::Finally! Comments! *Does victory dance* Cookies for Obsessed Angel *shoves cookies down her throat* Wohoo! What is this talk of Reno? A fan are we? Well, maybe if I get more comments I'll put him in the story for you. A little guest appearance later in the fic .

Reno: I get to be in the fic!

Me: Maybe...

Reno: Do I get to blow stuff up?

Me: No. ... Maybe... hehe

Anywho, read review, leaves lots of comments. Suggestions and ideas are welcome and encouraged!::

Chapter 4 - Of Grease and Potatoes

"Bitch!" Yuffie screamed. Mae backed away from her angry snarl. "Why the fuck did you hit Cloud?" Mae's eyes were as wide as saucers and she grouped frantically for an answer.

"It was an accident…" Her cheek still stung where Yuffie had slapped her. Cid grabbed her shoulders and drug away the young ninja kicking and screaming. Cloud was leaning up against a rock as Barret and Tifa cured him repeatedly. Red XIII had returned to the Airship to retrieve the first aid kit. Vincent watched the blond pilot haul Yuffie into the arms of some of the braver mechanics who had come down to see what the commotion was.

"I didn't mean to…" Mae could feel her face burning and not just because of the slap Yuffie had given her. She felt just horrible for stabbing Cloud. She had tried to stop but…

"Don't worry about it," Cid said patting her un-injured shoulder roughly. "We know ya didn't mean it…" Mae looked up into the friendly blue eyes of the older pilot.

"Thank you…" She gathered up her courage and marched over to Cloud. Barret gave her a dirty look, but Tifa gave her a weak smile. Cloud was almost healed, but center of the wound was being stubborn. Mae pulled out an unusually bright Cure materia and focused the energy on the trouble spot. It healed over without a scar.

"Thank you," Cloud said gratefully. Mae nodded shyly and turned to leave. The group watched her go, but Cid, chewing thoughtfully on the end of his cigarette stopped her.

"You know anything about airships?" Mae looked at Cid suspiciously.

"Yes…" She answered cautiously. "I used to work maintenance at Junon for the presidents' personal helicopter. They had an airship there. I never got to see it, but we had to take a basic course on it." Cid grinned.

"Great! Come with me and I'll give you the grand tour!" Mae opened her mouth to protest, but though better of it. She looked over her shoulder at the rest of the group. They were all watching her avidly.

Nervous under such scrutiny, Mae quickly turned back. Cid was happily chatting away about engine parts and propellers. She followed him inside, cringing as he cursed at the mechanics to get their asses back to work.

She did not want to join the group. It would put them in danger, not to mention she didn't think they all were thinking warm and fuzzy thoughts about her at the moment. After all she did injure one of their own. A mistake brought on by fatigue and poor planning, but a foolish one at that.

Guilt plagued her mind. She worried her bottom lip, barely listening to Cid prattle on about the interior workings of his airship. Cid must have noticed how uncomfortable she was, because he stopped talking and placed his hands on her shoulders.

"Don't worry about the others. They'll warm up to you." Mae looked up at the pilot with world weary eyes. Cid was surprised at how much pain lingered behind her gaze.

"I'm more worried about what might happen to them if I stick around." Mae turned, looking out into the sunrise. "He will come back, and the next time he'll pull no punches." Cid sighed and let her go.

"You should give us more credit. We can take care of ourselves." Mae's eyes flitted back to the pilot. Her pupils contracted in the light, leaving her eyes startlingly blue.

"You don't know what you're up against." Cid was slightly unnerved by the dead pan tone in her voice, but it soon turned to aggravation.

"You're right, we don't know the limit of his strength, but I can assure you that we know how to handle ourselves." Mae's eyes narrowed, but Cid stopped her before she could speak. "It is not up to you anyway," he said heatedly. "You are now a guest on my ship and I've placed you under my protection for the time being. Now I don't care what you do once you're gone, but until then you worry about fixin' yourself up."

Mae felt her anger flare up at his statement. She didn't need anyone to protect her. She had done well enough on her own. She took a deep breath in an effort to calm herself. She knew that he meant only to help her, and from the looks of it, fighting him on that point would be useless. So, Mae closed her eyes and rubbed her forehead willing the pressure building behind her eyes to go away.

Cid, satisfied that he had gotten his point across, steered her gently towards the infirmary to get her wounds taken care of.

Cloud had waited until Cid had ushered the girl inside the airship before addressing Vincent.

