Disclaimer: Oh, thank you everyone for all the wonderful reviews! Especially Ye olde critic. That's the longest review I've ever gotten. It's not very often that people are so straightforward with me. Thank you very much!
Okay, when I was finished with this chapter I really had no idea where to go with this. So if anyone has an idea of what I could do for an ending please tell me. If I use your idea I'll dedicate that specific chapter to you and give you all the credit for the idea. Fair enough? I sure hope so. Well, anyways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! I put a little more humor in it then I usually do so I hope it's not too ridiculous. Anyway, enough of my babbling! On with the story!
I woke up still laying on Vincent's chest. I smiled as I took in the smell of his cologne on his shirt. I lifted my head from his chest and looked around for a clock. I sighed as I looked at the time. It was only 1:06. At least it wasn't really late. Yuffie would be steamed at me.
I saw Seto lying down next to the door, he was sleeping as well. I gently squirmed out of Vincent's arms and walked over to the sleeping red beast. I kneeled down next to him and scratched his ear. He opened his eyes and looked at me with sleepy yellow eyes.
"What's up, Aunt Tifa?" He asked, yawning.
"I just woke up," I whispered, trying not to wake Vincent. "I'll get Vincent up in a little while then we'll go see Aunt Yuffie and your sister. I think . . . ." Was all I got out before I heard Vincent scream my name.
"Tifa!" He called out sounding desperate.
I stood up and jogged toward the love seat where he was sitting.
"I'm right here," I whispered as he gathered me into his arms.
"I thought you left me," he mumbled.
"Why would I do that?" I asked, stroking his hair. "After I told you I loved you."
"I don't deserve you, Tifa," he said, looking up at me.
"You need to stop cutting yourself down. It's not good for you," I said, tapping him on the nose with my index finger.
He managed a wry smile before dropping his hands back to his sides and getting up. I stood in front of him until he wrapped me into another hug then walked back upstairs. Seto watched him then looked back at me.
"Is Uncle Vincent okay?" He asked, padding up to me.
"Yeah, he'll be fine," I said, smiling down at the fire red beast sitting at my feet.
I looked back up as Vincent descended the stairs. He had his cape back on and was looking at me expectantly. I walked up to him and placed my hand on the brass doorknob.
"What were you thinking about doing next?" He asked, pulling a small silver key out of his pocket.
I opened the door and stepped out allowing Vincent to lock the place up.
"Maybe you, Yuffie and I could hang out the rest of the day," I said, walking down the street with him, Seto padding along next to me.
"Yuffie is here with you?" He asked, kind of surprised.
"Yeah, it's me, her and the two cubs, here on sort of a winter vacation."
He nodded his head and continued walking towards my hotel. Once we got there I walked toward the room and walked in, silently followed by Vincent. I could see Yuffie in the bathroom brushing her teeth. She appeared in the doorway with a toothbrush in her mouth.
"Hey, Tifa! You guys have fun?" She asked, going back into the bathroom.
"Yeah, you could say that," I said, as I walked over to the couch. Vincent sat down next to me and put his hand on my knee. I giggled at his attempt to show affection. He just looked at me with a passive expression.
"Well, that's good because-"Yuffie stopped mid sentence when she saw Vincent's hand on my leg. "Um, Tifa?" She asked, waving her hand around in circles still staring.
"Yeah, Yuf," I said, playing dumb.
"Um, why is Vincent's hand on your leg?" She asked, her eyes growing wide.
I looked down and pretended to finally notice his hand.
"Oh, you mean this?" I said, pointing at Vincent's hand.
Yuffie nodded her head, still looking at his hand. Then she looked at me as a surprised expression came onto her face. She pointed a finger at Vincent and I..
"You two hit it off didn't you?" She asked, with both excitement and accusation in her voice.
"It depends on what you mean by 'hit it off,'" Vincent said, in his usual monotone, his hand never moving from its spot.
