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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
- 4
- 5
- 6
++++++++ Please see disclaimer & story notes in chapter one ++++++++
++++++++ chapter notes ++++++++
To anyone patient enough to still be reading this, I apologize for the long wait. I’m afraid that finishing Gilded really took it out of me. That fic left me feeling super-accomplished, but also very, very much in need of a break. It has been a long while since I actually felt like writing.
February, however, did the trick. For reasons that I will keep to myself, I always get Yuffentine fever in February. :) On with the show…
While this is not a happy chapter, bear in mind that Hope Springs Eternal.
I fly beta-less. Please forgive the typos.
As always, thanks for reading!
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Empress & Concubine
Chapter Five
Your Man of Our Choosing
+

“But I just turned twenty-three a few months ago! I thought I had more time than this!”
Yuffie cornered her father’s favorite writing desk to where a small wastebasket sat, and kicked it so vehemently that it flew across the room and crashed into a wall. A noisy burst of bamboo sticks signaled the end of its usefulness.
“Empress, please, calm yourself,” Yuri pleaded, “Violent ranting won’t get you anything but more stitches. We need to plan.”
Yuffie turned on her boot heel to glare at the room’s occupants. She sucked in a breath, preparing to shout her head off, but stopped short with what she saw.
Four people were watching her, four people that she loved and trusted implicitly, with grave faces all. Her father, Shake, Chekov and Yuri all remained silent, anticipating her bellows. She winced, wisely choosing to swallow her outrage. These were not the people her anger was directed at, and they didn’t deserve such treatment.
Yuffie managed the few steps towards an old loveseat in her father’s study, and sat down before she fell. Her closest confidants watched with sinking hearts as the Empress’ shoulders slumped and she leaned over, hiding her face in her hands and sighing tiredly.
“Don’t call me Empress, Yuri,” she whispered from behind her fingers. “Not in here.”
Bad news had come suddenly, delivered by Yuri that very afternoon.
The Empress had been enjoying an afternoon tea break with her father, when Yuri burst into Godo’s study with unexpected and very bad news. The young man was out of breath and agitated, but Yuri managed to blurt out one of Yuffie’s worst nightmares, now an unfortunate reality.
She was getting married.
Or so decree the council members, twenty-one in all with Yuri being the newest junior member. Although, to be fair, it was far from a unanimous decision.
Four elders sat at the head, Chekov being the only one among them that still staunchly, and openly, supported Kisaragi rule. Counting Chekov and Yuri, roughly one-third of the council could as of yet be counted on to cast votes that were in line with the Empress. Of the remaining members, at least nine were already in the Movements’ back pocket, two of which were elders. The remaining council member’s viewpoints were dodgy, but it was that fourth elder… he was the one that Yuffie and her supporters had been watching.
Only the elders had the power to take a submitted issue and move it to referendum. And all that was needed to do so was a majority: three out of four elders.
Sadly, it had just been a matter of time before the militant opposition found a weakness with the fourth elder and got him off of the fence and closer to their side. The man’s only daughter had announced her pregnancy earlier that week. It was his first grandchild, and while the threat to her impending motherhood had been subtle, it was a threat nonetheless. He came round quickly.
Earlier that afternoon in council chambers, the subject of the Empress’ lack of an heir came up yet again, but as it was not a formal meeting, this time the royals were not present. Despite Chekov’s objections, the other thee elders were adamant that a resolution be made right then and there. Since Yuffie was now the ripe old age of twenty-three, and she wasn’t showing any signs of getting herself a husband, they put forth the proposition that her future husband be none other than General Ginto Shinshuro.
An obvious railroading, the referendum was hurried through, and the council voted, thirteen to eight in favor of Yuffie marrying Shinshuro. It was all Yuri could do to keep from running straight to her side before the mallet struck marble.
Chekov made it up the vast staircases to the royal rooms, following Yuri as quickly as her creaky knees would allow. Godo sent a message with a ninja to have Shake join them, and now the four of them stood, waiting for Yuffie’s angry rant to boil forth in the privacy of Godo’s study. But she simply sat, silent and pitiful with her face buried in her hands.
Her four confidants were always free to express themselves honestly, but the helpless expression on her own face had made their mouths go dry and their voices mute. It was times like these that reminded Godo no matter how formidable in a physical fight his daughter was – well, used to be, she was still new to the throne and would always be his baby.
