Disclaimer: All the characters are copyright to Squaresoft, and I don't own
them. Not even Vincent ;_; damnit!
Who you Are
Part 1, By: Ayla
"Yuffie Kisaragi!"
Yuffie ducked under the random household appliance that was being hurled at her by her father.
"What!?" she said as she poked her head out from under the table.
"What do you call this?!" Godo held up a shiny circular object.
"Materia?"
"Rocks!" He hurled one at the girl as she instinctively ducked. "You've become so lazy lately you have to pass painted rocks as materia!"
"Did it work?"
"No!" Godo fumed. "If you have your heart so intent on restoring Wutai's pride back, then you'll have to get some pride of your own! I can't believe how lazy my daughter has become…" he threw his hands up in the air and started walking off, going on about something of "ungrateful brat" and "spoiled snot," and not even bothering to shut the sliding door.
Yuffie couldn't just hide under the table when all those mean things he had said about her were untrue. She got up and ran after Godo. He was already pacing across the mat of their dojong in the Pagoda.
"Wait, Godo!" Yuffie dashed after him, not even bothering to remove her shoes. "How can you say all those mean things when I was the one who brought back all that materia! I was the one who helped defeat Sephiroth! And I'm the one who wants to restore Wutai back into power!"
"And you are the only Ninja that is almost 17 and still not officially titled a Ninja!"
That struck Yuffie like a nail. It was true. No mater how hard she tried, it was never good enough. All the other children who were trained in the way of the Martial Arts as good as she was had already held their ceremonies for becoming an adult an a Ninja. Once you proved you were a Ninja, you were a man. Or in Yuffie's case, a woman, which she was not.
"You'll never be as good as your mother! So far for saving the world, you haven't grown up a bit! You went through all that trouble, and you still haven't brought me a Knights of the Round! How do you suppose we'll restore Wutai with these crappy summons, huh? Unless you can show me you're a Ninja, there's no help for you Yuffie Kisaragi!"
She couldn't stop the tears from flowing. "Fine then! I'll pack my stuff and show you I'm a Ninja! I am a woman!" she fumed. Godo ignored her and left the Pagoda. Yuffie stomped off to her room in tears and threw all her stuff together in a pillowcase.
She bolted down the steps and ran across the trail to the entrance of her beloved village. "And I will get that stupid Knights of the Round summon materia from Cloud too!" Yuffie shouted. She swung the pillowcase over her shoulder and took off.
Godo couldn't help but feel bad.
Yuffie stood by the windmill in Nibelheim turning over her upside-down map. "Cloud, Cloud… need to find Cloud."
The truth was she didn't know where to begin. She lost her PHS, either in one of her little adventures or in her room. "
"This must of have been one of those things Godo was talking about." Yuffie murmured.
She couldn't help she lost things… All the time…
She didn't know exactly where to find Cloud, so she thought she would start here in Nibelheim, the place where he grew up and then search Midgar. Yuffie figured he wouldn't be back in Midgar till all the turmoil boiled over.
The town was very quiet. The only sound was the wind blowing and the creaking of the windmill.
"CLOUD STRIIIIIIIIIFE!!!"
No answer. Not even a shut up.
"Cloud Striiiiiiife! There's a plumber here that could use your head as a toilet plunger!!" Yuffie shouted.
Her voice echoed. "Damn, this place is dead…"
The young girl knocked on the doors of Cloud and Tifa's old homes and no one answered. Yuffie felt so alone. So tired. So hungry…
She realized for the first time, she was alone. No one to bug. No one to steal materia from. No one to have as a partner in crime, and without the companionship from her good friends, she felt like nothing. It seemed like Godo just threw her out into the world with a "don't come back until you're grown up."
Yuffie sighed and realized it was getting late. She completely forgot about things like where she would stay, but she did have some gil on her.
"Hey old man! How much is it a room a night?"
"I'm sorry kid, but all the rooms are taken." The Inn keeper said behind cloud of smoke from his cigar.
"But Missssteerrrrrrrr!" Yuffie growled, "I'm hungry, I'm tired and it's getting cold outside! C'mon, I'm all by myself all alone in the world! I know you have some extra room around here somewhere, I have the gil, c'mon Gramps!"
