Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII. I depend on my daughter, Neku the Last Reaper (the author formerly known as Angeal Valentine—yes, she changed her name again!), and on Bjanik for all my information on the subject.
A/N—This chapter has a section that's almost, but not quite, a lemon. Neku tells me that makes it a "citrus," and you can skip it if you want. It's Tseng and Elena again, and though I've taken some heat about these two in the past, I'm continuing their rather strange, skewed relationship. After all, they're two rather warped characters. Since I rather identify with Tseng, perhaps that says something about me?! Yikes.
(7:00 am, Mideel—Mideel Base Hospital; 9:00 pm, Wutai; 5:00 am, Midgar; 1:00 am, Gongaga)
At the Mideel Base Hospital, Tessa and Dr. Singleton had quickly agreed: the hospital still needed its normal lab tests run and processed, but Tessa now had roughly half the hospital's lab facilities and any personnel she desired to help her produce a treatment for Zack.
Tessa had an idea that could possibly help Zack, but she suspected it might be only a stop-gap measure, and she didn't want to rely on just one treatment option, so she'd look for alternatives. Unfortunately she had no clue what this disposal solution of Vanessa-7's was. Silently wishing for Glenn Riordan and her staff and facilities back in Midgar, she set the lab techs to work on her plan immediately.
With her troops marshaled and measures begun for Zack's treatment, Tessa now found herself seated in a wheelchair staring at Zack from the doorway to his room in the intensive care unit. Inside, Zack was being watched over by that Turk medic, Wickles, who was discussing his condition with Dr. Singleton. After seeing his troops housed, Alex Niven was now accompanying Tessa rather than Cloud Strife whom he had sent to shower, sleep, and, hopefully, return properly attired.
Good. The people she needed were here: Niven, Wickles, and Laral Singleton. Tessa shook her head. The one person she most needed to talk to, however, was completely beyond communication: Zack. She needed to see him, determine his condition for herself. How could Zack possibly be dying? Zack was vibrant and alive, passionate. Beautiful. Loving. Dying was not possible—as impossible as Sephiroth dying. Hot tears threatened to emerge from Tessa's eyes, and she pressed one hand to her face—now wasn't the time!—and the other to her stomach—at least Lucy still seemed to be asleep. Damn. Have to stay focused. Sephiroth dying and Zack dying—the two began to wind themselves together in Tessa's brain. Got to get to work, straighten this out.
Tessa steeled herself for the next few minutes. "Let's go in, Major."
An I.V. snaked from the inside of Zack's left elbow while monitor pads were stuck to several spots on his upper chest and forehead. A plastic tube was taped into Zack's mouth and ran down his trachea while the other end was attached to a mechanical ventilator. Zack's normally dark Gongagan skin was pale and shone with sweat while his hair spikes, well, weren't. Zack's Buster sword even leaned precariously in a corner on its tip as if it were on guard protecting Zack.
Near Zack's bed Tessa reached from her wheelchair through the bed railing to grasp Zack's fingers. The sword calluses of his hand felt hard, but clammy, against her fingertips. Tessa shook her head again; she remembered the feel of those calluses against her skin—somehow they were so very different from Sephiroth's, even with her eyes closed she could tell the differences in their hands when they touched her—then she shifted her fingers to Zack's wrist. Even though she could see Zack's heart rate displayed in green spikes on a monitor screen near his head, she wanted to take his pulse herself.
At Tessa's touch, Zack's hand jerked, then twisted, and grasped her wrist hard; the beeps from the heart monitor quickened.
"Zack! Can you hear me?! Wake up, Zack! Please!"
As abruptly as it began, however, Zack's hand twitched, fell away from Tessa, then lay still on the bed. The heart monitor beeps resumed their prior pace. At Zack's motion—and maybe more so at its ending—the tears spilled from Tessa's eyes. He was gone, again… No! Pull it together… Grasping Zack's wrist again with her right hand, Tessa pulled her left forearm over her eyes to banish the tears and took a shaky, deep breath.
"Tell me… what happened." Tessa looked at the Turk medic, who stood across the bed from her, and Wickles nodded but, instead of answering, he looked at Niven who stood beside Tessa's chair. "Major?"
"Doctor, are you aware that the lieutenant colonel fought Angeal Hewley, an ex-Soldier, at Banora?"
Tessa nodded and smiled slightly. "I'm sure you won't be surprised that I was focused on my husband last night, Major. Later, after he destroyed Rhapsodos, I was in and out of consciousness… Hm… Hewley, though, you say?" Tessa tilted her head and searched for the memory. "I do remember a fight being discussed, though… Angeal Hewley was an old friend of my husband's, yes?" Niven nodded. "But he and Rhapsodos betrayed Shinra." Tessa frowned. "I thought Hewley was dead."
