Second story! Yay! Please leave a review and tell me what you think. I'm not sure when the second chapter will be up, but hopefully sometime soon. It's still school holidays but I now officially have three jobs, so depending on how much I'm working... well, I'll try to have it out sometime between now and two weeks from now.
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"VINNIE!"
He barely had time to blink before being forced to stagger back out through the doorframe by what appeared to be a bundle of clothes; complete with arms that were now wrapped firmly around his waist.
"You came and Tifa said you would but I didn't believe her because you're SUCH an anti-social loser and I don't know WHY she even bothers trying still when you've never showed up before because you're much too busy brooding about stupid crap that doesn't even matter anymore and oh, Vincent!"
All of this was said very fast and with what appeared to be the bundle's face pressed into his chest, so that Vincent made out a total of 5 words which were of course the insulting parts, anti-social loser, brooding, and stupid crap.
"Yuffie?" He asked suspiciously, peering down at the figure that was still clinging to him like he was her lifeline. The thing (he wasn't yet sure it was human) mumbled an answer into his cloak.
"Sorry, what?" Utterly bemused by what it had said, he poked the top of the bundle for another response. The tiny ninja finally looked up at him, glaring with all her might.
"I said YES, you log head! Now hurry up and get inside! It is FRUH-EEZING out here!" Yuffie huffed, and letting go of his waist to grab his arm with both hands she proceeded to drag him through the snow into Seventh Heaven. Never minding the fact that it was her who had caused them to be standing out there in the first place, Yuffie gave him another glare before snapping at him to hurry up and shut the door. Vincent waited until she'd turned away again before shaking his head in wonder at her and the fact that she appeared to be as immature (perhaps even more so) as when he'd last seen her four years ago.
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"Come on, come on! They're all out in the backroom!" Yuffie was suddenly behind him, pushing him along the length of the bar towards a door that definitely wasn't there the last time he'd been to the bar. Catching the look of surprise on his face, the ninja added, "Cloud's only just built it on. They've been doing heaps of renovating lately, that's why we're all staying here. Usually half of us have to stay at a hotel or on Cid's stupid ugly ship. Man, I hate that thing and I swear that Cid will deliberately fly it sideways if I'm on it, he is SUCH an ass to me. Did you know he still calls me a little brat despite the fact that I am now TWENTY-TWO years old! Plus it doesn't help that Tifa is always calling me asking if I'm okay, where I am, what I'm doing, who I'm with. I mean, I'm not her kid. I don't even live here! Why do I need her permission to go out with people she doesn't know?!?! Stupid Cloud just smirks at me; Cid and he are in cahoots with each other, I'm sure of it! And -"
"Yuffie, you're rambling again." Vincent pointed out, trying to hide his own smirk. She glared again and opened her mouth to say what he could only guess would've been a very well thought out insult, but he had opened the door and stepped through, closing it firmly behind him.
"VINCENT!" Yuffie's once again muffled voice screeched, causing everyone else in the room to turn and look at him.
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For about 0.3 seconds there was dead silence, and then the room erupted into noise. Tifa had let out a squeal of excitement, Barret had slung a heavy arm around him (the closest, Vincent guessed, the macho man would ever come to hugging another guy), Cloud had let loose a smile, Denzel cheered, Marlene matched Tifa's squeal with her one of her own, and Cid just offered a, "Well, fuck me sideways!" before quickly being admonished for it by Shera, who then offered Vincent a cup of tea.
"The man doesn't want TEA, woman!" Cid yelled, pushing a glass of whiskey into Vincent's hand and urging him to drink up, assuring him it would be the "finest damn whiskey a pansy like you'd ever drunk!"
"I've got to say, Vincent. I wasn't exactly convinced you'd come." Tifa smiled at him, while Shera once again told off Cid.
"There are CHILDREN in the room, Cid! For God's sake, please watch your language!"
"How've you been, man?" Barret asked in his booming voice as Cloud asked the very same question.
"Good, I've been good." Vincent gave a rare smile as he surveyed the room, noting the Turks in the corner. Rude raised a hand, Tseng nodded in greeting and Elena broke off her conversation with Reno to come over.
"We haven't forgotten what you did for us." The blonde said quietly, referring to herself and Tseng. "Thank you again."
Vincent nodded in reply but was stopped from saying anything by a tug on his sleeve. Looking down, he saw Nanaki grinning up at him.
"Took you long enough to get down here!" The animal growled jokingly, scowling as a hyper Denzel jumped on him to get Vincent's attention.
"Hey! Vincent! Are you staying here with us? Tifa said she didn't know, but there's tons of room. I've been helping Cloud renovating! It's been loads of fun; you've missed out on heaps. You really should visit more often, you know." The boy's endless stream of chatter reminded Vincent of someone else and he suddenly grimaced.
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Back inside the bar area of the building, the lithe female seethed with anger and frustration, trying to shove the door open with her shoulder. Needless to say, the door wasn't budging a bit and the ninja (convinced it was now laughing at her) gave it a menacing growl.
"Vincent Valentine. You're going to wish you never came back." Yuffie vowed, eyes narrowed and hands on hips, glaring at the still unmoving door.
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"Yo, Valentine? Someone walk over your grave?" Reno joked, seeing Vincent suddenly shudder.
"Yeah, something like that…" Vincent muttered distractedly. He suddenly had a very bad feeling about returning.