Sincerest Apologies

Yuffie Kisaragi2

Dedicated to Gemini Ninja, because she has been so supportive of an authoress who was willing to give up. Thankies, Spades!

Don't, Don't even think about it
Please, please let's just talk this out
I know, I know that we can make it through this
Just give me one chance
Just let me apologize

So I was sitting on the guest bed, my scrawny arms wrapped around a stuffed white tiger that I'd had since I was a kid when Tifa knocked on the door. I knew it was Tifa because of the gentle raps in contrast to Cloud's three knocks and the calling of my name or HIS habit of walking in uninvited. I honestly didn't want to talk and was planning on refusing when she walked right on in anyway. Now, don't get me wrong, I love Tifa and all... But ever since she'd returned from her trip to Mideel, she'd been stuck up Cloud's ass and hadn't really paid any attention to the rest of us - namely me. I guess the scene we caused earlier that day made her think about me.

Alright, let me explain. A certain person that I once loathed returned. I hated her with the passion of a hundred-thousand fire ants boiling in lava. That's a lot of hatred going toward one human being, but I believe she deserved it. You see, Elena has to be THE dumbest thing to ever walk the planet. No, no, I'm not exaggerating. Better yet, she honestly thought that she had a Popsicle's chance in HELL with my boyfriend. Funny, right? Well, it was until my boyfriend decided to get snappy with me. Dumb, dumb, dumb...

I had been dating Reno since we'd saved the world - AGAIN - from Sephiroth and his little wanna-be's three years before. A Turk dating the Princess and Heiress of Wutai was, well, unacceptable until said princess - yeah, that's me - threw herself a merry little hissy fit in front of Godo and Chekov and all the others. I got my way and Reno and I had quite an interesting relationship. The one thing that I could not stand about him was his drinking habit. I had begged and pleaded for him to at least slow down the drinking, which had been the source for so many fights. I mean knock-down-drag-out fights. I get violent when I'm angry and he gets violent when he's drunk. I think most of Junon heard us when he came home drunk.

He had been planning on going out and getting drunk with Elena, Rude, and some girl named Trin. Firstly, he didn't tell me ahead of time that he was going to make plans on our anniversary of defeating Sephiroth so I kinda took it for granted that he was going to be my date to the festivities in Midgar. Secondly, he knew that I hated Elena and that I had a habit of getting jealous easily, especially if I didn't like or didn't know the company he was going to be in. Trin was one of Elena's friends, therefore she automatically scored low in my book.

"Yuffie, I'm going out with Rude, Elena, and Trin, I'll be back in the morning, don't wait up," he told me, leaning in to give me a kiss. I leaned away and looked at him, causing him to pause. "What's wrong, babe?"

"What's wrong?" I asked dumbly, shooting him an 'Oh-my-fucking-GAWD' look. "Uhm, we're going with Tifa and Cloud to meet up with everyone else in Midgar today, remember? Besides, I thought you were going to cut back on the drinking. And you know that I don't like Elena. And who the fuck is Trin?"

He shrugged. "Sorry, I forgot. I'm not canceling on them, though, so you'll have to go by yourself this time." He leaned in yet again to kiss me and I put my hand over his lips, glaring up into his emerald eyes. "What now?" he asked, although it was muffled by my hand.

"What now?" I asked incredulously. My temper was flaring. It was bad enough that he had spent the past two nights getting drunk with Rude and Elena, but he was going to cancel on me? "Are you fucking stupid, Reno? You're canceling something that has been planned for four months, something with your girlfriend, to go out and get drunk with Rude, a bitch that I hate, and some chick I don't know? And I'm supposed to be perfectly fine with that?" I was screaming, but I couldn't stop myself. "You promised that you were going to stop drinking and you promised that there was going to be less of you being home at four in the morning! You promised me that I would get to fall asleep with you every night, dammit! Fucking hells, Reno!"

His temper flared too, I could tell. "Well excuse me for wanting to be with my friends!" he yelled back.

I could feel the tears already stinging my eyes as I turned and stormed back toward the room we shared. He stood there in the living room of his apartment I was sharing with him temporarily, watching me. I could feel his eyes boring into my back, but I refused to look at him. I was probably lucky that he wasn't drunk during that fight, else things would have gotten very violent, very quickly. I grabbed my small knapsack and threw some clothes into, grabbed my stuffed white tiger, and headed back out to the living room.

"What are you doing, Yuffie?" he asked with something of a sigh.

"Leaving," I replied simply, walking out of the apartment. It wasn't until I was standing out on the street that I realized I had forgotten my toothbrush and other girly items. Cursing loudly to myself, I headed to Tifa's apartment, praying that she was there.

So, that gets me back to the beginning of my story. Tifa walked right on into the room I was staying in and sat down at the foot of the guest bed I was sitting on. I looked at her, tears threatening to fall for the umpteen-millionth time that day.

"Gawd, I hate him," I told her softly.

She smiled encouragingly at me. "Be strong, Yuffs. Maybe he'll come around."

I shook my head. "I don't think that I want him to," I half-whispered. "Not even if he came back begging with the sincerest apologies, with flowers and chocolates." I buried my face in my hands and sobbed, "I don't want to fight anymore. It just hurts too damn much!"

And all Tifa could do was wrap her arms around me and hug me, promising that everything would be all right between Reno and me... But, honestly, I didn't want everything to be all right... I didn't want it to be anything at all...


YK2: Okies, whatcha think? I'm totally going to TRY to continue this one. If nothing else, I think I kinda like it as a one-shot, whatcha think, oh muse of mine?

Surka: I think you suck at writing and need to give up so I can get so sleep, woman!

YK2: Meh, no one asked you... Please review!