For Materia or Love 7

For Materia or Love 7

By Yuffie Valentine

Zack and Yuffie walked along the path in the woods. Zack gave Yuffie a look over. She looked like she had something on her mind again. Every time they did something that reminded her of Cloud she got that look.

"Yuffie, I have to ask you something. You just told me that Cloud asked you out and you guys had a thing for a few days before he turned on you. I was wondering if you were leaving out some detail that is ripping you up inside." Zack said. Yuffie slapped him and blushed.

"You don't have to go sticking your nose in where it don't belong, got it?" Yuffie said. She stuck her chin up to show pride. "A ninja hides nothing."

"Oh yeah, you seemed to hide my clothes that one time I took a bath is that lake." Zack said. Yuffie burst out laughing.

"You looked so cute yelling from up in that tree. And then you dropped off the branch. Heh heh heh heh!" Yuffie said. Zack gave her a glare.

"I wouldn't have to be hiding in a tree if someone didn't steal my clothes." Zack said.

"Oh, I was just checking for materia." Yuffie said.

"I sold my materia off along time ago. It was a gift from Shinra, I can't keep anything from them." Zack said. Yuffie frowned.

"Oh well, they give you workers standard materia anyways." Yuffie said. Zack gave a laugh.

"Hey, we have been working hard lately, how about a little break. We are right near the snow town, let's make a vacation of it." Zack said. Yuffie jumped up and down.

"I love the snow." Yuffie gave a whistle and their gold chocobo appeared.

"I still can't believe you knew the formula to breed that thing." Zack said. He jumped on the bird's back and put his hand down to help Yuffie up.

"Yeah, well, you learn things on the road. Next thing we have to do is breed ourselves another for me." Yuffie said. She grabbed his hand and took her seat in front of her. She got to drive the bird cause she was more trained at it. Zack had mostly walked before that.

"I don't know, two gold Chocobos would be hard to hide. Keeping it with just one is better." Zack said. Yuffie gave her goofy at the same time cute smile. Zack was always thinking of things like that. They rode back to the North direction they had just come from.

Cloud and Tifa asked around if anyone had seen Yuffie around.

"Sorry, no sign of a girl matching that who you described. But there was a girl who was in full ninja gear; she is a suspect in the murders. I am sure it isn't the girl you are looking for, right?" The guard asked. He raised an eyebrow.

"No, no, no! The girl we're looking for won't harm a fly." Cloud said.

"Yeah, she is lost, not a murderer." Tifa said, "But we are AVALANCHE, we must try and stop the murderer. Where did they go?"

"They went towards the Forgotten City," The guard pointed to the woods. "Got away on a Gold Chocobo."

"Okay, thank you." Tifa said and pulled Cloud away. As soon as they were out of earshot she started to freak out. "Oh my god, Yuffie is going to get herself shot."

"No kidding. We need to find her." Cloud said. "Plus we can figure out why the hell Zack is being so damn evil."

"Well, he most has reasons." Tifa said. They got back on the Highwind and took off into the air.

Yuffie shivered, her thin jacket she had put on wasn't helping in this snow at all. Zack wasn't much better off. He didn't bring anything.

"Tell me why you wanted to come here again." Yuffie asked. Zack laughed.

"Oh come on. Just get this bird going a little faster and we'll be there in five minutes." Zack said. Yuffie glared back at him.

"It's name is Chaos, and she needs some rest and greens." Yuffie said. She stopped the Chocobo. It was breathing heavy. Yuffie and Zack jumped down.

"Now that we are off the warm bird, I am freezing." Zack said. Yuffie giggled. She reached into their items bag and pulled out a tent. She flipped it open. "It's a bit early to be going to bed ain't it?"

"Well, we better get sleep while the chocobo does too." She pointed to Chaos (Note: Chaos is another one of my chcocobo that I am proud of) who was asleep already. Zack petted its head.

"Yuffie, I think I have settles my debt with Shinra. We no longer have to kill those people." Zack said. Yuffie looked up at him with big eyes. She thought he would never say that. She was getting sick of killing; she would throw up after every battle cause of the blood.

"That's good." Yuffie crawled into the tent. She took off her shoes and armguard. Then started to spread out her bedding. Zack looked in.

"Yuffie, where is my tent." He said holding up their item bag. Yuffie blushed.

She said in a low voice, "I sold it." Zack's mouth dropped open.

"WHAT? WHY?" Zack yelled. Yuffie slowly reached into her pocket and pulled out a green materia. "YUFFIE!"

"Well, we didn't have a cure materia." Yuffie said. Zack glared down.

"We don't need one." Zack said. Yuffie shot a look back at him.

"Maybe you didn't but I did." Yuffie pulled down her left knee sock to expose a large fresh looking cut. Zack gasped.

"When did you get that!" Zack said. He crawled in next to Yuffie and got a closer look. It was a nasty cut. "Sorry, I shouldn't have gotten mad at you."

