Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII or Inuyasha. If I did, I would be living in a condo or Mansion by the sea in Florida, Mexico, California, or better yet… JAPAN. So don't even try to sue me. I also don't own any of the songs that may appear in this story; they belong to their rightful artists.
AN: As for those who are or were thinking the name "Entei" from Pokemon… I'm not referring to that Entei. I'm referring to Entei, The Demon Horse from Inuyasha; the demon horse that Hakudoushi rides now in the series.
Chapter One
Vincent's Dream… Souta's "Torture"
It was cold and dark from where Vincent stood. No matter where or how far he seemed to have walked, it didn't seem to be getting him anywhere.
A door soon came into his view. Nothing special about it; just an old wooden door with a brass knob… With no other choice, Vincent reached out and turned the knob to open it. On the other side, there was a dim light, like someone had left their TV set on. But looking inside, Vincent saw a corridor with what looked like TV screens on each side. Vincent walked in before the door disappeared, not that he seemed to notice or care, and made his way through the endless hallway.
Looking at the screens as he walked, Vincent realized that what was playing on each of the screens were his memories from the day he was born to when Hojo had changed him.
The memories soon became too much for him; their events affecting him too greatly from the pain they brought. His steady walk turned into a full out run, trying to escape the pain, the guilt, the helplessness that he felt from the memories he had from when he was still a Turk; the memories he had with Lucrecia.
During his run, the screens faded away and Vincent found himself in cold darkness again. Slowing down, Vincent tried to catch his breath. Once he did, he couldn't help but feel numb at the reminder of the memories that had played in that hallway just a while ago. The weight of it all made him fall to his knees.
Before the numbness could consume him, a soft, warm light engulfed him from above. The light seemed like it was wrapping him in a gentle embrace, comforting him and driving away the numb feeling. The sound of light footsteps echoed around him, soft and graceful the sound seemed.
Looking up ahead of him, Vincent could make the outline of a person, a woman, to be precise. When she got close enough to him, he could see most of her features clearly.
She was petite, about 5'1" and appeared to be in her twenties. Her hair, just like his in color, reached to her knees. The spaghetti-strapped light blue nightgown with sliver trimming she wore clung to her curves and reached to her ankles. The material for the gown almost looked sheen semi-transparent, making her shapely legs almost visible through the material. Her face was covered in shadow but he could clearly see a pair of deep, beautiful, sapphire eyes with silver specks.
To Vincent, in appearance, she looked like an angel… or the daughter of a goddess. She looked more beautiful than any woman he had seen in all his years of being alive. Even the four beasts residing within him agreed with him in what they saw through his eyes. They were practically growling in approval.
The ethereal being knelt before him as she brought her slender hands to rest on either side of his face, caressing his cheeks. Those same hands were soft and gentle… so gentle that he couldn't help but savor the feel of them against his face, closing his eyes and releasing a sigh. He had a sudden urge to grasp her wrists gently, until he remembered the clawed glaive on his left hand.
He didn't want to scare her or make her disgusted by the sight of it. He cursed Hojo for what he did to him, making him into a monster, a vessel for the four beasts within him… it sometimes made him wish that he could turn back time to right the wrongs that he could've prevented.
His angel had surprised him, making him open his eyes, when she lifted her right hand from his face to gently grasp his left wrist, guiding his clawed hand to rest on her right cheek. Wait… did he call her 'his' angel?
'Yes… my angel.' Vincent thought, absently. It sounded right to call this beautiful maiden his. Like she truly belonged to him; meant to be by his side. Even though he couldn't see her face, save her eyes, Vincent knew that she had to be beautiful; inside and out.
Vincent was glad that she didn't flinch away from him or anything. It looked like she accepted him in appearance. As he had looked into the sapphire of his angel, he knew that he could get lost in those deep depths and not care. And before he could stop himself, Vincent closed the short space (that he didn't notice) between them to seal the raven-haired woman's lips in a gentle kiss.
Her lips were as soft as rose petals and tasted as sweet as vanilla. Her very fragrance was just as sweet. Not able to stop himself, Vincent tried deepening the kiss, sliding the tip of his tongue over her bottom lip. At first, she didn't respond but with enough coaxing on Vincent's part, she did while slightly parting her lips, giving him access to her sweet cavern.
(This next scene is something from the very first episode of Tsubasa Chronicles, with a few slight differences. Don't sue me, I don't own the original scene from Tsubasa Chronicles, the idea rightful belongs to CLAMP. Also there's a reason for the scene later in the story.)
