Chapter 16

"Reno!"

Reno jumped slightly at the shrill scream that escaped Yuffie's mouth, then sighed heavily.

"What was that for? You scared the hell out of me!"

Reno closed his eyes and shook his head. "Sorry, Yuffie. I don't know what's wrong with me."

Yuffie cocked a curious eyebrow and stared at the hole in the door. She slowly opened the door, and frowned when she saw the bullet had blown through a wall across the room as well.

"Reno, that was *way* uncalled for..."

Reno pulled out his hankerchief and wiped nervous beads of sweat from his brow. He seemed to ignore Yuffie's complaint, stuffing his pistol back into his pocket and gesturing for Yuffie to enter the apartment.

Yuffie rolled her eyes as she walked in the would be lush apartment. The carpet was white, though littered with beer and fruit punch stains, and there was a huge, leopard skin couch... covered with lint and crumbs.

Yuffie cringed, looking at the clothes that were thrown around the room, and the empty beer cans that were strewn across the floor.

Reno slammed the door shut and flopped down on the couch, avoiding looking at Yuffie. The girl put her hands on her hips, then, after moving a pair of Reno's pants, sat in coffee stained, lime green recliner.

Reno rested his head against the back of the couch, closing his eyes again. How did this happen? He'd never found himself in this position before. He'd always been able, even before joining the Turks, to kill, quickly and without question. What had happened today?

He looked at Yuffie through the corner of his eyes, who was crossing her legs and pushing her short hair out of her face.

Could it be that he really did love her?

Reno shook his head. Yuffie was a good five or six years younger than him. Not only that, she was quite immature.

You're not the king of maturity yourself... Reno shook his head, ignoring the truth of his conscience. Damn Yuffie....

"You're acting weird tonight, Reno," Yuffie nearly shouted, bringing him out of his thoughtful state. "Like, what's wrong with you?"

Reno sat up fully and crossed his hands in his lap. Should he tell her?

"Yuffie..."

"What?" Yuffie yipped anxiously. "Spit it out!"

Reno clapped his hands and stood up. "Damnit, Kisaragi. Don't fuckin' piss me off!"

Yuffie blinked and leaned back in her seat. "Fine..." she muttered quietly.

Reno shoved his hands deep in his pocket and tapped his foot. "Now, what I was gonna say...."

Yuffie crossed her arms and frowned at Reno's stalling. The Turk gave up and slapped his hands at his sides.

"Fuck it. I need a drink."

Reno walked into the kitchen, leaving Yuffie alone for a couple seconds. The girl rolled her eyes at his back, and started unconcsiously biting her nails. Reno returned with beer in hand, taking a swig as he sat back down on the couch. He smacked his lips and grinned, taking another sip before setting the drink down and looking at Yuffie.

"Alright..."

Reno's PHS rang, interrupting him. He pulled it out of his pocked and answered it.

"Reno here."

"Did you take care of her?"

Reno looked away from Yuffie. "Uh... yeah, boss."

Rufus snorted. "You don't sound so sure, Reno," he commented. "Don't tell me you messed up for love?"

"Ha!" Reno laughed fakely. "Get outta here, boss. You know I took her out."

"Don't lie to me, Reno," Rufus said sternly before hanging up.

Reno frowned and tossed his PHS on the table.

Yuffie glared at Reno. "What the hell is going on?" she demanded.

"Yuffie, I know you let Aeris out."

Yuffie's eyes went wide. "Wha...?"

"Yeah, I know," Reno said, shaking his head. "And you know, Rufus wants you dead now..."

Yuffie grabbed the sides of her chair so hard her knuckles turned white.

"I'm not gonna kill you," Reno said. "But I was."

Yuffie let go and breathed deeply. "Why?"

Reno stood up and sighed. "Because I lo...."

"Because you what!" Yuffie demanded.

Reno grinned. "Because I think your really hot."

Yuffie stood up and waved him off. "I'm getting out of here."

"Actually, thats not a bad idea. Rufus is gonna be after you now. Better watch your back."

Yuffie headed for the door. "Thanks, Reno," she said. "Even if you are a low down, dirty drunk."

"Thanks, babe," Reno responded. "How bout you show that thanks by given me a final smooch?"

