Gah, um... Seems there was a bit of a misunderstanding. Leon/Riku is NOT-- I repeat, not-- a pairing in this fic. That 'LR' in the summary? Yeah. That R's not for Riku. That's for Rinoa. Eheheh. Completely my fault. Sorry about that folks. Erm. There will be Leon/Cloud later, but... Just wanted to clear that up.

...So! Moving right along!

(x) (x) (x)

Everything In Its Own Time

'The Fingersmith'

"Keep it in your heart like a stone..."

-K-

I imagine that her hands are like something still unseen, still untouched by anyone and anything. They are frail like shards of glass, rough like a sandy beach cove, and filthy-- so filthy that even your average kid, your average little three year old, would think twice about taking a muffin held between those hands.

Those filthy, disgusting hands.

I do not now, do not ever want to touch, want to have a part of those hands. Tobacco leaves beneath the nails, a thin ring of blood around the cuticles-- no, truly, nothing you have ever seen before.

But the nails are so fine. But beneath the dirt, the grime, perhaps the skin is so soft...

Those pure, beautiful hands.

I did not undress her with my eyes, I traced her fingertips slowly and with care. I cringed, hated, and pitied her-- I loathed, wanted, and needed her. Not only did I get nothing, I got less than nothing. I found myself with my own pair of dirty hands, not hers or yours, but mine at last, my very own.

And nothing was very beautiful about them at all.

x x x

"Na-mi-né..." The girl's arms came up around her shoulders, carefully moving a dirty little plait of blonde hair out of the way. Across from the two of them was The Wall, bright, colorful, and full of the most abstract, most alluring things Kairi had ever laid eyes on. "Hee. Lovely as always," she crooned playfully.

"Thanks." Naminé turned her head just slightly enough so she could shoot the other girl a smile before she turned to her work once more. Sidewalk chalk was her weapon of choice, marring The Wall with as many different colors as she could chance to stumble upon abandoned in the city gutters. But then again, Naminé thought for a moment, when you look for anything, you're bound to find it. Even sidewalk chalk.

Kairi focused more intently on the image on The Wall, honing in on each edge and each curve. Some of the figures were people, no doubt, but not the sort of people Kairi was used to seeing everyday. These people were in no hurry, they wore no black, no suits, they carried no briefcases, no purses. They were so much simpler than that-- just beautiful, ordinary human beings, standing in a loose and brightly colored ring. One, two, three, four, five, six total. And they all looked the same.

"K-Kairi... Hey, are you...?"

"Hm?"

"Are you okay? You look sort of spacey or something."

Shaking her head, Kairi smiled warmly and said, "No, I'm just tired..." Almost as an afterthought she continued in a quieter tone, "Hey, 'Miné? Have you um... You haven't seen anyone hanging around here lately, have you?"

Naminé froze, her little shard of sidewalk chalk resting loosely in the palm of her hand. "You've seen him too, huh?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"W-What do you think he wants?"

"Dunno." Kairi cocked her head to one side just slightly, thinking for a moment, a dull word escaping her lips in the process. "Huh."

"What?"

"...Nothing. Nevermind." Something about the image is wrong, but I don't know what it is. Tearing her eyes away from the wall, Kairi pulled Naminé back into her arms, the two of them tumbling backwards onto the filthy concrete floor. Laughing cheerfully, Kairi pointed lazily in front of them, back towards The Wall. "You going to finish this one or what?"

Heaving a dramatic sigh, Naminé flopped leisurely on the girl beneath her, declaring, "Na-ah. Not moving. Too comfy."

"You're just a lazy sack of bones, yanno."

"Hee, that's me." Tossing the piece of chalk off to one side, Naminé's hands curled into little fists, holding onto Kairi by her sweatshirt. She watched as the tiny piece of chalk rolled slowly down the alleyway, the entire foundation set at just the slightest tilt. The chalk left no path behind it.

"Lemme know if you see him again, okay?" Naminé asked. Kairi simply nodded, and for them, that was the end of that particular discussion.

x x x

For as long as Yuffie could remember, she had always had Leon. Now, 'having' Leon had never truly entailed actually having Leon in the true sense of the word until middle school rolled around.

But his presence had been with her since those early days of preschool, back when Play-Doh was edible and children could control the weather simply by cutting some holes in a sheet of paper and calling it snow. He'd always been a quiet kid, and Yuffie, for the most part, had always been a loud and obnoxious twerp. She had never directed any sort of rude commentary towards Leon, nor had she and her teeny-bopper buddies ever singled him out as a target of any sort.