"Sorry kid, all the rooms are taken. Now beat it!"
Yuffie huffed and wished she could blow the Inn down, but instead walked outside.
A group of guys were talking to each other as they eyed Yuffie as she walked back over to the windmill, where a light post was. One of the guys was in the Inn and heard all the things Yuffie had said. They decided to approach the girl, hands in their pockets.
"You really all alone in the world, sugar? We could give you a place to stay…" they all chuckled.
Yuffie just glared. How pathetic, she thought.
"What's your name, deary?" One smiled cheesily.
"Yuffie, sweetness." The girl smiled cheesily back.
Without knowing it, a chain wrapped around her neck before she could react. Catching her totally off guard, one of the men had walked around the windmill, concealed by the shadows, while the others talked.
Yuffie struggled and screamed for someone to hear her, but it seemed like no one did. The chain was wrapped around her neck so tight she was having a lot of trouble breathing and things were starting to get fuzzy looking. Her hands were doing their best at clawing the man holding the chains, and loosening up the chain around her vocal cord so she could scream, but to no avail.
"Bound her feet up! Bring her up to the old abandoned Mansion!"
No! Yuffie's mind screamed. Even her Ninja strength couldn't compare to strength of a man. They managed to tie up her kicking feet and were now hauling her off towards the old ShinRa Mansion.
Her pillowcase had been dropped right next to the windmill when a dark figure found it. Finding it such an odd thing to have a pillowcase full of clothes right next to the windmill, the figure decided to just leave it be.
Its owner will find it tomorrow. Vincent thought. Though someone might try to steal it throughout the night… maybe I'll take it with me and look for the owner tomorrow.
So with that, Vincent picked up the sack. Of course he wouldn't look through it, even to see if he could find who it belonged to, he felt one should never look through someone else's personal belongings. Still, it looked familiar.
Upon arriving to his "home", Vincent found that his gate had been left open. He looked around, not a light in his house was on, not a sound, not a track.
Funny… I always shut my gate. The dark man upholstered the Death Penalty and kept it by his side as he entered through the gate.
Making his way halfway up the cobble stone trail, he found 4 bodies, barely visible by the light, all bloody and battered up. It looked as if a fight must have gone on while he was away. But whoever beat up these men, must still be around.
Vincent surveyed the area before picking up one of the bodies, heading out past the gate and leaning it next to a building in the town. They weren't dead of course, just badly inured.
He came back to retrieve the other 3 bodies when he noticed the pillowcase was missing.
"Is anyone there..?"
No answer.
He walked towards one of the bodies lying on his steps when another figure took shape. One crouching in the farthest corner of his porch clutching to a pillowcase.
"Yuffie?"
He knows who I am!?
"Cloud…?
"No, it's Vincent."
Yuffie hadn't even recognized Vincent. It was so dark outside and her eyes were held so tightly shut she barely heard the voice call her name. She was use to a soft, harsh tone coming from Vincent. Something about preachings of the past and how they were all damned to hell. Now that he actually spoke, being the one asking the question, his voice was so soft.
The girl looked up at Vincent from his living room, wrapped in a blanket. After putting all the bodies back in town to recover on their own, the man had finally let Yuffie in. Trembling, she through her arms around him so tight he thought he would squeak if he talked. Very un-Vincent like.
He didn't ask her a single question, he just took the girl inside quickly and undid all the painful boundings around her wrist and ankles. Yuffie had a horrible rash around her neck as well. Even as he undid the boundings, she couldn't stop the tears streaming down her red cheeks. He rubbed her wrists to get blood to the marks.
Yuffie didn't think about how compassionate Vincent was being, it just seemed to her the thing anyone would do if they found a girl half-raped and trembling in their doorway. It didn't strike her until he lit a fire and wrapped a blanket around her without saying a word.
Vincent was in the kitchen warming up something to drink on the stove when Yuffie asked; "Do you live here?"
"What do you think, Yuffie?"
"Oh…"
He came back into the living room holding a cup of tea and offered her some. The man sat down across from her.
