Wow. I haven't updated in forever. Terribly sorry about that... Bah.

Reviews for the last chapter have made Ori a very happy little girl indeed. Seriously. I feel like I'm about to burst. But before I do...

......................................

Raspberry Heaven

'My Little Sweet Pea'

"Yuffie?" Leon called out into the empty room. He frowned slightly, walking through the several chains of storage rooms before coming out into the kitchen. Strange. No Yuffie there. Just--

"Leon!" And suddenly there was a spiky blonde thing that sprouted from the ground and adhered to Leon's side. Wonderful.

"I've been thinking. Tifa and I are gonna need some pretty powerful equipment if we're gonna pull off handling a bunch of crowds, right? So I was looking through this here handy magazine and then it hit me... Uber-spatula!" A small catalogue was thrust in front of Leon's face, Cloud's slender finger pointing towards the stainless-steel, lifetime-warranty... spatulas. Very few people got a kick out of buying new cooking utensils.

Cloud was one of those few.

Brushing the catalogue aside with a dismissive wave of his hand, Leon rolled his eyes and continued on his way, suddenly hearing a loud and rather annoying sound coming from the dining room of the restaurant. "Worry about serving the crowds when we actually get them, Strife." And that was that.

The kitchen door closed with a swish behind Leon, leaving a rather peeved Cloud standing in his wake.

"Hmph. Bastard. Six years. Six years and he still calls me Strife! Ass."

And once again, that was that.

"...Got a smile that could knock ya down, got friends who will follow me and I--

Don't hold responsibility but I know- what I am- and I know- that I'm ri-ight!"

Leon entered the dining room of the restaurant, instantly honing in on the one possible source for all the noise. Yuffie. Who else?

The girl had some how gotten it into her head that the entire front of the store would need to be revamped before they opened. So it was that she had pooled together the pocket money of the restaurant's current employees and bought... The most interesting shade of yellow paint Leon had ever seen. And Leon didn't find many things very interesting in the first place, so that was definitely saying something.

Leon had assumed she would be painting the room today. Judging by the tubs of water, various brushes and rollers, and plastic covering the floor, Leon would say she had already started. That is, he would have said it had he not heard Yuffie's slightly-off-key singing from halfway across the small building. It wasn't that Yuffie was a bad singer. Perhaps if she sang a little less loudly, she'd be quite good.

Leon had heard worse, after all.

However, she was still off-key and she was still not working.

"...My arms are reachin' out to let you go... I tried to rock you but you only can roll--"

"Yuffie..."

On went the song.

"Yuffie."

"Eh? Oh, Leon!" Yuffie grinned, prancing towards the brunette who was currently standing in the doorway, arms crossed, a cold glare stretched across his features. A clean paintbrush was dangling from her hand, not a speck of paint on the thing. The paint cans were still closed, the paint trays were still clean. Had Yuffie just been singing to herself the entire time Leon had been in the back talking to Tifa and Aerith?

"I thought you were supposed to be working, here. You know, painting. It was your idea." Leon's stormy eyes surveyed the plain and rather dreary walls of the front of the restaurant. Although he would never admit it out loud, he realized that Yuffie had been right after all. The place really had needed the fix-up.

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. You can't rush art, Squall! Nope, nope, nope. This place'll look absolutely fabulous, but it'll get there on its own time."

"Don't call me that. And the wall doesn't have emotions. So don't be emotional with it." Leon rapped his knuckles against the nearest wall as though to prove his point. As he'd expected, Yuffie yelped and leapt forward, palms splayed out against the surface of that wall as though she were trying to soothe it using some crazy wall-massage technique.

"It's okay, he didn't mean anything by--"

"Yuffie?" Tifa blinked at the short haired girl, having suddenly appeared in the kitchen door, Cloud at her side. Cloud, Yuffie noted, looked rather disgruntled. Huh. Wonder what had brought that on?

Tifa broke the awkward silence by bounding over to Leon, a familiar catalogue clutched between her hands. "Leon! You just gotta check out these wicked spatulas!"

"No."

"But you haven't even seen 'em!"

"Yes. I have."

"Le-oooon!"

"Please, you're giving me a headache."

The one-sided banter pretty much continued on like that and Yuffie winced as the volume of Tifa's voice rose with her frustration. Sidling over to Cloud, she stood on her tiptoes so as to put her mouth level with his ear, leaning forward to whisper to the blonde.

"Leon still being a jackass to ya, huh?"

"Screw off."

-------

Kairi came to the conclusion that one day she would have to buy a new pair of shoes. Her battered sneakers sported tears and holes all throughout the soles, but Kairi couldn't help but feel deep attachment to the old things. It would be like putting down an old dog when she finally did throw them away.

