Here's Chapter 8.
Vincent'sGirl06: NO! NOT SHOPPING!
Starlit Anabelle: . Get over it…
Disclaimer: I'm getting sick of these disclaimers….I do not own FFVII character except our own original characters…
"No!" Dena howled as Yuffie tried to drag her in to a dress shop, her feet had kept on slipping in the slush and so she resorted to clinging to a lamp post next to the door, "I said no frills."
Kaori sweatdropped but then smirked slightly. "And this...is where I take my leave..." she said as she started backing out of the dress shop. She suddenly sweatdropped as her back hit someone standing in the doorway...Tifa...and gulped. "...Uh oh..." Long pause. "...Shit..."
"I don't want to be girly!" Dena cried as Yuffie pulled harder and then she heard crashes in the back from where Tifa had cornered Kaori.
The red head came running out from the back with a pink dress on with lots of lace, "I hate you guys!" She screamed as Tifa lunged and grabbed her by the back of the dress and pulled the red head to the back of the shop. "No!" Kaori howled.
There were several more crashes in the back before everything suddenly went eerily silent. All of a sudden, Kaori came walking out of the back, dusting herself off and looking around as she wandered across the store towards the door. But suddenly she stopped, blinking for a moment. "...Ooo..." she said as she started staring at a long black dress that looked like something right out of Hot Topic...or Wallflower. The sleeves at the end were open and flowy, with white lace decorating the collar, sleeves, and hem. It had a sort of ribbon design to it, and had some sort of...possibly Victorian flair to it. "Now /that/...I might not mind getting..."
"Kaori!" Dena howled as Yuffie resorted to pushing her in to the store, Dena had one hand on each side of the door frame with her nails digging in to the wood. "Help! I don't want to be girly." She cried. Kaori sweatdropped, it was true. She had only seen Dena in a dress twice and that was for semi-formal and prom. Dena cried out as the wood slipped from her grasp with her nails leaving little trails in the wood.
Both Yuffie and Dena toppled back but Yuffie ended up with swirly eyes, Dena groaned and rubbed her head as she got up. "What were you talking about?" Dena asked as she stumbled over to where her friend was rummaging through a rack of dresses.
"Well, you know how I hate dresses...unless they're kimonos...?" Kaori asked. "Well, even /I'll/ admit that these are some pretty awesome dresses... Got a bit of that gothic/Renaissance/Victorian flair, ya know?"
"Yea..." Dena said as she rubbed her head, she did admit that they were pretty cool but then suddenly noticed Yuffie starting to come too, "If you don't want to try on half the store the let's go." Dena said as she motioned toward the semi-conscious Yuffie but Tifa had yet to come forward from the back of the shop.
Kaori blinked and looked back and forth from Yuffie to the dresses again, then glanced around and grinned. She grabbed a long, black silk dress decorated with white lace and numerous leather belts, which really seemed to be there more for decoration and flair than function. She paid for it and quickly followed after Dena before Tifa and Yuffie could wake up. "Man...We really need to find something like Hot Topic around here..." she said. "Or at least JC Penny. That's practically the only store that I've really relented to shopping that isn't Hot Topic...aside from Belk to get my black jeans and /sometimes/ but rarely Kohl's during the winter..."
Dena sweatdropped as her friend ranted about clothing stores, she had never really liked shopping all that much. Just point her toward the nearest thrift shop and she would be just fine, they finally stumbled upon a regular clothing store. Dena and Kaori found several shirts, pants, underwear (thank god), and some pajamas; Dena was also able to find a pair of black boots with belts on the side.
She was about to pay for her clothes when she noticed a dress (of all things) on the wall, it was really cool. It had no sleeves and was black with red trim; it had a high collar and went down to about her ankles if she gauged it correctly. Dena felt her hand twitch ever so slightly and she then mental groaned; she ended up buying it and shoving it in to the bottom of her bag. She hoped that her friend had not seen.
