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Empress & Concubine	By : tinkerheck Category: Final Fantasy VII > General Views: 1952 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII from the Final Fantasy Universe, or any of its forms or related media. I do not own these characters. I spent money to learn about this series, and I make no money in borrowing it.

Chapter List
- 9
- 10
++++++++ Please see disclaimer & story notes in chapter one ++++++++
++++++++ chapter notes ++++++++
To elaborate on the conversation between Tifa & Reno at the end of chapter eight…
Have you ever noticed that Reno is like a matchstick, firing up unpredictably fast then burning out quickly? Don’t panic – there are tons of matches in the box, so you can light one up just about wherever and whenever you feel like it.
Vincent, on the other hand, is more of a serious, calculated… all right, incredibly slow burn. It may take the fire some time to get established, but once there are flames, it’s a sure bet it will stay on, like, forever.
And Yuffie? Well she is a box of gelignite.
Just sayin’.
+
I fly beta-less. Please forgive the typos.
Many thanks to Mihoyonagi!
This is the last chapter to part one. It is another long chapter that could not be broken. My inconsistent chapter lengths are entirely unprofessional of me and, well, I don’t really care.
Part two (already being worked on) will be posted as its own fic.
I hope you enjoy how I’ve chosen to end things (for now).

+

Empress & Concubine

Chapter Ten

Good Things Come

To Those Who Waited Too Long, Even

+

When Vincent worked up the nerve to approach Yuffie, the sun was already low in the sky.
She was sitting in the garden, now in causal clothes and watching the stars pop into view overhead. Ninja guards hung back from her, and especially from him. They were over-protective of Yuffie but they were not stupid.
He was angry. All those years Yuffie had pursued him, then a few months of cheap sex with that Turk under her beltless shorts and she was no longer interested in a serious relationship with him? She owed him an explanation and he’d be damned if he wasn’t going to get it.
Don’t do this. You are mistaken. You are rushing things. I tell you this is not necessary.
He ignored Galian’s warnings and came to a stop in front of her, crossing his arms over his chest. She looked up at him with a pitiful smile.
“Vince,” she said, addressing him apologetically. Sheepishly.
As she should be.
“I’m sorry I ran–”
“Am I doing something wrong?” he barked.
Yuffie paused, eyeing him critically. “Pardon?”
Vincent’s face grew dark. “Perhaps my hair is not red enough.”
Oh no you didn’t. Can you be more of an idiot?
She narrowed her eyes at him and lifted her chin. “What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
“You say you are not in love with Reno. So explain to me why you, the woman who claimed to be in love with me once and by her own admission has yet to find another, are not reciprocating my advances whatsoever. That is, if you can possibly provide a reason that does not include your supposed non-feelings for the Turk.”
“Oh. My. Gawd.”
He stood his ground, as still as the statues – and the ninjas – that surrounded them.
“Vincent, for the love of Leviathan, I was not nor am I now in love with Reno!” she thundered.
“Of course you aren’t, which is why you had relations with him, and now you are barely interested in me.”
Her mouth gaped open. “I haven’t had sex with Reno, or anybody else for that matter, since last winter!” Yuffie shook her head in disbelief. We were doing so well, she thought. “That’s like, nine months, man! What is this crap? Are you kidding me?!”
“About what?” His voice sounded like steel bands, and it irritated him even further that she was completely unimpressed by it.
Yuffie stood up and got toe-to-toe with him, angry face as white as a sheet. She jabbed a finger into Vincent’s chest. “Do you honestly think that all women are so gooey and easily swayed?”
He dropped his arms to his sides, and clenched his hands into fists, determined not to touch her back. He said nothing.
“You truly believe that I cannot have sex with a man – any man – without being in love with him first, or without falling hopelessly in love with him after?” Her own hands curled into tiny pink fists and she actually stomped her foot on the stone pavers. “How pathetic do you think I am?”
“I do not think you are pathetic. I think you are promiscu–”
She slapped him across his face, hard, and the force of it made his head turn.
Vincent closed his eyes at the stinging sensation. He willed away the reactionary tears and put a hand to his jaw.
Yuffie shook her hand out – fuck I probably sprained my wrist – and she turned on him, her voice like ice.
“How dare you. You turned me down. So I started sleeping with Reno, so what? He was there, we were bored, and we really really like each other. But we are not in love. Never were. And now that I am not screwing him anymore, you decide you want to go there, now, well, okay, you go there, yeah! So you start flirting with me, and it’s cool and I love it but then you kissed me like a maniac and I freaked and now I’m a tease? Because – because I’m not giving it back at the right pace?”
He stared at her, silent as a stone.
“For your information, Captain Emo, since I was the one who initiated this way back when and got told a big fat fuckin’ NO, I’d like to be sure that you really mean it this time. It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s that this requires some demonstration on your part. Some time for me to feel secure about it, y’know? The reason I will not fall into bed with you as easily as I did with Reno is because I do love you!”
Vincent frowned, backing away from her a step, but she took one step forward in tandem so that she could continue infringing on his personal space.
“I don’t wanna ruin this, you IDIOT!”
Yuffie had reached the point where the anger was making her heave and sob, and the sobbing was about to turn into tears. Her heart was beating so fast he though it might fly out of her chest. She put her fists on her hips for a moment, face beginning to crumble. When she put a hand to her face to hide it from him and whimpered aloud, Vincent caved.
Whipped. Totally. Just like her daddy.
He reached out to touch Yuffie’s arm, but he gasped when she flinched violently and stepped away from him, with a wild look in her eyes.
“No. Nu-uh. You keep your damn hands offa me,” she hissed. “Don’t you dare try to apologize or, or… or soothe me now. You don’t get to be the bad guy one second and then all of a sudden expect me to forget it the next with an I’m sorry Yuffie and–” she sobbed, and waved her arms in his direction. Yuffie literally bellowed her next words. “Tender fucking hands!”
It was her loudest voice, ever, in the history of Yuffie’s Loud Voices, and it’d actually hurt his sensitive ears. When he didn’t move, or speak, or even look at her anymore, she completely lost it.
“You go to hell, Valentine!” she screamed, tears pouring out of her eyes. She turned on her boot heel and stomped away from him.
He stood there watching her storm off. He had just enough presence of mind remaining to check if any of the ninjas were following Yuffie close enough to guard her. They all were, in fact, but they were keeping their distance from her, staying wisely clear of an obvious hornet’s nest.
Vincent swallowed hard, guilt rising in the pit of his stomach.
That went well, I think.
+
Yuffie had to force herself to go to Vincent, and she found he was in the exact same spot she had left him in. She had to come back to him this time, because for the first time since he took that damn oath, Vincent Valentine was actually brooding.
She strode back into the garden and sat down on the very bench she was on before they’d started arguing. Her eyes were still wet and red, and her face was pale. Crossing her arms, she finally spoke.
“Okay. I’ve calmed down. You said some pretty stupid shit. Now explain yourself.”
Vincent sighed, shutting his eyes for a moment.
I am about to give up on you, Valentine.
“Yuffie, the only example of a marriage I had growing up was my parents. They were good people, but they weren’t exactly amorous. Then, as a Turk, I had women… just empty dalliances. The only real-life experience I’ve had with love was Lucrecia, and she–”
Yuffie looked up at him after he cut his words short. He had that blank look on his face again, and she winced. She hated that look.
“She dumped you for a weasly scientist bastard with a voice like a parrot who eventually used her to unleash the adorable child known as Sephiroth onto the Planet? Not too mention said weasly scientist bastard shot and killed you, then abused your corpse by bringing you back to life after altering your genetics to give you crazy enhanced super powers and uncontrollable transformations? Then the love of your life – made desperate by guilt and trying to save you I’ll admit – abused you further by implanting a force of the cosmos into your body, only to cause continued torture by said implanted demon’s raging violent tendencies?”
Vincent gaped at her.
Yuffie saw his shock and nodded. “Granted, the way she made up for it was totally bitchin’. But yeah, I get that about you. And I promise, no matter how badly we may crash and burn, I will never, ever do shit like that,” she said, patting the empty side of the stone bench she was sitting on. “Sit down before ya fall down, Vinnie.”
See? I told you. She’s amazing. I really want to kiss her. Can we please transform, right now?
Don’t be an idiot.
Suddenly tired, he took the offered seat. He scooted closer, until the side of his leg rested against hers. He finally felt at ease now that he was touching her again. Sort of.
“Did you fight with Reno like this?”
“Vincent, Reno was easy. We never fought. We were silly. But that wasn’t this. This is big. It’s scary – in the best possible way. Honestly, I’ve never fought with anyone like that.”
“You slapped Shelke across the face like that.”
“Shelke needed slapping. I don’t love Shelke. I don’t want to play naked with Shelke. And stop changing the subject.” He stared at the ground, so she kept going. “I reacted violently… and that right there is proof of how strongly I feel about you.” She wiped at her watery eyes with the back of her hand.
“I… I like it better, actually. That you fight back.”
“You mean as compared to Lucrecia?”
“Yes, though I know I should not do that.”
“Yeah, you shouldn’t compare me to her. And you shouldn’t compare me slapping you to me slapping anyone else, and you definitely shouldn’t compare us to me an’ Reno. This is us, Vinnie, you and me, no one else, okay – you’re right though,” she scoffed, laughing and covering her face with her hands. “Could I be more her polar opposite?”
He laughed quietly. “Indeed. You are no shrinking violet, Yuffie. By the way, I do not consider Lucrecia to be the love of my life.” He lowered his head. “I certainly did once, but I don’t now.”
“No?” She frowned at him, completely serious, and it was clear that she herself still thought that about his relationship with Lucrecia.
How sad – she’s willing to love you with all her might, even though she believes that she can never hold more than second place in your heart.
That isn’t true. She means much more to me than that.
But it is what she believes, Vincent. You don’t think of her as a consolation prize, so straighten this out already. Yuffie deserves to hear the truth.
He sighed. “Although I wanted it to work with Lucrecia, very badly, her ambition and my inaction doomed the relationship from the start. Then years later, when Almost-Omega was over,” Yuffie laughed quietly, because he had used her sarcastic description for his life-changing event, “I was actually satisfied for a short time. But eventually I realized that whether or not I had gotten my revenge, Hojo was dead. And Lucrecia was lost to me. Her life had ended, essentially, even as mine would go on. There was nothing more I could do about it.” He paused. “Except to wallow in guilt and regret. And that being the familiar route, I began to take it. Again.”
He tilted his head, trying to see her expression.
“But you were relentless, Yuffie,” he smiled. “With your texts and your cheerfulness and your invasion of my personal space, and your offer to…”
When he paused, she bit her lip, and blushed.
