Chapter 3

Yuffie had never hated her luck so much. The first boat ride here was bad enough, but this time who ever was driving this boat had about as much experience as a snake does. "I really should have asked for more than one of those tranquilizers from Cloud."

To get her mind off the rocking, she started thinking about what all has transpired over the last few days sense she had join. It became apparent that Barret didn't like her, no matter what she tried so she decided that she would need to go about doing a different tactic. If only she had an idea what that would be.

Red XIII was only mad at her for how long he was sore, and with a cure spell, that wasn't long. Cloud just accepted her in the party and didn't seem to think twice about anything concerning her. But she could tell that he was starting to look at her as somewhat of a little sister. It could get annoying in fights but she couldn't find fault in him. Like she said, it was only annoying and it was just misplaced concern.

And Aeris and Tifa hit it off from the get go. They became close friends in such a short time that the other three was dumbfounded at how fast it was. Those two tried their best to get Yuffie to open up and tell them about her past but she couldn't. If she did, would they still allow her to stay with the group? She did tell them about what she was doing. And they seemed to take it in rather good stride.

"Well that makes since about why you attacked us. We do seem to be collecting quiet a few materias." This came from Aeris but this came from Barret. "A DAMN THEIF! We should get rid of her before she steals our materia!" Yuffie only looked down at her feet while he was saying this and was expecting to him to say more. But when he didn't, she looked up to see why. And what she found was Tifa and Aeris giving him glares that would kill if he didn't shut up

He stopped after that but his opinion wouldn't change about her. That is until a monster started attacking this girl in the harbor. Cloud was there first so when he called out for help, everyone came running. To make a long battle short, she settled a few things during it.

She was able to get Cloud out of this bubble that the snake kept putting around him so she proved to him that she could take care of herself he didn't have to. And as for Barret, he was going to be eaten when the snake caught him off guard. The only reason it didn't was because she was keeping an eye out for spots people needed help. When the snake started down to eat him, she took the opening to slash it across its right eye. As she fell away, Aeris activated the Summon, ChocoMog to finish it off.

Barret just stared at her, trying to figure out what was going on but she had already forgotten him and went over to Pricilla. She wasn't breathing so Cloud had to perform CPR on her. When she started coughing, everyone let out a sigh of relief. As they headed for the stairs, Barret came up to her to try his best at an apology. "Look pes... Yuffie, I was wrong about you. You're still a thief in my opinion. But I was wrong." "Don't worry about it Barret, I'm sure you would have done the same for me." She left it at that and walked away, leaving Barret feeling guilty.

The next morning came more quickly then she would have preferred and her body protested as she got up. It was then that she noticed the music. As she headed outside, she saw Cloud talking to Pricilla when she gave him her amulet. Going to look at it, she saw it was in fact Shiva. "WHOA!" Everyone looked at her because they hadn't noticed that. "Take a look inside this ruby," she said. When they did, they saw a woman lying on her back, in the snow, waving at them. "Well, I'll be," came from Aeris.

After that, she lost interest with what they were saying until they started talking about going up. "I know a way." But no body seemed to be listening. She said it a few more time before they broke up. Pricilla went over to cloud and told her she knew the way up and started heading for the beach. Cloud called over his shoulder "Find anyway you can get up," and went down the stairs.

"Why do adults have to do things the hard way? And why don't they listen to someone younger then them, especially when they know something they don't." "Don't know," came from her side. She looked down at Red XIII and smiled. "As you were saying Yuffie." "I know the guard, I've been through here a few time, and I'm sure he'll let me up." "What about me?" "Not sure. Can you get on that overhang above the elevator?" "Yes" "Okay, let's go."

