Yuffentine. One-shot.

Based on #031 'Snow' in Sugar and Water by ME! .

----------

The sky was a light gray—almost white—and the day was bright even though the sun wasn't visible in the overcast sky. Yuffie Kusaragi darted over the frozen ground, which was covered in a thin layer of snow, towards a tall, lean figure under a tree nearby, facing away from her. His blood-red cloak stood out startlingly against the white foliage of the trees behind him. Yuffie approached him quickly, but quietly also, for she was hoping to catch him by surprise.

She slid between him and his cloak, shivering. "It's c-cold…"

If Vincent was startled by her sudden appearance, Yuffie couldn't tell. "Yuffie," he said, draping his arm—along with his cloak—over her shoulders. "If you didn't wear such revealing clothes you wouldn't get so cold."

"It's true," she agreed with a shrug. "But it would be a bit out of character for me to wear a floor-length skirt and a ladylike turtleneck sweater, don't you agree, Vincent?" she added with a grin.

Any other sane—or insane, for that matter—person would've at least cracked a smile at the Wutai ninja's joking antics, but Yuffie couldn't see if Vincent even smirked behind the high collar of his cloak. His crimson eyes didn't tell her much either.

Within the silence, Yuffie took a moment to inhale Vincent's scent surrounding her, and the warmth radiating off his body—she liked how it felt so close to her. She forgot all about the freezing temperature beyond the sanctuary of his embrace and life outside that heavenly tattered cloak.

"Yuffie?" She awoke from her fantasy to Vincent's deep voice. Her eyes snapped open, and she noticed that she had cuddled up real nicely to the gunman: her arms were laced around his shoulders and her face was buried in the crook of his neck. He smelled nice!

"Oh!" Yuffie pulled away quickly and let her arms fall to her sides. "S-sorry, Vincent…I sort of drifted off and—"

"Yuffie," Vincent repeated, but with less inquiry in his tone.

Yuffie raised her eyebrows and stopped babbling. "Yeah?"

"You understand the term 'glaciated precipitation' don't you?"

"Sure." Yuffie cocked an eyebrow. "Like—"

Something cold and wet hit her directly on the nose just then. She blinked in astonishment, then broke out in a wide grin. "Snow!" she cried gleefully, finishing her previous statement unintentionally.

The weightless snowflakes danced around Vincent and Yuffie and caught sunlight, glimmering and shining beautifully.

"They're like tiny, floating crystals," breathed Yuffie as a flurry of glistening, watery snowflakes waltzed in front of her bright, beaming gray eyes.

"And not one of them is like another," murmured Vincent, his ruby-red irises following a clean white flake across the sky.

"Just like people," observed Yuffie thoughtfully. "No two are the same."

"I speak the truth when I say no one iseven close to being like you," whispered Vincent, leaning forward so his mouth moved close to Yuffie's ear. She trembled, but not out of the frigidity of the winter air.

"Should I take that as a compliment?" she replied shakily, exhilarated at the warm tickle of his breath on her neck.

"You should," Vincent answered, lowering his voice even more.

"Nobody ever will be like you, Vincent," sighed Yuffie, slipping one of her hands into Vincent's.

He withdrew his face a few inches and brought his lips to the skin on the side of her round face, tinted pink from the cold and from being so flustered. It turned even pinker. The rosiness added to her cheeks gave her a cute, angelic appearance, and Vincent's expression softened even more when he noticed this as he tilted Yuffie's face to his own with his metallic glove on her chin.

The metal claw felt eerie on Yuffie's burning face. Her eyes danced with flames of excitement.

Vincent lowered his lips to hers in a kiss that warmed her to the very core. She didn't care that it was below freezing, she'd gladly skip through icy puddles wearing nothing but her undergarments for the way that kiss made her feel. She felt as if she could fly—no, she was flying—miles above the world on a cloud of perfection carried by laughing angels.

So much was told through that one glorious kiss. Things were said that words couldn't even begin to say. If pictures were worth a thousand words, then the first kiss between Vincent Valentine and Yuffie Kusaragi was worth a million.

It was simply magical.

When the pair finally broke apart from each other, both were breathless and slightly lightheaded. Or maybe just Yuffie. She squeezed Vincent's hand and rested her head on his chest. He set his chin on her head—he was about that much taller than her—and smiled.

Too bad nobody saw.