Warrior, I Am

Chapter 4: A proposition

Disclaimer: I own the guy who blows the trumpet every morning. I call him…Ewan Trumpletop

Teeny tiny author's note: For those of you that are reading this for the first time, YES, this story is following the plot of Mulan. I took that out of the first chapter without realizing it. Haha…I'm an airhead. Anyways, I'm making that public now so people won't be thinking I'm trying to slyly copy the storyline without making it known. YuffieMulan. I just reposted the first chapter with that in for further reference.

Dun dun dun dun dundundundun….

Yuffie rolled over, groaning. 'Oh, how I bemoan my fate.' The sixteen-year-old sat up in her tent, the blanket falling to her waist. She wore a baggy shirt and black pajama pants. Her arms were literally purple and she felt like hell. The trumpet bellowed in the distance, ruining any happy morning feelings she might've had.

Day two of training.

Yuffie pulled off her baggy shirt and found a sport's bra. She covered the bra with a spandex tank top. Over that came her white t-shirt and baggy military pants that she had been provided with. She had figured out already that binding her boobs with duct tape was a painful experience that she wasn't fond of repeating. A bra and a tank top were good enough to hide her dwarf breasts well enough.

As she pulled on the thick pants, she noticed that she had dark bruises on her legs. Damn it, Cloud had kicked her too hard! He wasn't going to get away with that one. He had left all sorts of black and blue contusions on her body. Oh no, she was going to henpeck him all right.

"Before any of that though…" she muttered, climbing outside of the tent. "I have to wake him up without getting slapped."

Unfortunately she had not brought up Cloud's sleeping hazards with him the night before. Now, standing outside his tent, she sorely wished she had. She had no wish to ever repeat what had happened yesterday morning. If it was going to be like this every morning…'I'm sorry toots, but I'm leaving you!'

"Cloud!" She yelled. "CLOUD!" She bellowed at the top of her lungs. He didn't wake up. Good heavens, what were his ears made of? Did he clog his ears with wax before he went to bed? Did he enter some sort of trance when he slept? He heard perfectly fine when he was awake, but asleep he was similar to an over wintered bear.

"I'm not going into your tent again," Yuffie said, more to herself than to him. She had to think of something. She glanced at her watch. Ack! They had twelve minutes to eat breakfast now. Oh crud. Do something Yuf!

Filled with resolve, Yuffie carefully bent down in front of Cloud's tent and slipped her hand inside. Her cold hand found the outline of Cloud's feet beneath his blanket. Still sitting outside the tent, Yuffie used both of her hands to untangle the blanket and reach under it. She firmly grasped the blonde's ankles.

"Please don't hate me for this," Yuffie muttered. She closed her eyes and tugged as hard as she could.

A deep growl was heard, and then—

POW!

­­­­­­­­­­ "Yu—"

"Don't talk to me."

Cloud glowered at the back of her head. "Brat," he muttered under his breath. They were standing at High Noon, waiting for the commander to give out instructions. This was only fifteen minutes after Yuffie had dragged Cloud out of his tent. She really, literally, had tugged him out. Was it his fault that he got a little pissed? So yeah, Cloud had kicked Yuffie in the stomach. In his defense though, he was half-asleep, and when he was hauled out, a twig had poked his nipple. And that hurt.

So they were back to where they were last morning. Once again Cloud had lashed out, and now he was suppose to apologize. He was never one to be very empathetic though, and he didn't see why he was the one that had to apologize. It was her fault for tugging him out of his tent. It was…rude.

Yuffie, meanwhile, refused to look at him, as stubborn as she'd ever been. In addition to her myriad of bruises, she had a foot shaped one on her stomach that was throbbing. So for all she cared, Cloud could go rot in a bush.

"It was an accident, all right?" Cloud finally admitted. Why did she have to ignore him? 'Pisses me off how he won't talk to me…' His head was starting to hurt. He felt like an idiot. He had never met anyone that made him feel so guilty. Why did he always have to screw everything up?

"No it's not all right! It's like you're drugged or something!" Yuffie snapped, angry that Cloud wasn't being kinder to her. Why'd he always have to be a jackass?

