A/N: Wow guys, it's been way too long, if I don't say so myself. I was just out of the whole writing thing for a while. Ugh, I went back and reread "Love is Like a Rose", and I just gagged; it's riddled with grammar mistakes and bad spacing and the list goes on and on. I'll get around to rewriting that someday. I should probably get a move on rewriting some of these chapters as well. I apologize for the lack of line breaks. Quick Edit went all awry on me. You'll be able to tell when the scene changes though. Feel free to fling any old fruit at me. I can't say I don't deserve it. coughadvertisment timecough But it's not like there aren't other Squffies to satisfy your L/Y needs (if I get any story titles or pennames wrong, it's been a long day. I'm sorry and feel free to correct me).
- Deplora has two L/Y's up and running, I think. "Honor Amongst Thieves" and a sequel to "Blind Instinct" (brilliantly written, I must say) called "Lullaby".
-Vulpes Lapis recently coughfinallycough updated "How Do I Loathe Thee?" so you should all go read and review that…after you're done here, silly!
-Um, October Breeze has one going, "The Sparrow Sings". The plot is very interesting and I haven't seen it done before. It's a great find…I sound like I'm talking about antiques or something. It's been a long day ;
-There's Jupiter Green and "Rewind". In short, it's awesome.
-And Obsidian Sorrows' fic, "Warrior, I am". Grr, I was hoping to write a fic with the same plot, but now I see that I probably couldn't have done the idea justice. Yeah, another great Squffie, mixed with a bit of Cloud/Yuffie, but I love it.
-I almost forgot, "Chasing the Mayfly" by Ellyrianna. I haven't gotten around to reading some of the later chapters, but the ones I have read I liked. I think I'll go R&R once I post this…
-I think Annjirika just put up her latest fic, "Midnight Moonlight." Vampireish Squffie. A Squall with fangs. For rabid Squall/Leon fangirls, I don't think it gets any better.
Uh…there are quite a few others out there that I haven't mentioned. Snoop around on some people's favorite's list and you'll find dozens of Squffies…I think Deplora has the most complete list of Squffies I've yet to see on someone's favorite list. And if you still can't get enough of Squffie, there's always the Squffielove community on livejournal (dot) com. Just hop on over to Livejournal, type in "Squffielove" in the search by username, and voila!
Okay, done with advertising. -whew- Onto the fic!
DISCLAIMER: It's been a while since I've written one of these…I do not own Kingdom Hearts or Final FantasyVII/VIII/X, but I do own the two OC's. Was that good enough?
Life or Something Like It
Chapter 13: It's All About the "He Said, She Said"
Riku struggled with the weight of the books as Yuffie thrust another text into his arms. "Now I'm glad I go to a public school and don't have to lug all these books home everyday," he commented, watching Yuffie fish around in her locker.
"Rub it in why don't you," Yuffie grumbled, shoving a book into her backpack. "Hey, have you seen Sora?" Now that she thought about it, she hadn't heard from the spiky haired teen since they arrived.
"Nope, not since lunch…have you seen Kairi?"
"No…should we be worried?"
"I guess he's somewhere with Kairi. He'll turn up sooner or later; otherwise Cid will have his head. He's supposed to do inventory today."
Yuffie slammed her locker shut and slapped her forehead. "Oh, I forgot…I still have detention. Sheesh. Blow up one chemistry lab and they go all mental on you."
"Okay. I'll hang around for an hour...not like I have anywhere to go anyway. Besides, I have to wait around for Sora."
"See you." Shivering a little as a cold wind swept through the hall, Yuffie started up the empty hallway to the principal's office for another hour of cruel punishment. Juvenile Hall must be heaven compared to this, she thought idly, dragging her feet a bit. Perhaps she'd be better off with the cops. The sound of another pair of footsteps caused her to look up. She spotted Akurei heading towards her with what looked like two scalpels and groaned. This school couldn't be that evil…could it? "Hey…what're you doing with those scalpels?"
Ten minutes later, the sound of metal scraping on metal was all that was heard in the gym. Disgusted, Yuffie removed another wad of gum that fell on her face. If the principal wasn't contemplating suspending her and glaring at her, Yuffie would've tossed her cookies. But in retrospect, she realized it wasn't a good idea; then she'd have to clean up her lunch and breakfast as well as the gum. "You would think people would spend time making out rather than chewing gum under the bleachers," she whispered to Rae.
"Yuffie?"
"Hm?"
"What's with you and Riku?"
