Hello!! Man I'm soooo sorry for not writing in like, FOREVER! About a week
before Christmas I traveled up to Ohio to visit family for the holidays and
the New Year and I just got back. By the way, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!!!
^_^ I know I'm kinda late about that, but hey, I wish a great New Year for
everyone. Now it's just gonna take me forever to start writing 2003 on my
checks and stuff. Anyway, on to the story!
Disclaimer: I do not own any FF7 stuff. Square owns it all.
[Chapter 5: Reeve's Visit]
Yuffie yawned loudly as she rolled over in bed. "Morning already..."
She slid out of bed and noticed she had her regular outfit on. Something flickered in her mind, recalling last night's events. "Aww...Vinnie's so sweet." She remembered him carrying her to her bed as did Cloud to Tifa. She had awaken to his touch, as she was trained to be a light sleeper, and had awaken in his arms, though remained awake, pretended to still be asleep as he gently set her down in her bed and covered her with blankets.
As she thought about yesterday's events, another memory rang in her mind. Her face creased into a frown. "What did Cloud show Vinnie? And why was he so happy?" she thought for a moment, then shrugged it off as she strode into the bathroom and combed her hair and brushed her teeth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About ten minutes after Yuffie had awakened, she decided to go and get some breakfast. When she reached the kitchen, she saw Cloud sipping coffee and reading a newspaper, Tifa was working on a jigsaw puzzle, and Vincent was writing on some paperwork.
"What's up?" Yuffie said as she approached the pantry for food. "Hey..." they all said at different times, as if acting board. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Cloud folded his newspaper and set it on the table. He closed his eyes and sipped his coffee while turning to face Yuffie. He let out a long, dreary sigh.
"It's Reeve...he's...coming over to 'apologize'. We said it would fine, but he insisted. We all know it wasn't HIS fault for the actions he caused. Roy just possessed him." Yuffie flinched at the name 'Roy'. Cloud saw this and apologized for bringing up the subject.
Vincent didn't seem to look up from his work. He'd read here and there, then write. Yuffie had no idea what he was up to. She decided to have a small breakfast since Tifa didn't bother to make one this morning.
"So what time is Reeve comin' over?" Yuffie asked as she pushed the toaster button down. "He said about noon." Cloud replied. Yuffie looked at the clock. "Whoa! It's already 11? I gotta go take a shower!" she ran out of the room, forgetting about her toast.
She quickly turned on the water to the shower and stripped off her clothes. She hopped in and grabbed the soap and scrubbed herself thoroughly. Afterwards, she grabbed the shampoo and squirted some onto her hand. She cleaned her hair and rinsed it over and over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yuffie stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. She wrapped it around her skinny form and combed back her hair.
She combed it down as far as it would go. "Wow...my hair has gotten longer!" she saw that her hair reached all the way to her shoulders. "Ninjas don't have long hair...it gets in their way when they're fighting." She took another towel and dried her hair with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tifa walked into her room to get changed into something nicer. As she picked something from the closet, she heard a knock at her door. "Come in." she expected it to be Cloud, but was surprised when she saw Yuffie open the door.
"Hey, what brings you here?" Tifa asked as she laid a silk black spaghetti strap dress on the bed. "Well..." Yuffie scuffed at the carpet with her sock foot. "I was wondering...ummm...will you give me a haircut? I mean, since you used to cut hair before you were a bar hostess..."
"Sure!" Yuffie looked up with hopeful eyes. "Really?! Thank you so much!"
Tifa grinned. "No problem, I mean, I may not be as good as I used to be, but I can probably manage to do a pretty good job." Yuffie grinned back. "Good, I was hopin' you'd say yes cause I don't have any gil."
Tifa nodded. "Anytime, now come into the bathroom so we don't make a mess out here."
Yuffie walked into the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bathtub. "Lemme go get some scissors. Be right back." Tifa left and ran downstairs. Yuffie heard a squeal of delight from downstairs as she heard Tifa pound up the stairs, running at a fast speed from the sound of it.
