Beep

for caitlan

At first, he thought he'd gone blind. But that was way out of rationality. Just because he couldn't see a thing didn't mean he was… oh, my god! I'm blind! He let out a squeak, but weirdly enough he regained composure. He was definitely not blind… it was just… the apocalypse! He let out a wail, begging for mercy, because he was way too young to die and he wanted to see his grandchildren… then again, he'd have to have children first—his crazed thoughts were interrupted by a distorted voice.

"Guess who?"

Sora gave out a shout and jumped up, and suddenly he could see again. "SATAN! Oh, my god, it's the devil!" In a frantic manner, he slipped, and almost fell off the edge of the wooden dock. Almost, because a hand grabbed his left wrist and strongly pulled the insanity-driven boy onto the surface once more. Sora practically whirled around in dizziness, reaching out with his hands and feeling for something to hold onto before he'd collapse. He grabbed a person at the last second, wrapping his arms around her as though she were a pole. The sudden impact led the both of them into crashing down on the wood with a single heavy thump, including an 'oof' and an 'ouchie.'

Sora's nose touched the tip of another nose… a nose that belonged to a certain smirking raven-haired female. His cheeks burned up in embarrassment as he stared down, cross-eyed, at the older girl. The flaming cherry color began to flood his face as he noticed their awkward position. Not only were they sprawled on the ground, together, but Sora was directly on top of this newcomer, with his arms still around her.

"Yuffie!" Sora choked out, his blue eyes wide.

"Yeah, that took you a while," she replied airily, something between a smirk and a beam evident upon her facial features. "Are you trying to rape me? Because you're not doing a very good job."

"What the f—" Sora flung himself off the female ninja, a look of distaste on his face, disturbed by her words. He shook his head. Pervert. If you looked at things from the beginning, it seemed as though it were Yuffie who was really trying to rape him. Talk about sneaking up behind someone's back and making them think it was Satan himself! Being a quick forgiver, Sora thrust out a hand to assist Yuffie in standing.

She accepted it and stood up, her dark eyes almost exactly leveled with Sora's. Over a year ago, he seemed so short! Damn, she had practically cherished her height advantage to the boy. Too bad he had gotten a surprising growth spurt, and at the same time gone through uber-puberty. His voice had definitely gotten deeper. It reminded her of those sexy voices you'd hear on the radio late at night…

"So, what brings you to Destiny Islands?"

"Your mother."

"… Okaay. It's great to see you again, Yuffie."

"Ditto."

They watched the sunset together. It was beautiful, and he'd watch it every second of his life if he could, no matter how screwed up his eyes would get. But today seemed to count a lot more. He didn't really want it to set all the way. Because he was watching it with Yuffie. Yeah, she couldn't keep the silence, because she had her own sound effects for the descent of the sun—surround sound and all—but Sora enjoyed her company, even though he wouldn't admit it. Yuffie's perked voice broke through his thoughts, shattering them into a million pieces.

"Sora, don't ever change."

Where have I heard those words before?

"What?" Sora asked, bewildered, eyeing Yuffie.

"I said, don't ever change. Those clothes look so sexy on you."

Great.

Alas, the sun finally set and Yuffie began her round of applause, cheering as though she had just seen an Oscar-winning movie. She then proceeded into her standing ovation, bringing herself up to her feet and continuing to clap. Sora couldn't help but laugh, his eyes brightening in the newly arrived gloom as he pushed himself into a standing position. He stretched his arms upwards, gazing up at the still-darkening sky, until Yuffie poked his ribs and earned a spastic reaction from him. The glare that had appeared on Sora's face disappeared the moment that Yuffie laughed and practically threw herself against him in a tightening embrace.

"Thanks for putting up with me," she whispered into his ear, causing his cheeks to flush bright pink all over again. She then pushed a horridly crumpled piece of paper into his fingers and stepped back. "That would be my number," Yuffie piped, pointing at his once-vacant hand. "I'll be staying at Selphie's."

Sora was left watching Yuffie race off into the distance, an utterly blank expression on his face. His heart was pounding. What happened? Did that actually happen? He had Yuffie's number? He really had Yuffie's number! It actually happened! Sora regained his proper bodily functions and brought the paper upwards, spreading it out so that he could make out Yuffie's penned handwriting—smeared ink and all that shizz, with alternating caps in the wording.

There was her number, and a small note underneath it.

caLL mE oR i'LL eAt jOo.

Sora smiled.

His hands were damp and cold, reaching hesitantly for the phone. He quickly drew back. Okay, so maybe it wasn't a good idea to call a girl the same day she'd given you her number, but he couldn't help it! He sort of… wanted to hear her voice. He had never felt this sort of tense feeling with Yuffie before—she was always just the 'older ninja girl who was probably gonna end up with Leon.' Sora almost laughed. Now that he thought about it, her being with Leon seemed silly, and him going through uber-puberty was probably the best thing that had ever happened to him—besides getting Yuffie's number, anyhow. Because if he and Yuffie ever started going out, it wouldn't look like she was dating some midget guy with outrageously big feet.

Sora began to regret thinking that last sentence. He and Yuffie were just friends. She was a friend. You know, the type of friend that accuses you of attempting rape and insists that you look sexy in your new outfit. The type of friend that smirks when you land on top of her, the type of friend that would save you from falling off the edge of a dock, even though she very much knew that you were a skilled swimmer. The type of friend who would hug you so tight, and afterwards, give you her number, threatening to 'eAt jOo' if you didn't call at all.

Okay, maybe there was something more than friendship there. He wouldn't know unless he called her. Who knew how long she was going to be at Destiny Islands? Besides, he certainly did not want to get eaten by Sata—Yuffie. He still wanted to live to see his grandchildren, by the way, so he felt inclined to calling the devi—ninja.

Sora drummed his fingers against the tabletop for a moment, before shaking his head and grabbing the phone from the receiver. Surprisingly, after reading her number over and over so many times, he had already memorized it. Which was a pretty big thing, considering his awful short-term memory and all. He punched in the last number, and bounced up and down on his heels in apprehension as he heard multiple rings. One ring, three rings…

Sora bit his lip. Please be there!

Click.

"Hello?"

Releasing the breath he was oh-so-desperately holding, Sora began to stutter incoherently, finding nothing to say. He reached up with his free hand and rubbed his forehead, warbling nothing in particular to himself. What was he going to say to her, anyway? Confess his love for her soo-pahh ninja skills?

"Hellooo?"

Pause.

"Yuffie?" Sora gulped loudly, tugging at his shirt collar. "Look, I just called because I didn't want to get eaten—okay, not really, I wanted to see if you were free sometime—I mean, if you wanna hang out—you don't have to if you don't want to, just… well, I sort-of-kind-of like you… you know, like you—"

Yuffie's voice returned and cut him off. "Are you there?"

Sora was overcome with confusion.

When the ninja's trademark laugh echoed insanely over the phone, Sora wanted to die. And when he heard her next words, he practically did.

"Psyche! Well, I'm not here, so please leave a message after the beep. Thank yoou."

Beeeeep.