Chapter 51: Vacation?

After falling asleep with his little ninja in his arms for a second time, the gunman knew that it was time for him to rise. Tifa would be there soon and their visitors would be waking soon. Vincent sat up carefully, trying not to jostle his bedmate as he slipped away. He watched as she grumbled softly before gathering up his pillow and curling her form around it.

A content feeling washed over him as he shook his head, thinking about how lucky he felt at the moment. He resisted the urge to go back to her and take the place of the pillow she held and pulled a pair of boxers from his dresser before disappearing into his bathroom.

He brushed his teeth as the water heated in the shower before slipping out of his clothing and under the warm spray. A deep sigh escaped his lips as warmth slipped into the slightly knotted muscles of his shoulders. The bar of soap was scooped up as he went about washing himself in preparation for the day.

.:-o-:.

The sound of water reached her ears and the soap, masculine in scent, teased her nose, causing the vestiges of sleep to lift from her fogged mind. She squeezed the pillow she was hugging and sighed before slowly opening her eyes. The room around her slowly came into focus, but only for one eye. She knew that it would take a bit more time til her vision returned to a semblance of normal, but being able to see out of one eye, was better than not seeing at all.

Yuffie's attention moved to the bathroom door as the sound of water stopped. She could hear Vincent moving about in the bathroom before he emerged and she thanked Leviathan that she had sight in at least one eye. A lecherous smile traced her lips as she watched him move to his closet, his boxers slung low on his narrow hips. His hair clung to his back slightly, giving her teasing glances of pale skin and lithe muscle. She knew that there were lucky drops of water, rolling down his skin and for a moment, wondered if her migraine had driven her temporarily insane as she felt a wave of wistful jealousy towards those tiny water droplets.

"Are you feeling better?" She heard his voice call out to her, causing her to jump in surprise. He turned to her and smiled. Along with Chaos' knowing purr/chuckle, he could feel her eyes on him as he searched for a pair of slacks. The black pants were pulled on before he moved to her side and sat on the bed beside her.

"You just had to go cover up," she griped playfully, moving her hand to his back, freeing his damp hair from his back. "I feel better than I did earlier even though I feel like a cyclops.

"I'm glad you enjoyed the show." He gave her a wink accompanied by a slight upturn of the lips. "You'll be back to normal soon enough." He captured her hand and brought it to his lips. "I'll send Tifa up when she gets here to visit with you. Do you think you'll be up to something light to eat?" He knew that it was a loaded question. Depending on how she felt at the moment, the simple thought of eating could make her ill or cause her stomach to grumble softly as an answer. Fortunately, it was the former.

"I think I could handle your cooking." She smiled and sat up, moving to her knees and coming behind him. "As Long as it's light." She ran her fingers through his long hair, braiding it and handing the braided end to him.

Vincent nodded, moving to the night stand to grab a black, leather strap and handing it to the ninja. She made quick work trying of his hair off before he urged her to lay back down. He kissed her forehead before standing. "I'll come check on you a little later."

"Okay." She watched as he moved to his dresser, pulling a shirt from within and slipping it on. Curling around his pillow once more, Yuffie allowed her eyes to close as Vincent left the bedroom.

.:-o-:.

Vincent stirred a pot of gravy before pulling open the oven. The scent of buttermilk biscuits rode the wave of heat, reaching his nose as he checked them. Slowly, they were slowly taking on a golden brown hue. The sound of the doorbell pulled his attention from the large meal he was preparing. The oven closed and the pots covered, the gunman went to the front door, knowing who waited on the other side.

"Good Morning Tifa. Where's Cloud?" He asked, not seeing her other half. The door was left unlocked for when the swordsman did decide to show up.

"Morning Vincent. Cloud is being lazy, but he'll be along soon." She graced him with a smile and inhaled deeply. "Smells great. Is Yuffie in the kitchen?"

He shook his head. "No, she's still resting. She had another attack this morning so she's waiting out the side effects. You can go up and see her, she in my room."

"Thanks Vincent." She said and headed for the stairs and smirked when she saw a half-asleep red-head nearly tumble on his own two feet as he reached the main landing beneath the stained glass window. Tifa watched at Vincent's side of the Turk stretched and scratched his stomach.

"Need coffee...and whatever is cooking in that kitchen." Reno mumbled tossing a wave at the two below him and yawning once more. "Mornin'."

They watched as he ambled into the living room to flop on the couch with a sigh. Tifa chuckled as Vincent shook his head and the two parted ways with Vincent heading back to the kitchen and Tifa making her way up the stairs. The fighter greeted an equally drowsy Yoshi before knocking softly on Vincent's door and letting herself in. She smiled at seeing her little sister still curled around the pillow and moved to sit behind her, patting her back gently.

"That hand is way too small to be Vinnie's...so it must be Tifa." Yuffie said, uncoiling from around the pillow to look into dark crimson eyes.

"Hey you, how you feeling?"

"I'm okay. My vision is back in both eyes, just one is still blurry. Migraine is now just a little headache." She sat up, folding her legs beneath her.

