Of Shurikens and Staffs

by: Lady Evelynn

Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts or any of its characters. Disney and Square-Enix own this brilliant franchise.

A/n: I am rewriting this to further expand relationships.

Prologue: Come and Get It

Sora had just closed the keyhole. It was amazing how he defeated the terrifying heartless with ease with his two goofy companions help. Or one Goofy and one Donald. It was business as usual after he left. While the heartless no longer invaded Traverse Town via their invading gummis, there was still a heartless problem pervading the streets.

While the young keyblade wielder said his good byes, Leon, Yuffie and Aerith waved their goodbyes at the exit of the town.

"I'm gonna miss that guy," Yuffie said turning around. She didn't want the others to see her watery disposition. It was nice to connect with someone her age, even if he was younger. They still were able to connect with their similar humor. That was a rare thing. Everyone around her was stiff, especially one Leon.

"We must do our part here in hopes he destroys Maleficent and her heartless," Leon said.

"Hopefully we'll be able to return to Radiant Garden soon," Aerith spoke.

It would be nice to share her sentiment, but Yuffie wasn't as connected to Radiant Garden as much as her companions were. She only had vague memories while the others considered that their true home.

It was moments like that Yuffie felt like an outsider.

"Let's go," Leon said, making his was to the third district door.

Aerith and Yuffie stayed behind a little longer, allowing Leon to lead or continue without them. He didn't seem to notice. While Yuffie would tag close beside him on any other occasion, today she felt the need to be alone.

"I'll catch up with you guys later," both Aerith and Yuffie said in unison. Surprised, Yuffie turned around and looked at Aerith.

Leon left and they were alone.

"Are you okay, Yuffie?" Aerith asked, tilting her head to the side in a decidedly cute manner.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm okay. Just bummed I won't have anyone to hang out and joke around with anymore."

"Well you can always hang and joke with me," Aerith smiled.

While they knew each other, Yuffie never had any one-on-one time with the other girl of the group. Aerith was always doing her own thing and never joined Leon and her for patrol. While Yuffie knew Aerith was capable she never really saw her in action.

So today might be a nice change. It might be enough to cheer her up.

"Okay. Wanna go to second district and kick some heartless hide?" Truth be told that was one of the only ways that Yuffie knew how to bond.

"Perfect!" Aerith agreed. "Let me just grab my wand from my room and we can get started,"

Unfortunately their bonding time hadn't happened. Yuffie followed Aerith back to the hotel, but when they entered the Red Room designated as Aerith's, designed in a nice oriental motif (which felt more like home to her than her own Green Room), an intruder was there.

"Cloud," Aerith whispered.

The person named as Cloud turned around and Yuffie automatically brought out her shurikens feeling a sense of threat. This guy was dangerous. He reeked of darkness, and even if she lacked her sixth sense due to her superb ninja skills, the red cape and huge black bat wing gave it away that he was a baddie.

Before Yuffie could attack, Aerith extended her arms and ran to him. Dumbfounding both Yuffie and Cloud, Aerith embraced the evil guy!

"Aerith!" Yuffie called. "What are you doing? Who is that guy?"

After a couple of seconds to sink in Yuffie's confused inquiries, Aerith lifted her head up to his and said, "Please Yuffie, leave us,"

And just like that Yuffie was dismissed. She turned around and looked for the first person who could give her answers: Leon.

Days after Cloud Strife's arrival to Traverse Town everything changed and she still didn't have answers. Aerith was cooped up in her room with Cloud and yet again it was only Leon and her making patrols by their lonesome. Though it sounded normal, sleeping in the hotel was uncomfortable in Yuffie's opinion. Cloud didn't speak a word to her and Leon didn't look too comfortable with Cloud's presence either. Aerith seemed like the only person to openly accept his presence.

Cid was apathetic, but he always was since he was always cooped up in the abandoned house tinkering with Gummis taking no interest in the affairs of the group that didn't involve anything scientific he could partake.

It was lonesome yet again.

Yuffie really did miss Sora and his energetic posse.

It was on the fifth day of Cloud's unexpected and unwarranted arrival did he make himself public to the group, even though they all knew he was there.

They all met in the abandoned house in the third district, where meetings usually took place. Cid was off in first district selling his trinkets.

"Cloud," Leon greeted, though not in a friendly manner.

"Squall," the mysterious man said back. Yuffie winced. Leon never liked to be called his real name. And even when she did call him that he only tolerated it once. Yuffie had a habit of pushing her luck and his boundaries.

