Chapter One
"No."
Aerith sighed as she placed a hand to her head.
"Leon, be reasonable."
"No." He repeated. Squall Leonhart sat firmly in his chair, arms crossed, eyes narrowed. A light breeze tousled his brown locks, but everything else about him was determined and unrelenting. He would not change his mind.
Or so he believed.
"Leon..." Aerith pleaded. He closed his eyes.
"I will not share a room with Yuffie." He turned his head to the side. "And that's final."
Aerith sighed again, this time in exasperation as she rested her chin in her arms. Why did Squall insist on being so damn stubborn? He was almost as stubborn as...
"Heeeeey guys!" A bright voice chirped. The two turned to see Yuffie scramble through the window of the green room. She smiled brightly at her two friends. "Miss me?"
"Hmph." Squall grunted. He stood up from his chair and walked towards the door, turning to Aerith before he left. She looked at him, her eyes begging him to agree, but he shook his head. "No, Aerith."
And then he was gone.
"Yeesh, what's wrong with him, huh? Seems like more of a prick than usual." Yuffie asked the flower girl, hands on her hips and a forever-smile on her face. Aerith lifted her head out of her hands and smiled warmly at the sixteen year old.
"Oh nothing. He'll be fine. I asked him to do something for me, but he won't." She shrugged it off, but deep down she was still thinking of how she was going to get him to agree with her. Yuffie eyed her for a moment, then she walked towards the table and sat down where Squall had just been.
"Really?" She asked. She smirked as she stuck her hands behind her head. "Usually he loves doing favors for you. Makes him feel needed and manly. He tends to refuse me though...probably because I only send him out to buy me tampons. Tampons don't make anyone feel manly."
"Oh, Yuffie." Aerith giggled, light and bubbly. Yuffie smiled.
"Anyway, I'm going to head to the first district. I hear Sora's back in town for a few days. I'm gonna teach him how to do a proper backflip." She tucked a few hairs behind her ear as she moved towards the window. "Anyway, I'll see you later Aerith!"
And Aerith was all alone again.
She stood up slowly, clucking her tongue as she picked two glasses off the table. She brushed a hand over the bed and sighed. How could she make him understand? She couldn't stay with Yuffie anymore. Not when Yuffie was acting so...so...strange.
Not that Yuffie had ever been normal, but this was bizarre even for her. Several times Aerith had awakened to find Yuffie, still as death, eyes glazed and bright as she stared out the window looking for something that wasn't there. When Aerith tried to talk to the smaller girl about it in the mornings, Yuffie would simply shrug it off and change the subject. Aerith was beginning to fear that Yuffie was going to do something foolish and that she wouldn't be able to do anything about it.
But Squall.
Squall was just what Yuffie needed at the moment. Someone to keep her safe and look after her. After all, Yuffie was sixteen now. She'd always been independent, but now she was always flying off on her own. Aerith could no longer keep a watchful eye on the youngest member of their small group. And it wasn't like she didn't trust Yuffie; she just...was concerned.
"Not that there's anything I can do at the moment." She mumbled to herself, "I'll just have to convince Squall...err...Leon to take her in." She stuck her hands on her hips. "Besides, I've spent the past nine years babysitting. Its about time he take a turn." She said with a laugh.
With that she left the room.
---
"But you don't understand!"
He turned his back and kept walking.
"How many times do I have to tell you? No."
She stuck her hands on her hips and stomped towards him. She slid in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.
"Will you just listen to me?" Aerith demanded, he sighed heavily and crossed his arms over his chest.
"There's nothing for you to say, Aerith. Yuffie stays with you. There's nothing you can say that could change my mind. Its bad enough that I have to put up with her constant chatter all day long; I enjoy my nights alone. I'm not going to give up my bed for some brat child. Now," He glared at her. "Move."
Without another word he pushed past her, heading towards the third district doors. Aerith clenched her fists and gritted her teeth.
"Squall Leonhart!" She screamed at his back. She watched as he physically froze in his tracks and whipped around sharply glaring daggers at the flower girl.
"It's LEON!" He roared, as he rushed towards her, a hand clenched tightly around her wrist. She whimpered softly, his grip too tight. He came to his senses a second later and dropped her arm. He took a step back, eyes fixated on the ground. "...Sorry."
Aerith shivered as she bit her bottom lip. She could feel tears in her eyes, but this was not the time to begin crying. She was doing this for Yuffie.
"Leon..." She began, trembling slightly. "...I..."
He waved a hand.
"No. It's all right. I should have listened." He still did not look her in the eye. "I would like to hear what you have to say."
She nodded and moved towards him. She lightly touched his arm; he flinched under her gentle touch, but let it go. He nodded to her and she silently accepted the apology. Squall had a way of speaking without words.
"I'm worried," She began, "about Yuffie..."
---
"Like this?" Sora breathed deep, before bending his knees. He pushed off the ground and felt the world spin around him as he flipped backwards. He touched down gently and let out a sigh of relief.
"Hey, not bad!" He heard Yuffie giggle from on top of a large box. She stood up and flipped off, landing neatly and perfectly in front of him. "Maybe you'll be as good as me someday. Doubtful, but ya never know." She teased. He frowned.
"Hey!"
She laughed as she ruffled his spiky brown hair.
"Aww, don't worry. No one else is as cool as me either." She grinned, "I'm one of a kind, special and just generally really awesome. I mean, they don't call me The Great Ninja Yuffie for nothing."
"They don't call you The Great Ninja Yuffie at all."
Sora and Yuffie turned to see Squall moving towards them. He nodded to Sora before turning to Yuffie.
"Come on. Aerith and I need to talk to you."
