~Hi-hi! Quite a development, ne? How will Vinnie and Yuffie cope, hm? I'm
not really sure... Anyways, thanks to all my readers for sticking with me
so far, possibly wondering when this bad boy's gonna end. Well, I don't
know that either. Sorry! As for Vic, he does seem to have a bit of a double
personality going. I heard that he seems a bit annoying, and I'm absolutely
delighted that someone thinks so! I think it gives him more personality
than if he were merely all ultimate bad-ass, which he certainly can be. The
reason he's under-rated by Adriana is because she's known him for, like,
ever, and Yuffie... well, Yuffie's supremely confident in her abilities, so
this mere thief is NOTHING! ...Right? Disclaimer: You know that I know that
you know that I own nothing of Final Fantasy, you know? I'm simply a
sadistic fanfic writer who gets no profit from torturing these characters
except a sick bit of pleasure...~
Ninja
~*~9~*~
Yuffie groaned and shifted slightly, feeling the warm cloth atop her move as she did so. Her body felt stiff, as if she'd been sitting still for hours. She sat up slowly and stretched, trying to get the blood flowing properly once more. She yawned and looked around, noting that she was now back in Professor Gast's old house.
{That's weird... I musta fallen asleep while Vinnie was carrying me. Where is he, anyways...?} The events of the previous night rushed back into her sleepy mind in waves and she frowned. {Oh no... I hope he didn't run off...} She ran her hand though her messy hair and her attention was caught by something deep red wrapped around her arm. She blinked in surprise and stared at it.
Vincent's headband was tied neatly around the place where Cyrus had jabbed that giant needle into her arm. Her head reeled and she had to fight off the urge to faint-she really hated shots. But the sight of the familiar crimson cloth brought a smile to her face. Surely Vincent wouldn't leave without his headband... right? She rose from the bed, grinning confidently. {Of course he wouldn't leave yet! Definitely not without this thing!} It was with this thought in mind that she took a few wobbly steps towards the stairs before her balance returned to her completely.
The climbing of the stairs was more difficult than Yuffie felt it should have been. Her legs seemed to be waiting for any good reason to betray her. She'd never been the most graceful of ninjas, but she felt that she ought to have just a bit more control at least! {What the hell was in that thing?} She wondered sullenly as she managed to clear the last stair without collapsing, leaning heavily against the banister. She glared balefully at the wooden handrail as if it had offended her personally. When it did no more than sit there, as inanimate objects are usually wont to do, she settled for cursing it under her breath and moving on.
She looked around the first floor of the house, hoping for a glimpse of her friend. When she found no trace of the dark haired man here, she grimaced and stared indecisively at the metal door that separated her freshly awoken, above all warm, self from the bitter cold of the snow outside. She rolled her eyes and grabbed her scarlet coat from its crumpled spot on the floor, where Vincent had most likely flung it the night before. Her eyes widened in surprise as a small stack of books rolled out from the folds of the cloth, held together by a simple silver cord. She sat down on her coat and undid the knot of the cord, letting the books spill out for her examination.
"M-my diaries!" She gasped, holding a couple of the volumes protectively to her chest. {At least he had the decency to return them... But what are these other books here? 'Isilidous Vaspiris'? Can't read any of this! What the hell kinda language is it? Never seen it before... Maybe Vinnie'll know!} She rose from her position on her coat and shrugged into the warmth of its scarlet folds before bending to retrieve the books from the floor and setting them on the table to wait for her, careful to segregate her diaries from the strange books she couldn't read. She then turned towards the heavy steel door and opened it, wincing slightly as the piercing arctic wind bit into her cheek. Fortunately, the sun's blessed rays warmed her a bit as she moved from the shadows, and she smiled a bit as she began her search.
Once Yuffie managed to adjust to the snow, she actually found herself enjoying her walk through this snowy, out of the way town. She really rather wished she had someone to talk to, and found herself wishing Ana- no, Adriana, she corrected herself- were here. Her eyes darkened slightly at this thought and she cursed herself for having been so inattentive. How could she not have known? Still, she had liked the older woman. {I hope Cyrus doesn't hurt her too much...} She thought, remembering the look on intense pain on her face. Yuffie wasn't sure quite what had happened, but apparently they'd helped Vincent save her. Now Yuffie wasn't quite sure what to make of her brief friend and the annoying bastard, er, Vic.
Yuffie sighed and kicked a bit of snow with the toe of her snowshoes. She suddenly wasn't enjoying herself as much as when she first started her search for Vincent. {It's not like he'll be happy to see me or anything. He's probably off sulking and... Wait! Where do people normally go to sulk? They usually head for a pub, right? Yeah! Wait... Vinnie's not exactly 'normal', though...} An image of a drunk Vincent Valentine zipped though her mind, a lampshade over his head, and she giggled uncontrollably for a few minutes. {Nah, that probably won't happen. But...} She perked up a bit and headed towards the only bar she could remember in Icicle Inn. "It's certainly worth a shot, right?"
