Author's Note: Let's see. After more than a MONTH of not updating this baby, I finally came up with something the other night when I was taking a shower. I just hope I can pull it off and get things going again. Yeah... I kinda wrote myself into a corner last chapter, but I didn't want to change a thing about it. So, it just took a lot of time on my part to think of a way to continue the story. Hopefully, but no promises, I can get back on a regular schedule for updating.
Oooh... and depending on how long this chapter turns out to be, this might cross into being my longest story wordwise yet. I mean, I knew it would eventually, but I wasn't exactly sure when. I think, to cross that line, the chapter needs to be 5415 words.... I might actually do it!
Disclaimer: Y'know, I don't even own the GAME Kingdom Hearts. I've just been kinda borrowing it from my nephew for the past six months. So, what makes you think I would own ALL the characters? I only own Squall! And, in case you're wondering, I do not own Sbarro's or Pepsi or any other major company/restaurant I might mention.
Chapter Eighteen: Blue and Green and In Between
As their half-eaten breakfast grew cold on the counter, Squall and Yuffie continued to hold onto one another, finding comfort in the other's embrace. Neither said a word, wrapping the silence around themselves like a security blanket while they each thought about what the other had said. But, with the interruption of light knocking on the door, their comfort soon grew to awkwardness.
"I... uh... I better get the door," Yuffie stammered as she backed out of Squall's arms, fighting the blush that was creeping up on her face as she looked down at the floor. With her eyes diverted, she never noticed that Squall was doing the same and avoiding her eyes as well. As she walked to door, she heard the clacking of plates behind her that let her know that Squall was clearing the counter off.
Looking over her shoulder, the sight of a quickly drying damp spot on his back met her eyes, reminding her of the few tears she had shed. She could only hope that her eyes, which were surely slightly red now, wouldn't betray her to whoever was currently at the door. As she approached the door, Yuffie was betting that the person still lightly knocking on the door was none other than Aerith. And she was correct in her assumption as the bright green eyes and sweet smile of the florist met her as soon as she opened the door.
"Yuffie! Come on! We gotta go right now!" Aerith nearly shouted as she pushed through the partially open apartment door and stepped into the living room. Her eyes had a crazed look about them and in her hands were a thick stack of ads from the morning's paper.
Yuffie eyed the florist wearily, indigo eyes darting back and forth between the ads and Aerith's face. "Um... go where?" she asked timidly, fearing the answer.
"The sales, Yuffie! The after-Thanksgiving Day sales!" the brunette exclaimed, picking a random sales ad from the handful she had and shoving the front page of it in front of Yuffie's face. "See? This sale ends at ten this morning. That only gives us an hour! And this one ends at eleven and this one at one and this one at four..."
Her mind still on the events of that morning, Yuffie was only partially paying attention to Aerith when she saw Squall pass from the kitchen and head down the hallway, where he then entered his room and shut the door firmly behind him. At that, Yuffie sighed loudly and focused once more on the woman in front of her while rubbing the back of her neck. "Won't the stores be kinda busy today?"
Aerith rolled her eyes, shook her head, and sighed before finding a particular ad in her hand and showing it to Yuffie. "Who cares if they're busy? Look at the deals we'd be getting," she told her in a slightly exasperated tone as pointed out the ad that convinced her that today would be worth the crowds.
Eyes widening, Yuffie blinked a few times to make sure the prices were correct on the page she was staring at. "That... that's over fifty percent off those clothes..." she muttered, taking the ad from Aerith's hands and flipping through it herself. "And those shoes and... and..." She trailed off as she grabbed another ad and looked through it. "And those are sixty percent off..."
While her younger friend was looking through the sales papers, Aerith noticed for the first time that morning that Yuffie's eyes were slightly red. "Yuffie, have you been crying?" she asked concernedly as she pushed down the ads in the girl's hands and took a better look at her eyes.
"What? Why would you think that?" Yuffie replied, feigning confusion at the florist's comment. She really didn't want to explain why she had been crying in the first place to the woman and assumed it would be easier to lie her way out of the situation.
"Maybe because your eyes are all red and it looks like you've been crying," Aerith said in a matter of fact tone and raised a lone, chestnut eyebrow as she stared at Yuffie. "Now, are you going to tell me why?"
