Author Notes - I don't own FFVII. Shuch a shame, but not much I can do about it.
This is the first FFVII fanfic I wrote (not the first I posted, just the first I wrote).
Thanks to Mari for Beta-ing this. I tried, honest, but I like my ending... And Thanks to Bones, who inspired this story through a suggestion made to someone else XD
I may add to this at a later date, so Watch This Space...
Anyway, On With The Show
Walking along one of the many corridors on the 36th floor of the WRO building, Reeve Tuesti was trying his best not to break into a run. He had just finished yet another gruelling meeting with his financial backers, chief among whom was his ex-boss Rufus Shinra, and he wanted to get back to the relative safety of his office. He was thankful that the meeting had lasted as little as it had, since Rufus could quite easily have kept him there for the rest of the working day, and beyond.
As he turned the last corner, seeing the amazing sight that was his office door, he heard one of the few sounds that could make him ecstatically happy and unbelievably miserable, at exactly the same time.
"Reeeeve," Yuffie Kisaragi's voice came from behind him, drawing his name out in the way the little Ninja always did when she wanted something she thought Reeve would be reluctant to give her.
"Yes, Yuffie..." Reeve stopped where he was, and leant himself against the wall, running his hand over his face in a defeated gesture.
"Reevey, Reevey, Reevey!" The beautiful young Ninja came bouncing up to him, and linked her arm through his. He wouldn't have minded in the slightest, except that she was still bouncing, albeit now in one spot.
"Yes, my love?" he said, just wanting her to spit it out, so he could escape to his office.
Finally stopping her bounce, Yuffie looked at Reeve properly, actually taking in just how bedraggled he looked.
"Ruffie been giving you a hard time again?" she asked, pulling him away from the wall, and leading him towards his original destination.
Reeve smiled at his little ninja. She could always make him smile, even when he was at his lowest - especially when she made one of the most powerful men on the Eastern Continent, if not the whole of Gaia, sound like a mongrel dog just by the way she said his name.
"It seems that he enjoys making me explain my every decision, and then picking apart the explanations," Reeve sighed, nodding to his secretary as they entered the office. "I'd say it was personal, except we get on well enough outside of meetings."
.
Yuffie pondered this as she helped Reeve out of his long-coat. She remembered the time when he wore proper suits when he was working, but since the Deep Ground incident he had taken to wearing his heavy long-coat whenever he wasn't in a place where he could relax. Having removed the coat from Reeve, Yuffie carefully folded it over her arm, and then threw it across the office, and onto the chair in the corner of the room. Reeve didn't seem to notice the abuse of his coat, and sat himself down behind his desk.
"Anyway, what was it you were after?"
"Oh, yeah..." Yuffie flopped herself into Reeves' lap in one move, and put her arms around his neck. "What'cha doing tonight?"
"Nothing, as you well know, my Beautiful White Rose."
"That's Single White Rose," Yuffie mock pouted.
"It hasn't been for a while now," Reeve laughed and kissed her gently, instantly feeling much better.
Breaking their kiss, Yuffie slid slightly deeper into Reeve's lap and rested her head on his chest. "Will you come cloud watching with me this evening?" she asked.
"Hm, okay." Reeve wondered what the petite Ninja was really up to. Her idea of entertainment usually involved either her shuriken, or a bed. Lying still, watching clouds roll by, was definitely not her...
--
Once Yuffie had left, Reeve sighed and looked across his desk to his in-tray. Despite the time he spent at his desk each day, the tray never seemed to get any smaller, and being held in a meeting for most of the day hadn't helped. He caught his mind wandering as he looked at the stack of paperwork. He still couldn't get his head around her wanting to go cloud gazing. "Oh well," he thought, grabbing the top sheet off his in-tray stack, "I'll find out soon enough."
The day's end came soon enough, and went just as quick. Reeve finally noticed the time when there was a loud bang on the door to his office. He knew that sound well. Too well. It was the sound of an annoyed Yuffie or, more accurately, of an annoyed Yuffie's shuriken hitting his door and bouncing off. He had long ago taken the precaution of lining the outer side of the door with a thin layer of Mithril alloy, after he'd lost several doors to Yuffie's shuriken. Sitting back in his chair, he waited for Yuffie to enter the room and give him the ear-full that usually accompanied the attack on his door.
Bounding through the door, the Ninja smiled brightly at the now confused Reeve. Seeing the look on his face only served to add a slightly impish note to her smile. Moving over to him, she grabbed his hand and nearly dragged him out of the office. Reeve gave no hint of an objection though, as Yuffie maneuvered him through the near deserted corridors of the WRO Headquarters and into the elevator.
--
After they arrived back at his apartment, Yuffie kissed him quickly then vanished back out the door.
"I'll be back soon," were her parting words, as she launched herself off the third floor balcony at the end of the corridor.
.
Reeve closed his door, knowing that Yuffie could look after herself well enough. Despite knowing this, Reeve still pulled out the small remote control that he carried in his inner breast pocket, and pushed the red button. Moments later, the door to his 'workshop' opened, and his black and white cat puppet peeked around the door.
"Aye Lad. Ye wanted me?" Cait Sith asked, looking at his 'Master'.
"Cait, I'd like you to go to Yuffie's flat and make sure she's arrived there safely." Reeve smiled at his creation, as he now came into the room proper, and added, "You know how I worry."
