.III.

.Avoiding Suspicion.

Rude had a headache. It seemed that Reno would never shut-up; no matter how little a response he gave him. The only moment's peace that he had received was at the beginning of the journey, when Reno had been tying up and blindfolding Tifa in the back of the van. Luckily, they had finally arrived at the new Shinra H.Q, and once they handed her over he would be away from Reno's incessant chattering for the night, about how skilful he was, how manipulative, how masterful.

As he manoeuvred the van into a parking space outside the HQ, he noticed that Reno had paused. And then he vaguely realised why: he had been asked a question. Damn. Until this had happened, he had only had to grunt occasionally, without Reno noticing he hadn't been paying attention.

He winged it.

"uhh… I agree." 'Nice one.' He sarcastically congratulated himself.

There was a moment's silence, which seemed like forever. Rude might even have winced waiting for a response.

"Knew you would Rude. That's why you're my best pal."

Rude sighed, relieved, as the alighted the van. 'Whew… close one.' If Reno had thought he hadn't been listening, he would have faced a barrage of abuse and possibly, worse still, a repeat of his entire hours worth of speech again.

When Reno opened the van doors, Rude lifted Tifa's form gently. She stirred somewhat, but remained asleep. Still drugged no doubt. She was beautiful. He only hoped that Rufus wouldn't hurt her too much, as securing Cloud was his main objective. It was not his place to comment, although he did feel slightly guilty when they handed her over to Rufus, who had ordered them to tie her to a chair and leave her with him and a video-camera. But he said nothing. After all, it was not his place, at least, not when you were being paid as much as Reno and himself were. It's like Reno said, he mused. They were just playing the hand they were dealt - it was all in the contract. Certainly it was easier to think of it that way. Besides, it's always the losers that have time for righteousness.

It was two days later that Yuffie received a video-tape. One she had to get to Cloud as soon as possible if her plan were to accomplish anything. After all, if Cloud didn't rescue Tifa soon, she'd have to tell Reno to release her. She shook away feelings of doubt as to her actions, by envisaging all the eventual good might come of them. Yuffie always judged actions by consequence anyway, so she figured there was no point worrying about it just yet. Besides, Wutai had been so boring.

She had already returned to Cosmo Canyon once, immediately after the 'kidnap', to leave a letter that she had written to look as though it were Tifa's, to Nanaki, saying not to worry, that she had gone exploring and would be back soon, etc. All that remained was to work out where the hell Cloud was. Although Avalanche had promised each other not to reveal each other's whereabouts to avoid being swamped by the media, they knew where they had left Cloud after the final battle. Nibelhiem. Best shot anyway. In retrospect, she probably should have found out for definite where Cloud was before the whole kidnap thing, but, well, she was a bit too impetuous for that sort of thing.

The journey was pretty much uneventful, it took little time to reach Nibelhiem. The trouble, she decided, was finding the jerk. She had asked at all the shops, and they hadn't seen him, although in most cases (particularly when she was talking to females) they had screamed excitedly at the mention of his name. Her last port of call was the inn, she figured if no-one there had seen him, she was out of luck. 'Well, here goes' she thought.

Upon entering the inn, she had wrinkled her nose at the smell of pot-pourri hovering in the air. The room was decorated with pink and cream floral wallpaper, and various flowering plants covered up the corners of the room. In all, décor that had made her frown with strong disapproval.

Which brought her here.

"NO! I don't want a damned room! How many times do I need to say it!"

She waved her hands around irately. It had never been this hard for Cloud to converse with townspeople to get information! Why was it so bloody difficult for her?

"I just want to know if you have had anyone stay here who meets that description!" Yuffie yelled.

"-he scratches his head a lot, like this.." she gestured.

"-and frowns most of the time.." she screwed up her face.

"Total jerk.. stupid hair.." She paused, thinking how to demonstrate further. "I can't really show you how the hair looks 'cos its so damn stup.."

"As I've already mentioned several times, miss.." said the receptionist in a much-practised calm voice, "I have not seen anyone matching your description in the inn, or around town, or… ever."

Following the rest of this drawn out and irritating conversation with the (as Yuffie put it) dumb-to-the-world receptionist (who had probably, in her defence, thought the girl was on something), in which she also took the opportunity to complain about the 'sissy' wallpaper and 'funky' smell, she stormed out of the shop in anger, slamming the door behind her. She desperately needed to cool down.

Was it possible, she mulled, that she had taken out anger at the collapse of her plan on the receptionist? Nah.

"oooh!" she growled in frustration, waving her fists in the air and jumping up and down.

"I'm gonna kill.."

She nearly jumped two feet in the air, when her angry rambling was interrupted by a stern voice.

"And why, may I ask, are you looking for Cloud?"

She raised her eye level from a rich-red cape to rest her gaze upon a cold white face, with quick eyes and thin, smooth lips.

"Quick girl… cover your nervousness…" she thought to herself.

"Vinny!" she cried, attempting to crush him in an inappropriate hug. He gently but firmly pushed her off. Then she started babbling.

"-Cloud?" he interjected, still awaiting a response.

"oh! Yeah.." she laughed nervously. "Shit! Did that laugh sound suspicious?" she felt paranoia creeping in.

"ah, well, I have to give him something."

Vincent raised an eyebrow, awaiting more.

"it's a… it's something Tifa left for him." 'Good one Yuffie. Quick. Smooth. Flawless.' She inwardly berated herself.

"Let us go to Cloud, then." He walked towards the Shinra mansion.

'The mansion! Why didn't I think of that!' Yuffie screamed to herself. A few steps through the creaky gothic gate, Vincent came to a halt abruptly, and turned around.

"By the way… why did Tifa not deliver it herself?"he continued walking again in precise paces, step by step towards the mansion door.

'oh feck. He doesn't miss a thing, does he?'

"She's gone travelling. Left a note, and later this.."

"I see. So you have been to Cosmo canyon? Nanaki did not mention seeing you there."

'Feck! You bastard! You knew!'

They had reached the iron-enforced maple door. Vincent rested his hand on the handle, and turned around again, to face her, and caught her eyes.

"You see.." he leaned in, and smiled knowingly. "I am certain that letter… was not written by Tifa."

He turned away from her and lowered the handle before smashing the door lock with his claw.

"Was his tone threatening? Or is it just me?

He put his bodyweight against the door and shoved. Hard. Yuffie winced.

Oh crap.."

Thanks to:

April,

Hipathya

The Highwaywoman

Captain morgan

Numinous Aqua

For reviewing! xx