So I was reading some classic Yuffie/Vince fanfiction and practically melted into a puddle of happiness. It was all so vivid and perfect and real, you know? After that, the plot bunnies cornered me and demanded that I update this for you guys, if any of you are still interested. Now, I can't say you'll be melting into a puddle of happiness by the end of this chapter, but I can say that I'll make sure it happens, soon. I did, however, try to lighten this one with a little bit of fluff at towards the end.

three

"What do you think brought all this on?" Tifa asked in a low whisper, eyes cast towards the rooms upstairs.

"Well, you kept giving me these quick glances all day and I just knew you wanted-"

"Cloud!" She whacked him on the arm. "I wasn't talking about that."

Cloud laughed a little and ran a hand through his hair the way a nervous child bites their nails. "Oh. Well, I mean, do you want to, because I was just thinking-"

Tifa gave her husband an exasperated look. "I wasn't talking about us, Cloud. I was talking about Vincent and Yuffie."

The blonde's eyes widened, looking like vibrant blue saucers in the dim light of the bar. "They're doing that too?"

"No!" She was tempted to whack him on the arm again, or maybe even the head, but thought better about it and kept her hands at her sides. "I mean, all that stuff this morning. Yuffie's nightmare, Vincent's weird attitude, and the whole shaking-hands thing. I think it was just a bit too much to handle."

"You're the one who said dreams are just dreams, Tif." Cloud leaned into her for a kiss but she turned her head so his lips met the corner of her mouth.

"I know. And they are. I just wish I knew something…" She bit her lip and shook her head. "I mean, like, is any of this for real, or not?"

Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Have you been hanging out with that spikey-haired kid lately?"

Tifa's pretty face screwed up in confusion. "I don't know any spikey haired kids…Cloud, are you feeling alright? Seeing any crazy silver-haired weirdos? Or dead girls walking through an empty field?"

Cloud shook his head. "I'm fine. I just…I don't know. Sometimes I remember things that I can't sort out. I feel like they're not really my memories." He sighed, shook his head, and then added, "But I do know Aeris wouldn't like being called a dead girl."

Tifa gave him a blinding smile as she leaned into his lips. "Well then I guess she wouldn't like this, either."

She tugged at his shirt and he laughed, mid-kiss. "Again?"

"Again."

Tifa kicked the door to his office closed with her boot.

"Yeah," The blue-eyed girl said offhandedly. "I tricked her."

The man sitting behind the desk put held his head in his hands. "Why would you do that to her?"

"She's a selfish, carefree girl. The planet has nearly been destroyed three times in her entire life, but she still walks around with sticky fingers and wandering eyes. Why would I give her something so precious when all she does is take?"

"She may be a carefree, wandering spirit, I admit. But that does not give you the right to do such a thing to her, or her partner. It's deceitful. It's wrong." The man closed his deep brown, almond-shaped eyes in an attempt to block out the wave of pain that unfurled behind them. "And I…I expected better of you."

"You should know that you can't expect anything from a girl with my past. Nothing but lies, death, and justice." She gave him a wry smile. "Justice always comes first."

"And you're honestly saying you support this girl doing this to herself? Have you even read the fine print of this agreement?"

The girl stepped out of the shadows of the office and into a small patch of sunlight. He could see that her eyes resembled that of a tormented lone wolf.

"Of course I have. I wrote it."

He nearly fell off his chair in disbelief. Emotions flicked across his face, in his eyes. His body crumpled in disappointment, and even betrayal as he buried his face in his hands again and waved a hand at the door. "Leave."

"I thought you were treating me to dinner?"

"I will treat you to the door, Miss Rui." The man's smooth, flowing voice twisted into something rough and gravelly.

"But I wanted to go over the-" The girl protested, but he saw it coming.

"I don't think I will be able to go over anything with you for a long time. I cannot, and will not, allow you to take advantage of my friends' sorrows in such a sadistic and heartless way. I thought you were better than that. But I was wrong." He waved a hand at the door again. "Now please, leave."

The girl spun on her heel, auburn hair leaving a fiery red imprint on the man's eyes as he watched her form fade into the gloomy darkness. After waiting a good while to ensure she was really gone, Reeve Tuesti allowed himself to cry for the first time in almost seven years.

"It was my fault." Vincent's voice was laced with a passive, dull sort of anger, one she would know anywhere. He was wrestling with himself in one of those guilt-complexes about his dead chick again. "I don't know why I do this to myself. You would think that after thirty years of being sealed away from the world, I would learn to let things be. You would think I would have learned the true meaning of atonement and left this place when I had the chance. But I stayed. I tried protecting her. And my presence has only done far worse than good."

She could just barely hear his footfalls on the hardwood and had the urge to peek around the door. He was pacing so quietly, she could've sworn he'd taken off his boots. But he'd never do that. He'd told them he couldn't.

"I can't pretend I belong in this place. You know that."

He laughed to an empty room. "Yes, I suppose that is true. I don't belong anywhere."

She heard the bed springs squeak as he sat down. "But perhaps that is the price I pay for this new sin."

A wind blew the door open a crack more, and she could see a pair of mismatched red and yellow eyes staring back at her. She could feel the yellow one's gaze drilling a hole into her back as she backpedaled away from the door and down the stairs.

