As I started wrting this chapter a few days ago, I realized that it seemed a bit rushed. So, I divided it into two parts. I'll post the second one later on today.

Stealthily, Tifa's guest room door opened without a creak. She peeked outside the door to see if anyone was there, and sure enough, the hall was semi-dark and empty. Tifa became mischievously confident and abandoned her room. She walked quickly and quietly down the hall, not stopping until she was in front of the door.

"Yeah," she said quietly to herself. "This is the right one."

Tifa vanished from the hall as quickly as she had appeared. She wisely shut the door all way, giving her potential time to hide if someone came. Venturing further into the room, Tifa came across a sleeping Cloud, whom she believed was currently in a coma.

"Why am I here? I should be asleep…"

Nevertheless, she forced herself to walk over to the side of the bed and sit down. Tifa almost involuntarily reached forward and ran her fingers through his hair.

"Hmmm…soft hair…"

Tifa heard the door open, and the next visitor ran in, too fast for Tifa to hide. Instead of encountering the Madame, as she expected, Marlene was standing in front of her. Tifa got up and went towards her.

"Who's there?" Marlene asked.

"It's me," Tifa answered. "What are doing here? Isn't it past your bedtime?"

"You're not my mom," Marlene retorted. "Why are you here?"

"That's none of your business, kid."

"My mother was not a billy goat!"

Tifa urged Marlene to be quiet. The teen girl remembered and covered her mouth dramatically.

"Sorry," Marlene said quietly. "Madame said that if anyone came in here, heads would roll."

"Why does everyone call her the Madame, anyhow?" Tifa asked. "It's kinda creepy."

"Who knows?"

Marlene leaned to her side and to take a look at her brother.

"He looks like a child when he sleeps," Marlene whispered.

"He acts like one too," Tifa added.

"He can be serious when the time calls for it," Marlene defended.

The lamp light on the nightstand switched on. The two females stared at each other with widened eyes. A third party was now awake in the room.

"It seems I can't sleep tonight without the whole world watching me."

Tifa slowly turned around, mortified and embarrassed, and saw Cloud rubbing his sleepy eyes and adjusting them to the light. Marlene ran past her and jumped onto the bed. She forcefully jumped on her brother, wrapped her skinny arms around his neck, and rained down a thousand kisses on his face.

"You're back," she squealed.

"May I please get a shirt on?" Cloud asked.

He turned to Tifa and smiled in amusement.

"I would naturally suspect the Marlene would sneak into here," Cloud said. "But you, Miss Lockhart? Why would you go through so much trouble?"

"I was following Marlene," Tifa lied.

"You were here before I was," Marlene snitched.

"Oh, really," said Cloud. Tifa turned up her nose and looked away.

"It's really not a big reason…it doesn't matter."

"If it's not, then you won't have a problem telling me."

Tifa could just feel the cockiness oozing off of the both of them. It made her furious to no end. Her anger was cut short when the door was noisily opened and an even angrier Madame Luciano walked in.

"I said no visitors!" she shrieked.

"Eeeep!" Marlene cried.

"Here arrives Madame Creepy," Tifa thought.

Tifa quickly got to the side of the bed for protection. Obviously, just from looking at her, the Madame was not pleased.

"Ah, a few visitors won't kill me," Cloud interrupted.

"I can easily forgive the child," the Madame said. "I still hold woman accountable..."

"Oh, it's okay," Marlene interrupted.

Marlene let go of her brother and hugged Tifa affectionately.

"It's okay," she said again. "After all, she's going to be my sister soon…"

The young adults stared at each other in shock. Cloud smacked his forehead in disbelief. Marlene sighed in relief. Madame Luciano stared for a moment, with her left eye twitching. Then, the Madame seemed to become twenty years younger.

"Mi bambina!"

Marlene wisely got out of the way and closer to her brother. In a matter of seconds, the Madame ran over to Tifa, wrapped her in a strong hold, and proceeded to cover her face in kisses and lipstick. Cloud noticed a pad of paper and a pen on the nightstand and grabbed it.

"Oh," the Madame cooed. "I'm so sorry for being such a brute this afternoon…I thought you were one of those loose women that Cloud used to play around with…you should have told me you two were engaged…I would never had guessed it…"

Tifa became mortified and opened her mouth to speak. Taking advantage that Madame Luciano had her back turned to them, Cloud handed Marlene the notepad, and she held it up for Tifa to see. It read:

"Play along!"

