I put a hand under Tifa's back and another under her knees and lifted her up into my arms once again. I turned around and headed for the stairs when suddenly I heard a noise. It wasn't loud but it sounded like it was coming from downstairs. Was that somebody coming in? Maybe it was a customer, but I really didn't want to stick around to find out.

I put Tifa's legs down for a moment whilst still supporting her back. I had to think. There was a window next to the bed and I saw a ladder that led down. That was perfect. It was a bit too perfect really. I would have to make extra sure that it was stable and not some joke ladder.

I bent down and grabbed my arm around Tifa's thighs as she flopped limply over my shoulder. I stood up straight, shifting her weight slightly to get her in a more comfortable position. It felt pretty comfortable all right, having a lovely girl over my shoulder. It felt really good. I felt quite powerful and manly for a moment; but only for a moment. Tifa also felt much lighter over my shoulder than she did cradled in my arms, she was much more balanced and I would be able to carry her a lot further as well.

I carried Tifa over to the window and opened it. I saw the ladder placed directly below the window. It appeared to be fixed to the wall so there wasn't much chance of it coming loose. This was going to be the hard part though, manoeuvring both myself and Tifa out the window and safely onto the ladder. There was only about a 2 feet gap between the window and the ladder but that was enough distance for there to be a disaster.

I put both legs through and sat on the windowsill with Tifa still hanging over my shoulder. I somehow resisted the temptation to feel her butt even though it was so close to my face. I kept my arm firmly fixed around her thighs, never moving upwards where it might be inappropriate.

I nervously placed my feet on the ladder and began climbing down. With each step down I could feel the ladder shaking and I was shaking with it. I was so glad Tifa was unconscious for this, otherwise this would have been impossible. I was really glad when I reached the bottom and I headed east where the heliport was on the top of the communications tower.

I turned the corner round Seventh Heaven when suddenly I saw Cid Highwind and Red XIII standing just ahead of me. I don't think they spotted me, but I quickly hid behind the corner again. This was going to make things even more difficult than they already were. Things just go from bad to worse for me.

I was starting to sweat badly. I could feel my hair all mash together; it felt all sticky and horrible under the blonde, spiky wig. I took it off and threw it on the ground. I tried to wipe some of the sweat out of my hair.

I looked round the corner again when I saw Cid and Red XIII walking towards me. They weren't focusing on me, they were just talking to each other, but that was reason enough for me to hightail it out of there. I quickly ran to the nearest trailer with Tifa over my shoulder and hid behind it.

I was out of breath and I laid Tifa down on the ground for a moment. I watched Cid and Red XIII all the way. To my relief, they walked straight passed me. I didn't think they saw me at all. I knew I would be dead meat if they found me.

I looked back at Tifa. Her eyes were starting to flutter and she stirred a little. Oh no, I thought, not now. My heart was in my mouth. If Tifa were to scream, then I'd be done for. I reached into my pocket hoping to find a cloth with some more chloroform on it. She stirred a little bit more and her eyes half opened.

I gulped.

But her breathing suddenly relaxed and her eyes closed again and within a second she was back unconscious. I took my hand out of my pocket. No need for chloroform, I thought. She only managed to drift back to consciousness for a few seconds. Not nearly long enough to figure out what was going on.

I pulled Tifa up by her arms into a standing position and slung her over my shoulder like a sack of potatoes once again. Better than a sack of potatoes obviously, I treated her with a lot more care and consideration and she was a lot softer and nicer to carry than any sack of potatoes I'd ever carried before. Anyway, I had to get a move on. Too much thinking was what usually landed me in a mess, so from now, I had to be about action. I'd said that many times before, I know, but really this was definitely the time for action.

I carried Tifa to the other side of the trailer making sure I stayed out of sight of Cid and Red XIII. Then I saw a dark figure perched on the rooftop on a house to my left. I couldn't make out who it was at first. But then I looked closer and saw that it was none other than Vincent Valentine.

He was looking down from the rooftop. Looking dark and sombre, I knew him well, he had a deep past with Shinra and the Turks. He was cold and calculated. I knew I would have to be extra stealthy to get past him. I managed to tiptoe my way round the outside of the house that Vincent was perched on. He looked to be staring straight into space, seemingly uninterested in his surroundings.

There were leaves scattered everywhere and each time I took a step, I heard a horrible crunching sound. Every time I stepped on a leaf, I was so sure Vincent was going to appear in front of me like the dark shadow of my past. I was still sweating. I didn't know how much more I was going to able to take. I thought I was going to have a heart attack. Tifa may have only weighed about 115 lbs, but she sure felt heavy now, especially with my controlled movement and breathing, it was all too tiring. I held onto her firm though. I wasn't going to let go of my prized possession, not for anything. I had tried much to hard to pull this off for it to all fail now.

I carried Tifa past the house and thought I had made it home and dry. Cid, Red XIII and Vincent were out of the way and I could see the heliport up ahead. I had already arranged a helicopter to be there so I could make a quite exit. But this wasn't exactly the quick exit I was hoping for. How do they make kidnappings look so simple in the movies? I thought to myself.

Just when I thought I had everything going my way for once, I saw ahead of me another roadblock. This time it was Yuffie and Cait Sith. This was all too troublesome. I searched in my pocket again. I still had some chloroform left over but I wasn't going to able to knock both Yuffie and Cait Sith out and carry Tifa at the same time. I didn't even know whether chloroform would work on Cait Sith.

Then I saw Cid Highwind coming over. He started speaking with Yuffie and Cait Sith. He held a blond spiky wig in his hand. It was my wig. Oh my god, I had given myself away. The three of them looked suspiciously at the wig. This was just too much.

