Title: What happened to yesterday?
Author:CrimsonRose327
Rating:Pg13(just to be safe)
Summary: Tells about what happenes to some of the charecters as they try to pick up from where they left off. pairings: Cloud/Aerith, Yuffie/Leon(Squall), some implied Kairi/Sora (maybe)
Chapter 1
Starting again
Aerith smiled to herself as she dressed. She was so glad to be back in her own room in the castle that she had grown up in. On the inside everything was normal. Cloud was with them again, Leon had dissapered and Squall was back, Yuffie annoyed Squall by deciding now to call him Leon, and Cid was already talking about plans on creating the 'Highwind 2'. But....something felt wrong. Sure on the inside it felt right again but on the outside everything was all wrong. When she looked out the balcony instead of seeing the beautiful lush gardens and town square filled with merchants and towns people she saw rubble and debris. She saw scorched earth and houses with half or more of it's frame gone. Hollow Bastion was no longer the beautiful prosperous, populated place it was before the heartless. Now it looked like a slum with only a few inhabitants. Aerith sighed as she heard a knock at her door.
"Come in." she said absentmindedly as she gathered a few flowers from a pot and put them in her basket. She had started planting again as soon as she had returned to Hollow Bastion.
"You ready?" someone asked and Aerith found Yuffie at the door. She nodded and they left heading towards the operations room where Cid, Cloud and Leon would probably be waiting impatiently.
They had spent most of their days inside the castle taking care of the people who had returned, lost confused...alone. That was one thing she was grateful for, even a little ashamed of. She had her friends here to help her through whatever lay ahead while half of the survivors had nothing. No home, no family, no friends. Most people had been killed by the heartless not simply pulled into darkness and those who were were quite lucky...in a way. Squall and Cloud went through the city making sure it was safe for the people to return to their homes...or what was left of them. In a way Aerith was glad that today she would actually be able to see what had happened to her world but on the other hand she was afraid. Afraid of what lie waiting for her or, rather, of what didn't.
They passed several towns people talking quietly among themselves in the dining room as they were given breakfast. Several people smiled at them and several children waved. It was really rare that any children were spared, yet here most of the survivors of Hollow Bastion were children. Yuffie opened the door to the operations room finding the boys exactly like she thought she would. Squall was leaning aqainst the left wall, Cloud the right and Cid had turned the chair around so he was facing them and began telling them about his plans for the 'Highwind 2'. That was really all he could think about from the start. "About damned time!" Cid said as he heard Yuffie clear her throat.
"I guess I'll take that as your way of saying 'Good morning, nice to see you'"Yuffie said as she dropped herself in one of the chairs of the large circular table. Aerith sat beside her.
"Good morning." she said softly to all of them.
"So we're gonna go do the last check this morning right?" Yuffie asked somewhat nervously as she looked at Cid. He nodded.
"It shouldn't take anymore than five or six hours, then we can let the survivors look for themselves." Squall said. Yuffie nodded.
"The sooner we start, the sooner we'll be done."Cloud said "And the sooner the people can move on." Cid nodded.
"I'll stay here and watch the castle, you four can split up into groups of two" he said with a wink. Squall rolled his eyes "One group can check one side of the city, the remaining the other." The four stood to leave.
"You know you'll make a great leader." Aerith said smiling. "Hollow Bastion still needs -" she began but the rest of her words were muffled by Yuffie's hand.
"Think before you speak." Squall said and Aerith laughed as she tried to picture Cid as their King.
"On second thought...." she said with a smile.
"What's that supposed to mean!?" Cid exclaimed. Aerith smiled shaking her head and Squall threw up his hands before leaving. Cloud let out a small chuckle as he passed and Yuffie just laughed
"It's just we want a city not a gummy dock!" she said mischieviously before running out.
"Ok...so how about Aerith and me take one side and you two take the other?" Yuffie said as she walked across the arm of the couch. Squall and Cloud looked at each other. They were best friends but Squall, though he would never admit it, was actually missing Yuffie behind him to constantly annoy him, Cloud was just too quiet. And Cloud wanted a chance to talk to Aerith alone, and Squall...was just to quiet.