“I knew what you were doing, but still, it confused me. I kept asking myself – how in Gaia’s name can a person who has already seen so much wickedness still be so positive? So… gullible?”
“Everyone thought that about me.”
“Yes, I know, and in some cases, they were right. But not where your interest in me was concerned. You weren’t being gullible. You were honestly attracted to me and you were forthright about it. You weren’t the problem, I was.” He exhaled. “Your patience with me was fantastic, I know that now. I had taken your affection for granted, and foolishly so, because when we finally argued that night on Tifa’s porch… when you told me off and said goodbye, I honestly thought I’d lost what little hope I had left.”
She suddenly found the un-buttoned edge of her shorts very interesting.
“Say something, Yuffie. Please?”
“I’m really glad to hear all that, Vince. But you, um… You still need to slow down,” she said, crossing her arms over her slight frame. “I’m not going anywhere.”
He winced. “You are referring to my botched attempt at a kiss, I assume?” She nodded, grinning. Vincent draped his arm across the back of the bench. “I think I need to know something Yuffie,” he asked, and she looked at him shyly.
“Yeah?”
“Earlier today, when we were screaming at each other, you told me that you love me… But are you still in love with me?”
She bit her lip and tried to keep the humor out of her voice when she spoke. “Some. A tiny little bit.” Vincent suddenly looked put off, so she elaborated. “All I need is more incentive. Just a few sparks, and I’m pretty sure I’ll fall right back, just as hard.”
“Just… sparks?”
“Well, yeah, to start with. There’s a big difference between a spark and a torch, right? And, um,” she stopped, clearing her throat pointedly. “What you did in the hall this morning?”
He palmed his face before answering. “Torch, correct?”
She winced. “That was more like a flame thrower, Vinnie.”
“Got it. Slow down.”
She sighed. “I suppose I deserved that, after trying to make you love me all those years,” she pinched the bridge of her nose. “Such a child.”
There was a disgusted tone in her voice that he didn’t like. “Nonsense. I already did care, Yuffie. You were my friend and I considered your safety my responsibility. And as I tried to tell you this morning, I still have the note. My feelings toward you were not always chaste, either, I just… I wasn’t ready to try falling in love with you. Yet.”
She raised her eyebrows.
Another bombshell delivered by one Vincent Valentine.
“Okay, then… now I gotta ask you a question.”
“Anything.”
“So with all this… if it safe for me to think… um,” she stopped and looked down, nervously gripping the stone bench. She swallowed hard and looked right back up at him.
“Uh… are you falling in love with me?”
“Yes.”
There was absolutely no hesitation in his reply. Yuffie smiled again and focused on a lantern in front of them. After a time, she giggled quietly, and Vincent’s heart sank a little. Perhaps she didn’t believe him?
“What?” he finally asked, but reluctantly.
“I just realized something,” she said quietly, reaching over to take his hand in her own. “We’ve had our first kiss, our first fight, and our first make-up talk, all in the same damn day. Shouldn’t surprise me, really… I mean, it is us, after all.”
It was subtle, but now Vincent was blushing. “Are you going to hit me if I try to apologize for the flame thrower?”
She sniffed, laughing. “Probably.” Yuffie leaned over a bit to catch his line of sight. “If I forgive you, will you stop apologizing?” she asked, squeezing his hand and smiling.
Vincent laughed, quiet and controlled.
“You’re forgiven.”
“Thank you.”
“Oh… one more thing.”
He swallowed hard before answering. “Yes Yuffie?”
“I’ve, um… I’ve never really been courted before. Not properly… You know?” He frowned, both his heart and his gut finding that hard to believe. But given Yuffie’s meandering past and the fact that she was a Princess, there must have been limits to available suitors, so it made perfect sense. He felt foolish that he’d never considered it before now.
“And if this goes the way I want it to, no one will ever court me again, either. So I’d like to enjoy this part.” Her cheeks turned a bright shade of pink, ravishing in the twilight.
Part of Vincent wanted to secure Yuffie to him – her affections, her body, her love, all of her – right now, so that he’d never lose her again. But the other part… the rational one, had visions of lovely long days, building up to many of the other first experiences they would have as a couple.
The Galian Beast exuded joy. It felt weird.
Finally, you are getting it.
The corners of Vincent’s lips quirked.
+
Yuffie set her copy of the latest council meeting’s minutes on her desk and sighed. While she loved serving Wutai, sometimes the council discussed the most boring things. How many times could one debate the quality of cow manure before it got old?
“Your schedule is clear, until tonight. You’re having dinner with the Ranching Families Matriarch’s Society,” Vincent said as he came in behind her and closed the door to her room, reading his own paperwork. He looked up to see her sigh heavily, slumped at her writing desk.
Poor baby.
A little fun, perhaps.
He cleared his throat. “Would you like to go for a walk? It is sunny out and the garden pathways are yet clear of leaves.”
Her eyes lit up at Vincent’s suggestion. She stood up, kicking off her geta.
“Yes, yes, and yes!” she blurted, hopping towards him on one foot as she peeled off a tabi sock. She lost her balance, and fell against him, then laughed. “Oops…”
Vincent pushed her back to her feet by her shoulders. “I’ll just be outside while you change,” he said, shaking his head and smiling.
“Oh, that’s all right, you can stay,” she quipped, turning her back on him and loosening the belt to her kimono.
“Yuffie, I–”
He averted his eyes.
When she snorted rudely, he slowly looked back at her, only to see that she’d had a pair of canvas shorts and a t-shirt on under the pretty kimono during the entire meeting.
“Oh my gawd, Vince, your face!” she giggled.
He narrowed his eyes at her.
She laughed out loud and tossed the kimono on her bed. “Let’s go!” she shouted happily, nearly skipping to the door.
When he did not follow and walked up to her bed, she stopped and turned to see why.
“What are you doing?”
He picked up her kimono and brushed it off, giving her a glare as he walked to her closet.
“What does it look like, Yuffie? I’m hanging this up.”
“Pfffft, why worry about that. I got lots, you know.”
Her voice trailed behind him as he disappeared into her walk-in closet. She heard him slide the garment onto a hanger and then place it on the rod. He came back out, and walked to the door.
“Yes, you do. But that one happens to be my favorite.”
Yuffie gave his back a lopsided grin.
That was sweet.
They wound up on a hill overlooking the royal cemetery. A massive maple tree stood guard, the trunk as wide as a small hut. Thick, overgrown branches chock full of green leaves that were just about to turn created a welcome canopy of shade.
The weather was warmer than usual, and the shade felt nice on their skin. Vincent gave Yuffie a hand for balance, and she sat down on a large patch of moss, leaning against the trunk. He joined her, crossing his long legs at the ankles and relaxing for once.
They didn’t talk, because they didn’t need to. They just sat in companionable silence together, watching a flock of noisy birds as it shifted like a black cloud, restlessly moving from treetop to treetop in the cemetery below.
Yuffie scooted over until she was just barely leaning on his shoulder. When Vincent looked down at her, she smiled. He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer against his side.
They got back just in time for her dinner engagement.
+
Where is this?
She had no bearings to cling to, no memory of how she came to be wherever she was, and it was pitch black.
Not again!
An involuntary sob escaped her before she could quell it. She stroked madly like a drowning woman all around her. She was feeling for the floor, a wall, anything to give her some traction.
“Yuffie.”
A sudden weight, sharp and cool, fell on her right shoulder. She reached up blindly, trying to swat whatever it was away. She felt her entire left side dip and something warm and smooth was suddenly on her other shoulder, squeezing gently. Confused, she began to panic.
“Yuffie.”
She reached up with both hands to find a metal covered forearm draped across her collarbone. Closing her eyes, she sighed with relief.
Vincent.
“Nightmare?” His deep voice, quiet and gentle, cut right through all that dark.
“Not quite,” she said, swallowing hard. He prodded her to relax and she sighed, sinking back into her glorious bed. She wiped away sweat from her forehead with the palm of her hand. Her hair was pushed back in the process, and it stuck up from her head at an odd angle. Vincent tried not to notice how the soft wisps had curled with the sweat and were sticking to her skin in the most provocative fashion.
The whole of Yuffie was covered in sweat, in fact, and her sparse sleeping clothes were damp and clinging to her skin just like her hair. Vincent knew exactly what the sensation of sweat-soaked pajamas felt like, so he pulled a thin silk sheet back over her body to cover her up. The evening was cool and he didn’t want her to catch a cold.
Not mention what the sight of her looking like that was doing to him. It would be so easy to just climb in and pull her to him.
“Was it Nero?” he asked, trying to clear his mind of how slick her skin might feel were he to ignore reason, give in to his instincts and reach out. To touch.
She swallowed hard. “At the end, yes. Seems like that little piece of black shit that he left inside me always manages to show up when I’m having a bad dream.”
“Do you want me to get you something? Some cold water – or hot tea, maybe?”
“Not just yet.” Yuffie’s head lolled over on her pillow to where their eyes met.
Vincent’s clawed hand had come to rest on her stomach, separated from her skin by only the sheet and her pajamas. He could feel the moisture and heat radiating off her body as the thin fabric drew it in.
Distracting.
He liked it.
He was just about to pull his hand back when her own slid out from under the sheet and came to rest on his metal knuckles, holding his gauntlet to her torso. Realizing the contact made her feel better, he decided to leave it.
“What was your dream about?”
She closed her eyes, smiling sadly. “Daddy.”
“A memory?”
“I don’t think so. Felt more like he was trying to tell me something.”
“Hn.”
“Contact… from beyond the grave…” she intoned, making a ghostly noise and waggling her fingers.
“Don’t knock it, Empress. It comes in handy,” Vincent quipped. She giggled, and it made his spine tingle when he felt the vibrations in his hand. “What was he telling you?”
“That’s just it, everything was muzzy. I was sitting in the garden at the table where we used to play board games together, kinda sad and thinking about how much I miss him… Then everything got blurry all of a sudden. I was confused, trying to get my eyes to focus, when he – don’t ask me how I knew it was Godo, I just did – came walking up to the other side of the table. I called out to him, and he was speaking, but it was all fuzzy. Like when you wake up from surgery?”
He filed that one away. Other than re-building her hymen, he didn’t know Yuffie had ever had any surgeries. Another discussion for another time.
“So you couldn’t understand him?”
“No – and that’s when I started to get frustrated. I could make out that he was looking all around us, searching for something, then his voice got stern. He was telling me to do something, but I just couldn’t make anything out. Then the oblivion came, it always starts on the edges… goopy blue-black, with those nasty lavender stripy things leading it. Godo was waving and yelling, but all I could do was sit there feeling defeated and lost. Just like how Nero made me feel that time. Then the dark swallowed me up and I was back in it again – nothingness. Oblivion.”