She arrived at the entrance to the bar and pushed confidently at the swinging wooden door before her. A blast of cigarette smoke enveloped her in a wave as the door swung open in a loud creek, sending her into a coughing, wheezing fit as she entered. "Gawd... they need to open a window or something, cold air or not!" She managed to choke out once her lungs managed to adapt to the second-hand smoke. They still burned in protest as she slumped down the stone stairs, but she ignored them in favor of scanning the bar for signs of her morose friend.
She was about to abandon her exploration of the bar as a lost cause when something caught her eye. There, in the darkest, gloomiest corner of the bar, sat Vincent Valentine. His head was held up only by one hand as he slumped forward, his ebony hair spilling over his face worse than usual with no headband to keep it at bay. He hadn't seen her, in fact the only thing that seemed to hold his attention was the wine in the glass in front of him, which he stared at as if it held the secrets of the universe. Yuffie couldn't help noticing that even his slumped figure seemed rather elegant. At least he was moping in style. She walked up to him and sat in the seat across from him, waiting to see when he'd notice her.
He eventually raised the glass towards his lips, and right before he swallowed the dark liquid his eyes raised to meet her, widening slightly. He took a slow drink before lowering the glass once more, never breaking eye contact. "Can I assist you, Yuffie?"
Yuffie smiled a bit when he acknowledged her and she leaned back a bit. "Well, you can stop moping, for one thing. You could at least have waited until I woke up before you ran off, you know."
Vincent regarded her coolly, though he did straighten up a bit, leaning back himself and staring at her from behind the cascade of dark hair that nearly obscured his face. "I believed you would have been safer had I not remained in the room."
"Vinnie..." She trailed off, continuing to look him in the eyes. {I wonder why he's not hypnotizing me? That's odd...} "You don't really believe what that madman said, do you? I mean, he was off his rocker! Imagine you, a vam-"
His glare silenced her. She felt a small wave of fear shoot through her, and she averted her gaze as he spoke. "Please lower your voice. It is not wise to discuss such matters in public." His voice cut through her, almost as smooth and level as his glare had been. "Insane though he well is, I find it difficult to discredit what Cyrus said. Either way, I still felt it best to distance myself from you as you slept." He took another sip of his wine, signifying that he felt the discussion was closed.
Yuffie scowled and drummed her fingers against the table as she thought of something to say. Even if he was a... not quite human... she couldn't let him sulk here by himself! After all, she was his friend, whether he liked it or not! "Whatever. It still would've been soooo nice to have woken up to your smiling face, though." She thought she saw the lightest ghost of a smirk, but it disappeared when he shifted his head slightly. "Anyways, what are we supposed to do now?"
This time he did smirk as he arched an eyebrow and regarded her in amusement. "I believe Tifa explained that to you, if you hadn't been quite so keen to antagonize Cid..."
Yuffie had the decency to look slightly embarrassed as she scratched her head nervously. With all the chaos and revenge she'd almost completely forgotten the original reason she was here. To find the kidnappers. "Uh..."
He sighed and downed the rest of his wine in one long draught. He seemed to regard the empty glass almost longingly as he stood. He glanced at her and motioned for her to follow as he placed a few gil on the table and turned to leave. Yuffie fought against her instincts to pocket the money before quickly moving after him, glaring at the leers of a few drunken patrons. One of the ladies in a rather skimpy outfit threw her an envious look and Yuffie was torn between shock and amusement. {As if Vinnie has any sort of interest in that! Well, there was that neck incident...} Yuffie stopped thinking about it, seeing as that led right back to the vampire issue.
They walked in an uncomfortable silence through the snow, and when Yuffie saw Professor Gast's house around the corner she inwardly rejoiced. She was all too eager to immerse herself in the warmth and comfort of their temporary shelter. She sighed happily and smiled as the door shut behind her with a satisfying THUNK. She watched as Vincent paused near the stack of books on the table, running a thin finger across the title and turning to her with a curious expression.
"What are these?" He asked, flipping through 'Isilidous Vaspiris' and closing it thoughtfully before awaiting her answer.
"I don't know. I was hoping you could read them, actually. That Vic guy gave them to me along with my diaries when you were carrying me outta that creepy place." She shrugged. "No go, huh?"
Vincent shook his head absently. "No. I've never seen any language even remotely similar to this." He placed the tome delicately back atop the others and headed down the stairs.
Yuffie followed, stopping briefly at the stack of books to pick them up and carry them down with her. {I might as well pack these away if neither of us can read them.} She thought as she descended the stairwell. She placed them unceremoniously on the bed as she leaned down and began searching beneath for her travel bag. After a few seconds of groping around, her hand came across the cool leather of her bag, and she pulled it out and began to pack the books into it as she noticed Vincent standing over her. "Yes?"
"You may want to retrieve your PHS and report to Tifa as to the location of the kidnappers." He told her as he took a seat upon the end of the bed. Her face scrunched up slightly in annoyance, but she grudgingly brandished the small phone.
She had customized her PHS to automatically speed dial every one of her friends, in a color-coded system of buttons. The pink button, however, would probably never be used again, and this saddened Yuffie to no end. That button used to dial Aeris. She hit the white button, and waited impatiently to hear Tifa's voice. "C'mon... hurry up and answer already!" She grumbled. After a few rings, she was rewarded with Tifa's slightly anxious voice.