Red XIII moved into position and Yuffie went over to him. "Hello James." "Hello Yuffie, how can I help you? Like I don't already know. Let me guess, you what to go back over to the other continent? Or do you want to go see the coronation of President Rufus?" "The boat, I have finished before I though would so I'm going home." "Well, I'm under orders not to let anyone up the elevator until the coronation is over, but I don't think letting you up will hurt. Besides, I owe you a few favors." Turning his head to look around to see if anyone was watching, he looked back to her. "The usual price to cover the elevator, five gil. Oh, and when you get up top, there are some uniforms in the locker room. I think one of the sailor uniforms might fit you," he said this when a grin, knowing how she is on boats. "Put it on so no one will bother you. Just about even now." "Yeah, just about, here's your fee." He stepped out of the way to let her on and Red XIII jumped in.

Yuffie and Red XIII found the uniforms right where he said they would be. "You know, even if I'm in a uniform, I'll still stick out with you with me." "What should we do then?" Yuffie smiled at this, "well, we could put a collar and a least around your neck and pretend I'm taking my dog for a walk." "If you look closely, you'll see that I'm not laughing."

Still smiling, "then we have to put you in one of these uniforms." At this, he was almost tempted to say 'where's the collar?' but he kept quiet. "Here you go Red XIII, this should fit you."

Yuffie couldn't stop laughing at how he looked trying to stand and walk as a human does. Then she made a mock salute, seeing that his uniform was a sergeant's, "sir, we should leave before someone comes in, sir. HA ha ha"

They headed along the street and soon, she saw the others following her and Red XIII. Took them long enough, she thought. She looked around and found Cloud wasn't with them, I wonder what's keeping him. Distantly she heard someone yelling, "Move it, move it! You better not mess today up, rookie, my promotion is on the line!"

Then she took a good look at Barret and the words just slipped out. "A marshmallow!" Barret almost tripped at this and everyone else started laughing. "He does look like a marshmallow, doesn't he?" Aeris said when she could stop laughing. All Barret could do to keep from agreeing with them was clench his teeth and growl.

Then they were on the ship and she ended up right here, getting seasick. "Speaking of which, EVERYONE GET OUT OF MY WAY!" She said this as she ran for the nearest porthole and stayed there for about twenty minutes.

An alarm rang though out the ship and she went for the deck. "What's going on?" When she made it to the group, she saw they were all there. "If your all here, then what was the alarm for," Cloud asked when he got there. "ALL SOLDIERS ON BOARD, KEEP ON THE LOOK OUT FOR SEPHIROTH! REPEAT, SEPHIROTH IS ON BOARD!" "Oh," was all Yuffie could say.

"Sephiroth," Cloud said this as if his mind was far away from where they were. "Alright, let's go get him." Yuffie thought about what he had just said and what she knew about Sephiroth. She didn't know all that much, just that he was the driving force behind the Shinra attack on Wutai. She looked at Cloud and calmly stated what she thought. "You're nuts."

"No one said you had to come, brat," Barret stated at her. "No, no, if I don't come with you and you get hurt, Marshmallow, I'll never forgive myself" Barret glared at her but let it drop. "Let's go."

When they got to the cargo hold, everyone was dead, all killed by someone with a sword. "I see that the rumors about his strength wasn't exaggeration." "No they weren't Yuffie, but I doubt that they," referring to the dead, "were a challenge for him while he was sane, I don't want to think about whether or not he had stopped pulling his punches." "And why are we after him again?" "He needs to be stopped Yuffie, that's why." They went through the door at the bottom of the stairs and found him, talking to himself.

After he noticed them, he left, leaving Jenova behind to deal with them. It wasn't particularly hard to beat and Yuffie said so. "That wasn't Jenova." "WHAT!" "That was only her hand, I doubt it had one tenth the power the real thing has. Let's go." "Not before I grab this," Yuffie said, reaching down to pick a Summon materia. "Take a Look inside," she said showing it to every one. Inside was a demon, surrounded by fire.

"It looks just like the brat." Yuffie was about to give a retort when Tifa came to her aid. "I would never have thought you would think Ifrit was that handsome, Barret." "Barret, before you open your mouth," Cloud said to him, "you should probably realize that you're out numbered, out matched, and out gunned." He walked out of the room, along with a few others. Yuffie placed Ifrit in his hands and said; "I wonder what roasted marshmallow with chocolate taste like." And then she left.