Yuffie normally would have slapped him, but instead smiled and walked back over to him. "Why not?" she said. And kissed him.

She pulled away from him and walked back to the door. She waved goodbye, and left.

Reno smiled and fell back into the couch. He grabbed his beer and drank.

It was nice while it lasted.

Yuffie kicked a rock as she walked, hurt that she had to leave Reno and angry at the situation. She was relieved that she had not been caught, but still, she was upset none the less.

"Help!!"

Yuffie, pulled out of her thoughts, turned her attention to a dark alleyway. She cocked her eyebrow and walked towards it, jumping at the sound of another scream.

"Help! Someone--"

Yuffie jogged into the alley, making out three figures - two men and young girl about her age, dressed in a school uniform.

"Hey!" Yuffie shouted.

One of the men was standing above the girl with a knife, who was lying in a heap on the on the floor. The other man was standing behind her.

"Lookie there!" the man with the knife said. "Another one! Fresh meat, Buddy. She's all yours."

"Nah nah, Charlie," Buddy replied, smacking his lips. "I want the redhead."

"No!" the girl on the floor protested.

"You're not having anyone," Yuffie said, pulling out the Conformer. "Scum!"

The men gave each other confused glances just before the Conformer sliced through the flesh of their legs and arms, causing them to yell out in pain before it returned back to Yuffie.

"Bitch!" Charlie yelped, dropping his knife and grabbing his the wound on his leg. "Shit!"

"That's not all," Yuffie said with a giggle. She closed her eyes and concetrated.

"Ice3!"

The girl on the ground was truly amazed. Waves of ice and snow so cold she could feel it against her own skin suddenly formulated itself out of thin air, freezing her attackers where they stood. Their skin and lips turned blue, and they tried to scream in pain, but the coldness prevented that. Their hair frosted over and they fell to the floor in lifeless, frozen heaps.

The girl's lip trembled. "Turks!"

Yuffie looked around for the Turks, then suddenly remembered her clothing and looked down at herself. "Oh, no... I'm not really a Turk... well, I was... well, like, a Turk in training, I guess!"

"What do you want?" The girl said, backing away. "I haven't done anything wrong!"

Yuffie threw her hands up. "I'm not a freakin' Turk, girl, I told you! I'm just an average, well, heh, better than average Ninja. Sheesh!"

"Materia," the girl pointed out.

Yuffie walked over to the girl, stepping over her attackers bodies, and offered her hand. "No duh," she said. "Yuffie Kisaragi, Master Materia user and Hunter."

The girl stood up and brushed her blue uniform up. She was not much taller than Yuffie, with just as petite a frame. She had shoulder length, straight, firey orange red hair that reminded Yuffie of Red XIII, and golden brown eyes. Her skin was pale with a faint red glow.

"I've never met anyone that could use materia," the girl said.

Yuffie laughed. "Aw, come on! Its really common these days as a way of protection. Speaking of which, why aren't you carrying a weapon?"

The girl started looking around on the floor. Finally, she spotted something a few feet away and ran to pick it up, returning with a set of nun chucks.

She snapped it in front of Yuffie. "This is my weapon," she said.

Yuffie folded her arms. "Then why didn't you use it, Missy?"

The girl shrugged. "I panicked, and they knocked it out of my hands."

"Fah," Yuffie replied. "Where you headed, um... hey, what's your name?"

"Katyrina McFadden," she replied. "But please, just call me Kat. I hate Katyrina."

"Cool with me," Yuffie answered. "Where you headed, Kat?"

Kat shrugged. "Well, I really don't know... I kinda ran away from my boarding school."

Yuffie laughed again. "Come with me, Kat. I know *everything* there is to know about running away."

Kat cocked an eyebrow. "Seriously!" Yuffie exclaimed. "I've run away from home tons of times! In fact, I just ran away again a few days ago. Its really not a big deal, Kat. Just come with me. I'll teach you everything you need to know about surviving on your own."

Kat shrugged and stepped next to Yuffie. "Alright, Yuff. Show me the way."

"Yuff?" Yuffie repeated. "Hmm.. Yuff. I kinda like that, Kat. Let's go."

