stirrings of change
author's note: guess who's back? .... back again! ... lol
i'm rusty from writing, so excuse teh suckiness ahead of time. i need to get back into the swing of things.
but seriously. thank you for all the support, and for waiting for the next chapters of this fic! luvluv!
before i forget, faded-justice, i'd love to have you as my beta reader.
The pair was perched by a bench in the city of Rocket Town. People were bustling around, setting up balloons, chittering amongst themselves, hanging up flyers and nailing loud, large banners to several poles around the small, but growing town. Every since it was announced that Cid's Rocket launching was imminent, the village began to buzz and started to prepare for the event.
"Must we stand here in the hot sun?" Came the faintly irritated tone of a certain long ebony haired sharpshooter.
The ninja standing next to the tall man playfully rolled her eyes and elbowed him - none to gently. "I'm not standing in the hot sun Vinnie, you are. You're so tall, you're blocking the rays from harming my fair skin."
Yuffie fanned dramatically with the large fan she had brought from Wutai. It was her Mother's. Yuffie let out a breath of fresh air. The air generated by the fan scattered lumpy curls of her hair, as she tapped her foot in an impatient gesture.
Vincent slanted a ruby gaze to her, eyebrow delicate arched as he mildly scowled. "So, was that a no?"
Yuffie snorted, smiled her most ladylike smile and promptly whacked him with the fan.
The time she spent working on the Rocket flew by. Now that she looked back on it, it had been months and months ago when she'd just started. Under Reeve's supervision and tutelage, she honed her business skills and she could proudly say that she could hold her own in a board meeting, if it was needed for that.
The Flight Program ground breaking ceremony wouldn't be that far off. The facility wasn't that far from Rocket Town. If you were at the right angle in the village, and you craned your head just right, you could see the construction workers piddling around, putting the finishing touches of landscaping around the building.
Her hands continued their idle work, while her mind thrumming. I can't spend the whole day daydreaming... she chided herself.
Tifa Lockheart bit her bottom lip, stopped her musings and tightened the last screw on the control panel that she had been working on for the last past few days. Workers in dark navy jump suits milled around her, taking orders or barking them out. The Rocket was in it's final planning stages, everyone was basically tinkering, waiting for Cid to come and give the final direction.
She stood finally, wiping smudges of oil onto her already smeared pants leg. Her brow furrowed and she looked around. Speaking of the Pilot, where was he? Tifa slung the wrench around and hooked it into the notch of her tool belt, clenching her fists before a random crew member snagged her arm.
"Miss Lockheart?"
Tifa smiled curtly and nodded. No matter how often she told them to call her Tif, they still insisted on calling her "Miss."
"Yes?"
"Um..." He fidgeted, rocking from side to side before meeting her eyes hesitantly. Tifa patiently waited, hands on her hips.
"... Have you seen the Captain? The rest of the crew was wondering..."
Her button nose crinkled up briefly and she shook her head. "Funny you should ask, I was just thinking the same thing."
"Well, Miss..." The crew member cocked his head.
"You want me to find him, right?" Tifa finished, blinking.
The crew member swallowed and nodded.
It was all the excuse she needed.
The crew member perked up at her sudden change of expression, it wasn't often he got to observe Tifa so closely.
Her smile a bit too bright simply to be fetching the Captain, she deftly un-buckled her tool belt and shoved it at him.
"Here, hold this. I'll go get Highwind."
She all but threw it and sashayed from the Main Control room, whistling the whole way out.
The man grunted as the tool belt slammed into his abdomen, gloved hands struggling to grasp the object.
In slight awe, he wondered how a woman built like her could carry such a heavy belt.
Then his superior called for him and he shuffled off back to work, Tifa ponderings taking a temporary backseat.
"Yuffie..." Vincent muttered exasperatedly as she munched quite happily on cotton candy.
He was going to say more, but he didn't think it would be heard over her smacking.
"Ifsn't fthis mfunph?" Yuffie cooed, mouth full as she hopped from foot to foot.
Vincent stared at his cotton candy, clutching the white stick only with fingertips, as he studied it like a foreign object.
Yuffie swallowed, nudged him, and repeated herself. "Isn't this fun?"
He only blinked down at his cotton candy.
"Oh Leviathan..." Yuffie whispered, unknowingly taking the exasperated tone that he had, just moments before.
