A/N: Whew! Sorry, that took me a bit longer than I meant for it to. I think I was about as excited for Vincent to come in as Yuffie was. I'm very sorry if anyone (Vincent) appears to be a little out of character. I tried not to have that happen, but.....Also, I have never actually played FF7 (I just got it the other day!! YAY!!! I just met Aerith!) so I don't know if Shera was in character or not. That's why she only said one line.

Anyway, please, I would love to hear all of you reviews, and if anyone has actually been following 'Just a Day in Our Shoes of Gold and Gray', thank you, and I should have the next chapter up soon!

Also, please tell me: Should I or should I not add an epilogue to this?


o-o-o-o

Chapter Six: Too Many Damn Maybes

o-o-o-o

"The first sign of maturity is the discovery that the volume knob also turns to the left."-Jerry M. Wright

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"To make mistakes is human; to stumble is commonplace; to be able to laugh at yourself is maturity." – William Arthur Ward

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"The other day the president said, 'I know you've had some rough times, and I want to do something that will show the nation what faith that I have in you, in your maturity and your responsibility.' He paused, then said, 'Would you like a puppy?'" – Dan Quayle

o-o-o-o

It's not that I didn't want to be here. No, I just didn't want to be here without a reasonable excuse. Though, barging in and taking whatever was thrown at me seemed a much better plan that standing here outside of Seventh Heaven freezing my ass off.

It was cold in Edge, colder than I had planned on it being, though I guess it was the end of November. Although I had remembered to wear long pants, I had failed to grab a coat of any kind, and my hesitation was turning me into a ninjsicle.

"Ah, hell…..," I muttered, pushing the door open slowly, figuring I should just get this over with. A day or so ago, I had taken Chaos and headed here to Tifa's bar, finally ready to grow up. I had two things I needed to get over with on this trip:

Explain to my friends what had really happened.

Dare I say it……tell Vincent the truth as well. That meant I had to stop hiding, running from my feelings and just flat out tell him how freakin' sexy I thought he was, and how much I wanted to just kiss that gloomy frown of his uber gorgeous features….well not those exact words.

No, I would do it with much more tact than that.

Stepping inside the bar, I glanced around. There was no one around, no one present in the bar besides me.

"Well so much for this plan of action…" I muttered, before hearing footsteps headed down the stairs at an incredibly fast pace. I was just waiting to hear the runner trip, but they never did. Instead I heard a yell.

"We're closed!" It was Tifa, and I glanced back at the door behind me. I still had time; I could still run for it before she saw me. I could be gone in a flash, my ninja skills kicking in and getting me the hell out of there before I was even seen.

But…no…I couldn't. I had promised I would grow up, hadn't I? Growing up meant dealing with problems, even if I really didn't want to. So instead of turning and running out the door at top speed, I stayed were I was, watching as Tifa hurried down the staircase and into the bar.

She entered the room, and glanced up, mouth open and ready to yell at me to leave, until she actually looked at me.

Her eyes widened.

The expression on her face would have comical if I was seeing it under other circumstances. I fidgeted slightly under her surprised gaze, my hands balling into tight fists, and my eyes dropping to the floor, as if my feet were suddenly the most important thing in the room.

Silence. Awkward, uncomfortable silence stretched on, neither of us quite sure how to break it, until suddenly, I heard footsteps coming closer, and I was pulled into a tight hug.

"YUFFIE!" She cried out, temporarily deafening me. My face was pressed into her (ginormous) chest, and it was becoming quite difficult to breath. My arms flailed on either side of me, as Tifa spurted out some sentimental mush and apologies and whatnot, but my escape attempt failed to help me in the slightest.

Finally I managed to pull myself from her grip, and looked up to see her wide wine colored eyes were filled with tears. Leave it to Tifa to make this awkward reunion all the more awkward.

"Er……," I muttered, bashing myself mentally for being unable to come up with anything more intelligent. "Hi, Teef."

She sniffled…..crap. Come on, hold back the waterworks, Teef. Please, for me. My silent plea went unheeded, because a tear or two slipped down her cheek as she cried out, "Yuffie! We were so worried about you!"

"Um, hello, Tifa," I muttered, pointing at myself. "Ninja. I was fine." She smiled softly, and laughed quietly, nodding.

"Of course. But still…." Her expression turned angry, and she placed her hands on her hips as she said, "Why did you leave without any explanation?"

"I left a note."

"Uh-huh? A note that explained absolutely nothing, and worried all of us very much. Reeve even sent out a few people to look for you." Reeve had sent out a search team? Well, he always had been a tad on the extreme side. But of course, Tifa had probably stood next to him 100% on the decision.

