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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
- 7
- 8
- 9
++++++++ Please see disclaimer & story notes in chapter one ++++++++
++++++++ chapter notes ++++++++
Many thanks to Mihoyonagi for all her FFVII wisdom. :3
I fly beta-less. Please forgive the typos.
Some feedback would be appreciated.

+

Empress & Concubine

Chapter Eight

The Education of Vincent Valentine, Part II

+

Ginto Shinshuro eyed the red strangulation marks on his neck as he leaned in close to the mirror above his bathroom sink. He curled his lip, wondering how long he was going to have to wear his high-collared uniform in the nice spring weather.
There was a knock on the door to his chambers. Sighing heavily, he yelled out to whoever it was from the bathroom.
“What?!”
“General, I have some important news,” called his private secretary through the door. The young man was a bit of a wimp, but he was excellent at gathering information.
Shinshuro strode over to the door and opened it. “What is it, Norio?”
“Sir, Commander Gorkii was just here. He delivered this. I think you ought to read it.”
He ripped the paper out the man’s clammy hands and scanned it. Momentarily, he looked surprised.
“So the bitch got married this morning,” he said, crumpling the paper and tossing it in the hallway behind Norio. “No surprise there. I had a feeling she’d pull something like that.”
“Sir, shouldn’t we send someone to protest?”
Shinshuro waved him off impatiently as he walked back into his quarters. “She had every right to do this, and no doubt the Leviathan Clergy will defend her actions. It was a chance I had to take, doesn’t really matter. Taking the crown from her would have only gotten us so far anyway.”
“There is still the council, Sir? You can challenge them on the proclamation.”
“No need. Besides, trying to fulfill our objections by taking over the council may not work either. Some of the ones that were wavering are leaning back towards her.”
“So… what are we going to do now?”
“I don’t know, you idiot!” His bellows echoed across the room. He sat down in a posh chair, crossing his legs. “I need to think. Leave me be.”
Norio began to sulk out of the room, when Shinshuro yelled at him over his shoulder.
“Who the hell did she marry, anyway?”
“A ninja, Sir. Hiroyuki. One of their most accomplished.”
“Yes, and I bet the people loved her for that one,” he spat, then proceeded to put his boots on, tying his laces tighter than necessary.
+
Yuffie’s head was still reeling a bit. The marriage ceremony had ended hours ago, and the reception had been a good time, as was expected. The Arms and Legs showed up with their families in tow, along with nearly every other citizen in Wutai Village, from merchants to hairdressers. They decided on their own to simply have a cookout, which went perfect with Wutai’s motto of self-sustenance.
From every angle it appeared to be legitimate. If anyone suspected the marriage was one of convenience, they didn’t appear to care, and those who knew it was did their duty and kept their mouths shut.
Thankfully, Shinshuro was a no-show, although Yuffie was sure he was already aware of it. No doubt his temper was boiling over.
Yuffie invited Nadja up to the royal wing of the Pagoda when it was all over, and now the two women were having a private discussion in the library, with Vincent leaning against the archway leading into the room.
“Nadja, I’m… Well, I just don’t know what to say.”
The older woman grinned, “This is really bothering you, isn’t it?”
Yuffie exhaled. “Yes. A lot.”
“Empress…”
“Yuffie. Please. When we are alone, please just call me Yuffie.”
Nadja nodded. “Yuffie it is then.” She sat down next to Yuffie on the couch in front of the fireplace. “This is about Shinshuro, really, in the end. I know perfectly well what that damn man and his supporters will do to this country if he gets his hands on the crown. We will all have to sacrifice to stop him.”
“But your marriage to Hiro… I feel like I’ve stolen that from you–”
“Hiro and I will continue. That I can assure you. And Neeri has been appeased.”
“How? I’d be livid if I were her!”
“But your request that I create a small hospital here has solved more than just a need the royal house may have had for such a thing. It means that my daughter and I will get to live in the palace, and even though Hiro is your prince, there is no reason why the three of us can’t live like a family here. Neeri understands the need for deception, she is a smart girl as well as ninja.” She laughed to herself for a moment. “And, the fact that you let her put on a pretty kimono and be in Empress Yuffie’s wedding, well, I tell you… she is beside herself with ego right now. It will be weeks before she stops thinking she is top dog, trust me.”
Yuffie laughed quietly. “I really like her. She reminds me of me a lot.” Yuffie smiled, remembering what a pain in the ass she had been at that age. “What about your dad?”
