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-Squirrel Tamer

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts.

Chapter 3: Circumstances

"Aerith! Cid!" Squall Leonhart sped down another curving hallway wondering how much farther he had to go until he actually reached the library. He knew they probably couldn't hear his frantic yells, but that did not seem to phase Squall who kept running blindly along, not noticing how empty it was without any heartless around.

Yuffie was gone. Her small piece of land had floated too far into space for him to see. She was gone, just gone. He felt himself panicking, a feeling that was brand new to him. Squall had always seemed himself as the spokesman for the calm, cool and collected type. But after seeing Yuffie just disappear like that...

And those words she had said...

Squall froze, and placed his hand upon the railing. No, he thought wildly. The words he thought she said. She had been drifting away and was yelling to him as she disappeared from view. As she left he could swear that he saw her lips move to form three simple words that would plague him for a long time; 'I love you.'

But it couldn't be true, right? Yuffie was only sixteen. She definitely was not old enough to be in love with anyone, especially Squall. They had always treated each other as family. Or at least that's what he had thought. But then again, Squall always had been somewhat dense when it came to his female friends. It had taken him a long time to realize that Aerith would often cry herself to sleep, or that time when he had driven Yuffie so angry that she had plummeted off of the side of the green room's balcony. He really never knew when to stop yelling at her and be kind.

He brushed a hand through his hair. He felt kind of dizzy. Just thinking of what Yuffie may have said scared him. If she did love him, what was he supposed to do? But more importantly...

Did he love her, too?

He shook his head and continued his tireless journey to the library where he would finally be able to tell the others and then begin to formulate a plan to bring her back to him. Err...back to everyone. Squall shook his head. Things were not as simple as he wished they could be. But no matter what he could not let Aerith or Cid know what he had thought that Yuffie had said to him. Because if they found her and it was brought up and she said that he had been all wrong...They would tease him about it. Saying that it must have been wishful thinking.

Squall snorted. Wishful thinking that maybe Yuffie loved him? Yeah right.

The doors to the library were flung open and in rushed an out of breath Squall, whose hands were shaking slightly as he gripped his Gunblade. Three pairs of eyes turned to look at him and he turned his own gaze to them. His eyes widened as his eyes locked onto two dark blue ones. He looked at the man the eyes belonged to.

He had spiky blond hair. There was a large taped sword lying on the ground at his feet, which the man had obviously dropped when Aerith had entered his arms. A long reddish cape, torn in many places hung off of his broad shoulders. The man was slightly taller than Squall himself, making the woman within his embrace appear small and fragile. But he held her with so much warmth and love that it made Squall tremble for want of what the blond man had.

"Something wrong Leonhart?" The blond asked somewhat more roughly than he had intended. His reunion with his beloved Aerith had been interrupted and after nine long years it seemed as if the blond could not be held responsible for anything that he was thinking of doing to Squall for breaking them apart, if only for a few minutes.

"Long time, Cloud." Squall said just as harshly with a nod towards the blond, "But I must remind you that it's Leon."

"Oh stop that nonsense right now Squall. You said that you would be willing to take back your own name once the heartless were gone and now they're gone. Right, Squall?" Aerith's green eyes were questioning and Squall knew she was afraid that something had happened, although she did not want to jump to any conclusions. Squall sighed. He hated being the one to break the bad news to his friends.

"Yeah. But now I have a new mission. I have to bring Yuffie back..." Aerith gasped and pushed herself out of Cloud's arms. She walked towards Squall, and wrapped her arms around herself.

"What do you mean, Squall? Where is Yuffie? Is she okay? Tell me what happened!" Aerith was backing Squall against the bookcase and wasn't about to back down. Squall hoped that Aerith believed in the concept of not shooting the messenger.

"I don't know where she is exactly or if she's safe either. We were fighting, she stormed off and the next thing I know she's floating away on a small strip of land. I tried to reach her, but wasn't able to. So we've got to go find her." Squall was surprised in himself. That was actually a lot more than he usually said. He tended to keep quiet unless he had something really important that needed to be known.

Tears ran down Aerith's cheeks as she fell to the ground, wrapping her arms around her knees and sobbing freely. Cloud ran to her, Cid coming up behind him. Cloud gently lifted Aerith up and wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"Don't worry," He murmured gently.

"I can't stop crying Cloud. Why can't we all just be together? I just want us all to be together. But things never work out that way...First I lost you and now I lost Yuffie. What if we don't find her for another nine years? Yuffie's only sixteen. She could get hurt." Aerith sobbed gently into the blonde's chest.

Cloud gently lifted her face so that she was looking into his eyes. She trembled slightly as he brought his lips to hers, pressing his mouth gently against hers. Aerith wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer to her.

Squall turned away in disgust as Aerith and Cloud continued their passionate embrace. He could hear Cloud murmuring that it was going to be all right over and over again to his beloved. Squall felt his chest tighten.

He knew he was jealous, but not because Aerith did not love Squall himself (he had always known that she would always be devoted to Cloud). He was jealous because they were in love and he knew that somehow he would never be able to experience that pleasure. He would always be alone.

