Life, or Something Like It
Chapter Four: Before the Storm


Squall watched Aerith pace about the living room. Cloud hadn't shown up at the restaurant over four hours ago, and he hadn't called. He'd decided to keep Aerith company until Cloud returned. Normally, Aerith was one of the most understanding and patient people he knew. But when it came to Cloud, patience just wasn't an option. This statement was evident in he way she was pacing about the room in a frenzy. Squall looked at his watch. It was nearly midnight. He sighed when he realized that he was probably going to be late to work yet again tomorrow.

But as Aerith had told him some time ago, he needed to sort out his priorities. Work came after his health, and the safety of his friends. But lately, Aerith and Cloud had been implying that work was all he cared about. Maybe it was. His patients were important to him. After all, they were paying him a large sum of money to help them through their problems. Besides that, he was flattered to know that some of these people would come to him rather than their own family. Friendships had been formed, and now his first friends felt that they were being neglected. Squall suppressed another sigh. "Wearing a hole in your carpet isn't going to bring Cloud back," he commented as he watched Aerith frantically pace around the room.

"Sitting here isn't either," Aerith replied. It was all she could do to stop herself from pulling out her hair in frustration. Cloud always called to say he'd be late. He wasn't at the office, and she had no number to reach him. Suddenly, she became very aware of herself. Her hands were wrung together, and she could hear her heartbeat pounding in her ears. For the fiftieth time in the past minute, Aerith found herself wondering if Cloud was all right.

"So, how was your day?" Squall asked. Maybe it'd be best to keep her talking. Otherwise she'd end up thinking of the terrible things that could have happened, and then she'd drive both herself and Squall crazy playing "what if…?" for the rest of the night.

Aerith stared. "You must be joking," she stated flatly.

"No, I'm not. When have you known me to joke around?"

"Point taken."

"How was work?"

"The usual. Car wrecks, accidents with super glue, fires, expecting mothers, broken arms, legs, noses…surprises are hard to come by after working in the emergency room for five years." Aerith stopped. "You know, you're almost too good at this psychiatrist thing."

Squall blinked. "What?"

"Distracting me like that."

"All I did was ask a few questions. You had every right to refuse to answer them."

"Don't make this look like my fault."

"Do I really do that?"

"Blame me?"

"No, distract you."

Aerith sighed. Christ, she was fighting a losing battle. "Yes. You do. Purposely."

"I don't do it purposely," Squall said with a shrug.

"Distract people?"

"No, blame you."

"Do us both a favor and shut up. I have a huge headache, and I'm sure you do too."

"You brought it upon yourself, asking me to go to dinner with you guys."

"Maybe for one crazy moment, I thought you wouldn't cross examine me all night." Aerith massaged her temples and said in a softer tone, "Haven't you wondered why you haven't had a date in ages?"

Squall leaned back into the couch and clasped his hands behind his head. "No, not really. I'm not interested."

"I forgot that work was all you cared about."

Squall briefly closed his eyes before answering. "Just because I choose to show my affection for my friends subtly and put all my effort into my work doesn't mean I don't care."

Aerith finally sat down beside him. Her legs ached from all that pacing. "I'm worried about you, that's all."

"You don't need to. You already have Cloud to worry for."

"But I have to, since you won't let anyone else worry about you."

Squall didn't answer, but he knew she was right.


Cloud pulled up in the driveway of his home. He found Squall's car parked outside. That's when he remembered that he was supposed to go out to dinner earlier. Cloud mentally kicked himself for forgetting. Aerith was going to kill him-or Squall-if he didn't get inside. He opened the door of the backseat to find a sleeping Yuffie curled up into a ball. This was the same girl who had been bugging him for nearly two hours through the car ride to the station about the handcuffs? She looked harmless, he decided. Well, at least when she was asleep. He sighed again softly before reaching out and gently shaking her shoulder.

Her dark eyes opened slowly, taking in her surroundings. Yuffie sat up and immediately wished she hadn't. A crick in her neck throbbed painfully. She got out of the car and followed Cloud up a path that led to a nicely furnished home in Queens. A light sheet of rain still fell, chilling her to the bone. The cold seemed to seep through her clothes and skin and settle in her heart.

Cloud shoved his key into the hole and unlocked the front door. "Aerith? Squall?" he called as he walked in, shaking his head in an attempt to dry his hair that hung limply with water.

