Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy. I do not own song lyrics - Beautiful by Lifehouse

Thank you everyone for the wonder reveiws! Now here is the last chapter...Hope you guys like it!

Single White Rose of Wutai

Chapter 2

Flashback – hours before

"What? Who are you and what have you done with the real Yuffie?" Tifa teased poking at her young friend.

The young girl just shook her head causing some droplets of water from the beach to splash on her teammates. "Just tired…I think I'm going to go back to the hotel," she said playing with the sand beneath her feet.

"Hey! Watch where you're shaking!" Cid said lighting a new cigarette. "Almost got my cigarette wet!" Yuffie just rolled her eyes at the pilot.

"Cid!" Tifa said as she whipped around to the older man. "Seriously can't you stop smoking for ONE day?"

Cid looked as if he stopped breathing for a moment as he turned his head to look at Tifa. "Stop smoking? STOP SMOKING? You gotta be kidding me! You kno……"

Yuffie didn't stay around long enough for Tifa and Cid's friendly banter. She knew that those two would always pick fights. If there was someone arguing on the Sherra that wasn't Yuffie against everyone, it was either Tifa and Barret or Tifa and Cid. The voices of the two had grown softer and softer until she couldn't hear them at all.

Back on the beach a certain martial artists had noticed that a certain ninja was missing. "Huh? Where did Yuffie go? Did she leave?" Tifa asked out loud.

Cid looked around also now noticing Yuffie's absence. "Eh she said she was going back to the hotel," he said taking another puff. "I dunno what's wrong with that girl today." With a wave of his hand Cid dismissed the subject from his mind.

"She was sure asking about Cloud a lot today…too bad he couldn't make it…"

End of Flashback

Finally here, won't stay too late.
I want to feel you, I need to hear you.
You are the light that's leading me to the place where I find peace,
again.

Yuffie ruffled her short raven hair with her green towel. She had just finished getting dressed for bed, and was now drying her hair. Even though the clock only read 6:00pm there wasn't anything else she felt like doing today. "Wow…it's not even that late…" Her behavior had shocked her comrades when she had announced that she was going to bed.

She tossed the towel on the floor aimlessly as she went over to her nightstand. Looking out the window just over the head of her bed she reached for her phone. 'No Missed Calls.' A small almost depressed chuckle left her lips. Who was she expecting to call? It's not like anyone called her back anyways, and when they did it was only to tell her to stop calling their phone. Although in the back of her mind, she knew who she was thinking about, even if she didn't admit it to herself. "Heh…why do I care so much anyways?" she asked herself outloud, as if she was going to get an answer.

Still looking outside the window she saw that the sky was turning different shades of color. Dark Blue…purple…pink…it was almost as it someone had painted it. It almost made her feel…well in truth she didn't know what it made her feel. "It's kindda pretty…" she said idiotically to herself.

Still in her jammies she turned to head out the door. The cold air hit her damp pale skin. It wasn't freezing, but since it was almost night time the temperature had dropped a few degrees. The fact that she had just taken a shower, and her hair was still wet didn't help at all. Ignoring the cold she made her way across the beach, which was surprisingly empty. It seemed that most of the people had made their way insides either to the bars or house parties. There were only two of three couples still wandering the beach. All holding hands…all smiling and laughing happily…

For some reason Yuffie frowned. She felt something pinch her chest as she walked passed them to a secluded place: a medium sized rock formation projecting into the water. The climb up to the top wasn't that difficult for her, after all she was a ninja.

She sat down with her legs sprawled out in front of her. There was something unusual about her mood. It wasn't that she wasn't happy to see her friends, she was, it was just that something in her heart was bugging her. Her mind wandered back to the day she gave Cloud her precious materia. What he said to her…how she felt his skin on hers…

She wanted to feel him again…she wanted to feel him again…

Then something unexpected happened, something that she didn't even know was coming, but when it did it hit her like a jumping in to cold water. A small tear fell down the curve of her cheek, down to her chin before falling down on to her hands folded in her lap.

A small expression of shock washed over her face. Half of her was almost expecting it, but the other half wasn't. Either way couldn't hide from herself the reason why she was crying.

