----x. Renegade Hearts
Chapter 3: Emotions

Yuffie sighed, and rubbed her hands together. So bloody cold… when will he get here? She ducked back into the tiny back room – what back room? Her mind spazzed for a brief moment, since when did this house get big enough that there was such thing as a back room? – where she'd finally arranged a place for Riku to sleep. "Riku?" She called softly.

The black pile in the centre of the bed – Riku smothered by blankets – didn't twitch a muscle. Yuffie sighed again and wandered back out into her small living room/kitchen to await her friend's coming.

Three minutes later, she got her wish that he would hurry as the door swung open dramatically to reveal a crimson-cloaked, blond-haired Cloud, complete with Buster Blade™ dripping water from the ice that melted on contact with the warm air from the room. "That's my Cloud," she announced to no one in particular, staring off into the air, "imposing, rude, and very, very pretty."

He gave her a concerned glance as he stripped off the tattered cloak and hung its damp length on the hook beside the front door. She gave him a tight grin in return, a grin that said 'I'm okay even if you think otherwise.' She squeaked a few moments later as he wrapped his arms around her tiny frame and hugged her fiercely. Somewhere inside, the dam cracked – no, the entire dam wall just collapsed.

"Cloud…" she said, her voice muffled by his clothing. "You can let go now."

He held her a moment longer without saying anything and stood back. "So. What are we doing tonight?"

Yuffie looked up at her best friend hopefully, dark eyes about to spill over. "Talk?"

He hugged her again, but briefly around the shoulders. That emotionless face revealed nothing of what the eyes told.

"Yup. We'll talk." He led the way over to the worn couch in front of the open fireplace, looking around in distaste at the bare surroundings. Yuffie followed him, grabbing two shot glasses and a bottle of brandy. Then she paused for a moment, and grabbed six more shot glasses. Best be prepared.

"Okay." Blue eyes looked at her levelly from under blond spikes. "What are we talking about?" The two squashed into the only couch in the house.

The ebony-haired ninja shifted around, getting comfortable. "First I want to know how Sora's progress is. Is there another Keyblade Master?"

Her friend gazed into the fire for a while, face eerily statue-like even with the dancing flames lighting the contours. "Should I point out that that's not really checking up on Sora's progress? Anyways. There's only Sora that I know of," he said at last. "I know there was another… a while ago, now… who wielded a Dark Keyblade."

"No Neutral Keyblade?" she persisted.

The warrior gave her a sharp look. "What do you mean, a 'Neutral Keyblade'?"

"Um. Nothing…" Yuffie replied evasively. "I just heard it from… the Moogles." Ah, the Moogles, she thought. The great excuse for any gossip overheard.

The sharp look continued.

"All right!' she threw up her hands. "It wasn't really the Moogles… but it was reliable."

"No. Haven't heard of any 'Neutral Keyblade', only Light and Dark." Cloud lounged back, a curious look in place on his fine features.

"Sorry, Cloud. Can't tell ya. I would if I could…"

He patted her knee. "That's okay. You can't just betray someone's trust."

She smiled at him, glad he knew how she felt.

"So, Yuffs. What else did you want to talk about?" Cloud uncrossed his leg and looked at her, carefully not allowing any expression on his face. "Do you want to talk about… him?"

She seemed to ignore him, biting her lip with overbright eyes glistening in the firelight, until suddenly an idea came to her. "I'll be back in a minute." Moments later, her voice came again from the hallway. "Don't worry, either. I'm not going to slit my wrists in the bathtub or anything. I don't even have a bathtub, anyways. Only that stingy shower."

"Yuffie –" Cloud broke off as the ninja darted from the room. "Yuffie…" he said quietly, looking after her.

"Riku…" Yuffie called softly, then more loudly. "Riku!"

The lump on the small bed twitched violently. In a scrabble of sheets, a head of silver hair popped out.

"Good. Riku, get up."

His face blanched. "But –!"

"But what?"

"You stole my freakin' clothes, though!" He shrieked in a most unmanly manner.

Yuffie smirked inside. I love being able to piss people off. "I got you a dressing gown, Riku. Now get up before I throw you out there without anything on."

He stared at her in horror, eyes bloodshot and watery, then sneezed. "But…" he said weakly before getting off the bed with the sheet wrapped around him.

She thrust a dressing gown at him. "You wear this. I need to introduce you to someone."

"Why are you doing this to me?" he queried plaintively, clutching the gown.

"I need to see someone else in pain." She told him, hands on hips. And may he never find out how true that is, she added silently. Someone other than myself. Woops, angst lies that way, Yuffie. Tread there, you must not.

He leaned on the door. Yuffie, having no choice, moved out of the doorway and let it close. "You'd better hurry up, or I'll dress you myself!" she shouted through the door.

One minute passed.

And another.

