It really should not have bothered her at all. Then again, Elena lived with two of the most difficult men on Gaia. First, there was Reno. Yes, he was her senior and she accepted that, most of the time, but he seemed to live only to tease and irritate her. Ever since she first became a Turk he was always pestering her about something. Next, there was Rufus Shinra. Even worse than Reno, he was her absolute superior. On top of that, he had taken up the habit of teasing her too. The only difference when Reno did it and when he did it, Reno did it out of camaraderie, she hoped anyways, while she had no idea about Rufus.

The other two, Tseng and Rude, were usually spectators, so she never grew that irritated with them. Well, there were sometimes she became annoyed with Rude since he rarely spoke, hid behind those sunglasses, and was usually right beside Reno. Tseng was, well, in her mind, Tseng was practically perfect. He was considerate and polite to her, plus, he took his job seriously and was good at keeping the terrible threesome in check.

Thinking about it caused her to growl into her pillow and when she finally forced her body to be relaxed, she suddenly felt exhausted. While dealing with her fellow Turks was tiresome, she felt as if it were out of the ordinary for her to feel this tired. As she turned herself onto her back, Elena felt her head sink into her pillow and she reveled in how soft and cool to the touch it was. Relaxing into it, she let her eyes close and before she knew it, she was fast asleep.

"Yo, Elena, ya need anythin' from the,"

When Reno walked into Elena's room, without knocking of course, he saw her lying sprawled on her back. Her mouth was slightly parted and a small trail of drool was gathering at the corner of her mouth. He chuckled softly to himself and pulled out his PHS. Clicking it over to camera mode, he quickly snapped a picture and saved it to his blackmail collection. Snapping it shut, he slipped it back into his jacket and quietly walked out of her room, shutting the door behind him.

"I think we overdid it. Rookie's completely out of it."

Reno shrugged, yet was still smirking, when he entered the main living room. Tseng shook his head as he finished scribbling a list down on paper. After writing the last item, he looked the list over again, going through all the items they could ever need, before handing the list to Reno.

"Instead of harassing your colleagues, go to the store."

"Why me?"

At that question, Tseng immediately shot him a withering glare that told him to do it just because he was ordered to do it. Reno sighed dramatically and threw his arms in the air.

"Fine. I give up. I'll get the damn groceries."

He stuffed the list into his pocket and was about to open the door when he was stopped by Rufus.

"I'm going too."

"Eh?"

Reno, understandingly, was surprised, as were Tseng and Rude. Rufus Shinra never went out to get his own groceries. But lo and behold, the man was standing with his long, immaculately white coat looking impatiently at Reno.

"What are you waiting for? Move."

The clipped command was more than enough to jolt Reno out of his confused stupor. He was going to say something, but then decided against it. It was useless to talk about it. Rufus did what Rufus wanted to do and Reno had to obey.

Tseng was about to object about Rufus going out to such a public and crowded place, but when he thought about it, more damage would be done to others rather than Rufus, especially when Reno was with him. Actually, now that he thought about it, maybe he should send Rude to keep an eye on them. However, before he could come to a satisfactory conclusion, Tseng heard the front door slam shut. Most likely, Rufus and Reno picked up on Tseng's train of thought and rushed off before he could do anything. Feeling a slight headache approaching, he pinched the bridge of his nose in an attempt to keep it at bay. Taking a deep sigh, he looked across from where he was standing and saw Rude fidget with the knot of his tie. Though his expression was neutral as always, Tseng had known Rude long enough to know that habit. It meant he was trying to hide an emotion he usually kept in check. There was a slight twitch at the corner of his mouth indicating his attempt to not laugh.

Meanwhile, right outside the door, Reno was laughing aloud while Rufus just chuckled. Elena was not the only one he made into a target. Clamping down on their entertainment, the two of them hurried to where the helicopter was kept. It would not be any good if Tseng heard them laughing outside and came out to investigate.

Reno hopped into the pilot's seat while Rufus elegantly plopped himself into the co-pilot's seat. A small sideways glance from Reno caused Rufus to cock an eyebrow.

"Last time I checked, Tseng was Mother, not you."

This caused Reno to chuckle and start the engine. Both he and Rufus slipped on the headsets.

"Pfft. Whatever, just keep yer seatbelt on…and don't tell Mother…"

There was another brief wave of chuckling from the two of them before the engine was warmed up sufficiently and the blades of the helicopter whirred to life. The vehicle then began its gradual ascension until Reno deemed it high enough to begin flying.

