Author's Note: The VL got me all pumped up to start this chapter about five minutes after I posted the last one. :::sigh::: Therefore, I have to write. :-) And this might be a looong chapter because I have some things that I am DETERMINED to put in it.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
--QwickSilver has finally updated "Life, or Something Like It." Very good Squffie... yes, one of the first that I read when I came here. So, I command thee to read and review it after you're done here. :)
--And Vulpes Lapis put up another new chapter of "How Do I Loathe Thee." Yet another very good Squffie and another of the first that I read here. And VL's really on a roll. I mean, she put up a chapter last week and then another this week. Maybe if we give her enough reviews, we can get her to hurry up and finish it. :::crosses fingers::: So, go read and review that one for me, too, please.
–There's lots more, but I don't have the time to go through and look at them all. So, to save time, I'll just tell you to check out my favorites page to find lots of Squffies and Yuffentines.
Disclaimer: Let's see... this is the eleventh chapter and I have yet to own most of the characters. Actually, there's only ONE character that I would like to own and I think most of you know me well enough to know who I'm talking about, right?
Chapter Eleven: Darkest Before the Dawn
The morning sun shining across the room and falling upon her face caused Yuffie to wrinkle her nose in distaste and roll over, taking her face out of the offending sunlight. But, the room continued to grow brighter and the insistent 'meow' coming from her pillow forced her to slowly open her eyes to find Demi sitting near her head and demanding attention. Tiredly pulling her hand out from beneath her blankets, Yuffie reached out and began to stroke the cat, trying to go back to sleep at the same time.
But, a glance at the clock on her bedside table, which revealed it to be just after eleven o'clock, prevented sleep from reclaiming her. She jerked straight up in the bed, looking confusedly around the room as she ran a hand through her short ebony locks and ignored the affectionate feline who had begun to purr loudly in the hopes that she would receive more attention. "Okay... why didn't Squall wake me up for work?" Yuffie wondered aloud, looking down at the bed when Demi rubbed up against her.
Clad in her nightgown of choice, a long blue flannel shirt she had taken from Leon's closet the week before and a pair of grey socks, Yuffie wandered into the kitchen. A sheet of paper stuck to the refrigerator caught her eye as it was usually bare of anything but a few magnetic clips. Her eyes ran across the page, reading the note left in Leon's smooth handwriting.
Yuffie,
Since it's Saturday, you're getting the day off. I'll be at the restaurant until after ten o'clock. Make yourself at home... just don't break anything. And unless you call and tell me otherwise, I'll be bringing home Chinese for a late dinner.
Leon.
After reading the note, Yuffie looked down at the two cats sitting at her feet. "I guess it's just us three today," she told them, sticking the note back on the refrigerator. Just as she was about to leave the kitchen and get dressed, an almost evil glint came into her eye. "Yeah... just us three..." she muttered thoughtfully before backing up against the cabinet and running towards the opposite wall, sliding across the rest of the tiled floor when she was halfway there.
The teenager continued to slide across the floor, going farther and farther each time, until she finally hit the wall face first and fell onto her backside with the last slide. The whole time, both Sydney and Demi sat in place, their heads turning in synchrony to follow her movements across the floor. "I'm okay," Yuffie mumbled as she climbed to her feet, gingerly rubbing her now bruised hip.
"Okay... now what?" she asked the cats, who continued to stare at her as though she were insane. "And don't look at me like that. Just because I'm talking to you doesn't mean I'm crazy." Yuffie thought about what she had just said, beginning to shake her head slowly while running a hand down her face. "Okay, so maybe I am crazy for talking to you two."
An answering meow came from Sydney, making her wonder if he was agreeing or disagreeing with her until she noticed that both their food bowls were empty. "Hungry, are you?" she questioned the black and white cat as she rummaged around in the pantry, looking for the cat food Leon had showed her just the last week. She finally found the bag and filled both bowls with the cat food, almost laughing when both cats attacked the food with vigor. "Yeah, I'm kinda hungry, too," Yuffie admitted when her stomach let out a long, rumbling growl.