"What are you doing here in Nibelheim? If you don't mind me asking…"
Yuffie looked down. She didn't feel like bringing up all the stupid ramblings and Wutai tradition after what she had been through tonight. "I was looking for Cloud… I need to get the Knights of the Round and he's the only one with a Gold Chocobo I know… I know he'd never give me his, so…" She looked down at the ground.
Vincent took a sip of his tea, still looking at her as if he was expecting more, like what happened. The girl took in a sigh. "So I came here, figuring this would be the best place to start, since he and Tifa grew up here, but I couldn't find him, and it was getting late." The girl pulled the blanket to herself as if it was her only comfort, "And that stupid Inn Keeper wouldn't give me a room and then those men…"
Vincent's eyes were still locked on her, she fidgeted nervously. "One of them put a chain around my neck and the others tied up my feet and hands. They thought no one lived here so they dragged me up here and… and… " she started to blush, "They tried to take my clothes off, but I couldn't let them touch me! So I elbowed one in the gut and kneed the other in the nuts and managed to break the rope with my Ninja skills, then I kicked their butts!"
Yuffie seemed inwardly proud of herself, she didn't want to tell Vincent how she cried like a baby.
"I found this pillowcase outside by the mill, I figure it belongs to you…" he handed her the pillowcase and she nodded.
"You can stay here as long as you need Yuffie."
He sipped his tea once more and looked towards the dancing flames.
"Really Vincent!? Will you help me find Cloud too!?" Yuffie practically shouted with joy and almost knocked her tea over.
"Calm down Yuffie. Yes, I'll help you, but for now you need to get some rest. Just rest for the next few days, you need to recover."
Yuffie nodded and re-arranged her blanket.
"You can sleep out here tonight, I can prepare a room for you tomorrow."
"Thanks, Vincent!"
The man nodded and picked up the teacups and placed them in the kitchen. Then he walked upstairs to his room. The lights were still off, but he didn't put the fire out, he left it for Yuffie.
The girl made sure Vincent was in his room before she threw her clothes off and changed into her pajamas. She would wash her usual ones before she wore those again! Yuffie found a couch, well, bumped into what she thought was a couch and curled up on it to go to sleep.
I'll prove to my father I AM a Ninja… and then she went to sleep.
Who you Are
Part 1, By: Ayla
"Yuffie Kisaragi!"
Yuffie ducked under the random household appliance that was being hurled at her by her father.
"What!?" she said as she poked her head out from under the table.
"What do you call this?!" Godo held up a shiny circular object.
"Materia?"
"Rocks!" He hurled one at the girl as she instinctively ducked. "You've become so lazy lately you have to pass painted rocks as materia!"
"Did it work?"
"No!" Godo fumed. "If you have your heart so intent on restoring Wutai's pride back, then you'll have to get some pride of your own! I can't believe how lazy my daughter has become…" he threw his hands up in the air and started walking off, going on about something of "ungrateful brat" and "spoiled snot," and not even bothering to shut the sliding door.
Yuffie couldn't just hide under the table when all those mean things he had said about her were untrue. She got up and ran after Godo. He was already pacing across the mat of their dojong in the Pagoda.
"Wait, Godo!" Yuffie dashed after him, not even bothering to remove her shoes. "How can you say all those mean things when I was the one who brought back all that materia! I was the one who helped defeat Sephiroth! And I'm the one who wants to restore Wutai back into power!"
"And you are the only Ninja that is almost 17 and still not officially titled a Ninja!"
That struck Yuffie like a nail. It was true. No mater how hard she tried, it was never good enough. All the other children who were trained in the way of the Martial Arts as good as she was had already held their ceremonies for becoming an adult an a Ninja. Once you proved you were a Ninja, you were a man. Or in Yuffie's case, a woman, which she was not.
"You'll never be as good as your mother! So far for saving the world, you haven't grown up a bit! You went through all that trouble, and you still haven't brought me a Knights of the Round! How do you suppose we'll restore Wutai with these crappy summons, huh? Unless you can show me you're a Ninja, there's no help for you Yuffie Kisaragi!"
She couldn't stop the tears from flowing. "Fine then! I'll pack my stuff and show you I'm a Ninja! I am a woman!" she fumed. Godo ignored her and left the Pagoda. Yuffie stomped off to her room in tears and threw all her stuff together in a pillowcase.
