AN: Oh my gosh, this got so long. I actually wrote more, but I split it off because I couldn't see the end of this chapter anywhere in sight! Anyway, again there is a little lemon version of this particular chapter on MediaMiner. I would say it's less important than the lemon in chapter 7, but more important than the lemon in chapter 8. So use your discretion. And please leave a review!

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Chapter 10: Surprise, Surprise

It was only late afternoon by the time they arrived in the familiar-looking stretch of forest that bordered the vast plains near Fort Condor; Yuffie had kept them going at a quick pace even though her heart sunk with every step closer to their destination. She slowed the chocobo to a stop as they reached the tree line of the forest and surveyed the grasslands that seemed to stretch out impossibly far to the horizon. Not far enough to hide the distinctive silhouette of the Highwind in the distance, though. She knew Cid was looking at it too, from the way his grip shifted on her waist.

"If you squint, you can almost see the fort from here," she said softly.

"Let's take a break," Cid grunted, sliding off of the chocobo and stretching out. He sounded calm, but that he hadn't even bothered to attach his customary adjoining oath to the statement was telling.

Yuffie quickly dismounted and tethered the bird, then approached Cid's side and leaned into him without preamble. She heard him chuckle in surprise, but his arms still circled her without hesitation.

"Somethin' up, babe?" Cid asked, caressing her back.

Yuffie closed her eyes and dug her face into Cid's chest, inhaling deeply and trying to capture his scent in her memory. "If we're gonna have to stop touching so much in public, then I just wanna enjoy every last second while we still can." She stood on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on his jaw, then pulled away with an exaggerated wince. "Though I guess it'll be good for you to shave again," she laughed, scratching at the lengthening stubble on his chin. It was starting to look more like a thin beard than a five-o'clock shadow. "It's kind of itchy kissing you right now," she said with a light smile.

Cid didn't laugh with her, and her grin flickered away. He searched her face and then muttered a soft, almost-tender oath. Seeing her smile for him was what made the thought of returning to the real world bearable and yet oh-so-difficult all at the same time. "Sometimes I think you'd be smilin' even if the world was breakin' apart," he muttered, shedding his gloves so he could feel the touch of her silken hair.

Her grin returned quickly and she let out a short, exuberant laugh. "Of course I'd be smiling!" she answered, digging her fingers into his sides for a tiny tickle. "Been there, done that, remember?" she added with a smirk. "You just weren't looking then!"

"I'm lookin' now," Cid answered as he lowered his head towards hers, giving her a deep kiss.

He felt Yuffie arcing her body against him as he tasted her; he wondered if they would be able to kiss again once they left the forest. Yuffie seemed to be worried that they wouldn't even be able to hold hands outside of the small bubble they had built for themselves in the wilderness. His chest constricted sharply as he realized that she was probably right. Alarm bells fired in his head as Yuffie slowly released him and began to draw away. Shit! he thought in panic. I can't let it end like this!

Cid's grip around her tightened and he pushed her back against himself, his kiss becoming urgent and demanding. The idea that he might not be able to hold her again, to taste her or have her was curling through him with an almost physical pain. It drove his movements with a hard edge of desperation; without waiting for her reaction he dragged her away from the open skies of the plains and back into the dark forest.

Yuffie managed to break away from his suddenly bruising kiss briefly, staring at Cid in surprise as she gasped. "Cid, what're you doi—"

He silenced her with another hungry, torrid kiss, sweeping her mouth with his tongue. He paused only long enough to ground out an anguished answer against her mouth. "I don't fuckin' know!" Then his mouth was covering hers amidst a shower of green leaves as he slammed her forcefully against a tree trunk; he plied her lips open with greedy kisses and groped her with insatiable hands.

"… I ain't gonna make it if I can't have you," he groaned into her mouth

"We'll manage," Yuffie sighed with more conviction than she felt. "I love your hair," she breathed, running her fingers through it distractedly. "So wild and beautiful… it suits you," she murmured.

"Beautiful?" he asked her with a half-smirk. "I ain't no fuckin' girl, Yuffie."

