One week later

--

To anyone on the outside the familiar beckon of light the Pagoda was to the residents of Wutai, would not recognize the building once they stepped inside. Everything that the late Lord Godo had put in place had been torn down. Instead of being a dojo of sorts for the ninjas of the town, it had turned into a command center.

In the top most floor; Chekov stood in the middle of the room, lounging in a chair off the main room, his desk in front of him. His dark eyes narrowed as a light knock sounded against the heavy wood, a grumble escaping his lips as he glanced up from the glowing screen in front of him.

"Enter."

The door squeaked open, allowing the lone man to enter. Chekov glanced at the man, his annoyance at being interrupted to be placed on the back burner. For someone to bother him, they must know something . . .

"What is it? I am expecting a phone call shortly."

The man nodded, bowing to the lord sitting before him, the door closing behind him. "My Lord, it has been a week since you demanded that we forgo all the other major cities to focus solely on Junon. I may be speaking out of term . . . but, was that wise? We are –"

"She is there."

The man nodded. "But sir, see reason here; by focusing on only one city –"

"The largest of the entire Western Continent, headquarters of the WRO, I assume?"

The man nodded again, his face going warm. He wasn't used to being spoken down to. "Yes, Junon, my lord. I merely think that by focusing on there alone, we are giving Mrs. Kisaragi a better chance to escape." Chekov allowed a grin to appear on his features, but waved his hand to signal him to keep talking. "With what happened with the Tsviet, they will start piecing everything together."

Exactly, Chekov thought with a smirk.

This was going exactly according to his plan.

Yuffie would not be able to run forever – all he had to do was play the right cards.

Noticing the head of affairs had stopped speaking, looking, waiting patiently for his next words. Chekov forced down the urge to roll his eyes. This people looking for Yuffie didn't know her as well as they thought they did.

"Yuffie will not run from Junon."

"But sir –"

"Her friends are there. With them she gets stronger. She'll want to prove herself – she always does. She will come to us."

"Then sir, why are we doing all this?"

Chekov shook his head, that piece of information, was on a need-to-know basis. "We will find out within time, now, won't we?" After a moments pause, the head of affairs fidgeted under Chekov's dark and piercing stare. "Was there anything else you wanted to tell me?"

Startled, the man stood up straight, shaking his head. "No my Lord, I was just wondering . . ."

"Then you're dismissed," Chekov cut him off, waving his hand to ward him off. "I have important matters that need my attention. You are only to disturb me if there is a break through with finding my wife."

The man nodded, bowing out of the room. Secretly glad to be away from the Wutai Rulers haunting stare. As the door closed shut behind him, he let out a loud breath, and as he picked up with discarded clipboard, he wasted no time in calling out his new batch of instructions, intent on finding the dark haired woman.

From inside the room, Chekov's smirk grew as the door clicked shut, locking. His dark eyes moved back to the screen, intently reading the short letter he had gotten from his subordinates.

He knew they were the right bunch to send – they wouldn't fail him.

And, they certainly didn't disappoint, having already found his query.

Found Kisaragi – hiding out in the WRO headquarters, mostly with Lockheart and Valentine.

Awaiting further orders, my Lord.

And with the short email came an attachment.

The picture was obviously taken by a camera phone, the subject not even knowing the photo had been taken.

Even with the short blonde hair and light make up adorning her delicate features – he'd know that stance anywhere.

Yuffie Kisaragi had been found.

"You did not disappoint," he muttered to himself, hands moving across the keyboard to reply. "I expected no less from you . . ."

--

Bridget let out a groan from behind the newspaper she was vaguely looking at, blowing her bangs out of her eyes. The WRO was so boring.

"Where's Denzel?" she huffed, throwing the paper down, nothing good in it anyway. "How can you not be bored, Liam? I'm so bored. I mean, wouldn't you think that they would be doing something interesting for once? Geez, they're all over the news doing whatever it is they do – but, c'mon they haven't even left the building since we got here!" Shaking her head, she propped her chin in one hand and she drummed her fingers against the table. "You'd think something interesting would be happening here – seriously!"

Liam rolled his eyes at her rant, suppressing the urge to roll his eyes. If there was one thing Bridget was good at, was ranting about whatever it was in front of them. "Then go entertain yourself, something's probably going on somewhere."

Bridget sighed; her fingers stopped drumming as she crossed her legs, sinking deeper into the chair. "Why couldn't Gerard and Sephera come with us? At least Gerard has a sense of humor . . ."

