A/N: Just to clarify, part of this story is based on what could have happened if Yuffie hadn't of been found in the original game. As an optional character I thought it would be interesting to think of what could happen in Yuffie's life if she hadn't bumped into AVALANCHE. I hope you enjoy it!
Ps This is set as if Dirge of Cerberus never happened because I haven't played the game yet and I don't want to make any fatal mistakes! Please understand!
I never really felt alone. Not until that moment. There was always something holding me back but I couldn't feel it. I always felt there was something missing but I ignored it, who needed feelings like them? My life would go on...
Run, run, jump, run, run, defend. Through the trees, lightning speed, avoid the ditch. To Da Chao, up the right path, jump over the rope. Turn and block, run. Nearly there, keep running. Second path, avoid edge. Dead end. Climb rock face, find foot hold, pull yourself up. Throw star, run up. Yes!
"Oh yeah! In your face Sensei!" I screamed at the top of my voice. I had made it to the top of Da Chao first!
My teacher jogged up beside me, his breath slightly ragged. "Good job."
I celebrated with an amazing victory dance, but I guess I misjudged the distance from the edge of the cliff face... I frantically waved my hands around and tried to keep my balance when Sensei grabbed a belt loop on my shorts and pulled me back to safety.
"You sure are a clumsy one." He muttered, sheathing his blade.
"Whatever." I snorted. "I still beat you up here!" I gloated, holding my head up high and looking into the distance dramatically.
I won't deny it, I like making scenes.
"You are strong Yuffie," My master commented, "but letting your guard down is your weakness. When you put your mind to something you can win, but without it you're a sitting duck."
"Did you just call me a duck?" I blew the bangs out of my face and scowled at him, what kind of a compliment was that?
Sensei's hearty laugh filled the heavy summer air. "Yes Yuffie, but only sometimes. Stop huffing and let's return to the village, lessons are over."
"I'm not huffing." I protested... Well, huffed. "Anyway it's not that late, we usually train way later than this!"
"I said lessons are over." He replied, strolling down the dirt path.
"Hey! Don't just leave me here!" I shouted after him. I ran to his pace and scuffed the ground as we walked.
"The sunset is so beautiful here." My teacher murmured.
"Really? It's the same as normal." I sighed and started fiddling with a throwing star. "I wish I could get out of this place."
My master chuckled at the thought. "You have yet to see the real world, you will regret leaving one day."
He was a tall man, Sensei, with chocolate coloured messy hair and a strong jaw line. He was the kind of figure you always imagined a father to be. But Sensei wasn't a father, well he was, a long time ago. I don't really know what happened to his family but the old man told me not to ask. Sensei showed up here only three years ago. It was a hot, rainy day, in the summer when a strange man covered in jagged cuts and soaked in blood collapsed in front of the pagoda. Nobody but my father knows what happened to him but Godo decided to keep him in Wutai and made him the fifth guardian of the pagoda.
Since I was sixteen, he's been my trainer, everyday. He teaches all the other kids in the village martial arts but as Princess of Wutai (I love saying that), I have special training with him. As the old man's never around, he's been the closest thing to a father I've ever had.
"You should know one thing though Yuffie." He stopped just outside the outskirts of the village and watched as pink blossom drifted gently on the breeze. "I've taught you all I can."
I frowned at him and blinked.
"This is the end of our training together. You will be able to explore the world now on your own."
"Are you serious Sensei?" This was awesome!
My teacher looked at me and smiled. "I am no longer your Sensei."
I grinned. "Then it's not to inappropriate to do this." I ran over to the brilliant man and hugged him with all my might. "Thank you so much!"
"When has anything been inappropriate with you?" He asked, embracing me back.
"Touché." I stepped back and studied him. "So does this mean I can go wherever I want now?"
"It does indeed."
"Oh thank the GODS!" I yelled, punching my fists in the air and running back into the village. I was getting out of here as soon as possible! "I'll send you a postcard from Midgar!" I hollered back at him.
"You mean Edge!" He shouted back.
Oh yeah. I'd forgotten about the explosion a couple of years ago. I was only sixteen at the time and being in Wutai, we were cut off from the rest of the Planet. I saw the Meteor though, in the sky. It was pretty scary, but apparently the lifestream fought back against it and luckily for us, the world wasn't destroyed. AVALANCHE saved the world not only then but once again only a year ago. It must have been pretty cool, saving the world and all. They're not really known around here because we're so cut off but I bet everyone else on the Planet knows about them... I think they passed through Wutai at some point but only briefly.
Well the Great Ninja Yuffie Kisaragi was gonna show them what a real hero was like, while stealing all their materia... Nyuk nyuk nyuk.
I ran through the sleepy town and into my little house. I frantically packed a couple of essentials; clothes, a sleeping bag, materia (lots of that), some shurikens and all the gil I could find. I slung the leather bag over one shoulder and strapped my Oritsuru (Godo had given it to me on my eighteenth birthday) to my back. After giving the whole a house a final glance, I picked up a bag of perishable food to give to the neighbours and shut my bright red door.
After dropping off the food I skipped through town and made my way towards the old man's place, smiling the entire way.
"Hello-o" I called as I walked through the door. That was the plus side with having walls made of what I always thought was tissue paper, you can yell for someone across the house and they'll hear you!
"I'm in here!" A distant voice shouted.
"Gee that helps." I muttered, stomping my way through the house and opening every door on my right, trying to find my father.
"Ah, nice day today?" Godo greeted me, his head still looking at his desk.
I shut the sliding door in front of me and stood before my father. "Not bad." I replied, toying with him.
"Anything interesting happen at training?" He asked monotonously.
