This story belongs to me and my creative mind. However, many of the characters, names, and places all belong to their respective companies, so don't yell at me for copyright infringements! Remember, italics represent a person's thoughts or the telling of past events.

Enjoy...

: On Vacation :

Reno's phone rang, almost too quiet to hear over the howling winds that pushed him around on the Da-Chao mountains. He reached into his jacket and took out the device and flipped it open.

"This is Reno." He announced.

He listened as a man talked, giving orders while trying to maintain the sound of control over clear aggrivation and irritation. Reno kept up his part of the conversation by adding in the occasional yeah and sure, but otherwise ignored what was being said. After a minute, the silence on the other end must have meant that he was supposed to say something.

"Is that all?"

The man yelled out the orders loud enough to make his teeth rattle.

"Alright, alright! Jeez..." He ended the call and put the phone back. He looked at the people around him on the curious mountainside and shrugged. "That was Shinra. He wants us to find Cloud and bring him in."

Cloud, being among that gathering, slowly lifted the buster sword up to a defensive posture. His comrades, that bear with a gun arm and the chick that Rude fancied both readied themselves for a fight. Reno looked at his partner, the other man standing impassive to their posture. He looked his way, then shook his head lightly. Reno grinned, sharing the same thought.

"'Cept were on vacation." Reno started back down the arm of the statue carved from the mountain, Rude following in silence. Cloud and those two kept up their arms and watched them the whole time, keeping as much distance as they could. They got Elena down from the ropes that bound her to the face of the statue, the blonde wailing and fidgeting the whole time. After much yelling and her accusations of abandoning her to some lowlife lecher, they nearly carried her back to the Turtle Inn to continue where they left off. When Reno took a vacation, nothing was going to interfere with it.

>>>>>

"And so!" Reno paused a moment, trying to get his train of thought on track. "An' so the guy slid the cup down the bar, an I tried 'ta piss in it and missed the whole way! Now the guy was laughin', and said I owed him fifty gil! But I said, I said...that I just bet that other guy I could piss on yer bar and you'd let me fer a hundred gil!"

The trio laughed, too inebriated to really care if it was the truth or just another joke. Elena nearly fell off her chair sniggering. "You're fuckin' sick, Reno."

"Naw I ain't! I was flat broke...so what the hell else could've I done? Ya gotta make money somehow...an it was funny! You had t'have been there."

"You're just a sicko, Reno." She snickered.

"Ah, come on! Loosen up, blondie, I was drunk!"

"Don't call me that..."

"Why not?"

"I dun like it."

"Why?"

"'Cause then you'll just call me that all the time an' make dumb blonde jokes an' think I'm a clutz or something an'-"

"You are a clutz, girlie!"

"Reno!"

"I'm just kiddin' with you, blondie! Stop being so serious..."

"Then quit callin' me that!"

"That's it, then, you need another shot."

"No, I've had enough..."

"No you haven't." Reno teased her, pouring out a shaky two fingers of sake into her cup. "Come on, Rude, you up for another?"

"...Sure." The man said, still quiet but grinning from the drinks before.

Reno poured himself and Rude another round, then lifted their cups. Elena just crossed her arms and stared at hers.

"Come on, 'Lena, drink."

"No."

"Come on, please...?"

"No, Reno."

"Look, I'll promise you...I'll swear I'll never call you blondie again if you do." He was nearly pleading like a child. "Please? I dun want you to be angry anymore. I just wanna drink with my friends is all. Please...?"

"Stop it. God." She growled. "Fine, just shut up already."

"Thanks, 'Lena." He patted her shoulder roughly, then lifted his cup again and waited for Elena to do the same. "Okay, let's toast...um, toast to...err...friends?" He looked at his two comrades, and neither seemed to think of anything else. He grinned wider then. "Okay, a toast to friends."

They tossed back the shots and set the cups down, each silent as the liquor made itself at home. Rude mumbled something, and slowly lost him composure and leaned on the table to rest his head on his arms. Reno and Elena looked at him with arched eyebrows. The redhead prodded his friend in the shoulder and got out a groan.

"What's up, man?"

"...Too much..."

Reno broke out in a fit of snickers, trying to keep from laughing out loud. Rude was always the very image of professionalism, never laughed or talked more than necessary and performed his tasks with speed and efficiency. However, given enough alcohol, he always got sick and had the worst hangovers Reno could think possible for a man. Apparently he was built for anything except heavy drinking. It took a minute for the redhead to calm down from his giggling.

"You gonna be sick?" He asked.

Rude moaned, apparently set on not being that.

"'Lena? You okay?"

She was leaning back in her chair, head lolling. "I'm startin' to see double."

Reno sighed in friendly frustation, pouring another shot. "You guys are lightweights..." He tossed it back, feeling the sake mingle in his belly and add to his already tingling nerves. He was just starting to feel the onset of absolute bliss, no worries or concerns about anything.

