Hi people! Hope you are well. :) Here is the next chapter, not as long as others, but I'll make the next one a bit longer if you'd like.

Again, I don't own Final Fantasy VII.

"So you didn't see any other remnants apart from those five you followed?"

"No Reeve. Just five." I said for the second time, already bored with this conversation, "I mean, we saw loads of rooms with high-tech stuff in 'em, and there were a few labs with all sorts of chemically freaky looking liquids…"

"Laboratories? Really?" he asked, seemingly surprised.

"Yes." Vincent said, speaking for the first time, "I assume any research gathered will be in their files." he gestured towards the disk and memory stick on Reeve's desk.

Reeve nodded. "Good work. I'll take a look at these. So, there's nothing else for you two to do…for now. You're free to go."

"Thank you, oh generous and kind boss man." I said, grinning. Reeve smiled and rolled his eyes.

"Goodbye Yuffie." he said, sitting down at his desk.

I walked out of Reeve's office with Vincent. I felt a bit more comfortable around him now, but still…

"Yuffie? Would you still like to stay at my apartment, or would you prefer to stay at Tifa's?"

I blinked in surprise. "I wanna stay with you, duh." I replied, as though it was the stupidest question in the world.

The corners of his mouth twitched up into an involuntary smile before he could stop it, and I smiled too. Then my phone buzzed. I pulled it out of my back pocket and checked it. It was a text message, from Kai.

Unexpectedly, I felt a tiny bit guilty. Gawd, I was gonna have to tell him what almost happened. Key word there, 'almost'. It was no big deal. I'd just have to explain calmly and swiftly that everything was fine, and that me and Vincent are just friends. He'll understand.

I hope.

"Yuffie?" Vincent's voice jerked me out of my thoughts.

"Oh, sorry. Zoned out for a minute there." I had a habit of doing that at the most inconvenient times…

I clicked 'read' and the text message popped up. There was an address that was pretty close to the Seventh Heaven, along with the message 'Address to my temporary apartment. Come visit l8er, if ur not busy. x'

Huh, well, at least I had a husband who understood text language. And a kiss on the end too, aren't I privileged? I was worried about seeing him, but I guess this is the perfect opportunity to tell him about the 'almost' incident.

Vincent waited patiently next to me. I smirked, thinking of a way to lighten my mood.

"Hey Vinnie, can you understand what this says?" I asked, holding up my phone so he could read the message. Teehee, this should be good.

He raised an eyebrow and scanned the message. I expected a small amount of confusion at the text language, but instead I was surprised to see anger flit across his features before his expression smoothed out quickly.

I didn't understand how the text message could have possibly offended him.

"…If you are referring to the L-8-E-R, it means later. And U-R means your or you are, though it's grammatically incorrect." he said nonchalantly.

I laughed.

"Way to go Vinnie! You understand text language! Who taught you?"

"You did." he replied, "Even though it took me a while to figure out your messages."

I grinned. "I bet you thought it was some top secret code at first right? That's what Godo thought whenever I sent him a text message. But, look at you, sixty years old and able to understand us young whippersnappers . I have taught you well."

He rolled his eyes.

We walked back to his apartment in silence. I was thinking about the exact words I could use to tell Kai about the 'almost' incident. I wonder if he'll be angry? Probably. Actually, there will most likely be a shouting match when I tell him…

"Yuffie?"

I looked up at Vincent, who was staring at me with something close to concern in his eyes. "Are you going to go see Kai?"

"Oh, yeah. Um…I might as well go now. Be back soon." I smiled and gave him a small but energetic wave.

He nodded his head once. I walked past the apartment building as he went inside. Okay, the address Kai gave me was only a few streets away from the Seventh Heaven. A ninja should be able to find it, easy!

-x-

Turned out, it wasn't that easy to find after all. Even for a ninja. And no, it wasn't my bad sense of direction this time! The flat Kai had purchased was a fair bit away from the bustling streets I was used to. You had to go down a couple of alleyways to get there, and I kept walking past the turn of I was supposed to go down.

Eventually though, I found it. And on the bright side, I had plenty of time to think through what I was going to say to him.

I sighed in apprehension before knocking on the door rather loudly. Kai answered almost immediately.

"Yuffie!" he smiled, looking pleased to see me, before pulling me into an unexpected hug. I was surprised, but hugged him back anyway.

"Hey," I greeted, "I guess you missed me."

He chuckled. "A bit." he admitted, pulling away and taking my hand instead. "Come in, I want to talk to you."

I swallowed nervously as Kai closed the door behind me.

'Yeah, I just wanted to tell you something too Kai,' I thought, 'I only almost kissed another guy earlier today, very nearly disgracing myself as the Princess of Wutai as well as my marriage to you. So yeah, no biggie.' I cleared my throat. "Yeah, I wanted to talk to you too."

