Chapter 2: Thoughts of Lard and Letters

Yuffie plopped down on the bed. Her fingers were shaking with anticipation. She quickly ripped the envelope in half, careful of the contents. A small key chain with the Shinra emblem fell out. She also shook out a piece of paper. She tried not to get too exited when she finally unfolded it. It read:

To Miss Kisaragi,

We at the J/S Corporation are aware of your abilities as a ninja and request your cooperation. This job has one goal: to steal. We realize that your abilities as a ninja give you great agility and stealth. We need you to steal an item for us, Miss Kisaragi. This item is very rare and is heavily guarded at the Midgar National Museum. More information will be given as soon as we know that you can be trusted. The reward for this project is 1,000,000 Gil, though if you need anything for your mission we will gladly pay for it.

If you choose to accept this mission, go to the address on the bottom of the letter. Be there at 6:30 sharp on November 21. Thank you for your time, Miss Kisaragi.

President of J/S Co.

Yuffie blew out a small puff of air. 1,000,000 Gil! That was a ridiculously large amount. She could almost see herself buying everything there was to buy. Shoes, TV, computer, ahh...and she could eat cake every day. But this sounded like a hard job. Yuffie wouldn't admit it, but she wondered if she was good enough. The Midgar National Museum! That place was guarded top notch. But then again, whoever these people were had offered to give her the equipment that she needed. "Hmmm..." she pondered aloud. Tomorrow, she had to work tomorrow, and her boss wasn't exactly lenient when it came to getting days off. She thought of ways she could convince him. Yuffie yawned. It was no use worrying now. She looked at the clock. 1:00. She needed to get to sleep. She pulled the covers back on her queen sized bed and slid beneath them. Thoughts of riches danced in her dreams, and she slept well that night.

Beep Beep Beep! Yuffie groaned. "Stupid alarm clock," she grumbled, smashing the off button with her fist. She slid her feet out of her bed and got up slowly. She noticed that she had slept in her clothes. She smoothed out her jeans with her hands. She stumbled into the kitchen and grabbed a banana. She quickly ate it, and then headed into the bathroom for a shower. When she was done, she dressed into a pair of khaki cargo jeans and a gray T-shirt that was embroidered with small black flowers and butterflies. She slipped on some tabi socks and then put her flip-flops on over them. She also put a black and gray toboggan on her head that was lettered with the words "Aerocore." She always wore this hat when she wasn't intending to dry her hair. She then brushed her teeth, left the apartment, and was on her way to work.

On Fridays, Yuffie worked at a fast food joint called "Hamburger Heaven" To Yuffie, the restaurant smelled like crap and the food was too greasy and the bathrooms were horrible, but the place got good business. The food was cheap, and so were a lot of the customers. If Yuffie didn't work there, she would have never ever eaten any of their products. But it wasn't so bad once you got used to it.

She was surprised when she got a small static shock from behind that what strong enough to make her hair stand on end. She turned around to find Reno, holding out his electric nightstick. "Wakey Wakey." he said, poking her again. Yuffie growled and then tackled him. He didn't look so awake himself, and Yuffie wondered if he had gone to the Booze Shack without her last night. Reno got up from the sidewalk and dusted off. "Man, you sure can be touchy." he drawled, rubbing his head. Yes, he definitely had been drinking. He had that thick "I'm having a hangover" voice.

Yuffie helped dust off of his back. Reno groaned. "I don't wanna go to work," he told her, beginning to walk forward. Yuffie smiled "You never want to go to work," she informed him, knowing it was the truth,"If you wouldn't stay up so late and drink so much, things would be different." Reno scowled. "If I drank only water and went to bed at eight, it wouldn't change the fact that work bites." Yuffie laughed. "Well, here's my stop. Gotta go. Bye," she said happily, hopping up the steps. Reno shook his head. He wondered why she was so happy.

As soon as Yuffie went inside, she was greeted by a large sinister looking man who towered above her petite figure. "YOU'RE LATE!" he growled in a large, scratchy voice. Yuffie shrugged and walked past him, tying an apron around her waist. "I know boss. Ran into to trouble on the way. Some drunks thought it would be funny to try and electrocute me," she explained. Well, it wasn't totally untrue. Her boss sniffed, trying to figure out if she was lying or not. "Just get to work," he finally said in a tired voice. Yuffie headed toward the deep fryer. Now wasn't really the time to ask him about leaving work early. She would wait until later, when things had cooled down a bit.

She dipped french-fries in and out of the nasty grease. She wondered how long the fat had been in there. She put on a pained expression and wrinkled her nose at the thought. Oh well, it wasn't like SHE was eating it. Someone called out an order to her and she quickly dropped the potato strips into a box and handed them over to Janakah, the other unfortunate worker at this place. Janakah also pinched her nose, and she winked at Yuffie. She didn't even bother to stop showing her disgust as she handed it through the window. Yuffie snorted. She really liked Janakah, she never did hide how she felt. She kind of reminded Yuffie of...well, herself actually. Except Janakah could do a lot more because the boss fancied her. She turned around to Yuffie once again and placed her hands on her hips.

"You'd think that after them seeing the look on your face that they would quit buying the accursed food," Yuffie laughed, dumping more fries in. Janakah shook her head. "Everyone who comes here is too stupid to tell that the food is disgusting. I've worked here for three years, I should know." Yuffie shrugged. She yelped as a spurt of grease burned her arm. She began to bang on the machine with her spatula. "It never fails does it! You've always been against me! Can't I go one day without getting burned! I'll show you, you ugly-" Yuffie stopped her rage at the stove when she saw the boss peeking out from behind the counter. He was always spying on her, just waiting for an excuse to yell. Yuffie grabbed a rag and pretended to be cleaning a spot of grease. It worked, the boss retracted his head.