Through much of her life, Yuffie had viewed Leon just as he wanted to be viewed. Completely and utterly untouchable.

What had sparked the change? Yuffie... wasn't sure. Maybe there was some event in some long-ago-far-away kind of setting, but she couldn't place her finger on it, exactly. It was as though one morning she had just woke up and decided to change her life around-- yeah, to touch the untouchable and isolate the sociable. Hate one, love another. Find a certain glum little kid and convince herself she could change him for the better.

But that was all just some distant past.

Yuffie's summer had passed by, leaving her mentally beating the shit out of every pimply-faced high school kid who worked behind the counters when school started up. You stole my job, you little fucker! Of course, she never said that. Instead, she fixed a broad smile on her face and always ensured that she never told such spoiled brats to keep the change. It wasn't because Yuffie was selfish. It was because she feared herself actually saying, "Yeah, kid, keep the change! Keep the change and go shove it up there where the sun don't shine. Idiot."

...Yes, it was a bitterness that Yuffie had a hard time overcoming.

Still, she was out there, day in and day out. With Leon's car at her disposal and the endless desire to get the hell out of her mother's house, Yuffie refused to fall victim to that nasty little plague of giving up. She was determined to kick the world in the ass and beat the system she despised so much, but if one little job (or the lack thereof) was going to hold her back... well, Yuffie would show that job... thing... whatever.

She held in her hand a sheaf of paper printouts she'd gotten offline-- different businesses in the area in need of 'responsible, reliable employees.' Yuffie could be responsible and reliable. Heck yeah! It was just a matter of her being in the right mood to be responsible and reliable, that was all.

Passing a boy on the street, Yuffie couldn't help but glance down, catch sight of the red sidewalk chalk, the black lipstick, eyebrow piercing-- a kid trying to make a statement with the words written on the ground, "I'm trapped in a room full of wonderful colors, but it's not really so bright-- I'm afraid of the dark." She really wanted to laugh at his dumbass attempts at defying society with such an oh-so-bold statement of dress and declaration, but when she tried, it sort of ended up sounding like she was choking on a frog. Such a weird noise attracted the goth's attention, and before Yuffie knew it, she was stuck there, rooted to the spot, his eyes meeting hers.

Yuffie shot him her best girlish grin, returned with a blank, dark stare that made her shrink back and hurry along her way. It wasn't so much that he glared. It was just that his eyes were a menacing blood red.

But Yuffie's renewed energy for her job-hunt was quickly cut short by one niggling little high-pitched voice that just flew right in out of the blue.

"I don't believe it! Yuffie? Yuffie Kirasagi? No way!" Suddenly she was face to face with her, the bubbly, cheerful... Rinoa Heartily. Eagerly drawing closer towards Yuffie, Rinoa's grin only widened as she pushed her black ponytail over her shoulder, hands coming to clasp one another beneath her chin. "Omygosh, it's been forever! How are you?"

"I'm, er..." I'm shocked you're talking to me, really, but aside from that, I'm cold, hungry, and unemployed. How about you? "...Rinoa! Wow! Yeah... I mean, wow! ...Haven't seen you in a while, huh?"

"It's been way too long, seriously. Why haven't we ever done coffee or something, huh? God, I just hate losing contact with people, you know. This has to be some sort of sign or something, you know?" Rinoa's warm brown eyes danced with her usual merriment as she capped a small jar of paint Yuffie hadn't even realized she'd been holding. Wiping her hands off on her her denim-clad thighs, Rinoa laughed randomly, absurdly, and with absolutely no reason.

"Yeah... Sure do."

Taking about half a moment to actually look at her surroundings, Yuffie began to piece together a few very important facts at a very, very quick rate. For one, Rinoa was not just ambling along on the sidewalk-- there were plastic tarps spread out across the ground in front of an apparently vacant shop, darkened windows only brightened up by the fresh coat of decorative paint applied, declaring "Grand opening on Monday, January 23rd!" and showing a little stick girl dressed in a frilly hippie skirt and long multi-colored trench-coat.

...Well, Yuffie had to admit. That was pretty well-crafted stick person Rinoa had going for her there.

She considered pointing out the fact that the two of them had rarely exchanged more than two words to one another in high school, but on second thought... What exactly was RInoa doing outside a partially boarded up old shop? Hmm, Yuffie could just smell the opportunity. "Er, sooo... Whatcha doin'?" she asked innocently.

