Elena's mouth gaped open in shock 'You mean old man Shinra killed his wife? What the hell for?'

Reno and Rude both shrugged their shoulders. Rude was the first to reply, 'Really, there was no reason to kill her, then again to him I guess there was no reason to keep her alive either. She gave him an heir to the company and he felt that Rufus was getting too "soft" because of her and he didn't want a nice guy taking over his company. As mean as it sounds, he only really talked to her when he needed someone on his arm at official functions. We all know his track record at the Honeybee inn, so he didn't care about her for that.'

Reno nodded his head and continued with the story. 'After his mother died, he stopped talking to everyone the way he used to. He still talked to Tseng now and then, but kept his distance from him too. It's like overnight he became the guy that his dad wanted him to be, cold and distant.'

'Tseng was tired of Rufus avoiding him and went up to see him. Tseng went along with Rude in the hallway that led to Rufus' room and waited for him to come back from school. Ok, so it was a tutor 30 floors down, it was still school.'

'Are you sure he'll be coming in from here sir?' Rude looked his shades at the man standing next to him.

'Yes Rude, I'm sure. It's the only elevator he can get off of to get to his room from his tutor. Now please, go hide behind that wall. I don't want him to see you, but you have to ready to block his way when he tries to get back into the elevator.'

'Ok, Tseng, if you say so. But why would he try to get back into the elevator?' 'Because for some reason or another, he doesn't want to talk to me. I'll corner him and make him talk to me and explain why he doesn't want to see me.'

Rude noted the hurt in Tseng's voice that he was trying to hide. 'I don't think it's necessarily you he doesn't want to see Tseng. He does like spending time with you, I'm sure there's a good reason as to why he's stopped talking to you. Well, as good of a reason that an eleven year old can have anyway.'

Tseng sighed, 'I'm sure he has a good reason, but I would like to know what it is. I don't like seeing him alone like this, especially not now.' He heard the chime from the elevator. 'Go hide Rude, he's coming.'

Rude managed to hide himself from Rufus just as the elevator doors were opening. Head down, Rufus made his way from the elevator and made his way to his room. When he lifted his head up, he noticed Tseng standing in the hallway. He tried to turn away and head back to the elevator, but found that a wall that was not there previously was now in front of him.

'Rude, could you move please? I forgot something in my tutor's room.' Rude shook his head, 'Nice try sir, I'm sure your tutor will give it to you tomorrow. Someone wants to talk to you and see how you're doing. Just go say a few words to him alright?' Poor kid, you need someone with you now, don't push him away.

Seeing how Rude wasn't going to move, he didn't have any other choice but to go see Tseng. He turned away from Rude and walked down the hall to Tseng.

'Hello Tseng.' 'Hello Rufus-sama. How are you?'

Rufus shrugged, 'I'm fine.'

'I haven't seen you much since your mother passed away, are you doing ok? Did you want to talk about it?'

'No, I'm fine.'

'How's school?'

'Fine.'

'How's Dark Nation?'

'Fine.'

'Rufus, please talk to me. Why are you doing this? Why are you pushing me away? I want to help you, but you have to talk to me.'

'What did Rufus answer? Come on Reno, don't leave me hanging.' Reno looked up at her from the top of his coffee cup. 'Can I have a sip of coffee here Elena? Geez, most of the time you tell me to shut up and now you're begging me to keep talking. I'm growing on you aren't I?'

He gave her a smug smile and moved closer to where she was sitting on the couch. She pushed Reno away and moved towards the opposite edge of the couch. 'Hardly Reno. For once you have something worthwhile listening to, so I figured I'd enjoy it. Now, please, continue.' 'Alright, alright 'Lena. Now where was I? Oh yeah, what Rufus had to say.'

Tseng knelt down to Rufus' height and looked him in the eye. 'Please Rufus, just tell me why.'

Rufus sighed and looked away from Tseng. 'It's nothing you did Tseng. I would still like to spend time with you, but I think it's best if you didn't stick around me so much so that you won't get hurt.'

