CupofTeaforAliceandHatter: The more I read over it, the more I'm glad that I did include it, I'm really happy with how it turned out. I'm glad you liked it!
PrincessofBadLuck: Thanks for letting me know about the typo, I fixed it :)
HazzaTL3: I was afraid that some people might have forgotten about it, since it had been so long. There's not a great evil per se, but they are looking for Cloud, who disappeared while fighting Sephiroth (in the KH universe). Now that they are back on their own world, they have had to regain their old memories as the KH memories fade, and they are looking for Cloud. No one knows if Sephiroth is still alive. I hope that helped you some :)
Thanks to all of the new people who have favorited/alerted this story, and thanks as always to everyone who's been reading since the beginning. Seeing how much you all enjoy this story brightens up my day.
Chapter 9
Keep your eyes open
Keep your eyes open
"Yuffie."
Yuffie cringed as she looked up at Vincent, his bright red eyes narrowed in frustration. She tried to think of something to say, but nothing was coming to mind. She glanced over her shoulder to see where Zack and Aerith were, and breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that they were walking back towards her.
"L-look, Vinny, I know you're mad. I mean, you probably went to see me at the hospital, and they must've been all freaking out because I left without permission when they said I had to stay, but seriously, what was I supposed to do for another THREE days? I would have DIED of boredom! I can't do NOTHING for that long! I mean, come on, everyone knows that I get all fidgety when I have to sit still for more than five minutes, and I'm supposed to stay in a hospital for THREE DAYS? Whose bright idea was-"
"Yuffie." Vincent interrupted, his tone dark.
"Yes?"
"I received a phone call just before midnight, informing me that you were missing. Again." Vincent looked over her shoulder and his eyes widened slightly. Before Yuffie could say anything he had turned his attention back to her. "I ... we have spent the past two years looking for you," Yuffie wondered at the slight blush that colored his cheeks when he had started to say I. It disappeared almost immediately, and she decided that it would be better not to say anything about it. "I had hoped that it would be some time before we had to search for you again."
Oh… Yuffie closed her eyes and hung her head, I guess I should have thought about that a little more…
"I'm sorry, Vince," she bit her lip and looked up at him through her bangs. His gaze softened, and he nodded, then looked over her shoulder again.
"Yuffie?" she turned to find Zack and Aerith standing a few yards away. "Everything okay?"
"Sure! Everything's fine! We were just talking. Nothing to see here!" She bounced on her toes a few times, and hoped that no one noticed how she flinched at the movement. "We're on our way to Nibelheim, to see if we can find Cloud," she explained to Vincent. "You should come! If we run into any monsters you can totally kick their butts. Not that I couldn't handle it, but it would be easier if you were with us." And I don't think I'd be able to do very much, with this headache coming back every time I make a sudden move…
Vincent gave her a look that fell somewhere between amusement and concern. Oh, so he did notice… of course he did, it's Vince. Now I'm gonna get another lecture about running around with a head wound...
"As you wish," he said with a slight incline of his head.
"Great," Zack gestured for them to follow him, "we still have a long walk, so let's go." He set off at a brisk pace, not bothering to wait for the others.
Aerith watched Vincent for a moment, then said, "It's good to see you again, Vincent."
"And you, as well, Miss Gainsborough," he replied simply, as if he ran into long dead friends everyday. Aerith smiled and ran to catch up with Zack, laughing softly to herself.
Yuffie watched as Zack stepped off of the path to pick a flower for Aerith, kissing her quickly as he handed it to her, and the two continued walking, now holding hands. Yuffie sighed and turned to Vincent.
"Come on. They've already left me behind once today." She could see the laughter in his eyes as she said this.
They had only taken a few steps when Yuffie stumbled. She caught herself and kept walking, but she reached up to massage her temples, trying to ease her headache.
She heard Vincent sigh, and thought, Here it comes. The lecture.
Instead, she opened her eyes to find him holding out a Restore materia, and watching her with a pained expression.
Yuffie looked back and forth, from Vincent to the materia, several times before yelling, "Why the heck didn't you use that before?" She snatched it out of his hand and cast Cure on herself, sagging in relief as the pain vanished.
