AN: I really have no clue where this chapter, or any of the other ones are going so bare with me.

Disclaimer: Sadly enough I do not own Kingdom Hearts or any other Final Fantasy characters that may appear in this story. Places too.

Postponing the Inevitable

Chapter 6: That's Leon

"FIRE!" Leon shot up quickly from his bed, coughing as the smoke filled his nose and mouth.

"Leon! Hurry up! We need to get out of here!" He scanned the room for the yelling young girl.

"Yuffie where are you I can't see you!" The smoke billowed throughout the room and had become too dense for him to see Yuffie or any means of escaping from the room. A feeling in his gut hit hard as the thought of not being able to find her passed through his head.

"Over here!"

"Over where?" By now Leon had crawled onto the floor in hopes of finding cleaner air to breathe.

A hand settled on his shoulder.

"Over here." He looked up into Yuffie's face, surprised that he hadn't felt her presence, but pleased all the same as a feeling of relief washed over him. "Hurry, follow me." She turned from him and crawled past the bed towards the door leading onto the balcony. Leon followed her silently. When they reached the door Yuffie grasped the handle and pushed it open. They both tumbled onto the balcony gasping for fresh air.

"What happened?" Leon raggedly said, as breathing began to settle out.

"I think we left the hot plate on or something."

"Ugg..." Leon pinched the brim of his nose. He could have sworn he'd turned it off after using it that evening. "Did you call the fire department?"

"Oh...I didn't have to I- I put it out."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm sure." Leon eyed her suspiciously.

"We should probably tell Cloud and Aerith then."

"Ok, I'll go tell them." Before he could protest she had jumped up and ran back into the green room.

Leon continued to sit outside in the chilly, silent night, pondering his sudden onslaught of strange emotions. 'I was really worried about her, well duh it's no like I'd let her suffocate on the smoke in there. But still, sense when did I care what happened to her, she's just an annoying little kid.'

Even as the words filtered through his head he knew he didn't mean them. She wasn't just a little kid to him, she had grown on him the last week or so.

Since the first night they had met, and he'd seen her break down in front the heartless he knew there was something else to her, something he could identify with. He could tell she had lost something great, and very meaningful to her. He had looked the same way when he arrived here alone and scared. At least she had someone to share her troubles with.

A pang of jealousy shot through him 'What? There is no way I am jealous of that spikey haired git' It wasn't that he didn't like Cloud, sure he was a great guy and he got along really well with everyone, but the guy still hadn't gotten over the offhanded comment he had made. 'This is what I get when I try to be funny' He heaved a sigh.

Yuffie really was a pretty decent person once you got over the obnoxious behavior, and infuriating habits. Not to mention the endless pranks she playe-'Pranks!' When the thought struck him, he put his head in his hands. Realizing he had just fallen victim to yet another of Yuffie numerous pranks. Over the last 4 days he had been hit with a onset of childish but ingenious pranks.

The second night that he had made her sleep on the floor he had been given a quite unforgettable wake-up call. It had started out as a simple feather and whipped cream in the hand, but had progressed to plastic wrap on the bathroom door. Making his efforts to get into the bathroom to wash the whipped cream off his face and out of his hair quite difficult. Finally winning the struggle with the offending material, he had made his way into the bathroom. Only to realize that the cream had now dried into his hair making a quite unfortunate mess.

But it didn't end there. Having been the center of a few pranks earlier in his life, he new some of the tricks, and made sure to check the shampoo bottles before applying anything to his hair. Oddly enough he found nothing wrong with the soapy liquids. Finding nothing else out of the ordinary he proceeded with his shower, only to find, too late, bouillon cubes in the shower head.

Leon shuddered at the memory, it had taken a full hour to get the residue out of the shower head, not to mention the extra hour and a half it took to wash the dried cream from his hair. Worst of all had been when he had finally exited the bathroom to find the young prankster peacefully asleep, in his bed.

That hadn't even been the worst of them. Oh no, the absolute worst had been the morning he'd woken up to find his face completely drawn over with permanent maker. Even worse was not realizing it till he was halfway through his coffee at the café. People do tend to stare when you have things like "Man would I like to get my hands on his buster sword." written across your face. He had to get Aerith to magic it off, which had been a very unenjoyable experience in its own. Sitting in a chair with a room of people snickering at you wasn't very high on his to do list.

A shiver ran up his spine as the early morning chill began to set in. Leon lifted himself off the balcony floor and headed towards the door ready to welcome the inside warmth. A warmth which never came, instead of facing the slightly smoke filled room he found himself facing the bleak back of the wood door. 'Oh you've got to be kidding me' Fearing the worst he jiggled the doorknob. The door didn't budge. 'Just great' He should have seen it coming, he wasn't even sure how Yuffie had managed to close the door without him noticing.

Leon raised his fist and rapped sharply on the hard wood.

"Yuffie open up!" He raised his voice, not caring if he woke the entire second district, heartless included.

"I'm sorry, what was that, I can't hear you?" He couldn't see the girl, but he knew she was smirking.

"You heard me perfectly fine, now open the damn door!"

"Tut tut Leon, no need for fowl language." He could hear her snickering on the other side of the door. The doorknob twisted, then stopped. "Oops. It looks like I can't get the door open, sorry." Leon smacked his head against the door. "Hey, you can break the door down but I'm not paying for it."

Leon turned his body and leaned against the offending piece of wood. There had to be another way into the room. Yuffie wasn't going to unlock this door, and he wasn't about to destroy it just to get inside. He couldn't go through Aerith's room, he would have to wake her up then explain to her why he was locked outside. Which would bring the whole not letting Yuffie sleep on the bed situation to her attention, and he wouldn't be getting off scot free for that.

