Horray! All done with this chapter now.

Katah: I'm on a favorite list! Thank you I feel so happy :-D
R. Madillo: Hope you like what I did with Cloud.
Isrea Ishiida: You are right that Clouds not really an idiot, I was thinking more along the line of that's what Yuffie and Tifa were thinking at the moment. So I hope cleared it up in this chapter and gave him the credit he deserves.

A side note, might be a while for the next chapter…My room is kinda torn apart because it's going to be painted…so might not be able to get to my computer for awhile…sorry…but I'll try my hardest anyway.


Target Number Two:

Cloud – Age 21 – My second target in the hunt. He is the supposed leader and I do not believe he will prove much of a threat. His skills lie in persuading the group that his idea is the one we will follow. Also he seems to be somewhat of an idiot at times. Alright this may not be quite true but you have to agree that sometimes it's hard to tell where he's coming from, right? Oh, and his hair looks like a chocobo's butt. Hehehe. Anyway, his location is most likely location is the meeting room.

The hunt continues.

Elated from her first victory Yuffie pondered on the best way to approach her next victim. She had been informed from a reliable source that his most likely location would be in the meeting room…pondering the meaning of life. Or, on what crazy thing he was going to put the gang through next. She decided that would be the best place to look first. Yuffie just hoped that he wasn't sleeping yet. A sleeping target wouldn't be as much fun or prove to be much of a challenge. Creeping down the hallway, the young ninja stealthily made her way to meeting room. However, she didn't quite make it, at least not yet. On her way she managed to trip over something laying in the middle of the hallway, which landed her flat on her face. 'Hmmm, maybe the orange tinted goggles were a bit much for this dimly lit airship.' Yuffie situated the goggles on top of her head, in a Cid like fashion, and pushed herself into a seated position. It was then that she heard a soft grunt from behind her, meaning she had tripped over someone, not something.

"Yuffie, you should take more care when trampling about." Red XIII proclaimed to Yuffie. He had been lounging in the middle of the hallway. Which brings up a good point…what was he doing in the middle of the hallway? The ninja couldn't resist asking that question so she did.

"Just what are you doing in the middle of the hallway?" Yuffie asked while turning around to face him. "Maybe I wouldn't trip over you if you found a better spot to lie down."

"And maybe you wouldn't if you'd stop creeping around and watch where you were going."

He had her there. Just how was she supposed to respond to that? In the usual Yuffie way of course.

"And just what were you doing the in middle of the hallway?"

Red sighed. He really shouldn't have been laying in the hall. Hallways tend to be a traffic area and he didn't enjoy being trampled on. However, no one was usually up this early in the morning and this hallway was particularly cool and breezy. He was very fond of this hallway.

"Um, hellooo? Red? Anyone home?" Yuffie was getting impatient with Red's pondering and frankly she really didn't care where he laid, as long as it was in her path.

"Yes Yuffie?"

"This conversation is going nowhere and I've got somewhere to be so I'm sorry for tripping over you. See ya later." Yuffie stood up and was about to leave when Red's question stopped her.

"What are you doing"

Yuffie groaned and turned back around to face Red. She gave him her best pouty face. Apparently it wasn't good enough.

"Yuffie you know that won't work on me. Now what are you up to? You are never up this early, never dressed that oddly, never carrying a gun, and never…not sick?" Red questioned.

"Yup, exactly." Yuffie smiled at him. Maybe this would go better than she thought. She was never really planned on Red as a target anyways. It just didn't seem right. Besides then he'd have to take a bath and that would make the whole airship smell like wet dog. 'Ewww, grossness.' Yuffie just hoped that Red would let her continue her little game and not spill the beans.

" Please, please, please, don't say anything Red. I'm just having a little fun, and it's keeping me from spilling my lunch all over the airship!" she pleaded to Red.

"What exactly are you doing Yuffie?"

"Uh…well….Imshootingpeoplewiththispaintballgun."

"Yuffie, I don't speak the teenager language and you know that. Now explain it to me again, and this time more slowly." Red sighed and shook his head at the silliness of young humans. Taking a deep breath Yuffie told Red again, this time at a much better rate of speed.

"Well, I'm shooting people with this paintball gun. I'm the hunter and they are the vampires."

"….Well just don't cause any major trouble. And if anyone asks, I didn't see you and you didn't see me. That way you continue your 'fun' and I don't have to tell anyone, deal?"

