Yuffie had remained in Mideel Hospital for a week now, and still she showed no sign of waking from the induced coma. Not wanting to leave her, Vincent had barely moved from her bedside all week. He had found that talking to her was a way of clearing his troubled mind; though she could not hear him, it comforted him to have someone to talk to. He slept only occasionally, the gentle beep of the monitors still attached to Yuffie helping him sleep, the reassuring fact that she still lived sending him off.

Morning seemed to have come early- though it was only 7 o'clock, it was as bright outside as if it was midday. Vincent was already awake, watching Yuffie as she slept on. Will she ever wake? I must speak to her properly, I must tell her... Sighing heavily, Vincent gazed out of the window at early morning Mideel. Not many people were up and about yet, and those who were had a hangdog, tired look about them. Finding nothing interesting to look at outside, Vincent returned his gaze to Yuffie. Standing up, he wandered to her bed, stroking her cheek with his thumb. Her cheeks had filled out a lot more during her stay in hospital, and she looked healthier than she did a week ago. Vincent pulled her blanket down a little, running his hand along her stomach and hips. It feels strange to do this, but at least I know if she is okay. Her body has gained more weight, she feels like she has recovered the lost fat...but if only she would wake, I could see her beautiful eyes again, hear her childish laugh, hold her close... Vincent drifted off into deep thought. I still do not believe how much I have changed since she arrived at Nibelheim. Somehow, I have learned that even I possess emotion, me, the so called 'vampire'. I have learned to laugh, smile, and somehow, I have recovered the ability to love... He returned to stroking Yuffie's face, still thinking. I love her...I do not know why, but she has cast some sort of spell on me. To love again is a big step for me, to forget Lucrecia and move on...though Lucrecia will always have a place in my heart somewhere...

Vincent's eyes travelled over Yuffie's still face, taking in her beauty. Her eyes, her hair, her lips, her body...it is little wonder that I have fallen in love with her, yet it still feels strange, as if I should not. Twisting his hair confusedly with his metal hand, Vincent thought back to when Cloud, Nanaki and Tifa had visited. He thought about when they had left, how Yuffie had nestled close to him, her arms wrapped round him in a tender embrace. Thanks, Vince. Thanks for everything. They were her exact words to me. She was so happy then. But now...her life seems to have turned upside down. And with it, mine.

A slight groan brought Vincent sharply back to his senses. He stared at Yuffie, puzzled. Was that her? Vincent started as Yuffie groaned again, squeezing her tightly closed eyes further still, her head moving slightly. "Yuffie?" Vincent whispered tentatively. He clutched her hand as if he never wanted to be parted from her, watching her intensely.

Slowly, as if waking from a dream, Yuffie's eyes fluttered open, roving round the small room. She turned her head to the side, spotting Vincent sat beside her. Alarmed, she made to sit up, but she found a strong hand gently pushing her back onto the bed. "Do not strain yourself, Yuffie," Vincent murmured.

"Vincent, I- what am I do-"

"You collapsed around a week ago. I had to bring you here, I had no choice." Vincent shook his head. "The doctors told me you drank bleach. Why? What on earth...? No, I should not ask right now. All that matters is...you're okay..."

"Vincent..." Yuffie breathed. She sat up again, her arms winding round Vincent's waist, resting her head on his chest. This time, he did not stop her sitting up, and his own arms pulled her to him, stroking her hair. You would have thought they had not seen each other in years, such was the tenderness of their embrace.

Yuffie pulled away abruptly when she felt something damp run through her hair. Perplexed, she gazed in shock at Vincent, who had lowered his head, eyes closed, tears leaking from beneath his eyelids. "Vince? Are you crying?"

Vincent hurriedly dried his eyes, shaking his head, though he kept his gaze firmly fixed on the floor. His voice trembling slightly, he said, "I have just been so worried, Yuffie. Forgive me, I do not usually show such emotion." Another tear fell down his face, but he ignored it as he choked back a sob.

"Oh, Vince..." Yuffie hugged him again, wiping the tear track away. "No need to cry, I'm fine now. I think..." She looked down at herself, then let out a cry of surprise. "Whoa, look at me! I'm sure I wasn't that fat the last time I saw me! And what's with all these monitors and things? And a tube in my nose? By Leviathan, I look hideous!"

Vincent chuckled, tears still sparkling on his eyelashes. "Yuffie, if anything, you are far from hideous. If you could see your face now, you would see how much you have changed." He brushed a hand through her hair, moving a few wayward strands, smiling beneath his cloak. "You are beautiful..."

Yuffie was in the process of feeling her cheeks when she heard the words, "You are beautiful..." She stared at Vincent, confused. "Seriously, are you Vincent? If you are, what the hell has happened to you?!"

Chuckling again, Vincent looked at the ninja watching him with an expectant expression. Speaking quietly, he said, "A lot has happened to me, Yuffie. Ever since..." He trailed off, embarrassed.

"The kiss?" Yuffie enquired, hand over her mouth. Now we're getting somewhere!