Pulling open the refrigerator door, Yuffie stared into its contents, not finding anything that really appealed to her at the moment. She stood in front of the open door, shivering slightly as the cold air moved across her skin, while she thought about what she really wanted for breakfast this morning... or lunch, really, considering that it was nearly noon by now.
Waffles. She wanted waffles. Just last week, she had watched Leon make waffles one morning and he seemed to have no trouble at all doing it. So, thinking to herself, Yuffie decided that she, too, could manage to make waffles. After all, how hard could it be? Trying to remember what all Leon had put into them, she pulled out the carton of milk and a few eggs before moving over to the pantry where he kept the flour and other dry goods.
Half an hour later, the teenager stood in front of the waffle iron and impatiently waited for the first waffles to be done. She wasn't sure exactly how long they should cook as she didn't have a recipe, which had made making the waffle batter an experiment for her. But, she was confident that she had made them pretty much the same way as Leon had. And slight differences in the recipes shouldn't matter. Or so she thought.
Experimentally lifting the top of the waffle iron to check on her waffles, Yuffie was devastated to find that the waffle had stuck to both the top and the bottom of the iron. She let out a loud groan before scraping that waffle up off the iron and suddenly remembered seeing Leon spray some oil onto the iron before he placed the batter within. So, rummaging around in the cabinets until she found the can of oil spray, she quickly sprayed both sides of the iron and poured more batter onto it.
This time, as soon as she closed the iron, batter oozed out of both sides and onto the counter. "Oops..." she giggled slightly, still anticipating the syrupy goodness of the waffles to come. A few minutes later, she lifted the top, relieved to find that the waffle did not stick this time and came up easily when she pulled it out and lay it upon a plate. Not even putting the batter in for the next waffle, Yuffie poured a lake of syrup on and around her waffle before hungrily digging in.
Her first reaction to the waffle was to gag; her second, to make a mad dash to the trash can and spit it out. "Okay... that's so much harder than Squall made it look," she muttered to herself as she poured herself a glass of water to rinse her mouth out with. The bitter taste of her homemade waffle was still lingering in her mouth, threatening to make her gag once more. Sighing, she decided that perhaps it might be better to eat cold cereal instead. At least, she thought to herself, I made him get something sugary.
After finishing off her second bowl of the sugar-laden cereal, Yuffie looked down at her flannel shirt and realized that she had both flour and waffle batter in large splotches. She quirked an eyebrow, pulling the shirt out to get a better look at it and decided she might better change clothes before she got the batter on Leon's furniture.
Emerging from her room a few minutes later in clean clothes and the batter splashed flannel shirt in her hands, Yuffie decided she might better talk to Aerith and find out whether or not it would stain. She, herself, had no idea what all would stain and what wouldn't, and since this was technically still Leon's shirt, she didn't want to upset him by putting a permanent stain in it.
So, blue flannel shirt in hand, Yuffie left the apartment and crossed the hall to Aerith's, knocking softly at her door. There was no answer. There wasn't even a resounding bark from her dog Iris. Realizing that the florist wasn't home, the teenager let out a deflated sigh and slowly trudged back across the hall to Leon's apartment only to find that when the door had shut, it had inadvertently locked as well. And Leon had yet to give her a key to the apartment.
"Perfect," Yuffie muttered, leaning against the wall and slowly sliding down it until she was sitting flat on the floor, her legs stretched out in front of her. She would have tried going down to the apartment manager's office to have them let her in, but as Leon hadn't introduced her to them, she knew they would never believe her story. Especially considering how cold and distant Leon appeared to everyone. No one would believe that he would take someone like her in.
But, thinking back to the last few weeks she had spent with him, she realized he wasn't really so cold after all. He liked to act like he was, but when it came down to it, he was actually very kind. After all, he was taking a chance by letting her, a known pickpocket, not only live with him, but also work at his restaurant, where she could easily access the cash registers. And he was trusting her enough to let her stay here by herself when she could easily rob him blind. Not that she would, but she could.
No, Leon wasn't all that cold after all. Especially after the way he had acted the night before when they had gone to the movies. He had not objected at all to Yuffie hiding her head in his chest and, after the first few times, actually leaving her head there for the rest of the movie. Not only that, but he also had put his arm around her. Not that he meant anything by it, Yuffie insisted to herself.