"Deal." Yuffie patted Red on the head and skipped off down leaving Red to shake his head and turn down the other way of the dark hallway.

"Ok, back to the mission at hand." Yuffie said to herself ceasing her skipping down the hallway. She was elated Red was going to keep his mouth shut, but that was no reason to draw more attention to herself. As Yuffie approached the meeting room, she slipped into stealth mode and pressed her back against the wall. Slowly inching her way down the wall she stopped at the meeting room door and listened for any signs that it was occupied. She couldn't hear any voices but it sounded like some shuffling inside. The shuffling of papers maybe, or feet? How was she going to get a peek in there with out exposing herself? For all she knew the person in there was looking directly at the open door beside her. Hmmm…what to do? Yuffie listened intently as the shuffling noise turned into scratches. Her best guess was that someone was writing on the planning board in the back of the room. Well it seemed as though it was now or never.

Grabbing the door frame, Yuffie used it to balance herself as she leaned around to peek in the doorway. Standing at the back of the room, writing on the board, was the twenty-one year old guy Yuffie was looking for. Straining for a better look she thought she could make out a map with tiny arrows going off every which way. Given their leaders lack of good planning skills sometimes, she still believed that he was going to prove a formidable opponent. Dressed in all blue he stood about 5'7" and had "chocobo hair" as Yuffie like to call it. She also noticed that his buster sword wasn't in the room with him. A good thing for her, because she wasn't about to step in that room unidentified when he had his sword handy. Cloud was a mercenary and an ex-member of SOLDIER so he knew all about fighting with or without his sword. Yuffie was going to have to be careful or she could seriously get hurt going after him. 'Oh well, all the more fun.' She thought to herself while readjusting the goggles over her eyes. A slight smile found its way to her lips as she proudly strolled into the room. Now she could go about this two ways. She could just shoot the unexpecting Cloud in the back, or she could get his attention first and make the whole event more challenging. Yuffie decided on option number two.'

"Hey chocobo-head, you better watch out." She called while readying her gun.

"What the…?" Cloud turned around and took one look at the uniform clad Yuffie, gun in hand, and decided that his best option was to dive under the big table in the middle of the room. Yuffie fired the gun but missed and hit the board, right around Cosmo Canyon, as Cloud quickly avoided her shot.

"Damn!" she hissed under her breath and continued her taunting of the poor leader. "Hey get out here! What kind of fearless leader hides under a table!?" Meanwhile, under the table, Cloud racked his brain desperately in order to think of some plan against this deranged crew member. If it was just an ordinary crew member, as he had thought, then this shouldn't be too difficult, most of the crew had never been properly trained in the art of combat. Looking around for something useful Cloud noticed a pencil on the floor. It must have rolled off when he dived under the table. Letting out a big sigh, Cloud decided that a pencil was better than no weapon at all. So pencil in hand he rolled from underneath the table and stood up facing his attacker. The attacker found this quite humorous and told him so.

"What kinda damage do you think you can do with that?" Yuffie giggled, getting blank look from Cloud. "I mean have you seen my weapon?" She emphasized this point by raising the gun and pointed directly at Cloud's head. Cloud watched his opponent curiously and decide to attack while she was busy yakking away. He lunged forward with the pencil hoping that by some miracle he could wound this crazed maniac and figure out what was going on. Yuffie noticed a look in his eyes and knew that he was going to attack. So she played it dumb and kept talking so he would think that she didn't know what was going on. When she saw him charge at her, Yuffie quickly darted to the right, but she wasn't quite fast enough. The pencil gave a good jab in her left shoulder. She spun around and turned to face him as he situated himself in battle stance by the doorway. Seeing that he wasn't going to attack at the moment, Yuffie took this opportunity to glance at her left shoulder. It looked alright to her, there was no tear in the uniform so it couldn't have draw blood, but it would surly leave a good bruise in the morning. Apparently Cloud was dangerous no matter what he held in his hands.

"Hmm, I see you are going to give me quite a workout aren't you?" Cloud nodded at her statement and tried attacking again while she was occupied in her thoughts. Yuffie anticipated this move and quickly dodged out of the way and back to the door. She couldn't be fooled twice with the same move. Cloud stopped next to the big table and turned back around facing Yuffie once again. Deciding maybe this time she was in over her head and Cloud might actually try to injure her badly Yuffie raised the gun and fired off a shot. Cloud used his quick reflexes to pick up a large book on the table and block the shot, but not before the ninja got a glance at the title.

