A/N: I'm sorry it's taking me so long to update!

Yuffie surveyed her surrounded and smirked to herself. Not only had she managed to catch a chocobo without any greens, she had already gotten to Goblin Island. "No one will ever find me here!" She said to herself. She looked around the cold, damp forest and set up camp in a small cave close to the beach. The cave hung low and the fire's embers reflected off the silver walls. Yuffie poked the fire with a stick she found and remembered the giant bonfire back in Cosmo Canyon. Sighing, she turned away to look at the pouring rain outside the cave's entrance. Rain had been scheduled everywhere until next week, but the rain on Goblin Island was heavier and it felt colder. The trees raked against the side of the cave and lightning thundered out at sea. Yuffie's mind glanced back to her friends but she pushed the thoughts away and lay down on her make shift bed. She snuggled up in the sleeping bag and held her Conformer tight to her chest. Does anyone care that I've gone?

--

"Cloud?" Vincent's voice crackled through the receiver.

"No, it's Denzel. Cloud's out right now but I can get Tifa for you?" Before Vincent could reply, Denzel was calling Tifa's name down the stairs.

"Alright, I'm coming." A shuffling sound could be heard at the other end before Tifa's voice came through. "Hello?"

"Tifa. Where's Yuffie?" Vincent demanded, he was getting impatient.

"Vincent?" Tifa enquired.

"Where's Yuffie?" He asked again.

"Oh. Um, I don't know."

"What?!"

"She left."

"She didn't tell you where she was going?"

"No, she left a note-"

"What did it say?"

"Hey." Tifa frowned on the other end of the line. "Watch your tone."

Vincent snapped out of his confused phase and shock his head. "I apologise."

"That's better. All the note said was for Marlene and Denzel to stay in the house until an adult came back. She left sometime in the night apparently."

Vincent slammed his fist on the side the phone booth. "She left nothing?"

"No. Vincent, why is this so important? Yuffie leaves all the time without notice, so do you."

He took a breath and tried to explain the situation calmly. "Wutain freedom fighters are after her. If we don't find her soon, they will."

There was a long pause on the other end of the line before Tifa spoke again, this time the voice was harsher. "Search every place you think you'd find her, I'll call Cloud and tell him to do the same. Reeve might be able to help too..." The phone crackled again as Tifa held the phone with her shoulder and started writing things down. "Oh and Vincent?"

He grunted.

"Don't mess it up this time." The line went dead.

--

Goblin Island was pretty small from what Yuffie had heard so the next morning, she set out to explore. Her chocobo still lay waiting outside the cave, shivering and wet but alive, drying in the morning sun. Yuffie collected her things and threw seawater over her fire, she didn't want anything bursting up in flame - although it would be kinda cool.

She rode through the forests for quite some time before finding herself climbing a hill. Soon the forest trees jittered out and a clearing lay at the top of the hill. By now, the midday sun bore down on the chocobo and it got moodier and moodier. Yuffie tethered it to a tree in some shade and put out a few greens while she sat and ate lunch surveying her island. The wind caressed her face gently and she remembered how stuffy Edge had felt to her. Yuffie lay back in the soft grass and felt the sun's rays warming her cheeks while the sound of drumming waves could be heard far away. She hadn't felt this good in ages.

Faint shouts disturbed her calm mind and she shot back up, flinging her lunch in all directions. The chocobo lifted it's head up at her and tilted it slightly to the right. The shouts were coming directly from the shore and in the direction Yuffie's cave had been.

After fifteen more minutes of riding non-stop through the undergrowth, Yuffie slowed down the chocobo and jumped off. She led it back a bit through the trees and weaved her way to where her cave was. She stopped near a large rock that jutted out the side and peered around at her intruders. A small wooden rowing boat rocked back and forth at the edge of the shore and four men walked about in the clearing ahead.

"She's already gone." One said. His small form made him look more like a child but the daggers hanging from his belt said otherwise.

"If she's left we would have seen the boat as we came out here, she's definitely still on this island somewhere." Yuffie flattened herself against the rock at his words and checked to make sure her chocobo was still hidden behind her. The man sniffed in the air twice.

