"Look at them!" Jai scoffed. "Bunch of pussies. They can't run for shit!"

Reno looked out from his perch in the tree, only half interested. "Blond kid's not bad," he pronounced, ignoring the fact that the 'kid' was about his own age. "I could take him though."

"Yeah?"

Reno shaded his eyes against the sun and watched the sons of Midgar high society running back and forth across the sports field. Clad in identical Shinra Red shorts and white t-shirts, the pupils of the exclusive Shinra Academy presented a strange spectacle to the two underplaters in the tree. The blond boy was the fastest by some way, but he hadn't learned to run in the Sector Five slums where escaping a pursuer quickly could make the difference between living to re-commit whatever crime you were being chased for, and - not.

"Yeah," said Reno, after due consideration. "He's good, but I'm better. They're gonna race around that track in a minute – like on TV. We'll count to time how long it takes, and when they've gone in I'll do it faster."

Jai's freckled nose wrinkled. "Nah. Dare you to do it now – when they do. Once around, and then back under the fence."

"They'll send someone after me."

"So? If you're as good as you reckon, they'll never catch you. You're the fastest runner in Five – everyone says so."

"And what're you gonna do?"

"Watch. Time you. I'll stay here until they go in, and catch up with you later. If they close up the hole in the fence, I got the wire cutters, don't I? C'mon, Reno. They're getting' set up. Look – if you sneak up behind the stand you can jump out and join in from the start almost."

"They'll have a head start…"

Jai grinned, seeing how much his friend was tempted by the idea of racing the richest kids in Midgar. "Yeah – but you're faster, ain't ya? So you can catch 'em."

"Okay!" Reno decided, pulling off his stolen boots and handing them to Jai. "You hang on to these then. Can't run too fast in those fuckers, flash as they are. Don't lose 'em. They cost three hundred and fifty gil. Or – you know – would've. And if I do it, you owe me noodles from Ella's – deal?"

"Deal. Go!"

Reno slipped silently down from the tree and ran swiftly across the open grass to the sports stand. Jai watched as Reno made his way quickly along the back of the stand and halted, peering around the corner at the line of boys who were on their marks, waiting for the race to start.

From his vantage point Reno could see the blond kid crouched in his lane, a look of intense concentration on his face.

The crack of the pistol made Reno jump, but he reacted immediately, slipping out of the shadow of the stand and running onto the track just behind the blond kid who glanced at him over his shoulder then did an outraged double take as he saw the outlandish figure trying to come level with him. Reno grinned at him as he drew alongside, and the boy's jaw set. He picked up his pace and Reno had to exert himself more than he'd expected in order to overtake, passing Blondie with a cheerful wave. The other boys were already seconds behind. Reno flew around the track, his feet hot on the springy artificial surface. He was so caught up in the exhilaration of speed and competition that it wasn't until he rounded the last bend and was approaching the home straight that he realised people were shouting at him from near the school. Reno only ran faster. The blond kid was doing an impressive job of trying to keep up, but with every stride Reno increased his lead. A massive man in sports kit was jumping up and down at the finish line, shouting something, but Reno swerved past him grinning, punching the air in victory. His expression froze seconds later when he heard the chilling baying of dogs, and he began to run in earnest.

The hole in the wire fence surrounding the school was hidden by a patch of scrubby bushes. The quickest route to escape passed directly under the tree in which Jai was concealed and Reno knew that if the dogs passed that close they'd scent his friend, so he took off at an angle, only turning towards the gap in the fence once he was well clear of Jai's precarious hiding place.

The detour cost him precious seconds, but he thought he'd be able to make it. He couldn't really believe that a school would employ the kind of security willing to set dogs on a kid, but he wasn't about to take that chance. Diving into the bushes at the edge of the sports field, Reno found the gap in the fence and began to wriggle through on his belly, agile as an eel. He was almost through – almost –

Reno yelped as pain needled through his right ankle. His first thought was that he'd caught himself on the wire, but when he turned he found himself staring straight into the yellow eyes of a monstrous black-furred animal whose teeth were clamped onto his leg. Two men in dark blue uniforms grabbed Reno's uninjured leg and pulled him backwards through the fence, all his attempts to struggle futile, his fingers scrabbling at dirt and long grasses in vain. Only once he was back inside the fence, one of the guards positioned between Reno and freedom, did the other one order, "Leave!" and the creature released its grip.