"Chocobo catching for dummies? Cloud I would have thought better of you. Now be a good little vampire boy and let me SHOOT YOU!!" Yuffie shouted while firing the gun in the approximate direction of Cloud. The mercenary, confused and a little annoyed dropped his weapon and shield and carefully rolled beneath her shooting. He quietly laughed as he kicked the gun from out of her hands. The gun flew over her head and out the door into the hallway. It was at that point he realized that the gun hadn't shot through the book like it should have. What kind of gun was that?

"Shit! What did you do that for? How am I going to shoot you without my gun?" Yuffie put on her pouty face once again to try and confuse the already bewildered Cloud. And to her astonishment it actually worked. Cloud laying on his back looked up at this orange goggled, uniform clad crew member and wondered when Cid had hired a girl, to his knowledge all the crew members on board where males. The only females on board were Tifa and Yuffie. So this was either a stowaway or one of the previous mentioned girls. Looking her up and down Cloud decide that it couldn't be Tifa, she was too short and not…cough…big chested. But how could it be Yuffie? She couldn't stand the airship and spent every trip moaning and groaning about when they were going to land.

"Gawd! Would you stop looking me over and get up so we can continue this!" There was no mistake this time. Now that he was looking for it he could tell that voice belonged to Yuffie. Not only did it sound like her, but she was using Yuffie terms. But how was she able to stand with out getting sick? Cloud decided that was a question for later. For now he would humor her a bit more. Besides all that planning was getting boring and this would keep him busy for awhile. Standing up he went back into his famous battle stance and put up his fists. It had been awhile since he'd fought hand to hand but it wouldn't hurt to practice a little.

"Oh, I see. Hand to hand combat. Hmm I'm a little rusty but I'll give it a shot." Yuffie responded while raising her hands and giving Cloud a good punch in the stomach. Not expecting she'd be so quick to react, Cloud wasn't ready and stumbled backwards and almost fell on top of the table. Giving him no time to regain his composer Yuffie charged and was rewarded with a swift kick to her ankle causing her to fall backwards on to her behind. It was apparent both were well trained in hand to hand combat. Yuffie swiftly jumped up and raised her fists to once again face Cloud. Giving her an evil looking smile Cloud took his turn to advance and pumped his fists in her direction. Yuffie raised her arms and blocked his attacks with her forearms wincing as attacks became more forceful and made her arms feel tender. He was slowly pushing her back and if she didn't do something soon he'd have her backed into a corner. Pausing to take a breath Cloud stepped back and gave Yuffie the opportunity she needed to finally return some attacks.

"My turn now." Yuffie said to him with an equally evil smile. She attacked similarly to Cloud, however she was faster but less forceful. She didn't quite have that manly strength that he had. Cloud easily blocked her attacks and pondered how to stop them and gain the upper hand. Thankfully for Cloud, but unfortunately for Yuffie, Cloud got his chance when she decided to spice things up and thrust a kick his way. Cloud effortlessly grabbed her ankle and held it firmly as Yuffie tried to regain her balance. They stood that way for a moment, just staring at each other wondering what the other was going to do next. Deciding that she was disadvantaged at the moment, Yuffie tried to wiggle her ankle free and even the grounds again. Cloud let go thinking that her squirming would cause her to lose her balance again and fall. Instead Yuffie pressed her newly freed leg against the palm of Cloud's hand and raising her arms flipped backwards pressing her palms to the cold ground and swinging her legs over her head. She landed quite gracefully, surprising Cloud. He had no idea that their fifteen year old companion had so much agility. She always attacked with her shrunken simply throwing it at their enemies and therefore never had the opportunity to show off her other skills. Of course she had always been good at stealing materia now that he thought of it. And that's has got to take skill, stealth, and a bit of gracefulness to be able to do something like that.

"My, what nice moves you have there Yuffie." Cloud said to Yuffie with a wink. She took this as a sign that even though he knew it was her, it wasn't over yet.

"Not to bad yourself Spike. But I wonder…which of us is better?" Smirking she took after him once again swinging her leg high and aiming for his head. Cloud swiftly ducked and reached out his hand to grab her other leg, the one keeping her upright. Yuffie noticed this but a little to late. With her leg swinging over Clouds head she had no time to react to his attack. She fell heavily on her back and her head bounced on the hard floor of the airship.

