Author's Note: Okay, I'm writing. I know you've waited long enough for this chapter, but I've been busy working on a handful of other things that I've posted over the past few days. My writing is really starting to take over my life. It's like I'm possessed or something.

[Disclaimer: Oh, how I wish I owned Squall. Then I could do so many... um... things with him. But, alas, he is owned by Square, as are the other characters within this story. And the location of this story is owned by Disney and Square. So, I shall retreat to my hole in the ground and pine away for Squall.]

Chapter Three: Adjustments

At his customary hour of rising, six o' clock to be exact, Leon awoke, raising his hands to tiredly rub his eyes, only to find a rough barrier between his eyes and his hands. Using both hands, he gingerly traced the scratchy material to find that its wide band encircled his head. "What the hell?" he muttered as he quickly sat up. He threw off the light covers and swung his legs off the side of the bed, standing up and then falling back onto the bed when he remembered the events from the day before.

In his mind's eye, he could see the brilliant reddish-orange glow of the Red Nocturne's fire blast and then the sudden rising cloud of smokey dust, only to have a darkness then come down, veiling him from the world around him. Yes, now he remembered how that seemingly simple blast from the fiery Heartless had plunged him into a world of darkness. And he hated the uncertainty that came with this handicap.

Rising to his feet, he took a tentative step towards where he thought the bathroom was located, determined not to let this blindness daunt him in the least. He would learn to live with this temporary sightlessness and show his companions that he did not need their help. The proud Squall Leonheart helped others who were in need, not the other way around. The thought of anyone seeing him submit to such a weakness caused a small shudder to race through him.

With each step he took across the room, his confidence returned, allowing him to walk a little faster and take longer strides. He realized his mistake when he stumbled into an object a little over knee-high, and he crashed on top of it, relinquishing a yelp of surprise as the object fell to the floor beneath his weight.

He heard a small grunt of pain beneath his body and realized that it was Yuffie's cot he had carelessly fallen onto, crushing her as he did so. "Leon, I think you need to ease up on the sweets," his companion uttered as she none to gently pushed him off of her. "I swear, I think you broke one of my ribs or something."

Leon pushed himself up off the floor, and carefully stood up. "Why is your cot in the middle of the room, Yuffie?" he demanded angrily, remembering that it was supposed to be pushed up against the wall to prevent something like this from happening. "And I'm not fat!"

"Well," the ninja began, twirling a lock of her short ebon hair around her finger, "I couldn't sleep with it right up against that wall. The neighbors in the Blue Room were making too much noise. So, I pushed it out here so I could sleep." Giving him a skeptical look, she place her hands upon her slim waist. "And why are you walking across the room, anyways? It's too early to get up. It's not even seven yet."

"I always get up early, Yuf," he replied in exasperation as he began his trek across the room once again, albeit more slowly and cautiously this time. "Besides, I had to use the bathroom." Reaching out, he felt the wall and with his fingers upon the surface, he followed it until he touched a doorframe. He grasped the knob, about to open the door when two small hands grabbed his arm, successfully stopping him.

Yuffie giggled and pulled him away from the door, leading him to the bathroom door. "I don't think Aerith would appreciate you barging into her room and pissing on her," she snickered as she opened the bathroom door and shoved him in.

"I knew that was her room," the Gunblade wielder yelled through the closed door, trying to reclaim his dignity. "I was just going to... uh... ask her something."

"Sure, you were." The ninja bit her lip as she turned from the closed door and looked disdainfully upon her now broken bed. Sighing, she dropped down beside it and tried to prop the legs back up, only to have it come crashing down once again. Frustrated, she kicked the remains of the crushed cot to the wall and sat upon Leon's bed, elbows propped on knees with her face in her hands as she contemplated the matter.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the opening of the connecting door between the Red and Green Rooms as Aerith entered the room, clad in her crimson robe with her chestnut hair falling down her back, freed from its regular braid. "I heard yelling," she explained at Yuffie's questioning glance. "Is everything alright?"

