Hai guys! I know I'm so late it's silly, but you know what? School! High school! It's so much tougher than ninth grade, I get home several hours later than before and I'm constantly fatigued Anyway, good news? YES! My English teacher let me write fanfics in class because I'm *blushing* too erm good for erm normal English so yeahhh… ^^ Well, this took me forever to write, I hope you like it! I'm leaving you with another cliffhanger (kinda) though, because I am evil. Also, really creepy guy coming up in this chappie! Enjoy :D

Chapter 9: Yuffie, back in action

I gasped for air. No. Not this, not now, no. I couldn't return to Wutai. Someday, yes, but not now. No. Impossible. I had a mission here in Edge, and I was not going to abandon Allie. Or Vincent, for that matter.

"Dad, I can't leave Edge. I won't come back."

"You will. Or I shall take on drastic methods."

"Oh yeah? What you got, old man?"

"I shall make sure to find another heir to the throne, should you not return, daughter."

I got quiet. He'd give my place as the ruler of Wutai to someone else? He couldn't do that! Well, yes he could, but… I hated him so much right then. A flood of emotions threatened to overwhelm me, and I balled my free hand into a fist, shaking with anger.

"Dad…you have no right to take my role as the heir to the throne of Wutai and give it to someone else. If you do that, I will return and take it back. If I so have to kill the thief. I'm not a child anymore dad, you can't tell me what to do and what to don't. I have an important mission in Edge, I have a friend who needs me to be here by her side. You had no problem with your sixteen-year-old daughter travelling the world fighting monsters to search for materia even though it meant the Princess of Wutai was stealing like any filthy robber taken directly from the streets of Midgar, but now, when I'm grown up and legally allowed to make my own decisions, you won't let me go away to see my friends? They need me! Just like the Planet needed us all four years ago! I'm not a child anymore, even if you can't see that. I know you want me to get married for the sake of my country, but only adults marry, right? Then please, let me marry for love. You know me. I'm a free spirit, as wild as the crumbling Da Chao, and forcing me into a marriage with someone I don't even know or like would end in a disaster. You know it would. I'd either kill him or myself. Do you want your only child to be unhappy? How many times haven't I heard I'm the spitting image of my mother, just not as beautiful and with shorter hair…do you want the last remaining part of your wife on this earth go away? Do you want me to die? Dad, we haven't agreed on many points during my lifetime, but I hope that will change and that the day when I walk down the aisle of my own free will, you'll be there escorting me smiling. There are good men apart from the suitors you've found for me, dad, and I need to find one of those myself, one that I can love and be happy with. If I'm unhappily married, if I'm unhappy, what would happen to Wutai then? How can a depressed empress restore Wutai to the glory we both want to see? Dad, otoo-san, when I'm ready to marry and take over your place to rule our country, then I will return. Until then, there are things I have to do, people I have to help, and a life that needs to be outlived. When I return, when I ascend the throne, I will do it without fear and without doubt. I'll make Wutai become what we want it too, I'll make you proud. So please, otoo-san, wait for me until I'm ready. Okay?"

My old man was silent for a while. I didn't interfere, I was breathing heavily after this discharge of thoughts and feelings. I could almost hear dad compute what I had just said, and then:

"Yuffie. This shows that you have already grown. But, I will not deny that a happy ruler makes a happy country. I will give you a year. After that, you will return to Wutai or let someone else take your place as my successor. No matter what the outcome, either of you will need to receive the proper education before being able to take over the throne after me. One year, that ought to be enough for you to mature and help your friends. I know that you are not a child anymore, but I am still your father as well as your emperor, and I will neither tolerate nor accept disobedience from you. Can we reach a mutual agreement?"

"Yes," I quickly answered, freeing that he'd draw back his uncharacteristically generous proposition. "In one year I will return to Wutai and take up ruling education. And I will do so without complaining, as long as you in turn let me marry of love."

Godo grunted. "Fine. But I won't accept just anybody. You will bring him before me and then I'll deem him worthy or not. If he's a good enough man, then yes, you may marry of love."

"Arigato, otoo-san."

"Gambatte."