He finally broke the tension, clearing his throat rudely before speaking. “So... Aren’t you gonna yell? I’d yell.”
“I’d disembowel someone,” Shake muttered, not so quiet that they all heard him. “And I know who, too.”
“I’ll hold his ugly ass down for you,” Chekov added.
Clad in her favored shorts and tank top, Yuffie rubbed her chin, and settled her hands on her bare knees while staring at the carpet. “I can’t believe I’m expected to live my life by ancient, stupid-ass sexist laws!”
“That’s the problem, Yuffie. You aren’t just living your life anymore. You’re living Wutai’s now.” Chekov sat down next to her, putting a motherly arm around her narrow shoulders. “You are Wutai.”
Godo sighed heavily. “Well, at least we know for sure who the driving force behind this Movement crap is. Not to mention my poisoning.”
When Yuffie whimpered, Chekov pulled her closer. Patting the young woman’s sleek hair, she gave the emperor a glare over her shoulder, reminding him that his daughter was still reeling from that news.
Some weeks after Yuffie’s birthday party, Godo suddenly left Wutai at the crack of dawn on the pretense that he was responding to a dog-and-pony invite from Reeve Tuetsi at the WRO. He offered no further reason to an argumentative Yuffie. Then the Emperor-Father, Chekov and two ninjas were quietly escorted away via Shinra helicopter by Reno himself.
Yuffie had had just enough time to try and pry the truth out of her red-haired concubine, but he remained tight-lipped, giving her nothing more than a quipped response, “orders, sweetcheeks, can’t play with you right now.”
She stomped her booted heels on the landing pad of the palace, screaming profanities at the passengers of the helicopter, and especially its pilot, as it flew away.
Godo was taken directly to the labs at Shinra headquarters for medical tests. He’d been suspicious for months that his ‘illness’ was something far more traditional. And Rufus Shinra may have once been his enemy, but the man was practical to the last and could be counted on not to sugar-coat the truth about any impending death. Godo wanted that truth. Needed it, actually, because of Yuffie’s predicament. Shinra’s results proved, finally and without a doubt, that he hadn’t contracted a disease but had in fact been poisoned the previous year.
The poison was nothing more than the distilled saliva from a monster that was only found in the caves at the Southern end of the Wutai continent. They were dangerous but shy creatures that kept to themselves. Over the centuries, Wutai’s arms and legs had adopted a live–and–let–live policy with these beasts, and it was quite manageable when one considered that what little soil to be had in that region was not farmable due to the extensive bedrock, and the further South you went, the harder the land was to traverse. Plowing was impossible, and raising livestock was akin to offering up a banquet.
Given that, whoever it was must have gone to great lengths to get their hands on the poison. Then, seemingly innocuous, they found work in the royal kitchens and tainted the Emperor’s food with trace amounts of the slow-acting toxin over few months. Godo eventually suffered irreparable damage to his liver, kidneys and stomach, and he didn’t begin to show signs of sickness until the guilty party was long gone.
When her father returned home, the Empress did three things. She gave Reno a small beating for conspiring with Godo behind her back. Then, when she had all the facts, she became enraged and put her tiny fist through a wall, impressing Shake. Later, as she sat mournfully still for her sensei while he stitched her arm up, it finally sank in that her father was dying much faster than anyone realized, and she proceeded to cry her eyes out.
Reno stayed and kept her company for several days, but even his attentions could not fully relieve her fears and frustrations. Chekov made Godo promise to stop discussing his poisoning in her company.
Realizing his shouldn’t have brought it up again, Godo pinched the bridge of his nose between two thick fingers. “I admit that I was always suspicious of Shinshuro being the source. But that prick actually marrying my daughter is nothing more than him trying to get access to the throne in a way that would look more polite to the outside world than a coup. They are trying to takeover Wutai, and by any means. Once married to Yuffie, he can safely eliminate royal rule altogether, by forcing her to abdicate and then relinquishing all power to the council… and then the Movement will finally have their precious military state.”
Yuffie’s voice betrayed her desperation, but she did her best to sound practical. Logical.
Royal.
“Do you think he’d go so far as to try and kill me if I flat out refuse the council’s decision?”
Chekov looked at her sympathetically. “By law, however ancient the law, I am not sure you can refuse them, Yuffie.”
