FicWad

Masks and Delusions


Once I'm safely back in my room, I throw myself down on the bed and cry. So he was just a bastard after all, just using me all along. "She'll never be Elena" he'd said, I guess she must be his actual girlfriend. I dimly remember a girl with cropped blonde hair, the youngest member of the Turks. I hadn't seen her for a while; I guess she must be away on business or something, so Reno decides to have some fun while she's away. It all made perfect sense.

I stop crying when I get the hiccups. Last time I cried like that was when my father took all my materia away, as punishment for attacking one too many tourists. That was when I decided to run away. I mean, I love Wutai, but it wasn't really Wutai anymore, not since my bastard father turned it into a bloody tourist attraction. Anyway, I loved being a materia hunter, being independent, it was fun. In fact, why should I hang around in this God forsaken town when I could be out on the road again, liberating foolish travellers of their precious materia. I sit up and rub the last tears from my face. Since when did the great ninja Yuffie go to pieces over a good for nothing Turk? I roll of the bed and go into the bathroom. My arms and legs are all muddy, but the cuts have stopped bleeding, they were only shallow. I mop myself up with a flannel and run my fingers through my hair. The cut on my face is a shame, but it hardly ruins my natural beuty. In fact, it adds a bit of, I don't know, danger. Perfect for a beautiful deadly materia hunter like me!

I'm feeling a bit better already, as I walk back into the bedroom and open my wardrobe. I rummage around in the bottom and pull out a heavy metal box, a worn our satchel and my shuriken. I sit back on the bed and open the box, and my face is lit by the soft glow of materia. I tip them out onto the bed and pick them up one by one, admiring their soft glow, the smooth feel of them on my palm. I pick out my best and most powerful pieces. I slot some into the shuriken and store some more in my bag. The rest I put lovingly back into the box and put it away. I have quite a bit of Gil saved up, so I should be alright for food. There's only one thing left. I open the drawer of my bedside table and take out my headband. I go over to the mirror and tie it round my head. I grin as I look at my reflection, beautiful, but there's anger ad determination there too. I'm a ninja once again.


I open the door and nearly jump out of my skin. Tifa is standing right outside it, ready to knock.

"Aaah! Oh, Tifa, hi! I've got something important to tell you!"

"Me too" she smiles "you go first"

I puff my chest out proudly. "I'm leaving" I announce. "I miss the materia hunter's life. I need to be out in the wild, running free, independent, you know the drill" Her face falls and I feel kind of bad. I guess she must be lonely since Aerith died, I mean, they were best friends. She has Cloud, but guys, as I have just learned, are dickheads. She tries to smile but I can see she's faking it.

"Vincent's leaving today as well!" she says, a little too brightly. "You could travel together!" I know what that means, that's code for, it's your turn to baby-sit his royal misery-guts and make sure he doesn't wander over a cliff or shoot himself "cos he'd rather feel pain then nothing at all" or whatever. Then I remember last night (it seems so long ago now) and go red. I guess I do kind of owe him an apology.

"Um, yea sure" I mumble, and turn to go down the stairs. Then I remember. "Hey, Tifa, what did you want to tell me?" I ask

"Oh, that" she says, looking at the floor, but smiling slightly despite herself. "I'm pregnant"

"What!" I scream. "You mean, Cloud, but, the mako, how?" A side effect of Mako treatment is impotence, at least that's what I'd been told, the last thing I need is to be stuck with a little ginger baby arsehole I tell myself, although I can't help the weirdest little twinge in my chest somewhere at the thought.

"I'm not sure I understand it, but I think something Hojo did in his experiments counteracted it in some way." she sighs. That's what the doctors said anyway. Cloud believes it's a gift from Aerith"

Now that sounds pretty harsh to me, and just like Cloud. I mean, the woman who has loved him his entire life basically is pregnant with his child, and all he can think about is Aerith, who was in love with Zack all along anyway. Told you men were arseholes. But I don't say anything, I mean, Tifa's over the moon and not even I'm THAT tactless. And it is pretty cool; I mean that practically makes me an aunt.

