Review responses first.

EyeofthetigerKissoftheDragon: It IS a Clouffie. There's just a little Yuffentine detour first. :grins evilly:

Vampiegurl: I knew you'd be happy hun. Yes, I like Yuffentine and there is a bit of Yuffentine fluff, but it's not really... sexual romance fluff... it's more brother/sister/best friend fluff. I know you didn't ask, but I felt I had to say it before you got dirty thoughts in your mind or something.

RayZor: :grins: Glad you like Clouffies. And I'm glad you've heard of me, though I reviewed several of your stories with long, boring, rambling reviews so... yeah... Well I hope you liked this chapter.

Wolf Fangs: You have to take breaks? O.O I can't take breaks. If I do I lose what I was going to put in the chapter and it goes all to hell. I have to be prepared to sit and write for hours upon hours. The only time I take breaks is if I run out of ideas and get a bit of writer's block. Or if I have to go eat dinner... Heh. I had a bit of writer's block a little into this chapter. I wonder if you can spot it...

PantsFaerie: Well here is more... I hope you see it...

KairiLuv: You praise me too much you know? Hehehehe... I didn't know you had Vinnie in your closet... I mean I know I have Riku for the summer, but Vinnie? Hot damn, girl. You are one lucky ducky. Well here's your update. Read on.

Roses in bloom: :massively evil grin: Don't worry about it. It'll all play out in time. And then you won't be confused...

Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII. I do however own Vanessa and Vincent's friends. I don't own Avery Centala or her mother either. I think they would be mad at me if I said that I owned them...

Death and Rebirth
By: Mizukithepanda
Chapter 2

She twisted and turned in her sleep muttering things about murderers, foster homes, and fires. Cloud opened his eye a crack and looked at her.

"Honey? Wake up. It's only a dream. Honey?"

He shook her until she shot up in bed and almost smacked heads with him. She was panting heavily and was looking around with room with frightened eyes.

"M-Murderers. In my house. K-Kill-Killing..." she stuttered.

"Shh. Shh. It's alright. There's no murderers. No one is getting killed. It was all a dream." He whispered comfortingly while stroking her back.

Her eyes widened with realization and she carefully removed his arms from around her.

"I'm gonna go get a glass of water and write a bit more okay?" she asked.

"Alright. Just come back to bed when you're done," he yawned.

She nodded and headed for the kitchen. Once in there she leaned against the fridge and closed her eyes.

I was sitting at the kitchen table with 'The Family' which consisted of Mr. and Mrs. Valentine of course, the five brats as I called them, and Vincent. We were eating breakfast and it was very loud. Everyone was talking and having fun it seemed except for me... and Vincent of course.

He hardly ever says anything unless if it pertains to something important. That really annoys me. I mean I have a reason that I don't speak to anyone, but him? He doesn't speak because he doesn't want to, or at least that's what I think since I can't really ask him... He frustrates me so much that I honestly and truthfully want to strangle him.

He's looking at me.

He always looks at me.

I don't know why. I tried asking, but my vocal chords wouldn't obey my brain and speak. In the end he just ended up staring at me like I had two heads or something. So much for "regaining my voice". Ugh. I mean what's his problem? Has he never seen a teenage girl before? I swear I want to strangle him.

He turned his head and looked at his mother with those freaky blood red eyes.

"Mother, I need a ride to school. I'm working on a project with my friends," he said.

I snorted into my glass of milk. God he is so formal. I swear, and I'm doing that a lot lately, if he were any more formal you'd be able to see the stick shoved up his ass poking out of his fucking brain. Ee-ghads! My language is atrocious!

Don't you just love sarcasm? It's so fulfilling.

"I'm sorry honey. I can't. I have to drive Charlie and Demitri to the doctor's office in ten minutes."

He turned to his father, "Father?"

"Sorry Vince, but since your mother is taking Charlie and Demitri to the doctor I'm stuck dropping Amanda, Andromeda, and Milea off at Pleasant Oaks. You'll just have to catch the bus with Yuffie."

He sighed.

Was I really that bad to be around? I mean I know I don't talk and that I'm not exactly the most fun person to be around, but am I really THAT BAD? Am I bad enough to be considered something so vile that he has to sigh in defeat over it? Jeez. Now I'm sighing.

Breakfast ended and everybody started heading their separate ways. Mrs. Valentine and the boys to the doctor, Mr. Valentine and the girls to the preschool, and Vincent and I to the bus stop.

When we were out of hearing distance of his parents Vincent turned to me with his eyes narrowed and his lips twisted in a snarl.

"When we get on the bus you need to understand that I will not sit next to you, talk to you, or associate with you in anyway. Just because my parents are ignorant fools and love children who don't have anywhere to go doesn't mean that I'm the same."

