3 "May I never see a chocobo or a bonsai-tree again!"

"Thank the planet..." Rufus mumbled when they could see the town up ahead and sagged slightly with relief.

Tifa laughed. "Just a few minutes more now, Rufus, and you're back on the ground."

He grumbled something and became aware of how his arms ached after hours of being locked in a tense position.

Tifa, on the other hand, seemed quite relaxed where she sat, half-resting against his chest while she was talking merrily to Yuffie. The young ninja sat back to back with Vincent, holding onto the chocobos tail feathers, so she could actually face Tifa during their conversation about materia.

Rufus knew the obnoxious materia-thief would be one of the things he surely wouldn't miss if Meteor would hit him in the head right that moment!

A heartbeat later he vaguely recalled that Tifa had just asked him something. "Sorry, what?"

Tifa repeated her question. "Do we spend the night at the inn or do we set course for Rocket Town? It's more dangerous travelling by night, you know..."

Rufus ignored Yuffie's hollering about nothing being too dangerous for her, and shrugged. "Then we stay the night."

Tifa reported the decision to Vincent and Yuffie, only seconds before the chocobos halted outside the town-gate. Rufus strangled a gasp of surprise when he jumped off; his legs felt like they were bent out of shape and would rather walk their separate ways than straight ahead! He stumbled a few steps to regain his balance. "How do you stand doing that?!"

Yuffie laughed and jumped off as well. "You get used to it! Chocobo riding only gives funny-walk to snobs like you who got no muscles in their legs whatsoever!"

Vincent put his indifferent gaze on Yuffie, a silent warning for her to be quiet.

Tifa sighed resigned, not sure how she would survive an entire night with those two arguing, not to think of the long way back to Rocket Town! "I think you two have to find some way to get along before me and Vincent will..."

Right in the middle of her speech and getting down, the chocobo saw its friend run off and decided to do the same!

With a surprised cry, Tifa lost her balance and fell...

...straight into Rufus' arms and he smirked to her shocked face; "Tifa Lockhart never falls of a chocobo, huh? Isn't that what you said?"

She felt her face flame up and avoided his eyes. "I also said it's a first time for everything..."

Yuffie had just finished waving after the chocobos and turned back to the others. "Well then, what do we do first? Get rooms? Look for parts? Buy materia?"

Vincent halted by the town gate and gazed back at them. "I'll find the parts."

Yuffie tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I think I'll check out the materia. Just look, I promise!"The silence told of that no one believed her promise, and the young ninja grinned widely.

"Uhm..." Tifa tugged lightly at Rufus' shirt collar, "down?"

He gazed confused at her. "What?"

She pointed down at the ground. "You wanna put me down?"

"Oh!" Rufus helped her find her balance before releasing her and Tifa smiled slightly shy.

"Thanks. For catching me."

He shrugged. "Don't mention it." Watching Rufus walking towards the town gate, Tifa drew a deep, deep breath, and then followed.

Hours passed and Tifa sat down in the inn's living room, waiting for the others to return. Vincent still hadn't returned with the parts, Yuffie didn't surprise with her absence, but Rufus had disappeared too. Right after paying for the rooms, he had mumbled something, walked out, and Tifa hadn't seen him since. She glanced up as the door opened and sighed relived at the sight of the white coat.

"Rufus, over here," Tifa called out as he was about to head upstairs.

He sauntered over and sat down in the chair by the window. "Where are the other two?" Rufus asked to divert the attention from his own mysterious disappearance, oddly reluctant to reveal how he'd spent the time merely walking around thinking.

Tifa sighed and sipped at her tea. "I don't know. Haven't seen Vincent. And Yuffie, big surprise, hasn't returned either."

The ex-president stroke his hand through his hair and snorted. "How do you survive with them? That girl is just asking for trouble and goth-boy doesn't really appear like Mr Trustworthy himself..."

Tifa placed the cup on the table and gazed honestly over at him. "I trust both Vincent and Yuffie because they both have good hearts and I know they would risk their lives to save any of our group."

Rufus leaned his elbows on the armrest of the chair and let his fingertips meet just below his smirk. "Touching. What about me? Do you trust me? Do I have what it takes to be a part of your little group?"

