Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny's Truth ❯ Paper Lanterns ( Chapter 4 )
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: Trick Sparrow 
Vincent finds that his young companion is much more special than he had imagined.
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.16.2001 | Pages: 1 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 357 | Status: Completed
Vincent finds that his young companion is much more special than he had imagined.
Non Anime: Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Romance | Type: Continuation | Uploaded On: 09.16.2001 | Pages: 1 | Words: 1.8K | Visits: 357 | Status: Completed
I instantly recognized whose room I was in when I woke up. I was lying in an enormous heap of soft pillows, and when I scanned the room, I saw boxes of materia stacked against one wall. Yuffie's Conformer leaned against another wall, and I sleeping bag lay unrolled in the corner, on top of a tatami mat.
I tried to sit up, and a groan escaped me when my head suddenly started pounding. Yuffie heard me and came rushing into the room. "Vincent, don't strain yourself! Lie back down." She gently helped me back onto the pillows, and for the first time I realized that I was shirtless, and my torso was bound in wrappings.
"How are you feeling?" she asked softly.
I held my head, wincing. "I've been better." I blinked at her, trying to keep my eyes focused. "What exactly happened in the forest?"
"A big ugly Behemoth attacked you and raked its claws across your back," she replied, gesturing emphatically. "I killed it with my Conformer, but when I pushed the stupid thing off you, you were unconscious. So I found your retard chocobo, mounted you on it, and brought you here."
A new thought came to me. "How long have I been asleep?"
"About a day and a half." Her voice suddenly broke. "I've been checking your wounds, never leaving your side. I was... so afraid you wouldn't wake up, Vincent."
She was going to cry, I just knew it. God, why did I seem to make her burst into tears so bloody often?
"Yuffie," I said taking her hand into both of mine, "You saved my life. I owe everything to you."
She hit me lightly on the arm. "Hey, what are best friends for, Vinnie-baby? Am I your hero now?"
I tilted my head thoughtfully, my ebony hair falling in front of my eyes. "Yes, you are, Yuffie."
She brushed my hair out of my face with her free hand, and I saw that she had tears in her eyes.
That night Yuffie made egg flower soup for dinner. She laughed as she watched me consume it in record time. After we both had finished, she ordered me to lie on my stomach. In the soft light of her lanterns, she unbound my wounds with an astonishing gentleness. "This is going to hurt, so try not to scream, " she said good-naturedly.
"I'll do my best, Yuffie-san." I turned my head to look at her, and she was staring at the slashmarks intently. Her brow creased slightly in thought, and she shook her head, strands of chocolate hair swishing back and forth.
*Good heavens, she's beautiful,* I thought, smiling at her tenderly. She didn't seem to notice.
"Well, your cuts stopped bleeding, but they're still all nasty," she said eloquently. "I'm gonna have to clean them."
Suddenly I felt a slight pain on my shoulder blade. I was surprised that it didn't hurt more, but I breathed in through my teeth, trying not to gasp.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "But it has to be done. Hold onto my hand if you need something to squeeze."
I took her hand graciously as she continued cleaning my wounds. She yelped in pain a couple of times, and I apologized for gripping her hand too hard. I was amazed at how expertly she cared for my injuries. She was even more mature than I had imagined.
Finally she wrapped my wounds again and allowed me to sit back up. "Don't do anything too strenuous for a while," she said.
I nodded and leaned gratefully against the pillows. Yuffie blew out the lanterns and crawled into her sleeping bag, staring up at the ceiling. After a while I broke the silence. "Yuffie?"
"Yeah, Vinnie?"
"Do you believe in destiny?"
She rolled to one side and looked at me. "Yeah, I do. Why?"
"It seems to me," I said quietly, resting my clawed hand on my chest, "that if destiny were real, then I must deserve this life. And I don't see how ANYONE could deserve what Hojo did to me, except perhaps Hojo himself."
"You DON'T deserve it, Vincent," said Yuffie. "You're a kind, compassionate man. But... I don't think destiny works like that. Destiny works to control the GOOD things in your life."
I turned to her. "How so?"
"Well, I would have never met any of you if the Planet had been in danger. Neither would you. You'd probably be sleeping with the bats down in that basement. Don't you feel lucky Cloud woke you up?"
"Yes, very lucky," I admitted.
"And now you're here with me," she whispered.
In her voice, I detected some emotion that I couldn't place. I whispered back, "For that I am VERY lucky."
