Disclaimer: Oh, thank you all for the nice reviews! They make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside! Oh and Ezri-Candy? Don't worry! There's VincentTifa action comin' up! Please! Don't hurt me! Well, anywho, I hope you guys like this chapter! I'll get the next one up really soon!

Oh, yeah. I'm in the midst of writing another VincentTifa that popped into my head all of a sudden. I'll post it when I have enough material for a chapter. It's called Of Light And Dark. You'll just have to figure out what it's about when I post it, but don't worry! It'll be up by the end of the week more then likely! You'll just have to be patient! Anyways, enough of my banter and on with the story!

After I arrived back in Wutai, I returned to my normal cycle of life. I worked at the bar, played with the cubs and I also thought about Vincent a lot. I was thinking about calling him or going and visiting him but he was probably glad now that I was gone.

After the cubs turned seven months old Yuffie and I taped them then sent the tape to Cosmo Canyon for Seta and Red. We got a letter from Red a week later. He told us that he was proud of us and also proud of the cubs as well. Him and Seta were very happy.

A few weeks after the cubs turned eight months old Yuffie and I decided to take a small vacation to Icicle Inn with the cubs. I told Krissy and Travis to go somewhere for a small winter vacation and closed the bar for a few weeks.

I was out back getting Yuffie's chocobo and mine ready for the trip when Nariko and Seto came running towards me.

"Hey, guys!" I said, turning to look over my shoulder. "Whatcha up to?"

"We're excited!" Nariko said, jumping onto her back legs. "We get to see snow!"

"Yeah, I can't wait!" Seto said, jumping onto his sister sending them both crashing into the ground.

"Well, we'll be leaving in a little while. Go see if Aunt Yuffie needs any help with anything."

"Okay," Seto said, getting up and running off followed closely by Nariko.

I smiled and led Seraph and Yuffie's gold chocobo Jinx out in front. After tying them to a small tree I walked inside.

Yuffie had just finished packing a small duffel bag with her things and set it next to mine.

"Well, that does if for my stuff. What about your's?" Yuffie asked, putting her hands on her hips and looking around.

"Well, my Premium Heart's in my bag along with all my other stuff so, yeah, I think we're ready," I said, looking at her and smiling.

"Do you think I should bring the Conformer?"

"Just in case."

"Alright," she said, dashing off into another room.

Yuffie appeared a moment later and attached her Conformer to her hip. She gave the living room another once over, making sure she didn't forget anything then picked her bag up and slung it over her shoulder.

"Okay, Teef. Let's go."

I nodded and picked my own bag up and walked out of the house. Yuffie shut and locked the door with her key then walked over to Jinx and attached her bag to his saddle.

"Okay," Yuffie said, turning around and looking at the cubs. "Who's riding with who?"

Now that the cubs are almost a year old they're about the size of a medium sized dog so whenever Yuffie and I go riding on our chocobos one cub has to ride with me and the other has to ride with Yuffie.

Seto got up and walked over to me.

"I'm riding with Aunt Tifa!" He exclaimed holding his head high.

"That leaves me to ride with Aunt Yuffie!" Nariko said, padding over and sitting in front of Yuffie.

"Okay, we're all set. Let's go," I said, walking toward Seraph.

Seto jumped onto Seraph's back and lay down on my lap. I looked back to see how Yuffie was doing and Nariko was lying behind Yuffie.

"Make sure you don't fall off, Nariko!" I said, steering Seraph toward Jinx.

"Don't worry, Aunt Tifa," she said, with a smile. "I'll be extra careful."

"Okay, let's go, already!" Yuffie exclaimed, stopping next to Seraph.

"Yeah, let's go."

We rode our chocobos out of town then spurred then North toward Icicle Inn.

We rode into town at about eight o'clock. We found some stables for Seraph and Jinx then went into town and rented a hotel room for a week. We went up and got settled into our room and that's when a thought occurred to me.

"Yuf, did you pack a sweater?" I asked, my brow furrowing.

"Yeah, it's in my bag, why?"

"Well, I forgot one."

"No, you didn't!" Yuffie said, a large smile crossing her features.

"Yes, I did. Being the big dunce that I am. Well, I think I should go buy one. We passed a clothing store on our way here so I think I'll go and see if they're still open," I said, walking over to my bag and digging my Premium Heart out of it.

"Are you sure? It's after ten. Do you think they'll still be open?"

"Yeah, I think so. If they're not, I'll just go back tomorrow. I'll be right back."

"Okay, Teef."

I slipped out of the hotel room and walked down the stairs. The lobby was dark except for a fire that was dieing in the fireplace. I walked out of the inn and out into the snow. I walked as fast as I could in the ankle deep snow as I made my way to the small clothing store.

A large smile came onto my face as I saw that it was still open. The sign in the window still said 'open' and the lights were still on.

I walked through the door and looked around for an attendant or manager of some sort.

"Can I help you?" Came a soft feminine voice from in front of me.

I looked and found a tall blonde woman standing in front of a rack of long sleeved shirts. She was looking at me expectantly.

"Oh, I was just wondering if I could buy a sweater. I forgot to pack one," I said, walking towards her.

"Oh, of course. There are some hooded sweatshirts in the back. Is that all right?" She asked, pointing in their direction.

"That's perfect. Thank you," I said, walking past her.

I found the rack that the clerk had pointed to and began looking at them. I found a large white sweatshirt that had blue snowflakes traveling up the arms with some intricate snowflake patterns on the front pocket and hood. I smiled and picked it up off the rack then walked over to the check out desk.

I handed the sweatshirt to the clerk and noticed that her name was Beverly.

"Okay, that'll be twenty-five Gil," she said, taking the hangar off of it and bagging it.

I dug into my pocket and produced a few bills then handed them to Beverly.

"Thanks, come again," she said, smiling sweetly and handing me the bag.

I smiled back and took the bag from her then left the store. Outside I found a trash can where I threw the bag and all the tags away before slipping the sweater over my head. I smiled as I put my hands in the front pocket and began walking back toward the hotel.

I was about halfway there when a voice startled me.

"Well, aren't you a looka."

I stopped and looked to where the voice came from. A young man that looked no older then nineteen or twenty was leaning against a building, flipping open and closing a pocketknife. He had a hint of an Australian accent and had fire red hair. (A/N: Do they even know who Aussie's are!? I'm not sure but I thought the accent would play very well with the setting.)

I frowned as I shook my head and continued walking.

"Hey!" He said, jogging towards me. "Don't you walk away! I"m not finished with you!"

He went to grab my arm but I pulled back and put considerable distance between him and I.

"Hey, kid, I don't know who you are but I don't have the time to screw around with a punk like you. So if you don't mind I have to go," I said, before turning away from him.

But before I could register what was going on, he had his knife pressed up against my throat. I froze and put my hands up. That's when I smelled the alcohol on his breath.

Great. A drunken teenager is holding me hostage. What fun.

"Now you're comin' with me, lass!" He hissed into my ear. "And I don't wanna hear no guff about it!"

He began to lead me off in another direction and that's when I heard the gunshot. I thought for sure that he had a gun and I almost thought that he had shot me. I felt the knife that he had around my neck fall away and I looked back and found him lying in the snow, a large pool of red starting to form around him.

I staggered back a few steps before I looked up at the person that was approaching me.

"Vincent!"

A/N: Sorry about the cliffhanger! I just wanted to build dramatic tension! VincentTifa goodness coming up in the next chapter! So none of you worry!