Throwing herself backwards onto the bed, Yuffie lay there, staring at the ceiling with her legs still hanging off the edge. "Yeah, except Mr. I-Don't-Need-Any-Help decided to take a stroll around the room and broke my bed." With a flick of the wrist, she gestured over to where her cot lay in a broken heap. "Where am I supposed to sleep now, Aerith?"

As the brunette was about to answer her disgruntled friend, a muffled curse came from the bathroom, immediately followed by a thud as something crashed to the floor. Yuffie jumped off the bed and ran to the door, ear pressed against the door. "Leon, what happened? Are you okay?" she asked concernedly.

"I'm fine. A little bruised, but I'm fine," he grumbled, letting out another curse. There was a long pause before he answered her other question. "I tripped and fell into the bathtub."

"Do you need any help?" Aerith called through the door as she held a had over her mouth to stifle a giggle. Yuffie was doing the same, albeit less successfully as one managed to escape.

"No, I don't need any help." The two girls were leaving the door when they heard another thud from the bathroom. "Okay, maybe I do," they heard him admit.

Yuffie went back to the door, hand on doorknob, ready to burst into the bathroom when she remembered something. "Hey, Leon, are you decent? I mean, we wouldn't want you to corrupt us innocent females with your naked butt," she snorted as laughter threatened to overtake her again.

There was a loud groan and drawn out sigh from the other side of the door. "Yes, Yuffie, I'm decent," Leon muttered. "Just hurry up and get in here and pull me out of this tub before my ego shatters anymore than it already has."

Pushing the door open, Yuffie and Aerith walked into the bathroom and erupted into a fit of stomach-clutching giggles at the sight before them. In the bathtub lay Leon, his head against the wall and his feet overhanging the edge with his middle scrunched up in between. "How did you manage to do that?" Aerith finally demanded when her laughter subsided.

"Don't ask. Just get me out of here," the Gunblade wielder commanded in a curt tone, a faint pink tinge climbing across his cheeks. Not hearing them approaching, he decided to try again, this time more politely. "Please, help me out of here." The pleading tone that had crept into his voice made him cringe in self-loathing.

The two girls looked at each other, the oldest smiling and the youngest biting her lip to keep a cutting remark from escaping, before approaching the subdued Leon and grasping his hands. "On the count of three, Yuf," the flower girl announced. "One... two... three!" Both of them grunted as they hauled the man to his feet, the ninja falling backwards onto the floor as he came to his feet.

"Ouchiewawa," Yuffie muttered as she rubbed her now bruised hip. "You're trying to kill me, aren't ya Leon? I mean, first you fall on me this morning and now you knock me down

"Ouchiewawa?" Leon inquired, his voice full of confusion and a slight hint of what might be humor as he ignored her accusation. "What kind of word is 'ouchiewawa'?"

The ninja jumped up off the ground and glared at him, momentarily forgetting that her glare would be lost on him since he was blinded. Her anger was quickly replaced by delight that he actually almost laughed at her word. "My word. I made it up. Cool, huh?"

"Whatever." He shook his long mane of russet hair out before running a hand through it, pushing the bangs back from the bandage covering his eyes. "Now, if you ladies would excuse me, I would like to get dressed in privacy." Turning his head towards where he last had heard Yuffie's voice come from, he gave her a glare... or, it would have been a glare if his eyes weren't covered. "That means you, too, Yuffie."

Rolling her eyes, Yuffie trudged out of the bathroom, but stopped and started laughing at her new roommate. "How ya gonna get dressed if you don't have any clothes in here, Leon? Hm?" she demanded in a playful tone.

Before Leon could reply, Aerith, who had left the bathroom as Leon and Yuffie were discussing the origins of the word 'ouchiewawa,' shuffled inside and shoved some clothes into Leon's hands. "Here, put these on," she said quietly as she pulled the young ninja out of the bathroom and shut the door behind them.

