"Sea Salts to Heal."
Disclaimer: Blllleeeeeeeeh. I don't own em.
Shout outs:
Annjirika: Thankyouness! I like adorabibbleness. Heh! Originally, he just had the Flu but...I thought Mono was a lot more entertaining.
Deplora: 0o....a make-out party? What could she have possibly been thinking? Oh well...she learned a lesson I suppose...that would amuse me greatly.
Zarrel's Darkside: runs away from mob There's more Squffie in this one! I SWEAR! cowers under computer desk
Last Exile: beams Thank you! That really means a lot to me, y'know. Since I'm super self conscious about my stupid writing.
Iris: You win best review of the chapter award! Don't worry, I only recently started writing in this style...you should read some of my older stuff 0o ...its definitely not review worthy. I lurve you! I would be a writer if I could.
Sephy plushies for EVERYONE!
And ON WITH THE STORY!
Shuyin swiped his flaxen hair out of his eyes for the sole purpose of glaring at the young woman across the room. Yuffie had been yelling and storming ever since he had shown her the advertisement; almost to the point where he wished he had kept the information to himself. Aerith looked distraught at the young ninja's anger while Cloud looked almost as annoyed as Shuyin felt. The three young teens sat side by side on the Red Room's bed, watching Yuffie with curiosity. He was sure he was not the only one who's ears were about to fall off.
"Would you shut up?" He growled, a flare of his old impatience burning in his stomach.
Yuffie returned his glare with equal force. "Shut up yourself, wax boy!"
Riku raised an eyebrow with apparent interest. "Wax boy?"
Shuyin grunted, turning his eyes back to the window in which he constantly stared out of. Yuffie stared at the back of his head very heatedly for a long moment, before she turned back to the paper in her hands and stared at it in fury. Aerith sighed.
Sora tilted his head. "Wax boy?"
"A fighting competition?" Yuffie continued to rage, shaking the piece of paper in question as she stomped around the hotel room. Her friends sighed. "Is Cid nuts? What was he thinking?"
"We already told you what we thought he was thinking." Cloud sighed, rubbing his face with his hands.
"Yeah but..." She pouted. "I'm not feeling your mutual sentiments!"
"I don't think its such a bad idea, Yuf." Sora said, his voice calm as he snatched the paper from her trembling hands. "It will give us something to do, at any rate."
"You don't understand, Sora!" She snapped, sitting down on a small wooden chair in the corner of the Red Room. "You've only been here for a few months! The people here were all devastated by war and battle. Do you really think that the first thing they want to do now that the war is over is fight?"
Sora stared at her. It took a few moments of silence before Yuffie realized what she had said. She seemed to deflate a little after a moment and offered Sora a small apologetic smile.
"Sorry, buddy." She murmured. "Of course you understand."
He shrugged. "I'm not angry. I was just trying to make you see your own stupidity."
Riku groaned silently, his head tilted now as he tried to see exactly what made Shuyin waxy. When had Sora become so difficult to offend? Hurting Sora probably would have piped Yuffie down a bit...
"It's not like its mandatory." Tynan piped in with interest. "The Townsman won't be forced to join or to watch if they don't want to."
Yuffie opened and closed her mouth like a fish for a while before she realized there was nothing really she could say. If she was the only one against the idea of having a battling tournament, what more could she do? It was up to the people who lived in the Town to stand up for themselves now.
Cloud and Aerith grinned in her direction as her expression closed, and she spun from the room and hurried into her own with a small huff. Shuyin looked away from the window at the sound of her door closing, and an expression of such relief on his face made Aerith giggle, since Shuyin was rarely expressive. Then again....she didn't know him that well...
"Waxy?" Riku turned to look at Sora, eyes wide.
"I don't get it." Sora sighed, shaking his head.
Tynan groaned impatiently. "His hair, guys, his hair!"
Both boys turned to look at Shuyin, who ran his hand through his waxy hair in defiance and fixed them with a lethal glare. They continued to study him, as they were surely used to being glared at by now and Sora turned to Tynan with a large grin.
"I get it!" He said victoriously. "His hair is waxy."
"I don't see any wax." Riku frowned. "Waxy means greasy!"
"Waxy doesn't mean greasy." Sora argued. "It means its smooth and in place."
"You mean silky?" Riku suggested, and both boys turned to look at the thoroughly annoyed Shuyin once again.
"Yeah, silky!" Sora agreed, saluting Shuyin. "Hiya, silk boy!"
"Wait...that sounds kinky...."
