Insomnia is so rubbishy.

I do actually know that those monsters I'm so scared of, the ones that keep me awake, are not real.

They aren't real.

The prickly sensation on your spine is not your intuition telling you some gruesome animal is lurking behind you…

No matter what Squall says, I don't believe it. No.

Believe it or not, I've always had this fear, even before the personification of the glowing eyes under the bed – the Heartless. Of course during the Heartless thing I was forced to sleep with Squall so I was strangely comforted, I knew nothing could harm me then.

Also, that was all I focused on, the thing that kept me going. Those bastards killed my parents, all of my family. I'll compare myself to Tinkerbell here. I'm too small to have any more than one feeling occupying me at a time. Anyway, I digress.

The point is, after the Heartless were gone, and I came to terms with my family's deaths, or found that I already had in a strange kind of way, I mean, since when has Yuffie Kisaragi done anything the normal way? After the Heartless, I had nothing to occupy me but fear, well, at night at least.

Eventually the others living in our small community decided that the recurrent bags under my eyes needed to be gone, along with the grouchiness and the other things that come with lack of sleep. They confronted me about my problem, finally got me to admit and succumb, and shipped me off to the most lulling, peaceful and tranquil world they could think of. Well, that they knew I'd be looked after on. I'm sure there are much more relaxing places than Destiny Islands…

I tried not to be afraid, while packing, thinking 'I'm not going to need that there, the climate's so different' or denial-ing, 'I'm not going to be there long, so there's no point in taking that', saying goodbye to the friends which couldn't come on the journey over there, and hoping I'd see them really, really, soon, trying to take their reassurances that it'd be nice to see Sora and to be intrigued by the 'evil' Riku, it'd be like a vacation. On the journey, with Cid mumbling on, and me only being able to catch the odd swear word. He wasn't the most reassuring for my fears, so by the time we landed I was petrified.

We stepped out on the beach, Cid dumped my bags next to me, shook my hand and gave me a rare but nice smile, a gruff 'g'luck' and was off. The people of Destiny Islands seemed to think that my arrival would be a few hours later, and I had almost polished off my special supply of dried mango (which I am sure no one else in the universe except my now deceased family likes) before they came down the beach a ways to greet me. Great for my nerves, I must say.

It's so awful, a brave and upstanding female ninja, having nerves made out of putty.

Or an imagination made from… er… kids on coca cola? (Over-active)

I had this little cabin in the middle of the village, from which you could see the sea. The village consisted of about five houses, I swear. It was a nice cabin, so I had to redecorate the second I got there. I tell a lie. It was a second after I found the nicely stocked up kitchen.

Of course this hands-on approach to banishing my fears didn't work, and that night I don't think I slept a wink. I can remember, the next morning/early afternoon, a small knock sounding at my door, rousing me from a horrible dream consisting of lots of things I'd read in books in the library at Hollow Bastion. I scrambled awake, banged my head on the low ceiling, screamed, I was entangled by a giant octopus, trying to squirm its way into my skull and eat my brain! Then I realised I was actually caught up in my slimy-with-sweat blanket, and the 'dappled light of the sea' was actually the light curtain rippling slightly under the breeze (which always seemed to be breezing on Destiny Islands) playing with the bright sunshine.

I answered the door eventually, groggy, to a panicked trio of teenagers. Well, a panicked Sora and Kairi, with a silver haired boy standing slightly behind them, with a look on his face which I think said 'I'm apprehensive about being here… I'm always apprehensive these days… and a little intrigued about the half-dressed, screaming girl in front of me'

I invited them in, as is customary, and we ate waffles and morning stuff, even though they'd had breakfast at least three hours ago. They talked to me, asked me questions about my dreams and the waking hours before them. After a while, I put a stopper in their questions and asked if we could go for a walk along the beach, to which they willingly obliged. My impression of the three individuals was that they were very individual, but their similarities and differences balanced perfectly in the way that true friends' similarities and differences do. I liked each one for different reasons, all good reasons to my knowledge, but didn't realise how much I liked a particular one of them until it was really too late.

I'd been on the island a few weeks and had to maintain a steady stream of caffeine to keep me awake. I was sleeping worse than ever before. It was hideous, the rippling shadows the palm trees made through the useless curtains, the complete, eerie silence created by being out of ear shot of the sea, and the creaks the cabin made every once in a while, making me jump a mile in the air, usually bang my head, and just when I'd been settling down and successfully distracting myself.

Anyway, this particular time, I was devastated by the combination of caffeine and lack of sleep, just, completely not Yuffie. Sora and Kairi had gone to play in some rock pools after a quick lunch at Sora's, so we took the short walk down to Riku's, as neither of us really wanted to be in our own company, although neither of us would admit, that really was the thing that brought us together.

I hadn't really properly been in Riku's house, not on a visit anyway; I'd only stopped off there to pick him up or something, but it was closer than mine and I was not in any state to walk far.

Anyway, I ended up sleeping with him.

Haha, got ya, I meant in the same bed as him, not, you know…

But it was so comforting, I slept extraordinarily well on that night, and Riku seemed much chirpier the next morning.

It became a trend, and before we knew it I had caught up on all of my sleep and fear was the last thing I associated with bed time. In fact, for the first time in my life, I looked forward to bed-time; it meant I could be alone with Riku, if just to talk with him, have him all to myself.

I remember the night everything began.

We were talking about something trivial, as usual, and then, suddenly,

"Yuf, are you a virgin?"

Instead of being shocked at the question, uncomfortable and very aware of my vulnerability, I became much more attuned to the conversation; it snapped me out of my sleepy, happy, drivel.

"No, I am 19 now, you know"

A pause ensued and I thought I'd hurt his feelings, but I was still eager to carry this conversation on. So I asked him back. His answer was non-committal, mumbling about there being not very many girls on the island but them being very easy, not a challenge. After this, we carried on with talk of relationships and things in that vein, until sleepiness got too much and I had to say goodnight and snuggle down.

But not before I (subconsciously) kissed him goodnight.

The next morning, we were an item.

I've never slept alone since, never been afraid since. I'm only small, I only have room for one feeling at a time… and seeing as he's always there, it's always just love.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or settings in this story.

I hope you all liked it, thanks for taking the time to read it, and thanks again to vampie for looking through it for me.

I thought about the storyline more in depth and felt that I didn't make enough of Riku's problems, I would have liked for Yuffie to sort of forget her problems because Riku's reasons for sleeping were much worse, and weren't just figments of his imagination. Anyway, I'm sure it could be much better.

Bracken xxx