Alex Niven nodded again. "That's correct. The man Fair fought last night was a clone of Hewley." Niven paused for a deep breath; all of this was painful to the every First Class in Soldier. "The lieutenant colonel was particularly close to Hewley. When Hewley betrayed Shinra, Fair was the one who killed him. Some of the mystery of Hewley's betrayal has finally become clear; just last night we learned that Hewley was Genesis Rhapsodos' brother." Niven shook his head. At Tessa's raised eyebrow, he continued. "When they fought, the clone used a Bio spell on Fair. Strife and I saw what happened, and I sent Strife to aid Fair. Instead of giving Fair an Antidote, however, Strife engaged the clone. It's my belief now that when Hewley used the spell, he also injected this 'disposal solution' into Fair." A frown passed over Niven's face. "Part of this is my fault. I lost track of Strife's skill set; I had forgotten that he hadn't covered Bio spells and Antidotes in his coursework yet."
Tessa's eyebrows came down. What was Niven trying to tell her, anyway? That he blamed himself for Zack's being poisoned?! Perhaps even for his current condition?
"I arrived later, while Strife was engaged with the clone. I administered an Antidote, and initially Fair seemed to recover as normal from a Bio spell. It was only when we were looking for pieces of Rhapsodos, after roughly two hours of sporadic monster fighting and searching, that Fair began to weave and fainted. As he fell, I saw that green sparks—like bodies decomposing—were popping in his eyes. I immediately administered another Antidote, and the sparks slowed. That was about two hours after the fight with the Hewley clone and after the General brought you here."
"He has decomposition sparks in his eyes?!" Tessa rose shakily from her chair, leaned sideways against the railing, and reached for Zack's face.
"Here." Wickles pulled open one eyelid. "Can you see it? Can you, Dr. Singleton?"
"Oh my goddess!" Tessa gasped, and her reaching hand stopped in mid-air. Suddenly the Lifestream voices in her head went still.
"I've never seen anything like that… inside a human being, that is…" Dr. Singleton's voice trailed away.
"No. Nor have I." Tessa turned her head side to side as if trying to pull her thoughts together. When she reached behind her for the arm of the chair, Niven adjusted it for her, and Tessa sat heavily. This couldn't be happening to Zack! Tessa leaned her forehead against a clenched fist and took a deep breath. The voices returned but at a whisper.
"Tell me again what's been done for him, since the fight?" she requested quietly.
Wickles responded. "He's had at least four Antidotes from the major, and I've done six Cure3s. Each time the sparks have slowed temporarily, but afterward they've come back and quickly grown stronger." Wickles paused and said haltingly, "I do think that the Major's Antidotes have been a bit more effective than the cures."
"Slightly, yes." Niven nodded.
"Hm…" Did this tell her anything? "Maybe that means that this disposal solution is organic in nature." Tessa speculated.
"If I may, Doctor." Niven interjected. "Vanessa-7 said that Hollander used this solution to dispose of unwanted bodies in his lab. How do you normally dispose of samples?"
Tessa nodded. Refocus. "We send specimens out for incineration. It stands to reason, though, that since Hollander's been in hiding, he couldn't use an external incinerator. He'd have had to come up with something that would dissolve organic material." Wait! Tessa paused. Had any of Hollander's clones contained Jenova tissue? If so, when Hollander disposed of his clones, he would have been creating stagnant mako—possibly large quantities of stagnant mako! If Hollander was "flushing" his tubes, where had his stagnant mako gone?! Into the New Banora ground or into the Lifestream, or both?! Don't panic. Talk to Vincent first—he would know. Tessa sighed. "But, unfortunately, we don't know what we're dealing with for certain." For the present, however, she needed help. "Wickles, may I borrow you from Commander Tseng?"
"I'll have to check with the commander, Dr. Romera, but truth be told, now that we're back in civilization—at a hospital even—my services aren't really needed. I'd like to help any way I can."
"Excellent." Tessa smiled at the small, brown-haired Turk. The man was so non-descript, he'd fit in anywhere—part of being a good, blendable Turk, she supposed. "We need to find out what this solution of Seven's isn't and is… Dr. Singleton, are there a gas chromatograph and a mass spectrometer on the base?"
The head of the base hospital nodded. "Yes, the base's coroner's office has that equipment. That office is here in the hospital complex."
"Good. Let's get those tests run as soon as possible. I can't counter this poison permanently if I don't know what it is. Perhaps we'll find the components of this disposal solution in Hollander's files, but I can't count on that…" Tessa paused. "I have to know, everyone, how long does Zack have?"
