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 Eight
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Scarlet grumbled as she continued to chop onions. Along with Reno, Rude and Elena, they prepared Rufus's and whoever else's dinner.
"Kya! Why would the President suddenly demand that I cook dinner?! Can't he hire somebody else?" Scarlet complained.
"Hey, you were the one bragging this morning about cooking a gourmet breakfast! Though you didn't even give me one measly hash brown…" Reno muttered as he peeled the potatoes grumpily.
"Shut up! I'm an expert in Weaponry, not cooking!"
Elena stirred the sauce and thought, "Wonder who his guests are?…"
Reno violently slammed the potato peeler on the counter and asked, "Dammit! Dinner's at 7… what time is it?" he asked in annoyance.
"5:45 pm…" Elena replied.
"This is unfair… how come Reeve and Heidegger aren't helping us?" Reno demanded.
"Stop complaining, they're setting the table and they're having a hard time with the table napkins. They can't decide whether they're gonna do the Cardinal's Hat or just fold it into squares." Scarlet snapped.
"Darn it…" Elena muttered as she dropped some of the pots and pans on the floor, making a nasty noise which made the others twitch.
"Careful with that! Do you want the noise to reach President Rufus's room?" Scarlet snapped angrily.
"You're so touchy, if Tseng were here, he'd be a little more patient!" Elena snapped.
"Well you're so unlucky, I am not Tseng… kya…" Scarlet snapped.
Reno and Rude exchanged confused glances. "Are you still brooding for Tseng?" Reno asked.
Elena sniffed and turned to Scarlet. "Will you hurry it up with those onions? I can't stand it anymore… it's making my eyes water," she told her before she walked out of the kitchen.
"What's wrong with her?" Reno asked.
"Kya… I don't know…" Scarlet replied.
***
Elena looked at the clock and frowned when she saw the time. It was ten minutes before seven. She never returned to the kitchen, instead, she stayed in the living room. "So what if I'm still brooding over… over Tseng?" she thought silently.
She was interrupted when she heard the doorbell. She got up from the sofa and went to the front door and opened it. "Good evening, I…" she trailed off when she recognized the blonde man with spiky hair wearing a black suit and the girl wearing a red cocktail dress.
"Hello, may we see President Rufus ShinRa?" Tifa asked with a sweet smile on her face.
Elena sniffed. "Wh…why?" she asked.
Cloud stared at Elena. "Are you okay?" he asked with a mocking tone.
Elena wiped her tears away. "Come inside, President Rufus is upstairs. I'll go and call him, make yourselves at home." She said with a trembling voice. She didn't want to argue with them since she felt so uneasy all of a sudden ever since that afternoon in the kitchen. She stepped aside to let them in.
Cloud and Tifa exchanged confused glances before he stepped inside. Tifa followed after him and searched for any sign of Elena but she wasn't there anymore. "Well… talk about entertaining guests…" she muttered.
"Maybe she went upstairs to get Rufus like what she mentioned earlier." He said as he went to the living room.
Then, they were interrupted when they heard a scream. They turned to one of the doorways and were surprised. Tifa took a few steps backward. Cloud eyed the person who screamed.
It was Scarlet.
She pointed a finger at them. "YOU! What are you doing here?!" she demanded angrily.
"What are you doing here?" Cloud replied, crossing his arms across his chest.
"What's going on in here?"
All eyes turned to the stairs. Rufus looked down at them like he was some kind of scary vampire or something… Scarlet took a few steps backward. "President Rufus… don't tell me you've invited these two for dinner?" she asked.
"You are very rude to our guests, Scarlet. Why don't you apologize?" Rufus asked.
Scarlet frowned and turned to Rufus and Tifa. She sneered. "Kyaa~…" before she walked out.
Rufus's frown deepened as he went down the steps in a graceful manner which amazed Tifa.
From behind him, Dark Nation came rushing down.
Tifa smiled. "Kitty!" she said happily. Cloud took a few steps away from the big animal as Tifa knelt down and hugged the panther-like animal. "I missed you, girl!" she said. Dark Nation purred.
Rufus rolled his eyes. "What a touching moment," he said somewhat sarcastically. Dark Nation looked at him with a look that says, "Jealous, huh, Master?"
Rufus looked back at the cat, as if to say, "Shut up." Then, he held out his hand and said, "Won't you come in for dinner?" Cloud and Tifa went to the dining room, with the panther-thing following them close behind.
***
Dinner consisted of stuffed turkey (TURKey… duh… :]), mashed potatoes, pork stew and red wine. Cloud had a hard time using the assortment of forks, making everybody stare at him. Hoping to break the silence, Cloud cleared his throat and said, "So, Rufus… what was it you wanted to tell me?" he asked.
"I'm sure you know Aerith Gainsborough?" Rufus asked.