Kaori, meanwhile, was picking up where she had left off in terms of fashion-black jeans, brown hiking boots, a blue turtleneck with a loose, over-sized collar and two diamond lines going down one side, and a black leather jacket like the one she had back home. "You ready?"
Dena nodded, "Yea...let's get back to the others before Yuffie and Tifa find us...I don't think I'll survive another trip to the dress department." Dena said as she tossed the bag over her shoulder, it was slightly heavy but it was she could manage. "You know...we need a travel bag...I don't think these paper bags will last very long." Dena said thoughtfully.
Kaori nodded. "Yeah, you've got a point..." she agreed. "And besides, I should probably get some sort of rolling bag. Carrying stuff like this isn't all that great for my back, and it's not as if I can go to the chiropractor's if something happens..." Dena nodded in agreement.
They somehow found the market; they eventually stumbled upon a tent that sold a variety of items. Dena settled for a simple drawstring duffle bag and was looking at the assortment of knives while Kaori was picking out her bag.
Kaori looked over and blinked then grinned. "Awesome. They got blades here..." she commented. Looking around, she finally managed to find a section of various blades and swords and whatnot, staring at them. "Ooo..."
Dena sweatdropped since she knew how her friend got when she saw sharp-pointy things but she had to admit...they did look rather tempting. Dena was eyeing a pair of hand blades, they had holes for your fingers to slide through; the blade came out a couple of inches on the outside of your hand, the blade even reached in front of the finger holes.
Kaori looked over at Dena. "Planning to get a weapon?" she asked. She then looked back over at the blades, studying the swords in particular. "We're probably going to need one or a few... After all, we don't entirely want a repeat of the whole 'ambush at the mansion' incident..."
"True...if we do get some blades then we need to get some training in before we use them...other wise we would probably hurt ourselves before hurting the opposition." Dena pointed out, "You know...I was also thinking of getting a firearm of some sort...I did take 4H gun class a few years back."
Kaori shrugged. "I've got swordsmanship skills from Solar. I mean, after all, the swords that they have may be boffer swords, but that really doesn't matter a whole lot into the event. People get really into character and create their own sword stances and stuff...and it's pretty cool. As a result, I've actually managed to pick up a few effective moves and stances..."
"Hn..." Dena mumbled a reply as she had turned back around to look at the blades; she noticed a slot where what looked like a ball was supposed to go on several of blades...it was quite intriguing. She shrugged, she would ask the others later; she turned and saw that they also had a gun rack. She walked over and picked up a hand gun, it had three slots in the handle; it was well crafted and had three barrels instead of the one that she was used to seeing. "Nice choice." A voice said behind her, Dena was so surprised that she almost dropped the gun; she turned around and saw Vincent behind her.
"It's a lot like the gun that I tend to carry... But how well do you think you can use it?" Vincent asked.
Dena tried to calm her pounding heart, "Well...It might take a bit of practice since I'm not used to the model of gun...but I have had shooting lessons before. I was quite good." Dena said as she looked the gun over once again.
Vincent nodded. "That's good to hear..." he said. "Though if you ever feel like you need a lesson or two, feel free to ask."
"Right." Dena nodded but looked thoughtful for a minute. "Hey Vincent...what are these slots for?" She asked as she pointing to the handle of the gun where the slots were. "I've never seen anything like these before." Dena said which caused to Vincent raise an eyebrow.
"I assume that you don't have materia in your world, either..?"
Dena blinked, 'Materia?', "Nope..." She replied.
Vincent nodded. "The souls of the planet make up the lifestream which flows all around us. The physical form of it that lies under the earth, however, is mako and whenever it is condensed, it becomes materia. Materia has different traits: various types of magic, summons, and skills," he explained.
Dena blinked again, "Sounds complicated." She said as she looked at the gun. "So...these slots are for the materia and...What ever materia you have is what you can use during battle." She said out loud.
Vincent nodded. "That's right," he replied. "Different weapons will have varying numbers of slots and various ways of combining," he added.
Dena looked confused, "Okay..." She said slowly, "What does the materia look like? By these slots I would say...palm sized."
