Author's Note: Well, here we go. Chapter Fourteen. I actually feel like I'm getting something accomplished. By the by, I'm currently in the process of starting a new story called "Honor Amongst Thieves." The first chapter should be up in the next week or so.

By the way, someone asked about a lemon. I'm sorry to say that there won't be a lemon in this story. :::dodges fruit from lemon-loving readers::: But, I've only written one lemon (or lime or whatever type of citrus it was) and it will probably be the only one I ever write. I just don't feel comfortable writing them.

[Disclaimer: I'm running out of interesting things to say up here. So, I shall just say that I don't own them. There, will that suffice?]

Chapter Fourteen: Forbidden Fruit

"One one-thousand.... two one-thousand..." Yuffie counted as she looked out the window of the Gummi ship, her arms folded on the narrow windowsill and her chin resting upon them. Below her, the dark clouds that had covered Olympus were moving by an unseen force towards Traverse Town, much to her disgust. "Three one-thousand..." A loud rumbling thunder clap interrupted her counting and she waited for the next flash of lightning to start counting again.

"Yuffie, will you please stop that? You've been doing it for the past two hours," Squall complained tiredly from his prone position on the bed, his hand resting on Yuffie's lower back as she was sitting in front of him and leaning forward to look out the window. "I can't sleep while you do that."

Sighing, the ninja turned to gaze at him and smile before going back to watching the clouds as the ship passed over them. "I wish you could see this, Squall. It looks like the clouds are blinking," she whispered in fascination as she saw yet another flash of light come from them, and she immediately began her counting again, this time silently. "Just don't sleep too deeply. We're almost back in Traverse."

A muffled 'mm hmm' came from behind her and the hand on her back slowly dropped to the bed as the Gunblade wielder drifted off into sleep. Yuffie leaned back gently and rested her head against his stomach, her face turned to the side so she could watch his while he slept. It never ceased to amaze her how angelic and vulnerable he could appear while he was sleeping. The way his face would completely relax and his lips would part slightly as his breath came out in small puffs, blowing away the hair that had fallen into his face. As her head rose and fell with each breath he took, she was slowly lulled to sleep by the rhythm, her eyes just beginning to droop close.

The shrill shrieking of the Gummi's alarm sent the ninja bolting upright, soon followed by the man who had been serving as her pillow. "That's not the auto pilot alarm," she muttered worriedly as she quickly ran down the hall and into the control room. There, she various red alarm lights flashing and warning screens coming up on the monitors, causing her to look around in terror. "Squall!"

Hearing his name, the Gunblade wielder, who had already been following her, increased his pace and ran to her. "What's wrong, Yuf?" he asked hurriedly, trying not to curse too loudly as he stubbed his toe against the doorframe in his haste to help her.

"We're entering the storm, Squall! I can't fly this thing in a storm!!" she screamed in a panic as she plopped down into the pilot's seat, beginning to chew on her nails nervously. Looking out the front window, she could see the heavy, dark clouds the ship was flying into as it came into the atmosphere of the world.

Using both her panicked voice and his knowledge of the ship's layout, Squall approached her and placed his hands on her shoulders in an attempt to calm her. "Yuffie, you have to. No one else can." He spun the seat she was sitting in around and put both hands on her cheeks. "You can do this. I know you can," he whispered urgently, giving her a quick kiss on her forehead. "Just imagine the storm isn't there."

Clenching her fists, the ninja turned back to the control panel and began looking over various displays, adjusting the levers as needed. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Squall walk around and take his seat in the co-pilot's chair before reaching over to rest his hand on her leg, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Okay, Squall, you're gonna have to talk me through this."

Listening to his calm and steady voice and closely following his instructions, Yuffie let herself fall into the motions of flying the ship through the storm. The hand on her leg slowly began to massage the flesh above her knee, soothing her anytime her nervousness returned. Soon, she was below the clouds and was able to see the docking bay, at which point she turned to Squall and threw herself in his arms. "I did it, Squall! I flew through the storm!" she screamed joyously in his ear, causing him to flinch.

"Uh... Yuffie, if your arms are around my neck, then who's flying the ship?" A small gasp came from the girl in his arms as he felt her jump away to, presumably, land the ship on the world. A sudden lurch and then a long scraping sound coming from the starboard side filled his ears. "What happened?"