"Oh?" he looked curious, "What about?"

"You first." I said. He smiled at me and led me over to a cream coloured loveseat, pulling me down by the hand to sit next to him.

"Well…your Father, and myself, want you to come back to Wutai."

I scrunched up my nose in distain and opened my mouth to retort, but Kai held up a hand to stop me.

"I know, I know. You don't want to, I told Godo that. But he wasn't having any of it so I promised I'd try to talk you into coming back. Honestly, you've been gone only a few days and Wutai is lost without you. However did they all manage when you were saving the planet?" he smiled at me affectionately, which made me feel a little guilty. I smiled back.

"Well, they adapted before, I'm sure they can do it again. Wutai will be fine. If the Royal Council really start stressing though, you might wanna threaten to fire them…works every time." I grinned evilly.

Kai laughed, then frowned. "Can we do that?"

I nodded. "Can and will, we rule the place right? Well, we're second in command to Godo, but it still counts."

"I'll remember that." he smirked and shook his head, before looking up and blasting me with what I was sure was full-force, gold tinted, pleading puppy-dog eyes, "Are you sure you don't want to come back? Isn't there anything I can do to convince you? A bribe maybe…materia?"

I pouted. Those puppy-dog eyes rivalled even mine. So darn cute! "No." I said firmly, "I'm staying with my friend Vincent for a while, and that is final."

I crossed my arms defensively, and Kai draped an arm around my shoulders. "I knew you wouldn't come back. Once you decide on something, you stick with it."

Maybe Kai knew me better than I thought…he was such a sweetheart. I smiled and leaned into him. "If I came back, poor Vinnie would be so disappointed, I'm sure. Can't let him miss out on the opportunity to share his home with such a hot ninja."

I heard Kai make a non-comitial noise in his throat, and I looked up to see his expression. He looked thoughtful. "Vincent Valentine…the man who threatened me at our wedding, no?"

I bit my lip. "Yeah, you guys didn't get off to a good start. But Vinnie is an awesome guy, he really is. I'm sure you'll get along…in time." That last sentence, I didn't really believe.

Kai smiled wryly. "Huh. I don't think he likes me all that much, Yuffie. I wonder why that is?"

"Uh…" I didn't know what to say to that.

"I think he's just jealous." Kai said, pulling me onto his lap. Oh dear, mega guilt trip.

I smiled back with some difficulty. "Well yeah, come on, who wouldn't be? You have the hottest wife on Gaia."

Kai chuckled, seemingly agreeing. "You and Vincent seem especially close." he commented, beginning to rub my back gently.

Uh oh. We were getting closer to the subject I was supposed to bring up. Closer to telling Kai about the 'almost' incident. My heartbeat began to accelerate.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah we are." I responded, beginning to gnaw on my bottom lip out of nervous habit.

Kai smiled, oblivious to my uneasiness. "You're always paired with him for missions for the WRO aren't you?"

Oh well, here's my opening; "Yeah. We were sent on one yesterday actually."

He looked vaguely interested. "Doing what? Or aren't you allowed to tell me?"

"Just sorting out some troublesome remnants, nothing major." I avoided his eyes.

"And you got back today? That was quick." he sounded impressed.

"Me and Vinnie make a pretty awesome team. In fact, we would have been able to do it in under twenty four hours if I hadn't got hurt."

Kai frowned. "Are you okay now?" he asked, giving me a once over.

I smiled slightly. "Yeah, Vincent healed me, but we had to check into a hotel for the night so I could rest."

I saw something in his eyes that wasn't present a few seconds ago. Suspicion maybe? Well, it wouldn't be entirely misguided…

"In the same room? Did he need to look after you?" his tone had changed as well.

"Uh, well…" Here was my opportunity to tell him, but gawd, how bad does it sound? 'Well, we ended up sharing a bed because I crawled in with him, and in the morning…oh yeah, we almost kissed.' Eek!

Kai was looking at me expectantly. I sighed. "Basically, I had a really bad nightmare, so I asked if I could sleep with him and then in the morning, we almost kissed. I almost kissed him."

Kai blinked, then his hand froze on my back as he tensed up. "Excuse me?" he sounded choked.

I swallowed. "But, it wasn't like I cheated on you or anything! I mean, nothing happened! Yeah we shared a bed, but we didn't do anything. We almost kissed." I stressed the word. "Nearly. That doesn't mean anything. Me and Vinnie are just good friends. It was just like, a knee-jerk reaction 'cos our faces were so close together…" Maybe you should stop talking now Yuffie, judging by the expression on your husbands face.

