Yes it's taken a while but it's finally here. another chapter. Hope you enjoy it!
Disclaimer: I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of the character.
Rufus waited impatiently for the chopper to reach ShinRa. Yuffie and Aerith were chatting behind him while Tifa was sleeping on his arm. He had had fun at the Gold Saucer for the week they were gone but now it
was time to head home. He would have to report to his parents about where he'd been and what he'd done. He wasn't to excited about telling them though. He figured they were still hung up on him marring Scarlet and Scarlet herself wasn't going to be too happy either. The chopper landed and he gently woke Tifa up.
"We're here" He told her softly and she looked up him.
"Uh oh" Tifa gave a small smiled and Rufus let himself smile as well.
"Wow!" Yuffie said in awe looking out the window, "This place is huge"
"I can't believe you've been living here!" Aerith exclaimed.
"It came with a great cost" Tifa said, she continued to smiled but Rufus could see the sadness in her eyes.
"Yah I guess so" Yuffie agreed and touched her sister's shoulder. Rufus kept his solid expression as he stepped out and was greeted by hundreds of staff as he walked down the halls, followed by Tifa. She was looking at the ground. Yuffie and Aerith weren't far behind but they were looking around in amazement.
"Someone's in trouble" Reno laughed and Elena looked up to see the group of 4 walking down the hall.
"Shush Reno" Tifa snapped and Rufus glared at him. Elena smiled and rushed over to Tifa. She gave her
riend a hug.
"You owe me big!" She said.
"Why?" Tifa questioned.
"I kept the ShinRa soldiers from looking for you the entire time. Every time they wanted to go to Neblium or the Gold Saucer I said something to make sure they went somewhere else" Elena told them in one long
breath.
"Thank you" Rufus said and Tifa nodded.
"I do owe you big!" Tifa smiled. The group waved and continued on to the main office. Rufus put his hand on the door handle and took a deep breath, this was going to be hell.
"I'll be back" Rufus told Tifa, she was about to open her mouth in protest but he slipped through the door and closed it.
Mr. and Mrs. Shinra looked up at their son as he walked in. He looked confident but hesitant.
"Rufus! We were so worried" Mrs. Shinra ran over and hugged him.
"I'm sorry to worry you" Rufus said
"Where were you?" Mr. Shinra demanded, his face turning red in anger.
"I went to Neblium and the Gold Saucer..... with Tifa" He added after a pause.
"And why did you have to run off without telling us?" Mr. Shinra snapped, "We were worried, you have tons of paper work, we needed to take half of the staff to try and find you!!"
"We... got... " Rufus started, he looked around at his parents.
Tifa put her ear to the door, she was trying to hear something.
"What's going on?" Aerith asked.
"I'm trying to listen" Tifa said.
"Why?" Yuffie asked.
"I want to know if his father is going to kill Rufus" She said, "You know the story"
"Right" Yuffie nodded.
"YOU DID WHAT???" The words echoed through all of ShinRa and employees looked around.
"I guess he told him" Tifa said, "I'm going in" Tifa slipped through the door before Aerith or Yuffie could stop her.
Tifa walked in and Mrs. Shinra smiled. She was glad to see she was ok. Tifa walked over to Rufus and took his hand. That little gesture helped him gain some confidence.
"You got married?!" Mr. Shinra snapped.
"Yah" Rufus nodded, "Now I don't have to marry Scarlet, can't have 2 wives at once now can I?"
"That's why you did this, you didn't even marry someone you loved, someone wealthy, someone proper" Mr. Shinra sighed. Tifa bit her tongue, she wasn't worthless, not like Mr. Shinra made her out to be.
"I don't about care that Tifa's not rich, she's a nice person, and worthless!? Far from it, she can do 1000 more things then Scarlet can" Rufus argued.
"You, you, you... I'm so mad at you for this. Just get out" Mr. Shinra pointed at the door. Rufus just turned and left. His hand slipped away from Tifa's and she stood there by herself. She wasn't sure if she should go with him or not.
