A/N: Huzzah for chapter five! Arg! Now my whole... writing-chapters-every-other-day has completely went boo-lah! Anywhoosits, hope you enjoy this chappie! Filled with mushyness! Hehehe...

Disclaimer: STOP! In the name of loooove… FF7 doesn't belong to meee… think it aall over… what? My disclaimers DESERVE to be all jazzed up and special! Huzzah!

Back To Those Human Years
Chapter Five

Hidden Feelings

A flash of light appeared for a brief moment as I walked through the never ending void of darkness. I had no idea where I was… but I had a feeling that I've been here before. More flashes of light suddenly appeared. I arced my back up, waiting for any enemies that were to approach. But, no enemies revealed themselves, just small silver colored particles that shimmered as they slowly made their way down. I watched as they hit the ground and created a beam of light that shone straight up. I stepped back as a long shadowy figure formed above and slithered its way towards me. For some reason, I felt no need to be afraid. Its red eyes revealed itself, glowing brilliantly. It leaned forward and spoke.

"Never have I felt such burning determination within someone. I can tell that this… 'special someone' is very precious to you and that your feelings for this person are incredibly strong. However, your true feelings are still hidden, deep within your heart. I know… that this festival will soon reveal it. My spirit shall remain near you…

…until the end…"

After that moment, the figure disappeared… and so has the darkness.

"…!"

"…Red!"

"Red!"

My eye fluttered open, rudely greeted by a bright light that was shining right into my face. I moaned softly and closed my eye tightly then opened it again, trying to adjust to my surroundings. It didn't take me long to realize that I was lying on Vincent's bed with everyone staring back at me with worried looks. Yuffie's face was shoved right into mine.

"Are you alright?"

I gasped and sat up, but she gently pushed me back down on my bed. Good thing too. I felt a headache coming. "Nn…" was all I managed to say.

Cloud sat on my bed and placed his hand over my forehead. He sighed and took his hand away. "You'll be fine," he assured.

"Daaamn, Red! You made two big scenes in one night!" Cid proudly announced. If I had the chance, I would have bit his head off when he said that.

"Stop it, Cid!" Tifa scolded as she patted my head. "How are you feeling?"

I answered back with a yawn and a scratch to my head. "Okay, I guess… just dizzy." The dizzy part was right, but I wasn't so sure with the, 'Okay, I guess.' In reality, I felt like I just fell off a two thousand-story building and landed right on my head. I rubbed my head once again then covered my face.

Smooth skin… a small nose… and no signs of fur whatsoever. I gasped and sat up once again. I stared at my two hands, patted my hair and took a peek underneath the blankets. I froze for a few moments. I just wanted to jump out of that bed and run around in the Highwind like a perky person.

I was a human!

"R-Red? Are you alright?"

I grinned, grabbed Yuffie's shoulders and shook them around. "YUFFIE! I'M A-! THE THING-! I-!" I just couldn't spit it out! I was so excited at the moment!

"I knooooow! You're a huuumaann aaggaaiin…"

"Ah! I'm sorry!" I stopped shaking Yuffie's shoulders and watched her fall back on my bed. I grinned and looked up at Vincent who seemed quite shocked at the moment.

"Your potion worked, Vincent!"

He looked around and finally responded, "I-I know."

"What?"

"…you're…n-not…"

"What!" I repeated. "I know, I'm not in my regular b-"

Tifa looked away and made her way out of the room, dragging Yuffie out while Cloud and the rest quickly turned their backs at me. I lifted an eyebrow at their odd behavior… then found out why they were acting like that. My face started to burn up. I closed my eyes tightly and hugged the blanket around my body.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE! GET ME SOME CLOTHES!"

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It was only eight in the morning. Luckily, the festival wasn't starting until sometime in the afternoon. That gave me enough time to, once again, get used to having two legs. I still had no idea what will await me during the festival, but I felt that I was going to have a good time. Hopefully, I'll be able to spend some time with my friends and maybe be alone with Yuffie.

I widened my eyes at that as I stared up at the mirror. The image of my human-self stared back as well… with a very shocked look on its face. Something deep inside kept telling me something… but I just couldn't put my finger on it. I watched as my face turned red with embarrassment. I faced my back to the mirror and resumed tightening the sash on my yukata. The red fabric, that had an unusual design embroidered in gold, dangled just above my ankles. I sighed and turned to face the mirror yet again, but looked away. That blush was still there!

After figuring out how to work the yukata, I finally made my way out of the room and skidded on the ground with my white socks on. I tried to stop myself by stepping back, but I ended up falling forward, landing right on top of Yuffie.

I opened my eyes, and found brown eyes staring back at me. Our eyes widened at the same time as a blush started to form on both of our faces. We were in such an awkward position, especially me, I just couldn't move. I slowly leaned back and clutched my chest with my hand, feeling my heart racing. I leaned back down, almost making direct contact to Yuffie as she was trying to lean forward. We finally moved away from each other, trying to catch our breath.

'What… was that about?' I thought to myself, 'This feeling… is stronger than last time…'

"I-I'm sorry!" Yuffie shyly said, backing up against a wall.

I shook my head. "N-No! It's my fault! I-I wasn't looking!"

We remained silent for a while then Yuffie spoke. "I have to go to the old geezer now… I-I'll see you later!"

At that, she scrambled up to her feet and left without any hesitations. I watched her climb down the rope ladder… feeling that she might've been avoiding me. I just wanted to hold her… like before…

"LOVE BIRDS!"

My arms were suddenly pulled back by Barret's unusually strong muscle power. I moaned and tried escaping, but Cid prevented that from happening by a simple hard rub to the head. I shook the feeling off and stared up at him, quite annoyed at the moment.

"What is it!" I snarled.

He grinned and poked my nose. "You two are sooo in love with each other!"

I blushed. "L-L-Love?"

"Ah man! This is so good!" Barret agreed.

I kicked away from Cid and backed up against Vincent who just sighed. "What do you two know about love?" Barret and Cid made a face at that, forcing Vincent to continue. "…teenager love, that is…"

"Crap that! They tend to hesitate at the most awkwardest of moments!"

"…awkwardest…" Vincent repeated.

"What's going on here?" Cloud asked as he entered the room with Tifa. "What's the talk with… 'awkwardest?'"

"I-It's-!"

"Red totally loves Yuffie!" Cid blurted out, interrupting what I was about to say. I just bowed my head at that. I blushed so many times, my face was about to turn blue now.

"Aw! Red likes Yuffie?" Tifa squealed, clasping her hands together. "That's so adorable!"

"Now everyone here loves someone!" Cid happily announced, waving his arms around.

"Marleeenneee…" Barret sighed. "I miss her…"

I clenched my fists and teeth at the same time, causing my whole body to shake. Why were they talking about such things! My feelings for Yuffie were not even close to where they were all thinking! Besides, I didn't really know how… 'love' felt like. Was it like before? Or… what happened to me just now?

I pounded my fist hard against the wall, creating a big dent in it. That made everyone stop what they were doing. I looked up and narrowed my eye at them.

"I don't know what my feelings for Yuffie are! So please… stop talking about it! I… I'll find out on my own!"

I made my way outside of the Highwind, rudely brushing past Cloud and Tifa. What I said was true. I had a very strong feeling… that the festival will somehow bring out my true feelings for Yuffie. I could feel it.

A/N: End of chapter five! Wow… so many "awkwardest" moments right there. This is actually an important part of the story. E-gads! I feel that I rushed through this. :tilts head: I tried not to. If you spotted anything awkwardy... please tell moi! Anyways, hope you liked and please tell me how you thought of it!