The past two weeks flew by. Since their small dinner date, Vincent and Tifa spent as much time as they possibly could. Vincent, keeping tabs on Genesis and adjusting to life in Nibelheim; Tifa, playing cat and mouse with Genesis, while juggling time with her Papa, Vincent, school, and her job. Both of them enjoyed each other's company. Vincent learned quite a lot about Tifa. She spoke very highly about her Papa and the children she worked with at the youth center while finishing up her classes to earn her degree. Tifa learned that Vincent and Yuffie earned several properties in Wutai, Junon, and Costa del Sol. Him and Yuffie looked out for each other since they were children, especially since the war killed their parents.
Tifa is laughing at a small joke that Vincent told her while she stuffs a handful of cotton candy in her mouth. They are coming back from a small walk in the park, and Tifa couldn't fight her sweet tooth when she saw a cotton candy stand while they were on their walk. Vincent fumbles with his keys for a moment before finding the right key and opening the door, letting Tifa go first.
"Oh! Hey Naomi." Tifa is surprised to see Yuffie in the middle of the kitchen pouring herself a bowl of cereal.
Yuffie simply smiles and waves at the pair, not caring that she is currently in her underwear. When Vincent turns the corner he just rolls his eyes.
"So, you're seriously going to stand there with hardly no clothes on? In front of our guest?" He waves to a giggling Tifa.
Yuffie shrugs playfully. "We have the same things."
Tifa couldn't help but giggle as she stuffs another handful of cotton candy in her mouth. She really did love the sibling rivalry Vincent and Yuffie share. She sometimes wishes she had a sibling to playfully argue with from time to time. Vincent couldn't help but slap his forehead with frustration.
"Please put some pants on."
Yuffie snorts. "All right all right! Get your panties out of a bunch!" Yuffie's phone begins to ring as she walks away, putting her bowl of cereal on the counter.
"You two are so adorable." Tifa comments as she swallows her cotton candy.
Vincent rolls his eyes. "If you say so. Please, sit down. Would you like something to drink?"
Tifa sits down and stuffs the remaining cotton candy in her mouth. "A bottle of water would be nice please."
Vincent chuckles as Tifa struggles to speak with a mouthful of junk in her mouth. He reaches into the fridge and grabs a bottle of water and hands it over to the brunette. She smiles as a way to say thank you before chugging half of the bottle. Before she could ask, Vincent hands her a piece of paper towel to wipe her face.
"How did the two of you come to the decision to move to Nibelheim?" Tifa finishes wiping away the remaining junk food and water-like mixture away from her mouth and tossing the paper towel in the trash.
"Just needed a change." Vincent lied somewhat. "We wanted to get away from Wutai as far as we could. Nibelheim is quiet and small so we figured why not?"
Tifa smiles. "Although I'm sorry what happened to the two of you in Wutai, I'm glad you guys opted to move here." She trails off and nervously tuck away her hair.
Vincent walks up to her sitting form and gives her a small smile. Without much thought, he tucks the rest of hair away behind her ear. He stops when he realizes what he had done. He shyly lowers his head, and Tifa couldn't help the blush forming on her face. She slowly brushes away some of his stray hairs to get a better view of him.
"I didn't mind at all." Her smile made his heart leap.
"I'm sorry. I normally don't approach women and begin touching on them." He feels so embarrassed by his actions. She couldn't stop smiling at the blushing man in front of him.
She found herself taking a closer look at his facial features. His ivory skin were smooth and free of any blemishes. His hazel eyes sparkles as he slowly looks back at her wine-colored eyes. Neither one of them couldn't take their eyes off of each other.
"Take them out." Tifa whispers.
Vincent hesitates at Tifa's request. She told him a few weeks ago at the diner that she wasn't afraid of the true color of his eyes. When he doesn't move, Tifa smiles sweetly and cups Vincent's right cheek, urging the raven-haired man to fulfill her request. Vincent slowly brings his hands over his left eye and held his head back to carefully dig out the lens. Tifa waits patiently as Vincent extracts the small irritants. He places one of them on the counter and begins working on his other eye. Once he's done, he places the other one on the counter as well. He faces Tifa when he is done, his eyes has slightly reddened from taking the contacts out. Tifa is lost in a trance with his natural eye color. Red is her second favorite color, with blue narrowly beating it, but it complements him well.
