Angel Trapped On Earth

Chapter Eight

. + . Jealousy rears its pretty little head .+.

[ Quick note : Hey guys! I apologize to Cloud fans, but hey..for the purpose of this story, he has to be evil! LOlz if you're THAT big of a fan…MAYBE I'll do a little something something for him…if I don't feel too evil *muahah* j/k j/k I'll see what I can do. Btw…Rufus's whole little explaination is coming up, and for Reeves fan out there, he's in the story too! Byeee!]

Hojo paced back and forth, a bemused expression on his sulky face. His greasy black hair was pulled back as usual, and his sardonic look was even more apparent than usual.

"Truman!" He hollered.

A young man, looking very grief-stricken at having been summoned by Hojo, scurried into Hojo's experimentation lab. He winced in disgust as he glanced upon the derranged proffesor's face. He had found no other job and had the misfortune of having stumbled upon this one. He had a family to take care of and when he had tried to back out of the job after finding out how horrible the man truly was, Hojo had threatened to kill every single last relation.

"Y-yes Professor?" Truman nervously responded.

"Cloud's going to go on a mission to bring back a girl to the Laboratory base. I want you to do me a favor." Hojo said with a sneer. Since when could Truman disobey any his favors?

"Of course." Truman replied, a sense of dread coming over him.

"Once he comes back with the girl, make sure she is safe and bring her to me." Hojo said, flexing his bony, yellow-tinted fingers in front of him.

Truman relaxed a little. That was all?

"Of course." He replied again and began to head for the door.

"Then kill him." Hojo finished gravely. Truman spun around in shock.

"Don't question me." Hojo simply said shaking his fingers at him. Truman nodded, then with a feel of sickness, he headed out the door only to be confronted by the man he was ordered to murder.

"Truman." Cloud greeted curtly, his blue eyes cold.

Truman couldn't believe it the first time he met Cloud that this had been the hero that so many people idolized after hearing about his world-saving antics. Now he was an evil man bent on working with a twisted creature like Hojo.

"Mr. Strife." Truman murmured and hurried past him and out of sight.

Cloud walked into the lab and eyed Hojo cautiously with a secretive smile.

"I have everything planned. I will have Tifa and her soul by the end of today." Cloud said confidently. Hojo nodded with false encouragement.

"Of course you will, of course." Hojo replied, nodding his head vigorously.

Of course he would, Hojo thought gleefully, he would bring back the bait to bring back his precious specimen and then all would be his. Cloud was just a little pawn who was blissfully oblivious to the bigger picture at hand. It was obvious Sephiroth held some attachment to this Lockheart woman, and Hojo would make use of that and then once had his hands on Sephiroth again, he would change it.

With Cloud dead, he would be more feared than he was before. Rufus was no longer there to stop him. Lockheart looked like the answer to all his prayers. Maybe he will keep her for his own experimentation, he thought happily.

+.+.+.+

Tifa widened her eyes in an impressed manner as she came to the new ShinRa headquarters. It was a castle with stone walls, and it had a grand medieval look to it. Of course everything else looked as medieval as an apple looked orange. Men in white business suits carrying black file-cases were walking all around chatting seriously and kept checking their watches.

"Magnificent, isn't it?" Rufus murmured behind her. She nodded, not bothering to turn around to look at him.

"I haven't been here before." She said, her voice hinted a touch of awe.

"Yes I know. ..look..Tifa..I never had the chance to actually thank you." Rufus said slowly. This time Tifa turned around and smiled affectionately.

"Don't mention it. There's no more grudges, and I did what I thought was best." She said with a pat on his shoulder.

He smiled at his friend of two years and thought that if he had a straight person's blood coursing through his veins, he would definitely fall in love with this admirable woman.

"So this is the new ShinRa headquarters." A voice drawled from behind them. Tifa groaned inwardly.

How did it come to this? How had she fallen prey to destiny and let it toy her without consent? All of a sudden, enemies have become friends and friends become foes. Most shocking was that Sephiroth was now here, and she actually trusted this man. Too bad she can't even come within an inch of him.

"It's time to go Tifa." Rufus said with a nod, picked up his belongings and walked off the Highwind. Tifa followed suit without so much as a 'hi' to Sephiroth.