"What? What happened?" Yuffie asked Tifa entered the bathroom with a big smile. "I found the scissors that I used in the barber shop! The exact same ones I used! I'll be able to give you the best haircut ever!" she exclaimed. "I didn't want to use the ones that you cut paper with because those will be hard to cut through hair with. You're lucky that I found these."
Yuffie let out a small laugh. "Yeah, well let's hurry. Reeve's gonna be here soon." Tifa wrapped a long bath towel around Yuffie's neck and got to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After telling Tifa what Yuffie wanted for her hair to look like, she cut with caution and finally finished.
"Okay, you can look in the mirror now." Tifa said as she untied the towel and allowed her to stand.
Yuffie looked in the mirror and jumped with joy. "Yessss! Thank you! It's just the right length and style!"
"You're welcome. But why did you want the EXACT same look as when we saved the world?"
"Because I like that style. It's a good hair length for a ninja. Even though my mom had long hair that went to about the same length as yours, I like this. She wasn't really a ninja, even though she fought here and there."
Tifa nodded. "Glad I could help."
Yuffie grinned. "After all..."
"We ARE sisters..." Tifa finished. Yuffie ran out of the bathroom and into her room.
Tifa remembered something just then. "Hang on!" she shouted after the ninja girl. Yuffie stopped before she reached her room. "Yeah?"
"Cloud told us to dress up. You know, just to be polite to Reeve. To show respect." Yuffie opened her door. "Alright."
Tifa walked back to her room as Yuffie closed her door. She walked up to her closet and looked through all of her shirts.
*Dressy clothes? Skirts? Dresses?* she pondered.
*I don't have any of that. Wha--!*
Yuffie spotted something she knew would be the perfect thing to wear. A tear formed in her eye as she carefully removed the hanger from it.
She lay it softly on her bed. It was a beautiful snow-white kimono made from 100% pure cotton. It had soft pink rims on the sleeves and the rim at the bottom had the same tone.
Yuffie ran her fingers over the soft fabric. A few tears escaped from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
"Mom..." she whispered. She turned her head before the tears fell on the kimono. She didn't want to stain it. It was one of the most precious mementos her mother had ever given to her...except for the necklaces, of course.
"Superior powers of the necklaces..." she whispered. She felt around her collarbone for the necklaces. As soon as she felt the two thin pieces of silver she smiled.
"You were right, mom. The necklace helped us defeat Roy. But...why did you have two of them? I never saw dad wear one." Yuffie then gasped. "Was...was this necklace mine when I was little?! I don't remember wearing it..."
Yuffie searched through her head.
"Wait..."
~~~Flashback~~~
"Please Yuffie, don't ever lose this necklace." A gruff voice came from a tall man as he tied the necklace around a little girl's neck.
"Okay daddy, but why?" the little girl no older than four years asked.
"Because this used to be your mother's. Please take good care of it. She wanted to give it to you to remember her by. Actually..." the man walked back to his room. The little girl waited patently for him to return.
As he did, he carried another silver necklace in his right hand. "I don't want you to lose this, either."
"Is that like the one you put around my neck?" the girl asked.
"Yes. Do you remember your mother wearing this before?"
The girl nodded. "A little. She said something about Holy powers, didn't she?"
"Yes. I don't want you to ever forget that."
"Okay. And dad?"
"Hmm?"
"Is mommy ever coming back?"
The man embraced his daughter in a tight hug. "I'm afraid not..."
~~~End Flashback~~~
Yuffie cried harder. "What if I didn't ever give that necklace to Vinnie? I would have been killed along with him. But it was weird...something like an instinct triggered in my mind. Was it mom?"
She decided to focus on something else. She looked at her clock on the nightstand. "About 10 minutes 'till Reeve gets here." She carefully changed into her mother's kimono.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Where is Yuffie?" asked Cloud. "She's still getting ready. I hope she has something nice to wear. If she doesn't, I can always lend her something." Tifa responded.
Vincent was wearing khaki pants and a tight black sweater with his hair pulled up into a loose ponytail. Cloud was wearing khaki pants as well with a light blue plaid shirt with long sleeves. His hair was gelled in his normal, long blond spikes. Tifa, of course, was wearing the same silk black spaghetti strap dress that was mentioned before, plus, she had her hair tied up into a bun and had make-up and lipstick on.
