A/N: Ah, here we are again, at the start of another fic. Sorry for the relatively slow update, but I've been having a rather large brain bubble. This is actually set in Vincent's POV while he's sent to babysit Denzel and Marlene during Cloud and Tifa's Valentine's Day excursion. This isn't a second chapter to that story, however, because it's pretty much unrelated to Water Through Sand (the bold is hinting that you should read that and review just to make me smile :D), so you can read this independently of that.

As always, your reviews are appreciated much more than you imagine, and strongly encouraged here since it's my first attempt at a Yuffentine. I thrive on feedback :)

Disclaimer: I certainly do not own Final Fantasy VII or it's characters, or Valentine's Day, for that matter.

Not Altogether Unpleasant

The sky was a clear, inky black, dusted lightly with stars, all nestled around a bright crescent moon.

Vincent Valentine strode down the empty street, his cloak swishing around his ankles. He glanced up at the sky, taking it all in with a distinct detachedness. Most everything Vincent did in life was carefully calculated, an observation to be recorded for the sole purpose of furthering Vincent's knowledge of just about everything. He stored them in a part of his brain that he kept far, far away from the tiny locked box in his mind labeled "Emotions". This way what he saw didn't affect the way he felt, and he could continue thinking about the world in a rational, calm, and clearheaded manner.

Vincent paused outside a building on the street, reaching inside his cloak to pull out a small silver key, which he used to unlock the door. Pushing it open, he couldn't help but frown slightly at the tremendous creak it made.

Vincent Valentine didn't like to make excessive noise.

Shutting it behind him with an equally loud protest from the door, Vincent stepped inside the darkened bar.

He waited only a moment for his eyes to adjust to the gloom. They didn't need any longer- they were quite used to adjusting to the dark.

Vincent inhaled and caught whiffs of dish detergent, air freshener, wood polish, faint traces of roast chicken, and of course, the scent of alcohol lingering in the air. It all mixed together to create a very familiar scent, but one that was still slightly unwelcome on Vincent's part, due to the fact that he was used to smelling the musty air and abject dankness of Shinra Mansion.

He strode silently over the ground, which was something of a feat considering the pointed brass shoes he wore.

The stairs loomed ahead, and Vincent ascended them quickly, making sure to skip over the creaky fourth step.

There was a flickering light illuminating the first room to his left- Tifa's room. The sound of a weeping woman could be heard coming from the television, but there was no sign that Denzel and Marlene were inside in the room.

Vincent paused on the top step.

"Denzel, you can put down your weapon. It is only me." There was a silence, and Denzel's frightened but hopeful face peered out from inside Tifa's room. His face broke out into a radiant grin as he saw Vincent.

"Vincent! Boy am I glad to see you! For a second there, I- er, Marlene thought that you were a murderer!" he exclaimed.

Vincent's spine stiffened. The two kids obviously didn't know of his past, and Vincent liked it that way. This way they wouldn't watch him with suspicious eyes as children were apt to do, and which Vincent was thoroughly tired of.

Marlene's excited face peeked out from behind Denzel's, and she too broke out into a enormous smile at the sight of Vincent.

"Vincent!! We were wondering when you'd ever get here!" she leapt at him, wrapping her small arms around his knees. Vincent shifted slightly, allowing her to cling to him. The feeling of being wanted wasn't altogether unpleasant, and he let himself enjoy the altogether not-so-unpleasant feeling for a moment.

Just a moment.

Denzel stepped out of the room after Marlene, slightly more reserved but just as excited at such a welcome sight. He dragged a forgotten baseball bat along after him, obviously his weapon of choice.

Self-defense, in the form of a baseball bat. I suppose he was rather frightened, Vincent thought to himself, storing more information in his mostly untouched file on "children".

"Hey Vincent! Can we watch more TV?" Marlene's eyes were wide and expectant.

"I see no reason why not."

"Wow, thanks!" Denzel beamed, squeezing Vincent's knees as well before dashing back inside, so as not to miss a single second of the incredibly contrived love triangle between Tiffany, Skye, and Adam. Marlene trailed behind Denzel, flashing Vincent another grateful smile before settling down on the bed comfortably, and regluing her eyes to the screen.

