Sanctuary

. o .

It was cold, a degree short of freezing but worse; the sort of chill that seeped under blankets and through the cracks in the tent, and could only be turned away by a blazing fire or a loved one's embrace.

She was a million miles away from anyone who she could call a loved one, and Yuffie supposed Vincent would have her head if she tried to snuggle up to him for warmth. Grinning, Yuffie shook her head. Not that she'd try – for all that he was covered in a Giant Mog's weight in cloaks, like the man who wore them, they weren't the comfortable type, all angles and ripped threads that got in her eyes.

Poking her head out of her tent, Yuffie caught sight of the campfire, and her eyes widened with hope before she realized that it was tiny, definitely not large enough to stay warm just by sitting by it. Cid and Barret were keeping watch, sharing stories and the contents of the liquor flask that Cid kept in his small pack. Two options, Common Sense suggested.

Yuffie ignored her internal voice of reason, shuddering. Absolutely out of the question.

If she tried – if – Cid would take one look at her and guffaw, lighting a cigarette and ruffling her hair in that irritating way he had of making her feel all of five years old again, before standing and moving pointedly to the other side of the campfire. And although Yuffie would hold an immeasurable debt to Barret for the rest of her life for the words he had added to her vocabulary, he still intimidated her. Sure, the older man had a soft side, but it didn't take away from the fact that he was easily two and a half times her size.

She supposed that she could have tried Aeris or Tifa, but they were Shiva knew where at the moment. 'Girl talk,' Tifa had called it earlier that evening as Aeris smiled and asked if Yuffie wanted to come along.

Yuffie hadn't, of course. Raised by her father and his stream of male advisors, Yuffie wasn't certain if she knew what Girl Talk was, much less how to speak it. So she'd shaken her head with uncharacteristic hesitance and stayed behind, using the opportunity to 'borrow' one of Tifa's blankets before leaving the older girl's tent. Shaking out of her thoughts and looking around the small clearing, Yuffie realized she was down to her final option. Shivering, although Tifa's sensible blanket was wrapped tightly around her tiny shoulders, she caught sight of a telltale flash of blond hair just beyond the clearing and grinned.

Allowing the blanket to drape behind her as she ran towards it – her version of Vincent's billowing cape, albeit in a soft blue flannel – Yuffie took a flying leap and tangled her arms around Cloud's shoulders, absently thankful that his sword was not strapped to his back, as it almost always was.

She had a split second to enjoy his warmth.

As Cloud flipped her over his shoulders to land in an ungraceful pile at his feet, Yuffie's grin dimmed only slightly. "I was cold?"

"That much, I could tell. Damnit, Yuffie," Cloud replied, "you scared the hell out of me."

"Nah," she grinned, springing to her feet and latching to his side. "You're tougher than that."

Trying not to smile at the obvious flattery and failing miserably, Cloud scuffed his toe andsettled his arm around her shoulders gingerly. "Uh, yeah… Yuffie, you should get back to the fire; you're freezing."

Yuffie nodded, nestling into the swordsman's side. "Great idea, Spikes. The best I've heard all day, in fact." When he didn't move, Yuffie poked him in the side, chuckling as he jumped away. "Twitchy, aren't you? C'mon, you didn't think I was going without you, right? If you stayed out here, you'd freeze, and we'd be down one Fearless Leader, though I'd get a lot of really awesome materia out of it. So, on the other hand…" She could feel his laughter as she continued to ramble and drew closer, pulling Tifa's blanket up around his shoulder as well.

Tightening his arm around her shoulders just slightly, Cloud sighed, hiding his smile from the tiny ninja girl. There really was no escaping Yuffie, after all… "Thanks," he murmured dryly, steering her back towards the fire. "Let's go, then."

He might have been strange and foreign and given to really scary moments of identity loss, Yuffie decided, but as his hand warmed her shoulder, her grin softened. Not home, by any means, but something else. Warm, comfortable... sanctuary.

Sanctuary.

She'd never admit it in a million years, but Yuffie liked the sound of that.

. o .

…finis…

. o .

Sabe's Scribbles: Part of a challenge night, this story was intended as an accompaniment to "Sanctuary" – Utada Hikaru (Sol's choice of song). The storyline was at my discretion, under a thirty minute time limit. (I have cleaned it up a little for posting, however.) Admittedly, this is fluffy, but a little fluff now and again isn't a bad thing…

Disclaimer: Neither the song nor the characters are mine, yo.