Authors Notes: Is anybody else out there suffering from allergies? I hate that, my favorite time of year and I'm sneezing like crazy! Anyways, on with the chapter. Disclaimer: I do not own FF7.

The brunette sat on the couch staring at the note her two friends had left. She kept reading it over and over again.
'Hey Guys, I'm sorry to leave like this, but something has come up back home and so I needed to leave, I'll call you all later, and don't worry I'll see you soon!'
Yuffie
'Hey everyone, Good morning Teef!
I went back with Yuffie, didn't want to wake anyone, so yeah I'll also call later'.
Cloud

It was short and right to the point. 'I guess they were in a rush,' Tifa thought to herself. She smiled at Cloud's message to her. She knew that he was with Shinra, he had explained it to her while he was there. So she knew whatever reason for him leaving was Shinra work related. Surprisingly she wasn't that upset that they left. She was glad she got to see them. Especially Cloud. After not seeing him in two years, this was really a nice visit, and she somehow felt like she had gotten some closure. Not closure on their relationship, but closure on her unsure feelings. She was always worrying about him over the years. Wondering if he was okay, wondering if he was dead or alive, wondering if he cared about her at all. At least seeing him put all those worries at ease. And she knew that they had definitely connected somehow. Although she still didn't tell him that she loved him, she was sure that he knew that she did care deeply about him, and she was pretty sure that this was the beginning of what could be a very beautiful thing.
She tore her gaze away from the note and saw Shera looking at her worriedly while rocking Imara in her arms. Tifa smiled, all of her friends had already viewed the note and they were all wondering how she would take it.
She placed the note on the table and walked over to Shera. "Hey if you want to get started on breakfast I'll watch Imara," she said cheerfully.
Shera blinked "Oh yeah, okay that would be great," she said sweetly while passing her daughter over to the brunette. Tifa took her in her arms and began talking baby talk. Shera smiled, it looked like everything was fine after all.