But sneakers aside, Kairi was hesitantly looking up at the sky every five minutes, chewing her bottom lip in deep thought. Was that all she was capable of doing lately? Thinking? Or getting others to think for her, when it came to Riku and Sora. Kairi simply sighed and shook her head, returning her gaze to the ground. Her feet were on autopilot, carrying her down towards the shore of the beach where she would walk the all-too-familiar paths that led to the boardwalk. Once there, she'd find this restaurant and (if everything went the right way) would land herself a job.

This was good, this was good, this was good.

It was good, dammit.

After several minutes of idle wandering, the restaurant came into view. Kairi blinked, studying the building carefully. Well that was odd. It looked as though the place hadn't even opened for business yet, even though there were people inside. Wonderful. Just plain fabulous. This whole expedition looked as though it had just been one big waste of time and Kairi was not in the mood for wasting time. Granted, that's just what you did during summer vacation, but she had to be productive and she had to be productive soon. Preferably before she pulled all her hair out from stress, really.

So maybe that hair-saving motivation is what caused Kairi to knock politely on the restaurant of the doorway anyway. Maybe they needed help setting up or something. She had to go somewhere and she had to do something. This looked to be the best place at the moment...

"Hey there! Can I help you?" A warm smile greeted Kairi as soon as the glass door opened. Aerith was busily adjusting the large bow in her hair, leaving the door to be held open with her hip, hands buried in the stubborn pink fabric of the hair ribbon.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to trouble you, it's just--"

A familiar voice piped up from deeper in the restaurant. "Eh? Kairi? Heeey! Kairiii!"

Seconds later, Yuffie came flying out of the kitchen, her feet somehow propelling her towards the doorway without crashing into anything. She still held a clean paintbrush in her hand, even though it looked as though the paint cans scattered around the room had been opened and stirred. Apparently, it was just getting Yuffie to actually start painting that was a challenge.

"Yuffie?? Umm... Hi. I didn't know you worked here," Kairi said with a small smile. She really should've figured it out, though. The powers-that-be really hadn't been on her side at all lately, so why would they have a change of heart all of a sudden?

Yuffie tossed the paintbrush in her hand up into the air, watching it flip over into her other hand with ease. "You dropped by just to see me? Aww, that's so sweet, Kairi!" The older girl laughed merrily, tossing the paintbrush back and forth between her hands. It was quite obvious that the painting job was probably not going to get done today. Yuffie being who she was, it might not even get started.

"Actually, my mom sent me down here to get a job, but uh... It looks like you guys are still working on setting everything up." It was a simple observation and Kairi couldn't stop from mentally kicking herself for sounding so lame. She was already blushing like an idiot from Yuffie's joking around. Of course Kairi hadn't just gone there to see Yuffie! She practically got a heart attack whenever she was within ten feet of the girl. Why on earth would she want to bring all that upon herself willingly??

"Yeah, we're working on it... Oh! Hey, I need to introduce you to everybody!" Yuffie exclaimed, turning back around to face the small group of people gathered in the dining room of the restaurant. She moved to stand next to Kairi, pointing out her friends and giving the younger girl a brief description of each. Kairi, meanwhile, couldn't help but wonder what kind of perfume Yuffie was wearing. It smelled oddly fruity, but not in a bad way at all.

"That over there is Aerith. She's a couple years older than me and actually graduated from college, unlike some people. Ehehehe... She's really smart and sweet though, but don't ever bother telling her that. She's too modest and'll just disagree with you anyway."

Perhaps it was some sort of Hawaiian Ginger spray? Kairi simply nodded as Yuffie continued, though she wouldn't deny the fact that she was hardly listening to a word the other girl said.

"Then there's Tifa. She's... something else! We went to the same school and dropped out earlier this year because, well, college isn't for everyone, ya know? We've been friends forever though--"

While trying to assure herself that she wasn't jealous of Tifa (who proceeded to wave cheerily at Kairi as a greeting), Kairi came to the conclusion that it wasn't any sort of Cucumber Melon spray. Hmm...

"And last but not least, the dynamic duo itself... Cloud and Leon!" Yuffie leant down next to Kairi's ear and whispered, "They're both quite gay, though Leon's not willing to admit anything yet. And I wouldn't talk to Cloud too much if I were you. He can be pretty catty sometimes, especially when Leon's turned him down about anything at all."

Cloud narrowed his blue eyes and balled his hands into fists, though they remained clutched firmly at his sides. "I heard that, Yuffie."

Yuffie simply laughed lightheartedly, the sound reminding Kairi strongly of wind chimes. But rather than waxing poetic on Yuffie's laughter, Kairi simply found herself blurting out two words.

"Sweet Pea!"

