Chaos had to hand it to that little Wutaian girl – she was very brave. It had taken her only a moment to get over the shock of seeing him standing before her in the flesh, and then she had simply allowed him to pick her up and fly off without a single complaint. Now she seemed to be taking some kind of strange joy in being carried through the sky in the arms of one of the most powerful demons the planet had ever known; usually people would be screaming in terror by now. Not that he minded too much; it was nice to get a chance to stretch his wings without having to forcefully overcome Vincent's will – something he rarely did anymore, since he had somehow come to respect Vincent a great deal – and the fact that he did care for her because of her connection to his host made this feel like much less of a chore. He was careful not to jostle her too much or to jab her with his claws, and he kept a very secure grip on her lest a wayward air current decide to try to rip her from his arms; he knew Vincent would find a way to kill even a Weapon of his immense strength if that were to happen.

They flew for several hours, with Yuffie remaining largely silent except for the occasional gasp of delight when they passed some particularly beautiful scenery. Finally, soon after the sun had sunk below the horizon, Chaos was able to see the island nation of Wutai in the distance; Yuffie took his word for it, since she did not have the extraordinary night-vision the demon possessed.

"Where would be the safest place to land?" Chaos asked in a deep, growling voice. "I do not want my host being seen before I have returned to him."

"Um, let's see," Yuffie said, thinking of which parts of Wutai they were closest to at the moment. "Do you see a forest to the northeast of us?"

"Yes."

"That should be a good place, then. There're almost never any people anywhere near there, especially not after dark." Chaos nodded and leaned into a gentle dive, circling above the forest until he spotted a clearing that looked suitable for landing. With a few flaps of his great, leathery wings, he touched down onto the forest floor, setting Yuffie and the bags on the ground with as much gentleness as such a powerful being could. She shook her head to ward of the feeling of dizziness she had gotten when her feet had touched solid ground and began to check the bags, making sure she still had the same number now as she had when they left.

Chaos suddenly winced in pain as the bases of his wings began to throb. A grunt of irritation escaped his lips as they began to shake, and he realized how long it had been since he had flown for nearly that long. Noticing his discomfort, Yuffie came to his side and began to knead the wing-joints between his shoulders, causing him to sigh with pleasure as his wings drooped to rest on the ground; he didn't care if he was supposed to be a frightening, otherworldly demon – that felt good. She continued to work her fingers against the thin bones and down the leathery membranes, giggling in amusement when he made a sound resembling a soft purr in spite of himself.

"There," she said, patting his back when she noticed him almost falling asleep. "Better?"

"Yes, thank you, human," Chaos growled, stretching and flexing his now significantly less sore wings.

"Any time. It's the least I can do for having you carry me all the way here."

"I was grateful for the opportunity to be let out again, so it was no trouble. I will be ready for when I am needed next, but now it is time for me to give my host back to you – I can sense that he is getting impatient." In a flash, the enormous winged demon had been replaced by the red-eyed gunman, who immediately sank to his knees and held his head as he tried to get the world to stop spinning around him.

"Are you okay, Vincent?" Yuffie asked, coming to kneel by his side as he blinked dazedly and shook his head as if to clear it.

"I will be in a moment," he said as he looked around the clearing. "Where are we now?"

"In the Nanami Forest, just outside of Guizhou."

"Guizhou? I thought the capital city was Wuxi?"

"It is, but this is just far enough away from there that we could safely land without anyone seeing us. It should only be about an hour's walk to Wuxi, even in the dark."

"I see. Well then, let's not waste time," he said, standing and shouldering all but one of the bags, which Yuffie took with a roll of her eyes and a smile.

"You know, Vinnie, you don't have to be such a gentleman all the time. I can totally carry more than one bag," she said as they began to make their way through the dense forest.

"And just what kind of first impression of me would that give your father, do you think?" Yuffie sighed and let him do as he pleased while they continued to weave through the trees, enjoying the silence and each other's company as they let the soft moonlight reveal the path for them.

"Vincent?" Yuffie asked when the trees began to thin and she spotted the paper lanterns in Wuxi burning like stars in the distance.

"Yes?" he whispered distractedly, staring at the town from a distance and trying to see if there were any guards lurking around.

"If I know my father, he's probably come up with several different ridiculous schemes to try and keep me here. I just want you to know that no matter what he tries to force me into, I'm not giving you up without fighting tooth and nail, so please don't wor –" She was silenced as Vincent pulled her into a tight embrace, kissing her on the cheek as he shook his head and chuckled.

"I wouldn't doubt you for a second, Yuffie," he said softly. "But you don't need to worry about that." He smirked and shifted Cerberus around in its holster, his eyes glinting with a confidence she hadn't seen in him since… well, ever. "If anyone tries to take you from me against your will, it will be the last thing they ever do." Yuffie grinned broadly and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

"You have no idea how sexy it is when you say things like that, Vince."

"Well, you'll have to tell me about that later," he growled, drawing Cerberus. "It looks like we've got company." As soon as the words left his mouth, Yuffie could see what he had been referring to: a group of Wutai troops were headed right for them, led by several Bajang that had apparently detected their scents and sounded the alarm.

Deciding it was probably not a good idea to introduce himself to the emperor's guards with a rain of bullets, Vincent put Cerberus back in its holster and stepped out of the trees, arms held up where they could see them and Yuffie doing the same just behind him. The dog-like Bajang surrounded them and growled but did not attack, and the guards soon lowered their weapons when they saw that Yuffie was with this stranger and seemed to be so completely by choice.

"Yuffie-sama," one of the guards said as they all bowed respectfully. "You have finally returned to us; we have been eagerly awaiting this day. Come with us, and we will escort you and your… friend…"

"His name is Vincent Valentine," Yuffie said icily, not about to let them treat Vincent rudely in front of her.

"Our apologies, Yuffie-sama. We will escort you and Mr. Valentine to the palace, if you would be so kind as to follow me." Yuffie sighed, taking Vincent's hand and following the guard who had spoken to her.

"Oh goody, I can hardly wait…"

Author's Note: Okay, so about the Wutaian names' origins - Nanami means "seven seas" in Japanese; Guizhou is an actual province in present-day China; and Wuxi is a city in eastern China with about 900,000 people living in it. Since I wrote Wuxi to be the capital city of Wutai, I thought using two names containing the same first syllable might be a little clever. *shrugs*

Since it is supposed to be a country, it always bothered me that the entire place was only one little city, so I expanded it a little. Even in the actual game, it seems kind of unclear whether Wutai is supposed to be based on China or Japan, so I just went with a little of both.