A/N: It occurs to me that Axel's been getting kind of sappy and icky these past few chapters, and as we all know, he does have the potential to do that (I mean jeez lookit the way he moons over Roxas, if I were at all interested in homo-erotic fantasies of blondes and redheads, I'd be all over that like white on rye), so I wanted to assure you all, anyone who's interested, that is, that I will be swinging him back towards awesomeness very, very soon. In fact, it should happen in this chapter.

By the way, I've thought and thought and thought about this since the beginning of Yuffie arriving in Axel's pocket dimension. I've worked this chapter out so that it completely fits with the chronological sequence of events of when Sora is in Hollow Bastion and he has to fight the thousand Heartless.

IMPORTANT: See if you spot where I have incorporated the cut scenes from the Show Down at Hollow Bastion into the ending parts of this chapter. I apologize for having to rewrite dialogue that I'm sure you've all read or heard or even played before, but it's necessary for this, I swear. Also, I made a serious mistake in the first chapter, thinking that Sora knew Axel's name before Hollow Bastion. I'm going to go back and edit chapter one to fit with the canon. Sorry about that, everyone—I guess it's part of having a work in progress.

Lucky number seven, comin' right up.

-

"Picnic?" Axel asked suddenly.

Yuffie was standing on her head in the corner of the room, getting steadily redder in the face as she did so. He figured it was once again time to get out of the house. After two months of three people living in one house with no other civilization or contact with other worlds, the same quarters over and over again could really get tiring.

Yuffie looked at Axel and lifted her eyebrows. Or rather, lowered them, considering she was upside down. He lifted his hands in an "I-Don't-Know" sort of gesture.

Yuffie asked, "You want to go on a picnic?"

"That's kind of why I asked," he said slowly. "Is there something about that suggestion that you object to?"

"I dunno, it's just…you don't seem like much of a picnicking kind of guy."

"What about me indicates that I'm not a picnicking guy?" he asked curiously.

"The all black clothing—"

"Look, this thing is fireproof, and I don't know what you're thinking, but it's not exactly easy to find things that are fireproof like this."

"Yes, but, you wear the same thing every day, and it's hot as hell outside—"

"I like warm weather," he protested. "And I don't wear the same thing every day! I have about five of these…"

"Also, you're so skinny that I sometimes wonder if you're eating at all."

"You've seen me eat, stupid."

"Well, yeah, but that doesn't mean there's not some sort of black hole in your esophagus where all the food goes and really, you're just sustained off of a diet of lighter fluid and smoke or something."

"Where the hell do you come up with this stuff?" he asked her, face contorted in disbelief.

"Jeez, Axel, it's powers of observation. Don't you have them?" she asked sneeringly. At this point, she was able to look down her nose at him, having righted herself form her upside-down position.

"Look, if you don't want to go on a frikkin' picnic with me, then fine, we won't go on—"

"Yeah, yeah, don't get your panties in a wad, ya woman." She waved a hand in the air dismissively as she went into the other room. "I'll go tell Kairi and get the picnic basket."

"I'll go make some—"

"Sandwiches."

"Why sandwiches?" he called after her.

"Because you burn everything else, Charred Doofus," she yelled from down the hall.

"Don't call me that," he shouted back.

-

Yuffie lay sprawled in the grass, arms and legs spread-eagle, watching the green stalks sway above her. A light breeze tousled the fine hairs resting on her forehead and gently wafted Axel's subtle smell toward her. He was sitting up next to her, his elbows resting on his knees. He had the end of a stalk of grass in his mouth, and he was chewing on it pensively.

She studied him out of the corner of her eye, memorizing his profile, the sharp angles and planes of his face. She drank in the color contrasts on his person, the red in his hair clashing interestingly with aquamarine of his eyes. She realized that she was studying his eye color because he was staring at her out of the corner of his eye.

"What?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"Shh, don't break the peace," Yuffie said. "You're so much more attractive when your mouth is closed."

"You think I'm attractive?" he asked slyly.

"Now you're just fishing for compliments."

"I don't know what you mean," he said, the corner of his mouth twitching.

"Besides, I said you're attractive when you're quiet," she said, "which is practically never."

"You're not exactly quiet yourself, y'know," he scoffed.

"Never said I was. You got a problem with it, bub?"

"Nope. I think you're attractive when you talk," he said.