Niven raised an eyebrow at Wickles. The medic responded with a shrug. They'd discussed this, and neither man had changed his mind. Niven answered. "At his present rate of degeneration, and with no additional treatments, the lieutenant colonel will be dead in about an hour. Correct me if I'm wrong, Dr. Singleton, but it seems to me that Fair even now is showing signs of organ failure." The physician nodded. "And too, doesn't death by organ failure usually take weeks?" Again a nod. "And there's no way to stop it once it becomes advanced?"
Dr. Singleton nodded yet again. "All of that's true, and I agree with your time projection. The patient is currently suffering from respiratory failure resulting in inadequate oxygen in the blood and a build-up of carbon dioxide. He's also showing the first signs of liver failure, which is the second stage. If this process isn't stopped soon, it will proceed to gastrointestinal bleeding, kidney failure, then death." Dr. Singleton sighed. "This is the fastest such case I've ever seen, though. All of this usually takes two to three weeks; however, the lieutenant colonel is failing far more rapidly than organ failure alone can account for. If he continues to receive Antidotes and Cure3s roughly every ten minutes, it could buy him another hour or so. Two hours probably, Dr. Romera. Three hours at the very outside."
Tessa's face lost what color it had, and her fingers on Zack's wrist shook at Singleton's pronouncement, but her voice remained steady. Tessa's mind wanted to scream, however; Laral Singleton had just announced the length of the remainder of Zack's life! Darling Zack… If Zack had any hope of survival, then her treatment had to be administered as soon as it was ready!
"Degeneration... Decay… Eaten from the inside out... Wasn't that how Vanessa-7 said it? Eaten? Eaten… It's almost as though Hollander could speed death and decay…. Wait… What was it he said?" Tessa's mind sought the memory—a memory from the RV, punctuated by the flash of Cloud's EM rod bashing Hollander into silence. Yes, that was it. Tessa whispered. "Hollander said, 'I had that baby growing at twenty times its normal growth rate, and those blasted Turks stopped me!'"
Tessa paused and looked at the medic. "Wickles, find Vanessa-7 and send her to me in the laboratory's conference room—I need to talk to her—and get that sample from her, get it analyzed, and make sure that Dr. Hollander's files are moved to the conference room as well. Also I'd appreciate it if you could have Vincent Valentine and Verdot's daughter sent to me, as well. Once you get back, I need you to keep giving Zack Antidotes and Cure3s alternately. I know administering all those cures is draining, so we'll have to find someone to help you. For now, though, please leave your materia." Wickles gave her the sharp Turk salute nod. "Go." Startled, the Turk knew an order when he heard one, and he pulled the mastered cure materia orb from his pocket, left it on the bed, then ran for the door.
"Dr. Singleton." Tessa looked at the base hospital director. "Until Wickles gets back, I need you and your staff to handle the Antidotes and Cure3s and help him as well. Agreed?" Singleton nodded then turned to the door and began passing orders to her people.
"Major." Niven looked at his commander's wife. "I think you'd better contact my husband, don't you? I'd do it myself, but I have work to do, and I need every minute. Besides I don't have a phone anymore."
"I'll try to reach the General. If I can't get in touch with him, I'll try Malik. You do understand that they could well be in the midst of a battle, Doctor."
"I am very aware of that, Major." Tessa smiled slightly to remove the sting of her words. "Do what you can, please." Tessa sighed. "I know you have your own responsibilities, Major, but could you also push me to that conference room? Thanks." Tessa sighed again, this time pensively, as Niven pushed her toward the door. "Organ failure—there is no cure for organ failure—but I can fight it, though his body may reject my idea."
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Lifestream
Suddenly sunlight broke through the gray mist, and Zack smelled fresh-cut grass. Is that hay again? Hey, it's hay!! Again. Zack breathed deeply and pulled the green perfume of home into his lungs. Gongaga. Was he back with the dragon or was this another memory altogether? There was no screaming or pain this time, so it could be different.
"Zac-kie! You're home!"
"Charlie!!" Zack stepped from a bus on the road above his family's home in the country and felt his duffle fall from his hand and slide down his back to the ground. He ran headlong at the girl running toward him. Waving furiously with her pigtails flying, Charlie ran at him across the yard of their family's home. She tried to tackle him, but she barely budged him.
Charlie's fingers linked with Zack's, traced the ridges of calluses on his fingertips, reached up his hand to his wrist, but it was wrong, somehow. Somehow the hand that touched his was adult, feminine yes, but adult, and had touched him before… Tess? Is that you?... Confused, Zack tired to clear the image before him and shook his head, but the face that looked back at him was dark-eyed, dark-haired, and altogether young.
