Author's Note: Heya guys! I've had some time to procrastinate doing my art project, so I pounded out a new chapter for you in the mean time. Hope you like it :3
Needless to say the evil conniving bastard in me kept me up all night, pacing around my kitchen, stroking my beard with a thoughtful pout. I don't know why, but I had seen evil master-minds on movies act similarly, so I thought I'd give it a go. It indeed proved to make me feel very much like a villain, and so I continued in the same fashion, occasionally dashing over to the counter to jot down an idea or two on a quickly developing map of my mind, where all of my brainstorming converged into one giant paper of malice.
Of course, all of these horrible things I planned on doing to Yuffie were out of the goodness and well-meaning of my heart, which everyone knows is soft and squishy and may resemble a care-bear (I haven't exactly been inclined to look). But that's beyond the point. I came to the realization last night that I was going about this comforting thing in a completely absurd way.
Yuffie needed to know that someone cared about her. I happened to care for her, and wanted to express that, but the way a normal adult would express such things were entirely lost or confused when it came to Yuffie. She was nineteen years old and had come straight from childhood, skipping adolescence, and jumping head first into becoming a woman with thoughts and feelings she couldn't possibly be expected understand.
It explained a lot of things, which made my head and heart hurt to think about. Yet there was a light at the end of this tunnel. A light called Cait, and the devilish mind of yours truly. You see, I had every intention of playing the child, while introducing her to the feelings of an adult. Maybe this way she could begin to realize and understand her grief, or her feelings toward Vincent's situation. As her friend I felt entirely obligated to do so, and as the brunt of her bratty pranks and general obnoxiousness, I believe I had somewhat of a right.
I got to work to find her, unexpectedly in my office. "Who let you in here?" I questioned, dropping my briefcase just inside the door and quickly shedding my jacket. The mid- June morning was a toasty one, and if it hadn't been for the sake of appearances, I wouldn't have bothered to bring a jacket at all. Yuffie, of course, in her resistance to life itself was decked out in a very work inappropriate outfit that she deemed acceptable only on the grounds that "she said so". I had tried arguing with her on this several times, but more than once I was simply ignored or Vincent would give me a small withering look that simply meant "give up, good man; you can't win".
The thought of him made me bristle, and I had to wonder when my feelings about his disappearance had changed from a strong desire to get him home to contempt. I glanced at Yuffie, who was spinning in my desk chair. "Did you get the kids off to school all right?"
"Yep," she replied unimportantly.
"They got breakfast?"
"Yep." She spun out of my sight for a moment again.
"Did... you sleep okay last night?"
The spinning stopped and she stood up. "Yep." Her arms folded over her chest and she moved to the window, using a finger to pull down part of the blinds.
I kept any further comments to myself, because I wasn't one hundred percent keen on her learning I had watched her toss and turn half the night, calling out for a gunslinger who may or may not be alive, and may or may not come out of hiding even if he was living.
"Tseng is coming by for a short meeting at 10:30, so you should busy yourself with doing something that doesn't involve being in my office."
She let go of the blinds and they all snapped back into place. "Still grumpy, eh?"
"Grumpy?"
"Yeah, you were all mopey-dopey last night. What's up with that?"
I sighed impatiently, wondering how on earth she could be so ignorant as to think she had nothing to do with it. "I'm just stressed, is all."
She clucked her tongue off the roof of her mouth and shook her head. "Gawd, Reevey, you need to let loose every once in a while. Kick up your heels! Get yourself laid."
I must have stiffened visibly, because she laughed at me.
"You know, I think Tseng's been questioning his sexuality..."
"Yuffie..." I groaned, holding up a hand to silence her. Even with my new understanding of the reason she played these childish games, I was not in the mood to have my manhood thrown into question yet again.
"You see, this is what I mean, you can't even take a joke."
I sighed. "Yes, yes, we all know I have a stick up my ass, but in order to run this place you have to get used to the burning sensation."
She chuckled, and I swallowed and looked away, busying myself with rearranging a stack of papers that had no business being rearranged, hoping that if I looked verifiably employed then she would have the good sense to leave me alone. My sudden desire for her to vaporize was firstly the headache quickly donning on me, and secondly the low voice grumbling at me to grab her and show her just how little I questioned my sexuality.
I glanced up and glared as she plopped herself down on my desk, crossing her legs in an over exaggerated action.
"I'm bored."
"You just got here," I remarked, although I was sure even the sight of the office building made her feel bored. "Why don't you go finish some of your reports? You owe me expense summaries from way back in February."
"Whatever, Lendal will do them for me."
"Lendal?" I repeated, giving up on shuffling my papers and leaning on the desk, squinting at her. "You mean Drys from payroll?"
