A/N: I don't own anything of Kingdom Hearts, only this one shot, which takes place a few days after Leon had returned to Traverse Town. Long chapters aren't really my cup of tea, but I guess I'm getting better and better at it! This chapter is quite long. Oh well, at least I had fun writing it and I hope you have just as much fun reading it. ;)
Okay, I've been rambling and exaggerating too long, so now I'll come to the point. Enjoy. :)
Thanks: KairiDestiny, HibouNoRyuu, dannielovessora, and SecretAgent99, my beta reader.
~ It was a good thing that she didn't have a twin sister, though, because he didn't think he would be able to survive an evening with two Yuffies. ~
With Leon's arrival, some things had changed for the people around him. Now that Leon was home more often, he was introduced to Yuffie's (for him) oh so funny (annoying) jokes and never ending hyperness soon enough.
She was strange in many ways. He called it 'strange in every possible way.' He never tried to be alone with her in the same room, because he was very sure - and scared! - that one of them may not survive. Sometimes it almost felt for Leon as if she wouldn't leave him alone before she had annoyed the hell out of him, with that everlasting goofy smile plastered on her face. And he was sure of the fact that she knew very well what she was doing.
Aerith had also decided to go look for a part-time job so it wouldn't get too hard for Cid, since he was the only one in this house who had a paid job. In Traverse Town, you were already allowed to work as soon as you became fifteen years old. Aerith always wanted to become a healer, which wasn't such a surprise to the rest, so the best place for her to start was the hospital, which was not far from their new home.
Yuffie was still too young to work. So instead of working, she went to school. There was a small school in Traverse Town. She didn't like it, but Aerith had insisted. It was that, or homeschooling from Aerith. Aerith somehow seemed to be slightly disappointed when Yuffie chose for the first option.
Leon's new job was to lead the Resistance and recruit new members for them. Fortunately for him, Cid had taken care of that for a little part when Leon was absent. The Resistance was a great success in everyone's eyes.
All in all one had to admit that Leon was a true and very talented leader. If he started talking, then everyone would immediately stop with what he or she was doing just to listen to him. When Leon said that something would happen, then it would happen exactly as he had planned. Nobody dared to contradict him, simply because he knew what he did and he was always right, about everything. There wasn't any reason to contradict him anyway, because everyone always seemed to agree with him. He had gained a lot of supporters.
There was a difficult word for this phenomenon, called charisma. Yuffie however, just thought he was charming. Who would not listen to someone like him? He had you in his power with his eyes alone, especially when you were a young lady. He was born to lead, and his looks also helped him a lot to gain exactly what he wanted.
Aerith was recently making long nights at the hospital. This was probably because she was new there. Everyone at home was sure that people made abuse of Aerith's kindness, as they always did. Would she know it herself? Probably not. She was far too naive to understand that.
And whenever Cid and Leon started about this little issue - they couldn't stand it that all those people made fun of her - then Aerith would interrupt them and assure them that that was not true, and wonder how they could possibly think of such a thing, but that she could really appreciate it that they were all so worried about her, even if it wasn't needed. That was the way Aerith was. Nothing more, nothing less. Now that Yuffie thought about it, she concluded that Aerith was far too good for this world.
Tonight Aerith also wasn't here. She went back to the hospital after dinner, because they had said that her help was much needed there... or something. That meant that Yuffie and Leon were all alone at home, for it was late at night and Cid had a shop to run. In one way or another, Cid had seemed far too happy that he could leave tonight. It had probably something to do with the fact that Yuffie and Leon were a dangerous combination when put together.
Aerith had insisted that Leon would baby sit Yuffie, but she hadn't said why. It was obvious, though. Cid wouldn't spare Yuffie if he had to baby sit her. Knowing Yuffie, she wouldn't spare Cid either, and torture him till he went all psycho. Leon had agreed reluctantly. Yuffie didn't know that though. Or maybe she didn't want to admit the truth.
Leon just hoped they would be back soon enough so he could be saved from this suffering, because the swordsman didn't like children at all. They were nosy and stupid. Well, maybe except when they were quiet and sleeping, so they couldn't do you and your possessions any harm as they always intended to.