Rufus sat quietly and stared out of the window. Dry, barren dirt went on for miles with the only vegetation an occasional shrub or weed. It really was not the most fascinating thing he could be looking at. Then again, there was not anything else of real interest either. He had been in helicopters enough times to not care about what was going on with them and when he glanced over at Reno, he softly shook his head. Reno was slouched in his seat, one hand casually resting on the cyclic, the other using the collective as an armrest. His head bobbed up and down to a tune only he could hear as he paid as little attention as he could in piloting the aircraft.

"I know I'm hot, but really sir, you shouldn't be so obvious in your staring."

A loud snort of disbelief came from Rufus as he crossed his arms and glared sideways at Reno.

"I'm going to kill you tonight."

Despite the chilling and threatening comment, Reno just laughed and adjusted his position in his seat.

"Sure thing. Just make it epic."

Rufus rolled his eyes at Reno who was now smirking. It was a fine line they played with and Rufus wondered if Reno even knew if he was always close to crossing it. As he pondered what ways he would be able to give Reno an epic death, or from his perspective, an epic kill, his mind wandered back to the days when ShinRa was in complete control and his biggest concern was how to displace his dominating father.

He never cared for the man whom he was forced to call "Father." From what he understood, not too many other people felt differently. Hated by everybody, but greatly influential, Rufus's father remained in power until Sephiroth saw to his demise. While surprising, it was hardly a sad day for anybody, especially Rufus. For as long as he could remember, Rufus had always been plotting ways to take over and gain that intoxicating feeling of having power over other people's lives. Of course, in his youth he made a few, and very rare, mistakes resulting in a chain reaction of events that would forever shape the planet. But in retrospect, everything did eventually work out to his benefit. Sure, there were more difficulties than he would have liked, but in the end, Rufus remained in power; even if it was a more subtle kind.

By secretly funding Reeve, he was keeping good to his claim of having changed his ways while at the same time, retaining his power. Just because he changed his original plans did not mean that Rufus Shinra was content with how things were. Change was going to happen and he was going to be the force behind it all.

"Yo, yo, yo!"

An annoyed pair of blue eyes locked onto Reno who was being a noisy nuisance. He was currently poking Rufus in the shoulder repeatedly causing him to growl in irritation.

"Keep it up and I will cut your hand off."

"Sheesh, overkill much? Besides, I was trying to tell you we'd be landing soon. Hmph, must be PMSing or something."

Despite the annoyed tone of voice, Reno still had a smirk in place. Rufus reached over and began to painfully yank Reno's hair.

"I heard that."

"Let go, let go! I'm going to crash! Sorry, sorry, sorry!"

Rufus let go of Reno's hair with a triumphant smirk and crossed his arms. No further words were shared between the two of them as the city of Edge came into view. Reno easily guided the helicopter to the outskirts of the city while ruefully rubbing his head where Rufus so meanly pulled his precious locks of red hair. Grumbling to himself, Reno finally paid attention to what he was doing. He carefully landed the aircraft and proceeded to shut down the motor. While he made sure everything was set, Rufus elegantly hopped out of the helicopter and looked around.

They landed at the outskirts of Edge and were greeted by the city of steel and ruins. The ruins were nothing but leftovers of a bygone city and the damage caused by a certain trio of clones. Even those three clones were shadows of the past that refused to stay in the past. Rufus idly wondered what the city would be like in a few years as it was finally completed. With any luck and no more mass destructions, it would soon rival Midgar except now, everybody could see the sun. While Rufus was introspectively assessing the city, Reno jumped out of the helicopter as well and joined Rufus in staring at the city. However, Reno had no clue as to why he was staring at it.

"What are we staring at?"

"Nothing. Let's go."

He gave no other explanation as he started forward with a determined step. Reno just shrugged and followed. Rufus was not one to share his thoughts readily with others, so it was not a surprising reaction. He just obediently followed behind at a more leisurely pace while still keeping a look out for any suspicious activity. Not that there was much to worry about, it would still look bad if he let his boss die. He would never hear the end of it from Tseng.

"Do you even know where you're going?"

Reno kept quiet for a while; he wanted to make sure before asking. However, he had the distinct feeling of being lost. He thought it best to ask Rufus, even with the threat of being shot, if he knew where he was going. Reno did not want to make a shopping trip into a day long event. Stopping dead in his tracks, Rufus kept his back turned to his subordinate who was currently being a nuisance.

