For the next few night, she has no dreams.
Today's she is on Heartless duty by herself.
She used to hate this job so much. Such repetitive work, always getting so boring after a while. It had never seemed as exciting as searching for hidden rooms, or trying to crack into some secret data.
But now, as she throws her shuriken around, killing off the Heartless one by one, she's almost grateful for the mindless work. It almost feels good to know that she's doing something good, something meaningful and worthwhile.
No pain, no gain.
But then...at the same time, she's feels guilty. She feels annoyed. She shouldn't need the Heartless to feel good about herself. She shouldn't have to kill off these creatures as if it was some sort of repent for all her past sins.
She's stronger than this.
The Great Ninja Yuffie is better than this.
What an odd feeling this is, she muses.
Fwiiishhh...
Automatically, her hand comes up to catch the whizzing weapon. She brings her shuriken back, about to let out another attack, when she stops.
Blink.
The wind that pushes past her feels oddly warm, oddly biting.
There are no more Heartless left.
How...empty.
What an empty victory.
With a bitter smile, she looks towards the sky, wondering...wishing he could hear her.
Haha...you're wrong you stupid Nobody. You're wrong.
What a gray sky.
The Heartless aren't making us stronger...They're making us weaker
How bright it is.
Weak...Weak as we depend on the black and white.
What an empty victory.
"Yuffie...are you eating an apple?"
Yuffie looks up, blinking in mid-chew.
"Eh?" Her eyes are blank as she processes the words. Then, looking at her hand, she sees Leon is right. Yuffie shrugs. "Oh, I guess I am."
Leon narrows his eyes.
"This from the girl who proclaimed that she would live off of salty junk food, and salty junk food only?" He asks, skeptical.
It had looked so bright on the table, so red, so...shiny. So she took it.
Yuffie grins and holds it up.
"Look...It's my preeecious...So pretty, so blooody..." She purrs, rubbing her cheek against the smooth skin. Inwardly, she does a mental victory dance when she sees Leon's eyebrow twitching.
"...I just want you to know that because Cid's injured, you're going to have to take over his shifts of Heartless watch, alright?" Leon says, his voice strict and clear. He crosses his arms. "And no excuses will get you out of this, this time."
A frown settles on Yuffie's face as she lets out a frustrated groan.
Is this my punishment for eating something healthy for once?
"...Yuffie?"
Yuffie rolls her eyes, but nods anyway.
"Yeah yeah, I got it," She says, dismissing him with her hand.
Leon gives her one last look before walking off, to which Yuffie responds by sticking her tongue out at him.
It's only when he's completely gone does she let her face drop completely. She leans her head against the wall, eyes closed as she takes yet another bite of her apple.
The breaths she lets out are a dense haze of emotions...too deep, too deep.
She's doesn't know what to feel anymore.
Her mood lightens up when two days later, Cloud comes. (She's noticed that ever since the Heartless invasion he had been coming to Hollow Bastion more often.)
She doesn't know why, but Cloud's visits seemed to bring such...tolerance to her day. The skies would still be gray, but somehow the clouds suddenly seemed prettier. She still hated Heartless duty, but she knew when she got back, she would have someone to lose to chess to, someone to talk to...
Someone...different.
Aerith smiles as she tells Yuffie of Cloud's arrival.
"Cloud's come to visit again," Aerith tells Yuffie as she gets back from Heartless duty, an odd twinkle to her eyes. That knowing smile on her face somehow...bugged Yuffie. Yuffie stares at Aerith suspiciously, crossing her arms.
"Alright...What's with that look?" Yuffie demands to know, fingers tapping against her arm. Aerith is unfazed by Yuffie's tone, raising her eyebrows in an childlike, naive fashion.
"Hmm? Whatever are you talking about?" Aerith says innocently. Yuffie narrows her eyes at Aerith's tone. Aerith...Aerith was...
...teasing her!
"Aerith..." Yuffie warns. Aerith finally puts off her facade, breaking out into giggles.
"...Yuffie..." Aerith sings. "Everyone knows you like Cloud...No need to hide your little crush."
Yuffie feels her heart stop.
...WHAT?
"Wha...What crush on Cloud!?" Yuffie screeches, her hands clutching at her chest in horror. Ew. Ew. Ewewewewewewewew...that's just...GROSSNESS!
Aerith's smile only seems to grow even more.
"No...Just...Oh, gawd no! He's just a friend!" Yuffie blurts out. Immediately she covers her mouthing, wincing at her words.
She can already feel herself groaning at all the teasing she's going to get from Cid, Tifa...
...Leon.
Oh, Leon's never going to let her live this down.
Crap.
She's doomed.
Aerith just walks away, humming a silly little tune.
It's when Yuffie starts cooking dinner(cause no one dares let Aerith near the kitchen, let alone inside it) does Leon and Cloud come home.
"Cloud! Yo!" She calls, switching the oven to simmer. "Leon, won't you cook dinner for me...?"
Leon raises his eyebrow, about to make a retort when Aerith comes and whispers into his ear. (Greeeat.) Leon smirks as he listens.