She bolted down the steps and ran across the trail to the entrance of her beloved village. "And I will get that stupid Knights of the Round summon materia from Cloud too!" Yuffie shouted. She swung the pillowcase over her shoulder and took off.
Godo couldn't help but feel bad.
Yuffie stood by the windmill in Nibelheim turning over her upside-down map. "Cloud, Cloud… need to find Cloud."
The truth was she didn't know where to begin. She lost her PHS, either in one of her little adventures or in her room. "
"This must of have been one of those things Godo was talking about." Yuffie murmured.
She couldn't help she lost things… All the time…
She didn't know exactly where to find Cloud, so she thought she would start here in Nibelheim, the place where he grew up and then search Midgar. Yuffie figured he wouldn't be back in Midgar till all the turmoil boiled over.
The town was very quiet. The only sound was the wind blowing and the creaking of the windmill.
"CLOUD STRIIIIIIIIIFE!!!"
No answer. Not even a shut up.
"Cloud Striiiiiiife! There's a plumber here that could use your head as a toilet plunger!!" Yuffie shouted.
Her voice echoed. "Damn, this place is dead…"
The young girl knocked on the doors of Cloud and Tifa's old homes and no one answered. Yuffie felt so alone. So tired. So hungry…
She realized for the first time, she was alone. No one to bug. No one to steal materia from. No one to have as a partner in crime, and without the companionship from her good friends, she felt like nothing. It seemed like Godo just threw her out into the world with a "don't come back until you're grown up."
Yuffie sighed and realized it was getting late. She completely forgot about things like where she would stay, but she did have some gil on her.
"Hey old man! How much is it a room a night?"
"I'm sorry kid, but all the rooms are taken." The Inn keeper said behind cloud of smoke from his cigar.
"But Missssteerrrrrrrr!" Yuffie growled, "I'm hungry, I'm tired and it's getting cold outside! C'mon, I'm all by myself all alone in the world! I know you have some extra room around here somewhere, I have the gil, c'mon Gramps!"
"Sorry kid, all the rooms are taken. Now beat it!"
Yuffie huffed and wished she could blow the Inn down, but instead walked outside.
A group of guys were talking to each other as they eyed Yuffie as she walked back over to the windmill, where a light post was. One of the guys was in the Inn and heard all the things Yuffie had said. They decided to approach the girl, hands in their pockets.
"You really all alone in the world, sugar? We could give you a place to stay…" they all chuckled.
Yuffie just glared. How pathetic, she thought.
"What's your name, deary?" One smiled cheesily.
"Yuffie, sweetness." The girl smiled cheesily back.
Without knowing it, a chain wrapped around her neck before she could react. Catching her totally off guard, one of the men had walked around the windmill, concealed by the shadows, while the others talked.
Yuffie struggled and screamed for someone to hear her, but it seemed like no one did. The chain was wrapped around her neck so tight she was having a lot of trouble breathing and things were starting to get fuzzy looking. Her hands were doing their best at clawing the man holding the chains, and loosening up the chain around her vocal cord so she could scream, but to no avail.
"Bound her feet up! Bring her up to the old abandoned Mansion!"
No! Yuffie's mind screamed. Even her Ninja strength couldn't compare to strength of a man. They managed to tie up her kicking feet and were now hauling her off towards the old ShinRa Mansion.
Her pillowcase had been dropped right next to the windmill when a dark figure found it. Finding it such an odd thing to have a pillowcase full of clothes right next to the windmill, the figure decided to just leave it be.
Its owner will find it tomorrow. Vincent thought. Though someone might try to steal it throughout the night… maybe I'll take it with me and look for the owner tomorrow.
So with that, Vincent picked up the sack. Of course he wouldn't look through it, even to see if he could find who it belonged to, he felt one should never look through someone else's personal belongings. Still, it looked familiar.
Upon arriving to his "home", Vincent found that his gate had been left open. He looked around, not a light in his house was on, not a sound, not a track.
Funny… I always shut my gate. The dark man upholstered the Death Penalty and kept it by his side as he entered through the gate.
