First Mate
9
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"Do you think it's a good idea to invite Sora and Kairi along?" asked Yuffie, sliding a white cloth over her Oritsuru. Together she and Riku sat in the backyard, Yuffie lying comfortably in a hammock and Riku right beneath her, doing homework on the soft grass. "I don't see why not," Riku replied, mildly distracted by a math question. "They'd want to come. And besides, it's not like I can hide anything from them."
Yuffie drew the cloth away and held her Crossblade up to the sun, admiring the gleaming sparkle of it's sharp edges and steely skin. "They might blab to their parents, accidentally or not."
"I don't think they would." Riku scrawled an answer down on his paper and turned a page of the text book. "Though Sora might be little too excited at first."
Yuffie propped her weapon up against a tree and leaned back on the hammock with both hands behind her head, closing her eyes, allowing the gentle breeze to rock the hammock from side to side like a cradle. "I don't think Kairi would even come," she said nonchalantly.
"No, I definitely think she would. For one thing, Sora will be there," he hesitated for a second, as if surprised at how easily that came out, then continued, "and Kairi herself is from another world, or place, so I doubt she would pass up an opportunity to try and find her roots. Her grandmother never tells her anything."
Yuffie's eyes shot open, surprise uncontainable, but did not allow Riku to see her reaction.
Kairi was from another world?
"Kairi…wasn't born here?" Yuffie questioned.
Riku took a page of his text book and checked both sides of it, examining his answers, and said, "No, she wasn't. She came here when she was six years old, right in the middle of June. I remember the exact day because the night before there was a meteor shower; it was the first one Sora and I had ever seen. Trust me, that's not something so easily forgotten."
Meteor shower… Yuffie thought. "Is that so? Interesting. I've seen a few meteor showers myself. They're awesome." She nestled the back of her head more comfortably in her hands and turned slightly to the side, away from Riku.
"Oh, which reminds me," Riku shut his text book and placed it on his side, shifting his weight to his hand so that he could turn to face Yuffie cross-legged on the ground. "I've been meaning ask you this for a long time now, but somehow or another something always came up. Yuffie, exactly where is it that you come from?"
Yuffie shifted in the hammock and removed one hand from behind her head to lay it on her stomach. She stared at the brilliant blue sky, almost as if to avoid looking Riku directly in the eyes. "Actually you have asked me that before," she said, closing her eyes, mouth curving into a tiny smile.
"Yes, and as an answer you tried to beat the hell out of me." Riku leaned back on one hand and draped the other over his lap.
"Haha, look that was just for fun. I was never going to…you know, kill you. Not really, anyways."
"Not really, huh?" Riku raised an eyebrow at her sarcastically.
"Besides, you already know where I come from. Remember?"
"Wutai, I believe you called it."
"That's the place." There was a sadness in Yuffie's voice that was nearly undetectable, but hopefully Riku hadn't noticed. She doubted it, though. Bah.
"Then Wutai is real? You didn't just make that up?"
"Hey, even I had to be born somewhere, right? Yes, Wutai is a real place. It's my village back home." Home…it didn't sound right on her tongue. Briefly she considered her old empty house in Wutai and tried to stick the label of 'home' on it. No. It just didn't sound right. Not anymore.
"What's it like there--Wutai?" Riku looked as if her were trying to control the excitement and interest in his tone, but his exuberant expression betrayed his enthusiasm.
"Um…" Yuffie dallied for a second, dumbstruck by the question. Yuffie hardly ever thought of Wutai at all, because she was never really there. All the time she would just drop in for a few days, then leave on some adventure or expedition to acquire more treasure. In fact, it was more of a headquarters than a home; just a designated place of return when the end of one of her voyages came to a temporary end.
She never paid much attention to the residents of her village, either. They hated her there, because she'd taken something from just about everyone that lived there. Only a few people found her tolerable, but even they did not extend any effort to try and get to know her better or make friends. Again, not that she was there long enough to ever really make friends.
