Beyond Seven
By: General Quistis (generalquistis@yahoo.com) and Xu (zhakeena@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: Oh, ya know… it goes a little somethin' like this… we don't own anything but the story plot and our sanities… duh… whatever… -_-
Authors' Notes: This is part of our plan to sow the seeds of the Rufus/Tifa shipping um… whatever! So there!
Chapter Six
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"Where have you been?" Elena asked after glancing at the clock which read 2:00 am.
"The new bar across the street…" Reno replied with a tired voice. Elena noticed the bruises and the bleeding nose. "Did you do something there? Did you get yourself into a fight or something? Who was with you?" she asked.
"You ask too many questions, I'm going to sleep now." He replied.
"Where's President Rufus?" she asked.
Scarlet entered the mansion and she looked like some kind of haggard. "You're still up? I told you not to wait up," she snapped at Elena.
"Where's the President?" Elena asked again, this time with panicky tone.
"He's…" Scarlet and Reno pointed with their thumbs outside the door.
Elena peeked outside. "He's not there," she declared.
"He's somewhere there… waaaaay outside the gates of our humble abode." Reno said grouchily.
"What happened to you?" Elena asked, turning to him with a frown.
"That Lockheart girl did it to him like spelling A-B-C." Scarlet replied.
"Did what?" Elena asked.
"She beat me up like a punching bag!" Reno wailed angrily.
Elena handed him a bag full of ice. "What did you do to her anyway? Did you pinch her butt or something?" she asked.
Reno snatched the ice, then looked at her with an annoyed look. "NO, all I did was call her Strife's girlfriend! Then she went ballistic! That was pretty strange, though…" he said, while applying some to his black eye. "Anybody woulda thunk that he and she had it going, ya know? I mean, Rude told me that they were childhood friends…"
"… How come that bald guy seems to know everything about Tifa?" asked Scarlet.
"Hahahahaha! You mean even her bust size and her waist line and her clothes size whatsoever and what she eats during breakfast?" Reno joked.
"If she heard you, she'd definitely do something more than treating you like a punching bag," Scarlet muttered.
"Oh, this is supposed to be a secret but Rude's got this crush on Tifa." Elena replied while her eyes roamed around the place and a teasing smile played on her lips.
"Who's got a crush on Lockheart?"
The three froze.
"Meorwhgh…"
The more they froze.
They all turned to the doorway. "President R…Ru…Rufus?" the three said.
Rufus raked his fingers through his hair while Dark Nation hissed as they examined the three.
"Wh…where have you been? After the commotion, you just disappeared…" Scarlet asked.
"You got us worried, President Rufus," Reno replied.
Rufus looked very tired. "Stop treating me like I'm still a kid. I'm 20 years old and I can take care of myself now." He snapped.
"Meowrgh!" Dark Nation echoed with a proud look on her face.
"Stupid cat…" Reno muttered as he eyed the panther angrily. Dark Nation snarled.
Nobody else said a word as Rufus and Dark Nation walked upstairs.
***
Cloud rented a room at an inn far from the ShinRa mansion the moment he got to Nibelheim in the morning before the time he went to the bar and got slapped by Tifa. After Tifa had walked out from the bar after she slapped his face, he just went straight home, but on his way back to the inn, he thought he saw Rufus follow Tifa home. Since Cloud thought that Tifa must be angry with him for a reason he doesn't want to know, he just decided to leave Rufus alone.
He entered his room and he just plopped down on his bed, remembering what Rufus had mentioned about Aerith.
Aerith, Aerith, Aerith…
Always Aerith. She's been in his mind for God knows how long. All he knows is, Aerith has been driving him crazy ever since…
Ever since that moment when Sephiroth killed her.
Thinking of this, Cloud can't help but shed a few tears. "No, Strife, don't let it get to you… Be strong, dammit!!!" he thought. He wiped his eyes with the back of his hand, then stared at the grandfather's clock. It was already 3 in the afternoon. "How long has it been since I arrived?" he thought silently as he closed his eyes. He was about to fall asleep when the telephone began to ring. "This is crazy… who would call me at this hour? Barret? He doesn't even know I'm in this inn!" he thought angrily as he reached out for the receiver and answered the call with a gruff tone, "Yeah?"
There was silence for a while, then a guy's voice spoke up, "Cloud Strife?"
Cloud's frown deepened upon recognizing the voice. "What do you want, ShinRa?" he demanded. "And how did you know that I'm here?" he continued.
"Hehe… of course, I know. I asked." Rufus replied with a mocking tone.
"If you're just going to insult me…" Cloud began.
"I'm sure you want to ask me questions," Rufus told him with a serious tone, meaning to make Cloud shut up about the blahdy-blahs of insults.
Cloud was silent for a while. "Oh yes, I have a question: why should I trust someone like you?" he asked.
Rufus sneered. "Because I have seen your girlfriend in the Lifestream and you haven't."
Cloud's eyes grew wide. "Liar!" he shouted.
Rufus laughed at him. "You know what, you're making me laugh." He said.
Cloud didn't answer. His eyes were tear-stained but he didn't want this to happen… especially since his brain's been flooded with more memories of Aerith ever since he answered the phone. He did not get the chance to cry the moment she really died, so why should he cry now?
Rufus became serious. "What? Now you won't say a word. Thinking of Aerith again, huh? No wonder Tifa hates you."
Cloud was surprised when Rufus mentioned Aerith's name. He wondered how he knew that, since he guessed that he only knows the others by their face.
"… Tifa does not hate me." He said quietly.
Cloud imagined how Rufus must have given him a mocking smile. "Does not hate you? Well, that's surprising, since she slapped you across the jaw last night! For all I know, she must have dislocated it!"
"She's got these mood swings," Cloud stated flatly, though he knows that Tifa's been pretty stable and would try to be patient especially with him.
"Mood swings my ass. Whatever, Strife." Rufus replied.
Cloud shook his head. "Wait a minute… why can't you just tell me what's going on? What's with Aerith?" the way he mentioned the name reflected the longing from deep inside of him.
Rufus was silent for a while then he spoke up with a serious tone. "You are invited for dinner here in my mansion. You can take your little friend with you if you must, for all I care…" he said before he hung up.
Cloud listened to the dial tone for 5 seconds before he replaced the receiver. He sighed heavily. "Aerith," he whispered.