Soon, they heard footsteps at the stairs. They all turned to face the young ninja girl, soon standing at the bottom.
"Wow Yuffie...you look great!" Tifa finally spoke. "It's a traditional costume for special ceremonies in Wutai. I thought I'd wear it today as something special. And to tell you the truth, this is the first time I've ever worn it."
"It's beautiful!" Tifa exclaimed. "Thank you. It was my mothers. I had almost forgotten that I brought it!" she said with a giggle.
Vincent looked her up and down. "It looks a bit familiar..." he spoke.
Yuffie, almost forgetting Vincent was Wutainese, jumped from surprise. It was like she just noticed he was in the room.
"Oh...you might have seen it before. It was passed down from Kisaragi to Kisaragi. While you were in Wutai when you were little, if you attended any festivals, you probably saw another Kisaragi wearing it."
"Yes...I saw your mother wearing it."
The hair on the back of Yuffie's neck rose. "My mom? R-really? You...knew my mother?" Cloud and Tifa decided to leave this conversation to them and go call Reeve to make sure he was coming.
"I saw her here and there. I don't recall ever talking to her, though."
"How old was she when you first saw her?"
"Hmm...I was about ten when I saw her again so...she was about fifteen or so."
"Fifteen?!"
"Yeah. She wanted to talk to me during the festival. She told me that she had a younger brother that was friends with Roy. She knew that I was a friend of Roy's as well. So, she wanted to know why Roy was misbehaving and causing trouble around the town. I had no clue what she meant by that because when I returned to Wutai, he was fine. He showed no sign of trouble to me. She told me to talk to him before he caused anything extreme."
"Wow...I had no idea you knew my mom..."
"She also asked me something else. She wanted to know how the kimono looked on her."
"Ohh! Whatja say!?"
"I said it looked great on her. I told her that she looked beautiful and that if she had a daughter to pass it on to, it would look beautiful on her as well."
Yuffie felt her heart pound. "Really? Awe, you're so sweet!"
"And it seems as though I was right. You look terrific." He said with a slight smile. "Thanks."
"And you know what? You look just like your mother. You have the same eyes, face, and smile. I presume when you're older, you'll look just like her."
"You even saw her when she was older?"
"Yeah. She came to the Shinra building one day when I was taken away from my home."
"I see." Right after Yuffie said that, the doorbell rang.
"Reeve!" Cloud shouted. He ran up to the door. Yuffie shrank down in the couch. She had bad memories of him, even though it wasn't really him that was doing it.
*His face was so grim. I hope it's changed...*
As Cloud opened the door, a tall man walked in with his dark blue business suit on. Yuffie swallowed a large lump in her throat.
"Hello everyone." Reeve said a little nervously. As he turned to face Yuffie, he felt a sharp pain in her eyes. Yuffie looked at his face.
*His face is so gentle now...he's really changed.*
Reeve walked over with his briefcase and sat in a chair next to Yuffie.
"Listen Yuffie...I'm so sorry for what happened. I don't remember any of it, but a soldier that survived told me all about it. About how I---" Reeve hesitated.
"It wasn't your fault. It was Roy's. And--"
"No. Part of it was my fault. If Roy would have never found me in my office, he wouldn't have taken over my body."
Cloud and Tifa sat in the living room and listened.
"Exactly WHEN did he take over your body?" Cloud asked.
"All I know is that it was before I came over here to take Roy to prison. That's why if anything happened here while I was being possessed, I'm REALLY sorry. I don't remember much after he knocked me out. I guess he somehow just took over my body."
"Apology excepted, EVEN THOUGH you didn't do anything." Tifa said.
"I'm just mainly sorry to everyone. But in general, Yuffie's the one who's suffered the most. I want to make it up to you, so I thought I'd buy you all lunch and maybe do something else."
"Yummy! I'm starvin'!" Yuffie giggled. Reeve looked at her with a smile. "But it looks as though you haven't changed much." Yuffie grinned. "Well, a girl's gotta eat when a girl's gotta eat! Right Tifa?" she turned to Tifa.
