Disclaimer: The Final Fantasy VII compilation does not belong to me. I do not own the characters, story, places etc. They are all the property, copyright and trademark of Square-Enix. I place no ownership/claim on them by using them in this work of fan fiction.

Chapter Three: Deal Me In Mr. Wolf

Sleep would not come easy to Yuffie, as she tried desperately to clear her head. She'd spent the evening looking over the itinerary until her eyes stopped focusing and the words on the paper began to blend into a big black smudge. She had left her room once in that time to grab some food bars, whilst Reno chided her that they didn't count as a proper dinner, suggesting that he could always order in something else. She'd quickly shut him down, still feeling strangely nervous around him. When she found she couldn't keep her eyes open any longer, the young woman had crawled into bed thinking she'd pretty much black out, but the moment she closed her eyes her brain started reeling through all the information she'd been trying to take in.

The air in the room around her felt dense, it was too quiet and too warm, the bed was too soft and the pillows too plump and all her tossing and turning in the duvet was just getting her more worked up. Sighing, she turned to the side, reaching for her phone on the bedside table. 2:00AM. Why is that even a time that exists. Yuffie flopped her head back down on to the pillow and sighed once again. Her mouth was annoyingly dry. She had forgotten to grab a drink when she had gotten the bars earlier and thought she could last till morning so as not to have to leave her room again. Looking over to the bedroom door, her eyes narrowed. She wasn't in the mood for Reno right now. Looking up at the ceiling she contemplated her situation. There was no way she would last till morning without a drink, or at least not without gaining a headache for her troubles and surely Reno would be asleep by now, he had to sleep sometime right? She'd always thought he was the slacker type anyway.

Having talked herself around, Yuffie swung her legs over the edge of the bed and pulled on all her determination to push herself to her feet. As she crept into the living room she felt her tummy sink. The red head was about as much asleep as she was. Sitting on the window sill looking out towards the city, he painted quite a serene picture. His gaze shifted to her as she passed, his eyes narrowing. They seemed to darken with a thought unknown to her. Choosing to ignore the strange look and not saying a word, she carried on past him to the kitchenette and started looking for a glass. The silence between them was unnerving but she refused to break it. Her mind was so transfixed on pretending she was ignoring him that she had unwittingly confused her senses, not noticing him coming up behind her until she felt the warmth from his body brush against her back.

"Wha- what are you doing? Have you ever heard of personal space!" She had swung round in pure alarm, hoping her indignation would snap him out of whatever had possessed him to creep up on her.

His lips held no smirk, which seemed odd, instead they remained in a tight line as he slowly backed off to the side, leaning against the edge of the kitchen top, dark eyes still watching her as she turned on the tap. Too much time passed between them and Yuffie could feel herself getting agitated. A small huff escaped her lips, as she tried to put on an air of derision. "I don't think I need a bodyguard to get a glass of water, thanks. Can't you just go back to the window and continue doing whatever it is-."

"Do you really think that's appropriate."

His voice was low, almost accusatory. She looked at him in confusion, then down at her glass for a moment before holding it out towards him as if showing him the contents. "What…it's only water?"

His eyes never looked at the glass and instead continued to stare into her own far too intently. "No, I mean that." Breaking eye contact, he let his gaze drift up and down her form.

The young woman looked down and quickly realised what he was talking about. Yuffie was currently stood by the sink in nothing but a pair of pale blue lacey panties and a white T-shirt that, whilst oversized, only just covered the curve of her hips. Her eyes widened in both shock and confusion. She'd been so tired and out of it that she hadn't even thought about what she was wearing. She remembered having had a pair of shorts on at one point but she must have kicked them off with the heat of the room. Cheeks flashing a dangerous crimson, she refused to meet his gaze and instead proceeded to try and leave the situation as quickly as possible, turning to head back towards the bedroom. Before she'd even managed to take a step, Reno had made to block her path. Crossing her arms over her chest in an almost protective stance, she tried again to make her voice sound confident.

"If it offends you so much Reno, maybe just don't look!"

The red head finally allowed a smirk to grace his lips, though it was more sinister than normal, "You really think any man wouldn't look when a pretty little thing like you walks around in the dead of night dressed like that."

