Chapter 46: The Dates From Hell
(Same tags apply as in Chapter 1)
Over the last four weeks, Yuffie went on four more dates after the date with Jonathan and she could honestly say that the thought of marrying any of the men that she had dated, truly disgusted her. First there was Samuel, a young man who had moved from Rocket town to Nibelheim. While he was handsome, he sucked his teeth when he ate…loudly, and seemed obsessed with the fact that she was close to the famous Cid Highwind.
Then there was Quint, a blond of average looks and a lower than average sense of fun. Their date consisted of him talking about the fun of model building and which glue provides the best and longest lasting hold. Needless to say, that the date that she had with him was two of the longest hours in her life! She was only saved by the fact that little Marlene had called to speak to her Auntie Yuffie.
Shortly into the conversation she had told the little girl to hold on and left her 'date' on the little white lie of an emergency. She had to admit though, talking to the little girl over the stuff that her big brother Yoshi had shown her how to do was much more enjoyable than discussing if a certain type of glue would cause too much stress on a models parts. Memories of the conversation with the little girl still brought a smile to her lips.
If Yuffie was to rate her dates on a scale of one to ten, her date with Niko would definitely rate as a strong number two. He was a cute twenty year-old who moved to Nibelheim from Mideel with his mother. They started off by going for a hike on the lower trail of Mt. Nibel which had been nice since the sunlight had warmed the air enough to make it comfortable for hiking. After they had returned to the mansion, Niko had left her to get ready for dinner.
Two hours later he had returned with a bouquet of white lilies that were placed into a crystal vase near the door before heading to one of the nicer restaurants in the small town.
Now what was it that made this date the second worst on her list, you may ask? Well with any other person, it may have ended with a wonderful dinner with the girl being walked home by the guy and maybe with the hope of a second or even a third date, but that was not to be.
You see, it all went downhill once they got to the restaurant. Yuffie was just a hair shy of embarrassed to see an older woman waiting at the table that they had been heading to. It turned to out to be his mother. For over an hour, Yuffie had to deal with the older woman coddling her son, even going as far as to bring her napkin to her lips and wipe at the corner of his mouth. Then Yuffie was short of having a coronary when his mother asked her if had considered having children, if she would take her son's name upon their marriage and if she was still 'untouched'. She looked to Niko and saw that he sensed nothing odd with his mother's line of questioning. Obviously a mama's boy.
After putting up with answering some questions and dodging other, more private questioning, She had stood and pulled out a few gil, placing it on the table before turning to Niko's mother. A few deep breaths were taken as she looked eyes with the older woman and said 'With all due respect lady, I don't think I'll be answering any more of those questions since they are none of your business!" She said with barely restrained embarrassment and anger.
From that point on, she avoided both mother and son when they were seen around the town. How anyone could date a guy like that, she had no clue. His mother would always be butting in on the life of her son and who ever was unfortunate enough to become his wife.
The absolute worst date she had been on had to be with Clinton. It was after the date with him that the shinobi found herself being carried through the town in the arms of her gunman.
It had gone horribly wrong. They had gone to dinner that night almost two weeks ago. Things had been alright with Clinton, but he was a bit more prone to touching that she would have liked, but it was taken care of but simply staying at arms length and he seemed to get the picture after a while. But it all went wrong towards the end of dinner when she made the mistake of leaving the table to visit the ladies room. Shortly after she had returned, and had talked with him a bit more, finishing up desert and her tea, she had started to feel dizzy and soon, all she knew was darkness.
After she had momentarily regained consciousness, in his arms, he had taken her back to her room to sleep. The next morning, Tifa had explained that Vincent had seen Clinton carrying her down the street, away from the mansion. Clinton had been knocked unconscious by the gunman after refusing to hand her over and they had taken her to the nearby clinic, only to find that she had been drugged. He was arrested and Yuffie had been taken home to sleep off the drug that she had been given. The thought of what could have happened still sent chills down her spine.
Now, the ninja sat on her large bed, her back resting against the headboard as she pulled her right knee towards her chest. Needless to say, that after that last date, she had not gone on any others, nor did she have the desire to. Gray eyes moved over to the window as a sigh escaped her lips. The sun was setting and the clouds were rolling in, promising rain. 'A perfect match to my mood.' She thought as she bit her lip. 'I just need to stop being such a coward. The man that I want lives in the same house an I can't even tell him that I love him…
'I honestly can't see myself living with anyone else…or marrying anyone else. Godo gave me a chance to find a husband…' She sighed, cutting off that line of thought and rolled, coming to lie on her side. Her pillow was pulled to her chest as she continued to gaze out the glass balcony doors, trying to clear her troubled mind.