"Palm-sized and normally in an orb shape... Of course, they can vary in shape if the owner wants them cut in a certain way," Vincent replied as he remembered a few pieces of materia that he had seen in glass cases in one of the showrooms of the ShinRa Building.
Dena raised an eyebrow, "And...I guess that the materia would be different colors depending on the type..."
Vincent nodded finding it a good thing that she was starting to catch on. "Yes."
Dena finally decided to buy the gun and hand blades, the hand blades didn't have any slots for materia so they would be a complete hand to hand weapon; she also bought a holster for her gun, she put all her new accessories in her duffle bag.
Kaori glanced over as she bought a katana and strapped it onto her waist. She paused for a moment and then grinned. "...Alright, yeah...this is about as cool as I imagined it to be..."
Dena looked over at her friend and nodded, "It does look cool...I'll have to be careful not to call you short anymore." She smiled.
Kaori stuck out her tongue. "You should've been careful to begin with," she huffed.
"Yea but you didn't have a weapon then..." Dena said as she stuck out her tongue at her friend in retaliation. Vincent smirked; they acted just like children when they were around each other. Dena smiled and turned back to Vincent, "So...where are the others? Still eating?" She asked.
Vincent shook his head. "No. They all went off to do their own thing..." he replied to which Dena nodded, "I saw those claw marks on one of the store's door frame...was it you?" He asked and Dena smiled sheepishly.
"Yea...you caught me." She said.
Vincent shrugged slightly. "Considering that it was Tifa and Yuffie dragging you around, that's not all too surprising..."
"That and it was a dress shop...that only made it worse." Dena pointed out, "We managed to get away and buy what we needed." She smiled, "Speaking of which...you haven't seen them...have you?"
"They were lying on the ground last I saw them... You might want to be a bit careful when they reawaken-they'll try dragging you into more stores against your will."
Dena went to reply when some movement caught her eye outside of the shop's door, she 'eeped'; and jumped behind Vincent who had turned around to see what she had yelped about. Yuffie stepped through the door, she scanned the store quickly; she only saw Vincent. "Have you seen Dena and Kaori?" She asked.
Vincent blinked, glanced over at Kaori who was standing in plain view. "...No..." he replied.
Yuffie scrunched up her face and left, Vincent could feel Dena gripping his cloak as she tried her best not to laugh out loud. "I swear that dark hair is not real...She is a true blonde." Kaori said sweatdropping, she had been standing in plain view...maybe it was the clothes.
"That was too much..." Dena sighed as she got herself under control; she realized with a start what she had been gripping. "Sorry Vincent." She apologized as she took her hand and smoothed out the wrinkles that she had created on the red fabric.
Vincent sweatdropped looked down at her then back up at the now-empty doorway and shook his head with surprise at Yuffie's ignorance or how extreme her tunnel vision could be. "Well, it's a good thing she didn't find me, anyway... If she tried anything, well...let's just say I that I haven't really used my sword yet," Kaori said.
Vincent frowned slightly at her. "Kaori..." he started to sound a little scolding.
Kaori waved a hand nonchalantly. "Relax. I'd be more Kenshin than Battosai... Ya know, flip the sword over to the blunt side and all..." she replied.
Dena sighed as Vincent blinked; he had no idea who Kenshin was. "Kaori...be nice." Dena said as she stepped out from around Vincent.
"Blunt side! Considering her intentions, smacking her upside the head with the blunt end of a sword to knock her unconscious would be nice in comparison!" Kaori argued.
Dena just shook her head, "Enough...I'm starting to get a headache." Dena said as she rubbed her temples, it was true; shopping had this effect on her, except for shopping for manga...don't let her ever get near a book store, you wouldn't see her for hours. Same for Kaori…
Kaori nodded. Shopping had an aching effect on her as well, though in a bit of a different way. Clothes shopping normally tended to give her stomach aches-though that was probably a stress stomach ache caused by certain sisters calling her choice of clothing 'Granny clothes'. And walking around on anything other than dirt for hours gave her sore feet, whether her shoes were comfortable or not-her feet were tiny, not very proportionate. "Should we head back..?"