I snorted and stalked off leaving him with that disgusting look on his face behind me.

Who did he think he was? Some kind of god? I mean seriously, 'I will not sit next to you, talk to you, or associate with you in anyway.' NO FUCKING SHIT. I didn't expect him to sit next to me. I'm not desperate for attention. There was no way, if he DID decide to talk to me, that I could answer back. Associate? With him? Mr. Freaky-eyes-stick-up-the-ass? I don't think so.

I waited at the bus stop for what else – the bus – and noticed him walking up with a couple of guys that looked to be his age. He was talking animatedly with them about some video game. I think it was Final Fantasy VII or something like that. I raised an eyebrow at him seeing as he never talks at home but he only snorted and glared at my questioning gaze.

The bus showed up not a minute later and I boarded heading for my regular seat near the back, right over the wheel. I didn't sit there by choice. It was where I was forced to sit once I had started taking the bus. I had tried previously to sit elsewhere, but I had been shoved out of every seat until the lone benches over the wheels were left. Vincent and his little gang of friends went and sat in a comfortable bench a few rows back from mine. He gave me a questioning look after seeing where I was sitting that I ignored completely.

A few more kids got on and gave me glares because I had gotten to the bus earlier than them and hadn't been their punching bag. I sat straight in my seat in took out a notebook to distract me from everything else that was going to happen on this bus trip.

The bus started moving towards the next stop. I opened my notebook and began to write.

Anita shook her daughter awake.

"Hayley! Get up! We have to be out of here by three o' clock today!"

Hayley opened her hazel eyes blearily and blinked to focus them before letting out a huge yawn.

"W-Why..?" she mumbled.

Anita rolled her eyes and gave her thirteen year old daughter a serious look.

"They're kicking us out. We have to be out of here by three o clock today. If we're still here when they come they have the right to arrest me and your father."

Hayley's eyes went wide at that. She threw her denim comforter aside and climbed out of bed.

"Can I eat breakfast first though?" she asked.

"Yeah. It's sitting on the table. Go eat. Then you have the task of cleaning out your closet."

Hayley nodded and headed down the L-shaped hallway to the kitchen.

A tap on my shoulder caused me to stop my pen in its tracks. I looked up at the girl who was giving me a too sweet smile. She was only a little taller than me, maybe five three, had shoulder-length, straw-straight, mousy brown hair, and plain brown eyes. Her face was pretty plain and her figure was nothing to look at. Actually, I think that I have more of a figure than that girl. Her eyes narrowed and I knew that no good could come out of this.

"I've seen the looks that you've been throwing at my poor Vinnie-poo. I just wanted to let you know that he's MINE and that you with all of your mute glory will NEVER get him. Not that you're anything special to look at anyway," she hissed with disdain.

I rolled my eyes and went back to writing.

After breakfast Hayley was stuck cleaning out her closet. Boxes littered her room. Most were filled with clothes and junk from the closet, but there were a few that held more personal items. Finally there was only one thing left in her closet: a large cardboard box filled with nothing but garbage collected over several months. Used pads, tissues, left over junk food, you name it; it was probably in that box.

She shoved me into the side of the bus.

"Listen to me when I'm talking to you Mute. Or are you deaf too? I guess I shouldn't expect so much from you," she snarled.

I growled inwardly and thought of the not-so-nice things I'd like to do to her, like rip her limb from limb for being an egotistical airhead. Instead of fighting back like she expected me to, I just sat with vigilance waiting for her to get annoyed with no response and leave me alone.

She growled at my response to her, but instead of stalking off like I expected her to, she brought her hand back and slapped me as hard she could across the face. My head snapped to the side at the force and a large cut formed across my cheek from a ring that was turned sharp-jeweled-side-down so that it faced the same direction as her palm. Tears sprung to my eyes, but I wouldn't let them fall. That would be to show weakness and I had to be strong to survive in this world.

"Let that be a lesson to you bitch," she called all too sweetly before starting to walk away.

A hand grabbed her arm before she was able to walk two steps.

"What do you think you're doing Vanessa?" Vincent growled.

Vanessa's eyes got all wide with fake sympathy.

"I was just telling Yuffie here how sorry I was that she lost her parents Vinnie!" she squeaked.

He rolled his eyes and scoffed, "I don't think so Vanessa Prewitt. I was listening to what you were saying, and I saw you slap her. Do you think me a moron?"

"O-Of course not Vinnie-poo!"

He snorted and shoved her towards the front of the bus.

"Then go sit with your bimbo friends and leave her alone."

Vanessa slunk away in shame and Vincent took a seat next to me. He carefully took hold of my chin and turned my head to survey the damage that Vanessa's slap had caused.

"She got you really good Yuffie. I'll take you to the nurse so that she canclean it and bandage you up. Who knows what is on that hand of hers. Probably cum from some man-whore."