"Doin--? OH! Oh!" Slapping on a broad and pearly white grin, Rinoa clapped her hands excitedly as she spun about in a little twirl. "Yuffie, I swear you're gonna love it. It's gonna be absolutely amazing. I have it all planned out-- the funding and everything. It'll be totally fabulous and it's completely geared towards people our age, you know?"

"What is it?" And then Yuffie saw the sign. "...'Banana'...?"

"Ana Banana!"

"What the fuck is Ana Banana?" For some reason, Yuffie suddenly found herself stifling the sudden desire to smash Rinoa's face in. Whoa! Where the hell'd that come from? Violent urges, inner self. Violent, violent urges.

"Huh?"

"...I mean... Wooow! What a cute name! Hey, Rinoa? Um, this uh, business of yours..."

"It's a discount clothing store. All these totally cool vintage clothes at really reasonable prices! Cool, huh?"

And then it all hit Yuffie like a big, painful revelation. Not all that different from getting smacked upside the head with a large, well-crafted brick. "Oh, um, yeah, very cool." Falling into step alongside Rinoa as the girl picked up her little cardboard box of paints and brushes, Yuffie stuck her hands into her pockets and ventured, "So, say, uh, don't suppose you're looking for any employees or anything...?"

Pausing, Rinoa glanced sideways at Yuffie with a calculating little look, glossy lips puckered together in thought. After half of an anxious moment, Yuffie's dreams were shattered with the words of the carefree girl. "Oh. Ohhh, I get what you're lookin' at, Yuffie. Heehee, sorry, but I'm runnin' the store all by myself during the hours I'm not in school. It's cheaper and easier to handle that way."

"Ah, you're sure? I mean, yanno, you could lose a lo-ot of business when--"

"Sorry, Yuffie. Maybe some other time?"

"...Right."

Talking along pleasantly, Rinoa acted as though Yuffie's hopes of a future were, of course, still perfectly intact. "See, I really need to keep my budget under control. Especially with all the crazy competition out here, you know what I mean?" With that, she made a bitter face and nodded towards a shop across the street. Figuring it couldn't hurt to humor the girl, Yuffie looked.

There stood two chipper blonde girls, both wearing identical hairstyles and make-up. They each had on small white skirts, the only difference in their attire being in the color of their baby-doll tees. ...To be honest, it was all Yuffie could do to keep from gagging at their million-watt grins and high-pitched laughter that travelled all the way across the jam-packed city streets.

"They're absolutely impossible," Rinoa continued with a heavy sigh. "Stuck up little bitches the both of them-- the only reason they're so popular is because they run a 'family' store. People eat that junk right up. They just lo-ove buying junky clothing from twins. I don't even get the appeal, but whatever."

"You knooow, Rinoa... has anyone ever told you that we look kinda similar?"

"Um. No?"

"...Oh." Well, it was worth a try. Sorry, Rinoa, but I don't really care about your problems-- they sure as heck aren't mine. Thankfully, Yuffie didn't have the time to explain all this to Rinoa, for she spotted a very familiar little car amidst all the others packing the street. Leon! Thank God! Turning back towards Rinoa as Leon pulled over to the side of the road, Yuffie grinned brightly and said, "Well hey, uh, my ride's here, so I--"

Ah, but there was just one little detail she'd forgotten...

"Is that... It is!" And that little detail just happened to be Rinoa's never-ending obsession with her best friend all throughout their high school years. "Squall!"

"He goes by Leon," Yuffie mumbled, mentally making a note to kick herself in the ass. Or better yet, to kick Rinoa in the ass and claim it was an accident. Perhaps accidentally push her into the flow of oncoming traffic. Accidents were wonderful, wonderful inventions, really...

"Hey Squall!" Cringe, twitch, shudder, get the hell away from him.

"Um... Hello." Leon blinked up at Rinoa with a slightly puzzled look, glancing towards Yuffie and then back towards RInoa again.

"Hey listen, how crazy is this, right? I mean, running into you and Yuffie in the same day, right?"

"Leon is my ride," Yuffie explained lamely.

"...Ohh-hhh. Your ride?" Rinoa's brilliant grin suddenly took on a bit of a mocking edge to it as she placed her hands on her shapely little hips, saying, "Yuffie and Squall? Never woulda pegged you guys together."

"That's because we're not," Leon added in hurriedly, awkwardly. He blinked, glanced towards Yuffie again in one silent attempt at Hey, no hard feelings. "We're not... Together, that is."

At this Rinoa couldn't help but arch one slender black brow, a delighted little smile playing across her face as she chirped in that sing-song voice of hers, "Oh, you don't say? Huh. Guess I was right." The momentary silence was just long enough for her to throw a wink in the direction of the girl beside her before grabbing her by the elbow and steering her delicately off to the side. "Yuffie, you wanna bring that box over here? Thanks, hon."