"We weren't sure how it would affect you, and healing naturally would have been better." Yuffie ignored the reproachful look that he gave her, and skipped off after Zack and Aerith.
"I don't know why you're so worried about me, Vince," she called over her shoulder. "Wasn't I always the one worrying over you?"
Four days had passed since Yuffie returned to the Shinra Manor after spending a week in Wutai, and Vincent was still not home. She tried not to panic. After all, she thought, I did tell him that I was going to be gone for at least two weeks. Her visit was cut short when her father started talking to her about marriage and her duty to Wutai. No way was she going to stick around after that conversation. She could see the gears turning in Godo's head, and knew he would try some stupid scheme before the end of her visit, so she packed her bags and took off later that night.
Now, she was stuck moping around the Manor, with absolutely nothing to do. None of her calls to Vincent got through, although she did reach Nanaki on the third day that she had been home. He told her that Vincent had spent several days in Cosmo Canyon, but had left a few days before.
Yuffie couldn't decide whether or not she should be worried. It wasn't a long trip from Cosmo Canyon to Nibelheim, so he really should be home already. The only reasons she could think of for his continued absence were that he had been attacked by monsters and was now lying, dead or dying, in a ditch somewhere (unlikely, the man was near indestructible) or that he had made a stop along the way (and of course, it wasn't hard to guess where he would have stopped; a certain cave wasn't too far off the path he would take to come home). Yuffie could feel the anger and heartache steadily building. Things had been going so well, she was sure that he was finally getting over her, but it seemed she was wrong.
Another day passed, and Yuffie kept herself busy by hunting through Vincent's things. He would be mad when he found out, but she wouldn't have done it if he had been home, so technically it was his fault, not hers. She was disappointed not to find any materia in his room, then remembered the hidden safe that he thought she didn't know about in the library. Skipping down the hallway, she tried to convince herself that she would feel better once she stole - ahem, borrowed - every last piece of materia he owned, along with any other interesting things that she found in the safe.
It didn't take her long to crack open the safe, and Yuffie grinned. In the back of the safe, beneath a scattering of papers, she found a Mystify, a Full Cure, and a Master Summon. My, my, Vinny, you've been holding holding out on me, she pocketed the materia and tossed the papers around, making sure there were no other treasures hidden underneath them. When nothing caught her interest, she closed the safe and ran to her room to put her new materia with the rest of her collection.
As she stuffed one of her socks with the new additions, her gaze drifted to the photo sitting on top of her dresser. Tifa had taken it a few days after Vincent returned from the Omega incident. It showed Vincent sitting in a corner at Seventh Heaven, Yuffie next to him in the middle of a very animated monologue, gesturing with her hands, and Vincent watching her, an almost-smile on his face.
The brief feeling of triumph faded, and Yuffie knew that no matter how much materia she found, it wouldn't make her feel any better. Vincent would never feel the same way about her that she did about him. Even if he did, he would never act on it, being too caught up with his feeling about her.
Yuffie could feel tears forming in her eyes, and considered, just this once, letting herself cry. The sound of the front door opening dashed that idea to pieces, and she took a deep breath, inhaling through her nose, to steady herself. Rubbing her eyes furiously, she stood at the open door to her room, listening to Vincent move around on the first floor.
Sneaking down the stairs was easy, since they'd fixed every broken and squeaky board. She stood in the doorway to one of the front rooms, silently watching as Vincent set down his traveling gear and removed his cloak. When he turned towards her, he jumped, and she was rewarded with one of his rare surprised expressions.
"Yuffie?" he spoke her name tentatively, taking quick stock of her appearance, but not once meeting her eyes.
"Vincent." She crossed her arms and kept her steely gaze focused on him.
"Is something wrong?" he was still avoiding eye contact and cast a glance over his shoulder at his cloak. She could tell that he felt vulnerable without it on, since he couldn't hide behind the cowl.
"No. Why would something be wrong?"
"You look upset…"
"I just don't understand why you're wasting your time."
"…" He watched her out of the corner of his eye, and if she had been in a better mood she might have laughed at how nervous he looked. "Yuffie, what -"
"I don't understand why you're wasting your time on someone who never loved you. Someone who could never love you." She didn't mean for her tone to be that harsh, but the look he gave her, confusion and just a little bit of hurt, kept her from apologizing. "Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about, Vincent." He winced at her use of his full name instead of a nickname.
