Yes beta this is M

(8,556 words, what the hell aren't prologues meant to be short?)

Here's the first chapter of my new story 'Innocent eyes' brought to you by the lovely Serah Valentine. I just needed a olden day Vampire fic, and here's my attempt at one. I guess this is my Vincent torture fic, I always have a character that's being tortured, it's too fun not to. I'm sorry Vince I love you but you made it too easy.

I apologise in advance for randomly switching to Japanese, I originally wrote it using google translate, so it was only half correct. I fixed it with my own new knowledge and a dictionary...and a random line from the Japanese version of Lightning returns...I liked it and it fit. And also here's my apology for the part with the Vampy, I just started writing and it went too far, but I had fun so all's good. I feel like this chapter is 'lighter' in content on comparison to the rest of the story, read on to find out why that is so wrong.

Disclaimer: I don't own FF I just want to know if it's possible to legally be Vincent Valentine's wife.


Innocent eyes

Chapter 1: The run-away


The tiny thief shoved the contents of the cupboard into a satchel hanging by a strap over her right shoulder. She and her accomplice had stayed a night in an elderly couple's home, pretending to be simple travellers. Before the sun had risen they had awoken and snuck down into their kitchen and lounge room; she stole food from their pantry while he stole expensive-looking items from in and around the rest of downstairs. They'd sell them later for what money they could get.

The thief finished digging out all the good food, proceeded to close her bag and, quiet as a shadow, left the house. Her companion had already left with his bags full to go retrieve their Chocobo. She ran a small hand through the short knotty length of her jet-black hair absent-mindedly, remembering that when she got the chance it'd be best for her to have a bath; she'd never been this dirty in her life. Of course not; she'd grown up in luxury.

She jumped off the creaking white porch and onto muddy ground which made squishing sounds under her bare feet. She dusted dirt off her stolen dress; she'd taken it from the first house they'd gone to since leaving Wutai. She wondered if that rich family had even noticed it was gone.

She glanced upwards as a familiar 'qwark' was heard. She let a smile fall upon her lips as she saw a Chocobo with a black haired teen riding atop its back.

"Ah, hayaku Yuffie-hime." A lanky boy laughed as her smile switched to a glare.

"Hiro-chan!" She yelled and hopped onto the back of the yellow bird, and gave him a hard hit on the shoulder before continuing to converse with him in their traditional Wutanese language.

"You can't call me that, remember? What if someone hears you?" She questioned him angrily, she didn't see him roll his eyes but she knew he'd done it.

"Yuki Shiroi then, kay?" He chuckled at the stupid alias and kicked the bird's sides signalling him to get moving. He let out a big loud 'qwark!' and got running down the muddy path of the main street on his long clawed feet.

"Yuki Shiroi? That's still a princess, you know." She sighed and rested her head against his surprisingly warm back.

"You don't have to be Wutai's princess but you can still be mine if that's fine."

She blushed at that and held him tighter.

"Baka."


They stopped under the cover of a rocky ledge jutting out of the side of a large hill as rain begun to fall. Water flowed from a creek over the ledge to a pond surrounded by trees on one side and a gravel path on the other. The falling water made a tiny waterfall to which they could hide behind and rest for as long as they needed. Yuffie's companion was removing the items stashed in his bag to show to her. A big smile graced his features.

Hiroge Ren was a childhood friend of hers, the only one that didn't see her as higher than themselves thanks to her father and her title of royalty. He had deep brown eyes and black hair just like hers but his fringe and the ends were turned up into spikes. His face was more of the oval type, and he had this permanent boyish grin planted onto his optimistic features. He was tall, but not any kind of ridiculous height, just enough to make her realise how small she really was. He had stolen from a rich family awhile back: a white dress shirt and black pants. He would have looked sophisticated if not for the mud at the ends and the creases that covered the sleeves and the pants legs.

The dress she'd stolen was crimson patterned with black and yellow stripes; personally she hated the look of it but it was all she'd managed to get in the short time she had. The ends originally were white but dried mud had stained them far darker. She had to roll up the sleeves to keep them from covering her hands and had to lift up the many folds of the dress so she could walk without tripping over the fabric.

"That couple had to be rich; look at all this gold: bracelets, necklaces, rings! I got so much of it, there was just so bloody much!" He laughed ecstatically. She held her knees to her chest by wrapping her arms around them, and returned his smile.

"Wonder if they're senile. Do you think those morons would even notice that we stole all their precious jewellery?" She snickered, his smile just widened.

"Well if they are they might go thinking some pest stole it if they notice at all, they ain't going to think we did it, too good of an actor I am." When they'd arrived on the doorsteps Hiroge had acted like an angel to them, in fact he had right up to when the couple had gone to bed, that was when he and Yuffie had started to plot their future burglary.

