hi gang! here's the companion piece to All She Couldn't Have that i've been promising. finished writing it at work tonight and am getting typed up now. its not going to be up in one big post like All She Couldn't Have, but it will all be up my midnight my time tomorrow night. hopefully, it will all be up by three this morning, but the arthritis i've devoloped in my hands may say otherwise.
anyway! read and enjoy! and if you feel the urge to review, do that too!
eerian
It was raining. The kind of rain that suggested that, perhaps, angry gods did exist after all—and that they were punishing Vincent Valentine for some perceived sin. The rain had caught him unsheltered, and unprepared, drenching him completely in a matter of seconds.
He almost wished that he'd stayed at that little farm another night. At least, then, he'd have had some shelter. But he'd had no money to pay them for their kindness, and he'd be a drain on their meager resources. So, he'd left in midafternoon, since traveling by night didn't bother him.
He'd traveled about nine miles when the sky opened up on him. It had been overcast when he left, but the clouds hadn't looked like the rain would come anytime before midnight. That hour was still a long way off.
He was traveling alongside a road that the rain had turned into a mass of mud. No sane person would want to drive on that, so Vincent was surprised when he heard a car's engine behind him.
He turned to look at the vehicle, raising his arm to shield his eyes as the driver turned on their high beams. Cautiously, he watched as the car stopped next to him and the driver popped the door open. He couldn't be sure in the uneven lighting caused by the storm and the car's overhead light, but the driver seemed very familiar.
"Hey," she called out to him. "You want a ride?"
"Yuffie?" Vincent squinted into the car, trying to see more clearly. How could I manage to run into her, of all people, out here on this particular night?
"Vincent?" Her voice sounded surprised, and perhaps a bit unbelieving.
Mentally, he shrugged. It didn't matter if it was her or not—he needed to get out of the rain. He would have taken a ride from Sephiroth, if the general showed up to offer him one. He started to climb into the car, but stopped when he saw her face.
She's more beautiful than she was when I left. He drank in the sight of her the way a man in the desert drinks water. "It is you."
"Hi, Vincent." Yuffie sounded shy, almost as if she were afraid he'd run if she said the wrong thing.
Maybe she is afraid. He didn't know if the thought originated in his own mind, or came from the demon that inhabited it. Sometimes, they sounded very much alike.
The silence stretched out comfortably between them as the initial shock wore off. He studied her, taking his time because he knew she'd never leave him in the storm.
And, he knew that Yuffie was studying him too. Vaguely, he wondered if she saw anything different in him. And he wondered if she noticed the scar on his right cheek. Since Godo's guard had given it to him, he was more self-conscious about it than his claw.
The years he'd been away had been very good to Yuffie. Her hair was a bit longer, but still cut in a style that would keep it mostly out of her way. Her muscles were a bit more toned, making her lankiness into something much more graceful. Her chest had finally filled out as well, making her look her age, instead of a gawky just-post adolescent.
For a moment, grief for what Godo had taken from him threatened to overwhelm him. He loved this girl so much—but she could never be his because of her father.
"So…are you getting in or what?" Yuffie finally asked, pulling Vincent's thoughts form the track they'd taken.
He smiled slightly, then sat down and closed the door.
"So, where ya headed?" She asked as she started the car back down the road.
"Nowhere." The same place I've been going for six years. Anywhere that keeps me away from Wutai.
"Nowhere? You were out in this going nowhere?" He could hear the disbelief in Yuffie's tone and knew she was going to try to get more out of him. But he wasn't willing to share just now.
"Please, Yuffie. I do not wish to discuss it." All he wanted to do was bask in her presence—and enjoy all he could of their time together.
"Sure, okay." Her tone was laced with disappointment, but she didn't push. "I'm going to Rocket Town. That good for you?"
"Its fine." Actually, it was much further than he'd hoped to make tonight.
When the silence descended between them again, he huddled down in the car seat, arms over chest, chin down and eyes closed. Silently, he begged her not to ask the one question he knew she'd have for him.
He wasn't ready to discuss why he'd abandoned her in Wutai six years ago.
