Author's Note: Well, I'm starting this chapter sooner than expected because I'm being bribed by the VL with a bishie picture.
Hey, everybody! Vulpes Lapis FINALLY updated "How Do I Loathe Thee." Everyone go read and review it! I command it! Mwahahahaha.... :::cough, cough::: I'm okay, really I am.
[Disclaimer: I haven't owned them for the past eight chapters and I still don't own them in this chapter. Are you starting to see a pattern here?]
Chapter Nine: And So Nature Takes Its Course
Sunday mornings had been Leon's favorite part of the week for as long as he could remember. Even as a boy, he would wait anxiously for that morning to get there. He even liked it better than Saturday mornings, the day most kids would awaken at sunrise just to sit mindlessly in front of the television set and watch cartoons for hours on end. But, for Leon, Sunday mornings always meant pancakes, waffles, French toast, or whatever other big, special breakfast his mother would make since that was her day off from the restaurant and she had the time to make a big breakfast.
Of course, now that he was older, Sunday simply meant that Leon had the whole day off and to himself. Well, almost to himself. Now that Yuffie was living with him, he wouldn't have that luxury anymore.
Sighing, Leon hauled himself out of his bed and spared a glance at his bedside clock to notice that it was just after ten, as late as he would allow himself to sleep. And even then, it was only on one day of the week. He sleepily shuffled into the bathroom for his morning routine of brushing his teeth and doing something to slightly tame his wild mane of hair.
That done, he returned to his bedroom, staring at the dark green sheets rumpled at the foot of the bed and briefly wondered if he should make the bed. Shaking his head as he left the room, Leon decided that the addition of Yuffie in his home should have no effect on the state of his bed.
Speaking of Yuffie, he had just begun to walk past her room and a movement through the partially open door caught his eye. He turned his head to get a better look and then realized that the movement he saw was her, in only her bra and panties as she rummaged through the closet to find something to wear.
Leon found himself rooted to the spot and unable to take his eyes off her as he took in the pale skin of her slender legs, starting at her feet. His azure vision climbed to her slim waist, no longer having that starved look and then traced up her back to the curve of her breasts as her body turned slightly while she pushed the clothes around in the closet, finally settling on a green flannel shirt. While standing there, he very nearly gave into the urge to approach her while she was still in this half-naked state and let his hands roam over her body, taking her curves in their firm grasp, possessing her.
Seeing that she was about to turn, Leon somehow found the ability to rein in his desires and hurry past her room, shaking his head as he did so to clear the thoughts of her body melded into his from his mind. He reached the living room and walked through it to the kitchen, where he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat at the counter, his head buried in his hands as he tried to rationalize what had just happened to him.
"Biology, Leon," he muttered quietly under his breath, not wanting anyone, especially Yuffie, to hear him talking to himself. "It was simple biology. Male sees half-naked female and has the urge to claim her. Dates back to when the first man saw the first woman." He took that first bitter drink of his black coffee, letting the liquid scorch his throat as he continued to think about the actions he almost took. "Just animal instincts."
Rising from the stool he sat upon, he shuffled to the apartment door, opening it to grab the folded newspaper that had been left there hours before. He took another drink of his coffee, nearly choking on it when the vision of Yuffie half-naked danced through his head once more. "It's too early for this," he croaked, carrying both coffee mug and newspaper to the blue recliner in his living room.
"Too early for what?" Yuffie asked cheerily as she popped into the living room and threw herself down upon the couch, lying on her stomach with her chin resting on folded arms. He noticed that she was only wearing that flannel shirt she had pulled out of the closet, which reached about to her mid-thigh. She lifted her legs into the air and swung them up and down, making him notice the gray socks upon them.
For the first time in a very long time, Leon struggled for his words as he looked up from the newspaper and stared her. Finally, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sydney and Demi starting a horrendous fight. "That," he told her, pointing over to the rolling mass of black and white fur that was the two cats.
Laughing, Yuffie jumped up from the couch and picked up the first cat she could out of the fray and sat it down in her lap. "And which one are you?" she cooed, having not yet learned how to tell the two nearly identical cats apart. She scratched behind the cat's ears and under its chin, eliciting loud, rumbling purrs from the animal as she did so.
