Rufus and Tifa entered his apartment after a long day of shopping. Rufus had made sure that a steward from downstairs was to bring a cart with all of their purchases up.
Tifa flopped down on the living room couch. "I am completely exhausted."
The blonde vice president shook his head. "I hope not too exhausted to go to dinner? I booked a reservation at a quiet spot at one of the VIP cafés downstairs. I thought we could freshen up and then go eat, and you can start asking me those questions you've been compiling all day."
The young woman sighed contentedly. "That, I can handle. I am going to have to get to know you a bit better before I can pretend to have a relationship with you."
"Good, we'll leave here in about 45 minutes. The steward should be here with your new things shortly. Oh, and tomorrow, I will have Reno and Rude find you suitable housing, something pre-furnished so you won't be in need of anything." He removed his jacket and draped it over his arm as he looked towards her.
She smiled at him. "You know Rufus, I know that everything you've done to make this work so far has been to make sure the plan is successful, but I wanted to thank you for letting me feel like a girl again. I've been so caught up in our cause that I forgot that I needed time to do something for myself, and today was actually really fun."
Her gratitude almost threw him off again. She wasn't thanking him for all the nice things; she was thanking him for helping her focus on herself for once. This was a bit unusual to him; he really hadn't expected any thanks at all, considering this was all part of their charade. Was she truly not used to receiving that much attention? Not really knowing how to respond, he simply nodded his head.
She seemed to notice his apprehension at answering and laughed. "Alright, I'm starving; I'm going to go get ready." She stood up and padded down the hall to the guest bedroom.
Rufus glanced at his watch. He was expecting a status report from Reno any minute, and he wanted to make sure that everything had gone as planned. It was almost 5, and their dinner reservation was at 6. He was eager to make sure that her files were in place before they risked being seen in a more intimate setting together for the first time.
A knock at the door jarred Rufus from his thoughts, and he opened it to let the steward wheel the cart in with their day's purchases.
The steward rolled the cart into the living room and against a wall. "Just call when you are ready for me to pick up the cart, sir." He looked at the numerous bags and smiled at his boss. "Whoever she is, I hope she's worth it!" He quickly bowed his head and exited the apartment after receiving a quirked eyebrow from Rufus.
As the door closed, a familiar ringtone rang out. Rufus answered, "Did everything go smoothly?"
Reno's voice sounded bored. "Course it did, it's not like you sent us on some life threatening mission that's actually interesting or nothin'."
"Just get back here as quickly as you can, Tseng will be wondering about your whereabouts soon. We're going to dinner, and your check in report with him is at 7."
Reno yawned over the phone. "Yeah, yeah, we're already on our way back. Should make it there with plenty of time to spare. You were just shopping for some new turtlenecks today, right?"
"And a new watch. Send me a text when you've checked in with Tseng." Rufus closed his phone and walked down the hall. "Tifa?" he said, knocking on the door.
"Hang on, hang on…"
He heard the door unlock and she opened the door a crack, hair wet and wearing a terrycloth robe. He took a step back to ease her mind about his intentions. "Your clothing has arrived."
"Oh good. I think I know exactly what I'm gonna wear." She eyed him a second and opened the door fully to go into the living room to rifle through the bags.
Rufus walked into his bedroom to choose a more casual comfortable garb. He certainly wouldn't want the dinner to come across as a simple business meeting.
He looked at the full length mirror in his closet door; he could barely even see the wound on his cheek that had been so prominent before. Whatever it was in those 'vitamin' shots his father ordered him to take, they seemed to make him heal even more rapidly than before. He slicked his blonde hair back and picked out a long sleeved black satin button down shirt. Satisfied with his appearance, he left his room, hearing a hair dryer as he passed by the guest bedroom.
He still had 15 minutes to kill, so he grabbed his laptop and did an online search for Tifa's new persona, just to double check that it would come up.
As he expected, a few hits came up from the information that Reno and Rude had planted, but she still seemed largely mysterious, which is the effect that Rufus had wanted to make sure she had.
As he checked on his Turk's work, he heard Tifa's door open again.
"How do I look?" she said, something a bit different in her tone.