"Of course."

With that, he kept walking proudly forward expecting Reno to follow right behind. He subtly looked around as he walked around, not really recognizing a whole lot. After the WEAPON incident, Rufus did not have much of a chance to see the world outside of Healin Lodge. When he had finally been in the city, he did not have the time to look around since he was too busy falling off buildings. Now that he was in Edge for no other reason than that he wanted to, Rufus Shinra had no idea where he was. However, he was not going to give Reno the pleasure of knowing that. Then again, from the questions he was now asking, there was a very good chance he knew.

"Sir, if we take too long, Momma Tseng is going to blow a gasket."

Making sure to not actually accuse Rufus of being lost, Reno carefully chose his words in an attempt to be allowed to lead the way. Rufus just snorted and kept walking. The only difference now, he was walking slower. Reno remained a short distance behind, but was able to turn when he wanted, and as a result, Rufus was indirectly led around. Thus, he still appeared to be the one leading the way. It was good for both of them that neither said anything further or indicated any knowing of what they were doing. After backtracking a couple of blocks and making a few different turns, they finally arrived at the grocery store.

"Right. I'm just going to grab this crap and we can head out…Do I need to keep you in my sight?"

Rufus made a "hmph" noise and walked off to no particular location. Reno shrugged and grabbed a shopping cart. Pulling out the list, he cast one last glance at Rufus before looking for the first item on the list.

Meanwhile, back at Healin Lodge, Elena was beginning to wake up. She lazily blinked the sleep from her eyes and rubbed the back of her hand against her mouth. She was fairly disgusted with the feeling of dried slobber. Hoping that nobody, especially not Tseng or Rufus, saw her, Elena sat up quickly and ran to the bathroom. Turning on the sink faucet, she splashed some water on her face and dried it off with a towel. As she examined herself in the mirror, Elena became acutely aware of a small cramp beginning to form in her lower abdomen. Elena let out a deep sigh and crouched down to the lower cupboards. Opening the door, she suddenly felt a feeling of dread. Carelessly scrambling around underneath, Elena moaned aloud. There was a reason she wanted to do the shopping this week. Speaking of shopping, it was around the time they always went grocery shopping. Who was grocery shopping right now?

"Elena? Are you alright?"

Elena started when she heard a soft knock and Tseng's voice on the other side. However, her head came in contact with the cupboard with a thud. She rubbed her head and assured her superior she was perfectly fine. When she heard Tseng reluctantly agree and leave, Elena plopped on the floor and had a very strong urge to cry. She truly did hate her hormones. Despite it all though, she was a Turk and should act like one. Sucking up the dull throb in her head and the growing ache in her abdomen, Elena freshened herself up and made use of much of the toilet paper in the bathroom before opening the door and quietly sneaking back to her room. On her way, she had listened to the main living room and heard Tseng quietly talking. It sounded like he was talking to himself, but Elena knew that meant Rude was his conversation partner. That meant Reno was out. It could have been worse. Of course, she would probably be made fun of it later, but at least it was the one person who was on a more personal level.

Seeing as it was absolutely necessary she get the things she needed, Elena pulled out her PHS and hit the speed dial key for Reno. It rang a couple of times before she heard somebody pick up on the other end.

"Hello Elena."

Unable to speak, or even move, Elena just held the PHS up to her ear and her mouth hung wide open. She was positive she dialed for Reno, so there would be no reason Rufus Shinra of all people would be answering Reno's PHS. The silence was deafening, for Elena at least.

Rufus, on the other hand, was trying to figure out why there was no sound coming from the other end. Was it really so surprising? Then again, he supposed Elena was not expecting her employer to be in possession of her colleague's PHS.

"Are you still alive?"

There was a muffled noise on the other end before Elena's shaky voice came on.

"S-sir! I wasn't expecting you…Eeh, where's Reno?"

"Somewhere…getting groceries."

Rufus cocked an eyebrow when he heard Elena gasp as if taken aback.

"Do you mean Reno left you alone, sir?!"

"I'm not a child, Elena."

Just as he anticipated, Elena's flustered voice loudly, and rapidly attempted to explain herself.

