A.N.: Apologies for the short chapter, but we hop back into the action after this, so I wanted to stop here. Hope y'all enjoy it anyway!

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Yuffie had dropped Cid off at Final Heaven with the instructions to wait for her. Even though it was six a.m., Tifa would be up helping Denzel and Marlene get ready for school. Now, she stood outside the WRO tower with fists clenched. She wasn't sure if she would find Rufus inside, but she had a hunch the man only stopped working to sleep a few hours and eat something expensive once in a while.

She would require the receptionist's permission to get to Rufus' office's floor. Yuffie strode through the sliding glass doors and approached the circular desk. The receptionist's name badge flashed "Tiffany" at her, and Yuffie grinned. By the way the pretty girl's face shrank as she did so, Yuffie imagined she looked frightening.

"I need to see Rufus Shinra."

"I'm sorry," Tiffany said, "no one by the name of Rufus Shinra works in this building." She tucked a cropped lock of brown hair behind her ear and did an impressive job of looking clueless.

Yuffie rolled her eyes. Since he had recovered from the Geostigma, Rufus had taken up residence in the WRO building as opposed to just pulling the financial strings from a distance. His presence and influence in the World Regenesis Project were kept under tight wraps. They imagined—correctly—that people would not be too pleased to discover the man who had nearly destroyed the Planet was behind the star organization that had rebuilt almost everything.

"Tell Rufus Yuffie's here and she has a bone to pick with him." As the receptionist opened her mouth to protest, Yuffie cut her off. "I'm the Empress of Wutai, I know he's here, and he'll want to see me."

With a continued look of reluctance, Tiffany picked up the phone and hit a couple of buttons. "Sir, I'm sorry to disturb you, but there's someone here to see—yes, I know you said no visitors, but—yes, sir, I know—"

Already tired of this, Yuffie snatched the receiver from Tiffany's hands, ignoring her scandalized expression.

"Rufus, it's me."

"Empress," he said without missing a beat. "I had not expected to hear from you."

"Of course you didn't. We need to talk."

"By all means. Please, give the phone back to Tiffany."

Yuffie did as he requested, and soon, she was on her way up to the office. There was no button for Rufus' office in the elevator. They'd learned from experience that if there was a floor no one else was allowed on, someone would try to figure it out. So they'd just ommitted a couple of floors for whatever purpose they chose. One of those floors was Rufus'.

She tapped her foot as the elevator went up fifty floors, then one more with a quiet ding. The doors slid open, and she traveled down the narrow hallway until she found herself in front of Rufus' office. A plaque on the wall read simply R.S.

Yuffie didn't knock. She barged in, the door hitting the interior wall with a bang. In the back of her head, she hoped it scuffed his pleasant mint green wallpaper.

Rufus sat framed by a wall of windows and the view of Edge sprawling behind him. He looked immaculate, dressed in a gray suit today. The color flattered his sharp eyes and fair hair. She supposed other people might be cowed by him sitting in his high-backed black chair with Edge behind him like a king over his kingdom, but she was not fooled. He might pull the financial strings, but the public loved Reeve.

"Good morning, your highness. I trust you're—"

"Shut up," she snapped. She was not nearly as angry with Rufus as she had been with Tseng. Leviathan did not stir, but she was aware of his presence. "What has Tseng told you about Wutai?"

Yuffie approached the desk, aware she was playing with fire. Wherever Rufus was, a Turk would not be far behind. She was sure if she threatened him with physical harm, Rude, Elena, or Reno would make an appearance.

For his part, Rufus sent her a blank expression. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Don't bullshit, Rufus," she said, placing her hands flat on his desk and leaning toward his face. He did not quail. If anything, she thought she spotted a spark of amusement in his gaze. "You know that doesn't work on me."

"As you say," he conceded, but somehow Yuffie still didn't feel he had agreed with her.

Had Tseng revealed anything to him about her strange tendency toward glowing and magical healing powers? She didn't expect to get a straight answer out of Rufus, but if nothing else, she'd be able to give him a piece of her mind.

"I don't know what Tseng told you, but—"

"Tseng did not tell me anything I didn't already know," Rufus interjected, a smirk playing about his lips.

Yuffie didn't think that was entirely possible with the staggering amount of information in that file. Besides, Tseng had told her Rufus helped him put it together.

"Don't lie. I just said that doesn't work on me."

"The truth works on everyone, Empress."

"There a problem here?" Yuffie whirled, her eyes landing on Elena at the open door. The blonde did not appear pleased to see her, but Yuffie could not bring herself to care.

"We're perfectly fine, Elena. Please, if I could have a moment?" Rufus waved her off, and she shut the door reluctantly. Her silhouette lingered outside the frosted window. "Empress," he began in what he must have thought were soothing tones.

