Rock Star

I'm through with standing in line to clubs I'll never get in
It's like the bottom of the ninth, and I'm never gonna win
This life hasn't turned out quite the way I want it to be...
- Nickelback, "Rockstar"

Author's Note: Anyone who knows me knows that this isn't normally my favorite pairing. I'm NOT a big fan of Yuffentine. But after playing through Dirge of Cerberus, I caught some hints of Yuffentine that inspired me. I've come to the conclusion that there is no pairing that I will not read or write, so long as it's well-written (and, you know, doesn't involve bestiality or child rape).
That said, I do this kind of thing a LOT - you know what they say, "Write what you know." Well, I know the music industry. I'm a stagehand and an entertainment journalist. I grew up around this stuff - so it makes more sense to me than your average life does. Also, I go to karaoke most weeks, so I know that, too.
That said; be kind. I haven't written any real fanfiction in over a year. I'm getting back into the swing of things. Constructive criticisms will be taken into consideration; flames will be taunted mercilessly.
As always, you can head over to my blogs or my writing portfolio (listed in my profile) for more information about me, or to sample my writing ability.

Standard disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, Final Fantasy VII: Dirge of Cerberus, Vincent, Yuffie, Tifa, or any of those people. I do, however, own Chad, Ken, Mike, and Hannah. Or at least, I'd like to think so. Also, the song "You Oughta Know" was written and performed entirely by Alanis Morisette, and not me.

It was a girls' night out.
At least, that was what Yuffie was calling it.
In all reality, it was Yuffie's 21st birthday, and she wanted to celebrate it without anyof the guys from AVALANCHE.
Why, you might ask?
Well, Cid had taken to treating Yuffie like she was his daughter, needing advice passed down. This usually took the form of admonitions to never start smoking, interspersed with bouts of dry coughing.
Barret hated her. Ignored her as much as possible. Cloud treated her like a little sister. An annoying little sister, at that. Reeve didn't really like her much but he wasn't MEAN about it like Barret was - and he couldn't bring himself to say anything, since she'd helped him with the WRO so much. Yuffie always felt stupid whenever she was around Nanaki, so that was out.
And Vincent just wasn't around. No one knew when he was going to show up, so it didn't really matter what he thought about Yuffie.
So, two years after the man who had contained Chaos had saved the world from Omega Weapon, his friends still had no idea where he was, and what it was he did in the times between when they saw him. He popped up every now and then, visiting most of the members of AVALANCHE occasionally, and then disappearing as suddenly as he'd appeared in the first place. He'd visited everyone except Yuffie in those two years.
Not that Yuffie cared. She, Tifa, Shelke, and Shera were going to Kalm's newest attraction - a karaoke bar.
Because Yuffie harbored a secret. She loved to sing. She didn't make a practice of doing it around people, but she loved it. She felt more alive singing than she did fighting. Anything and everything - from the ancient dirges of Wutai to disco to shatter rock.
She would karaoke, and see what everyone thought. She thought of it as a way to allow herself to sing around others, a gateway of sorts.
"C'mon, guys!" She danced around, excitedly. She was even wearing a skirt for the adventure - a little black one, to go with her little black tank top.
"I do not understand what the point of this outing is." Shelke said. She'd grown a little in the past two years, but not by much. She would always have the body of an adolescent; Yuffie made sure she had her ID with her. Shelke had only turned 21 two months previously, and looked like a kid, so she always got carded - for just about everything. She also still talked in a monotone, which never failed to irritate Yuffie. But still, she liked Shelke. She'd developed something resembling a personality within the past few years.
Cloud walked over to the door. The bar he and Tifa ran had relocated to Kalm a while ago, when it was destroyed during the Omega Weapon incident. Cloud looked as if he was making ready to leave.
"You can't go!" Yuffie exclaimed. "Girls only!" Shelke smirked and crossed her arms.
"I'm not going with you guys." Cloud said, rolling his eyes. Tifa and Shera walked in, finally, carrying their jackets over their shoulders.
"Where are you going?" Tifa asked. At first Cloud had bucked Tifa's tradition of asking him that, saying she was trying to keep tabs on him. But after that tradition had saved his life, when he crashed Fenrir and Tifa knew where he was coming home from, he stopped complaining.
"I'm staying in town." Cloud said, smiling. "You guys are having a girls night out, I'll be having a boys night in at Reeve's."
"Playing video games, no doubt." Tifa said. A smirk appeared across her lovely features.
Cloud grinned back. "Cid brought the newest first-person shooter."
"So that's why we needed to stop in Gongaga." Shera said. She sighed. "Men."
Yuffie giggled. Part of her wanted to go crash the guys' party; a first-person shooter ALMOST sounded better than the karaoke bar. But ...nah.

Tifa thumbed through the freshly-printed pages of the karaoke bar's binder. There was a list of songs you could pick in there that the bar had for the karaoke machine, or you could bring your own. She sighed. "There's a few songs I'd like to sing." She said, softly.
"WHAT?" Yuffie yelled. The person who was singing now was singing a really loud rock song, and she didn't hear Tifa.
"NEVERMIND!" Tifa said. She handed Yuffie the binder, and Yuffie grinned and started flipping the pages.
"OOOH! I know what I'm gonna sing." She said, grinning impishly. She took a slip of paper and wrote the song name down, and the disc number and track number listed on the page. This piece of paper was unceremoniously tacked to a board by the machine. The KJ, a plump middle-aged woman, looked up and made note of her.
"You're next." She said. Yuffie snickered.
A rumble of uncertainty went through her belly. What if she was horrible at singing? She squashed that thought and ordered a tequila sunrise to settle her nerves.
By the time the rock singer was done, Yuffie had enough liquid confidence in her to sing a song. Luckily, she didn't know hardly anyone in the bar.
There was a lot of wolf whistling as she walked up to the karaoke area - everyone know Yuffie Kisaragi; AVALANCHE and WRO member who had helped save the world - three times! - and Wutain princess slash hottie. She smirked.
"You ready?" The KJ asked her. Yuffie nodded, and the KJ queued the music. Yuffie started singing along softly, gradually building as she received no negative reactions.

