Aeris sighed in relief and looked around the room in satisfaction. She had cleaned it spotless, after scrounging for a broom, a mop, and some soap and water. The room was actually bordering on semi-cheerful, whereas before it was just plain depressing. Once the layers of dust and neglect were scrubbed off, and the windows opened to let in the afternoon sunlight, the place had an almost romantic air, of old, regal houses or castles.
She sat down on the side of her newly made bed and rested, stretching her back, which was sore from so much standing and bending over. Then she lay down and looked up at the ceiling again. She wondered breifly where her host was doing. Vincent had dissappeared somewhere in the house after mid-morning, without a word to her. He was strange...Even a little scary. Half the time he looked like he was about to murder her for being optimistic, and the other half he was just indifferent. But Aeris saw through it a little. After all, he was probably just lonely, living here all by himself.
She hummed a bar or two of a song that had gotten stuck in her head and just lay there, feeling safter then she had in a very long time. When she felt rested enough, she thought she would go down and make lunch for her and Vincent, since she didn't hear him come back to the floor that she shared with the kitchen. She walked into the kitchen, which was impressive though not too large. There was hardly anything in the refridgerator, and she opened the cabinets.
He had quite a bit of canned food sitting there collecting dust. She wondered vaugely if he only ate take out or something, and if there even was takeout anywhere near this place. She pulled down two cans of chicken vegetable soup. Might as well have leftovers. She turned the stove on, and found a pot under the big sink, putting both cans in and waiting. She figured it would be a good idea to find Vincent to give him time to finish whatever he might be doing before lunch. So she turned the stove lower and looked through the rooms carefully.
"Hello?"
Everything was silent. She suddenly realized he had never told her his name.
"Hm.."
She sighed and leaned on a book case on one of the upstairs bedrooms, thinking. All of a sudden it moved, and she gave a little yelp of surprise as it rotated, and sent her spinning unexpectedly to the ground on the opposite side of a secret passageway. She looked around, eyes adjusting to the near-dark. It was dark. She carefully wound down what seemed to be a ledge, spiraling down into the ground, and tried not to look down herself. She was a little afraid of heights, though she didn't like to admit it. She finally reached the ground and shuddered. It was filthy and dark, smelling of decay. She saw little white gleams in the darkness, and forced herself not to look too hard, just hoping they weren't bones.
"Are you down here?"
She saw light from around the corner, and turned towards it gratefully.
"Hello?"
Vincent was sitting with his back to the enterance of the library, books stacked around him, focused almost entirely on what he was reading. Aeris couldn't help but smile. Despite his intensity, and the somewhat threatening nature of the claw that replaced his left arm, he was actually quite handsome. She could see his profile from where she was standing, his raven hair falling into his red eyes, held back loosely only by a red bandanna. The red cape she had seen him in before was draped over a footstool nearby, and he was left in classic black, with only the silver of his buttons and the dark leather brown of various gun holsters. She wondered why he always carried around his guns.
She coughed a little, to let him know she was there. He was caught off guard, and dropped the book turning defensively towards Aeris, and almost to his feet before he realized who it was, and relaxed.
"..."
"Sorry for startling you.."
She turned a bit red.
"I just wnted to say that I was cooking lunch, and it would be ready pretty soon, if you wanted to come up..."
He paused, but then seemed to ice over a bit.
"I'm busy."
"Oh.."
Aeris's spirits fell, but it only showed a little, through her slightly-less-energetic smile.
"That's okay. Should I just save the leftovers then?"
Vincent shrugged, and sat back down, turning his attention back to the book he was reading.
Aeris was a little hurt at his coldness, so she didn't say anything else, and turned and walked out of the library again, picking her way up the spiraling accent to the main floor, and figiring out how to trigger the secret door. She ran back into the kitchen, her soup was just about to burn. She took it off and set it on another burner quickly, then turned off the stove, catching her breath. She then looked around for a bowl, or something like, and found two. She tought she would set one for Vincent anyways, just in case he changed his mind. She took both of them, along with some silverware(everything seemed so unused, though) and was carrying it into the next room, when her boot suddenly caught on the edge of a loose board, and she went flying.
