Author Note:

Thanks to all you reviewers! I'm glad you weren't TOO mad at me for the extremely late update. I'm going to try really hard to make the updates frequent and/or regular. Okay? Not only that but because I'm anxious to get it over because...I and my co-worker of evil (evil smiley!) have a master plan in the works. Not only that but I have a couple more ideas in my head.

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The Sparrow Sings

Chapter Five

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"I knew you were sick," Yuffie said, rolling her eyes and sitting on the other side of the room on the couch while Squall sat in the armchair, leaning back, his face pale and a bowl next to the floor.

"I'm not sick," he replied, closing his eyes.

"Yes you are."

"No I'm not."

"You're trying to deny it."

"No, I only have a head-ache."

"Oh," she said as if she believed him, just to please him, although she knew he was lying. Why else would he have taken the precaution to have the bowl next to him?

"So uhh...what's going on with Seifer?"

"What do you mean?"

Yuffie diverted her eyes from his, even though they were closed. "Well, you know...are you going to fight him like he said?"

Squall opened one eye and shifted slightly. "No. Why would I want to fight him? It would be a waste of time. And I have work anyways."

She let out a breath. She had been hoping he wouldn't want to fight him. But it was odd the way he moved in his seat like that, like maybe he had been thinking something different when he said he wouldn't.

Hopefully, Seifer wouldn't call and start bugging Squall about fighting him and taunting him. While she knew Squall had a pretty good handle on his temper, she had observed that whenever he was around Seifer he acted much more reckless. And if Seifer called him out...she didn't want to think about it. She might have to deal with that later, because at the moment, Squall was heaving his guts out into the bowl.

"You okay?" she asked as she winced as she turned her head from the heaving noises in the bowl. She stood up, realizing he probably wouldn't want her to watch him puking, but, she felt she should try to at least comfort him.

She perched herself on the edge of the chair and rubbed his back, then letting her hand move up a bit to rub his neck area, then down to his back again in comforting motions. He stopped puking for a minute and eyed Yuffie with a strange look in his eyes. He stood up from the chair and walked into the bathroom when he closed the door and moments later she heard the toilet flushing.

Yuffie sighed and sat down in his chair. Knowing him, he would probably want to go to work even though he was puking. He was stubborn. Too stubborn. It was Monday again, and the weekend break (which thankfully they got every week, unlike many jobs) had been great, but she, in a way, wanted to get back to work to talk to her friends. Not that she wouldn't take an open opportunity to take a "leave of absence" however.

Squall appeared from the bathroom. Yuffie watched him sit back down in his seat then finally said, "Will you be all right without me? Do you need me to stay home with you from work?"

Squall wiped his mouth with the back of his arm and shook his head.

"No, because I am going to work today," he replied simply.

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Are you kidding me? You're barfing your guts out. If you went to work like that Cid would throw a cow for puking on his stuff."

"I'll be fine in a few minutes," he insisted, refusing to meet her eyes.

Yuffie was overcome with a sense of adoration for him. He was trying to put up a tough front when they both knew he was too sick to function.

"Aww," she cooed, putting both of her hands on his cheeks playfully, pulling his face up a bit. "Squallie!"

"Lay off," he growled, though it didn't seem to hold much hostility. He pulled her hands off his cheeks. "You don't want to get sick, too."

"I won't. Besides. I want to stay here with you. And it's an excuse not to go to work. I have like zillion sick days left since I haven't used any. Neither have you, have you?"

He didn't answer, but instead turned to the bucket and again vomited.

"That's it. I'm calling work right now. It's time for The Great Nurse Yuffie!" she said, skipping into the kitchen and grabbing the phone. She found the work number on the hot dial. Why would he want that on one of his hot dials? she wondered.

She pressed the button and was immediately connected with work. Someone from one of the main offices picked up.

"Hello? This is Cid's Manufacturing. How may I help you?"

"Yes, hi. Um, I'm calling about a co-worker. Squall Leonheart, do you know him? He works directly for Cid. Well, he's very ill and he and I will not be at work today, or maybe even for a few days."

She sighed and seemed to be writing it down. "Very well. Call us tomorrow and tell us how Mr. Leonheart is holding up."

With that, there was a click on the other end of the line. Yuffie hung up and skipped into the living room. It seemed as if Squall had recovered some, and was sitting up in his chair.

"There! It's all settled. You are staying home today...with me!"