"I go by Leon now. Be sure to remember that,"

Cloud nodded. Aerith was right beside him looking very comfortable. She seemed to have a glow about her, whatever that meant.

"What brings you to Traverse Town?" Leon asked all business.

"I heard a rumor about the keyblade,"

"The key bearer left before your arrival."

"I see. Then I offer my services while I am here,"

Leon laughed. Actually laughed. "What are you planning?"

"I need provisions before I set off, and while I am here I would like to be of some use,"

"I don't hire mercenaries,"

"I expect no payment. I'll find my own provisions,"

"Hn," Well Leon said all he was going to say. It was neither a yes or a no.

"So what are you gonna let him join the resistance?" Yuffie piqued.

Leon remained quiet.

"Yuffie, is it?" Cloud spoke shifting his entire attention to her. Yuffie gasped. It was an intense sort of feeling having his gaze fall on hers. She gathered her courage and stared him straight back, glaring into his cerulean eyes. He seemed unfazed by her glare. He was underestimating her!

"Yeah, I am. And I have no idea who you are buddy,"

"I am a wandering soldier, nothing more and nothing less. You have nothing to worry about," ((Now)) she finished in her mind. "I am an ally against the darkness. I will help you,"

((Yeah right)) Yuffie thought distrustfully.

Leon broke the tension by stating his final decision. He would allow Cloud to join temporarily while he gathered his provisions. Cloud and Leon would patrol the second district tonight after Leon observed peculiar behavior from the waterway before, at Yuffie's initial concern.

Hopefully this trial would prove Cloud as a worthy fighter.

Everything was decided and they would head out after they prepared. But that left Yuffie and Aerith to defend the Third district where it seemed would be uneventful tonight. How boring. She really wanted to see Cloud in action. She wanted to judge him herself.

It was then Aerith spoke:

"Cloud, at least take me with you so I can heal you and Leon when you are hurt," Aerith said softly, and yet sternly. Cloud turned his full attention to Aerith then nodded. "And Yuffie too, Leon," Aerith included with a 'you-better-or-else' innocent glare. Leon scowled at Aerith's tone of voice then nodded.

Yuffie grinned and ran over to Aerith's side and hugged her. "Thank-you, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you!" Yuffie squealed. After a few seconds of squeezing the life out of Aerith, Yuffie pulled back unabashedly. Leon shook his head and headed out followed by Cloud.

"Hiya!" Yuffie threw her shurikens at the heartless. "Take that you beady eyed- wait do you have eyes? Well, that's not the point. TAKE THAT YOU BEADY EYED HEARTLESS, YOU!" Yuffie exclaimed as she attacked more heartless. She covered the southern section of the waterway, as Cloud covered the entrance, and Leon covered the midsection.

Aerith was off at the sideline, staff in hand, healing the group. "There are too many of them and they're getting more powerful every second," Leon groaned as he pulled the trigger to his gunblade. Cloud, further in the distance, nodded and ran by Leon's side.

"Let's go back, I think Aerith is running out of mana," Cloud noted and he swung his massive sword. "Aerith, come," Aerith glared at the man for a few seconds then began to bat away the heartless making her way toward the safety of the two men.

Yuffie's screech caught the attention of the gunblade master. He switched his attention completely from the heartless to Yuffie instantly and saw that she was bleeding all over. A second later, she collapsed.

"Yuffie!" Leon made his way toward the wounded girl, hacking at anything in his path.

"Squall, duck!" Yuffie yelled picking herself up from the water. Leon didn't have a chance to correct her, though honestly that was the farthest thing on his mind now, when a bright light surrounded her body.

((What the…)) Leon thought as he did what the ninja had told him. The heartless near Yuffie instantly vanished and the light radiated from her body.

"Come and get it!" Yuffie yelled. The short girl summoned all of her energy into her hands and created a large light in the shape of a shuriken. Yuffie jumped into the air and threw it with all of her remaining might.

"Cloud! Help me!" Aerith yelled as the heartless surrounded her. Cloud extended the wing that was tucked under his red cape, and sprang forward with an intense gush of speed. The heartless were easily batted away from the force of his take off.

When he arrived by her side, he withdrew his sword and threw back the heartless, but not all were instantly dispersed. "We need to get you out of here," Cloud said, his back faced from Aerith. He was in defensive mode, and somehow that made her feel weak. He didn't value her as an equal, but a hinderance.