Thoughts running a mile a minute, Yuffie struggled to come up with a lie that at least sounded halfway plausible. "Uh... y'see... Squall... he... uh... he spilt some pepper in the kitchen this morning and I had a sneezing fit," she faltered, her eyes darting around the room and avoiding the green gaze of Aerith that seemed to stare into her soul and find the lie.
"Alright. I'll buy that... for now," the florist conceded, the last part of her statement said beneath her breath where Yuffie was unable to hear it. "Anyways, we have to get going if we're going to make these sales before they end or sell out..."
"Yeah... okay. Just let me go put some shoes on and grab my jacket," Yuffie agreed, nodding her head as she started down the hall and left Aerith alone in the living room. Passing by the bathroom, she stopped and went in to wash her face, noticing that her eyes were, indeed, red from her earlier crying bout. She grabbed a wash cloth from the sink, quickly wetting it under the faucet before gently rubbing it across her eyes. It helped, but her eyes were still slightly red.
Sighing, she lay the cloth back on the edge of the sink and continued on to her room, finding her sneakers next to the bedroom door. She quickly slipped them on, glad that she had them already tied loosely so she could do so easily, and returned to the living room, where Aerith was still waiting for her. The florist was sitting on the arm of the couch and trying to coax Demi out from behind the cushions where she hid when the front door was opened.
"She's not gonna come out, y'know," Yuffie said as she passed by Aerith and headed straight towards the coat closet, pulling out the jacket Squall had given her for her birthday. In the few days it had spent in the closet, next to his nearly identical one, it had managed to pick up his scent and that made Yuffie happy.
"I know she's not going to come out, but I can hope, can't I?" the florist replied as she gave up on the cat and followed Yuffie to the apartment door. "That cat doesn't like anyone besides you and Leon." She stopped for a moment, hand on the door frame and stared at Yuffie. "Where is Leon, anyways?"
Yuffie shrugged, struggling with the zipper of her jacket as she did so. "I dunno. I think he might be taking a shower." Glad to have a distraction from the florist's seemingly all-knowing eyes, she continued to pretend she was having trouble with the zipper as she answered the question.
Aerith noticed that her younger friend avoided her eyes as she answered her, making the woman very suspicious as to what exactly was going on around here. The redness that betrayed Yuffie's eyes earlier was proof that she had been crying, and, now, at the mention of Leon, the girl refused to meet her eyes. That was when Aerith also noticed the jacket Yuffie was wearing. "Isn't that Leon's jacket?"
"Hm?" Yuffie mumbled distractedly, finally zipping the jacket in question up all the way. "Oh! No. He got it for me for my birthday because he knew how much I loved his," she explained as she walked out the door, grabbing her small wallet she had left on the counter and shoving it into the back pockets of her blue jeans. She still refused to carry a purse.
"You're going to be sitting crooked, you know," Aerith pointed out as she rolled her eyes and opened the apartment door. Just as they were stepping out the door, the sound of another door opening down the hall drew their attention.
Squall had partially opened his bedroom door and had stepped out to where only half of his body could be seen, his hair dripping water and a towel wrapped around his waist. "Where are you two going?" he inquired, focusing his eyes on Aerith and refusing to look at Yuffie.
Even more suspicious now that not only was Leon in a towel, but also obviously not looking at Yuffie, who was not looking at him either, Aerith narrowed her eyes slightly. "Leon, it's the day after Thanksgiving," she said in a slow, quiet voice as though she were speaking to a very small child.
"Aerith, are you kidnaping Yuffie?" Squall asked, raising his eyebrows slightly at the woman.
"Yes, I am. We're going shopping," she proclaimed proudly, grabbing Yuffie's arm and dragging her from the edge of the door she had been leaning against. The younger girl merely crinkled her nose and let a weak smile come over her face.
"Oh God..." Squall muttered, closing his eyes and rubbing them as he thought about all the sales that would be going on today and how much stuff they would be coming back with later in the day. By the time he had opened his eyes once more, the two girls were gone.
