"Sea Salts to Heal."

Disclaimer: I don't own Square. I probably do own the flu I gave to Leon though, but feel free to take that from me sans Disclaimer.

A/N: Oh my my. What's it been. A year? A decade? I can hardly tell anymore. The point is, I updated after a damn long time. Sorry about that.

This chapter is what I call Patchwork. A chapter written and rewritten two trillion times and patched together to form this end result. Its not that great, but its an update. :D

Thank you all so much for reviewing! I love you all, and I know I havn't been up to standard on giving out plushies, but hopefully that will pick up soon.

Italics Thoughts

Bold Italics Flashback.

Enjoy!

The feeling of too much blood to the head was prominent. It was a feeling he'd grown accustomed to over the years of living with Yuffie. However, now he could feel his heartbeat in his head and in the rest of his body as well. His butt was sore, his legs were numb, and his clothes were the kind of sticky he hated, as if they had dried while still on his body. And a swift feeling of sickness was growing from his stomach and slowly traveling up his chest. The slightly touch on his skin sent shivers through his stomach, including the too-warm, itchy bundle that was curled against him.

Opening heavy eyelids, he looked to his left. Yuffie's arms were tucked around his waist, her face resting on his ribs. She was the perfect picture of innocence when she was awake, big blue eyes and wide smile. Oh, how he knew different. But when she was asleep, mouth hanging open slightly and hair falling in front of her eyes, she looked so stupid he had a hard time convincing himself that she was as demonic as she proved herself during her awake hours. He watched her, feeling the traces of left over tears on his face, remembering.

I'm not going anywhere. I promise.

He raised a gloved hand to his face, wiping off the tears, only leaving room for more sweat. He could feel it in his face, neck and shoulders that he was oveheated. And from the feeling in his stomach, he suspected it wasn't a good sign. Yuffie was warm against his side, too warm, and he shifted. Yuffie woke suddenly, big blue eyes opening, usually big mouth closing as she sat up.

"Squall." She murmured sleepily, detatching herself from his waist.

"Leon." He groaned, shifting his neck and back as his muscles groaned in protest.

She frowned, pulling his hand from his face and replacing it with hers. He relished the feel of her cold hands on his hot face, cooling down his brain but charging his thoughts again.

I'm not going anywhere. I promise.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, concerned.

He pulled away from her hands with a groan, refusing to answer her question but not willing to make a fool out of himself. Titling her head to the side, she reached up to help him un-do the collar of his jacket. Squall shoved her hands away again, although this time he had a much better reason. The Gunblade Master lurched to his feet, pushed open the window and was violently sick. With as much dignity as possible of course.

He wiped the back of his mouth in disgust, limbs shaking from the shock. He pushed himself away from the window, stumbling on oddly weak knees. Whatever relief he had felt a moment before was gone as another fresh wave of dizziness sent shivers down his body, his stomach giving another flip.

"That bad, huh?"

He raised heavy eyelids to the ninja standing across from him, a slight narrowing of the eyebrow despite his weakness indicating what he thought of her. She giggled, soothing his bangs to annoy him. He groaned, moving away from her and anything that could touch him. He hated being sick.

"Come on, Squall." She said gently. "Dr. Yuffie will take you to Mother Aerith."

"I don't need help." He rasped, his throat twinging painfully. "I'm fine."

She took his arm and lead him to the door of the hut, and he found he was too weak to even resist that. Of all strength of body, mind and spirit. Apparently, he didn't have a very strong immune system. Yuffie was busy checking under the seal for water when his stomach gave another twinge, and he bolted for the window.

"Well, I don't know how you have so much to throw up. We havn't eaten in hours." She smiled.

He glared at her. "Don't talk about food."

"What's this? Squall Leonhart admitting to weakness?" She straightened her back, holding out her hand.

He pushed past her and to the door. "The water would have drained by now. And I told you, I don't want help."

"Oh, don't be such a baby." She told him, slipping her arm underneath his shoulder blades and partially supporting his weight. "You're sick. And sickness becomes worse if you don't take care of it."

"I can take care of myself." He replied stubbornly, opening the door and stepping to the side as a pathetic flow of water trickled into the hut. The entire district was still flooded, but the level seemed to have dropped to ankle height. And the storm had finally stopped.

