A/N: I know it's way too early for Christmas, but my muse didn't think so. Happy Early Christmas everybody.

She was tired of it. The longing, her unrequited feelings, of thinking up of intimate scenarios that she knew could never be. And all because one woman stood between them.

Metaphorically speaking, since that woman was dead. So basically, he was brooding and moping, and every bit dark and depressing, all account of one woman.

She used to think she could respect someone who swore that they would forever love one person, even though they were already dead. Or gone (applying to the mentally ill. Don't forget them.) But...it couldn't have been. Love was just a word used to refer to an indescribable emotion, too great, too terrible for words. It could make you feel as if you died and went to heaven, and the dying part wasn't so bad. Or it could make you feel as if you preferred dying, and even then you couldn't escape the deep, burning hell you fell into.

But if it could tear up someone so much and still be one-sided (that woman just ran off with an crazy scientist! How could you totally ditch a hot guy like that?!), then it couldn't be that. It felt like an insult to use 'love' in that way. That woman hadn't even returned his feelings. Yuffie would have been grateful, if it didn't leave Vincent so averted against developing any feelings with anyone beyond platonic.

And truthfully, Yuffie felt she would never feel the same way about him as she would for any other man (and if it didn't look good for her, imagine how it must be for Vincent. She winced at the thought) No matter how many times she flirted (which was usually returned with an insult, but she had long refused to show her hurt), she never got to first base, much less any sort of touching (she hadn't even held hands yet. Pathetic) In fact, she couldn't imagine herself with anyone. (Except...)

It was completely absurd. She should have been a normal teenage girl with wild, uncontrollable hormones right? Of course, the factor of saving the world twice wasn't a common experience to anyone, and it matured her in ways that other people couldn't see, though she wasn't about to tell anyone about it.

It started with Cloud. Her first crush had been on him, but she soon realized she had no chance with him. And her feelings were probably shallow at best. When Aeris died, and before Cloud had disappeared because of his infection with Geostigma, Yuffie had resolved to moving Cloud to her "hands off" list. He was the only man decent enough for Tifa, even though the blond idiot was too dense to realize it. Yet. And she disliked having her friends ogled by countless drunkards. Both of them.

Moving back to her frustration. Even though she didn't know much about Vincent, there always seemed to be something that drew her to him.

She figured it was because he was so secretive. He kept mostly to himself and didn't often have input in many conversations, and with Yuffie being curious and all...well, it was a wonder curiosity hadn't killed that cat.

Of course, she was a friggin' ninja cat.

It's ironic how that ninja, with a lifetime of stealing experience (you'd think she'd know better), had her (ugh, she loathed referring to clichés, but there was no other way to describe it) heart stolen from a man who was unaware of having it in his possession, and would probably not want it the moment he realized he had it. Which was the current reason for her silence. If Vincent didn't deal with his rejection well, Yuffie didn't want to think about what would happen to her.

Yuffie wasn't a quiet person by nature, and she showed it by constantly calling everyone on their PHS, a typical social butterfly. If they got annoyed by her ever jubilant, annoyingly chatty nature and were vocal about it, she didn't let it faze her.

That was, until recently. She had been hiding her feelings for Vincent in a closet, and constantly shoving them there, until the whole mess of feelings avalanched into her wavering resolve. Then she decided to call him, but after waiting through the dial tone and the automatic voicemail, she finally chickened out and left the typical message.

He had said never to call him again, and honestly it shouldn't have bothered her because she was the Great Ninja Yuffie who could do whatever the hell she friggin' wanted to, even if it was at the victim's expense.

But for some reason, it touched something inside of her and it was like he threw a can of gasoline and a lit match in that closet and didn't even bother to watch it burn to ashes. And even though ninjas were virtually impervious (Ninjas defied gravity. They were awesome like that), she felt something change inside her, and she felt helpless. Like a hopeless fool.

She never called him again (he showed his aversion to talking to her quite obviously, since she had to get the message from someone else), but it didn't make her feelings go away. He had never remotely considered her to be girlfriend-material (she was lucky she was even considered a friend). Not for one moment.

The frown on her face deepened in concentration. She had already gotten gifts for everyone, but she couldn't figure out what to get for Vincent. He had been the third person on her Christmas list, (under Tifa and Cloud, they were the easiest to find gifts for), but when she couldn't think of anything, she simply moved him down and went to the next person on her list before going back to him and coming up with nothing. This continued in the same fashion until he was the very last person on her list.

