'Now where was I? Oh yes, Rufus visiting his father. That visit was pretty much the same as every other meeting they had. Namely, his old man blaming Rufus for something he really didn't have any control over and then beating him up for it.'

Rufus arrived at his father's office at 8:00 am sharp, as he did every Monday. He looked at the door made a move to knock but then stopped. He was both scared to knock and scared not to knock. He knew that either way he'd get a beating. It was only up to him what he was going to get beat up for; being late to see his father or for some stupid reason his father would make up once he got in his office. Rufus decided that he would probably get beat up less for something he wasn't directly responsible for so he hesitantly knocked on the door, awaiting his father's permission to enter.

Rude was standing guard in the office as it was usual to have a Turk guarding the President at all times. He heard his father's voice; 'Open the door Turk.' then the door opened slowly before him. He glanced up at Rude then to his father and made himself take a few steps into the office so that Rude could shut the door.

'You're late boy.' Rufus quickly turned his gaze from Rude to his father. 'No sir, I am on time, as always.' His father quickly made his way from his desk to his son, grabbing him by the arms and squeezing as hard as he could. 'Are you calling me a liar, you little brat?'

Rufus knew there was no point in arguing. 'No sir, I'm not. I apologize for being late.' Instead of an acknowledgement of the apology, he was met with a hand to the side of his face. 'Do you know how precious my time is boy? I have no extra time to spare on the likes of you.' Rufus hung his head and resisted the urge to rub his cheek. Doing so would only make his father hit him there again.

'Now boy, what is this I hear about you being late for your classes? Your teacher contacted me this morning and informed me that you were late twice last week. I don't pay that teacher for nothing and if your ass is not in that seat, then I'm giving my money away because of you!'

'I can explain sir, the elevator was jammed on one of the days and I was stuck there for a little while. I explained that to him.' Mid way through his explanation, Rufus was thrown against the wall on the far side of his father's office, the force of the impact making it hard for him to breathe. He felt himself gradually sliding down the wall to sit on the floor. He glanced over to Rude who had lowered his head, not wanting to see what the
elder Shinra was doing to his son.

'I don't care what your explanation is boy! Leave earlier if you have to. I really don't care if it means you get up earlier or you can't "play" or see your mother. You go where I tell you to go and at the time I tell you to.' He was then acquainted with his father's boot which kicked him square in the stomach. 'Get up you worthless brat.'

He followed Rufus' gaze towards Rude and began laughing. 'Don't look to anyone to help you boy. No one can stand you and you know it. You don't even have friends, that's how pathetic you are. If you did have people with you, you probably would have to pay them to stick around.'

He grabbed Rufus by the collar and lifted him up off the floor. He then shoved Rufus towards the door, making him lose his footing and fall near Rude's feet. He was trying to get himself up, but his arms were sore from where his father squeezed them and the rest of him was begging for a few minutes reprieve from the abuse they received.

His father looked up from his desk and sighed. 'What a pathetic sight you are. You really are a worthless kid. Rude, get that brat out of here.' Wordlessly Rude nodded and helped Rufus to his feet. 'Just lean on me sir, I'll help you out.' He whispered quietly to Rufus. Rufus nodded his head and put his weight on Rude, which wasn't much. 'One day Rude, I will get him back for this.' Rude looked down at Rufus and smiled. 'I know you will sir,
can't say he doesn't have it coming either. Will you be alright?' 'Yes Rude, I'll be fine.' Rude helped him to the elevator and Rufus made his way to his class.

After their 'vacation' in Costa, Tseng made it a point to visit Rufus when he could and see if there was something that Rufus wanted to do. Rude said that the first few times Tseng would come back to the office a little disappointed since he said that Rufus didn't believe he wanted to spend time with him and thought it was his old man that had made Tseng come by to watch him.'

'Which wasn't true in the least bit, but Rufus didn't know any better.' Rude added in. 'Every time they met, he'd always put Rufus down and tell him that no one would spend time with him willingly; they'd have to be paid for it. So that's why he thought Tseng wasn't sincere.'

'That sucks though, what kind of dad says that to his 11 year old kid?' Rude shrugged at Reno's comment. 'Someone that didn't want a kid and only wanted someone to take over his company.'

Shaking his head, Reno continued where he left off. 'Eventually though, Rufus gave in and did a few things with Tseng. Rude had asked Tseng a couple of times what he did with Rufus when he went up to see him when he was on duty. Don't look at me that way Elena, he went and saw Rufus when he had no paperwork or assignments to do.'


'I'm taking my lunch Rude; I'll be back in a little while.' Rude nodded his head. 'Yes sir. And Tseng? Say hello to Rufus for me.' Tseng stopped mid-way to the door glanced over to Rude. 'What makes you think I'm going to visit Rufus?'

A small chuckle escaped from Rude 'Whenever you have the chance, you're up there checking on that kid. What do you do up there with him anyway?'

Tseng shrugged his shoulders. 'Not much really. I help him with his homework, or just play a game with him, he's pretty good at chess for an eleven year old. Sometimes I go upstairs and help clean him up after he visits his father. He doesn't like having his mother see him after that happens. It's not like I don't have the time, I'm caught up with my paperwork.'

'Ok, so you go check up on him for something to do when you have no work while on the clock? Then why do you come by and visit him on the days you aren't on the clock? Trying to get overtime?'

'Of course not.' Rude raised an eyebrow at Tseng's curt reply. 'Then why Tseng?'

'I don't know, there are a lot of reasons. Sometimes it's because I'm curious if the homework I did with him was done correctly. Other times I want to see how a project he was working on is going. Sometimes it's because I have a chess game with him that I have to finish. Sometimes I come by because he was sick the day before and I want to be sure he's ok.'

'He has a mom for that Tseng.' Tseng shook his head. 'Yes I know, but it's not the same. His mother has things to do as well and sometimes it's just not the same doing things with your mom and fun to do stuff with someone else. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have an eleven year old waiting for me to have lunch.'

'In all honesty, he did for Rufus what his old man should have done for him but never did. Rufus ended up being happier then he'd been in a while. One Monday though, when he went to his father's office like he always did, things kind of went downhill for him from there. After a rather lengthy meeting, complete with it's usual share of bruises, he said to Rufus that he should spend the most time he can with his mother from now on because 'you never know when an "accident" involving her might happen.'

'Rufus already spent a lot of time with his mother, she was pretty much all he had since he was born. She was the only person that took care of him or did anything for him, except for Tseng after the vacation, but still, his mom was everything to him. I think the old man knew it too. He blamed Rufus' mother for Rufus having a heart to begin with.'

'Rufus wasn't always the way he is now. Rude said when he used to be a regular kid, he liked to play and joke around, when he was allowed to, which his father really didn't approve of in the least. To his father, Rufus was "too nice" with the hired help and employees.

Anyway, Rufus listened to his old man and spent a lot more time with him mom. About a month later, the company executives and other "important people" were at the funeral of Mrs. Shinra. According to official records, she died of alcohol poisoning. Everyone knows better then that; she never drank in her life. She never did anything like that so that so that she could give her full attention to Rufus and watch over him.'