"Yeah, no problem..."

Plucking the cardboard crate of poster paints and brushes from Yuffie's open arms, Rinoa gave her a cheery little smile. The box fell to the ground and Rinoa slung one carefree arm around the skinny shoulders of the girl beside her-- an awkward position, seeing as Yuffie stood almost half a head taller than the vertically-challenged Rinoa.

"Yuffie's my new employee, Squall. We're kinda gonna start this place up together, so whaddya think? We look close enough to pass as sisters?"

What! Are you kidding me? You wouldn't even think of it two minutes ago and now you're all over the goddamn idea?

"Not really."

Yay, I always knew you were on my side, Leon!

"All in good time, right? We'll get there..." With a lighthearted giggle, Rinoa energetically ruffled Yuffie's hair, causing the other girl to stiffen abruptly and experience that increasingly common desire of face-smashing again. Completely and utterly oblivious, Rinoa continued talking to Leon-- Yuffie's Leon, quite merrily, as always. "So if you're Yuffie's ride, guess I'll be seeing both of you guys a lot more often now, huh?"

"...I... guess so."

What the-- you fucking traitor!

"Awesome!" Waving her index finger under Yuffie's nose, Rinoa chirped, "Monday at nine, Yuffie! See ya there."

Having slid into the seat of the car and close the door, Yuffie waited until they reached the end of the block before she finally spoke.

"...I don't fucking believe it."

"You got a job. I know. Impressive."

"No, I don't fucking believe it."

"...Okay, it's not that impressive, Yuffie. You're just a--"

Scowling angrily, Yuffie turned in her seat to glare at Leon, snapping, "She fucking hired me because of you! Jesus! I mean... That little pig. That fucking little pig."

"Did you ever think to consider the possibility that your language might, every once in a while, be just a little extreme for--"

"What, so now that I've got a job, you're on my case for my fucking language?"

"Yuffie."

"...I'm sorry. Hey, I... Damn. It's just... Come on, Leon. I... Fuck."

"Are... you okay?" Frowning, Leon cleared his throat, perfectly aware of how forced and awkward those words sounded coming from his mouth. "Yu--"

"Just drive the fucking car."

He had half a mind to slam on the breaks, to scowl and redraw the lines between them. "Don't tell me what to do." But on second though, thought, that probably would've been childish. Even though Yuffie may not have had the sense to tell the difference between what was appropriate and what wasn't, Leon refused to let himself stoop down to that level. If she wanted the car to carry her lazy, angry ass all over town, well fine.

Without any more prompting, that was just what Leon did. He drove the car. He drove the car in silence and he drove the car for quite a long while, taking them out of the city, into the suburbs, past the park, past the cherry grove now glazed in a soft new frost that glistened cheerfully in the moonlight. Past the drug store, past the bowling alley, deeper and deeper, crawling and crawling along until they came to the old high school. The parking lot stood vast and empty, a black nothingness which stretched out in all directions, boundless and speckled by thick yellow lamplight.

Leon unlocked the doors, stepped outside, and waited for a moment until Yuffie got the message and opened her door as well. Silently, wordlessly, the two of them made their way across the asphalt, up a jagged flight a stairs that was set into a hill, a fenced-in hill. The silence disturbed Leon and he didn't trust it-- so he mentally excused himself for whistling a half-hearted little rendition of Blackbird to fill the silence. Yeah, yeah, something he rarely did. But then again, Yuffie was rarely so quiet. It all balanced out in the end.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you, man," Yuffie said after a long moment, her voice straining against its natural loud and annoying lilt.

Raising an eyebrow, Leon ceased his whistling and waited patiently for Yuffie to continue. The two of them both hand their hands folded into their pockets for warmth as they reached the old vacant track, one dark oval that stretched around, only broken by brilliant white lines clearly dividing the lanes. And that was how they walked, one in each lane, slowly and quietly around the track before Yuffie managed to put her thoughts together as best she could.

"Rinoa only gave me that job because she wants to bang you, you dingus."

"Yuffie, no one says dingus anymore."

"Yeah, well I'll call you a damn dingus if I feel like calling you a goddamn dingus. And I feel like calling you a goddamn dingus, so you're a goddamn dingus."

"Idiot."

"Dingus," Yuffie repeated. Leon snorted, something between an exasperated sigh and a chuckle, shoving Yuffie playfully on the shoulder. Balling her hands into fists, Yuffie bounced back, laughing and punching him in the arm, hardly phasing him in the least. "Knock it off, punk, I'll deck you one!"

