Rill was plotting something. Reno could tell it just to look at her. He had gotten a pretty good feel for when Rill intended on turning something upside down to get her way.

"Are you licensed as a pilot for more than a chopper?" Reno was somewhat taken aback at the abrupt question, he was hanging out in her swanky new office cause the couch was bigger and she had recently restocked her sweet stash.

"Uh, nothing bigger than that." Rill hummed, disappointed as she turned back to her computer, fingers rattling out swiftly and easily as she searched for...something.

"What are you doing, yo?" He asked, slinging his arms behind his head as he watched her. She wasn't wearing her usual work face, so likely she was manipulating her connections to hook her family up with something. He was honestly kinda surprised she didn't do more than the occasional splurge.

"Zack's birthday is in two weeks." She replied calmly. "He has recently been seen skulking around jeweler's. He has not been home, nor called his parents since he joined up." Reno's mind went blank for a split second.

"No way..." Zack was that serious about Aeris in just a few months?

"It's been more than a year." Rill's voice was mild and innocent.

"They've only been official for a couple months!"

"Aeris liked him seriously from the moment she saw him snoring in our flowerbed. I'd say Zack fell for her sometime after she managed to kick his butt in a snowball fight last Christmas." When the spot closest to the fireplace was threatened, Aeris got mean.

Reno was somewhat nonplussed and exasperated. Rill could assign times and dates and probably even the exact hour at which her foster sister's relationship had been solidified, but had somehow completely failed to notice Sephiroth falling for her like a sedated behemoth! If she asked for a personal island, Seph would get it for her! The guy had it bad. Reno had dropped some questions around the Flower House, what the Turks called the Gainsborough home, and found that while Elmyra had given some tips, Sephiroth was still in the process of deciding what it was he felt.

Hurry the hell up, man! Stop rubbing it in already! Reno was somewhat...perturbed about the fact that the guy needed to make up his mind about whether or not he was in love with Rill. You didn't decide that kind of thing, it sorta just, happened!

But being who he was, Sephiroth wouldn't settle for anything but a firm answer.

Aeris chalked it up to his unconscious perfectionist tendency.

"He was born to be the perfect warrior. He's been raised to be a perfect SOLDIER. He's been taught to be the perfect commander. Everything Sephiroth has ever done has always come easy and been mastered to an art form. Now this comes along, and Sephiroth has to fight his feelings to see where they fit into his life. And he won't accept anything but an absolute answer from himself. So, he isn't being indecisive. He's literally taking all the time he needs to sort this out. And given that he probably hasn't really thought about his feelings in years...we might be waiting for a while for this to get going." The betting pool was getting tense lately. And by tense, he meant vicious.

Everyone could see that Sephiroth was liking Rill more and more, and everyone with eyes could see that it was more than just platonic feelings. And while not everyone was happy about it, see also most of the Silver Elite, it was a pretty much accepted fact of life that it was happening.

And while this was happening, Rill was busy arranging a flight to Gongaga so Aeris, who wasn't even allowed outside of the slums without a guard, could meet Zack's parents.

They're gonna send someone with her to Gongaga, aren't they? Reno realized.

The scorching hot center of a jungle with a Mako Reactor not twenty miles away.

Bugs, vicious plants, monsters galore. And the people that had somehow given birth to Zack...

He resolved to book himself several missions to ensure that he would not be the one accompanying the Ancient and her boyfriend on the dreaded 'meet the parents' trip.

-vVv-

Don't be a coward. I trained you, So you can do this. Cloud vehemently wished that the voice in his head that sounded exactly like Sephiroth would shut up.

He was trying again.

He was only 16 years old and he had already failed miserably twice at something most people never even tried. And yet here he was again, applying for SOLDIER.

It was relatively easy to pinpoint what had changed since his last attempt. Sephiroth did leave a rather noticeable mark on one's life. Or in Cloud's case, on his psyche and body. He had grown up working hard in the mountains just to stay alive and it had never hurt so bad as when the devil of a 1st Class SOLDIER decided to train him.