Tifa's thumb slowly draws invisible circles on Vincent's cheek as her smile grew. His eyes are filled with so much fuel and passion. She stops her motions and knocks the contacts in the trash, never tearing her eyes away from his.
"You don't need those. Your eyes are so beautiful."
Vincent gives her a small smile.. "Not as beautiful as yours."
Tifa couldn't help but blush. "Are you flirting with me?"
"You started it."
"That I did." Tifa giggles. She stands up from the chair and closes the small gap between herself and Vincent. She feels his body tense up from the sudden contact. She places her hands onto his chest. She feels his muscles tense up as she begins to slowly rub him. His attraction to her is intoxicating. Tifa doesn't know what made her become so bold. She half expected him to shove her away, but he didn't. He brought her closer to him by wrapping his arms around her waist.
"Am...I holding you too tight?" He hesitates.
Tifa bats her beautiful, long lashes. "Not at all." She cups his face. Her beauty awes him. The raven-haired man of course has experience with women before, but Tifa is the first to put him in a trance. He's normally not bold like this when trying to seduce women, but he figured that's why he is so bold. Over the weeks, his interest in Tifa rose every day. There's no seducing between the two; just doing what came natural for them. He breaks away from his thoughts as he slowly presses his lips softly against hers. Not wasting a moment, she accepts the kiss, deepening it by leaning her head to the right slightly, giving him more access. The small sounds from their lips excites Vincent as his hands begins to rub her back. She smiles into the kiss and tangles her hands into his raven hair, taking note as how soft it is.
"We got a problem. I-" Yuffie stops her sentence when she sees the pair.
Like a child being caught with their hands in the cookie jar, Vincent quickly pulls away, too embarrassed to face Tifa or Yuffie. Tifa's face is flushed and she stumbles on her words, trying to form some sort of sentence to ease her embarrassment, but nothing came to her avail.
"I'm...I'm so sorry, Naomi. I didn't mean… well, I did mean to kiss him. I just-"
Yuffie waves her hand while smiling at Tifa. "No need to apologize, Tifa. Did you grab his ass cheek?"
Tifa doubles over on the counter while laughing uncontrollably. Vincent pinches the bridge of his nose. Tifa moves away from the counter once her laughter subsides.
"I'm so sorry, Naomi. I think your brother is...handsome."
Vincent turns to Tifa. "Thank you. You're quite beautiful yourself."
Tifa smiles like a school girl. Yuffie couldn't help but smile to what is unfolding in front of her. Vincent seems to be genuinely interested in Tifa, and that warms Yuffie. It is refreshing to see her play brother enjoying himself, though she feels a little bad to deliver bad news to him.
"Anyway," Tifa speaks before something happens that'll embarrass her further. "I think you mentioned something about a problem so I'll just split. I gotta make dinner for my Papa. I would love for the two of you to meet him one day."
"We'd love that." Yuffie smiles.
Tifa nods and smiles at the two before heading towards the front door. "Then we'll have to arrange a date. See you guys later."
"Nice seeing you, Tifa." Yuffie calls over her shoulder as she open the fridge to look for something to drink.
Vincent walks Tifa to her car. She turns to face him before opening her door.
"Promise me you'll keep those things out of your eyes."
"I promise." Vincent replies, smiling from ear to ear.
Tifa gives him a quick peck on the on the lips before retreating into her car and starting it up. Vincent backs away so she can put it in reverse and pull away from the driveway. She gives one final wave to Vincent and drove off. Her lips and scent put him in a spell. He didn't expect any of that to happened, but he is glad that it did happen. He has something to look forward to once this situation with Genesis was over.
He went back into the house, closing and locking the door behind him. He went back to kitchen where Yuffie is at the counter drinking a dark liquid. He frowns as he approaches her and picks up the contents and gives it a quick smell.
