Chapter 54: Race ya!
'Chaos speaking to Vinnie'
'Vincent speaking to Chaos'
'Thinking'
"Speaking"
The pillows were piled high against the headboard, supporting the back of the ninja as she sat on the soft bed, her legs crossed at the ankles. Glancing over to clock and the dresser, she wasn't surprised to see that it was nearly noon and yet, they were just waking up. A magazine had made its home in her lap as she flipped through, trying to decide on what they were going to do for the day. It had been two days since their arrival in the costal resort town and thus far, she had enjoyed every moment of it.
After their first dinner together at the Wutain restaurant, they had walked together down the dark road hand-in-hand, away from prying eyes. She remembered sitting in the back of their vacation home, leaning against her gunman's chest, feeing his warm breath at the back of her neck as the watched the waves in their eternal ebb and flow. Talking was sporadic and traversed random subjects and when they were silent, gentle kisses were given and eagerly received between the couple. Against the cool ocean breeze that evening, she felt so warm in his arms. Just thinking about it brought a blush to the ninja's cheeks and a smile to her lips.
The once steady sound water stopped abruptly and Yuffie shook herself from her memories. A few moments later, her gaze moved to the door just as it opened revealing the person that had been in her thoughts.
Vincent walked out of the bathroom, a towel draped over his shoulders and black boxers were slung a bit low on his hips. Gray eyes watched as a particular drop of water made its way down his chest and stomach. It nearly lost its way due to the obstacle that was his navel, but it triumphed, only to disappear into the fabric that was his waist band. She tore her gaze away and looked to his handsome face only have the heat and redness return full blown at the small smirk that tilted the corner of his lips upward.
"You are a evil man, Vinnie." She pouted and made her way to her knees on the springy mattress and beckoning him forward with her finger. He chuckled and moved to the bedside. When he was close enough, the ninja grasped the towel, pulling him down for a light kiss on his soft lips. The scent of his soap was inhaled deeply as she told him to sit.
The ninja hopped off the bed and grasped her brush, confiscating his towel to dry his hair. She brushed those long ebon strands, freeing them of tangles before binding them with a leather thong to dry. After snagging her magazine, she hopped off the bed to inspect her work. His hair, tied back as it was, gave the illusion of short hair and she tilted her head to the side in thought.
"What?" He asked, unconsciously tilting his head slightly to mimicking her movement.
"Was your hair short when you were a Turk?" She asked.
"When I first started, it was. I cut it shortly after I became a Turk but before that, it was a bit shorter than what it is now."
She smiled brightly at the thought of a young Vincent in his Turk blues. "I know there has to be a picture of you back then somewhere around that mansion and I plan on finding it when we get back!" She laughed as moved to their bedroom door. "I'll be in the living room while you get dressed."
Yuffie moved barefoot down the hallway and into the living room, turning on the television just as the somewhat cheesy and overly dramatic theme for the twelve o'clock news began to play. Sitting her magazine on the countertop, she opened the fridge, taking a peek inside, then moving to search through the counter. An extremely girly yelp escaped her lips as strong hands wrapped around her waist and lifted her, placing her on the countertop next to her magazine.
Vincent took the initiative and placed a soft kiss on her lips as he stood between her parted legs. "I'll make us something to eat, you choose what we shall do today." He said against her lips and brushed his nose against her cheek before pulling away to begin pulling out eggs, milk, cheese and a small ham steak to make ham and cheese omelets.
Yuffie swung her legs as she alternated between looking at the tourism magazine that sat on her lap, watching her love make breakfast and glancing to the television in the living room when something caught her attention. As she flipped the page, one in particular caught her eye.
"Hey Vinnie, ya know, we've been here two days already and we haven't gone into the water yet." She turned the magazine to show him the ad. "How do you feel about a little snorkling? This place offers private scuba and snorkling trips to the reefs that are along the coastline. They even provide underwater cameras for you to use."
Vincent expertly added the cheese and ham to the two pans of egg and folded them before looking at the ad that his ninja was pointing to. "It is very peaceful."
"You've gone snorkeling before?" She asked, reaching for the cordless phone on the counter.
"Once before on a forced vacation," He gave a small smile. "I was injured on a mission and the doctor ordered me away from Midgar for a month when she found that I hadn't taken a vacation in nearly two years at that point. She said that time away in a warm climate would 'aide in my healing' but I believe that she was finally fed up with seeing injured and exhausted Turks coming in and out of her ward."
Yuffie couldn't help but to smile at the thought of a younger, stubborn Vincent. She began dialing the number on the ad mumbling a soft "I gotta find a picture of him when we get back."
"I will show you the few that I have, Yuffie." He promised her, gaining a grin as he slid the omelets onto the plates that he had pulled from the cabinet. Yuffie continued with her conversation for a few moments more before hanging up.
