Sweet and Salty
A/N: My first Yuxel fic ever, so be kind. I know they might seem a bit OC, but meh, oh well. I was thinking of adding another chapter to this oneshot, but I'm not sure. Maybe if I get enough reviews. . .hint hint I hope you all enjoy!
He could still remember the first time he had ever seen her. She had been a skinny little thing then too, dark haired and brown eyed, clad in a child's ninja outfit, and full of more energy than he had ever seen in a six year old, not to mention the fact that she talked enough for five children. Axel had been thirteen then, training with the special group, the Turks, in the under cover defense of Radient Garden. His name hadn't been Axel then, but he had been the same as he was now, only, well, then he was more so. He hadn't known her name, only recognized her from sight. It wasn't the first time Axel had seen the young girl tagging along behind Cloud, Squall, Aerith, and Tifa, but for some reason she caught his eye that day.
It was the middle of summer, a real scortcher outside, and the young trainee was uncomfortable in the standard blue suit he was required to wear. His fellow comrades had abandoned him in favor of going swimming, something Axel recalled wishing he had joined in. It seemed that the other youth had similar ideas for cooling off, for he soon spied Cloud's gang at an ice cream stand, purchasing cold treats for everyone, including the small dark haired girl who was tugging on Aerith's skirt, chattering excitedly. The older girl, smiling in amusement, took the blue ice cream Cloud handed her, then knelt to pass it to the child.
"Eat it fast, or it'll melt," she warned as the dark haired imp began to slurp it happily.
"Thanks Cloud and Squally," she chirped, earning a scowl from the mahogany haired boy as a trickle of blue goo slid its way down her arm.
A grin crossed Axel's face as he had unbuttoned his blue jacket and untucked the white shirt underneath in an attempt to lessen his discomfort. Squally. I'll have to remember to call him that next time we train together! he thought with a wicked grin. He spent enough time with Cloud and Squall in practice fighting to be aquantinces at least, if not friends. Cloud wasn't any fun to taunt and tease because he rarely reacted unless the insult was aimed at Aerith, which few dared to do in the spiky haired boy's presence, but Squall was an easier target, once you knew how to annoy him. Easier now thanks to the ninja kid, he had thought with a wider grin, continuing to watch the small pack of kids.
Aerith tutted at the sight of the sticky girl, rummaging in her pocket for a handkerchief and wiping away the ice cream trail while Cloud merely grunted in response to the child's thanks: Cloud had never been a man of many words. Axel had continued to watch in amusement as the group began to move away, the ninja girl lagging behind as she tried frantically to keep up with her melting ice cream.
"C'mon," Tifa had called, turning her attention momentarily from Cloud to speak to the child. "Keep up, or you'll get lost!"
"I'm comin'! Wait up!" she wailed as the older kids disappeared around a corner.
She tried to catch up, she really did, but she just couldn't eat her ice cream and run at the same time, let along pay attention to where she was going. A lace on her high boots had come loose and as she attempted to go down a set of stone steps in the market place, she tripped and fell. With a high pitched shriek she went sprawling across the cobblestones, her ice cream flying out of her hand where it landed with a splat only a foot away. "Nooooo!" she cried, her head falling forward to the ground, her small body shaking with her heaving sobs.
Even as cool and punkish as he was, Axel couldn't sit there and watch that. With effortless grace, he jumped off the stack of crates he had been sitting on, landing lightly on his feet before approaching the wailing child. He squatted down beside her, his long red ponytail falling across his shoulder. "Yo."
Her sobs quieted slightly, and she lifted her head, sniffing as she blinked her chocolate colored eyes. "Yo?" she repeated, scrubbing at her tearstained cheeks.
"Yeah, yo," he repeated, digging in his pocket and coming up with a tattered scrap of cloth that he held out to her. "It's my way of saying hello."
She continued to eye him warily, giving a small hiccough as she mopped her face up with the handkerchief. "Thanks," she mubled, still suspicious as she handed it back to him.
He had grimiced slightly, but took it gingerly and stuffed it back in his pocket. "No prob, squirt. Least I could do with all the waterworks."
She glared at him indignatly. "Wouldn't you cry too if you fell and lost your ice cream?" she demanded.
"Nah," he said with his trademark grin. "Only skinny little ninja brats do that."
Her eyes welled with tears as she sniffled pathetically again. "I'm not skinny! And I'm not a brat!" she cried, a single drop of moisture slipping down her cheek.
With a sigh, he pulled the handkerchief out again, reaching out to blot it away. "Hey, cool it with the boohooing, or you'll really make me think you're a brat. What's your name, kid?"