"Hello? Tifa Lockhart speaking."
Yuffie grinned. "Hey, Tiff! No need to go sounding all formal and stuff! You're gonna turn into Vinnie if ya keep it up." Yuffie was rewarded with Vincent's slightly annoyed expression and a small giggle from Tifa.
"Hi, Yuffie." Tifa said. "Do you have any news about the kidnappers? Cloud and I met Red, but everything's quiet here in Cosmo Canyon, and Cid and Shera haven't reported back yet." Tifa sounded slightly worried at this.
"How much are ya willing to pay for this information, hm...?" Yuffie giggled. She could practically feel the other woman rolling her eyes over the phone.
"Yuffie...!"
"Just kiddin'! Anyways, I found them."
She heard a gasp on the other end of the receiver. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah. They're here in some abandoned lab or something. Vinnie knows more about it than I do. Tifa... no, nevermind. I'll talk to ya when you guys get here, alright?"
"Right. Good work, Yuffie! I'll go tell Cloud and see if we can get a hold of Cid. Tell Vincent I said 'hi'! See you guys later!" And with a small 'click', the phone was silent. Yuffie pressed the power button on her PHS and stuck it back in her bag.
"Well, they're on their way!" She told the silent man as she rose from the floor and sat next to him on the bed. "So... Now what should we do? It'll take them a few hours to get here at least." She snuck a sideways glance at him. He seemed even more withdrawn than he had when she'd first met him. {And I have this sneaky suspicion as to why...} She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Vinnie..."
He remained silent as he continued to stare down at the floor. She noticed, however, that he didn't try to shrug out from under her hand. She tried to find something to say, since she wasn't exactly experienced at comforting people. She trailed her gaze from him to his headband wrapped around her arm, and she began to unravel it, offering it to him once it was off. "Here."
Her face fell as he made no sign of acknowledging the strip of cloth in her hand. She could feel the first signs of anger beginning to rise within her, but she pushed them down in favor of playing it cool. "Hey, cheer up, Vinnie! It's not that big of a deal, right? I mean, haven't I been calling you that since we met? Vinnie the vamp-"
He cut her off with another glare, but this time she was too angry to pay heed to the fear that his anger inspired in her. "Look! I've had it up to here," she gestured with her hand to somewhere around her nose, "with your attitude, Vinnie! I understand that you're upset, and I'm more than a bit pissed myself, but that's NO reason-"
He turned on her then, grabbing her arms and lowering his head to hers so fast that she didn't even have time to blink. She found herself gulping back her words as his angry dark eyes bore into her, and she felt fear run cold down her spine as he spoke. "You understand nothing," he told her, his voice like iced flames, cold but scathing. She winced as he tightened his grip on her arms, his claw very close to puncturing her delicate flesh.
"Vinnie... it hurts..." She whimpered slightly, unable to grasp that this man who she'd come to trust so much was causing her pain. She stared into his eyes and saw the anger drain from them, replaced instead by shock. He released her and turned away.
"Forgive me... Yuffie. I do not know what came over me," he said as he rose from the bed, staring down at his hands. "I shall leave now."
Yuffie frowned and grabbed his cape, pulling backwards with all her strength. It had the desired effect. Vincent lost his balance and came crashing back down on the bed. The downside was, however, that he landed squarely on Yuffie. "What...?" He asked.
"Ow..." She muttered as she squirmed out from under him. One leg remained pinned, but she managed to tower over his shocked face regardless. "Vincent Valentine! If you think I'm just gonna let you leave like that you're dead wrong! Don't give me that look!" She lectured as his face took on an expression of disbelief. "You and me need to have a little talk, mister. I. Am. Your. Friend. Whether you like it or not. And friends help each other, right? Right. So, I'm gonna help you deal with your vampire issues, 'kay?" She grinned and leaned down until her nose almost touched his nose. "Whether you want me to or not."
Vincent's eyes widened at her speech, and Yuffie decided that he looked kinda cute when he was caught off-guard like that. She shifted her trapped leg slightly. "So if you could, uh, kindly release my leg..."
His face took on an expression of detached curiosity. "And if I refuse?"
Yuffie stared at him. "Uh, I hadn't thought of that..." She fumed at the small smirk that was forming on his face. "Vinnie, you have the weirdest mood swings I've ever seen! Going from murderous to playful like that!" She snapped her fingers, and noted with annoyance that his smirk grew at her ire.
"I'm only trying to gauge your reaction. Since you see it fit to antagonize me by intruding upon my solitude, I decided that some retaliation is in order." Yuffie's eyes were so wide open that she was sure they would pop from her head shortly, and she was sure that her jaw was about to fall off at any moment.
"Are you trying to tell me that YOU are teasing ME?" She asked. "NO WAY! I thought you were supposed to be moping?"
"Well..." he raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought that was what you were against me doing?"
She gaped at him, her witty comebacks having failed her. {Should'a known better than to pick a verbal spar with Mister Irony...} She glared at him. "If you don't move..."
