Sorry I've been gone so long...i meant to update this ages ago..anyway, enjoy!

Chapter 2: Same Place as Yesterday

"Why aren't they here yet?" Yuffie asked, her voice low, as she wrung her hands together.

"They'll be here soon." Tifa replied as she washed the same glass for what must have been the tenth time.

"Tifa, relax." Cloud said as he came into the bar from one of the rooms. "If something else had happened to Red they would have called." He placed a hand on Tifa's shoulder and Yuffie looked away getting the feeling that it was a private moment. 
"Oh Yuffie!" Tifa said, surprised, and the ninja looked up, confused. "You're all dirty; I should have had you change clothes earlier." Tifa was staring at Yuffie's clothes and she looked down at herself. She was covered in a thin layer of dust from travelling and her clothes didn't exactly look good to begin with.

"That's alright Teef, I didn't really bring anything else."

"You can borrow something of mine while those are being washed." Tifa grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the bathroom as Yuffie dubiously considered what Tifa could possible have that would fit her.

A while later Yuffie was dressed in a pair of shorts that were barely held up by a belt and a white take top that was tied in the back so she wouldn't accidently flash anyone. Not that she had anything to flash with really. As she dragged a brush through her hair she heard voices from the main bar. Dropping the brush she ran out to see Cid talking to Barret as Marlene sat on her father's lap.

"Cid, where's Red?" Yuffie practically shouted as she raced forward.

"He's in the fucking guest room, calm the fuck down woman." Cid growled back, he looked exhausted.

"You calm the fuck down you crazy old loon, how is he?" Yuffie hissed back, crossing her arms. Cid opened his mouth to speak but Barret cut him off.

"He'll be fine; they managed to do most of the healing on the way here. He just needs some sleep now."

"What happened?" This time it was Marlene who spoke. "No one's said what happened yet." She looked up at Cid who ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"I don't know yet kid, we'll have to wait until Red wakes up." Cid turned and walked into the room that Yuffie assumed Red was in.

"Are you going to go see him?" Marlene asked, looking up at Yuffie and the young woman shook her head.

"I'll go in when it's a little less crowded."

"Good idea. All kind's of people hovering in there." Came Cid's gruff voice as he reappeared from the room, holding his son.

"So kid, where've you been?" It took Yuffie a moment to realize that Barret had been talking to her and when she did she looked at the ground.

"Oh, you know. Here and there; everywhere really." She shrugged, hoping he would drop the subject, but he continued.

"Come on kid, why've you really been-" He was cut off however when the door to the bar burst open and Vincent came storming in with his usual dramatics.

"How's Red?" He asked simply.

"He's going to be okay!." Marlene said right away and Vincent nodded to her, simple accepting it, and took a seat near the edge of the room.

"That's good to hear." Reeve sat entered and sat next to Barret. "I suppose we'll have to wait a longer while until we can get any information from him?" He asked and Marlene nodded.

"Where are the others?" Came a voice that caused Yuffie to clench her hands into a fist. Shelke walked calmly in and took a seat next to Vincent. "Hello Yuffie Kisaragi, I mean, Yuffie." Shelke faltered a bit in her speech and Yuffie raised and eyebrow. Apparently she was trying to lose some of her creepy-ass habits.

"I'm going to go see what's going on." Yuffie said sharply as she stood and sped quickly to the bathroom.

Yuffie leaned against the door to the bathroom, breathing heavily. She had to get control, that's what being a ninja was about after all, right? Well. She was a damn good ninja. It took her a few moments but eventually she managed to calm her breathing and control her anger. She stood slowly and straightened her clothes, preparing to go out. She ran a hand through her still damp hair to get it out of her face; she forgot how annoying it was to not be wearing her headband. Luckily she was able to slip back into the bar unnoticed since Tifa, Shera, Cloud and Denzel had reappeared.