"And Vincent was helping him." I raised an eyebrow. Vincent? Mr. I-Don't-Care-About-Anyone-Because-I'm-A-Monster Vincent? Why the heck would he be helping Reeve try to find me? Wasn't I just a big annoyance to him?

Her eyes narrowed at me. "You're not answering."

"I went to Wutai," I muttered out, knowing that I would have to tell her sooner or later. "And ran into……problems…" She gave me a knowing look, and I sighed, moving my foot in circles along the floor and staring at it intensely.

"….and?"

"And what?"

"And what happened?" she explained exasperatedly.

"Ummm…" Even though I had promised myself I would tell them everything, I couldn't seem to will the words to leave my mouth.

Why did this always happen to me?

I would rant on and on, sputtering out pointless things that no one paid attention to or cared about in the slightest. But when I had something important to say, something people wanted to hear, I seemed to have forgotten how to talk.

Glancing up at Tifa I frowned and muttered, "Thank you for that inquisitive stare."

"You're welcome," she replied with no emotion, still frowning at me, her hands on her hips.

The door behind me opened, and I breathed out a sigh of relief I hoped my interrogator hadn't heard. Saved by the bell, well……door.

Looking over my shoulder, I recognized at once the form of the familiar spiky-headed, chocobo butt.

Apparently, I was just as easy to recognize, even with my new hairstyle, because his bright blue eyes opened considerably and his mouth opened and closed a few times, giving him the illusion of a very sexy goldfish.

He recovered soon though, and said simply, "Yuffie."

"Chocobo butt," I responded.

"All right," Cloud said, setting some package down on the counter near where Tifa stood, still staring holes through me. "Let's hear it."

"Hear what?" Playing dumb was good in these situations, right?

The two glared at me, and I bowed my head sheepishly. This really wasn't getting us anywhere.

"I think…," Tifa began. I glanced up at her to see she was looking at Cloud. "We should have the others hear this as well. We weren't the only worried ones, after all."

Both Cloud and I nodded. This might buy me a little time to think exactly how I was going to phrase my answer.

o-o-o-o

"Where the hell is the brat?!"

I coughed, almost spitting out the soda I had been drinking when the bar door slammed open.

Cid was here.

Daring a glance over my shoulder I saw that he was accompanied by Shera, Nanaki, and Cait Sith. Unfortunately that meant they saw me as well.

"Aye lass! Ye gave us all a shock, ye did!" Cait sat atop Nanaki who walked closer and narrowed his eye at me.

"What the hell were you thinking, brat?!" Cid stalked over and slammed a fist on the table.

"Stop calling me brat, old man!"

"I'll stop calling you brat when you stop being one!"

"Cid…" Shera placed a hand on his shoulder, and he shook her off with a loud grunt. She then turned her eyes on me, frowning slightly. "He was worried."

I raised an eyebrow as Cid shouted out, "Like hell I was worried about that brat!"

Hearing footsteps behind me, I looked to see Tifa and Cloud entering the bar. Sighing, I asked, "Who else is coming."

"Barret said he couldn't make it, but he wants an explanation later. Marlene and Denzel are at school. And Vincent should be here soon," Tifa replied, looking concerned when I almost choked on my drink again. I had known Vincent would find out recently. I had known I would have to tell him eventually, but still…

"Can't we….."

"Living room, now." I decided not to argue with Tifa, and instead followed everyone else into the living room, slouching down in a couch.

The others took their own seats in various chairs and couches. "So…" I started slowly, aware of the eyes on me. "Cold outside, huh?" The others scoffed at me as I chuckled nervously.

"Yuffie," Tifa warned threateningly. "You have been gone three months, without any word at all to us." The whole Koizumi Fiasco© - as I was now referring to it as - had actually taken about a month and a half; the rest of the time I had been away had simply been spent in Wutai.

Really it was tons of fun, though. Throughout the time I had some bonding with my father and I got to avoid my friends and the guy I loved.

Note the sarcasm.

It wasn't that I hadn't wanted to see my friends – they were my family, and much closer to me than my real father…even Cid – and it defiantly wasn't that I truly didn't want to see Vincent. I was head-over-heels in love with the guy – we've established this, correct? – so of course I wanted to be with him. I wanted to spend time with him, I wanted to hear his dot dot dots….well, not hear them, really, but the silence I heard in my bedroom in Wutai was different than the comfortable silence I heard when around Vincent.

