Nightshift 33: Main Hallway, 1-West

[contentincloset]

[from here]He knew he was out early now; the main hallways like this one usually had at least one or two other people scurrying about even when he was rushing through. Not yet though, but that was just as well. He took the usual right and kept along the wall just in case his senses just weren't picking up on some kind of threat. Being quick did not

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[thatdamnedninja]

[ From here]

The map had been right, and she'd been right too. A quick scan of the area with her flashlight revealed stairwells, and people.

Yuffie tilted her head slightly. Not as many as she'd expected, though... People must still be holed up in their rooms, preparing or something. Huh. What was the point in that? Getting out while it was still early was the way to get things done!

Walking towards the eastern-most stairwell, Yuffie ran her hand against the wall lightly. The hallway continued on, and there was a branch that led north, towards more dorms.

She hesitated.

[1mperturbable]

[From Here]Stepping into the main hallway, he paused to look around for any familiar patients that he could form an alliance with for the night. He had not seen Gin much lately, and he really should pay the death-god (or something spiritual) a visit to see if Gin had more information regarding the outside or the basement. He still had not managed to get his way to the basement, but at least he could say that he had taken a crack at the second floor after a few days of doing very little. He blamed that on the medication

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie decided on the 'scenic route' further down the hallway. She didn't know if it actually was scenic. Really, it was probably just as miserable and drab as the rest of this place, and about as interesting as a pair of Godo's old slippers.

But, as something of an optimist, Yuffie was all geared up and ready for this place to surprise her.

She didn‘t notice until it was too late.

Maybe it was a mark of how well she knew him- his footsteps, his presence, his Cloudyness.

Or maybe, it was a mark of how little she'd been paying attention (because Tifa was the one with the Cloud-radar, not her, and she sure as hell didn't want one, either!): it was too late, and it was only recognition and quick reflexes that stopped her from reacting more violently.

“My fist’ll mosey it’s way into your face if you sneak up on me like that again!” She yelped. She felt a small amount of pride that she hadn't jumped out of her skin, but now she swung her head around sharply to glare at him.

He was so gonna pay for this.

[1mperturbable]

Raising an eyebrow, Cloud was actually quite surprised she had not attempted to land a fist in the middle of his face. He had been fully prepared to intercept her fist too, but perhaps she really had known that he had come up behind her. He must have been losing his touch.

"I was under the impression that no one could sneak up on the Great Ninja Yuffie of Wutai," he murmured and eased himself backwards a step. In case she now decided to punch at him. "Besides, I doubt you know how to really throw a good punch in the first place."

He pointed down the hallway. "Where were you off to? Not all that safe to be wandering around on your own. Safety in numbers, no?"

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie huffed out a breath, settling herself. Once an ass, always an ass, and Cloud was definitely an ass. She slid backwards a step and turned to face him, planting one hand on her hip.

Cloud totally had not just managed to sneak up to her. He had not. Never-ever, and she'd just pretended not to notice.... right. "You'd make a lousy ninja," she said, primly. She bounced on her heels, punching the air once with her unoccupied hand. "And I do too know how to throw a good punch! Godo's been senile since he was, like, born, but he still made sure I knew how to break people's noses by the time I could walk."

... Well, okay. That was a slight exaggeration.

Dropping both hands, Yuffie twirled in place. “Well,” she drawled, all irritation fading from her voice; she by-passed the insinuation that she needed others around as though she hadn‘t heard it all. “I was planning on exploring the scenic route, all on my lonesome, but then you appeared!” She grinned at him, balancing on one leg. “Wanna be a tour guide?”

[1mperturbable]

Crossing his arms over his chest, Cloud simply nodded his head. He would make a lousy ninja for certain, mostly because of his moral code of not stealing from others and the fact he had lost some amount of subtly as he grew older. He would leave the ninja-business to Yuffie and keep his hands out of other people's pockets.

"I have that annoying habit of keeping my hands to myself," he drawled softly. He found a certain sense of lightness settle on him at her exaggerated actions, but he kept from smiling. She might decide to tease him if he smiled too much. "As good a punch as Tifa?"

Okay, maybe a little needling for now.

"I see," he murmured and looked around their darkened surroundings. "I would not want to take you away from any plans that you made." He frowned at the mention of tour guide and scratched the back of his neck. "The last time I was nice to you and let you at my back, I lost all my materia and gil. Though... since I have neither, I suppose I can trust you to root through my stuff but not find anything of value."

[thatdamnedninja]

"I don't think anyone can out punch Tifa," Yuffie said, planting both feet back on the ground temporarily. "She gets the momentum from her boobs, y'know. Boobs that I lack, I'm glad to say; she totally wins the punch-queen contest."

Cloud wasn't being emotastic, which was surprising, and he was teasing her. Which left her temporarily taken aback, but also glad. Emotastic Cloud wasn't her idea of Happy Fun Times, after all (she may have been forced to strangle him). Maybe that was why she was talking so much- which wasn’t to say that she didn’t talk a lot anyway, because she did.

She swung her arms lightly, shifting her weight. Plans? Pfft. "How about we go with the flow," she suggested. "Where were you flowing to, anyway? You are planning on letting me come with, right? Or I'll just have to follow you and be my awesomely persuasive self, and you’ll give up in the end anyway so it’d totally be a waste of time and resources.” She paused, and then grinned, adding as an afterthought: “Did you just give me permission to root through

[1mperturbable]

Cloud screwed his face up with a grimace as the topic turned to very dangerous territory. He was not one to detail and speak openly about the momentum of Tifa's breasts, just as he was severely uncomfortable with agreeing with Yuffie's lack of. He thought they were a little bigger than he had last seen them though, not that he would ever say that. "Um... yes, she does punch hard," was all he could say

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie's grin quirked briefly into a smirk. Cloud's discomfort was practically tangible, and suddenly, the night wasn't quite so boring anymore.

