Chapter 2

oOoOo

The next day, Rufus Shinra got down from the chopper with Sephiroth trailing behind him. It was exactly 7:30 in the morning when they arrived in the Shinra HQ in Junon.

"We just arrived here. Everything's secure. His class is at 9. We'll be leaving by 8:30." Sephiroth was telling the main HQ situated in Midgar through a call to his father, the leader of the Turks, Vincent Valentine.

"That's nice. I've already given the Turks there their itinerary for today. According to instruction, they'll just remain there and not follow you and Rufus to school." Vincent told his son.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I'll just remind them." Sephiroth said.

Meanwhile, Rufus was going over his class schedule in his mobile phone's organizer. "6 units; that's 2 subjects every Wednesday and Friday, and just 3 units which makes 1 subject on Tuesdays and Thursdays. I have Mondays off." He was thinking to himself as he made his way to his bedroom.

As he entered, he turned back to Sephiroth who was still talking to Vincent.

"Please stay outside." Rufus told him.

Sephiroth stopped in his tracks, realizing that he had followed Rufus all the way to his bedroom. "Oops. Sorry. Mwahaha." He laughed before leaving the room.

Rufus shut the door and sighed heavily before turning around to look around his room. "Hello my old room." He said softly before walking to the window to relish the view of Junon Bay.

He preferred Junon over Midgar because of the sea. Life also seemed to be quieter there despite the heavy work he would be sometimes required to do by his father. "But for this remaining year in school, there's no work for me." He thought with a satisfied smile on his face. Yet he could feel that he would be making little adjustments because he was so used to sitting in front of his computer or having his laptop beside him and checking the stocks every now and then while typing and computing numbers and endless documents and press releases. With that, he went to his closet to pick out his school uniform and changed.

For the rest of the hour, he just sat by his window staring at the sea and the clear blue skies, until 8:30 when Sephiroth interrupted the solemnity of the moment by knocking rather loudly on the door and calling out, "Hey, blondie! Time to go!"

Rufus was obviously startled but he kept a straight face. It was typical of Sephiroth to do that and he knew it, but he could never get used to his brusque behavior of treating him like one of his SOLDIERs. "Blimey! Keep it down!" Rufus snapped impatiently as he grabbed his laptop and his books. As he got outside his room, Sephiroth was about to offer to carry his things for him, but he declined. "No. I can practically carry my own stuff." he told him stiffly.

Sephiroth blinked. "Sure." He said, moving away.

He followed Rufus to the garage. "You're driving?" he asked.

"Yes." Rufus answered.

"I think it would be best if I drove." Sephiroth said.

"You just want a chance to drive my convertible. No." Rufus said with a sly smile on his face.

"Why would I even want to do that? I have my own back in Midgar." Sephiroth said.

"Because mine is white and automatic, while yours is dark green and manual. Haha." Rufus said mockingly.

Sephiroth frowned at him. "I know you hate my favorite color…" he muttered.

"No, really, I think I should drive. Do you want to look like a nanny?" Rufus asked with a sarcastic air.

They finally reached the garage.

"Well, come to think of it, I am qualified to be a nanny." Sephiroth told him with a funny smile on his face.

Standing by Rufus's white convertible was a female Turk with long light brown hair tied up in a very high ponytail. She was holding his car keys. "All set, sir." She told Rufus as threw the keys over at Sephiroth.

Sephiroth caught the keys with his right hand. "Thanks, babe." He said with his dashing debonair wink.

The female Turk frowned at him. "Ugh." She said, rolling her eyes as she flipped her hair and walked away.

Rufus followed her with his gaze. "Thank you, Jillian." He called out.

"Bash his head for me, will ya, Rufus?" she called out before exiting the garage.

"Aw… she likes me!" Sephiroth said dreamily before handing over the keys to Rufus.

"How do you know that?" Rufus asked as he placed his books and laptop on the back seat and went over to the driver's side.

Sephiroth sat down on the front passenger seat. "I just do." He said with a smirk.

"You think so highly of yourself. That girl is a socialite from Mideel." Rufus told him.

"Well then why did he enter the Shinra Military Academy and decided to become a Turk after training in SOLDIER?" Sephiroth asked, rolling his eyes. "It means she likes me. I was her higher-up when she was in training." He said proudly with a smile on his face.

Rufus started the engine "Well you're not her boss anymore. It's your dad." He pointed out. And then it dawned him. "Oh, so that's why whenever she's in the main HQ, you would constantly hang out in your dad's office so that you can see her!" he realized.

Sephiroth just smiled slyly. "Hell yeah." He said proudly.