Tifa put on a mask of cheerfulness and embraced the Madame like the granddaughter-in-law she was pretending to be. Over the Madame's shoulder, Tifa gave the Strife siblings a dirty look. Marlene tossed the pad behind the bed and shrugged her shoulders.
Madame Luciano suddenly turned on Cloud in annoyance.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were engaged?" she asked.

"I didn't know how you'd react," Cloud answered. "Sorry…"

The Madame pouted for a moment. She smiled and gave Tifa a double kiss on the cheek before turning around to leave.

"A party is in warrant!" she said. "I'll order a nice sized shipment of sake for tomorrow! And lots of Chinese food!"

The Madame did a victory dance out of the room and shut the door behind. Tifa collapsed onto the bed in a heap.

"Oh, God," Tifa groaned. "It can't get any worse, can it?"

Cloud slapped his sister on the back of her head.

"I could have handled it myself," Cloud said to her. "Why did you have to go and something like say that?"

Marlene rubbed her head in pain.

"Geez, I'm sorry," Marlene retorted. "I saved Tifa from grandma, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did. But now that she thinks Tifa and I are engaged, we have to pretend throughout the rest of the trip…"

It had just gotten worse. Tifa rose up and stared with a hysterical look on her face.

"What?!" she shrieked.

Cloud expected that reaction and almost laughed. Almost.

"In fact," he added, "I have to go get a ring for your finger, Miss Lockhart."

"I'm not pretending with you!" Tifa replied. "We'll just tell her the truth…"

Cloud and Marlene looked at Tifa and burst into painful, tear-jerking laughter.

----------

Tired and disappointed, Herman Gerald leaned back haphazardly in his chair. Today, all hope seemed to be slipping through his fingers. His prize had gone into territory that he could not follow into, and the opportunity to capture it was ruined.

"I should've known that she'd show up in the mix," he muttered. "This changes everything."

At the table, several members of the Board of Directors were seated, trying to figure a way out of the dilemma.

"We could send our Chinese agents after him," a man suggested. "She would think that the anti-bio Triads were responsible…if with planned it just right..."

"I wouldn't risk it," Gerald replied. "She has connections everywhere…even double agents in the anti-bio Triad sections. Eventually, or quickly, she would trace it back to me. Then, she would probably order Sephiroth to deliver my head to her on a silver platter… literally."

"We could continue trying to catch him when he returns to New York," a woman said. "But then again, the Madame may be keeping an eye on him from now on…we were already pushing it in the past already…she probably already knows our actions..."

Herman Gerald rubbed his balding head and got up.

"I'll leave you to brainstorm," he said. "I'm going to check on my son."

----------

Evening came and evening went. It was early morning, six o'clock to be precise, and Tifa was slowly waking up. She realized, in her sleepiness, that her face was buried in her pillow. Her arms were wrapped tightly around it too.

"Weird," she thought. "I usually grab onto people in my sleep…not objects…"

As Tifa became more awake, the "pillow" was a person. Instead of her face being buried in a pillow, it was a person's shirt. In her muddled mind, Tifa tried to sort it out.

"You know, Miss Lockhart…you could have simply just asked for a hug…"

Yup…Tifa remembered that voice. It was a British accent and no mistaking it. Tifa immediately let go, mouth opened wide with exasperation. Not phased at all, Cloud yawned and slowly got up.

"What the hell are you doing in my bed?!" Tifa screamed. "Are you insane?!"

"I was afraid that the Madame would become overzealous and try to measure you for a wedding dress in your sleep. I meant to sit in your bed and wait for her 'till 4 am…but then you grabbed onto me and wouldn't let go. Did you know that you're pretty strong for a human?"

"And where would you get such a cock-a-mammy idea like that?" Tifa asked.

"Because she did the same to mother when she married my father…she's crazy sometimes…"

Cloud ducked as a pillow was swung at his head.

"I don't really care!" Tifa yelled. "Get out! Now!"

Cloud shrugged and began to climb across the bed. He reached forward and began to nudge a lump that was sitting behind her.

"Come on, sweet love," he said. "Miss Lockhart's kicking us out."

The lump rose from the sheets and became Marlene.

"She didn't come?" Marlene asked.

Cloud shook his head. Tifa was baffled.

"Why is she here too?"

The door to the guest room burst open and a woman with short blonde hair stepped in unannounced.

"Where's that stud muffin cousin of mine?" Elena asked loudly. "Seph, you said that he'd be here…"

Elena saw Cloud sitting on the bed and immediately pounced forward like prowling leopard. She landed on him with such a force that he went backwards on the bed with a bounce. Marlene lost her balance and fell off of the bed. Tifa got off on her own accord.