She hopped from the counter top as he took a bottle of white grape juice and two glasses over to the table. Taking a seat across from her gunman, she thanked him and said a quick prayer before bringing her eager gray eyes to meet his own. "Everything is set. We'll need to be there at three-thirty and they'll take us out. We have about three hours or so to burn until that."
He watched as she took a bite of her omelet and made a sound of appreciation. He loved the fact that she enjoyed the things he made for her. "What would you like to do until then?" Vincent asked and took a drink from his glass.
"I think we should go out for a swim. We practically have the ocean in our back yard and I'd rather do it here, rather than at the main beach." She said honestly, cutting of a piece of her omelet with her fork. While she was a bit nervous about her beach attire, she was thinking more of the man sitting across from her.
Vincent saw the blush that lit up the young woman's cheeks and wondered for a moment what it was exactly, that made her cheeks redden. He kept those questions to himself and nodded in agreement to her desire to go down to the beach and the two agreed to go to the beach before heading into town. Both figured that they would spend time on the more populated beach when Cloud and Tifa arrived.
.:-o-:.
A little over an hour later, Yuffie was walking over the heated sand with a pair of sandals on her dainty feet. Sunglasses protected her eyes from the bright, August sun that warmed their sink while the breeze from the ocean kept them from getting too overheated. The ninja looked up the beach, seeing the occasional group of people or family playing, but there was more than enough room between them and the others. Apparently, they weren't the only ones who wanted to swim on their own little stretch of beach.
They came to a stop on a fairly even piece of beach and Yuffie looked up to her companion. "Looks good?" She asked and watched as gave her a single nod, sitting the small ice chest on the ground and taking the large beach umbrella from his shoulder. Tucking the blanket she had been carrying under her arm, she sat their bag down on the sand before spreading the blanket out on the sand. Vincent opened the umbrella and planted it deeply in the ground, next to the ice chest.
Yuffie pulled their towels out of the bag along with the sunscreen, leaving the other small items in the satchel. She righted herself and stretched her arms high above her head, inhaling the salty air and letting out a sigh of happiness. The need to dive into those waves had her rocking on her heels, making her forget her earlier nervousness.
Vincent was about to call to her but the words froze at his lips and time seemed to freeze. Slightly widened claret eyes watched the ninja's hand moved to the zipper that kept her little shorts up on her shapely hips. The movements were oddly graceful as she shimmied out of her shorts without even a stitch of the fabric catching on the brace on her left leg. For the first time, the gunman noticed that the curve of her lower back seemed a bit more pronounced and that seemed to make the curve of her rear more pronounced. That perfect curve was hidden by dark green fabric held up by two thin strings tied into bows tied on each hip.
He was unable to pull his gaze away as the t-shirt she wore was pulled over her head exposing a top in a design that he had never seen before. The top was a matching green with the same style of strings that appeared to be tied behind her neck, but the bow was partially hidden by hair that just about fell to her shoulder blades. It appeared to be in the style of a bikini top but there were two panels that moved slightly with the breeze.
Time resumed as she turned to him, giving him a glimpse of her little belly button peaking out from between the green fabric. His eyes immediately moved up to her face as she crouched to grab the bottle of sunblock, and brought her eyes, protected by tinted glass, up to his own. A blush immediately flooded her cheeks as she sat on the blanket.
'You certainly seem to have a fixation with the little one's navel.' Chaos spoke to the gunman with amusement clear in the words.
Vincent considered remaining silent or possibly even denying those words but knew it was futile, for the demon would know if her were to lie. 'I can not help but to think that it is rather…' He paused searching for the right word.
'Cute? Sexy? Utterly lickable?' The demon stated, his tone oddly serious.
Vincent nearly gaped at the demon's assessment of a certain ninja's abdominal assets. The gunman swallowed hard and nodded while replying. 'Yes.'
A lecherous laugh immediately filled his mind. 'Well, which one is it? Cute, sexy or lickable?'
'I said yes.'
'So what! You still didn't answer me!'
'I have answered you, however you failed to interpret my answer. My answer is yes. That applies to all of the above.'
Chaos howled with laughter. 'The little one's Vinnie is a pervert! You have a belly button fetish!'
Vincent felt his cheeks heat at the ancient demons laughter and accusation. 'Do you truly consider it a fetish when only one person's asset effect you in such a way?'
'YES!'
"Yuffie," He started ignoring the demon's giddy laughter, his tone soft but to her ears and his own, a little rougher than usual. "You look beautiful, perfect." His hand closed the distance between them to brush against her cheek.
