Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII!
Thirty Five
-Time-
Yuffie Kisaragi was determined. Her face was set as she stared up the hill coldly, her heavy boots scrambling on the rocks and loose pebbles. Adrenaline pumped through her as the crest of the hills neared, and she knew what beautiful sight would stretch out before her on the other side. Her fingers dug into a loose patch of dirt and she stumbled, her features hardening as she struggled to regain her footing and force her exhausted body up the slope. It seemed like minutes stretched into hours, and she felt slight confusion and shame at forgetting the immense size of the hill blocking the way between her and the destination that had become so profoundly important over the past week. This journey should have gone faster, she should have remembered a better way, she didn't have time for this.
Wutai, nestled in beneath Da Chao, as beautiful and misleading as ever. A heavy sigh of relief escaped her at the sight, and she felt that determination ready to overcome her very being. Never before could she remember feeling such motivation.
Time.
That's what he wanted. She didn't understand why, but she didn't ask questions either. Any chance was better than total rejection. A few months ago she would have scoffed at the idea of going out of her way to pursue a man, but in her eyes, Vincent was no ordinary man. Not by any means.
She loved him. Honest to Leviathan, she knew for a fact she was in love with him. She didn't know why, and she didn't care. She didn't think about it, it didn't matter. What mattered was that he had come back for her, and there was a chance that they would both be alright. There was a lot of emotional healing needed, on both sides, and that wasn't something she had ever expected from him.
"It would be wrong to say that I have not considered the possibilities. I will be honest, affection is not something I am familiar with. This is not a situation I have ever had to deal with before, Yuffie, so please give me some leniency. This is not rejection, I did not come here to harm you in any way, that is not my intention. I am here simply to ask for your forgiveness, and time. I care for you, Yuffie, but you are still just a child. Go back to Wutai and finish your training. I will still be waiting for you."
She knew every word of that damn statement, she ran it through her head over and over again. Of course it was encoded, it was laced with so many other meanings. Not only because it was Vincent, but also because he was a man, and luckily for Yuffie, she knew how to understand it. What he really said could roughly be translated to something along the lines of; "I have no people skills whatsoever, but I am falling for you hard and your wild, adolescent tendencies scare the shit out of me. Give me some time to collect my thoughts, and when I realize what an idiot I've been I'll run all night to get here." Yuffie grinned once again at her own translation of what he had actually said, or what she hoped he had actually said.
Either way, if it was time he wanted, it was time he was going to get. She could wait, oh yes she could. She wasn't about to fight for him, she wasn't that kind of girl. There was something between them, and if it was worth pursuing he would take the time to find her. Vincent was not someone that could be pushed. If he didn't want to do something, he simply wasn't going to do it. The fact that he had come after her in the Nibel mountains meant worlds to them both, it was completely unexpected.