Cloud's expression became gloomy. Surely she had no idea what she was talking about.

"Maybe I am drugged," he whispered, and Yuffie turned her head a little.

"What did you say? I didn't hear—"

"Stand at attention!" A man's voice roared over the crowd. The chatter slowly winded down to nothing. The man who had bellowed was the same one from before, the one on the other side of the commander. He had a long red robe and a scar over one eye. His hair was streaked with gray, and in Yuffie's opinion, he needed to shave.

Yuffie all but forgot about Cloud as she focused her attention on the commanding officer. He looked robust this morning, maybe more so than the last. She did not know the reason for that, and she figured that she never would.

"Wright, Adam."

Vincent was calling out the names for the High Noon exercise today. Yuffie felt a familiar twist in her gut. Her argument with Cloud shrunk in comparison to her fear. She was terrified of climbing that pole and anyone could see it on her face. She had upper arm strength, but nothing significant. She didn't even know how to get up it properly; she doubted anyone knew. She'd seen guys use their arms, nails, and even teeth. Nothing got them halfway up the behemoth toothpick. And as she watched Adam Wright give up within seconds, Yuffie decided it would be a miracle if she got herself a foot off the ground.

Cloud didn't look distressed about the workout, as usual. He stood there, staring at the ground. He seemed very depressed to Yuffie, but she couldn't bring herself to talk to him at the moment. Her stomach wound (and his snarky attitude earlier) kept all her sympathies for him at bay. Why would Cloud be depressed anyways? Maybe he was just formulating ways of killing her while cleverly looking like he was some sad pup. Farfetched, but it was possible, right?

"Rhea, Lionel."

Another man. Yuffie's hands got sweatier by the second! Why couldn't they just go in alphabetical order? Or better yet, wimpy order? The skinny, weak ones went first, and the strong, athletic men went last. That way, the shrimpy ones didn't have to live up to anything (because they had already done it). She knew if that were the case though, she would've been the first one up.

"I can't do this," Yuffie whispered to herself, wringing her hands. Her heart was thudding faster. She was going to have a panic attack! A seizure! Good heavens, save me from myself!

"Cloud!" Yuffie whispered in a strangled voice. The aforementioned man slowly lifted his head and glared softly at her.

"Wha—"

"I can't do this," Yuffie interrupted him, sounding terribly urgent. Cloud made a What-The-Hell face and frowned deeply at her.

"What do you mean," Cloud muttered slowly to her. "You haven't even been called—"

"I know!" Yuffie cut in again. "I know. But I mean…I can't climb that thing. Really, I can't. I have no arm strength. See?" She punched him in the arm. Cloud blinked at her for a few seconds and then stared at the ground again. His shoulders slouched even more. Yuffie groaned internally. Right now, she did not need her partner to be wallowing in self-pity!

"Pmmhh."

Cloud's shoulder's were shaking slightly.

"What?" Yuffie demanded, almost hysterical. Was he choking or something? She listened more….and felt like she had been kicked—again—in the gut. She could not believe this. She absolutely could not believe it. Cloud, possibly the most asinine and rude man in the world, was laughing at her. "This is not funny! Stop laughing!"

Cloud stood up straight then, and Yuffie was cowed for a moment. He wasn't the tallest among all of the men but he definitely made her look small in comparison. Yuffie huffed at him and subject him to one of her worst glares.

"You punch like a little girl," Cloud said to her, a small, twisted smile on his face. Yuffie's mouth could've dropped to the ground. He—him—this guy—was making fun of her! (It didn't matter that the insult was true!) In her moment of panic and woe! And he was laughing at her! She could throttle him!

"You'll do fine," Cloud muttered, composing himself in the blink of an eye. Yuffie wanted to bowl this guy over with a barrage of insults, but she couldn't bring herself to do it. Her mouth had a stopper in it. All she could do was glower helplessly at the man next to her.

His smile and laugh, as small as they were, had done it. He had chortled mercilessly at her panic and been a terrible person to her, but somehow his laugh and subtle encouragement made up for it. He was a mean butt hole, but she was starting to see that there was some sun shining out of the butt hole.