"Oh yeah! Let's pig out at a restaurant!" Tifa giggled. "Alright. Are we all ready? Cause I'm sorta hungry myself." Reeve said. "Yup!" Yuffie jumped up. "Sure." Vincent got up. Cloud and Tifa nodded and stood up. They all grabbed their coats and headed out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This is the most expensive place to eat, right?" Reeve asked. "Yep." Cloud answered. "Good. I want to make sure you guys get the best quality food in town. And of course, this is my treat so...pig out!" he laughed.
They all picked up their menus and ordered when the waiter came. After their food came, they all ate different varieties of foods; noodles, steak, soup, steamed vegetables, salad, sandwiches, hamburgers, french fries, etc. They were enjoying the best food in town and having lots of conversations.
Reeve ordered desserts for everyone; ice cream, pie, cake, hot fudge sundaes, cookies, etc. Everyone ate until they felt as though they were about to explode.
Finally, one of the worst things from eating at a restaurant came to them: The bill.
Yuffie took the bill from the waiter's hand and looked at the back. It had six pictures of smiley faces without mouths on it.
"What's this?" she asked no one in particular. Vincent, who was sitting in the booth next to her, slid over and looked.
"Oh, that's one of those reviewing cards. You draw the mouth on the face to resemble your answer to the question. See?" Vincent pointed at the possible mouths to use and at the questions with the faces at the bottom.
"Oh...so a sad face means poor, a strait face means okay or average, and a smile means great. This should be fun!" She read the first question in her mind as Vincent watched her.
*Was the food good? Umm, yeah! This is easy!* she drew a smile on the first face.
"Haha..." she laughed as she drew a smile on the second one. "Well, I don't really care so..." Yuffie drew smiles on the rest of them without reading the question. "There..." she showed Vincent.
He looked at the card and laughed. Yuffie laughed with him as she turned it over.
They both stopped laughing when they saw the other side. There was a big line underneath the total for all the food. Yuffie giggled nervously as Vincent was breathless.
The total read 37,496 gil.
Yuffie leaned toward Vincent and whispered into his ear.
"That is A LOT of money! He didn't have to order THAT much for us!" she pulled away as Vincent nodded. "I know. I usually spend a 100 gil or so for dinner and he spent this much just for lunch!"
"Same here!" Yuffie whispered.
"Okay let's see that bill." Reeve said. "Uhh..." Yuffie hesitated, but gave it to him anyway. "Only 37,000? That's not much. I would have expected more."
Everyone's jaw dropped except Reeve's.
"Are you fuckin' crazy?! That's WAY too much!" Yuffie nearly shouted. "Do you know how rich I am? This is like paying for a toothpick on the way out for me."
"You're bluffing!" Yuffie felt jealous.
"Nope. That's why I brought this briefcase..." he propped the briefcase up onto the table. He undid the buckles as the lid swung open. He revealed to everyone lots and lots of coins.
Yuffie's jaw dropped again. "God damn!" some of the coins read 5,000 gil each. She saw only a few that read 50,000 gil. He pulled out one of the five gold coins that read 100,000 gil and showed it to her. "This briefcase is only 1/20 of my money."
"Oh my God! That is a hell of a lot!" Cloud said.
"Yuffie, everyone, I want you all to share this briefcase full of gil. Split it up equally and make good use of it. That's the only way I can repay you besides--" Vincent kicked Reeve in the shin. "Hey!" he shouted as Vincent put his finger up to his mouth and made a 'Shh...' sound.
"Huh?" Yuffie asked. "What was he going to say?" Vincent winked at her. "It's a secret." He said in a playful voice.
They all got out of the booths as Reeve gave the briefcase to Cloud. He declined the offer just to be polite, but Reeve insisted. As they walked up to the front desk, Reeve set the 100,000 gil coin on the desk with the bill.
"Keep the change." He said coolly. "But Sir!" the man looked at the coin, not believing it was real. Reeve turned around and grinned. "That reminds me...just imagine what the tip is on the table."
