A Kunoichi, Far From Home
a Ranma 1/2 / Final Fantasy VII Ideafic
written by Mike Koos
Bleah...
Yuffie's hands found one of nearest metal-brace supports that lined the interior
of the Highwind's hull, in a desperate effort to keep herself from being bounced across
the ship like a ninja pinball. When that attempt didn't entirely help, she tried
willing her body not to give in to that blasted motion sickness yet again; just how
far back could one go in bringing up whatever it was they'd eaten?
Worst of all, she couldn't be sure if she genuinely had a problem being on an
airship - or Cid was deliberately giving them a rough ride, both to show off and make
her stomach-gurglingly sick all at the same time. Stupid old man...
The guy hated her, Yuffie was sure, as the Highwind pitched once more. It wasn't
as if anyone else knew how to pilot this airborne scrap heap. Not Cloud, not Tifa,
Barret, or even Vincent. Hell, at this point, she wouldn't have minded if Red took
the controls. Anyone other than Cid.
Blast it, she was Kisaragi Yuffie - a kunoichi - daughter of the great Godo of
Wutai! Not some silly little girl who was unable to endure flying in an airship!
And when they were headed to their 'final battle' with Sephiroth, no less. How
was she expected to fight well in the least, to effectively kick butt, if she was
throwing up all over the place?
She imagined her father laughing at her... problem. "Yuffie," he'd say in that
smug yet reprimanding tone that always aggravated her. "To realize your true potential,
you must learn to overcome minor weaknesses such as this." Yeah, easy for him to
say. He'd probably never set foot on one of these flying loads of scrap in his entire
life. I'd like to see how HE deals with the old man's piloting, she mused, sourly.
Another sharp rise in her nausea, coinciding with a new attempt of the ship to buck
like a horse, prevented her from trying to imagine exactly that.
She shut her eyes tightly, focusing whatever strength she could muster into forcing
her sickness back... and was therefore unprepared for the even more powerful kick
that wrenched her hand free from the girder.
Frantically struggling not to let her panic show as she was hurled across the
deck, Yuffie flailed her arms, hoping to catch something. Bouncing off the metal
plates like the human pinball she'd imagined not five minutes ago was not an attractive
idea.
Her left arm hit the center railing as she flew past it; survival instincts born
only partially from ninja training told her to whip her other arm around and grab
the rail tightly, before she ended up falling through the large square hole in the
middle of the deck into the Chocobo stables too many feet below... and with her luck,
a big pile of Chocobo manure.
Dammit! I'm gonna kill him! If I live through this, I'm gonna take every
last fully-matured Materia I can find and summon every last monster to blast him to
another WORLD! Yuffie growled.
Despite the minor pain faintly echoing through her now-occupied left arm, she
extended her free hand to strengthen her grip on the rail and pull herself up. At
least the stop hadn't dislocated her opposite shoulder. Maybe she had a tiny measure
of luck, after all...
The Highwind lurched yet again as she clambered onto the deck, and Yuffie choked
back a new surge of nausea. She had to keep the thought of puking out of her mind,
or she just might do it... although Cid would probably have a fit if she threw up
all over his oh-so-precious polished deckplates.
He'd also try to make her clean it up, of course, and shine those same plates
while she was at it. That thought made her shudder.
As she dropped to her knees and then all fours, hoping to steady herself and
her breath, Yuffie felt a hand lightly grasp her shoulder. Fighting back an urge
to start in surprise, she glanced upward to find Tifa crouching next to her. It was
so nice to know airsickness could cancel out her ninja training so easily...
For a brief moment, she felt a twinge of jealousy; Tifa Lockheart was a beautiful
young woman, a capable hand-to-hand fighter who didn't mind fighting in a black leather
miniskirt and tight white blouse. A long fall of silky brown hair framing an almost
fully-mature face, Tifa's deep sienna eyes providing an unwavering, no-nonsense feel
to each and every expression she wore. A girl the guys back in Wutai would no doubt
drool over, while those same boys only viewed her as a cute - if tomboyish - little
red... er, brown-haired child. An annoying ninja-wannabe of a girl who was more cocky
and childish than a proper girl her age should be.
Not that she really did care whether or not the boys took that sort of an interest
in her... people just naturally tended never to take her all that seriously, it seemed,
and she hated that fact. She was sixteen years old, for crying out loud! - yet most
everyone continued to treat her like a child, even if she was the daughter of the
Great Godo. Now, a twenty year-old Tifa... who'd dare dismiss her as a child, or
not listen to whatever she said?