"You're just an...an al-co-ho-lic." Elena retorted.

"Nah...I'm just used to it."

"Same thing."

"It ain't." He looked around the bar, seeing only a couple people still hanging around. He tried to look for a clock, but he couldn't focus on much that was ahead of him. All the decorations looked like they were moving. He realized he wore a watch, and lifted his left arm to see. It took a second to see that it was twelve thirty, and another few to know that it was twelve thirty at night and not day. He looked at his companions, neither really moving. "You guys wanna drink some more?"

Elena shook her head slowly. Rude just groaned.

"Okay then. Okay. Let's go, then." Reno stood up slowly, hanging onto his chair to keep balance as a wave of dizziness made his legs quiver like jelly. He took a deep breath, then stood under his own power and figured it was enough to get moving. Elena was upright, but holding herself to the table and looking a little pale. Reno shuffled over to Rude and patted the man's shoulder. "Come on, dude."

Rude grumbled, but scooted back and let himself be helped upright. Reno had to throw the man's arm over his shoulder so he didn't stray or fall. They began the process of heading towards the exit when the spindley barkeep suddenly spoke up. "Hey! You guys owe!"

Reno stopped, that itself an effort, and looked back. "We...? Oh yeah. Um, how much?"

The keep referred to their tab. "One hundred thirty!"

"Okay." Reno reached into his pants pocket and took out his wallet. He found it difficult to pull out the cash while Rude was nearly hanging on his back, but he tried to work it out with little progress. Elena suddenly took it out of his hands and pulled out two hundreds, slowly walked to the bar proper, and tossed them to the keep.

"Thanks." She muttered.

"You need room? We have room available." The keep inquired, sliding the bills to the register.

"We got a place." Reno said. "Thanks, though, man."

"You sure?"

"Yeah."

"Okay. Good night!"

The three slowly walked out of the bar into the muggy and temperate night in Wutai. Elena remembered to give back the wallet, but the redhead just slid it into his jacket rather than fumble with his pants. They headed for a smaller and cheaper motel just a block down from the bar that Reno booked. He made certain that their lodging was never far from where the bars and their infamous drinks were. Of course, looking down the dirt road to their rooms at the intersection of two streets, he thought it a miserable distance to walk. Having Rude clinging to him made things all the tougher. Elena was merely concerned with staying upright, holding a hand to her stomach and looking sicker and sicker.

"You okay, 'Lena?"

She opened her mouth to reply, but instead stopped and began walking to the side of the street. She leaned over to a tended bush and vomited, retching several times while holding onto a wall for dear life. Reno waited until she was done, legs getting sore as the moments wore on. It was nearly a minute before she stirred, breathing heavily.

"Bet 'yer okay now."

"Shut up..." She spat in the ground, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

"Gonna make it?"

"Yeah."

"Need a hand?"

"Said I'm fine, Reno."

"Right, then, alright." He shrugged and tried to get Rude to lay somewhat easier on his shoulders, then continued their quest to reach the motel. The older man was hardly able to move on his own power. Reno snickered and wondered just how much the guy enjoyed his drinking. In the few years they knew one another, he never really understood why he drank if it made him so sick and helpless. Elena, though, was easy to understand; she drank because it made her feel good and helped relieve the tension of being new to their ranks. He never saw her really laugh or have a good time unless it was sucking on a beer bottle or matching shots with them. It may be that she was still the newbie that kept her so defensive, but he figured she would warm up eventually. She already took his jibes and flirts with a chuckle rather than anger.

"What time is it?" Elena asked out of the blue.

"Er..." Reno fumbled with his watch. "Um...twelve forty five?"

"S'late."

"Not really."

"What're we gonna do about them?"

"Them?"

"Cloud. I mean, Shinra said to get the guy, y'know?"

"We're on vacation, 'Lena. Let 'em worry about it."

"But what-"

"'Lena, don't make me come over there."

She leered at him in jest. "Or what?"

"I'mma gonna make you drink some more."

She sputtered out a laugh. "You're fuckin' crazy, Reno."

"An' yer fucking beautiful when yer drunk."

"Quit it...you're being a jerk."

"I'm jest being m'self, 'Lena. I'm drunk off my ass, on a vacation with my pals, an' enjoying every second." He looked up at his immobile friend. "You havin' a good time, Rude?"

"Yeah." He muttered loud enough to just hear.

"You too, 'Lena?"

She didn't respond right away, concentration on walking straight.

"Elena?"

"I'm fine." She chuckled. "Better'n then being stuck home an' just working all day long."

Reno smiled. "See? Then we're all buddy buddy, then! Let's have a good time as long as we can, right?"

"Right." Elena smiled.

The three stumbled down the road, content in their inebriated bliss.