Long chapter! But I'm glad I wrote it and I'm glad I have my inspiration back. Also, Ruri-sugar, just to let you know, italics and bold won't show up on my story either! Hmm...I wonder why...?
Disclaimer: I do not own any FF7 stuff. Square owns it all.
[Chapter 5: Reeve's Visit]
Yuffie yawned loudly as she rolled over in bed. "Morning already..."
She slid out of bed and noticed she had her regular outfit on. Something flickered in her mind, recalling last night's events. "Aww...Vinnie's so sweet." She remembered him carrying her to her bed as did Cloud to Tifa. She had awaken to his touch, as she was trained to be a light sleeper, and had awaken in his arms, though remained awake, pretended to still be asleep as he gently set her down in her bed and covered her with blankets.
As she thought about yesterday's events, another memory rang in her mind. Her face creased into a frown. "What did Cloud show Vinnie? And why was he so happy?" she thought for a moment, then shrugged it off as she strode into the bathroom and combed her hair and brushed her teeth.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
About ten minutes after Yuffie had awakened, she decided to go and get some breakfast. When she reached the kitchen, she saw Cloud sipping coffee and reading a newspaper, Tifa was working on a jigsaw puzzle, and Vincent was writing on some paperwork.
"What's up?" Yuffie said as she approached the pantry for food. "Hey..." they all said at different times, as if acting board. "What's wrong?" she asked.
Cloud folded his newspaper and set it on the table. He closed his eyes and sipped his coffee while turning to face Yuffie. He let out a long, dreary sigh.
"It's Reeve...he's...coming over to 'apologize'. We said it would fine, but he insisted. We all know it wasn't HIS fault for the actions he caused. Roy just possessed him." Yuffie flinched at the name 'Roy'. Cloud saw this and apologized for bringing up the subject.
Vincent didn't seem to look up from his work. He'd read here and there, then write. Yuffie had no idea what he was up to. She decided to have a small breakfast since Tifa didn't bother to make one this morning.
"So what time is Reeve comin' over?" Yuffie asked as she pushed the toaster button down. "He said about noon." Cloud replied. Yuffie looked at the clock. "Whoa! It's already 11? I gotta go take a shower!" she ran out of the room, forgetting about her toast.
She quickly turned on the water to the shower and stripped off her clothes. She hopped in and grabbed the soap and scrubbed herself thoroughly. Afterwards, she grabbed the shampoo and squirted some onto her hand. She cleaned her hair and rinsed it over and over.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yuffie stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel. She wrapped it around her skinny form and combed back her hair.
She combed it down as far as it would go. "Wow...my hair has gotten longer!" she saw that her hair reached all the way to her shoulders. "Ninjas don't have long hair...it gets in their way when they're fighting." She took another towel and dried her hair with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tifa walked into her room to get changed into something nicer. As she picked something from the closet, she heard a knock at her door. "Come in." she expected it to be Cloud, but was surprised when she saw Yuffie open the door.
"Hey, what brings you here?" Tifa asked as she laid a silk black spaghetti strap dress on the bed. "Well..." Yuffie scuffed at the carpet with her sock foot. "I was wondering...ummm...will you give me a haircut? I mean, since you used to cut hair before you were a bar hostess..."
"Sure!" Yuffie looked up with hopeful eyes. "Really?! Thank you so much!"
Tifa grinned. "No problem, I mean, I may not be as good as I used to be, but I can probably manage to do a pretty good job." Yuffie grinned back. "Good, I was hopin' you'd say yes cause I don't have any gil."
Tifa nodded. "Anytime, now come into the bathroom so we don't make a mess out here."
Yuffie walked into the bathroom and sat on the edge of the bathtub. "Lemme go get some scissors. Be right back." Tifa left and ran downstairs. Yuffie heard a squeal of delight from downstairs as she heard Tifa pound up the stairs, running at a fast speed from the sound of it.
"What? What happened?" Yuffie asked Tifa entered the bathroom with a big smile. "I found the scissors that I used in the barber shop! The exact same ones I used! I'll be able to give you the best haircut ever!" she exclaimed. "I didn't want to use the ones that you cut paper with because those will be hard to cut through hair with. You're lucky that I found these."