She thought of getting him gothic clothes, partly to irk him and partly so he would use it (since he probably wouldn't wear anything that wasn't red or black, tightfitting, and without belts and zippers and whatnot), but it seemed too personal, seeing him wear what she gave him, as if perversely thinking that he was hers and her gift to him justified that. Then again, he probably wouldn't use it.

If she gave him materia, he'd be surprised, since she never EVER, gave away materia without a price, so he'd know that he'd had to mean something for her to give him something so coveted, and then he'd figure it out. And then reject her.

If she gave him candy, he'd probably give it to Marlene or Denzel. And tell her that he didn't have a sweet tooth.

Wait, she didn't even know if he had a sweet tooth. Well, he probably didn't. He hardly even ate (mostly likely because with his body being altered, he didn't need to). Maybe she was just thinking about it too much.

She could just get him whatever the hell she felt like plaguing him with.

'Like... that lingerie!' She thought, laughing deviously at the feminine, skimpy two-piece. It was a nice combination of silk with a bit of leather. The top was like a corset and had belt straps, as the same was with the bottom. And it was black. Like Vinnie's style.

"That would be part of our 'Bondage Collection', miss, our only piece left. Would you like it?"

Grinning, she paid for it and left the underwear shop, imagining the rise she'd get out of Vincent and the shocked faces of everyone back at Tifa's bar. Her grin slowly faded, quickly replaced by a frown.

'What the hell am I thinking?! I want him to like me, not hate me.' She thought, even though she knew sadly that she'd never be considered as anything but an annoying thieving brat.

'It's because I'm so immature that I can't make any friends, much less have a relationship. Hell, I can't even have a normal father/daughter relationship with Godo (but he's an asshole, so I can't change that)! And he still treats me like a kid! It's my fault that it's like this.' Her eyes gazed at the many stores displaying their special Christmas discounted offers.

'I can't give this to him,' She looked at the bag in disgust at her haste to buy it. ' The salesperson probably thinks I'm some S&M skank.'

Somehow, she had to give something to him, something that would mean something to her, without letting him find out in the process. She couldn't go on like this.

She stopped next to a flower shop. And suddenly, it came to her.

The bar was filled with laughter as people drank and discussed good times with friends and relations. The joy of Christmas was felt by everyone, and even then, Yuffie wasn't able to work herself into a joyful mood. Drying her hair from her shower, she made her way across her room, with a dull awareness until her foot hit something. Glancing down, she saw the bag she bought from the underwear store.

'Oh crap. What am I going to do with this thing?' She thought, picking it up by the hanger.

'Eh, I guess I'll just wear it. Waste of gil if I didn't.' She pulled off the price tags reluctantly.

'And I don't want to go back to that store.' Yuffie slipped on the two-piece suit. She had finished with the buckles when she looked up and happened to see herself in the wooden vanity a friend of Tifa had given her to furbish the empty room.

She eyed herself appraisingly, seeing how her non-existent chest seemed brought out. The paleness of her skin was emphasized by the black two-piece. But that feeling slowly ebbed away and suddenly, she felt tired of looking at herself, from her recent shopping trip and the turmoil of feelings constricting her hurting heart.

'I'll just take a nap.' She didn't even bother throwing the covers over herself before quickly falling into the sweet numbness of unconsciousness.

After leading the last customer out the door, Tifa clapped her hands and called for everyone to set their girts at the tree. Cid cursed and asked, "When are you and Shera gonna f#$in' start dinner?!" before receiving a smack on the head from Shera, who told her husband to watch his mouth around the kids before replying that they'd begin eating after everyone set their presents at the tree. Tifa and Shera had almost finished setting the table when everyone came in.

"Hey, where's the f#$in' brat? Haven't seen her since we came here." Cid barked.

"Put out that cigarette and stop cussing. There are children present, Highwind!" Shera nodded towards Denzel and Marlene who were already in their chairs and waiting for food to be served. Cid scowled before putting out his cigarette in a nearby ashtray.

"I saw her come into the bar with her arms full of presents. She looked tired, so after she had unloaded her burden under the tree, she headed upstairs. I presume she's still sleeping." Red XIII sat next to the table with a plate on the floor in front of him, courtesy of Tifa.

