Author's Note: Wow, everyone: I got such a huge and welcoming response to this story! It's really very exciting. Lots of people are surprised at my jump to a new pairing, but to those of you still looking for more Yuffentine, this is by no means saying that there will be no more Yuffie/Vincent love from Lynn. I don't have it in me to never write Yuffie and Vincent ever again. I still love them!
However, here we are, with another chapter of Reeve/Yuffie. Hope you all enjoy as much as you did the first time. remember, i am knew to the pairing and to the dynamic, and I need as much help as I can possibly get. Please do not hesitate to concrit me to death if you feel you must. I'm learning!
I was never quite sure why I had hired her. Every once in a while, when she came back from a mission, having gotten nothing done, I would toss the options around. Was it just to have a pretty face in the office? I wouldn't put passed myself to hire her simply for the opportunity to look at her. Was it her up-beat personality and infectious laugh? Also high on the list of potential reasons. There was never a time, even in the very saddest of days that the Wutaiin princess did not have fire in her belly. It certainly wasn't because she was good at what she did. She could wield a Shuriken with a fair amount of grace, but for a ninja, her balance was lacking and for a spy... well, Yuffie had yet to perfect the concept of being stealthy, which required the ability to remain quiet for large periods of time.
I'm being unfair. I think I've stated before that I have a great respect for Yuffie and her ninja stars. I've been at the receiving end of their barrage more than once, for reasons I would prefer not to relive at this (or any) given moment.
Needless to say, she is a great asset to the WRO, at least she was, when she was being helpful. Since her partner, Vincent Valentine, had taken off, however, she was little more use than a four-year old who couldn't understand where Grandma went; and figured she was just in Florida, like every other February.
I am the Commissioner of the World Regenesis Organization. It takes a lot of credentials to obtain and maintain a role of this authority. I am not, and let me make myself as clear as possible; I am not a grief-counselor, babysitter, or a shoulder to cry on. I am a grown man. I am a professional. I should not have to be concerned for my own mental welfare every three and half hours when in a blaze of color, my subordinate comes bursting into my office, reaming out the world for her misfortune.
"You know, you're really kind of dorky," she said, voice flat.
I didn't look up from my computer monitor. "Yuffie."
"Gee, nice way to greet a friend, Reeve."
I squashed my urge to snap at her and tell her I was busy and slowly slid my eyes to the doorway in which she was standing. She was dressed in her regular combination of tank-top and short-shorts, as well as a pair of standardized WRO combat boots. In her hand was a shiny black stapler.
"Is that my stapler?" I asked, narrowing my eyes at the fastening device.
"It could be," she uttered nonchalantly. "That's not why I'm here. I'm taking a few days off."
My eyebrows arch. "I trust you've done the required vacation request paperwork and had it approved by Human Resources?"
"No can do, boss-man. It's kind of an emergency."
"Family?"
The way she rolls her eyes to the ceiling and pauses tells me it's a lie when she hesitantly squeaks out a "sorta".
"You need to fill out the request form like the rest of them," I said, turning my attention back to the game of solitaire I was quickly losing.
"But Reeve!"
I hit the 'x' in the top right hand corner of the solitaire window, and I was suddenly confronted by the depressing sight of my over-flowing email in-box and a slight glimpse of my desktop, which was a photo Tifa had taken at Marlene's 7th birthday earlier that year. "No 'buts', Yuffie."
I highlight the junk mail, skimming the subject lines with slight amusement. 'From the bank of Strife… What's your credit rating?... Are you lonely?... Make your penis grow three inches longer…'
"Yuffie, is there a reason you feel the need to read my personal emails?" I commented, realizing she was now behind my desk and her chin was hovering above my shoulder.
"Little man problems, hmm?" she said, and I felt her disgustingly female hand pat my shoulder in a disgustingly pitying way. Of course had it not been the third time that day that she had questioned my… manhood… I would have laughed it off and made a similar joke at my own expense. This was, however, a step too far.
"Get out of my office."
"Bite me."
I spun my chair around to face her, pleased at the shocked look on her face as she stumbled backward. "I would be careful, Miss Kisaragi, of how you address me."
"You're not the boss of me," she spat back, sticking out her tongue. It got caught half way out, however, when she rethought her comment and slowly retracted it back into her mouth.
I smirked and folded my arms across my chest smugly as she silently fumed about the fact that I was, indeed, the boss of her. I was about to comment on my triumph when my phone rang shrilly from on top of the desk. I reached blindly for it and sighed a greeting. "Reeve Tuesti." It was my secretary.
"Mr. Tuesti there is a Ms. Lockheart on the phone for you."
I felt a sudden weight lift off my chest, and hoped beyond all hope that Tifa had good news. "Connect her, please," I said, as calmly as I could muster. I was trying exceptionally hard to keep my face neutral, because I knew what false hope did to Yuffie, and really, it was rather depressing. Her face would get all bright and for a fleeting second she looked like the woman she had been before she had lost her friend. She was bright and hopeful and… and then, when Cloud or Cid went to check if he was in a potential location and came home empty handed, it looked like Barret had wound up and socked her in the gut with his bionic arm, leaving her with the feeling that her insides were mashed into goop.