At the mention of weapons, she slid backwards a step and twirled again, the trails of her make-shift bandana whipping with the movement. When she came to a pause, she held the pens she'd brought between her fingers, as though they were bo-shuriken. "Well~" she singsonged. "I've got these and my totally kickass ninja skills."

And on top of that... He'd promised her them, but hadn't mentioned them. Did he think she hadn't noticed?

She raised an eyebrow at him, folding her arms. "Hira shuriken?"

[1mperturbable]

It was such a dramatic display of flamboyancy that it could be none other than Yuffie standing before him. He sighed heavily at the sight of pens, but he had to admit it was a better effort than some of the people here did. She was at least trying, though the need for dramatic show was all Yuffie.

"Nice pens," he commented, a tangible hint of dryness in his voice. "And you will find that skills here are reduced, as I explained on the bulletin board. Best to not get ahead of yourself." A little late for that, Yuffie.

He frowned at her mention of the hira-shuriken and could only shrug non-commitally and not meet her eyes out of guilt. "Someone took them," he murmured softly, not even bothering to raise his voice for it might cause her to hit him or maybe just harder. "They were in my stuff when I checked... but then, I cannot find them tonight. Someone must have taken them from my belongings."

[thatdamnedninja]

"Well, what else was I supposed to try?" The young woman puffed out her cheeks. "Beating things to death with my slippers?"

He was underestimating her! It may be true that her skills were reduced (though she hadn't been able to test that yet), but that didn't mean she was defenceless! Pens were a shoddy replacement even for a simple kunai, but they could be useful! ... Sort of...

And then came the bombshell.

"You..." She started, arms dropping to her sides. He'd... lost the two shuriken? They'd been stolen? He didn't have them? He was shuriken-less when he'd promised her? "You went to all that trouble of getting impaled with them just for me, and then you lost them! Cloooooud! You really are expecting me to beat things to death with my slippers, aren't you

[1mperturbable]

"I was under the impressions that ninjas could kill with even slippers," Cloud replied, more hints of dryness edging into his voice. "Are you saying that you cannot beat something with your slipper?"

He rubbed the back of his head at the sound of her obvious disappointment, though he now shifted his eyes to regard her from under his blonde bangs. She was probably going to do something drastic, so he should keep an eye on her. He felt bad for misplacing them or at least not having the ability to give them to her. He had not meant for them to be stollen.

He should have known she was going to beat him with a slipper. He did not raise an arm in his own defense, aware that would only cause them all more problems in the end. It was humiliating to hear the slap of the slipper, but he accepted it. "Watch my wounds, will you? I will make it up to you... I will get you something else to use as a weapon."

He tried to sooth down his hair between slaps. "Those slippers are not all that useful for anywhere but your feet."

[thatdamnedninja]

"Of course I can kill even with slippers," Yuffie retorted, "I can kill with origami, remember? But slippers? C'mon, Cloud! That's not stylish at all!"

She whacked him with the footwear a few more times, avoiding anyway wounded areas. The novelty was fast wearing off, but she socked him in the arm one last time for good measure. "Dude, you should protest a little more." she sighed, waggling the slipper in his face. "And you better make it up to me."

Dropping the slipper, she stooped down and collected her pens. She almost felt a little bad for hitting him with the slipper... not that she'd ever admit that, even under pain of death and torture and possibly the threat of being locked in a moving vehicle.

[1mperturbable]

"Okay, okay," he replied softly, still trying to smooth his hair between slaps of the slipper. His hair was always messed up in some way, but he could make the effort at least. It never lay flat anyway.

He leaned away from the slipper when it became clear that she would stop hitting him with it. He rubbed along his bandaged left arm with a hand and shrugged his shoulders again. "Why protest when you will just hit me more if I do?" He tried to think of something he had in his bag that would make it up to her. "I will do my best. I at least have something metal, if you like?"

He shifted and fished around in the make-shift bag attached to his back, feeling around. He pulled out the small short sword-type weapon and went back for the gardening claw. If she attached it to her wrist, it might look ninja-like. Ah, there it was.

Pulling the gardening claw out, he offered it to her. "Would you like to use that for now?"

[thatdamnedninja]

Yuffie said nothing, scrabbling to collect the pens that had rolled across the floor. One, two, three... aha! Four, and there was five. She rolled them on her palm, straightened them out, and stuffed them back in the waistband of her pants.

She looked up at the sound of him rummaging around, blinking at the claw he'd offered her. Still crouched on the floor, she took it.

A gardening claw, like he'd mentioned on the bulletin board. It wasn't something she'd normally use, but it was better than nothing and it could no doubt do some damage. "Uh," she said, intelligently. Her next mumble was a quiet, indistinct: "Thanks."

She'd never been all that good at thanking people.

Shaking her head, Yuffie launched herself back to her feet. "I guess I can forgive you for losing the hira shuriken." She continued, a little awkwardly. She twirled the claw in her hand once. "Shall we go? Time's a wastin', y'know!"

[1mperturbable]

He felt a little better knowing that she was more well-protected against the monsters of this place. He even felt more inclined to dare the outdoors as well, since that last radio broadcast had made it obvious that the walls could be passed now. He itched to get out there, to see beyond the walls.

He tilted his head to the side at her thanks, having not expected any in the first place. "Do you want to get yourself some more of those? I know a good place for metal objects?"

That would get them closer to the outside. He could work at Yuffie to get her to agree to go beyond the walls with him. He doubted it would be difficult, especially if he complimented her or needled her a little.