"I'll go wake her up then." Tifa waved her hand towards the table.

"You can all start eating if you want, but leave some for me and Yuffie." She warned before heading upstairs towards Yuffie's bedroom.

"Yuffie?" She called, knocking while she did so. A few moments passed, but she received no answer. She knocked again, calling out the ninja's name before peeking inside the room. It was too dark for Tifa to see other than the shadowy form on the bed. The curtains were drawn so that the moon's light couldn't filter through at this time of night, and Tifa was about to shake the girl awake before she paused, listening to Yuffie's soft snores.

'She acted strangely this morning, and Red XIII did say she looked tired. I'll let her rest.' She decided, quietly closing the door behind her. She walked back downstairs, expecting everyone to be already eating, but she was greeted with attentive eyes and empty plates.

"What's wrong?" Tifa asked.

"Where's Yuffie, Tifa?" Cloud inquired, looking disconcerted.

"She seemed a bit off this morning so I'm letting her sleep. I was going to save some of the food for her when she woke up."

"The he—ck has that brat been doin'? We haven't seen her all day!" Cid grumbled. Shera had looked at him warningly.

"Eh, maybe she got tired o' carryin' her presents." Barret put in.

"We were waiting for you to arrive with Yuffie. I made them wait, but she's not here with you." Shera's brows furrowed.

"Let's just eat without the brat! I'm—er, starvin'!" Cid caught himself awkwardly before reaching towards the beef stew. Everyone hesitantly began filling their plates.

Vincent took his time with eating, and this was mostly because he was a bit curious and confused. It had been a long time since he'd seen Yuffie, and Yuffie wasn't the type to skip out on greeting everyone as obnoxiously loud as possible. He had stayed in his room for the remainder of the day (purposely to avoid her, though he didn't expect that to deter her. But she hadn't even bothered to see him, which hadn't bothered him until now) before having been called to leave his gifts under the tree in the bar room, and he thought he had been the first one until he saw that there were already presents sitting under it. Someone had beaten it to him, but he hadn't pay any mind to it. That was until Red XIII had informed them of Yuffie's state of silence.

"Nanaki, did Yuffie say anything to you before she went upstairs?" Vincent murmured to Red XIII, who lifted his head from his plate.

"I do not believe so, I do not think she even noticed my presence." Vincent frowned. He thought she would have at least greeted Nanaki, but she had just dumped her presents at the tree and gone upstairs without a word. Red XIII was hard to miss, with his red furry mane and flaming tail. Yuffie should have at least acknowledged him.

"Eh, maybe she's on her period or someth—Ouch! What the hell was that for woman?!" Cid gripped his hand where Shera smacked him.

"That wasn't very polite!" Shera admonished him.

"Well, she's probably going through it! Hormones and all, maybe it's done her a bit o' good and she's growin' herself a pair of decent boobs. Did you see if she did Red XIII?" Cid yelped as Shera smacked him again. Nanaki hesitated before replying.

"The presents she carried in her arms did not allow me to observe that about her. I was observing her face when she turned and left, which has matured nicely. She would have looked lovely if she had not looked so tired."

"Well, it's probably her-" Cid glanced warily at Shera, who glared at him warningly."Er, womanly hour. At least she's stopped pestering me with all her annoying voicemails. What?!" Cid shrank away from Shera, who had scooted closer to him while still eying him.

"She don't call you no more?" Barret had suddenly turned his head from his plate and was frowning. "She still calls me."

"Well she still calls, but not so damn much." Cid received a smack from Shera.

"Same here." said Barret.

"Hm, she hasn't called me as often as she usually does either. Not that it's not a relief but..." Tifa's eyes had been wandering until they stopped on Vincent, who seemed to be in deep thought. When Cloud confirmed that Yuffie hadn't called him too much either, and expressed some relief at not being constantly pestered, Vincent frowned further.

"We're done Tifa! Can we please open the presents now?" Marlene turned hopeful eyes towards Tifa, Denzel standing beside her with the same look.

"The he—?! Awreaey?" The pilot grumbled with his mouth half-full.

"You're the only one still eating, Cid." Shera pointed out.

"Shouldn't we go get Yuffie first?" Tifa wondered if she could ask Yuffie something...

Cid gulped "Ah, leave her. It'll be her fault for not sleepin' earlier. The brat probably got all excited and tired herself out. She can open her presents when she wakes up." Tifa pondered before agreeing with Cid.