"It's been a while since you've had one of these episodes." Tifa said and watched as the the ninja nodded once, making a little sound of agreement in the back of her throat.

"I got a letter from my old man and I guess it stressed me out a bit. Had pretty interesting nightmare because of it." She said, her eyes narrowing ever-so-slightly at the memory of it.

Tifa didn't pry. She knew that there was a lot that the ninja was dealing with, a lot of secrets that still left untold. However, Yuffie promised her shortly after the battle at the pagoda, that she would

be the first to know what she had wanted to keep from everyone until she felt comfortable to tell them everything. The fighter couldn't wait for that day to come. She wanted to know the story that only a certain gunman was privy to.

At hearing the ninja's soft sigh, an idea formed in Tifa's mind, causing a bright smile to trace her lips. "Hey Yuffs, why don't you take a break from everything?"

"Huh?"

"You're forgetting about a certain present given to you by an engineer and a foul-mouthed fly-boy. You and Vincent can get away for a while! Take that trip to Costa del Sol and have fun with one another."

"You know, that's not a bad idea. I really did forget about that and I do want Vince to go with me..." The ninja pulled her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them and smiling. "But we won't be able to go right away. We have to train Yoshi and theres still stuff to do with the dojo now that construction is almost complete. You and Spiky have been pretty busy too though, so what are you gonna do? Are you gonna take one too? You can always hitch a ride with us at Cid's expense."

Tifa chuckled and shook her head at the little ninja. "You'll be in Costa for two weeks. If you want, Cloud and I can come a bit later and stay at the condo. I think it'd be nice for us to pay a visit to Nanaki, maybe make the trip by chocobo and hitch a ride back with you all."

They continued to plan and plot their vacation only to be interrupted by the gunman bringing a light breakfast to his little ninja alongside his own. They let the gunman in on the plan and with a smile made solely for his ninja, he readily agreeing to the plan to spend time with his beloved Yuffie. Tifa went down to have breakfast with the rest of their friends.

Over breakfast, Vincent told her of everyone's plans for the day. "Rude, Reno and I will be patrolling the lower Nibel Mountain trails while Cloud works with Yoshi. Reeve and Elena will be working on a project so they will mainly be in the library. Cloud mentioned that Tifa was going to check on the construction site to talk with the crew leader."

"Yeah, I was suppose to be going with her today. But I think I'm going to take your advice and relax until I feel like getting up. You don't mind if I continue to hoard your bed, do you?"

"Not at all." He shook his head, his claret eyes filled with warmth as they met her stormy ones.

"If I feel better, I'll probably be working on something in my 'lair'." She said and listened to his chuckle.

"Vincent! We're ready to go when you are!" Reno called from below, causing the dark haired teen to smile and shake her head.

"I'll see you later Vince." She said and felt her cheeks heat as he leaned in, placing a soft kiss on her lips.

"Feel better, Yuffie." He stood once more and move to the closet, grabbing his cloak and his weapon and leaving her alone in his bedroom.

The little ninja flopped back onto the bed and sighed, her fingertips coming to brush against her tingling lips. "Definitely need time alone...no interruptions..." She grumbled.

.:-o-:.

Around noon, Yuffie showered and dressed, felling like herself once more. Her eyes were focused and after making herself, Reeve and Elena sandwiches for lunch, she retired to her art room, dubbed 'her lair,' and sat on a stool looking out the window. She felt like starting a new project, and after a few moments of thought, she snapped her fingers and grinned.

She remembered the story that Tifa had told her involving herself, Cloud and the well that sat in the middle of the town square. Grabbing a sketch pad, she began to draw, plotting out the image she saw in her mind's eye. As her pencil moved rapidly over the coarse paper, memories of the nightmare that tormented her sleep were washed away thanks to a tide of creativity.

o-o-Author's Notes-o-o

Tseng: ...So what did we learn, Ezri?

Ezri: -pouts- Not to set deadlines...

Tseng: And why is that??

Ezri: Because when I, in particular, set deadlines, something always comes up to foil my plans...

Tseng: And?

Ezri: ...um... you're a sexy bishi?

Tseng: ...

Ezri: What?! You know its true!! -sighs- I set expectations for my poor readers.

Tseng: keep going...

Ezri: And I always feel bad afterwards...

Tseng: Good girl. -gives Ezzy her Vinnie plush back-

Sorry about the late posting on this. I meant to do it earlier in the week, but thanks to a lack of sleep, an extensive dental visit, and other incidents, I had to push it back a bit. But you'll be happy to know that chapter 52 is about 95 (ffnet ate my percent sign, damnit!) done!

Now I must be headed to bed. I was suppose to be asleep about an hour ago since I have to do my Saturday rotation tomorrow...it sucks!!

Thank all of you who have reviewed! I appreciate the support and it really has made me go into overdrive for the last week or so :) -just looks at clock- UGH!! Its fricken 12:30 already?! I gotta get up in about five hours!! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!

-sighs and trudges away from computer-

Thank you all and I hope I didn't miss any of you in my review replies...

Ezzy