She braced herself for the fall, and for the noise of the two plates breaking, but she didn't hear it, and suddenly she found herself surpported by a steady arm. She opened her eyes, which she had shut tightly, and looked right up at Vincent, who was cooly balancing the two bowls in his clawed hand, and had also caught her with the other. She immediately regained her balance, blushing like crazy.
"Gomen ne! I feel so clumsy.."
Vincent put the bowls down on the table.
"It's not your fault. These floors are dangerous..I told you to watch where you were walking."
She looked down ruefully.
"I know.."
"Hn. It's all right, nothing was broken."
She looked up, smiling a little once again.
"So have you come upstairs to eat lunch after all?"
He hesitated.
"..Yes."
Her smile widened, and she continues to serve the soup, cheerful once again. Vincent sighed quietly. She was constantly on an emotional rollercoaster it seemed. And it all seemed to be his doing. Did she do this to everyone she is around? Or am I just lucky.. He grimaced at the thought a little. Emotional escapades were not his thing. He had too much to deal with already, and he didn't want to get too attached to this girl. Maybe joining her for lunch wasn't such a good idea...
But she was chattering now, about one thing or another. Her little flower garden in the slums, who bought flowers from her, what her house looked like...And he knew he couldn't have stayed down there when he had hurt her feelings like that. Perhaps he had really gotten to cold.. But no, people like him didn't deserve the warmth of human affection.
"Did you hear me?"
"What? No, I'm sorry."
"I asked if you were all right. You've been so quiet.."
He nodded.
"Fine."
Aeris didn't seem to buy it, but decided to change the subject.
"Um..You never told me your name.."
"Vincent. Vincent Valentine."
Aeris smiled.
"Vincent. It suits you."
"You think so?"
The comment was offhand-sounding, but no one had really ever pointed out anything about his name before. It was just something for people to call him, he never really cared one way or the other. But then again there were a lot of things he felt that way about...
"How long have you been living here?"
She had finished her soup and was looking at him gently, her delicate chin resting on interlaced hands, and her eyes truly curious about him.
"A long time."
"Ah.."
"About 40 years actually."
Her eyes widened.
"40 years? I thought...I mean, you don't look over 30.."
He shrugged, and she took that there was more then there was to the surface of the man, and left it at that, not wanting to push his hospitality by prying into his personal life. He finsihed the mel in silence, and she was lost in her own thoughts. Then he took their dishes to the sink, and told her that he would take care of it, though she tired to convince him otherwise. Eventually she gave in, and told him she was going out for a short walk.
"Be careful, theres a lot of unfriendly things that come out of the mountains around dusk. If you want to avoid trouble, get back before then."
The protectiveness, again. Why should he care whether the girl got killed by monsters? But all of a sudden he realized he would care. One more day. He couldn't get too attached, he wasn't at liberty. He forced these thoughts out of his head, and turned back to the dishes. Then he seemed to remember something.
"Oh...and after the moon rises, don't wander the house, and definetly never go near the basement. Go in your room and lock the door. Don't question it, please."
She didn't, though it was strange. The whole situation was a little odd somehow, like there was something ominously important that she hadn't been told, or had missed. But she brushed it off, and nodded her thanks, turning and walking out into the late sunlight for her walk.
*
Tifa was watching her. It was about an hour since she had first left for a walk, and she had acquired a handful of wildflowers..brilliantly yellow and blue. Her steps were light as she noticed the approaching dusk, and turned back to the Mansion. Tifa had not seen from where she had come, and trailed behind her silently, stopping when Aeris reached the mansion. She smirked a little. It was good news, the girl had holed herself up somewhere, and thought she was safe. She decided to go back and tell Sephiroth, perhaps a night raid would be most fashionable.
She started the long walk back to Midgar, aproximating that she would arrive in about two hours, then they could take an airship back and have everything ready about midnight..which would suit their purpose well enough. She glanced up at the moon, which was full and shone down generously, spilling silver light over the landscape. Beautiful. She was in a better mood then she had been in the last few days, despite her recent failures in regards to Aeris.
After a while she finally arrived at the HQ, and rode the elevator up to her floor. She nodded curtly to the guards that seemed to swarm the place, and knocked on the door to Sephiroth's office. There was silence.
