boo: I seem to have a thing for making Vincent and Yuffie kiss now...
Disclaimer: I don't know why. You and you fiance are absolutely revolting. It's not like you're not getting enough loving.
boo: ... My fiance and I are not Vincent and Yuffie.
Disclaimer: Of course not. If you were, no one would right about them.
boo: Oh, just... do your job! :stops off angrily:
Disclaimer: Obviously boo doesn't own these people. She doesn't own much of anything. Please don't sue her.
"Hey, Vinny, did you ever wonder what the world would be like without ducks?" Yuffie asked him one night. They were laying on the roof of Seventh Heaven, looking up at the stars. The party down below had ended some time ago, no doubt due to all the children now associated with AVALANCHE. Between Marlene, Denzel, Cid and Shera's twins, Nanaki's son, and Cloud and Tifa's boy and girl, most of them went to bed early these days. It was only Yuffie and Vincent who could stay up late anymore.
They had started this two years ago, meeting up on the roof after everyone else went to bed. Sometimes they talked, other times they were silent. Once Yuffie had fallen asleep, and she'd never asked how she woke up in her bed the next morning. Vincent was like that. But they enjoyed watching the stars together every month when AVALANCHE got together at Seventh Heaven.
"No, Yuffie, I never have." Vincent answered her quietly.
"Me neither."
Neither of them said anything for a long time. Yuffie was thinking many things. Her thought process ranged from bunnies to quantum physics, but always, in time, it returned to the man beside her. He was different now that Chaos was gone. He was still serious, and boring, and stuffy, but he was... more free, somehow, than he used to be. There wasn't so much of a weight on his shoulders. He had moved on. He'd started to age too, it seemed. She'd actually found wrinkles developing around his eyes. Smile lines, happily, instead of frown lines. He was smiling more too, but having babies around did that.
Vincent, on the other hand, was only thinking of one thing. He was thinking about Yuffie. She had changed in the past five years, since defeating Sephiroth. She was still wild, annoying, random, and a thief, but there was an aura of wisdom around her. Of all the people he had journeyed with, he was certain she had seen the most. The most evil, and the most good. She was surprisingly good with children, of all ages, from three week old Aeris, to Denzel and Marlene.
They never talked about the future during this peaceful time every month. He never asked how Godo was preparing her for queenship, about the marraige she would have to make... She never asked about whether or not he was going to marry, maybe have children. In between each party she would nag at him, telling him he wasn't getting any younger. He no longer asked how things were at home for her. The one time he had, she had gotten very quiet and dissapeared until the monthly party. He had realized then how much she meant to him, how much she kept him sane. Without her there, trying to rearrange his life he felt... lost, like a small child without their mother.
She was his balance, and he was hers. He could calm her down almost instantly, just with a word, or a gentle touch on her shoulder or arm. She kept him from becoming a recluse. He grounded her firmly in reality when she started to get off track. She reminded him that the future had endless possibilities. He reminded her that she had responcibilities in this world. She reminded him that he was free.
He looked over at her. Silver star reflected in her eyes, moonlight lit up her hair. She was beautiful like this. She wasn't causing trouble, she was calm, and she wasn't being weird for the sake of weirdness. He remembered watching her in her sleep when they traveled together. Even then he had felt a sense of longing tug at his heartstrings. It was stronger now. What he had felt for Lucrecia... It no longer even compared. He reached over and brushed a strand of hair away from her forehead.
She blinked at him, surprised. "Hm?"
"Nothing." He responded. "I just wanted to look at you."
Yuffie laugh softly, trying not to wake anyone sleeping below. "Vinny, you see me almost everyday! Aren't you tired of looking at me yet?"
"No." He told her honestly. I could never get tired of looking at you. He wanted to say. But that would lead to discussions about the future, and by unspoken consent, they did not speak of such things here.
"You're weird, Vin." She replied, giving him a wry grin. He nodded and looked back at the stars.
