AN: Hey guys, so I wonder if you noticed that I changed the nae of this fanfic to, if nothing else, more poetic and interesting "I Wish I was the Moon," as opposed to the old title of "Midnight's Illusion," which sounds like it should be the sooper seecwul to "My Immortal," which still makes me shudder. Funny thing, I came so very close to naming a character that is later to come In this Vampire, as a nickname that related to his line of work, and because I have a passion for naming my characters after nouns and certain adjectives and other such oddities, like Kestrel, or Wicked or Whisper, or Grey, which by the way are likely to come up in the future because they're kind of my fallback names. :P Anyways, enough about me, lets talk about you. If you leave me a review, I'll...give you a cookie! How's that sound? Yeah, I thought so.

Tifa woke to Vincent's strong arms wrapped around her. She had a hard time fathoming what had happened between her and Vincent. The things he said, what he did, everything was just so...un-Vincent of him. She knew he had a great capacity for kindness , and even love. She wondered if he wanted to be with her, or if last night was just out of need for human contact, for touch, something that she knew he hadn't gotten nearly enough of in the last 30 years. And what about her? What had she been doing? She had initiated the whole thing. She had been so hungry for someone to touch her again, to be wanted, that she forgot about everything else. Everything had gone so fast, she wondered if having sex with Vincent was a mistake. Not that she didn't want it, but was jumping into a relationship sex-first ever the best choice? She tried to put it out of her mind. She knew Vincent would not leave her, but...what would this change?

Vincent's eyes flickered open and he looked down at Tifa. He smiled at her, and seeing Vincent smile made her start smiling like an idiot too. She laughed and buried her face in his chest to hide her idiotic smile. How could she regret this, she thought, how could she not want this? Vincent's hand traveled down to her waist, and-"Ow," Tifa exclaimed.

Vincent looked down to see that his prosthetic claw had cut her. "Oh Tifa, I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking," he said ashamedly. He should never forget that he would never be just like anyone else. If for no other purpose, that was why Hojo put that arm there, as a reminder.

Tifa hissed in pain. The cut didn't bleed to badly, but it was fairly deep and stung like hell. "It's okay, it's not to bad. It was an accident anyways." She sat up and threw her knees over the side of the bed. "We should get dressed though, before anyone comes to wake us."

He nodded silently. "I think That I will return to my own cabin to shower," he said, pulling his pants on.

Tifa hesitated a moment. "Alright," she replied, she would also enjoy a nice hot shower at the moment. She watched Vincent's muscles move as he put his shirt over his head. He was so handsome, beautiful even, which seemed odd in Tifa's head, because beautiful is a term that is almost strictly applied to feminine good looks, and yet Vincent managed it while remaining attractive in a wholly masculine way.

Vincent turned as he felt Tifa's eyes on him. She averted her gaze so swiftly, It wade Vincent smirk in amusement. "You know, now you're allowed to ogle me unashamedly."

"I should hope so," she muttered, still not looking at him.

"And besides," he continued, "you were never quite as secret about it as you thought you were."

Tifa flushed a deep shade of red. She turned on her heel and walked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her. "I'll see you later Vincent."

She heard him laugh to himself softly."Indeed, Miss Lockhart."

"Hey!" she exclaimed, "I thought you were going to stop calling me that."

"Well, before, it was to show respect, but now it's an ever so endearing pet name for you," he said, as she heard him leave the room.

"Bastard," she said to herself with a smile.

~..::)O(::..~

"Tifa!" Barret exclaimed as he threw his arms around her, lifting her off the ground.

"Glad to see you to Barret, but you're crushing me a little," was Tifa's slightly wheezy reply.

"How ya' been, Tifa?"

She smiled warmly at Barret. "Not bad," she lied. "How's Marlene?"

"Aw, she's real good. She's growin' up so fast, I hardly know what to do. She asks about you a lot. She misses ya' real bad. She needs a lady around sometimes, and I'm not a good replacement."

"I miss her to, Barret. I've been thinking about you both a lot lately. I wanted to come see you two so badly, but I just..."

Barret ruffled her hair. "Oh, you know you're welcome anytime."

"I just thought that I hadn't talked to you in so long. I just thought that maybe you wouldn't want me around," she said guiltily.

"Don't say that Tifa, you're like my family. I'd never turn ya' away," he said, sitting down in the folding chair he'd brought out onto the deck.

Tifa took the hint to sit down too, and clutched her coffee closer, pulling the sweater she had stolen from Vincent while he was in the shower more tightly around herself. The airship had slowed to easy cruising speed as they approached Wutai, the soft morning light slowly creeping across the land.

"So what happened between you and Cloud?" Barret asked. "I guess cause he ain't here, that means something happened between you two."

Tifa contemplated her reflection in the black coffee. "He just up and left Barret. Gone. Poof."

Barret looked utterly surprised. "What'dya mean? Why?"

She shrugged, "To go look for Aeris, I suppose. Or to come to terms with her being gone at least."

They sat in silence for a long time.

"How long ago?" He asked.

