Awww...I love you guys! Thanks for the great reviews. I really appreciate them; they seriously motivate me and cheer me up. I look forward to seeing a Review Alert in my inbox more than my friend's emails, sometimes! I hope you enjoyed the last chapter and enjoy this one, too.

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Summer Nights

Chapter 9

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Yuffie sat on her bed at 9:30 A.M the next morning, pulling a brush through her slightly tangled black hair and wiped at a piece of lint on her freshly washed green Camp Kaman suit, a disgusted look on her face.

"I hate this. I wish the Gremlins didn't have to come back," she complained, dropping her brush beside her lap and picking up a compact mirror, checking her reflection. She had never been one to wear much make-up, but last night's kiss made her slightly self-conscious. Confident there weren't any blemishes on her face, she popped a mint into her mouth—just in case.

She decided that she wanted to keep her kiss with Squall a secret from Kairi until she felt confident about telling her. When she had never been kissed, the first thing she knew she would do would be tell Kairi all about how it went, but now all she wanted to do was keep it personal.

"Well..." Kairi said thoughtfully, touching up on her eyes with a liner, "There's only about...what, three days left and we go home? They had to have some kind of end of the year fun time."

"So the campsite should have kept them and spared us all," she said with a laugh, then got serious. "Now, tell me, if you are already at a camp, why would you go and camp somewhere else?"

"Because, we sleep in cabins, and the point of camping is to sleep in a tent and stuff," Kairi said as though it were obvious.

"Either way...we never even got to have a war between the Gremlins and the boys. Geez, we hardly did anything," she said, glancing at Kairi, who was still brooding in front of a hand mirror.

"Well...you are right. When I was little we did more. But I think the punch kind of set everything off track...we never even got to do that talent show that is always annual."

"I did kind of want to do that..." Yuffie said wistfully.

"Besides," Kairi added with a grin, "Why don't we do something tonight? It isn't too late to make an attack on the guys. While we're at it, why don't we sneak into the other counselor cabins?"

A slow grin spread across Yuffie's lips. She nodded and bounced up and down on the bed in an excited way. "Yeah...that'll be awesome! Do you have any black clothes? And some of that stuff football guys smear over their cheeks?"

"Uh-huh! Well...sorta. We could always use my eye-liner. Or some really dark eye-shadow."

"Oh yeah! This'll be so much fun!" Yuffie shrieked.

"What will be so much fun?" Aerith asked, walking through the screen door, also wearing the ugly counselor outfits. Vanera trailed in behind her, mud all over her shoes.

Last night's storm must have done some damage, she thought.

"We're going to do an all-out attack on the guys tonight," Kairi said, finally pulling away from her reflection and clipping two butterfly clips on one side of her crimson hair. "You guys have black clothes, right?"

"Definitely. Finally, we get to do something fun!" Vanera said with a smirk.

"I don't know...we might get in more trouble, and Yuffie won't be able to deal with that..." Aerith said hesitantly.

"Oh c'mon, Aerith! Sheryl won't kick me out, she can't. We're about to leave anyway," Yuffie protested with the roll of her eyes. Aerith still looked hesitant.

"You can get Cloud!" Kairi said in a sing-song voice, wiggling her eyebrows up and down.

"Well..." Aerith seemed on the edge of saying 'yes.'

"Then just be the look-out!" Yuffie said finally, sighing. "Aerith...for once, be wild! Go crazy! Grab some shaving cream!" Well, maybe that wasn't crazy, but for Aerith, that was as insane as she could get.

"Fine, I'll do it."

"Great!" Kairi half-shouted, pulling her into a warm hug. Aerith laughed and hugged her back.

"ALL COUNSELORS REPORT TO THE BUS DROP-OFF TO COLLECT THEIR KIDS. I REPEAT, ALL COUNSELORS REPORT TO THE BUS DROP-OFF TO COLLECT THEIR KIDS! "

Yuffie sighed and jumped off the bed, feeling bouncy and looking forward to the day, even if the Gremlins were back.

"Come on, Kai, we got some Gremlin butt to tackle!" Yuffie said, grabbing Kairi's wrist that was trying to reach to some lip-gloss.

"Hey!" she protested, trying to pull back. "Sora's supposed to meet me for lunch, I need my lip-gloss!"

"Oh, trust me, Kairi-darling, your kisses are wet and slippery enough without it. Sora has told me all about it," Yuffie said with a giggle.

"What?!" Kairi whispered, horrified, her hands flying up to her lips. Her eyes were wide and a slow blush was crawling into her cheeks. "He said that?"

"No," Yuffie replied, dragging her out of the cabin with a wave to Aerith and Vanera, but they had already left. "I just wanted to get you to come with me."