"Yeah, well, I—wait, what?"

"Which is pretty much all the time," he said offhand. "And I think you're attractive when you're not talking," he added, looking at her in a way that made her blood rush. "Which is the rest of the time."

She swallowed, her mouth suddenly dry. "Axel…"

"Yeah?"

"Let's go swimming."

"I dunno," he said, looking up at the sky. "It looks like it might rain."

In fact, the previously partly cloudy sky had darkened to a slightly angry hue off in the distance. Ominous clouds hung heavy on the horizon, boding no good for any further outdoor activities.

"So what?" Yuffie said. "I'm not gonna let a little rain stop me from swimming. Besides, it's hot as hell here, and we're not that far from the creek, are we?"

"I can see the hills from here."

"Good, I feel like taking a dip."

They walked and walked some more, and after some sweating, some weaving through the woods, and some conversation, they reached their destination.

Axel bent over, took off his boots, and he was just about to lift his shirt above his head when Yuffie tackled him, sending them both flying into the cool water. Axel struggled for a moment, then broke back to the surface, spitting water.

He glared at her when she came up, laughing like a loon. "How the hell do you sneak up on me like that?" he growled.

Once she had stopped laughing, she replied, "I'm a ninja, silly. Haven't I ever told you that? The Great Ninja Yuffie!" She attempted to strike a pose, but only ended up tipping over and going under the water again.

"Is that some sort of title or something? Or do you just call yourself that?"

"No!" she pouted. "Plenty of people call me that."

"Name one."

"Er…"

"That's what I thought."

"Well, I am a ninja," she protested, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I believe I've heard that term before," he admitted, "but I'm not quite sure what it is."

"I've been trained in martial arts since I was really little," she said.

"Martial arts?"

"Boy, you really are clueless and uncultured, Axel. Martial arts—it's a style of fighting. My teacher came from the Land of Dragons. Ever been there?"

"I may have at some point," he said, looking thoughtful. "Is that where you learned that move?"

"Which move? The one I used on the Heartless when I found you all half-dead and swimming in your own blood?"

"Yep."

"That's called All Creation, and it's my ultimate technique. I, uh, I'm not very good at it."

"Why not?"

"Well, it takes a really long time to master, and even though my teacher told me I'm way ahead of my time, All Creation isn't something you can just get control over after a few uses."

"I see."

"Well, anyway, ninjas are trained in subtlety and subterfuge," she informed him. "They are required to be agile, light on their feet, sneaky, and speedy."

"You? All of those things?"

"You didn't think I pulled those fighting skills out of my ass, did you?"

"I didn't think there was enough room in your ass for fighting skills."

"Well, there isn't, therefore, I did not pull them out of my ass."

Axel waded over to the bank and removed his shirt, grimacing at the sopping wet fabric. "Yuffie, did you have to do that? Now I gotta wait for this shirt to—"

He stopped talking, whirling around and catching Yuffie in mid-air above his head. She had been attempting to leap onto his head and dunk him under the water.

"Nice try, woman."

"I'll get you yet, my pretty."

-

They hadn't yet had their fill of swimming when the sky finally let loose its rage and started to pour rain. Fat drops hit them and disturbed the surface of the water. Though they were already wet, and though it was hot, they were chilled by the cold rain, so they decided it was time to go back to the house.

Axel had not noticed that he had gotten ahead of Yuffie by a few yards until he heard her say "Axel" in a strangled sort of voice.

"What?" He turned around, not expecting what he saw.

"Hello, Axel," Saïx said, tightening the grip he had on Yuffie's throat.

"Let me go, you bastard," she said hoarsely, kicking and writhing. Saïx had one arm wrapped around her waist, pinning her arms to her sides and anchoring her in place, while his other hand was cruelly squeezing her neck.

"No, no," he said. "I don't think so. Quit struggling or I'll kill you."

She jerked even harder in his arms. Axel saw Saïx's yellow eyes glitter in that particular way. Axel had seen this several times, and he knew just what it meant.

"Yuffie!" Axel barked sharply. She took one look at him and fell still, her eyes directed at Saïx and burning with hatred.

"Very good," said Saïx. "Now, we're going to walk inside that quaint—" here he paused to sneer in Axel's direction, "—little house over there." He shifted his grip to the back of Yuffie's neck, making sure to give her an extra-hard squeeze to ensure she got the message as he said, "If you try anything, I'll kill you."

