"Amour"

Demeter

Warnings: Sequel to "Thief of Innocence". TifaXCloud preference. VincentXYuffie. Normal angst, then maniacal humor. I wrote this in different spurts. Once when I was depressed. The other insanely happy. ^__^

Disclaimer: All rights and privileges of Final Fantasy VII characters, objects and plots are property and trademarks of Squaresoft, Sony and associated parties. The author claims no legal responsibility for problems associated with using this work. The original story, relationships, and characters found within the fic are property of the author Demeter.

How long has it been? Six, seven years?

Time sure flies by when you're having fun.

Or when you're not.

A long time since I've seen any of them. Damn it to hell. I can't believe I'm all fucking nostalgic all the sudden. Must be the fact that I turn 22 today.

That old, eh?

That long.

Seven years of traveling. Seven years of living here and there. Seven years of sheer loneliness. The strangely luminescent Lifestream sure seems tempting at the moment.

Where?

I wonder where they all are at the moment.

Have they ever thought about me? Even given me a fleeting wonder?

It makes you speculate you know. Whether friends think about friends. It makes ME wonder. No doubt, Tifa will have thought about me once in a while. Maybe Red would give me a wedge of space in his memory bank. Maybe Barret still curses when he sees a lonely hunk of materia. Perhaps Cid is still trying to scrub off that little area where I sat and barfed. Maybe Reeve still looks through the videos from Cait Sith. Cloud might even have married Tifa and silently thanks me at times.

And maybe I can become a bit more delusional.

Ah, why did I even bother coming back to the Continent? There are obviously a million more places that have materia lurking here and there, just waiting for my hot little hands to grab them.

As if Wutai needed any more.

I guess Dad finally stuck to the hook and reorganized the city. We're now a proud ancestor of tradition and history, instead of the dinky tourist trap we had become. The materia I sent back monthly helped a lot I suppose. I wouldn't know.

I haven't been back for five years.

It's just too hard.

I am feeling awfully lonely though… twenty-two is a big age. Maybe I need a little of something. Yes. That's it. I need to see Tifa again.

All of them.

I need to see all of them.

I still have the PHS, even if I did take all the batteries out. I could reach one or two of them easy.

Or I could just pop in unannounced.

That would give Tifa a heart attack.

Yeah, I think I'll do that.

The house was almost exactly the same way I had left it. I remember how Cloud had voiced that Nibelheim was no longer his home… however, Midgar held no appeal for him either. Even as the land around the diseased area was slowly recovering, I doubted that the memories would have allowed either of them to ever return.

And then there was Aeris.

Bah.

Anyway, from what gossip I gathered (and trust me, there was more than enough gossip about the two of them) they were currently residing in Kalm, happily married without children.

Of course, rumors have a way of making them either happier or worse off than reality.

The house has been remodeled a bit, to ride along with the changing times, but otherwise, I see no disparity that would have led me astray. Maybe, just maybe, she wanted to keep it that way so I could always find the road home.

Just maybe.

For a moment, a touch of nostalgia washed over me. I mean, look at spread. Here were the flowers that Tifa loved and constantly affirmed that she would have a garden full of when she managed to settle down. I loved the spicy fragrance forget-me-nots gave off.

Ironic, isn't it?

A pretty carving on the outside of the door, proudly proclaimed this as the Strife and Lockhart residence.

I always knew Tifa would have refused to give up her name.

And there was a leggy, modestly-dressed brunette who's long waterfall of chocolate hair seemed to shine like brown silk. Her burgundy eyes, twinkled with a cheer that was tempered with early grief, assuaged by deep love, deepened by early maturation.

Tifa Lockhart.

A slender hand brushed the hair from the sweat-glistening skin and squinted into the blinding sun to figure out the best way to plant her flowers.

When she noticed the silent figure at the end of the road.

Namely, me.

At first, I know she wouldn't have recognized me. I've matured and grown in ways that I never thought I would when I was ten.

"Hello?"

"Tifa. It's been a while."

I could see her freeze. After all, there were few who would have uttered those words with such a serious expression… and at the moment I saw a flash of hope in her eyes.

Nope, sorry, ain't Aeris.

"Yuffie?"

Wow, she guessed it was I. Can't really be surprised though. Of all of us, she was the most perceptive. Red was an animal after all; human emotions were beyond his grasp sometimes. Cid and Barret were too old and too centered on the loves of their lives; namely Shera and Marlene. Aeris too naïve (as much as I loved her for it), Cait Sith AKA Reeve way too insane, Vincent too cold and I-must-atone, and Cloud… well, Cloud was too clueless.