"He's sleeping now." Tifa was saying as Yuffie slipped in and took a seat near the edge of the room. "We'll have to wait he wakes up to know what happened." There was a pause and Tifa looked like she was considering something. "While were all here though, I mean, we could always celebrate?" Tifa looked up at them all, sheepishly. There was a moment of silence before Cid spoke up.

"Why the fuck not? You still all haven't met the little guy." He nodded his head towards the infant in his arms. "Besides, we can always celebrate again when Red wakes up." Shera shrugged in agreement and Cloud clapped his hands together.

"Alright then, let's get this going!" The bar erupted in a flurry of movement and Yuffie snickered to herself. You could tell that a group has been through a lot when one is nearly killed and you still find the time to party.

"Yo Cid; what's the little fella's name?" Barret's voice thundered across the room.

"Uh, well, you see-" Cid was cut off when Shera gently took her son from the pilot.

"We haven't decided yet." She called to Barret who shot a 'what the fuck's wrong with you look' as Cid. Cid just shrugged and pulled out a cigarette.

An hour or so later most of the party had split into smaller subgroups as people milled around and caught up with one another. Denzel and Marlene were taking turns checking on Red although Yuffie noticed that Denzel made an awful point of hanging around Shelke whenever he had a free moment. She always knew that kid had horrible taste. Yuffie had talked to almost everyone so far, save for Vincent and Shelke, obviously, but had always left the conversations when someone brought up her recent absence. Hopefully they would start to get the point and stop asking. Currently she was watching Shelke and Tifa talk near the bar; she hadn't realized it before but Shelke did seem rather different. She had heard her speak earlier and she seemed to actually be on singular name basis with everyone which majorly reduced her creepy scale. She was a bit taller too and looked as though she had actually aged. She still wore a simple pink dress but she wore here hair in a short braid that was pulled back from her face now. Yuffie grimaces and turned away as Tifa laughed at something that Shelke had said. Her eyes fell upon Vincent who was sitting on the edge of the bar, away from any conversation. She bit her lip, wondering if she should go over. When she had seen him earlier she had just been so happy for the save from Reeve that she hadn't stopped to think about where she stood with good old Vinnie. It had been two years since she'd talked to him after all and what she last said hadn't gone very well. Perhaps he had forgotten? She shook her head feeling stupid. Of course he hadn't forgotten; this was Vincent Valentine for Leviathans sake. She looked back over to where he was sitting only to find him gone. Spinning around she glanced around the room wildly before she spotted a hint of a red cape fluttering around the doorway to the porch. Taking a deep breath she marched towards the door, no use putting it off.

She felt her confidence waver as she stepped out onto the porch and saw him leaning against the porch, a cigarette dangling from his clawed hand.

"Uh, Vinnie?" She asked quietly, looking at her feet. He merely looked up at her. After a couple moments she realized that he was waiting for her to continue. She laughed nervously and brushed the hair from her eyes and she took a step forward.

"I just wanted to say, uh, well-" Her voice caught and she cleared her throat "About the last time I saw you that I'm sorry about, uh, about the things I said." She was still looking at her feet and she heard him sigh. A moment passed before he spoke.

"It's in the past now Yuffie."

"I know but it's still-" He cut her off, a slight tone in impatience in his voice.

"What you said was wrong, you had no right, but you had your reasons whatever they may be." She looked up at him sharply, what an unbelievably un-Vincent like thing to say. He looked down at her, understanding her expression. "Things have changed Yuffie, you've been gone a long time." He took a drag of his cigarette and Yuffie nodded, not sure what to say. Another moment of silence passed before she turned and began heading back inside; his voice cut through the night air and stopped her.

"Things have changed but not that much; I will not forgive so easily a second time." She looked back at him but he wasn't looking at her; taking a deep breath she stepped back indoors.

