CHAPTER SIX

I didn't mention my intense acrophobia (or fear of heights) to Yuffie until I was stranded halfway up the rope attached to the grapping hook. I can't really say I presented a heroic figure, dangling limply beneath all kinds of poles and beams in various rusted states, suspended over a small stretch of shallow water. Screaming my head off.

"I want my mommy!!" I wailed. Gods, how pitiful. I clutched the rope tightly, as I would have my biggest stuffed animal.

"Come on ya big baby! Just a little bit further and we'll be on the base!"

She had been talking about her brilliant plan to get us onto the base and via that, the ship that would ferry us across the ocean. To another continent, where we needed to catch another ride to the island nation of Wutai. All this was brilliant. Except…

"I weally, weally want my mommy!!!!!!" I whimpered, sniffling.

"I'll LEAVE you there if you don't hurry up!" She called from the top, exasperated. "What kinda ninja are you?!" Yuffie added.

"A scared one! With acrophobia!" I retorted hastily. But the threat was more frightening than the situation – being hung out with nothing but this little thread of a rope between me and..well…oblivion…for just a little bit wasn't nearly as scary as being out there for hours…days…weeks….forever!

Yuffie rolled her eyes audibly, her exasperation permeated the air, "Oh brother…" she muttered, then called, "Alright, I'll pull you up, but you OWE ME!"

I shivered, "Higher?"

She snarled, placing her hands on the rope and starting to tug and pull me up slowly, "Yes, higher, where else are we gonna go?" she grunted, "You need to lose some weight!"

"Without any hot dogs in this place, I think that's a given!" I yelped back, trying not to lose my sense of humor.

The dark-haired ninja tugged one last time, pulling my stiff body onto the rafters, "Less jokes, more action, we're *SOOO* behind schedule! The parade's gonna start before we can sneak in! Do you know how hard it will be to slip unnoticed onto the ship with that many people around!?"

I shuddered, then shook off the remnants of my overpowering fear. "We'll improvise…!"

"Oh yes," she wailed sarcastically, "Because it worked SO WELL this time, right?" referring to my acrophobic episode.

I grinned weakly, "Well…"

She huffed, "Let's go, god-summoner…"

She pulled me through a few alleyways until we heard the loud caterwauling that came from a main street I could just make out from behind a dumpster.

"The parade's about to start…" She mused gloomily, thinking aloud. "There's NO way we'll make it to the ship before it starts… So we'll need a disguise!" She said with an air of brilliance.

"Disguise?" I deadpanned, skeptical.

"Well, why not?" she said, "We just need to decide who to be!"

"IS the camera ready?" A distinctly annoyed feminine voice called from behind us. We whirled around to notice an anchorwoman and her cameraman, both mulling over the settings of their hand-held camera.

I smiled. "Isn't it nice how fate just KNOWS what to give us?"

Yuffie grinned in response, "I don't believe in fate. But it sounds like a good idea. I think we've just figured out who we're going to be."

A/N: The reporter scene with Yuffie inspired me, what can I say? Also, I gave Zell acrophobia: makes him more interesting.

Chapters 6-8 I wrote all in one sitting, so they are all short and sequential. I would have made them ONE chapter, but the chapter breaks were important for effect. Ucchan, over and out!