"Oh, t-that's not what I meant, sir! I just mean it's important to…"

He just let her go on and on for a while. Rufus knew exactly what she meant, but he felt like it was as good an opportunity to tease her since Reno ran off somewhere. Not that he was concerned about his well being or Reno's. He was just annoyed that he could not find Reno in a single grocery store. However, it gave him enough time to look around and grab a few snacks that he was never allowed to eat as a child. Reno always said a little processed sugar never hurt anybody. So, with that in his mind, Rufus had been trying to find Reno so he did not have to carry his own things anymore. Only at one point did he see Reno, and that was because Reno found him to give him part of the list to try and make things go faster. In the process though, he dropped his PHS and was gone before Rufus could berate him for his careless habits. So, he was now in possession of Reno's PHS. Turned out, it was a lucky break. He now gets to pester Elena.

"Regardless," Rufus interrupted her mid-ramble with his usual no-nonsense tone of voice. "What is the purpose of your call?"

Once more, there was an awkward silence on the opposite end of the line. Rufus was once more, very confused as to why that was such a difficult question. What did she want to tell Reno that she would not tell him? He was her superior and as such he has every right to know what she wanted.

"Elena."

Just to show he meant business, Rufus made sure to use his most authoritative voice. That way, there was no chance she would not tell him. Had he not been so concerned about why she just would not tell him anything, he would have thought about it might be awkward to just talk with somebody who had the power to terminate a life on a whim. Of course, everything made more sense later on and in retrospect. But at the moment, he was satisfied when she began talking again.

"Well you see, it's just that I…need some things at the store and um…yeah…that's all…"

"What do you need?"

Now this was just getting tedious. Rufus was all for efficiency and Elena's reluctance was not being efficient. He heard dramatic groaning on the other end and became even more curious as to what Elena was too embarrassed to tell him.

And of course, Elena was truly embarrassed. She was not deaf and could easily hear the growing irritation in Rufus' voice. It was obvious she was annoying him with her sputtering rambling, but it was not really her fault. It was all Reno's fault for not having his phone with him. Now she had to deal with Rufus Shinra of all people. It was bad enough when she first had to rely on "one of the guys" to get her the necessary feminine products, it would kill her to tell her boss to go get them for her. Technically, she had only asked Reno because he was her last resort and he was the closest thing to a brother she had ever had. At the moment, she would have gladly been telling this to Rude, but of course, Rude was in the same place as she was and as far away from the grocery store as they could be.

Deciding that she had been thinking to herself too long, Elena took a deep breath and bit the bullet. There was no reason for any of it to be personal. She would merely state the items that she needed without any details or awkward, childish phrasing. She was a grown woman and there was no reason to be embarrassed.

"I started my period and I don't have any of the um…You know…those things and um…since you're at the store and all that, I um…what I mean to say is…I need…that stuff…yeah…"

She just sort of trailed off, mentally berating herself for how she must have sounded. Plus, Rufus was completely silent on the other end of the line. There was no telling what Rufus was thinking about her right now.

That was indeed the case. He was currently standing in the middle of a food aisle trying to process, not what Elena wanted, but rather how she explained it. Details were a necessity in their line of work, she should know that, so the fact that she gave him nothing to work with was an annoyance. True, thoroughly examining the feminine products aisle would be awkward, but Rufus was already in a grocery store, how much more awkward could it get? Besides, he was Rufus Shinra; nothing was awkward for him, at least to the visible world. He was just that good.

Still ignoring the various, attempted subtle stares, Rufus strode purposely down the main stretch of the store reading each of the signs labeling the aisles. As he ignored even stranger looks from the other shoppers, he listened as closely as he could to the other end of the line. He had the legitimate concern that Elena passed out from her embarrassment considering how red in the face she becomes. All that blood rushing to the head had to have consequences. However, he still heard forced breathing and imagined her nervously twirling her hair or gnawing at her lip. She was prone to either one and he could easily imagine her doing one or the other.

As he was debating on which of her nervous habits she was currently doing, Rufus glanced over the various boxes. After examining the boxes, he forgot about Elena and was fascinated and confused as to the diverse variety of feminine products. It was a wad of cotton, how could it be this complicated? Concluding that he would be unable to pick something himself, it was best to consult the person who needed the said items.

"Elena, I need details."

When she heard his voice ask her for details like he would any standard assassination mission, Elena banged her head, thankfully, on the mattress of her bed. Her head rebounded up a couple of times before she answered. It was straightforward enough. She just told him the brand she normally got. Of course, his answer was,

"...That still does not help."

