Disclaimer: Final Fantasy does not belong to me...however much I may like it to. I own no characters, places etc. etc. so please don't sue me! I'm a nice person :)

Author's Note: Chapter Twenty-Six...PLEASE review as I really enjoy reading your views and they inspire me to get better! It would make me very very happy! Anyway stop reading this and get on with reading the fic! Hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Uninvited Guests and Blurred Memories

He couldn't remember a time when he had felt this uncomfortable.

The tubes thrust into his arms weren't the problem. Nor was the breathing equipment that surrounded him in such a suffocating matter that its purpose seemed corrupted. He could even cope with the draining feeling circulating around his veins.

No, it all came down to the young male seated just beside him. His eyes a piercing, icy blue.

The President had been seated there for sometime. Just watching him with an unwavering expression.

Reno couldn't tell what the emotion was that lay etched upon his face, and a part of him felt better that way. Who would want to know what was going on in Rufus Shinra's mind anyway?

Minutes ticked by without a word; the only sound coming from the slow, steady beep of the machines hooked up beside the bed, and he wondered if this was suppose to be some sort of mental torture.

"So tell me Reno, what does Miss. Lockhart mean to you?"

The red head flinched ever so slightly at his Boss's unexpected utterance. Once he'd recovered he took note of what he was actually being asked and he couldn't help but be overcome with a concerned confusion.

"Excuse me?"

"What is she to you? Is she like a sister? A friend?-"

The young blonde paused, rolling his gaze around the room before directing it back to his employee.

"A lover?"

What is he talking about? Is he being serious?

"She is...well we're close."

"Hm."

That answer didn't seem to satisfy him at all, instead seemingly stirring his thoughts deeper into whatever hole they were falling.

Rufus exhaled lightly, before leaning back in his chair.

"I see."

The red head attempted to push himself up in his bed, though soon found his arms were too weakened to hold that much of his body weight, as he slumped back down onto the pillow. His aquamarine gaze flickered to the thin white bed-sheet laid across him; his fists clenching as he attempted to find his voice.

"And what is she to you Rufus?"

"A game."

Reno's finger nails dug into the skin of his palm as his fist tightened.

He didn't even have to think about it...

"One that I am going to win...and I'll get rid of any piece that's in the way of my victory."

The red headed patient couldn't without the primal snarl that rumbled from his lips.

"And what do you mean by that?"

"Oh nothing, nothing at all."

Rufus displayed an all to familiar smirk; one masquerading as something light-hearted and playful. As his finger nails began to draw blood from his own skin, Reno found he could no longer hold in his anger and revulsion at his Boss's behaviour.

"Tifa isn't stupid, and she's not a game!"

His voice was rough and shaky from lack of use, but he pushed on anyway.

"Do you really think she could care about someone like you!"

A still, and heavy silence fell around the two males like a blanket.

"I'd be careful what you say Reno."

The tension between them was growing with every passing second; each attempting to hold their ground in some sort of mental battle.

Footsteps could be heard echoing down the corridor outside, ringing closer and closer, yet neither male seemed to take much notice of them, until they came to a halt just outside the cubicle, and the door was pushed open.

A familiar young female entered, and Reno all but froze at the sight of her.

She seemed to do a double take as she came to realise just whom was in the room, and the way her eyes widened and glazed at the sight of Rufus made the red head's blood still.

"What...what are you doing here?"

Tifa's voice finally sounded; her tone almost weak, and shaky, perhaps even nervous.

Rufus's eyes narrowed slightly at Reno, before an unsettlingly smirk played across his lips as he slowly turned to face her.

"Do I need an excuse to visit my favourite Turk?"

Tifa's gaze flickered over to the red head questioningly, though he made a point to remain unmoved; he couldn't talk to her now, and even he knew that to cause a confrontation between her and Rufus would only result in trouble for the both of them.

Her attention soon drew back to the young blonde.

"I'd like a word...please."

Reno's inhaled sharply, had she actually just said that? Just what the hell had been going on in his absence?

"I'm listening."

"In private..."

No Tifa...

Rufus sighed, amusement seemingly flickering in his cold, blue eyes.

"Excuse me Reno, it seems Miss. Lockhart wishes you to be left out of this particular conversation."

He made to stand, before closing the distance between himself and Tifa; the young woman hesitating for a moment before following him out, though the last glance she stole at the red head went completely unnoticed by him as he concentrated his gaze on the opposite wall.