Tifa heard the obvious mockery in his voice but met the question head on anyway. "I do believe you have a good heart, Rufus ShinRa. Your childhood has hardened you, and that makes it difficult to get close to you. But to answer your question, yes, I trust you."

Rufus let out a laugh. The hard cold laugh Tifa had learn to hate. She wrapped her arms around herself and turned her gaze away as Rufus fastened a cruel glare at her, his voice a harsh sneer.

"You know what, Lockhart? You're so naive it makes me laugh! Always looking for something good in everyone, aren't you? Refusing to believe there is something called pure evil, right? Even when your beloved Cloud started chasing that Ancient, you forced yourself to like her, didn't you? Forced yourself to see her good sides, her importance to this world compared to insignificant you. Even in the eyes of your childhood friend."

He could taste her pain as Tifa spun around to glare at him with hot tears in her eyes. "You, Rufus ShinRa, can be a real jerk sometimes!"

Rufus gave a slight nodding greeting, "I certainly try." Yet he shifted uneasily under her tear-loaded stare and cleared his throat. "Maybe we should check on Vincent and Yuffie?"

Tifa sniffled quietly. "We agreed on gathering here, it would do no good if we run around and they come here."

Rufus nodded, and a silence fell over them. Minutes passed and Rufus couldn't take it any more. "Listen, Tifa, I..."Suddenly the door to the inn was kicked in. Rufus and Tifa jumped to their feet, just to see several soldiers come running in, dressed in uniforms neither had seen before.

"Rufus ShinRa-imposter!" The leader called out, every soldier aimed their guns at Rufus and Tifa, "you are hereby under arrest in the name of our new president!"

Rufus eyes narrowed with anger and he took a step forward, and would have continued if not for Tifa taking a hold of his arm. "The new president?! Who the hell is the so-called 'new president'? Who dares call me an imposter?!"

The soldiers glanced nervously at each other as some of the old awe for the ShinRa President remained.

"Y-you will find out soon enough!" The leader snapped and his eyes widened when Rufus suddenly aimed at him with his shotgun.

"Why don't you humour me and tell me now?" Rufus insisted coldly.

The leader-soldiers eyes flickered, then he smirked. "Please don't make this any more difficult then it has to be, 'Mr ShinRa'. Come quietly and no one will get hurt."

Rufus frowned but then Tifa called out his name and he turned around to see Tifa in the grip of a soldier with a knife against her throat. The ex-president considered his options, ignoring Tifa's pleads for him not to do as they said.

What seemed like an eternity passed, then Rufus' shotgun sank and he sighed. "Fine. You got me. All of you bad soldiers against little me."

A soldier jumped forward and snatched Rufus' shotgun before darting into safety as the leader answered. "Not entirely, 'Mr ShinRa'. The president ordered the capture of all four!"

Rufus glanced over at the pale Tifa. - All four? He thought, - who's after both me and Strife's gang? He made sign for the soldier to release Tifa and the leader blinked surprised then the soldier automatically obeyed. Tifa stumbled forward and into Rufus' arms, drawing shivering breaths as the memory of the sharp knife against her throat haunted her. The ex-president held one protective arm around her shoulders as he walked towards the door and the soldiers parted to let him pass and followed safely behind them.

Clutching his shirt, Tifa gazed up at Rufus' calm face and forced her trembling lips to obey. "What are we going to do?!"

He didn't look like he'd heard her words, but then Rufus replied, "We'll go along. Nice and quietly. Then we'll meet the new president."

Tifa swallowed hard at his cold words and felt unease spread through her. "Rufus..." She pleaded, but knew she might as well have spoken to the wind or the sky.

They were lead up to the Nibelheim mansion, both Tifa and Rufus glanced confused over at each other, but said nothing. "Wait here, while I inform the President!" The high-ranking soldier said as they stood in the great hall, and sauntered in a door on their left.

A few moments passed, then the soldier returned. "The President will see you now."

Rufus clenched his fists and took the lead towards the room. "Oh, goodie, I was worried!"

Just as he reached the door, he heard a voice say; "yes, time to get your water, isn't it? Yeees!"

That voice! Rufus recognized that voice! His slammed up the door and marched into the room. "Heidegger! What the hell is the meaning of this?!"

