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

Cloud Strife

salty

&

Yuffie Kisaragi

sweet

'Click Click Click'

It was an incessant sound that just didn't seem to have any intentions of stopping.

'Click Click Click'

There it went again. Or more likely there she went again. The source of the continuous clicking sound was a simple black inked pen. Although the pen wasn't to blame…the real culprit was her. Yuffie. Who just didn't seem to have any idea how annoying that sound could be.

'Click Click Click!"

"Yuffie! Will you please cut that out!?" a very annoyed Leonheart chided. Although he wasn't looking at the Ninja he was very aware of the non-stop noise she produced. Instead he had a gloved hand raised up to his forehead as if his deep thoughts were interrupted. In front of him was a laptop computer he was working on that connected to the Hallow Bastion's security system.

"Awww sorry Squaleon! I just… got nothing else to do!" she replied with a Cheshire cat grin of innocent. But Leon knew better than to trust her innocent looks and words. And while smiling like a little child at the older male Yuffie continued to click on.

"Yuffie. It's Squall or Leon. Pick one. But do not call me Squaleon," he said in his commander like voice.

"Really? You mean I can call you Squall?!" So Squall had finally given in and had ditched the name Leon much to Yuffie's pleasure. "So Squall," she said letting the name roll off her tongue. "Wha-"

"Leon," he immediately cut in still looking at the computer in front of him.

"But you said-?"

"I lied," was his simple answer as the continued to type on the keyboard.

Yuffie narrowed her eyes at him although he wasn't looking. She knew a way that she could get back at him.

'Click Click Click'

"Yuffie!" Leon scolded this time giving the younger girl a glare.

She had seen Leon mad at her before and this would just be another one of those times however for some reason she got up. Nodding and giving him another smile she twirled around and faced the door. "Aww you're slipping Squall. You're no fun anymore!" she said sarcastically as she skipped towards the door before he had any chance to correct her on his 'name'.

"Would you like some Ice-Cream?"

Cloud furrowed his brow slightly trying to pinpoint who was talking to him. He did a 360 degree turn and couldn't find the owner of the voice.

"I said, 'Would you like some Ice-Cream?'" the voice said once more.

Dropping his head he finally found the one who was addressing him. "Oh…" was all he said as he looked down to see a duck less than half his size holding up an ice-cream bar to him.

He looked like a little kid who had never seen an ice-cream bar in his life and wondered what in the world he was suppose to do with it. His blue eyes looked at it questioningly before taking it in his gloved hand. It wasn't that he hadn't had ice-cream before…it was that it was the color. And the color was green. He had heard about this small ice-cream parlor whose owner seemed to be experimenting with different flavors and forced his concoctions onto innocent bystanders. Unfortunately Cloud seemed to be one of them.

"Uh…Thanks…" he said walking away before the duck had any chance of giving him another one.

He continued to walk through Radiant Garden, very aware of all the towns people around him. Some were whispering while others just plain stared. He hated being down in the Town…there were just too many people. And those 'too many people' seemed to always want to talk to him asking him about his adventures and where the hell he had been the past few years. Finally making into an alleyway he began to relax slightly.

When he saw that there were no people he began on his ice-cream which seemed to reflect the same color of his eyes. Giving it a taste test first he tried out the flavor. Salty & Sweet. It wasn't half as bad as he thought it was going to be. Letting himself relax a little more he leaned against the wall with his ice-cream at hand. He let his eyes fall to the floor looking at the details of the concrete and stone. It wasn't very exciting but Cloud was never a social butterfly. He was more awkward if anything in any social situations.

There was especially one person he didn't want to see. Or more specifically one girl. Yuffie. After he had carried her to Merlin's it seemed that she was everywhere. As if she was lurking around each corner ready to go 'rawr!' and tackle him once more. Not that he would mind…

Cloud blinked at his random thought and shook his head confused. Yuffie didn't even remember him, although he couldn't blame her. She was very young since the last time he saw her. How old was she? Around the age of five?

'Click Click Click'

'What the hell?' He quirked an eye-brow and looked up only to have black raven tresses obscure his vision. Almost dropping his ice-cream he tried to back up but realized he was up against a wall. So backing away as far as he could he looked down to see a familiar ninja face uncomfortably close to his.

"Hiya Cloud! Whatcha doing?" she asked tilting her head and looking up at him with her almond shaped eyes.

Her intent gaze caused him to shift his weight uneasily, but she didn't seem to notice. After all Yuffie was never a very observant one. He looked back and forth and up and down. Anywhere but her. Her stare made him feel uneasy. He didn't really know what he was really supposed to do to fix the situation. He didn't like being this close to people and Yuffie didn't' seem to understand that.

'Click Click Click'

Glancing down at her hand he saw a small inked pen clutched in her grasp. Her close proximity and the 'click' noise didn't exactly make him feel more comfortable.