Rufus looked up from his laptop; she was wearing an amethyst colored, knee length, sleeveless wrap dress that hugged in all the right places. The color of the dress complimented her dark brown hair, which was styled in a half up-do; the rest of her long, thick tresses rested around her shoulders. She had even put on a little makeup; her wine eyes brightened under a bit of jade green eye shadow, cheeks just a tad flush, and a little gloss made her pouted lips even more sumptuous.
He must have underestimated the amount of time he had spent looking at her, because she smirked and said, "Wow, take a picture, it'll last longer. I do clean up pretty nice, don't I? If I made you speechless, I must be doing something right." She chuckled.
Rufus cleared his throat. "That you are. You look great. Are you ready to go?"
She smiled and nodded.
It didn't take them long to reach the café downstairs, the host seated them and the effect was almost instantaneous. Employees and people that had been conversing and eating were suddenly whispering to each other and stealing glances at the two seated toward the back of the restaurant.
Tifa's eyes darted quickly around the room. "Wow. I had no idea your life was like this."
Rufus shrugged. "You get used to it. It really only happens here in the HQ where people recognize me the most. Like today in the shops, typically only the store employees make it a point to know the richest people in town. But, since I've stayed out of the limelight, most people outside of ShinRa Inc.'s social circle don't know what I look like anyway." He had grown used to the feeling of so many eyes upon him; he forgot what it felt like to experience it for the first time. But he watched as Tifa took it in stride, and acted as if she was unaware of the hushed tones whispering about them.
She laughed and looked at him with smiling eyes. "Well, if you're used to it, then I'm used to it."
Those eyes were so warm, so full of life. Her full attention was on him, and she acted as if they were the only two people in the room. She almost made him feel like they were the only two people in the room.
Until the waiter came to the table for their drink order. Rufus ordered a glass of cognac and Tifa ordered a glass of wine.
"Didn't you have some questions for me?"
She grinned. "I'm getting there. Just don't get upset with me if I ask you some personal questions since you looked at the personal details of my life."
He nodded in agreement. "Sounds like a fair trade."
"Alright, let's get the little questions out of the way first. How old are you, when is your birthday, and what's your favorite color?"
Rufus chuckled, and shook his head. "I am 24, my birthday is the 8th of December, and I don't really have a favorite color."
Tifa nodded with a grin. "Well, that explains all the black and white clothes. Okay, where did you grow up?"
"Well, I was born in Nibelheim, at the Shinra family mansion, we lived there till I was about 7 or 8 or so, then we moved to Midgar. My teenage years, I was a bit rebellious, and my father put me on 'special assignment' in Junon to keep me out of trouble. Now, I go back and forth between running the Junon office and working here in Midgar." Rufus took a swallow of his cognac and watched as Tifa's fingertip gently circled the rim of her wineglass.
"You were rebellious? I can't even imagine what that must have been like." She chuckled, then sipped her wine, her face suddenly turning serious. "So what really happened to your mother?"
"Ah, mom- I don't really remember much of her, sadly. I always had nannies growing up; I remember she was very sick at the end, and I was still very young. Professor Hojo was a constant visitor to the mansion in Nibelheim to give her medicine, and routine checkups. If I remember correctly, she died when I was 5. There are portraits of her at the mansion; she was a very lovely woman. I did try to dig into her past a bit, but my father seems to have had most of the files destroyed because they are mysteriously missing. A bit fishy if you ask me, but it was such a long time ago. I wish I could say I missed her, but..." Rufus shrugged vaguely. "It's just been me and my old man for so many years, I just got used to his imbecilic orders. One of the reasons that I'm so very careful with my words is because I would get smacked in the back with this old walking cane he had every time I back-talked or made a snide remark about his stupidity. He knew he couldn't hit me in the face. The man has a lot of pride, and he lets nothing get in the way of that pride. I wouldn't doubt he had something to do with my mother's death; it was probably cheaper to off her than to publicly divorce her."
Rufus casually ordered food from the returning waiter and looked at Tifa, who was still looking at the menu. "You should try the duck, it's very good here."
Nodding silently, she smiled up at the waiter and looked back at Rufus. "That does sound good." Once the waiter had left, Tifa's expression changed. "Seems to me that your childhood was not as storybook-like as most would think it was."
He shrugged again with a slight smirk. "I was never depressed, if that's what you're thinking. As far as I know, I've grown up without manifesting any mental or social disorders."
She put her hand on his. "Well, that's a relief. Still, you're probably somewhat emotionally scarred from the abuse you had to put up with. It's hard to be normal when the people who were supposed to protect you, beat you instead."