Yuffie sighed. "Squall.."

"Leon."

She sighed again. "Leon. I just don't want you to get really sick, okay?"

He eyed her suspicously for a moment. Her smile and eyes were gentle but slightly hurt. Yuffie, despite what he said to her, was hardly ever hurt. Atleast, she didn't let on that she was. The fact that Yuffie was worried about him made his heart twinge strangely, and he sighed. He'd felt that way only once before and he never wanted to feel it again. Yuffie was too young. She was still a teenager, still not fully grown up.

And yet that wasn't true. While Yuffie's body was still young enough, he knew her mind was far from that, despite her happy and sometimes childish antics. Yuffie was wise far beyond her years. The same went for him and Cloud. The same for Sora and Riku. The same for Tynan and Shuyin. They were all burdened, all blessed or cursed with the knowledge one didn't hope to have. Deep down, he knew Yuffie's slight immaturity was only a facade. A way of being happy, of dealing. As he dealt by calling himself Leon.

And she'd learned all that the night before. He told her about Rinoa and about his old life. About the person he used to be. What had possesed him to tell her that? He didn't know, nor did he care to think about it. All he remembered was a deep sense of loneliness. A need to reach out to anyone or anything. Yuffie..he supposed..was the closest thing he had to a friend.

Friend?

Squall closed his eyes against the voice. He shook his head despite the pain, trying to rid himself of the process he knew was inevitable. Everytime he was sick, everytime he had a fever, his head was filled with the voice of Zell Dincht. His old friend had a very interesting way of thinking things, and it appeared Zell's dellusion liked to make him think like that too.

'She's not anything else. She's annoying and stubborn. And she's too young.' He thought fiercely.

She's not that young.

'I'm not doing this. I am not doing this.'

'C'mon Squall. Havn't you ever even thought about it?'

He shook his head, bringing his hand up to cover his eyes. All this thinking was making his whole head hurt, which was not an improvement over his already aching body. Quite honestly, he couldn't remember the last time he had felt so horrible.

"Squall?"

He peeked at her through the side of his hand. She smiled at the entire sight of him, reaching out to touch his hair and then obviously thinking better of it. Physical touching of any kind between the two of them had been so rare that it seemed odd she felt so affectionate with him now. Shaking her head, she tilted her head at him in question. She wasn't going to force anything.

"Fine, fine." He waved her off and she giggled. "Let's go to Aerith."

They crossed the district slowly. Squall seemed to be completely slumped in everyway, while Yuffie was tense and watching him, as if she expected him to explode. They stopped walking at the exact same time, halfway up the stairs. Squall's eyes flickered, his gaze seemed to unfocus. Yuffie gasped as he fell backwards, reaching out and barely catching hold of his forearms. Squall's greater weight pulled her down with him, and in a last moment of urgency she grabbed hold of the railing, swinging herself against the wall and scrapping the skin off her knees.

Squall landed sprawled out against her legs, and she immediately tugged him up by his shirt to check him for serious injury. What if he had hit his head? But despite the fact that Strong Squall had ultimately fainted, he seemed to have survived his almost-fall down the stairs. Yuffie let out a soft sigh, ignoring the sting in her knees and calming her pounding heart.

Squall murmured in his sleep, his head dropping on to her shoulder. Yuffie stiffined immediately, usued to contact with the Gunblader despite the growing closeness they seemed to be experiencing and the fact she had just spent the night in his arms. She fought the sudden inexplicable blush rising on her cheeks. Two years of fighting for his respect. Another year fighting for his amity. She'd always been starved for his affection, as a mentor and as a friend. And now somehow romantic affection didn't seem as wrong to her as it should have.

"Yuffie?"

She looked down at him, starled and acutely aware of what she'd just been thinking.

His eyes were still closed, his mouth twisted in a worried frown. Carefully, he opened his eyes, dark blue irises peering uncertainly up at her. She felt another warm buzz of affection for him, despite her inner conflict.

"Are you okay?" She asked, quite aware of the answer.

"Mmm.." He closed his eyes. "Yuffie, I think I'm sick."

"Really?" She giggled.

He nodded seriously, and she was now quite aware of how amusing it was to have Squall dellusional. Although, she was quite sure Squall would not appreciate it if she took advantage of him while he was ill. Sighing and shaking her head, she quietly instructed him to turn his tired body so that it lay flat against the stair.