I heard the background noises change, from busy office bustle to the scream of a seven year old whose hair was just pulled by a twelve year old. "DENZEL!" I chuckled, wincing slightly.
"Reeve is that you?"
"Yes, Tifa, it's me." I saw Yuffie's face lighten out of the corner of my eye, and I couldn't help but feel a little defeated. It wasn't that I wasn't glad she was smiling, but I knew where this was going to lead.
"Cid took Shelke and Cloud to Nibleheim to try the mansion again. Could you please tell Yuffie to come by the bar when she's done work and make sure the kids get home in one piece?"
I sighed in irritation. "I'm in the middle of something important, why couldn't you tell her yourself? She has a phone- I know for a fact because I pay her bill."
"Because she'll listen to you, Reeve."
I sighed again, and I realized how whiney I must have sounded. I vaguely registered the sound of a 'click-bang' in the background, but paid no attention to it. "I take it you're going with them, then?"
The 'click-bangs' stopped for a moment, and Yuffie's voice piped up, demanding to know where they were going. I ignored her.
"Yes, Shelke too."
"She's going to be upset."
"I know, Reeve, but if Vincent's in worse shape than she thinks… well… I don't think he would want her to see him like that."
I knew what she was really talking about, but of course I wouldn't dare speak it out loud, not with Yuffie in my office, making irritating noises while I tried to speak on the phone. My annoyance suddenly caught up with me, and without turning I tried to swat at her and make her stop whatever it was she was doing.
"Reeve! You just touched my ass!"
I breathe heavily into the phone.
"That's a violation of my personal space!"
"Tifa, will you hold for a moment."
"Sure, Reeve."
I pressed the hold button calmly and set the phone gently on top of the desk. The moment it was out of my hand, however, I stood up quickly from my chair and rounded on her; my intent to make it known just how little ass she had to touch, and how she shouldn't assume that men were really all that into tom-boy brats who acted like children, but something stopped me. Something strangely resembling the outline of a chocobo on my wall. Something strangely resembling the outline drawing of a chocobo in staples on my wall. Something that was the outline drawing of a chocobo in staples on my wall.
My teeth ground together. "Get. Out."
"Where is Tifa going? Did they find him? Are they looking for him? Have they left yet?"
I very much wanted to take her by the ear and drag her out of my office, but my eyes snapped to her face and remembered my conversation with Tifa, and why I had been so careful of her feelings before.
I had to remind myself that before Vincent had disappeared, I had actually enjoyed Yuffie's company; that before Vincent had disappeared, Yuffie had been tolerable, even pleasant.
"Tifa needs you to watch Marlene and Denzel this afternoon when they come home from school."
Her eyes widened and then narrowed. "Why can't I go with them?"
My eyes flickered toward the phone on the desk. "She really needs you to do this favor for her, Yuffie."
She frowned deeper, and I knew she must have been feeling entirely helpless.
"He'll come home…"
She cut me off. "When he wants to; I know." She folded her arms over her chest and cast a look out the window, through the sliced view my blinds provided.
You know, for all of her moments of complete immaturity, I had to wonder at the way she intuitively knew the exact thoughts of the people around her. She proved this to me time and time again, and this instance was no exception.
"You must think I'm just a whiney little kid."
I nodded unsympathetically.
She cursed at me. "Listen, I just want him home, okay?"
I approached her tentatively and eased the stapler out of her hands. "I know, Yuffie. We all want Vincent to come home." Just saying the words reminded me of the missions hinging upon his return; the structure of training that Vincent had developed to suit his needs as their teacher. No one else was qualified to train these men in the proper style of warfare that could take out large groups of enemies at once. I was going to have to approach Rufus and try and force a merger… The Turks were the best of the best, and without Vincent, Tseng was the next best option. However, working with ShinRa was not something I was ready to resume, after such a short time of 'neutral' ground concerning ShinRa and the WRO.I shuddered slightly. "Who knows, maybe they'll find him in Nibleheim today."
"They've checked there three times, Reeve. If they were smart they'd go to the waterfall," she muttered.
"The waterfall?"
"Oh come on, Mr. McBroods-a-lot takes off, and no one thinks to look in the most obvious place on the whole freaking Planet?"
"Lucrecia's Cave."
"Exacto-mundo, Reevey." She half heartedly poked me in the chest. "This is why they pay you the big bucks, boss-man."
I made a face as she left my office, and didn't bother scolding her when she slammed the door as she went. I picked up the phone and reconnected Tifa. "Tifa, when you head over to the Nible Area… Yeah that's right. It can't hurt to try. I'm going to stop by the bar and make sure the kids are okay, alright? No, she needs some time to cool off. Yep, I'll see you tonight, Tifa. Stay safe."
She hung up and I switched lines to ring up my secretary, who seemed flustered. "Pemille? I'm taking off for the rest of the afterno—what do you mean she's threatening the UPS guy?"
Author's Note: Yeaaaahh, I think I botched it up with this one. Yuffie doesn't feel like she should... although she is stressed and acting out and I guess that's how I wanted her to be. Sigh. lol. Advice or encouragements are greatly needed. lol.