Not liking them was even put quite mildly. Children were weak and some of them were even disgusting, in a disgusting way, not in a cute way. They didn't understand what was really important and they never listened to you. They kept nagging about everything, until you wanted to smack them, or often, in Leon's case, even worse.
It was a very good thing that he now knew how to control himself when he was around children. Besides, he was the head of the Resistance. He deserved better than that! Now he would be the laugh of the town, just because of Aerith. Nobody would take him seriously anymore when they knew that he was also a part time baby sitter.
"It's probably just for a couple of hours. See it as an opportunity to strengthen your self-control," she had said with a small, but tired smile.
Leon ground his teeth when he thought about that last sentence. Right. As if that was something to look forward to. The brunet swordsman didn't believe her at all when she had told him that this would probably be the first and last time he had to do such a foolish thing, but what else could he do than agree? She had looked so tired. And to finish it, she had showed those big pleading eyes, again! She just knew he couldn't stand that and always used that very same trick against him, Cid, and even Yuffie!
Well, he had to admit that Aerith really was a hard worker. She was baby sitting Yuffie all day, while cleaning the house and cooking for them. In the evening, when he and Cid finally came home from work, tired and hungry, she went to the hospital and returned home very late, often looking exhausted. She was even younger than him, so his respect for her had increased rapidly after he had realized all this.
It was a wonder that she still was herself, a smiling young lady, still full of hope and happiness, after everything she had been through. He thought he owed this to her, especially when he considered that being in the same room with Yuffie all day could make people do crazy things. Aerith obviously had a strong heart and a great stamina.
Yuffie wasn't allowed to go out in the evening, much to her dismay and Leon was just being his own boring self - as always -, with a capital "B." He didn't want to do anything fun to entertain Yuffie. He just sat there at that table, fiddling with a few dusty old documents that he had picked up somewhere from the attic or something. At least, that was what Yuffie thought. It made Yuffie sneeze when she came near the stack of papers. It was unknown to Yuffie what the hell he was doing and whether he was doing anything or just killing time by pretending to do something, because with Squall, one could never know for sure.
Occasionally, a frowning Leon looked up from his probably very boring work to see what Yuffie was doing and whether it was something mischievous - as always - or not, like this one time. After he was very certain that all her fingers were still connected to her hands, he would turn his attention back to his work. He said nothing to her, the whole time, almost as if he refused to speak, but every time their eyes met, Yuffie got a tingling feeling somewhere in her stomach.
This made her feel very uneasy and beyond crazy, because it felt as if his eyes were piercing right through her. She loved, but also hated that feeling. It really was killing. He was obviously oblivious to what impact he had on her. Maybe that was a good thing after all.
Every now and then, the silence of the room was disturbed by the rustling of the sheets of paper, or the scratching of Leon's pen (or the sound that Leon's brain made when he was thinking really hard). It was a beautiful and glistening black fountain pen with a silver lining and black ink. It was one that shone beautifully in the light, and was only intended for very important people with very important jobs. Leon's "name" was also written on it with silver, elegantly curled letters. Yuffie decided from then on that she would also buy such a pen when she got older. Maybe Aerith wanted to buy her one for her birthday if she pleaded enough.
"Squaaaall! You're so booooring!" she whined after a while, in an extremely childish voice, in an attempt to get his attention.
And it worked, well, sort of.
He actually only gave a sign that he had heard her. "Leon and thanks," he replied, without averting his gaze from the important document he was reading.
He had better things to do now, and he really hoped that she would realize this too by his attitude. He didn't know that this was false hope, though.
She came closer to him and stared inquisitively at the papers. "Whatcha doing anyway?"
"Reading," he simply answered.
She rolled her eyes at that. "Duh! But what are you reading?"
"A document."
No, really?
Yuffie sighed wearily. As if she didn't see it. She wondered whether it was possible for him to say more than three words or not. It was at times like these that the young man annoyed her more than anyone here at home. Even Aerith was nothing compared to him. He was of no use when he acted like that. Unfortunately for her, he always acted like that when she was with him.
