Hey, I'm back! Promised a Valentine's day update, here it is - however, it may be late by an hour, making it post VDay :(

I'm so sorry for it taking so long. I recently lost an old friend, the girl who'd been my lieutenant in color guard when I was captain, to a woman who was driving recklessly (151 and 121 miles an hour, and sadly I'm not exaggerating). It's been a hard time for a lot of my best friends who were even closer to her than I had been, so I've been trying to be there and be as supportive as possible. Please bear with me.

Also, I have not replied and will not reply to reviews yet - I will eventually, hopefully by the next update in who knows when.

I am really, truly, sincerely sorry for my keeping y'all hanging every time and never making the deadlines I set.

Disclaimer: I do not own or profit from any of the material here. All rights go to respective owners. Don't sue me.

After the murky fog of sordid darkness slipped away, Vincent awoke to find himself pressed to the rough rug on his floor. Against the wall across from him rested his sleek wooden dresser, and propped against it glared the portrait of his father, the scarlet-eyes almost betraying the disappointment he would surely feel had he watched what his son had just done. With a groan, the man sat up and pressed his cold hand to his throbbing temple.

Because of the late night hour, the room remained still fairly dark, and for that the demon-host was grateful. His eerie eyes always ached when too much light flooded his senses. He'd grown accustomed to darkness during the years he'd confined himself to the rotting coffin. That was a punishment, he reminded himself, for being a monster as he'd just proven himself to be in front of that little ninja girl.

"Feeling regretful, V?" Chaos jabbed.

Getting to his feet, albeit shakily, Vincent sneered, "And whose fault might that be?"

"Oh-ho! Don't go blaming this one on me, Valentine. I didn't lose control."

At the present moment, Vincent didn't much feel like playing games, and as such didn't much feel like carrying on a conversation with the increasingly annoying, ever-present monster inside of his head.

"Of course you did! If you hadn't, I wouldn't have transformed in front of Miss Kisaragi, consequently hurting her."

Chaos scoffed snidely, but Vincent detected a hint of apology mixed in with it. And since that demon never apologized, he knew he wouldn't like what he was going to say next, and he didn't.

"Valentine, I didn't transform. I didn't lose control. You caused the transformation when you found her in your room, gawking at Lucrecia's portrait. I couldn't help being forced out of your subconscious, nor could I help the actions invoked by your anger. I'm not so much act but react, you know."

Words could not express the abject horror that flooded through Vincent's veins. His fault? Of course it was! He hurt everyone around him, why should things change after thirty years?

Vincent gripped the edge of the vanity, his long black hair brushing the smooth surface that just barely reflected his features, the cold, angular face of a monster. It'd been so long since he'd actually seen his face — not since he first turned. Once he had flesh, pale, human flesh. He had cheekbones and a mouth, and his face didn't resemble a wolf's. His hands were not claws, his teeth were not fangs.

He was a man once. But he never would be again, for that he was certain.

With a roar so enraged it shook the window pane, he seized the tattered cloth that obscured the vanity mirror and threw it across the room. There, in the flawless glass, his eyes — the color of blood — stared hauntingly back at him. The depths knew no happiness, no joy. Had they once? He couldn't recall. Maybe with her, with Lucrecia, but now they only watched, detached from the world, always observing but never seeing. This — this was the face of a monster! These were the eyes of an animal!

Turning away abruptly, Vincent's chest heaved.

"I hurt her," he rasped, the freezing, sharp metal of his gauntlet covered claw rising to cover half of his face as he hung his head. "I locked myself away for a reason — so that no one else could be hurt by me!"

No reply.

"Chaos, do you hear me!? I hurt that poor little girl!"

Even the demons within his own mind had abandoned him.

"Leviathan," Yuffie groaned, flipping over on the bed and hiding her face from the blinding sun. "It's way too early." The mattress groaned as she tossed and turned, and as exhausted as she felt, she also knew she wanted to get a head start.

Not that she was, like, avoiding Vincent or anything.

'Cause that so wasn't her style.

Flinging the sheets off her body, the ninja sat upright and shook her short tresses. Her hair, she knew, would look like an absolute mess after the fit-filled sleep she'd gotten the night before. Determined, she dragged her slender fingers through her untidy brown locks and attempted to restore order to the rat's nests. As she did so, she winced at the dry feeling in her throat. All the boo-hooing she'd done — in front of Vincent, even more humiliatingly so — left her mouth in dire need of brushing. Unfortunately, she didn't believe she had the tools necessary to do just that.

Instead she dragged her body out of bed and stumbled into the bathroom. Once she had turned on the faucet and rinsed her mouth out to the best of her ability, she gauged her appearance in the mirror.

Black circles under her eyes, splotchy, red cheeks from crying, and tangled hair.

Not too bad for living with a temperamental creature of despair, she thought with a grim smirk. At least Tifa probably wouldn't hold it against her.

With a little more pep, Yuffie skipped out of her room and raced down the stairs — still careful of the faulty boards — towards the door. Just as she'd opened it and choked at the blast of cold, Nibelheim air, a small throat-clearing noise alerted her to someone's presence. And it certainly didn't sound female.

Turning slightly, the ninja recoiled and glanced up from under her bangs at the tall monster standing in the parlor. On second thought, maybe she should have just stayed in bed.

Since conversation never seemed to work out between them, Yuffie opted to keep her mouth shut for once and wait to see what he wanted. The last thing she wanted to do was upset him again. Almost as if enforcing her inner thoughts, the bruise hidden beneath the white bandage on her wrist throbbed.