While lost in the ruminations of the enigma that was Leon, Yuffie didn't notice when Aerith walked up until her small papillon Iris jumped into the teenager's lap and began licking her face. "Ack! Not on the mouth! Not on the mouth!" Yuffie screeched as she gently pushed the dog away from her and looked up at Aerith.
"What are you doing out here, Yuffie?" the florist asked concernedly, tugging on Iris's leash to make the dog behave. She leaned her side against Leon's door while looking down at the girl at her feet.
Laughing nervously, Yuffie jumped to her feet and hesitantly smiled. "Well, you see... I was coming over to ask you if you thought this would stain or not and I kinda sorta got locked out," she explained as she held the flannel shirt out to Aerith, unfolding it enough to show her the large batter splotches on it.
Switching the dog leash to her other hand, and barking out a quick 'sit' to Iris, the florist wrinkled her brow and stared at the stain. "How did you do this?"
Nervous laughter once again struck the teenager, causing her to bite her lip. "I was trying to make waffles and I kinda got it everywhere," she muttered quietly, eyes darting back and forth. "And I really need to get back into the apartment to clean up the mess before Squa-er, Leon gets back."
"Lucky for you, I have Leon's spare key," Aerith announced, handing the shirt back to Yuffie and taking her own house keys out of her pocket to unlock her door. "Just come on in while I get Iris settled and find the key."
Following her into the apartment, Yuffie plopped herself down on the sofa and immediately found Iris in her lap once again. "Friendly little thing, aren't you?" she asked the dog absent-mindedly as she looked around the apartment. Sure, she had just spent the day here not even a week ago, but she hadn't taken the time to really look around then besides just the major things, such as the many floral paintings on the wall.
"It'll take me a minute to find the key. I haven't had to use it since the last time I had to take care of Leon's cats while he was out of town. And that was quite awhile ago," Aerith announced as she left the living room and headed down the hall to what Yuffie presumed to be her bedroom. "Just make yourself at home."
Getting up from the couch, Yuffie began wandering aimlessly around the room, examining everything while Aerith's small dog jumped at her feet. That was when the teenager noticed the black game console and the controller sitting atop it. "Cool," she muttered under her breath, feeling around on the console for the 'on' button. The only time she had played on one of these was when she ventured into the electronics store and played on their demos.
Aerith walked back into the living room, key in hand, while Yuffie was still examining playstation. "That's Cloud's. I rarely play on it, but he just loves his video games," she told her visitor, handing the teenager the key. "It was one of his Christmas presents last year. That and an older game for it." She stopped to think for a moment, tapping her chin. "I can't remember what the game was called, but one of the main characters was murdered about halfway through it. It's one of the reasons I hardly use it, because of the violence."
"I've never had one of these before," Yuffie muttered, reluctantly pulling her hand away from it and taking the key from Aerith.
Noticing how enamored the girl appeared to be with the playstation, Aerith came to a decision. She strode over to the game console and began disconnecting the wires from the TV. "Here, you can borrow it until Cloud gets home since I don't make good use of it," she explained as she grabbed a bag to put both the console and a few games into.
"Are you sure? You aren't afraid I'll break it?" Yuffie asked in surprise as the florist began to rummage around in the cabinet beneath the TV and found more games.
"You won't break it. And, even if you do, it's no big deal. I can get him another one before he even realizes that his is gone." Finding the last game, Aerith placed it in the bag as well and stood back up. "Now, let's go hook this up on Leon's TV before I have to get back down to the shop. And I'll help you clean up the mess in the kitchen."
Crossing the hall, both women entered Leon's apartment, the younger grimacing when she saw the mess she had made in the kitchen and the other looking at the mess in shock, wondering how one person could make such a big mess in such a short period of time. Without a word, Aerith set the bag with the playstation down upon the table and quickly began fitting what she could into the dishwasher, taking breaks occasionally to playfully ask Yuffie how she managed to get waffle batter on the ceiling. Yuffie simply told her she didn't want to know.
Finally, with both girls working together, the kitchen was back to its normal spotless shine and Aerith was hooking up the playstation, making sure that she taught Yuffie how to do it herself in case Leon wanted it unhooked later. She turned the game on and loaded a random disk, handing the controller to Yuffie. "There you go. I got to get back down to the shop, so have fun and I'll see you later," the florist told her as she walked to the door.