Struggling to his feet, Reno bent to examine his mauled ankle. Blood was running freely over his dusty bare foot, but when he pulled up the leg of his jeans he was relieved to see that the two puncture wounds left by the creature's teeth weren't as deep as he'd feared. A grey-haired, grey-suited man came rushing up, followed by two teachers in sports kit and the boys who had been involved in the race. The blond boy stood at the front of the group of pupils, regarding Reno curiously.

Reno played to his audience, speaking deliberately loudly, putting on a distracting show in the hope that no one would think to wonder whether he was alone. Gesturing dramatically to his leg and his ruined jeans, Reno took a deep breath to control the pain he refused to acknowledge. He focussed on the holes in his jeans – which he minded more than the ones in his leg - and said, in his best outraged tone, "Overkill, much?"

"What are you doing here?" the grey man asked.

"Nothin'," Reno said, truthfully. "Hangin', yo."

"What? Speak properly, boy! Do you have any idea how much trouble you're in – trespassing on Shinra property, threatening my pupils –"

"Whoa, whoa – backtrack, yo!" Reno interrupted, alarmed. "I never threatened no one! It was just a fuckin' race, yo!"

One or two of the boys murmured and smirked at the swear word, but the blond boy watched impassively.

"Thought I was faster," Reno added, unable to hide his pride in the achievement, "an' I was faster! Man, I could out run a friggin' SOLDIER! I am the shit, and ya know it, yo, so maybe Shinra ain't all that like you Upsiders reckon, yo."

"For heaven's sake stop saying 'yo' in that infantile fashion and attempt to speak like a rational human being," the man responded, clearly unimpressed by Reno's prowess at either running or communication. "I'll give you one more chance to answer the question, before I ask security to take you to Shinra headquarters where the Turks might be able to get some sense out of you."

"Yeah, no need for that," muttered Reno, effectively doused. "What was the question?"

"What were you doing here?" the man sighed.

"I told you – nothing'," Reno said. "I come up here sometimes – for the sun."

"The sun?"

"Yeah. Days the sun's out. There's the grass – all green an' shi – uh – green. It's – nice." Reno stared hard at a boy who sniggered, until the kid dropped his gaze.

"And how do you get here?" Reno's inquisitor persisted.

On the train," Reno lied. "If you keep movin' you can get around security. I jus' come up here and lie in the sun sometimes. That ain't a crime, is it?"

"No – but theft is."

"What? I ain't no thief!" lied Reno again, all bristling indignation.

"Then how ever did you afford those jeans, which I know to my cost, since my sons insist on the brand, are two hundred gil a pair?"

"My mom worked extra shifts in the factory for ten weeks to get me these!" Reno improvised. "For my birthday. Best present ever – and look what your dog done!"

"Did," corrected the suit, impervious to Reno's sob story. "I thought Shinra funded schools in the slums. But I suppose you're too busy tricking your way up here and lounging about in the sun to bother with anything as trivial as education."

"Only done it a few times," Reno said. "I go to school, mostly. What's it to you anyway? You don't care about my education."

"Actually I care about education in general, which is why I became a teacher and then headmaster of this school. But we're getting away from the point. Even if I choose to believe your story, the fact is you've trespassed on Shinra property and caused a security breech." He looked towards the two guards. "Escort him to my office. And ask matron to look at his leg on the way."

Before the guards could reply the blond boy stepped forward. "Sir, may I ask him a question?"

"Certainly."

The boy approached Reno, but both guards closed in, one of them laying a restraining hand on Reno's shoulder. The blond boy stopped a few feet from Reno and looked at him out of intensely blue eyes. "Why did you do that?" he asked in a cool tone that suggested he was used to having his questions answered. "Why race? You could have stayed out of sight."