In that regard, maybe she was jealous.
"Hey, Yuffie," Tifa ventured; Yuffie knew the other girl still didn't feel entirely
at ease around her. "Are you okay?"
Though Tifa was fully aware of her motion-sickness, too. Damn.
Yuffie stared at her. "I'm fine," she finally managed to snort.
"Oh, come on. Do you mean to tell me you're not bothered by all this swaying,
and rocking, and waving, and..." Tifa emphasized each word with an equivalent hand
gesture.
The kunoichi shot her a withering glare. "Do that again, and I'll All Creation
you here and now."
At that, Tifa grinned. "So, it is bothering you." Before Yuffie could turn
another glare on her, she made her way to the nearest bulkhead and sat next to it,
motioning for Yuffie to do the same. "C'mon. It'll be better if you find a good
place to sit and take your mind off the ship and all this flying."
Yuffie's accustomed tendency to be suspicious kicked in as she stared at Tifa,
trying to figure out what her 'friend' was planning. What could Tifa want to talk
about?
"So," Tifa said, once the wary Yuffie had taken a seat beside her. "What did
you and Cloud do on your date?"
Yuffie resumed her glare. "It wasn't a date! I was just... bored, that's all!
Why? Did spikey-head tell you it was a date?" Privately, however, she winced; she'd
been expecting Tifa to confront her about that night in the Gold Saucer sooner or
later.
Though she was loath to admit it, she had come to like the idea of traveling
with a group of people, all battling monsters and who-knew-what for a greater cause
- even someone dangerously powerful like Sephiroth. She'd been very much the loner
in her hometown, compounded by her growing concern for the state of Wutai. Most everyone
ignored her, except when she took up her role as a Materia Hunter. Only her father
and his crew had remotely enough skill to hinder or fight her, anyway.
But Yuffie had never been able to experience what she considered to be aspects
of the life of a 'normal' girl. One had to forego such things if she wanted to become
a great kunoichi and martial artist - but as a result, there was some part of her
that occasionally wanted to imagine different paths in life. If she had indeed been
an ordinary girl - not a ninja - and without any form of Change magic or desire to
use Materia whatsoever...
That was part of the reason she had dragged Cloud out of his room in the Ghost
Hotel that night, Yuffie supposed. She'd been lonely, bored and didn't want to miss
the chance to see the attractions at the illustrious Gold Saucer... even if it was
a Shinra complex. Tifa and Aerith had already turned in for the night, and she had
no intention of trying to have fun with most of the rest of the guys by her side,
so the only alternative left was Cloud.
She'd antagonized him from the start, made it clear to the entire team Kisaragi
Yuffie remained a tomboyish loner at heart, who would honestly steal every last Materia
they had if they didn't keep a close watch on it.
And then she had inexplicably left all of that behind the moment she decided
to drag Cloud everywhere throughout the Saucer on the not-a-date. At one point, she
had even thought to give him a kiss on the cheek. Sure, she'd slapped him at some
point after that, but Yuffie still couldn't understand for the life of her why she
had kissed him in the first place! Ewww...
The entire mess had eventually been brought to an unexpected halt in a mad chase
after Cait Sith. First non-date or not, she'd be sure to remember that night.
"Okay, fine," Tifa changed the subject, a little too quickly for Yuffie's suspicions.
"It wasn't. But there is something bugging you, and it isn't Cid's piloting."
Again, she grinned.
"Whatever."
Was Tifa right? Was there something bothering her? Yuffie considered that,
searching herself.
"You have red hair?" Tifa suddenly asked a moment later, interrupting her thoughts.
"Huh?"
"Your hair," the older girl clarified. "The roots are red." A bright, almost
crimson shade of red, at that, too vibrant to be a shift from her 'normal' hair color,
or a result of exposure to the sun.
Yuffie frowned. "Damn. I keep forgetting to color it again."
"Why? I think you'd look better with red hair."
For a second, Tifa wondered if she had seen even the slightest trace of a blush
on Yuffie's face. "I'm a ninja. I can't afford to have anything that makes me stand
out," explained Yuffie.
"So if you weren't a ninja, you wouldn't dye it brown?"
"...I don't know. Never thought about it."