Just as Vincent was about to pull her close to his body, the ground soon began shake making them break the kiss. Around them, the glass walls of a cylindrical capsule faded into view as well as some sort of glass wall, separating them.
Outside the capsule, rubble began to fall as if in slow motion. Despite that Vincent couldn't understand what's going on, an unidentifiable emotion starts to fill him as he looked at the raven-haired woman he was kissing. Her hands were against the glass that was separating them, with her eyes filled with sadness.
Resting his hands against the glass, Vincent could feel the warmth of her hands through it. The both of them inched closer to each other with Vincent's clawed hand lightly sliding upward with the girl's as Vincent's right turned into a fist as he began to feel helpless. Helpless, why? He didn't know. But the emotion showing in the girl's eyes tore at his heart. She was feeling despair. That much he could tell… no, practically feel from her. Her tears filled her beautiful sapphire eyes and fell down the curve of her cheeks.
No matter how hard Vincent tried to break the glass wall between them, he could never get through. After trying to smash it harder, the woman he called his angel… her body began to glow with a pair of silver blue feathered wings sprouting from her back.
At that moment she really did look like an angel fallen from heaven. Coming out of his shock and disbelief, Vincent noticed that she was starting to float, her gown bellowing around her legs gracefully. Vincent slammed his clawed hand against the glass in a futile attempt to reach her before her own hand pulled away from the said glass, the claws making a screeching sound as he dragged the deadly sharp points it.
(You know the sound you make when you drag your nails against a blackboard? That kind of sound)
Helpless, he tried calling out to her but no word was uttered from him.
As his angel was being pulled away farther with her hair and gown bellowing in an invisible current about her body, he heard her voice call out to him desperately, with her hand reaching out to him, "VINCENT!"
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Shooting up in a seating position, Vincent awoke panting and covered in a thin layer of sweat. Resting his left hand on his brow, Vincent took his time catching his breath and settling his emotions.
Once his breathing became steady and normal, he remembered something from his dream that didn't seem right. Staring at his left hand, Vincent lit out a sigh in relief.
Just recently, Reeve gave Vincent an opportunity to get rid of his prosthetic arm for an arm of bone, flesh and blood (Vincent's own flesh and Blood). A surgical machine that Reeve invented was able to help re-grow a limb that was lost from whatever incident or accident. Just give the machine a test tube full of your DNA, and it would be able to make enough materials need to remake your limb- every bone, every muscle and skin tissue.
(The Machine I'm talking about came from the movie, "The 5th Element" starring Bruce Willis and Chris Rock. The same Machine that helped make the main Female character of the movie, Lilu. Those of you, who haven't seen or heard of the movie, trust me. It's a very good Sci-Fi movie and I recommend that you watch it.)
The Machine for the surgery was never put to the test but Vincent didn't care. As long as there was a chance that he would be able to have a normal left arm, he would take it. And as a result, the surgery was a success and Vincent came out with an actual organic arm.
The surgery itself happened about three months ago and for the first time since that crack head Hojo changed his body, Vincent felt much better than he did when he still had that prosthetic arm.
(Vincent still has the outer shell of his prosthetic arm that serves as a type of armor)
Rubbing his left forearm, Vincent looked to his alarm clock set on his nightstand. The time read, three-thirty in the morning. Far too early for him to be waking up, even for a Sunday. Not one to be able to go back to sleep when covered in sweat, Vincent slid out of bed anyway to set out for the bathroom.
It wasn't too far away since it was connected to his bedroom. Sometime after defeating Kadaj and his gang, Vincent had gone back to Nibelheim to live in the old abandoned ShinRa Manor. Rufus said that he didn't care and gladly lit Vincent have and keep the place. It took a bit of time to clean and remodel the place, but with the help from Cloud and the others, Vincent was able to make the place more welcoming and livable. He even cleaned out the basement of all the broken equipment and the coffin he had slept in all those years until he met Cloud.
Vincent took one of the master bedrooms of the manor as his sleeping quarters and used a majority of the guest rooms for storage.
Once he turned on the water at just the right temperature, stepped into the shower letting the slightly hot water cascade down his back. Grasping a bar of soap and washcloth, Vincent went to work on scrubbing slight grim that developed from the sweat. While doing so, his mind wandered to what had happen in his dream.
Everything that happen in it felt too real to be something that his subconscious came up with. And the woman… she was far too beautiful to be real. But every touch… every emotion felt real. He could still feel the warmth of the woman's hands upon his cheeks… taste the sweetness of her lips on his…
'There's no way someone like her is real…' Vincent thought. And sadly, from his view, he believed that. In reality, no woman like the one from his dream existed. Even Lucrecia wasn't that ethereal in appearance. Although, he admit that Lucrecia was beautiful and kind in her own way and that he did love her… she didn't come close to invoking his emotions to such an extent.
