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Chapter Four - Crawling in the Dark
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I don’t want to be here. It was the first thought that came to mind as Yuffie slid the key into the lock and opened the front door, stepping into her darkened apartment and closing the door behind her. For the first time in a long while she wanted to be anywhere but where she was at that moment. Except maybe at Vincent’s. She didn’t think she could deal with the infuriating Turk anymore that night.
Her domicile felt empty to her as she strode in, laying her keys on the coffee table and sliding out of her coat. She took off her shoes, not wanting to track snow through the apartment and after a thought she took off her socks as well. They were pretty much soaked through after all.
She shivered, walking barefoot across the darkened living room and straight into the bathroom. She closed and locked the door behind her, more out of habit than any worry for her safety. After a moment of brief hesitation she decided to turn the bathroom lights on dimly, as opposed to their full strength. She didn’t have the energy to deal with bright light just then. Not at three in the morning.
After turning the water in the shower on, her attention switched to the tenacious button that held her jeans hostage at her hips. It resisted the unclasping effort that Yuffie’s numb fingers gave. Finally the small metal button slipped out of the catch, and Yuffie was able to slide the jeans off. She took notice of the fact that they were damp up to the knee, no doubt from the snow she had been trudging through. Casting them aside she stepped out of her panties and pulled her shirt up over her head. For a moment she panicked, thinking she might have left her bra at Vincent’s but she quickly recalled slipping it into her bag before she left.
She pulled the shower curtain back and stepped into the falling stream of water, gasping slightly at the sudden shock of the hot water against her skin. It was an almost violent change after all the time she’d spent in the cold that night. Forcing her body to acclimate to the change in temperature, she stepped forward, letting the steaming water run over her face and through her hair. It felt good; hundreds of the tiniest water streams running over her scalp at once. She shivered at the sensation.
Long night, she thought impassively, retrieving her body wash and sponge. She squeezed the bottle gently, rewarded with a quarter-sized amount of the clear blue gel. Working it into a lather in the sponge, she then proceeded to run the sponge across her naked flesh, making sure every curve and contour was lathered before rinsing it all off and moving to shampoo her hair. After rinsing it out she made quick work of conditioning her hair and rinsing it again before turning the hot water off and stepping out of the shower. She wrapped herself in a towel and leaned over the sink, using her hand to wipe some of the condensation off of the mirror. When she saw her face she decided that leaving the fog on the mirror would have been a better idea. She looked pale and tired. Her eyes were lackluster and her lips seemed to be permanently bowed into a sad and contemplative pout. “It’s been a long night,” she insisted to her reflection.
After wringing her hair out over the bathtub, she toweled off and slipped into the oversized tee shirt and shorts she had left folded on the sink at the beginning of the day before. Clean, dressed, and now ready to fall asleep, she strode out of the bathroom and into the bedroom, being as quiet as she possibly could upon entering. The reason for her practiced silence was lying on the other side of the double bed that Yuffie owned and she was fast asleep.
Aiko Kisuragi lay on one side of the spacious double bed, tucked comfortably beneath the conglomeration of blankets that Yuffie kept. Aiko’s eyes were closed and her breathing even. Her face was bathed in the soft, cool glow of the digital bedside clock, whose display now served as a reminder to Yuffie on how late it really was.
Aiko was spending the month with Yuffie while Lord Godo and Yuffie’s stepmother were off on some romantic getaway. It was the first vacation Godo had taken from the pagoda in years and Yuffie had been more than happy to let her stepsister stay for the month. Since the fifteen year old was home-schooled, the time off from class hadn’t been a factor. Aiko was just excited at the prospect of spending time with her stepsister, and Yuffie had even agreed to pay her thirty-five gil a week to keep the apartment clean and take care of Jinx (Yuffie’s cat) while she was at work.
As quietly and gently as possible, Yuffie pulled back the covers on the unoccupied side of the bed and slid beneath them, turning onto her side and closing her eyes in preparation for the five hours of deep sleep she hoped to get before her alarm woke her up for work.
“Yuffie?” came a sleepy voice.
Damn it thought Yuffie. “Yeah Aiko, its me. Go back to sleep.”
“Is everything all right?”
Yuffie paused a moment, unsure of how to answer the simple question. Finally, stubbornly, she replied, “Go to sleep. Everything is fine.”
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