Charlie looked at him with surprise then a huge smile burst across her face, and she hugged him tightly, rained kisses on him. Yes. Charlie! Zack hugged the girl and twirled her around him in the air. Whee!! He was home!
This was a memory, all right—a happy one! He had just finished the two-year cadet training program, and now he was home on leave! Seeing Charlie, though, made the work and even the terror of the previous two years worth it. His eyes had shown early with the mako injections. They'd been painful—horrifyingly painful, someone really should shoot that damned Hojo!—but mako had made him first in his class, at least in the physical aspects—mako and his own abilities, that is! Zack Fair, faster and stronger than anyone else in his year, was a newly commissioned Third Class Soldier!
Charlie, though. Damn, it was good to see Charlie! In two years she'd gone from 'cute' to 'head-turning.' She might just be nine, but Dad and his brothers were going to have to beat the boys off with sticks! That is, if she didn't beat them first! Wow! Well, maybe he was prejudiced, but he could barely take his eyes off her!
He was home at last!
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(7:00 am, Mideel—Mideel Base Hospital; 9:00 pm, Wutai; 5:00 am, Midgar; 1:00 am, Gongaga)
Tseng had ordered his Turks to bed at roughly the same time that Niven had ordered the Soldiers to sleep. Not surprisingly, both men had excluded themselves from their own orders. Tseng was finding he liked Alex Niven more each time he met him. Niven was meticulous, orderly, and intelligent—a man after Tseng's own heart.
Tseng walked down the hospital's fourth floor corridor where his remaining Turks had crashed and ran a roll call through his mind. He didn't like the results he was getting. Roughly half the people he had brought with him were gone, permanently, never to answer roll again. Half again of that number had been injured and would need extended recovery time—though they would be back, thank the planet. Tseng was used to sorrow, but he shook his head; it never got easier. Perhaps that was a good thing…
At least they had now caught up with their transport from Midgar. Their airship, complete with their luggage, had flown from Verdot's coastal home to the base the previous evening. Tseng and two hospital orderlies had looked through the tagged bags. Half of those would never meet their owners again in this life, and Tseng had them set aside for return to the transport and Midgar, though most had no "next of kin" to give them to. With a sigh, he located one more: Jayna's. At least she had a next of kin. Perhaps he should take this one to her sister himself. Better find hers too…
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Tseng paused before the room that been assigned to Elena then opened the door. The room had been darkened to give its occupant a chance to sleep, but the light from the hallway showed Tseng what he sought. Elena's face, framed by damp blond hair, was illuminated by the hall light behind him. Elena was clutching a pillow to her, a sheet had wound itself tightly around her, and a shoulder clad in dark hospital scrubs showed itself in the light. A whiff of hospital soap wafted to Tseng's nose. The girl had had a shower. Such a wonderful idea…
Tseng sighed and gave himself one minute to look at her. She was so beautiful in a lost puppy sort of way. He'd already taken too much advantage of her tonight; he'd better leave before temptation got the better of him again. Opening the door wider, he set Jayna's suitcase along with Elena's own bag inside her room then returned to his study of the girl. Suddenly he realized he was not the only one observing someone in that room. Elena was looking at him.
"Sorry. I was dropping off your bags." Tseng waved a hand toward the luggage.
Elena's eyes followed the line of Tseng's hand. She gasped and sat up abruptly in the bed, then her face paled. "Oh…" She sighed and lowered her head. "Thanks."
"Did you want it sent back to Midgar? I was sending the belongings of the others… back."
Elena didn't respond for a few seconds. "And are you sending me back as well?" She asked in a small voice.
Tseng raised his head. "Yes. You and most of the other remaining Turks who came on this mission. I've given orders for the transport to be ready to go early this afternoon. I won't be going back just yet, however."
Elena shook her head. "Please no… I don't want to go back…"
Tseng gave her a subordinate-quelling grimace. "That's an order, trainee." His scowl softened. "Besides, I'm sure Cissnei needs all the help she can get."
"Then… stay for a little while. If I won't be seeing you for some time—maybe forever if things go bad like… Stay… please…" Elena raised a hand toward Tseng in pleading.
Tseng shook his head and sighed. He shouldn't do this, but he had to know. Was she his Miss Number Five? The Turk he could trust implicitly? Before he went any further with her, he had to know, and now maybe was the time. Tseng leaned outside her door back into the hallway, picked up a suit bag and shaving kit, hung the bags on a hook just inside the door, then slowly stepped into Elena's room and shut the door behind him.
