Disclaimer: Final Fantasy 7 and all that's associated with it are not mine but Squaresoft's.

CHAPTER 4

Cloud and Rios

He could not see a thing.

He tried to open his eyes wider, but it seemed that everything had been covered in darkness. He moved his legs. He could tell that he was walking, but he could not feel the ground under him. Where am I? He asked against the pitch black darkness that surrounded him. Then he moved his legs faster. He tried to run somewhere... anywhere! But nothing! He stopped moving, trying to concentrate on what was happening to him, to feel anything in the seamless void.

Nothing. No movement. No sound. No air. Nothing. He couldn't even feel or hear his own heart beat! He tried to speak, but it seemed that how much he tried to shout, he could not hear his voice. Then he panicked. He started to run again... towards wherever his legs would take him. What's happening to me? Why can't I feel anything?!

"Am I dead?!" he exclaimed at the top of his lungs. Then he heard it. His voice! He tried to shout again. But his shout was cut short when he felt excruciating pain sting his chest. "Dammit!" he shouted closing his eyes and flailing his arms as if trying to get hold onto something. Then he felt them. Soft yet firm. Cool. He bit his hand through them, until he heard another sound. A woman's gasp.

What the...? He tried to open his eyes again, hoping that he can see something.

And he did.

Dammit. I'm dead. Finally.

--- --- --- --- ---

"Mom, is he alright?" Rios asked, after squirming over the couch where he was pleasantly nestled before, when Tifa emerged from his room carrying a large glass bowl that was now filled with reddish water. His mom has been attending that blood-soaked man since they got home. And she had been wearing that somewhat surprised-angry countenance whenever she came out of his room, where they placed the man so he could rest.

"I think so," Tifa replied, pouring the blood-mixed water down the sink. She sighed and looked as if she was thinking deeply about something.

"What's wrong?" her son asked. When Tifa didn't answer because she was so engrossed with whatever's going on with her mind, Rios repeated the question again.

Tifa shook her head and gave her son a silly smile. "Oh, no. It's nothing," Tifa managed to say. "He just had a nightmare, that's all. Must be the fever." Then she quickly washed the bowl, poured warm water into it again, and began to walk towards Rios' room, "I'll just finish up cleaning his wounds. He opened them a while ago when he woke up screaming." With that, Tifa disappeared inside the room.

Rios shrugged at that, a contemplative frown creased his forehead.

--- --- --- --- ---

The blonde man mumbled something again. Well, that's what he did every hour for the past three days when he was asleep, except the time when Tifa pulled him to sit up and drink some soup and him complaining about it, of course. His fever had subsided yesterday when he was thrashing about, shouting that he was dead or something. Poor guy.

"Hey! Room service!" he suddenly shouted.

Did he just say, "room service"?

"I'm hungry! What's the hell's wrong with this place! You should have more concern about your customers. Or have you mistaken me for some ordinary customer, eh? I am Wraith Shin, President of ShinCorp Group of Companies, I'll have you know!" He mumbled with his eyes partially open.

What's the matter with him?! He's delirious!

"You shouldn't let him get to you, you know," another voice joined in as Rufus, or rather Wraith as he had claimed himself to be, continued to mumble some incoherent words. Tifa turned to him and came face to face with sneering intense green eyes. "Hey Lockheart. How's he been?"

"Reno," it wasn't a surprised statement, it was rather an annoyed one, "What are you doing here?"

"Oh. Just checking up on the boss, that's all. I see he's getting better everyday. He's beginning to order people about," Reno replied with a knowing smirk on his lips.

"Yeah," Tifa said turning to Rufus, who was beginning to drift off to sleep. "So... Is the mansion ready for him, yet? I have a job, too, you know. I can't just stay here all day taking care of him."

"Nope," he said simply. Then he let out an amused sigh. Tifa frowned, "What?"

"Nothing. Well, I'll go now. I have something else to do in the mansion. See you soon, Lockheart. Say hi to Rios for me," Reno then left the room.

Great. I wonder how long he'll recover. Then she heard him mumble again. She arched her brow and went into the kitchen to get something for him to sip on – a bottle of insecticide, maybe, Tifa grinned sardonically.

"Hey... Hey!!" Rufus cried out to her, "Hey, don't leave me! You're always leaving me! Why do you keep on leaving me? Do I have a sign on my forehead that says 'Leave me'?!"

Tifa cast him a surprised sideways look at what he had just said. When she faced him, she saw looking straight at her with those tired, dull blue eyes. Just as she stared at them, she felt an uncomfortable feeling of pity. Must've been awful ... The things he went through. Tifa walked over to him and raised her small hand against his forehead to see if he was having a fever again. The moment she did, Rufus closed his eyes and sighed. In a matter of seconds with Tifa just standing there with her hand on his forehead, he began to drift off to sleep.

