Edited 2/2/16

AN: Dear Readers, I have missed you greatly. It is on this joyous eve, the eve of not only Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 (at least in the US) as well as the eve of my birth, many years ago… that I bring you a new chapter. Basically, because HP rocks and birthdays rock and you guys all rock and I have finally (maybe?) gotten over the devastation that will be referred to as Laptop-Gate (I don't even know if that make sense, but I'm going with it) I decided I owed you guys a little something-something. So here is the newest chapter of Burning Alive! Abbreviated as BA, which is kinda BA XD

Disclaimer: I still own…. Nothing! Square wouldn't even give me VII for my birthday =(

.xxx.

There are times when life really freaking sucks. And I mean that in the most serious of ways. I've lived through some of the suckiest times Gaia has ever seen, I know these things. First off, there was the Wutai-Shin-Ra War, which not only nearly destroyed my country, but took my mother from me. No one can tell me that didn't suck. Then, there was Sephiroth and Meteor, of course. Terrifying and sucky and it took Aerith, who was like the sister I never had. Then the Glamour Triplets and giant Robo-Bird-Bahamut.

Yet none of those could compare to the absolute and total suckiness of my current situation. Wutai wasn't just damaged or set back this time. Wutai was gone. Wutai was a pile of ashes at the bottom of a mountain that would blow away in the wind, never to be seen again. And I had no idea why.

We had been rebuilding ourselves after the war and Sephiroth and Geostigma. We had been on the road to recovery and good things and now? All that had been torn away. Adding insult to injury was the fact that I was holed up in a stupid cave, covered in burns, not knowing whether my father was dead or alive and totally separated from my friends who were miles away and probably worried sick about me. So I think, in that moment, I was completely justified in throwing myself a little pity and thinking that life really. Freaking. Sucked.

I cried a little bit. I'll admit it. I think under the circumstances, it was completely understandable. But once I had wiped the tears and salt and snot off my face, I began to think. And plan.

I've never been good at planning things. I always get bored. I'm more of a "let's run in, gun's blazing first and plan later!" kind of girl. I think though, somewhere deep in my gut, I knew that this situation was different. This time I was going to need some good planning and info reconnaissance if I was going to get to the bottom of what had been done to my beloved country. But more than just solving the mystery, solving the crime… I wanted revenge. Whoever had done this was going to pay… and big time.

I've never really been a vengeful person. I didn't go after Sephiroth with Cloud and Co. because he killed my mother. I went because they had really good Materia and I wanted it. And then… I went because I liked all those crazy kids, and wanted to see it through to the end with them.

That was always the kicker about AVALANCHE. Once you joined up, they really got under your skin, ya know? Cloud with his big-time leader, motivating speeches, Tifa with her elegance and grace and total kick-assness, Aerith with kind words and kinder laugh, Barrett and his lovable disregard for tact and fierce devotion to Marlene, Cid and his cigs and cursing, Reeve and his crazy-ass mechanical cat that you could never decide whether you wanted to cuddle or beat against the wall, Red and his all-encompassing knowledge about everything, and Vinnie and his silences.

They were such a rag-tag team, a real group of characters that you'd never expect to mesh together but somehow did completely. And once you've had a taste of that companionship, no friendship ever feels the same.

I'd found my place with them. I had always been kind of an outcast, even as a princess. Separated from the regular kids my age by my rank, separated from the noble kids by my uncontrollable spazz-fests… and yet with AVALANCHE I managed to find a niche. Tifa and Aerith loved me and taught me about being girly. Cloud and Barrett and Cid and Reeve came to see me as a little sister… an obnoxious one, granted, but family nonetheless. Red and I were like total opposite twins, him with all the intelligence and me with all the recklessness. And Vincent… Vinnie….

Anyway, the point is, I belonged with them. I grew into myself with them. And by the time our journey was over, I was ready to return home as a new and improved Yuffie. I got along better with my dad, even though I was possibly even spazzier than before, but I think my hope in humanity had been restored during Meteor. I knew that Wutai could be rebuilt, and I knew I could be the one to do it. I had hope.

But that morning, as I sat on the cold, hard floor of the Fire Caverns and my brain whirled in overdrive, thinking and planning, I felt no hope. I felt as cold as the stone beneath my Yuffie-butt. Somewhere inside me, a teeny, tiny flame burned. It wasn't hope; it was fury.