"I'd like to see you try." Leon smirked and allowed another moment's worth of silence to fall between the two of them. Halfway around the track, he spoke again, voice back to its normal, deep tone, completely devoid of any humor whatsoever. "You're taking the job, aren't you?"

"Fuck yeah, man. You think I wanna live with my mother forever? HAH! I got better plans, wa-ay better plans. Me 'n Rinoa, yeah, we'll work together. Then you knock her up, knock her out, leave me the store and I'll make a goddamn fortune. I'll have emeralds spilling out my goddamn ears, man!"

"Sounds appealing."

"The emeralds or the knocking up part you gotta be doing?"

"Yuffie..."

"Hey man, I'm cool with it if you are. You know that girl's gonna be hounding you every damn day you drop me off! And you can't just not take me into town with you. I mean, you're a dingus, but you're not an asshole. You're not a professional asshole, man."

"...Are you implying I'm an amateur asshole?"

"Does my set of wheels rest on my answer?" Laughing delightedly at Leon's annoyance, Yuffie turned around to face Leon, now walking backwards along the track, Leon walking forwards. They'd made it around the bend, so it was just a matter of Yuffie being able to walk in a relatively straight line, now. Tucking her arms behind her head, Yuffie studied the faint flickering of the stars for about half a second (as long as stars could really hold her interest) before looking back down towards Leon.

"You really want me to get this job, huh? You're even willing to hack it out with Rinoa. Impressive, man. Impressive. Remind me to buy you a fucking pony."

"You can keep the pony."

"Great, I'll name it after you. I'll ride him to work every day and see if Rinoa makes any more cracks about my choice of transportation when she's haulin' Squallie Junior around in her-- Whoa!" Slipping and falling backwards onto her ass, Yuffie took the opportunity to whine and complain as always, only causing Leon to grow more and more annoyed, crossing his arms and scowling down at his immature friend. His immature friend who, at that moment, just happened to spot the shadows inside the ring of the track, shifting about on the open, grassy field.

Instantly, she knew what they were. "Geese!"

"Huh," was Leon's only reply.

"I wonder how come they're still here. It's cold, yanno. They're s'posed to be gone by now-- it's almost February!" Hopping to her feet, Yuffie waved her arms around frantically hollering, "HE-EY, ya big dumb geese! Get outta here! You're gonna freeze to death if ya sta-ay!"

Leon shook his head, watching as the birds panicked and squawked madly before taking off into the night, the steady beat of wings the only notice of their departure. Eventually, however, they made a broad sweep of the high school campus, passing under and over the lights of the parking lot, plunging the entire area into a deeper blackness for a few moments.

"Effective."

"I thought so." Yuffie beamed, resuming her backwards walk as though she'd never fallen in the first place. "I like how they fly. They're so organized. Kinda like those crazy little fighter planes, right? Something like that, anyway. But we took after them, not the other way around."

"Geese aren't that smart, Yuffie."

"Oh yeah? Says who? You?"

"Yes. If you were to get two people, have them each stand on opposite sides of a flock of geese... have them run and chase the geese together... the birds would crash."

"You're a big dumb communist," Yuffie accused with an indignant little huff.

"...What?"

"Shuddup, ya big dingus of a commie."

"...Whatever."

x x x

Naminé's words came through the sleepy night, brushing up against Kairi, one lingering little pale hand pulling aside a tangled web of blood red.

"Kairi, do you... do you r-remember your mother?"

Sitting up against the cool brick wall, Kairi blinked sleepily, peering down at Naminé through the darkness. "...No, not really. Not at all, I guess," she said, her voice still thick and groggy with sleep. But Naminé didn't seem to mind. She simply held tighter to the baggy sweatshirt Kairi wore, nuzzling her face childishly against the warm fabric.

"...Did... you ever think of going to look for her?" Naminé asked.

"I don't think so, no."

"Lazy..."

"I'm not lazy." Kairi smiled slightly, prodding the girl in her lap gently, jokingly. "...I just don't remember her. I want to. But I can't. It doesn't matter, does it? It must be what she wanted-- for it to be like this."

"Don't say that... I'm sure she never meant for... you know."

"It's fine, 'Miné, go back to sleep." And it fell silent again, or at least, as silent as it could be. There was still the steady drone of cars in the street, of people-- drunk and sober alike-- shouting back and forth across the street from one another, catcalls and curses all blending together in the end. But finally, Naminé's voice came back, clear despite the background noise.