"What will you do?" he asked, a challenge gleaming in his eyes. Yuffie had never seen him so... well, playful. Maybe it was the alcohol.
"I'll tickle you!" She threatened wiggling her fingers menacingly.
His smirk widened even more. "I'm not ticklish." He informed her. And to further convince her of his lack of fright, he placed his arms behind his head and pretended to fall asleep.
"Oh my gawd, Vinnie! What IS your problem, anyways?" she fumed, trying to dig the toe of her captured foot into his back.
"If I'm not mistaken, it appears that you're the one with the problem, Yuffie. I am quite content to lie here, where you seem to have thrown me, and enjoy your frustration at your futile efforts to move me. As a sort of punishment for your insistence that I stay."
Yuffie gave up her attempts to jab him. {C'mon, think! How am I supposed to move this weirdo? If I leave it up to him, we'll probably be here until Cloud and the others show up! I know! Maybe if I embarrass him, he'll get uncomfortable and move! Oh gawd... I hope this works...} She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes tightly shut before reopening them and reaching a hand towards his cheek. "Vinnie..." she said, her voice low and flirty, the way she remembered the women at Costa del Sol talked.
"Yes, Yuffie?" he asked, not opening his eyes. She gulped a bit and wound a lock of his hair around her finger. It was soft, and it moved through her fingers like spun silk. She tried not to get distracted by it.
"Vinnie, would you please move...?" She asked sweetly, trying not to grind her teeth. {Please, Leviathan, let this work...} She ran a finger down his cheek, marveling at how smooth his skin was. "Pretty please?"
She watched as his eyes shot open, and he gripped her hand in his human one. He slowly moved it from his face and turned his gaze on her. She felt some small satisfaction of seeing his face devoid of its previous smirk. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked, still gripping her hand.
She scratched the back of her head with her free hand. "Just tryin' to see if that'd make you move. I think I'm losing feeling in my leg..."
He sat up, and Yuffie felt a wave of relief wash over her, as well as the tingling of her newly released limb. She rubbed it with her hand, trying to get the blood flowing properly again. "Thank gawd!" She sighed. Then she noticed that Vincent was still gripping her hand in his. "Uh, Vinnie? Could I have my hand back now?"
"Hm? Oh. Of course." She thought she heard him mumble something under his breath, but all she could make out was 'chaos', so she shrugged it off.
"So, um..." Yuffie trailed off, not quite sure what to say. {Hey, at least it got him off! Vinnie's strange when he's like that... Now I know what drunk Vinnie's like. It's still no lampshade...} "H-hows about we go get somethin' to eat? The others still won't be here for a while."
Vincent shook his head a bit before focusing on her, and she thought for a minute he would say no. But then he nodded slightly and stood from the bed once more. "Very well. Let us depart, then."
Yuffie grinned and hopped up as well, somewhat relieved that Vincent was back to his old over-serious self. She wasted no time in dragging him through the snow, towards a small café she'd seen near the entrance of the town. It appeared to be the only new building in the whole town of Icicle Inn, and she couldn't wait to try it. She pulled him through the door and flagged down a waiter.
"Table for two, please," she told the man, the smell of food making her stomach grumble in anticipation. "Preferably inside."
"I am so sorry, Ma'am," the waiter bowed, running a hand nervously over his slicked back hair, "but we have no tables available indoors. I can, however, seat you outside...?"
Yuffie was about to protest, but her stomach twisted in anger for being neglected for two days and she nodded. "Oh alright! Hurry it up!"
The man sighed in relief and turned. "If you and your boyfriend would kindly follow me?" He said, guiding them out the doors.
It took Yuffie's irate, hunger driven mind to register his words and she yelled after his retreating form. "He's NOT my boyfriend!" She then fumed as she set about scanning her menu for the most appetizing meal. When the waiter returned, she made it a point to make her order as frustrating and confusing as possible before Vincent cut in and explained what they wanted very simply and quickly.
"Aw, you ruined my fun," she pouted, watched the hapless waiter's retreating form as he disappeared into the café. Vincent sighed.
"I felt you had tormented him enough."
They sat there in silence until their food arrived, and a euphoric expression dominated Yuffie's face as she took her first bite. "Mm... Not as good as your cooking, Vinnie, but GAWD!" She exclaimed before she proceeded to inhale the remaining morsels of food on her plate. Once she had almost literally licked her plate clean, she sat back and looked at Vincent.
"Well?"
"Well what?" he asked, delicately wiping his mouth with his napkin.
"What're we do about this? About you being a... you know." She trailed off.
"Technically, there should be no 'we' to this situation. However, since I doubt you will leave me in peace, I suppose 'we' should start with those books you received from Vic."
"Yeah, but we can't read them!" She frowned, tapping absently at her plate with her fork.
"Then we must find a linguistics scholar who does. Surely there is someone who knows this language," he told her gazing absently at what was left of his food.
"Okay, that makes sense," she nodded. "So, what're we gonna tell Cloud and the others?" she asked, spearing a bit of his bacon with her fork and popping it thoughtfully into her mouth.
She heard Cloud's voice behind her, full of curiosity. "Tell us what?"