Liam hmmed in response, not rising to the bait like Bridget wanted. "They'd stand out too much," he shook his head, closing the subject before it opened. "I think they've moved on anyway –"

"What?" Bridget stopped, sitting up straight, dark eyes narrowed. "Why'd they leave and why didn't you tell me?"

Liam glanced away from the window he was staring out, six floors above the large metropolis. "It never came up in conversation." In truth, Denzel didn't want Bridget near them, protective jerk.

"They're my friends; and Gerard . . ." Bridget stopped, shaking her head slightly. "Anyway, I should have been told – where are they going now?"

"Costa del Sol, maybe? Maybe Rocket Town, they didn't really say. Denzel knows, he spent a while on the phone with Gerard last night."

Bridget's mouth fell open. "Denzel spoke to him? Where was I then?" Liam shrugged. "This is so . . . so . . . so like him! Where is that jerk?"

Liam sighed; he hated confrontation – especially if Bridget was in on it. "He's gone out for the day, you know, to catch up on what's been going on in his absence."

Bridget, hand on the doorknob, froze. Her eyes narrowed to the point that they started to blaze, glaring hauntingly at the male. "He's with her? With that Marlene?"

Liam sighed, shaking his head at her harsh tone. He knew why she would be jealous of Marlene – having known Denzel, and grown up in the same house, since they were six or seven – but it was pointless in his opinion. Marlene and Denzel had grown apart, even if Marlene didn't notice it completely. Denzel had changed since he joined up with the WRO, matured quicker into the harsh reality. Marlene, it seemed, still lived in her perfect world.

"Yes, he's with Marlene – he doesn't want to lose her as a friend, she means too much to him."

"And us? What are we – his lackey's and grunts until this is over?"

"You're jumping to conclusions," Liam stated, picking up the newspaper she had thrown in anger moments previous. "They are friends, plain and simple. Get over it, Bridget. Denzel is Denzel."

"I don't like her – she knows him too well, she'll see through it. That girl will be the death of us, you do know where we are, right?" She held her hand up, ignoring the look Liam sent at her. "My god, it's sarcasm, you're too serious. If she suspects something, everything is going to go down, right? I can see it in their eyes – they don't trust us."

Liam shrugged, half listening to the red head's words. "Why would they trust us? They don't know us from the next person on the street."

Bridget scoffed, wrenching their bedroom door open. "I want to be out of here as soon as possible, you understand. Tell him to hurry up with Marlene, this isn't some stupid trip down memory lane," she shook her head, letting out a deep breath, glancing down the hallway. "I'm going out – Gerard and Sephera are here somewhere. I just . . . ugh, I can't stand here any longer."

As the bedroom door closed behind Bridget, Liam let out a sigh, running his hand through his hair. Nothing interesting in his paper, he tossed it aside as he stood up with a stretch. Denzel might ruin everything if his façade slipped a fraction, but Bridget's wild temper, and bout of jealousy, it seemed more likely that she could ruin everything they needed.

"Stupid girl," he muttered, crossing silently across the room. He wished they had Sephera instead of Gerard, she was more calm and collected then her wildly tempered sister. "This is going to be harder then suspected . . ."

--

Tifa frowned from where she sat at the conference table, arms crossed over her chest. She narrowed her wine coloured eyes, sinking down slightly in her chair. Just being here, the most important people of the WRO all in one room, with Denzel's friends running around unattended, she had a bad feeling. She didn't feel anything bad coming from the two, if anything, Liam seemed quiet interested to be here, taking in everything. However, the girl – Bridget was it? – seemed standoffish, and . . . well, strange in her opinion.

Something was up, she knew that.

She knew that – and her female intuition was hardly ever wrong.

Her wine coloured eyes raked across the table, Cloud and Barret on either side of her, all the way to the now-blonde Yuffie sitting beside Vincent, her eyes calculating.

Denzel had returned mere hours after Shelke had been deemed comatose and Yuffie had been made over.

Perhaps, it had been a good thing they had gotten Yuffie changed in time . . .

Besides the group circling the table, no one else knew that Yuffie was within the WRO building.

Well, except Marlene, she thought, but dismissed the thought.

It was something about those two – she just couldn't trust them.

"We're at a stand still," Reeve said, the words cutting through Tifa's thoughts. Blinking, she raised an eyebrow as she glanced over at Reeve. What was it they were talking about? "We haven't been able to figure out what is wrong with Shelke, all we know is that something happened to her when she was doing the SND dive."

