I no own FFVII

I want to give all of you an apology, even though I don't deserve to be forgiven. I procrastinate too much, and this story should already be finished. Again, I'm sorry for the riddiculously late update. My only excuse was the fact that school was trying. I had a whole crap ton of stuff to do, so I didn't really write much at all. Anywho, here's the next chapter, which you are all probably going to kill me for. Don't worry though, the next few chapters at leasdt will be up very soon also to make it up to all of you.

I glared into the mirror, studying my reflection intently, and despising a few key portions. Okay, one key portion. My silver eyes stared back at me, set in defined wutain features, my now long black hair framing my face elegantly, and combined with my long eyelashes- that I swear were much thicker- and red lips. That was from the fact I kept forgetting I had fangs and continued to bite them on accident. Regardless, I looked like a proper wutain lady.

I looked like my mother.

A spitting image, really, other than the cat ears. I had so many warm memories of her, when we'd sneak out and take long walks in the Da Chao mountains. The only thing that was off was my expression. Kotoha Kurogane, the former empress of Wutai and my mother, always had a warm, happy smile on her face. In fact, I could count the number of times I've ever seen her frown on one hand. I didn't inherit her serenity, though I did have a bit of her cheeriness.

Now you're wondering, what's wrong with looking like my mother? Everything. When I looked in the mirror, memories of her flooded over me, some happy, some not, and it was really messing with me. One on the reasons I always cut my hair, was to avoid all of this emotional turmoil, and my father never objected much either, cause he had the same problem when looking at me. So I hacked off my hair. Reeeal short-like, and put a plug on my feelings. Yeah, repressing shit wasn't the smartest thing to do, but that's just how I dealt with stuff. Concentrate on something else; like training, fighting, and stealing people's materia. I simply shoved everything from my mind. Dwelling on things was for wusses. I turned my depression into efficiency and slapped a happy smile on, as is fit for a princess.

I sighed, and mentally promised that I'd get Tifa to cut it later. My eyes then roved to my ears, and one twitched under my scrutiny making me crack a smile. I was definitely getting used to them moving around all the time, and some of the ways they moved amazed me. I mean, yeah, I know that cats have 32 muscles in their ear, but seriously! To be honest, I actually kinda liked them.

Next on the agenda was my teeth. I smiled widely, my fangs giving me a slightly impish look, well, more than usual. I leaned closer and really studied the things. They weren't insanely huge and clunky, but rather more slim, like a cat's teeth. Jee, I wonder why? When I opened my mouth wider to get a better look at them, I jumped back slightly. What the hell!

I repeated the motion, and sure enough the same thing happened: My fangs got longer. I reached one up and poked it with a finger, cursing lightly when I pierced the skin, a tingle of pain going through my hand. The crap! I barely touched the point part! I ran my tongue over the fang, frowning at it's sharpness. If I were to bite someone, those things would do some serious damage, especially if they elongated, like they did.

I made another mental note not to bite anyone, and to be careful when kissing Vinnie, so as not to cut him somehow.

Finished examining us? Mia's voice made me jump a bit.

"Yes, I'm finished, but if it's annoying you, I might just do it some more!"

No, I'm not annoyed. Are you still sore over last night?

"Yes! Yes, I am!" When Mia still had control of my body, I got bored monitoring the conversation and started to ogle Vinnie, and the next thing I know, Mia tells everyone my full name. After that, I had managed to steal control of one of my arms and was able to hit her/myself. The rest of the night went fairly smoothly, until Mia/I got too drained to continue letting Mia take over. Since Mia was my inner demon, she was meant to stay inside, only coming out in case of emergencies, or unless I was in my demonic form. Currently I was stuck in a half and half state, which is why she was so loud. When I was in a full human form, she was far quieter. However, when I was in full demon form-which was unknown if it was even possible for me to enter- Mia more sway than I did, which was why demons tend to be wilder in demonic form. Other than that, Mia didn't really say anything important, she just held a normal-ish conversation with everyone.

With one last look, I turned, exited the bathroom and jumped down the stairs, then fell/sat in one of the chairs, like usual. Only...

