A/N: I actually meant to finish this...years, has it been years? ago. Short update for now, but I'll hopefully have more soon. I own nothing :)
It had been three days since Yuffie had been brought to the hospital. Three days of silence. Three days of weak coffee and worse food. Vincent stayed at her side, despite his own discomfort. It was unsettling to see her so still, looking frail in that hospital gown. As much as he wanted to be anywhere but in another hospital, he couldn't leave. Cid had offered him a place to sleep, Shera insisted he eat something other than the stale sandwiches and watered down soup from the hospital. Vincent couldn't bring himself to do either.
"I do not think she'd forgive me so easily, were she to wake up here and alone. I must stay." He spoke softly to the pilot.
"I know, but Shera's worried." Cid absently patted Yuffie's foot. "That girl owes us one hell of an apology. I'm too old to worry this much." He chuckled and shook his head. Cid made his way to the head of the bed. "Vince, you need anythin' you call." Leaning down to Yuffie's head he whispered. "You still owe me a drink, brat." He kissed her forehead and left the room.
It was well after midnight when Vincent finally allowed himself to rest. Wrapped in the heavy cloak, he slept. He dreamt of her. The day she found him in his coffin, believing beyond all reason that he was a vampire. Her getting airsick on his shoes and apologizing for three hours…and cleaning the shoes.
"Heya, Vince! C'mon, come help Billy and me catch a chocobo." She grinned at him. He'd helped her after she said she'd pay him. She never paid him and he never asked. Upon successfully helping her catch the wayward blue bird she immediately ran over and high-fived him. She apologized for three days that time. It was the first time anyone had touched his gauntlet of their own free will.
She was smiling, awe struck by the holographic images of planets and stars flying by her. He thought she was beautiful, radiant…and immediately began shutting her out. Every smile, cheerful comment, all the good she was had to be blocked out if he was going to make it through his fight, to survive.
She wept at his side, thinking he'd died. She held his head in her lap, caressing his cheeks and kissing his forehead as her tears fell into his hair. He knew then, he'd lost a part of himself to her.
Her hair fell freely around her as she stood before him, hand on her hip and a look that could have sent Sephiroth running. 'Don't you ever think about me? How I feel? Do you honestly think I can't love you?' Her mercury eyes boring into him. 'You could at least say goodbye, like a decent human being.' She whirled around before he could form the necessary words to placate her. 'You fucking bastard, hope you get your ass handed to you this time.' She shot over her shoulder. Then he knew, Chaos knew, every fiber of his being knew...he was lost to her. She'd said she loved him and hated him in nearly the same breath and a small portion of him began to realize he felt the same toward her.
She gasped, lips brushing along the shell of his ear as she whispered his name. 'Onegai, Vincent...' her voice was hardly more than a breathless plea, his golden gauntlet holding her flush against him, his other hand fisted in her hair, the pain seemingly heightened her pleasure. In a sudden shift he bit down on her shoulder, tightened his grip in her hair, and thrust forward sending her careening over the edge.
He blinked awake, three hours had passed and she continued to lay motionless. He was suddenly furious, inexplicably, and unreasonably full of rage. He all but leaped out of his seat, rushing toward her sleeping form. "Open your eyes, Kisaragi. You owe me that." He growled out at her, golden talons brushing hair away from her face. "Do not think me incapable of following you, I will find you and drag you back…" His voice was rough, teetering on the verge of breaking. He wanted to scream, rage at her. How dare she leave him like this, weak and desperate for her. A white hot, searing pain erupted in his chest and sent him to his knees beside her. "Would you have me beg?" He whispered hoarsely. Images of her smile, the feel of her lips, and taste of her skin ran through his mind, overwhelming him to the point he felt he may lose consciousness. The pain was all encompassing, burning so hot it was almost cold. "I'll beg, plead, I'll chase you to hell and back…my Yuffie." A broken gasp for air ripped itself from his chest followed by a shuddering sigh, tears fell freely down his cheeks. He sobbed beside her, a broken man, hopeless and alone.
Vincent opened his eyes slowly, not realizing he'd fallen asleep. It was just past dawn, sunlight was trying to break through the blinds. He blinked a few times, taking in his surroundings. His gauntlet still held Yuffie close, his heavy cloak covering them both, her body held firmly, protectively, against him. Looking down at her he felt the ground fall away all over again.
