Chapter 2: Chance Second Meetings

One month after her encounter with Rufus Shinra, Elena was sitting at her lunch table, pretending to laugh along with the gossip her "friends" were providing. The people she ate lunch with included her roommate who was a package deal with her best friend. They weren't people she necessarily considered friends, but they were the most popular kids at their school. Being amongst the elite fighters and keeping her position at the top of her class, Elena fit right in with the popular crowd. Two of the boys at the table were near the top of the class as well, but of course Elena laid them out flat during her demonstration in front of Rufus Shinra.

They gossiped the entire lunch period and Elena genuinely enjoyed the conversation despite her absolute hatred towards school gossip. The people she went to school with were none of her concern and their business was their own business. However, she couldn't not participate in their conversations for fear of being ostracized.

She was halfway through eating her sandwich when one of the boys at the table said, "Did ya hear Rufus Shinra is visiting again? Guess that's like his job now, checking up on this place." Two of the girls giggled and continued to talk about how hot they thought Rufus was. Elena rolled her eyes at the girls and the same guy who spoke earlier noticed.

"Billionaires not good enough for you Laney?" He chuckled and punched her arm in a friendly manner. She hated that nickname more than anything, but it made her feel included in the group.

"Course they aren't," she said joking, then added, "but for real. Despite his obvious good looks and fake-ass charm, he's got nothing there personality wise. Money and looks. I'm not so shallow that that's all I look for in a guy." The girls at the table scoffed while the guys laughed.

"And how do you know what his personality is like?" Her roommate chided. Elena smirked knowing her story was about to interest the entire group.

"'Cuz I met him last time he was here." Her statement quieted the table, everyone looking at her in anticipation, waiting for her to give more details. She let them wait for a moment to build the anticipation before continuing her tale.

"Yeah, I got curious about the helicopter so I snuck out of the building to take a look at it and Rufus caught me sneaking around. He grabbed my arm and pulled me close to him and he flirted with me as he introduced himself." Elena's tone was confident as she told the story, but a light blush dusted her cheeks as she remembered vividly his warm breath close to her ear. There was no way he was truly interested in her. He probably just got a kick out of messing with girls' emotions. Nonetheless, it was a great story to make her "friends" jealous.

All the girls at the table squealed as they imagined themselves in that situation. One guy at the table chuckled as he said, "Come on Laney, its not a real story unless you punched him in the face in your own attempt to flirt." He laughed along with the others and she returned his friendly punch from earlier, only a bit harder.

"I did that once with a guy I liked almost two whole years ago. Let me live that down, will you?"

"No way Laney," he said with mirth in his voice, "he dropped out of school after that because he was so intimidated."

The table erupted in laughter again as Elena blushed in embarrassment, though still able to laugh along. The other girls at the table continued talking about Rufus Shinra for the rest of their lunch period, excited to get a glimpse at him once again. Elena was indifferent to his arrival, though she was intrigued on what would come of it.

About an hour after their lunch break, the students at the Shin-Ra Academy were informed of Rufus Shinra's arrival. They all crowded around the windows in an attempted to get even the smallest glimpse of the heir to the Shin-Ra empire. Elena had far less interest than the rest of her peers and decide to stand against the opposite wall and wait until she was called away for another demonstration. Her back was casually pressed against the wall and she crossed her arms over her chest, pouting slightly to look casually disinterested. Truthfully, she wanted to see Rufus again. She never quite got over the high of being the center of his attention, but she didn't want that to show. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he made her heart flutter. He would never pay attention to her again, surely, so why bother trying to get his attention now.

Soon, the teachers walked through the doors and warned the students to be on their best behavior. They all lined up, including Elena, and stood stiff in a military fashion. Rufus Shinra entered the building, followed by one of the Turks. Everyone looked on at the two of them in admiration, wishing to be in the position of the Turk. When Elena saw that bob of blonde hair and that serious posture, she knew instantly she never wanted to be a Turk. Not as long as that girl was one.

Rufus walked down the hall, passing the other students without so much as a glimpse. Towards the end, two long blonde pigtails caught his attention and he stopped for a moment, staring silently at Elena. Elena felt so uncomfortable in that single moment as Rufus's piercing blue eyes stared straight at her. She kept her composure, though just barely.

Rufus released himself from her captivating spell within moments and continued walking. He stopped at the end of the hall to speak with one of the teachers and the Turk passed by Elena, smirking at her in a manner Elena read as "I'm better than you." Elena stuck her tongue out at her older sister in defiance of her smirk. At that very moment, Rufus chose to glance at Elena once more, this time seeing the childish side of her he knew she had possessed. He was taken aback for a moment, thinking the gesture was directed at him. When Elena noticed Rufus looking at her once again, she blushed in embarrassment and stared intensely at the wall across from her, pretending she wasn't phased by the brief interaction.