- - - - - - - - - -
After spending a good twenty minutes searching for an empty table in the food court of the mall, Yuffie finally spotted one and nearly sprinted across the tiled floor to it, leaving a slightly bewildered Aerith behind her. But, when she saw what it was exactly Yuffie was running towards, she began hurrying towards it as well, nearly dragging the bags from various stores behind her as she did so. They had already made one trip out to her SUV to unload their purchases and were planning on making another as soon as they ate lunch.
Upon reaching the table, Yuffie let out a breath as she dropped her bags onto the floor beside her chair; half of the bags she was carrying belonged to Aerith. The florist had turned out to be an even more impulsive shopper when there were sales going on than when Yuffie had originally gone shopping with her about a month ago. She was a combat shopper. It was almost scary the way the woman would just shove item after item into the teenager's arms, charge through the crowds, and just slap a credit card down onto the counter while the harried cashier rang up her purchases.
"Do you want to get the food or do you want me to get the food?" Yuffie asked when Aerith finally joined her at the table. But, realizing that her friend was exhausted whereas she, herself, had an almost boundless supply of energy, Yuffie decided that she would get their lunch. "Never mind. I'll get it. Just tell me what you want."
"Just get me a slice of whatever's freshest at Sbarro's and a Pepsi," she muttered as she dropped down into the chair and let her bags fall around her feet. Aerith had to admit that even though she loved shopping, it was somewhat tiring on days like today, when most of the stores were packed full of people and one had to weave their way through the crowds to even find anything. Tiredly, she lowered her head to the table and just let it rest there while she waited for Yuffie to return with their food.
She must have dozed off slightly because the next thing Aerith knew, Yuffie had returned and was waving a piece of pepperoni pizza beneath her nose in an attempt to wake her up. "I knew that would wake you up," Yuffie giggled, putting the pizza back down on the plate and sliding Aerith's tray towards her.
"I wasn't sleeping. I was just resting my eyes," Aerith replied in mock indignation, going so far as to try and put an offended look on her face before she burst out in laughter herself. "Okay, so I was just a little tired."
"In a few more minutes, you would have been snoring and drooling all over the table," Yuffie insisted, taking a huge bite of her pizza before she realized how hot it actually was. To cool her burnt mouth, she quickly grabbed her Dr. Pepper and pulled a piece of ice out of the cup to suck on for a few minutes.
Trying not to laugh at the younger girl's antics, Aerith demurely used the plastic knife and fork and cut off a small bite of her pizza. "Ladies neither snore nor drool," she said loftily as she raised her fork to her mouth.
"Good thing you're not a lady then," Yuffie said around the quickly melting ice cube in her mouth, making her words slightly slurred and garbled. But, apparently Aerith got the message for she glared at Yuffie a moment, fighting the smile that was upturning the corners of her mouth, before finally dropping her knife and fork and simply picked up the whole slice of pizza.
For a moment, neither girl said anything, just continued to eat their pizza and let the noises of the crowd around them and the barely heard Christmas music coming from the speakers above fill the silence. "So," Yuffie began, having the urge to help fill the silence, "why didn't you take Cloud shopping instead of me?"
Aerith, who had been taking a drink of her soda, unintentionally snorted at Yuffie's question and began coughing and sputtering as she choked on her drink. "Cloud?!" she exclaimed when she finally found herself able to talk although her eyes were still watering a bit from her coughing fit. "Are you insane? He'd rather have a root canal than go shopping with me. Especially on the day after Thanksgiving."
"Then what's he gonna do all day while we're gone?" Yuffie asked, letting her curiosity get the better of her. Even though Squall was also left alone, she knew him well enough to know that he would most likely spend the time either reading, sleeping, or finding something related to his restaurant to do for the day.
"He's probably either still sleeping or playing on his playstation." At this, Aerith rolled her eyes and sighed loudly in obvious frustration with her husband. "This time, the game of his current obsession involves a sorceress and some guy with a sword that is also gun. I swear, that man is like a child sometimes."
Stifling her laughter, Yuffie bit the inside of her cheek, but her shoulders trembling with suppressed laughter gave her away and she finally burst out giggling. "Maybe you should've married Squall instead. I couldn't get him to come near the playstation while I was borrowing it," she chuckled, her laughter finally dying down some as she noticed the stares both she and Aerith were receiving from the other diners.