"I think I realized that by now," she joked when they finally pulled apart. Her smile softened as she cupped his face in her hand and gave him a searching look. "But no matter what you say, you'll always be beautiful to me, Cid Highwind." She dropped her face, closing her eyes and resting her forehead against his chin with a sigh.

Cid let her words sink in, closing his eyes and listening to the whistling of the wind through the trees and the thrum of their bodies as they held each other. "Yeah," he exhaled after a moment, drawing back and lifting her chin up. "We'll find a way," he agreed.

"Are you ready?" she asked him when they finally pulled apart.

"No," he answered curtly, his expression darkening.

"Well, neither am I but we can't always get what we want, right?" Yuffie answered, dragging him back towards their chocobo.

"I just had what I fuckin' want," Cid shot back, his face still surly.

"Umm," Yuffie fidgeted with a slight blush, focusing her concentration on mounting the chocobo. "Well, that's a good face for you to wear on the way back in. Everyone'll just think you're sore 'cause you had to spend some time with me instead of your cigarettes!"

Cid collected his spear and climbed onto the chocobo behind her, his arm settling heavily across her waist and tightly gripping her hip with his hand. "I hate when you fuckin' talk about yourself like that," he growled crassly. "And maybe I don't like people thinkin' I'm that much of a bastard," he added as an afterthought.

Yuffie sighed as she steered the bird out onto the fields in a slow trot. "C'mon, Cid, you never had a problem with my jokes or the way people talked about you before. Just try to remember what it was like three days ago."

Cid leaned against her and shook his head. "I was in hell three days ago, Yu," he answered. "That musta been the worst fuckin' night of my life," he ground out. "You helped me forget that," he added, his voice softening slightly as he placed a kiss against the back of her ear.

"Hmm," Yuffie said lightly. She was unsure of whether or not to take his statement as a compliment; it made her feel too much like a comforting pillow rather than a human being. She shook the feeling away, trying to remember that they hadn't promised each other anything despite their confessions. "Focus on the good things," she mumbled to herself.

"What was that?" Cid asked, snapping her attention back to his side.

"Oh… uh, I was just wondering who I'd ask for some advice about our situation if I had the chance," she covered. "Who'd you go to if you needed some good advice?"

"Right this minute? Shit… probably you," Cid answered, grinning at her.

"That defeats the purpose of asking for advice about us, doesn't it?" Yuffie replied, winking at him. "I'm kinda biased!"

"Well, fuck. I dunno," Cid mumbled, his brow furrowing in thought. "Definitely not that little shit Spike," he growled with a note of hostility.

"That's a given," Yuffie seconded, her face dropping into a mirroring scowl. "Maybe Tifa, though. She'd understand, she might even help us out!"

"Tifa? Hell no," Cid answered quickly. "She'd pour her bleedin' heart out all over Shera, probably ask us all to sit down together an' talk." He spat out the last word as though it was poisonous.

"What's so bad about talking things out?" Yuffie asked with a slightly indignant huff.

"Shera don't talk," Cid said abruptly, his tone clearly warning her to drop her line of questioning.

"Fine," Yuffie replied sarcastically. She bit the inside of her cheek and took a deep breath; it was bad enough they were approaching the fort as it was. To end their time together with an argument was something she didn't want to do. "Well," she added lightly. "Not Tifa then. How about Nanaki? He's pretty smart, isn't he?"

"Red ain't even human, Yuffie!" Cid protested immediately.

"Well… Bugenhagen is, and he's definitely smart!" Yuffie countered with a smile. It was a pretty weak argument, mostly because she thought she'd die of mortification if she had to have a heart-to-heart with the strange old man about her relationship woes. It was fun to rile Cid though, she thought to herself with an evil smirk.

"Bugenhagen, eh? That guy's so old he probably doesn't remember even havin' a sex life," Cid laughed. "No fuckin' way."

"Alright, true. Reeve, then! He's not that old, and he's close by!"

Cid snorted loudly. "You're shittin' me, that man would blackmail our asses faster than YOU would," he sniped. "An' don't even mention Barret," Cid added quickly when he saw Yuffie opening her mouth.

"Riiight," she agreed quickly. "Well, I guess that leaves Vincent."

