|Disclaimer: See other chapters for a full disclaimer.|
----~----
It had been an extremely long walk to get from 247 West 44th Street to Central Park, and it was especially not good for Yuffie, whose feet were most comfortable in a pair of old sneakers. But she had insisted on doing so, that someone or something MUST be out even at this late, that even if there wasn't anything the police were still roaming around on their shaggy Clydesdales and wouldn't mind a young couple staring at them. Squall, not in the mood to argue, had let her drag him the whole long way, past Fortuneoff's and the Plaza to the dimly lit park that was practically empty.
Even now, as they strode idly through the trees with Yuffie's arm latched around his waist and grinning up at the trees, there was hardly anyone here; not that they could be blamed. At one o'clock in the morning, it was hard to see anyone out in Central Park, just waiting to be robbed even with the police clomping by. The eighteen-year-old had her head tipped back to look at the patches of sky through the trees, and her neck hurt so fiercely when she finally brought her eyes down earth that she raised her free hand to rub it. A lamp gave them both a soft glow as the passed under it, and the horizontal scar between Squall's eyes was visible as they walked in the light. Yuffie squinted at it and raised a finger, tracing down the length of the ruined skin. He winced visibly but made no move to stop her.
"How did you get that?" she asked quietly, stopping and pulling him off of the path and onto the grass and shoving him onto one of the large boulders that dotted the park. She scrambled up beside him, curling instinctively into his side. He gave a resigned sigh and put an arm around her shoulders.
"I got into a street fight a few years back, when I was still a junior in college - Columbia. Please don't ask me how I got in there when I can't get up in the morning. Anyway, it was me and my roommate, Toshiro - weird kid, man; he scared me - going to the Port Authority. We had driven from the university into central Manhattan for the day to meet up with his friend, some guy named Cloud - funny how things work out, as Cloud is my boss, now. He had just graduated at NYU then, and was applying for his teaching job. Or something like that." He shook his head, and Yuffie cuddled against his side to stay away from the cold, looking up imploringly at him, which was her signal for him to start talking again. "Whatever. So, we were almost there, and we noticed a couple of guys driving out of the Port Authority - with our car. I mean, that doesn't happen very often - you know how many cops are there? - but still, it was Toshiro's car, and we seriously lost it. Him, being half-Japanese, just leaped into it and threw himself in front of the car, and they jammed on the brakes. I grabbed one guy and yanked him out, and Toshiro just ran at another one when he came out . . . one thing led to another, and the guy I was trying to deal with grabbed a shattered wine bottle off of the side of the road and just . . . cracked it over my forehead. I must've passed out, because when I woke up the cops were there, asking about what happened, and I couldn't move. I wanted to kill that guy," he said, hands instinctively clenching into fists.
Yuffie put a hand by his neck, massaging his shoulder slightly with one hand. He flinched, but didn't move away - it made the anger go away, somewhat. "I can't imagine what that must've been like. Did you have to go to the hospital?" she asked quietly, examining the scar with squinted indigo eyes.
"Yeah, but I wouldn't let them stitch it up - I nearly gave one of the doctor's a matching one when he tried to touch me. So I made them leave it, and ta-da - there it is. Not a very glamorous story, like . . . a battle between two rivals, or something like that." [A/N: That was how Squall got his original scar, in a battle with Seifer, his worst enemy, in Final Fantasy VIII. He ended up giving Seifer a scar that mirrored his own. I love irony.] He grinned coyly, absently running a hand through his hair. Yuffie caught it as it dropped and held it, then lowered it onto the boulder and thrust herself at him, wrapping her arms around his chest. He blinked a few times before he laid his own hands gingerly over the younger girl.
"You know, I'm half-Japanese, too. I could reduce you to a bloody pulp if I wanted to, just like Toshiro. Where is that guy, anyway?" she said, grinning into his shirt, her voice slightly muffled.
"He owns a restaurant on the street across from the Stage Deli, near the Virginia Theatre. I ate there one time, shortly after graduation - it wasn't half bad, for foreign food. He wanted to be a doctor, and I assume he's going to medical school, now. He's really weird; he used to carry around shurikens and stuff - like you." Yuffie beamed at the compliment and managed, in some unexplainable way, to produce the Asian weapon out of her boot, shifting it so that it glinted in the lamplight. For a few minutes they sat there, with Yuffie twirling the ninja star absently in her fingers and Squall running a thumb repeatedly over the scar.
"Do you like Playstation?" he asked suddenly, startling Yuffie out of her subdued thoughts. She blinked a few times before replying, grinning and leaning forward, planting a small kiss on his nose before withdrawing. Despite himself, he grinned.
"Yes." She giggled girlishly, and then added, "But it has to be the second one, 'cause the first one's crap." He nodded.
