Disclaimer: I don't own kindom hearts II or any of the characters, I don't even completely own this computer, I own nothing! Gack.
A/N: Thanks for all the reviews! This is one of the last chapters, there are going to be one or two after this one. Sorry about the long update, I haven't been able to get on the computer, Ugh. Leave me a review! ;)
The heartless came swiftly and in great numbers the next day. None of the group had any idea why it was happening, except for that if they didn't get rid of them the town would be overrun. "TAKE THAT!" Yuffie yelled as she threw her shrunken through a heartless. "You guys won't win this time."
She caught her breath for a moment. They had been fighting for quite a while. The number of the heartless did seem to be decreasing, but not as much as she would have hoped. There seemed to be another reason for their arrival… if they could get rid of the source of the problem…
"YUFFIE!" The yell caught her attention and she looked up to see Tifa urgently gesturing towards the cliff. "Go after Cloud!" Tifa had her hands full at the moment so Yuffie nodded and ran towards the cliff. She saw Leon and Aerith at the bottom of the chasm and the sight of her friends fighting brought encouragement to her. Her breath caught in her throat as she turned the corner to see Cloud lying on the ground near the edge.
"Cloud!" She cried as she ran to him and kneeled next to him. "Cloud, c'mon open your eyes, we've gotta fight the heartless!"
"I must thank you." The cold voice from behind her made Yuffie's blood run cold and she knew who it was even before she turned around.
"Sephiroth." Yuffie slowly stood up and cracked her knuckles. "I thought that we had gotten rid of you."
"As long as there is darkness in Cloud's heart I will never be gone. Thanks to his confused feelings about you it was extremely easy for me to conquer him."
"I won't let you. There will always be someone in Cloud's life to give him light! First it was Aerith, then Tifa… now it'll be me."
"You think you can defeat me? Pathetic." Sephiroth said with a chuckle. "I will crush you."
"You'll have to catch me first." Yuffie answered as she prepared her fighting stance. She may have looked confident on the outside but she was horrified. Whenever you want to wake up Cloud, it would be fine with me.
Sephiroth narrowed his eyes at her and drew out his sword. "I will not hesitate to kill you."
"I wouldn't expect you to." Yuffie answered with a smirk.
Sephiroth ran towards her and swung, which Yuffie dodged by a quick back hangspring. She carefully watched his fighting tactics while dodging all of his attacks. He was faster then she had anticipated. Her constant dodging seemed to be aggravating him so he suddenly yelled "Descend heartless angel!" The next thing Yuffie knew she was lying on the ground panting. That hurt.
"Why do you even waste your time?" Sephiroth said to her. "You'd never stand a chance against me."
Yuffie blinked and a tear ran down her face. "I do it for him." She answered. Weakly she stood up. "You can kill me but I don't care because I did it for Cloud… because I love him."
Suddenly Sephiroth winced as if she had struck him. "You're in the way."
"Good." In one quick movement Yuffie flipped forward and cut him. Immediately he retaliated by whacking her with his sword. Yuffie didn't even try to get up as she pulled herself next to Cloud with her remaining strength. "Please, I need you Cloud. Please." She whispered.
Everything faded away and she could hear Sephiroth raising his sword. Yuffie didn't feel anything or hear anything after that.
"Is she alright?"
"I tended to it, it's been a few hours now."
"What if she doesn't make it?"
Yuffie groaned and opened her eyes to see Aerith and Tifa standing over her. "Oh my Yuffie, you're alright!" Aerith exclaimed as she hugged Yuffie.
"Yeah, I'm fine… but where's Cloud?"
Aerith and Tifa exchanged looks and then turned back to Yuffie with sorrow etched on their faces. "Yuffie… he didn't make it."
Yuffie immediately felt like she had been punched in the stomach. "H-how?"
"Sephorith killed him. The moment that he killed Cloud he disappeared as well. We tried everything…" Aerith couldn't keep the tears back anymore.
Yuffie kept herself from crying by pushing all her emotions back. At the moment she didn't feel anything. "Where is his grave?"
"Leon is going to bury him today, we wanted you to be there." Aerith tried to smile at Yuffie but failed.
"I guess I should go get dressed for the occasion then right?" Yuffie said, not a hint of emotion in her voice before walking off.
Aerith and Tifa shared a look. They both knew that Yuffie was in shock.