Godo slammed the palm of his hand down on his heavy wooden desk, making everyone in the room jump. “Yes she can!” he thundered. Mollified by their silence, he sat down and lowered his voice.
“She is Empress. This is a different age, and archaic traditions are bypassed all the time. Wutai adores her. If we go public with this immediately, the people will object to an unwanted union. The High Priests, and by default the clergy, will definitely not be in favor of the marriage. Yuffie will have their support, and I will back her as she faces the council. They know they will lose all public support if they attempt to push their agenda so soon in her rule. They will be forced to yield.”
Yuffie let go the breath she had been holding and closed her eyes with a weak smile.
“Don’t relax too much, my daughter. We can thwart this one plan and keep Shinshuro further away from you, at least. But it will not stop the Movement. Honestly, what concerns me more now, is…”
When Godo paused, Yuffie turned to look up at him. He looked down into the eyes of his daughter, his only child, not his successor. Anyone else would have withered under his dangerous glare, but all Yuffie saw was her tough, protective father and the immense concern he held for her, and she wanted to crawl into his arms and stay there.
“The word you were looking for, my dear daughter, is not kill, but assassinate. Royal engagement or not…” his voice trailed off as he reluctantly looked away from Yuffie, hating the terror he saw on her face.
“Shinshuro has all but assassinated me,” he continued, blatantly alluding to the subject of his own poisoning, “And yes, he’d do it to you, too.”
+
Godo’s plan worked like a charm, and the council was forced to put Yuffie’s engagement on hold. The added benefit was that many of Wutai’s citizens were seeing the council for what it really was, and were beginning to lose what little faith they had in them. While seeing their beloved Empress with child was appealing to the average citizen, the idea of condemning Yuffie to a loveless marriage was unthinkable. The laws that could enable the council to do just that to her were still in place, but no one believed they could go that far.
Unfortunately, Godo knew that they would go that far, if given the chance.
It was now March, and Yuffie was seven months into her rule. Her heart and resolve were firmly in the same places they had always been – restore greatness to Wutai, keep the Movement at bay, listen to Godo, learn from Chekov and Shake, play hard with Reno when he showed up, and pine for Vinnie in secret. Nothing new there.
It was her appearance that had changed. She began to let her hair grow back in after her birthday, less a fashion statement and more not having time to get it cut properly. It was now just brushing her shoulders. She was still thin, but that was due more to a lack of sleep and a relentless royal schedule than traveling around cutting up monsters. Even though she ran about Wutai castle in her shorts and tank top when formal wear wasn’t required, it was still winter and she was pale as a ghost. Her muscle tone was flagging, which did not please Shake, but her alertness in the council meetings was vastly improved, and Godo was beside himself with pride.
Every word, every nuance spoken by the council was a puzzle, a signal and a clue, and she had learned to interpret them alarmingly fast. She and Godo watched the others carefully, and afterwards they discussed the minutes in private, picking apart who had said what, and how they’d said it – and what it actually meant.
Her confidence during the meetings had grown, despite the fact that most of them still saw her as that little brat Princess, and did not respect her adequately, even as she was now Empress. This irritated her, but she didn’t care about it too much.
What did concern her though, was that deep down inside she still felt vulnerable without her father backing her up. Even if he remained silent, her rock was next to her when she sat on the throne and addressed dignitaries. He sat by her side at royal functions. He continued to attend the council meetings, as it was her right to have him there. Like the scary man of granite that he was, Kisaragi Godo just kept going and going.
Right up until the morning he collapsed.
Yuffie had always loved her father, but it was only after Deepground ended that things began to change for them as father and daughter. She never knew how complicated and demanding his duties were until she stayed in Wutai for longer than a week and paid attention to Godo’s daily life in earnest. When he got sick, they both knew she would have to ascend quickly if they wanted to save the Royal house. So she did her duty, and sat still, and took on all the responsibilities she swore she never would, and that had made him proud.
But neither of them bargained that they would grow so close in the process, and they both began to rue the day they would have to say goodbye.
“With your hair longer, you look so much like Kasumi, it almost hurts.” She leaned into his hand, settling her cheek there like a child greedy for attention. Godo’s palm was still warm and dry, and as comforting as ever. “Not that I am complaining, little girl. The short hair is quite nice on you, too.”