"Brandy?" Vincent questions as his nose crinkles and hands the drink back to Yuffie.
"Sephiroth is on his way." Yuffie sighs as she takes a hard gulp of the brandy.
"So, is there any progress?" Reeve asks his blond-haired colleague.
Cloud shakes his head in disappointment. "No. Tifa wasn't able to give me any information. I've been here for a few weeks now, and I'm still stuck."
Reeve grunts as he shoves a file away from him. "We'll find a lead soon. Let's take a rain check on this and get a few drinks."
Cloud doesn't bother to argue with the man. As he gets up, he reaches into his pocket and text Aeris to let her know that he is going out for drinks with Reeve. She is currently in Rocket Town with Amanda. A few moments later, his phone buzzes and he reads her reply.
'Okay.'
Cloud couldn't stop the frown on his face. Though he's grateful Aeris hasn't been complaining about them not spending time with each other. It almost seems like she is grateful that he is away so much. The odd behavior isn't sitting well with the blond at all. It's something Cloud will have to investigate at a later date. Cloud stuffs his phone back in his pocket, and walks out of Reeve's office with Reeve behind him, locking the door. Before leaving the building, Reeve tells his secretary to hold all calls, unless it pertains to the cases. The two men gets into their respective cars, and Reeve lead the way. After ten minutes of driving, the two men parked their cars and met each other on the side walk.
"Maybe Naomi will be here." Reeve speaks out loud, but the comment is really for him.
Cloud quirks an eyebrow. "Who?"
Reeve couldn't help but chuckle. "Some short-haired strong willed Wutainese woman I met a few weeks ago."
"Wutainese you say?" Cloud questions.
"She's definitely not part of the stereotype, and if you ever meet her, don't ever say that around her."
Cloud chuckles. "Thanks for the head up."
As Cloud and Reeve arrives at the entrance of the bar, the door suddenly swings open to reveal a brunette woman wearing a v-neck blouse and hip-hugging black jeans, and a fiery, red-haired man wearing a black dress shirt and slacks.
"Tifa?" Cloud is surprised to see her with a different man. The ugly green monster known as jealousy immediately hit him in full force. He's aware that Tifa is free to date whomever she wants. That doesn't mean it still doesn't hurt to see her with other men. Cloud inhales sharply, mentally checking himself, telling himself that there's no need to feel this way. He has Aeris.
"Hey Cloud." Tifa keeps her composure, trying to mask her surprise.
"Ms. Lockhart, it's good to see you."
"And you as well, Reeve." Tifa replies.
Genesis grabs onto Tifa's hips in a protective manner. Tifa is his woman to ravage, not theirs.
"May I ask who are the two of you?"
Cloud and Reeve senses the bitterness in the red-haired man's voice. "I'm Cloud and this is Reeve. We're associates of Tifa."
Cloud extends his hand for Genesis to shake. "I'm Genesis." He never shakes Cloud's hand.
"Well, you two gentlemen enjoy your night. Genesis and I have plans to for dinner. See you two around." Tifa rushes the conversation and quickly gets out of dodge with Genesis still holding onto her in a protective manner. She silently prays that Cloud doesn't bring up this manner in the future. She doesn't need any attention on herself while she pries into Genesis's business.
"Damn that guy is jealous." Reeve comments. "All we did was say hi. I can't believe he didn't recognize me."
Cloud's brows furrows. "You've met that man before?"
Reeve nods. "I was on the scene of his wife's suicide a few months ago. Maybe he didn't want to hear that tragedy on such a great night, though, it was odd when he asked who I was." Reeve shrugs. "Oh well. Let's get a few drinks."
"Yeah..." Cloud trails off, thinking about the man Tifa was with. He saw the look in the man's eyes. They were filled with jealousy and rage, perhaps? Cloud makes a mental note to dig up more information on Genesis. That man has a certain aura about him that Cloud doesn't like.
