The closest thing I have to owning Final Fantasy is my little brother's copy of FFX-2, and I don't think that's saying much, eh?

Before I forget to put this in: Thanks to everyone who's reviewed!

Away From the Light
Forward Seven Years:
Of Fluffy White Chocobos

She sat swinging her dangling legs, perhaps far more carelessly then she should have been. But sitting on the roof of a building older than one's self didn't exactly scream regard for one's personal safety. She laid back as far as she could on the slightly slanted rooftop, and brown eyes stared up at the clouds drifting by. It wasn't the kind of activity she would normally be caught dead doing, sitting still wasn't exactly her forte, but she had stayed up far to late last night and had suffered from the rude awakening of the sun far to early. If it were not for the fact that she despised the cold, she would curse the effects the summer season had. Though it made her consider the fact that investing in some shades might not have been as pointless of a suggestion as she had previously claimed.

She closed her eyes, slightly, squinting so that the clouds formed clearer pictures. She wasn't sure of the logic behind it, but it had always worked for her. Materia, shuriken, rabbit, duck, that funky shaped tree in the village center with one major limb missing because of a storm, materia, materia, they all passed by without an extraordinary amount of thought given to them by the teen. Soon, they began blurring together and she very nearly fell asleep right then and there. Didn't she make a sight to see, a so-called ninja ever so alert, and by alert it was apparently meant that she was fighting a losing battle with consciousness.

She shook her head back and forth, figuring being seen so unaware wouldn't earn her any good favor today. She managed to convince herself that she cared more about finding pictures in the sky then sleep, and tried not to let her thoughts dwell on how exhausted she was. It was a futile attempt though and the last thing she remembered seeing was a fluffy, white, racing chocobo leaving her plane of view.

Sudden fright sent the girl jolting upright, still half-asleep and having no clue what was going on. Her dream was nonsensical, as most of hers had the tendency to be, but it had ended with her being hit in the stomach with a shuriken, leaving a deep, painful wound. Fear of being taken down in a battle, not just a sparring match as she was used to that, but in actual battle with an enemy that would kill her if given the chance, was held by the girl- not that she often admitted to it. She always felt it had something to do with her mother but she barely remembered her and was highly ashamed of that.

Disorientation and fear, never a good combination, set in as she felt something hit her. Was she being attacked? Maybe that hadn't been a dream and someone really had hit her and she was merely drifting in and out of consciousness. But there were more then a few things wrong with that picture.

For one thing, it was bright and sunny and far too nice a day for anyone of even a minor threat to try and attack anyone. Another was the fact that she didn't hurt. At all. Something told her that if someone were trying to dispose of her they wouldn't be so thoughtful as to make sure she wouldn't feel a thing. She then looked down and saw the roof of a building beneath her, and flushed a bright crimson with sudden memory of what really had happened; falling asleep daydreaming wasn't exactly as thrilling a tale as being in mortal danger. She made a mental note that she really, really needed to fall asleep earlier to avoid humiliating situations brought by dozing off in the day. Looking down, she saw the 'lethal weapons' were little more than pebbles, and several more were on their way.

Blinking her eyes slowly, all she could do was wonder just what the hell was going on. Preparing a few choice things to say to the culprit, she peered over the ledge to see just who would be on the receiving end of her verbal assault.

She gaped, at a loss of words, which was saying a lot considering just whom the person in question was.

Of all the sights she could have possibly expected to see, a cheerful Chekhov waving of all things at her was probably the last one on the list. "Yuffie! How thoughtful of you to finally decide to grace me with your awakened presence!"

The loss of words passed and Yuffie muttered something under her breath about adults and waking up early and perhaps something about sunburn though what that had to do with anything no one was sure. Based on some of the language she happened to use, she prayed that Chekhov hadn't quite understood her. It wasn't that she was bitter toward the middle-aged woman, but she certainly wasn't a morning person, she paused a second to wonder if it was even morning any longer, and was willing to take that out on anyone.

Judging by the cross between an appalled and an amused expression that slowly dawned the woman's face, she had most definitely heard every word that Yuffie had just spit out. No matter though, Yuffie practically ran around Wutai screaming profanities when irritated; it wasn't like no one had ever heard her curse before. Call it a bad habit. A bad habit that wasn't going to break anytime soon, and anyway the children's vocabulary would end up just as colorful whether or not she was the one to teach them. Chekhov broke her train of though, which rarely traveled in a straight direction anyway so it wasn't like she had been on the verge of discovering the meaning of life. "Since I'm sure such a proper young lady will be eager to hear my message, I'll just get straight to it. Lord Godo is requesting your presence."

The teenager gave an angry huff of protest, "Of course he is, he always is! I don't feel like getting yelled at yet thank you very much. And why did you throw stones at me!" by this point she was rambling on about anything and everything and would have carried on eagerly had Chekhov not cut her off.

"They woke you up didn't they?"

"I wasn't asleep!" She knew the contradiction was a futile one but the response was automatic.

Chekhov laughed and rolled her eyes, "Of course you weren't, but either way your father wants to see you and I'd suggest getting to him soon. And by 'soon'-"

"You mean 'now'. I know, I know," Yuffie took it as her turn to roll her own eyes. She wasn't in the mood for another lecture on life in general, not that she ever was, but curiosity always got the better of her. Who knew, maybe it could finally be something of relevance to her humdrum daily life. She really didn't feel like moving though, so naturally it was time for an excuse. "It's too early for this!" she whined.

Raising an eyebrow, the older woman looked up curiously at Yuffie, "Early is it? I have always eaten lunch and finished most of the day's tasks by two in the afternoon, but each to their own."

