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 Seven
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Tifa opened her eyes when she heard someone knocking on the front door. She sat up on her bed and stretched for a while before she got up from bed and grabbed her robe. After she put it on, she rushed to the front door and opened it with a frown on her face. She stared at the blonde guy with spiky hair. "What, chicken butt?" she asked harshly.
Cloud was surprised at her tone. He forced a smile. "Uh… hi, Tifa. Good morning. Gee, is this a good time or I'd better go now?" he asked.
Tifa studied him for a while and she wondered quietly why she wasn't at all excited upon seeing him compared to how she had reacted months ago and when they were much younger. She didn't say anything.
Cloud's smile faded away and suddenly, a thought came from his mind and he just had to blurt it out, "Did Rufus became your boyfriend and now you're acting like him?"
Tifa's eyes grew wide and she began to laugh. "What made you say that?" she asked.
Cloud looked away. "Never mind… uhm… so, would you like to come with me? I was invited for dinner and the host said that I can take someone with me," he told her.
They were silent for a while, listening to the chirping of birds. Passersby and early-risers were looking at them.
"I have work tonight." She replied stiffly.
"Okay… I think I'll just have to go to the ShinRa Mansion all by myself." He said before he turned and walked away.
She blinked. "Hey, Cloud!" she called out.
Cloud stopped in his tracks and turned back to Tifa.
She smiled. "Actually, it's my off tonight. Sorry… I'll just go with you." She said.
Cloud raised an eyebrow. "Tifa, if Rufus is already your boyfriend, can you just tell me the truth? I won't fret." He told her.
"No, actually, I just want to see uhm… Kitty." She replied.
Cloud chuckled lightly. "You mean Dark Nation," he corrected.
"Well… yeah. Whatever you may wanna call her." she said. Cloud was silent for a while.
Tifa smiled sheepishly at him. "L…look… I'm sorry about slapping your face last night. Did it hurt?" she asked.
Cloud was surprised but he shook his head. "N…no, it's okay." He replied as he approached her. He reached out his hand to her. "Friends?" he asked.
Tifa stared at his hand for a while and then turned her head to the direction of the ShinRa Mansion, staring up at its tall walls. She smiled and looked back at Cloud. She shook his hand. "Friends," she replied with a cheerful tone.
***
Rufus stared at the clock hanging in his bedroom wall, bored out of his mind.
"… Great. I invited one of my worst enemies and some violent bar hostess for dinner. Such good thinking, Rufus. Inviting someone for dinner to tell him that his girlfriend will come back from the dead," he muttered. He stood up, and walked towards his window, to look at Nibelheim and clear his mind. "How the hell am I going to pull this off? Everybody in this so-called mansion's going to nag my head off for inviting those two. Not that they have the guts to do that…" he laughed.
He watched the Nibelheim folk walk by, and he felt kind of relieved that nobody bothered to cower their selves in fear. He wanted to smile and wave at the little children playing hopscotch by the gate but he stopped himself at first. Then, a little blonde boy looked up at him from downstairs. The little blonde boy reminded him of himself when he was still a little boy. Rufus smiled at the little boy and waved unconsciously.
The little boy waved back at him and that's when Rufus snapped back to reality and looked away from the window. He closed the window and leaned against the wall… that's when he noticed that Elena was standing by the doorway and staring back at him.
Rufus stiffened as he felt his ears reddening. "Don't you know how to knock?" he demanded.
"I've knocked 20 times but you weren't answering so I just entered… I never expected that you'd be here," she replied sheepishly.
"Hmf," he said, turning back to the window. Then, she smiled. "Uh… don't mind me asking, but why were you waving outside?" she asked.
"I was swatting at flies." He lied.
Elena awkwardly nodded as she tried to keep a straight face. "I see… well then… breakfast is ready, sir." She said.
"Did you feed Dark Nation?" he asked.
"Yes, sir. We fed her chicken." She replied.
"I left 3 shopping bags of cat stuff by the front door last night. Did you see it?" he asked.
Elena blinked. "Well… yes… Reno and I took it and placed it in the storage room by the basement." She told him. "Don't mind me asking, Your Excellency, but where did you buy the cat food? Did you stop by the 24-hour convenience store and bought the cat food yourself? Is that why you arrived later than Reno and Scarlet?" she asked.
