Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII is the property of Square Enix. I do not own any of the characters used here.

It had begun to snow just after Yuffie had left Vincent's room, running as fast as her feet would carry her and not caring where she was going. All she knew was that she wanted to get as far away from that hotel as she possibly could before anyone saw how much she was crying; ninjas were not supposed to cry. It was really cold, and she wished she had thought to grab a coat or a blanket, but she had accidentally left those in the room in her hurry to leave. Well, too bad, she wasn't going to go back now. She could tough out a little snow. She thought about the look of surprise, or maybe even disgust she had seen on Vincent's face after she tried to kiss him, and new tears streaked their way down her face, freezing before they reached her chin. She had really messed it up now; he would probably never talk to her again.

She continued to run down a dirt road at the edge of town, not bothering to look where she was going anymore; her vision was too blurred to be of any use anyway. She heard a sound like a flag flapping behind her and sped up, knowing that Vincent had probably decided to come after her and not wanting to make things any worse by letting him see her tears. The sound of light footfalls reached her ears and she ran faster, hearing the pursuer speed up as well and not daring to look back. She cursed inwardly, remembering that she had left her Teleport Materia on the bedside table in Vincent's room after she had been polishing it the day before. What a place for it to be when she needed it now! She broke into a full-out sprint, intending to make it to the woods and disappear into the trees.

Suddenly, her foot slipped on a slick patch of mud, and she shrieked as she wound up face-down in the dusty dirt road. The footsteps behind her got louder, and she knew immediately by the sound of cloth flapping nearby that Vincent had caught up to her. Perfect. A soft chuckle reached her ears, and she bristled furiously. Now he was laughing at her – even better! She whirled around to tear him a new one and instead found herself being picked up by two strong arms, the snarl dying on her lips as she was gently set on her feet to look the gunman in the face. He said nothing, as expected, but he surprised her by gently reaching out and brushing a tear from the corner her eye, running his thumb down her cheek to gently hold her chin in his hand. Now it was her turn to pull away from him.

"What the hell, Vincent?!" she shouted, noticing that he flinched when he saw how furious she was. "First you reject me when I try to kiss you, then you come after me and freaking laugh at me when I fall on my face, and now you're trying to put the move on me? I don't know what you're thinking, but if you're doing this out of guilt then forget it. I don't want to be just another sin for you to beat yourself up over." She could tell the words stung him deeply, but she didn't care – she was too confused by how he was behaving to worry about him angsting over that at the moment. With a small squeak of indignation, she suddenly found herself wrapped in a tight embrace and pulled against Vincent's chest. She struggled at first, but relented when she realized he wasn't going to let go.

"You were shivering…" he said quietly, looking down at her and sighing when she refused to meet his gaze. "I'm sorry for earlier, Yuffie. I never meant to hurt you, I just…"

"You just don't feel anything for me?" she asked accusingly. He winced, and she sighed. "I figured. Why would I think you would, anyway? I'm just some overemotional little girl who has way too much energy for a guy like you to deal with, aren't I? I'm not enough like Lucrecia."

"Yuffie, that's not what I –"

"Just answer me this, Vincent, and then I'll leave you alone forever if that's what you want." She could feel tears in her eyes again but refused to let them fall. "What do you think of me?"

"What do I… think of you?" he repeated, giving himself time to answer her. "I think you're a great person, Yuffie, and that you've matured unimaginably from the girl I met five years ago. I think you're honest, and headstrong, and stubborn, and perhaps sometimes a little too energetic, but I also think you're kind and supportive, and willing to put others' happiness above your own, even the ones who don't deserve it at all. I'm always happy to see you now, even if I wasn't when I first met you, and I always find myself missing you when you leave. And most importantly, I think I've given you the wrong impression entirely about just who I care for the most, because I was too ignorant to realize what you thought and correct it." He fell into silence, waiting for some kind of response from her. He could feel his heart hammering in his chest and decided he'd rather be buried six feet underground than experience all of the fear eating away at him right now, but he didn't let any of that show. Yuffie looked up at him slowly, tears trailing down her face, and hugged him tightly, trembling in his arms.

"Why didn't you tell me any of that before, Vinnie?"

