::The Last Avatar::

Gamer Edition

BOOK ONE
LEVIATHAN

1.3

Saved by the Ninja

The question the small child had asked in a rather demanding tone hung in the air between them unanswered as Rue's mind tried to catch up to what had happened within just a few short moments. Rue's mouth opened again as she stared at the girl, she knew her eyes were probably slightly squinty as she tried to think of an answer that wouldn't sound like a jumble of unintelligible sounds to the child. In the end, her mouth answered for her without permission from her brain as it was wont to do.

"Why in the name of all that is good would you ever ask anyone that?" she responded with a question of her own. Huge grey eyes blinked at her retort and frowned minutely.

"They said you were," the little girl defended herself with a pout and crossed arms. It was adorable and Rue had to refrain from squealing like the fangirl she was. How old was Yuffie? She didn't look older than six or seven. Rue had to remember that she wasn't supposed to know who the small child before her was.

"Who said, sweety?" Rue asked her with an amused, but patient smile on her face. Yuffie crossed her legs to mimic her folded her arms as she studied the teenage girl sitting on the futon. Her face was twisted into what Rue thought was likely supposed to be a look of consternation, it wasn't any less adorable.

"Some of the servants and guards said fa-Lord Godo-caught a spy," Rue raised an eyebrow when Yuffie stopped herself from saying her 'father'. That was interesting, along with the information that everyone seemed to be of the opinion that she was a spy. "But some other people said that-Lord Godo-that he fought off That Silver Demon Man the other day," Yuffie still hesitated before mentioning Godo. Rue was surprised the child had the forethought to do so, but, she was going to be the best ninja to come from Wutai one day.

"I see, it's a little bit of both, I guess," Rue said thoughtfully. There was not a single thought about lying to the girl, she had too much respect for the warrior the girl would become by the time she was Rue's current physical age.

"So you are a spy!" Yuffie pointed a tiny finger at Rue almost comically. She had leaned forward enthusiastically on her remaining three appendage, almost scrambling at the thought of being right. Rue sighed and shook her head.

"No, I'm a civilian who was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but Sephiroth was there, he did fight Wutain Soldiers and I was captured during the fight. To what end I'm not entirely sure, Lord Godo has yet to decide," Rue shrugged and took a bite of her meagre lunch. Yuffie seemed to visibly wilt a little at hearing this.

"Oh, I'm sorry," Yuffie fell back onto her rear in embarrassment. Rue couldn't help but laugh a little at the deflated ninja-in-training.

"It's okay, if the rumours are as bad as you say then it's more than understandable that you thought I was," her smile was warm as she tilted her head to the side to get a better look at the little girl's face as she hung her head. Yuffie looked at her through the hair hanging in front of her face, a hopeful, but small smile on her face. "I'm Rue, what's your name?" she knew the answer of course, but making friends with Yuffie was just something Rue couldn't pass up at this point.

This simple thing gifted Rue with Yuffie's enthusiastic and highly infective grin. Standing quickly, if a little clumsily, Yuffie struck a dramatic pose.

"I am the Single White Rose of Wutai! The Great Ninja Yuffie!" she announced proudly. Or as proudly as a tiny little girl barely three feet tall could be. Again, adorable.

Rue grinned at the girl's antics and gave a flourishing, and somewhat playful, salute to the little Princess, though she noted the child had not mentioned a last name. Thus, Rue would wait for Yuffie to tell her when she felt like it. Though if Godo found out they'd come in contact with each other Rue had no doubt he would be back, probably yelling at her finally.

"Well it's nice to meet you Yuffie, I have to say I've never met an actual ninja before," Rue beamed at the girl. Hearing this Yuffie scrambled forward and plonked herself down next to Rue on the futon.

"It is pretty awesome," the little girl admitted with a grin. Rue glanced down at her sandwich and with a smile broke it in half and offered the child the half she hadn't bitten into yet. Yuffie stared at Rue's offering for a moment before reaching into her shirt and pulling out a bundle from a pocket and unwrapping a small pile of rice balls. The little girl then took the offered sandwich and handed Rue one of her, stolen, rice balls in return with a shy smile. Rue just laughed a little and took a bite out of the child's offering.

"I'll say, I always wanted to be a ninja," Rue admitted as they chowed down on their shared lunch. This seemed to perk the little girl up even more than the food had as she tried to grin with her mouth full of rice.

