Thank you to all those who reviewed, and after reviewing the story, I guess it is in dire need of a conclusion.
The Conclusion (yes, brilliant was to name it, I know)
Despite what Sora had told her, Yuffie was still a bit unconvinced. Well, she was probably more fixed on laughing at Leon's face than knowing the truth. The fact was, Yuffie was still unhappy with the answers she had gotten, andLeon had just kept saying that "It's impossible", but Yuffie wanted to know why. All her life she had been raised to fight and nothing else. Aerith had attempted to teach her basic biology a couple of years back, but that didn't go too well with Yuffie's attention span, and when Leon mentioned algebra, Yuffie gave up on being book smart altogether. In her opinion, as long as she could read, she'd be able to survive without knowing mitosis, quadratic equations and all of that pointless stuff.
That proved to be the wrong answer when it came to this case.
"Leon, Sora said you were his dad," Yuffie chided as she leaned up against his doorframe. She could just see him grimacing with his face in the pillow, and despite her knowing it was a lie, Yuffie was having fun toying with the other's mentality. Leon, on the other hand, wasn't handling it too well, muttering profanities into the pillow and cursing the existence of the day. Cloud, who had stopped by his place for a chat, was also put into a state of irritation by Yuffie's presence, especially when she added, "And Sora also says you're the best mother a guy could have and that he loves you very much."
Cloud immediately made for the door, knowing that it was his cue to leave, but Yuffie stood firm, even under his trademark death glare. She did admit that the black wing and the red ripped cape and just about every inch of him was intimidating, but she had learned to keep those thoughts from surfacing. Besides, she was still hungry for an answer, and she wasn't about to let anyone leave until she was satisfied.
"Yuffie, I've already told you it's impossible," Leon said as he rolled onto his back and stared at the ceilings. He frowned slightly when he say that it had an array of cracks that resembled lightning, and hoped that it wouldn't collapse on him at any given moment without warning, though since Yuffie was here, it might've not been as bad.
"Why?" Yuffie demanded as she stepped in and closed to door and propped herself down in front of it to prevent Cloud from escaping. The man gave her a dark look before he retired to the chair, knowing that he had been trapped. Had it been a stranger, he would, again, considered permanently detaching her head from her shoulders and strut out of the room with only an inkling of guilt.
"Because it is!" Leon snapped, getting rather impatient. He would have made for the door as well, but he knew that if they didn't settle this now, Yuffie would bug him to the end of time and would not relent. Leon would take and hour of torture over years of it any day… which regrettably happened to be today.
"But why?" Yuffie shot back with the same amount of displeasure. She didn't see what the big deal of a simple answer was. All Leon had to do was answer her question and then she'd reward him by leaving him alone for a while before something else popped up. It wasn't that hard, was it?
"Because it's not possible for two guys to have a child," Leon said as he snapped into a sitting position, eyes begging Yuffie to just go and leave them both alone. Yuffie, however, still wanted a more thorough explanation. Though she knew that guys and girls could have a baby, she didn't know why it was limited to that. Anyhow, she still wanted to annoy the brunette even more, and maybe the blonde for extra points.
"Well, why?" Yuffie asked.
Leon gave an exasperated sigh as he buried his face in his hands, hoping that he might miraculously find that he was in a dream. When he opened his eyes though, he was disappointed, but not surprised to find that it was still reality. Across the room, Cloud's eyes were still fixed on the door, though noticeable twitched were emerging on his usually emotionless complexion. He was wishing that he could just leave, and the wall was looking awfully friendly right now as an escape route. All he'd have to do was bust it down and zip out of there before Yuffie knew what hit her, and he still had more than enough munny to pay for damages if that's what it came to. Still, he couldn't deny that even though it was a touchy subject, Cloud really didn't want to break down a wall in fear that the old thing might collapse altogether, and Leon under pressure was an enticing sight. Leon took a deep breath as his brain began to clank for an answer:
"Yuffie, do you know how a baby is formed?" Leon could've mentally beaten himself up for saying something so embarrassing. His only refuge was that no one was laughing, though Cloud's closed eyes was telling him that he was mentally laughing, which was almost as bad. Still, he believed that the direct route was better than beating around the bush and dragging everything out. He wanted to rest, and he knew he wouldn't be able to get it with Yuffie around.
"No," Yuffie answered, completely oblivious, and Leon cursed silently. This was going to be harder than he thought.
"Well… it happens when two people... love each other very much," Leon went on, "and it only happens when it's with a male and a female, so that's why it isn't possible, and now you can le-"
"Only?" Yuffie asked skeptically. There was something about Leon wanting to get rid of her that was pulling her towards the conclusion that there was something he wasn't telling her.