"Um…I'm…" he began thinking of what to say. After all he wasn't doing anything very exciting at the moment.

"Oooo!!! Ice-cream!!!" she squealed completely dismissing, or possibly forgetting, whatever he was going to say. Without question or permission she snatched the flavored ice-bar out of the blonde's hands, claiming it as her own. "Sea-Salt?! That's my favorite!!!" Smiling happily

"That's my ice-cream…" he said in his regular deep masculine tone, although he surprised himself at his own words. Since when did Cloud Strife complain about ice-cream? And even if Cloud Strife had ice-cream, in what world would he let someone steal it…let alone a girl?

Yuffie looked up at him with a shrug of her shoulders. "C'mon Cloud! Didn't anyone ever teach you how to share!?" she asked continuing to devour the more than half gone ice-cream bar.

'Click Click Click'

He groaned as he closed his eyes leaning back against the wall. It wasn't like he was going to fight about a stupid ice-cream bar. Let alone with Yuffie. So he had lost his ice-cream. It wasn't a big deal right?

'Click Click Click'

'Click Click Click'

Suddenly as if he had gone mad he grabbed the ninja's wrist just enough to gain control but not enough to hurt her. He snatched the stupid inked pen just as she had snatched his ice-cream and chucked it as far as possible. After the pen was long gone and out of sight he retreated to leaning back on the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He was glancing down as if nothing had just happened.

Although Yuffie's reaction was a little bit different. Her mouth was still open from shock and she was still staring in the direction that her beloved pen flew. When the shock had worn off she whipped her head at neck breaking speed and glared at Cloud.

"What was that for!" she said placing her hands on her hips and tossing the popsicle stick over her shoulder.

"It was annoying," he replied simply with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Then why didn't you just tell me to stop!?!?" she asked flailing her arms over her head.

He paused for a moment looking at her exuberant display. They looked like polar opposites. Yuffie was always on the move and Cloud just simply wasn't moving.

He shrugged at her adding much to her frustration. "Are you just gonna stand there with your arms crossed and not say anything?" she asked dumbfounded.

He nodded and hummed a small 'hn' before he continued looking down at the ground. He seemed to be doing this to her a lot lately. What was his problem anyway? He always seemed to leave Yuffie with an animated shocked expression.

"So you're just gonna sulk on this wall with your arm crossed with your occasional 'hn' and shrug of the shoulders and not talk at all?!" she asked as if she was expecting him to go find and rescue her black inked pen.

"...No?" he said looking at her as if it was obvious. He would sulk around with his arms crossed and the occasional 'hn' and shrug of the shoulders…but he also – apparently would say the word 'no' to her.

Yuffie growled at his smart comment. Her growl grew even louder when she saw he was walking away. "You're worst than Squall! At least he warned me about the clicking!" she yelled expecting a reaction from him…but got none.

The boisterous ninja wasn't one to be ignored. She wasn't used to it. She was used to commanding attention good or bad wherever she was usually because she was too loud to be missed. "Fine be that way! I'm not going to your party then!!!" she said turning around ready to stomp away.

'Party?'

Did she mean party? Like with music, food, and people wearing those ridiculous looking hats on their heads? Since when did Cloud plan parties? And when did he ever wear any kind of party hat? Never. Not that he could recall. He wasn't the type to plan one of those things…especially when he tried so hard to avoid so many people. Plus the party hats would mess up his hair…

"You must be talking about someone else…I'm not planning any kind of…party…" he said as if the word 'party' foreign to him.

She blinked at him with a look that said that she obviously didn't believe him. "Surrrrre. Well if you're not having a party then you better tell Aeris because she's decorating the whole place with streamers and glitter," she said twirling around Cloud in a semi-circle. Occasionally she would stop her little dance to glance at his expression.

This caused Cloud to break his eye contact with the ground and focus in at the twirling Yuffie. "Yuffie," he called out to the dancing girl.

"Hn?" she said mocking him as she continued to wind around with her arms outstretched.

"Yuffie! Will you-" He waited until she was in front of him to reach out for her.

His hands reached for her shoulders planting her in front of him so that he could finally look at her. The sudden cease of movement caused her to stumble slightly but he had caught her before she had the chance to fall. He didn't want a repeat of him carrying her to Merlin's. For the second time he was into close proximity to her…although this time he didn't mind as much. There was information that he wanted to hear after all.

Yuffie on the other hand didn't mind…much, although her body went ridged from the sudden contact and being pulled in so close. Usually with someone's face being so close someone might be intimidated although…she wasn't. It didn't seem that Cloud would do any harm to her after all he did save her a while back. Even if he didn't rescue her she felt oddly…safe around him even though she knew he could slice her into two in a second if he wanted to.

