"Promising Entirely"
Disclaimer: I am not making any money from this, only pure enjoyment in torturing our favorite victims. I do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor do I own any of the Final Fantasy series, or anything mentioned about them in this story. I thank you.
A/N: Ah, yes. Here it is. I said New Years, I lied. I said the one-shot would come first. I lied. My muse was PE happy aujourd'hui. Yells at the loud, arguing golf players on television SHUT UP! Woaah..the angry golf player said that when I typed it. Wow. ANYWAY, that is all I have to say.
Note: In case any of you didn't already join or missed my first note about this, there is a really cool community on LiveJournal (. com) about Squffie. Squffielove is its name. Its great, trust me. Please join it!
Shout out:
October Breeze: giggles until tears run down the face Canadian Amish Conspiracy! giggles again That's halarious! Well...if the Canadian Amish were responsible for the huge power outage, I'm sure they would have tried testing it on all of Canada before they tried taking power from the States. We do have Amish, but they don't go as Canadian Amish since Amish is a religon and its everywhere. But you can give that boy in your class a hug from me and tell him its from a real Canadian Amish and that he'd better watch his outlets. (Although I'm not Amish) giggles one last time and clutches stomach Thank you for reviewing! You put a gigantic smile on my face.
The Contessa: Of course I don't hate Americans! No way! I don't want you to think all Canadians hate Americans. Its definately not true. Its just like disliking any other country. It'll happen everywhere I'm afraid. But not little ol' me, oh no! I'm just glad you don't hate Canadians. (puppy eyes aren't I just so adorable?) Heheh...no dance in this one I'm afraid, but soon!
Deplora: checks the date Well, I'm one day off it being Wednesday. But its Christmas break anyway, so it doesn't really matter. Oh yes, there is also a smidgen of fluff in this chapter as well. Hopefully, a smidgen will soon turn into a tad, a tad into a galon and a galon into a whole fluffy chapter. But we shall have to see.
Annjirika: giggles Drunk Yuffie. It is beautiful, eh? I think Drunk Squall is even more beautiful! I might have to look into that. Sneaky eyes
Joy Blue: Thank you for the good wishes . Although I'm not completely happy with yooooouuu, since you've been holding me back on some updates. Hehehe. Don't worry. I love yer anyway.
Aio-Butterfly: You'll have to read to find out! Although this chapter isn't tooo something-full. But I hope you enjoy it anyway, ya? (Giggles Whenever I say ya, it makes me think of Wakka)
Yukari: Thank you! dances I have a new reader! Well, maybe not a new reader, but a new reviewer. Ah. George Bush. I don't have tooo much of an opinion since its not my country, but I can understand your anger. And that boy in your class IS stupid. You should throw stuff at him next time you see him.
BellaStarz: You feeeel it, eh? Good! - That's what I had hoped for. Yep. I'm really worried about it right now. Not just the States, but our entire planet. I sometimes wish that some alien invader would come and teach us a lesson about World Unity or something. Heh. Geeky, I know, but true. Wars are so stupid and pointless now a days.
Kimou: - Great! Drunken Yuffie is funny. But I think Drunken Squall is even better. Sadly though, Drunken Squall didn't fit well into my story. But maybe later...hehe. YES! We must write many fics about Squffie drunkeness.
Yuffie Kisaragi2: Keh-heh! Gravy-n-a-half is BOMBISH. And I have never used the word bombish before, so there you go. Is bombish even a word? I think not. Heh. We shall have to convert your boyfriend into gravy-n-a-half ness.
Mia the Boy Slayer: giggles I know! I'm sorry! Please Forgive ME! Here is your update! runs
And a very big smile and an armful of plushies for my new friends: fairy and Marilda24.
Happy Holidays to EVERYONE!
Squall Leonhart crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall, watching the lump on his bed groan in her sleep. He couldn't help but be amused at her obvious post drunken pain, and he wondered briefly if these sorts of thoughts could be considered sadistic. In the end, he decided that he didn't care all that much, smirking as Yuffie Kisaragi slowly regained consciousness to what would be her very first hang over. He was determined to teach her a lesson out of this, and what better teacher than a little bit of pain?
