Author's Note: Okay, not much to say up here this time. But, I hope everyone's enjoying the story. And it's starting to seem to me that this story may never end.
Oh, about Gummi ships. I never could figure out how to work the Gummi garage, so if I have some facts about the various ships wrong, bear with me.
[Disclaimer: If I owned Kingdom Hearts, there would have been some Squffie goodness going on in the game. And I also would've have kept Squall as my very own. However, I don't own them and SquareEnix and Disney did not consult me when they made the game.]
Chapter Eleven: Sail Away
Bounding enthusiastically through the large double doors, Yuffie halted suddenly to stare at all the Gummi ships kept in the enormous garage. Unfortunately, she had momentarily forgotten that the man behind her was unable to see and he crashed into her, nearly knocking them both to the floor before she caught herself and managed to keep them both upright. "Gawd, Squall, watch where you're..." she began, then stopped when she saw the bandages. "Never mind."
"Nice, Yuffie..." Squall muttered as he stepped back from her, his hands falling from her shoulders where he had grabbed her as he collided with her. An awkward silence fell between them, neither of them knowing what to say. After a few moments that seemed to drag on for eternity, Squall broke the silence. "Maybe we should get going."
"Yeah, that would be a good idea," Yuffie agreed, glad that the silence had finally been broken as she had never been one who was able to stand silence. Taking his hand, she led him down the rows of Gummi ships, stopping between her yellow and pink ship and his blue and green ship. She looked back and forth between the two of them, slowly chewing a whole through her bottom lip as she tried to decide which ship to take.
As she was contemplating which ship to take, Squall slowly grew more impatient. "What's the hold up, Yuf?" he finally asked when he could no longer stand the wait.
The ninja pulled her eyes away from the two ships to look at him, her brows drawn together in thought. "I can't decide which ship to take. I mean, mine's so much cooler than yours. But, then again, yours is faster," she admitted.
"Let's just take mine, then." The memory of the last time he stepped foot into her ship flew to mind. The floor had been littered with empty take-out bags and crumbs rested upon the control panel. Not to mention the clothing she had strewn about the bedroom quarters of the ship. He was fairly certain some of those clothes had been there long enough to evolve into higher life forms, living off the crumbs and leftover meals in the cabin, and were hell bent on the destruction of the world.
"Nah, I've decided we're going to take mine," Yuffie announced, having forgotten the mess she had left her ship in the last time she had taken it out.
"Then why did you even bother asking me?" demanded Squall as he felt the teenager drag him up the ramp and into the ship, glad for once that he was blind and couldn't see the mess.
"I don't know, I just did." The young ninja began to push buttons and flip the switches near the door to turn on the lights inside the ship. As the light flooded the cabin and she got a good look at the litter strewn floor, she quickly turned the lights back off and began to back out of the ship, taking Squall along with her. "On second thought, maybe we should take yours."
Chuckling, Squall allowed himself to be taken to his ship, digging in his pockets for the silver lion head key chain with the single key to his ship's door. Unlike her ship, which had a code-locked door, his relied upon both a code and a key. He didn't like to take chances with his ship as he had seen too many of the townspeople's ships stolen in the last year they had been in Traverse Town. "What's wrong, Yuf? Your ship too messy?" he chided as he handed her the key.
Yuffie turned around and glared at the man, hands on her hips with the key in one hand. "No," she lied, "I just decided that your ship is faster and we'll get there sooner." Turning back around, she fumbled with the lock and quickly input the code Squall gave her, allowing the door to open with a loud 'swoosh.' Yuffie tugged on his arm and dragged him through the door, gasping in shock when she turned the interior lights on. "Damn, Squall. Your ship is immaculate. What do you do? Come in and clean it everyday?"
"No, I just don't throw things around it like you do." He felt Yuffie drop his arm and heard her disappearing footsteps as she walked down the corridor to the single bedroom in the ship. Knowing his way around the ship like the back of his hand, he stepped into the first doorway to his left, the control room and confidently sat in one of the two pilot seats.
Down the hall, Yuffie was standing in the doorway of the bedroom and staring at the bed, realizing how very small the bed was. It was only a twin size bed, which meant that one of them would have to sleep elsewhere or they would have to sleep very close to each other. She, herself, had no qualms about the latter but was afraid Squall might. Although they had started a relationship based on more than friendship, she was still unsure as to how he would react to her sleeping that close to him during the one night they would be flying to the Coliseum.
