Yuffe continued on her trudge through the forest. She couldn't believe she actually made it out of the living hell-hole. She would check her surroundings about every 5 seconds. She was panting heavily under the hot sun above her. She couldn't give up now, not when she was so close to civilization. So close to Cloud. It was only 100 meters till she made it out of the forest. Then it would be another half a mile of open space until she actually made it into the city.

Open space for her was not a good sign. Especially when she couldn't use her legs to get there. So she was only left with the choice to drag herself. She heaved herself on her arms for another round. As soon as she let herself go she found a unique pair of pointy metal shoes. There was only one person that she knew that could possibly dress that way.

"Yuffie?" the man asked. Concern was clear in his voice though he was trying to hide it. Yuffie's eyes trailed up his tattered, blood red, cloak, next to his piercing golden claw. His eyes were the same shade as his cloak, showing no sign of emotion. Half of his facial features were also covered, giving him the appearance of a Vampire. Overall his appearance could scare about anybody he saw. But not Yuffie. She was exactly opposite, instead of running away she clung to him like a leach.

"Oh My Gawd, Vincent, you're here!" Yuffie gasped. She used the last of her energy to launch herself into Vincent's arms. Her attempt only made it to about his waist line, but he caught her anyways as she laid limply in his firm yet gentle arms. Vincent looked over her figure carefully for damages. Though he stopped short at the most horrifying one of all. He looked back up into her eyes, but no words were to be spoken. The connection in their intertwined eyes showed it all. Yuffie had been hurt . . . badly. Yet Vincent couldn't stop the words escaping his lips.

"What did you do?"


The cold wind blew up against his hard unreadable face. He was gonna beat the living hell out of his ninja once he found her. You would of thought he would've found her by now with her broken leg, and all. Unless that blissful silence was her sign of escape. How could he have been so stupid? He had let her take advantage of the entire situation. Now for all he knew she could've made it all the way back to her friends. Yazoo openly scowled and tightened his grip on Velvet Nightmare. The deeper into the forest he ventured the more frustrated he became. If he didn't find the ninja who knows what Kadaj would do to him. He knew it was his own fault in the first place anyways. Loz probably wouldn't offer much sympathy eithier out of fear of Kadaj's wrath.

Yazoo looked up to the dimming skylight above him. It was getting late, for him this was a good sign. A normal human, like Yuffie, needed sleep, and couldn't go on without it. An advanced remnant like him could go for weeks without sleep, and still be functional. However he was in desperate need of water. Even he, could not go onward without it. Espesially since he wasn's smart enough to remember some when he left the hideout.

Coming up on a nearby creek it was risky, but he decided to stop. Strapping Velvet Nightmare to his back, he got down on his knees, and cupped his hands for some water. He dipped his hands, and brought the natural fluid up to his thirsty lips. Looking forward for another sip, Yazoo spotted something on the other side of the lake that looked scarcely like . . . her!

He barely stumbled to his his feet without tripping. Once he regained his balance, he fumbled for Velvet Nightmare before taking off in his designated direction. Yazoo stopped in the middle of his tracks. He just couldn't believe what he saw with his own set of eyes. It was nothing of what he EVER expected to happen. There sitting still in the middle of the forest floor was Yuffie's bloody, broken, dislocated, solo, leg with no body attached to it. She had undoubtedly been here. Left behind something as well.

As gruesome as this scene was it did not faze Yazoo in the least. Now all he had to do was follow her rugetty pathway of blood. From the handprints in the mud she had been dragging herself. Some ninja she was. But it wasn't like she could do much else with only one leg now. He knew her leg was broken, and needed medical treatment. But he didn't know it would be that bad. Hell, he didn't know if she would actually recover once he found her.

He ran into a dead end at that time. This was bad for his tracking skills. Someone had come to her rescue, and helped her. The footprints on the other hand were far too familiar. These were no ordinary boots or anything. These were one of a kind. Pointy, ringed metal digging into the wet planet beneath it. Just as he suspected. Property of Vincent Valentine. He let out another aggravating scowl. Vincent? Out of all people why him? He was his arch rival, and a difficult competitor. Making it increasingly difficult to get his princess back from him.

Yazoo sat down at the nearest rock to rest. Now where would he go? There was Tifa's bar. It was in range shelter. But he didn't want to make a scene. Everybody already thought him, and his brothers were gone for good thanks to Cloud. Seventh Heaven would be to obvious anyways. Then there was Wutai. The proud hometown of his ninja princess. Also halfway around the world. It could be possible, but he doubted Yuffie would make it much farther with her leg and all.

Ringing from his cell phone distracted him from his thoughts. He grabbed the phone out of his pocket, and grimaced at the ID, but answered it nonetheless.

"Hello?"

"YAZOO! WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? DID YOU FIND HER?" Yazoo visibly scrunched at the sound of Kadaj's voice. Even more at the fact that he did not have the runaway ninja with him. He sulked before answering the dreaded question.

"No, Vincent has her. He will be taken care of soon enough." he replied truthfully. This was it. No going home tonight. No way, Kadaj was pissed enough as it is.

"Fine! Don't you dare return without her body. Dead of Alive." Yazoo made an audiable smirk before flipping the phone, and placing it back in his back pocket. Walking off in the direction of Midgar, he would drop by Tifa's bar, take a quick look, and head in the direction of Nibelheim. With that he set off towards his goal.


Yuffie had been unconscious for 2 hours now. Before she had dropped into this state she had uttered one small understandable word. A word that pierced thorns in his ears.

