Chapter 2

Oh, Gaia!

"Hey!" Yuffie feigned indignation at Rufus`s remark, and slapped a theatrical hand to her heart. She wasn`t an annoying little teenager with a burning desire to snatch interesting Materia anymore. Well, she wasn`t a teenager anymore, at least. The rest was up for debate, although there was no reason Rufus Shinra needed to know that.

"Forgive my cheek, Lady Kisaragi. I am sure your reputation precedes you, as does my own." His posture was as straight as ever, despite his substantial injuries a few years back during Meteorfall – she had seen his injuries first hand during the evacuation of Midgar nearly four years ago.

"Oh, I dunno, Shinra. I`d say your rep suited you just fine," she said with a wry smile, which he returned darkly. She mentally kicked herself for feeling so drawn to his steely blue eyes– pulling her closer, almost drilling through to her inner thoughts. She hoped desperately he wouldn`t hear her heart beating, threatening to jump right out of her mouth and land itself in front of him in a bloody pool for him to mock and ridicule. Bad Yuffie. Rufus`s dark aura, smooth hair, and impeccable style may have been alluring in some ways – and dangerous in others – but she would not fall victim to it, she would not! Besides, he wasn`t even her type. Think of Vincent, she told herself, think of Vincent, and his fluttering red cape, silky black hair, piercing crimson eyes and dark, brooding voice…

After giving up Cloud years ago to not one, but two gorgeous, doting women, she had given Vincent Valentine the honour of being her crush – a crush that had somehow persisted over the years and only intensified after working together at the WRO. A crush, however, was all there would ever be, seeing as Vincent would probably never give up on his dead chick; and if he did, Shelke would be there. A dead chick`s memories within the body of a 10 year old. Yuffie could never compete with that.

"Boss!" Reno`s panicked voice sounded behind her as he rushed up the stairs, having decided that Cloud was not pranking them.

"…!" Rude followed closely behind his red-haired partner.

"Ah, the lackeys." Yuffie greeted them, a triumphant smile on her face, and silently thanking them for rescuing her from Rufus`s magnetic scrutiny. Reno returned her smile with a lethal Mako-glare, and she was sure Rude was awarding her the exact same look. The sunglasses made it hard to tell.

Rufus cleared his throat, and received her attention once more.

"Lady Kisaragi, is this purely a spontaneous visit to admire the interior design of my house, or do you per chance have something for me?" Rufus stretched a hand out expectantly. She eyed his hand for a moment before fumbling around in her rucksack. She winked at the former president as she held it out for him.

"Apparently, Reeve handed it to Cloud when they met up for Frappuccinos in Costa del Sol yesterday, nyeh heh…" she snickered briefly at her own joke, though her elation fell as she noticed it was lost on the three men surrounding her. "So, anyways, Reeve told him he didn`t trust anyone but Cloud with the delivery, and that it`s highly confidential. Y'know, the usual Reeve-yadayada." She flashed Rufus a toothy grin as he accepted the package, unamused.

"What`s inside it?" He asked nonchalantly, as he inspected the shoddy wrapping of the parcel.

"Ah," said Yuffie, bouncing slightly on her toes. "This really weird thingy-ma-jig gadget, with all these creepy and weird markings on it. I couldn`t get it to do anything, but-," she stopped abruptly at Rufus`s stern expression, her mouth agape. "That is to say, I erm…I assume that is what it is," she stuttered, cursing herself for her big mouth and inwardly face palming.

"Reputations, Lady Kisaragi... some more fitting than others, I suppose." Rufus said, and again Yuffie shifted uncomfortably under his intense stare. Stop doing that, her mind yelled at him. He finally broke the stare of doom. "Due to the parcel`s highly confidential nature, as Mr. Tuesti so aptly put it, I of course assumed you had peeked inside already." Rufus pressed on monotonously.

"I wanna know what it does." Yuffie dropped the innocent act in a heartbeat, ignoring the assumption he had made. After all, he had been right. Rufus raised a quizzical eyebrow, and somewhere behind her Reno snorted derisively. Yuffie fought the urge to introduce the Turk`s backside to one of her mini-shurikens.

"…Please?" she pleaded, painfully contorting her face into something she assumed looked adorable. Well, of course it was painful, begging a Shinra like that. Rufus sighed in capitulation and pocketed the parcel in one of the many layers of his many white coats.

"In an effort to spare Reeve the inevitable interrogation by a persistent teenager-"

"Hey!" Yuffie interrupted, and crossed her arms proudly, "As it so happens, I`m 20, and Reeve would never-" Rufus silenced her verbal barrage by holding up a long, slim finger.

"- I will actually tell you what this 'thingy-ma-jig' gadget does. Or, at least, what it is supposed to do," he said, as his eyes scrutinised her again, searching for a reaction, in that intense way she had recently come to loathe. Her 'reaction' was complete silence, which was the best reaction one could hope for when it came to Yuffie Kisaragi.

"Really?" she retorted, face screwed up in disbelief.

"Uhh, boss?" A hesitant Reno interfered from behind Yuffie, also keen to share his scepticism. "I… are you sure?"

