A/N: Revealing the pregnancy for the first time…this ought to have an emotional response now won't it? Read and review would you kindly?

Time until Vincent's life expires: 28 days, 4 months…

The sound of Conformer whistling in the winds as it spun towards its target was loud enough for all to hear as Yuffie had missed her target…a Midgarian zolom snake was fair game for hunting, but a Wutainese venom-mouth dragon was as challenging a target one could get without invoking the wrath of any of the Bahamut dragons; the reason being that the venom-mouth made its home in the treetops, climbing with such skill that it is a danger to any of the independent tribe hunters that accidentally attack it, especially given its lithe body frame. However, if anybody were to hunt the dragon down professionally, they would know that the most prized part of the dragon is the venom glands—the venom is contained in a pair of viper-like fangs that overloads the nervous system of the target, causing them to suffer a most painful and torturous ordeal before the neurotoxin asphyxiates the victim, practically strangling them to death, and each drop of venom is enough to kill fifty people unless the antidote is administered within five minutes. It also does not help that the same venom is contained in the skin and blood of the dragon, making it ill-advised to partake in this creature's flesh unless you have a high resistance to toxins as the regular Bahamut does or the chef in question has a genuine license and training in cooking it.

The dragon kept crawling away even as Yuffie's Conformer had chopped a branch shortly after it got away. She silently cursed as she watched the dragon get away. Damn it! That smug bastard wasn't going to get away as easily though…although she really did hope that this kind of dragon was not as smart as they are said to be. Before she could think more on the matter, she heard the sound of a thunderclap mixed in with the bang of a gunshot break through the air followed by a roar of pain…oh she had an idea as to what made that earlier sound, but she didn't think it was ready to be used yet. Among Vincent's pastimes aside from piano was his skill in customizing guns—his latest project, the "Zeus" is a semiautomatic sniper rifle chambered for the .50 BMG round, and can fire up to six shots at ultra-high speeds in order to penetrate pretty much anything a little over a mile away…and because it has a lightning materia permanently fixed into the gun that causes the round to vibrate constantly at a frequency of nearly 5000 MHz, courtesy of sharing the project with Rufus whenever he was not training his legs up for the eventual trip to Nibelheim.

As she followed the source of the sound, she saw Vincent wedged in between two trees, with the barrel of the Zeus smoking. A few feet away from him however, was the dismembered arm of the dragon—it was green, and it had webs in between the clawed fingers, and between the bicep and the forearm while sitting in a pool of blood. He had come along to aid in the hunt while test-firing this weapon that him and Rufus had designed, and it was truly a beast—the entire gun was practically man-sized; the barrel was almost four feet long with the muzzle brake on one end, while the stock and the firing mechanism extended from the gun a good two and a half feet from the other end of the barrel with a bipod in between the muzzle brake and the firing mechanism. In terms of aesthetics however, Vincent had personally worked on the designs…as he had planned out the gold inlay of clouds that entwined around the barrel, as well as the image of a bearded and muscled man holding a lightning bolt like a javelin in preparation to throw it etched onto the stock—likely the namesake of the gun.

"I'd follow the blood trail," he said finally after pulling back the bolt of the gun, letting the steaming and empty case of the bullet fall to the ground, "the venom-mouth is by far one of the scariest creatures in Wutai, and is the apex predator of the trees—although it is not above coming down from its natural habitat to snatch prey from the ground. It's a tactic I used during my days of hunting terrorists when I had to hunt them down in the wild—assuming of course they were stupid enough to not bandage the wound and run back to the base."

Oh she was interested now…she just had to know. "Were there any kills you were actually proud of?"

As the two of them walked on out together deeper into the forest, Yuffie noted that the aura around Vincent seemed to darken with that oh-so-familiar feeling. "Before I was forced to join the Turks shortly after the pandemic was quelled, there were few terrorists I actually felt pleasure to be ridding the world of…their deaths would haunt my sleep among the other lives I've taken as they taunted me for being a monster and belonging with them. The worst of them however were the leaders of said terrorists—now most of those are the sort of terrorists I felt pleasure in killing as they've taken advantage of uneducated adults and impressionable teenagers and children, and used their influence to order those under their command to kill hundreds of innocent people in the name of such things as religion and pride."

"But what about AVALANCHE? Weren't we originally a terrorist cell?"

"Of all the terrorist cells I've ever encountered, the AVALANCHE of today is far from the mindless fanatics I've come to hate—no, I don't hate them as they have a true cause, and they don't waste the lives of their members needlessly like the many terrorist cells I've seen and destroyed. As a matter of fact, I highly doubt that AVALANCHE today is even a terrorist cell by definition…I think they're more along the lines of rebels than outright terrorists."

