Disclaimer: Someone asked me in their review last chapter if the chapter titles were in English. No, they aren't – their in Latin. They mean, in consecutive order (not counting this one): Arrive, Break, Suggest, Try, Repair, and Block/Interlude. If I did something wrong in the translations, correct me.
Yuffie sighed exasperatedly and swallowed the rice ball she'd been chewing for the past fifteen minutes, refusing to look at Cloud and Aerith, who were seated across from her at their table in The Café. The two of them had been pecking each other politely on the lips and cheek (and every other possibly place on their faces) since their food had arrived, and now two plates of spaghetti were cold. Yuffie didn't understand why they insisted on taking her out to dinner when all they did was ignore her and kiss, and, realizing this, she threw her chopsticks into her bowl and stood up, muttering, "I'll see you back at the hotel", and leaving.
Aerith and Cloud, of course, failed to notice all of this. His Flower Girl grinned slightly and ran one finger down his cheek before finally giving in and settling on his mouth. Cloud didn't seem to mind that everyone in the First District was watching them, and even wrapped his arms more firmly around her shoulders, enjoying their moment alone – or, at least, in his warped little paradise at that moment, anyway.
Yuffie, feeling dejected, stalked away from The Café in a huff, lashing out at anyone stupid enough to cross her path and holding her shurikens at the ready for any stray Heartless that happened to come her way. People were avoiding her by the time she reached her destination, the arena in the Third District, but she didn't care to take an interest in it. Heartless bubbled up out of nowhere as soon as the doors closed, and she immediately began venting on them.
"I don't – understand – why she has to – act like that – in front of me!" she panted to the monsters, who couldn't care less, as her shurikens ripped through them and came back to her like miniature boomerangs. She exacted a roundhouse kick on a Dark Ball and then dodge-rolled to the side to avoid a Defender's shield, which would have, quite neatly, taken off her head.
Pulling out one of her bigger ninja stars, Yuffie swiped clumsily at the Defender and left herself wide open, and by the time she had gotten an Ars Arcanum going, her left arm was numb from the shield that had slammed into it. "And him!" she continued to rant, realizing that just beating up the Heartless wasn't helping to sate her anger. "He should know better! From what – Aerith told me – they were apart – for years – before he came to Traverse – and found her again. He should – understand what its like – to be alone!"
By the time her little speech had ended, she was standing in the center of a silent Third District arena, the last Heartless dissolving in a blotch of purple and black shadows. She had her shurikens placed unconsciously within the spaces between each finger, ready for throwing four at a time, and her left arm was pulsing from the attack she hadn't dodged.
Taking a deep breath, Yuffie shoved her shurikens back into the pouches at her waist and slowly started up the ramp that lead out of the Third District and into the Second, passing by a couple strolling along the boulevard that ran in front of the small development that had been built specifically for families. The two were holding hands and grinning stupidly at each other, like nothing else mattered.
They made Yuffie think of Cloud and Aerith, and her anger returned – doubled. "Y'know, if you wanna take up space, do it where people aren't walking!" Yuffie said loudly in their direction. Both man and woman turned to glare at her disgustedly before continuing on their walk, and Yuffie crossed her arms and stalked out of the District Doors, even more put-off than before.
Yuffie took a back alley to the hotel, and ended up coming out in the rear, by the sewer leading to the Waterway. She stood there for a minute, looking at the water and mulling over how rude Cloud and Aerith had been to her and, in turn, how obnoxiously she'd acted to that couple just because she was pissed off.
"They deserved it," she muttered, kicking a rock into the canal and making the greenish water splash onto her feet. She kicked at it angrily and decided that someone really didn't want her to have a good day today. She'd been in Traverse for two months, Yuffie realized after a minute, and for the first time since the day she'd arrived, she was starting to regret her decision to come here.
She wanted a challenge – a challenge for the Great Ninja Yuffie the Adult. And what did she get? A couple of friends who only paid attention to her when something was wrong and a guy who was possibly the most pessimistic person that ever lived. She hadn't thought of Leon all day, actually; usually her thoughts somehow managed to focus on him, for some reason. He was like a magnet, always pulling her attention onto him. How did he do that?