Tseng couldn't hide the confusion from his voice or his face. 'So I won't get hurt? Rufus-sama, I don't understand. How would I get hurt by spending time with you?

'Tseng, he killed my mother, whom he "loved so very much" because I loved her and because she spent lots of time with me. Who's to stop him from killing an employee for the exact same reason? I don't want you to die because of me Tseng. I don't want to be responsible for your death too. It's alright Tseng, I was just meant to be alone. I can deal with that. I'll be too busy working all the time when I'm older anyway so I might as well
get used to it now. Don't worry about me, I'll be fine.'

'Poor kid. Parents are supposed to try to get their kids to talk to other people, not have them stay by themselves so that they can be used when the parent needs them for their business.' Rude mused out loud 'He'd only let Rufus out to attend social events and be used as the "poster boy" for the company, not have him go out and actually talk to people and socialize. You know, Tseng's usually a pretty tough guy and not much ever seemed to bother him, but I guess hearing an 11 year old kid say that they're better off alone is his breaking point.'

'Well fuck Rude, I thought I was telling the story. Feel free to continue though, since ya know, you were there and all.' Reno gazed up at his friend 'Besides, I need a smoke anyway.' With that, he lit one up.

'I think I will Reno. By the way, you're not supposed to smoke in a hospital.' 'Screw that, it's raining outside and you might mess up the story so it's best that I stick around.' Shaking his head, Rude continued.

'Tseng pretty much looked crushed after he heard Rufus talk like that. Hell, even I felt bad for the little guy, kids shouldn't feel that way. When Rufus was done with his explanation, Tseng looked Rufus in the eye and said as nicely as I've ever heard him speak.

'Rufus Shinra, don't think like that. I promise you that as long as I am alive, you will never be alone. You know that I will always be here for you and no matter what you do, you will not push me away; I won't let you. You don't have to avoid me for my own safety; I will worry about my own safety myself. I'm not worried about that. I am more worried about your safety and well-being. You just worry about the normal things you should worry about, like your schoolwork and I'll worry about the safety issue. Alright?'

He looked at Tseng, relief evident in his eyes. He was sure that Tseng was going to agree to what he thought and wouldn't push it further.

'You promise you won't leave me Tseng?'

'Yes sir, I promise.'

'Shake on it?'

'Alright.'

Tseng took Rufus' outstretched hand and Rufus couldn't help but smile.

'Thank you Tseng. If you'll excuse me though, I have some homework that I have to do for tomorrow so I can't talk now.'

'Would you like some help?'

'Yes, I would appreciate that. Thank you.'

Rufus walked past Tseng and walked towards his room. Tseng turned back to Rude, to speak with him for a moment.

'Thank you for the help Rude.'

'No problem sir.'

'You're free to go back downstairs to your office Rude, or wherever it was you were going before I dragged you up here.'

'Thank you sir.'

'I've seen Rufus smile before, but I think that the smile that he got on his face that day was the most genuine one I've ever seen on him.' Rude remembered. 'It was also a good start; Tseng got him to talk for more then a minute and got him to smile for the first time since his mother died. After Tseng relieved me, I turned around and went back down to the office and didn't see them for the rest of the day. I think things went well though; when Tseng came to work the next day, he looked a lot happier then he did the day before.'

Taking one last puff from his cigarette, Reno turned to Elena. 'Well, there's your story Elena. Now you know why Tseng and Rufus are so close. Personally, I'm worried about when Rufus wakes up. Tseng will probably not let the guy move an inch without doctor's permission.'

Elena sat there for a minute and let it sink in. She didn't know much about Rufus' past but given what she learned, she can kind of understand why he ended up the way he is now. Although she did up with the answer she was looking for, she was left with more questions then before. 'So what happened when Rufus was in Junon? Did they lose touch or did Tseng keep his promise?'

'That Elena is another story altogether. It's just as depressing though, maybe more.' 'How the hell can it be as depressing then getting beaten by your father and him murdering your mother?' 'You wouldn't think it could get worse, but trust me Elena,' Reno said between puffs 'it does. Maybe I'll tell it to you someday if you still want to hear it.'

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