DISCLAIMED: 02/26/09

Previously: After a family dinner with Godo and his fiancé Lina, Yuffie's childhood nanny, Rufus and Yuffie attend the ongoing New Year festival in Wutai together. After succumbing to their baser instincts on the Masters Pagoda, they spend the night together doing very little sleeping in Rufus' guest house.

Chapter 六

Yuffie woke three hours later to Rufus' PHS. Rolling over she simply looked at the offensive handheld device, thinking Rufus was certainly odd for having chosen the Death March for his ringtone. She hit Rufus in the chest with the back of her palm, but all he did was groan and wrap his arm around hers. Huffing, she jerked her arm away so she could answer his damn phone.

"HmmMph." She groaned in greeting.

"Yo, boss?" came Reno's drawl, making Yuffie wish to reach though the mouthpiece and rip out his vocal cords. "Those island freaks really sharpened your vocal skills, yo. Anyway, you seal the deal yet? Cause, Tetras is gettin' a little impatient. Says he's going to take the deal with Sandir if you can't acquire the island territory."

Yuffie was frowning. She wasn't sure if she'd heard right… Seal the deal? Acquire the island territory? Was Rufus…courting her to make a business deal?

A chill settled over her. She nearly dropped the phone, before she came to her senses.

Lifting the phone to her mouth, she said, "Sorry, he won't be shanghaiing any princesses into contract marriages today." And she hung-up.

Rufus jerked fully awake as Yuffie stood abruptly. He blinked watching her move to the window before she opened it and chucked what looked like his phone as hard as she could at the ground below.

He looked at her in askance as she stalked around the room gathering her clothes and putting them on.

"Yuffie, wha—"

"Don't talk to me," she cut him off, pulling her dress over her head.

Standing, Rufus moved after her, grabbing her arms and turning her to face him.

"What's going on?" he asked, trying to remain calm.

Yuffie looked at him, hurt and disappointment filling her dove grey eyes.

"Who's Tetras?" she asked, an edge to her voice.

Rufus let her go, his hands dropping to his sides. Straightening, he lowered his gaze slightly. Yuffie's heart broke into a million little pieces as she saw the contrition in his eyes.

She turned away, a sob nearly escaping her. Rufus reached out to her, but she jerked away. Grabbing her boots, she quickly ran out of the house, past Tseng and Elena outside the door, ignoring Elena's cry.

Rufus watched her go from the window. He shut his eyes letting out a deep sigh. "Fuck…"

Yuffie spent the day crying in Yumiko's lap. Shuji was helping his father all day and didn't come around till evening. Being uncharacteristically protective, Shuji immediately took off to 'talk' to Rufus.

Sick of blubbering – over Rufus Shinra of all people – she grabbed her weapon and materia and despite Yumiko's protests, took off for the Da Chao mountain.

Not knowing what to do, Yumiko ran to find Shuji. She knew Yuffie was a world-class, experienced fighter, but she wasn't in her right mind. One careless move and no more Princess Yuffie. And besides not wanting her friend to get hurt, she didn't think she could tell her mom that the heir of the Wutainese throne died on her watch.

She skidded to the side as she took a shortcut to the house that Rufus stayed in. Seeing Shuji arguing with Shinra's bodyguards, she ran up to them. Stepping in between the two men, she held up her hands.

"Hold it!" she commanded.

The men halted for the moment but stared each other down.

"Yuffie's gone."

Shuji looked down at her a frown creasing his forehead. The front door opened quietly as Rufus stepped out. Tseng and Elena edged closer together to block him.

"What do you mean 'gone'? Where'd she go?" Shuji asked.

"She grabbed her weapon and headed for the Da Chao."

"Chikusho," Shuji swore. He turned to go.

"I'll go," Rufus stepped forward, causing Shuji to turn.

Shuji glared at him. "I think you've done enough."

"Please." Rufus said. "It's my fault. I need to fix this."

Shuji stared at him hard for a long moment. Finally, "If you are not back in an hour, I'm coming to find both of you."

Rufus nodded. "Fair enough."