“Papa grew up with Shake. He can keep a secret, too. Trust me, Yuffie, there is no love lost on Shinshuro where my father is concerned. Papa is vengeful – in the old fashioned way, you know? The way the Emperor-Father was. So he was actually kinda keen on how you and Hiro screwed the bastard over today.” Her face grew bitter. “You see, the General has already hurt my family.”
“What did he do?”
“My little brother left Wutai because of him. They did that threatening-without-actually-doing-so crap.”
“He’s an exile?”
“Yes. He’s gay, and at first they were just bullying him. But he’s a strong person, mentally and physically. He eventually left though, because when they began threatening Papa’s chicken farm it was too much for him. Sounds silly, I know–”
“No, it doesn’t. That’s your father’s livelihood. Your family’s.”
“Exactly, and that livelihood put me through the nursing program in Kalm, and got Lee into an apprenticeship with a chef here in Wutai.”
“Wait – his name is Lee?”
“Yeah… why?”
“Oh, this is a long shot, probably nothing… but do you know where he went?!”
“Last I heard he was working as a waiter, but where, I don’t know. We lost contact when the cells went. Why do you ask?”
Yuffie grinned. “I might have met him. Wait here a sec.”
She ordered some tea and sweets be brought up to Nadja, then ran upstairs to her bedroom, Vincent right on her heels.
“Are you going to tell me what’s going on?” he asked, following her into her bedroom.
“There was this guy me an’ Reno met…” her voice trailed off as she decided not to elaborate on that part of the tale. Yuffie opened a few drawers on her writing desk until she found a stack of old letters. She untied the ribbon holding them together and began sorting through them. “Uh, he was a waiter in this restaurant outside of the Gold Saucer.”
When he replied his voice was a bit tight. “What is it are you looking for?”
“We got some take out that night…”
Stick to what’s pertinent, you idiot, she scolded herself. Be vague.
“…and the waiter recognized me. He’s an exile, and he snuck a letter in my doggie bag.”
Good good good my doggie bag not our doggie bag be vague be vague–
“What does this have to do with Nadja?”
“Ah! There it is!” She grinned, holding the letter up to Vincent, triumphant. “I thought she might recognize his handwriting! I think he might be Nadja’s little brother.”
They went back down to the library, where Nadja was enjoying some tea, now joined by Neeri and Hiroyuki. Neeri gasped at the sight of the Empress entering the room. The young girl’s instincts kicked in and she immediately bowed.
“Quit that, kid,” Yuffie said, ruffling her hair as she passed her by. Neeri stood back up, confused, and glanced at Vincent, who could only offer her a small smirk.
Yuffie handed the note to Nadja. “Take a look, is that his handwriting?”
Nadja read the note, and smiled immediately, tears at the corners of her eyes. “Oh, Leviathan–”
She covered her mouth and handed the note to Hiroyuki. He read it quickly, and said, “Handwriting is similar. And that sounds exactly like something Lee would say.” He put a hand to Nadja’s shoulder, rubbing it softly, and she put her palm on top of his knuckles.
“So where is my little brother? And how did he look?” she finally asked, holding back her tears with a smile.
+
Yuffie yawned, tired after a very long day of dolling herself up, lying through her pretty teeth, getting married, partying, having publicity photos taken, and getting things settled as to which rooms Hiroyuki, Nadja and Neeri were going to live in.
Nadja put in just one request: for Yuffie to try and get some power into the pagoda. With her education, she insisted, she could do so much more if just a little electricity was at her disposal.
That one little request left Yuffie with a lot to think about. The only remaining generator in Wutai was dedicated to the main hospital – even Shinshuro hadn’t objected to that – but that it was being run on fossil fuels that Wutai had to import was eating away at her ideals. In addition to that, the lack of cell phone service was bothering her people far more than they expected. She was going to have to come up with another plan for them.
Her nation, and Yuffie by default, was faced with a smaller scale version of the same problem that the rest of Gaia was dealing with: Wutai wanted electricity, but it had to be economically viable and eco-friendly power, and then there was the question of just how far they should go with it.
Now tired of thinking, she was on her way up to her chambers, her only intention to take a long, hot bath, then fall face first into her big royal bed and sleep until noon the next day, agenda be damned.
“Vincent,” she said after stopping, and turned to look at him on the stairs.
“Yes, Yuffie?” He looked up into her face from his position, three steps below. They were already in the royal wing, so they could be free with their conversation, but that specific proximity to her – close enough to defend, far enough to maintain protocol – was becoming habit.
She nodded, mulling her words over.
“Thank you for offering to marry me.”