She was walking along the Costa del Sol road thinking about the materia she had seen them collect so far. A group with three Summoning materia is hard to find, a group with one is hard to find and here I am in a group with three. Aeris has ChocoMog, Cloud has Shiva, and Barret now has Ifrit. Or maybe, he'll give it to Red XIII. It does match his tail. Thoughts of materia eventually led to her father and why he had sent her away from Wutai. He'll be wondering where the next shipment of materia is by now. What will I do, I can't steal the materia from my friends.

And as if thinking of them brought them to her, Tifa and Aeris came over to her. "Hey Yuffie, we have something for you," Tifa said. "What?" "A gift for all the help you've been so far," Aeris picked up. She handed Yuffie a yellow materia. "We know it's not the Steal you wanted but it's close. And I've always thought it better that you work to make something great, not have something great given to you."

Yuffie just stared at the materia in her hands. This was her first gift sense her mother died and the first gift her friends had given her. Wait, they are my friends now, aren't they? Even Marshmallow is my friend. She threw her arms around them and said thank you, almost crying. "It okay, Yuffie. We're going down to the beach want to come?" "No, I have some thinking to do. Have fun."

As they walked away, she was left alone with her thoughts and new materia. Slipping it inside her Boomerang, a weapon that they stole from a machine near Junon, she went back to her thoughts. Stealing from them wouldn't be right, not after all we've been through. And even I'm not low enough to do that. But from where do I get them?

A store clerk shouting about materia caught her ear. As she looked over at him, she saw that he had stacks and stacks of materia, all safely behind the counter and in his house. I think those will work.

As she walked over to him, she caught his eye. "Hey cutesy, how would you like to work here." "Huh?" "I don't mean for long, just for the day or two you're here. I'll pay you for it. And I imagine that a cute girl like you would attract allot of customers. I'll pay you half of what each materia you sell, sells for, so the more you sell, the more you'll get. What do you say?" Yuffie smiled at all this materia just dropped in her lap. "Sure."

That night she walked in the inn they were staying and just fell on her bed. He wasn't kidding when he said she would attract customers, they seemed to come by the truckload. "He better pay me rather well tomorrow. And despite all that was sold, not even half of them had been touched."

She reached down and felt the bag full of gill. She had already counted it, exactly half of what was sold. Coming to a close at over three hundred thousand. But at that moment she didn't care, all she cared for was how comfortable this bed was. And why she couldn't keep her eyes open…any…longer.

They would leave tomorrow morning, Cloud had informed her when she woke up. Giving plenty of time to earn more money and to get the materia. When she came out of the inn, she saw more then a few boys waiting for her to come out. "Sigh, this is going to be a long day." And she was right, because as soon as she got behind the counter, the request for materia came and never stopped.

She was amazed that the storeowner had so much materia, and when she asked him about it, he said, "A shipments of Materia always comes with the boat. And, well, who would want to buy materia from me when there are pretty girls they could be staring at instead." "Makes perfect sense," she replied. "Okay, who wanted the Steal, Poison and Lightning and who wanted the Restore and Heal"

That night when every one of them finally got tired and broke, she was alone. She going through a box of weapon materia and placed some inside of several dozen sacks filled with materia, each with a different number and different amount of each type. She had enough bags here to last her a year with regular shipments to her father. When she placed the last materia inside a sack and closed them all, she placed them inside her bulging bag. She went inside the storeowner's house to see him making an inventory check on those inside. She looked around and noticed that there was a lot more room in there then before, A LOT more.