She blushed. Although she knew he hadn't meant it as a compliment, she really wasn't used to being called pretty and it made her feel funny. Unsure how to react, Yuffie shrugged, trying her best to fain a 'doesn't bother me' attitude. "I'm sure you'll get over it."

Reno didn't move and instead took a step closer, bringing him mere inches from her. He bent his head down slightly, lowering his voice so it held an edge to it that could have been construed as a warning, "People will take advantage of your naivete girly."

Remaining steadfast, she dared to stare back at him, using all of her self control to not falter under the darkness in his eyes. "I'm not naïve Turk."

The red head smirked again, keeping his voice low, "Really."

"Yes." She drew in a deep breath before giving him a look of disapproval, "I think this is a you problem, not a me problem!"

His head tilted to the side, but didn't move it from it's spot that was still too close to her own. "How do you figure?"

"Because I- I- I've spent lots of time around men and none of them seemed to have as much issue with me as you." Her voice had faltered halfway through, raising slightly in pitch and volume as she grew more irate. Reno seemed unmoved by the charge she was trying to put on him, as he raised one eyebrow.

"You walked around in front of Vincent Valentine in little blue panties? Doubt it."

"Well no, but-" He was smirking again, his eyes still staring at her too intently. Her core was tingling in an anticipation that she still didn't understand. "Stop looking at me like that."

His head tilted again, though a gentleness came over his features as he practically whispered, "Like what?"

"Like you're judging me. You don't have to be so patronising." Her own voice was low now, though not quite a whisper like his.

The red head thought about it for a moment. He supposed in some ways he was judging her, but not in the way she supposed. Without saying a word, he drew even closer to her, noticing that she was holding her breath. The air between them had become almost charged with something dangerous. Reno's eyes were still dark as they drifted slowly over her face, coming to rest on her lips, before suddenly backing off and walking back towards his window seat. He spoke, with his back to her, nonchalance lacing his tone, "Whatever, just put some more clothes on next time you decide to take a wander."

Yuffie had rushed back to her room after that, practically dive bombing under the covers and willing herself to sleep. In the morning he'd said practically nothing to her as they got ready to leave and the car ride had been just as subdued. She wasn't quite sure if he was saying silent for her benefit, or doing it to put her on edge, but she decided not to question it, as truthfully she was glad of the silence. She had bigger things to worry about right now anyway. It was her first assignment and she needed it to go well. Reno had dropped her back off in front of Shinra Headquarters, where President Shinra was stood waiting by a fancy looking car. As she approached he looked like he was appraising her.

"Right on time, Miss Kisaragi. Shall we get going."

It hadn't been a question, but she nodded anyway, "We're going in the same car?"

Rufus raised his brow slightly, "Yes, is that a problem?"

Yuffie shrugged as she approached the car, "No, I guess not."

The chauffeur held one of the passenger doors open for the President, but the blonde seemingly surprised them both when he shook his head, 'No, ladies first."

For a moment she thought it was something of a nice gesture considering, but soon realised there were probably press already watching them from somewhere and Rufus was clearly already playing the role of generous host. Yuffie stepped forward and slipped into the car. It smelled nice, a mix of new car and that smell rich business men always seemed to have hanging about them. The seats were an expensive black leather and felt nicely warm compared to the conditions outside, which were dreary to say the least.

President Shinra soon joined her through the other passenger side door, making a move to straighten his suit jacket as he made himself comfortable. Due to the size of the vehicle they weren't sat that closely, which she was thankful for, but they were still closer than they had been previously. As the vehicle started up, Yuffie turned to the President, her fingers entwining with themselves as she fidgeted.

"Should we make small talk?" Her tone was as light as she could manage at that moment and she tried to smile, though it probably came across as forced.

He turned to her. She was clearly nervous, though he had to appreciate the effort she was making. He offered her a small nod in agreement, "How did you find your apartment?"

"It was fine. I'd have preferred it was be Turkless though." She had turned to the window nearer the end of her answer.

"I thought I made it clear why his position was necessary?"

She sighed, "Yes, I know."

