An: The Months start from the second flashback, the first flashback is from before that time, the third is after the fist and before the second. Sorry about the inconvenience if this was down for a bit, I had to do some vital editing. .;
"I am not afraid to keep on living
I am not afraid to walk this world alone"
June 15…
August 22…
December 3…
March 10…
July 33…
September 64…
November 200…
Maybe its best you didn't come around…anymore…
This reminded her of the evacuation, a long, long time ago. The wind whipping her hair into her eyes with a vengeance was the same, the rain starting to drop on her head familiar; except this time she was not doing something she would be proud of. To be frank, she did not know what she was going to do. Was the banning from this place permanent? Had they forgotten about her? It had been 3 years after all, would Tifa and Cloud be willing to forgive and forget? Would they at least let her have the Chocobo back? She shuddered from the rain and walked meekly forward to push the doorbell.
June 15:
"Miss Kisaragi?"
"Yeah?"
"Miss, I'm here on official ShinRa business. I was sent to give you this, I'm very sorry. The president says that if you need to talk he is always available."
"Yeah, I bet he is. What is this-"
"…Miss?"
"…Go… please. I just remembered I have something to take care of, I- Um…Excuse… me…"
Now that she thought about it, maybe burning down the house wasn't such a good idea… What if they said no? What if they still hated her? Not that she was going to stay but what if-
"Yuffie? Is that you?"
"Um, hey Tifa…Can I- Can I come in? Please?" Her voice was alien, raspy and brittle. She probably looked that way too, way, way too skinny. Looking down to her muddy shoes she stepped forward carefully when Tifa stepped aside.
Don't worry about them, babe. You've got us now, fuck AVALANCHE…
"Oh, uh, sure, Yuffie, are you okay?"
Yuffie didn't answer, numbly sitting and giving Tifa a half smile as thanks.
In the light Yuffie looked much worse, like she had hitched a ride in the back of a mail van all the way from Bone Village. Which she had, but ending up at Seventh Heaven was completely unexpected.
Nibeheim was more likely than this, at least in Yuffie's mind, and she would have given anything for Cosmo Canon or anywhere just as secluded. Except they didn't deliver mail all the way to the Canon. The van must have turned left somewhere when she was throwing her guts up at sea.
"So, you have motion sickness...but you're an adrenaline addict? Of all the stupid things I've heard..."
"Yuffie, what happened?" She should have known, Tifa was way too nice to hold a grudge. Cloud might be different though, she did after all put his family in danger, however unwillingly.
"Where's Cl-" Yuffie was interrupted by her chocobo-header ex-leader coming down the stairs. She shrunk into her seat, awaiting the rant that was sure to come from him.
"Hey, Tifa. Hey, Yuffie- Yuffie?! So, where's your Turk posse? Waiting outside to ambush?"
"Dead." If her voice hadn't cracked it would have sounded like one of her characteristically flippant answers, but instead it just sounded sad. "I came to buy Cocoa too, if I can." Now it was just getting weird, she didn't push or talk loudly or try to insult Cloud. None of the things that made Yuffie herself were there anymore, and a deep weariness was sketched into her features.
"Are you going to Wutai?" Tifa, good old Tifa, she could always be counted on to try and find a neutral ground. She was bright and hopeful, as if the mention of Yuffie's beloved Wutai would cheer her up.
"DISGRACE!"
"No, I-I can't go there right now... I'll just leave the money in the stable, okay? Bye." She looked uncomfortable and almost leaped off her chair. The old Yuffie would have cared that Tifa looked kinda worried, or that Cloud seemed very confused at the moment. She would have noticed a flash of color at the top of the stairs, or the slight, very slight, rustling of long, heavy cloth on wood. The true ninja would have detected each and every sign that there had been a third person listening. But no, she sped out the door toward the stables not really eager, but desperate to leave.
Yuffie stared at her reflection in the dirty motel mirror, had she always had those purple bruises under her eyes? She then looked down to the bottle of Vodka she been in the process of dumping down the sink, snorted at its cliché, and took a swig. The tortured heroine, drowning her sorrows in alcohol, Gawd was this pathetic.
"Nasty stuff," She winced as it burned a path down her throat and poured the rest down the sink. Back to the mirror, her reflection stared back intently, "What are you looking at?" The ex-ninja blinked and her reflection twisted into a familiar face, not her own.
Was Aerith staring in pity, laughing or crying? Oh leviathan, she was going crazy wasn't she? The reflection twisted and contorted, one second pityingly shaking her head and the next mouthing angrily about what a shame Yuffie was. Even Aerith, who went out of her way to believe the best about her friends, saw how pathetic Yuffie had become.
"What the hell kind of idiot are you?!"
"Unforgiveable..."
"It's best if you didn't come...anymore"
"DISGRACE!"
" Of all the stupid things..."
"I'll come back, ok Yuffie? I promise."
"Official ShinRa buisiness..."
"SHUT UP!" the pain shooting up her arm woke her up from the fog, and the bloodied mirror shards fell down into the sink along with the empty Vodka bottle making enough noise to fully awaken anyone's senses.
"Who do you think you are, huh? Just shut up, SHUT UP! This has gone on long enough!" Yuffie's eyes shone with purpose now as she moved around the room and raved at herself, "I am a ninja! I will not cry and sulk around!"
Running out of the bathroom she grabbed her bag and pulled open the window, the icy rain hitting her face like bullets only exited her more. This was not her who cried over the dead, she was Yuffie for Leviathan's sake! She spat in the face of death then ran like hell!
Running along the drain pipe felt like a dream, the old adrenaline that filled her mind was a welcome old friend. She looked like a mere shadow along the walls of the run-down old inn. Now she knew what she had to do, she had to live, she had to mask anything she felt and finally become a real ninja. It didn't matter she was alone, she would walk the world that way and laugh in the presence of danger. She would dance to the tune of funeral drums and sing to the songs of the lonely. She would burn all bridges and roast marshmallows with the embers.
Panting, wet, cold and sore, she hadn't felt this alive in ages. Yuffie looked down to her left hand and removed the ring; the dead did not marry after all. Biting her lip, she tucked the small silver thing into one of the pockets of her bag and mounted her Chocobo.
She had some living to do.