What was that? What the hell did I just see? Yuffie held onto the stair's railing as she descended back down to the bar. Save for Tifa wiping down a counter, the place was almost empty. Once she caught sight of the redhead passed out at her usual table, though, she had to remind herself that this place was never really empty.

"He's too cute when he sleeps. I just wish he'd be that nice when he was awake, too."

Yuffie pushed herself up onto a barstool and sighed in agreement. "If he was a male model, you can bet I'd go back to school for that photography minor. I'd snap pictures of him allll day, in whatever he was comfortable in."

Tifa grinned sheepishly while wiping down a shot glass. "You know his type. He's probably one of those guys who walks around their house shirtless."

Yuffie grinned back, eyes running over the redhead's face again. "I wouldn't mind if he wore less than that, though."

The door to Cloud's office swung open and he greeted both women with a "Morning, ladies." He chugged down a glass of orange juice that'd been waiting for him like it was a shot of vodka, smiled, and then said, "Wish I could stay and chat, but I've gotta take a package to Icicle Inn by five."

"Icicle Inn? Well, what the hell are you still doing here? Get outta here, Spike!" Yuffie jabbed a finger at the door and Cloud laughed and ruffled her hair.

"I'm goin', brat. Stop hanging out with Cid, so much, or you'll start saying worse than that."

"You can't stop me!" Yuffie yelled, then stuck out her tongue like a child who'd won a fight with their older brother. "I can do whatever the hell I want!"

Cloud chugged another glass of orange juice, kissed Tifa on the cheek, and then headed for the door. He heard Yuffie ask his wife for a beer, and her polite but firm decline.

She heard Yuffie slam her hand down on the table in annoyance. "You can't do that to me! I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie! The Single White Rose of Wutai! The coolest thieving ninja-princess that ever walked the face of the earth!"

"You might be all those things, Yuff, but you're still only twenty." Tifa pointed to the sign on the door. "And you know I don't do any underage serving here."

"But Tifaaaaa…"

Cloud smiled on his way out the door. Some things never changed. Yuffie slumped back on her stool and crossed her arms over her chest like a petulant child.

"Okay, fine. You got any juice boxes?"

Tifa raised an eyebrow. "You were just talking about taking naked pictures of the guy who sleeps here on Thursdays, but now you're asking me for a juice box?"

"Yes, Boobs, I'm asking you for a juice box. Gawd, the service here sucks! You people won't give me anything!" Yuffie yelled.

Tifa raised an eyebrow in amusement. "…Yuffie, I'm the only one that works here."

"Riight...about that, Boobs-" They heard footsteps on the stairs and Yuffie's mouth went dry, mid-sentence.

"What about it, Yuffs?"

"I uh…I gotta go take care of my cats!" She jumped off the barstool and whirled past Tifa and Vincent without another word.

Tifa only raised an eyebrow at her departure and said, "I swear, she doesn't have any cats."

Vincent sat down at the stool Yuffie had just vacated. He could still smell the faint scent of cherry blossoms, honey shampoo, and jasmine perfume. "Oh, she does. But I'm not sure why she'd want to travel all the way back to Wutai just to take care of a few kittens when she knows her staff can handle them."

Tifa shrugged and shook the carton of orange juice. "Weird. You want some?"

He considered it for a moment. "Pulp or no pulp?"

"Pulp."

"Well then, yes, I suppose a glass of orange juice would be fine. Thank you, Tifa."

She nodded a you're welcome and slipped back into the shadows of the kitchen, deciding that it was probably best she not ask about his mismatched eyes, today. She'd seen Vincent turn into a lot worse, and it was always better not to ask questions where his appearance was concerned.

As he sipped at his juice, he had the vaguest sense that Yuffie had told him it was the way she drank it when she was a kid.

"My mom used to tell me the pulp was really just little pieces of oranges' brains."

"Yuffie, oranges don't possess any brains."

"Shut up, Broody, you're ruining the moment." She'd clinked her glass with his like they were making a toast.

"My apologizes, then. I had no idea we were celebrating."

"Of course we are."

"What shall we toast to, then?"

"We should toast to this hideous Sunday morning I have to spend with you. It's raining and cold and total grossness, but I'm happy I'm here inside this creeptastic mansion with you."

"A toast, then, to this hideous and grossness Sunday morning spent with you in my kitchen." Vincent clinked his glass with Yuffie's and allowed himself a rare smile as her face lit up in shock, and then, the utmost glee.

"You're a real piece of work, Broodster."

"I could say the same about you, Yuffie."

He shook his head to rid himself of the memory. What had happened to that, those easy mornings in his kitchen with her? What had happened to all those late night break-ins when she couldn't sleep in her own house because the thunder was too loud? Or all those plans she'd make at picking his locks when she knew he left all his doors unlocked for her?

His presence must have tainted her.

She must've hated him for something he had done.

So perhaps I should rid her of any further contamination. Maybe it would be best for all of us, that way…

He figured that a visit to the Northern Crater sounded like as good a plan as any.

So, what'd you think?

I haven't decided if I want the cute little redhead to be Reno or not, but either way, I think a love triangle would be fun. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with fanfic love triangles when I myself hateddd being in one. (The love on my end was totally one existent, but that's okay.)

Anyyyway!

I'll leave you guys to review and favorite and all that, if you want. If you've got any ideas on if the redhead really should be Reno or someone else, add that to any comments you want to give me. :3 Thanks, guys! See you next time!