A/N: Oh my, Lucrecia wants to talk now. What does this mean? Read and review would you kindly?


Vincent stepped out of the bar, and found Yuffie sitting on the edge of the planter…as he took a seat next to her, he noted that she was very sad about this judging from the way that she was holding back tears. "Is there any way I can…" before he could finish his question, Yuffie shifted her weight quickly and grabbed Vincent in a passionate hug as she cried into his chest, letting out anguished moans and sobs while she strengthened her grip.

"Yuffie, are you all right?"

There was no answer; she continued to sob into his chest, allowing his white dress shirt.

He sighed, and gently grabbed her back in a hug, running his hand down her back. There was nothing much else he could do. "It's just…we've been together for so long you know?" she said as her sobs started to lessen, "I just wish it didn't come to this."

"I know. Nobody who is happily married actually wants a divorce to happen. Even I never wanted it to happen. But look on the bright side…at least you now know what to do to keep the marriage to the best of your ability if you decide to try again."

The two of them locked eyes the second she looked deep into those ruby-colored pools with her eyes. There was no denying it…as he felt the beating of her heart in his hand Vincent noted that it had increased in frequency…this was love. She then turned her head to listen to his chest as she moved her hands to accommodate before her pulse started to slow down to an even and rhythmic beat like his. "I don't want to be alone tonight," she finally said, "but I don't want to see Reno either. Can I stay with you?"

Vincent let out a sigh. "I don't see a problem with that. I actually understand…but are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure."

His eyes started threatening to let tears out. "I'm not pure—I've been scarred by my own past. Surely there has to be…"

"I don't care who you were or what happened to you in the past, nor do I want anyone else Vince. I've not wanted anyone so badly since I first met Reno. So please, don't say anything else. I'm sure…I'm only sorry that I never met you earlier in my life—maybe we could have been better off if we did meet sooner. The only question is…are you?"

Vincent looked back down and saw Yuffie looking back up at him with those coffee-brown eyes. As he thought back on it, it did make sense…no, even though he still cares about Lucrecia, she never made him feel this way—never made his heartbeat increase in speed, nor did she cause his body temperature to rise, and in that moment, he found his answer. "Truth be told, I am sure. I've been sure since the second gig…I was not aware of it myself, and I never knew if you felt the same way at the time. That's why I never came up to you until now about it…I wanted to be sure that I was sure, for you've made me feel something that I've never felt with Lucrecia. Granted, I still care about her, but she never made me feel this good."


7th Heaven Bar, four hours later…

The patrons were getting rude due to Vincent not being at the piano, and there was no avoiding it—he could tell because the piano player…Cissnei was it? He was not as well-versed in music as both Tifa and Vincent were, but he knew enough that she couldn't compare to his brother-in-law…but Cloud didn't care, he just wanted to see Tifa. He was out on the road for more than two months, and his bike Fenrir was in desperate need of repairs and Tifa was missing her husband. Perhaps now was the time to take a holiday…a week-long holiday…so that he can take Tifa out to a romantic dinner and treat her like a queen…before he took her back to the den…and then treat her like the bad girl she really was on the inside as he pushed her onto the bed and then ripped her clothes off for some hot…steamy…loud…mind-blowing…animal sex…oh yes, the animal sex! It made him hot and hard knowing that he would be taking this holiday to be acting out on all those fantasies he had for his wife!

Oh the sounds that could be heard even from Vincent and Denzel's rooms! The minute his hand was inches from the handle of the door, Cloud began to think back on that last train of thought—oh shit! Vince was supposed to be back today! Oh man, that just killed the mood. Not to mention that Denzel was home! Oh fuck! All those times he wanted to groan in pleasure with Tifa…and it was killed by those two! On the other hand, there was the fact that Denzel had summer school, so there was a good opportunity as the bar is closed during the daytime, and Vincent was leaving tomorrow to go to Wutai for his last gig.

He continued to think dirty thoughts about the dirty things he was going to do to his wife when the two of them were alone…with the whole bar to themselves…and finally getting to spanking her for being such a bad girl. "Excuse me," said a timid voice from the shadows. As Cloud was brought out from his thoughts, he began to actually think—oh he knew that voice all right.

He turned to face the voice in the shadows. "What do you want?"

"To talk to Vincent."

"Yeah, right, I know you—Vincent's lecture to me on how to treat a lady proper be damned, what the fuck do you really want?"

