Title: Scars
Fandom: Kingdom Hearts
Characters: Yuffie
Prompt: #97 Writer's Choice
Word Count: 507
Rating: PG-13
Summary: She had so many scars.
Author's Notes: I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Mentions of violence.

Yuffie couldn't count all of her scars. Not at one time. But she could remember how she got each and every scar. They were all engraved in her mind just like her birthday and where she lived was.

On her stomach there was once a long, deep gash. Now it was only a white, slightly raised area of skin on her stomach. When she had gotten it she was in the First District. She and Aerith had just arrived in Traversetown and had been taken by surprise. They had thought this world was safe from the Heartless, a world unaffected by the darkness. They were wrong. In moments the vile creatures surrounded them. Wasting no time she shouted, "Get back," to Aerith. Instantly she threw her body at the Heartless, clawing at them with her then-long nails. But, she knew she was losing and she knew that this time no one would help her. A Heartless slashed at her and pain seared across her abdomen. She screamed out in pain and could feel the Heartless closing in on her, "No," she whispered. Then, the darkness was gone. She looked up to see a dark-haired man holding a gunblade glaring down at her. He gave her a green vial. "Drink this. We'll need to get you a weapon." That was the day she re-met Leon. Apparently she had met him before.

In the palm of her hand was a huge scar. One day she had been messing around with one of Cid's Gummi Ship parts and one of the weapons went off and at her body. Aerith said she was lucky she didn't lose the ability to use her hand. On her other hand was a large burn mark. She wasn't really proud of that particular scar. It only showed how hopeless she was at cooking. Aerith had asked her to boil water. Boil water! And she had hurt herself. Pathetic didn't begin to describe how she felt at that point in time.

Along the back of her calf was a long, thin scar. It wasn't anything too bad, but she had been stupid when she got it. She had been so excited about meeting the wielder of the Keyblade that she had jumped off her balcony (which she usually did, anyway), but had done something wrong and cut her leg on a loose nail. It had bled for hours. But, hey, she still got to meet the wielder of the Keyblade, didn't she?

There were lesser scars, but she didn't feel like reminiscing over them. None of them had changed her life in any way. Meeting Leon had changed her life; she got a teammate. Nearly losing her hand had made her more careful and shinobi like around the unknown. Burning her hand made her a better cook (somewhat). Falling from the balcony had made her step back and see that there was no Prince Charming who would catch her whenever she fell. She had to bear her own scars and stand on her own two feet.