"Good. I'm addicted to that stupid thing. Cloud told me yesterday when we were about to leave the university to come over his apartment after the show, that he and Aerith would be there, no matter what. He's got this new game I'm dying to try; what say we go over there?" He stood gallantly and swept Yuffie easily off of the boulder and into his arms, cradling her gently. She giggled insanely and buried her head in his chest.
"Sure, but what's it called?" she asked as they started out of the park, the lights of Manhattan possibly even brighter at night than during the day.
He shrugged, trying to remember. After a moment, he grinned; it was a miracle he had remembered. He stated, quite proudly: "Kingdom Hearts."
|----~----|
I lied. It's done.
I had random inspiration and it wouldn't leave me alone till I used it in this chapter, and I really wanted that to be the ending line. I thought it was pretty creative, but you guys don't have to . . . *sniff* Anyway, there was quite a long delay in this chapter, as school started today! I've got a locker, Advanced Multicultural Studies (which was the one thing I DIDN'T want), algebra and cryptology, and all of that fun stuff. Plus I ripped this huge chunk of skin off of my toe and it really hurts . . .
Anyway, besides that - it's done! I may or may not put up one tiny little piece after this, it all depends. And if I do - BE surprised! Be VERY surprised!
Whatever. Thanks for everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, who reviewed from the beginning. I expected this thing to be some lowly little ficlet, and WHAMO, I've got fifty reviews! That's almost close to _Exile_, but number one grossing fic - 61, which is -not- a lot. I'm a pathetic writer, as you see. But besides all that, I want to thank everyone, even if you didn't review but just read it randomly:
(in no particular order)
annjirika
ObsidianSorrows
Jade Stellar
Vulpes Lapis (as always ^^ Get on with _Paint the Sky with Stars_!)
Heather Christi
Natsu-Aoki
Yuffieleonheart
Lilkimmee
Eiko
Mind's End
Vivi
N00bster
BatGirl
DarkKairi1
PJPrincess
[insert your name here]
*pants* Long list! *wipes sweat from brow, nose, and above lip (lick there after running some time; it tastes good! *avoids scary stares*)* Anyway, farewell, thank you ALL, and cheers!
Tenna' ento lye omenta,
Ellyrianna
Táro
Michelle Dawson (one of my new teachers called me that today . . . its so off base I think she pulled it from another planet . . .)
Bobbi
Elly
----~----
It had been an extremely long walk to get from 247 West 44th Street to Central Park, and it was especially not good for Yuffie, whose feet were most comfortable in a pair of old sneakers. But she had insisted on doing so, that someone or something MUST be out even at this late, that even if there wasn't anything the police were still roaming around on their shaggy Clydesdales and wouldn't mind a young couple staring at them. Squall, not in the mood to argue, had let her drag him the whole long way, past Fortuneoff's and the Plaza to the dimly lit park that was practically empty.
Even now, as they strode idly through the trees with Yuffie's arm latched around his waist and grinning up at the trees, there was hardly anyone here; not that they could be blamed. At one o'clock in the morning, it was hard to see anyone out in Central Park, just waiting to be robbed even with the police clomping by. The eighteen-year-old had her head tipped back to look at the patches of sky through the trees, and her neck hurt so fiercely when she finally brought her eyes down earth that she raised her free hand to rub it. A lamp gave them both a soft glow as the passed under it, and the horizontal scar between Squall's eyes was visible as they walked in the light. Yuffie squinted at it and raised a finger, tracing down the length of the ruined skin. He winced visibly but made no move to stop her.
"How did you get that?" she asked quietly, stopping and pulling him off of the path and onto the grass and shoving him onto one of the large boulders that dotted the park. She scrambled up beside him, curling instinctively into his side. He gave a resigned sigh and put an arm around her shoulders.
"I got into a street fight a few years back, when I was still a junior in college - Columbia. Please don't ask me how I got in there when I can't get up in the morning. Anyway, it was me and my roommate, Toshiro - weird kid, man; he scared me - going to the Port Authority. We had driven from the university into central Manhattan for the day to meet up with his friend, some guy named Cloud - funny how things work out, as Cloud is my boss, now. He had just graduated at NYU then, and was applying for his teaching job. Or something like that." He shook his head, and Yuffie cuddled against his side to stay away from the cold, looking up imploringly at him, which was her signal for him to start talking again. "Whatever. So, we were almost there, and we noticed a couple of guys driving out of the Port Authority - with our car. I mean, that doesn't happen very often - you know how many cops are there? - but still, it was Toshiro's car, and we seriously lost it. Him, being half-Japanese, just leaped into it and threw himself in front of the car, and they jammed on the brakes. I grabbed one guy and yanked him out, and Toshiro just ran at another one when he came out . . . one thing led to another, and the guy I was trying to deal with grabbed a shattered wine bottle off of the side of the road and just . . . cracked it over my forehead. I must've passed out, because when I woke up the cops were there, asking about what happened, and I couldn't move. I wanted to kill that guy," he said, hands instinctively clenching into fists.