"It's Tifa..."
"Come in."
The tone of his voice was smooth, almost too calm though, as if he were hiding anxiety. It was subtle, but Tifa had come to recognize these small things from him. She opened the door and walked in, standing in front of his desk, and waiting for him to acknowlege her. He finally looked up at her, his green eyes looking her over, almost lazily, but with a predatorial gleam.
"Good news, I presume."
She nodded meekly.
"I discovered where she is hiding herself."
"..And?"
"The old Shrinra Mansion."
Sephiroth frowned slightly. He had bad memories of the place. The Shinra Mansion...it had been out of use for years now, he wouldn't have been surprised at the news that it had suddenly crumbled to dust. It's architecture and construction was one of the less genius descisions of the company. Though it was beautiful, it had never really stood up well to the weather, and had started to fall apart even before Shinra abandoned it, which was something like 10 years after it was built. It was just as well. He glances at the clock. It was only 9:00, plenty of time to pull the thing off tonight.
"I was thinking that we had time to do it tonight, if you wished.."
Tifa volenteered tenatively. Sephiroth was pulled out of his thoughts.
"Exactly what I myself was thinking. Good work, Ms. Lockheart."
He smirked lightly, he used the formality when he was less serious around her, it was a private thing between the two of them. Sephiroth tended to call people by their first names only, or if he did call them by their last he would leave off the title. It was just one more way to insult people, and made it seemingly unintentional. It amused him.
Sephiroth stood and walked over to where Tifa was standing.
"Tsk, you're so tense Ms. Lockheart. You should loosen up, you know."
He placed a hand on her waist, still casual, and stood close to her, looking down into her eyes, a touch playfully, but still with that slightly evil gleam. However, if anything she tensed up more. The bruises on her back were enough to keep her from being completely comfortable in his company for a while. He seemed to remember this suddenly.
"Ah, are you still upset over what happened earlier?"
She looked away.
"Forgive me, Tifa. You know that I get carried away easily..."
I'd say. She kept the retort to herself, and nodded instead, looking back at him. He leaned down and kissed her, a bit heatedly, though it caused her to almost immediately forgive him for hurting her earlier. It was not as if he really meant to hurt her, after all, he was just angry. Thats what she told herself as she responded to the kiss, pressing her body against his.
He slid his other hand up her arm and brushed the black suspender strap off of her shoulder, then let his hands trail down over her breasts lightly and then down to the top of her thigh, sliding it up and lifting her skirt a little. She blushed and broke the kiss, pulling out of his grasp and smoothing out her skirt again, trying to give him a admonishing look, but not really able to keep a straight face. He reached out for her, but she twirled out of his hands again, backing up to the wall and crossing her arms, teasing him just a little.
He followed her, eyes a little more intense with the passion that she was waiting for to replace his amusement. She uncrossed her arms as he pinned her against the wall, roughly but not enough to hurt, and kissed her again. She put her arms around his neck, and wondered why exactly she always gave him what he wanted, in the end. But she abandoned that thought, and lost herself in the sensations that his touch on her bare skin sent tingling through her body. She closed her eyes.
*
Something like a half hour later, he left Tifa on the floor, and stood, to put his clothing back on. Her heart was still racing as she sat up and watched him, hugging her knees. He was always so unnaffected afterwards, no matter how good it had been. It made her wonder if that's the way he always was with women, or if it was just because they were associates. Someday she would quit and find out. The thought made her smile a little, and she picked up her own clothing, and started to get dressed.
Even though Sephiroth was wearing considerably more, he was dressed sooner, and was just putting back on his gloves when Tifa notices the rip in the side seam of her shirt. She sighed. It seemed like she was forever mending clothing around Sephiroth for one reason or another. She looked at the clock, and then at Sephiroth. He picked up Masamune.
"It's not too late. Let's go."
She composed herself, and pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail. The two of them left together to find a faster means of transportation.
*
AN: In case you're wondering why the insane author of this fic decided to overlook the fact that Tifa hates Sephiroth, be assured that this is not a plot hole. It will be explained later, so bear with me. This was my first non-yaoi lime @_@ wa. But on a lighter note, isn't Vincent kawaii? I'm going to tell you in the next chapter what Aeris really thinks about him ^^ And Tifa falls in love with someone else too.. Review!