"It's really small in Wutai," Yuffie began. "It's not a big village, though the houses there are prettier than the ones here. It's a place that has it's own little style, y'know? Like you could go to any other town in the country and never find a place like it. It's lack of items and excitement, not to mention it's small stature, makes it an insignificant village, but whatever. Home is…where the heart is, I guess."
Yuffie wished she could give a better description than that, but Riku's eyes sparkled with intensity as if it was the most remarkable thing he'd ever heard. He was hanging on every word she said.
"And do you live there with anyone?" he asked gently.
"No, I don't. Just me, myself, and I. I've had to support myself for a long time, ever since I was a kid, because my parents, y'know…died."
Riku's smile dropped and his eyes softened. "That must have been really hard."
It still is. "Yeah, but I got used to it. A ninja's got a do what a ninja's got to do. No if's, and's, or but's."
"I don't believe that," Riku responded, but with caution. "You make it sound as if ninjas have no feelings, no choices in life except hard ones. What about you? You always seem happy and energetic--carefree and never lonely. But you are, right? I can see it in your eyes all the time. But lately you've been happier. Docile, even. Is that not human emotion?"
Once upon a time Yuffie's reaction might have been hostile, even violent, but that wasn't the case right now. Instead she was sullen, embarrassed even, and ashamed. Of herself. Yuffie sat up in the hammock and crossed her legs, folding her hands delicately over her lap. Her eyes did not stray from her fingers.
"I'm not really a ninja, in case you haven't noticed by now," she said morosely.
Riku's eyes widened in disbelief. Sure he must have known, but never had he ever imagined that she would actually admit it.
"I…" Yuffie swallowed, a tiny movement of her throat, and sighed. "I just claimed to be a ninja because…it was better than saying I was a thief. An orphaned child forced to steal in order to survive. Exactly where's the pride in that? Of course when I started saying I was a ninja no one believed me, so I had to learn to fight in order to prove my strength. I had to be the best at everything. I had to learn how to handle a weapon, I had to learn how to feed myself in the wilderness, I had to learn to live without family or friends, I had to learn how to patch a wound, I had to learn how to pick your enemies from your friends, I had to do all these things as only a young girl. Yes, I am happy, but mostly when I fight; I'm good at it. I love to fight. Because…it's the only time I ever feel like I'm worth something."
Yuffie wasn't looking at Riku, she couldn't, but in the corner of her eyes she could see him move. He edged closer to her, leaning his face foreword to meet her eyes. Yuffie knew she couldn't disgrace herself more by turning away, so she allowed his eyes to lock onto hers. His arms rested beside her on the hammock, his head hovering directly over her lap, facing upward.
"Yuffie," he whispered tenderly. "You are strong."
"No," she sighed. "Just good at covering my weaknesses."
"Weaknesses that any human being would have. Why be ashamed? The person you are right now, Yuffie, I like it. Very much."
Yuffie chuckled through a breath and put her palm gently to Riku's forehead. And pushed it away. She would be damned if anyone caught her blushing. "You know," she said, facing the complete opposite direction.
"What?" Riku challenged.
"There's only one other time when I feel like I'm worth something."
"Yeah? And when is that?"
"When I'm with you." She turned and smiled radiantly, a smile meant only for him.
"Yuffie…"
"Because when I insult you it feels like I'm doing great justice to the world."
Riku grabbed the edge of the hammock and flipped it completely upside down, causing Yuffie to tumble out and thump loudly against the ground. "Ow--Hey! You bastard!"
"Ahem, I am a sexy bastard, don't forget," Riku said, standing straight up with his arms crossed. He wore a condescending smirk on his face; the one Yuffie hated. She grabbed his abandoned text book off the ground and chucked it at him, but he swiftly stepped to the side, avoiding it easily.
"When we finally set sail for a new world," Yuffie shouted, rising from the ground, "I am so not making you my first mate!"
