Life, or Something Like It
Chapter Five: Touch the Sky
And then one day I was overcome
By loneliness and despair
And deep inside I thought I heard
'Lean on me, I'm here'
- Avril Lavigne, "Touch the Sky"
Yuffie watched helplessly as Cloud's car backed out of the driveway. The only thing keeping her from bolting out the front door, down the street after the car was Squall's hand that lay on her shoulder. She shrugged it off impatiently and shuffled over to the couch she had just vacated. She threw herself onto it and shut her eyes. Now that she could hear herself think, she could actually comprehend what was going on. The cops are over at the orphanage to bust Ansem. And hey, at least I finally got out of there, Yuffie mused.
"Yuffie?"
No response.
"Yuffie?" Aerith tried again. "Your bedroom is the third door on the right if you're tired."
"I'm not tired."
Squall stifled a chuckle. The dark circles underneath her eyes told him otherwise. But one could only rest peacefully when their mind was at rest. And from the emotions dancing in her bleary eyes, she was definitely not at peace; far from it.
"Would you like some—?"
"No thanks. I'm not hungry or thirsty." Yuffie wished that this woman would just quit bugging her. Yuffie knew that Aerith meant well, but all she wanted was to be alone, just as she had been for the past seventeen years.
Aerith let out an exasperated sigh. "Okay, then. If you need something, feel free to ask. Or maybe we could talk…?"
Yuffie blinked. Silence.
"Well. Do feel free to ask if you need anything at all," Aerith said momentarily, standing up and walking to the kitchen. She wouldn't force the girl to talk if she didn't want to. She'd leave Squall to getting information out of her.
"I'm going for a walk," Yuffie announced suddenly, standing up.
"What?"
"Oh." Yuffie sighed and asked awkwardly, "I'm going for a walk?" She wasn't accustomed to asking anyone for permission. She headed for the front door. "Don't wait up for me."
"Oh no you don't," Aerith said sternly. "I'm responsible for you, and you are not leaving this house without me or my consent."
I didn't ask you for either one, she thought before grabbing her jacket. "You're not my mother," Yuffie snapped. "I can take care of myself."
"You're so used to taking care of yourself, you've forgotten how it is to have someone else care for you. Just go to bed, and let us worry about things for a while. Get a good night's sleep and clear your head a bit. We're here to help. Why won't you accept it?"
Yuffie hesitated. Yes, it would be so much easier to let someone else worry about it, to take off the weight that she unknowingly placed upon herself. But that would be the easy way out, and she wasn't raised like that. Life wasn't easy. She shrugged on her jacket. "Because," she said, glancing over her shoulder, "I don't know how." The door slammed shut and left Squall and Aerith to ponder her answer.
"I'll bring her back," Squall spoke up, grabbing his coat and an umbrella. "Get some rest in the mean time. You look dead on your feet."
Aerith nodded and watched him go. If anybody could bring that girl back, it was Squall. He had a seemingly never ending supply of patience and was probably just as headstrong as Yuffie. "In any contest between power and patience, bet on patience," she repeated the quote Squall normally referred to. Now it made so much more sense that Squall dealt with Yuffie right now.
Running. It was all she'd been doing, it seemed. Where her feet were carrying her, she had no idea. But all she knew was that she needed to catch her breath, both mentally and physically. It was as if something was missing in her newfound freedom, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.
Ignoring the soft, wet pitter-patter of the rain landing on her, Yuffie sat on a bench after deciding it'd be useless to go any farther. Everyone was lending her a hand during a very vulnerable moment. It was difficult to tell whether they wanted to help her up or pull her even further down. Ever since Ansem, Yuffie had thought it best never to willingly give away her trust.
She cradled her head in her hands. She felt as if her head would burst. Just once, she wished she could let someone take care of her. Her mind went back to the previous night. She envied the way Selphie could openly cry; she was envious of the fact that Selphie had someone to hold her as she did. Yuffie tried to imagine a pair of strong arms protectively pulling her into a gentle embrace, soft words of comfort being whispered into her ear, gentle fingers wiping away any traces of tears or sadness from her cheeks…
"Let us show you."
Yuffie looked up sharply. "Go away," she said dully after recognizing who it was.
