A/N: I don't own anything of Kingdom Hearts, only this one shot, which takes place one year after the previous one.

And no, I'm not dead yet. It was holiday and the weather was kinda depressing, when I wrote this (somewhere between January and February). I was starting to detest snow and I miss(ed) the sun, so this time I wrote a sadder one shot. Leon has just returned from his long journey to other worlds to take some rest, thinking that it was all for nothing. Oh, and I don't really know that much about Rinoa, so forgive me if she's a bit OOC...

Enjoy reading! ;)

Thanks: AreYouStillThere, Anna-Sky Valentine Nox, LoreilDarksky00 and SecretAgent99, my beta reader.

~ She could clearly hear some amusement leaping in his voice after his discovering. However, he could also be amused because Yuffie's face was as red as a beet. ~

There had already been one year passed. Seasons came and went, but nobody in Traverse Town had ever suffered from it. Here in Traverse Town, it was always night. The sky was as black as ink. You gradually got depressed, because it never changed. Not that anyone showed it to another. Or maybe they were already used to it. Only the biting wind was sometimes annoying, even to the residents who came here a long time ago.

In that whole year, Yuffie still hadn't found the letter she'd written to Squall once. Where could it be? She had been looking everywhere. She had thrown every room in the house into odds. Aerith had become quite angry with her, especially when it had been the kitchen's turn. According to her, the kitchen was her domain. Nobody was allowed to change anything from the kitchen without her permission. She was not often angry, - well, now that Yuffie thought of it, she had never seen Aerith getting mad before - so this time, she really had been serious about it.

Yuffie started to worry about the whole situation. It gave her a terrible headache. What if someone had it secretly into his or her possession and was actually planning to use it against her sometime? She had already found out that she was living in a big bad world with mean people. In fact, she was sharing this house with two of them. It was as simple as that, the older people got, the meaner they became. Nothing was what it seemed to be anymore and only children had a pure heart these days.

It couldn't have been Aerith of course. No, she was far too sweet to be that false. She would never take revenge on her, just because she had "beaten" her kitchen. Maybe she had accidentally thrown it away, when she had cleaned the house once again. That could be possible. Or rather, that was what she was hoping for.

Cid however, was a complete other story. Secretly, she suspected that he knew more about this subject than he mentioned, because he still hadn't killed her after he discovered that she had informed Aerith about his not that secret liquor cabinet. Plus, he always looked furtively at her from the corner of his eyes when she made a comment, as though he waited patiently until he could strike again.

On the other hand, Aerith had not destroyed or banned his liquor cabinet. She had said she would only do that when he came home completely drunk, or if he dared to give Yuffie some of the stuff he kept there. So he really had no reason to torture Yuffie. Not yet, anyway.

But that only meant...

Oh no! What if Squall had read it somehow anyway? That would explain why he barely said something to her six months ago. That was the last time he had come here to take a short rest from his work. Every time he visited Traverse Town, the town became a lot fuller. It seemed soon enough that Hollow Bastion, their home world had not been the only planet that had faced with all the Heartless.

"Ohmigosh, now what? I don't even dare to look at him anymore! What should I do?" she cried out, completely shell shocked.

She didn't even know if that was true, so she couldn't just ask him whether he really had read that letter. It would only make him suspicious, and then he would ask her what she meant. She didn't want to explain anything. Nobody should know about this. That would be the best, because they would just laugh at her because she was such an idiot.

Her musings were suddenly shattered by a loud cry, obviously coming from Aerith, since she was the only person after Yuffie who could make such a high pitched noise. Her cry was followed by a slamming door. Yuffie's heart skipped a beat. Because the walls were as thin as cardboard, it sounded as if she sat in the living room too.

She stood up, straining her ears. Was it a burglar? Crap, and her shuriken was in the living room. Her heart beat so hard against her rib cage when she heard that deep voice and recognized him, that it almost hurt.

Her first thought was, Squall's back! quickly followed by, So soon already?

