Same old same old... Owned by Squeenix, not me... how you enjoy the perilious drang adventure...
"We're almost there," Vincent's soft voice moved the hair on the top of her head as the gunman clutched the ninja close to his chest. Yuffie would have been jumping up and down if she weren't dying. He reached up with this normal hand, gently caressing her hair to try and sooth her as much as he could. She needed to stay awake, but calm, and he was afraid she'd give up one for the other.
"Vince?" She whispered as the paneled truck continued down the street, "What do you think the Lifestream is like? Do you think it's nice? Hey when I go there, I'll say hi to people for you… who's there? Oh Lucrecia… I'm sure she'd want to know that you still love her." Vincent swallowed, "you are not going to do any such thing Yuffie. Lucrecia is special to me, but I don't love her. I let her go." He pulled her closer, and she noticed how nice he smelt, like incense and parchment. Vincent Valentine smelt of the library in Wutai, of the mysteries there. She smiled softly, holding onto that. The gunman tilted her face up gently with his claw and looked deep into her eyes. "I let her go, but I'm not going to let you go. You promised," He trailed off and gently caressed her cheek, "don't run away from me again."
32 hours earlier…
Vincent had been frantically looking for the ninja for a long time. He'd lost track of it actually, and he was starting to get scared. By the planet I'm so stupid… finally a woman returns the love I've been wanting for so long, and just because it's not Lucrecia… No I don't want her to hurt like Lucrecia did, I don't want her to be sad. But by rejecting her, I've done it anyway. He kept running, he wasn't going to give up until he could see Yuffie and hold her, making sure that she was safe. "Please be alright…" He whispered as he continued running through the underbrush, paying no attention to the twigs and leaves constantly pulling at his clothes and hair.
Yuffie actually wasn't too far from the camp, though she was basically under a bush, sobbing quietly to herself. She'd heard Vincent run by, but she paid it no heed. She figured he was just going to drag her back to give her a lecture. She stayed there and cried, wanting to be alone. As Vincent was frantically looking quite far from her, she got up and sniffed, wiping her eyes and intending to go back to bed. She heard a crack behind her, a rather loud one like a small tree being snapped, and she turned, realizing in her haste she'd forgotten her shuriken and armor. Though the trees came the large body of a dragon, his green, sinewy neck turned and looked right at her. She swallowed and stepped back, tripping and landing roughly on her rear. "Oww…" she said rather loudly, and in response the dragon let out a blood-curdling roar. Yuffie was pretty sure she'd never been so scared, normally she has her materia and weapons to protect her, and her friends… but right now she was defenseless. Never in all her life had she felt so utterly alone.
The ninja clamored back, seeing the monster start to take in a breath, knowing that some sort of nasty magic was going to come spewing out of it's mouth, and she needed to take cover. Fire came at her a few moments later and she took refuge behind a tree, covering her head and tucking her face inside her tiny shirt so she didn't inhale too much smoke. She could feel some of the skin on the back of her arms blister from the heat, though she didn't know how badly. The forest in that area was now starting to catch, the old growth dry and brittle from lack of rain. "Damn it, I'm going to die and it's all Vincent's fault. Why couldn't he just be a normal man and molest me?" She struggled to her feet and started to try to make it out of the burning area. Luckily for them, it was burning up the hill, and their camp was down at the base. It was a lot easier for her to run with the slope, however the dragon wasn't finished with her. There was no way he'd let a tender morsel like her get away. He took flight and brought his powerful tail around, hitting her hard on the back and sending her tumbling down the hillside.
Vincent smelt the fire and heard the commotion as he still frantically searched for Yuffie. The fire was racing, picking up speed the higher it went and the gunman found himself engulfed quite quickly. He wasn't concerned for himself, he could take a lot more damaged then the average human, but Yuffie was just a girl… and when he rounded a corner and saw the dragon, his concern tripled. "Yuffie…" he whispered, his heart clenching in his chest as he ran through the burning trees, he had rips all over his clothes and scrapes and cuts, his hair was even singed on the ends, but he didn't stop until he was under the giant beast, with Cerberus pointed right at it's head. He pulled the trigger, letting off the three rounds in the chambers, blowing the great lizard's head right off.
The only problem with his plan was the dead body had to go somewhere now that the wings were not holding it aloft, and the crumpled body of Yuffie was laying right under it. He couldn't stop to think, the man just acted on instinct, jumping over her and protecting her with his heartier body. One of the legs and the tail came crashing down on top of him, knocking the wind from his lungs as he was forced down, barely able to hold the brunt of the carcass off her delicate body, his arms and legs were shaking, but he managed to keep it from crushing them. The only problem was; how was he going to get them out from under the thing? He heard a soft moan and looked down at Yuffie, the small amount of light reaching them illuminated the right side of her face. "Vincent?" She whispered, looking up at him. He was obviously in pain, but he didn't want her to worry too much. "Who else would it be?"
The ninja gazed up at his face, he had several cuts on his cheeks and forehead, and sweat was starting to run down his face. In all the years she'd known him, even wearing all his black clothes in tropical places, she'd never once seen him sweat. That just added to her anxiety, since that told her that he was really in pain and fighting hard to keep them both alive. "Why?" She whispered, her cheeks flushing a bit. He gave her a fierce look, usually it was enough to have a seasoned war veteran soil himself, but Yuffie could never be scared of him. He looked at her hard, his red orbs boring into her soul. "After I lost Lucrecia and Shelke, how can you even ask me that?"
Vincent watched as the ninja got the cutest quizzical expression on her face, until her eyes got wide and she looked back at him. "I'm that important to you?"
The gunman nodded, "If I loose you, there will be nothing left for me here. I have only survived this long because of compassion from you. You're all I have left." The tiny brunette wanted to kiss him long and hard, then kick his ass into next Tuesday for not telling her when she'd kissed him. It would have saved her some nasty burns. Vincent shook his head, his long hair tickling her bare skin; "I can't hold it much longer… I need you to turn over so you can crawl, and I'll move with you. It's the only way we can get out of here." She nodded and started to turn over, being careful of her knees and his sensitive areas, then managed to make it to her hands and knees, crouched down with her back against his front. Rather nasty images filled her little head, even with the perilous situation going on, and she forced herself to think of something else. She slowly started to crawl with Vincent as he held the corpse off of her, toward the little light they saw. After several minutes of working, they managed to free themselves from the dragon.
The crimson gunman was exhausted, his arms and legs were shaking slightly from the strain of having at least a ton on his back, and he fell over onto the ground, rolling onto his back to catch his breath. The battered ninja crawled over to him, laying beside him and trying to do the same. After several minutes of just laying there, Vincent was the first one to speak. "Please… don't ever run away from me again."
Yuffie opened her mouth, though at first she didn't know what to say, then the three words that Vincent hated to hear the most, came as a mere whispered from her lips. "I'm so sorry, I…" She was cut off when he placed a cool finger on her lips; "You don't ever have to say that to me Yuffie… I hurt you, you should not have to say that." He let his finger trace the outline of her pale pink mouth, "Just promise me…"
The ninja swallowed, her eyes closing at the sensation, "I promise…"