Vincent turned away, unsure of what to do with himself now, considering that soap operas disgusted him and he had had enough of love triangles.

He recalled the annoyance of observing one in real life. Even he, who preferred to remain impassive on most everything, had sensed the tension between those three of his comrades. There was no other way to describe the confusion and mixed emotions flowing back and forth between them than purely irritating.

Still, it would appear that Cloud was finally acting on some form of affection, since he had called up Vincent, who had been contemplating his past in Shinra Mansion, in hopes of recruiting him as babysitter while Cloud took Tifa on some trip during Valentine's Day. Cloud hadn't specified where he was going, and Vincent hadn't asked.

For someone who shared a namesake with the holiday, Vincent certainly didn't like the idea of Valentine's Day. It was a lot of goopy romance that he didn't feel like wasting the energy on processing. He didn't care for the holiday, but had grudgingly agreed to watch Denzel and Marlene because he knew it probably meant more to Cloud than it did to himself, and because he knew no one else had quite as much spare time.

Thankfully, Vincent was interrupted from having to brood more about the annoyance of such a frivolous holiday and on what to do next by a furious pounding on the door.

He turned and descended the stairs leisurely. He may have been relieved to have a distraction, but Vincent Valentine did not hurry.

"Cloud!! Open up the goddamn door already!" Vincent froze in his tracks as he recognized and processed that voice.

Sighing, he continued forward. There was no denying her for long.

"Hello, Yuffie. Can I help you?" Vincent asked warily.

"Vincent?" Yuffie was peering at him, decked out in full ninja garb. She looked nothing like the Wutain empress she was supposed to be, but rather more like the irrepressible Yuffie Kisaragi Vincent knew so well. The warm breeze outside ruffled Yuffie's short black hair slightly as she stared at Vincent, temporarily stunned. But Yuffie was always quick to regain her composure. "What are you doing here? Where's Cloud?"

"I'm here to watch Denzel and Marlene while Cloud races around Gaia with Tifa," Vincent responded calmly.

"Oh." Yuffie looked slightly deflated. "Well, I was just here to make sure Cloud did something for Tifa this Valentine's Day, but it looks like he actually grew a brain since the last time I saw him."

"I see."

Her original mission already accomplished, Yuffie focused on the first part of Vincent's sentence. "So he sent you to take care of Denzel and Marlene?" Yuffie smirked ever so slightly. "No offense, Vinnie, but you just don't really associate yourselves with kids, do you? Or anybody, really, for that matter."

With that, Yuffie brushed purposefully into 7th Heaven… and promptly ran into a table.

"Ow! Fu-"

"Yuffie. There are kids upstairs," Vincent reprimanded. He couldn't believe he was actually admonishing Yuffie Kisaragi like he was a stern adult and she was an unruly child, but he certainly didn't want to deal with an angry Tifa who had it out for him for letting Yuffie corrupt her kids.

"Right. Of course." Yuffie winced. "What the hell are these tables made out of, anyways? Titanium?" she rubbed her knee one last time before straightening up and striding onwards as if nothing had happened.

Vincent followed behind, curious as to what Yuffie was going to do, and also because he wanted to defend his name as babysitter somewhat, even though it was his name… as a babysitter.

"Hey Denzel! Hey Marlene!" Yuffie stuck her head through the doorway into Tifa's room, grinning widely.

"Yuffieee!!" Marlene cried, jumping off the bed and bowling straight into Yuffie, who laughingly picked her up and spun her around.

"I got something for you," Yuffie answered cheerily, setting Marlene back down and reaching for the pouch tied onto her back, the one where she normally carried Conformer.

For a second, Vincent was overcome with the sudden worry that Yuffie would let Marlene play with Conformer. He certainly didn't want an even angrier Tifa on his tail, furious with him for letting Marlene wreak havoc across the bar.

But all Yuffie pulled out was an oversized and overstuffed Moogle doll, with button eyes and pointy ears and every stuffed animal cliché you could think of. Marlene squealed delightedly and hugged the doll tightly to her chest.

