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

Cloud Strife

Past

&

Yuffie Kisaragi

Present

This was absolutely ridiculous.

Cloud shifted his weight uncomfortably as if he wasn't sure what to do with himself. His once proud demeanor was now replaced with a perplexed aura. It didn't take anyone a second glance to realize that the silent warrior was out of his element. Without his broad sword strapped to his back he seemed to be on edge and vulnerable. However he still sulked in one of the many corners that he managed to find, with his arms crossed, and his eyes looking downward. Not many people seemed to notice. It almost made him believe that his arrival was a poor excuse to throw a party. He absolutely REFUSED to look anyone in the eye. What would make Cloud Strife act like this?

None other than his surprise party of course!

He cursed under his breath and wondered why all these people would gather to celebrate his seemingly long awaited arrival. Everyone had given him enough exasperated looks, gasps, and variety of welcome backs to last him a life time. He wondered what they had thought when they planned to throw him the party. Cloud plus party were two things that didn't seem to mix. When people came up to him he had his arms laid at his sides since he had no idea where else he was suppose to put them. He began to fumble a few words of gratitude to all the people who were trying to greet him. He seemed like a lost boy searching for something. Then finally…

"Hey Cloud."

Mako eyes didn't even need to shift their gaze for Cloud to realize who it was. That voice was unmistakable. It was dripping with silken innocence. Too much for the possessors own good. Her naivety and weakness for helping others could get her in trouble one day. It was a good thing for her that she was surrounded with people that loved her too much to let anything short of a paper cut happen to her.

"Hey." His reply was his solemn and he hesitated for a moment. She waited patiently with her hands folded behind her back blinking her emerald colored eyes. "Aeris…" he finished letting her name fall of his lips.

This seemed to please her even though his eyes continued to stare at the floor, the walls, and anything else but her. She saw that he was nervous and a giggle danced around her belly. Tilting her head slightly she looked up at him. There wasn't much that changed about the blonde in terms of physical appearance. There was no doubt that he had become much more muscular and masculine but looking at him with his eyes down casted she still saw a little bit of that boy she grew up with. The one that still made her heart ache from time to time…

Her perfectly sculpted pink lips creased forming the smallest of smiles…the ones that showed a world of emotion. "Are you enjoying your party Cloud?" she asked repeating his name. It was almost as if she wanted to say it over and over again. It had been a long time since she was able to say his name without speaking of him in the past tense of in hope.

Hope Cloud will come home soon….

Hope Cloud is alright…



Finally he looked at her with a slightly quirked eyebrow. First it was out of shock of her question then out of her appearance. Of course she had mature but for the most part she looked the same. Beautiful. The same brown locks tied casually into a pink bow. Her attire consisted of a white strapless summer dress trimmed in pink. Same green eyes. Same smile. Same girl he fell was in love with.

But…that was a long time ago…

Right?

He was about to reply with a sarcastic question. Somewhere along the lines of 'My party? Really? I didn't even notice.' Of course he didn't even need to take second glance at her to know that he would regret saying something that would remotely hurt her feelings. After all she did plan this whole party for him. Not exactly what he expected…

"Yeah. It's great. Thanks."

She smiled at his words even though he spoke them so flatly. Maybe it was his genuine thanks that covered up his fib or the fact that even if he was being truthful it was hard to read him.

"Oh! I'm so glad!" she exclaimed clapping her hands together. Her arms then fell to the sides of her pink dress that framed her body so perfectly. "You were gone a long time. You didn't even say goodbye before you left."

"…" For what semed like the millionth time that day he shifted uneasily. He had an idea of where this was going.

"You know Cloud…we're all really happy that you're back…I'm really glad…that you're back…"

Cloud blinked taken aback by her words although the batting of his eyelashes was the last display of emotion at her statement. Yes, her words did make him uncomfortable. She was making it sound that he was here to stay…which he wasn't. He was pretty sure about that. He wasn't even sure why he came back in the first place or rather yet decided to stay for the extended of period of time he was staying. This was supposed to be a quick run through; a pit stop just before he returned to the coliseum.

"Don't get too comfortable," he said chucking the words back at her. Sure they would probably hurt her but leading her to believe that he was here for a permanent stay would hurt her even more.

His words like he expected shocked her. Her perfectly round eyes went into a mix of confusion and panic as they searched his for an answer. "What do you mean?" she asked fearful of the answer she knew was coming.

"Aeris. You and I both know that I wasn't planning on staying very long."

With his last words he turned around not wanting to see the expression on her face. If he did he would see her bruised expression. Instead her deep green eyes followed him through the crowd of people until she couldn't see him anymore. As she watched him leave she didn't even bother to remember which direction he was going. She knew that he didn't want to be followed or bothered. And if he didn't want to be found…he made sure he wasn't found.