"...What... would you do... if you found her?" she asked.

"I... um. I don't know." Kairi thought for a moment, wondering if she'd be able to let it drop or not. Now that she really thought about it, she hadn't ever really taken the time to think about things like that. But Naminé's eyes waiting open in the dark hinted that no, she wouldn't be able to let it drop. At least, not just like that. Not quite that easily.

"I'd smile at her, I guess. You know... I'd try and be nice. Be civil. I'd... I guess I'd try really hard. Maybe I could make her happy. Maybe she'd want me." Hesitating for a moment, Kairi bit her bottom lip before continuing, "If she didn't, that would be okay. But I would ask her why she didn't want to love me."

"What if it wasn't her fault that she had to leave you behind...?"

"I'd hug her and tell her she was my mother, because it'd be the truth, I guess. And because I'd want it to be the truth. Because she'd want it, too."

"What do you think she looks like?"

"I've... well, I've never really thought about it. Like me, I guess. But prettier. Older, of course. And she's... She's kind of got those little tiny wrinkles some people have by their eyes. And when she smiles, the little wrinkles grow bigger, but they're still pretty. She's not heavy, not skinny, not tan, not pale. Warm and comforting, I guess, but sad and happy at the same time."

"She sounds nice."

"She is."

"I hope she finds you."

"...'Miné?" But the closed eyes in the city-dark hinted that no, they wouldn't pick up the conversation again. At least, not just like that. Not quite that easily. "...Naminé?"

x x x

When Leon dropped Yuffie off that evening, the sky had long turned a cold and lifeless sort of black, the porch light had long since been put out, turned off. She watched the taillights spin lazily around the bend and stood in the dark for only a moment, taking in a smattering of stars, of distant streetlights in the downtown that seemed so far off. There was a kind of excitement that still streamed through her, but, like the porch light, she couldn't help but feel it had been snuffed out long ago, replaced by some sort of eerie sense of dread.

Okay, this is cool, this is what I wanted, right?

And that big hunk of driftwood dangling over her bed-- it would nod along with her, gently and silently. Yeah, yeah, sure, this is perfect, just perfect, dammit, just perfect, great, lovely, wonderful. Well that had to be some consolation, didn't it? That a big dead piece of wood with agree with her and applaud her newfound job. ...Which, of course, came at the cost of whoring off her boy.

"...while to that rock I'm clinging-- since love is lord of heav'n and earth, how can I keep from sing--?" The voice faltered, stopped. Outside her mother's bedroom doorway, Yuffie hovered stupidly, not knowing whether to scuttle off to her own room in defeat or stand there and see what sort of hell her mother felt like dumping on her head that evening. "Yuffie? That you?"

Yuffie said nothing, just biting her lip and waiting in the dark. After a moment she heard a soft huff of a sigh come from her mother, a small clack which must have been her setting the little hand mirror on the vanity, though the quiet swish of brushing hair didn't leave just yet.

"How can I keep from singing...?"

I haven't heard her sing in a while. Not since I was kid, I guess. Huh. Weird. For a second there, I think maybe I almost... missed it. Yeah, talk about weird. I must be fucking losing my mind. Maybe Rinoa sucks brains, too...

x x x

Kairi was awake as the truck rolled down the street, an early morning light illuminating its painted side: Shenandoah Valley-- quality dairy-- everyday. One hand managed to work itself free from Naminé's still-sleeping limbs, rubbing at Kairi's eyes while the other hands gently worked on freeing the rest of Kairi's poor stiff body from the rest of Naminé's still-sleeping sack of self. She was only half successful though, for no sooner had she managed to slide out from her warm and comfortable prison, Naminé began to stir, mumbling and grumbling something unintelligible that brought a smile to Kairi's face. Despite the dark, despite the cold, it still managed to work its magic.

"'Miné... I'll be back in a few minutes, okay?" Her arm resting lightly on the blonde's shoulder, Kairi was relieved to find that she wasn't shivering anymore-- that she actually seemed quite pleasant, quite warm to the touch. But the moment the words left Kairi's mouth, Naminé jolted into full consciousness, shaking her head crazily, her pale hair falling around her pale face, her pale eyes.

"Nuhnuh, w-wait a sec, Kai... H-hold on a second!"

"What, what?"

"I just..." She blinked once, twice. Stared blankly at Kairi with an expression that demanded understanding, but just fell too short to get it. "Just don't go."

Kairi stared at Naminé as levelly as she could, but from Naminé's frantic gestures, she still found herself several inches below eye-level with the girl clinging to her shoulders. "What's the matter with you, huh? You have a bad dream?"

