Chapter 2

Cloaked in Black

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"Hidden amongst the shadows is the heart you left behind."

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"Wait, what party?" Yuffie asked confused. She removed the phone away from her ear as she could hear Riku and Sora screaming at each other on the other side and Kairi yelling at them in the background.

It amused her.

Aerith laughed. "Sorry, it's just to funny." She gained her composure back. "What was I saying again?"

Yuffie coughed. "I don't know. You called me." A loud bang was heard coming from the other side. Yuffie cringed and once again put the phone away from her ear. She could only imagine what was going on, and yet, she doubted she wanted to know.

"Ah! Hey, Yuffie? I'll call you back in a few minutes." Before she could even reply the other phone clicked off.

"Sounds like their having fun."

The house became quiet once again. She sat down on her computer chair and signed on to her e-mail account. I haven't checked you in a while… You have 1 Unread message, she read to herself. It was from Axel.

To: YuffiexNinja

From: Axis Axel

Since I know you're worried that I haven't been on I'm leaving you this message to clarify why. I've been sick lately and I have to go to the doctors tomorrow. I probably won't be on.

-Axel

He sent that yesterday…

"That idiot!" she yelled out loud. Anger was filling her as she thought more and more about it. He could have told her, but no. But what really made her mad is that he wouldn't tell her why he had to go to the doctors. A few months ago he did the same thing which left her mad for the next few days. When it came to him he would never tell anyone, not even her, the one he trusted most. He always kept to himself and at times he could act like he had no heart.

Heh, no heart…that's not even possible…

She leaned back in her chair and prompt her foot on the desk trying to get comfy.

"Yuffie." Leon appeared by her door.

"What, Leon?" she grunted.

"I have a message for you."

She lifted an eyebrow at him. "From who?"

"Ax--"

"You hate everything about me so why do I love you."

"Ah, where is it?" She waves him off. "Get back to me on that message."

She searched for her phone in her many pockets until her fingers came upon a gum wrapper. She tossed it to the side until she found her cell phone in her side pocket. She flipped it open and answered with a muffled hello.

"Aerith…yeah, It's Yuffie! It's my cell phone…I know…what did you want to ask me?" Yuffie started to laugh as Aerith told her why she hung up with her earlier. It seems that Sora sat on Riku and wouldn't get up until he called Cid and asked him for a date in a girly voice. Which in the end ended up in Riku calling and Cid swearing him out until Riku pushed Sora off of him and they got into a fist fight.

"Same old, same old…"

"I wanted to know if you would come to the party me and Tifa are holding. More like a hangout day."

Yuffie paused her answer so she could hear Kairi being pulled into the fight.

"Yuffie?"

She shook her head and blocked the background entertainment out. "Yeah! Count me in! Yuffie the party girl!"

She giggled. "Good. Tell Tifa that you're coming--" The phone either cut off the call or someone pulled out the phone cord again. It always seems to happen when you get those four in a room together. Yuffie smiled to herself thinking about all the fun times she's had with them.

"Hey, Leon, I'm heading outside to take a walk! Don't miss me to much!" She heard a muffled laugh from Leon in the other room. She took that as a "ok have fun" and left.

Light rain poured down soaking everything with its simple touch. Puddles of mud were already forming in the grass from the constant falling drops of water.

Yuffie looked up into the rain and closed her eyes, as if it relaxed her. She could hear the tapping of the rain on the cement as it made a sound that calmed her worried nerves. She looked down at the ground and continued out of her driveway and onto the sidewalk walking around aimlessly. Her raincoat kept her covered from the tiny droplets that were around her.

No matter how strong, outgoing, or happy she always seemed to be something kept her from truly being those things. She believed it was because she worried about Axel to much. Compared to three years ago…

Axel was nice, sarcastic, and sort of mean at times. But she couldn't see him any other way. In her view, though, he lacked compassion for other things such as humans and animals. He always seemed so cold when someone got hurt or even died. One time he told Yuffie that this one girl asked him out and he denied it coldly. Well, she thought he said it coldly, he thought he said it just fine. He even told her once that he didn't have a heart. He was a person who could tell anyone anything without feeling pity or regret. She scolded him for it and said "stop saying such fake things." And he did.