"That'd be the one," she remarked casually. "He likes doing that kind of stuff, and he likes me, so I don't see that there should be a problem."
I gulped uneasily, and allowed the jealousy, loathing, and general discomfort to bubble up and close in around my quickly beating heart like rising water. "Likes you?" I echoed.
"Yeah. You know... wants to hit that shit." She laughed like it was nothing, and I hoped she wasn't noticing how my hands clenched the edge of the desk. "Anyway," she continued, sliding to the ground, disregarding the papers she knocked off in the process (yes my desk is messy, so bite me). "I'm gonna boogie. I want to call Tifa again before I hit the training room."
"Again?"
"Yeah, when I called her this morning she didn't pick up. She was probably humping Cloud or something."
I bristled at her crudeness. "And you call yourself a Princess," I muttered, shaking my head.
She apparently didn't hear me, because when she turned back in the doorway, there was a smile on her face. "Oh, and by the way, I meant it about getting laid, Reeve."
I was about to comment about how she shouldn't concern herself with such things when I realized she was suggestively glancing from me to my laptop that was perched open on a filing cabinet, facing away from me.
"Yuffie..." I said, slowly approaching it, "what did you..."
"Bye Reevey, see you later!" The door slammed behind her just as I turned the laptop around, only to find a file full of newly downloaded porn.
"Yuffie!"
My eyes got considerably wider, however, when I discovered the porn had been saved in the "shared network files", and were now accessible on every computer in the building. I took solace, however, in the fact that I stopped by the locker rooms before I had come to my office.
Once I had all of the questionable material deleted and had sent out a memo which explained in detail the fact that administration had full access to histories of all computer activity, I met with Tseng to discuss the potential need of his assistance.
He seemed to be willing; at least, that was the impression he gave. I wondered vaguely what Rufus could possibly have his Turks doing other than body guard work, and couldn't blame the man for looking for something a little out of routine for a while.
"Well Tseng, I believe that's everything, unless you have anything you wanted to bring up?"
"No sir, you covered it all quite well."
I smiled, satisfied. If Tseng could be half the man that Vincent was, we would have a very solid program developing. I made a face as a mentally checked myself; since when did I start assuming Vincent was dead? "Give my regards to your colleagues," I said, standing from my desk.
Tseng followed suit on the opposite side, and reached toward me, where I met him with a curt handshake. "I'm sure they will be glad to hear of an assignment other than fanning Rufus during his vacations to Costa del Sol."
I chuckled. "He is still insistent on going, hm? Even after the degree of last year's sun burn?"
"I'm afraid is either very stubborn, or does not learn from his mistakes."
At that moment the door burst open and a raggedly breathing ninja's eyes met mine from across the room. She looked positively ragged. "Good god, Yuffie. Did you run here?"
She nodded once, very slowly, very threateningly.
I glanced at Tseng. "Yuffie, you remember Tseng."
"Go home, Turkey. Reevey dear and I have a little score to settle."
The Turk swallowed uneasily and glanced at me. "Sir?"
"Go ahead, Tseng. I can handle this." I very casually sat back down in my chair and smirked. "I'll see you first thing next week, then, yes?"
He nodded quickly, and obviously not wanting to get involved in what could potentially result in death, slipped by Yuffie, out of my office.
"Now, Yuffie; what was it you wanted?"
"Your balls on a plate," she hissed through gritted teeth.
My grin widened. "And why is that?"
"You know perfectly well, you jerk. Give me back my materia!"
I folded my arms across my chest rather smugly. Oh, being commissioner had its perks. Don't fear, all of Yuffie's materia was safe, but it certainly wasn't in her locker where she left it. I wasn't going to sell it... it wasn't my intention to traumatize her more than she already was, but her reaction was better than I had hoped for. "Your materia? What makes you think I have it?"
"Oh give it up, Reeve."
I laughed shortly again, and watched as a hint of a mirroring smile crossed her face for a fleeting moment.
I winked, egging her on.
"You're such a child. Fork 'em up."
"I don't know what you mean," I replied, no longer bothering to hide my playfulness.
"Frig, you bastard! Cait did this didn't he?"
"Sometimes, Yuffie, that cat has a mind of its own."
"He's a robot, Reeve. You programmed it to be an asshole."
I smiled again.
"Oh, I'll find my materia," she promised leaning over my desk; two hands braced on the edge.
I swallowed in nervous excitement.
"And then you just watch out."
I extended a hand toward her. "Game on."
She shoved her own into it roughly and shook it. I fizzle of delight rippled through me at the contact; adrenaline pulsing through my veins.
Shit, I really needed to hide my car keys.
Author's Note: Well, another day, another chapter. Let me know what you think.
