So this scenario has been floating around in my brain for a while. Wasn't sure it held water, but thought I'd give it a turn anyway. Never did a Rufus/Tifa AU outside of the FF settings before because there's plenty of room in the games to find ways they fit together. I think I'm just getting sad that I'm still in this dying ship. Awoogah! Alas! Back to Naruto for me once I get this off my brain…

Disclaimer: I don't own the names and personalities, this is just for funz.

It was going to be epic. She was going to finally have the chance to tell him, no to show him how much he'd meant to her and then everything was going to align. Those blue eyes would finally see her as a woman, and she'd feel those lips on hers and run her fingers through his blond hair. The world would make sense and she wouldn't feel like she'd been a chicken and a failure for all those times she couldn't tell him. This was going to be her chance. This was going to be her transformation.

That's what high school reunions were about, right?

"Too slutty." Yuffie pulled no punches, as usual.

"Seriously? You picked it out for me!" Tifa stood in front of the triple mirrors in the downtown department store they were shopping in, bare toes curling nervously into the carpet, and suppressed an urge to kick out at her outspoken friend.

"Well, I'm an idiot then, because I can see that mole on your thigh you hate. And if I can see that mole then that means everyone else is going to be looking at the fact that your underwear is almost visible."

Face met palm as Tifa let out a low groan. "Then find me a different dress that has more… dress and we'll get this wrapped up."

Yuffie seemed to be reconsidering something. "Then again you live like a nun so maybe that dress will encourage someone to—"

"Get me a different dress!" Tifa interrupted loudly. I friendly salesperson who had been coming to check on them did a 180 and Tifa blushed self-consciously.

Grumbling but also laughing, Yuffie scampered off into the other room. The woman couldn't do anything at a walk. Tifa had no idea why she thought shopping with her friend and work colleague for semi-formal wear was a good idea when Yuffie wore absolutely nothing but sports bras and track suits. They had met as personal trainers at the same fitness center during college and somehow the friendship had stuck, even though they couldn't be more different.

"Found one!" Yuffie didn't consider things for long. She was more about snap decisions and Tifa actually admired the woman's ability to turn off second thoughts.

"It's red."

"Mmm. Crimson maybe. There's lot of red out there, Tifa." She said it like she was surprised Tifa didn't know that.

"I said I wanted a black dress." She wanted to look classy, grown up, maybe even sexy. There wasn't a lot of room for being sexy in her life when she had to balance work and school. Going out had become a memory and she wished she had been more adventurous when she had had the time and money.

Yuffie wasn't going to accept a no. "Red can be black."

"That doesn't make sense. You need to stop reading the magazines in the waiting area between clients." But dutifully she took it back and tried it on. Years of hard work had assured the body in the dress was flawlessly fit but her eyes only saw imperfections even now: uneven calves, that little bit of belly fat she couldn't shake, arms a little too muscular to be fashionable, she could go on and on. Insecurities of a lifetime rolling forward despite her best efforts at confidence.

Her friend had known her too long or too well when she heard from outside the door. "Stop being a ninny and get out here so I can see how awesome I am at fashion." The long suffering sigh blew strands of long auburn hair around her face and Tifa stepped out again. Yuffie didn't say anything, she just made a thoughtful duckface and nodded slowly.

"Yep. That's the one."

The pencil cut skirt portion hit just above her knee and the draping hugged everywhere it needed to without being obscenely tight. The top only strained a little under Tifa's substantial chest but all her clothes did that, and the v-neck was flattering. She looked at the price tag and groaned.

"Don't you start. You said money was no object if you looked good."

"Your memory for things I've said is annoyingly accurate." Tifa could only barely justify this purchase on top of the plane tickets and hotel reservation. She was still in school and this was loan money she was blowing, money she needed to live and feed herself with not use on what essentially amounted to a vanity trip. Her monthly budget was unforgiving until she finished her physical therapy graduate program next year.

Yuffie waved a hand, her loose relationship to money a direct product of growing up in a family that didn't have to worry about it. "I can see you're torn, so I'm going to buy this and give it to you as a gift and then you have to wear it to your reunion. This Cloud guy will never know what hit him."