Tifa's way too quiet. I can't believe I decided to pop in all the sudden. I must have been nuts.

"Yuffie?"

"It's me. Alive and kicking."

"Oh …" No words could come out of her lips. It was as if she was stuttering.

"Stop looking at me as though I'm insane. It's not that bad."

Tifa backs away from me. I don't blame her. I have changed after all. My once-dark cap of burnished locks have given way to a cascade of hair that I usually gather into a ponytail. And I no longer wear that damn outfit. That irritating and freezing tank-top and shorts. I've substituted them for leather pants and a thick, skin-tight coat.

Hmph.

I have to admit, I look pretty damn good. Not counting all the visible scars that dot my stomach, legs, arms of course. Even the faint one on my right cheek, in the perfect arc of the crescent moon, holds some sort of mystery and an aura of danger.

I would like to think I've upgraded past the "immature brat" title.

"Oh my god. We had thought you had… we thought you…."

"Died? Yeah, I had thought that too."

Tifa gasped. She hurried forward and enveloped me in a warm hug. Something I haven't felt since… well since a long time.

Then I realized that she was sobbing.

Hn. I didn't think she would be THAT happy.

Though I can start to feel that nag at what was left of my heart, telling me something was wrong.

"Oh, Yuffie. If only you hadn't left. If only… Shiva, how am I supposed to tell you?"

I didn't feel anything. Even an ounce of worry. Probably going to tell me Cid kicked the can. I was expecting it. Even as far away as I was.

"Vincent… he…"

"What?"

Tifa looked as if she was about to break into hysterics. I impatiently nudged her with a hand and asked, "Well?"

"After… after you left… he… Odin's blade… Vincent… he went… how can I say this… he went… I still can't believe it…"

"What the fuck happened?"

Tifa didn't even bother correcting my rough language, showing exactly how upset she was. "He… Vincent went berserk."

What?

I echoed my thought. "What?"

Tifa clutched my shoulders. "Yuffie, it was like he went insane when you left. That night, when I returned to the group to tell them… to tell them what you said… well, you know how everyone would have reacted. We were all arguing and shouting when he just… when he just…. He stood up and… and… he started screaming… Oh Shiva… it was horrible. That scream." She stopped, shuddering in my arms.

Tifa, frightened. In all the time I had known her… she had been angry, scared shitless, furious, jealous, sad, emotionally destroyed, lost, elated, peeved out, wistful… but never, ever frightened.

"It was as if he was… I don't even know anymore. We all tried to calm him down… but nothing worked. He turned to that winged beast… and he flew off. That was last we ever saw of him."

Vinnie went crazy.

Went crazy because I had left.

Well, that's just a barrel of laughs, isn't it? I had left so as not to drive him crazy.

Or kill him.

And he runs off to kill himself.

Oh, hold on Yuffie Lilania Kisaragi, seventeenth descendent of the Kisaragi Clan the Fifth of Wutai. You don't know if he's dead.

'Cause if he's dead, I'll have to go skipping after him, won't I?

"Tifa. Calm the fuck down." That's it. Vamp-boy decides AFTER I leave to atone for the sins he committed against me? Decides to atone for all those so-called sins of his after I could have cared less?

No freaking way am I letting him off THAT easily.

"I'll bring him back Tifa. I always do."

Letting go of her, I dash toward my gold chocobo, almost envisioning where exactly he was. I knew where he was. Where he went every single time he thinks that life is over.

That damn waterfall.

Nothing so far.

I mean, couldn't he have picked somewhere I could have at least, EASILY gotten too? Hell, even Aeris decided to die somewhere nice and level-landed. Somewhere we don't have to climb a million cliffs to get to. I mean, where's the romance in using a gold chocobo to get there? Climbing by foot was the only possibility.

Damn semantics.

I wish she were here. Undoubtedly, even if she had lost Cloud's love, she might have been able to hook up with Vincent. Then there wouldn't be all this messy mess that we're… that I'm in.

The waterfall comes within my sight… it really is a view to consider with a clear conscience. The edge just screams "jump over". Any self-sacrificing human would just have a grand time here.

And there was our resident vampire. Dangling his legs in the clear little pool of mystery and staring at the water as if it held all of life's answers. Maybe it does, but I sure am not one with the patience to gaze at if for the good part of my life.

"Hey Vinnie."

Vincent looks up with a startled glitter in his eye. I pat myself on the back; it isn't the easiest thing in the world to startle Vincent Valentine after all.

And wouldn't you know it, a wind kicks up just then and there for special effect. Enough to rustle our both our locks and make it look like a scene from any love sick movie.

Over that expanse of shimmering water, we watched each other.

