Disclaimer: I don't own anything but Caine Stokes. The words are from the story's namesake, The Reason by Hoobastank. By Hoobastank. Not me.

Darkness...

...Memories...

...Pain...

...Ugh, what's that?

It's... it's the light...

Yuffie groaned quietly. Someone quickly rushed over to her bedside and grabbed Yuffie's hand, willing her to wake up. But it was so painful. Her eyelids wanted to stay closed. And there was light out, making her eyes tear. Just because the person at her bedside seemed too urgent, Yuffie opened her eyes and was assaulted with a ferocious hug.

"YUFFIE! Oh my gosh, you're awake! The doctors said that you might never wake up! I'm so happy! Oh, Yuf..." an excited Aerith squealed. Yuffie was bewildered. What had happened again? Oh yeah...

"How long have I been out?" Yuffie asked the Flower Girl. Aerith gently tapped her chin for a moment before her eyes lit up and she smiled.

"Long enough. Two weeks, I think. All the days have just sort of blended together..." But something was wrong that Yuffie could sense behind the woman's deep green eyes. She looked over to the small glass of water on the bedside table. Aerith, seeing Yuffie's longing gaze, tipped the glass into Yuffie's mouth. The young ninja drank it gratefully and emptied the entire glass. Her shoulder was throbbing, and she knew whose fault it was.

Memories of that night had haunted her feverish dreams. The pain and the feeling that she would die were still very present in her mind. It had been terrifying; when she was briefly awake with her injury, it was painful and uncomfortable and she couldn't think about anything. But when she had been sleeping, only the thought of death permeated to her slumbering brain. That, in itself, had been enough to make her want to give up. She hadn't, however. She wanted to see Squall again.

"Where's Squall? He's going to pay for this!" Yuffie exclaimed, a hint of playfulness in her voice. But this just made Aerith break down in sobs. The door to the room opened and a tall young man with sandy blond hair and blue eyes came in, bearing a tray with a steaming cup of green tea on it. He set it on the table and smiled in Yuffie's direction.

"I see you're awake, Miss Kisaragi? You had us worried, Aerith especially. I'm afraid that you've been nicked in the shoulder, Yuf," Caine told her. He still had that flirtatious lilt in his voice, and he hadn't noticed Aerith's sobbing figure quite yet. But when he did, his face fell and his clear blue eyes clouded over.

"Caine, where's Squall? What happened out there? I can't remember, and..."

"No! No, she's not strong enough, Caine. You can't tell her yet. She's too weak," Aerith said. "I'll tell you later, Yuffie. When you are well. You can't take the news yet."

The way Aerith said this made Yuffie even more curious. Whatever had happened to Squall was pretty bad. And that made Yuffie's heart ache in her chest, not knowing what was wrong with Squall. Why, only two weeks ago, she had been in his arms, his lips on hers, his hands wreaking havoc on her body, those wonderful memories...

Yuffie's mouth turned down into an angry frown. "You tell me now. It involves me, I'm strong enough, and I want to know. Squall is... very... important to me. Please," she asked of Aerith. The mage shook her head, a frown gracing her lovely features. Aerith stood and left the room. Yuffie regretted not listening to her friend, but she was curious. Nothing could stand between a curious Yuffie and her prey.

"Fine, then. Caine, you tell me or I'll cut off your manhood while you sleep," she threatened. The man gasped, then started laughing. Yuffie had thought it was a pretty good threat, but apparently, Caine did not. He clutched his side in mirth and his eyes twinkled at Yuffie.

"You almost made me feel better about telling you this, Yuffie," he told her. But then the shadow crossed his face and he took her hands in his own. "But the truth is, you won't be very happy with what I'm going to tell you."

Yuffie gulped. "I can handle it, Caine. Tell me."

He nodded and took a deep breath before plunging headlong into his story. "Squall and I got in an argument. Unfortunately, he and I both have an explosive temper and we fought each other. That's when you decided to just jump in front of Squall and take the brunt of his blow yourself. I could have defended myself. I'm a trained swordsman. I've learned how to block it."

"Sorry..." Yuffie whispered. Caine waved it away with one slender hand.

"Anyway, you got hurt. Bad. I was, understandably, furious with Squall. I took you away from him, to my home. By the way, this is the spare bedroom in my house." Yuffie nodded. "When I went back out to tell Squall that the bleeding had stopped and that you had the slimmest chance of surviving, I found him in the Third District. He had slit his own throat, Yuffie. He committed suicide because he thought he had killed you."

"No..."

"I'm sorry, Yuffie. I know how you must have felt for him. He was a brother to you, Aerith told me. It's very hard to lose a brother, I know. I'm here for you, Yuffie."

"I don't believe you!" Yuffie screamed at him. Her eyes took on a cold, icy sheen and her teeth were bared, so to speak. Caine wondered what had caused this outburst. He thought that she would just dissolve in tears. He would be there to comfort her, of course.

"Wait a second and I can prove it to you," Caine told her sadly. He went over to a drawer and opened it. He pulled the security latch on the mahogany wood to open a secret compartment in the drawer. There, inside, was the only thing Leonhart had left at the site. Caine carefully took out the Griever necklace and crossed the room to hand it to Yuffie.

Her indigo eyes clouded over as she took the necklace in her hands. Cradling it lovingly, tears poured out of those deep pools of blue. Caine went over to her and put a hand on her shoulder, patting her back softly. That's it, he thought, now she'll need someone to comfort her. I'll be here, Yuffie.

