Disclaimer:I do not own Final Fantasy VII, or its franchise, in any way possible. All characters and mentioned names belong to Square Enix.
03: Two Heads
"… And then I kicked the hell out of them! They ran screaming like little girls. They were really afraid of me! HAH!"
Yuffie sipped her cherry coke happily, while the kids had their milkshakes and were seated on their stools, facing her. Marlene and Denzel listened as their favorite ninja lady told her story about how she chased off a group of guys who wanted all the materia she got (*audience jeer: "STOLEEEE."), when she was still living in Wutai. Apparently, Yuffie was a little 7-year old bully then who didn't want to give up so easily, and liked to challenge boys to tackle her and try to steal all her materia.
"'Course, they were afraid because my dad's really popular in Wutai!" Yuffie grinned. "They were afraid my dad would hang them upside down… tied to a tree… or he would make the dogs bite their butts—"
7th Heaven's doors opened and the light from outside glinted on familiar – VERY familiar – golden shoes. The three turned their heads and were surprised to see who it was, Marlene in particular. She was really happy that she immediately set her milkshake aside and jumped off her seat, ran over to the man and hugged him.
"Uncle Vincent!"
He welcomed her warmly as she rested her cheek on his tummy, little arms wrapped around his waist and smiling happily. Vincent couldn't help but smile at the intent, patting her head gently, his clawed hand behind his back to hide the box. "Marlene."
"You're our very first customer!" Denzel said. "Aside from THIS lady over here, of course—"
"Oh?... Well…" Vincent shook his head. "I'm not actually going to have a drink."
Yuffie pouted. "Hey I was here before the bar even opened! So, I don't really count as a customer."
A door upstairs opened as quick and as resounding as the doorknob was twisted. "Denzel! Marlene!" Tifa called from upstairs. "I'll need you both over here! Help me do the laundry!"
Denzel smirked. "I'll race ya, Mar."
"Heeeey!"
The two kids scrambled upstairs and to the laundry room, where the veranda was found, where clothes were usually hung. Vincent and Yuffie were left to stay downstairs, basked in the silence of the bar.
She folded her arms and eyed Vincent, a brow raised, and spotted the blue box adorned with a yellow ribbon around it as he took it out from underneath his cloak.
"What's that, Vinnie?"
The sharpshooter walked over to Yuffie as he put the box on the bar top. "For Cloud," he said. "Thought I'd finally buy him something."
Yuffie remembered the last time she had her birthday. No fair, she thought, Vincent's getting something for Cloud and I'm not getting anything! "… You know, I didn't get that for mine," she said. "… Or anything." Casually – or at least trying to be, she sipped from her cherry coke resoundingly, and blushed slightly. Hell, who wouldn't say she was trying to impress him or make him feel guilty?
Vincent nodded. "… Sorry."
"Meh." Yuffie shrugged it off. "It's okay. It's just one birthday anyway…"
Vincent saw the ceramic plate where bits of frosting and cake bread were found. He pulled it to him and stared. "You ate cake?"
"Yeeeeeah, well… eheh, Tifa wasn't so pleased with her cake." Yuffie sighed. "She was really disappointed that she'd been trying for four times now and still can't get it right."
"Oh." Vincent started to chuckle quietly, and shook her head. "Well… she'll keep trying. We know how she is."
"Well after today, I'm not so sure about that."
Vincent looked at her. Yuffie blinked.
"… Yuffie, what did you do?"
"You want cherry coke, Vinnie?" Yuffie gleefully jumped off her seat and ran to the fridge – clearly trying to change the topic.
"Yuffie."
"Whaaaaat?" The ninja huffed.
Vincent raised a brow, calmly repeating. "What did you do?"
An audible sigh escaped Yuffie. "I just said it lacked some more sugar!" She quickly, yet guiltily said. "She told me to be honest, I said it was bland! And she suddenly went all crazy, she said she was just going to give up baking another for Cloud because it meant she was going to spend more and she was going to buy another set of ingredients and the kitchen would be a mess because it means everything to her right nowwww."
… Vincent took a moment to process what she said, and just smiled. He shook his head at the mere thought that Yuffie gave what Tifa requested – honesty. "What word did you say again? What did you call the cake?"
Yuffie coughed and straightened up in her seat, sipping from her cherry coke. "Bland. I said it was bland."
Vincent raised a brow. "Really?"
"… Are you calling me a LIAR?"
"I never said that."
Yuffie pouted. "Yuffie Kisaragi may be a thief, but she is NEVER, NEVERRRR a liar. Remember that, Vincent Valentine!"
Vincent sighed. His eyes started to fixate on the cake that he bought. He saw the leftover ingredients behind the bar – traces of flour were scattered on the dark marble surface, egg shells were there, the whisker was in the stirring bowl and the packet of cream was found. He had an intricate idea.
Yuffie pointed at the blue box. "What's that? A cake?"
Vincent nodded. "… Strawberry Shortcake."
Yuffie gave a "o_o…" look at Vincent. "That's what I just ate!"
Vincent's eyes widened slightly. "What?" he asked.
"That's the cake Tifa was trying to bake!" Yuffie said with a grin. She tilted her body to the side for a moment to peer up at the staircase. The kids' voices and Tifa's could be heard up there, and so was the droning of the washing machine. "…Hey Vinnie!" Yuffie then giggled. "I have an ideeeeea."
Vincent tried not to grin. "I hope it isn't the same thing I'm thinking."
"What is it?"
"Well…" Vincent didn't want to voice it out, or at least he didn't feel like it. He felt he was lying to Tifa and Cloud, and he didn't like it. But he didn't want to see Tifa upset either, just like he didn't want to see any of his friends upset.
"AHHH! I know, I know!" Yuffie beamed with a mischievous grin. She leaned over to Vincent's ear and muttered, "We're gonna put the cake in the fridge and pretend we're going to buy ingredients so we can make 'em think that this cake you bought is the one we baked, when we come back?"
Vincent couldn't help but smile. "… Yup."
Yuffie punched his shoulder playfully. "I honestly adore you for that!"
