Final Fantasy VII 1. Sympathy

Ok, I'm at a TOTAL writer's block with my stories so I'm going to put them on pause for a while. Anyways, after hearing my buddy **Aranae's** AWESOME idea I decided to team up with her to write this fanfic. It's totally AU and Vincent is just a normal college teacher, no demons or anything, but he's married to Lucrecia…

**Temptations of the Forgotten**

Sympathy

One of the major experiences in a young adult's life is the transfer from high school to college. For a lot of people it means moving out of the parent's house and away from friends. For Yulia Newman it meant driving ten minutes into the city. The single thought of having to share a room in a dormitory didn't sit well with her. Yulia came from a wealthy family and was always classified as the rich, spoiled girl. Although, Yulia would trade lives with a regular person any day. She had learned that money and material things are not the key to happiness.

She was one of three siblings. Her older brother, Cameron, was two years older than her and a junior at the same college. He was tall and built with short spiky brown hair and hazel colored eyes. He was type of guy that got all the girls if not with his looks, with his amazing basketball skills. He almost had his little fan club at the college games. There were always signs painted and T-shirts that said 'Go Cameron'.

Yulia also had a twin sister named Sylvia that didn't attend college, didn't work, but won her parents over by her luck in beauty pageants. Both of them were natural red heads, but Sylvia had her hair dyed blond and she wore blue contacts not only to make herself what she thought was every guy's dream girl, but to distance herself from her sister. Their mother was often away with Sylvia as they travelled the country competing. Sylvia had won so many crowns, sashes and awards that their house had a small room dedicated to her. Yulia's father owned a major casino and dabbled a bit in real estate, while the mom worked to keep Sylvia's pageant career going which brought in a few dollars here and there as well.

Today was a special day for Yulia: it was her first day at college. However, on this same day Yulia's mom and sister were leaving for another contest. She stood in her bathroom brushing her pin straight, red hair. Just like her sister, she was very pretty as well, but just didn't put on all the make-up to make her beauty pop out as much. She wore her shoulder length red hair down with a straight bang across her forehead, just above her naturally perfect shaped eyebrows.

"Yulia, where's my make up bag!?" Sylvia yelled as she barged through the door. She was still in her pajama pants, white tank top and had her hair in a messy bun. This is how she left for most pageants as the transformation would begin in the dressing room. Yulia sighed loudly and helped her sister find all her belongings. There was no use in arguing because Yulia's mom would then give her the speech of how important these pageants were and how important it was for everything to be perfect and if she loved her sister she would do all she can to make sure her life was just perfect. Yulia wondered why no one cared about making her life easier. It was her first day at college for God's sake! Couldn't she get some encouragement!?

Yulia left the house around noon without so much of a 'good luck' from anyone in her family. She wore a knee length black skirt, a light green colored T-shirt and a darker green scarf around her neck. It was late fall and the weather was nice.

"Yo!! You ready, kid?" Her driver, Reno, waved as soon as he saw her. The fiery red head was dressed in a black tux, with dark sunglasses on. He was leaning up against the black Escalade he drove for the family with a smile on his face. Yulia smiled. At least someone was thinking about her. She picked up her pace and practically skipped to the car.

"I guess. You're the only one that seems concerned." She said as she climbed into the car after Reno opened the door for her.

"Hey, I'm sure the fam's concerned. I mean, you know they all got a lot going on!" He hopped in and took off in the direction his GPS system told him to.

Yulia smirked. "Yeah… Must have just slipped their mind, right?" She sighed and looked down at her blank notebook. She said a mental prayer that she would meet some nice people here. She felt pathetic that her only real friend was her driver.

Reno laughed. "Well think of it this way: Get a couple of years of college under your belt, get a good job and then you can be out on your own!" He looked at her through the rearview mirror as he spoke. Yulia sighed again. It wasn't that she wanted to get away from her family; she wanted to be embraced by them.

She was quiet the rest of the way while Reno rambled on giving his life lessons sermons and going off on tangents about topics she didn't even care to hear of. Her stomach dropped when she saw the huge array of buildings that was her college. She had been here before on a day the campus was closed and figured out where all of her classes were, but the place looked so much different with actual people walking around.

"Well, we're here!" Reno said parking the vehicle by the curb. He jumped out to let her out and smirked when he saw the scared expression on her face. He gave her a rough pat on the shoulder that almost pushed her to the ground. "Go get 'em kiddo." He would say that phrase at every first day of school. She thought that since this is college he'd drop it, but no…

Yulia swallowed hard as she took her first step onto the brick path that lead to the Mathematics building. Her first class was at one o'clock until two-twenty and then her next class was computers and it went from three until three fifty. After that, she gave herself an hour break before her English class that started at five and lasted until six twenty.

Yulia found her math class to be quite easy. She came out of Calculus in high school so being put into an intermediate algebra class for her first semester was going to be fairly simple for her. She found the teacher's lectures very clear and easy to understand and even shared a few words with the girl that sat next to her. Her computer class was quite simple as well. Yulia had always been quick with computers and any kind of electronic device.

On her hour break she went to the cafeteria to have a snack and immediately got to work on the math assignment. Once she got started on that, time seemed to fly and before she knew it she was almost late for her English class. She was in such a rush getting into the class and finding a seat she didn't take much note of the teacher. But as soon as she looked up and laid eyes on him her throat went dry. _That's a teacher?!_ Her mind screamed.

Vincent Valentine had been teaching English at the college for just three years. He never saw himself as a teacher as he didn't like being in front of people much. However after visiting his wife Lucrecia on her job a few times in the college research lab, he became interested in sharing his skill for writing. Vincent wasn't the smartest kid in many other subjects but he was an amazing writer and loved literature. He scanned the class through the lens of his black trimmed glasses. As the desks began to fill and the clock was closer to five he stood and grabbed the stack full of syllabi. His long black hair was pulled back in a low pony tail with a few strands of bangs hanging in his face. He was dressed in black dress pants and a white buttoned down shirt with the sleeves pushed up. He scanned each row, handing the first person the right number of papers for each row. He didn't speak a word as he handed out the papers. Yulia sat in the first seat of the last row by the door. When he came to her desk she had to look down. Though she was looking away she could smell his heavenly cologne and as he handed her the stack of four sheets of paper. The first thing she saw was the gold ring on his finger. _Of course he was married!_ Yulia thought. He was so good looking that if he was single something would have to be wrong! After handing back the papers Yulia rubbed her forehead cursing herself for analyzing a teacher that way.

"Alright class, I'm Vincent Valentine. You may call me Vincent, or Mr. Valentine. Whichever you feel comfortable… This is English Composition one so if any of you are in the wrong class, you can leave now." His garnet colored eyes scanned the faces of the classroom. It was a colorful group indeed. There was a rocker dude sitting in the back with his headphones blaring. A group of four blond girls that were already whispering amongst themselves about a cute guy in the class, a hyper active girl with short black hair, a nerdy guy with thick glasses, and three black guys sitting next to each other comparing their shoes. When nobody left after his statement, Vincent continued by going over what was in the syllabus.

Yulia stared at him as he walked back and forth looking down at his paper reading off the objectives, requirements and grading system of the class. Upon mentioning a fifteen page research paper due at midterm, the entire class groaned. Yulia even let a soft sigh escape. She loved writing but research papers were in a category of their own.

After going over the syllabus, Vincent picked up a black dry erase marker and began writing notes on the board. To refresh the memories of students who had possibly taken a year off, he reviewed topics such as proper punctuation and common grammar mistakes. This alone took a good thirty minutes of the class. The last topic he covered was the importance of using imagery in a narrative essay since the first essay assigned was of this kind.

"Ok, now I'll write a sentence and I want one of you to come up here and add imagery to it." He turned his back to the class and wrote the sentence 'The room was pretty' on the board. Instantly, from experience of being called on unexpectedly, Yulia began to think up a sentence.

No one in the class moved. A smile tugged at the corner of his lip as he watched each student immediately look away when he looked at them, afraid to be called on. The minute of silence felt like ten, as no one responded. Yulia figured since she had already had the sentence in her mind, she could spare the class and just be the one to do it. She slowly raised her hand and Vincent pointed at her.

"Ok, miss."

