OMG, an update!! Sorry, guys, but this chapter was actually pretty hard for me to write, I'm still not quite happy with it. And the next chapter is even harder... -Le sigh- Anyway, so here's the next chapter. I've finally decided to actually get working on this story again, so you can expect new chapters at least within a month's time of each other So enjoy!

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Chapter Ten

"As I told you all before, I had an idea of who was behind this new group of villains. It turns out I was right…" Rufus explained to the Turks. They were once again in the underground meeting room, where Rufus was about to tell them where he, Tseng, and Elena went earlier that day. Reno and Rude sat next to each other, and Yuffie sat across from Rude. Reno looked at Yuffie, hoping she would glance his way, but she continued to look at Rufus, concentrating hard on what he was saying.

"The man you saw in the warehouse was undoubtedly Henry Nightfellow, a man who used to work under my father at ShinRa. I thought him to be dead long ago, but obviously I was wrong. He is not their leader; he doesn't have the skills or the smarts to handle it."

"Then who is their leader?" asked Rude.

Rufus crossed his hands under his chin, a grave look on his face. "An old childhood friend of mine… a very old friend…"

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Earlier that day, the bar was relatively packed, the music was lively and people were talking loudly. It was lunchtime at the Seventh Heaven restaurant and bar, and business was going good. Rufus walked through the doors, followed by Tseng and Elena. Although dressed in civilian clothing (white, of course), everyone still knew who he was. And most of them still hadn't forgotten what he did to the planet. He was ignored by most of them, with a glare or two aimed at him every now and again. Elena looked ready to teach them some manners, but Tseng calmly shook his head at her.

Just as Rufus reached the counter, Cloud came out from the back, on his way to deliver some packages. He met eyes with Rufus and abruptly stopped. "What is it?" he asked, somewhat annoyed. "Are you here to see me? Or has something happened to Yuffie already?"

"Neither," Rufus smiled calmly, but there was also something mysterious about it. "I'm just here to meet an old friend." When Cloud gave him a look, he rose his hands up in a defensive way and assured him, "I won't be causing any trouble, if I can help it."

"If you can help it?" Cloud scoffed at him. "Hm. Well, if anything happens, Tifa'll kick your ass." He moved passed him, not even looking at Tseng and Elena, and went out the door.

"Like many times before…" Rufus chuckled to himself. Elena rose a curious eyebrow and looked at Tseng for an answer as to why their boss was laughing. He just shrugged. "That's just like Cloud to threaten me with a girl." Rufus looked up and saw Tifa at the other end of the counter, taking someone's order. He suddenly found himself smiling as he watched her, waiting for her to walk over to him and take his order.

"Still as unpopular as ever, I see… my old friend…"

Rufus' smile faltered a bit when he heard this voice, an all too familiar one. The smile became more of a smirk as he turned to face the owner of the voice, who was sitting at a table alone by the window. "Erik Faust. The year's have been kind to you, I see."

"And to you." He was a good looking man, taller than Rufus, with dark brown hair that was mostly slicked back with two long bangs in the front. He appeared to be no older than Rufus, although his features were sharper. His dark eyes gleamed as he motioned for Rufus to join him. Rufus took the seat across from him while Tseng and Elena stood idly nearby.

"You bring your bodyguards out with you everywhere and people will notice you," said Erik, sipping on a cup of black coffee.

"Everyone already knows who I am anyway," said Rufus, leaning back in his chair and resting his right ankle on his knee. "Unlike you," he added with a grin.

Erik shook his finger at him. "Tsk tsk, Rufus. That's no way to treat someone you haven't seen in nearly ten years."

"It's been that long? I hadn't even noticed."

Erik continued to smile, not a trace of anger or annoyance on his face. "How did you know I'd be here?" he asked.

"Just a lucky guess," said Rufus, not taking his eyes of him. "There are only so many bars around here that you'd actually have the decency to visit. And this one is one of the best. Their staff is especially top notch…" Erik's eyes darted toward the bar and lingered on Tifa for a brief moment before looking back at Rufus, a strange gleam shining in them now.

"Something in your tone tells me you didn't come all this way just to catch up on old times," Erik said calmly, taking another drink. "Or to bring up painful memories, for that matter."

"Really…" Rufus' smile had disappeared completely now. "Then you won't mind if I get straight to business."

"Please do."

Rufus narrowed his eyes for a moment then began to derive his theory. "I noticed some activity around the ShinRa building-"

"What's left of it," Erik interjected.

"-And after some investigating found a makeshift base at the nearby warehouse. Now you wouldn't happen to know anything about that, would you?"

"Can't say that I do," answered Erik shortly, drinking from his cup again.

"They were trying to lure me out," continued Rufus. "But why? The only possible explanation would be that they had some kind of grudge against me and wanted revenge by using my associates as bait." He looked at Erik with a questionable raising of his eyebrow. "Tell me, am I right? Or close enough?"

Erik put his cup down and picked up a napkin to clean himself up with. "As usual, it's no use trying to keep you in the dark. Although I must say Henry went a little out of line at the warehouse…"

"Henry?" Rufus narrowed his eyes. Where did that name sound so familiar?

"Yes, the plan was to get you out of hiding. Although everything went a little sloppier than planned, I now know all I needed to know. And instead of myself having to go and look for you-" Here, a malicious smile flashed across his features, "-you came right to me."

