My Little Demons – Chapter 2

Disclaimer: If I owned FF7, would I really be writing a fanfiction about it? Oh well. I don't anyway.

We sat down wordlessly at the simple wooden table in the kitchen of the inn. It looked as if they had made the whole inn a bit bigger. I haven't been here in ages though.

The waitress smiled at us and gave us both a cold glass of water. After she walked away Yuffie leaned into my ear and whispered to me, "It's weird how Nibelheim has grown. All of Shinra's old employees still live here, but so do all these new refugees from Midgar! The town has been growing so fast!"

I nodded as she leaned back over and sat more comfortably in her chair.

Yuffie's words rang true enough. I hadn't really taken a lot of time to look at Nibelheim properly but I could tell that it had grown. There were a few more houses and a bar next door to the inn. I had a small urge to go and check out the new bar.

"Aww, are you wanting a drink, Vinnie?" Chaos sneered.

I glared inwardly at Chaos.

Suddenly I heard a soft humming coming from Yuffie. She was serenely looking at her menu. I was almost lulled by the delicate song. But Yuffie, being Yuffie, ended it abruptly and began to initiate conversation.

"So, Vinnie, how have you been?" she said, smiling at me, "Nobody has heard from you in ages!"

"…I've been fine," I lied.

"Liar, liar, liar, LIAR! PICK UP YOUR KNIFE AND CUT INTO SWEET PAIN!" Hellmasker shrieked.

Yuffie gave me an odd, calculating look, as if she did not believe me either. I wouldn't be too surprised. It's not as if I lied very convincingly. But I had no intentions of telling her what had been happening to me. There was no need for her to get involved in my problems. My problems always led to more problems and then death. And this time, I was hoping it would be my own death.

"Vinnie," she said quietly, looking at her hands, folded neatly in her lap, "Y'know I'm going to be 24 next week."

"I was not aware of that," I said, "The years seemed to have flown by."

"No, they haven't," Yuffie said, still looking at her hands, "I haven't seen you in 3 years. Why don't you ever call?"

"…There has never been a reason for me to contact anyone."

"We're your friends!" she said, snapping her head up to look at me, "Don't you know that we worry about you? I worry about you!"

"I'm flattered, really," I said harshly, "But there is no reason for you to worry about me."

"Yes there is," she said, "You're so angsty and broody that I always worry about whether or not you're gonna shut yourself up in another stupid box or throw yourself off a cliff or something - all for some ridiculous redemption."

"It is not ridiculous," I said threateningly, "You couldn't possibly understand."

"Oh, I understand. And it's still ridiculous. It's so stupid that I want to slap you sometimes."

"Then why don't you? Get it over with and leave me alone."

"I'm never going to leave you alone," she said, standing up, "So even if I have to hunt you down, through the overgrown forests of Mideel to the quicksand traps around the Golden Saucer, I will."

And then she turned on her heel and walked off. I heard the inn door open and close loudly.

I sighed. What a hindrance. She didn't even tell me what she wanted my help with.

"Seems to me like she likes ya, Valentine," Chaos laughed, "Isn't that hilarious?"

"I can take her for you. I can find her in a dark place and relish in her hot virginity!"

"Don't talk about her like that," I growled.

"No need to get all defensive, Valentine!" Chaos said, "but, seriously, Hellmasker, why do you always have to talk about raping people? Is it some sort of fetish? I think you ate paint chips as a child."

I sighed as my inner demons continued bickering. I stood up wordlessly and headed towards the door. I suppose I should follow her. She did save me, in a manner of speaking, from myself. I should at least show my gratitude by helping her with whatever task was at hand. Besides, she was only talking out of concern. I shouldn't have been so gruff. However, I can never seem to stop my defense mechanisms.

I sighed again as I spotted her sitting at gate of the Shinra Mansion. I walked over to her and stood beside her, completely silent.

It was a comfortable silence though. It was odd, I don't think I've ever shared a silence with Yuffie.

Finally, I heard her crack her fingers and breathe in deeply.

"I searched this mansion hardcore last week when I found out it was going to be demolished."

"Demolished?"

"Yep. Since Shinra is all new now, they've decided to get rid of some of their old stuff, like this mansion and all the reactors."

"Oh."

I was silent. It was certainly a surprise. I had always assumed that the mansion would always be here, waiting for me to rejoin my casket in the basement. I had so many memories in that place. Of course, all of them were horrible and painful, but a very select few were the happiest and fondest memories I have ever had.

I could almost see Lucrecia standing behind the gate, waving at me to hurry up and bring the groceries inside.

"I went crazy on all of the demolition men. I wouldn't let them demolish it until I knew you weren't in there," she giggled, "I thought you might have been in there, just sawing logs in your stupid coffin, not even knowing that they were going to blow the place up. I said, 'hold it! There's a vampire down there! You've gotta let me calm his rage first before you blow away his house!' They thought I was completely bonkers. But they let me search until I had my fill. I searched every freaking cavity there, making sure you weren't hiding any place. Only when I was satisfied did I tell them that the vampire had gone looking for another human sacrifice and that it was safe to demolish."

"…Human sacrifice?" I said questioningly, raising an eyebrow.

"Isn't that what vampires do?" she said innocently, looking up at me, "Well, it doesn't matter. The demolition men just sorta patted me on the head."