Pride almost demanded that she refuse, but she had similar battles with Yuffie before and once she got an idea into her head it was very hard to dislodge it. It was easier to cut her losses and accept the gift graciously.

"Shoes next!"

This was some heretofore unknown circle of hell, Tifa was sure.

Pain was not a new experience. Exercise and pain had such a close relationship that pain wasn't usually something that Tifa even registered anymore. Pain was something to work through, it was something to appreciate and tolerate because it almost always meant growth. But walking around in these heels seemed excessive, useless even. They had seemed like a good buy at the time, four inch high stilettos in dark mottled snakeskin which Yuffie had termed 'bad ass', but nothing about them seemed cool when you had to be in them for hour after hour. All she had done so far was pace around a hotel room and sit in a cab.

It had been exactly like her dream at first. She had glided into the hallways she remembered all too well with the dancer's grace gained from having trained every muscle in her body to obey her. They hadn't recognized her, and when she had given her name to pick up her name tag she had watched the two ladies at the table snap their gaping mouths shut quickly. Their smiles looked plastic as envy seeped from their pores. They were still pretty women, but Tifa was stunning and she knew it. With no other recourse they had asked something snide about anyone accompanying her but she didn't rise to their bait. Instead she smiled, stamped down the anger in her mind that they couldn't just be happy she had improved herself, and tried to saunter into the gym on already aching feet.

"Whoa, Tifa, is that really you? You look like a million bucks." Red was as ginger as ever, his freckles spattered across his face in a familiar spray, and he looked honestly glad to see her. "Barrett was with me just a second ago, but he needed to take his daughter to the restroom." Marlene was a handful, Tifa could attest to that.

"Hi Red. It's been a long time. You look happy."

"Been travelling a lot for work so I feel dead on my feet at the moment, but life is good. Price of success is all your time and energy, right?" He didn't laugh because he was too reserved, but his wide smile was comforting. She had worried about him since high school, wondering if he was still that lonely kid she remembered.

Tifa continued to make small talk but darted her eyes around looking for one man in particular. Red sensed she wasn't all there and excused himself to say hello to a person a few feet over. It seemed like it was all going according to plan, barring her aching feet, and all at once she was overwhelmed with possibilities. This time she'd have the guts to lay it all out there and it wouldn't be like last time. Cowardice was something the ruled the life of the old Tifa, but she was so afraid that while things had changed so much for her they hadn't changed at all. Why was she even here? What did she have to prove? Her breathing was out of control and getting some air was suddenly vital as she rushed out a side door onto a patio decorated with streamers where various people were talking and laughing with drinks in hand. It was only late afternoon but the party was in full swing.

It was kismet, she thought, when a cab pulled to the curb and he got out. Cloud was so handsome, his hair stuck up in a few patches but nothing else about him seemed different. He was still slim, tall, and wearing a detached expression like he wasn't really seeing what he was looking at. That used to be because he needed glasses as thick as coke bottles to see something more than six inches from his face, but even when he got laser eye surgery he had kept looking at people like that from habit. He had been the most mopey and socially awkward one among their group of friends, but he had always been different around Tifa. The Cloud around Tifa had been fun and relaxed. They had laughed and spent time together talking about nothing and groaning about all the made up problems in their lives. Talking about the real problems like Tifa's mother's death to cancer shortly before freshman year or Cloud's father's sudden disappearance had been too hard. They both understood what it was to lose a parent and their connection had been so close. The smile she remembered lit up his face as he walked around the cab and she started to wave as if he had caught sight of her, but then she saw he was bending to open the cab door.

The woman with the fat braid down her back who stepped out next to him was beautiful, elegant in her bright flowing floral print dress, and hugely pregnant. Tifa felt like a fraud as a cold sweat born of stress washed over her skin.

