A/N: Tis ze Chapter Finale! Already? Man… I have so much free time. :sniffs: I have this annoying cold… and it won't go away! Grrr… :sniffs: I'm all congesty... It's like... I D'OH BOB! (I know mom) Anyways! Hope you enjoy the final chapter!

And thanks for reviewing! I'm glad you enjoyed human Nanaki! Hehehe…

Disclaimer: FF7… blah blah blah doesn't belong to me!

Human Years
Chapter Finale

Speak of What Is True

Blood. It gushed out with such a powerful force that I could have sworn my body felt like it was about to collapse. The red liquid dripped down on a shadowy figure that I had pinned down. The figure wrapped its arms around my neck and slowly pulled itself up… slowly making contact to me… and then-

"Chug it dooowwnn!"

I shot open my eyes at the loud noise and fixed them upon Cid who had… a bottle stuck inside my mouth. I quickly stood up, took the out bottle and coughed out the bitter tasting liquid that made its way inside my mouth. I shook my head around and growled at Cid who seemed very amused at the moment. After taking a quick look at my surroundings, I was inside my grandfather's room with, obviously, Cid…Cloud, Barret and Vincent. I tilted my head, quite confused at the moment.

"What's going on?" I asked to whomever was willing to answer.

Cloud turned his head towards me and gave out a small smile. "We're finding a cure for you, Red." He turned back and resumed his work with Vincent.

"Oh," I looked at Cid who still had that evil smirk on his face. "I guess that potion didn't work on me."

He stared at me then laughed so hard, I could have sworn I saw a vein pop out from his head. "Ahaha! That was no potion! That was one of my sake I found on the Highwind the other day."

I stared at him for a second then collapsed back down on my bed. My stomach felt a little uneasy… now that he mentioned that bitter tasting beverage. I felt like I was going to barf…

"Hey," he continued, "I had to wake you up somehow!"

"Hey, hey!"

I perked my head up and quickly sat up from the bed as I saw Yuffie climbing up the ladder. I couldn't stop thinking about what happened last night. I kept wondering how I felt when I was around Yuffie. I never felt like that before when I wasn't human… so, why now? Was it some kind of… human thing that humans go through or something?

"Hellloooo!"

I blinked out of my dreamland and stared up at Yuffie who had her face shoved right in front of mine.

"What?" I said, making the girl sigh loudly.

"C'mon! We're going to play!" she said happily, tugging my arm in a child-like manner.

I remained in my one spot and looked at the busy working Cloud and Vincent, who didn't seem to notice any disturbances. I sighed, thinking that if I didn't go with Yuffie, someone would be quite upset. I don't know why, but I felt that… going with Yuffie was more important than any potion. I actually didn't feel like returning to my regular form just yet.

"Uhm…" I said to Vincent and Cloud, "Is it okay?"

"Don't go too far," Vincent pointed out. "We might head out later to search for that monster's fume. It's the only way we can cure you."

"Don't treat us like little kids!" Yuffie grunted and stuck her tongue at Vincent's back.

"Tch. Teens," Cid sighed, removing the cigarette from his mouth.

With an evil glare from the angered ninja, she dragged me off the bed and down the ladder, where I met Tifa spinning a white ball around on her lone finger. She smiled and threw the ball at me. I clumsily caught it and stared at it for a while before I looked up to Tifa.

"How about a little game of… dodgeball?"

I tilted my head and responded, "How do you play… dodge…ball?"

"You never heard of that?" exclaimed Yuffie with a surprised look on her face, "Just how it sounds. You try and dodge the ball, and when you get hit, you're out!"

"Sounds… painful."

"I'll go easy on you."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Hiiiiiiyah!"

"ACK!"

That was the tenth time Yuffie hit me… and in the same spot at that! A big bruise soon formed on my side and it seemed like it would be permanent. I growled and waved my arms around at the two laughing girls.

"Hey! You said you would go easy!"

"I am! You're just too sucky!" Yuffie laughed. "You dodge better in battles than in games!"

"That's because I wasn't human!" I whined.

"Sucky, sucky!"

"C'mon! You can do better than that!" Barret and Cid yelled in the back.

After they heard that we were going to play dodgeball, those two decided to come along and play with us. But, I bet they only came down here just to watch how clumsy I am being a human.

"You can't hit me!" the ninja teased, sticking her tongue out at me.