Heidegger, who stood bent over a plant on his desk, blinked wide-eyed at Rufus, then glared at the horrified leader-soldier, who stuttered; "I-I'm sorry, sir. I d-didn't know..."

Heidegger waved him to silence and straightened. "The man who calls himself Rufus ShinRa, finally we get to meet! I think you should show some more respect for the new president, don't you?"

Tifa stared horrified at Rufus as he marched over and slammed his hands down on the desk, causing Heidegger to fall back into his chair. "Who the hell died and made you president?!" Rufus couldn't believe this!

"Actually," Heidegger said, signalling for the soldiers to leave them and grinned as the door closed behind them, "you did."

Rufus leaned slightly forward, barely able to keep from attacking the fat toad that grinned to him.

"After you so tragically died in the, ah, unfortunate meeting with Weapon, we found the letter that named me as your follower," Heidegger explained, "and despite the pain of my loss, I knew I had to respect your last wish!"

Rufus sneered with fury and straightened with a jerk. "You bastard! I wrote no such thing!"

Heidegger shrugged and stroke a finger over the delicate leaves of the plant on the desk. "The former ShinRa soldiers doesn't know that. I merely waved the letter, sobbed some noble words over you, and they've followed me blindly ever since!"

Rufus flung an arm out towards the door, causing Tifa to jump, "all I have to do is tell them! And I'll have you executed! To be the President of ShinRa Inc takes a hell of a lot more then talking to a frigging plant!"

Heidegger's eyes narrowed with anger and he moved the plant a little further away from the furious Rufus; "It's a Bonsai-tree! They're small pieces of art!"

Rufus slammed his hands down on the desk again, leaning forward with a threatening look. "And you, Heidegger, is a big piece of nothing!"

The fat man got up with a cold stare as Rufus straightened to face him. "They wouldn't believe you. The highest ranking soldiers saw the exploration and no one could have survived that! Which reminds me to ask you just how you did that, later, but as I said; Rufus ShinRa is dead. Rumours started swirling about an imposter that teamed up with Cloud Strife and his team. It didn't take much for the soldiers to think you really were an imposter; Rufus ShinRa would never work for Cloud Strife!"

Rufus clenched his jaw and crossed his arms. "I'm not working for him. I'm after Sephiroth and Strife happen to be heading the same way."

Heidegger caressed his Bonsai again and shrugged with a grin. "Try convincing the soldiers of that, and they'll shoot you for dishonouring the memory of their former president! Gyah hah haaa!"

At that moment, Rufus ran out of self-restraint and threw out a punch that sent Heidegger slamming against the wall, but in turn also caused four soldiers to run into the room and restrain him from doing anything else. Heidegger felt his sore chin and glared at the furious Rufus while fighting his way up to sit in his chair again.

"Let them have Valentines old room!" Heidegger ordered and the soldiers dragged the two out of the room.

Being shoved, pushed and threatened, Rufus and Tifa walked down into the basement and into the room where Cloud and the others once had found Vincent in his coffin. Only now the room was completely empty. And cold. And dark! The door slammed shut after the soldiers and Rufus slammed a hand at the door in frustration. "Damn him!"

Tifa rubbed her arm where one of the soldiers had held a little too hard and sighed. "With friends like that, who needs enemies..."

Rufus walked over to the wall opposite of the door and sank down to sit on the floor and lean against it. "He never was my friend!"

Tifa watched him silently for a while, then walked over and sank down beside him. "I wonder where Vincent and Yuffie are..."

Gazing over at her, Rufus realised he'd forgotten all about them in the middle of everything. "If Heidegger had them, he would have said so."

Feeling a tiny hope, Tifa met Rufus' eyes. "You think so?"

Moving his gaze to stare at the door, Rufus sighed. "I think so..."

Time passed and after spending hours of searching in vain for a way out, they'd ended up with sitting on the cold floor again and Rufus noticed Tifa had pulled her knees up to her chest, had her arms around her legs, and was fighting to repress shivers.

"Here..." He leaned slightly forward and began pulling of his coat.

Tifa quickly reached out to prevent his action and shook her head. "No, then you'll freeze!"

Rufus snorted and tried unsuccessfully to shake off her hands, his coat had slid down to his elbows and left him unable to raise his hands. "Not very likely! Besides, I could drop this and my shirt and still be more dressed then you."