The girl didn't speak any English at all, so he had to do all the talking for them. It was his parents that were fine with the language, believing that learning it could be a help for better connections to the outside world. But Yuffie's family had been dead against it, and refused to let her know even one word. Hiroge was teaching her as best he could, but he wasn't very good of a teacher and the language structure was so damn different.

"So what's the next town anyway?" She piped up as he'd carried on looking through his stash.

"I think it was Nebelheim; creepy town from what I heard. We'll pass through" He informed her and lay down on his back, with his hands behind his head.

"Heh, agreed, haven't heard a single good thing from that town. Heard it has a higher death rate for its citizens than any other town in the country. Now that's creepy." She snorted and laid herself down next to him, on her side with one hand under her head and the other on his chest.

"I think that's just because it's like winter all year round for them. Why would you even live there eh?" He grinned and rolled his eyes, not taking it seriously at all.

"Well maybe they're just plain stupid." She as well was not taking in the seriousness of what they were actually talking about. Yuffie snuggled closer to him as the rain began to pour harder and the air about them decreased in temperature.

"You alright like that?" He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her petite cold form.

"Of course I am, baka." She smirked as he rested his forehead against hers and ran his fingers down her cheek. She shivered as the freezing skin touched hers, but didn't back away from the touch.

From the difference of status between them back in their home country of Wutai, anything between them would've been forbidden. He'd worked as a servant in the palace, and being of the same age they'd become close friends. And with no one being aware of their friendship, there was nothing to stop it developing further. They'd gone much further than a simple touch on the cheek, but she saw no reason to regret any of it.

Hiroge pressed his lips to hers in the sweet embrace, enjoying to the fullest the feel of her as her soft pink lips kissed him back. He ran a hand through her short black locks, wishing somewhere inside of him for this moment never to end.

That night they'd stayed close to each other, partly for warmth, and partly because they wanted to. Hiroge had created a fire at one end of the covered area, far enough away from the waterfall so no droplets threatened to put it out. A blanket had been pulled out of a bag tied to the side of their Chocobo to cover them; the bird in question was fast asleep out on a patch of grass next to the pond. He wasn't close but the bird adored them too much to run off.

He and Yuffie were tired, but neither had it in them to end this moment, so instead they lay wrapped up in each other's arms, with the blanket covering their nakedness. A layer of sweat was visible on her arm resting on his chest; some of it was from the heat of the fire and the rest from their previous activities. His hand was slowly making its way through the length of her messy ebony hair lovingly.

She hated it when her eyes became more and more tempted to close, but when it got too much for her to keep them open, she didn't forget to say one more thing.

"Aishiteru."

"Ditto." The last thing she remembered before it went black was him laughing softly to himself, knowing that she didn't even know what that meant. But he didn't have any doubts she'd gotten the meaning.


When morning came, they awoke to the sound of the rain falling down and their poor Chocobo going nuts with the constant pelting of water on his bright yellow feathers. Hiroge rose first and quickly caught her as in her sleepy state she almost fell headfirst onto the stone surface below them.

"Baka." He laughed and dodged as she swiped angrily at him. In the time she'd taken for her mind to fully return to the world of the awake he had already managed to retrieve his clothes and was halfway through pulling his pants up his legs.

"Wha…it's still raining! Ooh!" She groaned and flopped backwards, quickly regretting her decision to do so as her head hit the rocks.

"Ow, now that was dumb." She picked herself back up and rubbed the spot where she predicted a lump would form. She pulled the blanket closer to her as she became more aware of just how cold her surroundings were.

"We really need to get out of this area, it's so cold! All it does is rain!" She complained and he chuckled and threw her dress at her.

"Well that may be because it's winter right now. But hey, if we leave now we can be past Nebelheim by sundown, so we should be able to get away from this rain in a day or two." He informed her and finished buttoning his shirt. He went to go load up their possessions on the Chocobo while she struggled to get her dress on.

"Finally!" She shouted and followed after him, now fully dressed.


It was impossible to see what time of day it might have been thanks to the sky painted a dark grey all over. On the horizon the clouds took a startling turn to black, and they could only hope that storm passed over them and this was all they had to deal with. The dirt on the ground turned to mush under the weight of the bird's feet, and the road ahead of them was hidden behind all the speeding drops of water falling from the ominous clouds above. Hiroge was constantly forced to move wet strands of hair from his eyes and had to take extra care of the reigns in his hands with the Chocobo being so unsteady under its poor feet.

Yuffie clung to him as tight as her petite arms allowed her, she was sore all over her back from the uncomfortable position she was forced into. The ends of her dress were covered with mud kicked up from the chocobo's talons and same went with Hiroge's pants legs. She swore she could scream at the moment and no would hear her, the rain hit every part of her and all that surrounded her brutally. The thunder and lightning that began soon after that only made her think it more.

The worst part was this storm would last for hours. They could only hope the poor bird could last that long, for they knew well they couldn't.


