Got It Memorized?

Emerald eyes met lilac once last time. The fourteen-year-old screamed as her red-haired companion left her arms and threw himself into the shadows, his electro-mag rod blazing. Rough hands grabbed her around her middle as she kicked and screamed, desperately trying to claw her way back to him.

"Don't make me leave him!" she sobbed, unwilling to accept the fact that he was probably one of them.

"Shut up, Yuffie, we've got to go!"

Squall Leonhart threw her into the gummi ship and leapt in after her.

"Reno," she sobbed pathetically.

xXx

Yuffie smiled brightly at Leon, who merely shook his head. "I told you that Tifa was okay! I dunno what Spikes is gonna do now, though. Between Teef and Aerith... Wow, he's sure gonna-" she stopped mid-sentence and stared at the doorway.

"Yuffie, what-?" Leon saw who she saw. "Sora," he greeted with somewhat of a half-smirk.

"Hey, guys!" the brunet greeted, Donald and Goofy in tow. Behind his cheery grin, Leon and Yuffie both saw the sadness in his eyes.

"What's wrong, Sora?" Yuffie asked, her head cocked to the side in curiosity.

Sighing, the teen took a seat at Merlin's table and told them a tale that Leon was willing to question the boy's sanity. A person from Organization XIII who knew Roxas - who Sora told them was his Nobody - had given the ultimate gift to Sora. He had given his life to help him. Yuffie listened patiently and sympathized with him, but something about the man's personality struck her as familiar.

"What was his name?" she asked, seemingly out of nowhere. Leon shot her a look of curiosity, although it quickly vanished behind his icy mask. "He... He sounds so familiar to me. What did he look like?"

Sora shrugged. "Uhm.. Well, his name was Axel. He was kinda tall-ish, or at least he was taller than me, with long red hair and... Uhm, I think his eyes were a bright green. Like Riku's, really, only greener. A lot like-"

"-Emeralds," Yuffie finished for him. She swallowed hard and half-smiled. "He sounds so much like- like..." She shook her head. "Anyway, so he risked his life to save you, huh? I wonder why."

Sora ignored, or didn't recognize, the faint distance that Yuffie had suddenly put between herself and Axel. Leon, however, noticed and recognized it. It was the same distance that he put between himself and any mention of Rinoa. Who did Yuffie think Axel's Original was that would make her change the subject so abruptly?

"He said that he knew Roxas, because Roxas was in Organization XIII, and that he wanted to help Roxas. I wish I could have met who Axel was before. I wonder what he was like."

Yuffie merely smiled that silly smile of hers and shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe you'll meet him someday!"

"Maybe..."

A knock on the door made Yuffie leap to her feet and answer it quickly. There stood Kairi in a cute skirt and tank top, her arm looped in Riku's. The two girls exchanged ecstatic hello's - the usual of high-pitched screeching and jumping and hugging - before Riku got away to join Leon and Sora, rubbing the back of his head with the knuckles of his right hand.

"Girls are so confusing," he and Sora said at the same time. Leon even smirked at them. His mind was still searching for a face to go with the description that Sora gave them of Axel.

XxX

Aerith sat on the brick wall overlooking the market, her legs swinging slowly. Her vibrant green eyes watched as people that she remembered from years past seemed to appear out of nowhere. She smiled. Sora's triumph over Kingdom Hearts and Xemnas had given the hearts back to the Nobodies, which merged with the Heartless. The result was exactly as she had hoped: everyone came back. She had figured that everyone would come back as soon as Leon had received a letter addressed to Squall Leonhart from an unknown person. However, the signature was a pink butterfly made from magic that lifted into the air. Definitely his sorceress girlfriend from four years before.

A tall man leaned against a building nonchalantly, his blue suit rumpled, the suit jacket unbuttoned, as well as the top three buttons of the white shirt which was un-tucked and wrinkled. Aerith's green eyes sought out his face and she stared at him. Emerald eyes that glowed eerily, fiery red hair hanging half-way down his back in a sloppy ponytail, twin scars beneath his eyes... Her jaw dropped. Could it really be...?

He looked over to her and smirked an ever-cocky half-smirk. Hooking an electro-mag rod to his belt, he walked toward her. She smiled at him, ever-polite as she always was. "Aerith, right?"