With that, we hung up. I stood by the phone, shaking. When I looked up, I realised that Teefs , Allie and Vincent all were looking at me. Vinnie's gaze was piercing, and like so often before, it felt like he could see straight into my soul and read my thoughts.

"What did you decide upon?" he asked. "Surely, it must be something good; otherwise you would not have thanked him."

I nodded. "I'll have one year in Edge. During this time period, I'll do my best to help Allie," I smiled at her, "and work in the bar. After a year, I'll return to Wutai, and get some education or whatever in order to be able to take the throne after my old man. Questions?"

They all seemed fine with this, Alyera smiled shyly towards me, Teefs made her most happy and mother-like face and Vince…well, he was still looking at me with that intense gaze.

"Vince, what is it?" I asked. "You look like you wanna devour my soul, rip the flesh from my bones and drink my blood, vamps," I said dramatically, eyes wide open as if in great terror.

He grunted and hid his face in his collar. Stupid collar! Stupid cloak! It had always been that cloak, weighing him down, and I was so tired of it!

"Stop hiding for fuck's sake" I screamed, making Allie and Teefs stare at me with surprised looks. I couldn't take it, I was already fired up from my nice little chat to dad, and Vincent's fucked up behaviour had been annoying me for four years now. No more hiding, no more shying away, no more… "Vincent! Vincent! Act like a man and stop hiding from reality!"

I snapped. I charged at him blazing with fury, his eyes widened but this time I didn't reflect over how beautiful they were, instead I grabbed his cloak and undid the buckles before he had the chance to protest, and then threw it off his shoulders. When done, I backed off and angrily scowled at him, hands in my sides.

"Good! Now you can't hide! Show that pretty face to the world, Vinnie."

They were all speechless. I breathed heavily, standing there still staring ferociously at Vince. Neither of us said anything, I was trying to calm down and he looked like he considered having a heart attack or nervous breakdown.

"Great. Someone call me down for dinner, I seriously need some time alone."

With that, I left them dumbfounded and confused. It felt like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders; maybe next time I should try bitch-slapping someone. Nah, that actually might be overdoing it. I shut the door to my room and sat down on the bed. Okay, Wutai meditation…what was it good for again? Serenity, concentration, and…umm…inner health, or something like that. I really needed to calm down right now, and since my thoughts were scattered I could use some concentration as well.

Fact was, I needed my meditation so much I didn't even go down for dinner, but stayed in my room all evening until I went to bed, but I couldn't sleep. I lay awake for what felt like forever before I heard a soft knock on the door.

"Come in," I muttered, face buried in Vincent's t-shirt. The smell made me feel more at ease.

Allie entered, as I had expected. She sat down at the edge of my bed, shimmering in her white nightgown and silver hair. She was silent for a while, quite a long while actually, just sitting there next to me. I didn't know whether I was disturbed or comforted by this, so I just let her be. Eventually, she spoke.

"Yuffie…we were all quite surprised by your behaviour, especially Vincent. But…I think we all kind of agreed in that your act was one of righteousness. He has been carrying the burden of that cloak for too long, Tifa told me. She also said that your 'rage quit', as Denzel and Marlene labelled it when they heard about it, was a cue for him to wake up and realise that his pain affects us too, you greater than the rest of us. We all know how much you care for him, even I who have not known you for a very long time. You really gave him something to think about, Yuffie. It is a good thing. I do believe he will consider the damage it has caused you to see him wear that thing, how it has been weighing on his shoulders like a demon, claws buried deeply into him, not willing to let go. I'm proud of you, Yuffie, and so are Tifa and Vincent."

"You used an abbreviation."

"What?" She was surprised and bewildered.

"I'm proud of you. You used an abbreviation."

"Oh…I guess I did."

"Good girl, Alyera."

"You too, Yuffie. You will be there for me, right?"

"Yeah. Whenever you need me."

"Thank you. Good night."

"Night."

She left. The silence which remained in her absence felt stagnant and somewhat reassuring. I hardly had time to think about what she'd said before I was asleep.