"Yuffie, I told you I would be fine! Look, now I'm perfectly all right..."

"You won't be in awhile. I wish we had bought crackers and soup at the store yesterday..."

A thought popped into Yuffie's mind. Since Squall was so sick, there was no way that he could go fight Seifer. And that meant...no worrying!

"Guess what I heard? Stress causes aging in the cells. In a test run by scientists, they found that mothers with children who are disabled had more stress put on them and actually genetically changed themselves. They're telomeres on the ends of their chromosomes shortened and were significantly shorter than mothers older than them. When it is shortened, the telomeres can no longer perform mitosis and that means they can't duplicate their cells. That means they age," she said.

Squall raised his eyebrows and stared at her. "...Where did you hear that?"

"The newspaper, silly! I bet you didn't know that, did you? Did you, huh?"

"Er...no. I kind of lost you after the first few sentences."

Yuffie frowned, disappointed. "Oh. Well, I said—"

"I got it the first time."

She sat down on the couch and curled her knees towards her chest. "Why are you always so mean? You could at least try to be nicer once in awhile, ya know..."

"Sorry. It's just the way I am," he replied with a slight sigh.

"Well..."

"Let's not get into this," he interrupted, standing up and walking off towards his bedroom. "I don't need any more additional stress."

"Or else you'll look older right?"

He had already left into the bedroom. Yuffie sighed and leaned into the couch. Talking to him was hopeless. He seemed so...uninterested and distant. Wasn't there one thing he cared about? Surely there had to be...no one could be human and act like that. Why was he putting up such a front with her? She tried her best to be open but he just seemed closed up. Maybe it was up to a little bit of Yuffie spice to open him up.

I wonder what I can do...she wondered, the gears in her mind turning at a rapid pace. She twirled a strand of hair around her fingers. Giving up after a few moments, she stood up and skipped down the hall to Squall's...and her bedroom.

"Leon? Squall? Can I come in?' she asked. After waiting a few seconds without an answer, she pushed the door open and stepped inside. The room seemed to be chillier than the rest of the house, and slightly darker.

Squall was seated on the edge of his bed, looking at something with his back turned from her. She sat on the bed and crawled over to him to see what he was staring at so intently.

"Yuffie! Haven't you ever heard of knocking!" he said angrily, shoving whatever he had been holding away somewhere where she couldn't see.

"Yes and I did! I asked if I could come in and you didn't answer."

"Well that means that you don't come in."

"I know that but I didn't think you would mind."

"You didn't think, but you didn't know for a fact."

"Look, can we stop arguing? I'm sorry I came in and I'm sorry I bothered you. I'm just interested in getting to know you but you're making it seem very evident to me that you don't want anything to do with me...but not just me, everyone," she said, watching him carefully.

"What are you talking about? I don't act like that."

"Yes you do!"

"Okay, think what you want. It's fine with me."

---

He felt his head spinning as Yuffie continued talking and droning on. However, something caught his attention.

"...you're making it seem very evident to me that you don't want anything to do with me...but not just me, everyone," she said, watching him carefully.

"What are you talking about? I don't act like that."

"Yes you do!"

"Okay, think what you want. It's fine with me."

Did he really act like that? He couldn't help it. He didn't make it his goal to personally attack or ignore people. And act like that? He couldn't help it. He didn't make it his goal to personally attack or ignore people. And Yuffie was saying that he did?

She laid back on the bed, facing him on her side, one hand under the pillow. "I wish we could talk more."

"We do talk," he replied, dreading the way the conversation was going. He cared about Yuffie, he really did, but sometimes she could just get annoying with her talk of 'talking more' or whatever she said that annoyed him which was...almost everything.

"No we don't. Whenever I say something you act like, after I'm finished, you just woke up and are now paying attention."

"Well I was listening to you about the whole aging thing." Pause. "Look—I shouldn't have to explain every little thing I do to you! It's tedious and if I asked you why you're so damn inquisitive every time you ask me a question then I'm sure you would get pretty upset too, because you ask way too many questions."

Why did they fight this way? It wasn't even angry fighting. It was more like they were debating with each other. And it happened incessantly. Did she enjoy annoying him and that was why she constantly asked him questions?

Did he enjoy it without realizing it?

He felt his stomach flip and a quick dizzy wave pass over his head. He laid back on the bed with her. She didn't seem to be responding to his last words. She was staring at the ceiling, instead, a dreamy expression on her face.