"Ah, dunno why ye don't just ask the wee lass to move in with ye. It's no like she dinna spend most nights here anyhow." For some reason that Reeve had yet to discover, Cait always spoke in a stronger dialect when the two of them were alone. Maybe Cait knew that most other people wouldn't fully understand what he was saying, and so toned the dialect and accent down a notch around others. It certainly wasn't part of his programming.
"One step at a time, my dear Cait," Reeve said, now distracted by the thoughts of asking Yuffie to move in. "One step at a time."
"Havers, laddie. It's no tha' much tae think about."
"Just get going," Reeve near-snapped, having had his train of thought abruptly derailed. "And try not to let her catch you this time."
"All right, I'll get gaun." And with that, Cait made a swift exit via the large cat flap that someone, and Cait had always suspected Yuffie, had had installed in the front door.
--
Taking his coat off, and hanging it on the rack, Reeve again pondered the enormity of asking Yuffie to move in. As Cait had rightly pointed out, she spent most nights at his apartment anyway; so making it official wasn't that big a step. But the thought of actually asking her still made Reeve nervous. He had spent his life examining every possible decision before making it, from long before he was Head of Urban Development for Shin-Ra. But that way of thinking had only served to confuse matters when it came to his love life. It had taken him over six months to build up the courage to ask Yuffie out on a date because of all the scenarios he kept thinking up, most of which ended with her laughing at him. He had eventually asked her, and everything had worked out well. He knew, logically, that she'd agree. But it didn't stop him thinking up the hundreds of scenarios where she turned him down.
.
Moving into his kitchen, Reeve fixed himself a drink, nearly missing out a key ingredient as he continued along this thought path. Not trusting himself to move back into the lounge while he was thinking, lest he spill his drink, Reeve grabbed one of the stools by the wall and sat at the kitchen counter.
He sat there for quite a while, thinking things over. He slowly finished his drink, and then washed up the glass. Sitting back down, he once again lost himself in thought, until finally he reached his decision.
"Cait's right," he said out loud, despite being alone in the apartment.
"About what, love?" came Yuffie's voice from the doorway behind him, making him jump.
"Gods! Yuffie! You know I don't like it when you sneak up on me," Reeve said, spinning on his stool to face the ninja.
"Sneak? Ha! A herd of stampeding chocobos could have passed you, and you wouldn't have noticed."
"The sign of serious concentration is that, Lassie" Cait said, ambling into the room, and climbing up onto the spare stool.
"Quiet, you." Yuffie stuck her tongue at the robot, and turned back to Reeve. "What were you saying about Cait being right?"
"Oh, nothing really," Reeve said, standing and winking at his creation. "I'll tell you about it later."
"Just see that ye do," Cait called as Reeve led Yuffie into the lounge.
.
"So, are you ready to go?" asked Yuffie, bouncing in excitement once again.
"Sure, let me just grab my coat," Reeve replied moving towards his coat rack.
"No, don't wear that thing," Yuffie moaned, "put your suit jacket on instead. I always liked you in a proper suit."
"Oh, well, I suppose I could." Reeve headed for his bedroom, and the wardrobe that held the jacket.
While Reeve was fetching the jacket, Yuffie picked up the backpack she had dumped onto the sofa. She'd had to take it off to crawl through the cat flap, and had simply left it on the nearest piece of furniture once she was in. Swinging it around, she slid her arms through the straps, and readjusted them for balance.
Once Reeve had reappeared, dressed at her request in the suit that he used to wear, she opened the front door, leading the way out to the car park and Reeve's car.
--
It was still light when they arrived on the hillside, overlooking the up-market area of Edge. Reeve sat himself down at the top of the hill, and then lay back and relaxed into the grass, enjoying the feeling of it mixing with his long hair. He turned towards Yuffie, and opened his mouth to finally put the thoughts he'd been having into action. He stopped short of actually saying anything when he saw what Yuffie was doing.
Yuffie, unlike Reeve, had not lain back. Instead, she was rummaging around in the backpack she had brought with her and, after a few moments, she triumphantly held up a pair of binoculars, complete with sound receiver.
Reeve propped himself up on one elbow, and stared at the piece of equipment that Yuffie was now setting up.
"Err, Yuffie..."
"Yes, love," the ninja replied, distracted by the complicated setup of the binoculars audio receivers.
"What's with the binoculars?"
"I'm cloud watching."
"With those?" A frown was beginning to crease his brow.
Reeve was getting rather confused, which was an unusual position for him. Normally, Reeve had a complete grasp of any situation he was in, but Yuffie was the one person that could confuse him completely.
"Yep", she nodded, "I overheard Spiky telling Cid that he was going to be asking Tifa to marry him tonight. So, I'm Cloud watching. Get it? I want to finally see him be romantic, so then I can tease him about it the next time I see him." She was now getting so excited that she was bouncing up and down where she sat, still struggling to set up the binoculars.
"So, why are we out on this hill?" Reeve knew that trying to talk Yuffie out of one of her insane plans would be completely futile. He had better chance of convincing water to flow uphill.
"Well, I also overheard Chocobo Head saying that he was taking Tifa to the Edge Excel restaurant. Which just happens to be...right over there," said Yuffie triumphantly, pointing down the hill and slightly off to the right.
"Oh." Reeve laid himself back down, and relaxed back into the grass. "How convenient..."