She slowly slid out of the desk and walked up to Mr. Valentine. He handed her the marker and looked down at her as she stood at the board and began writing.

"The bright living room, lit by a Victorian chandelier, was decorated beautifully in warm colors giving off a cozy feeling to all its inhabitants." She wrote before tightly pressing the cap back on the marker and setting it back in the tray below the board.

Vincent raised his eyebrows and gave a sideways nod. "Well done." He then turned towards the class "I expect no less than this in your five page narrative essays due next week. That's all I have for you today. I'll see you all on Wednesday."

Complaints and groans filled the classroom upon receiving an essay assignment on their very first day of class. Yulia was relieved that the first essay was just a narrative. Any story of her life would be a piece of cake to narrate on paper. She smiled to herself as she walked quickly down the long hallway and out the double doors at the end. Today hadn't been so bad. She'd met a nice girl in her math class, so far none the work was very challenging and her English teacher was a major hottie! She pressed her lips together as she tried not to smile harder. Her face blanked when she walked outside and up to the curb where Reno had dropped her off and planned to pick her up strictly at six-twenty. He wasn't there.

_Damn it, Reno…_ She thought suspecting he would roll up late. It was never a surprise if he was late anywhere. After standing on the curb for ten minutes she pulled out her phone to call him but her phone was dead. She sighed loudly, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Another twenty minutes and clouds began to roll in and the sky darkened. Yulia jumped slightly as she felt the first rain drop hit the back of her hand. She looked back at the brick path leading to the buildings. The curb near the parking lot was at least a five minute walk from any of the buildings. Yulia just knew as soon as she turned back to start walking Reno would pull up. But she waited and waited and pretty soon it was pouring and there was no Reno. She sighed loudly and just sat down on the curb with her head against her knees, letting the rain hit her. Suddenly she heard a car pulling up close to her, her head popped up suspecting it was finally Reno, but no… It was a light blue Hyundai Sonata, not a black Escalade.

Vincent rolled down his window. "Are you ok?"

"Uh… Yeah… I'm just waiting for my ride." Yulia felt completely embarrassed. She knew he must think she was crazy or something sitting out here alone in the rain.

"You'll get sick sitting out here in the rain and college has no sympathy for the fallen." Yulia smirked at his choice of words.

"I've never gotten a bit of sympathy in my life." She said softly. The sound of the rain almost drowned her soft voice out, but Vincent still heard her.

"I'm not one to give sympathy, but today I'll make an exception. Get in." Yulia heard the click of doors being unlocked. Her eyes widened. Was he seriously offering her a ride home?


	2. Deception

**Aranae:** Hi everyone! I just wanted to say thanks to the people who took some time to review our first chapter, and also to encourage those who added our story to their favorites but didn't review to do it too. We are working very hard in this story, but we are also having a great time doing it. So please review!!

**And don't forget ****this:**

Neither Live4Dance88 nor Aranae own nothing besides their words and the Non-Final Fantasy characters that may appear in this story… And the plot, of course! XD

Vincent Valentine and Co. belong to Square-Enix… for now ()laughs evilly()

Have fun!

Deception

Yulia quickly walked around to the passenger side of the vehicle and opened the door. She bent forward and looked across the seat at Vincent who was staring ahead.

"Are you sure? I mean… I 'm all wet… " She laughed nervously looking down at the clean seat.

Vincent frowned slightly and shook his head. "Don't worry about it; this is my wife's car." He said with a small smirk on his lips. He'd known Lucrecia to be rather oblivious to her surroundings at time. Yulia smiled as she sat down in the car shutting the door.

"Are you sure she won't mind?" Yulia asked.

Vincent shook his head again. "She won't even notice. Her last class ends at nine-twenty."

"Oh, so she is a teacher too?" Yulia wondered what this extremely lucky woman was like and even in that moment considered taking one of her classes.

Vincent nodded. "Science, she teaches the lab classes and also works there as a scientist."

"Oh, cool." Yulia sighed a bit dreamily. She thought to herself what a great woman she must have been.

The windows were tinted so as they drove out of the parking lot passing other cars Yulia didn't have to worry about being seen with a teacher. She didn't know how much of a taboo it was in college, but in high school if you were seen rolling off the lot in a car with a teacher you'd be made fun of for the rest of the year.

"So, is this your first year?" Vincent asked her as they came to the red light at the end of the road out from the college. He hated awkward silences and this red light was one of the longest in the area.

"Yes." Yulia answered with a nod.

"Hm, so… Is college what you expected?" He shot her a glance then looked back up at the light that was still red.

"Uh… Well… I usually don't make expectations about things. I mean… I'm pleased with what I've seen so far." Yulia mentally rolled her eyes at herself feeling as if her answer sounded entirely silly. How could she possibly be so giddy about a married _teacher_?!

Vincent chuckled softly as he stared ahead at the light that still hadn't changed. "Good example, by the way. English must be one of your strong subjects."

Yulia smiled and attempted to smooth down her hair that was now drying out and getting wavy. Vincent was kind enough to put the heat on for her, though for him in dry clothes, it wasn't that cold. She shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah I guess… But it's my only strong point."

Vincent pressed down on the accelerator as the light turned green. "Nothing wrong with that." He said knowing that Literature was his only real strong point. "So where do you live?"

"Uh…" Yulia then realized the big mistake she made. She would feel terribly bad knowing he had to drive ten minutes out of his way just to take her home when Reno would have surely showed up sometime. "I live in Pleasantview about ten minutes away…"

"How ironic. I do as well." He said easing over into the turning lane that would put them in the direction of their homes.

Yulia let out a relieved sigh. "That's good; I would have felt so bad putting you out of your way. Thanks a lot Mr. Valentine for giving me a ride. I should have said that immediately." She turned away looking out the window.

"Don't worry about it. What street do you live on?"

"Midgar Avenue. You can't miss the house. There's two huge fountains out front and…"

"That's where you live?" Vincent asked turning to her almost shocked. He passed by that house everyday on the way to work and back. She didn't put off the impression of being extremely wealthy. How many rich girls do you see sitting on curbs in the pouring rain with no fancy car to ride in? Vincent shook that off trying not to be rude. He had no idea of her life situation or what went on in her home life.

Yulia noticed his shock, but didn't take it personally. She'd rather be assumed middle class and be accepted amongst most of her peers than to start all over again by being judged as the rich girl. Or making friends only because she was rich and not because of her personality.

"I actually live just five blocks from there." He said turning down the heat a bit.

"Really?"

"Mm hm. It's a quiet neighborhood." He noted sounding content. Yulia stole a glance of him and couldn't help thinking about how good looking he was. His perfect, smooth pale skin told her that he couldn't have even been thirty years old yet.

Yulia thought of a really good question. "So, how strict are you going to be on the essays?" Not that she would have to worry.

"This is college, Miss…" he trailed off leaving the question in the air.

"Yulia." She answered with a smile.

"Yulia. Yes, I grade very strictly, but I'm sure you won't have any problems." He shot her a quick smile then looked back ahead at the road. He sped up a little realizing this was the night his wife had promised to come home early and he wanted to make sure he had dinner fixed.

"How long have you been teaching English?" Yulia asked. Her real question behind this one was taking a stab at how old he could be.

"Three years." He answered. "Teaching was never really my dream career… But I guess it works." He said with a shrug.

Yulia nodded. She had no idea what her dream career was. Vincent turned onto Midgar Avenue and Yulia's house was the fourth one down on the street. The outside gate was wide open so she knew Reno must have left for her eventually.

"Do you want me to pull up there?" He pointed through the gate where the other cars were parked.

"Oh no, here's fine. Thanks again." She said turning to him with a bright smile. Vincent smiled back and lifted his hand to wave at her as she left the car, leaving a wet spot in the seat. Vincent watched her walk away for a moment then quickly headed to his own house.

Yulia walked up to the house past the basketball court where her brother and his friends were sitting on the side resting from what seemed to have been an intense game.

"Who's car?!" her brother Cameron shouted through cupped hands. He was about ten feet away from her as she walked by.

"Why do you care?" She said back, in a normal tone. She continued past the court without even looking at Cameron or any of his friends.

"Don't bring any punks up here!" he yelled again. She sighed loudly and shook her head. He had the nerve to talk about bring lame people to the house. Each week there was another sleazy girl hanging on his arm as he waltzed into the house.