"Ow! Freaking hair! That hurt!"

Tifa turned and looked at me. "What did you do?"

I pushed myself up and swept my hair from underneath me. "... Sat on my hair... You really need to cut this stuff ya know!"

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm sorry, but I can't right now. Today's a busy day. Why don't you go to a salon?"

I narrowed my eyes. "And spend a crapton of gill there? No thanks. Fine, I'll do it myself. Got a sharp knife?" Tifa looked at me oddly. "What? Never cut your hair with a knife?"

"No. I haven't. Have you?"

"Yes, actually. Oh, whatever, I'll just go sharpen a kunai and slice it." I sighed. More work for me. If you haven't figured yet, I'm very lazy. And when you mix hyperness with laziness, weird things go down. Vinnie was still asleep, so I couldn't go bug him. I would've just woken him, but I was afraid that he would go all guilty on me. He seemed fine last night, but the guy was probably in shock or something then. I didn't doubt that he'd go uber guilty on me today.

"You really shouldn't cut it though. You look so good with your hair long like that." Tifa pouted a bit and I laughed. At least Teef was normal.

"Yeah, well, it's a total pain, so if you don't cut it, then I'm taking a kunai to it and that'll be that." I gave her a wink, and Tifa sighed, but nodded. "So Boobs, got anything special to do today?"

"No, not really. Well, I am giving a cat a haircut, but, you know." She gave we a wink and I smiled back at her.

"You really don't have any problems with me then?" I asked tentatively, a sudden and random subject change. Tifa took it in stride, used to my jumping topics.

"Well, I figure that we already have two feline friends, why not a third?" Tifa smiled warmly at me, and I couldn't help a sigh of relief. "Just don't go scratching up my furniture, you hear?"

I laughed. "Alright, promise." My ear twitched as I heard someone getting out of bed upstairs. Vinnie. It was him, I was sure. With a sigh, I stood up and faced the stairs. Now to see how Vinnie's doing. This may be fine, but more likely it would turn out disastrous. "Well, see ya in a bit. I need to talk to Vinnie now that he's up."

"Vincent's up?" Tifa frowned lightly. "How do you- nevermind, forgot. Your senses are better now. Heh, you're just like Nanaki." She shook her head slightly.

"Nah, I have a better nose." I winked at her, then skipped over to and up the stairs. My cheery mood held until I stood facing the door to the room I shared with Vincent. Here goes nothing!

I opened to door to find Vincent pulling out a shirt from the dresser. "Hey Vin-Vin. How'd you sleep?" I didn't bother to try and draw my eyes away from his shirtless upper body. It wouldn't work regardless. I pouted a little when he pulled the clothing on.

He nodded, his eyebrows twitching together slightly. "Fine." He didn't meet my eyes, just glancing up at my ears, and then off to the side. I sighed. Yup, he was feeling guilty.

"You're still blaming yourself for this, aren't you?" I said quietly, a frown coming to my own face as well.

Vincent let out an aggravated noise, his hand brushing back through his hair and he began to pace. "How can I not, Yuffie? This-what happened- is all my fault. You can't deny that."

"Yes, actually I can." I crossed my arms. "Once again, it wasn't your choice. It was mine. You didn't even know." He opened his mouth to say something, but I cut him off. "I don't want to hear it. If you go saying something along the lines of 'if I hadn't gotten so close to you' then you can just shove that up your ass. I would've done the same thing five years ago when we were still fighting Sephiroth. I've always had a thing for you Vinnie, regardless of how you treat me."

"But if you'd never have met me-"

"If I'd never have met you, I would probably be miserable as hell, married to some old geezer for politcal benefits. I don't see why you're freaking out. This doesn't hurt me at all. In fact, I'm gaining freaking super powers! Do you know how many people would kill to be in my posistion? A shit ton, Vince. A shit ton,"

"Yuffie, you're turning into a monster!"

~Vincent's POV~

The second I said that I wanted to take it back. Yuffie physically recoiled from that, a look a pain flashing across her face, tears welling up before she slammed down a mask.