"Wait, what do you mean 'the AVALANCHE of today'? I thought Barrett was the leader of AVALANCHE before Cloud."

"True, but back then, AVALANCHE was one of the terrorist cells I wiped out—when I was a conscript, a man by the name of Oleg Mendeleev of Mideel led the organization…under his command, fanatics believed that everyone was guilty for killing the world—they were the reason that everything went bad in the world. The man preached that if death came to the members of the cell from doing harm to the 'scourges of the world' (namely Shin-Ra), then they would be rewarded with a one-way trip to heaven while being attended to by nothing but virgins. Mendeleev was the worst one I've ever had to hunt, as in my eyes; HE was the true enemy of the world at the time…as it was AVALANCHE under his command that directed all the terrorist cells to continue on with the pandemic…I remember that day well, when I aided in finishing him off…I shot one of the terrorists he had under his command in the shoulder, and he lead me through the jungle towards Oleg's hiding place in Gongaga unknowingly. After I did some recon, we made short work of the organization by storming the base—and before long, the campaign was over. The whole plan was that once Oleg was dead, all of his remaining forces would fight to the death for power within the organization, and from what I've heard, it worked—AVALANCHE never reared its head again for nearly thirty years. One thing I never saw coming was that one of the members had a different view from Oleg—he realized that their old ways of wanton murder upon innocent people was getting them nowhere, and that their real enemy was Shin-Ra for they were the ones actually doing the most harm in the world…he also saw the chaos that had hit the organization, and thought that it was for the best that it happened. At the time, I thought it was only a rumor. Care to guess who reformed AVALANCHE after that?"

"Don't tell me you've…"

"The first time I met Barrett was after you found me in the coffin. I filled in the blanks after that when you introduced yourselves to me as AVALANCHE—particularly Barrett himself. At that time, I was very wary around you because I remembered AVALANCHE from before, and so one terrorist act from any of you and the entire operation would have been wiped out again. But after seeing that Cloud had caused a whole 180-degree turn for the organization, I began to see hope for them."

"But still…to think that you could've met Barrett all those years ago…that's something…"

Before she could say anything else, Yuffie was gently silenced by Vincent pausing for a second—he was studying something before drawing Cerberus from its holster…she then saw that he was looking at a splash of blood on leaves—from the dragon no doubt. But as she studied around the area, she noted that this was where the blood trail stopped…only two things were possible: either the dragon bled to death or…

Her train of thought was interrupted as Vincent pushed her away just in time for a claw swiping downwards to miss them both. They looked at the dragon, and saw that it had a feral look in its eyes…oh it was pissed! Yuffie swung her Conformer quickly to push it back, but the dragon pulled its head back, and countered by whipping its head back to bite Yuffie in the arm—only for it to be decapitated just before it could be decapitated against a nearby tree as she had managed to swing her arm back just in time to throw the gigantic shuriken at the dragon, covering herself from the dragon's arterial spray of blood. She then noted as Vincent tackled her from the side…and she watched in awe as the dragon started thrashing around without its head…that is until Vincent pulled the trigger on Cerberus four times through the shoulder, the chest, and the hips—knocking the body down and putting the creature out of its misery as he shattered the ball joints of the said areas.

After the dragon was found to be dead, Vincent gave her his hand, and lifted Yuffie up. "Nice throw as usual dear."

"Thanks—looks like you haven't lost your touch Vince."

Vincent nodded and walked towards the dragon, pulled out a survival knife, and began to work at cutting the dragon to pieces. The scene was disgusting as he hacked the dragon apart by the joints while putting each piece of every limb into a plastic bag and the torso into a separate one. "What are you doing?"

"My mother taught me to respect nature—the head is proof that you hunted and killed this dragon, but at the same time we have to make sure none of that body goes to waste…from what I gather, there are still hunters from the tribes who could use that poison we drain from the meat, which is still edible providing the poison is extracted properly…hence why I packed a bag."

"Is the poison dangerous to the baby?"

"If taken in any higher dose than is safe in the meat, which is roughly 34mL, then it would most definitely be dangerous to pregnant women—hence why only shamans are allowed to cut this meat up…which also happens to be a good day to be hunting this dragon as a tribal barbecue is up soon, as it's the graduation day for everyone aiming to be hunters in the tribe nearby."