Yulia barely stepped on the marble floors of their entrance area when she was bum rushed by Reno himself.

"I'm so sorry! Cameron sent me out to get one of his friends and then that guy wanted me to pick up his friend and I thought I was gonna have enough time but then I didn't and then…"

"It's ok, it's ok. Really…" Yulia cut him off knowing he could go on for days. Reno raised an eyebrow at her when he noticed that smile that was plastered on her face. Reno knew women a little _too_ well and knew just what that smile meant.

"Ok. Who's the guy? I take it he's the one that brought you home? Tell me about him." Reno said as they walked further into the house. Yulia sat her bag down on the shelf where Cameron's stuff lay scattered as well. If she sat down on the furniture in her condition, Rude, the butler and Tifa the housekeeper would have a cow so she leaned against the frame archway that lead into the living room while Reno sat in the chair close by.

Yulia looked down but she still had that smile on her face. Reno grinned.

"Come on!"

"Ok, don't laugh. It's the English teacher." She said before covering her mouth to stifle a soft giggle. Reno slapped a hand to his face and wiped it down.

"Oh man, hey I won't laugh. I know _all_ about hot teachers." He wiggled his eyebrows at her causing her to giggle harder. "Ms. Kendall, senior year in high school, homeroom…" he made a cut off movement with his hand. "Enough said."

Yulia smiled.

"So are you going to bag him?" Reno asked grinning at her. Tifa came around the corner holding a huge feather duster.

"Who's bagging who?" she asked as she did her dusting.

"You, baby." Reno winked at her. She responded by dusting his face off.

"Hmph." She spun on her heels and walked out of the room. Her frilly dress with its white apron attached bounced as she walked away. Reno didn't miss a step of her walk as he watched her leave the room.

Yulia sniffed her shirt that smelled of dirty rain water and wrinkled her nose. "I'm going to go shower then get started on my essay."

"Good girl." Reno responded leaning forward to grab the remote off of the dark wood coffee table in front of him.

×××

Vincent hurried into his house and tossed his keys on the shelf beside the door and kicked his shoes off. He and Lucrecia lived in an average sized house. They didn't plan on having kids and neither had much time for pets so a big house would have been useless and troublesome to keep up.

To add to the mood of this special night Vincent grabbed a few red candles and placed them in the center of the table and brought out their good place mats. The dinner he fixed consisted of a roast that had been cooking in the crock pot all day long, green beans, pre maid rolls, and instant mash potatoes. Vincent wasn't the world's greatest chef, but he tried. He'd do anything to please his wife whether she went out of her way to please him or not.

Lucrecia was to let her class out early at eight-thirty then after cleaning up, her friend was to give her a ride home by nine. Vincent glanced at the clock and saw it was already eight-fifty so he began to fix her plate and set it down in the spot across from him at the small table. It had been so long since the two of them sat down and ate a meal together.

After setting the hot plates down and taking a minute to clean the kitchen, Vincent walked to the window and pulled back the navy blue curtains. At first he smiled seeing Lucrecia's car outside then he quickly remembered that _he_ was the one driving it. He sighed disappointedly. It was now ten minutes after nine. He grabbed his cell phone and dialed her number. It didn't even ring before going directly to her voicemail, telling him her cell phone was turned off. Most often her phone was turned off during class… Did she forget about tonight? Vincent wondered as he paced around the house. Ten minutes late turned into twenty… Forty… Then it was ten o'clock, the normal time she would be coming home.

At the twenty-minute-late mark, Vincent decided to eat his own plate, wrap hers up and put it in the oven so it would stay warm. _"She must have forgotten_…" He thought. She honestly did love her job and loved science. Sitting in on one of her classes, he noticed how sometimes she would get so into her lectures she would even run her classes a bit later than they should be. So the thought of her remembering to let her class out early seemed doubtful. Vincent cursed himself for getting excited anyways. He should have known she would forget. How many times has this happened now? Many times...

Vincent went off into the spare bedroom that he used as his writing space. For the past two years he'd been working on a novel of his own that he hoped to have published. At around ten-thirty he heard the door open and Lucrecia's voice.

"Vincent?" she called. She quickly walked into the spare bedroom and dove at him as soon as he stood up. "I'm so sorry."

Vincent hugged her and stroked her long brown hair that she wore up in a ponytail. She was still in her white lab coat, blue jean skirt, and red blouse. She reached up and pulled his glasses off before wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him down for a deep kiss.

"I'm so sorry! I got caught up and I totally forgot…Vincent I don't want you to think that I…"

"Shh…" Vincent said placing his slender index finger on her rose colored lips. Though he was quite disappointed he couldn't stand to see her feeling so guilty. He wasn't one for conflict either so confronting her directly and demanding reasons for why she could never make their dinner plans was something he'd never do. "I know how you are, it's ok." He smiled and kissed her again. "I put your plate in the oven."

"Well, come sit down with me and pretend to eat." She said with a soft laugh. He chuckled and followed her to the kitchen. He gently helped her out of her lab coat and took it to the coat hanger for her. She unwrapped the foil from her plate and sat down to eat. Vincent turned down the lights and lit the candles trying to save what was left of the mood.

"So how was your day?" Vincent asked staring at her as she ate his food.

"Mm…" she paused a moment chewing her food. "Great. The reason why I ran so late is because there is a new guy working in the lab and he is absolutely brilliant." She then began to ramble on about her science topics. None of which Vincent had the slightest bit of interest in but he pretended to listen. He added in a few nods to add to the act.

"So what about you? I mean I don't know how exciting English can be, but…" she looked up at Vincent with a smile knowing he probably took her comment offensively.

Vincent gave her a look. "It was fine. The students keep getting more and more unique each year it seems…" he said thinking back to the colorful groups of some of his classes.

"I know, isn't it great though?" she said. Vincent nodded. Lucrecia was quick to finish her meal and toss her plate in the sink. "Well, dinner was great. You're getting better." She said referring to his cooking. He smiled up at her from his seat before standing. She gave him a seductive smile. "I think I might know a way to make things up to you…"

A wider grin spread over Vincent's face. It had been a while since they'd gotten… Intimate. She walked towards him slowly with cat like movements before taking him by the hands and dragging him into their bedroom.


	3. Professor Hojo

Professor Hojo

Over the next week Yulia began adjusting to her new lifestyle. The biggest change she noticed in college from high school was the much faster pace in the classes. Each day tons of new material would be thrown at you. However, she handled it well. She was very excited to see the A she got on her first English Composition essay. Mr. Valentine had made minor corrections that if she had only paid closer attention she would have caught herself. Nevertheless, he gave her the A and wrote 'Great Job' across the top. After that essay was due, he immediately assigned another one which was a description of someone else. Yulia, of course not having very many people she'd rather write about, chose to do hers on Reno.

Today was Monday and she sat in the cafeteria on her hour break before English, revising her paper on her laptop a few more times before she took a trip to the Writing Lab to print it out. She took a sip of her bottled lemonade and glanced around the room. She almost spit her drink back into the bottle when she saw Mr. Valentine standing in line waiting to buy a sandwich. He stood tall in his black dress pants and grey buttoned down shirt.

At the beginning of this new year the Headmaster asked, or rather told Vincent to start a writing club. He had yet to really get the word out about it and only had three people in the club. The three had yet to even have an official club meeting. After purchasing his food he turned around and noticed the girl from his class sitting a few tables away. She stared at her computer screen frowning slightly. He strolled past her table and cleared his throat.

"Don't forget it's due today." He said sternly, but finished with a smile on his face. Yulia looked up at him mesmerized for a moment then smiled back through a nervous laugh.

"I know, I'm just trying to make it perfect this time." She didn't dare type another word with him standing there so she busied herself with looking through her purse for nothing and then taking a drink of her lemonade. Vincent was busy reading what he could see of her paper until he felt someone tap his shoulder.

"Hey, honey. One of the guys from that auto shop called. Your car's done. I can run you by there really quick if you'd like." Lucrecia stood there in her white lab coat, a green blouse and a black knee high skirt. She still had her rubber gloves on her hands. Her long hair was pulled back in a braid that went down to her waist. She was carrying a professor's version of a Biology textbook with tons of post its sticking out of it.