The next few days were getting everyone settled in the bar. Reeve would stay at the WRO and Shelke would go back to Kalm but it was decided that everyone else would stay in the bar until they got to the bottom of what had happened. Yuffie was surprised to see that Vincent didn't live in the area but when she had asked Tifa the older woman had said that he usually just gets a room at the WRO or an inn somewhere. Red had woken up the day after he arrived but hadn't been able to tell them much. He said he had been attacked by a cloaked figure that was able to move much faster than he could, so fast that he couldn't see his attacker at times. He had been near defeat when Cid's airship had neared and the assailant had fled. Yuffie had felt incredibly guilty when she realized that she may have seen the assailant as she was leaving and had done nothing, she had shared her information but it hadn't gotten them any further. After some discussion it had been decided that the aggressor had most likely fled because he had thought that the airship had possibly held all of AVALANCHE. Reeve was currently trying to find any leads but so far had come up with nothing. On the third day Yuffie was sitting at a table in the bar, just about bored to tears. Nobody else was around and she was attempting to make a card house, unfortunately it had just collapsed for that must have been the eighty-fourth time.

"Well I hate you too" She grumbled at the pile of cards on the table as she brushed her hair out of her face for what must have been the eighty-fourth millionth time. Her headband had 'mysteriously' been lost in the wash (Just because it was falling apart didn't mean it wasn't fit to wear for a while longer, not that Tifa couldn't see that) and she hadn't bought a new one yet. She sighed heavily and she once again brushed her hair from her eyes and almost screamed out loud when she felt a cool pair of hands running through her hair and pull it back for her.

"Do you have any idea how annoying it is to see you do that every three seconds?" Vincent's rough voice came from behind her. The next thing she knew he had tied it back and had stepped away from her before she could react.

"Uh, thanks" She mumbled, feeing herself turn red though she didn't know why.

"How's Red?" He asked in reply and she stood up quickly.

"Uh, I'm not sure. I was just going to go see." She turned and walked quickly into reds room. He was sitting up and yawning when she walked in.

"Hello Yuffie, good morning."

"You mean good afternoon?" She grinned at him. "Feeling better then?"

"Much, I believe I am fully healed." He jumped off the bed and stretched on the floor. Yuffie crouched down and scratched him behind the ears and sighed happily. As she was scratching she felt her fingers slide over a bump and stopped.

"What's this?" She asked quietly and spread his fur in that spot. There was a small medal object that was half planted into his skin. Yuffie took in a deep breath and covered the device.

"Vinnie-Vin-Vinner-Vin?" she called in her most annoying voice, she'd had a lot of practice. After a moment Vincent walked slowly to the door with a look that would have made Sephiroth cry on his face. "Would you look at something for me?" She batted her eyelashes at him. He simply stood there so she mouthed to him. "Red has a device on him, I think they might be able to hear us." Vincent walked forward briskly and knelt beside them. He lifted her hands gently from where they covered the device and she pulled them back from him sharply, wincing as one of his claws sliced the side of her hand. Not noticing Vincent used his clawed hand to gently pick the small metal apparatus out of Red's fur, Red growled lowly as it tore from the skin.

"It's a tracking device Yuffie, they can't hear us." He said as he looked at it.

"Oh" She said, feeling a little silly "Well that's good."

"They still know where we are though."

"That's" She paused, again feeling stupid. "Not good" She finished lamely. Vincent stood quickly and walked out into the bar, Yuffie and Red followed. Vincent was standing near one of the windows and was holding the tracker up in the light. After a moment he lowered it.

"It says something on the side."

"What says something? Cloud had walked into the bar, carrying a box.

"We found a tracker on Red." Yuffie said, walking over to Vincent to look at it. Cloud put the box down quickly and rushed over, taking it from Vincent.

"Is it still activated?" He asked quickly and Yuffie shrugged. The four of them were silent for a moment as each contemplated what to do next. Feeling her attention wane Yuffie noticed a stray hair on Vincent's cloak and reached up to pick it off. He glanced down at her actions and suddenly reached up to grab her hand. He turned it gently, looking at the cut on the side of it with a questioning look on his face. He glanced down at his gauntlet and closed his eyes for a moment.