Making sure that he won't wake up again and order her about, Tifa removed her hand from his forehead and walked out from the room. As she closed the door behind her, she remembered what Rufus had been crying out earlier, and remembered how vulnerable and helpless it sounded. Rufus Shinra? Vulnerable and helpless? Well, he wasn't so vulnerable and helpless when he was such a jerk six years ago! When she emerged from the room, a pair of ruby eyes met hers.

"Well?" Rios asked her.

"Well, what?" Tifa replied.

"Well, what's up? With him, I mean. How's the fever? I heard him shouting a while ago."

"Oh. Oh, it was nothing. He just thought he's back in his rich boy life that he was trying to bribe me to cook him some lobster themidor, heh,"

Rios frowned at her, not believing her, "Well, can I go see him?

It was Tifa's turn to frown at him, "......? Well, ok..." Then Rios bounded off the couch and bounced towards the room where Rufus slept.

"Just don't go near him. His grouchiness is contagious!" Tifa added. Rios only chuckled.

--- --- --- --- ---

He was dreaming of mountains lush with trees and small pools of clear blue water. He was standing on the edge of a cliff looking over them, the sun warming up his face and his cold body. He couldn't understand it, though. The last time he dreamt, it was dark and painful. Now, it was... stupid!!!

Rufus groaned annoyingly and opened his eyes, with much effort of course.

A pair of big ruby eyes greeted him. And they were staring at him intensely. It was rather annoying, really. Worse, the face that contained those eyes was very near his own. If the situation were a horror movie, he'd have leapt up and screamed. Not that he ever did that before though.

It's that red-eyed woman again, he thought. Then the face started unnecessarily breathing heavily against his face, obviously trying to annoy him. What in the...?! He squinted and frowned. What's the matter with his woman? Didn't she know... it was rude to... BREATHE... on someone else's FACE?!

"Do you think he's dead?" Someone suddenly said in a small, hushed voice. Huh? Rufus frowned again and tried to move his head so that he could see where the voice came from. When he tried to move is neck though, pain coursed through his head, making him see black dots. He groaned again.

"He's breathing, stupid," a deep child's voice joined in, obviously belonging to someone who's rather chubby.

"Hey! I'm not stupid, stupid!" The earlier voice complained. A girl... a whiny little girl...

"Hey, sshh!" A third voice hushed them both carelessly, sending another dose of BREATH on Rufus' face. "I think he's waking up."

A boy? Red eyes? What the...?

"Really?!" the little girl said excitedly and bounced on the bed making it shake, which sent Rufus' head spinning.

Yep, I'm waking up, you little brats! And once I get up, I'll make sure you regret disturbing me!!

"Hey yah!" the boy with red eyes shouted in his ear. Rufus gritted his teeth to keep himself from hurting the hellion for trying to punch a hole onto his eardrums.

"Uh... Rios... I think you overdid it," the little girl commented. "I think he's angry."

You don't know the half of it, little whiny girl. When I get my hands on this friend of yours, this... Rios... I'll make sure he regrets having been born!

Rufus tried to shout at them, but he seemed to can't find his voice. He groaned instead and tried to kick them off the bed. Well, that failed as well, because he couldn't feel his legs at all. They were numb. He couldn't even move them an inch! He then noticed the chubby kid was sitting on them.

STUPID KIDS!!!

Then he heard the door open.

"What are you guys doing?" Another voice, obviously belonging to an older person joined in. It was that woman. "Come on, get off him. He's sick!"

"And dying?" the little girl added, rather enthusiastically.

"Yes, Lainey. So you guys need to leave him alone. He needs his rest, so he can get out of here in no time!" the woman said, emphasizing the part when he has to get out of there.

Get out of here?! The nerve!!

"Okay, Aunt Tifa!" the little girl said and jumped from the bed, making it shake again and his head spinning. Rufus had to grit his teeth again.

Wait a minute... Tifa... Tifa...? Where have I heard that name before? Tifa... ... ...

His thoughts were interrupted when Rios jumped off the bed himself, purposely shaking the bed knowing that it annoyed the older man very much. Then he snickered. Little disrespectful brat. Huh? He looks familiar.

Rios trotted towards Tifa and smiled up at her, "He'll be alright, mom. He just needed a little annoyance." Then the boy, Rios probably, laughed. Sadistic little disrespectful brat.

Did he just say 'mom'? That woman has a son? Tifa... I don't...

Then Rufus suddenly grunted out loud clutching his head. That surprised Tifa and the kids that they went running towards the bed and looked into Rufus, who was rolling and messing up the already messed up bed.

"Aaarrgh!" Rufus exclaimed. Dammit, what is this?! Why does it hurt so much?!

"What's happening to him?" Amongst the pain that seemed to drain the energy from him, he heard 'Lainey' ask with much concern in her voice, "We didn't do that when we shook the bed, did we? Aunt Tifa?"