"Ok." Vincent said with a nod. Lucrecia looked as if she wanted to say something else but instead she looked down at the girl in the chair Vincent was standing behind. Without knowing, Yulia had been staring at Lucrecia in awe. She was truly a gorgeous woman with natural beauty. Yulia couldn't detect a single bit of make up on her flawless face.

Vincent cleared his throat again. "This is my wife, Mrs. Crescent." He turned to his wife again waved his hand in Yulia's direction. She wondered why the woman hadn't taken her husband's last name.

"She's in my next class." He said without giving her a name or anything. He looked down at his savvy looking watch. The class would be starting in about forty-five minutes.

"Oh! Hi! Nice to meet you!" Lucrecia sat down the book she was holding and shook hands with Yulia. Yulia felt awkward shaking her rubber hand, but smiled anyways. "Are you in any science classes?" Lucrecia asked. Yulia shook her head no. Science was definitely her worst subject.

"…But when I decide to take one, I'll be sure to pick one of your classes, Mrs. Crescent." She said politely. Yulia knew this was a lie. If she were to take a class of hers she wouldn't be able to pay attention to the lecture because she would be too busy envying her professor.

Lucrecia smiled brightly and laughed. "Please do!" She turned to Vincent again. "So are you going to try to get your car now or…"

"Oh…yes. Let's go." He said sending Yulia a farewell glance as he walked away with his wife.

Yulia immediately noticed the book Lucrecia left behind. If she were in a science class today would be her lucky day. The professor's version of this book was practically a cheat sheet. After perfecting her paper she quickly gathered all of her stuff including Lucrecia's book and headed to the Writing Lab to print off her paper. Even after doing that she found that she still had fifteen minutes to spare so she ran across the pathway outside to the Science building and walked around looking at the signs on the doors indicating which professors taught at what times. Yulia turned a corner and bumped into a middle aged man with brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. "My apologies, dear."

Yulia's eyes widened when she heard his screechy voice. It was totally unexpected coming from that man. "Um… Are you a professor here?"

"Yes indeed, I am Professor Hojo. What may I help you with?" He asked looking down at her with a creepy smile.

"I'm looking for Professor Valentine's wife. This is her book." She handed him the thick biology textbook.

"Professor? Hmph. As far as I'm concern Valentine is nothing but an English teacher." Yulia noticed the look of disgust that briefly came over his face at the mention of Mr. Valentine.

"Uh…" Yulia was ready to make her exit. Class would be starting in eight minutes and Yulia wouldn't dare be late to English.

"I'll make sure it gets to Mrs. Crescent." He said taking the book and turning away. He looked back over his shoulder with a smug smile on his face. "Tell Mr. Valentine I say hi." The laughter that followed was enough to send a chill down her spine it was so eerie.

Yulia returned to class just in time. Vincent started class as usual handing out a paper with the instructions of what to do for their next essay. He was giving them an extra week to do this one because it was ten pages. It would be a compare and contrast essay between two advanced topics that would require a great deal of research. For the students who were new to college like Yulia, he explained how to use the resources in the library to find what you are looking for. Yulia felt as if he was talking directly to her as his eye contact kept falling in her direction has he spoke. However, that could have been because she was one of the only ones in the class actually paying attention.

Once class was over, Yulia pretended to take longer gathering her stuff only so she could be one of the last people in the room so she could pass on Professor Hojo's greeting in private. Vincent, who was already packing up his stuff as well looked a bit surprised to see Yulia approaching his desk. He smiled at her. "Yes?"

"Uh…Professor Hojo told me to tell you hi." She said looking around awkwardly, feeling a bit nervous.

"…Ugh… Hojo…" he muttered without thinking. "I mean…" He sighed knowing he had already been caught. Yulia caught on quickly to what was going on. These two men obviously didn't like each other for some odd reason.

"I suppose there are hard feelings…" she said taking a step away from his desk. Vincent, who was packed up and ready to go as well, walked by her as they exited the class room. Yulia tried to pick up the pace as to not look like she was trying to walk with him, but Vincent stayed caught up with her. He wasn't done talking yet.

"Did he say anything else?" He asked. Vincent knew Hojo was going to be bad news as soon as he heard Lucrecia come home talking about how brilliant he was. Lucrecia always had such a bad judge of character. If it wasn't for Vincent's persistence, she wouldn't have ended up with a good guy like him at all.

"Um…" Yulia contemplated on mentioning the fact that Hojo thought Vincent was unworthy of the title as Professor. "He uh…didn't think you were worthy of being called Professor." Yulia laughed softly.

Vincent scowled at the ground as they walked. "And he calls himself a scientist? More like a mad man…" He sighed loudly. "Lucrecia's probably inflating his ego, right now." Yulia decided not to ask anything or say anything more as she felt it was none of her business, but Vincent carried on and she listened.

"She's been walking around boasting about her new lab teaching partner. 'He's just _brilliant,_' she says. I'd like to see him write a _brilliant _essay. The man can't even use proper grammar in his speech…" Suddenly he became aware of who he'd been talking to and turned to Yulia with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, I'll stop now. This has really nothing to do with you…"

Yulia smiled. "It's ok. You look like you need to vent a little bit and I'm a good listener." The two walked together while Vincent continued to insult Hojo. By the time they had reached outside they were both laughing. Yulia attempted to imitate Hojo's psychotic laugh which nearly floored Vincent.

"What's so funny!?" Reno yelled from the car window as he rolled up to sidewalk Yulia and Vincent were walking on. Yulia's eyes widened when she saw that mischievous grin on Reno's face. She prayed he wouldn't say anything to embarrass her.

Vincent was still chuckling softly as they came to a stop in front of the black Escalade. "Thanks for listening… And for the good laugh." He said and waved good bye to her and headed off towards his car.

"Woo hoo hoo! Whoa whoa, now!" Reno yelled looking at Yulia through the rear view mirror as she climbed into the seat behind him.

"Shut up, Reno." She said covering her face to hide her grin.

"Looks like you're for real about this teacher! What was so funny!? You gotta tell me!" Reno said annunciating his words by beating his hands against the steering wheel.

Yulia refused to uncover her face or say anything else and had to endure Reno's teasing for the rest of the night.


	4. Oblivious

Oblivious

Lucrecia looked up at the clock on the wall of her class room. With nothing else to do for the next thirty minutes she decided to get things ready for the next class. She went to the closet grabbing the right supplies for the lab her students would be doing today. This was just a General Biology one class so they weren't doing anything too technical.

"How is Ms. Crescent today?" Hojo asked as he walked around the table smiling at her. Lucrecia smiled back, but was looking down at the bottles of chemicals she was sorting.

"Pretty good, I must say."

"And your husband?" Lucrecia shot him a glance wondering why he'd ask about him.

"He's ok, I guess. We've both got our own things going on right now so we don't really get to talk very much." She said with a sigh.

"Don't tell me his job as an English teacher actually keeps him busy?" Hojo cackled.

Lucrecia laughed unlike most people that found Hojo's laugh entirely irritating, she found it funny. "No, I mean our hobbies and interests are completely different. It's hard because sometimes I just want to run home and share my new discoveries with him, but I know he'll be uninterested…"

"Hmph, perhaps you should have married a fellow scientist." Hojo said cackling even harder.

Lucrecia laughed. "Perhaps." They both shot a glance at the clock.

"Well, what's on the agenda today?" He asked looking down at the supplies.

"Oh, the students are just going to test a few materials with iodine or Benedict's solution and tell if they are starches or sugars." She said nonchalantly these were the simplest experiments in the world yet she knew there would be students who would get confused and mess things up…

* * *

Noticing his class was getting restless, Vincent wrapped up his discussion on a story he had ask the class to read prior to tonight and made one final announcement.

"I've been conned into starting a writing club, so if any of you would like to help me out and join, I'd appreciate it." He said looking around at the faces in the room, the last face being Yulia's. He pulled out the signup sheet and placed it on the edge of the desk for anyone who wanted to join. Yulia was hesitant to decide. She wondered if she could handle more time around Mr. Valentine without further developing a crush on him. Throughout the class she had to keep reminding herself that he was married and probably many years her senior.