Yuffie shook her head and placed Griever next to her heart. She closed her eyes and prayed that she might go to meet Squall in that place beyond. But, unfortunately, her body protested and told her that she ought to get well. Opening her eyes, she smiled sadly at the young man standing over her.

"I'll be here, Yuffie. You can talk to me anytime."

With that, Caine exited the room. Yuffie placed the necklace over her neck, letting it nestle in the hollow between her breasts. Griever, Yuffie thought, how appropriate. I'll miss you Squall.

"I miss you, Yuffie," a young man whispered into the chill winter breeze blowing in from the mountains. His long, russet locks whipped into his face and his lips were chapped from the cold wind. But he didn't want to go inside just yet. Absent-mindedly, her ran his right thumb over the scar across the bridge of his nose. Yuffie had given it to him when she was only 10, still training to become the best ninja in the universe. He forgot at the moment what name she used to call herself.

He chose to remember her because he had killed her. His hands, those that had once helped her, held her, had betrayed Squall and had killed Yuffie. The smell of her blood, the crimson liquid spreading across the pavement, her blank eyes... Squall shuddered and a tiny tear slipped out of his left eye. He never cried. Frustrated, he wiped away the childish, weak tear and departed from the mountain ledge on which he was standing.

He remembered all the times he had hurt Yuffie before. Squall had the bad habit of being harsh and cold, and Yuffie frequently had called him 'Mr. Iceblock.' Of course, that was just her pet name for the fighter, and he hadn't really minded. Sure, maybe he had retorted that his name was Leon or that he was not and ice block, but she hadn't listened. Oh no. She was one of those people who could be told not to do something one minute and then turn around and do it the next. She never listened. But that was one of the things that Squall actually was fond of. Yuffie was different... free almost. Someone he could learn from.

Despite the fact that he had been mean and harsh to the young ninja for all of those years, he really cared for her. Up until she turned 16, the feelings he had for Yuffie were simply those of an older brother. He had to protect her, guide her, show her the ropes. And he thought he had done that job pretty well. But when she turned 16, his entire world had turned upside down. It was like he was going through puberty again or something. She started leaving behind girlhood and was fast approaching womanhood. That scared him beyond belief. That and the fact that she had turned absolutely beautiful overnight.

To control himself, he had set a boundary between them. He had convinced himself that she was not beautiful, was not a woman, was not worth his time. He made her think that he was cold, mean, and cruel. While it was not an image he adopted happily, he had adopted it. Squall pushed her to fight harder and better, using the Heartless as an excuse. All the while she had said he was a slave driver. That made him both happy and angry at the same time. It proved that his façade was working. But it wasn't showing him for who he really was.

The truth was, he wasn't perfect. Not at all. He had to build that barrier so that he wouldn't hurt her or betray her or... or make a fool of himself. Pride played a big part in his deception. The proud Squall Leonhart did not wish to be humiliated because he had some sort of feelings for Yuffie. But he would learn. Oh, he would learn. That way, he wouldn't make a mistake the next time he fell for a woman... if he ever fell in love again. At the moment, all he could think about was Yuffie.

I'm not a perfect person
As many things I wish I didn't do
But I continue learning
I never meant to do those things to you
And so I have to say before I go
That I just want you to know...

"I'm so sorry, Yuf. I never meant to hurt you. I didn't," he said aloud as he trudged back into the cave that he had inhabited since he found himself on Hollow Bastion. At least in the mountains there were less Heartless. He found that he hated killing anything anymore.

He walked deeper into the cave to the small room that had dry wood and a fireplace in it. There was a bed along one wall and a few non- perishable canned items in cupboards on the wall. Clearly, this cave was a refuge for people who got lost in the mountains. Before this, Squall had had no idea that there were places like this in Hollow Bastion. But he had left it before he was even an adult, and so his memories could not be too trustworthy.

Squall murmured "Fira" underneath his breath and sparks shot out of his hands and onto the wood. It ignited and there was a roaring fire in no time at all. The heat warmed his body on the outside, but on the inside, he was cold. There was a void where his heart used to be. It was gone, now that Yuffie was gone. That was why he thought he would never love again.

He heard scuffling in the main cavern of the cave and picked up the Gunblade. The comforting weight of the Griever necklace was absent from his neck and for the first time it registered that he had lost it. Oh well, he thought. Cautiously, Squall walked out of the room and stayed out of view of the figure in the cave.

It was standing on two legs, and was human-shaped. He hadn't seen a Heartless like this before, but that didn't ease his spirit. Ansem was always concocting new demons. Perhaps this monster was in the form of a human to throw off attackers. But it had long, black hair and was wearing a light, pearly blue. He hadn't seen anyone that looked like this since he was 17. No, he told himself. No, it can't be. She's dead. She died when the Heartless overran Hollow Bastion. She does not exist!

"Hello? Is anyone around?" She asked in that familiar, dulcet voice that was so very dear to him. Was she a figment of his imagination, or was it really she? Could it really be the girl he had watched from afar when he was a teenager?

"Rinoa?"

I went to the State tournament for Power of the Pen on Thursday and Friday. Surprise surprise, I won 5th place in the state. Pretty good, eh? I also got to meet October Breeze there, which was awesome. So, just to sum it up, I had a good time, and got to miss school! YIPEE!

If this chapter was worse than the others, I apologize. My e-mail is not working so that I can send it to my editor. So this was done completely editor-free and just my raw writing. Hopefully, it's okay. I'm not hoping for much.

Thank you to those of you who reviewed! I am so happy that I got new people to put me on their Author Alert or Favorite Author list just because of this story! You guys rock!

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