By: General Quistis (generalquistis@yahoo.com)
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VIII or Squaresoft. Gyah…
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"Based on my observation on domesticated felines, some days before they give birth, they sniff around and look for a hidden place to give birth. They wouldn't want others to find out where she is…" Tifa explained as she and Rufus continued to walk down the streets with Dark Nation following them.
"But Dark Nation is not just a cat," Rufus said.
"I know… so maybe she might not do that… maybe she'll just stay in one place away from too many people except for her owner and then give birth there…" she explained.
Rufus thought for a while. "I think I'd better reserve a room for her." he said with a grim look on his face.
"Meowrrr," Dark Nation replied, meaning to say, "Yeah, you'd better give me a separate bedroom! I wouldn't wanna sleep in your room when you take Tifa there! Hahahahahahahahaha! It's gonna be icky!"
Rufus could sense that his pet was laughing at him, but he just shrugged it off. "Chill out, ShinRa… cats don't laugh…" he thought with a glum look on his face before turning back to Tifa with an unsure look on his face. "Uh… can you do me a favor?" he asked.
"Depending on what it is," she said conditionally.
"Okay… look, I really don't know what to do with Dark Nation. I just can't call the vet because I know she hates him… so, I was wondering if… if you… if you could consider staying in ShinRa for some days until she gives birth… is that okay with you?" he asked with a weak smile on his face. "Damn, Rufus… you suck!" he scolded himself silently.
Tifa's eyes grew wide in awe. "Me? Stay… stay in ShinRa?" she asked unbelievably, thinking how life is going to be inside the walls of ShinRa HQ.
"Yeah. I can pay you if you want to," he said.
"No, no thanks… no money needed, Rufus. It's fine with me. If you want me to take care of Dark Nation for you, I'll do it without anything in return," she said as she got his hands and shook them reassuringly.
He smiled at her, not caring if everyone else was looking at them in curiosity.
They entered a park and sat down together on one of the benches while Dark Nation sprawled down on the floor and yawned sleepily.
Tifa sighed heavily. "I'll just go there tomorrow," she told him.
"Can't you come back with me there today?" he asked.
Tifa was surprised at his sudden eagerness to take her to ShinRa. She was sure that if Barret could hear them, he'd snatch her away from Rufus and tell her, "Don't go with him! That's a trap. He'll kill you when you get there!" but she shrugged off the thought with a shy smile on her face. "I'll just pack some clothes and," he raised up his hand to her to make her stop talking. "No need to. I'll buy you new wardrobe," he told her.
She raised an eyebrow and she could feel herself shrinking. "But… Rufus, that's… I…" she stammered.
Dark Nation turned to her and said, "Meowrrr," meaning to say, "The guy likes you, okay? He's buying you stuff, just accept it, Tifa,"
Tifa blushed and turned back to Rufus with an embarrassed smile on her face. "I don't know, Rufus. It's too much…" she said humbly.
Rufus chuckled lightly. "No, really. It's okay." He told her reassuringly.
She just nodded her head, feeling so embarrassed. "Okay… whatever you say," she said shyly as she bowed down her head.
Rufus began to watch the view in front of him and his expression softened upon seeing the children playing. "I think I've seen you before in Nibelheim," he said.
"I used to live there." she said.
"You and the other kids would pass by the ShinRa Mansion and I can see you…" he pointed out.
Tifa smiled and looked up at him. "You're always there by the window, seated there." she said.
He nodded. "Yeah… that was me…" he replied.
"What do you do there?" she asked.
"Just sitting there until Scarlet calls me for tutorials… or when there's nothing to do. I just watch you and your other friends play." He explained.
"You could've joined us," she said softly.
He shook his head in disagreement. "Nah. Old man won't allow me. Dark Nation was the only one whom I could play with… she was still a cub back then, but very playful. Though sometimes, she gets lazy and she just sleeps the whole day, so I just stay by the window to watch you guys." He explained.
"But you have all sorts of toys, right?" Tifa asked.
"No, he doesn't. I chew on them." Dark Nation thought with a nasty look on her face.
"Dark Nation plays with them… so I play with electronic gadgets…" he replied. He leaned back and sighed contentedly "But anyway, Old man's dead. I can do whatever I want, but with modification, of course. Can't risk slipping, you know? If you know what I mean…" he said with a wink as he looked at her.
Tifa smiled. "Yeah… like come here to the slums. Don't worry, it's a much safer place now… ever since it's been restored and fixed a little." She said.
"Oh you know, I wouldn't leave this place like this… I'll make it look like Sector 3." He said as he examined the place. "I've already asked Reeve to study the blueprints…" he said with a sly look on his face.
Dark Nation rested her chin on her front paws. "I wonder how Red is…" she thought miserably with a "Meowr…" and looked up at Tifa.
Tifa turned to her and smiled gently. "Anything wrong, kitty?" she asked as she stooped down and patted Dark Nation's head.
Rufus followed her with his gaze and did not realize that he was staring at her body again.
Then, from out of the blue, someone just started singing "Your Body Is A Wonderland" from behind the bushes located just behind their bench, which made Rufus blush and look away, feeling so ridiculous and embarrassed that he stood up with clenched fists and turned to the bushes behind them.
"Anything wrong, Rufus?" Tifa asked as she stood up, observing him while at the same time, thinking that the voice of the person who was singing sounded familiar.
Rufus parted some parts of the tall bushes and his eyes grew wide in surprise, so did Tifa's.
"Cloud? Aerith?" Tifa asked in disbelief.
Dark Nation raised her head to the direction of the bushes behind her and she got up immediately upon sniffing a familiar scent.
Rufus twitched lightly. "Great… Cloud's the one singing…" he thought, remembering the song since it already got stuck in his head.
Cloud and Aerith got up in unison and turned around, surprised to see Rufus and Tifa. "T…Tifa! And…" Aerith stammered in surprise.
"Rufus." Rufus continued for her with a proud smile on his face as he flipped his hair.
Red XIII immediately got up when he sniffed something familiar. "Dark Nation?" he said softly before getting up upon hearing a loud "Meowwrrr!"
He ran to the other side of the tall bushes as Rufus let go, and then stopped when he saw her.
Dark Nation instantly ran to Red XIII. "Meowrrr!" she cried out happily, meaning to say, "Oh, Red! It's you!!!"
Red XIII smiled happily as he ran to her. "Dark Nation," he said.
Rufus and Tifa observed the two as they stopped running upon meeting each other and then just licked each other's faces.
"Hehehehe… what if humans do that? They lick each other's faces as sign of kissing," Tifa said jokingly as she giggled.
Rufus found it funny so he also laughed with her. "Well if we do, I would've licked your face when I saw you in the Church," he replied carelessly, which made Tifa stop and stare at him in surprise.
Rufus realized that what he had said could imply something regarding his true feelings, but he gathered up his guts and just smiled and winked at her.
"Maybe I'd do that too," Tifa told him as she smiled sweetly before laughing again. Rufus joined in her laughter again.
Cloud and Aerith went to the other side of the bush to see what was going on, surprised to see and hear Rufus ShinRa laughing with Tifa Lockheart.
"What the…" Cloud trailed off when Aerith nudged him, signaling him to look at Dark Nation and Red XIII. Cloud stared for a while but after a few seconds, he found himself smiling, and he found himself smiling even more when he turned to Rufus and Tifa. "Finally, she's happy," he said softly to Aerith.
Aerith nodded as she smiled gently at the two. "Yeah…" she said.