Prompt: Yuffie, growing up in Traverse Town.

Yuffie doesn't mind Traverse Town. She still remembers, in detail, the unhappy circumstances in which she arrived: in a gummi ship stuffed with people that had managed to scramble away, five of them squashed into Cid's two-man ship. There was a scuffle over who would get the other seat – in the end, it ended up being given to a teenager called Squall, whose face had been streaming with blood, his stare into the stars a million miles away. She'd never forget all the blood she saw that day, the metallic smell of it. Despite Aerith's best efforts, the boy was left with a scar. He became Leon.

She never understood at the time, what had happened – she was seven. She thought it was an elaborate game, a joke, and she wanted to see her father's face when he knew she'd run away. Yes, he was still there, would be there as soon as their stone-faced pilot took them back from their heroic adventures across the stars.

Yuffie clutched her father's shuriken closer to her like a blanket, and decided that she'd be back just as soon as she got tired of her adventuring.

She remembers her excitement, at this new world: the constant night-time, harassing the moogles, stealing from people from other worlds and amassing all kinds of treasure (she once made off with throwing stars from a fellow ninja passing through, after his dog almost bit her hand off), making an awesome secret ninja hideout in the underground waterway, sleeping on rooftops and no one to boss her around except Cid's angry swearing and the equally grumpy Squall 'it's Leon' Leonhart.

She remembers her dread, when the first Heartless began to show, even here. She thought it was still a game. She learned it wasn't when Aerith had to heal a gash across her chest, where it had tried to take her heart. More blood, just like that day, hazy except the feeling of terror, pure dread that made her heart pound and her stomach churn like she was going to throw up. That day had never been a game, she realised. Deep down, she'd always known.

Aerith had a quiet friend, with spiky blond hair and shocking blue eyes, but she never remembered his name. He disappeared after a few years, and never came back. Aerith said very little after that, and spent a long time staring up at the stars, but it didn't last long: Yuffie was there to fill the gap, to make her smile again. The two couldn't be more different, Aerith gentle and kind and loving to wear dresses (ick, pink) and Yuffie loud and ninja and badass and generally awesome and... Well, Yuffie still liked her, even if back home – home? Where was home, again? Did it have a name, like Traverse Town? – she'd preferred to play with boys, who liked to fight and climb and get messy and not care. Aerith was older, only a few years younger than Leon, but she was her first female friend... really, the first female in her life at all, so it was interesting and new. A win-win situation.

After a particularly bad assault on Traverse Town, one they all barely survived, she remembered. A story playing out in her head, like it had happened to someone else. A little girl, screaming as the streets were flooded with black creatures, and she'd been left all alone. Watching as they converged on her father, he shouted her to run, desperately pushed his shuriken on to her so she could protect herself, even their tiny little claws sinking into his chest-

And she'd run, blindly swinging her father's final gift left and right even though it was almost as big as her. She wasn't the make-believe heroine, the Great Ninja Yuffie. She was a terrified child, and even if she didn't understand what she'd just seen, she'd known in her heart of hearts that he was gone, she had no one.

Until a boy with blond hair took her hand and pulled her along to the gummi ship bays.

It was Yuffie's turn to stare up at the stars, as if she could somehow find him amongst them. Wonder if maybe he'd been on that star that just blinked out, or maybe that one? She'd managed to wipe it all from her memory, pretend it was nothing, just another of the Great Ninja Yuffie's adventures. Cloud – that was his name. And he was gone, and she'd never be able to thank him.

She'd let Aerith embrace her that night, even as she cried a little, too shocked and exhausted for her usual bravado.

After that night, Yuffie remembers a tiny little mouse-king that had arrived. He had round, black ears and the cutest little tail, but he was very much serious as she watched him talk with Leon. The two were shut away for the longest time, until she was beginning to wonder if they'd fallen asleep mid-discussion. They hadn't, but ever since then, Leon became obsessed with something called a Keyblade, that could fight Heartless and protect worlds from their destruction. He said he wanted to find a way to use it, but he never did.

Then Sora came, the real Keyblade master (much to Leon's initial chagrin) and everything changed.

She could go home.

It was a little sad, to think. She was sixteen – so she'd spent longer in Traverse Town than she ever had her real 'home'. But Aerith said the town had been very beautiful, Leon reassured he'd try to find a way for them to compete in the Coliseum tournaments with a little help from Cid, and before long... Cloud came back.

It's a fact of life, one learned the hard way, that everything comes to an end. But that's not so bad, Yuffie decides, when the future looks so bright.

Cameos:

(she once made off with throwing stars from a fellow ninja passing through, after his dog almost bit her hand off)

~ A reference to Shadow the ninja and his dog, Interceptor, from Final Fantasy VI.