Chapter 5 - When Eric Met Yuffie

The sky was a deep blue, filled with wispy clouds that floated about. The grass was a cool green, and Eric had taken off his shoes to feel the blades between his toes. A warm breeze gently blew, and pushed Eric's long hair, which was now out of its ponytail, around his shoulders. Everything this morning seemed beautiful to Eric, who had slept beneath the stars last night, and had awoken early to get started once again with his travels. As he took in the entire world around him, he stopped for a moment. He hadn't quite understood until today just how much in life he took for granted. I guess nearly being eaten by a dragon will do that to you, he thought out loud with a chuckle.

He left the ring of mountains that surrounded Nibelheim and headed for the forest beyond its boarder. He loved the woods, the trees, and the shade, the overall feeling of a forest. It gave him a happiness and peace. Little did he know he was being watched.

The form of a person suddenly dropped from one of the branches, causing Eric to jump back. The figure was a young girl, about Eric's age. She had short brown hair that went to her shoulders, with a headband around her forehead, right above her bright, brown eyes. She wore a blue shirt, and a pair of white shorts. Her shoes were a dark orange, and she had a large, arm guard on her left arm.

She looked at Eric sweetly, then walked up to him. When she was two feet away, she took a cross off her belt, and pressed a small button in the center. Instantly, sharp tips came out of the ends of the cross, forming it into a large shurikan, about as high as the girl's knee.

“Hello there,” she said in a sweet yet threatening tone, “I'll be happy to relieve you of your materia.”

“What?” Eric asked, looking at her like she had two heads.

“I said,” the girl stated flatly, her voice losing its sweetness, “Give me your materia, or I'll cut you in half.”

“I think not,” Eric replied, his tone matching his attacker's. “Besides,” he said, indicating the belt he wore, “this materia's so weak, it would probably not be of any use to you anyway.”

“Don't give me that,” the girl said disgustedly, “An infant could tell that that almost all of those materia are mastered. So be a good little boy and hand them all over.”

Eric saw that this situation was dangerous. This girl seemed serious, and Eric was in no mood for another fight.

“This is the last time I'll say it,” the girl said, he voice starting to sound irritated, “give me the materia.”

But Eric didn't answer. He was casting a spell. The girl saw it, and threw the shurikan as hard as she could. Eric expected this, and dove out of the way, letting the shurikan fly past him harmlessly and imbed itself in a tree. The girl looked at him sheepishly, then ran to the tree. Eric was surprised how quickly she moved, and wondered if a Slow spell would even do any good. Still, as the girl struggled with the shurikan, Eric cast Slow on her. Just then, the shurikan came loose, sending the girl flying head-over-heels backwards. She stood up quickly, as quickly as the spell allowed, and looked at Eric with a childish pout on her face. Eric just stood there, laughing and laughing until his stomach hurt. The girl's face turned red, and she looked like she would explode, which caused Eric to laugh even harder.

“What is so funny!” she demanded angrily.

“It's just..just,” Eric stuttered, trying to get a hold of himself, trying to subdue the laughter. “It's just that I've never, never seen a person's feet go over their head like that,” he explained, before bursting into a fresh bout of laughter.

The girl didn't say anything, but instead threw that shurikan, this throw cutting into Eric's shoulder as it flew by, then returned to her. Eric's laughter turned to grunts of pain, and as he saw the blood coming from his shoulder, he knew that the situation was no laughing matter.

Eric ran back against the edge of the clearing, ducked behind a tree for cover, and prepared another spell, hoping that the girl wouldn't be fast enough to stop him. After she had thrown her shurikan, it had returned to her instead of getting stuck in a tree, and she looked to throw it again. She was just about to throw when Eric had ducked behind the tree. Eric cast Haste on himself, just to be on the safe side, then ran out from behind the tree. A flying shurikan greeted him, but he was able to dodge it easily. He cast Fire on the girl, and it exploded, sending her flying straight up in the air. She landed on the ground, with the shurikan coming back to land at her feet.

“Not fair,” she said, standing up and brushing herself off.

“Well, neither is you trying to steal the materia I worked so hard to build up,” Eric replied.

“I never steal,” the girl explained, “I forcibly relieve.”

“Well that makes it all better,” Eric answered sarcastically.

“Glad you see it my way,” she said back.

Eric had had enough. He was going to end this now. He activated another materia, this one red.

“Shiva,” he said quietly, “ I could use a little help here.”

The girl saw Eric cast, but because of the Haste spell he had, she couldn't stop him in time. He vanished, and in his placed stepped a woman. She was icy blue, with blue hair and eyes as well as her skin. She waved her hand in front of her, and a streak of ice froze the girl's feet to the ground. Then Shiva lifted her arms above her head, and charged a large ball of blue light. She brought the light down in front of her, and a huge wave of ice came forth from the ball, freezing over not only the girl, but most of the clearing as well. Shiva then snapped her fingers, and all the ice shattered into a fine dust. The girl fell to her knees, her arms around herself, shivering hard. Eric reappeared right in front of her, his arms crossed over his chest, looking at her with a look of conquest.

“Do you still want to kill me?”

“Yes, you little brat,” she replied, still rubbing her hands on her, trying to get warm. “You humiliate me, and then almost kill me, and you ask if I still want to kill you. You're unbelievable!”

“Look,” Eric said, starting to get exasperated, “”If you're done playing pretend thief, I really need to get moving. I have a long way to go, so if you don't mind, I'll just be leaving now.”

“Where ya going,” the girl asked as she stood up, acting as if they had been friends their entire lives.