-TWR&TH-

Waking up the following morning, I felt light, and so darn hungry I almost chewed at my 'nightgown' (which still smelt like chocolate). The hunger might be why I felt so light and so dizzy when I got up. What day even was it? Wasn't I supposed to be working? What time was it? Had they let me sleep? I didn't bother figuring out any of it, instead I decided to not give a shit about putting on clothes and went downstairs to the kitchen in just the t-shirt which almost reached my knees anyway. Entering the kitchen, I found two very energetic kids and a busy Tifa. They all said 'good morning' to me, Teefs told me there was breakfast 'scattered everywhere' and I started looking. I really wondered what they had done, or if it was Denny and Marly being creative and venting some of their energy, but I found bread on the table, butter in the fridge, juice in the freezer, cheese in the larder, tea on a shelf where Teefs kept some statuettes, the water boiler hidden in a drawer and all the clean glasses under the sink. The gnomes giggled as I searched for everything I needed for a decent breakfast, and when I finally sat down to eat they looked me like they thought I'd go rage on them, but like the lady I am, I ignored them and displayed my best etiquette whilst eating. Marly smiled all angel-ish at me, leaning forward over the table.

"You really made Vince surprised yesterday" she tittered. "When I saw him later, he was sitting there staring at his cloak and it was still on the floor and he hadn't touched it and he was just looking at it like this and didn't say anything and he looked reeeally confused and thoughtful and almost scary because he was so concentrated, on thinking I mean…"

She ran out of breath and stopped. They both looked at me, inquiring. It couldn't have been more obvious that they wanted to hear me tell my side of the story and why I did it. I ignored them again and kept eating, until they both sighed loudly and got grumpy looks on their cute faces. Tifa entered from the bar, noticing that I was done with breakfast.

"Oh, Yuffie, Reeve called. He wants you and Vincent in the headquarters at three."

"…Wha?" I said, dumbfounded.

"After all, you're still a WRO employee and he said it's a rather horrible matter which you and Vincent would be the perfect ones to carry out. I think I know what it's about…it's a very notorious case which has been written about in the papers, but they've been quiet for a while so you probably haven't seen anything about it while you've been here. If you could help solving this… it would benefit the whole city of Edge."

"What? What is it?"

"Go there and find out."

"But the headquarters…they're like, far away!"

"Oh, the WRO have moved to Edge now, it's more convenient and since the old one got destroyed during DeepGround's attack…"

"Does Vinnie know where it is?"

"Yes, he's been there before."

"Great, what time is it?"

"Half past twelve. Get dressed and come to the bar. You have work to do."

"What? On a Sunday? You kidding me?"

"We're always open for business, Yuffie. We do have quite a lot of lunch guests on Sundays. Get out of Vincent's clothes and brush your hair."

Speaking of the devil, Vincent entered through the back door. When he saw me in his t-shirt he stopped and blinked. The cloak was in place wrapped around his collar, hiding his face. I immediately felt the anger I meditated away yesterday boil, and I strode towards him and lifted my hand to take the fucking thing off. He's so much taller than me when he's standing. My hands never reached their goal though. His own flew up hand grabbed my wrists.

"Yuffie. Wait." I stopped fighting and stared at him. He shook his shoulders like a dog, and small silver pearls flew through the air. "It's raining."

He let go of me and undid the buckles himself, after which he hung the cloak on the peg by the back door. He gave me a 'are you happy now?' look, and I nodded.

"Good."

"…Is that the shirt I gave you?" he deadpanned.

"Yeah. It smells like you even though Teefs said you never used them. You really must reek, for unused clothes to smell like you, vamps. All mould and old blood and-"

I was cut off by Vincent charging at me, grabbing the front of the t-shirt. I thought, 'Now I've done it, now he's going to kill me for sure' because of hissuddenly violent behaviour. His eyes looked angry, and his grip of the shirt was tight. He leaned forward and whispered in my ear so that no-one else would hear.

"If I reeked, you would not wear something which smelled like me. You like it, Yu-ffie." He dragged my name out, making it sound like he tried to taste it…or as if there was something erotic about it. It sent chills down my spine. Also, the way he emphasised 'like'. "You want to smell it. You know you do. And talking me into taking off my cloak…was that just something you did to get closer to me?"