Sephiroth, in lead for once, walked through the door of Reeve Developmental Industries, the rest of AVALANCHE quietly in tow. Cloud and Zack, in a rush, most likely had already passed through.

In the main lobby, that assumption was confirmed. Reeve sat with an angry looking Cloud and Zack, worry etched across his face. When his friends came in, he gestured for them to come over.

Sephiroth held Tayeko's wrist tightly as the others passed and sat. Tifa made sure to sit next to Cloud, but he did not even bother to acknowledge her presence.

"We've got a fucking problem," Cloud suddenly burst out. "I'm not waiting any longer to get Aeris."

"Watch your fucking mouth, son," Cid said.

Tifa rolled her eyes. "Cloud, what can you do? We already agreed that we'll look tommorrow, first thing in the morning. It's too late, and we're all so ti-"

"Shut up, Tifa," Zack suddenly snapped. "If you were in Aeris' position, you'd want someone to rescue you right away." He paused for a moment. "The only reason you don't want to leave now is because you want Cloud to yourself! You're so damn afraid Aeris is gonna take him from you! Guess what, Tifa? She's mine!"

Tifa's eyes watered as she stared at Zack. The room filled with heavy silence, and Cloud glared daggers between Zack and Tifa.

"Zack..." Tifa whispered, her voice cracking. "How could..." She got up and ran up the stairs, bursting into tears as she ran.

Barret leapt up and stomped in front of Zack. "Whatsa matter wit you, boy? You got alot of goddamned nerve talking to Tifa like that! She the sweetest gal I know!" He swung his good fist. "I'll take care of you yet..."

Cid jumped up next to Barret. "Cool it, big guy. Its not worth getting into a fucking brawl over."

Barret pushed Cid out of his way. "Forget this shit, man! I'm going to check on Tifa, since we've got a bunch of pussys, CLOUD, who don't give a damn!" He glared at Cloud and then stormed up the stairs.

Striker ran a hand down his face. "Damn... let me go try to calm him down."

"I'll come with ya," Cid said, and the two followed Barret upstairs.

Sephiroth shook his head from where he and a horrified Tayeko stood in the back. "How can we expect to accomplish anything if all we do is fight, name call, bully, and antagonize?"

Cloud leapt up. "Don't you say a word about anything, Sephiroth!" he yelled. "Not one fucking word!"

Sephiroth stepped towards Cloud, easily resisting Tayeko's attempts to hold him back.

"Say that to my face, puppet."

Cloud unsheated the Ultima weapon and knocked a coffee table out of the way, causing Red to leap out of reflex and Cait Sith to scream like a girl. Cloud stood in his battle stance and face Sephiroth.

"Don't call me that...."

Reeve stood up and stood between Sephiroth and Cloud. Sephiroth's eyes were an glowing, emerald blaze, and Clouds were pools of blue mako, smoldering. The animosity in the room could be cut with a knife.

"Sephiroth, please!" Tayeko pleaded.

"Please, guys," Reeve said. "Cut it out."

"Out of my way, Shin-Ra," Sephiroth said, pushing Reeve with so much force he fell onto the floor.

Vincent, who had been standing silently in a corner the entire time, suddenly seemingly flew between the two men.

"Stop this, Sephiroth," he said sternly, looking him in the eyes.

"Not until one of us is dead," he responded, unsheathing the Masamune.

"Here we are," Isabelle said, pointing up at the buidling. "That wasn't such a long walk, now, was it?"

Aeris laughed. "I guess not."

"Well, you'd better get in there before they start freaking out," Isabelle said, adjusting her shoulder back. "Just go on in."

"You're leaving?" Aeris said, a bit unhappy. "I was hoping you'd come with me and meet my friends."

"Maybe some other time," Isabelle said, tossing her long, dirty blonde hair over her shoulder. She pulled a two way radio out of her bag. "I've got work to do, heh."

Aeris smiled and gave Isabelle a quick but tight hug. "Thanks for everything, Isabelle."

Isabelle smiled and turned to cross the street. "Take care, Aeris."

Aeris opened the door and walked inside, expecting to speak to the receptionist. Instead, she noticed a comotion in the lobby.

