R E T U R N I N G H O M E

Squall Leonheart

my knight

&

Yuffie Kisaragi

my princess

Note: This whole chapter is set in the past/flashback

"Squawwl!"

A ten year old Squall Leonheart quirked an eyebrow hearing his name being called. He turned his head slightly causing his long brown bangs to cover the scar upon his brow. Crossing his arms across his chest his eyes darted around to find the owner of the voice who had called him. He already knew who it was the question was where was she?

"Squawwwl! The second time he heard Yuffie call out to him he got a fix on her location. It was hard to catch on to her because she was so small… of course she was only five years old. Letting out a sigh he began to formulate an excuse of escape in his mind. Or actually…he could just walk away. It wouldn't be the first time he had done so. He was about to do so but didn't when he saw her face. Her eyes were puffy and red as well as her cheeks. It wasn't any secret that she had been crying.

He looked down at her questioningly uncrossing his arms. What was he suppose to do now? He was never good with kids…let a long crying kids…let along Yuffie. Although thankfully for him the young girl didn't' even give the older boy a chance to reply when she threw her arms around his waist and buried her face into stomach.

Leon's grey eyes instantly widened as he looked down at the young girl clinging onto his waist. His arms were outstretched as if he was scared to touch her and his mouth was slightly agape. It took him a moment to realize that she was shaking and that she continued to cry once more. He sighed letting a hand drop awkwardly on his shoulder followed by the other one embracing her into a Squall-esque hug.

His thought before he spoke trying to what Aeris said when Yuffie would come to crying to her. Yuffie was like the baby of their entire circle of friends. She was the youngest and was usually over protected by the flower girl. In return Yuffie would choose a new victim each day and cling to them like a leech until her bed-time. Oddly enough she had been following Cloud for the past few days now. Luckily for Leon she had only picked him once or twice to follow, claiming that he was too 'boring'.

"Yuffie…are you-"

Suddenly her head whipped up to look at Leon. Her lip was trembling and there were tears brimming at her eyes. "I was running and then the –hic- at the Baily and then Cloudy he said and –hic- and he said never to -hic- talk to him agaaaain!" After her outburst she buried her face once more letting out muffled cries.

A small gasp escaped his lips as he felt the little girls arms wrap tighter around his waist. His grey eyes looked around as if he was looking for some sort of escape but really he just didn't know what to do. He let out an annoyed grunt as he shifted his weight.

'Damn Cloud…'He began to grind his teeth out of frustration. He was always just thinking of himself and never thinking of anyone else's feelings. It didn't matter what Cloud would say to him but Yuffie was only a kid. Did he realize that? Letting out another sigh he looked down at the crying ninja. Stroking her hair gently he held her close with his other arm.

He wondered where Aeris was…she was really much better at these things than he was. His eyes grey eyes widened once more as he felt her small hands grip and tug on to his shirt while he felt the front getting soaked with tears. For several moments he just stood there watching her as she cried and waiting patiently until she calmed down.

"Nuowonwantstoplaywithame!"

Squall furrowed his brow as he tilted his head. "What did you say?" he asked her.

Suddenly as if possessed by some supernatural force she jumped back and flung her hands up into the air screaming at the top of her lungs. "NUWONWANTSTOPLAYWITHAME!!!!!"

Her sudden outburst caused Squall to slightly wince. He stood there for a moment trying to decipher what she had just said. Of course he had no luck. Nonetheless he knelt down on one knee and held out a hand beckoning Yuffie to come back over to him. She slowly obliged as she shuffled over hanging her head down, sniffling, and rubbing at her eyes. Yuffie placed her small hand in his and let him pull her in.

When he finally saw that she was calm enough to give a decent answer he finally opened his mouth. "So…tell me again what's bothering you?" he asked still holding her hand.

"No one will play with me…" she said softly looking down at the floor. It was true. It seemed that every time she tried to hang out with the 'older' kids they would have better things to do. Aeris never seemed to be bothered by Yuffie's presence but she always wanted to do…girly things such as dress up.

The gunblader looked at the ninja for lingering moment before he considered what he was about to get into. He could be a complete jerk and brush if off telling her to go find Aeris. That would be the easy thing to do. That would be what he wanted to do. Then why couldn't he do it? Raising a hand up to his head he closed his eyes and braced himself for what he was about to say.

"I'll… … … play with you…" he said letting his hand drop to his side.

As if on cue her crying suddenly stopped and she looked with large eyes. He stared back at her giving out no indication that he was joking. Suddenly her lips curved upward until her mouth turned into a fully fledged Yuffie-sized grin.

"R…really??!"

Her only response was a slight nod from Squall.