As hard as it is to believe…

"Kisaragi, Godo."

No. "No!" Yuffie wailed softly. If her heart had been pounding fast before, it was now exploding like a grandiose fireworks show. She wasn't going to do it. She'd pretend to faint and die. She WAS going to die if she climbed up the pole. She was working herself into a frenzy and she wanted to cry.

She had an iron grip on Cloud's bicep before she knew what she was doing. She pressed her face into his sleeve and inhaled the masculine scent of him. She clung desperately to him and even forgave him silently in her mind about that morning. Anything, as long as he didn't force her to go up there.

"Yu, for fuck's sake," Cloud said, exasperated. "Just do it and get it over with." Cloud wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not, but with his arm being held tightly to Yu's chest, he could've sworn that he felt two small lumps there. Like breasts. 'I must be imagining that one…'

"You idiot, let go." Cloud was trying to pry Yuffie from his arm, with little success. She just wouldn't let go! He wasn't sure why, but the more Yuffie hung onto him, the hotter his cheeks got. He figured it must be because of the sun; it was unnaturally sunny this morning.

He couldn't actually be blushing. He wasn't capable of such a thing.

Yuffie was grappling with Cloud now, somehow managing to still hang onto his arm at the same time. Her whole body was an apex of fear. She figured that maybe Leonhart would assume she was dead or something and go to the next person if she took long enough.

Cloud though, having figured out that she was not going to let him go, had begun to drag her to the front. She was digging her nails into his skin and he was staring straight ahead, tugging her along like she was weightless. Men started to turn their heads a little as they noticed the odd spectacle.

"I swear Kisaragi, you're getting on my nerves now," Cloud muttered, but he couldn't bring himself to throw her off. Even though guys were smiling lewdly at him (he knew that Yu and him were in an awkward position) he just couldn't yell at his partner. It was obvious that Yu had some irrational fear about doing this. So he let Yuffie latch herself to him like a second skin, ignoring all the catcalls and dirty sodomy-related comments he was receiving.

"What the hell," the commander muttered, when he finally noticed the reason why Kisaragi was taking so long to get up there. The hell was that boy doing? He was clinging to some blonde man like a parasite. Leonhart actually considered forcing both of them to climb up the pole at the same time, but then the blonde man literally threw Kisaragi out toward him. The commander held back a humorous expression. Kisaragi—that kid really was something else.

Yuffie gave Cloud the finger as she walked up to the commander. That cockhead. He had given her some false sense of security, and then dropped her on her ass in front of everybody. She wasn't going to talk to him ever again—and she meant it this time!

She walked gracelessly up to her commander. Most of the men talked while each guy went up the pole, but because of the display she had just caused, most of them had quieted down to watch her. Which sucked really badly, because she knew that she was going to do horrendously.

"You're name's not Godo, is it." Her commander said smoothly to her. Yuffie shook her head.

"No. No. Me—I….I am Yu." Yuffie was babbling like an idiot. She still couldn't believe that Cloud had thrown her out here! Left her for the vultures is what is he did. She was so nervous she couldn't even talk straight.

The big pole loomed above her ominously.

"Yu." Her officer stared at her quietly. She looked cautiously back at him. She was blushing fiercely at her inability to speak. She was blushing a lot lately, actually. She was just hoping that Leonhart—and the other men—didn't notice it too much.

"Who was that man you were clinging to?"

Yuffie's face became red hot now. Oh geez, talk about an uncomfortable subject. Her commander, with his riveting eyes and cold stare, was the last person she wanted to talk to about her little "incident" with Cloud. She knew that she couldn't deny him an answer though. She didn't know him very well, but she was sure that some punishment would ensue if she 'dissed' him.

"My patner. Partner!" She corrected herself with a furious blush (as if she could get any redder). Ever second that ticked by she embarrassed herself even more. And of course the frosting on her big Embarrassment Cake was to climb up High Noon.

