Chapter 37: She's Gone
(Same tags apply as in Chapter 1)
The tips of golden claws dug into the leather of the armrest, creating three perfectly round puncture wounds in the leather. The negotiations call that Reeve was currently on had been going for nearly an hour while everyone present listened closely to the negotiations. Like Yuffie, while Vincent was paying listening to what was being said, his mind was running wild. With every minute that passed without Wutain princess not walking through that door, Chaos grew more unsettled and his worry grew.
"…Then we have an agreement?" Zade's voice came through the speakerphone, sounding irritatingly confident. It was those words that captured Vincent's full attention.
"Yes…its agreed. The meeting will take place in forty-eight hours. If the hostage is harmed in any way, you will pay, Fraser."
An ominous chuckle came through the phone before the line disconnected. As soon as the dial tone was heard, Vincent stood and strode from the room as conversation in the room picked up in volume. Tifa, who had also noticed that Yuffie never returned, got up and followed the crimson-eyed man from the room. She looked to the right and saw Vincent disappear into a room down the hall. She walked quickly down the hall entered to same room only to find Vincent lifting a piece of paper from the table. She remained quiet and watched as he read the words. Then she heard something she rarely ever heard from the stoic gunman.
"Shit!" He murmured harshly under his breath.
"What's wrong, Vincent? Where's Yuffie?"
The gunman handed her the note. "I'm going back to the ship to see if she has already departed." He said without any other explanation before striding quickly out of the room
Tifa looked down to the letter she now held in her hands and began to read the rapid, yet neat scrawl in blue ink.
Guys
I'm really sorry but I can't wait any longer. It's my fault that we even went to retrieve the materia. Elmyra would still be safe if it wasn't for me.
I've gone ahead. Don't worry, I have a plan. We'll see you when you get there.
Yuffie
Worry coursed through Tifa's body, causing her to let out a murmured curse herself. She pulled the door open and ran back to the boardroom. 'Damnit Yuffie…you better not get hurt.' She said to herself as she entered the room.
All eyes locked on her as she entered the room clutching the note. Reeve turned to her and looked up with concerned green eyes. "What's wrong Tifa?"
"Yuffie's gone." She said and handed him the note.
.::-o-::.
Vincent threw the door open to her quarters on the Highwind, only to find them empty. He looked in the drawer when she usually kept her materia only to find it gone. The pack that had once found its resting place in the corner was also missing.
A frustrated sigh escaped his lips as he turned and left her room, heading for the chocobo stable. 'I shouldn't have left her! I knew she was going to try something like this!' He berated himself.
A wave of sympathy was felt from his demon, but there were no words. He knew that Chaos felt the guilt just as strongly for not acting and going to find the little ninja. They should have followed their gut and sought out the girl before she had a chance to do something as dangerous as going into enemy territory alone.
Claret eyes started at the two male chocobos as they warked happily, not minding that their companion, Kira, was no longer there with them. She had taken the fastest of the three birds and with an hour's head start, he knew that more than likely, they would not catch up to her. Yuffie was gone and he was going to find her.
Vincent prepared to saddle one of the males, when the ship roared to life. He came out of the stable area to see twenty Soldiers, all armed to the teeth, following Dojima and Lindh. Avalanche approached him as the ship lifted off, causing a few of the people who now milled about, to stumble slightly.
Cloud moved forward, his expression concerned yet determined. "We're heading out. The rest of the troops will arrive about an hour after we do. Cid and the engineers have launched the UTRV. We also tried tracking Yuffie by her PHS, but it seems as though she turned it off so we cant' track it."
Cid nodded as he patted his chest, looking for the pack of cigarettes that were no longer there. "We'll be landin' near the chocobo ranch if the UTRV doesn't pick up any heat signatures in the mountains near there. We don't want them to see us landin' and we're heading to the briefing room now.."
Vincent gave a slight nod of his head before leaving the area without words and heading towards the briefing room so that they could get things over with. He did not notice the brown eyes of the gun-armed man watching him as he turned and entered the boardroom with Dojima and Lindh following behind.
.::-o-::.
Voices were heard plotting and marks were made upon the map on the wall. He watched and retained the info that was shared and the strategies that were planned, but offered no input. They were doing fine planning without him and currently, his mind was occupied by other things.
He was angry. It wasn't just at Yuffie for going off alone, but he was angry with himself as well. He knew that she was going to do this. He shouldn't have pushed away that gut feeling that he and Chaos had felt. He could have stopped her if he had only gone back to the room and brought her with him or stayed by her side until she felt like coming back.
The fact that she had gone alone, putting herself in danger, upset him as well. The thought that she could be captured and placed in Onika's hands truly did frighten him. It was bad enough that Elmyra was at the mercy of the scientist, but to have two women he knew and cared about possibly being experimented on…it made him physically ill.
