Chapter 50: Nightmares

.:-o-:.

A gasp escaped her lips and she sat up quickly, the blanket covering her dropping to her waist in the process. Droughts of air were pulled into her lungs slowly and deeply as she fought down the nausea that rolled in her stomach, her skin prickling uncomfortably only adding to her discomfort.

Her sudden movement immediately brought her bed-partner out of his slumber and though still groggy, he sat up, and looked to the small female beside him. Vermilion hued eyes focused after a few rapid blinks, allowing her to take on her skin's unhealthy pallor. He hadn't seen her this pale in quiet a while. In the back of his mind he thought he heard Chaos mumble something about her aura, but didn't catch it all.

"Yuffie?" He queried softly. Slightly trembling fingers moved to her temples and pressed causing him to move from the bed, quickly padding to the other side.

Vincent sat close, tucking his leg beneath him and reached out, gently tilting her head up, noticing that her eyes were still closed. "Yuffie, whats wrong?"

The disturbing image that riddled her mind were pushed to the side at the sound of Vincent's slightly sleep roughened voice. "I had a nightmare..." she murmured softly.

He watched as gray eyes opened and almost immediately widen for a moment, a sigh escaping her lips shortly after. "I feel like shit." she admitted, and that is when he noticed that she wasn't looking at him. Her eyes were unfocused and even in the darkness that came with the early morning hours, he could see that her pupils didn't seem quite right.

Chaos' words suddenly made sense. "Both eyes?" he asked, reaching up and brushing her disheveled hair away from her face.

"Yeah."

"Lay back." He helped her ease into the pillows and left the bedroom, the door closing with a soft click in its wake. Vincent moved through the hallway quietly, not wanting to disturb their sleeping guest. Once he reached the kitchen, he began making her a cup of tea, his motions seeming automated as he moved about, deep in thought.

'It can only be the letter...' he thought as he started the microwave. 'She hasn't had a migraine severe enough to affect her vision in months.'

'She tries to hide it sometimes, but she's been under a lot of pressure.' Chaos replied to his host's thoughts. 'Of course it has lessened since your confession, but theres still a lot that is to come.'

The microwave beeped and the mug was pulled out of the device. A tin of tea leaves was plucked from a shelf, making the tea less fragrant than usual, knowing that her stomach tended to be a bit sensitive than usual when this occurred. The light was turned off in the kitchen and went back up the staircase.

'She has a lot of responsibilities associated with her lineage.' Vincent detoured to her bedroom, slipping into her bathroom to find her medications from the medicine cabinet. 'There are those who would assume that being in her access to her family's wealth and status...having the title of 'Princess' and future Lady of Wutai would be amazingly easy. They don't know the traditions that must be followed and the complications that can arise. She wants to make Wutai strong which only adds to the difficulties she faces.'

A sigh escaped his lips when he turned out the lights and went back to his own room, closing the door behind him. Vincent moved to the side of his love and sat the coffee cup on the nightstand. "I know you dislike the taste, but I brought your medications."

The tube was opened and a single, small pill was placed between her fingers, watching with a sympathetic look as she placed the bitter pill beneath her tongue. She shuddered, her cute face scrunching up at the taste. Once she let out a sound of disgust, the corner of his lips upturned slightly and he placed the second pill in her hand, watching as she swallowed it dry.

"Drink some of this. It should be cool enough now and not too hard on your stomach." Vincent watched as she gave a barely perceptible dip of her head in acknowledgment.

The cup was reclaimed once she was finished and placed back on the nightstand. Vincent slipped back into bed and sighed happily when she snuggled close to him. A kiss was placed on the top of her head, his warm hand moving to rub her back in soothing, circular motions.

"Are you sure you are okay, Yuffie?" He asked, knowing that the pill would make her drowsy soon.

Yuffie remained silent for a few moments, he bottom lip drawn between her teeth. A simple murmured "yeah" was heard and her sightless eyes fell closed as she allowed his scent and warmth to surround her, acting as a security blanket, protecting her from all the things that attack the resting mind while sleeping.

"...Makes me feel like a kid...I don't like it." Yuffie mumbled against his chest.

Vincent looked down to the small form in his arms curiously. "What does?"

"Nightmares." She heard the gunman give a knowing sound as he continued to hold her. "I know everyone has them from time to time, but damnit..." She trailed off, her hand clenched, twisting the sheet that covered them in her fist.

"I..I'll listen if you need to speak of it, Yuffie." he said, feeling a bit awkward. Though he had changed a bit from what his previous behavior would have been, but Yuffie was the only one that he was truly comfortable around. Even with that level of comfort around his love, he still felt awkward to say certain things.

