Hey guys! I'm back! (that was quick, I know). I've decided to dig up some stuff on my laptop and post it till I've finished the first few chapters of the...duh duh duuuuh...sequel to Treading the Edge. And since that might be a while (I've lent my Dirge to someone else now, and they happen to live 50km away from me), I'll just post anything I deem worthy for now. To keep you guys occupied...and myself. As if you guys didn't have anything better to do (laughs).

So this one's a Vincent/Lucrecia I've started on. It's a few chapters long, but not finished yet. Whether I finish it or not will entirely depend on the response I get from you readers. It's sweet, and it's a 'Vincent's past' fic, so your're gonna be reading Turk Vincent here.

So enjoy that.

I've also got some Vincent/Tifa's, Reeve/Shalua's, and a Vincent/ Aeris ( --don't ask me why), on my laptop as well, so if you guys are interested, I can post those too. I kinda started writing long before I started posting, so there's this huge mountain of fics just sitting there idly.

Well, I'll be off, so tell me what you think of this one.

Cheers!

Kyyrin

Any Other Day

Chapter One

Vincent Valentine was sick.

And as much as he hated to admit it, he felt like shit.

He had gotten up at 9am, and hour ago, late for work for the first time in his life. He'd been horrified upon realizing it. What kind of a bodyguard could he be for Lucre-----, Dr. Crescent, if he came to work late?

He hightailed it through the winding hallways of the Shinra Manor, towards Dr. Crescent's lab to report for duty, having to stop every few minutes to succumb to a coughing fit.

To be quite honest with himself, he was surprised he could actually walk, let alone run in the condition he was in. He'd spent most of the night tossing and turning, then waking up, breathless from a nightmare.

Screeching to a halt in front of the lab door, he stopped to catch his breath, which was coming out in wheezy gasps. He took a few minutes to straighten up. Eyeing himself in one of the many mirrors that adorned the walls of the Shinra Manor, he realized just how awful he looked.

He hadn't combed his hair, so it was plastered to his face with sweat from the sprint, and with the fever he had no doubt he was running. His nose was beet red, and he realized that he'd forgotten his handkerchief. He was extremely pale with dark circles under his eyes, although his cheeks were flushed red, also, no doubt, from the fever.

He stared at himself mournfully, feeling as ill as he looked.

But with a few well-played excuses, he could bypass any of Dr. Crescents concerns. It wouldn't do to take days off. With the Doctor hard at work on her latest set of experiments, and him being the only trained Shinra member there to protect her at the moment, his health would have to wait.

"Buck up, Valentine", he thought to himself. "Show Lucrec-----, Dr. Crescent, that you're a man, for crying out loud. You're not going to let some god-forsaken illness take you down, are you?"

Finishing his inner monologue, and hoping that he looked as respectable as possible in the state he was in, Vincent knocked on the door.

"Come in!", came the usual enthusiastic reply, with a " and you don't have to knock, Vincent!", hung onto the end.

Vincent sighed. He'd live through the day. It was only what…12, no, 13 hours? Damn…He entered the room quickly before he was tempted to reconsider his decision to come to work and crawl back into bed. If he did the latter, he'd probably never hear the end of it from Hojo. Not to mention he would have failed Lucrecia.

His brain had now obviously given up trying it's best to remember to call her Dr. Crescent. Besides that, she had told him early on that he could call her Lucrecia, but his polite nature, and knowledge of manners forced him to call her by her professional title.

Dr. Lucrecia Crescent stood at her desk, greeting him with a dazzling, warm smile. He felt a blush rise to his cheeks. Sweet Shiva was she beautiful.

"Erm……Good Morning. I greatly apologize for the lateness", he said hoarsely.

"I don't mind! I'm so glad to see you! I was starting to get worried! You were over an hour late. But I'm fine, as you see…". She trailed off into her morning babbling.

Vincent took this opportunity to cough harshly, but softly into his hand, and squeeze his aching eyes shut, which had been pierced by the bright lights in the room. They weren't doing anything for his massive and still growing headache.

Lucrecia paused in her dialogue to look at him.

"Vincent? Are you alright?"

His eyes snapped open, and focused on her blearily.

"What? Yes I'm fine! Why do you ask?". The question came out of his mouth without a thought, and he wished it hadn't.

Lucrecia took that opportunity to come closer to him and look him over thoroughly, and gasped at what she saw.

"Dear Planet, Vincent! You look……you look like………hell!"

Vincent couldn't help it. Despite his distress, he gave a snort of laughter. He had never heard Lucrecia swear before. But what she said was true. He supposed he did look like hell.

"What's so funny?", she demanded, trying to keep a straight face.

"It's……nothing really," Vincent managed between painful, wheezy laughs. "I've just never heard you say that word before!"

"What word?" She looked confused.

"Hell……..", Vincent stuttered. "You've never cursed around me."

She giggled, a sound that was music to Vincent's ears.

"You've never given me a reason to", came the amused reply.

But her expression quickly sobered as she took in Vincent's sickly pale face, and exhausted features.

"Besides, I only swear in serious situations, Vincent. And this seems serious. You look awful! Are you sick?", she persisted, trying to pry it out of him.

Her concern sent his emotions spiraling, but he contained himself. At first he avoided her eyes, but then he decided it would be best not to blow his cover.

He made eye contact with her and said, "I'm fine. There's no need to worry. I just didn't sleep very well last night, that's all."

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say.

"Didn't sleep well? Well then maybe you should go back to bed! You need your rest! I'll be fine here on my own-------"

He cut her off.

"I assure you I'm well. Please don't worry."

"Well, are you sure? Because-----"

"Yes I'm sure. Please…I'm fine".

