AUTHOR'S NOTE:This is what most would term a leftover pairing, in which two characters who have no in-game canon ship would be thrown together to balance things out.

This is not how I have written it. For me, headstrong Yuffie has always seemed a logical match for the blustery Cid.

The following fanfiction contains sexual situations. Do not read it if you are not of age in your state/country/province to do so, or if your country prohibits such material.

xXx

The night was quiet; the cicadas had ceased their summer song weeks ago, and the tourist crowd that came to see the Space Program That Never Was had evaporated with the vacation season. Festivals were over, school was back in session for those families who could afford it, and the harvest was on, for those families who could not. The mountains that separated Rocket Town from Nibelheim rose massive and blue on the other side of the valley. The color itself made Yuffie feel cold, and she chafed her bare arms, wishing for the familiar red rocks of Wutai.

Eager for some distraction, she had turned to the Rocket, the only thing in the town worth looking at. Tifa and Barret had retired after dinner, followed shortly thereafter by Red and Cait Sith. Red enjoyed sleeping with the massive stuffed toy, and they had shared a room since Cosmo Canyon had reminded Red of his insecurities. Yuffie secretly thought that there might be more to Cait Sith; call it "honor among thieves" or some sort of perception handed down by her Eastern ancestors. But each morning the white plush of Cait Sith's belly was accompanied by coarse red fur, and each morning Red woke rested and unharmed. Without proof, she was reluctant to do anything but watch. Besides, she couldn't blame Red; there wasn't much else to do besides sleep on this crazy trip.

She had lost track of Cloud and Aeris; they spent the evenings talking together about Holy knew what. Vincent wasn't much of a person at all; the mirror of Barret's gun arm, his mechanical arm was the most human thing about him. It showed he had weaknesses and that he was human and could be injured. He, also, was one that Yuffie suspected of being more than was immediately apparent. His eyes held a strange look, and no matter how Yuffie pressed it, he could not maintain eye contact for more than a few moments. He was not the newest member of the party, but Yuffie felt more comfortable with the newest member of the party than almost anyone else.

Cid Highwind, inventor, pilot, spearmaster, engineer, and tea connoisseur. He lived with a woman named Shera near the end of the town, closest to his precious rocket. The woman was a doormat in Yuffie's mind, a limp dishrag. Cid was a man of fire, of passions that drove him to reach out to the stars. He was intemperate, volatile, and Shera's watery personality was not a good match for him. But then again, Yuffie shrugged, it wasn't as if they were involved. They lacked the secret looks and touches that lovers shared. Yuffie knew because she had watched for them, and had inwardly rejoiced at their absence.

Yuffie's mind had rebelled against the steel construct at the end of the town. The Planet was good enough, wasn't it? Who needed to reach out beyond it? But as she had heard in whispered tones from what was left of AVALANCHE, as she had feared discovering for herself in Nibelheim, the Planet was not immortal. It was not the steadfast fortress against darkness that her myths, the gods whose faces were engraved into the red mountains, had told her. The Planet was being drained of its life, raped by a corporation consumed with greed and its desire for energy.

Cid Highwind did not quiver like a leaf in front of Rufus Shinra or his hired guns. He defended his dreams with his halberd, and used materia masterfully. It was this combination of skill and vigor that had seduced Yuffie's thoughts away from the cool blond leader of the group, and toward the rough-edged pilot. She had imagined him in the evenings as dusk fell and lights were dimmed, and had taken her pleasure, urged by thoughts of his vitality, and the roughness of his work-carved hands on her smooth skin.

It was now, weeks after the initial encounter with Shinra and the Turks and the following episode on Wutai, that her occasional imaginative romps with Cid had turned into a desire that couldn't be explained away or discarded. When Yuffie wanted something, she had to reach out and take it. Materia or men, it didn't matter; if the owners weren't careful about their possessions, they didn't deserve to keep them. It was this that had fueled her climb up the pagoda in Wutai and defeated her father. It was this that had rewarded her with Leviathan, the ancient beast of the sea. Yuffie was sure that it would see her through to win Cid's affections.

The glow of a blowtorch beckoned to her; Cid was working late on the rocket again. She eyed his house, which lay dark and cold near the foot. Her back and neck tingled with fear and exhilaration, the feelings she got as she deftly maneuvered someone out of their materia or their gil. Her climb up the rocket's tower was quick, and she eased her step as she neared the top, where the sparks of Cid's blowtorch flew off like fireflies into the night.

