Sunshine in Winter
Chapter Two
The airship flight probably sucked and was bumpy, but I knew nothing of
this. I was asleep most of the time, mainly due to Every Pharmacist's
Friend Vincent Valentine, who had the foresight to dope me up so that I was
comatose through the entire thing. This was wise, as every moment I was
lucid, it was to loudly cast disparaging remarks on his sexual history,
sexual preferences, and most likely future sexual partners. (It
involved a lot of chocobo breeding.) Then I went right back to sleep.
I woke when I felt myself being lifted, and as it was, I wasn't too
happy at all. I was wearing a grotty long t-shirt and a pair of loose
pants, and I hadn't washed in days, and I reeked of sickness and sweat
- and other things. My leg gave a very painful twinge as it was moved,
and I yelped.
"What're you doin'?" I snapped grumpily to my captor.
Vincent looked down at me. "We've arrived in Wutai. We're just outside
the town... We haven't been able to rig up anything for you yet, so I'm
carrying you."
I rolled my eyes. He sounded so... stupid sensible! I didn't have to
put up with him being sensible much longer, though; soon he'd bugger
off and I could be left to die in peace.
It was a sunny day, hot in the depths of a Wutaian summer; the dust off
Da Chao was thick and fragrant in the air, mixing with the scent of the
sakura and faint cooking smells from cooking pots. I could hear the
river-like chatter of the market women speaking in fast, rapid Wutaian,
and I cringed.
Home...
"Take me back," I suddenly begged, clinging to Vincent, my leg hanging
like a stone across his arm. "Take me back. I don't want to be here."
He glanced down at me, garnet eyes expressionless, and I felt like
beating him against his chest. Damnit! I didn't want to be here, didn't
want to show myself, sick and a failure to the people who had brought
me up and trained me. Did Vincent have any heart whatsoever? Probably
not - just a stone. Or a mechanized lump.
Whacking his chest exhausted me and I slumped against him, half-burying
my dirty, streaked face in his shoulder, concentrating on the screaming
pain so that I did not have to see the astonished faces of my people as
he carried me through the main street. A range of smells and noises
assaulted me now, all of them achingly familiar, and the weak sap I
was, I felt like crying.
I heard a burst of noise overhead and strained up to see the Highwind
taking off, soaring into the azure sky. My heart sank. "What the fuck's
he doing, taking off?" I demanded, noticing for the first time the
rucksack on Vincent's back.
"He will be back later," he answered flatly. "I will be helping you
settle for a few days."
"Oh, how goddamn great. Vincent Valentine, all-around allstar and hero
nurse. Someone get me some euthanasia right now."
"Yuffie."
I whipped my head around.
My father was standing in the middle of the street, arms slightly
outstretched, two white patches running through his black hair peppered
with grey. His face was unlined, except for the faint impression of
wrinkles at his eyes where he scrunched them up when he smiled; he was
looking at me as if I was an ancient treasure, and then he scooped me
up forcefully out of Vincent's arms, talking in frantic Wutaian.
"Two years," he said tightly. "Two long years, Yuffie, with me not
knowing whether you were alive or dead, caught in limbo - we looked for
you for so long but all we could find were rumours of your passing
through - and now, here you are..."
"About to die," I cut in. "Don't start with the sentimentality, Godo. I
came here to cark it."
"You are a very silly girl," he said to me severely.
"Thank you."
He looked at me, exasperated, laser-death in his eyes, and I glared
back the same until Vincent coughed politely.
Godo nodded grimly. "Let's get you to Asako."
He passed me back over to Vincent like a sack of potatoes, and I made
angry squawking noises all the way to Grandma's house.
I'd better get my facts straight: Asako isn't my real grandmother.
Everybody in Wutai just calls her Grandma Asako, that's all. She
delivered most of us and is as old as the hills, though she doesn't
truly look it; she has a beautiful face, although you can see it's aged now,
and has the most amazing hair. It's snowy white and falls down to her
hips, though she ties it up in a tight bun; she used to let me help her
wash it as a little girl, with her special shampoo made out of honey...
