Disclaimer: I don't own Kingdom Hearts, Square-Enix does.

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YuffiexLeon fic. Just some idea that got into my head and I had to write before I forgot it... ) Don't know if it's any good, but at least I got my wish of writing a Squffie fic Enjoy! )

EDIT: This is the revised version of the story. What I did was fixing a few small things, and combining old chapters 1 and 2 into a single chapter, since they were so short to begin with.

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CHAPTER 1 - The Photo in the Diary

Leon was a serious man. He didn't talk much, he preferred to keep his thoughts to himself, the tragic moments still invading his mind, flashing through his head, his nightmares... But he'd never share that with anyone. Leon would just sit in his room, quietly reading a book or two.

"Squaaall! Guess who?" came a girl's voice from behind him, when two hands blocked his vision.

Yuffie.

She was the only one who interrupted Leon's thoughts. The only one brave enough to break into his room and bother him, and maybe make him say a few rare words - they were insults, but words nevertheless.

"It's Leon," he said angrily. He had told her that a million times already, but Yuffie would never listen. It was like she did that on purpose to make him angry - which was, in fact, the truth.

"Aww, Squall, you're no fun!" said Yuffie, taking her hands off his eyes and placing them on her hips, disappointedly.

Leon sighed. That girl would never learn. "Yuffie, get out, I'm trying to read here." he said, gesturing towards the door with his book.

Yuffie, instead, grabbed the book and read the title. " '1001 Things To Do With Your Gunblade On A Rainy Day'? Seriously Squall, what you need is a hobby!" the girl giggled. Leon glared at her.

"Out. Now." he said, which was probably more than necessary to send any normal person running out of that place before Leon got really angry, especially with that gunblade book. Unfortunately for him, Yuffie wasn't just "any normal person".

"Hey, hey, calm down, I was just kidding." Yuffie sat on the bed and looked at the ceiling. "So, what do you wanna do?"

"Nothing."

"Aw, c'mon, wanna go out?"

"No."

"Wanna slash some heartless?"

"There are no more heartless here."

"Wanna watch Barney the Dinosaur?"

"You gotta be kidding."

"Oh yeah, I forgot you prefer Teletubbies, since you have all of those cute underwear featuring them."

"WHAT?" Leon yelled angrily. Yuffie was so annoying! "I don't have anything with stupid Teletubbies, Yuffie."

"Yeah, I know." Yuffie replied happily.

"Wait... how do you know I don't have any Telletubbies underwear?" Leon eyed her suspiciously.

"Sheesh, Squall, I don't go around looking at your private stuff, you know, I have other important things to do. How desperate do you think I am?" she smirked, sticking out her tongue at him and leaving the room.

That was another disturbing moment with Yuffie, thought Leon. In fact, pretty much every conversation with Yuffie seemed to be as disturbing as that. Joy.

Yuffie walked through the house and found Aerith leaving the library. She seemed worried, but when she spotted Yuffie she smiled as usual. Yuffie knew she was looking for Cloud, but decided not to say anything.

"Hello, Yuffie. How's Leon?" asked Aerith.

"The usual. You know, we should be proud. We live with the first and only human icecube in the entire world! Isn't that a reason to celebrate?" answered Yuffie, waving her hands in the air and sighing. Aerith laughed.

"Well, that's just the way he is. Anyway, I was doing some research in the library and I found this..." she showed Yuffie an old book that seemed like a diary. "I suppose it belongs to Leon. Could you give it to him later? Don't read it, okay? It might be personal."

"Yeah, sure." said Yuffie, grabbing the book. When Aerith went around the corner, Yuffie opened the book - curiosity, for Yuffie, was bigger than responsability - and an old picture fell from it. Yuffie picked it up. It was kind of blurry and scratched, but she could see that Leon was in the picture. And he wasn't alone. There was another person with him - a girl, who has holding his arm and smiling. And, although it seemed impossible, Leon was smiling too.

Yuffie raised an eyebrow. She had never seen Leon smile before, him being so moody and serious. Not even when she made those jokes; everybody laughed, except for him, the "human icecube". He was cold as ice, no doubt. And yet, he seemed pretty happy in the picture. Yuffie assumed this had been before the attack of the heartless, Leon looked younger.

He had never talked with anyone about that past. And who was that girl? She must have been pretty special, since she had accomplished what no other human being had. And that made Yuffie strangely angry. She didn't know why, but she suddenly got very mad at that woman, a stranger that might even be dead.

Yuffie decided that she would ask Leon about it. By the looks of it, she could have asked the wall and it would have had pretty much the same effect. But she had to try. She had to break through that wall that Leon constantly built around himself, keeping the others away.