I was alone. Totally and completely alone and, again, it sucked. If I was more eloquent, if I had better words… I could've described it better. But I'm Yuffie Kisaragi, and I use the words grossness and gawd, and so "sucked" was the best I could do. Sometimes, it's the best anyone can do.

I had been told to stay away from Wutai "until it was safe." Well. I never was very good at following directions, and how the hell was I supposed to know when it was safe? Was I supposed to sit around waiting for a memo? A telegram? Note via carrier pigeon? I didn't plan on wasting my time. The first thing I was going to do was wait until night fell again and head back to survey the damage. At the very least, I needed to see what was left of my house and see if I could scrounge up any supplies. Some Materia definitely wouldn't hurt.

Then I was going to try and get in touch with Edge, see if Reeve had any info for me. Being all Presidential and whatnot, I figured he'd probably have something. And, unfortunately, I was probably going to start needing a disguise. If my country had been attacked as some sort of political or terrorist thing, and it got out that I'd survived, I was going to be Target Numero Uno to my enemies.

A year or two before, I probably would've been excited by the prospects of having to ninja about again. Disguises, secret political plots, danger, adventure… what could be more exciting, right? Yet… I was the Great Ninja Yuffie. I can make excitement out of thin air… and I certainly didn't need my country to be burned to the ground to get my kicks.

I felt… lethargic. Detached. Furious, but subdued. I think maybe I was just tired, or in shock, or something. But I definitely didn't feel like myself, and I didn't like it.

Night fell, and I threw myself across the flames again, managing to emerge slightly less singed this time. I stole down the mountain, heart doing an erratic jig in my chest and eyes darting every which way. Every nighttime noise seemed like a threat, and the light of the moon offered no solace or peace.

It did, however, provide enough illumination for me to see just how bad Wutai looked. Godo's palace was nothing more than a few planks of charred wood and the Turtle's Paradise was just the scorched and singed remains of the sign and all the trees were gone and the PagodathePagodathePagoda was gone and burnt to ash and wisping away in the wind and nothing of its glory remained. My house was gone too; just one wall and the basement remained. Most of the other houses in town were in the same condition. The brunt of the attack and the worst of the damage seemed to be focused on the Pagoda and the palace. I filed this away for further thought—it likely meant a political strike, not a random, psychopathic destructive one.

Dropping down into the sorry remnants of my basement, I kicked at rubble and debris, searching for anything of use. Processing and pain would come later; right now there was only kick, search, chuck away, kick, search, chuck away. No one had come through and looted, it seemed they had just torched the place and gotten out of dodge. Again, I processed this and moved on. I found some high-level offensive and curative Materia hidden away in a corner, along with some X-potions and Phoenix Downs I had taken to keeping handy.

My heart was beating out an awful rhythm against my ribcage. Politics, it beat, this is all because of Politics. Politics… the one thing I had been gawd-awful at, even with Godo guiding my hand.

It was then, as I was hauling myself out of the hole I used to call a basement, from the wreckage I used to call home, that the fury ignited. How dare anyone do this to my Wutai? To me? I had helped to save the world, not once but twice. My Wutai had already been almost decimated once before in recent memory and now some people thought they could wipe us out completely? Well. They were dead wrong. I was going to see to that. On my honor as ninja, on my loyalty to Wutai and on my abso-fucking-lute stubbornness as a Kisaragi, they were going to pay.

I felt the urge to kill something. Or someone. The overwhelming need for violence came flooding through my veins as surely as my lifeblood, and I was lost to instinct. Fight or flight and my body was saying both, following both. Sprinting away from the ruins of my home and into the outskirting forests that had been left intact, I unleashed Conformer on any living creature that crossed my path. Monsters came, monsters fell and I was drenched in blood and sweat and pain. I think… somewhere along the way I started crying again. I don't remember too clearly, though. I do remember fire and ice and lightning flying from my hands until my fingertips cracked and bled and my mana was whimpering for a break. Then my shuriken took wing again.

Images flickered through my mind's eye, running amok in the palace courtyard as a toddler, playing with all my cats in my house when I had moved out, fighting my way to the top of the Pagoda, Godo watching with pride in his eyes as I delivered the final blow to him, Mama smiling as I showed her all the shinies I had stolen over the week and then making me return everything, training with Gorki and Shake and learning to wield my first kunai and everything began to bleed together but at the center was WutaiWutaiWutailifeloveloyaltyWutai.