"It's sugary Vincent. You eat it, not stare at it like it's some weird specimen."
Yanked from his personal thoughts, his gaze snapped to her, pink billowy candy temporarily forgotten. "What?"
"You. Eat. It, Vincent. It's cotton candy."
"Eat it." Vincent repeated, looking from her to the cotton candy and back again.
But... the ninja's reaction to this cotton candy makes me wonder what will happen to me if I eat it...
Yuffie nodded slowly, laughing at his curt perusal of her with his dark eyes.
"Yes, Vincent. You eat it. Yanno, oral consumption."
Vincent paused, a piece of the pink mass poised in between slender fingers. His brow arched, once again. "Yuffie, what -?"
She blinked up at him, grey eyes spouting unseen venom as she tilted his elbow up, forcing the piece of candy into his mouth.
"Eat, Vinnie, s'good."
He chewed thoughtfully, and as it melted in his mouth, he slowly reached for another. His silence asked the question.
She simply giggled. "Yes, I used a big word. No, don't get used to it."
Vincent shrugged and they blended into the crowd as they walked along amongst Rocket Town's natives.
Tifa shuffled around in Cid's backyard, feet sliding easily through grass and various parts the Pilot had strewn around. She knew where he went to think. It was a place that he fell back on unfailingly. She used to come with him out here to think, when she wasn't busy with planning.
Over the past months, they had seen little of each other. From time in between her bar, the Flight Program, spreading the word about Cid's Foundation, and the light repair work she did on the Rocket, she barely saw him. And he was always knee-deep in some type of blue print, making measurements, checking and re-checking, working whole days and sometimes throughout the night.
They had little time to be with each other, much less sit down and have decent conversation. Which is why Tifa had jumped at the chance to find him. It was an excuse to fetch him, yes, but it was also a chance to just sit with him, if only for a moment.
And it was here that she found him, perched on Tiny Bronco's wing. His face was tilted towards the sky, hands pillowing his head. His face was calm, the hint of stubble perched stubbornly on the bottom half of his face. Goggles pulled down low over his eyes. As much as she liked to see him like this, this quiet and thoughtful, she couldn't help but wanting to join him on the wing to talk. Truthfully, she'd missed him.
Hands clasped coyly behind her back, she approached the plane.
Once she was close to Tiny Bronco, she titled her head back, shielded her eyes from the sun's bright light, and whispered his name gently.
It was enough.
Cid's head craned up and his eyes sluiced over the side of the plane. A harsh bark quelled on his lips when he saw who called him.
A smile, a slow building one started on his face as he watched her smile in return. "Hey Teef. What brings you down here?"
She scratched at and her itchy nose, successfully painting her cheek with a bit of oil.
Cid inwardly snickered and watched her face change. It was a slow side of expression, but he enjoyed the way her eyes lit up.
"Well, one of the crew members wanted to see you."
"And he sent you in his stead?" Cid teased, rising from his sitting position.
Tifa laughed and gestured with her right hand as he took his time coming down off the plane. "No, I volunteered. Feels like ages since I've seen you, Cid." Her voice was light, but a more serious weight was packed into her simply spoken words.
His boots clomped with a muffled sound into the grass as he took his time in walking over to her. It was easier this way, to walk slowly, just so he could study her movements. Just so he could watch the way her eyes glimmered hotly whenever he got close. Like now. His cut clenched. He resisted the urge to reach into his pocket for a cig. Instead, he gritted his teeth.
"It has been a while, hasn't it Lockheart?" He slid his goggles up, his eyes holding hers for a moment before his hands reached out and cupped her cheek. She started to say something, but then he was cradling her face and she forgot... His fingers kept nudging over this one spot and Tifa took a shuddering breath.
"What are you doing?" Tifa questioned lowly, not really minding the touch. It was rare that he did...
Cid licked his lips and hmmmed. "Got oil on your pretty lil' face, Tifa."
When her mind bubbled to the surface, she smirked and bit her lip. "Oil?"
Cid nodded, watching her lips move, his fingers touching her face long after he'd gotten the smudge off. "Yup. Work like this suits you."
She laughed outright at that, her hand squeezing his muscled upper arm playfully.
"You only say that because you like to see me in this jump suit, Highwind."
His eyes glinted roughly, the grin still twitching at his lips. "Maybe..."
Tifa blinked. The way he said that just now... It made her wonder.