Tifa wished for an explosion that moment that would rend the ground and swallow her whole, or a meteor to fall from the sky and grind her into nothingness. In her heart she was a fighter. She worked extra shifts to get time off on this weekend, she studied hard so she wouldn't have to take any class materials on the plane, she borrowed money and went shopping and totally rearranged her life around this one weekend. KO in the first round, that's how this felt. The burning sensation behind her eyes told her she was about to experience a very public display of weakness if she didn't move to somewhere else soon.

The tears that leaked out as she stomped though the hallways felt superheated as she wiped them away with the heels of her hands. It didn't take long to find the side door out of the cafeteria and back around to the cement patio that the kitchen workers always used to go to when they wanted to smoke. Once there she gave a feral scream and punched the wall hard enough to break the skin of her knuckles. A few more tears came, but not many, and soon she had sunk down onto the ground sniffling and cradling her hand. Seeing that there was no more point, she slipped off her shoes and tossed them away from her.

Maybe she could get an early flight back. Trade in her ticket and just wait at the airport until she could get home. She had taken Monday off so she would have some time to pull herself together before she needed to be on the ball again. Tifa used the punching bags at the gym all the time, so if next time she went in she was a little extra into it then no one would guess her inner turmoil. This wasn't how it was supposed to be, she thought, it was unfair. Her knuckles ached in answer, reminding her that losing her temper wasn't worth it.

"Are you done or is this going to go on for some time to come?" In the shade of the other side of the patio, cigarette tip smoldering, the man's voice startled her out of her self-pity. He took a drag and the puff of smoke dissipated between them. "Because I was here first."

"Excuse me?" What a jerk, she thought.

He stepped, or more acutely limped into the light only to sit again and she felt like she had been kicked in the gut. "Rufus…"

"We're on a first name basis, eh… Tifa?" He read her name tag with some surprise which he quickly schooled back into the smooth condescension he had started with. "Your date do something to upset you?"

Years of torment, crying into her pillow at night over vicious words, and every unpleasant encounter in the hallways she'd endured at the hands of this man rushed back at her in a jumble. It had been so easy to forget those feelings and now they overwhelmed her. She hated this man, or had hated him. He had made her feel both invisible and reviled at the same time.

"Looks like your date abandoned you. She walk too fast for you to catch up?" She felt bad as soon as she said it. If anything his expression only looked steelier. Just because he was terrible to her when they were sixteen didn't excuse cruelty now. "I'm sorry, I didn't—"

"Nothing that I haven't heard before. I've been lame for years now."

They were silent, he puffed on his cigarette furiously and she sat there feeling terrible for and about herself. "I just want you to know that if there's anything I can do for you professionally when I finish my physical therapy program, I will. I'm sure you employ a lot of well qualified people and they help you already but I promise you I'll get results."

"I don't see anyone." He said suddenly, gruffly. "About my leg."

It had been the in the papers, common knowledge that the father and son team that ran the Shinra Corporation had been attacked by disgruntled employees who peppered the office with bullets when they had slashed health benefits for their employees in branch offices. His father had been gravely wounded and eventually died from complications, while Rufus' left leg had been shattered. He hadn't taken hardly any time for himself, he just went right on working and since then had made the company even more successful. She had always wondered why someone so successful would send his precious son to a public high school in Midgar, even if it was a fairly well regarded one.

"Well, if you ever change your mind, the offer is out there."

Digging into her small purse she grabbed her cell phone and a hair band. All that work this morning blow drying and flat ironing her mountain of hair and in the end it was all in a messy ponytail while she sat barefoot around her former bully. Mission aborted she texted Yuffie, Target is married with kids. Abruptly, she turned her phone off. Once Yuffie got that she would start blowing up the phone will all sorts of nonsense and she just couldn't deal with thinking about Cloud any more now that the context had shifted so dramatically.

As if he could sense the fact that it was the last thing in the world she wanted to discuss, Rufus' voice cut the silence again. "So where's Strife? Never saw one of you without the other before."

"I don't know. I don't care."

"Trouble in paradise?"

"Shut up."

"So he finally had the guts to let you down?"

"What?!"