"He's serious, Yuffie. Don't try anything," Axel said.

"Lead the way, old friend," Saïx said.

Axel clenched his fists and walked up into the house, stepping into the living room. Saïx followed shortly afterward, Yuffie still captive under his hand.

"Turn on the lights," Saïx instructed, nodding toward the switch.

In a split second, Axel noticed two things. First, he noticed that when he had opened the front door, it had swung backward but had not come to rest against the wall. It had drifted to a gentle stop a few feet away from the wall. Second, Yuffie's large shuriken was leaning against a leg of the coffee table with a polishing rag draped across one of its blades.

Without blinking or changing his expression, Axel flipped on the lights.

Then all hell broke loose.

Kairi, with a screeching noise, burst out from where she had been standing between the front door and the wall, wielding a kitchen knife and pinwheeling towards Saïx. This distracted him long enough for Yuffie to jerk toward him. He blocked, but she shifted gears, twisting out of his grasp and somersaulting over to her weapon. Saïx was briefly preoccupied with Kairi, but wasted only a moment on that, batting the knife out of her grasp with one hand and sending her flying against the wall with the other. She cried out as she hit with a sickening thud and then slid to the ground, unmoving.

By this time, Yuffie had had all the opportunity she needed to grab her shuriken, flick three small throwing stars at Saïx, and vault toward him.

Saïx snarled savagely as he dodged two of the three stars, but still managed to get hit by the third. He was having trouble maneuvering in the small space of the house. Yuffie roundhouse punched him and landed the hit, but Saïx didn't even flinch. Before she could do anything else, he sprinted out the door.

During all this, Axel had materialized his chakrams and checked on Kairi, confident that Yuffie could handle Saïx for a couple of minutes alone. He knew when he saw Saïx back out the door, however, that the other Nobody was getting into the open to make more room for his massive claymore.

Worried about Kairi and knowing there was no way they could beat Saïx, Axel hefted the unconscious girl onto his shoulders. He knew the only way they would get away without Saïx killing them was to use the dark portals.

Meanwhile, Yuffie was using every trick in her book to beat Saïx. And she did have a book of tricks.

She knew that she needed to get Saïx's weapon away from him. Even though all these weeks of exercise in lieu of anything better to do were working to her advantage, she noticed that Axel was right—the last time she had beaten Saïx had been a fluke. He was much stronger than her, and even after only a few moments of fighting him, she could feel her arms shaking each time his claymore hit her shuriken.

"Yuffie!" she heard Axel yell. She didn't look. She couldn't look. There was no way she was going to let Saïx get the advantage over her.

"Don't distract me, Axel!" she shouted, parrying a blow from Saïx's claymore. She was working on an important move, and she needed to concentrate.

Watching from the sidelines, Axel knew there was no way he'd be able to pause their battle long enough to swoop in and transport himself and Yuffie to a safer location. He would have to wait and see if he could jump in and snatch her up somehow.

Yuffie was trying very hard to get in closer to Saïx, but his massive weapon was making it sort of difficult for her. She suddenly got an idea, and she wasn't sure if it would work, but she was going to try it anyway.

She backed up several yards away from him, and she started to do what she did best. She talked.

"Hey, Saïx, who's your hairdresser?" she called to him. His expression did not change as he rushed her. That was when she noticed that despite his strength, despite the fact that he was the one with the advantage this time, she was still the faster of the two of them.

"Aw, whatsamatter? Can't catch me, elf-boy? Where'd ya get those pointy ears anyway? I've never seen anything like that. Do those occur naturally? Whaddaya think, Axel? Should I get me some? Think they'd make me look more distinguished?" She tucked her hair behind her ears and seemed to contemplate it, but backflipped out of the way as Saïx swung his claymore toward her once more.

Axel couldn't believe what he was seeing and hearing. Yuffie was turning a life-threatening situation into a ten-year-old's insult fest. If she kept goofing off like that, Saïx would seize an opening and kill her. Axel knew the man wouldn't hesitate.

However, Axel also knew that Yuffie had a certain advantage. Saïx was not called the Luna Diviner for no reason. He drew much of his power from the moon, and since it was only around four o'clock in the afternoon, it was overcast, and it was pouring rain, Saïx had no way to draw on that strength. Too bad he had enough strength to kill Yuffie without the moon.