Rue was then treated to a full, detailed and highly exaggerated explanation on the training Yuffie had been put through thus far. Needless to say she was highly amused for a good few hours, though she did wonder why the guards didn't poke their heads in to find out who she was talking to.

It was later in the afternoon that Yuffie's explanation wound down and the small talk began. The little Princess asked Rue about where she grew up and Rue's ability to spin a story was tested. She tried to stick as close to the truth as possible while keeping with her Modeoheim story, a tricky balance to say the least.

"Um, Rue?" Yuffie eventually asked. She seemed a little uncertain, which was odd when she'd been practically bouncing a moment ago.

"Yeah?" Rue's head tilted in curiosity.

"What's that?" Yuffie pointed warily at the lump of metal that was then anvil 'B' had thrown at her a few days before. Rue looked at the anvil and back at Yuffie a few times before allowing the grin that had been threatening to take over her face to form.

"An anvil," was all the answer the little girl was given. Yuffie frowned and looked back at the anvil.

"What's it doing in here?" was the next question.

"Someone threw it at me," Yuffie's grey eyes widened at this information. The child seemed to take the location of the object into consideration now, the anvil was embedded into the floor near her new friends pillow.

"Why did they throw an anvil at you?" her little brows were furrowed at the thought. Yuffie certainly couldn't fathom why someone would throw an anvil at Rue.

"Apparently I was being boring," Rue's grin widened at the look of disbelief Yuffie gave her.

"I don't think you're boring," the little girl almost seemed offended that someone would think Rue was boring on her behalf. Rue laughed lightly and ruffled Yuffie's hair a little.

"Thank you, I don't think you're boring either," Yuffie beamed at Rue as she straightened her hair after the older girl's attack.

Eventually it was decided that Yuffie would escape the room when Rue's dinner was delivered by way of smoke bomb. Rue would feign ignorance on the whole incident so long as Yuffie could avoid getting caught. Rue had figured out she could use the 'Player Screen' to keep track of time as it had, very conveniently, a digital clock placed in one of the corners. After that discovery a few days ago Rue had taken to keeping track of when her meals were delivered, simply for something to do. Which now came in handy as she could warn Yuffie when she should get into position near the doorway for her escape.

Surprisingly their plan went smoothly. Or as smoothly as a plan concocted by a five year old and a teenager who's sanity was slightly more than questionable could go. The door slid open, Yuffie let her smoke bomb off and, with a grin to Rue, jumped headlong into the smoke and out into the corridor. Thankfully the guards were far more interested in the prisoner than any small children that may or may not have been entertaining said prisoner for hours right under their noses.

When the smoke cleared both the guards and Keiko were surprised to find Rue patiently sitting on her futon as though a smoke cloud had not enveloped half her small room only moments ago. When questioned Rue had shrugged, told them she was as confused about the smoke as they were and then politely asked the perplexed serving girl what she had brought for dinner today.

So began an almost daily event of a smoke bomb going off around dinner time in Lord Godo's 'guest's' room. Rue suspected her guards had caught on after she'd distracted them on the third such occasion so Yuffie could sneak in unnoticed; they hadn't said anything though, so maybe they didn't know for sure and weren't inclined to deal with the repercussions if they were right. No doubt Godo would be furious that his daughter had befriended his prisoner, the prisoner he seemed intent on ignoring for as long as possible. Or so it seemed.

Thus, no less than two weeks after Rue was imprisoned in her tiny room, shortly after lunch Rue found herself being amused once more by Wutai's five year old Princess as she told the teenage girl about her latest lessons in 'being a ninja' and very likely exaggerating constantly as little girls looking to impress were wont to do.

"So Sensei was all, 'get out of that rope in five minutes Yuffie,' and I was all 'no problem,' and then he tied me up real tight and, and-" Yuffie grimaced and hung her head embarrassed, "and I couldn't get out, I hate rope escape lessons, they're so boring!" Rue had to resist the urge to laugh at the frustrated look on the little girl's face. Yuffie would likely regret not paying attention to that particular set of lessons when she was older, but it wasn't the teens place to warn the little Princess of such things. It was part of Yuffie's Materia-thieving-Corneo-chasing sub-plot after all. Not to mention that if she was still around then, she could remind Yuffie of this very moment and have some laughs. After they'd gotten her down from the Buddha face. Yes. After.