No doubt about it. Her and Squall's relationship was a strange one.

Shuyin shut the cover on the piano with a quick snap, half gloved hands resting on the top of the instrument as he stared down on it. His hands were freezing despite his half gloves, and aching from the hours he seemed to have been playing. But it didn't matter; he didn't care. Feelings had been so far gone (besides his dreams the rare times he had slept) that it was difficult to explain what he was feeling now. Sadness, pain, regret. And yet his piano playing had always been about the opposite, a way for him to steam and make others happy while doing it. It was a talent that made him complete in the subtle way that Blitzball didn't, a talent that had brought him to her like a gift, bows and all.

He could still remember her smile when he'd first met her. It was stupid really, he'd been forced to participate in some fund-raiser for children by his coach. He played the piano; his appearance was enough to make the children happy, famous Blitzer that he was. He'd always hated his gift for music, ignoring his mother and pursuing in the hot action sport that dominated the World. But then he'd found her, at that musical fund-raiser for children he hadn't wanted to be at in the first place.

"You're really gifted." Her voice was always so shy.

"Thanks." He replied, turning to face her with some surprise. "Its more of a hobby really."

She smiled at him, not a wooing flirtatious smile like he was used to, but a shy smile full of kindness. He stared at her in some confusion as she sat down on the piano bench beside him, betraying now sign of flutter or gush like almost all of the girls he met. Maybe..she didn't know who he was? He decided that must have been the case, as there was no way such a quiet girl could really be into Blitzball.

"I'm..." He began, but she held up a hand, interrupting him before he'd begun.

"I know who you are." She told him, running her hand along the piano keys. "I've seen you play Blitzball. You're really amazing at that, as well. I suppose that's a hobby too?"

"Uh...no." He flushed, distinctly aware that she was making fun of him. "That I do for a living."

She giggled softly, and he grinned despite himself, brushing his hand through his hair like he did whenever he was trying to impress a girl. His hand stopped halfway through his hair, his entire body freezing as he realised exactly what he was doing. This girl obviously didn't seem to notice, pushing down on one of the keys and smiling at the high note it created.

"Well," She said after a moment of silence. "I'd like to ask you a favor."

He blinked at her in general confusion, tilting his head to the side as he guiltily pulled his hand from his hair. Okay, so she knew who he was and she knew about Blitzball. She obviously wasn't a huge fan of his, so who was he to try and impress her? He settled instead for a shrug, wondering what such a nice girl could possibly need from a guy like him.

"You play beautifully." She continued, tilting her head back at him. "I wondered...if you'd like to play for me."

He blinked. "Play...er...Blitzball?"

She giggled. "No, silly. The piano!"

"Oh!" He flushed again, feeling increasingly stupid. "Right. Well, I'm not really big on personal entertainment..."

"I'm a Songstress." She explained. "Not a very big one, I'll give you that. I sing at small gatherings and such..but my agent thinks I need musical back up. Preferably a piano player."

He watched dumbfounded as she stood, fishing a small card out of her pocket and handing it to him. He took it without question, wondering why he suddenly felt so dumb and charmless. She was looking at him expectantly and it suddenly occured to him that she wanted an answer.

He cleared his throat. "I'll..uh..think about it."

"That's my agency." She said softly. "Call me there when you decide. Thank you."

He watched her leave the small auditorium, Songstress uniform swishing. Again he was filled with the impression that she'd been teasing him the whole time, and he stood up with quick ease despite the fact that he felt clumsier than a gorilla. She turned and gave him a tiny wave as he reached the door, pausing in surprise as he jogged up to her.

"Hey." He said once he reached her. "You sure you're not just trying to get publicity, you know, by having me as your piano player?"

She grinned. "That was my full intention. What are you going to do about it?"

He rolled his eyes, leaning over to stuff the card back in her pocket, keeping his face as close to hers as he could without being slapped. He was rewarded with the look of faint surprise on her face and he grinned mischievously as she began to look nervous.

"I'd say it's a deal." He whispered, taking a step back from her.

She eyed him in all his Blitzball playing glory, eyes a little suspicious. Finally, she smiled and stuck out her hand, giggling again as he looked at it with confusion. For a star Blitzer and an amazing pianist, he didn't have much when it came to wits.