Yuffie spun to face the Turk with stormy grey eyes that told him exactly what she would do to him if he didn`t close his mouth right now.

"Shut up, Turkey!" She hissed through clenched teeth. She turned back to Rufus after rearranging her face into cutesy smile, complete with fluttering lashes. Rufus winced; it was oddly reminiscent of the looks Scarlett would give him whenever she strutted up to his desk to ask him anything – particularly questions regarding budget increases for her department. That old crone may have had his father wrapped around her little finger, but Rufus was not as easily swayed by Scarlett`s exaggerated curves and phony smiles.

Yuffie was certainly not in possession of such curves, nor was it possible to compare her tiny shorts and tank top combination with a revealing red dress. Still, he had to admit she had definitely grown up since that first time he saw her with Cloud and his rag-tag group stealing the Tiny Bronco. These days, she certainly filled out those microscopic shorts in a whole different way. He hadn`t noticed this until he spotted her working with Reeve for the WRO a year back. Not in a perverted way, of course – just in the way that any sighted man would.

"You were saying, Rufus dear?" she cooed. Rufus grimaced slightly at the saccharine tone before he nodded towards Reno in reassurance.

"It is alright, Reno. Would you like some tea, Lady Kisaragi?" He gestured towards the stairs leading down.

"Oh, please, Rufus. Call me 'Yuffie'." Rufus was sure her voice could not reach a higher octave, and he tried to ignore the ingratiating smile she still sported.

"Very well…Yuffie." He couldn`t take much more of the fake pleasantries, and he was a master at fake pleasantries.

"Yuffie, I already said I would tell you about the item. Pretences are unnecessary."

She gave her skinny shoulders a noncommittal jerk in response and immediately dropped the act, much to Rufus`s relief. She plopped her small frame unceremoniously into one of the chairs opposite him – in his minimalist furniture, in his minimalist living room. She inspected his furniture, popping a critical eyebrow at the inanimate objects.

"Right, then," she finally said, arms crossed and eyes focused entirely on the white-clad former president. Although he was still clean-cut and rather dashing, she noticed he wasn`t quite as impeccable as he had once been; the buttons on his undershirt were not entirely done up, leaving a bit of his smooth skin exposed right below his neck. His suit, or suits plural, did not fit him the same way they had when she had first met him years ago. They used to show off his broad shoulders and straight, proud posture.

She would never admit it to anyone, barely even to herself, but she secretly fancied him back then. Only superficially, obviously, since she could never truly fancy a Shinra affiliate – past or present. Except Cloud, of course. And Vincent, naturally. Oh, and maybe Reeve, although he was a total geek, and way too old for her. A hot old geek, she reminded herself. Ok, so maybe her rules about not crushing on anyone ever connected to Shinra could bend. A little. Besides, Rufus had changed. His clothes seemed to be wearing him these days, and she could sense just a smidgen more humility in him than before. Just a smidgen, though. She reckoned he would always remain an arrogant snob at heart.

Rufus peered at her from over his cup as he delicately sipped his tea, and she made a point to stare back, determined not to let him control their intense stare-fight this time. Reno made another sound of disapproval from the chair next to her, whilst Rude remained his stoic self.

Despite his fall from grace, she knew Rufus was still loaded with cash. Her former job as the head of intelligence with WRO under Reeve`s leadership made her privy to certain classified information. When it did not, she`d find out anyway because, well…head of intel. She knew Rufus had funded the WRO and donated insane amounts of cash. Probably to ease his conscience, she told herself. She also knew he still owned several properties in the Shinra name across the world, including a chalet near Icicle Village, a villa in Costa del Sol that could easily disgrace Villa Cloud, and of course the Shinra Manor. She assumed the latter property was not high on Rufus`s list of properties to reside in, however. So yeah, Rufus certainly wouldn`t starve, she was certain of that much. As for Rufus and his wardrobe, she`d have to remind him to see a good tailor before she left later on, as a gesture of goodwill, of course.

"Well. Let`s get to it, then," Yuffie suggested eagerly, drumming her fingers on the armrests. She ignored the disapproving looks the red-haired Turk was aiming her way. Rufus calmly placed his cup on the table and leaned back in his sofa.

"Reeve has been an asset in this operation. We believe this device was developed by the Ancients– By the Cetra," Rufus said, studying Yuffie`s clueless expression for a moment before continuing. "Reeve and my team of scientists have conferred with some of the elders at Cosmo Canyon regarding this device and its usage. They have also conducted field research in order to decipher the markings that you saw on the object, and at this time, we believe it to be a communication device." Rufus laced his fingers together as he surveyed her calmly.

"Communication device?" Yuffie was mystified. She certainly hadn`t played all nicey-nice with Rufus Shinra only for this device to be some sort of ancient PHS.

"Yeah," Reno drawled, having clearly decided to butt in, "to summon Gaia, yo." He kept his languid aquamarine eyes fixed on Yuffie.

"Not 'summon', as such." Rufus corrected, regaining her attention. "It is not a Materia. It is something else entirely." He gave the young ninja a pointed look.

On second thought, maybe this ancient PHS-thingy isn`t as boring as I thought, Yuffie pondered.

AN: Thank you for reading! Please leave a review, if you can :)