Chapter 3

Raindrops

----

"There's no turning back now, let's move forward to find something new, t o g e t h e r."

----

"A-Axel?" Yuffie breathed.

The tall, skinny figure turned around to meet her eye to eye. He had shoulder length red hair that spiked out, not up, with deep sea-green eyes that seemed to stare into your soul if you looked into them long enough. Yuffie examined him a little more, but couldn't tell if it was him or not. She has never seen a picture of him or anything of the sort so this was all new to her. Noticing that the guy must have thought she was nuts while she stared at him, she blushed and turned her head.

"Axel?" she asked again. After receiving no answer she rubbed the back of her head nervously, messing up her wet hair in the process. "Sorry! Wrong guy!" Getting up to walk away she felt a warm hand placed on her shoulder. She swiftly turned back around.

"Yuffie?" the man asked, surprise and worry entering his voice . His expression changed little despite the fact that he sounded worried. His face didn't show it. Or maybe it was the other way around? She couldn't tell, but nonetheless she was happy just to see him.

"Axel!" He spread his arms out as she ran in for a hug. "You're okay! I thought something was wrong when Leon told me you wanted to meet me!" She looked up into his eyes while a smile crept across her face. "Um…" She blushed as she noticed she was still in his arms. She quickly disengaged from them and stepped back a few feet.

He blinked.

"Wow, you're handsome." He stepped back. "It's a compliment." She went back over to him and took a lock of his hair between her fingers. "Did you dye your hair red?"

"No…it's my natural color." His expression changed. He could feel a smile forming on his lips.

"Oh…" She shivered, it was getting colder out by the second as day turned into night. Axel took off his black cloak and wrapped it around her to keep her warm. "Thanks."

They both stood their in the silence forgetting the fact that the cold rain was still falling and the cool crisp breeze still hung about the area. She didn't know why, but for some reason she felt safe when she was around him. Like she could take on anything. But she just couldn't point out why. It bugged her.

She looked up to see Axel staring off into the distance. His eyes held fear. She shook him. "Hey, Axel?"

He looked down at her, a sad expression on his face.

"What did you want to tell me?" She could tell his body tightened at her abrupt question.

"Let's talk about that…" His voice faded away and she saw him look off into the distance again. Yuffie listened and could hear giggling coming from the bush. She stomped over there, clearly angry.

"Roxas, Sora, Riku, you're caught and dead!" she yelled. She jumped into the bushes and pulled the three teenage boys out. They look amused, but a little scared as well. "Were you listening in on us?"

They stood, not moving an inch. Yuffie shook them a bit until they nodded their heads in a scared fashion. She knew it. They had dirt on her and could get her back for all the things she did to them. What she did, now that was best left for another time.

"Riiiku! Sooorra! Roooxas!" She bolted around the park chasing the three, Axel's cloak fell to the ground before she took off. It lay soaked in mud.

----

Yuffie sat with her arms crossed over her chest and her legs flattened out on the couch. She rested her head on the soft black pillow and let her surroundings take her away. Axel sat on the other side of her staring off blankly into his own little world. He rested his head on his palm, a calm expression spread across his face.

"Yuffie," called an agitated voice. Unfortunately for her, it was her brother. Like usual, he ruined the moment.

"What?" she asked dryly. "I'm getting my beauty sleep."

She could hear him snort. She swore she heard him say "what beauty sleep?" But left it at that. "What!" Her eyes narrowed at her brother who was looking over at Axel. The two nodded at each other and faced her with serious expressions.

"What…is there something on my face?"

"Putting it quite bluntly…yes. You're getting the couch muddy, go get dressed before you ruin the whole house due to your incompetents." She wanted to make a rude comment back, but decided against it due to the fact that he was right. Instead she just stuck out her tongue. She was muddy, soaked, and her clothes were stained with grass marks, broadly put, she was completely and utterly filthy. Groaning, she made her way upstairs and into her room where she took a quick shower allowing herself to become clean.