But what worried her the most about him was the fact that he was always going to the doctors. He never gave her any explanations or anything. He just went and when she asked about it he said he was fine and made a joke to lighten the mood. But she figured he was just avoiding the subject.

"I wonder…what he's hiding." Yuffie sighed and took a seat on the ground, crossing her arms over her chest and leaning her back against the white fence behind her. She wrapped her coat around her to keep the cold rain off of her. She was shivering from the sudden outburst of cold air that blew about. Yuffie hugged her legs up against her chest and laid her head down on the surface of her knees.

The rain was falling even harder now.

I remember when I first met him…Even then the rain was falling, just like it is now…

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"Homework sucks," she thought out loud as she typed away on the keyboard. She has been on the computer for hours working on her History project without a break. It was raining heavily outside and the weather didn't permit for her to be with friends. In her opinion, today jus sucked.

A grin appeared across her face. "No one will ever know…" The arrow on the screen moved towards chat rooms and clicked it. As the screen loaded she put up Google and acted like she was working on her project.

"Yuffie, are you done yet?" Leon asked in a bored tone. "I need to get on."

"And talk to your friends? Wait, I'm doing my project! Get a life!" His face remained expressionless as he left the room.

"And secretly talk in a chat room without you finding out," she added. The chat room was called Nonsense. She figured it was for random talking.

YuffiexNinja: Hey!

Her eyes scanned the screen looking to see who was in the chat room. "Only one guy? How lame." The computer screen beeped and a message appeared in reply.

Axis Axel: Hi.

She smiled and looked up from the screen. After making sure no one was around she started to talk to him. Many noises were coming at her as the two continued talking for hours on end.

YuffiexNinja: Final Fantasy games rock! You suck for hating them! p

Axis Axel: Tekken beats RPG games. Killing. )

YuffiexNinja: Guys…are…stupid!

Axis Axel: And girls are any better? They complain to much…

YuffiexNinja: Sexist, Sexist!

"Yuffie, get off!" yelled her brother as he entered the room with his arms crossed over his chest and a angered look across his face. She quickly minimized the chat and turned around in her chair.

"In a few, let me print first!" she whined.

"That's the excuse you used an hour ago," he said simply.

"I'm serious this time! I swear!"

"…"

"Come on Leon, you know you love me!"

He rolled his eyes at her last words but did nothing more. "Fine, hurry up."

YuffiexNinja: I got to go! You better be on later!

Axis Axel: Maybe.

YuffiexNinja: Good!

YuffiexNinja: (YuffiexNinja Signed off)

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"Ever since then I started to sneak on, until I got caught." She stood up brushed the mud off the back of her coat. "Even back then me and my brother never got along…my brother!" She slapped her forehead. "He wanted to tell me something!" She reached for her phone with haste and dialed his number. It kept ringing till his answering machine came up.

This is Leon leave a message…unless it's you Yuffie.

"You are stupid and an idiot! Answer your phone!" She hung up and put it into her coat pocket. "I better head home." The happiness in her voice left to one filled with sadness mixed with anger.

"I really need to stop talking to myself."

Even after all this time she's been out the rain never subsided. It fell as heavy as before, and Yuffie decided it best to head home. She passed many houses on her long trek home, she sometimes wondered why she wandered off so far on her own. Yet, her legs had a mind of their own, so most of the time she never bothered to ask herself that question.

"Oh, hey, It's Tifa's house!" She hit herself on the head. "I got to tell Tifa I'm coming to her hang out thing!" She walked up to the oaken, blue painted door and curled her fingers up into a fist. She pounded on the door lightly and then louder and louder until Tifa came running to answer the door.

"Hey! Tifa!"

"Yes?"

"Can I come in? It's kind of wet out here," she smiled weakly.

"No, I thought it was dry and humid," she spoke dryly. Yuffie puffed her cheeks out and held a defiant stance. "Come on, unless you want to stay outside." She held back a smile that was trying to form on her lips. Her mouth curved upward.

Yuffie stuck her tongue out at her and ignored the glare she was receiving from her idiotic and childish act.