There was a distant roaring in my ears, a thudding pulse reverberating in my temples and copper stinging on my tongue. I ignored all of this and watched metal and magic soar around me. It wasn't until the ground came crashing up to meet me, that I realized I had overreached my energy. My knees collided with dirt, and my palms followed shortly after. I wheezed like an asthmatic chocobo on its last leg, and found myself praying in that moment that something would just come along and kill me. Death would even be better than dealing the long, hard road I knew was just waiting for my feet to begin walking it.

Death didn't find me. Something much better did.

.xxx.

I don't know how long I was out for, but I came to with the distinct feeling of being watched. Forcing my face out of the dirt and my feet back underneath me, I took a defensive stance, glaring into the darkness, Conformer at the ready.

There was silence. I was tired, and didn't feel like waiting. When did I ever, really?

"Come out, come out, whoever you are… Let's get this show over with." It was muttered under my breath, through gritted teeth. My eyes glared through inky bangs caked with dust. The fury was back to being a meager little spark, exhaustion replacing its raw strength. A leaf shuffled under my watcher's feet and my hand tightened around Conformer.

Seeing Vincent Valentine emerge from the night-shadowed trees filled me with a relief so strong it nearly brought me to my knees again. A gasp tore at my throat, and traitorous tears leapt down my cheeks again.

"Oh gawd….Vinnie." His name sounded like a prayer, so comforting and so familiar and before I even knew I had moved, I was curled against his chest trying to claw my way into his very soul.

I think I probably would've ended up with a few rounds from Death Penalty in my brain if I had tried that little maneuver at a time when my life wasn't crumbling around me. After all, Vinnie Valentine was not exactly known for being Mr. Touchy-Feely. This time? Vincent simply wrapped his arms around me, a little awkwardly I will admit, and tried as hard as he could to be comforting. He didn't seem to care that I was crying and snotting and sliming all over his cloak, he just rubbed small circles into my back with his good hand.

"Oh, gawd, Vincent how could this happen? Who could do this?" I began babbling questions that he could not possibly have an answer to, word-vomiting and sobbing and mewling like a newborn kitten. It felt so good to just squeeze his lanky frame between my scrawny arms and breathe in the smell of gunpowder and leather, just slightly musty, which were as much a part of Vincent as his ruby eyes and silences. It was something familiar, a rock in the middle of a storm.

I think in that moment, he saved me. My sanity, or lack thereof, which had been slowly being eaten up by the fire and fury and isolation, came rushing back hitting me like a ton of bricks. With my returned sanity came the realization that I was covering Vincent-Freaking-Valentine in some of my more grossness-affiliated bodily fluids (as opposed to, ya know, the fun ones, nyuk, nyuk), and the immediate need to pull away from him so as to prevent further grossness from occurring.

I stared up at him with wide eyes, my body almost pained by the separation from someone so safe and familiar. It began to dawn on me that Vincent really was there with me. I wasn't alone anymore. He wasn't a figment of my imagination that was going to disappear in a moment of clarity.

My fingers shook as I stretched them out to touch his chest ever so slightly. The red material beneath my fingers was soft and wet from drinking up my tears.

"You are…. Unharmed?" His voice was the sweetest thing I'd ever heard and his silence more painful than usual.

"Umm… probably some good second- and third-degree burns and an amount of emotional trauma that would make a shrink very, very happy to have me as a client, but… other than that I think I'm okay."

His eyes were sadder than normal as he looked at me, but I couldn't see any pity in them, thankfully. "What would you like to do now? Cid dropped me off earlier in the day. I could call him to take us back to the mainland unless you have… other plans."

I sighed a sigh for the world-weary. "Does Reeve have any information about who could've done this? About what might have spurred the attack? About anything?"

"Not as of a few hours ago. If this was a political attack it has been handled with the utmost secrecy and professionalism. But Reeve is looking as hard as he can."

"Do you…" I gulped before plunging on ahead with the tough questions, "have you heard anything about Godo?"

Again, Vincent shook his head. "You haven't…?"

I sighed, scrubbing at my eyes and sitting my Yuffie-butt down in the dirt. I was too tired to stand but needed answers too badly to move to a better location to talk. "I saw him the night of the attacks. He made me get out of there pretty much as soon as he laid eyes on me… told me not to come back until it was safe. I got into the Fire Caverns, without Leviathan's Scale, hence the burns. I stayed there for the rest of the night and the next day… came out to survey the damage as soon as the sun set. Gawd, I'm a fucking coward."

