Disclaimer: I own any original characters (obviously) and the other Heartless, stuff for the cure, and any other wacko things I forgot to mention.
Chapter Twenty-One: Infidelity at Gunpoint
He held her tightly, not willing to let go. She felt so frail, and he felt so helpless. How was he supposed to save her? Half of this stupid trip he was in the dark. Even now, he had no idea what the objective of getting all of these ingredients was, besides completing the cure. But what the heck did that mean? It felt too simple. Get the components, get the cure and WHAM! Yufffie is ok and everything is just fine and dandy. He felt like this whole thing had been too easy.
Easy? His mind taunted him. Fighting those Heartless, fighting those things is not easy. He knew, if he spoke that aloud, everyone would think he'd gone loony. Even Sora was huffing and puffing from all the effort of this journey. He didn't even want to think about how difficult this was on Yuffie.
"Kiss me."
Squall let go of her slightly, watching her. She hadn't asked it gently. She had demanded it, as if she would die if she didn't get it. She just sat there waiting for him to comply, and he wondered if he actually should. She was dying for Christ's sakes, and for some reason it just felt wrong.
Oh hell.
He slid his hand behind the nape of her neck, pulling her in smoothly. She could be as screechy and demanding as she wanted, but it was out of the question for him to be so rough. She giggled slightly when he put his lips on hers, and she could feel the vibrations of it clattering his teeth. She asks him to kiss her, and now she couldn't stop laughing?
"Make up your mind," he murmured, kissing her harder. She, in turn, laughed even louder. If you can imagine, it was difficult trying to kiss someone whose mouth is gaping open and screaming with laughter. "What is the problem?"
"Your voice sounds so…" she smiled, reaching over and hugging his arm. "Sexy."
"Uh-huh," Squall said in a disbelieving tone. 'That's right Leonhart. Act like it's all ok.'
Yuffie made a sound that Squall could only describe as a snort. "I can record it for you."
"I don't want to hear my own voice Yuffie." She was tracing his chest with her fingers, running lazy circles over his abs. It was driving him to the epitome of insanity. Did she know what she was doing? How it was making him lose control?
"Who wouldn't? I think mine is damn hot," Yuffie said with an impish smile. Squall smirked, stroking her face.
"Yeah, I find the whole bullfrog imitation really attractive," he murmured, moving so he could plant a kiss on her neck. He grimaced slightly when he smelled the blood and vomit on her clothes and sheets. "You need a bath."
"Oh thanks. I've always wanted to be told I was stinky."
"I didn't say that."
"You indirectly did."
Squall kissed her to shut her up, and she pulled him closer, moaning a little. Squall's conscience told him now wasn't the time, but when had he ever listened to that thing?
"Seriously, you need a bath."
"Gawd Squallie you are such a romanticist." Yuffie pouted against his leathery lips. "Can't we just sit here and ravish each other for a sec?"
Squall was seriously contemplating doing a lot more than that, and it took a hell of a lot to talk himself out of it. "Maybe later." Yuffie didn't even try to hide the mischievous gleam in her eye when he said that.
"Ok! Bath time it is." She held out her arms, and he picked her up, carrying her out of the room. As Squall started to close the bathroom door, Yuffie remembered Sephiroth sitting at the controls.
"Hi Sephiroth!"
The general looked up from where he was drinking his cup of bitter coffee.
"Squall an' me are gonna have sex in the bathtub!"
Out went the coffee.
Sephiroth rubbed his head, groaning. "Tell me I didn't hear that…"
~*~*~*~*~
Squall dropped her fully dressed into the bathtub, glaring at her. "What was that for?"
"Aww come on, I know you wanna."
The brunette eyed the ninja like she was lying. Finally, he said in a very matter-of-fact tone, "Just because I think about it doesn't mean you have to tell anyone."
"Sorry. I least I know why you were moaning in your sleep last night."
"Last night you were deaf."
Yuffie folded her arms across her chest. "It was a joke."
"I didn't say it wasn't."
The shinobi gripped her head in frustration. "AHH! Stop messing with my head." She paused for a moment, realizing her voice was going away again. She cleared her throat a few times to get rid of the "Bullfrog-ness".
"So, what now?"
Squall gave her "the look". "Take a bath, obviously."
"Ok." She proceeded to sit there as if the water would just start spewing out of the pipe. Squall was convincing himself to just leave her that way. He really didn't know why he had told her to take a bath, aside from smelling like death. Taking baths meant taking off clothes, and he didn't think he could handle seeing her naked. Well, he thought, I could, just not in an appropriate way.
