Never End...
Disclaimer: I own NADA!
Special Thankies To: Rogue Mistress - Thankies for helping me write this chapter, Gab! Love ya like a sister forever, brat!
LAST TIME
Leon slashed through an invisible enemy, careful not to hurt his leg again. "Try fighting someone instead of thin air, it proves to be more worth while."
He looked up to see Cloud with the Buster Sword out. "Fine, let's get this over with..."
A glint of evil appeared in the blonde swordsman's eyes. "It will never be over, Leon... No matter how much you hate it, I'll always be breathing down your neck... Because if you EVER mis-treat my little sister, I'll be there to kick your ass."
CHAPTER SEVEN
"Yuffie, it's not what you think!" - Kairi
Aerith smiled sweetly at the ill ninja as she handed her a glass of water and three little white pills. "You upped my dosage?" Yuffie asked groggily.
"Yeah," Aerith replied softly as to not disturb the monkey tap dancing on the ninja's brain. "I thought that it might help some more. That, and I was afraid that since your headaches are getting worse, the other dosage wouldn't work as well." She brushed Yuffie's hair out of her face as a mother would do, and placed a hand on the younger woman's forehead. "You're burning up!"
"Ow... Mad monkey... Please... No yell..."
Aerith muttered quick apologies, then hurried to get a cold compress. Yuffie closed her eyes and felt the stinging pain of a fever. She should have told Aerith sooner, but she had not felt like speaking, let alone hollering for Aerith to come rescue her. A moment later, Aerith walked back into the room with a cool, damp rag. She lifted the ninja's head up and sat down, setting Yuffie's head in her lap. With a smile of thanks, the stormy-eyed ninja closed her grey-blue orbs.
"You should have told me," the flower girl said softly, trying to soothe the fever that was currently sending chills down the eighteen-year-old's spine. Yuffie didn't reply, but knew that Aerith was telling the truth. She heard the pink-clad healer hum a soft, lulling tune and soon fell into a deep slumber.
Aerith smiled down at her friend whom she had helped raise for the six years that they had lived in Traverse Town. She was like a younger sister, a daughter, and her best friend all wrapped into one. 'Is this how Cloud feels about her? He did act like her father for eight years...' She smiled down at the young woman. "Guess you're kinda like our daughter," she whispered softly.
Leon stumbled backwards and let out a tiny "Mmf!" of pain. Cloud was soon on him again and the lion did his best to parry the attacks. He growled and threw his weight onto his injured left leg, catching Cloud in the chest with his elbow and knocking him backwards. The blonde flew at his opponent again, the Buster Sword and Gunblade crashing together. Had Yuffie or Aerith been there, they would have yelled at the two men, scolding them as if they were boys, but they were not there. They were not able to scold them. Therefore, the men took out any and all frustrations on the other. Sparks flew as Leon's gunblade fought up against the huge sword. The hatred that radiated in the air was nothing compared to the comradity that filled each man's eyes, even as they glared.
Enhanced blue locked with perfect ice blue and the blonde got flung across the room. This gave Leon time to cast Curaga on himself, easing the pain in his left thigh. The charged at each other; one ignoring pain, the other waiting for an impact. 'For Yuffie,' the russet haired man told himself mentally and thrust his Gunblade forward.
His eyes widened slightly as he saw the Buster Sword also at his throat. "Every move you make, there's an opening, hence the stale mate."
Leon glare at his comrade. "A tie?"
"A tie," Cloud replied, each man still remaining with his blade at the other's throat.
Slowly, they brought their weapons down and sheathed them, watching the other warily. Leon sighed heavily and leaned against the wall, only to see something glinting in the far corner. Cloud watched him curiously as he limped over and picked up a small metal something. A low chuckle escaped from Leon's lips as he looked at the sharp-edged star in his hand.
"Yuffie's shuriken." He looked at the blood caked on it and the laughter fell from his lips. "Cloud, this isn't the shuriken I got hit with, because it was over there." He pointed to the opposite wall. "So, Yuffie didn't just nick herself like she said she did."
The blonde walked over and nearly gasped at the amount of blood on the small throwing star. "She was probaby angry when she came in here. Most-likely at herself for injuring you, if I know Yuffie. She must have been training awfully hard, because there were a few small chunks missing out of the stone over there. She was probably so worked up that..."
"That she cut herself," Leon finished bitterly. 'She caused herself pain... Because of me?'