With the feeling of both anger and embarrassment, I lifted the ball off from the ground and concentrated on the two targets. All throughout the game, I hadn't been concentrating enough, but now I felt ready for anything. I brought the ball back, quickly stepped forward, and brought my arm out really fast, releasing the ball from my hand with amazing speed. It was headed straight for Yuffie, who gasped as the ball suddenly collided right on her face. I gasped as well and ran towards her, hoping she was all right.

"Yuffie! Are you alright?"

She rubbed her cheek that now had a big red bruise on it, then threw the ball right into the side I had the bruise on. I moaned and quickly grabbed my it that was now in excruciating pain, then looked at Yuffie who had quite the angry look on her face.

"Yuffie…" Tifa whispered as she backed away from the ninja.

"Damnit! That hurt!" Yuffie said very angrily.

"That hurt? How about the fact that you keep hitting me in the same spot!"

"That's because you don't know how to protect yourself!"

"Well, you said that you were going to go easy on me! But, like the same untrustworthy ninja I know, I knew it was too good to be true!"

That seemed to steam Yuffie up in a way I have never seen her. She stomped her foot hard on the ground and made a fist right in front of my face.

"HEY! If you don't trust me, then why do you keep hanging around me!"

"You're the one who keeps dragging me all over the place!"

"That's because if I didn't, then you'd be sittin' around in that small room feeling so stupid about yourself! Who does that!"

I widened my eyes and slowly backed away from her, our eyes still fixed upon each other's. She… was absolutely right.

"… I'm sorry," I finally said as I patted the bruise that was now gushing out blood.

"If it's ONLY for the bruise on my cheek, th-"

"Not only that…"

Yuffie lifted her eyebrows, now in full attention of what I'm about to say.

"It was stupid of me to feel that I was different from everyone else. But, you have to remember… I'm not used to being human. It was so unexpected… and it's still shocking to-"

A hard slap across my face stopped me from continuing. I fell backwards and looked up at Yuffie, who had tears dripping down her cheeks. She punched in the air before stomping her foot hard on the ground once again.

"MORON! Did you think I was taking you everywhere only because I showed sympathy to you? I did, but didn't you learn anything at all? I was trying to get you out of that 'feeling stupid' and 'awkward' stage and make you have fun with everyone else! But… I guess I was wrong. You only thought I did this just so I could embarrass you…"

Yuffie backed away from me before yelling out, "THAT'S NOT TRUE!" And at that, she ran past Tifa, who was shocked at the moment, and ran out of Cosmo Canyon. I stared until her figure disappeared.

'… that's not… true…'

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"We need to search for that fume in order to finish this remedy."

"…"

I wasn't in the mood to pay attention to what Vincent had to say, even though it was important. I clenched the bandage around my side tightly, as the pain slowly began to surface once again.

"Nanaki?"

I looked up at my grandfather's voice. He seemed quite concerned when he said my name.

"Is something bothering you?" he asked.

"…"

"He's probably thinking about how Yuffie just snapped at him like that!" Cid blurted out, not realizing what he just said. I clenched my fists at that.

"I don't know what got her so worked up…" Tifa added. "Red?"

"…"

"Look, I don't know what happened, but can we concentrate on important matters?" Cloud said, trying to change the subject.

"FINDING A POTION FOR ME IS NOT IMPORTANT!" I snapped, practically pounding my fists hard on the table, making everything shake. I couldn't believe what I was hearing from them. "I'm going to look for Yuffie!"

At that, I jumped down from the room and headed straight for the exit of Cosmo Canyon, thinking of nothing but Yuffie.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It felt like I had been walking around in circles. Everything seemed different, now that I saw things in a new perspective. I looked to where Yuffie might hide, but, being the clever ninja she was, she obviously made it seem like she was hiding where I thought she would be. I called out her name several times and I recieved no response. She was probably still mad about what I said about her… how she was an untrusting person. I shouldn't have said that… because it's not true. Her little habit of tricking people diminished a long time ago. I don't know what gave me the idea of her going back to that habit. After all… she was just trying to help me.

Just then, the ground started shaking with so much force, I couldn't even sit up as I fell hard on the ground. Two gigantic dragons that Yuffie and I encountered before had emerged through the cracks of the ground, but, they seemed bigger than last time. I guess… the last dragon we fought with… was not even full grown!

