Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters places things, because Square-Enix does. Thank you for patience, and for the reviews! The second recently posted chapter is here. Aeris's death was the opposite for me. I made the mistake of leveling her and watching all my work get sworded.

Cold Decency

Chapter Seven:

It had been nearly a day since Cloud had placed Aeris in the lake. Avalanche was loosing it's constitution at the death of their dear Cetra friend. Nobody would speak when Cloud was around. Tifa had tried her hardest with the help of Vincent and Cait Sith to make one of the old houses in the Ancient City livable. Soon it would be night, and everybody needed sleep. Vincent had assumed a shadowed, but recognized leadership of the group. He always made sure he knew where everyone was, and that they were safe. Tifa most of all was thankful for Vincent's almost robotic undertaking of responsibility. What kind of stress weighed on Vincent's shoulders she could only imagine, and now that he carried Avalanche's as well; she wanted to help out as much as she could. Vincent would have none of this though. He knew Tifa not only mourned the passing of a close friend she also had unrequited feelings for Cloud. He turned down her offer to take over protecting the house from whatever creature came about at night. Even though he hoped she would've taken the opportunity to sleep, she ended up awkwardly sitting with the ever silent but awake Cloud.

Now he sat hunched over on top of the dwelling protecting with keen scarlet eyes. It wasn't often he had to re-acquaint himself with the silent (as not to wake anyone) Sniper CR, but every once and awhile a monster would wander to close for its own good. He heard the approach of something other than a monster now. This was the obvious squeak of Yuffie's orange sneakers.

With an indifferent plop Yuffie sat next to Vincent. He scanned her face with his peripheral vision, and took note of how soft it looked even with the obvious crying she had done.

"You should be sleeping," Vincent said quietly as he re-scanned the area.

"Don't treat me like a child," Yuffie murmured.

"That was never my intention, I want all of you to let this pass so we may safely resume our quest," responded Vincent automatically with a firm tone.

"Let it pass?!" said Yuffie in hushed anger. Vincent however stood up and walked to the other side of the building and then began scanning that side.

"Come back here Vincent, I'm not done talking to you," Yuffie said. She was clearly pissed Vincent thought, kind of annoyed he couldn't think of a more eloquent word. "How can we just forget about Aeris?!"

"I never sai-" Vincent started.

"Or what about when you were going to shoot Cloud, huh?!" Yuffie now said a little louder than before, "What would have happened if I wouldn't have stopped you?"

"It was not my intent to kill him, but merely shoot the sword out of his hands," Vincent deadpanned with his voice still monotone.

Yuffie was thrown off guard by this and softened for a second in contemplation, and then realized how this little 'tiff' had started. "I don't think you have any right to say we should just let Aeris pass from our minds so we forget about her!"

Vincent looked at Yuffie who in her growing rage was about to burst into tears.

"Why don't you cry for her too damn it?!" Yuffie screamed as the dam burst and tears fell. She then gripped Vincent by the arms and made a futile attempt to shake the tears out of him all the while crying.

Vincent's heart panged for a second watching Yuffie's effort to make him cry. After about ten seconds the shaking hadn't stopped so Vincent slowly circled his arms around Yuffie's small waist and pulled her into him effectively ceasing the shaking. The sudden maneuver had instant impact on Yuffie who wrapped her arms tightly around Vincent squeezing as though it would make all of it go away. Her mind swam as Vincent held her with surprising tenderness. He slowly edged his mouth down to one of her ears and whispered softly into it.

"I was saddened by the passing of Aeris," Yuffie choked a little at the mention of Aeris as Vincent continued, "and we should never forget her, but the fate of the world rests on our shoulders and we need to be ready to face it."

"I know," lamented Yuffie, "but it just hurts so much."

After a couple of minutes of silence Vincent let go and with some reluctance Yuffie let go too wiping the tears away. She looked straight into Vincent's eyes and saw for the first time that he was actually looking physically tired himself.

"How long has it been since you have slept Vincent?" she said hoping that he wouldn't avoid the question.

Vincent didn't want to answer, but to be honest he was to tired to dance around it, and finally said, "Not since I first met you."

"I know that you work differently than the rest of us Vincent, but you look tired," stated Yuffie with surprising maturity. "If you are going to be leading us you should be getting some sleep too."