"Well then why'd she douse out her fire?" The fat one asked, he held a bloody club in one hand. Each one had an accent that Yuffie recognised but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"She's still here." Yuffie froze. Wutains. A medium sized man that had been looking out to sea before turned around to look at his three companions. He was the smartest and he knew it."She's still on the island somewhere but she would have seen us coming. Check the back of the cave then we'll head to the east." Yuffie's eyes widened, she was standing to the east of them.

The small man squirmed. "But... It goes on forever, who knows what's hiding back there..."

The smart one sighed. He picked up a stick beside him and held his other hand against it. An orange glow emitted from his hand and the small stick started to flame. He walked past the other men and entered the dark cave. Two men followed him but the fat one stayed outside, guarding.

Yuffie turned around and thought quickly. She snapped her fingers and put her plan to action.

The fat man whistled outside the cave and scuffed his shoes in the dirt. He sniffed the salty air and looked around himself, bored. In the corner of his mind, he heard a small whirring noise. A spinning blade burst round the corner and shaved a few hairs off the fat man's head. He looked round at the blade, now deeply embedded in the rock, and jogged round the corner in the direction it had come from.

Yuffie smiled. She emerged from the opposite side of the wood and pulled her Conformer out of the rock with ease. She jumped onto her chocobo and rode to the water's edge. Concentrating hard, she closed her eyes and pulled her hands together.

"Oi!" The fat man shouted. Yuffie had purposely put footprints in the dirt and walked all over the place to lead him away but he had seen through this after about a minute. He started lolloping towards her slowly and a red glow started radiating from her hands. With a quick flick of her wrists, she pushed the energy towards the men's boat and it exploded from the force of her mastered Ultima materia. The chocobo screeched in protest and ran full speed across the water in front of them, but not before Yuffie had time to grin mischievously at the fat man - who was now on the floor.

--

Cloud's motorcycle purred gently when he stopped in the desert landscape. He pulled his phone out of his pocket held it to his ear. "Vincent. I can't find her anywhere, I haven't checked the Gold Saucer, but I'm just out of Cosmo Canyon. Can you get there faster?" He had to wait for the answer.

"I'm in Gongaga. I'm on my way now." Cloud shut his phone and shoved it back into his jacket. He started his engine back up and faded into the horizon.

--

Yuffie stroked the obedient chocobo and let the reins fall from it's shoulders. "Go." She whispered.

It nudged her chin twice and then ran from view.

Yuffie smiled at her friend's silhouette and turned around to face her next challenge. Corel stood in front of her, a daunting prospect of trying to get through without Barret seeing her hung low on her shoulders. People in builders clothes bustled around her working to rebuild the old town. It had moved on a lot in the past couple of years but most families were still stuck in tents and run down houses. After the fresh air of Goblin Island, this place seemed claustrophobic and intimidating.

"Excuse me Miss?" A hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder.

Yuffie whirled around to face her attacker, Conformer at his throat.

The old man looked at her, surprised and scared at the same time. "Um. Well, we need you to move out of the way of the trucks."

Yuffie blinked a few times before realising the sounds of machines had stopped. Her eyes darted from left to right as she saw everyone had stopped what they were doing to stare at her. She laughed nervously and pulled her weapon away from the old man's neck. "Sorry. Thought you were someone else." She scratched the back of her head and tried to smile.

"Hey!" A large man jumped out of one of the bulldozers and ran towards them, his wrist reflected the last of the suns rays on them.

"Uh oh..." Yuffie mumbled, stepping backwards slightly before turning round and running for it. She knew Barret couldn't keep up with her, but he was definitely going to tell everyone where she was.

Yuffie ran through the streets and up towards the cable car ride.

I didn't bring any money with me. All I have left is that pass.

--

"Hello?"

"Vincent! Are you at the Gold Saucer yet?" Tifa yelled. Marlene and Denzel's voices were shouting in the background.

"I'm in Corel now."

"Barret saw her, she's definitely there!"

