20.

Whistling a happy tune, Yuffie Kisaragi crammed one more materia-bright Christmas tree ornament into her Hello, Kitty handbag. She made another turn around the tree, then paused as familiar voices drifted to her ear. Using her ninja-refined senses, she tuned in on the sound and followed it to the upstairs bathroom.

"Tell you what. You help me, I'll help you. Deal?"

"What do you want me to do?"

Is that Cloud? It sure sounds like Cloud! Yuffie crouched down and pressed her ear to the keyhole.

"First, take your shirt off."

Vincent? What's he doing in there with Cloud?

A pause, followed by the rustling of cloth.

"Now, come over here and hold this for me. Not so tight," Vincent murmured. "Gently."

"Better?"

"Much. Now, reach between and tug."

"Like this?"

Vincent made a low sound halfway between a growl and a moan. "Mmmmhmm! Hold it right there!"

"Damn, Vincent, this is hard!"

Yuffie bit back a startled squeak.

"I know. I appreciate the help; it's not something I prefer to do alone but I usually have no choice."

"Chaos shouldn't leave you like this," Cloud chided.

"He can't help it. It's just his nature. Okay, it's almost there…"

Yuffie tried peeking throught the keyhole, but all she could see was Cloud's back.

Whatever happened next, happened quietly. The next thing Yuffie heard was Vincent's voice sounding relieved: "Thank you. Looks like I owe you one."

"Good luck getting this off," Cloud growled. "It's had time to get really hard."

"You've never had this happen before?"

"Well, usually Tifa's there to take care of things for me," Cloud admitted. "She's having a good time; I didn't want to bother her."

"I'm sure she's better at it than I am, but I'll give you what I can."

"I appreciate that, Vincent. I really do."

Yuffie couldn't take any more. She thrust the door open and, in true ninja fashion, announced her presence with a loud, "DON'T DO IT, CLOUD! It would break Tifa's heart!"

At the vanity, Cloud and Vincent both turned to look at her in utter incomprehension, the soiled shirt grasped between them.

Yuffie stared, her mouth hanging open as her eyes roved across both decently-covered men. Her gaze lingered at Vincent's leather-clad crotch a few beats longer than strictly necessary, but, under the circumstances, no one noticed.

"What are you talking about?" Vincent asked, scowling.

"Um…uh…oh, look! A kitty cat!" She turned and sprinted after the startled animal, leaving Cloud and Vincent to ponder the entire brief conversation.

"Strange girl," Vincent muttered.

"You don't know the half of it."