"Are you gonna…like…scrub me and stuff?"
Squall's eyes widened for a moment. Could she not keep her mouth shut? Damn his photographic thoughts.
"Not if you can do it yourself."
Yuffie smiled and let her arms go slack at her side, acting like she was paralyzed. "Whoopsies…looks like I can't."
"Yuf-"
"Please? I'm sure you can keep it in your pants for a while."
"YUFFIE!"
The ninja smiled sheepishly, and started to take off her top. Squall groaned at the predicament he had gotten himself into. The rustling of clothes being thrown on the floor was far from easing his mind.
"I'm going to go get your pills," Squall said lamely. Unfortunately, that was the best excuse he could come up with. He moved out of the room before she could even protest. It was the half-truth, right? It would come in handy if she started to cough while she was in there.
He gripped the pills and the glass in his hand. His feet weren't willing to move. He could either stay here and be safe from getting "excited", or just leave Yuffie to do something inevitably stupid.
The ninja smiled when she heard the door open again. She had filled the tub waiting for him, and was currently sitting in there stark naked. She had originally wanted him to come in with the water still running, as the noise fills of the space that would surely ensure between them. But now, she was stuck sitting there, with only words to make them feel at ease.
"I've never been nude in front of anyone before," Yuffie admitted, embarrassed. She was never proud of her body. She always felt like she was fighting with it; it just never cooperated with her in the womanly department. Sometimes she had to wonder if she was really born a guy.
"I didn't think so," Squall said in a flat voice. Yuffie frowned and made little swirls in the water. She was crunched up into a ball. She was never open about sexuality or anything like that. She couldn't just spread out and expect Squall to just come over to her. She completely wouldn't blame him if he just ran out of the room now. It was even more so now that she was sick. She knew how thin she looked, how pale and ghostly.
"Is that coldness in you voice making up for the heat in other places?" The shinobi asked, although no joking vigor was behind it.
"You shouldn't kid around when your heart isn't into it. It makes you sound…apathetic." Squall sat on the fuzzy rug next to the bathtub, reaching up and stroking her cheek. "You aren't ugly Yuffie," he continued. "You never were to me."
"I-I…I know that. It's just…it's hard, ya know? I can't be…honest about myself like that. I can't just act like everything is ok, because it's not."
"Just," Squall couldn't believe what he said next. "Pretend."
Yuffie looked up at him, and he saw something he hadn't seen in a while. Hope. It sparked something of his own inside of him, and he silently embraced it. It was about all they had left.
Squall handed her a small bucket, instructing her to wet her hair. She did so while he found the bottle and shampoo and started to lather it onto his hands.
"I remember my mom doing this to me," Yuffie started suddenly. She had that look in her eyes again. The one he had realized to associate with her reminiscing. "She'd sit me down and-"
She stopped as abruptly as she had started, and for a moment her eyes went blank. Squall had this premonition of fear, and he felt as if she was precluding something. "Never mind," she said quickly, staring into nothing. "It's nothing." She went on muttering.
The Gunblade wielder sighed, trying to ignore that little occurrence. He knew ever since she had gotten the venereal disease, she hadn't really been in the right mind. She would act fine, but then she'd suddenly zone out, and not return for a few minutes, or even up to an hour. He always forced them away though, thinking it better to not bring them up. But he just couldn't this time.
"What was that about?" Yuffie looked at him as if she didn't know what he was talking about, and then let out her own audible sigh.
"Nothing. I'll just scare myself trying to understand what it was."
He didn't really believe her-never did on that matter- but he shook it off. There really was nothing he could do about a problem that wasn't presenting itself.
Yuffie yelped when she felt his hands gently massage her head, rubbing in the soap. She made a small laugh at his look of concentration, but decided not to annoy him…yet.
"This is nice," the shinobi said after he had finished, and while she was washing it from her hair. "I feel like a kid. 'Cept with bigger boobs."
Squall groaned at the mention of her chest. It was hard enough working on her hair without having his eyes wander.
"Can you not talk about your body parts right now?"
"Why? Is it gettin' a little rocky?"
Her reference to the organ that she had dubbed it was making him quite uncomfortable. He really didn't want his pants getting tight at a moment like this.
"Shut up," he muttered, the only thing he could come up with. He took out the conditioner and squeezed a glob of it onto her hair.