"Alright..." He says, and comes to take the pan from Yuffie's hands. "Go for it."
Yuffie narrows her eyes and whacks him (lightly, of course, as he was making her dinner) on the shoulder.
"Don't believe everything you hear." She warns, before promptly going to Cloud and dragging him along somewhere. "Cloud, let's go play some chess, discuss the meaning of life, and all that stuff!"
Cloud just nods in agreement, letting himself be taken.
"You know...Few nights ago, I had this dream..."
She move her pawn.
"...And I've been wondering if it's real or not."
Cloud pauses and takes her rook. (Craap!)
She continues to talk.
"I dreamed that I was at a beach...and Kingdom Hearts was hanging over me..."
She moves yet another pawn.
"And then, there was this woman...I don't remember what she said exactly, but I remember this one particular thing she said..."
Cloud just her last knight, totally ignoring all the pawns she's sending out. Yuffie sighs. Yup. She was losing big time.
She decides she's going to finally move her queen
"It was something like, 'You can try...that is, if you don't get lost in the darkness...'"
"Checkmate."
Yuffie stops her little talk and looks down at the chessboard.
"Wha...WHOA CRAP! How did I notice that?" Yuffie exclaims, finally realizing what Cloud's plan had been the whole time. She slumps. "I lost again..."
Cloud shrugs and merely beings to collect the pieces.
Yuffie narrows her eyes at him, wishing he would just say something. It was the thing that one either hated or loved about him: He rarely talked. (You see, Yuffie has this theory. The real reason that Cloud doesn't talk is because he...has halitosis. And decaying teeth. Thus, if talks more than necessary, people will catch what's actually inside his mouth, and thus ruining his non-existent social life. And then people will call him names like Gas Mouth and Green Teeth. Which isn't good. No, not at all. But someday, Yuffie believes that she will be strong enough to reveal his secret to the world. Yes
"Well...I'm getting better, aren't I?" Yuffie prompts. "See, you took more time to beat me then last time!"
A pause.
Still.
Then Cloud puts the last piece into the the box and covers it.
"...No." He stands up. "I'm getting worse."
And he leaves, his footsteps thudding on the floor, then on the stairway. Yuffie creases her eyebrows, frowning.
She should know what he's meaning...
A chill runs up her body. With a groan she turns over, reaching for the blanket to...
No blanket. Cold. Sand.
Her eyes zoom open, and is met with the sight of obsidian skies.
Kingdom Hearts.
She's in the Realm of Darkness.
With a sigh, Yuffie sits up and wraps her arms around herself, wishing the cold would just go away. (Yarrr, she's a ninja! She will survive!)
No one else is here. She's alone.
Blink.
"...Is Cloud here?"
She's in her room. It's warm, the blankets are covering her and there's no beach to be seen.
...What?
"Yuffie? ...I'm sorry, did I wake you?"
Yuffie jumps, suddenly realizing there's someone else in the room. Heart beating fast, her eyes fly to the speaker, her hand clutching as her blanket.
"T-tifa?" Yuffie looks down and takes a deep breath. "Dude, you scared me..."
Tifa scratches her head sheepishly, a cheeky grin spreading on her face.
"Sorry," She apologizes."I didn't expect you out all people to be asleep at this hour."
Yuffie tilts her head questioningly before glancing at her clock...
...WHOA DAMN IT'S ONLY TEN! (And that certainly is not right. For ten is much too early to go to sleep! How was she supposed to play pranks on the others if she went to sleep to early?! How was she to secretly sneak around as ninjas should if she was asleep at the only time proper for sleeping? WHEN DID SHE BECOME SUCH A GOODY TWO-SHOES!?)
"...So, have you seen Cloud lately?" Tifa asks, interrupting Yuffie out of her thoughts. Yuffie pauses for a moment, processing Tifa's words.
"He isn't here?"
Tifa frowns and lets out a frustrated sigh.
"And I missed him again!" Tifa groans. Then, putting on a determined face, she cracks her knuckles and narrows her eyes. "Oh when I see him again...Yuffie, thanks for your help."
And Tifa's off, leaving the door slightly ajar. Light from the hallway filters in the crack, filling the room with fragmented shades of orange.
Yuffie lets out a breath, wondering what had just happened. She holds up a hand, almost searching for a grain of sand, a mark, something that shows that...
...That shows what? What is she looking for?
...and her vision starts to fade...NO!
Yuffie wrenches her eyes open, refusing to go to sleep. She didn't want that cold feeling of nothing surrounding her, that cold feeling of being alone, that...
She focuses on the moonlight.
It's only a brief moment.
She's not awake.
But she's not sleeping...is she?
"Who...are you?"
The stranger in front of her turns around, her hazy vision unable to see anything but black, black and...
...blue eyes.
She wakes and remembers nothing.
AN: I realize I put hints of a lot of pairings in here but...they're unintentional. Seriously. I'm planning on making this just a happy gen-fic. (Meh, I might change my mind.) It's funny, I finally feel like I'm just starting to get a grasp on Yuffie's character.
Also, if you leave anonymous reviews...you don't suppose you could leave an e-mail I could respond to?