"Thanks, Yuff!" she beamed. Denzel had looked up at Marlene's squeal of joy and was now watching Yuffie with ill-concealed hope in his eyes.

"I didn't forget you, don't worry, Denzel." Yuffie smiled reassuringly. She reached behind her again and pulled out a snowboard, black with red flames painted across it. "For whenever you go visit Icicle Inn, you have your own snowboard to ride on. It's top racing quality, too, so you can get the speed you need." Denzel slid slowly off the bed and reached for the snowboard with trembling hands. He couldn't even get a word out.

Vincent could only watched and cringe slightly at the ease which Yuffie handled the kids. It was almost too perfect, the picture-worthy smiles on their faces, the pleasure in Yuffie's eyes, it almost made Vincent's stomach want to chuck lunch right back up.

Almost, but not quite.

After the kids had retreated back to Tifa's bed, staring at their gifts with open wonder (now oblivious to the sobbing Skye), Vincent stepped forward.

"How did you conveniently have such expensive gifts for them?" Vincent asked with reluctant curiosity while staring at the pouch. For such a small knapsack, it sure could hold a hell of a lot of stuff. He felt quite sure he saw one of Conformer's tips poking out of the top, and adding that weight and size to the snowboard and Moogle doll and the knapsack suddenly became much more impressive.

"I figured if I was stopping by 7th Heaven anyways, I might as well bring a luxury or two for Denzel and Marlene. God knows they've been deprived of those, what with Tifa's practicality and perfect money management. Being the heir to a throne has its advantages, doncha know." Yuffie was smiling benignly at the kids, who were thoroughly absorbed in their gifts.

Vincent said nothing, but just watched Yuffie intently. Something about the way she handled the kids had been kind, almost motherly but at the same time as if they were good friends too rather than parent and child. He hadn't seen Yuffie be quite so rational and collected before. It was something Vincent felt he could get used to. He wondered if he would ever be able to make a good fatherly figure.

Vincent thought about it for a second, and then turned away, nearly chuckling at himself for the pure ridiculousness of the track his thoughts were taking. Him, wondering about how good of a fatherly figure he'd make? Vincent shook his head to clear it and headed back down the stairs. Obviously Yuffie's overly buoyant personality was having an incredibly peculiar effect on his mood.

No, that wasn't right.

The fact that he didn't find this effect altogether repulsive- that was what was peculiar.

-x-

This was the moment Vincent could truly assess Yuffie's prowess. She was at his mercy, and if he executed his next move perfectly, she'd never see it coming. In fact, Vincent quite relished the moment, and he wished he could preserve it forever. Time to see if she fell for it…

Reaching forward slowly, Vincent shifted his queen diagonal and up four spaces, smirking. If Yuffie was like every other player he'd ever had the chance to play (which consisted of a varied assortment of Shinra workers), she'd move her bishop in an attempt to kill his queen…

"Checkmate," Yuffie crowed, punching a fist in the air as she moved her rook over to stand three spaces away from Vincent's king, successfully checkmating it.

Vincent just stared.

Bested… at chess? And by Yuffie Kisaragi?

Vincent felt a twinge of annoyance as he fixated on the chessboard. How could she possibly have won? Nobody ever saw that move coming.

Yuffie was still cheering and watching Vincent's reaction with a triumphant smile. Vincent just kept on staring, refusing to admit to losing.

"C'mon, Vinnie. Can't you accept defeat like a man?" Yuffie asked, putting her hands on her hips. The bar counter was littered was other board games Yuffie had coaxed Vincent into playing, all of which she had won at (except for Apple to Apples- Vincent never lost a game of Apples to Apples). Vincent hadn't minded those losses- he hadn't really thought that those petty games were any mark of intelligence, but chess was a worldwide symbol of your logical prowess.

"I suppose I've been defeated," Vincent mumbled. He wasn't generally a sore loser, but somehow Yuffie besting him at almost every single game so far had caused an outbreak of poor sportsmanship.

"Aww, I'm sorry. I'll fetch you some of ice cream and you can watch Skye and Adam's sordid love affair upstairs if it'll make you feel better." Yuffie grinned.

