Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII.

A/N: Hi! I'm so sorry it's been so long, and thanks so much for reviewing and reading! Thanks specifically to michibun, who PMed me and got me back on track with this! I'll try to update on a more regular basis from now on, but I'm battling some severe writer's block, so bear with me! Anyway, here you go! Hope you like!

Can't Buy Me Love

Chapter Two

The days passed quickly. Tifa was kept busy by 7th Heaven's desperate clientele and their feverish need to get drunk, Marlene's boundless energy and constant stream of new and confusing games to play, and Yuffie's messages filling up her voice mail at a rate of twenty per minute. With her spare time, she slept, cleaned, or simply enjoyed sitting. But always, always, she was thinking of Rufus, and the impending doom that came with him.

The wedding was in twenty-eight days. She tried not to, but she couldn't stop herself from worrying. What if it wasn't enough time? What if something went wrong? It was a fake wedding, yes, but it was her wedding. Even if it was to a sadistic corporate nightmare and she was being forced into the arrangement, she was still getting married. It was what every little girl dreamed of, and now her dream was being ruined. She wouldn't let circumstance sabotage her special day.

Friday came, and Tifa readied herself to meet the wedding planner. She still didn't know anything about the person, but she assumed it was a standard, businesslike woman with a binder and generic ideas, probably wearing some sort of black suit and skirt. An hour with a woman like that and nothing to do but talk about the most awful event since Meteor; Tifa would surely be bored to tears.

Luckily, the remedy to that situation quickly broke down the door.

"I'm here~~!" Yuffie called, posing dramatically in the open doorway.

Tifa jumped, then relaxed at the sight of the ninja. "Hey, Yuffie," she sighed, setting down the glass she'd just been cleaning.

Yuffie sauntered into the bar, not even bothering to close the door. "You ready to go?"

Tifa blinked. "To go where?"

Yuffie rolled her eyes. "To see the wedding planner, stupid!"

Tifa furrowed her brow. "You're coming?" she asked.

"Of course!" Yuffie jumped up on the counter and sat, swinging her legs. "You can't make any decisions without me there! I'll be there to let you know when you're about to do something dumb!"

Tifa exhaled, but smiled slightly. Yuffie was like a toddler; she said anything at all that came to mind without any filter, and had no limit to her energy level. It was both fun and exhausting to be around her for any length of time. "Then I'm glad you're coming with me," she replied, sticking shot glasses in a cupboard. "I'd hate to make a dumb decision."

"Exactly!" Yuffie hopped down and turned back to the bartender. "What are you doing that for? We need to get goin'!" Without waiting for a response, she grabbed Tifa's wrist and dragged her to the door.

The wedding planner's office was in a tall building near the center of Edge, on the twenty-seventh floor. The elevator was golden with hardwood floors, and Yuffie was pretending that she wasn't giving her reflection on the polished surface winking faces as she rode up with Tifa. The doors opened to reveal a red and gold themed hallway, leading up to an oval shaped room with soft tangerine walls and a mahogany desk, behind which a woman with brown hair tied into a bun on the top of her head sat, adjusting her thick-rimmed black glasses as she scrawled words into the booklet before her. She looked up as the women entered, and a smile crossed her face as she stood. "Hello, you must be Miss Lockhart," she greeted, shaking hands with Tifa. "And you are…" She paused when her eyes rested on Yuffie.

Yuffie chewed on her lip indignantly, so Tifa stepped up for her. "This is my maid of honor, Yuffie Kisaragi."

"Wonderful to meet you," the wedding planner finished, shaking the begrudged ninja's hand before sitting once more. "My name is Jacquiline Berzas."

"Yeah, can we just call ya Jackie?" Yuffie asked, sitting down in a chair on the other side of the desk.

Jacquiline blinked, but recovered her composure quickly. "Um, sure, if you'd like."

"Yuffie," Tifa chastised. She turned her attention back to Jacquiline. "Well, where should we start?"

Jacquiline clicked her pen and set it down on her open notebook, folding her hands on the desk. "How about we just talk about the wedding itself? What do we know for sure that we want to build off of?" She cast glances at Tifa and Yuffie in turn and, when neither responded, she turned her attention to Tifa. "How about this: Tell me about your fiancé."