"Come on, mate," Cloud said, clapping the taller man on the shoulder. "Let's go get something to eat, I'm starved."
Leon nodded and pocketed the shuriken in his baggy jeans that he wore to keep the cut on the back of his thigh from being rubbed. "Sure," he mumbled, following Cloud into the water.
"Ouch, Sora! Get off!"
"I told you not to put that there," Riku's voice floated toward the groggy ninja. "Now Kairi's gonna leave."
"Wh-What?" came the confused brunette's voice from the next room over.
Yuffie raised an eyebrow at what she was hearing, knowing that she had to get her mind out of the gutter. "Have you ever done this before!?" Kairi sounded angry.
"Yeah, tons of times! Me, Riku, and Tidus did it once!"
Now Yuffie was definitely sure that she was hearing things.
Kairi stormed into the woman's room and, seeing the baffled look on the ninja's face, thought about the conversation she had just walked out of. "OH!" Her eyes went as round as saucers. "Yuffie, it's not what you think!"
"I hope not," Yuffie replied hoarsely. "Because if Riku, Sora, and whomever Tidus is... Please, set me straight, Kairi, because I think my retinas are burning from the images."
Kairi giggled. "We're playing Twister in the other bedroom and Sora fell on top off me. The big oaf..."
Yuffie smiled. "Wish I could play, but..." She trailed off, knowing that Aerith would throw a fit and that she could not do anything with her hands being the way they were.
Kairi grinned brightly at her. "I've got an idea! Does your head hurt right now?"
"No."
"Be right back, then." She disappeared, then came back into the room with the two boys in tow. "We'll play, but you can suggest where we move to. And you can spin the thingy!"
Yuffie laughed and nodded once, realizing that Kairi was trying to include her in something. "I think I can do that..."
"Ya'll sit down and don't move!" came Cid's voice through the intercom, interrupting the game they were beginning to play. "We're landin' here in a few fuckin' seconds!"
Kairi and Sora plopped down on the floor and Riku sat on the edge of Yuffie's single bed. "Hope you don't mind," he said to the ninja. 'I promised him that I'd watch out for her,' he reminded himself mentally as she cracked a tired smile at him.
Aerith watched Riku carry her friend into the library and followed. Kairi and Sora had gone off to explore, leaving the ninja, the flower girl, and the silver-haired teen to look for the medical book that Aerith would need. "Do you even know where to look?" asked a doped up Yuffie from her seat in the corner of the library.
"No," Aerith replied honestly. "And there are so many books! I don't remember so many medical books before we left the last time!"
Yuffie groaned, remembering the last time she had been to Hallow Bastion. She was visited by ghosts in her dreams. Rinoa, Tifa, Vincent... 'Vinnie... Gawd, I thought that I'd gotten over him!'
The tall and ever-silent vampiric boy was three years older than she was, making him fifteen when the Heartless attacked. He was her best friend and first crush. Yuffie had gotten her first kiss from Vincent. Two days before the Heartless attacked, two months after Ansem had stopped speaking to any of them, one month after Cloud had thrown a fit about Yuffie hanging out with a guy and not Aerith or Rinoa. Two days before their lives and been photo copied and placed into a shredder.
Her head dropped as she thought about this and, before she knew it, she was asleep again.
"Yuffie...?"
Her eyes stared at the floor and saw metal-tipped boots. Raising her head, she saw his black pants, then black silk shirt and crimson cape, then his pale ivory skin and, finally, his perfect garnet eyes. His long ebony hair fluttered wildly and her heart sank. "Vinnie," she gasped. "Wh- How?"
The high collar of his cape prevented her from being able to see below his nose, but she knew that he had that sweet, faint smile from their childhood. "I thought that you had died," he admitted, looking away.
"I thought that you had died, Vincent! How did you manage to stay alive!? And..." A voice in her head repeated itself over and over.
--"I love you, Yuffie."--
"Leon," she said softly.
His garnet eyes were full of confusion as he looked down at her. "Who is Leon?"
Her stormy eyes looked back up at him, not so sure that he was really there anymore. "Leon... Squall Leonheart, Vincent."
The vampiric man looked thoughtful, then realization hit. "Cloud's friend?"
"Yeah! Well, me, him, Aerith, and Cid got sent to Traverse Town. Aerith watched over me and he 'installed self-discipline' into me. And-" she trailed off, not wanting to tell her childhood friend and first love.