He stood carefully and gingerly kissed her forehead. It was almost frightening to see her so still. He tugged the crimson cloak around her before whispering goodbye.
The doctor came to her room hours later, noting she was alone. "Has this one made any progress?" He glanced back at the nurse following him. She checked the chart hooked at the front of the bed and rifled through a small handful of papers in her hand.
"Looks like she had some increased brain activity, Neurology is requesting a second scan." She nodded once when she finished. "So…yeah, she's making progress."
"Good, and approve Neuro's request. Get her down there as quickly as possible." He turned to leave, casting one more glance at the bed and cloak covering the small woman. "Where did that come from?"
"Believe it belongs to the gentleman who…was here." The nurse glanced around the room. "Odd."
"What is?" The doctor continued down the hallway toward the next patient.
"He was here not too long ago, I did rounds and he was lying beside her." The nurse had to jog to catch up. "Poor man." She whispered to herself.
OoOoOoO
Vincent sat alone in the dark on a chair that very well could have been older than him. Dust coated white sheets covering a majority of the furniture and the windows had long since been boarded shut. The house smelled of dank wood and rot. In the dark of his self-imposed solitary confinement he felt himself begin to relax. He lifted a bottle to his lips and took a long pull, hissing softly as he pulled it away.
His phone began vibrating enthusiastically on a table, more than likely the same age as the chair.
He lifted it to his ear and said nothing, waiting for the other person to speak.
"We're worried about you, Vincent." Tifa spoke gently. "Come here, don't hide away…we can get through this together."
Vincent sat for a moment longer, contemplating simply hanging up. "I will be fine, Tifa." He held the phone a moment longer. "Any news?"
"She's improving, that's all that damned doctor ever says...which is good, but useless." Tifa let out a heavy sigh. "Increased brain activity, they sent her for some kind of scan which shows she doesn't have a cranial bleed, or pressure, or...anything else. I'm going to kick her ass when she wakes up." Tifa chuckled on the other end of the line.
"Hn...thank you, Tifa." He ended the call. Vincent refused to allow himself to hope. He wanted concrete, blindingly obvious proof that she was on the mend. Not some fool in a lab coat, someone who knows next to nothing about the Wutaian Ninja. He took another long pull from the bottle in his hand. He heard what sounded like a door open and close.
"Yo, Vincent." At the use of his name he shifted his position to see who had come in. "Look like you could use a drinking partner." Reno held up a bottle of amber liquid.
For a long while Vincent simply stared, and Reno began to shift uncomfortably. After what felt like ages Vincent motioned toward a covered couch across from him, sitting on delicately carved lions feet. "Have a seat." He mumbled softly.
Reno made his way over toward the gunman, his face solemn and eyes rimmed red as though he hadn't slept in quite a while. Vincent reached into a cabinet behind him and produced two small glasses, offering one to Reno. The Turk took it with a slight nod and a mumbled 'thank you'. They sat silently drinking for the better part of an hour before Reno spoke up.
"Hey, you remember when Geostigma started?" He half smirked. Vincent nodded. "That was a real fuckin' bad time." Reno frowned at him.
"Cloud saved the day once more." He cast a curious glance at Reno.
"Yeah…he did." He trailed off for a moment. "Rude and I got our asses kicked, yo. I vaguely remember hitting him...on accident." He chuckled. "Tifa punching her way to Denzel, Cid and his oversized stick…" Reno glanced at Vincent, who was watching him intently. "It shouldn't be funny, but seeing that girl jump out of a perfectly good airship and nearly puke once she hit the ground, that was priceless." The red head smirked.
"She thought Kadaj was a bug." Vincent deadpanned. Reno tried in vain to stifle his laughter. "She was trying to impress me, jumped up to the top of some…I don't remember, actually. I just remember her slipping and falling down. I had to walk away to keep my composure." Reno slapped his knee, laughing hard enough his eyes began to water.
"Remember that damnable gold chocobo she won? Kept opening it's pen to go eat all the greens Marlene was trying to grow." Reno finished his drink and poured another, topping Vincent off.
"She despised that bird." The barest of smiles began to pull at the corners of Vincent's mouth.
"Elena and I stopped by to pick up a delivery Cloud brought in for us, and out from the back comes that bird with a fucking close line around its neck, full of clothes mind you, dragging Yuffie through the dirt. I've never heard her cuss so much at one time. I thought she was going to light the thing on fire right there."