As night fell the Chocobo was having an increasingly difficult time manoeuvring the area. The rain had dwindled down from the pouring rate it'd been before to sprinkles every now and then, but the state of the ground was worse than they had ever seen before; it was a sloppy mess. They'd stopped off in the driest area they could find and let the poor bird have a rest. It collapsed to the ground in an exhausted heap next to them, so Hiroge gave the bird's soaked feathers a kind ruffle. He held Yuffie close to him with his other arm to try and keep the both of them as warm as possible. The wind battered them and the trees, causing both to shiver horrible. Yuffie hugged the sopping wet garment closer hoping that if she was in a ball she'd get less of the wind hitting her way.

Because of the bad weather they'd be forced to stop off half way through the day and have a break. It'd lasted longer than they wanted and they were closer to the town then they'd originally intended to be at the end of the day an thanks to the state of their surroundings they knew for sure that sleeping was going to be hell tonight, especially if the clouds chose to rain again.

Yuffie fished out a half-finished loaf of bread from her bag; the expensive fabric it was made out of had done a good job of keeping their food dry. She took out as well a knife and cut two pieces off for her and Hiroge. The man despite the crappy condition today had been he still held that same everlasting smile as he took his piece from the girl, he held it with his mouth and snatched the rest of the loaf form her tiny hands. She was about to protest but stopped when he cut off a slightly larger piece and threw it in the direction of their Chocobo. The big yellow bird caught it with his beak and chirped a happy 'Kweh' in thanks as it chomped down on the morsel of food.

"Birdy needs some too after all that." He notified her brazenly as he took his first bite of the dry bread.

She whacked him on the head and laughed as the surprise attack left him biting his tongue.

"Hey, what was that for?" He rubbed the spot, hoping no lump would form later.

"For telling me what I already knew." She replied with her hands on her hips. "I'm not stupid! You of all people should know that."

"Of course I do, you just like to act stupid." He chuckled.

"HE…!" But she stopped herself, quickly she reminded herself to finish her food so she shoved the remnants into her mouth all in one go and then she went to hit him. But Hiroge was more prepared this time and caught her hand; before her stunned self could catch up he pushed her onto her back and with a sly smile climbed on top of her.

"Now I know you don't want to fight me." He laughed and bit her bottom lip, enjoying her surprised gasp. He pressed his lips to hers once more and kept them there, unable to pull himself away. She'd been like a forbidden fruit to him back in Wutai, like a delicate doll made to look at but not touch. It'd almost sent him insane not being able to be with her in the way he wanted, and having to know she wanted it too. All that had been in his way was centuries old traditions he cared nought for. In that one night, they'd chosen to break all those rules, and consummated the relation that wasn't allowed to be. Knowing that without those rules bound to their lives, that they could be together like this, it was almost more than his mind could take.

He only took his lips away from hers to breathe, if people didn't have to breathe, he'd probably never let her go.

"You know, if you're an idiot, I guess I'm a bigger one."


The sound of footsteps awoke Yuffie in the middle of the night. Fearfully she opened her eyes but was greeted with nothing but darkness and the sound of the rain pouring. She and Hiroge were under the cover of a humongous tree's branches and had managed to stay dry for the most part. These footsteps she heard were definitely in the rain, the sound the ground made wasn't what happened when you touched solid ground, so it must have turned to mud yet again. Her eyes dashed around the area, searching for the culprits that had woken her, but all she could make out was grey silhouettes hastily moving about. She swallowed a lump in her throat about the time their Chocobo was roused from its sleep. Immediately its better eyesight spotted the man and let out a frightened squawk.

When that happened Yuffie decided she needed to wake up Hiroge, with shaking arms she shook the arm he had wrapped around her. Groggily he opened up his eyes and slowly made out her worried face staring down at him with pleading eyes. That was when he heard the men, they were talking amongst themselves in their own language, and he knew that the poor girl above him must have had no idea what was going on.

"Princess?" He whispered quietly.

"There are people about; I think we need to get out of here. They don't sound nice." She begged.

He nodded in complete silence and picked himself up; he held Yuffie's hand tightly into his own, fearing to be apart from her in this moment. They walked stealthily along, he tried to adjust to the darkness but his eyes refused to do so. He could hear the men clearly now, they were closest to the Chocobo. He knew it wasn't best but he couldn't chance trying to be a hero and saving the bird, he needed to get him and Yuffie out of here and that was that.

He still had one bag; he couldn't find the satchel filled with their supplies, only the one filled with the items they'd looted. He'd get them to the next town and sell it there for money to buy what they'd lost.

He winced when one of the men, in total hysterics decided it would be funny to attack the fearful Chocobo observing them. The first punch made the bird let out an ear-splitting cry of pain; the others came too fast for the fowl to even get the sound out of its throat. Turning his head he could make out Yuffie's panicking expression, she feared deeply for both them and the Chocobo that had been the one thing that had let them successfully escape from Wutai. Hiroge had raised the yellow bird from a newborn chick, it was only a Chocobo, but the two had bonded over the years he'd had him, surely this must be hurting him seeing what these men were doing to him. It wasn't helping that this was the moment their eyes were finally adjusted to the night.