"About a month ago, I guess. I tried to just keep on going like normal, you know run the bar, and all that, but I just couldn't do it. I couldn't just stay there with no one, you know?" She asked.

"Yeah, I get that," he said sympathetically. "If it weren't for Marlene, I'd have lost it a while ago. Even sometimes, I keep it together because I know I have to, for her."

She nodded. She wished she had someone like that, to keep her sane. She paused mid thought. She had Vincent now, didn't she? She smiled to herself. She did have someone now. "Where is Marlene anyways? Who's looking after her?"

Barret let out a hearty laugh. "You know, the funniest thing. You know who took a real shine to Marlene? Reeve. He and his wife are trying for a kid, and they love having Marlene around. She even calls him 'Uncle Reeve,' can you believe that?" He smiled. "He's real good with her, picks her up from school even when he's supposed to be working. He helps her with her homework too, which is a real blessin' for me. I never went to school, ya know?" He shrugged, "It wasn't a big deal when I was a kid, cause there wasn't no school in Corel, so I can read okay, because my Momma taught me how, but I don't write too good, and I don't know what the hell the difference is between a numerator and a denominator. I don't even know what I'd do without the guy, because I can't stand to look stupid in front of my own daughter."

She put a hand on his shoulder."You are an excellent father Barret." she said with confidence.

He smiled at her, "But seriously Tifa, I need you around. She needs a Lady around sometime. I watched her spit on the ground the other day, and I nearly shipped her off to girl's private school."

They both laughed. Barret took a Swig of his coffee. "So what'd you do after Cloud left?" he asked.

Tifa laughed. "Well, I was all set to embark on this epic journey of self-discovery and didn't end up getting very far at all."

Barret smirked, "Epic Journey, eh? Tell me more."

"So I decided that I needed to start from Nibelhiem, from the beginning, right? Well I get there, and I visit my parent's graves, and said hello and all that, and I decided to take a walk around the old ShinRa Manor. So I'm exploring, right, and I hear this sound, like footsteps, so I get freaked out, and I go to leave. As I'm going to leave, I hear this booming voice saying 'who's there' so I hurry down the hall, to where that old secret passage to the basement is, and I'm so surprised by someone standing there, that as I go to run down that old spiral staircase, that I bail over the edge, and I knock myself out and I break my wrist and my ankle."

Barret cringed, "Ouch"

"Yeah, anyways, so I wake up in the dark, and there's Vincent standing there, just lurking around while I'm sleeping." She laughed. "So yeah, there's my epic journey," she finished.

Barret was howling with laughter at this point. "You're lookin' pretty good now, I take it Vinnie fixed ya' up?" he asked when he had calmed down a bit.

"Yep," she replied, "He was a real gentleman," She said, punching Barret in the arm. "Unlike some people I know."

"Hey now, I am a gentleman!" he exclaimed in mock offense.

"Pfft, no you're not Barret, a we both know it."

Barret laughed, "And why not? Because I don't get all the girls with my long flowing locks and mysterious personality?"

Tifa raised an eyebrow, "Ah, I believe the term is tall, dark, and handsome, Barret."

"Whatever, I am waaay darker than his white ass."

"You're just jealous because I'm prettier," said Vincent in a cool monotone from where he leaned against the door onto the deck,

Barret just stared in surprise as Tifa cackled manically at the humor of it all.

"Yeah, you're real pretty, if ya know what I mean," Barret said jokingly.

Vincent cracked a small smile, "Really now Barret, stooping low enough as to bring my sexuality into question? I'm disappointed."

Tifa laughed, "I'm fairly certain that Mr. Valentine is very Heterosexual, Barret,you're just saying that because you're practically green with envy."

"Yeah, I'll bet you know or certain, hey Tif?" Barret laughed.

Tifa blushed so deeply that she had too look down at her lap.

Barret looked shocked. "Aw, no way! You didn't!"

"Oh come on, Barret," Vincent interrupted, saving the day, "Because I'm so sure that between Tifa breaking her ankle and her wrist and Cid picking us up almost the instant after she'd been healed, we've had plenty of time to knock boots. Really, you're embarrassing the poor girl."

"Ha ha, guess you're right, Dracula," Barret said dismissively. "Come on Tifa, it was only a joke."

Tifa laughed, trying not to sound to nervous. "You tease me too much Barret."

Just then, Cid's unmistakable voice came over the Ship's intercom. "Hey everyone. Y'all better get ready ta disembark, cause we're comin' up on Wutai real quick and we're all gonna go find Yuffie all nice and together-like. No complaining."

"But I hate Wutai!" Barret whined at the P.A, as if Cid could hear him on the other end.

Tifa rolled her eyes. "This should be interesting."

..::)O(::..

"I think I'll stay on the ship," Vincent said.

"Wait, why?" Tifa asked.

"I just don't like crowds," he answered.

"Wutai really calmed down as a tourist town you know, the crowds are minimal Vincent, so don't be a poor sport," she told him.

"Well maybe I just don't like Yuffie."

"That's a terrible thing to say. Come on there's no reason for you not to go."

"I just don't want to go."