"I'll stay—if you're sure." He glanced at his watch. "For a few minutes."
Elena smiled slightly. "Yes." She tossed the pillow aside, unwound the sheet, and stepped before him in the doorway. "We'd better make the most of that time." She reached behind his head and pulled his hair free of its binding. "Don't you think?" And with that she rose on the balls of her feet, wound her hands in his hair and pulled his lips to her mouth.
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Lifestream
Suddenly the gray mist gathered itself into deep gray nimbus clouds—clouds coming his way fast! Zack could taste the humidity in the air increasing while his ears felt the pressure dropping. At least there was no rotation in those clouds. No sign of tornados, just rain—lots of rain, multiple inches of rain—that should have stayed in the swamplands, but was now coming their way on the Gongaga plateau. With twelve-year-old Wes pushing hay bales toward him, Zack was lifting the bales from the flat-bed trailer to the ramp of an ancient elevator that pushed them up its metal ramp through the external, second-floor, hay door of the barn's hay loft. Once there Dad and fourteen-year-old Garth were stacking the bales.
Zack had been surprised when he'd first visited a shopping mall in Midgar; people there moved between floors on things they called "escalators." Escalators were just like the elevator on the farm, only people-sized. "Elevators" in cities were people-sized boxes that went straight up and down in tall buildings. People in cities had weird names for things, like "lunch" instead of "dinner" for the noon meal. Well, maybe the farm "elevator" was a hay-sized city "escalator."
Unfortunately the weather was turning bad for Zack and his family—and there was still hay in the field. If the hay bales that had lain drying in the field for over a week were to be rained on now, the grasses would ferment. The bales would be inedible; any animal that consumed them would sicken. The best hay had to be stored in the barn out of the rain.
Too slow. The creaky old elevator's motor was having trouble moving the hay; indeed, it had already stopped once and had to be restarted after several minutes of Dad struggling with it. Mr. Peerzen, the farm's owner and Dad's boss, would be arriving soon with the last load of hay from the field for storage. Eyeing the bales, Zack wondered if there might be another way to get them into the loft. Fifty pounds, hunh? Fifty pounds wasn't so much for a Third Class Soldier. Placing another bale on the ramp, Zack paused to look at the barn before him. How high up was the second-floor loft anyway? Fifteen feet maybe? A Third Class Soldier should be able to throw a fifty-pound bale fifteen feet in the air. Maybe not all the way to the hay door about twenty feet up, but there was another opening into the loft… This could work…
Just then the putt-putt sound of Mr. Peerzen's tractor reached Zack's ears. Their last load had arrived. Just in time—if Zack's plan worked. The rain would be starting any minute.
"Hey, Mr. Peerzen, hold up!"
With Dad and fourteen-year-old Garth looking out the second-floor hay door at him curiously—after all the bales had stopped coming up the ramp—Zack had the owner back his load of hay to the barn's first floor, main entrance. Directly above the main entrance was a six-foot-by-six-foot hole in the ceiling that accessed the hay loft. Sending Mr. Peerzen's eighteen-year-old son Bill to take Zack's own spot at the elevator and sending the owner and Wes to the loft to stack, Zack smiled. Oh yeah! Now he had a race for real on his hands! It was him against the elevator against the rain! Let's go!
Zack hefted a bale with his hay hooks and standing just outside the main entrance eyed the hole and the curious men above him. He'd have to throw it at a bit of an angle to be sure the bale landed on the floor of the loft. Mr. Peerzen certainly couldn't catch the thing. Too shallow an angle, however, and he'd hit the first-floor ceiling. Probably rip the bale apart, and the hay would fly. Zack smiled softly; well the hay was going to fly anyway.
All right. Zack threw the bale upward. Bits of the dried grass hit Zack in the eyes and landed on his tongue—bleh!—but the rectangular bale, after rising several feet above the loft floor, touched down at Mr. Peerzen's feet. Yes! This was going to work!