"I guess so..." Dena said as grabbed her bag; she had yet to change in to her new clothes. Kaori nodded and they headed off to the inn again. Surprisingly enough, she actually couldn't wait to try on her new dress... An almost eerie thing, considering that it was her.
They headed back to their hotel room with Vincent following, he unlocked the door with the key and allowed the girls to go in first; he had not forgotten his manners during his 23 year slumber. He went to step in when Kaori spun on her heel and glared at him, he blinked. 'What did I do?' He wondered when Kaori pushed him out of the doorway and out on to the hall. "Pervert." She said before she shut the door, not easily he might add. He could hear Dena fussing at her friend.
"I can't believe you just did that!' Dena said as she tossed her bag on to her bed, the springs bounced lightly.
Kaori stuck her tongue out at Dena. "You don't want him watching us change, would you..?" she asked. She then raised an eyebrow. "..Or would you..?"
Dena felt her eyes widen and cheeks start to heat up, she knew that she was blushing. "You're such a pervert...there's a bathroom we could have changed in...No need to be rude."
"Yes, but there's only one bathroom and two of us..."
"We could have taken turns..."
Kaori shrugged. "Well, either way, too late now..."
Dena sighed as she un-did her duffle bag; she pulled out a pair of jeans, a red long-sleeve shirt, and a couple of other things before going in to the bathroom to change. She came out and sighed in satisfaction, "It feels so good to be in pants again." She said as she crammed her stuff back in to her duffle bag and pulled out her jacket, she had enough common sense to buy a jacket with it snowing outside. She took a moment to arrange her holster on her waist and put her gun in, which she had named HellBringer, she put her boots on and slipped her handblades in to them; hell...they even had a tiny space for such items.
Kaori did plan to change into some normal clothes, of course...but she did want to make sure that the dress actually fit (even before she did lose the weight she was planning to lose, she still didn't really know much about what dress size would fit her) and looked decent on her in case she might need to take it back before leaving. As Dena walked into the bathroom, she changed in the bedroom. The dress was gothic and black, reaching down to the floor (she was sure she could lift it off the ground enough to where she wouldn't trip over it if she got some higher shoes). The collar was high, trimmed with white lace, a small black belt going around it for decor. .
The sleeves were long and flowy, though with layers of ruffly white and lace underneath. There was a small black belt on each arm-one on the upper arm, one around the elbow, making the fabric between poof just slightly. Around the waist was another black belt with a silver buckle, and a second layer of white lace poked out from beneath the hem of the black skirt. Kaori looked up from her spot in the corner, watching as Dena walked out of the bathroom, her friend then rubbed the back of her head a little sheepishly, feeling a little unsure in something she wasn't used to wearing. "Um... Hey... What do you think?" she asked a bit hesitantly.
Dena's lips parted in to a smile, "You look really good." Dena said as she nodded approvingly, "I think Cloud would like it." Dena said smirking… Kaori's face exploded red.
"Wh-what? Huh?" Kaori asked, growing a bit more shy and startled. She then shook her head. "Well...it's not for him! I mean, me? Cloud? Yeah right..." she said quickly. "I just got this dress because it looked all cool and gothicy and Wallflowery... Mom probably wouldn't have let me get anything like this back home, after all..."
Dena smiled, "Just kidding..." She said waving her hand side to side, "It looks really nice." She said, "Bathroom's yours if you want to change in privacy." She said as she motioned to the bathroom door.
Kaori quickly nodded and grabbed some casual clothes from her bag and heading in to the bathroom. A couple minutes later, all of a sudden... "Oh god... HOW DO YOU GET THIS THING OFF...?!" A loud crash soon followed the shout.
Dena sweatdropped and climbed off the bed, "Hold on!" She called as she walked over to the door and turned the knob; she sweatdropped even further when she saw her friend lying in the bathtub. "You're pathetic." Dena sighed.