She watched as the first person in the class attempted to sign the sheet. He didn't look like the typical writer, more like an athlete. He had short, slightly curly brown, tanned skin, and dark eyes. To Yulia, he 

was enough reason to join the club. She stood behind him as he signed his name to the sheet. She tried not to be nosey, but her eyes landed right on his signature as he turned to leave.

"_Zane…_" Yulia thought that was a pretty cool name. She looked up from the list after signing it and received a quick smile from her teacher.

"A writing club is definitely a place for you. Your papers have been very well written." He said as he gathered all of his belongings. Yulia smiled and looked away. Living in a family that didn't pay her any attention, she wasn't used to getting such praise.

"But I always make silly grammar mistakes." She said.

"I have a book that may help you with that." He said motioning for her to follow him after he'd collected his belongings. The rest of the class had already jetted out of the room. Yulia reluctantly followed behind him down to the end of the hallway and into a room she hadn't yet seen. They passed the secretary that took calls for the people of the English Department and went down another hall with a bunch of rooms all labeled with letters. Vincent went into the room labeled T near the very end of the hall.

Once inside, Yulia realized it was his office. It was a bit cluttered, there were boxes filled with books and an over flowing trash can with crumpled papers. His desk was full of papers he was grading and pictures of him and his wife. Yulia blushed slightly when she saw that one of them was Vincent and Lucrecia on vacation at a beach somewhere. Lucrecia had a cover up on, but Vincent stood there beside her in just his black swim trunks.

"It's called 'On the way to a better essay' or something like that…" he said digging through one of his boxes of books. Yulia bent down beside the one next to it. Vincent moved to his desk and sat in the chair while looking through the bottom drawer.

"This?" Yulia asked holding a book up with the title he mentioned. She stood up and tried to walk over to his desk but tripped on one of the scattered books and fell towards him. He sat up and opened his arms to catch her as she fell in the chair with him. His hands caught her by the waist.

It took Yulia a moment to think about what just happened and when she did she pushed off of him as quickly as she could. "S... Sorry."

Vincent had to have a moment of his own to comprehend what had just happened. He wondered why being that close to her made him feel so different. "No, it's ok. Look at the floor it's a mess. I'm sorry."

Yulia's cell phone vibrated in her pocket, saving them both from further awkwardness.

"Yo, where are you? I've been outside for like ten minutes!" Reno complained loudly. It was loud enough for even Vincent to hear. He smirked. Yulia smiled weakly back at him.

"Ok, sorry. I'll be right out." She hung up her phone quickly before Reno had anymore loud comments to make. "Bye… And thanks for the book!"

"Goodbye." Vincent said with a short wave.

* * *

The next day while Yulia sat in a lounge by herself waiting for her math class to start, the girl that sat next to her in class approached her.

"I don't think we've exchanged names yet. I'm Tori." She said smiling as she extended her hand to Yulia. Yulia took it and returned the smile as well as her name.

"Cool name! It's really pretty. So, is it just me or is this guy making things way harder than they should be?" She asked with a laugh.

Yulia nodded. "If I hadn't already known most of this stuff, I'd probably be really confused by his way of teaching."

"Totally." Tori agreed. The girls made small talk for the next couple of minutes before Tori suddenly gasped. "Oh!" She lowered her voice to barely above a whisper. "I just heard some kids talking and there's a scientist on campus that's paying people up to like two hundred dollars to let him do some weird experiments on them."

"Really?" Yulia noticed the money hungry grin that spread across her classmate's face. "But… Isn't that kind of dangerous?"

Tori shrugged. "I doubt it. The guy I talked to about it said that all he had to too was let him inject some kind of liquid in him and observe him for the next couple of hours and he was free to go. I don't know about you, but a quick two hundred is sounding pretty good right about now."

Yulia nodded and pretended to understand what it was like being hard up on money. Even if she was she didn't know if she'd go as far as letting someone inject weird liquids into her body. Throughout the rest of the day she continued to hear students whispering about the experiments. Most of them seemed sketched out about it, but there were a few that couldn't wait to get in line for a few hundred dollars.

* * *

Vincent started dinner at around nine-twenty knowing his wife wouldn't be home early today. He tried to fix new meals since Lucrecia had been complaining that she was tired of chicken and roast. Tonight he made spaghetti and cheese bread, although the cheese bread was store bought and pre cooked.

He heard the door open and frown slightly when he heard the sound of two sets of footsteps. He walked into the living room and had to cough a few times to hide his utter disgust at what was standing on his door mat.

"Honey! This is Professor Hojo, I think I told you about him. Did you cook enough for three tonight, dear?" She smiled. That smile was the only thing that prevented Vincent from losing it right there. He smiled through gritted teeth and spoke through them as he said "Of course."

When Lucrecia turned her back Vincent glared at Hojo. The scientist grinned back at him and chuckled to himself. Vincent rushed to his wife's side and took her lab coat off for her, giving her a peck on the cheek as he did so. He did it deliberately to show who she belonged to. Lucrecia grinned and seemed pleased with his affection.

Vincent sat beside Lucrecia and across from Hojo at the table. He sent him death glares every chance he could.

Hojo did most of the talking. He believed that miracle cures and anti aging solutions lie within a toxic plant serum, but it was about diluting the serum just enough to make it so it wasn't fatal to the patient.

"And how will you go about doing that?" Vincent asked. Lucrecia elbowed him noticing how rude that question had come out. Vincent shrugged. "Just asking." He muttered.

Hojo chuckled. "Would you like to be the first specimen?"

Vincent glared at him for the hundredth time that night. Hojo gave him a look he couldn't quite decipher, but he knew that man was up to something. Lucrecia smiled at Hojo the entire time, completely oblivious to the eerie aura around him. However, Vincent was on it. His eyebrows lowered as his eyes pierced into the man in front of him.

**Thanks to everyone that reviewed and sorry about the long wait! We were suffering a writer's block lol! - Live4Dance88**


	5. Poison

Poison

Yulia glanced at the empty desk next to her. Tori hadn't been showing up to class for the past two weeks. Yulia thought this was a bit odd because the last time they had spoken Tori sounded pretty determined to start doing better in college. After the seemingly endless class had finally been dismissed Yulia, apprehensively approached another girl in the class that she had seen Tori walking around with.

"Excuse me, you know Tori, right?" Yulia asked the girl. The petite girl with short black hair nodded then looked around.

"I heard she went to see that weird scientist guy…" she said.

"I know, she told me about him. Do you think she's ok? I haven't seen her in weeks." Yulia said. The girl noticed her concern.

"I haven't either. She doesn't even answer her phone anymore!" The girls gaze moved to a guy sitting on a bench in the hallway. "That's her boyfriend maybe he'd know." Yulia nodded and the two girls walked over to the punk style dressed guy with spikey black hair. On the way down the hall Yulia learned this girl's name was Yuffie.

"Um… You're Tori's boyfriend, right?" Yuffie asked.

"Yeah... You're her friend, right? Did she like say anything about not wanting to talk to me anymore? I mean, if she wanted to break up she could have told me." he said looking down at feet.

Yulia and Yuffie exchanged a glance. "We need to investigate!" Yuffie said pulling out her cell phone. The three of them walked around campus asking around and even contacted the school board. Yuffie and Tori's boyfriend eventually had to head to their next class but Yulia was done for the day so she decided to hang around and investigate a little bit more. She stopped by the English Department and asked the secretary if Mr. Valentine was in his office.

The secretary called his office and Vincent came around the corner in no time. "Hi… Do you need something?" He asked.

Yulia's heart stopped. It was the first time she had seen him without his glasses on as he was rubbing them on his white dress shirt.

"Do you know where your wife may be at this time? I need to ask her something." Yulia spoke looking away from the man in front of her. She twirled her red hair nervously between her fingers.

"No, I don't actually. I'd call her, but I have a class in ten minutes." He started walking towards the door, but turned to Yulia. "What was it? I can ask her for you later."

"It's a long story. My friend is missing and the last place she was seen was in the science department."

Vincent cut her off as soon as he heard science his mind went straight to Hojo and he instantly became interested. "Will you hang around for another hour and a half? I'd like to hear this story myself." Yulia nodded and followed him out of the English Department's office.

"I'll try to wrap up my class within an hour or less." Vincent said before disappearing into his class room. There were already a few early students in the room. Yulia instantly noticed she wasn't the only one drooling over Mr. Valentine. The two early students happened to be girls and Yulia could hear them from where she stood as they greeted him flirtatiously as he entered the room.