He had no immediate response, save a small smile, but after a long pause, she heard exactly what she expected to.
“Hn.”
+
Two whole months passed as a ‘married’ woman for Yuffie, though she felt no different. Occasionally she and Hiroyuki made the effort to appear in public together, inspecting farms and ranches or visiting local shops in the village. Vincent continued with his duties during these ruses, he simply hung a little further back than normal.
Sometimes they hosted a dinner at the pagoda, and when called upon they played their parts perfectly. The ninja was far too stoic to kiss even his beloved Nadja in front of others, so public displays of affection with Yuffie were limited to linked arms, occasional hand-holding, or an adoring smile or two on Yuffie’s part.
Otherwise, Hiroyuki was at the dojo, training ninjas with Shake, Nadja was quickly getting her clinic staffed and running, and Yuffie remained Yuffie, Empress of all Wutai, with a mean-looking, mysterious bodyguard who was always at her side.
Three feet away.
Their deception had done the trick and saved her from being legally tied to Shinshuro, but Vincent was not entirely happy with the solution. Despite the fact that he knew it was all for show, it still bothered him that Yuffie was never going to get the chance to have what her mother and father had together. It was what Hiroyuki and Nadja had, and was what she’d honestly wanted for herself: to fall in love for all the right reasons.
He managed to keep his feelings about it in check, until those moments late at night when he was alone in his room, and Galian decided to tease him about Yuffie’s now quite ironic bi-annual offer.
If only you had simply trusted her, he’d whine, complaining.
If only you had faced up to your feelings, emergent as they were, and taken a chance, he’d lecture, ego brimming forth.
If only you weren’t such a damned emo-tard, he quipped, taking on Yuffie’s own brand of inflection.
Vincent blinked. “I’m sorry, but did you just use the words emo-tard?” The gunslinger shook his head, turning to the next page in his book. “You really do like her, don’t you?”
Not nearly as much as you do… emo-tard.
Vincent sighed, long and deep and tired.
Goodnight, Galian.
+
The broad smile plastered across Yuffie’s face disarmed Reno, and he hadn’t realized how much he had actually missed her until he saw it.
“Turk,” she said in a quiet voice, coming closer as the chopper blades slowed.
The sun hadn’t even completely risen yet, and she was still in her pajamas. Everyone on the royal wing had heard the unexpected chopper well before it had touched down. Too excited to stop herself, Yuffie bolted out of her bed and sprinted up to the landing pad to greet him, bodyguard and ninjas right behind her.
She hugged the redhead fiercely as he lifted her off her bare feet. “I have totally missed you!”
“I missed you too, Yuffs. You gainin’ weight?”
“Oh!” she yelled. When he set her back down she punched him in the upper arm. “Be nice. I’m not any heavier… at least I don’t think. It just got redistributed.”
“Desk job.”
She shrugged. “Well, shit happens.”
“I’m not complaining. Your ass still looks totally grabbable even if you do spend more time sitting on it.”
She shook her head, smiling. “You suck,” she laughed.
Reno laughed with her, happy to hear the humor back in her voice. He looked over to see Vincent walking up to them and motioned with his head towards the gunslinger.
“He doin’ his job right?”
“Mm-hm. He’s amazing.”
He lifted his chin in the air, looking slightly jealous and very relieved at the same time. “Good.”
When Vincent reached them, Reno extended his hand for a shake, and this time, Vincent took it.
“What brings you to Wutai, Reno?”
“Well… I know you guys are without global communication, and I figured you might have some fancy invitations for your upcoming Jubilee… that you might want me to hand-deliver… seeing as how it’s so close to the date… maybe?”
He gave her a cheesy grin.
“First off, color me amazed that you know what a Jubilee is, Reno. Are you trying to drop a hint?”
“I have no idea what you are talking about, Empress.”
“Excellent! I was trying to figure out how to get them all here. Problem solved.”
Reno jumped. The words had come from Chekov as she strolled up behind him unannounced.
“Dammit, woman! How do you do that?” he yelped.
“Never you mind,” she said, scolding. She turned to the Empress. “Yuffie, I took the liberty of filling out some invitations for all your friends. I hope you do not mind.”
“No – but I thought the council’s vote to keep the celebration restricted to Wutai was absolute?”
“I’m sorry, but whose Jubilee is this again? I know it’s not General Shinshuro’s.”
Vincent huffed, smiling. Yuffie shook her head, returning his expression.
“It would be good for you to see your friends again, Yuffie,” Vincent suggested.
“Our friends,” she corrected him gently.
Reno looked from Empress to Bodyguard, noting how easily they concentrated on each other when they spoke. And, when they didn’t.