"Yazoo." Vincent grumbled under his breath. Did he do this to her? He would've gone back, and shoved Cerberus down his throat. Only if it wasn't for Yuffie, and her wounds. She only had one leg now. Would she ever be the cheerful, never ending fountain of energy she was before? Or would this injury cast her off into oblivion?

Still he couldn't believe it. The remnants wre alive? Was the same for Sephiroth? So many questions, and Vincent did not know the answer to a single one of them. Nevertheless, he had more important things to worry about. Such as Yuffie's safety. Her body was currently in a fatal looking state. There was Tifa's bar less than 1 mile away from where he had found her. The problem with that was she had persuars. Or else she wouldn't have been in such a desperate hurry. He knew this from his own painful experience.

He had to go somewhere soon. He was afraid that if he didn't hurry up he might start carrying dead weight. He was also running low on time. Might as well go the mansion. There she would be safe in his care.

Out of the blue sky above them was a quick flash of black. Feathers floated down upon this sudden appearance. Vincent took a deep breath and stepped into the shade and protection of the forest around him as the one winged angel flew passed fearful eyes.

He's Alive. He quickly and quietly made his way to the shade and protection of the forest surrounding him. At the same time he was praying the Yuffie would stay unconscious for just a little while longer. He held his breath careful not to raise the awareness level of the angel as he soared and made his decent.

Vincent watched as the monster slowly made his way down the path. Closer and closer to where he stood, and protected life within the prosperity of the wilderness. Just as he neared the few feet between them, and the tree, Yuffie made a small, but audiable wimper.

The angel stopped. Vincent froze. Yuffie drifted off into another haunting slumber.

Vincents eyes shown bigger than cats. Never blinking. Pupils fearfully awaiting his certain death. Yuffie had suddenly grown deathly, heavy.

Sephiroth took but only one look in the shadows. Finding nothing of any use to him, he retreated. He walked off in the distance, unaware of the two clinging lives that he just unwillingly spared.

With the angel gone, Vincent revealed his presence from the trees. Just as soon as he did, he sprinted the opposite direction.

Vincent quickened his pace for fear of his and Yuffie's lives. He made his decision final and traveled to the safest place he knew. His birthplace. His town. His home. The Shin-ra Mansion of Nibelheim.


The dim lights glowed upon the once great city. The nation in scattered ruins. Shin-ra's great power blown to ashes. People roamed about these broken streets now. As did Yazoo. But unlike agverage citizens he had a specific definition in mind. It was the only consistently running buisness. A well run bar, as well as a home for the children with the diseaseknown as geostigma. The Seventh Heaven. Home of Cloud and Tifa of AVALANCHE.

Yazoo scoffed as he glanced down a dingy alley. There sat hundreds of children stricken with the deadly disease. Most looked like they had completly given up hope, and were constantly waiting for death to come. Deavastated orbs looking pleadingly into Yazoo's cold stone ones. He broke the connection as soon as it started. He had a job to do. He could not waste his time here.

Turning stone cold eyes toward the bar he continued on his way. His hood up making sure to hide his identity. He didn't need much trouble here. But of course he had Velvet Nightmare with him just in case. There was always the slightest chance . . .

About that time he pinpointed his arrival. With silent footsteps he turned the rounded brass doornob and entered the solom bar. It was clearly empty. The hostess, Tifa Lockhart lay atop the counter with a wet dishrag in her hand. She lay sleeping, drooling the ever so slightest bit.

This just made his job a whole lot easier. All he had to do was slip past her without any sudden moves and swiftly move up the stairway to check for his princess. Flipping back his hood, he let his long silver hair flow down to his mid back. Sneaking past sleeping beauty, he made his way, surprisingly, up the creaky staircase without alerting anyone. However the results disappointed him. All he managed to find was the two children, Denzel and Marlene. A bathroom, a vancant room, and Clouds office.

This room caught his attention. Apart from all the scattered papers, a picture stood out amongst the rest. It showed Denzel and Marlene side by side with Tifa's arms around them smiling. Then apart from the rest stood 'big brother.' His gaze was diverted elsewhere, not smiling at all. His gaze was the eye catching part of the whole picture. Obvious that they weren't a real, complete family.

Yazoo turned to leave, right as the phone on the desk started to ring. The startled jump of the hostess downstairs warned Yazoo that he HAD to leave, now.

"Damn! I can't believe I slept on the job waiting for him AGAIN." she strained to no one in particular. Groggingly Tifa sat up from the counter and dashed up the stairs to the phone. The children were still sleeping peacefully. Though she felt as if something was wrong. Disgarding her thoughs, she shruged and procceded to answer the phone.

"Hello?"

"Tifa, its Vincent. Listen carefully. I found Yuffie, but she's in a fatal looking state. I'm taking her to the mansion. You need to come as soon as you can. She needs to see medical treatment. Understood?" he instructed.

"Yes, the mansion. I will be there soon. Bye."

"Bye." he said rather bluntly before dropping the call.

Tifa put the phone down and let her eyes rest for a moment of peace as a cold wind blew past her. Wait! Wind? That window has never been opened! Yet it was.

She cautiously moved towards the window frame. When she looked outside she saw nothing out of the ordinary. But there sitting so still on the floor was a small strand of what looked to be silver hair.

But by then Yazoo was far too gone.


Yay! 2,000 word chapter 3 finished! Hope you liked it. Some of you might hate it. Flame it. Or just plain love it! By the way PLEASE tell forgiven4ever to PLEASE look at my story will be appreciated. But I also have a request for YOU! Yeah! I'm talking to YOU! PLEASE, OH PLEASE, OH, PRETTY PRETTY PLEASE just press that one little button that says review. Its not even like its that hard. Plus it has a bonus. YOU can make ME HAPPY!