Three weeks have past since Vincent's disappearance. This is normal for the gunslinger to disappear without a trace, but nothing has been heard of him. Always, the Great Ninja Yuffie Kisaragi was able to hunt him down and find out whether he was alive or not, but this time, Yuffie failed.
For the first two weeks, Yuffie had made it her goal to find him. She searched high and low, every dark and angsty place that resembled places Vincent liked to hide in, but she found no traces of his crimson cloak. After that, Yuffie gave up - wait, no, no. She did NOT give up, the great ninja Yuffie never gave up! She chose to have a break that's all, then she would search for her angsty companion again and this time, she would come back him in tow. For now, she rested her tired little body busting her ass off for her friend Tifa.
In one hand, Yuffie balanced a tray filled with alcoholic beverages and snacks while her other hand served the over flow of customers. The tray teetered from her palm precariously as she swirled and twirled from table to table, the tray loosing balance with each drink lifted. Despite the ninja's lack of discretion towards balance, the tray never fell once.
"HeEEy!" A drunken man who sat at the bar slurred, "Coooome oooon woMAN. I dON't have aaaaaaaaallll d-aaaAy!"
Yuffie noticed Tifa was far too busy dealing with other obnoxious drunks at the bar. She had two drinks left on her tray and decided to help her friend out.
Yuffie walked over to the man with a frown. She wasn't going to pretend to be happy for this jerk. She placed a drink on the bar in front of him. He jumped at the sudden appearance of her arm, then followed it up to her face where his gaze then traveled down and smirked. All these desperate drunks had problems and came here to drink thier sorrows away, she knew this, but however tragic and sad his life was, Yuffie still wanted to give the man a good punch in the face.
But that wouldn't be good.
Yuffie settled on stealing a shiny orb in the man's pocket to redeem himself. The man was too drunk to notice and if he had, he probably would have thought she was hitting on him. She tossed the green materia lightly and caught it in her hands. Although his back was towards her, he looked at her over his shoulder. In his drunken stupor, he hadn't noticed his Materia in the little thieve's hands, but instead stared at the two mounds on her chest.
Obviously the man was not a regular as most never brought in their Materia with them, at least not in this bar. Their Materia always had a funny way of disappearing. Fortunately, they failed to notice they only lost their shiny orbs when ever Yuffie worked.
"I almost feel sorry for taking this," Yuffie said to the man preoccupied by her chest. She threw the materia once again up into the air and with a cheeky grin, she teased the man, "Not!"
Yuffie had to admit it would have looked so much cooler, if only to herself since the man she stole from was too drunk and stupid to care anything, but her chest, if the materia had fallen back into her hands the moment she said 'Not'.
Confusion worked its way into the little ninja as she pouted her lips and looked around the floor. Where was it? She didn't even hear it land! For some reason, as if materia could stop in mid air, she looked up and gasped upon seeing the green glowing orb hung over her in the clutches of black leather gloves.
"Hey!" Yuffie whined, standing on her tip toes to grab the materia, "That's mine!"
Yuffie turned, her arm stretched above her attempting to wrestle the orb out of the man's grip. Suddenly, she froze. Her mouth hung open and her grey eyes widened in shock.
Vincent was surprised the young ninja hadn't dropped the tray, but showed no evidence of it except the glance of his red eyes that stared down at Yuffie. "Yours?" Vincent murmured, his voice barely reached the ninja's ears. The bar, like most, had a high level of volume filled with shouts, unrestrained laughter and the pounding on tables.
"Vincent!" Yuffie squealed, jumping even higher on her toes as her left leg bent back at the knee, "Where have you been, buddy! You disappeared and haven't heard from you since! Ya know, people started to think you were dead! Of course I didn't though, because you can't die until you've tried Moe's Ice cream! Which reminds me, we still haven't gone there yet! But now that the deepground soldiers are defeated you have all-"
"Yuffie," Vincent cut in, in hopes Yuffie would get the hint to stop her rambling.
"Oh, I would hug you Vinnie! But I'm holding this and you're trying to steal my materia!" Yuffie smiled widely, her grey eyes sparkling ecstatically. Despite her smile and her shining eyes, she tugged at the materia in Vincent's hand.
"I think it would be best if you returned this," Vincent said, releasing the orb.
Yuffie dropped back on both feet and pouted. Closing her hand around the materia, she looked at it longingly, "Fine, but consider this your welcome back gift, okay?"
Seeing Vincent had no intentions to reply and just stare at her, Yuffie sighed and turned around. The man had long forgotten her presence, busy downing the beer she'd provided him with. He jumped again, startled when her hand shot forward and placed the materia before him. "Take good care of it, 'kay?" Yuffie said and patted the materia once more before turning back to Vincent. Her eyes were watery, resembling a raining sky and her lips pouted. She was doing her best to give Vincent her sad look, but her silent companion wasn't looking at her.