That was how Yuffie approached quite a few things - including life itself - wasn't
it? Reacting on instinct? It made sense; a master like Godo would no doubt push
even his own heir through a full regimen of training from an early age, both in the
martial arts and how to be a ninja. An image of a baby Yuffie hefting around her
Conformer and scuttling off with a diaper full of stolen Materia worked its way around
Tifa's thoughts, and she stifled the resulting giggle.
Ignoring the stare the other girl sent her way, she resumed her musing. Yuffie
was indeed a skilled martial artist, and, from what Tifa knew of Ninjutsu, more than
likely as good a ninja, kunoichi or whatever Yuffie called herself. Unfortunately,
Yuffie's extreme cockiness and immaturity, not to mention the tough and boisterous
front she maintained, could tend to hamper her skills. She probably hadn't had much
of a childhood, and was rebelling against the need to mature.
Still, Tifa figured she should try to get Yuffie to open up, in order to verify
her own conclusions. Somewhere, somehow, she had come to think of the younger girl
as a sort of sister... an unofficial relative who was presently drifting and needed
guidance.
"I have to admit, though - it's not easy for me to imagine you with red hair."
Yuffie shrugged. "Yeah. It definitely made me stand out at home, too, 'cause
I'm the only one there with that color hair."
"When did you start coloring it?"
"I... don't really remember," the ninja said absently, seeming at one point to
listen to the way her voice echoed and then faded away. "I don't think it was that
long after Dad adopted--" Realizing her mistake, she shut her mouth tightly.
But it was too late. Tifa's eyes widened. "You were adopted?" she blurted,
her mind racing. The people of Wutai were well-known for standing firm on their traditions;
she'd taken all the fanfare both Godo and Yuffie had given them as proof of that.
If Yuffie wasn't his daughter by blood, was that why she was so rebellious, especially
when the matter of fulfilling her roles in the Art, Wutai and the Pagoda was raised?
What did Godo's crew and the rest of her village think of her?
Or did they even know?
She recoiled in the next instant, as Yuffie immediately placed herself inches
from Tifa's face.
"Don't you DARE tell anyone!" hissed Yuffie. In defeat, she slumped back against
the wall, sighing. "But...... yeah, technically, I was adopted."
"Technically?"
Yuffie's gaze became distant. "Dad says I'd simply appeared in the Pagoda late
one night, years ago, with no memory of who I was. He was... intrigued by both my
potential as a fighter and the Change magic that surrounds me - uh, is a part of me.
So, he took me in as his daughter, and started training me as a kunoichi. I've been
living since then as Kisaragi Yuffie, though I still don't know who I was or where
I came from."
"You have Change magic as a part of you?" Tifa asked. While Yuffie did have
a history of lying, Tifa found herself wanting to know more. Godo and the others
in the Pagoda wielded Change magic almost as if it were a part of them, and it stood
to reason that their children might learn to use it just as skillfully. But to claim
that that particular magic was in fact within her?
"It's nothing special," Yuffie snorted. "My 'personal' Change power is something
Dad apparently hasn't seen before, and we haven't figured out yet how to control it.
Right now, all it does is..." She winced. "...is involuntarily change me into a
boy any time I touch water that's warm or hot enough, like a hot bath. Then, I'm
stuck like that until I use cold water."
"But if you're a ninja, you could use that for a disguise, right?"
Another snort. "Probably, but I don't want to. I'd rather wait until I can
control it - maybe I can just change my appearance instead of something big like changing
sex. Save that for an emergency."
"Anyway," she continued, raising a hand to the collar of her emerald sweater.
"Until then, I can kinda keep it from affecting me as long as I wear this." What
Yuffie drew out triggered a gasp from Tifa; cupped inside her palm was a beautiful
golden pendant setting, fit with a teardrop of clearly pure Materia.
Orange Materia.
The stones were a common part of life on Midgard, true. Before embarking on
this 'quest' and meeting Aerith, she'd never thought much about the less-common colors
of Materia. Aerith held White, Sephiroth now held Black. Word had it that Materia
could be found in all colors of the rainbow... the entire basic spectrum, though some
hues were extremely rare. And Orange... was primarily involved with Change magic?
What spells... what powers could it convey?
Yuffie shoved the pendant back into her collar. "If I can find a bigger chunk
of Orange Materia, it'll probably be just as good as if I learned to control it.
It's awful rare, though."