After calling Reno to let him know she wouldn't need a ride, Yulia rushed away the hour by sitting in the cafeteria getting a start on the story Vincent had asked the class to read for their next meeting, which happened to be next day.

"Is your driver coming? Because I thought we could discuss your story on the way back to Pleasantview." He said as they walked outside. It was late afternoon and since the days were getting shorter it was a bit dark.

"No, he's not." Yulia answered they walked to his car and got inside.

"So, tell me about your friend." Vincent spoke as he drove out of the parking lot. Yulia sat her bag on the floor of his car and rested her hands in her lap.

"A few weeks ago she told me about a scientist that was paying students to participate in his experiments." Yulia started.

"What kind of experiments?" Vincent cut in.

"I don't know, she spoke with a guy that had done it and he told her that all he had to do was let the scientist inject a weird liquid into his body and observe him for a couple of hours." Yulia said keeping her eyes ahead at the road.

"What scientist?" Vincent asked although he already assumed it was Hojo.

"She didn't say. I'm just afraid that maybe something went wrong and I thought maybe your wife would know about this since she works in the science department."

Vincent nodded. "We'll ask her. Would you be willing to come to the house with me? If I have a witness with me, she'll take me more seriously."

Yulia felt the butterflies erupt in her stomach. _Going to Mr. Valentine's house?!_ Her mind screamed. Vincent sent her a glance, waiting for her answer.

"Yes, that's fine." Yulia spoke in a weak voice.

Vincent sensed that she was a bit uncomfortable which wasn't unexpected. He was her teacher after all. He wanted to say something to make her feel more comfortable, but couldn't think of anything appropriate so he stayed silent until they reached his house. Tuesdays were Lucrecia's early nights so 

when he got home and she wasn't there he was a bit surprised. He glanced over at flashing light on the house phone and walked over to check the message. "You can have a seat anywhere." He said to Yulia who was standing in the middle of his living room looking around and clutching her bag nervously. She took a seat on the couch.

"_Hey, honey! I'm going to be a little late tonight so don't bother cooking anything for dinner, ok? See you when I get home!" _

Vincent sighed after hearing that message. He took a seat on the loveseat across from the couch. "Sorry about this. I was sure she'd be home." He said avoiding looking at her.

"It's ok." Yulia said looking around the living room.

Vincent cleared his throat. "Well… While we have time, would you do me a favor?"

Yulia's mind instantly went to a dirty place, but she quickly picked it out of the gutter when she watched Vincent leave and come back into the room with a journal.

"It's a novel I've been writing. My wife's not much of a reader so I haven't found anyone to give me any feedback." He said handing her the book and sitting next to her on the couch. He kept at least a foot of distance between them.

Yulia opened the journal and scanned over the first couple of pages. From the skimming she learned the book was about a man living with a beast in his body. She sent a sideways glance at Vincent. She'd never expect him to be the type to write about such haunting topics.

Vincent smiled at her. "Did it strike your interest?"

"Yeah, it does sound really interesting." Yulia said looking back down at the journal as she continued reading. Vincent watched her as she read his novel in the making. When marrying Lucrecia he had always believed in the opposites attract theory and never thought her love for science and his for literature would be a big deal. However, the excitement of sharing his hobby with someone, even just a student, showed him that it was hurting their relationship. He imagined Lucrecia felt like this with her science and it made sense to him why she was so taken with Hojo.

Yulia turned to him again and Vincent quickly tried to look away so she wouldn't catch him staring. Yulia giggled. "So you've always had a dislike for mad scientists." She noticed in the story one of the assumed antagonists was the mad scientist who put this man in his current beast situation.

Vincent smirked. "I believe at the time the 'mad scientist' symbolized my wife's obsession with science all together." His smirk faded and his face became slightly somber. Yulia noticed this and stared at him for a minute while he stared down at the floor. He turned to her and locked his crimson eyes with her brown ones. Neither one of them blinked for a few seconds, but Vincent's head turned sharply at the sound of a car in the driveway.

"That sounds like her." He said with a sigh. "Go ahead and take that with you then. During our writing club meeting this Friday you can tell me what you really think about it."

Yulia smiled and nodded placing the book inside her bag.

"Hey honey!" Lucrecia said walking in the house and kissing Vincent on the cheek. Yulia turned away feeling a bit awkward. "Oh…" Lucrecia said when she saw the redhead sitting on her couch. She gave Vincent a questionable look.

"Lucrecia… You remember Yulia, right?" Vincent said placing his hand on his wife's back and guiding her over to the loveseat, sitting down with her. "Her friend is missing and she thinks you might know something since the last place the girl was spotted was in the science department."

"Really?" Lucrecia said looking clueless. "What was your friend's name?"

"Tori. She said something about a scientist there paying students to participate in his experiments." Yulia said taking a quick glance at Lucrecia.

"Are you sure that isn't just a rumor?" Lucrecia asked with a laugh. "Paying a student to engage in experiments… Surely no one in our department would do such a thing."

"Are you sure Hojo wouldn't do such a thing?" Vincent asked quickly. Lucrecia shot him a dirty look.

"Of course not! Hojo's much more responsible than that and he values his position at the college." She said standing up and taking off her lab coat.

Yulia noticed Vincent seemed to be getting annoyed with his wife and didn't want to stick around for a lover's quarrel so she stood. "I… I should be getting home."

Vincent stood as well. "Yes, of course. I'll run you home." He said politely, but as soon as they left the house and got back in his car it was time for another venting session. Yulia listened quietly.

"Why would she support that man? Is she that blind? Its obvious Hojo is up to something. The other night she invited him over for dinner and he mentioned something about finding a miracle cure within a poisonous plant serum. I bet you he's injecting people with the serum." Vincent clutched the steering wheel tightly in his hands as he continued to bash Hojo.

"Certainly not…" Yulia said trying to sound positive. Plus, if Vincent was right then the truth was Tori could have possibly been killed.

Vincent sighed loudly and rubbed his temple. "I will get to the bottom of this. I will show Lucrecia just what a _brilliant_ man this Hojo is. Values his job at the college, does he? If it's the last thing I do I'll have that man fired."

Yulia did all she could not to laugh at him, but instead boldly gave him a pat on the shoulder. "What goes around comes around, if Hojo's truly at fault, it'll all come back to get him." Yulia said in her best encouraging voice.

"Thanks again for listening. I should pay you for these sessions." He said chuckling softly.

"Hmm… Maybe my true calling is counseling." Yulia joked. Vincent continued to laugh softly.

"Goodnight, Yulia. I'm sorry we didn't get any information on your friend. I truly hope what I said about Hojo isn't true and she's ok."

Yulia nodded. "Me too… Goodnight Mr. Valentine." She waved to him before turning around and jogging threw the open gate to her house.

Vincent smiled to himself as he drove back home, but was soon put back into a sour mood once he had to face his wife again.


	6. Lab Work

**Aranae: **Yeah… We know… We took ages to update this story again. We're two very busy girls!! XD But we promise we won't take that long again. Besides, things are about to get… Uh… Interesting. Have fun!

**Temptations of the Forgotten**

**Lab Work**

Three weeks later and still no news of what happened to Tori surfaced. Each week brought a new disappearance amongst the students, but with no proof, no one could pinpoint the guilty party. Many students took it upon themselves to speak with the board of administration, but no one would believe there was a mad scientist on campus. The school board believed this was just a conspiracy to get rid of a difficult professor as cumulatively grades were indeed dropping in the science department.

Vincent was now Yulia's official ride home as they continued to talk and share clues about mysteries surrounding the science department. He finally got the writing club started up and scheduled a few meetings. The professor running the drama club insisted that they team up to produce the winter play, giving the writing club the task to write an entertaining screenplay. Having only five members in the club, Vincent knew this was going to be a challenge, but that was the least of his worries. Lucrecia had continued to be in complete denial that Hojo was doing anything shady and each time Vincent questioned her, the answer got a little bit ruder until the two could barely sit down at the dinner table together.

