Preview: "He got out of prison today. We don't think he'll come, but..." - Leon
Chapter One
Mommy
A four-year-old boy with snowy white hair that was kept short walked toward his adoptive mother. She was sitting on the couch cross-legged, a pencil between her teeth and a newspaper in her lap. Several X's were upon the paper, as were a few O's, although the boy did not know what they were for.
"Mom?" She looked over at him with lilac eyes. "Can we go ou'side?"
She smiled softly. "Not today, Rick." The boy pushed out his bottom lip in a pouty fashion. "No, Arick. It's too hot outside."
"O'right," he said dejectedly, going toward his toys once again.
Yuffie sighed. For one so small, he was very intelligent. He knew words that most kids his age could not even fathom, he caught on quickly to games like hide-n-seek and Simon says, he could even write his name in both print and cursive. Unfortunately, he was too intelligent for Yuffie. He had discovered that their last names did not match... And he questioned it. She dais that she would tell him when he was older.
"Hello?"
Arick's eyes lit up. "Uncle Riku!"
Yuffie stood from her seat on the couch, quickly stashing the pencil in her short ponytail and the paper under the cushions. She watched the silver-haired man walk in with two other guys; Sora and Squall. The three of them were rather at ease in her apartment, knowing that she would let them crash there, should the need arise. The three, in turn, helped take care of her and Arick. They gave her money when she fell short for the bills or groceries and baby-sat often.
Riku had picked the child up and set him up on his shoulders, where Arick was giggling wildly. Riku's aqua eyes shone with amusement as he laughed along with the boy. He was great with kids.
Leon wore jeans and a white tee-shirt, a sure sign that he could no longer wear the leather that he once wore. His blue eyes held hints of amusement, although he did not laugh aloud. Sora, too, wore jeans, but with a bright red tee-shirt with an anime character on the front. He laughed at Riku and with Arick.
"Are you okay, Yuffie?" a voice asked from the kitchen.
"Fine, Cloud. Sq-er, Leon, Riku, and Sora randomly appeared."
The blonde emerged in sweatpants and a tee-shirt. He was living on Yuffie's couch, and had ben for six months, because he had been evicted rom his apartment. Since Aerith's accident, the man had not been doing well. He and Aerith had just started dating but... He had been with her during the Sephiroth ordeal and had grown to love her. It was hard letting go... Yuffie had seen wonderful changes within six months, however.
"So what's new, guys?" Yuffie asked, always with a smile.
Their faces grew dark and Riku set Arick back onto the floor to play with his toys. Leon chose to be the bearer of bad news. "He got out of prison today. We don't think he'll come, but..."
Yuffie bit her bottom lip in worry. Had it been five years already? It was so unfair that he was getting out after only five years! He had raped a woman, for deity's sake! "It's so unfair," she mumbled, looking at Arick sadly. She loved him more than anyone could ever imagine, but he was born out of a crime, made from rape! Deity, she loved that boy, but his father was a criminal who could not be trusted.
"I don't think he'll do anything, Yuff," Sora said cheerfully. "Besides, isn't the twenty-seventh a B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y fiesta?"
"Birthday!" shouted the kid happily. "My birthday's on June twenty-seventh and I was born in 2000!"
Sora rubbed the back of his head sheepishly with his knuckles as everyone glared at him. "Uhm... Sorry?"
Cloud laughed. "Yuffie and I spelled it until he figured it out." He ruffled the boys locks, a gentle look on his features. "He's smart."
"Too smart," his mother grumbled. They looked at her curiously - save for Sora, who was busy playing with said child - imploring her to explain. "Later," was her only reply.
Cloud looked at the clock and swore under his breath. "Yuff, if we're going to go get that thing, then we'd better hurry."
She looked at him with curious amethyst eyes. He kept quiet, so she quickly covered with a beautiful, dazzling smile at the other three. "Mind watchin' Arick for about-"
"Until midnight or so?" Cloud finished for her.
Squall studied his blonde friend for a moment before nodding. "No problem."
Yuffie grinned at him thankfully and threw her arms around his neck in a hug. He returned the gesture, his cheeks getting a faint pink tinge to them when she pecked him lightly on the cheek gratefully. "Thanks, Squall!"
"It's Leon," he automatically replied.
Rolling her eyes, she went to change. Riku sent Cloud a look, but the blonde porcupine ignore it. What was he doing? Cloud excused himself to change, leaving the three baby-sitters alone with Arick.
Squall Leonhart sat on the the couch, making an audible crunch of papers. The three men shared a look before Curious Squall reached under the cushion to retrieve a newspaper with circles and x's. Arick walked over, large green eyes looking at the object in his mother's friend's hands. "That's Mommy's," he informed them.
"Leon," Riku started, but closed his mouth.
"What kind?" was all that Sora asked, dead-panned.
Squall surveyed the page before reading. "Waitress at Dee's. Five an hour, plus tips. McDonald's for five-fourty-five and hour. Rich gas station... cashier at Walmart..." His blue eyes looked up at the two younger men. "None of these jobs are here in Traverse Town."
Arick's adoptive mother flounced into the room wearing denim capris and a cute tee-shirt. "Hey, Le-" Her violet eyes stared at the newspaper. "Uhm..."
Sora looked at her with curiosity written across his boyish features. "Were you going to move without telling us?" he asked, anguish in his voice and eyes.
"No," she replied, shocked that they would think such a thing. "It's a back-up. I knew he would be getting out of prison soon. My job here at home with Arick is wonderful, but I can't have you three and Cloud support us for the rest of our lives!"
"Yes you can," Riku argued.
She laughed. "Once Arick starts school, I'm going to get a job."