He leaned in, kissed her forehead and inhaled. "You smell like metal, cigs and rocket fuel."
Tifa tried to chuckle, it failed and came out strangled. "Well, now you know how I feel. You smell the same."
Cid drew back, eyebrow cocked. "Really now?"
Before she could reply, his eyes darkened in the few seconds before he spoke again. "Been too damn long. Need to see more of ya, Tif. You help keep me grounded in all this shit."
Her smile drooped, only for a moment as she caught his meaning. "I know. But this is important to you, Highwind."
"So important for you to just drop everything?" Cid muttered, his voice taking on a harsh edge that had nothing to do with working hard hours and being slightly fatigued. It was everything to do with a man questioning himself.
Tifa frowned. "We've talked about this before, Cid. I didn't drop anything. I can always reopen my bar, if needs be. I felt... stuck there sometimes, you know that. Trying to hold on to the past, to something that once was..." She paused, looking up for a moment and wondered why he looked so stern, so suddenly. "I just... I just want to share this with you."
He felt like a bastard for putting that look on her face. "Tifa..."
"I know. It's hard work. And we barely ever see each other yes..." Where was she going with this? Hell if she could've had a better start... "But you're living your dream, Cid. If I protested now, it wouldn't be right. I can't keep you from doing this, but I will support you. Your first love was the skies, long before we even met..."
He cut her off, gloved finger pressed to her speaking mouth. "And you'd be right about that. Damned it all if I didn't want this. But I've another need now, something that means more to me then some Rocket, or sky rocketing off again into space."
"Cid..."
He cut her off again, this time with a fierce glance, his eyes attempting to say more then he ever could verbally.
"I know all that Tifa. Hell, that's obvious to the fact that you're still here, I could never repay you for the support." The hands that were clasped at the small of her back tremored slightly. It was few things that ever jarred the battle hardened Pilot. If someone could cut right through to the heart of him, it was the fist fighter he held in his arms. "I don't mean that shit. This Rocket means nothing if I ain't got you, Lockheart. You git what I'm saying?"
The words came in a hushed rush of breath fanning across her face, and she blinked a few times to clear her swirling mind.
She kissed him gently, and grinned when he growled and roughly returned her affection.
"You're getting mushy in your old age, Cid."
When he rolled his eyes, she giggled and poked him in his side, sobering slightly. "Is that what you were out here brooding about?"
He tensed, shook his head in that way of his. "I wasn't broodin'." Cid protested somewhat testily.
"Were too, Highwind."
He pinched her in a certain place, grinning.
Tifa yelped out of his embrace and blushed, whacking him with her arm.
"Cid! Watch those wandering hands!"
He simply lit a cigarette, calm eyes watching her, the very picture of smug.
"Couldn't resist. I blame the damned jump suit."
Tifa snickered and would've said more but the static crackled along Cid's walkie talkie. "Yo Cap! We need you!"
"Duty callllllssss." Tifa mumbled in her sing song voice and Cid sneered.
"Back to work." Cid sighed and wrapped an arm around her, tugging her along, business suddenly overriding pleasure.
"We can finish this damned conversation later, Teef."
"Where are they? They were supposed to be hereminutesagoweren'tthey Vinnie?"
Yuffie muttered and looked around, searching the crowd filing around them nosily.
Vincent didn't even bothering answering her, it was no use, not when she had ingested this much sugar.
"Vincent. Didja hearrrrrr mee?" Yuffie drawled and Vincent shook his head noncommittally, garnet orbs searching.
Her PHS rang.
Spinning on one heel, nearly loosing her balance and righting herself, she picked it up cheerily.
"Hello?" Her face brightened and she grinned up at Vincent. "Hiiyyyaaaaa Red! Okay! We'll meet you at the outskirts of town."
She hung up quickly, bouncing from foot to foot, as was her habit when she was this excited.
Vincent smiled despite, her cheeriness was sometimes infectious.
"Well?"
"We're meeting them at the outskirts of town. Come'on Vinnie we must hurry orwe'regoingtomiss them!"
She grabbed his arm in a blur of scrawny muscle, pulled him along.
Vincent followed and pressed his free hand that wasn't currently twined into Yuffie's along his temple.
He had a feeling this was going to be a long day...
ending author's note: i'm thinking of an unexpected character appearance next chapter. la laaaa