Disclaimer: Still the same as last time kiddies! Everything belongs to Square-Enix, not me!

Vincent Valentine sat with one leg carefully balanced on the knee of the other, seated in a luxrious, plush, black leather chair. On his leg he held a small cup of coffee, while resting his claw arm on the armrest of said chair. He flexed the claws meditatively, pushing back memories of how he had lost the thing to begin with. It was a terrible war that he had taken place in, when he had been a member of that elite company called Shinra.

His parents, like all good royalty, strongly believed in the "Heir and a Spare" theorem. This cruel and unusual domestic set-up usually comprised of the King and Queen of a nation having two sons, one who would be raised to become the next king, and one who would be put into the military. The military son grew up with the knowledge that he would never rule the kingdom, unless of course the unthinkable happened and his brother died. This was a very rare occurance, and usually said brother ended up living a hard but simple life. However, this was not the case for Vincent.

Naturally, the king and queen of course had an older child, Vincent's older brother Seth. Seth was supposed to grow up and become the new king of Nibelheim, however, it did not happen quite that way.

Seth had always been a precocious and very sensitive child. He hid it well behind a very disciplined, and at the same time, badboy attitude; but when people said things that were about him, he tended to take it to heart, no matter how radical the claim.

It seemed as though Seth Valentine was also an emotional masochist, because he would spend hours and hours in the basement, pouring over magazines and tabloids that featured stories about his family.

One day, Seth, at the ripe age of twenty-five, read in a magazine, a disturbing article about the possibility of his mother not actually being his legitimate mother. It was a ludicrous claim of course, it would have been more feasible had they accused his father of not being his legitimate dad. However, Seth in all of his oversensitivity, bought into the tabloid rumours, and went crazy. He now believed that he was actually the son of his father's ex-consort, Geneva, and as a result, ran away from the kingdom only to be heard of years later.

According to the papers that Vincent's parents read, Geneva turned out to be a convict who was living in a prison all this time. Seth found her and broke her out of jail, only to end up being manipulated by this evil woman claming to be his mom. In the end, Seth and his "mother" were both caught hiding in the northernmost parts of the planet, and there were killed by a band of travelers that the two unsuccessfuly tried to rob.

This news of course devasted the royal couple; because their heir had not only died, but died never knowing the truth that Queen Valentine was in fact, his biological mother. Another terrifying fact was that the royal line was in danger of being demolished. While all this had transpired, Vincent was already serving in a war somewhere off in a foreign land, and the fact remained that if he got killed, there would be no heir to the Nibelheim throne.

Of course fate was not completely cruel to the royal family, and Vincent was given an honorable discharge when he lost him arm saving a comrade from a vicious back attack by one of his own allies. The Valentine family of course hired the best doctor money could buy, Dr. Hojo of Shinra's lab department, and had their son mended into fine condition. From that point on, Vincent was coddled and treated as though he had been the only son all along, because of his now-prominent role in keeping Nibelheim's crown in the Valentine bloodline.

Of course while Vincent had been away, there were many candidates eyeing the seemingly up-for-grabs crown, all of which were none too happy with the more or less safe return of the youngest Valentine son.

Tragedy would strike the poor boy, now a man, again, when his mother and father were brutally murdered in their very own country. He was shocked to discover that they had died fighting, and not as humans. It was then he discovered the dirty secret that he came from a long line of shapeshifters.

It was amazing that all these things had not overwhelmed the poor young man, who was now, at the age of twenty-seven, the Crown Prince of Nibelheim, an orphan, a shapeshifter, and the younger brother of a notorious psychopath. These things were why Vincent was rather apprehensive about sending the letter to Kisaragi-taishou inquiring about his daughter and her maritual status.

He realized as he sipped his coffee that he wasn't quite fond of the idea of getting married, however he wasn't opposed to it either. And he had not yet had enough experience with children to form a fair opinion on them. But he also knew that his parents had gone through a lot to keep the crown in the family, and that now was as good a time as ever to start looking for someone to make an heir with. His country was prospering. The support and morale of his people for their country and Crown Prince were high. They would accept a good marriage with open arms.

