"I know what you are hiding from everyone, Yuffie-including yourself."

-

I still get lost in your eyes
And it seems that I can't live a day without you
Closing my eyes and you chase my thoughts away
To a place where I am blinded by the light
But it's not right

Goodbye to you
Goodbye to everything I thought I knew
You were the one I loved
The one thing that I tried to hold on to

- Michelle Branch
"Goodbye To You"

Lost In Your Eyes
epilogue

The sunrise was always so beautiful in Wutai. Yuffie had been around the entire planet, and never had she seen a sunrise quite like one from her hometown. She smiled as the bright red and orange hues reflected on the ocean. The orange... reminded her of her love's strawberry blonde hair. Reminded her of the past. It had been almost four years since she had witnessed the death of her love from afar. Four years since the rebel group AVALANCHE had defeated Sephiroth, saving the planet from Meteor. And she had been a part of it.

"Mama?" A voice said from behind her.

She turned to see the small three-year-old yawning. "Oh darling, did I wake you? I'm sorry." Yuffie kneeled down to face her daughter. "Happy Birthday, Kairi."

The girl smiled, "Thanks Mama!"

"You all ready for your party today?" Yuffie asked.

"Yeah! Is Uncle Vinnie and Godfather gonna be there?"

Yuffie tapped Kairi on the nose and smiled, "You betcha. And Aunt Tifa and everyone else."

"YAY!" The little girl squealed as she ran to her room to get ready.

Time had flown by too quickly for Yuffie. Everything seemed as if it had been a dream. How had she ever escaped her sorrow for Rufus' death? Having Kairi with her helped. She still thought of him, every now and then. When the stars were bright in the sky, she would go to the shore, and walk the ocean, just like she had the evening he had died. Talking to herself, pretending to be talking with him. Sometimes, she thought she even got an answer... but when she would turn, nothing would be there. In her heart, Yuffie still couldn't believe that he was dead. But as the years passed on, and she heard nothing, she couldn't help but believe what everyone was telling her.

Rufus is dead.

Let it go, Yuffie.

"One day, I will." Yuffie said to herself.

The birthday party was to be held outside, a few yards away from the beach shore. Calling to Kairi, Yuffie walked downstairs, ready to go to the beach.

Soon, the guests had arrived. First to arrive were Cloud and Tifa, along with Barret and Marlene. Kairi was thrilled at the sight of the older girl- and they immediately began to play in the front yard. Red XIII and Cid soon followed, with Cid carrying a load of presents. Sherra walked behind him, giggling uncontrollably.

Yuffie was so distracted by the sight of Cid being a slave, that she didn't notice the shadow approach from behind her. "Greetings, Kisaragi Yuffie," a shadowy voice said.

She jumped in surprise. Whirling around, she found the dark Vincent Valentine standing behind her. "V-Vinnie!" She screeched, "Don't DO THAT!"

A small smile formed on Vincent's face, "Sorry Yuffie- I couldn't help it." Kairi and Marlene ran past the two, giggling as they played a game of tag. Vincent's eyes followed Kairi, watching with his eyes slightly narrowed. "She's grown."

"Who, Kairi?" Yuffie looked to her daughter, "I forgot that you hadn't seen her since her last birthday. Yeah, she has grown, a lot." Spreading out the large picnic blanket, she watched the two children play.

"She has his eyes."

"I know," Yuffie said, looking down to the blanket's bird pattern. "And his smile." In fact, everything that was her daughter reminded her of Kairi's father. Sometimes it was very painful to just look Kairi in the eyes. She had never asked where her father was, but Yuffie knew it would be coming. What would she tell her? Would she ruin her innocent life with what was the truth?

Vincent looked to his friend in concern, "Yuffie- are you all right?"

Yuffie nodded, "Don't worry about me." She smiled, and nudged Vincent in the ribs. "Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule of haunting the ShinRa mansion."

"Funny," Vincent flatly retorted. He looked up as a new guest approached the beach party. "Speaking of ShinRa... here comes the President, himself."

Reeve nodded to the two, "Hello Yuffie. I can't believe it's been three months already..." he hugged the small ninja girl. "Vincent," they nodded to each other. Looking to all the others, Reeve commented, "Well Yuffie, looks like this is going to be a big party."

She nodded, "Yeah- when was the last time we were all together? When Kairi was born, right?"

"I think so," Reeve nodded. He looked to the little girl. "Wow, she's grown so fast."