He was kneeling, welding reinforcement steel on the rocket's hull. He was half-in, half-out of the doorway, with a black welder's mask over his face. He finished as Yuffie reached the top, and he lifted the mask to see her better. "Oh. 'Syou." He put the welder's mask back in place and his voice was muffled. "I don't have any fuckin' materia, so you can just go back to bed."

Yuffie half-smiled at the pilot. He presumed to think she was here to steal from him. Oh, she was going to steal, alright, but it wasn't going to be materia. "I already have all the materia I need, thank you."

The thank you stopped him as he was reaching back to turn the gas on for the torch. He lifted the mask, his face puzzled. "I don't believe you. If you want my materia, then get down to the house and take 'em." He mumbled, "I'm sure Shera'd give 'em to you if you asked, the idiot." Yuffie smiled wider, assured by his comment. "Cid, she's not that bad, you know. For a girlfriend."

He took the bait. "She's not my girlfriend. She doesn't even make a good assistant; she sure as hell wouldn't make a good girlfriend!" He huffed a small chuckle to himself, amused by the notion.

Yuffie dropped her voice lower as she walked the remaining steps along the iron pathway. "And what would make a good girlfriend, Cid?"

Cid, exasperated, jerked off the welder's mask and stood up. "I can see I'm not going to get shit done until I answer your questions. Am I right?"

Yuffie nodded slowly, keeping her fidgety hands behind her back. Cid stepped to the railing and leaned on it, looking out toward the mountains. He took his cigarettes out from his jacket pocket and shook it, popping one up. He offered it to Yuffie.

"Smoke?"

Yuffie shook her head, and watched as he lit it with a match, breathing the smoke in deeply and exhaling before he answered.

"Aeris is probably the perfect type of woman I'd ask to be my wife. She's good, honest," he cast a sideways glance at her, "Obedient, cheerful. Everything a man could want."

Yuffie felt her hopes deflate as he expounded on the perfection of the older brunette. Cid exhaled again, watching the sinuous grey ribbons envelop a firefly. "Trouble is, she's not mine to ask. None of the ones like that stick around. They're usually married by the time I find 'em."

"I didn't ask you about a wife, Cid." Yuffie played off her nerves by focusing on the semantics. "I asked you about a girlfriend." Her voice developed a conspiratorial tone, and she smiled impishly. "A lover."

Cid took the cigarette out of his mouth between his fingers. "Just what the hell are you aiming at?"

Yuffie turned her face aside, staring out at the mountains with him; he didn't answer. Cid finished his cigarette and flicked the extinguished end out off the rigging. "Mind telling me what's going on? Like why you're here in the middle of the night while I'm trying to get some work done?"

Yuffie shrugged, trying to regroup. Her attack strategy had been foiled by the Aeris answer, and it had set her self-esteem on edge. She dodged the question by countering with one of her own. "What is it you can't stand?"

"Needles. I never got the Gongaga fever, so they vaccinated me. Can't stand 'em." He was effectively distracted, and with a quick nod of his head, he batted the question back to her. "You?"

"I hate being alone." Yuffie took a deep, shuddery breath, plunging ahead. "I was raised a princess, you know. You don't ever get friends that way." She jerked her head to the inn in the town below. "Just because I travel with people doesn't make them my friends."

"Stealing from 'em doesn't encourage 'em much, you think?"

She shook her head. "No. It doesn't." It was a bald-faced admission that Cid hadn't expected. "But it's what I did, and nothing's going to change that now, is it?"

Cid grunted. "Guess not."

Yuffie turned to him, her face lit by the gibbous moon. "And what do you think of me, Cid Highwind?" There was an intimate quality to her voice that made Cid feel closed in, and he leaned back, trying to take in more cool air.

"You? I think you're a little thief who tried to steal my materia."

Yuffie closed in on him, pinning him in one corner of the metal railing. "Not then, Cid. What do you think of me right now? This second. Tell me, Cid." Her lips lingered half-open, expectantly. Cid was almost climbing up the railing to escape her nearness, but she had planned her approach well, and he had no other avenue of retreat.

"You're…ah…Fuck, girl, what the hell do you want me to say?"

Yuffie leaned forward, breathing in the smell of work and tobacco, her body trembling. "I want you, Cid Highwind. No excuses, no lies. We'll worry about later, later." She slid her bare thigh up around his hip, leaning into him and running her hands along his arms. "I won't ask you for more than tonight. But if you can't ignore this"- her hands slid across his chest – "as I can't ignore this, then kiss me."