"My name is Lenne." She told him.

He grinned and took her hand in a surprisingly skilled hold, probably learned from years of meeting coaches and agents.

"I'm..." He began.

"I know who you are." She repeated, turning towards the door to leave.

He reached out and grabbed her arm, whirling her back around and taking her hand in his.

"I'm Shuyin." He said, looking stubbornly into her face.

She stared at him incredulously and he grinned.

It was a start.

"Lenne." Shuyin murmured, rubbing his cold hands together. That start had morphed into a friendship and eventually a love. That unpopular, quiet Songstress had been the best thing that had ever happened to him. It was only when she'd been given fame and carried off to war that he realized that fact. And now it was too late.

'It does matter, Shuyin. You don't know what happened! She could be alive!'

Shuyin swung his legs around the bench, fists clenched as he moved past the many puppies that played on the ground and out into the street. Tynan didn't know anything, the stupid girl. None of them did. And as much as he knew their intentions were good, they would never understand. Lenne was gone.

"Shuyin!"

The young man glanced up, surprised that a voice had managed to lift his gaze from the ground. Yuffie stood on the steps of the Second District, jumping up and down and arms waving wildly in the air. He could see a slumped figure on the step and identified it as Leon. He was quite aware that the two of them hardly went anywhere without eachother anymore, except for the loud and quarrelsome times when the fought.

Stuffing his cold hands in his pockets, he eyed the unconscious Leon with mild interest, bright eyes moving to land questioningly on a clearly distressed Ninja.

"He's got the flu or something!" Yuffie was telling him. "He threw up a bunch of times and he was really weak and then suddenly BAM! He keels over. I think he's alright, but he refuses to move when I manage to wake him up. I'm not strong enough to carry him!"

"What do you want me to do about it?" Shuyin asked calmly, stepping out of the way as she paced up and down the steps. "I'm not really a healer."

"C'mon Shu! You've got muscles. Can you help me carry him?"

'Shu?' He thought, sizing Squall up and comparing him to his own strength. 'That's new.'

"I guess so." He bent down, taking hold up Squall's arm and heaving the dead weight over his shoulder. Yuffie quickly helped lift his other side. "As long as you don't call me Shu."

"Oh no." Yuffie smiled kindly at him. "You're not going to pull a Leon, are you?"

Shuyin pushed open the door of the Hotel, ignoring her teasing and aware of the fact that this was the first human interaction he'd had with someone his own age in a long time. Yuffie was busy trying to keep the Gunblade from going off when he glanced at her, shaking his head at her antics and reminded strangely of his young and crazy cousin. The thought pulled powerfully on his heart, much like playing the piano had. He shook his head.

"Shuyin's fine." He informed her, resisting to groan under Leon's weight. "Just Shuyin."

Tynan! Check this out!"

Tynan tilted her head from watching the sky. Despite the excitement in the voice that called her away, she found in difficult to draw her eyes away from the stars. The power had gone out less than an hour ago, leaving Tynan and Riku stranded outside, accompanied by Sora. They hadn't dealt with darkness since they'd come to Traverse, always making sure to be in some form of light. Fear had been a major part of it, followed by the joy of simply being in light once again.

They hadn't been prepared. The darkness had slowly created panic, their bodies had reacted instinctively, and Aerith had made quick work of sending them out to the stars, which offered them a pathetic amount of light if nothing else. Shivering at the feeling that darkness had caused in her, she pulled her sleeping bag tighter around her body.

"Come on, Ty! Look!"

She shifted her gaze to the Keyblade master, eyes twinkling if only to amuse him. Sora lifted the Keyblade into the air, twirling it around in an intricate pattern. Slowly, the drip of water that had been tumbling from the roof, draining the water since the storm had finished, froze. Tynan grinned, shoving her sleeping bag past her knees and standing. She crossed the small distance of the Red Room balcony, careful to step over Riku.

"Neat, Sora." She told him, taking a frozen droplet in her hand. Almost instantly, it spattered into her hand. The time spell stopped, and that water continued to drip to the ground.

"You've never seen a Time spell before?" he asked curiously.

She shook her head. "My magic experience is virtually nil."

"That's odd." Riku stated, sitting up. "For someone involved in the dark."

