A/N: This is for Firefly99, whose birthday was today. Happy birthday, FF99! D May you not grow old and moldey in the next year!

It was his looks, ultimately, that had helped in her decision to join AVALANCHE.

The Materia was a consideration, but they didn't have that much of it anyway. Certainly it wasn't to save the Planet that she joined... well, alright, not at first, anyway. After that... well, after that was a different matter.

Maybe it was 'cause she'd been thrashed practically single-handedly. Aeris - or as she'd thought of her then, Pink - had gone down with a swipe or two of her shuriken. The other old guy had been taken down pretty easy too - all she'd had to do was stand back and throw her shuriken again, and again, and again... he couldn't dodge all of them, now could he?

The leader, on the other hand, was a completely different matter.

Sure she'd been distracted when she had first seen him. For one thing, the way he moved reminded her w-a-a-ay too much of her father. They both had the same deadly grace and killer intent in their movements - sleek, smooth and lethal.

He was a heckuvalot more attractive, though.

It was his eyes, she decided that had first lured her into making a wrong move. The pure colour emanating from them was so focused, so intense, almost hypnotizing in it's glow she'd forgotten where she was for a moment - and he had easily smacked aside her shuriken. Leaping backwards frantically and trying to cast a spell, she'd been thwarted in that attempt when he'd sent a... a wave of energy towards her with his sword. Cursing frantically as she rolled aside, it was then that she got practically frozen by his Ice spell.

After she'd thawed down, she'd tried to glare angrily at him. Did he know who he had just frozen?! The Princess of Wutai! Yuffie Kisaragi, Master Ninja! Hmph! She ranted something off at him, fully prepared to launch into an argument and then sneak attack him while he tried to retort.

And then he had started to talk, and she'd forgot all of her plans, as well as the concept of breathing for about five seconds.

Granted, all he'd done was refuse her challenge, but still... Leviathan, that sexy voice! It'd made her feel hot and tingly from the inside out.

Then after that she'd stolen all their materia... and she'd been shocked that he actually managed to hunt her down. No-one else, not even her father, could find her when she really wanted to. So she'd trapped him, and baited him... and then she was captured by that gross Don Corneo guy.

And then he'd rescued her. And looked at her with those beautiful eyes, tinged with annoyance, and said, "Could you return us our materia?" She'd nearly cried with relief and, hysterical, had laughed until she collapsed on the floor.

"Hey, Yuffie. Are you going to hurry up or not?" the same musical voice called from the front of their three-person-group, sounding slightly irritated.

Yuffie found herself snapped back to the present. "Yeah, yeah, keep your pants on," she returned, forcing herself to sound surly and not put herself off as too eager. God forbid she sound too eager.

Cloud, stopping for a bit, turned back and looked at Yuffie with his head cocked to one side. "Hey... you having any regrets now?" he asked.

Here she was, standing on a rock in the Planet's core, surrounded by frothing, green Lifestream. They were going to fight Sephiroth, and quite likely going to face their deaths. Almost against her will, Yuffie started smiling.

"Regrets? Nope. None at all."