Rufus actually laughed at her. "Oh come on Lockhart, you made puppy eyes at him for years, everyone knew you liked him back then. We all assumed you were a couple, or that he was gay like that ginger friend of yours."

Having her dream punctured again after all this time hurt as much now as it had ten years ago when Cloud ran off and joined the army and all she heard about him was from Barrett in emails. He stopped talking to her. He stopped being her friend. Then when she did hear from him he had to nerve to tell her how much she had supported him and how he couldn't have made himself strong without her only to disappear overseas and come back with a stupidly beautiful pregnant woman. If she had had any chance it would have been that moment before he left again, but she had been too scared. How could her body be so strong now and her resolve be so weak?

"I'm not talking about this with you." She wanted to cry and hit something (or perhaps someone) but she did neither, instead schooling herself and her mind by naming every bone in her hand and arm. It was like study meditation. It mostly worked, but the blood that was dripping between her knuckles was distracting.

"Seeing as you launched yourself into a public space with a temper tantrum it seemed like you wanted to talk about it. Otherwise you would have gone home already."

She did want to talk about it, but not with him.

"Everyone knew huh?" she snorted, remembering.

Rufus arched an eyebrow and chuckled. "You have a problem with subtlety."

Tifa wanted to argue, but then she thought about the situation, her red dress, her snakeskin pumps, and felt like the evidence wasn't in her favor. "I felt like maybe if I could change the present I could rewrite the past. I did everything in my power to change who I was back then, to be better, stronger, smarter, and this was something that could prove it."

Now that she had started, she didn't want to stop. "Fat, pimply, dumpy old me was a joke. I was everyone's friend and no one took me seriously. Need someone to set up for the dance? Ask Tifa. Need someone to work stage crew for the play? Ask Tifa. She's a sucker, she'll help anyone, anytime, anywhere."

Rolling his eyes, he lit another cigarette having finished the previous one. "I'm pretty sure high school sucked for most people."

"I knew you wouldn't get it. You had it all. Pretty girls falling at your feet, all the money in the world, parties, popularity, and you were still class president and honor roll and all that. And somehow you still found time in your day to make my life miserable." This isn't how she pictured this confrontation either, he wasn't begging for forgiveness under the heel of her shoe. The concrete was hot and she was starting to sweat a little in her dress. Rufus must have felt it all the more in his tan suit, as he had his white shirt opened at the collar. He looked too damn good, untouched by time or environment. Only the faintest hint of a frown line seemed to be forming at the corner of his mouth. "Why did you do that to me?" It was supposed to sound strong, but it just sounded tired.

He actually colored a little and glanced out at the bushes rather than into her eyes, but it might have been from the heat. No wonder he had been sitting in the shade before. It was hard to imagine a man like him had any regrets. "So you lost some weight and cleaned up your life. All this," He gestured at the school, squinting into the sun before crushing the cigarette half-finished under his shoe. "This was just a blip. This wasn't real life. We were barely real people."

"I'm pretty sure you still have girls falling at your feet and all the money in the world."

"Yeah, it's great." He said it flatly, "You coming inside or did you want to continue to feel sorry for yourself out here?"

It was tempting to run. Already she had had her big entrance, and it wasn't as if she hadn't seen Barrett a couple months ago when his second daughter was born. She wouldn't have to wear those shoes too, and her already forming blisters wouldn't yell at her. While she considered the pros and cons of wearing shoes she was startled to find Rufus above her with a hand extended.

"I have an idea," he said. "Let's fuck with them."

"Rufus Shinra," the lady at the table was clearly flustered "We hadn't expected you to come, you didn't even RSVP, but we made sure everyone had a nametag ready just in case." She reached back into a box while her table partner flat out stared at him in a way that let Tifa know he still held star power. Where was that fabled charisma? She was still wondering if maybe that's what got her to step back inside, despite her nerves.

"Tifa Tifa Tifa! Why didn't you pick up mine too when you arrived. You'd almost think you were trying to disown me." He said it in that old oily voice she hated, the one that was all about schmoozing, the one that placed her emotions right back into her teenage self. But her teenage self had never been this close to him, or imagined he'd have an all too familiar hand resting on her hip.