"No! Just listen to me, would you?"

"Miné, you're hungry, right?"

"...No, I'm fine."

"Well I'm not. Listen, there's a truck pulled up just across the street there, okay? I'm just gonna be gone for a few minutes and I'll be right back."

"NO." Both of them seemed to be taken aback by the sudden ferocity in Naminé's words, for which she instantly began to apologize, to explain as quickly and as best she could. "Kairi, listen, just listen, okay? Please don't go just yet-- just wait until it's light out, would you? It's still dark and..."

"And I'll only be just across the street. And I'll only be gone a few minutes." Kairi smiled warmly up at Naminé, who seemed to relax slightly, be it in defeat or in comfort. Her mouth quirked downwards into a slight frown as Kairi ruffled her long hair with as much affection as she could muster, but... something felt wrong.

Naminé wasn't even looking at her.

"...Miné, you okay?" Kairi asked quietly.

"I'm cold," came her dull response. Smiling softly and just shaking her head, Kairi tugged her own baggy sweatshirt off, offering it to Naminé with one grubby hand. When the girl made no motion to reach for it, Kairi heaved a small sigh and set about pulling the garment over the other girl herself, who suddenly seemed limp as a rag-doll, as a small disagreeable little child who just never felt like cooperating with her mother.

"There."

"Kairi?"

"What is it?"

"I love you."

Somewhat startled by the sudden, quiet words, Kairi could only smile and tuck a stray strand of hair behind Naminé's perfectly shaped little ear, just before placing a quick kiss on her forehead. "I know," she said. "Love you too. Back in a sec, okay?"

x x x

Something caused Yuffie's eyes to shoot open in the middle of the night. She didn't know what time it was, she didn't know what exactly had happened, but all she could make out in the darkness was the comforting shadow hanging over her, just like always. She paused, grinned, and looked towards the clock. A little after six. Okay, so not quite as middle-of-the-night as she thought, but still.

Rolling over and tucking herself under her comforter once more, Yuffie tried to push away whatever disturbing feeling it was that had awoken her in the first place.

x x x

The blood could be seen from miles away, such a bright and radiant little puddle it formed in the cracks of the old, dead pavement. It ran down the gutters in thick and silent streams, and for just a moment, none was wiser than the shadow that pulled away from the girl's body.

The scream could be heard from miles away, such a desperate and lovely scream that drifted from one ear to another in the cold, dead morning. It kissed the lips of sleeping children and they awoke screaming too, not knowing why, not caring why, but terrified nonetheless. For just a moment, none suffered more than the one girl bent over the other, steeped in a crimson wash of blood.

Mrs. Kirasagi made her way down the dawn-lit street, purse clutched between her hands and lips pursed firmly shut into a grim line. She too had heard the scream and she instinctively walked a little faster, moved from one streetlight to the next, heels clacking obnoxiously against the concrete sidewalk. The wail of sirens started, the lights began to flicker on in the condos, the apartments. The city began to wake up to the first crisis of the day. Mrs. Kirasagi whistled a cheery tune to herself, painfully off-key as she rounded the street corner. So sound up was she in her own troubles that she had to stand there for along moment in order to properly take in the scene unfurling before her.

Some workers-- the typical blue-collar milk-delivery type-- were trying to pull her off, this raving little street demon soaked in blood. She was the one throwing such a tantrum, breaking into absolute hysterics as the wild lights of the police cars drew closer down the street. Little shadowy heads popped out of windows, peering down with such an unabashed curiosity-- a steady hum of whispers and mutters of, "Oh what a horrid shame, a horrid shame" before the windows slid shut again.

"What happened here?" Mrs. Kirasagi asked. No response from the bystanders, but then louder, "What happened here?"

Someone started rattling something off in Spanish, another in French. She cursed them both in Japanese and pushed her way through the throng of people, demanded once more, "What on earth is going on?"

"Kid got stabbed to death over there. Caught her little friend in the back of the truck here, but she didn't put up much of a fight, just beat it when we told her off. Came back out and found that chick over there dead-- boy did she start screaming bloody mur-- Owwowwoww! Sonofabitch, woman, the hell was that for!" Still flustered from his first beating by the purse of a middle-aged menopausal woman, the worker cowered away, only to receive yet another blow to the head.

"You... selfish... little... pig!"

Thwack. Thud. Thwack, thwack.

"How... can... you...!"

Thud. Thud. Thwack.