"Okay. Thanks for everything, Aerith," Yuffie replied distractedly, already engrossed in the game and not even hearing the door shut when Aerith left. A few minutes later, however, the phone rang and the teenager disgustedly put the game on pause while she went to answer the phone. But, even after picking the phone up, the ringing continued and she realized it wasn't the phone in her hand.
Following the ringing down the hall, she found the sound was coming from Leon's bedroom and she hesitantly entered it, intent upon finding the source of the ringing. There, on his dresser, sat a cellular phone. Thinking once again that she had found the source of the ringing, she picked it up and pushed a button to answer it. The ringing continued.
Yuffie threw her head back in disgust, groaning as she tried to find out what was still ringing. "It's gonna be a long day," she mumbled to herself, roaming around his room as she followed the sound.
A little after ten-thirty that night, Leon walked through the door, bags from the small Chinese place he had stopped at in one hand, along with a bag from the local bookstore, and the mail in the other. No sooner had he stepped through the door than he was assaulted by a barrage of what sounded like muffled 'beeeeep beeeeeep.' It was then that he realized he had left both his cellular phone and he pager at home that morning. "Yuffie?" he called concernedly, wondering why she hadn't answered the phone.
"Make it stop!" came a muffled reply from what looked like a pile of blankets and pillows on the sofa. Her head peeked out from beneath the pillow and looked pleadingly at him. "Please, just make it stop!"
Leon set the bags and letters down on the table, walking to the phone base to turn the cordless phone off, only to find it wasn't there. "Um... Yuffie... where's the phone?" he questioned confusedly, looking around the living room to see if she might have placed it upon the coffee table.
"Check in the bottom of the laundry hamper, in the pantry, and underneath the cushion of that big chair," she muttered from beneath the pillow, sticking her hand out to wave it towards each of the places she mentioned.
Sighing and tiredly running a hand through his hair, Leon trotted off to each place she mentioned and finally found that it was his pager that was going off. He jotted down the number on a post-it note, deciding it was too late to call the person, and shut the thing off.
In the living room, Yuffie sighed with relief when the beeping had stopped and crawled out from beneath the blankets and pillows, the smell of food beckoning her to the table. By the time Leon had returned to the kitchen, she already had her chopsticks and was making considerable progress on the fried rice.
"You could've waited for me," Leon grumbled, taking the other small packages of food out of the bags and placing them on the table, the tops open on each so he could pick his way through them. Just as he was about to reach for the sesame chicken, Yuffie grabbed it and began shoveling it into her mouth. "I feel like a scavenger in my own house," he mumbled, settling for the teriyaki instead and leaning back in his chair to eat it.
Swallowing the bite in her mouth, Yuffie placed the half-eaten box of sesame chicken back on the table, biting her lip as she did so. "I'm sorry. You wanted that, didn't you?" she asked quietly, her eyes downcast as she pushed the box towards him.
Leon waved it back at her with his chopsticks. "No, go ahead. It's okay. I'll just know to get more of it next time," he told her, going back to eating his teriyaki and taking a few bites of rice to go along with it.
The teenager tentatively took the sesame chicken back, as though she half expected him to change his mind and want it back. "I guess I'm just letting my hunger get the better of me," she muttered more to herself than to him, yet he had still heard her.
"You're always hungry," he declared, thinking about her almost constant intake of food since she had gotten over her flu. "In fact, I've never seen you turn down any food."
"You can't be picky when you don't know when or where your next meal's gonna come from," Yuffie explained, remembering that a little over two weeks ago, she was in that exact state... never knowing what she was going to eat the next day until she found it.
A silence settled over the room as they both continued to eat and Leon began to sort through the mail he had brought in. "Here... this one's for you," he told her, handing over an envelope from the Social Security Administration. "I think they've finally sent your card."
Setting her food down on the table, Yuffie ripped open the letter and pulled out the small blue card. "So, does this mean I'm a real person now?" she joked as she read the number to herself and tried to commit it to memory.
