Disclaimer: Well, I do own Vanera, but nothing else. Disclaimers really piss me off...

Author's Note: Thanks to all of the great reviewers! To all of the people who did review...I love you! By the way, I added more to my profile in case anyone wants to check out the extra info. But read the story first!

'=====' means character change.

'-' means time lapse.

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Summer Nights

Chapter 7

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Yuffie finally broke the kiss, putting a hand on Squall's cheek, a large smile on her face. She couldn't believe it, Squall had kissed her? As far as she knew, he never got emotionally involved with anyone. She was surprised he even decided to participate with this whole initiation charade.

Suddenly he pulled away from her hand, a look of utter remorse and disgust on his eyes. Yuffie's heart fell with his frown.

"I can't...just....don't touch me," he said hoarsely, and walked into the dark path.

"What...just happened?" Yuffie whispered, warm tears coming to her eyes.

She walked back down the path, making sure to take her time so as not to catch up with Squall, crossing her arms and trying to warm the cold emptiness in her chest. It wasn't fair...life was never fair...

Tears streamed down her cheeks, making her eyes red and puffy. What she was feeling felt worse than death. It was rejection of someone who she really cared about. She put her fingers on the bridge of her nose, squeezing her eyes shut and when she came to the end of the path, instead of going to the lake she made a detour to her cabin.

With a shaky sob, she flung herself onto her bed, curling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. Her hands were shaking badly. Never in her life had anything felt like this. She always knew people said mental pain hurt more than physical, but NEVER in her life had she ever thought it like this.

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Squall walked back to his cabin, feeling remorseful and guilty. What had just happened? Had he really let Yuffie...Yuffie...kiss him? He rubbed his face. The look in her eyes was haunting his mind. She looked so hurt, so defeated. He had done that. Was it fair?

There was nothing wrong with Yuffie. Sure, she was annoying, peppy, and everything he wasn't and would never be, but she wasn't a bad person. He felt like he had to push her away...she was trying to get too close.

But why had he let her kiss him? Why had he accepted her by touching her cheek?

He walked into the bathroom, pulling off his shirt and pants and brushing his teeth, crawling into bed wearing only his boxers, Yuffie's face circling his mind.

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"Yuffie? Yuffie?" a soft voice whispered, shaking her shoulder.

Yuffie cracked an eye open and found herself staring into the open oval face of Kairi. "Hey Kai..." she said groggily.

"What happened? Where were you tonight?"

"Tonight? It's morning, and since the Gremlins will be back in two days, I'll be taking full advantage of sleeping in."

"No, it's two in the morning. Where were you?" she repeated, sitting on the edge of the bed.

The intimate moment that happened, and the rejection that passed between them came flying into her mind, followed by a degree of intense emotion that almost knocked her off her feet, if she was standing.

"Nothing..." she whispered sorrowfully, diverting her eyes from her. Kairi leaned over and turned on the lamp next to Yuffie's bed. "Come on, Yuf, it's okay...was it with Squall?"

"No," she said harshly.

"You both disappeared into your cabins, and Squall was your accompaniment. There's no need in denying it."

"Leave me the hell alone."

"Yuffie!"

"What?" she said exasperated. She had had enough with this, with living in the stupid camp, by being bitten by bugs, by everything, and no one seemed to want to leave her alone.

"Talk to me. Why don't we ever talk anymore?"

"You want to know why? Because! You convinced me to come on this stupid trip, to be with these stupid people, and I'm not happy here! I'm usually happy, too!" she practically shrieked.

Kairi frowned, a look of pain flickering across her face, then hardening. "Fine. Play it like that."

She stood up abruptly and flipped off the lamp before laying on her bed and violently turning over on her side. Yuffie sighed heavily. Her best friend hated her, and so did her lover, though one kiss could hardly qualify him as one.

-

Yuffie opened her eyes slowly, the sunlight flooding her eyes. She pulled the pillow over her head and groaned. She was so tired. There was no way it was morning already.

"Rise and shine!" Sora chirped from somewhere in the room. Yuffie's eyes widened considerably, and she screamed, rolling out of the bed and landing on her butt.

"What the hell are you doing in here?" she shrieked, standing up and breathing a sigh of relief. "You scared the crap out of me."

Sora shrugged from his position in the doorway, then came inside, glancing around. He let his eyes linger on Kairi's lump of a body under the covers, still sleeping, amazingly not woken by her scream.

He made his way around to Kairi's bed and sat down, looking at her fondly. "So you chickened out last night, huh?"

Yuffie scowled. "No. Something unexpected happened."

"Want to talk about it?"

"What, Squall hasn't told you?"

Sora's eyebrows raised. "When has he ever told me anything? Did something...happen happen between you!"

"No, nothing like that!" she exclaimed, covering her face with her hands.

"Then what?"

"It's none of your business," she said brusquely.