Hiroge took a second to gather up his courage and rip his eyes off the pitiful sight. He gripped Yuffie's hand tighter and forced himself to keep moving. They were now out of their cover and were being pelted by the pouring rain of the night's storm. The ground turned into slick mud and Hiroge slowed down to quiet his steps. The ground was in a bad state, he couldn't chance bringing the slightest bit of attention to himself, not in this situation. He knew neither could get away when all that was under their feet had turned into disgusting slush, these men must have been used to it; they weren't. Storms never got this bad where they came from.

But all his hopes were dashed away by one sentence that came from the group of men. He knew Yuffie didn't understand it, but she could have her guesses from what happened next.

"Hey, there are some kiddies over there!" One man's startlingly high voice called out suddenly. He couldn't have even been that old.

Hiroge swore under his breath, he pulled him and Yuffie up and full on sprinted, fear feeding his adrenaline.

"Hey, what did he say!" Yuffie yelled over the rain in question, they'd already been caught, it didn't matter anymore if they were silent. He knew inside they would catch up in this terrain. He couldn't waste his time answering her question when it was obvious enough.

It must have been more than half the men that went after them both, the others stayed behind to torture the wounded Chocobo and see what they could find in the small camp the couple had made earlier in the night.

The mud jumped up so high because of his and her rushing feet that the better half of them were covered with the gunk. The rain blurred his eyesight and stung his eyes as the drops fell from his forehead and landed on them. The darkness only further hindered their escape as he had to keep a hand out in front of him because of his lack of sight and the fear creeping up on him that he was going to run into a dead end. When Yuffie almost fell he felt his position tip from her weight, she succeeded to fix herself up but at the speed he was running at he didn't retrieve his balance fast enough and it was him that tripped up. He landed harshly on the muddy round and Yuffie painfully followed after him because of the grip he had on her wrist. Instinct told him to protect her so he turned around to face the oncoming men and held out an arm for her to hide behind, which she moved herself to hide further behind him. She couldn't even understand these men much less beat them in a fight. She wasn't taught those skills, her family thought it as unsuitable for a girl of her status to know.

The men caught up soon enough and sized up the terrified couple with their eyes. Yuffie could make up their grins from this distance, what called for them to have an expression like that in this situation? Twisted bastards.

One man took a step closer to them, alarmed she moved herself to hide properly behind Hiroge's back.

"Pretty little thing isn't she?" He snickered to the men behind him, all laughed back. She felt her stomach plummet, she didn't understand a word of it, but she knew it wasn't anything good from the way Hiroge had tensed up from it.

"Sad that she's got that kid with her, would've liked to have some fun with her." He chuckled darkly

Hiroge tensed further from that comment, Yuffie feared deeply whatever the man was talking about. The chuckling man stopped his laughing and looked down at the Wutanese boy; he let out a surprised laugh.

"You understand me do you?" He lifted his eyebrows.

Hiroge intensified his glare, he'd grown a hatred for the stranger quickly. He had only one thing to say. "Fuck you."

The crowd laughed their heads off at that, hooting and cackling like mad men.

"Well guess I was right there eh?" The forefront man sniggered, his expression unexpectedly darkening. "Certainly got a colourful mouth on ya, so you'll understand then why I'm going to do this then right?" He brought out a knife from a previous unseen pocket.

Hiroge freaked out, he jumped back bringing Yuffie with him and repeated again that word the terrified girl didn't understand.

"Fuck off!" He growled in a rage.

All the group did was laugh and the armed man closed in on them. Hiroge moved to stand but the slippery ground shifted under his feet and he fell back onto his butt. He groaned and tried again. It was a success this time but his choice to move came too late.

The man pounced on him and Yuffie's arm was ripped from his grasp as he was tackled to the ground. He wrestled with him trying to get the knife away, but in his terror he could hardly think straight. Yuffie could only watch on petrified as the knife drove itself into her lover's stomach. He groaned in pain as the man stepped off him, enjoying the sight of his handy work. Yuffie saw the blood dripping down his skin from the horrible wound, and the blood he painfully coughed up.

Her mind wanted to believe this was all a horrible dream, but in her heart she knew it to be the harsh reality.

"Hiro-chan!" She screamed and ran to him. "Hiro-chan! Ikanaide" She cried, tears of fear and pain fell from the corner of her eyes, thanks to the mental anguish plaguing her in this horrid moment.

"Ikanaide!" The men laughed on at her pain, more than likely finding her language to be hilarious gibberish.

She hugged the top half of him close to her, not wanting to have to feel his blood on herself. With a pained movement he lifted his arm up to cup his hand on her tear streaked cheek.

"Daijoubu." He whispered into her ear, with the slightest of laughs. He knew he was lying.