"Vincent."

"Hmm?"

"What are we going to do about the girl?" Vincent stood silent, the wind whipping his cape around his legs, billowing incessantly. He narrowed his eyes.

"If she stays with us, that man will eventually seek her out again." Cloud sighed.

"He is a threat…" Vincent left him to ponder the problem on his own. Curiosity was getting the better of him.

Yuffie watched Vincent walk calmly towards the airship. She had seen his unnatural interest in the girl. She didn't like it. Jealousy, thick and toxic wound its way around her heart, fueled by anger. She grasped her katana tightly in her hand. She would not act out against the girl. Not yet. She would wait for her to make a wrong move, then strike with deadly accuracy.

The whirr of machinery was a comforting din of noise. Mae wiped her forehead and put down the wrench. Cid had wasted no time putting her to work. Once she finished tinkering with the generator, she was going to find something to drink. She licked her dry lips and reached into the greasy tool box.

At least he had given her a chance to patch herself up and a change of clothes before sending her to work down here. She had consumed a few potions, and, as nasty as they were, they had taken away a good proportion of her pain. Her leg had still required a bandage, and her hands still tingled, but the cuts had pretty much closed up.

The wound that traveled up her side however was a different story. It had stopped bleeding, but it still bothered her perpetually. It was too large to bandage without assistance from someone else, and it was still pretty fresh.

She adjusted the overly large button up shirt she had on. It dwarfed her small framed and made her look like a small child in her parent's clothes, but it did not rub on her wound to much, and for that she was grateful.

Mae hooked a bolt with the wrench and pulled as hard as she could. A splitting pain shot up her side, but she ignored it.

It didn't move so she placed her feet against a piece of metal jutting out from the side, arched her spine and, with a grunt, applied all of her body strength. It jolted to the side and she flew onto her back. She curled her hand around her injured side and waited for the throbbing to stop.

She brought her hands to her face, glad she had worn gloves. They were covered in grease. There was a dark hand print where she had clutched her side, and a good amount of smudges covering her pants as well.

"Ugh… now I really look like a grease monkey." A group of condescending laughter reached her ears and she looked over to see she had an audience. "Great," she mumbled.

Mae groused and grumbled as she put the tools back and headed to the locker rooms. One had a blue door with the universal symbol for male with crudely drawn extra bits on it, and the other had a picture with a half naked girl on it.

Mae tore down the picture of the girl and roughly pushed the door open. She took off the baggy pants that were falling off of her even after Cid had given her a belt, and put on her own pants.

They still had blood on them and needed to be washed, but, with another sigh, she put them on. She'd rather look a little dirty then walk around constantly struggling to keep her pants from falling down. She thought about taking off the shirt, but a quick look at what was left of hers made up her mind.

The tattered remains of her shirt could barely pass as a rag let alone a shirt. She tossed it a green waste can near the door. She would need to get some new clothes. With a quick use of the cure materia on her side and leg she headed for the door.

As she was leaving the room she noticed a small sowing kit in one of the open lockers. Mae glanced down at her pants. The left leg of her jeans was torn, but not tattered enough that she couldn't mend it. She grabbed it and climbed up the latter into the upper regions of the airship. She reached the top of the latter and set down the kit before hauling herself onto more solid ground. She looked up and almost leaped back into the pit.

Vincent Valentine towered over her, staring taciturnly. Mae willed her heart to slow down and not make so much noise. "Hello," she said weakly. "You scared me there for a moment…"

"…" Vincent stared down as the raven haired woman. She had on the tattered blood stained jeans from before, but had done away with her other shirt in favor of a large grease stained button up.

She had a small bit of grease on the side of her nose and a smudge mark on her forehead. Cute. He startled himself with that thought, but he couldn't deny how unbelievably cute it looked. He wanted to reach down and wipe it from her face… He shook his head. What was he thinking?

Mae cleared her throat.

"Well, I'll uh… go now." And with that grabbed her kit and half walked half ran to the bridge. Vincent stood, watching long after she had disappeared.

Cid was standing near the helm of the ship smoking a cigarette and arguing with Cloud. Red XIII was laying calmly to the side, his head on his paws.

"… could go there…"

"No," said Cloud. "We can't go back to 7th Heaven if this guy is as brazen as I think he is. He won't mind hurting innocents to get to us. If we're going to dock somewhere it needs to be remote."