She simply smiled—this was a good day…it gave her a sense of accomplishment when she had taken that dragon out by herself! Well, Vincent helped out, but still, she was the one who took the dragon's head! This moment was only second to that day …

Flashback, Roughly 4-5 months ago…

Vincent walked around in the palace…it had been almost a day since he last saw Yuffie—he was concerned that something had happened to her…such as a disease. When she slammed the door on him angrily, he wondered what it was that he had done to deserve it…just where did he go wrong? And that was why he was toting a bouquet of white roses, and a mastered Shiva materia in his hands. Granted that it was dinner tonight, and he was spending time with his wife in her home away from home—and all her cats had thankfully been put to bed by now so that his rodent friends would not have to worry. He only hoped that atlatl effect wouldn't apply on this supposedly romantic night…last time it was applied, he had a paper weight aimed at his head, along with a stapler, four pencils, a pen, two ink bottles, ten darts for the dartboard across from her office, and a few kunai, hira-shuriken, and bo-shuriken all in that order.

He knocked at the door three times to see Yuffie in a stunning blue dress opening the door, and getting up on the balls of her feet and pulling him down by the neck to plant a kiss in his mouth. The shock of the event was enough to make him almost drop everything. "I was worried you wouldn't come…after what I did yesterday, I figured you'd have been angry with me."

"No, no, no, not at all. It's just that I was bothering you when you were rather busy. Whatever it was, I'm…"

Yuffie smiled at her husband before taking the white roses from his arms, and holding the materia in her hand. "I'm not letting you take the blame for something that was my fault Vince…so, I'm going to treat you to something I've managed to prepare on my own for today."

Bemusement was upon Vincent's face as he wondered about this dinner. "What's going on Yuffie?"

"Nothing…I have a surprise for you is all."

Before he could say anymore, Yuffie led him into the house by his left hand and sat him down at the table after putting the flowers in the vase—this place had not changed at all…although all the cats were looking at Vincent expectantly. Oh he knew what they were thinking…he liked cats, that's for sure, but that did not mean he was going to spoil them by bringing any mice or rats along into the house—oh the horror. Besides, Yuffie did not like that time when he released that bat in front of her, and so he made sure that not even a gerbil followed him.

As he looked around, he began to wonder about his life thus far…he managed to repent for many of his sins…and Yuffie was the one who helped him find that path to redemption before he ultimately found his closure to everything that had been happening up to the point he fought with Omega. Yes, life has been getting better, although for some reason, he had a feeling that his joy would be rising even higher—perhaps he could go and speak to Yuffie about it…but before he could even get up, he found himself bumping into his wife, and catching two dishes in midair before they could fall to the floor with a splatter. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine…it's just that it still surprises me how quick you are."

Vincent smiled and nodded at Yuffie before setting both dishes down and she ran back to the kitchen. "The Amaterasu-brand sakè as usual?"

"That would be lovely."

As he lifted up the covers for the dishes, Vincent had made a discovery about his wife he never thought possible—as judging from the smell, she was a rather good cook as well…no doubt so that she could sustain herself when she was out stealing materia from some poor, innocent soul. She was a much better cook than he was…and his mother taught him to cook for himself should she have a rather difficult patient to look after. Tonight's dinner was unadon with a side of tsukemono, as well as a small bowl of miso…a simple dinner, but that did not detract from the memories of his childhood when he still had his mother. His thoughts were interrupted by Yuffie entering the dining room with a tray with two cups suited for sakè and she was smiling as she put down the tray and planted another kiss on her husband.

"Let's eat!"

As he added everything together while the two of them ate their dinner, he noted something must have happened with Yuffie to put her in such a good mood. Yes, something was different indeed—if they were still only friends, Vincent would have waited for Yuffie to open up and tell him what was going on, but because he was her husband, it would probably be a good idea to open up. As soon as he was done scooping in the last of the rice and wiping his mouth, he figured it would be a good time to ask her. "Yuffie, is there anything new you wish to share with me?"

The look on her face was that of being caught. "Vince, how are your senses since Chaos has been out of your body?"

"They're not as sharp as before, but they're still well above the human norm. Why do you ask?"

Yuffie pulled out of her seat, and walked towards Vincent with a smile on her face. The second she was close to him, she pulled his right hand towards her belly, and it was then that he felt it! It was being muffled by her body at work, but he felt something different pulsating within her. In order to confirm, he pulled Yuffie closer to his head, and placed his ear against her belly near the navel…what he heard caused him to widen his eyes and look up at Yuffie with a silent question on his face, as if to ask 'was I hearing what I think I'm hearing?'

"That's right Vinnie…you're going to be a daddy!"