As the door came to a close behind her, Reno let out a long-held breath. His eyes narrowed; he didn't like dismissing her like that, but it couldn't be helped. He didn't know what on earth was going on, and he wasn't about to throw himself into something he didn't understand; not that he really even had a choice with the level of vulnerability his current condition imposed.

His memory of the past few months was hazy at best, and what he could remember didn't make he feel any more at ease. It was because of his own digging that he was lying in a hospital right now, sure it might not have been a direct assault, but there was a chain of events. And it all started with Tifa.

Flashback

Simple mission my ass...

Reno's footsteps sounded lightly upon the tiled floor. The only light being the thin, pale glow radiating through the windows from the hanging night-time blanket of stars.

He hadn't had to do something like this in a long time. Undercover missions were fairly rare, especially for someone as noticeable as him; he was often pointed in the direction of the more 'brutal' tasks, where he held most of his skills. So he couldn't help but find himself in a bit of a unfamiliar position when it came to sleuthing around a medical research laboratory.

It was coming up to the end of his second week. His second week of playing the part of a research assistant. All for the sake of Shinra getting their hands on any new 'medical-development' that they had.

You'd have thought they'd have found a more 'fitting' employee for this...Couldn't Hojo have any children other than Sephiroth?...

A slow grimace spread across the red head's lips; the image of hundreds of mini Hojo's running about Shinra flashing through his mind.

Ok...maybe not...

He continued through the labyrinth of cold, white corridors, until he came to a rather pristine-looking glass door; leading into the same laboratory cubicle in which he had been working for the last seven days of his placement.

As he stepped over the threshold, he felt a shiver trail up his spine.

The facility wasn't a comfortable place to be, and now, seeing it at night-time, empty and flooded with strange shadows, Reno could see why such places were so often referred to as being 'creepy'.

He circled around the various work stations until he came to the back of the room, where there were two connected short-corridors, leading to the cubicle's personal storage space.

Reno let out a small yelp as he rounded the corner to the left store; coming face to face with a rack of petri dishes. After taking a moment to steady himself he let out a self-directed sigh of embarrassment.

This place sure is harder to navigate in the dark...

He reached into his pocket and drew out a folded sheet of paper; soon opening it to reveal a list of chemical-sounding names.

"Now let's check out you babies..."

The red head began marking off each name as he scanned the various trays of dishes, though as he neared the the third rack his brow furrowed.

"Well now, who are you?"

He carefully slide the tray towards him, though as his fingers reached out to make contact with the unmarked petri dish, a loud bang sounded from the window beside him; no doubt caused by some poorly sighted bird or tree branch. The unexpected sounded caused the red head to go into defence mode, with the tray being totally forgotten, though of course this meant that there were no hands holding it in place, and soon enough it slid from its shelf, with every petri dish upon it falling to the floor with a shattering clatter.

The reaction was immediate, as Reno hung his head in exasperation.

"Bollocks."

He tried to cover his mouth and nose with the cuff of his sleeve as he made to bend down and inspect the remnants, though as he got closer, he began to feel rather odd; as though he was being surrounded by a mist of hot, muggy air.

Well this can't be good...

His eyes gave a sharp, strange pang as he attempted to steady his senses, and before he could rise and remove himself from the field of danger, he found his body rapidly falling asleep on him and within moments he was sprawled out on the cold, tiled floor with a pair of feet slowly treading towards him.

Flashback End

After that everything got a little muddled, but he should have been more careful.

He didn't know how he'd gotten cut, or bruised but he could only imagine it was from his fall, though the fact that he could not remember anything from his time in the laboratory, to when he awoke in the hospital bed worried him and then there were those feet...

Part of him thought he might have imagined it, but that didn't sit right with him either.

The rest of his condition was a mystery to him. Most of the doctor's were keeping quiet as to what was happening to him, and whenever he tried to get any kind of information out of them they'd just say they couldn't confirm anything.

He couldn't help but wonder if Rufus had purposefully asked them to refrain from answering any of his questions. It wouldn't surprise him. Reno had learned in the last few years of his career to be more than wary of his Boss; true, he wasn't one to kiss ass, but that didn't mean he didn't know that some people required a certain amount of respect.

He didn't know what to do. Should he ask Tifa? Would she even want to talk to him? What if something had happened with her and Rufus?

That thought scared him. More than it should have. The fact that something of such magnitude, as to make his Boss act the way he had, might have happened between the two of them was a very unsettling thought. Especially now that he was powerless to do anything.

Reno scrunched his eyes shut and buried his head as far into his pillow as possible; right now sleep was the only thing that was going to release him. He couldn't think about them any more. All he could do was hope that Tifa was smart enough to stay away from both him and Rufus.