Tifa blinked, thinking. How do you describe Rufus ShinRa? "Well," she began. "He's a businessman. He's… smart, and… sort of mysterious, I guess is the word."

Jacquiline grinned. "What his name?"

The dreaded question. "Rufus ShinRa," Tifa sighed, avoiding eye contact.

"So you're the one!"

Tifa lifted her head. "What?"

Smiling, Jacquiline explained. "The rumors have been going around for a while now. I wasn't so sure, but here you are!" She got a kind of dreamy look on her face. "I'm so blessed to be doing your wedding."

Tifa's face flushed in embarrassment. "Um, thank you?"

Jacquiline suddenly regained her business composure. "Well, yes, anyway." She flipped through her notebook and creased a page. "Do you have any ideas you want to be in the wedding? Anything you've thought about?"

Tifa shook her head. "Not particularly. I'm kind of lost, really."

Jacquiline smiled. "That's no problem. That's what I'm here for." She adjusted her glasses and continued. "Let's see… Let's start with your favorite color."

Tifa thought for a moment. "It's kind of a wine color."

"Wine?" Yuffie asked, her tone distasteful.

Tifa shot Yuffie a look, but Jacquiline spoke up quickly. "Wine, alright. We could pair that with white – that's always a nice base to have – and one other color would be nice." She looked at Tifa expectantly, pen poised to write.

"Um…" Tifa's eyes looked around the room, thinking. "Purple," she blurted out without thinking.

Jacquiline blinked. "Purple?" She thought on this for a moment. "I suppose… I'll compose some patterns with the colors, and we'll see how it turns out. Do you mean a deep purple or a sort of lavender?"

"Deep purple," Tifa answered. She had no idea why the color popped into her head – she'd never really been fond of purple – but it just seemed right.

"Alright, next: favorite flower?"

Yuffie nearly stood up in her chair. "Lotus!" Both Tifa and Jacquiline's eyes shot to her. "Lotus and cherry blossom, no question." She turned to Tifa, as if asking for her approval.

Tifa stuck a smile on her face and turned back to Jacquiline. "Yeah, those sound great."

Jacquiline smiled back, however sheepishly, and scribbled in her notebook. "Alright then, lotus and cherry blossom…"

Yuffie scooted her chair closer to Tifa's and stretched over to whisper in her ear. "They're the best flowers, trust me. The cherry blossom is the treasured flower of Wutai, and the lotus means love."

"Love?" Tifa cringed inside. If only the actual marriage meant love.

"Well, estranged love and forgetting the past, but whatever – it's a pretty flower anyway."

Tifa held back a laugh. Estranged love? I guess that's better, she thought.

Jacquiline cleared her throat and brought the girls' attention back. "Did either of you see the fish out in the lobby?"

Tifa furrowed her brow. "Fish?"

Jacquiline nodded. "There's a very nice oval tank out there, with the prettiest koi –"

"Koi?" Yuffie exclaimed, a huge smile on her face. "Tifa, I'll be right back!" No sooner could Tifa open her mouth to say goodbye was Yuffie out the door and down the hall.

Tifa looked back at Jacquiline with amazement. "Did you –"

"Let's continue, shall we?" Jacquiline asked, the smallest hints of a mischievous smile on her face.

The interview was very straightforward from there, questions followed by answers. Themes: no theme in mind, just a midafternoon wedding. Bride's maids: no sisters, no relatives, hardly any friends – she'd be bride's maid hunting. Live music or DJ: live music, something classical – Rufus wasn't the one for contemporary music. Reception after: absolutely! Indoors or outdoors: outdoors, in nature.

"Have you interviewed a person to officiate?" Jacquiline asked, in the middle of writing down Tifa's answers.

"Huh? Um, I figure Rufus will probably be doing that."

"Just President ShinRa?" She looked up from her notebook.

"Is that wrong?" Tifa asked.

Jacquiline set her pen down. "Well, it's such an important part of the whole process, I would think the both of you would want a say."

Tifa thought for a moment. I guess I would want to know who the person signing my death sentence is, she thought. "You're right," she finally said. "I'll talk to Rufus about it, and I'll get back to you."