A pair of almond brown eyes followed a head of blonde hair like a hawk. The owner of the blonde tresses seemed to be making a beeline towards the door. Yuffie pressed her index finger to her bottom lip as if in deep thought. "Hmm…now where would Cloudy be going…?" she asked herself slightly swaying her hips side to side as if an excited puppy just about to start a chase.

Without a second thought she wove past the mass of people who were too immersed in their conversation to realize that their star of the hour…had ditched the party. Her small frame had been an advantage to making her way towards the door. It was almost suffocating her being around all those people and she was beginning to for welcome the breeze of fresh air. As she almost stumbled out the door into the night air she hopped to her feet just in time to see the silent warrior turn a corner.

"Gotcha!" she whispered quietly to herself as she kicked off her heel to start her chase.

Little did she know that another pair of brown eyes watched her sternly as she left the party. Yuffie always had a knack of getting in trouble…and usually Squall Leonheart would brush it off but this was different. He had this nagging feeling pressing at his instincts but he couldn't pinpoint what it was.

"Squall?"

The commander turned and tilted his head down to look at a pair of green eyes. Of course it was none other than Aeris giving him a questioning look of concern. "Yes?"

"Is everything alright?"

"I…" He paused for a moment before looking at the same door that Yuffie had passed just a few seconds earlier. "I don't know…"

After using her super ninja tracking skills she had finally managed to follow her target all the way to the construction area. No one usually came here due to the chance of hazardous sharp things falling on your head. Although hazardous sharp things didn't seem to faze the make eyed male as he casually strolled through the area. And because of her awesome ninja skills she still stayed completely hidden from her prey. Cloud Strife had absolutely no idea that he was being followed by the great Yuffie Kisaragi! She gave herself a mental pat on the back as she proceeded to the next ledge. Her presence was completely hidden up until…

"Why are you following me?" The warrior stopped and turned unexpectedly looking up at Yuffie who seemed frozen in the shadows unwilling to give away her position. Letting out a sigh he quirked an eyebrow knowing that the girl was hiding in the crevice. "Yuffie!"

"Awww c'mon!" she pouted jumping out of her hiding space and in front of him. "You totally didn't know I was following you until now didn't cha?"

She looked up at him proudly with her hands on her hips and her upper body slightly forward as she looked up at him. Until now? He had known that someone was following him as soon as he got out of the door. It wasn't until a few moments earlier that he concluded that it was Yuffie. It looked like she needed to work on her so called 'awesome ninja skills'.



"Um…sure…" he wasn't sure why he lied but the lie seemed to light up her face as she began to twirl around with her arms up in the air.

"Ha! So you admitted it! You were tracked by the one and only Great Ninja Yuffie Kisaragi! Although you shouldn't be so hard on yourself…I mean I am a ninja—wait – THE best ninja ever and you're just…Well you know you could always take lessons from me if you want," she bragged twirling in a circle around him.

Oh joy…if he knew that she was gonna act like an egotistical brat he would have just told the truth. He waited until she was in front of him to do something much unexpected and out of character even for himself. In mid-twirl her back was facing him when he grabbed her upper arms and jerked her towards him so that her back was pressed against his chest.

The sudden contact had caused Yuffie's body to tense. She squirmed at his grip on her arms but he kept a tight hold on her. If he was paying closer attention maybe he would've noticed that girl's nervousness of the close contact. And Cloud almost…ALMOST smiled. Or…maybe he smiled just a little bit amused at her reaction.

Lowing his head his cheek brushed her hair as he whispered softly in her ear. "You are the biggest spoiled clumsy ninja princess brat." He scoffed softly…as if he was enjoying toying with her?

"Hey! Listen here your spikey headed jerk!" She began to kick her legs outward and tried to wriggle free from the SOILDER'S grasp. Her attempts to escape had just caused him to wrap his arms around her waist holding her tighter to his chest. "C'mon why don't you let me go and fight me face to face! I'll show you how good my ninja skills are!" she began screaming and turned her head to the side in attempt to bite his arm to escape.

"Your ninja skills? If I remember correctly it was me who taught you how to aim," he said still keeping her as her captive.

"Grrrrarg!" She narrowed her eyes as she continued to kick and scream. It seemed that everyone remembered Cloud but her. It was almost as if she couldn't remember that piece of her childhood as clearly as everyone else. Of course she remembered Squall and Aeris…but she could never recall Cloud. So why did he claim to know things about her? "Let me go!! LEMME GO! Lemme go or you'll be sorry! Once I get outta here I'm gonna kick your ass!"