"Yes, the kiss. Ever since then, I have had a burning feeling deep inside me, yearning to burst free. At first, I did not know what it was, but in recent days, I have realised. It was love..."

Yuffie decided it was best to stay silent. Her head was spinning from all this. Vincent loves me?!

Vincent continued," There have been other things too. For instance, whenever we have..." he probed his mind for the right word, "...hugged, the feeling inside me grew stronger. It made my very body ache, not being able to have you as my own, knowing it would never be so. But the way your arms encircled me, holding me tight, it felt...real. I could imagine that you were mine, I was yours...yet there was always this voice at the back of my head telling me constantly- "This is wrong. Abandon your attempts, Vincent, for she will never be yours."

"Last week, when we argued after I pressed you about your weight, the only happiness I had left drained from me. I was upset, frustrated that I had angered you- that is why I sought refuge in Lucrecia's cave, hoping to calm myself down. Unfortunately, I fell asleep, and when I returned to the manor at 1 o'clock, you collapsed from hunger and poisoning. The fact that I was 'missing' probably added to your worries, I suppose. I contacted Cid- who says "Hi", by the way- and he flew us to Mideel. That is where we are now. You have been comatose since you have been here, and the tube in your nose has been giving you the food you need so much. You look a dozen times much better than you did a few weeks ago, I can assure you."

Vincent finished talking, while Yuffie ran her hands over herself, smiling. "Oh wow, I do look better! And I feel great! What was I thinking, starving myself like a complete idiot?"

"Yuffie, do not blame yourself. Though I lost my temper at you because of this, it was purely down to stress which made you lose your appetite. Though I want you to start eating again once you are allowed out of here, understand? And no bleach!" He looked at Yuffie seriously, drumming his fingers on his gauntlet, sinister clinks echoing throughout the small room.

"Oh yeah, course...Vince, did you mean what you said? You love me?"

"...I meant every word I said. I do not lie."

"Well," Yuffie pulled Vincent's hand away from his gauntlet and slipped her hand into it, grinning. "I don't know why you're saying all this "Yuffie will never want me" crap, 'cos quite frankly, you're talking bullshit."

"Wha-you mean?!"

"Yes..." Yuffie breathed, leaning forwards, tilting her head to kiss him...

"Ah, Miss Kisaragi, you're awake!"

"Damn," Yuffie muttered, going red. However, Dr. Ken did not appear to have seen anything, so she and Vincent were saved their embarrassment. The doctor bustled in, beaming broadly. "Glad to see you're up and running again!" he said. "I must say, you do look a great deal healthier than you did before." His voice suddenly turned more serious. "Do you think you will be able to eat normally again?"

Yuffie nodded vigorously, her silky, yet slightly tangled hair bobbing up and down. "Yeah, of course I will. I wouldn't want to worry anyone else."

"Good thinking, my girl. And, of course, no more ingesting of toxic cleaning products?"

"Promise."

"Well then, I think it is appropriate to remove your feeding tube and your monitors. I see no reason for you to need them anymore." As if on cue, Vincent stepped outside, leaving Dr. Ken to do his work. As he had previously done, he went outside to wait. He had barely stepped outside when he felt his phone vibrating. Fishing it out of his pocket, he flipped it up and held it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Yo, Vincent, it's Cid."

"Hello, Cid."

"Crikey, you and your monotone &%$ing voice! I wanted to know how the brat is."

"If by 'brat' you mean Yuffie, then she is awake. They are removing her monitors and I am waiting outside until they are done. It will probably take about an hour."

"Cool. Hey, she's not all thin like she was before, is she?"

"Glad to say, no. She is perfectly fine, and on the mend."

"Good, good. Girls and their &%$ing weird minds, eh? I'm gonna go, the Shera needs servicin'. See ya round, yeah?"

"See you..." Vincent put the phone down, dropping it back in his pocket. He leaned against the timber wall of the hospital, fiddling with his unkempt hair. I wonder when Yuffie is allowed out of hospital? he wondered. Having nothing else to do, Vincent picked up a handful of gravel and started flicking it. Around an hour later, realising he could probably see Yuffie again, Vincent threw the rest of the gravel into a puddle and set off back to Yuffie's room. She was sat up on her bed, monitors and tube gone, though her nose looked rather sore. "Does it hurt?" Vincent asked, sitting on the edge of the bed beside her.

Yuffie grimaced. "Yeah, a bit...they're bloody torturers when it comes to getting rid of that tube." She rubbed her nose, wincing. She noticed Vincent was watching her avidly. "What?"

"Nothing." Vincent looked away quickly. "It's nothing..." He felt Yuffie take his hand, and he looked back at her.

"Sorry about earlier," she said. "You know, when I tried to..."

"Perfectly understandable." Vincent was looking at her with an almost hungry look in his red eyes. "If anything, maybe I wanted-" Vincent's words were cut off as Yuffie put a finger to his lips, saying, "Shhh." She leaned forwards, her other hand coming to rest on Vincent's waist as her lips met his.

