Ch. 9
I can keep lying to Myself
IMPORTANT!! The chapter 9 I had posted before was actually chapter 10, I made a mistake. This is the real chapter 9. My bad
So. I'm a little sick of typing by now. Oh, and if you want to see something funny, to . That's some funny crap. Anyways, "Yuffie" is the most repeated word in this fanfic. Strange. Coincidentally, I find it necessary to note that I've completely warped Kairi's character. Now she's pretty much just a replica of me, but with a bigger head. Did anyone else notice how huge her head is in the first game? You could roll Donald and Goofy up and there'd still be room for more.
Yuffie stared out her window and into the drizzling rain outside. Rinoa wasn't answering her phone (for the past few days), and Tifa didn't think she was "responsible" enough to drive, so that meant she was pretty screwed. 'Who likes to walk in the rain…'
Not her. Rain was sweet and romantic and all in movies, but in real life it smelled bad and matted her hair down like a dog's.
'I hate rain.'
She had bags under her eyes, 'cause she hadn't slept. Her stomach hurt 'cause she had no appetite.
This wasn't because she was upset about Kairi. Not completely anyway. She was beginning to wonder about Rinoa, who had stopped talking to her recently. Yuffie didn't have the gumption to just go straight to her work or her house to talk to her either. 'I'm such a dumbass. I hope she's not still mad at me. She probably is, the way I've been blowing her off. I need to apologize to her.'
This, of course, was all easier said than done. In reality, no matter how much she wanted a way to make the situation work out without hurting Kairi or Rinoa, it just wasn't going to work. 'It can't; because in the end I'll always love Rinoa more.'
Funny, though, that she couldn't bring herself to believe the truthfulness of that statement.
When Rinoa woke up, a huge tabby cat was lying on her face. She hadn't had a cat since she was in elementary school.
"Shit!" Sitting up at once, she knocked the cat off her face and onto the ground with a rather blood–curdling mewl. "What the…oh…oh…"
There was a Les Miserables poster on the wall. Rinoa wasn't into Broadway, and Yuffie didn't' have the attention span for it. On the nightstand next to her were piles and piles of English papers waiting to be checked. "Oh my God…"
Her clothes were in a messy heap next to the bed, sided by Ellone's neat tussle.
"Oh my God…"
Pulling the blanket up around her, she looked and realized Ellone was still there and wide awake, lying on her side and gazing out of the window on the other side of the room.
Rinoa felt…scared. A little confused, maybe even angry, but mostly scared.
'I can't believe…oh God. Oh God. I –'
"I'm sorry" Ellone murmured, still looking out the window, "this is my fault. This wouldn't have happened if I had just left you alone. I'm sorry."
"That's just the thing. I didn't want to be left alone" was what Rinoa had wanted to say.
The utter feeling of disgust towards herself stopped her, though, She couldn't believe…
'What have I done? I can't believe this! What will I tell Yuffie?'
"I'm in love with you, you know."
If Rinoa wasn't already laying in bed she would've been floored. She hoped her ears deceived her. She hoped she didn't just hear what she thought she did. Not from Ellone.
"I always have been, for some reason. Just thought you should know."
"…."
She didn't want to hear those things. Not from Ellone. 'This isn't what I wanted to happen…'
"I was married a year ago. I met him when I was eighteen and married him a month later. I never loved him. I thought he could fill whatever void I had, and at first if was exhilarating. If seemed like love at first. But it wasn't. Something was missing and I just couldn't…I mean…"
'Please stop. Please, please stop. I can't deal with this! Not now…'
"I want you to think about this…but if you don't want to then I guess I have no choice. Are you and Yuffie…really in love with each other?"
"Ellone, stop!" letting go of the blankets, Rinoa threw them off of her and slid of the bed, scrambling for her clothes. She wasn't going to hear this. Not now, not ever. She did love Yuffie, more than anyone else in the world ever could. 'More than anyone! Yuffie and I belong together!'
"Because you might be mistaking dependency for love. It's not the same thing, Rinoa, believe me. I know…that I would be able to treat you right. I wouldn't hurt you. I love you."
"Stop, just stop!" Rinoa gasped, pulling her shirt up over her head, stumbling into her jeans. "It doesn't matter, none of this matters! I love Yuffie, not you! I won't ever love you!"
That was the end of it. Rinoa couldn't ever look the other girl in the eye again. She was scared. Would Ellone tell Yuffie? Would she have to tell her first?
'Oh God…how can I tell her about this? What am I going to do?'
"…You don't have to leave" Ellone said quietly, rolling over to face her. "I don't want you to."
"I don't care what you want!"
"I'm sorry."
"Stop apologizing!"
"I don't know what else to do."
"…!"
A split second later and Rinoa was out the door, running down the street like she had something to be afraid of.
A little ways away from the Broken Slide Park, Yuffie crouched down in the Mysterious Berry Bushes, waiting to make her "tactful, casual" entrance. 'Casual my ass. She's not gonna fall for this; I can't believe I'm going along with him…I'm such an idiot.'
And her hair was plastered down to her head like a drowned rat. No way was Kairi going to believe they "ran into each other" when it was obvious Yuffie'd been sitting outside in the rain forever.
It had to be tried, though, so Sora would stop nagging her. Since the two of the deduced Kairi would never just go up to Yuffie and talk to her, Yuffie had to be the one to initiate conversation.