Kaori had her eyes shut as she pouted slightly. "Lay off, I never wear things like these..." she explained. "Besides, I dun care what my little sister said about arm length... My arms do not reach back far enough to get the zipper in the back. At least, not when it comes to unzipping..."
"Well stand up so I can help..." Dena said as she held out her hand toward her friend, she helped her friend up and unzipped the dress half way to Kaori could do the rest. "I don't understand why you have to be such a klutz..." Dena said as she closed the bathroom door, giving Kaori some privacy so she could finish changing.
"Not a klutz..." Kaori shot back, still pouting a bit. But as the door closed behind Dena and she thought for a moment, she then added in a call through the door, "Besides, if you think I'm klutzy now, just wait until I'm wearing this with heels!"
"Don't come near me then...I don't want to die by you falling on me..." Dena said as she tried not to laugh when she heard a low growl from the other side of the door.
Kaori nearly flailed a bit as she pulled on her normal attire: black corduroys, a white turtleneck, and a black leather jacket, along with brown hiking boots. "Don't make me come out there!" she warned.
Dena couldn't help but laugh, "You have to come out some time so..." Dena smiled, "I'm going outside..." Dena called out as she grabbed a hair tie and pulled her hair back, she wanted to take advantage of her new clothes and jacket. She closed the door behind her and stepped out, the snow crunched noisily under her boots; she smiled, it was quite the change from her aunt's clothes. "Very nice." She said as she snuggled in to her new jacket.
Kaori sweatdropped when she heard the door shut. She came out and jumped on the bed, she sat there for a minute before she suddenly frowned slightly. "Hm...I gotta draw somethin...or write..." And with that, her quest for paper and pencil began
Meanwhile, Yukiro was standing outside the inn, looking up at the overcast sky. He blended in so well that it was practically a natural camouflage-his white hair, pale skin, and white shirt just barely stood out from the snowy ground, and his crystal blue eyes didn't help much in distinguishing differences between the falling snowflakes and human traits in the winter wonderland. His hands were jammed into his pockets, and he seemed somewhat thoughtful-at least, too thoughtful to really notice someone coming up behind him.
"Boo..." Someone whispered in his ear, his eyes went wide and he swung his arm out to hit who ever was behind him; unluckily for him, his feet slipped out from under him and deposited him on his back in the snow. "Oh my gosh! Are you alright?!" Dena asked as she quickly bent down beside Yukiro, "I didn't mean to scare you..." She said as she helped him sit up.
"Y...yes... I'm fine... I'll be fine..." Yukiro assured her although he was still trying to get the swirliness out of his eyes. "Just a little tense..." He quickly shook his head to try to regain his bearings then looked up at her and blinked, looking slightly concerned. "I didn't hit you, did I..?"
Dena smiled slightly, "No..." She said as she looked at him, she was glad that he didn't hit his head when he fell. "I'm alright." She said as she stood up and extended a hand toward him, "Need a lift?" She asked as her smile widened. Yukiro blushed a little and accepted her hand; Dena helped him up and helped him brush off the snow where it clung stubbornly to his jacket and long hair.
Yukiro sweatdropped as he glanced back. "Ironic that I'm a pyro and yet I can't get the snow off of me..." he commented in a mutter. He then looked over at Dena, he smiled as he sweatdropped; he rubbed the back of his head a bit sheepishly. "Thanks..." he said.
"No problem...It's my fault you fell in the first place." She said as she dusted the snow off her hands and shoved them in to the warmth of her pockets, Yukiro blinked as he surveyed her new outfit; she seemed to be more in her element than before.
After an awkward pause, he finally got up the nerve to compliment her. "You...look nice," he said. "Yuffie and Tifa's doing, or your own?"
Dena smiled, "My own...If it was up to the other two than I would probably be in lace right now..." Dena said as she noticed a bulge in his jacket pocket. "The fire appeared before...it was materia...right?" She asked since she had yet a chance to see any up close.
