DISCLAIMED: (08/12/09) All mistakes are mine.

Characters: Reno/Yuffie, Vincent/Yuffie, Cloud/Tifa(minor), Rufus & the Turks, AVALANCHE
Genre: Romance/Drama/Action
Rating: T for language and light adult content.
Summary: Yuffie was just doing something nice for a couple friends. Why her world suddenly turned upside down by two different men was anyone's guess. Explores an age-old question – Vincent? Or Reno? Rated for light adult content.

A/N: Hey, thank you to everyone who's reading this. You guys are awesome. Those who leave a review or comment, you all know you rock.



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ΜϊЖεΦжҒз€ℓϊηğ§

Chapter

"…Ready?"

Yuffie closed her eyes, zoning everything else out. Taking another deep breath, she opened her eyes and nodded. Cracking her neck she bounced side to side, keeping limber. Vincent asked again, needing her to say it.

"Yes," she met his gaze with a rare determined one of her own. "I'm ready."

Vincent nodded and hit the release on the ramp. Air blasted her in the face as she crouched, running down the ramp-way, before leaping to the ground. She rolled to lessen the impact, and came back up on her feet. She waved at the jet before taking off for the coastline, using her small surfboard to float along the water as she hugged the ridge. Coming to a spot where she could peek easily, she did.

A small copse of trees were there that weren't last time they visited. Her eyes scanned the opening in the group of trees, seeing the faint outline of two moving figures. She chuckled to herself. They won't be moving long.

A few minutes later, two guards men decked out in full camouflage, were conked on the head and dragged out of sight. Yuffie grabbed their I.D. badges and removed the clips from their guns, tossing them into the small forest.

Her eyes lit up as she got an idea. Tugging on their camo gear, she found identical blue outfits underneath on both of them. Quickly, she divested one of them of their uniform and put it on over her bullet-proof vest.

She crossed to a small latch sticking out of a mound covered in moss and pulled. It lifted easily, revealing a small stairway leading to a metal door. Striding down, she noticed the scanner in the middle of it and waved the badge over it.

"Dacker. Everything okay? Dacker, come in, over."

Yuffie spun wide-eyed, hearing the com from outside. Scampering back up and outside she crossed over to the device and picked it up. Clearing her throat, she spoke in a deep voice.

"Everything's fine. Just wanted some water, sir."

There was static and Yuffie winced, walking back towards the entrance.

"You okay? Your voice is scratchy."

"Er, yeah…that's why I need the water."

"You didn't bring your canteen?"

"It's out, sir." Yuffie quickly glanced at the other guy's I.D. before adding, "Jordan's out too." Yuffie waited nervously for the reply.

Finally, "Alright but make it quick."

"Roger." Yuffie replied and sighed, relieved.

Setting the PHS com down, she entered the mound and pulled open the metal door, slipping in. The walls were dank and gray. She didn't make a sound as she crept along the deserted corridor.

At the end was a staircase that curved down to the floor beneath her. She carefully made her way down till she could see the lower level, and paused. Seemed it was a common area, but only a few members were lounging around in it.

Turning back up the stairs, she turned down a corridor she passed. The first door was open. She peeked in, seeing a guy leaning back in his chair in front of a zillion little screens, showing radar and surveillance of the surrounding area and inside the base. He was leafing through a dirty magazine, not paying attention.

Sneaking past, she continued like normal until she reached the end, which led to another staircase. This one was narrower and Yuffie had a feeling it was the one she was looking for.

Running swiftly down four flights of stairs, she came upon two doors. One to her left and one straight ahead that said DANGER KEEP OUT.

Thinking that must hold the power to the base, she turned to the other door. It had a card scan on it. Remembering how they responded when she used the stolen I.D. to open the front door, she pulled out her ear-piece for her PHS and fixed it to her ear.

Knowing she'd have to work fast from here on out, she took a deep breath, before scanning the badge and pulling open the door.

"Ah hah!" she exclaimed triumphantly. The room held a console covered in dozens of switches. "Guys, I found it."

She crossed to the chair sitting in from of a monitor. Next to it sat what looked like a fax and printer. Clicking with the mouse, Yuffie watched as a password was requested to continue. Reeve had shown her a way to get around that and she pushed the appropriate keys.