“Well then!” Chekov’s authoritative voice caused Reno to jump again. “Now that that’s settled, the Turk here can get them delivered for you.”
“Yo, I got a name, okay? It’s Reno.”
“Of course you do, dear. Now come with me Turk, and I’ll give them to you.”
Yuffie giggled as he rolled his eyes and trailed after the councilwoman like an obedient puppy.
+
“Security seems tight.”
Reno found himself treated to a delicious Wutai breakfast in a private nook off the main hall. He was accompanied by not only Vincent, but Hiroyuki and Shake as well, who had decided to join them. Yuffie was still upstairs getting dressed for the day.
He scanned the people coming and going from the kitchen to the main hall, arms full of boxes and decorations. Stomach appeased, the Turk pushed his empty plate away and sipped his tea. “Something happen?”
“Just the usual,” muttered Vincent. “All we can do for now is try to keep out-maneuvering Shinshuro until he gets frustrated. Then he’ll either make an error, or a decisive move.”
Reno pulled a face. “I hate waiting.”
“I don’t like it either. I nearly killed him after her purity test.”
“What did he do?”
Vincent swallowed the rest of his tea. “He touched her.”
Reno nodded. “That’ll do it. Why didn’t you kill him?”
“Yuffie. Politics.”
“Figures.” He nodded at all the people milling about. “And what’s all this then?”
“They are preparing the banquet hall for Yuffie’s Jubilee,” said Shake. “It will be indoors, black tie affair, with acrobats, local cuisine, entertainment, exhibitions of ninja fighting skills. The whole kit and caboodle, as Yuffie keeps saying.”
“I get to dance with the Empress, but I have to put on a fancy Kimono.” A barely recognizable look of distaste crossed Hiroyuki’s stoic features, and it pretty much said everything there was to say about dressing up.
“Royal life is a pain in the ass, Hiro. Even when you’re fakin’ it,” Reno muttered sarcastically. “Hey, I can ask Rufus to authorize some extra security to help out for the night, if you want.”
Shake shook his head. “That’s very generous of you, Reno, but Yuffie is adamant that–”
A loud crash from inside the kitchens cut his words short. When the yelling started, all four men rose in unison and ran towards the noise.
Several people in the kitchens were wielding cooking utensils and pots, and a large group of them had gathered close to an exit that led into the main corridor of the pagoda. The four of them pushed through the crowd to see what was happening.
There, trapped on the floor tiles, was a young woman dressed in nondescript royal kitchen staff garb. She was flat on her stomach, struggling, her face red with anger. There was a heavyset woman in her forties wearing a chef’s uniform sitting on her back with her large palm pushing down on the woman’s neck. Neeri was behind her, holding their captive’s ankles in her tiny iron hands, clasping them to her chest. Two more chefs, who oddly enough looked exactly alike, stood in front of them, one with an iron frying pan in his grip, the other with a meat cleaver. They were screaming at the woman in Wutai, in a country dialect with a thick accent.
“What did you do to the Empress’ food!” the pan-wielding one bellowed.
“What did you come here for? Who sent you here?” the other one screamed, pointing at her with his cleaver.
An old man stood off to the side, wearing a butcher’s apron, puffing and wheezing. He was trying to catch his breath, and Vincent recognized one of the servers as she held him up with her arm around his waist.
Everyone looked furious.
“What happened in here?” Hiroyuki said, in his loud voice. He’d grown to hate using his status as the ‘Prince’ for anything, but if it got him the answers in a hurry, he’d do it.
“I caught,” the old man breathed hard, pointing to the woman where she lay on the floor struggling under the chef, who was sitting on her like a placid Buddha. The man took another breath and continued. “I caught her switching,” he wheezed again, “switching out a bag of rice. She’s…” he coughed, and the server pat him on his back gently. “She’s not one of the inventory regulars. Then I… I yelled, and… she ran.”
One of the busboys brought the old man a glass of water and a chair.
“And who are you?” Hiroyuki said to the woman.
“Someone you’ll regret hurting, ninja.” She smiled up at him darkly, her hair sticking to her sweaty forehead.
“I know who she is,” an annoyed voice said, and Reno jumped again.
Chekov appeared out of nowhere, gently pushing Reno out of the way. When the councilwoman squatted down next to the perpetrator, the chef with the meat cleaver stomped on the woman’s arm because he decided it was simply too close to Chekov’s feet.
The woman screamed in pain. When she was done making noise, Chekov tilted her head and looked her over.
“Alanah Nerium, isn’t it?”
Many in the kitchen staff nodded, others gasped.
“Who?” said Reno under his breath to Vincent.
“Shinshuro’s mistress. The one that poisoned Godo.” His face went dark. “The Empress’ childhood friend Yuri died getting that information to her.”
