A/N: Dare I say it. If you be not true Yuffentines avert your dusky eyes as you will by assailed by life, love, loss and a kiss. You've been warned.

P.S. Oh yeah, a little lust too.

I do not own the following as it is the property of Square Soft and the mere rantings of a fevered brain.

Chapter 2

Never Trust A Life Sucker

The setting sun painted the low mountains on their left with a brilliant wash of deep umber. The small flier and it's passengers were dwarfed by the rapidly expanding canyon walls several miles directly ahead. The early typical banter of familiar friends had lessoned into the last hour of the two hour flight and a few heads had dropped onto their chests.The time for resting was rapidly coming to a close as the their destination loomed ahead.

Vincent may have been considered to be the one person in Avalanche that never felt the trepidation that was normal before putting yourself in harm's way. That had changed tonight as he was experiencing worry and anxiety.Not for himself but for the small woman one seat in front who was apparently napping. " I'm losing it. Here we are going to be facing some very deadly demons in a little while and all I can concentrate on is the rythmic rise and fall of Yuffie's breasts just visible under the open sleeve of her coat. I am going to get someone killed at this rate. Must concentrate on the job tonight. Get through this and then think about Yuffie's breasts. Goddam: stop it with the breasts."The last thought was very nearly a shout but at the last moment he choked it off by clearing his throat.

Cid turned to regard the tall man in the red cape with his somewhat watery eyes. It seems everyone can nap but Vincent. " We there yet?" He managed to croak while stretching out his arms and almost knocking Tifa in the head.

"You worried about getting roughed up by these bad Vagrisk." Tifa drawled through ruby lips she had formed into an exargerated pout."Don't worry, I'll protect you Cid."

Before he could offer up his own insult Cid was cut off by Barret's loud "Tifa, Cid get ready, we are landing in five minutes and you are first in line."

Yuffie began to stir after Barret's announcement and turned in her seat and said to Vincent "I guess we will be the team at the box end of the Canyon eh?"

Vincent stared at the floor and murmured a quiet "Yes." He was about to say you'll be alright but the words would have sounded condescending and he thought better of it.

Yuffie was used to Vincent's one word answers but this time she noticed a tenseness in his shoulders when he had spoken."He probably regrets having been paired with me but I will show him that I can pull my weight." She thought that, but somewhere deep within she knew that wasn't what Vincent believed, but to openly contemplate the truth was still a bit frightening.

Cid was a terrific pilot but a terrible passenger. "Did you hear that? I think Barret cut the power too soon to clear the tops of the canyon walls. I would never bank into the west as the sun will reflect of the windscreen. Boy, that last turn was bumpy don't you think?" By the time he had gone through his list of complaints about Barret's piloting skills the satisfying thump of the landing skids touching down vibrated into everyone's boots.

" Don't dawdle out there tonight. I'll be waiting at your pick-up point at the fire gem mine as planned. Good hunting." He almost added good luck but in the world of Avalanche that is the worst curse you could invoke before a battle. He just bowed his head. Most would have not even seen the minute tilt of the head but his friends didn't miss it.

" Who says dawdle anymore?" Cid had turned to ask Tifa as they moved to the exit. Her silence was all the reply needed to make him look sheepishly down and mutter. "Sorry"

Tifa was at the door shortly after contact was made, had it open and her gear on the ground before Cid. " Come on Highwind. Demons are waiting and we brought the party favours."

"Don't wait on me Lockheart." Cid cried as he jumped down onto the hard rocky ground." I never miss a good party."

With a last look back and Barret's standard "I don't fly back corpses." speech, the flier lifted off into the gathering darkness sending a cloud of rock laden dust in all directions.

As Tifa and Cid watched from a safe distance, the flier began its turn toward the other team's drop-off. They gathered up their gear in silence and started moving toward a series of low, tumbled down rock formations. A natural spot for Vagrisks to nest. The pale half moon was beginning to take it's place in the night sky as they fell into an easy rythmn. Their pace was steady but not rushed. They had learned over time that charging into a unknown area without a plan was never a good idea.

"Well here we are again saving the world one small piece at a time." Tifa turned with the intention of commenting but realised Sid had said just the right thing for a change. "

The glow from the randomly spaced dwellings of Soyu hamlet could just be made out in the distance when Cid and Tifa became the focus of a pair of yellow cat-like eyes. Normally Vagrisk target the young because of the low risk to themselves but the life force eminations from the two adult creatures approaching created an overpowering feeding lust. Vagrisk are small as demons go but are quick, agile and very stealthy. They always hunt at night and wait until their prey is unsuspecting before striking. In the case of the village children,when in their beds. Their ability to feed silently using their tentacle like arms to imobilise and their sucker shaped mouths to pull the life force from their victims made them far more dangerous than most lower level demons. They rarely killed while feeding so as not to deplete their food sources but were deadly when cornered.

Tifa sensed more than heard the first one off to their left and Sid picked up the unspoken warning in her body posture." You onto something?"

"Think so. Off to our left, behind that large boulder. Two or three. Seem to be waiting until we get nearer." Tifa had motioned with her head toward the rock so only Sid could see.

