Sweet Dreams

Gabreilla Moushigo

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It was night time and they were still walking. Tifa mentally cursed herself for not buying a chocobo, this trip would have already been over and she would have a means of transportation after they were living in Kalm. Maybe she could go visit Denzel, he shouldn't be but a half an hour on a swift chocobo.

Vincent padded along in the grass. The bits of metal that he wore clanked together softly while the leather pants on his legs tightened and released as he moved about freely. He was relaxed with her here but she knew he could be absolutely quiet if he wanted to be. The Cerberus was in his holster but he habitually hooked his thumb in his belt every time he thought he heard a sound. When he paused to gather his location she could see a few objects prodding against the back of his cape. No doubt they were his Hydra and Griffin. He preferred only using his handgun, but the other weapons were very useful as well. He also put a great deal of money into customizing them… so he wasn't about to just throw them to the ground.

Seeing what he carried, Tifa was glad she decided to pack light. With her money safely deposited into the bank she had nothing else to grab except a few clothes. She had stuffed them into a backpack that she wore over her shoulder. She had the foresight to bring a sweater, but even that wasn't helping much right now. Unfortunatly she left her gloves on the nightstand at home! Her legs and hands were freezing! The wind was finally, mercifully blowing against their backs, Tifa's exposed legs were saved. "At least the wind is blowing my skirt against my legs now, instead of off and up." She said aloud, hoping the break the silence.

Vincent was amused at her statement. Her odd clothing did have a tendency to blow about, not unlike his cape. He smiled but said nothing.

Tifa signed at his silence, she was exhausted and continued trudging after him. How he had the stamina to keep walking from morning to night was beyond her. She had been content most of the day, just looking at the countryside. Now it was cold and her frozen body kept her mind from wandering from the present. She wanted to take a break… right now!

Vincent's eyes went wide as he ceased to hear Tifa's soft footsteps behind him, followed by a dull thud. He turned around and she was just lying in a heap. "Tifa!"

"God, I am so out of shape!" She swore as her legs were burning from their exertion.

His heart slowed down once he realized that she was fine. "I should have stopped a few hours ago." He stated. He could tell from her face that she was miserable. "You must be hungry."

"I must be tired too." She rolled over and got into a fetal position.

Vincent wanted to laugh at how unhappy she looked, but decided to just sit down next to her instead. "I'm sorry. I had forgotten that you haven't been traveling around like I have." He began removing his Hydra and Griffin from their holsters strapped to his back. There was no need to be uncomfortable while he sat down after all.

"Yeah, well… it's my fault. I can still fight, but I've gone all soft as far as hiking from country to country goes." She rolled onto her back then and looked at him. "How do you do it all the time?"

"Practice I guess." He said simply and sat down next to her.

"Practice," Tifa sighed as splayed her hands on the grass beneath her. She liked the cool itchy feeling of the blades between her fingers. "I am a bit hungry, but I forgot to bring anything." She was so famished! She wondered if the grass resting beneath her hands would be good to eat if nothing more than to fill her belly.

He laughed softly at her, remembering that she had a tendency to pack a little too lightly. He unzipped a leather pocket on his pant leg and grabbed a few dehydrated apple slices and a piece of jerky. His hand emerged from his cape and he poked her forearm with his offering. "Here."

Tifa didn't waste a moment before grabbing them with a polite, "Thanks for the meal!" She sat up and tried to eat slowly, wanting to savor them as long as she could. It was a hard task to accomplish considering she was hungry.

"Drink some water." He chided when she was finished and just laid back down. "You'll be thirsty later if you don't."

"Yes sir." She joked, getting up again. Her hand found her small pack and began rummaging through it. She quickly found her water bottle and took at long swig for his benefit before putting it away.

"I got enough of that "sir" treatment assisting the WRO." Even though he held no official rank they had all treated him as if he were just under Reeve. It was nice to get some reverence he supposed, but he could have done without their quivering voices as they showed their respect.

"You probably scared them." She teased, finally finding one of the bottles of water she brought along. "You are pretty intimidating you know."

"Good." He grinned, bringing one leg up to rest his arm against. "But I don't possibly know why." He had meant to sound sarcastic, but it seems she took him literally.

"Not everyone around here is six feet tall Vincent." She semi-mimicked his movements and brought her legs up to her chest and hugged them. "Besides you are absolutely wonderful at what you do. I'm sure none of them have seen so many soldiers taken down by one man before."