He had grown thinner since the last time… he was still wearing that damn cape and black suit. Really, can a guy have less fashion sense than him? I mean, even Barret was better dressed… and God forbid, that sailor suit actually made him look like a marshmallow-wearing grizzly bear.

"Vinnie… don't you ever listen to other people? I told you to remember that you're twenty-seven."

There was still a perturbed look of complete surprise. To most people, it would have been barely a flicker of shock, but for Vinnie, our resident fish, it's like seeing someone else going into hysterics and screaming like a girl.

God forbid.

"And really, this I-Must-Atone shtick you have going on really destroys the image you've gotta give to get the right girl."

"Yuffie."

"It's me, down to the bone."

He gazed at me with those intense garnet eyes of his and involuntarily, I felt that goblin of delicious anticipation run it's icy fingers up and down my spine. He looks almost exactly the same since I left him… that brings back memories of me chasing his back, making fun of him, trying to get his attention.

What memories.

He strode forward hesitantly, almost as if I was made of pure crystal, fragile to the touch, ready to break and disappear at a single breath of wind. I'm proud to say I didn't move a muscle; I didn't even twitch so much as a muscle.

Strange, isn't it?

To have gone through so much, as the both of us have, and still, to be so uncertain about how we feel around each other… it's an irony that I would rather not have.

"Yuffie, I…"

I cut him off. "I don't care. I'm just here to make sure that you don't do something foolish."

Vincent paused and something shifted in his eyes. Then suddenly, almost like a cat, he pounced forward and wrapped his arms around my startled shoulders and crushed his lips to mine.

Shiva.

That was the sort of kiss that lingered in the mind long after it ended. The kiss was infinitely sweet, his lips brushing over mine with mindless hunger. I felt myself respond, my knees going embarrassingly weak-kneed. His arms were like steel, burning whatever skin was exposed to his restless fingers.

I swear, I must have seen fireworks.

When he finally broke it off, lifting them a fraction off mine, I could only stare at him, my face flushed, my body nearly screaming for more. Realizing what I was doing, I gave an outraged shriek and pushed against his chest. He let me go with… what was that? Almost a grin.

Everything just switched on hyper-speed. I mean, Vincent kissing me? Vincent smiling? Me shrieking?

I've entered the zone of disbelief.

"What… what the hell where you thinking?" I couldn't keep the bewilderment from my voice. I was lucky I could still speak at all, considering I had just been thoroughly kissed by the object of my affections.

"Because I wanted to."

"Gee, that's an answer, vamp-boy."

"Yuffie."

"What?"

"I think you should shut up."

And he strode forward again. I squeaked and tried to move my body backward. To my dismay, I discovered, I had no more space to move backward in, relatively speaking and so effectively, Vincent cornered me and pulled my lips in for another ruthless kiss.

I have to admit, I don't really mind. All that cynicism and hate seemed to have just rolled out of my soul. I guess a good kiss will do that. Vincent coaxed my lips open to slip in his tongue.

Shiva.

Make that an EXCELLENT kiss.

I was sitting, snuggled in his lap, since he refused to let me leave him for even a second. This is Vincent? Let me amend that. This is a new and approved Vinnie who kisses like a playboy.

"Yuffie. Please."

"What?"

"Never leave again."

"Oh?"

"You nearly killed me."

"Well, sorry. I never knew you liked me at all."

I could feel him snort. "But I know you liked me. I was just sorting through my feelings."

"I can tell. Tifa told me you went hog-tied crazy."

"Er… yes, I suppose you could say it that way."

"Har har har, Vinnie."

"Yuffie?"

"Yeah?"

"Will you?"

"Why Vinnie Valentine. That sounds like a marriage proposal."

"It is."

I stilled in his arms. I mean, marriage? I just met the guy a half-hour ago… and he was talking about marriage? Though, the idea of me being called Yuffie Valentine seems to have a certain intrigue to it. I mean, it's not everyday, a hunk who I've pined for the longest time proposes.

"Yes." Did I just say that?

Vincent gently tilted my head up to look at him. In the dusk, his garnet eyes glittered and I could see emotions sift through the thickness. No matter how much he changes, he can't begin to even shift through all that darkness.

And that was perfectly fine with me.

"I love you."

And for the first time in… well, a long time, I smiled at him. Really smiled.

"I love you too." That sounds SO sappy, but hey, I'm happy here.

He then hugged me tighter and tucked me into his arms as he shifted more comfortably against the tree. We mutually, without words, agreed to stay out to watch the stars. It was a warm night. We would be fine until we left to inform the others in the morning.

I can't wait to see Tifa's face.

- FIN -