Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII. Nor do I own the song "Shima Uta" by The Boom.

AN: Ugh…I apologize for my turtle-ness. I wrote this originally with a forlorn, depressing air. But then I scrapped that and rewrote it almost completely after I listened to the song "Shima Uta", so I'm extremely sorry for the delay. This one is not exactly Yuffentine…but I had to write it.

Note: all Japanese references are real. The deigo flower (deigo no hana) is the official flower of the Okinawa prefecture of Japan, and is known for its vividly red flowers. The song "Shima Uta" was written in 1992, and it draws musically from the songs of Okinawa. The title literally means "island song". Even today, it still hits in the top 100 karaoke songs in Japan.

Vocab:

obaa-san: grandmother

bento: Japanese lunch box

deigo: Indian coral bean, scientific name Erythrina Orientalis Murray

haka: Japanese grave, consisting of a stone monument, a place for flowers, and a crypt below for storing ashes

Soundtrack: Shima Uta, Gackt version

.:Vicissitudes:.

The sky was grey and the sea sighing with waves that broke upon the shores with crashes of sound and spray. Checking the rumbling sky that threatened to dump its full load of water upon the team at any moment, Cloud bit his lip. "Guys, it looks like we've got to spend the night at Wutai. I hope Godo's okay with us staying over again," he said. The rest of them grunted their assent; as miserly as the Lord of Wutai sometimes was, he was always gracious enough to provide his daughter's friends with soft futons and hot food.

As the team wearily trudged up the grassy steppes to finally see the concave curves of the red-tiled roofs, Yuffie ran ahead while the rest of them stayed behind, too tired to keep up with the hyper ninja. She met them again at Godo's house, a set of towels ready in one hand. "You're so slow, you'd fit in at Turtle Paradise perfectly!" she teased good-naturedly. They grumbled incoherently, just intent on getting comfortable after traipsing about in the mud for a week.

An hour later, Vincent watched in amusement as Barret pounded on the bathroom door, the only wooden one in the complex. "Hurry up, Cloud! You don't hafta spend three (&ing hours doing your hair every day! It's not like you gotta look your spiky best 'cuz we're gonna beat up Reno in two minutes!"

The door opened with sudden force and smacked Barret's face with an audible bang. Out strode a dignified Cloud, dressed in a light blue yukata with a towel around his hair. "I agree, Barret. I don't need to do my hair tonight…" he said, and removed the towel to reveal…a wet mop of straight blond hair. Barret had recovered by now and was preparing to smack Cloud with a heavy gun arm, but he stopped in astonishment and reached out to disbelievingly ruffle the shorter man's hair.

"Oh my lord! It's…soft! It's not giving me cuts!"

Cloud slapped the man's hand away. "Shut up, Barret!"

"And it's not standin' up three inches in the air!"

That was when Yuffie bounded into the room, a waxed-paper umbrella in one hand and a basket in the other. "Who wants to—whoa! Your hair is human, Cloud!" The swordsman narrowed his eyes at her and rubbed his hair absently with the towel. "Well, who wants to go visit someone with me?"

They looked at her as if she had been hit with a Confuse spell. Cloud and Barret looked outside at the pouring rain that showed no sign of letting up, and muttered something about the devastating effect of falling water on their health. Tifa, already stretched out in a futon upon the floor, only snored in response. The young ninja waited a full minute for an affirmative and received none. She pouted. "What kind of friends are you?" said Yuffie, striking the tatami mats with the umbrella.

"Well…I'm sure that um, Vincent would love to go out into the rain with you!" said Cloud, trying to placate her. Vincent's eyes snapped open to give Cloud and very red, very displeased glare that screamed "I might use you for shooting practice later…" He sighed, then stood up and walked to Yuffie's side.

Yuffie smiled at him, then glared at Cloud. "At least someone is being a real gentleman, Cloud." The swordsman handed them another umbrella and waved goodbye with a smile.

They picked their way across the rocky crags at the edges of the town and Yuffie bounded nimbly down the narrow path. Vincent followed along at her heels, though he was quite a bit less enthusiastic. She turned to watch as he stepped from rock to rock, and said, "Don't you want to know where we're going?"

Actually, yes he did. "…will you tell me?"

She stuck her tongue out. "Nah! We're there anyway!" And indeed, they had arrived at a tiny grey cottage, built in the lee of a rock that jutted out against the furies of the Wutaian sea. The walls were made of weatherworn wood, so old that little plants were growing in the crevices between planks where dirt collected. A small garden, still well-tended, harbored a few sprigs of herbs and vigilant vegetables, standing brave against the perilous winds. Yuffie hopped along the path, beckoning to him with an imperious hand. "Come on!"

He followed, and she knocked on the splintery, wooden door with her knuckles. "Obaa-san! It's me, Yuffie-chan!"

There was no answer, not even a clanging of ancient pots and pans or an old, familiar voice reprimanding her for her rather voluble shout. There was no sound but the incessant roar of waves, occasionally broken by the sharp cries of gulls. Without a word, she reached into her hair and removed a small pin. In seconds, the door opened with a loud creak of unused hinges, and she rushed in with a silent urgency that surprised Vincent.

He stepped into the cramped little cottage, more of a shed really, that seemed to have been built in a time when he could have been a little boy running through the village. A small stove, now long unlit, occupied one soot-streaked corner. The walls were shadowed with numerous hanging herbs and dried vegetables, an overhead jungle of homeland fragrances. There was only one window casting weak light through its smoky panes of glass onto the single bed, where Yuffie was crouched.

