Love is Like a Rose - Chapter 9: Inner Beauty

Yuffie scowled at her reflection in the three mirrors she stood in front of. Three women fussed over which of the three dresses she looked best in. In Yuffie's opinion, she thought all three dresses made her look fat, but no one bothered to listen to her.

"No, no, no!" a woman with glossy blonde hair pulled into a tight bun at the nape of her neck and stormy gray eyes that reminded Yuffie of the smoke from Cid's cigarettes, said firmly, shaking her head. "Ze scarlet one with ze shawl brings out her true inner beauty," she went on with a heavy French accent, putting emphasis on beauty.

Keep sticking me with needles, and I'll show you my true inner beast, Yuffie thought with a frown. She saw Aerith in the corner, leaning against the wall with her arms folded across her chest. Yuffie shot her an icy glare, and Aerith merely smiled back.

"But the black spaghetti strapped one shows her womanly curves and slim figure," said another woman with thick, auburn hair that reached her waist and vibrant green eyes that put Aerith's to shame.

"The pearl dress--" began another woman with short, brown hair that framed her blue eyes, when French woman cut her off rudely.

"-iz ze ugliest theeng I've ever seen. Ze scarlet one looks best on her, and zat is zat. Get ze ozer two dresseez out of my sight. "

The other two women fell silent immediately and began muttering apologies. Yuffie really couldn't blame them. This woman was downright scary. She began to move for the dressing room to remove the dress when French lady caught her wrist.

"You like ze dress?" she stated rather than asked menacingly.

Yuffie decided to humor her and nodded her head vigorously. Only if she had her shurikens, she'd stand up to this woman. "Um, yeah," she said as she walked into the dressing room. "It brings out my 'inner beauty'," she added with a fake French accent, unable to keep the sarcasm out of her tone.

Moments later, Yuffie hurried alongside Aerith through the crowded streets, carrying her newly purchased dress. "Where are we going now?" Yuffie asked. "The castle's the other way."

"We're not going back up to the castle," said Aerith.

"What more do we need? I've got the dress," Yuffie whined, trying to keep up with Aerith's quick strides.

"You don't have shoes, your hair is a tangled mop," Yuffie glowered at this, "and you need makeup."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. You didn't say anything about makeup!" Yuffie said, bewildered.

"It's a ball, Yuffie. Not a battle," Aerith said with a smile as she entered a shoe store.

"Is there really a difference?" Yuffie groaned.

Yuffie windmilled her arms to keep her balance. She cautiously took a step and winced. "I'm supposed to dance in these things!" she exclaimed before losing her balance. Yuffie tasted blood as she hit the floor face first.

Aerith sighed and looked at the salesperson. "Do you have anything with less of a heel?"

"Certainly," the salesperson said as she went into the back room for another pair of sandals.

"Make yourself useful and get me a bag of ice while you're at it," Yuffie mumbled, pushing herself back to her feet.

"Honestly, for a ninja, you are the most uncoordinated person I've ever seen," Aerith said exasperatedly. "That was the seventh pair of sandals you've tried on."

"Also the seventh time I've fell flat on my face," Yuffie said dryly. This shopping thing wasn't going as she expected.

"It's not that hard if you take graceful steps instead of acting like you're about to leap into a fight at any second."

"Humph. It's not my fault I was raised like that. I spent all my time training when I was little."

"And stealing when you weren't training," Aerith added. This earned a glare from the ninja. "Come on. You're going to end up with scoliosis if you walk around with your shoulders all hunched up like that."

Yuffie sighed heavily and sat down on a leather chair to remove the sandals and put on the ones the salesperson had just brought out. The heel was an inch less than the other monstrosity Yuffie had tried on before. Grabbing the arms of the chair for balance, Yuffie slowly stood up.

"Back straight, shoulders back."

Yuffie did as Aerith told her and took a step. So far so good. She managed to walk up and down the aisle without collapsing. "I guess this is as good as it's gonna get," Yuffie said finally, coming to a halt.

"You want to wear those home?" the salesperson asked, a smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

Yuffie resisted the urge to roundhouse the woman six ways to Sunday and settled on muttering, "Everybody's a comedian," while shooting the salesperson a cold glare that rivaled Leon's.

"Where are you planning to torture me now?" Yuffie asked, carrying two packages. She wondered why Aerith didn't have to carry of this junk that she bought herself. Now she knew why Cloud always looked so nervous and jumpy whenever Aerith would ask him to go to the market with her.

"We'll get your hair done…" Aerith's voice trailed off as she studied Yuffie's short raven bangs. "When was the last time you brushed it?"