"Aw, Aerith, you ruin all my fun," Yuffie pouted. "I was going to tease him for awhile before getting his clothes for him." Walking over to the dresser, she pulled out her normal green halter top and khaki shorts from the bottom drawer where she had placed them the night before.

Aerith place a gentle hand upon the ninja's shoulder, raising her eyebrows and making the younger girl face her. "Yuffie, please don't torment him. You know it's enough torture for him to actually ask us for help. Don't make it worse," she said quietly, not wanting her voice to carry through to the bathroom.

Yuffie sighed in defeat, her shoulder slumping slightly and bright smile wavering. "Fine, you win. I'll be nice and not get him into trouble," she conceded, watching a reassured smile come across the flower girl's face.

"Good." She looked across the room at the clock, noticing that it was only 6:30 in the morning. "Well, I guess we better go ahead and get some breakfast since we're up. I'll meet you at the café." With that, Aerith walked through the connecting door and into her room.

"At least not too much trouble," Yuffie muttered under her breath as an evil smile came across her face. The sound of the bathroom door opening caught her attention, and she turned around and laughed when she saw Leon, who had managed to put his shirt on backwards. "I think you need some help there, Leon."

The Gunblade wielder turned towards the sound of her voice. "Why? What's wrong?" He took a small step towards the bed, but stopped when he felt Yuffie grab him and yank his shirt over his head. "What are you doing?" he demanded angrily as he tried to push her away.

Yuffie rolled her eyes, then sighed when she realized he was unable to see her disdainful expression. "You're shirt was on backwards, silly. So, I'm fixing it," she explained as she stood on tip-toe and pulled the white t-shirt back over his head. "There," she said as she watched him put his arms back through the short sleeves. "That's better."

"This is going to take some getting used to," Leon grumbled softly as he felt the girl brush past him and into the bathroom, hearing the door shut behind him.

After successfully leading her blind companion to the café for breakfast, Yuffie groaned when she saw the dark storm clouds beginning to block out the sun. "Great. Just what I needed today," she muttered as she pushed Leon into the café and guided him to the table in the back where Aerith was reading a menu, patiently awaiting them.

"A storm's building up, isn't it?" Leon asked as he felt Yuffie push him into the booth before sitting down next to him.

"Yeah," the ninja answered absent-mindedly as she skimmed through the menu, but jerked her head up suddenly and stared at him with wide eyes, her brows furrowed with confusion. "Wait a minute! How did you know?"

Leon curled his lip in a small smile as he kept his head facing forward, towards Aerith. "I can feel the charge in the air, Yuf. I don't have to have my eyes to see everything," he replied arrogantly.

"Well, Mr. Know-It-All, since you don't need your eyes, maybe you don't need me to lead you around either," Yuffie huffed as she threw her arms across her chest and glared at him.

Across from them, Aerith closed her eyes and gently massaged her temples with fingers. "Yuffie, you will help him. Leon, you will let her. And you both will get along, understood?" Her bright green eyes slowly opened and glared at them. Seeing both of them nod meekly, the usually sweet flower girl returned to her normal self and smiled. "Okay, then. So, are you ready to order."

"Sheesh, someone's gripey today," the ninja mumbled under her breath as she rested her head in her hands, elbows propped up on the table. Her indigo eyes slowly drooped shut as Leon and Aerith made small talk, mostly concerning the safety of the townspeople since Heartless attacks were becoming more frequent. Yuffie jerked awake when her head hit the table with a loud thud, causing Aerith to chuckle and Leon to turn his head in her direction. "I'm fine," she grumbled, laying her head down on the table this time to await their food.

Their breakfast having arrived, Aerith asked Leon to awaken Yuffie, to which he complied by elbowing her in the side. "Come on. Wake up. You sleep more than any other person I know," the man complained as he nudged her awake.