"Oh you!" was all she said as she pulled back from him but the punch she playfully gave to his arm had enough force behind it to make him wince.

They entered the gym, music and flashing lights in full swing, to people glancing over and whispering which made absolutely no difference to Rufus but made Tifa feel like she was moments away from a panic attack. Well, if she had come here tonight to create some drama then Rufus had just fulfilled her wish perfectly. However, the objective had not been to scandalize or impress any of these people except for one person in specific. Barrett was currently holding a squirming Marlene under one arm while talking to Cloud's pregnant lady. Cloud himself was talking with Red and she felt familiar butterflies even knowing nothing would be as she hoped now with Cloud in particular.

"I'll get us drinks and sweep in once you've set the stage." Rufus said softly into her ear, stirring her hair and making her shiver.

"This isn't an attack."

"Isn't it?" His half smile in her direction was conspiratorial.

Tifa clacked her way over on those impossible heels and planted herself firmly next to Cloud. She tapped him on the shoulder and he glanced over once and then again and he realized it was her.

"Oh." He looked her up and down, his eyes sweeping her in the way she had noticed from many people in recent years but with differences. Cloud hadn't lingered anywhere rude, he seemed to be honestly attempting to process what he was seeing with what he had known of her. Almost guiltily he glanced back at the woman he came with, and then back to Tifa.

"I haven't seen you in half a decade and all you have to say is oh?"

"You look…healthy." Had he always been this awkward? She remembered finding that endearing once. Now, his hesitation frustrated her.

"Yeah, I'm doing really well. I'm finishing up my grad school program soon and working part time. I barely found time for this, but I didn't want to miss it." Tifa wished she had bought heels just an inch taller so she would be eye to eye with him.

Rufus slid in next to her and placed a drink in her hand. It was the same as what he'd gotten himself, gin and tonic, and while she abhorred the taste of gin she took a sip and smiled just the same. "You remember Rufus right?"

Red and Cloud were staring at her open mouthed. Barrett, catching her in his peripheral vision, became distracted from his conversation and Marlene escaped. He took off after the laughing four-year-old but the look in his eyes said Tifa would be explaining things to him at some point. She reminded herself to send Marlene an extra nice godmother-y gift next birthday.

"I don't believe we've met." Rufus directed conversation at the pregnant woman. "Rufus Shinra."

"Aeris Gainsburogh-Strife."

Hyphenated, of course. Tifa didn't even flinch but she balled up some of Rufus' suit jacket in her hand as the other woman spoke.

"Congratulations, Strife. Twice over from the looks of things."

Cloud inclined his head in acknowledgement, looking shocked and betrayed that Rufus was here socializing with them. They had always hated this man together, and here Tifa was pulling off acting like they were close. This was the only way she could think of to get closure, even if it was petty, to let him know the old Tifa was gone.

"Tifa here is going to be my new physical therapist. Tragic crippling may have won the sympathy of the masses but eventually it gets old, don't you think? Still playing soldier, Strife?"

Cloud sputtered an answer and Rufus' cold polite smile slowly spread across his face. Smoothly he engaged Red in business-like talk that Red eagerly responded to, and Cloud faded into the background.

Gin and tonic tasted pretty good, she decided, when you had enough of them. Rufus hadn't mentioned paying him so she assumed drinks were on him, and he had kept them coming every half hour or so until she was buzzed enough to discard her shoes under a table at which point he cut her off.

Cloud and his wife had left pretty early, they were apparently searching for a house in town and had spent much of the day on their feet. He was going to build the happy life he hadn't had as a kid, and Tifa didn't begrudge him that. She had shocked him a little, but more importantly she felt like he thought she was a different person now. Tifa wasn't sure if she was or wasn't different but she certainly felt like a drunk person at that moment.