They each paused to digest the idea of asking Vincent Valentine for advice on a romantic relationship, especially one that involved a love triangle.

"Naw!" came the quick reply in unison, and they both broke out into loud, raucous laughter. Yuffie recovered first, slowing the chocobo down to a walk as they passed by the parked airship. "Don'tcha wanna salute or something?" she yelled, prodding Cid in the ribs with her elbow.

"Hey baby, daddy's comin' home for you real soon," Cid replied, reaching out to tap the tip of his spear against the metal hull of the hulking airship.

"I thought I was your baby!" Yuffie complained with a pout.

"Babe, you might be a lot of things, but I only got one baby and her name is Highwind," Cid said smugly.

"Boys and their toys," Yuffie replied, rolling her eyes upward. Soon they were climbing quickly up the rocky path towards the settlement, propelled by an overeager chocobo lured by the memory of warm stables, curiel greens and a definite lack of mating humans. "Hey Cid," Yuffie said thoughtfully, half-twisting in the saddle to look at him. "You better stop calling me babe for now," she mentioned under her breath as they approached the entrance.

Cid's arm curled around Yuffie's waist as he leaned forward, and a smile stole across his lips. He spoke lowly into her ear, knowing full well how sensitive she was to his breath. "I'll call you whatever the fuck I wa—"

"Yuffie? Cid? Oh thank goodness! GUYS! Vincent was right, it is them!"

Yuffie and Cid froze as the sound of Tifa's loud shout carried up through the high cavern inside the fort.

"A-a-a-aaaah," Yuffie squeaked, her face turning white and her knuckles gripping the reins tightly. "T-t-tifa!" she whispered fiercely to Cid. Sure, she had been expecting things to be uncomfortable in public, but… "Tifa? And Vincent?" she repeated out loud, her voice shrinking.

"What the fuck are they doing here?" Cid ground out, stiffly removing his arm and placing it much more carefully at her side. He cursed again as Tifa came running out of the door to greet them, followed quickly by Reeve. There was a flash of red and a thump, and Vincent landed solidly on the ground from wherever he had been perched above them.

"Hey guys!" Yuffie yelled out, recovering more quickly than Cid and putting on her best grinning mask. Sometimes he envied Yuffie's ability to hide her feelings behind an obnoxious smile; he on the other hand carefully remained silent and studied their companions, not trusting himself to spit unnecessary obscenities in his other friends' direction.

"Yuffie! Cid! We've been worried sick about you!" Reeve said as he reached them, grabbing the reins out of Yuffie's hands. "Where have you two been?"

Yuffie noticed Cid's silence and elbowed him surreptitiously before making a big show of jumping off of the chocobo. "Only forcing Cid to have the most awesome vacation of his life ev-er!" she sang, spinning around and striking a victory pose before grabbing the dark-haired man in a bear hug.

Cid felt his hands twitching with the urge to punch something when he saw Reeve holding Yuffie, but quickly settled for dismounting when the other man sought out his eyes with a sympathetic expression.

"Oh. I bet Yuffie was having another one of her Ideas. In that case, you have my condolences, Cid." He then let out a loud, cheerful yelp as Yuffie released him and swatted at his head.

"It was a good idea! My ideas are ALWAYS good!" she replied sulkily while Tifa approached her. "But what are you guys all doing here?"

"We came as soon as we heard the news," Tifa said worriedly, returning Yuffie's hug tightly. "There were reports that you and Cid had gone missing! Vincent said you guys were probably just taking a vacation, but everyone knows Cid would never abandon the Highwind for so long, and then that rented chocobo came back without a rider…"

"I fuckin' knew it," Cid swore as he shook Reeve's hand. The other man paled slightly and quickly extracted his palm from the pilot's iron grip.

"Oww, you don't have to take out your frustrations on me, you know! Go shake Vincent's hand, he's got a claw!" Reeve protested loudly.

Cid turned to the man in question and scowled at him. Claw or not, that asshole better not try an' hug Yuffie too, he was thinking to himself. Vincent only gave him an obscure look, his face as always hidden by the folds of the heavy red cloak he constantly wore. "Cid," he greeted quietly with the barest of nods.