Kairi, realizing that Vincent and Reeve had arrived, ran over to the two men, smiling brightly. "Uncle Vinnie! Godfather!" She hugged their legs tightly. "Thanks for coming to Kairi's birthday party!"

Kneeling down to the little girl, Reeve smiled. "Thank you for inviting me, Kairi," he patted her on the head. "You look so cute in that birthday kimono!" Kairi smiled and modeled her clothes for her two uncles. The kimono was a bright blue, the same color as the girl's eyes. The cloth had silver embroidery of koi fish and Wutaian lettering. Around Kairi's waist was a darker blue obi, with a white tie. "So pretty-" Reeve said, smiling. "But I know something that will make it better..." Out of his pocket he pulled a small barrette, made of what looked to be small pearls and emeralds. Kairi and Yuffie gasped. "only the best for my Goddaughter," he said, smiling at Kairi. He put the barrette into her brown hair, careful not to hurt her by pulling to hard. "There," he said. "Perfect."

"Mama, Mama!" Kairi turned to Yuffie. "Does it look pretty on Kairi?"

Yuffie nodded, "Very pretty, sweety. Go show Marlene, okay?" The girl smiled and ran off to show her friend. "You shouldn't have done that, Reeve-" Yuffie said sharply. "She's only three... something so expensive..."

"Oh it's not real," Reeve winked. "It's made of materia." Yuffie's jaw dropped as Reeve chuckled. "Looks like Kairi has the same tastes as her mother."

"Not funny."

Vincent let out a soft laugh, "I think it is."

"Kairi-" Marlene called. "I think we've gone too far out! Come back... Papa will be worried if we don't go back."

Kairi blinked at her older friend. "Mama said Kairi could go wherever she wanted to, as long as she sees Mama," she replied. "Kairi can see Mama," she said, squinting. "Kairi just wants to go a little more. Kairi sees something weird..."

Up head was a strange lump in the sand. It was a dark brown, contrasting against the white sand. It was standing close to the ocean shore. Kairi could have sworn she saw it move. Curiosity always got the best of her.

"Kairi," Marlene called again. "I'm gonna go tell your Mom!" Kairi ignored her. With a loud huff, the older girl started running back to the party.

Walking as stealthy as she could, Kairi snuck up on the figure in the sand. She paused when it moved again. Was it a sand monster? Uncle Cid was always telling her of stories of sand monsters coming and eating up little girls that pestered old men. Kairi swallowed hard. "H-hello?" she called. The figure turned to her. She let out a loud yelp.

It was a person. A hermit slouching as he stood in the sand. He had a long beard and long hair. Everything was covered in a light brown dirt- even the cloth that he wrapped himself in was dirty. But his eyes... Kairi looked directly into his eyes.

They were bright blue. Like hers, but very sad. Instantly, she felt a great sorrow for the stranger.

"Hello little one," the man said in a gruff voice. "Didn't your father ever teach you not to talk to strangers?"

She thought for a moment, and then asked, "What is that?"

The man raised an eyebrow, "Don't know what a father is?" He kneeled down to be face to face with her. "Well I suppose you would call a father something else- your Dad... your Daddy... your Papa..."

A light turned on as she realized what the strange man was talking about. "Oh a PAPA! Nope! Don't have one of those," Kairi said, smiling. "But Marlene does! A big scary one!"

"Do you have a... 'Mama'?" the man asked, adjusting his vocabulary for the little girl.

"Yeah! Kairi has a Mama!"

"Didn't she teach you not to talk to bad people?"

"But you're not a bad people," Kairi replied.

Baffled, he blinked. "Why would you say that?"

A warm smile formed on the little girl's face. She took a step closer, cupping her tiny hand around the hermit's face. "Mister's eyes are sad," she said. "Bad people don't have sad eyes like yours."

"That's..." he was taken aback by her sudden wisdom, "very perceptive of you. Smart and pretty." Turning his head, he scanned the beach for any other people. Nothing. "Where's your 'Mama'? I'm certain she wouldn't want you wandering out by yourself."

"Mama's just a little way," she said, pointing towards the distant party. "She's really pretty too! You wanna come meet her, Mister?"

His look softening as he looked to Kairi, he shook his head no. "No I don't think that would be a good idea, Kairi, was it?" A smile came to the hermit's face. "My, that is a pretty name."