"I'll get you a bandage." He mumbled but she shook her head.

"It's nothing really." She pulled her hand away and looked down. "So, uh, what should we do next?"

"I'll take it to the WRO." Vincent replied immediately, no longer looking at her. "They can analyze it there." Cloud nodded to him and Vincent left quickly leaving Yuffie and Red to simply stare at each other.

Within two hours everyone had assembled at the bar. Reeve had just entered, Vincent next to him, and was standing at the front of the room while everyone sat down and waited for him to begin.

"We analyzed the device and couldn't find any activity. Our best guess is that Red's assailant placed it on him in a panic when he saw the airship approaching but didn't have a chance to activate it. We were, however, able to read what it said on the side. It bears the inscription 'Pyramid Co.'." He cleared his throat before continuing. " We searched our databases and there was a company by that name in Midgar before Meteor, if specialized in equipment like this."

"You said before meteor though." Tifa said, confused. "That means it hasn't been around for at least five years."

"Not officially no." Reeve replied. "The building is still there though and as we know there are still many secrets in Midgar." Cloud stood up and walked next to Reeve.

"I say we go check it out, see if we can find anything."

"I have a layout of the building." Reeve said, pulling out a rolled up piece of paper. He laid it out on the table and Cloud looked down at it.

"Alright then; Me Tifa and Red will go through the front, Barret and Cid will go through the back and Yuffie and Vincent will go in from the roof. If there's anything there we'll take it by surprise." Most people nodded but Tifa looked over between Vincent and Yuffie and back to Cloud curiously. Taking her cue Yuffie spoke up.

"Me and Vinners? Come on, that's just depressing."

"The two of you are the most agile, it will be easier for you to get to the roof if there isn't easy access." Yuffie had a mental image of Barret and Cid trying to scale the side of the building and shrugged.

"Everyone clear?" Cloud looked around, when nobody objected he opened his mouth. "Let's m-" He was cut off with a chorus of moans and Cid shouting 'you fucking pussy!'.

Half an hour later everyone was geared up. Shera was to stay at the bar with the kids and Reeve was heading back to the WRO to prepare backup troops in case they were needed. Right before they were about to head out Tifa approached Yuffie.

"Are you alright with the partners?" She asked quietly, so no one else heard, and Yuffie looked up at her, confused.

"Why wouldn't I be?" The younger woman asked and Tifa paused before speaking.
"I didn't want to say anything because it looked like your business but I saw you go out to talk to him at the party and you didn't look very happy when you came back in. Is, er, there something going on?"

"No, nothing at all." Yuffie shook her head violently, not even bothering to consider what Tifa may be implying. "Just some stuff that happened a long time ago." She mumbled when Tifa continued to stare at her.

"Like when you left the WRO?" Tifa asked, staring her straight in the eye. "You know-" Yuffie cut the woman off.

"Later, okay Tifa? I promise." With that Yuffie ran over to stand next to Vincent. She could swear he had been watching them.

"You ready for some fun Vincent? If you're good I may even teach you a thing or two." She winked up at him and he turned away though she could have sworn that she had seen the faintest hint of an eye roll.

Pretty soon they had arrived at the complex and split up into their groups. Yuffie had forgotten just how scary the ruins of Midgar were these days. Everything was rusted and falling apart and in places weeds had even begun to grow over the metal. The Pyramid Co. was no different. Its windows were cracked and there was a substantial layer of mud over the building. Currently she and Vinnie were climbing a fire escape that had definitely seen better days. Vincent was ahead of her and had already reached the roof. She was almost there when she heard a great creaking sound and felt the platform below her give away. Acting fast she grabbed the railing in front of her and jumped onto it, using it to propel her jump on to the roof. She made it but stumbled into Vincent while landing who tripped and nearly fell over.

"Hehe, sorry Vinnie." She said sheepishly as he glared at her and motioned for her to be quiet. He crouched behind a vent and pulled her with him, looking out across the rooftop. She pointed to a roof hatch near the corner of the building.

