Home

-Squirrel Tamer

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

Chapter 2: A Fallen Angel

Yuffie blinked her eyes a few times, trying to see if the image in front of her would disappear. She could see Traverse Town looming in front of her; around her the sky was filling with more stars than she had ever thought possible. She knew that they were all of the worlds that had been destroyed by the Heartless going back. The sky around her was dark, but colorful filled with an array of deep purples and blues. She stared out in wonder.

The next thing she knew, she was thrown from her small piece of land and flung through the open doors of Traverse Town's exit. She threw her hands out in front of her to brace her fall. She swore darkly and then stood up.

She heard something behind her creaking slowly. She whirled around and screamed. The doors to the world's exit were closing on her. She ran towards them, but they banged shut just as she reached them. She pounded her fists against the solid wood, but neither door seemed to want to budge. They were jammed tight. Yuffie felt a sob escape from her lips as she threw her whole body against the door.

"OPEN!!!" She wailed and shouldered the door yet again. Still nothing happened and Yuffie sunk to the ground, rubbing her shoulder. "That really hurt, you know?" She asked the doors, they didn't answer her. She stuck her tongue out at them and gazed at the town again. It was so dark out and she was so cold. She put a hand to her heart wrapping her fingers around Squall's chain. Yuffie carefully lifted herself and looked around; trying to find something she could do to get back.

It didn't even occur to her that what had just happened was exactly what the young ninja had wanted. She had felt lonely and sad in Hollow Bastion even though she was with her friends. Perhaps she really was just a kid, she had always wanted the thing she couldn't have. When they used to live in Hollow Bastion she had wanted to see other worlds, when they were all in Traverse Town she had just wanted to go home, and when she did get home she wanted out.

Yuffie sighed, pulling a hand through her tangled black hair.

"I guess I'll have to find someplace to stay," She muttered darkly. She glanced around the first district, her eyes wondering from the cafe to the item shop then onto Cid's shop. Her eyes lit up upon seeing the dirty old shop that she had grown up in. She ran up the steps and yanked open the large door.

She sneezed as she entered. Apparently the man left in charge when Cid had gone back to Gummi ships had not been doing a very good job. The whole place was covered in a thick film of dust, papers were scattered over the ground, she see the ladder leading to the moogle's sanctuary had fallen over crashing into the glass table in the middle.

The ninja placed a hand on the doorframe, wiping her hand against it until enough dust was wiped away to see the small nicks in the wood. She bent down, close to the bottom, she blew on the dust and it separated she studied the wood. Her name had been carved into the doorframe, there was writing carved beside a small notch about three feet off the ground that announced, Yuffie, age 6. She glanced up and could see the other places where Squall and Aerith's names had been placed. When they had first arrived at Traverse Town, Cid had attempted to take on the wondrous role of parent. The only problem was that neither Aerith, Squall nor Yuffie herself had really enjoyed the thought of Cid being their foster father.

Cid was a little bit of a...well...alcoholic.

Yuffie stood up and sighed and headed toward the back of the desk, she reached underneath a coffee mug and pulled out a small brass key, she placed the key in a lock on a cupboard underneath the desk. She giggled as a she pulled out a large bottle of rum. She knew that she was only sixteen, but she figured she deserved a drink for all of her hard work.

She was pouring the rum into a small glass when she heard the door creak upstairs. She glanced towards the trapdoor and gasped, the bottle falling from her hands. A black feather drifted downwards landing at the ninja's feet.

Yuffie's amber eyes widened and her mouth opened into a silent scream. He can't be here; she thought wildly, he just can't!

Yuffie didn't waste anytime in flinging open the door and sprinting towards the entrance into the second district. She could hear something following her, although she knew that its feet never touched the ground. It simply gliding along behind her, ready to suck her in and crush her like a bug. She pushed herself harder and rammed her shoulder against the second district doors.

They were flung open and Yuffie barreled through then turned to her left slightly heading for the gizmo shop. She entered quickly and slammed the door shut behind her, locking the simple chain clasp and heading for the back door. She pushed it open just as she heard the front door blown off of it's hinges, she squeaked and scrambled up the ladder to the bell tower.

At the top she headed onto the small stretch of land and bounded across to the rooftops of the hat shop and various other shops. Her plan was to go in the most confusing path she could, but where to go next?

She saw the small open window and leapt into it coming out in the third district.

"The vacant house!" She exclaimed to herself, and jumped down landing hard on her right leg. She grimaced and headed up the stairs a bit; she stopped when she heard something loud pounding onto the doors to the third district. She thought she had lost him, but he seemed to know exactly where Yuffie was going even though she herself was just making it up as she went along.

The vacant house would not stop him, but there was still a chance that she could confuse him enough so that he wouldn't be able to find her. If she headed into Merlin's lair she could ride down to the waterway using the small section of rocks that acted like a lift that she was fairly sure only Aerith, Squall, Sora and herself knew about and then either lock herself in a hotel room, or climb the boxes and hop back into the first district.

The pounding on the doorstop and Yuffie wasn't quite sure if that was good or bad.

"Oh well," She muttered as she clambered down the stairs and sprinted towards Merlin's magical door. "Open!" She screamed as the door slowly lifted upwards, too slowly for her liking. It was only halfway up when she dived underneath and same out onto the sandy shore beside a few rocks that moved from side to side, a minor setback when someone was trying to make an escape such as she was.

But she didn't let that faze her as she leapt onto the first rock, then to the next and the next. She saw the land almost right in front of her, her heart skipped a beat, and she had made it! In her excitement Yuffie miscalculated the jump and was about to land in the water only inches away from the edge.

She screeched as she fell, but was saved when a gloved hand grabbed her own hand and pulled her onto solid ground. Yuffie collapsed to her knees and closed her eyes, her whole body trembling in fear. Her savior looked down at her and the corner of his mouth twitched upwards, his long silvery hair blew ever so slightly in the strange wind, which always blew in the small cavern that had once harbored two of the greatest magicians in all the worlds.

"Hello, Yuffie." Sephiroth whispered.

~~~~

A/N: Sephy? What's he doing in there? Oh I dunno, just hanging out I suppose. Oh and I figured that everyone would understand the reason why Yuffie went back to TT. Yeah, it was mainly because she had spent most of her life their and in her own mind it was her real home. Kairi went back to Destiny Islands because she considered it her true home where she had grown up. A lot like Yuffie.

And to those who...er...seemed to be somewhat upset with this story. Get over it. I never played FF8 and even if I did I would still like this coupling. Don't go flaming me just because you don't like the couple. At least point out some grammatical errors or something! So the Squiffie pairing stays.