He also knew that it wasn't healthy to fall for someone who probably wasn't even real.
Sighing in disappointment, Vincent went to rinse the soapsuds off his body (XP Drool…) and turned off the shower. Stepping out of the shower and wrapping a towel around his waist, Vincent made his way back to his room to get ready for the day ahead of him.
That was the one thing that Vincent hated the most. Once he's awake, even in the middle of the night or so early in the morning, there was no going back to sleep no matter how hard he tried (XP I'm like that too and I just hate it).
After drying off, Vincent made his way to his dresser only to trip on something furry. That's right. The great Vincent Valentine tripped! On what, exactly? Well… it's like this.
It happened a week after the ShinRa Manor was completely remodeled. He was on his way back after running into Reeves about the surgery for his arm when he found… he didn't know what it was really. But it resembled a small cat in appearance… except with two tails. He had to admit, despite the abnormality of the animal having two tails it was really cute. He couldn't help but bring it home with him.
(Anyone who can guess who Vinnie's new little companion is gets a plushy of that character)
"Sorry, girl." Vincent muttered an apology to the two-tailed cat after she growled in irritation at him and got up to move to his bed to get some more sleep.
He never bothered to tell the others that he had a new housemate. Whether they found out or not, it didn't matter to him. But every time the rest of AVALANCHE came over for a visit, she's never around. And what stinks the most is that he never gave her a name.
'Maybe I should ask Tifa about that… or Marlene.' Vincent knew that those two would be the best to ask for a pet name, even though Marlene was still a child. If he were to ask Yuffie… who knew what the Kunoichi would do to the poor feline… probably coddle the poor thing to death.
After dressing in his usual clothes, setting his gun in its holster, and picking up the two-tailed cat from his bed, Vincent left the room and set out for Midgar. Even though it was sometime after four in the morning, it was a bit of a long was to Midgar and the others wouldn't mind him coming early.
--- Another Dimension, Higurashi Shrine ---
"…………… No." Kagome said after giving her younger brother, who was holding the package, that came for him in the mail a week earlier by Shippó when the Kitsune was still in France for a fashion show, a deadpanned stare and started back to making her sandwich for and early lunch.
"Né-chan! Why not!" Souta asked, a mixture of disappointment and disbelief. What was in the package he held was really for his sister that he, his girlfriend Hitomi, Satoru, and Shippo had worked hard to get for her. Souta, Hitomi, and Satoru gathered the amount of money necessary (by using their allowances) to buy it while Shippó had searched for the materials and fabric to make it.
(So basically they were paying for the fabrics and materials while also paying Shippó in advance to make the costume)
It was supposed to be a costume for Kagome to wear at the Final Fantasy convention Souta had practically begged her to take him to since she had promised to spend time with him anywhere he had wished. This convention was a perfect opportunity to spend time with his sister, even though he knew that Kagome never was into anime or video games because of the amount of time she had spent in the Sengoku Jidai. And this convention was the one he, Hitomi, and Satoru had been waiting for. Souta even bought tickets a year early for this convention.
Kagome looked at her younger brother with a raised brow while pointing out, "Because, Souta, yes, I agreed that I would take you to this convention but I never agreed that I would dress up as well." With that said, Kagome went her small study that her grandfather made for her with her sandwich and bottle of water in hand.
Souta was hot on her heels as she made her way down the hall to the room next their grandfather's. "Come one, Kagome. My friends and I are dressing up as our favorite characters; even Shippó's dressing up. We got you the costume so you wouldn't have to feel left out. You don't need any make-up or anything for it. And I also worked so hard in figuring out which character would suit you best."
'Oh, no…' Kagome thought after she turned her head to look at Souta's direction after taking her seat behind her desk. On Souta's face, was the one thing that was always able to do her in- The Puppy Dog Pout! And damn, no matter how hard she tried to ignore those big, watery, pleading eyes that were mixed with that bottom lip of his sticking out and quivering.
And with a slight groan and defeated whimper, Kagome lit her shoulder slump as she spoke with an exaggerated voice, "Alright, brat. You win. What kind of costume did you get me?"
She instantly regretted her choice of words when she saw her little devil of a brother smile excitedly with a slightly crazed gleam in his eye. So slight, it was hardly identifiable. Well, to the untrained eye anyway.
