Never End...
Disclaimer: Do I really look old enough to own ANYTHING? Well, guess you can't see me (BE GLAD FOR THAT!).. er... I'm too young to own a car, let alone all of these characters and scenes and games and- Yeah, I'll shut up now.
LAST TIME
Aerith shook her head, then looked at Yuffie. "Are you okay, Yuffie?" The ninja nodded, keeping her face emotionless, something that she had been working on for quite awhile. "Okay... Well, then... Would you mind helping Leon while he's down with his leg, then?"
Yuffie started to protest, but then changed her mind and nodded. "Sure."
Aerith smiled. "Thanks, Yuffs!"
For some reason, Yuffie thought that this idea was going to suck horribly.
CHAPTER TWO
'But I kinda like him this way... At least he's not bitchin' at me!' -Yuffie Kisaragi
Deciding that she ought not wake him, she sat in a chair, leaning heavily on the table, and read by candle light. The book that she was reading was a vampire romance novel that she had borrowed from the vast library in Hallow Bastion before the Heartless had attacked. She had it in her knap sack when the blackness swallowed her. It was when she ended up in Traverse Town along with Aerith, Cid, and Squall, when Squall started calling himself Leon. The book was her favorite and she had read and reread it so many times that she nearly had it memorized.
Leon awoke some while later and saw a candle burning on the table. Yuffie was slumped over the table, looking as if she was reading something. He got up quietly and tested his leg before he started over to her. He soon realized that she wasn't reading, but was asleep, the book under her head. With a small smile, he lifted her carefully. As if it were instinct, her arms wrapped around his neck and she snuggled into his chest. He smiled down at her angelic face, then shoved the thoughts of Yuffie being "angelic" out of his mind... Or at least to the back of his mind.
He placed her on the bed gently and she automatically rolled over to her side. With a sleepy smile, he put the blanket over her and laid next to her under the green comforter. She shivvered and he pulled her closer, not wanting her to be cold and still rather out of it. They slept like that all night.
Stormy eyes flickered open and glanced down at the arm wrapped safely around her waist. She turned her head to see Squall "Leon" Leonheart sleeping peacefully, his head resting on the pillow behind her. 'What the hell?' Deciding that she was still tired and, truth be told, she felt warm and safe in his arms, she snuggled back down. 'Must have been the sleepy-time stuff that Aerith gave him to take his mind off of the pain,' she told herself. 'But I kinda like him this way... At least he's not bitchin' at me!'
It was soon after that thought that she fell asleep again, a smiling Leon watching her, tightening his grip around her waist. 'She really does look angelic...'
Yuffie awoke still in Leon's arms and decided that she had better get up. 'Gawd... That was the first time I've slept in AGES!' She yawned and started to pull his arms from around her. Except they would not move. Instead, she found herself closer to Leon than before.
"Just go back to sleep," he muttered softly into her hair.
She looked over at him. "Leon, let me up," she whispered. "I need to take a shower."
He groaned and moved his arms so she could go take her shower. 'Why did I want her to stay? Must be groggy still,' he told himself. With a sleepy yawn, he started to sit up, but that only sent shock waves of pain through his leg. He yelped and laid back down on his left side. "Ow."
The water started running and he knew that she was probably standing under the water trying to figure out why he had his arms wrapped around her. With a sigh, he pulled himself to a standing position using his arms and right leg. Leon looked down at the wound, which was slightly swollen and very sore. 'I should have Aerith look at it again.'
Yuffie emerged from the steamy bathroom wearing jeans and a tee-shirt, something Leon was not accustomed to seeing. She cast him a glare, telling him not to ask, then continued drying her short ebony hair. "I had no other clothes," she told him after a few minutes of him wondering. "I haven't been able to wash my other out fits yet, so this'll hafta work for now. Don't take a shower because there's no hot water left and I don't know if you're allowed." She cast a glance at his leg and he nodded. She yawned again and rubbed her eyes. "Ya might wanna get dressed. I'm gonna take you next door for Aerith to check your leg."
Without a word, he grabbed shorts and a tee-shirt, knowing full well that it was not going to be cold outside. It was never cold in Traverse Town... Except at night. At night was when the shadows fell over the small place, when everyone seemed cold until they fell asleep. He heard Yuffie giggling at him and turned to look at her. "What?"
