Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII. Grrr...

This story might be considered AU, in as much that I haven't played End Crisis. And I probably won't ever get to play End Crisis. I looked up information on the storyline in Wikipedia, but decided it would be too stressful to try and get details straight about a game I didn't even know existed til now.

So if there are any discrepancies between this story and that game, kindly ignore them.

I started on this story as a kind of mental distraction from another I've been working on -- so I'm not sure where exactly I'm going with it. So if you have any requests or advice, feel free to give it. Mwa!

Between Associates

Walking down the long corridor, Tseng kept his eyes fixed on the path ahead of him. An outsider looking on would have only seen a tall, dark haired man in a perfectly tailored suit seemingly intent on reaching his destination. They wouldn't have known that the man was feeling not only intense concentration on his goal -- but also a great deal of satisfaction with himself.

The notice to meet with President Shinra had come to him late yesterday evening. In the middle of training, a nondescript man with a somewhat bored expression on his face had interrupted Tseng with the note. He wasn't anyone Tseng had seen before, which made him think he must have been one of the President's personal assistants. They were paid to be unnoticable.

The only time a trainee such as himself was given a notice to meet with the President was either to receive a promotion -- or to be permanently "dismissed" from service. He doubted it was the latter.

He noticed a janitor diligently scooping papers out of a wastebin against a wall in the hallway. The hallway that led straight to the President of Shinra Inc.'s Office. If he was anyone else one of the various security guards positioned in increments along the way would have stopped him. And unless Tseng was willing to come to blows with the military force of the very man he was hoping to be employed under, he would have no doubt spent the evening in the detention center, nursing his wounds. The President was very well protected.

But he was Tseng of the Turks, and the officers let him pass without so much as a second glance.

Or at least, he secretly thought, it would be that way very soon. He wasn't a Turk yet. But he'd been training relentlessly for the chance at joining that illustrious company for two years now. He was certain that this meeting with the President would be the one that told him all his efforts had paid off. Actually, he was stopped several times by the guards in the hall. But each time he simply showed them the notice that had summoned him to meet with the President, and they let him pass.

Coming up on the door, Tseng inhaled slightly. There were another two guards positioned outside the large, embossed doors. One openly pointed a gun at him and asked to see his pass, which he turned over to them. He was slightly taken aback by the reaction, but not completely surprised. The President was trying to establish an empire in Midgar. The very idea of electrical power that could run an entire city -- it was a great and inspired undertaking. Great men were often very cautious. And if they weren't, they didn't stay that way long... for one reason or another.

Tseng was very cautious. His training ensured that. In every situation he made himself become an observer of all details surrounding him. Impassive dark eyes glanced down at the soldier as he studied the letter that allowed the younger man access to the President's offices. But those same dispassionate eyes took in the fact that the soldier was standing with his body turned slightly to the right, away from the person in front of him, decreasing his peripheral vision and reaction time if that person were to say... grab the gun strapped to the inside of the soldier's own jacket. The other soldier stood further away from the first, his gun not at ready. They would both be dead within a matter of moments.

Had the scenario arisen in which Tseng needed to act.

Cool eyes gazed at the soldier still, who finally stood back and let him pass. As they did the dark haired trainee readied himself to step through the doors, and greet his new life with the Shinra company. Despite the size of the doors, they opened smoothly and silently, falling into place behind him as he entered the large room.

A grand white dais took up a great deal of the room, and immediately became the focus of anyone's attention who entered. Tseng had never been allowed to see this part of the building before, and was duitifully impressed. The President of Shinra Electric Company, Inc. was seated behind the desk positioned on top of the dais. He was turning the pages of a small report he held, seemingly as impassive to it as Tseng was to the guards outside the door. Not even glancing up as he entered, the President continued to pour over the report, as though even as boring as it was, it called for more attention than the young man standing in front of him.

Tseng stood in an 'at ease' position, his hands clasped. If the President wanted to try and play mind games with him, that was fine. He'd waited a long time for this day.

Looking down from his raised seat, the President surreptitiously studied the new Turk recruit over the edge of his papers. The man was tall, with dark hair that reached the shoulders of an impeccably tailored suit. A suit he carried himself well in, he thought absently. Not that it really mattered how well he carried himself -- some of the best bodyguards were the ones that didn't stand out in a crowd, the president could attest to that himself. He even preferred ones that didn't -- just in case he needed them for "errands" other than those that involved his safety. Protecting his life, and effecting the loss of others ... it was all part of the job description.

Not that it was important if this boy didn't meet his own personal tastes of what a Turk should be. He wasn't hiring him for his own safety -- but his son's. Rufus Shinra. The boy went on as many business trips as possible to assure that he was as far away from his father as he could be at any given time. Rufus hated him -- passionately. And he rather preferred it that way. President Shinra rubbed his chin and finally set down the stack of papers he had been reading to meet the eyes of the soon to be Turk standing at the far end of the room.

Adversity breeds character.

Standing to address the other man, the President moved around from behind the desk but remained at the top of the stairs. He was not a tall man, by any standards -- and conveying a sense of power and control took extra effort at all times. This office had been designed especially for him.

"Agent Tseng." He stood, hands folded behind his back. The trainee straightened, arms pressed firm against his sides, and met the President's gaze.

"Sir."

"I'm sure you have suspected why you have received a summons to this office. Since you applied for the program two years ago, Shinra records have found you listed in the top 1 of every category we test in. And in the past year, you have consistently remained the single most outstanding candidate for promotion." He stopped, his eyes steady on the other man, awaiting some type of reponse to his statement. When none came, he continued. "Therefore we believe it is past time for your elevation to the rank of Turk. Unfortunately for you there have been no vacancies in the division for these past months, since your training was concluded."

Seeing the question forming in the other man's eyes, the President lifted his hand to cut it short. "However... it has been determined that there is a call for a parallel division right now. With the company growing as it is, you no doubt recognize the need for it as well." Turning away slightly from the man who still stood at attention on the lower floor, he moved towards his desk to retreive a small manila envelope that rested on the edge. He looked back, and held out the envelop to the young man.

"You will be the first of a division that will answer directly to my son, Rufus Shinra. I'm sure that with your training and excellent record, you will be able establish that division in a satisfactory manor. What information you need as relating to your contacts and next report are in there." He eyed the man as he moved forward to take the envelope from his hand. "I trust you know what to do with that as soon as you've glanced over it."

"Yes, Sir." Dark, languid hair moved aside as the man looked up again, meeting the President's gaze with his own impassive eyes.

"Congratulations on your promotion."

"Thank you, Sir." He bowed, his face hidden, and remained that way for a moment longer than would have been expected to in most situations. Though it was only fitting when facing the President of Shinra, Inc. The man who would be ushering in the dawn of a new technological era.

"You are dismissed". Bowing once again, the newly appointed Turk left the President alone again with his thoughts, and his paperwork.

It was about time that Rufus was requesting his own division of military reinforcement. It must irk him to no end that he would have to go through his father to do it. He smiled to himself at the thought. This recently promoted trainee would be a good match for his son, who still needed to learn from raw experience what deceptions waited for him at the hands of others. If the president was any judge of character, he could tell from the look in the young man's eyes that his experience was earned long before he ever found his way into the grasp of Shinra, Inc.

In that respect, he was much like himself.

A fine match for the future President of Shinra.