She tiptoed to the door that led to the living room. The door was ajar. She stood there, hidden behind the shadows of the big stacked boxes, so she could hear and see everything they said and did clearly.

"Please. Have a seat, Leon," Aerith said.

He did what she said, albeit somewhat slower than normal. Yuffie could tell that there was something in his attitude that wasn't quite right. It looked like... desolation, as if he had abandoned all hope in the world. All of a sudden? That could only mean one thing: something had happened. Something terrible. Yuffie was sure she would now hear what exactly that was.

Meanwhile Aerith poured a cup of steaming tea in a teacup, which she handed over to him. He took the cup with a brief nod.

His eyes stared for minutes to one or another point in the distance, until Aerith asked, "What happened? I thought you would come back after at least another month?"

Leon looked up slowly, but seemed to have changed his mind halfway back and looked again at his reflection in his teacup. Just when Aerith thought he wouldn't answer, he spoke softly, "Everything I did, it was all for nothing."

He put his cup down on the table and held his head in his hands. His long brown hair fell like a dark curtain over his face, which came out well, because now no one could see whether he was crying or not.

Aerith was about to ask him what he meant when he said, "She's vanished."

There appeared an understanding look both on both Aerith's and Yuffie's face. Rinoa. Who else?

"I've looked for her everywhere. Everywhere. She was nowhere to be found. I gave my address to everyone I met, just in case someone will hear something of her," Leon said smothered.

Something snapped inside of Yuffie when she heard his depressed voice. She became angry all of a sudden. That Rinoa, she thought. She found her already much less nice, even though she had never seen her, especially since she made Squall so sad, but in fact, Rinoa had done nothing wrong.

Leon told Aerith the whole story, where he had been and how hard he had been searching under every rock in every damn planet. Yuffie secretly was a witness, but no one knew it.

Aerith tried, as best as she could, to give Leon some hope. Sometimes it seemed that she had enough courage and hope for all of them. It was truly remarkable. And it seemed to help too, because Leon lifted his head after a while and began to drink his tea. His face had no trace of tears to see, so he probably hadn't cried.

"So... what are you going to do now? Visiting other planets?" Aerith asked softly as she looked up at him.

Leon thought about this for a short moment and then shook his head slowly. "No."

She kept looking at him, demanding him with her bright green eyes to give her a proper explanation.

Leon went with his hand through his dark hair. "I think I'll take a short break now. If someone accidentally discovered a trace of her, which I highly doubt, then they'll call me surely. I'm now going to focus on my training and the Resistance."

"Ah. I think you really have deserved this vacation, Leon."

"Thanks," Leon mumbled. "Well, I think I'll go freshen myself up first."

Aerith nodded in understanding. "That's fine. Then I'll go get you something to eat in the mean time. I bet you're hungry after that long journey."

Leon said nothing, but got up slowly and walked straight to the door that led into the bathroom. That was the same door where Yuffie was standing behind at that same time. Yuffie was shocked when she realized he would see her and perhaps get angry with her because she sat behind the door, eavesdropping them.

Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh! What should I do now? she thought, completely in panic.

She ran as fast as her little legs could carry her to her own bedroom. Leon just walked into the corridor when the door of Yuffie's bedroom, which was at the very end of the corridor, opposite the bathroom, fell closed with a loud bang. Leon knitted his eyebrows and walked slowly toward Yuffie's bedroom, while Yuffie ran to her bed and threw herself on her bed. She had just covered herself with the blankets, when Leon knocked on the door.

"Yuffie?"

Yuffie was just under the covers, considering whether she should answer or not, but Leon already flung open the door. Yuffie jumped at the sound. Her head and arms appeared slowly from under the blankets.

"Ye- Oh! Hi, Squall," she greeted with a sweet voice.

"It's Leon. What... are you doing?"

"What I'm doing? Can't you see that? I'm just uh..." Yuffie thought quickly for a response that she could give, without making him suspicious. After all, one should never wake sleeping dogs, right? "Eh... I'm sleeping."

Leon just raised an eyebrow, the disbelief practically dripping from his face. It was truly amazing how much sarcasm he could show by only using his eyebrows.