What if Onika decided to make Yuffie his next Jenova experiment? What if she ended up suffering from the madness like Sephiroth did? Or even became some kind of puppet like Cloud?
Vincent stood and strode from the room. He knew that the meeting was drawing to a close and there was nothing else he needed to hear. As he moved to the deck, the thoughts that raced through his mind cause him to break out in a cold sweat. The gunman pulled his glove off his sweating palm, stuffing it into his pocket before turning to stare at the spot when he and his little ninja had shared dinner the night before going to fight Sephiroth.
He slowly moved over to the spot before leaning against the wall and sliding down to sit on the ground. His head dipped as he tried to calm himself, taking in the cool crisp air that whipped his hair wildly around him.
'She'll be fine Vincent.' Chaos spoke within his mind; sounding like the demon was trying to convince himself as well. Vincent sighed just as the door to the bridge opened, but didn't look to see who it was.
Barret looked to Vincent before looking out as the land passed below. He stood for a moment, collecting his thoughts before his deep baritone cut through the sound of the rushing wind.
"Ya know, I was going to talk to Yuffie after the meetin' in Junon. I was gonna tell her that me and Myra talked about what could happen. She knew that there was a chance, though it was a small one, that something dangerous could happen. I know that we will get them back, and WHEN we get them back, I plan on yankin' that scrawny ninja to the side and we're gonna have a long talk 'bout her runnin' off like this. She thinks she caused this, but dat it ain't.
"When she we get her back, I plan on knockin' some since in dat girl's head." The brown-eyed man said firmly before heading to the door.
"She'll be fine Vincent."
With that, the door closed once more as Barret left the deck. Vincent appreciated the words, but he still was worried. After a few more moments, he pushed himself to his feet and left the deck, heading back to his quarters.
.::-o-::.
The metal digits of his golden claw wrapped around the knob before he slipped inside, locking the door behind himself. The crimson cloak he wore was discarded on the chair near the desk, and it was then that he saw the note with his name on it, resting on the bed. The note was carefully plucked from its resting spot, as if it would disintegrate at his very touch. Vincent sat heavily on the mattress before unfolding the letter and reading his little ninja's words.
Dear Vincent,
I know that you're probably not very happy with me right now, and you have every reason to be upset. I lied to you about coming back to the boardroom, but I just couldn't…I needed to go…I'm sorry. Listen to me…you've done so much for me and how do I repay you, I lie to you…
I can only hope that you can forgive me.
Please don't worry about me Vince. I promise I'll be careful and you will be seeing me again soon, plus I promised to help you start over. That's a promise that I am not willing to break.
I'll see you soon,
Yuffie Kisaragi
PS: I know you're sitting there worrying…don't! I'm the great ninja Yuffie!
Vincent refolded the not and tucked it into his pocket. The gunman lay back on his bed and stared at the ceiling, praying that the ninja didn't get herself hurt out there on her own.
o-o-o-Author's Notes-o-o
Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I thank you all for stickin' with me through this. I punished myself today…I downloaded 10 episodes of Air and Episode 54 of bleach and wouldn't let myself watch them until I got this chapter done. Not only did I get this done, I got half of the next chapter planned out as well as the planning for the next chapter for The Cousin of Death and half of My Light.
This is the only day that I've been able to get anything done. I've been wanting to work on my stories, but I've been tired and my weekend is now on Friday and Sat so that kinda throws me off too.
Anyway, I picked up quiet a few new readers this time around! I love you all and would like to thank you all for each and every review that I've gotten. Your support is what inspires me to write more. It makes be want to push away the exhaustion and write. You should see me at work. I'll have my pencil, and get 2-3 words written before a call comes in and I have to stop. At my breaks, on my lunch, I've been sitting there and writing; jotting down ideas and stuff for my stories. My team leader said he has never seen me without my blue folder, pencil and clipboard. :3
I am working hard to get to the end of this part so I can get back to the point where I can progress Yuffs and Vince's relationship so we can get to the juicy lovey-dovey stuff that I love to write. Matter fact, the first chapter that occurs after this part with Onika has already been written and I is 4700 words long…I'm gonna have to break it up. :-3
Well, I'm gonna get going. I really want to thank you all again and hope that you continue to stick with me. I appreciate all of your support and hopefully I can get a new chapter out again soon.
Love, Ezzy
PS. I'm still looking for someone who speaks Japanese that can translate something for me for this story and maybe my Fruits Basket story. I would really appreciate that if you are interested, that you'd contact me by email. You can find that in my profile :-3
10/04/07
Edited because of change in formatting. Also re-numbering chapters. Minor content edits.