"Yeah, well, I don't like being woke up at six in the morning by someone falling on top of me." Smiling as the scent of her breakfast, French toast, wafted up to her nose, she grabbed her fork and quickly shoved a bite in her mouth. "Speaking of which," she continued as she ate, "where am I going to sleep tonight? You broke my cot."

Leon blindly fumbled with his silverware, finally finding his fork and sticking it into something on his plate, not knowing what until he placed it into his mouth. The taste of scrambled eggs filled his mouth as he chewed. "It's not my fault you pushed it out into the middle of nowhere."

Taking a sip of her orange juice to wash down her bagel, Aerith calmly spoke up. "I'll talk to he hotel manager and see if he has another cot you can use, Yuf. And if he doesn't, I'll see if I can get you one from the infirmary." She paused as she spread more strawberry cream cheese across her bagel. "I'm sure we can find something for you, Yuf."

"Good, 'cause I'm not sleeping on the floor." Just as the ninja brought another bite of her French toast to her mouth, a loud crack of thunder echoed through the room and a flash of lightning was seen through the window, causing her to jump and drop her fork, which clattered as it hit her plate. Silently cursing, she tried to block out the storm and concentrate of eating, wishing she could be like her friends, unafraid of the storm.

Aerith slid out of the booth, holding her bagel in a napkin and taking another drink of her juice. "I'm going to go ahead and go to the infirmary before the rain hits. I really don't want to get there soaking wet," she informed them as she quickly ran out of the café, eating her bagel as she ran.

"Hurry up and eat, Squall. I don't want to get caught in the rain either," Yuffie insisted, beginning to shovel her food into her mouth.

"It's Leon," he reminded her as he kept eating his food at his normal steady pace. "And I'm not going to rush myself. A little rain never hurt anyone."

Ignoring his comment, Yuffie finished her meal and sat at the booth glaring at Leon, as if mentally willing him to increase his pace. Finally, unable to take it any longer as the sky became even darker and the lightning and thunder came more frequently, she began to plead. "Please, Leon. You know how much I hate storms."

At her tone, Leon raised his head from his plate, cocking it ever so slightly to the side as he listened to her. For the first time since he had known her, he could tell that she was terrified. Just by listening to her voice, he could hear emotions within her that had always gone unspoken. And he knew that if he could see, he would find that she still kept her normal half-smirk expression on her face to hide her fear. "Okay, let's go," he conceded as he took a final drink of his coffee, allowing her to pull him from the table.

Yuffie threw some munny down on the table as she dragged the stumbling Leon out the door and into storm that was rapidly forming, the wind whipping his long hair into his face as she tried to force him to run. "If we hurry, we can get to the hotel before it gets any worse," she called as she pulled him behind her.

"Yuffie, slow down. I'm going to fall." As if tempting fate by saying that, Leon's boot caught on a loose cobblestone and he fell face forward onto the ground, taking Yuffie down with him. It was at this point that the rain began to fall in heavy torrents, drenching them both.

"Perfect," the young ninja muttered as she rose to her feet and grasped her blind companion's hand, pulling him up as well. "I told you we'd get caught in the rain."

Leon tentatively rubbed his face, finding an abrasion where his cheek had hit the ground. "If you hadn't been running, I wouldn't have tripped," he accused as he allowed her to take his arm and lead him, this time more slowly.

"Yeah, yeah. Blame it all on me." Yuffie pushed open the double doors to the Second District, unable to hold back a shudder as another streak of lightning lit up the darkened skies. She jerked his arm, signaling him to hurry up. "Just, come on."

They reached the hotel doors without any other mishaps and pushed through them, shaking the water out of their hair as soon as they were inside, much to the manager's dismay. Taking his arm once again, Yuffie led Leon down the hall and into the Green Room, where she found him a towel and some dry clothes and pushed him into the bathroom.

