This was written for 100situations challenge on livejournal. Prompt #37: Loud
Everyone has something they're scared of. Sora isn't scared of the Heartless, nor of the Nobodies – he's considered by most to be exceptionally brave. Outwardly he doesn't display fear; confronted with evil and monsters he simply scorns the darkness that has enveloped them and dispatches them. He's never run to avoid a fight, instead he frequently runs headlong into seemingly futile attacks on a powerful enemy purely to aid someone he's never met.
Most people think of the Keyblade wielder as fearless. Leon certainly didn't expect a short, spiky-haired teenage boy to be chosen by the mighty weapon, and beat the crap out of him – Sora didn't run from that fight, either. Leon had to start admiring Sora's bravery when the boy vowed to beat the hell out of the Heartless, and actually jumped into the gummi ship to venture to other worlds to do so.
Yuffie Kisaragi is considered by most to be fairly fearless – and indestructible – too. In her own words, she's 'the great warrior ninja Yuffie' and she's known throughout town as the girl who beats up all the bullies she can find.
Yuffie is scared of Sora, and Sora is scared of Yuffie. Yuffie is scared of how likeable he is, because the more time she spends around him the more time she can feel herself falling into a web of love for him, and she knows he's in love with someone else. She doesn't want to look at him as a protector – he can protect the world and that's all well and good, but she doesn't want to feel that he protects her – because it makes her feel weak. Yuffie likes to beat the bad guys up by herself. She doesn't like it when she needs someone else to help.
As for Sora, he's scared that Yuffie will forget him. She's done it once before; he'll never tell just how much it hurt to find out that she completely forgot about his existence for a year and a half. He wonders if he's important to her, as she is to him. He hopes he is.
Yuffie doesn't realise just how important Sora is to her until she's attacked by a Heartless when she isn't expecting it. The breath's been knocked out of her and she's lying on the ground watching the Heartless approach her. Her breath returns, and instead of jumping up and kicking the Heartless into oblivion like she normally would, she screams Sora's name.
Sora, true to his nature, rushes to her aid and dispatches the Heartless with a few swipes of the Keyblade. Then he kneels down by Yuffie's side (screaming right after being winded is a stupid idea, a fact which Yuffie only just discovered) and looks at her with concern in those bright blue eyes.
"You ok?" he asks. Yuffie nods. It's a lie, but she hates feeling helpless. She tries to stand up, but her legs are weak from lack of oxygen and she wobbles. Sora wraps an arm round her waist, his heart lighter than it should be when Yuffie is hurt because she screamed for him to help her, and now he knows that she won't forget him.
Yuffie's worst fear has come true. She screamed for Sora and she can't pretend that she doesn't look to him as a protector any more. But even though his name is still ringing in her ears, she's happy because it feels good to face her worst fear and feel fantastic because of it.
Yuffie thinks that if she were some other girl, she'd admit to Sora that her leg hurts like hell where she fell on it and she's still finding it hard to breathe, because she knows that if she says that he'll pick her up and carry her back home. But she's Yuffie Kisaragi so even though she's not being very ninja-warrior-like she's still got some pride. Even though when she looks up into Sora's eyes she's not entirely sure that she's breathless because of her fall.