Another hiccough escaped her, but her voice was surprisingly steady when she answered. "Yuffie."
"Yuffie," he repeated, standing and holding out his hand to her. "Well Yuffie, tell ya what. If you'll stop wailing like a banshee, I'll get you another ice cream and help you find your pals."
Those brown eyes brightened, her young face lighting up as she hesitantly placed her small, sticky hand into his. "Really?"
"Really," he promised, pulling her to her feet.
"Yiphee!" she squealed happily, all her sadness forgotten as she skipped happily back to the ice cream stand, dragging the grinning red head along.
True to his word, Axel had gotten her another ice cream and had gotten one for himself at Yuffie's urging. Then, to prevent further losses, he had taken the girl to his formor spot on the crate stack in the shade.
"You didn't tell me your name," Yuffie said, startling him out of his daze. "But I think I've seen you around with Cloud and Squally before, when they train."
He grinned again at her nickname for Squall before answering. "The name's Reno. Got it memorized, squirt?"
Her nose wrinkled, but she ignored the name, licking her ice cream happily before noticing that he hadn't touched his. "What's wrong? Don't you like it?"
"Never had it before," he admited, eying the blue ice cream warily. "I mean, what kind of ice cream is named Sea Salt? Doesn't sound very appitizing to me."
She giggled, looking amused. "Silly! Its delicious, I promise! C'mon, give it a taste!"
He looked at her suspiciously, but obligied, giving the cold treat a tenative lick. His green eyes widened at the unexpected flavor, hearing the girl laugh in delight. "Whoa!"
"See? I told ya so!" she chirped. "It's good, huh?"
He nodded. "Never tasted anything like it. Sweet and salty, all at once."
Yuffie put her head to the side, her dark hair swinging. "Yeah! Way different, but they taste so yummy together!"
"Kind of like us," he mussed, and she blinked at him, so he tried to explain. "Sweet and salty, ya know? I mean, you're really not such a bad little kid when you're not bawling. In fact, I could almost call you sweet- if you weren't so hyper."
She glared at him poutily, folding her arms with a huff. "Well, you're definately salty," she grumbled as she sucked on the reminates of her ice cream. "Acting all big and tough and cool, like you're better than me 'cause your older."
He smirked, unable to help laughing as he spoke the way he did to Elena when he was trying to get her to notice him. "Oh really? Then I guess that means we go perfectly together, huh? Like it was meant to be?"
Being only six, she didn't catch the fact that he was teasingly flirting with her, blinking up at him in confusion. "Y' mean, like best friends?"
He couldn't hold back another chuckle as he tossed his wooden stick towards a garbage bin. "Sure, that is, unless you wanna be my girlfriend, Sweet."
Yuffie's dark eyes swelled in horror, scrambling away from him. "EEEEEWWWWW!" she shrieked. "Nonononononononooooooooooooooooo!"
He was cracking up by this time, laughing so hard he nearly toppled off the crates. "Okay, okay! Chill out! I was only kidding, Sweet."
"Sweet?" she repeated, scowling at him, holding a toy shrunkin threatingly in her hand in case he tried anything.
"Sure," he said easily, hopping down to the ground. "You are the sugar, aren't you? So I'm calling you Sweet. Unless you'd prefer me to call you a skinny little ninja brat or squirt."
"No!" she shouted quickly.
"Okay then. C'mon, lets go find Cloud and the others," he coaxed.
She stared at him for another few minutes, seeming to size him up before slowly coming out of her defensive crouch. "Kay."
Yuffie warily pocketed her shrunkin before sliding down, reaching up to take his hand, much to his astonishment. She was surprisingly quiet as he lead her through the winding streets to the place where Cloud's gang usually hung out, a rather nice shady place in an orchard surrounded by bushes with a small gardner's shack that they had cleaned up for the winter time. A place Aerith had probably chosen for her love of plants, but the others had agreed to because of the shade and fruit trees. After all, Axel remembered that a kid never passed up a place that had free food. They were almost there, and could see Tifa chasing Squall around with a large stick while Cloud and Aerith looked on, doubled over with laughter. Yuffie suddenly paused and looked up at him.
"Reno, are you really going to be my friend, or were you just kidding like about the girlfriend thing?"
He looked at her, a little surprised. "If you want me to be your friend, I got no problem with that."
She beamed happily, then grinned impishly. "Okay then, friends it is, Mr. Salty!" she cried, before dashing off, giggling happily as she ran to rejoin her pals.