He pushed me off his lap. "A knee-jerk reaction?" he sounded incredulous. "You're married and you nearly kissed another man, and you call it a knee-jerk reaction?"

"Well that's what it was…"

"What the hell were you thinking?" he asked loudly, standing up.

"I wasn't. I just did it without thought. He did too."

"So you're saying you kissed him?"

"No! Almost!" Important word that, makes a big difference. But…would I have kissed him, if his phone hadn't interrupted?

"I don't believe you! We've been married for less than a week, and already you're going behind my back, seeing other men!"

My mouth dropped open in shock. I stood up defiantly. "I don't believe you! We've been married less than a week, and already you have major trust issues with me!"

"Well, that distrust isn't exactly false is it?"

"What are you trying to say? Nothing happened!"

"I'm not implying anything." Kai told me, though his sneer said otherwise, "And something quite obviously did happen if you're telling me about it!"

I glared at him. "Bearing in mind, that we are married, however unhappily, and I thought my husband should know what almost happened."

He laughed without humour. "So, nothing happened or something 'almost' happened? Which is it?"

"We almost kissed!" I threw my hands up in frustration, "Big deal!"

"Yeah it is a big deal! You can't be seeing other guys when you're married to me!"

"I'm not seeing any other guys!" I shouted, "I didn't kiss him, so it's completely meaningless!"

"But you're obviously attracted to him, otherwise it wouldn't have got that close would it?" Kai shouted back, pointing an accusing finger at me.

"So, what's your point?"

"You're not even denying it!"

"What would be the point in that? You're just twisting everything I say and make it sound ten times worse than it actually is!"

"Yuffie, do you know what would happen if you had an affair? You'd be disgraced! Disowned by your Father! Banished from Wutai! Along with many other consequences and punishments!"

"I know that!" I yelled, "But I haven't! And I won't! Maybe if you gave a little more attention, then you wouldn't have anything to worry about!"

"So you're saying it's me? I'm the problem?"

"Yeah you are! I never even wanted to marry you in the first place! I think you constantly forget this is an arranged marriage! I don't love you!"

Kai's handsome features distorted in pain, and I instantly felt a flood of remorse. But the remorse was quickly replaced with fear when he picked up the glass he'd been drinking from and hurled it at me. I managed to dodge it, though it missed my shoulder my inches. I winced as it shattered against the wall with a loud smashing sound, and sharp bits of glass flew everywhere along with the dark liquid previously inside the cup.

"GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" he roared.

I did not need to be told twice. I fled the house and ran away as fast as I could.

-x-

I didn't stop running until I'd found my way back to Vincent's apartment. I tumbled through the door and shut it quickly behind me, before leaning against it to support my trembling legs.

I was a little shaken, I'll admit.

I took a deep breath. Breathing helps. Okay, Kai was scarily angry. I can't believe he threw a glass at me! I could have really been hurt!

I looked up as Vincent walked into the hallway. "Yuffie, what's wrong?" he asked, an undercurrent of concern in his voice.

I rushed over to him and enveloped him in a tight hug. He put his hands on the small of my back lightly. "Kai just…scared me a bit." I said.

"Scared you how?"

"He…" Should I tell Vincent what happened? I remembered how he threatened Kai before…and decided against it. "He just got a bit angry when I told him we nearly kissed."

Vincent pulled back to look at my expression. I smiled reassuringly. He didn't seem convinced.

"What did he do to frighten you?" he asked, scanning my face.

I felt uncomfortable at his scrutiny, and wriggled out of his arms. "Nothing. He just shouted a lot."

He frowned slightly. "What else?"

He knew there was more. I tried to make my expression blank like he did. "He yelled really loud. That's it. Honestly, I thought my ears were gonna bleed."

Vincent gazed at me with an eyebrow raised for a few seconds, before deciding to let it go; he shook his head and sighed.

"Come on Vince, I'm hungry! You got any cheesecake?" I took his hand and pulled him back into the living room.

"Unfortunately not." he answered, surprising me by keeping my hand as we walked through the living room and into the kitchen.

"Ah, damn. That won't do if I'm gonna be living here. I must have deserts galore. We have to go shopping tomorrow." I told him sternly. He nodded.

"If that's what you want." he replied. I smiled.

"That is a good attitude to have when living with a Princess Vinnie. Remember that."

He smiled slightly.

Did you like it? Yes? Why? No? Why? 0_0

Okay, we are slowly but surely getting somewhere. Next chapter...what are those remnants up to? Is Yuffie going back to Wutai anytime soon? And just when in Leviathans name will Kai get run over by a bus or something? (Not that I'm saying that's gonna happen...I have more imagination than that! But, say if I did kill off Kai for being so evil to Yuffie...how should it be done? Oh, wow. I'm so evil. :D)

Thanks for reading!

xoxo