The ninja smiled and held her gunman tighter. "Thanks Vinnie. I don't want to get into it too much. I really don't want to remember all of the details, but it was about the night that I went on that...supposed date with Clinton." A shudder ran through her body and the smile slid away. "You weren't out that night and you didn't see him taking me away...things happened...I didn't want him to...but no one knew...no one found me."

Anger seethed within him at the memory of what he had seen that night, and Yuffie's nightmare drove home what could have happened. He was thankful that he had decided that he 'needed air' that night and was out to see what was happening. However, he knew that he was out that night because he was restless. He simply hadn't felt right about the man and it turned out that his suspicions were correct.

"When we got to where he was taking me, Niko's mother was waiting there with her pansy-ass son. She was insistent on arranging the joint marriage between her 'precious boy', that perverted Clinton and myself and was demanding that the sheets be put on display the morning after our wedding night, to prove that her 'precious boys' had taken a virgin bride..." A wave of nausea rolled within her at the thought of such archaic practices and at who would have caused such blood to appear from her own body. "I don't even know why my mind tied those two guys together." She shook her head then reached up to massage her temples.

"I think the letter made me think about things again. My old man said things in that letter that I don't think he could say to me easily face to face. It made me remember about everything that is suppose to happen."

Vincent kissed her forehead as she yawned, running his hand down her back, feeling her tense muscle beginning to relax, no doubt, the medication was affecting her small form as well. "You have many responsibilities, Yuffie, but you know I will stay by your side. I will protect you."

She smiled against his chest, her arm draping over his hip, letting out a small, grateful sigh. "I know you will, Vinnie. Thank you..."

"For now, you should rest and stay in bed until your sight comes back and your migraine goes away. I'll stay nearby until you feel better." He said and watched as a blush sprung up on her cheeks and smiled. "What is it?"

"What time is it?"

"Almost 5:30."

"Tifa will be coming over around seven..." She said, the hue of her cheeks deepening a bit more, looking in his direction when she felt the soft rumble of laughter in his chest.

"I can take you back to your room before anyone wakes up and she arrives." He felt her shake her head softly and shivered at feeling her place a shy kiss to his bare chest.

"No...I'd rather stay," her words were broken by a yawn before she continued. "right here with you. I'm not gonna be embarrassed...because I shared a bed with my hot Vinnie..." She managed before focusing on the sensation of his fingers as they brushed across the bare patch of skin of her lower back, where her shirt had ridden up.

"Love you..." Soon, she felt darkness engulf her mind as fell into a drug induced sleep.

Pulling back a bit, Vincent placed a soft kiss on her lips. "I love you too, Yuffie. Rest well." He said, pulling her close once more and holding her as she slept.

.:-Author's Notes-:.

So!! This is the first update in a very long time...and I apologize for that. I put occasional status updates on the chapters in my livejournal for the stories that I'm working on, so if you're ever curious as to if I'm even attempting to update a story, you can check there :)

I pm'ed everyone that sent me a review and I think I got everyone with an apology for the long long time between the updates. I punished myself yesterday by downloading the new bleach episode and three episodes of Bastard and had them sitting on my desktop as a reward and motivation to write. It worked pretty dang well because not only did I get one chapter written, but two!!

I'm only posting one for now, but I'll be posting the other within the next three days. One thing I bet you all immediately noticed was the fact that this chapter was shorter than the other chapters. I did a little math. The last few chapters, chapter 40-49 totaled approximately 43050 words which averaged out to 4783 words per chapter. I think I've been overwhelming myself and pushing myself to make massive chapters, which makes it harder for me to find time to write them.

I've really been wanting to find time to write lately, but the motivation has been a little lacking. I can say that I feel that motivation coming back, especially with where the next chapter will lead me. I went back through all the chapters, and I know where I am in the year and its getting closer to Yuffie's birthday so thats making me a bit more eager to write.

I do have a decision to make though. I won't say what it is, but I will say that if I do decide to write what I'm thinking, its going to be very...difficult for me to do so. Unrelated, but still another thing I'm thinking about, is the Lemon factor. Even if I do write one, I wont be able to post it here, but I don't know... I've been writing a lot of Yaoi lately, but I have a hankerin' for some Het love scenes. I would put up a poll, but I haven't had much luck with getting responses to them, lol.

Well, I better go now. I gotta work tomorrow and I'm trying to decide on whether I feel like ironing or not...I'm thinking not! I swear, my job is the only one I know of that allows it's bankers to wear jeans, lol!

Thanks for reading and I appreciate every single one of you who review and read my fic :)

Ezzy