Stealing Headbands

A FF7 Yuffentine Fanfic

7/29/21012

Disclaimer: All hail Square-Enix.

Set in some non-disclosed time after events of DoC. Puts Yuffie around… 21 years old let's say? Random drabble! And OOC'ness! You have been warned. Proceed with caution.

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Yuffie was slashed along the back of the head. Blood dripped down her neck, clotted in her hair and mixed with her sweat as she continued to throw magic and shuriken at the raging beast.

When she arrived back at the Manor, Vincent was surprised. She was staying with him, hiding from her father as he tried to marry her off to the highest bidder. To let loose her anger, Yuffie went into the dark Nibelheim mountains and fought with the monsters living there. Each day she would come home, sweaty and streaked with dirt and splattered with monster blood. That day, however, Vincent could tell that it was her own.

She staggered up the back path to the house and slumped in the garden where there was a hose. Vincent hated dirt in his newly renovated home, so she was always careful to clean herself up as best as she could outside before leaping up the outside wall to her room.

"Yuffie." Vincent stood from where he was reading in the garden. He could see the paleness under her tanned skin and could smell her blood. "What happened?"

"Oh. Nothing."

Of course she would try to brush it off. She hated people thinking she was weak. Though that had not changed much, the rest of her personality, the quiet hiding aspect, had changed. It wasn't always like that. But more so recently than when Vincent first met her those years ago. He remembered the rude awakening she gave him. The sound of his coffin lid getting ripped off, the cold air hitting his face, the loud "Hey! There's someone in here! I think I discovered a vampire" and the wide gray eyes.

Now she was secretive, quiet and withdrawn. He blamed Godo for choking the oxygen around the bright flame that was Yuffie. What once was a bright and unwavering light was now a dim and poor imitation of what she used to be; it wavered and quaked, trying to return to the bright, stable flame it once was, but it never quite returned, never quite stayed long enough.

"You lost your headband."

Yuffie's hand quickly reached up to her forehead. Sure enough, the cloth that was tied there before she left for the mountains that morning was gone. The claws of the monster cut, not only the back of her head, but the fabric as well.

A short sigh left her lips as she gave him a half-hearted grin.

"I guess I did." Twisting the handle, Yuffie aimed the hose so the water would shower over her. She winced terribly when she ran her hand through her hair, the cut reopening and getting dirt and water into the wound.

"You lost a lot of blood." Vincent pulled the hose from her hand and turned it off. Tossing it aside, he peeled back her wet locks to look at the set of cuts on her scalp. They weren't deep, so they wouldn't have to get stitches, but they were bleeding a lot. The smell of the iron irritated Vincent's sensitive nose and he dragged her into the house, ignoring the mud and water she was tracking in. They went into the hall bathroom where Vincent was always sure to have stocked with bandages and ointments for his guests. "Sit."

There was also a conveniently placed stool just for those times. Yuffie swayed a little as she took the few steps on her own to climb onto the stool.

"I'm getting everything dirty."

"It'll come out." Vincent was pulling bottles and clothes out of cabinets and stacking them all on the counter. He frowned when he saw Yuffie sitting on the stool so far away from the sink. Griping the bottom of the stool, he picked both it and Yuffie up, and relocated it to where he wanted it. She had lost weight since she arrived at his home the week before. Meals were going to have to be forced onto her too, then.

When the warm water ran over the cuts, Yuffie winced so bad she jerked away from him and grabbed the edge of the counter, eyes blurring from the pain. Vincent's hand was kind as it parted her hair and continued to clean the cuts with water and ointments.

"Almost done."

"Okay." Yuffie was fading. Vincent could feel her consciousness slipping into darkness, but he couldn't let her do that.

"Yuffie. Stay awake." She shifted slightly, pushing away from the counter. In the mirror, Vincent saw her blink her eyes hard in attempts to stay awake. Taking a long strip of bandage he started looping it around her head, careful not to catch too much of her hair in the cloth. Tying it firmly away from her injuries, he nodded, deeming that it was all that could be done for her at the time. "Are you injured anywhere else?"

"No."

Of course she wasn't. It was bad that she got one injury, she wouldn't let the monster live long enough to give her a second one.

"We need to get you cleaned up. Don't get your bandage wet." Yuffie heard Vincent looking for something. "It should be in here."

"Whaddya lookin' for?" Her words were tired and slurred from her blood loss.

"A Hyper. You need to stay awake for a little bit longer." Hypers were a quick way of battling blood loss. However, there was only a tiny window where it would work. Too much and the person would spike their heart rate and destroy any healing on their wounds. It would be tricky with Yuffie being lighter than she used to.

"Bottom shelf. Left. In the back." Yuffie pointed a finger almost sleepily at a cabinet that Vincent had yet to open. He should not have been surprised to learn that Yuffie knew where the supplies in that bathroom were better than he. That bathroom was for the guest rooms. Vincent had his own connected to the master bedroom so he did not know where every item was in the other rooms. He had to grin wryly at Yuffie's next remark. "Behind the Tranquilizers."

Of course she would know where those were.

Working quickly, Vincent pulled out a bottle and uncapped it, checking to make sure that it hadn't expired before measuring out a few teaspoons into a cup. She drank it carefully, trying not to move her head too much, for worry that she would become dizzy.

