Author's Note: Okay. I'm slightly offended. Like, I realize that the last chapter wasn't spectacular (unlike this one) but commee onnn! Four reviews? That wouldn't be so bad if like twnty odd people were reading this, but when I get hits int he 300's and have four reviews? Something is seriously wrong here, folks. Okay, well, There's no sense bothering. If you want to you'll review. If you don't, well, just remember I'm discouraged. (And for those of you who -did- review, i love you.)

Anyway, I like this chapter.


When he was away she could almost feel the gaping hole in her chest: the sinking feeling of fear and anxiety that made her feel weak and foolish. He'll be fine. It was the lullaby she sang herself to sleep with, the calming mantra she chanted as she went about her day, trying to accomplish her usual tasks that were made ten times harder by her distraction.

When he was on really long missions, she usually gave up about half way through. Dishes piled up in the kitchen, despite the convenience of the dishwasher, and her meals became smaller and more sparse, consisting of frozen dinners and instant ramen. On about the seventh day she would rifle through his drawers, making a mess of his once perfectly folded clothing (which always irked him when he got home, but he never said anything) trying to find her favorite shirt of his, which always varied, because her favorite was always the one that smelled the most like him. She's curl up in their bed, his shirt swaddling her and the music tuned up full blast as she sang off-key into the sound-system remote-turned microphone.

Nine days in she'd start the phone calls. He always answered her first call, because he knew if he didn't she'd tear out all her hair with worry (and he was rather fond of her hair) not to mention kill him when he got back. However he learned quickly that if he humored her by answering all of her calls, the ringing of his PHS would simply never stop.

She knew he would only answer once. She made that phone call last her, and tried to make it last as long as she could. It usually succeeded in draining his battery, which was convenient for him, considering that even thought she knew he wouldn't answer it again, she still called and left him voice mail messages. In some she was laughing, telling him about something funny she saw on TV or a conversation she had with Tifa over the phone. Sometimes she would tell him what she was wearing (or not wearing), chuckle mischievously and murmur dirty phrases to an automated voice message. Sometimes she was crying; she missed him so much.

Near the end of his missions, she baked. Incessantly. Vincent did not have the luck of returning to a home filled with various baked goods however, only to a messy kitchen with every single cake-pan or muffin tray filled with chocolate cakes or cupcakes. She claimed that cocoa was the only thing that could console her when she was convinced that a Deepground beasty had up and swallowed him whole.

It was getting worse and worse, and she didn't know why. After the time they had spent living together, it had become sort of like a second reality to her: there was life when Vincent was at home, and then there was life when one or the other of them was gone. Espionage was getting lower and lower on the WRO's list of necessities, and brute force getting higher as the underground cities of Deepground were purged. Sometime between their engagement and now however, Yuffie's two realities had melded into one, and she was only half a person when she was left in the mansion, cuddling Vincent's laundry for all it was worth.


"Uhm, excuse me? This is my wedding."

"She does have a point."

"Well she can plan her wedding as soon as she discovers some sense of good taste."

"Vinnie likes my taste!"

"He tolerates your taste."

"Now, now, just because you both have different tastes, doesn't mean one's good or one's bad."

"Shut up Shera."

"Excuse me?"

They had been meeting every once in a while to make arrangements for the upcoming wedding, and usually once or twice during the session an argument would break out, closely resembling a mix between a cat-fight and a war-zone.

"You know what, how about you just leave me and Vince to finish planning. I mean come on, how hard can it be?"

"Yuffie, Vincent has already expressed his complete lack of interest in anything having to do with the ceremony. You will be left to do it by yourself."

"What, you don't trust me? What's there left to do, anyway?"

"Order flowers, order the cake, confirm the menu with the caterers. And that's not even touching the short-term errands."

Yuffie groaned. "Gawd. How difficult is it to pick out flowers? I thought our theme was red."

"There are different kinds of red flowers, Yuff. Red carnations, red lilies, red roses, red tulips: the list goes on."

"Well isn't that a bit of a give away? Roses, obviously. Some white, some red. I'm the White Rose of Wutai! And Vince is the man-in-red, and not the Santa Claus guy."