~*~ End Chapter ~*~
~Dun dun DUN! Oh my, how ARE they going to break the news to the group? How LONG can I possibly keep this mother going? Find out later! ^_^ *Giggles* Drunken Vinnie... Too bad he wasn't quite drunk enough for that lampshade though, ne? That would be amusing... Remember, Kai with reviews is a happy and inspired Kai! Ja!~
~Kai
Ninja
~*~9~*~
Yuffie groaned and shifted slightly, feeling the warm cloth atop her move as she did so. Her body felt stiff, as if she'd been sitting still for hours. She sat up slowly and stretched, trying to get the blood flowing properly once more. She yawned and looked around, noting that she was now back in Professor Gast's old house.
{That's weird... I musta fallen asleep while Vinnie was carrying me. Where is he, anyways...?} The events of the previous night rushed back into her sleepy mind in waves and she frowned. {Oh no... I hope he didn't run off...} She ran her hand though her messy hair and her attention was caught by something deep red wrapped around her arm. She blinked in surprise and stared at it.
Vincent's headband was tied neatly around the place where Cyrus had jabbed that giant needle into her arm. Her head reeled and she had to fight off the urge to faint-she really hated shots. But the sight of the familiar crimson cloth brought a smile to her face. Surely Vincent wouldn't leave without his headband... right? She rose from the bed, grinning confidently. {Of course he wouldn't leave yet! Definitely not without this thing!} It was with this thought in mind that she took a few wobbly steps towards the stairs before her balance returned to her completely.
The climbing of the stairs was more difficult than Yuffie felt it should have been. Her legs seemed to be waiting for any good reason to betray her. She'd never been the most graceful of ninjas, but she felt that she ought to have just a bit more control at least! {What the hell was in that thing?} She wondered sullenly as she managed to clear the last stair without collapsing, leaning heavily against the banister. She glared balefully at the wooden handrail as if it had offended her personally. When it did no more than sit there, as inanimate objects are usually wont to do, she settled for cursing it under her breath and moving on.
She looked around the first floor of the house, hoping for a glimpse of her friend. When she found no trace of the dark haired man here, she grimaced and stared indecisively at the metal door that separated her freshly awoken, above all warm, self from the bitter cold of the snow outside. She rolled her eyes and grabbed her scarlet coat from its crumpled spot on the floor, where Vincent had most likely flung it the night before. Her eyes widened in surprise as a small stack of books rolled out from the folds of the cloth, held together by a simple silver cord. She sat down on her coat and undid the knot of the cord, letting the books spill out for her examination.
"M-my diaries!" She gasped, holding a couple of the volumes protectively to her chest. {At least he had the decency to return them... But what are these other books here? 'Isilidous Vaspiris'? Can't read any of this! What the hell kinda language is it? Never seen it before... Maybe Vinnie'll know!} She rose from her position on her coat and shrugged into the warmth of its scarlet folds before bending to retrieve the books from the floor and setting them on the table to wait for her, careful to segregate her diaries from the strange books she couldn't read. She then turned towards the heavy steel door and opened it, wincing slightly as the piercing arctic wind bit into her cheek. Fortunately, the sun's blessed rays warmed her a bit as she moved from the shadows, and she smiled a bit as she began her search.
Once Yuffie managed to adjust to the snow, she actually found herself enjoying her walk through this snowy, out of the way town. She really rather wished she had someone to talk to, and found herself wishing Ana- no, Adriana, she corrected herself- were here. Her eyes darkened slightly at this thought and she cursed herself for having been so inattentive. How could she not have known? Still, she had liked the older woman. {I hope Cyrus doesn't hurt her too much...} She thought, remembering the look on intense pain on her face. Yuffie wasn't sure quite what had happened, but apparently they'd helped Vincent save her. Now Yuffie wasn't quite sure what to make of her brief friend and the annoying bastard, er, Vic.
Yuffie sighed and kicked a bit of snow with the toe of her snowshoes. She suddenly wasn't enjoying herself as much as when she first started her search for Vincent. {It's not like he'll be happy to see me or anything. He's probably off sulking and... Wait! Where do people normally go to sulk? They usually head for a pub, right? Yeah! Wait... Vinnie's not exactly 'normal', though...} An image of a drunk Vincent Valentine zipped though her mind, a lampshade over his head, and she giggled uncontrollably for a few minutes. {Nah, that probably won't happen. But...} She perked up a bit and headed towards the only bar she could remember in Icicle Inn. "It's certainly worth a shot, right?"
She arrived at the entrance to the bar and pushed confidently at the swinging wooden door before her. A blast of cigarette smoke enveloped her in a wave as the door swung open in a loud creek, sending her into a coughing, wheezing fit as she entered. "Gawd... they need to open a window or something, cold air or not!" She managed to choke out once her lungs managed to adapt to the second-hand smoke. They still burned in protest as she slumped down the stone stairs, but she ignored them in favor of scanning the bar for signs of her morose friend.