"Doesn't that look like a house to you?" she asked, pointing a finger at the stucco on the ceiling. He raised his eyebrow. She never ceased to amaze him.

"What does that have to do with what we were talking about?" he questioned, though he certainly could see the house where she was pointing.

"I don't know. I didn't feel like talking about that anymore."

He sighed. "Why don't you make up your mind?"

"I did."

He rolled over away from her and squeezed the bridge of his nose. He really was not feeling well and Yuffie was just confusing him more than she usually did.

"Yeah, all right," he muttered, closing his eyes.

---

"What's wrong? Do you need me to grab the bowl?" she asked, sitting up on one elbow. He shook his head.

"No, I'm fine. Just dizzy."

She gave him a worried expression. "Are you sure that it's normal to have dizzy spells?"

"I said I'll be fine."

"Okay, okay! Do you want me to give you a Yuffie specialty?"

"What's that?" he asked cautiously, his voice slightly muffled.

"This," she replied, sitting up and straddling his waist with her legs. "Just relax."

She applied her hands to his back and rubbed slowly, her eyes widening slightly. "You're really hot through this shirt. You must have a bad fever," she commented, continuing to rub him.

"Quit, Yuffie, I don't need a backrub," he replied, struggling to get on his stomach.

"Yes you do! You know you want one," she grinned, pinning him to place. A soft knock at the door made both her and Squall jump.

"Wow. This is awkward," Cloud commented, watching them amazed. It really must have been; Yuffie was still straddling Squall and she was, to make it worse, pinning him to the bed. It could be very easily misinterpreted.

"Cloud! You're supposed to be at work!" Squall hissed, his face suddenly turned a deep red. He pushed Yuffie off, but he needn't have done so, because she was already rolling off of him. She felt her face heat up as she glanced at Cloud.

"Cid sent me over here to see 'why the hell you aren't at work,' as he put it. You don't look sick to me. It looks like you two were playing hooky. Now, I know you two are newlyweds, but that doesn't mean you should let things get out of—"

"Cloud, you sick perve!" Yuffie shrieked, covering her face as if the very thought disgusted her. "You know you're the one who started this!"

"I know. I'm genius, aren't I? Well I better get back to work before Cid has my head," Cloud said, still eyeing the two. Squall gave him a scowl and a dirty look as he was leaving.

"Who does he think he is?" he muttered. "Walking into my house without knocking and accusing us of...of..."

Yuffie smirked. "You were blushing. The great Leon, blushing! Ha!" she laughed.

"Speak for yourself. Your face was looking a little pink, Great Nerd Yuffie," he said, perfectly deadpan.

She scoffed. "I thought you could come up with better than that."

Without waiting for his answer, she pushed him back on the bed and threw a cover over his body then walked into the kitchen humming after telling him to 'stay.'

Soon Yuffie found herself scouring the kitchen cabinets once again, trying to look for some soup which she had stupidly forgotten to buy, since soup happened to be one of her favorite quick dinners other than McDonald's.

Stuffed in the back of the cabinet she found what she had been looking for: two cans of soup. She put one on the counter for later and brought the soup, which was chicken noodle, to the stove and started up some water to boil.

In a minutes she had the soup boiling over the stove. She stirred it occasionally and took tiny taste tests. "Excellente!" she exclaimed in extremely poor Spanish.

"Squall, I have hot soup!" she called, two rags wrapped around her hands as she carried the now finished bowl of soup to Squall's room.

She pushed the door open all the way with her shoulder. "Oh Squall!"

Yuffie stopped calling out when she noticed that Squall's eyes were blissfully closed and his mouth slightly open in sleep. She smiled and set the soup on the end table for later. She watched him a few moments before sitting on the edge of the bed and studying him.

She placed a cool hand on his forehead. She was right, he did have a bad fever. She hesitated for a few moments, then kissed his cheek gently and stood up. She rushed out of the room, suddenly feeling embarrassed, but not before she whispered a, "'Night, Squall," before leaving.

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'Kay, I TRIED to put some fluff in there. How was that? Another prolonged chapter, but I got it out quicker than the other one. I know, it's short. Eight pages, 2,700 some words. Ah well, I tried! I hope you review for me!!

Also—don't you want to know what it was that Squall was looking at? And NO, it wasn't Rinoa. So there.

XOXO