Cloud had been too confused to be grateful at first. And then he had been hurting too bad. But it had all paid off. Between the regular home cooked food from the Flower house in the Sector 5 slums and Sephiroth's brutal training, Cloud had put on a fair amount of muscle and even grown a few inches. He'd probably never match the towering height of his mentor, or even Zack's 6'1", but he was at least taller than Rill and Aeris now by a few fingers.

And there was definitely an improvement now over other tries in his academics. His written test had been mostly theory and tactics, which he had never had the most perfect grasp of, but he was more capable of seeing what answers were being sought after. Hanging around a group composed of Turks, intelligent women and two 1st Class SOLDIER was clearly good for something as far as comprehension. He had finished it feeling much more confident about his answers now that before. Around him, many of his peers, some of which looked a lot older and stronger than he was, were talking amongst themselves, joking, boasting, generally trying to make themselves feel better about their chances or intimidating the competition.

Cloud hadn't fit in before because he was the country boy, and then because he was short. Now he felt even more alienated because he was different in a new way. He looked at them now, and he saw boys talking themselves up instead of facing something they were afraid of. Funny what hanging around Sephiroth does to your perspective of what is truly scary.

He was standing in the ranks that the applicants were ordered into, not moving a muscle. Instead of standing at attention, he had opted for parade rest to not be so hard on himself.

Standing at attention is only ever for show. You're short, so it'll look like you're trying to make yourself bigger than you really are if you do that. Just stand straight, be confident. And if you can't manage that, fake it.

It was startling how human the General was once Cloud got to know him in person. Much of his idolization had faded to leave only a sense of bewilderment and vague amusement in it's place. Was the man his friend now or still just a mentor who was extremely overprotective of his not-crush?

The tall, silver haired man was the paragon of perfection as a man and as a SOLDIER if the papers were to be believed. And having glimpsed him in action, Cloud was inclined to agree with the sentiment.

But the papers had never seen him up to his elbows in soapy water doing the dishes for Mrs Gainsborough. Or looking like a guilty dog when Aeris saw that some of her rose bushes had been damaged.

And no one would ever believe me if I told them that he's a person too. Cloud had realized this side of Sephiroth was one that only a few people ever got to see. He felt honored and way out of his depth to be privy to this secret.

"Strife, Cloud." His name was called and while there was the familiar uncertainty and nervousness, the shame and fear of failure, Cloud moved for the yard.

First and foremost, he had been inspected head to toe in a medical physical and had some blood drawn to see if he was even viable as a candidate for SOLDIER. He had been underweight on his first try. Then there was the academic test, which was where he had failed the second time and horribly at that. He must have passed now, though, given that he was still here. Now he just had to meet whatever other requirements they wanted.

He could see right away that the inspectors weren't too confident given how his eyes just passed over him and his lips twitched back into a sneer.

People are going to underestimate you due to your appearance. That's their problem and it does not define what you are capable of. Blond hair and blue eyes on a fairly scrawny kid wasn't all that impressive, but Cloud swallowed his nerves and met the man's eyes.

I'm not the same kid I was before. I'm better now...

He hadn't thought that he would find friends here of all places. Not after how many people had put so much work into him.

Mrs Gainsborough. Being away from Mom was hard. And Cloud could never adequately express how much the kindly woman had helped him by stepping in for Skye Strife when she couldn't help him.

Zack. The crazy 1st Class SOLDIER, a title Cloud could scarcely believe had been bestowed on someone as clownish and goofy as Zack! He had managed to get his entire barracks flooded with ranch dressing of all things! Cloud had been caught up in the mess, figuratively and literally, and dragged to the production plant alongside the bouncy older teen and he still didn't know how it had all happened! Maybe it was Zack's version of revenge from that time Cloud's alcohol tolerance was shown to be higher than his...

If there was one thing Zack taught him, it was to enjoy life no matter what happened and to embrace whatever came, good and bad alike.

Sephiroth. His idol turned teacher. Cloud had never in his wildest dreams dared imagine that the general would pay the slightest bit of attention to him. And here he was with almost a year of personal training from the man under his belt, in sword and magic alike!

Rill and Aeris. Being his friends, helping him when he was down, showing him how to pick himself up and how not to give any ground even when people talked down at you. Showing him how beauty grew even in the harshest of circumstances. Connecting him to his family, leading him through his shame.