“Excellent job, everyone,” Shake praised them all. “You are a credit to the safety of this pagoda, and the Empress will be made aware of your actions today.”
“Anything to help Empress Yuffie,” said the chef sitting on Nerium’s back. She had a cute baby-voice, and when she smiled she dimpled sweetly.
“Neeri,” Hiroyuki said pointedly, looking at the young girl. “What were you doing down here in the kitchens anyway?”
“Uh… snacking between meals?” She looked up at her not-quite-stepfather sheepishly, and shrugged.
Shake sighed. “Go get the Empress,” he barked at the girl, and she was off like a shot, unmercifully dropping Nerium’s feet on the cold tiles.
+
“You are the one that poisoned the Emperor-Father?”
“Kisaragi Godo was an outdated fool,” Nerium gasped, spitting out her words from a very bloody mouth. “He needed to die.”
Yuffie nodded. “And you came here to poison the food for my Jubilee?”
“No, I came here to poison you. If some of your friends die in the process, it’s just as well.”
After several hours of torture while tied backwards to a hard wooden chair, Alanah Nerium had confessed to everything. They had taken her down to an unused room on the lower level, and through a unique blend of both ninja and Turk methods, Shake, Reno, Vincent and Hiroyuki got her spilling her guts – almost literally.
Yuffie was only let in afterwards, and although she took umbrage to that decision, she didn’t pull rank on her four champions.
They couldn’t be sure just how much of the stock had been tainted, though, so Yuffie ordered that every scrap of food be destroyed and replaced with fresh supplies from the Arms and Legs, paying them double for the inconvenience.
There was only ne drawback. Nerium never mentioned Shinshuro or the Movement by name. She claimed to have acted on her own.
“I think we’ve gotten everything out of this person that we are going to get,” Yuffie said coldly. “Unless you boys would like to try some other methods?”
Reno’s eyes lit up, and Vincent hn’d. She turned back to her father’s assassin.
“Kisaragi Godo was a great leader. I only pray that I can measure up to his sandals one day.”
“He was an antique–”
Yuffie backhanded Nerium hard across the face, twice, her eyes narrowing like sharp black ice. Reno and Vincent glanced at each other, slightly concerned. Hiroyuki held his head up, but he too was wary that Yuffie not get carried away by feelings of vengence.
No matter how much time passed with Vincent living, eating and breathing All Things Wutai, he was never going to get used to the native population’s indifference to their very bloody past. There was no quarter given to a criminal, male or female, and your executioner could just as likely be a woman as a man. Wutai still had an agricultural economy, which on the surface made it appear very far behind places like Edge and the Gold Saucer – but the Wutai were light years ahead in gender equality. When Yuffie displayed this behavior, it was innate, and he was reminded once again that she was from a world very different to his own.
“You stole my father from me, and you will not speak of him anymore,” she said, voice shaking just a bit. Nerium’s head lolled to the side as she tried desperately to focus on the small woman in front of her.
Hiroyuki put a hand to Yuffie’s arm. “I beg you, let them handle the rest of this, Empress,” he whispered. “Don’t trouble yourself with her any further.”
“She’s in your hands, then,” she said to the other three men, voice tight. Then she turned on her geta’d heel and left the room.
“I’ll watch over her until you return,” Hiroyuki said to Vincent, slipping out of the room.
They worked her over for another hour or so, but Nerium had clearly given up everything she was going to. Half-dead, broken and bleeding, she sagged in the chair, and the ropes were the only thing left holding her up.
“I played my part in the transformation of Wutai,” she half-gasped, half-whispered. “When I die, I will do so proudly.”
“Oh, man… I have heard enough of this crap.” Reno glanced at Vincent casually. “You wanna do her? Or can I?”
“I have it.” Vincent never took his eyes off Alanah Nerium’s face, and he watched with satisfaction as her expression finally changed to one of panic.
“You won’t get away with this… If you kill me he’ll come here. He’ll burn this palace to the ground along with everyone in it.”
“All that, just for you?” Reno scoffed. “Bitch, please.”
“You can’t just–”
Vincent wrapped his golden fingers around her neck, and snapped it.
He stood up, nodding at Shake, knowing full well the ninja would find a bonfire somewhere and finish the job for him.
“Reno. About that extra security you mentioned earlier.”
“You got it.”
+
“What?! I didn’t sanction that,” Shinshuro spat when he found out his mistress got herself caught. “Who the hell told her to do that?”
“She must have acted on her own, Sir,” Norio said meekly.
“Do we know what she told them?”
“That would be impossible, Sir. We haven’t had an operative in the pagoda since you sent her there last year. The only reason we know as much as we do is because it was overheard by one of our people in the village.”