“Oh don’t lie, old man… you hate the short hair,” she sniffed.
“I do not, it looks nice. When you get it trimmed regularly,” he added sneakily. “You can be such a slob, Yuffie.”
He’d only meant to make her laugh, but it had the opposite effect. “Daddy,” she whined, unable to stop the tears anymore.
“I know. I’m sorry, Yuffie. I wanted to spare you this trail by fire you’ve been saddled with. I wanted to be there for you… for years to come, not months.”
Godo had chosen to spend his last days in the palace, in the same bed that he had share with Yuffie’s mother. His doctors were not pleased with that, but one simply did not tell Kisaragi Godo what to do, ever. Yuffie had denied all other company, determined to remain at his side until the end, taking breaks only to relieve herself in the adjoining bathroom and eat a little of the food Chekov had forced on her. The only reason she slept was because she’d passed out in her chair and fell forward onto his bed, arm draped over his chest. Godo had woken up to find her like that, amused and saddened all at once.
But he was fading now, and they both knew it.
He wiped away her tears, but they just kept falling.
+
Reno was sitting just outside the Emperor’s room with two ninjas. He wasn’t sure if they were watching the windows, or the stairs, or him. Either way, he was grateful for their presence. When Yuffie finally appeared, looking drawn and exhausted with a tear-stained face, the ninjas flanked her, but it was Reno that caught her before she fell to the floor.
He escorted her to the back of the throne room, an area that was curtained off from the large gathering hall, used specifically for the preparation of the royals. He was disturbed by how fragile she felt in his arms and wanted her to get some sleep, but he knew better than to argue with Wutai tradition. Formalities had to be observed.
Reno helped Chekov get her into a dress kimono and the councilwoman did what she could with Yuffie’s face and hair. Reno was told to wait behind the curtains as Yuffie left though a side door and took the throne.
Within moments, members of the council and the clergy began assembling in the hall, as well as prominent citizens and high-ranking military officials, Ginto Shinshuro among them. Thirty minutes or more passed as people continued to file in. Time seemed surreal, forever and unforgiving, until the moment the Empress stood and spoke.
It was in Wutai, of course, but Reno had picked up enough of the language since her ascension that he understood most of her words, and he listened intently through the thick green curtains.
With a regal voice that did not shake, she made the formal announcement that the Emperor-Father had gone back to the Lifestream. Gasps were heard throughout the large room, and some people began to cry. Others still, pointedly, did not.
She decreed that she would follow Wutai tradition, and his body would lay in state for a day and half before being cremated. She quickly added that the palace would be open to all Wutai citizens, friends of the Kisaragi family and international diplomats who wished to pay their respects during that time. Yuffie turned on her geta and left the room, allowing no further discussion – or objections – from anyone.
They meant well, of course, but people began buzzing down the hall from her, wanting to ask her questions and offer their sympathies. Reno gave Chekov a look that told her all she needed to know, and he moved to get the poor girl out of the sight of the crowd and upstairs to her chambers for some sleep. He could hear Chekov and Yuri and the few remaining council members still on Yuffie’s side sending people away as held onto her waist while they climbed the staircases.
Sleep was not so easy to come by though, as Reno found out. It was his first experience holding a woman while she cried in his arms. He surprised himself by not feeling the need to bolt, not even once.
+
“I can stay. You know I’ll stay if you want me to.”
Reno’s brow was furrowed with concern, and Yuffie noticed that his plate of food had gone mostly untouched as well. A feat in and of itself, considering she had never known his appetite, whether for food or sex, to be anything less than that of a wolf.
Even her friends had noticed the changes in Wutai.
“I appreciate it, Reno. But I have to take a few careful steps after this. And they have to be noticed by the right people.”
Reno shook his head, not happy with her answer.
“Seriously, Yuffie. Are you gonna be all right?” It was Cid, this time, only his brow had angry lines carved into it.
They heard laughter in the banquet hall, and Yuffie glanced at Shinshuro from the corner of her eyes. He was sitting across the hall, drinking booze with his officers, smiling a bit too easily at a person’s wake for her tastes.
Son of a bitch has no respect, none whatsoever.
Her friends had piled into two Shinra helicopters and came to Wutai for Godo’s service, save Tifa, who was still nursing her newborn daughter, little Elise. She was upset not to be there for Yuffie, but Cloud passed on her feelings with more emotion than Yuffie had ever seen him display before. Fatherhood was changing him, if only a little at a time.