Yuffie sat at a table rolling a pencil back and forth. She was so bored...and confused. She remembered back to last night when the jet picked both she and Cloud up from Rocket Town. She sat in silence looking out the window. Cloud tried to talk to her but she simply brushed him off with short responses. He tried to apologize for earlier, but she acted like she didn't care, and soon she fell asleep.
She picked the pencil off the table and began trying to balance it on the tip. She felt so guilty, she didn't mean to be so rude to him. After they got back she went home and she thought he would come too, but instead he checked into a hotel.
Gigio called her in the morning and told her that they needed to have an important discussion. So here she was waiting in this room for Gigio to come back and whoever else was involved. He didn't tell her what it was about, instead he just let her wait.
She got up out of her seat and walked over to the window. She looked out of it and gazed at all of Wutai. From this window she had a pretty good view. She saw people walking around the town doing their simple everyday routines.
The door opened and the young Shinobi turned to face whoever it was. She was surprised to see it was Cloud. 'What is he doing here?' She thought nervously. However she was glad too see him. He looked at her with no readable expression on his face as he closed the door behind him. He was wearing black pants and a shirt, with a black over- shirt that had the Shinra name printed in red on the right side, and a large Shinra logo on the center of the back.
Yuffie was just getting ready to say something before Gigio entered the room. He walked over to the end of the table and pulled out a chair. "Yuffie" he said while motioning her to come sit at the table. She walked over and sat down while keeping her eyes on Cloud who still was standing by the door, but he soon took a seat at the table.
'What's going on?' Yuffie thought to herself. The silence was starting to get to her. Finally the door opened and in walked Liana. She had her hair pulled back in a sleek ponytail and she was wearing a red silk shirt, black skirt and red heels. She walked over to Gigio and pulled up a chair, before nodding to Yuffie to acknowledge her.
"Yuffie" Gigio began while pushing up his glasses "a few things have come up, and keeping the best interest of Wutai in mind, I ask that you listen closely." The young girl nodded urging him to continue.
"You see" Liana started "Wutai is strong, and we have been strong for quite some time, we've never needed any outside help or support. The way we run things here seem to be quite okay, and everything seems to run smoothly that way."
Yuffie raised an eyebrow "Yeah I know, what's your point?" she asked a little annoyed.
"What she means is that she thinks it would be best if kept that way, without Shinra interfering." Gigio finished.
Yuffie shook her head "I'm sorry I'm confused."
"You guys have got it all wrong." Cloud spoke up "Shinra's not interfering, and were not trying to take anything away here, our sole purpose is just to make sure that Lady Kisiragi is okay."
The girl looked at Cloud and then back at Gigio and Liana. 'Shinra interfering? Keeping me safe?' she thought. "I still don't understand can someone clear this up for me stop speaking in code!" Yuffie shouted.
The blonde looked straight at Yuffie. "Yuffie I don't want you to be confused. And I don't want to hide anything from you. President Reeve sent me here to look after you for a bit. He got some anonymous threats a while ago and he was concerned that the people he knew might be in danger, and since you're in the public eye he thought you might be at greater risk. And since we don't know how serious it is, we didn't want to take any chances. And until it all gets cleared up you were in Shinra's watch. Nobody was supposed to know, it was suppose to be quiet. We didn't want to tip off anyone. But it somehow got through to your people here at Wutai, and they think that it's all a lie and that were somehow trying to take control of Wutai, which isn't the case."
Liana narrowed her eyes at the ex soldier, "Forgive me but Wutai has had problems with Shinra in the past, we just prefer not to be associated with them."
Yuffie shook her head "Liana shut up! Just be quiet for a second!" She looked at Cloud and then at Gigio. "I understand why you guys would not want to trust Shinra. Really I do, because yeah we have had problems with them, but that was a long time ago, when it was ran by totally different people. But President Reeve is my friend, and so is Cloud. And I believe that Reeve only is trying to look out for me. And I know he wouldn't lie."
Gigio sighed and took off his glasses and began rubbing his temples. Liana crossed her arms and pouted.
"Yuffie" Gigio began while putting back on his glasses, "I've come to know that your sense of judgment is usually really good. So...if you trust Shinra with this matter, then okay."
Liana's eyes grew wide and she opened her mouth to speak but Gigio quickly cut in.
"However" he continued, "we will also be monitoring things on this end. Aside from Cloud, any other person associated with Shinra who comes through Wutai and claims to be helping in this situation, I ask that you let me know if I am not already aware."
Yuffie nodded "Yes, I promise."
Gigio smiled "Well then I guess that's about it." Liana shook her head angrily while waving her hands.
"No that is not it! Are you serious!? You would actually put all of Wutai in danger and work with one of our most infamous enemies because two of your friends happen to be a part of it!"
"Liana" Gigio said sternly.
"I will not have some little inexperienced girl completely trash Wutai and all of the hard work and dedication people have put into it to make it what it is today! By letting Shinra interfere you have basically just opened the door for trouble! Don't you see that!? Don't be so naive!"
"Liana!! You are completely out of line! The final decision is up to Lady Kisiragi!" Gigio shouted while standing up out of his chair. Liana glowered at Yuffie before she quickly exited the room while slamming the door behind her.
Yuffie sat in her chair with a shocked expression on her face. Her heart was beating profusely. 'Did I do the right thing?' she thought, 'is this going to be the reaction of everyone else? What are the other representatives of Wutai going to think about Shinra helping out?'
"Miss Yuffie" Gigio began, snapping the young Shinobi out of her thoughts. "I apologize for Liana's outburst, I'll see to it that she is dealt with."
Yuffie smiled "Thanks Gigio." He took a quick bow before leaving the room. All that remained was Cloud and she. The blonde got up and walked around the table to where Yuffie still sat.
"Hey, don't worry about her. You always get some people who think they know it all, it's okay," he explained while squeezing her shoulder.
Yuffie got up and walked back over to the window, looking down at all of Wutai. "It's just" she began "I've worked my ass off for two years straight trying to get the government of Wutai to take me seriously, and all of the people of Wutai as well. I don't want all of that to just disappear." Cloud walked over to the dark haired girl and took her hand in his.
"No Yuffie, don't worry. All the rest of Wutai isn't even going to know. This is all quiet. Nobody's going to see any Shinra soldiers here or anything. It's just me and if anyone else came it wouldn't be a big scene. Believe me Reeve thought this through, he wasn't going to mess up your reputation here. And besides I think Liana is the only one with a problem with it here." He paused and then continued "And once everything is cleared up and I get the signal, then I'll go." Yuffie's heart broke when he said that. She didn't want him to leave, that was the last thing she wanted. Her eyes began to tear up and her vision of the people outside the window became blurred. She turned around to face him while a few tears ran down her cheek.
"I'm not trying to get rid of you. I mean it's actually really sweet that you would stay here and watch out for me knowing how stubborn the Wutai gov. is." Cloud smiled and wiped the tears off her face.
"I don't care how stubborn they are. Yuffie you're my friend, this isn't just like any other assignment that I would do. I care about you, and I'm not going anywhere until I know you are completely safe." Yuffie smiled, she was glad he was here. He made her forget all her problems and everything else around her. She felt safe and cared about when she was with him. She inwardly hoped that Reeve wouldn't catch the person that was threatening him for a long time so Cloud could stay there with her. But she quickly scolded herself for having such a mean thought.
"Are you going to be okay?" the ex soldier asked her with concern written all over his face. She nodded and wiped away a few more tears.
"Come here" the blonde said quietly while pulling her close to him for a tight embrace. She began to weep harder while there in his arms. She didn't really know why. It was just a mixture of things. She felt so jumbled lately, from her feelings with Cloud, to her friendship with Tifa and her responsibilities to Wutai. She didn't want him to think she weak, but at this moment she didn't really care. But he didn't seem to mind, he just held her tight and stroked her hair while mumbling assurances to her.
"Cloud?" Yuffie asked once she had stopped crying.
"Yeah?" he replied.
She sighed and nuzzled up closer to his chest before continuing. "I just wanted to apologize for yesterday night. I didn't mean too be rude... I guess I was just...a little annoyed about everything."
Cloud laughed a little, "Don't apologize, it's alright." He continued stroking her hair but then suddenly spoke up, "you know since our trip with the rest of our friends got cut short, we have to make the most of it with just us two."
Yuffie smiled, "Yeah I guess your right."
The ex soldier raised an eyebrow "So are you going to show me around?"
The shinobi pulled away from the embrace and began walking to the door, "Of course, just keep up!"