At Yuffie's comment, Aerith visibly shuddered and a disgusted look came over her face. "Marry Leon? He's like a brother to me. Would you really want to marry someone you considered to be your brother?" she insisted, shuddering once more at the thought.
"But he's such a sexy bro–," Yuffie began, then quickly covered her mouth as she realized what she was about to say and praying that Aerith hadn't heard her. But, apparently the fates were against her because the florist quickly pounced on that accidental comment.
"Doth my ears deceive me or did Yuffie just say that Leon was sexy?" Aerith teased, bright green eyes shining with amusement as her friend began to squirm in her seat and blush.
"Well, he is, isn't he?" Yuffie retaliated, silently cursing herself for that fatal slip of the tongue. She really wasn't ready for anyone to know about how she felt for Squall, especially when the events of this morning left her so confused.
Aerith quirked an eyebrow and continued to stare at Yuffie, watching the many shades of red cover her face. "Yes, I can see where he would be considered sexy. But that's beside the point. You tried to hide the fact that you think so, which only leads me to one thing. Yuffie, do you like Leon?" she prodded, her expression telling Yuffie that she would insist upon an answer.
Not wanting to tell how she felt about Squall, Yuffie did the one thing she could at the moment; she changed the subject. "Oh my gawd! Did you see the woman that just walked past?! I swear, she was wearing a Kleenex!" she exclaimed, pointing across the food court with one hand.
"Don't change the subject, Yuffie," the florist said in a calm, almost sing-song voice. "Now, do you like Leon? And don't make me take your pizza away to get an answer!"
In response to that threat, however, Yuffie simply shoved the rest of her pizza, about half a slice, into her mouth and smiled. "Ha!" she mumbled around the partially masticated food in her mouth and tried not to choke as she did so.
"Well, I guess I'll have to resort to tickling then," Aerith smirked, already rising from her seat and walking around the table to where Yuffie sat.
Quickly swallowing her food, Yuffie struggled to get out of the chair and realized her foot was caught in the rungs beneath it. She silently cursed herself, for the second time that day, for having wrapped her foot around it in the first place. But, there was no time for that because the florist was advancing on her. "Okay, okay... I give up. Yes, I like Squall. There! You happy?"
"Very," Aerith said simply, returning to her seat while Yuffie climbed back into her chair after dusting the seat of her pants off. "He's been a lot happier lately, too, you know." A wicked smile came over her face and she leaned closer to Yuffie over the table. "Is there something going on between you two that I should know about? Or something you want to tell me?"
Yuffie laughed nervously, and looked down at her hands where she was picking at the cuticle of one finger. "Um... not really... at least, I don't think so... I don't really know, actually... but, if there were, would you be upset or anything?" she inquired quietly, still not looking at Aerith's eyes.
"Of course not! Why on earth would I be upset?" Aerith asked in genuine confusion.
"Because he's so much older than I am..." she trailed off, the playful atmosphere from just moments earlier having disappeared.
"Yeah, and?" the florist prodded, waiting for her to continue and maybe give a more logical reason, but then realized that she wasn't going to continue. "That's it? Yuffie, you're eighteen. Even if I did disapprove, which I don't, it wouldn't matter because you're a legal adult. And, like I said, Leon's been happier lately and the happiness of both my 'brother' and you mean a lot to me." At Yuffie's shocked expression, she continued. "What? Did you think I was going to be a super-bitch and try to keep you two apart?"
Yuffie grinned sheepishly. "Um... well... yeah." Aerith merely sighed and shook her head, mumbling her friend's name a few times. "Y'know, I think I should get some ice cream for putting up with this interrogation," Yuffie muttered, picking up her now empty tray and carrying it to the trash can.
- - - - - - - - - -
It was nearly dark by the time Aerith finally claimed that their shopping quest was over and allowed her and Yuffie to return home. The two girls practically dragged themselves into the elevator, carrying as many bags as they could with them. Fortunately, Yuffie had purchased few enough items to take them all in one trip. On the other hand, Aerith would have to return to her car at least once more, possibly two more times before all of her purchases were brought in.
In the elevator, a violent shiver racked Yuffie's frame, making her snuggle into her jacket deeper to help stop it. While the morning had been just cold enough to need a jacket, the afternoon had turned much colder as an unexpected cold front came sweeping through the area and chilled everything down considerably. And, apparently, the apartment manager hadn't turned the heat up in the hallways and elevators yet.
