A/N: Okay folks! This is for the SapphirexSerpent Rufena challange. Hope you all enjoy! ( And if you do, make sure to visit SapphirexSerpent's forums, located in her profile right here on FF and vote for your favorite! Even if it isn't mine.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Rufus the Turks, Final Fantasy VII, or a car.
Caged
Elena was wrapping her fists in strips of tough cloth when Rufus entered the room. He nodded at her quietly, settling himself on the bleacher nearest to the arena. The white of his suit flashed blindingly in the sunlight that poured down the rafters, and Elena found it hard to believe that the President had come just to watch her train. Regardless, she nodded back politely, albeit warily, before settling herself into a calm state of mind.
She fell into her combat position, launching herself angrily towards the plastic post in front of her. The kicks and punches and grunts hit the poor bag, but it was her failures, her shame, and her past that she grunted and screamed and pushed for. Her President had needed her to retrieve Jenova's head, and she had failed miserably. Just like always, she failed miserably.
When she had first shrugged on the crisp Turk suit, she had been eighteen. Just old enough to runaway from the hopeless slums and the life that seemed more like a prison than a possibility. She had lived for her training, satisfied that she had made much progress. The cool feel of steel she had experienced when she held her first gun had made her shiver, had enlivened her. More so than the dreams of being princess, made at a window that had only a view of the great plate that hung above Midgar.
Another well-aimed kick and flashes of purple and neon dots danced around her vision. The never-ending neon lights of the Honey-Bee Inn, the bar, the dress store – they would never leave her; trapped behind her eyelids when she closed them. The fog of Midgarian smoke would forever cling to her nostrils, no matter how many times she ironed out the creases of her cashmere suit, of her new start.
A rain of punches at some near-by blocks and Elena was seeing red. She wasn't even a good Turk: she wasn't stoic like Rude or interesting like Reno. Tseng couldn't even look at her past being the newest recruit and that was a dagger all its own. Every mission she was whiney and uncreative and was just bogging everyone down. She knew it, they knew it. She had been captured along with that annoying Yuffie brat by Don Corneo, for Planet's sake! She couldn't think of anything more pathetic than that.
But the thought of going back to her life before the Turks, the cage of a city that trapped and suffocated its' citizens: well, it scared her.
"Elena."
The blond turned suddenly, startled at the sudden call of her name. Rufus rose form his seat slowly, his hand cupping her cheek.
"I too know how it feels to be trapped." He stated simply, taking her hands, the cotton stained with red, and leading her towards the first-aid kit.
"S-sir?" she questioned nervously, fidgeting as he peeled away the cloth that encircled her knuckles.
"I've been looking over your profile, Elena," he continued quietly, reaching for ointment, "you've been distant with your partners, and they were worried."
Elena blinked in surprise.
"Reno and Rude were worried about me?" she asked in disbelief, flinching slightly at the mint ointment.
"Tseng too. You've been strange, and I wanted to see if anything was…resurfacing." Rufus nodded, tossing the old bandages into a nearby trash bin.
Elena smirked.
"You were checking to see if I was bi-polar or something, right?"
Rufus chuckled, but shook his head.
"Your file says you ran away at twelve," he began, rummaging through the kit for new gauze, "why?"
Elena's gaze dropped quickly.
"The home situation," she replied softly, choosing her words carefully "wasn't exactly what I wanted."
Rufus nodded understandingly.
"I'm sorry to hear it." He replied nicely.
Elena's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Sir?"
"Rufus. Please, call me Rufus."
"But-"
"Elena, that's an order."
"Fine. Rufus?"
"Yes?"
"Why are you being so nice to me?"
"Because if you continue on this self-destructive path, I will be out of an employee, which is something that I, quite frankly, cannot afford at the current time."
"Oh."
Again, the quiet chuckle.
"I like you Elena." Rufus said quietly, taping the edge of the gauze to Elena's hand, "you're passionate. You're not mechanical like the rest of your counterparts."
Elena frowned, remaining silent.
"At first, I thought you were fighting for something: a dead mother, justice, rank, pride. But that's not true is it?"
Elena again opted for silence.
"Then I began to watch your training. Reno likes to keep it light and quick, Rude hits only what he needs to, Tseng strategizes…but you…"
Elena blinked, her blue gaze meeting his.