He frowned slightly, thinking if he should really answer the question. He recalled that last night, after Tifa had walked out of the bar, he followed her home because Dark Nation kept biting his pants, pulling him to Tifa's direction. When he arrived at her house, she was really surprised that he really followed her home...
"Why are you here? You got your pet back, so go away," she snapped with a shaky tone. He simply smiled slyly at her and he flipped his hair, then he patted Dark Nation's head. The panther purred happily. "Thanks for taking care of Dark Nation, Miss Lockheart." He said coolly.
She was silent for a while and then she nodded her head uneasily. "N…no problem, President ShinRa." She replied
"Don't call me by my father's name, I'm not like him… besides, I think we're just about the same age. Just call me by my first name." He said as Dark Nation circled around him, rubbing her head against his leg.
She nodded shyly as she stiffened. "Why's he alive? I thought he died already? Oh… maybe he just bumped his head that's why right now he's talking to me and he's actually thanking me for taking care of his kitty…" she thought in confusion. "Sure, no problem, President Rufus." She told him.
He raked his fingers through his hair again. Tifa frowned and scratched her head and then unconsciously imitated his action by raking her fingers through her bangs. "Why does he have to do that?" she thought to herself as she observed him. He smiled when he saw her imitate him and he raked his fingers through his hair again while saying, "Just Rufus." He told her.
She nodded. "Rufus," she repeated.
"Good." He told her with a hard tone, as if approving something from his staff.
Tifa was silent for a while and then turned to Dark Nation. The panther-like animal actually said "Meowrrr…" at her. It made Rufus and Tifa smile.
Tifa turned back to Rufus. "I…I have some cat stuff which I bought for Dark Nation since I thought that she's lost and I just decided to take care of her for a while. Would you like to have them, Rufus?" she asked.
His sly smile widened when he heard her say his first name without any formalities attached to it. He felt happy upon hearing it because for several years, he's been hearing "President" or "Your Excellency" or "Sir" or whatever crap they can come up with, even "That ShinRa bratling". "Sure," he told her.
With that, Tifa got inside without even telling him to wait. She left the door open and Dark Nation rushed inside. Rufus's eyes grew wide in surprise. "Hey…" he was about to call her attention, but she was already inside, looking for Tifa.
Rufus hesitated for a while and scratched his head, looking around, until he decided to enter the house. The moment he got inside, he took a good look around the "new" surroundings and wondered what's it like to live the simple life without the servants and all the luxuries life could offer. He somewhat adored the simplicity of the surroundings. He smiled when he saw the family photo of Tifa with her mother and father when she was still a little girl.
Little girl?
He frowned and approached the family portrait on the wall, looking at it with curious eyes.
The little girl from the hospital.
"So glad you came in," she said, interrupting his thoughts.
Rufus turned swiftly back to her with wide eyes. "Oh… sorry… you left the door open and Dark Nation rushed inside." He explained sheepishly.
He saw Dark Nation approaching him from behind Tifa. Tifa handed him the 3 grocery bags. "She's a nice pet, you know? I had a good time taking care of her even if it's only for a day…" she admitted sheepishly.
He smiled and nodded as he took the grocery bags. "Thanks again." He told her.
Dark Nation rubbed her head against Tifa's leg.
Tifa patted her head and then referred to Rufus. "C'mon, kitty. Go to daddy." She said.
"Daddy?" Rufus asked. He never really referred to himself as Dark Nation's daddy. He smirked at her as he raked his fingers through his hair again. "And may I ask who the mommy is?" he asked.
Tifa stiffened. "I…I don't know… your girlfriend?" she asked, forcing a silly smile on her face.
Rufus looked away, wearing a weird look Tifa can't describe. "Hah! What girlfriend? Never even had one before…" he muttered.
Before anybody could have done anything else, Dark Nation rubbed her head against Tifa's leg, as if to say, "Here's your girlfriend, Ruffy!"
Rufus and Tifa stared at Dark Nation weirdly, then unconsciously stared at each other's eyes. There was a moment of awkward silence, until Tifa broke it by clearing her throat.
