boo: Oh my god! I'm actually posting a story! :O
Disclaimer: This is... odd.
boo: Yeah... Anyway, do your job.
Disclaimer: Boo doesn't own Final Fantasy VII. If she did, do you think she'd be writing this here??
Yuffie stood, helpless, watching as sweet, kind Aeris was slashed into pieces. Following her was Tifa, the big sister she'd never had. Cait Sith, her puppet partner in crime. Then Nanaki, and Cid, who were both uncles to her. Next Barret, and then Cloud. But it wasn't until she saw Vincent that she could scream.
"Nooooooo! Don't take him from me! Nooooooo!"
"Yuffie, wake up! It's just a dream." A gruff voice told her softly, as gentle hands shook her. Yuffie's eyes blinked open to meet vibrant red orbs, peering back at her from beneath tangled black locks. They were in her cabin on the Highwind, but they weren't alone. Tifa, Cloud, Cid, everyone was standing in her doorway, staring at her. Everyone but Aeris. Aeris could never stare at her again.
She looked down at her blankets so they couldn't see the tears. "S-sorry, guys. It was j-just a nightmare. Go back to sleep, will you?" Shuffling and half hearted grumblings reached her ears.
Distantly she heard Tifa say: "She must have been dreaming about Aeris... I know I do. She's young still. It has to be hard on her." More tears slipped down her cheeks. Aeris... Aeris, why was it you we had to sacrifice? She thought, suppressing a sob. Why couldn't it have been me, or Cait Sith again?
A gentle hand lifted her head brushed away a tear. She jumped. Vincent hadn't left? He brushed away another tear. "Don't cry."
Yuffie ruthlessly rubbed the tears off her face and smiled at him. "I'm not crying, silly Vinny! I just had a bug fly into my eye is all. It's gone now."
"Hmm." Vincent replied, and stood. Without thinking, Yuffie grabbed his hand and pulled him back down.
"Don't leave me." She whispered, feeling more vulnerable than she ever had before. Vincent blinked. "Please, Vinny, don't go. I'll have nightmares again, I know I will, and I don't wanna watch all of you get killed, cause blood, guts and gore, make me feel sick, and I feel sick as it is cause I'm on a ship. I don't wanna wake up everyone again either, cause Cid'll nag at me, and Barret will cuss at me, and Tifa will smother my with motherly affection, and all I really want to do is sleep with the vampire!" She blushed. "Wait, I didn't mean it like that! I mean, you're cute, and I like you, but, um..." Vincent shook his head and gently pushed her down into her pillow.
"I'll stay." He said simply. She smiled sleepily and pulled her blanket back up around her shoulder. For a second she watched Vincent stare at the wall.
"Vinny?" She asked.
"Hmm?"
"Will you tell me a story?" She mumbled, feeling like such a little kid. Vincent kind of jolted, and stared at her like she'd asked him to strip down naked and run around the ship warking like a Chocobo. "Please? My mother used to tell me stories when I had bad dreams." She looked away, feeling another tear run down her face. "After she died I only got a couple hours sleep a night for two years. I never can get back to sleep after a nightmare. Ae-" Her voice broke, but she made herself go on. "Aeris found me awake after a nightmare once and told me a story, and I fell asleep after one for the first time in seven years. So, please, Vinny?"
He stared down at her for a long moment. Finally, he sighed and wiped a tear off her face. "Very well." He turned so he could look at her more directly. "Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess who was all alone in her palace with her father. Her mother had passed away, and she had no friends or siblings. The country she came from had been invaded and taken over by an evil company only a few years before. Her country then became a shadow of what it had once been. Seeing this, the beautiful princess was saddened greatly. She asked herself 'How can I fix this?'
"She decided to fight the evil company by stealing materia from random passerby. She gave the materia she stole to the warriors of her country, so that they might fight, and win back what they had lost. But the warriors had decided that the evil company was unbeatable, and hid the materia away. One day the girl tried to steal from a group of people who were much stronger than her, and was defeated. In the end, she decided to join them, and fight against the greatest evil the Planet had ever seen. They became her closest friends, and the girl found she was happy, because she was no longer alone. The end."
Yuffie yawned. "That was a sucky story, Vinny. The beautiful princess should have fallen in love with one of them, and they should live happily ever after!"
"No one lives ever after, Yuffie. We all must die one day." Vincent said softly.
"Yeah, so? She still could have fallen in love and lived happily, with friends and the family she makes with the man she loves." She hugged her pillow. "This beautiful princess, I'm glad she found friends, but unless she falls in love with a companion, her father would probably make her marry some old geezer before giving her the throne. The princess doesn't want that fate."
He shook his head. "There are only two males in the beautiful princesses group of friends near her age. One of them resembles a dog. The other is already in love with some one."
Yuffie raised an eyebrow at him. "What about you, Vinny? You're not that much older than me."
"I'm sixty."
She snorted. "Please. You spent thirty years sleeping in a coffin that didn't let you age! You're only ten years older than me! That's better than Cid or Barret!"
Vincent shook his head. "We were talking about the beautiful princess. Not you and I."
Yuffie sat up, scowling. "I'm not a beautiful princess then??"
"Ah..." Vincent held up both his hands in defense. "I never... I mean, you're quite... Um. Yuffie, why are you laughing?" The young ninja had collapsed into a fit of giggles. It took five minutes (And Tifa walking in, raising an eyebrow, and walking out, which only made Yuffie laugh harder) for Yuffie to calm down enough to talk.
"Sorry, sorry Vin, but you just... You were so much a nervous guy just then." She wiped a tear of mirth from her face and sighed. "Thanks Vinny. I mean it."
Vincent smiled. "You are welcome, Yuffie." He ruffled her hair a little. "Do you think you can sleep now?"
"Hmm." She curled up under the blankets again with a yawn. "Probably."
"Good." He leaned down and kissed her very gently on the lips. The next thing she knew, he was at the door, turning out the light again, and getting ready to leave. "Sleep well, beautiful princess." He said softly, and shut the door with a small click.
Yuffie blinked, and smiled very slowly. "Good night Vinny." She said to the empty room. "I guess the beautiful princess gets to fall in love after all." She closed her eyes, and turned over.
She slept great.
boo: Thank you for reading. Now if I may point out a little blue button in the bottom right hand corner of your screen, I'd really love for you to press it and leave me some feedback. Seriously folks, I check my e-mail every day for this. Pleeeeeease leave me something.