"Ouch." Yuffie proclaimed as she closed her eyes and rubbed the back of her head with her hands, momentarily forgetting her fight with the blond ex-solider. A bad idea on her part. Cloud licked his lips and smiled. What a wonderful opportunity that had presented itself. Slowly, as to not attract her attention, Cloud walked over to Yuffie and stood above her. In one quick motion he was sitting on top of her and holding her previously occupied hands above her head in his left hand. Yuffie felt this change and closed her eyes tighter. Although she knew the position they were in, seeing would confirm what she felt and she did not want to confirm that.

Cloud pushed the goggles to her forehead with his right hand and leaned in closer. Lowering his head, he positioned his lips close to her ear. "What's the matter Yuffie? Can't admit defeat?" Cloud asked her teasingly. She could feel his hot breath on her face and chose not to respond. What could she possible say in a situation like this? Although she never thought of Cloud as anything but a friend, she couldn't help but think about what it would be like to be with him now that they were in this situation. She mentally shook her head at the thought. Damn Cloud, and her mind, for betraying her in a moment like this. Cloud was just teasing her. They both knew his thoughts were of another woman. Which one Yuffie couldn't be sure but what she did know was that he was going to pay for this little act. She would not give in and let him win.

Cloud lifted his head and watched the young ninja's face. It was obvious to him that she was thinking about something. Just what was going through her mind? Yuffie's thoughts had drifted away from Cloud and onto…well…Cloud. But this time they were thoughts on how to reverse this most unfortunate predicament she was in. After racking her brain for a few moments she slowly opened her eyes and gave Cloud a shy smile. He did not like the look on her face. She mouthed to him 'sorry' then did what any other girl in her predicament would do. She raised her leg and kneed him in the balls. Cloud, face now looking white as a ghost, let go of her wrists and rolled over to her right side clutching a very sensitive area. As he lay there on his right side a shocked expression plastered on his face, Yuffie stood up and brushed the unseen dirt off her uniform. Making her way to the hallway, with no haste, she smiled at the paint gun patiently waiting there on the floor. Picking it up, she made her way back into the room and stood over the still pained Cloud.

"You know, you really had that coming to you. You shouldn't mess with Yuffie the Vampire slayer extraordinaire." She triumphantly raised her gun and pointed it at the ceiling. Then she pointed it at his cheat and fired. Raising the tip of the gun by her mouth she blew imaginary smoke away and slung the gun back over her shoulder. Deeming target number two eliminated she sat down in a chair next to the big table in the center of the room. Looking around the room she admired her handiwork, mainly being the few red blotches of paint on board and discarded book on the floor. 'Who will be my next target' she thought to herself but was interrupted with a slight moan from across the room.

Cloud, still in pain but bearable now, was sitting up from his place on the floor. "Just what is going on Yuffie?" He questioned her.

"Hmm, I could tell you but then I'd have to kill you." She smiled in his direction. "Oh wait. I already did. Darn. Well if ya wanna know just go ask Mr. Red he knows all about it. Tell him I sent ya. I don't feel like explaining right now. And don't tell anyone else! Oh, by the way sorry. Feeling any better yet?"

"Ya, I'm ok now. No permanent damage done. Although that was a very dirty trick you played on me." Cloud responded.

"Well you weren't fighting clean either. I have to say though that was a good match. I haven't had a chance to use my hand to hand skills in quite a while."

"Me neither. You know, you are a lot better than I would have expected you to be." He said with an honest smile. Returning his smile with one of her own, Yuffie stood up and walked to the door.

"Thanks Cloud, and for being such a good sport I'm going to give you your chocobo lure back. I think your book was ruined." With a flash Yuffie was searching through some hidden pockets and produced a shiny purple orb. Rubbing it in her hands she sighed and lightly tossed it to Cloud who caught it and transferred it to one of his hidden pockets.

"You know chocobo catching is nearly impossible with out that materia."

"I know." Yuffie smiled guiltily at him.

"Well don't do that again. If you are going to steal my materia make it a fire or something like that."

'Hmmm, next time…' Yuffie thought to herself and shook her head to clear the thoughts for now.

"You are a lot smarter than you look you know…"

"You too Yuff…" Blushing at Cloud's comment Yuffie decided that now would be a good time to make her departure.

"Thanks again Cloud, but as much as I'd like to stay here and exchange compliments I have more important things to attend to."

"Like what?"

"My next target. I've got some more vamps to kill." She answered and disappeared through the doorway.

'Two down and three more to go.