No, I had wanted to see him very much. It was hurting me that I couldn't see him, but it hurt to see him too. I had to chose between two pains: separation, and rejection. And for a while there, I had chosen the first, before I wised up and headed back here.

"You said you were in Wutai, right?" I snapped back to reality in time to hear the rest of Tifa's interrogation, and nodded slowly.

Cloud sighed, shaking his head slightly. "Why didn't you just tell us that in the first place?"

"I didn't want anyone to come after me…." I said quietly. "I was running from….." I paused, trying to think of an answer that could satisfy my friends without having to admit my feelings for Vincent. "….something."

"What?! What is it?!" Cid shouted, and the others had similar reactions.

Shaking my hands in front of me, I corrected them. "Not someone. Something…." My head hung a little as I explained, "Just a problem I didn't want to deal with." I heard Cid's mutter of 'childish', and the worst part was that I knew I couldn't argue with him. "Look, guys. It's nothing. I realize I made you guys worry, and well…I'm sorry. But everything's alright now, so forget about it, okay?"

Tifa was still staring at me with an eyebrow raised, silently demanding the full story; the others in the room were sitting quietly, and I just now realized the serious mood we had all taken. A large smile stretched across my features; it felt fake to me, but I knew that the others wouldn't be able to see that I was still thinking of troubling matters.

"Hey Chimney, Shera hasn't gotten fed up with you yet, huh?" I asked cheerfully, and Cid's reaction was predictable. Shera had to hold him back as he yelled out a hundred different insults, curses every other word.

A loud laugh erupted from my throat as I watched the man rave and rant, struggling with his stubborn wife all the while. Laughing felt nice; it was something I was used to, something I was familiar with. Laughing was much more enjoyable than the depressed feeling that had occupied my entire being as of late.

Of course, that was all Vincent's fault. At least, that was what I tried to tell myself. Even now, I was blaming him, I thought, while on the outside - the me that all of my good friends could see – I was countering all of Cid's verbal attacks with a few of my own.

Cloud was sighing, but the ends of his lips were twitching, as if wondering whether or not he should smile. Tifa was chuckling – though she stopped a few times to tell us to stop acting like kids – and I could tell she was relieved.

I heard someone sigh behind me; spinning my head around, I was surprised to see Vincent Valentine himself leaning against the doorway.

Lately, I had prided myself on the fact that I had become quite fluent in Vincentese. Yes my friends, I actually had gained the ability to decipher and understand all of the dot dot dots, the grunts, sighs, head shakes, and even the different facial expressions – though most of them appeared to lack emotion – he wore.

I held the honorable spot of the one and only Vincentese expert in the world – a wonderful and difficult position only reached with loads and loads of time spent with the infuriatingly silent and seemingly indifferent man. But years, months, hours, minutes, and countless seconds spent, I almost always knew what he was thinking.

But right now, as gray stared into red, I was at a lost. I couldn't quite tell what was going through his head, and I wondered if anyone had a handy Vincentese-to-Wutain dictionary with them. Vincentese-to-Midgarian would also do quite nicely.

Surprisingly, no one else in the (now very loud) room seemed to notice the red-clocked man; I wondered if maybe I had some sort of Vincent senses or something, since I had had no problem sighting him in the shadows.

I stood slowly, and he turned, leaving the room and then the bar altogether. Glancing back at the others in the room – my friends who maybe didn't understand why I had left, but knew enough not to pry to far into it and had only wanted to know because they had worried (why had I avoided contact, again?) – I called out to Tifa that I was taking a breath outside for a moment.

I blamed the need for such an action on the horrible stench of smoke that followed Cid everywhere he went, and as I exited the bar the angry man's retort could clearly be heard. With a chuckle, I shut the door; my laugh stopped when I caught sight of Vincent leaning against the outside wall of Seventh Heaven.

"Hey," I began awkwardly, praying hard that we could act just like old times.

"……" I took that as his greeting. The wind was blowing, and I was cold again, wishing for the warmth of Tifa's bar that I had just left. I could go back inside, but I needed to make things right between Vincent and I now, or I might make up excuses why not to later.

Vincent seemed to be acting the same as usual – except for the fact that my Vincentese skills were failing – so I figured the only one feeling extremely uncomfortable right now was me. Sighing, I turned away from the silent man for a moment to un-jumble my thoughts.

Without warning, I felt something drop around my shoulders, and a quick look informed me that it was Vincent's cape in all its red, tattered glory. Glancing behind me, I saw that Vincent – now cape-less – was watching me. "You were cold," he said simply, and I pulled the cape around me, snuggling into the warmth it provided.