Vincent was silent, unaware that his clawed hand was stroking her tummy.
She looked up at him.
“Nero left that crap inside me, and I’ll never be free of him, will I?”
He brushed the side of her cheek with his free hand, but then removed it almost immediately. “Probably not. It is one of my many regrets. I’m sorry, Yuffie.”
“Don’t you dare start apologizing again,” she said, smiling. “I chose to be there. It wasn’t your fault.”
He sighed, shaking his head. “I’m still responsible.”
“Yeah, for saving the Planet. Gee, Captain Emo, how horrible are you?” she grunted, flipping onto her side and facing where he sat, cuddling her fists under her chin. His claw hovered over her until she settled, and he had to decide whether or not he was going to put it back.
I should get up, maybe get her a drink.
Put your hand back.
For once, he listened, and gently placed his clawed hand in the crook of her waist, letting it slide downwards onto her hip. He could feel the satisfaction rolling off of Galian. No trace of smugness, just… satisfaction.
They remained like that for a few moments, silent but not uncomfortable. “Will you sleep now?” he finally asked.
“Yeah. Yeah, I think so.” Standing up, Vincent looked her over for a moment before turning back to his chair. “Vince…?” Yuffie’s tiny voice stopped him and he turned back to look at her.
“Yes, Yuffie?”
"Um… A little while back, I heard some maids gossiping. I was hiding in my closet – that's so bad, I know–"
"Eavesdropping, Yuffie? Hn." He could not disguise the humor in his voice. “And here I thought the Empress of all Wutai was above such things.”
"Ugh!” Her cheeks burned red. “Yeah, I know. I know, I admit it. But... they were talking about you." At that, Vincent remained silent, and Yuffie had no choice but to continue the conversation. "So, do you mind if I ask you a question about it?"
He exhaled, not at all sure he wanted to know what she heard. If it was bothering her enough to bring it up at a time like this, it wasn’t likely to be good. "I don't know... Will I?"
She winced. "It's just... well, they were talking about how you hadn't unpacked your things. Then, the morning after you stayed in my room that first night... you’d unpacked." She scratched her nose, a nervous gesture. "They’re maids, Vinnie, they’re gonna notice stuff like that. But before you settled in, they thought maybe you were going to run, you know... to leave without saying anything?”
He sighed again, and moved back to the side of her bed. The mattress dipped with his weight again as he sat on the edge next to her, neatly fitting himself in the space between her knees and chest.
"...And?"
“Well… were you going to run?"
Vincent sighed. "Yuffie… As I have said, I took an oath. You know it is important to me that I fulfill that oath. But things… You and I are beyond that now. I believe I have proven that you are someone I care about a great deal. Oath of Fealty or not, I would never turn my back on you now. Not while your life in is peril,” he paused, putting his hand back on her hip, “or otherwise."
She blinked, and a look of astonishment passed over her face.
"The truth is, I hadn’t unpacked because I’ve never really given a damn about where I stored my belongings. I didn’t care about many things."
Looking up at him, she swallowed hard, and he heard it clearly. When she finally got her voice back it sounded hesitant.
"And now?"
"Now I do."
She smiled in the dark, a sly, satisfied expression.
That day they’d fought in the garden, he’d said ‘yes’ when she’d asked him if he was falling in love with her – and even though he hadn’t actually said the words himself, she’d believed him. But this… this was bigger. It was such a simple little admission on his part, but now she knew she was having an affect on how he felt about himself, and that meant even more.
At least for now – Yuffie was, after all, a greedy little thief.
“So…you’re, like, totally staying.”
It was a statement that confirmed much more than whether or not he was sitting in a chair and watching over her for just that night.
“I’m totally staying.”
Staring at him in the dark, she shivered once, and he reached across her body to pull the quilt up over the sheet. Tucking her in, she snuggled deeper, leaving only a set of curled fingers and the top of her head exposed. Unable to resist, Vincent leaned down and kissed her temple, whispering to her in the dark.
“Go back to sleep. Dream about stealing shiny things.”
+
Rufus Shinra and Yuffie stood side-by-side in the main square of Wutai village, celebratory and extremely alcoholic drinks in hand.
“Madam Chekov seems quite happy with the outcome.”
“Happy? Are you kidding?” Yuffie laughed up at him. Nodding at Chekov, she said, “She’s got shit to organize, lists to check and people to order around. She’s in her glory!”
They watched as Shinra employees milled about, teaching the more interested Wutai how to set up the smaller generators on their homesteads. Overall, the contract had been a great success. Seven cell towers in whole were put up – just enough, no more – the arms and legs and the villagers had generators at their disposal, the palace had juice again, the hospital and the clinic were outfitted with some fairly sophisticated diagnostic equipment, and Rufus Shinra got his lucrative switchgrass account.
And those that hadn’t wanted the technology bore no grudges against the ones that did.
Gaia hadn’t been raped in the process, Rufus was satisfied, and Yuffie was happy – which meant that Vincent was relatively relaxed.
After a small ribbon cutting ceremony at the village’s cell tower, Yuffie held the honor of placing the first phone call to come out of Wutai in almost six months. She picked Tifa as her recipient, and as expected, they’d squealed like little girls.
She called Reno after that, and Vincent pretended not to care.
“Man, you got this done in a hurry,” she said to Rufus, sipping her cocktail.
“What can I say, Yuffie? I want what I want when I want it.”
“I know that feeling. Oh, and before I forget, thanks for introducing Wutai’s Legs and Arms to the Planet’s food market.”
“No thanks necessary. The wonderful food you served at your Jubilee did all the work. The dignitaries that you invited called me the next day, adamant that I arrange for you to meet with them.”
“I hope we can meet the demand, that’s all.”
“You will. The one thing I know about Wutai, Yuffie, is that her people are the very definition of tenacity.”
“You’ve really changed, you know?” She put a hand to his sleeve and smiled up at him softly. He smiled back, then shook his head.
“Yes, but in some ways I am the same man. I still keep my eyes peeled for lucrative opportunities. The fact is, Wutai’s soil is unique, free from most of the damage that industrialization has wrought on the rest of the Planet. No one on Gaia can produce food the way your country does – and the masses are hungry for it, Empress.” He slid his eyes to her. “Not to mention your people are going to make a huge profit just by doing what they do best, only on a larger basis. If Wutai will provide, the rest of Gaia will pay.”
She nodded, happy with her decision to push the council. Her eyes drifted over to her bodyguard, the one who was really responsible. It was mostly his research that got the project going, and his encouragement that got her to speak up.
She was pulled out of her reverie by Rufus’ smooth voice when he asked her another question.
“What about that Shinshuro fellow? I’ve not seen him in all the weeks I’ve been coming here setting up your power and what-not. What’s going on with him?”
“Not sure. I ruined his plans when I passed the purity test – thanks for your part in that, too, by the way. Then I got married, and I kicked him out of the council meetings… that stuff didn’t sit well with him, either.” Rufus expected her to be laughing, or at least telling the tale with her characteristic sarcasm, but she wasn’t. “I can’t just pretend he’s gone away, but he isn’t making much noise anymore, either.”
Rufus stroked his upper lip with the side of his finger. “Rust never sleeps, Yuffie.”
“I know. I know that.”
“You also know how to reach me if you need me, yes?”
“Sure!” she grinned at him. “I just gotta yell for Reno, right?” He laughed.
Yuffie fell quiet again, watching the activity around them. Rufus watched her, and had been watching her for some time since the pomp and circumstance had ended. She paid her respects to all parties, as expected, and showed genuine interest in their wishes, but one person in particular seemed to get the lion’s share of her attention.
“So. Empress. Tell me about you… and Vincent Valentine.”
Yuffie turned to face him, gasping. She tried her best to cover up the shock with a forced disbelief, but this was Rufus Shinra, so it was too late.
“Uh… Huh? What are you talking about?”
Rufus positively oozed sexiness as he teased her, knowing how she’d rise to such treatment. “Why, you mean you don’t know, my dear?”
She clenched her teeth and hissed. “Titan’s tonsils. I’m gonna kill whoever’s been blabbing.”
He laughed, a sophisticated, self-assured sound. “No one’s been gossiping, Empress. It’s just simple observation. Throughout today’s activities, you have both been struggling not to look at one another too often… and when you do, it’s as though the sun came out from behind a cloud.”
It was true, and Yuffie knew it. But it would have been much easier to take if Rufus hadn’t laced his voice with that cloying sweetness. She nodded, giving him a glare. “Alrighty, Mister Smarty-Pants, what about you… and Reeve?”
Yuffie poked Rufus in the shoulder of his pristine white suit, and he laughed. “I’ve nothing to hide. Ours is a sensible, profitable relationship. We get along, we have similar goals, and we are both powerful men.” She raised her eyebrows, waiting for the other shoe to drop. He capitulated with a tired sigh. “And yes, he’s a wonderful kisser.”
“Oh really?” Rufus smiled at the flirty tone in Yuffie’s voice, so rarely heard anymore. “A great kisser. Is that all?”
“Now, now, Empress. Suppose you tell me just how far you and Mr. Valentine have taken things?”
Yuffie’s cheeks burned pink. She cleared her throat as she stared at her feet. “Point taken, President Shinra.”
Rufus leaned over a bit, trying to get in her line of sight to make sure she wasn’t truly offended, and he was rewarded with a shy, sweet smile. Shaking his head, he offered, “You and I… we are peas in a pod, Yuffie.”
“How doya figure that?”
“I’m a coldhearted corporate pirate – by reputation, at least. And you, a bratty thieving ninja. We’ve made strides getting past such renown, but… these things are true of us, to a degree, so we will never quite be rid of those opinions, will we?”
She winced. “Nope… But how does that make us alike?”
“Because, underneath all that posturing, under all the bravado and the mask of heartlessness, in those places where we only allow a select few to see us… we’re both a couple of romantic, flower-picking, moogle-loving saps.”
Yuffie bit the inside of her cheek, trying very hard not to smile. She looked across council chambers at Vincent, who, as if on cue, looked back at her.
“Tell ya what, Blondie. I’ll keep your secret if you keep mine.”
+
“That one? Again?”
Vincent looked up at Yuffie’s smirking face from where sat in his chair, at present still in front of the fireplace. “You’re gonna be reciting it in your sleep, Vinnie,” she added in a mutter, “When you sleep, that is.” She plopped down on the floor in front of him on a rug woven from Wutai wool, and began towel-drying her hair by the fire.
He was reading an old novel, a fable about a woman who fished for her dinner each day in the same small lake, until one day her line caught Leviathan, and the God challenged her with tasks. Vincent had stumbled upon the novel in the Pagoda’s library and it never found its way back, having quickly become a favorite of his – despite the fact that it was fiction.