"I am not weak, Cloud" Aerith growled, beyond frustrated. It was at that moment, she recalled an ancient spell. She wasn't just there for healing. Her body radiated with life energy; the light caught his attention but not enough to distract him completely. "Sometimes you make me—"

"Come and get it!" Yuffie yelled simultaneously.

And afterward, a flash of bright light enveloped the entire waterway.

"Are you awake?" A voice familiar to Leon's spoke, waking her from a sweet and painless dream. Aerith opened up one of her eyes and saw that Leon was leaning on the side of the bed. His voice was filled with genuine concern. Nothing to worry about. But when Aerith focused her eyes on him she noticed something unfamiliar about his features. It wasn't a new scar, or anything physical, but was rather an emotion. She saw worry, she saw fear, she saw anxiety, and more over she saw genuine affection. His tone had nothing on his eyes, which were so uncharacteristically expressive.

Leon must have realised her reaction, because he closed his eyes and shook his head. He looked like he was going to smile. Another thing Aerith hadn't seen in a long while.

"Leon," Aerith finally voiced. To her surprise her voice was a bit cracked, like if she had been bed resting (or voice resting) for longer than a day. But she ignored it for now, her voice wasn't the first thing on her agenda of questions to be asked. "Where am I? Where's Cloud? What happened in the Waterway? Did we... win?"

Leon laughed, or as close as a laugh he was going to get, placed a hand on her shoulder. "You shouldn't ask too many questions, you need your rest," The gunblade wielder then reached for her chin, as he would to Yuffie if she annoyed him (in her opinion) too much, and held it lightly. This made her blush. She had never been this openly affectionate with Leon; they were more so companions of same taste more than buddy-buddy. "But if it puts your overly active mind at ease to answer these questions, then I'll tell you. If you can tell you're in the green room. Cloud's in the other room with the other troublemaker. But whatever happened in the Waterway, I honestly don't have a perfect explanation as of now that caused a big mess of things," Leon paused, eying Aerith to see if she was going to comment, but all she did was soak in the information eagerly.

Why was Cloud not with her? Why was he with Yuffie? Did she hurt him? Did she push him away again? Aerith shook her head; it hurt so much to think. But she didn't give any indication to the gunblade wielder that she was in pain. She'd never show her weakness to any one. She all thought this during the time Leon was evaluating her condition. He then continued on.

"It seemed using the rest of your strength to clear out the heartless did the trick. There were none left by the time you and the other one was finished with your little explosion. I'd say it was pretty stupid of you two, and still I don't believe that fixed anything." Leon explained, keeping his weary blue eyes locked onto Aerith's. It was a bit overwhelming, but he must have been really worried for her. She felt touched.

Then she asked the question that had been bugging her this entire time, "Did... did I hurt Cloud?"

Aerith looked away, fear rising in her stomach. Did she really hurt him enough that he didn't want to tend to her, to his childhood friend? If so, then there was no hope left for him, no hope left of bringing the Cloud she knew back to life. She closed her eyes, forcing herself to relax and listen to his response.

Leon loosened his grip on Aerith's chin and broke the eye contract as soon as she pulled away. "No," He finally replied, sighing unintentionally. "However, I think trouble-maker number two did more physical damage to him more than you to the heartless. She was quite reckless for being so intelligent,"

Yuffie? That didn't sound right. Maybe he meant she's intelligent when in a fight more so than her out-of-battle self. No, that didn't sound right also. Damn, her head hurt. Aerith rarely cursed, but she was really feeling woozy. Leon seemed to catch on and used his other arm to support her body.

"Thanks, Leon," She smiled, still ignoring her voice. Did her spell really do that much damage to herself as well as the Waterway?

"We were lucky to get you two some medical help from Merlin; he said you guys wouldn't have made it if we were any later. Don't ever do something like that again,"

At his demand, Aerith opened her eyes and mouth agape. He looked like he made an blood vow to her just then, or it sounded like it. It was so out of character. It was too strange. Something in her face must have made Leon... stupid, for lack of word ((thanks brain)), because his determined features became conflicted, for a second, and then his lips were on hers.

Yuffie moaned. ((Where the hell is Squall? Wait… where am I?))

It hurt too much to move, so she concentrated all her energy into her hands and felt around. Yuffie's hand began to collect information. ((Hmm, soft, comfy, sheets. Must be a bed. A huge dip beside me. A big one. It better not be Squall…)) Yuffie thought, irritated. In any other case she would have been delighted; it's no secret she had a huge crush on her fighting companion. Why else would she train in the wee early hours before a decent girl had the mind to be awake with him, if not for the devotion she felt. Well, not necessarily devotion. But to find him in her bed while she was unconscious, that was not right. At least have the decency to court a lady before you got into bed with her. That thought further embarrassed her. ((Leon... courting... me?))