He let go of me. That was when I realised that he had lifted me slightly from the floor, and a quiver ran down my body when I imagined what that inhuman strength of his could've done to me if he had been angry with me. As it was, he had only tricked me into believing he was mad, when all he really wanted was… to what? What was all that even supposed to mean? He had made it sound all sexual, what was wrong with him? My face was flushed and my heart was racing. Vincent, that…that troll! He fucking trolled me! Oh, that was so like him, flying into a fit of trolling. He was like that sometimes, did totally un-Vincent-y stuff just like this. I scowled angrily at him; and he met my gaze looking rather amused. He smirked, that bastard.

"We are going to Reeve to get a mission today," he said in his normal tone. "Be ready to leave at half past two." He swept past me – I was amazed at how he could sweep even without the cloak – and disappeared up the stairs. I was left standing bewildered and shaken, in the wrinkled t-shirt. I stood there for a while, angrily clenching my fists, before rushing up the stairs and into my room, slamming the door. While dressing, I looked out through the window. It was raining alright – pouring down from a dark steel-coloured sky. I sighed as I thought of walking to the new headquarters in this weather. I quickly prayed to Leviathan, begging him to stop the rain before it was time for me to head out. I doubted he'd take any notice of my petty desires though. Dragging my steps, I went down yet again and through the kitchen which was now empty except Tifa, who was putting used glasses in the dishwasher.

"Yuffie! You and Alyera take care of the customers, I'll see to the dishes."

"What? When you have a dishwasher?"

"You haven't noticed until now? This dishwasher alone isn't enough, I have to wash the plates by hand."

"Then why don't you get a new one?"

"There's not enough space for one. It's fine, I have time for this now that you two ladies can tend to the bar."

I muttered something and went out to join Allie. She looked stressed, her eyes were wide and she seemed to be on the verge of collapsing. There really were a lot of customers, more than usual, probably because of the weather. Lots of men gathered in groups around the tables, drinking beer and laughing. I liked it when the customers wanted beer; it saved me much trouble with mixing drinks. Every now and then someone ordered lunch, and Tifa cooked it in the kitchen. Time flied, and all of a sudden Vincent was standing behind me. I understood what he wanted, and nodded. Alyera smiled faintly at me.

"Tifa told me you were going on a mission for the WRO. So you know Reeve Tuesti? That is amazing, after all he is one of the most influential people in the world! Good luck, Yuffie, Vincent."

"Thanks, Allie," I said and gave her a big hug before leaving. The stream of thirsty people had thinned out a little, so there wouldn't be a problem for her handling it all by herself. I realised something and stopped halfway through the kitchen.

"Vinnie, it's still raining, and I don't have a jacket, not even a hoodie."

He just pointed at an umbrella leaning against the wall by the back door. I felt stupid, but didn't show him and instead picked it up like it was nothing. I feared that he knew me too well and would see through my little act though, that stupid vampire. He hn'd me and opened the door, letting me go first. Opening the umbrella, I felt the lukewarm, damp summer air gently caressing my skin, in spite of the heavy rain it wasn't cold at all. We started walking, side by side, Vincent now draped in his cloak again. The water just ran off him, hardly even wetting the fabric. I envied him at first, but then thought that I preferred the umbrella. Getting my hair and face wet wouldn't be all that fun, not even in a badass cloak like that one.

I thought of asking him where the headquarters were, but figured it was pretty pointless actually. He never gave any decent answers, that one. Instead I just went silently and nicely at his side, feeling like a dog on a walk with its master. I wondered what mission Reeve had for us – if he wanted me and Vince especially, it probably involved stealth and fighting. We could both disappear, and we were skilled combatants. Everyone knew we were an awesome kickass team, too. But…what needed those kinds of services nowadays? Wasn't the world at peace? Of course, there would always be criminals, but what sort of robber or whatever craved two top-rank warriors? This was serious shit, that I understood. But it just made me curious, doing something practical and important, finally I was back where I belonged: In action, busy saving the world!