It was obviously a well-worn book, with dog-eared, yellowed pages and hand-inked notes in the margins, making it worthless on the auction block. The notes were in the hasty script of Yuffie’s Great-great-great Grandfather Osamu, husband to Empress Kisaragi Galechka, whose graves he could now visit thanks to Yuffie’s knowledge of Wutai history. Osamu and Galechka’s tale was a happy one; they fell in love and married well before she was crowned, and produced five children together as Empress and Emperor-husband. Their eldest, Tamafune, became Empress after Galechka had passed.
Vincent had found a friend of sorts in Osamu’s notes, and it was because of this that he hadn’t been able to return the book to its proper place in the library. Osamu was quite sharp, bringing new insight to a simple child’s fable that taught the lesson of rewards through perseverance and heroic deeds. It was right up Vincent’s alley.
“Hey… Let’s put a sofa in front of the fireplace.”
He stopped reading again, and looked down at her sitting on the floor. Her freshly-scrubbed skin was glowing in the firelight, and her hair, now grown out just past her shoulders, looked like a shiny bar of dark chocolate. Yuffie crept forward across the rug, which did nice things to her breasts under her thin tank top. When she was kneeling in front of him, she put her hands on his thighs and smiled.
Vincent bent down the corner of the page he had stopped on – no sense arguing with tradition – and closed the book, setting it aside on his table. He leaned forward, human hand to her cheek, the gauntlet across her knuckles, and kissed her forehead.
“That’s a very good idea, considering how many nights you’ve fallen asleep on this rug.”
“I can’t help it,” she pouted, “It’s cozy. But it’ll be cozier if I can doze off next to you on a couch, right?” Her eyes lit up teasingly.
“Hn. Yes, and much easier for you when I pick you up and put you to bed, instead of barking at you to get up and put yourself there.”
“Are you complaining?”
He laughed. “Not really. You’re still like a bag of feathers. You haven’t gained any weight by becoming Empress, it’s just in different places.”
She thought better of saying ‘that’s what I told Reno’, and decided to revel in the simple fact that he’d just admitted to checking her out.
“There’s a comfortable couch in my room. We can ask the guards to help us move that one in here.”
Less than half an hour later, there was a sofa in Yuffie’s chambers, with a satisfied Empress curled up in the right-hand corner. The chairs were moved to the sides, making for a nice, enclosed area in front of the fire.
When Vincent sat down in the other corner of the sofa and picked up his book, she gasped.
“Oh, wait! Let me!” she squeaked. Vincent swallowed a grunt as Yuffie launched herself over the couch and walked her hands across his thighs. He had to lean back to keep her torso from brushing against his chest – not that he would have minded. She smelled nice, like jasmine flowers.
When she got to the arm of the couch, she reached up to yank on a beaded pull chain.
On a lamp. With an actual light bulb.
“Ahh… ‘lec-tricity,” she breathed as the artificial light bathed her face. She slid backwards until she was kneeling next to him, then flipped over and lay down with her head in his lap, looking up at him smugly. “I invented it, you know.”
“I don’t need it to read, you know.”
“Mm-hmm.”
He picked up his book and unfolded the dog-eared corner. “You’re proud of yourself for getting the palace electrified again, aren’t you?”
“Yeah. Kinda.”
“You did well, Yuffie,” he said, trying to read again. “There’s nothing wrong with being proud of that.”
She flipped onto her side to face the fire but kept her head on his lap. “Nadja was thrilled. It was worth the effort.” She yawned suddenly, and bent her legs to get more comfortable. His human hand drifted down to her head, and without even thinking about it, he began playing with her hair.
She was asleep within minutes.
Vincent set the book down and turned off the lamp, preferring to enjoy the simple light of the fire as she lay next to him. Her hair glided through his fingers easily, made slippery with some treatment that smelled like almond oil. She shivered once, and he pulled a blanket down from the back of the couch and covered her legs up, leaving his hand to rest on her bare shoulder.
He looked down at her, his eyes taking in her body from head to toe and back again. Her sideways position did nothing to stop her breasts from threatening to spill out of her tank top, and he didn’t do anything to stop himself from admiring them, either.
She’s letting her hair grow out again.
Thinking better of speaking aloud, Vincent kept the conversation confined to his head.
Yes, and her body has grown soft, and what little tan she had is fading. What is your point?
No point, just an observation. I like the longer hair on her.
I do too, but it won’t matter to me if she decides to cut it all off tomorrow, either.
For some reason, Galian felt content, but he didn’t say anything.
Was your mate’s personality similar to Yuffie’s?
Not particularly. She was more like you. Why do you ask?
I just wonder why you like her so much.
Oh, that’s easy. She gives you hard time.
He shook his head, huffing.
Be serious.
I like Yuffie because she has never left you alone. However annoying, she made it impossible for you to climb back into that coffin – proverbial, or otherwise.
Vincent sighed and stroked her hair again.
And I hated that fucking coffin.
Yes… I do owe her for that.
The silence stretched out for a long time, until Vincent decided to put Yuffie in her bed.
Sound asleep, she was the Yuffie of his past – able to doze off no matter the location, limbs flopping everywhere, snoring lightly, dead to the world. Vincent tried not to laugh as he struggled to get all her body parts under the bedclothes.
Straightening, he surveyed his handiwork. Satisfied that she would stay in the same position for at least a few hours, he moved his chair into place and removed his sandals and outer kosode. When he sat down, Galian spoke up again.
Will you surrender your heart to her completely?
Vincent stared as Yuffie’s chest rose and fell with smooth, even breaths.
Or will you allow her only so much?
It annoyed him that he still wasn’t sure if he was able to give himself to anything so completely.
He didn’t answer.
+
“So… Whaddya want for your birthday, Vinnie?” Yuffie asked, completely serious.
“Hn.”
“Oh, come on! The hell does hn mean anyways?”
“It means… in the spirit of your vision for Wutai, instead of giving me something new you should recycle something.”
She curled her lip. “You… want a used cardboard box?”
“I want a letter.”
She tilted her head. “You want to recycle some mail.”
He sighed.
“Ideas can be recycled as well, Empress.”
“…Huh?”
Vincent pinched the bridge of his nose.
Is she being deliberately obtuse, or am I really that hard to read?
Yes. You are. But do continue with this game, Valentine, because when she finally gets it, her expression will be priceless.
“Yuffie. I want you to re-write a note that you may have given me in the past. I want you to be specific and genuine with what your… current intentions are in this note.”
“…Oh.” Her eyes lit up in a surprised sort of way.
“It will be my birthday, after all,” he expounded. “I believe it has become customary for you to renew such things on my birthday, not to mention the Wutai New Year.” Yuffie managed to close her mouth and swallowed hard. “And frankly, you forgot to do so on both occasions last year. I was hurt.”
She stared at some far off point… biting her lip, remembering, grinning.
Yeah… she’s got it. And very soon, so will you.
Galian, that’s quite enough.
A tiny smirk formed at the corners of Vincent Valentine’s lips. When Yuffie finally dared to look at him, a distinctly heated gaze was the only further hint the Empress received.
+
“Come with me,” she whispered, taking his hand in her own and pulling him down the staircase to the second level of the pagoda.
He frowned, but did as she asked, and did not try to take his hand from hers.
The palace had three levels, not counting the roof and the dungeon. The first level was mostly for business, with the throne room, council chambers, Nadja’s clinic, the kitchen and banquet halls, and other rooms and facilities for the public and private use of Wutai. The main staircase led up to the second floor, which is where the royal section of the pagoda began. It was not open to the public, and only royalty, their staff, the ninja and honored guests were permitted access. It housed the library, a game room, and a smaller banquet hall on one wing, and the guest rooms on the other.
The second staircase led to the third floor, housing the more lavish chambers. Wutai’s sovereign, royal family members, concubines and consorts lived there.
And now, of course, so did a bodyguard.
After Yuffie reached the bottom of the second staircase, she turned when Vincent pulled on her hand.
“Yuffie, someone may see. I need to–”
“No, Vinnie, you don’t. We aren’t going downstairs. I can hold your hand, no one will know. Just… come with me. There’s something I gotta show you.”
She pulled him down the hall past the library and the banquet room. Vincent looked around nervously, agitated that he was not maintaining his three-feet-behind-the-Empress position. She looked back as they walked, and huffed at his pensive expression.
“Calm down, Captain Emo. I told you one can see us,” she muttered, pushing open the door to the game room and pulling him in. She flicked on the overhead lights.
“Surprise!”
A chorus of familiar voices made Vincent stop in his tracks. He was gaping at all of their old friends and their families, and some of their new friends from Wutai as well. Everyone was wearing silly party hats and clapping.
For him.
“Well,” Yuffie said, feigning humility as she strolled past him. “Except them. They can see us.” She gave Vincent a sarcastic smile as she pointed at the throng of people approaching him with wrapped presents in their arms.
Reeve clapped him on the shoulder, putting a drink in his hand.
“Happy birthday, Vincent!”
He muttered a polite thanks to Reeve, but glared at Yuffie as she winked and walked off, leaving him to deal with the arduous task of socializing.
“So what is this? Your sixty-fifth, yes?”
“Reeve…”
Yuffie snickered, then found Tifa in the back of the room, putting hors d'oeuvres on little plates and setting them all over a table.
“Did he suspect anything?” the new mother asked quietly.
“Nope. And great job getting everyone here, Teef.”
“It was easy. They were all pretty keen on it, seeing as how you two didn’t make it to the last gathering.”
“Yeah… sorry about that. We were kinda busy.”
“That’s all right. You have a lot to deal with anymore. We all do,” she sighed, watching as her seven-month-old daughter, carried by Cloud, reached out with sticky hands for the birthday boy. Whether Vincent wanted the little girl’s company or not, he was getting it.
“Oh, that’s just funny. I need a camera,” quipped Yuffie, savoring the look of confusion on both their faces as Vincent and Elise sized each other up.
Tifa didn’t say anymore, but she smiled knowingly.
It was a nice party, even Vincent had to admit it. Yuffie got to hold her godson again, new friends mingled with old, and everyone had a good time.
Reno took her aside at one point and asked Yuffie how her love life was progressing.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” she said sweetly, giving him a sarcastic grin.
“C’mon Yuffs! When you hugged him earlier, he kissed your forehead in front of everyone. Even Barret can tell you two are pretty chummy.” She shook her head, smirking, not wanting to answer. “So, how far have you gotten? My gil’s on second base.”
“Shiva’s tits, Reno,” she hissed, turning pink. “Shut the hell up.”