"Thanks." He nodded, and we continued our silence.

After a few minutes – gawd, had it been hours?! – Vincent of all people decided to start the conversation. "You didn't tell them the truth."

I scoffed at him, before smiling widely. "Of course I did, Vince!"

"……"

"I did," I insisted, nodding my head for emphasis. "There is a difference between 'not telling the truth' and 'not telling the full truth', mind you. You see, I like to think of what I did was simply highlight the good points. Kind of like cliff notes."

Vincent frowned at me, and this time I could see his disappointment. "The full truth wasn't even a good story," I muttered, turning away from him. I could smell gunpowder on the cape as I covered my nose with it.

"Then what was the full story?"

"Nothing worth telling."

"….Yuffie."

"….Vincent…" I glanced over my shoulder, and chuckled a bit at the frown on his face, before matching it with one of my own. "I just had, well….Koizumi issues." He raised an eyebrow, but I didn't elaborate. Taking a deep breath, I asked, "You really want to know why I went to Wutai in the first place? What I was running from?"

He nodded, and I let out my breath slowly, wondering how exactly I should begin my confession. This wasn't like the movies, where somehow the main characters are able to get through their words without stuttering, or feeling the need to puke your guts into the nearest trashcan.

"You see…." I started, twirling the ends of the cape around me. "I didn't want to be around someone anymore." I frowned. "No, wait. That isn't right. I wanted to be around that person a lot actually." Argh, this isn't going right….

I decided to start again. "I fell in love with someone." There, I said it. Maybe a little blunter than I had planned, even if I hadn't mentioned Vincent's name, but I had managed to actually come out and say it, so I was feeling a little proud of myself.

My feeling of accomplishment disappeared when I saw the frown on Vincent's face, and that strange, unreadable expression in his eyes.

"And I, er….um…" Clearing my throat, I started again, spinning in a small circle to keep from appearing too bothered by what was coming out of my mouth. "You see, this guy I love, well, he doesn't love me back. And it sure sucks, Vince, so I guess I know how you feel. You see, this guy, well, he still loves someone else, even though she's not ever coming back."

My spinning stopped, the cape rustling around me as it came to a stop while I stared at Vincent's gold covered feet. "I love him a whole lot; even more than I love materia." My attempted humor went unnoticed, and I stopped my awkward chuckle halfway through. "But, to him I'm just a nuisance. Just a kid….maybe not even a good friend. I've tried to do so much for him, really I have, but everything seems to go unnoticed. He blames himself for a lot of things that weren't really his fault, and sometimes it makes me really mad that he can't just pick himself up and move on.

"Everything is always about her and I wish that sometimes I would cross his mind. I wish he could see that she's gone, and that he could come to understand that she never. Even. Loved. Him." I knew I was being harsh, but I couldn't help it. Bringing up Lucrecia made me unbelievably mad, and I clenched my teeth and bloodied my palms as I continued.

"He loved her so much, and still does, even though she never felt the same. She hurt him, and while he says she did it to save him, I hate her for it. I just wish that she had never come into his life. No, I wish she never ever existed." I sighed softly, and continued quieter. "And then, I always feel kinda bad about it, and just wish that he wouldn't always be so depressed. He's been forgiven for all the sins he's so obsessed with, but he can't see that at all.

"So, I left. Because every time I saw him, I knew he was thinking about her and not me, and it hurt really bad. So I left and headed for the place I thought no one would come looking for me; it killed me not to see him, but it kills me to be with him and know he doesn't love me."

Something wet dripped down my cheek, and I internally yelled at myself for not being able to get through this without crying. "He doesn't love me, Vincent, and it hurts really bad to know that," I whispered.

There was silence.

That god-awful, horrid, damning silence. I wanted to scream, shout, jump through Tifa's frickin' window! Anything, anything at all that would kill that silence. Even my tears were falling noiselessly!

Finally – many internal battles where Scared-Yuffie got her butt whooped by Curious-Yuffie – I raised my eyes from the ground to see his reaction.

His eyes – those gorgeous, one-of-a-kind, red eyes – were filled with so much pain that it hurt me to look at him. But of course, I told myself. I had just shoved his past and all his unrequited love in his face; I had just spelled out the fact that Lucrecia hadn't even loved him.

Part of me wanted to take it back, while the other half of me was glad that he could finally wake up and smell the roses that, much to his disbelief, were not all dead and gone. I was expecting him to shout, and I readied myself for his anger.

But to my surprise, he did not defend Lucrecia or what she had done to him.