Now she was describing the color and words on the box in a clear and succinct enough manner to make it easier on Rufus. However, all she wound up hearing was disbelieving grumbling.

"…Dear Gaia…how many of them can there be?"

Never before had Rufus not been able to efficiently execute a task. He looked high and low and still could not find the box Elena was describing for him. He was now beginning to understand why she wanted to talk to Reno, which led to him wondering how often Reno shopped down this particular aisle. Chances were, Reno already knew what Elena needed and that little thought slightly annoyed him though he could not figure out why. It was an unreasonable thought, to say the least, and he had more pressing concerns. He pushed any unnecessary thoughts aside and was about to ask Elena more logistical questions when he felt a presence standing too close to him. There was only one person who knew how to violate personal space, especially the personal space of Rufus Shinra.

"Rufus…is there something I should know about you?"

Resting on Rufus' shoulder from behind was none other than Reno's head. Rufus swatted at the offending head. Reno smirked triumphantly and glanced amusedly at his superior. Normally, he would have just flagged him down from across the aisle, but when he saw him in the feminine products aisle in serious contemplation that was reserved for grave mission assignments, Reno felt it his duty to investigate up close and personal.

Of course, it was mainly Reno being Reno. He knew exactly why Rufus was standing like he was plotting the world's downfall through tampons. The PHS held to his ear was a dead give away. Not waiting for any type of response from Rufus, Reno reached around Rufus and snatched the PHS from him.

"Yo Elena, congrats on stumpin' our boss. Didn't think ya were the type to tease."

He had to quickly pull the PHS from his ear as the volume on the other end was deafening. The barest hint of an amused smirk from Rufus indicated that her voice was carrying beyond just Reno. When there was finally a break in her embarrassed outrage and vehement blame for leaving his PHS with Rufus, Reno quickly told her to calm down.

"Calm the hell down. I'm just messin' with ya. Don't know why yer getting' all flustered like that. It's just Rufus."

Reno ignored the pointed glare he received from Rufus at that comment and sighed.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Ya still use the same crap ya always do or has it changed, again?"

The confirmation from Elena was good enough for Reno who did not even bother to acknowledge he heard let alone properly say good bye. He just snapped the PHS shut and tucked it into his pocket. With a quick, cursory glance, Reno grabbed a box from the myriad of other pastel colored boxes, placed it on top of the groceries in Rufus' arms and moved a short way down the aisle. With the same speed, he grabbed another, larger package wrapped in brightly colored plastic and also gave it to Rufus. Rufus would protest later about being treated as a pack mule by making sure Reno filled out mountains of paperwork, but for now, he was reading the most recent package.

Was Elena planning on flying away with the pad? What made this one so great? As far as he was concerned, the other package next to it had wings also. Actually, they all had wings of some kind. Of course, while these thoughts were flying through his head, none of his curiosity showed on his features. If anything, people were whispering about how dignified he was about shopping for feminine products and that he must be somewhat thoughtful if he was getting such items for somebody, assumedly female. In all truth, Rufus was more than satisfied with this excursion as he absently listened to their gossiping. Seeing Rufus Shinra in a new, more positive light, would be a great step in establishing his declared change of heart. While he did not plan on achieving it through shopping alone, it turned out Elena's want of feminine products was a benefit. Unlike a certain redhead in need of paperwork punishment, he would have to reward Elena, even though she did not do it intentionally. Perhaps he would give her a day off to herself? Surely, as the only female in the Turks, she must sometimes long for female camaraderie. So a day off would probably be happily and gratefully accepted. That thought alone was enough for him to determine that he would inform her of his decision forthwith upon his return. And very unlike himself, and not to his own knowledge, Rufus Shinra did not expect anything from Elena in return.

A/N: So just a quick update to make feel like I haven't abandoned everything. I'm not even sure how this chapter was writtten. I've been so pressed with tests and papers I wasn't properly thinking about these things. Anyways, nothing too serious here. Just random stupidity on my part. Consider it retarded filler before something more interesting happens next chapter. It helped me get back into the flow of things. That's my excuse and I'm sticking with it. :P Anyways, let me know what you think or whatever else pops into your head. I would explain other things, but I can't think of what needs explaining at the moment so I'll just leave it alone and let you just send me questions if you have any. That being said, I hope you enjoyed the story!