Sora and Riku continued to frown at each other in thought. Tynan's cheeks were beginning to look a little pink, and she stared at the two boys with absolute disbelief. She considered leaning over and covering theirs mouths with her hands, but decided against it since they were stronger then her put together and she quite liked her wrists unbroken.
"Re-learning the oddities of the male species is such fun." She murmured, just loud enough so that they would hear her.
"Tynan!" Sora gasped. "Is that sarcasm I hear? You haven't used sarcasm in days! I thought the ten-step program was working!"
"Someone's in a better mood today." Riku said softly, his eyes glinting at her threateningly. She caught and held his gaze for a long moment, her own eyes betraying secrets he needed her to keep. They were equally dangerous to each other when it came to secrets.
"Yeah." She said, picking at her shirt. "I had a good sleep."
"Woah-ho-ho!" Sora exclaimed, waving his arms and breaking their connection. "I don't know, but I'm starting to feel like a third wheel here. If you guys are going to hit on each other, warn me so I can leave."
"Sora!" Her hand went flying towards his face, and Sora caught her fist with ease, grinning at her from beside her wrist.
"You would hit me?" Sora asked, apparently shocked. "You're becoming more like Riku by the day! You've never acted violently towards me. But I consider it a sign of affection since you try to attack Riku so much."
Riku grinned at her slowly, and Tynan could do nothing but jump up from the bed, cheeks aflame as she hurried towards the door. Sora rubbed his palm with a wince, feeling the impact of her hit. He grinned at Riku, who's crossed arms were a sign that he was embarrassed.
"Sorry, Ku-ri." He grinned. "It's just so easy to embarrass her... and I have some revenge on you two that still needs to be taken out."
"Get over it." He sniffed. "Now shut up or I will hit you."
"Silk does sound kinky." Sora mused, a change of topic so fast that it took Riku a few seconds to figure out what he was talking about. "Soft..."
"Frothy." Riku gushed, picking a thread on his shirt.
"Gossamer." Sora added, turning his full tooth-grin on the seething Blitzball player sitting by the window.
The pair of them stared at Shuyin for one dangerous moment before Shuyin jerked and they split from the room, wild cackles following them as they burst through the door. Shuyin sighed, settling back into his position, wondering how he had become so accustomed to this life.
Yuffie was quite occupied with trashing her own room, muttering under her breath and kicking discarded clothes. Matters only became worse when she stubbed her toe, and she let out a yell of frustration as she was forced to hobble her way around the room.
"If you sit still." A quiet voice advised her. "It won't hurt as much."
Yuffie gasped, covering her mouth with her hands. "Squall! Did I wake you up?"
Her roommate was watching her through hooded eyelids, his blue eyes blurry and unfocused. He seemed slightly amused at her display of anger, since Yuffie was usually so determined to remain in high spirits. Now she looked even funnier, her eyes wide with horror at the thought that she possibly could have stunted his recovery.
"You could wake up the dead with the noise you were making." He grumbled, closing his eyes and turning on to his side. "My name is Leon."
"Sorry." She murmured hastily, hurrying over to his bedside. "Do you need anything? Food, water, fluffed pillows?"
"I need you to stop fussing." He grumbled, opening his eyes to focus on her again. "Relax. I'm not going to die."
"Y-you could." She breathed, fluffing his pillows anyway. "It could develop into something else and then you would die."
"Like Syphilis?"
"Yes. Exactly!" She exclaimed. "And you...just made a joke."
He smirked at her. "Gotcha."
Her lip began to tremble, and Squall frowned as she looked away and stepped back from the bed. He mustered all his willpower, taking the small amount of energy he had gained and reaching out his arm to hers. She yelped when she was pulled down on the bed, landing at Squall's side with his arm resting limply on her back.
"What are you really upset about?"
She stared at him at his face, so close to hers, with wide eyes. Any close contact with him was slowly feeling more than platonic. She wasn't sure when these feelings had started, but being close to him had never caused such nervousness in her before. She turned her face into the pillow, trying to hide her face as blood rushed to her cheeks.
"C-Cid." She stuttered, trying to calm her heart. "H-he's organizing a fighting competition."
An odd look came over his face. "When?"
She raised her face from the pillow to peer at him. "You agree with this?"
"Why not?"
"Its not right!" She glared at him quite forcefully. " And don't even think about taking part in it, Mister. You're staying in bed."
"Whatever." He grumbled, turning his back on her. She studied his back in confusion for a quiet moment, contemplating turning him back over and trying to comfort him. She decided against it; Squall Leonhart was not easily comforted.