"Wonderful," Jacquiline said with a smile. "I believe our time is over, Miss Lockhart." She stood and walked around the desk to shake hands with Tifa. "It was great meeting you, and I look forward to helping you with your wedding."

"Thanks so much," Tifa said. "It was nice meeting you, too."

Tifa made her way out, the situation slowly washing over her. This was for real. This marriage was happening, whether she wanted it or not. It was out of her control now.

Yuffie was standing over a raised marble platform in the lobby, eyes wide and shining like a child's. Orange koi swam in a small oval pond with shimmering rocks at the bottom and flowers floating along the surface.

"Yuffie?" Tifa asked, stepping up to her. "You ready to go?"

Yuffie stood up straight. "It's over already?" she asked. "That was fast."

Actually, Tifa had been in there for nearly a half hour since Yuffie had left the room. She must've been pretty enamored by those fish for time to fly.

"Yeah," she said instead. "It went by pretty quick. Let's get back."

"Okay!" Yuffie chirped, bouncing on her heels and strutting toward the door.

Tifa followed at a close distance, anxious to leave. The longer she stayed in there, the more she felt cornered, trapped. The doors opened and the crisp, fresh air hit her face and blew her hair back with the promise of autumn, and Tifa breathed a sigh. She needed to get her mind off of all this.

"Yuffie?"

Yuffie turned to her. "Yeah? What's up?"

Tifa paused for a moment, looking the young ninja directly in the eyes. "Let's get drunk."

Rufus ShinRa shut his bedroom door behind him and heaved a sigh, running a hand through his hair. His feet dragged all the way to the back corner of his room and he fell on his bed face-first, his body soon buried among too many pillows and blankets that were too thick. He was too tired to toss them on the floor, instead focusing on breathing.

He felt Dark Nation climb onto the bed and walk next to him. The Guard Hound let out a small whine and nuzzled his face.

Rufus mumbled into the sheets and patted the spot on his bed next to him, and the hound lay down and curled up beside him. Exhaling, Rufus lifted his head and rested his chin on the overfluffed pillow in front of him.

These moments were strange for him. There was always work to be done, things to do, places to be and people to talk to, especially now that the ShinRa Electric Power Company had fallen. It was so much harder to build a company than to maintain one. And the stress of it all was taking its toll on his mind and body, not to mention his sleeping habits.

But these moments, just laying in bed, his hound at his side, and listening to nothing but the air conditioning hum in the background… A part of him itched to be working, but as wave after wave of fatigue poured over him, he buried that part underneath his content to finally not be moving.

"All of this, and a marriage as well," he muttered, as if anyone could hear him. Dark Nation's ears perked up, but otherwise the hound lay still. He brought his arms up and crossed them, resting his chin on his forearms. "It sucks the life out of me. I'll stand dead at the altar."

The hound opened its eyes and whined again, darting its pink tongue out to lick its master's cheek. Rufus let the smallest grin touch his lips and a tiny laugh bubbled forth. He playfully pushed the hound's large, dark head away and rolled onto his back, staring at the ceiling. Dark Nation moved forward and rested his jaw on his master's chest, wagging its tail.

Rufus absentmindedly stroked the hound's fur, searching the ceiling as if for answers. "She can't be my wife for long, you know," he said. "Well, long enough that the public approves, but I'll have to be rid of her eventually."

Dark Nation yawned, stretching its legs, and nestled next to him. Rufus leaned back into the pillows, sat back up and tossed all but two on the ground, then lay back down. What would make the woman leave? He couldn't end it – it would look terrible on him in the eye of the public. He needed to make it so he won their sympathy, even without her in his life. Because really, how long could he keep up this love charade with a woman like that? No class, all brawn; not a feminine, delicate bone in her body.

How did couples normally break up? He certainly wasn't the expert. Normally he just got bored with a relationship, and sent them a message and perhaps some chocolates if he was particularly fond of them, and cease communication from then on. But a marriage… It would have to be something serious.

The idea hit him so hard he shot out of bed, disturbing the sleeping hound beside him.

"Of course," he whispered, amazed at how he hadn't seen it earlier. The perfect solution.

And then the public would hate her, and love him instead. And he would have everything. And she would go back with nothing.