Of course, she had to admit that she couldn't really keep her eyes off of him, especially when he ran a hand through his long dark hair like that, (but then again, who could?). He just wasn't much of a talker. That was his weak point. That was too bad, though, for he had such a beautiful deep voice. It was very pleasant to the ears and she was sure that once he would tell her a bedtime story, she would fall asleep very fast. Maybe she should try that tonight.
"Hmm, sarcastic, aren't we?"
"..."
"You think you're very important, huh?" Yuffie began again, determined to make him say more than a few little words. What else did the man get a tongue for?
"Mmhm," he muttered, being completely absent.
He probably hadn't heard her at all. It didn't really surprise her anymore. It was definitely time for plan B.; changing the subject.
"Oh! You're hopeless!"
"..."
"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm sooo bored here."
"..."
Leon didn't answer. She was clearly up to something, and he didn't want to support her.
"Do you know anything I can do to defeat this ever lasting boredom?" she said dramatically, using her arms to strengthen the dramatic effect, but with no success.
"..."
So she tried again, for she, the great ninja Yuffie, never gave up that easily.
"Hellooo! I'm still waiting for an answer!"
"..."
Okay, if that was what he wanted, then she would take drastic measures now. Let's see if he still would refuse to speak after she was done with him.
"Do you want me to call you Squall again? 'Cause that's no problem with me at all," she asked, smirking.
Now he surely would talk. She was sure about that. So sure that she even wanted to bet her favorite PJ's on it.
"Go to sleep."
Hah! She knew it. Okay, so maybe that wasn't exactly what she'd wanted to hear him say, but at least he had said something, right? So she concluded that that was his other weak point; his fake name. That could be very useful information for Yuffie, because now she had him more in her power. She wouldn't get too enthusiastic, though. Yuffie Kisaragi's new mission was, Make Squalleon Talk.
"Now that's not very nice of you. And I meant something that's fun, ya know."
Leon said nothing. He wondered when she would finally keep her mouth shut. How did Aerith handle this every day? He should ask her for some advice. Maybe it would help if he ignored her some more, although that could also lead to the opposite. So whatever he did, he was losing the game, anyway. At least he could try it. He tried to concentrate on his work again, albeit it was quite hard, since Yuffie was gawking at him, her face very close to his. Too close for comfort, to be honest.
Apparently, Yuffie knew exactly what he was up to, because the next thing she did was cry indignantly, "Squall, don't you dare to ignore me like that! Who the hell do you think you are? The most important guy of town?"
Leon sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his thumb and index finger. Apparently, it wouldn't work that way. Not if it was to Yuffie.
"Yuffie, my name is Leon. Just try to remember that for once."
"Why?"
She cocked her head slightly, waiting for the answer.
"Because..." He paused to think of a reasonable answer. When he couldn't come up with one, he just said, "...you have to."
"But why?"
Could it get any worse? He couldn't even get a little kid listen to him! Talk about being hopeless...
He suddenly grabbed a calculator and started to work furiously. Yuffie flinched and widened her dark chocolate-like eyes a bit. She was first a little bit startled by the sudden movement, but after a short moment she looked at how fast Leon was working with the calculator. Her mouth dropped open, being utterly surprised of the speed.
"Whoa, you type very quickly, you know?"
"..."
Well, he could type as quick as he wanted, but they both knew that he would never get away from her.
"What a talent! I'm jealous, cuz if I would do exactly the same, Aerith would think I was trying to bust that thing, or something. Maybe she would even get mad at me for doing that."
His lips curled slightly, as though that comment actually made him laugh, but he didn't want to show it to her. "That's because I have a better reputation than you, Yuf."
"As my new baby sitter you mean?"
Leon grunted at that. He probably hadn't expected to hear that. What was even greater was that even Yuffie didn't take him seriously thanks to his new job.
"No, I meant as the head of the Resistance."
"Oh, that? Yeah, that was definitely my second guess."
