Blind Love, Chapter 2:
'Gotta dance!'
In the car, that Cid was driving, Vincent noticed that Cid was looking depressed.
"What's on your mind, Cid?"
Cid looked up in surprise, his thoughts were elsewhere.
"Shera." He said, slight irritation in his voice.
"What about her?" Vincent inquired, even though he had a clear assumption of 'what about her and Cid'.
Cid frowned,
"She's on my mind, that's all."
Vincent smiled sagaciously, perhaps even with a tinge of evil,
"I wonder why she will be on your mind...?"
Cid smiled an embarrassed little smile. Sometimes they really could see through each other.
"You like her, don't you? I mean, like her, like her..." Vincent asked gently.
Cid frowned,
"Ya... I think..."
They were both silent a long moment. The scenery flew by.
"You understand," said Cid, "That one word from you equals instant death, right?"
Vincent gave him a serious look,
"Of course"
"Promise?"
"Certainly." He then looked back at the scenery and a sinister smile graced his lips just a moment. Beside him, where Cid could not see, he crossed his fingers.
Before they entered the supermarket, Cid remembered,
"Don't forget to wear the cast."
Vincent thanked Cid for reminding him and placed a 'clip on' cast over his claw.
After what happened the first time they came, and the cashier saw Vincent's claw, they didn't want to take any chances.
They returned form there an hour or so later. They entered the house while passionately discussing the ups and downs of dental floss.
"Are they always like this?" asked Elena,
"Yup," answered Shera, unpacking the heavy parcels, "Sometimes it's even worse, you should have seen the discussion about melting ice cream cones."
Cid entered with more bags from the car, and after him Vincent, his hands full as well.
"Well, obviously you don't use dental floss, I bet the fangs always tear it."
Vincent placed the bags on the counter and rolled his eyes.
"Why do you always call him a Vampire?" asked Elena, not accepting that Shera will do all the work, and helping arrange the contents.
Cid playfully punched Vincent's shoulder as the later placed dishes on the table,
"'couse he's our own personal Vampire, that's why. Hey, we found him in a bloody coffin, for cryin' out loud."
"Don't remind me..." Vincent murmured.
A ring at the door bell stopped Elena before she had a chance of inquiring on the subject.
Cid was about to go answer it, but Shera stopped him with a friendly hand on his arm,
"I'll get it," she said, a certain tremor in her voice, "you just sit down and... Relax."
"?" Cid asked, but all Vincent could do was shrug.
The look on Cid's face as Shera came back to the kitchen with Reno and Rude was priceless. His muscles stiffened involuntarily at the sight of them.
"I hope you don't mind me inviting Elena's friends over, do you?" Shera asked with a sheepish smile, she had a clear knowing of Cid's attitude towards everything that had to do with ShinRa.
"I damn-" He started angrily. Vincent nonchalantly whacked him on the back of his head (which silenced him efficiently long enough for Vincent to say-)
"Of course we don't."
Cid rubbed the back of his head and murmured something under his breath.
Vincent whacked him again, and said in a low voice,
"I'm neither a Vampire, nor stupid. And you tend to forget that I have a good hearing."
"So... what was it the Turks did?" asked Shera politely,
All former Turks seated at the lunch fidgeted uncomfortably, they looked at each other,
"Err... we were..." started Reno with a slight blush, "... Shinra's Manufacturing Department in Administrative Research."
"That's quite a name, but what does it mean?"
The Turks looked at her miserably, they were hoping that she would get the hint from that evasive answer.
"The Turks are the people who used to go and look for new SOLDEIR men and women." Concluded Vincent, not as much as lying as not totally telling the whole truth. Shera still seemed baffled,
"Then why did you guys used to beat each other up ?"
Now all the people at the table fidgeted,
"It doesn't really matter, does it?" asked Cid, changing the subject, "All that matters is that we're having a great lunch and that we aren't beating each other any more, right?"
Everybody nodded, relieved of the change.
"But what kind of stupid thing to say is 'We might be retreating, but we're still victories', anyway? We won!" asked Cid all of the sudden, remembering how it baffled him when Reno had said it,
Reno rised his chin,
"We used to call that maneuver 'the double headed snake', it's a strategical retreat-"
"Actually" Vincent cut in, "what you did can be called a one headed snake, the 'double' comes when you retreat to an ambush and..."
All three Turks were staring at him,
"What?" he asked defensibly,
"How do you know that?"
"Err... Well... I... Cid, why don't you tell them?" Vincent really didn't wish to talk about his past right now.
"He was a Turk." Helped Cid. Vincent noted to himself that he has to wack Cid again.