"Ikanaide, ikanaide…" She shook her head, eyes blinded by tears. He wasn't going to be alright, he wasn't going to be alright. Why was he laughing?!

His hand fell from her cheek; he no longer had the strength to keep it up.

"Gomen ne, Hime-chan." He smiled sadly as he coughed up more blood.

He couldn't even keep his eyes open, his chest barely moved. He'd lost too much blood already. And the bastard that had done it never stopped laughing throughout the heartbreaking moment.

She screamed, a scream so strangled with pain it hurt to hear it.

"Hiro-chan! Hiro-chan!, watashi o hitori ni shinaide..." She shouted over the storm. Pain filled her entire being to the brim, this couldn't be happening, not now, not like this. It couldn't end, not when it'd only just started. The man she'd almost forgotten was still there grabbed onto her collar and pulled her up, smiling sinisterly.

She screamed as he touched her, he didn't let go. "Hottoite kure, Hottoite kure!" She struggled to get out of his grasp, but to no avail.

"Heh, stupid bitch, that ain't going to get you nowhere." He chuckled menacingly as he pulled her away from her dying companion and threw her to the ground some feet away.

Her head spun from the landing, and her back ached dreadfully. He gave her no time to recover as he placed himself on top of her petite body.

"Now what was that I was saying before? Oh I remember now, it was something about having some fun with you now wasn't it? And now that that imbecile is out of the way there's nothing to stop me from doing it." He smirked with wicked intent.

She didn't have the slightest clue what he just said to her, but she knew from how laced with menace it was, it was beyond sickening. Her stomach sank; she was repulsed with the knowledge that the last thing her Hiro-chan would get to hear was the sound of her screams as she was raped.

The man above her leaned down to steal her lips, but she turned her head so her cheek touched the mud. He laughed at her attempt at a dodge.

"Don't want that now do we? Well then how 'bout this then?" He ripped the fabric concealing her bust and her bare breasts were revealed to him. He chuckled deeply and grabbed them tightly. She bit her lips and screamed from the pain as his nails dug into her soft skin.

"Watashi o ikasete…" She mumbled fearfully, as a tear dripped down her dirty cheek and the monster's cackling rang in her ears.

What happened next started and ended faster than her mind could take it in, she would never have imagined it in her wildest dreams.

What looked like an orange sword ripped through her attacker's chest and tore him straight in half, splattering her with crimson blood. A lone figure stood above him, their face in the direction of the startled men staring with eyes wide as they could go at the corpse of their friend. The stranger went for them next.

The first was downed when their weapon went right through the middle of his head, it was an instant death, and the wielder had to put their leg against his lower body to force his weight off their sword. Two had made a run for it while the remaining man stood with knees clanging together from sheer horror; who was this fiend?

The newcomer smirked and pointed their weapon at him. He gulped, but his overwhelming fear had rooted him to the spot, he knew this was the end. They rushed at him, sword sinking into his chest, but that wasn't all they had in store for him. While he was still alive they changed the weapon's direction in their body and brought it up, right to their neck where they ripped it out of their body so a huge hole was left from the bottom of their stomach to the top of their neck. Blood poured out like a fountain and painted them scarlet. How twisted it was, that the state of the cadaver gave them pleasure.

They turned their head to the two making a run for it. They weren't getting away, that's for sure. Like a human rocket they dashed after them, finding them stuck in one place, with their eyes glued to the spot with the dead Chocobo and the rest of their accomplices that had already been dealt with. The whole area was enveloped by blood. As silent as a shadow the murderer was upon them, cutting off the legs of the first one and grabbing onto the second. The psycho's free hand gripped his wrist so so tightly the bone cracked from the pressure. It was only the start of their suffering. He was thrown to the ground, and a foot was heavily placed on him to keep him from moving. His screaming friend was then lifted from the ground and made to stand on his bloody stumps, which only increased his shrieks. The disturbed man on the ground puked his guts out from the sight, finally not able to take it anymore.

And they still weren't done. With sword in hand his hands were cut off, and then his forearms, and then the remaining up to his shoulders. His screeching was so loud it rang out through the area. His friend still couldn't keep his stomach's contents inside. He was forced to watch all this. The sword was now made to cut shapes in his torso, blood dribbled out from all the cuts. Finally having their fill of toying with him, they drove the sword into his neck and cut his head clean off. They dropped him and sat atop his friend.

There mustn't have been anything left in his stomach as his vomit had turned to nothing but bile which proceeded to swathe one side of his face. His eyes snapped up to the fiend as they sat on his lower stomach. He received one twisted smile before they laid themselves down on him and placed their mouth next to his neck. He could feel their warm tongue run circles on the skin tasting him like he was a delicious delicacy before teeth sank into his neck and sucked out a mouthful of blood. The stranger then moved themselves back up into their previous position gulping the liquid down and picked up their blade that they'd laid down beside them. He was flashed a grin from a blood drenched face before the tip of the weapon ran down the length of his abdomen. With a disgusting sound it opened and revealed his organs. He was still alive, but the blood loss was slowly draining what was left of him. He heard a giggle and saw a head tip down to his surfacing insides. Their tongue was like flames as it lapped up his blood. The last thing he could remember before it all faded was an insanely excruciating pain as teeth clamped down on his heart and ripped it out.