"Hey, just trying to help..." he said with a shrug, turning to Kairi and gently shaking her shoulder. "Kai..." he whispered.

"MWAH!" Kairi murmured in her sleep, swatting Sora's hand away. Sora grinned and leaned over her face, staring into her eyes. She opened them quickly and bit back a scream, substituting it for a shove against the wall. She got out of bed and clamped a hand over her mouth.

Sora rubbed the back of his neck after righting himself. "Hey, what was that for?"

Kairi let go of her mouth and lowered her hand. "I have morning breath."

"That's disgusting! I'm not going to kiss you in the morning," he joked. Kairi flushed a pink color and walked into the bathroom, putting a hand on her mussed her self-consciously.

"Uh...what happened between you two last night?" Yuffie inquired, trying to cover up her hurt feelings the way Kairi ignored her.

"We decided our feelings were mutual," he said, a goofy, lopsided grin on his face.

"Great..." she said sarcastically. She stood up and banged on the bathroom door. "Kairi, hurry UP!"

"Yes, Your Goodness," Kairi said dryly as she pushed past Yuffie, shooting her a glare. Sora stupidly misinterpreted this as a friendly passing comment between good friends, just a little quirk or inside joke in their friendship and wrapped his arm around her, leading her out of the cabin.

Yuffie leaned against the wall, covering her face with her hand. All of the sudden, things were happening too fast, too quickly, and she could hardly keep track of anything anymore. She lost her best friend and maybe her boyfriend-to-be in one night, and she hadn't even tried.

She sighed and halted the tears by biting on her tongue. She walked into the bathroom and turned on the sink, splashing her face with cold water and cleaning up a little before showering to get ready to do her bathroom duties.

Yuffie finished scrubbing the last of the toilets, finishing ten minutes earlier than last night.

"And Yuffie finishes, breaking the record with an all time high of forty-two minutes! And the crowd goes wild!" she said, cupping her hands over her mouth and making 'ahh' noises, pretending to be the crowd.

She laughed without any emotion to her voice, and her smile failed to reach her eyes. She was forcing herself to be happy and look cheerful.

After cleaning up her mess and washing her hands, she walked to the door, about to leave, when someone walked through it and smashed Yuffie's nose.

"Agh!" Yuffie stumbled backwards, holding her nose tenderly and glanced up. Valerie was standing before her, giggling madly.

"Oops! Did I hurt you?" she asked, all sugar and spice.

Yuffie straightened up and ignored her pulsing nose. "No, you didn't. Now move so I can get out of here."

"Ask me nicely."

"No! If you can't move I'll force you to move," she said, standing her ground. Valerie sighed and shook her head, wagging her finger at her.

"You shouldn't threaten me like that, Yuffums, really you shouldn't. I might just have to get my boyfriend to protect me."

"And who might that be?" Yuffie hissed, rolling her eyes.

"I think you might know him. His name is Squall Leonheart, but everyone knows he likes to be called Leon. He can lift three-hundred plus weights, so I'm sure it would take nothing to beat you into the ground, with your little attitude."

Yuffie took a step back, letting out a whoosh of air like Valerie had punched her in the stomach, a stunned look passing across her face. A smug smile formed on Valerie's lips.

"Hm, not to tough now, are you?" she stated, flipping her black hair out and putting a hand on her hip.

Yuffie glared at her. If Valerie said one more thing, she would go berserk and hit her with all that she had. Her hands were shaking as she said, "Valerie. Get. Out. Now."

For a minute, Valerie looked taken back, but inched to the side and let Yuffie pass, which she did quickly, taking deep breaths to calm herself, tears stinging her eyes. Squall had kissed her, then right after picked up a skanky girlfriend like Valerie. It didn't seem right.

She stopped running in front of the cabin Squall, Riku, Cloud, and Sora lived in, and pushed open the door, rushing inside.

Squall was sitting on the bed, his hands behind his head, staring up at the ceiling. No one else was in the room. She stopped for a moment, not saying anything, then exploded, "Squall Leonheart!" With a gasp of air, she said more softly, "How could you?"

Squall ignored her, the only acknowledgement he gave her was a deep breath before he closed his eyes. "Go away, Yuffie."

"No I will not go away! How could you do that to me!?" she yelled, circling his bed. He shook his head.

With his eyes still closed like he was trying to go to sleep, he said, "I didn't do anything."

"You took Valerie as a girlfriend right after we kissed!"

"Has it occurred to you that Valerie was my girlfriend before you kissed me?" he asked, opening his eyes.

Yuffie's jaw dropped. "No...you-you wouldn't!" she said.

"Well, it's true."

She furrowed her eyebrows together. "B-but..." Carefully she lowered herself down onto his bed, frowning, pain pulsing through her veins each time her heart beat. It seemed like something was gluing her to the ground, not letting her move. She looked down at him, laying there, looking up at her with those stormy blue eyes, denying her. His soft brown hair fell into his eyes, and his scar looked as good as ever. If he was so cruel, how could he be so attractive?