Vincent froze in shock. I cannot believe this is actually happening! Instinctively, he did the only thing he could think of; his eyes slid shut as he returned the kiss, his gloved hand sliding up her neck to her face, his fingers gently grazing her cheek. He moved his metal hand to rest in the small of her back, tilting his head sideways to have a better angle.

Yuffie let her eyes open a fraction, chancing a look at Vincent. His eyes were closed in utter bliss, his mouth working in time with hers. So peaceful... Yuffie closed her eyes again, moving closer to Vincent as she continued to kiss him. Feeling her move, Vincent readjusted his arms so they were wrapped round her waist, holding her close.

It seemed like an eternity...but finally they broke apart, both slightly out of breath. "Wow..." Yuffie gasped, running a hand over her lips. "I didn't know you were so good at kissing..."

"Yeah, I was just thinking that myself," came a laughing male voice as the door opened. Cloud strode into the room, followed closely by Tifa. Both Yuffie and Vincent flushed a deep crimson, staring into their laps. "Oh come on guys, what the hell are you embarrassed about?" Cloud laughed. "Well, okay, we've pretty much just walked in on you guys sucking face, but-"

"Cloud!" Tifa warned threateningly. She crossed the room to Yuffie, giving her a one armed hug. "You look so much better now, Yufs! We were so worried! Are you okay now?"

"Er..yeah, good, I guess..." Yuffie murmured, still staring determinedly at anywhere but Cloud, who had perched himself on the end of the bed, grinning manically.

"Oh, ignore him, he seems to think that two people kissing is hilarious...but you guys looked so cute together!" Cloud made vomit noises from beside her. "Cloud, I swear I'm going to punch you right where it hurts in a minute!"

"What are you two doing down here?" Vincent said, plucking up the courage to speak, as Cloud was silenced with a threatening move of Tifa's iron-hard fist.

"Oh, I've got a scan soon, and Cid phoned us a few days ago to tell us what had happened to Yuffie. I gotta tell you, I cried for hours, I was that worried. But Cid gave us a ride here for the scan, and we thought we'd see if we could find you. We were told which room you were in, and Cloud just started laughing like a toddler when he saw you two..."

"Yuffie Kisaragi? Oh yes, room seven, just down this corridor."

"Thanks," said Tifa. "Come on Cloud, I want to see Yuffie!" She set off down the corridor, leaving Cloud to run to catch up.

"Room three, four, five, six, seven...ah, here we are." Cloud peered inside the small window. Immediately, his face creased up as he started to laugh hysterically. "What?" Tifa demanded impatiently.

"They...they're..." Cloud clutched his ribs as he fought for breath.

"Oh, for God's sake," Tifa muttered, pushing past him, looking through. A smile brightened her face as she saw what Cloud thought was so funny- Yuffie and Vincent, holding each other, mouths moving together in a passionate kiss. "Oh, how sweet!" she said. Rounding on Cloud, she said stormily, "And what's so funny about that?"

"Its...come on Tif, it's the two people you would never expect to be together. Yuffie, and Vincent Valentine of all people! It's just weird!"

"Sometimes you really are a child," Tifa sighed, looking back through the window where Yuffie and Vincent had just broke apart.

"Wow...I didn't think you were so good at kissing..."

Choosing his moment, Cloud opened the door and said, "Yeah, I was just thinking that myself..."

"...And that just goes to show that men are just immature bastards half the time," Tifa finished.

"I am not an immature bastard!" Cloud said reproachfully.

"Sigh...anyway, do you know when you're allowed to go, Yufs?"

"Oh man, I dunno. Hope it's soon, though, I get tired of just having to stay in one position for ages."

"Yeah, I can understand that..." Tifa consulted her watch. "Well, my scan's happening any minute now, so I'm gonna have to skedaddle." She ruffled Yuffie's hair. "Glad to see you're well again. We'll see you soon."

"Yeah, see you two around..." Cloud heaved himself up, raising his hand in farewell as he left after Tifa.

Vincent appeared to have been holding his breath until then; he exhaled heavily, blowing his tangled fringe upwards. "That was rather embarrassing..."

Yuffie giggled, running her hands through her own hair in an attempt to straighten it. "Yeah, for once I gotta agree with you." She rubbed her still aching nose. "Leviathan, this hurts," she groaned.

"It will pass, "Vincent commented simply. He stared at the doorway Tifa and Cloud had just left through. "Do you think they will tell anyone?"

"About what?"

"You know...us."

"Maybe." Yuffie shuffled a little closer to him, laying her head on his chest contentedly. "But frankly, I don't give a damn. Let them think what they want."

"Yes...you are right." Vincent slipped an arm round Yuffie's shoulders, pulling her closer a little. "Somehow, I do not care either. It feels rather strange, but-" he kissed the top of Yuffie's head- "as long as I have you, I feel I can cope."

Sighing happily, Yuffie snaked an arm round Vincent's waist, the other round the small of his back. "Just wait till I'm out of here. Just think..." She said the last part with a seductive side to her voice, looking up at him.

Vincent gently pulled Yuffie to his level, drawing her into another passionate kiss. "Don't give me ideas..." he breathed, running his hands through her hair.