I was filled with spite for myself and my selfish actions. If Wutai was to go down, than I should have burned with it. What did I have if I didn't have my culture and my home and my heritage?

Vincent knelt in front of me, placing both hands on my shoulders. "Yuffie, without you Wutai has no future at all… No chance of ever being rebuilt. You are not a coward. You will never be a coward. By surviving the attack, you can rebuild and reshape, and Wutai will flourish again."

"I'm just so sick of having to start over, Vincent! When does it end? When will Wutai finally be given a fighting chance to be a world power again? Or at least the chance to be left in peace?" I was up and whirling again, flailing and whining and breaking apart. I've never been good at staying still. I've always been even worse at it when I'm in pain.

"We were finally, finally getting somewhere! We had saved up enough money, begun exporting and importing and having an economy that wasn't dependent on tourists! We were going to have tradition again and honor and training our youth in the way of the ninja! The Pagoda was going to be a powerhouse again! It's not as though we were going to declare war on anyone as soon as we were strong again, we were going to keep that strength for ourselves and our culture and our people and our lives! It's just so gawddamned unfair!" A stray throwing star found its way to my fist and was promptly embedded in a nearby tree.

And Vincent, Leviathan bless him, just stood watching with empathy on his face and comfort in his eyes and let me throw my tantrum and scream out my anguish.

That's the great thing about Vinnie. He never pushes. He just kind of sits there and lets you do your thing and then maybe he'll subtly and gently correct you if you're wrong, but you won't even realize he's correcting you because he's just that tactful. And then he'll offer his empathies—never sympathies, because that's pity and gawd knows Vinnie knows how awful pity can be—and then he'll move on as soon as you're ready to.

You see, all throughout Meteor, Vincent and I got paired together. We work well together and we know each other really well, too. And he knows that in a crisis, Yuffie needs to vent and flail about and be angry and basically become the emotional equivalent of a Mach-five hurricane, or something. In that way, Vincent's the best.

"Do you know what you want to do, Yuffie?" Like that, see? He didn't ask me what I wanted to do, which would have demanded an answer… he simply asked if I knew what I wanted to do. That asks for much less specifics, and is a much better question for someone in hysterics, in my not-so-humble opinion.

"I think…. I want to camp out for a night and think about things. I mean, Vince, I know this is political. The pagoda and the palace were in way worse shape than anything else and it just…. This whole thing just stinks of politics. So just. Give me a night. And tomorrow morning I'll have an answer for you."

He just graced me with a silent nod, and began unpacking a tent from the bag at his feet that I had completely failed to notice.

I sighed, again. "Feels like the old days, doesn't it Vinnie? Just you, me and old Mother Nature. Throw in a nice heaping of Sucky Situation and we've got ourselves a lovely atmosphere of déjà vu."

"I'm sorry that this has happened to you, and to Wutai."

My bottom lip wobbled precariously. "S'okay, Vinnie. I'll make it right… somehow. I'll get through it."

We settled in to the tent together, and it really was just like old times. I curled up way in the back corner while Vincent sat vigilantly towards the tent flap. There was nothing remotely romantic or scandalous about the set-up—it was one we had shared hundreds of times before.

Vincent's a beautiful man, don't get me wrong… and not too long ago my heart would've been banging out of my chest at the mere thought of the hug we had shared earlier. But at that moment, on that night, all I could think about was my devastated country and what I was going to do to fix things. I hadn't seen any survivors on my trip through town, and while many could have been hiding in the forest like me, I didn't have my hopes up.

"There's something that might lift your spirits." Vincent murmured from his seat by the tent flap.

"Huzzat?" I choked out, focusing on casting a decent Cure2 on myself.

"Tifa and Cloud are going to be parents."

My brain froze. And then I smiled my first real smile since my home had disappeared in a night of fire. My heart swelled to what felt like an immeasurable size and I was overcome with happiness.

"A baby…" I breathed with a reverence I had never before felt for children in my entire life. He nodded, and in the shadows I could see the smallest outline of a smile on his lips too.

"Oh, Teef must be so excited! And Cloud has got to be scared shitless! Ooh, I hope it's a girl! Double PMS every month as payback for all the crap he put Tifa through when they were first dating, nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!"

It took my mind off my predicament to think of all the wonderful and not-so-wonderful changes that would soon take place in Cloud and Tifa's life together. I'm sure that's what Vinnie's intentions were in mentioning it, and it definitely worked.