"What were you doing out in the rain anyway?" Tifa asked as they headed into the living room. She took Yuffie's coat and hung it up in the closet to dry off. Drops of water fell off of it and onto the wooden floor below. Tifa ignored it and went over to where Yuffie sat.

"Oh, I want a lollipop!" She bent over the couch and picked up a lollipop and unwrapped it delicately making sure not to leave any marks on the delicious treat and popped it into her mouth.

"You act like such a child, you know that?"

"Thamnks!" her muffled thanks came out. They sat in silence while Yuffie happily sucked on her lollipop. She was easily amused, even something so simple as a sucker could keep her occupied for hours. It was sad, really.

"Why were you outside in this weather anyway…something about Axel?" Tifa winked and started to laugh.

Yuffie resisted the urge to spit her sucker out. Instead she waved her hands frantically around and fell back on to the couch. She now held the sucker between her two fingers, gasping for air. "What was…that for!" She now sat up demanding an answer from her friend who had her hands over her lips to keep from laughing.

"Y-yuff…ie," Tifa managed to breathe until she burst out into laughing, not being able to hold it in.

She crossed her arms. "I'm glad you enjoyed that." She popped the lollipop back into her mouth.

After everything quieted down Tifa spoke once again. "Axel--"

"Stand my ground I wont give, no more denying, I got to face it."

She checked to see who was calling her. A picture of her brother with black eye liner and spiked hair appeared on her screen. She remembered when that picture was taken. It was at Roxas's birthday party last year. Resisting the urge to laugh, she answered. "Leon!"

"Did you get the message I left you?" he asked, worry evident in his voice.

"What message?" she asked confused.

"Never mind! It doesn't matter now. Just head to the park, and hurry."

"W-what? Why?" None of this was making any sense to her. She feared something might have happened to him, or worse--Axel. "Does it have to do with--"

A loud violent cough was heard on the line.

"Are you ok!"

"Yeah, now go to the park. Axel…wanted me to tell you to meet him there."

"But…why…?" she whispered quietly to herself.

Another cough was heard before the line clicked off. She hurriedly got her things together and bolted not bothering to call Leon back. She ran out the door telling Tifa "I'm going home, I'll call you later."

Tifa stood on her doorstep watching as Yuffie ran the opposite way from her house. "Yeah, I never knew your house was the opposite way it usually is!" She sighed and shut the door behind her. Like usual, she was worried about Yuffie, yet she knew that when that girl made up her mind she wouldn't change it no matter what.

The cold breeze blew in her face blowing the strands of her black hair behind her. Mud and grass stained her shoes as she ran through mud-filled yards. The rain was still falling as heavy as before and it didn't seem that it was going to let up.

Axel…why now? Is something wrong…?

As the park came into view she slowed down to a walk, ignoring the fact that she looked completely and utterly horrible. Mud ran down her legs mixed with strips of grass and her clothes were soaking wet from the heavy rain that fell around as she made her way to the park.

Ignoring her looks, she took a seat on a nearby bench, resting her weary body. Right now she didn't care how she looked, or anything of that matter. All she wanted was to see Axel. It had to be urgent if he wanted to come visit her on such short notice like this. They talked about meeting before, but always decided that it could ruin their friendship and kept it in the back of their minds. She wondered why he wanted to meet her all of a sudden.

It has to be…important…but, it can't be good…can it?

She brought her hands up to her face and stared at their muddy texture, hoping the rain would wash the excess mud off.

So many thoughts clouded her mind she couldn't even think straight. This whole thing came to her as a surprise, and it came so quickly that she couldn't adjust to what was happening fast enough.

The squishing of mud could be heard from in front of her. She lowered her hands and looked in front of her. Through the rain and mud she could barely make out a black figure cloaked in some kind of black shirt and dark blue pants approaching her.

"A-Axel?"

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Chapter 2 finally done! Hope you enjoyed. And yes, they finally meet in Chapter 3. But all meetings don't have a happy beginning. Romance to come…with all that dramatic sappy stuff in between… : )

Chapter 3: Raindrops

They meet, they're happy. But Axels' acting a little strange. Can Yuffie mend something that has always been broken? Will she even dare try when she doesn't know her own feelings?