Shinshuro curled his lip. “Can we assume they tortured her?”
“Yes… but she did go through the conditioning, so I doubt she mentioned you.”
“Is she dead?”
“We don’t know that either. But it’s very likely.”
Shinshuro hummed to himself. “No big loss… She was too damn dramatic about everything and had become a liability anyway. If they did kill her, our only concern is that she was the one who collected and distilled the poison when we needed it. So we are going to have to get someone to replace her, someone with enough skill to deal with those ridiculous monsters.” He curled his lip. “It’s just too bad that her little plan failed, but… all I can say is good riddance to a great fuck.”
He stomped down the hall with Norio skulking after him, wondering why on Gaia he hadn’t just stayed on his uncle’s sheep ranch when he was given the opportunity.
+
“So she’s dead, then?”
“Yes. I did it.”
Yuffie shook her head. “I’m sorry. It should have been me doing that. To take the responsibility, to avenge Godo. But instead I walked away, and you had to take care of it.”
Vincent fell quiet and looked down at her small hands resting on her lap. A dark look passed over his features. “Vincent?” she asked. He shook his head, trying to find the words. For a moment she thought he was going to shut down again, but he finally spoke.
“Yuffie… ending a person’s life is a great deal different than killing a monster. It is my intention, and not just as your bodyguard, but as your friend… that you never have to soil your hands with such a thing. It isn’t a road I want you going down.”
She nodded, frowning. “All right. I’m not going to argue with you. I just…. I feel like a damn hypocrite, is all.”
“Do not. It wasn’t my first time. I was a Turk, remember? It was my decision to end her life, not your order.”
“Okay,” she said, sighing. “Okay. But I’m sorry you gotta do such things. I’m sorry this whole thing is becoming such a clusterfuck. I knew Shinshuro was going to be trouble, but I didn’t think…” She swallowed hard, unable to finish.
“It isn’t so small anymore. Ultimately, he is responsible for Godo’s poisoning, and now he has tried to poison you. I am not sure of the extent of his plans, or even what he has already set in motion, but I wouldn’t put anything past him.”
When she did not respond, Vincent kneeled in front of her, looking concerned at the lost expression on her face. “You are well protected. If we need to increase our forces, I will have it done.”
“All those resources for just me… Gawd, Vince, there are more important concerns in Wutai right now than just–”
“No, there aren’t.” He took one of her hands and squeezed it gently. When she opened her mouth he knew it was to protest again, so he continued. “Yuffie, you are Wutai to many of your people… our people. They’d be devastated if something happened to you. They’d lose hope.”
She sighed again, rubbing her face and looking more exhausted than Vincent had ever seen her look. He doubted anything else he could say would get her mind off of things, and there wasn’t much else he could do beyond keeping her company.
“Do you want me to have something brought up? Something sweet maybe?” He ducked his head lower, giving her a tiny smile and trying to force eye contact.
Unable to stop herself, she did smile at him. After all, Vincent Valentine was literally trying to ply her with sweets. Under better circumstances, she’d have been sitting in his lap by now, eating chocolates and playing with his hair.
“I’ll… I’ll be all right. Just don’t–”
Yuffie clammed up, biting her lip. Vincent leaned closer to her. “Don’t what?”
“I don’t feel like much of a leader. I know it’s silly, but I’m scared Vincent. Don’t leave me alone. Not tonight… okay?”
+
Vincent appropriated one of the stuffed chairs and a small table with an oil lamp from in front of Yuffie’s fireplace, and set them by the foot of her bed. He angled the chair so that he could see out her window as well as watch her sleep. He was far enough away for propriety’s sake, but close enough to eliminate any sudden threats, just the same as it was for them during the day in the public eye.
Only this was very much so not the public eye. This was her bedroom, and regardless of the circumstances he was about to spend the night in it.
It wasn’t like they hadn’t ever done such a thing before, slept in the same room. Avalanche never had much money for posh Inns or separate rooms, and their work since then for the WRO had only offered the most meager of accommodations. Yuffie and Vincent themselves had to share a room on more than one occasion. It had never been a big deal, even with her bi-annual offer hanging over their heads – back then he simply forced the lone bed on her and slept on the floor.
They were working, then. This felt… different.
Yuffie emerged from the bathroom finally, dressed in a tank top and thin shorts, with a plain silk sleeping yukata hanging loose over that. Vincent turned from where he was admiring the things she had decorating the wall over her bed. Her skin was damp from the heat of her bath and her cheeks were flushed.