But none of that mattered, because just because someone says that everything will be all right, it doesn't mean that it'll come true. And Squall was smart enough to realize that until they found Yuffie things would be all wrong.

~~~~

Yuffie opened her amber eyes ever so slightly. Her head hurt and she felt like she had been a grueling battle with a rather fat Heartless. She opened her eyes wider and looked around the red room. Everything was exactly how she had remembered it.

Was it all just a bad dream? Yuffie wondered to herself. Was it possible that perhaps she had simply had a nightmare and she was still in Traverse Town with Squall and Aerith and absolutely, positively no Sephiroth?

Yuffie smiled to herself. It must have been just a dream or else she would most definitely have been slain by the silver haired demon long before. The young ninja glanced down at herself.

She opened her mouth to let out a blood-curdling scream.

Her usually short black hair was long and a chestnut brown color. Across her upper torso was a button down pink shirt, like the ones Aerith had worn before they had escaped to Traverse. She looked at her hands; they were larger and more slender with long, clean fingernails. What happened?

Yuffie was beginning to become frantic. Was she Aerith? And if not then why was her hair the same color and length as Aerith's and why was she wearing Aerith's clothing? A more startling question erupted her mind. I wonder...Do I look like Aerith, too?

Yuffie slid out of the bed and walked towards the bureau. She looked into the large mirror and opened her mouth. She stared at the now emerald eyes of her reflection.

"Yuffie?"

The image vanished and Yuffie saw her regular self, staring back at her. Her regular silvery headband held her short black hair back. She still had her yellow scarf, green shirt and khaki shorts. Her eyes were amber once again and she was relieved. At least she was until the same voice from earlier spoke again.

"Something wrong?"

She whirled around and was once again faced with the fearful presence of the man she despised more than any other. He smiled casually at her and she trembled remembering what he had done nine long years ago.

~~~~

The ground was shaking. The sky almost seemed to be falling down upon the four scared figures scrambling across the halls of Hollow Bastion. The youngest one, a young girl of seven years, was clutching tightly an older girl's hand. Aerith smiled warmly at her little companion as if to let her know everything would be okay.

"Hurry up!" One of the two boys called back frantically. He kept glancing backwards fearfully. He had spiky blond hair and was dragging a long sword behind him. The youngest girl pumped her legs faster; reaching down to her belt where a slew of plastic ninja stars lay, ready to be thrown the minute one of those terrible black creatures popped up.

The eldest boy slowed down a bit and yelled to them over his shoulder.

"Cid's airship is just ahead. If we can make it there than we may be able to make it out of here!"

Yuffie trembled. Leave Hollow Bastion? They were going to leave their own home? Yuffie wanted to yell at them. She wanted them to make it all go away. Seven year olds were never meant to see people die. Yuffie's eyes became unfocused as the image of her own parents death played over and over again in her mind.

A loud cackling brought her back to reality.

"Just where do you all think you are going with my beloved?" Yuffie felt strong arms push her away from Aerith. She fell to the ground and landed hard, biting down on her lip. She poked at her bottom lip, noting that it was bleeding heavily.

"Yuffie!" Aerith called frantically as she reached towards the younger child. But strong arms wrapped around her waist and the emerald-eyed flower girl was prevented from moving. She turned around and stared angrily into the face of Sephiroth.

"Leave her be!" Cloud yelled, fury evident in his eyes. He started towards Sephiroth, but was beaten to it as Squall Leonhart leapt towards the older man, swinging his Gunblade. Sephiroth laughed and blasted Squall back with a large ball of darkness. Squall flew back and landed hard on his wrist beside Yuffie. His wrist emitted a loud crack as he landed. Yuffie's eyes widened as she scooted to her fallen friend.

"Squall..." The seven year old whispered to the sixteen year old. He nodded to signify that he was all right. Yuffie smiled and threw her arms around the boy. He stiffened but then relaxed as he felt her trembling in his arms.

In front of him Cloud and Sephiroth were engaged in combat. Aerith was rushing towards Squall. She pulled him to his feet and then lifted Yuffie into her arms. The young ninja began crying as several loud popping noises were heard around them.

"Cloud, come on!" Aerith yelled to her friend and long time crush. Cloud didn't even glance back as he spoke:

"Squall, take Yuffie and Aerith and get out of here! Get them onto Cid's ship and stick with them. Go now! The black creatures are coming!"

Squall nodded even though Cloud never saw him. He took Aerith by the shoulders and pushed her towards the doors.

"Go! Now!" He yelled to her, she turned back to look at him.

"B-but Cloud-!" She cried frantically. Squall shook his head at her and pushed her more.

"You have to protect Yuffie, Aerith! I'll try and help Cloud!" He assured her loudly, but gently. Tears ran down the flower girl's cheeks, but she nodded and ran towards the doors, throwing one last glance towards Cloud. When Squall was certain she would keep going he turned back to his friend.

When he began running towards where Cloud and Sephiroth were fighting furiously Cloud yelled at him.

"Get out of here, Squall! This is my fight! Not yours! You'll be killed if you don't go!" Cloud pushed Sephiroth back a bit and turned towards his older friend, "Yuffie and Aerith need you. Yuffie is only seven; she needs someone to protect her. You need to do that Squall."

Squall nodded. He had a purpose. He had to protect Yuffie. Years later he would try and convince himself that was the real reason why he had run away.

Because he would never admit that maybe the real reason was that...

He was scared.

~~~~

A/N: I feel real bad about updating so infrequently. I have two possible ways in mind to go with this story. I'll have to decide soon.

Thanks for all the support. It's really exciting to have 19 reviews in only 2 chapters. It's just awesome.

Yuffie's episode as Aerith was a little...err...odd, dontcha think?