Silently, the two girls trudged down the hallway, bidding their goodbyes as each unlocked their door and entered their apartments. Upon entering hers and Squall's, Yuffie groaned as the apartment was cold and it was dark, meaning that Squall was not there. And that was a very bad thing since she had no idea how to work the thermostat.
Walking into the living room, she slowly let bags drop out of her hands, leaving a trail behind her as she made her way to the couch and threw herself down upon it. She had never dreamed shopping with Aerith could be so tiring. But, she had to admit, she had fun even if Aerith did force her to say how she felt about Squall. And, she did get the ice cream she had asked for.
Of course, now that it had gotten so cold outside and inside the apartment, she decided it might have been better to have gotten hot chocolate or something else warm. She shivered again, clutching her jacket tighter around her body when she heard the sound of clothes tumbling in the dryer. She smiled at that thought and jumped off the couch, nearly running into the laundry room to see how dry exactly the clothes were. She was in luck; the dryer was nearly finished with this cycle, meaning that the clothes were dry and still nice and warm.
Without a second thought, Yuffie pulled open the dryer door and pulled the clothes out, finding one of Squall's hooded sweatshirts he wore when he went running some mornings. Deciding that it was warmer than the jacket she currently had on, she took off her jacket and tossed it across the washing machine before pulling his sweatshirt down over her head.
The surge of warmth was immediate and Yuffie quickly grabbed the rest of the clothes in her arms and carried them with her to the couch, where she buried herself with them and pulled the hood of the sweatshirt over her head. Once inside her self-made warm cocoon, she snuggled down into them and closed her eyes.
In the back of her mind, a nagging thought told her it would have been better if she had simply placed a blanket into the dryer for a few minutes rather than use the clean laundry as a blanket. But, she pushed that nagging voice away. It sounded amazingly like the voice Squall used when getting onto her about sitting on his clean kitchen counters. Besides, she would have had to wait for a blanket to get warm, whereas these clothes were already warm. With the nagging voice finally silenced, she slowly drifted off to sleep, not caring that it was barely even six o'clock and that if she slept now, she wouldn't be able to sleep that night. Right now, sleep seemed like the best thing in the world to her.
It was about an hour later when Squall stepped through the apartment door, nearly tripping over the bags Yuffie had left strewn about the room. The lights were still off in the apartment since she had simply used the little remaining light coming from the window and her knowledge of the apartment's layout to get around.
He flipped the switch for the overhead living room light and found a pile of laundry laying on his couch with two cats curled up in it. That was when he noticed that the pile of laundry was also breathing and a face could be barely seen beneath the hood of his sweatshirt. "God... she's so cute..." he inadvertently whispered, glad that she was asleep and didn't hear him say it.
Shrugging off his coat, he hung it up in the closet and realized that the apartment was a little chilly, probably the reason for her curling up with what he assumed had been warm clothes fresh from the dryer. He headed towards the thermostat, which was located in the hallway, Squall turned it up a few degrees then returned to the living room, stopping in front of Yuffie and staring down at her for a few moments.
It was both confusing and awkward for him to have feelings for this girl, who little over a month ago, had been a pickpocket on the streets. If it hadn't been for him, she would still be on the streets and, quite possibly, dead right now considering how sick she had been when he brought her here. And somehow, along the way, he had fallen in love with her despite the fact that they were nearly complete opposites.
Just this morning, he had spilled out the whole sordid story of the accident that had claimed Rinoa's life. And, yes, he had been angry when her name had been brought up, for it reminded him of what he considered to be his failure. He was the one driving when Rinoa died and, perhaps, if he had driven more carefully, she would be with him today.
But, at the same time, if Rinoa hadn't have died that day, Yuffie would not be here in his apartment today. If Rinoa had lived, then he would have married her and, most likely, be living on the other side of town. It had been because of Rinoa's death that he had moved here in the first place, in an attempt to escape from painful memories. And, it was living on this side of town that he had found Yuffie (or she found him, he conceded as he remembered her stealing his wallet that night).