Thus, Yuffie's patience became paper-thin. "You'd better be ready, Riku, 'cause I'm opening this door right now!" Yuffie hissed from the hallway.

Moments later, the door swung open to reveal a flushed Riku in a white dressing gown that went – nearly – to his knees. Yuffie had to stifle a giggle. "Very pretty. So much like a girl, with that long hair and pretty eyes. And now a dress?"

"You know, this might actually fit if you grew, say, another foot or three," he remarked, sarcasm dripping from every syllable.

The little ninja spun to face him properly, hands on hips, eyes narrowing dangerously as she rose on tiptoe, her small nose only millimetres away from his chin. "You're not so tall yourself," she hissed icily.

If I wasn't so pissed off right now I'd be laughing, Riku thought wearily, trying not to cough as he scowled at the girl. "Oh? Then how do you explain a full twelve inches' difference in our heights as 'small'?"

If possible, her eyes narrowed even further. "You do realise that my position right now is absolutely perfect for headbutting you in the chin, do you not?"

Riku blinked. He hadn't thought of that.

Suddenly, she spun abruptly on her heel and stalked back down the hallway. "My friend has come to visit," she called back over her shoulder. "I want you to come and be nice for a few moments, if it pleases your Royal Arrogant Silver-Haired No-Brained Highness. Now."

Riku stared after the departing, fuming figure. Thoughts were whirling about in his head, mostly those doubting his hostess' sanity. Finally he sighed, sneezed violently, sighed again, and stumbled down the hallway after her, trying not to sniff pathetically.

They entered the kitchen in single file, the young man's long strides catching Yuffie as she walked into the kitchen.

"Cloudy," Yuffie announced brightly, bouncing over to him and squashing her small frame into the tiny couch again. "I'd like you to meet Riku. Once Riku's pulled up a chair – yeah, one of those ones around the table, they'll do – and made hot chocolate for us all – in the cupboard, Riku, honestly, use your eyes–" she gave the slightly muddled Riku a brief stern look that clearly said do it now "–he'll explain a bit to us why I happened to find him in possession of a weapon he calls the Neutral Keyblade, and in the process explain why he has the Keyblade and what that means for Sora." She finished in a rush and took a deep gulp of air, recovering her breath.

Cloud's sky-blue eyes widened in surprise as he stared at his friend, then at the busy stranger who'd just placed a mug of hot chocolate into his hand – lucky the kettle had, for some mysterious reason, been on just moments before – and back at Yuffie again.

She looked back at him levelly. "What?" she queried, sounding perfectly innocent.

He just shook his head, mouth a perfect 'O' of astonishment.

Riku did as Yuffie had commanded him, and sat at last, facing the man and girl but with his back to the fire. Yuffie noted that curiously, wondering why he didn't want to face the light. She shrugged it off as he spoke.

"So. What's the first question?"

Cloud leaned forward, hands on knees and face strangely shadowed by the dancing flames. "Yuffie said you had a 'Neutral Keyblade'. Can I see it?"

Riku glanced at him coolly. "No."

He hadn't expected that, and sat back. "Why not?"

Riku kept his eyes on Yuffie now. "There's no need for you to see it. Besides, it's just a tool of war. Not something you display at weapon-viewing parties, or whatever you hold."

That miffed Cloud, just a little. He watched the silver-haired guy intently. "We don't treat war that way. We value lives, and people ooh and aah over our weapon-wielding skills- when they're not being used seriously. I mean, at fighting tournaments, everyone cheers for the best fighter – but the winner doesn't need to kill to get to the top. Otherwise, weapons are feared. They can kill."

Riku shrugged. "People die. It's a way of life. Where's the point in caring about something if you don't want it to leave you? It always happens. Who really cares any more?" His tone was cold and pitiless, stating a fact.

Yuffie glared at him, upset and furious "I don't know why we care." She told him, voice steadily rising in volume. "Maybe, it's because we actually want to enjoy some momen–" Why does he have to remind me? I was managing my emotions really easily – until then. Her stinging retort was cut off by Cloud, who'd lunged to his feet, angrier than she was. He ignored the hot chocolate from his mug that seeped into the cracks on the cold floor.

"What do you think you're saying?" he yelled at Riku. "If you say one more word to upset Yuffie, I swear I'll thrash you within an inch of the life you don't seem to care about, you selfish arrogant bastard! You don't give a shit for her feelings, do you? You don't care about what she's been through, what she's gone through for two whole years!"

There was silence for a bare moment, then: "Oh, wow." Yuffie said lowly, weakly, quietly. "You go, Cloud."

Riku stared at the blond warrior, throat working. He couldn't find any words that seemed acceptable to say. All he felt was sudden guilt – pale in comparison to the anger, but still there – where he'd felt indifference before, and horror that he's said something (it didn't matter that he didn't know what he'd done) to hurt Yuffie, a woman who'd taken him in and cared for him unconditionally, whose spirits were always high, supporting those around her. How could he have hurt her? More to the point, how had he managed to hurt her?