His slumber was not a comfortable one; though he was used to that by now.

What he wasn't used to was dreaming of his Boss.

Rufus's voice seemed to resonant around his ears with a soft reality.

"Why does she care about you? You're just as despicable as me..."

The familiar arrogance was gone, though there was a bitterness about his tone.

"So what is it? Where am I going wrong?"

A sigh of aggravation sounded from the male.

"I just don't understand her..."

Reno tried to force his lids to open, though only received a slight flicker of vision before passing back into the depths of sleep, though he was almost certain what he had seen was not some drug-induced hallucination or dream; the sight of one's Boss, rain-soaked and slumped against the wall was not something one just imagined.

When he finally awoke, Reno found a unfamiliar doctor inside his cubicle, busily fiddling with the array of dips beside him.

He didn't know how long he'd been asleep, but he felt a little funny; almost as if he'd been drugged up. His eyelids were unnaturally heavy, and even though he knew he'd had more than enough sleep he felt as though he'd been on a ten mile run.

Reno turned his head a little and tried to focus in on the doctor; his vision dulled slightly by a combination of just coming out of slumber, and whatever was being pumped into his system.

He could barely make out the male's face, though what seemed starkly obvious was that he had a black eye.

"Are you sure you don't need a doctor yourself?"

Although his voice was croaky and weak, the doctor seemed to pick up on his words perfectly and chuckled; the laughter being somewhat off putting rather than comforting. When he didn't make to respond further Reno spoke up again.

"Are you new? I don't think I've seen you before..."

The man shrugged.

"Oh, I'm nobody really."

He drew closer to the bed and without warning slid a needle into the red head's arm. The pain didn't bother Reno, but the way the doctor was acting just wasn't right.

"What...what are you doing?"

The unknown male flashed a really overly-warm smile.

"Just taking a sample."

A sample? A sample of what?

The Doctor turned his back on the red head and began doing something out of his line of sight.

Reno was now feeling incredibly uneasy, and when he heard voices coming from the outside corridor will almost willed to whomever they belonged to come inside. He didn't want to be alone with this guy.

"Oh and in the mean time I'd keep away from Yuffie if I were you."

Wait, I know that voice...

"Really, and why so?"

He knew that voice too, and all of a sudden he wasn't so sure if he wanted them as visitors anymore.

"Do you really need a reason?"

The door opened with a small creak and in walked Rufus and Tifa; the pair falling into a dead silence as the door shut behind them. though that was not through any nervousness or politeness but rather because the Doctor had turned back.

With a gun pointed straight at them.

"Now you are all going to do exactly as I say."

A/N= *Looks around shamefully* yeah...sorry about the lateness of this *continues to avoid eye contact* I kinda got distracted...and then something else distracted me from my previous distraction... It was a terrible circle of distraction...ness

But on a high note I got into university! *Does the dance of joy* I'm going to be studying 'Computer Gaming and Animation Technology' XD Maybe one day I can work on a Final Fantasy Game *sighs at the thought* one with lots and lots of Rufus in...muahahahahaha

And thank Shinra people liked the last chapter XD I was traumatising myself before I posted it, but you guys all seemed to enjoy a drunken Rufus hehe my hit monitor went from 8 to 58 in 12 hours...I think that's the quickest rise I've had so far! And overall my story went from having 80 hits to 692...I was pretty happy X) So thanks a bunch of bananas you fans of RufusxTifa goodness!

Now onto the chapter!

I basically hate this chapter...mostly because it didn't come out as I thought it would and the fact that I did rush it because I knew how long it had been since I updated. Plus it's very short, but it happens every now and then and this is more of a bridge-chapter for the next section of the story. I can promise that the next one will be longer, and much, much better ^_^ With lots and lots of RufusxTifa goodness!

So a Reno pov chapter! I thought it would be nice and refreshing to get his opinion and have a little break from the heavy RufusxTifa stuff (not that there's anything wrong with it XD)

I'm sorry if some of this didn't make much sense but it'll all come together in the next chapter XD though maybe you can guess who that Doctor is ^_^

The bit where Reno thinks he can see/hear Rufus during his sleep is actually meant to take place after the 'Roof' incident, but before Rufus goes to Tifa's flat, so he may or may not be drunk, but it's just meant to show him in his confused state after what happened with her.

Oh and remember Rufus's 'view' on Tifa when he talks to Reno at the beginning of this chapter is before anything that happened between the two in the last two chapters so obviously some things have changed.