Vincent had a similar conversation with Nanaki, but without as many colorful expletives.
“You and Yuffie seem happy.”
“Hn.”
Nanaki looked at the new arrivals, Elise and baby Charlie, then looked back at Vincent.
“Do you recall our conversation in the canyon last year at this time?”
“Of course.”
“You said you were aging, and that you were sorry that you wouldn’t be there for me.”
“It’s true. I am sorry, and my body is already starting to change.”
Nanaki looked up at him, eyes glittering as he lay by the fire.
“Do not feel bad, Vincent. Perhaps your descendants will keep me company.”
The gunslinger looked over at Yuffie, who was tempting Cid with a bottle of saké.
“Perhaps.”
+
October thirteenth brought a light workload for Yuffie. After a late lunch together she asked Vincent if he wanted to do anything special, and he requested to take a hike to Da Choa. It wasn’t the most common request for a birthday, but it was Vincent, so ‘common’ didn’t really apply.
The weather was nice for October, slightly warm and breezy, and the leaves were turning gold and red everywhere. Yuffie took advantage of any chance she was given to be outside, and the view from the top of Wutai’s famous monument was probably going to be spectacular, so she agreed readily.
“It might be a bit chilly up there with the breeze and all, but… Let’s do it!”
When Hiroyuki was told of their plans, he decided it was best if someone accompanied them – and by ‘someone’ he meant himself. Vincent wasn’t sure if the man was being diligent towards the good reputation of their marriage, or if he had a bit of the overprotective father in him, but he didn’t argue. With Godo departed and Cid busy changing diapers, someone had to be that person for her, and as far as Vincent was concerned, better Hiro than Chekov. Vincent respected Chekov enormously, but she did tend to smother Yuffie somewhat.
Yuffie changed into her silks, being careful to hang up her pretty kimono, and then the three of them left, leaving word with Shake and Nadja as to their whereabouts. They made it to the bottom of the cliffs within two hours.
“The trail is still clear,” Yuffie said, pointing. “Should be an easy walk.”
Vincent tilted his head. “I didn’t want to take the path. I want to climb it. Like your ninja do. Like you did, Yuffie.”
“You want to scale the face of Da Choa?” she asked, incredulous. “On your birthday?”
“Yes. I do.”
“Wutai ninja climb the face of Da Choa as a test,” Hiroyuki interjected matter-of-factly. “I would want to put it down in the records as an accomplishment for you, but with your augmentations, I do not see the challenge.” He looked at Vincent expectantly.
“What if you and I raced our way up?”
“Are you throwing down the gauntlet?”
“How can I– Oh. Yes. That was good. Very clever.”
Yuffie looked from one man to the other, baffled by the lack of emotion of their faces, even when being humorous.
Hiroyuki nodded, thinking. “The idea has some merit, seeing as how I already know where the best footholds are. But even then, you will have the advantage.”
“All right then, give me a disadvantage.”
“Jeez!” Yuffie shouted. “I cannot believe how competitive you two are!”
Their eyes slid to Yuffie. When she didn’t elaborate, they ignored her and Hiroyuki continued.
“I can’t possible imagine one thing that would even the odds between us, Valentine.”
“I got one,” Yuffie blurted. Both men looked at her expectantly.
Exasperated that they couldn’t even bother to ask her ‘what is your fabulous idea, Yuffie’, she exhaled loudly and strode up to Vincent. Quickly unlatching Cerberus’ holster from his legs, then the belt from his hips, she let the whole thing fall to the ground.
“What are you–”
“Shut it, Vince,” she ordered. Without another word, she hopped onto his back, wrapping her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck. Planting her chin on Vincent’s shoulder to peer at Hiroyuki, she quipped, “Is this enough?”
Hiroyuki barely managed to cover his surprise. “That’s very dangerous… are you sure, Empress?”
She whispered in Vincent’s ear, teasing, “Am I sure?”
The sensation that ran up his spine when her breath tickled across his ear made it hard for Vincent to concentrate, but he ground out an emphatic, “Yes.”
Yuffie giggled.
Hiroyuki’s face remained completely impassive when he said, “I cannot deny that it brings me great joy watching the two of you behaving like love-struck teenagers.”
Yuffie narrowed her eyes at him, thoroughly jealous of his ninja. The older man ignored her, still wary. “Da Chao isn’t child’s play.”
“I agree,” added Vincent. “Can we get moving?”
Hiroyuki exhaled. “Fine.” As they walked up to the rock face, he looked over at Vincent.
“Valentine.”
“Yes?”
“Do not drop my wife.”
“Hn.”
+
“Vinnie, go left about fifteen feet,” she whispered in his ear. “I know how to go up that way. We’ll end up on ole’ flame-head’s left shoulder.”
Normally, Vincent Valentine would never lower himself to cheating, even as inadvertent as her suggestions would be, but he found her sense of you-and-me-against-the-world too charming to resist. He did as she said, taking her whispered instructions on foothold and handhold locations.
Hiroyuki still had a good lead on him. The ninja looked down from where he was climbing up to the main statue, and scowled at them.
“I believe he knows you are helping me, Yuffie,” Vincent said around a grunt.
“Who cares? Hey – are you tired, Bodyguard?”
“N… No.” he grunted again, struggling with another foothold. “Are you worried, my Empress?”
She giggled and held on to him tighter. “Not in the least, actually. Gauntlet, nine o’clock,” she quipped. “But just so’s ya know… if you don’t beat Hiro to the top,” she said, with a spoiled, flirtatious tone, “I wont give you your birthday present.”
Vincent paused.
“Right foot, six inches straight up.”
Valentine, HURRY THE FUCK UP.
Smiling wickedly, he narrowed his eyes and picked up speed.
+
“Geez… You get kinda tuckered out now, dontcha?”
Vincent looked up from where he was lying on his back, breathing heavily after carrying Yuffie to the top of Da Chao. They came up directly where she said they would, and he beat Hiroyuki by only a few moments. After the ninja landed next to them on the main figure, he scowled again then disappeared, leaving them alone.
Yuffie was kneeling next to Vincent, leaning over his head. Her hair framed her face sweetly despite the vicious smirk that was decorating it.
“Shut up, Yuffie,” he breathed, his head lolling to the side.
She snickered rudely and sat down on her backside, waiting for him to recover so he could enjoy the beautiful view with her.
“I could have killed us both you know,” he grunted when he finally sat up. “One little misstep, that’s all it would have taken.”
“But you didn’t.”
“But I could have.” Giving up, she sighed and looked down. Vincent put his arm around her shoulders and watched her face carefully before continuing.
“Your trust in me is complete… Isn’t it?”
“Of course,” she said, scoffing lightly. “It always has been. Why?”
He looked at his feet, smiling. “Because all those years ago, when we first met, I’d have said you were a fool to feel that way.”
She nodded. “I believe, Vincent, that you actually did say that to me, at one point.” Yuffie winced, not thrilled about reliving that particular moment. “So what about now? Am I still a fool?”
He looked at her slyly, lids hooding his red eyes.
“No. And all I can say to that is I am grateful that you persisted.”
When she looked away, he hooked a finger under her chin and tilted her face up to meet his.
She’s… is she embarrassed?
She exhaled long, and with her blush still firmly in place, she said, “I only want you for your body, you know.”
Vincent paused, stock-still. Then he closed his eyes and shook his head.
“It’s so comforting to know that some things never change,” he drawled over her laughter.
“Yeah, yeah. So do you want your birthday present or not?”
“Want? Pardon me? Try deserve. I won the damn race.”
“Shyeah!” She pointed to the long drop just beyond flame-head’s massive shoulder. “By clawing large chunks of rock out of the face of the cliff while you were at it!”
“I won.”
“And I could have you arrested for defacing a cherished Wutai national monument.”
“And I won. You owe me, Kisaragi.”
She smirked at his warm familiarity and shrugged herself out from under his arm. “All right, all right already.” Yuffie reached onto a pocket and pulled out a folded piece of handmade paper, complete with a fancy wax seal, and handed it to him. “I think you’re ready for that,” she quipped, bumping against him playfully.
He held the note in his hands and stared at it before looking up at her with a suspicious expression.
“You didn’t even wrap it.”
“Oh my gawd! It’s a note! You don’t wrap a note!”
Stunned, she watched as Vincent Valentine pouted, though just barely.
“Unbelievable,” she muttered. “Just remember, you asked for it.” She sighed, making it seem like it was all such a chore. “And I haven’t seen the first note since I wrote it, so I was working from memory… but I think I did okay.”
+
My Dearest Bodyguard,
I bet you feel like a million gil right now, receiving a pretty scandalous letter written on the official stationary of Wutai’s Empress (that’s me). Pretty cool huh? Personally, l like the Leviathan sealing wax stamp myself. It was my great-grandmother Naya’s, and she is probably coughing in her ashes at the things I am about to say to you. Here goes:
I never liked the ninja uniform until you put one on for me.
To be honest I don’t like bratty kids and I never really wanted to have any, but I will absolutely cherish them if they are yours.
You have a jealous streak bigger than the Northern Crater that you try, not very successfully I might add, to hide. I like that.
If you are a vampire, I would happily let you suck my blood, even if I didn’t like it.
You are no longer Emo. Maybe just a bit ‘emo’, but definitely not ‘EMO’. I like that, too.
I can feel your eyes on me. And I really like that.
I used to hate my bed. But now I kinda like it because I’m thinking that you might wanna sleep in it too.
In short, I want you in my shorts. Ha ha ha.
I have totally re-fallen in love with your no-longer-tragic, still beautiful, bad-ass bodyguard self.
I need you, Vincent.
Empress Kisaragi Yuffie (the first)
+
“Hn.”
She tilted her head at him, waiting for more, but he simply folded the note and kept quiet.
Yuffie crossed her arms. Indignation replaced embarrassment on her pretty face and made her cheeks darken further.
“Well?”
He placed the note in one of his pockets and glanced at her out of the corner of his eyes.
“Interesting.”
Her jaw fell open, momentarily. “Oh, no you don’t, mister. You are not going to give me nothing for another four years!”
Vincent chuckled, then reached into another pocket and removed another note, this one yellowed with age and use. Yuffie barely recognized Marlene’s old moogle stationary before he opened it up and read it over. She let go the breath she had been holding as he finished it, folded it, and pocketed that one as well.
“I have to be honest, Yuffie,” he said, with an unfamiliar tone.
She swallowed hard. Oh Gods… Have I embarrassed myself yet AGAIN? Shiva’s tits…
“Between the two of them, I like the new note much better.” He turned to look at her, giving her a rare, full smile. “I just don’t like being rushed.”