She smiled and put a finger to her lips, mimicking my actions that night in the desert. "Sleep, Vinnie. You need it."
The next day my nurse permitted me to go outside. She held onto my arm in a death grip as she led me around Wutai. The residents, who I had become familiar with the last few times I visited the town, greeted me and treated me like a helpless quadriplegic, making meals and running unnecessary errands for me. It was thoroughly humiliating.
Yuffie took me everywhere, on walks over the bridge, through paths in the forest. I was grateful for her company, and it took everything I had not to confess my love for her. Unfortunately, her father saw right through me.
Yuffie and I had joined Lord Godo for tea one day, and without warning, the man dismissed her daughter. "Yuffie-chan, why don't you go refill the teapot? It's running a little low. Vincent and I can have a man-to-man chat."
She cast me a worried glance and stood up. "I'm not sure if I trust you, Otou-san, but all right." She took the teapot and left the room.
Lord Godo watched her leave, and suddenly leaned forward across the short table to me. "Now about this matter between you and Yuffie."
I blinked. "What matter, Lord Godo?"
"I must admit, I was surprised to find you had feelings for my daughter, and it worried me at first, considering how much older you are." He leaned back, sighing. "But now I can see you truly love her, and I don't object to the idea of you marrying her."
I shook myself out of my shock and managed to find my voice again. "I promise I will protect Yuffie with my life, Lord Godo."
He smirked. "Oh, I'm not worried about that. Yuffie-chan can take care of herself. I'm just glad to see she can take care of YOU!"
Yuffie returned and set a full pot of green tea on the table. After she sat down next to me in the traditional pose, she looked up at me. "Sooo, what did you guys talk about?"
I looked at her father in alarm, but he shook his head. "Never mind, Yuffie-chan. You'll find out soon enough." He winked at me.
"Oh, GAWD!" she exclaimed, the sixteen-year-old in her coming to the surface. "What did he tell you, Vinnie? Did he tell you any embarrassing stories about me? If he did--"
"No, Yuffie, dear." I patted her head reassuringly. "You can sleep sound tonight."
"Come here, Vinnie, I'm going to show you how to make a paper lantern." Yuffie led me out of her house, carrying a stack of rice paper, some sticks, and various art supplies. It was the night before the Lantern Festival, and she sat down cross-legged on the bridge overlooking the quietly gurgling creek, motioning for me to sit beside her.
She gave me some rice paper sheets and paint. "Before you put it together, you have to make some kind of design on the paper. And if you even THINK of painting spiders and cobwebs all over it, I'll knock you into the creek."
I smirked. "Don't worry, I'm not THAT morbid." I began painting some of the koi I saw swimming in the water, and I looked over at what Yuffie was painting. She had lain four square sheets in a row and was painting a gorgeously elaborate sea serpent across them. I watched her brush move deftly across the rice paper, astonished.
"Yuffie, I never knew you were such a talented artist!"
She grinned. "I'm just full of surprises," she replied in a mock accent. Apparently she had heard me when I was playing Tifa's piano.
I watched her some more. "Is that Leviathan?"
She nodded. "The great Water God himself. I've never tried painting him before, but since he's such a huge part of our heritage, I decided to do it for this occasion."
After we finished painting, we assembled our lanterns and put a tealight inside each and lit them. The goldfish on mine looked as if they were were swimming lazily through a glowing pond, and Yuffie's serpent was simply breathtaking now that it was illuminated.
"Good job, Vinnie-baby," she said, yawning. "You successfully made a paper lantern without setting fire to anything." She took off her shoes and socks and dipped her feet into the flowing water. The moon left its distorted reflection on the creek, and the stars were more visible than I've ever seen them.
Yuffie yawned again. "Tired."
Ignoring all my inhibitions, I slid next to her and put my human arm around her shoulders. She was surprised, but offered no resistance as I laid her head on my chest. Before long she was asleep.
I breathed deeply, stroking her hair. Despite my love for the young ninja, I couldn't get past the fact that she was so MUCH younger than me. What would the others say? They would call me a cradle-robber, that's what they would say. I wasn't sure if Cloud really believed it was right, and I was DEFINITELY not sure if even I believed it was right.
As Cid would so elegantly put it: #%$^&.