Yuffie let out a small laugh. "Yeah, well let's hurry. Reeve's gonna be here soon." Tifa wrapped a long bath towel around Yuffie's neck and got to work.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After telling Tifa what Yuffie wanted for her hair to look like, she cut with caution and finally finished.
"Okay, you can look in the mirror now." Tifa said as she untied the towel and allowed her to stand.
Yuffie looked in the mirror and jumped with joy. "Yessss! Thank you! It's just the right length and style!"
"You're welcome. But why did you want the EXACT same look as when we saved the world?"
"Because I like that style. It's a good hair length for a ninja. Even though my mom had long hair that went to about the same length as yours, I like this. She wasn't really a ninja, even though she fought here and there."
Tifa nodded. "Glad I could help."
Yuffie grinned. "After all..."
"We ARE sisters..." Tifa finished. Yuffie ran out of the bathroom and into her room.
Tifa remembered something just then. "Hang on!" she shouted after the ninja girl. Yuffie stopped before she reached her room. "Yeah?"
"Cloud told us to dress up. You know, just to be polite to Reeve. To show respect." Yuffie opened her door. "Alright."
Tifa walked back to her room as Yuffie closed her door. She walked up to her closet and looked through all of her shirts.
*Dressy clothes? Skirts? Dresses?* she pondered.
*I don't have any of that. Wha--!*
Yuffie spotted something she knew would be the perfect thing to wear. A tear formed in her eye as she carefully removed the hanger from it.
She lay it softly on her bed. It was a beautiful snow-white kimono made from 100% pure cotton. It had soft pink rims on the sleeves and the rim at the bottom had the same tone.
Yuffie ran her fingers over the soft fabric. A few tears escaped from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.
"Mom..." she whispered. She turned her head before the tears fell on the kimono. She didn't want to stain it. It was one of the most precious mementos her mother had ever given to her...except for the necklaces, of course.
"Superior powers of the necklaces..." she whispered. She felt around her collarbone for the necklaces. As soon as she felt the two thin pieces of silver she smiled.
"You were right, mom. The necklace helped us defeat Roy. But...why did you have two of them? I never saw dad wear one." Yuffie then gasped. "Was...was this necklace mine when I was little?! I don't remember wearing it..."
Yuffie searched through her head.
"Wait..."
~~~Flashback~~~
"Please Yuffie, don't ever lose this necklace." A gruff voice came from a tall man as he tied the necklace around a little girl's neck.
"Okay daddy, but why?" the little girl no older than four years asked.
"Because this used to be your mother's. Please take good care of it. She wanted to give it to you to remember her by. Actually..." the man walked back to his room. The little girl waited patently for him to return.
As he did, he carried another silver necklace in his right hand. "I don't want you to lose this, either."
"Is that like the one you put around my neck?" the girl asked.
"Yes. Do you remember your mother wearing this before?"
The girl nodded. "A little. She said something about Holy powers, didn't she?"
"Yes. I don't want you to ever forget that."
"Okay. And dad?"
"Hmm?"
"Is mommy ever coming back?"
The man embraced his daughter in a tight hug. "I'm afraid not..."
~~~End Flashback~~~
Yuffie cried harder. "What if I didn't ever give that necklace to Vinnie? I would have been killed along with him. But it was weird...something like an instinct triggered in my mind. Was it mom?"
She decided to focus on something else. She looked at her clock on the nightstand. "About 10 minutes 'till Reeve gets here." She carefully changed into her mother's kimono.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Where is Yuffie?" asked Cloud. "She's still getting ready. I hope she has something nice to wear. If she doesn't, I can always lend her something." Tifa responded.
Vincent was wearing khaki pants and a tight black sweater with his hair pulled up into a loose ponytail. Cloud was wearing khaki pants as well with a light blue plaid shirt with long sleeves. His hair was gelled in his normal, long blond spikes. Tifa, of course, was wearing the same silk black spaghetti strap dress that was mentioned before, plus, she had her hair tied up into a bun and had make-up and lipstick on.