She inhaled sharply, then shoved her palm against his shoulder, making him laugh as he leaned away from her. She pretended to glare, pointing her finger in his face. “You… You bastard, Valentine! What you made me think, I oughtta–”
Yuffie squeaked when he cut her off by grabbing her wrist and wrapping his gauntlet around her waist lightening-quick. He pulled her into his lap before she could protest any further, and held her there tightly until she stopped squirming.
“That was mean,” she said, pouting.
“Oh. I’m sorry. How can I make up for it?”
She shook her head, eyes drifting away from him. “I can only think of one thing…”
Vincent’s hand came to rest on her cheek, and he turned her face back to his. His eyes grew soft, and he licked his lips, leaning in to taste hers–
“Pardon me.”
They stopped, mouths slightly open and less than two inches apart, staring at each other helplessly. They turned, reluctantly, in the direction of the voice.
Hiroyuki was squatting on the bent elbow of the main figure, directly across from them and poised to jump, his silhouette cutting a threatening shape in the setting sun. The wind howled softly through his silks, but his body was as hard as the rock he was perched on and he did not waver. Dead leaves blew across the carved stone, making a scratchy, cold noise.
They stared at him, momentarily transfixed by the lethal beauty of all things ninja.
Hiroyuki cleared his throat, saying, “I will see to Cerberus. The sun will set within two hours. I expect you home before dark. Play nice, children.”
Silently, he disappeared from their view.
“That man,” Yuffie finally said, shaking her head.
“Never mind him. Where were we?”
“You were about to kiss me.”
“I was?” he teased.
She didn’t answer. She just waited, her face a bit too serious.
Vincent smiled, because her expression told him everything he needed to know. Someone in his life was finally expecting a major decision out of him that had nothing to do with threatening or killing or destroying, and she was sitting in his lap.
He leaned towards her again, and this time, he kissed her.
Yuffie placed her hands on his chest, but she did not tug or pull. She was obviously letting him decide the pace. His lips moved over hers, soft and undemanding. Vincent’s brain shorted out a little bit when he realized that this was much, much nicer – it was gentle, and unhurried, and so not like the first time.
When he stopped, and pulled away, she was flushed.
“That wasn’t a flame thrower,” she said in a dreamy voice. “That was really nice.”
“Was it at least a spark?”
She snuggled closer. “A bit more than a spark.”
“A bit more?”
“Oh yes, please, a bit more,” she teased, pulling his lips to hers again.
She took the initiative that time, opening her mouth to his a small amount, but kissing him just a sweetly as he had done to her.
She stopped, and smiled, pressing her forehead to his.
“That was the only present I really wanted, Yuffie.”
“Was it up to your expectations?”
He brushed his lips across her cheek. “I’ll have to do more research,” he said, placing a small peck on her earlobe, then added, “later.”
At first, he did not hear Galian. The breeze and the sunshine felt lovely, the scenery was breathtaking, and Yuffie was…
Gods… Yuffie.
He smiled.
Valentine.
He looked down at her pretty face, just below his own, and smiled again.
Vincent.
It took a little longer, but it finally registered that the beast was talking to him.
Yes?
I am satisfied with your progress. The rest is up to you. Happy birthday. Goodbye.
The blank look that suddenly crossed his face worried Yuffie.
“Puppy speaking up again?”
He exhaled, frowning. “Sort of.”
Yuffie giggled, then said something about Galian being a total perve for spying on them, but Vincent wasn’t so sure about that.
It felt like he wasn’t even there anymore.
“Vincent?”
“Hn?”
She tugged on a chunk of his hair.
“Take me home.”
+
He carried her on his back again, but they took the trail down, and he walked slow as they chatted quietly. They got all the way through the woods like that, but when he reached the edge of the village, Yuffie got down and Vincent assumed his three-foot rule.
The sun was just beginning to set as they moved through the village, people all around her smiling and saying hello. Occasionally a young child ran up to her, excited, with some small gift or tale of intrigue. She listened patiently to each and every Wutai that wanted to talk, even though both she and Vincent felt anxious to get back to the pagoda.
Neither one of them knew for sure what was waiting for them there, but they were anxious nonetheless.
When they entered the palace, there was the usual lot of people milling about doing their jobs, kitchen staff and council members, but after they climbed the first staircase to the royal level, it was unusually quiet.
“Where is everybody?” Yuffie asked, searching all around while she stood at the landing of the second staircase.
“In bed, likely.”
“I meant my ninja, Vincent.”
He looked in dark recesses, corners, high ceilings. “They are there, Yuffie. Hidden, in the shadows.” Yuffie looked for herself. She was frustrated that she was unable to see them, but she trusted Vincent’s eyes.
“I suspect Hiroyuki had a hand in this.”
“A hand in what?”
“Perhaps he thought we’d appreciate some privacy tonight.”
Her eyebrows shot up for a moment. She never considered what noises the guards outside her room must have heard back when she was messing around with Reno – probably because she hadn’t cared.
But this was Vincent. And suddenly, privacy mattered.
Turning away from his unreadable expression, she kept her smile in check, and started up the stairs to the Royal suites. Vincent abandoned the bodyguard routine and was at her side, giving her his arm.
When they reached the hallway to her chambers, Hiroyuki was leaning on the heavy wooden door. He was alone in the darkened hallway. The Prince pushed himself off the door and faced them. He bowed to Yuffie, always his first move, then spoke to Vincent.
“Two, as usual, at either end of the hall,” he said. Yuffie looked both ways, but saw nothing in the darkness. “They will be there, but they will come no closer for tonight.”
Vincent nodded. Without another word, Hiroyuki left, slowly heading down the long hall towards the room he shared with Nadja, and the darkness swallowed him up.
As Yuffie watched her ninja disappear, Vincent opened the door and scanned the room before she entered it, just as he did every evening.
A fire was already crackling away in the big fireplace. Two place settings, a bowl of local fruit, and a pitcher of ice water sat undisturbed on the small dining table. A glint of metal caught his eye, and he looked to see Cerberus in the holster, lying right next to his book on the table by the sofa.
Hiroyuki.
He looked back to Yuffie and nodded, and she followed him in. As she looked around, he closed and locked the door behind her.
“Oh, man,” she laughed, “Why do I get the feeling we are being set u–”
Yuffie stifled a yelp as she felt Vincent’s human hand grasp her upper arm. He gave her no time to think as he dragged her backwards and turned her to face him, pinning her against his chest and leaning down to kiss her passionately.
He felt her gasp, but she recovered quickly and returned the kiss, opening her mouth just slightly until their tongues met. She sighed and pulled on his sleeves, her mouth greedy on his. When he broke the kiss to speak, she looked slightly dazed.
“Yuffie. If I am to stay in your room tonight, I have no ambition to simply watch you sleep.”
“Who said anything about sleeping?” she barked, indignant that he’d had the nerve to stop kissing her. She grabbed the silk of his kosode and pulled him down to her again, capturing his lips in hers.
Tugging at his belt, she backpedalled and pulled him towards the big bed. The belt came untied and she yanked at the outer and under kosode until they both fell from his body, never once allowing his lips to leave hers.
When the back of her legs hit the bed frame and she stopped, Vincent returned the favor and tore off the belt to her own top, removing her outer kosode. He started to slide the inner garment off her as well, but froze when he felt her cold hands on his chest.
She pulled back just enough to look up at him, watching his face as her hands slid slowly down his chest, over his stomach muscles to the belt of his Hakama. She loosed the tie there, but did not remove it, and slipped just the pads of her fingertips into the wrap of his fundoushi.
Vincent growled quietly, and pulled her hands away from his waist. She did gasp aloud then, as he pushed her back onto the bed. She fell flat against it, with her under kosode gaping open and nearly exposing her breasts.
They stared at each other for a long, heated moment. He had never seen such a look on Yuffie’s face before – she was a greedy little materia thief, it was true, and the look of joy when she filched someone else’s prize could be either adorable or infuriating. But this was different.
She looked hungry, and dark.
Vincent fought to control himself. No matter how badly he wanted to tear off the garments that separated the necessary bits and just fuck her blind, there were still sandals and tabi and hakama and–
He had no doubt that there would be other days when such rakish behavior would be appropriate. But not this time. Tonight, they would be nude. They would be comfortable.
Very slowly, and savoring every bit of that look she was giving him, Vincent leaned down to pick up her ankles in his gauntlet and perched both her heels on one bare shoulder. He pulled at the straw ties crisscrossed around her calves, and she sighed when he removed the sandals from her feet. When he slid the tabi from her, he caressed her legs as he went, and she whispered his name. Yuffie’s hand went to her tummy, brushing the skin just above the waist of her hakama, and he stared at her shamelessly.
She untied the belt to her hakama and slipped her hands inside the fabric. Raising her hips, she pushed the pants down, but just enough to help him out. Then she lay quiet, with that look on her face, obviously expecting him to do the rest.
He leaned down, slipped his hands under her backside and grasped the hakama. His face was close to hers, and they both smirked as though they were challenging each other. He pulled her pants the rest of the way, all the way up and over her feet, then dropped them on top of her footwear. Straightening, he looked down, anticipating the task of unwinding her from the fundoushi–
A line of moogles dancing across a narrow band of lavender cotton was what greeted him. He huffed a laugh. Never in his life, not once, had he ever been turned on by silliness, but these panties just screamed Yuffie.
As cute as they were, however, they had to go.
Vincent hooked his fingers into them and slid the panties up and off her body. Taking her ankles in his hands gently, he paused, preparing himself for the intimate act of spreading of her legs, when she surprised him again.
Yuffie changed her position so fast even he had trouble seeing her move. She pulled her ankles from his hands and pivoted her knees away from him, then reached up to grab the sides of his hakama where it was just barely staying on his hips. She yanked, turning his hips and pulling him down until he landed with a thud on the bed, flat on his back. Then she tossed her leg over his torso and straddled him, taking control of the situation.
He narrowed his eyes, admiring her ninja speed. Rusty though her skills may be, she was now on top.
She caressed his chest with her cold hands, palms gliding over flat nipples, fingertips finding and cataloging healed-over scars. Yuffie was touching him like she didn’t have a care in the world as to what it had taken for get them to this point, and he almost enjoyed that more than the actual contact.
Almost.
Even so, he was not to be outdone. Vincent reached up into the open front of her under kosode with his human hand. Her found and cupped one breast, stroking a thumb across the nipple. Her breath hitched, and she closed her eyes. When he slid his palm over to the repeat the gesture on the other breast, she pulled her hands away from his stomach, and placed one hand over his – not to control his touch, but to confirm it.
Yuffie murmured something inaudible. When she opened her eyes and looked down at him, the vulnerability was all over her face.
“It’s real,” he said gently. “We’re real.”