It remained silent for a while. They could only hear the tick-tack sounds of both the calculator and the clock through the small room. Yuffie searched for any emotions on his face, but his face looked neutral, except for the small frown, which was always on his face when he tried to concentrate. He really was good at hiding emotions. Or maybe he didn't feel anything at all at this moment. That would be strange, not to mention kinda scary.
She looked at his writing. "You know, for a guy, you have a pretty neat handwriting. I mean, have you ever seen Cid's handwriting? I didn't even know which alphabet he used at first. And yours is better than mine, too."
"Thanks."
"Hey, Leon?"
"Mm?"
"Maybe people's handwriting gets better when they're adults, but start to suck as soon as they get old and grumpy, like Cid."
Leon looked up from his work, to see if she was being serious or not. Apparently, she was, because she had never had a more serious expression on her face than she had now.
"Maybe... You have a peculiar logic, do you know that?"
Yuffie looked up at him. Her mouth dropped open again, the astonishment clearly written all over her face.
"What?" he asked, his voice completely monotone.
"Whoa! That was the first time you said something out of yourself! Yes, my logic is peculiar, but this is peculiarer!"
Leon raised an eyebrow. He couldn't really see what was so peculiar about that.
"That's not a word," he noted.
"Like I care."
Then the conversation was over...for now. He looked so...serious and grown-up. His behavior made him look much older than he actually was and that frown didn't make him look any younger, either. He looked at least 23 years old, but in fact he was...eighteen? In her opinion, he was far too young to act that old. Wars did strange things with people...
Yuffie thought of something else she could come up with, just to keep him talking. Anything was better than dying of boredom.
"Oh, I almost forgot..." Yuffie began again, "Why did you call me "Yuf" this time?"
Leon looked at her briefly, before he went on with his work, his frown growing deeper. Had he really called her "Yuf?" He hadn't even noticed it himself. She had been right, though. Why had he called her so? Was it because she had almost made him laugh with her comment?
"How do you want me to call you then? Brat, just like Cid always does?"
"No, but... You never call me just "Yuf." Normally you call me "Yuffie.""
He put his pen down with a small sigh, earning her a rather peeved look. "I call you Yuf when I think you deserve it to be called so."
"And when is that?"
"You're smart enough to find that out yourself."
After this, he picked up his pen again and now looked at the following page. Yuffie tried to think of an explanation of what he meant with that. That man was the mystery itself. Why was he always so vague, anyway? Did he act like that, just to attract women who like mysterious men? Maybe she would understand him more if she hung around with him some more. She could always try it and today was the right day to begin with it.
Making action of her words, she put the closest chair a bit closer to Leon's and sat down to observe Leon and his oh so precious documents. What was so exciting about them that he didn't want to pay some attention to her, anyway?
Leon's gaze slid inconspicuously to the clock, hanging on the opposite wall. "Okay, according to Aerith, it's time for you to sleep now. So get dressed quickly, brush your teeth and go to bed. No discussions."
"What? But I don't wanna sleep now. It's far too early!" she opposed him.
He sighed lightly. This was harder than he had thought. This had probably been another reason for Cid not to have kids at all.
"You wish. Look out the window if you don't believe me. The sky is pitch black. See?"
Yuffie rolled her eyes at that comment. Seriously, how old did he think that she was? She wasn't a child anymore! You couldn't trick her that easily.
"Duh! The sky is always pitch black here, smart ass. Jeez, whose idea was it to make you head of the Resistance? Oh never mind. It was Cid, of course. That says enough already, don't you think?"
"Yuffie, just go."
"Make me!"
Leon looked sharply at her. If looks could kill, then Traverse Town would be turned into ash at that moment.
"Okay, okay, I'm already going. Jeez, you don't have to be that mean! Man, even sleeping is more exciting than being with you in the same room, cuz you're no fun at all."
That was a lie. Aerith had told her that lying was a bad thing, but right now, she didn't really care.