The scalpel slipped from her grasp and hit the floor with a clatter. "No chitchat allowed," the principal said sternly, crossing his arms and glasses gleaming in the light.
After he turned away, Yuffie whispered back, "That was kinda sudden…what d'you mean?"
"Are you two…you know."
"No!" she responded a bit quickly, feeling her face heat up. "No. Ugh, ew. We're just friends…why?"
"Oh…I guess you hadn't noticed it. You were sleeping at the time, after all."
"Noticed what?"
Casting a glance towards the principal, who was talking to another teacher, Akurei continued. "I started talking to him after you conked out in chemistry. He thinks very highly of you and your friendship…I think he likes you."
"Of course, I like him too. It's kinda inevitable after spending ten years together."
After muttering something under her breath (which, to Yuffie, sounded suspiciously like, "And people think I don't notice anything."), Akurei said bluntly, "Not that kind of likes. As in he-sees-you-as-potential-girlfriend-material likes you."
This time Yuffie caught the scalpel before it hit the ground. "What?!" she exclaimed.
"Miss Kisaragi, if I hear another word out of you, you'll find yourself spending more time in detention than you do in class!"
"Just think about it, all right?" Akurei whispered hurriedly before returning to scraping for gum.
"But--"
"I'm warning you, one more sound…"
Unable to get another word in edgewise, Yuffie sighed in frustration and scraped furiously at the remaining gum on the underside of the bleachers. As if her life wasn't complicated enough already: on the run from a loony, learning about her past, struggling with a newfound infatuation with her current roommate who just happened to be nine years older than her, and now one of her best friends for ten years is harboring feelings for her. She glared at Akurei. Akurei just shrugged and smirked in response, as if to say, "I call it how I see it." Her smirk soon turned into a scowl as a chewed wad of gum landed in her hair. Yuffie grinned and felt a bit better. Now at least they both had something on their minds...or in Rae's case, in their hair.
Meanwhile, still by Yuffie's locker, Riku put on his headphones. Nodding his head to the guitar solo, he looked around the almost empty courtyard. He leaned against the wall, observing the few people still milling around. A group of friends sat underneath a large bare oak tree, laughing and talking animatedly. A teacher walked through the courtyard towards the faculty parking lot, a briefcase in one hand a cell phone in the other. To the far off right in a corner by some bushes was a couple, holding each other and whispering sweet nothings. Releasing a sigh, Riku looked away. He was almost sixteen, and even Sora knew more about girls than he did. He was told that he was a lady-killer, the mysterious bad boy that girls dreamt about. And maybe he was. But he just wasn't interested…or at least he hadn't been until very recently.
In a surreptitious manner, a woman, who was parked behind a mess of bushes and shrubbery, got out of her SUV and looked around. She muttered something into her cell phone and looked around again. She fished around in her big black purse for a pen and a slip of paper and scribbled something down. Taking one last glance around, her eyes met Riku's, and Riku looked away. Lowering her gaze, the woman said something else into her cell phone before sitting back down in the driver's seat of her Dodge Durango.
He'd been studying the woman and her car so closely, Riku nearly wet his pants when he felt a fist punch his shoulder lightly. To his chagrin, it was Deidros. Removing his headphones, Riku growled, "What do you want?"
"Nice to see you too. Where's Yuffie?"
"Detention."
"What're you doing here?"
"Waiting for Yuffie. Said I'd walk her home."
Deidros's face fell. "What are you, her shadow?" he said jokingly, shoving his hands in his pockets. Turning serious, he asked, "Is there anything between you and Yuffie? Are you two…you know."
Riku blinked. "Why are you asking?"
"Well, I, uh…"
Resisting the urge to pinch the bridge of his nose in frustration, Riku sighed. "Dude, she's not your type. Believe me."
"I think I can decide who is and isn't my type, thanks," Deidros returned coolly.
"Suit yourself." The kid wanted Yuffie to shoot him down, fine. He wanted his heart ripped out and stomped on? No problem. He was just trying to help him out.
After a slight moment's pause, Deidros finally spoke, "Tell her I said hi." And with that he ambled away. Well, at least Riku knew that the competition had nothing at him. Wait, competition?
He didn't have much time to think about anything else as something prodded him roughly between the ribs, causing him to jump and wince at the same time. "Ready to go?" Yuffie asked, shifting the weight of her backpack from one shoulder to the other.
"Um, sure." He glanced back to where he'd seen the mysterious lady to find that she was gone. Shrugging it off, he followed Yuffie to the drop off/pick up area.
"Squall's supposed to pick me up. I'm sure he'll give you a lift too. What about Sora?" Yuffie added.