The young girl jumped up and down for joy while still latching on to Squall's arm. He watched her as she danced around him happily. Each time she danced behind him he would have to turn around due to the fact he was still holding her hand.

"Squallie! Sqaullie!" She began to tug lightly on his arm to get his attention.

Ignoring the new nickname she had given him he shot her a questioning look. She appeared to be waiting for him to say something.

"Um…yeah?" he asked somewhat uncomfortable by her penetrating stare.

"Whatcha wanna play?" she asked swinging his arm back and forth much to his dismay. Was this what Cloud went through each time Yuffie followed him around?

"Whatever…"

"…"

"I don't know how to play that…"

"No. I mean whatever you want to play," he responded resisting the urge to turn away and roll his eyes.

A fist full of giggles came from the young ninja as she thought of what she wanted to play. It took several moments but as soon as Squall saw her eyes light up he knew that she had already decided what she wanted to do. If that wasn't a dead giveaway she looked up at him with the same look before – as if she waited for him to say something.

"Yes?" he asked raising another eyebrow.

"I wanna play Princess!" she squealed jumping up and down hugging Leon's arm.

'Oh.God.No.'

Anything but that. He was notgoing to play 'Princess' and dress up. If that was the case then Aeris was definely right for this one job. The idea of dressing up in a tiara and anything remotely resembling a dress made him shudder uncontrollably. Not to mention he would never hear the end of it.

"Uh…Yuffie…I don't think—don't you want to play a different game?" he asked almost pleadingly.

When she heard this she instantly tugged her hand back and crossed her arms over her chest. "NO! I wanna play Princess! You said that we were gonna play whatever I wanted to play! Now I get to play the ninja Princess and you're my Knight! You said! You said so!!" she yelled crossing her arms in front of her.

A great weight lifted off his chest as she elaborated on the game she wanted to play. After a sigh of relief he crossed his arms and tilted his head as he looked her. "Alright fine."

Jumping up and down once more she wore another one of her Yuffie sized smiles. Finding his hand she pulled it on it until his arms uncrossed and she was hugging tightly onto his forearm.

"Let's go get your gunblade!"

"W..what?" she asked looking down at his side where she stood.

"Besides a Princess ever Knight needs their Princess!"

"…"

"Pleaaaaaase?" She began to look up at him with puppy dog eyes. She had the same look that she had when she was about to cry.

'Dammit…'

"Fine…let's go…" he said leading her away.

"Wait wait!!"

Leon stopped when he felt her tug on his arm once more. Honestly by the end of the day he wouldn't be surprised if his arm would be covered in bruises or a bright shade of red. "What is it?" he asked her.

"Every Princess needs a pony!!" she said eyeing him excitedly.

He knew that look. The look that she was up to something. He had seen it before when he had caught her running out of his room the day all his Greiver necklace was missing. It was a look that he had hoped to never see again.

"…Yuffie…" he began calmly in a tone as if he was trying to explain something. "…and exactly where are we supposed to find…a pony…" He blinked as the word 'pony' escaped his mouth. He never thought he would be saying such things.

"Easy! You get to pretend to be the pony! But only when you're not busy playing the knight kay?" she asked playfully swinging his arm once more.

He couldn't believe it. Now not only did he have to play with Yuffie. No. He also had to play a Knight…which he had to admit wasn't as bad as a Princess…but now he had to play a pony too? An annoyed grunt left his lips as he gave into her puppy dog stares. He was going to kill Cloud for whatever he did that caused this whole fiasco.

"Fine.." he said preparing to be on his way…although another pull at his arm stopped him once again. Looking back saw her standing her ground without any intention to move. "…what?"

She said nothing…just stood there with her arms outstretched and bouncing on her tippy toes. It took him a moment to come to terms with what she wanted: a hug. Clearing his throat awkwardly he slowly bent down until he was at her eye level. She was smiling…as usual with her arms still outstretched. But then something unexpected happened. It was something that the young ninja wouldn't be able to judge as 'out of character' for the older boy. A corner of his lips curved up ever so slightly into a small smile before her wrapped his arms around her.

After a short heartfelt embrace he scooped her up into his arms and began to carry her towards their destination.

"You're a good pony…" She giggled and smiled as she hugged on to his chest tightly.

"…Can you play the dragon too?"

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts

Thank you for all who reviewed last chapter! Yeah...so this is suppose to be a Leon X Yuffie X Cloud and i thought that I would put a little Squiffie in there due to Vampyric Ninja request. It's in the past...but I'll have more Squiffie in the future! Thank you again for all of you who reviewed! I hope you liked this chapter! If you have any requests for future chapters please let me know! Oh and I'm on the fence about making this a Squiffie or a Clouffie so please let me know what you think!