"Wait for her by the weird-colored berry bushes at that park. She walks by there every day before school, so make sure you casually bump into her. If it looks suspicious she'll probably get uncomfortable and freak out."
Whatever. Yuffie could stand having to be the one to finally talk, that wasn't the problem, but the rain was just pissing her off. She was waiting outside (in the rain) for Kairi for almost fifteen minutes and her mood got worse and worse as time went by (and rain pounded her head).
"You better make up with her so she stops moping all over the place! I'll know if you mess up!"
Really though, what would Sora be able to do? 'He's about as threatening as Kairi. Dumb boy…'
"Yuffie?"
Practically jumping out of her skin, Yuffie lurched forward into the side of the Mysterious Berry Bush, getting a face full of Mysterious Berries.
"Ah – what the hell – what're you doing, Kairi?"
"I could be asking you that. You've been sitting there staring for a while."
Yuffie's face flushed, but lest she get caught, she instantly got defensive.
"No I haven't!"
"I've been walking down the hill and watching you. You've been sitting there for a while. You were there before I got here, weren't you?"
"…Uh…maybe."
It wasn't perfect but it was better than Yuffie had imagined. Kairi didn't just ignore her and she hadn't come up with an excuse to leave.
'Okay. Maybe if I just act like nothing ever happened it'll be fine –'
"Well..." Kairi said, waving absentmindedly, "I better go before you get in trouble from Rinoa. Bye."
Yuffie stood there for a moment and watched her go, rain blurring her vision.
The utter snideness (from her of all people) was a bit of a shock. She was probably mad.
'What am I doing?' she thought has Kairi paraded off, umbrella-less.
'I can't just let her leave like that...'
"Uh...wait!" Yuffie said as she caught up to her, standing a little to the side.
"Don't you have a coat?"
"No."
"Eh...why not?" Yuffie asked, desperately trying to keep up conversation. It shouldn't be that hard to just keep her talking and slip in an apology, right?
"My parents won't buy me one" she responded as she rung out her skort.
'What kind of parents are those?' Yuffie thought as she took note of how cold Kairi looked.
Then again, judging by what she was told about her parents, the fact that Kairi didn't have a jacket didn't really surprise her.
"Here" she said, digging in her backpack, "Use this."
Pulling out her umbrella, she gave Kairi an encouraging smile. "Take it, take it. Don't look at me like I'm offering you drugs or something."
Kairi took it with no words.
Yuffie had the feeling that if she just didn't come out and apologize already Kairi wouldn't talk to her at all. 'Shit. This is totally awkward. Maybe I shouldn't have even tried.'
"I can't get this open."
Kairi fumbled with the umbrella and Yuffie eventually took it back, grinning.
"Ha ha...you don't even know how to open an umbrella..." she snickered as she opened it with ease.
"It's not that!" Kairi yelled in her defense.
"My fingers are all cold and wet..."
"Whatever excuse you need" Yuffie said as she held the umbrella over her head.
'It gives me an excuse to talk to you.'
For a few minutes they walked under Yuffie's rainbow-colored umbrella, glancing at each other from the corners of their eyes.
'What should I say?' Yuffie thought for the millionth time. 'Apologizing would be the thing – but I can't even open my mouth! This is going to take forever. I suck.'
"Yuffie, why were you sitting there in the bush like that?"
"Uh?"
"You're soaked. Why were you sitting out there like that?"
Well…the question itself was easy enough to answer. Yuffie was prideful and embarrassed, though, so what should've been easy was made out to be way too hard to say.
"Uh…"
Her fingers fumbled with the umbrella handle as Kairi stared blankly ahead, biting her lip. It was pretty much now or never, or else Kairi would keep avoiding her.
After a while, Yuffie said "You know Kairi...there's this thing people do when they like each other."
"Oh really?" Kairi asked, picking up the conversation more willingly than Yuffie thought she would.
"Yeah. You see, with most people, the process of liking someone lasts longer than the actual dating."
"How so?"
"Well...usually people will mess around or play games. You know, acting all shy and denying to like the other person, etc., etc."
'Not unlike Riku and Sora' she thought, remembering how obvious it was when she barely knew the two of them.
"That way, if the other person will eventually figure it out, the person who liked them in the first place won't have to come directly out and say it."
"If you like someone enough why wouldn't you tell them?" Kairi asked, although she was in no position to talk about that.
"Well...that'd be breaking the ice."
"?"
"If you break the ice you fall in. There's a chance the other person will be able to get away if they really want to. But regardless of that, you'll always fall in."
'That's a pretty poetic way of putting it...' Kairi thought.
"And are you one of those people?" she teased.
"More than you would know" Yuffie replied silently.
Kairi stopped, along with Yuffie.
It was her turn to be tongue-tied.
"…Yuffie, I'm –"
"Sorry."
"…."
"I'm sorry, Kairi. I still want to see you. I still want to be your friend. It doesn't matter what Rinoa says. I'm still here."
Kairi shook her head and kept walking. "You make me want to cry, Yuffie."
"That's pretty much my job."
Fighting back a smile, Kairi slowed her pace until she was at Yuffie's side, glowing with excitement. So Yuffie wasn't going to feel the same way. Was that really so bad, keeping things the way they were?
'It doesn't really matter now. At least she can talk to me. I can make this work.'
"Yup" Yuffie mumbled, scuffing her shoes on the pavement underneath them, "once you fall in it's hard to get back out."
yay, finaly an update!! i like this chapter a lot; i dont even remember writing this...