"Nah...I don't think thats gonna work..." Squall said from his place on the couch.
"O..k." Yuffie said jumping down so she was sitting next to Aerith on the sofa.
"Then why don't you and Aerith take one end and me and Spikey take the other?" she said. Squall raised an eyebrow. 'Is she...avoiding me?' he thought. Before when they had to go in groups she was always tagging along and now it seemed like she was going out of her way to make sure she wouldn't have to be. 'Is she mad?' he thought. Aerith looked at Cloud. "Uh...how about Cloud and I take one end and you and Squall can have the other?" Aerith said softly.
"I..uh...sure." Yuffie reluctantly agreed. 'What'd you do?' Cloud asked confused. For the first day he had returned to Hollow Bastion Yuffie was like Squalls shadow..but everyday after that she tried her hardest to avoid him. Even if it meant ducking into garbage cans whenever he passed by. Squall shrugged trying to make it look like he didn't notice she was avoiding him, or that he didn't care. After a few moments of silence Squall cleared his throat.
"Maybe we should head out now..."he said. Yuffie looked at Aerith who gave her a stern look. Yuffie blushed a bit before nodding getting up and following Squall out.
"What's up with her?" Cloud asked as he moved to sit next to Aerith. Aerith looked at him surprised.
"You don't know?" she asked. He raised an eyebrow. 'Men really are clueless when it comes to this...' she thought as she rolled her eyes. "I'd tell you but...it's realy none of my buisness." she said with a sly smile. Cloud shrugged.
"You know...you don't have to do this." he said sofly. He had seen the outside and knew she wouldn't like it. Everything they had known or loved was gone. Aerith looked at him
"Yes...I do." she said softly. "I can't hide behind the castle walls. I don't want to hide behind the castle walls. I need to see what happened to my garden, to my home, to everything." she said. Cloud nodded in understanding.
"Well then," he said holding out his hand to help her up. "Let's go." she smiled and took it gratefully as he gently pulled her along.
"Yuffie." Squall said softly as Yuffie speed walked towards the castle gates. "Yuffie slow down!" he yelled causing the startled ninja stopped shocked as she turned to look at him. He jogged forward a bit so that he was closer to her. "That's better." he said. "Whats up with you lately?" he asked. Yuffie blushed
"What do you mean?" she asked. She hated when she blushed like that. Just being around him made the butterflies in her stomach go crazy and all the blood rush to her cheeks. Thats why she wanted to stay as far away from him as possible. She had only realized this a couple of days ago and she was afraid. She didn't know how he would feel about her, she was in fact much younger than him. When she was getting potty trained he was getting facial hair.
"You know what I mean!" he said losing his patience. "You've been avoiding me all week!" he said.
She cast her eyes down 'Does he know?' she thought to herself.
"Did..Did I do something wrong?" he asked trying to recall his whole week to see if he had done anything to the young shinobi.
She almost laughed outload. 'Aerith was right.' she thought 'Men are clueless'. "No..I guess I've just been nervous. Coming home to this and all" she said referring to Hollow Bastions horrible state. The only things still in tact were the rising falls and the castle, everything else was blood and rubble. Squall nearly sighed in relief. He nodded. He understood how she felt, he had felt the exact same way.
'Guess I overreacted.' he thought. There was something he couldn't explain though. He had actually been afraid that Yuffie was mad at him. Yuffie, the annoying ninja that he, at one time, would sacrifice a limb to be rid of her. And now...he just wanted her near. If only she wasn't so young...
"Leon?" she asked confused waving her hand in front of his face.
"My name is Squall." he growled at her snapping back into attention. She rolled her eyes grabbing his hand and pulling him along.
"You really have to settle on one name, Leon." she said blushing a little realizing he was holding her hand.
"It's Squall, and why do you care you'd just call me something different anyway." he said allowing her to pull him. Yuffie was a little surprised that he didn't push her hand away and storm off but instead allowed her to pull him along. Things were back to normal...for now.
A/N: So how'd you like the first chapter? Leave a review to let me know. This is my first story so I hope it turns out okay. Flames are welcome. The next chapter will probably be much better...Please don't forget to review!!