The little girl blushed. "Thank you, Mister," she said giggling as she twirled her hair with her fingers. "Mama gave Kairi her name. It was her Mama's name."

"Kairi?" He knew he had heard that name before. The man froze, his eyes filling with disbelief. For a moment he looked to the little girl, and then slowly asked, "What's your... 'Mama's' name...?"

"Hmmmm..." she thought for a moment. "Kairi's not sure..." Looking to the stranger she asked, "What's yours Mister?"

"S-" he began to say, but was interrupted by shouting in the distance.

"KAIRI!"

Kairi turned to see her mother running towards her. She let out a giggle and began to wave furiously. "MAMA!"

Her mother appeared in the distance, running quickly. The hermit's stomach sank. "My eyes must be playing tricks on me," he said, looking to Kairi again.

"Kairi," Kairi flinched at her mother's angry tone. "What did I SAY? Only as far as I could see you! What if Marlene hadn't come and told us that you had gone so far-"

"But Mama, Kairi was only talking to her new friend... Kairi wasn't doin' anything bad, Mama."

Yuffie's frown deepened, "What did I tell you about not talking to strangers, Kairi?" She kneeled down to pick the little one up. "You're very lucky that-" she looked at the hermit and froze.

"Mama?" Kairi asked, looking curiously at her mother. "What is it?"

The man looked directly into Yuffie's eyes, the bright blue hue of his eyes shining. "Hello Yuffie," he said.

She gasped, almost dropping Kairi from the shock.

That voice was the same voice she heard in her dreams every night, calling to her. It couldn't be... he was supposed to be... dead...

"I'll never see you again."

"That's not true, we will meet again. I promise."

"Promise?"

"Promise."

A small smile formed on Yuffie's lips as a tear ran down her cheek.

"Rufus."

And they lived happily ever after...

The End

Author's Notes:

*dies from over exposure to too much sap*

Perhaps I should have had a warning at the beginning of this epilogue...

WARNING: DO NOT READ IF YOU WANTED TO SEE JYAF END SADLY. THIS EPILOGUE IS POINTLESS AND FULL OF SAP!

*shrugs* I'm sorry, I had to have a happy ending. I HAD TO! A lot of people will probably be mad with this, as most people would say Rufus died at the end of disk 2. I don't think he did. I really don't. I mean, he ducked underneath his desk- and the desk was made of metal. I think he just passed out. And then, after ShinRa was finished, he just left... what good was it to stay there anyway?

At least, that's my theory ;p

Okay, yeah Yuffie had Rufus-chan's child. That didn't come out of the blue. There were hints in chapter 8... Vincent's being the biggest, which is why the story started with his quote. After all, Rufus and Yuffie did do it like bunnies in chapter 6... and two months later Rufus died. So it is perfectly conceivable that she could be carrying a child and not know it at that time. So :P is what I say to all you people who are like "What did she do that for?" I was trying to make it like a fairytale ^^;;;

And yes, Kairi got her name from the Kingdom Hearts character, Kairi. Too tempting. Had to do it. I know, evil is my name. Hehehe- yes, evil.

Well this project is FINALLY OVER! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW! I thought it would never end. Not that I wanted to see it end. Angst is fun when you're writing it! Thanks go out to all you supporters in the world. Your comments kept me writing this. Special thanks to scarr, magnum opus, Clara and Auto, who've stayed with this story since the very beginning, two years ago. I'm so glad everyone liked JYAF so much ;_; It makes me cry tears of joy!

I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I did writing it. JYAF has always been my favorite angst story. It's my little baby *pets it* But now it's done and over *sigh* Don't know what's in store next for Final Fantasy universe fanfictions. I want to write a Kingdom Hearts Yuffie/Leon shorts. Haha- where Yuffie gets IN Leon's shorts! HAHAHA! Oh, I'm SO funny ^^;; After that, I'm not quite sure. I have a starter for a Yuffie/Vincent fic sitting in my fanfiction folder, but I'm not sure if I want to go through with it or not. The basis is kind of trite. We will see.

Thank you for reading and supporting Final Fantasy VII's "Just Your Average Fairytale".

Legal Mumbo Jumbo:

Final Fantasy VII is owned by the RPG Gods, Squaresoft! *Hikaru bows* Oh mighty Gods of Square, do not sue me! I'm a poor otaku who can't even afford a Japanese PS2! *goes and cries in a dark corner*