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Yuffie, Yuffie, Let down your hair!

Elsewhere, Yuffie Kisaragi found herself inside a room. She stood up and somehow… she felt different. Heavier. She looked at her arms, her hands, her legs, she felt her face. Nothing seemed to be out of place, until she started to walk, and tripped. "What on…"

She stopped as she saw the source of her fall, a long piece of dark rope. She narrowed her eyes and grabbed it, only to find her head yanked backward. She looked at what she was holding on her hands, and realised that it wasn't rope, but braided hair. She closed her eyes as she reached at the back of her head, and her eyes widened in shock when she realised that the hair she was holding was her own. She stood up again and grabbed the hair at the back of her neck and threw it over her shoulders. Her jaw dropped as she saw the length… it must be twice her height…. Even more. She suddenly realised that there was no door in the room. There was just a window and she walked towards it and groaned when she looked out. She was surrounded by forest, and she was inside a tower. A very, very, long tower. "Okay… I'm in trouble. You'd better show up Squall, and you'd better have a good explanation for this!"

Squall on the other hand, found himself in a small farm at the outskirt of the forest. He saw a small cottage and decided to take his chance. "Stay here." He told the carpet, which simply plopped to the ground. It was quite disconcerting to be travelling, and talking to something that wouldn't talk back to you.

Now you know how Yuffie feels.

He ignored the taunt and knocked softly at the wooden door. He heard a shuffle inside the room before the door opened to reveal an old woman. "Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for a friend."

The old woman smiled. "That's nice. Good luck!"

She was about to close the door but Squall stopped it with his hands. "Please, she's missing. I need to find her."

"Where did you come from?"

"Traverse Town." Squall replied and the old woman rolled her eyes.

"No you silly boy, where did you come from before you arrived?"

"At a forest… not far from here." He replied and the old woman looked at him, waiting for him to continue. "We… we just escaped a giant."

The old woman snapped her fingers. "The beanstalk. I see, you started with the beanstalk."

"How did you know?"

"Of course I know. You should have been more specific when you said you were looking for a friend. This is the first check point you see, didn't the guide tell you anything?"

Squall just looked at the old woman. "I am having difficulty trying to understand everything."

"Very well, very well, come on in. Tell me everything."

Five minutes later:

"Well, you did wish for her to go away and leave you alone."

Squall closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "I did not mean it. If I knew the ring was real, I would have wished for something else!"

"What's done is done… tell me, do you have any idea why you're here?"

"I'm here to get her back."

The old woman looked as if she was going to say something, but decided against it. I can tell you, but you have to give me something in exchange."

Squall opened his bag and offered it to the woman. "Take what you want."

"Oh, no… I want that carpet you left outside. Give me the carpet, and I will tell you where your friend is."

"Very well." Squall murmured as he walked outside and returned with the carpet.

"See that path?" She asked as she pointed to a window. "Follow that, you will find her there. If by any chance you have not learnt your lesson, she will disappear again. For you to find her, you must keep going west until you find the next check point. You do understand what you are doing here?"

"I'm only here to get her back."

"My dear boy, it is more than that now. You are on a quest to rescue your friend. For you and your friend to return home, you must pass the test and learn the lesson!"

Squall stood up, ready to leave. "Perhaps I would be more enlightened if I was aware of what this test… this lesson is."

The old woman sighed. "You have been told already. You must listen. Listen with your heart. You will understand."

"I see." Squall replied. He was obviously not going to get an answer here. "Thank you for your time."

The old woman watched as Squall make his way to the path she had told him to go. His next task is easy. He would not have a problem getting to her, but the more he fails each time, the harder the next tasks would be. "He's a stubborn one, isn't he?"

The carpet moved, almost as if it was nodding in agreement.

Inside the tower, Yuffie sat on the bed with a scowl. There was nothing here but a bed. The room was completely bare. That, and her new hair made it so hard for her to move around. Everything was so quiet, she wanted to scream.

"Yuffie, Yuffie, let down your hair!" A hoarse, high pitch voice yelled. Yuffie stood up and tried not to trip as she walked towards the window and looked down, and saw a witch. "Let down your hair."

Yuffie looked at the witch, then back to her hair. She looked down again at the witch with both hands on her hips. "Who are you? How did you know my name? Did you do this to my hair?"

"I am a witch, I know everything, and yes, I did that to your hair!" The witch replied. "Now, let down your hair!"

"I don't think so, old hag!" Yuffie cried out

The witch pointed her bony fingers at Yuffie. "Let down your hair, or else!"

"Or else what?" Yuffie taunted the witch.

The witch opened her mouth but could not find anything to say.

"HA!"

The witch narrowed her eyes as she glared at the young ninja high above the tower. "You will let your hair down… or I will make sure your friend will never see you again!"

"What? What friend?"

"Don't play innocent, missy! I know about your friend who will come to your rescue!"

"Yeah, well, you'd better run and hide then…" Yuffie called out.

The witch stamped her foot on the ground. "Let your hair down, now!"

"Make me!"

The witch seethed in anger at the young ninja. "Last warning. LET DOWN YOUR HAIR!"

"NO!"

"If you don't let your hair down right this minute, I am going to make this tower disappear and you will be trapped there forever!" The witch cackled in evil laughter and Yuffie winced at the horrible sound.

"Fine! Just stop that noise!" Yuffie yelled as she bent down to gather her hair, and threw it down, right at the witch who screeched in surprise. Yuffie looked down and saw the unconscious witch and bit her lips. "Oops."

At that moment, Squall Leonhart saw a tall tower with a piece of rope hanging out… and up above was Yuffie. He picked up his pace and saw an unconscious woman wearing black. He looked up again and watched as Yuffie with a sheepish expression on her face.