Tseng and Elena moved in a position to attack at his words, but he just chuckled. "I'm not simply going to kill you now, old friend," he grinned at Rufus, who stared at him, waiting for him to make his move. "No… I'll have my revenge. And I'm going to make you suffer…just as you made me so many years ago."

He stood up, and Rufus did the same. Erik grinned all the more maliciously, looking him in the eye. "And thanks to you, I have the perfect way to exact my revenge. Your associates were more than helpful. You've sealed your own fate, my friend." He put money on the table, and as he headed out the door he called back, "Oh, and you were right. This is one of the best bars in town." And he was gone.

"Should we have stopped him, sir?" asked Tseng.

Rufus shook his head. "Wouldn't have mattered. He won't go down that easily, not without a fight. He never did…" He turned to face the two of them. "Let's go. We have to tell the rest of them."

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"What does he want revenge for?" asked Reno. "Did you steal his girlfriend or somethin'?"

"I took away something more valuable than that," said Rufus, resting his hands on the table. "I took away his dreams." There was a moment of silence, in which they waited for him to elaborate, but he simply dismissed the meeting. "We're going to have to be extra careful now. I don't know what he knows about us, but we need to assume the worst. Be on guard at all times."

The Turks got up and began to leave. Yuffie was about to head out the door, but Rufus called her back. She waited by the door as Rufus talked to Tseng, asking him to have Reno, Rude, and Elena recount their activities at the warehouse, including all dialogue exchanged with the enemy. Then Tseng exited, leaving Yuffie to see what the boss wanted. He began to question her about the assassin that had suddenly appeared.

"He was a ninja, you say? Was he from Wutai?"

Yuffie had already decided that she wasn't going to tell them about Shikamaru. She wanted to find out exactly why he was after her by herself. The last thing she wanted was for everyone to worry about her again. "I don't think so. I've never seen him before."

Rufus looked at her, as if trying to see through her, as if he suspected she was lying. But then his expression changed and he said, "Alright. We'll have to keep an eye out for him too. He attacked you for a reason, and I'm sure he'll come back again. Any idea why he might be after you?"

"Well, I am a princess." Rufus was quiet for a moment, thinking about other possible reasons. Then he sighed and told her to report any strange activities or occurrences directly to him. He dismissed her.

Yuffie turned to leave, but stopped and turned to face him again. She waited another moment before telling him something she had been wondering for a long time, since the day she became one of the Turks. "Mr. Shinra… you've changed."

Rufus looked back at her, a look of surprise on his face. "Have I? What do you mean?"

She paused again, trying to find the right words. "Well, when you were head of ShinRa, you said you would rule the world with fear. What happened to that?"

For a moment, the president seemed a little distracted. He took a deep breath and stood up and began to pace the room slowly. "There are many sins that I must atone for. I figured I should start by putting a stop to Faust's evil plan…whatever that may be…"

Yuffie looked at him, admiring this vision of a man who was working so hard to correct all that he had made wrong. She stood up and held out her hand toward him, an earnest smile on her face. "You're a good man, Rufus Shinra. And I can honestly say that I'm proud to be working for you."

Rufus paused a moment before taking her hand and shaking it. "Thank you, Yuffie. It means a great deal to me." Yuffie nodded and departed, leaving him to his thoughts. Rufus looked at the pile of papers he had compiled about the warehouse and looked at one of the pictures of the ruined ShinRa building. His eyes began to cloud over as he remembered the day it had collapsed, with him still inside. All the memories of that day came back to him, and he suddenly felt a rise of anger inside him.

He put the photo down and closed his eyes, trying to keep calm. "I will repair the damage I have caused," he said to himself. His blue eyes were rimmed with a strange red tint when he opened them. "No matter what the costs…"

After Yuffie came out from the basement, she headed for the stairs but was stopped when she heard Elena's voice.

"Hey, Yuffie!" Elena poked her head around the doorway to the living room. "Rude and I are watching a movie, wanna join us?"

"Oh, um, I'm just gonna go on to bed," said Yuffie. "A lot of stuff has happened today, it's made me really tired."

Elena frowned. "Well, alright, suit yourself. Hey!" she called to Yuffie again, just as she started up the stairs. "How about tomorrow you and me go out and have a girl's day out? Sound good?" When Yuffie gave her an odd look, she shrugged and said more quietly, "It's just, I used to be the only girl around here, so it's rare that I get to go out and do 'girl stuff,' you know?"

Yuffie looked a little surprised, but then she smiled. "Yeah. That sounds great!"

"Great!" Elena smiled back and went back into the living room.

Yuffie turned and hurried up the stairs. She was glad she could help Elena, but right now, after everything that happened in the past few days, she figured a good night's sleep would do her good. She had so many things to think about; the assassin, Henry Nightfellow…and Reno. Oh, she didn't want to think about Reno right now. Her relationship with him was complicated enough without everything else that was going on.

She was almost relieved when she reached the top of the stairs, thinking she would finally have a chance to rest. But before her foot reached the top step, she suddenly froze. As if he knew she was thinking about him, Reno was waiting for her in front of her door.

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A/N: And now we get to one of the most challenging chapters to write... but you'll just have to wait and see! I'm sorry!! Please continue to read and review, even if it takes me forever to update!! Your reviews are my fire, the more I get, the more I want to write!