Shuji snorted. "Nothing about this fair. Yuffie is the strongest person I know and been given the raw deal all her life, princess or not. That you would use her for personal gain is pathetic. Especially after what your father did to us."

Rufus bowed his head. "I have no excuse except that not all is what it seems. I love Yuffie. I have for ten years. That I am finally able to tell her coincides with a very profitable business deal is merely that – a coincidence."

Shuji didn't say anything, but he continued to glare.

Rufus turned and grabbed his rifle from the cabinet in the entryway, before heading out past the crowd.

Tseng and Elena followed, leaving Shuji and Yumiko standing on the porch.

Yumiko reached out and touched Shuji's arm tentatively, never having seen him this angry. "Do you think she'll be alright?"

Shuji relaxed slightly, turning to her. "Yeah. Yuffie's tough. I'd be more worried about him."

Yumiko looked back out to where Rufus and his guards disappeared, silently agreeing.

Yuffie knew it was stupid. First thing you learned in training was never to attack in anger. Well, she was pissed and she wanted something to beat the shit out of, imminent danger be damned. After slicing through the tenth monster, she turned to hand to hand combat, spinning and kicking before slashing down with the killing strike.

Encountering an aero monster, she called upon Freeze to make it drop like a rock before her so she could repeat the process. She fought and she fought, and though her anger waned a bit, the hurt did not. She didn't know why she was so upset really. They'd only become 'involved' in the past two days.

However, the connection and immediate heat she'd felt with him had felt so…perfect. She should have known something was wrong – though she hadn't been given the chance really. Who knew Rufus Shinra could be so unbelievably amazing in bed. Honestly, his playful manner with her was a delightful shock. Not that she hadn't enjoyed jibing him for the enormous stick up his bum, but seeing the man under the millions of layers of clothing, literally and metaphorically, had been titillating to say the least.

The point was that in such a short amount of time, she could actually see herself with him, ten years down the road, maybe more. She could only gallivant around the continents for so long and the thought of sharing herself with someone…

She huffed in exasperation. There was no point in continuing down that road. She wasn't going to marry someone who wanted her for her land. Hell, she was prepared to kill or maim anyone who did plan to. Which was why she was out here now, slaughtering the fiends that roamed her lands.

Bringing down yet another fiend, she sensed another behind her and whipped around with her shuriken. It was shot out of her hand. She blinked through the rain, seeing the smoking pistol of Tseng aimed at her. He stood next to Elena and at their center, striding towards her was the man she was relearning to hate.

Yuffie watched him toss his rifle aside, Elena catching it precariously as she juggled her own weapon. Rufus bore down on her and she stubbornly held her ground.

When he was close enough to hear her over the rain, she practically growled.

"Get the fuck away from me, Shinra."

He blinked at her use of his last name but that was all he did as he continued until he was standing directly before her.

"Yuffie," his gaze had softened slightly, searching her gaze.

She gave him nothing. "I mean it."

"You won't let me explain." He said it flatly.

Her silence said it all. Then the poking started. Jabbing him in the chest, she punctuated each phrase as she backed him up.

"You can take your corporate loving, back-seat dealing, conniving, scotch-guarded suit wearing ass back to your self-important high-rise tower and skulk for another ten years for someone that actually wants to be used for their inheritance."

He stumbled over a rock with her last poke and fell straight onto his bum. Tseng and Elena rushed over to help him up, but he raised a hand to halt them.

Yuffie stared down at him, her lip curled in a cold sneer. "Don't worry. That's the last time you'll have your perfect appearance marred by me."

Stalking past him, she left him to his bodyguards. Descending the mountain, she half-expected him to run after her. He didn't. She felt the pieces of her already tattered heart, sever even more.

Yuffie left her homeland. Yumiko and Shuji begged her to stay, at least till the New Year like planned, but she couldn't stay. She told them to apologize to Lina for her, but she was going to go do some thinking.

Knowing the only place in the world she could stand being, she headed for Cosmo Canyon. Not up for making small talk with the locals, she slipped into the Cosmo tower unnoticed and surprised Red when he came in from patrolling to find her laying on his futon.