“Not really sure,” Eric said, not thinking it smart to tell a girl who tried to kill him where he was going.

“Well, I'm going to find rare materia,” the girl countered, acting like she became the new president of Shinra, “And then I'm going to sell them all and become fabulously rich.”

“Okay then, you won't mind if I just leave then?” Eric asked as he walked off intp the woods, not really paying attention to her. Now he understood why Vincent acted the way he did. Acting like that made Eric feel cool. Maybe he should always act like this. Nah, it was kinda rude, and not everyone would be like that girl anyway.

“Fine, fine, I don't need you anyway, or your large…collection of..powerful..materia,” the girl stuttered. Wait a minute, what am I thinking, she thought to herself. This kid's loaded with materia, and I just let him walk away. Maybe if I stick with him I'll get a chance to steal his materia again. Boy, this is better than when I met Cloud. She smiled to herself mischievously, then ran to catch up.

“Hey! Wait up!” she called.

“What now?” Eric called back, becoming very annoyed.

“I want to come with you.”

“Why?”

“Well, if you're just wandering around, then maybe you'll go someplace with rare materia,” the girl explained.

“I guess,” Eric said, thinking that it would be nice to have someone to talk to, even if it was this girl.

“My name's Eric, by he way,” he said, as the two stepped out of the relativley small forest.

“I'm The Great Ninja Yuffie!” Yuffie proclaimed, while striking a pose, as if Eric should recognize the name.

“Okay,” Eric said, walking on. Then again, if she was going to act like this constantly, it might not be a bad idea to leave her behind.

The day passed without incident. They stopped in a small town to buy supplies, sleeping bags, and some spare changes of clothes. Yuffie already had all this, but Eric required it all. They set out shortly after and continued on for the rest of the day, and as night began to creep into the sky, they made ready to camp. Eric made a fire, while Yuffie busied herself with getting out food. After they had eaten, they sat across from each other around the fire and talked.

“So,” Yuffie began, as she finished off a piece of bread, “Where are you going. I mean, do you have some destination?”

“Not really, I just go where the wind takes me, you know,” Eric answered.

“Yeah, I know what you mean. How old are you?” she asked.

“Sixteen.”

“I'm seventeen. My birthday was last month. When's yours?”

“In two months.”

“That's nice,” Yuffie said absently.

Eric sat quietly for a few minutes, and then asked, “Are you from Wutai?”

“Yes,” Yuffie asked, “What makes you ask?”

“Well, your fighting style, for one. And the fact you called yourself the Great Ninja Yuffie.”

“Well I am,” she said a little indignantly.

“I believe you,” Eric lied, “I was just wondering.”

“Why.”

“Well, I was talking with a friend of mine, Vincent, and-“

“Vincent?” Yuffie interrupted, “What's his last name?”

“Valentine,” Eric answered, “Why?”

“I know him,” Yuffie said, “We saved the world together.”

Eric looked at her in disbelief. His first thought was that they had been friends together as little kids, and pretended to save the world. But Yuffie seemed sincere, so he decided to take the bait.

“Really? How?” he asked, pretending to believe her.

“We beat Sephiroth and stopped Meteor,” she answered, as if it were all in a day's work for her. Come to think of it, Eric thought to himself, he did hear about someone from Wutai in the group that had stopped the Meteor. The name Sephiroth also sounded very familiar, like he had heard it recently, but where?

“Did you hear me?” Yuffie asked, “I said that we stopped Meteor.”

“I heard you, but, let's be honest here, I find it hard to believe you.”

“Why?”

“Well, why would a heroine be out trying to steal materia from innocent travelers?”

“It's what I do. I'm a materia hunter,” she said, like that was enough to excuse her behavior.

“Well, that's still wrong, isn't it?”

“No, `cause if it was, then I would hear complaints, and so far I've heard none.”

“Well, is that because they liked being robbed, or perhaps you leaving them dead in the woods was good enough.”

“I have never killed anyone that didn't deserve it,” Yuffie said angrily, standing up.

“Like who,” Eric said sarcastically, really starting to wish that he hadn't asked her join him.

“A disgusting scientist for one, Hojo. And then there wa-“

“You killed Hojo?” Eric interrupted, his jaw dropping.

“Well, Vincent and Cloud helped, but I did the most work.”

Eric couldn't believe it. Vincent had killed Hojo. This more than made up for Eric saving Vincent's life, which Vincent said he owed Eric for. Whether Vincent realized it or not, he had saved Eric's life. Then he remembered that Vincent had said that Hojo was dead. Vincent knew that Eric had been running from the man, had known the trouble he had caused Eric, but he never said that he had been the one who killed that monster of a man.

“Eric, you alright?” Yuffie asked, hitting him on the back of the head.

“What was that for?” Eric asked angrily as he was jerked from his thoughts.

“You zoned out. I was just making sure you were okay.”

“I'm fine,” Eric said, his tone deadly.

“Good, cause I'm going to sleep, so be sure to put out the fire,” Yuffie ordered.

“Whatever,” Eric mumbled, as he rubbed the back of his head where Yuffie had hit him.

As Eric cast a Blizzard spell to put out the fire, and crawled into his sleeping bag, he thought about the news he had just received. Vincent was a hero, and had saved Eric's life on two occasions already. Perhaps it wasn't wise to leave the mansion. No, it was for the best that he left. Besides, he could always go back for a visit later. Eric closed his eyes, with the future in mind, and fell asleep with visions of the wide world filling his head.

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