Yuffie had never felt the way that she did as she stared at the tombstone later that day. If only there was some way that she could change things… or do something so that she could be with him.
"Yuffie, it's time to go." Leon said as he gently put a hand on her shoulder. For a moment the two of them were silent before he continued. "I know that I'm not one to talk, but concealing your emotions as you are isn't good."
"Let's go." Yuffie answered, leading the way after one last quick glance at where Cloud now lay.
That night she couldn't even think about sleeping. Instead she stared at the fire long after everyone had left. Then, as if in a trance she got up and walked out the door without even thinking.
The moment she approached his grave she felt a clenching pain in her stomach. "This is your fault you know." She whispered. "I tried to help you and you wouldn't let me, you've never let me." Suddenly the dam burst and the emotions began to pour out. "I LOVE YOU!" She screamed as she pounded her fist on the ground. "I wanted to tell you but I scared, I was scared…"
Yuffie closed her eyes and sat up, shaking slightly. "I know it's selfish, I know it's not right, but I ask for one more chance." Looking up at the sky she yelled. "I just want to tell him that I love him, please!"
She didn't get an answer. "I need him, without him I won't be able to go on, what's the use? Please, let me be with him however way I have to go about it." When Yuffie still received no answer she slowly took out a knife that she had. What do I have to lose? She muttered before beginning the cut on her wrist. With that she began to cut it deeper.
At that moment she woke up.
The room was dark and Yuffie sat up, tears dried to her face and a horrible headache. "Cloud…" She whispered.
"Something's happening." She heard someone whisper from across the room.
"Tifa?" She asked before getting out of the bed and walking over to her. "Where's Cloud?"
Tifa stepped aside and Yuffie got her answer. Cloud was lying unconscious on the bed, strangely it looked like all his wounds were healed though.
"How's he doing?" Yuffie asked her.
"After you were knocked out Cloud managed to continue fighting Sephiroth. He defeated him but was horribly wounded in the process. Aerith was up healing him for hours and went to bed a little while ago, Leon forced her."
"You can go to bed Tifa, I'll keep an eye on him." Tifa nodded, obviously exhausted. I wonder how long I've been knocked out? Yuffie thought as she watched Tifa walk off.
After Tifa left she turned back to Cloud and took his hand in hers and squeezed it gently. "I don't think it was just a dream, I think it was a wake-up call." She whispered. "Please wake up, I need to tell you Cloud."
He didn't move and Yuffie carefully crawled in next to him and closed her eyes, a few tears falling out of her eyes in the process.
The sun woke her up as it shined directly in her eyes. "Ugh." She muttered and realized that Cloud's arm was around her waist. Slowly she turned to face him and realized that he was looking at her. "CLOUD!" She cried as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Shhhh, everyone is trying to sleep." Cloud answered as he held her gently. "I think that they were up late."
"I thought that you were going to die." Yuffie whispered as she blinked back the tears in her eyes.
Instead of answering her Cloud pulled away and held out his hand to her. "Let's take a walk."
Yuffie didn't bother questioning him as to if he had the strength, she knew what he would say. With a small smile she took his hand and they walked out the door.
For a few minutes they didn't say anything, just enjoying being with each other. "I had a dream." Yuffie quietly began. "You died and I never got to tell you something, it felt so real."
"What was it?" Cloud asked glancing at her.
Yuffie closed her eyes and stopped walking. Ok you are still the Great Ninja Yuffie! You can tell Cloud those three simple words. For a minute she considered not telling him. Then something caught her eye. Her wrist had a deep cut in it exactly where she had cut it in her dream. At that moment she made her decision.
"I love you." Yuffie whispered, looking up at him.
"What?" Cloud asked narrowing his eyes.
"UGH! THIS IS SO HARD TO SAY!" Yuffie exclaimed. She sighed and quickly gave him a peck on his cheek. "I love you." She said with a sweet smile. "This time you aren't getting rid of me either.
Cloud looked like he didn't know what to say for a minute then in one quick movement he took Yuffie into his arms and pressed his lips against hers in a sweet kiss. Yuffie felt herself smiling and to her surprise Cloud seemed to be doing the same. He pulled away leaving Yuffie feeling a bit disappointed. She looked up into his blue eyes which for once seemed to be shining with happiness.
"The others will be wondering where we are." He said after a awkward silence.
"Let them wonder." Yuffie answered with a giggle as she kissed him again.