He couldn't really explain what had put him in such a good and slightly sadistic mood. Perhaps it was all of the real sleep he had gotten, or maybe he finally had a chance to pay Yuffie back for all the trouble she had caused him. In any case, it felt good for his thoughts to be so calm; it had been a long time since he'd been able to relish the fact that the sun was shining. It was a beautiful day...or was it perhaps the fact that the sun was shining directly into Yuffie's eyes?
He was distracted byYuffie's yelp, which was quite loud as she sat up, regretting this immediately as blood rushed to her head and caused that dull pain to intensify. The light shining from the window caused her eyes to water greatly, and she was quick to cower into the many pillows that were littered beneath her. Squall chuckled deeply, crossing the room and sitting down at the edge of the mattress and resisting the urge to poke the lump she caused in the blankets.
"I hurt!" She moaned, keeping his blanket firmly placed over her face. "Squall, why do I hurt?!"
"Your had a minor encounter with drunken foolishness." He replied smartly, reaching over to pull the blanket from her face. Yuffie squinted her eyes shut as the sun flashed brightly in them, and Squall made quick work of taking her hand, pressing two small pills into her palm.
He wanted desperately to reach out and fix her hair away from her eyes, a gesture of affection that felt completely natural to him. Yuffie looked up suddenly, eyes blinking in a confused manner as she watched his hand move closer to her face. He caught this thought before it managed to make its way to his hand, and he stared at Yuffie in shock. What had he just been thinking?
She looked at the pills dully and he sighed. "Take them. They'll help with the headache."
She did as she was told, and it was once her head had cleared that she noticed the odd look on Squall's face. His words so far had been nothing but kind, something quite odd considering Leon was one tough cookie and was never kind. But now he seemed to be avoiding her gaze, eyes sad as he stared grudgingly at his hands. Kind and sad? Not cold and angry?
"Squall?" She said curiously, sitting up a bit more as much as her sore limbs would allow. "What is it?"
Squall shook his head, getting up quickly from the bed and crossing the room. Yuffie watched him in bewilderment, confused to see the usual shut-off look on his face instead of the thoughtful sadness she had seen only moments before. He turned his head to the side a little to see her watching him, and his intense eyes met hers for a split second before he pushed open the door.
"I'd wash in the spring." He muttered indifferently. "It will make you feel better than a regular shower."
Yuffie remained still for a few moments after she had left, bewildered with the confusion she had woken up to. She wanted nothing more than to lie in bed and wallow in her pain. But the sun was getting too annoying shining in her face.Yuffie got up, unaware of the termoil going throughLeon at the time.
On the other side of the door, Leon sagged against it, sinking his hands deep into his hair and pulling it for good measure. He listened as Yuffie shuffled around his room, and he knew he didn't have much time before she emerged. He couldn't face her again, not when his thoughts were in such franticness.
It had been his complete plan to wake up completely normal. To see Yuffie's escapade as another nuisance and use it as an excuse to furthur rid himself of her. It had not been his intention to wake up with Yuffie curled perfectly into his chest, causing him to soften and relish the ticklish warmth that spread through him. It had not been his intention to be happy that morning, to completely forget every wall he had built since his arrival in Hollow Bastion. But oh-so-perfectly was Yuffie curled that morning, and oh-how-brightly the sun did shine. Someone, somewhere was not too happy with him.
His fist clenched, his eyes closing as an imaginary hand reached out to touch his hair. The hand was long and elegant, with perfect fingernails. Then the hand changed; became small and soft, with choppy fingernails which had been bitten.
Squally? Your hair is real soft.
He growled. The fact that he wasn't a solitary person by nature had always made his self-appointed isolation that much harder to bear. Yuffie said she was trying to help him but....it didn't seem that attempting to take down his walls was making him feel much better. In fact, he felt worse. He didn't need this right now. Why was it Yuffie that made him unconventionally wish that he could break his own rules? She was just Yuffie.
