By Kristen Gupton-Williams

Hey everybody, I have to go out of town for a few days for my brother in law’s wedding, so this is the last chapter I will be writing until Dec. 24. Then I have to take another day off on Dec. 25, ‘cause that’s my Birthday J

Yokazi emerged from her room having donned a light jacket over her dress. She picked up her purse from the table by the door and waved for Vincent, Tifa, and Tseng to follow. Somehow Reno and Angel had gotten out of being invited.

Tseng held his old aunt’s hand in his as they walked, with Vincent and Tifa following a short ways behind.

Tifa nudged Vincent. "Isn’t that sweet how your brother’s holding her hand like that?"

He shrugged. "Maybe she’s holding him so he won’t run off."

"I don’t think so, Vincent." Tifa smiled. "Maybe I’m wrong, but I think your brother is a little more into this ‘going to Temple’ thing than you are."

"He was raised here a lot longer than me." Vincent sighed. "Maybe they managed to brainwash him into becoming another devoted follower."

She frowned slightly, looking up at him. "You are really bitter over this whole religion thing, aren’t you?"

Vincent was growing uncomfortable with the course this conversation was on. He felt that an individual’s religious views were one of the most private things about someone. His own personal distaste for religious reverence was not something he really wanted to rehash with her, but he knew she wouldn’t let it rest until she got an explanation. "What good does it do, Tifa? I went with my family regularly as a child, and God still killed my mother and father leaving me an orphan. Where was God when Hojo was ripping me apart in lab? Do you know how many times I begged for God to set me free, or at the very least allow me to die? Don’t get me wrong, I believe in a supreme being, I can’t think of all this being created without one, but I don’t think he is the gentle, all loving entity that religions try to make him out to be."

Tifa had grown up in a casually religious home, and despite all she had been through in her life, she still wished to think that if there was a God, that he was one of mercy. "What about all the good in your life? Can you really only see the bad? Look how you and Tseng were finally able to come back together, and what about Angel?"

He ran a hand through his tresses. "Look, no one really knows anything about God, do they? Hell, in case you forgot, Sephiroth almost became a God himself. That tells me that one of the prerequisites of gaining divinity obviously isn’t being an all around great guy."

Tifa slid her hand into his metallic claw. Vincent looked down to see her holding it. "Wouldn’t you rather come to my right side if you’re going to do that?"

She cocked her head and gazed into his eyes. "A hand is a hand, Vincent. This one will do just fine. As long as it’s yours."

Something inside him was touched by her willingness to treat that part of him as though it was the most natural thing in the world. "Tifa?"

"Yes?" She said, looking forward again.

"Thanks." He whispered, tightening his grip on her hand slightly.

It wasn’t long before they reached the steps to the temple. Yokazi turned to Vincent before making her way up the stairs. "You do not have to come in. It is enough for me that you came this far."

Vincent sighed in relief at this reprieve. "Thank you, Aunt Yokazi."

The old woman smiled before she and Tseng disappeared. "You and your lady go enjoy the grounds."

Vincent looked around the temple complex, spotting a koi pond to its left. He led Tifa over to a bench close to the water and they sat.

Tifa had never seen such wonderful fish and she leaned over to see them better. "Oh Vincent, they’re beautiful!"

He got an idea. "Just a minute, I’ll be right back."

She watched after him as he disappeared around the corner of a building. He returned a few moments later carrying a small paper bag.

He sat back down next to her and handed her the bag. "Here."

She opened the bag, seeing that it was filled with small pellets that smelled like cat food. "What is this?"

Vincent gestured toward the water. "It’s for the fish. You can feed them."

Tifa looked at him excitedly. "Really? They won’t get scared?"

"No." He got up off the bench and knelt right beside the water. He reached back and took a small amount of the food into his right hand. Tifa watched in amazement as he placed his hand into the water and the fish came right up and started to eat. Once the food was gone, he moved his hand slowly under the water and petted an exceptionally large white and gold fish that stayed near the surface.

Tifa couldn’t believe what she was seeing, and she came and knelt next to Vincent. "Why do they let you touch them? I’ve never seen fish do that."

He shook the water from his hand and looked at her. "They have no reason to fear us. People never harm them, and whenever they see someone, they think they will get fed. Try it, Tifa."

She took up some of the food into her hand and placed it into the water just as he had done. Tifa was delighted when the koi began to eat out of her hand. "Oh Vincent! This is great!"

He smiled at seeing that she was getting so much joy out of this. "I thought you might like it."

Tifa and Vincent knelt beside the pond feeding the fish until the bag was emptied. Once that was done, they laid back on the grass and stared up at the sky.

Tifa again reached out and grasped Vincent’s cybernetic hand. "It’s so beautiful here. Thanks."

"I used to come here a lot as a child and feed the fish." Vincent said quietly. "I always loved it for some reason. You know, these fish live so long that many of them are probably the same ones that were here then."

Hearing the slightly sad inflection in his voice, Tifa rolled over onto her side to look at him. "Someday, maybe we can have a pond like this."

He smiled up at the sky. The thought of him having a home where he could have such a thing seemed so remote to him. "I would like that, Tifa, I really would."

"Then why don’t we just plan on it, then." She said, still staring at him. "Where would you want to live?"

He turned his head to look her in the eye. "I’ve never really thought of that."

"So, think of it now." She smiled.

He turned his gaze back skyward. "Some place where there aren’t any bad memories. Maybe some place out in the country. I’ve had it with the city."

"Can’t say I blame you there." Tifa reached up and touched his cheek. "There’s got to be somewhere we can make our own memories."

Vincent looked at her again. "We’ll find someplace, somewhere."