"Really?" asked Reno,
Vincent poked his food with the fork,
"Ya..."
"What rank?" asked Rude,
"Captain." He said shortly.
"Wow!" Reno, Rude and Elena exclaimed, "You were, like, a Turk leader?" asked Rude, enthusiastic.
Vincent nodded,
"It was some time ago, though," he said,
"What was your call sign?" Reno inquired, not totally believing Vincent.
"I was called 'Shadow'."
Cid frowned,
"You never told me all that,"
Vincent looked at him with a sarcastic smile,
"Well, it's rather irrelevant nowadays, isn't it?"
"You were the Shadow?? The nearly legendary leader on the Turks?" Asked Reno,
"And one of the best Turks ever?" added Rude.
Vincent didn't want to talk about it at all, and he didn't want to brag either, but he couldn't evade the subject forever,so he nodded.
"Cool!" Reno and Rude said in unison. Elena didn't seem all that enthusiastic.
Vincent regretted that the subject ever came up.
After dinner, Vincent was involuntarily volunteered to wash the dishes. The others went to the living room and turned on the radio.
Reno, Cid, Rude and Shera talked about trivial things. It took Rude and Reno some effort to be at ease with their hosts, after what they all been through. Elena noted that Cid was the same.
A rhythmic song came up.
She decided to go check on Vince', since she really came here to talk to him.
Upon opening the door, she saw a sight normal mortals rarely see;
Vincent was humming and dancing.
Well, not really dancing, only tapping his legs to the rhythm while scrubbing the dish. He placed the dish in the drying spot with one elegant hop (all coordinated with the music,) and bounced the next dish to his hand on a certain chime in the music.
Elena leaned on the doorway, enjoying the 'view'. He was very agile, she noticed.
He obviously knew this song. Every dish was washed while his legs did all sorts of dancing hops and moves.
He bent to pick something from a low cabinet, but his legs didn't stop dancing even then.
She had to put one hand over her mouth to stop giggling like a schoolgirl.
He turned around with a hum as he finished the dishes, but stopped short upon seeing Elena in the doorway. The last cup to be put in the cupboard in his hands dropped to the floor.
With lighting speed, he bent and grabbed it millimeters from the floor. And straightened back.
He gulped hard.
"H... How long have you been standing there?" he timidly asked.
"Just entered," She lied, assuming how embarrassed he'll be if she told him she saw him hop about. "Why?"
"Oh, no reason..." he nervously said. Straightening his clothes. She played dumb; shrugging and leaving the kitchen.
He slapped his forehead. He was so irritated with himself, he used his claw.
"He's so uptight" Elena mentioned to Cid when she got back to the living room.
"Ya, sometimes. Sometimes he manages to forget, sometimes he just can't."
Again, the chance to ask was taken away, by Shera this time.
Shera overheard what Elena had said about Vincent. She came to Cid and whispered something in his ear.
An evil, ominous smile crept across Cid's face, he nodded. Elena followed Shera with her eyes. The later came up to a desk and produced from a drawer a CD.
Vincent came to the living room, drying his hands on a big towel. He noticed the disc Shera was holding,
"NO!" he shouted in alarm.
She tossed it to Cid just as Vincent jumped to take it away from her and most probably destroy it.
Cid opened it nimbly and placed it in the machine.
"DOOONN'''TT!" Vincent begged.
Cid pressed 'play'.
Elena curiously picked up the disk's package.
"Tango?" she asked with much puzzlement. On the other side was written in someone's handwriting on a little note inserted on the back cover:
'Use only in case of emergency!'
The music started, a tango.
"Wh-" she started, but something wrapped itself around her waist and dragged away.
It was Vincent; he had used the towel as a whip to bring Elena within his reach.
He had a blood red rose between his teeth.
He put one hand around her waist and flung the towel away just as the music grew fiercer.
They danced the Tango. And in a most enthusiastic way, nonetheless.
They both were class A' Tango dancers, and none of them were holding back at the moment.
Rude and Reno's jaw fell at the sight of this passionate dancing.
The whole dance took but a few minutes, but every moment was intense, every moment had a meaning. They did it all, even the mouth-to-mouth rose.
Vincent swirled her about, then brought her very close to him. Elena was, literally, swept off her feet by this extraordinary Tango dancer. She never saw this coming.
It is customary to compare dancing to water; flowing, gushing, exhilarating. Their dance was the effect of a hurricane, a tzunami.
Their faces so close, she noticed how his eyes sparkled. It seemed he even wasn't aware of his doing, like he had to dance the Tango and the world be damned if he didn't.