She got up slowly and shuffled to her room. Leon himself was quite surprised that it went off so easily. Apparently that "taking-care-of-the-kids-stuff" wasn't as hard as he had expected, even if the kid was Yuffie, the "mother of all annoying children" he had to take care of. At least he now had finally time to move on with sorting the documents. He could continue working quietly for about half an hour.
Yuffie was clearly heard in the background, as she was singing her new gargle song while brushing her teeth. Leon let her do her own thing, albeit he was afraid of the mess he would soon encounter in the bathroom. Aerith said occasionally something about it. Not that it was of any use. Yuffie often only did what she wanted, without listening to others. Leon smiled a small smile at that thought.
After that half an hour of serenity, it got very quiet. Too quiet. Leon got the uncomfortable feeling that he was being watched by someone...or something. He quickly looked up from his work, towards the pile of empty boxes, his hand automatically reaching out to the Retriever. It was false alarm, for Yuffie stood in the doorway, watching him quietly. Since when had she gotten so quiet? She made a rather nervous impression too.
When she didn't make an intention to speak, he asked her patiently, "What is it, Yuffie?"
"Um...well... I-I can't sleep," she mumbled.
He almost didn't dare to ask the next question, but he did so, anyway. "And what do you want me to do about that?"
At once, her face brightened up. Leon cringed inwardly. He knew very well what was coming next.
"Well, Aerith always tells me a nice bedtime story. And you know she'll get really mad at you if you don't do the same. I mean, as a baby sitter it's your duty to-"
"Fine," he interrupted her, while getting up.
Why did she have to remind him of his new job all the time? Yuffie's goofy smile reappeared on her face. She cheered in silence and grabbed his hand in the process. It surprised Leon, but he let her be. Her hand was small, soft and warm to the touch, exactly as it should be.
When they had reached her small bedroom, which she shared with Aerith, Yuffie hopped on her bed and looked expectantly up at Leon. She hoped that he would sit on the edge of her bed, but he took a chair instead and put it near her bed, wondering what story he should tell her, as he sat down.
"This is a story Ellone once told me, a long time ago. It's called 'Sleeping Beauty'. Do you know that story?"
Yuffie shook her head. The fact that Leon had talked about Ellone, his Sis, in front of her for the first time in her life, made her quite curious about the story. Leon closed his eyes for a very brief moment before he started, as though he could recall his memories that way.
"Once upon a time, there was a great and mighty kingdom-"
"What was the name of the kingdom?" Yuffie asked curiously.
"Eh, Fantasia. Well, the ruler of this kingdom was a very nice king-"
"Was it a kingdom full of happy people and without Heartless?"
Yuffie's questions took him off guard, but he tried not to show it. "Yes, it was a happy place with happy people and no Heartless. So this king, who ruled a kingdom full of happy people without Heartless, once gave a huge party - "
"Why did he do that? Did he like parties?"
"I was about to tell that, Yuffie. Don't interrupt me like that anymore."
"Oh. Okay. Sorry."
Leon sighed lightly. "It's okay, Yuffie... The party was because of the birth of his daughter-"
"He had a daughter? What was her name? Was she as cute as I am? Probably not, but maybe there's a small chance that..."
Yuffie fell silent when she saw that look on his face. Yep, she had done it again. She had annoyed the heck out of him.
"Do you want to hear the story or not?" Leon asked.
A trace of impatience could be heard in his voice. Yuffie snickered of amusement.
She thought pensively about it for a while. "Sure, Squall, but don't get mad now. And it better be good, or else..."
Leon sighed once again. It was quite hard not to get frustrated in situations like these. He'd rather fight off a thousand Heartless by himself than try to tell Yuffie a fairytale, because he knew the latter was much harder than the first thing.
"It's Leon, Yuffie. Leon... Everyone was invited, except for one person."
"Her mother, the evil and bloodthirsty queen who was jealous of the beauty of her daughter?" Yuffie tried.
Leon looked annoyed at her.
"Sorry," Yuffie said, apologizing, "I'm just very curious and you're too slow with telling it. And that even didn't make any sense. I bet it was her jealous stepsister, right? Yeah, I kinda figured, since that was my second guess. It's always the jealous sister who ruins everything, right? Man, I'm so glad I don't have a sister."