No. Yuffie had always been special. His little ninja; the only person he had ever thought of dying for in times of peace. His little ninja who idolized him and told him she would grow up to be just like him. His little ninja who loved him unconditionally. And even now, when he was so changed, a small part of him still connected with his little ninja. Only she wasn't little anymore. She was grown, intelligent and manipulative. But that unconditional love had never left her and that was what was causing him so many troubles.
That promise....he'd never even begun to take it seriously. It had been funny and cute that Yuffie had made such a devotional sacrifice and he hadn't thought much of it. Believing she would forget was a rather large mistake on his part. Yuffie never forgot. Especially her promises. Messy, ridiculous and annoying. But dependable. It was her personal mantra. She took everything just one notch too seriously, despite her joyous nature. She wouldn't let him be alone. Even if that was exactly what he wanted.
He chukled weakly into his hands as he pushed off the wall beside his bedroom door. He knew that Yuffie still remembered her promise. He also knew that she thought he had forgotten about it. In any other situation, it would have been funny to watch Yuffie try to be sneaky in her attempt to work her way into his life. But he wasn't a solitary person, and that small part of him that reached out to her love also wanted to reach out to her. It wasn't becoming harder and harder to deny himself her goodwill. His silly little ninja...
His steps quickened as he hurried down the hall; needing fresh air as though he couldn't breathe at all. A slow feeling of dread was trickling down his spine and his heart began to beat a little faster. Fresh air. That was all he needed. He needed to think. To clear his head.
To clear his head of her...
Yuffie sighed blissfully as the cool water touched her yucky skin. Squall had been right; the fresh water of the spring felt amazing on her sore body, if not a little cold. The medication she had taken had cured her from the throbbing in her head; but she was still very groggy and the spring water combined with the cold air was enough to snap her body into wakefulness.
She sighed, tipping her head back and soaked her scalp. She felt oddly uncomfortable with herself. Her head was foggy and yet full of light; something she could only identify with when someone had spiked her coffee at Aerith's birthday bash a few years ago. Her head had cleared enough to realize that it wasn't very likely that Squall had slept with her while she was drunk....
But that still didn't explain why she had woken up in his bed with sore armpits and a headache strong enough to kill two Leon's and a Cid. She remembered Tynan and her friends...she remembered taking a drink offered to her by a handsome stranger when her company had gone off to dance...
"Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!" She muttered incessantly, realizing her mistake almost immediately and wondering how she could have been so stupid. She supposed she had no mistakes to learn from, as the spiked coffee had most definitely belonged to Sora and it hadn't made much sense at the time not to trust him. But taking a mysterious drink from someone she didn't know? That was breaking the first and most important of Aerith's Party Rules!
She sighed, dunking her head and squeezing her eyes shut in embarassement. Squall probably thought horribly of her now. She must have completely thrown her self at him if he had let her sleep in his bed. He wouldn't have willingly taken care of her otherwise.
And yet, Squall had not seemed to be scornful when she had woken up. If anything else, he seemed amused by her behavior. Which was more than a little odd considering it usually took much less for him to act scornful towards her. Had she said or done something that would make him act so oddly? What if she had said something so horrible that she had thrown his mental stability completely off balance?
'Feh.' She thought, as she climbed up the side of the bank and picked up her towel. 'As if Leon has any mental stability.'
She just had to talk to him. That was it. This embarssing event seemed sort of a climax in the sort-of fight they'd been having, a surefire sign that something had to be done about their relationship. She would have to work twice as hard to make him see clearly, to love life and maybe start to love her....or she would have to break herself off completely. The second of the options caused her heart to twinge painfully. But she wanted him to be happy, right? That was her goal, wasn't it? And if leaving him alone made him happy...she would sacrifice her own heart in order to satisfy his.