Deciding not to examine if that was a criticism to her clothes, Tifa jerked his coat back on him. "I said; forget it! I'm not taking it!"

Rufus rolled his eyes and counted to ten. "But you're freezing your tail off!"

Tifa stared defiantly at the door and muttered; "am not."

"Yes, you are!" Rufus insisted and added a little softer; "take the damn coat. I'll be fine."

Tifa glanced over at him and this time she smiled. "Thank you, Rufus, but I'm not taking it. It's your coat, so you shouldn't freeze."

Cursing silently over female stubbornness and pride, Rufus sat silently for a while, getting increasingly annoyed at how Tifa was obviously shivering. "That's it!" He finally exclaimed, pulling off his coat, before he placed one arm behind her back, the other under her knees, and lifted her up to sit in front of him.

Tifa yelped in surprise and tried to push him away. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Yanking her back to rest against his chest, Rufus placed the coat over her and locked one arm around her waist, over her arms, preventing her from squirming away. "This way both of us gets the coat! Okay?"

Tifa suddenly fell still. "Oh." She blinked into the darkness, feeling more helpless in his embrace than any imprisonment Heidegger ever could provide!

Rufus felt how she stopped struggling, but wasn't sure if he should remove his arm; knowing if she would keep insisting on freezing to death, he probably would bind, gag and throw the coat over her!

Tifa fidgeted nervously for a moment, but made no attempts to escape. A minute later, she felt him ease up on his death grip around her waist and sigh; his breath caressing her neck. It took everything in her not to jump to her feet.

Time passed and suddenly she felt him shift slightly behind her. Tifa sent a worried glance back at him. "Something wrong?"

Rufus shook his head with tired smile. "No, just figured I'd get comfortable as it seems we're going to be here for some time."

Tifa gazed back at the door, realising he probably was right. She relaxed against him and settled comfortably, only moving to arrange the coat slightly to cover his feet as well. "So..." Tifa said after a while, "what's your favourite colour?"

Rufus blinked surprised and glanced down at her, not sure he heard the question right. "What?"

Peeking back over her shoulder, Tifa smiled embarrassed. "You said it yourself, you know. It seems like we're might be stuck in here for a while, so why not 20 questions?"

Rufus laughed silently and shrugged. "Okay. Why not. Uhm, favourite colour? That would be... blue." He nodded satisfied at his own answer and gave her a light squeeze. "You?"

Tifa unknowingly snuggled closer against Rufus in search of more warmth and leaned her head to his chest, feeling his chin close to her temple. "My favourite colour is... white, I think."

Rufus could almost have guessed it before she answered. White, the ultimate colour of goodness. "My turn," he said, pondering for a question that actually interested him. "Favourite prank?"

Betting she'd never preformed one in her entire life, Rufus lifted an eyebrow as she glanced puzzled up at him. "I haven't... I mean," she began, then turned back to stare at the door. "Well, I did... Not that it's my favourite prank. It's not nice playing tricks on people, you know..."

"Yeah, yeah," Rufus interrupted, actually curious now. "Out with it!"

Tifa began a futile attempt to stroke away some dirt on the white coat. "When we were at the Gold Saucer... I really don't know what came into me, but... Cloud and Aeris went out... on a date... or something..."

Despite her light tone, Rufus sensed a vulnerable side to her story and decided to wait for Tifa to continue and not push her.

"My favourite place on the Saucer is the game room, and so I went there. To forget. And I won this... frog. A live one, that is." Tifa admitted, her face turning an interesting colour of red by the memory. "I... Well... I put it in her bed... Aeris' bed..."

There was a short silence after her words, then Rufus broke out laughing. He laughed like he couldn't remember the last time he had. Tifa couldn't help herself but to giggle along, happy for the warm laugh her 'dark' secret caused.

"Aeris woke up the entire hotel with her screaming that night," she said mirthfully, going over to fidgeting with Rufus' shirtsleeve. Rufus automatically turned his hand and took hers in his, braiding their fingers as he shook his head cheerfully.

"Never knew you had it in you, Tifa."

Staring at their hands, seeing how he stroke his thumb over her skin, Tifa swallowed hard. "Such fiendishly clever frog winning skills?"