It had been a strange friendship, Axel recalled as he watched the people passing his hiding spot in the market of Radient Garden. Neither his friends nor Yuffie's could ever understand what the two of them had in common, especially considering the age gap between them. Axel admitted that he wasn't all that sure himself, having never been much good with little kids. But then, even though she could be a brat, Yuffie was much more mature than she let on. At least, when she wanted to be. There was always the name calling between them, her favorite calling him 'Turkey', poking fun at his choice for a career while he continued to mock her for being younger and smaller. Nothing had changed the unusual bond between them, not even the day that the Heartless had invaded their world and Axel himself had placed the sobbing seven year old into Cid's gummi ship with his grin and a cheerful farewell: "Chin up, Sweet. I'll see ya again, I promise." Unfortunately, it was a promise he hadn't had the courage to keep, until now.
Suddenly, Axel's attention was drawn to the old ice cream stand, a smirk twitching his lips at the sight that met his emerald eyes. It was as if he was looking into the past once again, except this time the six year old hanging onto Aerith was a slender young teenager, still as bright and cheerful and talkative as ever. The others with her were different in appearance too, Squall was sporting a new scar on his face and Tifa had finally gotten her ears pierced, presumably having overcome her fear of needles. Aerith's mahogany colored hair was far longer and now bound into a single braid than the pigtails she had once favored, and Cloud- well, Cloud had changed little in his physical appearance except for the fact that he was taller, quieter, and that he had exchanged the silver hoop earring for a tiny sterling wolf that matched the larger badge on his shoulder. Axel could only wonder how he had changed physically as he watched the group purchase ice cream, wondering if any of them would even recognize him if he were to reveal himself to them.
The group began to file away, Aerith walking demurely at Cloud's side with a hand resting lightly on his arm while the other held her ice cream, Tifa arguring with Squall as usual, and Yuffie lagging behind as she once more struggled to keep her sea-salt ice cream from running down her arm. As she skipped to try and keep up, she bumped into a Moogle floating by and tripped over a low hedge. She shouted furiously as she tried to disentangle herself from the brambles, finally sucessful only to find her ice cream in a melting puddle behind the hedge. Yuffie stamped her booted foot, swearing colorfully as she kick grumpily at a rock.
A familiar laugh startled her, and she looked up to see the black robed figure leaning against a wall, staring at her in amusement. "As I recall, you didn't do that the last time you dropped your ice cream. I doubt you even knew words like that back then, Sweet."
For a moment Axel feared he should have stayed a silent observer as she stared at him with huge, shocked brown eyes, but then a bright grin crossed her features as she placed her hands on her hips. "And as I recall, you didn't laugh at me then, and you helped me up too, unlike this time." A bit of sadness entered her dark eyes as she added in a somewhat more serious tone, "It's been a long time, Reno."
"It's Axel now," he reponded, a bit sharper than he wished, but it didn't seem to bother her since she merely shrugged with another smile. He shifted awkwardly, wondering if she knew what had happened to him, but didn't want to start off this visit on such a dark note, so he pushed it to the back of his mind. "How have you been, Yuffie?" he inquired in a softer voice.
"Well, I was doing fine until I lost my ice cream," she said cheerfully, that teasing light in her eyes. "I don't suppose you'd buy a ninja girl another, would you?"
He couldn't help but chuckle, a faint smile crossing his features. "I think I can pay, as long as you buy," he returned.
"Done!" she chirped happily. "Fork over the dough, then two Sea-Salt Ice Creams comin' up!"
After taking the money he had brought out from his black coat, she skipped over to the stand, leaving him to follow at a slower pace. She hasn't changed, he thought somewhat gloomily, watching as she giggled and chatted while the vendor got the ice cream. She still is so full of passion and fire and. . .and life. I shouldn't have come. I'll only break her heart. So lost was he in his musings that he hadn't realized Yuffie was speaking to him until she snapped her fingers in front of his face.
"Yo! You spacin' out?" she asked, trying her best to imitate his speech and famous grin, but only managing to look adorably ridiculous.
"Sorry," Axel answered, his mind still partially shrouded in uncharacteristic gloom as he took the blue ice cream bar she was offering him. "What were you saying?"
"I was saying that our old crates were trashed long ago, but I have a new spot for us." Yuffie beamed up at him, licking her ice cream as she spoke. "Or are you going to eat and run on me?" She must have sensed his hesitation because she placed her free hand on his arm, once again becoming serious, dark eyes pleading. "Please, stay a little longer. You owe me that much at least, don't you?"