I coughed back a chuckle as I imagined the whole scene.

"We always sorta got left behind by everyone, when we were on that Sephiroth hunt all those years ago," she said quietly, looking back at the town, "I know you probably didn't like me that much, but when we talked, it was good. It's kind of weird saying this, I don't really like being mushy or whatever, but you're probably the first real friend I've ever had. Sure, Chocobo Head and Co. are my friends too, but I always thought we were closer. Maybe we weren't. Well…we probably weren't, but whatever. Reeve too. You guys are the only friends I can say that I am actually close with."

"I apologize for being harsh with you earlier," I said, almost choking on the words, "I didn't mean to, but I don't want to bring you into any of my personal problems."

"I'd like to bring her into them. Mmm I'd like to get her right in here. Right where-"

I cut off his thoughts and pushed them away.

Yuffie looked up at me, smiling, "Vinnie, you're such a dork."

"A dork?"

"Anyway, let's just forget this whole thing for now," she said, standing up, "I have plenty of time to pry later."

"Indeed. I'm sure you will try."

She pulled on my T-shirt affectionately and smiled up at me, "Don't underestimate my awesome ninja skillz! I won't go easy on you, just 'cause you're my friend! I will penetrate your defense and learn all of your secrets ranging from how you style your hair to how you get all those buckles undone in time when you REALLY, REALLY gotta PEE!"

She bounced up and down and dragged me back towards the inn. I shook my head and chuckled anyway. She was such an eccentric person.

"Woot!" she yelled as she opened the inn door again.

This time we actually sat down and ate a fairly edible meal. …Although Yuffie did not seem to think it was a very edible meal.

"GAWD!" she exclaimed, throwing a particularly large bean at my head, "The town might be growing, but everyone who comes here is gonna die of starvation! The menu is: would you rather have big nasty beans, small nasty beans…or MEATLOAF! BLARGHH GROSSNESS!"

I sighed, eating my meatloaf wordlessly. Sure, it didn't taste fabulous, but I wasn't going to scream about it. Although, I can't deny that I usually find Yuffie's unending rants rather amusing.

"I hate beans AND meatloaf! These people are sadistic, I tell ya; they must have known I was comin'!" Yuffie said, making giant gestures with her hands, "'QUICK YUFFIE'S COMIN'! WE GOTTA GET THE NASTY MENUS OUT!' Man, I bet they chuckled all maliciously too, when I walked in, totally oblivious, renting a nice room. ARRGHH! And I tipped the stupid bellboy who brought my bags up too! EVIL, I say! EVIL!"

-/-/-/-/-/-

After dinner we retreated to Yuffie's room. The cot was magically already set-up by the window. I almost had to carry Yuffie out of the kitchen, as she was threatening to eat the check.

She had calmed down by the time we had situated ourselves in the room though. I sat down comfortably in the cot and she had kicked off her shoes and took off her gloves and hopped into her bed, snuggling the pillow intimately.

"Mmm, I could almost fall asleep," she said, scratching her chest and pulling out something from an inside pocket. She smiled lovingly at the picture she had pulled out and slipped it into her nightstand, giving me a threatening look as she slid the drawer in the nightstand back, "Look in there and suffer Valentine."

"Ooo, I like a little pain," Chaos said, excitedly, "She could spank me all she wanted. Bondage can be good to you, Vinnie."

I simply nodded at her in response, ignoring Chaos as always, and looked out the window, "Yuffie, you still have not told me what you would like my help with."

"Oh!" she said, "I guess I got a little too carried away with talking with you that I didn't even realize it. Sorry. Um, it's a bit of a weird request."

"And?"

"Leviathan's scales are all over the world. It was said that Leviathan shed all of his scales in one mighty shake and became part of the heavens, forever looking upon Wutai with favor. Every new monarch of Wutai must perform some sort of rite to ascend the throne. I want to find one of Leviathan's scales and present it to Wutai on the day of my ascension. The sucky part is, I only have a really crappy lead, and it'll probably be dangerous. Usually I'd be okay traveling around by myself, but I have Wutai to think about, so I think it'd be best if I traveled with someone, just in case I come across some really powerful baddie that I have to take down."

"…And you want me to accompany you?"

"Yeah! Everyone else was like blah blah blah lives of our own, blah blah blah sorry. Reeve was the only one who said he might be able to help me, but I'd have to wait for, like, a month so he has time to prepare. I was like 'a MONTH! Pssh I could FIND it by then!' So you're the only one left for me to ask," she said, a very small blush creeping up on her cheeks, "So, um, please? Pretty, pretty please will you go with me?"

"Of course. I can easily put my own personal agendas aside for now. It will still be there when we have retrieved your scale."

"Really!" she said, excitedly, jumping out of bed and colliding with me into a hug, "Thank you sooo much Vinnie!"

I patted her back gently and she subsided into giggles and jumped back into her bed. No sooner had she stopped giggling than I heard her start to snore. It has been an exhausting day.

I stood up wordlessly and pulled her covers up over her sleeping form. The nightstand caught my eye as I turned. The drawer had rolled open a little bit when she had been jumping furiously over to me and through the small slit I could make out a picture of Reeve poking me in Barret's sailor suit. I sighed and pushed it in fully, closing the picture in darkness.

Either way, the look she gave the picture was not something to be celebrated.