"Oh eww…why'd you have to do that?"
"Payback," he said simply. If she was going to make him uncomfortable, he was going to return the gesture.
Yuffie smiled, and splashed him a little. She had still been curled into a ball the whole time he had washed her hair, so she got a bare feeling when she splashed him with her arm. He glared at her, thankfully not letting his gaze wander to her half exposed chest.
"Uh Squall?" she asked finally. "If we're all embarrassed about this now, how am I going to wash my body?"
Squall eyed her with a thoughtful look. "Who said I was doing that?"
"You promised!"
He snorted. "I did no such thing!"
Yuffie splashed him again, and this time he retaliated, taking the bucket and dumping in on her legs. She yelled, taking the bucket from his hands and throwing it at his head. He grunted, grabbing the arm that had thrown the bucket, effectively stopping any of its movements in his grip. The young ninja stopped laughing for a moment, quieting to stare into his eyes with a serene look.
Squall leaned over and kissed her softly, before going back to work on her hair. He slid the smooth substance over her short brown tresses, listening to her making contented noises.
Something was wetting his pant leg.
"Yuffie," he said warningly.
"What?" she asked innocently. She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. "I'm not doing anything."
"Like hell you aren't," he growled, and he started to tickle her sides. She yelped, trying to stop his hands.
"Squall don't I'm-"
"What? Embarrassed? I told you, you're beautiful."
"It's not that!" she snapped, although she new it was exactly that. She was scared that he'd see what she really was, and not like what he saw.
"What then?"
"Doesn't matter," she murmured, inching over and grabbing a sponge from the small ledge beside her. Squall ended up biting his tongue in an attempt to stop from mimicking her. She sounded like a broken record.
She was lathering soap onto the sponge when she stopped completely, hand trembling. She jolted as if stung by something, eyes going wide. Squall reached out a grabbed her arm, demanding what was wrong. Surprise filled her eyes when she stared at him, and she quickly went back to what she was doing, like nothing had ever happened.
"Doesn't matter," she muttered over and over again, but he could see she was nervous now. Her arms were tired just from working the sponge and soap back and forth and all she wanted to do was sleep.
"Squall," she finally whimpered. "I want to rest."
He looked at her, still half covered in soap and conditioner, and nodded. He swiftly helped her wash off the remaining suds, and helped to pick her up in all her naked glory. Yuffie shivered as he held her close while struggling to grab a towel.
"Cold," she stuttered, feeling the frigidness of being in space.
"Here," Squall silently cursed as he fought to wrap the towel around her. Naturally, he got a pretty wide view of her body, but he wasn't really thinking about that.
'Liar', his mind taunted him. He almost growled when he felt a heat across his cheeks. Christ, he was twenty-five years old, and he did not blush!
"I'm w-wet," she slurred, gripping at his white tee. She was felt like a seal-slippery, and downright soaked. She desperately wanted to curl into her bed and lull herself to sleep. It was so damn wintry up here; she could practically feel the water freezing into icicles on her skin.
"I'll dry you off in the room," he commented, his throat suddenly dry. He really didn't like how he felt as if this was leading up to something….and he certainly didn't appreciate the implications of what he was saying.
He carried her bridal style into her-their-room, laying her toweled form onto the floor. She voiced her protests, but quieted as she watched him removed the sheets. She waited silently on the fuzzy rug, smiling at the reason she had been so quiet.
She got a good view of his ass.
~*~*~*~*~
Squall shoved the heap of odorous blankets into one of the back seats of the cockpit. Cid, for some obvious reasons, didn't think the ship would need a washer and dryer, and the seats were the only place large enough to hold the bundle of bedspreads.
"Is it safe to go in here?"
Squall looked up, staring at the general who was pointing a little warily at the bathroom door.
"We didn't do anything in there," the brunette said calmly. Sephiroth smirked, taking the chance to edge open the door.
"Sure."
Squall grunted, going over to a cabinet and started to pull out random sheets. Sephiroth conveniently hadn't left yet.
"She'll become paralyzed soon," Sephiroth stated, sobering up. Squall froze.
"What?"
"The next step after amnesia and blindness is paralysis and insomnia. She's already started to cough up blood, and the eventually the loss of blood- hemoglobin, plasma and what not-will send her into a shock."
"Why are you telling me this?" Squall demanded. He wanted to wring the damn general's neck.