In rapid, grass-flying, dirty succession, Zack threw the fifty-pound bales up to the second floor—without pausing, without tiring. As he glanced at his load of hay, Zack realized that the dull-green, dried grass had taken on a brighter hue. He was burning mako! Zack wondered briefly if there were hay farms anywhere near Midgar. This could be a good way to train Soldiers. After all, the physical tasks were never hard for him. Maybe being a farmer was harder than being a Soldier! Hm. Maybe he'd better not tell his friends that…
Suddenly the last bale was in Zack's hands and a few drops of rain were hitting him in addition to the bits of grass escaping from the bale. Glancing at the elevator, Zack could see that Bill Peerzen still had half a dozen bales on his flat-bed. Excellent! Zack had won! He raised one hay hook in triumph, then jumped to the other hay wagon to help Bill empty it. With the rain beginning to come down in earnest, the men scrambled to put away the equipment, then they ran for the house. Mom was waiting with cold lemonade on the porch. Wiping sweating brows and pulling off work gloves, the workmen smiled at each other. Every man shook Zack's hand, but best of all was his father's clap on Zack's shoulder. Dad…
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(7:00 am, Mideel—Mideel Base Hospital; 9:00 pm, Wutai; 5:00 am, Midgar; 1:00 am, Gongaga)
Two red disks about two inches in diameter on the end of a string whizzed by Rufus Shinra's ear. "What the…?!"
A laugh answered Rufus' almost question. "Ha! Gotcha!" Kamui, Verdot's daughter, frowned at Rufus Shinra's chagrin. "Wha-at? You've never seen a Mideelean monkey-killer before? Or are you one of those people who call this a 'yo-yo'?"
"A 'yo-what'?"
The silver-haired teenager sighed at the obtuseness of the world's richest man. "A yo…yo."
"Is that what that thing is? I've never seen one before. Can you really kill monkeys with them?!"
Rather than follow the Turks to bed as Tseng had ordered, Kamui had demanded food and directions to the hospital cafeteria. To his delight, and dismay, Kamui had grabbed Rufus by the hand and dragged him to the cafeteria as well. Upon seeing his daughter making off with Rufus Shinra, Verdot, himself with Vincent Valentine in tow, had followed discretely behind the couple and occupied a corner of the cafeteria—out of direct sight of the pair. Kamui had consumed massive quantities of breakfast foods while Rufus had eaten sugary Fruit Hoops and consumed at least four cups of coffee—surely the man wanted to sleep! Kamui was now standing on the table before Rufus performing yo-yo tricks for the room. Verdot recognized the tricks, and her accompanying prattle; it was Kamui's spring high school talent show routine.
The entire room had turned to watch the girl. She announced her tricks in dizzying succession—"Sleep," "Walk the Dog," "Walk the Cat," "Man on the Flying Trapeze," "Boomerang," "McBride Rollercoaster," and "Leviathan"–until she switched to a blue yo-yo and looped it around and around her hand. Switching again to a silver yo-yo with a skull at the opposite end of its string, she announced even more tricks: "360," "Brain-twister," "Brain-twister Release," and "Pinwheel."
Rufus, and most of the other cafeteria diners, applauded enthusiastically as Kamui took a bow then bounded to the floor from the table. "Bravo! Extremely well done! Bravo!"
"Thank you very much." The girl graciously nodded her head in acknowledgment. "But isn't it 'brava' for a girl?"
Rufus smirked and inclined his head; so she knew some ancient Midgaran. Good. "You're right. Sorry."
"Did you really like it, though? I only got second place in my school's talent show last spring with that routine!"
"I don't see how that could have happened."
Kamui smiled. "Well, clearly you weren't judging it."
Rufus paused then questioned haltingly. "Can you… teach me… to do that?" He added a bit wistfully. "I was never allowed to do anything like that…"
"Sure. It's pretty easy." Kamui took out her original red monkey-killer and handed it to the president of Shinra. "Here. Stand up, you."
Rufus stood, a puzzled expression on his face. "I put my finger through here and…" The yo-yo fell to the floor and spun about the vertical axis of its string, not around the disks' horizontal axis as it should. "Hunh?! What did I do wrong?"
"Nothing, silly. Here." Kamui stood close behind Rufus, placed her hand over his, and guided his arm in the correct motion. In her enthusiasm the girl pressed closer to Rufus Shinra. Rather than watching his hand, Rufus looked at the girl from the corner of his eye and took a tiny step back to make better contact with her.
"Pay attention!" Damn. Rufus jerked his eyes back to the yo-yo.
As Kamui showed Rufus how to keep track of whether his string was coming off the back or the front of his yo-yo axis, Verdot shook his head at Valentine. "I don't know about you, but I'm afraid I have to revise the odds on her going to Midgar to even. What do you think?"
Both men had pushed back from their meals and were watching the couple. They were sure that Rufus and Kamui knew they were there, on discrete guard. Valentine had his arms folded on his chest and his long legs stretched out before him with his ankles crossed.
"… Down from ten to one against? Hm… Are you suggesting young Shinra is making progress with 'our' daughter?"
"Possibly. Kamui seems to be warming to him. Certainly the odds are improving…"
"…What's the attraction for Rufus though?" Vincent narrowed his eyes at the thought.