"What did happen to that bird?" Vincent cocked his head to the side. "I know I was gone for a while, but she often sent pictures of it." He eyed his phone.
Reno shook his head with a rueful smile. "Got out again and she gave it away to the first person stupid enough to think they could handle it." He sipped his drink. "Tseng hates it, too."
Vincent chuckled at the image of the normally stoic leader of the Turks trying to deal with such an unruly chocobo. "Odd, really. They are typically such well-mannered creatures."
Reno let out a bark of laughter. "That's Yuffie for ya, always bringing out the best in everything." His smile faltered. "She better wake up." He whispered. "I owe her…a lot."
Vincent nodded and downed the contents of his glass. "Thank you."
Reno's head whipped around. "What for?" His brows knit together in confusion.
The gunman stood, extending his good hand to the Turk. Reno stood slowly and took the offered hand. "For the company…and for Yuffie. You saved her life." He glanced toward the door. "I'll let you know when she wakes." Vincent turned and left Reno standing in his living room alone.
OoOoOoO
Vincent made it back to the hospital just before dawn. There was a small commotion down the hall, an elderly woman bitterly complaining about getting green jello for the third meal in a row to a young nurse. A young boy clutched a stuffed cat to his chest and held back tears. Vincent studied him for a bit, bruising around the child's left eye, a smaller faded bruise beneath his ear. His clothes were filthy. He noted that he sat in, what Vincent sincerely hoped was, his mother's lap. Her pure white blouse and ebony skirt coated in mud, snot, and possibly blood. Her shoes were mangled, the heel snapped off the right one.
"Were you scared, momma?" The small boy asked, fiddling with the cat in his hands.
"Silly boy, what do you think?" She grinned down at him, the child smiled and giggled.
"I was scared, but you fight monsters all the time...you're used to it." His smile turned to a frown and he shot a glance up at the woman.
She smiled and smoothed his hair back. "I was scared this time. Hush now, don't move too much sweetheart or you'll pull your stiches out...again." She planted a kiss on his forehead. She glanced toward Vincent, offered a small smile, and turned her attention back to the boy. Vincent turned down the hallway to Yuffie's room as a nurse came to call the mother and her son back.
He slipped into her room. The machines that had been there the day prior were gone. She slept unaided, no beeping, no tubes or needles. He made his way to her side, carefully pulling her hand into his, tracing the tip of his golden index finger along her palm.
"Mmmnn...tickles." Vincent thought for sure he was losing his mind. She turned her head, slowly, and gave him a bleary smile. "Where were you?" His voice failed him, try as he might. "Vinny?" He cupped her cheek in his good hand, brushing his thumb over her lips. She chuckled softly as his hand cupped the back of her head.
"Am I dreaming?" He brought his face down to hers, they were nose to nose. He didn't wait for her to answer before his lips were on hers. She gasped, her small hands flying to his face, wrapping themselves weakly in his thick hair as she angled him deeper into the kiss. She pulled away, gasping for air.
"I woke up an hour ago and ate some nasty, bland, food." As if on cue her stomach decided to growl loudly in protest. "I'm starving, Vince." She groaned.
He smiled gently down at her. "Does Tifa know?"
"That I'm dying of starvation? Probably not. I haven't had a chance-mmf" He captured her lips again in a desperate kiss, his breath coming in shallow gasps. "Vinny...I'm alright. Just a bad concussion." She nuzzled against his nose, carefully cupping his face in her hands. "I'm fine, really." She tried to reassure him. "Were you drinking?" She took a small sniff.
Vincent chuckled and let out a shaky breath. "Maybe." He carefully maneuvered into the bed beside her. "You nearly died, Yuffie."
She curled against him, pulling the cloak around them. "You weren't going to let me go..." She mumbled tiredly. "I heard you."
He grunted his response, tightening his hold on her. In the morning he'd call Tifa, let them know she was awake. For now he selfishly kept her to himself, kissing the top of her head and rubbing her back as she began to drift off to sleep.
"I couldn't...leave you." She mumbled, threading her fingers into his gauntlet. She mumbled something in Wutaian he could only catch by the grace of his heightened senses. His heart hammered in his chest and he vaguely wondered if she noticed. He said nothing, kissing her head once more and pulling her as close as he could.
A/N: Short but sweet...I hope :D