"I saw the look on your face when she forgot you. I'm just telling you so you won't look like you'd just had your makeup kit stolen."
Squall emitted a feral noise in the back of his throat at the comment. Why did everyone think just because he had long hair that he liked to wear makeup? He stared at the pile of folded sheets in his arms, glancing in the cabinet and picking out a last fuzzy blanket, with little gummi's on it. He really didn't want to know where it came from. He took once glance back at Sephiroth.
"I'll talk to you later," Squall begrudgingly said. Sephiroth made no sign that he had heard him, but just moved soundlessly into the bathroom. The dark-haired man made a 'pffing' sound, and returned to Yuffie.
He found her snoring lightly, twitching like a dog would. Not really knowing if that was a good sign or not, he just let it be. He promptly covered the bed again, relaxing only when the scent of the newly washed bedspreads covered up the old stench. At least he wouldn't have to hold his breathe if he decided to sleep in her room.
She was muttering something now, and Squall smiled, despite his stoic demeanor. He kissed her head, laying her down into the soft down of the bed. He used another towel that he had fortunately remembered to take and dried off her body, quickly wrapping her in the gummi blanket he had found. Once he was satisfied with her position and state, he kissed her again, on the lips this time, and left to converse with Sephiroth.
The general himself was taking a shower, as ironic as that was. He had hurried a bit just to get some info out of the man and he was busy?
"Hmph." He situated himself at the controls, drumming his fingers nonchalantly on the metal panel. He glanced at random levers and procedural looking graphs and locators. His eyes settled on the arsenal system. He always had this boyish need to mess with the damn thing. He could remember perfectly well a few times he had went overboard and almost ended up capsizing their own ship, as stupid as it sounded. He was only seventeen, ok?
What was the time, anyways? He realized that he didn't even know where a clock was, and he certainly didn't have a watch himself. He'd thought that Cid would have enough brains to shove one right on the control panel…obviously not.
He tapped the screen that blinked 'Auto-Pilot' in neon green letters. It had been nearly a day by now…only two days left.
Squall's mood worsened when he thought of that. There just wasn't enough time.
"Took you long enough," he said to himself, turning to face the general, fully dressed with a long curtain of dripping wet hair.
"Like you wouldn't take that long trying to change in that puny bathroom," Sephiroth retorted, seating himself in the seat diagonally and back from the brunette. "Two minutes," he said absently.
"What?"
"Two minutes before we land."
"Where's the damn time in here."
"There isn't."
Squall groaned, rubbing his eyes. Of course, Sephiroth would have some weird way to know exactly when the ship landed. "What'll happen to Yuffie?"
"She'll stay here under the supervision of someone." Sephiroth looked at him intently. "I think you should." Squall looked like he was going to say something, but Sephiroth stopped him. "I'm serious. Sora's skill is required more than yours. I can take the two brats with me, and you can stay and care for her." He stopped staring straight ahead, a blank look overcoming his chiseled features. "Plus, we still don't know how and why the Heartless returned. With only two days for her to live, we're running short on time."
"I know that." Squall got up a paced, even as he saw the auto pilot sign blink off out of the corner of his eye. He was momentarily distracted when he saw no planet. "Where-"
He didn't know if seeing a whale swimming in space was the freakiest thing in the universe, but for him, it took the cake. He had to grip onto one of the chairs for him to remain balanced as the creature swallowed them whole. He had to admit, he was forced to close his eyes for most of the way down. You would too if you were going down this things throat!
"You ok?"
Squall snorted, but his stomach didn't feel too steady. "Why wouldn't I be?"
He opened the hatch door, walking onto a soft, pink, squishy mass just in time to see Sora's ship being hurtled into the whale's stomach. It landed onto one of the many wooden platforms in the mammal's massive digestive organ. Sora came out a few seconds later, looking perfectly fine. Riku just looked pale.
Squall stared down at the water that went well over his head. He didn't trust it enough to actually swim in it; and it was a good thing he'd never have too. Sora had no problem with it though, because the next minute, he dove from the platform, leaving Riku to decide whether to stay up there or jump into the greenish liquid too.
"Great," Riku muttered incoherently, jumping feet first into the water. He had been planning on just using Sora for leverage when he flew, but he wasn't prepared for actually going into water with what he assumed was mixed with some pretty foul stuff.
Sephiroth waited for the soaking boys to come over to him. He himself had to wonder why the hell Sora didn't just choose to glide over. He quickly briefed what they had to do, his voice strict when he said he didn't want them to mess around with anything…or him for that matter.