Kairi glared at her and pulled her arm away, looking highly affronted. "I can escort myself there, thanks..."

"Oh, geez Kai, lighten up. It's called a joke. Sane people laugh at them."

"There, there! Look, they're getting off the buses now!" Yuffie shouted, grabbing Kairi's arm and roughly dragged her through the crowd of people and were rewarded with glares as the people got bumped or hit.

Six children approached them, looking slightly shy, all except one, Cindy, who wore a distasteful angry face.

Oh no, Yuffie thought. I've grown accustomed to not having that little brat Cindy around...I still remember when she threw dirt in my face.

"Hi guys!" Kairi said enthusiastically, hugging each of them in turn. Yuffie rolled her eyes and hung back, crossing her arms and waiting impatiently for her to finish with the love. "Have we got a surprise for you..." Kairi said in a hushed whisper, gripping Mai's and Lexi's hand.

Kairi told them of her plans about the boys on the way to their cabin to drop off their luggage from camping, including a jar of dead lightning bugs that Kara didn't seem to want to let go of, but Kairi eventually convinced her to set it down.

Yuffie collapsed onto the couch once they got into the cabin and waited for them to put their duffel bags away, chattering happily about the games they played while camping. Kairi sat next to Yuffie and smiled at them fondly.

"I kind of missed them while they were away, didn't you?" she asked, watching them struggle to put their clothes away into the top drawers.

"Not really..." Yuffie said and raised her eyebrows. "I mean...it's because I've never really liked kids and I will never have any kids," she added hastily at Kairi's look.

"Hey! Don't try to put your stuff into the drawers, you guys, just keep it on the ground because you're going to start packing tomorrow, anyway," Kairi yelled from across the room. She turned back to Yuffie, still with that fond I-love-kids-and-I-like-to-show-it look, or even an aren't-kids-adorable look.

"What's the schedule, today?" Yuffie asked while looking down at her shirt and picking at some more lint, frowning. "This shirt is terrible..."

"I'm not sure."

"I'm not sure, either. I don't care to pay attention to Sheryl anymore. Oh...no..."

"What?"

Yuffie turned to look at her, horror on her face. "I never...I never finished cleaning the bathrooms last night...it's a mess in there, Sheryl is gonna know!"

Kairi shook her head. "Sheryl is so nice, she'll let it slide just this once."

Yuffie seized Kairi's shoulder and started to shake her slightly. "Kairi. That. Woman. Is. The. Spawn. Of. Satan."

Kairi looked horrified. "Yuffie! Don't say that! I love Sheryl!"

"Then marry her," she replied bitterly, glancing out the window to the bathrooms. "I know Sheryl will check. I've got to be the unluckiest person in the world. I BET today is the day she's going to check to see if I cleaned the bathrooms."

Kairi shook her head again as if dismissing the thought. "Nah, Sheryl won't mind. I mean, she really didn't have any proof of you doing anything, does she?" she quipped rhetorically.

"Well do you think that will stop a ruthless bi—mmmphh!" Kairi clasped a hand over Yuffie's mouth.

"There are little kids here!" she hissed.

"Mmmpph..." Yuffie growled in a muffled voice. Kairi finally let go of her when all six of them crowded around their knees.

"So, what are we doing today?" Mai asked.

"Yeah, let's do something fun!" Lexi shouted.

"No. Let's just stay here," said Cindy fiercely, her cheeks ruddier than usual.

"Why don't we go to the art cabin and do some crafts?" Kairi suggested. "Yuffie?"

"Sure..." she said absent mindedly, waving her hand airily.

They left the cabin, the Gremlins skipping ahead of them, chattering happily and grinning at each other, singing loudly and apparently happy to be back from the trip. Yuffie sighed and kicked the art door open, holding it with her heel and closing it behind her once Kairi, the last person, was finally in.

Three other counselors had had the same idea and brought their kids, too. They were already doing messy finger-paints and coloring drawings out of the line. Kairi gathered some paper plates, glitter, markers, pencils, glue, scissors, and held it all in her arms, putting it down on an empty table.

"We're going to make turtle shells," Kairi said, sitting them all down. Yuffie nodded.

"Kai...you're a genius."

Halfway into the project, Yuffie's was turning out pretty stylish. She cut the paper plate to make it smaller and more round, then glued yellow and green construction paper onto the back in a broken glass effect after cutting them carefully, then added sparkles and some confetti. She was gripping a black marker in her hand that had been partially dried and pushed down by previous uses, but it would have to do for the face.

"Would Yuffie Kisaragi please report to the bathrooms? I repeat, would Yuffie Kisaragi please report to the bathrooms?" came the voice over the loudspeakers.