She stared at him for a moment, getting her bearings again. Then she sat up and yanked the remaining kosode from her body, finally ridding herself of all clothing.
Vincent sat up and kissed her collarbone. She grasped the hair band of his ponytail and tried to pull it off, but focusing on even such a small task became difficult. His mouth had moved down to her breasts, and he was sucking gently at the hardened flesh of a nipple, His mouth seemed to have opened a line of communication directly to her privates. She felt herself tighten involuntarily, then began to grow wet.
Yanking his hair band off with a hiss, Yuffie sat up straight and pushed away with a hand to his chest. Her nipple slipped from his mouth with a quiet pop, breaking the spell he had been working on her.
Smirking, she pushed Vincent back down onto the bed and leaned over him again. Yuffie kissed her way from his neck to his stomach, then she suddenly dropped out of sight.
Vincent smiled, and didn’t even bother sitting up when he felt her squatting on the floor between his knees, removing his footwear. Sandals and tabi were pulled off, then she stood up and reached over his thighs to seize the waist of his hakama, pulling it off the rest of the way as well.
Oh Gaia, now the unwinding, his muzzy brain thought – but no, she was having none of that. Yuffie grasped the fundoushi just so, and peeled it off of his body in one smooth move.
He was just about to ask who the hell had taught her how to do that, when he suddenly felt her hands on his sex.
His body stiffened – I should take care of her first, really – but there was no stopping the Empress now. Her touch was tentative, and it was the whisper of her fingertips that finally undid him. He lay back, giving in, and began to harden quickly in her hands when her exploration of his most sensitive flesh became bolder. He smiled, thinking to himself that life could not get much better–
Then he felt her hot, wet mouth as it took him in.
Vincent bit his lip and clutched the bedspread in his fingers as he reveled in the sensations her lips and tongue were creating. That spark of possessiveness flared deep inside him again – her new note, she was so right about that, where, when, with whom did she learn this – but jealousy quickly got shoved out of the way by euphoria.
He let that go on for only so long, though, not wanting to go off in her mouth for their first experience together. When he felt himself grow fully erect, he sat up slightly and begged her to stop.
Worry crossed her face and she released him immediately. When she stood back up, he smiled wickedly, and for a brief moment she knew she’d been had. Vincent lunged, grabbing her by the waist and pulling her body across his. He rolled them both, depositing her in the middle of the big bed flat on her back.
Yuffie got up on her elbows and may have protested, but it didn’t last long. Kneeling next to her, Vincent took her ankles in his hands and lifted them to his shoulder again. He stared down at her until she stilled, then he tilted his head, as if waiting for permission.
She lay back, flat against the bed, and gently pulled one foot away from his shoulder. She parted her legs for him, and when she smiled, he released the other foot. Her legs fell away to the bed, fully exposing herself to him, and no further sanction was needed.
Vincent lay down in the space between her legs with his head hovering just above her tummy. He placed his hands on her hips, and she flinched at the touch. “Ticklish,” she whispered, making him smile. He kissed the skin of her lower abdomen, working his way downwards until she gasped. The sound made his sex twitch, but he forced himself to ignore his own needs until she was satisfied.
Gently parting her sex, he explored her intimately, and the noises that came out of her mouth were foreign even to her own ears. Yuffie squirmed under Vincent’s effusive attentions as she lost any sense of fair play and blindly reached for his head. She fisted thick, black chunks of his hair in her fingers, and if it hurt him at all when she pulled it, he certainly wasn’t complaining. Her right knee lifted towards him, involuntarily trying to capture the source of her pleasure. Vincent quickly grasped the back of her thigh with his gauntlet, keeping her thighs spread open. The rough skin of his human hand bit into her left hipbone, and he delved deeper with his tongue.
Yuffie shut her eyes tight as her head began to reel. With each kiss, with every stroke of his tongue, more stars formed behind her eyelids. She gasped, panting, feeling her own heartbeat in the walls of her sex. Anticipation pulled tight like a bowstring inside of her and she whined low and long, then everything collided.
Yuffie came with a jolt. She called out to him, whispering his name over and over like a mantra. It seemed like an eternity passed before she finally recognized the mattress beneath her back, remembering where she was and what she was doing.
She was still catching her breath when he climbed back up her body, kissing her stomach and breasts, then pausing to chuckle against her neck.
“Smug,” she whispered accusingly.
He kissed her. “Should I be?” He was teasing her now, but she heard the frustration in his voice as well.
“Yes, be smug, be very very smug.”
Vincent laughed quietly, but she felt his hands shaking.
He’s nervous, and he needs some incentive.
Yuffie reached up between his legs and touched his erection gently, letting him know it was okay to take what he wanted. When he still didn’t make a move, she lifted one leg over his back, and pressed just the tip of his sex against her folds–
And he froze.
“What?” she whispered.
“Yuffie, I’m…”
When he didn’t finish, she released him and panicked, her hands covering her face. “Oh Gods no no no no no–”
“Hush. It’s nothing like that. I just…” He winced, looking down at her. “I apologize, but I’ve completely forgotten about birth control. Not to mention your…” He swallowed, hard. “Your new hymen.”
Yuffie exhaled, then relaxed, smiling up at his concerned face. “M’sorry too, for flipping out.” She put her hands around his neck and pulled him down against her body, kissing him deeply. Whispering against his lips, she said, “No worries, Vincent.”
“But…”
“No worries, Vincent,” she repeated, with humor in her voice.
Heartened by her assurance, and not really able to wait any longer, he pulled her left arm from around his neck, and laced his fingers into hers. His gauntleted hand slipped under her right shoulder, holding her steady.
“Ready?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Looking into her dreamy, satisfied eyes, he raised his hips and pushed inside her, making her gasp yet again.
“All right?”
“Perfect, yes, Vincent, Gods– please don’t stop.”
He pulled back, then pushed into her again, slowly, slowly, acclimating her to his invasion even though his baser instincts wanted him to stop being so damn considerate and just take her already.
Yuffie’s other leg found its way over the back of his knees and she moaned, trying like hell not to be greedy, but there was just no way around it. Vincent wanted her. The very thought was making her head swim again.
She encouraged him to go faster by whispering those same words softly against his ear. He kissed her again, deeply, until the thrusting motion of his body made it impossible to keep her mouth captive. She felt soft and slick and tight, and so much better than any memory his tired soul could suggest. Blood pounded through his veins and he lost a little more of his composure each time he thrust into her, until his hips were slapping against hers and he was calling her name aloud.
Yuffie gripped his hand, clenching his fingers tight in her own as a second orgasm took her, and with her soft cries, Vincent’s self-restraint vanished. His entire body tensed, then he shuddered, coming hard and pouring into her with a shout.
When they drifted back down to reality, Vincent pulled out of Yuffie slowly, then he shifted until only half his body was laying on top hers. She looked dazed, staring at the ceiling, as she extracted her fingers from his.
“Yuffie?”
“I’m okay.” Closing her eyes, she exhaled, then raked her hand through her hair until it fell against the covers behind her head.
“Did I hurt you?”
“Dammit, Vince. I just knew you were going to ask me that.”
They both laughed, and Vincent kissed her cheek, brushing away an errant tear. “I didn’t though… did I?”
“Hardly. That felt amazing. It was…
“A flame thrower?”
“Dude. You remember that great big fucking explosion when Chaos met Omega?”
“I can hardly forget that, Yuffie.”
“Well, at least from my point of view, that paled by comparison to what you just did to me.”
“For me as well, and I was inside that great big fucking explosion.”
“And, thank the Gods, you survived it,” she said, kissing him.
“Hn.”
He pulled away from her suddenly, and she protested, grabbing his gauntlet.
“Hey, don’t go. Not yet.”
He smiled down at her. “I’m not leaving at all, Empress. I only wanted to put some logs on the fire before I pass out. Please?”
Yuffie smiled, blushing, then released Vincent’s arm. She watched him, feeling relaxed all the way through to her bones, as he stoked the embers and then added more logs on top. When he finished with that, he went to the table and got a glass of water, silently thanking his ninja comrade for being so judicious, and downed it quickly. He filled the glass again and brought it to Yuffie when he returned to her bed.
Our bed, he thought, smiling.
She drained the glass as well, then he set it down on her nightstand. Getting back on the bed, he pulled her to him until her back was glued to his front. “Spoons,” she said, giggling softly, and then she shivered.
He rubbed her arms. “Did you want to get under the covers?
“Not really, it was just a chill. It’s nice and warm like this, actually.”
When he nuzzled her ear, she turned her head back so that she could steal one more kiss, and he obliged her happily. Satisfied, Yuffie straightened, and looked out of the window at the night sky.
A gigantic moon was rising, vivid orange, as it cleared the horizon.
“Oh, wow. Will you look at that.”
Vincent lifted his head to see, though it took some effort.
“Harvest moon,” he muttered, putting his head back down.
“And on your birthday, too. That’s a good omen, Vincent.”
“Hn.”
She paused when he didn’t say more, then repeated herself. “A very good omen.”
Vincent didn’t mean to be such a cliché, but he pressed his forehead to the back of her neck and fell asleep.
+
Vincent lay on his stomach, bathed in soft darkness. His breathing was even, his muscles relaxed, and he was too comfortable to laugh at the fact that he, Vincent Valentine, was luxuriating in the most comfortable bed he’d ever slept in.
I do not luxuriate. Surely I’m dreaming, or… is this oblivion?
The panic, oddly, never came. If he was in such a thing, it was his own brand of it. He had come by this darkness naturally – if you could call Chaos ‘natural’.
His human hand slid across the silk bedspread, feeling for Yuffie’s body where she was sleeping next to him.
Maybe she was lost in the dark? If she was, he’d pull her out of it, just like he did the first time. He was immune to Nero’s nothingness, unlike Yuffie, who had screamed in terror–
His eyes snapped open when he realized she wasn’t in the bed with him.
“Yuffie? Where…?”
“I’m over here.”
Disoriented, Vincent’s head turned to where he’d heard her quiet voice. ‘His’ chair was in front of the window, and one of Yuffie’s legs was draped over the arm. It was all he could see of her, foot swaying in the pale moonlight.
Vincent frowned. He was not used to waking from a deep sleep, and he had never liked the way it left him open to attack – even before the enhancements. The feeling paled quickly, though, when he thought about the reason why he had slept so soundly. And she was sitting in a chair, naked, less than fifteen feet from him.
That was much too far away.
Sitting up, he smirked when he felt the muscles in his stomach and legs protesting. Her fault as well. Tossing the covers off, he slid to the side of the bed and stood up. Vincent rubbed his face and padded over to where Yuffie was sitting in the chair, wrapped up in a heavy blanket. He squatted next to the chair, placing his human hand on her exposed thigh.
