Vincent shook his head. He knew Godo was always a person who liked people to do as he told them to, but to brutally whip his own daughter and disown her was beyond belief. He looked at the sobbing girl sat with her head in her shaking hands beside him, and something rose inside him. Was it pity? Was it wanting to care for her, keep her safe? Vincent didn't know, but he did the only thing he could think of. Reaching out to his friend, he wrapped his arms around her, held her to his chest, stroking her short black hair as she cried.
Yuffie was so taken aback that she gasped aloud. This was not the way Vincent normally acted- he was just an expressionless vampire who liked to muse over Lucrecia, in her eyes. Nevertheless, Yuffie wasn't complaining. At that moment she wanted nothing more than to be held. She nestled closer to him and dried her dripping eyes with the back of her hand. Vincent held her closer, murmuring, "Don't cry, you're safe here..."
Yuffie dried her eyes again and looked up at Vincent. "Why are you being so nice to me? You're not usually like this." She sniffed again. Her grey eyes locked onto Vincent's red ones, waiting for him to answer.
Vincent sighed. "I know what it is like to be scared, Yuffie. It is not an experience anybody wants to remember, yet somehow you always do. Back when I was in the Turks, I went to Hojo when I found out that he had injected pregnant Lucrecia with Jenova cells. She had collapsed in agony, wanting to die. I was furious at Hojo, yet he just laughed. He shot me in the chest, and I fell to the floor, not knowing if I would die. I truly was terrified, Yuffie...when I woke and found what he had done to me I knew there was no place in the world for me. That...that is why I slept in the coffin for 30 years. Until you and the party discovered me."
Yuffie touched his white cheek tenderly. "There is a place for everyone," she whispered. "Even you. Even me."
It was midnight, and Yuffie awoke abruptly, feeling as though someone had doused her in ice-cold water. She had had a nightmare, about her father...
She swung her legs out of bed and left her room, padding softly down the corridor towards Vincent's. Cracking open the door a little, she peered inside, almost gasping at what she saw. Vincent was fast asleep, one arm under his head. But it wasn't that that stunned her; it was how handsome he looked when sleeping. Moonlight fell across his calm face, illuminating it. His raven hair spread out in a dusky halo round his head, a few strands falling across his face. The blanket had been kicked off a little, revealing him in only black boxers. Yuffie stared at his smooth chest, watching his slow breathing. She steeled herself to move forward, so she was standing beside his sleeping form. Hesitating a little, she leaned over him, touching his arm, but she didn't even get a chance to speak his name to rouse him. Vincent shot upright, eyes flying open; his eyes grew wider when his head hit Yuffie's, their lips colliding with such force that Yuffie had to grab Vincent to stop herself falling. She froze when she realised their lips were still together. And she still had her fingers tightly closed round his arm. Yuffie yelped and leapt back, eyes wide as saucers.
Vincent glared at her. "What...are you doing in my room at this time?"
Yuffie slapped herself mentally. Oh man...
"Oh, I, er...it's nothing..." Yuffie bit her lip, and bolted out of his room, her face scarlet. Vincent sat, frozen where he was, wondering what the hell that was all about. I will think about this in the morning, he said to himself, lying down again, running a finger over his lips, where he could still feel the younger woman's. And in the opposite room, a stricken Yuffie lay awake all night, staring at the ceiling, transfixed.
As soon as it was morning, Vincent departed for the cave he knew so well...