A/N: So, I hate it when people hold stories hostage, so even though I have no reviews yet, I understand it's only the first day, so I should upload what I have. The next chapter might take a while though, since I'm going to see Wicked tomorrow (AHHH!!!!!!) and have homework to finish. But I'll write fast, I promise!

All of you who have read the first chapter, thank you.

Wutai Goddess (Vincent)

I say, "Hey, hey, Wutai Goddess,

I've been waiting for someone
I've been praying for someone
I think that I could be in love with someone
Like You"

Cloud and I waited outside the theater for almost a half hour, watching the women pass us by, but none of them the one I was waiting for. I glanced around nervously, and Cloud chuckled at me.

"Calm down, Vincent. She'll be here."

I thought back to the first night I met her. I was at Cloud's place, which was the loft over Seventh Heaven. Seventh Heaven was the name of the bar owned by Tifa, Cloud's longtime girlfriend. They lived together above it, and I was always over there when I wasn't writing. Cloud was good company, and Tifa could cook well and make a damn good drink besides. They were having one of their parties when I saw her. Now, I'd seen her before, at more than one of Tifa's parties, but I'd never talked to her.

She was small, tiny, even. Her hair was cropped in an odd cross between a pixie and a bob, held back by a headband. She was leaning against the bar, laughing and smiling at something Barret, a good friend of Tifa's, was saying. But her eyes were darting around, looking for an escape. I wish I could say I played the part of the hero and swooped in and saved her. No such luck. I tried, though. Tifa was just a lot faster than me, pushing a pale-skinned guy with bright red hair towards the girl, who quickly welcomed the distraction and said her goodbyes to Barret.

I saw her again the next morning. I had left my tie behind and came back to get it. She answered the door warily, barely opening it wider than a book's width.

"The bar's not open for another six hours," she said, trying for intimidating but failing miserably in her bunny slippers. "If you need a delivery, the entrance is –"

"My name is Vincent; I'm a friend of Cloud's. I left my tie here last night after the party." I said softly, and she suddenly smiled.

"Oh okay! Come on in!" She opened the door widely and smiled again at me. "Tifa and I started cleaning last night, but we both were so tired…"

She gestured around at the half clean bar as if to say, "Oh well."

I grinned and grabbed my tie from a chair and slung it around my neck. "Sorry, I didn't catch your name." I said.

"Yuffie. Yuffie Kisaragi." She said, grinning.

"Well, thanks, Yuffie. I have a meeting with an editor later, I kind of needed this."

"An editor?" She asked quizzically.

"I'm a writer," I explained, and told her a little bit of my career, or lack of it, and she grinned.

"An aspiring artist of the word…I knew I liked you!" She said, grinning happily. "I'm an aspiring artist of the stage." When I didn't get it, she laughed and told me she was an actress, or, at least, she wanted to be. Meanwhile, she waited tables at a local restaurant and helped out at Seventh Heaven.

We talked and laughed for about ten more minutes before Tifa came downstairs in an oversized tee-shirt and cheer shorts, stumbling around and rubbing her eyes. I greeted her and she smiled sleepily, heading straight for the coffee maker. Yuffie giggled softly, and when Tifa had downed enough coffee to form a sentence, she asked me what I was doing here. I told her, holding up my tie, and she nodded.

"How'd you lose it, anyway?"

I smiled. "It was too tight, the room was too hot. I took it off and promptly forgot about it."

We heard laughter coming from the stairs, and Cloud walked in, wearing a pair of pajama pants and pulling a black tank top over his head.

"Sounds just like you, Vincent." He said, kissing Tifa's cheek and swiping a drink of her coffee.

She swatted him away and Yuffie giggled at his smirk. Tifa offered me some food, which I politely declined. I said my goodbyes and left, intending to take a shower and hurry to my meeting, picking up something to eat on the way.

I did, and when I got home that night, letting myself into the apartment I'd owned for years, I noticed my answering machine blinking, which it hadn't done for a few days. I pressed the playback button while getting myself a soda and loosening my tie.

"Mr. Valentine, this is Lucretia Crescent, your new agent, remember me? I was just calling to remind you of…" The message was brief, just telling me my schedule. This woman was a genius; she had managed to find a ton of people who might be interested in my new storyline.

None of them were yet, but I wasn't giving up. The next few messages were from telemarketers, and I skipped them before playing the last one.

"Hey, Vincent, this is Yuffie, remember me?"

I stood there, shocked, wondering how she'd gotten my number.

"Cloud gave me your number; sorry if I'm being too forward."

There's one question answered, I thought dryly, a smile appearing on my lips.

"Anyway, I was just wondering if you'd like to…go get a smoothie or something! Oh man that sounded stupid, sorry!"

I chuckled softly at the endearing way she rambled for a bit. Then she got back to the point.

"Anywho, I'd really like to see you again, so call me, okay? My number is 553-8746." She waited a second, then repeated it. "Well, sorry for the long message! Hope to hear from you!" Then, softer, "Bye…"

My grin slowly got wider and I had to resist temptation to jump up and down or something. I saved the message and then called Cloud, thanking him profusely.

"You'd be good for her." He finally said when I stopped for breath. "Tifa thinks so too."

"How long have they been friends?" I asked idly, quickly grabbing an apple off the counter.

"Years. They met when Tifa went to her uncle's funeral in Wutai."

"Yuffie's Wutai?" I asked incredulously.

Cloud laughed. "You couldn't tell? Yes, she is. Born and raised."

I grinned wider, then made some excuses and hung up. My mother would kill me if she could see me, but right then I didn't give a damn. I had been brought up in a strict Goddess-worshipping home. My parents paid homage to Minerva, and any other deity was considered sacrilegious; any other religion was considered wrong. This was especially true of people of Wutai. They were devoted to Leviathan, the "god of the sea." My parents, who were devout in their monotheistic faith, scorned the generally polytheistic Wutai people, except for the few converts we had.

