Part 2
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Yuffie ran through the second district with tears blurring her vision, not slowing down until she reached her destination. She quickly climbed the ladder that led to the roof of the gizmo shop and sat unblinking on the edge of the building, hidden by the shadow of the bell tower.
'Why is he like this to me? Why do I even love that jerk?' She felt the first tear roll down her cheek as she continued to think about the russet haired man with eyes as blue as the deepest oceans. Despite all of the nasty comments and the hateful glares, she couldn't stop herself from loving him. "I know he would never love me, he wouldn't allow himself to." She said sadly.
Yuffie sighed as she wiped the tears away from her cheek. She just didn't understand what she had done to make him hate her with such a passion as to wish that she were never born. 'I wonder if he really didn't mean to say that like he said.' She thought with confusion. She heard the sorrow in his voice but couldn't bear to be in the same room with him at the moment.
For six years, Aerith, Cid and Squall had raised and trained her to become what she was today after their parents were killed by the heartless. She remembered what Squall was like before the heartless came and wished he could be like he was back then.
The ninja smiled at the memories of him catching her cheating at cards and then tickling her as punishment. When she learned some new martial arts form from her dad at the dojo, she could always be found showing him, Aerith and Cloud what she was taught. The now stoic Squall Leonhart was even know to tell jokes back then, but all that had changed.
Maybe it was because of her that he had changed. Ever since they had come to Traverse Town, she had felt like a burden to her friends. Cid and Aerith were both working to pay for their food and supplies. Luckily, the owner of the hotel was giving them a generous discount for their protection of the town, but the hotel fees still had to be paid. She and Squall defended the town against the heartless and was able to collect some munny from that, but she felt more like a liability to him than a benefit.
Yuffie removed her orange fingerless gloves and buried her head in her hands. "They all would be better off if I wasn't around. No one needs or wants me here anyway. Gods, even Aerith is becoming short tempered with me lately even when I haven't done anything." She whispered to herself as she moved one of her hands from her head and reached into the small pouch that was tied to her waist and removed one of her throwing stars.
She spun the razor sharp star on her finger and watched as it teetered on her finger then toppled, landing with one of its points embedded in her leg. She pulled the star out of her leg and looked the small area of crimson blood that stained it slightly.
Her ability for rational though abruptly shut down as she brought the sharp edge to her right wrist. 'They wouldn't have to worry…they would be happy…' she didn't flinch as the metal bit into her thin skin.
"Squall, I just wanted to help you. I just wanted you to like me and be my friend like when we use to be, because I love you. Well, don't worry, I won't be bothering you or anyone else." She closed her eyes as the tears poured down her cheeks as she brought the razor sharp edge to the soft skin of her left wrist.
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Squall raced from the Dalmatian's house still desperately searching for his ninja. 'Where in the hell could she be?' He had seen no evidence that she had been attacked by the heartless while he did a quick search of the streets and alleyways of the three districts.
He walked towards the gizmo shop and peered down the brightly lit alley that ran along side the large building. Letting out a frustrated sigh, he looked towards the stars that shone high above the sleepy town while he stopped below the building's roof. 'There are not that many places she could have gone…please, just let me find her.' He closed his eyes with his head still skyward as he made his silent plea to any god that would listen.
Splat
His eyes snapped open. 'What the hell?' He though, bringing a gloveless hand up to his forehead to wipe away the drop. 'It's not raining.' He thought in confusion and examined his finger. His heart stopped in his chest as he saw the crimson smear on his finger. "Oh Gods!" He quickly made his way through the gizmo shop and headed up the ladder as his holstered gunblade bounced against the wooden ladder. "Please don't let it be her!"
He pulled his muscular form onto the rooftop as his eyes scanned the rooftop, and then he heard the faint sound of her voice.
"Squall, I just wanted to help you. I just wanted you to like me and be my friend like when we use to be, because I love you. Well, don't worry, I won't be bothering you or anyone else."
His voice caught in his throat as he ran at the sound of her voice. She was laying on her side a small pool of blood forming below her and dripping off the side of the building. Finally finding his voice he screamed to her. "Yuffie, NO!" Squall made it to her just as she was about to bring the bloodied blade across her small wrist but dropped it when she passed out from blood loss and shock.
He fell to his knees beside the young woman and gently turned her on her back shaking her. "Yuffie! Wake up! Please!"
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Somewhere within the recesses of her own mind, she heard his voice calling out to her. 'Squall…' she tried to speak but could not find the energy to wake up.