However, it also had another effect that I don't think he was banking on… an effect that I don't think he ever could have seen coming.

As Vincent drifted off to sleep near the door, I stayed awake thinking of tiny toddlers with Chocobo hair and gleaming, garnet eyes. I thought of my friends back home, and the one sleeping mere feet from me… and how they meant the world to me, even when my world was falling apart. And I realized that as much as I loved and wanted their support just then… I couldn't have it.

We had already helped to save the entire world twice, and I didn't want to put them in any more danger just to save my tiny corner of it a third time. I knew I was going to need help with this issue… and I knew where to get it, too. But it wasn't going to be from my nearest and dearest friends. They had lives and families at stake… and I refused to put those at risk in the face of someone or something who would torch an entire city under the cover of darkness without a second thought.

Quiet as a Yuffie-mouse, I sat up in my bedroll and searched for what I needed in my bag. One note and a powerful Sleep spell later, and I was stealing away from Vinnie's tent, praying to Leviathan with all my heart that he wouldn't wake up and Death Penalty my skinny ass before I had a chance to get away.

At dawn I knew a big fishing barge would pass by the very northern tip of Wutai. It came by every dawn, without fail, on its way toward Rocket Town, and I was going to hitch a ride.

My country may have been completely torched as part of some political attack. But I was going to get to the bottom of it. I was going to find out who had done this, and get my revenge. And I was going to do it without putting my friends in danger.

.xxx.

Dawn came, and I swam out to meet the boat. I climbed aboard as stealthily as I could manage with a bad case of seasickness and settled in to wait.

Renting a golden chocobo in Rocket Town cost me a pretty penny—a necessary penny, but a pretty one, too—and I was headed for Edge by noon.

I knew Vinnie would follow me as soon as he could, so in Costa del Sol, I put together my disguise. I dyed my hair a hideous shade of blonde and began torturing my eyes with a pair of colored contacts in a hideous shade of nuclear green. The Wutaiian shape of my face would be harder to hide and I would need some actual, heavy-duty tools to do it, so I settled for completely changing up my wardrobe from its usual staples of short-shorts, giant boots and tiny little vests and applying way too much makeup. Then, I hopped back on my golden chocobo and kept heading east.

By nightfall, I was in Edge, shoving my way through the bustling, cranky crowds and pickpocketing anyone who bumped me too hard. Hey, deposed princess here, gotta make a living somehow so I can rebuild my country!

It felt good to be taking action, to have a direction that I was moving towards.

I knew the apartment's location from memory. Lesson one of being a ninja is always know where your enemy is, at all times. At least… I think that was lesson one. And while, not necessarily my enemy anymore, per se… some addresses you just know to keep handy. This was one of them.

The security system was disappointingly easy to get around, AKA: all I had to do was scale the building's outer wall, flip up onto the balcony, pick a lock and I was in. I suppose when you're considered one of the most dangerous human beings around, you don't need to splurge on fancy intruder alarms.

I had hardly taken five steps into the apartment when he found me. I hadn't expected to get much farther than that, to be honest. Rule number two of being a ninja is never underestimate your enemy. Or something.

"So… Princess. To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?"

I sighed, turning to face his languid figure leaning against the doorframe to his bedroom.

"Turkey… Believe me. I wouldn't be here unless I absolutely had to."

Reno smirked slowly before moving to join me in his living room.

"Well then, how can I help you?"

The word slipped off my tongue, completely unplanned and one-hundred percent true. "Revenge."

.xxx.

AN: Well, there it is! Don't worry, this is most definitely going to be a Yuffentine, but…. We're going to make things a little difficult for our favorite couple for a bit. I can't just give you the fluff right out, that would be… too easy XD Anyway, keep reading for the awesome Yuffentine-y fluff and love that will be coming in future chapters, and PLEASE if you never review another chapter, please review today because it is my birthday and I will love you forever. Shout outs to: Ninja-Yuffie92, Blackstorm808, CupofTeaforAliceandHatter, JingYee, Omega Warrior 42, Kurogane7, Starbrightdreamer, SheDevil85, Sith's Shadow and serenbach! You are all fabulous for being so patient with me and my angsty self, and I love you all from the deepest depths of my heart.

Also, as always, any mistakes are my own because I don't have a beta, and write when I am very tired and silly. I apologize.

~Bru