Pretty…
Yup.
Looking back at her things, he said, “I recognize most of these. But not all of them.”
“Oh,” she said, tossing her towel into the hamper. “What don’t you know about?” she asked, glancing nervously at the chair and table he had moved.
“This is from Tifa’s bar, yes?”
He pointed to an old plastic placemat, decorated with green moogles and stained with liquor and coffee.
“Yeah. From my twenty-third birthday, remember? That was my placemat, whenever I visited her.”
“And that?” He pointed to an old picture, the sort that was developed and not printed.
“That’s Mama. She was fifteen there.”
Vincent paused before saying, “You really do look like her.”
She smiled, her eyes sliding to another picture, this one of her and Godo. She looked to be about ten, and they were standing together in the outstretched palm of the middle statue on Da Choa. He had his arm around her, and they were both sweaty and dirty and grinning like fools. Vincent could only wonder who had taken the picture.
“You remember that, of course,” she said, smiling and pointing at the hair wreath he had given her.
“Hn.”
“Do you still have the rest of it?”
“Of course.”
“Here, I mean? In Wutai?”
“Yes.” He sighed, thinking of his pack in his own room, and how he still hadn’t ‘settled in’ as Chekov had put it. “You should get some sleep, Yuffie. It was a trying day.”
She looked down at her bed and curled her lip. “Ugh.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Stupid bed.”
“You don’t like it? It’s spectacular… lavish.”
“Yeah, it’s beautiful, fit for an Empress, ‘cuz it’s the traditional bed of the Wutai Monarch, and by that I mean that aside from a brand new mattress, it’s the actual bed that my ancestors slept in, yadda, all that. I had it brought in here after Godo died. Getting a different one would be very frivolous, which is not the image I want to project. Besides, it is incredibly comfortable.” She winced. “As long as I ignore the fact that I was conceived in it.”
He laughed quietly. “Yes, I can see how that might affect a person.”
Vincent moved to the chair and sat down in it as she took off her yukata and got under the covers. Sitting up for a moment, she looked at him and spoke.
“You won’t sleep?”
“I only need a small amounts here and there. Sometimes I need more.” He frowned. She already knew that.
“Like when?”
“When I physically exhaust myself, or when I’m injured, I take more sleep. But… I am also requiring more sleep as time goes by since Chaos…”
He let that one go, and she did not push it.
Yuffie noticed the book in his hand, an old tome on Wutai martial arts. Pointing at it, she said, “I won’t be able fall asleep with the oil lamp on full blast.”
He nodded. “That’s fine. I can read in the dark, just as well as any other time,” he said, frowning again.
She knows all this about me. Something is bothering her.
“Yuffie?”
Shrugging, Yuffie gave up. “Okay. You’re sure about this… right?” Vincent truly did not understand her question. She sighed, realizing she was going to have to explain herself. “You being in my chambers all night, ten feet away from me, watching me sleep in my jammies…” Her voice trailed off as a blush colored her skin, right down to her bare shoulders.
Ah. She is thinking of scandal.
No she isn’t, dumbass. She’s thinking about how annoyed you got with her previous advances. She doesn’t want to annoy you again.
Vincent tried to ignore Galian and addressed the pajama-clad girl sitting before him in the big, inviting, room-for-more bed. He cleared his throat.
“I swore an oath of fealty to you, Yuffie. I will protect you any way I can.”
Oh, gods… You sure are romantic.
“Yeah,” she said, trying to hide the crestfallen sound in her voice. “Yeah, the oath.” She looked down at her quilt. Sighing, she tucked herself into bed and flipped over, facing away from him.
After dimming the oil lamp to nearly nothing, Vincent settled his book on his lap. Her apparent disappointment in his answer bothered him, though, and he wanted her to understand his intentions.
Then make them clear. The Empress is not a mind reader.
“Yuffie?”
“Yeah?”
“I would not be here if I did not elect to be.”
“I know that. Thank you. G‘night, Vinnie.”
He paused at her lack of enthusiasm. Apparently his explanation hadn’t come out the way he’d intended, either.
That’s because you should have said want, not elect. Odin’s olives, boy, am I going to have to teach you everything about women?
Shut up, Galian.
“Goodnight, Yuffie.”
Moron.
+
By the time she woke up the next day, Vincent was gone.
Yuffie tried to tell herself that feeling disappointed about that was just plain silly.
She rose, threw her yukata back on, and opened her door just a crack to address the two ninja in the hall. She let them know she was awake and was going to clean up and head down for breakfast before meeting with the council.
