365 Hours with Rufus Shinra (FFVII: Rufus x OC)

ch9. can you, please, stop being so f*cking nice?

IT WAS THE 4TH OF APRIL when it all started. She knew she was having another nightmare when she heard the familiar shouts in her head. And then came the bang. It came two times. Reno curled closer to her. The eight-year-old's little body trembled against hers. His little fingers clutched on her clothes. They were in the backseats of their mother's car. Mother had walked out to speak with their new owner she had said.

Why would mother want to give us away? She remembered herself asking again, and again but Hannah never got an answer. She knew their father's death had wrecked their family, especially mom. She would find their mom injecting herself with that greenish, phosphorescent liquid. Mako. Mako addiction. The house was a mess ever since papa died.

"Hanney..." Reno's voice came as he looked up at her with his big, turquoise eyes, that shined bright with tears "...what was that?" he asked with a sob and Hannah's hands reached for his messy scarlet hair, pushing them out of his face. Her own heart beat hard against her chest. Her own fingers trembled as she smoothed his hair away from his forehead.

But she forced a smile to her little brother. Both her hands reached for his cheeks, wiping away the tears that had been streaming down his face. "No matter what that was, I will protect you, kiddo,"

"You promise?" the little boy asked. His voice trembled. Another tear slipped down his cheek and another sob reached his throat. Hannah nodded, finding it too hard to talk. A lump formed in her throat and every other word would choke her if she'd speak it out. Reno buried his face in her neck once more and her hands tightened around him, nuzzling her nose in his hair.

Then, mother walked in the car. She looked panicked. She turned the key to switch the engine back on and start driving away. But then another shot came. And another. Two more times. Her mother's blood sprayed on Hannah's face and both siblings let out screams.

Then the door of their car opened and a man bowed down to see the two siblings. A fat man, with weird hair and a sly smile on his lips. A gun in his hands as he stared at the siblings and he laughed. He wasn't alone.

"What a wonderful prize, ain't they?" He laughed. "Lemme introduce myself..." he stood straight "...Don Corneo," he turned at the other men "...bring them in,"

Her eyes snapped open and she drew in a deep breath as if she had stopped breathing for the last few minutes. Her eyes released another fresh set of hot tears that were trapped in and a sob reached her throat. She had her back turned to him and she hoped he was sleeping. She didn't know what time it was. She just knew it was late.

Darkness fell in their room as she buried her face further into her pillow and sobbed against it. Her body curled in a ball till her knees found her chest. Corneo was the man who had killed their mother. She had vowed that day. She had vowed to herself she was going to kill him with her own hands. Alas, she had failed. Corneo was the only one that she had failed to kill.

She hated this. She hated sleep. She hated herself for what she had done. It was all so easy to erase from the papers, but so difficult to forget. She would give everything if she could just forget. She would give it all if it meant she could erase all memories from those few years.

She felt a hand passing around her. A warm palm pressed against her belly and urged her to turn around. She shook her head negatively. She knew it was Rufus giving her another reason not to hate him. She turned supinely only to find him propping himself on his elbow to stare down at her in genuine worry. No one had looked at her that way, except maybe her brother. His hair was a lovely mess. His hand found her cheek and his thumb wiped her tears. No matter how much worried he looked, he didn't say anything.

Her hand reached for his own, slowly pushing it away from her cheek. "I'm so sorry I woke you again. I should go sleep elsewhere. You won't be able to sleep with me, Rufus-"

"You're not going anywhere, Hannah..." His thumb wiped another tear as he stared down at her in the dark. The only light, the one coming from the window. "...and neither am I,"

He had no idea what he was doing. He had no idea why he was saying this. He knew he should have booked two rooms or do anything. Anything but this. But he leaned and pressed a kiss on her forehead and he heard her sigh and close her eyes, and her frightened panting stopped. He was glad it had. He was so glad he was making her feel better and he hated himself for that.

But what he hated the most was what he did next. His hands reached around her and picked her up, resting her body wholly on top of his. She buried her face in his neck, and breathed him in and she knew that such an act should console her, but more tears formed in her eyes, and another sob reached her throat. She couldn't believe that there was nothing about this man that she hated.

She felt his heartbeat beneath her chest, it was fast, matching her own. Could she be falling? Sure, there were emotions here while there shouldn't be, because -whatever those emotions were- none of them was hatred. No. Her heart beat fast for that man because he was holding her. How dare he hold her like no one else had before? How dare he treat her like this? How dare he be so nice whilst he shouldn't be?

He should be mean. He should be a terrible man that cared about nothing but his money, his company and himself but, no, he just didn't feel like one. He didn't act like one. Was she really ready to trust this man? Why in the world was he holding her like that? She had never known such kindness to come from someone. She had never been treated like this.

She just sobbed once more against his neck, and she knew her tears were wetting his shirt but he didn't seem to mind. His hands only tightened around her, providing the comfort that she had never known. She had never felt safer. All these felt so foreign and so good, it was unbelievable. He could be playing tricks on her. He could be fooling her. It wouldn't be the first time that she would get fooled. It wouldn't be the first time she'd get hurt.

"How can you... be so nice?" She choked out between sobs and his hand found her hair, smoothing them aside.

He knew these were words that Hannah Sinclair would never speak out to him ever again. Or, actually, she would never speak these out to anyone. How can you be so nice? What did she expect him to do? Let her cry herself to sleep? What kind of man did she think he was?

All of Shinra's enemies hated Shinra because of the way his father governed things. And maybe, that bad reputation of his father's was one that was going to haunt him until he did something about it. But all these nightmares and all those words that she would mumble in her sleep, it all made him wonder, what things had this poor woman gone through? He couldn't say and he couldn't ask because it made sense that he shouldn't bring up something that made her like this.

No. He shouldn't even care. Why did he care to know what it was that made her a wreck? Why was he even holding her? Why did he even bother to make her feel better? It all made absolutely no sense. She was nothing to him but a business partner and no matter how much he tried to convince himself that she was nothing more, he always found himself in a dead-end, because deep down he knew, he was getting attached to this woman and he hated it.

His lips found her temple and he pressed a soft kiss against it. He wasn't going to answer her question, because he -honestly- had no idea what to say. He didn't know why he was doing this, but he knew he wanted to do it. He wanted to hold her and soothe her and make sure she felt safe. He could not handle the sight of her crying. He really couldn't. And he hated himself for that.

"Sleep, Hannah,"