"Jeez, you're slow!" Yuffie taunted, wiggling her rear end at Saïx from a not-so-safe distance. "My grandma could outrun you. And she's been dead for ten years!"

"Yuffie!" Axel yelled. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Chill out, Axel, and don't throw off my game! I'm in the zone, I've got this covered, I'm on top of the world!"

Axel winced as she just barely escaped having her stomach slashed wide open by one of the wicked-looking blades on Saïx's claymore. She cartwheeled to the left and then somersaulted to the right, a blur of acrobatics and physics-defying stunts. The only person that Axel could think of to compare to that was Xigbar, and he sort of didn't count because he could manipulate time and space. Yuffie just did it naturally.

What Axel didn't know was that Yuffie was taunting Saïx in order to buy herself some time and possibly distract him. She was not counting too hard on distracting him, but buying herself some time was working. By going on the defensive, she was saving energy to put into her best attack—All Creation. He had never seen her use it, and all she needed to do was get his weapon away from him long enough to assume her stance.

"Whatever it is that you're trying to accomplish," Saïx said calmly, "it's not going to work."

"It's not?" Yuffie asked, cocking her head to the side like she was genuinely surprised. "How do you know?"

In answer, Saïx did something that Axel had been dreading. He jumped into the air, swinging his weapon above his head, and came down fast, faster than he had been before. Blue spirit energy burst from his weapon, flying in three different directions and cleaving deep furrows in the earth. Yuffie just managed to sidestep the destructive ray that came in her direction, but just barely. Axel didn't know how many more times Saïx could do that without the power of the moon to support him, but he had a feeling that it wouldn't take too many more attempts before Yuffie ran out of luck.

Saïx wrenched his weapon out of the dirt where it had gotten lodged as Axel yelled, "Yuffie! Whatever you do, don't let him hit you with that!"

"Yes, Axel, dear, I gathered that much!"

Axel fell silent once more, watching carefully for the right opening. Saïx was right—Yuffie was planning something, and though he wasn't sure what, he knew instinctively that when she let loose, it would be his only opportunity to get them out of there.

"Saïx, you're not really my type. I know it's disappointing to be rejected when you're in love and all, and I know that having your heart broken by beautiful little me is something that no normal person can recover from, but really, violence is not the solution! Don't you want to talk about this? We can have tea and cookies and work all of our differences out."

Yuffie lifted her shuriken up as he appeared above her, and she blocked his attack, suppressing a wince as her arms wobbled. His weapon was damned heavy, but, luckily, she could feel energy building at the very tips of her fingers. It wouldn't be long now before the attack was ready—she just needed to get his weapon away from him somehow.

Yuffie knew already that she had a slight speed advantage, even if it was only slight. She needed to use this. It was the only thing she had over him, really. Well, that, and her biting wit, but she didn't think it would help her at that point.

She waited a bit, getting close to him more frequently each time he attacked her. Her window of opportunity came when she felt the air crackle like he was about to use that attack again. He hefted his weapon and swung, and she danced out of the way as it hit the ground. She did a graceful twirl, trying to move out of the way of Saïx's long-range attack. She was almost successful, but one of the bits of his spirit energy clipped her calf, almost stopping her in her tracks. Almost.

Saïx didn't expect Yuffie's next series of movements, one of them being a flying tackle in his direction. She hit him with the full-body lunge, knocking him out of reach of his claymore.

Just like the first time he had used the powerful attack and missed her, Saïx's claymore had lodged itself in the soft soil. A lot of effort would not be needed to pull it out, but it had afforded Yuffie the amount of time she needed to knock Saïx away from it.

Axel recognized his chance and darted forward as fast as he could while carrying Kairi. Careful not to touch the handle of the weapon, lest he go Berserk, he grabbed the claymore just above the hilt and hurled it as far away as he could, which was not as far as he liked since he was only able to use one hand while the other was handling Kairi.

Saïx threw Yuffie off of him with a massive burst of spiritual force, sending her flying. She landed on her feet gracefully, then stood, holding her shuriken, which she had miraculously kept a hold on, out in front of her, spinning it as fast as she could. When it was at the point where it would float of its own accord, she released it and focused all of her energy into the rotating weapon, the same way she had that day in the alley.