He observed her for a moment, reading her discomfort, "Does he make you that uncomfortable?" The concern in his tone was not lost on the young woman, though it seemed to be rooted in a place she couldn't fathom. She wasn't about to go and explain that there seemed to be a weird tension between her and the Turk.

She shrugged, trying to drop the subject, "I'll deal with it." Turning to look at him she offered another smile, slightly less forced than before, though still tinged with nerves. "So, today we're doing a visit to the Eastern checkpoint? We're talking to employees of yours?"

Rufus shook his head, "Not exactly. They aren't employed by Shinra, but they do work with us as redevelopers. Most used to own their own businesses in construction and we have offered them our financial support to make the checkpoint gate secure."

"So…What am I meant to do? Just stand by you and look happy?"

He huffed, a small smile of amusement on his face, "You'll come along with me, yes, make small talk and look interested...if people ask you questions you should answer to the best of your abilities, or refer to me when you are unsure."

She nodded, "Right."

There was a brief silence before Rufus spoke, "How are you feeling about your first assignment?"

"Fine." She'd answered a little too quickly and she inwardly winced.

"Try your best to relax Miss Kisaragi." He gave her a pleasant but unemotional smile, "If you need help I shall be there."

She returned a similar smile before turning to look out of the window. It was strange to have Rufus offering her solace.

The rest of the car journey concluded in a gentle sort of silence.

The Eastern checkpoint wasn't that different than she'd imagined. Like the rest of Edge it was slightly too grey and cobbled together with things that didn't quite fit together. That being said it looked secure and the people seemed happy enough. The President hadn't been wrong, it seemed that following him around and making small talk was all that was required off her today. Perhaps that was no accident and he'd purposefully given her an easy ride for her first gig as a diplomatic guest. The press was there, but keeping their distance, she assumed they had an agreement with Rufus over how obtrusive they could be.

She mostly watched as the blonde talked to various members from the redevelopment team he'd spoken of. It was strange, he conversed with such ease, his tone so gentle. She was a little in awe of him. Yuffie usually had more than enough confidence in her ability to hold a conversation, but she didn't have confidence to watch exactly what she was saying. Being careful with her tongue wasn't something she was used to at all, so she spent most of her time trying to make conversation with the lower ranked members of the development team, knowing she'd be less likely to say the wrong thing. Occasionally they'd ask her the odd question about how she was finding Edge and how her journey had been, but mostly they just showed her around and she made to appear as interested as possible.

It's all going to be fine.

The assignment was all going to be fine wasn't it. That's what she'd thought to herself. Absolutely fine. Oh why couldn't it have stayed fine. He had only been trying to help her. Why had she reacted like that.

As they got back in the car, the mood between them was much chillier. Rufus was quiet, but not in the usual way as she could feel the anger radiate off him.

"Rufus, I'm sor-"

"Sorry is not a cure-all Miss Kisaragi" His voice was quiet, but stern, "This was your first assignment, the easiest I could give you and you couldn't even handle that." He didn't spare her any of his derision in that moment. He truly was furious.

She wasn't sure why his anger was getting to her so much, but she felt utterly mortified by her own actions.

***Ten minutes earlier…***

She was standing a few meters in front of him, talking to a nice lady about what it was like living in Wutai when she heard a barrage of raised voices coming from behind her. She hardly had time to register what they were saying before she felt someone grab her, pulling her to the side. There was a loud crash as what looked like a runaway tire from one of the larger pieces of machinery barreled past her and collided with one of the buildings that had been in front of her. As the dust settled she realised someone's arm was still wrapped securely around her waist and another one lay across her chest, with their hand secured on her shoulder. Tilting her head back, her dark brown eyes met with ice blue. Rufus Shinra was holding her closely to him, her back was pressed up against his chest and his hand that held her waist was far too secure. He smirked down at her, though it was different to Reno's; warmer somehow, though there was still mockery there.

"Careful Miss. Kisaragi, you almost got taken out." His voice was deep but oh so quiet.