They were so close she could feel his breath, feel his warmth, as the music went on, she got caught in it as well.
They danced like it was the last day in the world to dance in.
What emotion Vincent lacked regularly, he compensated in this dance.
What Elena lacked in skill, she compensated with passion.
The Tango ended with a strong note, and Vincent actually tipped her over, while supporting her back..
So they stayed a moment, Elena exasperated, Vincent slowly realizing what had just accrued.
Embarrassment spread across his face, a slight blush colored his cheeks. He suddenly dropped Elena on the floor and, infuriated, yelled,
"CIIIIIDDDD!!!!" -who was already racing full speed out of the door. Vincent started to run, stopped, helped Elena up, and then started to chase Cid in order to beat him senseless.
Elena stood where she was, exasperated and a bit wobbly.
"That was... Unexpected..." She managed to breath towards Shera, who all this time watched with a big smile.
"Vincent can withstand torture, he can withstand mockery, he can withstand the greatest amounts of pain, but the only thing he can't withstand nor resist is to dance the Tango." She helped the shocked Elena to a chair, then added, "He hates it when we do that to him."
"Why do you do it to him, then?"
"It's actually for his best, really. It frees him... You saw how different he is when he dances, he's happy. And besides, it sure is a lot of fun to watch, he's one heckava dancer."
"Indeed he is." Agreed Elena, still short on air, having first hand experience.
"Would you like a glass of water?" Shera offered.
"I'll be most thankful." And Elena mentally added, 'and I'll be most thankful if my heart'll stop pounding'. And she knew it wasn't pounding just because of the energetic dancing.
Shera brought her a tall glass of water.
"Where're Reno and Rude?" Elena asked, thanking Shera and sipping from the cool drink.
"They went to see Vincent beat up Cid."
"He actually beats him?"
"Nah, he just frightens him a bit and sometimes makes him grovel. They only rarely revert to physical violence- Those kids..." Shera sat down beside Elena.
"How did you find out about this dancing thing?"
"The first time this happened, all Avalanche was here, poor Vince, Cid had just bought that disk and played it at a party we had here. It took me about an hour to catch my breath and to stop my head from spinning."
Elena smiled,
"Why is Vincent poor, then?"
Shera laughed as she remembered that party,
"A) He was very embarrassed, he apologized about a hundred times afterwards. B) I'm a shaddy Tango dancer compared to you two; you really make a good pair.
And lastly, it took Vince and Cid a week to talk to each other again; Cid got mad at him for some reason..."
Elena was sure she said that cynically, she could not imagine that Shera genuinely did not understand Cid's anger.
"If Vincent hates that disk so much, why doesn't he do something?"
"Oh that's easy," Shera said, getting up. "We hide it in one of my cabinets, Vincent'll never dream of looking in my stuff, even though he knows it's there."
Elena shoock her head, Vince' seemed to be a decent fellow.
Evening fell, it was time they went home. Vincent hasn't returned to the house all afternoon.
Just as Elena was about to go into Rude's car, Vincent came from behind the house.
Even dusk couldn't hide the embarrassment on his face.
He approached her hesitantly, as if fearing that she'll slap him across the face or try to kill him... Or worse.
She only greeted him with a smile.
"I... I just wanted to apologize-" he started. Elena was about to cut in, but he rised one hand, "Please, let me finish," He pleaded, "I did not mean to impose myself or anything, and I'm sorry if I have offended you in any way whatsoever, I truly am, I-" She placed one delicate hand on his mouth to silence him, and whispered into his ear,
"You're sweet." She then kissed his cheek and got in the car. Without another word, they drove away.
A full minute Vincent stood in the drive way, his expression that of complete shock. After that he gingerly touched his cheek, and spent another full minute just staring at his hand as if he never saw the thing before in his life. Another full moment he just stared at where Rude's car had just disappeared to.
Without a warning, he felt a great surge of joy.
For years he believed that the world had some personal grudge against him, throwing one dreadful thing at him after another. But for now, the world didn't seem to be all that bad.
He rised on knee and one fist and exclaimed to the world,
"Yesssss!"
"I never thought I'd live to see the day you'd say something like that, Vince." Came Cid's voice from the doorway. He watched the whole time. At first Vincent was angry, but he just felt to happy to get angry at the moment.
"Are you coming in? It's freezing out here!" Cid suggested.
Vincent's face suddenly grew thoughtful.
"Why did she do that, do you think?"
Cid rised his brows,
"What do you think, you moron; she likes you!"
Vincent smiled warmly,
"That's what I was hoping you'll say."