"It's been too long," Elena whined. "How's NYC? Is it cool? I wanna hear all about it…"

Sephiroth hoisted Elena off. Cloud sat up again as soon as the load was off.

"Hey!" Elena complained. "I was saying hello!"

"Learn how to do it properly," Sephiroth replied.

Marlene gained her composure while Tifa was standing up, watching the scene that had forced itself into her guest suite.

"Hello to all of you too," Cloud said sarcastically. "Now if you will all excuse me, I'm going to take a bath…"

Cloud immediately exited the room; Marlene trailed behind him.

"On the way," Sephiroth said, "the Madame wants to speak with you."

"Thanks…"

And the Strife siblings were gone.

"Can you believe that it's been five years?" Elena asked.

"Can you learn how to greet people normally?" Sephiroth questioned.

"Can you all get out of here?!" Tifa yelled.

----------

It had been 24 hours since Scarlet arrived in Taipei in secret. Sitting alone in a café, she pondered on what to do and how to go about it.

"What now?" she mumbled. "I got to the Peninsula hotel…and I eavesdropped on the guys…and Cloud's missing…so is Shera…this isn't making it any easier…"

The waiter sat a large mug of coffee on the table and she nodded a thank you to him. The waiter did not budge, and Scarlet looked up to see that it was Rude.

"You don't look like a waiter to me," Scarlet said jokingly.

She noticed that an elderly man was standing behind him. Scarlet was surprised at first to see this man, but then she smiled mischievously.

"Back from the grave, eh Mr. Shinra? I had a feeling you were still alive and kicking…"

Shinra laughed and pulled out a chair. Rude pulled another chair from a vacant table and sat with them.

"More or less, I'm here," Shinra replied.

"I'm kinda glad you came here just now," she continued. "I'm having a bit of trouble locating them so…"

"We already know where they are," Shinra interrupted. "That's not a problem… there's been a change in plans."

Scarlet blew on her coffee and sipped on it. It was terrible.

"I've decided at the last minute," Shinra went on. "I don't want you to give antibody to your sister. Just give it to Mr. Strife and everything will be fine…"

Scarlet felt a flag go up in her brain.

"And why do you feel that my sister does not deserve the same treatment?" Scarlet questioned.

"She is in no danger," Shinra answered. "I've taken care of it... It would be wasting the antidote if we gave it to someone who didn't need it. Don't worry; I'll make sure that your sister is safe."

Not wanting to be in a false sense of security, Scarlet did not ask another question. Mr. Shinra hailed the real waiter and asked for a cappuccino. Rude stayed silent. She felt a need to get away as soon as possible.

"They are at Madame Luciano's secondary residence," Shinra said. "Do you need directions, or do you already know where it is."

Scarlet slid out of her chair and grabbed her purse.

"I already know," she answered. "Thank you. Can you pay for my coffee? It sucked."

Shinra nodded graciously and Scarlet left the café in a hurry. Walking four blocks away, in case they could see or hear her, Scarlet stopped, waved for a taxi, and called out in Chinese. The faithful car stopped and she uttered her orders before she was fully in the car.

"Take me to the Peninsula hotel! Now!"

----------

Yuffie tried to bury herself in the magazine, not wanting to see the tea that she was being forced to drink.

"It's good for your body," Tifa explained. "Don't you dare pour it out when I'm not looking."

"Mrs. Tifa L. Strife," Yuffie sang. "Funny how that has a ring to it."

Tifa stared daggers at her friend, who innocently shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm just saying."

Tifa finished pouring the teacups and glanced over at Yuffie, who was avidly reading Cosmo magazine. Shera knocked gently, and Yuffie shouted boisterously for her to come in.

"Hey, Tifa," she said. "The Madame wants to talk to you…"

Yuffie saw her favorite regular article and tuned them out.

"And she wants to discuss the wedding date," Shera replied, trying not to laugh.

Tifa buried her hands in her face. This was not a good morning.

"Ooooo," Yuffie cooed. "Listen to this…Cosmo says that people who like to eat cherries are good kissers."

"Cloud loves cherries," Shera said jokingly.

Not able to take it anymore, the younger women laughed. Yuffie was rolling over and punching the mattress. Tifa did not find the humor. She stomped out the door, muttering curses under her breathe.

"Very funny," Tifa replied sarcastically.

---------

"Hello…this is Mr. Strife…please leave your name, number, reason for calling, and if necessary, your address, and I will call back as soon as possible…"

Cid groaned decided to give up on calling.