Soon, they heard footsteps at the stairs. They all turned to face the young ninja girl, soon standing at the bottom.
"Wow Yuffie...you look great!" Tifa finally spoke. "It's a traditional costume for special ceremonies in Wutai. I thought I'd wear it today as something special. And to tell you the truth, this is the first time I've ever worn it."
"It's beautiful!" Tifa exclaimed. "Thank you. It was my mothers. I had almost forgotten that I brought it!" she said with a giggle.
Vincent looked her up and down. "It looks a bit familiar..." he spoke.
Yuffie, almost forgetting Vincent was Wutainese, jumped from surprise. It was like she just noticed he was in the room.
"Oh...you might have seen it before. It was passed down from Kisaragi to Kisaragi. While you were in Wutai when you were little, if you attended any festivals, you probably saw another Kisaragi wearing it."
"Yes...I saw your mother wearing it."
The hair on the back of Yuffie's neck rose. "My mom? R-really? You...knew my mother?" Cloud and Tifa decided to leave this conversation to them and go call Reeve to make sure he was coming.
"I saw her here and there. I don't recall ever talking to her, though."
"How old was she when you first saw her?"
"Hmm...I was about ten when I saw her again so...she was about fifteen or so."
"Fifteen?!"
"Yeah. She wanted to talk to me during the festival. She told me that she had a younger brother that was friends with Roy. She knew that I was a friend of Roy's as well. So, she wanted to know why Roy was misbehaving and causing trouble around the town. I had no clue what she meant by that because when I returned to Wutai, he was fine. He showed no sign of trouble to me. She told me to talk to him before he caused anything extreme."
"Wow...I had no idea you knew my mom..."
"She also asked me something else. She wanted to know how the kimono looked on her."
"Ohh! Whatja say!?"
"I said it looked great on her. I told her that she looked beautiful and that if she had a daughter to pass it on to, it would look beautiful on her as well."
Yuffie felt her heart pound. "Really? Awe, you're so sweet!"
"And it seems as though I was right. You look terrific." He said with a slight smile. "Thanks."
"And you know what? You look just like your mother. You have the same eyes, face, and smile. I presume when you're older, you'll look just like her."
"You even saw her when she was older?"
"Yeah. She came to the Shinra building one day when I was taken away from my home."
"I see." Right after Yuffie said that, the doorbell rang.
"Reeve!" Cloud shouted. He ran up to the door. Yuffie shrank down in the couch. She had bad memories of him, even though it wasn't really him that was doing it.
*His face was so grim. I hope it's changed...*
As Cloud opened the door, a tall man walked in with his dark blue business suit on. Yuffie swallowed a large lump in her throat.
"Hello everyone." Reeve said a little nervously. As he turned to face Yuffie, he felt a sharp pain in her eyes. Yuffie looked at his face.
*His face is so gentle now...he's really changed.*
Reeve walked over with his briefcase and sat in a chair next to Yuffie.
"Listen Yuffie...I'm so sorry for what happened. I don't remember any of it, but a soldier that survived told me all about it. About how I---" Reeve hesitated.
"It wasn't your fault. It was Roy's. And--"
"No. Part of it was my fault. If Roy would have never found me in my office, he wouldn't have taken over my body."
Cloud and Tifa sat in the living room and listened.
"Exactly WHEN did he take over your body?" Cloud asked.
"All I know is that it was before I came over here to take Roy to prison. That's why if anything happened here while I was being possessed, I'm REALLY sorry. I don't remember much after he knocked me out. I guess he somehow just took over my body."
"Apology excepted, EVEN THOUGH you didn't do anything." Tifa said.
"I'm just mainly sorry to everyone. But in general, Yuffie's the one who's suffered the most. I want to make it up to you, so I thought I'd buy you all lunch and maybe do something else."
"Yummy! I'm starvin'!" Yuffie giggled. Reeve looked at her with a smile. "But it looks as though you haven't changed much." Yuffie grinned. "Well, a girl's gotta eat when a girl's gotta eat! Right Tifa?" she turned to Tifa.
