Yuffie Kisaragi let the ring on her left hand catch her eyes again and got lost in the beauty of the diamond. She never held tightly to the idea of getting married when she was younger. Yes, she thought the idea of committing yourself to one person was sweet and adorable. But no, she never thought it was a place for her to be. She didn't want to be tied down to one person because she wanted to have fun with her life and not worry about upsetting another being. Her father had small fits when she had her wild spells, but he taught her how to grow over them. Rio Azima appeared shortly after she was trying to please her father.

Rio was the lead scientist working under her father. He did his best to find as many solutions to saving the Wutai village as much money as possible. Some of the tricks he pulled were amazing and most made Yuffie stunned to think no one else was able to think them up.

Godo Kisaragi turned Wutai into more of a home village than a tourist attraction as the years passed on. Tourists still visited, but they jumped more to their fancy areas and left the population's homes alone more often. It allowed the people time to relax and not have to deal with strangers all the time. It was a slow change, but a welcomed change nonetheless.

"Yuffie, are you awake?" Rio called at the front door.

Yuffie turned to face him with a smirk. "You can see I am awake. What are the plans for today?"

"Nothing is really set in stone. The lab is scheduled to do some testing with a new method of healing we developed. If our experiments prove correct, this discovery could bring in a lot of money," Rio said and walked over to his wife. He ran his fingers through her hair as she zoned out like she tended to do some days. Her hyper attitude calmed down even more once they got married, and it pulled him to her quickly. She was quite adorable when she wasn't acting like a three year old filled up on sugar. "It's a new potion with the ability to heal internal wounds. Anything from poor organs to a broken bone. There were a lot of twists and turns with the experiments. But after one more test we think we can prove this medicine to be top quality."

"That sounds amazing," she said and gave a small chuckle. "I know a few people who could probably use some medicine just like that."

Rio fought off the urge to roll his eyes and only kissed her forehead and turned to leave their room. He wished her a good morning and left for his typical morning disappearance. Yuffie knew how much he hated her bringing up the events from her past, but they were strong pieces of her history. Without them, she wouldn't be the woman she was today.

Yuffie stood from the bed and looked into the full length mirror on the wall. Her hair now danced a few inches past her shoulders and she usually was seen in fitted jeans with a plain t-shirt. Her knee high boots completed the look even if they were worn out with age. She knew she grew well to the age of twenty-seven, but she hated having attention on her looks. There was more to her than the ability to fill out a pair of jeans.

Yuffie smirked as she thought about Tifa and her appearance. The woman always had men hitting on her. Well, that was before Cloud grew a pair and finally asked her hand in marriage. It took him a long time, but finally he got over his internal issues and bought the lady a nice ring. She wondered how they were doing and felt sad she hadn't spoken to them face to face since they helped Vincent out with the Deepground battles. She sent Tifa emails often and Tifa always responded, but it wasn't the same as a face to face conversation.

It was heart breaking Rio only wanted to hold a small ceremony for their wedding because she would have loved to invite her friends to see her new happy moment. She wouldn't lie to herself, she knew Rio did the small wedding intentionally because she was obsessed with her old friends. It got on his nerves every time she brought them up and he could only sit there and listen. As time passed, she stopped mentioning them and pretended to enjoy getting lost in his science talks. She was a master at pretending with Rio.

Yuffie froze on the steps as her thoughts crashed. How much of her life was only a false act anymore? She rolled her eyes and continued down the stairway. Growing up meant changing it seemed.

"Good morning, Yuffie," Godo said from his lounge chair in the living room. He may have improved his ability to lead the area, but his weight appeared to always take a hard hit after each success.

"Good morning, Godo," she said. She was unable to vocalize any term to label him as her father and he was perfectly set with the idea. They had an awkward relationship. "What are you doing today?"

"I'm going to meet with Rio to discuss the new experiment he is wanting to test out and I was hoping you would sit with me during the conversation," he said and held his hand open to the small chair next to him.

"What for?" she asked without taking a step towards him.

"I figured it would be good for the future leader of Wutai to see how important discussions are held to settle matters for the village and the future," he said and tapped the arm of the little chair. "Now take a seat and wait for him to step in."

As if he were waiting for the cue, Rio stepped into the room and bowed down to Godo. Yuffie took a deep breath and sat in her reserved seat. She sat in on plenty of discussions with her father and other people. There was no reason for her to sit in on the talk about Rio's experiments. She didn't understand half the things he talked about anyway!

"Mr. Rio Azima, please come in and tell me what you request from us this hour," Godo said and motioned his hand to the couch across the small table.

"I was hoping we could discuss the matter of a new healing potion my group of scientists have discovered."

"Continue."

Yuffie could not keep her mind focused on the matter before her. She knew by the mention of incredible potions she used to use every day the matter was a high hitting success. If there were any ways to completely heal internal injuries back when they fought Sephiroth their lives would have been much better. Of course, then the big buffoon would also have had the opportunity to be stronger. Okay, it wouldn't have changed much against semi intelligent enemies, but it was a step in the right direction.

"As long as you can swear it is not harmful, I don't see a reason not to take advantage of an experiment," Godo said and smiled to his daughter. What had she missed?

"That's good sir," Rio said and joined Godo in smiling her way. "I gave her a bit of..."

His words faded away as the room grew dark and her body sunk in the chair. Once again her spacing out caused her to miss what was going on. Was she part of the new experiment they would be trying?

xXxXxXxXx

Vincent leaned back in his bedroom and let out a slow breath. His life was good and he was happy with the changes he made. He moved into a comfortable apartment Tifa found for him only two blocks away from 7th Heaven. The neighbors were pleasant to talk to and he had the ability to visit his friends whenever he deemed fit.

Vincent smirked at the thought of him managing to find friends. It felt as if it was another lifetime when he believed he would be set to spend the rest of his life alone locked in a coffin. Being immortal would make the time boring, but when he couldn't take it any longer he would take advantage of the gun he always carried with him. Then along came the group determined to take down the all powerful Sephiroth. They seemed like an alright group so he joined them with only a little hesitation.

He looked up into the night sky and pulled his comforter around him. He saw Cloud and Tifa almost every day and Barret poked his head in every now and again. It would take a lot to vocalize his thoughts, but he wondered how everyone else was doing. Was Red XIII having a good time with his grandchildren? What in the world was Caith Sith up to these days? Did Cid still cuss up a storm when he got a little upset or flustered? Was Yuffie still trying to steal materia or did she grow up in these years?

Vincent fell asleep thinking about his past with those people. He would never utter the words out loud, but he missed them all and really enjoyed the time he spent with them.