"I'm just...worried it will upset the people." She said quietly, staring at the ceiling.
"I think it upsets you more." He said weakly, and she saw that he had turned his head to face her, although his eyes were closed. "You're so used to protecting these people but....you need to let them go now."
"Squall?" She said incredulously, bemused that the idea of letting someone go had come from him, of all people.
But he had fallen asleep on her again, face completely relaxed as he let himself slip into his unnatural exhaustion. She chuckled, leaning over him to press her lips gently on his forehead. She told herself she was only being caring since he was sick. It was easy enough to lie to herself that way. But then he shifted slightly, his bangs lightly brushing her face, and she was hit with such a forceful affection that she jumped off the bed.
"I need to talk to Aerith." She muttered, bringing her hands to her flaming cheeks and hurrying out of the room.
Cloud growled in annoyance, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall of a store in the Third District. He didn't understand why Aerith couldn't take the younger ones shopping, since he had done so yesterday. But in light of the event being organized, the teenagers needed weapons and Aerith had gone to discuss providing healing at the tournament. And so he was playing baby-sitter once again.
"Break it up!" He called dryly to Sora and Riku, who were wrestling their way into the store. "We're in public."
"Sorry, boss." Sora called, saluting him and bowing Tynan into the doorway. Riku strolled in after her with all the essence of royalty, crying out when Sora shoved him inside and followed. Cloud took a deep breath, choosing to remain outside.
"I don't know why I can't just use the Keyblade." Sora grumbled, examining an arrangement of regular swords with distaste.
"Hello?" Tynan smiled at his pout of frustration. "Ultimate Cosmic Weapon seems a little on the cheating side."
"Phht." Sora cried, flicking a bullet at her, which she caught and examined closely. Riku frowned, stalking to the other side of the store without so much as a word.
"Touchy." Tynan mumbled, annoyed, as Sora chased after him.
Cloud looked up when the three of them sauntered out, carrying several bags between them. Sora was talking loudly, seeming to be carrying out most of the conversation by himself. The other two didn't seem to be talking. Cloud sighed. Teenagers.
"So?" he said. "What did you get?"
Sora pulled a case out of his bag, demonstrating a short sword-like weapon which bent in odd directions. It could have passed for an imitation Keyblade, but Cloud knew Sora would feel the difference. Riku had bought himself double swords, extremely thin to the point where they looked like fencing swords but much smaller. Tynan had two weapons as well, which attached to her wrists and were bent in a crescent shape. Cloud approved of this choice, since it left her hands free to use the small dagger she had purchased as well.
"Nice choices." He nodded, as they put their weapons away. Sora grinned and pulled out two wooden swords, showing them to Cloud quite proudly. "What are these for?"
"Fun." Sora informed him, rolling his eyes at the obvious answer.
"Fun?" Cloud raised his eyebrows. "You won't have much time for fun. You need to get used to those weapons if you're going to use them well."
"Yeah, Yeah." Sora brushed him off, but he noticed that Riku and Tynan looked startled. Evidently, they hadn't thought of that.
"Don't worry." Cloud chuckled, shaking his head at their worried expressions. "You'll have plenty of time to get used to them. The tournament isn't until Saturday."
He turned, striding down the stone walkway, eager to get back to the Hotel and away from the stores. The others followed much more slowly, gazing into the windows of the other stores and talking avidly. Apparently, the idea of the a Tournament was slowly dawning on them, and young excitement was never to be subdued. Even when he began to tap his foot impatiently, it was with much hesitation that they finally managed to drag themselves away from the strip mall.
"Come on." He waited for them to walk in front of him, pushing them along with a badly hidden smile. "We still have to stop at Cid's and register."
He met up with Aerith at the Accessory shop, where she had been waiting for him. He turned his back once to scold the teenagers when they tried to bud the rather long line, and when he turned back she was wearing a sparkly-happy smile. Cloud was always worried when Aerith got sparkly-happy.
"What?" He asked, when she began to chuckle.
"You're warming up to them." She said, clutching his arm. "I can tell."
"Warming up to them?" He asked, looking at her funny. "I am not warming up to them....you should see what I had to tell them to stop doing."
"You're acting all disgruntled. But secretly, you like babysitting them."
"You're a madwoman." He accused, taking his arm out of her grasp and stepping away. "Stay away. It could be contagious."
She chuckled. "Say what you will. You know I'm right."