Tifa, her attention on Reeve, her eyebrows pulled together as she frowned, missed the look that past between Yuffie and Vincent. If she had been watching, she would have seen Yuffie shoot Vincent a sharp look, her eyes almost pleading with him about something. While, Vincent on the other hand, held her gaze, crimson eyes piecing through her. Yuffie's eyes narrowed as she glared at him before turning her head, looking anywhere but at him.

But, she needn't worry, from across the table, Shera shook her head, trying to force back a smile.

"We all know where she went too," Barret grumbled, leaning back in his chair. "She went to Wutai. Whatever the problem with her is – Wutai did it."

"Barret!" Tifa hissed, elbowing the darker man roughly in the ribs. She narrowed her eyes intensely, a subtle suggestion that he shut up.

Barret shrugged, shaking Tifa off. "I'm just saying . . ."

Reeve sighed, shaking his head. "We don't know for sure where she went, although that is a large possibility," Slowly, he looked over at Yuffie, the ninja's face pulled down in a frown, arms crossed over her chest. "Yuffie, do you know what is happening? Anything, any idea at all?"

Her now blue eyes looked over at Reeve, holding his gaze. "No, I don't," she shook her head, defeat in her eyes. "Chekov, he wasn't really one for sharing information he knew. When he took control of the throne, he slowly started to distance himself from me, but I didn't realize it at first.. I was only a figure head anyway, a way to get to the throne. I don't know what it was he had planned in a case like this," Yuffie took in a breath, before looking at the group in front of her, looking at each of them in turn. "All I can tell you is that he knows as much about you as I do . . . he will do whatever it takes to get all of you out of the way. Without a doubt, I believe he knows I'm here with you all."

Reeve blinked as he stared at her, Yuffie hadn't spoken much – especially about what had happened. Tifa smiled at the ninja, her mind whirling as she glanced over at Shera, nodding to the brunette. Barret let out a sigh as he leaned back in his chair again as Cid fished his cigarette pack from his jacket pocket, fumbling with his lighter.

"So, what you're trying to tell us is that Chekov won't rest till we're dead and you're back in your little ivory dungeon," he summarized, taking a drag on his cigarette. "You always did like to bring trouble," he shook his head, his smirk appearing on his features. "He can't be that hard to beat anyway, not after Sephiroth, Meteor, Kadaj and Deepground, just another wacko in the cards."

Yuffie let out a grin, forcing down a laugh. "Probably true . . ."

"Probably?" Barret picked up on the operative word. "What the hell, you better start explaining all this brat," narrowing his eyes, he glared at the smaller girl on the other side of the table. "I don't want to hear any more of your vague, loophole words. You're either with us or against us. Which is it?"

"Barret!"

"You know its true Teef. She's been spouting all this stuff about he knows this, he'll do that, you're as sick of this as I am."

Tifa's response died in her throat, leaving the bartender speechless. Yuffie's narrowed eyes moved from Barret – who she expected it from – to Tifa; the brunette looking anywhere but at her. Letting out a sigh, Yuffie shook her head. "I see you're all talking about me behind my back, guess something's do change after all these years."

Tifa's eyes snapped up, holding Yuffie's narrowed gaze now. "Damn it, we want to help you. You know what's going on in Wutai, if only a fraction. We need to know this if you want our help. We can only do so much blindfolded like this. What are we up against?"

Yuffie sighed, closing her eyes momentarily. "You really want to know?" She didn't expect an answer, shrugging when she didn't get one. "Chekov knows a lot about you guys. He's seen you all on the news a bunch of times, he seemed . . . obsessed, that might be the right word, with everything WRO," she shook her head, holding up her hand to stop the comments she could see in her friends eyes. "Don't worry, Chekov knows next to nothing about the WRO – that was one secret he never managed to get out of me."

"What did he get out of you then?" Barret commented, ignoring her raised hand.

"Not much," Yuffie shrugged, noticing that it was next to impossible to bluff her way out this time. "At first, he wanted to know all about you guys. It all started a week before the surprise party Tifa had planned for –"

"We didn't go through with it," Tifa said quietly, shaking her head as she glanced at Yuffie. "It wouldn't have been the same without you."

"Thanks Tifa," Yuffie said with a small smile, locking eyes with the bartender. "But, that was when it all started, a week before. As you all already know; my father was dying and he called me to his private chambers, wanting to ask me if I would do something to protect Wutai. He knew it before I said anything; he knew that I wouldn't say no, I said yes right off the bat, no questions asked. I tried to refute when I found out, but," Yuffie let out a laugh. "That worked wonderfully."

"Yuffie what –"

Cloud shook his head, resting his hand on Tifa's shoulder. "Just let her talk it out, I doubt you've ever spoken about this, huh Yuffie?"

Yuffie nodded again, her eyes dropping to the hands in her lap, twisting them together. "Anyway, I told him that I wasn't missing the party and that he couldn't stop me. That was, well, that was the first night we got into a fight – and it was the first time that I ever lost."

Tifa's eyes flashed, the comment on her lips dying as Cloud squeezed her shoulder. She shook her head, but leaned back in her chair anyway, a frown on her face. Down the table however, Shera shot a glare back at Cid, daring him to stop her, as she looked back at Yuffie. "What happened?"

Yuffie smiled ruefully. "Simple, I lost. Chekov turned into his Omni God form and well, since I didn't have all the materia – seriously guys, the Chocobo Summon, that did wonders. Although the cure was mastered, heh, I quickly ran out of magic and since I wasn't on the road, I didn't have my bag of tricks on me. I only managed to be cunning for so long, and then," Yuffie shrugged. "He beat me."

"He beat you?!" Tifa shouted, shoving Cloud's hand off her in anger. "Damn it, I'm going to kill him myself. Is that what the text message was about? Augh, Vincent, we should have forced our way into that house!"

Yuffie let out a laugh, shaking her head. "We were fighting Tifa, just like all those years in the Pagoda. It was the same thing."

Their eyes locked, Tifa nodded slowly, falling back in her chair. "If you say so . . ." But from the look in Tifa's eyes, it was far from over.

"Anyway, continue," Cloud said, waving his hand at Yuffie as if the interruption never happened.

Yuffie smiled slightly, but avoided Tifa's gaze, no matter how much the bartender stared intently, hauntingly at her. "After I got beaten, well, he started to be more dominating. Since he had beaten me at my own game, he said that it showed that males were the most dominant sex. I got so mad; I started blurting things about you guys. That I'd helped Vincent recover from his own problems with Lucrecia and Hojo – you've got to admit it, I did that like singlehandedly. Unfortunately, that opened up the flood gates . . . he wanted to know more about you guys."

"And you told him?" Barret said, barely interested. "How like you, your mouth talks faster then your brain."

"You weren't there," Yuffie mumbled, sinking down in her chair. "You've never spoken to him, have you? Chekov can be . . . persuasive when he wants to be. I didn't tell him much at first; just that you were my friends, was looking forward to the surprise party and just small details. I remember talking a lot about Aeris, and chasing Cait around the Golden Saucer with the Keystone and breaking into the Deepground underground, fun stuff like that. Unfortunately, that was the beginning of the end."

"Just get to the point already," Barret grumbled, leaning on his palm down, boredom in his eyes. "Enough of this beating around the bush crap."

"Exactly as I said, the beginning of the end. Hearing everything I did, everything my father said behind my back and all the times I appeared on the news with Vincent and Reeve; he told me that I wouldn't be going anywhere without an escort. The thought of bringing him to the party made me want to gag. Anyway, I guess a long story short – we fought over that as well, and I lost, lost everything. After a while, the only thing I really had left was my cell. That's why I messaged Tifa, when you and Vinnie showed up, I swear, I'd never felt so happy. Granted, then he took my cell and did I-don't-know-what to it. Things just got worse after that and then," Yuffie shrugged, glancing at everyone around the table in turn, stopping when she met Vincent's crimson ones. "Then I ran away, I knew you would help me . . . all of you," she amended, glancing around.

Tifa was speechless, blinking at Yuffie, noticing that Yuffie wasn't telling everything that had happened during her . . . imprisonment it seemed. Curiosity gnawed on her mind, wanting to know what she still wasn't telling them. Biting down on her lip, she stole a side look over at Shera, a calculating look in the scientist's eyes. Cloud had a frown on his features, while Barret leaned back in his chair and Cid took another drag on his cigarette.

"Well then," Reeve said, eventually breaking the silence. "That helps us know a little bit what we are up against. Chekov and the Royal Guard of Wutai know what they're up against to an extent. They know who we are and what we are capable of on our own. But, they don't know completely how the WRO work on the inside, so we can use that to our advantage. We just have to be more careful not to do what they would expect us to," Glancing momentarily at the others, who nodded, he shifted his glance to Yuffie. "And Yuffie, if you have any information, you will let us know, right?"

Yuffie nodded without a second thought. She didn't want any of her friends to fall for any more of her husband's – she cringed at the thought of that – dirty, underhanded tricks. She didn't want anyone becoming just like Shelke – lying upstairs in a comatose state over something Wutai had done. "Just . . . I need some time to think."

Reeve nodded, a sympathetic look on his face. After three years of keeping all her thoughts inside of her, it had to have been hard trying to all the sudden find words for everything. "I think we should all take some time to think, the Holiday's are right around the corner – no doubt from all our current problems, we've been slacking on a couple other things."

Tifa sighed, she did still have a lot of shopping to do, it right around the corner now. But, before that, she had one more thing to do – a one-on-one chat with Yuffie. There had to be something she could only tell a girl, something not even Vincent knew. She frowned, shaking her head as the chairs started to scrap against the floor, everyone moving, heading out of the cramped conference room.

Deep in thought, she jumped when she felt a hand fall onto her shoulder. Looking behind her, she grinned when she noticed Shera. "Yuffie's hiding something."

"I know," Shera nodded in agreement. "You could tell, she told us what she knew, but, she was guarded. I think we should have –"

"A one-on-one chat with her?" Tifa commented, pushing her chair back, a grin on her features. "I was actually thinking the same thing."

"Good," Shera said, moving across the carpeted floor, the only two in the room now. "We can do that and finish our shopping at the same time. Let's go find her."

Tifa snorted, shaking her head. "Like we don't know where she'll be."

Shera shrugged, heading towards the stairwell at the end of the hallway. "That just means it won't take as long to find her."

--

Yuffie sighed, leaning against the elevator wall, not in the mood to listen to the happy melody streaming through the speakers.

If they were going to try and defeat Chekov, they would lose. Somehow, obviously he knew more then he actually had let on – he was managing to beat them at their own game.

She didn't want to know why he was doing this, but it was obvious. To her at least.

He had gotten to Shelke, he had known it was her in the first place. What a better place to start anyway . . . the intelligence operative. With herself out of Wutai and Shelke out of the picture, they wouldn't know what was going on in the oriental country now. They wouldn't know Wutai's next plan, where they were heading, where they had already swept through . . . and if they knew where she was.

All that had died with Shelke.

And she was to blame.

"Yuffie."

Her head snapped up, the frown not leaving her features as she glanced up. Crimson met Blue (she couldn't wait to get back to the rooms, she hated these contacts) and she let out a sigh, dropping her eyes. "What is it Vincent?"

"You didn't tell them everything, why?"

Inwardly, she wanted to curse him, he always had to start with the hard questions, didn't he?

He hasn't changed at all, she thought idly. He seemed to be the only one who hadn't changed somewhat.

"They didn't need to know . . . I know what I'm doing."

The elevator dinged then, announcing that it had reached the desired floor, drowning out Yuffie's last words. Without looking at Vincent, she pushed herself off the wall, leaving the elevator behind her. She didn't have to look behind her to know that Vincent was following her, his crimson eyes boring holes into her no doubt. She knew he had heard what she'd said.

He remained silent as they walked down the hallway, a couple feet behind the now blonde haired girl. He couldn't get used to her new style – it didn't look like her, which Tifa was after in the first place. Yuffie looked more like someone from some magazine, not real. It vaguely registered in his head – Yuffie had been spending a majority of her spare time sitting on his couch, saying whatever came to mind – so when she stopped in front of his door waiting for him to catch up, he didn't think anything about it.

Stopping beside her, he found the small key from his pocket, the door unlocking before him as he pushed the door open. A slight smile appeared on Yuffie's painted features as she pulled the small key from the doorknob, wandering into the room. Used to the room, Yuffie crossed the carpeted floor to the kitchen table, dropping the key on it as Vincent closed the door, turning on the light.

Locking the door, Vincent turned around, surprised to find Yuffie standing in the doorway to the living room, her eyes darting from him to the floor, biting down on her lip. Vincent raised an eyebrow, she was planning something. He sighed, as he glanced at the ninja, holding her gaze as he slowly crossed the room, stopping before her.

"What are you planning, Yuffie?"

"You know I'm the only one who can stop him, Vince. You know as well as I do, he won't stop this until I'm back on Wutai soil!"  Yuffie shook her head, her look desperate. "I have to do something."

Vincent glanced at her, resisting the urge to shake his head at her claims. "Why do you want to go back there? You ran away from there for the same reason."

Vince, I . . . I have to, you don't understand! He's not going to stop whatever mental list he's following. This is my entire fault!"

"Because you came to us for help, or is it because of what you told him?"

"Both!" Yuffie shouted, her hands balling into fists, unballing them and interlocking her fingers in front of her. Shaking her head, she started to pace in the small doorway, rapidly speaking to herself in Wutai.

"Yuffie . . ." She didn't seem to hear him, her look desperate again. Taking a breath, he reached out for the ninja, stopping her when she past by. She looked up at him, momentarily having forgotten he was in the room, eyebrows raised. He shook his head, hands resting on her shoulders, holding her in place. "Why are you taking all of this on yourself, you didn't ask for this."

"It all started with me! I told Chekov about all of you, you won't be able to stop him. Hiding behind the WRO front won't help; he knows you won't stay there forever. He's smart and cunning . . . and . . ." Yuffie shook her head, trying not to show weakness as water welled up in her eyes. "I did this to everyone. I need to fix it."

Vincent sighed, Yuffie was still hardheaded. That seemed to be the only thing about her that hadn't changed. As he felt the girl wrap her arms around his chest, her shoulder's shaking slightly, he slowly wrapped his arms around her tiny frame.

"You're not going back there," he muttered, running his hand through her shorter hair, his clawed hand holding her tight. "We'd just come after you anyway."

Yuffie let out a slight laugh, pulling away from Vincent long enough to brush the wetness from her face. "I knew you would," she smiled, closing her eyes momentarily; she glanced up, holding his gaze intently with hers. "But after what happened to Shelke, I don't want to think what could happen to the rest of you . . . especially you. Vincent, I . . . I meant what I told you back in Nibelheim."

Vincent paused for a moment, frowning as he thought back to her short time in Nibelheim. That felt so long ago now, what with everything that had happened.

"I can't . . . I shouldn't be here . . . I have to go, I'm sorry."

"If Chekov does come for me – I'll just go home with him. I – I just want to do what I want for once . . ."

"I always knew you'd help me . . . that's – that's why I always loved you."

I always loved you? Vincent blinked as he remembered, glancing down at the ninja. Yuffie was looking at the floor, her hands behind her back, biting down on her lip. "Yuffie, you . . ."

He couldn't say it. Yuffie was married. Lucrecia had been married. He had had feelings for the both of him. It was the exact same story, thirty years later.

Yuffie chanced a look at him, frowning when she saw his face, coming to the same conclusion as him. "It's like I told you before Vince; I'm not Lucrecia. Lucrecia, somehow, loved Hojo. I ran away from Chekov to find you. It's not the same, it's not."

"Yuffie," Vincent said, trying to find the right words. "We can't. No matter how you feel, you are still married. I won't go through it again."

"After?" Yuffie said, her voice no more then a whisper as she picked up on the operative word. "I ran away, I'm not going back there to stay. I . . . that's why I came after you! You were all I thought of all that time!"

Vincent blinked, silent. Yuffie what? He hated to say it, but the ninja's words, made him silent. "Yuffie . . ."

"No! Don't 'Yuffie' me, Vincent. I'm twenty two not that eighteen year old girl that you parted ways with!" Yuffie shook her head, her fingers flexing, wanting to grab the gunslinger in front of her. "I won't let Chekov toy with us anymore like this is some game! He knows," she shook her head. "I know how to stop him."

Vincent shook his head, again. "You're not going back there, end of discussion. You ran away from there Yuffie and now you want to run back there? You need to make up your mind."

Yuffie bit her lip, a different thought in her mind. "You say you don't want me to go back to Wutai because you're the only one who knows the whole story, right? But you won't do anything! You keep telling me hollow truths: you say you won't go through it again, you tell me not to go back, we'll come after you," Yuffie paused, taking a deep breath, an ultimatum in her mind. Slowly, she raised her eyes to meet Vincent's, her usual smirk on her features. "My minds made up. You say all this stuff, but . . . I want . . . I want you to kiss me and tell me it doesn't matter!"

--

A/N: How's that for a cliffhanger?

Yuffie's back story is slowly starting to become unraveled, more will be revealed in the next few chapters. Chekov's still got some tricks up his sleeves and Denzel's group seems far from happy. What I can I say; I like to keep people guessing.

Anyway, keep reading and I see to have a lot of silent readers all the sudden, but I'd love to hear from you all. :)