"Get out. Now." Cloud forced through gritted teeth, pointing at the door the dark hallway lay beyond. Beside him, Yuffie's small frame bent a little – she was crying, and trying not to show her tears.

Riku left.

Once the strange youth had disappeared, Cloud sat down next to the silently weeping ninja and hugged her fiercely and long. It was a long while later when her sobs finally subsided a little.

That discussion ended pretty quickly... "What did you say his name was again?" he murmured into her hair, holding her close and rocking her small body gently. Something had just come to him.

"Riku." She sniffed, tears flowing again at the reminder of those words. Then she heard her friend's soft gasp of recognition, and looked at him. Her vision was blurry. "What is it?"

He stroked her hair. "Sora's best friend was called Riku. He went – well, he went kind of evil. Like a mini-Sephiroth, if you think about it. Both have silver hair. Both are extremely pretty, in an arrogant-little-shit kind of way. Except Riku turned good again… apparently. And he's not insane. Word is that Riku turned to Maleficent when Sora gained the Keyblade, because she could help him get that power. Of course, his version is that he did it to save their friend Kairi. It's pretty hard to believe right now though; he's been pretty cold."

Friendless… harsh life. Hohshit. Didn't I tell him when I was fixing him up that he should go back to his friends? Ha, ha. Oops. Yuffie hiccupped twice. "I guess, if it was to save a friend…" Yuffie spoke hesitantly, under her breath. She glanced up into his worried face again. "But this Keyblade wasn't like the one you described."

"That doesn't change much though, does it?" he reminded her gently.

"I guess not… Cloud?"

"Yeah?"

"I want to go to sleep now. I have a headache." She said plaintively, tucking her head into his chest.

In spite of himself, Cloud chuckled softly. "Sure. You can go to sleep now." He hefted her up in his arms as he rose. "Do you want me to stay the night?"

"No," she yawned. "It's okay. You should go home, and take that brandy with you. I don't want to get drunk and wake up sick tomorrow."

He laughed again, hugged her briefly, and deposited her on her feet in front of the fire. "I guess, until tomorrow then." He called. She nodded and shivered as he flung his cloak over his shoulders and opened the front door, admitting an icy blast of wind. "I'm not drinking it, though. You'll kill me if I do that, someday, when you realise what you've done."

"Bye, Cloud. Thanks."

Cloud nodded at her, and closed the door.

Gone as quickly as that… just like him. I miss him so much. Tears threatened again, but she held them back bravely, sighing. I might go talk to Riku before I go to sleep. Won't be much sleep tonight anyway. Not tonight.

He turned his head to look at her as she entered through the doorway, aquamarine orbs glowing. He'd tucked himself back under the blankets again. "Sorry."

The little ninja's throat constricted, and she waited a few moments to disperse the lump in her throat before speaking. "That's okay. You didn't know. Sorry about the dressing gown thing. And, um, the friends thing too." And I guess it's probably not your fault you're a bastard, either. "What I was meaning to say, was, why were you there? In the Second District, I mean. At that exact time and place. Why were you even in Traverse Town, for that matter?" Don't shout at him, Yuffie. Breathe, Yuffie. Good girl. Now, keep your emotions under control.

He sat up at her question, supporting his head on his hand. "Why?" he asked her, eyes glinting.

She shook her head and studied her hands. "I don't know. It just seemed… kind of strange, I guess."

"I meant why were you there. At that exact time and place. Why did you leave the warmth of a place like this –" he swung a languid hand at the bare surroundings around them "–to come out in to the night, where it was absolutely freezing, to a Heartless-infected part of this town?"

Yuffie stilled her hands in her lap as she thought seriously about his question. "I don't know," she said at last, cutting through the growing silence. "Just the feeling that I had to be there or something bad would happen. And it nearly did." She added, looking at him directly with her dark eyes. "But who's to say the Heartless would have clawed your back if I hadn't been there to distract you? Or if I'd been there earlier, we could have beaten them without casualties. Or you could have been dead."

The silver-haired Riku mused over this for a while. "I think our meeting was pre-ordained. Call it chance, fate, coincidence, destiny- it was meant to happen. Whoever pulls our strings was going to make this occur one way or another."

Yuffie abruptly shivered and stood, arms wrapped around her chest as if to warm herself. Fate. Destiny. "It was meant to happen…" she murmured almost to herself, then blinked twice and looked down at the injured Riku. "Whatever. Sleep well," she said quietly, and left the room.

Aquamarine eyes followed her exit, clouded with worry and puzzlement.

Hmm. It would appear, looking at the author's notes of the unedited version of this chapter, that it was for Ann's birthday. So. Um. lol? Happy Birthday again, Annie!!

----from Tally (didja guess? Huh? Huh? Didja?)