-H i g h - S c h o o l - S w e e t h e a r t s-
- p r o l o g u e -
It was just like any other Sunday afternoon. The sun was beginning to settle down below the horizon. The light was still streaming in through the colossal windows of the castle in the small town of Hollow Bastion. It was by the light of one of these windows that 16, nearly 17 year old, Yuffie Kisaragi sat in one of the large arm chairs reading a book on the art of shuriken throwing.
She was a rather petite girl with short black hair and a black and white headband tied in it. Her deep ocean blue eyes scanned the pages while one hand held the pouch of shuriken that she had unclipped from her belt. The other hand was absent mindedly twirling her short hair. She was wearing crème colored cargo pants with a black zip up hoodie bearing the mascot of Hollow Bastion High School, the chocobo. She was sitting in the chair with her legs bent and feet on the edge of the cushion with the book resting on her thighs.
She would often come to the library to escape from everyone else that lived in the castle. After she was abandoned on the streets by her drug addicted mother when she was only 4, she was lucky to be found by Aerith, who was one year older, on her way back to the castle. Aerith had brought her back to the castle and shown her to Cid, the man that had lived there for as long as anyone could remember. Cid had (and still does) thought that she was just another annoying kid, but he couldn't just leave her out on the streets, so he took her in. Over the years, Aerith had taken a liking to Yuffie (even if she doesn't always show it) and even considers her as her younger sister.
It had always been a mystery as how Aerith had come to live at the castle but Yuffie figured that it had been under similar circumstances, and that she had just needed a place to stay. Aside from Cid, Aerith, and Yuffie, only one other person had joined them at the castle. His name was Cloud. He had come last year on a stormy night, when he was just barely 17. The winds were howling and the rain was coming down in thick, heavy sheets. Every now and then there was a loud clap of thunder followed almost immediately by a blinding flash of lightning. Aerith and Yuffie had been scrambling around to secure any loose objects that may damage the castle if scooped up by the winds, when they noticed a boy slumped over outside of the castle gates. He appeared to be severely injured. The girls quickly got Cid to help and they laid the boy in an empty bed in the castle.
Aerith had been studying healing and medicine since before Yuffie arrived, so her healing abilities came into great use when helping the boy. Aerith refused to leave his bedside until he awoke the next morning. Since that first moment their eyes met, they have been in love. It often times made Yuffie want to gag herself at the sight of them. Yuffie had often dreamed of the kind of guy that she would meet and fall in love with. She had no idea, however, how wrong her fairy tale dreams were.