"Is everything ok over there, Mr. Valentine?" One of the five club members asked looking at their professor. He sat staring off into space with an unpleasant look on his face. Yulia stared at the girl; it seemed her only motive of joining the club was getting a chance to flirt with the professor. Yulia did all she could not to roll her eyes. Luckily her attention was drawn away from the situation by the guy next to her. Yulia remembered reading his name on the list when he signed up.

"Can I read what you have written there? I'm having the worst time trying to think of something to write." Zane said digging his fingers into his brown curls, scratching his head nervously. Yulia smiled shyly as she nodded and handed him her paper. For the rest of the meeting the two of them collaborated on adding more ideas to what Yulia had already written and eventually the rest of the members joined in on their idea.

After the meeting Yulia hung around the hallway for a while waiting for everyone else to leave so that she and Vincent could leave together and it not look suspicious. "You surprised me with your writing again." Vincent said with a smile.

"Come on, Mr. soon-to-be-a-famous-author, you could have joined in and helped. I still can't get over how good your demon story is. Did you ever finish the next chapter? I'm dying to read it!" Yulia said covering her mouth after letting that outburst slip out. Vincent chuckled softly.

"No, I've been so busy… And fighting with my wife has gotten quite distracting; it's hard to focus." His smile faded and he started to look very serious. Yulia's smile faded as well and it was quiet the rest of the way to Vincent's car.

"Did you ever ask her if there were any volunteer jobs available in the science department?" Yulia asked referring to a plan they had made in order to spy.

Vincent started the car. "Yes, but she didn't give me a very clear answer." He muttered bitterly.

"I'll ask her tomorrow then." Yulia said smiling at him.

He sighed loudly and ran a hand down his long ponytail before resting arm behind the passenger seat. He was barely paying attention to what he was doing and had no idea of how uncomfortable he was making Yulia.

Yulia swallowed hard and stared out the window the rest of the way home. She was relieved to finally see the gates of her house. It was now late fall and quite chilly so Vincent pulled his car up through the gates and parked next to the rest of the cars. "Let me know if you get the job." He said smiling at her as she got out of his car.

"Sure thing." Yulia said with a nervous laugh followed by a short wave. "Thanks!"

Vincent shook his head and began to back his car up. Yulia ran inside with a smile on her face. She could still practically smell Vincent's cologne even though he hadn't actually touched her. Reno popped out from around the corner.

"Yo, Yulia I'm getting lonely!" Reno complained sarcastically. "Since you've been getting rides from Mr. Valentine every night!" He yelled through cupped hands purposely to get a rise out of her.

"Stop!" Yulia said slapping his hands. Reno continued to tease her the rest of the night until her entire family learned of her crush on the professor.

* * *

The next day was Tuesday and after Yulia's classes she went straight to the science department to look for Lucrecia. She was surprised to find her in her lab talking to Hojo. The sight of that man made Yulia nervous, but she entered the room anyway.

"Um… Hi." She said approaching Lucrecia who was standing at a lab table across from Hojo. Yulia felt his eyes on her in a sickening gaze. It was exactly as if he were sizing her up for an experiment.

"Hi, how may I help you? Are you the student my husband said was looking for some volunteer work?" She asked sweetly. Yulia was surprised not to find Lucrecia the least bit suspicious or anything. Hojo however narrowed his eyes at Yulia when she wasn't looking. He'd seen her many times leaving with Vincent. He was also aware that she was one of the students who were aware of his experiments.

"Yes." Yulia answered.

"Well, we could use someone to clean the lab on Tuesday and Thursday nights." She looked at Hojo as if she needed his approval.

"Yes, that'll cut our work in half, wouldn't it?" Hojo said with a nod. He smirked suddenly at her. "That would also allow you to get back early to that dazzling husband of yours."

Yulia could tell she was holding back as she showed a fake smile followed by a light laugh. She cleared her throat before giving her the times. She also let her know that normally this type of work resulted in extra credit so she'd mark Yulia down in her book to give her the credit if she was to take her class next semester.

* * *

Yulia was so nervous and scared about being in that lab around that creepy Hojo that Thursday seemed to come very quickly and before she knew it there she was in the science department again. She was relieved to see no one in the main lab. There was a note on the table letting her know where all the cleaning supplies were and which drawers which objects went into. Cleaning the lab proved to be a very simple job, and evidently this was during a time that Hojo and Lucrecia were busy or had office hours because neither of them were in sight the whole time.

"How was it?" Vincent asked once Yulia got to his car. She got inside and shut the door.

"No one was there." Yulia answered. She knew his question wasn't about how the job was, but what she found out while she was there.

"Shit…" He then cleared his throat quickly. "Excuse me."

Yulia laughed softly. "It's ok. We're both mature here." Vincent looked over at her. Yulia's red hair was pulled back away from her face, leaving only her short bangs on her forehead. He had never associated the word mature with his students. He'd always thought of them as just kids. Yulia felt his eyes on her and turned to give him a warm smile. She wondered what he'd look like without his glasses and with his hair down. A blush rose to her cheeks at the thought of that. Vincent caught her blush and found it amusing, but also… Attractive.

He cleared his throat again. "Well, I'd say give the job a few more days and if you don't see anything…"

"I can't just quit. That would look suspicious." She said.

Vincent shrugged. "It's not like you're in her class."

"I was thinking about taking it next semester. She said she'd give me extra credit for doing this." Yulia explained. Vincent chuckled softly.

"You don't want her class." He muttered.

Yulia laughed, but didn't say anything else for the rest of her ride home. As Vincent pulled up to her house he grabbed a piece of paper from his glovebox and scribbled down his cell phone number. "Just in case of emergency."

"Emergency?" Yulia asked giving him a confused face.

"I don't know how much we can trust Hojo. If he honestly has the audacity to let students die from his experiments, what would he do to you if he caught you spying?" Vincent asked sending a lingering gaze her way.

"Right. Thanks, Mr. Valentine."

Vincent waved at her and smiled. She smiled back before taking off towards her house.

* * *

Tuesday night came and Yulia was back in the lab cleaning again. She hummed quietly to herself as she began wiping down the counters and rinsing off any beakers or test tubes that were sitting out. She was so into her work that she barely noticed two people walking into the room.

"Are you sure about this, babe?" The girl asked her boyfriend. She was clinging to his arm as they walked slowly towards the door in the back. Yulia shuddered as she thought of what that person was about to step into. She wanted to say something, but her mouth just wouldn't open.

"Yeah. I need the money!" He yanked his arm out of her grip and stared at her. He didn't look hard up on money, Yulia thought. He had a nice shirt on, brand name jeans, and expensive looking shoes. If he only knew what he was risking for a bit of extra cash… She squeezed her eyes shut preparing herself.

"Um… You don't want to…" Yulia started.

Suddenly the door to the back room flew open and Hojo stood there. "My six o'clock?" he asked the guy. The guy was still looking at Yulia waiting for her to continue. Hojo sent her a narrow eyed glance that she couldn't quite decipher.

She waved her hand as if to say never mind and quickly ducked down behind one of the counters pretending to be putting something away in the bottom shelf. A bad feeling came over her.

"Would you like to come as well, my dear?" Hojo asked the guy's girlfriend. She nodded quickly and followed her boyfriend into the room. Yulia swallowed hard and grabbed her cell phone forgetting about her tasks. She quickly left the lab and started down the hall.

"Hello?"

"Mr. Valentine? It's Yulia, I'm leaving now." She said picking up her pace slightly as she heard a door open behind her. Lucrecia came out of the door and looked down the hall to see Yulia leaving in a hurry. She followed her in and went to ask her what was wrong, when she heard her talking on her phone.

"Your wife's not there, but Hojo is and two students just went into his back room…" That was all Lucrecia needed to hear before it all made sense to her. She couldn't believe Vincent had sent one of his students over there to spy! It made her so mad that her own husband couldn't trust her and that he was honestly buying into these nasty rumors that were being spread about Hojo, the brilliant scientist. Dinner was going to be great tonight, she thought.


	7. Closer

SORRY about the late update!! 

**Closer**

Vincent sat at the kitchen table staring at the empty chair in front of him. _Late again…_ He thought before finishing his meal and wrapping hers up to put in the oven. Just as he was about to close the oven he heard the front door open. Vincent watched as Lucrecia threw down her purse and ripped off her lab coat.

"Bad day?" He asked walking towards her and leaning against the wall. Not that he cared much; at this rate she deserved a bad day or two. This entire week had been bad for him.