Tifa cocked her head to the side and crossed her arms. Vincent was usually bullheaded, but never for no reason. "Why are you trying to avoid Wutai?" she asked.

Vincent shifted uncomfortably. "I'm not, I just," he hesitated, searching for an excuse, but finding none, "am tired," he finished weakly.

Tifa raised an eyebrow at him. "If I can manage, I'm sure you'll be fine somehow too, dramaqueen."

Cid laughed and patten Vincent on the shoulder as he walked past where they were standing on the boarding ramp. "Come on Sunshine, can you save your PMSing for later?" he said with a laugh. "Dramaqueen," he added with a sly grin as he ran to catch up with Red XIII and Barret who were already on their way.

Vincent grudgingly obeyed and followed as Tifa started walking. "So I notice you deigned it necessary to raid my clothing for my favorite sweater," he remarked in an unimpressed tone.

Tifa supped the neck of aforementioned sweater up to cover her nose coyly. "I was gonna give it back..." she said meekly.

Vincent shook his head and glanced quickly to their friends, walking far ahead, paying no attention to them, and ruffled Tifa's hair. She was just so...cute sometimes, for lack of a better word. "Don't take everything so seriously," he said. "Even I don't take things that seriously."

Tifa laughed, still hiding inside the sweater. She smiled inwardly, happy that she could talk like this with him. She buried herself more deeply into the warm fleece of the sweater. Fall was starting to give way to Wutai's harsh Winter, signs of which could be seen everywhere. The morning sun glittered over the frost where it still sat on the ground, the tall grass chilling Tifa's ankles where the frozen chutes touched bare flesh. Leaves had long fallen from the trees, leaving the brown, skeletal remains to stand naked in the cold.

She could actually remember crying at seeing this occurrence last year. In Midgar, it never snowed, but it did get cold enough for trees to shed their leaves for the Winter months. She could remember crying when the tree she had planted in front of the bar had shed its leaves for the first time too. She had planted that tree, she and Cloud, and it was the first tree in Midgar for over fifty years, since the city have become industrialized. A sapling taken from Nibelhiem where the harsh winters made for hardy trees with deep reaching roots. Perfect, she thought, for Midgar, where the soil was so acidic from the mako that leached from the earth there. Lifestream was the holy essence of all life, but in its purest form, mako, it becomes toxic, and it killed anything that tried to grow there. Evidently, With the Lifestream all rushing to that spot at once, combined with the three years of time the soil there was allowed to heal, certain hardy plants, weeds mostly, but still, were able to be grown there, but hers was the very first tree.

Marlene had stared in wonder when she had seen the little green thing sticking out of the dirt as if it had been the most wonderful thing she'd ever seen. She had never really seen green. Sure, she had green crayons, and green clothing, and she had seen green paint and even green jello, but she had almost never seen it like this, the way that green was meant to be. Of course, she had decided that from that point on, the tree old be called Red, after her favorite cat, who had been almost as delighted as Marlene had been over the tree as he was over it's name.

It was Cloud who had told her that the tree would come back. Of course she knew that, but it was still sad that it was gone.

Cloud.

What would she ever do if he were to come back again?

She took a surprised Vincent's hand in hers, lacing her fingers between his. "I-I'm really grad that I came to Nibelhiem. I'm really grad that I found...you," she said, resting her hear on his shoulder briefly.

Vincent smiled briefly. "I'm glad you found me too," he told her.

"I was alone for a long time Vincent, even before Cloud left, I was still alone because he was never really there. I'm just so happy that I' not alone, even just for now."

Vincent nodded, in truth, not being alone was...nice. He was glad he had her, but he noticed her use of the phrase, 'even just for now.' She was thinking the exact thing he was: that what was going to happen to them was uncertain. How could he ever lead any sort of normal life outside of this? Outside a life of fighting, and violence, how would he, could he, function as some semblance of a normal human being? Could he ever be with Tifa? Surely not. Likely, the events of last night would not repeat themselves any time soon, and he and Tifa would continue on in an awkward parody of what they had been before last night. She had been so vulnerable last night, and he had been vulnerable to her, he touch, the comfort she offered him. It had been so intoxicating, to the point where they had fallen into each others arms in what he was sadly certain would turn into a sort of one night stand. Tifa did not love him, but had sought comfort in his body in her time of need. He was happy in a way, that he could have been there for her, but felt used at the same time. It hurt, but he was glad to have been there for her. What she wanted of him was unclear. Did she want him to be her confidant? Her lover? Friend?

He glanced at her to find she was looking up at him with a warm smile on her face. Perhaps it wasn't so meaningless after all. Her hand tentatively reached for his, and then slipped her fingers between hers.

"I'll be here as long as you'll have me," he told her, and I'll be whatever you want me to be.

A/N: Hey guys, what angry? Just because they did the do, doesn't mean that they're going to jump into each others arms and confess their undying love to each other. The world doesn't work that way. Ha ha but seriously guys, please review. Sorry to all who found the chapter boring, next one will be good, I promise. Look forward to a fist fight between Yuffie and Vincent. Woo woo, I've said to much!