Yuffie bit her lip and winced, not really knowing how to explain to him that she had allowed his ship to become scratched. She knew how much time and effort he put into keeping it both clean and in good working order. "I... uh... I kinda bumped into the wall..." she mumbled, her eyes downcast as she felt the ship touch the ground. "I didn't mean to, it was an accident. I'm so sorry, Squall..."

Realizing that her gushing apology could go on for hours, the Gunblade wielder pulled the girl against him, brushing his lips against her ear. "Yuffie, it's okay. It's just a ship. And it's just a scratch. Don't worry about it," he murmured between kisses as his mouth trailed down her neck in an attempt to soothe her.

"Are you sure?" she whispered, trying not to lose her train of thought. But with Squall's lips on the sensitive skin of her throat and neck, she was finding it hard to even remember how to breath, not to mention concentrate. She took his continued caresses as his answer, not sure if he had even heard her question and not really caring anyway.

Tantalizingly slowly, Squall kissed his way back up her neck and to her mouth, where he claimed her lips with his own. His hands roaming her back, he pulled her even tighter to him, breaking the kiss to gently kiss her forehead. "I'm sure, Yuf. I'm just glad we're alive," he said softly as his lips moved up and lingered in her hair.

Faking disdain, Yuffie pulled out of his grasp and playfully swatted at him with her right hand. "Are you saying that you doubted my flying abilities?" she said in mock anger, trying to hold back the laughter as the giddy rush of actually flying the Gummi through a storm hit her full force. It didn't work and she soon was giggling like a maniac, her hands clutching her stomach while she was doubled over with the laughter.

Squall reached out and placed a hand upon her shoulder, realizing that she was nearly in convulsions with her laughter. "Calm down, Yuf. Just calm down," he commanded gently, putting his other hand on her opposite shoulder. It didn't work. She was still trembling with laughter. "Yuffie, you didn't happen to sneak into the liqueur cabinet, did you?"

Yuffie looked up at him with tears in her eyes from all the laughter. "No, of course not, Squallie! You'd know if I kissed you!" she replied, finally managing to get her giddiness under control and stop laughing.

"Well maybe I wasn't paying attention to that," he said slowly, a smile creeping across his face. He was amazed at how much he had actually been smiling lately. Only a few weeks before, smiles rarely graced his face, but it seemed the closer he got to the young ninja, the more he smiled.

"Oh, okay." With that, she launched herself at him and latched her lips onto his, taking him obviously by surprise since it took nearly a full minute for his arms to encircle her. "Well?" she asked expectantly as she broke away, now straddling his lap.

"Well what?" Squall questioned in a daze.

Rolling her eyes and sighing, she playfully hit his chest. "Did you taste any alcohol?" He slowly shook his head 'no' as his hands slide from her back down to her waist. "See? I told you I didn't get into the liqueur cabinet." A flickering light in the docking bay outside the front window caught her eye and she watched it for a moment, half afraid that it would go out.

With his hands still resting on her hips, Squall felt her start to climb off his lap. "Hey, where are you going?" he demanded, grabbing her more tightly to keep her there.

"We really do need to get back to the hotel. The storm is getting worse and the lights are starting to flicker. If we don't hurry, they might go out before we get there," she explained, managing to slip out of his grasp. Once on her feet, she grabbed his hand with her two smaller hands and hauled him up to his feet. "Well, come on!"

Holding onto her hand, they left the Gummi ship after a detour by the bedroom to grab the suitcase they had brought. Once they had left the Gummi garage and had started walking across the First District, the rain began to fall, starting in a slow drizzle. "We always seem to get stuck in the rain," the Gunblade wielder mumbled with disgust as they trudged through it.

"Yeah, we must be lucky or something," Yuffie replied sarcastically, moving her gripe from his hand to his arm as the lightning flashed and the thunder rolled, not caring that his arm was now pulled to her chest and resting between her breasts. About halfway across the district, a particularly loud clap of thunder sounded and Yuffie jumped, not realizing that she was now on Squall's back with his hair in her hands.

Wincing, Squall tilted his head backwards as she yanked on his hair while her legs subconsciously wrapped around his waist. "Yuffie, if don't stop pulling my hair, I'll end up with a bald spot and you'll have hairy palms," he hissed in pain, letting out a relieved sigh as her hands dropped his hair to gripe his shoulders.

