18. smile

A section of the Bastion collapses while attempting to excavate some rubble, and several of the citizen volunteers are hospitalized as a result. It leaves the town in low spirits; Leon, who's mending a broken arm afterward, blames himself, even though it's totally not his fault.

And Yuffie, well, she's sick of seeing everyone so down in the dumps. Like, c'mon! It wasn't like the castle wasn't already ruined in the first place! And hell, no one was this disappointed when she was out for a week with pneumonia. So she sets out to make them all smile, because damn it, they all have such pretty smiles and it's a shame no one gets to see them.

She starts off easy - Aerith and Cloud. When they're together, they're so friggin' sappy - they're as sappy as trees, they are. Yuffie goes and gets the biggest, pinkest bouquet she can find at the local flower vendor's, attaches a card that just has a heart drawn on it, and delivers it to Aerith when she's eating lunch with Cloud. She squeals, kisses her man full on the mouth, and hugs him tight. Cloud manages a confused smile and makes eye contact with Yuffie over Aerith's shoulder; the ninja winks at him and vanishes. She has more people to visit today.

Tifa's been complaining about burning through her gloves too fast. Yuffie delivers an ancient, smelly book she found in the castle ruins to Merlin as payment, then works with him to develop some sort of super fancy gloves for her that harden like skin the more you use them. Merlin's the biggest nerd ever, so he loves the book, and Tifa hugs Yuffie so tight she swears she hears a rib crack.

Cid's another easy one. Yuffie just takes him an armful of sea-salt ice cream popsicles, and that's pretty much enough for him. She sits with him at his desk as he runs through claymore reports and complains about it.

"That all sounds really boring, Cid," she yawns, leaning back in her armchair. He looks at her for a moment before busting out laughing.

"It kinda is, kid," he says, grinning, and she even lets him call her 'kid' without correcting him.

Yuffie finds Leon sulking in his office, attempting to get his paperwork done with his left hand. She pokes her head in without knocking, and it takes him a second to notice she's there.

"Not today, Yuffie," he groans, setting his pen down. "I've got so much to do."

"Well, you could sit here and do paperwork," she says cheekily, "or...you could accompany me on my patrol. I've got the marketplace today, so it gets pre-tty boring."

He stares at her, his eyes unusually unfocussed. Eventually, he sighs and says, "Well, I guess I could," but she sees the faint, brief flicker of a smirk, and that's enough for her. She picks up his gunblade, which is sitting in the corner of the office, and sprints out.

"I'll meet you outside Merlin's!"

a/n; writing in yuffie's pov is always a struggle, but i gave it a go.

the next chapter is one of my favorites, so get ready for that.