"I was afraid…" he whispered, letting his fingers trail through her hair as he spoke. "You've always been there for me, whether I asked for it or not; and to ruin what we have, to lose you because you didn't feel the same way… I didn't think I could let myself live with that. And I'm not an expert at romance, Yuffie, as you've already seen. I was afraid I would hurt you, and you'd get tired of being around me." She hugged him tighter, placing her hand above his racing heart and smiling.

"I can't get tired of you, Vinnie, and I'd love it if you'd take a chance on me so I could show you that. I'm not perfect either, and I'll probably say something stupid that'll make you angry with me every once in a while. And when I do, we'll fight and then we'll forgive each other, and we'll be okay. And just F.Y.I., I've already seen you transform into every demon you have sharing your body, and most of the time it's been in the middle of the night, or when I'm sick and vulnerable on an airship. If you haven't scared me away yet, you're not going to. I love you, Vincent Valentine."

"Yuffie – mmph!" Vincent began, cut off when Yuffie pulled his head down and pressed her lips against his. This time he didn't resist, closing his eyes and parting his lips to deepen the kiss. He could taste the sweetness of her mouth and felt a tingle run up his spine when she flicked her tongue against his teeth and then went deeper, exploring his mouth in a way he had forgotten he loved so much. He did the same, committing her scent and flavor to memory as Chaos purred with smug glee in the back of his mind.

Finally, they parted for air, and Vincent felt himself blushing, hoping he didn't look as much like a teenage boy who had just gotten his first kiss as he thought he did. Yuffie was grinning ear-to-ear, completely unashamed of how she might look. She snuggled closer to Vincent, letting him pull her under his cloak to shield her from the snow that had begun to fall in a steady curtain of large flakes. The Wutaian girl sighed contentedly, reaching up to play with his hair while she breathed in the subtly musky scent that was just naturally a part of Vincent, no matter how much he always tried to mask it.

"So," she finally said in as nonchalant a voice as she could. "Was that as good for you as it was for me?" Vincent smiled softly, the answer being screamed at him in his mind by a very enthusiastic Chaos even though he did not need any help deciding for himself.

"Yes," he said as said demon's wings unfurled behind him to add emphasis to that point. "It most definitely was." Yuffie giggled and stroked the wing, knowing whose it was and finding it strangely adorable that Chaos was trying to be helpful.

"So, are we okay?" she asked softly, continuing to pet the wing while it relaxed and drooped under her hand. "I mean… Do you think you want to be together as… you know… a couple?"

"If you don't mind the fact that I don't plan on becoming any more social around anyone but you - at least not anytime soon." Yuffie smiled, kissing him quickly on the lips and squeaking delightedly.

"Fine by me, Vinnie!"

"Well, then, now that that's settled," Vincent said, looking at the ever-increasing snowfall with distaste and turning his head away from Yuffie to sneeze softly. "Shall we get out of this snow before we both catch our deaths? Not that I disliked your care, but I don't really want to get sick again so soon."

She nodded, taking a few steps up the road, when she felt something grab her around the waist and lift her off the ground. She tensed for a moment, prepared to fight herself free, before she realized it was only Vincent, using Chaos's wings to carry them both back toward Kalm. She reached up and grabbed his hand, surprised when he pulled it away and pushed her fingers closed around something hard. She opened her hand, her eyes widening when she saw the unmistakably bright green color of an elemental materia. She gasped as she looked more closely at it; it was a mastered Ultima Materia.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh!" she shrieked, clutching the materia in her hands and wriggling with delight, causing Vincent to tighten his grip on her. "OH. MY. GOSH! Vincent, I love this!" Vincent smiled, kissing the crown of her head as they flew over the rooftops of Kalm, earning several delighted shrieks from the children below. He smiled into her hair, glad he had finally gotten a chance to give her the gift he had meant to bring her days ago.

"Happy birthday, Yuffie."

Author's Note: Well, folks, that's the end. Thanks so much to everyone who read this story and encouraged me to keep going with it - your support means more than you'll ever know. And don't worry - this author's not NEARLY finished with these two yet. ;)

Vincent: Uh-oh...

Yuffie: Yay, more Vinnie for meeee! *tackles Vincent in a violent hug*

Me: Muahahahaha!