"Well, that's great that you guys came just for little old us!" Yuffie cheered as she stepped towards Vincent. She caught Cid's head snapping towards her from the edge of her vision and quickly halted her advance, settling for waving a wild greeting at the pale man from a safe distance. "But where's everybody else?" she added, noticing that certain members of their old cadre were prominently missing.

"It was hard to get everybody here on such short notice," Tifa replied with a tiny grin. "We usually rely on Cid to pick everyone up in the airship when there's a big emergency, after all. Oh!" she said, bringing her palm to her cheek as she reached for her cell phone. "I better call Nanaki and Barret and tell them you're both okay!" She strode off a short distance away, one finger in her ear and already chatting animatedly into her phone.

"I swear, you guys worry too much!" Yuffie said loudly. "Still, this is totally cool, isn't it? It's almost like having a five-year reunion!"

"I'd prefer it if you didn't call it that," a soft voice said calmly. Yuffie felt her back stiffen as the smile melted from her face. Vaguely, she was aware that Cid had approached her side, but the blood was pounding too loudly in her ears to hear what anyone else was saying. She turned very slowly, not really wanting to see who she knew was there. And he was there, looking as youthful and beautiful as ever, leaning against the entrance to the cave. Mako blue eyes partially covered by spiked blond hair and a solemn face that could almost rival Vincent's with its lack of expression. Except for those few, rare moments when the hint of a smile would twist at the corner of his lips and the severity of his gaze would soften slightly; it would look like a smirk to anyone who didn't know him, but on his face it was the equivalent of the sun breaking through the clouds on a rainy day. That fleeting smile was there now as he looked down at them, and his eyes were centred on her. Yuffie tried to remember how to breathe.

"Cloud," she whispered, hating how her voice wavered when she spoke his name.

"Though it's been less than five years for us, hasn't it Yuffie?" he added gently as he approached them. His gaze dropped from her and landed on Cid, and Yuffie felt sound and colour returning to her world. Too much colour, she realized as her cheeks began to flush darkly.

"Oh that's right, I remember hearing you mention that you were stalking poor Cloud a little while back," Reeve added helpfully, slapping Yuffie across the shoulders with an oblivious laugh. "At least you're harassing Cid now, I bet he can probably defend himself better!"

"SHUT UP, REEVE!" Yuffie screeched, her fist shooting up automatically as she decked the taller man in the nose, causing almost the entire group to stare at her in surprise. Almost the entire group; Cid was too busy glaring at Cloud to care what Yuffie had done to the other man. Though from the groans of pain Reeve was making, he was guessing whatever it had been was a good thing.

"OWW!" Reeve yelled, holding his nose and bowling over comically as Yuffie put her hands over her mouth and gasped.

"Oh my gawd! Reeve, are you okay?" she squeaked, patting his back apologetically while he straightened up.

"Jesus, Yuffie!" Reeve yelled, though with his hands over his nose it sounded more like bebus, Buffy! "What'd you do that for?"

Yuffie felt her face burning as everyone stared at her and fumbled for an answer. She had always been a quick thinker, especially under pressure; too quick many had often pointed out in the past. With a sense of panic, she blurted out the first words that came to her mind. "It's not my fault Cid broke his arm!"

Everyone swung around to stare at Cid next.

"Aww, shit," he said intelligibly, feeling a sudden headache coming on and a desperate need for either a cigarette or a good fuck. The latter option, while being almost guaranteed to chase away his bad mood, wasn't helping very much in the present company. His concern for Yuffie, however, did spur him to come to a quick decision. She had turned almost as pale as Vincent when Cloud appeared, only strengthening his desire to put a few holes through the other blonde. Still, he had to marvel at the things he did for the women he cared about. You better be fuckin' thankful for this, Yu, he thought angrily as he cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Hang gliding," he mumbled.

"Huh?" Tifa asked, raising an eyebrow.

"She took me hang gliding and I fuckin' crashed the damn thing, alright?" Cid snarled, gripping the spear that was still in his hand tightly and not-so-subtly angling it in Reeve's direction, daring the other man to make a joke. Reeve wisely kept silent for about all of two seconds.

