Disclaimer: Still hoping to win a couple million dollars so I can buy the rights to the games, till then… I'm just an avid fan.

Authors Note: I originally wrote this as a one-shot for All the Things She Said - but I couldn't just leave it like that. This takes place after Advent Children and the first chapter is Pre-Dirge of Cerberus though there will be chapters that are set during DoC and some scenes will be familiar. Please stick with me and enjoy.

Chapter One: The Weight of His Sins

She was forced to sit there and watch as he cried out in sleep, turning and shifting helplessly on his side as he was caught in his nightmares. She had heard his cries, sounding so defenseless that it had shattered the cold hard demeanor she wished to have. She couldn't pretend to be emotionless like he or Cloud could. She couldn't pretend not to care, especially when he sounded so pathetically helpless. She couldn't just watch and listen. She couldn't just turn her head the other way and pretend not to see.

She took a deep breath, holding it as he used all her training in the ways of the ninja to silently make her way across the room in which he slept. Tears remained unshed by sheer force of will as she knew what it was that broke this proud man when he dreamt.

He dreamt of a yesterday that had passed a long time ago. He dreamt of the actions of the past that haunted him still. He was trapped in the sins of yesterday and until he could learn to forgive himself for those sins and move on he would remained such. Until he could accept the fact that he was still a human with a few simple modifications, he was helpless to these dreams and cursed to see himself as the monster that he had been forced to accept.

A whimper, with more emotion than even Yuffie could express in sound escaped from the dreaming man. A man that was usually so emotionless, usually so stoic that others doubted he even knew what human feelings were anymore. Yuffie cringed as she heard the sound, her heart breaking once more for the man who was stuck in his nightmare as a hand reached out to take his pale one gently in her hand in a vain attempt to comfort him.

"Vincent."

He didn't react, he didn't wake and she felt let down. She hated to see him so vulnerable in his sleep, it was breaking her as much as his nightmare had broke him and the tears of empathy forced their way down her cheeks. She didn't feel privileged to see him like this, to see him so lost, so uncharacteristically broken that it was pathetic. She felt horrible because she understood what it meant to love someone, to care for them more than anything in the world and to know those feelings will never be wholly returned.

And she hated herself, because she knew that this broken man didn't want her empathy, that he would only add the pain she felt to his list of sins. Every small thing he did wrong in his lifetime weighed far too heavily upon his shoulders as it was, his inhuman aspects made him feel like a demon. It wasn't her that had him this way.

She hated the woman of his past, the one he dreamt about even now. She was the one that had ended all debate as to his future, ended any possibility of him ever opening up enough to allow another woman in. He used all his Turk training to keep everyone at a certain distance. He didn't even crack open enough to allow a few people to slip in and call him a friend.

Yuffie had no doubt that he would indeed call all of them a friend, the ones he fought alongside, but he kept his distance. After Aeris had died he was the only one that hadn't cried out of their pathetic group. He was the only that remained emotionless and unfazed at first glance, though Yuffie knew others hadn't seen the change, she had noticed he had only become more distant to all of them. He grew more distant after they had fought off Sephiroth. It wasn't until the clones of the one-winged angel threatened the planets existence once again that Yuffie or anyone really had heard from him.

He tried to disappear as if he had never even come again, though Yuffie had followed him. Refusing to allow him to drop out of her life so easily… She knew her affections were placed all wrong, that in the end she was only hurting herself, but she just couldn't move on. She had to keep him in her life, because life without him didn't seem worth it. Even if all he'd ever be was a friend, she could live with that, as long as he was something to her. As long as she was something to him.

Or so she told herself, and even believed for a short time. The longer she stayed though, the more solemn her own moods became. She would cry late at night, knowing he was thinking of that woman. The one that was responsible for his nightmares. For his sins. For his self-hatred. And she'd grow more and more jealous that he allowed this woman to have such a hold on him. She was gone, dead and unable to return to the land of the living. It wasn't right of her to keep him in the past, it wasn't right for him to focus all his attention onto her. It wasn't fair to him. It wasn't fair to her. It just wasn't fair.

Sweat dripped down his brow and Yuffie gingerly wiped it away with her headband, which had removed for the task. The hair that it usually held back fell into her eyes though it didn't matter much anymore. Her vision was already obscured by tears.

He cried out, his claw moving lightning fast to grip the hand that wiped away the sweat. To remove the hand that offered has much comfort as it possibly could while he was broken. Five golden edges dug painfully into her skin, piercing her arm as she stifled her cry of shock and pain. It hurt, as his golden digits dug painfully into her skin but she didn't want him to know.

"Vincent." She forced her voice to remain calm, forced it to sound like she wasn't in pain. "Could you… let go?"

He did, but what happened next took her by surprise, his claw had moved from her arm to come slicing towards the sound of her voice, she had just enough time to pull back with a yelp of surprise, the sharp edges had just sliced at her shoulder, lightly scratching them and nagging at her shirt before returning to his side.

"Oh Vinnie…" She sighed as she once again took hold of his human hand, paying the violent actions that had just happened no mind as she took up pushing obsidian bangs free of his eyes.

"Don't cry…"

Without warning crimson eyes snapped open his human hand pulled itself free of her grasp and rested on her shoulder, pulling her down for a deep passionate kiss. One that tasted sweet and Yuffie knew she was already addicted to the feel of his lips on hers. She closed stormy eyes to enjoy the sweet embrace. Though as it was broken and his eyes remained closed she felt her hopes come crashing down with one word, one simple name that slipped from his lips, reminding her quite painfully that he wasn't hers. That he felt nothing for her or anyone who was alive. His heart, body and soul all belonged to a woman of his past.

"Lucrecia… don't… cry."

She fought back a whole new wave of tears as she stood from her spot and ran as fast as she could. No longer caring about being silent while she pushed the door to his room open and ran down the hallway, throwing herself upon her own bed and allowing the tirade of tears to come.

She didn't see those tortured crimson orbs that she both loved and hated open again, or hear the soft murmur of his voice, that came after her departure. "Yuffie…"

Thanks for the reveiws!!