Her eyes opened wider and she nodded to Vincent. He stepped out and looked at the clock. The shower turned on and five minutes later, Yuffie came out, wrapped in a towel and hair in a shower cap.

"Don't go to sleep yet. You need to drink something first." Vincent told her sternly before going down to the kitchen to get her a vitamin drink. When he got back with the glass in his hand, she had changed into a set of sweats. Her hair was free of the plastic cap and she was sitting by the window, fighting to stay awake now that the Hyper had worn off.

"Drink." He didn't have to order her. She was already reaching out for the glass and drinking deep through the straw. When she got to the bottom she pulled away from the cup.

"Sleep now?" It was almost piteous. Though he had never thought to use the word to describe her before, it seemed the most appropriate at that moment.

"Sleep." He helped her lie down on her bed, making sure that she wouldn't bump her injury before tucking the blanket over her shoulders. "I will wake you in a little while."

She was already asleep, her body trying to regain its strength. There was a book down in the lab that he needed to check. Making sure to leave all the doors open so he could hear her, Vincent went down to find the medical book. There was a worry that she would need a blood transfusion if she didn't get better in the next few hours on her own.

By the time Vincent returned upstairs to check on Yuffie, she was looking slightly better. He prepared another drink for Yuffie for when she woke. This one was mixed per the instructions of the medical books he looked into.

"Nasty." Yuffie remarked when Vincent woke her and made her drink the concoction.

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Yuffie was rifling through his things.

She put everything back exactly as she found them. But Vincent still knew.

"Did you find what you were looking for?" It was a few days later and Yuffie was under house arrest. Vincent had taken all of her shuriken, a feat on its own, and then kept her under tight watch. She retaliated in her own way. Whistling while he was trying to read, making comments about his cooking, walking around in the middle of the night.

She was sitting in the living room. In his chair. The one with the tall back and the soft cushion. The one that she liked to steal and curl up in because it was larger than the other seats, but was "comfy." He came in from the back hallway, so he couldn't see her.

"Yup. Found it."

He didn't like that sly voice. She had cut his hair once after using that voice.

"What were you looking for?"

"Don't worry about it."

"I worry." Vincent stepped in front of her and balked at what he saw.

Curled up, reading a book, did not look like she was doing anything wrong. However, the bright red cloth wrapped around her forehead was the reason for his outward display of anguish.

"Yuffie!"

"You weren't using it."

It was true. For many months now, Vincent hadn't worn his trademark red headband or his cape. He had traded his travel-worn clothes for casual suits.

"You cannot take what is not yours."

"I don't want to wear bandages anymore! They scratch my forehead. I've worn your headband before and never had that problem." She put the book down and gave him her best pleading eyes. "Please? Just for a little while?"

Back in their first adventure together, Yuffie had gotten injured, Vincent's headband was the only thing that they could use to hold the bandage to her forehead while they searched for the next town. In that time, they had swapped. Yuffie wore Vincent's headband and Vincent wore hers. The rest of the group had laughed at the change, but Yuffie realized that there was a good reason for Vincent's fashion statement.

It was dang comfortable.

"I will be checking your wound from now on." Vincent didn't want Yuffie to get too used to wearing his headband or he would never get it back.

"Fine." She muttered something about "stingy" under her breath as she curled up with her book once more.

True to his words, every morning and every night, Vincent took the headband off and checked the condition of her injury.

"You don't need these anymore." Vincent took both bandages and headband away from her after several days. He saw her pout as the red cloth was taken away from her.

"I guess we're both graduated from needing headbands, huh?" Yuffie felt the back of her head gingerly, fingers brushing the scabs. Vincent sent her a confused glance. She shrugged and shook her head. "Nothing."

"There will always be times when having a headband will be useful."

Yuffie smiled at him and walked out of the room. Her phone was ringing.

Vincent left so he would not overhear her conversation.

Soft padding feet caught his attention as Yuffie walked into the living room where Vincent was sitting.

"I have to go home. Dad says I need to start working on a project that's going to stabilize Wutai. Something about 'teaching the Shin-ra bastards a thing or two about energy' or some nonsense like that." Her book was in her hand, bookmark only halfway through, but she pulled it out and carefully shelved the tome back where she found it earlier in her stay. "I'm taking off with the first boat tomorrow morning. So if I don't see you, thanks for letting me crash here. Literally."

Her hand reached up and felt the back of her head.

"Take as many Tranquilizers as you need. I'll be sure to restock before you come back." Vincent did not like good byes.

"Ok. Thanks." She looked at the clock. "I guess I should pack up so I can leave first thing. It was good spending time with you again, Vince."

He nodded. He was sure he was going to see her again sooner than he planned.

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She was gone before he woke. The note on the kitchen table made him frown and go back up to his bedroom.

"Thanks for the Tranqs. I also helped myself to something else. I hope you don't mind. –Y."

Sure enough. It was gone.

The little thief had stolen his headband.

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Author's Notes: I don't know what brought this on… I wanted to do something with Yuffie stealing Vincent's red headband because they both have them, but can't keep wearing it for the rest of their lives. Well, Vinnie can. He can do anything he wants.

Anyway, I hope you were even slightly amused by the randomness that is born from my mind. Reviews are awesome! Be awesome!