I put Tifa down and snuck up behind Yuffie. I didn't care at this point. It was now or never, if I didn't escape now then I'd be stuck in the slums hiding forever. Yuffie turned around but I was ready for her. I punched her in the gut and she slumped forward into my arms. I then picked her up and threw her at a surprised Cait Sith.

Cait Sith caught her in its arms. But then I ran at Cait Sith as fast as I could, barging into it. It immediately dropped Yuffie on the ground and began rolling, so fast in fact that it rolled straight into Cid Highwind, crushing him. They both began rolling along the floor until they stopped dead. They both appeared to be unconscious and with Yuffie unconscious as well, my job was almost done. Man, that was easy, I thought, I should have done things that way from the start.

I ran back over to Tifa. She was stirring again. I wasn't so bothered this time; the adrenaline was pumping. Tifa put her hand to her head as her eyes opened. I didn't give her any time to get her wits though as I quickly snatched her up and threw her over my shoulder again.

I ran and looked at the communications tower in front of me. There was a huge ladder; it must have been at least a hundred foot high leading up to the top. I could hear loud footsteps behind me. I turned and saw Vincent and Red XIII running after me. They must have heard all the commotion.

I had to make tracks fast. I felt Tifa begin to squirm in my arms. I looked to the top of the tower and that was all I was thinking about. I climbed the ladder. I could feel Tifa pounding away at my back the whole way up but I did my best to ignore it, they weren't exactly strong punches anyway. Tifa then let out a piercing scream, one the whole of Midgar could have probably heard. It didn't stop either, she kept on screaming in one monotonous high-pitched note. It was driving me crazy but I was almost there.

Beneath all the screaming, I could hear Vincent running up the ladder after me. He was really fast, so I had to be faster. I immediately picked up the pace and hurried up to the top of the ladder. Once at the top, Vincent was just behind me and I kicked the top of his head. He was unbalanced but managed to stay on the ladder.

I took the opportunity to get a head start on Vincent and quickly carried Tifa as fast I could to the helicopter just ahead of me. Tifa was screaming, punching her arms on my back and flailing her legs as hard as she could but I was much too strong for her to escape my grasp. I was focused and not matter how much she tried to wriggle free, it would never work.

I opened the door of the helicopter. I could hear Tifa cry out Vincent's name and he was coming up fast behind me with his metallic claw-like hand out-stretched ready to strike. I shoved Tifa into the helicopter and got in after her, slamming the door shut. I saw Vincent scratch away at the window with his metal claw. I quickly got into the pilot's seat and started the helicopter up.

The helicopter began lifting off leaving Vincent stuck on the Heliport. I breathed a huge sigh of relief, but just when I did, Tifa came up behind me and covered my eyes. She scratched away at my eyes and I had to pry her hands off. I grabbed her wrist and threw her down into the passenger's seat.

Then suddenly I looked in the rear-view mirror and I saw the Highwind plane chasing after me. Things just went from bad to worse. Inside was Vincent and to my surprise, also Cid and Yuffie. They had obviously regained consciousness then and they looked real mean and they looked real mad and they looked ready for a fight. But so was I. I was ready for a fight now, I was sick of all this crap stealthy kidnapping lark, I wanted a real mission. A guts and glory kind of mission where I could show off how powerful and manly I was, that's what I wanted.

Tifa lunged at me again but I managed to hold her off. I grabbed her wrist again and we struggled until I pushed Tifa forward. I heard a clicking sound and then I saw that she had sat on one of the buttons. There was a silence for a moment. Then a huge whooshing noise as one of the missiles was launched from the back of the helicopter.

The missile made a direct hit with the Highwind and it exploded with a huge fireball. Tifa and I watched on in complete shock. Out of ht mass fiery wreckage and smoke emerged three parachutes. It was Vincent, Cid and Yuffie. Somehow they had managed to parachute themselves to safety just in the nick of time. They drifted down slowly as the burning Highwind crashed down all around and shattered into a million pieces throughout all parts of Midgar.

Tifa looked back at me.

"You dirty creep, Rufus," she said. "You set all this up."

Tifa tried to punch me in the face but I caught her fist with ease and twisted her body round so she was now sitting in my lap. I held my arm tightly around her waist to keep her in place, but she was struggling like mad, I didn't know how much longer I was going to be able to hold her.

She was so slippery and squirmy but there was nothing a little bit of brute strength couldn't handle. I held my arm tighter around her waist as I searched my pocket for another cloth. Tifa caught me with an elbow; it was a good one, right in the side of the face. She caught me with another and I was beginning to get a bit disorientated but I kept my bearings and brought out a cloth from my pocket.

It was already covered in chloroform; I could smell it, that sickly sweet smell. I placed the cloth over her face as hard as I could and prayed to God. Just go to sleep, go to sleep quickly, I thought.

The helicopter was going haywire with no one steering it. It was veering off in all sorts of random directions and it made it very hard to keep Tifa still and to keep the cloth in place. Tifa was still struggling hard, still elbowing me in the side with her right arm and using her left to try and claw my hand away from her mouth.

She wasn't successful. After a few more seconds of struggling, Tifa finally surrendered and fell unconscious. I dropped her to the floor and quickly grabbed hold of the steering wheel to get the helicopter back on track.

I looked down at Tifa's sleeping face for a moment. She looked so incredibly beautiful, so pure and innocent like a sleeping child. She was mine now. I finally had time to think now the job was done. It wasn't so hard after all. Kidnapping was easy, I thought.

Ah, mission complete!

I rode the helicopter off into the distance and towards the Shinra Headquarters finally with Tifa in my possession.

To Be Continued…

A/N: thank you so much for reading guys and girls. It means so much to me! This is the end of part 1 but there is A LOT more to come from this story I can assure you. This is Rufus Shinra's big love story and this is just the beginning…hope to see you next time.

Love,

Angelic Dawn xxx