She nodded. "I thought it was you," she said in her quiet voice. "Where have you been?"

He shrugged. "The memories I have aren't mine. I thought you'd know whose they were."

A soft silence fell between them as both watched people be reunited with those they had held dear. Everyone had aged by four years, some nearly unrecognizable. After a few minutes of this, Aerith spoke again, softer than before. "Yuffie is here... She never left Squall and Cid and me..."

His eyes widened and he searched her face, although she never looked at him. "Yuffie...?" he asked quietly. He looked around as if she was standing somewhere close. "Where? I want to see her!"

"Hey, Aerith!"

Both looked over to see Kairi and Sora heading toward them. Both stopped dead in their tracks when they saw the red-haired man. Kairi looked fearful for a moment, but Sora dashed forward to get a better look.

"Axel!" he shouted happily. "You're not dead! You came back!"

The man thought about what the teen had said before carefully choosing his words. "I remember you... But I'm not this.. this Axel. My name is Reno."

Sora grinned. "Yup, you're your Original! Yuffie said I'd get to meet you someday!"

At the mention of Yuffie, the red-haired man stared at Sora. "You know Yuffie? Where is she?"

"I'll take you to her," Sora replied. He began to lead the way back to Merlin's house, but as Reno passed Kairi, the red-haired man stopped. He looked down at her with startling green eyes that she remember all too well from being kidnapped by Axel.

"I'm sorry," he told her, although he was unsure why exactly he was sorry.

Tears came to her eyes, though she held them back. She hugged him, catching the poor man off-guard, and whispered, "You saved me though."

Reno cleared his throat and the two teens led him to Merlin's house. Outside, Sora turned to him. "She's in there with Riku and Leon. Kairi and I have to go find some people, but we'll be back later, okay?"

The red head nodded and watched the couple walk away. What would Yuffie look like after four years?

xXx

Fourteen-year-old Yuffie smiled at him, her short black hair blowing in the wind, lilac eyes wild with laughter. "If you cut your hair, I'm going to kick your ass," she told him.

Reno shrugged. "It was just a thought."

She smiled thoughtfully, then shook her head. "No, I think I want you to let your hair grow out really long. That way I can actually run my fingers through it."

Reno smirked at the thought, then shrugged. "Alright, but you have to quit biting your nails."

"Deal!" she exclaimed.

XxX

When the door opened, Yuffie figured that it was Sora or Kairi or both. When a red head that was definitely not Kairi walked in, she was confused. "Axel?" she heard Riku ask.

"Why does everyone keep calling me that?" he replied.

Yuffie stood and looked at him with wide lilac eyes. Red hair, electro-mag rod attached to his belt, twin scars beneath his emerald eyes... "Reno?" she asked loudly, as if she was afraid her voice would give out at any time.

"Yuffie," he half-whispered. "Aerith was right, you are here."

Riku was confused. "Yuffie? You know Axel?"

Comprehension struck Leon first. "That's not Axel, Riku... It's his Original. Axel was Reno's Nobody..."

Yuffie bit her lip to keep from running over to him and he stood there staring at her and taking in her grown-up appearance. "You've changed so much," he stated simply.

She laughed. "Seen your hair lately, Reno?"

He shrugged. "I kept my end of the deal..." He walked over and picked up one of her hands, examining it closely. He ran his thumb over her knuckles and half-smirked at her.

"So did I," she returned.

He nodded and she took a step closer to him, their bodies touching. Looking up at him with lilac eyes, the passionate look still in them, she smiled. "I missed you," he admitted in a whisper, then kissed her lightly on her lips.

"Don't leave me again," she whispered back.

"I won't... Got it memorized?"

Leon and Riku exchanged looks, then got up and walked out of the house. Leon felt as if he was invading their privacy and Riku decided that his brain was going to explode if anymore twists happened in his life. He was afraid that something silly, like Pluto actually being Ansem the Wise, was suddenly going to happen and he really did not want to be the first to know.

Fin

YK2: Uhm... I've returned? Although not as triumphantly as I had hoped, but at least it's an interesting story, right? I thought that Reno and Axel bared a strong resemblance... Maybe I'm the only one, but I couldn't help it! So, this can be a Reffie or a Yuxel... Meh, whatever.

Surka: Just review and make a broken down authoress smile... Besides, the more reviews she gets, the more I paid! $$$