"You know, for a pilot, you have a pretty bad track record of landing—"

"Do you wanna eat another knuckle sandwich?" Yuffie cut in this time, holding her fist up under the taller man's nose.

"From you, definitely not," Reeve replied, immediately holding his hands up. "Never cross a woman who thinks a good first date involves breaking a few limbs!" he said with a grin.

"It wasn't a date!" Yuffie and Cid yelled almost in unison, though Cid added his usual descriptive adjective to the exclamation. This time everyone was looking at them oddly. Yuffie groaned and dropped her head into her hands, and Cid rolled his eyes and strode towards the entrance of the fort. "I need a fuckin' smoke," he ground out bitterly, shouldering his way past Cloud.

"He seems upset," Cloud murmured thoughtfully as he watched the other man enter the building. Another set of eyes were also watching Cid, and stopped him with an almost inaudible observation at the entrance to the cave.

"That's a very interesting weapon you're carrying," Vincent said monotonously, though his sharp red eyes were trained on Cid's face.

"Fuck off unless you wanna see it in action," Cid replied, stomping past the other man sourly.

.x.x.x.

After Cid's abrupt departure, Yuffie threw herself into acting as obnoxiously as possible; in part because it was expected of her, partly because she knew it would drive Reeve to tease her instead of Cid and also that it would keep Tifa from searching for the pilot to find out what was bothering him. Most of all, however, she hoped it would keep Cloud from spending too much time alone with her. He still brought up a mixed bag of feelings inside of herself; most predominantly, however, was one of hurt. She didn't think she loved him anymore, but she had, once. Telling herself that she was a mature adult who was completely over her infatuation was one thing, but trying to rise above the hurt and the painful slap to her self-esteem that his mere presence drew out was quite another.

What she really wanted more than anything else was to be alone so she could sort out her feelings; of course, that would have been a dead giveaway that something was off, and she knew that it would be most likely Cloud, their fearless leader, who would go chasing after her to pin down what was wrong. That was perhaps the worst part of the whole thing; it would have been much easier to hate him as simply as she had loved him. Cloud was an enigma, however; he cared about his friends too deeply to spark her hatred. And he did consider her a friend; a trusted one, at that. But she had never, ever managed to become anything more; shared smiles and traded banter only brought them so far. In the end, there was always the silent, impenetrable wall that hid Cloud's feelings; the only woman to have ever breached it was dead and gone, her memory serving to strengthen its foundation. When Yuffie had finally realized that, it had broken her heart and given her a healthy respect for Tifa's great inner strength. It was a strength she wasn't willing to find out if she possessed, which was part of the reason she had fled back to Wutai in the first place. Now, she was here, and so was he, and it seemed like her one-sided confrontation with him would be unavoidable.

This vacation is definitely taking a nosedive for the worse, Yuffie thought irritably as she laughed loudly at another one of Reeve's tactless jokes. Evening found them gathered around the mess hall table, sharing a game of 5-stud poker. She glanced at her hand and reflected on what a terrible idea it was to play with the rest of the group; nobody in their right minds could beat Vincent's poker face, especially when he had his collar turned up. The reticent man had a small mountain of chips at his side, while everyone else was secretly hoping that either her or Reeve's ability to blatantly cheat would make the game a little more interesting. Tough luck guys, she thought sourly as she glanced at her hand and folded quickly.

Yuffie tuned out the animated chatter around her as Reeve began to bet loudly and wondered what Cid was doing. A small sigh escaped her; she knew he was upset because Cloud was there. She had been half-afraid that he was going to snap at the other blonde when he was standing by her side; it had embarrassed her and she had thanked every Wutanese deity she knew of afterwards when he left, but in a strange way it had also given her a small measure of comfort. Seeing how dangerously protective he was of her had helped keep her already-bruised ego from being completely trampled under Cloud's oblivious feet. Still, she hadn't gotten the chance to thank him, and now it seemed like she never would. Not unless Vincent decided to end their misery by cleaning out the table once and for all, she noted depressively.

"Yuffie?" Tifa's voice gently interrupted her.