Sighing, she threw the suitcase down upon the bed and retreated back to the control room where she assumed Squall was waiting for her. As she entered the room, she stopped to watch how Squall almost lovingly ran his hands over the various buttons and switches, as though he were trying to figure out how to fly the thing while still being unable to see. "Squall, you aren't flying, you know," the ninja announced as she finally walked into the room and took her seat next to him.
Squall released a drawn-out sigh, his hands dropping from the control panel to rest atop his knees. "I know. Just... don't wreck it, please?" he begged, lowering his head and trying not to picture his ship going up in flames as Yuffie crashed it into some uncharted planet.
Rolling her eyes, the young ninja fastened herself into the pilot's seat and began flipping switches to start the Gummi's engine. She looked out of the corner of her eye and noticed that instead of buckling himself into the seat, Squall was up and walking towards the back of the ship, feeling along the wall with his fingers to judge where he was. "Uh, Squall, we're about to leave. You might want to sit down somewhere," she suggested, sparing occasional glances at him while she watched the various gauges on the panel.
"I'll be fine, Yuf. Just get going already." He listened to her grumbled reply and continued to walk down the corridor, not sure exactly where he was going but just wanting to go somewhere. However, he soon wished he had listened to her advice when the ship began to pitch and he found himself having trouble keeping his balance. Eventually, he fell against the wall and allowed himself to slide to the floor to wait for the motion to even out.
In the control room, Yuffie felt her stomach lurch as the ship left the atmosphere of Traverse Town and entered the multi-colored space surrounding it. Placing a hand over her stomach and trying to hold down everything she had ever eaten, she quickly set the course for the Coliseum and put the ship on auto pilot before she left her seat. As she walked down the corridor, groaning the whole time, she passed Squall still sitting on the floor. Stepping over his stretched out legs, she felt him grab her calf, nearly causing her to fall in the process. "What?" she managed to choke out, quickly covering her mouth with her hand as another wave of nausea came over her.
"Where are you going?" he asked from his position below her, his hand still on her leg and gently squeezing it.
Closing her eyes in an attempt to stave off the air sickness. "I'm going to lie down," she said softly, still fighting the rising waves of nausea. "I forgot how sick I get and I didn't bring any tranquilizers."
"What about the ship?"
"It's on auto pilot. We should get to the Coliseum tomorrow morning around... ugh... excuse me." Breaking free of his grasp, she dashed down the hall and into the small bathroom, kneeling over the toilet.
Hearing the retching noises coming from the bathroom, Squall rose to his feet and followed the sound, his hands trailing the wall to feel for the doorway he knew was there. After finally finding it, he entered the bathroom and stood behind her, reaching out with his hand and rubbing her back as she continued to cough and gag. "Are you going to be okay?" he questioned softly as he heard the toilet flush.
The ninja leaned weakly against the sink, her knees having become shaky like they always do when she gets sick. "I might. I dunno," she said, her words unknowingly becoming slurred and weak sounding, as though she were drunk. "I jus wanna lie down."
Squall put his arm around her shoulders and lead her out of the small bathroom, letting her lean against him as he used his free hand to follow the curve of the wall around to the bedroom. "Come on, Yuf," he murmured, rubbing his hand up and down her upper arm as they walked.
"Do you even know where we're going?" Yuffie muttered as she felt her stomach lurch sickeningly once again in her small frame. She feebly raised a hand to her brow, finding it had become sweaty as she became increasingly sicker.
"Yeah, I know where everything is in this ship. I don't need eyes to see it," he replied as they continued their slow trek down the corridor, occasionally bumping against the side of the wall as the ship swerved to avoid an object.
"Good 'cause I'm too sick to worry about it." Groaning again, she leaned more of her weight against Squall and clutched her stomach. "I remember why I never go anywhere anymore. I'm either too sick from air sickness or too doped up on tranquilizers to enjoy it."
Reaching the bedroom, Squall helped her across to where he hoped the bed was, mainly relying on her to let him know when they reached it. He felt Yuffie slip from his arms to lie upon the small bed as he sat on the edge next to her. Running his fingers down her arm, he eventually found her hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. "Do you need anything, Yuffie?" he whispered, beginning to stroke the top of her hand with his thumb.
"Just kill me and put me out of my misery... please," she mumbled through the nausea, too sick to even acknowledge how gentle and kind Squall was being towards her. Closing her eyes, she settled down into the mattress and grimaced, resting her hands gentle upon her stomach. She felt the mattress shift as Squall rose from it and she opened one eye to watch him begin to leave the room. "Where are you going?" she called out faintly.