Yuffie also returned to the stars, ignoring where her forehead tingled from him touching it. Vinny did stuff like that from time to time. Everytime he did, she was half certain he was going to kiss her or something else that might encourage romantic notions, but he never did, and it was getting frustrating. Maybe I should just kiss him myself. She thought, irritated. But she wouldn't, at least not tonight. She liked not thinking about the future once out of the month. It was a nice break from her father grooming her for ruling Wutai, and trying to get her to marry some fat, ugly, smelly, old noble.
She winced away from that thought. She couldn't marry them, even if they weren't fat, or ugly, or smelly, or old. How could she? If she did, she'd never be able to look Vinny in the eye again. She was almost certain he loved her, and she knew she loved him. She sighed gustily. She wasn't thinking about the future. She wasn't, she wasn't, she wasn't!
"Yuffie?" Vincent asked. Is something wrong? His tone of voice asked for him.
She smiled reassuringly at him. "It's nothing Vinny. Just thinking depressing thoughts is all."
"It might help to talk about it." He pointed out.
"Yes, well..." She looked away. "It's nothing."
Tile clinked softly. Suddenly Vincent was leaning over her, forcing her to look at him. "It's not nothing." He said softly. "Tell me, Yuffie."
She froze. He was so close to her she could hardly breath. She could just lean up and... No. No. She closed her eyes. "Vincent... I..." She pushed him off her, rolled away, and stood. "I'm... going to bed. G'night." She fled downstairs before he could object, feeling tears sting her eyes.
Vincent sighed, kneeling alone on the roof. "Good night Yuffie." He whispered to the night air.
Two days later
"Argh! I can't take it anymore!" A familiar voice yelled somewhere from the entryway. Vincent paused in wiping a dish dry and looked up. A moment later Yuffie walked into the kitchen and headed for his fridge. "That stupid geezer! I ain't marrying that fat, smelly, ugly, old toad!" She yanked the door open, grabbed his nearly empty jar of milk, and drank what was left from the bottle.
"Good morning Yuffie." Vincent said politely, setting down the plate in his hands.
Yuffie put the empty jar back in the fridge and turned to him, giving him a frustrated look he couldn't quite read. "Vincent Valentine, you're not making my life any easier!" She told him irritably.
He raised an eyebrow at her. "Oh?"
"Oh!" She confirmed. She marched up to him, gripped his cloak and shook him. "You... you...!" Suddenly she had both arms wrapped around him, and she was crying.
"Yuffie...!" He put a gentle arm around her. "Yuffie, what's wrong?"
She sniffed. "Why won't you just kiss me or something, Vincent?!" She sobbed.
Vincent stiffened. Kiss her? Why would she ask that? "Uh..."
"For materia's sake!" Yuffie cried, her nails digging into his back through his shirt. "At least ask me to marry you! If I did then I wouldn't have to marry anyone else!"
"Yuffie, calm down, you're not making any sense." He told her softly, trying to comfort her.
It didn't work. She wrenched away from him, tears streaming down her face. "You don't make sense, you don't! You keep touching me, and looking at me, and for the fucking sake of the Planet, Vincent! I'm so in love with you it hurts, and then you won't do anything, even though it's so obvious you-" She broke off, and her tears ubruptly dried up as Vincent kissed her, hard. His normal hand wound itself into her hair, and his claw pulled her tight against his body as he kissed her. Slowly, as the shock wore off, her hands crept up to his face, and she kissed him hesitently back. After a long moment, he broke the kiss.
"I have kissed you..." He whispered. "I would gladly ask you to marry me... Just please, Yuffie, don't cry anymore." Yuffie blinked at him, and began to laugh. She laughed, kissed him, and laughed some more. Finally she stood in his arms, both of them wiping away her tears of grief, and her tears of mirth.
She sighed happily. "Vinny, Vinny, Vinny... Ask me to marry you, and I'll try never to cry ever again!"
Disclaimer: Since boo isn't here... This feels unfinished somehow, but I can think what should come next... but I'll label it as finished until I know what needs to come next, be that in a week, or in a year. Now if you would please push the button on the lower left han corner of the screen, I'd like that. (boo keeps saying it's on the right... silly dyslexic authors...)