But Tifa had already left the room to pick up her PMS. She started dialing Vincent's number.

After a while and there was no Vincent who answered the line, Tifa threw her PMS impatiently as another loud grunt broke out from Rufus' room. What's going on with him?!

When Tifa entered the room, Alaina had tears running down her face and Rios had a guilty, shocked look on his. Mallori, on the other hand, was crouched down at the corner just staring at the moaning man on the bed, wide-eyed. Tifa ran over to Rufus and reached out to catch his hands with hers. The moment she began to lean towards Rufus, her arms stretched out before her, Rufus grabbed her by the shoulders, his finger biting against her tender skin. He was gritting his teeth because of the pain and almost suddenly as he had shouted before, he passed out.

Tifa disentangled his hands away from her arms and wiped the sweat that was now soaking up his face. She could hear Alaina's loud crying at the background, but it seemed too far away. She was shocked at what happened more than she could ever admit. She shook her head clear and turned to the kids who were gathered behind her.

"Alright," she croaked, "that's enough for now. Mallori, Alaina, you guys go home now. Your parents are probably waiting for you. Rios, please show them home." The three could only nod.

Tifa then turned to the sleeping Rufus when Rios shut the door closed behind him. She sat down on the side of the bed and sighed. Rufus sighed too. Well, you rest now, Rufus. I don't know what's wrong with you, but let's just hope that it's only because of your fever... Not that I care, anyways.

Tifa brushed her bangs from her face and stood up. She straightened up the messed up sheets around Rufus and tucked him properly to bed. After all is done, she walked towards the door, gave one last concerning look at the sleeping man, and silently closed the door behind her.

--- --- --- --- ---

It was exactly 2:30 in the morning when Rios got up from his makeshift bed in Tifa's room and silently tiptoed out of the room. He opened the door with as little sound as he closed it behind him. Amongst the darkness and only the light of the street lamp outside their home illuminating his way, he made it into the door of his room, where, on the other side, that man was sleeping. He actually didn't know what made him get up and do this little escapade in this ungodly hour of the morning, but there was something strange about that man, the red-haired man named Reno, called Rufus. He wasn't certain what but something made him want to know more about him since that time in the day when he was staring onto the older man's face.

He was familiar, in some sort of way. But how is he familiar?

Rios quietly opened the door to his room and took a peak inside. Good, he's sleeping, he thought. He could hear Rufus' soft snores from where he was standing. He walked towards the bed, trying his best not to stumble along the way and wake the older man up. When he reached the side of the bed, the side where Rufus was facing, Rios started staring at him. He observed him as if he was some kind of a guinea pig undergoing weird transformations.

Who are you? Do I know you? Why are you familiar to me? Do you know me?

Many questions started to plague Rios as he continued to stare at Rufus' sleeping face. Then he noticed a faint scar that ran from the left side of Rufus' face behind his ear down to the junction between his head and neck. Must've been an old scar. Then Rios began to lean closer. He supported himself against his small arms as went lower.

Then he smelled it. It reeked of something quite familiar. And it wasn't the odor that came from the fact that Rufus hadn't had a full bath since he arrived. The smell sent a series of images flashing before Rios eyes until he became overwhelmed by them. All of them were unfamiliar, as he had not seen them nor experienced them before, but they were pulling something out from him.

The pictures continued to flash before him until the force of one final spark threw him across the floor. He landed on a heavy thud that earned a reaction from Rufus.

What was that? Rios quickly stood up and walked towards Rufus again. Rufus had shifted his position and was now facing the other direction. Rios breathed heavily and walked away.

The moment Rios closed the door behind him silently, Rufus slowly opened his eyes. A frown creased his forehead.

The boy smelled familiar somehow. He had noticed it earlier, but he just ignored it. But a moment before when every other smell died down, the boy's scent became clear, especially when he was leaning onto him.

Yes, the boy smelled of Mako. Obviously, because he was related to someone who had been infused with Mako.

Cloud Strife.

Strife was that woman Tifa's boyfriend. He remembered her now. Ruby eyes and dark brown hair; walks sensuously; and packs some hard excellent punches. Yes, Tifa Lockheart.

Tifa... Uh... Hmmm... She hates me!! So why's she keeping me here? Suddenly, Rufus' head began to hurt. I think I think too much. Have to sleep...

But before Rufus could fully close his eyes and close the matter about Rios' smell of Mako and its origin, his eyes shot up again making his head hurt.

There was something strange about Rios' Mako...

It wasn't Cloud's.

- End of Chapter -

A/N

So we're now with smells. I don't actually know where I'm heading to, but well, somehow, I know how to end this story... If this chapter sucked, just don't say it 'coz I already know. Please no flames. Just tell me how to improve it. And sorry it was so late! I had little time on my hands recently.

Thanks a bunch!

Valen Locke