Squall stopped and turned to her, placing his hand upon the steel doorframe of the room. "I'll be right back." With that, he left the room, leaving Yuffie alone with her nausea. Turning on her side, she looked out the single window in the room and watched as their ship passed by the various objects floating around space.
With her back still facing the door and still lost in the pains of her nausea, Yuffie didn't notice when Squall came back into the room until she felt him leaning over her, a damp cloth in his hand. Smiling slightly, she reached up to take it from his hand and placed it across her forehead. "Thank you, Squall. But, how did you find it?"
"I told you earlier, I know where everything is in this ship." He sat once again on the edge of the bed, feeling her roll into him slightly as the mattress settled. Sighing, he brought his legs up upon the bed as well and leaned against the wall behind the bed, his hand burying itself within the ninja's short hair while he gently massaged her scalp to help alleviate her motion sickness.
If it hadn't been for her stomach ache, Yuffie would have been almost purring in contentment as his calloused fingers worked wonders on her scalp. As it was, however, she was just concentrating on keeping the little bit of food left in her stomach down and not throwing up on the man. She was sure he would not be very appreciative of that. She groaned again and pushed her back up against his side, his warmth seeping through their clothes and giving her a little comfort. "I dun feel so good," she whimpered as the ship sharply turned, causing her stomach to lurch again.
"Just concentrate on something else, Yuf," Squall suggested softly, trying to think of something that would help the ill teenager. A thought came to his mind. "Yuf, tell me what you see out the window."
"There's nothing out there, Squall. Just a bunch of rocks and stars and that's it."
"Tell me everything you see since I can't."
Sighing, Yuffie slowly opened her eyes to look out the window, beginning to describe the different asteroids floating around, the various colors of the space around them, the twinkling of the thousands of stars they passed by. As requested, Yuffie told him everything, detailing everything in an attempt to paint the picture for him. And as she described everything, she began to forget about the nausea as it slowly faded away.
As he listened to her vivid descriptions of what most would consider fodder for sleep-inducing boredom, he began to actually see in his mind all that she described. Through her, he was able to lift the blindness that had clouded his vision and see everything that she saw. Smiling, he slouched down the wall until he was lying prone on the bed behind her. He slowly rolled over so her back was pressed against his chest instead of his side and he lightly draped an arm across her waist, hoping the pressure of it would not cause her nausea to flare up again.
A few minutes later, Yuffie's voice grew softer and her words started coming slower and slower until they finally stopped coming at all. Squall bit down a soft chuckle as he realized she had fallen asleep. Nuzzling her short hair with his nose, he took in the scent that he had grown to love, orange blossom, as he placed a soft kiss on the back of her head. "Goodnight, sweet ninja," he whispered softly before falling asleep himself.
Yuffie awoke sometime in the middle of the night, shivering slightly despite the warmth of Squall's arms around her, remembering how cold the Gummi ships tended to become as they traveled. Slipping out of his grasp, she managed to pull the sheets and blankets down from beneath his body, noticing he still had his boots on when she reached the foot of the bed. She quickly undid the laces and pulled them off carefully lest she awaken him. Satisfied that he would be more comfortable now, she climbed back into the bed and curled into him, her face resting against his chest and a small smile playing across her face as she fell back to sleep.
The next time she awoke was to the loud alarm sounding throughout the ship announcing their nearing of their destination. Yawning and stretching, she reluctantly crawled out of the bed to land the ship, leaving Squall to continue sleeping. As she adjusted the many levers and switches associated with landing the ship, she looked out the window to see quite a few Gummis approaching the Coliseum as well. "At least there'll be plenty of competition," she mumbled sleepily, rubbing her eyes with her free hand as she steered the ship into the docking bay of the planet.
After landing the ship safely, Yuffie looked at the clock above the control panel only to find that it was still too early in the morning for her taste. So, making sure the ship was docked correctly and wasn't going anywhere, she sleepily stumbled back down the hall to the bedroom and once again climbed into the bed, curling into Squall's side under the crook of his arm. And there they would sleep until it was required of them to awaken.
Author's Note: Okay, they've finally reached the Coliseum... but what awaits them there?? Will Sora beat Squall? Or will Squall beat Sora? Or will Yuffie beat them both? Who knows? I don't even know yet. So, please kindly give me a review and I'll be a happy author.