Turtle's Paradise

By Kimetara

2nd Interlude

Disclaimer: FFVII is not mine.

*blah* = thought

~~~~~ = time/POV break

          "Hey Vincent!"  Tifa smiled cheerfully and waved from the doorway of the inn's room.  "Yuffie offered to treat us at Turtle's Paradise to apologize, why don't you come along?"

          Vincent shrugged and turned away.  "No, thank you," he responded curtly.

          "Awww, c'mon Vinnie!" Yuffie whined, popping up from behind Tifa.  "I'm really sorry about taking your materia!  And after saving me from that perv, the least I can do is get you guys dinner!"  *I get it all free anyway, heh heh...*

          "..."  Vincent didn't move from his position at the inn's window.

          "Hmph.  Party pooper!"  Yuffie pouted, before running out of the inn to make reservations.

          Cloud walked into the room and stood uncertainly next to the dark man.  "You sure you don't want to come?  It'll probably be a lot of fun, Vince."

          "No," he answered flatly.  Cloud scratched his head, before turning to Tifa with a helpless "I tried" look.

          Tifa shrugged.  "Well, alright Vincent.  We'll be back in a couple hours then."  She waited as Cloud moved past her toward the restaurant.  "And Vincent...try to lighten up a bit, okay?" she requested softly.

          Vincent made no motion to show he had heard her voice, although she knew he heard her quite clearly.  Tifa sighed and left the room.

~~~~~

          "Oh my gosh, Yuffie!  The poor waiter!" Tifa laughed helplessly, remembering when Yuffie had been practicing her shuriken throwing and accidentally torn the waiter's suspenders.

          "I didn't mean it!" Yuffie protested, but dissolving into giggles as she glanced at a disgruntled Cloud – his shirt stained with miso soup the waiter had spilled when he tripped over his pants.

          Tifa burst out laughing again when she caught sight of a piece of tofu stuck in Cloud's hair, one hand over her stomach while the other flailed weakly in the blond's direction.  Yuffie, looking to see what Tifa was waving at, immediately began giggling even more, so that soon both females were bent over, laughing uncontrollably.

          For a moment, Cloud just stood there, exasperated, but after a moment he gave in too.       

          "Shhh!"  The innkeeper came in, a stern expression on his face.  "Please!  Some of our residents are sleeping!"

          This only caused Tifa and Yuffie to laugh harder, but Cloud managed to gain some control over himself.  "Yes sir, I'm sorry about that."

          Tifa began to regulate her breathing, a trick she'd learned from Zangan, and was before long able to stand up.  "Mmm-hmm.  We'll try to be quieter," she added, wiping tears from her eyes.  Yuffie shut her mouth and held her breath in an attempt to be quiet.

          The innkeeper frowned.  "Perhaps you ought to go to your rooms...the walls are thicker there," he suggested, before leaving.

          The trio nodded and headed upstairs.  They climbed the stairs silently, not even glancing at each other for fear of breaking out into laughter once more.

          When they finally reached their joint room, Yuffie almost slammed the door shut, before they all released the stifled laughter that had been rising in their throats.  Yuffie slumped weakly against the door, while Cloud and Tifa curled on the floor, bubbling, pure, happy laughter filling the small joint bedroom.

          "Ohhh..." Tifa gasped, the three finally beginning to get a hold over themselves.  "Wow, that was fun..."

          "Yeah!" Yuffie chirped.  "We've all been wayyy too serious lately!"

          Cloud nodded.  "I don't think I've laughed like that years..."

          Tifa stood, stretching.  "That felt so good-"

          "Did it?" an aloof tone interrupted.  The trio turned, trying to locate the voice's location.

          "Hey Vincent!"  Tifa smiled.  "Oh, you should have come...it was so hilarious," she finished, a small giggle making it's way out.

          "I see.  If you're all done making fools out of yourselves, we have a task ahead of us that would require some rest," he spoke coolly, effectively sobering the mood.  Yuffie's giggles became quiet, then stopped altogether.  Tifa's expression grew vexed and melancholy, while Cloud's darkened.  It wasn't that they had forgotten their mission...it was that for a few, short, blissful hours, they had gained relief from its constant stress.

          A relief that had quite effectively been banished.

          "Yeah, Vincent's got a point," Cloud sighed, standing.  "Let's all get some sleep...we'll be needing it."

          Vincent nodded and withdrew.  Tifa glared at his back.

          Yuffie frowned.  "Ugh.  I gotta go back to the Highwind now..."  She groaned, making a face at the thought.  "I'll see you guys later!"  The small ninja jogged out the door.

          "Well..." Cloud turned, about to say good night to Tifa, when he finally noticed her expression.  She looked extremely annoyed about something – a tall, raven-haired man in particular. "Uh...good night, Tifa..."

          "Yes, good night Cloud," Tifa answered absently.  "Vincent, would you please come downstairs with me?"  Somehow, it didn't sound like a request.

          Vincent paused for a moment, then strode out of the room.  Tifa followed, shutting the door softly behind her.

          Cloud stared at the door for a moment, before shrugging and getting into bed.  Whatever it was, he was sure Tifa and Vincent would be able to work it out.