"Good, Yuffie. You remember what to do?" came Reeve's voice in her ear.

"Yeah, got it."

She breathed out as the console responded as Reeve said it would, and pulled out her specialized PHS. Clicking a button, a connector popped out the side. She connected it to the appropriate slot on the console and typed in the code Reeve taught her. Several codes later, she was copying everything straight to the console in Rufus' base.

"Alright, guys. I'm sending it," she spoke into her ear-piece.

She winced as static hit her eardrum, before she heard Reeve's voice.

"We're getting it. Good work, Yuffie."

Loud alarms went off then. Yuffie looked up startled at the red flashing light overhead.

"Yuffie! Are you okay?"

"…I think they know I'm here."

"Get out of there. Do you have the blueprint of the base up?"

Yuffie sat back down and clicked the file. "Yes."

"See if you can find another exit," came Reeve's concerned voice.

Yuffie quickly scanned the prints, frowning as she saw something leading off the edge of one side. It looked like a tunnel.

"There is!" she exclaimed.

The door behind her rattled. "Oh no," she added. "I'm sorry, Reeve. I love you guys."

Reeve was yelling as she ripped the ear piece from her ear and dropped it on the ground, right before the door burst open and four armed Blue Devils entered pointing guns at her. Yuffie stood and faced them, crushing the ear-piece beyond repair under her heel.

She held up her hands yelling, "Wait!"

The foremost one nodded, and another came forward and removed her weapons, before binding her hands behind her.

Another member came forward and sat down at the console, looking at the screen and then at the PHS plugged into it. She ripped it out and examined it. Glancing up at the one in charge, she spoke.

"A transfer device."

The leader turned to Yuffie. "Who are you and who sent you?"

"I'm Yuffie Kisaragi and I'm a princess of Wutai."

"We have no business with Wutai. Who sent you?" the man repeated.

Yuffie was disconcerted by his eyes. They looked just like Cloud's, glowing Mako blue. The man holding her shook her out of her moment's regard.

"I work with the WRO, which is allied with Rufus Shinra. They'll come for me."

The man frowned. "Take her away."

ҰμҒғΦєЖυΦπсЭиГ

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"Gorramit!" Barret slammed his real fist down on the table. (Throw-out to all Firefly fans;D)

Rufus, Reeve, the ex-Turks and the Avalanche group sat in the meeting room. Reeve sat looking distressed, Red was pacing, Vincent was in his customary position against the wall with his head down, Cid stubbed his cigarette out viciously on the bare table's surface, Elena looked nervously between everyone, Reno was clenching his EMR tight, his knuckles going white, while Rufus and Tseng stood/sat there calmly.

"We have enough information to invade, right?" Rufus asked.

Reeve nodded. "The blueprints show an underwater tunnel leading out of it."

"Good, we'll infiltrate from there." Rufus turned to Vincent. "I trust you are leading your group."

Vincent nodded. "I can."

"Good. You will be in charge of rescuing your friend. The rest will secure the leader and as many of his subordinates as possible. Reeve, I'll need your men to set charges."

"What fuckin' charges?" Cid asked.

Rufus looked at him with some annoyance. "The ones needed to blow up the base."

"Why don't you just take it over and use it as your own," asked Red.

"…It will be destroyed. I already have a base."

Barret frowned. "But—"

"Mr. Shinra's mind is made up," Tseng cut him off, a note of finality in his tone. His PHS went off then and he turned away to answer it. A moment later he turned and placed it on the table, clicking the speaker button. "It's them."

"And who am I speaking to?" came a voice from the PHS.

At a nod from Rufus, Reno said, "Rufus Shinra. Who is this?"

"Well, well, well. Taking your own calls? My how the mighty hath fallen. I am Ranulf. But you knew that already, didn't you, Rufus?"

"What do you want?" Tseng asked.

"So touchy. I merely called to say I have a scrappy little Princess here that I thought you might be interested in getting back."

"What do you suggest?"

"A trade. Shinra for the Princess. Also, we'd like 500,000 million gil, just to make it fair…royalty doesn't come cheap these days, you know."

Tseng leaned forward and pushed "hold" pausing the call.

"Do it," Vincent spoke.