"You beat the shit out of anything near you." He stated, smiling.
The frank statement elicited a giggle from the young woman.
"What are you fighting, Elena?" he asked suddenly, dropping her newly bandaged hands.
Elena glanced up at Rufus, through the haze of her past, of Midgar, and the cage that had been her childhood.
"Me." She replied tiredly.
Rufus shook his head.
"Your perception of you. The you that you are is just fine."
Elena blinked yet again.
"My past," she tried again, her gaze meeting his for the second time, "the fact that I can never get the Midgar stink out of my head even as the moss eats up the old city as we speak. The fact that I was never pretty enough to be with the popular girls but never strong enough to be a tomboy. The fact that, even if I were to leave the Turks, I'd have absolutely no where to go."
She gasped suddenly, clutching at her mouth, as Rufus nodded, satisfied.
"That's the answer." He stated resolutely.
Elena remained motionless.
"Childhood is cage for all," Rufus began, his eyes becoming hazy, "no matter how gilded the cages come. It is when we are let free that we show what we are made of, not what happened when we were pinned."
Elena shook her head fiercely.
"But I'm still screwing up," she insisted fiercely, rolling up the sleeves of her work-out T-shirt, "look at these scars, Rufus! I was supposed to get Jenova's head for you and what did I do? I ruined the missions and got myself cut up by Kadaj and his gang!"
"Elena-"
"And what about Don Corneo? I got captured by that stupid, fat, ugly, sonuva-"
"Elena!"
The young woman flinched as the man grabbed her shoulders.
"I got blown up," Rufus countered jokingly, a crooked smirk hanging off his mouth, "top that."
The statement was so unexpected that it made Elena giggle. The light, lilting sound her laugh shimmered through the air, clearing the sense of uneasiness that the conversation had produced.
"Yo, I hate to break up the nookie mission, Prez," a voice suddenly called, causing the pair to nervously jump apart, "but Elena promised she'd grab a drink with us!"
Elena blinked.
"No I didn't." she stated softly, confused at Reno's antics.
Rufus just laughed.
"You just need a designated driver, right?" he raised, crossing his arms.
Reno grinned.
"Course not. Besides, our contract says there can be no in-office romances, and I don't know about you guys, but you're a little to close for comfort." He retorted cheekily, leaning against the frame of the doorway.
Elena blushed apple red.
"But we-"
"-were just leaving for a nice candlelight dinner and coffee." Rufus replied, grabbing her hand and pulling her towards the dinner.
Elena's eyes widened.
"But!"
"No buts, Elena. Do you have any nice dresses?"
"Sir, I-"
"Rufus. Call me Rufus."
"Yo, Elena-"
"I didn't promise you shit, Reno!"
"Let's go, Elena."
"But I don't-"
Both men paused.
"If you want me to take him out," Reno began, moving closer to his partner, "I will."
Elena blinked.
"If you want me to fire him," Rufus countered, also moving closer, "I'd consider firing him."
The two men glanced at each other for a few seconds over a confused Elena's head, before Reno's hand shot out.
"Don't hurt her." Reno stated resolutely as Rufus grabbed his hand and shook it.
"Of course not." Rufus replied, equally as resolute.
"WAIT!" Elena screamed, the two men stopping to look at her.
"I have not agreed to go out with you, Mr. President-"
"Call me-"
"SHUT UP! I will call you what I please. Anyway, I have not agreed to go out with you. Reno, never in my life would I ever go drinking with you, let alone be around you when you see a bar."
Both men blinked in surprise.
"So you don't want to go to dinner?"
"So you won't drive to the bar?"
Elena sighed in exasperation.
"No, Reno. Not ever. Rufus…"
The man in question remained motionless.
"Yes?"
Elena sighed again.
"I don't own a dress."
Rufus laughed.
"Well buy you one."
"No!"
"Consider it a raise."
"Oooh, date the boss, get a raise!"
"Can it Reno."
"You heard the lady."
Elena glanced up at Rufus shyly, smiling a little.
"Get me outta here?"
Rufus nodded.
"Yes, the idiocy is over-bearing."
And as the two made their way out the door, Reno crossed his arms adamantly.
"So if I blink my little eyelashes at you, will I get a raise?"
-End-
A/N: As always, review!