Aerith and Squall both looked to the door. The muscular frame of Cloud emerged from the foyer. He looked like he hadn't slept in days, but other than that he was all right. "Cloud!" Aerith sighed, relieved that he was safe. Her happiness quickly turned into a frown. "Where have you been?"

"Long story. I'll explain later when I get back," Cloud said tiredly.

"When you get back…?" Aerith echoed.

"Where are you going?" Squall asked.

"To an orphanage. The owner's been abusing the kids there. In the meantime, would it be all right if she stayed here for now?"

"She?"

"Me," the small figure that had been hiding behind Cloud spoke up. She stepped forward. Her long black hair was plastered to her forehead with raindrops, her baggy black jeans, long sleeved gray shirt, and leather jacket were dripping wet. She had a pair of strangely colored dark violet eyes that were bleary with fatigue.

That is, until the aforementioned eyes settled on the man beside the woman referred to as Aerith and widened in shock.

Squall stared back with equal incredulity. It was her!

"You!" the two managed to sputter simultaneously.

Yuffie held a hand to her forehead. If this wasn't a birthday surprise, she didn't know what was.

"Are you -" Squall began before Yuffie had rudely cut him off.

"I am not in the mood to deal with you now," she started. "I've had a hell of a birthday since you nearly ran me over this morning, you jerk! And, by the way, the phrase 'Happy Birthday' wouldn't really describe the kind of crappy birthday I've had, so don't bother trying to wish me a happy birthday, when, clearly, I am not happy!" Yuffie finished angrily.

"Could've fooled me," Squall answered a bit sourly. He wasn't quite the happy camper at the moment either.

Aerith blinked. "Wait, you two know each other?"

"Unfortunately," both Squall and Yuffie sighed. Yuffie glared at him.

"She was the reason why I was late this morning," Squall explained. "We had a little run in."

"More like run over," Yuffie corrected. "He nearly ran me over with his Mercedes."

"Did you go to a hospital?" Aerith asked.

Yuffie shook her head and winced. Her head was still sore. "No. Don't have health insurance or any of that crap."

Aerith frowned. "Were you hurt?"

"A few cuts, bumps, and bruises here and there. Nothing major," Yuffie said with a shrug. Next thing she knew, Yuffie was sitting on the couch and grimacing as Aerith unwrapped bandages and studied her wounds.

"You didn't go to a clinic?"

"No."

"You might have an infection," Aerith said disapprovingly, clucking her tongue. "Squall, go to the bathroom and get some peroxide from the medicine chest. And grab some bandages while you're at it."

Squall got up and did as he was told. He could still feel the disbelieving gaze of the girl watching him. If he didn't have manners, he'd probably be doing the same thing. It was almost as if this girl was following him around. He shrugged it off. It wasn't as if he was going to bring her home like a lost puppy or anything…


Sora stared up at the ceiling. He was mentally exhausted, but his body was itching to run around or something. It was well into the night and sleep still hadn't come to him. His stomach was still doing flip flops after Yuffie's arrest. Sora could tell that Riku blamed him, even if he hadn't said it outright.

He sat up and reached under his bed. His hands found a brown box with a light blue silk ribbon tied around it. Sora toyed with the soft ribbon before opening it. Inside the box were three items. One was a picture of himself, Riku, and Yuffie, grinning with their arms wrapped around each other and making a peace sign with their free hands. Sora smiled wistfully. That was probably the only happy memory he had of the orphanage. He read the short note he had written on the back of the picture.

"Happy Birthday! This is the last birthday you'll be spending here. Keep this picture with you to remember that we did have some good times here, even if there were more bad times than good.

-Sora."

The second item was an old postcard with the image of a floating castle with mountains of ice surrounding it. Scrawled beneath it in neat, calligraphic letters was, "Hollow Bastion". Written on the back side was a message from Tidus, Wakka, and Selphie. How they had gotten their hands on a postcard with a picture of Yuffie's home was beyond him.

Sora looked at the last item in the box, which was from Riku. A set of ninja stars—shurikens, Riku called them—lay at the bottom of the box. There must've been at least fifty shurikens in the leather pouch. Riku had said that Ansem had a room full of stuff he took from kids that he thought were valuable. Sora shook his head. He wasn't surprised that Ansem would steal from kids. So Riku had snuck in and grabbed the pouch of shurikens for Yuffie. If this wasn't a great birthday present, Sora didn't know what was.