"Yeah, well, that's all fine and dandy, but I need to restock and refuel, and parkin' this baby in the middle of nowhere isn't going to get that done." Cloud slammed his fist on the railing angrily.

"We'll only be putting other people in danger!"

"Do you really think he's going to catch up to us that quickly? Jesus Cloud! We're heading two continents away from where we left the bastard!" Mae cleared her throat timidly. The two men stopped arguing. Red XIII looked up and watched the woman with interest.

"Umm, he's right… No matter where you dock he will find you." Her voice slowly gained strength and conviction as she spoke. "If you dock in a town, he probably won't hurt any innocents unless they get in his way, but he will target specific people if he thinks it will hurt you..." Cloud seemed to mull this over.

"What do you mean specific people?"

"Family, friends, anyone he sees you become friendly with." Cloud frowned.

"Going back to where Marlene and Denzel are would be stupid then. How about Wutai?"

"Yuffie's family is there, don't want to put them in danger."

"Calm?"

"How about Nibelheim…" Vincent's dark voice and quiet entrance startled Mae. Cloud and Cid seemed unperturbed though.

"Well, it is secluded…"

"And pretty much a ghost town…" Cid rubbed his stubble thoughtfully. "But it still won't get me the supplies I need… What's that guys deal anyway? Who the hell is he?" Cloud turned his piercing gaze towards Mae.

"Yes," Red XIII said from his corner. "You have neglected to tell us who this man is and why he chases you. You haven't even told us who you are." Mae flinched at the accusing tone. For the moment she chose to ignore the question about her identity.

"His name is Reixez. He hunts me for no other reason but that it brings him pleasure. He's a sick bastard who claims to be a bounty hunter. I had a small bounty on my head a while back because of a helicopter I had worked on. It malfunctioned and crashed." Mae laughed ruefully. "It was carrying some top secret documentation. Shear dumb luck that he chose my name off of the roster. He tells me all the time that I bring him so much joy because I have lasted the longest, caused him the most difficulty."

"He doesn't just go after his bounty, but also after anyone that is special to the one he hunts." Mae bared her teeth angrily at her feet and suppressed a growl of rage. "Bastard killed my whole fucking family. Tried to kill my friends, but I managed to get word to them. They went into hiding. I haven't heard from the since. Ever once in a while I will ask around to see if they are alive, but they've hidden themselves well. The only reason I still have hope that they're alive is because Reixez has yet to taunt me with their deaths."

Cid let out a string of curses, Cloud just gapped in open mouthed shock. Mae could feel the shame of loss creep its way up her throat and firmly squashed it. She would show these brave people no weakness.

Red XIII's eyes narrowed. Something about the girl bothered him. When her anger had flared… he could have sworn he sensed something. He did not trust her in the least.

"If you stay too long around me, he will target you as well. I think," she said holding Cloud's gaze strongly, "that maybe it would be better if you dropped me off before you reach the city to plan to dock at, so that I may go a different way. He will follow me instead."

Cloud was shaking his head even before she stopped. "Bounty hunter or no, this man Reixez is a threat and a cold blooded murderer, and I think it would be in everyone's best interest if someone hunted him down for a change."

"You can't. Shinra will be all over you…"

"Shinra! He works for Shinra?"

"No. Well… not really. He works independently, but collects the bounty money from ex-Shinra employees who formed a new corporation called MAKO. He takes most of his assignments from them."

"MAKO, huh," Cloud said thoughtfully.

"Can't say they're very original," Cid said with a scowl.

"It doesn't matter. Reixez won't fight you head on anyway. He will pick you off one by one and then kill you while you mourn your dead."

"Cowardly bastard ain't he." Cid threw down his cigarette and rubbed it out with his foot. "And you're right, it doesn't matter. No matter what you say, I'm docking my ship and getting supplies and fuel, and you kiddies are sticking around to help."

"But…" Mae started.

"No buts!" Cid said forcefully. Mae gritted her teeth and silently cursed the pilot.

"Cid is right," Vincent piped up. "If what you say is correct he has probably already targeted us. It would be unwise to split up."

"Finally! Someone who makes sense," Cid groused. "Yo Vin, go tell Tifa to cook something up I'm starving." Vincent nodded. His boots clinked dully on the stairs as he went down. "And you, Mae, should go with him."

"Me? But why?"

"Yer a woman, go help her cook."

Mae turned and followed Vincent obediently, not bothering to hide her discontent.

"Do you think she was telling the truth?" Cloud said.

"'Bout what?" Cid lit a match and placed it to the end of a new cigarette.

