Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII—all SquareEnix's :)

Author's note: Thank you so much for the reviews. They mean so much to me!

Chapter 10

Sounds of eagles crying could be heard as an icy air of dew woke the ninja up. Shivering slightly, she sat up, yawning widely. In front of her were ashes of last night's fire. Pale sunlight seeped through the gaps and the opening of the cave. Something's different. She jumped up and stared wildly around her.

Where's Vincent?!

As fast as she could, she packed up her belongings and rushed out of the cave. It must be around 5 or 6am, as the sun was just rising.

"Damnit, he ditched me!"

She reached for her cell phone and dialed Vinnie eagerly. A moment later, a familiar ringtone echoed from her bag.

"Huh?" Rummaging, she grabbed the black vibrating phone of Vincent Valentine.

Caller: Ninja

Yuffie narrowed her eyes angrily. "He left his phone in the sleeping bag? Seriously?!"

She sat down on a rock and threw her bag roughly onto the trail. Irritably, Yuffie began scrolling through Vincent's phone - Contacts, Messages, Inbox -

Something caught her attention. Vincent's inbox wasn't particularly exciting, as there were only 10 messages. But the newest message with a familiar phone number interested the girl. The number wasn't added to the Contacts list, but Yuffie recognized it at once. She pressed the "open" button.

"Ok, let's meet there. 9pm."

"There? Where's 'there'? And why are they meeting?" Yuffie squinted her eyes, mind racing. She reached for her shorts' pocket and took out her phone. Flipping it open, she dialed Fire-Head.

Probably too early for him to have waken up...

"Mornin' Yuffie-chan~!"

Yuffie was surprised. "Huh? You're up already? What are you - where are you?"

Reno didn't need to answer her since she could hear the loud flapping sound of a helicopter.

"I'm flying the helicopter!" Reno yelled amidst the noise. "Got somethin' to do for boss!"

"Reno," (Rude's voice could be heard in the background), "land in that grassy pitch there - NO - watch out the Nibel wolves!"

"Holy shi-Yuffie, I'll call ya back in a bit!"

The ninja stared down at the phone. "Hmm...Nibel Wolves, huh? Guess that means he's at Nibelheim. No, both of them are at Nibelheim...oh man, I'm so smart!"

Clambering down the winding slopes of Mt. Nibel, it took her nearly the entire day to finally reach the grassy plains of the Nibel area.

"Oh gosh," Yuffie huffed and puffed, "what torture!" She stumbled wearily onto the grass, watching the glowing orange sunset behind Mt. Nibel. Up ahead, she could see the gloomy village of Nibelheim.

"Seriously, why do both of them like coming here so often?" Yuffie wondered. "Both of them...both of them..."

Her head was spinning. Two guys in love with her? Seriously?! Why, of course! Who doesn't love a hot cutie like me? During her journey down the mountain, she couldn't help but dwell on who she loves more. Obviously, in terms of time, that'd have to be Vincent. But Reno's not so bad either. He makes me tingle and giggle so much during our four months of dating. In terms of romance...Reno's sweet, but Vincent...man, he's a hunky romantic! Both men made her heart skip a beat whenever she was with either one. Well, fine then, let's compare something tangible - the kisses...

Yuffie blushed. Her first kiss with Reno was as sweet as sugar; it was under the Wutai moonlight, the night when both refused to let go of each other's hands in Yuri's home...Man, it makes me funny just thinking about it. The red-hair's kisses were soft and gentle, like he was afraid of squishing her too hard. Unlike Vincent. Well, okay, technically, we've only smooched "once" since that time at Midgar was an accident - it wasn't even a proper kiss! But the first "real" kiss was pretty rough! Yuffie's face burned as she recalled last night.

"Damnit!" Yuffie smacked her forehead. "Gotta stop dreamin' and start movin'!"

She was about to stand up but realized it was too early to sneak into the village. "What if I bumped into one of them?" The girl sat down again. Damn, might as well rest here for a while then. Instantly, she dozed off.

The dark mansion stood solemnly in the silent night. Clouds shrouded the moonlight, blackening the village. The only light came from the slight flickering of a candle on the second floor of the great manor. Two silhouettes could be seen from behind the curtained window.

Inside, the atmosphere was filled with heavy hostility. The two figures stood facing each other, weapons at the ready. The only movement came from the petty twirling of a silk of cobweb on the caped figure's shoulder. A muscle jerked uneasily in the lanky figure's right calf. Still, they stood, not moving, not daring. One can only wonder how much time elapsed since they drew weapons.

Finally, losing his last bit of patience, the lanky figure opened his mouth, but his throat was dry. He managed to let loose a grunt, and a "shit." Irritably, he bent down and stretched out his right leg.

Either it was the single word or the sudden movement, it seemed to have woken up the other man. Vincent blinked and, staring down at Cerberus, he returned it inside his cape.

Reno continued stretching, muttering curses as he winced in pain.

"We shared a kiss."

The red-hair stopped. Slowly, his blue eyes traveled to the maroon ones. His mind was absorbing the four words he just heard. Was he imagining the monster bellowing inside him? Surely, it was not like Reno to be mad at someone for kissing and sleeping around with others - he did that all the time. But that was four months ago. He's different now. The red marks on his cheekbones twitched. He returned to his standing position, keeping his eyes steadily on the other man. He raised his left hand, Electro-Mag Rod at the ready.

"Okay, 'guess we gotta fight," Reno said determinedly.

Swiftly, Reno jumped and sent electric sparks flying at the man. Vincent dodged easily, jumping over the red-hair.

"I do not wish to fight," the caped man called over his shoulder.