She tried not to wallow, but it was so hard now… Vincent was around her almost all day and all night. She found herself wanting more from him, even though she swore she’d never do that again. She wouldn’t dare initiate anything, not now. Not after what happened the first time.
He was great at his job, of course – loyal, dedicated, bringing all those wonderful traits of his with him now that he was in service to her. They were comrades, brothers in arms, and he cared… Of that she was sure.
Yet, how much of that concern was from what he felt for her and how much of if was out of a sense of duty had become blurry. No matter the answer, his feelings only went so far. He was a good friend, very protective, and he had all that decency in him, which was surely what guided his decision to come to Wutai and watch over her–
But it had sunk in, finally, that he did not want her. Not like that.
She sat down in the bathtub and cried a bit under the shower, and reminded herself to get it all out and clean her face off good, lest he smell the tears and the distress on her and start asking questions. That was a discussion she didn’t want to have.
Her Jubliee was only eight days away, and she had a lot of work to do.
+
Tifa set a massive serving of fries and a cheeseburger in front of Reno, and his eyes lit up. He always seemed to have room for more food, no matter where he was, what time it was, or what kind of food was set in front of him.
Before he started scarfing the fries, she slid into the other side of the booth he was in as he politely finished telling her the tale of how Cid and Shera had gotten into a huge row right in front of him when he’d delivered their invitations that morning.
“Cid insisted she not make the trip, due to the fact that she’s – and I quote – ‘as large as a fuckin’ house and just aboutta blow’.”
Tifa’s mouth hung open. “He didn’t! He said that to her?” she asked, eyes flashing. “What an idiot.”
“Yeah,” Reno laughed, ripping open and pouring several packets of sugar into his iced tea. “Then she smacked him on the back of his head, like, really hard, and started screaming. Cid looked like he was in a damn coma by the time she was finished with him. It was cool,” he chuckled.
“Serves him right, the silly jackass.” Tifa tucked her hair behind her ear. “Um… Shera’s going, right?”
“Oh yeah,” the Turk said, grinning at her. “Wouldn’t miss it.”
“Good. Now… Would you mind if I asked you something else, and if I asked you keep it to yourself?”
Reno drained half his sugary tea, then set the glass down and looked at her.
“Look, Tifa… I know I got a rep for being a playboy and a motor-mouth, and both of those are totally deserved. But just because I talk a lot doesn’t mean I talk about other’s people’s private business – not if they’ve sworn me to secrecy. So, yeah, I can keep a secret. And, no, Yuffie and Valentine are not having sex.”
She winced, looking away. “Damn it all.”
“I know. I agree.”
“What is the friggen’ hold up?”
“All I did was watch, I didn’t ask, so this is all conjecture, okay?” She nodded. “She thinks he’s not interested. He missed the boat on an upfront real relationship with her. She’s resigned, and he’s… well, he’s slow. And by that, I don’t mean he’s thick. I mean, he ain’t me. Valentine plays for keeps.” He cleared his throat. “But the real shame is that they are dancing around it, afraid to just take what they want. And a guy like that might not ever be able to just–” he gestured with his hands, “go be a concubine. Not because he wants more, necessarily, but because he wants more for her.”
“They’re stuck.”
“Yeah, and I ain’t pushing anymore than I already have.”
She sighed. “Okay… So tell me about this ninja she married.”
“A total stand-up guy. Loyal to her house. Bad Ass Scary in a fight. And, completely in love with the pretty gal that’s running Yuffie’s brand new in-pagoda medical facility.”
Tifa rolled her eyes. “There went that.”
“Yep.”
She got up from across the booth and gently punched the Turk’s shoulder as he bit into his hamburger.
Going back upstairs, Tifa hiked her leg over the baby gate at the top of the stairwell. As she walked slowly down the hall to Elise’s nursery, she touched the thick, handmade paper invitation again, fingers dancing over the blue words that had been beautifully inked by hand. Her mind raced, eager to see Yuffie again.

You are Cordially Invited to Attend

The First Annual Jubilee of

Empress Kisaragi Yuffie

To be Held on Saturday, September Ninth

In The Kisaragi Clan Pagoda

Join Us as We Celebrate Her First Year as

Wutia’s Authority Most High

Black Tie

Regrets Only

She leaned in the doorway of the nursery and smirked while watching her daughter show off her latest skill, as she had just started crawling. Elise made her way over to where her father had unfortunately passed out on the floor while playing with her. The energetic little girl grabbed fistfuls of spikey blond hair and yanked like there was no tomorrow, trying like hell to get them into her mouth.
Cloud didn’t even wake up.

+

tbc

+

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Empress & Concubine