Yukiro blinked and then nodded. "Oh, yes..." he replied as he pulled the materia out of his pocket and held it out to her. It was a green color but it seemed almost as if it were being lit with flames from within, a faint glow. "I only really have one piece..."
"Cool..." Dena said as she took the orb in to her hands, she picked it up in one hand and stared at it through the light. "It looks fragile..." Dena said as she looked at it with curiosity. Yukiro blinked…was it his imagination or did Dena's blue eyes lighten a fraction? He shook his head, must have been his imagination.
He smiled slightly and tilted his head. "If it were fragile, then it probably would've already been broken..." he admitted.
"Hm...It's seen a bit of action then..." Dena said as she handed the materia back to Yukiro who placed it back in his pocket.
"Not recently, to be honest... But a couple of years ago, it did..."
"Is that how long it's been? Since you rescued your brother?" She asked as they started walking down the street. Dena preoccupied herself with blowing 'smoke' in the cold air.
Yukiro blinked but then nodded. "Yes..." he replied. "Almost three years now..."
Dena smiled slightly, "He's lucky to have a brother like you..." She said as she turned around and starting walking backwards in the snow, Yukiro smiled and blushed a bit...'Why in the hell am I blushing so much?' He though ferociously to himself, he looked up only to see white...
He couldn't only blink as the snowball collided with his face, he took his hand and wiped away the damp slush from his eyes; he could see Yuffie across the street laughing her head off with Dena standing off to the side with her hands to her mouth as she tried not to laugh. "That's cold." Yukiro wined, Dena opened her mouth to say something only to be interrupted by a snowball colliding with her chest; she glared over to where Yuffie was smiling. Dena smirked when her eyes traveled a bit above where Yuffie was standing, she bent down and made a snow ball; Yuffie blinked when the white projectile when straight over her head, missing her completely.
"What was that?" Yuffie shouted before there was a slight hiss and before she could blink, she was completely covered in snow; she looked up and saw the overhang which she had been standing close to. Yuffie growled and made a snow ball, "You're going to pay for attacking the White Rose of Wutai!" She said.
"Oh yeah, you're white alright..." Dena snickered. "Cold enough for ya?"
"Why you... Oooo! You're really going to get it now!" Yuffie called down as she reached down to where she had put together an emergency supply of snowballs and picking up about three of them. "With my special ninja technique of multiple snowballs..." she said (while sounding a lot like Sailor Moon making her speech), "I shall pummel you!"
Dena smile as she dodged several snow balls aimed at her direction, she blinked when a snow ball collided with her shoulder…it had come from the side, not from Yuffie's direction; she looked over at Yukiro who had snow on his hands. "Hey...you're supposed to be on my side!" Dena exclaimed but then yelped when she dodged a snow ball that was thrown at her by Yuffie when the ninja thought that she was distracted.
Yukiro grinned. "I never said that I was really on anyone's side..." he said as he tossed snowballs at Yuffie and Dena.
Dena laughed out loud as she fought with her friends, her hands numb from the cold of the snow; her cheeks were bright pink from the cold air, she had even started to breathe heavily. "Gotcha!" She shouted as one of her snow balls collided with Yuffie's face and yelped as she dodged one aimed at her direction by Yukiro.
Vincent meanwhile looked up from his book as he sat in the window seat of the lobby, brought out of his concentration by the splat of a snowball on the glass next to him. He sweatdropped and raised an eyebrow, he then stood and made his way towards the door.
(Vincent: ignores the snowballs splatting against his window...then finally looks over as he hears a louder 'splat' than usual and raises an eyebrow to see Yuffie sliding down the glass)
"Take this! And this! Hyyya!" Yuffie shouted as she flung snowballs around everywhere, not really seeming to care too much about aim anymore-just the general insanity and randomness of wherever the snowballs hit.
Dena ducked her head to dodge a random snowball thrown by Yuffie, she blinked when she heard the splat of the snowball hitting something; just out of curiosity she turned to see what the white mass had hit.
Three guess to what the snowball hit…Please review…Thanks.