"Well… no, but…" Leon couldn't tell Yuffie a lie even if he wanted to, because the girl always had a way of knowing, and would chase him to the corners of the world to strangle it out of him, and by that it was not in a figurative sense. Cloud seemed just plain disturbed. Yes, very touchy subject indeed.
"Then so it's possible for you two to have a kid?" Yuffie asked innocently. Leon gritted his teeth.
"No."
"Then what about you and Aerith?" Yuffie went on. Leon restrained himself from screaming.
"It's possible, but we wouldn't-"
"So is Sora yours and Aerith's child?" Yuffie pressed. Leon resisted the nagging urge to slam his head into the wall and hope that the lack of brain cells would momentarily put him into unconsciousness so he'd be able to escape. Of course, this was Leon, and even if he wanted to, he couldn't.
"No."
"But don't you love Aerith?" Yuffie demanded. For once, Leon saw Yuffie in a new light of terror.
"Yes, but not in that sense."
"Then what sense?"
"Well, I don't hate her, but-"
"Then you love her."
"I already said not in that sense!"
"But you don't hate her."
"Fine then, I love her, but-"
"Then what about that Cloud? Do you love Cloud?"
Cloud, who had been trying to occupy his train of thoughts with something else, was unwillingly drawn back into Yuffie and Leon's spat with the mentioning of his name. From his standpoint and his recollection of the previous snippets, he knew it couldn't be a good thing. Then again, this whole thing wasn't a good thing.
"I don't hate him," was the response Leon gave. He felt it was best to tread across middle ground.
"So you love him."
"If I say yes, will you go away?" Leon was desperate now to get this over with.
"Maybe."
Leon inhaled sharply, but Yuffie hardly budged and inch. She really couldn't understand why he was so forcefully avoiding the question. A simple answer would do. However, it seemed that a simple answer was one that Leon couldn't give her. Yuffie didn't understand why he wanted to prolong this. It didn't make sense.
"Yuffie, can we discuss this some other time?" Leon asked, hoping that she would agree so he could maybe persuade Aerith to tell her about the birds and the bees. It would probably be less embarrassing to have her do it than him. Besides, Leon didn't know if he could take Yuffie's reaction when it finally clicked in her mind.
"No," was Yuffie's response, laced with a pout. Persistent she was, and relenting she wasn't, and it made a bad combo for Leon.
"Can you ask Aerith?"
"Why can't you tell me? Don't you love me?" Yuffie grumbled. Apparently to her, if you didn't hate someone, you loved him or her. 'Like' just ceases to exist, and that was another bump Leon had to overcome to make Yuffie get his point, which was not about regeneration, but for her to get out.
"Yuffie," Leon said, "I feel the same about you as I do with Aerith and Cloud."
"So… you love me?"
"No, not like that."
"Then you hate me?"
"No, I don't hate you, it's just-"
"So does that mean we can have kids?"
"No, we can't."
"But didn't you say it happens between a guy and a girl?"
"Yes, but we are not having kids."
"Then what about you and Cloud? Or Aerith? You love them, right? Can you have their kids?"
"No, it's just…" Leon was at his tipping point, and he didn't know how long his tower of patience could hold out. It was like a house of cards, another movement and it all went flat.
"He sees us as a friend." Cloud decided that the least he could do was help Leon out a bit, and by doing so he hoped to soon see daylight. Sure, it was blazing hot daylight, but daylight nonetheless and not this dreary room with Yuffie in it.
"Oh. So does that mean-"
"Yuffie? Is Leon with you?"
Leon didn't know why Aerith was here, but thank goodness she was. Yuffie immediately bolted up for her to enter and out flashed Cloud to escape the façade and in came Aerith with a confused expression painted onto her face. First off there was that sudden whirl of colors that streaked by her, and then a miserable Leon and a not-so-innocent Yuffie met her sights. It didn't take all that much to make Aerith know that something was going on.
"Cid brought me along," she explained. "Are you two okay?"
"Aerith," Yuffie said, "Can you and Leon have a child?"
Aerith blinked, rather taken aback by what Yuffie said she looked towards Leon for an explanation. A scowl told her all that she needed to know. She couldn't say that she wasn't surprised. She knew that sooner or latter Yuffie would hit this subject, and now just so happens to be that time. Not wanting to delay their pleasant pilot any longer though, Aerith said:
"Let's discuss this on the way back."
Somewhere between the crossing of the Coliseum and Transverse Town, a shriek in the form of "Gross" could be heard echoing across the realm.