"Mm.." was his only response, and Aerith giggled quietly as she realized there was no way Cloud would ever admit to anything he didn't want to. Instead, she stepped close to him again, kissing him gently on the cheek.
"You'll make a great father someday." She told him, trying to hide her smile at his paralyzed expression. She skipped off into the group of people, all of whom were surprisingly eager to participate in the tournament. Cloud was left at the back of the store to stare after her, numbly acknowledging the odd buzz that seemed to be disabling his limbs. Damnit, when had that woman learned to do that.
"Cloud?" Sora called, waving at him from across the store. "C'mon, we got a spot!"
"Cloud..."
"Cloud?"
Yuffie was met with a shocking yet pleasant sight when she returned to the Green Room. Squall was sitting up in bed, frowning at a tray that rested on his lap quite suspiciously. He looked over at her when her shadow blocked the street light streaming through the window, a frustrated and defensive look guarding his face.
"What?" She asked, stepping out of the light.
"Nothing." He growled, shifting the tray off his lap and crossing his arms.
"Food cold?" She grinned, amused at the obvious fact that he was trying to hide.
"Yes." He admitted grudgingly, glaring at her as if it were her fault. "Where were you?"
"Cid's." She answered, taking the tray from the bed and carrying it over to the kitchen. She'd looked for Aerith for quite a long time before giving up, it was surprising how many people were signing up for the tournament. She hadn't had reason to worry after all. So she'd gone for a walk instead, coming to terms with her thoughts all on her own, something she wasn't used to.
'Take em' as they come.' She thought, watching the seconds tick down on the tiny gummi-powered microwave. 'That's just what I'll have to do until I really figure out what's going on with...us.'
She shuddered at the use of the word, pulling the warm plate out of the microwave and setting it back on Squall's tray. It was annoying how things had managed to become so crazy when she hadn't been paying attention. Her little mantra wouldn't calm her confusion for too much longer. Why was she so afraid?
"The others were right." She said conversationally as she placed the tray in his lap again. "People really seem to like the idea."
"Hnn." He contributed, lifting his spoon to his mouth and taking a mouthful of soup. He had trouble swallowing it for a moment, touching his throat once he had managed to do so. "Are you signing up?"
"No." She said easily, handing him a cup of water from the bed side table to help him wash his food down.
"No?" He raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"
She smiled. "You finished?"
She gestured to the food and he nodded. She took the tray back to the kitchen and when she returned Squall was already resting his head on the headboard. She pushed him down on to the pillows, fluffing them for good measure and to simply annoy him. He grunted at her, although she knew deep, deep down he was thankful for her help.
"Sleep tight!" She called teasingly, getting up off the bed and moving to leave.
"Yuffie?" She stopped. "Why aren't you entering the tournament?"
She shook her head, her cheeks pinking only a little as she reached over and touched his hair. Normally, Squall would have jerked away at such contact. Nobody touched the hair. The Gunblade was one thing. His belts were another. But his hair was always to remain untouched on pain of death.
But he didn't jerk away this time, and Yuffie was allowed to run her fingers through the soft tresses. It was nothing compared to any of their other random moments, there was no kiss in the rain with lightning crashing above. But somehow...it seemed more important, what he had just allowed her to do, more special.She knew it would be burned into her mind for a long time.
She smiled at him, rubbing his scalp one last time before trailing her hand down his face and resting it on his neck. She could feel the soft drumming of his heart beneath his skin, and she stepped back from him quickly, hand falling limp at her side. She was sure her face was a tomato by now. She wished he would stop looking at her.
"Well," She said, raising her face despite the way it looked. "I've got myself a warrior to take care of."
Squall stared at the spot she had stood long after she left. Eventually, his eye lids became heavy and he was forced to close them. But he let out a soft groan before he drifted off to sleep, covering his face with his ungloved hands. It was a question he'd repeated many, many times since he'd first met Yuffie.
What had he got himself into?
Dances around like a maniac, back makes funny noise, hang-nail pulses with pain, grins
I have nothing very intelligent so say.
The only part I can comment on is the 'Syphilis' joke made by Squall, which is an inside joke between my friends and I. Which happened because we were researching mono for a school project...and my information was actually about Syphilis by accident and I didn't notice...
I also apologize for the random hyperness of this chapter.
Please review!
P.S. Apparently, I have a thing with Squffie scenes being in a bed. I would have prevented it this time...but seeing as Squall can't get out of bed....bed is where the Squffieness shall remain. No sexual innuendo intended. (Innuendo makes me think of Nintendo..)