"Why am I…so sad…depressed…" Yuffie asked herself as she looked at her image in the mirror. Her eyes were drooping and she became dispirited by her image. Usually you would see her jumping around with joy and being as sly and as sneaking as a thief. But lately…that just wasn't her.

"Perk up, Yuffie! You can't show weakness, not now!" A grin appeared across her face. For the first time in a while she was going to be, oh what was the word…mischievous. Oh yes, she had a plan.

She quickly dressed into blue jeans and a flowery tank top laced with blue lining around the edges. Taking a seat on her computer chair she logged onto her brothers AIM account.

"Good, Riku's on. Just the guy I need to talk to…he owes me anyway."

BlackClaws17: Riku, it's Yuffie. I need you to dig up some dirt on Axel and Leon for me. Got anything?

She smiled to herself. She was good at getting info on people. Riku was a genius when it came to gossip, he knew practically everything you wanted to know, which helped her out in the long run. The best thing about it all was that she introduced Axel to Riku a few years back. Those two were practically best friends along with Roxas and Sora. He knew almost everything about him, and he was good friends with her brother as well.

It all adds up.

Cold Ice6: Dirt? I got tons. : ) What do you need to know?

BlackClaws17: First of all, why did Axel want to meet me all of a sudden?

Yuffie leaned back in her chair as Riku typed away an answer for her on his keyboard. This was one question that she needed to know the answer to. Ever since he arrived he hasn't told her a thing, even though his main priority was to meet her to tell her something of great importance.

Important my ass…

Cold Ice6: Dunno.He never even informed me that he was going to meet with you. It must have been urgent.

BlackClaws17: Oh. Well…

Cold Ice6: Say, Yuffie…do you happen to like Axel?

BlackClaws17: What! Of course not! Only YOU could come up with such a stupid idea! He's like a walking statue!

Her heart was still pounding. That question was uncalled for, and caught her off guard.

"Where would he ever get that idea?" She was surprised and furious at the same time, heck, she didn't know what to think. The only thought that passed through her mind was to kill Riku.

Note to self: Kill Riku.

Cold Ice6: I'll tell him that.

Cold Ice6: Another thing. I was talking to Axel sometime last week and he mentioned some girl. The girl he mentioned sounded a lot like you. Especially the part when he said she was a little crazy.

BlackClaws17: Hey! I'm crazy and proud!

Cold Ice6: Oh, and about Leon. He won't tell me much, but I know that he knows something about Axel. Something of dire importance.

Cold Ice6: I digress. Anything else?

She sunk in her chair as she re-read the what Riku just typed to her. Another girl…dire importance…Her thoughts were interrupted by her growling stomach.

BlackClaws17: Nope. I got to go. I'm hungry! Mm, a sucker sounds good. Candy: )

Cold Ice6: Later. Don't get fat! ; )

Ignoring his comment, she tip-toed quietly down the stairs trying not to disturb the two idiots she called her friends. Turning around the corner she saw Leon putting his coat on and heading out the door.

"Where are you going?" she questioned her older brother giving him a quizzical look. Her eyes flew from his head to his toes noticing that he was wearing clean, fancy clothing that you would only see him wear on really rare occasions. "All dressed up?"

"I'm going out with my girlfriend tonight," he stated, then looked over at Yuffie. "Since I have one."

"Shut up! And Rinoa? I thought she dumped you a while ago."

"Where'd you hear that from?" he asked suspiciously.

"No where," she chimed, then giggled. "I though she would have dumped you by now. Man of ice." Leon walked out to door, resisting the urge to get into a fight with her. But he knew, more then anyone else, that she was joking. But, he believed that Yuffie and Axel needed some…alone time. He knew about her sister's feelings before she did.

"Great…he left," she groaned, falling back onto the sofa to relax. Without warning, Axel came to sit down next to her.

"Hey, what's up, you seem sad?" Yuffie asked, tilting her head to the side, looking up into his soft eyes. For some reason, she didn't seem embarrassed, she felt comfortable just looking into his turquoise eyes.

"Hmm." Yuffie thought, making Axel glance over at her. She crossed her legs and stared up at him.