"No, no tricks, no demands, no nothing, I just a word with him Cloud, that's it—that's all I'm asking and then I promise you and Tifa will never see me again."

Cloud stared at those hazel-colored eyes in the shadows. He knew how much pain they have caused Vincent over the past, and he didn't trust them, not one bit. With a sigh, he walked closer to the figure in the shadows with venom prepared in his voice to make his hatred of this woman clear…Vincent may be above hating her, but him, Tifa, and the rest of his friends aren't. "Meet me in the alley near the trash cans. I just hope for your sake that he's in a listening mood to hear what you have to say." With that, he walked into the bar…


It would be a few hours later that the two of them walked back into the bar, just before the first patron set foot into the bar. Tifa fixed up dinner for the two of them, and they both went to Vincent's room for the night. He would not be playing tonight—he needed to rehearse his solo for Emperor Godo. Yuffie found herself looking around in his room while he was in the shower. There was a photograph at his nightstand, sitting next to a lamp—she could make out Vincent and a baby in the arms of another woman, whom she had assumed was Minami in Lucrecia's arms, at around a good six months old. That looked like a happier time for the little girl when her whole family was together. Whatever happened to break them up?

As she looked even further around, she saw a sight that she never thought she'd see—it was a shamisen…a traditional Wutainese instrument associated most often with the independent tribes. From what she remembered being taught, the people of Wutai were originally members of the independent tribes until the Kisaragi banded them all together and formed an empire that would unite the majority of the island nation. Only the independent tribes remained separate from the Kisaragi…starting a tenuous sort of peace between the two cultures. While the Kisaragi were more industrialized, the independent tribes were a little more in-tune with nature, and as such, they had better tracking abilities than most ninja she trained with. This was due to the fact that the tribes had to rely upon the hunt to survive.

"It's not a traditional style," said a voice from the doorway, "the sound is quite balanced though, though I mostly bought it because it reminded me of home." Yuffie turned her head to see that it was Vincent toweling off his long tresses…she was gawking at his form—there were many scars all over his body, many of them obviously lacerations and former bullet holes. As she continued to stare at him, she then noted a sight on his back; it was a tattoo with an abstract drawing of a pair of identical bat's wings covering each of his scapulae parallel to each other. "Can you play that?"

"Everyone in the tribes can play any stringed instrument…as part of our curriculum for our daily lives we are taught music to help us understand the concept of rhythm…to better camouflage ourselves from animals with greater hearing abilities. It just so happens that I favor the shamisen out of every other instrument."

"What songs can you play?"

"Oh, quite a few…but one song in particular, I'd like to save for your father. Do you think you're ready to see him?"

"Well, he would be upset that I had to go through a divorce, but maybe he'll loosen up a bit more around you…him and Reno never really saw eye-to-eye, but they did have a sort of mutual respect with each other. He still wishes that I stayed behind to take his place, but out of respect for my mother, he allowed me to choose my own path."

"That sounds like a good father…what I wouldn't give to have my family back."

"That's right, Tifa said she met you at the orphanage. Do you still remember your parents?"

Vincent's eyes were filled with nostalgia as he continued thinking back. "My mother was a kind woman—and a beautiful one at that. I remember hearing around in the village that I took after her the most, while my father was a very powerful man with the features of a warrior…he was powerful indeed, but not so powerful as my grandfather. My family actually had quite a bit of influence before the plague hit us bad."

"Did any of your tribesmen survive?"

"In the village? No, I was the only one."

"I'm sorry."

"There's nothing to be sorry about. You didn't cause the plague, and so there is nothing to forgive."

"Is there…"

Before Yuffie could say another word, a knocking was heard at the door. She then turned to see a man with short and spiky hair the color of chocobo feathers standing in the doorway…she wouldn't be surprised if his nickname was "Spike". "Vincent, would you please come on down? It's important."

"Sure. Just give me a moment to be presentable…I just came from the shower."

"Well you'd best hurry up…she's here."

The amount of venom in Spike's voice and the brief pause in Vincent's movements told her enough. It was his ex-wife Lucrecia that was waiting for him.

Vincent then continued to move, finding his clothes quickly. "Where is she?"

"In the alley…I figure, it's best to leave the trash where it belongs."

"I'll handle it—there's no need for you to play the mediator in this."