"What about Scarlet?" Mrs. Shinra asked, "What will she think"
"I don't think she'll be too hurt" Rufus added before he left. Mrs. Shinra looked up to see Scarlet walking and laughing with Rude, "That girl is so strange, and wayyyyy to much make up" Mrs. Shinra shook her head.
"I'm sorry about this" Tifa said quietly and the 2 turned their attention to her.
"Don't be honey" Mrs. Shinra smiled, Mr. Shinra just glared at her.
"You love him, I know, but ShinRa has standards to keep" Mr. Shinra told her.
"What was your first job?" Tifa asked.
"Huh?" Mr. Shinra questioned.
"Were did you start? You couldn't have inherited all this?" Tifa said.
"No, I started it, I was living in Sector 6 and I made my company into what it is today" Mr. Shinra told her, he wasn't sure where she was going with this.
"How old were you?" Tifa continued on with her questions.
"I started when I was 13 and made it successful when I was 20" Mr. Shinra told her.
"And you respect people with successful businesses right?" Tifa smiled.
"Yes," Mr. shinra said.
"Okay" Tifa cheerfully said and left.
"What happened Tifa?" Aerith asked when she came out, "We saw Rufus leave but he didn't say anything"
"He's probably just mad," Tifa smiled, "Mr. Shinra just yelled at him then I asked him a few questions and that's about it."
"Hmmmm... so can we stay here?" Yuffie asked.
"Oops! I forgot to ask" Tifa blinked and Yuffie shook her head.
"Yah they can" Rufus said and the 3 looked up to see him walking towards them.
"Really!" Aerith smiled.
"Of course, I'll show you to your rooms" He said and they followed after him. Yuffie and Aerith each got their rooms and moved all their stuff inside. They both decided to take a nap. Tifa wasn't tired, she had slept on the helicopter. Tifa walked into Rufus' room, he was sitting on his bed.
"Is something wrong?" She asked.
"No, everything's fine. I'm just tired" Rufus looked over at her. Tifa sat down beside him and put her arms around him. Rufus put one arm around her waist.
"Awwww poor baby" Tifa giggled and hugged him tighter. Rufus just smirked. He fell back onto the bed, taking Tifa with him. Tifa lay her head on his chest.
"I know my dad's mad but that doesn't bug me, I'm actually pretty happy right now" Rufus sighed.
"How so?" Tifa asked.
"I don't have to marry some annoying girl, said girl has found interest in Rude so she'll leave me alone, I just married my girl friend, said girl friend is happy because her family is now living here" Rufus explained, "See
I'm happy"
"I see" Tifa smiled, she closed her eyes. She fell asleep and so did Rufus.
"I have a plan" Tifa announced after breakfast that morning. Rufus, Mr. and Mrs. Shinra had already left to go do their work.
"What's your plan?" Yuffie asked.
"I want to save up a lot of money and buy 7th Heaven" Tifa said nodding her head once.
"What's that?" Aerith asked.
"That's the bar I use to work at. The old owner sold it and the new owner fired me. It was my dream to own, and now I will" Tifa said proudly.
"But why?" Aerith asked.
"To make Mr. Shinra respect me" Tifa said, "I'll make it into a very successful business, the best bar in Midgar!" Tifa excitedly said.
"Let me guess, you want us to help" Yuffie grinned.
"Pleeeeease" Tifa gave them puppy dog eyes.
"I'll help Tiff. I can be a bar tender" Aerith giggled.
"That'd be great Aerith!" Tifa smiled.
"I can be a bouncer!" Yuffie giggled.
"Yah ok, but we may not need one, how about half bartender half fight-breaker-upper" Tifa suggested.
"Works for me!" Yuffie said and cracked her knuckles.
"How are you going to afford it?" Aerith asked.
"I have lots saved up but..." Tifa started.
"You might need a little help?" Yuffie smirked.
"Yeah..." Tifa said, she hated asking for money.
"I don't have much but I'll give you what I got" Yuffie said.
"Me too" Aerith nodded and Tifa smiled.
"Thanks guys" Tifa said, "Well, we have work to do, we better get going"
The 3 made their way to sector 7 and went into the bar. It hadn't changed much but business was bad. There was no one there and it looked like there hadn't been for a while. Tifa recognized the owner. He was working by himself and look bored.
"Interested in selling this place?" Tifa asked and the old mad looked up.
"Don't joke about something like that" He said.
"I'm not" Tifa put her hands on her hips.
"What are you going to pay?" The short man asked. Tifa told him the amount she had in her bank account, if he accepted she wouldn't have to borrow money from Yuffie or Aerith.
"That's way to much for a dump like this" He said kindly. "Give me 100, 000 gill and I'll be happy"
"Done!" Tifa smiled brightly, she handed the man the money and he gave her a whole bunch of papers and keys. Then he just left.
"Now we gotta go through all this!" Yuffie whined as she looked at the stack of papers.
"We'll organize them first, then sort out how we'll deal with them" Aerith calmly said. "Yuffie why don't you start cleaning this place up. We'll need to paint and get new furniture"
"Lets deal with the papers first" Tifa said and Aerith nodded. The 2 worked through them one by one. Most were just for information. Things like insurance and receipts. Aerith found some folders to put them in. Tifa looked over the bills. They had all been paid and everything that Tifa did now would be fresh and new. Tifa put the bills into another folder. The rest of the papers were easy as well and soon they were done. Yuffie had cleaned up all the garbage and things laying around and swept out the place. Tifa looked around at what she had to work with. There was a few tables and lots of chairs, a broken pinball machine, a stage, and a main counter. Everything was empty thanks to Yuffie, the owner hadn't had much in there to begin with.
"Hmmmmm.... what can we do?" Tifa wondered out loud.
"We need to sand all the wooden things, they're all sticky. Plus we should fix up the chairs and such too" Aerith suggested.
"That's a good start, this calls for a shopping trip" Tifa smiled and they headed out the door. They received a lot the stares being in a hardware store but they didn't mind.
"Should we paint it of leave it wooden?" Aerith asked.
"Leave it, but we should make it look nicer. More lighter" Tifa said. They grabbed varnish, sanders, fabric, and a some paint. Everything they thought they might need. They paid and headed back to the bar.
"Do you miss Vincent and Sephiroth?" Tifa asked as she sanded the counters. Aerith was working on repainting the chairs and sewing on new tops for them.
"Yah a little" Aerith admitted, "He was a nice guy"
"What about you Yuffie?" Tifa questioned, Yuffie was sanding the stage and hating it.
"Not really, he was fun but it's over now" Yuffie said, putting on her tough girl attitude. Tifa and Aerith exchanged a glace, they could tell she was lying.
"What about Rufus?" Aerith asked.
"What about him?" Tifa questioned.
"Do you miss him even though he's not that far away?" Aerith teased.
"A little, I really do like spending time with him" Tifa blushed.
"You guys are so sweet," Aerith giggled.
"Don't tell him that" Tifa laughed.
"I bet he'd blow something up" Yuffie laughed as well.
"Maybe" Tifa smiled.
They continued working until 5 pm. They had gotten all the sanding done and everything was nice and smooth now. Tomorrow they would paint and Tifa would have to look into place where she could buy all her drink supplies from. She couldn't believe her dream was coming true.
"What have you been up to all day?" Rufus asked, snaking his arms around her waist. Tifa had just gotten home and Rufus had come into her room to see her.
"Not much" Tifa lied, she had told Yuffie and Aerith to keep quite too.
"I feel like I haven't seen you in months." Rufus smirked and kissed her on the cheek.
"Me too" Tifa put her arms around his neck.
"We should go out some time soon" Rufus suggested. He leaned down and kissed trails down her neck. Tifa leaned her head to allow him better access. She smiled to herself and enjoyed his kisses.
"Where do you want to go?" Tifa asked
"Anywhere, as long as I'm with you" He said
"Your so corny" Tifa giggled.
"But you still love me" He chuckled and kissed his way up to her lips.
"Yeah that's true" Tifa smirked and he kissed her on the lips. Tifa kissed him back as she ran her hands down his back. He smiled against her lips. Tifa loved his smile, she felt lucky that she was the only one that got to see it.
"We should head to dinner, sweetie" Tifa said.
"Don't call me that" Rufus snapped playfully, Tifa just smiled and walked with him to the dinning room. They sat down at their usual places. Mr. and Mrs. Shinra had gone out for dinner so the young people had the room to themselves.
"Slow pokes" Yuffie stuck her tongue out at Tifa when she walked in after Rufus. Tifa messed up her sister's hair on her way to her seat.
"We were.... busy" Tifa blushed and Aerith laughed.
"You don't sing here do you?" Yuffie sneered.
"No" Tifa said, "I don't make breakfast here"
"Spoiled brat" Yuffie rolled her eyes.
"I am not!" Tifa snapped.
"What are you guys? like 3?" Aerith rolled her eyes and the 2 sisters turned their heads away from each other. Rufus still enjoyed their small fights, it was almost cute. Tifa couldn't wait to start working on 7th Heaven again. She knew it would look great when it was done. Tifa would have to moved the piano from Neblium in Yuffie's room to the bar. She would have to get the pinball machine working too. Tifa was restless and Rufus could tell. He was wondering why.
"We're almost done" Tifa sang as she varnished the last bit of the counter. The whole place was now a rich color brown. The fixed up chairs were places at the counter, tables were place around the room and the pinball machine was finally working. Tifa gotten movers to move her piano. She had bought a microphone to go on the stage and had put a sign labeling Thursday night karaoke night. Tifa looked around. She was happy with everything and was proud of the work she'd done.
"The sign outside is done" Yuffie said running in the door and running back out again after her announcement. Tifa ran outside to see. Yuffie had taken down the old sign that said 'Intermission' and put up the new sign that read 'Tifa's 7th Heaven'. She had returned to it's original name, the one the new owner had given it was lame in her opinion.
"Good work Yuffie" Tifa smile.
"Where's Aerith?" Yuffie asked.
"She's out with the rest of the advertisement. She's been running all over Midgar with flyers and making radio announcements and a short tv commercial" Yuffie told her.
"Wow!" Tifa said, "This'll be great! We're opening tonight!"
"Are you going to invite Rufus and his family, that was half the reason for buying this place" Yuffie said.
"Yeah I think I will" Tifa walked back inside with Yuffie and made any last minute preparations for tonight. Aerith came running through the door out of breath.
"The advertisements all done" She panted and Yuffie jumped up and down.
"This is so exciting" Yuffie sang and Tifa giggled.
"How'd you like to go to a new bar opening tonight?" Tifa asked Rufus.
"Okay sure, where is it?" He asked.
"In sector 7, lets bring your parents" Tifa suggested.
"Oookkkkaaayyyy" Rufus slowly agreed and Tifa just smiled. He could tell by the look on her face that she had something planned.
"What's this place called?" Rufus asked.
"7th Heaven" Tifa told him, leaving out her name in the title.
"Isn't that the bar you use to work at?" He questioned raising an eye brow.
"Yeah, their under new management it's a really nice place now" Tifa smirked.
"Really now?" Rufus said leaving her to get ready. Tifa got ready as well. She dressed in jeans and a nice looking tank top. Tifa brushed out her long hair and tied it back in her usual way. She went out into the hall way to find the Shinra's.
"Would you like to come out to a new bar opening tonight?" Tifa asked Mr. and Mrs. Shinra.
"Sure honey, where is it?" Mrs. Shinra asked.
"Is it 7th Heaven, there's been advertisement everywhere" Mr. Shinra cut in. 'Thanks Aerith' Tifa smiled to herself.
"Yeah that's the place" Tifa nodded.
"Sure," Mr. Shinra agreed and he left with his wife to get ready. Half an hour later Aerith, Yuffie and Tifa were waiting together in the basement waiting for the Shinra's. Tifa saw Rufus come down the stairs and she walked over to him and hugged him. She had made sure that he wouldn't get to dressed up. She had done the same for Mr. and Mrs. Shinra, 7th Heaven was a causal place after all. She waited with Rufus for his parents.
"You seem excited to go" He said and put his arm around her waist.
"I am" Tifa said.
"Tiff we'll meet you there" Aerith said with a wink. Yuffie and Aerith took off to open the bar before the Shinra's got here.
"What's so special about this place?" Rufus asked, he found her excited behavior cute.
"You'll see" Tifa smirked and soon Mr. and Mrs. Shinra came down the stairs.
"Shall we go?" Mr. Shinra asked.
"Lets" Tifa jumped up and down, Rufus just raised an eye brow as he slid in beside Tifa in the limo. They soon arrived outside the bar. Mr. and Mrs. Shinra looked up to read the sign out front.
"How come it says Tifa's 7th Heaven?" Mrs. Shinra asked.
"Because I own it" Tifa laughed and Rufus looked over at her with wide eyes.
"When did you do all this?" He asked.
"2 days ago" Tifa smiled proudly, she was disappointed that Mr. Shinra hadn't said anything.
"Impressive" Mr. Shinra finally spoke up. They all stepped out and headed inside. Tifa was glad to see the place was packed. Tons of people of all social classes had turned out to see what this place was about.
"Tifa!" Yuffie called from behind the counter.
"I'll see you in a bit Rufus, make sure to get yourself some drinks on the house" Tifa kissed him on the cheek and ran over to the counter.
"Care to give a hand?" Aerith asked.
"Nope problem" Tifa was faster then Aerith and Yuffie combined and pretty soon everything was under control.
"Hey miss bar superstar?" Aerith called to Tifa.
"What?" Tifa called back from the other end of the counter.
"Where'd you learn to mix drinks like that?" Aerith asked.
"Years of experience. I use to work here remember?" Tifa laughed and Aerith smiled.
"Yuffie seems to be having fun" Aerith commented when they met in the middle. Yuffie was refilling drinks and breaking up fights at the same time. She seemed to have her hands full but she was having fun. Aerith then turned to whisper into Tifa's ear.
"What do you do when the drunks flirt with you?" She quietly asked.
"You just talk to them normally but, if they touch then you whack 'em" Tifa smiled and Aerith nodded. Rufus walked up to the counter.
"Word around the bar is the owner is pretty hot" Rufus smirked.
"Really now?" Tifa smirked back.
"But I hear she's married, just my luck huh?" Rufus chuckled.
"Why? would you have tried to score" Tifa giggled.
"I would've given it a shot" Rufus said proudly which made Tifa laugh.
"My dad's pretty impressed. He's all like 'she did this in 2 days! that amazing'" Rufus tried to imitate his dad which made Aerith giggle. Tifa's smile grew brighter when she heard that.
"Can I let you in on an little secret?" Tifa asked leaning over the counter.
"What's that?" Rufus asked leaning closer to her.
"One of the main reasons I bought this place was so I could earn your dad's respect" Tifa said.
"Really?! Why?" Rufus' eyes widened.
"He said I wasn't worthy of you and I wanted to prove him wrong by making a successful business, which I knew he would respect" Tifa told him and he smiled. His smile quickly disappeared when he realized they were in public. His stern face remained but his eyes told her that he was happy with her.
"He defiantly respects you now" Rufus told her and Tifa nodded.
"I'm glad. Now get out of here, I got work to do. Go see if you can score" Tifa said pushing him away.
"Will do" He chuckled as he return to his table. Tifa had plenty to keep her busy. Yuffie and Aerith were working hard as well. The crowd stayed till 2 am. Finally at 3 am everyone but the Shinra's were gone. Tifa and Yuffie were busy cleaning up bottles and organizing for tomorrow. Aerith was sweeping the floor and soon everything was clean.
"Tomorrow we're open a full day from 10 am till 12 am" Tifa said.
"We better hire a few people so we can have a life too" Yuffie suggested.
"Yeah we will once things pick up and we know how much to expect per day" Tifa agreed. Tifa held the door for the Shinra's, Yuffie and Aerith. She locked the door behind her.
"You did good Tifa" Mr. Shinra slowly nodded his head. Tifa held her head high.
"Thank you" She smiled, beaming with pride. She slipped into the limo beside Aerith and Yuffie.
"Thanks a lot partners" Tifa said hugging her friends.
"No prob sis" Yuffie smirked. Tifa yawned and leaned back in her seat. It was late and she was very tired. She was wondering if the crowd would be as big tomorrow.
"Tifa can I talk to you before you go to bed please" Mrs. Shinra asked and Tifa nodded. Tifa was close to falling asleep as the car made it's way smoothly along the rode. Tifa couldn't wait to get to bed.
"What is it you wanted to talk to me about?" Tifa asked closing the door to the President's office. The 3 Shinra's were waiting inside.
"You're now part of our family and there are certain things you need to know" Mrs. Shinra said, this was the most serious Tifa had ever seen her. "It will be officially announced that you and Rufus are married tomorrow. You will expected to go with him to all major events. You will smile, be polite and be affectionate towards Rufus while you are there." Mr. Shinra started.
"To make sure there's so rumors or scandals, you'll sleep in the same room and same bed. When ever you're out together you wont make a scene." Mrs. Shinra continued. Tifa blinked, she felt like the first day she arrived, being orientated in and told all the rules.
"If anyone asks, you were never from Sector 7, you only own a bar there" Mr. Shinra said.
"I don't think I can lie about that" Tifa said finally speaking up.
"Do you want to create negative press for us?" Mr. Shinra asked sternly.
"No but I don't think that'll be taken as a bad thing" Tifa said, she quickly glanced over at Rufus. His eyes were telling her to go on, "People may take it as ShinRa's way of reaching out to the people"
"That's true, good plan" Mr. Shinra nodded, "We'll market you as a charity case" Rufus sighed and shook his head, Tifa didn't feel any better about what Mr. Shinra had said. This money thing was always going to be an issue.
"It's time for you guys to act like a couple" Mrs. Shinra nodded.
"O.. Okay" Tifa said, she held back a yawn. She was really tried.
"You can go now, your stuff has been moved into Rufus' room already" Mr. Shinra said. 'That was fast,
they don't waist a second do they?' Tifa thought. She left and Rufus followed after her.
"So how does it feel to be a Shinra" Rufus shook his head, "Sorry about that"
"That's okay, I guess being a Shinra is hard work" Tifa smiled.
"Oh so hard" Rufus said sarcastically and acted all dramatic, Tifa giggled at him. He held the door open for her and she stepped inside. Sure enough she clothing and piano had been moved in to his room. Tifa ran to the bath room to get changed. She quickly changed into her pjs and went back into the room. Tifa saw that Rufus had changed as well. He was wearing the same boxers that he had worn when he had come into her room when she had a bad dream.
Rufus walked over to her and slid his arms around her waist. Tifa rested her head on his shoulder. She was surprised at how soft his skin was.
"Poor tired girl" Rufus smiled and lightly placed his hand to her face. He lifted her head and kissed her softly. Tifa smiled against his lips.
"Aren't you tired too?" She asked him.
"Yeah" Rufus sighed and hugged her closer to him. Tifa moved her hand up and down his arm. She was enjoying her time with him. It seemed like a while since they had been together. Rufus knew that too, that's why he wasn't letting her sleep. He just held her for a while until he finally let go of her tiny waist.
"Let's get some sleep" He said and jumped on top of the bed. Tifa smiled and slipped into her side.
Tifa lay on her back looking up at the ceiling. For some reason she found it weird to be in his bed. She couldn't
believe she was sleeping beside her husband.
"I don't bit" Rufus smirked and Tifa rolled her eyes playfully.
"I know" She said and rolled over to him. He put his arms around her and hugged her tight as if someone was going to take her away from him. Tifa rested her head on his arm and sighed. She loved how they fit so perfectly together. Tifa closed her eyes and instantly fell asleep.
Another chapter done. I'll try and update once a month but I've gotten very busy lately. It'll get better in the summer. 2 more months of school. Expect a chapter in May at least. But I don't know about June cuz of provincials but I'll try my best. Thanks to all those who read!