"Huh? Oh!" she blushed, looking down at the two cards before her. She gave them a cursory glance and shrugged absently. "Fold," she sighed, pushing the cards across the table. "This sucks!" she added as an afterthought.

"Agreed," Reeve said immediately, zeroing in on Vincent. "That man should be outlawed from the poker table!"

"How do you know I'm not?" Vincent deadpanned, meeting Reeve's gaze levelly.

"There! You see? He practically admitted to cheating!" Reeve yelled, waving his hands over his head. "That's worse than when Yuffie stacks the cards with her luck materia!"

That should have been Yuffie's cue to come up with a smart reply, but she didn't hear the jab; she was still thinking about Cid, her chin planted in her palm and her eyes vacant and unfocused.

"Uh, Yuffie?" Reeve tried to rouse her attention again without success. The little ninja didn't even notice when everyone began to stare at her. Finally, Vincent cleared his throat.

"It's a pity Cid isn't here, then my winnings would that much larger," he mentioned quietly.

Yuffie blinked at the sound of the pilot's name and snapped her head up. "Huh? What, is it my turn again?" she asked, looking around the table curiously.

Tifa sat back with a dumbfounded expression, and Reeve's jaw dropped open and then snapped shut. Vincent sat back looking smug, and worst of all, Cloud now had her pinned under his piercing gaze.

"What'd I say?" she asked with a sinking feeling.

"Cut the crap, Yuffie," Cloud said, his harsh words contrasting with the calm, smooth tone that he delivered them in. "Cid's been avoiding us for the entire evening, and now you're acting strangely too. What really happened while you two were gone?"

Yuffie tried not to flush as she noticed how everyone leaned in slightly as they waited for her answer. Gawd, she thought furiously. With friends like these, who needs paparazzi? "I already told you guys!" she protested. "We bumped into each other by accident here while on vacation, and I tried to teach him how to hang glide!" She felt a small stab of guilt as she spoke; his crash really had been her fault. "I, um… well, I sorta forgot to tell him how to land, and he had a really bad crash." She grit her teeth and glared at Reeve when he leaned back and started laughing loudly at her admission.

"Remind me never to take a vacation with you!" he giggled, wiping some tears from his eyes.

"Don't worry, I can guar-an-tee you'll never be invited!" Yuffie shot back, sticking out her tongue at him. She froze as she heard Cloud interrupt their argument, his tone cold.

"Yuffie. How could you do something so careless? Cid could have been seriously hurt or even killed by your selective memory."

Self-esteem? Yep, there it goes, she noted sourly as she flushed shamefully under Cloud's angry glare. Tifa seemed to take pity on her and touched Cloud's shoulder gently.

"Don't be so hard on her," she said quietly. "I'm sure Yuffie only meant the best for Cid."

"Yeah!" Yuffie agreed, her head shooting up as she flashed Tifa a grateful smile. The smile dropped when Vincent spoke next.

"Of course, why someone like Cid would want or need a vacation with someone like Yuffie is another interesting question," he added, his red eyes boring into Yuffie mercilessly.

Once again everyone was staring at her, and Yuffie felt a flicker of anger begin to rise over her overwhelming embarrassment. It's none of their business! she thought stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest. "I can't say," she mumbled angrily.

"You don't have to, Yuffie," Tifa said immediately, shooting a glare at the other men at the table that was largely ignored.

"Oh, I think she does!" Reeve piped in, another smile lighting his face. "I bet the answer could make headlines at the Midgar Enquirer. Maybe I could even sell the rights to the story and make up for some of my losses at the table!" he joked gleefully. The smile slid off of his face at approximately the same time the well-aimed poker chip hit him between the eyes.

"He wouldn't want me to tell you," Yuffie said hotly. "I don't want to tell you. So just lay off, will ya?" she growled.

"He's having problems with Shera. That's why he's here." Once again, Vincent broke the tense silence with another all-too-accurate observation. Yuffie really wanted to hit him with a chip in that moment, but figured that his massive cloak would probably block any of the missiles she could send flying his way before they'd make contact.

"With Shera?" Tifa said disbelievingly, her eyes widening with concern. "But they've been together for nine years! Oh, Yuffie, did he tell you what's wrong?"