"That's Sydney. He has a pink nose, remember?" Leon explained for what seemed like the hundredth time since she had been here. "He also has short hair while Demi has long hair." He watched as the cat leaned into her hand as she stroked its back, then settled himself on her lap. It wasn't long after that, that Sydney revealed one of his more endearing traits to his new friend.
Yuffie looked down in horror while the cat bit one of the buttons on her shirt and began sucking on it, kneading her upper thighs with his paws at the same time. "Squall! Your cat is sucking on my button!" she squealed as she tried to pry the cat's mouth off the button before he swallowed it.
"Leon," he responded automatically as he tried not to laugh at her panicked expression. "Yeah, that's definitely Sydney. He has a button fetish."
She looked down at the cat again, noticing how its eyes were closing and how its paws continued to knead. Once again, she was glad that Leon had had his cats declawed or else her thighs would be a bloody mess after the cat was done. "So... uh... does this mean he likes me or does he just think I'm sexy?" Yuffie joked as she finally gave into Sydney and quit trying to pull the button out of his mouth.
Leon grunted in reply, not wanting to answer that as the image of her in only her underwear was still imbedded in his mind. Averting his eyes from her, he continued to read the newspaper. "I'll fix pancakes after I finish the paper," he told her after a moment or two of silence.
While Leon was busy reading the newspaper, Yuffie would carefully glance up from the cat on her lap to stare at him. She could only hope he would not notice, but she couldn't help it. There he was, sitting in the recliner in only his black boxers, his chiseled chest just begging her to gaze upon it. Not to mention that little bit of stubble upon his face as he hadn't taken the time to shave that morning.
Overall, Yuffie had to use every ounce of her willpower to keep herself from wandering over to him and running her hands across his chest, just to make sure he was flesh and bone and not some marble statue of a Grecian god. She leaned back against the arm of the sofa, drawing Sydney up onto her stomach. In this position, she could stare at him without fear of him noticing because, from his perspective, it would look as though she were staring at the cat.
Her indigo gaze continued to trace every muscle in his abdomen and chest, starting at the waistband of his boxers and traveling up the six-pack he sported and to the pectoral muscles. Lying there, she began to daydream about what it would be like to be held against a body as firm and muscular as that... not necessarily Leon's, but some body like that. She had to admit, though, Leon did serve as spectacular eye candy. No sooner had that thought crossed her mind than a vibrant red blush crept up her neck and covered her face, causing her to avert her gaze and look elsewhere, no matter how much she enjoyed looking at him.
His sudden movement caught her eye and she saw him rise from his chair, heading for the kitchen with his mug of coffee in one hand and the newspaper in the other. He threw the newspaper down upon the counter and pulled a clear glass mixing bowl from the cabinet, along with a wire whisk. Yuffie crept into the kitchen behind him, unintentionally silent. "Need some help?" she asked as Leon began to pour some milk into a measuring cup.
Jumping at her voice, he spilt the milk across the counter top and floor, then turned around to glare at her. "Don't be so quiet!" he reprimanded loudly, sternly, and just a bit coldly, and already grabbing a paper towel to wipe up the mess.
"I... I'm sorry..." Yuffie whispered quietly, wincing at his tone and looking down at the floor. "I really am." She had already done this to him countless times and she tried not to, but old habits die hard.
Leon took a deep breath, trying not to hear the hurt tone in her voice. But it was there, and it was there because of the cold tone in his own voice. "It's okay. You just scared me," he reassured as he cleaned up the spilt milk. "Besides, no use crying over spilt milk," he joked, remembering the old saying.
"Yeah," she said half-heartedly, grabbing another paper towel to finish cleaning up the mess. "So... uh... you need any help or would I just get in the way?"
He nearly told her that she would be in the way, but, realizing that saying that would only hurt her more than the coldness in his voice, he changed his mind. "Can you beat an egg?" he inquired as he cracked an egg into the bowl.