At this close range she could smell his cologne, could feel his breath on her face. The blush that spread across her cheeks was like a wildfire. Before she knew what she was doing, she heard her voice ring out across the street, "What do you think you're doing! Get your hands off me!" she elbowed him hard in the ribs, swinging round before following through with a hard push to his chest.

Rufus hand steadied himself, his hand cradling his ribs as he looked up at her in shock. That's when she heard it, the twitter of a crowd forming around them, hushed voices, concerned looks, some people were smirking, others laughing. She knew the moment she'd hit him it was a mistake, but she couldn't stop herself. Quick as a flash, they were both ushered back towards the car, as the press started to surround them.

***Back in the car…***

Rufus continued his lecture, "As I thought, you are far too emotional."

"Listen I said I'm sorry, I know you say that's not enough but it's true. I didn't mean to hurt you, it was an accident."

"Although my ribs have felt better, I'm more worried about the impression you gave today." He sighed, giving her a look of incredulity, "I barely touched you and you completely lost control. If you are so disgusted by me-"

She shook her head, looking down to the floor of the car, "I know I'm not your biggest fan, but I'd probably react that way to any of your goons doing the same. I wasn't expecting it and it just put me on edge, OK?"

He stared at her quietly for a moment, contemplating what she'd just said. Eventually he spoke, a tinge of genuine curiosity creeping in to his voice, "How old are you Miss Kisaragi? 20, almost 21?"

"Erm, yes, almost 21…"

"Should you not have started courting by now?"

She blinked far too rapidly, taken aback by just how forward his question was. It had rolled off his lips so easily and yet to her it was something very private; she would never have dreamed of asking him the same thing.

"Is- Is that really any of your business?"

He raised one of his brows, "Should I take that as a no?"

Yuffie crossed her arms, feeling indignant, "No, I haven't starting 'courting' yet OK? I haven't had time to even think about that sort of thing, I've been a bit busy saving the world from monsters you and your daddy created."

Rufus gave her a pointed stare. "Touche." He leaned ever so slightly closer to her, continuing to hold her gaze, "I'm not judging you Miss Kisaragi, I'm just surprised. You are known to be quite confident, yet you seem very unsure of yourself in this respect. It seems to me you are completely unaware of your feelings in this regard."

Her head tilted to the side, "What do you mean?"

"Well for example, you are quite pretty."

The young woman's brown eyes widened. If she'd been drinking something she'd have probably have spat it out, "Wh- What?"

He raised his hand towards her, "See, you are put on edge by a mere compliment. Your unease over these interactions overwhelm you. You will meet many people over the next few weeks. They will ask you difficult questions, personal questions, possibly even about your love life. Especially the press, trust me, they lap that stuff up. You may meet men who are more handsy than you like, and whilst I don't suggest you let anyone just touch you anywhere they like, you cannot react like you did today."

She huffed, "It's not that easy."

"And why not?" He leant back in his seat, "You need to learn to control your impulses when it comes to this sort of thing."

She wasn't about to explain to him that she wasn't actually sure it was embarrassment that had stirred in her before. Was it fear? But fear of what. She couldn't imagine she was actually scared of him touching her, but rather the rush of unfamiliar emotion that it set loose in her. It had reminded her of how she'd felt when Reno was too close to her the other night. The situation had been so charged it had thrown her into a panic. Yuffie turned to her travel companion and gave a small sigh, "I'll try and work on it."

"Fine," Rufus looked away from her now, choosing to stare ahead at the car partition that separated themselves from the chauffeur, "I believe tomorrow's assignment isn't until later in the evening. I will make excuses to the press about your outburst today and say you were overly tired from your long journey. Please make sure you get some sleep and prepare yourself better for tomorrow."

She just gave him a little nod. Much like the morning, the rest of the trip concluded in silence. When they finally arrived back at Shinra Headquarters, she slipped out of the car without a word of parting.

He watched her go with a strange sort of interest. He'd never been around someone who reacted so innocently as her. Of course he was used to woman being nervous around him, but usually it was a put on sort of shyness, a way to appear coy as a means of catching his eye, but they were really anything but. The young Miss Kisaragi though certainly seemed genuine. He was aware that even if you took away the power and the money, he was still a handsome man. Maybe he really did intimidate her earlier, though his intentions had been strictly honourable, still he couldn't quite rid himself of the fact that he'd found her blush filled gaze to be quite the beautiful thing.