She sat down on the side of her newly made bed and rested, stretching her back, which was sore from so much standing and bending over. Then she lay down and looked up at the ceiling again. She wondered breifly where her host was doing. Vincent had dissappeared somewhere in the house after mid-morning, without a word to her. He was strange...Even a little scary. Half the time he looked like he was about to murder her for being optimistic, and the other half he was just indifferent. But Aeris saw through it a little. After all, he was probably just lonely, living here all by himself.
She hummed a bar or two of a song that had gotten stuck in her head and just lay there, feeling safter then she had in a very long time. When she felt rested enough, she thought she would go down and make lunch for her and Vincent, since she didn't hear him come back to the floor that she shared with the kitchen. She walked into the kitchen, which was impressive though not too large. There was hardly anything in the refridgerator, and she opened the cabinets.
He had quite a bit of canned food sitting there collecting dust. She wondered vaugely if he only ate take out or something, and if there even was takeout anywhere near this place. She pulled down two cans of chicken vegetable soup. Might as well have leftovers. She turned the stove on, and found a pot under the big sink, putting both cans in and waiting. She figured it would be a good idea to find Vincent to give him time to finish whatever he might be doing before lunch. So she turned the stove lower and looked through the rooms carefully.
"Hello?"
Everything was silent. She suddenly realized he had never told her his name.
"Hm.."
She sighed and leaned on a book case on one of the upstairs bedrooms, thinking. All of a sudden it moved, and she gave a little yelp of surprise as it rotated, and sent her spinning unexpectedly to the ground on the opposite side of a secret passageway. She looked around, eyes adjusting to the near-dark. It was dark. She carefully wound down what seemed to be a ledge, spiraling down into the ground, and tried not to look down herself. She was a little afraid of heights, though she didn't like to admit it. She finally reached the ground and shuddered. It was filthy and dark, smelling of decay. She saw little white gleams in the darkness, and forced herself not to look too hard, just hoping they weren't bones.
"Are you down here?"
She saw light from around the corner, and turned towards it gratefully.
"Hello?"
Vincent was sitting with his back to the enterance of the library, books stacked around him, focused almost entirely on what he was reading. Aeris couldn't help but smile. Despite his intensity, and the somewhat threatening nature of the claw that replaced his left arm, he was actually quite handsome. She could see his profile from where she was standing, his raven hair falling into his red eyes, held back loosely only by a red bandanna. The red cape she had seen him in before was draped over a footstool nearby, and he was left in classic black, with only the silver of his buttons and the dark leather brown of various gun holsters. She wondered why he always carried around his guns.
She coughed a little, to let him know she was there. He was caught off guard, and dropped the book turning defensively towards Aeris, and almost to his feet before he realized who it was, and relaxed.
"..."
"Sorry for startling you.."
She turned a bit red.
"I just wnted to say that I was cooking lunch, and it would be ready pretty soon, if you wanted to come up..."
He paused, but then seemed to ice over a bit.
"I'm busy."
"Oh.."
Aeris's spirits fell, but it only showed a little, through her slightly-less-energetic smile.
"That's okay. Should I just save the leftovers then?"
Vincent shrugged, and sat back down, turning his attention back to the book he was reading.
Aeris was a little hurt at his coldness, so she didn't say anything else, and turned and walked out of the library again, picking her way up the spiraling accent to the main floor, and figiring out how to trigger the secret door. She ran back into the kitchen, her soup was just about to burn. She took it off and set it on another burner quickly, then turned off the stove, catching her breath. She then looked around for a bowl, or something like, and found two. She tought she would set one for Vincent anyways, just in case he changed his mind. She took both of them, along with some silverware(everything seemed so unused, though) and was carrying it into the next room, when her boot suddenly caught on the edge of a loose board, and she went flying.
She braced herself for the fall, and for the noise of the two plates breaking, but she didn't hear it, and suddenly she found herself surpported by a steady arm. She opened her eyes, which she had shut tightly, and looked right up at Vincent, who was cooly balancing the two bowls in his clawed hand, and had also caught her with the other. She immediately regained her balance, blushing like crazy.