"Alright, let's go then. We wouldn't want to keep the kids waiting." She smiled at Marlene and Denzel who took off at a rush. Everyone else began going to the Christmas tree, and Tifa nearly left the room when she heard a chair scrape. Looking up, she saw that Vincent was going in the direction of the stairs.

"Don't you want to open your presents first?" Vincent turned towards her and didn't answer for a moment. Then he gave a slight nod and began walking towards the other room.

Everyone was waiting for Tifa and Vincent it seemed, since the moment they walked in, everyone began sorting through the presents, figuring out which gift was theirs. Vincent was staring down at his own pile, opening his gifts and nodding towards someone in thanks, when he received a new model gun or materia. He opened a box containing a professional digital camera of the latest model in photographic technology from Tifa, who told him simply, "For the memories!" before taking it from his hands and proceeding to take pictures of everyone for Vincent.

He heard a gasp and he turned his eyes towards the sound, since it didn't sound particularly like one of happiness, more like confusion, and that caught his interest. Marlene was holding something in her arms, and so everyone had seen it and began making baffled and inquisitive faces. Vincent's curiosity piqued, and Marlene had yet to turn around.

"Mr. Vincent, these are for you." Marlene had turned and began walking towards him with...flowers? She placed them in his hand, and he looked at them bemusedly. The light, floral scent wafted upwards towards him as he eyed the dew on the petals.

"What—Who's gift was that?" Cloud had stopped opening his presents.

"Oh! They're lilies!" Tifa and Shera got closer to the bouquet, asking Vincent who it was from. Vincent lifted the card and scanned it, his eyes widening slightly as he did so.

"It's from Yuffie." Cid nearly choked on his newly lit cig. Shera noticed and took it away from him.

"The heck she give you flowers for?" Cid had stood up to get a better look at the bundle of white lilies in his hand.

"Maybe she ran out of ideas and thought that flowers would suffice. It's not the first time she hasn't done something surprising before. Maybe she expected this from us." Red XIII defended. When he was certain that no one was looking at him, he gave Vincent a questioning look. Tifa looked like she wanted to ask him something too, but she only touched the flowers and complimented them with Shera before heading back towards her seat on the floor. Vincent had already opened all his presents (thanks to his claw-like gauntlet) and thanked everyone, so now he was left with a puzzle in his hands. Literally.

Soon enough, everyone retired and left for bed, all except Red XIII and Tifa, who stayed behind and were looking at Vincent. Cloud had taken a bit longer to leave though.

"You comin' Teef?" Tifa smiled at him.

"I'll just clean up a bit here, you go on ahead." She winked at him, and a red flush grew on his face as he stuttered a farewell and left the room. When Tifa was certain that Cloud had left, she turned towards Vincent, picking up a few scraps as she walked towards him.

"Flowers are a bit unusual for Yuffie." Tifa was eying the lilies as if a flag would pop out and say it was all a joke. But nothing happened.

"Has anything happened recently between you both?" Nanaki asked, sitting down near Vincent.

"...nothing has happened between us." Vincent was frowning as if something about the statement bothered him.

"She's been quiet lately. She doesn't talk as much as she usually does, but she still talked to me this morning, so I didn't think twice about it until now." Tifa crossed her arms.

"What is on your mind?" Red XIII inquired. Vincent seemed reluctant to reply, but Tifa and Red XIII waited patiently.

"She...hasn't called me since the Geostigma incident." Tifa and Red gave him incredulous looks.

"What did you do to her?" Red XIII growled slightly.

"I do not recall harming her in any way." Vincent narrowed his eyes at Nanaki, not appreciating being accused. The latter calmed down, his fur smoothing from it's ruffled state.

"What was the last thing you said to her?" Tifa asked. Vincent took a while to answer.

"...I do not recall."

"There must be some significance that these lilies have for Yuffie to give them to you." Red XIII slowly swished his tail from side to side in thought.

"Lilies don't seem like a gift you'd give to someone for Christmas. Since she's been avoiding everyone lately, I would have thought she was only avoiding you," Vincent looked confusedly at Tifa, silently prodding her to explain.

"That is, if she were in love with you." Vincent's face made no movement besides the slight flicker in his eyes. "But then I would have expected red or white roses, not lilies." Silence filled the room, until Nanaki broke it.