"Hm." He acknowledged, but to nod in agreement wouldn't be very humble of him.

"Of course," She looked up at the stars as if remembering something far away. "When I first met you I was a little afraid too." She looked up and saw if he had reacted, he hadn't and she looked back at the sky. "Not in the way you might think though. I guess I was more nervous than anything." She pulled the longer parts of her skirt around to the front so they would ward of the chill from the night air.

When she stopped talking he turned his head and glanced at her. She let her chin rest against her kneecaps and she held herself a little tighter than before. He wondered what she was thinking.

"You were always so quiet and reserved. I didn't really get to know you until Cloud left those few times." She smiled wistfully. "I never knew what to say I guess."

He wasn't sure how to react to her statement. "I'm sorry if I was unapproachable."

"You don't have to say you're sorry." Tifa shook her head and smiled. "It wasn't your fault anyway. I was shy too, you know?"

Compared to him, she was very outgoing. But if he had to compare her to someone like Yuffie or Aerith… then he would have to agree and say she was indeed a shy one. "I know."

"I think putting two people like that together that there is bound to be some awkwardness at first. I remember waiting for you to say something to me. I just didn't want to be a bother and try to get your attention if you didn't want it."

"You were never a bother to me." He remembered that she had broken the ice first, asking him after a particularly rough fight how he had been doing. He… appreciated it.

"I know." She looked down at her arms. "I knew that after talking with you, that we would be good friends."

"How's that?" He asked, keeping the flow of the conversation going.

"You had… have" She corrected, "A really kind voice. It helped me keep calm if I was ever afraid." She remembered when he would pat her shoulder or grab her hand briefly when no one was looking. He always knew when she was afraid and always reassured her. "And you have kind hands too."

Vincent looked at his metallic appendage, and thought on his right arm. His right hand he used to fire his gun. There was nothing kind about his hands really, but if she thought so… then maybe…

"They are, you know?" She grinned at his surprise; he clearly thought she could read is mind. "I know you too well."

"So it seems." He let her left arm fall to the ground in a more relaxed pose; he began plucking away at the innocent blades of grass. "I was glad that you spoke to me." He admitted finally. "You always did make me feel a little… lighter."

Tifa remembered Cloud saying something similar to that when he brought Marlene home. She didn't know why her mind drifted off at that particular moment. She just hoped that Cloud would get her note that she left with the new residents at her old home. They had agreed to let Cloud's belongings stay in a single room if he came to claim them in a month.

She stopped her worrying about Cloud claiming his belongings almost as quickly as the thought entered her mind. "That makes me happy." Tifa grinned at him, feeling goosebumps rushing up her arms. The cold was finally getting to her.

"Are you tired still?" Vincent asked softly.

"Yes." She hid her face from him with her hair. She was embarrassed about not being able to keep up with him.

It seemed as if he knew her thoughts too. She often thought of herself as a burden upon others and he didn't want her to think he felt that way about her. "I am tired as well."

"Really?" He could hear the relief in her voice.

He nodded and held out his arm. "Come here." She crawled over to him and he laid down flat on his back before he pulled her over on him. "I'm not very comfortable." He apologized as he pulled his cape out from under him and wrapped it around them both. He let a bemused smile cross his lips when she kicked her feet under the fabric as well.

Tifa rested her chin against his shoulder and let her hand fall around his waist. She shivered a little still, the chill not having left her body yet. He rubbed her back and arm instinctively, eventually she felt warm again and just snuggled up to him closely. "I think you're comfortable."

He wasn't sure what to say, so he squeezed her arm before placing his hand against the back of her head and into her long hair. "Sweet dreams." He copied a phrase she usually said to him before closing his eyes to sleep.

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Ugh! I had to write this chapter twice because it got erased! (eye twitches) I'm hoping I didn't miss any details I fixed earlier… that would be a pain.

Originally, this section was only about paragraph or two (seriously). I was going to briefly mention something about her packing light, being tired and falling over. They were going to rest for a few moments and then get up again. It didn't sit well with me to just let their journey take up only a footnote in a chapter so it evolved into this – something to give my readers a little more insight into the relationship they have.

I think so far Tifa and Vincent have been pleasant to each other, which is about it. There was the whole kissing thing and whatnot, but I wanted something else to happen I guess. (Bad Gaby I know). I thank in past chapters that there was some snippiness going on with between at times. I noticed it at first but I couldn't seem to change it. I think it happens when they are taken out of their comfort zone - they don't necessarily get angry but they get a little bristly (example: when Vincent got aggravated at Tifa for asking him to take off his cloak). I added the part to the paragraph where he felt bad for acting that way, to soften it a bit.