She was about to abandon her exploration of the bar as a lost cause when something caught her eye. There, in the darkest, gloomiest corner of the bar, sat Vincent Valentine. His head was held up only by one hand as he slumped forward, his ebony hair spilling over his face worse than usual with no headband to keep it at bay. He hadn't seen her, in fact the only thing that seemed to hold his attention was the wine in the glass in front of him, which he stared at as if it held the secrets of the universe. Yuffie couldn't help noticing that even his slumped figure seemed rather elegant. At least he was moping in style. She walked up to him and sat in the seat across from him, waiting to see when he'd notice her.
He eventually raised the glass towards his lips, and right before he swallowed the dark liquid his eyes raised to meet her, widening slightly. He took a slow drink before lowering the glass once more, never breaking eye contact. "Can I assist you, Yuffie?"
Yuffie smiled a bit when he acknowledged her and she leaned back a bit. "Well, you can stop moping, for one thing. You could at least have waited until I woke up before you ran off, you know."
Vincent regarded her coolly, though he did straighten up a bit, leaning back himself and staring at her from behind the cascade of dark hair that nearly obscured his face. "I believed you would have been safer had I not remained in the room."
"Vinnie..." She trailed off, continuing to look him in the eyes. {I wonder why he's not hypnotizing me? That's odd...} "You don't really believe what that madman said, do you? I mean, he was off his rocker! Imagine you, a vam-"
His glare silenced her. She felt a small wave of fear shoot through her, and she averted her gaze as he spoke. "Please lower your voice. It is not wise to discuss such matters in public." His voice cut through her, almost as smooth and level as his glare had been. "Insane though he well is, I find it difficult to discredit what Cyrus said. Either way, I still felt it best to distance myself from you as you slept." He took another sip of his wine, signifying that he felt the discussion was closed.
Yuffie scowled and drummed her fingers against the table as she thought of something to say. Even if he was a... not quite human... she couldn't let him sulk here by himself! After all, she was his friend, whether he liked it or not! "Whatever. It still would've been soooo nice to have woken up to your smiling face, though." She thought she saw the lightest ghost of a smirk, but it disappeared when he shifted his head slightly. "Anyways, what are we supposed to do now?"
This time he did smirk as he arched an eyebrow and regarded her in amusement. "I believe Tifa explained that to you, if you hadn't been quite so keen to antagonize Cid..."
Yuffie had the decency to look slightly embarrassed as she scratched her head nervously. With all the chaos and revenge she'd almost completely forgotten the original reason she was here. To find the kidnappers. "Uh..."
He sighed and downed the rest of his wine in one long draught. He seemed to regard the empty glass almost longingly as he stood. He glanced at her and motioned for her to follow as he placed a few gil on the table and turned to leave. Yuffie fought against her instincts to pocket the money before quickly moving after him, glaring at the leers of a few drunken patrons. One of the ladies in a rather skimpy outfit threw her an envious look and Yuffie was torn between shock and amusement. {As if Vinnie has any sort of interest in that! Well, there was that neck incident...} Yuffie stopped thinking about it, seeing as that led right back to the vampire issue.
They walked in an uncomfortable silence through the snow, and when Yuffie saw Professor Gast's house around the corner she inwardly rejoiced. She was all too eager to immerse herself in the warmth and comfort of their temporary shelter. She sighed happily and smiled as the door shut behind her with a satisfying THUNK. She watched as Vincent paused near the stack of books on the table, running a thin finger across the title and turning to her with a curious expression.
"What are these?" He asked, flipping through 'Isilidous Vaspiris' and closing it thoughtfully before awaiting her answer.
"I don't know. I was hoping you could read them, actually. That Vic guy gave them to me along with my diaries when you were carrying me outta that creepy place." She shrugged. "No go, huh?"
Vincent shook his head absently. "No. I've never seen any language even remotely similar to this." He placed the tome delicately back atop the others and headed down the stairs.
Yuffie followed, stopping briefly at the stack of books to pick them up and carry them down with her. {I might as well pack these away if neither of us can read them.} She thought as she descended the stairwell. She placed them unceremoniously on the bed as she leaned down and began searching beneath for her travel bag. After a few seconds of groping around, her hand came across the cool leather of her bag, and she pulled it out and began to pack the books into it as she noticed Vincent standing over her. "Yes?"
"You may want to retrieve your PHS and report to Tifa as to the location of the kidnappers." He told her as he took a seat upon the end of the bed. Her face scrunched up slightly in annoyance, but she grudgingly brandished the small phone.
She had customized her PHS to automatically speed dial every one of her friends, in a color-coded system of buttons. The pink button, however, would probably never be used again, and this saddened Yuffie to no end. That button used to dial Aeris. She hit the white button, and waited impatiently to hear Tifa's voice. "C'mon... hurry up and answer already!" She grumbled. After a few rings, she was rewarded with Tifa's slightly anxious voice.
"Hello? Tifa Lockhart speaking."
Yuffie grinned. "Hey, Tiff! No need to go sounding all formal and stuff! You're gonna turn into Vinnie if ya keep it up." Yuffie was rewarded with Vincent's slightly annoyed expression and a small giggle from Tifa.
