Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Destiny's Truth ❯ Moonlight Sonata ( Chapter 2 )

[ P - Pre-Teen ]
Nearly everyone had gone to bed by the time I found the nerve to come back downstairs. Tifa had long since retired to her and Cloud's room, Reeve had deactivated himself for the night, and Barret was snoring at the dining room table with Red asleep at his feet. Cloud was sitting on the couch with Cid, who was discussing his plans for remodeling the Tiny Bronco. I could hear Yuffie washing dishes in the kitchen, singing softly to herself. Her soft, soothing voice finally gave me enough courage to walk up to the smoke-billowing pilot.
I took a deep breath. "Please forgive me for my earlier actions, Cid. They were completely uncalled for. I apologize."
His uneasiness faded marginally. "Hey, it's ah, it's no problem, Vince," he stammered. "My fault entirely. Don't... don't even think twice about it."
Cloude merely stared at me, his expression unreadable.
That task completed, I sighed inwardly and scanned the room for something else to busy myself with. My eyes fell upon the piano in the corner that the Strifes had retrieved from Tifa's old house. I decided to sit down, brushing my cape behind me. Teaching myself to play the piano had been one of the things I had taken an interest in besides assassinating people when I had been a Turk so many years ago. After shuffling through the collection of sheet music, I pulled out "Moonlight" Sonata and began to play.
Cloud looked up sharply. "I never knew you could play, Vincent!"
"I'm just full of surprises," I replied flatly without looking away. The metallic digits of my inhuman hand clicked almost inaudibly on the ivory keys as I played. Shortly after I started, I heard Yuffie's voice next to my ear, her warm breath sending unexpected shivers down my spine.
"Oh, Vinnie, that's so pretty!"
I looked up at her briefly, and my fingers almost slid off the keys. She was dressed only in a lavender silk nightgown with a slit halfway up her thigh, and her unbraided hair hung loosely about her slender neck. One of the straps fell down her delicate shoulder, and she blushed and pulled it back up.
I quickly turned back to the music sheets, attempting to calm my heart, which was slamming against my ribcage. *You have got some nerve, Valentine,* I thought angrily. *Gaping at a girl that way. At Yuffie Kisaragi, for that matter!*
I continued playing, turning the pages as I neared each one's end. Yuffie sat down in the armchair next to the piano and watched my every movement, enraptured like everyone else in the room. The soft, gloomy music echoed through the house. By the time I finished and looked away from the sheets, Cloud's expression was priceless.
"You never cease to amaze me, man," he said, shaking his head.
"Hey, look," said Cid in a hushed voice. "Dracula here finally got Yuffie to sleep!"
I turned to look at Yuffie and found her curled up in the armchair, fast asleep. Her chestnut hair cascaded around her neck and clung to her cheeks. Her mouth was slightly parted, making her appear even more vulnerable. I felt a familiar pang in my heart when she shifted and sighed in her sleep.
"Man, she's gonna be sore in the morning," said Cloud. "I fell asleep in that chair once and my neck was stiff for a week."
I walked to her wordlessly and lifted her into my arms, my human one under her knees and my brass one around her shoulders. Ignoring the scrutinizing looks of Cloud and Cid, I carried the young woman up the stairs to the office, where her mattress was.
The silk of her nightgown felt smooth against my skin, and the clean smell of her hair was intoxicating. I suddenly felt the same rush of protectiveness I had felt when I had held her in my arms that night in the desert, and I couldn't set her down. The most important thing in my life at that moment was Yuffie Kisaragi.
*What is wrong with you, Valentine!?* I asked myself harshly. *The girl is DECADES younger than you! These feelings go against every one of your moral values!*
I forced myself to lay Yuffie gently on the bed and pulled the covers over her. I brushed a chocolate tress out of her eyes, and she mumbled something I couldn't understand and smiled. My fingers absently tracing down her soft cheek, I sighed, knowing I could no longer fight my attraction to the young Wutainese materia hunter.
*Yuffie, love,* I thought in despair. *So many things that can never be.*
I stood up and turned around to leave. At once I was greeted by a pair of brilliant blue, Mako-infused eyes in the doorway.
"Cloud," I said, startled. "What is it?"
"Can I talk to you for a second, Vincent?" he asked, and I instantly knew what the subject would be.
I nodded and left the room, switching off the light and closing the door as I went. I followed the young blond down the hall and into my guest room, and he closed the door and sat down on the bed.
"You don't have to answer this if you don't want to, but..." He took a deep breath. "Are you in love with Yuffie?"
My eyes widened. I hadn't expected him to form the question so bluntly. Nevertheless, I remained composed. "Come now, Cloud," I said. "You, of all people, should know I'm no longer capable of feeling any emotions, certainly not one as strong as love."
He shook his head, his wild hair bouncing. "No, I don't believe that. We both know you have emotions like everyone else. If you don't, then what was that downstairs? That eruption on Cid, or picking up Yuffie and carrying her to bed? I saw the look on your face in the office, your hand on her cheek. I'm not blind."
I sighed and sat down next to him. "Assuming I DO love her," which I had come to the realization that I DID, "It's not all that simple. In fact, it's positively hateful for me to be feeling this way. She's so much younger than me." My voice was barely above a whisper. "And it's almost... it's almost a betrayal to Lucrecia."
"Don't say that, Vincent. I'm sure she'd want you to be happy. Besides, love is more important than age difference, or any of that other crap. And I know if Aeris was here, she'd tell you the same." He smiled sadly, then shrugged. "Though probably worded differently."
I looked at the young man and realized that we had both lost someone we dearly loved. We truly had more in common than I had previously thought. "All right, Cloud. You've successfully beaten the truth out of me."
"Well, good," he replied, standing up. "I'm happy you've found meaning in your life again."
"Even if I have, I can never tell her," I muttered. "She'd probably slice me in half with her Conformer and run away screaming."
"Actually, from what Tifa's told me," he said, an unexpected grin on his face as he walked out the door, "Yuffie's completely nuts over you, 'Vinnie'."
He closed the door, leaving me to drown in a flood of emotions he had unwittingly unleashed upon me. *Yuffie has feelings for ME?* I wondered, walking up to the mirror. *How is such a thing possible?* True, women had flocked to me when I had been a Turk, but that was before I had buckled under the twisted hand of Professor Hojo. Now, looking at my glowing, blood-red eyes, my face as ghostly pale as the moon, and my long midnight hair that shielded it from the world, I could not even comprehend the thought of any woman laying her eyes on me and not recoiling in horror.
Even if Yuffie had managed to get past that, she surely knew I was a dangerous man with Chaos lurking inside me, ready to take over at the drop of a hat. I knew the demon would never hurt her, but... could Yuffie get used to the fact that it was always THERE, like another person, every second of every day?
I fell asleep wondering all this, and drifted through the night with images of ninjas and monsters floating through my mind. Monsters with red capes and midnight hair.

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*Sniff sniff* Poor Vinnie! If I was there, I'd tell him he was a HOTTIE!! Yeah, baby, there ain't nothin' UNattractive about him! By the by, I chose "Moonlight" Sonata because it's a quiet, calming song, but at the same time kind of depressing. Very fitting for Vincent, wouldn't you say? Anyway, I'll stop drooling and start writing the next chapter.

Trick Sparrow