Dodge, dodge, hide. Sneak, run, crap! Run! Dodge, hide, climb, wait. Throw, throw, shield, hide. Jump, run, dodge, roll, throw. Shield, run, snatch, run. Ahh bullets, bullets! Fist, ahh! Kick to the face, ouch.. Blacking out, run, run! No, don't go back for materia, keep running! Catching up, throw. Throw, throw again. Out of throwing stars, run. Shot to the shoulder, blacking out...

"Did you have to shoot her Vincent?"

"She's a thief, she attacked us."

"She's just a little girl!"

"..."

I heard a sigh. "I'd better check she's okay."

Aha! My possum routine had worked! I wasn't actually hurt, nothing could hurt the Great Ninja Yuffie Kisaragi! I rolled away from the woman's hand and crouched a couple of meters away. "Sorry folks, but your materia is mine!" I pulled the colourful globes I had managed to steal out of my pocket and rolled them around on the fingertips, studying them closely. "Hmm, what do we have, a mastered Restore, boring, a mastered All, boring, and a..." I trailed off as I analysed the red orb. Silver lines grew across the globe and a beautiful sword materialised from the mist inside the ball. "Is this... the legendary Knights of the Round?"

"She's just a common thief." The man's smooth, baritone voice made me feel dizzy. Or maybe that was loss of blood...

"Vincent she's a child." The woman stepped closer. "Please, we need that materia."

"Oh yeah, like I'd just give it back, this is the find of the century! You and your friend are going..." My head felt heavier than usual and my eyelids pulled themselves shut. I felt myself collapsing onto the soft grass.

"...Let's move on."

"We can't just leave her here!"

"..."

OOOOOO

When my brain started to right itself again, I could still feel the grass under my cheek and the smell of damp wood clung to me. My shoulder still burned in agonising pain but I've had worse. When I finally decided to open my eyes, I found myself in unfamiliar territory...

I was in a clearing similar to the one I had fainted in - actually no, I didn't faint, ninjas don't faint, I lost conciousness due to a battle wound! Gawd 'faint' is such a girly word... Is it me or is the word 'faint' now sounding really weird?

Anyway, the clearing I was in wasn't the same as the one I had lost conciousness in due to a battle wound. Everything was similar, but different. I sat up gently, trying not to jog the wound on my shoulder and looked around for my chocobo and bags.

The cheek! Those two weirdos had stolen them! From me! A ninja! They stole something from a ninja!

A now pissed ninja.

My legs felt numb and wobbly, like a baby deer, but I stood up anyway and tried to balance myself. The first few baby steps were stable but when I tried to put too much weight on them, I found myself tumbling to the floor in a mess.

Staring up at the blue sky above me, scattered with fluffy white clouds, I crossed my arms and huffed loudly, blowing the bangs out of my eyes.

"What's wrong?" A silky voice murmured behind me.

The sudden presence made me jump out of my skin and I scrambled to my feet. Embarrassment seemed to be the cure for wobbly legs.

"You!" I screeched, pointing like a child at the figure.

"..."

"...You!"

"...Me?" The man cloaked in scarlet raised an eyebrow at me.

"Oh so you are capable of emotions then."

"..."

"What you're just going to stare at me? Aren't you going to steal the rest of my stuff?" I asked sarcastically.

He avoided my second question. "... Do you want me to treat your shoulder wound?"

"Are you worried about me now? You didn't seem that fussed about my health earlier!"

"Earlier?"

"Yeah, you know, when you shot me!" I cried turning around and showing him the hole he had created in my shoulder.

The man strode forward and studied the hole. Over my shoulder I could see burnt flesh peeling away slowly. I held back a lurch.

"...This is Cerberus' mark."

"Who's Cerberus?"

The man blinked up at me, his eyebrows knotted together in the middle. He shook his head and looked back at the wound. "How could this be here, I haven't seen you in a week."

I snorted. "Uh yes you have, if the gunshot didn't make it obvious enough, I stole your materia remember?"

The man backed off and held his cloak closer. "What materia?"