.::-o-::.
Vincent draped the crimson cloth over the small table in the center of the ballroom before making his way back into the kitchen. Inwardly, he tried to slow his racing heart as he stirred the tomato-basil cream sauce that he had been simmering.
'Vincent, calm down.' Chaos commanded his nervous host.
'I am calm, heathen. Leave me be.'
'If this is what you call calm, I hate to see what you'd be like if you were actually nervous.' The demon commented sarcastically as Vincent's heart continued to hammer in his chest. 'You can't fool me, Vinnie, I feel what you feel and right now, I'd say you were on the verge of stroking out.'
Vincent huffed and moved to a second pan that sat on the stove. He gave the mixture of butter, lobster meat, finely chopped spinach and parsley another stir before taking it from the burner. Manicotti was pulled from a bowl of ice water before being carefully stuffed with the mixture and placed in a baking dish. The tomato basil cream sauce was poured over the stuffed pasta and placed into the oven. The raven-haired man leaned back against the kitchen counter, his eyes closed, trying to calm himself. No matter how much he denied it to chaos, he was nervous.
A dry chuckle escaped his lips as he shook his head. It had been a long time since he felt this way, and truth be told, it made him feel alive. Yuffie made him feel alive. He knew that this was the first step in making the ninja his own. He would tell her tonight and depending on what her response was, he may have someone who was more than just a friend in his life.
Vincent unplugged the black porcelain warming tray that had been borrowed from Tifa, from the jack and removed the cord before going back to the table he had set up in the ballroom. He placed the tray on the table beside the strawberry cheesecake that he had purchased from a small bakery in the square before turning to the large windows in the ballroom. No longer could he see the sky or the stars and rain was gently steadily pelting the window. As he looked to the clouds above, he thought back to the dates that his little ninja had gone on, the last one in particular.
Seeing that man holding her in his arms, her head lolling to the side as he tired to remain as casual as one could be, carrying an unconscious young woman away from her home, caused his hand to clench. He knew that something wasn't quite right with the man when he first came to pick up Yuffie. It was that unease that had caused him to leave the mansion that night. He had told himself that he simply needed air, but both Chaos and something deep within him told him otherwise.
The sound of beeping form the kitchen drew his attention away from that infuriating line of though. He moved to the oven and removed the manicotti placing them on plates and grating some Parmesan cheese on top. Two lids were placed on the plates before a bowl of fresh salad, and wine was removed. Everything was taken into the ballroom and after the candles in the candelabras has been lit, things were finally ready.
With one last sigh Vincent straightened his black slacks and shirt, and looked down to the black leather shoes that replaced the metal tipped boots he usually wore. His retied his ebon locks with a single strap of black leather loosely at the nape of his neck, before taking his place at the piano. After taking a shuddering breath, his eyes closed once more as he began to play…
.::-o-::.
The sound of music caused platinum eye to drift open, Yuffie sat up on her bed, listening intently to the beautiful music that drifted through the mansion. She ran her fingers through her hair as a smile grace her lips, realizing that it could only be one person playing. Without further thought, the ninja allowed herself to follow the warm melody to guide her from her room.
o-o-Author's Notes-o-o
Hmmm…I think I lost a lot of my readers. Kinda makes me sad but at the same time, I appreciate all of you who have reviewed even more.
So as you can see, Vinnie's simple plan has been set in motion! Come on, he just needed to build a bit of courage to actually do it! And even with that, My Vincent is still quite nervous…which makes him even more cute!
Next chapter is complete, but like with this one, I'm going to give it a lil time before posting it. I want to go over it once more to make sure its how I want it to be.
Thank you to everyone who has read my story, including
Harbinger of Light
ShadowBeaw
Artic Dragon
chibified kitsunes
Sorceress Fujin
Hawk Chic
Danax
Chaotic Angel7
Tishannia
alexandravictoriacs
Sharingan Wolf
Nul-Ragnarok
MakoStorm
Artic Dragon
Selty
Raveia
The Awesome Anna Banana!
TatianaSaphira
Also, I see that I have a few new readers!
furorandtigol
but,but...
i knew it
Danax
Thank you all again!!! -showers with plushies-
10/05/07
Edited because of change in formatting. Also re-numbering chapters. Minor content edits.