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He quickly untied the yellow scarf from around her neck and ripped it in two, folding one of the pieces into a square and placing it over her self inflicted wound. Squall used the other piece to wrap it around her wrist tight enough to cause pressure on the laceration.
The gunblade specialist picked up her unconscious form and cradled her against his chest as he ran back towards the ladder. "It'll be okay, you'll be alright. Aerith will help us." He said as he mad his way down the ladder with his precious burden. Silently he cursed himself for not going to Merlin sooner for those magic lessons. If he had, at least he would have been able to use a cure spell on her.
He leapt from the ladder, foregoing the last five rungs and ran out of the gizmo shop. His once white shirt was now stained crimson with her lifeblood and the temporary bandage was now soaked through and beginning to drip.
"Move out of the way!" He yelled as he made his way through a group of teens that were gossiping on the sidewalk. The teens dove out of the way and watched as the bloodied man darted into the hotel.
He kicked open the door to the green room and placed Yuffie gently on the bed. "Aerith!! Aerith I need help!" He ran into the bathroom and grab the towels housekeeping had left on the countertop.
The door that joined their rooms opened to reveal an emerald eyed woman clad in a pink nightgown. "Leon, what on earth- oh my gods, Yuffie!" She ran back into her room to grab her fully stocked medical kit and quickly re-entered the green room.
Leon was kneeling on the bed beside the unconscious ninja applying pressure to her wrist. Aerith popped open her med kit and began pulling out various bandages and salves.
"Leon, I need you to mix those two creams together and open those packets of gauze." He nodded and released his hold on Yuffie and did as he was told.
Aerith removed the bloodied scarf from her friend's wrist and quickly assessed the deep cut. She grabbed one of the recently opened gauze pads and placed it over Yuffie's wound and closed here eyes to concentrate. Her lips moved at a furious pace as she summoned her normally dormant healing abilities. A green glow enveloped her hand and flowed onto the ninja's wound and stopped the bleeding. The former flower girl lifted the gauze and watched with exhaustion as the laceration partially closed.
Leon watched with a helpless, pained expression as she treated the one he loved. She was so pale and fragile looking lying on the now bloody blankets on their bed. His thoughts of her were broken when Aerith voice finally broke through the fog in his mind.
"Leon?" He looked at her questionably. "I need you're help. Put a thick layer of that cream over the cut, then well need to bandage her up and splint that wrist. If she moves it too much, she'll reopen that wound." He nodded and went to work.
They quickly applied the splint and began cleaning the young woman. The amount of blood that had come from that one wound so quickly chilled Squall to the bone. He placed two shaking fingers to her neck to feel her pulse beating slow and weak under his two fingers. He dipped the towel he had been using, into a basin of hot water to clean the last of the blood from her face.
"Leon, why don't you go shower while I finish up in here? We'll talk about it when you come out." Aerith said gently with a reassuring smile.
"…Okay." He grabbed a few things from his drawer and slowly walked into the bathroom but not before sparing one glance at his Yuffie.
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Squall filled the sink with cold water and stared into the mirror before pulling off the bloody shirt. He knew the stains would never come out but he could not bring himself to throw it away. Instead, he tossed into the sink and stepped under the hot jets of the shower.
He quickly scrubbed her blood off of his abdomen and chest as his mind began to wander. 'She tried to kill herself…she tried to kill herself and its my fault. She could die…' He thought and realized that for the first time in over six years, tears escaped his eyes.
'Maybe if I hadn't sat around after she left, maybe I could have stopped her in time and apologized.' Suddenly his thoughts were interrupted by a single voice that screamed in his mind.
'Squall, you need to stop living in the past! Nothing we do now can change back then and you need to realize it too!'
Her words from their argument rang out in his mind. As much as he wished that he could, there was no way he could go back and make himself chase after her. She was right, but he would feel guilty for what he had said and what she had done for the rest of his life. He had driven the one he loved to seek out death's cold embrace simply because he denied his feelings and tried to push her away. 'How could she ever love someone as horrible as me?'
Squall rinsed the sandalwood soap off of his face and froze. 'She said she loves me.' Despite the horrendous things he had said to her, the ninja still said she loved him. He thought about all the times that Yuffie offered her help and all of the small things she had done for him as he realized that she had been afraid to tell him her true feelings so instead she showed him.
The blue-eyed man shut off the water and dressed with renewed speed before heading out of the bathroom to return to her side.