'Stupid Cloud and his stupid fake wisdom.' She thought, as she shivered from the cold air and quickly pulled on her shirt. 'Time to put it to the test, I guess.'
"Yeah!" She yelled into the air, in the general direction of the castle. "Easier to say when you've had love handed to you like kentucky fried chicken on a platter, Cloud!"
Satisfied with the knowledge that her best friend had probably heard her message in essence if not in voice, she swung her scarf around her shoulder and took off towards the path that would lead her to the castle. The sun was just beginning to rise into the sky, and she took a deep breath as she enjoyed the day around her. The light breeze, the frost beginning to melt into dew on the grass, the birds. She was just pondering her delight on the climatic changes of the once frozen Hollow Bastion when brown hair and leather disrupted her vision of nature.
Squall Leonhart sat not ten meters away from her, Gunblade thrown carelessly on to the ground and arms supporting his back as he stared out at the sea. She stared at him in shock, her expression softening and her heart melting as she came to a startling realization. How long had Squall been coming out here, too embarassed and defensive to admit he didn't train each day? No wonder he had been so rusty when they had sparred. She paused to admire the view, of him and the ocean, then both of them put together before she turned on the path and made her way towards him.
"Squall?" She said softly, so not to startle him.
He whirled around, eyes wide as they settled on her. He'd clearly forgotten that the spring rested only a short distance from 'his spot'. It was a bit stupid and unusually witless for him to assume that no one would ever run into him here. His spot was right beside the path, after all.
"Y-Yuffie." He growled, startled, despite her best efforts. "What are you doing here?"
"I was at the spring, like you said." She moved foward, sitting on the grass, not too close. "I took the path back to the castle instead of hopping on the platforms. My knees hurt."
"You shouldn't be here." He muttered in response, turning away. "Its cold."
"I'll live." She said, pulling her scarf tighter in emphasis. "Squall. "
"Leon." He snapped, his shoulders tense.
"Leon." She sighed. "Is this where you've been going every day? Instead of training, like you tell us? You've been sitting here and contemplating the meaning of life?"
He didn't say anything, just continued to stare out at the ocean with an unreadable expression on his face. He clearly didn't want to be found out. But was he upset that she, specifically, was here? Had his odd mood from this morning completely vanished?
"It is, isn't it?" She smiled. "No wonder you're in a bad mood all the time, with all this thinking!"
He immediately moved to leave, reaching out to grab his weapon. Yuffie grabbed hold of his arm, stroking the leather encouragingly. He tilted his head to look at her, and that odd look from this morning was in his eyes once again. She smiled gently.
"I'm sorry." She said. "Please stay."
He pulled away slowly. "Whatever."
"Look. I didn't come here to bother you." He snorted, and she smiled a little. "I just came to talk."
"Talk." He said dully. "Is all you ever do, Yuffie."
"I know. But this time its serious."
He was silent again, and she took this as a sign that he was giving her the okay. She remained silent as well for a moment, staring out at the water and gathering her thoughts. Her stomach churned in nervousness. She wasn't comfortable being serious!
"I know I've been bothering you a lot lately. And I'm sorry." She began hesitantly. "It only puts you in a worse mood when I'm annoying. But I'm so used to you just ignoring me, y'know? It only recently started to peeve you so much when I was around."
She sounded a little sad as she said this, and he felt a twinge of guilt. However, Yuffie went on in a much stronger voice, her additude becoming more and more upbeat as she spoke.
"D-Do you think you'll ever manage to forgive me?" She said in mock meekness, looking at him with big eyes that didn't fool him for a second.
"Yeah, okay." He muttered, brushing her off.
She grinned and settled back into the grass, ignoring the obvious signs that he wanted her to go away. They watched the sea together for a long while in silence. Squall fighting between acceptance and annoyance that she had joined him. Yuffie gathering the courage to ask him about her latest escapade. In the end, when the sky had risen high enough in the sky for Yuffie's stomach to realize it wanted breakfast, they both came to a conclusion. Squall deciding he was complaisant with her presence, Yuffie knowing that this wasn't the time to raise the subject.