Reno stared back, unabashed. "Wanted to see if I could beat you. Thought I could – wanted to know for sure."

"You wanted to beat me - in particular?"

"Well, yeah. You're the fastest."

The blond boy's expression became subtly less hostile. "That's why?"

"Yeah. Why else?" Reno's eyes narrowed. "What am I missin'?"

The headmaster asked, "Do you know who this is?"

Reno shrugged. "Some rich kid. How should I know? He can run. Not as good as me, but he ain't bad."

" 'As well as me'. 'Isn't bad'," the head corrected automatically.

"He doesn't know who I am," the blond boy said. "I think he's telling the truth – about coming here for the sun, anyway. Probably not about the theft."

"Who are ya, then?" Reno asked, a little unsettled that the boy was so on the money. "What's so friggin' important about you?"

No one answered him.

"Take him inside," the head told the guards. "Sweep the perimeter, just to be sure, but I agree with – I agree that he's probably telling the truth."

"Yeah – but – who are you?" Reno called to the boy over his shoulder as the guards led him away. The boy made no reply.

X

The students were left standing on the field after the slum boy was dragged off. It seemed field practice was over for the day. As they made their way back towards the building the whir of helicopter blades cut through the silence. The boys stepped back, the wind blowing back their hair. As soon as the chopper was on the ground a young Wutaian man in a black suit jumped down and jogged towards the blond boy.

The other students stared, whispering to one another. Some were simply excited that something interesting was happening, others were speculating whether or not the Turks were going to arrest the redhead or kill him. There were plenty of rumors about the Turks.

The Turk came to a stop in front of the blond boy.

"Are you all right, sir?" he asked.

"I'm fine, nothing happened," he said. Everyone was watching them now, so much for feeling normal. "You're embarrassing me." The boy complained in a hissed whisper.

If the Turk cared about his charge's discomfort he did not show it. Instead he addressed himself to headmaster. "Tseng of the Turks," he introduced himself. "Our department will require a full report on today's security breach as soon as possible. I'm taking Rufus Shinra home until we determine the location is secure."

"What?" cried Rufus. Next week was spring break and he hadn't intended to go home for the holiday. However, he wasn't going to argue with Tseng about it here in front of everyone like a child whining at their babysitter. his couldn't get more embarrassing. Rufus pushed back his hair. "Well then," he said, "I suppose my break starts early, have a nice break everyone." He waved and started towards the helicopter as though leaving had been his idea in the first place.

Once they were on board Tseng asked him what exactly happened. Rufus told him about the boy. "I've never seen anyone run so fast. He would have gotten away if they hadn't set the hounds on him, but really I think he's harmless. Well, not a threat to me at least. What's going to happen to him?"

X

The school matron was a vigorous young woman who tutted over the wounds on Reno's leg, washed and bound his ankle, and obstinately refused to answer any questions.

She shook her head, smiling, as he asked for the umpteenth time, "So – you know a blond kid – good runner – about thirteen or fourteen?"

"Didn't anyone ever tell you what curiosity did to the cat?"

Reno made a face. "Yeah. My mom says if I don't die in jail I'm gonna die from stickin' my nose in where it's not wanted. But she ain't hardly never sober, so who gives a fuck what she thinks, yeah?"

"Now – I'm just going to give you a tetanus shot," the matron said, turning to a wooden cabinet and taking something out.

Reno jumped up from his chair and backed towards the door. Unfortunately that was blocked by one of the hulking security guards who had adamantly refused to leave him alone with the matron.

"Don't come near me with none of that Shinra shit!" Reno cried, really frightened for the first time that day. "I've heard the stories, yo! Ain't no one stickin' no needles in me! I don't wanna wake up in some lab somewhere!"

"If I wanted to harm you I'd hardly waste my time cleaning your ankle, would I?" the matron said calmly. "This is the same shot you probably had at school when you were five. It's to stop you getting an infection from those bites. Guard hounds probably carry all sorts of bugs."