Yuffie changed into her own dry clothes while Leon was in the bathroom, comforting herself with the fact that even if he did emerge while she was in her underwear, he wouldn't see anything. However, she managed to finish before he came out. Deciding there was nothing else to do as long as the storm raged outside, Yuffie pushed Leon onto the bed and lay herself down at the foot, flipping on the TV with the remote and mindlessly channel surfing.

Having spent the day watching sitcoms and old movies, not to mention having to explain to Leon what was happening on the screen, Yuffie was glad to see Aerith walk through the door. Sure it was fun to tease Leon sometimes, but having to spend the whole day with only him and not even being able to play cards because he couldn't see, well, that was a different story. "Aerith, I'm..." she trailed off when she saw her friend's apologetic stare. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Aerith said quickly, giving her a weak smile. "Leon, I need to change your bandages and put some of the eye drops in." She walked over to where he was sitting on the bed and gently pressed down onto his back. As she began to unwind the gauze, she kept giving the ninja apologetic glances.

"Aerith, why do you keep looking at me like that? And where's that cot you..." Yuffie stopped when she realized why her friend kept giving her that look. "You couldn't find me one, could you?"

"I tried, Yuffie. I really tried." The flower girl opened one of Leon's eyes and quickly let a drop of the medicine fall in before he had a chance to react. "Yuffie, hand me the roll of gauze," she commanded as she medicated his other eye.

Sitting up, Leon allowed Aerith to wrap the bandages around his head again. "Yuffie can go back to sharing a room with you," he said as she finished with his bandages. "I don't need someone in here at night." He turned his head when he heard Yuffie snorting.

"Yeah, we saw what happened this morning when you woke up," she laughed, remembering that he was about to use the Red Room as the bathroom. "I forgot to tell you, Aerith, but he thought your room was the bathroom. Now that would have been a sight."

"See, Leon? You do need someone in here with you." Aerith arose from her seated position on the bed and walked across to her room. "I'm going to go ahead and go to bed. It's been a long day for me. Goodnight," she called as she shut the door.

Yawning, Yuffie silently agreed and grabbed her own pajamas from the dresser and changing in the bathroom. "I think I'm gonna go to bed, too," she announced as she looked around for a place to sleep, her eyes falling on the bed.

"And, where, pray tell, are you going to sleep?" Leon prodded as she shoved some clothes into his hands and helped him to the bathroom. Her silence gave him all the answer he needed, realizing she meant to share the bed with him. "No, Yuffie. I'm not sharing the bed."

"Aw, come on, Leon. It'll be just like a slumber party," she whined through the closed bathroom door. "I'll even put up a pillow barrier between us so you won't touch me." The ninja leaned against the wall next to the door and waited for him to finish in there so she could lead him to the bed.

"No."

A wicked smile crossed the teenager's face, one that would have scared the Gunblade wielder if he could have seen it. "You can't stop me, Squall. I mean, you can't even see. So how are you going to throw me outta the bed?"

The door burst open, revealing a very unhappy blind man. "It's Leon. And, fine, you can sleep on the bed. But you better not cross the pillow barrier you're putting up," he snarled as he allowed himself to be guided to the bed.

"Don't worry, I won't." She grabbed the extra pillows from where her broken cot lay and carried them to the bed, placing them on the left side of Leon as she would be sleeping against the wall. "There, now you don't have to worry about cooties or anything." She crawled under the sheets and rolled over, pulling them along with her. "Goodnight Squall."

"Leon."

Author's Note: Wanna know something funny? I didn't put in any of the stuff I had planned to put into this chapter. I was going to, but then the chapter just kept going and going and going and I had to stop it somewhere. So, VL, I know you're disappointed that the stuff we talked about aren't in here, but I promise that they will be in the next chapter. You know me. I tend to draw things out and take them slow. Anyways, now that y'all've read the chapter, why don't you review it for me? Please? With a cherry on top?