"Yeah, I guess you could say that. And this is also for you." Leon reached into his back pocket and pulled out another envelope, this one plain white. "Your first paycheck."
Yuffie grabbed the envelope, carefully opening it and pulling out the check. Her eyes went wide when she stared at the amount of money she had earned. "Are you sure this is all mine? I mean, you didn't accidentally give me someone else's check, too, did you?" she asked incredulously. In her whole life, she had never seen that much money at one time.
"Nope, it's all yours," Leon replied, picking up the bag from the bookstore and pulling out a thick book. "And this is yours, too." He passed the book across the table and waited for her reaction.
"A study guide for the GED?" she questioned, her brows furrowed as she began to aimlessly flip through the pages, stopping to stare at a few things in there. "What's this for?"
Sighing, Leon began stacking up the empty food boxes and throwing them in the now empty bag from the bookstore. "Last night, you asked if I would help you find your place. Well, I don't think you're going to want to be a waitress for the rest of your life. And it's been too long since you've been in school to go back. So, I figured you could get your GED and then try a junior college somewhere," he explained slowly, leaning back in his chair and staring at her.
Surprise was etched on Yuffie's face. Not only was this man taking care of her right now, but he was trying to help her enough so that further on down the road, she wouldn't have to resume her old ways. "Thank you," she murmured softly, opening the book once more and beginning to skim over the pages.
"You're welcome," Leon replied simply.
It was around midnight and Yuffie had long since gone to bed, but Leon was still awake and was the new mystery novel he had picked up a few days ago. Just as he let out a yawn and was about to go to bed himself, he heard a muffled moan coming from Yuffie's room. He put the book down and sat still, listening to see if the sound would come again or if it was only his imagination. But, it did resound and Leon rose to his feet and strode down the hall to her room, peeking through the open door to see what was wrong.
On the bed, Yuffie twisted around until the sheets were wrapped tightly around her legs and strangled sobs and moans left her throat. Concerned, Leon quickly entered the room, ignoring the light switch as the moonlight cascading through the window sufficiently illuminated the room. At the edge of her bed, he sat down and gently stroked her sweaty forehead, softly calling her name.
As she heard her name, the distraught teenager's moans and sobs became coherent cries. "Mama, mama... don't leave me, mama," she mumbled, twisting around on the bed once more.
"Yuffie, wake up," Leon commanded gently, taking her by the shoulders and shaking her slightly. Indigo eyes flew open, full of tears as they darted around the room, finally settling on the man in front of her. She pulled herself upright and threw herself against his chest, wrapping her arms around him as she soaked his shirt with a fresh wave of tears. Leon brought his arms around, holding her against him and stroking her back in long, soothing strokes. "It's okay, Yuffie. It was just a nightmare."
The girl in her arms passionate shook her head before looking up at him with a tear-stained face. "No it wasn't," she muttered, remembering the dream too vividly for her liking. She reluctantly pulled out of his arms and leaned against the back of the bed, reaching under her blankets for her stuffed bear.
"Of course it was a nightmare, Yuffie," Leon insisted, watching as she roughly wiped the tears off her face with the back of her hand while the other clutched the bear. "Everyone has them from time to time."
"It wasn't a nightmare," she insisted just as stubbornly as he had insisted it was. She knew what it was and she decided she would tell him as much. "It's... it's a memory," she whispered quietly, turning her head to look towards the door.
Just as Leon was about to say something, Yuffie interrupted him. "Do you remember what I told you about my parents? About them being murdered?" she asked quickly, watching him nod slowly. "Well, that's half right." Taking a deep breath, Yuffie began her story, telling him more things than she had ever told anyone before. But, she felt she could trust him with her past for some strange reason.
"I was four years old when it happened," she whispered, her brows furrowed as she looked down at the bear in her hands. "I remember it like it was just yesterday." She paused, looking up into Leon's eyes to see if he was listening or not. He was, and she lowered her eyes once more. "My mother... she was leaving my father for what seemed like the hundredth time to me. She had promised me that it would be the last time he would ever hit either of us."