"Yuffie, you're nice but..." he trailed off.

"But not good enough for you, huh?" she whispered, tears filling her eyes.

He didn't say anything. Yuffie bit her lip and nodded, tears spilling down her cheeks. "I see."

"Yuffie, just stop crying..."

"Oh, so are you only being nice to me because you're rejecting me now?" she said bitterly. She wiped at her tears, not sure whether to leave or stay here, plaguing Squall when she knew he was in an awkward position.

He put a hand on her back, sitting up and sitting next to her, making her choke and cover her face with her hands, crying softly into them. He was touching her...but in a platonic way. There were no feelings for him like she felt.

"I...have to go..." she whispered, standing up, the spell broken, abruptly running out of the cabin.

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Squall ran a hand through his hair and watched her go, filled with self loathing. How could he lie outright about Valerie being his girlfriend before the kiss? He had some nerve to go and hurt her again. He cared about her, which was a big thing for him to admit. It had taken him a long time to say it to himself, but now, with the way he was pushing Yuffie away, it would probably take even more time to accept it.

He stood up and watched her run straight into Aerith and fall backwards onto the ground, not even realizing she had hit anyone, and started sobbing into her knees. Aerith knelt next to her and her lips started to move, but he couldn't read what they were saying.

He hesitated, unsure if he should go out there and comfort her or stay out of it. The last thing he wanted to do was stay in the cabin when he knew Valerie would be by to drag him out to lunch.

Why did I even allow her to call me her boyfriend? Now this would grow out of control. He sighed and jammed his hands in his pockets and walked out of the cabin, carefully avoiding Yuffie and walking the other way. He had to take a walk and think things out.

About halfway through the walk, a certain blonde and blue eyed man greeted him with a nod and stopping him where he was.

"Leonheart," Cloud said, leaning against a tree, indicating he wanted to stay and talk.

"Strife," he said in a low voice. He kept his hands in pockets and stared at him. "What is it?"

"Nothing, just stopping a friend for a little talk," he said slyly. "Seen Aerith?"

"No," he said bluntly, lying again. He didn't feel like staying here, talking in circles.

Cloud's face fell. "You didn't? I could have sworn I saw her there a little bit ago," he said, scratching his head.

"Well, maybe she was over there, why don't you check?" he asked as more of a statement.

"Gotcha."

Squall didn't wait to watch him leave; he simply turned around and kept on walking straight ahead like before, shaking his head. A girl with long black hair approached him, a smug and confident smile plastered on her lips.

"Squall," Valerie said, taking his hand and stopping him, openly sizing him up. "I thought you would be in the cabin. I was going there just now."

"Valerie..." Squall said cordially.

Valerie grinned at him and took both of his hand in hers and leaned forward, about to lay a soft kiss on his lips. Someone spun Valerie around and threw a powerful hit in her face, making Valerie cry out and fall on the ground. Blood dripped from her broken lip.

It was Yuffie, red-faced and looking angry. Valerie glared at her, fury etched into her beautiful looks. "Bitch!" she screeched, getting up and grabbing Yuffie's hair and yanking her head backwards.

Yuffie screamed and got out of her grip and kicked Valerie in the stomach, then karate chopped her back as she doubled over, getting her on the ground once again. She coughed into the dust and got up slowly, clutching her stomach, looking demented with her hair full of dirt and blood drying on her chin and lips.

Valerie charged at Yuffie, and started pummeling punches and slaps and scratches into her face, crying loudly, for the first time that Squall had seen. He barely had time to react as they started rolling around on the ground.

Finally he snapped out of his trance and grabbed someone's arm and yanked them up. It was Valerie, scratched and bloodied and breathing heavily.

"Let go of me!" she yelled, trying to get out of his strong grip.

"Settle down," he growled. "Do you want Sheryl to know you were fighting? You'll get thrown out of here!"

That shut her up. He let her go, convinced she would behave for at least a few more seconds and crouched next to Yuffie. Her left eye was swelling badly, scratches were everywhere, a cut on her forehead was dripping blood, and she was unconscious.

"Good going, Valerie," Squall muttered. He picked Yuffie up bridal style and noticed her head had landed against a rock, where her forehead must have hit. Valerie's jaw dropped.

"She started fighting me!" she yelled, looking at Yuffie wearily.

"It doesn't matter," he said, and left Valerie standing there, dumbfounded, and carried Yuffie to the nurse's office.

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So, how was this chapter? I need to know! By the way, the State competition was really, really fun! I didn't win any awards though. But the campus was really gorgeous, even though it was a hick town...

Review, please!! Even though this is one of my shorter chapters...but I have an excuse! I wanted to get it out! -