I raised my eyebrow with two questions in mind.

He looked into my eyes.

"One, she's a whore and I'm not going to put it nicely because there's no reason to, and two, I wasn't going to do any of this, but I never expected that to happen..." he broke off.

How he read my mind like that I don't know. I don't think I'll ever know.

"Anyways, despite how much I hate it, you are my sister in a way and I'll protect you I guess."

I smiled and leaned back into the bench, happy for once.

Tears were running down her face as she leaned against the refrigerator. Cloud came up behind her and gave her tight squeeze.

"What's wrong? Please tell me... You're starting to worry me," he whispered worry clearly etched in his voice.

"A lot is wrong," she muttered grudgingly, "but I can't tell you. Not yet. I... I have to finish writing it first. Once I finish writing it you can read it and you'll find out what's wrong, but not until then. You have to have the whole story."

A confused look made its way onto his face.

"Alright then. Finish writing soon so that I can know what's going on. This is killing me."

With that he let go of her and walked back to the bedroom. She sighed and headed towards the study where the computer was, foregoing the water she had originally planned to drink.

I sat on Vincent's bed, watching him while he played that video game he talked about all the time, Final Fantasy VII. He was somewhere in the forests outside of a place called Junon. He claimed that he looking for someone. I didn't know who though. After a while there was this scene with a girl who looked kind of like me except with shorter hair and much more revealing clothes. She ran into this group of mismatched people and unsuccessfully tried to steal all their materia. She ended up joining the party and when it came time to name her Vincent cast me a look and entered my name into the spaces provided.

"She looks like you and she kind of acts like you do when you're happy even though you can't talk so I'm naming her after you. Actually I'm quite sure her name is the same as yours anyway," he said.

I smiled and nodded feeling slightly special that he had decided to name a character in his favorite game after me.

Vincent and I had grown closer over the few months that I had been here. I still couldn't get the shock out of my vocal chords so that I could talk, but Vincent learned to understand what I meant by reading my eyes or my lips. Just because I couldn't put sound into the words I formed didn't mean that no one could understand them.

"This character is one of my favorites Yuffie. She's hyper, happy-go-lucky, and completely self-centered. She reminds me of you. Well except for the self-centered part. I don't think you're all that self-centered."

I grinned. Once he started trusting you, Vincent could talk. A LOT. No more was the 'I-won't-say-one-word-to-you-because-you-are-beneath-me' Vincent. Well at least in my eyes.

You know what's funny? The fact that someone as bitchy as Vanessa actually earned me a friend, even though that friend was more like my brother than anything else. I never thanked her properly. I probably should... but I think that if I did that she'd be like 'Bow down to me you lowly mute! You are here to do my bidding!' and all... That wouldn't be funny now would it?

Vincent got up and walked over to me.

"Whatcha thinking about Yuffie?" he asked me, plopping down beside me.

I gave him a sideways smile and looked at him with sparkling eyes before planting a kiss on his cheek and walking out of the room.

"Nothing eh?" he called out to my retreating back.

I grinned. Boy does he learn fast.

She put her head down on the desk as sobs racked her body. It wasn't fair. It really wasn't. Why these thoughts plagued her now was a mystery. She'd kept them bottled up, never telling a soul for so long that they were starting to kill her. Vincent...

A/N: I'm sorry this took so long! I was caught up writing the last few chapters of It's My Life during July and this is really the first chance that I've had to even think about this story. I didn't think I was ever going to update it again after a while because no ideas were flowing but whatever muse that I have started to work today. Don't ask me how or why it just did. I don't even think I have a muse really... I think I just write what I want whenever ideas come to me. I don't have a constant source so I can't really blame no updates on no muse...

Oh yes a couple of things.

The 'story' that Yuffie is writing in the first scene thing is actually what happened to me two years ago. The dialogue isn't perfect because my memory isn't that perfect, but the scene itself is. And yes before you ask, I was gross enough at thirteen to have a huge box stashed in my closet of used maxi pads and other assorted trash. Let's just say that I didn't really feel like carrying my used maxi pads through the house or throwing them in my ten year old brother's garbage can. So I improvised... just I didn't think about throwing it away...

I have also figured out how many chapters I think this story will be. I'm pretty dead set on there being only ten chapters in this story. I'm not one to write long drawn out stories. I'll never finish them if I do that. However, I can't write a one shot to save my life. The one shot that's written on here is the only one that I've ever written. I just can't get my point across in so few words or without splitting it up into chapters. I'm still debating on whether this story will have an epilogue or not. I guess when the time comes if enough people want one or if I feel like it needs one I'll add one.

Ok. I've rambled enough.

So! Review please!

Ja ne!

Mizuki