The fiend stepped off the cadaver and swallowed the heart whole before lifting up their blade and making it disappear in a puff of smoke. They shuddered from pleasure as the adrenaline took its time to leave them.


As the rain begun to stop the stranger made their way back to the girl whose life they'd just saved while licking the blood off of their hand, to find her crying over the body of the boy that had been dead when they'd arrived.

She tilted her head like a curious puppy and watched her sobbing form, wondering what such a girl was doing all the way out here in the first place, it looked to be that she didn't even speak English.

"Hiro-chan, Hiro-chan! Watashi o nokoshite inai, watashi o nokoshite inai!" She cried as her hand touched his freezing body; it'd already lost all its warmth. That knife that had ended it hadn't been removed, his body stank of blood, but the rain had washed away the pools on the ground, so all she kneeled in was mud and rocks.

Terrified eyes jumped up to greet the form of the fiend that had saved her. It didn't matter what they'd done, they'd done it in a horrific way and she was petrified by them. They were a monster. The silhouette of the figure stood watching her, and for some time didn't get any closer. When they chose to Yuffie crawled back fearfully and shouted through her tears at them, "Hottoite kure!" She shut her eyes like that'd make them go away; she was so scared, this had all happened too fast. She just wanted it to end. She needed it to end.

The stranger watched her for a second, before crouching down on the ground and eyeing her, waiting for her to open her eyes again. She did when an orange light flickered behind her closed lids, curiously she opened them a crack, to see the stranger was holding a fancy lantern. It was made out of a golden metal and the flame was a bright orange that illuminated the whole area. Why was the flame one solid colour? Were they always like that?

"Are you alright?" A soft voice with childish interest inquired to her.

She switched her sights from the lantern to the stranger. They were nothing more than a girl. A kid. Her bright blue eyes shone as bright as the blaze in her hand, her short hair was reminiscent to the colour of the peculiar flames, the top half of her hair was tied into two twin braids which were kept at the crown of her head by a silver clip with intricate patterns decorating all along its length. At the end of said braids it was left out to create an overhanging mess while the rest of her short hair was out and lingered about her shoulders.

That was the most normal part of her attire; the rest was what caused her confusion. It was striped with dark colours, and hung loosely over her small body, especially along her arms. It was made of a thick velvet, and lace on the end of the sleeves, near her feet and at her collar. The strange part was that the proper part of the dress cut off unusually high and hung above her knees, it was the white lace until it got to her ankles, where she wore purple heels revealing the front of her foot. She didn't even wear stockings to cover her legs. At the collar was another peculiar accessory. At the back where no lace touched it at all, were massive steel curves covered with velvet that circled her childish face. How it even managed to stay there was that she could still walk with them on her was beyond her.

The girl was silent for only one second longer, and asked her the same question again.

"Are you alright?"

Yuffie stared at her with an expression that might have read, 'are you nuts?' to anyone else. This person had seen plenty, and had caused plenty of what happened here tonight. Her emotions were a mess so of course whatever she felt would be magnified.

"Nani! Saru!" She crawled back, but was stopped when her back met a tree. She screamed from the suddenness treating it like a monster had just pounced on her.

The girl stood up, dissecting her with her eyes. She really didn't understand her, why was she all the way out here when she had no understanding of English? Did that boy know it? And why didn't she? Most Wutanese people had a good knowledge of it today, what was up with her cluelessness about it?

"Eigo o hanasemasu ka?" She asked, and received a stunned look. Just because most Wutanese people knew English, didn't make it the same the other way round.

Yuffie blinked twice in shock, did she really just hear that? This person could understand her! But why out of everyone did it have to be someone like her?

"Iie." She answered and the stranger nodded in response, before continuing in the same language. She could speak it well for someone so young, if differed greatly from English.

"Do you have nowhere to go?"

She had to wait a second for the reply, but that was fine. The poor girl was a real mess.

"No, not without Hiro-chan." She got out dejectedly as another wave of sobs wracked her lungs. It was a horrible realisation. She was alone.

The stranger stepped forward and placed a hand on her shoulder; she flinched, and looked up into her bright azure eyes. Didn't she have blood on her before? What happened to the blood?

"It's alright. Come with me." She seemed to be pleading with her, why on earth did she want to help? Why did a killer want to help her?

"Do I have a choice?" She choked to get out.

"Not many. There are many bad people lingering about, I can't say where I take you will be much better, but it's a start. It'll only be for as long as it takes." She grabbed her dirty hand and pulled her from her ball on the ground.