The rest of the room blinked at her in confusion, though Yuffie's smile stretched into a grin and she clapped her hands in delight.

"Haha! That's right! I bought it yesterday at the store. You like?" The black haired girl then proceeded to twirl in a small circle as though modeling clothes, a cocky smile on her face. Once again, the rest of the room was completely lost and confused. Then again, most of them were used to being lost and confused around Yuffie, so there really was no great surprise there.

"Hey, hey! Idea!" Yuffie suddenly switched gears and bounced up and down with excitement, turning back towards Kairi. "If you don't have anything else to do today, why don't you hang out here? You can help me paint and Cloud and Tifa can make lunch for all of us... It'll be fun!"

Now, Kairi could make one of two decisions, obviously. Staying with Yuffie seemed as though it would be awkward, since Kairi was definitely the youngest one in the room. She didn't want to intrude on Yuffie and her friends, nor did she want to feel like she had to be babysat. But the way Yuffie talked about it, she wasn't viewing Kairi as a little kid. She was looking at her like an equal and she was looking at her as a friend, even.

"Sure! Sounds great." Kairi smiled as Yuffie grinned and tossed her a brush. She could've sworn she heard Leon let out a small sigh of relief as Yuffie poured paint into the paint tray she had on the floor. Aerith smiled warmly at Kairi before striking up a conversation with Leon-- something about bookkeeping or whatever. Cloud and Tifa simply disappeared into the kitchen again, both of them seeming slightly sulky about something or other. So it was that Kairi found herself alone with Yuffie.

And Kairi was very pleased to discover that she wasn't quite as nervous as she thought she would be as Yuffie offered her a paintbrush before bouncing off towards one of the walls, paint tray in hand.

"We can start in this corner and just work our way around, okay? Since there's only one tray, we'll have to stay together, but we'll still get the work done twice as fast!"

Yuffie dipped her brush into the paint, bringing it up onto the plain white wall in one fluent motion. Kairi wasn't exactly about to admit that she had never really painted a wall before in her life, so she decided to just mimic the older girl's actions as best as she could. It was just painting a wall. How hard could it be?

"So anyway, after we're done here, do you think you could show me around the island a bit? The others have been here a while even though I just moved in a few days ago, so they already know their way around. Plus, you know, you've lived here your entire life, so maybe you know where--" Yuffie glanced at Kairi. "...Um... Kairi? I think the paint is supposed to go on the wall. Not on your face."

"Huh?" Kairi's eyes widened as Yuffie giggled, reaching towards her nose and swiping a large glob of yellow paint off. Instantly, she felt the blood rush to her face and knew she was blushing once more. Wonderful.

"You've never done any sort of handiwork before, huh?" Oddly enough, Yuffie didn't sound accusing or disappointed. Just rather amused.

"No, not really..."

"Here, you hold the brush like this..." Yuffie stepped over towards the smaller girl so that she was standing behind Kairi. Wrapping her free hand firmly around Kairi's, Yuffie squeezed her hand until Kairi's fingers were wrapped neatly around the handle of the brush. Kairi herself was not exactly that easy to repair. To put it simply, she felt like her hand was on fire.

Oddly enough... It was a pleasant sort of fire... Kairi shook her head in an attempt to jostle the thoughts out of her mind before she blinked at her hand. Yuffie's own fingers were still splayed across her skin, Kairi's island tan contrasting sharply with Yuffie's lighter tone.

"Oh. I... didn't even know I was holding it the wrong way," Kairi mumbled.

"Well... Now you know." Yuffie grinned and finally removed her hand, though the sensation of pins and needles still swarmed around Kairi's skin. Crazy. That's what it all was. Just plain old crazy.

Even though Yuffie's skin was no longer touching her, Kairi couldn't shake the scent of sweet pea from the air and quite frankly, she felt like she was just going to burst into a shower of ... embarrassment. ...If that were possible. ...Which is probably wasn't. Either way, it didn't really matter.

"Kairi, you okay?"

"Huh? Yeah, of course!"

Yuffie smiled sweetly (just like her damn sweet pea lotion...) and waved her paintbrush playfully under Kairi's chin.

"You look distracted, is all. If you don't watch what you're doing you could end up with paint all over you." With a wicked grin, the older girl gently stroked the bristles of the paintbrush against Kairi's nose, leaving a trail of yellow paint in her wake. Kairi's eyes widened, a yelp escaping from her mouth as she grabbed for her nose with her free hand, Yuffie bursting into laughter.

"Hey! That was me-ean!" Slop.

"Gah! Kairi! I'm totally covered now!" Sploosh.

"Yuffie!!"

"What the hell are you--" Leon's typically emotionless mask slipped away momentarily, his eyes widening at the sight before him.