"Sorry, Squall," she muttered, hiding her face in the crook of his neck so she couldn't see the lightning any longer. She lifted her head when she felt him stop walking. "Why'd ya stop?"

"You're going to make me carry you the whole way, aren't you?" In answer, he felt her legs tighten and her ankles crossed at his waist. Sighing, he started walking again, the suitcase in one hand and the other hand under one of her legs to help support while he listened to her as she told him where to walk and what to miss.

As they pushed through the Second District doors, the rain began falling harder and the streetlights began flickering. The lights continued to blink until Squall opened the hotel door, at which point everything went black, causing the lightweight ninja on his back to squeal in his ear. "Get down," he whispered, taking his hand out from under her leg.

"Squall, I can't see anything! How are we going to get to the room?" She blinked her eyes repeatedly, hoping her eyes would adjust to the darkness only to realize that they refused to cooperate. Something brushing against her upper thigh caused her to jump and squeal again, only to have a warm hand clamped down over her mouth.

"Yuffie, calm down. I can get us to the room but unless you want to wake up everyone else, you had better be quiet. Got it?" he rasped, slowly taking his hand off her mouth when he felt her nod. "Okay, take my hand."

The ninja blindly reached out and ending up grabbing one of the four belts he wore instead. "I can't find your hand. I can't see," she hissed as she followed in his footsteps down the hall. She could only hope he knew where he was going.

"I can't see either, you know. You just have to rely on your other senses." He trailed one hand along the wall to keep himself going in a relatively straight line and to help judge where they were by how many doorways they had passed. A swift jerk on his belt and a muffled 'ow' let him know that Yuffie had tripped over something and fallen. He stopped and waited patiently for her to get back up. "You alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just tripping over my own to feet," she muttered sardonically, being more careful where she put her feet this time around. She didn't realize when her guide stopped walking until she bumped into him, nearly making him fall in the process. He put a steadying hand against the doorframe and kept them both from crashing into the floor.

Shaking his head, Squall released a drawn out sigh. "Are you trying to wake Aerith up?" he questioned as he put his hand on the doorknob, forgetting it was locked. "And where is the key?"

Yuffie let his belt go as she fumbled around in her pockets, finally finding the key and handed it to him once she actually found his hand in the pitch black hallway. The moon didn't even give off any light as the dark storm clouds had blocked it. "No, I don't want to wake Aerith up," she hissed vehemently. "She'll just start yelling at me again."

Somehow, Squall managed to insert the key into the lock and wrench the doorknob to the right, wincing when the door creaked loudly in the silent hall as he pushed it open. "She's only looking out for your best interests, Yuf," he whispered as they stumbled into the room. Well, rather, Yuffie stumbled into the room as Squall was used to not being able to see his surroundings.

"She's treating me like a baby," the ninja whined quietly, still holding onto Squall since she didn't know where anything else was in the room. "I mean, I'm sixteen years old, almost seventeen, and she's acting like I'm twelve or something." A rustling noise from across the room caused her to jump and grab her comrade's arm tightly, as though she were holding on for dear life. "What was that?!"

Squall bit his lip to keep his laughter from erupting from his chest as he realized what had scared her. "Yuffie, it was just Yoshi. You do remember Yoshi, don't you?" An answering 'coo' came from below the window and Squall could feel the girl's grasp on his arm loosening. "Don't tell me you're scared of the dark, too? I mean, thunder storms and the dark?"

"I'm not scared of the dark," Yuffie said indignantly, releasing his arm and trying to walk to the window overlooking the balcony. Well, at least she hoped that was where she was going since she had completely lost her sense of direction in the dark. "I'm just scared of what's in the dark." At that moment, she felt something grab her, causing her to let out a shrill shriek of terror before something was clamped over her mouth.

"Relax, Yuf. It's just me," Squall murmured, pulling his hand off her mouth and letting the arm he had grabbed drop to her side. "You are so skittish tonight." He could hear her gasping for breath as she began to calm down, and this time he jumped when something hit his chest.