------------------------------
Will Vincent choose love over conscience? Find out when I get around to writing the next chapter. By the way, in case you haven't noticed by the way I write about it, I love Wutai. It's so pretty! I love the pagodas, I love the creek, I love everything about it. Except for Da-Chao. I actually think it's weird and kind of scary. Anyway, aww! I love this story so much more than its prequel! Oh, and if you haven't read it, you really should. All the references in here will make a lot more sense.
Trick Sparrow
I tried to sit up, and a groan escaped me when my head suddenly started pounding. Yuffie heard me and came rushing into the room. "Vincent, don't strain yourself! Lie back down." She gently helped me back onto the pillows, and for the first time I realized that I was shirtless, and my torso was bound in wrappings.
"How are you feeling?" she asked softly.
I held my head, wincing. "I've been better." I blinked at her, trying to keep my eyes focused. "What exactly happened in the forest?"
"A big ugly Behemoth attacked you and raked its claws across your back," she replied, gesturing emphatically. "I killed it with my Conformer, but when I pushed the stupid thing off you, you were unconscious. So I found your retard chocobo, mounted you on it, and brought you here."
A new thought came to me. "How long have I been asleep?"
"About a day and a half." Her voice suddenly broke. "I've been checking your wounds, never leaving your side. I was... so afraid you wouldn't wake up, Vincent."
She was going to cry, I just knew it. God, why did I seem to make her burst into tears so bloody often?
"Yuffie," I said taking her hand into both of mine, "You saved my life. I owe everything to you."
She hit me lightly on the arm. "Hey, what are best friends for, Vinnie-baby? Am I your hero now?"
I tilted my head thoughtfully, my ebony hair falling in front of my eyes. "Yes, you are, Yuffie."
She brushed my hair out of my face with her free hand, and I saw that she had tears in her eyes.
That night Yuffie made egg flower soup for dinner. She laughed as she watched me consume it in record time. After we both had finished, she ordered me to lie on my stomach. In the soft light of her lanterns, she unbound my wounds with an astonishing gentleness. "This is going to hurt, so try not to scream, " she said good-naturedly.
"I'll do my best, Yuffie-san." I turned my head to look at her, and she was staring at the slashmarks intently. Her brow creased slightly in thought, and she shook her head, strands of chocolate hair swishing back and forth.
*Good heavens, she's beautiful,* I thought, smiling at her tenderly. She didn't seem to notice.
"Well, your cuts stopped bleeding, but they're still all nasty," she said eloquently. "I'm gonna have to clean them."
Suddenly I felt a slight pain on my shoulder blade. I was surprised that it didn't hurt more, but I breathed in through my teeth, trying not to gasp.
"I'm sorry," she said softly. "But it has to be done. Hold onto my hand if you need something to squeeze."
I took her hand graciously as she continued cleaning my wounds. She yelped in pain a couple of times, and I apologized for gripping her hand too hard. I was amazed at how expertly she cared for my injuries. She was even more mature than I had imagined.
Finally she wrapped my wounds again and allowed me to sit back up. "Don't do anything too strenuous for a while," she said.
I nodded and leaned gratefully against the pillows. Yuffie blew out the lanterns and crawled into her sleeping bag, staring up at the ceiling. After a while I broke the silence. "Yuffie?"
"Yeah, Vinnie?"
"Do you believe in destiny?"
She rolled to one side and looked at me. "Yeah, I do. Why?"
"It seems to me," I said quietly, resting my clawed hand on my chest, "that if destiny were real, then I must deserve this life. And I don't see how ANYONE could deserve what Hojo did to me, except perhaps Hojo himself."
"You DON'T deserve it, Vincent," said Yuffie. "You're a kind, compassionate man. But... I don't think destiny works like that. Destiny works to control the GOOD things in your life."
I turned to her. "How so?"
"Well, I would have never met any of you if the Planet had been in danger. Neither would you. You'd probably be sleeping with the bats down in that basement. Don't you feel lucky Cloud woke you up?"
"Yes, very lucky," I admitted.
"And now you're here with me," she whispered.
In her voice, I detected some emotion that I couldn't place. I whispered back, "For that I am VERY lucky."
She smiled and put a finger to her lips, mimicking my actions that night in the desert. "Sleep, Vinnie. You need it."
The next day my nurse permitted me to go outside. She held onto my arm in a death grip as she led me around Wutai. The residents, who I had become familiar with the last few times I visited the town, greeted me and treated me like a helpless quadriplegic, making meals and running unnecessary errands for me. It was thoroughly humiliating.