She could help but to smile, turning slightly to place a kiss against his palm. She moved to sit a bit closer to him, her head tilting slightly to meet his eyes. "Ya know, flattery will get you everywhere, Vince." She winked and gave him a grin. "If it was anyone else, it wouldn't work. I'm glad you like it though. Tifa helped me find it when we were back in Nibelheim." She uncapped the bottle, pouring a bit on her palm before starting to work it into her hands.
The gunman nodded and watched for a moment when she started to work the lotion into her long legs. "It suits you and a style that I have yet to see." He admitted, picking up the lotion and putting it on his arms up to his shoulders, the corner of his lip quirked slightly. During their journey, they had been to Costa on a few different occasions. Women were plentiful as they walked through the resort in their bathing suits, but considering their mission and the severity of it, his attention was mainly on accomplishing their goal, everything else was simply a blur. There were only three women in his life during that time, decreased to two with Aeris' departure (he was uncomfortable with describing it as her death now, since the Ancient was still with them in a way.) Yuffie was the only woman that he looked at as more than just an acquaintance or friend.
"Vinnie?" She broke him from her musings as she ran her hand across her stomach, ridding her hands of the remnant lotion. "Will you do my back?"
He nodded his head once, and swallowed slightly and moved behind her. Carefully, he worked the lotion into her skin with one hand and once done, was asked by his little ninja if he wanted her help. "It would be appreciated."
He stood and kicked off his sandals they had recently purchased before removing the light weight gray cotton pants to expose the black and red swim trunks then removed the white cotton t-shirt and moved to kneel before her. At her request, he held out his hand and she poured some lotion in his hand so he could do his chest. Vincent repressed a slight shiver when his ninja's small hands made contact with his back. It was over far too soon for him but he turned to her and placed a kiss on her lips.
"Thank you."
"No Need, Vinnie." She looked out to the water and then to him with a wide smile. "Race ya to the water!"
The ninja hopped to her feet and started running the short distance towards the water. He smiled and quickly stood, running after the ninja as she darted to the waves, quickly catching up with her. She appeared a bit slower on the soft sand and thought that it might have been due to her old injury. She laughed and attempted to pour on what speed she could when the sand became firmer, thanks to the warm water. They reached the water at the same time and dove into the deeper waters.
A few moments later, they both resurfaced. She swam towards him since her feet barely touched the sandy bottom. His height of a little over six feet gave him an advantage compared to her petite five feet plus a couple inches. He reached out and pulled her to him. "I think that was a tie." He said simply, his eyes showing his amusement.
She looked about ready to argue that fact but gave a mock pout that quickly turned to a smile once more as a small wave caused them to bob in the water. "Okay, it was a tie. I think we both deserve a prize though."
She leaned in and gave him kiss, something she would not have done if they were on the main beach for worry of his comfort, but out here, with few people around, she took that opportunity. His lips were slightly salty from the sea but underneath that, was purely Vincent. He responded immediately and nipped at her lower lip before pulling away.
"That was more than sufficient a prize for me." He wrapped his arm around her waist, keeping her close as another wave rolled over them.
"Me too." She said honestly, with happiness in her voice. "Thank you for coming with me on vacation. I'm really having a good time with you and I can't imagine how BORING this would have been if you couldn't have come."
"Thank you for allowing me to come. As I said, I've only had one vacation that I could remember and that was not as nearly as enjoyable as spending time here with you." He kissed her forehead and gave her and uncharacteristic grin.
Yuffie's eyes widened as she felt his hands grasp her hips. She shrieked as she found herself airborne with enough time to hold her breath before crashing into the water. She resurfaced a moment later, looking at him with amazement. "I can't believe you just did that! You are so gonna pay!" She said and launched her attack, splashing him with everything she had.
Their laugher danced in the air around them, occasionally accompanied by threats and shrieks from the ninja when she found herself being chased down by her gunman as he swam after her. She managed to get the drop on him when they made it into deeper waters by pulling him under from below the surf. The ninja surfaced, laughing as she looked at him with his dark hair plastered to his cheeks, having escaped from the thong he held in his hand. He slipped beneath the water's surface and reappeared a moment later, his head tilted back to allow the water to pull his hair away from his face.
Vincent reached out to her, smiling warmly. He hadn't remembered having this much fun with anyone since his parents had been alive. She came to him and took the thong from his hand and tied it around his wrist so that he wouldn't lose it. She allowed him to pull her against his chest as he kept them afloat. A peaceful sigh escaped her lips, she being held by the man she loved.
.:-o-:.
Yuffie sat in the shade of the awning outside of the bungalow office with grocery bags at her feet. She opened the bag that sat in her lap and removed one of ten seashells that she had found under the sea. Their guide had cleaned them and polished the pearly underside until it show. Opalescent pinks, greens and blues danced as she tilted the shell back and forth causing her to smile.
