Cadence

Final Fantasy VII © SQUARE ENIX

Cadence© fhclause

There was a knock on the door.

Scratch that. There was a rhythmic knock on the door. And Vincent knew who.

He removed his eyes from his papers to frown at the door. It was always like this. She would knock the door in a peculiar, mellifluous way—most of the time with rhythms he never heard of and sometimes from a popular commercial jingle. He wondered if she did this to signal him that it was her on the other side of the door or if it just to irritate him.

Probably both.

The same knock came again and Vincent sighed in exasperation. She would knock a different and longer rhythm on the door if he didn't let her in. "Enter."

A short dark-haired girl entered the infirmary and slide the door closed. Yuffie Kisaragi looked at him with a grin; her grey eyes sparkled with mischief. "Mr. Valentine."

Vincent gave her once over and looked back at her, his frown still on his face. "Miss Kisaragi, how many times did I tell you to refrain yourself from coming here unless if you are physically hurt or feeling unwell?"

Before he could turn back to his work, Yuffie cried, "But I am hurt! See?"

Vincent watched at her proffered upturned hand and at the index finger she was showing. He saw nothing wrong except for a slightly redder than usual on the tip and raised a sceptical eyebrow. The girl huffed.

"I got a paper cut."

He shook his head with a roll of his eyes and walked to the cabinet for the first aid kid. Yuffie had already seated on the patient's stool—the one in front of his chair—by the time he walked back. He sat down and opened the box to search for the disinfectant. "Have you cleaned your cut before you came here?"

"I licked it."

His fingers paused from their task. Another one of Yuffie Kisaragi palpable quirks was her tone. There was something in her tone that always made him pause from whatever he was doing to look up at her. Her eyebrows were raised up and her head tilted in a way that made her look innocent, as if whatever she said was nothing but a normal comment about the weather. He was not easily fooled, though. Girls like Yuffie never comment anything mundane like the weather and besides, the twinkle in her eyes always gave her away.

"That's good enough," he said with a half-humour, because he knew if he completely ignore her, she would do—or say—something much more audacious. It was also a quicker way to have her out of this room as soon as possible. Vincent took her wrist and sprayed the disinfectant lightly on her finger before wrapping a Band-Aid around it. Before he could open his mouth to dismiss her, Yuffie stood up.

Of course, being a greater annoyance than anyone in his life, Yuffie skipped to the corner of the room and sat down on the soft bed of the infirmary. She crossed her legs and looked at him with a smirk on her face.

"I think it is time for you to go back to class, Miss Kisaragi," he said with a glare.

She was unaffected by it. "Yeah, but I said to the teacher I have a bad stomach-ache. If I go back now, it's gonna be strange, ya know?" Her smirk suddenly broke into a full-blown grin. "Unless if you're a miracle worker, Mr. Valentine."

That tone again. She was persistent today. "You are missing your classes if you keep this on, Miss Kisaragi. The teachers would be upset."

"Meh, I don't think they care."

It was true. The teachers didn't really care, except, perhaps, for Cid Highwind. Yuffie might be one of the troubling students, but she was nothing compared to Reno or Zack. She was also one of the bright students around and her father was one of the biggest sponsors of the school. So as long as she did not do anything drastic, keep up her grades and the money keep on coming, the school would turn a blind eye on anything she would do.

But not him.

Probably.

"So, what's today's problem?"

He raised his eyebrow. "Pardon?"

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on! Do we have to do this again? I thought we promised to talk about our problems to each other, so you'll be less moody and I'll be more happy. Last week was my turn and today is yours!" She patted the bed, mentioning him to come over.

"I promised no such things. You were the one who are persistent on coming here almost every day," he argued but suddenly blinked in wonder. When did his legs bring him to her side?

As if sensing his doubt, Yuffie reached out and caught the hem of his long sleeve. "Please?"

"Somebody might come."

"No, they won't."

He bit his tongue. It was less than an hour before the last bell rang and most students prefer to stay in class rather than wandering around the school.

Except for her.

Vincent sighed in defeat and sat on the bed beside her. There was a short silence before Yuffie typically broke it. "So…?"

"What am I going to do with you, Yuffie?"

Yuffie laughed. "Wait until I graduate high school, got into a good college, graduate again, take over my dad's business and marry me. I think it's a good plan, since we're in an arranged marriage and all that."

His shook his head to hide the twitch on his lips. When he learned that his father arranged him a marriage without his consent and with a girl a decade younger than him no less, he was outrage and horrified. She was pesky, brash and too stubborn for her own good. But somehow, along the way, he held a certain…fondness for her.

But no one, especially those in school, was to know this.

"If you keep on coming here, Yuffie, people will get suspicious."

"And like I said, Vinnie. No one cares."

"You're impossible."

"And you like it."

He dipped his head into the crook of her shoulder to hide his smile. He really could not let her see him anything beyond amused. She would get the wrong idea and start teasing him. He still felt her shoulder shake in mirth, however.

Glancing around to anything but her face, Vincent finally rested his gaze on her injured finger. He took her wrist and started rubbing the rough surface of the Band-Aid. "You don't need to hurt yourself just to have a reason to come here, you know."

"Hey! It was an accident!"

He grunted and after a few seconds of hesitation, he kissed her finger. There was a small gasp from the girl beside him, and because that sounded strange to his ears—hardly anything surprises girls like Yuffie Kisaragi—Vincent looked up.

Yuffie eyes widened in shock and there was a slight flush on her check. She blinked and suddenly bit her lips.

That's another little quirk of Yuffie Kisaragi. She always said anything she wanted; but if she wanted to say something, but not wanting to say it, she would bite her lips. It was either because she knew he would not appreciate what she would say or she was finding the right time to say it.

"You'll hurt yourself like that."

She blinked again and suddenly broke into a grin. "Why? You want to kiss me better?"

"You wish." But he bent down and kissed her anyway.

This is a little snippet that came when I was thinking of making a Yuffentine series. Figure me. Think of something and came out something else. Also, what's with the lack of Yuffentine lately? Thanks for reading ^v^ and kindly review.