His right hand lifted her chin to look at him. Garnet met storm clouds, then she glanced at his left hand, that was a golden claw that was identical to the one Cloud now had. He had never had a left hand for as long as he had lived at Hallow Bastion, according to Yuffie, anyway. He appeared when she was ten and, from then on, the two were inseperable. "I love him, Vincent."
The man nodded knowingly. "I thought as much."
Yuffie furrowed her brow. "What do you mean by that, Vincent Alexander Valentine!? You knew?"
He chuckled humorlessly. "Yes, I knew. I'm not here, Yuffie. Merely a ghost in this place, as are Rinoa, Tifa, Quistis, and all of the others. None of us made it..."
"Then, how-"
"We are ghosts, Yuffie. Ghosts that appear in one's memory, that is all."
She looked at the stone floor, a tear slipping down her pale cheek. "Oh..." That was the only thing that she could muster enough energy to say. She crumpled to the floor, her face in her hands, weeping like a lost child.
Vincent knelt beside the ninja and wrapped his arms around her protectively. "I age how you think I should age, Yuffie. If Squall came back, he would see Rinoa. Aerith, I am sure, can see Tifa, though she disregards it as a trick of the light or as a day dream. Remember us always, Yuffie, but do not grieve. Eventually, we shall all leave our lives and find others that we lost. I merely pray that you will never forget me or our friendship." His lips brushed hers momentarily, then he vanished.
Yuffie watched a twelve-year-old version of herself sitting alone at the breakfast table. Vincent was late and she was mad. He crept up behind her and sat a box in front of her. "What's in it?" she asked, whirling around to face him.
"Open it."
She opened it and found the box full of brand new shurikens. "Oh, Vinnie!" Her face lit up and she hugged him. "Thanks you so much! How did you-"
"Don't ask," he mumbled.
As a daring move, she stood up and went on her tip toes, then kissed him lightly on the lips. After a few seconds, she turned around and checked out her shurikens. The eighteen-year-old Yuffie slowly lifted a finger to her lips, then shook her head slowly. Nothing. She could not remember sparks or anything. Not like the fireworks that erupted in her head when she and Leon kissed. Vincent had been a school girl crush, but Leon... He was the real thing.
'Could it be true? Could I... Love Leon?'
"Yuffie," a voice said softly, a hand resting on her arm. The ninja slowly opened her eyes, then wished she had not.
"Ow... Mad Monkey's tap dancing on my brain." She looked up to see Aerith standing there, a grim look on her face and the bottle of pills in her hand. Yuffie took the 'not-cherry-flavored' pills with a glass of water, then stood slowly. "Any luck?"
Aerith shook her head. "None. I've been through nearly all of them and poor Riku..." She indicated to a snoozing teen, drool on the book that he was supposed to be looking through. "Kairi and Sora came and helped for awhile, then went to their bed rooms. Cid even helped for awhile before going to bed."
Yuffie noticed the tired look in her older friend's eyes. "Go on to bed, Aerith. Just leave my pills here and I'll look for awhile."
The flower girl nodded and sat the green bottle on the table. She left Riku asleep, barely able to keep herself awake to go to bed. Yuffie walked over and shook Riku lightly. His head shot up and green eyes snapped open. "Huh!? Heartless!? Where!?"
After a little giggle, Yuffie shook her head. "Go to bed, Riku. It's well past midnight and you're tired."
He looked over at her and shook his head. "I promised Leon that I wouldn't let anything happen to you, so I'll stay here with you."
She sighed. "Fine, but only because you'll report back to him that I wasn't a good little girl. If you're going to be up with me, then you may as well help me look through some of these books." He nodded and followed her over to a shelf, half-asleep. He carried the books that she picked out over to a table where they sat and read through.
YK2: Hmph... I had to borrow Sky from Rogue Mistress for this chappie... My idiot muses are on vacation.
Sky: If it sucks... BLAME IT ON SURKA!
YK2: Hell, I do that anyway! Anywho, I own NADA, as usual! Hope you enjoyed, please review! My damn muses better bring me back a plushie or something, otherwise I'm gonna kick their arses!
Sky: I'm glad that RM's not quite that hasty with the kicking of arses...
YK2: What!?
Sky: NOTHING!
YK2: Thought so... Anywho, thanks to Rogue Mistress and her muse for helping me out with this chapter, I was kinda stuck for a bit. REVIEW! Till Next Time! AUDI!!!
-Yuffie Kisaragi2 & Skyler Parker-