"How bout you go in close and I'll stay wide. If they come over the top my spear will give me one quick kill for sure. If they come round from behind you keep them busy and I'll hit from the left."

The Vagrisk now atop the boulder was typical in colouring to all others. A reddish blotchy skin that more closely resembled the mummified flesh of a long dead corpse. Short powerful legs with three claws, a skeletal torso with a boney plate in the back where four rope like arms were attached. They had a small hirless scull with a prominent bony crest running from where a nose on a human would be to the back of the spindly neck. The always open mouth showed a circle of razor sharp fangs slightly recessed behind the fleshy circle that passed for lips. The eyes were a window into the underworld and completed a truly ugly creature. Two sure kill points. A thrust with knife or spear into the soft flesh under the chin and a heavy blow or piercing at the centre of the chest.

Tifa and Cid had moved slowly into slightly staggered positions as they came alongside the boulder. As they approached the far side the large demon nimbly leapt from the top. Cid was moving almost in the same instant to place his spear at the ready. Tifa heard the quite scratch of claws as the other two rounded the far side of the large rock. She was in a wide defensive stance when the two demons came into view. Even without a full moon both Tifa and Sid could mark their targets with ease. What they couldn't see were the three more demons coming from the burrow beneath them.

As Barret guided the flier toward the collection of small houses that comprised the hamlet of Castor, Vincent and Yuffie sat quietly.

Neither had spoken since dropping off Tifa and Cid a short time ago. They themselves touched down just far enough from the huts to avoid causing alarm in the simple, hard working fire gem miners. Silently unloading their gear Yuffie and Vincent moved off to avoid the flying debris of lift-off. And as with Tifa and Cid, Barret leaned out to the side window to say "I don't fly back corpses" but Yuffie turned and began to move off. "I don't want to hear him say that."

Vincent stayed and watched the flier lift off. "You know it means a lot to Barret to give his signature line when teams are sent into danger. Why did you do that?" He had tried to make the question matter of fact but there was an edge to his voice.

"I don't know why, I just had an image of someone dying and we had to leave them behind." Her head hung down as she muttered quietly. "I'm afraid."

At that precise moment Vincent, without a moments hesitation, went up to Yuffie and gathered her up in his arms. At first she was so startled she remained stiff and unbending but after a moment her body softened and she reached around to pull herself deeper into the embrace. Not since the death of his beloved Lucretia had he held a woman in his arms.

The barely noticeable breeze began to move Vincent's long black hair across Yuffie's exposed cheek and she shuddered with the intimacy of the moment. Neither moved for several seconds as their heart beats echoed between them, but the vulnerability of this position broke into the moment, and they separated. No looks or words were exchanged and each made silent oaths to never speak of it again. But there was no going back and the connecton both felt in that embrace was too perfect to dismiss or ignore.

The pair moved off with barely audible foot falls toward a large overhanging escarpment to their right away from the village. Vincent's armored boots, having been silenced by a generous application of rubber wrapping, would not be a problem tonight. The modifications, insisted on by Barret and reluctantly accepted by him, were already making an impact. The shadowy figures that began to come into view as they approached the rock face were clearly not human and gave no indication of awareness of the approaching death dealers. In silent grace Vincent had swept his cape to one side and removed his long barrel revolver from its well worn holster.Yuffie was carrying her four point shuriken behind her back to lesson any chance of a reflection from the half moon in the night sky. Not good tactics to provide warning to the enemy of their approach. This was not to say she would be at a disadvantage when the fighting began. In the time it takes Vincent to cock and aim she would have sliced an opponent in half, thanks to the training of her Ninja Clan and the scalpel edged blades she weilded.

As they got closer to the rock wall both Vincent's and Yuffie's fighting instincts began to take control. They were looking to see a safe approach route that wouldn't expose them to their, so far, unsuspecting prey. There were perhaps ten to twelve figures gathered in a loose knot near a break in the cliff face where a vertical seam ran down about twenty feet to the ground.

"See the way the rock wall jutts out on the left?" Yuffie turned and faced Vincent so he could clearly see her nod yes. "We could use that to box them in if we time our attack right."

"I think if you move in that direction and get a clear line of sight I can get close to the one or two demons at the other end." Yuffie explained in a hushed whisper. "That way I take out a couple with as much noise as possible and cause a panic that should move the rest in your direction."

Vincent quickly grasped what she had in mind and in the hightened senses of battle knew it was a sound plan. He would wait under cover and when the surviving demons bunched at the outcropping he would drop them as they turned toward him.

" I agree." Was all he could manage to say. The truth was he wished he wouldn't have to seperate from Yuffie. He was going against the overpowering urge to protect her and it was tearing his guts out.

With a last nod between them they moved toward the group of Vagrisk by the route each thought woud expose them the least. Yuffie to the right, Vincent to the left. Vincent spotted a small bush behind which he crouched. The clutch of demons were visible to him as they would be to normal mortals in full sun thanks to those unusual eyes of his. They also gave him a clear image of Yuffie's approach twenty paces to his right.

She was close enough now that individual demons could be easily made out and she heard strange sucking sounds, like boots moving through a deep mud bog. "Must be some form of communication." She thought.

She was right.

End of Chapter 2