"Hi, Yuffie." Tifa said. "Do you have any news about the kidnappers? Cloud and I met Red, but everything's quiet here in Cosmo Canyon, and Cid and Shera haven't reported back yet." Tifa sounded slightly worried at this.
"How much are ya willing to pay for this information, hm...?" Yuffie giggled. She could practically feel the other woman rolling her eyes over the phone.
"Yuffie...!"
"Just kiddin'! Anyways, I found them."
She heard a gasp on the other end of the receiver. "Are you serious?"
"Yeah. They're here in some abandoned lab or something. Vinnie knows more about it than I do. Tifa... no, nevermind. I'll talk to ya when you guys get here, alright?"
"Right. Good work, Yuffie! I'll go tell Cloud and see if we can get a hold of Cid. Tell Vincent I said 'hi'! See you guys later!" And with a small 'click', the phone was silent. Yuffie pressed the power button on her PHS and stuck it back in her bag.
"Well, they're on their way!" She told the silent man as she rose from the floor and sat next to him on the bed. "So... Now what should we do? It'll take them a few hours to get here at least." She snuck a sideways glance at him. He seemed even more withdrawn than he had when she'd first met him. {And I have this sneaky suspicion as to why...} She placed a hand on his shoulder. "Vinnie..."
He remained silent as he continued to stare down at the floor. She noticed, however, that he didn't try to shrug out from under her hand. She tried to find something to say, since she wasn't exactly experienced at comforting people. She trailed her gaze from him to his headband wrapped around her arm, and she began to unravel it, offering it to him once it was off. "Here."
Her face fell as he made no sign of acknowledging the strip of cloth in her hand. She could feel the first signs of anger beginning to rise within her, but she pushed them down in favor of playing it cool. "Hey, cheer up, Vinnie! It's not that big of a deal, right? I mean, haven't I been calling you that since we met? Vinnie the vamp-"
He cut her off with another glare, but this time she was too angry to pay heed to the fear that his anger inspired in her. "Look! I've had it up to here," she gestured with her hand to somewhere around her nose, "with your attitude, Vinnie! I understand that you're upset, and I'm more than a bit pissed myself, but that's NO reason-"
He turned on her then, grabbing her arms and lowering his head to hers so fast that she didn't even have time to blink. She found herself gulping back her words as his angry dark eyes bore into her, and she felt fear run cold down her spine as he spoke. "You understand nothing," he told her, his voice like iced flames, cold but scathing. She winced as he tightened his grip on her arms, his claw very close to puncturing her delicate flesh.
"Vinnie... it hurts..." She whimpered slightly, unable to grasp that this man who she'd come to trust so much was causing her pain. She stared into his eyes and saw the anger drain from them, replaced instead by shock. He released her and turned away.
"Forgive me... Yuffie. I do not know what came over me," he said as he rose from the bed, staring down at his hands. "I shall leave now."
Yuffie frowned and grabbed his cape, pulling backwards with all her strength. It had the desired effect. Vincent lost his balance and came crashing back down on the bed. The downside was, however, that he landed squarely on Yuffie. "What...?" He asked.
"Ow..." She muttered as she squirmed out from under him. One leg remained pinned, but she managed to tower over his shocked face regardless. "Vincent Valentine! If you think I'm just gonna let you leave like that you're dead wrong! Don't give me that look!" She lectured as his face took on an expression of disbelief. "You and me need to have a little talk, mister. I. Am. Your. Friend. Whether you like it or not. And friends help each other, right? Right. So, I'm gonna help you deal with your vampire issues, 'kay?" She grinned and leaned down until her nose almost touched his nose. "Whether you want me to or not."
Vincent's eyes widened at her speech, and Yuffie decided that he looked kinda cute when he was caught off-guard like that. She shifted her trapped leg slightly. "So if you could, uh, kindly release my leg..."
His face took on an expression of detached curiosity. "And if I refuse?"
Yuffie stared at him. "Uh, I hadn't thought of that..." She fumed at the small smirk that was forming on his face. "Vinnie, you have the weirdest mood swings I've ever seen! Going from murderous to playful like that!" She snapped her fingers, and noted with annoyance that his smirk grew at her ire.
"I'm only trying to gauge your reaction. Since you see it fit to antagonize me by intruding upon my solitude, I decided that some retaliation is in order." Yuffie's eyes were so wide open that she was sure they would pop from her head shortly, and she was sure that her jaw was about to fall off at any moment.
"Are you trying to tell me that YOU are teasing ME?" She asked. "NO WAY! I thought you were supposed to be moping?"
"Well..." he raised an eyebrow at her. "I thought that was what you were against me doing?"
She gaped at him, her witty comebacks having failed her. {Should'a known better than to pick a verbal spar with Mister Irony...} She glared at him. "If you don't move..."
"What will you do?" he asked, a challenge gleaming in his eyes. Yuffie had never seen him so... well, playful. Maybe it was the alcohol.
"I'll tickle you!" She threatened wiggling her fingers menacingly.
His smirk widened even more. "I'm not ticklish." He informed her. And to further convince her of his lack of fright, he placed his arms behind his head and pretended to fall asleep.
"Oh my gawd, Vinnie! What IS your problem, anyways?" she fumed, trying to dig the toe of her captured foot into his back.