Before Souta could get more excited, Kagome told him that after she was done eating that he could show her the costume and help her put it on. With that, Souta nodded eagerly and left the small study to wait for his sister in her room. When Souta was out of sight and couldn't hear his footsteps going up the stairs, Kagome lit out a sigh asking to her self, "Why do I have a bad feeling about this?"
Nothing but the silence within her small study answered her question.
--- Kagome's room, after she ate ---
Kagome had noticed that while Souta was waiting on her, he had laid the costume he and his friends got for her on her bed. The material that made the costume leather, cotton, and a minor amount of stainless, gold plated metal. The colors for the costume were red and black. The colors and the way the costume looked made her think of that crazy vampire character from that one anime that she caught Shippó and Souta watching last Halloween.
(The slightly vague description of the costume is a major giveaway of which Kagome's dressing up as. If you still don't know…then shame on you :p. And as for the "crazy vampire character" she's thinking about was Alucard from Hellsing. I know… it's so obvious. XP)
Feeling the material of the bodysuit, Kagome was surprised that it felt just like the way Sango's Taijya suit. It may look as smooth as leather but it had the texture of dragon hide.
Confused, Kagome looked to Souta in question as to how he had the bodysuit of the costume made out of a material that was not supposed to exist anymore.
Seeing his sister confused, Souta couldn't help but smile proudly. Yes, he knew what the bodysuit was made of. It was by luck that Shippó still had some of the material left by Kagome's Taijya sister. And because Kagome was so small in height and frame, there was plenty of it left to also make the boots, gloves, and buckles for the costume.
Answering his sister's silent question, Souta spoke, "Shippó had said that had some dragon hide with him left by Sango. The material was hardly used after Sango decided not to pass the art of Taijya to her children since the demon activity decreased greatly. Even after five centuries, the material was still in good shape."
When Souta caught sight of Kagome's thoughtful yet wistful look complete with a light smile… he knew that she was thinking of the past. But unlike all the times before, she didn't burst into tears and get upset; a sure sign that she was healing greatly with each passing day. The sadness that used to fill her eyes was hardly noticeable now.
To get her attention, the younger boy cleared his throat, saying, "Well… Né-chan…" Kagome turned her attention to him. "Let's get to work, shall we?" he had finished with a brush and comb in each hand and a crazy grin on his face. The exact same grin that Shippó always had on his face whenever he wanted to cosplay, and Kagome was the "mannequin."
Kagome sweatdropped, feeling dread crawl up her spine as she froze like a doe caught in the headlights. The only thought going through her mind as Souta stalked toward her was, 'Oh, shit…'
--- Thirty minutes later, downstairs ---
While Souta got to work on "helping" Kagome get ready, Kun-loon had lit Shippó, Hitomi, and Satoru in to wait for her children to finish getting ready.
Since the convention they were going to was a Final Fantasy Convention, they had all agreed to dress up as their favorites from Final Fantasy Seven. Shippó was going as Reno, Hitomi as Yuffie Kisuragi, and Satoru as Cid Highwind. Souta already told them that he was going as Cloud Strife and they had all agreed that Kagome should dress up as THE Vincent Valentine… despite that she was a girl.
Taking off his shoes that went with his Turk costume of Reno, with Hitomi and Satoru following in suit, Shppó asked Kun-loon, "Ne, Bá-chan? Are 'Ká-chan and Souta still upstairs?"
"Yes, they should still be in Kagome's room getting her ready." Kun-loon answered her grandson with a smile.
At this, Shippó started to feel giddy at wondering what his mother looked like in the costume he made. Motioning the others to follow him up upstairs, Shippó made his way to Kagome's room. Once he was at her door, he gave it a knock while asking if Kagome and Souta were still in there.
A muffled 'yeah' came from his mother and and 'okay, 'Gome. You're done' from Souta. Soon the door opened to reveal Souta, brush and comb in each hand, who had crazy grin and look on his face, chuckling with eagerness, "Hehehe. I did it. Wait 'til you see. Check it out!"
(THIS part I got from Fushigi Yuugi when Tamahome first arrived in Miaka's world XP)
Shippó, Hitomi, and Satoru looked at him as he had knocked a screw loose. The two boys with Hitomi took a step back out uneasiness at the sight of Souta in "crazed mode."
With a deadpanned look on her face, Hitomi stared at her boyfriend since the third grade and pointed out, "Sou-chan, you look like a psychopath."