There were many people here that he didn't want to disappoint. So Cloud wasn't going to be holding anything back.

(The fact that Sephiroth had threatened to strip him naked and dump in into the lowest level of the monster infested sewers if he failed was...only a slight motivational factor. Cloud knew he could just get Rill to come and save him and then watch with carefully hidden delight as the tiny slip of a woman tore Sephiroth a new one.)

-vVv-

"I knew it!" Zack whooped, grabbing the recently promoted 3rd Class SOLDIER in a monstrous bear hug. "I knew you had it in you little buddy, congrats man!" Cloud, his eyes aglow with the recent infusion of Mako, looked somewhat astounded at his success even though it had already been several hours since the announcement. Rill saw a slightly twitch in the younger boy's muscles though that made her speak up.

"Zack, let him go. You know what a fresh Mako treatment is like." His body probably felt like sack of electrified jelly. He felt energized and perky, but in action, he was still mostly droopy and...slightly ill.

Rill caught Cloud as he staggered and slipped one of his arms over her shoulder. It's a lot harder to carry him now that it was before. He had put on weight and height so that was unsurprising.

"Zack, help me get him home." Rill looked around for the 1st Class and sighed when she saw what he was doing. "Zack, stop dancing and help."

"-suck it losers cause li'l Cloudy's gonna help me save the world! Booya!"

"Zack-"

"Best sidekick ever!"

"I thought he was loud before..." Cloud groaned, trying to cover his ears without falling down.

"You know, I almost managed to forget that he'd be getting a refresher injection today as well..."

-vVv-

But there was no time to really celebrate.

In mid June, only a few days before Zack and Aeris left on the trip that Rill had arranged for them, AVALANCHE attacked Shinra Tower again. Rill didn't get to see much of what happened given that Sephiroth swept into her office like a grim reaper and escorted her out of the tower and well out of danger.

I pity anyone who crosses him right now. This was the General in his full glory and Rill didn't anticipate anyone with the persistent desire to live interfering with him right now.

Because of her silent, deadly and very noticeable shadow, Rill didn't even see the Ravens that were reported to have invaded the tower and abducted Hojo.

They can keep him. Her instincts were telling her with persistently louder and louder warnings that Hojo was planning something involving her.

You really want someone with no sense of ethics or morals sided with AVALANCHE? Aeris asked as Rill sat in the lower level of Shinra tower that had been reinforced to serve as a civilian bunker. While most people would be evacuated, Rill was seeing a surprising amount of people enter the protected space.

Why is that surprising? Sephiroth's guarding it. It's probably the safest place in the city right now. Rill answered her cousin with a held in sigh.

Because Sephiroth is nowhere present. Only the General is here. And most people are terrified of him.

Most people haven't seen the difference like you have. That was true at least.

Rill glanced around the windowless room, slightly bored. It was almost certainly the most secure place for her to be if she had to remain in Shinra Tower. But she wasn't doing anything and it was going to drive her insane-!

Rill carefully maintained her boredom to avoid becoming restless and edgy. Better that she look bored but calm than nervous and twitchy. It would have a strong effect on those who were currently in this enclosed space with her.

It was mostly some key people from the financial department, a few clerks, and people that hadn't managed to get out in time before lockdown was initiated to try and catch whatever AVALANCHE members were still in the building. But there was also one person who hadn't been able to move fast enough due to wearing enormously impractical high heels.

"-send them running in just a few minutes if they'd let me use my babies on them!" Scarlet's voice wasn't shrill naturally, but it did grate painfully on Rill's ears since she was using Tremor-sense to try and determine what was going on outside the room. Sephiroth was still there and he didn't look as though he was about to move.

Goddess grant me the patience to deal with some people and the wisdom to hide the bodies...

-vVv-

"I'm fine, Sephiroth. You can stop hovering now." Rill was heading home after a long, tiring period of time when the building still hadn't been cleared from AVALANCHE. Hojo had been recovered and he was, unfortunately, no worse for the wear, just grouchy.