I think my own relationship experience is getting into the story as far as the little bristles go - haha. I think it helps make it more realistic in a way. No relationship is perfect and everyone fights. People have to make changes in how they interact in order to get along and I would like to write about how these two might need to change for their relationship to work. They'll still be themselves, but they will need to get used to each other and help each other out.

I'm not sure why this chapter inspired me to write so much about this in the author's notes – haha. I guess it's because they are changing and it felt sort of nice to get to this point where they are a little bit more comfortable being near each other physically.

Ok – enough of the mushy-stuff rant.

Anyways, I'm having lots of fun. I will take your spelling corrections seriously and I promise I will make the corrections. I think there are a few problems with right now and sometimes my story comes up a little wonky. / I added the last two chapters on and for some reason an hour or two later they were still not showing up even though I was able to click on the bar and see the chapter itself. I just don't want to make it so people can't read the first chapter or something. Once the website is a little more reliable I'll start correcting and updating old chapters.

Read and review if you like my story - just a few constructive comments gives me strength to keep writing. (Wink, wink) (Hint, hint)! (Feels like such a review whore).

Ok – long winded author's notes – sorry – hehe – shutting up now. On to the Reviews! These replies might be a bit shorter than I wanted them to be – since my chapter got erased… so did my comments. I hope that I will do you guys some justice. You really make my day and give me a lot of information and pointers that help me keep plowing ahead and working on this fic.

Lady Shiva: I'm glad you're still here and enjoying the chapters. I'll try to keep putting out more chapters and hopefully I won't have another fiasco like I did with this one hehe!

PokeTenshi: Thanks for proofreading. I definitely need other sets of eyes to look at this for me.

Vinny the Vampire: I'm very happy that Square decided to say that there was nothing going on between the two of them. I did get the feeling that he might have cared about her in some way. He definitely encouraged her a lot. It's kind of funny that he would go into big brother mode hehe.

I think the whole scene were he asked her to stay with him was one of the most difficult chapters to write. A lot of fun - but difficult. He seems like a very point-blank kind of guy for the most part. I was worried about making him seem a little too awkward at first but I realized if he acted completely business like that he might come off sounding scary or demanding. From the DoC game I realized that while he might have a tendency to tell males to buzz off that he speaks softly to the ladies. Well, except the evil ones of course.

As far as Cloud goes, I think you'll be pleased with what I do with him. He'll make an appearance of course, but it's probably not going to be devastating or anything. I guess you guys will see what happens in the upcoming chapters – hehe.

Thanks for writing scene specific comments; it really makes me happy to know that those little moments haven't gone unnoticed. You definitely help my confidence… and you don't hurt my ego either hehe.

Jen – Ha! Thank goodness I didn't get to sappy! I was worried about that for a while. I'm glad you liked the leprosy thing – my husband reads my stories every now and then and he keeps saying that was his favorite part hehe.

I get what you mean about the whole "Tifa and Vincent getting together even though they still love Lucrecia and Cloud" stories. It's like their relationship is just an afterthought to what they could have had with someone else. It usually makes me feel very unsatisfied to read such things – which is why I am writing my own story of course. I think "Candy Wrapper" and its sister story are two of the most loving and satisfying stories there are to read about Vincent and Tifa (that are complete). There are some nice ones coming out right now that are post DoC that I'm really enjoying too. I hope those authors continue.

Jen – Yeah, I had Vincent laughing and smiling more since the situation was light and he was alone with Tifa. I think I'm going to curb his smiling and whatnot around other people – but I wanted him to seem happier. You do raise a good point, his dark humor is gone and I think I'll watch some cut scenes from the game again to get a good look at what he says. I write about villains a lot and I need to make sure I don't make it too dark hehe. I think it will come out more as Tifa and he become embroiled in more serious situations.

Ha – yes his cell phone. I kept wondering how the heck his phone still worked after he was riddled with bullets, shot by missiles and dropped to the ground over and over again. Every time he pulled it out in pristine condition I was like: yeah right!

As far as Cid goes – I absolutely love him. I would like to write him into the story if I can later on. He's a great friend and seems to like Vincent a lot. I also love his English voice actor hehe. He sounds like he's from Texas.

Thanks again for the reviews guys! They mean a lot!