All in the past now. Vincent brought me in and Asako made Godo wait
outside. I was glad of that - he had not properly seen my wasted leg
yet.
"What have you done to yourself?" she demanded, the moment Vincent
hauled me into her hut. "Girl, I can't patch up everything!"
"Hello to you, too, Grandma," I said mildly.
"Don't 'hello Grandma' me," she spat, but her eyes were softening.
"Hmph... Boy, put her down on the bed, will you?"
"'Boy'?" I said, absolutely delighted, looking up at the aforementioned
'boy'. "Vincent, boy? I like that. Okay, boy, put me down gently, if
you hurt my leg I'll knock your head off, good b - " Vincent stopped me
with an Evil Patented Death Glare Made To Shame Yuffie Into Submission.
" - Okay, okay, I'll stop, just stop looking at me like that, okay?
Gawwwd, if looks could kill..."
I looked pointedly away as Asako hiked my pant leg up and began
removing the bandages, a tight lump coming into my throat. The leg
stank of rotting flesh, and I dared myself to look away as long as I
could; finally, I succumbed.
It was swollen in a range of colours, green-yellow-angry red, with long
marbled streaks of pus where the claws had dragged. There were livid
deep green marks where my veins were located, and it hurt just to look
at it, swollen to double it's size, a lump of putrid flesh rather than
a leg. I could feel my heartbeat in it, trying to pump blood where it
wouldn't go any more. Asako went to a drawer and professionally removed
a knife.
"Idiot girl, my sweet Yuffie-chan," she muttered gently. "I could
remove it for you now and could help you recover within a week."
"No, Grandma, and that's final."
"Very well, then. Vincent, can you hold her down?"
"Nani?"
"Ah... would it not be wiser to dull her pain first?"
"I don't want her getting hooked on those newfangled pills. She'll end
up with a pill addiction. Hold her down."
I felt Vincent's strong arms on my shoulders and I began to thrash out
of panic. Asako grabbed my ankle firmly and looked me straight in the
eye. "Don't be silly, Yuffie. I'm just going to pack herbs in your
wounds. I have to drain the pus for that. It won't take long." She
brandished a bowl at me.
"O-okay," I said hesitantly. Just a little cutting. I could handle
that. "But you don't have to get Evilman to hold me down."
"Yes, I do," she said firmly. "Now, on the count of six, I'm going to
open your wounds, all right?"
"Nuh-uh!" I protested. "I'm not falling for this again. You did it all
before with my loose teeth. You get to about 'two' then you pull."
She shook her head. Her brown eyes were so soft and gentle, the exact
colour of cinnamon, easily trusted. "No. I need you to be prepared this
time. I'm going to count to six, and on six, I want you to tense up.
All right?"
The explanation was sound, so I nodded.
"Ready? One... two..."
She sliced down with the knife deftly into the first bloated wound. I
screamed at the mind-blowing pain and bit down on somebody's hand -
maybe it was mine, I couldn't think at first - as Asako let the pus
drain into the bowl. I remember babbling, calling her an evil liar;
then she started again with the second and I gnawed desperately at the
flesh. After what seemed like an eternity, I looked up with glazed
eyes. Asako was packing something cool and green and paste-like into
the open wounds and Vincent was busily nursing a bloodied hand.
"I apologize," Asako said smoothly to Vincent. "She can be quite savage
at times. Want a bandage?"
"No, Grandma," he said absently. Geez, she was everybody's grandma. "It
will stop bleeding in a moment."
"Wasn't my fault," I said blearily. "You were stupid enough to stick
your hand in my mouth."
"You looked like you were going to bite through your tongue."
"You would've preferred that. Then I couldn't have said anything for
the next few days."
"... pity I didn't think of that earlier..."
"Be nice, children," Asako said mildly, bandaging up my leg. It felt
much cooler now, all that annoying painful heat was gone; maybe the
swelling was even going down. It felt much better. I felt a pang of
hope - maybe something could be done.