Everyone looked at him.

"Yeah, just get 'em out in the open for the exchange." Barret added.

Cid lit another cigarette. "We could split up. The Turks with Shinra for the trade, and us and Reeve's crew'll head to their base and sneak up on their asses."

"Make sure Yuffie is not harmed, though, or no deal," Red added. The Avalanche members agreed.

"Fine." Rufus gestured and Tseng restarted the call.

"Don't put me on hold again," came an angry voice over the PHS.

"We'll do it," Tseng spoke.

Barret growled catching the ex-Turk's eye.

"Only if the princess is not hurt."

"Oh, you didn't want us to hurt her? Well, that's too bad. You should have told me earlier."

The group became very tense.

"Here she is, in fact. Say hello princess."

"Reno? Vincent? Don't—Ow!" Yuffie's groans faded as Ranulf's voice came back on the line.

Reno's jaw worked, while Vincent's fists clenched.

"Oops! She's not feeling well."

"You jack-ass! You leave 'er alone an' maybe we won't rip ya limb from limb an' feed ya to the Midgar Golom!" Barret exploded.

There was laughter on the line. "My, my. You ally yourself with such eloquent creatures, Rufus."

"Leave the girl be, or we destroy your little island operation," Rufus intoned.

"I don't think so. The girl dies if you don't make the trade by tomorrow at noon."

Reeve shook his head. That wasn't enough time.

"No. The day after tomorrow at 3 p.m. in Edge." Tseng returned.

There was silence for a moment. Finally, "Fine. Midgar, on the north end by the train graveyard. Agreed?"

"You bring the girl unharmed. And no weapons."

"Of course," came the patronizing voice on the other end. "As long as you bring the gil and the man, himself."

"Agreed."

Tseng closed the connection then.

Reeve stood. "I'll start going through the data and brief my men."

Tseng nodded. "Reno. Elena. Head to sector seven and scout the perimeter. You know what to do." Reno and Elena nodded.

The group dispersed then, all except for Rufus, Tseng and Vincent.

"What aren't you telling us?" asked Vincent.

Tseng and Rufus looked at him coolly.

"What do you mean?" Tseng asked, being evasive.

"Ranulf…is my cousin," Rufus supplied. "His father was my father's older brother but he died early on."

Tseng crossed his arms and set his face to stone.

Vincent lifted a brow.

"He always crowed to me when we were younger that he was stronger and would take the company from me when I inherited. Once he reached the age however, my father put him into the SOLDIER program and he blames his condition on me. Then Midgar was destroyed and subsequently so was Shinra head quarters and his delusions led him to thinking I did it on purpose, to make him suffer. He's quite mad."

"…So he's like your father." Vincent surmised.

Rufus narrowed his eyes briefly, before nodding. "Yes. While I realize Shinra can not be rebuilt, he does not. He is amassing support to try and recreate it for himself, and that cannot happen."

"But his supporters hate Shinra," Vincent remarked. "If he was revealed as one, he would lose his support."

"They would not believe me, the man they loathe."

"But they might believe the group that saved the world," Tseng added.

Vincent considered this. "Hn." He turned and stalked out of the room.

ЯεπΘжΨμҒғϊΣ

-

Yuffie sat hunched in a corner, in the box they put her in. Her knees up to her chest, she rested her chin on them, her arms wrapped around her legs, wincing slightly from where Ranulf elbowed her in the stomach earlier. With some amusement, she realized Tifa probably would never be able to sit the same way at all. Smiling reminded her of the bruise on her cheekbone, however, courtesy of Ranulf's right hand woman, Lucina and she grimaced. That bitch was just jealous.

Yuffie recalled the angry Blue Devil's words. "You have to be the most pathetic princess I've ever seen. No wonder Godo laughed when we tried to ransom you."

Grimacing, she tried to ignore her angry thoughts and turned them to more puzzling matters. Reno. And Vincent. They both kissed her and she had no idea why.

Sure, Reno was a ladies man, and there had been some moments between them, but she didn't know if that translated to real feelings for him on her part. Or his.

And Vincent…he was still hung up on his dead first love. He was somber and silent; well she was overly talkative so it kinda balanced out. She did get a fluttery sensation whenever he looked at her…but then she got that same feeling when Reno had kissed her.