Yuffie was slightly hurt as she meekly said, "Tuesday."

Aerith rolled her eyes. "Let me see your nails," she commanded.

Yuffie obliged. She didn't like this Aerith at all. Where was the sweet and gentle Flower Girl she'd known for practically her entire life?

Aerith shook her head disapprovingly. She pulled off one of Yuffie's tattered gloves and asked, "When were you going to get around to cleaning these things?"

"When Cloud dyes his hair pink," Yuffie shot back, yanking her hand back and putting her glove back on.

"Oh come on. You're just getting a trim, highlights, and a French manicure."

"I'd rather have some French fries instead," Yuffie commented as her stomach growled.

"Later."

Yuffie sighed heavily for the second time that day and followed Aerith into a beauty salon. She vaguely wondered how Leon and the others were fairing without Aerith to cook lunch for them.

"How hard is it to put a box of noodles into a boiling pot of water and let it simmer before adding the cheese?" Cloud demanded, slamming his fist on the counter. He and Cid both wore aprons and stood before the stove while Leon sat in a stony silence at the table after flat out refusing to help. He'd rather starve to death that to eat anything Cid and Cloud cooked up.

"Listen up, Spike," Cid rounded on Cloud. "One, Mac-N-Cheese does NOT fucking simmer! Two, it's not as easy as it looks. Three, why the hell do I have to wear the pink apron with the frilly shit all over it?"

Leon pinched the bridge of his nose. He was feeling particularly suicidal as he contemplated eating the leftover meatloaf Aerith left for them. Why oh why had Aerith left him with a radioactive hunk of meat and two dunderheads who wouldn't be able to make toast if their lives depended on it? He sighed inwardly and glanced out the window. He could see the busy town below. Poor Yuffie, Leon mused. She had it worse than he did. Shopping with Aerith was like challenging Sephiroth to a fight with nothing more than a plastic spoon to defend yourself.

"So how the hell do you add the cheese?" Cid barked, interrupting Leon's thoughts.

"How should I know?" Cloud growled back. "Just dump it in the pot, I guess."

Cid ripped open the pack of cheese and dumped it into the pot.

"What the--"

But Cloud never got to finish his statement as the Mac-N-Cheese exploded in his face. A strangled growl from Cid told Cloud that he was covered in the crap too.

Leon pushed back his chair and stood up. "Now, I am going to order a pizza," he said calmly, even though he felt anything but calm. "Do me a favor? I know it's hard, but stay here and try not to do anything…stupid."

"NOW can we go home?" Yuffie begged, almost pitifully. After three hours of wanting to kill the hair stylist and torch the place down, Yuffie was ready to make a run for the castle. She had to admit that getting a makeover wasn't such a bad idea. She actually cleaned up pretty damn well.

"All right," Aerith nodded, and Yuffie sighed in relief as they began to head up to the castle. "Unless you want to get some jewelry too..."

"No, that's fine, thanks," Yuffie interrupted. She didn't care if she sounded rude. All she wanted was a meal and a long nap.

As they entered the main hall of the castle, she could feel the gazes of several boys on her. "What are they staring at?" Yuffie murmured to Aerith out of the corner of her mouth.

Aerith chuckled. "You."

"Me?"

"They're checking you out," Aerith said plainly.

Yuffie felt her face heat up. "Oh."

"Imagine Leon's face when he sees you," Aerith said, walking ahead of Yuffie.

Yuffie's face, if possible, turned an even darker shade of red. "Not so fast! You're not dragging a million pounds of clothes and makeup!"

She followed Aerith to kitchen, where Aerith stood unmoving, a look of disbelief on her face. "Aerith? What-" But she didn't need to finish her sentence. Cloud and Cid stood in the middle of the kitchen, mopping up a substance that Yuffie assumed was cheese from the floor. Leon sat at the table, eating a slice of pizza, looking pretty smug about something.

"We had a little cooking accident," Leon explained.

"Accident?" Yuffie exclaimed, stepping into the kitchen. "More like disaster."

Leon shrugged and froze in mid-bite. "Yuffie?" His eyes widened as he looked at her. Her dark short hair was sleek and shiny with bronze highlights. A rosy blush on her cheeks contrasted nicely with her pale complexion and her lips were pink and pert. Leon was sure his eyes were bulging out of their sockets; he tried his hardest to stop staring.

"Long story," Yuffie said dismissively before he could say more.

Leon ogled noiselessly as did Cid and Cloud. "And they say miracles don't happen," Cid observed.

"I'll say," Yuffie said, sitting down and grabbing a slice of pizza. "You two managed to stay alive while cooking."