It was those words that brought him to a rooftop seat beside the ninja girl, eating their ice cream slowly. Axel finished his and tossed the wooden stick away. Though the view from the roof was fantastic- Radient Garden in all of its glory beneath a incredible sunset, the sky blazing red and gold like the fire he wielded- he was more intent on the girl beside him, the way the sunlight glinted off her black hair, and brought sparks of gold light into her chocolate colored eyes. She wasn't the skinny little ninja brat he remembered, but he would never admit that to her! She had grown up so much in his absence, but for some reason that didn't really surprise him. Maybe it was because he had seen what she would become even when she was a crying six year old, or maybe it was simply because he knew this was the real Yuffie, a side she showed to few.
"Whatchya thinkin' bout?" she inquired, blinking her dark lashes as she looked up at him, poking him playfully in his side. "You're being awefully quiet, Mr. Salty. Its not like you at all."
"Just thinking about the past," Axel sighed, staring down at his black gloved hands where they rested on his knees.
"What about the past, Reno?"
"Axel," he responded again immediately, flinching at the reminder that he was not the person he had been when she had known him.
"Like the grease Cid uses on his ships?" she teased, though her eyes were sad.
The redhead managed a laugh, though it was forced. "Something like that, I guess."
He ws begining to believe coming was a mistake. There was no way he could confess to her the truth of what he was now, of the deeds he had done. What would she think of him? More importantly, what damage would it do to her emotionally? She had looked up to him as a hero as a child: in her eyes he could do no wrong and he didn't think time had done much to change that. He couldn't shatter her beliefs like that; it was kinder for her never to know the truth about him.
Rising with catlike grace, he gave her a grin. "Well, it was great to see ya again Yuffie, but I gotta be going. Buisness to take care of, you know?"
Without giving her a chance to respond, he leapt down from the roof, landing lightly on his feet before making fast tracks toward an alley to open a portal and leave. He had barely lifted his gloved hand when fingers gripped his arm, hauling him around roughly, shoving him against a wall. Shocked, Axel's emerald eyes locked with Yuffie's brown ones, blazing with anger and hurt.
"You're going to leave? Just like that?" she demanded furiously.
"Yuffie, I-" he began, trying to regain his composure, but she barreled on, ignoring his attempts to speak.
"You show up after what, nine years? You tease me, buy me ice cream, reminisce a little, and then just leave?" Her voice shook slightly.
He winced; he'd hurt her, and even as heartless as he had become, he had never wanted to bring her pain. He recalled all too well what heartache felt like. "I didn't want to hurt you," he admitted. "I was trying to protect you. Listen Yuffie, you don't understand what's happened to me, you don't know what I've done."
"Maybe not, but I can guess," she returned, her eyes strangely bright. "Or do you really think I don't know by now that you're a Nobody, a member of Organization XIII?" His face must have held something that appeared to be surprise since she gave a humorless laugh. "Do you really think I'm that naive, that I wouldn't know anything that's going on? I may not know how you became this way, or the details of what you have done, but I can imagine. Why didn't you tell me the truth? Why did you stay away so long!" Yuffie's hands gripped handfulls of his black coat, forcing him to look at her.
"I didn't want to hurt you," Axel repeated, the awkwardness mounting as well as another feeling he had ignored since the moment he had laid eyes on her again.
She swore vividly, shaking him slightly. "Don't give me that!" she cried indignatly. "You may have been doing it in part to protect me, but it was more to protect yourself! Admit it! You didn't want to be hurt!"
"I can't be hurt!" he snapped back, his own temper rising in response to her own. "I don't have a heart to break, in case you overlooked that little fact. It's what being a Nobody is about, you have no heart, no being, only the memories of them! You don't feel, you don't age. I'll forever be this age, until I've been destroyed! A Nobody is doomed to fade back into darkness, ceasing to exist!"
"Reno, shut up!" she shouted back at him, and when he started to correct her usage of his old name, she cut him off. "Axel, Nobody, Heartless, or whatever you call yourself, you are still Reno to me!" Yuffie bawled one of her slender hands into a fist, pounding it against his chest. "Why can't you understand that? I don't care whether you have your heart or not, and you want to know why? Because you took my heart when you stayed behind and I left on that gummi ship with Cid!" By this time tears were running freely down her face, but she no longer cared, hitting him again. "I waited nine years for you to come home! Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
Axel didn't understand what she was trying to say. For perhaps the first time in his existence, he was speechless, able to only gawk at her.