"And why were you clinging to him?" Leonhart had put aside his formalities. Now he was just asking out of curiosity. In all his years of being a leader, he had never seen one man adhere so stalwartly to another like that. Of course he knew the politically correct term for incidents between two men, but he couldn't just peg Kisaragi as one. After all, maybe Yu didn't like heights or something.

"I don't know." Ok, so she was being a chubby liar; she couldn't tell him the truth! He'd kick her out of the camp for sure. She could already hear the charge. 'Expelled on grounds of being a big, wimpy chicken face.' Oh geez. If her father thought she was disgraceful then, he should see her now. He'd be soon rolling in his grave if he did.

Leonhart had moved close to her without her realizing it. "You don't know?" He whispered. His breath was warm, and he was so close that he could brush the ends of his hair against her face. What was he doing? 'Is he allowed to be this close?' Yuffie wondered. 'Why is he this close anyways? People are watching!'

And people were watching….especially one person in particular.

"I send him up there only to flirt with that jackass again. What a fruit. Fuck. I don't care what he does…"

Cloud was angry and he didn't know why. All he could do was glare condemningly at a man he'd never even spoken to.

Why was he so angry?

"S—sir…" Yuffie stuttered, looking up. Leonhart's eyes were so emotionless that it was hard to believe he was human. He just stared at her face, breathing quietly through his nose. Finally he said, "Climb."

Ope. She was hoping he wouldn't say that. She stepped back, rid of his glorious presence. Being that close to him made her terribly nervous. It was nothing like being with Cloud. With Cloud, she felt like she could loosen up and act a little normal. He was almost like a close friend. But Leonhart was different. Every second with him sent her into an odd array of emotions that she was unfamiliar with. If Cloud made her feel calm, then Leonhart made her feel crazy-giddy. She just didn't know what to do.

Vincent helped her with the weights. She was grateful for a familiar face, even if this face could possibly the last thing she saw. The vampire nearly seemed sympathetic for her situation, and gave her shoulder an almost paternal pat before pushing her toward the pole.

"Good luck kid."

Choked down with rabbit feet and four-leaf clovers, she'd still have the worst luck in the world. Yuffie still nodded her head though, even if it was just to show she appreciated the attempt. It wasn't everyday a vampire wished you good luck.

The pole was laughing at her, Yuffie was certain. If it had a mouth, this big ugly toothpick would surely roar and cackle at her predicament. It would say, "Climb up me, beeyatch! And die!" Yuffie felt as if that's what it was saying now. Slowly, she placed her hands on it. It was smooth but not polished. It was a light tan color and it was about a foot and a half wide. She didn't want to guess how tall it was.

Well, here goes.

"Urk!" Yuffie grunted, right as her feet left the ground. She was hugging the pole like you would do to your fat aunt. The weights hung limply from her wrists. She couldn't move any higher. How was she supposed to? It just wasn't natural for people to shimmy up heights without anything to hang on to. She was a friggin' foot off the ground.

She was going to give up (after a minute on the pole) but then…

Ah! Leonhart was standing right next to her! With him so close, she began to worry whether or not her undies were showing out above her now-drooping fanny. She was sure men didn't wear teddy-bear underwear. "Are you going to climb?" He said to her.

Yuffie wanted to slap him. Stupid man and his redundant questions. What did he think the answer to that question was? It's not like she was just hanging around because she wanted to. She was annoyed and mortified and she snapped at him, "Why don't you give me a boost?"

She thought he was going to kick her out for that comment, but instead he surprised her. Again. "I will if you give me back my parka."

Yuffie blanched.

UGH! Goddamn him! 'Bastard,' she thought viciously, because she very well couldn't say that to him out loud. He had just pulled a Cloud on her. And she thought he was different. If he wasn't so hot she'd pray for him to burn in hell.

"I don't need that parka," Yuffie reasoned to him. He was right there, completely able to help her. All he had to do was put a hand on her ass and push her up. Hey, it was a win-win situation. She would get two whole feet off the ground, and he'd get to cop a feel—for free! Not to mention he'd get his comfy, nice-smelling jacket back.

"Yes you do," Leonhart conceded. "But I see you're not even wearing it now." Yuffie grunted. Did he not remember she was still clinging to the pole? "Try not to get sick, Kisaragi. Training won't stop because you have a runny nose."

