Hi. I think we'll just jump right in here since my intro for the prologue was pretty lengthy. Let's see how that sweet little Rufus Shinra is doing today!
Love is Like a War
Chapter 1: It's Lonely at the Top
The white light of early morning broke through the windows of Rufus Shinra's bedroom, in a suite adjacent to his company's new headquarters. The light crept across the plush white rug and reached over the clean white blankets, finally breaking its beams across the face of the sleeping President. The man's hair contrasted starkly with the crisp white of the pillow; sunlight always made the fiery undertones stand out. And most people thought he was just another blond…
Rufus' eyes blinked open. He shifted slightly, stretching his arms languorously above his head. This was the way he preferred to wake up. No grating alarm, no loud music. Just light. He sat up and looked around, allowing his eyes to adjust to the morning's brightness.
Almost everything in the room was white, and what wasn't white was black. Rufus found color needlessly distracting. Rather ironic sentiments coming from a man whose name meant "red", but Rufus Shinra was not the kind of man who took orders from anyone – not even the dead parents who named him. They wanted him to be red? He'd be white instead, thank you very much.
He'd never looked good in red anyway.
Rufus swung himself up out of bed, slipping a robe on over the silk pyjama bottoms he slept in. He walked down the hall to his kitchen. His coffee, the morning newspaper, and a pile of Shinra Inc. notices and briefs from the overnight hours awaited him. Like many of us, Rufus needed his coffee in the morning. He never came face to face with the maid who delivered it, but privately considered her somewhat angelic. So did most of his employees, who understood the importance of not having an extremely cranky President. He settled himself at the small table, which was situated beside a window overlooking the city of Neo-Midgar. He sipped the coffee and began to thumb through the notices.
It had been two years now since Meteor. Two years since the shape of the world had changed – since he'd been extracted from the ruins of Shinra HQ, the ruins of his former life.
Recovery had been easy. He hadn't been too badly damaged; and he was, in any case, rather stubborn when it came to not dying. And plenty of other things…
He'd rebuilt his company from the bottom up. He started with the few people he had left who were loyal enough to bother with and he built the company into what it always should have been. It was smaller, more cost-effective, more efficient, and extremely lucrative. Otherwise, why bother?
People didn't want power; they needed it. And they were paying Shinra for it quite willingly. After all, no one else had the brains or the resources to generate power from the new, clean sources Rufus had chosen to utilize. Wind, hydro, fuel cells…and that was what the people wanted. In a way, he was still holding them in his thrall with fear – the fear of mako, the fear of chaos, and their basest fear or the dark…
He'd rebuilt Midgar, too. More for his own profit than anything else…besides, it's not like anyone else had the money. He'd built it on hills instead of plates, and as the citizens breathed the free air above them, they looked to Shinra HQ atop Neo-Midgar's highest hill and thought of benevolent President Rufus who had saved them all. No one seemed to notice that they were even more under his control, more subject to his will, than they had been when they all hated him.
Sometimes he wished they still did. He'd had to hire an extra secretary just to separate the important mail from the missives of brainless grateful citizens.
Rufus paused when he reached the last memo. It was a wire from Reno, who he'd sent to Nibelheim to scope out the old mansion and see if the general atmosphere would be conducive to opening a branch of the company there. What caught his eye was that the wire appeared to have originated in Costa del Sol. If that lowlife was sitting in a beachfront cabana with some tanned tart…he arched an eyebrow and began to read.
President Rufus,
Nibelheim inaccessible. All roads blocked.
Apparently something to do with Dio?
Please Advise.
Reno
Dio? That musclebound clown from the Gold Saucer? Since when did he have the desire or the authority to block roads? Rufus finished his coffee and made for the shower. This was going to require some investigation.
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At the very moment when Rufus Shinra was stripping his pajamas off and getting in the shower (rarrr ), Cloud Strife was waking up from a dream 50 miles away.
The dream had been about Aeris. They almost always were. He wished he could just forget. He wanted to forget…he was happy now, happy with Tifa, so why did Aeris have to haunt his dreams? Speaking of Tifa, maybe some wake up sex would set his mind to rights…
He reached his arm over to the place where she slept next to him to find that she'd already woken and left the bed. He sighed and ran a hand through his blond hair, disheveled from sleep. He was wrapped in warmth with the sun breaking through the curtains and Tifa's enticing scent still lingering about him, but all he could see was her face…Aeris…
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Tifa Lockhart was downstairs in the kitchen washing dishes. She hadn't even bothered to shower yet – she had wanted to get away from Cloud as quickly as possible and find something to occupy herself with, because she swore if she woke up just one more time to Cloud saying her name in his sleep she would throttle him to death right there in their bed…
Yes, their bed. For almost two years now they'd shared it. Just like she'd wished for, it was wonderful, really it was…Cloud had even proposed marriage, but they'd decided to wait. She'd decided. She just wasn't ready for marriage yet. Not ready because…because of…
He can't help what he dreams about…
CRASH
The plate had slipped from her hands just as the tears began to fall.
The third plate this week, she thought to herself. Which only made her cry more to think that she'd grown so numb inside as to think of the plate first…
How long could she allow this pathetic charade to continue? She wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her pyjamas and sat down at the kitchen table.
They'd been living in Kalm for a year now after some time spent traveling with their friends. They'd settled into this domestic fairy tale with Tifa working part time at Kalm's inn and Cloud doing odd jobs around town…they appeared just as in love as everyone expected them to be. But at the very heart of their relationship was something hollow and rotten; a secret that was slowly rending Tifa's heart to pieces…
Cloud was still in love with Aeris. He was only with her to try to forget…and she hated him for it. She hated him…
She jumped up as she heard him coming down the stairs. It was her day to cook breakfast, so she went to see what was available in the refrigerator…
She didn't have a chance before she felt his arm snake around her waist. His hand up her shirt, lips on her neck, something hard pressing in from behind…
He's doing it again, she thought. Using me to forget. Using me…
He turned her around to face him, ripping open the top of her pyjamas unceremoniously. Buttons flew in every direction.
"Cloud…" she breathed as he gripped a breast, pressing her against the kitchen counter. He silenced her with a deep kiss.
I have to leave him, she thought to herself, the voice of reason growing faint in the face of her desire.
I have to get away…
All thought left Tifa's mind after that as Cloud removed the rest of her clothes and laid her gently on the kitchen table. It felt so good being close to him like this, so good…
She moaned as he pushed deep inside her, hooking one of her knees over his shoulder.
Maybe…maybe it didn't matter if he loved her or not…maybe she was just being selfish…maybe it should be enough…
But deep down she knew that it wasn't.
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So how's that for a start? The sex scene came out of nowhere. I probably couldn't stop thinking about Rufus in the shower and had to write some smut! The next chapter will be along soon.