"Oh boy, lookie at what we have here, my favorite customer," Janakah drawled sarcastically. Palmer could be seen at the window, a piggish look on his face. "I thought he died," Yuffie said in amazement. "Unfortunately he didn't," Janakah sighed, and then she approached the window. "Hello Palmer, what may I do for you today?" Palmer licked his finger and put it to the air. Janakah rolled her eyes. "I'd like a double Cheeseburger please...WITH LOTS OF LARD!" he suddenly added, almost jumping out of his seat. Janakah rubbed her head. "How many times do I have to tell you Palmer, Cheeseburgers don't come with lard." Palmer leaned out the window. "I'm sure you can manage," he said, a sly smile on his face. Janakah typed something in the register. "Need one double cheeseburger-" "DON'T FORGET THE-" "with lots of lard," She said, running her fingers through her hair. Palmer clapped his hands in excitement. Janakah handed him the bag. As soon as he drove away, she mumbled something about "Shinra idiots."

Yuffie laughed. After that episode, work was pretty uneventful. Soon Yuffie caught sight of the clock on the wall. "Janakah, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor?" she said, wiping her hands on her apron. Janakah turned to her. "Depends on what it is." Yuffe kicked a paper plate that was lying in the floor. "I need you to ask the boss if I can get out of here by 6:00." The clock on read 5:47, and Yuffie would have to walk to her destination on the letter. Janakah stared at her. "He'll listen to you. Come on, Pleeeaaassee?"

Janakah raised an eyebrow, and then got a smug look on her face. "Have you and Reno hooked up?" she asked. "What? Oh, uhhh...yeah sure, whatever..." Yuffie lied. This may be her chance. Janakah was a sucker for romance. "Is he taking you somewhere?" Yuffie decided to play along. "Oh yes! To a nice restaurant called the errr..Perfectizimo," she said, recalling the name of the restaurant that she had gone to last night. Janakah snapped her fingers. "I'll see what I can do," she cooed, and then she hurried off.

Yuffie inwardly sighed. It was almost painfully easy to manipulate people sometimes, especially if you knew what they liked. Five minutes later She was back, a grin as wide as the moon on her face. "He says you can go now if you'd like." Yuffie pulled off her apron and hung it on the wall. "Thanks bunches, Janakah," she said, and she walked out into the main part of the restaurant. Janakah stayed at the counter watching her, and finally yelled "You go get him, Yuffie. Make 'im scream for more!" Yuffie spun around, an embarrassed look on her face. Everyone in the restaurant was looking at her. Suddenly, all of the female customers started cheering. Yuffie hid her face in her hands and slid out the door. She could hear Janakah laughing and singing "Naughty Girl" as she walked out. But even through this ordeal, Yuffie couldn't help but laugh. Even though it was embarrassing, she guessed it was pretty funny.

She began to worry though. What if Reno went in there and Janakah...Yikes! Yuffie pushed the thoughts out of her head. She guessed that she would just have to tell the poor guy later. If it wasn't so dang humiliating it would be easier. She pulled out the wadded sheet from her letter and unfolded it. The tiny address was handwritten on the bottom in navy blue ink. Not really an address, it was more like one-lined directions. Old Building next to Shinra ruins, painted red, door slightly rusted.

Well, Yuffie knew where that was. However, you couldn't really call it "ruins" considering nothing was left of the Shinra building. It had been plowed down by the bulldozers of those who hated them bad enough to get joy out of totaling the last bit of their building. Yuffie had even joined in the fun for a bit. She ended up snatching a few gold doorknobs before the place was totally wrecked. They were laying in her underwear drawer right now as a matter of fact. Now the site of the once up hailed Shinra Corp. was simply a large, flat, muddy field with a few metal beams jarring out of the ground every now and then. In fact she was approaching it now. Dotted with no trespassing signs, a fence surrounded it. Yuffie walked along side of it until she found a building that matched the description she had been given.

Yuffie looked at her watch. 6:27. She had just made it. For a while she just stood outside of the buildings door, wondering if she should go in three minutes early or not. Finally, she stepped up and tapped on the door with her knuckle. It opened to reveal the man with the hat standing behind it. "Oh, Yuffie, come in, come in."

Yuffie had a bad feeling about this. As junky as the office was outside, it seemed to almost glow with cleanliness on the inside. The floor was gray marble while the walls were covered with a strange black fabric. Grey granite pillars were scattered about. Many people were bustling around, their arms full of papers and documents. "What is this place?" Yuffie asked, touching one of the pillars. The jacket man tapped his foot. "You're wasting my time, Miss Kisaragi. As I said before, I cannot tell you what this place is. You can ask the President if you wish to know. However, I wouldn't advise it," he said, walking in a quick pace to the elevator. Yuffie followed him.

"Well, can I at least know your name?" she asked. The man sighed. "Now what do you think the answer to that question is Miss Kisaragi. I'm sure if you use your brain for once, you will be able to figure it out." Yuffie was about to call him some very unsanitary names when she was interrupted by the opening of an elevator door. Jacket man moved out of the way so that she could go in first. He stepped in right behind her.

They were scrunched in right next to a man who was bent crooked with a long black ponytail and glasses. He was quiet old, yet somehow a strange, insane aura seemed to radiate about him. Yuffie gasped. Now she finally recognized him. This man...was Hojo.

Tabi are Japanese socks for anyone who didn't know. Oh, and Naughty Girl belongs to Beyonce, and for those who are wondering, no, I usually don't listen to that kind of music. Rock will always hold a special place in my heart.

Venusvadore