Yuffie looked back at Cid where he sat next to Vincent. “Yeah. Yeah I think so.”
Vincent, directly across from her, was less than convinced. “Are you sure?”
Yuffie looked up into his red eyes, finding no anger, just sadness.
She never was able to lie to him. “Nope. But I have to stand up to them, and if you guys stay to help me, it will make me look very weak.”
It ended all too quickly. Hours later, in what seemed like only moments, Yuffie found herself standing on the landing pad of the palace roof and faking a smile as she waved at them. She watched her friends’ reluctant faces as they waved back at her through the windows. The helicopter lifted into the air, and with one parting glance from Reno, they left her behind.
+
Barely a day had passed after Yuffie had her father’s ashes interred in the royal cemetery, in a shrine next to her mother’s, when Chekov entered her chambers with more bad news.
“They do this behind my back while I am dealing with my father’s death?! While I am in mourning? How far are they gonna go with this kind of behavior?”
With Godo gone, the Wutai council put her engagement to Ginto Shinshuro back into effect.
“Well, they didn’t stop there.”
Yuffie looked up at Chekov. She looked disheveled and angry, far angrier than Yuffie had ever seen her before.
“Oh gawd… What the fuck have they done now?”
“It’s much worse than we realized, Yuffie. All I can figure is that Shinshuro has a team digging up ancient laws in the libraries, and they finally found one that can destroy the Kisaragi line, and in effect Wutai royal rule, for good.” She sighed, and crossed her arms defensively. “He’s demanding, as is his right, a purity test for the Single White Rose of Wutai before he marries you.”
Visibly paling, Yuffie’s legs gave out, and she slumped into a cushy chair.
A vacant look passed over her face. “Um… They can behead me for failing that one,” she murmured, swallowing hard and looking up at Chekov. “Right?”
When Chekov didn’t directly answer the question, she knew it was true. The aging woman moved to sit in the matching chair across from Yuffie. She leaned in, speaking in a comforting tone.
“We have to find a way around this one. The movement has infiltrated over half the council. They seem to have countermoves for every one of our own, and they are acting very quickly. Which means we have to start fighting back by playing their own game.”
“How?” Yuffie sputtered, beginning to cry. “How do we do that?!”
“For now, negotiations. Delay tactics. We must do all we can to get the time needed to come up with a decent plan.” Chekov pulled a clean silk hanky out from her council robes and handed it to Yuffie.
“Death will claim me before I ever abandon you, Yuffie. But you have to be strong now. For all our sakes.”
+
Eventually the council made it very difficult if not impossible for outsiders to enter Wutai. Cell towers were taken down and the methods for supplying the populace with what little electric power they enjoyed were dismantled. It didn’t mean that much to them, because most of Wutai’s people had happily returned to the pastoral way of life despite Godo’s earlier wishes. Yuffie hadn’t seen Reno since the funeral, and communicating with all her old friends became very difficult.
Which meant that complicated measures had to be taken just to get a text message delivered. The Empress and her supporters had found a way around that, as usual with the help of Shinra and her beloved Turk. Due to the interference of the council, Reno’s every excursion into Wutai now had to labeled as some sort of diplomatic mission from the WRO, and the proper channels had to be gone through on both sides. His visits were growing more infrequent, but when he arrived, not only he was fully prepared to enact his duties as the royal concubine, but he also carried packages and letters from her friends.
Avalanche, the WRO, even Shinra and the Turks were not letting Yuffie go so easily. Reeve and Rufus continually offered their help, no matter what she might ask of them, which admittedly wasn’t much – at least for now.
Tifa sent her a massive amount of digital movies and pictures of her, Cloud, Denzel and baby Elise. Yuffie nearly busted her gut open with laughter when one featured the asparagus-loving little girl spitting up on Cloud’s shoulders. When the mighty soldier turned to Tifa, desperate for help and holding Elise out at arm’s length, the barmaid went back to her orange juice and book, casually quipping “deal with it, buddy.” The camera shook some as Cloud narrowed his eyes at the lens, and she could hear Denzel’s muffled snickering.
Shera was finally pregnant, and to Yuffie’s great amusement every snapshot of Cid captured him looking either baffled, paralyzed, or scared out of his wits.