Yuffie wasn't having any of it. "Listen, you," she said, getting very close to him and poking her finger into his chest. "Stay out of Wutai's business. Me and Tseng have an agreement—and it doesn't include you."

"Is that a threat?" he asked, voice quiet and teetering on dangerous. Yuffie wasn't intimidated by Rufus, though. No man who had custom floor molding of little sailboats in his office would succeed in scaring her.

"You bet your ass it's a threat, buddy." She wished she could stand on his desk and pose, but now was probably not the time. "Don't spy on me. Don't use Tseng to spy on me. Stay the hell out of Wutai. Or else."

She was backing away from his desk now, attempting to make a graceful exit.

"Have you left your country in Tseng's capable hands?" he called. And there it was again, his amusement. She wanted to leap across the desk and choke him. Better, unleash Leviathan, if she even could. He wouldn't be laughing at her then.

Furious, she spat, "Just stay out!"

She tried not to let Elena see her anger as she punched the button for the elevator.

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Fifteen minutes later found Yuffie yawning over a cup of steaming coffee. Tifa sat next to her at the bar. The kids had been shipped successfully off to school, Cloud was out on a delivery, and Cid had retired for a cat nap after her arrival at Final Heaven, for which Yuffie was grateful. This way, she had Tifa all to herself for a couple hours.

The bar was dim, even with the sun already up. Sunlight always filtered lazily through Tifa's small, clouded windows. Yuffie suspected that if Tifa weren't so pretty and surprisingly stern and Cloud so intimidating, the low lighting might draw more ruffians than it actually did.

"So what happened?" Tifa slugged some coffee. Her eyes were not fully open yet, and her hair was somewhat askew. Yuffie knew from traveling with the older woman that Tifa was not a morning person. She suspected that was one reason Tifa had opened another bar after Seventh Heaven was destroyed—later hours.

Yuffie stirred a generous helping of sugar into her mug, then took a sip. It was just below hot enough to burn her tongue. She savored the feeling of her exhaustion easing.

"Okay, but before I start, you have to promise you won't hop a chocobo to Wutai and try to kill Tseng," she said as casually as she possibly could.

Tifa stopped running her fingers through her mass of bedhead hair and squinted at Yuffie. "And… why would I need to promise that?"

Yuffie hid her face in her arms so Tifa wouldn't see her miserable expressions. "A few reasons. One, I still need him. Two, I might have already killed him myself."

There was a pause, and after a moment, Yuffie looked up to see Tifa staring at her with a considering expression. She stood, went behind the bar and grabbed a bottle with a flourishing script that said Black Chocobo, and came back to pour two generous helpings into their coffee.

"Tifa, it's a quarter past seven in the morning," Yuffie started to say, and Tifa made a soft shushing noise, one hand at her temple, the other bringing her mug to her lips.

"Oh, that's good," she sighed after a couple swallows. She met Yuffie's astonished eyes. "What? It's not every day I get to see you, and since we don't get to have a sleepover, I figured now's as good a time as any. Besides, Cloud's picking the kids up from school today," she finished with a little red in her cheeks.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Yuffie shrugged, grabbing her mug. "Cid's driving anyway." The coffee smelled like rum as she held it under her nose.

"So what happened?" Tifa asked again. "I need you to be a little more specific."

Yuffie opened her mouth to tell Tifa everything, from beginning to end—Tseng's recent affections, her discovery of the file, their big blowout. Something held her back, though, and she took another swig of her coffee. Truthfully, she wanted to tell Tifa, but she felt embarrassed that he had even managed to keep the file from her in the first place. Furthermore, she was embarrassed to be bothered by his behavior at all. Everyone had warned her of his tendencies, and she had led everyone to believe she could deal with the consequences.

Would telling Tifa be cheating? She felt suddenly like if her friends knew, they would be disappointed in her.

Seeing Yuffie's conflicted frown, Tifa stood. "I don't know what he did, but I'll show him a thing or two," she said, fist hitting palm with an ominous sound. She turned toward the stairs. "I'm waking up Cid, and we're going to talk to him right now."

Yuffie grabbed her friend by the muscly arm. "Tifa," she said sharply. Her voice seemed to echo in the quiet bar. "It won't help anything."

Tifa's reaction sealed it. She would not tell the rest of her friends the story. Not the whole story, anyway. She didn't need them running off to Wutai to endanger her fragile balance. Plus, she wasn't even sure if she'd permanently damaged Tseng in some way; she didn't need them complicating him further.

She decided on an abbreviated version of the story. "I found some pictures of me and my dad hidden in his office—old ones, taken by paparazzi. He had to have dug them up from old magazines."

Tifa's lips pressed into a thin line, and her hands clenched the coffee cup so hard her knuckles whitened. "That low-down…" She breathed deeply, then said, "Go on."