Of course Vincent feared that all of his secrets would spill out and dispel the King of Wutai from letting his daughter marry him, but there were other girls of course. But he was quite sure that he would like a young, quiet, timid woman like those of Wutai. Like the girl he had fallen in love with during the war but ultimately lost. Yes, a good Wutain wife is just what he needed.

Placing the empty cup on the table in front of him as he got up, Vincent Valentine took long strides back to his room to take a small midafternoon nap. All the thinking he had done had begun to give him a headache.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Yuffie Kisaragi had given Reno Kobayashi-Kim a headache.

He was practically crosseyed from constantly trying to steal glances at the girl out of the corner of his eye. They had been sitting on the beach downing drinks and Mexican food for quite a while now. He was afraid that the porcelain complexion of the dazzling girl sitting next to him in the sand was going to fry and blister angrily...yet on the other hand he thought of how she might look with a nice warm tan to add color to her luxuriously long legs and slender white arms. Reeve caught him looking at her as hungrily as a wolf and felt his stomach sink to his knees. He could barely eat more than two tacos, though his beer consumption rate was at an all-time high, considering all the hot water he could imagine he was going to be in.

If only I had been smarter...the moment I knew it wasn't Rude I should have turned right around and left! Told Kisaragi-taishou that Rude was sick and couldn't make it. I never should have agreed to this, and now, oh Leviathan I am doomed.

It would not have been so bad if it had only been Reno eyeing Yuffie surreptitiously out of the corner of his eye, but he had also noticed the more frequent and very curious looks that the young ninja had been trying slyly to shoot back at the redhead.

Reno had decided that as good as she would look with a tan, he liked that pearl-like quality to her skin much better. He stood up, dusting the sand off his pants, and grabbed the young girl by the wrist and yanked her up. She stumbled and fell clumsily into Reno's arms, quickly pulling away and blushing furiously

"Hey! What's the big idea?"

"I just thought we should get you outta the sun princess, your skin's gonna burn like chicken in hot oil...you're all pasty and don't even got sunblock on I bet."

Reno scratched his head nervously, realizing how attatched he must sound.
"Not that I care or anything, just don't want your dad blowing a gasket or somethin' for me damaging his precious goods..."

He inwardly smirked at the idea of damaging Kisaragi-taishou's goods alright.

Reeve caught the wicked gleam in his eye and interruped their little interlude with a prominent clearing of his throat.

"Anyway...I think it's time that we got our young princess home. Right Yuffie?"

Yuffie noticed as Reeve silently mouthed the name Vincent Valentine at her, and felt herself redden and her heart skip a beat or two at just the thought of him. However, when she looked at the tall, redheaded guy beside her, she couldn't help but feel a little bit of doubt creep into her throat.

"Thank you for showing her a good time Mr. Sparks," Reeve spat out, "I am sure you'll be hearing from Kisaragi taishou soon."

That doesn't necessarily mean it will be anything good of course...he mentally added.

Reno shrugged easily as he pulled out a cigarette and a lighter, and gave a dismissive look as to say that he had nothing to add before they left. As much as the good-looking girl in the short shorts and thigh-high boots looked, he had to remember to keep a straight face, because it could never be.

"Hey Yuf?"

"Yes?"

"Your underpants are showing out the back of your shorts."

The young ninja said nothing as she gazed at him in an amusing mix of horror and fury at his obviously gutter-bent mind.

"You ass..."

"I like yours, from what I see. Well...see ya."

And with that Yuffie could tell that as good as he looked she HATED that cold, obnoxious redhead. Even as his lanky frame started off towards the direction of the boat dock.

You prick...She thought. It's a good thing I got other plans in mind, because I'd hate to be stuck marrying a jackass like you.

Reeve would have been appalled at the language, but would have breathed a sigh of relief, just to hear these thoughts as he PHS'd a buggy back to Wutai, and ushered Yuffie away, anxiously casting glances over his shoulder, making sure that no one saw that Rude Sparks had never really been there.