"What did you want to tell me?" He made no movement or sign that he would answer her. Getting bored, Yuffie scooted over and rested her feet on the table, leaning her head back and closing her eyes.

Axel was ignoring her, just like she thought, meeting would ruin their friendship. He wouldn't even look her in the eyes without turning away. He seemed…different. Even if he was like a walking statue with his face only holding one emotion, he was never so bad. Online he would always try to make a conversation, try to cheer her up if she was down, the key word try. But he was never like this.

I knew this was a bad idea.

"Eh…" Yuffie looked to the side of her and noticed something she didn't see before. Something very…surprising. Looking at her, and sitting very close to her, was Axel. Feeling a little uncomfortable, she moved over a little bit, then looking up at him, worry in her eyes.

"Something wrong--" Her voice cut out as Axel moved closer to her and wrapped his arms around her sides, embracing her into a hug. She was lost for words, and so surprised that she didn't move to hug him back.

She was still stunned until the doorbell brought her back to reality. By that time Axel was on the other side of the couch with a different look on his face, a sad one. "Axel I'm…" Still lost for words, she sighed and answered the door.

"Tifa--ugh," Yuffie cried as Tifa ran past her to Axel, along with Cloud, Reno, Riku, Aerith, Roxas, and Sora. The whole gang was here now.

"Hi…to you to," she managed to get out between breaths.

"Oh, hey Yuffie." Aerith smiled. "Cloud, Reno, say hi."

"You're just jealous that I'm cooler than you," Reno laughed, smirking in the process. "And that I get all the ladies."

"Who isn't cooler then you is the question."

"W-what? You little-" Reno turned his head from side to side. "Aw, shit."

In a way, she was kind of glad they came when they did. Otherwise, she didn't know how she would handle herself after Axel's sudden advancement. "It was only…a hug…what am I talking about…" she whispered to herself.

"So your Axel," said Tifa. "Hmm, nice…uh huh, now I know why Yuffie picked you." Yuffie blushed and walked over to Riku, trying to get away from all the attention that her friends were giving her and Axel.

"What are you doing here?" she whispered to him.

He only smiled, not saying another word.

Thanks, that answered all my questions, she thought sarcastically. She watched as Sora and Roxas wrestled with each other, guessing it was another one of those bets they make. Whenever they fight they always make a bet, for whoever wins get to make the other person do whatever they say. Last time that happened Sora had to go to school in his boxers. Forgetting the fact on how many times he got hit on, it was pretty funny.

"Yuffie, aren't you going to invite him to the hangout?" asked Tifa, winking at her.

"Wait? Isn't that your job?" she asked defensively, freaking out. Axel looked over at her in the distance, his lips forming into a smile. This was the Yuffie he knew. The one that was always smiling, the crazy hyperactive girl.

Yuffie could feel someone gazing at her from behind, whirling around she was Axel staring at her. Acting like she didn't notice him, she scanned the room making it seem as if she was looking at everyone else.

After finally getting a break, since before everyone was asking her questions about Axel, she headed to her room for a quick break. She felt exhausted, running around, answering so many questions about Axel that she didn't even know. Half the time she guessed and hoped he would never find out about what she said.

Heh…heh…

After finally getting a break, since before everyone was asking her questions about Axel, she headed to her room for a quick break.

"Yuffie…" Axel called from the bottom of the stairs. She turned around,glancing down at him. Her heart started to beat faster at the thought. She could only imagine what he wanted to ask…

He came up to her and held her chin up, staring into her chocolate brown eyes.

"I have to tell you a secret someday…" He walked away and Yuffie could only watch as he disappeared from her sight.

"A...secret…?"

----

Chapter 3 done and finished. I had such a hard time writing this, stuff like this is not my forte. The real story beings in the next chapter, oh how drama begins when friends hang out. All of them. A certain someone also likes Yuffie, but will he be willing to let Axel and Yuffie keep going as they are?

Chapter 4: Lost Wings

Can we go on living as we are now and act like nothing is wrong when the whole world is against us? Is it even possible to say yes to one without hurting the other? No, but that's just one of life's challenges.