All of this occurred in under two seconds, so Saïx had no chance to move as a blinding ray of light erupted forth from Yuffie's weapon and struck him head on. Axel ran toward Yuffie and grabbed her around the waist. He was well-aware that this would not keep Saïx down for long, however powerful it was. An enraged Saïx was a hard-to-escape Saïx.

Axel pulled them all into the dark portal he materialized, drawing it closed behind them quickly. Standing in the abyss, he concentrated briefly on the first destination that came to his mind. Several yards away, another portal opened. Yuffie ran-limped over to it, Axel following behind her, and just as they reached it, Saïx stepped out of the doorway that had just closed behind them.

He had retrieved his claymore and was running after them with murder in his eyes, bloody and burned. Yuffie glanced quickly behind them, catching sight of Saïx and the look on his face, and vaulted out of the portal, hitting the ground running. Axel jumped out after her with the Luna Diviner hot on his heels, and Saïx slipped out as the doorway closed. He caught up to them with ease, as Axel was too slow with a passenger, and Yuffie was wounded.

Saïx streaked past Axel and pounced on Yuffie, knocking her to the ground and slamming his booted foot into her chest. Her head hit the ground hard, and she cried out, but immediately fell silent when Saïx placed one of the blades of his claymore against the pale column of her throat.

"Now," he said raggedly, panting. "You've caused me quite enough trouble I think. Hand Kairi over or I will kill her this time, Axel. She has toyed with me one too many times, and I may just take my anger out on her." His lips pulled away from his teeth savagely as he pressed the blade harder against her throat.

"Axel," she said slowly, quietly, "don't you dare give him Kairi. Don't you dare."

Axel stared at her, then looked at Saïx. He was serious—he had been serious every single time he had threatened to kill Yuffie, and Axel knew it. After only a moment's more hesitation, in which Saïx kicked Yuffie in the ribs one good time, he placed the unconscious Kairi on the ground and backed away from her.

"Axel, no!" Yuffie hissed at him.

"All right, Saïx, back away from Yuffie," Axel said.

"Hmm, now that I think about it," Saïx mused, "no. She's caused me enough trouble."

He raised his claymore into the air and prepared to swing it down, but Axel had already materialized his chakrams, anticipating a move like this. He shot a plume of fire in Saïx's direction, but Saïx had taken it a step further and predicted Axel's next move, stepping out of the way. Before Axel or Yuffie could make another move, Saïx scooped Kairi off of the ground and disappeared into a swirling dark portal.

Axel ran over to Yuffie, who was wheezing on the ground, and crouched down next to her. "Are you all right?" he asked, his eyes concerned.

"I'm fine, I'm fine! Go get Kairi!" she yelled, gesturing wildly.

"But you—"

"Axel, they've got Kairi!" She was screaming so hard, she was spitting. "And it's all our fault! Now go get her or I'll kill you myself!"

"Are you sure you can—"

She cut him off again as she pulled him into a tight embrace and held him there for a few scant seconds. "I'm fine, now go!"

Axel sprang into action, sliding into his own dark doorway and disappearing from sight.

At this point, Yuffie noticed three things. First, she was in massive amounts of pain. Second, she was having trouble breathing. Third, she was bleeding heavily from the wound on her leg, and she was surprised she had even been able to stand—let alone run—with how deep the cut was. Fourth, she was sitting in none other than the Bailey.

Wondering at her luck, Yuffie moved as quickly as she could down through the fissure in the rock that hadn't been there before, to a sort of overhanging cliff, which revealed to her a dreadful sight: the gorge was overflowing with Heartless. Thousands of them were swarming the area, forming one shifting black mass.

Yuffie gasped sharply when she saw a bright spot of pink amongst all the black. Her friends were down there, and leg injury or no leg injury, she needed to help them.

It took more time than she would have liked, but she made her way down the winding and precarious path to the bottom without incident. Unfortunately, she couldn't see where Aerith had gone, and her leg was going numb. She could not even feel the pain anymore.

The Heartless, never ones to ignore fresh meat, began to swarm her. She threw her shuriken out blindly, catching it each time as it came back to her, but with her injury and weakness from the intense fight with Saïx, they soon overcame her. She fell on her rear into the dirt, waiting for the Heartless to claim her.