"That rules!" I grin. "If it's a girl you HAVE to name it after me ok?" She smiles.

"Maybe Yuffie, maybe. Anyway, you'd better go if you're going to catch Vincent"

"Oh yea..." I run over to her and squeeze her tight. "Congratulations" I tell her. "I'll be back before its born I promise"

"It?" she says, raising an eyebrow and smiling slightly.

"Oh you know what I mean" I yell over my shoulder as I run downstairs. Cloud is working at the bar.

"Oh my God Cloud Tifa just told me that RULES!" I scream at him. He looks up at me and gives me one of those creepy little smiles of his.

"Thank you Yuffie" he replies, then, "You going somewhere?" he adds, noticing my bag.

"Um, yea, I'm joining Vincent on his travels" I say nervously, it's still creepy when he stares like that, and his eyes are too similar to Reno's for my liking. I'm kind of running on a high right now and if I let myself think I know I'm just going to lose it. Luckily, not thinking is my speciality.

"He's just left" says Cloud. "If you run you should catch him up"

"Ok thanks! And congratulations again! And you had better be nice to her from now on or I'll tell Barret! Better still, I'll beat you up myself!" I yell at him as I run out the door.

Sure enough, Vincent is slowly plodding along the street. Sometimes we follow him in secret, but to be honest I need company, even if Vincent is hardly the best at idle chit chat.

"Vinnie! Hey Vincent! Wait for me!" I yell, running after him. He turns round and surveys me with those creepy red eyes, and I remember last night and blush again.

"Um, I, um, I'm sorry about last night, you know, I was drunk, and well, sorry" I mumble. He makes a noise in his throat that I take as acknowledgement.

"Anyway" I say brightly, shooting him one of my trademark winning smiles. "I'm travelling with you! Isn't that great!"

"I am going to Kalm. You can follow if you must" he says emotionlessly. Well, its better then being driven away by that gun of his I suppose. It's easiest to be hyper and random and not think with Vincent, because he treats you the same however you act. Hyper random Yuffie does not get miserable over stupid Turks. Now I just have to keep this up till Kalm. After that, well, I should have forgotten him by then.

*************

I make my excuses and leave Rude's as soon as I can, but at least an hour has passed. I run to Seventh Heaven. I have to find her, I have to explain, tell her I'm sorry, something, anything. I can't forget the way her eyes looked when she'd screamed at me. I burst into the bar, it's empty, and Cloud and Tifa are behind the bar, she's curled up against his chest, and he has his arms round her, but he's staring into the distance. None of that really matters to me though.

"Where's Yuffie?" I demand. They spring apart, blushing. I must look like I've lost it, I can tell from the looks on their faces.

"Didn't she tell you?" said Tifa sounding confused. "She left about an hour ago. She's travelling with Vincent; I don't know where they're going. She said she missed the materia hunter's life."

So, she's gone. I deserve it I suppose; I never did deserve her in the first place. Tifa is looking at me pityingly. Pity, I don't need pity. With an effort I shrug my shoulders.

"Oh well" I say, as calmly as I can manage. Then I turn and walk out. I feel empty, like there's nothing to live for anymore. I'm woken from my reverie by my mobile; I flip it open, and am greeted by the smooth, powerful voice of Rufus Shinra.

"Turks" he said, and for a second it's just like the old days, before everything fell apart, when we are a force to be reckoned with, not just me and Rude and a guy playing president. "We have a mission"

It's all he needs to say. I close the phone and flag down a passing car. I open the door and pull the driver out.

"Turk business, obstruct and you will suffer" I say grimly. I get in and slam the door, then speed off down the road, towards Rufus, towards my job. You're a Turk Reno, I tell myself. That's all that matters. Your job is your life.