"Bytheancients I hope I didn't hit him too hard!"

The girl in the pink dress was standing over a bruised and beaten Reno holding loosely on a heavy bat guiltily, the end just barely touching the floor. I collapsed my powered down mag-rod and clipped it back onto my belt, smiling brightly.

"Don't worry miss, I'm sure he deserved it. Many times over."

Tseng looked to me absently, and under his gaze I panicked and gave him a sloppy salute, adrenaline affecting my actions, not to mention the blood running to my cheeks with him in the room.

"Elena, well done," he said. I wanted to scream for joy, but I had to hold my composure now. I earned his respect back in this harmless double-crossing prank, best not to lose it again.

"Sir!" I barked, tightening my body more and correcting the angle of said salute.

"At ease," he said.

"Uhm..." the girl began. She tugged at a brown curl nervously. "Hi there, I'm Aeris. Thanks for coming with us on this," she smield gently. She held out her hand.

I took her hand and shook it firmly. "No problem. I'm Elena, nice to meet you," I returned a smile of my own.

Having gone along with this game, I learned a lot more than anyone should about this particular person. This was the 'special guest' I failed to watch over at the dance a couple nights back. She was a ghost when it comes to personel files - She didn't exist in the systems anywhere, neither electronic nor hardcopy, and I had looked in every file system I could get my hands on. I now knew that Tseng was her only contact with the outside world for most of her life, because he was protecting her from the very people he worked for. This was serious stuff, if word of her existence leaked out it would have the entire Shinra Electric Company in an uproar. Exactly why she was so special remained a mystery still.

"Ladies, if you please," Tseng gestured towards the door as he went to untie the newly-unconscious Reno and Rude. Aeris and I went out into the hallway, closing the door behind us.

"So... You work for Tseng, right?" Aeris began.

"Yes. Well, I'm not a Turk just yet, still kind of a secretary really," I managed.

"Ahh, I'm sure his mind is made up about you. You'll do just fine."

"Huh? What do you mean by that, Aeris?"

"The look on his face. You didn't see it?"

I had to shake my head in the negative.

"His left eyebrow twitched. That means he's impressed." She giggled.

"How long have you known him for?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Oh, since I was about six I think. He's been a friend of the family since, although 'mom' doesn't like him very much." She hesitated a moment, looking up at my face curiously for a moment. Then she smiled. "Want me to tell you how we met?"

"Sure, I mean, if it's not too secret."

"Hee, no, it's okay. I was, as I said, maybe six years old at the time. Elmyra and I were just talking about what we wanted for dinner when he knocked on the door. He was younger, early twenties I think, when he started asking me those questions about who I was, where I came from."

"Who you were?"

"Elmyra isn't my 'mom', really - Both my parents died by this point."

"I'm sorry."

"It's okay, really. Anyways, I got mad and I ran upstairs. I think Elmyra kicked him out then. But, a few days later he came back, and I had decided to turn myself in, I guess. Elmyra tried to get me to stay in my room, but I came downstairs anyways, and I told him I had to tell him something alone. Elmyra didn't want to leave me alone with him, but finally she went upstairs."

"What did you tell him?"

"'She still loves you, you know.'"

"... What?"

"Don't tell him I told you his secret! Promise?" She held out a pinky which I swiftly curled my own around.

"Absolutely. This stays between us girls, alright?" I smiled. Aeris didn't smile back, instead she became distant and somber.

"He... He was married to someone before, but she died in one of Avalanche's attacks at the reactor she worked at. Number 3. She didn't survive. I looked at his eyes and I couldn't help but see how much pain he was in. He told me her name once, but I forget what it was."

"Oh..."

"He said he would tell his men that my house was a false lead, and they left me alone. But once a week he would come over for dinner, and then later he came over more frequently to teach me stuff I would be learning in school."

"Maybe I should stop trying to get his attention, then." I'll have to throw out that cheap perfume, then...

"Oh no! It's good for him!" Aeris chided. "See, he still can't get over his loss, true, but he does care about you. He may not show it, but it's there. Besides, she wants him to move on and be happy, but if he's left like this he'll rot. He likes you, you've just got to be persistant with such a stubborn mule."