The pilot stared at her for a moment, a parade of emotions moving across his rugged face. His voice lacked his usual surety. "I'm not desperate enough to fuck a sixteen-year-old."

Yuffie brushed aside the comment, leaning forward and moving her head around his neck, smelling what remained of his aftershave, her breath heating his skin further. "That's a shame," she murmured. "Holy knows I'm desperate for you."

The hesitation was split-second. Cid pulled her mouth to his, his breathing quickening and his stomach muscles knotting as the kiss deepened. They pulled apart, and Cid slid his hand down her body to the leg she had wrapped around him, hauling her against him. Her head fell back, and she let her hands come up to the back of his head and curl in his hair. His kisses peppered her neck and the whisker growth reddened her skin. He murmured between snatches of flesh, "What am I doing?"

Yuffie crossed her arms and grabbed the hem of her top, pulling it up. "Holy, you don't waste time." Cid's voice had grown thick with desire in a matter of moments. Her skin was bathed blue with moonlight and Cid stopped for a moment to look at her. He leaned forward and gently kissed one small breast, and then the other, causing her dark nipples to tighten up into small buds. His arms wrapped around her and his fingertips left goosebumps in their wake.

His shirt was equally quickly removed, and not caring, Yuffie dropped it over the edge of the railing. It fluttered down like a kite, lodging in a shrub beneath the clandestine lovers. Cid grunted on the end of a kiss, "…the rocket." Yuffie nodded and they separated, however briefly, and moved into the rocket's interior. Cid's jacket was tossed inside, and he made the effort to smooth it out on the floor, turning buckles so they wouldn't stick up.

Yuffie smiled; it was a gentlemanly gesture that seemed strangely out of joint with the current situation, but she loved his consideration. She reached into her pocket, removing a small package and setting it to the side. When she said 'worry about later', she didn't mean literally.

Cid had unbuckled his belt and was skinning out of his pants as he saw Yuffie naked. Her body, while not curvy, had its own feminine appeal. He relished the curve of her stomach above her mons, the soft swell of her thighs below gently curved hips. With knockouts like Tifa around, her sort of plain body went unnoticed, but Cid breathed a small sigh at smoothness of her skin and her supple legs, the muscle tone in her calves. It was a dancer's body, lean and graceful, and he felt his body ache to be near it again.

He stepped forward and picked her up, ignoring her gasp, and stretched her out on his jacket. His hand brushed the small package and he realized what it was. "You came up here for this, didn't you?"
Yuffie grew still, her hands relaxing on her stomach. "Yes. I didn't lie when I said I wanted you."

He shook the small wrapper at her. "You planned this from the start, didn't you?"

Yuffie's voice was quieter. "Yes." She began to sit up, sensing that he was going to tell her to leave, and never come back. He stopped her. "I don't think so. You wanted Cid Highwind, you'll get him." He shoved his pants down and kicked them away, ripping open the package. Its occupant was swiftly applied and Cid leaned forward, picking up Yuffie's legs and easing them apart. He leaned forward, watching her face as he pressed into her, relishing the looks of pleasure-almost-pain that flew across her features. When he was deeply seated, he leaned forward and kissed her hard. "You can just be honest next time. When you want it, you'll get it."

Yuffie's eyes were halfway closed; as he spoke, she looked up at him, at the glint in his blue eyes that told of his seriousness. "Cid, I…" Her words trailed off, and she leaned up, pressing her bare breasts to his chest and kissing along his shoulder. His hands cradled her bottom and back, and he held her close to him as he moved inside her. His shape was perfect, and it took only a few moments of agonizing slowness before she lost her nerve. "More, Cid." She bucked her hips against him. "More what?" There was a playfulness in his tone that had appeared suddenly, and she pouted slightly at the tables being turned on the tease. "More you." Cid kissed her hard again and began to urge his hips into her young body, aching with a fire that hadn't known fuel in years.

Her hands balled into fists against his shoulders, her short hair dampened with sweat. There was an urgency to his thrusts now, and he pressed her against the floor for leverage. Yuffie's quick breaths became small cries as she reached her climax. The tensing of her muscles and the sound of her voice pushed Cid over the edge; he buried his face in her neck as he came.

"Cid…" Her voice was weak with pleasure. He withdrew reluctantly, easing to her side after he rid himself of the condom. She looked up at him, the barest hint of a smile on her face, and gently cupped his jaw in her hand, pulling him down for a kiss.

"Are you satisfied, Miss Kisaragi?" Cid's kiss-swollen lips were twitching in a wry smile. Yuffie gave him the same quirk of the lips. "For tonight."