Title: Best of You
Drabble # 7: Denial Ain't Just a River in Egypt
Theme: Paranoia
Pairing: Cloud/Aerith, implied Leon/Yuffie/Riku
Words: 603 (dreadfully over the limit, oh noes!)
A/N: Oh Lord, this was such a fun chapter to write. So yeah, this is now officially a drabble-y story. Or, as I fondly refer to them, a drory. Nyuk nyuk. I'm bouncing off the walls at the moment. I've just finished eating one ofthose jumbo sized Hershey bars. Yummeh. Onwards!

Yuffie paced about the Red Room. Cloud mentally wished that she would stop; he was getting dizzy.

"...I don't see what the fuss is all about," Aerith admitted finally.

"He stroked my cheek, Aerith!"

"In an attempt to clean up after your lack of table manners," Cloud interjected.

Yuffie glared at him, and Cloud almost let out a yelp. Perhaps she'd spent too much time with Leon. Apparently she picked up his infamous Glare of Doom. Albeit a less frightening glare, but terrifying all the same. Yuffie shifted her glare in Aerith's direction. "Why is he here again?" she barked.

"Cloud's your friend, just like I am," Aerith answered calmly. "And I'd appreciate it if you didn't bite our heads off. We're just trying to help."

The ninja let out a sigh and ceased her pacing (Cloud inwardly cheered at this). "Sorry."

"Now that you're calm, maybe you can think rationally--"

"But what about Squall, hm? I mean, 'Yuff'? What the hell is that?"

Cloud snickered. "It's called a nickname, Yuffie."

"You know what I mean. Nicknames are given to people by people who find those people endearing."

"...okay, what?"

Yuffie threw up her hands in frustration. "Don't you get it? They're both acting strangely!"

"How so?" Aerith questioned, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear.

"Riku would normally make fun of people with food all over their faces," Yuffie pointed out.

Aerith considered this for a moment. "I suppose that's true..."

"And when have you known Squall to call me anything other than 'Yuffie', 'brat', or, my favorite, 'hey you'?"

"While all that might be true, it doesn't mean they're madly in love with you."

"I wouldn't blame them, of course," Yuffie went on, not having heard Aerith's comment. "I mean, who could resist this? By the way Aerith, you might want to keep an eye on Cloudikins over there. He's been giving me these eyes ever since I walked in."

Aerith blinked, trying to decide whether or not Yuffie was being serious. "Be that as it may," Aerith continued, choosing to ignore the statement, "I think you're paranoid."

"I agree with Aerith," Cloud spoke up, still chuckling and Yuffie's last ridiculous comment. "Besides, everyone knows that Riku's gay for Sora."

"But that doesn't mean that he isn't straight for me."

Raising a hand to rub wearily at her left temple, Aerith sighed. This conversation was going down a path she'd rather not travel. "Since we don't know for sure--"

"Of course we know for sure," Yuffie interrupted. "I'll prove it to you." The teen marched into the Yellow Room next door and pulled out a drawer chock full of slips of paper and napkins. "See this? This is Riku's Whore of the Day drawer...or at least, that's what I call it, anyway. Tonsa girls slip him their numbers, and this is where he keeps them." Yuffie rummaged about in the drawer and frowned. "Hey, wait a minute, why is Aerith's number in here?"

Aerith shook her head in disbelief and turned to her boyfriend, who had suddenly grew quiet. "I didn't! I wouldn't! He must've found it around here somewhere and filed it for reference?...for God's sake, Cloud, he's justa boy. You can't possibly believe thatI would...Cloud?"

Cloud stuck out his hand. "Give me that," he commanded.

Yuffie grinned and slipped the paper into the pocket of her jeans. "Nope."

"Dammit Yuffie!" Cloud lunged towards her, and the hunt was on.

A/N: Run, Yuffie, run! Yes, now that you ask, I am on crack XP Crack crack crack. Crackity crack...crr--to the--ackk. The stuff's been going around lately. I hadn't meant for it to turn out like that, but it did. Damn these muses that turn my drabbles into stories!

Next chapter...Sora! (whom I've grown strangely attached to recently) Just where is our spiky headed friend throughout all this madness?

...R&R, please?