"Gomen ne! I feel so clumsy.."
Vincent put the bowls down on the table.
"It's not your fault. These floors are dangerous..I told you to watch where you were walking."
She looked down ruefully.
"I know.."
"Hn. It's all right, nothing was broken."
She looked up, smiling a little once again.
"So have you come upstairs to eat lunch after all?"
He hesitated.
"..Yes."
Her smile widened, and she continues to serve the soup, cheerful once again. Vincent sighed quietly. She was constantly on an emotional rollercoaster it seemed. And it all seemed to be his doing. Did she do this to everyone she is around? Or am I just lucky.. He grimaced at the thought a little. Emotional escapades were not his thing. He had too much to deal with already, and he didn't want to get too attached to this girl. Maybe joining her for lunch wasn't such a good idea...
But she was chattering now, about one thing or another. Her little flower garden in the slums, who bought flowers from her, what her house looked like...And he knew he couldn't have stayed down there when he had hurt her feelings like that. Perhaps he had really gotten to cold.. But no, people like him didn't deserve the warmth of human affection.
"Did you hear me?"
"What? No, I'm sorry."
"I asked if you were all right. You've been so quiet.."
He nodded.
"Fine."
Aeris didn't seem to buy it, but decided to change the subject.
"Um..You never told me your name.."
"Vincent. Vincent Valentine."
Aeris smiled.
"Vincent. It suits you."
"You think so?"
The comment was offhand-sounding, but no one had really ever pointed out anything about his name before. It was just something for people to call him, he never really cared one way or the other. But then again there were a lot of things he felt that way about...
"How long have you been living here?"
She had finished her soup and was looking at him gently, her delicate chin resting on interlaced hands, and her eyes truly curious about him.
"A long time."
"Ah.."
"About 40 years actually."
Her eyes widened.
"40 years? I thought...I mean, you don't look over 30.."
He shrugged, and she took that there was more then there was to the surface of the man, and left it at that, not wanting to push his hospitality by prying into his personal life. He finsihed the mel in silence, and she was lost in her own thoughts. Then he took their dishes to the sink, and told her that he would take care of it, though she tired to convince him otherwise. Eventually she gave in, and told him she was going out for a short walk.
"Be careful, theres a lot of unfriendly things that come out of the mountains around dusk. If you want to avoid trouble, get back before then."
The protectiveness, again. Why should he care whether the girl got killed by monsters? But all of a sudden he realized he would care. One more day. He couldn't get too attached, he wasn't at liberty. He forced these thoughts out of his head, and turned back to the dishes. Then he seemed to remember something.
"Oh...and after the moon rises, don't wander the house, and definetly never go near the basement. Go in your room and lock the door. Don't question it, please."
She didn't, though it was strange. The whole situation was a little odd somehow, like there was something ominously important that she hadn't been told, or had missed. But she brushed it off, and nodded her thanks, turning and walking out into the late sunlight for her walk.
*
Tifa was watching her. It was about an hour since she had first left for a walk, and she had acquired a handful of wildflowers..brilliantly yellow and blue. Her steps were light as she noticed the approaching dusk, and turned back to the Mansion. Tifa had not seen from where she had come, and trailed behind her silently, stopping when Aeris reached the mansion. She smirked a little. It was good news, the girl had holed herself up somewhere, and thought she was safe. She decided to go back and tell Sephiroth, perhaps a night raid would be most fashionable.
She started the long walk back to Midgar, aproximating that she would arrive in about two hours, then they could take an airship back and have everything ready about midnight..which would suit their purpose well enough. She glanced up at the moon, which was full and shone down generously, spilling silver light over the landscape. Beautiful. She was in a better mood then she had been in the last few days, despite her recent failures in regards to Aeris.
After a while she finally arrived at the HQ, and rode the elevator up to her floor. She nodded curtly to the guards that seemed to swarm the place, and knocked on the door to Sephiroth's office. There was silence.
"It's Tifa..."
"Come in."