"Yeah…" Shippó and Satoru agreed. If there was one thing that you should watch out for, it's when Souta gets crazy about whatever he had accomplished. Not like when he's on a bad sugar high, but still just as bad. It's best to stay out of his way.
"CHECK IT OUT!" Souta hissed. He was practically giddy at how good he made his sister look. At first he was shocked at how well the Vincent costume had fit her, but even more shock at how good she looked in it. He just couldn't wait to see the looks on the others' faces.
With exasperated sighs, Hitomi, Shippó, and Satoru took a peek inside the room to see… a complete spitting image of Vincent Valentine from Final Fantasy: Advent Children. The few things that made this version of The Ex-Turk was the height, the slim frame, and very feminine face that was complete with big doe, sapphire eyes.
To say that the Kitsune, human girl, and human boy were shocked was an understatement.
(Okay, It's hard for me to describe Vincent's outfit, but I'll try my best. But of any of you get confused with the description, let's just say that it's an exact replica of Vincent's outfit from FF7: AC and Dirge of Cerberus.)
Kagome was pretty surprise on how much she liked the costume as she looked into her full-sized mirror on her closet door. The bodysuit was all black with buckles for the waist, legs, and forearms. The red colored material made a cape with a high collar that had little black buckles lined up from the top of the said high collar to just below her breasts and the edges of the train looked burned and torn looking. Kagome's right hand was gloved but the left had a gold claw. A red Headband held back most of her hair while a wisp of it or two stuck out from the said headband. A holster with a fake but real-looking gun was tied around her left thigh. The boots that looked a bit long, possibly too big for her set beside her desk, leaving her with only a pair of black socks on.
Feeling the intensity of stares on her form, Kagome turned around to see the shocked faces of her son, hopefully future little sister, and the little brother of the girl she had saved from being taken to hell (For those of you who are confused, watch the episode where The Soul Piper had made it's appearance).
Well… Hitomi was shocked and drooling a bit. Satoru looked as if he had died and gone to heaven. And Shippó was practically looking at her in disbelief and admiration.
Breaking the silence, Kagome looked to Souta and asked, "Souta, who did you dress me up as?"
Before the three came into the room, Kagome remembered how shocked her brother looked after he had finished doing her hair. It made her wonder who was supposed to be with the costume.
Souta soon answered her question with the name of the character, Vincent Valentine, which Final Fantasy game he came from, and talked a little of his background. From how Souta spoke of him, he must be really popular. Not that Kagome cared. Because of her traveling back and forth from her time to the Sengoku Jidai, Kagome had drifted apart from what occurred in the present… like Fashion, electronics and such. (Not the shower though. No one in his or her right mind could lose touch from that… Even though bathing in a hot spring is a bit more relaxing than in a tub.)
After Souta's speech of who Vincent Valentine was, Souta himself left to get ready while the others waited downstairs after three of them came out of their states of shock from Kagome's appearance.
Once Souta bounded down the staircase all dressed as his favorite character, Cloud Strife, the young teenager gave Kagome a little white box. After looking at what it said on it, Kagome saw that it was a box of Red contacts lenses. And for the second time that day, Souta answered her silent question saying that her character had red eyes.
That tidbit of information made her think of Naraku's eyes, making her shiver unnoticeably.
With a sigh, Kagome had set her costume boots at the door and went to the mirror that hung on the wall of the hall that led to her study to put the contacts on. After she had doing so, Kagome gave herself one last look in the mirror before receiving a compliment from her mother and left with her family and little friends to the convention her brother had planned for them to go to.
Phew! Chapter one is done. I hoped you guys enjoyed it. I tried to make some of the parts on Kagome's half a bit funny so… tell me what you guys thought of it with a review.
And also, I'd like to tell you guys that Chaotic Rei has also posted her own Vincent/Kagome pairing called "Libero." The prologue is all that's up, but it's showing a lot of promise. I had already read it and recommend that you also read it. It's REALLY good.
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As for the pairings concerning my fic, I decided not to put up any pairing polls and just go with these…
Vincent/Kagome (As planed)
Souta/Hitomi (also as planed)
Cloud/Yuffie (In honor of Rei/Vanya)
&
Shippó/Tifa (My idea with Rei's support)
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Next time on "Red Stands For More Than Blood"…
Kagome and the others finally arrive at the Final Fantasy Convention. Kagome gets glomped, left and right by many Vincent Fan Girls. And much more…
What? Sesshoumaru came to the convention as well… And dressed a Sephiroth! Also, who's this person who's dressed as a scientist and why does he keep following them around the Convention? Find out in the next chapter…
"A Stalker At The Convention"
See ya' then!