"Why that no good, dirty, rotten…I'll kill him…"

A loud knock came at the door. Cid wearily stood up from his bed and scratched his neck as he went to answer it. Cautiously, Cid looked through the peephole, and saw Scarlet waiting impatiently. As he turned the lock and slightly opened he door, Scarlet forcefully pushed the door and made her way in, uninvited.

"Hey!" Cid shouted.

"Ah, shut up," Scarlet muttered. "Come one. Get your shoes and jacket on…NOW!"

Scarlet opened the hotel closet and searched for the shoes and jacket.

"I'd like to know why you're here first," Cid rejoined.

The shoes and jacket were tossed to him almost dangerously.

"You ask for too many answers! Get dressed…we have to move quickly. He could be watching us!"

Cid reluctantly obeyed her. Scarlet looked carefully through the peephole, opened the door, and cautiously leaned forward to see if anyone was there. No one was there, but she felt uneasy anyhow. As soon as Cid had halfway slipped his arm into the jacket sleeve, Scarlet grabbed it and was soon walking towards the elevators in a speedy pace.

----------

"Ah, good...perfect...I like this scent..."

Lucy was pleased. The Madame handed the vial back, and Lucy carefully placed it into the holder. The counter, neatly organized with many things, included a microscope, beaker, vials, several droppers, and a graduated cylinder. She picked out an empty vial, and carefully filled it with the dropper.

"I call it Essence of September," Lucy said proudly. "I just made it. It contains tuberoses, Bulgarian roses, violets, Florentine irises, apple, apricot, melon, peach...jasmine."

"Many ingredients..."

Lucy set the twelfth full vial into the holder.

"You think so?" Lucy asked in surprise. "No...it's nothing compared to how many extracts are in Virgin Island Water. That one has at least twelve: essence of copra (which comes the coconut meat), lime of the Antilles, ylang-ylang..."

"You don't have to tell it all," Madame Luciano interrupted.

Lucy apologized and filled a thirteenth bottle.

"Good gracious," the Madame said. "Are there going to several dozen people in your next meeting?"

"It's actually a seminar...there were over a hundred there...there just smelling samples though...I only need twenty-five..."

They both heard a knock at the slide door. Lucy walked over, started the door open, and Cid opened it the rest of the way himself. Lucy smiled in the nostalgia of it all. Cid was almost as red as ketchup, with a funny, angry, completely altered face. He pointed a shaking finger at the Madame.

"I hear that the kid is here," he whispered lowly.

"So sorry," the Madame replied in a teasing manner. "I made Cloud go get something from downtown this morning...he should back in a few hours."

Scarlet slipped through the door, barely noticed.

"Then in a few hours," Cid replied. "He dies!"

Scarlet ignored Cid and decided to get to the business at hand. Under her arm, she pulled a manila envelop and held it forward for Lucy to take.

"I take it you want me to examine something in there," Lucy said.

Scarlet nodded gravely. Instead of approaching the manner with a same somber attitude, Lucy took this as an opportunity to test her skills and readily snatched the large envelop with a smile.

----------

Three people, two men and a 13-year-old girl, looked over the several rings picked out and placed on the cloth.

"I like the sapphire one," Marlene said enthusiastically.

"Tifa likes diamonds," Cloud argued.

"Who cares?" Sephiroth interrupted. "Let's just pick the stupid ring...it's not like you're really getting married. She doesn't have to keep it..."

Cloud and Marlene simultaneously scowled at him.

"Why waste a perfectly good ring then?" Cloud asked. "That makes no sense...besides, this happens to be a gift."

"Giving rings to women is serious," Marlene added. "Gosh, Seph-chan...You're so insensitive!"

"Insensitivity is too mild a word," Cloud corrected.

Sephiroth waved them off and walked away, saying that he was going to the bathroom. Marlene gave a raspberry to the retreating person and continued to look.

"Couldn't we get something with sapphires and diamonds?" Marlene begged.

"Is this your gift or Tifa's?"

Marlene pouted with her full lips, but Cloud was hardly moved.

"Fine...get the stupid diamond ring," she mumbled.

The salesgirl came up and asked if they had made their decision yet. Both of them shook their heads, not looking away from the rings.

"Well," she continued, in Chinese, "I found two more that just came in."

In her hand, she held out a two rings, each with three gems cut into roses. The difference was that one ring had two sapphires and one diamond, while the other had two diamonds and one sapphire. Marlene forgot about the other rings. Cloud rolled his eyes and let his sister have her way.