"Yeah?" she asked raising her eyebrows wondering what was going on.

"Are you sure?" he asked seriously.

"Abooout…?"

"The party?"

"Your party?"

"Un – No. Aeris and the streamers?" he asked getting obviously frustrated with this questionnaire dance they were doing.

"Yeah she had streamers. Oh and glitter."

"No – I mean is she really planning a party?"

"Oh! Um yeah! She's real excited about it. Decorating the whole place and everything! She has a little sign that says 'Welcome back!' And when I asked she just nodded and in her ungodly perfect way smiled saying 'Yeah it's Cloud's party!'...and there's going to be food and…"

She looked at Cloud just about as she was going to go through with her rant…but she stopped when she saw the look on his face. It looked as if he was angry? Scared? Surprised?

'Oh no'

"Ooooewwww…." She slowly said as realization hit her. There was a party. Aeris was decorating. And Cloud had no idea about this-what-so-ever. His hands dropped from her shoulders and returned to crossing over his chest. "So…this must mean you didn't know huh?" she asked giving a childlike smile.

Leaning against the wall once more he gave Yuffie a small shake of the head. He was apparently deep in his thoughts. Thoughts of not wanting to go to this party.

"So this must mean…Aeris…was planning a surprise party huh?"

Again he didn't speak but just nodded at her question. It seemed that all she was doing was thinking out loud and asking questions to which she already knew the answers to. Cloud was just there for her visible confirmation.

"Oh GAWD! Aeris is gonna kill me! Why does everyone keep me out of the loop? How was I suppose to know when she said it was your party that she meant a surprise party? Oh this is totally not my fault! If it's anyone's fault it's yours!" she said shoving a finger into his chest.

"My fault?!" he unwinding his arms and let them drop to his side surprised that she was actually blaming him. Back then he knew that Yuffie always seemed to find a way out of trouble and find a way to justify any situation so she would end up 'right'. Also the word 'no' wasn't in her vocabulary. Back then Yuffie was a princess you couldn't help but adore…and it seemed that some things never changed.

"Yes you're fault!" she repeated placing her hands on her hips and looking up at him rebelliously.

He looked at her in disbelief. Letting out an annoyed groan he closed his eyes shut tightly for a moment. Opening them once more he found that Yuffie was still looking closely at his face…and wasn't saying anything.

"…What?"

"So you're not gonna tell Aeris I told you right?" she asked folding her hands in front of her as if she was begging.

"I---"

"Cloudy! Pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaase!" she yelled and flung her arms around his waist begging him to keep his mouth shut. Her face buried into his chest as she hugged on to him tightly without any intention to let go until he agreed to her terms.

He tried to shy away from her as he felt her arms coil around her. His arms extended out from his sides as if he was afraid to touch her. "Yuf-"

"ClOUDY!!!!" she cried once more. "Aeris is gonna kill me! She's gonna-"

"YUFFIE!" He finally brought his arms around her trying to pry her off him gently although it wasn't working. The ninja had a vice grip on him. Letting out a sigh he let his arms lay around her. "I'm not going to tell her," he finally said.

Her face looked up although her arms were still around his waist. He looked at her hopefully wondering if his answer would finally get her off him. "Really?"

He answered with a curt nod waiting for her to let go… … … anytime now… … …

Although she never did. "THANK YOU!!!" Instead Yuffie's feminine voice filled his ears causing him to wince slightly.

'Hnnuh!' He exhaled sharply as he felt an unexpected tight squeeze around his waist caused by Yuffie's arms. For a small girl she really had strong arms. "Yuf-fie. You're – welcome," he struggled to get out.

After another tight squeeze she released Cloud and took a step back. She was smiling…again. "I'm gonna go help Aeris kay? She said it was going to be tonight so I'm sure she's going to need some help. Make sure you act surprised alright?" she asked waving a goodbye and not waiting for a response. "See you there Cloudy!" With that she sped off towards Merlin's house where the surprise party would be held.

Watching her retreating form he closed his eyes and made an annoyed sound. He did-not-want-to-go to this surprise party. He already knew that it was going to be a complete disaster. Although...Yuffie would be there. Wait...what was he thinking? He couldn't stand her...couldn't he? It couldn't be that bad. He wasn't looking forward to anyone's specific company...although Yuffie was oddly someone that he could tolerate. He shook his head trying to rid him off these thoughts. Maybe the party wouldn't be that bad...or so he hoped. It would be bitter sweet. Like Sweet & Salty.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts

So Yeah...this chapter was kind of pointless. I apologize for that -- but I didn't want Yuffie and Cloud to fall in love -oh- so quickly. So I just thought I would put in another chapter where they were just simply 'friends'. The next chapter should be better! Or I hope! It's party time for Yuffie and Cloud yay!