"Did he talk to her?"

"No, she ran away again." Tifa's voice seemed softer.

Vincent sighed. "Idiot."

"Huh?" Marlene and Denzel were getting louder behind Tifa's voice.

"Why did just run away? She's an idiot."

Tifa found it hard to reply. When she found her voice, she really found it. "WHAT?! How could you say that?! Do you even know why she left?!" The voices in background abruptly stopped. "She ran away because she thought you never wanted to see her again! I found the note you left her!"

Vincent's mind raced back to what he had written. "I meant that I was going to Wutai, if I told her, she wouldn't have let me go."

"Did you have to be so illusive about it! She thinks you hate her! First you leave her for six months then this! She must be going crazy!"

"I-I didn't think about it that way."

"Go find her Vincent! NOW!" Tifa slammed the phone down and looked at Marlene and Denzel. "What?"

--

"Welcome!" The small child smiled up at Yuffie as she entered the last place she wanted to be.

The giant pink shell haunted over her small frame when she stepped through and the dazzling colours of the station overwhelmed her. I can't believe I used to like this place. She looked around at the eight rabbit holes in front of her and surveyed her options carefully. After thinking for a few moments she jumped into a rainbow bordered shoot to her left. The Speed Square. In a second she was flying through the air and down towards the next square, Yuffie loved just riding the shoots.

After steadying herself at the other end, she stepped out of the shoot platform and glanced around.

"Hey boss, do you really think she'll be here." Yuffie froze to the spot when he heard the Wutains' voices.

"She'll be here. I heard Lord Godo talking about how she loved this place, when he was alive..." The man's grip on his sword grew tighter.

"Huh." The fat man spoke. "You know, back before Lord Godo died, I had a crush on her."

Yuffie let out a muffled laugh and all four men looked up at her. "Uh oh..."

The men screamed in anger and started running across the metal floors.

Yuffie thought about pulling out her Conformer again but knew she couldn't win this fight. With a turn of her heel, she ran back into the shoot. Only to find it was already occupied by someone and she ran straight into their chest.

"Yuffie." Yuffie pulled her head to see Vincent staring back down at her.

"This is not my day." She mumbled.

Vincent glanced at the advancing men and back at Yuffie. "What's going on?"

Yuffie ran towards another shoot. "I'llexplainlatergottagobye!" With that, she disappeared.

Another head rush hit her hard as she stumbled back out of the shoot. "Where am I?" She whined, holding onto her head. The air around her was cold and she could her a wolf howling somewhere behind her. She was in the Ghost Square.

She could only take a few steps forward before the small guy jumped out of one of the other shoots. "Gotcha." He smiled maliciously.

Yuffie narrowed her eyes before hitting him square in the face with her foot.

He stuttered backwards before falling and hitting his head on a tombstone behind him. "You brat!" He shouted.

Yuffie laughed. "You're the one that got kicked in the face."

The man tried to protest but she was gone.

Her vision blurred at the flashing lights above her head and it took her some time to realise where she was. The Chocobo Square. Yuffie smiled in delight and started to bound up the silver stairs until a cold hand held her back.

"Yuffie." The iron grip wouldn't let go but she had no fear of the person holding her.

"Okay look, sorry I ran away but there are these Wutain-"

"Freedom fighters who want to kill you because you murdered Godo's chosen four?" Vincent raised his eyebrows.

"That's freaky how did you know that?!" Yuffie demanded.

"There!" It was the smart guy and the fat one, red in the face from running around so much.

Vincent stood himself protectively in front of Yuffie and pulled a gun from his belt. "Go." He stated.

Yuffie looked from the men to Vincent. "Meet me at the Temple of the Ancient ruins."

"Go." He said again.

Yuffie nodded and ran for the nearest exit.

A/N: Phew. I think there'll only be one or two more Chapters but any ideas would be welcome! Not sure when I will update next but hopefully it will be a shorter gap! By the way, certain chocobos in Final Fantasy Seven can run across water, that's how Yuffie got to Goblin Island and how she got away.