"You know what I mean!" Yuffie exclaimed, throwing her hands in the air. "Now I know all those months of playing matchmaker between you two wasn't all for nothing! Well, you don't have to thank me!" She said, turning around and going back into the bathroom.
I laughed as Vincent looked over at me with a 'give me a break' expression on his face. I smiled as I realized that Vincent was coming out of his shell. Slowly but surely.
Yuffie walked out of the bathroom and stopped in front of us, hands on her hips.
"Well, what do you guys want to do?" She asked, looking at both of us.
Vincent shrugged his shoulders then looked at me, expecting me to come up with something bright. I thought for a second then an evil little thought popped into my head, but I wasn't going to tell them about it just yet.
"How about we just go mess around in the snow for a while?" I asked, winking at Yuffie with my right eye so Vincent couldn't see it. Yuffie caught it, but kept a straight face while she thought.
"Okay, why not? Come on, cubs! Time to go play in the snow!" She announced to the two cubs that were curled up on my bed.
They jumped up and bolted over to the door. I laughed as I got up from my place on the couch and opened the door for them. They raced out while Vincent, Yuffie and I calmly made our way down the stairs. When we got to the door they were whining and wagging their fiery tales around begging for us to open the door. I opened the door and watched as they bolted out the door and began rolling around in the snow.
We followed the cubs around, making small talk and joking around. Yuffie pulled me off to the side, remembering my wink from when we were up in the room. We whispered so Vincent couldn't hear us.
"Now what was that wink of yours all about?" She whispered into my ear.
"Let's have a snowball war!" I whispered just as quiet.
"Oh," she said, rubbing her palms together. "I like the idea. What's the plan?"
I told Yuffie the plan then walked over to where Vincent was standing watching the cubs roll around in the snow. He looked at me when I stopped in front of him.
"Hey, Vincent. I was wondering," I said, looking down at the snow-covered earth. "Do you want to play a game?"
He cocked an eyebrow at this statement then stayed silent for a few more seconds before speaking.
"What kind of game?"
I looked over behind me to find Yuffie gone. Perfect. I looked back at Vincent then walked toward a small grove of trees. I stopped next to one and looked back at Vincent to find him staring at me with his eyebrow raised. I put my hand up in front of me and raised my index finger, calling him over. After a few moments of standing there he began to walk forward. Seto spotted me and led Nariko over to lie next to a tree.
Once I saw him coming I dashed off and hid behind a tall oak. I looked over and saw Yuffie with a large smirk on her face, holding a very large snowball. I stooped down and began to gather up some snow in my hands and packed it into a perfect sphere. I peeked around the tree to find Vincent walking around, looking for me.
Just a little bit closer. Come on. A little bit closer. Almost there. Aha!
I jumped out from behind the tree and flung the snowball at Vincent's head. He didn't see it coming and I succeeded in hitting Vincent Valentine, ex-Turk, Gunslinger Extraordinaire right in the kisser.
He jumped back surprised and wiped all the snow off of his face before looking at me with an evil smirk playing on his lips.
"Tifa . . . ." He growled walking towards me.
That's when I spotted Yuffie standing behind Vincent. She launched her own snowball and it hit him right in the back of the head. He spun around and looked at Yuffie menacingly. I took the opportunity and ran off to the right to make another snowball. I heard Yuffie pleading with Vincent not to hurt her and that it was all my idea. To no avail, though.
"Ahhh! Vincent! That's cold!" Yuffie screeched. "No! No! Stop! Okay! Okay, I give! Just stop smothering snow in my hair!"
I heard Vincent laughing. Now there's a rare sound. That's when I peeked around my tree to find Vincent laughing at a very mad Yuffie whose hair was sticking out every which way with clumps of snow in it.
"Yeah, sure, go ahead and laugh! Just wait until I get you back!" Yuffie exclaimed disappearing behind another tree.
I tried to look where Yuffie disappeared too but when I looked back at where Vincent was standing he was gone.
Uh-oh. Where'd he go?