And with that Yuffie let go of the pole. Her arms had been hurting for a while, and his talk distracted her so much that she just released her hold. She fell to the ground with a quiet thump. Some men cheered for her and she couldn't help but smiling a little, even if she did the worst out of all of them.

"Yes sir," she said. She stood up (a little wobbly) and sauntered back to the crowd. She had enough dignity not to look back at her commander. She wasn't sure if it was dignity, not embarrassment, that kept her from looking at him though.

Where the heck was Cloud? Darn it, he had wandered away from her again. She wished that he would just stay in one place while she did things. She was starting to think that attaching a beeper to his ass wouldn't be a bad idea.

"Strife, Cloud."

A figure moved right next to her. "Oh shoot, there you are." Yuffie muttered. Cloud looked at her for a moment, and she smiled uncomfortably. "Good luck."

Cloud nodded and walked to the front. He was almost there when he turned around and said, completely serious, "If I get halfway up, you have to give me your dinner."

Yuffie's mouth dropped open a little. What a cocky nutmeg. She'd sell her soul to see anyone get up that thing halfway. Why would he want her dinner anyways? It's not like hers was any better than what he had…

"Are you Strife?" Leonhart asked as Cloud came up to him. Cloud nodded in assent. His eyes, stony and serious, could've mirrored the commander's. "Are you…Kisaragi's partner?"

Something inside Cloud twitched with agitation. Why was he asking that? Why the hell did it matter to this guy? 'Why does it matter to me?'

"That doesn't really matter," Cloud said, trying hard not to sneer. This guy was getting on his nerves.

Apparently Leonhart was thinking the same thing. "I would watch your tongue, Strife." 'Especially if you can't even get your blonde ass up this pole.'

"I'll remember that in the future," Cloud said curtly. He was an animal wrangling his shackles. There was something about this guy that really got him fired up. And when he was talking to Yu…ugh. Cloud wanted to punch him in the gut.

"Climb, Strife." That was a definite order.

Cloud didn't need to be told twice. While Cloud and Leonhart were having their snappy conversation, Vincent had strapped Cloud up with the weights. Right at his command, Cloud wrapped his arms around the pole and hoisted himself up. And sure enough, he started to climb.

"Holy cow, he's really doing it," Yuffie muttered, a hand held over her mouth in shock. It seemed like he was completely relying on his upper arms. He looked like he was straining, but not enough so that he had to stop completely. He just kept going and going…

Oh crap.

'There goes my dinner.'

Cloud wasn't really sure how high up he was. It was easy to climb without looking down. Being at the halfway point though, Cloud's arms were achy and tired. Honestly, he wanted to go further, but he wasn't sure he could. He had already proved his point anyways. He'd shown that asshole Leonhart that he could climb, and furthermore, he'd just snagged a free dinner.

Cloud slid himself down the pole, landing unsteadily onto his feet. He turned to his commander and couldn't hold back a smirk. Without even waiting for a comment, Cloud walked back to Yuffie, who was gaping like a dying fish.

"I hope you're not hungry," Cloud muttered, still smirking. Yuffie's expression became indignant.

"You-I-but—not fair!"

Yuffie trailed after Cloud, who had decided to get right up front. Cloud wanted to be right where Leonhart could see him. Right smack-dab in front of his damn face so he could see Cloud and Yuffie together. The blonde wasn't trying to rationalize any of it. He wasn't willing yet to admit that he greatly disliked the special attention that Leonhart showered on Yuffie. All Cloud was thinking was that Yu was his partner. Not anyone else's. And it served Leonhart right that he should realize that.

Yuffie though, not being the brightest little light bulb, did not recognize that very obvious fact. To her, Cloud had dragged her up front so he could show off in front of everybody. Say, "hey look, I'm the cool dude that got up that pole, and here's my crappy partner." She hated to admit it, but it was certainly what she would do had she gotten that far up. She could almost imagine Cloud and her switching roles. She, the stunningly athletic one, and Cloud, the weak, sad little puppy. She imagine her patting him on the head and boasting, "Don't worry, honey, I'll protect you." Then she'd go and kick an army of bad guy ass. And Cloud would love her. And she would catch Leonhart's eye…

How likely was that going to happen? Maybe, oh, one in a trillion.