Yuffie took me everywhere, on walks over the bridge, through paths in the forest. I was grateful for her company, and it took everything I had not to confess my love for her. Unfortunately, her father saw right through me.
Yuffie and I had joined Lord Godo for tea one day, and without warning, the man dismissed her daughter. "Yuffie-chan, why don't you go refill the teapot? It's running a little low. Vincent and I can have a man-to-man chat."
She cast me a worried glance and stood up. "I'm not sure if I trust you, Otou-san, but all right." She took the teapot and left the room.
Lord Godo watched her leave, and suddenly leaned forward across the short table to me. "Now about this matter between you and Yuffie."
I blinked. "What matter, Lord Godo?"
"I must admit, I was surprised to find you had feelings for my daughter, and it worried me at first, considering how much older you are." He leaned back, sighing. "But now I can see you truly love her, and I don't object to the idea of you marrying her."
I shook myself out of my shock and managed to find my voice again. "I promise I will protect Yuffie with my life, Lord Godo."
He smirked. "Oh, I'm not worried about that. Yuffie-chan can take care of herself. I'm just glad to see she can take care of YOU!"
Yuffie returned and set a full pot of green tea on the table. After she sat down next to me in the traditional pose, she looked up at me. "Sooo, what did you guys talk about?"
I looked at her father in alarm, but he shook his head. "Never mind, Yuffie-chan. You'll find out soon enough." He winked at me.
"Oh, GAWD!" she exclaimed, the sixteen-year-old in her coming to the surface. "What did he tell you, Vinnie? Did he tell you any embarrassing stories about me? If he did--"
"No, Yuffie, dear." I patted her head reassuringly. "You can sleep sound tonight."
"Come here, Vinnie, I'm going to show you how to make a paper lantern." Yuffie led me out of her house, carrying a stack of rice paper, some sticks, and various art supplies. It was the night before the Lantern Festival, and she sat down cross-legged on the bridge overlooking the quietly gurgling creek, motioning for me to sit beside her.
She gave me some rice paper sheets and paint. "Before you put it together, you have to make some kind of design on the paper. And if you even THINK of painting spiders and cobwebs all over it, I'll knock you into the creek."
I smirked. "Don't worry, I'm not THAT morbid." I began painting some of the koi I saw swimming in the water, and I looked over at what Yuffie was painting. She had lain four square sheets in a row and was painting a gorgeously elaborate sea serpent across them. I watched her brush move deftly across the rice paper, astonished.
"Yuffie, I never knew you were such a talented artist!"
She grinned. "I'm just full of surprises," she replied in a mock accent. Apparently she had heard me when I was playing Tifa's piano.
I watched her some more. "Is that Leviathan?"
She nodded. "The great Water God himself. I've never tried painting him before, but since he's such a huge part of our heritage, I decided to do it for this occasion."
After we finished painting, we assembled our lanterns and put a tealight inside each and lit them. The goldfish on mine looked as if they were were swimming lazily through a glowing pond, and Yuffie's serpent was simply breathtaking now that it was illuminated.
"Good job, Vinnie-baby," she said, yawning. "You successfully made a paper lantern without setting fire to anything." She took off her shoes and socks and dipped her feet into the flowing water. The moon left its distorted reflection on the creek, and the stars were more visible than I've ever seen them.
Yuffie yawned again. "Tired."
Ignoring all my inhibitions, I slid next to her and put my human arm around her shoulders. She was surprised, but offered no resistance as I laid her head on my chest. Before long she was asleep.
I breathed deeply, stroking her hair. Despite my love for the young ninja, I couldn't get past the fact that she was so MUCH younger than me. What would the others say? They would call me a cradle-robber, that's what they would say. I wasn't sure if Cloud really believed it was right, and I was DEFINITELY not sure if even I believed it was right.
As Cid would so elegantly put it: #%$^&.
------------------------------
Will Vincent choose love over conscience? Find out when I get around to writing the next chapter. By the way, in case you haven't noticed by the way I write about it, I love Wutai. It's so pretty! I love the pagodas, I love the creek, I love everything about it. Except for Da-Chao. I actually think it's weird and kind of scary. Anyway, aww! I love this story so much more than its prequel! Oh, and if you haven't read it, you really should. All the references in here will make a lot more sense.
Trick Sparrow