"He wouldn't tell me where he got them, we got into a big fight, and I… punched him," she finished lamely. She couldn't think of a way to explain Leviathan to Tifa, and she didn't want to begin.

Tifa sniffed. "That's it?" No, she imagined Tifa would think a punch a small thing.

"Yeah," she said.

"He's probably fine," Tifa said, frowning. "But are you sure about leaving Wutai with him?"

Yuffie knew this maybe wasn't the best idea now that the fires had cooled somewhat and she'd arrived in Edge, but in the moment she had called Cid for a ride, she hadn't been feeling the most emotionally stable. Now she was in Edge, and she figured she might stay a while before going back. She thought she could trust the Mighty Gods to hold down the fort for at least twenty-four hours. If not, she might as well just write her entire government off as a failure.

"It's only for a few hours," she said, trying to sound confident.

"Another drink?" Tifa asked, finished off the last of her coffee.

"Definitely," Yuffie said.

Tifa went to work mixing them something behind the bar. After a moment, she asked, "Are you going to tell me what really happened?"

Her last sip of coffee almost went down the wrong pipe. "W-what," she spluttered, trying not to dribble on herself.

Tifa smiled gently. "Yuffie," she said, "I'm your best friend. I know you didn't come all the way here because you punched Tseng. What really happened?"

"You don't believe me?" Yuffie asked somewhat redundantly. She didn't know what to say now that Tifa had called her out.

"I believe you and Tseng had a fight." She rearranged some of her liquor bottles, talking over her shoulder. "But judging by how far you came, and how awful you looked when I asked you what happened, there's more than what you said." She turned from the bar and put a new glass down in front of Yuffie. "Try that."

Yuffie sipped it and made a face. She hated cranberry juice. Tifa rolled her eyes and snatched the glass up again, goin back to work.

"Look, if you don't let me help you, I know you're not letting Tseng help you. You can't do all this on your own, Yuffie. Even if it's just talking to someone, you need friends."

The past months had been some of the loneliest Yuffie had ever experienced. Surviving off the lands in the Gongagan wilderness at age twelve had been her first taste of what it meant to be truly alone. Being married to Tseng, ruling Wutai—that was her first taste in being alone while still surrounded by people. She ached to tell Tifa everything, but that would require revealing Leviathan to someone other than the Mighty Gods, and she didn't think she ought to just yet. Something told her to play that particular card close to her chest, until she absolutely could not avoid revealing it any longer. A ninja's best maneuvers were the secret ones, after all.

Even so, what Tifa said affected her. She felt at once grateful for her friends and sorry she could not be completely honest with them. She didn't know what to say to the older woman, who had set another drink down in front of her and seemed to be waiting expectantly for some sort of answer. Instead of speaking, Yuffie grabbed her glass, went to take a sip, and paused as she felt tears beginning their slow track down her cheeks. A small sob escaped her chest, and she set the glass down before she spilled it with her shaking hands. She was isolated, tired, and had nobody to really talk to truthfully in any complete definition of the word.

Tifa had a tact that other people did not, however. She said nothing, walking around the bar and taking Yuffie into her arms without another word. With Tifa wrapped around her like a blanket, rocking her back and forth, Yuffie cried openly. She wept like she had when she was a small girl, when she had a mother to cradle her and chase nightmares or skinned knees away. Now she only had Tifa, and she felt ashamed at her weakness even as the coil of tension in her gut loosened.

When she had subsided, Tifa pulled back and grabbed a bar napkin, holding it out to her. Yuffie wiped her eyes and blew her nose.

Softly, Tifa said, "I can't know exactly what it is you're going through right now, and I don't think you're going to tell me. That's fine. But you don't have to feel so alone. I'm a phone call away, and if you really need it you can call Cid and have him take you anywhere you need to go."

"I'm sorry," Yuffie said, barely audible. Her head was in her arms again, and Tifa moved away from her and settled in the bar stool to her right.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I wish you would tell me, only so I could know a little better how to help you—but I know you must have your reasons. I trust you, Yuffie. I know you're doing the right thing."

Yuffie wished she had the confidence in herself that Tifa seemed to have in her. Nevertheless, Tifa's faith fortified her somewhat, and the journey back to Wutai that she would soon have to take did not seem nearly as daunting. She just needed someone to trust her judgment, and here was someone. Maybe she could feel like she was doing the right thing and making good decisions if she could remember that her friends trusted her.

"Thanks for being my friend, Tifa," she said.

"No, thank you for being my friend," Tifa said with a winning smile. "Now try this drink. You have to leave soon, and we might as well get a little buzzed first. Did I tell you Marlene made the honor roll at school? And Denzel's talking about trying out for a play..."

Tifa's chatter was oddly soothing, and Yuffie let it and the alcohol wash over her, trying to set her worries aside until she could handle them directly. She was not looking forward to the trouble that waited for her back in Wutai.

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