"Dammit Cloud!!" she suddenly yelled at the top of her lungs, as if her heart couldn't take it anymore and it just needed to scream.It was if the words had some magical effect on her because afterwards she suddenly had burst in to tears. She couldn't hide the fact that she had feelings for him anymore. That she had always liked him, but he had never noticed. That she had always noticed him, but he had never seemed to care. The way that she always cared…

"G..G..God…I hate you! I hate you…" she barely managed to say between her sobs. All the emotion she had felt, and all the lies that she had told herself had suddenly turned on her. Yuffie had reached her breaking point. She didn't even care that she was crying in public or the fact she might look like a crazy person. Not that anyone would see her besides the few couples that were on the beach…and they were too preoccupied with each other to care.

She just wanted to cry because she believed Cloud would never love her back.

"I hate you…I hate you chocobo, spiky headed, emotionless, non-smiling, giving my materia away to bad guys, no calling me back unless it's to tell me not to call again jerk!!!" she out loud all in one breath.

You calm the storms, and you give me rest.
You hold me in your hands, you won't let me fall

Her knees bent coming closer to her chest, as she wrapped her arms around her legs. She didn't even bother to wipe the tears. Her stomach started to hurt as her loud sobs turned into sharp inhales for breath.

"Why are you crying?"

Oh great….now a voice inside her head was talking to her. Yuffie sobbed some more thinking that she had officially become crazy. Now on top of being a cold and heartbroken she could put mentally unstable on her list.

"Yuffie…why are you crying.?"

Great…now the voice knew her name…well why wouldn't it – if the voice was in her head? "Yep Yuffie…now you've lost it…" she thought to herself. A loud form of distress in the sounds of crying came from Yuffie again. The second force of tears started to fall from Yuffie's eyes. She could even feel the heat from her tears as the streamed down her face.

"Yuffie…"

Suddenly she felt something press down on her shoulder. The sudden unexpected touch had startled the girl, as if an electrical shock as sent down her arm. She flinched at the person's touch not knowing who it was, and she wasn't sure she wanted to know. Whoever the person was - was still behind her with their hand on her shoulder.

It the next few seconds she heard the scuffling of footsteps as a blurry figure knelt down in front of her. She blinked trying to steady her vision through the tears. As she continued to blink she made out a male figure…blonde hair…blue eyes…no mako colored eyes.

Her eyes widened, and her mouth was still slightly open. And all of a sudden she realized that she wasn't crying anymore. "C..Cloud…?" she said as her voice failed her. He nodded briefly as he said her name.

She couldn't believe it. The one person…the one person that she wanted to be here…was finally here? Now she couldn't believe it…maybe this was just a mirage. Something that evil voice inside her head had made up.

Her non-blinking, tear stained eyes were staring into his unwavering mako colored gaze. He just knelt there, in front of her, not saying a word with his hand still on her shoulder. Without unraveling herself from the ball she was in, she reached her hand out. Her fingertips touched his chin and traced its way up his face. Cloud didn't move although his eyes shifted around, not sure of what to do.

She kept on tracing his face, until her hand found its way through his blonde hair. He felt real…Suddenly her index finger and thumb pinched down on one of his bangs and pulled it fiercely.

"OW!!!" Cloud yelled as he pulled his head back and snagged Yuffie's hand away from his face. With his free hand he rubbed the base of his forehead where she had pulled his hair. "What was that for!?" he asked furrowing his brow, as if he was hurt.

There was no mistaking it. The person in front of her was in fact Cloud Strife.

"Cloud!" Yuffie's whole face seemed to light up. She didn't even bother to claim her hand back from his, it was as if she didn't even seem to notice that they were holding hands. Either that or she didn't' mind holding hands with him. "Cloud! Cloud!" she exclaimed as that was the only word in her vocabulary.

"…" he just looked at her silently still rubbing his forehead.

Her eyes surveyed him as he looked at her with that same innocent expression. She didn't even care if he saw how happy she was that he was here. "I can't believe you came! Tifa said you had too many deliveries today! And I didn't think you were coming! And! And! WILL YOU QUIT THAT!" she yelled at him practically out of breath from her previous sentence. Her hand shot up to his hand that was continuously rubbing his forehead. He hadn't stopped ever since she pulled his hair.

"...Sorry," he said calmly in contrast to her over enthusiastic energy.