Her skin was very warm to the touch, which was not surprising. The fire was still putting out a lot of heat, and the room was warm enough to sleep without bedcovers or clothing – which had been his intent.
“I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said. “You looked really peaceful.”
“It’s okay.”
“I was noisy, though, I moved your chair all the way over here and all, so I thought for sure you–”
“Yuffie. Are you all right?”
She gave him a nervous look, but nodded. “I’m okay. Just looking at your moon.”
He glanced up at the window, noting that the color of the moon had returned to normal, and it was a bit smaller than it had been when it rose, but it was still full and bright. Not that he needed the moonlight to see she was shaking under the blanket.
“Yuffie, you’re shivering.”
“It’s nothing, Vincent. I just couldn’t sleep. I’m all right.”
He sighed heavily. “Come back to bed.” When she didn’t move, he squeezed her thigh affectionately. “I’d rather talk to you there.”
She smiled, blushing. “Carry me?” she asked, voice full of hope.
Without a word of protest and no apparent thought to his nudity, Vincent stood up and turned the entire chair so that Yuffie was facing him instead of the window, jostling the precious contents and making her gasp. She looked up at him nervously when he bent down and picked her up, blanket and all, and carried her bridal-style back to the bed.
When he dropped her on the bed in an undignified pile, however, she giggled.
“Hn.”
Grabbing one corner of the blanket, he yanked until her body flipped. He threw the blanket towards the foot of the bed and stared down at her, bared before him on the silk sheets. Her mouth hung open as she was, once again, shocked by his behavior.
“Never let it be said that you aren’t full of surprises in the bedroom.”
“It got your attention, didn’t it?” She looked away, biting her lip. “Please move over,” he said, gently nudging her torso with his knee. She obliged, and within moments he was laying on his side facing her like a mirror. She grabbed a chunk of his hair from where it had fallen over his neck and played with it between her fingers.
“Don’t ever cut your hair.”
“You cut your hair, all the time.”
“Don’t ever cut your hair,” she repeated.
He paused. “All right.”
When she didn’t look at him, his concern flared.
“Why can’t you sleep?”
“I don’t know. Just can’t.”
“It’s warm enough in here that I’m almost sweating. Why are you shivering?”
She shook her head, not wanting to answer. He put his right hand to her cheek.
“Are you upset about something?”
She placed a hand on top of his, but wouldn’t look up at him. When she still didn’t answer, he sighed, exasperated, and took her hand in his own, pulling it to his chest.
“We cannot start by hiding things from each other or we’re doomed to fail. Something is bothering you, Yuffie. Tell me what it is.”
She winced. “Didn’t you feel that… you know, before?”
“I felt all sorts of things. All of them good. Which part are you referring to?”
“You seem pretty calm,” was all she could manage.
Ah… So that’s what it is.
He was momentarily taken aback when Galian did not chime in with a suggestion or even a sarcastic comeback to his thoughts. It was confusing, feeling entirely alone in his head for once, but he was also grateful for the silence.
Vincent kissed Yuffie’s forehead, gauntlet gentle at her waist. He snaked his other arm between the sheet and her body, then wrapped it around her back, pulling her close. One long leg lifted over her, trapping her legs between his in an effort to steady her trembling. He smiled indulgently in the dark, grateful she could not see his amused face.
She’d probably punch me.
“Empress,” he said, with a warmth coloring his voice that she’d never heard before, “I’m not that calm. My body just hasn’t caught up to my heart yet.”
That made her feel better, but she was still shaking.
“This has never happened to me before, Vinnie.”
“From what I remember, you were bewildered quite frequently on our journeys.” She gave him a glare, so he took it further. “Which usually resulted in you falling over a rock, or a puddle, or your own feet–”
“Gaia! Quit it!” She smacked his chest with her palm, making them both laugh.
“Apologies. You meant confused after sex, yes?”
She paused, sniffing. “Yeah.”
“Are you frightened, maybe? Of us?”
“I’m not sure. A little. Aren’t you?”
Yuffie suddenly felt very young, and she absolutely hated it.
“I was, once. Maybe you’re just having difficulty processing your feelings. I had trouble with that.”
She grabbed the same chunk of his hair again and gripped it in one wavering fist. “What sort of feelings?”
“Like I... how did you put it? It was so eloquent. Oh yes – I began to consider playing naked with you.”
She shook her head, trying not to laugh. “What was so frightening about that?”
“Because up until that point, I still saw you…”
She raised her eyebrows. “Wait, I know this one. As the irritating little sister, right?”
“Hn. More like the annoying next-door neighbor. The youngest daughter that was always getting on your nerves, but still reminded you to laugh. Then one day, the neighbor kid is all grown-up and sporting a brilliant smile. There was an undeniable intelligence behind everything you did or said, no matter how silly it seemed. You had an impressive kick, and a kind heart, and a delicious-looking backside.” He emphasized the words by giving her cheeks a playful squeeze.
“One that’s gone to seed,” she groused.
Vincent smirked, and squeezed her bottom again. “You worry too much about that.” He kissed her, lips moving slow and soft over her own, until she stopped frowning and sighed. When he pulled back, she looked pacified, so he continued. “I felt like I had no right to feel that way, though, and it scared me. So I did what I’d always done when I couldn’t deal with something – I buried it.”
She nodded. “Thanks for finally digging it back up.”
“My pleasure.”
Yuffie bit her lip. “Vincent… When did that start?”
He paused. There was no longer a good enough reason as to why he shouldn’t tell her.
“Right after I pulled you out of Nero. The look on your face didn’t belong there. It made me furious. All of a sudden I didn’t want anyone else touching you. And it only got worse after your note.” He kissed her again, just a little, reassuring peck. “I’m not so sure that’s why you are nervous, though.”
“All right, let’s hear it.”
“You’re feeling exposed.”
She sighed, unable to argue with his logic. “How long before this stops? It’s embarrassing.”
He paused, watching her face. “This was our first time, Yuffie. You need to be more patient with yourself.” She shivered again, involuntarily yanking on the chunk of hair in her fist, and he didn’t even flinch.
“I… I didn’t know falling in love would be like this.”
Vincent suddenly thought of something he’d said long ago – an overpowering love may consume you in the end.
Maybe a little consumption wasn’t so bad? She was having some trouble adjusting to the intensity of it, true, but it was doing nice things to his pride that–
Oh, hell. I’m in love with her.
He gazed at her for a long time before speaking again. “So… this never happened after… with Reno?”
“You’re comparing again,” she said tartly. Yuffie unclenched her fists, letting go of his hair. She tried to lay her hands flat on the plane of his chest, but they still shook. “No, Vincent. This never happened with Reno, or with anyone else before him. How many times do I have to tell you that?”
“An incalculable number,” he threw her own words back at her. When she looked up at him, he was wearing a slightly smug expression. “Feel free to tremble, Yuffie. As often as you like.”
Exasperated, she scoffed. “It doesn’t bother you? That’s why I was sitting over there, trying not to wake you. I figured you’d find this childish.”
“Not even close,” he said, smiling.
Yuffie eyed him closely. “Great! You enjoy seeing me struggle.”
“Yes, but… only in a very certain way.” She frowned at him. “Think of all the men that have been in your life – and I’m not simply referring to the ones you’ve been intimate with. The important relationships, both good and bad. What do nearly all of us have in common?”
She paused, thinking of him first. Then Godo, Reno, Shake, Cid, Cloud, Barret, Hiro, Reeve, Rufus, even Sephiroth came to mind. “Well… you’re all very confident.”
He smirked. “Such a diplomat you’ve become. You’re being polite. I’d have said we’re all filled with ego… Large, dominant egos.”
“Yeah. Okay, that too.”
“You’re trembling. I’m the cause. What do you think that is doing to my ego?” She didn’t answer, aside from a tiny, shy smile and a pretty blush. “Despite everything that’s happened to me, at the core of it all I’m still just a man, and a man can only take so much.”
He shifted them until she was almost on her back. Vincent hooked the fingers of his gauntlet behind her knee, then he lifted her leg up, placing it loosely over his waist. Yuffie gasped when she felt his sex, abruptly hard and bumping against the inside of her thigh.
Holy… How did he get there so fast?
His left hand slipped between their bodies, gentle fingers testing her folds, still tender and already wet, making her gasp again. She felt his voice against her throat, hot and dark.
“Do you want me to help you get to sleep? Because I’m fairly sure I can make you pass out.”
Yuffie whimpered and shuddered violently, and her reaction put a satisfied smile on Vincent’s face. He pushed into her quickly, burying himself deep inside before she could respond to his question. She groaned as the sensation overwhelmed her mind, and her head tilted back onto the thick mattress until her neck was fully exposed to his plundering mouth.
Yuffie’s hands snaked into Vincent’s hair, and she clutched it so hard the joints in her fingers began to crack. Barely getting the words out, she begged, “Don’t… don’t let me go.”
Vincent breathed deeply, content to find that a ripe and welcoming scent was surrounding him.
“Never again.”
+
“Leviathan… What time is it?” Yuffie asked around a yawn. Her hand covered her eyes.
She had woken up in the circle of Vincent’s arms, in what seemed to be the exact same position she had fallen asleep in.
“Just past eleven.”
“Elev… What – a.m.?”
Turning just enough to look at the bright sunlight pouring through the window, Yuffie gasped then turned back to face him.
“Wait, what time did I fall asleep?”
“Pass out, you meant to say, and it was about two thirty a.m.”
She narrowed her eyes at him.
“And what time did you pass out?”
“Fell asleep.”
Yuffie pounded his chest with a hard fist.
“Vincent Valentine.”
“Hn.” He pulled her closer so that she’d stop squirming. “Two thirty-one a.m.?” he offered, a hint of reticence in his voice.
Her jaw dropped. “Oh my gawd! Vinnie! Did you sleep all that time?”
“I believe I did.”
She stared at the gunslinger shamelessly. He looked completely at peace.
Holy Gaia, I put that look on his face.
“And… how are we feeling about that?” She was reluctant to ask the question, worried that he might see needing the sleep of a normal man as a new vulnerability.
“Good. Excellent, even.”
“You’re not upset that you needed that much rest?”
He shook his head with the tiniest of smiles. “Why would I be?” Vincent leaned in closer to her and nuzzled the thin skin on her neck. ”You’re the one that wore me out.”
He chuckled, and she felt his happiness vibrating all the way through to her bones.

+

End

Part I

[ tbc in Part II ]

+
++++++++ notes ++++++++
I hope it was worth the wait. ;)
Part II is being assembled. Patience, please, while the Moogles convene in my head.
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Empress & Concubine