Squall sat beside her on the bench so that the umbrella he held could shelter the both of them. "You said you didn't know how to let us help. We can show you. You just have to trust us."
"How do I know you won't hurt me?"
"How do you know I will? The most you can do is take my word for it."
"Yeah, well, I don't want it."
"Well. Then what do you want?"
Yuffie thought for a moment. "I…I don't know."
"What you think is best for you may actually turn out to be one of the worst things for you and others around you. And what you think is worse may end up being the best thing that will ever happen to you."
"Quit speaking in riddles. What are you talking about?"
"Right now, you're here for your own good. Do you agree with that?"
Yuffie shrugged. "I guess, but I'm not quite happy with it."
"Why aren't you happy?"
"I don't know, it just doesn't seem real. I mean, after all I've done, can I really live happily ever after?" she wondered, using her fingers to comb her damp bangs out of her eyes.
"You can't," Squall answered, "until you come to terms with everything."
"How can I? I don't even remember coming to this goddamn city! The only thing I can remember was waking up here." Yuffie glanced at Squall and began to go on but stopped. Her gaze focused on a silver lion pendant that hung on a chain around Squall's neck. She reached out and touched the pendant. "Where did you get this?"
If Squall found the question a bit peculiar, he didn't show it. "This? Oh, I've had it for as long as I can remember."
Yuffie stared at it. It was so familiar…
"Hey S-"
"No."
"But you don't even know what-"
"No."
"Won't you just let me-?"
"No."
"Please."
Silence.
"Please."
Nothing.
The girl stopped skipping after the boy and frowned at his retreating back. She took a deep breath. "Please, please, please, please, please, please-"
"Dammit, what?"
"Can I please come and train with you?"
"No. I want to train alone."
The girl hurried after him and suggested, "Then I can watch!"
"You'll just get in the way."
"Aw, come on! Do you have to be a jerk all the time?" the girl asked, putting her hands on her hips. Her temper was beginning to flare up and her patience was running short.
She didn't receive an answer and ran after him, continuing to whine.
Yuffie blinked and let go of the pendant. The figures were a bit blurry as usual, but this….vision, was different from her dreams. She could clearly make out the heavy necklace around the boy's neck. It was eerily similar to the one Squall wore.
"Are you okay?" Squall asked after a moment.
Yuffie laughed ruefully. "Mentally or physically?"
"Both."
Yuffie then realized that he was serious. She sighed before saying, "I'm not crazy, all right?"
"Why don't you come back to the house?"
"Because."
"Because why?"
"Because…I'm worried for my friends."
"I see."
"No, you don't."
"Then let someone see it through your eyes. I can't understand if you don't tell me."
This guy was being a pain in the ass now. It was nice before, since he was just comforting her. But now he was plain infuriating. "What are you, some kinda shrink?"
"Psychiatrist, actually."
Her eyes narrowed as she said firmly, "I'm not crazy. Why does everyone think I'm on the brink of insanity?"
Squall hid a smile. "Yeah, I get that a lot. But I didn't say you were crazy. All I know is that it must've been tough living the way you did without losing it."
"What the hell do you want from me?" Yuffie asked. "Just stick me in a room of padded walls already, why don't you?"
"You seem angry."
"I would think so. Some bastard's implying that I'm mentally ill!"
Squall slightly flinched at the curse word. This was why he tried to avoid dealing with teenagers, he thought idly. "Go on," he said patiently.
And she did.
"A-Ansem," Riku said uncertainly. "You…can't." Well, duh he can, he thought after he spoke. He's the one with the gun, remember? "The cops are coming in."
"Not if I have a hostage."
"What good is a hostage who's already dead?"
"They don't have to know whether the hostage is alive or not. All they need to know is that I have a gun and I'm not afraid to use it."
Riku gulped. He'd known that Ansem wasn't right in the head, but he didn't know that Ansem was a raving lunatic. With a gun.
"I can. And I will." Ansem smirked at the fear in Riku's eyes. His voice dropped a few octaves as he asked, "Not so brave now, Riku?"
Sora was crouched beneath the window, hidden from sight. He could hear every word that the two spoke. There was nothing he could do. Just like before. Again he had to standby as another friend slipped away. Sora clenched his fists so tightly, his nails left small crescent shaped cuts on his palms. Ignoring the sting of blood, he opened the box and took out a shuriken and gripped it firmly. He stood up and called out, "Hey, Ansem!" before throwing the weapon with all his strength.