There, an old woman laid, her milky eyes staring blindly at Yuffie. Her few strands of white hair could barely cover her spotted scalp, and her skin was loose over her skeletal limbs. Vincent could see the faint outline of all the bones in the gaunt hand that gripped Yuffie's with a weak grip.

"Obaa-san, how have you been?" asked Yuffie, her voice tight. "It's so cold. Why haven't you been lighting the stove?" She turned to Vincent, and he quickly walked over to the little black stove. The few sticks of wood beside it were cold, but still dry; though the little house was cold, it was still surprisingly sturdy and moisture-proof. He touched a small Fire materia and whispered the spell. Warmth flooded the room as flames suddenly crackled in the old metal casing.

Yuffie opened her basket to reveal a bento, water, fruit, and chopsticks. She took the bottle of water and poured some out into a small cup. "Come on, Obaa-san. Drink something," she said softly, putting the rim of the cup to the old woman's pale, thin lips. She drank slowly, a few dribbles of water running down the sides of her mouth. With a gentleness that he had rarely seen, Yuffie wiped the water off her face with her own sleeves. She opened the bento and the rice steamed in the air. "Now please eat something…" she laughed slightly. "I promise I didn't make it this time, so it's safe to eat."

"Yuffie…chan," the old woman whispered.

"What is it? Do you want the apple first? Or do you want me to help you go to the outhouse?"

"No…" her voice was faint, and her eyes distant as they now looked outside the window. "There is something I want to say…"

Yuffie was silent.

"Did you know that I used to hang my laundry out there on sunny days? They would just play under the sheets, my children. It's been a long time since I've seen them, my children…" She coughed, the sound now reduced to a weak rattle. "I've almost forgotten how they looked then. But I always remember how they used to tell me to move from here…'Why are you staying in this little shack?' 'What are you waiting for?'"

"I always made excuses. But the one question that I could never answer was, 'Where's otou-san?'"

She laughed, and the dry sound subsided to another quiet rattle of coughs.

"I had been waiting by myself all those years by this sea. How many years had I waited for him? Always looking north to the lonely glacial sea. He'd come back! He would! He said so…that's what I told myself."

Her blind eyes were fixed upon a single point in the horizon, a point where the sky was washed in coldly stormy clouds. "So as my children grew, their impatience grew as well. And one day, they left. They tried to take me with me, you know. But I stayed…and they visited sometimes. But they came less and less, until the war started and they all disappeared. Still, I waited here. When the army came to Wutai, I still waited here. When they left and Wutai fell to ruins, I still waited here. Even when Yuffie-chan stumbled in looking for materia and left telling me that she would make me her royal subject, I still waited."

"But it seems my wait will end soon…"

"Why?" came Yuffie's choked voice. She clenched her small fist in the covers as she tried to control her own tears. "Why did you wait for him?"

"Why…? Because that is what it means to be his wife, isn't it? To serve him, to be the lighthouse that faithfully waits to guide his ship. To be the deigo flowers that bloom every year in a sea of crimson to call him back home…"

Yuffie was silent.

The old woman sighed and laid back into the bed, her hand light on Yuffie's. A slight smile came to her face as she heard the pattering of rain falling against the glass panes. "The rain is coming, Yuffie. Isn't it wonderful?"

"Yes…"

"The sun will shine in the silver washed sky, and the wind will sing." Her eyes closed.

"The deigo flowers will fall in the sea, and I'll see you again in the forest…"

"Shima uta yo kaze ni nori todokete okure watashi no ai wo…"

Her hand loosened, and she sighed her last breath, a smile on her face.

Yuffie kneeled beside the haka and placed the vase there, with its single branch of deigo blossoms. Then clasping her hands and bowing her head, Yuffie offered a brief prayer to Leviathan that her soul would travel safely to the stars.

Drops of rain cast cold spheres of liquid on her dark brown hair, until they were suddenly blocked by an umbrella. She looked up and smiled into Vincent's face. "Thanks, Vinnie."

"…it's almost time to go."

"Okay," she said, and stood up. With a final look at the new grave, she turned and left, walking down the long road back to the pagoda. Vincent was silent as they walked, as he had been after the old woman had passed away. But she could see that he was trying to comfort her in the way he covered her completely with the umbrella while allowing the rain to hit himself.

"Thanks for coming with me," she said softly. That was not the only thing she was thankful for; after hearing her story, Cloud had offered to pay for the entire funeral out of his own pocket, sparing Godo the cost. Now a grave had been erected at the tip of the island, always facing north.

"There is no need to thank me." Vincent paused in his step to look into her eyes. "I would not leave you."

Yuffie smiled. Then as they walked beside the quiet sea, she began to sing.

"Deigo no hana mo chiri saza nami ga yureru dake

Sasayakana shiawase wa utakata no nami no hana

Uuji no mori de utatta tomo yo

Uuji no shita de yachiyo no wakare

The deigo blossoms have fallen, and soft ocean waves tremble

Fleeting joy, like flowers carried by the waves

To my friend who sang in the Uuji forest

Beneath the Uuji, I bid farewell

Shimau uta yo kaze ni nori tori to tomo ni umi wo watare

Shima uta yo kaze ni nori todokete okure watashi no ai wo

Island song, ride the wind, with the birds, across the sea

Island song, ride the wind, and carry my love with you