He could get around to the front of the hotel and try the hallway entrance, but he always locked that at night. He didn't have any spare keys hidden around either, he'd never had the need.

This left unfortunately only one option. The minuscule window in the bathroom, which was only accessible from the roof.

A few years ago this wouldn't have been a problem. He wasn't old, but he certainly wasn't as limber as he used to be. It's not like his daily training covered scaling buildings in you boxers.

He grudgingly lifted himself onto the roof. Leon planted his feet firmly on the shingles, and carefully climbed towards the window. Lowering himself to the edge of the roof, he was surprised to find the window already open. Upon noticing the smoke filtering out, he concluded that Yuffie must have set up a fan or something to help clear the room.

He swung his legs over the edge and dangled off the roof. Leon started gently rocking his body, to get the forward momentum needed to reach the window. With his knees securely locked over the window sill, he let go of the roof and let his body fall, till he was hanging upside down. Grabbing onto the sill he pulled himself up and quickly slid his lower half in through the tiny window.

It was a tight fit and he almost got his broad shoulders stuck, but he finally managed to clear the window.

Now standing in the middle of his bathroom, his earlier anger returned. Opening the door he crept over towards the bed, and Yuffies slumbering body.

He gently picked the younger girl up and headed towards the balcony door. Hurriedly he unlocked it and dumped Yuffie on the other side, waking her up in the process.

"Leon!" Her eyes widened in disbelief. "How'd you get insid-wait why am I outside?"

And without a word Leon grinned evilly and closed the door. Quickly locking it, he headed back to bed. His retreating form was followed by muffled banging and yelling.

"Oh come on Leon I was just kidding."

Bang.

"Seriously I was gonna open the door."

Pound.

"No! I did open the door and you weren't there."

Thump.

" See? I opened it for you, you should do the same."

Thud.

"I get it! I won't pull anymore pranks I swear! I was just having some fun with you!"

Silence.

"Please?" Leon got out of the bed and opened the door. Yuffies face lightened as he did.

"No." Again he slammed the door and went back to bed. He felt a little bad about leaving her out there all night. But if she had been willing to do it to him, he could do it to her. Besides now that she had had a taste of her own medicine the annoying pranks would probably cease, and he would once again be able to get a full nights sleep without living in fear of the next morning.

Light flooded the room causing the slumbering man to stir from his peaceful sleep. His eyes fluttered open, and he wiped the sleep from them.

Upon leaving his dazed state he noticed the three people glaring at him from the end of the bed. One very grumpy Cloud, an extremely disheveled Yuffie, and a contentious looking Aerith with her hands on her pink clad hips. This was not a good sign.

"Good morning Leon, did you sleep well?" The irritated tone in Aerith's voice did not go unnoticed. Leon decided to play it nonchalant, like usual.

"Very well actually." He could see her temper rising.

"Really? Well, while you were in here sleeping in you warm bed, Yuffie just happened to be locked outside all night in the cold! Now, you wouldn't happen to know anything about this would you?"

"Nothing at all."

"Squall Leonhart I want you to apologize to Yuffie this instant! What a horrid thing you did to her!"

Leon heaved a heavy sigh and raked his hand through his mangy locks. 'This is so retarded! There's no way I'm stooping to her level and ratting her out, and she knows it. Better get this over with.'

"Yuffie...I'm sorry for leaving you outside last night."

"And..."

"And what?"

"Well Yuffie kindly explained to me that you've been making her sleep on the floor."

"..."

"So." Aerith prompted him along. With a roll of his eyes, Leon continued his forced penance.

"And I'm deeply sorry for any inconvenience I may have caused you in making you sleep on the most uncomfortable floor." Either Aerith had not noticed his sarcastic tone, or she had chosen to over look it.

"Perfect! Now that that's settled why don't we all get some sleep. And Leon, if I hear anymore about this, your gonna wish you were sleeping on the floor." With that she turned and exited the room, Cloud in tow.

As the door closed, Leon faced Yuffie. The girl just smirked at him and climbed into bed.

"You really should have learned by now not to mess with the Great Ninja Yuffie!"

"..."

"Oh and you don't have to worry about anymore pranks, they've gotten boring. Lucky for you. I'll just have to find a new target."

"...whatever." Leon switched off the light and crawled back in bed.

"Oh ya, I meant to ask you this earlier but I forgot. Why does Aerith keep calling you Squall? Is that like a pet name or something?"

"..."

"Oh come on tell me! Are you and Aerith in love." Yuffie made sure to drag out her final words.

"No."

"Fine then, why does she call you Squall?"

"...because it's my name."

"But I thought your name was Leon."

"It is."

"Ug your confusing me! So your name is Leon, but it's also Squall?"

"...yes."

"Did you change it?"

"..."

"I'm taking that as a yes. So you changed your name from Squall Leonhart to Leon Leonhart, very creative."

"..."

"You know Squalls a lot cooler sounding than Leon."

"Do you mind? I would actually like to get some sleep." Leon flipped on the mattress, placing his back to her.

"Fine."

"And if you start to kick again, I don't care what Aerith says your going right back outside."

"Yeah, Yeah." Yuffie grinned to herself. Silently congratulating herself on a successful mission. 'No more cold floor for me!'

"Goodnight Squall."

"That's Leon."

AN: Ok I know they don't have any windows, but they don't have a bathroom either so bare with me.

Also the permanent marker on the face actually happened to me, granted I didn't have 'man would I like to get my hands on his buster sword' written on my face, and I was only like 3, but still.

Hope you liked review!