"Humor me, Rill." He said in a voice that was dry, but his shoulders were tense and his eyes sharp and wary as he looked around. "Given what happened last time, I'd rather not risk you getting taken again." Even though I was only kidnapped to try and coerce Genesis? Rill wasn't sure how to feel about the arm Sephiroth had around her shoulders as they walked to her apartment. Rill's quick glance told her that the Turks were in position and watching, so she would probably be safe to sleep for several hours.

"Once is only a coincidence."

"I'd rather not allow it to happen twice and become a pattern."

Rill had no reasonable response to that, or at least not one that she felt would elicit a positive reaction from him, so she remained silent. She saw several people rubberneck after them, staring openly and felt her face flush with embarrassment.

The rumors about them being in a relationship would only get harder and harder to dispel after this.

-vVv-

They are off to Gongaga and Zack will be on his best behavior for the duration of the trip because he is accompanied by Aeris, and going to see his mother. Ergo, for the next two weeks, no incidents from him. The trip had not been delayed by the attack, despite some efforts to keep Zack, a sorely needed 1st Class, in Midgar for show and faux deployment.

Rill examined several messages from certain people, only one stood out to her though.

'I can't find Reno and his last message said something about cheese whiz and cactuars.' Rill stared at the message for several long minutes. She had thought that something so blatantly obvious and overused shouldn't need to be corrected anymore...

Reno still thinks that angry cactuars are pacified by cheese whiz? The Cetra sighed.

Of course...Zack might be out of the picture for the time being, but Reno is back in business and worse than ever...

-vVv-

Sephiroth listened to Rill as she spoke on the phone. Tseng had come into her office, handed her the phone without a word and promptly sat down and started to drink straight from a bottle of scotch. He raised a brow at her and she hit speakerphone as he sat down, taking a draught of some chilled tea that Rill favored for the latter summer months.

"Reno, the only thing that Tseng did was walk in, hand me the phone then start to knock back some scotch. What exactly are you doing?"

"I'm looking for a bathroom!"

"Ok, where are you then?"

"Wutai! South eastern portion!" Rill thought for a moment.

"The vacation area?"

"Yeah! They said there were public bathrooms everywhere around here, yo! I'm not finding anything 'cept a buncha hot springs and naked women! Not that I really mind that part-"

"Reno, when a Wutain says 'public bathroom' they literally mean 'public bathing chamber.' Not a restroom." Sephiroth chuckled as he watched Rill's expression become something fond, exasperated and irritated all at once.

"What the hell?! Why didn't they just say so, yo!?"

"Probably because they're enjoying the sight of you racing around like a headless chicken."

Sephiroth tuned out for the rest of the conversation where Rill talked Reno through the proper phrasing to find a restroom. He was cataloging how much he liked her expression as her temper was pushed to the borders of its control.

He decided that he liked it. It was certainly amusing, though most might not see it like that since she looked a little stressed and frazzled, something that would fade within minutes after she hung up the call. It was far from her best look, but it was oddly endearing nonetheless to see her mouth twist in incredulity and her eyes widen slightly.

'You love their imperfections...'

Check.

-vVv-

Reno knew that he was in trouble when he glanced at his phone. Rill calling him...that had only happened three other times. And he had his reasons for this time...she couldn't get too mad at him, right...?

Well, granted, his reasons weren't...always on mission. Really, though, he had to maintain his reputation after a year of behaving himself due to being glued to Rill's side. The former slum girl was amazing and all, but he had barely had any real fun that whole time!

"Oh, hey Rill! What's up?"

"A prize Black Chocobo intended for high stakes racing, worth slightly more than half your annual salary." She replied sweetly. Reno flinched. Crap. I didn't think they'd be onto me that soon...

"...Zack did it?"

"Zack is in Gongaga, Reno. And I'm looking at picture evidence right now. Try again." Her tone was still pleasant, but Reno heard the danger signals loud and clear. He had about...two minutes of leeway to keep explaining before she called out the big guns.

Reno didn't think he wanted to go through another dry spell of her getting him banned from any and all bars and cutting him off from her baking. (Some off duty, severely sloshed Turks had decided, after some discussion, that the Promised Land could be reached through Rill's baking. He had been among them and agreed wholeheartedly. She was just as good a cook too!)