"It is fine, I must protect the house anyways," Vincent said slightly intrigued on where this was going.

"Well I slept all day, and you look like you need a recharge," Yuffie said, "So hows about you get a quick nap in and I stand guard."

A noncompetitive power struggle occurred as they looked at each other, but Vincent saw her valid argument and conceded.

"Alright, as you wish, but I will sleep here on the roof," Vincent calmly stated as he laid down to emphasize his point. .For five or so minutes Vincent kept eye on Yuffie to make sure she could handle it, but after the first couple of minutes she began to hum to herself. Soon Vincent let her melodic hum wrap around his eyelids and he fell asleep for the first time in what seemed to be a lifetime.

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Yuffie knew Vincent had been keeping a wary eye on her at first, and if it would've been anyone else she would have been offended. Her small victory though was now sleeping contently. Not very many monsters strayed close to the house, and even when they did Yuffie just cast the spell Exit on them. Even though her job was very boring she felt happy to have the privilege to do it. After all he had even turned down Tifa's help. She kept playing the moment Vincent held her in her mind. His open comfort was so engulfing she never wanted to leave. It was hard to believe that that was the same man who the old lady described so viciously. Something had changed him before they had met him. She bet it was this "Lucrecria person who had briefly been mentioned at one point.

As the sun came up Vincent still slept, and with is irregularly slow breathing she couldn't tell if he was alive at all. What if she had made him to enter another thirty year sleep! She crept cautiously to his side and nudged him with the tip of her shoe… nothing.

"HOLY CRAP!" she said in fear as she fell to his side to find a pulse on his neck.

The effects were instantaneous as she pressed her fingers to his neck. His eyes snapped open and his claw grabbed her wrist. Yuffie yelped in surprise, and Vincent recovered just as fast as he had woken and promptly let go of her.

"Whew I thought you were dead," Yuffie sighed.

Vincent raised an eyebrow, but shifted his eyes towards her wrist in indication to whether or not it was okay.

"It will take more than that to hurt supreme ninja Yuffie," boasted Yuffie, "Hey wait, where are you going?"

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Vincent eyed the group. Poor Tifa was passed out on a chair. Barret and Cid were already awake huddled around a cup of travel coffee. Red XIII was laying on top of Cait Sith's moogle, and Cait was laying on top of Tifa's head. With the exception of Cloud, the whole scene was heart warming. Cloud sat there still awake, with dark lines under his eyes staring intently at some invisible antagonist. When Yuffie came in she felt compelled to hide behind Vincent in case Cloud decided to bring his heavy gaze on her. It was the other way around when they first met Vincent. Wow, how things change over time.

Vincent waited intently looking at Cloud testing whether Cloud would give any orders or commands. After a few minutes of nothing Barret spoke up.

"He's not up to talking," Barret said taking a swig from the coffee cup. Cid yanked the coffee from Barret's hands making sure it wasn't all gone before taking a gulp himself.

Vincent asserted himself to speak, in a tone that demanded respect. Not that he felt anyone would argue with his decision, but Cloud or maybe even Barret would want to be in charge. "We should move out by the end of this hour."

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The hour was almost up and the only one still sleeping was Tifa. Cait Sith still sat on her head for good measure. A big glob of drool hung from her mouth as she snorted and tried to roll over. She fell out of her chair and promptly wanged her head on the ground throwing Cait Sith off. She stood up quickly realizing what happened and tried regain her pride. Everyone but Vincent and Cloud laughed, but the difference between the two only Yuffie and Tifa could see. Vincent was just veiling his amusement, and Cloud was the one who actually looked devoid of a soul.

The trek to the north had begun, and Cloud took point without saying a word. Vincent walked close behind Cloud keeping a close eye on him, but Vincent was also aware that walking close behind him Yuffie was keeping possibly an even closer eye on him…

Another chapter done, yay. All comments are appreciated so feel free to throw it out on the board. Even that review by Daous (or however it was spelled) as vindictive as it was had good points. CURSE YOU COMMAS! Hopefully I'm getting better with them. Venture Brothers ROCKS! I also know "wanged" isn't a real word (yet), but it is a fun way to replace the word "hit" in any conversation.