Making his way halfway up the cobble stone trail, he found 4 bodies, barely visible by the light, all bloody and battered up. It looked as if a fight must have gone on while he was away. But whoever beat up these men, must still be around.
Vincent surveyed the area before picking up one of the bodies, heading out past the gate and leaning it next to a building in the town. They weren't dead of course, just badly inured.
He came back to retrieve the other 3 bodies when he noticed the pillowcase was missing.
"Is anyone there..?"
No answer.
He walked towards one of the bodies lying on his steps when another figure took shape. One crouching in the farthest corner of his porch clutching to a pillowcase.
"Yuffie?"
He knows who I am!?
"Cloud…?
"No, it's Vincent."
Yuffie hadn't even recognized Vincent. It was so dark outside and her eyes were held so tightly shut she barely heard the voice call her name. She was use to a soft, harsh tone coming from Vincent. Something about preachings of the past and how they were all damned to hell. Now that he actually spoke, being the one asking the question, his voice was so soft.
The girl looked up at Vincent from his living room, wrapped in a blanket. After putting all the bodies back in town to recover on their own, the man had finally let Yuffie in. Trembling, she through her arms around him so tight he thought he would squeak if he talked. Very un-Vincent like.
He didn't ask her a single question, he just took the girl inside quickly and undid all the painful boundings around her wrist and ankles. Yuffie had a horrible rash around her neck as well. Even as he undid the boundings, she couldn't stop the tears streaming down her red cheeks. He rubbed her wrists to get blood to the marks.
Yuffie didn't think about how compassionate Vincent was being, it just seemed to her the thing anyone would do if they found a girl half-raped and trembling in their doorway. It didn't strike her until he lit a fire and wrapped a blanket around her without saying a word.
Vincent was in the kitchen warming up something to drink on the stove when Yuffie asked; "Do you live here?"
"What do you think, Yuffie?"
"Oh…"
He came back into the living room holding a cup of tea and offered her some. The man sat down across from her.
"What are you doing here in Nibelheim? If you don't mind me asking…"
Yuffie looked down. She didn't feel like bringing up all the stupid ramblings and Wutai tradition after what she had been through tonight. "I was looking for Cloud… I need to get the Knights of the Round and he's the only one with a Gold Chocobo I know… I know he'd never give me his, so…" She looked down at the ground.
Vincent took a sip of his tea, still looking at her as if he was expecting more, like what happened. The girl took in a sigh. "So I came here, figuring this would be the best place to start, since he and Tifa grew up here, but I couldn't find him, and it was getting late." The girl pulled the blanket to herself as if it was her only comfort, "And that stupid Inn Keeper wouldn't give me a room and then those men…"
Vincent's eyes were still locked on her, she fidgeted nervously. "One of them put a chain around my neck and the others tied up my feet and hands. They thought no one lived here so they dragged me up here and… and… " she started to blush, "They tried to take my clothes off, but I couldn't let them touch me! So I elbowed one in the gut and kneed the other in the nuts and managed to break the rope with my Ninja skills, then I kicked their butts!"
Yuffie seemed inwardly proud of herself, she didn't want to tell Vincent how she cried like a baby.
"I found this pillowcase outside by the mill, I figure it belongs to you…" he handed her the pillowcase and she nodded.
"You can stay here as long as you need Yuffie."
He sipped his tea once more and looked towards the dancing flames.
"Really Vincent!? Will you help me find Cloud too!?" Yuffie practically shouted with joy and almost knocked her tea over.
"Calm down Yuffie. Yes, I'll help you, but for now you need to get some rest. Just rest for the next few days, you need to recover."
Yuffie nodded and re-arranged her blanket.
"You can sleep out here tonight, I can prepare a room for you tomorrow."
"Thanks, Vincent!"
The man nodded and picked up the teacups and placed them in the kitchen. Then he walked upstairs to his room. The lights were still off, but he didn't put the fire out, he left it for Yuffie.
The girl made sure Vincent was in his room before she threw her clothes off and changed into her pajamas. She would wash her usual ones before she wore those again! Yuffie found a couch, well, bumped into what she thought was a couch and curled up on it to go to sleep.
I'll prove to my father I AM a Ninja… and then she went to sleep.