New Ways

Chapter 2:

Struggles

A/N: should I add a lil bit of Vincent/Yuffie in here??????????????? I think it's too blah-ish if it's just about Yuffie and no one else. Oh, well, either way, I'm bringing back the characters, and Vincent's one of them, even if they don't fall in luv.

Oh my God... Yuffie thought, rolling out of bed. It's been a few days since she has taken over Wutai, and she hates the job. Why me? I'm so stupid. I'm probably gonna wind up having the people in this town end up dead, 'cuz they committed suicide since it's so frustrating being under my rule, or maybe... Dammit, Yuffie, what the hell are you thinking?! You're insane!!! Goddammit, I'm insane...

"Miss Yuffie," called a townsperson. Yuffie crawled up, and self-consciously tucked her short hair behind her ears, in attempt to hid her messy hair from sleeping too long.

"Yes?" she replied, trying to act as mature as possible.

"A package for you," the townsperson said.

"Oh. Thanks- I mean, thank you," Yuffie corrected herself, and received a small box. Kicking the door shut, she headed back to her bed and sat upon it, opening the parcel.

"What's this?" she asked herself quietly, and saw a letter with a few Materia with it.

"Dear Yuffie," it read, "Hi! It's us- Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Red XIII. We're hanging at Cosmo Canyon right now, near the fire, and you just happened to come across our thoughts. We were thinking about when you stole our Materia, and we thought we might as well do you a favor and give you our Materia. We've no need for it now.

Two months from now, we're calling all members of AVALANCHE to have a little celebration to congratulate ourselves on the victory against Sephiroth here in Cosmo Canyon. We want you to join us, mainly because you have been a very big help to us in our fight. Please respond!

Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Nanaki."

"Bull..." Yuffie said, scrunching up the letter. She stared at the Materia they left her, and felt a slight sliver of guilt making its way into her. Slowly, she felt more and more upset. She's always been like this; it was her nature to have almost no appreciation for the things done. Well, it was her nature. This was one of the traits that she's trying to leave behind.

"Maybe... I will respond," Yuffie thought, then pulled out a sheet of paper and wrote upon it.

"Dear Cloud, Tifa, Barret and Red XIII," Yuffie wrote, then stopped. What would she write?

"Unfortunately, I'd like to come to Cosmo Canyon, but I can't. With me being the only heir to my father, I inherited the entire city of Wutai and I am now in control of it. I can't leave this town, as much as I despise it. I'm extremely sorry.

Thank you for the Materia. I appreciate it a lot. I promise I'll make sure no one steals it from me.

Yuffie."

* * *

"What do you mean, she can't come?" Barret yelled, ripping the letter from Cloud's grip, scanning Yuffie's writing.

"I mean, she can't come! Apparently, she's the new leader of Wutai, and has an obligation to stay there!" Cloud explained.

"Whatever happened to Lord Godo?" Tifa asked.

"I... Don't know," Cloud said, scratching his head, then swiftly brushed his hair out of his face.

"It's not like her to miss a 'celebration'," Red XIII said, frowning in deep thought.

"True," Tifa said, sitting down and fidgeting with her dark brown hair, "Maybe... Maybe we could go there to surprise her. I'm sure she'd love us," Tifa joked.

"Not bad," Red XIII said, smiling, "Not bad at all!"

"WHAT?!" Tifa exclaimed, "I was joking!"

"Good joke," Cloud said sarcastically, "I'm with Red XIII. I'm pretty sure that Yuffie is kicking herself right now, regretting ever rejecting the invitation, so might as well save her from herself."

"Barret! PLEASE say you're with me," Tifa begged.

"Hell, I'm going whether or not to celebrate! I gotta kick some brat-ass and demand a real explanation for not coming! It's so obvious she's lying just to not come, that little stuck-up asshole."

"DAMMIT!!!" Tifa cried in exasperation, falling backwards from her sitting position so she's laying down on the hard ground.

"Well, I guess we're going," Cloud said, "I'll re-send the letters to everyone," he said, and walked off.

"Tifa?" Red XIII asked.

"What?!" Tifa cried.

"Why don't you want to go?"

"Because... She's young. When I was young, I got time alone when I wanted time alone. I think we should just stay put, and let her have some time to think."

Red XIII scoffed. "Time to think? She couldn't care less about time to think."

"True. Then, I guess, I just don't want to go because I was joking, I guess..." Tifa said, "God, I'm confusing myself."

* * *

"Why do we have to do this?" Shake asked, "Yuffie didn't do anything bad! And really, whats the point? I tell you where she is and what she's doing 24-7, and then what happens?"

Gorky opened his mouth to explain to Shake, but Staniv shook his head. "He'll learn soon enough," Staniv said, "And that'll be when this is all over. He's too young."

Shake frowned. He hated being left out just because of littleness. He had just as much attitude, common sense and smart-ness as any of them, but they always looked down on him, and thought of him as inferior, even though he was the guard of a level superior to that of Gorky's.

"So, Shake tells us when she's in her basement, and that's when Chekhov will short-circuit Yuffie's trap, right?" Gorky whispered when Shake was out of hearing range.

"Right," Staniv said.

"I don't feel right doing this," Chekhov said, "I've known Yuffie since she was born, and all of us were good friends with Lord Godo. Why are we doing this?"

"Because, my friend who bears an allergy to smartness, we will have control over the people of Wutai afterwards, and after Wutai comes the entire Western Continent, and after that, the Northern Continent, the Eastern Continent and the Southern Continent! Don't you see, Chekhov? We work little-by-little. Yuffie has no heir, therefore making us the next in line, since we were Lord Godo's 'close friends'," Staniv explained, "It's the perfect crime."

* * *

Yuffie has tried very hard to live up to the ideal leader for the past two months, almost two months anyway, but she has had no luck. Everything she does seems to be the trigger to some chain reaction, making the people hate her more and more. At least, that's what she thinks is happening.

"Why do I have a people-repellent?" Yuffie whined to herself one day in her room, "All the citizens of Wutai hate me. God, please, end this for me right now! Get someone else to be leader! Please!!!" Yuffie cried, staring up at the ceiling, talking to an invisible soul, "Please..." she sobbed, then thought about how much she misses her father. "Bring back Dad... He's the best that anyone would've ever seen... Please..."

Yuffie went downstairs into her basement, and sighed, sitting down against a wall, scrunched up with her head buried in her knees and crying. Ever since her father died, it became almost tradition to cry at least three times a day. Sometimes she wonders if she'll ever get dehydrated.

The young leader wiped away her tears against the sleeve of her beautiful kimono, and she cursed herself for making such a careless mistake, then stood up and walked to the center of the room.

BOOM!!! A metal cage fell down and trapped her.

"What the hell is going on?" Yuffie muttered, staring at her surroundings. Her dark eyes took a glance at the machine that she had told Cloud to switch on. "Dammit!" she cried. She had intended to get rid of that, but was so depressed lately, it kept on slipping her mind. "Shit..."