"I never knew you OWNED a pair of shorts, Squall!"
He shot her a glare and walked into the bathroom (Muttering "It's Leon," along the way) to change into the outfit, only to realize tht he only had boots, not sneakers. He emerged a few moments later and grabbed a pair of baggy jeans, then limped back into the bathroom. Yuffie nearly fell over laughing. 'Well, at least she's laughing again... There for awhile, I thought that she was going to turn into me.'
Aerith smiled at Cloud, who was drinking his morning coffee. "I wonder how Leon and Yuffie are doing," she said out of the blue.
He shrugged. "Leon... When did he change his name to Leon? What's his surname? Squallheart?"
She laughed and shook her head. "Squall brings back too many memories for him, Cloud. Just like mentioning certain people, his name is like the same thing. He blames himself for not being able to save everyone as Hallow Bastion."
Cloud shook his head. "Anyway, I'm sure that they're bickering."
"OW!"
"See? I'm right," he told her with a triumphant grin.
"Well, if you hadn't been trying to walk without help, you'd have been fine!" The ninja's higher pitched voice echoed loudly through First Distric, Traverse Town.
Leon's icy blue eyes glared at her. They had sworn not to say anything about the night before, deciding that it was the stuff that Aerith had given him to make him sleep. "If you weren't so annoying I wouldn't have tried to walk on my own!" he seethed back at her.
If one looked close enough, they might have seen the lightning flash in her eyes. "If you weren't such an emotionless jackass, I wouldn't be so fucking annoying!"
"Kids!" Cloud laughed at the two glaring at each other. "C'mon!"
Yuffie helped Leon down the steps and into the chair, where he sat more on his right than his left, then sat next to him, not particularly happy with the seating arrangements. "I was gonna have you check on his leg, Aerith," she mumbled, then ordered her coffee, something that she had started drinking when she was about ten.
"Of course," Aerith replied sweetly. "I'll check it after breakfast. So, Yuffie, only one more day, huh?"
The ninja groaned and asked for her coffee to go. "I'm gonna go train," she told them dully.
Aerith watched her walk away with a worried expression, Cloud's hand over hers made her feel better. Leon drank his water and ate his eggs as if nothing was happening. "So, how'd you sleep last night?" Aerith asked.
He nearly choked on his eggs. "H-Huh?"
"How'd you sleep? Did my medicine work?"
"Oh, yeah... I guess... Didn't wake up until a little while ago." He inwardly let out a slow breath. 'A bit jumpy, huh?'
Aerith smiled and they ate in silence until everyone was finished. "Let's go check out your leg," she told him. He nodded and allowed Cloud to help him somewhat.
Ching! Ching! Ching! Ching! Ching! Ching! Ching! Ching! Ching!
She had fallen into the rythm of the chinging as the shurikens hit the stone walls. Mentally, she was screaming, but she said nothing aloud. The ninja only let the increasing loudness of the Ching! say what she was saying in her mind. 'One one thousand... Two one thousand... Three one thousand...' Silently, she was counting the seconds before she would stop to take a deep, cleansing breath, then resume her attack on the wall.
CHING! She fell to the ground on her belly to avoid the shuriken. "Stupid ricochete," she said as if it was a curse. Standing back up, she resumed her assault on the wall.
"You really should take a break."
She whirled around, a shuriken at the ready. "Merlin!" She smiled at the old wizard. "You scared me!"
"I know," he replied with a wink. "How is Mr. Leonheart? Well, I hope."
She glowered at the wizard, then flung her shuriken at the wall. Ching! "Still a jackass," was her muttered reply.
He chuckled. "Your arm is starting to hurt, Yuffie."
"No, it's NOT!" she screamed, flinging another shuriken at the wall, causing sparks to fly. "You don't know what the hell you're talking about, old man!" She kept throwing them, over and over, not breaking, not really breathing except when she had to. Her arm was starting to hurt horribly, but she refused to stop. Many of the throwing stars ricocheted, but she did not care where they hit. She dodged one or two, but got nicked by a few. Her hands were bleeding where she had gripped the sharp metal objects so tightly before throwing them. She knew that she would have to stop soon, for fear of losing too much blood from the gashes on her arms and hands.