"So she thinks," Cloud said from the doorway. Yuffie turned to glare at him but found herself staring instead. He wore a casual pair of wranglers, a white - tight - muscle shirt, and a black over-shirt. He must have worked out more than she realized. This definitely was not helping the fact that she already liked the guy.
Two of the men who discovered her newspaper felt the cold stab of jealousy. Yuffie shook herself from the trance quickly and looked back at them with her charmingly beautiful smile. "Thanks, guys. I owe you." She crouched beside her "son" and hugged him. "Be good, Rick. They'll watch you 'till I get home, okay?"
"Bye, Mommy," the boy replied, planting a wet kiss on her cheek.
"Have fun," Sora said, his cheery disposition back.
"He'll be fine," Riku assured her.
Leon remained quiet, but Yuffie said her goodbyes, as well as Cloud, and the two left. The three automatically fell to their positions. Sora sat on the floor and played with Arick, Riku plopped on the other end of the sofa to watch t.v., and Leon fell into thinking mode, having already been sitting on one end of the couch.
Yuffie had been close to him since they were young. She had helped him through his girlfriend's death, his mother's betrayal, and his suicidal slash homicidal moments. She could make him happy by smiling at him. One word made his heart thud painfully against his ribcage. He felt like a silly school girl with a crush sometimes.
Riku, too, had feelings for the single mother. He had been her playmate when they were children. When they were sixteen, she fell for a vampiric, poetry-reading, guitar-playing guy named Vincent. They dated until Yuffie got Arick, then the two became distant. She dumped him. Riku had been her best friend, andstill considered himself to be, but wanted to be more. He feared that he was smitten with her.
Sora was the only one of the three with a girlfriend. He viewed Yuffie as his sister and Arick as his nephew. Since they were eleven, Sora and Yuffie had fallen into a love-hate relationship; he loved her company, she hated his girlfriend. Yuffie and Kairi, needless to say, did not get along. Something about Kairi's inability to comprehend responsibility - and randomly visiting Yuffie's house while only Sora and Arick were there - irked the single mother of one.
The three continued what they were doing, not really paying attention to each other - Sora had Arick under control - and lost in their own thoughts.
"Okay, Cloud," the woman said, turning in her seat to look at him. "What gives?"
"Hm?"
She rolled her eyes. "Where are we going that we won't be back 'till midnight or so?"
The man grinned, eyes still watching the road while they zipped down the highway leading out of Traverse Town. "Guess you'll have to wait and see, won't you?"
She watched the blonde man for a moment, then huffed and leaned back in her seat. They stayed like that for roughly five minutes before Cloud's deep laughter filled the small car. Yuffie watched him with interest; her lilac eyes took in his every feature. Blue eyes- too blue to be real, she decided - twinkled with amusement, his smile was breath-taking and charming. She had seen him smile more and more since he had moved in with her and Arick. She would have loved to hear that she was the reason for his happiness, but seriously doubted it.
"I know a place," he told her, taking some narrow road off the highway, "Where the sand is whiter than Christmas snow in the fields outside Traverse Town. The waters are so blue that you'd think it was a picture. You can watch the ocean stretch on and on until it meets the sky." He glanced over at Yuffie to see her with her eyes closed, a goofy smile on her face as she envisioned it. He, too, smiled. "No one else ever goes there and you can only hear the waves crashing on the beach." He paused for a dramatic effect. "It's beautiful there."
Yuffie opened her eyes to look at him. "Sounds wonderful, Cloud. Kind of like a place me and the guys and Vincent went to. Dora, Riku, and Kairi are from a place called Destiny Islands. It was so wonderful." She smiled at the recollection.
"Squall and Riku went surfing, Sora and Kairi sat on the beach, me and Vince and Aerith sat at the cafe for a long time. After that, Aerith and I went swimming and Vince sat on the beach watching us. He had an odd smile... And I thought he looked like a gothic god sitting on the white sand, black pants on, bare-footed, black button-down un-butoned halfway down and sleeves rolled up."
Cloud noticed a tear trail down her cheek and swallowed hard. She missed Aerith... and she missed Vincent Valentine. She wanted her boyfriend who had been there with her for nearly five and a half years. He had held her in his arms during Aerith's funeral while she held Arick in her own arms. He would have stayed with her if only she had expressed her need for him to stay. Instead, she busied herself with Arick and refused anyone's help. Vincent had gone when she told him to leave.
"Sorry," she told him softly. "Guess I was just thinking about the past."
"It's okay," he told her. "You want to go see this place tonight? I mean, you don't-"
"Yeah," she replied. "It sounds gorgeous. Now you've got my interest!" She smiled a stunning smile. "Besides, I don't have a kid hangin' all over me," she joked.
He laughed. "Okay, then..."
They pulled into a pull-off a short while later and he shut off the Sundance. She eagerly jumped out and followed him down a rocky foot path. A small cabin sat not too far from the beach itself. Her breath caught at the sight and all she could do was stare. White-as-snow sand, never-ending ocean, waters as blue as Cloud's too-blue-to-be-natural eyes...
"It's gorgeous," the twenty-four-year-old gasped.
Cloud grinned sheepishly. "I hoped you would like it, Yuff." She smiled at him before grabbing his hand and dragging him over to the rocky cliffs over-looking the water. They sat down and gazed at the wonderful sight.
"Since you started letting me stay with you, I've been... Happier, I guess. You make me smile, something I hadn't done since the accident." He turned and looked at his younger friend. "I like you, Yuffie... A lot. And I want to get to know you better."
She smiled, heart thudding loudly. "Then the feeling's mutual," she replied.
A relieved smile fell across his face and they continued to watch the ocean. Her head somehow found its way to his shoulder and his arm mysteriously appeared around her waist. The beginning to a wonderful relationship.
End Chap 1
((Chapter inspired by the beach in Florida! Tee-hee! Next chapter: Turning Ten Review!))