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Vincent couldn't keep up the act any longer. He fell onto his hands and knees trying to take in deep breaths but sounded so winded after carrying Hiniko and making mad dashes from one place to the next. The act of speaking was just as hard for when he took in a breath and tried to mouth the words all he could do was cough. His forehead protector was already starting to look damp from the sweat that was building up beneath it.

"I couldn't..." Vincent coughed again and wheezed out the rest of his sentence, "I couldn't leave you...behind."

Vincent took the canteen and began to inhale the water into his stomach. Giving small coughs as the water and the dryness of his throat collided and clashed together in his body. He handed it back to Hiniko seeing as he couldn't drink anymore.

"I know I can be stupid sometimes," Vincent coughed again, "But I had to act. That man wanted to take out my eye. God knows why. I don't understand any of this. This morning I was just a regular shinobi and now everyone seems to think I'm an Uchiha."

Vincent looked at Hiniko and saw the frustration in her face about how he didn't seem to give her much of a choice about anything.

"I know that I may seem controlling, love," Vincent said as he reached up to her face, "But at the time I knew that I could move faster and so decided to carry you. Please don't be mad at me."

"It was worth it for you, my sweetest love, Hiniko." Vincent smiled. He wanted to kiss Hiniko but he tried to resist because he had the vague idea that Hiniko probably wouldn't like the feeling of chapped lips against hers even if it was from the one that she loved.

Vincent felt conflicted. He didn't want to let Hiniko out of her sight but at the same time his body felt so tired. So very tired that all he could do was lay back.

"Maybe just for a little bit." He said to himself, "Maybe I'll just close my eyes for a little while."

As he did he kept imagining back to that time when he first kissed Hiniko. The way she looked in that dress, that moment that they shared on the roof of the very building that was in ruins and rubble beneath him. The smell of that rose oil perfume that she wore and how it warmed him inside and out. Then there was the feel of her lips against his. He would have loved to go to sleep with her kissing him, that smell of her wafting around him, and her warmth radiating against his.

Dear God he loved her so much.

Maybe it was because of how apprehensive Vincent had become but whatever it was he woke up sharply and looked over and saw Hiniko had bumped into something.

"What'd you find?" Vincent called out.

Vincent felt confused by what his ears had picked up. It needed confirmation.

"A cloak?" He asked.

Vincent's mind had made the connection and he forced himself to get up from where he was sitting and headed over to where Hiniko was standing amid the wreckage.

"If it's like mine," he said, "then it's probably my fathers."

He came over beside Hiniko and saw that it was his fathers with how tattered, ripped, and torn it was at the edges. Along with how faded it was from the years of use and washes.