Riku flinched at the sound of the gunshot and Ansem's yell. A bullet was embedded in the wall next to his head. Sora had knocked Ansem's aim awry with a shuriken. Ansem now stood wrenching the weapon out of his arm while hissing in pain.
"Riku!" Sora urged. "Come on!"
Riku didn't need to be told twice. He snapped into action and climbed through the window onto the fire escape after Sora. Riku missed the last few steps of the ladder and hit the pavement hard. He felt a hand take his arm and drag him to his feet. It was too dark, too dark to see. Adrenaline coursed through his veins, causing him to tremble violently. Riku was a tough kid. He'd stood up to guys twice his size and was always in control. But he had felt so powerless when he had been staring down the barrel of that gun. And if it wasn't for Sora, he wouldn't be getting dragged around the building to the front where cops and children stood.
"There they are!" a voice yelled over the sirens and chaos. Riku recognized the voice as Tidus.
"Told ya they'd make it out all right," he heard Wakka tell Selphie.
Riku and Sora staggered back after Selphie had tackled them. Sora could feel tears seeping through his shirt as Selphie yammered on. "Never do that again! You guys had us worried sick."
"Yeah, next time I'll remember not to get stuck in a room with Ansem and a gun," Riku said a bit dryly.
"A gun!" Tidus exclaimed. "And how come you're not dead?"
Riku glanced at Sora. "If it wasn't for Sora…"
Sora smiled. "You would've done the same for me."
"Thanks."
Sora nodded as he said, "No biggie. All in a day at the orphanage."
All five teens looked up as someone let loose a string of curses and profanity. Ansem was being dragged out of the building, his hands firmly handcuffed behind his back. He was screaming death threats at each kid he passed. Wakka cupped his hands around his mouth and called, "That's stuff's getting old, Ansem! I've already heard that one!"
Tidus snickered while Selphie scolded them for being immature. Sora found a familiar head of blond spiky hair by a cop car. He looked down at the box in his hands. Wherever Yuffie was, she deserved a birthday gift. Anything to tell her how sorry he was for abandoning her. He pushed through the crowd, getting elbowed across the head a few times. The man was by a car far from the crowd. He was leaning against it with his arms folded across his chest. He seemed to be trying his hardest to keep awake. "Hey!" Sora greeted.
"Huh?" Cloud grunted as his eyes snapped open. "What do you want, punk?" He asked as his gaze settled on the boy before him. What was it with him and kids today?
Sora frowned at being called a punk, but decided not to comment. "You know that girl you took in earlier for breaking into a store?" he asked, cutting to the chase.
Cloud shrugged. "What about her?"
The kid practically shoved the box into his hands. "Give this to her, will you? And tell her, 'Happy Birthday'."
"What-" Cloud began.
But Sora had already blended into the crowd and disappeared.
Cloud sighed. He looked around. He wasn't needed here. Sephiroth and the others seemed to have the situation all under control. Besides, he was half asleep and wouldn't be of any real use to anyone. Cloud climbed into his car and suppressed another sigh. He'd have hell to pay in the morning for taking off.
The rain had stopped, and so had Yuffie's raging temper. They both now sat in silence. Squall was regarding her with a mildly amused expression. "Now don't you feel a little bit better now that you got all that off your chest?" Squall inquired.
"No," Yuffie answered flatly.
Squall stood up and closed his umbrella. "No man—or woman—is an island. Try to remember that before you push away someone special."
Yuffie scoffed. "Someone special?" she echoed.
"You don't always get a second chance," he said seriously, meeting her gaze and holding it before he turned away. "See you back at the house." His footsteps sounded down the sidewalk and eventually disappeared as he did too.
Yuffie cocked her head to the right. What did he mean by all that second chance stuff? Yuffie thought. Was he speaking from personal experience? She decided then that she could care less about his personal life. It was downright annoying how he had been able to get information out of her without any trouble at all. His way of questioning and weaseling secrets out of people was more than a match for a defense attorney.
After another fifteen minutes of silent brooding, she was running again. Except this time, she wasn't running away from those who were trying to help her.
Revised 08/20/2010