"I think I'm going to keep this... just for a little bit," Yuffie said, hiding the book behind her back and then running to her room as quickly as possible.

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Yuffie walked out of the building and down the streets. Everything was quiet now. The heartless were gone, but people were still afraid of getting out of their safe homes. It was understandable, but Yuffie now had other, much more important things in her head.

She scanned the picture once again. The woman's face wasn't entirely visible, but Yuffie presumed she could be at Leon's age at that time. Maybe there's something about her here in this diary...?

"Well, if I want to continue with the Make-Squall-Open-Up-More-To-People operation, this thing might help." concluded Yuffie, opening on a random page. The pages were somewhat torn, but she could read the neat writing in it.

It's been a long while. I miss them so much. When my parents were dead by those heartless, I thought I could never find happiness again... I was alone. I had no friends. But luckily I could escape.

Funny how I always seem to be able to escape but always leave people behind.

But... now I think I've found my place. I wandered for so long and ended up here, in Hollow Bastion. There are friendly people here - maybe, just maybe, I can find my happiness again and it will fill that missing part in my heart...

"Squall lost his parents? I never knew..." said Yuffie sadly, staring at the page. "Well, no wonder, he never speaks to anybody. What could possibly have happened to make him so cold and reserved? He seemed really happy at that time..."

Yuffie continued wandering along the streets distractedly. So distractedly that she suddenly bumped into someone.

Leon.

God, when did he get so tall?, thought Yuffie. She always had to look right up to speak to him, which was kind of annoying... but Yuffie somewhat liked Leon being so tall. It gave a sense of... protection? She wasn't sure... Wonder if Squall would really protect me if I was in real danger...

"Hey, you should look at where you are going, you know?" said Leon mockingly, patting the younger girl on the head.

"No kidding, Squallie!" Yuffie replied, laughing at the face Leon made at that nickname. "Anyway, what are you doing here? I thought you were busy with your books or something."

"I came here because Aerith told me to. She said that she needs you to make the preparations for the wedding with her. And my name is Leon." he answered coldly, turning around and going back to the building.

"Hey, wait up!" the ninja yelled, running to catch up with Leon.

While walking, her mind was elsewhere... Thoughts like 'Should I ask him about his parents? No, he'd never tell me...' and 'But if I mention something, he'll find out I'm keeping this diary without him knowing about it. That's enough to make anyone angry... especially someone so reserved as Squall. Better make a casual approach...' filled her head, when she finally decided to speak, but she was interrupted by Leon's deep voice.

"Hey, what's that book you're holding there?" Leon asked, wondering why Yuffie was holding a book. Yuffie never read anything as far as he knew, especially a book so old and torn.

Crap, so he noticed... quickly, think of something, Yuffie! The girl choose to hide the book behind her and said, "Nothing, er, just a, er, children's book I used to like when I was little."

"But isn't it a little old?"

"Hey, I can still read it!"

"Whatever."

Yuffie sighed. This was going to be hard. She took a deep breath, and started:

"So, Squ- er, Leon... did you... er, ever, you know, dated before you came to Traverse Town?"

Leon stopped walking and looked confusedly at the girl, thinking about the weird question. Did she...?

"Hey, Leon, Yuffie, right here!" came a feminine, soft voice from inside the church. It was Aerith.

Damn, just when I was about to get something out of him... Yuffie went inside the church, saying good-bye to Leon who continued walking down the street. The ninja found Aerith talking to a guy and pointing at several beautiful roses she wanted placed by the altar and next to each bench. It was going to be all perfect, according to Aerith.

She seemed really happy, Yuffie noticed; Well, after looking for Cloud for so much time, no wonder she's all happy about finally marrying the man she loves.

I wish I could also have someone who loved me very much, that would go through anything just to be with me...

Aerith took notice of Yuffie there and went to talk to her. Unfortunetly, she also noticed the book the younger girl was holding.

"Yuffie, isn't this that book I told you to give Leon?" the older girl asked, putting her hands on her hips.

"Well, it's just that... well, it's a diary, and I always wanted to know Leon's past, but he won't tell me anything. So I just thought that I could... maybe... make him feel better if I knew what's going on inside that stupid jerk's head." Yuffie answered.

Aerith seemed to ponder this for a while. Then, fortunetly, she nodded. "Okay, but don't let him find out. You know how angry Leon gets with these things." she said, walking back to arrange the seats. Yuffie sighed, taking a last glance at the photo, and kept the diary safely with her.

Maybe she could read some more, since she couldn't make him speak...

Yeah. Let's definetly keep it just for a little longer.

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A/N: See ya next chapter! Review please! I'll give Leon plushies to everyone who reviews.

Tallis