"No actually. Today was pretty good. I got a lot done. Oh, by the way, I already ate so you can dump my plate in the trash." She snapped, jerking her neck slightly as she talked. Vincent didn't like this attitude. He glared at her, and indeed went to the oven and threw the entire plate, silverware and all in the trash loudly.

"Oh, is Hojo a better cook too, hmm?" Vincent crossed his arms over his chest and glared across the room at his wife. She glared back, but didn't give an answer.

The normal non confrontational Vincent was gone, and he was ready to have it out. So he continued. "Tell me more about the _brilliant_, Hojo. I'm just dying to hear."

"Shut up, Vincent! You being so immature." She said taking a step towards him.

"Yeah, I've got to be really immature to wonder why my wife is out late every night having dinner with another man." Vincent said with a laugh. He looked away from Lucrecia for a while and when he turned back she was inches away from him. "What?" he asked after watching her stare at him for a while.

She just shook her head and started to walk away. "What else does he do for you, honey? Is he fucking you too? He must be one hell of a lover to have you this determined to stand…" Vincent didn't even get to finish his sentence before he felt the back of her hand strike his face.

"How dare you accuse me such a thing!" she yelled.

"It's true, isn't it?" Vincent asked receiving another back hand to his other cheek. She raised her hand again, but Vincent quickly grabbed it in a tight grip. His sudden movement and the look in his eyes scared her. He roughly pushed her hands away from his face and purposely bumped into her just as roughly as he walked past her.

"I hope your leaving." Lucrecia said crossing her arms as she stared at Vincent's back. Vincent turned to her.

"Trust me, I wouldn't dream of spending another night in this house." Lucrecia had never heard Vincent speak to her in such a harsh tone. Though she was mad at him, it hurt her feelings.

Today was Wednesday, the first day Yulia would see Vincent after the night she was caught spying. She was still unaware that Lucrecia had found her out as she hadn't gone back to cleaning the lab since. Vincent didn't try to contact her or tell her any results of their new findings. She'd been riding with Reno again at his request, but tonight she was determined to ride with her professor.

* * *

Yulia came to class early hoping to find him alone and pretend to have him read over her rough draft of the paper that was due next week. Since last week's paper was a fifteen page research paper, Vincent allowed the class an extra week. Yulia almost gasped when she saw him. He was alone, which was what she wanted, but his appearance was nearly horrible. His hair was down and ragged looking, his white dress shirt was wrinkled and untucked, and his bag sat on the floor with papers clumsily smashed into it.

"Um…" Yulia said making her presence known. She was unsure if he had even heard her come through the door.

Vincent glanced up at her then back down at the paper on his desk. "Hi." He said quietly.

"…Did something… Happen?" Yulia asked walking apprehensively up to his desk and looking down at him. He sent a glance at the door to make sure no one else was walking in then sighed loudly.

"My wife kicked me out. She saw you leaving the lab that night and overheard you telling me about Hojo." Yulia felt a bit better now about skipping her job yesterday as Lucrecia might not have been very happy to see her. However, she felt horrible knowing she'd gotten Vincent into trouble.

"I'm so sorry." Yulia said quickly. Vincent shook his head.

"This was bound to happen. Hojo has her completely brainwashed. I don't wish to be around her like this anymore anyway…" He kept glancing at the door to make sure no one was coming. Yulia did the same a few times. Her heart started pounding as she felt the urge to touch him. Slowly and with a shaking hand she gave him a light pat on the shoulder and rubbed his back briefly.

Vincent looked up at her, shocked at how much the small gesture had actually comforted him. He noticed she was blushing again and couldn't fight away the small grin that appeared on his lips. Just then, the sound of the door opening sent Yulia three steps backwards and made Vincent instantly absorbed in the paper he was reading again.

"Mr. Valentine!" One of the two girls that walked in exclaimed. "Rough day?" The other added with a giggle. Yulia mentally rolled her eyes as she took her seat. Neither of them had half of a clue what he was going through. Vincent completely changed the subject on both of them and asked them if they had a rough draft for peer editing today. That silenced them both. Vincent and Yulia exchanged an amused glance.

After class, Yulia did her usual routine of hanging around the halls until Vincent would finally come out of the classroom.

"No driver tonight?" He asked once he'd emerged from the room. Yulia turned sharply to the sound of his voice. She shook her head no with a small smile. He returned the smile and walked by her side.

"Where are you staying?" Yulia asked after a few moments of silence.

"An hotel on the other side of the city." He answered.

"Oh… Is it going to be trouble getting me home then?" Yulia asked looking up at him. He shook his head no.

"It'll give me an opportunity to spy a little bit." He frowned slightly and grumbled his next comment. "I'd better not find that man in my house."

Yulia caught it, but pretended not to hear it. She wondered what she could do to cheer him up since it was her that had got him into even more trouble that he'd already been in. An idea popped into her head. "Wanna go out for dinner?" She instantly started blushing realizing she had just asked a professor out.

Vincent looked at her, surprised. "Uh… Well…" He couldn't think of a reason not to other than she was his student. "Are you sure you want to go anywhere with me looking like this?"

Yulia reached into her purse and handed him a hair tie. He pulled his wild hair back and instantly looked a lot better. Yulia grinned up at him. "You look fine."

The two walked quickly to Vincent's car, unaware of the watchful eye in the parking lot. Lucrecia had her car parked in the shadows waiting for Vincent to get off work. She intended to try and make amends with him, but when she saw him get into his car with a cute little redhead, her mind changed.

* * *

"This is the place!" Yulia said pointing at what seemed to be just an ordinary bowling alley. "It's a restaurant and a bar too." She noticed Vincent eyeing the place.

He followed her lead as they entered the fairly empty place. There were a few family bowling together and about four groups of people sitting at the tables eating. "Two." Yulia said cheerfully holding up two fingers at the hostess. She led them to a small table in the corner and handed them menus.

"I haven't been out in so long…" Vincent said looking over the menu.

"Really?" Yulia asked grinning at him. "Then I guess you needed this."

Vincent held her eye contact a bit longer than he knew he should have. He nodded and smiled at her before deciding on what he would eat. Yulia didn't even need to read the menu to know what she wanted. The few people who knew of this place knew it especially for its amazing spicy cheese burgers. Still not sure of what he wanted, when the waitress came to take their orders he simply said "Same" to what Yulia ordered.

"I wonder why Lucrecia pretends not to notice what Hojo's doing…" Yulia said with a sigh. Though she felt bad for Vincent, she couldn't help but feel good about the fact that him and his wife weren't getting along.

Vincent just shook his head. He didn't even want to think of her at this moment and looking at Yulia made it easy for him not to. She smiled at him again and he noticed that each time she did it grew on him.

In a further attempt to keep his mind off Lucrecia, Vincent made sure to keep the conversation rich during dinner and even offered to pay for a game of bowling.

"I'm not much of a bowler…" Yulia said putting her hair behind her ears nervously. Vincent shrugged. "Neither am I."

And they both proved to be equally horrible bowlers, but both had fun doing so. Finally, around nine o'clock Vincent got Yulia back home.

"Thanks, Yulia. I had fun tonight." He said.

Yulia just smiled. Vincent's thumb lightly stroked her shoulder as he stared at her. Yulia watched his eyes drop several times down to her lips and swallowed hard. Her nerves made her quickly turns away and open the door. "Uh…Goodbye Mr…"

"Vincent is fine." He corrected with a small smirk on his lips. "At least off campus."

"Bye…Vincent." Yulia said nervously before shutting the door and backing away from his car. He waved at her before pulling away. As soon as she turned away Yulia slapped her forehead and sighed. _A few more minutes in that car and I could have kissed him! _She thought, but then she began to feel guilty for thinking that way. He was still her professor and he was still married!!

Vincent returned to his lonely hotel and pulled out his cell phone to see he had a new voice message from a strange number. He put the phone to his ear and cringed when he heard that horrid voice.

"So, you sent a spy did you?" He chuckled manically. "Am I really that tough of competition?" Vincent growled. He was _no_ competition as far as he was concerned. "Little Ms. Redhead would make a fine specimen, no?" He laughed again. "Oh, but she will." The message ended and Vincent felt his face grow hot with anger.


End file.