He caught her arm with ease.

"You've been avoiding me." He said as he spun her around to make her meet his gaze. She looked down at her feet, suddenly developing an intense interest in the color of her white tennis shoes.

"What the hell is going on?" He asked with a growl. He did not like being avoided rudely like this.

"Nothing, Sephiroth. Now if you'll let me go..I have to go." Tifa said curtly with a little snobbish sniff. He let her go hesitantly and she walked off briskly.

He cursed amazingly fluent under his breath and just stood there to scowl.

"Might wanna get a move on there." Cid said, a cigar skillfully tucked between his teeth as he puffed on it, all the while carrying two heavy luggage bags.

"Whatever." Sephiroth replied and followed in the direction Tifa had gone.

.+.+.

Once inside the stone castle-like building, Tifa noticed that it wasn't cold as it looked on the outside. Quite the contrary, for it was cozy and highly comfortable as they walked down the brightly lit hallways of the ShinRa headquarters. The others have already been here, and so of course did not feel as if it was their first time to visit, although they do immensely enjoy their time here. It wasn't as if it was a business headquarter, it was more rather of a luxury home.

"Of course you'll all be tired by now from the flight, so I'll have Ling-Nhi show all of you to your rooms while I talk to Tseng for awhile." Rufus said, as he pressed a nearby button.

"Ling-Nhi?" Rufus called into the little hole right beside the button.

"Yes, sir?" A Chinese-accented, soft voice answered.

"Please show our guests to their rooms. I believe you were given their room cards?"

"Yes sir."

"Good. Come right away." Rufus said, and pressed the button again to close up the hole.

"Ling-Nhi is quite the woman." Rufus said teasingly, his eyes twinkling at Vincent and enjoying it immensely when Yuffie scowled at him.

"Look like she's here already.." Rufus murmured as he heard the clicking of female heels.

Tifa looked at Vincent, who looked absolutely tortured as he kept his eyes on the ground, then at Barret who found something vastly intriguing on the ceiling, and Cid who examined his hands as if they were the most ornate things in the world.

Sure enough she knew the reason why when a tall, beautiful-raven haired girl walked towards them. Tifa instantly took a dislike to her. She hated everything about Ling-Nhi, and it wasn't jealousy either. Something she couldn't quite place her hands on. She hated the way Ling-Nhi swung her hips back and forth deliberately. She hated the way each bounce of her steps would make her long black hair gracefully swung side to side, and she hated her almond-shaped eyes as they scrunitinized Tifa right away. She looked at Sephiroth and felt her blood boil when he was staring quite too intently at her--or rather at the cannonballs that were called breasts. Okay, maybe she was jealous. Just a bit.

Ling-Nhi took her eyes off the shorter, timid-looking Tifa, and smiled attractively at Rufus. She looked over to the men, and sniffed disdainfully, although giving Vincent a good look before resting her eyes on Sephiroth. She licked her lips.

"Oh my. It's a surprise to see you here.." She said airily and Tifa wondered if she had been an actress.

"Oh yes Ling-Nhi, you know that of the data we dug up about Sephiroth, don't you?" Rufus said with a dismissal wave of his hands.

"Yes, but it's much more…surprising..to see him in person." Ling-Nhi said breathlessly, reaching to grab Sephiroth's hands.

Tifa moved between them, vowed to kill that woman if she said any word that had to do with 'surprise' one more time, and smoothly said, "It's a pleasure to meet you Ling-Nhi but all of us are tired, and would like to sleep. Eat too." She clipped.

Ling-Nhi narrowed her eyes, and just merely smiled.

"Well of course..a woman weak as you surely must need rest by now." She replied smoothly. All of them choked, except for Sephiroth who looked merely amused. Was it just him or was Tifa a trifle bit jealous?

"Did I mention that ALL of us are tired?" Tifa asked through clenched teeth.

"Yes yes, come this way." She said, beckoning to Sephiroth specifically.

.+.+.+.