"Wait, two!" Yuffie cried out. Though that long sleeping in such an awkward place as a rooftop did explain the awfully stiff feeling she was just noting. She jumped down and began stretching, knowing that it would now be pointless to stay up there unless she had the desire to be masochistic and deliberately keep her muscles aching. Which she didn't. "Where is the old man anyway?"

"Yuffie, I do not condone your calling of your father old. As you know I was born several months before him, and I really do not appreciate what that would be insinuating about me," one could always count on Chekhov's sense of humor, no matter what hour it was. She answered Yuffie's question with one of her own, "Where do you think he is?"

This required no thought on the ninja's part, and she answered automatically, "Pagoda, right." Yuffie then grinned, "And maybe you are getting to be a cranky old woman." Time to start looking for a shovel, since she was digging her own grave. Chekhov was a quick thinker, which made her so dangerous in combat. Combat and any wars of wit that came about, that is. Yuffie might be a master of starting those, but Chekhov had perfected the art of finishing them.

"That's going a bit far, now isn't it?" Chekhov started saying, "I mean cranky is a bit-"

But Yuffie had run off before she could hear the rest, if she had even heard that much of the phrase, or lack thereof. The woman, she knew, wasn't going to waste time chasing her down; the time they met later in the day would come soon enough.

Coming to an abrupt halt, Yuffie soon realized that she was running into her own demise. 'So much for not being a masochist,' she mused, laughing at her own stupidity. Who in their right mind would charge at top speed into a no doubt angry beast's lair? Not to say Yuffie wasn't at least a bit out there, but she wasn't out that far... yet.

She resumed her journey, which wasn't all that far but at least she had had enough sense to take the long way around town, though her pace was slowed to a speed that had a great possibility of rivaling that of a snail's. The town's children, and population in general actually, were all inside- finishing up lunch or helping with chores. Thereby ruining any hopes she may have had of distracting herself by joining in on a game or two of tag, catch, or really whatever the youngsters were playing at the time.

It was times like this that Yuffie realized just how depressing towns were when empty. She was so used to seeing Wutai bustling with activity, especially since she rarely ventured out this time of day. Normally she practicing with her martial arts and Godo was very strict about keeping her on schedule. Oh! Training…

Shit.

Well, at least that explained why Godo was looking for her. Joy of all joys she was going to be getting a major lecture, one she might actually have to pay some attention to because it might require answers other then simple nods of the head, which she had long since mastered the art of. Too late to change what was done though, might as well at least enjoy the walk into the dragon's den.

It was strange though… She passed so few people, but she felt as if she were being watched, stared at actually. Naturally, the city's guard always kept an eye on everyone, and especially her though not necessarily because of her ranking in the hierarchy but rather her notorious reputation for delinquency. Added to that was the fact that the children, especially the older ones around ten and eleven, all loved her. It would have been a lie to say that she had ever grown up completely, especially considering that she practically fit right in with them. The parents weren't always too fond of that, but it was an affectionate kind of disapproval more often then not. But there was no one around, except one or two storekeepers sweeping the front of their shops, and they paid her no mind.

A few times, she could have sworn on her life to Leviathan that she saw someone out of the corner of her eye, but he or she always vanished before she could fully turn for the confrontation. Or perhaps the person was merely a figment of her sudden paranoia, brought on by the nightmare, even if she knew her being injured in the dream was most likely only a reaction to being hit with miniscule pieces of rock as a method of awakening.

This was why she seriously needed to be around people.

To overcome this fact she began to hum, and eventually sing, albeit loudly and purposely off key. Several more times she felt some presence, but she shrugged it off to the side as simply another effect of not getting enough sleep. At least not in comfortable places… the memory of waking up on top of a building wasn't going to fade away swiftly. Amazingly enough, she just might have learned a lesson from that experience!

Apparently Godo wanted no risk of her slinking off without hearing what he had to say. As she approached the building, she quickly took notice of the fact that he was looming just outside the entrance; his eyes none to subtly darting around, searching for and suggested trace of a young ninja, no doubt. Yuffie debated momentarily whether or not it would, in fact, be more beneficial to her general well being to just slip away into some remote ally way and pray that he would give up his search for her. Unsure of what the outcome of that would have been, she had no choice but to march forward because her thoughts had been cut off with an exasperated, "Yuffie!"

The girl was startled momentarily, but wasted no time putting on a faux-grin. It was all she could do to resist rolling her eyes. Did Godo not yet realize that she had never cared what he was ranting on about before, and that this time would certainly be no different?

Apparently not.

"Where have you been?" the man demanded, "You missed your training," which was a pity, she actually enjoyed that aspect of her routine. Times when Godo taught her were perhaps the only times they ever got along, "daily lessons, two meetings," at this Yuffie gave a very audible groan of disgust. She hated meeting and was sure there was some better way to organize things. 'Just wait until I'm ruler…' she mused.

Tuning him out, Yuffie shifted her weight back and forth between her feet impatiently and began looking around, focusing on anything but her father. Her gaze drifted back up toward the clouds, it did seem that that was becoming her new hobby, and finding shapes in them. Among the first she spotted was a fluffy white chocobo.

But, then again, that was what got her into the mess in the first place, now wasn't it?

Time for everyone's favorite part… the Author's Note!

Really sorry you guys ended up waiting almost two weeks for a chapter that's little more then character development. I was going to add a bit more, but it's only the first chapter and I didn't want the plot to end up being rushed. I can't promise how my weekend is going to turn out, but I have Monday off and I don't think I have anything to do, so I'm aiming to get the next chapter (And maybe a one-shot that's been nagging me) finished (Er… started rather?), edited, and posted within the next couple of days.

Hopefully in this chapter I managed to get the formatting right… since it didn't exactly show up like I wanted in the prologue. It was mostly the note at the bottom that wasn't right, so eventually I'll fix that, but it wasn't anything major.