"Yuffie?"

"I ah, kinda knocked her out."

Squall stared at the rope hanging and tugged it, and heard Yuffie yelp. "What's wrong?"

"Let go of my hair!"

Squall released the rope, and when he looked closer, he realised it was braided hair. He looked up again and saw Yuffie scowling at him. "You hair is short."

"Not anymore!"

Squall tugged the braid gently. "How did this happen?"

Yuffie shrugged. "I opened my eyes and I was here… with this hair."

"Can you get down?"

"There's nothing here but a bed,. Hey, where's the flying carpet?"

"I had to trade it for information."

Yuffie looked down an Squall expectantly. "So… how am I going to get down?"

Squall weighed his options. There was no way he can climb up something that high, nor can Yuffie climb down.

He looked inside his bag for anything he can use, but found none. He looked up again at Yuffie before giving the hair a gentle tug.

"I can still feel that, you know."

Squall murmured an apology. The only way to get to Yuffie is to climb up there… and somehow find a way to go down. He looked at the braid, then back to Yuffie, then to hi gunblade. "I have an idea."

Yuffie nodded her head eagerly. She was feeling like she was in those fairy tales where the Princess was locked away in a tower, and was rescued by Prince Charming. Except that her Prince Charming seemed unsure how to save her, and he didn't slay any dragons… he didn't even defeat the witch, like in most stories. She suddenly felt a less than gentle tug and her eyes looked in shock at Squall who was currently using her hair as rope. "Hey!"

"This is the only way up!"

She fumed, and she couldn't believe that her head was still attached to her head. She looked down again to find Squall almost half way up. His face was blank, blue eyes focused on the walls, the face he uses before he set out to kill the heartless. Yuffie didn't know why they were in this situation, but being with Squall was worth it, though having to be rescued twice in short periods of time was ruining her pride as the Great Ninja Yuffie.

"My neck's starting to cramp!"

"I'm almost there…" And soon, they were face to face, he was so close she could feel his breath. "Yuffie?"

"Yes, Squall?"

"Leon. I need you to move out of the way."

Yuffie blinked and blushed in slight embarrassment. "Oh!"

She moved away, and Squall gripped the window ledge and pushed himself in the room. He looked around the room before pointing his gunblade at Yuffie. "Turn around."

She eyed his gunblade warily. "Why?"

"So I can cut of your hair and we can use it as a rope to go down, unless you have a better idea."

What he said made sense, that and the long hair was starting to irritate her. She turned around and felt Squall move behind her, his hands taking hold of her braid. She closed her eyes and felt the steel of the gunblade against the back of her neck, and then…

"Done."

She turned around to see Squall with the braided hair. Her hands flew to her own, and realised that her hair nor reached just above her shoulders. Squall brushed a few strands of her hair away from her face.

"Are you ready to go?"

"Go? Yeah.. I am." Yuffie replied as she followed Squall to the window. Squall tied the hair on the bed

And threw the braid down the ground. "Hey, Squall."

"Leon. What is it?"

"So, any luck on what the lesson is?"

"No. You go ahead."

Yuffie looked at the braid before setting herself on the window ledge. "This better work…"

Squall watched Yuffie climb down, and he tried to figure out what the old woman said about this test, this lesson that he needed to learn. He began to go down, and tried to asses the situation. The first thing he needed to do was to make sure Yuffie didn't disappear again. He reached the ground a few seconds after Yuffie who was looking around her.

"What do we do now?"

Squall didn't answer her, and as much as she complained before that he hardly ever looked at her, it was a bit discomforting to find him doing so. Much to her surprise, he took a hold of her hands as they started to walk. "Uh, Squall?"

He ignored the nervous tone of her voice. He was relieved, happy even to discover where the ninja was. When he was walking looking for her, there was a slight fear nagging in his mind. He had no idea where to go, except words from an old woman who wasn't really that much of a help. He couldn't remember feeling so comforted at the sight of his partner, safe up on the tower.

Yuffie was torn between smiling and well, smiling. Squall was holding her hand! She wanted to jump for joy, she wanted to scream, but found herself completely speechless, until she felt herself stumble.

Squall turned around sharply and saw Yuffie standing in a puddle of water. "Let's go, Yuffie."

Before she could reply, a hand shot out from the water and grabbed her by the knees, and pulled her down.

"Not again!" Squall cried out as he used the hilt of his gunblade to hit the mysterious arm that appeared out of nowhere. "Yuffie, hold on to me."

A pillar of water rushed up, separating Yuffie and Squall completely, and as quickly as the pillar appeared , it disappeared with Yuffie. He was angry that she slipped from him twice, taken away by some force to another place that he was supposed to be find. It was almost as if this wasn't much of a test, but someone was playing with Squall Leonhart, and was using Yuffie to their amusement.

For you to find her, you must keep going west until you find the next check point.

He remembered the old woman's words, and despite the fact that the sun was setting, he was determined to get into the next check point, wherever it was. He was going to find Yuffie, and this time, he was going to make sure nothing was going to take her away from him. He still had no idea of the purpose of all all this… A lesson he needed to learn. His mind has reviewed everything that happened since he arrived in this place, and there was nothing, nothing that constituted as a test.

Whoever was behind this better have a good explanation for what was happening. If they wanted to test him, or whatever it really was they wanted to do, they were welcome to do so. He was a warrior, he was ready to face whatever challenges no matter how absurd. What he found unforgivable was using Yuffie Kisaragi to do the deed.

He was going to find her, and he was going to discover whatever this lesson is, and get Yuffie back to Traverse Town.