          Vincent stopped in the lobby, turning to face Tifa, his arms crossed over his chest.

          Tifa stalked past him and nearly yanked the door open, a waiting expression on her face.  For a moment, the two seemed to have a battle of wills – Tifa wanting Vincent to go outside, and Vincent refusing.

          "I don't want to talk in here," she bit out curtly.  "The innkeeper already got mad at us."

          Vincent raised an eyebrow, his expression – or at least what could be seen to Tifa – reading a mocking "who would've guessed?"  But he stepped through the door.

          Tifa shut the door behind them, stepped out past Vincent, then promptly whirled around, her eyes narrowed.  "Is there something the matter with enjoying ourselves?" she asked tersely.

          "We have more important things at hand," Vincent answered, his tone emotionless.

          "So?  That doesn't mean we can't have fun when we get the chance, does it?" Tifa demanded.

          "..."

          "Well?"  She paused.  Vincent didn't answer.  "And why did you call us all idiots anyway?"

          "Because you were."

          "Oh, you..."  Tifa gritted her teeth.  "You, you're so caught up in your little dream world of Lucrecia, and all your stupid sins and such, you just want everybody to be as miserable as you are!" she accused, hands on her hips, her normally warm wine eyes narrowed into hard garnet flecks.  "You won't even let yourself have fun, you're so determined to be a cool, heartless macho man!"

          Vincent's eyes flashed, and he strode over to Tifa until he was barely inches away.  "Don't you dare," he hissed, "pretend that you know what I'm going through.  Don't you dare give yourself the right to judge myself and my past."

          "Well I wouldn't, if I knew what your past was!" she yelled.  "You're always brooding over it, but you never tell any of us anything..."  The brunette stamped her foot, frustrated.  "You're always so distant!  It's not that you can't let yourself get close to anybody, it's that you won't, you selfish jerk!  We're a team, the rest of us, but you...you just go off in your own little corner, beating yourself up about things you can't do anything about!  You won't even try to get over it!"  Tifa paused, drawing in breath.  "And then you go around spreading your pessimistic depression on everybody else...I'm sick of it, Vincent.  Get over yourself!"

          Vincent simply stood there, his arms crossed against her little tirade.  "Are you done?" he asked coolly.

          Tifa's fists clenched, but she didn't raise them from her sides.  "Fine," she spoke, her voice low.  "Just shrug it all off.  But maybe you ought to think about what I said, Vincent."

          "I'll take that under advisement."

          "Look..." Tifa sighed, all her anger abruptly draining away.  "I'm not...really upset over you being a killjoy, although that was annoying...but you were right, we needed to get some rest."

          "..."  He raised an eyebrow.  What was she trying to get at?

          "Vincent..."  She hesitated.  "I haven't forgotten what you've done for me...and I'm just worried about you," she added softly.  "You're missing out...you need to try living," she finished, before walking back through the inn entrance.

          Vincent stayed out in the darkness.  It was where he felt the most secure...where nobody could see him.

          Nobody could judge him.

          He lay down to go to sleep.

          "Vincent?"  Vincent awoke to voices frantically calling his name.  "Vincent??  Where are you?!"  Slowly, he began to rise.

          When he was about halfway up, Tifa burst out of the inn, her head rapidly turning side to side, worry plainly etched on her face.  Almost immediately, she caught sight of his crimson cape.

          "Vincent!"  The brunette rushed over, about to hug him, but restrained herself when she was within a foot of the man.  "Did you spend the entire night out here?"  Tifa contented herself with crouching down, so she could speak to him at eye level.

          "Yes."  For some reason, Vincent couldn't bring himself to look straight at her.  Instead, he kept his gaze on the grass below him.

          "Why?  Ohhh, I was so worried when you weren't in the inn this morning!"  Tifa bit her lip.  "I'm sorry...  I didn't mean to make you feel...unwelcome..." she faltered, unsure of what, exactly, she had made him feel that had compelled this dark man to sleep outside.

          "You didn't."

          Tifa shook her head.  "You were right...as always..."  She gave a wry smile.  "I shouldn't have tried to judge you like that..."

          Vincent felt guilt rising through him.  She had considered his words...he should have done the same.

          Tifa kneeled next to Vincent a moment longer, but when he didn't seem inclined to answer, she rose and yelled out toward the inn.  "Cloud!  He's out here!"

          Cloud hurried out.  "You okay?" he asked.  "I'm sorry, Vince...I should have stayed up and made sure you made it back in..."

          Vincent shook his head, all this attention making him uncomfortable.  "It's of no importance," he muttered, before turning and walking off toward the airship.

          Tifa and Cloud glanced at each other.  Cloud shrugged.  "That's Vincent," he remarked, then jogged to catch up with the ex-Turk.

          Tifa jogged after the blond, considering.  There was something...different about Vincent today, even though she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

          She shrugged, just thankful he was okay.

          Now, time to go find Sephiroth...

AN: Hmmm...I might be doing a few more interludes for "Waves of Pain," since it is supposed to have a history of friendship between Vincent and Tifa.  Well, anyway, R&R please!