Her wide grey eyes stared blankly out at him as he approached.

"Yuffie?"

She blinked.

"Hey, Red."

He frowned. "What are you doing here? I thought you were staying at home for the new year?"

Her eyes closed then as if in pain, startling him. As he moved forward, she turned her face into the cushion as shudders overtook her. Alarmed, he nuzzled her hair. She patted his nose, but continued sobbing.

Leaping up onto the futon, he settled next her, resting his face against hers, silently comforting. Sure enough, she reached out with an arm to wrap around his neck, burying her face in his fur as she cried her heart out.

When she finally subsided and slept for a while, Red patiently waited as she opened her reddened eyes. She apologized for snotting all over his fur, which he ignored and asked what happened. Bitterly, she told him. Red listened with slowly rising ire. He'd known of Rufus' infatuation with his friend for years, having spoken to Reeve about it. It had led to a long discussion of human mating habits and why the males were so inept at it. Reeve hadn't been able to shed any reasonable light on it for him.

Sighing, he still did not understand what Rufus had hoped to achieve. He had no real homeland he held great affection for, or responsibility to, like Red did, which should make his decision to marry have to come with a combined price of land. The only thing he could think of was that this deal of his was what finally gave him the push to do something about his feelings. But if that was indeed the case, he obviously overestimated his appeal or Yuffie's ability to see reason.

Red spent the next few months fielding correspondence from Rufus and her father, Godo and watching Yuffie tear it up. She'd permanently turned off her PHS – a fact that did not give him any comfort as she took off through the valley at all hours of the night and day.

He'd spoken with Reeve after he failed to reach Yuffie after the new year and what happened between her and the Shinra President spread through the AVALANCHE line.

First Barret barged into the building, demanding to see, "Yer dickhead of a president!" and had to be subdued by the entire Turk force and some of their trainees.

Then Cid flew Shera overhead, and while his second in command took the controls, he repelled down to the roof and crashed through the president's expansive glass window. Luckily for Rufus, he was in meetings on the other side of the building and saved himself the glass shard storm. But Cid was a smoke-stack on a mission and stalked through the halls, protected by Big Guard from bullets and using his lance to mow a path to the conference room.

Rufus' executive staff scattered as the door burst open and Cid rounded the large table to the slick-haired president. To the other man's credit, he did stand and cast his own protection, but Cid wasn't there to appreciate his fighting skill, he was there to kick his ass.

Snarling, he forced the president up against the wall of the room, his lance pressing into his throat.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?" he growled. "You give your precious millions away and play with the natives every now and then and you think that gives you the right to fuck," he punctuated the curse by slamming his head back against the wall, "around with the brat?"

Cid's protect had worn off by then and arms grabbed him, pulling him back. However, so was Rufus' Guard diminishing and Cid was still fueled with adrenaline. Breaking free of the Turks, Cid wheeled back and slugged Rufus across the face. He watched with grim satisfaction as the man fell back against the wall, covering his face and blinking rapidly.

Arms grabbed him again and this time Cid didn't fight it. He watched as Rufus straightened, shrugging off help from his advisors. Rubbing his nose, the president coughed.

"Suppose I deserved that." Waving to his guards, he said, "Let him go."

Rude didn't like that idea. "Sir?"

"He is not here to do anything other than what should be done. Release him."

Reluctantly, the Turks let him go. Cid was glaring at the president coldly. Stepping towards him, he felt the Turks tense next to him, but he didn't go any further than that.

"Yuffie may be a lot of things – not all good," Cid said, his voice gravelly with menace, "But she deserves a helluva a lot better than anything you could ever give her."

With that, he kicked his weapon, which had fallen aside in the scuffle, up into his hand and stalked out.

Cloud drove Fenrir directly into Rufus' mansion, located on the coast outside of Midgar. The man had taken to conducting business from there after the first two attacks, knowing there were five more AVALANCHE members he'd yet to hear from. His front gate security however was no match for the savior of the world twice over.