For as long as what takes? Did she just not want her to wander about without an understanding of others? Why didn't she just send her back to Wutai then? Her parents must be missing her; the whole palace must be in an uproar that their heir was missing. The queen was too old now to have babies.

"What's your name?" The killer's voice gently piped up in question. Yuffie looked to her from where her eyes had fallen to Hiroge's corpse. She knew she couldn't say her real one, not ever. And then she remembered what Hiroge had called her earlier, a sweet joke of an alias that no one would believe if they understood it.

"Yuki Shiroi."

All she received was a grim smile and a nod, before she was pulled along to her unknown destination, she wasn't even given time to say goodbye.


The darkness of the night was slowly turning brighter; it must have been in the early hours of morning when she'd first been woken by the sound of the men creeping about. The stranger's mood had switched by so much since the first time she'd seen her; sure she wanted to give her help, but she wasn't ready to put any trust in her, not fully after seeing what she did.

Yuffie was led along a long forest path with dead trees lingering about the edges and the howls of hungry animals sounding constantly. But they didn't scare her; she'd been put through so much tonight she doubted they'd ever be enough to scare her again. The wind whipped through her wet clothes, the fabric on her chest had been ripped almost completely off so she needed to use both arms to keep it in place and hide what she couldn't keep concealed. The thick velvet of her dress had fallen down to her elbows because of her arms position; her limbs were covered in goosebumps from the freezing early morning weather.

The sky was an eerie grey as she was led into a town with large old buildings scattered about, at the entrance they made a line while for the rest of the way they were placed here and there in unsightly disarray.

She ran up to her saviour who had gotten ahead of her and poked her on the back of one of the metal pieces behind her neck. She thought they looked like those little poles that you see on the sides of streets that hold up lanterns in rich towns. But these were much smaller, and very thin with a mighty curve to them. Plus they had that fabric worn over them; whatever were they there for?

"What is it?" The bizarre girl asked her politely in Wutanese. Yuffie would never be able to get her mind around that personality change.

"Where are we?" She asked inquiringly, with her eyes a mite apprehensive.

"Nebelheim." She answered simply enough.

When she heard no response from the Wutanese girl she expected her to drop the conversation. But after a while of walking that thought was dropped with,

"Hiro-chan wanted to avoid this place, said it was dangerous." She told her monotonously, it must have been hard even to say that.

"Everywhere is dangerous."


The girl stopped in front of one of the larger buildings, a manor on the edge of town. How old it was was anyone's guess. The paint on the walls had faded and the windowsills were cracking. The only thing that didn't look like it was about ready to fall apart was the timber double doors that made the entrance.

Yuffie looked at the stranger expectantly; why did she want to take her here? But that thought disappeared as quickly as it had emerged.

"You've made it obvious that you don't speak English. I thought it would be better to take you to a place that they can understand you. Some of the mansion's inhabitants at least have knowledge of it, so it's a start. And you only have to stay until you've got an understanding of English, then you can leave and go to wherever you want alright?" Her voice was trying to hide some kind of inner worry, why was it in there in the first place?

"It'll be better in a way, I guess." She added in and knocked on the door, not waiting for a response.

Yuffie didn't think anyone would answer, it was so early. They'd still be asleep right?

It was a full ten minutes of knocking before the door was opened. On the other side was a teenage girl Yuffie suspected to be about as old as her; with long waist length sepia brown hair and chocolate eyes void of emotion. They were unnerving to say the least. She had on a yellow night gown ending by her ankles and its buttons undone almost down to her bust.

"What are you doing here?" A harsh criticising voice began, "And why do you have that child with you?"

"I need to talk with your father….." She started but the girl cut her off,

"He only just got back, he's tired, go away." She barked.

"Antoinette! I need to talk with your father!" The orange haired girl yelled back.

The girl, Antoinette, rolled her eyes and folded her arms, giving those beyond the door's wooden frame an irritated scowl.

"And he only just got back, now if you don't mind I'll say it again. Go. Away!" She pivoted on the ball of her feet with full intent on leaving them there.

"Antoinette! Come back here now!"

When she reached the staircase, she rested her dainty hand on the balustrade and gave them both a nasty look.

"Oneself ca'n't stay up for too long lest they fall to dreams where they stand. I will not waste my time on beings such as you; I'm returning to my room now." She walked the rest of the way up and disappeared around the corner, the yelling didn't stop, but she let it be ignored.

Yuffie watched as the strange girl she was stuck with's face deepened to a glare. Luckily she'd kept the door open. Twisting her head to the ebony haired girl she told her to wait inside whilst she go look for the man she was looking for.


She'd been made to wait on a lounge near the door whilst that girl searched for whoever was the master of this grand house, she hadn't understood a word of that last conversation sides figuring that the girl's name was Antoinette. Even with a language barrier between them she knew that the girl was the rude type.