He had been thinking about this all day, the thoughts confusing him because it was almost like saying that it was good that Rinoa had died and he didn't think that at all. It was more like somehow, something good had been made out of her death. It was her death that led him to Yuffie and, most likely, saved her life, both physically and emotionally, even if it was against her will in the beginning. He still remembered how angry she had become with him when he refused to let her leave and her declaration that she would leave as soon as she was eighteen.
Shaking his head, Squall rubbed his temples, having brought a slight headache on with his train of thoughts. He reached out with his other hand and gently pushed the hood away from Yuffie's face, causing her to crinkle her nose and shift slightly. He thought she would remain asleep, however, a moment later her eyes fluttered open and she looked around the room in slight confusion until she got her bearings. "I was just wondering if you were actually in there?" he asked, gesturing to the pile of clothes on her lap.
"Uh... yeah... it was kinda cold when I got back here, so... yeah..." Yuffie trailed off, assuming that he could figure out from there what happened. There was a long silence, both of them still feeling awkward because of the events of this morning. This was the first time they had spoken to each other since then and Yuffie was still afraid that he was mad at her for bringing up Rinoa. "I'll re-wash all these clothes since I kinda got them dirty again," she mumbled, rising from the couch and picking up the laundry to carry to the wash room.
But, before she could go anywhere, Squall's voice interrupted her. "You told me once that after you turned eighteen you were going to leave," he said softly, watching as he saw her stop suddenly and nearly drop the clothes she was carrying.
Yuffie gulped. She had been halfway afraid of this ever since she had decided that she like living here, afraid that Squall would one day tell her she had to leave. Of course, she was almost positive that Aerith would let her move into her and Cloud's apartment, but she didn't want to make the move; she wanted to stay here. "I remember," she whispered hoarsely, her back still turned to Squall. She was glad he couldn't see her face for in the back of her eyes, tears had silently formed. She knew she had made him angry with her that morning, but she never dreamed he was angry enough to make her move out. Begging seemed to be her only option. "I don't wanna go."
"Please don't go," Squall pleaded at the same time as Yuffie's last statement, causing her to turn around and stare at him.
There was another long pause, this time interrupted by Yuffie as she tried to process the meaning behind what Squall had just said. After all, he had been mad at her this morning and he had every right and reason to throw her out. Yet, he still wanted her to stay. "So, I guess you love me again?" she asked in a slightly teasing manner in an attempt to lighten the somber mood that had settled in the apartment.
"Again implies I stopped," he replied, much more seriously than her question had warranted. Of course, the night before he had simply told her that he thought he was in love with her, but was that really true? Wasn't thinking you were in love with someone the same thing as being in love with someone? Besides, he had decided when he took her for dinner and she guilted him into not eating the lamb that he was in love with her.
At that, Yuffie did drop the clothes in her arms and they landed in a scattered mess on the carpeted floor. She really didn't expect that answer out of all the possible answers he could have given her and she suddenly felt like the metaphorical deer in the headlights. How was she supposed to answer that when she, herself, wasn't even sure what exactly love was? But the silence that, once again, fell over the apartment was driving her mad and she had to say something. "So you really weren't as mad at me as you seemed?" she questioned tentatively.
"I wasn't mad at you to begin with. I was mad at myself," Squall explained as he knelt down and began to pick up the clothes. Yuffie soon followed suit and knelt down with him. "Besides, I can't stay mad at you anyhow." Especially when you look at me with those eyes... he silently finished in his head as they carried the clothes to the laundry room and deposited them into the washer.
"Even when I do this?" Yuffie asked deviously, her teasing self having come back as she cracked her knuckles purposively loud. She had learned from experience that the practice drove Squall insane and she expected him to demand that she stop like he had done countless times before.
Squall grabbed her hands and twisted them behind her back, resulting in her being pulled against his body. "No, because I know how to make you stop," he whispered, leaning his head down so his breath was hot on her ear. He tightened his grip slightly on her hands when she struggled to get free, forcing him to push her even closer to him if that was possible.
"That's cheating, you know," Yuffie muttered, her voice slightly muffled by his chest. Not that she was complaining about being this close to him; it was nice, very nice being pushed up against him. But, she would have liked to retain the usage of her hands so that she could at least wrap her arms around him and hug him.