Suddenly, Vincent leaned towards her, his arm shooting out behind her. Yuffie leaned back, surprised decorated her face. Her cheeks burned and her pulse raced beneath her skin. She gulped and blamed shock for making her feel this way. His face was so close, the smell of gun powder swept her off her feet and she found herself light headed. Attempting to making light of the situation, Yuffie gave a nervous laugh, "Woah! Vinnie, you sure are happy to see me!"
Vincent paid no attention to her. His eyes were trained on the drunken man, his hand around the man's wrist who had made a grab at the ninja's rear. The drunken man looked back at Vincent fearfully. He released the man's wrist only until he was certain the man had gotten his point. The man scuttled away and out of the bar. During his mad flee, he left everything and nothing on the bar.
Finally, Vincent turned his gaze on the ninja who leaned away from his towering figure. He was practically on top of her with her face tilted up towards his. Vincent opened his mouth to say something, but nothing passed through his lips. There was nothing coherent on his mind as his eyes rested on the ninja's parted lips. 'Intriguing,' Was the word Vincent had on his mind. He couldn't tear his eyes away, in fact, he felt the need to feel them. An odd feeling over took him and he wasn't sure what to do.
Yuffie watched with frozen breaths as Vincent's brows curved down causing the skin between to furrow slightly. Frustration was written all over his face. Well, maybe not all over as Vincent's facial expressions were minor and limited.
"Um, Vincent?" Yuffie whispered, the nervous pit in her stomach sunk deeper. Was he angry at her? Did he need blood? Was he going to take hers?!
Soon as she spoke, Vincent sprung straight as if some one had shot him. His head bent low and his hand went up to face and covered everything except his right eye. Yuffie didn't know why he chose to hide his emotions behind his hand when his poker face did a great job. Without another word, Vincent strode through the crowd and disappeared up stairs.
Yuffie straightened, a light blush on her cheeks. Was it just her, or was he going to ki- 'No! No! NO!' Yuffie yelled inside her mind, closing her eyes shut. No, she couldn't make herself believe that. Sure, she liked him, but knew he would never have any romantic feelings towards anyone, but the woman of his past. Over the years, she'd done a good job hiding her feelings, bound and gagged. She didn't need him acting weird towards her to make her feel stupid again.
Suddenly, Yuffie was angry, but not for the reason she expressed, "That stupid jerk! He's been gone for three weeks and he thinks he can walk back in here without so much as an explanation! That- That! Grrr!"
"Yuffie," A feminine voice called behind her, "That was Vincent, wasn't it?"
"Yea," Yuffie sighed, lamely.
"What was that about?" Tifa asked, knowing full well, but she wanted to see what Yuffie thought.
"I don't know! He was just being weird," Yuffie shrugged her shoulders and finally turned to look at the woman behind the bar. Something green and shiny on the bar caught her attention.
"Materia!" Yuffie shouted, delighted the man left it. Before she could grab it, Tifa had it her hand.
"This will pay for his orders," Tifa said, turning the materia in her hand while her eyes flashed mischievously over to Yuffie.
"No, no! Teef, you don't understand, I-I," Yuffie stuttered, leaning over the bar, her free hand shooting out to snatch the materia.
Tifa stepped out of Yuffie's reach and smiled innocently, "Why don't you go help Vincent settle in? It's almost closing time any ways."
"But, Teef!" Yuffie complained loudly, going slack on top of the bar.
"Go help Vincent, I know you want to," Tifa replied, wiggling her eyebrows suggestively.
Yuffie made a gagging noise, but complied. She crawled off the bar and up the stairs, but not before giving Tifa a childish glare.
Tifa sighed, pocketing the materia. She knew Yuffie liked the cold gunslinger and anyone could see if they were to look close enough. Unfortunately, Yuffie was too far in denial that no one like Vincent would like her and became dense and unaware from all the signs. Unfortunately, Vincent was too busy drowning in angst and brooding to notice his affection towards the ninja. They were little actions that no one noticed other than Tifa that made her think Vincent did in fact have a soft spot for Yuffie. A very soft spot.
Like on their air travels, Vincent always stood near the ninja just in case something happened to her. No one else dared to stand next to Yuffie for fear of her lunch spilling on them. He kept a steady hand on her back or shoulder when ever she threatened to fall. When ever he disappeared from the bridge, Tifa knew he was searching for pills that made her motion sickness go away. Okay, everyone knew about that, but they thought nothing of it because none of them wanted to see Yuffie spewing out her stomach and thought the gunslinger thought like wise. Tifa knew better. He didn't help her because he thought it was disgusting, but because he wanted to ease her pains.
All the two needed was a push in the right direction and Tifa was good at pushing.