To make matters worse, it was extremely early and Rufus had just gotten out of his bath. Wearing nothing but a towel and facing down a homicidal biker with a huge flatblade was not the most ideal of situations.

For their part, Tseng, Elena, Reno and Rude all appeared in his defense, but with an astonishing wave of his hand, Cloud used Aero3 to blow them back out of the doorway and slam the door shut behind them.

"I don't care what your reasons are. Stay away from Yuffie," the spiky haired blond practically skewered the man with his gaze. "Your family has done enough to her and her people. Nothing you have done or will do can change the fact that you are not even worthy to breath the same air as her," he bit out the words. "The best thing you could've done for her is stayed dead after Weapon."

Rufus gulped carefully, fully aware of the blade at his adam's apple, as Cloud stared him down. After the longest moments of his life, The blade was removed as Cloud stepped back.

"Vincent hasn't heard about this," he said almost casually. "Better he doesn't, or Chaos won't stop at your digits, which is what I'll take if you don't leave her alone."

Cloud threw open the door, stalking past the passed out Turks as he left. Rufus finally drew a full breath as he heard Fenrir revved up and screeching back out the front door. Sighing, Rufus decided to take action. He was going to be useless if he didn't face this mess head on and told his bodyguards as he revived them to make ready for a trip into Edge.

-

As soon as he was dressed and the car was ready, he was headed for the WRO head quarters. His assistant called ahead to make sure Reeve Tuesti was there and confirmed it.

Flanked by all four Turks, he strode down to the department of Research and Engineering. The face and founder of the World Regenesis Organization was bent over what looked to be a hovercraft, welding. His assistant caught his attention and he paused looking up as he cut the flame and lifted his face mask. His eyes turned to Rufus' and they immediately turned cold.

Turning away, Reeve set down his blow-torch and mask.

"Shinra. To what do I owe this unsolicited and highly unwanted visit," Reeve spoke, his tone as cool as Rufus had ever heard the man.

"Well, after three visits from your less than enthused comrades where I narrowly kept my head, I thought it'd best to get this over with."

Reeve lifted a brow. "You do not wish to plead your side?"

Rufus made a noise of frustration, the first to show how upset he actually was by everything that happened. "I was a fool. Plain and simple."

Reeve looked at him then, polishing what looked to be a scalpel. Or a really small knife. He was nodding. "Yes, you were. Though, I think that a grave understatement."

Rufus nodded. "So I've come to realize."

Reeve pursed his lips then, becoming the objective scientist. Punctuating his words with the point of his box cutter, he said, "Well. What exactly were you thinking? That is the question. I mean, to play with the emotions of possibly the most qualified woman in the world to slit your throat before Beavis and Butthead there even realized she was in the vicinity," he said gesturing lazily to Rude and Reno respectively, "whose compatriots would happily do so without any of the same finesse but with definitely more zeal is most likened to suicide." Reeve's eyes looked honestly concerned then. "I have told you to talk to me if you feel the need…"

Rufus sighed impatiently then and ordered his guards out. Tseng protested but Rufus was adamant and the dark-haired man left with a disgruntled Rude and Reno still smarting at Reeve's comment.

"I am not suicidal," Rufus spoke as soon as they were alone. "I simply did not think everything through. By gods, man—" He paused, his hands flexing in his black gloves as he seemed to fight for control over his emotions. Reeve tilted his head, never having seen the younger man like this before. Sighing, Rufus met the other man's eyes. "I did not expect her to…to show me any regard. The deal was negotiated by my advisors and I scoffed at it. I knew Yuffie was not the type to marry through some contract. But my advisors had already arranged an appearance for me at the New Year's festival and…well, I wanted to see her. The temptation was too great."

Reeve was enraptured. This was a side of the quiet young president he did not think existed. He leaned back on his work table, letting the blond man talk.

"I planned to tell her of the bogus deal and how I did not expect her to honor it. However, I was sidetracked. She was… And I was…" he sighed. "One thing led to another and then I didn't get a chance to before she found out on her own."

"And…you didn't think to explain this to her?"

Rufus sent him a cold self-effacing look. "Do you really think if she'd let me, she'd have believed me?"