"In love with Vincent...? What a thought." Red XIII murmured, eying Vincent for his response. Vincent only stared at the flowers.

"Well, I would like to talk to Yuffie in the morning, so please have her stay here when she wakes up. It has been a while since we last talked face to face." Red XIII slowly made his way across the room when Tifa gave her affirmation.

"Can I see the card, Vincent?" Vincent handed the card to her.

"To Vincent. From Yuffie. That doesn't help very much."

"Actually, it has alerted me to something." Tifa waited for him to explain.

"She has not talked to me since the Geostigma incident, and she has not left a note of some kind explaining her reasons for giving me these flowers. This means that she refuses to talk to me, and that only she knows why she has given me such a gift." Tifa blinked in wonder at hearing Vincent talk so much.

"Is there anything else there besides the flowers and the card?"

"I checked. There is nothing but."

"The flower she decided on was a lily..." Tifa tapped her chin in thought. Vincent hadn't talked as much as he was doing now, and about Yuffie of all things. Her eyes widened, and she looked at Vincent with an idea growing in her head. She then realized something.

"Oh my—! That sounds like—!" Vincent looked at her, his eyes narrowed in questioning. Tifa began giggling at her recent discovery.

"Why that—! That seems like something Yuffie would do!" Vincent frowned when he didn't receive an answer. Tifa had a thoughtful look on her face.

"What is it?"

"But then there would have to be no 'L' in the front of—OH!" Tifa's eyes widened, as if she didn't hear Vincent.

"I knew it! If I hadn't been doing that crossword puzzle, I would have never known! That's so like Yuffie!" Tifa laughed, much to Vincent's quickly growing annoyance and interest.

"Oh! But then that means..." Tifa was looking at Vincent in amazement, and he had a growing suspicion of what she was talking about.

"No 'L' in the front of the word 'lilies'?"

"Exactly! Noel! As in the name of the saint of Christmas!" Tifa beamed.

"What would be the importance of 'Ilies', then?"

"No, it's 'ily'. Tifa smiled at him. Vincent looked frustrated.

"'Ily' is a term used in texting, and Yuffie often left me with enough text messages for me to remember. What do you think it stands for?"

"Nothing is coming to mind. I haven't received any text messages from her." Tifa gave him a pitying glance, which caused his eyes to narrow.

"Oh, this explains why she has been avoiding you!"

"Tifa, I would greatly appreciate it if you would explain what 'ily' means." Tifa smiled knowingly.

"It means 'I love you' in text speak." Vincent froze, as much as a man that didn't move very much could freeze.

"That...is impossible."

"Being impossible is Yuffie's nature." A moment passed, before Tifa spoke up again.

"What will you do now that you know?" Tifa asked. "Oh...she probably did this because she thought you wouldn't figure it out. I mean, flowers do seem a bit obvious, but they are lilies, not roses. If I didn't know better, I would have thought she had given them to you as a friend."

"...But, you did say that she had been acting strangely this morning. And, with her avoidance of everyone taken into account, this would of course raise suspicion. If she wanted to avoid any sort of suspicion, she would have acted normally."

"Mm...maybe it was sort of a last moment decision. Anyway, she probably didn't take any of that into account. You know how much she rushes into things..." Tifa trailed off, her hand covering her mouth as her face darkened with concern.

"Um, maybe you can pretend you don't know about it." Vincent gave her a look of questioning.

"How...why must I do that?" It was Tifa's turn to look confused.

"Well, I...I thought you would still be in love with...oh well, it's not my business I guess. I'll go store the food for Yuffie when she finally wakes up." Tifa stood up and began picking up her presents. Vincent made no move as she walked towards the door, stopping before turning her head towards him.

"Please don't hurt her. If you don't feel the same way as she does for you, pretend that you don't know anything about this."

"It is not in my nature to pretend."

"Well, please don't hurt her."

"I will not try to." Tifa looked at him for a moment before setting off towards the kitchen.

'Something like this is too ridiculous, too strange...' Something Yuffie would do, an inner voice prodded at him.

And yet it didn't explain her sudden silence after the Geostigma incident. Or maybe she realized it when they saw each other again...?

There was only one way to find out. It wouldn't do any good for either of them if they avoided each other any longer.

A/N: The next update will be for New Year's Day. Until then, thank you for reading.