"Holy!" She opened her eyes and shot out of bed, ignoring the intense soreness throughout her body.

"It took you long enough," A not-Squall's voice said.

Yuffie yelped and jumped out of bed, trying to cover up what decency she thought she had left with her arms. Her boobs? Yuffie dismissed the thought. She didn't have boobs. Scanning around the room she found none other than Cloud sitting on the bed, wrapped in the darkness that pervaded the room. "You were out for a few days," He stated nonchalantly, like there was no previous distance between them. Not even an 'are you okay, Yuffie?' just stating the facts. Weird.

She really wanted to say "Thank you Cloud," sarcastically, but nothing came out because she was in shock. Cloud was seemingly waist high naked on her bed from what she can discern with the lights being off and all, as if he didn't give a damn he was ruining virgin eyes, like he knew she liked it. Holy crap, did she like it? He was pale compared to Leon's chest. The only reason she could see this in the dark was because he was so pale. The skin colour also looked good on him, with his dark appearance and all. Gloomy and pale went good together, Yuffie grinned in her mind. No, no, no! She interrupted herself and grabbed red covers to cover herself. Red?

Yuffie eyed the material. Last she remembered she lived in the Green room. "Hey, Cloud, where's Leon? Why isn't he here?" She demanded, refusing to peek at his naked chest again. Naked? Did he even have chest hair, like Leon did- well he only had a little that complimented him well- or was he shaven? Oh gosh! Naughty thoughts. "And why am I here?" She squeaked, pushing her wayward thoughts to the background.

"You must have used too much of your energy on that attack. It must have effected your short-term memory; you don't remember anything?" Yuffie shook her head. He'd see her movements clearly in the dark, hopefully.

"You still haven't answered my question," Yuffie growled. Her voice, she thought, it seemed lighter. Like it matured in the few days she was out. ((Must be from that stupid attack when I yelled like a banshee)) Yuffie concluded.

"Leon is in the other room with your counterpart. It seems she pulled the same stunt you did." Cloud answered, if Yuffie knew any better, a bit offended. Though she didn't know why. She never hurt Cloud, did she? Nah, he seemed a tough cookie. He'd hurt her if anything. She leaned over the bed closer to him and eyed him cautiously. Yup, definitely no visible hair. Erm, what?

"What were you thinking?" Cloud glared. Really, glared. She could tell because his eyes glowed that gorgeous hue. She'd never been on the scolding end of Cloud before though making her tense, maybe Leon, Cid and Aerith, but Cloud now? She didn't even know him! Only by heresay, but still. So, did that mean underneath his stoic looking cool batty self, he was genuinely worried about her well being? Hm, for being a strong, silent type, he showed more emotion than Squall ever showed her openly. Yuffie grinned and tested her luck.

She leaned closer than she should have, using the bed as support. Cloud didn't move, but he didn't look comfortable. "Cloud, Cloud, Cloud…" Yuffie chanted in sing-song. Man, maybe she should yell some more; it seemed to benefit her voice box ironically. "You care for me, I'm so touched," Cloud shrugged and looked away, almost smirking.

"Don't you think it's a little too early in the morning for taunting," Cloud asked, crossing his arms. Yuffie winked. He was more fun to toy with than Leon. At least he replied to her taunts.

"That never stopped me before," Yuffie said, never backing down from a good taunt. Maybe she'd woe Cloud enough to win him onto her side, and then he'd teach her some pretty cool fighting techniques she observed from their fighting in the waterway.

Suddenly Yuffie's eyes widened after noticing her bangs. "Wait, WHAT?" Yuffie yelled catching Cloud off guard. "When did this happen? Cloud! Did you mess with my hair?" Yuffie yelled as she yanked at her, now, light brown colored hair. Cloud blinked and then gave Yuffie a confused look, from what she could make out from his glowing eyes. "Oh, don't you look at me that way; I always knew you had it in for me! Where's Leon?" Yuffie screamed as she jumped off the bed and ran to the door separating the green room from the red. She had enough of this game; why did Leon leave her with the likes of Cloud?

Yuffie turned the nob and opened the door. Light invaded her eyes, making them tear, but she fought back. What she saw, however, at the other side of the door would never drown out the image of Leon doing something she'd never dreamed he'd be doing.

It wasn't the trick of the light, or maybe it was. But Leon was kissing her. Like, truly hardcore kissing her.