"Well, physical attraction certainly, but then too, for the first time he's met a girl who isn't interested in him, who doesn't want him for his money and power, who, I think, didn't even like him initially… Humph. He may not be able to resist… We tend to forget that Rufus is what, maybe twenty? He wasn't even born when you disappeared. Since he took over Shinra, he's had everything he wanted: fast cars, lots of cash, and starlets. He's certainly never met a girl like Kamui. They're even roughly the same age. Though for his own good, he'd better not ever let her drive…" Verdot actually shivered. Vincent was sure he didn't want to know what that was about.
Vincent turned to his friend. "…Speaking of age… Are we getting old? We're sitting here handicapping a young couple's love life possibilities."
Verdot laughed aloud. "Madame Elizabeth used to say it best, 'Curmudgeonism is the traditional pleasure of Turk gentlemen.' My friend, have you forgotten? We used to talk the same way about the women around us. Remember?"
"… Humph. You did. I didn't indulge in that odds-making business."
"Ha! Your memory is slipping… Come to think of it, you still owe me two hundred gil from my having married Madame Elizabeth! As I recall, you said it would never happen."
"…" Vincent tapped his claws against his upper right arm in rhythmic irritation.
"Um hm, that's what I thought… Oh look, now what's happening?"
Rufus had handed the girl her yo-yo then had picked up a chocolate-mint Tessa bar from a plate near his coffee. "Here. Here's something I'll bet you're not familiar with." He handed Kamui the green cellophane-wrapped bar.
Kamui wrinkled her nose. "I don't know. I'm not much into energy bars."
Rufus shook his head. "Would you just try it? Or do I need to dare you to eat it?"
Kamui's eyebrows rose in surprise then crashed down. How dare he dare her! She grabbed the Tessa bar from Rufus, ripped the end of the wrapper with her teeth, then took a bite with an angry frown on her face. As she chewed, her expression changed to one of wonder, and she swallowed with effort. "Oh my goddess! That's great!" Suddenly Kamui's normally taut muscles relaxed, and she felt herself stand taller, straighter. "Oh, wow! What is this thing anyway?" She turned the bar in her hand, brought the bit of wrapper to her remaining eye to examine the ingredients list, then ripped two more bites with her teeth from it in short order.
Rufus smiled. "It's a nutritional supplement bar that we've recently been producing—eight flavors and counting—but the original recipes came from your sister-in-law… Terrific, isn't it?"
Kamui stopped chewing, stunned. "You mean the General's wife made this?"
"Yes." Rufus picked up another of the cellophane-wrapped bars from the table, held it before Kamui, and ran his finger below the name on the wrapper with a bit of a smirk. "Tessa bars. See? Though Dr. Romera didn't want her name associated with them, the marketing department pushed it through—I only approved it. Good idea, hn?"
Kamui resumed chewing thoughtfully, then more vigorously. "Hunh." Well, whatever they were, they were certainly good, and boy she'd never felt this relaxed! Had to have drugs in them…
Suddenly Wickles, the Turk medic, ran into the room. "President Shinra! Ms. Verdot! Please come with me! Dr. Romera wants to talk to you!"
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Tseng made a decision. All right. Let her do it. Enjoy it… If only for a little while…
"Let's shower. I've got to get cleaned up." Tseng pulled the girl close to him, buried his face in Elena's hair and neck, and breathed her clean scent deep into his lungs. Goddess, she smelled so good! Her hands had moved from his hair to the base of the back of his neck—searching for the zipper, he supposed. Tseng was bone tired, but he could feel himself stirring in a rush, and he knew he wanted to be inside her… if only he could trust her… After all she'd been throwing herself pretty hard at him. He had to know if there was a reason for that beyond the one she'd given him, "love." Could he truly trust her? He'd trained too many Turks and Wutainese in seduction not to be suspicious of "love"… Been disappointed too many times by "love"…
Elena's hands found the tab of Tseng's suit's zipper and tugged frantically at the mechanism. In response Tseng's tongue circled her ear, wet the outside, then he blew air across the wet surface before plunging his tongue inside and breathing heavily. Elena's hands gave up their zipper pulling, her back arched in his arms, and her leg wrapped around his thigh.
Tseng pulled back slightly to gauge the girl's reaction. Good. "Like that, don't you, little one?"
Elena rubbed herself in one long, slow, sensuous motion against his thigh that sent a shudder through Tseng, then tilted her head sideways so that her hair fell away from her ear. "Again."
Tseng smiled. "Demanding little thing, aren't you?"
"You have no idea…"
"You'll have to be on my schedule. You understand that, don't you?"
"Absolutely. Whenever I can have you, I want you. When I get you, though, I'll want all your attention."