"But I got you to stop cracking your knuckles. Therefore, it's not cheating," he murmured, his voice low and almost seductive, and his breath still dangerously close to her ear. Squall felt Yuffie tremble slightly, assuming she was nervous (whether it was the good kind of nervous or the bad kind of nervous, he didn't know) from being in this position, and released her hands. But, she didn't back away. Instead, she placed her arms around his chest and held onto him for a moment in a hug and then backed away from him.
Yuffie rolled her eyes in what was supposed to appear as exasperation, but the smile that crept onto her face betrayed her mock annoyance. "Fine, fine. Whatever. You win," she told him, turning around and walking out of the laundry room and back into the living room, where she noticed all her bags still lying around on the floor. She started picking them up, knowing that Squall liked to keep his apartment neat for the most part and would probably say something about them soon anyways.
"Did you have fun shopping today?" Squall asked innocently as he stepped back into the living room soon after her and watched as she gathered purchases together into a small pile in the corner of the room.
"It was a near death experience," she admitted, shuddering involuntarily as she remembered the crowds and crowds of people and the way Aerith had insisted they go to every store that was having a sale.
Letting out a soft chuckle, Squall nodded before sitting down on the couch and turning on the television. "Shopping with Aerith tends to be like that," he said dryly, flipping through the channels on the TV to find something at least halfway decent to watch. He finally settled on an old black and white movie, something called Bringing Up Baby, that was just starting on one of the classics channels.
Yuffie finished pushing all her purchases into the corner, deciding that she would sort them and wash what needed to be washed the next day when she saw what Squall had put the TV on. "Not black and white," she groaned, attempting to grab the remote from him and change channels.
"Yes, black and white," he insisted, putting the remote between him and couch arm so she couldn't reach it. "You've never even seen the movie. Just watch it and you might like it."
Begrudgingly, Yuffie slipped her shoes off and curled up into his side on the couch like she did whenever they had watched scary movies. Of course, tonight, she didn't have the luxury of using that as an excuse; he would just have to put up with her. But, she assumed he didn't mind when she felt his arm come down around her back and pull her slightly closer. "This had better be a good movie or I'm going to sleep," she warned, her eyes already glued to the screen as she watched some scientist messing around with a dinosaur skeleton.
"That's okay," Squall whispered, bending his head down to lightly kiss the top of her head as he brought his other hand, the one not on her back, across his abdomen to rest on her waist. It wasn't long after this that the whole day of shopping caught up with Yuffie, and she soon fell asleep, despite the fact that she had been thoroughly enjoying the movie. And, not wanting to wake her, Squall waited until the end of the movie to very gently carry her to her room, placing her upon the mattress and then, careful so as not to disturb her, he pulled the blankets out from beneath her to cover her. Planting a small kiss on her forehead, Squall left her alone in her room, making sure to leave her door slightly open so her phobias wouldn't flare up should she awaken in the middle of the night.
Reluctantly, Squall entered his own bedroom, that suddenly seemed extremely lonely after having her sleep with him the night before. But he couldn't just put her in there tonight without knowing if she even wanted to sleep with him; it was something he would leave completely to her decision. It was nice just sharing a bed with someone, he surmised, just sharing someone's warmth without anything sexual actually occurring between them. Of course... he shook his head, not wanting his thoughts to go there right now.
After preparing for bed and stripping down to his boxers, Squall climbed into the bed, shivering slightly from the chill of the cold sheets. Yes, he decided tonight would be a very cold night without Yuffie's warmth next to him.
Author's Note: Long chapter. My word processor says it's 6330 words, but the doc manager always takes off a few hundred. So, this story may now be officially my longest or it might not. I won't know until I post this.
But, anyways, I'm glad I actually got back into writing this. I've been working on this chapter for three days, writing the vast majority of it (5000 words) today. And, if you haven't noticed, I've gone kinda crazy with italics throughout the story. :::grins:::
And I'm not sure if this chapter is completely up to par or not. It's hard getting back into the groove of writing these characters as how I've portrayed them throughout the story. Especially after finally playing Final Fantasy VIII all the way through and watching the 'real' Squall. Yeah... he's different than what I've written so far, at least in my opinion, but I can't do just change his character halfway through the story.
Ahhh... I'm rambling. I'll just go post this thing now since everyone's been patient with me throughout my mental constipation.