Don't rub it. Don't rub it. Don't—

Against her volition, she seized the battered joint in her sweaty palm and squeezed. The movement was small and subtle, and for a moment Yuffie believed he'd missed it entirely.

"…Does it… Does it hurt?"

Apparently, he didn't miss anything.

"I've been crushed by a brick wall before. A little bruise doesn't affect me," she lied, attempting to play it off. The frown on Vincent's face (how he managed to show displeasure with a snout, she'd never know) deepened, and ignoring her apparent indifference to the injury, he gingerly lifted her arm to his eyesight.

The scrutiny in his gaze caused a shiver to run down the ninja's spine. After the stunt last night in his room, the proximity of his body to hers filled her veins with adrenaline. Her fight or flight instinct was going to kick in any second. Just when she took a step backward to run, Vincent unwrapped the gauze and rubbed the tender brown skin of her wrist.

"It isn't broken," he huffed.

"I could've told you that."

"But it is bruised."

"Mighty observant today, aren't we?"

"Yuffie." His voice grew sharp and firm. Yuffie gulped and refused to answer. He dropped her wrist and turned away. "It is bruised. I am…"

The silence between them hung heavy. His words had trailed off, and she had no idea what he would have said if they hadn't. When she waited for him to continue and he didn't, the runaway princess sighed and turned back to the door.

"I'm sorry."

Her hand froze on the knob. He apologized? She supposed she shouldn't have been too shocked. She didn't really know him. But still, it took her by surprise.

Not knowing what to say, Yuffie left.

Was it too much to ask to escape some drama for a while, Yuffie wondered glumly as she sipped at the apple cider in front of her. Tifa kept refilling her mug as soon as she downed one drop of the warm beverage, and though apple was the Wutain's favorite fruit, if the barmaid gave her anymore she was going to lose all of it.

It wasn't Tifa's fault, Yuffie had to remind herself as she wiped a bead of condensation from the frothy mug. The second the ninja popped into Seventh Heaven to ditch the excitement of Shinra Manor, she ran into a gorgeously feminine woman with lovely emerald eyes, soft chestnut curls, and a smile that could've lit up Vincent's manor. Unfortunately, Cloud was sitting directly across from her, a love-struck grin on his face.

And Tifa… Well, she was busy scampering around and refilling every glass and bowl to the top.

The distraction clearly wasn't working. Every few seconds, her cinnamon eyes darted over to Cloud's table and her hand gripped the washrag too tightly.

"Who is she?" Yuffie finally asked, and Tifa jumped. She attempted to play dumb, but the knowing look the ninja gave her finally got her to crack.

"Her name is Aerith. She owns the flower shop at the entrance to town and she takes care of the church down the road. Children love her, women envy her, and the men — well." She indicated to Cloud, and Yuffie understood what she was silently saying. She was the most eligible bachelorette.

"So, does Cloud…?"

"Completely." The soft, longing sigh that escaped her lips added another dimension to the tension in the room. After gazing longingly at the blonde for a moment, she shook her head and added, "But that's fine. I think she likes him too, so I'm sure they'd be very… happy together."

"And what about you?" Yuffie pressed, pushing aside her cider and glaring at Tifa as approached it with a steaming pot as if daring her to fill the cup again.

"What about me?" she replied, setting the kettle back down. Her eyes trailed back to Cloud again.

"Are you happy?"

"If he is."

"Not good enough," Yuffie grumbled under her breath. Everyone around here… Ugh. What was with these Nibelians and their twisted, depressing love stories? What was it with the dark shadow that loomed over the residents as if it was trying to keep something from coming into the light?

Now that she stopped to think about it, this town had more secrets than she could have ever imagined. And not the kind of secrets that old women in faded pastels sat on their porches in the stagnant evening air gossiping about while sipping iced tea. These were the secrets that were locked away in dusty trunks in old attics to never be reopened or burned in brick fireplaces. These were the secrets that were better left unknown.

And one of those secrets was Vincent.

Tifa noticed the frown that had appeared on Yuffie's face, and she stopped what she was doing. After a moment of being zoned out, the younger girl shook her head of her thoughts and forced a grin.

"You Nibels sure are weird," Yuffie chuckled, finding no wrong in her rather rude comment. Tifa smiled at her and giggled.

"Maybe. What's it like where you're from?"

The question froze the blood in Yuffie's veins. Her eyes widened slightly and her body went rigid as her mind worked to fabricate a story. She couldn't tell anyone who she was or what she was running from.

"Uh, well, Wutai's just, you know, quiet and stuff."

"Quiet and stuff?" Tifa pressed, leaning against the bar and holding back a smirk. "Must be more than 'quiet and stuff' if it sent you running her with no money and no idea of what you were going to do."

For Yuffie, Wutai was certainly more than just quiet. It was bustling with noise, with politics, with rules for women and no way out — but that was not what she wanted for herself. The ninja wanted to feel the downy of a chocobo, she wanted to speak and not be silenced and beaten for disobeying, she wanted to… dare she even wish for it?

Yes. She wanted to fall in love.

"Eh," Yuffie answered, her smile forced and her fingers clutching her mug just a little too tightly, "the guys there are boring. Attention whores."

Tifa giggled, her beautiful carmine eyes twinkling. "Alright, I accept that excuse… For now."

Possibly my shortest update ever. This is not how I wanted to end this, but I ran out of time :( I'm sorry. Also, I have not proofread, so big big big apology if there are any errors