"Nah nothing much, just that Sensei said I was ready to leave Wutai." I said non-nonchalantly.
"Oh ri-" Godo frowned at my words before they finally sunk in. "What?"
"I know!" I screeched. "He said my training was finished and I could go wherever I wanted!" I jumped up and down and flailed my hands about. Sometimes I can be such a girl.
By this time he had finally looked up at me. "So, where are you going?"
"Pfft I don't know that much, I just know I want to get out of this sleepy little town!"
"What's so wrong with Wutai?" My father defended.
"Ugh nothing! But I'm eighteen! I should be allowed to explore the world! I've stayed here for too long, I can't even remember why I've stayed here so long!" I exclaimed pacing backwards and forwards. "I want to experience things for myself!"
Godo sighed heavily. "I guess you're right, I should feel lucky to have had you this long... Alright then, but come back every once in a while." Godo was always a good dad, he just wasn't around as much as he should have been.
"I'll bring you back some good materia!" I started backing out of the room when I was called back.
"Take this with you, it'll keep you safe." He chucked a scarlet orb across the room and I caught it with cat-like reflexes.
I studied the orb closely before replying. "Is... Is this what I think it is?"
"The legendary Leviathan summon materia, the only one in the world! That should keep you out of trouble for a bit, it's mastered by the way." A smug smile lay plastered on his face.
"Don't worry I'll keep it safe! I could kill at least thirty people with this thing! Maybe even forty! I could try for fifty but that might be pushing it... Maybe if I used this and then..." I rambled, backing out again. This time, he didn't stop me.
That was that! Like I said, Godo and I were on good terms but we didn't really have an emotional relationship. Instead I borrowed the best Golden Chocobo in our private stables and set off to the wide world before me!
...What a let down.
Naturally the biggest town anywhere near Wutai was some place called Rocket Town. I'd been out of Wutai a couple of time on holiday and things, but I'd only been to Costa Del Sol and the Gold Saucer (one of the best place on the Planet).
I was expecting a bustling town with abundant shops, plus the reason the town got its name was because of a rocket that was going to be launched there. Surely it must be an incredible town! Not only that but a member of AVALANCHE used to live there!
...I was not impressed.
This stupid little town was smaller than Wutai! Old derelict buildings lay everywhere and a broken launch pad was rusting on the outskirts of this pathetic village. There wasn't even a materia shop! I put my chocobo in the stables and stayed a night at the local inn, but only because it was nearing nightfall. The owner told me why the town was so deserted. Oil had been found nearby and the few people who lived in Rocket Town had gone to work in the East, leaving the town on its last legs.
The morning after, I exited the disappointment and rode on to better destinations. I didn't want to take anymore chances with the little towns so I headed for a place I knew wouldn't let me down! The Gold Saucer! What was wrong with that place? Nothing! Well, okay I hated getting there on the weird monorail thing, and the gondola ride... But apart from that its my dream city!
It wasn't much fun camping in the mountains, there were more monsters than I'd ever encountered before. I could have taken the route South toward the village of Nibelheim and then East but that would have taken years! What's the point with a Golden Chocobo? Soon the smoky mountains evened out and I found myself in greener pastures. I passed North Corel on my way down but it didn't seem that interesting, I just nabbed a couple of materia here and there, nothing big!
I had been on the road now for a total of four days and I was trying to find an alternate route into the Gold Saucer without riding that damn monorail. There were rumours you could go through Corel Prison so that was my next bet. I was sleeping just outside the desert so my chocobo could feed and had set up a small camp. Tinned food wasn't the best but it felt better to be out on my own than holed up in Wutai.
I had just finished eating when I heard something strange. My ears had been trained better than the average ones but I still couldn't make it out. All I knew was that something - no, two things - bigger than myself were heading towards me. A lion? No, probably a bear... I kicked dirt over my fire and pulled my chocobo into the nearby trees, hoping it would be safe there. I shimmied my way up the nearest tree and crouched low against the branches, waiting for whatever it was to appear. If it went anywhere near my chocobo, it was going down! Leaves blew close to my face but I never lost my concentration.
The noise moved ever closer and now I could hear what sound like... Metal? Were these Shinra troops? I thought Shinra had been destroyed? A voice came into earshot soon after, a woman. A deep voice replied to her before the two people walked into my vision.
At first, all I could see was a blob of red, but when I got a better view, a tall man stood below me. His flowing coal black hair was a stark contrast to his chalky skin and blood coloured eyes. A huge scarlet cloak covered his shoulders and half of his face, while the back trailed to the floor, moth eaten and ripped. A huge golden glove rested on his left hand and two matching golden boots served as his shoes. That was the clanking I had heard. He seemed to give out an aura of grace and tranquillity. He looked quite scary though, a bit like a vampire?
He was soon followed a woman, she was a little taller than me, but not by much. Her long dark brown hair and wine coloured eyes looked somewhat familiar but I had never seen someone as beautiful as her. A pink ribbon was tied to her left arm and she was clad in black and white. She had a warm face but the most noticeable thing about her was her chest. Are you kidding me? They had to be fake...
Anyway, seeing as the guy had materia by the bucket load in his pockets, and I'm a trained ninja and thief, I did the natural thing.
Well, tried.
I was planning to jump down out of the tree unseen and grab the girl by the neck, then use her as as hostage to get the materia.
Unfortunately, just as I had jumped to the floor and was trying to sneak stealthily towards the girl, the man heard me! How? How in Leviathan did he hear the Great Ninja Yuffie Kisaragi? Gawd, he must have super powers or something...
His scarlet eyes pierced into me and he drew a huge black gun from inside his cloak.
"Aw crap."