Giving him a genuine smile, she grabbed the bowl and whisk from him. "I just kinda do this, right?" she questioned as she slowly began to drag the whisk through the egg.
Leon raised his eyebrows and stared at her, biting back a chuckle as he did so. "Yes, but at that speed, it'll take you a year to beat them. It's like this." He took the bowl back from her and demonstrated how to do it, beating furiously for a second, then stopping and handing the bowl back to her. "See?"
"Like this?" She tried copying his movements only to find that she was having a harder time than she originally thought she would. So intent upon the task at hand, she didn't realize that he had moved behind her and was reaching around to grasp her hand. "Uh... what are you doing?" she asked nervously, fighting the urge to lean back against him.
"Showing you how to beat an egg," he explained, his mouth dangerously close to her ear and his breath lightly blowing her short hair away from her neck. He turned his attention back to bowl in her hands and guided her arm as he helped her to beat the egg. When the egg turned a pale yellow, Leon quickly stepped away from her before the soft scent of her skin caused him to do something he would later regret. "That's how you beat an egg."
Yuffie bit her lip and tried not to blush, but she could still feel warmth of his body behind her even though he was no longer there. "O-Okay," she stuttered, setting the bowl down on the counter. "What's next?"
Step by step, Leon slowly showed her how to make the pancakes, letting her do it herself with only minimal help from him. And, finally, the pancakes were cooking on the griddle he had pulled out of the closet, albeit, they weren't exactly round pancakes. They were shaped more like the images from the inkblot tests psychologists used. But, as Yuffie reminded him, it wasn't what they looked like, but rather what they tasted like. And they tasted just the same as if he had cooked them himself.
While watching Yuffie literally inhale everything edible on the table and barely saving anything for himself, Leon's mind drifted back to the night when she had first picked his pocket. And the self-proclaimed title she had used then came floating across his mind. "Why did you call yourself 'The Great Ninja Yuffie'?" he finally asked when his curiosity got the better of him, a very rare occurrence.
Yuffie opened her mouth to answer him, then remembered that she still had a bite in her mouth, so she quickly swallowed it. "I don't know. I just always thought that I was kind of wily and quick, like a ninja," she paused for a minute, a large grin coming across her face, "plus, I can kick higher than my head."
At that, Leon choked on the bite in his mouth and quickly grabbed his glass of milk to wash it down. He knew she didn't mean anything sexually by that last statement, but with the thoughts of her half-naked having not yet completely left his mind, he couldn't help find it that way. "Is that so?" he finally sputtered out.
"Yeah, you want to see?" she asked suddenly as she set her fork down and began to get up out of her chair. Before he could answer her, Yuffie had already struck her pose and was bringing her leg around to kick. But, not only did she forget that she was still clad in only the flannel shirt, but also in socks which slipped on the tiled floor and made her fall.
Leon watched as she landed with a thud upon the floor and tried not to gawk when he realized that not only did she have the three bottom buttons of her shirt undone, but that it also flipped up when she landed. And that would have been okay, except for the fact that is revealed her panties, stomach and the bottom of her bra. Before his eyes began to wander more than they already had, he walked over to her and rearranged her shirt so it covered her. "Are you okay?" he finally asked.
Giggling, Yuffie reached up a hand as though she wanted him to help her up. "Yeah, I'm fine. My butt, on the other hand, is gonna be bruised and stuff though," she laughed, reaching down with her other hand to lightly rub her hip.
Taking her hand, Leon hoisted her to her feet, not realizing how close to him she would be when he did so. But, there she was, standing nearly up against him, her head just below his chin and her eyes looking up at him. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and willed himself to step away from her. Being that close messed with his senses. He hadn't felt like that in years. "I need to go take a shower," he mumbled, releasing the hand he didn't know he was still holding and leaving her in the dining room by herself.
Yuffie sighed and looked down at the clothes she wore, deciding that perhaps her kick would have gone off better if she had worn pants and shoes. And then maybe Leon wouldn't have run off like he just did. She figured she was probably a sickening sight to look at with her skinny stick-like arms and legs, not to mention her almost non-existent chest. "Yeah, that's why he ran off," she muttered, beginning to clear the table.
