ShinRa

By: Quistis & Xu

Disclaimer: We don't own anything but our minds and our own sanities.

Authors' Notes: This is the Sequel to "Diary of the First Lady" by General Quistis.

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Chapter 3: Tifa Lockheart

She examined her reflection in the mirror, gazing at her crimson eyes and blonde hair. She recalled the magazines and all the other newspapers that had written things about her, saying that she was the best among all the ShinRa Presidents due to the fact that she was a better leader and knows better marketing strategies. She even managed to make the family richer than her father and her ancestors could have done themselves in their lifetime, and she even divided the money for the improvement and development of the whole city of Midgar. Compared to how Midgar had looked like several years ago, it now looked better and more inviting to look at.

She ran her fingers through her blonde hair, thinking about her parents… especially her mother. She never even knew how she looked like.

Reno had mentioned to her that her mother was an evil woman who took some of the money from ShinRa and ran off, leaving her.

Tiffany could not decided if she should believe that or not, so she just tried hard not to think about it. "Oh well… after all, I don't trust that carrot-top," she thought with a nasty smile on her face before she proceeded to the door. Once she got out of her room, she headed straight to the elevators and went up to her office on the 70th floor of the building. There was no one there so she just decided to sit by her desk and gaze outside her window, observing the busy atmosphere downtown. Then, she heard her cellular phone ringing. She frowned and scratched her head upon realizing that she hid it in one of the drawers but she could not remember where it was. She quickly opened each of the drawers starting from the left side of the office table, from top to bottom. "Damn, where the hell is it?" she thought angrily to herself. She opened the last drawer from the left side, the drawer that she never bothered using because it was too low and she did not like the idea of stooping down to get her things from down there. The moment she opened it, the smell of old country wood filled her nose. She flinched a little but she stiffened when she saw a brown envelope, the same colour as the insides of the drawer. She frowned slightly as she got it, completely forgetting about the ringing mobile phone. She looked at the flap and it had some writings. She realized that it was the handwriting of a man and it read, Property of Rufus ShinRa.

"Dad," she realized silently. She suddenly felt nervous and with a trembling hand, she looked inside the envelope and pulled out this glossy paper with his father's handwriting on it which said May 3 of this lovely year… Tifa's Birthday.

Tiffany raised an eyebrow. "Tifa?" she muttered softly before she turned over the glossy paper and it revealed to her a group picture. She could recognize her father, Rufus, standing beside the chair where this beautiful brunette was seated. Behind them was this blue-eyed girl with short blonde hair holding a cake.

Tiffany examined the photo and she could recognize Reno standing at the far right of the picture with this bald guy wearing glasses. "Who's Tifa?" she asked aloud.

She placed the picture down and she heard her mobile phone ringing again. "Damn…" she cursed in annoyance before she opened the top center drawer. She sighed in relief when she saw her mobile phone and answered the call quickly, "Yeah?" she asked.

There was silence.

"Hello?" she asked once again.

"I..is this Tiffany?"

A woman.

Tiffany raised an eyebrow. "Who's this?" she asked with a stiff tone.

"Are you Tiffany?" the woman asked once again.

Tiffany felt nervous as she stared at the brunette on the photo. "Yes, this is Tiffany. Who's this?" she asked

The woman hung up.

Tiffany's eyes grew wide. "Hey! Hello?" she called out. After she lost hope, she shook her head in dismay and placed her mobile phone inside the pocket of her white blazer. She continued to stare at the brunette on the photo with a confused look on her face. "Who are you?" she asked aloud.

She could hear the birds chirping outside so she went to the window to look, the photo in her grasp again. She saw her reflection on the glass of the window and her eyes grew wide upon seeing her crimson eyes which resembled the crimson eyes of the brunette in the photo. She frowned slightly.

She was interrupted when the door just opened without any warning. She cleared her thoughts upon seeing Reno and the blonde man who clearly resembled her father. Tiffany gazed up at the two with a stunned look on her face but she did not say anything.

Reno smiled at the girl. "Hello, President Tiffany. I would like to introduce to you the new member of the Turks; his name is Rufford Lockheart." He said.

Tiffany turned to Rufford with wide eyes.

Rufford nodded his head in greeting.

Reno approached the desk, his eyes on the photo. "What's that?" he asked.

Tiffany got the photo before Reno could get his hands on it. "Not so fast, Reno." She snapped.

Rufford's eyes grew wide upon seeing the photo.

Reno's eyes were wide in surprise when he realized who were in the photo. "Where did she get that? I thought I've already disposed every single photo of… of that girl!?" he thought in panic.

"Reno, who is this woman?" Tiffany demanded, pointing at the brunette.

Reno was speechless, not knowing how to answer. Tiffany could see sweat trickling down from his head.

"I don't know her, your excellency." He lied.

Tiffany's eyes narrowed at Reno, then she turned to Rufford upon seeing his sudden reaction towards the photo. "What about you, Mister Lockheart?" she asked with a grim expression on her face as she approached them with the photo still on her hands.

Rufford could not help but smile at the young president. "Such a sly youth… full of energy and enthusiasm for a job to be done." He stated with a suave tone.

Tiffany stopped walking and frowned at him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"You are just like your father in many ways… I'm pretty sure that if he is still alive, he'll be very proud of you." He replied with a low tone while keeping his eyes on Reno.

Reno felt a shiver run down his spine when he heard Rufford say that. He wanted to say something to Rufford about what he had mentioned to Tiffany earlier, but he did not exactly know how to put it into words…

Tiffany's eyes narrowed at Rufford as her frown deepened. She kept her eyes on Rufford as a funny feeling began to sweep through her thoughts… it was like she had seen him before… but she was not too sure, so she just spoke up with a trembling tone. "What do you know about my family?" she asked.

Rufford just stared down at her, as if reading her thoughts through her crimson eyes. The sight of her eyes made him cringe a little, as if it pierced through his whole being so easily. "I cannot assure you of anything right now, but that woman you are asking about is…" he trailed off, waiting for any reaction from Reno, but there wasn't any, so he proceeded with his eyes on the redhead, as if keeping an eye on him. "…Tifa Lockheart." He spoke the name slowly, emphasizing each syllable.

Reno stiffened and looked away.

Tiffany's eyes were wide in surprise. "Ti…Tifa… Lockheart?" she asked with a surprised tone.