"What?"

"You forgot to wear your pajamas."

"Oh-" Yuffie looked down at the clothes she was wearing. Those were definitely not her pajamas. Damn. He was right. "So? I was just far too tired to wear my pajamas. I just fell onto my bed and fell asleep immediately. I bet that happened to you once too."

"Not really." Leon's facial expression remained the same. The silence said enough, though.

"Now what?" Yuffie exclaimed irritated.

She really couldn't stand his unpleasant, all saying silence. He was making her nervous and he seemed to know that very well.

"It's 3:30 pm..."

She could clearly hear some amusement leaping in his voice after his discovering. However, he could also be amused because Yuffie's face was as red as a beet.

"That was my beauty sleep. Aerith told me that sleep is very important for... people. Furthermore, I must get up very early every morning to improve my amazing ninja skills and I don't wanna be tired then."

"Right. Exactly what I thought. I would come up with a better excuse than that, if I were you. I'll leave now, I do not want to disturb your oh so important beauty sleep."

He turned to leave. Yuffie stuck her tongue out at his back.

"Act your age, Yuf."

"What? How did you know-"

She was so surprised that she didn't even realize that he had called her Yuf, something he NEVER did.

Leon turned around and said, sighing, "It's not that hard to understand what's going on into your head. You should face the truth, you're far too predictable."

He half turned again toward the door to finally go away, but apparently Yuffie had other plans. "Oh yeah? Do you expect this too?"

She shot forward like a little cannon ball and launched herself right in Leon's arms, who made an "Umph"-noise, while staggering backwards out of the room.

She gave him a firm hug, almost cracking his bones. He had to admit that, for a child of nine years, she was very strong. As he didn't really know what to do now, he patted her quite awkwardly on her back. Yuffie didn't mind at all, though.

"Welcome home, Squall!"

"My name is Leon... Eh, I think that's enough for now, Yuffie. I still have to freshen up and you must sleep, remember?"

Yuffie reluctantly let him go. Was it just her, or had he grown a lot since the last time she had seen him?

"And what have you done to your hair?" he asked.

"Oh that? I cut it. Well, actually it wasn't me who cut it. Aerith would kill me if I did it myself, because she liked my long hair, plus she thinks it's too dangerous, because I could also cut my ear in the process. But that didn't mean that she knew about it, because I did it secretly. I mean, I didn't do it, but-"

Oh boy, she was rambling again. Leon seemed to realize that too.

"Why?"

"Because it's getting in the way all the time. As a ninja, your eyes have to be uncovered, y'know, so you can always look around you and spot the bad guys to kick their as-"

"You could also just put your hair in a ponytail," Leon noted, interrupting the words that flew from her mouth like a cascade for the second time.

"Oh, but I know that. You thought I didn't know that? I think this is much cooler though. Plus, your hair is long enough for both of us, don't you think?"

Leon rolled his eyes, while she smiled her goofy smile.

"And I see you've lost some teeth too. You got into some serious trouble again, didn't you."

That last sentence wasn't a question, but more of a statement.

Yuffie stuck her tongue out to him again as a response. "Not funny!"

"I don't care."

And with those words, he left her room. All she did was stare at the now closed door, while hoping that he would come back again... which he didn't. When she realized this, she finally gave up and wondered what to do next.

A/N: Thanks for reading! =) Hope you've enjoyed it. ^_^ I hope it wasn't OOC, because Leon never seems to cry. And the reason that Yuffie dared to hug Leon, is because Yuffie is... Yuffie. Well, I think Cloud will show up soon, maybe after 4 or 5 other chapters. That will cause some serious chaos too...

Next chapter: It's a very long chapter and it's finished, it just needs to be betaed. The one who guesses how many words that chapter has, gets a virtual cookie. Leon's babysitting the hyper ninja. She can't sleep and asks Leon to tell her a bedtime story. We all know Leon; he doesn't really seem to like kids. Wondering why?

What do you think about all this? R&R please, so I know for the next time what I'm doing right and wrong.