I want you to know
That I'm happy for you
I wish nothing but
The best for you both

An older version of me -
Is she perverted like me?
Would she go down on you in a theater?
Does she speak eloquently?
And would she have your baby?
I'm sure she'd make a really excellent mother

Cuz the love that you gave that we made
Wasn't able to make it enough for you to be open wide, no...

Yuffie caught a flash of red and her heart stopped. No way. Suddenly, she realized that ALL of the guys were there, watching her. They'd come anyway! Those bastards!
All of them. Nanaki was there; so were Cloud, Barret, Cid, Reeve...and Vincent. She hadn't seen him in two years. He looked...like he always did, she supposed.
All of this flew through her mind at lightning speed, and she decided that fuck the guys, she was doing good. She smirked at them and continued the song. A slight blush crept across her face, as she realized how uncool it was that Mr. Prim-and-Proper Vincent Valentine was going to be listening to her sing these almost dirty lyrics, but she opened her mouth and sang anyway.

...And every time you speak her name
Does she know how you told me you'd hold me until you died?
'Til you died
But you're still alive!

And I'm here
To remind you
Of the mess you left when you went away
It's not fair
To deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You...!
You...!
You...!
Oughta know!

You seem very well
Things look peaceful
I'm not quite as well
I thought you should know

Yuffie looked at Vincent, who seemed to be very interested in watching her politely. She never thought she'd see him sitting in the middle of a very upbeat karaoke bar; in fact, the only person who DID look in place in the group was Cloud, and that was just because there was a group of emo kids behind him.

Did you forget about me
Mr. Duplicity?
I hate to bug you in the middle of dinner
It was a slap in the face
How quickly I was replaced
And are you thinking of me when you fuck her?

Cuz the love that you gave that we made
Wasn't able to make it enough for you to be open wide, no...
And every time you speak her name
Does she know how you told me you'd hold me until you died?
'Til you died
But you're still alive!

And I'm here
To remind you
Of the mess you left when you went away
It's not fair
To deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You...!
You...!
You...!
Oughta know!

During an instrumental part, the crowd burst into applause, which Yuffie wasn't expecting. She'd been too busy looking at Vincent, who looked almost guilty; you know, for him. What the hell? Finally, she shrugged and went back to singing - conveniently right where she was supposed to.

Cuz the joke that you made in the bed, that was me
And I'm not gonna fade as soon as you close your eyes
And you know it!
And every time I scratch my nails down someone else's back
I hope you feel it
Well, can you feel it?

Well, I'm here
To remind you
Of the mess you left when you went away
It's not fair
To deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You...!
You...!
You oughta know
And I'm here
To remind you
Of the mess you left when you went away
It's not fair
To deny me
Of the cross I bear that you gave to me
You...!
You...!
You...!
Oughta know!

As Yuffie let the last note die out, the entire bar burst into applause, startling Vincent out of whatever guilt-induced mental road trip he'd been on. He couldn't clap loudly because of his claw, but he did applaud politely, nonetheless. Cid, standing directly to Vincent's left, stuck his gloved fingers into his mouth and whistled. Tifa and Shelke, who had apparently been in on the surprise of the guys coming to the bar, giggled and clapped.
Not only did the random strangers in the bar like her singing - her friends did. Yuffie grinned. That was easily the best birthday present ever.

Yuffie was almost giddy with happiness. She'd had the best birthday ever. She walked down the snow-covered streets. Despite it only being November, it was snowing in Kalm - for the first time almost a century.
Somewhere behind her she could hear Cid, who was drunk, singing off-key. Some sort of love song. He hiccuped and stumbled, and she could hear Reeve help him back to his feet.
Yuffie had sung several more songs, and Tifa had even been encouraged to sing one. Cid had boisteriously sung "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" to Shera, embarassing her when he kneeled down before her. Yuffie thought it was cute.
They were definitely doing that again.
She stopped at the bar and watched the rest of the group go into Tifa's bar slash motel thing - one of the good things about owning a motel was that you always had a place to put your drunken friends. Yuffie smiled as Cloud, who was at the back of the group, nodded at her and pushed a rather drunk Shelke into the place. "You coming in?" He asked.
"I'll be in in a minute." She said. She leaned against the wall and stared up at the stars, which were visible in Kalm now that the city of Midgar had finally died out.
Cloud nodded. "I'll leave the door open - lock it when you come in." Yuffie inclined her head in ascent.
She exhaled as the door closed. What a great night! Obviously, she could sing. Well, even, to judge by the reactions of her companions, which ranged from stunned amazement to pure pleasure. Even Nanaki had been purring.
"You sang well tonight." A deep voice startled her out of her thoughts, and an exclamation escaped her lips before she had a chance to smother it.
"Geez, Vincent, you scared the hell out of me!" She said to the shadowy figure standing at the door. She hadn't even noticed that he wasn't with the rest of the group.
"My apologies." He said, nodding at her politely. He opened the door and gestured for her to preceed him.
"And they say chivalry is dead." She giggled, entering. The blast of warm air was welcome; she promptly forgot about the dark man behind her.
"Chivalry will never be dead." She wondered, as she headed to her room upstairs, what that meant.