Shera, who was still slightly perturbed at Tifa for telling her to shut up, nodded. "It does make sense."

"Fine. Roses it is."

"Woohoo! Another job done!" The ninja pumped her fist in the air, beaming. "What's next?"

"Cake."

"Ice cream cake!"

"I am telling you, Yuffie: Ice cream cake does not even remotely resemble anything classy."

Yuffie's tongue was stuck forth at the martial artist, who simply rolled her eyes.

"Yuffie," Shera began hesitantly. "You must also think of practicality. An ice cream cake will melt..."

The ninja's face contorted in thought. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks Shera, that was a lot more logical than some other people's reasons."

Tifa glared.

"Oh come on, 'because it's tacky' doesn't count as a viable answer."

The martial artist shook her head. "Just choose a flavor."

"Chocolate. No Vanilla. No wait, both!"

"Yuffie..." both of the older women sighed.

"Is there such a thing as strawberry cake? Because if it's as good as strawberry ice cream, I vote for Neapolitan cake."

"What kind of cake?"

The women glanced at the intruder, who came bearing bunches of flowers in his arms. One was passed to each of the women.

"Geeze, Reeve, what are these for?" Tifa asked, smelling her bouquet of sunflowers.

He placed his hand on the barmaid's shoulder, smiling. "I was sitting in my office, when the faces of three beautiful women popped into my head. I thought I had best get them something in return for brightening my day."

"Oh Reeve!" Shera gushed, hugging her carnations.

He winked at her. "So after I gave them their diamonds, as I was leaving the strip club, I passed a flower shop on the way here."

Yuffie landed a well aimed punch just above the knee. Her own white roses held possessively to her chest. "Who are those for?" She asked, pointing to the last bunch of flowers he still held.

"Why, my favorite little girl, of course. Is she around?" he asked, glancing around the bar.

Tifa stood, taking her flowers behind the bar and putting them in a vase. "Marlene!" she called. "Mr. Tuesti is here!"

There was shuffling from the room above the bar and a muffled cry. "Reeve!?"

Yuffie laughed as the girl flew down the stairs, launching herself at the WRO commissioner.

He chuckled merrily and patted the girl's head. "I brought you a gift, Marlene."

"A gift?" her brown eyes peered up at him in delight.

From behind his back he produced a bouquet of lilies.

"Ooh, pretty!"She attached herself to the man's legs again, crushing the flowers between them.

Reeve laughed. "Careful Marlene, you'll hurt your flowers."

She gasped suddenly and pulled away, petting them gently.

"Come here, Marlene, and we'll put them in some water," Tifa suggested. The girl beamed up at Reeve a final time before dashing off behind the bar to hand her lilies to the older woman.

"You're so thoughtful, Reeve," Shera smiled.

Yuffie grimaced. "Yeah. Too thoughtful," she murmured suspiciously. "What do you want?"

The man eased himself into the chair next tot he ninja's, smirking. "Nothing at all, Miss Kisaragi, why would you think that?"

She narrowed her eyes.

"Oh by the way, you wouldn't happen to know if Vincent is around, would you?"

She gasped. "I knew it!"

Shera and Tifa glanced at her as she clamored up from her chair. "You go back to where you came from, evil boss-man!" He had just come home two days before they had left for Edge, and she had just barely begun to re-memorize his face.

"Miss Kisaragi..."

"I mean it, Reeve!"

"Yuffie, it's just a routine..."

"No! No, no, no!" She flung the tainted flowers from her arms down onto the table. "You can't have him!"

She watched as Reeve's eyes left her face and traveled to the door. She didn't need to look to know Vincent was there. Growling in defeat she closed her eyes, waiting for the inevitable.

"Reeve."

"Vincent. I trust you received your paper work?"

"I did."

"And all was in order?"

"It was."

"Excellent. My secretary will be in contact with you once the resignation process has been officiated, and then it's just a couple more signatures, and you're done."

Yuffie peeked one eye open. "Resignation?"

Reeve offered a slight smirk. "He's leaving me for you, it seems. A tragic love affair, to be sure. You're lucky I'm allowing him to go."