Damn this thing is itchy! Reno thought to himself as he scratches at his head vigorously. The long raven hair wig he decided to wear is beginning to get on his nerves. He sits impatiently inside his car outside the hotel parking lot where Elena is staying. It took some doing, but he managed to keep Elena in Costa del Sol since she arrived a few weeks ago. After they exchanged explicit text messages throughout the day, Elena convinced Reno to meet her at her hotel to finally break the ice. Reno has other plans in mind.
He takes a quick look into his travel bag and makes sure he has all of the necessary things he needs for tonight. He grabs the solid black baseball cap and places it on his head and pulls out some black leather gloves and a black scarf to wrap around his face, only showing his eyes. Once he finishes his disguise, he looks at his phone and it reads 10:00 pm. He takes a deep breath and gets out of the car and makes his way behind the building.
Before coming to the hotel, he took some time into hacking into the security system and disabling all the cameras that would catch him. He is going through a set path and he doesn't dare deviate from it. The disguise is worn as extra precaution in case someone looks at him on his way to Elena's room. He is thankful for his friendship with Yuffie. She is the one who taught him how to do simple hacks. As she suspected, the hotel security was a joke, which made things easy for her to pass the knowledge to Reno, whom already had a simple grasp on hacking to begin with. Yuffie was able to hack everything a relay the information to Reno within an hour, and while she was hacking the security system, Reno was getting everything ready for the night.
Making sure to move as fast as he could without looking too suspicious, Reno keeps his head low to avoid eye contact with any of the cameras in case hotel security notices the cameras malfunction and put them back online. He quickly whips around a corner and heads for the stairway, going up two stairs at a time until he arrives at the fifth floor. He takes a quick glance in the hallway and opens the door when he saw no one walking in the hallway. He proceeds to Elena's room. When he reaches Room 515, he places the room key that she had given him earlier that day into the slot and enters the room.
"Elena?" Reno calls out when he doesn't see her on the bed. He calls for her again, but there's still no answer.
Frowning, he sits his bag on the bed and cautiously searches the suite. He doesn't notice anything out of the ordinary from the balcony area or any of the closets. He makes his way towards the bathroom and stops in his tracks when he notices a bloody hand print on the door frame. He slowly makes his way over to the bed to grab his nightstick, adverting his attention between the entrance and bathroom entrance. His nightstick extends with a quick flick of his wrist and he proceeds with caution. He readies his weapon and pushes the door open with little to no force. His eyes went large when he sees Elena naked on the bathroom floor bleeding from her throat profusely.
He quickly steps back, grabs his bag, and leaves the room. He moves faster than he did when he first entered the hotel. He practically run to his car when he is out of the building. He tosses his bag in the back and grabs his tablet from the passenger seat. To his luck, the security didn't have the cameras that he disabled earlier up and running and he knew for sure no one saw him. He's thankful for that. Wasting no time, Reno cranks his engine and pulls away from the hotel while frantically calling Sephiroth.
"She's dead." Reno speaks in a panicked voice.
"Good jo-"
"I didn't do it." Reno cut Sephiroth off. He exhales heavily as he stops at a red light and looked around to see if there are any police in sight. He quickly threw off the wig, baseball cap, scarf, and leather gloves when he saw that no one is watching him.
"What?!" Sephiroth is beginning to panic just as much as his red-haired accomplice.
"I don't know what happened. I met her at her at her hotel like she asked me to. When I got there, her throat was slit and she was just lying there on the floor."
Reno hears Sephiroth slam his hands on something before shifting around. "Dammit! He must've shook Vincent and Yuffie from Nibelheim and took a flight to Costa del Sol."
The light turns green and Reno begins driving. "He did a hell of a job shaking the two of them then."
"Get on a plane and head for Nibelheim. I'll send you Vincent's and Yuffie's address. We'll regroup and plan from there."
Reno quickly ends his call and pulls over to focus his attention on calling airports for the earliest flight to Nibelheim.
"How could we let this happen?!" Yuffie shouts.
Vincent stays silent for a moment before answering. "I was so busy with spending time with Tifa that-"
"Don't do that to yourself." Yuffie cuts him off. "Don't blame yourself for having fun."