Riku shrugged. "Still haven't seen him." Although Riku had an idea of where Sora could be. Chances were that Sora finally got the balls to walk Kairi home. After twenty or so minutes of standing on the curb, looking like two human popsicles, Riku spoke up. "He's not coming, is he?"
Yuffie sighed, blew on her hands, and rubbed them hands together to keep them warm. "Damn Squall. I guess we can walk. It's not that far. Besides, I'm freezing my butt off here."
So the two set off down the sidewalk in silence. Sidling up alongside Yuffie, Riku noted that she was uncharacteristically quiet. "How was detention? They didn't make you write lines, did they?"
Feeling a blush sweep up her neck as she remembered the conversation she and Akurei had earlier, Yuffie forced a laugh. "I wish. Try scraping gum off the bleachers for an hour."
The two fell silent again. As they rounded the corner of 12th Street and Pines, Riku considered telling Yuffie about the strange woman he saw. Something was off about her, but Riku just couldn't place his finger on it. Instead, he opted for telling her about Deidros. "You have a new secret admirer, by the way."
Losing her grip on her chemistry book, Yuffie asked, "What?"
"Don't tell me you didn't know. I thought it was obvious, especially after today," Riku commented, picking up the book Yuffie had dropped and handing it to her.
"I know," Yuffie said quietly, avoiding eye contact with him and picking up her pace. "Rae told me earlier."
"So?"
"So what?"
"What do you say?"
Chewing on her lower lip, Yuffie sighed heavily. "I don't think it'd work out, Riku. We're good friends, and it'd just be weird, you know?"
"Good. I tried letting him down easy for you, but he just couldn't take a hint."
"Wait, him? Him who?"
"Your secret admirer, Deidros."
"Deidros?!"
"Yeah…who do you think I was talking about?"
Yuffie frowned. "You mean…you aren't the secret admirer?"
"No!" Looking at his feet, a little red faced, Riku continued. "No. Who told you that?"
"Uh…it's a really long story." Feeling stupid and, if possible, even more embarrassed, Yuffie kept about four feet between her and Riku. She wanted to kick herself in the head over and over, and was sure she could manage it if she tried. Hell, she wanted to kick Rae for feeding her false information. And for embarrassing her, she wanted to kick Riku.
Another silence came between them as they walked the last few blocks to the apartment complex, except this silence was uncomfortable. Yuffie cheered inwardly when she finally climbed the second flight of stairs and reached apartment number 35B. Reluctantly, she turned and faced Riku. "Listen, about earlier…"
"Forget it." Well. At least he now knew for certain that whatever it was between them would never happen. "No biggie."
Leaning against the front door, Yuffie shook her head. "I don't know what I was thinking, listening to her. We've known each other for ten years, we're almost brother and sister. It'd be kinda gross, now that I think about it."
Feeling slightly deflated, Riku managed a grin. "So you've thought about it before, huh? I knew you couldn't resist my charms."
Before she could come up with a clever comeback, the front door opened. Since she let her weight rest against the door, as soon as it opened, she fell back into something firm and warm. After getting over the initial shock of falling, Yuffie realized that she was in the arms of the object of her affection, Squall. By this time, she was positive that she looked like a tomato with hair by now. "Um…hi," she managed to squeak out.
Squall set Yuffie back on her feet and looked between the two teenagers. "Are you two—?"
"No!" Both Riku and Yuffie said emphatically in unison.
Squall shrugged. "Sheesh. I was just asking if you were cold. I just made some hot cocoa."
"Um, no, I'm good, thanks. I have to get going. See you around, Yuffie." Trying to save what was left of his dignity, Riku set off down the hall and out of sight. If one more person else asked if he and Yuffie were a couple, he'd crack.
Coward, Yuffie thought. "Hot cocoa sounds nice, actually. Especially after freezing my ass off for twenty minutes waiting for you to pick me up."
Squall slapped his forehead. "Sorry about that. I knew it was way too quiet around here…I was doing some paperwork, and then Aerith called…I lost track of time."
"Yeah, yeah. Just don't let it happen again, all right?" Yuffie grumbled, throwing her coat and books on the couch as she progressed into the kitchen for some hot chocolate. "I can hardly feel my fingers." Squall stopped her and took her pale hands in his. "W-what are you doing?"
"Warming them up," he replied simply, encasing her slim, trembling fingers with his own calloused ones. "What happened to your gloves?"
"Sold 'em for a decent lunch," she said, making sure to hide her face behind her bangs so he couldn't see what all this contact was doing to her. If she blushed anymore, she'd be mistaken for a fire hydrant.
