You know how hard it is getting used to waking up at 6am? Yeah I have a 7:30-4pm job. Great fun trying to my sleeping habits to work with that. Also great fun writing a scene… Then realising that you're missing a scene and having to go back to write it in.

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII nor its characters. I also don't own the ideas taken from Love Monster.

Cloud woke up the next day at his usual time feeling quite refreshed despite it being three in the morning. He tiptoed into the bathroom so that he wouldn't wake up his room-mate and grinned at himself in the mirror. The grin quickly turned itself upside down when he noticed the state of his hair. It was still midnight black. He was quick to lock the door in case Reno miraculously decided to wake up before he released white wings and plucked a feather from them. He held it up to his hair and once again it burst into nothing while his hair faded from black to its usual blond.

Once his wings had disappeared he brushed his hair and his teeth before leaving the bathroom and making his way towards the training rooms, making sure to pick up his armlet equipped with all his materia along the way. What he didn't expect was to be dragged up against a wall as soon as he stepped out of the elevator that lead to the training rooms.

"Hey guys look what we caught here."

He vaguely recognised the voice as one of the rats that was in his training class. He couldn't quite put a name to the face that was staring him down though.

"We all thought it was just a rumour that the little halfling takes off to the training rooms at some ungodly hour when you didn't show up for the last two days. Looks like our patience paid off." It looked like there were two or three other rats just behind the one that was holding him against the wall.

"Seriously? You guys have nothing better to do?" Cloud's world started spinning as he was pulled forward and slammed back against the wall again.

"Don't be smart with us halfling. Honestly, just because the Lieutenant shows a little bit of interest in you doesn't meant that you can just do what you want. Slacking off and skipping class with your buddy while the rest of us work our asses off in class." Cloud raised an eyebrow at the rat.

"Really? Is that all this is about?"

"That's not just it you little chicken. What the hell is so special about you anyways? Yeah, we all get that you're a weak little halfling that couldn't throw a punch even if your life depended on it, but that cat in our class is obsessed with you. Don't think that we don't see that he gets this disgusting look in his eyes sometimes when he's staring at you. Not to mention all the attention you're getting from the Lieutenant. I mean, is that all we have to do? Act weak and maybe we'll stand out? Or is it those dippy little wings you have?"

"What you want me to change the way my wings look? Like that would make a difference if I could. Maybe you should just re-evaluate your attitudes?"

His world started spinning again as his back was reacquainted with the wall. Maybe he shouldn't be so mouthy with these rats… Well it was too late now, they were already pissed off at him.

"Hey what's that on his arm?" One of the other rats questioned and the one that was holding him against the wall lifted up his arm to get a closer look at his armlet.

"Where'd you get this from? Don't tell me you've already got into the Lieutenant's pants and he's buying you present's already?"

"The Lieutenant didn't buy it for me. What makes you think I can't afford my own stuff ass wipe?" Cloud wouldn't be surprised if there was a dent in the wall by the end of this with the amount that the rat was slamming him up against it. Maybe he should stop picking up stuff off Reno while he was at it. He probably wouldn't have insulted an assailant that made his back hurt so much previously.

"Don't know why you even bother with this kind of shit little chicken." The rat made to reach for the armlet and Cloud mentally cursed himself for his bad luck. "You're not going to get into SOLDIER anyways so you don't need this. Us on the other hand…"

"You know I'm pretty sure there are rules against beating up fellow cadets… And stealing… And I'm sure there's some stuff in the books about slandering higher ups. I'm sure that Zack would be pissed if he heard some of the crap you've been saying about him." All of Cloud's assailants seemed to freeze at the sound of the new voice and they all turned to see Rufus casually standing there with his hands in his pockets and his Dark Nation standing at his side.

"V… V… Vice President Shinra, sir!" The cadets stuttered as they all moved to salute. The one that was holding Cloud up against the wall seemed to be frozen with his hands still holding Cloud in place though. Rufus raised an eyebrow at this.

"You might want to let him go cadet before I get my pet over here to do something about removing those hands of yours in a much more painful way." At Rufus' words, the rat dropped Cloud, who fell unceremoniously to the ground and the rat fumbled to salute to the spider. "Now, get out of my sight before I decide that you're all better off being sent down to the science department."

With a prompt 'yes sir!' the cadets scurried off before either Cloud or Rufus could blink. Rufus snorted in amusement before he turned his attention to Cloud, who was still on the ground, rubbing his head in an attempt to ease the pain. "You alright cadet?" Cloud looked surprised at the question.