Sora looked sharply at Riku, who shrugged his gaze off and continued to stare hard at Tynan. She crossed her arms over her chest, eyes back on the stars and seemingly unfazed by his question. Riku stood and sat down on the railing beside Sora, and Tynan was suddenly struck by what an odd pair they were. Opposites but co-dependent. She knew there was some form of hope in the universe if a friendship could survive the ordeal that theirs had. She couldn't help but feel jealous of their closeness. Everything they had all been through, and still she had no one.

She shrugged. "I didn't need magic for what I was doing."

Riku didn't relent. "What did you do?"

She turned around to stare at him oddly. She wouldn't have expected him of all people to ask such a question. Sora maybe, but not untalkative Riku. He told nothing and wished to learn nothing. It was that self-possession that made him so annoying at times. But now he was leaning back and looking at her with interest, eyes glinting in amusement and mouth tilting upwards. There was something cruel about the way he was looking at her, and the warmth she'd felt for him only a few hours before when he'd touched her hand vanished. Why was he so inconsistent when it came to his moods? It made her quite certain that she would have been perfectly happy to push him off the balcony.

"Nothing." She turned her back, settling back into her sleeping bag and facing away.

"Come on." He leaned forward. "We're all friends here."

"Sod off, Riku." She said unkindly. "Mind your business."

"You know our story." He jumped off the railing. "Its only fair we know yours."

"Leave it, Riku." This protest, surprisngly, was from Sora. "Pasts are scary things to talk about. Believe me, I know. Just let her be for now. She'll tell us when she wants."

Riku snorted and turned away. "The past is a fear people need to get over."

"Big words coming from you." Tynan was sitting up and glaring. "Someone who wouldn't even speak to any of us for months. Did it ever occur to you that I don't want to tell you my past? Don't act like your better than us because you were supposed to be the Keyblade master."

Riku whirled at her in anger. "What did you say?"

"You heard me." She hissed. "Mr-high-and-mighty."

There wasn't much room for them to cross as they flew at eachother. Sora, who had been watching in silent shock at the angry exchange stepped in just in time before any violence could occur. He'd never seen Riku react so strongly to verbal abuse before, nor had he any idea that Riku still felt so strongly about the Keyblade. Tynan was always so calm and collected; Sora didn't think he'd ever seen her angry let alone heard her shout. They were so angry over such a small thing. What were they even fighting about?

"Guys!" He stood in between them and watched as they glared at eachother over his shoulder. "Get a grip!"

He glared at each of them sternly until they visibly calmed. Tynan sighed and turned away, lying back down and resting her head on her arms. Riku glared at her for a few moments longer, letting out an aggrivated grunt and swinging his legs over the balcony again. Sora stood in the middle of the silence, alert and very confused. He thought they were friends..they'd always acted like it anyway. (Especially when they teamed up together to dump ice water on him while he slept.) They'd been through the unimaginable worst together. Still, there were those times he'd seen them talking and hadn't been able to sense what was going on. Maybe they weren't as friendly as he'd originally thought.

Fortunately, he was saved from sitting in awkward and angry silence when the door opened to reveal a very amused Cloud. The blond soldier didn't seem to notice the tense air, stepping out on the balcony and patting Sora on the shoulder.

"Leon has the flu." He told them, revealing the reason for his amusement. "Aerith's taking care of him now, but she doesn't want you lot sick so I'm taking you out for your own clothes."

"Clothes with Cloud." Sora rolled his eyes. "Spare me."

"You've been wearing my clothes ever since you got here." Cloud slapped the back of his head. "I'm not sure if I want them back. But you need your own."

He glanced at Riku's turned back and down at Tynan, who had rolled over to listen.

"Get this stuff cleaned up." He turned away. "We're going shopping."

Ooh, I apologize deeply for this chapter.

I know it wasn't that great, but I needed to get this up so I could get this story flowing again. I had a million different ideas for this chapter, and none of them seemed to fit. I have a whole file of this chapter written and rewritten and finally I managed to come up with this. But, on a better note, this chapter has probably attracted my muse because I have a clear view of where this story is going in my head now.

Please review! Sorry again for the confusing/non-romanticness of this chapter. Hopefully, since my writing has been unblocked, the next chapter will be better!