Godo had stood silently at the door, but now he advanced forward and
nodded to Asako. "I'll take her home now," he said firmly.
"I'm sleepin' in my house," I protested. Like hell I would sleep in his!
All I wanted to do was crawl into my bed and cuddle my collection of
threadbare soft toys and cry a lot. "You got me in Wutai, but I'm
damned if I'm sleeping in your big ugly drafty shell."
"Yuffie - "
"I think it would be wiser for Yuffie to sleep in her own house
tonight," Vincent corrected him. "She can settle in easier that way."
Both men looked at each other, gazes locking, a contest of wills. It
was being in between a rock and another rock.
"For tonight," Godo finally said. Nobody could look into Vincent's
blood-red eyes for long, even my dad. "Then she is moving into my
house."
"My ass I'm moving into your house!"
"Yes! You are moving into my house or I will have your ass!"
"Godo!"
Asako threw her hands up. "Out," she said dramatically. "All of you. I
can't take you for more than one second. Vincent, stay with Yuffie and
give her her medicine. Yuffie, do whatever Vincent says. Godo, do
whatever I say."
"Yes, grandma," we chorused sullenly.
"Good. Now get out."
I sat watching the moon out the window, the house darkened save for a
few lamps scattered around my room, finishing off some absolutely vile
tea Asako had prescribed for me. I was quite proud - I'd only thrown it
up once.
My house had been an absolute pigsty and a dusthole, but Vincent
'Whirlwind' Valentine, the prig he was, had immediately cleaned it up
in five minutes and sent me off to have a spongebath. Then he'd managed
to scrounge me up dinner and give me clean clothes, which was
incredibly embarrassing. Nobody knows the meaning of pain until they
have a poker-faced vampire dressed all in black hand you your jammies
and a pair of underwear and say, "Put these on afterwards."
He was like my mother, only... a man. And... wait, that wasn't right.
He wasn't motherly, he wasn't affectionate, he was just... Vincent.
Albeit a Vincent who knew where my underwear drawer was located. I'd
have to have a talk to him about that.
He'd had some fool ideas about staying at the inn, but I set him up in
my basement with a lot of spare blankets. He couldn't refuse. Who
could? After all, my basement was cool. It was full of materia and even
some neato traps he could play with. If he wanted some cages, he
wouldn't go without.
My cats were fed. The house was clean. I was clean. I was fed. Vincent
was fed. Vincent was clean. (I think. I wasn't about to check.)
How cutely homey. Where the hell did I go from here?
"Watching the stars?"
"Mmhmm." I didn't even have to turn around. "Wutai always has the best
night sky. Isn't it pretty?"
He looked at it for a long time and after a while, as if pondering, he
nodded. "Yes. It is pretty." Just like that, as if it was a gospel
truth out of a bible. No superfluous adjectives. "Are you going to go
to bed now?"
I set my cup down on the windowsill, empty. It had made me feel warm
and empty and very tired. "Yeah, I think so. Gawd, s'been a long day."
I began to stand, grabbing on the chair for support.
Vincent whisked me up in his arms before I could attempt to hobble to
bed, moving me across the room and pulling open my sheets before
tucking me in. "Don't put any weight on that leg," he warned. "Call me
if you feel ill."
"That's going to be one, continuous call, then," I grumbled. "Jus' go
to bed, Vincent. Are you going to sleep in your bed or are you going to
hang upside down from the pipes?"
He looked at be blandly.
"Okay, okay. Goodnight, Vincent."
"... goodnight."
He disappeared downstairs, snuffing out the lamps as he did so.
I stayed awake for a little while after that, the tight feeling of his
arms around me. Men didn't touch me much, and although Vincent was hazy
in the category of men, I ain't made of stone. Hell, I didn't mind him
carrying me that much. It was even sort of ero -
No way was I going there. Rolling over onto my back with a sigh,
I made a mental note to never drink Asako's tea ever again. It made my
brain do funny things.