Yuffie put a hand by his neck, massaging his shoulder slightly with one hand. He flinched, but didn't move away - it made the anger go away, somewhat. "I can't imagine what that must've been like. Did you have to go to the hospital?" she asked quietly, examining the scar with squinted indigo eyes.
"Yeah, but I wouldn't let them stitch it up - I nearly gave one of the doctor's a matching one when he tried to touch me. So I made them leave it, and ta-da - there it is. Not a very glamorous story, like . . . a battle between two rivals, or something like that." [A/N: That was how Squall got his original scar, in a battle with Seifer, his worst enemy, in Final Fantasy VIII. He ended up giving Seifer a scar that mirrored his own. I love irony.] He grinned coyly, absently running a hand through his hair. Yuffie caught it as it dropped and held it, then lowered it onto the boulder and thrust herself at him, wrapping her arms around his chest. He blinked a few times before he laid his own hands gingerly over the younger girl.
"You know, I'm half-Japanese, too. I could reduce you to a bloody pulp if I wanted to, just like Toshiro. Where is that guy, anyway?" she said, grinning into his shirt, her voice slightly muffled.
"He owns a restaurant on the street across from the Stage Deli, near the Virginia Theatre. I ate there one time, shortly after graduation - it wasn't half bad, for foreign food. He wanted to be a doctor, and I assume he's going to medical school, now. He's really weird; he used to carry around shurikens and stuff - like you." Yuffie beamed at the compliment and managed, in some unexplainable way, to produce the Asian weapon out of her boot, shifting it so that it glinted in the lamplight. For a few minutes they sat there, with Yuffie twirling the ninja star absently in her fingers and Squall running a thumb repeatedly over the scar.
"Do you like Playstation?" he asked suddenly, startling Yuffie out of her subdued thoughts. She blinked a few times before replying, grinning and leaning forward, planting a small kiss on his nose before withdrawing. Despite himself, he grinned.
"Yes." She giggled girlishly, and then added, "But it has to be the second one, 'cause the first one's crap." He nodded.
"Good. I'm addicted to that stupid thing. Cloud told me yesterday when we were about to leave the university to come over his apartment after the show, that he and Aerith would be there, no matter what. He's got this new game I'm dying to try; what say we go over there?" He stood gallantly and swept Yuffie easily off of the boulder and into his arms, cradling her gently. She giggled insanely and buried her head in his chest.
"Sure, but what's it called?" she asked as they started out of the park, the lights of Manhattan possibly even brighter at night than during the day.
He shrugged, trying to remember. After a moment, he grinned; it was a miracle he had remembered. He stated, quite proudly: "Kingdom Hearts."
|----~----|
I lied. It's done.
I had random inspiration and it wouldn't leave me alone till I used it in this chapter, and I really wanted that to be the ending line. I thought it was pretty creative, but you guys don't have to . . . *sniff* Anyway, there was quite a long delay in this chapter, as school started today! I've got a locker, Advanced Multicultural Studies (which was the one thing I DIDN'T want), algebra and cryptology, and all of that fun stuff. Plus I ripped this huge chunk of skin off of my toe and it really hurts . . .
Anyway, besides that - it's done! I may or may not put up one tiny little piece after this, it all depends. And if I do - BE surprised! Be VERY surprised!
Whatever. Thanks for everyone, and I mean EVERYONE, who reviewed from the beginning. I expected this thing to be some lowly little ficlet, and WHAMO, I've got fifty reviews! That's almost close to _Exile_, but number one grossing fic - 61, which is -not- a lot. I'm a pathetic writer, as you see. But besides all that, I want to thank everyone, even if you didn't review but just read it randomly:
(in no particular order)
annjirika
ObsidianSorrows
Jade Stellar
Vulpes Lapis (as always ^^ Get on with _Paint the Sky with Stars_!)
Heather Christi
Natsu-Aoki
Yuffieleonheart
Lilkimmee
Eiko
Mind's End
Vivi
N00bster
BatGirl
DarkKairi1
PJPrincess
[insert your name here]
*pants* Long list! *wipes sweat from brow, nose, and above lip (lick there after running some time; it tastes good! *avoids scary stares*)* Anyway, farewell, thank you ALL, and cheers!
Tenna' ento lye omenta,
Ellyrianna
Táro
Michelle Dawson (one of my new teachers called me that today . . . its so off base I think she pulled it from another planet . . .)
Bobbi
Elly