More like showed me firsthand, she thought with a small smirk, only shaking her head apologetically at Tifa in response.

"Well, you know how much Cid smokes," Reeve began, leaning back in his chair and crossing his arms behind his head. "I hear it can cause impotence in older men. Maybe he can't…"

That was the last straw. Yuffie stood up and slammed her hands on the table with enough force to knock over the stacks of chips on it. Wheedling her was one thing, but picking on Cid when he wasn't even in the room was another. "You don't want to finish that sentence," she hissed in warning as she glared daggers at Reeve, who shrunk diminutively under her seething wrath. She whipped around and pointed her finger at Vincent. "And you! You're usually real good at keeping your big mouth shut, so what happened today? Maybe you need to practice a little more!" she spat. He blinked in response.

"Look, Yuffie, we're only trying to help—" Tifa cut in sternly, standing up to meet Yuffie's eyes.

"Trying to help? Yeah, right!" Yuffie yelled, throwing up her hands as she stepped away from the table. "This is why I didn't want to say anything. Look at you guys! How do you think Cid would feel if he knew you were talking about his love life behind his back?"

"We're his friends!" Tifa countered immediately, her mouth pulling into a hard line.

"That doesn't give you the automatic right to know!" Yuffie fired back. "Maybe he doesn't need our helping hands! Maybe he just wants to be left alone so he can deal with it himself! You ever think of that?"

"You're hardly one to talk when it comes to keeping your nose out of other peoples' business," Reeve interrupted mildly, steepling his hands under his chin. "Or maybe you're upset because Cid didn't appreciate the Kisaragi version of tough love? Tell me, did you come up with another one of your 100-percent-guaranteed-to-work foolproof therapy plans? Something as brilliant as the idea that stuffing enough materia into Wutai would make it any less of a tourist trap?"

Yuffie sucked in her breath, anger flowing through her so white-hot that the materia in her armlet began to sparkle dangerously without her even realizing it. In a surprising display of backbone, Reeve didn't back down, meeting her glare with one of his own. She managed to bite back the scathing reply that would have blown what little privacy was left to Cid and herself, but still she couldn't stop herself from responding to Reeve's provocation. He knew better than to bring up Wutai, or so she had once thought. How dare he, she thought, trembling with fury. How dare he! "You don't know anything," she said slowly, meeting his unblinking stare.

The thick tension in the room broke with Cloud's ever-placid, gentle voice. "Yuffie, Reeve. That's enough." It was his leader tone, the one that brokered no argument lest the affected parties wanted to eat an omnislash for breakfast. It had its desired effect as Reeve sat back and Yuffie looked away, though she crossed her arms and remained standing. Cloud sighed and dropped his hand into his forehead, the one sure tell he gave when he was feeling uncomfortable. "Guys, Yuffie is right. If Cid wanted to talk to us about his problems with Shera, he'd approach us himself. Let's give him some space."

Yuffie uncrossed her arms and let out a loud huff. "Finally, the voice of reason," she said sarcastically. Then she felt her stomach flip-flop as Cloud turned his hard stare onto her; sometimes she thought he could see right through them all with his piercing blue eyes.

"That doesn't mean whatever you did to Cid these past few days was right, or even helpful. For his sake, I'll let this go for now. But I hope you're prepared to face the consequences if… no, when, whatever you planned blows up in your face. You're dealing with other peoples' personal lives now, Yuffie, not just their materia. You can't just fix or replace things if you end up ruining Cid's relationship with Shera. I wonder if you even understand that at all sometimes," he sighed.

Yuffie bit her lip and closed her eyes tightly, willing herself not to break down and cry in front of everyone. Especially not Reeve, since she was still mad at him. Cloud's words hit home more closely than he probably knew. Why'd it have to come from him of all people? she thought miserably, focusing furiously on the wood grain of the table.

"Hey… Yuffie, you know we're just worried for you," Tifa said gently, her concern finally overriding the thick silence in the room. "Are you going to be alright?"

"Like you'd believe me if I said yes anyway!" she ground out, squeezing her eyes shut and bolting from the room in shame.