Deep in thoughts, time flied again, and before I knew it we were standing outside the headquarters. I immediately understood it was them, the building was practically identical to the old one. As we entered, I saw WRO soldiers turning their heads towards us, some of them almost staring, some pointing, most of them saluting. Guess we were pretty famous around here. I grinned and waved at them, Vince didn't give shit about them. He led me to a lift, in which we went up to the top floor (I lost count of how many floors there were) and followed the signs pointing towards the commissioner's room. I checked my phone, and saw that we were two minutes early but Reeve would probably not be too whiny about it. Of course, I was right, because he told us to come in when Vinnie knocked, and we followed orders nicely and entered. He greeted us with a wide smile, and I in return rushed to him and gave the old geezer a huge hug. I had actually missed him, it was a long time since DeepGround, it seemed like.

"Hello there Yuffie," he smiled.

"Hi!" I happily replied, doing my best to crush his ribs. He laughed and gently removed my arms, taking a deep breath with a relieved look now that he had access to air again. But then, his face darkened and he gestured towards two armchairs in front of his enormous writing table. We sat down, and he took seat in the gigantic throne he called 'chair'.

"I have summoned you here to discuss a matter of great importance and severity. There is a mission I trust to you. It will require both of your skills in tracking, invisibility and fighting. Have you read the newspapers?" I shook my head and Vince nodded slightly. "There is a rapist loose in Edge. However, he's not just any ordinary rapist. He has attacked over thirty women of various ages, and successfully raped twenty-three of them. Also…he doesn't just rape them; he tortures them in the cruellest of ways. He cuts them, he uses tools on them…drills, saws, pliers, everything possible. It is frightening that such a psycho is roaming free in our city. He has assaulted everything from twelve-year-olds to old ladies at the age of eighty. This is a madman who needs to be dealt with at once. My troops aren't swift enough, when they arrive he is long since gone from the scene of the crime. That's where the two of you come into the picture. Traverse the rooftops, prevent this from happening again, and catch the insane man doing this. Do you accept the mission?"

Vincent nodded. I was silent, I couldn't make a sound, the shock was too big. What person would do something like that? I was lost for words, gasping for air, eyes wide open. I must have looked like a fish on dry land, but what could I possibly do? I hadn't heard of this before, it was completely new to me. Reeve and Vincent were both watching me, concerned.

"Vincent, I entrust Yuffie's safety to you during this mission. Do not let him near her."

Vinnie nodded. "I will not let that mental person touch Yuffie."

I was dazed. I hardly noticed Vincent and Reeve speaking, or when we left. Suddenly we were out in the pouring rain again, and I woke up. Walking back towards Seventh Heaven, I was still quiet. I noticed Vincent glancing at me every now and then, but I needed time to digest this information. I had some vague memory of Reeve telling us that our mission started tonight and lasted until the rapist was caught, and that I wouldn't be working in the bar during that time. I was to get paid by the WRO instead of Tifa, and we were both to get a salary when the madman was safely behind bars.

Vince told me to go upstairs and rest, and he'd inform Tifa and Alyera about our quest. I quietly did as he said and went to my room, lying down on my bed, staring into the ceiling. I wanted to do this. I wanted to catch that scum and lock him in jail for the rest of his rotten life. I was boiling, I couldn't wait until they let me at him! Wasn't it nightfall soon? I wanted to find him, slice him up like meat, dye the streets in his blood. The rage was tearing me apart from the inside, when I had that son of a bitch in my hands, he'd regret the day he as much as gazed at a woman in the wrong way. Furious, I clenched the covers, shaking. How could such a pervert even exist? How was it possible for a human being to find pleasure in such an act? I couldn't rest, not with this on my mind. I turned over on one side and looked at the alarm clock on the table beside my bed. It informed me it was four o'clock. Damn this, I couldn't stay here all day! Decisive, I got up and went down.

"I need something to do. I can't rest. Anything, please Tifa, give me anything at all to do!"