Both Yuffie and Kairi appeared to be no more than splotchy yellow balls, giggling at their own stupidity while they continued their paint war. Paint flung back and forth between the girls, occasionally hitting one of them and resulting in a shriek or some various shouts of triumph.

"Huh. Thankfully, Yuffie put down that handy-dandy drip cloth around the floor, ne?"

Leon glared down at Cloud, who had appeared behind him and was, at that moment, wedged between Leon and the doorway into the kitchen, trying to get a glimpse of what was going on in the dining room of the restaurant. Letting out a low growl, Leon whacked Cloud firmly on the back of the head before marching into the room.

"Yow! Hey, Leon, that was-- Leon! Look--"

Unfortunately, Leon had chosen that moment to ignore Cloud, just as he usually did. Perhaps if he'd paid more attention to the blonde, he could've avoided the glob of yellow paint that struck him on the side of his face, the action instantly plunging the room into silence. Kairi and Yuffie's mouths both dropped open at exactly the same instant as the girls blinked numbly at Leon.

...

...

"Well, Leon... Yellow looks fabulous on you, if I do say so my--Owowowowow!" Cloud winced as Leon grabbed a fistful on blonde hair, tugging the spiky locks with a snarl.

"What the hell are you both doing?"

Yuffie glanced at Kairi for some sort of encouragement before she cleared her throat and gave Leon her best smile, radiating nothing but pure innocence.

"We were painting, of course. No harm done. It's... faster to do it this way! See? We've got almost half the wall done!" Kairi looked over at Yuffie as the older girl's voice trailed off. She caught the mischievous glimmer in Yuffie's eyes, and before she'd even opened her mouth once more, Kairi could already have guessed the words that were about to spill out.

"And you look spectacular with that blonde, too."

Whether Yuffie was speaking of the paint covering half of Leon's face or Cloud, who had once again appeared at his side, Kairi couldn't tell.

She supposed it worked either way.

--------

"Well, uh... Today was fun."

"Yeah! You should stop by tomorrow morning! Cloud'll cook us breakfast since he always gets there so early."

"What's with him and Leon, anyway? You said Leon wasn't... Well... You know. It's none of my business, but..."

"Oh no, no, no! They're not a couple. Cloud really likes Leon though, even though Leon's... Well, he's hard to get along with."

"Oh."

"Yeah..."

Yuffie and Kairi stood in a slightly awkward silence outside of Kairi's house. The stone steps leading up to the front door seemed leagues away from the two of them, and Kairi wanted nothing more to just ignore the distance, turn around, and just follow Yuffie. She really had enjoyed spending the entire day with Yuffie and her friends, even though Kairi knew that she'd definitely hear an earful about it from her mother...

It was nothing like the previous encounters between the two. But at the same time, it felt exactly the same. There was a nervousness about them as they stood outside of Kairi's house, neither of them absolutely sure of what to do and neither of them really knowing why.

Eventually, though, the sun was nearly gone and darkness was quickly advancing upon the island sky, forcing Yuffie to finally say farewell to Kairi and return to her own apartment. Kairi smiled and waved farewell, agreeing to meet Yuffie back at the restaurant first thing in the morning with the promise of Cloud's specially prepared breakfast.

She sat through her parents' lecture, nodding and apologizing at all the right times, saying all the right things and finally being dismissed and allowed into her room. Kairi had no doubt that she'd be spending the evening in the isolation of that room, but she didn't mind it in the least. She had her music, she had her posters, and she definitely had plenty of her own thoughts and musings to keep her company through the night.

.........................................................

So many questions, so many questions! Is Yuffie a big flirt, or is it just the way she is? Will Kairi ever figure out how to paint a wall the correct way? Will Leon ever figure out how to be nice to said walls? But I know the big question on everyone's mind is...

Will Cloud ever get his spatula?

Who knows.

I'm having a blast writing this. It's like one big mixed salad of random things, drenched in a nice raspberry vinaigrette with some of those cute little cherry tomatoes. Yep. I can taste it now.

Just to let you all know (because I'm sure you're oh-so-interested), I'm planning on dragging out Kairi and Yuffie's friendship for a long while. Why, you might ask? Well just lookie here. Kairi, at the moment, is basically a skittish little kid who has no idea what she wants or even what she's doing. Yuffie knows what she's doing, but perhaps she's too laid back to do anything? Or perhaps she doesn't really know what she's doing? I'll let you figure it out.

Besides. I've got a whole boatload of ideas and situations I wanna try on these two. Seeing as no one has ever paired them before (I hope), I'm like a kid in a candy store with so many options and ideas at my fingertips. Hardy har har.

Song used is "I Tried to Rock You, But You Only Roll" by Leona Naess, I believe. Love that song.

Love you all, too.

Ori