Yuffie swore she'd never felt silence so loud in her life. There was nothing to disrupt it, not the wind, not a voice, nothing. She'd had them outside, the howling of both the wind and the creatures of the night. They'd helped her get out of this mood, forced it out because her beating heart that was so scared had made her concentrate on them, like they were ready to pounce on her at any second. With them gone, she was left alone with her thoughts, and she never felt worse. Everything for once had been perfect, she'd been with the one she loved and there was nothing wrong about it. She wasn't being reprimanded for acting bad or stealing from the other high class people. She'd always been told it was bad, but she found it fun, and so had Hiroge.

He'd been so much like her, without a care for rules or status. Head-strong to a point; finding everything funny. Most people with so many similarities in their personalities would clash because of them, but in a life where she was different to all, it'd been fantastic to have him there. She never felt herself unless he was by her side. With him gone, she didn't know what to think. It'd all happened too fast, how sick she felt that his existence could be lost just like that. That man that'd done it had no proper reason to have gone that far, she didn't even feel happy that'd he too had had his life ended in the same night.

She could feel herself shaking, her mind wanted to leave itself, her face was void of even a single emotion. She just felt sick, she felt dead. She wanted to die, would that save her from this pain? But Hiroge would hate her for ending it; he'd want her to keep living. She crawled into a ball on that cold chair, what a pitiful sight she must have made. She could no longer make herself cry, her tears had run out. What was she supposed to do?

Her mind couldn't give her the decency of an answer, no matter how much she begged for one.

"Yuki?" The partially familiar voice of her saviour called from the door way. She looked up into their childish face, eyes heavy with unspoken hurt. Had she gotten into a fight? Did the master not want her here?

The named she'd used was so alien to her, but she knew she'd have to get used to it from now on.

"Yes?"

"Come with me." She stepped forward and seized her hand. Yuffie was about to ask but was pulled up and tugged along, she decided there was no need for that question now.


She was led into a room on the second floor; it had a bed off near the window and a black wooden empty bookshelf in the corner. She gazed about it spinning in circles to take it all in. It was a mite smaller than her bedroom back home, but felt haunting and eerie to her. The wallpaper was peeling and the door to the wardrobe had long broken off.

"You'll have to take that off; it's too much of a mess." The stranger informed from behind her. She watched her face for a minute, expecting her to say more. "You'll be giving a new one in the morning; no one will have to see anything as long as you stay under the covers anyway." She added talking about her dress.

Without a word Yuffie nodded and waited for her to take her leave. When she did she sat down on the queen sized bed. The jumble of quilts was bumpy and uncomfortable, but she knew it'd be warm underneath. Not caring to shut the door first she ripped the torn dress from her glad to no longer have so much blood on her. She pulled down the blankets and drew them back up to her neck, revelling in its warmth, but dreading where her pained mind was going to take her when she reached the world of dreams.


Surprisingly enough for her, her mind didn't have such a plan for her, instead it floated about the happy times she'd spent with Hiroge, from her childhood to the night before she'd abandoned Wutai and all that knew them. That wonderful night where they abandoned the rules that bound them, she could still remember so vividly the taste of his lips, his smell, and the way she felt as he touched her in ways she'd never been touched by anyone before.

She woke up earlier than she would have liked, the sun had yet to rise, and she was still extremely tired, at least she felt comfortable in the bed. As she took another look around her room, she noticed a man standing in her doorway. She jerked up, almost forgetting to bring up the quilts with her to hide herself.

His eyes were a like a pair of shining garnets set into his head, and they were inspecting her with this seriousness that unnerved her. She wanted to lower her own grey ones away from his, that look was more than she could take.

There was an unspoken hurt screaming silently hidden torment that went on behind those red orbs.

Those eyes, so overflowing with hurt, made her feel like despite all that had happened so far, feel like she didn't know what true pain was, like she knew nothing.

Like she was innocent.


And pie.

What? I don't know, I lack sanity, I was laughing while reading that real bloody part.

I recommend seeker of the skies stories because I'm a good sister. A really insane little sister that she is going to have to suffer with for the rest of her life. Have fun Claire.

I also recommend my other FFVII stories, 'Coin laundry', my crime story with a delightfully irrelevant name; and my tragic masterpiece 'Wings of Regret'. It used to be my most violent story, before this took the gory cake. It doesn't have shit loads of blood and gore, merely lot's of one sided bashings and rape. Lot's of rape.

I was thinking of trying my hand with lemon in this story, tell me if you think that's a good idea.

Reviews shall be much appreciated and shall help my sanity, what sanity? I don't know. I just want to know what you think, concrit's welcome.

Also I kinda did a bad job describing the vamp's outfit, I have a picture of it, I should probably put it up on my deviantart account. It's supersakura64, I just need to scan it.

If anyone wants a translation of the Japanese, just mention.

Bye for now.

~Serah Villiers Valentine