'Marlene will love these.' She thought carefully placing the shell back into the bag when a pale hand came into view. The ninja looked up and met the soft crimson eyes of her love and took the cold bottle from his hands. "Thank you."
"You're welcome. The carriage should be here in a few moments." He took a seat beside her on the bench, opening his own bottle of water.
Yuffie gave him a single nod and took a drink of the cool sweetness of her apple juice. "Are you sure that you feel like cooking tonight? I don't know about you, but I'm pretty tired. We can still just grab something to take back with us."
Vincent looked at her through a veil of his own hair, giving her a humble smile, unknowingly causing her heart to falter at the innocent action. "It's alright. I want to cook for you. I enjoy it, even if it's something easy."
Something teasing instantly filled those gray as she bumped his arm with her shoulder. "Are you sure its not because of your newfound fan club?" She asked, amused as the carriage pulled to a stop, its passengers climbing out into the waning sunlight as it had begun to give way to the first hints of the evening darkness.
Vincent offered her his hand as he picked up the grocery bags, an almost shy smile tracing his lips as she continued. "They're not important to me. You however, are. Anytime that I can cook a meal for the person who is most important, is something I can enjoy immensely."
Yuffie climbed into the back of the carriage with her gunman and entwined her hand with his when he had settled. "Any day that I can have your wonderful cooking and share a meal with you is a good day." She the carriage began to move in direction of the bungalows and she placed three kisses along his strong jaw line. "Which is why everyday has been a good day, Vince."
"For I as well, Yuffie." He squeezed her hand and gave a pleased sigh as he felt her head come to rest on his shoulder. A yawn was heard from the ninja beside him and he too, felt a bit tired. Yuffie sat next to the man she loved as the came back from the city and reached into a grocery bag, and removing a cardboard backed envelope.
She smiled as she flipped through the underwater pictures that they had taken while snorkeling with their guide. It was just as Vincent had said, peaceful and beautiful. There was one picture that she had taken that was her favorite. It was one that the guide had taken of herself and Vincent diving deeper into the water, side by side, coral from the reef seemed to reach out to them as a school of brightly colored fish swam by. It made Yuffie happy that she would have these still frames as permanent record of this day with her gunman.
.:-o-:.
Once they returned to their bungalow, their swimsuits were rinsed and tossed into the washer with some of their other things. Vincent placed their groceries in the kitchen then grabbed clean clothing. He retreated to the guest bathroom while Yuffie showered in the master.
Clean of salt-water and sand, Vincent made them a simple meal of grilled turkey sandwiches topped with chipotle mayo, provolone cheese, and a small salad with extra croutons and cheese, just as she liked it. They gathered their drinks and plates, and made themselves comfortable on the couch.
An action/romance movie that had been filmed in Midgar before the destruction had occurred played on the television. Vincent looked down to the ninja who lay with her head resting on a pillow in his lap, shouting at a blond woman who seemed to need rescuing all too often. If Yuffie had her way, the bad guys would keep the ditzy blond.
He wanted more nights like this. For him, everything was perfect with her in his life.
.:-Authors Notes-:.
Nothing much to say for this chapter other than I adore doing interactions between Chaos and Vincent! They are so much fun and to have Chaos tease him about something like a fetish, lol, that had me giggling. This is how that bit of dialogue was created.
Ezzy: -snoring with teddy bears, tons of pillows and a blanket over head, only nose, cheek and mouth visible, Fan blows in face, 3:46 am-
Muse-Sama: -looks down at snoring ezzy and grins-
Ezzy: - continues to snore away-
Muse-Sama: -puts on golden boxing glove knowing it is the only way to wake a sleeping ezzy in her natural habitat-
Ezzy: -rolls over, arm falls off bed, but continues to sleep-
Muse-Sama: Wakey wakey! –punches ezzy in the face-
Ezzy: Ahhhh! –wakes up, cradling jaw- What the hell is wrong with you!? That hurt!
Muse-Sama: I got an idea! -tosses the keyboard into lap which wakes up constantly on computer, brings up Always Smiling file VI- Hop to, girl!
Ezzy: -closes eyes but types away. Giggling occasionally while doing so-
Muse-Sama: -Monitors work since ezzy is doing like usual and typing with eyes closed- Stop there!
Ezzy: -opens eyes and reads, occasionally giggling- I like it! Thanks Muse-sama!
Muse-Sama: -Grins- Go back to sleep
Ezzy: -reduces visible body parts to nose, mouth and cheek as fan continues to blow cold air on face…shortly after, starts snoring again-
Seriously, I get random ideas and sometimes I wake up, type it out and pass out again, lol.
Well, that's all for now, I'll be trying to get some stuff done this week as well, I'm just trying to figure out how far to jump into their vacation.
Thanks for reading! -showers everyone in chocolates-
Ezzy