"You're allowing him to go?" she repeated.

He nodded once.

"Ohmygawd, marry me!"

"I'm afraid you're already promised to another, Miss Kisaragi; but what an interesting love triangle this is turning out to be."

Reminded of her fiance, Yuffie glanced with a glowing smile over her shoulder to Vincent, who was watching her from the doorway. "It was supposed to be your birthday gift," he said quietly.

Her eyes danced. "Blame Tuesti."

"I fully intend to."

Without even realizing it, she had moved toward him, and was now looking up into crimson eyes. "You're really finished with the WRO?"

"Until there is a crisis, yes."

"Until? Gee, you're optimistic."

He smirked.

There was a cough from someone in the group, and Yuffie glanced back at them, mildly annoyed. It was when she saw Tifa standing with Marlene and two big bouquets of flowers did she realize she had become slightly distracted by her lover. She blushed and turned back to Vincent, who looked aggravatingly amused.

"Ahem," Reeve interjected, drawing himself to his full height. "Well ladies, Vincent," he nodded to the gunslinger. "I should be going, I just wanted to make sure everything was in order. Enjoy your flowers."

Vincent glanced at him, an eyebrow arched.

"Reeve brought us flowers," Marlene said, seeing the gunman's confusion. "Look!" She held up her lilies in front of her face.

"I see, Marlene. Very nice."

"Aunt Yuffie got some too."

Reeve chuckled as he wandered to the door. "White Roses for the princess," he said, grinning.

Yuffie laughed at him. "You have too much charm for your own good. When are you gonna find a woman, Tuesti?"

He winked, shrugging. "They keep getting swept out of my reach, I'm afraid."

The ninja felt the tip of one of Vincent's gauntleted fingers hook in the waist of her shorts, pulling her back the extra two inches it would take for her body to touch his. She hid her laugh at his possessiveness by directing her mirth to Reeve. "Marlene here seems to be pretty infatuated with you. A few more years and she's ripe for the picking."

"Yuffie!" Tifa shouted.

"Oh come on. Reeve's your boyfriend, right Marlene?"

The girl's eyes got big and round, and she scampered behind the martial artist's legs.

"I'm leaving," Reeve announced, knowing it was better to just exit rather than say something that could potentially fuel Yuffie's ribbing.

"See ya, Tuesti!"

"Goodbye, Reeve," Tifa echoed, slightly exasperated.

The door slammed shut behind him, giving Yuffie reason to laugh boldly. "Serves him right."

"Be careful, Yuffie. He still has to sign my termination papers."

She bit her tongue, but smiled. "Oh gawd. I think I might pass out, I'm so excited right now."

"You're future husband is unemployed and you're happy about it?" Tifa asked sarcastically, taking Shera and Yuffie's flowers to put them in water as well.

Yuffie laughed. "Don't worry, I'm still on salary for WRO, and besides, Vinnie's like, loaded."

Shera rolled her eyes. "Now, Yuffie. What about this cake?"

Yuffie groaned, leaning her head back onto Vincent's shoulder. He stiffened slightly, and she knew he was uncomfortable with the very public cuddling, but he could suck it up for the sake of her sanity. She noted with a measure of pleasure as his hands found her hips. "I don't want to hear another word about cake," the ninja muttered.

"Just pick one, Yuffie. Chocolate or vanilla?"

Her mind was gone. She didn't care about flowers or cake or dresses or music. Without even knowing it her thoughts had turned entirely to her birthday gift. Tears pricked at her eyes.

"Yuffie?" His voice was thick in her ear, and she could feel his gauntlet digging into her hip.

"Vanilla," she said, opening her eyes.

"I thought chocolate was your favorite," Marlene said, obviously having forgiven her aunt for teasing her earlier.

The ninja smiled, but her eyes, shimmering with tears, were not left unnoticed. "I'm off chocolate cakes. They're so yesterday."


Author's Note: So uh, yeah. Reviews would be great. I'm losing faith in this. haha. what do you expect? If I'm not getting a response from it, I can only assume I have no audience, and therefore not much of a reason to continue. To those of you who -are- reviewing, again, i love you, and I apologize.