"Look, Rill, I'm got a lead on this leak we've been tracking. I needed to get over the mountains and to this tiny little island fast! I couldn't afford to wait for a chopper or boat, or the trail would have gone cold!" He heard a sigh from over the line.

"Return the bird within three days or you'll be charged for theft."

"Sure thing boss-lady." Reno hung up the call and exhaled heavily before addressing the male stud chocobo. "That was close, Blackspike. We almost got roasted." The massive bird gave his species signature cry and bobbed his head, straining to reach the gysahl greens Reno was using to bribe him to cooperate.

The Turk held them just out of reached and carefully scratched under the dark feathered chocobo's chin, whose eyes drooped with contentment.

"Yeah, you're a nice chocobo, yes you are...!"

-vVv-

"Rill, if anyone asks, I was in Gongaga." Rill raised her brows at the redheaded turk as he cowered, peeking hastily around the corner and flinching occasionally.

"Reno. Why are you hiding behind my couch?" He jumped and whirled around, looking up at her with wide pleading eyes.

"Don't let her find me...!" Rill patted his head consolingly.

"Don't worry Reno, you know that the Time-out box is sacrosanct in regards to restraining orders."

-vVv-

Hunts-in-shadows smelt something rank.

His back stiffened and his tail lashed angrily.

Some daring scavenger had the nerve to believe that they could simply walk into his territory and threaten his packmate!

"Dark Nation. Down." The designation his human had given him reminded him that he was supposed to not act aggressively unless signaled. It was how his human used his appearance to his advantage as he sought to become an Alpha.

The guard-hound settled down, though he still wanted to rumble threats and warnings at the suddenly uneasy herbivore his human had been speaking to. Nerilka or Rill were the human designations that Eye-of-the-Storm possessed and he recognized both of them. She had been mentioned in the verbal discourse and the herbivore had reacted as any animal would in the presence of a superior threat: A strange smell of hostile-fear that could result either in him fleeing before her Planet-bestowed fangs and claws, or him attempting to lay an ambush from behind.

As a predator, Hunts-in-shadows understood the need for stealth when stalking prey. But Eye-of-the-Storm was Pack. And one does not let outsiders harm the Pack.

He would need to approach Silver-Alpha. He had to act swiftly before Eye-of-the-Storm was outwitted by carrion, a fate that was not fitting for a child of the Planet. But being near her wasn't enough, no. The Alpha needed to finally take his chance and claim her as his mate. Simply claiming her as part of his Pack hadn't been enough to keep her safe, thus a more sacred and profound bond was needed. Hunt-in-shadows could not communicate with Silver-Alpha to the same degree as Eye-of-the-Storm, but they had had effective dealings in the past and this threat was most certainly something that the fearsome hunter would not approve of. Now how to get the clever, but still mostly deaf, human to understand what he meant...?

Hunts-in-shadows rose fluidly, baring his teeth at the herbivore as he hastily skittered back from him like a nervous spider.

"Remain calm. He's just taking himself for a walk." The guard-hound made straight for the heart Silver-Alpha's territory.

"You...let him wander around without a leash?" he heard his human bare his teeth in a seemingly friendly display of dominance.

"Dark Nation does as he pleases."

-vVv-

Emma stared.

Reno stared back, apparently unconcerned.

"Rill?" The blond woman began. "Why is there a cardboard box sitting in your office and more importantly, why is Reno sitting in it?"

Nerilka Thomas, the single most valuable woman ever to walk through Shinra's doors, smiled at Emma, codename: Gun.

"He's in time-out for the Race to El Dorado, the Zolom That Was Not and sundry other incidents that all occurred within the last week." And the fact that Rill didn't even looked flustered by the fact that all of this had taken place and most of it had been shunted to her to fix even as she managed the technicalities of the SOLDIER department, only made her rise still more in Emma's estimation.

"So how long until he comes out?" She asked, looking back at the boxed Turk. Rill tapped her cheek thoughtfully as she mused aloud.

"I haven't pinned down the exact number. Calculating two hours for every million gil, both spent on collateral and translated social damage..." Emma paled and Reno's shoulders hunched and his calm facade broke into one of undeniable nerves.

"Hades..." Emma breathed.

"Oh yes."