Yuffie huffed, laying her forehead on her knees. Nothing made sense. She was not a normal girl, she didn't have crushes; not since she was five, but it had been an older warrior who later died in the war with Shinra.

Godo wasn't going to take care of her, her mother was gone. She learned to think only of herself. If a guy was in the least desirable, she'd convince herself she could do better. She developed tunnel vision and only saw materia and those she could steal it from.

Yuffie cursed to herself. If she had paid more attention, maybe she could've stopped both of them and avoided this whole mess. She then realized they did give her clues. She recalled Reno's proximity that day at the hospital, and how her heart beat slightly faster. She cast it off then as fear of him not accepting her apology. And then his little tug on her hair after the Rufus attack, which was something rather out of the ordinary, especially since it wasn't an annoying yank, but…flirtatious?

And Vince…he walked off or shot you if he didn't like what you were saying. He was the king of emo, but he reacted to her baiting and teasing by not only covering her eyes, but also by cupping her cheek, which she supposed was his brand of flirting. And then in the bar, she had no idea what he was about to say but he was standing really close and her heart was beating a mile a minute.

He used to hate it when she called his PHS, now he was always there if she needed him. And he had compared her to his precious Lucrecia.

Yuffie's jaw dropped and she smacked her forehead with her palm. She was sooooo stupid! But now what was she going to do?

Both were ex-Turks. Vincent was at least half-Wutainese. She thought she'd heard Reno was from the sector 7 slums. She didn't know anything about Reno, really. She knew more than she'd ever wanted to know about Vincent during the Omega crisis.

Yuffie thought about going back to Wutai and never seeing either of them again, and it left her cold and empty. But other than friends, she didn't know how else she felt about them. Reno, she was just getting used to. He was a flirt and for once she realized she wasn't immune. Vince was finally starting to thaw and she was starting to get used to that as well.

They both kissed really well, but that was no help. Maybe she'd just see how it went once she got out of here. If she got out of here. With her luck, eventually they'd both probably decide she wasn't worth it.

ҰμҒғΦєЖυΦπсЭиГ

-

Reno finished connecting the charges in the last train, and stood. He yelled over his shoulder.

"Elena!"

"Just a minute, sir!" she returned.

He sighed and pulled a cigarette from his jacket, lighting it before taking a deep drag. He closed his eyes as he blew out smoke.

He refused to think about Yuffie. She'd been entering his head and thoughts lately without him trying and usually it was a lewd fantasy, but now with her in danger. . . it became uncomfortable to think of her. Either it was about her being tortured, or even worse, he was thinking about how much he'd care if she were gone. First Rude, then Yuffie. Not gonna happen.

Elena ran up then and saluted. "All set, sir."

Reno tossed his cigarette, crushing it with his toe. "Don't call me sir. Let's go."

They headed back to his chopper.

ЯεπΘжΨμҒғϊΣ

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"Come on you lazy good fer nothin' dogs! I'd like to get out of here before the #$% sun sets!" The Shera's crew scrambled as their captain made his displeasure well-known.

"Cid."

The pilot glanced away from haranguing his crew to see the gunslinger.

"You can handle the base. I am going to get Yuffie," Vincent intoned, before turning away.

"Sounds good." He agreed, not liking the Turks handling the trade. "Wait, how ya gettin' there?" Cid yelled at his back.

---

Vincent cursed to himself as he rode on the back of Cloud's golden chocobo. He wouldn't lose her. Not again. Not after Lucrecia. Not after Shalua. Not after Shelke. Not everyone he cared about would die, he'd make sure of it.

She'd saved him so many times during the Omega incident. The only time he could return the favour had been because of the monster inside him.

He cursed himself for kissing her. He had nothing to offer her. A lifetime of darkness? That wasn't a life. It was hell. His hell. She was the only ray of light left for him. He'd grown fond of her when he realized she was the only one who'd tolerate him no matter what, and was constantly cheerful despite his moodiness. He couldn't bring her down with him. But he wasn't about to let her die.

ҰμҒғΦєЖυΦπсЭиГ

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A/N: Lol, lots of reflection time for our heroes. Let me know what you think;)