"I'll bet. So, is that the real reason why you're a Materia Hunter?"
She dismissed the question with a curt wave. "Nah, not really. If you really
wanna know..." The younger girl sighed again. "I overheard Dad talking one night,
about an even more rare type of Materia that might - somehow - be able to help me
learn who I truly am. Restore my memories, or something..." Privately, she had the
nagging feeling that it could be one of - if not the solitary White stone Aerith
had carried. Was that the only one in existence? Yuffie hoped it wasn't; she didn't
think she'd be able to locate it, now, at least by herself. Where had Aerith gotten
that Materia, anyway?
What colors were left? Were there, in fact, several shades in between that blended
the effects of those specific types of stones?
Possibly. But if that was true, why wasn't it well-known? Or maybe... only
the 'pure,' single-color Materia was safe to use? That was highly possible, too.
It suddenly occurred to Yuffie that she'd just revealed a lot of potentially
embarrassing information to Tifa, and things that Tifa could use against her. She
pivoted, turning a new glare upon her 'friend.' "You're not going to tell anyone
anything I've said, right?" demanded the kunoichi.
"No, no, I won't," Tifa assured her, giving a feeble grin in response. Obviously,
she was still thinking about everything Yuffie had said. Maybe she's wondering if
that rare Materia Dad mentioned can help Cloud, as well. If she let the spikey-headed
doof use it.
Was it really necessary to have the additional magic, though? If the magic was
indeed a part of her, as Dad believed, she had to be able to control it on her own,
even if that meant running her body, spirit and mind through no end of extreme training
until she could. The basic tenets of her Art indicated that she should depend upon
herself long before any sort of weapon or magical power - though Dad was certainly
not beyond using magic or any other advantage if it were available. Fighting him
in Wutai had probably shown the others that much.
"Can I ask you a question?" Tifa spoke into her thoughts.
"What, you haven't asked me enough, already?" Yuffie deadpanned, staring at
the other through half-lidded eyes.
"Humor me."
"Say, hypothetically--"
"'Hypothetically?'" Yuffie made a slight face. "What does that mean?"
"...Imagine for a minute," Tifa said after briefly considering how to define
the word. "We win all these... battles, and everyone's split up and gone on their
way again. What will you be doing?"
The younger girl turned her attention to her lap, biting her lower lip. This
was the first time Yuffie had thought even that far ahead, wasn't it?
"You haven't thought about it, have you?" Tifa asked in a softer voice. "Other
than looking for Materia, I mean."
No response. Yuffie's silence essentially confirmed her suspicions - that the
girl lived for the moment, taking everything as it came and rarely planning ahead.
Well, that wasn't entirely true... Yuffie did think - somewhat - about the future
of her village, but her own life in the long term? Hardly.
Where would Yuffie be in five years... or ten? Twenty? Would she have a family?
Would she still be alone, by herself, as a kunoichi and Materia Hunter? Though,
being a Materia Hunter was hardly likely to carry the girl far past the present...
Yuffie relaxed, reclining once more against the wall. "I'll worry about that
once I've found the Materia I'm looking for."
There has to be a way to get her to think about it, Tifa frowned. Yuffie was
a friend, even if the girl behaved as though she were 'only along for the ride,' so
to speak. She'd never forgive herself if she couldn't help Yuffie, somehow... at
least one of them should have her future well in mind...
With apologies to Takahashi Rumiko, and Squaresoft/Square-Enix.
Author's notes: Some years ago, for whatever reason, I created a sketch of Ranma as
Yuffie. I never colored it, but it was supposed to have had Ranma's red hair and
braid.
Also, I never really had a background story as to why Ranma would either be wearing
Yuffie's clothes, or actually BE Yuffie... but the idea refused to go away, and at
one point, when I came across the sketch again, I decided to at least put together
a brief excerpt - that would eventually evolve into the above. Yes, it doesn't really
explain how Ranma came to be Yuffie, or why... and there's an implication Ranma's
been there for more than a few years. Did this version of Yuffie have a reaction to Red,
for that matter?
And, what happened to the rest of the Ranma cast? Are they somewhere in FF7, as well?
As I said, though, this is an ideafic, and if anyone would like to run with the idea,
feel free to do so. All I ask is that you give me credit for the idea, and let me
know where to find the resulting story, or send me a copy - I'd like to read it, after
all. ^_^
---Mike