"You're absurd." Rufus muttered as he stepped on the gas pedal.

"And she works for you so won't you help me with her?" Sephiroth asked.

"Since when did you start needing my help when it comes to women like her?" Rufus asked with a frown on his face. "Just be careful though. She likes to be the center of attention. She's a daddy's girl and she's an only child…" he began.

"That's no problem. I can handle it. Mwahah. You seem to know much about her," Sephiroth realized.

"Her mother is friends with mine. We met when we were children, but she's three years older than me." Rufus answered.

"Ah, so that's why you let her get away with calling you by your first name!" Sephiroth said.

Rufus just flipped his hair. "I don't really mind the Turks calling me by my first name." he answered.

The flow of traffic was light and in 15 minutes, they reached Rufus's school. He parked in his usual spot with his name on it.

"I thought you wanted you wanted to live a 'normal' life? What's with this special parking space with your name on it?" Sephiroth asked mockingly.

"I can't help it. Parking spaces are precious." Rufus said with a smirk as he raked his fingers through his hair before switching off the engine. "You may stay outside my classroom." He told Sephiroth.

"Sure. Whatever. But don't whine when bullies attack you." Sephiroth told him sarcastically.

"Don't be ridiculous. They'll never dare bully me." Rufus answered while they were walking to his classroom.

"Oh. Right. I forgot that you were the bully." Sephiroth said, rolling his eyes.

Rufus just kept quiet, reflecting on what he last mentioned. No one dared to neither bully him nor befriend him, except for those bold enough to try to catch his attention… which would succeed in only a matter of seconds before Rufus starts to ignore them completely.

As he made his way to the classrooms, students and professors alike were staring at him as he passed by. No one even bothered to greet him; all they could do was to stare in awe and wonder at the young Shinra heir.

Upon reaching his classroom, Sephiroth stepped away from him. "I'll see you later." He said.

Rufus just went inside and as he did so, everyone turned to look at him. The professor was not yet there but 10 students were already inside and seated in their proper places while chatting with one another; yet they all stopped talking when Rufus Shinra entered the room.

Rufus kept a straight face, not even bothering to greet his new classmates, as he made his way to a vacant seat at the front-center. He was always the type of student to sit in the front.

Upon settling down, he turned around to check on the faces of his classmates, checking if one of them is an undercover Turk or if any Turk was present in the area. He inhaled slowly and clenched his jaw upon realizing that he was on his own in that classroom with his classmates and not a single Turk around… except maybe for the First Class SOLDIER General who is situated outside the classroom. "But bloody hell, he's outside! This is freedom… well, in a way, it is…" Rufus was thinking victoriously.

Majority of his classmates were boys, and there were only 3 girls. He could tell that they were talking about him in whispers and murmurs, but he just tried not to care. He should be used to it by then.

His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and a young lady with long black hair and light brown eyes entered. "Oh good! I thought I'm late for the first day!" she said in a chipper manner that made Rufus cringe a little. For some reason, overly-happy and optimistic people made him feel annoyed, but he decided to stay quiet about it. As for this girl who just entered, something in her eyes made Rufus think that her displayed optimism is just for the moment upon realizing that she was not late for class. It made him calm down somehow.

"Hi," she greeted her classmates with a kind smile on her face.

The others just stared at her.

She frowned slightly and sat down beside Rufus where the only vacant seat left was stationed to his left. "Geez. People here are so crabby…" she muttered miserably.

Rufus eyed her through his peripheral vision but he did not say anything.

In 5 minutes, the professor arrived. It was an old man with messy white hair and he was wearing a blue suit. "Well, looks like we have two new students here," was the first thing he said upon reaching his table and looking at his class record. "Mr. Rufus Shinra and… Miss Tifa Lockhart." He announced the names.

"I'm not really new here, sir. I just came back from a long vacation." Rufus answered with a sly smile on his face.

The professor eyed him carefully. "Oh yes. The Shinra kid. Stand up and reintroduce yourself." He instructed.

Rufus frowned slightly. "Is this really necessary?" he asked rather airily.

"Yes." The professor answered simply as he sat down.

Rufus slowly got up and once he did so, he stood up straight, keeping his hands on his sides and spoke up in a poised manner, "My name is Rufus Shinra. I was originally from 6 previous batches but I was pulled out because I had some work to do for my old man in Midgar." He began.

Silence.

"Where are you from, where did you graduate from high school, what are your parents' occupations?" the professor asked glumly.

Silence.

"Is this really necessary?" Rufus blurted out. Those information being asked of him by the professor could be read in newspapers… or maybe the professor does not even know what a newspaper is.