Lucrecia sat in the alleyway for the "Seventh Heaven" waiting for Vincent to show. It was a fitting place for her—after all, she was in fact trash for all the things that she did in the past…especially to them. She didn't have long to wait—the door opened behind her, and she saw Vincent walking towards the wall opposite of her, and taking a seat on a wooden crate so that he could face her.

"Cloud told me that you wanted a word with me. What is it?"

"Vincent, I came here to apologize to you…for everything that's happened…to you…to Minami…and most of all, for lying to you."

Vincent sighed. "I already knew that." At that, Lucrecia turned to look at him in surprise. "You knew? All this time, I mean…"

"Even from the beginning I was only humoring you…but that didn't mean I didn't sincerely care about you. Although, off the record, you were a horrible actress…you may have had the look of someone going into fashion at the time, but I could barely make out the scent of disinfectant and the stink of other chemicals and substances on your body even under that perfume…and you carried yourself more like a scientist than an artist."

"Why? Why would you even care about someone who hurt you? Who tried to hurt your daughter…our daughter? Why did you even bother with me if you knew all along that I was lying to you?!"

"Because I saw something in you worth saving…when I first met you, I knew that you had a greedy soul, you were deceitful, and you were power-hungry—you desired wealth, fame, and power…all the worldly possessions that man mostly desires. But I saw more than that…I knew then that what I saw upon first meeting you was your mask. You reverted to it in order to protect yourself from the evils that lurk in the world…inside, you are actually a very beautiful soul whose heart was broken by the loss of loved ones starting with your father, Bugenhagen, and then your last love, a man by the name of Angeal. After losing Angeal, you feared getting hurt, and so you built this fortress of evil to guard yourself from another heartbreaking—a fortress you kicked me out of, probably because you still love me. And so I stayed with you not only because I hoped that you would steer your abuse away from Minami, but also because I still saw that side of you."

"What do you see now Vincent?"

"You are lost…you rediscovered the goodness in your heart, and are willing to search for love again…but you have lost yourself because you were stuck for so long in your fortress, and thus, you have lost your path, and are seeking to place yourself back upon it."

"Is that something that your grandfather taught you?"

The surprise in Vincent's eyes at this revelation that she knew his secret had shown, even though he never made any facial movements. "Don't be surprised that I know about your grandfather. Tseng had been helping me for quite some time. I know that you came from the Kage Tribe—the tribe of the shadows. You are the son of Chief Hei Ren Shou, and Ying Lian Hua, the daughter of the shaman Ying Long. Your true name in the tribal dialects is Hei Tian Shi. After the geostigma plague destroyed your tribe and left you as its only survivor, you ran away in sadness where you met Tifa Aihime Lockheart, who would be your sister by bond. Eventually, you came to be adopted by Grimoire Valentine as his son, and you had a good life and repaid your foster father for his kindness by being a good son to him. You then signed up to the Shin-Ra army for the Turks Counterterrorism Unit during the terrorism pandemic. After you used your skills to earn enough money and the pandemic was over, you disbanded the unit, and went to music school. Shortly after, you met me, and the rest is history."

"Very good…although I never did expect to see Tseng helping you out. How was he by the way?"

"He's doing fine—he's currently my double-agent."

"That explains it."

"Vincent, I also wanted to tell you something else—something that will make you question what happened in the past."

There was a look of concern apparent on Vincent's face. "What about?"

"Tseng had also revealed facts about the geostigma epidemic and the events that led up to it: as you probably already know, the independent tribes had been a thorn in Shin-Ra's side since the day they landed on Wutai some two years prior to the events that led to your departure to the orphanage. They were mortal enemies with the company citing that they did not respect nature, and that they sought only to satiate their own greed, keeping vigil over the lines that divided the Kisaragi Empire from the tribal territories. The tribes had attacked any Shin-Ra mining expeditions that had crossed that line—killing only the guards, and destroying the excavation machines and equipment, while leaving those who were unable to fight back alone…it cost the company millions…add the fact that the negotiations to open up Wutai for trade had turned sour, and you have a war against an entire nation. Eventually, the tribes and the Kisaragi Empire had set aside their differences, and driven out the company from the island, making it clear to Shin-Ra that 'no' means 'no'. After winning the war against Shin-Ra, the tribes and the Kisaragi Empire had an alliance in the making…an alliance that was shot down because of one plague.