"If I wasn't trying to get to know Tifa, we wouldn't be in this situation."
Yuffie scoffs. "I had a role in this too. I wasn't paying attention either." Yuffie exasperates heavily. "Sephiroth is gonna have our heads."
Before Vincent could reply, heavy knocks on the front door that echoes in the house. Sighing, Yuffie leaves the kitchen and went to go answer the door. Vincent grabs the glass bottle that contains the brandy and took a huge shot from it. Sephiroth enter in the kitchen, with Yuffie trailing behind him.
"Sephiroth..." Vincent begins to explain. He feels like an idiot. All his years of killing, he never once was this sloppy. "There's no excuse for this. I-"
"He met someone." Yuffie finishes as she walks from behind Sephiroth. "He got a little caught up with her and the mission just slipped his mind. Mine as well. I'm not letting him take all the blame for this."
Sephiroth takes a deep breath as his focus shifts between the deadly duo. He is mad, at the very least, but he could tell that they are truly sorry for losing sight of Genesis. Sephiroth turns to Vincent, whom seems to drift into space as he stares at the kitchen tiles. He observes his red orbs and never once did he see the combinations of emotions in Vincent. Embarrassment, disappointment, and dare he say, affection?
"Does this woman know about your identity?" Sephiroth finally asks Vincent.
"No." Vincent answers as he looks into Sephiroth's green orbs.
"Okay. I can work with this. Reno was able to get out of there with no hassles. He's going to call me when he's boarded a flight here. I need to run an errand."
Sephiroth turns on heels and walks towards the front door.
"I didn't mean for this to happen." Vincent calls out. It is a feeble attempt in redeeming himself, he's aware, but he feels the need to at least try to explain himself, or at the very least, soften the blow.
Sephiroth stops with his hand on the door knob. "I don't fault you for yearning for a life, Valentine. I have a special someone as well." Sephiroth calls out before walking out the door, leaving Yuffie and Vincent looking at each other in confusion.
As he walks towards his car, Sephiroth swiftly dials a number and hold the phone to his right ear as he enters the car.
"How are things with you, sweetheart?" A woman's voice always make him shudder, and makes his heart melt.
"Things took a drastic turn. The female target is eliminated, but it wasn't us."
He hears a gasp over the phone. "What do you need me to do?"
"Stick to the original plan and keep this phone close to you. Are you protecting yourself?"
"Of course I am." The woman on the other end sighs. "I wish I didn't have to keep this charade going. I want to be with you."
Sephiroth sighs. He turns on his engine and carefully drives away from Vincent's and Yuffie's home. "I know. With this new information, we should progress a little faster and get this over with."
"Seph..." It hurt him to hear the pain in her voice. For months the two of them enjoyed each other's company, but never made anything official. Sephiroth promised his lover that he would settle down with her when he was done with this mission. Personally, he didn't want to involve her, but things got personal for her when Genesis forced her to get involved.
Sephiroth makes a right at the intersection and slowly cruises down the street as he slowly approaches his destination. With his lover being undercover, he tells her to blend in and even get cozy with certain people if needed. She told him one person in particular she had to warm up to, and he couldn't be mad at her. They aren't official. That fact alone stings Sephiroth to this day. It's one of those situations where it's completely obvious that things are official, but the words were never said. It's something Sephiroth will address immediately after the mission is complete.
"Has...he touched you recently?"
"Not in a few weeks, no." She answers honestly. "He's been so involved with his work that he hasn't noticed me, and I do my best to avoid him."
"Good." Sephiroth feels a little relived. Though things weren't official between the two lovers, it still bothered him that she laid with a man to keep up appearances. The thought of another man touching her the way he touches her makes him feel jealous and powerless. He makes it to his destination, and put his car in park. "We'll finish this later. We'll be together officially soon. I promise."
He hears her smile. "I can't wait, Seph. Goodnight, lover."
"Good night, lover." Sephiroth smiles as he hang up his phone.