He sighed. He'd been hoping to see the tears in her eyes when she opened the box. Not that she cried very often. Now that he thought about it, Sora had never seen her cry. Only once, when Ansem had brought her into the orphanage all those years ago.

Riku watched Sora open the box and study each gift. He rolled over onto his side so that his back was facing Sora. Why him? Why did he have to be the one out of a million kids to lose his home? Why hadn't this world been taken? His island was much better—and much more peaceful and quieter—than this world. Dreary gray snow, blistering heat in the summer, police sirens wailing constantly...this place was the antithesis of peaceful and quiet. After all, it wasn't called the "city that never sleeps" for nothing. But now that he thought about it, if he went back, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night without the sounds of New York.

The wail of police sirens was getting awfully close, Riku noticed. The sound of screeching tires caused him to sit up sharply, and a voice boomed over a megaphone, causing him to jump to his feet.

"Everyone out with your hands behind your head!"

Riku strode over to the window and pulled back the shades so he could see. A fleet of at least ten cop cars surrounded the orphanage. Some cops were armed, others weren't.

By this time, the rest of the kids in the room had woken up. Sora made his way over, still cradling the box in his hands. "What's going on?"

Riku shrugged impatiently. "I don't know, I guess they're after Ansem."

"Yuffie must've told them what was going on," Sora realized, a small smile creeping across his face. He knew she wouldn't leave them here if there was something she could do.

"Doesn't matter. We need to get out of here without waking Ansem," Riku said. Clapping his hands, he got the attention of the rest of the kids in the room. "Listen up! All of you in here, you're going to follow Wakka out the back door and down the alley. Selphie, Tidus, you guys go grab the toddlers and go through the side door. Sora, you and I will get the rest and go down through the fire escape here. Meet out in front in five, okay?"

The four nodded. They had planned what to do if something like this should happen. Since they were the older kids at the orphanage, they thought it was their duty to take care of the younger children. It was mostly Yuffie's idea…Riku shook his head. He mentally made a note to thank Yuffie…if he ever saw her again.

Riku crept down the hallway silently and walked into the adjacent room. He slowly opened the door and turned on the light.

Twenty-seven sleepy heads arose from their pillows. Murmurs of confusion and irritation filled the room until Riku hushed them. "Listen very carefully. There are cops waiting outside. We have to get out of here. Grab some clothes and anything else you can find and follow me. No talking, got it?"

Panic stricken, they did as they were told. Riku stifled the urge to chuckle. It took a grave situation like this to keep them quiet. We should have the police surround the orphanage more often, Riku mused.

-::-

Ansem sat slumped in an armchair, staring at the black and white dots on the screen drunkenly. Thanks to that girl, he had three days to pick up and leave town without a trace. He figured he could stay with a friend who owed him in South Carolina. When he got his hands on that girl he'd…he'd…

The beer bottle he'd been clutching tightly with anger shattered in his hand. He cursed and nursed his bleeding hand with his good one. She would pay….Ansem thumped his head. He had a ringing of sirens blaring in his head. Maybe another joint or two ought to do the trick…Suddenly, he became aware of the flashing lights outside the window on the street below.

"Everyone out in ten minutes or we're coming in!" a voice boomed loudly. Ansem recognized the voice as the head of the police department. He stood up abruptly and stormed into the hall. He kicked open the nearest bedroom door and looked around. All of the toddlers were missing. Ansem opened the next door to find another empty room. He reached the last room and turned the knob slowly…

-::-

Riku's head snapped around as he heard someone opening the door. He met Sora's bewildered gaze. "Go!" Riku hissed, nearly shoving Sora out the window onto the fire escape.

Ansem pushed the door open to see Riku standing by the window, terror etched on his face.

Sora looked back at Riku with wide eyes. He wouldn't leave another friend behind. Not again. "Riku—"

"Go!" Riku said urgently. He looked back at Ansem, expecting the man to lunge at him. He tensed, ready to defend himself if need be. Riku slowly reached into his pocket and fingered the switchblade knife that he had snatched while in that room of valuables.

Ansem growled and plunged his hand into his jacket. What Riku was not expecting was to be staring down the barrel of a gun…


Revised 08/20/2010