Giving up on the now-blubbering man before her, Mrs. Kirasagi abruptly stormed over to the growing cluster of police who all appeared to be fighting very hard to hold the little bloody girl down. Upon closer inspection though, she wasn't that little. Only a few years younger than Yuffie, maybe, Mrs. Kirasagi thought. Her incessant wailing and strangely inhuman cries tugged at Mrs. Kirasagi's parental heartstrings and she clutched her purse between her hands once again. She could barely make out a thick puddle of blood seeping out of the shadows of the alleyway, a rush of paramedics and police and swirling lights and cold gray morning and...

"Here dear, clean yourself up."

Mrs. Kirasagi looked at the girl expectantly.

The girl looked at Mrs. Kirasagi like she was crazy.

And yet somehow, between the two of them, they shared a common bond.

Obediently, the girl quieted herself down, wrenching one of her hands free from the startled policemen and taking the crisp white handkerchief offered to her by Mrs. Kirasagi. She took several shallow, quivering gasps of air. The handkerchief looked more like a small white leaf caught in a breeze for all the girl just wouldn't stop shaking.

Turning her attention towards the police officers standing around and regarding her with a dumbstruck gaze, Mrs. Kirasagi scowled and snapped, "What's the matter with you, anyhow? For God's sake, you think she's a murderer for cryin' out loud? She's not only got a goddamn alibi, but she's obviously got the goddamn emotion to back her up as innocent!"

"Ma'am, we're not saying any--"

"You're not, you're not-- like hell you're not! You're not comforting her, that's what you're not doing. Some damn bit of good you do her like this. Poor girl's scared shitless and you've got your goddamn men all over and and she..." At this, Mrs. Kirasagi's wrath took on a different victim, her purse coming back out to play once again.

"Get the hell off her, already!"

Thwack. Thud.

"Ma'am, y-you're interfering w-with the law!"

"I interfere with the law when the law doesn't work, damn you!"

The girl was staring off to the side, to the alley. She watched them carry out the bulky black bag and she saw the lights swirling, flashing, rising. Sirens, cameras and sunshine. What a beautiful day.

She saw them all going in, all looking around. Pulling up what little they had and taking it away. Naminé's chalk, her woolen scrap of a blanket, her scraps of newspapers with little drawings here, there...

She saw what she saw, but what she saw only broke her heart. So she stopped seeing. She quite simply closed her eyes and stood numbly, carelessly, swaying slightly on her feet, like in some twisted kind of trance. She was half aware of the voices around her, but in the small space that existed between her closed eyes and the rest of the world, there hid the picture Naminé had painted for her.

"You're not like me, Kairi. We're different, you see? You didn't choose to live like this. I did. I had a choice. I had a nice home, parents who cared about me, and friends... I had a lot of friends. And I don't know why... I don't know when exactly it was that I started to hate them. But I did. And I felt so guilty for hating them, but the guilt just made me hate them more and it kept growing and growing... Like some sort of monster, right? So I left. And I came here. And I found you.

"You're not like me, Kairi. You're innocent. You haven't done anything wrong. Not yet. ...Or... maybe you have. But you just don't know it. And that's okay. What you don't know can't hurt you... at least until its time comes. At least until you have to know, because the not-knowing is killing you. Then you'll find out and you'll hate me. Maybe you'll even kill me, in some way. That's my prophecy for you."

Kairi should have seen it coming, but she didn't. She felt someone's hands on her shoulders-- not the rough, uncaring hands of the sorry excuses for city policemen, but rather the warm and soothing comfort of a mother she didn't know, leading her into a false calm and a world away from her own. And though she didn't want to go, Kairi dared not speak a word, for through the din, she heard the woman's thoughts and felt her feelings through her fingertips.

Oh you poor, poor thing. It'll be alright. I'll make it alright. You poor, poor thing. Some sort of dependency not all too different from Kairi's own. She felt half an urge to turn and tell the woman to calm herself down-- she'd be fine. But then Kairi wasn't so sure anymore. And she wasn't so sure if it was normal to feel thoughts and respond to them just like that.

In fact, the only thing she was sure of is that she suddenly wanted to get as far away from the alley as possible. So of course, she put up no resistance when Mrs. Kirasagi boldly led her through the crowd, a bloody clot of street scum.

(x) (x) (x)

So whyyy the heck was Miné killed, huh? You've got questions, I've got answers. But first...

Did anyone catch Vincent's brief, brief cameo? No? Shame, that.

Reviews love, and love makes the world go round, round, round. They also make me update faster, be it for this fic ooor others, if you catch my drift. Muaha.