I quickly jumped away from their swinging tails and made my way down the mountain as the dragons followed close behind. As I made my way down the very steep mountain, I tripped over a rock and almost landed on my wound. I quickly lifted myself up and I spotted one of the dragons letting out the poisonous fume that made me turn into human. Quickly picking up a big rock, I stood up and threw it with such a powerful force that it completely knocked the dragon out. I quickly found a cave near the bottom of the mountain and made my way through. Luckily, the cave was small so the dragons couldn't make it through the entrance.

I panted hard, "… I thank whoever invented dodgeball…"

All was quiet in the cave as I made my way to the deepest end… with nothing but the thought of Yuffie stuck in my head. For all I could know, she could still be outside with those dragons.

"Yuffie…"

"What?"

I jumped back at the voice. After looking around for a few seconds, I finally noticed Yuffie sitting across from me on a small boulder, with tears streaming down her face. I stared back at her in shock.

"Yuffie! What're you doing here?"

"Me? What about you!"

I frowned at that. "… Yuffie…"

"… what? Did you only come here just so you can get that stupid fume from those dragons and finish the cure?"

"Yuffie… you know it's not that."

"… go away."

I paused before narrowing my eyes at her. "No."

"Fine," she replied, making her way out of the cave. "I'll leave then."

I growled and pulled her arm back. "No! I have to tell you something!"

"I don't need to hear it from you again!"

"Yuffie! Just listen!"

"…"

"I know I should have said this earlier…"

Without realizing, I stepped forward and wrapped my arms around Yuffie's waist and rested my cheek against her bare shoulder.

"Thank you."

"W-What're you doing! Let go!"

"You were the only one that even cared about my feelings. You helped me all this time. Why did you do it?"

She remained silent.

"Did you do it… just so you can pay me back from before? Or…"

"No," she finally said, turning around to face me. "I did it because it doesn't matter how you look on the outside… only in the inside. You're still the same ol' four legged dog I knew a long time ago!"

'… dog…' I said to myself.

"You're my friend… and friends look out for each other, right?"

"… yeah."

I looked away from Yuffie for a second then gasped, noticing that there was a gray gas present inside the cave. It was the same exact gas from last time. I quickly pinned Yuffie straight for the ground, covering her with my body to protect her from the gas.

"What the-!" Yuffie yelled.

I moaned as the gas completely covered my body. And like what happened before, my body felt like it was going to tear into pieces. I grabbed my sides really tightly, not realizing that I reopened my bruise with so much force, that blood gushed out quickly.

Yuffie gasped as she stared up at the pained look on my face.

"R-Red!" she cried out as blood dripped on her face.

"D-Don't worry about me! Just stay down!"

"B-But!"

I bowed my head and coughed a few times before I managed to say, "… you… taught me a lot… Yuffie. I should have realized what you were trying to do sooner…"

"… Red…"

"… thank… you…"

I almost collapsed right on top of Yuffie, but I managed to prevent myself from doing so. The pain that was flowing throughout my body felt stronger than before. I panted a lot, not realizing that Yuffie had her arms behind my neck. She slowly lifted herself up and gently pressed her soft lips against mine. My body began to warm up as I unconsciously wrapped my arms around Yuffie and pushed her towards me, deeping our very first kiss.

After that moment… total darkness…

"… you're welcome…" was all I heard.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It had been several months since the little event with Yuffie. After I woke up a week later, I was back to normal. That is… NORMAL normal. Vincent's remedy had returned me to my normal body and it had cured me from my injuries as well. Walking with my four feet took time to get used to… I almost walked with my hind legs the minute I got out of my bed. But, luckily my grandfather said I didn't have to do that… unless I wanted to. Obviously… not.

As for Yuffie and myself, our bond had grown deeply. However, our feelings for each other had changed for those months… and we see each other as loving friends. Perhaps, everything had just been an accident… and we weren't meant to be with each other. I don't know what will happen to our relationship as time passes by, but as long as I know she's all right… I'll continue to love her as a friend and protect her… wherever she may be.

A/N: End of Chapter Finale! Whoo! My firstest… more-than-one-chapter-story I have ever finished! And a romantic-ishy story at that! Aw, I really liked writing this… maybe I'll do a sequel to it or something. Hm. Who knows? You think I should? Hm… anyways! I hope you enjoyed the final chapter, and please tell me how you thought of it! Oh yeah… sorry, no extras. :dodges flying tomatoes: