Chapter Three

When Tseng woke up the next day he found himself frozen stiff. Shivering, he got up and called for servants to turn up the heat. After all, he was supposed to be protecting Rufus, and it would really, in his opinion, suck to tell the President of his company that his son froze to death.

As soon as it began to warm up, the Turk stumbled over to the window, shaking his legs as his walked to try and regain feeling in them. As he looked, out he realized why it was so cold. During the night it had snowed, in fact, big flakes were still drifting to the already snow-covered streets of Junon. The Turk lazily watched as the snow fell slowly towards the ground. He felt his eyelids droop.

"You sleep on the couch?" Tseng's mind snapped back to the moment at hand. He spun around to see a very awake Reeve. Bathrobe on, coffee mug in one hand and Felix in the other, the man from Urban Development attempted to gesture towards Tseng's makeshift bed.

"Yeah, I can assess all points of this place very quickly from here."

"Oh." Reeve set down his kitten, which immediately jumped up on the couch, and scampered under the blankets in an attempt to get warm.

"Did you see the snow?" Tseng asked, aware that the Vice President was now making his way down the stairs, trying not to trip over his red, satin pajamas.

Reeve shrugged, watching as Rufus stumbled, half-asleep into the dining room. "Yeah, a cold front must have come through during the night."

"Really? You think?" Rufus dryly remarked, rubbing his eyes. "Tell me truthfully now, what was your first clue; the snow or the fact that yesterday it was 50 degrees out and now it's 12?"

Reeve's shoulders quickly slumped, and his face was becoming red again. Tseng felt an intervention was in order. Reeve just didn't have the self- confidence it took to deal with Rufus. "Erm" He started "Where's your mother?"

Rufus shrugged, reaching for a piece of toast. "Who knows," He continued to reach for the toast but his little arm wasn't long enough, and finally Tseng moved it closer to him. It was at this point that Reeve had stopped blushing, and decided to join in the conversation again.

"I heard a guard say that she was going to sleep in late, seems she still need to recover from last night. Apparently she had a bit too much to drink and...um...." He trailed off, glancing over towards Rufus, who had begun to butter the toast. The boy seemed to not have heard what he had said, but Reeve decided not to continue, just in case. However, Rufus had other ideas.

"Ahh, you mean she got wasted again last night?" He remarked, still buttering. How Rufus learned the word "wasted" at the innocent age of ten was beyond Tseng. The Turk was about to intervene yet again, but Rufus continued "I assume that seeing father totally ignore her yet again was too much for her to handle." He chuckled sadly to himself, setting the butter knife down on the ivory-colored tablecloth. "I don't know why she keeps trying, I mean, if he cared about us we would be living in Midgar with him, right?" He began munching on the toast.

"Sir..." Reeve began, but was cut off by a look from Tseng that plainly said "be quiet". The rest of the meal was eaten in silence.

At noon the snow had stopped falling, and Rufus' Mother, Juno came down to eat lunch with them. Throughout Tseng's life he would have many awkward moments. However, looking back, he would place this one very high on his list. Juno seemed content to not speak with any of them, and halfway through the meal, when Rufus offered her a piece of bread, she totally ignored him, and instead of taking it, reached for a glass of water. This saddened the boy, who considered the offering of the bread equivalent to the offering of the olive branch. It was his unspoken way of saying 'I'm sorry for whatever I might have done'.

After lunch Juno went back upstairs, leaving a visibly melancholy Rufus behind. Tseng wanted to call Dante, he had only been able to get a hold of him on his cell phone for a short period of time the night before, and wanted to ask what was going on back at Shin-ra Headquarters. Reeve, on the other hand, being the sensitive humanitarian that he was, wanted to cheer Rufus up.

"Come on!" He whispered to Tseng, as soon as he thought Rufus was in the bathroom, and out of earshot. "It would be good for him. I mean, you heard him this morning, he's got a lot of family issues going on. It would take his mind away from them."

Tseng stared at Reeve for a long time. "Does he actually know what he's asking?" He thought. "No," the Turk said aloud. "Absolutely not. What if he freezes to death?"
Now it was Reeve's turn to stare. "Freeze to death? I suggested a snowball fight, not a week long camping excursion!"

"I think it's a great idea." Both Tseng and Reeve turned around to see Rufus' small form looking up at them, a smirk written plainly across his pale face.

Half an hour later all three Shin-ra employees were suited up to handle the cold outdoors, and guards were positioned around the designated "playing field". Though the snow had stopped falling an hour ago, it was freezing outside. The wind had blown the snow into large drift piles, which were perfect for hiding behind.

"Okay," Reeve said. "The name of the game is 'Snow Battle'. We have fifteen minutes to make our forts, then the fight starts. When you get hit by a snowball you're out. Last person remaining wins. Maybe we should have a trial game first to-." He stopped, noticing the weird looks both Tseng and Rufus were giving him. "What? I grew up on a farm, and we would get bored when it snowed, so my sisters and I would go outside and play games in the snow...."

"Dork," Rufus muttered. Tseng sighed heavily.

"Okay, fifteen minutes to make a snow fort. Let's go," Tseng had already snapped into Turk mode. He was treating the game like a mission. "Fifteen minutes: One Fort. Strategy: lie still and just wait until either of them makes a move, then hit 'em hard. It might take a while, but it's a guaranteed win," Tseng thought, turning around, and heading towards a pile off in the distance.

The wind started up again, and after five minutes of walking he realized that this might not have been such a good idea. When the Turk turned around he found that he could no longer see Reeve or Rufus. He assumed they were already hiding, but the playing field they had chosen was so big that they could be anywhere. Turk mode was now fading out, and Tseng's panic mode was setting in. "I should have never let them talk me into this. What if I can't find the Vice President? Damn! I should head back, as a Turk I'm responsible for him, I should have never have even humored the idea of a snowball fight. At this rate he'll freeze to death before I find him and I'll- WHOA!!" Tseng's thoughts were cut short as a snowball went whizzing by his head. A second later he saw a flash of blonde hair as Rufus moved from one snow pile, to another right next to it. "Hey!" The Turk cried, falling to the ground, and successfully making himself a harder target to hit. "You were supposed to wait fifteen minutes!"

Twenty minutes had passed since the start of the game. No one had been hit yet, though there had been some close calls. Tseng wasn't doing much right now, since Rufus had taken it upon himself to attack Reeve and only Reeve. In fact, he had been trying to hit him ever since he missed Tseng before the start of the game. The Vice President paying more attention to Reeve than him normally wouldn't be such a bad thing; however, the Turk was beginning to get very cold. Especially since he hadn't moved since he'd dropped to the ground after Rufus almost hit him

Tseng spied Rufus running out from behind a mound of snow. "Heh." He thought to himself "Bad move" without taking his eyes off the boy he reached towards the cold ground beside him and grabbed on of his pre-made snowballs. All of a sudden a low jingle rang out through the air. Though Tseng's cell phone wasn't particularly loud, Rufus heard it, and scampered behind another pile of snow. Tseng shrugged. There would be other opportunities. In any case, Dante was probably calling him and that was more important than the snowball fight.

"Text message" he muttered, and bent over to check his phone. He read the message blankly, at first not fully comprehending what it said. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard Rufus give a victory cry, and Reeve yelp. However, none of that mattered to him anymore. "Get inside!" The Turk screamed, jumping to his feet.

Rufus looked at his bodyguard, a puzzled frown on his face. "Come on!" Tseng cried, grabbing the boy's hand. He ran through the snow as best he could, pulling the Vice President along with him. Tseng couldn't worry about Reeve now; he wasn't his responsibility. He could only hope that he had gotten the message and went for cover. The guards that surrounded them quickly moved in closer and raised their weapons, readying them for use. Tseng pulled Rufus through the door leading back inside right as a shot was heard. Reeve's scream echoed from outside into the massive hallways of the mansion, and Rufus whimpered slightly, noticing that the man from Urban Development wasn't with them. "Wait!" He cried, attempting to pull Tseng to a halt.

The Turk ignored the boy's struggling. It meant nothing to him now. All he could think about was the message he had just received:

"Leon's missing, and the Midgar Owls know where Rufus is. Be prepared."

Author's Note: Wow, short chapter! Anyway, I'm going to be gone for a week. Chapter 4 won't be up until after the 14th. ;;