This story is going to be more realistic than my other stories, set in a modern AU. I'm stilll thinking up the storyline, so I'm not sure what'll happen next.

Hope you'll like it. Romance is not a BIG thing in this story (for once) but I've implied enough to let you know who's with who, but I'm telling you now it's not a 'falls deeply madly truly in love' kinda romance. :P

A young man sat patiently at a table outside a restaurant.

He wore a grey suit with a top hat and tie to match, covering his tied-back silver hair. He chuckled with amusement at the object in his hand, the toothpick in his mouth shifting from tooth to tooth. He leaned back onto his chair, looking around for someone.

It was fairly dark, being almost 1am, but the city was still bright beyond belief. The man let out a loud yawn and arched up his back. He settled down again to find a beautiful young woman walking over to his table. He looked down at the photograph in his hand and smirked. He stood up and took the toothpick out of his mouth.

"Ms G, I presume?" he said with a strong New York accent. He extended his hand to the woman.

She lifted her emerald green eyes up to him, flicking the chestnut brown hair out of her face, tied up with a black ribbon. She shook his hand and nodded slightly.

"Yes," she replied quietly. "And you must be Kadaj." Kadaj smirked again and nodded.

"Yeah." He glanced back down at the photograph in his hand. "And you're even better lookin' in person than in this photo." He laughed, making her feel uncomfortable. She cleared her throat loudly.

"Our agreement?" she muttered, dropping her gaze. "…Mr Kadaj?" Kadaj continued to watch her with amusement.

"You want to meet up with my boss Sephiroth for some business, right?" She nodded. "May I ask why, Ms G?" She looked back into his equally green eyes, keeping her face straight.

"Maybe we should discuss this somewhere else," she suggested. Kadaj glanced around the restaurant. She was right; there were a lot of people around. He smiled again at her.

"Of course." He placed a hand on her back and led her towards a hotel across the street. She nervously pressed her handbag into her chest, hugging it tightly as she took a few deep breaths.

"I need to meet up with Sephiroth immediately," she said. Kadaj just nodded.

He led her into his hotel room and closed the door behind them. He threw his hat onto a stand and collapsed into a chair.

"I remember you tellin' us that you know somethin' about my boss," he muttered, his face now serious. "Somethin' big." She nodded, still standing.

"I have evidence on the Cetra court case," she said, taking out a file from her handbag. Kadaj sat up slightly. "Evidence that will show what really happened in '98." She smiled, a manic look in her eyes. "Evidence that will put Sephiroth up for life." Kadaj scoffed.

"And you came here to confront him about it?" he asked lazily. "Instead of going to the cops? Geez, for being a looker, you ain't got much up there." He tapped his temple with his finger. She shook her head, putting the file away.

"I've been researching about Sephiroth and this case for almost 5 years," she said, her voice trembling. "And now that I finally have the evidence, I'm going to bring him to justice."

Kadaj wasn't smiling anymore; he knew about the case in '98, and he knew what it could do to his boss. He knew she had asked Sephiroth to meet up with her so she could securely have him arrested, and from what Kadaj had heard about the case, Sephiroth could either get the death penalty or life in prison.

He bit his lip and shot up from the chair. He smiled smugly and walked over.

"Yeah, that seems good," he said lightly. He eyed the file. "Why don't cha let me hold onto that file for ya?" He reached out for it, but she hastily grabbed it and hugged it tightly.

"No!" she exclaimed. Kadaj was getting impatient.

"Give it to me!"

"NO!"

He grabbed her around the waist and struggled to pull her arms out of the firm grip. But she was strong. She tried hard to get away, but Kadaj wouldn't let her go.

They both collapsed onto the ground, still struggling to get the file. Kadaj reached for her head and ripped out a lock of chestnut hair. She let out a pained scream as the ribbon and the hair fell onto the floor in a pile.

She nudged her elbow hard into his stomach, forcing him to release her. She scrambled onto her feet towards the door, but it was locked. Kadaj let out a frustrated grunt and glared menacingly up at her, his hair over his eyes.

"You little bitch…" he muttered. He sprung himself at the girl, who narrowly escaped.

She darted into the kitchen, Kadaj following her dangerously.

She let out a gasp as she discovered she was trapped, nowhere else to run. Kadaj cackled as he closed the kitchen door.

"Nowhere to run now, Ms G." He slowly walked over to her with his arm extended. "Now…" he said cautiously. "Just gimme the file…" She shook her head, her eyes widen and terrified.

"No…" She slowly backed away. She grabbed a large knife behind her and held it threateningly in front of her. "Stay away from me…" Kadaj wasn't fooled.

"C'mon," he laughed, still approaching her. "You can't even hold the knife prop'ly." His laughter ceased immediately and his eyes grew even more menacing.

Without warning, he jumped at her. She let out a scream and withdrew the knife. Within a microsecond, she closed her eyes and thrust it into Kadaj's body.

He let out a splutter as blood gushed out of his mouth and his wound, the knife piercing through him. Blood sprang all over as Kadaj collapsed on top of her, bringing her down to the ground with him.

She let out a sob and opened her tear-filled eyes. She screamed again and pushed the bloody body off her. She scrambled to her feet and stared down, mortified, at Kadaj.

"Oh God…" She looked at her dress. It was drenched in blood. She automatically dropped the knife with disgust. She let out a cry of pain as she realized that the knife handle had cut her, and her hand was bleeding. She looked frantically back at Kadaj, at his hollow eyes.

She had to run.

Her eyes fell on the file at his side; the one Kadaj had risked his life to take from her. She slowly bent down and picked it up, the blood sticking to her hands. She wiped her sweaty forehead, clutching the file. She backed away from the body.

As she reached the front door, she reached for the handle, and as soon as she pulled it open, she ran as fast as she could out of the building.

She couldn't see where she was going, her eyes were clouded with tears. She almost knocked into someone.

"Hey," the red-haired man exclaimed. "Watch it!" She didn't stop.

She just kept running.