Her hand felt so soft on his. There was a strange feeling of comfort radiating from her touch. "I guess you could say that my emotional range is pretty shallow. I remember fear and anxiety a lot when I was younger, so much so that I think I just got used to them. Anger and frustration, I learned to suppress. I wasn't ever allowed to be angry."
Tifa was biting her lip while she listened. "That actually makes a lot of sense. You are definitely kind of hard to read in your kind of emotionless nonchalance. It's thrown me off a couple of times."
He chuckled. "Well, I'm glad you're getting to understand my character. I'd say your list of questions was a success." He studied her face, trying to get a read for what might be going on through her head; she had a very pensive look that furrowed her brow.
Her eyes found his again after the short silence, and the waiter returned with their food. She shrugged. "I've never had duck, so this better be good, mister."
Rufus smiled. "I know you'll enjoy it."
The two continued with small talk while they ate, and enjoyed another round of drinks before deciding to call it a night. Rufus stood from his chair and walked over to her and offered his arm. "Shall we?"
He caught her blush as she reached for his arm and stood to walk out of the café with him.
The sea of eyes seemed to reappear in that moment, watching their every move.
Grinning, Rufus took Tifa's hand and kissed it before resting it back on his arm.
The room was so quiet; they could hear a pin drop.
Tseng stood in front of Rude and Reno, shaking his head. "What is Rufus up to?"
Both Turks stayed silent as they looked at their Head Turk.
"First he comes home looking like gutter trash and attends breakfast like that, and today he spends all day shopping for new turtlenecks?" The tall, dark haired man said.
"And a watch." Reno added while Rude nodded.
"What's even stranger is that President Shinra actually seemed pleased with him after their family breakfast. I have a feeling he's up to something, I just can't place my finger on what yet." Tseng shook his head.
The red headed Turk shrugged. "Who knows? We'll probably find out soon enough. He hasn't acted weird to us yet, but we'll make sure to report to you if anything fishy turns up."
"Do you know where he is now?" the Head Turk queried after a long drawn out sigh.
"Sir, he told us he was planning on going to dinner at the VIP café at 6." Rude answered.
Tseng quirked an eyebrow. "By himself? He never goes down to the café to eat. He usually gets food delivered to his apartment."
"He didn't divulge that information to us, sir. He was pretty keen on going by himself though." The bald Turk replied.
Tseng sighed again. "Keep a close eye on him. Try to catch any plans he makes outside of the times that you're on duty."
Both Reno and Rude saluted. "Yes sir."
Cloud had never felt so useless in his life. He wasn't used to waiting around for information, sitting on his hands.
"Yo, foo', ya look like ya dog died."
Cloud glared at Barret from the corner of his eye. "What's she expect us to do all day? How long's this supposed to take?"
"You know this ain't gon' happen overnight! She gotta have time to establish herself wit' all those rich people." Barret waved his gun arm around to emphasize.
"Alright, but eventually we'll need to check on her. I have to visually see that she's okay. We'll see if she can do that the next time she calls. Maybe once a week, we'll meet up with her." Cloud rested his chin on his arms which were crossed on the table in front of him.
"In the meantime, we need to get dis place back to pristine condition. We gon' open back up and start makin' money while Tifa's working. You know how to bartend?" Barret scratched the back of his head.
Cloud laughed. "A little, but I don't know if I'd make as many tips as Tifa does."
Barrett shook his head. "Yeah, you definitely ain't as peppy as she is."
There was a knock at the door and both members of AVALANCHE went silent.
Cloud looked through the window by the door. He had a puzzled look on his face as he unlocked and opened the door.
A young woman with a long brown braid tied up in a pink bow walked through the door. "Hi there, my name is Aerith Gainsborough. Are you hiring?"
A/N: Another update, guys! Finally got a little background out on Rufus, and why he may seem a little more unemotional that I normally write him, he will be evolving, just like Tifa, through the story. Oh, and I added a teeny surprise for those who are fans of Aerith. I started getting some ideas with her that I think I'm going to incorporate.
Anywhoo, just to let you know, next week I will be on VACAY! I'm goin' on a cruise with my hubby, SO excited! I won't be able to write next week, so expect there to be a more of a delay before the next chapter is posted. Thank you for your patience!