"If I'm not mistaken, it appears that you're the one with the problem, Yuffie. I am quite content to lie here, where you seem to have thrown me, and enjoy your frustration at your futile efforts to move me. As a sort of punishment for your insistence that I stay."
Yuffie gave up her attempts to jab him. {C'mon, think! How am I supposed to move this weirdo? If I leave it up to him, we'll probably be here until Cloud and the others show up! I know! Maybe if I embarrass him, he'll get uncomfortable and move! Oh gawd... I hope this works...} She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes tightly shut before reopening them and reaching a hand towards his cheek. "Vinnie..." she said, her voice low and flirty, the way she remembered the women at Costa del Sol talked.
"Yes, Yuffie?" he asked, not opening his eyes. She gulped a bit and wound a lock of his hair around her finger. It was soft, and it moved through her fingers like spun silk. She tried not to get distracted by it.
"Vinnie, would you please move...?" She asked sweetly, trying not to grind her teeth. {Please, Leviathan, let this work...} She ran a finger down his cheek, marveling at how smooth his skin was. "Pretty please?"
She watched as his eyes shot open, and he gripped her hand in his human one. He slowly moved it from his face and turned his gaze on her. She felt some small satisfaction of seeing his face devoid of its previous smirk. "What do you think you're doing?" he asked, still gripping her hand.
She scratched the back of her head with her free hand. "Just tryin' to see if that'd make you move. I think I'm losing feeling in my leg..."
He sat up, and Yuffie felt a wave of relief wash over her, as well as the tingling of her newly released limb. She rubbed it with her hand, trying to get the blood flowing properly again. "Thank gawd!" She sighed. Then she noticed that Vincent was still gripping her hand in his. "Uh, Vinnie? Could I have my hand back now?"
"Hm? Oh. Of course." She thought she heard him mumble something under his breath, but all she could make out was 'chaos', so she shrugged it off.
"So, um..." Yuffie trailed off, not quite sure what to say. {Hey, at least it got him off! Vinnie's strange when he's like that... Now I know what drunk Vinnie's like. It's still no lampshade...} "H-hows about we go get somethin' to eat? The others still won't be here for a while."
Vincent shook his head a bit before focusing on her, and she thought for a minute he would say no. But then he nodded slightly and stood from the bed once more. "Very well. Let us depart, then."
Yuffie grinned and hopped up as well, somewhat relieved that Vincent was back to his old over-serious self. She wasted no time in dragging him through the snow, towards a small café she'd seen near the entrance of the town. It appeared to be the only new building in the whole town of Icicle Inn, and she couldn't wait to try it. She pulled him through the door and flagged down a waiter.
"Table for two, please," she told the man, the smell of food making her stomach grumble in anticipation. "Preferably inside."
"I am so sorry, Ma'am," the waiter bowed, running a hand nervously over his slicked back hair, "but we have no tables available indoors. I can, however, seat you outside...?"
Yuffie was about to protest, but her stomach twisted in anger for being neglected for two days and she nodded. "Oh alright! Hurry it up!"
The man sighed in relief and turned. "If you and your boyfriend would kindly follow me?" He said, guiding them out the doors.
It took Yuffie's irate, hunger driven mind to register his words and she yelled after his retreating form. "He's NOT my boyfriend!" She then fumed as she set about scanning her menu for the most appetizing meal. When the waiter returned, she made it a point to make her order as frustrating and confusing as possible before Vincent cut in and explained what they wanted very simply and quickly.
"Aw, you ruined my fun," she pouted, watched the hapless waiter's retreating form as he disappeared into the café. Vincent sighed.
"I felt you had tormented him enough."
They sat there in silence until their food arrived, and a euphoric expression dominated Yuffie's face as she took her first bite. "Mm... Not as good as your cooking, Vinnie, but GAWD!" She exclaimed before she proceeded to inhale the remaining morsels of food on her plate. Once she had almost literally licked her plate clean, she sat back and looked at Vincent.
"Well?"
"Well what?" he asked, delicately wiping his mouth with his napkin.
"What're we do about this? About you being a... you know." She trailed off.
"Technically, there should be no 'we' to this situation. However, since I doubt you will leave me in peace, I suppose 'we' should start with those books you received from Vic."
"Yeah, but we can't read them!" She frowned, tapping absently at her plate with her fork.
"Then we must find a linguistics scholar who does. Surely there is someone who knows this language," he told her gazing absently at what was left of his food.
"Okay, that makes sense," she nodded. "So, what're we gonna tell Cloud and the others?" she asked, spearing a bit of his bacon with her fork and popping it thoughtfully into her mouth.
She heard Cloud's voice behind her, full of curiosity. "Tell us what?"
~*~ End Chapter ~*~
~Dun dun DUN! Oh my, how ARE they going to break the news to the group? How LONG can I possibly keep this mother going? Find out later! ^_^ *Giggles* Drunken Vinnie... Too bad he wasn't quite drunk enough for that lampshade though, ne? That would be amusing... Remember, Kai with reviews is a happy and inspired Kai! Ja!~
~Kai