"Shortly before the peace talks would begin, the leaders started getting weak…and then black spots had started to appear upon their bodies. Before long, many people were infected by this plague known as geostigma, which had caused the deaths of many people, both from the tribes and the Empire. Eventually, Shin-Ra came with a cure, and offered to cure every single citizen of the island nation in exchange for opening trade and for every bit of mako or materia they had. Suffice to say, the tribes and the Kisaragi Empire had no choice but to submit to Shin-Ra's will…I felt sick in the stomach for Tseng then told me that it was Shin-Ra that commissioned Deepground to engineer the plague, and conned the Wutainese people of their land and loved ones. And then I realized—I had been helping these monsters get away with murder! And even worse, according to Tseng, they are developing even more of those accursed weapons!"

Vincent's eyes were filled with shock at this revelation—he was not surprised that Shin-Ra would do this…they were in fact the greedy monsters that his people described them as. What shocked him was that they would even stoop that low at all—and the people actually let them get away with it. His father, his mother, his grandfather, even all of his people—all dead because of the greed of that corporation. It was then that he calmed down and heaved a heavy sight. "What are you going to do Lucrecia?"

"I'm going to go out…and I'm going to kill those murdering fucks! I want to make sure that all the damage that Deepground and Shin-Ra had done will be undone! And most of all, I want to make them pay for what they did to you…and to that woman you now love. I am not telling you to help me…nor am I asking you to assist me. I just wanted to tell you all this before it was too late."

"You're going to attack them soon aren't you?"

Lucrecia didn't say anything. She was going to do it.

"Have you given any thought to telling Minami?"

"There's a good chance that I may not survive this. I want you to tell this truth to her when the time is right…tell her that I'm sorry for everything…tell her that I will always love her…" Tears were threatening to fall and her voice was starting to get choked in sobs at this point. "And I want you to know that even if you never loved me in the first place, although now I know you still cared anyway, that I also love you. Goodbye Vincent…" With that, she ran out of the alleyway with tears staining her eyes. It was then that Vincent watched as she sped around the corner, and he relaxed himself…his eavesdroppers were not doing a good job of being subtle, but he could not blame two of them as they were not that subtle anyway. The third eavesdropper however, was by far the most subtle given her ninjutsu training and he gave her credit, as he didn't hear her heartbeat until after he closed the door behind him. It was then that he got up and walked up the stairs to his room to find Yuffie sitting there on his bed. "Aren't you going to go after her?" she asked.

He simply sat next to Yuffie on the bed. "No. This is not my battle—I know you're angry after learning of what happened to Wutai to sink into to the slums for a while, but the past is the past; there's nothing we can do to change it. This is Lucrecia's fight—I can see in the future that this battle that she will fight is going to make her see her true self; I've only helped to point her to the right direction by being there for her…the rest is up to her, and so she must handle this without me, otherwise, she will forever be lost on the path of life if I do help her."

Yuffie was about to say something before she was interrupted. "But that does not mean that I can't provide some tactical support. Everything she had revealed to me had allowed me to make calculations so complicated that that it would put even the most seasoned of shogi players to shame…something that the shaman in my blood allows. I just need to make a few calls and then…"

Before Vincent could say anymore on the subject, Yuffie quickly turned her body to face him, and then pounced quickly in order to pin him onto the bed with a hug and locking her mouth to his in a most heated and passionate kiss filled with love…nothing but pure and unconditional love. She didn't care who he was in the past—she didn't care what he did…she just wanted him, mind, body, and soul. There was no doubt about it…she wanted to do it…she didn't care about the consequences, and the look in his eyes for her confirmed his love for her. The two of them helped each other to undress…


A/N: For my loyal readers, I will give them a lemon cliffhanger…and start the next chapter with a lemon.


Songs Played:

"Hurricane Suite" by Takanashi Yasuharu

"The Real Folk Blues" by Yoko Kanno and the SEATBELTS


Vocabulary

Hei Ren Shou—Mandarin for 'Black Patience Hand', this is Vincent's dad, and chieftain of the Kage Tribe.

Ying Lian Hua—Mandarin for "Shadow Lotus Flower", this is Vincent's mom.

Ying Long—Mandarin for "Shadow Dragon", Vincent's grandpa, and the shaman of the Kage Tribe.

Hei Tian Shi—Vincent's name in Mandarin, which is literally "Black Angel". I like that name…because it really does suit Vincent's appearance as a black angel.