"I think I have had enough of love triangles, thank you very much."

"Damn straight," Yuffie agreed instantly. "I'm glad Cloud finally stopped his emotionally stunted ways."

Vincent said nothing.

"Hey, I didn't mean it like that, Vincent." Yuffie spoke up suddenly, noticing the lapse in conversation. "You're emotionally stunted in the good way!" she smiled nervously.

That hadn't actually been why Vincent had stopped talking, but the idea that he had made Yuffie Kisaragi concerned for his feelings somehow compensated for his loss at chess.

He had been thinking about being emotionally stunted and if he was in the same way Cloud was, and perhaps if he was, if he could get over it like Cloud had.

Vincent didn't particularly like comparing himself to the fairly naïve and impressionable Cloud, however, and so he drew the conclusion that they were two very different people and Cloud's problems with his emotions did not pertain to Vincent in any way.

"Think nothing of it, Yuffie," Vincent replied calmly, and Yuffie grinned as she saw that Vincent wasn't angry, and started chattering again about how she thought Cloud had taken long enough to find a woman, considering that they had practically been chucked at his head earlier on.

Vincent was just content to listen.

Sometimes, he liked being with Yuffie just because she was a compulsive talker and he was a most definite listener. People were always stopping to wait for some sort of response from Vincent, as if they thought that if he wasn't clinging on to their every word, gasping with surprise or fear or horror or delight or some other silly reaction, he surely wasn't paying attention, whereas 99 percent of the time he was. Yuffie, on the other hand, seemed to understand that Vincent didn't need to be making noise to be listening.

Or perhaps she just liked talking.

Either way, Vincent felt himself almost smile as Yuffie declared Cloud a "sadistic bastard" for toying with Tifa and Aerith's emotions.

It had been awhile since he'd done just that. Still, smiling... it wasn't altogether unpleasant either.

-x-

Sometime later Vincent sat up on the couch and opened his eyes to find an almost identical 7th Heaven staring back at him. The only difference was that the flickering TV from upstairs was no longer casting its light down the steps, and that the lights in the living room had been turned off and the board games cleared away.

He hadn't been sleeping- Vincent didn't classify his rests as sleeping. It was more of his thoughts slowing down considerably while his eyes were shut. He somehow managed to stay completely aware of his surroundings and changes in his environment while resting, and still managing to feel rejuvenated upon reopening his eyes.

Vincent wondered if Yuffie had left, and the thought left the darkness feeling a lot more absolute. She seemed to have sucked some of it away with her irrevocable cheerfulness, and it seemed more weighted now.

He stood up and strode quickly up the stairs to check on Denzel and Marlene. He stuck his head in Tifa's room to note that the TV was off and the bed deserted, followed by checking Cloud's room, which was likewise quiet and deserted.

The darkness felt slightly less heavy as he peered into the room of the kids.

Moonlight filtered through the window on the side of the room, illuminating the figure of Yuffie sitting on the edge of Denzel's bed, squeezing his hand in her own. He was tossing and turning, obviously having a nightmare without the comforting presence of Cloud or Tifa next door. She hadn't noticed Vincent and somehow he liked it better than way. He stayed in the shadows, watching. She stroked Denzel's hair occasionally, making subconscious humming noises.

Vincent found himself feeling quite contented. He could get used to this Yuffie, the Yuffie who did nice things and laughed without being obnoxious. The Yuffie who he didn't see as a rowdy child. The Yuffie who made the corners of Vincent's mouth twitch in what some might even call a smile.

Vincent stepped back, not wanting to interrupt, and halting his thoughts right in their tracks. He was dangerously nearing a subject which he kept locked up tighter than any other in his mental box of "Emotions". And he didn't feel like breaching it…

At least, not yet.

A/N: I don't have much to say other than that the Yuffentine aspects are actually pretty light in this story, because I didn't want to make them too heavy, otherwise I fear Vincent would have been astronomically out of character.

No, I don't know diddly squat about chess D:

Oh, and I like to portray Yuffie as a deeper person with lots of layers. Like an onion.

Thanks for reading :)