"Sold them? What happened to the twenty dollars I gave you?"
"Bought another set of skateboard wheels."
Squall sighed. "You're warm and clammy," he noted, putting a hand on her forehead and her cheeks. "And have the chills," he added, feeling Yuffie shiver underneath his touch.
Sure, she was shivering all right, but not because she was cold. "I'm fine, really."
"Here, just let me make sure—"
"Really, it's nothing," Yuffie cut him off.
"I'm not giving you a choi—"
"I just need to—hey!" she exclaimed as Squall lifted her up and slung her over his shoulder. Although she couldn't bring herself to complain. She had a great view of his a—I so did NOT think that, Yuffie thought, horrified.
When they reached Squall's room, Squall unceremoniously dropped Yuffie onto the black silk sheets on his bed. "I," he began, grabbing his desk chair and straddling it, "am going to give you a check up. You, on the other hand, will be quiet as I go about it. Understood?"
"Yes sir," Yuffie mumbled.
"Good. When was the last time you've had a doctor's check up?" Squall asked while going about and getting out his stethoscope, thermometer, and tongue compressor.
"Um…when I was six?"
"Mhm. So, how was school?"
"It was—shit, your hands are freezing!" she yelped as Squalls hands felt around the skin on her neck.
"Or maybe you're just hot," he returned calmly, ignoring the expletive and continuing his work.
Yuffie blushed even harder at the comment. She knew he didn't mean it like that, but she still blushed furiously. "Whatever."
"Open your mouth and stick out your tongue."
She obliged and Squall stuck the thermometer in. "Hey—"
"No talking," he reprimanded. She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Maybe I should stick a thermometer in your mouth more often. The silence would be rewarding. And no talking," he added as he saw that she was about to protest.
As soon as the thermometer beeped, Yuffie spat it out and glared at him. "Maybe I should stick this thermometer up your—"
"Ninety-nine point eight, one point two degrees higher than what it should be. All right, I need you to undo the first three buttons of your shirt, so we can all keep our modesty, so I can check your heart."
Nodding, Yuffie lifted her trembling hands to her shirt and fumbled with the buttons. Well, it wasn't everyday a gorgeous doctor told her to unbutton her shirt. So sue her. "I-I can't. My fingers are still a little numb," she lied. Truth was that she didn't want to admit that she was too nervous. Her heart was pounding double time; she was sure Squall could hear it…wait, he can! With that stetha-whatever it's called, she realized.
"Take a couple of deep breaths." The first two breaths were shaky, and by the third one, her heart was fighting to escape her ribcage. "It's just a stethoscope, not a shot or anything," Squall reassured her.
Great. Now he thinks I'm a baby when it comes to shots. "Yeah, I know…I just haven't done this doctor business in a while," she said with a slight smile. Or something like that.
"Well, you seem to be okay," he concluded, putting his supplies away. "You just have a slight fever. Stay here. I'll go get some aspirin for your fever."
"Okay." She watched him walk out of the room. Although he seemed like a cold-hearted bastard on the outside, he really was kinda and caring. Well, when he wanted to be, anyway. Yuffie let her eyes wander around the room as she waited. Her eyes fell upon a thick manila folder that had her name on it. Conveniently forgetting what trouble curiosity had gotten her into before, she reached out and opened it. Inside was her personal information: name, gender, date of birth, hair color, eye color, blood type, and so on. Yuffie skimmed further down and saw notes scribbled in Squall's handwriting. The more she read, the less she liked.
Wednesday, November 23rd, 2003
Subject Yuffie Kisaragi seems to have a guarded aura around her, which was expected after growing up on the streets as orphan to get by. Slowly, but surely, she is letting some of that aura shine through. Though distrustful, Subject is adapting well to her surroundings.
There was more, but Yuffie couldn't bring herself to read the rest. So that's all she was to him? Nothing more than a scrawny little street rat with irreversible psychological issues? She got to her feet and fled to her room before Squall returned. Growing up, Yuffie had learned to not pay attention to what people thought; what made Squall so special? She knew she shouldn't care, she knew she shouldn't. But that's what scared her. She did, and no matter how she tried, she knew she always would.
End Chapter 13.
A/N: Oooh, who's the mysterious lady? That's for me to know and you to find out, I guess. Which you will. Soon. I actually liked this chapter, oddly enough. Squffie interaction. Joyness! Although I proofread this at least three times, I'm sure I'll still find grammar mistakes later on.
Anyway.
R&R!