Moments later, Rufus disappeared into another part of the building. Oblivious to Elena's embarrassment, the teachers dismissed the student to their normally scheduled classes. Elena was to stay behind as well as four of the other boys. Two were the same boys she sparred against last time Rufus visited; they were her "friends" from the lunch table. The other two boys were different, no doubt having rose above the previous two boys in skill over the last month. The teacher instructed them that they would be performing a demonstration for Rufus, to show case their abilities and make the school look good and not like a waste of money.

They were dismissed and headed to the same room they were in the last time they put on a demonstration. They were told to warm up before the demonstration began. Elena sighed as she walked with the boys down the long hallways. She had little doubt her father would be overseeing the demonstration this time, if for no other reason than to reassure Rufus he had the right sister on his team of Turks. Any chance he got, their father loved comparing Elena to Emma as the clearly inferior one of his daughters. Emma loved it more than anything in the world.

Elena reached the large, matted room and sat on the floor with her legs spread wide in front of her. She wasn't stretching, just sitting in exasperation. One of the boys that was her "friend" chuckled as he tapped her leg with his foot, standing next to her and starting his stretches.

"You're supposed to be warming up, Laney," he said.

"Don't need to."

"I saw when Rufus Shinra stared at you. Looked pretty embarrassing for you, especially when you stuck your tongue out at him." He chuckled again and started stretching the other leg.

"That was meant for my sister, not Rufus," she said with a pout on her face, her cheeks turning red for the hundredth time that day.

The boy stood and stared down at Elena in bewilderment.

"That Turk is your sister!?" He shouted.

Before Elena could respond, she heard her father's very familiar voice over the intercom, "Elena, stand up." He demanded. She did as she was told and glared at her own image reflected in the mirror on the wall. She wasn't stupid, she knew Rufus, Emma, and her father were all standing behind that mirror watching. If Rufus weren't there right now, she may have thrown up a middle finger in protest, just to get some extra attention while her sister was here.

She didn't do that, however, and proceeded the show off her martial arts skills in the most professional manner she could. She could tell her "friends" were trying desperately to take her down, but it was no use. She knocked them down in record time, standing triumphantly in the middle of the room once again. She wanted so badly to hear a string of praises for her excellent performance, but she knew her father was tearing her to shreds in front of Rufus, probably apologizing because his disappointment of a daughter was the best the academy had to offer at the moment. He probably threw in some praises towards her sister while he was at it.

Elena was dismissed shortly after the demonstration and she quickly separated herself from the rest of the boys, intent on sneaking behind Rufus as he was led through the school on the same tour he's probably been on a million times.

Elena got as far as five rooms down the hall before her sister stepped in front of her, arms folded across the sleek black suit she wore. She smirked at the pigtailed girl in front of her.

"Going somewhere, little sis?" She said tauntingly. Emma's main goal in life was always to get a reaction out of Elena.

Elena just shrugged and Emma took that as a sign to put an arm around her little sister's shoulders.

"Come with me for a second," she said as she led Elena into the room she had just come out of. Elena knew it was the observation deck for the room she had been in just moments before.

Rufus was the first to look up as Emma walked back in. Elena could have sworn he had a look of surprise on his face, but it disappeared so quickly she convinced herself she had imagined it. Elena's father was looking over some papers before he too looked up.

"Ah, Elena," he said, "good spar today."

"But?" Elena asked, knowing he never just gave out compliments.

"Your form was rather weak today and you were left vulnerable many times in your fight. Luckily for you, the boys didn't notice this, but it's a flaw that could potentially be fatal in the field." There it was. Like he actually believed she would make it into the field out there in the real world…

"Sorry," Elena whispered, desperately not wanting to be in this room anymore.

"Don't apologize, just fix it next time." Her father always sounded so exasperated with her. He had always been her favorite person when she was a child because he encouraged her at everything she did. Once she joined the academy and Emma joined the Turks, Elena saw the strict side of her father that she liked very little. It was the side that was always disappointed in her performance and always rooting for Emma more. Elena knew why he did it, but that didn't change the fact that it hurt.

After a brief pause, Elena's father turned to Rufus. "This is my youngest daughter, Elena. Clearly she has a long way to go, but she is top of her class. No doubt she's learned a lot from her sister's success." Emma grinned when their father mentioned her, but Elena just glared at the ground. She hated when her father did that.

Rufus nodded. "We've met. Her performance was quite impressive. I thought so last time I was here as well." He paused for a moment, wanting to add more, but deciding whether he should. He finally added, "Though, I must admit, her skills are far superior to those I've seen thus far from Gun."

Emma glared at Rufus and muttered something that sounded like "brat" under her breath. Rufus smirked at her and Elena's father looked slightly taken aback, but said nothing. After a moment, Emma pushed Elena out of the room and said, "Go back to your dorm or something. Grown-ups are talking now." She then closed the door in Elena's face, leaving her alone in the hall.

She didn't know what to make of what happened in there, but she couldn't help but smile at the fact that Rufus had just defended her in front of her own family. No one had ever done something like that before and for once, she felt like she actually had a chance at success outside of this academy.