"It's considered standard procedure for professors in this school to ask those questions." The professor answered with a serious look on his face, seemingly unimpressed.

"Good. This means he won't give me any special treatment." Rufus thought silently while keeping a straight face. "I'm from Sector 1, Midgar. I graduated from Midgar International School. My father is the President of the Shinra Electric Power Company, my mother works for charity and she sponsors fund-raising projects for the unfortunate." He explained.

"Remain standing. Miss Lockhart, your turn." The professor said.

Tifa got up with a smile on her face. "I'm Tifa Lockhart… but you can all call me Tifa. I'm from Nibelheim; I was born and raised there. My father is a businessman; my mother is a housewife. I graduated from St. Catherine School for Girls in Nibelheim, then I spent my college years in Nibelheim State University from freshman to junior year, then I transferred here for senior year." She explained.

"Why transfer here?" one of her classmates chimed in.

"Yeah, it's your last year." Another one stated.

"…Well… I had the opportunity to transfer and study here so I took the chance. Besides, it's a change of environment and culture for me." She said.

"Isn't Nibelheim a provincial town?" one of the girls asked rather airily.

"Well… yes…" Tifa answered, not feeling intimidated by the girl.

"Not really," Rufus answered as he turned around to look at the girl. "Since my family basically owns the town now, even if you think that provincial means underdeveloped, it has been one of the most beautiful towns in the Planet." He said. He was completely aware of the discrimination of the rich high-society people against provincial poor towns like Nibelheim. He simply disliked those people and he wondered how he could stand being around them in that school. "My company is helping them cope, providing them with modern technology and helping them for a better life." He added before flipping his hair and turned to Tifa. "Isn't that right, Miss Lockhart?" he asked.

She just looked up at him awe. Her ego being saved by a seemingly-arrogant rich boy was not really in her dreams as a young lady, but she still smiled at him and nodded.

The professor smiled nonchalantly at the two. "Take your seat." He instructed before getting up and began to write on the whiteboard. "For today, we are going to discuss…" he began to blab.

Tifa smiled kindly at Rufus. "Thank you," she said softly.

Rufus just kept quiet, pretending to have heard her. He was silently scolding himself. "Look what you've done. Now she's going to expect you to save her from the others who would want to degrade and discriminate her just because she's from Nibelheim…"

"Your final project will be a business proposal. I want all of you to find partners and work with them starting today on planning your business proposal because your final grade in this class will determine whether the council will allow you to graduate or not. Remember that if you fail this class, you'll have to repeat the whole thing. Anyway as I was saying about this project, you…" the professor continued to talk about the project.

"This is going to be a snap. I'm used to making business proposals." Rufus was thinking, satisfied with himself.

"Your business must be something regarding food, beverage, clothing or technology." The professor rambled on.

"What?" Rufus was the first one to react. Those mentioned was nothing in the line of his usual business proposals.

"Is something the matter, Mister Shinra?" the professor asked, crossing his arms.

Rufus did not want to embarrass himself by saying that he was thinking of doing a business proposal regarding a vacation inn in Costa del Sol. He deemed it would be embarrassing because it might make his classmates and his professor think that he is not creative and flexible enough to make a business plan other than what he has in mind. "Pardon me, could you repeat the last one? I was writing it down…" he fibbed.

"Technology." The professor told him.

Rufus nodded, trying to act casual. "Thank you, sir." He said before writing it down.

The professor finished his explanation on the project for the next 30 minutes before finally telling his class to look for partners and then write their names as pairs on paper and hand it to him by the end of the class.

Rufus and Tifa did not move. Both of them did not want to pair themselves up with the other members of the class, thinking that their other classmates are too snooty for them. Besides, their snooty classmates have already paired up amongst themselves.

She then turned her attention to him, smiling rather shyly at him. "Would you like to pair up with me?" she asked.

He stiffened. Nobody has asked him that before. She sure has guts. "I was actually about to propose the idea of working alone to the professor but since you asked… sure." He answered, crossing his arms. But he was not looking at her.

With that, she got a piece of paper and wrote their names on it. She got up and handed the paper to the professor. "Here you go, sir." She said cheerfully before going back to Rufus and sat down on her seat again. "So, what are you planning to do?" she asked.

He did not answer.

She moved her face closer to his ear to whisper something. "I was thinking of a bar." She revealed.

Rufus turned his attention to her. He felt awkward when he realized that their faces were only an inch away from each other. He moved away from her. "A bar?" he asked, trying to act naturally.

She nodded with a smile on her face. "I've always wanted to put up a bar as a business." She said.