The tone of his voice was smooth, almost too calm though, as if he were hiding anxiety. It was subtle, but Tifa had come to recognize these small things from him. She opened the door and walked in, standing in front of his desk, and waiting for him to acknowlege her. He finally looked up at her, his green eyes looking her over, almost lazily, but with a predatorial gleam.
"Good news, I presume."
She nodded meekly.
"I discovered where she is hiding herself."
"..And?"
"The old Shrinra Mansion."
Sephiroth frowned slightly. He had bad memories of the place. The Shinra Mansion...it had been out of use for years now, he wouldn't have been surprised at the news that it had suddenly crumbled to dust. It's architecture and construction was one of the less genius descisions of the company. Though it was beautiful, it had never really stood up well to the weather, and had started to fall apart even before Shinra abandoned it, which was something like 10 years after it was built. It was just as well. He glances at the clock. It was only 9:00, plenty of time to pull the thing off tonight.
"I was thinking that we had time to do it tonight, if you wished.."
Tifa volenteered tenatively. Sephiroth was pulled out of his thoughts.
"Exactly what I myself was thinking. Good work, Ms. Lockheart."
He smirked lightly, he used the formality when he was less serious around her, it was a private thing between the two of them. Sephiroth tended to call people by their first names only, or if he did call them by their last he would leave off the title. It was just one more way to insult people, and made it seemingly unintentional. It amused him.
Sephiroth stood and walked over to where Tifa was standing.
"Tsk, you're so tense Ms. Lockheart. You should loosen up, you know."
He placed a hand on her waist, still casual, and stood close to her, looking down into her eyes, a touch playfully, but still with that slightly evil gleam. However, if anything she tensed up more. The bruises on her back were enough to keep her from being completely comfortable in his company for a while. He seemed to remember this suddenly.
"Ah, are you still upset over what happened earlier?"
She looked away.
"Forgive me, Tifa. You know that I get carried away easily..."
I'd say. She kept the retort to herself, and nodded instead, looking back at him. He leaned down and kissed her, a bit heatedly, though it caused her to almost immediately forgive him for hurting her earlier. It was not as if he really meant to hurt her, after all, he was just angry. Thats what she told herself as she responded to the kiss, pressing her body against his.
He slid his other hand up her arm and brushed the black suspender strap off of her shoulder, then let his hands trail down over her breasts lightly and then down to the top of her thigh, sliding it up and lifting her skirt a little. She blushed and broke the kiss, pulling out of his grasp and smoothing out her skirt again, trying to give him a admonishing look, but not really able to keep a straight face. He reached out for her, but she twirled out of his hands again, backing up to the wall and crossing her arms, teasing him just a little.
He followed her, eyes a little more intense with the passion that she was waiting for to replace his amusement. She uncrossed her arms as he pinned her against the wall, roughly but not enough to hurt, and kissed her again. She put her arms around his neck, and wondered why exactly she always gave him what he wanted, in the end. But she abandoned that thought, and lost herself in the sensations that his touch on her bare skin sent tingling through her body. She closed her eyes.
*
Something like a half hour later, he left Tifa on the floor, and stood, to put his clothing back on. Her heart was still racing as she sat up and watched him, hugging her knees. He was always so unnaffected afterwards, no matter how good it had been. It made her wonder if that's the way he always was with women, or if it was just because they were associates. Someday she would quit and find out. The thought made her smile a little, and she picked up her own clothing, and started to get dressed.
Even though Sephiroth was wearing considerably more, he was dressed sooner, and was just putting back on his gloves when Tifa notices the rip in the side seam of her shirt. She sighed. It seemed like she was forever mending clothing around Sephiroth for one reason or another. She looked at the clock, and then at Sephiroth. He picked up Masamune.
"It's not too late. Let's go."
She composed herself, and pulled her hair back into a loose ponytail. The two of them left together to find a faster means of transportation.
*
AN: In case you're wondering why the insane author of this fic decided to overlook the fact that Tifa hates Sephiroth, be assured that this is not a plot hole. It will be explained later, so bear with me. This was my first non-yaoi lime @_@ wa. But on a lighter note, isn't Vincent kawaii? I'm going to tell you in the next chapter what Aeris really thinks about him ^^ And Tifa falls in love with someone else too.. Review!