His eyes hadn't left her since he had knelt down to try to comfort her. She looked so sad just now, and she had yet to tell him why. He looked at her as she smiled up at him. She didn't have anymore tears but her face was still blotchy. Even through her appearance her smile still seemed to light up her face. The only other reaction that he could respond with was a genuine smile.

He didn't know why he couldn't stop staring, why his heart was beating faster, or why he didn't want to let go of her hand. Even after all this time they hadn't let go of each other. After his apology she still hadn't said anything, which made him shift uneasily again.

"…"

You steal my heart, and you take my breath away.
Would you take me in? Take me deeper now.

"I can't believe…you're here…I thought you weren't coming," she finally said in normal volume.

He nodded as he finally let go of her, almost reluctantly. "Yeah, some people canceled on their deliveri-" Cloud didn't even have time to finish his sentence when he got the wind knocked out of him by a certain ninja.

"I'm so glad you're here!" Yuffie had jumped on Cloud and wrapped her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. He was slightly taken aback by her forward actions. He had only been close to her like this a couple times before, and each time he never knew what to do.

"Yuffie…you haven't told me why you were crying…"

She blinked for a moment as her cheek was pressed against his chest. She was so close to him that she could take his scent in. His question had caught her of guard. Would she really tell him the reason? Her head rose up to look at him for a moment as he tilted his head down to look at her. He raised an arm to return her hug, but her embrace was short lived and she didn't give Cloud any time to respond.

"I was crying because…" looking at him she tried to think of a good lie, but without warning to herself she just burst.

"Because you! You! You're a jerk! You never let anyone in! You only call to tell me not to call! You gave my materia away when you promised you wouldn't let anyone touch it! You don't' smile! You're late! You ride that damn motorcycle and you won't let anyone touch it! And! And!" She opened her eyes letting more tears fall. Half of what she was saying didn't make sense she was just starting to run out of things to say. "And you have stupid chocobo hair!!!" she yelled between her sobs.

A small clenched fist thumped on Cloud's chest. The impact didn't even phase or shake him and as he just sat there letting Yuffie's punch him. Yuffie hit him again but this time she buried her face into his chest, to hide the tears she was crying. She wasn't sure if they were tears of sadness or happiness, but either way she couldn't stop them.

He actually wasn't paying attention to half of what she was yelling at him, but he was paying attention to what she had first said. He had made her cry? Was it true that he really didn't let anyone in?

Abruptly she felt his arms wrap around her and bring her closer to him. His reaction made her intake a sharp breath and silenced her cries. She wasn't expecting him react the way he did, but she would be lying if she said she didn't like it.

"I'm sorry about your materia…" his deep voice said. Even though she wasn't look at him their faces were still close together. She could feel the heat from his breath on her ear.

"How could you say something…so stupid like that at a time like this…" she said smiling. The hand that was a fist against his chest relaxed it self. Her palm was not pressed up against his chest. Taking a deep breath she looked up at him to only find out that he was still staring at her. He hadn't taken her eyes of the young ninja ever since she jumped into his arms.

'Cause you're all I want
You're all I need
You're everything, everything

She could feel her heart getting lost as he stared back at her. There was only one thing she wanted. There was only one thing that she needed, and it was right in front of her. All she had to do was just reach out and take it.

With her arms still around his neck she stood on up to her full height. Her face slowly came closer and closer to his leaving a small gap between their lips. Even with their close proximity Cloud didn't even flinch slightly. Seeing this Yuffie suddenly closed the distance between them and pressed her lips against his. As soon as their lips touched she felt the warmth of his lips, like something surging through her body. It wasn't like anything she felt before. Sure she had kissed guys before, but this was different.

Cloud's eyes widened and his eyebrows rose as he felt her lips still brushing against his. He couldn't believe it…his heart couldn't believe it…he Cloud Strife was kissing Yuffie Kisaragi. She was in his arms, while he was kissing her. Well actually he was just standing there while she was doing the kissing.

Her sudden movement and contact with his lips had caught him off guard. His eyes were still wide open as he looked at her eyelashes, and he saw that her eyes were closed. He acted like he had never kissed a girl before, as if he didn't know how to kiss. Well…that was partially true…but Yuffie didn't have to know that. But he did know that he wanted this too.

He tightened his embrace on her not caring if she felt how fast his heartbeat was. Finally Cloud closed mako his eyes and kissed Yuffie back.

Would you tell me 'How could it be, any better than this?'