Tseng returned his tongue to the girl's ear, and she writhed. "Hm. We'll have to see about that." He breathed into her ear. "Will you do as I say, Elena? Always? In every way?"
Elena pulled her head away from his mouth to look in his eyes; she'd rather expected something like this. She took a deep breath. "Jayna told me she'd given you and the Turks her complete loyalty and that I'd have to do the same. That if you told me to sleep with someone, or kill someone, or just do paperwork, or clean toilets, or eat bugs I'd have to do it. Joining the Turks is a complete, absolute commitment. Being your lover will be all that and more. I may not have much existence outside of your needs, but I won't be living on the street, nor servicing men in the way she did before Richard came along. You may need to discard me at some point, but even that I would have to live with. My body and loyalty are yours."
Ah. Part of his answer. She also wanted security. Fine. "Yes. That's all true, and there will be no walking away from me, Elena. Good or bad—once you're mine, it's a lifetime commitment… But be very careful of the word 'love,' Elena. I value 'trust' above 'love.' Trust is earned. Love can be hot or cold, turn to hate. You'll have to show me that I can trust you." Enough negotiation and explanations. "For now, though, your body will do. I want to look at you."
In two quick moves Tseng had Elena's scrubs off. Tseng pulled back to look at her and smiled slightly at the sight. With no suitcase-fresh clothes, she wore no interfering underwear. "Raise your arms above your head and turn around."
Rather than do as he said, however, Elena grasped the sides of Tseng's head. "Just answer me two questions... Please." Tseng raised an eyebrow above his chakra at her disobedience, then nodded slightly in agreement. "Have you been in love—ever? And do you love me?"
Tseng frowned. "Yes… Now do as I say."
He loved her. That was enough for Elena. She nodded and smiled slightly then raised her arms.
Hm. Tseng's frown continued. Elena hadn't quite caught the totality of his answer. What did that tell him about her? That she'd heard what she wanted to hear, probably. Well, she'd almost certainly realize what he'd said later. For now though, Tseng raked his eyes over Elena's naked body as she slowly, sensuously, lifted her hands above her head, and shifted foot to foot, leg to leg in her turn. Goddess, she was beautiful: small and perfectly proportioned, in just the ways that he preferred. No wonder he'd been attracted to her! Would she be tight? He rather hoped so. Even though she was only sixteen, Tseng knew that Elena was no virgin—virgins need not apply to the Turks—virginity made applicants emotionally vulnerable. Besides, Tseng knew Elena had had to take a few of her sister's customers on occasion, though Jayna had protected her little sister from too many of the men's attentions. Tseng didn't want an inexperienced lover, however, but he did want her trainable.
"Good. You can put your arms down." Tseng pulled Elena close with one hand and trailed a finger of his other hand down her stomach and into her pubic curls while his tongue slid down her neck and traced her collar bone.
"Get me out of this thing. Now." He commanded.
"Yes, sir."
Tseng could hear the smile in Elena's voice; her hands returned to his back, and the zipper moved then stopped. Elena took a step back from Tseng—though he kept a finger exploring her slit with a gentle rhythm that had her swaying—then pulled the night ops suit around from his back, over his shoulders, down his torso and hips to his knees. Tseng's fingers relinquished her body for just the instant she needed to get the suit over his hands, then he was back with just a touch to her clitoris, and she jerked in response. Elena slid the fingertips of both her hands into the sides of his underwear, pushed them down, then adjusted to free him of the fabric, and brushed the side of a hand against his tip. Elena turned her head to look up at him.
"I've got to get you out of your boots, don't I? At this rate, we'll never make it to the shower."
"Hm. If you do one, I'll do the other."
Elena laughed softly, nodded, then began to bend to the boot knots. When Tseng bent at the knees but didn't release her mound, Elena looked at him startled again, then smiled and bent gracefully at the knees with a motion designed to keep Tseng's hand on her, and followed Tseng down. Finally squatting near the floor Tseng untied one boot one-handed while Elena did the other. He stepped from the footwear and again she helped him with his clothes and socks. Free…
Rising, Tseng pulled Elena's body against him. Good. Skin to skin. At last. Bending his head to hers, Tseng took possession of Elena's mouth and stabbed his tongue deep inside, explored thoroughly. How would she respond? Ah. In kind. Then she again wove her fingers to the webbings in his hair.
Continuing to explore her mouth, Tseng lifted Elena under her butt cheeks, and she wrapped her legs about him and hitched her ankles tight. Tseng smiled and carried her to the small bathroom with its tiny shower. He had perhaps twenty minutes to continue her training and find more of his answers...