Sora waved Squall off just as he stepped inside the ship. He gave a half wave back, then shut the doors tight. He went to Yuffie's room and stared down at her for a second, before gently climbing in with her. He was tired.
~*~*~*~*~
"They're not answering," Cloud said, throwing the device back onto the seat in disgust. Aerith smiled in a comforting way, picking it up and fiddling with it herself. They were still in Traverse Town, having decided that it was the safest place. It had the weakest Heartless, and as long as they sat in the Gummi, they were safe.
"We can always try again later," Aerith said supportively. She glanced back at the quiet red head. She hadn't said a word since she'd profusely admitted it was all her fault. The Keyblade in question was laying between the aisles of seats, the vibration having been annulled by the covering of clothes and boxes and what not that they could find to put over it.
"Here, gimme that thing," Cid commanded. Aerith handed it over to the Gummi dealer. She let out a small squeak when he turned on the 'voice' button and started to yell into it.
Somewhere on the other end of this communicator, a very sleepy, very annoyed Gunblade wielder picked up the device, the cussing coming out of it nearly enough for him to want to shatter it.
"What the hell," he slurred slightly into the black, square shaped walkie-talkie.
"Cid?" Aerith asked timidly. The Gummi dealer stopped at her voice. "I think somebody answered it."
"Hello?"
Before Cid could do something asinine, Cloud grabbed it from his hands, addressing Squall himself. "Squall, that you?"
"What is it?"
Kairi's head perked up, but not because of Squall. She was hearing something.
"Ok, just listen Leonhart. The Heartless are back in Traverse Town."
He heard a groan, a small curse, and the shuffling of clothing. "Since when?"
"Since…" Cloud stopped, glancing at Kairi. He knew it would degrade her even more, but he just had to tell him. "Since Kairi opened up this package that held a new Keyblade of some sort."
'Shit.'
Kairi flinched when he said that. She knew, of course, the Cloud had to tell him, but it was just so embarrassing. She tilted her head and rested it on the window, frowning. There was a figure outlined in the darkness of Traverse Town, and from the build, it was a man.
"Aerith," she whispered, motioning to her. The pink-clad women arched her brows and scooted over the where the lavender-eyed girl was. Kairi pointed to the window, where the man was, just standing there. "Who is that?"
Aerith stared for a little longer, her expression becoming more worried by the minute. "I don't know…hang on let me just tell Cloud."
The red head continued to watch him. 'What's the matter with him?' she thought. 'Doesn't he know that there are Heartless out there? He could get hurt!'
"Cloud," Aerith whispered, tugging on his cape. The blonde looked down at his love.
"What?" he asked, pulling the device away from his ear for a moment.
"There's a man outside. I don't know what's wrong with him, but we should go check it out."
Cloud looked perturbed by this news, but managed to keep his cool. "Yeah, in a sec." He returned to talking to Squall. "We have it under control for now," he said. "But we need Sora back soon. Oh and…is Yuffie…?"
"She's fine Strife. Two day's till death, but fine."
"Damn," Cloud whispered, grimacing. "Ok, tell her to take care. Don't let her die, Leonhart, or I'll kill you."
"A welcomed recourse," Squall muttered on the other end before cutting the connection. Cloud sighed, praying that Squall wasn't seriously thinking about that.
"Ok…" he glanced at the other three members in the ship. "I'll go check out what's up with that guy. Stay here," he ordered, giving them one reprimanding glare before walking out, his broad sword dragging across the floor behind him. Surprisingly, no Heartless came to annoy the crap out of him. He walked straight up to the man, who looked more like a boy. He was definitely shorter than Cloud, and held a strange resemblance to Sora.
"I hope he's ok," Aerith murmured solicitously, hands intertwined in worry. "That man really didn't seem that…right."
Kairi said nothing, just watched the two silhouettes with undeterred concentration. She watched, as they seemed to be talking. Suddenly the shorter figure reached out to the taller figure, and a huge explosion nearly blinded her. She screamed.
"Aerith!"
Kairi turned around from the window, and screamed again, the shrill noise hurting her own ears. A young man was standing in the doorway, holding Cid at gunpoint.
"Hey," the boy smirked. Kairi stared straight into the boy's grayish orbs, which looked sickeningly like Sora's. But this wasn't Sora.
"My name's Kir…and you have something that belongs to me."