"Oh well, no worries, I'm sure you'll get the hang of it eventually, Yuffie," Rue tried to encourage the little girl. As expected Yuffie's face brightened and she opened her mouth to continue with her story, unfortunately all that came out was a squeak of surprise as her grey eyes grew large. Yuffie was facing the door. Rue made a face;

"Lord Godo just came in didn't he?" she asked with a sigh. Yuffie didn't speak, just swallowed and nodded as she lowered her eyes in discomfort.

Turning Rue indeed found the almost purple faced Godo staring at the two of them in what Rue could figure as a mixture of outrage, shock and disapproval with some confusion mixed in just because. She smiled at the man and waved at him as though he hadn't kept her prisoner all this time. "Good afternoon, your Lordyship, welcome to the party, Yuffie was just telling me how her lesson went yesterday," Rue explained. She didn't miss the way Yuffie seemed to get smaller at the mention of her name or the way the Lord's eyebrows twitched ever so slightly at the same thing. Interesting. Maybe her blossoming friendship with the stubborn mans daughter could get her the hell out of this bloody boring as fuck room. If she was lucky. Yeah, this was never going to work.

"Girl-" Godo began, he was looking at Yuffie and was likely going to dismiss her if Rue didn't take her chances now.

"I would just like to thank you, Lord Godo, for allowing me to have some company, finally, Yuffie has been a delight and wonderfully entertaining during her visits to me when she has time in her busy schedule," Rue said warmly and louder than she might have normally. She watched the Lord blink at the interruption and turn to her with a frown on his face.

"What?" he asked her with steel in his gaze. Rue took a deep breath, she had to keep her cool and not let the damnable man bully her this time. She was a bloody adult even if she didn't look it or even act it half the time. "I didn't-"

"I hope you've decided on what you're going to do with me finally, sitting around while healing from injuries is all well and good, but I've been well enough to get out and about for some time now," Rue cut him off again. Godo didn't look pleased she wasn't letting him speak and Yuffie was staring at Rue in stunned awe, it was likely she'd never seen anyone stand up to her father.

"Perhaps I've been too accommodating Avatar, maybe you would prefer the dungeons?" he asked her icily. Rue smiled at him sweetly, ignoring the rising fear in her gut, she wasn't playing his game this time. She was playing her own, maybe. Surely she had to catch a break soon.

"Leave Rue alone!" the furious little voice demanded sharply. Both Rue and Godo jumped as Yuffie scrambled to stand in front of the teen protectively, much to Rue's surprise, the five year old had been pretty damn scared a moment ago and now she was staring Godo down like she'd been doing it for years. Huh, maybe she could catch a break?

"Yuffie, that is enough, go to your room and I'll forget this insubordination," Godo told his daughter angrily. Yuffie shook her head and stood her ground stubbornly.

"No, I won't, Rue is my friend and you're being a meanie to her!" a little foot was stomped against the tatami below it. Rue watched Godo curiously, it seemed that he may had been bluffing about the dungeon the way he was eyeing his daughter now. Perhaps he'd been trying his scare tactics again to bully her into agreeing to some crazy scheme he and the Wusheng had concocted.

Probably, sounds like something this guy would do, one member of her personal peanut gallery commented.

"Yuffie!" Godo attempted to grab control of the situation the same way he seemed to to everything else, with force. It did him little good as Yuffie just dug her heels in more and refused to be budged. Even going so far as to turn around and hug Rue tightly, stating through teary hiccups that the teen was her only friend and Godo would not take that from her.

Rue could only sigh and shake her head at the Lord of Wutai, she gently hugged the little girl that had attached herself around Rue's neck and soothed her to calm with little trouble. Children had never been much trouble for Rue, thankfully, and calming this one, while not easy, was easier than some other children she'd known. Herself included.

"Yuffie, Lord Godo didn't mean it, he's not putting me in the dungeon, okay?" she assured the little girl softly.

"He won't?" she asked. Her little voice was watery, but Rue could tell she was already perking up a little from the returned hug.