Then a very large snowball hit me in the back of the head making me spin around. Vincent was standing there with a silly smile on his face, holding another really big snowball in his right hand.
"Two can play at that game, Valentine!" I exclaimed before chucking my snowball at him then running behind a tree to avoid his.
I kneeled down and made another snowball then peeked around the tree. He was gone again.
God, how does he do that? Seriously-
A sound in behind me made me freeze. I slowly turned my eyes in the direction of the sound and found Vincent standing there, that evil grin still plastered on his face.
"Boo."
I smiled sheepishly before dashing off but not before feeling Vincent's snowball smack me right on the rear. I squealed then turned back to Vincent who was making another snowball. I chucked my snowball at him and it landed smack dab on the top of his head.
He shook his head making all the snow fall out of his tangled mane then chucked his snowball at me, hitting me right in the face. I sputtered then wiped the snow off my face. Vincent had jumped behind a tree and was peeking out from behind it with a sly grin on his face.
"Give it up, Lockheart!" I heard him call as he threw another snowball my way. I jumped to avoid it then made a snowball of my own.
"Never!" I screamed defiantly ducking behind a tree as Vincent sent another snowball careening towards me.
"Aha!" I heard Yuffie scream.
I looked out from behind the tree to find Vincent pelting Yuffie with snowballs while she tried to hit him with her own.
"Ha! Take that, Valentine!" She exclaimed before taking a snowball to the face.
I jumped out from behind the tree and charged toward Vincent, sending my snowball careening into the side of his head. He jumped, surprised, which gave Yuffie a few seconds to pelt Vincent with her artillery. I ran around behind Yuffie and whispered for her to get out of the way. She nodded then jumped to the side.
Vincent had his arms up in front of him defensively before lowering them slightly. That's when I ran toward him and latched onto him, throwing my arms around his neck and locking my legs around his waist. He wrapped his arms around my waist before swiftly turning around and landing the both of us in the snow.
"Give?" He said, before placing his lips softly on top of mine.
"Never!" I said, when he backed away.
"Big mistake," he said, digging the fingertips of his right hand into my side, tickling me.
I began to squirm, trying to get out of his grasp but I couldn't move with him on top of me. My eyes began to water as I grabbed his hand to try and stop him.
"Give?" He asked again.
"Okay! All right, I give! You win!" I exclaimed.
"As I thought," he said, getting up and pulling me with him.
"Well, I think we've had enough fun for one day," Yuffie said, shaking all the snow out of her hair. "Let's go back to the room so I can brush my hair."
"Yeah, I need to too," I said, walking beside Vincent. I spotted the cubs sleeping next to a tree and called them over. "Did you two have fun?"
"You bet!" Nariko said, smiling widely. "I can't wait until we tell Mommy and Daddy about snow!"
"Oh, that reminds me! Yuffie did you bring the video camera?" I asked, her hoping she did.
"Yeah, it's in my bag. Before we leave we need to tape them again."
I nodded and we walked back to the hotel room. Vincent sat down on the couch while Yuffie and I brushed all the snow out of our hair.
"Hey," Yuffie said, jumping out of the bathroom and striking a pose. "Why don't we go out for lunch? Running around in the snow makes ya hungry!"
"Yeah, why not? How about it, Vincent?" I said, smiling at him.
He shrugged his shoulders and looked away. "Do what you wish."
"Okay," I said, looking back at Yuffie. "How 'bout we go to the cafe that me and Vincent went to this morning?"
"Sure!" Yuffie said, walking towards the door.
I looked back at the cubs and signaled them to follow us. We walked back to the cafe and got a table inside this time. I went up to the bar and bought a sandwich and hot chocolate. I went back to our table and began to eat. Yuffie came back with her food and began to eat as well. Vincent said he wasn't hungry so he just settled for coffee.
Yuffie and I finished our sandwiches and hot chocolate then after saying good-bye to Vincent we went back to the hotel room.
Immediately, I got into my pajamas and collapsed on my bed. Playing in the snow had tired me out and all I wanted to do was sleep.