A hand falling across hers made her look up in surprise and stop for a moment as she tried to find her words. "I was supposed to be waiting in my room for her... with the door closed, but the yelling was growing louder so I snuck out to see what was happening," she murmured, clenching her eyes tightly shut as though trying to block the mental images. "He... he told her that he wasn't going to let us leave this time, but my mother ignored him and continued to pack the suitcase."
She took a deep shuddery breath to keep the sobs at bay for now. She had to finish this without crying. "My father grabbed the gun he kept in the closet, threatening mama with it, but she ignored him. It wasn't the first time he had pointed a gun at her," Yuffie scoffed slightly, not wanting to feel anything for it hurt too much. "But, this time was different. He knew that this would be the last time... and then... the noise, from the gun, it scared me and I jumped out of the doorway." Her voice cracked slightly and she barely noticed when Leon's arms wrapped around her and drew him to her chest. "And my mother fell to the floor with a dull thud. She was dead before she hit the floor, the back of her head was just.... gone."
"It's okay, Yuffie. It's okay," Leon murmured softly, once again stroking her back to help soothe her. In his arms, the teenager shuddered and he could feel her choke back a sob as her arms feebly wrapped around his waist.
"And... and... then," she hiccoughed, her sobs breaking through the barriers she had so carefully erected. "Then when he saw what he had done, he ran out into the hallway, crying her name over and over again. And while I was still standing there, unable to move from both fear and shock, he put the gun into his mouth and pulled the trigger."
Leon tightly clenched his eye shut just imagining what this girl had gone through at such a young age. No one should ever go through that, young or old. Yet she had.
"I don't remember much of what happened next. I just know that I hid in the closet. I don't know if it was for a few minutes or for a few days, but I stayed in there until the police found me," Yuffie finished, burying her face into Leon's chest and tightening her grip around him.
Not knowing what else to do, Leon simply held onto her, allowing her to cry herself back to sleep in his arms while he murmured soothing words to her. Once her breathing had evened, he carefully laid her back down upon the bed, pulling the blankets up to her chin. But, as he got up to leave, he felt a soft tug on his shirt. "Please don't leave me, Squall," Yuffie whispered, her eyes pleading with him to stay. "I just... I don't want to be alone tonight."
"Okay. I'll stay here while you sleep," Leon replied, walking across the room to move the chair sitting there to her bedside. As soon as he sat down, Yuffie reached over and grasped hs hand within one of hers. He gave it a reassuring squeeze. "Just go back to sleep, Yuffie. And I'll be right here."
Nodding, Yuffie settled back down into the blankets, still holding onto Leon's hand as she fell into what she hoped would be a dreamless sleep. But, instead of a dreamless sleep, she dreamed of what it felt like when Leon had been holding her, comforting her and what it would be like to stay in those arms forever. Safe in those arms.
Hours later, the sunlight from the rising sun filtered through the thin curtains of Yuffie's room and landed upon Leon's face. His eyes fluttered open and he found himself still sitting in the chair, but hunched over so his head was resting upon Yuffie's bed. A warmth stretched across his neck and he turned his head to the side to find Yuffie's arm resting across it. A small smile flitted across his face as he quietly yawned, looking at the clock as he did so. It was just after six in the morning and he knew if he didn't get some sleep somewhere comfortable, he would be regretting it later in the day.
A brief thought of climbing into he bed with Yuffie crossed his mind, but with the way his thoughts towards her had been going lately, he knew he couldn't trust himself. And he didn't want to ruin the trust that was building between them. So, rising to his feet and ignoring the popping of his back as it protested the position he had slept in, he started to leave the room, but stopped at the doorway and turned back around. He slowly approached her bed and leaned over, placing a gentle kiss upon Yuffie's forehead, believing that since she was still asleep, no one would be the wiser. He left the room, leaving the door partially open.
As soon as she heard him walk out of the room, Yuffie's eyes flew open and stared disbelievingly at the door. She slowly brought a hand up and touched her forehead, the warmth from his lips still lingering there. Sighing with a soft smile, she snuggled back down into the blankets and closed her eyes, having forgotten her nightmare from the night before and only thinking about the chaste kiss Leon had given her that morning.
Author's Note: AAAAHHHH!!!! Long chapter. Over 5000 words! Okay, I'm tired now and as soon as I think of a chapter title, I'm gonna post this baby.