"Oh no..." Yuffie whispered, cringing. All of the Gremlins turned to her, pointing at her and wide-eyed. Slowly, she stood up. Kairi cast her a sympathizing look, although it clearly showed that she thought Yuffie deserved it.

She took in a deep breath and bit part of her bottom lip when she reached the bathrooms after walking through huge wet spots filled with water and mud.

"Yuffie? Come in here, please," came a familiar female voice from through the windows.

Yuffie put her arms down at her sides as if she were calm; she would not let Sheryl intimidate her. She pushed the door open and last night's mess came into view. The spilled dirty water, the paper towels she must have forgotten to throw away littering the ground, and all kinds of mud staining the tile floor. Sheryl stood among this, absolutely livid.

"Sheryl—I can explain..." Yuffie said quickly just as Sheryl was opening her mouth.

"Please do," she said in a cool voice.

"I was cleaning and the lights suddenly went out...and I spilled the bucket of water and had to get more, and the storm just kept going on and on and I couldn't see. Someone came into the bathroom to use one of the stalls and scared me and we ended up leaving because it was really late and I was a wreck," she said in almost on breath. She made sure not to mention Squall, because she was positive there was a rule that there were no bathrooms allowed sometime after eleven o'clock at night.

"Right, like I'm going to believe that cock-and-bull story?" she scoffed, an ugly black bow tied into her salt-and-pepper hair, also wearing a Camp Kaman suit.

"Well...it's the truth..." Yuffie said, then tried to shrug it off. She tried her best, now what Sheryl did was up to her.

"Okay."

"What?!" Yuffie gasped in surprise.

"I said okay. Clean this up before anyone notices and get back to what you were doing," Sheryl said and walked out. Yuffie's jaw dropped. Since when was Sheryl that nice? Not since the beginning of camp. Maybe now that they were about to leave she was getting nicer.

Yuffie turned from the empty doorway and put her hands on her hips. Time to clean the mess up. She grabbed a couple of old rags and started wiping up the water, trying to breath through her mouth as the smell that was wafting from it was almost overpowering.

"Playing maid again?" said a deep, low voice from behind her. Yuffie jumped and looked over her shoulder, a hand clutching her chest.

"Squall..." she said dreamily. "I mean...Leon. What are you doing here?"

"I heard the announcement so I figured I would come see what happened," he said with a shrug and leaned against the wall, watching her closely with his ice blue, intense gaze.

Yuffie almost melted. He was the most attractive, intelligent, mature guy she had ever known, or ever kissed. And he was hers...

"Wait a minute! What about Valerie?!" Yuffie said in a half-accusing voice.

Squall seemed unperturbed. "What about her?"

"You told me she was your girlfriend! Then you kissed me! You know what you are, you're a lousy, good for nothing play—"

Squall shot his arm out and pulled Yuffie closer, silencing her with a quick kiss. He let her go and shook his head, his shaggy brown hair falling into his eyes. "She liked to think we were...but...the reason why I let her is because I didn't want you close to me."

"Why not?" she whispered, close enough to smell him, her nose so close to his neck...

"Because that's the way it is."

Yuffie raised her eyes to look at him. He was looking away, purposefully avoiding her gaze, but kept a firm arm on her waist.

"So, you lied? She was never your girlfriend?"

"No."

"I...guess I forgive you..." she said slowly, then grinned. "That means—does that—am I your girlfriend, then?"

She didn't need an answer. The way he looked at her, the way he made her feel so sexy was enough. She wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged him, leaning her head against his chest. He had such strong arms. She felt so protected here. They fit together; it felt right.

"I need to clean up," she mumbled, pulling away from him and finishing her job faster than before, tossing the rags and old paper towels into the trash bin and overlooking her work. "Ahh...that's better. I think I'll skip tonight and come really early in the morning to make up for it."

"...Why?" Squall questioned, looking at her.

"Because I have to do something, tonight. Top secret, girl's only," she said with a mysterious wink.

Without another word, she pranced out of the bathroom, enjoying the feeling of knowing something he didn't and leaving him absolutely stupefied.

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I absolutely hated this chapter! But at least there was fluff. I meant to put in the raid in this chapter but it's 4 A.M. and I'm about to topple over!! Please review for me! Woo...almost fell asleep there...okay....-

P.S: I want this story to beat my other story, "Fallen" which had nine chapters and 101 reviews. So...this chapter is the ninth. Let's see if we can top 101!! If we do, I'll do something special for you guys...but I don't know what. Hmm. Extra special fluff? Write a lemon? (not probable..I'm underage! But you never know!! ) NOW REVIEW OR ELSE I'll.....I'll write a Yuffid! A Yuffie x Cid. And Annjirika and pingpong867 will know I will write on of those...and trust me, it won't be pretty. Trust me.