At some point awards were given out and Rufus went up on stage to smile and shake hands. He even made a limp look confident, it was amazing. Tifa found herself the center of attention from Rufus' former crowd as they suddenly became very interested in her with the women curious about her involvement with Rufus and the men not at all confused about why Rufus would spend time with her. She was asked where she bought that dress at least a dozen times. Eventually she escaped to spend some more time with Red but by the end of the evening she was at a table alone drinking a bottle of water and wondering why she even came to this horrible event. Getting what you want in the wrong way for the wrong reasons made her feel a little dirty. There was a lot she needed to do to work towards being a strong person and a good person, and Tifa dug out that spark in her heart that inspired her again.

"Would you like me to call you a cab, Lockhart?" Rufus appeared magically, almost. He had drifted in and out of her gravity throughout the night saying just the right things to make people wonder about them. She knew she wasn't suave enough or manipulative enough to keep something like this up on her own. The whole night had been Rufus' game, but she had benefitted so she couldn't complain.

"Just call me Tifa. You called me Tifa all night."

He gave her that handsome half smile and it looked almost sincere to her slightly buzzed brain. Drunk goggles, she told herself, sensibly.

"Tifa, after you then. Let's see this to the end."

They waited out front. The shoes were still gone and without them Rufus was much taller than she remembered. He clearly favored his right leg as she leaned on him a little for support on her bare aching feet.

"What you did for me tonight doesn't make up for four years of making my life hell, but it at least showed me you're not the Rufus Shinra I remembered."

There was an uncomfortable pause.

"I never thought you were fat or ugly, Lockhart. Just the opposite actually. In fact you could stand to eat more, you're looking frail."

"Huh?" Brilliant response, she knew, but her brain still felt sluggish from alcohol and spent emotion.

"Tomorrow if you're angry I will place blame squarely on the alcohol."

Before she could ask another smart one syllable question he planted his lips firmly on hers, his arms wrapping solidly around her waist. The kiss was severe at first but when she didn't push him away immediately he softened up and Tifa felt her body melt against him. Rufus made her want everything she had been denying herself all these years, as if this kiss had been an invitation to lose control.

And then somehow she was getting into a cab while Rufus gave directions to the driver and handed him money ahead of time. She turned quickly to the rear window and watched him watch her drive away.

Yuffie squealed at a pitch Tifa wished only dogs could hear.

"And he kissed you! That's so hot!"

Tifa buried her face in her couch cushion and rolled her face from side to side wondering how long it would take to suffocate herself.

"He's a hot blond too, ya know. Wooah, does he still look like this senior photo? Kinda sorta?" Yuffie had insisted Tifa pull out the old yearbooks.

"Don't you ever read the news?"

"Not the business section, yuck." Yuffie ran over to her computer. "Let's google up pictures of him!"

Tifa groaned and dragged herself over. "We are not fourteen, I do not want to google him, I just want to go to class tomorrow morning and pass my quiz and forget the whole mortifying reunion even happened."

"I think it's so romantic. He loved you in high school and you never knew it!" Yuffie hit the power button and the thing turned on with a hum. As usual Tifa's desires were more like suggestions in Yuffie-world.

"Now you're just making things up. He told me I was too fat then and too skinny now. All of this is just one big mind-game he was playing because he was bored."

"Then why is he emailing you?" Yuffie sounded like she was in awe.

Tifa actually just about hip checked her friend trying to get to the email that had automatically popped up on logging in. There it was, under some spam and a forward from her father about puppies, a message from Rufus Shinra titled "Job Offer."

"He wants me to be his physical therapist." Tifa said as if Yuffie were not reading over her shoulder. "As soon as I'm done with school. His private physical therapist. What does that even mean?"

"Well, it looks like he wants to discuss details at a lunch meeting next Sunday and if you don't accept I will break into your apartment when you're in class and accept it on your behalf!"

Tifa thought of that kiss they shared and her face got hot. Maybe she wouldn't be living like a nun for much longer, and she wondered at how impossible this would have seemed to her eighteen year old self or even her one week ago self.

"Ohh look, I found shirtless yacht pictures from a tabloid two years ago!"

Tifa tried to pretend like she wasn't looking.