Ling-Nhi had shown all of them their rooms except for Tifa's and Sephiroth's. Yuffie and Vincent shared a room like they requested, Cid shared one two doors down, and Barret shared one all they way down the B hallway. Now they were walking down C hallway to D hallway and hopefully to their rooms. They stopped in front of a room that was numbered, '69' and Ling-Nhi turned to smile seductively at Sephiroth.

"This is your room." Ling-Nhi said, inching closer to him. Sephiroth took a step back.

"Actually, if you notice that his card says otherwise." Tifa said in a falsely bright voice. Ling-Nhi glared at her.

"I don't make mistakes." She spat out, plastered a smile on her face and leaned towards Sephiroth once more.

"It's my room…if you get my meaning." She whispered with a little lick of her lips. Tifa wanted to throttle her.

The nerve of this woman! Right in front of her face too! Tifa wondered why she was angry in the first place. What Sephiroth wanted or didn't want to do was absolutely none of her business. She unconciously gave Sephiroth a fierce scowl as he glanced over her way, and he smirked secretly. He wondered how much he could piss her off.

"Of course I get your meaning.." Sephiroth whispered back, pushing a black-strand of hair away from Ling-Nhi's face. He glanced at Tifa again and was satisified to see the rage etched upon her beautiful face. She looked so god-damn desirable when she was angry.

Ling-Nhi gave a small giggle, and turned to Tifa with a triumphant smile. "Your room is just a little father down. Turn right, then three doors down will be your room."

Tifa gave a small groan and realized that it would be exactly right behind Ling-Nhi's. She hoped that the walls were thick enough to block out any sounds, seeing as how Sephiroth was willing to stay with Ling-Nhi for the night. She was so mad at him, she could probably use her limit break to kill all of them right this instant. She gave a curt nod and stalked off in that direction.

Ling-Nhi turned to Sephiroth with a little provacative grin and beckoned him closer for a kiss. They were inches apart when Sephiroth burst out laughing. Ling-Nhi gave a confused frown.

"You can show me to my room now." Sephiroth said once his laughing ceased.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? You're sleeping with me." Ling-Nhi snapped.

"Make me." Sephiroth said, narrowing his eyes dangerously.

"Let me tell you something, woman. I do whatever the hell I please. Now. Show. Me. My. Room." Sephiroth growled.

Ling-Nhi gulped nervously, and scurried off into the direction of his room. He smiled broadly as he thought of the way Tifa jealously walked off to her own room and wondered if he should make a visit. A right turn, and then three doors down. Not so far away, now is it, he thought to himself gleefully.

.+.+.+.

Rufus heard the click of the doorknob and looked up at the door expectantly. Tseng walked in and smiled at Rufus. He looked just as he always did with his trade-mark black hair and wise eyes. Rufus swept up towards him for a hug, but Tseng held up a hand.

"How is Tifa?" He asked. Rufus looked disappointed.

"She's fine..all's well for now." Rufus muttered.

Tseng gave a nod, then continued, "Good..you need your rest too. We'll all talk tomorrow..tell them to meet me at the B section meeting room tomorrow at noon."

Rufus nodded and watched as Tseng walked out of the room. He plopped wearily back down on the sofa he was sitting in, and sighed heavily. Tseng was drifting from him and he didn't know why. It was tearing him apart, but he would hang on no matter what. He loved Tseng. He loved Tseng enough to give up his former goals in life.

He closed his eyes and recalled his memories. The memories of when Tifa bravely saved his life and brought him back to Tseng.

.+.+.+

[ Author's Note : Okie dokie another chapter! Hope you all liked it, oh and I reset the review thing so now those of you who didn't sign up in FF.net can review all you like! Please? LOlz Your reviews are what keep me writing! Well, part of what keeps me writing. Tee-hee ^_^ Well X-mas vacation is here, so expect a lot of updates from me! Byeeee! Hope you liked this one! Please R+R! --ps. OoOoh what is Rufus's secret? What is going on between him and Tifa not to mention Tseng? ]

PS again -- I saw LOR 2 on Wednesday when it came out in the United States ..lemme just say this--KAWAIIIIII! LOLz it was so awesome, you MUST go see it if you already haven't! Orlando Bloom is even (gasp) hotter ( if that's possible ) ^_^