"Nope, he was just trying to be a bully and make me do something he didn't think I would agree to if he didn't," Rue sent a sharp look to the Lord. He looked at her with a frown on his face, but less steel in his eyes than before. Yuffie pulled away a little now and looked around at her father with what appeared to be an attempt at disapproval. Still adorable. It was ruined a little by the tear stains that tracked their way down her face and the tremble in her lip, but she did well for a five year old on the precipice of temper-tantrum-city.

"No bullying!" she told her father as sternly as she could. Her tiny finger even making an appearance to point at him to get her own point across. A bushy eyebrow raised and for a moment Rue was worried it would be his turn to dig his heels in, but the man sighed and nodded warily.

"Very well Yuffie, in this, you shall have your way," he looked to Rue and motioned for her to follow him. Her own eyebrow raised Rue attempted to get up and follow, only to find the little Wutian Princess very determinedly hanging on to her. Looking down into the large grey eyes Rue could only sigh herself, and lift the girl with her and walk out of her small prison with an armful of Tiny Yuffie.

Rue had a feeling the little girl was feeling quite proud of herself at this moment, if a little shaken from standing up to Godo for the first time. She suspected Godo was proud of her too, if only just a little.

"You didn't plan this?" Rue looked up to see Godo looking at her curiously. She blinked in surprise and then snorted in amusement.

"I doubt anyone, including yourself, can plan anything concerning Yuffie, she's far too unpredictable," Rue shifted what seemed to be becoming the dead weight of a contently napping five year old as she spoke. Godo nodded, appearing appeased for the moment and returned to the hallway he'd been leading her down.

The moment he turned his back Rue found herself swallowing a shriek as well as a large amount of curses as without warning colourful words danced in front of her face;

CONGRATULATIONS!

ACHIEVEMENTS UNLOCKED!

*The Single White Rose of Wutai*

Befriended Yuffie Kisaragi

Reward:

Steal Materia

*Thief Rue*Unlocked

Not to mention the yellow ball of thieving goodness that was just hurled at her from apparently nowhere! Rue had to silently juggle a now sleeping Yuffie and try not to drop the Steal Materia she'd just received from the achievement all the while following Godo down a hallway. Needless to say it wasn't easy and it took her several tries to get the damnable yellow ball into her pocket without making a noise that would draw the Lord's attention back to her.

The walk didn't last for very long after that, Godo came to a halt in front of a pair of ornate red doors and stopped a young woman as she walked past, talking to her in hushed tones and motioning to Rue and the sleeping Princess. The woman nodded and approached Rue with a soft smile, before quietly explaining that she would take Yuffie back to her room to nap in peace. Rue allowed this after giving Godo a hard look, she had no doubt that Yuffie would kick up a stink about this the moment she awoke and from the grimace he gave her and the dismissing motion he made he knew it too. Carefully the two women shifted the little girl from one to the other and once the task was done the maid swiftly made her way down the hall to take the child to her room.

"I apologise for Yuffie, she can be overzealous at times," Godo, surprisingly, sounded quite tired now. Rue smiled and shook her head at the man.

"Don't be, she's a good kid," Godo nodded and opened one of the large doors they were standing before.

"Come, we have some things to discuss," he motioned for her to follow him into the room.

AN: Mother of Gods this chapter took me forever to get done. I have a number of excuses ready to go, for example-

One: Dragon Age: Inquisition came out
Two: I wasn't sure how to actually write this chapter
Three: I live in Queensland and it's motherfucking hot lol
Four: Christmas and New Years

I would like to appologize to those that have been waiting for an update. I wish this were a better chapter, but honestly, I needed to get to this point or else all I'd be writing about would be Rue's bordom at being a prisoner for a few chapters and that's really no fun for anyone.

You should be grateful I did manage it today though, I've been writing in 35-37 degree(Celsius) heat here with my only sources of coolness being a squirt bottle and my shower as my AC is broken and I don't own a fan. Why I don't I'll never know. Madness.

Concerning future chapters:
Expect time skips to start more frequently, Water Bending training starts soon and I'm not sure how interesting I can make that, so important bits will be there but the uninteresting bits won't be. Once training begins most chapters will likely be character development, training montage and maybe some bonus scenes with other characters...Also TERA will be back either next chapter or the one after! YAY!

I can't promise updates will be as frequent as they were when we started, but they will keep coming! I have too many ideas for this fic to let it die!
Thank you for all the faves, alerts and Reviews thus far everyone!

Till next time
RLK