Reno was waiting for her outside by the other car. As she passed by him to get in the back, he spoke, "Well that went well."

Her brow furrowed, "How did you-"

"It's been all over the news little lady." He flashed her a small half smile, as if to say 'duh'.

Shit

She hadn't thought, of course they'd been cameras there. Yuffie made a point to ignore him as she got in the back, shutting the door behind her.

What a mess.

As the red head got in the front, he made to look at the young woman in the rear view mirror, sighing at the expression on her face, "Look, as much as I enjoy that scowl of yours, you'll give yourself frown lines if you carry on like that."

Silence again. He sighed, this time in defeat as he started the car back up, running a hand over his neck as he pulled away from the building. As they drove along he chanced another glance in the mirror and was startled to see the young woman was crying. How someone like her could cry so quietly was a bit disconcerting.

He kept his voice low, as his gaze softened, "Girly…"

She snapped his eyes up to the mirror, shame and anger shining on her face, clear as day. "Yes, I'm crying OK?" Her voice was louder than it needed to be and it seemed to crack under the pressure as she spoke, "I'm emotional, I'm impulsive, I can't always help it. I'm overly nervous around Rufus and I don't know how to fix it. It's pathetic."

His gaze had been flickering back and forth from the mirror to the road as she spoke, though when she finished he held his gaze steady towards the road ahead. As the silence continued, Yuffie felt a pang of regret for opening her mouth at all.

"Whatever, it doesn't matter."

Reno shook his head, though didn't make to look back to the mirror, "You're right, you are being a bit pathetic, but not how you're thinking. Your feelings... they ain't something to be ashamed. You'd be such a snore fest to be around if you were more like our Pres." He flashed her one of his signature smirks, "That being said if you want to get your nerves under control, you'll need to come up with a fix." He gave her a look that held no mockery. "I could help you, ya know."

Her brow furrowed again, "Oh yeah?"

"Well firstly we could work on making you a little less skittish when you're around me. We're gunna be stuck together anyway. You can use me as 'practice', your own personal little lab rat. You don't seem to have a problem telling me off and if things get too uncomfortable you can always hit me."

She snorted. The idea of being able to hit him was an appealing one, but she quickly pulled the image from her mind and shock her head, "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not? If you can do it with me, you'll be able to do it with anyone."

"Excuse me? I won't be doing it with you!"

Reno raised an eyebrow, "I didn't mean it like that…but" he smirked, allowing his gaze to drift back to the mirror so as to look her in eye, "I'm sure you'd enjoy yourself."

"Urgh." Yuffie folded her arms across her chest and looked out the window, "Please, just shut up."

As they entered the apartment, the young woman made to go straight to her bedroom again, but before she could get more than a few steps past him, the red head had lightly caught hold of her arm. She spun round to give him an incredulous stare, "What are you doing?"

"Yuffie, stop being an idiot. You know I could help you, why don't you just come and sit with me hm? Bring out that itinerary of yours and we can look at tomorrow. Maybe I can give you some pointers-."

"No thanks." Her tone was firm and he knew there was no point trying to convince her anymore right now. He'd have to leave the ball in her court.

Letting go of her arm, he threw his hands up in defeat, though the look on his face was certainly one of disappointment, he kept his tone hopeful, "Well, I'll be in the living room if you change your mind."

Reno had been sat across the sofa for about an hour, when he heard her bedroom door slowly creak open. He made sure not to turn, instead keeping his eyes on the ceiling, almost afraid it would scare her away, like she was some kind of feral cat he was trying to tame.

A few moments past whilst the young woman made her way into the living room, before coming to stop in front of him. It was only then that he allowed his gaze to meet her own, through she didn't keep eye contact for long. She let her eyes roll around the room, one hand clutching onto her other arm defensively, her foot tapping gently on the floor as she struggled to say what she'd been working up to. The red head remained silent, waiting for her to make the first move. After what seemed like an eternity she brought her gaze back to his.

"Fine, help me."