She tilted her head to watch him instead, watching him glare intensely out at the sea, as if it had done him wrong. He was always glaring, always angry. He could hunt with that glare; any animal would surely drop dead from the lethalness of such a look. She would have giggled at the thought; but his broken emotional well-being had been bothering her for so long that the topic didn't seem all that funny.
"You're so angry." She whispered, unconciously reaching her hand out to touch his face.
He jerked away from her hand. "What?"
"You." She sat up. "You're angry. You're always glaring, even when you're not in a particularly bad mood. I mean, your eyes are stuck like that! Is it because you glare so much that you can't stop? Or are you really that mad all the time?"
"Yuffie." He sighed in annoyance, closing his eyes and rubbing his forehead. "What do you want?"
She was silent again, and that feeling of dread he'd just gotten rid of came back full force. It was such an open ended question, one that someone like Yuffie would ponder with relish. He contemplated jumping up to leave, but knew that running away was no longer the answer. He truly was curious. What did she want? Why wouldn't she just leave him alone? Yuffie opened her mouth to answer.
I want to talk to you
I want you to ditch the Gunblade
I want you to find Rinoa
I want to see you smile
I want to see you laugh.
I...I want the real you back.
"I want you to be happy." She said aloud, searching his face for any sort of reaction. He didn't react for several moments, and she was about to repeat herself when he did. A small nod of acceptance. That was it. No anger, no rolling of the eyes, no look. Just a small nod.
She smiled. A small nod was all she needed. She stretched her arms over her head luxuriously, free of pain and embarrassment from the night before. She didn't need to know what happened. She was completely comfortable with herself once again. Talking always did the trick. Why, it was why she loved to do it so much, after all. She glanced at him one more time before she stood, stepping over his Gunblade and making her way back to the path. A sudden, random thought occured and she paused, looking back at the object of her stubborn affections.
"Squall?"
He turned his head to look at her, still glaring, but without a reprimand. Or a demand to call him Leon. She smiled. Maybe, just maybe, he cared about her a little after all.
"I don't hate you." She said simply, turning back and making her way to the path again.
If she had looked a second longer, she would have witnessed the first softening of his eye muscles that had occured in years. (1) It was a look of wonderment, of confusion and of intuition. It changed his face completely. But Yuffie missed it, skipping up the path and whistling in high spirits. When she did turn around, a few moments too late, he had already turned his back. When she did turn around, he was already glaring at the sea. She shook her head, chuckling slightly, and whistled a little bit louder just for him as she continued her way back to the castle.
Squall Leonhart shook his head, lying down into the grass and glaring at the sky instead.
I want you to be happy.
He sighed, shaking off that feeling of dread. It wasn't replaced with the usual dull feeling, nor was it replaced with the bubbling amusement he had felt earlier that morning. He was filled with uncertainty and doubt, a feeling he had long forgotten since becoming a soldier. He didn't like it at all. If falling for Yuffie Kisaragi was what he was doing, he wasn't sure he liked it, if these were the feelings it produced. He shook those thoughts from his head as well. Falling for Yuffie? Yeah, right. The thought of it was almost funny. He wouldn't marry her, even if he was alone. You needed to love someone to marry them, and he most certainly didn't love Yuffie. If her tactic for chipping away at his emotional barriers was warming his heart, then it wasn't going to work!
'I want you to be happy.' He thought, snorting.
It wasn't like he expected anything else.
This was his sillylittle ninja, after all.
Woo-yeah! Does a little victory dance Another chapter has been done. Woooh!
Sorry for the cheesy finishing line there, but I couldn't help it. I'm never satisfied with my chapter unless the ending line is cheesy or a cliffhanger. So you shall have to bear with me.
(1) giggles 'softening of his eye muscles' How unartistic, unpoetic, unromantic is that phrase? I giggled as soon as I typed it and decided I had to keep it, just for the fun of it.
That is all, my friends. Please Review!