"I'm not giving you my dinner," Yuffie said stubbornly. "I never even agreed to it…"

"That doesn't matter," Cloud said, smirking. "It's in the contract rule book."

Ok, he made that up. And he knew he was being a jackass. But they were interacting, which is what he wanted. He knew that Leonhart was watching them.

"The rule book?" Yuffie hissed at him in disbelief. "Rule book! You jerk!" She snapped. "You're not having my dinner, Strife." She glared sideways at him and added as an afterthought, "I hate you."

Those words got Cloud for some reason. He stared at her for a moment, mouth agape as if he was going to snap at her. He was vacillating between becoming irate and withdrawing completely. He knew that if he snapped at her he'd just be back to square one (for what, the tenth time?) with her. Two days already into the camp and he'd royally messed up a lot. So he chose the latter.

Yuffie watched as Cloud turned from leering buttface to the quiet man she'd met on the first day. She was happy at this, but then a little disappointed. She thought she was getting somewhere with him, but apparently they still had a lot to learn about one another. She still wanted to learn why Cloud was so angry sometimes, why he slept so deeply, and how he managed to climb High Noon. She wanted to ask him if sleeping on his stomach was any more comfortable than sleeping on his back.

And she wanted to know how he kept his hair up like that.

She wanted to get to know Leonhart too. For one thing, she would really, really like to know his first name. And she wanted to be able to have a conversation with him without her turning to jello. She wanted to know how he got the scar between his eyes, and she wanted to see how soft his hair really was.

There were so many things she wanted to know, and she felt as if it was just too much to think about all at once.

But she had a lot of time to learn, didn't she?

"I'll make a proposition with you," Yuffie said finally. Maybe Cloud and her could work things out. And maybe she'd find a way to make him—and Leonhart—smile. Because she was sure they both had gorgeous smiles.

"What?" Cloud murmured, his long blonde bangs covering his face. Yuffie smiled a little. He was so adorable sometimes and he didn't realize it.

"In exchange for my dinner, I'll let you get something else. You can have anything from me," Yuffie said simply. She was trying her best to be sincere, but Cloud still looked pretty dreary. She sighed. "You don't have to answer right now."

As she waited she began to stare off into the distance. Or rather, at Leonhart. Why oh why did he have such a nice body? It was crazy; she had never stared at one person, man or woman, as much as she did with her commander. There was something so mature and seductive about him that made her nutty in the head.

Cloud was watching her too. Watching her watching him. He realized then that the way she looked at him and the way she oogled at the commander were very different. Cloud's stomach did a little twist at that. He talked with Yu plenty, but did that mean anything to her? He suddenly felt like a very small boy, when all the girls he liked only liked him as a friend.

'But Yu is a guy.'

"What the hell am I thinking," Cloud muttered as Yuffie continued to look on. Cloud wondered what his partner was thinking. 'Forbidden fruit, maybe?' Cloud didn't know what to think when he saw Yu looking at Leonhart like that. His childish moralities told him it was shocking and repulsive, but there was a curious part of him that wondered about it. Was he jealous? Or was just jealousy a cover-up for the disgust he was feeling for his partner?

Cloud sighed, realizing that Yu's offer suddenly sounded very good. Anything, he said? Cloud wasn't gay, that he was positive.

Or was he…?

And was Yu?

Cloud sighed. He was going to get very little sleep that night.

A/N: Why are my chapters so short? I don't know. I'm trying to make them longer. Slowly. I'm working on it. Seriously.

Ok, there has been A LOT of Cloud/Yuffie interaction. But that's going to culminate in a problem later on…(hint hint—can anyone say friend zone? Terrible place to be.) Things are going to get tough for Cloud though once Squall's daddy comes and Squall's free to roam about the camp….

Next chapter: Yuffie stinks! Bath time….

Reviewand you shall have my heart. Muah!