Tifa looked at Cloud at the mention of the name and it made her smile when she saw him light up even a little. Then, Dark Nation tapped her leg with a paw. "Meowr…"
Tifa turned to the panther-like animal and smiled. "Hello, kitty! You want some of these?" she asked, showing her a slice of pork.
Dark Nation purred and licked her mouth.
Tifa turned to Rufus, interrupting him and Cloud. "Can I give her some of these?" she asked with a sweet smile.
Rufus was in awe for a while upon seeing her smiling sweetly at him.
Cloud looked away and turned to Rude and Reno who were standing in one corner near the doorway leading to the kitchen. "Gargoyles…" he thought while trying to stifle a grin. He flashed them a what-are-you-looking-at-let-your-boss-stare-at-the-lovely-lady-in-red look. Reno sneered at him before he looked away.
Rude kept on looking at Tifa and Rufus and he was smiling rather naughtily.
Reno noticed the smile. "What the hell are you doing?" he whispered.
Rude turned to him. Reno frowned. "You're smiling!" he revealed.
Rude looked away and leaned against the wall.
Cloud noticed that Rufus wasn't answering but he just kept on staring at his friend. He interrupted Rufus's thoughts "Ahem,"
Rufus looked away. "Sure, just don't overdo it, she might get used to it," he told her.
Tifa nodded and gave Dark Nation a piece of pork.
Rufus rubbed his head a little, then turned back to Cloud. "Where was I again, Strife?" he muttered.
"You were saying something about Aerith."
Rufus sipped a bit of his wine. "Oh, yes… About that Ancient…" he started. He wasn't sure how to properly say 'your girlfriend's gonna come back from the dead', especially when he went through the trouble of inviting them to a formal dinner. Cloud noticed that he was having a hard time thinking of the words to say, or something.
"No need to be so formal about it, ShinRa. Just spit it out." He said.
Rufus looked at him with narrowed eyes. "Fine. You said it, not me." He cleared his throat. "Okay. Here's what she told me, as far as I can remember: "Tell Cloud to wait for me"."
There was a moment of awkward silence in the room. Tifa covered her mouth, a look of confusion could be seen on her face. Even Rude and Reno had to react. And Cloud choked on nothing.
"Wha… what?" Cloud managed to stammer. "A… Aerith told you that?"
Rufus thought again, making sure that nothing else was forgotten. "… Yes. I'm sure of it."
"N…no, how can she tell you that?" Cloud asked.
"Remember the explosion? I was just under this rubble and all of those days, I think she was the one who kept me alive. I just realized it on the day before I realized that I was alive. I was in the Lifestream and there she was." Rufus told him.
"How can you be here if you've been in the Lifestream? I was certain that whoever went there cannot return anymore!" Reno snapped.
"Shut up, I'm not talking to you!" Rufus told him in annoyance as he stood up.
Cloud shook his head. "But you're here," he told Rufus.
Dark Nation sat down by Tifa's side, observing them.
Reno felt silent.
"Are you saying that I'm a ghost? Look at me, can you see through my body? Do you see this chair? Can I go through objects? NO! You idiot! Next time, think before you say something!" Rufus scolded Reno.
"Calm down, Rufus," Tifa told him with a gentle tone.
Rufus took a deep breath and then turned to Cloud.
Cloud looked up at him. "How did you talk to Aerith?" he asked.
"She came to me. I did not even expect her to be there. She just came." Rufus replied.
Cloud nodded.
Tifa smiled at Rufus. "Well… what did she mean?" she asked, urging him to continue.
Rufus sat down again and turned to Cloud. "I don't know. That's all she had told me."
Can you stand up after you fall?…Rufus shook that voice away. "Yes… that's all…"
Cloud looked down, trying to believe it. "A-are you sure? There must be something, other than that…" he said. "I mean, did she tell you how she's gonna come back?"
"No, like I told you, that's all she told me. What's so hard to understand about that?" Rufus said, rather irritated.
"Cloud, maybe Aerith's been there with you all the while even after she died." Tifa stated while patting Dark Nation's head.
Cloud and Rufus turned to her. The former smiled sarcastically. "Duh. Now you're telling me… I can't understand you and Rufus… what's wrong with the two of you?" he demanded.
"Nothing's wrong with us, buck-o." Rufus snapped.
The three were silent for a few moments.
"Ahem," Rude began, clearing his throat.
All eyes turned to him.
"Maybe what Tifa meant moments ago is that Aerith is in Cloud's heart and memory all along." He told them.
"You're mushy," Reno remarked harshly.
"You're drugged." Rude shot back.
"If so, then why did she tell me to tell this blonde guy over here to wait for her?" Rufus demanded, referring to Cloud.
The 5 fell silent.
Cloud sighed heavily. "Isn't there any way that I can talk to Aerith?" he asked miserably.
Rufus turned to him and after a few moments of silence, he spoke up. "Look, why don't we just ignore the issue for a while, it's beginning to drive us crazy," he decided before starting to eat again.