"Yuffie…" he hung his head, a curtain of dark hair covering his face so that all she could see was a brief glimmer of red eyes between the midnight black strands.
She ignored the slight hitch that she heard in his voice and forged ahead, taking a step toward him. "Why do you insist on spending so much time with the Queen of Popsicles when you have people who care about you?!" Vincent's head jerked up, and he stared at her with wide eyes. "You're so hung up on her, convinced that she loved you. Well, you know what? She never loved you. If you would just open your eyes, you would realize that. She never loved you. How could she, with the things she did to you? If you love someone, you would never put them through so much pain!" He opened his mouth to speak, but Yuffie was on a roll now, and she wouldn't let him stop her. "Don't try to tell me that I don't know what I'm talking about! Because I do!" The tears she had forced back earlier were now running down her face. "I would never hurt you the way that she did. Ever. You know why? Because I love you, Vincent Valentine!"
Yuffie turned and ran as fast as she could, throwing the front door open and dashing into the woods. She prayed that he wouldn't follow her, because she knew that she couldn't handle listening to him defend her.
After a few hours passed, Yuffie managed to calm down enough to go back to the Manor. The sun had long since set, and all of the lights in the house were turned off. Yuffie walked slowly through the entire house, looking in every room, but she found no sign of Vincent. She searched the house again, this time looking for a note, or some sign that would tell her where he went. She found nothing.
She collapsed on the couch in the living room, too exhausted to cry anymore. That's it, she thought, he broke his promise. He left without telling me. Not that I blame him, I guess. He probably won't come back here if I stay. Do I even want to stay? I can't stay here with him, not after this. Not if he doesn't want to move on. I have to leave…
She slowly pulled herself off of the couch, and went up to her room. As she was packing her bag, she noticed two boxes sitting on the nightstand beside her bed. She picked up the first, studying the label, and raised an eyebrow when she opened it to find a jar of her favorite polish for Conformer. She had been meaning to ask Cloud or Tifa to send her some from Edge, since it was the only place where it was sold. The next box surprised her even more. It was from the sweet shop in Costa del Sol, and she remembered mention something to Vincent, shortly before her trip to Wutai, about how she had been craving saltwater taffy.
Yuffie felt even more confused than before, but she stuffed the two boxes into her bag and finished packing.
Three days later, she strode into Seventh Heaven like she owned the place, and told Tifa she would be staying for a while. The barmaid barely gave her a second glance, just nodded and asked for her help with the bar when she was finished unpacking.
They were almost to Nibelheim when Yuffie realized that Vincent was looking at her strangely. He had been looking at her strangely for a while, now that she thought about it, though she had no idea why.
"Do I have something on my face?" she asked, crossing her eyes when she looked at him.
Vincent studied her, amusement evident in his eyes, and shook his head.
"Well, what is it then?" She sighed when he shook his head again. "Whatever." She looked ahead to where Zack and Aerith were walking, and smiled when she saw that they were still holding hands.
"You have been … quiet, Yuffie," Vincent said softly from beside her. She looked at him with one eyebrow raised. "It is … unlike you." He reached out, but didn't quite touch her, then pulled his hand back.
"I told you, Vince, you don't have to worry about me so much. I'm fine. Really," she gave him her brightest smile, "I'm just glad to be home."
Vincent tilted his head slightly, then nodded. "I am glad, as well."
"Yeah, well," she turned away, feeling nervous all of a sudden. "Oh look! There's the gate to Nibelheim!" She ran past Zack and Aerith, and didn't stop until she was in front of the water tower in the center of town. "So guys, where exactly do you think Cloud is?" she spun in a circle with her arms outstretched. "I mean, I'd hate to spend time searching all these buildings." She laughed and put her hands on her hips, while the others just rolled their eyes. Vincent didn't look like he was going to try to continue their conversation, and Yuffie mentally patted herself on the back for dodging it.
Keep your eyes open
Keep your eyes open
I'm not sure if I like the ending of this chapter... what do you guys think?
Only one more chapter (and possibly an epilogue) left!