By: General Quistis (generalquistis@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my own mind that forced me to write this thing, thank you very much.
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Rufus looked up at the ShinRa Mansion, his mind getting flooded with memories from his childhood. "Well… as long as they don't put up old man's pictures up the wall…" he thought as she turned around and began to watch some children playing with their pets. One of them owned a small black cat and it reminded Rufus so much of Dark Nation. He stopped himself from smiling as he reached for his mobile phone inside his pocket and started to dial some numbers. "It's about time I call up and check on those idiots…" he thought before hearing someone pick up from the other line and say, "Kya~h… good morning. This is Scarlet of the Weapons Development Division."
"Scarlet, I'd like to speak to Heidegger. This is Rufus." He told her with a stern voice.
He heard her gasp and then heard some footsteps. "She must be on the cordless phone…" he thought as he began to walk around the garden of the ShinRa Mansion.
"You sound so frantic," he told Scarlet.
Scarlet was panting. "M…me? Frantic? Kya~hahaha! No! I was running…" she said.
"Why did you gasp?" he asked, probing her.
"Me? Gasp? N…no, I didn't…" she said.
"Where are you going?" he asked.
"Heidegger. Kya~h."
***
Heidegger looked up from his desk when he saw Scarlet run inside his office. "Gyahaha! Who's on the line?" he asked.
Scarlet covered the mouthpiece with her hand. "It's President Rufus! This is his last day in Nibelheim and he wants to talk to you…" she said.
Heidegger's eyes grew wide. "WHAT?! And we still haven't found that cat?!" he demanded angrily.
Reeve entered with a bunch of papers on his hand. "What's going on?' he asked.
"Kya~h… it's President Rufus! He's calling to check on things, I guess…" Scarlet said.
Heidegger got up from his seat and began to pace back and forth. "Oh no… what am I going to tell him when he comes back and he finds out that Dark Nation is… GYAH! He's going to kill me!" he said frantically.
"HELLO, SCARLET?! WHAT'S GOING ON?" They heard Rufus's loud voice from the phone.
Reeve grabbed the phone. "Hello, President Rufus, this is Reeve," he said with a calm tone.
"Reeve? Why? Where is Scarlet? I thought she's giving the phone to Heidegger?" Rufus asked with a demanding tone.
"Uh… President Rufus, we have some bad news for you…" Reeve started.
"What are you doing?!" Scarlet grabbed his sleeve and pulled him to her.
"We need to tell him the truth that Dark Nation ran away! What if Dark Nation doesn't want to come home because she hates us and she'll only come back once Rufus is here?" Reeve told her.
"WHAT?!?!?" they heard Rufus's angry tone which made them shiver.
"I think he heard what you said… Kya~h…" Scarlet told him with a weak smile.
Heidegger grabbed the phone and spoke up, "Hello, sir?"
Dial tone.
"I think we'd better start hiding now…" Heidegger declared.
***
Tifa had awoken to the sound of Dark Nation meowing loudly and frantically. She sat up on her bed and looked around, remembering that the panther slept beside her during the night and she was only surprised to find out that the panther is gone and meowing loudly downstairs. "Oh no…" she thought as she got up from the bed and rushed outside the room. As she was heading downstairs she stopped midway when she saw Red XIII rushing and headed for Cloud & Aerith's room, knocking frantically at their door with his paws. "Cloud! Aerith! Let me in!" he called out.
Tifa examined Red. "Are you okay?" she asked.
"That cat's in heat! I'm staying away from her!" Red XIII told her frantically.
"Relax, Red! It's only Princess!" Tifa told him before she headed downstairs.
"I tell you, she's been rubbing her body against me all night and it's driving me crazy!" Red called out to her in a loud voice as she got down and started searching for Dark Nation, only to find out that the black panther was sprawled on the floor, tossing and turning frantically while continuing to meow loudly. "Have you even had babies before?" Tifa asked as she crossed her arms.
"Meowrrrrrr…" Dark Nation replied, meaning to say, "No…"
"Well, she's a cat. Maybe it's mating season for panthers…" Vincent said from the kitchen.
Tifa turned to Vincent in disbelief. "You're up already? It's only 6:30." She said.
"Her meowing woke me up…" he explained before taking a sip of coffee.
Then, they looked up at the ceiling when they heard the sound of a chopper passing by.
"Must be Rufus." Vincent told her. He stopped when he realized that Tifa's ears turned red and that she was pursing her lips to stop herself from smiling. She looked away from him as she started to take out some bacon from the freezer.
"Meowr… Meowrrr… Meowrrrrrrrrr….." Dark Nation continued as she rolled on the floor.
"She'll be gathering all the dust on the floor if she keeps on doing that." Vincent told Tifa.
"Let her be. She's in heat. She needs a man." Tifa said before giggling.
"Well then, where's Red?" he asked, trying to stop himself from laughing because he thought that it just wouldn't seem right for him to laugh at that moment since he really wanted to sleep but couldn't because of the noise.
"He's hiding from her." she explained as she poured some corn oil on the frying pan before starting the fire.
Vincent thought for a while. "Can they even mate? I mean, I'm pretty sure that Red XIII isn't a cat." He pointed out.
"If there's a will, there's a way," Tifa replied.
He made a face. "You really want them to do it, huh?" he asked.
"Well… it'd be nice to have kittens around here, right?" she asked with a silly tone.
Vincent shook his head in disbelief.
***
"Shall we distribute flyers or post some ads everywhere and we'll write there: Have you seen Dark Nation?" Scarlet told them.
Rufus was quiet as he stared at his staff. They were inside his office. "No, I want all of you to just search for her manually. And when you find her, don't hurt her!" he told them before he stood up and headed for the window, watching the beautiful surroundings. He felt pleased with himself, being able to change the first six Sectors of Midgar. "Just one more… Sector 7…" he thought silently with a secret smile on his face.
"What caused her to run away, anyway?" Rufus heard Elena ask Scarlet.
"Kya~hahahaha! Stupid Heidegger here brought a leash and muzzle with him one morning before giving Dark Nation some breakfast. The cat got afraid and ran away." Scarlet explained.
Rufus stiffened when he heard that. "What?" he demanded before turning his gaze to them.
Everyone felt like shrinking when they saw Rufus's eyes narrowing in too much annoyance but he was still silent about it. "Damn these idiots…" he thought miserably before speaking up with a hard tone, "Heidegger," he began.
Heidegger jerked. "Y…yes, sir?" he asked with a trembling voice.
***
Aerith and Tifa observed quietly as Dark Nation kept on rubbing herself against the furniture, the wall and the floor. "Man… she's really got it bad…" Aerith told her.
"Yeah…" Tifa muttered and smiled weakly. "Well, at least we humans aren't like animals…" she said with a slight blush on her face.
Aerith giggled. "That'd be gross! I remember seeing two dogs mating in the middle of the street just the other day when I did the shopping for groceries." She told Tifa.
Dark Nation ran to Tifa. "Meowrrrr…" she said as she rubbed herself against Tifa's leg.
"Princess?!" Tifa wailed as she moved away.
"Arrgh! This is torture! What is happening to me?" Dark Nation thought miserably as she plopped down on the floor and started to roll over repeatedly until she got tired and just let out loud meows.
"What time is it?" Tifa asked.
"3 pm." Aerith replied.
Tifa got up. "I gotta go and get the dry clothes outside and start ironing them." She said.
"You need help?" Aerith asked.
"No," Tifa replied as she started to walk.
"Tifa, can we talk?" Aerith called out, keeping her gaze on the floor.
Tifa stopped and slowly turned back to her best friend. "About me?" she asked sadly.
Aerith got up and went to Tifa, giving her a friendly but gentle hug. "You still go up in the roof every night, I know…" she said.
Tifa bit her lower lip, keeping her eye on Dark Nation.
Aerith sighed heavily. "Cloud and the others are already starting to worry about you, Tifa. You work the whole day and then you sleep late at night. I don't know what to tell them anymore whenever they're asking me…" she said.
Tifa moved away from Aerith but she was smiling sadly. "I just feel so lonely, that's all… so those chores are my diversions so that I won't be able to remember how miserable my life is…" she said.
Aerith's heart sank. "I…is it because of Cloud and me?" she asked nervously.
Tifa rolled her eyes. "Aerith, how many times do I have to tell you that long ago, I've already realized that he's just a friend?" she asked with a reassuring look on her face before patting Aerith's shoulder. "Besides, it's me who should be embarrassed about staying here with you guys… I mean, the two of you are already married and I could just be a burden to you and…"
Aerith embraced her friend. "Tifa, Tifa, Tifa… I understand you…" she said.
Tifa could feel her eyes welling up with tears. The moment she blinked, they just fell uncontrollably and all she could do was hug her friend for comfort. "Aerith, I… it's… it's… it's Rufus… I don't even know what I…" she trailed off when the front door opened and there was Cloud and Vincent standing there.
Tifa moved away from Aerith and just rushed upstairs, covering her face.
Cloud had this perplexed look on his face. "Did I hear the name Rufus from her?" he asked.
Aerith didn't answer. She just looked at Dark Nation. "If there's only a way that I could make Tifa happy…" she thought quietly.
Red XIII came down the stairs; the moment he did so, Dark Nation got up and ran to him, licking his face happily. "Red! It's so nice to see you again!" she told him as she meowed.
Red twitched.
Seeing Dark Nation made Cloud remember something. "Uh… Aerith, we need to talk…" he told her.
"Yes, Cloud?" she asked, turning her gaze to him and Vincent. She noticed the two looking at Red XIII and Dark Nation. "Is anything wrong with them?" she asked.
"Yes, there is…" he replied with a frown on his face, eyeing Red XIII carefully.
Red nuzzled his head closer to Dark Nation before saying to her, "Let's go upstairs," and led the way.
"Well, what is it?" Aerith asked with a stern look as she looked back at Cloud.
"Princess… isn't Princess… she is Dark Nation," he explained.
Aerith blinked. "Dark Nation?" she asked.
Cloud nodded.
"Who's Dark Nation?" she asked as she approached Cloud. Vincent closed the door behind him. "She belongs to Rufus ShinRa…" he explained.
Aerith's eyes grew wide in surprise. "R…Rufus ShinRa?" she asked, hardly believing it. She frowned and crossed her arms. "Have you known this ever since Red XIII brought her home here and didn't even tell me?" she demanded.
"Yes. Even Red knew… but he wanted to help the poor cat so…" Cloud trailed off.
"…and Tifa liked her so…" Vincent added.
Aerith sighed heavily. "Great… do you want Barret and the others to know that? They might turn her into stew. But thanks anyway for telling me…" she said before turning away and headed for the kitchen. "Rufus might come looking for that cat." She realized, then stopped and smiled. "Rufus might come looking for that cat…" she thought. Then, her smile faded away. "On second thought, I doubt if he'll even step into Sector 7… maybe he'll just send the Turks…" she thought silently.