"This one." I said slowly, producing the red sphere from my pocket. I swear I had it in my hand when I lost conciousness due to a battle wound...

The man frowned again. He seemed to like doing that. "...That's your materia."

"..." What? "Oh yes, I forgot, this must be mine." I said in an especially loud voice. This guy must have some kind of condition. Nyuk nyuk nyuk nyuk...

"..."

I broke the awkward silence with a cough and placed the materia back in my pocket. I stooped down to pick my Oritsuru up but realised I couldn't strap it to my back anymore.

The man watched me, a frown still plastered on his face.

"You got a problem?" I asked. "You've already stolen my chocobo with your little girlfriend, what more do you want?"

After another moment of staring at me, he turned and brought a phone out of his pocket, dialling a number and holding it to his ear.

I couldn't make out his low muttering but he didn't look happy. I guess he was pretty cute in some ways. He had that smouldering look about him, tall, dark and handsome. Maybe if he ditched the shredded cape and scary claw thing he'd be pretty hot... No! He's my enemy! Shut up brain!

Every so often he would glance over at me before returning to dark mutters.

After a couple of minutes I got bored of waiting for this guy to finish. I'm a ninja, ninjas don't wait for people. Well, technically they do. But only if they're stalking their prey, which I wasn't doing, so at this point ninjas wouldn't wait... Anyway, I wasn't gonna wait.

The man still seemed pretty deep in conversation so I decided to leave him. My shoulder hurt too much for me to fight him so I thought I'd do the decent thing and leave him, I didn't want him to be humiliated by being beaten by an injured girl!

As I backed away from him and started to wonder off into the forest, trying to find my bearings, the man shouted after me.

"Yuffie!" The phone was now back in his pocket.

Oh geez what did he want now? Wait... "...How in Leviathan do you know my name?"

"Because I know you Yuffie."

"Okay Mr Creepy, I don't know you so if you'd please leave me alone I'll get on my way." I waved at the weirdo and walked away from the clearing. I think I'll refer to him as Creep from now on...

As soon as my head had turned away Creep appeared inches away from me, staring into my eyes. "You don't remember me at all?"

I know I'm not supposed to be scared of anything, but I jumped a mile when the crazy man loomed over me! "Yes, I remember you shooting me pretty vividly!" I retorted.

"You need to come with me." Creep stated, grasping my forearm and pulling me behind him.

This was not a good move.

"No! Get off me! Do you even know who I am?"

"Yes, that's part of the problem."

I stared at him, why did he keep coming out with things that didn't make sense?

"Whatever, do you really think it's a good idea going around grabbing random girls and telling them they need to 'come with you'? I wonder how many times you've scored with that line." I wriggled my arm free, and stood my ground.

"..." The man's scarlet eyes bore into me before he strode forward...

And yanked me over his shoulder!

"Hey! Hey!" I screamed, smacking him enthusiastically on the back. "Let me go!" My Oritsuru had slipped out of my hand when Creep jumped at me.

Creep was silent as he walked through the forest, unphased by what was happening.

"I said put me down!" I screeched. This was so not cool.

Suddenly my head pulsed as if under extreme pressure and I yelped. A snapshot appeared in my mind of the same scene, but back in Wutai... Some thug was carrying me over his shoulder while Creep ran after him.

What?

Creep had stopped walking when I yelped and pulled me down, studying my face. "What's wrong?"

"I'm fine." I stammered. What did all that mean?

Creep grunted in agreement and pulled me back up.

"W-What? You can't put me back up here?" I protested.

"You wouldn't come with me otherwise, would you?"

"..."

Damn.

"Let me go!" I screamed again, aiming my foot towards a very particular region.

I scored.

Creep stopped in his tracks and tensed, breathing deeply, and then carried on like nothing had happened!

I'm sure he's not human...

The man paused again and brought his hand up.

"Did you just grope my ass?"

Creep's chest rumbled with laughter at the thought. Was it really that funny? "I took the materia out of your pocket so you can't use it."

I grumbled a bit before slowly settling down. This was gonna be a long trip...

A/N: This story has no reviews... sad face