Author's Note: Hello my beautiful fan fiction craving darlings! Darkeiko is here coming at you with a Vincent and Yuffie one-shot. The thought of the one-shot came to me while I was dozing on my bus, OBVIOUSLY attempting to ignore my bus-mates by drowning them out with pure rock music. Anyway, my muse for this is one of my many alter-egos, Princess Yuffie Kisaragi of Wutai!

Yuffie: That's GREAT NINJA Yuffie to you!

Me: -nods- How do you suppose the GREAT ninja got defeated by Cloud's crew?

Yuffie: Hey that was an unfair battle! Three against one! Besides, they had good materia!

Me: Excuses excuses…

Disclaimer: I do not in any way own Final Fantasy 7 or the ideas thought up by Square Enix in the production of the game. I only partially own the game my brother bought from EB Games.

----------------------

Darkness, a never ending void of emotion running through his mind, silently engulfs him. The demons within consume his being, praising the sins he has committed and the sins that may yet to approach in the future. The demons thrive in the abyss; they live by it, and thus consume their host by it. The demons feed on the pain and anguish of that one man who had incarcerated them within his own psyche.

Deep crimson eyes scan about the deck of the airship, Highwind, focusing on his comrades, his allies. These cohorts in the possible defeat of Sephiroth had awakened him from an eternal nightmare where screams of his beloved Lucrecia reverberate along the walls of his mind, a constant reminder of the dark deeds of his past. Metallic liquid, blood, is spilled in the same shade as the man's orbs, and the torture of realizing that within him he was not only overwhelmed by the presence of these demons, but he has gradually become one himself. He was once human; however, the memory of those days eluded him. Only one memory situated itself in his mind; the experimentation of himself by Professor Hojo. How he despised that name. Each time that despicable man's name passed his lips, it felt like acid was slowly burning him from the inside.

Slowly the raven haired gunslinger raises his human hand to his heart, wishfully thinking he would feel a pulse run through his veins beneath his pale, death-like skin. His wish; continues to remain unanswered. How Vincent wanted to be as his allies; carefree, and without strings attached. Each time an emotion other than anger, hatred, or rage ran within him, the demons of the depths would gather, torturing his mind, and possibly silencing that emotion forever. All the demons provoked anger and hate, and thus was Vincent's mind most of the time consumed by it. However, he would constantly battle against the monsters that had stolen away his human life, his conscience. Thus, he breaks away from those harmful emotions. Sighing wistfully, he runs his clawed hand through his velvety black hair. What had happened to the life he once adored?

Suddenly, he feels warmth on his shoulder and quickly looks to see a lone hand. Following the arm, it reaches to the face of the youngest member of AVALANCHE, Yuffie Kisaragi. Staring into her stormy grey eyes, the gunslinger notices certain emotions that he thought laid dormant in his mind. Concern, certain warmth for his well-being, and a new emotion that was familiar, yet seemed to elude him.

"You all right Vincent? You seem tense, well, more tense than the rest of us. Thinking about the battle ahead?"

Vincent nods slowly, as if affirming that he has her attention. What was that dominant emotion in her eyes? Why couldn't he figure it out? He obviously experienced it before, sometime in the past, but the demons within his mind are constantly fending off what has happened in that part of his life.

Yuffie glances at his human hand clenched over his never-beating heart. Slowly her eyes travel from his well-toned chest under his black shirt to which she slightly blushes, to his tightly clenched golden claw. Nodding to herself as if confirming her own suspicions, she slowly takes her hand away from next to his ear and replaces it with her lips. Vincent automatically feels the warm breath of the Great Ninja, sending slight tingles down his spine.

"You don't have to deal with the pain alone. You have tons of friends here that care about you, me included. We all have certain demons we must face, some more than others. If you ever need anything, anything at all, you can always come for me for comfort, okay?" After that being said, her lips hover next to his ear for a second before pecking him on the apple of his cheek, her eyes closed. As quickly as it came it is gone, with Yuffie resuming her normal stance in her spot next to Vincent, her rosy cheeks the only evidence of what had occurred.

'Why had she done that?' Vincent questions to himself. 'What was that strange, almost foreign emotion within her eyes? Why did his demons react with such hostility to that emotion?' He had to know. He had to find out. The AVALANCHE team members were nearing the North Crater. He must solve this riddle before the final battle.

The veteran pilot saluted Cloud Strife as the Highwind neared the ground of North Crater. "Would you like to depart Mr. Strife?" Cloud glanced at him and gave a curt nod. As the leader turned toward his friends, no, his family, his eyes hardened. These people were the Planet's last line of his defense.

"This is it everyone." Cloud starts. "Once we go down there, there might not be a way to go back. Sephiroth is down there waiting. Equip yourselves well everyone, and let's fight for our future, for everyone's future, for Aeris' wish!" He finishes holding his Ultimate Weapon before him, his right hand gripped onto the hilt.

"Yeah, let's F&# Sephiroth up!" Barret yells as he points his gun arm towards the sky.

As the speech comes to a close, the team members individually gather their best equipment and materia for the final battle. One by one they climb down the ladder to North Crater, until only Vincent and Yuffie remain. The ninja prepare to climb down the rickety pieces of wood until she is whipped around by a golden hand.

"Tell me…" Vincent speaks slowly and quietly, his pressure on the girl's arm the same as they stare at each other. His eyes are boring into Yuffie's grey orbs, searching for the truth despite the demons' furious clawing from inside his head. The ninja looks at him silently, tilting her head in confusion.

"Tell you what?" she responds, her voice a little over a whisper. Both of Vincent's hands grip her shoulder tightly and she winces as his nails/claws dig into her flesh.

"Tell me why you kissed me!" he demands, his voice bounding loudly off the walls of the airship. She looks at the ground, unwilling to answer and hide the blush that is slowly but surely forming at her cheeks. However, without releasing the hold on her with his golden claw, he uses his human hand to tilt Yuffie's chin upward, forcing her to look at him and explain in all honesty.

Slowly her lips open and reveal to him the reason behind her action. His eyes widen in shock as he carefully takes into account what she had said. Vincent loosens his grip on her shoulders as he pulls his hand over his heart. As if he couldn't be surprised enough, he was soon to be more stunned.

…A pulse…

Despite the demons' constant screaming in his head, he heard the answer from the ninja's lips loud and clear…

"Because I love you."

-------------------

Author's Note: Well everyone that was my first shot at a one-shot and after reading a very thrilling Final Fantasy 7 story, I felt motivated enough to write and post this up. If you guys liked it, thanks. If you guys didn't like it, then hopefully you'll consider giving me some constructive criticism on how I can make these better. Anyway, see ya and keep reading!

Yuffie: Yeah!