I was never allowed to date outside of our religion, and my parents were always setting me up with some "nice girl" who worshipped with them.

I had gone to Sunday school every week, taken all my religion classes, and learned all about my Mother Goddess. And it was a load of Chocobo crap. I did believe Minerva was a goddess, but this "marry inside the faith" thing was foolishness. I was pretty sure Minerva wouldn't damn me if I went on one date with a girl from Northern Wutai. Besides, I hadn't been to one of Minerva's cathedrals in years.

Although…maybe it wouldn't hurt to say a prayer at her shrine. For luck. I told myself.

OoOoOoO

A week later, after days and days of trying to work up the nerve to call her, I had a date with Yuffie. We were going to see the newest comedy, and then go out for dessert at her favorite café.

Normally, I'm not one to obsess over my appearance, but tonight, I felt justified in taking longer than usual to decide what to wear, since I was going on a date for the first time in months. As I pulled on a shirt, I realized that hair was really getting long; it reached to my chin at the longest point and a few pieces kept falling in my eyes. But I liked the length, as annoying as it was sometimes. I glanced in the mirror, glad that my eyes didn't look too tired from being up all night writing. Sometimes my vampire hours get me in trouble.

I left my apartment quickly, meeting Cloud at Seventh Heaven and then driving to the theater, where he'd walk home from. This left me back where we started; waiting for the girl I was already convincing myself I was half in love with.

"There she is. Stop daydreaming. Have fun, Vincent." Cloud said, pushing me out of my car and disappearing in less than three seconds.

Yuffie saw me and waved energetically, practically bouncing. She was wearing shorts and a camisole with a vest over it, all in colors that should have clashed but somehow worked on her. She also had on a pair of knee-high tennis shoes, which I didn't even know existed, but found oddly appealing, like her.

We went into the movie, which Yuffie loved, and I found mildly amusing. Afterwards, we drove to the café, where Yuffie ordered a banana split with extra whipped cream and two cherries on top. I had a coffee and a brownie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

"Unimaginative," she scoffed under her breath. "You'll never be a good writer that way, Vince."

I wasn't sure what to be more offended at: that she thought I was unimaginative, that she thought I was destined to be a bad writer, or that she was calling me Vince. Nicknames weren't my thing; my name is my name, so use it, not something else.

"Then what would you do?" I asked, still taken aback.

She sized me up, and still looking at me, said to the waitress, "Fudge sauce on the brownie, but not on the ice cream. And extra whipped cream on the top."

After the waitress left I shook my head. "She's gonna be pissed for our complicated order."

"Actually, it's not that hard to do, and only takes an extra five seconds. Most waitresses don't mind it, and like the more interesting orders."

When I glanced at her skeptically, she laughed, and it sounded like pealing bells.

"I'm a waitress, Vince, I would know. It's more fun if a customer asks for some obscure item or for something you don't make often. It shakes things up." She said, still grinning.

I left it at that, and proceeded to ask her the normal questions you ask your first date. She waved her hands dismissively at me before breaking apart a pair of disposable chopsticks.

"Let's leave off those. You really don't want to know my last boyfriend's name, what my father did for a living, how my mother died, or if I have siblings. So ask me anything. Really, anything."

Surprised, I said the first thing that came to mind. "What are you doing with those chopsticks?"

I was rewarded with a huge smile that was obscured for a brief second as the waitress set down our desserts and my coffee.

"This," Yuffie said cheerily, and began to eat the whipped cream off her ice cream with the chopsticks.

I laughed, and she smiled, avoiding the cherries. When she finished all the whipped cream, she tossed a cherry at me. I ate it quickly, and she did the same before tying the stem into a knot with her tongue. Intending to try and impress me or something, she thrust it at me and said, "Ha!" rather loudly. I just responded by opening my mouth, catching my stem in my front teeth. There were two knots tied in it, in less time than it had taken her to tie one.

Yuffie looked shocked, then impressed.

"Okay, you got me," she said, smiling at me.

OoOoOoO

I kissed her when we parted ways. I didn't mean to; it just sort of happened. She was heading to her apartment, just across the street, and I was going to my car. She said goodnight, and then I leaned in to hug her. I just forgot what I was doing on the way there and bent down to kiss her. At first, all I could think of was how tall she made me feel. She was barely 5 feet 3 inches, if that, and I was exactly 6 feet tall. Then my lips slanted over hers, and height was the last thing on my mind. She wrapped her arms around my neck and fit perfectly against me, and I could feel her smile. She tasted like ice cream and bananas and cherries and a bit of coffee, which confirmed my suspicion that she had drank from my mug when I went to the bathroom. It was amazing.

Since it was our first date, I pulled away quickly, but couldn't erase the feeling of her breath mingling with mine. Yuffie smiled softly at me, for once not bouncing or laughing, and waved lightly.

"Goodnight, Vincent." She said softly, and walked past me, not looking back.

I had just gotten in my car when I heard her cheer "Yes!" a few times, and caught her victory dance in my rearview mirror. I just grinned and touched my lips, reminding myself to thank Cloud and Tifa in the morning.

OOC, I know, but I think this is adorable. The idea for Yuffie's chopstick whipped cream routine came from Sekihara Tae's fic, "Day to Day Life". I hope you don't mind me stealing. *blush* But I have a cousin who does the same thing, her story just reminded me of it. Go check it out, it's really good. Made me do more than one fangirl squeal, and a couple happy dances in bed hahaha. Anyway, thanks again for reading! Please review!

-Meyx