Frustrated with his lack of response, she continued to pound against his chest as she spoke, voice rising. "Maybe I'm sick and tired of being perky, always cheerful, sunny Yuffie. Maybe I'm just tired waiting for you for so long. But maybe the real problem is I was just a stupid little kid with a crush, and I still am." She swiped angrily at the moisture on her face, but more tears soon took their place and she turned from him to leave. "But whatever. It obviously doesn't matter to you anymore, so go, cause whatever havoc you're planning."
Don't let her walk away! A voice inside him screamed, knowing that if he did things would be horribly wrong between them, but he couldn't think of anything to say to make her stay, any words he grasped for catching in his throat. She had already taken two steps, and Axel could feel their relationship slipping through his fingers. There was only one thing he could do, only one thing he could think of to show her what was really wrong with him.
Yuffie felt his hand on her arm and automatically tried to jerk it away, but he held on with unnatural strength, whirling her around and pushing her back against the alley way wall, wrists pinned above her head with one black gloved hand. Instinctively she struggled and squirmed, trying to escape his hold with many of the tricks she had been taught. Unfortuantly, most of those Axel had taught her himself, and he knew all too well how to fend off her attemps. She caught a glimps of his emerald eyes burning with more intensity than she had seen from him thus far, angry words forming on her lips, but they were silenced at once as his mouth came down on hers. A startled gasp escaped her, chocolate colored eyes wide with shock as she stared into dark forest green, her body stiffening as his free hand lightly brushed her cheek and his soft whisper sailed through her mind: Close your eyes.
Stunned and trembling, Yuffie could do nothing else but obey his silent command, dark lashed lids slipping shut as did his own. Axel's hand slid around to the nape of her neck, gently urging her to tilt her head until he found the angle he wanted, nipping and sucking at her lips until she was gasping for air. Her fingers strained to touch him and he released his grip on her wrists, and soon her hands were twined among the fiery strands. He could taste the salt of her tears on her lips, along with her own sweet taste, sweeter than any ice cream or treat he had ever know. Salty and sweet, just like her. After what seemed like endless hours of heaven, Axel forced himself to pull back from her, his breathing deep and raspy, strangely shaken for someone without a heart to feel.
Her eyes opened slowly, and he couldn't keep the satisfied, smug smirk from his face at the dazed expression on her delicate features. "You know Yuffie, I would have done anything to have protected my friend Roxas. . . I would have done anything to keep him from merging with Sora. After all, ever since I became a Nobody, he made me feel like I had a heart." Lightly his gloved fingertips grazed her cheek, tenderly brushing a tendril of dark hair back behind her ear. "You wanna know something though?" he whispered softly.
Yuffie blinked up into his green eyes that were strangely misty at the moment. It was strangely akin to the look he had been wearing the day they had parted, the only time the ninja girl could recall seeing Reno close to tears.
"What?" she manage to croak out.
Axel's lips quivered strangely before he managed to get a tight grip on his emotions, completely normal once more except for the hoarse quality to his voice as he said softly, "You make me feel the same. . ."
Tears spilled freely down her cheeks and she threw herself into his arms, hugging him tightly. Just as she had as a child, she understood what he wasn't saying and knew that he understood her too. He held her back, his arms lightly encircling her before he reluctantly pulled back.
"Yuffie, I can't stay. There's something I have to do. . . Someone I have to help."
Her lips formed the name 'Sora', and the redhead nodded reluctantly. She took a shaky breath, trying to steady herself as she asked the question she was dreading. "You aren't coming back, are you?"
She saw the answer in his eyes. Moisture welled up and she burried her face against the onyx material of his coat, fighting back the storm of weeping. Instantly aware of his mistake, Axel tried lamely to comfort her.
"Hey Sweet, nothing's for sure- I mean, I don't know what's going to happen-"
A weak laugh escaped her lips as she lifted her head, punching him playfully on the shoulder. "Stop, you're only making it worse, Reno."
He nodded, sighing, as he took another reluctant step back. "I really have to go Yuffie."
The girl nodded, closing her brown eyse momentarily. When they fluttered open again, they were once more bright and cheerful. "I know. Well, get out there and beat the crap out of the Organization for me!"
Axel grinned wickedly. "You know I will." He turned, raising his hand, and a dark portal appeared. The redhead started forward, then paused. With his back to her, he added softly, "Take good care of my heart, Sweet." And before the dark haired girl could reply, he was gone, the portal vanishing into whisps of dakness.
A smile twitched her lips as she stood there alone in the alley. Reno had never been good with saying goodbye. "And you take care of mine," she whispered to the night sky.
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