Tifa understood, and she let me work with Allie in the bar again. Alyera was curious of our mission, it seemed Vincent had only told Teefs and not her. I figured he hadn't because she was sensitive and would probably be scared for the rest of her life if she heard about the crazy rapist, but I decided she needed toughening up and if she knew about it, she'd be careful when out at night – not that I knew why she'd be out late, but still. So I told her, whispering to not bother the customers with such horrifying stories. As I thought, she went even paler and stared at me in terror and disbelief.

"Oh, my…" She had a hard time finding the words. "Why do you have to go? Why can't they send men on this mission? You'll be in danger!"

"I know, Allie, but I have Vincent. He won't let that psycho get anywhere near me, and when fighting him, I keep my distance and attack with my Eveningstar. I'll be fine, it's not me you should worry about, it's the other girls and women in Edge. Until that crazy motherfucker is caught, no-one is safe."

She still looked unsure, but nodded. I smiled and tried to get both our minds off the matter by talking about ordinary every-day stuff. It worked to some extent, but there was worry in her face as well as mine even after a long while of friendly chit-chatting. Since it was summer, daylight lingered. The bar closed at ten on Sundays, and at six people started pouring in for dinner. I tried to keep my mind occupied with work, but the business was too slow for me to be able to do that – every time I had even the smallest pause I started thinking of my upcoming mission. Vincent passed by every now and then, his reason was that he 'felt restless' and suddenly couldn't use the back door anymore, but I knew him too well. How could someone who spent hours and hours doing nothing but thinking and brooding, after having slept for thirty years in a row, be restless? No, he just wanted to check up on me at least once every other one-and-a-half hours. I appreciated it, but it was kinda annoying. I wasn't a child who had to be kept under surveillance. But, Vincent being typical, he seemed to believe I was. Stupid vampire. When he passed by the third time, I glared at him and put out my tongue. He frowned and grunted. When disappearing into the kitchen I yelled some of my ordinary insults at him, which made him 'Hn' me and look even more grumpy. I snorted and went back to my duties as a barmaid.

We closed down at ten as scheduled, but it wasn't really dark yet. I didn't care; I went to find Vinnie and asked him if we could leave now. He looked at me with that creepy X-ray gaze and then nodded slightly. I went to my room, gathered my Eveningstar and some small shuriken and kunai, meditated for two minutes to chill down (I failed), and then headed down to the kitchen where a worried Tifa and even more worried Allie waited for me together with Vinnie. Cloud was nowhere to be seen, I figured he'd gone away working before I woke up and hadn't come home yet. He wasn't exactly the best family father, leaving his woman and kids - even though none of them were his, really - all alone like this. Denny and Marly were kept away from this information, thankfully, and didn't know me and Vince were going out, since they had already gone to bed. I tried my best to look relaxed and confident, and being the awesome actress I am, I tricked the girls into believing I was, but I knew Vinnie wouldn't be fooled that easily. However, he didn't act like a mother hen like somebody else, cough Teefs cough.

"Right!" I said. "Off we go, bye Teefs, bye Allie, we'll have that sicko caught before you can even say ''tadmititthatloser', so you two have nothing to worry about. Take care while we're gone and don't miss me too much, I'll take care of Vince and protect him if he faints from fear, I promise!"

Nervous laughter. Teefs seemed somewhat relieved though, and with that, we left through the back door. Following Reeve's orders, we jumped on some boxes to get up to the roofs of the nearby houses, from where we continued, watching the dark alleys and dimly lit streets carefully, listening intensely. This wouldn't last for long, I hoped. I wanted to be the one to catch him and put him behind bars. I was all pumped, fired up, ready for action!

Gotta love them cliffhanger thingies :3 I'll try to update soon, I have present fics to write for Christmas though, so it'll take a while. But, in the meantime you can enjoy those present fics, one of them will be a sequel (the second sequel, actually) to Legends Still Alive, my most popular fic. The other…well I can tell! Dear sister Sunrose will see! Oh, and thank you for beta reading this, dear 3 BROFIST! :D Also, this guy isn't something I've made up, I'm not that sick. He's a real person, who assaulted and raped many women of different ages during two years in a city not far from here. When he was caught, it turned out he was only twenty-two or something. It was really scary, one of my sisters live there, I was worried for her all the time :/ So, review? :3

Love, Shade Lamora