He'd improved greatly since she'd started helping him train, and even his attitude had gotten an ounce better, but he was still convinced that he was a failure and wouldn't be able to hold up in real combat. She'd tried loads of times to try and get him to come out fighting with her, but he was like a rock – he wasn't going to budge. All of her hard work, and even when his leg would eventually get strong enough to fight on, he wasn't going to try for fear of embarrassing himself.
"And that's because he's a stupid jerk!" she shouted suddenly, surprising herself. She kicked another rock into the water and clenched her hands at her sides, wanting desperately to hurt something. Where was he, anyway? At this time of day he'd either be sitting on the balcony of his room – which he wasn't, she noticed – or inside of his room. He never turned his lights off until at least one-thirty in the morning, and it couldn't have been past nine o'clock now – so why were his lights off?
Right then she heard a sound – a frustrated curse that echoed. Yuffie knew then where Leon was; the only other person who knew that word was back in Hollow Bastion with the blonde woman he reminded her of. Jumping into the disgusting canal, Yuffie jogged into the Waterway and let the cold water numb her legs as she ran up to where Leon was – or where he should have been. There was no one else in the cavern but her.
Blinking confusedly, Yuffie opened her mouth to yell for him, when his head broke through the water, his spiky brown hair spraying water everywhere. Yuffie let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and waded over to him as he ran a hand over his eyes, trying to rub out the water.
"What were you doing?" Yuffie asked, walking around him so that she was standing in front of him. She had to look up to meet his eyes, and where the water came up to her elbows, it only rose to his stomach. He blinked, trying to see who it was and looking truly lost, before he assumed his cold attitude.
"What do you care? You skipped out on training today, so why do you care now?" he spat, folding his arms. Yuffie narrowed her eyes angrily and threw one finger in his face.
"Look, I've had a really lousy day today, and I don't need you and your sarcasm making it worse. I'm sorry I missed training, but I actually had something to do to get my salary, and I managed to miss something that wasn't benefiting me in the slightest to instead collect my paycheck, which the only thing keeping me from going bankrupt in this stupid town!" She didn't realize she was yelling until her voice was ringing off of the stones.
Leon looked at her as if he'd never really seen her before, his startlingly blue eyes seeming to stare a hole right through her. Yuffie felt her face redden; she hadn't meant to get so carried away. She cleared her throat nervously, clenching and unclenching her hands underwater.
"Okay then," he said quietly.
Yuffie didn't know if it was the way the two torches at end of the cavern closest to them cast their light, or that the water dripping off of his shaggy bangs looked like tiny drops of sunshine, or simply because of the way Cloud and Aerith had acted before and the need to have someone of her own, but she suddenly found her hands clasping his shoulders and her feet forcing her up on her toes in an attempt to match his height as he looked down at her, confusion written all across his face. She blinked, slowly, before she found herself level with his mouth, and didn't wait for a minute before jumping into a kiss with the man she had once thought to be impossible.
To say that he was startled would have been an understatement. Leon nearly leaped out of his skin as Yuffie kissed him, her complete lack of any reasoning for kissing him confusing him even more. What was she doing?
He didn't realize that he hadn't pulled away, or that his arms had somehow wrapped around her slim back and that he simply fell into her as easily as if he'd been with her for months. The water in his hair tracked down the sides of his face, and the drops in his bangs fell into hers, dampening her black hair and making it an even darker black, like obsidian. She didn't seem to notice, and if she did, she didn't care. She was too absorbed in everything Leon at that moment that even if the Waterway they stood in was crashing down around them, she wouldn't have noticed it in the slightest.
I know that chapter was really short, but I thought it was a good place to end it. So, was it fulfilling? I originally planned to have Sokairi in this chapter as well, but then I couldn't find a way to sneak the two of them in there, so first thing next chapter is a Sora/Kairi kiss to apologize for not having it in this chapter.
Cloud and Aerith really don't care, do they? Another piece of Bad Girl Aerith that never would happen in KH, I'm guessing. Anyway, thanks to everyone who reviewed for last chapter – you've all boosted my ego sincerely! I THANK YOU ALL!! –passes chocolate around since she's run out of plushies—
I think it was Skeledude that asked me how to make the little bar-line things between the Author's Notes and the story. Here's how: go into Quickedit and choose the space in the little textbox where you want your bar. There's a little silver line on the 8th button from the left. Hit that, and presto!