"I'll take my chances."

"I'm sorry. I'd be neglecting my duty if I let you leave without the shot." She signalled to the guard who grabbed Reno's upper arms before he could get away. Reno cursed and struggled for all he was worth, but the matron jabbed the needle into his arm close to where the guard was holding it.

"This is assault!" Reno yelled, rubbing his arm furiously as soon as the guard released him. "You can't jus' go around stabbing people with needles, yo! What's gonna happen to me?"

"Nothing. You're protected against tetanus. That's it." Matron looked wearily at the guard. "You can take him to see the headmaster now."

Reno kept his head up and his jaw set as he was marched along wide corridors panelled in dark wood and floored with some kind of shiny white stone. His defiance was mostly an act now and he had to fight not to cry. He wasn't scared of much – authority figures didn't cow him – but the rumours circulating in the slums about people who disappeared off the streets under the plate, and the things that happened to them afterwards on certain floors of the Shinra building, were enough to give the bravest child nightmares. He only hoped that Jai had managed to get away.

Despite Reno's fears, it seemed that the matron had been telling the truth. He was only detained in the head's office until he finally gave his real name and address. The security guard made a phone call, and a few minutes later the head received a call on his desk phone. As he listened to whoever was speaking at the end of the line, his eyes flicked to Reno, then away, then back again. Reno strained to hear the other side of the conversation, but the voice was too faint. "Yes – well he certainly has some athletic ability," the head said. "All right, but only on condition that everything else is at least in line with expectations… Yes – well, I always did enjoy a challenge…. Thank you. Goodbye."

The head looked up at Reno. "All right – you can go. I wouldn't recommend coming back up here again. This school is private property, so unless we see you here as a pupil in the future –"

Reno snorted. "Yeah, 'cause that's happenin', yo!"

"Stranger things have happened," the head observed mildly, although Reno noticed that his left eye twitched at the 'yo'. "Mr. Downs here will escort you to the gates. Goodbye, Reno."

"See ya, yo!" Reno said, with a cheerful wave. He was almost sure now that no one was about to kidnap him for sinister experiments, but he wouldn't relax until he was safely back under the plate with Jai. The guard, Downs, took him to the huge wrought iron gates of the school, which opened silently at their approach. "Cool," said Reno. "They electric?"

Mr. Downs seemed disinclined to comment. Once Reno was outside the school boundary, Downs growled, "Don't come back."

"Have a nice day, yo!" Reno yelled as Downs turned away. Reno sauntered along the street – a tree-lined boulevard he'd never seen before in his excursions above the plate – until he'd rounded a corner and was out of sight of the school, whereupon he fled as fast as his damaged ankle would carry him, using the far-off Shinra tower as a landmark to navigate his way back to a drain in a dead-end alley by a little Sector One theatre.

Looking around carefully to make sure he hadn't been followed, Reno lifted the drain cover and slipped down into the sewers, which would take him to an abandoned kamira bug nest where the bugs had dug down through the plate itself, their corrosive faeces destroying the metal. The underside of the plate looked relatively featureless from the ground, but in places it was actually a tangle of pipes and struts, to one of which Reno and Jai had managed to attach a rope they'd found by chance while exploring the under-plate sewers. Reno descended the rope with a speed that would have impressed the strictest gym teacher at the Shinra Academy, leapt down onto the roof of the tallest building in Under One, through the jimmied fire door, and down the concrete stairs to street level. Once on the Under ground, it was a long run back to Five and the den in the outer wall that he and Jai kept secret from everyone else. To Reno's utter relief, Jai had been there. Reno's boots were tucked into the hiding place. Replacing the boots with two small stones – the 'okay' signal – Reno repositioned the loose brick to conceal the hidey hole, pulled on his boots, and made his way home, whistling.

When he got home, he found his mom was still snoring on the couch. She opened her eyes briefly when he came in, but she was too out of it to ask, or to care, where he'd been.