Everyone sent something, and a letter or three from Vincent was always among the treasures that Reno brought. The gunslinger never addressed the obvious issue that still lingered between them – their relationship, and what the true definition of it was – but the questions he asked of her, the news he supplied of his own doings, and the worry he revealed in his words made it clear that he cared about her a great deal. She treasured these simple pieces of papers, hiding them in a carved box in her chambers for safekeeping. When things got to be too much, she would take them out at night and re-read them in her big bed, bewitched by the lurking emotions that she saw in Vincent’s structured, elegant handwriting.
The lure of sneaking in more technology from Shinra so that she could text her friends at the drop of a hat was very strong, but doing so would create other sticky problems – Yuffie’s own stance on Wutai’s future was a return to pastoral life, and such a move, if discovered, would contradict her own very public viewpoint.
Plus, there was always the threat of what the Movement could do with such technology if they got their hands on it. For now, all Shinshuro really had was the traditional Wutai military fare, consisting of hundreds of strong soldiers with traditional armor, very sharp weapons and maybe a bit of materia. At least, that was all he let on. If things were worse, Yuffie could not tell.
Shinshuro or the council still did not have access to the hidden materia stores in the Royal castle, a secret so carefully guarded that now only a handful of people knew it even existed – Yuffie (who was responsible for nearly two-thirds of its contents anyway), Chekov, Shake, and the High Priests.
While Yuffie’s friends were concerned and doing their best to stay in touch, she now had only those within the borders of her empire for immediate counsel. There were enough of them. Shake, who was ever-present at her side, even at the council meetings. He, along with all of her ninjas – they had her back. Members of the clergy were completely on her side and always encouraging. And the people… of course there was Wutai’s people.
Yuffie blatantly ignored the coucil’s ‘wishes’ that she not walk among them so freely. Claiming it was for her own safety, she told them to pound salt every time they requested it at the meetings she attended. Citizens of Wutai, especially the arms and the legs, adored her. She listened to their concerns and shared information with them while the council made inconspicuous efforts to block it. She accepted invitations to meals and parties, rolling up her sleeves and washing the dishes with them afterwards. She helped them plant and fix and build, she played with their children. She knew many of them personally and had built friendships with them, not content to simply earn their respect.
Should Shinshuro attempt to depose her now, he’d have a vicious fight on his hands with them.
The closest thing to a parent Yuffie had left was Councilwoman Chekov. That fearless woman never succumbed the council’s intimidation. She dried the Empress’ tears behind closed doors and fought to keep some semblance of normality in the girl’s life.
Then there was Yuri, who was the Empress’ own age and her oldest friend. He was relentless in his attempts to keep Yuffie’s spirits up. She loved him like a brother, and cherished his company.
Which is why when Yuri stumbled into the castle one evening and fell into Yuffie’s arms, bleeding his last, she truly panicked. He had been in a terrible fight, but his own rusty ninja training had kicked in and he managed to wound his attackers and get to her before he could die.
“I was spying on them. They were talking about Godo,” he breathed, hard, blood pooling in his mouth. “The woman who poisoned him was named Alanah Nerium. It was Shinshuro,” he grunted, continuing. “His mistress.”
Yuffie looked up at Chekov for some sort of conformation. She nodded gravely. “I remember her. She was on the short list. She quit last year about this time, but had worked as a dishwasher in the kitchens beforehand. We never found her.”
Yuffie clenched her teeth, anger overtaking her again, until Yuri coughed and pressed at the wound in his side.
“Where is the doctor? Someone get her here, now!” Yuffie screamed, and her anger turned into tears. She placed her hand over Yuri’s, ignoring the blood, and looked down at him. “Yuri, you idiot, why didn’t you get help first before coming here? Dammit!”
He shook his head as Yuffie held it in her lap. “Had to be sure. Had to tell you.”
Sobbing around her words, Yuffie vowed to him that she’d avenge him, no matter the cost, and Yuri smiled weakly, closing his eyes one last time.
Yuri had died in her arms that night, but with his loss, she couldn’t even bring herself to cry at his wake. Thanks to her enemies, becoming Wutai’s hardened leader was getting easier every day.