Much to her surprise, the familiar cooling sensation of a healing spell flowed over her, and she watched in amazement as the wound in her leg knitted together, and Aerith stepped forward to lend her a helping hand. She shook her head at her friend as she got up on one knee and lifted herself to her feet.

"Yuffie," Aerith said severely, "where have you been?"

"Y'know, I'll explain it all to you later, Aerith, I really will, but I don't think now is the time or the place."

"For once," Aerith conceded, "you're right."

They ran with the flow of the Heartless, dodging out of the way of the random blades and claws that came toward them. Yuffie panted, "Where are Cloud and the others?"

"They're fighting somewhere around here," Aerith said. "We've all been so worried about you, Yuffie."

"I'm sorry, Aerith. I was doing it for your sake and my own, or at least, that's what Axel said."

"I figured it had something to do with him," Aerith said. "You disappeared right after you went to say good-bye to him. But you can explain all that later—right now, we've got to help Sora."

"You're right," Yuffie said. Aerith cast one last healing spell on Yuffie, then raced off in a separate direction. Yuffie wasn't worried about her—Aerith could take care of herself; she always had. Yuffie took off the way she hoped she needed to go in order to find Sora. She sort of figured that the Heartless would all be drawn to the Keyblade, so the followed them the best she could.

As she was going with the flow, so to speak, she met up with Tifa.

"Yuffie!" she exclaimed. "Where've you been? We've been looking for you for months!"

"I know, I know, but I promise, I'll explain it all later," Yuffie assured her. "Right now, I'm going to try and help Sora. Do you know where he is?"

"Yeah, Cloud's helping him fight the Heartless as we speak. He needs all the fighting force he can get. Let's go!"

Tifa led the way with Yuffie following, and soon, they came upon Sora duking it out for all he was worth, plowing through a group an army of neverending Heartless. Yuffie stepped into the fray without hesitation, cutting through enemy after enemy, forcing her worry and frustration into every throw of her shuriken.

Sora got ahead of them in all the confusion, but Yuffie noted in which direction he had gone and followed him soon afterward. She followed the trail of decimation he left, through the gorge, noting the significantly decreased number of Heartless from before. She entered yet another fissure in the rock and sprinted up the trail.

She stopped short however, when she heard Sora shout, "Out with it, Nobody! Where's Kairi? Where's Riku?"

Before she could make the decision to interrupt, his powerful and commanding reply made her stop to listen. "I know nothing of any Kairi."

At this, Yuffie crept forward, sneakily watching from around the corner, figuring it was in her best interest to stay hidden. If this man Sora was talking to was a Nobody, it was quite possible he had something to do with Axel, and she needed to know how to find him again.

"As for Riku," said a silver-haired man standing a few feet away from Sora, Donald, Goofy, and King Mickey, "perhaps you should ask your king." Then, he disappeared.

"Stop!" King Mickey shouted, leaping into the dark portal the man had vanished into.

"He's gone…" Sora said, slamming his fist into the ground. A moment of silence reigned, during which Yuffie contemplated going to Sora and asking every single question she wanted an answer to about Organization XIII, but when she made the decision to interrupt and took a step forward, Donald looked out over the cliff's edge.

"What's goin' on?" Goofy asked.

Then a new voice rang out that made Yuffie freeze.

"Way to fall right into their trap."

She couldn't see him, but she new Axel was there, blocked by the outcropping of rock she was hidden behind. She could see Sora, Donald, and Goofy, but her range of sight was significantly impaired beyond that.

"C'mon, it's a set up by Organization XIII. Xemnas is using you to destroy the Heartless—that's his big master plan," Axel said. She heard Axel's footsteps, and then suddenly, he was within view for her.

Xemnas? Yuffie thought.

"Xemnas?" Donald said.

"The guy you just saw. He's their leader. Got it memorized?"

She was beginning to think that was some sort of catch phrase for him.

"X-E-M, N-A-S."

"Organization XIII wants to get rid of the Heartless?" Goofy asked.

"Man, you're slow."

You're so charming, Axel. You really know how to make people listen with an open mind, Yuffie thought.

"Every Heartless slain with that Keyblade releases a captive heart. That is what the Organization is after." Axel was gesturing with each sentence, telling Yuffie that he was very serious about the topic.

"So what are those guys gonna do with the hearts?" Donald asked.

