Oh, my gosh. You guys I am so very sorry that I haven't updated in nearly a month! My muse seems to be concentrating on my Final Fantasy X story, and leaving me on my own with this one! *sobs* But I am determined to finish this story, so I'm gonna give a shot at it by myself, without my muse. Although I think my muse is in front of my PS2 right now, playing my new Final Fantasy IX, and squealing, "Vivi! Vivi!" Whenever Vivi pops onto the screen. (I love Vivi. I don't know why…) Okay, I'll shut up now and start writing. Today is January 26, but I dunno when I'm'a get finished with this thing… if I finish it today, though, it's gonna be short.

Disclaimer: I disclaim any injury you might have sustained by not yet realizing that the VL does not own anything used in this story. Now buzz off!

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Yuffie grunted as she repeatedly attacked the punching bag suspended from the ceiling in the back of Cid's workshop. She had no idea why Cid kept something like this around—he would never use it because he was so worn out from age, and from nearly thirty years worth of cigarettes in his lungs. Nonetheless, Yuffie liked to harass the lifeless thing, pretending that it was a Heartless or, perhaps, Squall.

          She couldn't help being angry. Why was she so helpless around the Heartless lately? Squall had had to come to her rescue; humiliating. Of course, one person against a Defender Heartless, no matter who the person was, would be an unfair fight in favor if the Defender. There was no question about her needing help there. And she had been outright stupid not to grab more ammunition when she left the hotel yesterday. Still! Why Squall, of all people?

          Yuffie hit the thing again, this time with her foot. Unfortunately, the punching bag had just about had enough abuse, and the ropes suspending it from the ceiling gave way, dumping it to the floor and knocking her over.

          Yuffie growled at the sand-filled bag. She felt like mauling it like an animal. She wanted to attack something. Hurt something. She was angry, and she didn't even really know at what. She just wanted to win a battle. Grabbing every bit of ammunition she could find, and two daggers, she headed out through the roof of Cid's shop, hopping across the rooftops like a big cat, into the Third District where she could fight Darkballs and Defenders. They would put up a good fight, and that's what she wanted.

          A few Darkballs heard her coming, and a Defender, too, decided that this skinny little female ninja would make for an easy fight. Practically drunk off of rage, Yuffie sliced through all of them easily, before the Defenders were even powered up enough to attack with their fire-eyed shields. Sweat dripped dangerously close to her eyes, but she shook it away, throwing shuriken after shuriken at the Heartless monsters, striking them down, until they exploded into piles of MP bubbles, HP balls, or Munny gems of various sizes.

          She wasn't sure how long she had been out there for, nor was she sure of how many monsters she had killed. But finally, they stopped reappearing. The Darkballs, Soldiers, and Defenders were all gone, and would not return again for at least a day. She plopped onto the ground after she picked up all of her shurikens as wells as the dropped Munny gems, and tossed an MP bubble around like a little kid might play with a balloon.

          "No Heartless here today, huh?" Squall asked. He had his Gunblade with him, obviously thinking to let off some steam on the Heartless.

          "What's it to ya?" She spat venomously.

          "Hey, no need to shout."

          "I wasn't shouting," Yuffie replied shortly.

          "Are you okay, Yuffie?" Squall tilted his head to one side. "You've been acting awfully strange lately."

          "What's 'strange' to you?"

          "I mean you've been acting… well… like me."

          "And?"

          "That's the last thing this world needs. Two of me. Whatever happened to the Yuffie I liked? Where'd she go?" He squatted on the ground near her. He saw her head turn very slowly towards him, eyes narrowed and looking quite confused.

          "You liked a certain little perky ninja called Yuffie?"

          There was a very long pause and Yuffie was afraid that she had pressed her luck. Fortunately, Squall answered simply, "Yes. Still do."

          "Well, perky-little-ninja-girl-Yuffie always thought that Squall would never like her, and it made her real mad. Then she realized that he would never like her the way she liked him, and she figured that she would go pulverize Heartless until she dropped from exhaustion."

          "Stop speaking in third per—" he stopped talking. Did she just say that she liked him? He felt like he was in a very dramatized version of the ninth grade. This person likes this person, who likes this other person, who sort of likes that person but likes this person better—and so on and so forth.

          Yuffie was unsure if she was dreaming or if this was real life, but she decided to take a chance with it anyway. She felt lightheaded, as if in a trance. She felt unafraid, as if anything that happened wouldn't hurt her in the slightest. She began to walk closer to him.

          "Yes," she said, unafraid. "I always think about you. You're on my mind constantly, you are invading my dreams, you are invading my heart." As she got closer, she noticed that he was beginning to back up. She got up on a bench so that she would have the advantage of height over him. "I can't get you out of my head. I'm attracted to you, I can't help it, and… damn you, come here." Still unafraid and in her trance-like state, Yuffie took him by his jacket collar and kissed him. The tables seemed to have turned. Squall was wide-eyed and frightened, and Yuffie was calm and collected.

          "Yuffie, what's wrong with you?" Squall managed to ask after the ninja released him from her lip-lock. Her eyes were half-lidded and her breathing was shallow.

          "Squall, I… am hopelessly in love with you." She breathed, looking down but still keeping one arm over his shoulder. "I always thought that you just didn't want me around. I figured you thought I was just a little annoying kid."

          Squall wanted to assure her that he didn't think that, but the words would not form and he could not get the words out. Instead he stayed quiet. He saw Yuffie shaking her head with her hands over her eyes, like she was tired, or just waking up from a nap.

          "This isn't a dream, is it?" She asked, lowering her hands slowly. She seemed more like herself now, but he was still skeptical.

          "No…" he trailed off. "Why?"

          She poked him in the chest experimentally to see if he was, indeed, solid. "Did I just do what I think I just did?"

          "What do you think you just did?"

          "I think I just kissed you." She glanced at him with a red stain now on her cheeks, awaiting an answer. She really didn't know what she would do either way; if he said that she had just kissed him, things between them would be different, and probably far more awkward. If he said that she hadn't, then… things would be awkward still, and the memory would haunt her for months.

          "Yea. You did."

          Typical Squall: give as best of an answer as you can with the fewest amount of words.

          "I can tell you a secret though," he offered mischievously.

          "What kind of a secret?" Yuffie asked, lowering herself to sit on the bench instead of standing up on it. He leaned toward her.

          "I liked it."

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Whoo… okay, I think that this chapter sucked, but I hadda started the "love" part of this love-hate relationship somewhere, and here it is. I still don't like this chapter. Maybe you think differently? I dunno. Drop a review and let me know. Oh, and I think I have to tell you guys now that updates won't be real often until after "Meets The Eye, Meets The Heart" is done. But at the rate I'm going with that one, it won't be that long. I'm really sorry! But… you know, reviews do encourage chapters!!