Something in Leon's eyes changed the instant she had said that last sentence and it was then that Yuffie realized - too late - that Leon once had a sister, too, and that she'd been anything but mean.
"No, it wasn't her."
Yuffie looked disbelievingly up at him. "No? Then who the-"
"Her name was Maleficent."
"Who's Malef-"
Yuffie gasped, when realization hit her with the speed of the light. "You mean the same Maleficent who - who..."
Leon nodded sternly. "The very same."
"So... Is that why she's become such a mean old hag?"
"Who knows?"
From that moment on, Yuffie fell silent. She just listened to the story and closed her eyes. By the time he had finished the fairytale, Yuffie was fast asleep. Leon looked at her. She looked so peaceful. This way you couldn't see what she had been through at such a young age. He wondered how it was possible for her to still have her trademark, goofy smile on her face, even when she was sleeping like a baby. He, on the contrary, had not smiled for at least two years, since he had no reason to smile.
"At last. I thought she would never fall asleep," he murmured.
He got up and left the room, trying to be as silent as possible, so he wouldn't wake her up. He wasn't really in the mood to tell her another story to make her fall asleep.
Sometime after midnight Leon heard how a key was stuck in the lock. He had just finished his work and looked up at the door, expecting to see Cid, who still hadn't returned. He had probably just been waiting until he was sure that Yuffie had fallen asleep, so that he wouldn't have to deal with her and her antics. Leon probably would have done the same, if he'd been Cid, but it still annoyed him. It was Aerith who entered the house, though. She smiled as sweetly as always as their eyes met, but Leon didn't return the smile. Even his eyes didn't smile for him.
"Hi, how did it go?" she asked as she took off her coat and put her bag down.
Leon thought about it for a short while. He had to admit that it went pretty easy. He even almost enjoyed baby sitting her, in some sort of way. Almost, for Yuffie was still quite annoying. He wouldn't tell her, though, otherwise she would want him to baby-sit Yuffie more.
"Well, it was better than I had hoped. She sleeps like a baby. With you?" he replied.
She sighed lightly at this. "It was... okay."
Leon looked up at her tired face when he heard the slack. The tiredness and especially the light here in the room (she looked as pale as a blanket, maybe even paler!), made her look older, seventeen, maybe eighteen years old. She looked quite ill too, for they didn't have enough money to buy fruit and vegetables for every day. Leon just knew that it meant that it had been a rough night for her. He suddenly realized that Yuffie was not the only one who was still too young for this shit.
"I understand," he said.
"I think I'm going to sleep. Goodnight," she whispered.
Leon nodded silently. He'd better go and sleep as well if he didn't want to fall asleep at work tomorrow. That certainly was not something a true leader should do, because it showed weakness and that was bad.
"Goodnight."
He got up and followed her quietly, leaving just one little light on, for when Cid came home. It was very dark in the corridor. Leon could only see the shapes of things in the corridor, like the paintings on the wall.
When Aerith opened her bedroom door, he could see Yuffie's sleeping form. He could barely distinguish her from the darkness. A small smile, impossible for anyone to see and the first one since he had fled from Hollow Bastion, formed on his lips as a thought popped up in his head. It was impossible not to care about that carefree little ninja, even if she sometimes failed when she tried to cheer him up. It was a good thing that she didn't have a twin sister, though, because he didn't think he would be able to survive an evening with two Yuffies.
A/N: Thanks for reading! =) Hope you've enjoyed it. ^_^
Next chapter: About the next morning. Yuffie finds a new way to wake Leon up and annoy the living daylights out of him...with Aerith's permission? It's probably much shorter than this chapter, so no worries. :D
Do you have better ideas? Let me know. You can count on more moments where Yuffie's irritating Leon, though, 'cause I think that's fun. :)
What do you think about all this so far? Do you like long, or short chapters? What do you think that Leon meant when he said he would call her Yuff when she deserved it? Let me know. R&R please and make my day.