Psh, that's what I wanna know, Yuffie thought. Maybe they're gonna eat them or something. "Ew," she said aloud, then clapped her hands over her mouth. She quickly glanced up at the others and realized they hadn't heard her. They were still talking.

"I'm not telling."

Asshole.

"Tell us!"

"You," Sora said, interrupting for the first time. "You're the one that kidnapped Kairi!" The look on his face almost broke Yuffie's heart, and a humongous wave of guilt crashed over her, for knowing where Kairi was this whole time and doing nothing to help Sora.

"Bingo," Axel said coldly. "The name's Axel. Got it memorized?"

That's twice in five minutes that you've said that, you idiot. And quit being such a jerk!

"Where is Kairi?"

Axel paused and scratched his head. Yuffie winced.

"Please! Just tell me!" Sora said, a note of desperation in his voice.

"Look, about Kairi…" Axel said.

Here it comes, Yuffie thought.

"I'm sorry."

You don't sound very sorry.

"Axel!" said a stern, familiar voice.

Yuffie's heart sank as Saïx appeared.

"Uh-oh!" Axel said, and disappeared into a swirling vortex of his own.

Yuffie ducked back behind the rock, making sure not to alert Saïx of her presence. He'd kill her for sure if he saw her.

She heard him say, "We'll ensure he receives the maximum punishment," and then she felt a hand clamp over her mouth and drag her away.

"Shh," a voice whispered into her ear. "It's me." It was Axel.

As soon as they were a safe distance away from Sora and Saïx, he released her and she turned around.

"That was your chance to tell Sora what's going on!" she exclaimed.

"You think I'm gonna tell Sora that I'm trying to turn him into a Heartless so I can meet up with Roxas again, huh?"

"No, but you could have told him you had Kairi and that now Saïx has her," she said.

"I couldn't stick around, you know that. Besides, I knew you were back there. I heard you say 'ew.' What'd you say that for anyway?"

"Look, don't worry about that," Yuffie said, waving a dismissive hand. "What do we do now?"

"I'm going to do my best to get Kairi back. I don't really know what the Organization plans on doing with her, but I'm sure it can't be good, and it's partially my fault she's involved in this anyway. They may not have found her if I hadn't kidnapped her in the first place." He didn't meet her eyes.

"I'm coming with you," Yuffie said.

"No!" Axel said sharply. They stared at each other, Yuffie glaring, Axel firm. "No, you're not coming with me. It's too dangerous, and besides, your friends need you."

"They can take care of themselves—I can take care of myself. Axel, I'm coming with you," she pressed.

"You almost got killed today, Yuffie, and it's all because you got involved with me. I can't have any other lives on my conscience," Axel said, shaking his head.

"Lives on your conscience? Is that all I am?"

"No!" he said, grabbing her shoulders. "Listen to me. I'm going to get Kairi back, but right now, I can't be worrying about you too, I just can't. A little while ago, when Saïx—when he had you on the ground, with that blade at your throat—Yuffie…"

He swallowed hard, unable to continue.

"Axel, I understand that you're worried, but you can't leave me here. I have to help you find Kairi, I have to."

"No, and that's final. You're staying here."

"But—"

"No," Axel said again. His eyes hardened, and Yuffie knew that he wasn't going to change his mind easily. She was ready for an argument.

"Axel," she growled.

"I'll come back as soon as I can with information, Yuffie, I promise. Don't make me leave it like this."

Yuffie knew that this was the closest Axel would ever come to really asking her for something. As much as it killed her, she would just have to have faith in fate. She would just have to wait for him to come back to her.

She sighed. "Okay. But you promise?"

"I promise," he said, looking her in the eye.

"You swear?"

"I swear."

He moved to draw her into an embrace, but Yuffie, overwhelmed by a rising feeling of desperation, grabbed him by the chin and forced him into a bruising kiss. Their teeth knocked together, and she tasted blood. His mouth was hot against hers, and she realized that this was something they had been leading up to since the day they first met.

She put all of her rage, all of her frustration, all of her emotions into the kiss, and if emotions could be tasted, he tasted all of that. After an all-too-short moment, he pulled away, breathing heavily, and pecked her once more on the cheek before stepping away from her.

"I'll be back soon," he said as the darkness rose up and enveloped him.

"If you're not, I'll hunt you down, Axel. I swear I will."

He waved to her, and then he was gone.

That was the last time she would see him before he died.