Sephiroth and Cloud were facing off, weapons drawn. Vincent was rooted firmly between them. Reeve was crouched on the floor, and Cait Sith was bouncing around the sides. Red XIII was standing off to one side watching carefully, his tail swishing back and forth furiously. Tayeko stood in the corner, her hands over her mouth and her eyes welling up with tears. Zack was sitting on the couch, a slight smirk on his face.

"What's going on?" Aeris suddenly demanded.

Everyone turned to look at the person the voice had belonged to.

"Aeris!" Cloud and Zack yelled at the very same second. Cloud momentarily forgot about Sephiroth as he and Zack ran over to her. "You're alright?"

"I said, what's going on?" she repeated firmly.

Cloud stopped short and looked at Sephiroth. "Sephiroth wants to die," he responded.

"Ha, ha," Sephiroth laughed. "My version: Cloud is *going* to die."

"Stop it!" Aeris yelled. "I'm gone for what, a few hours, and already you're ready to kill each other? And where is everyone else?"

"Zack said some pretty hurtful things to Tifa, and she ran off crying," Reeve said, getting up from the floor.

"Yes," Red continued. "Barret had an outburst as well, and he ran off, Striker and Cid following him."

"Zack!" Aeris exclaimed. "What did you say to Tifa?"

Zack shrugged, looking away. "Doesn't matter," he mumbled, reaching his arms out to hold Aeris.

Aeris stepped away. "I can't beileve this!" She looked at Tayeko. "Are you alright?"

Tayeko's lip trembled. "No... Sephiroth...." She burst into tears. Aeris ran and embraced her cousin. She glared at Cloud, Sephiroth, and Zack. "You all should be ashamed! Especially you, Zack!" She took Tayeko's hand and led her upstairs

. Sephiroth sheathed the Masamune and walked past Cloud and Zack.

"I will take care of you soon enough," he threatened, also retreating up the stairs.

Vincent shook his head. "Aeris is right. You two especially should be ashamed. You do not give Sephiroth enough credit. He makes a sensible suggestion and you attack him."

Cloud waved Vincent off and the darker man shrugged and walked through the main doors outside, leaving an eerie wind behind him. Cloud angrilly kicked at the already over turned coffee table, startling everyone but Zack.

"Sheesh!" Cait exzuberated. "Whatta mess! I'm goin' upstairs to see Tifa."

Reeve held his head and stood as he followed Cait upstairs. "I should have never put him on auto..." he muttered.

Red shook his head at Cloud and Zack. "You two have caused a great deal of pain in the last fifteen minutes," he said. "You should sit down and think about that." He pranced gracefully up the stairs, leaving Cloud and Zack alone.

"Shit!" Cloud yelled, flopping back down into the couch.

"This is my final option. And goddamnit, its going to work."

Rufus tapped his fingers on the surface of the desk as he stared at Scarlet, Heideggar, and the Turks, who were seated with him at the conference table.

"Gya haha! Whats the plan?" Heideggar asked.

Rufus grinned. "I'm going to demolish Reeve's new little operation."

"And just how are you going to do that, Rufus-sama?"

Rufus cringed. "Don't call me that, Scarlet. We're on a professional level."

"But Rufie, what about last-"

"SCARLET!"

Scarlet rolled her eyes and leaned back in her seat. "Fine."

"Anyway, I'm going to dispatch SOLDIER and they're going to take out everyone in that damn place. The Turks are also gonna be there."

"Sounds like an awful lot of work just to get rid of Reeve and his lackeys," Reno commented.

"Shut up!" Rufus yelled. "I know what I'm doing. Just be ready. Heideggar, I want you give command to SOLDIER immediately. Scarlet, I want them equipped with the best technologically advanced weapons. And you Turks are gonna run the show when you get down there."

"Turks rock!" Elena quipped.

"Shut up!" Rufus barked.

"Elena, you talk too much," Reno muttered, pulling out his flask.

"And you drink too much, Reno," Elena rebuffed.

"I said enough!" Rufus yelled.

"Kya haha," Scarlet laughed.

"Gya haha, ha-"

"Shut up, Heideggar! I can't take this!" Rufus hollered.

Rude chuckled.

"Rude!" Rufus screamed, standing up. "That means you too!"

"Sorry boss," Rude said.

"Everybody, get the hell out!" Rufus yelled, pointing to the door. "Out!"