"Is-...Is that what you think?"

"Yuffie, I didn't mean that, I just-"

"No, Vincent. I get the message. Don't worry, I hear you loud and clear." Her jaw clenched and she closed her eyes, fighting back tears, from the look of it.

"Yuffie-" I moved forward arm outstretched to comfort her, but I froze when she flinched back, then spun on her heel and bolted out the door, slamming it behind her. "Yuffie!" I didn't hesitate to run after her, almost ripping the door off it's hinges in my hurry. The open window caught my eye and I rushed to it, looking through only to see a black blur whipping around a corner, three blocks away. "Damn it!" I punched the wall next to the windowsill, then turned and clutched my head in my hands, letting out a cry of frustration as I slid down the wall.

I hadn't meant it. Not at all. She wasn't a monster, and couldn't ever be one. If anything, Yuffie was an angel, someone who should never had been tainted by me. The image of her face, showing so much pain flashed through my mind. Perhaps... Perhaps this was for the better. If she wasn't with me, then I couldn't hurt her anymore than I already had. That's all I ever seemed to do, hurt people I care about. Even disregarding the fact that she's turning into a demon because of me, I had hurt her, badly. I hadn't seen her shook up like that since Nero's darkness. Her wounded face flashed through my mind again. Yes, it was better if I stayed away from her. That's what I'd do, what I'd have to do, as not to hurt her.

I took another few moments to compose myself, before I got up, going into the room I had shared with Yuffie for so long, and began to pack my things away.

I would leave. That was the best thing to do. Leave, before I caused anyone else the same pain I caused Yuffie. Leave before I caused Yuffie even more pain. I never should have left the coffin. I should have know that I would destroy the lives of those I love once again. Once a monster, always a monster. There was no such thing as redemption.

~Yuffie's POV~

(I was so tempted to end the chapter on this cliffy, but I decided to add one more, even cliffier part. I will now run and hide myself away from thy anger)

I couldn't think, couldn't deal with anything, couldn't even wrap my mind around the concept of what happened. My intensely conditioned defense mechanisms switched in, and before I knew it, I was running, walls in place, attempting to block out my feelings. It wasn't working at all though. I pushed myself harder, sprinting with all my might, everything whipping around me in a blur, but my damn eyes could still pick out details. I curse lowly and forced myself ever faster, tears finally beginning to fall, and finally my surroundings blurred.

My thoughts whirred along at the speed of light. Mia was saying something, practically shouting, but I couldn't hear her, didn't want to hear her. All I heard was that word, echoing endlessly. Monster. Why, how could Vincent say that? I wasn't- was I? I snarled, in frustration, not wanting to cry, but not seeing how I couldn't, the hot tears streaming down undeterred.

Why the hell wasn't it working this time? I should have been able to lose myself in my running. In the past, I could push myself to a sprint like this and almost instantly feel the intense burn of my lungs, the fierce ache in my legs, so much that it had been all I could concentrate on. It would force me to put all thoughts out of my head. I would tire quickly enough and then all my thoughts were concentrated on putting one foot in front of the other, on not stopping. There was no room to worry or feel. Not now.

Now, my arms pumped, my legs propelling me across the ground with a fierce speed, nary an ache. Even my breathing was normal, despite the choking sobs i was trying to hold back. I had already left Edge far behind, and yet there was no pain, no tiring at all. I felt like my body was at odds with my mind. It felt like a million bucks, strength thrumming through my veins. It wasn't like with an adrenaline rush, and yet it was. I could feel everything, could sense everything, acutely aware o and screamed out in anguish. Mia surged forward, yelling at me, saying something. I didn't bother to listen, I didn't care. I let myself go, let her take over. I didn't want to deal with anything, mentally curling up into a ball and shutting myself away. I had to run, had to hide or I'd fall to pieces.

And there it is! What do you all think? Leave me a review and tell me about it! If you want to request something to pop up in the story i'm always open to suggestions. Again, the next chapter will be up soon, so this shouldn't be too bad of a cliffy to wait on.