moogle off, but its grip on her leg was strong. "What do you want?"

"Kupo." Aww, it's voice is so high-pitched and cute and…What are you saying, Yuffie!? Snap out of it! I have to get back to the bar! Time's tickin' by.

"I don't know what you're saying!" Yuffie sighed. "I don't. Understand. Moogle." She emphasized each word in the hope that maybe the moogle could comprehend what she was trying to say to it.

"Kupo!" The moogle said more forcefully that time.

Yuffie slapped her hand to her face. "Okay…since all you can say is kupo, we're gonna play a little game, okay?" The moogle nodded its head slowly. "Whoa, you understood. Okay, that makes this easier!" Yuffie pumped her fist into the air happily. "Nod once if you are really a real-life moogle right now, but twice if you're a robot or something else." The moogle gave a quick nod. "Nod once if you're a girl, twice if you're a boy." Another nod. Yuffie clapped her hands together once and rubbed them together. "Alrighty! Last question. Are your Mama and Papa Moogle gone or something? That must be why you're here, cutting off the circulation to my innocent leg." It was wrapped so tightly that Yuffie could feel the reverberating pitter-patter of the moogle's heartbeats.

The moogle looked down sheepishly and let go of Yuffie's leg. "Kupo," she stated with one nod of her fuzzy little head.

"Aww…" An unexplainable emotion began to eat at Yuffie. Her stomach started to feel kind of funny and her throat felt tight. She sighed. "Do you…wanna come home with…me?"

The moogle looked up and Yuffie could've sworn that she saw a small smile on its furry face. She nodded in response to the question. Yuffie sighed again. "Okay, well you need a name. Oh, and then maybe on the way I can think of a legit story to tell Tifa on why I came home with you and not the groceries she asked me to get." The moogle nodded again. "Do you mind if I just named you?" The moogle shook its head.

I can't believe that I'm having a conversation with a moogle. I didn't even think they existed anymore…except for that one on Cloud's summon materia, but that's different. "Fine, I'll name you Moogliabamona…no…how 'bout Kupo? No, I would get confused as to why you were always saying your own name, then. Hmm, Moomoo? Selkie? Mocha? Duchess? Mogki? The Great Ninja Yuffie's furry apprentice?…No, that's too long." After each and every suggestion, the moogle looked more and more annoyed. Well, as annoyed as an adorable moogle could possibly look. It didn't matter anyway because Yuffie didn't notice. "I got it!" Yuffie shouted triumphantly. "Moggy. How's that sound?"

The moogle nodded happily and wrapped its pudgy little limbs around Yuffie's leg again. "Kupo," Moggy sighed.

"Geez, for a little moogle, you sure are heavy." She swung her leg back and forth several times, but Moggy wouldn't budge. "Can't you at least climb on my back? I can't walk with you hangin' on me like that!"

"Kupopo!"

The next thing she felt was Moggy crawling up her back and coming to rest on top of her head, wrapping herself in Yuffie's dark hair. The Great Ninja groaned, "What have I gotten myself into?"

A/N: Hey, if you liked this, send me some feedback in reviews! I'm planning on continuing this unless people think it's completely awful. ^0^ (kupo!)