Without even realizing it, so caught up in her own self-defacing thoughts, Yuffie had begun to handwash the dishes, completely disregarding the dishwasher next to the sink. And after the dishes were cleaned, she wandered to her room and put a camisole on beneath her shirt, pulled on a pair of blue jeans, and buttoned the bottom three buttons of her shirt before tucking it in. "At least I look more presentable," she murmured as she looked at herself in the mirror and ran a hand through her tangled hair.
A knock on the door sent her back into the living room and peeking through the peephole, she saw Aerith standing there. She pulled open the door, stepping out of the way and letting the florist come in. "Hey, Aerith," she greeted happily, glad to have someone else to talk to. Sure, it was nice talking with Leon, but just talking to the same person day in and day out became monotonous.
"Yuffie, I know how bored you must get staying here all the time, so I thought you might want to come over to my place and hang out for a while," Aerith said excitedly, waving her hands around in the air as she spoke. "I mean, we could watch chick flicks, pig out, girl talk, whatever..."
Smiling, Yuffie nodded and went down the hall to holler to Leon through the bathroom door that she'd be at Aerith's for most of the day. She barely heard his assent through the door before she went back into the living room and followed Aerith across the hall.
Around ten o'clock that night, a knock on the door pulled Leon away from the novel he was reading and he answered it to find Aerith standing there and yawning. He looked behind her, expecting to find Yuffie. "What is it, Aerith?" he finally asked when he didn't see Yuffie.
"I need you to come collect your roommate," the florist yawned, already starting back across the hall to her room and beckoning Leon to follow her. "She fell asleep about an hour ago and I just haven't the heart to wake her up."
"So you want me to wake her up?" Leon questioned suspiciously as he looked down at the couch where Yuffie was sprawled out with Aerith's dog Iris laying across her stomach.
Rolling her eyes, Aerith gave him a look that said that was the exactly the opposite of what she wanted him to do. "No, I want you to carry her to her bed. If she's falling asleep like this all the time, then she apparently needs to get more sleep. Which means I don't want to wake her up when she is asleep," the florist explained slowly, as though she were speaking to a very young child. That, or a very stupid man.
Giving in to his friend, Leon shooed the dog away from Yuffie, nearly getting bit in the process, then stooped to scoop her up into his arms. She immediately rolled into him and pressed her body against his. Aerith walked with them to his door, holding it open and then shutting it for him after muttering a tired 'goodnight.'
Leon carried her down the hall to her room, trying in vain to ignore the two mounds of flesh that pressed against him. He really didn't need to be thinking like this again. Sighing, he lay her on the end of the bed so he could turn her covers down and place her beneath them. But, seeing the flannel shirt still upon her, he worried that she might become overheated during the night. He gently sat her up and began to unbutton her shirt, both relieved and disappointed to find that she now wore a camisole beneath it. He briefly toyed with the idea of taking her pants off as well, but finally decided that would be too much of an invasion of her privacy and left them on her.
After pulling the covers up to her chin, he watched as she snuggled into them and as the two cats immediately jumped onto the bed with her. A brief wave of jealously washed over him at the sight of the two cats as before she came, they would sleep with him. And he was starting to feel a bit lonely.
He shook his head to clear his thoughts and turned to leave her room, nearly shutting her door all the way before he remembered how panicked she became whenever he did that. He made a mental note to ask her about that sometime, curious as to why something as simple as closing a bedroom door would panic someone.
Outside her door, he leaned against the wall and began to wonder what he was going to do if what he called his 'animal instincts' this morning kept acting up. He decided he would simply have to keep a tighter rein of control over himself. That's all there was too it. Control. Controlling himself. Controlling his 'animal instincts.' But what if they were more than simple 'animal instincts'? He chose not to answer that question.
Author's Note: Finally got this chapter finished. I've been working on it nearly all day long. I hope you guys like it. Hm... about all Squallie's thoughts about Yuffums... well, if you think I should up the rating, which I don't think is necessary, tell me and I'll do it. But, I think I can get away with it in a PG-13 fic.
Anyways, leave me a review and I'll be a happy author.