"Why he was after her…" He turned to look at Cid. The pilot had a calculating gleam in his eye.

"Heh, nope," he said taking a long drag. "Screwy maintenance work doesn't get a bounty placed on your head."

"Didn't think so…"

Mae was still grumbling under her breath about a certain sexist pilot when Tifa strolled into the kitchen wearing an apron and dragging a very unhappy Vincent Valentine behind her minus his cape. He too was wearing an apron, though unlike Tifa's plain white one, his had "Kiss the cook" written in big bold letters on it.

Mae suppressed the maddening urge to giggle and went back to rolling the dough for their dinner bread on the counter. Tifa smiled at her. It was slightly strained, but Mae couldn't blame her. Tifa gave Vincent the task of peeling potatoes and started pulling out pots and pans.

"I'm going to have to lend you some of my clothes until we get to Junon," she said running a critical eye over Mae's attire. Mae looked down at the large shirt and gave a half hearted grimace.

"I look like a little kid in this stuff." She pulled it away from her to examine the various stains on it. "A dirty kid." Tifa couldn't help but laugh. The tension in the room quickly dissipated after that.

Vincent watched the mysterious woman before him, captivated by the way her hair fell in her face and her cerulean eyes danced when she smiled. The shirt was way too big on her, and made her look fragile and childlike, though he knew differently.

His mind flashed back to when they were in the forest and her blood flowed from pale glowing skin. He remembered the strength with which she fought even though she had lost so much blood. Her appearance was very misleading.

"Ah! I forgot the carrots!" Tifa said and rushed out of the kitchen. Mae shook her head with a smile and placed the dough into the oven. She wiped her hands on a towel and sat down next to Vincent who was staring off into space. Mae waved her hand in front of his face.

"Helloooooo." Vincent blinked and looked at her. "You're supposed to be peeling the potatoes." He looked down at the half peeled potato in his hand.

"Oh. Sorry." Mae grabbed a potato and a peeler.

"Don't worry about it," she said absently. "I just figured you'd want to avoid Tifa getting upset because we didn't peel enough potatoes." Vincent went back to work, glancing at Mae every few minutes. She studiously ignored him.

"Got 'em!" Tifa announced victoriously. She dropped the bag of carrots on the table and went back to chopping onions. "Mmm, that bread smells good. Can't wait until it's done."

They had dined shortly after introductions were made. Mae had fidgeted under the heated stares of both Yuffie and Red XIII. The giant fiery cat had been watching her ever since. She had given her name to the group, but not much else. She had no desire to get to close to any of them.

They sat down to dinner.

It wasn't long before Mae's stomach was comfortably full. The group sat at the large table, laughing and talking about life and aspiring plans. A lot of the talk seemed to center around a place called 7th Heaven and two rascals named Marlene and Denzel.

Mae was warm and tired and sat half asleep at her chair, not really listening. After nodding off twice she got up and excused herself, saying she was tired. Unsure of where the sleeping quarters were, Mae headed instead for the Chocobo stables. She had seen them earlier on her way back from the bridge.

She was about to turn for them when a dark shape pushed her roughly against the wall. A pair of angry brown eyes stared into her own.

"You may have fooled the others, but I don't trust you as far as I can throw you," Yuffie snarled. Mae felt residual anger at the corner of her mind, but ignored it.

"I don't care if you trust me or not. I don't want trouble..."

"You are trouble! If anyone else gets hurt because of you…" Vincent grabbed Yuffie's shoulder and pulled her away.

"Go to bed Yuffie."

"But…"

"Now." Yuffie's face turned red from anger.

"Why are you protecting her! She could be in cahoots with him!" Vincent sighed.

"Yeah I helped him kill everyone who mattered to me," Mae said vindictively. "It was fun earning a new scar!" She pulled up the loose shirt to reveal the livid scar that ran up her torso. Yuffie growled and ran away. Mae let the air out of her lungs and pushed the fiery anger welling in her chest away.

"I'm sorry," came the soft reply. Mae looked up wearily at Vincent. He drew his breath in sharply. The moon light caught her eyes just so, and they seemed to gleam like glittering jewels in the night.

"Thank you." And with that she was gone.

:: No cliff hanger :'( Oh well, maybe next time. COMMENT! I beg uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu! I'll cry and have to leave Reno out of my fic ... No Comments! No Reno! Muahahahahaha!

Reno: But I wanna be in the fic...