The shock of the moment had hit him, and then the joy followed before Vincent initiated another kiss between his wife and himself and turning the kiss to her belly before placing his ear back to it while she held it in place for him to hear that which he heard the pulses of a life growing inside his wife…

Present day…Time Until Vincent's life expires: 12 days, 4 months

The trip under the port of Wutai was a rather slow event…after managing to rent a sub, Vincent and Yuffie found that for that small moment, the sight of all those colorful fish swimming around in the ocean was worth that much in gil…such a beauty, as they saw all the coral under the water. Going even deeper, they saw more beauty in the blackness of the deep-sea cave they found as a hustle and bustle of bioluminescent lights danced around. Angler fish were waiting for their prey to wander towards their traps, tube worms were even staying near vents spewing natural oil in a cloudy consistency. Deeper into the cave, they noticed the flickering dance of lights…a closer inspection revealed it to be an underwater mako fountain contained in a large chamber…from the size of that formation, any sort of materia could be synthesized from that one large hunk.

So much beauty was seen under the waves, and people were missing it due to being busy—the most beautiful sight however was that of the mako fountain itself. It was a shame then that they had to leave, but they eventually had to. Yuffie on the other hand made sure that the captain of the submarine had been sworn on pain of death to never reveal the location of the fountain to anyone in exchange for permanent employment to the imperial family. Once the captain was out of sight, Vincent turned his attention to the solemn look on his wife's face. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine…it's just that…all this time, we had something really beautiful—something that was created in nature…and we miss it all because we're too busy to even take notice of it. On second thought, it's probably best nobody ever found it…otherwise it would have been stripped for materia and we'll never see such beauty again."

He nodded—oh he knew what she was thinking. "Agreed…this is probably a sight we should be saving for generations to come—perhaps you can take our daughter here one day…and then her daughter's daughter will come to see it…until the end of days when we are all united as a family."

Yuffie let out a slight laugh as she pulled Vincent to her. "Who knows? We'll probably even make it a sort of pilgrimage for every future generation to visit that place…I know I'll bring her there when she's old enough to appreciate it."

The couple then began their trek towards the city of Wutai. "Are you packed up Yuffie?"

"Yeah…and the parachuting gear we ordered had just arrived in the mail. We're only one dial away from Cid taking us to Nibelheim, and then we begin our trek up Mt. Nibel…what's so great up there anyway? Aside from the view of course."

"When I was a child growing up in Mideel, I heard stories from my father about a band of Da Chao monks from Wutai that travelled through his childhood home of Nibelheim at one point and they said that they were on a quest for enlightenment. They made it to the peak of Mt. Nibel, and came to realize that their perilous journey up to the top of the mountain was their ultimate test for enlightenment…and after that, they opened up a monastery there to keep meditating for life. I suppose that I've always wanted to go up there to see if that story was ever true."

"Maybe we'll see if it is, maybe we won't…we'll never know until we get there. By the way, did Reeve send us that portable ultrasound thingie yet?"

"He sent it over two weeks ago. It should be arriving by air mail in a couple of days now."

"That's good. I don't feel right about going up a mountain without knowing if our baby is going to be okay during the trek."

"Speaking of which, we still have a doctor's appointment to attend."

"Where else do you think we're heading? And besides, our little princess is not the only thing we have to check up on…we need to see if you've been slacking off on your training for that mountain climb."

"Oh dear, I dread to see the horrifying results."

Yuffie giggled, and leaped up lightly to kiss her husband on the cheek.

A/N: Hi, sorry for the slow update, but school is murder…I'd promise for a monthly update, because you all deserve such a good timeframe, but telecommunications is really difficult…fun, but difficult. By the way, I'm still taking girl names, so if you have a suggestion for naming Vincent and Yuffie's little princess, do feel free to submit your ideas would you kindly?

Songs Played:

"Ridley theme" from Metroid—the hunting trip

"Kansha" by RSP—Yuffie reveals that she's pregnant

"La Mer" by Charles Trenet—the underwater trip

Vocabulary and Culture notes:

.50 BMG—this is a big round…as you can imagine, this is not a regular round for a pistol; it was originally used for the M2 Browning Machine Gun (That's what BMG stands for), but nowadays it's mostly used for sniper rifles, although several machine guns also use this caliber, though they tend to fall under the category of 'heavy machine gun'.

Atlatl effect—anything that can be picked up in one hand can, has, and will be used as a throwing implement.

Hira-shuriken—this is the type of shuriken everyone is familiar with; it is a flat three- to four-pointed disc with blades, hence why it's called a ninja star.

Bo-shuriken—this is practically a throwing spike.

Amaterasu—the Shinto goddess of the sun, said to be the descendant of all the emperors.

Unadon—this is barbecued eel served in a rounded bowl of rice; this is a rather easy dish to make.

Tsukemono—Japanese-style pickled vegetables