Rufus shrugged lightly and released her hand with a slight smile. "Such evil."

Tifa glanced back at his taunting look and raised an eyebrow. "I'm not. Unless someone annoys me." She saw to her satisfaction that her words lured forth another laugh from Rufus and turned back to gaze at the door. "Anyway, my turn to ask a question, Mr ShinRa!"

Tifa shifted slightly, and drew a deep breath, realising she'd fallen asleep. Forcing her eyes open, she found herself cuddled up in the arms of the sleeping Rufus. The two prisoners nicely snuggled close against each other. Tifa sat half-drowsing, listening to the steady beat of his heart, and wondered if Cloud was worried. If he had noticed she hadn't returned at all! She stroke a hand up Rufus' chest and glanced up at his sleeping face. He was quite handsome when he wasn't so cold and distant. Tifa suddenly wanted to stroke a finger over his lips to see if they were as soft as they looked, but then blushed and withdrew her hand. Resting her head to his chest again, she gazed blankly into the darkness.

"And a good morning to you too," Rufus mumbled.

Tifa started as if she'd been caught with her hand in the cookie-jar."Uhm, m-morning? I mean, you think it's morning?" She said quickly, too embarrassed to even wonder if he'd noticed her act. Rufus shrugged and Tifa became more and more aware of just how physically close they were. "W-we should find out. Maybe t-there is some way out we missed to see, o-or something..." She stuttered and felt her face burn as she pushed herself away.

Rufus felt her tense and frowned slightly, not quite awake and not quite ready to give up the warmth supplied by having Tifa close. "Hey," he took a hold of her wrists, and turned her to face him, "what's wrong?"

Tifa stared wide-eyed at him and made a feeble effort to free her hands. "N-nothing. Nothing!"

Her act merely brought her closer and Rufus inhaled slowly as he saw her flushed cheeks and the look in her eyes; fear, pride, but also something cautiously inviting. He released her left wrist and tryingly placed his hand on her cheek, recognizing how she froze, her wine-coloured eyes becoming quizzically despite their innocence. A man could actually get drunkenly dizzy if he gazed too long or too deep into those eyes.

Tifa unknowingly held her breath as she felt his hand slide behind her neck and gently urge her closer, and yet she found herself giving in.

Rufus tilted his head slightly and leaned forward, forgetting all about being betrayed and their uncertain faith. He felt her hand stroking up his chest and merely hesitated for second before moving close enough to taste her lips, a sudden wave of heat flared up between them, but then both gazed quickly over at the door as a loud crash was heard outside.

Rufus jumped to his feet, and pulled up Tifa to stand behind him. "We've got company."

"Is it Cloud?" Tifa took a hold of his arm while staring suspiciously at the door.

Rufus frowned slightly as he was unable to identify the voices outside the door. "I don't know... Could be."

He made sign for her to back away and went into a fighting stance.

Seconds passed in agonizing tension, then the door opened and light entered the darkness along with a familiar voice. "Cloud! Barret! They're here! I told you they were here!"

Tifa let out a small cry of relief and ran forward. "Yuffie!"

Rufus relaxed slightly at the sight of the ninja, but didn't let his fists sink. "Where's Valentine?"

Yuffie gazed surprised over at him. "He's not with you?"

Tifa felt herself grow ice cold and gazed nervously at Rufus. "You think...?"

"I think we should get the hell out of here! Where have you been anyway, Buffy?" The ex-president grabbed his coat and set course for the open door.

The young ninja jumped agitated with clenched fists. "It's 'Yuffie'! And for your information; I saw you two get captured and went to get help!"

And at that moment, Cloud and Barret came running.

"Tifa! You ok?" Cloud exclaimed as he halted in front of her, placing a worried hand on her shoulder.

Tifa gave a warm smile and nodded. "I'm fine, Cloud." A thoughtful look followed. "But... if Vincent isn't with you... Where is he?"

Rufus snorted and pulled his coat back on. "What's that, Strife? Oh no, don't worry about me! I'm fine!"

He waved off Cloud's annoyed expression and glanced around in the dark hall. "I'm just going to wrap Heideggers plant around his fat neck!"

Then Cait Sith appeared in the door to the library, and said in a silent voice; "Hey... fellas... over here. I found him."