"It might be smarter to go in that way than the door if there's something waiting for us." She whispered. He nodded and they stood to make their way across the roof. Suddenly a sharp ringing split the air and Yuffie grabbed her conformer, Vincent his death penalty, and prepared to attack. When nothing attacked they both realized that the persisting noise was that of a cell phone ring. Vincent glared daggers at Yuffie and hissed at her.

"Yuffie turn that off!" She glared back at him.

"You asshole, that's not even mine!" He froze and quickly dug in his pocket to turn off the offending device, she had half a mind to push him off the roof. They stood there for a moment before Vincent simply turned away to head across the roof.

"What, no apology?" Yuffie hissed, wondering if he was quick enough to block her conformer. He looked back at her briefly before crouching next to the hatch. Preparing his weapon he ripped open the hatch and aimed into the hole. Nothing happened, relaxing he motioned for her to enter and followed. Inside the building was just as depressing as the outside. There was nothing but old desks and papers strewn about the floors. Room after room after room they found nothing. The papers were mostly receipts and invoices, nothing that would help him. The only bit of excitement they had was when they heard movement and got ready for a fight only for it to turn out to be Barret and Cid. Yuffie briefly considered starting a fight anyways just to see who would win. She and Vinnie would totally kick ass. After going through a few more rooms Yuffie pulled out her phone to call Cloud and complain. The minute she turned it on however it began to ring loudly and she answered it.

"Yuffie, get the others and get back to the bar quick. We were tricked." With that Reeve hung up and Yuffie spun to relay the message to Vinnie. They quickly backtracked to find Cid and Barret and the four of them sped off in search of the others.

Within half an hour they were rushing back into the bar, Cid at the front calling for Shera. The door was broken off its hinges and Yuffie feared the worst as they headed inside. What met them however, was not what she expected.

"Well if it isn't the hotshot AVALANCE team. Great job on this one you guys, leaving your women and children unprotected." Reno said with a smirk as he leaned against the bar. Rude stood next to him, glancing at Tifa from beneath his glasses. Yuffie looked over to see Cid hugging Shera who looked as though she had been crying. Marlene was sitting Next to Denzel who had a sizable bruise on his cheek and Elena was in the corner holding Cid's son.

"Elena!" Reno called. "Stop being such a woman and do you job!" He chuckled to himself as Tifa shot him a nasty glare and Elena flushed, handing the child to Marlene and walking over to the other turks.

"What happened?" Cloud asked Reno sharply. Reeve walked into the room from down the hall.

"The device was a trick. We analyzed it further and realized that it had been activated but was shut down. We assume that once they had the location they shut it off, the inscription was a diversion, most likely so that they could hit us where it hurts." He glanced over to Shera and the kids."

"Old Reeve here requested us." Reno nodded towards Reeve.

"You have a deal with the turks?" Cloud asked Reeve and the older man shrugged.

"The WRO may have some negotiations with Rufus."

"So for the moment, we work for Reeve." Elena said, smiling as Cloud.

"We got here just in time." Rude said simply and Reno continued for him.

"There were two of them, one real fast one and a girl. They didn't stick around long after we got here." He said with a cocky grin.

"Must have known that we weren't far behind." Barret shot back at him, grinning as well.

"Whatever the case, the kid." He motioned as Denzel " Was holding them off from the others; barely." Said Reno, scowling. There was a moment of tense silence before Reeve broke it.

"We're sending Shera and the kids back to Rocket Town. Reno, Rude and Elena will stay with them for the time being. Cid, if you'll-"

"Of course I will." Cid growled, cutting him off. The conversation continued like this with barely made plans and uncertainties into the night until Cid left with his party. Reeve left for the WRO and everyone else sat in the bar, quietly. No one wanted to talk about how much they had screwed up, how much they could have lost. Yuffie sighed and stared out the window. Why did it feel like every time they made a little progress they always ended up in the same place?