"Uhm… Rufus, I think it's way past midnight… Shouldn't you be going back home? I wouldn't want your Turks to get worried and then blame me for keeping you late. Besides, I wouldn't want my head served in a silver platter before the other servants of yours who hated me for being an ex-AVALANCHE member." She said sheepishly, her head bowed down.
"Ex-AVALANCHE?" he asked.
"I quit months ago after Sephiroth's death. Didn't you hear about it?" she asked.
He shook his head. "I never really cared about AVALANCHE. All I cared about was keeping ShinRa alive." It was hard for Rufus to explain and if he said that to Cloud or to any other person besides Tifa, he knew that they would just make him elaborate… but Tifa understood what he had meant.
"Oh… okay, whatever you say…" Tifa replied uneasily.
Without a word, Tifa led Rufus and Dark Nation out the door.
"Okay… so, I guess this is good night, then?" Tifa said, before they completely got out of the house.
Rufus stopped in his tracks. "How could she possibly talk to me like that… like nothing went wrong months ago?" he thought silently. He had to admit that the way she was speaking to her and the way she was treating him made him a little disturbed. "Uh… yeah. G'night." He told her simply, though he recalled that no one's told him "Good night" for several years already ever since his mother died… and that was the first time in too many years since the First Lady died that he said "Good Night" to somebody else; because usually, he would just say, "Get out of here, I want to sleep!" or "I'll sleep now."
Tifa watched as they started walking down the street again. She hesitated for a while before she ran after them. "Wait!" she called out.
Rufus stopped and turned back to her. Dark Nation looked up at her with curious eyes as she bent down and kissed her on the head. "Bye, kitty." Tifa said. Rufus pressed his lips together and he had this look of envy in his eyes. Dark Nation looked up at him and he thought that she was sneering at him like she's saying, "Haha! Who gets the kissy-wissy from Tiffy?"
Rufus looked away immediately when Tifa stood up and turned to him. "Sorry. I can't help it." She said with a slight blush.
Rufus smiled at her and raked his fingers through his hair again. "It's alright, Miss Lockheart." He said.
"Tifa." She corrected.
"Tifa," he repeated as he flipped his hair. Again. -.-
With that, Tifa waved goodbye and walked back to her house.
Dark Nation was already pulling Rufus's pants again to the direction of the ShinRa Mansion, but he refused to move from his spot. He just stood there, watching Tifa until she got inside her house. He still stood still for several moments until the lights from inside the house went off.
That's when he realized that Dark Nation was about to rip his pants off. He frowned. "Hey!" he snapped. Dark Nation released his pants and ran off to the direction of the ShinRa Mansion. Rufus looked down at his pants where Dark Nation had bitten. "Darn you… you drooled!" he scolded.
"Meowrrr…" she replied……Rufus smiled at Elena and finally decided to reveal the truth. "Actually, I went to Tifa's house and she gave me those for Dark Nation. It's really nice of her to take care of Dark Nation." He explained.
Elena was stunned. "He went to that girl's house?" she asked herself in disbelief… though she still wanted to ask him several questions, she just simply said, "Who's Tifa?" she asked.
"Don't lie to me, Elena. You know that AVALANCHE terrorist group? She was one of them." He told her.
"So, sir… would you like us to infiltrate her house?" she asked.
"No. Don't you do that unless you want to lose your heads." He snapped angrily.
Elena gulped. "Man… he went to her house and then overnight he's threatening to get rid of our heads? What did she do to him?" she thought in confusion.
Then, Rufus recalled the chicken. He flipped his hair again. "Who cooked the chicken?" he asked.
"Chicken?" she asked.
"You said that you fed Dark Nation some chicken for breakfast." He told her.
Elena's mind finally cleared. "Oh… Sorry… um… Scarlet did the cooking since we still don't have a chef." She said.
"Did she cook my breakfast?" he asked.
"Y…yes sir, why?" she asked.
He smiled slyly at her. "I see… well then, I've invited a few people for dinner tonight here in my house. I want everything to be well-prepared." He told her.
Elena nodded. "Yes, sir…" she replied simply before she got out.
After a few moments, he went down for breakfast.