He gets out of his car and walks towards the front door and knocks softly on it. He yawns loudly, realizing the three hour time difference between Midgar and Nibelheim is starting to kick him in the ass. It is a little pass six so at least one of the residents should be home. The door opens and reveals a middle aged man that is more than likely in his mid to late forties.
"Sephiroth!" The man's eyes lights up as he hugs Sephiroth.
"It's good to see you again, Mr. Lockhart." Sephiroth hugs the man back and releases him. "How long has it been?"
"Since Lorraine's funeral." Mr. Lockhart replies sadly. There's a moment of silence before Mr. Lockhart speaks again. "No need to get sad now. Please, come in!"
"Thank you, sir."
"Don't sir me." Mr. Lockhart grins as he steps aside to let Sephiroth in. "And no more Mr. Lockhart. Russell will do, thank you."
Sephiroth chuckles as he steps inside the home. It hasn't changed much. He is surprised to see that there is a photo of him, Tifa, Russell, and Lorraine from a camping trip they took when him and Tifa were in the 6th grade.
"We never stopped loving you, Sephiroth." Russell comments.
"I appreciate it." Sephiroth smiles. It warms his heart to be in the home of his childhood friend and second home.
"Well, don't be a stranger! Come to the kitchen and have a drink with me. You're old enough, right?"
Sephiroth chuckles. "Of course I am."
Russell and Sephiroth enters the foyer and Russell pours both of them a white liquor. They make a toast and gulp their drinks down. Russell pours more drinks as the two men caught up with each other. Russell is so proud that Sephiroth grab the stock market by the reigns and invested in real estate, essentially becoming a money wizard in the real estate business and economics in general, just like he always talked about since he was a child. Sephiroth is so good with economics, accounting, and just money in general that he helped file Russell's taxes by the age of fifteen. A little reckless on Russell's part, but the government never contacted Russell about his taxes so all was well.
After minutes passes by, Sephiroth notices that Tifa isn't home. "Where's Tifa?"
"She's on a date. Can you believe that?"
"The Tifa I know was never a big fan of dates. She always told me that after Cloud abruptly left her, she was going to focus on school."
Russell nods, remembering how heart broken Tifa was when Cloud ended things with her. "Yeah, well, she's juggling two men. Quite the player, huh?"
Sephiroth quirks his eyebrow. "Two men?"
"Yeah. I've never personally met them, but they've both came to the house to pick her up one time. I guess she's trying to figure out which one she wants. I had to peek out the window whenever they took my baby girl away."
"Do you know what they look like?"
"Of course." Russell grins. "One of them is a tall, lean young man with long raven-hair. His eyes are a bit mysterious though. They're hazel brown but have a hue of red in them. It's the weirdest thing I've seen."
Sephiroth pauses for a moment. Vincent… Sephiroth thought to himself. Vincent's red eyes are very distinctive, which is why he always wear hazel contacts to cover them up - well at least try to. Hazel is the only color that covers his crimson eyes somewhat, even though people could somewhat tell that hazel isn't his real eye color.
"And then there's this other guy with red hair." Russell continues as he takes a swig of his drink. "She just recently started going out with this guy. Short red hair that covers some of his face. He is tall and lean as well, but he is bigger than the other fellow but not by much. I honestly think she likes the raven hair fellow much more. She's spends way more time with him. I'm gonna ask her about him when she comes home."
Sephiroth's stomach lurches. His friend is in danger and neither did her or Russell realizes it. Trying to hide his uneasiness, Sephiroth gulps the rest of his drink and sits the glass on the counter.
"It has been great catching up with you, Russell, but I have to go. I'll be in town for a week or two so I'll be back again in a few days."
Russell frowns. "You don't wanna wait for Tifa?"
Sephiroth shakes his head. "No, and don't tell her I came. I want to come back with a childhood gift and surprise her."
"She'll like that a lot." Russell smiles.
The two men shake each other hands and Russell escorts Sephiroth out of the home. Russell waves Sephiroth goodbye as he drives away from the home. Sephiroth tries his best to slow his heart rate as he make his way back to Vincent's and Yuffie's home, but he is failing miserably.