"I wouldn't be so skittish if you wouldn't keep sneaking up on me," she retorted as she continued to softly hit his chest, only stopping when his hands came up to grab hers. Still lost and blind in the dark room, she was taken by surprise when his lips came down on hers. She pulled back and glared at him. "Yeah, just like a guy. You think a kiss can make everything better, don't you?"

"I seem to remember you doing the same thing when you refused to tell me what you told Phil at the Coliseum," he reminded her, beginning to ponder the strange situation at the arena and why Phil had let them go. "What exactly did you tell him, Yuf?"

Yuffie laughed nervously, determined not to tell him since she knew he would probably become angry with her. "Do you really think that I'm gonna tell you?" she retorted, pulling her hands out of his grasp.

Growling playfully, Squall grabbed her and carefully threw her down on the bed, landing beside her where he began to relentlessly tickle her sides with one hand while keeping her mouth covered with the other. "Oh, you'll tell me alright. Even if it takes me hours to get it out of you." Thinking about it, he was glad that their bed was on the wall opposite Aerith's as even with her mouth covered, Yuffie's laughter was growing louder.

She squirmed under his fingers, trying to escape from their sweet torture and, yet, still trying to keep what she had told Phil a secret. But it was becoming harder to do so as he continued to tickle her. Rolling onto her side and into him, she noticed that he had stopped tickling her and she used the opportunity to catch her breath. "Giving up?" she chided.

"Yuffie, move your hand."

"What?" she asked confusedly, before she realized where her hand had landed between them when she had rolled into him. She felt the hot blush rising into her cheeks and she was sure it even covering her neck and shoulders. She quickly jerked her hand away and began babbling incoherently, the only recognizable words coming out of her mouth being 'I'm sorry' and 'it was an accident.'

Squall shut her up with another kiss, this one more intense than the previous ones they had shared. He rolled over until he was hovering above her, his lips still locked on hers while his hands began to roam her small form, her own hands doing the same to his much larger body.

Feeling his hands reach a particularly sensitive spot on her flesh, Yuffie began to groan against his mouth. His lips left hers to kiss down her jaw line and down her neck, once again finding her sensitive spots. "How do you DO that?" she murmured as his lips went even further down her neck and reached her shoulders.

"I know where you keep everything," Squall muttered against her skin, his hands beginning to slide up the front of her shirt.

Rolling her eyes, Yuffie sat up and lightly pushed him off of her. "You're such a... such a... such a GUY!" she finally said, finding herself at a loss for insults in her current state.

Squall raised himself up as well and leaned into her, his chin resting on her shoulder and his mouth next to her ear. Yuffie mocked his position and wrapped her arms around him. "Tell me what you want, Yuffie. We can stop this now or we can go on. It's up to you," he breathed into her ear, moving his mouth to kiss the spot below her earlobe.

"I want..." she trailed off, trying to make the right decision. She knew if she let this continue, that Aerith would most likely try to kill Squall for 'corrupting' her. But she also knew that she couldn't let the flower girl stand in the way of what she wanted. Aerith was not her mother and would never be her mother. "I want everything. I want you. I want all of you," she finally whispered, letting out the nervous breath she had been holding.

"You sure?"

"I've never been more sure about anything before, Squall."

"Okay, then." He lay her down on the mattress and moved down to her feet, trying to pull her shoes off only to find out she had worn boots and had the laces double-knotted. Knowing that she would be unable to untie them in the dark, not to mention find something sharp to cut them with, Squall did the next best thing. He began to cut through the laces with his teeth.

Wondering what in the seven blazes of hell her soon to be lover was doing to her, Yuffie sat up slightly and tried to pull her feet back towards her, only to find that Squall grabbed her leg and held it still. "What are you doing?" she hissed.

"I'm liberating your feet, hold still."

"How?"

"I'm chewing through the laces," he muttered as he finally cut through one of the knots and pulled that shoe off, immediately going for the next foot.

"You animal," she teased, shaking her head at his actions.

"You've no idea," he murmured as he finished with the other shoe, pulling it off and beginning to crawl up to her on the bed. "You've no idea."

Author's Note: And the author fades out at this point and leaves it up to the reader's imagination as to what happens next. For all we know, they could go play a game of goldfish. Highly unlikely, given the current circumstances and their current state, but you never know. Anyways, please review for me. I love to hear from my reviewers. You guys always make my day so much better. Plus, it motivates me to write.