"Um… Yes sir. Sorry you had to see that sir." Cloud said as he struggled to get up. Rufus shrugged and bent down to help Cloud up.

"Seen worse than that in my lifetime. You see some weird stuff when you've been friends with Zack as long as I have."

"I can only imagine sir… By the way, thank you sir." Rufus shrugged again.

"No need cadet. You going to be alright on your own?" Cloud nodded, but winced when the movement made his head start hurting. Frowning, Rufus nudged the cadet back towards the elevator.

"You might want to give up on training right now cadet. Go get that head looked at and try to avoid roaming the hallways on your own for a little while." Reluctantly, Cloud nodded his head in agreement before he re-entered the elevators and hit the button for the sixty seventh floor. Zack found Rufus staring at the elevator door a few moments later.

"What's up Rufus? Did that door do something to offend you and you're trying to think of some way to get back at it?" The Vice President sent Zack a weird look before he stopped staring at the door.

"Talked to your little chocobo just a little while ago." Zack perked up at that. "Did you know his peers are picking on him?"

"I think Luxiere mentioned something a while ago about a cat cornering him in a dark hallway, but that's all I've heard. Why did something happen?"

"A few rats seemed to find it necessary to teach him some kind of a lesson. Might want to keep a better eye on him Zack… Maybe put your plan into action a little bit faster than you expected." Zack seemed to think about it for a moment.

"Can't really… Have to get rid of the weasel first, but I'll try to keep a better eye on Spikey. Have to leave the getting rid of Reno up to that boy toy of yours." Rufus glared at Zack. He was still a little irritated at the whole Reno, Tseng thing. Maybe when he got back to his office he'd send some more hate mail to Tseng.

When Tseng entered his office, the first thing he did was hit the playback button on his answer phone. There was the usual order from the President to send him a mission report as soon as possible. A few other messages from his Turks to say that their missions were done and they'd send their reports to his secretary, along with one other message from Rufus, who was acting very childlike while he was stating how much he hated Tseng and wished that he had gone and crashed his helicopter during his last mission.

"… And by the way you still haven't replaced that vase in your office."

Tseng's fingers tightening around the arms rests on his seat as he was reminded about why Rufus was still angry at him. You would think that he was the one that should be angry at Rufus, but no. While Tseng has let the incident with Rufus' questionable information resources slide, the President's son was still angry at him about the thing with Reno. He had to admit he had been showing a little bit too much interest in the red headed weasel but that was purely because he had the potential to become an excellent Turk.

There was a knock at the door and Tseng sighed. Mentally locking away that thought to be processed at a later date as he sat in his plush chair trying to look as if Rufus' reminder wasn't playing on his nerves.

"Come in." His secretary entered holding a small folder in his hands. "Anything of importance happen while I was away?"

"I have all the reports back from the rest of your Turks here sir."

"Any casualties?"

"None so far. All Turks have reported back in a timely manner and they have all returned to Shinra. There was a slight miscalculation with Nunchaku and Knife's mission, so their mission has been prolonged." Tseng raised an eyebrow at that.

"Miscalculation?" Despite being somewhat reckless at times, his Turks weren't ones that made mistakes very often. Especially when their mission involved humans. "Observe Wutai to ensure that there wasn't a chance for another uprising and return as soon as possible. Theirs is a country of humans, why, pray tell me, would there be a miscalculation in that?"

"It turns out that the royal family over there is a family of monkeys. Godo has remained obedient as far as this report says, but it seems as if his daughter's disappeared and they're both looking into it. They've grilled Godo about it and it seems to just be an act of rebelliousness at her young age." Tseng's frown deepened.

"It better be. Contact me immediately if anything else arises from that situation."

"Yes sir." Tseng lent back on his chair.

"Did anything else happen while I was gone?"

"I got a message from one of the SOLDIER's on duty a few days ago. The day that you were gone, it seems that the camera shut down for a few moments before we got it back online again. We thoroughly checked through your office and nothing seemed out of the ordinary." Tseng was quick to wave it off.

"I doubt anyone could do anything in that minute it takes to get in here and fix the camera. If that's all then you're dismissed." With a quick bow, his secretary left. Once the door had closed behind him, Tseng started opening all his drawers in a quick check to make sure nothing had been taken or moved. Everything looked fine and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. He almost felt disappointed when he found nothing. He would have thought that the weasel would have made a move, but maybe it was just a camera malfunction.

Shutting the last drawer, he sighed and settled back down in his chair.

Maybe he should have a talk with Rufus.

Over in the mess hall, a weasel was chuckling to himself while the halfling that was sitting with him just looked confused.