+
A month passed, and after more than a few calculated diversions on hers and Chekov’s parts, the council up and demanded that Yuffie stop stalling and make arrangements to have the purity examination performed. The only people allowed to attend would be the required ones: the Empress, the council elders, the high priests and a Wutai doctor. The doctor was selected by the council, which meant that he was probably on their side as well.
It was humiliating enough just being subjected to such a thing, but Yuffie knew she was doomed to fail the test. The council would be well within the law to demand her execution. But even if beheading her caused a revolution, that scenario was not going to help Wutai out one bit. Despite the people’s loyalty and love of her, they were still just farmers and ranchers. The military would win, and in the end the fields would be scorched, the livestock would be destroyed and thousands of people would die.
The Empress wasn’t having that.
It was time to cash in a favor. After Chekov negotiated with the council, citing fabricated appointments and other royal responsibilities, the date for the test was set. Yuffie had exactly twelve days left. It wasn’t much, but it was something. She had to get a message to Reeve requesting help, but Reno had just been in to see her two days before, and he wasn’t bound to show up again for more than two weeks. Given the restricted methods at her disposal to accomplish such things, getting word to Midgar would take more time than she could afford.
Her mind reeled until the choices before her dwindled down rapidly. There was only one person she could turn to now. She dispatched three ninjas with a letter, and told them to get it to the recipient – and only the recipient – as quickly and quietly as possible.
Tireless in their service to the Empress, the three made their way to Mime undetected and crossed the channel. They entered Nibelheim, where they located Shinra Manor at two in the morning and placed Yuffie’s letter into the hands of a slightly startled Vincent Valentine.
+
Vincent was home, thankfully. After reading Yuffie’s letter he grunted, told the ninjas where the toilet and the refrigerator was, then got Reeve on his cell phone immediately. When Reeve learned what the council was about to do to Yuffie, he burst into action, not even bothering to change out of his moogle-patterned pajamas.
Now, less than two and half days after they left, three tired and very hungry ninjas stood before their Empress, with two responses for her. One was a hand-written note from Vincent, the other, a printout of an email addressed to her, as sent to Vincent from Reeve.
Despite her burning desire to rip open Vincent’s letter, Yuffie remembered she was not alone and that this was about Wutai, not just keeping her head attached to her neck. She maintained her composure and read the email from Reeve first.
Yuffie:
I know you are scared. You have every right to be. And I promise you can be terrified and cry your heart out on my shoulder all you want, but you have to get here first.
The good news is that I can help you.
Reno will show up soon. Just play along with whatever he says and act like you were completely expecting his arrival and had this trip scheduled for weeks. He will have the proper papers.
You, Chekov, a ninja escort and a member of the clergy are to get on that helicopter. If anyone asks, the four of you will be gone for less than a week on an errand of diplomacy, one where we have requested your expertise and assistance in creating farming co-ops in the Grasslands. If the council intervenes and tries to intimidate you into staying put, point out to them that you will be back in plenty of time for the purity test.
And if that’s not good enough, put your royal foot down Yuffie. Remind them that you are the blood royal, you are in charge of Wutai, and only the Empress decides what she does and where she goes. You are Kisaragi Yuffie, Godo’s daughter, and he was the walking definition of intimidation. Never, ever forget that.
Trust in me.
Reeve
Finished reading, Yuffie took a deep, cleansing breath. She was nervous about not knowing the details of Reeve’s plan, but felt heartened that there finally was a plan. Giving his email to Chekov and trusting her to get started on the preparations for tomorrow, she took another deep breath and opened Vincent’s letter.
His missive was much shorter than Reeve’s, but somehow it managed to do the impossible: make her feel warm inside.
Yuffie,
I elected not to follow your ninjas because I did not want to slow them down, and it wouldn’t bode well for you if I got caught unannounced in Wutai. Reno will pick me up on his way to you. Be ready.
I will be there the day after you read this.
-Vincent
She tried to hide her smile behind the thick handmade paper, although the sharp eyes of her ninjas saw the long-lost twinkle return to her eyes, and politely ignored it.
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tbc
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++++++++ notes ++++++++
Godo’s last moments with Yuffie were inspired, in part, by Tori Amos’ “Tear in You Hand” from her 1991 album, Little Earthquakes. I know that it’s technically a song for lovers, but just listen… ‘cause you don’t know the power that you have.
If you read it, **please** review it. Thanks!
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Empress & Concubine