"Well, I do!" Reno shouted as he sent a Lightning Bolt flying toward Vincent.

A long-range fighter and a short-range fighter: it was obvious who would win, though Reno put up a pretty good battle, managing to paralyze the man and wounding him with another Lightning Bolt. Vincent was quick to recover though. He rolled over and blocked the attacks, showering bullets down at the red-hair.

Reno leapt behind an overturned table as he cursed at himself. Suddenly, a faint orange-red glow emitted from his entire body. Yelling, he jumped and slashed out in fury, waves of shocking lightning erupted toward the cloaked man, who covered behind a fallen armchair.

"NO!"

The two men stopped. Reno was still glowing, though his flashing eyes calmed down as he stared at the source of the cry.

Yuffie was breathing heavily, like she had ran a long way. Sweat trickled down her face as she observed the wreckage of the room; broken chairs, torn curtains, bullet holes on the walls, burnt tables. Somehow, something like relief appeared on her face.

"Was that-"

"A new Limit Break, yeah," Reno muttered. "Shall I name it 'Heart-Broken'?"

The ninja shifted. "No, more like, 'Shock of Your Life'," she said, hiding a smirk.

Reno snorted and shook his head in disbelief. The two of them had the worst sense of humor ever. Together, they turned to stare at the casualty Reno's half-released Limit Break made to the armchair - the chair was entirely reduced to ashes. Yuffie could only imagine what would have happened if she didn't stop him in time. Though secretly, she was amazed and captivated by Reno's hidden power.

Vincent cleared his throat as he dust the ashes off his cloak. The two younger figures snapped back to the scene.

"Uh, what were you two doing?" Yuffie asked hesitantly.

The red-hair scratched his head embarrassingly, while the cloaked man remained silent. The ninja looked from one man to the other, waiting. Several minutes passed. As if suddenly threatened to talk, the two men started speaking simultaneously.

"Yuffie, you'll be happier with him-"

"Look, Yuffie-chan, I'm just a player-"

"-I'm too old for you-"

"-Don't deserve you yo-"

"-My past is too much-"

"-I always go drinkin' and bluffin'-"

"Wait-"

"No, she's better off with you-"

"WAIT-"

"No, man, she's all yours-"

"No, WAIT A MINUTE HERE!" Yuffie whipped her head toward Vincent. "You think you're a pedophile?!" (turns to Reno), "And you think you're a badass player?!" The girl wanted to pull her hair off. This was too much. Her eyes were on fire. "Are you both NUTS?! You're just trying to dump a hot chick like me, right?! RIGHT?!" she shrieked.

Vincent shook his head. "Yuffie, he makes you happy. All I ever gave you was disappointment."

Reno shook his head. "No Yuffie-chan, I'm not such a good guy after all."

"No-"

"No, listen to me," the red-hair said seriously. "Yuffie-chan, Valentine's been likin' you for a long time. I knew it all along. Yeah."

"What?" The girl's eyes grew wide.

The Turk sneered and shook his head again. "I knew it since that night at the bar." Seeing the girl's confused expression, he carried on. "Everyone could tell from the outside. Just you dunno. It was pretty obvious he likes ya. Why else would he be so pissed off when you were drinkin' that shit?"

Yuffie stared into the aqua-blue eyes.

Reno continued. "I was bein' a selfish ass." He swung his rod bitterly in his left hand. "I didn't want ya to be with him. Not until I've had my turn. At the very least, I wanted to try to be with you. So I took things into my own hands." His blue eyes moved away from the brown ones and glanced down at his fists. "I wanted ta make you fall in love with me. I wanted you to be mine. So I acted faster than him."

The ninja bit her lips. "WELL, you're not that badass..."

"Eh?" The man ruffled his unkempt hair uncertainly.

Yuffie shrugged. "It's not like I didn't have a good time with you."

A small grin appeared on Reno's face.

"What about you-" Yuffie turned around to Vincent, or rather, where the man was standing at about five minutes ago. "Hey, where did he go-?"

The red-hair stepped out of the room and into the hall. "He's gone," his voice echoed.

"Grr damnit! Always running away from me, huh!" Yuffie pushed past Reno and was starting down the wooden stairs, but stopped abruptly. She turned back to the Turk and stared at the man. Softly, she placed her hands on the man's cheeks. She kissed the red marks and breathed, "thank you for the four months. Really."

Then she clambered down the stairs.

"Where you goin'?" Reno called after her.

"I gotta find that hopeless romantic!"

Stepping into the midnight air of the gloomy village, Yuffie stared wildly around her. Everywhere she looked was pitch-black. The only light came from the pale orange glow of the street lights near the town center. She ran. Her footsteps echoed loudly in the silent night. She knew the man haven't left the village yet. She just knew.

"Hey depressing old man!" she called out.

Her eyes scanned the area - dark trees, wooden bridge, water tower, small cottage houses, tiled roofs - the roof. There he was, sitting wrapped in his cloak, maroon eyes glowing down at her. Ba-bump.

For a moment, the two of them just stared at each other, not moving, not speaking. In fact, they were so still that Yuffie thought she was actually staring at the eyes of a bat. But the slight ruffling of the cloak told her it was him. She broke the stare and saw a wooden ladder leading to the roof. Clumsily, she climbed up and slumped down next to the man.

No moon, no stars. They could hear a distant howl from a pack of Nibel wolves.

"Why?" The question slipped out of the man's mouth.

"Because I want the answer that you promised."

The girl turned to the man, the man whom she loved with all her heart. She wrapped Vincent's cheeks in her hands and met his lips with her own. A passionate kiss, one that they both longed for so many years.

Author's note: Poor Reno. The Turks are fated to be "loveless", huh?