Vincent felt more than a little horrible about lying to her, but it was the only way he could lay the subject to rest and put her at ease, even as ill as he felt.

"Well, alright. But be sure to tell me if anything's wrong," she said with a smile that made Vincent's heart melt. " You are my bodyguard, after all. Always here for me. So I'm always happy when I can do something for you in return. I'll be here for you too if you need me."

"I'll be here for you too if you need me."

Those words meant the world to Vincent. But he wouldn't let them in too deep. Telling her he was sick would just cause unnecessary complications and perhaps result in difficulties for her. And it was his job to protect her from difficulties. So he would do just that.

The day continued on in it's normal routine, but today that meant torture for Vincent. He had a larger than normal amount of paperwork today, which was part of his duties as a Turk, as well as something to keep him occupied while Lucrecia was hard at work. Hojo had been kind enough not to give permission for the installation of neither heater nor air conditioner in the office he inhabited, which was basically a tiny room connected to Lucrecia's lab.

This fact, combined with the effects his fever was having on him, was murder on this freezing cold winter day. He constantly either shivered mercilessly as if he were standing in the blizzard that was raging outside, or sweated profusely to the point of wanting to strip right then and there.

Not to mention the constant coughing and sneezing he tried his hardest to keep to a minimum so that it wouldn't disturb Lucrecia. Most of the time it proved challenging, but, as he often cautiously peered through the window into her lab, he could see she was to caught up in her work to have heard anything.

He had managed to make an excuse to skip lunch by saying he'd had a large breakfast, when actually he hadn't eaten anything since yesterday afternoon and was still completely devoid of appetite.

That evening he sighed with relief as he saw the clock strike 8:30pm. Only another half hour to pull through. His flu had become increasingly worse throughout the day, and he would be happy to just throw himself into bed and sleep.

He was startled out of his reverie when the door slammed open to reveal none other than the lord of hell in person. Hojo.

He sighed wearily. What now?

"Valentine! 10pm tonight, Dr. Crescent has requested to work alone on a trial experiment on the plains not far from here", he stopped shortly realizing that Vincent was exhausted, and smirking at the fact that he was going to rob him of precious time to rest.

"You are to accompany her as her bodyguard for the entire length of the excursion. And see to it that no harm comes to her, as well as any of the equipment. Do you understand me, boy?", Hojo asked, with a disgusting grin on his face. He was enjoying this torment.

Vincent knew that there was no point in arguing. After all it was his job to protect Lucrecia.

"Understood…Doctor", he muttered wearily, too tired and aching to give a salute.

"Excellent", Hojo crooned, cackling maliciously. He left, but not before slamming the door behind him shut with such force, Vincent felt his head would explode.

He leaned back in his chair and moaned. Considering his current state, and the fact that there was fresh snow and a freezing wind blowing outside, this was going to be a long night.

Twenty minutes later he had finished off the last of the paperwork in his cramped office, and had collapsed on his bed, pausing only shortly to set his alarm clock to 8:45pm, forty-five minutes away. Too exhausted to undress, he felt his eyelids grow heavy and shut.

An hour later, Vincent awoke to the frantic beeping of his alarm. He stared blearily up at the clock and was suddenly wide-awake when he saw what time it was.

"Shit!?!", he swore and bolted upright.

It was already 9pm. He must have slept through the alarm.

But the damage was done. He was mortified at the thought that he had never been late in his life, and today he had managed it twice in a row.

He stood quickly, but just as quickly found out it had been a mistake.

The world tipped and twisted before his eyes. He was dizzy beyond belief. Not too mention hot and cold at the same time. He grabbed the bedpost for support until the spinning stopped. Squeezing his eyes shut, he let out a sigh of frustration.

This was going to be rough.

He straightened himself up and walked slowly to the bathroom. Splashing some cold water on his face, combing through his hair, and smoothing out his suit didn't help his appearance much, but it was better than nothing.

He paused on his way out only to grab his winter jacket, guns, and materia.

As soon as he felt fit enough to run again, he raced to the entrance of the manor.

There he met the gazes of a worried looking Lucrecia, and an ill-tempered Hojo.

"I…I'm sorry. Excuse my lateness", he managed to croak, through his extremely sore throat.

"Excuse? Valentine! How could you possibly allow yourself to be late for such an important excursion?? You're hopeless!"

Lucrecia opened her mouth to argue but Hojo cut her off.

"Beginning tomorrow, you can get up at four am and start guard duty outside the manor at five. You know how pesky some of those monsters can get in the winter…." Hojo grinned deviously.

Vincent grimaced. Just what he needed. More sleep deprivation along with nasty creatures.

Lucrecia intervened.

"Doctor, please. I'm sure Vincent didn't mean too! He must have had a very good reason. He said he slept poorly last night. Can't you oversee a mistake just once?", she pleaded.

"Slept poorly, you say", Hojo said thoughtfully. "Well…I say TOUGH LUCK."

Lucrecia flinched.

"Since he'll be getting up early every morning from now on, he should get used to less sleep", Hojo exclaimed in twisted glee.

"But----"

This time Vincent intervened.

"No. It's all right, Dr. Crescent. I deserve this punishment. It was irresponsible to be late. My apologies." He bowed his head slightly.

Lucrecia sighed softly, frowning slightly. "Well then, let's go."

"Mhmm…"

Vincent hoisted the heavy equipment, even though his aching bones screamed in protest, and followed Lucrecia outside.

Hojo eyed them both menacingly as they walked out the door, and continued to watch them until they had disappeared around the bend in the road.

With a cruel smile on his thin lips, he shut the manor doors.

I've said it once, and I will say it again. I.hate.Hojo. So expect a lot of Hojo-bashing in my fics. Cheers!