Lean On Me (FF7)

3

~Yuffie's POV~

"How is he?" I ask, leaning against the doorway of Cloud's room. Her muscular back blocks my view from our retired leader. I may have been a happy-go-lucky, ditzy thief back when Cloud convinced me into joining Avalanche, but I've changed. Kinda. I still have loads of energy, I still prefer to be called a ninja over a girl, and my interest in materia has not lowered one bit, even if my father is doing well back in Wutai.

"I don't know," she sighs, the tightness in her voice evident. I could be because this us weird for us or because she's gonna cry. Dear Lord, tell me she's not going to cry. I refuse to be her tissue!

"Thanks for the help," I mutter, crossing my arms and kicking at the other side of the wall gently.

"I'm only telling you all I know," she scoffs.

"Which isn't much," I remind her. I do this to get a reaction, which is usually hilarious. "Tifa Lockhart? Not knowing what's wrong with her boyfriend? Seems a little off, considering you practically stalk him."

"He's not my boyfriend," she defends quickly.

"So you stalk him?" I smirk at my leg.

"I never said that," she gives an exasperated sigh.

"You never said you didn't."

"What is your... Ugh, forget it, I'm getting back to work." She stops away, the pink ribbon tied around her arm fluttering slightly. I tied mine around my arm at first. Then I changed it to my ankle, not because I'm ashamed of honoring Aeris, but because it's more comfortable for my to throw my Conformer. Or boomerang, whichever you prefer.

"Hey Cloud," I whisper, touching the soft white blanket covering his body. There's more to me and Tifa not getting along than me annoying her and her being a 'perfect' person all the time, which annoys the crap out of me.

Most people would say we have nothing in common. No, I'm not talking about the smart mouth answers like 'You're both girls, you have hair, you have butts". I'm talking about interests. We have one thing in common there. Cloud. Cloud is our common interest. Shh, don't judge. It's just the way he takes command without realizing it, how spikey his light blonde hair is, the dazzling blue if his eyes always dancing when he's happy or curious, but literally turns dark blue, almost gray, when he's angry. Somehow, I manage to notice all these little things but to him, I'm just another face in the crowd. Someone only useful when he wants me to pickpocket a monster or two while in battle. In other words, I'm a waste if space in this group.

Being the Emperor's rebellious daughter does have some perks in that lane. I'm determined. I'm staying in because as long as Cloud is alive and well and I'm interested in him, I will do whatever he says like a puppet. Maybe I wanna be his puppet. Geeze, that sounds wrong... Yup, I'm still the Yuffie you knew four years back! I fiddle with the huge metal wheel strapped to my hip. My dad asked me how I managed to throw the thing. I asked him how he managed to turn into a lion faced totem pole in seconds. He laughed then, thinking back to when I fought my way up all five floors of the Wutai tower, defeating my undefeated father and earning a summon materia.

I play with light, making it reflect everywhere off of my weapon. Suddenly, the room dims slightly. Probably a cloud overhead, my subconscious speaks. I frown, angling it to catch more light. The cloud disappears and the light flashes me right in the eyes.

"Holy crap!" I shriek, dropping the wheel back to it's position and rubbing my eyes.

Now bored (and slightly scared) of playing with light, I absent mindedly slip my pinkie finger in and out of the netting that covers my left leg. Most people think it's a fashion thing, but it's more of a security blanket thing. That leg was always weaker and thinner. I found as a young child hat wrapping a blanket it around it made me feel safer. As I learned to fight with a boomerang, I found netting to be more comfortable. Only my friends in Avalanche seem to understand that. Of course, they seem to understand everything and I'm just the slow one. Eh, whateves.

"Why are unconscious people so freaking boring!?" I groan, looking at the ceiling.

"Maybe because my head's killing me," I hear a low voice mutter.

"Cloud?" I look at him.

"Yep." his lips barely move and his eyes are still closed. I can hardly hear him, really.

"Are you still dead?" I furrow my eyebrows.

"What are you talking about?" he groans, shifting slightly.

"Never mind, inside joke," I snicker thinking of Cait Sith.

"Ah," he mumbles again before seemingly dozing off.

"As much as I would like to stay and awkwardly wait for you to speak again, I better go get Tifa." I say, fully aware he's out cold.

I stand and walk out of the room, passing by Marlene, who hugs her doll as I look at her. She I was beautiful once. I told her she was prettier. She agreed. Little snot bomb... I roll my eyes mentally and push past the thin purple cloth strips that divide the building in half.

"Tifa, he was just awake," I yawn.

"Is this for real or a practical joke?" she raise an eyebrow.

"Real deal," I shrug. "But he's out again."

"You probably bored him to death," she scoffs.

"We talked about you," I lie easily, leaning my back against the counter.

"What did he say?" she straightens slightly.

"He wants you to go drink out of the toilet and then kill a TV."

"Very funny."

"What! You totally should, it would scare the crap out if him if you told him you did that!"

"Unfortunately, some of us don't have time for practical jokes." Tifa sneers. "Not all of us were brought under royalty."

"In case you haven't noticed, this royalty has no mother, a suckish father, and would trade her life for a seal's in a heartbeat."

"Wow, that's deep."

"Sure it is."

"How can you talk about it that easily?" She sighs. I open one of my closed eyes, confused. "I mean your mom. It's hard for me to talk about death, and Cloud can't bring up Aeris without getting all depressed."

"I don't remember knowing her, it makes it easier, I guess," I shrug. Secretly, I remember every little thing about her. How she would sing to me at night and hug me when I fell, how she was beautiful. And I do get depressed. I've been clinically depressed before, it comes back sometimes. I'm just good at covering it up, I guess.

"Well, I'm gonna go say hi to Cloud now," she sighs.

"That's great," I mutter, sarcasm laced think in my tone.

She turns and I shake my head. Her hair looks ridiculous. Long, to the back of her knees, but tied at the end, where it splits in two. She looks like she grew a fish out of her scalp. Hey, just being the honest, somewhat tomboy I am!

I HONESTLY DIDN'T KNOW HOW TO END THIS CHAPTER! SO YUFFIE HAS A CRUSH ON CLOUD, EH? AS DOES TIFA. WHO DO YOU SHIP!? LIFE LONG FRIENDS VS BATTLE PARTNERS THAT SHARE AIRCRAFT SICKNESS. ♥⭐♥⭐♥⭐