"Yuffie," the wizard tried again, but she completely ignored him. The best thing that he could do was cast Curaga on her whenever she seemed to get too many cuts from her own weapons. Every time one would close, though, another would open. "Stopga!" She froze, mid-throw, a shuriken cutting into the soft flesh of her hand, a tear streaming down her cheek.
He took the shuriken from her and removed the spell. "OLD MAN! I'M GONNA TOTALLY KICK YOUR WIZARD ASS!"
"It's not polite to threaten an old wizard like me, Yuffie. Now, if you do not listen, I am afraid that I will have to use Stopga on you again." She glared at him, her arms hurting horribly and hands still bleeding. "Curaga. You need to take a break and tell Aerith about your insomnia, okay?" She nodded. "Good. Now, go on back to The Green Room, they're taking care of Leon's leg there."
With another glare, she started to collect her shurikens, but found that none of them were lying around. Her satchel was suddenly heavy and she smiled thankfully at Merlin, who took the stone slab back up to his house. "I thought he was going on a trip," she said thoughtfully, cringing at the cold water she was swimming through. Her thighs would be galded because of her denim jeans, but her hands and arms hurt too bad to think about that.
She stumbled out of the water and took a leap up to the balcony, unfortunately, her legs were weaker than she had hoped. Her sore and cut hands caught the edge of the balcony. "HELP!" she hollered and heard someone walk out onto the balcony.
"Yuffie?"
"Cloud! HELP!"
Her hands slipped and she fell, landing flat on her back and causing some boxes to fall on her, knocking her unconcious.
"YUFFIE!" Cloud jumped down and picked her up, then leaped back onto the balcony, calling for Aerith the whole time.
"What's wrong?" she asked, then saw the limp Yuffie in his arms. "Yuffie!" Forgetting about Leon's leg momentarily, she hurried over to look at the girl. "Leon, can you please move to the chair?" He stood as fast as he could and Cloud laid the girl on the bed. She was bleeding again. This time from her hands, legs, and a gash on her head where one of the boxes had landed on her.
"What happened?" Leon asked from his place against the wall.
Cloud shook his head and looked at his friend. "I heard someone yell, so I went out to check and it looked like she had tried to make the jump from the alley to the balcony. Maybe she slipped.. But she fell and a bunch of boxes landed on top of her."
The ninja moaned in pain and slowly opened her eyes. "Ow."
Aerith smiled at the teen. "Yuffie, what happened?"
The girl tried to sit up, only to be forced back down by the flower girl. "Ow," was the only thing she said for a few minutes. Then, "Lemme sit up and I'll tell ya." Aerith stepped away so that Yuffie could sit up. She propped herself up against the head board and looked at the other three. "I was training and accidentally cut myself. So, I came up here to check on Leon and slipped. BOOM! And here I am."
Aerith looked at her unbelievingly, but when the ninja remained looking at her, she grabbed her med bag and started disinfecting the wounds Yuffie had practically inflicted upon herself. The girl had tears in her eyes and bit her lip to keep from crying out. Leon had turned his head to stare at the floor, unable to look at his fighting partner in such a state. Her hands were bloody, her jeans had tears and were soaked with her blood. She had a gash across her forehead that was already beginning to turn purple. No, he could not look at her while she was like this.
YK2: WOW! I think I've got stalkers! Neko-Yuff16, Hotaru170, Deplora... Do I know you from somewhere?
Dracon: Nah! They've just got those names that always seem to be familiar.
Surka: Contrary to those faces that seem sooooo familiar, but you can't quite place who they are?
YK2 & Dracon: --sigh-- Go back to your box, Surka...
Surka: Huh? I don't get it!
YK2: ANYwho! Thanks for the WONDERFUL reviews! I really love them! Really, I do! They're so sweet and give me more ideas to go on and- and-
Dracon: You've already got this whole thing typed out and mostly edited. What are you babbling about this time?
YK2: Oh, fine! Till Next Time, everybody! AUDI!!!
-The gang from Never End...