"Someone just came by and bought a whole bunch of Materia, roughly a hundred and fifty of each. Here is the gil for them." She tossed him a bag of money that held all the money it took to pay for all the materia she got from him. He looked at the bag and counted the amount inside. He was half way through when he said, "Didn't you mean you bought them?" "How, how did you know?" "You forgot to change the sack I gave you yesterday." She smacked her hand to her forehead and said "Oh geese." The owner was busy putting half the money she gave him into another sack and tossed it to her. "I believe that covers us." "But I just gave you that money!" "I know. And I also know that we agree you'd get half the price of each materia you sold, did we not? Now I don't know why you didn't want me to know that you bought those, and it's not my business to know. And beside for all the work you had done for me, you disserve all that you got paid for."

"Okay, but don't tell anyone that I bought them, please. If my father finds out I have them, he'll take them from me and then he'll learn about my friends and do his best to take theirs." "Okay, good night and sleep well." As she walked out, she looked in the bag and saw a total of four hundred, thirty seven thousand gil. She was so caught up in staring at it that she tripped and fell face first in the sand.

"What am I suppose to do with all this?" Before she could figure out what to do, she decided to give the first bag to her father. She took out the whistle and gave it a blow and waited. "What was that?" Red XIII said as he came out of the inn. "What? Oh, hi Red, that was just a whistle to call the bird that lives around here to come down here." "Why did you call it?" "Why did I call it? Um, it belongs to my father I need to give it a message to give to him. Oh I forgot to make it!"

She grabbed one of her pencils and papers and finished the note by the time the Red Tailed hawk landed. Getting between it and Red XIII so he wouldn't see her give it the bag of materia along with the note. "Here you go. Bye." She hoped he didn't see the bag as it few off. "You know, Yuffie, I hope one day you will trust us enough to tell us the truth about things." Then he walked back into the inn. And Yuffie felt like dirt for lying to him.

Godo took the bag from Masamune' and saw the note when it didn't leave. When he opened it, he was expecting to hear bad news or not to expect more materia for a while, because she needed to lay low. Instead of that, he got a completely different letter.

Dear father

I have good news for you. I've joined up with a party of adventurers. They are loaded with materia. But that isn't the good new because neither of us is going to take them from them. These are my friends and I won't do that to them. But we have been fighting a lot of people I will take them from, Shinra employees for the most part. I am currently at Costa del Sol and will be making my way south. So if you need to contact me, send a message to that area.

The number of materia I've collected is a little scant and I apologize. But from now on I will send you all the materia that I've collected on your behalf once a week, every week. There will be different amounts each week, but you already know that.

I know this part will go unanswered, it always is, but I miss you and will continue wishing you're good health. And that you will remember that I'm your daughter, not just the daughter of my mother, your wife. And I wish I could come home soon. No matter what happens, you're my father and I love you.

Your Daughter,

Yuffie Kisaragi

He read the message twice, making sure there was no hidden message and thought about what she had said. Then he looked into the bag and she was right, there was only four materia inside of it. "Oh well, as long as she gets me materia, I don't care how much she sends." He didn't say anything about the last part of the message and wouldn't either. She was his daughter and will continue doing what he says until she finds person she finds suitable of marrying.

He put the bag of materia inside a safe behind a bookshelf. For a moment, he wondered if he did only send her out of Wutai because she reminded him of her mother but quickly shoved that thought aside. But then why had he bought that house on the other side of town? It doesn't matter, she's gone, that's all there is to worry about. And at this rate, by the time she is Lady of Wutai; there will be enough materia to outfit the warriors with enough materia to kick Shinra out of Wutai. And she will be the Lady just as soon as she marries.

Author's notes

Chapter three COMPLETE (holds out hands in V's)! Hey, did Lord Godo have the right amount of the cold heart that I was trying for? To be cold but still seem to be able to feel compassion for his daughter. On to the disclaimers: I do not own Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9, or any that Square Enix will come out with. Nor do I own any character in them. And this is a Yuffie Vincent romance. But like anything good in life, it takes time to get everything right. And it also takes time to get to the coffin that Vincent is in. I'll hurry it up a little so please don't stop reading.