"Oh yeah! Let's pig out at a restaurant!" Tifa giggled. "Alright. Are we all ready? Cause I'm sorta hungry myself." Reeve said. "Yup!" Yuffie jumped up. "Sure." Vincent got up. Cloud and Tifa nodded and stood up. They all grabbed their coats and headed out the door.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"This is the most expensive place to eat, right?" Reeve asked. "Yep." Cloud answered. "Good. I want to make sure you guys get the best quality food in town. And of course, this is my treat so...pig out!" he laughed.
They all picked up their menus and ordered when the waiter came. After their food came, they all ate different varieties of foods; noodles, steak, soup, steamed vegetables, salad, sandwiches, hamburgers, french fries, etc. They were enjoying the best food in town and having lots of conversations.
Reeve ordered desserts for everyone; ice cream, pie, cake, hot fudge sundaes, cookies, etc. Everyone ate until they felt as though they were about to explode.
Finally, one of the worst things from eating at a restaurant came to them: The bill.
Yuffie took the bill from the waiter's hand and looked at the back. It had six pictures of smiley faces without mouths on it.
"What's this?" she asked no one in particular. Vincent, who was sitting in the booth next to her, slid over and looked.
"Oh, that's one of those reviewing cards. You draw the mouth on the face to resemble your answer to the question. See?" Vincent pointed at the possible mouths to use and at the questions with the faces at the bottom.
"Oh...so a sad face means poor, a strait face means okay or average, and a smile means great. This should be fun!" She read the first question in her mind as Vincent watched her.
*Was the food good? Umm, yeah! This is easy!* she drew a smile on the first face.
"Haha..." she laughed as she drew a smile on the second one. "Well, I don't really care so..." Yuffie drew smiles on the rest of them without reading the question. "There..." she showed Vincent.
He looked at the card and laughed. Yuffie laughed with him as she turned it over.
They both stopped laughing when they saw the other side. There was a big line underneath the total for all the food. Yuffie giggled nervously as Vincent was breathless.
The total read 37,496 gil.
Yuffie leaned toward Vincent and whispered into his ear.
"That is A LOT of money! He didn't have to order THAT much for us!" she pulled away as Vincent nodded. "I know. I usually spend a 100 gil or so for dinner and he spent this much just for lunch!"
"Same here!" Yuffie whispered.
"Okay let's see that bill." Reeve said. "Uhh..." Yuffie hesitated, but gave it to him anyway. "Only 37,000? That's not much. I would have expected more."
Everyone's jaw dropped except Reeve's.
"Are you fuckin' crazy?! That's WAY too much!" Yuffie nearly shouted. "Do you know how rich I am? This is like paying for a toothpick on the way out for me."
"You're bluffing!" Yuffie felt jealous.
"Nope. That's why I brought this briefcase..." he propped the briefcase up onto the table. He undid the buckles as the lid swung open. He revealed to everyone lots and lots of coins.
Yuffie's jaw dropped again. "God damn!" some of the coins read 5,000 gil each. She saw only a few that read 50,000 gil. He pulled out one of the five gold coins that read 100,000 gil and showed it to her. "This briefcase is only 1/20 of my money."
"Oh my God! That is a hell of a lot!" Cloud said.
"Yuffie, everyone, I want you all to share this briefcase full of gil. Split it up equally and make good use of it. That's the only way I can repay you besides--" Vincent kicked Reeve in the shin. "Hey!" he shouted as Vincent put his finger up to his mouth and made a 'Shh...' sound.
"Huh?" Yuffie asked. "What was he going to say?" Vincent winked at her. "It's a secret." He said in a playful voice.
They all got out of the booths as Reeve gave the briefcase to Cloud. He declined the offer just to be polite, but Reeve insisted. As they walked up to the front desk, Reeve set the 100,000 gil coin on the desk with the bill.
"Keep the change." He said coolly. "But Sir!" the man looked at the coin, not believing it was real. Reeve turned around and grinned. "That reminds me...just imagine what the tip is on the table."
Long chapter! But I'm glad I wrote it and I'm glad I have my inspiration back. Also, Ruri-sugar, just to let you know, italics and bold won't show up on my story either! Hmm...I wonder why...?