In fact, he said nothing at all.

I bit my lip nervously, and realized that even rejection was better than this. My heart was attempted to climb up my throat, and my breathing was getting quicker by the second, and Vincent had still not responded.

"Vincent," I muttered, looking back down at the ground. "Please…..say something."

"…….."

"………"

"…Clo….ud..?"

My head shot up, glancing around quickly for the spikey-headed swordsman who….was nowhere to be found. I turned my gaze back to Vincent still staring wide-eyed at me. Cloud? What the hell?!

I swallowed the lump in my throat that I had identified as my nervous heart. "What?"

Vincent took a breath just as I had moments before, and said in a pained – and much quieter than normal – voice, "Are you….in love with…Cloud?"

The silence returned.

Vincent stared at me, waiting for my answer.

I stared at him, wondering when he had been hit on the head.

"……"

"……"

"……………"

"………………………What?! How in the world did you come to that conclusion?!" I realized now, that as old and wise as Vincent Valentine was, he was also very stupid.

And he had had the audacity to say I didn't understand anything?!

"You are a complete and unredeemable idiot!" I exclaimed, my voice bordering on a loud screech while he stared at me in surprise. The tears were overflowing now, and I yelled out quite a few curse words – pretty much every one I knew - before lowering my voice back to a whisper.

"Are you that stupid?! I'M FRICKIN' IN LOVE WITH YOU, Vincent Valentine!"

The man stared at me in complete and utter shock; I don't think I had ever seen Vincent quite that surprised. His eyes were wide, his eyebrows were raised, and his mouth had not quite dropped to the ground, but it was well on its way.

My anger quickly subsided, and once again I was dangerously close to bawling, even though I tried desperately not to.

Time stretched on, the two of us staring at each other.

Finally, I could take it no longer, and I dropped his cape on the ground as I turned towards the door to Seventh Heaven.

"I understand," I whispered. "Forget I said anything at all. Because…" I smiled at him, though the tears ruined my façade. "…I'm just not that important to you, right?"

My hands were on the doorknob, ready to reenter the bar and act like nothing had ever happened; I had been doing a lot of acting lately, I realized sadly. I was stopped when a hesitant hand was placed on my shoulder.

"Wait." I didn't turn to look at Vincent as he continued slowly. "You…shouldn't-"

"-Love you?" I finished bitterly, grinding my teeth and trying to keep from lashing out at him. "Well too bad, I do. So deal. With. It."

I tried to open the door again, finally becoming fed up with talking to the man who didn't love me like I loved him, but his hand covered my own and successfully stopped me from being able to properly use the door. "Vincent. Let go."

"No." My eyes widened slightly, but I still refused to turn and face him. I could feel his breath on my ear and neck as he stood behind me, one hand on my shoulder and the other over my hand. "I need you to tell me if what you said is true."

"Of course it's true!" I shouted, angrily. "You think I would lie about that?!" He didn't reply for a moment, and I cursed, blinking my eyes to rid them of any remaining tears. I would not cry. I would not cry. I. Would. Not. Cry.

"I," Vincent began slowly, before taking a deep breath and continuing. "I'm a sinner." Another curse. If this was where he was going, I didn't want to hear it again. "But, I've improved since I joined AVALANCHE." This…was definitely new. "Not by much, but I've come to learn that…maybe sins can be forgiven, if one tries.

"What happened with Lucrecia…" He swallowed. "was my fault, and whether I chose to cast the blame on myself or not is my choice. But don't ever believe that you mean nothing to me." His last sentence was spoken as a command, and left no room for an argument.

I sucked in a deep breath, afraid to hope, but so ready to dream that what he said meant-

"What are you saying, Vince?" My voice came out as nothing more than a soft whisper, but I knew he could hear me.

There was a pause, while he debated how to answer before finally saying, "I'm asking you to….wait."

"Are you saying that because you love me?" I choked out, hoping, praying that he wouldn't answer 'no'.

"I am saying that you mean very much to me."

I turned my head slightly, just far enough so that I could see his pale (and pained) face in the light from the windows of Seventh Heaven. "Is that a maybe?"

"….yes."

Suddenly, relief, hope, and joy rushed through me. The tears I had been able to hold back suddenly rushed down my cheeks, and I felt weak at the knees.

Maybe. Maybe. Maybe. Maybe….yes?

A maybe….it wasn't yes by any means, but it defiantly was not a no.

It wasn't the answer I had been dying for, but it was closer than the one I had expected.

And really, the world was so damn full with 'maybe's anyway.

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The End