As if she had just said the magic words Cloud had released his hold on the girl and gave her back a slight push forward. He raised an eyebrow at the girl who was trying to regain her balance from that small shove. "I'd like to see you try," he said in his usual monotone voice…except there was something different about the way he talked now. As if there was a hidden emotion beneath his exterior.

She growled under her breath once more glaring at Cloud. Who did he think he was? Without anymore warning she charged at the blond tackling him. She landed forwards – he landed backwards – with her on top. Despite their awkward position she began trying to pound down on him but he had grabbed both her wrists preventing her from hitting him. She tried jerking her arms left and right but he had a firm hold on her…again. Although she was trying to beat the hell out of him he made no move to attack her. Instead 

he tried to dodge all her insane attacks. When she failed to free her arms she tried to kick him with her legs.

The corner of his lips curved up in to a lopsided smile. He was almost playful. Was Cloud actually enjoying himself? No it couldn't be… It just wasn't likely.

"Yuffie get off me!" he said in his same deep voice but it wasn't as calm and monotonous as it was before.

"GrrrNO! Not until you take back what you said and say that I am the best ninja ever to walk the streets of Hallow Bastion!" she yelled at him. She stopped moving for a moment as if to give him a chance to surrender. Waiting for an answer she looked down at his deep mako eyes. She furrowed her brow as stared at him. Something about his eyes seemed familiar to her….

After a moment Cloud blinked at her.

"Well?" she asked him.

"You're delusional," he replied in all seriousness. Giving her no opportunity to start her 'attack' again he pushed her off to the side and started to stand himself up and walk away

"Hee-ey! I'm not finished with you yet! You can't just walk away from me!" As soon as she got to her feet she was beginning to prepare another attack when she was suddenly jerked back. She felt someone grab her by her right upper arm and preventing her from attacking the silent warrior. "Hey! What gives!? That's cheating!" She tried to surge forward but kept on being held back. What was this? Hold back Yuffie day?

"Hey let me go!" She turned around ready to deck the person behind but when she saw who it was all she did was look up at the person with her mouth open. Her open mouth slowly curved into a sheepish smile.

"Yuffie. What are you doing to Cloud?" the male questioned her looking down at the younger female.

"Me? What am I doing?? It was his fault! He started it with his all 'Hey I'm Cloud I'm cool and better than you' attitude. If anyone is to blame it's HIM!" she yelled forcefully while pointing a finger at Cloud.

Cloud stood silently still as Yuffie accused him of starting their diabolical feud. Any playful smile that tugged at his lips before was gone and he was back to the Cloud that everyone else knew.

"Hey Squall. Or is it Leon now?" Cloud asked crossing his arms looking at the commander. After Cloud left everyone turned to Squall for support. Aeris was heartbroken and Yuffie began to hang out with him more. But now that Cloud was back…

"It's Leon," he managed to say while trying to hold back a struggling ninja. "Aeris sent me to look for you. She's – Yuffie will you quit it or Aeris is gonna hear about you ditching the party."

The young princess glared up at the commander once more before crossing her arms and standing idly. She did NOT want to hear Aeris question her about where she was and why she left the party. "Fine…but you owe me ice-cream after this!"



Squall shook his head very slightly. How did this end up him being the bad guy and him owing Yuffie ice-cream? "Whatever. Just get back to the party," he said letting go of her arm and giving her a gently push in the right direction. "I'll meet you back there," Squall said waving his hand at her.

"Fine I'll go back to the party…" Yuffie said sullenly before using Leon's push to walk forward. "But remember ice-cream! Tomorrow!" She waved her arm up in the air before turning around to walk back to the party. "Oh and do me a favor Squally! Take care of this Cloudy guy!" With that Yuffie turned the corner and was out of sight.

This only left Cloud and Leon.

Cloud had his arms still crossed as Leon looked at him judgmentally. "What?" he asked cooly.

With Yuffie gone Leon's calm act disappeared. He took a step towards the SOILDER and grabbed him by the collar. Cloud's cold green eyes just stared blankly at Leon's dark grey eyes. The blonde seemed unfazed .

"You and I both know that you're not staying here for long so why don't you do everyone a favor and just leave as soon as possible. Why are you even sticking around Cloud? Aeris was heartbroken when you left and Yuffie doesn't even remember you so why do you even bother? What did you think that you could just come back here and everything would be the same? Yuffie cried for weeks after you left and all Aeris talked about was when you would come back. Don't do it to them again Cloud," he said hotly before releasing his collar.

After Cloud was released he uncrossed his arms and turned his back towards the brunette. Had he really caused them so much pain when he left? What did they exactly expect with his return? Maybe Leon was right. He began to walk away just before he turned his head to the side to say "You're right about one thing. I won't be staying for long."

With that the blonde turned his head back around and began to walk away as Leon watched him leave. Maybe coming back was a mistake…

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts