The Touch of Your Flesh

Surprise

After a few more days of playing Dr. Valentine, Vincent was gone again. This time instead of waking me, due to it being a Saturday, he left a short note in his surprisingly very nice handwriting that simply read:

I've spoken with Reeve. My new mission remains unclear, but I have chosen to leave again nevertheless. Do not waste your time worrying, for if something happens to me I shall be in a better place.

His signature was pure scribbles except for two huge Vs.

Today is Monday. Three days from today is my twenty second birthday. I was already well aware of the surprise party Yuffie, Tifa, and Reno were planning. Tifa could have maybe pulled it off, but Yuffie and Reno were two of the most obvious people on the planet. Just yesterday I asked Yuffie what she was up to and she replied "Nothing! Oh nothing! We definitely aren't planning any surprise birthday parties for you so uh…." She then hung up the phone.

I hadn't talked to Vincent since he left, but for some reason I was having a really hard time picking up the phone to call him. The last two days he was here were very awkward probably due to my question about Lucrecia. In fact he spent most of yesterday sitting out on the porch staring off into space. I even had to go out there and check to see if he hadn't turned into Chaos and flown off somewhere.

◊ Vincent's POV ◊

The shrill sound of my cell phone broke me from my day dream, or rather day nightmare if that makes any sense. I felt around my pocket and realized my phone was lying on the grass beside where I was laying.

"This is Vincent." I pushed myself up off the ground and sat upright.

"Vinny! This is Yuffie. You know, Vinaya's birthday is Thursday and we're throwing her a surprise party. She would be totally surprised if you showed." I sighed. It couldn't hurt, there's not much I can do now anyway until Reeve finds out more about Deep ground's actions.

"What time?" I asked.

"Uh….around six o'clock, but it'd be great if you could be in town at four so you can buy her a present." I heard snickering in the background. Tifa….

"I will see." I hung up with Yuffie and stood from the spot I was once laying in. A birthday….I couldn't remember the last time I actually celebrated a birthday. The word in it self depressed me, the more birthdays that pass the sooner I will lose the people who I can call my friends. Once again I will be alone, or maybe I have been all along.

◊ Vinaya's POV ◊

"Tifa…come on! I know you guys are planning a surprise party for me so can we please just go home." I whined. Tifa had dragged me into every store in Edge and my feet were killing me, not to mention I was starving to death.

"Could you at least pretend to be surprised! And if we go early we'll ruin everything." Tifa protested as we walked into the next clothing store. I groaned loudly receiving many strange stares from the other customers. I looked down at my watch, it was only four-thirty. I drug my feet as I followed Tifa around the racks of clothes. She showed me random items that would look good on me. I was completely un interested in her style of clothing. She had a lot more….assets than I did so some of the clothes she picked out would only look good on people with her body. She was at the moment wearing a long black tube top that reached her knees with light blue jeans on and black flip flops. Her long brown hair was down around her shoulders. I wore a red tank top and a black skirt that reached the top of my knees. I also wore a thick black belt over the long red shirt. I also left my hair down but curled it slightly.

Finally as soon as I thought I was going to fall over, Tifa let me know it was time to return to my house. I sighed with relief and waved down a taxi. Once it arrived at my house Tifa paid despite the argument I put up. I walked slowly up the steps and smiled to myself as I thought of all the people inside thinking they were about to surprise me. I opened the door and before I could even reach over and flip on the light, streamers were being shot at me from all directions and everyone yelled "Surprise!!" I gasped and held my chest.

"You guys! You didn't have to do this." I actually was kinda surprised at how they decorated my whole house. On the kitchen table was a really gorgeous pink cake with Happy Birthday Vinaya written on it in lime green letters. There was also lime green leafs around the sides. I was greeted with many hugs and had gifts being thrown at me from everyone. I took them all to my bedroom and laid the bags and boxes on my bed. When I returned to the living room I heard…

"So, uh…when are we gonna go on that date?" Reno strutted up to me with that grin that would send most girls right out of their minds, or their clothes rather. I smirked at him and rolled my eyes.

"Stop dreaming, Reno." I said nonchalantly taking card held out to me. It was a very simple card that I knew he probably didn't even read himself before picking it up. He didn't spare me much cash either, but hey this is Reno, I was just thankful he wasn't here drunk. Just then the doorbell rang. I looked around the living room and noticed that everyone that was supposed to be here was here. Barret sat in the big chair, Tifa, Cloud, and Yuffie were sitting on the couch, Reno stood leaning against the wall with Rude by his side, Nanaki was curled up in the middle of the floor with his head resting on his paws, Cid and Shera were sitting on the love seat. I slowly approached the door and put my hand on the handle I winced as I opened the door expecting another surprise!! But instead I was greeted with something even more surprising. Vincent Valentine in a new outfit and without his bandana. He wore black dress pants and a long-sleeved buttoned down red shirt with a black wife beater underneath it. His long hair was combed neatly back into a low pony tail, a few strands of his bangs lay on both sides of his face. He looked amazing.

"Happy birthday." He said in a low voice as he handed me a little black bag with silver strings for a handle.

"Thank you!" I took the bag from him and threw my arms around his neck. I felt his body tense under my touch, but I didn't release him. I simply waited for him to hug me back; it was my birthday after all I should at least get a birthday hug. His delayed response finally came when he gently wrapped his arms around me in a slightly tighter hug than our first one. He released me five seconds later. I reluctantly let go, I didn't really want to. I noticed that Vincent was even wearing cologne that smelled great on him! I opened the bag he gave me and pulled out the gorgeous necklace and matching earrings that he bought. I knew he must have had help from someone, because how else would he know just what I like.

"Vincent these are so beautiful. Thank you so much. You really didn't have to." I put them back into the bag and set it on the end table. There was music playing softly in the background and everyone was chatting with each other. Except Yuffie and Tifa who were both whispering awes back and forth to each other as they watched me and Vincent.

"I did." He said seriously. There wasn't a hint of laughter in his voice or any sign of a smile on his face.

"Whoa…man…yo. Count Valentine. Why are you all up on my woman?" Reno came up beside me and put his arm around my shoulders. I shot him a dirty look and smiled at Vincent.

"Do you want some cake, Vincent?" He nodded so I turned and walked into the kitchen, Vincent followed closely. I cut him a piece of cake and put it on a small pink plate for him. We sat at the kitchen table alone together. Everyone else was in the living room and Priya and Marlene were in her bedroom.

"Twenty two?" Vincent shot me a questionable look. I stared into his eyes and nodded. "Ah…do you feel any different?" The silence must have actually bothered him because it wasn't like Vincent to try this hard to make conversation.

"Hmm…not really. Vincent when's your birthday?" I took a bite of the piece of cake I fixed for myself. It was delicious.

"Is it necessary for me to have a birthday anymore?" Although he spoke the words in a sad tone, his lips were curled in a slight smile. His eyes remained on is cake, he was scraping away at the icing with his fork.

"Well yeah, although you're not physically aging, you must be mentally. I mean with every year that you're alive you're becoming wiser." I tried to bring a good thing out of his bad situation. He nodded at this.

"October 13th." He ate a piece of cake that had had all the icing scraped off. "Who made this?"

"I'm pretty sure they bought it." I smiled at Vincent. Why must he be so handsome? A thicker chunk of his bangs came falling over his eye and he quickly put it behind his ear.

After everyone cleared out I returned to my bedroom and looked through the gifts the others bought me. Priya sat on my bed and Vincent stood near by and watched. He had his human hand in his pocket and his clawed arm hanging down by his side. Tifa bought me jewelry and a really gorgeous pink blouse. Cloud, well I know Tifa helped him out, but he bought me a nice watch, Cid and Shera bought the cake, Rude bought me a box of really nice chocolates, and everyone else just got me a card with money.

"Mommy I wanna have a birthday party." Priya leaped towards me on the bed. Vincent took a step closer to the bed with a slight smile on his face. October was only two months away. I thought, maybe Vincent needed a birthday party himself.

"You'll get one. We can invite all your little friends from preschool. We can have it at the park even." I said receiving a loud cheer from her. "But you gotta be on your best behavior or there will be no party." She pouted at me and jumped off the bed.

"Hm." Vincent watched Priya run out of the room with a smirk on his face. "You have an amazing little girl."

"Thank you, Vincent. She means the world to me. If it wasn't for her, I probably wouldn't have pulled through the hard times of my life." I sighed and looked out at the hallway. I heard Priya squealing and meowing at Phoebe. "You can change if you want Vincent, I'm gonna go make sure Priya gets to bed, ok?" I left him in my bedroom alone while I cleaned up the kitchen a little and made sure Priya got to bed. When I returned I caught Vincent coming out of the bathroom, his hair wet, and his bandana back on. What is it with that man and his bandana?! I smiled at him and took his human hand in mine.

"Come sit with me in my room for a little while. I've missed your company, Vincent." His mouth dropped open a little, but he said nothing. I took his dirty clothes from him and tossed them in my clothes basket in my room. I shut the door behind us and hopped on my bed. It was slightly chilly in here, now that I was only in a pair of shorts and a tank top so I went ahead and got under the covers. Vincent sat on the bed and leaned back against the headboard, stretching his legs out in front of him.

"So, tell me, when's this thing going to be over with Deepground?" I hugged my pillow in my arms with my head on top of it, looking up at him. The room was only lit by the small lamp on the end table on the left side of my bed which was nearest to Vincent.

"Reeve….he, someone sent him a disturbing image stating that a man named Weiss whose body has been taken over by Hojo will soon cause the awakening of Omega. The only hope this planet has of surviving is if Omega is destroyed. Chaos is the only thing that can destroy Omega. But I still do not have the protomateria, to control him. However, I will still fight…."

"Vincent….what if…"

"I promised you I would be alright." He cut me off looking down at me with his crimson eyes ablaze. I couldn't stop myself from saying what I did next.

"Vincent….will you ever love anyone besides Lucrecia?" His red glare softened at the mention of her name and he turned away from me.

"Vinaya."

"I know Vincent, I know you don't want to talk about it, but Vincent…I…need to know." I sat up and scooted closer to him, my hand slid over his human hand.

"Why?" He leaned towards me, his eyes resting on my lips. He licked his lips and I saw his adam's apple drop as he swallowed hard.

"So I can stop myself from possibly falling for you now, before it happens and I can't do anything about it." I leaned in closer to him, the point of his nose brushed mine slightly sending all kinds of butterflies through my stomach.

"Then you should stop now." He said before pulling away and getting off of my bed. I glared at the back of him. How dare he manipulate my feelings like that, he knew what he was doing by getting that close.

"She was only a woman, Vincent. I'm sure she couldn't have been that great." I immediately regretted saying that as Vincent spun around on his heels and glared at me. I wanted to crawl underneath the bed and hide as Vincent slowly walked up to the bed. Why did I have to open my mouth?!