"Yeah...and?" Yuffie smirked, placing a hand on her hip and raising her eyebrows. Squall let out a low growl under his breath.
"So, you're going to follow me." He told her firmly. She shook her head and backed away from him.
"Or I'll continue hanging out with Sora and I'll come find you guys when I feel like it."
"Yuffie!"
"Squallie!"
"Leon!" He growled. Yuffie stuck out her tongue, before flipping backwards. Sora watched the two awkwardly. He didn't really feel like getting dragged in the middle of this fight.
"Whatever. The point is - I'm not some little girl that's just going to come whenever you call. I promised Sora I'd hang out with him today and that's what I'm going to do, ya hear?" She scowled, hands on hips and mouth turned up in a small smirk.
"Actually, Yuffie." Sora squeaked. "I think that's enough flipping for one day. I'm going to go see what Donald and Goofy are up to. Catch ya later." He waved wildly as he sped away, leaping boxes and rushing off towards the second district. Yuffie sighed loudly.
"Gawds, Squall you're such a jerk. Think Sora nearly pissed himself after that whole 'call-me-by-my-real-name-and-I'll-gut-you' roar. Jeeez." She teased. She stretched her arms up and yawned.
"Good. At least now that he's gone you can come with me. Aerith has something important to talk to you about."
"Fine." She shrugged. "I'm coming."
He nodded, turning towards the cafe. She giggled softly from behind him. He froze as he felt hands on his shoulders and the next thing he knew she was leaping over his head and sprinting down the steps towards the third district.
"NOT!" She laughed.
"Yuffie!" He bellowed as he tore after her. She reached for the handle and threw herself into the next district. Heartless sprouted from the ground, but she ignored them for the most part, only stopping every now and again to wildly throw a ninja star behind her.
"Catch me if you can, Squall!" She giggled. She could hear a loud grunt behind her, letting her know that Squall was nearby. She chanced a glance behind her, delighted to see a slightly out of breath Squall Leonhart still chasing her. She laughed wickedly, turning back to face her path when - "OOF!"
She fell back, a Large Body blocking her path. It turned to her slowly.
"Yuffie!" Squall called again, this time with less anger, more...well not concern, but maybe something similar? He rushed to her side, grabbed her arm in his hand and hauled her upright. "Get back." He demanded. She narrowed her eyes and pulled out of his grip.
"Fat chance, jerkface." She bent her knees, and held her shuriken tight in her hand. "This is my fight."
She heard the familiar clunk of his gunblade as he steadied himself beside her. She smiled softly, before letting out a loud "Hyah!" as she leapt towards the fat beast. In a fury she delivered hit after hit towards the heartless. She could sense Squall nearby, slicing through the creature. She jumped onto the Fat Body's shoulders and shoved her shuriken right into the small of its back, then she jumped off and touched down neatly. She chuckled as she turned back, but instead of seeing a pile of munny and heartless goo, like she had hoped, she found herself staring into the bright yellow eyes of an overly large heartless that was running towards her at full speed. She screamed and fell backwards, raising an arm in front of her to shield her face as she awaited certain doom.
Certain doom that never came.
"Dammit Yuffie!" Yuffie opened her eyes to see Squall standing in front of her, stopping the heartless in its path with his gunblade. "Get up!" Yuffie nodded and scrambled upright. Squall grunted as the Fat Body pushed harder against his blade. "Attack it from behind!"
Yuffie nodded, though he didn't see, and rushed forward. Using Squall as leverage, she leapt from his shoulders onto the back of the Heartless once again. This time instead of just well placed shuriken, she rammed several into its back at once. The Heartless let out a loud groan before dissolving into nothing, leaving behind a few scattered pieces of munny, which Yuffie scooped up greedily.
"Ooo! Looks like we'll be eating good tonight, Squall!"
"Leon." He corrected automatically as he moved towards her. She smiled at him.
"Yeah, yeah. I know." She said warmly as she reached for his hand. He took a step backwards, but she latched on tight. Gently she opened his palm and dropped a few of the golden coins into it. He looked at her suspiciously. "Don't worry, Leon. I'm not going soft. You helped me out back there though.." she eyed the ground nervously for a moment. "...Thanks."
He kept his gaze on her for a few minutes, convinced that she was just playing another trick, but then she grinned up at him and her smile was sincere and so he simply nodded.
"Welcome." He mumbled. Her smile widened.
"Anyway, I'm headed back to the hotel. Catch ya later."
"Wait." She turned back to see him staring at her.
"Something wrong?"
"You're supposed to come back to the cafe with me." He said, starting to get irritated again. She waggled her fingers at him as she stuck out her tongue.
"And I toldja I didn't feel like it. Now I'm going back to the hotel, Mistah Leon. I'll come find you and Aerith later." She turned to leave when suddenly she was yanked backwards. She screamed in anger as she was roughly lifted up and flipped over Squall's shoulder.
"And I said that Aerith would like a word with you. Now. You might be sixteen, Yuffie." He told her as he headed towards the first district doors, gunblade at his side (just in case). "But you've got a lot to learn."
"Hmph."
---
A/N: wow...this is long. It's been awhile since I've written anything over 2000 words. Feels good.
I'm not making any promises on this story. So don't get attached. I have a tendency to start stuff and never finish. Especially when it comes to fanfic. Although this is probably the first KH fic where it actually has some semblance of a plot. And I'm enjoying writing it so far..So...we can hope that this will actually get finished.
Another Squffie. Why? Because I love it that's why. I don't really want it to be sappy, though. I want it to be lighter and more in character (especially with Squall). So don't expect lots of fluff. (At least not for a while...heehee).