Reeve's upper lip pursed. "No, I suppose not."

"It is my fault anyway," Rufus continued, pacing. "She was…amazing. I tried to keep control of the situation but it had been a long time and she is rather persistent and… I admit, I could have told her before, but she responded so well in my company, I didn't wish anything to spoil it."

Reeve felt dumbfounded as he was now presented with this rambling, nearly incoherent side of his business partner and came to a horrific realization. Under the arrogant cool bravado and quiet demeanor, Rufus Shinra was human. And not just any human, but a man in love.

"Well, I'm afraid you've dug yourself quite the hole," Reeve lamented, feeling somewhat sorry for the other man.

Rufus gave a self-deprecating laugh. "You think."

"And of all the heroines to choose," Reeve added, shaking his head.

Rufus gritted his teeth. "Obviously, I know. I have had three enraged former terrorists to visit me in the past week to drill it into my head. I am aware."

"Well, you should've had some idea beforehand." Reeve held up a hand before Rufus could say anything. "I know. You underestimated your appeal to the headstrong ninja princess. The question now is what are you going to about it?"

Rufus crossed his arms. "Your former associates have left me little choice in the matter."

Reeve snorted, waving his hand. "Well, if you can't stand up to her 'big brothers' as it were, then you don't deserve her in the first place."

"I came to confront you," Rufus spoke in his defense, sounding less and less like his usual self.

"Oh, aye. With four of your most loyal bodyguards flanking you," Reeve smirked.

Rufus scowled.

Reeve laughed it off. "Look, she's not going to accept this corporate persona of yours, who's ready to make a deal, regardless of who it hurts."

Rufus frowned. "What are you saying?"

"I'm saying you have to make the grand gesture. Show her that you are not happy as you are, without her. I mean, honestly, surrounded by your flunkies and guard goons, are you content? Is that what you want for the rest of your life? Simply watching the woman you want most from afar?"

Rufus looked away at that, thinking. Reeve sighed. "Maybe you should take a holiday. Think things through a bit. I—"

"You are right," Rufus interrupted him, his eyes faraway. Reeve frowned as the other man finally looked at him. "I am not happy. All of you are right. There is nothing I can do can ever make up for what my father and I did to this world. All anyone will ever seen me as is a suit." His eyes were lit with purpose. It perplexed Reeve all to hell. "Reeve, I know you are far too loaded down with obligations and responsibilities or I'd nominate you. Actually, the job is yours if you wish to find someone to take your place."

Reeve blinked rapidly, not comprehending. "I beg your pardon?"

Rufus shook his head. "Forgive me. I'm not making sense. I would offer you my share of the company. I would continue to fund it of course but as an entirely silent investor. You would take the reigns as President and all that entails."

Reeve was looking akin to a fish out of water at the moment. He worked his jaw, trying to force out words, anything really, intelligible or not.

"…Are you serious? I mean, maybe you should think about this—"

But Rufus was shaking his head. "I am thinking. For once, I am thinking very clearly. Will you accept?"

Reeve slumped, the weight of such a decision heavy on his shoulders.

"If not, I would ask you to find one in the organization you would think could be trusted and most suited to the task. I would not wish to leave you with someone you do not care for in such a lucrative position after I leave."

Reeve nodded numbly. "I…"

That seemed to be all Rufus could get out of the man for the moment, so he told him to give him a call when he'd decided. Rufus left the WRO headquarters feeling lighter than he'd ever felt. If only his heart could be repaired as easily.

-

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A/N: So sorry for that ridiculously prolonged absence in this story. I think there will be one, possibly two more chapters left, but I do plan to finish this one *knocks on wood* Thanks to everyone who's favourited, story alerted, or better yet reviewed. You all rock. I only write stories when there aren't enough to just sit there and read to my heart's content, so hopefully this'll inspire the Ruffie in all you writers out there ;D

Do click and tell me what you think. I've always wanted to write what would happen when you royally ticked off the AVALANCHE crew post-Gaia crises. ;P I have to say, Rufus took it like a trooper. R&R, thanks!