"You are right, you shouldn't have. " Yuffie said, she looked out at the setting sun. It made the snow turn red and pink. A smile came to her face.

"So, I have to go sleep with Chaos tonight?" Zack said. He gave Yuffie big eyes that seem to plead with her. She gave a sigh.

"Fine, you can sleep in my tent, but stay in your own bedding." Yuffie said. She finished turning out her bedding. She then removed her headband and her fishnets from her leg and arm. Zack crawled in and put his bedding down.

"So now that we stopped killing people, what do you want to do?" Zack asked. Yuffie got a gleam in her eye.

"WE CAN GO MATERIA HUNTING!" Yuffie said. Zack knew he walked right into that one.

"Ummm, I guess we can." Zack said with an uneasy voice. Yuffie jumped over and hugged him.

"Really? No one has ever wanted to hunt materia with me!" Yuffie said. She gave a huge shout of joy.

In the Highwind, Cid looked down from his spot on the upper deck. He went out to enjoy a smoke. Looking down towards the shout came, he saw a small tent and a small gold chocobo from their height in the sky.

"CLOUD!" Cid yelled down, "LAND HER, I THINK I FOUND THEM!"

Cloud inside pulled the lever to land the Highwind, or what he thought was the lever to land the Highwind. It was actually the lever for top speed. The aircraft flew across the sky like a shooting star.

Yuffie looked up to see a shooting star fly across the snow. "Wow!" She closed her eyes and made a wish. After a few moments past she opened them. Looking around she saw no Cloud. Letting out a sad sigh she turned to Zack who was just finishing getting off his boots and other battle gear.

"Hey Yuff, what is with the sad face?" Zack asked. Yuffie gasped, that was the nickname Cloud gave her. Sure it was a common nickname for her, yet no one but them had called her that.

"Zack, can we visit my friends. I really miss them." Yuffie said. Zack nodded.

"Is Cloud one of those friends?" Zack asked. Yuffie looked into his eyes. He was almost the same as Cloud. They could have been brothers. But something about Zack was missing something Cloud had. She had been thinking maybe her and Zack would hook up, but that wouldn't please her.

"Yeah, Cloud is one of them." Yuffie said. Zack got a heartbreaking look on his face.

"Oh okay!" Zack yawned, "Let's just get some sleep." He turned and went into his bed. He didn't say anything more after that.

"Goodnight." Yuffie said. She looked up into the sky of stars. They were pretty as ever. Even that one that seemed to be getting closer. She looked carefully at that star. It was getting closer. As the space between her and the star closed, she noticed it was the Highwind.

"ZACK!!" Yuffie screamed. The Highwind was going at a speed higher then normal and it was flying low. It seemed like it was going to run them over. Zack looked to see this. He yelled and grabbed Yuffie's wrist.

"We got to get out of here!" Zack said. He jumped on Chaos with Yuffie sliding on in front of him.

"Go Chaos!" Yuffie yelled. Sure she wanted to see her friends. But at the moment it seemed her friends wanted to see her dead. The bird ran as fast as it could across the snow.

"DAMN IT CLOUD WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING DOWN THERE!" Cid yelled from the deck. He was holding on for dear life. Letting go at any moment to try to get to the door could mean his life.

"If I knew what I was doing I would stop it." Cloud said. Tifa was kicking away the class for the emergency break.

"Oh damn, Cloud it looks like Yuffie and Zack now we're coming." Barret said looking out the window. Cloud took a glance to see the two on a chocobo only about ten yards in front of them. "DAMN CLOUD! Slow down or you'll kill her."

"I CAN'T!" Cloud said. The Highwind gained more speed. Vincent who had been doing nothing but reading a book till this point put it down. He walked over to the controls where everyone was going crazy.

"You people are acting like a herd of chocobos with their heads cut off." Vincent reached over and took the keys out of their hold. The motors stopped and the Highwind slid to a stop on the snow.

"Why didn't I think of that?" Cloud said to himself.

"Because Cloud, you're blond." Vincent said and walked away.

"You said you guys would stop with the blond jokes damn it!" Cloud whined and stomped his feet. Tifa rolled her eyes and joined the rest in getting off the airliner. Cloud ran after them.

Yuffie and Zack sat on the chocobo trying to catch their breaths. Both hearts were racing. They looked back at the Highwind about 20 yards behind them.

"You think they were trying to kill us?" Zack asked. Yuffie nodded a 'no'. "Then what the hell were they trying to do?"

"I think some beside Cid is driving it." Yuffie looked back, she saw her friends running across the snow towards her. She looked up at the blond man getting off the plan. Her heart seemed to stop in place. She had dreamed about him all this time. She could say she hated him but she didn't.

Zack glared across the plain. At one person who were once his friend, but the stole his girl and his personality. Cloud glared down just as hard. The Battle stage was set.