Chapter 1
The harsh sun beat down on my body as I stood waiting for someone to come and pick me up. I shifted my weight onto my left leg as I looked down at my watch. Quarter past eleven. I sighed as I fanned myself, trying to do something about the blistering heat. Very faintly, I could hear the choppy drone of a helicopter and as I raised my stare to the skies, I could see a small black dot making its way to me. I smiled, grateful that my boss hadn't forgotten about me. I watched as the helicopter flew moderately well, until it shook left for a bit, then right, before taking a sudden nosedive. It straightened out just in time and I let out a sigh of relief then shook my head while smiling. That flying was an obvious indicator that Rude was flying. As the chopper came closer, the wind began to whip up. I closed my eyes as welcomed the sudden gale on my heated skin.
"Yo, are you gonna stand there all day or are you gonna hop in? We do have work to get back to ya know" I heard a nasally voice say and I opened my eyes to see Reno with his head stuck out the side door of the chopper. I laughed and shook my head when he began to sputter as his long red hair had whipped its way into his mouth.
"I'm coming" I said as I laughed and made my way to the black chopper, my feet get trapped in the loosely packed sand. I hauled my bag into the chopper and quickly climbed in myself, sitting down of the row of leather bound seats at the rear. I had just adjusted my bag when a big bulky headset was thrown into my lap. I looked up at Reno who grinned at me, a lit cigarette hanging from his lips.
"Those things are gonna kill you" I said as I put my headset on. I heard Reno laugh on the other end.
"If they're gonna kill me then they're gonna kill you too, babe" he stated in a matter of fact voice, adding in the nickname he had given me in turn for me getting to call him Diablo Rosa.
"Oh well, I'm planning on dying young anyways so" I said as I sat up, reached forward and plucked the smoke from his lips. He glared back at me as I took a haul of the smoke, then he smiled and shook his head. I let out a few smoke rings and turned my attention to the landscape passing beneath us.
I had only been in the Turks for a few months now, recruited from the slums of Midgar along with my best friend Eva who was now my partner. My eyes began to flutter closed and I rested my head on the tinted glass window beside me. A few minutes later, I heard a crackling in my headset.
"Damn, she's hot even when she sleeps" I heard Reno say and I smirked.
"I can hear you Diablo" I said and he laughed.
"Maybe I wanted you to hear me, babe" he retorted and I heard a groan from Rude, who was silent throughout our conversation.
"Can this flight not involve you two flirting?" Rude asked and my face went bright red.
"Ya know Rude, you can take the boy out of the flirt but you can't take the flirt out of the boy" Reno said with a seductive smile back at me. I stuck my tongue out at him and closed my eyes again.
"That sounds disgusting…this is gonna be a long ride" I heard Rude say and I silently agreed with him. Slowly I drifted into sleep as Reno and Rude bickered back and forth about Reno's absurd drinking habits, which in my opinion were pretty outrageous. Rude was one hundred percent right, this was gonna be a long trip.
"Hey, get up babe" I heard Reno's voice say, accompanied with a soft stroking on my thigh. I immediately jerked awake, my leg lashing out to catch Reno in the elbow. With a grunt he snatched his elbow away. "Damn, babe. No need to kick"
"Well maybe I wouldn't be kicking if you weren't randomly touching my thighs, Diablo" I said with a pout.
"Well maybe if you weren't wearing such short shorts then I wouldn't want to touch you so much" he said with a wink. I smiled and shook my head. It was true though. Since I was spending my vacation in Costa del Sol, I was barely wearing any clothing at all. A pair of jean cut off short shorts, a black tank top and a pair of high top camouflage sneakers. As I looked down at my attire, I felt a piercing gaze on me and I looked up to see Reno ogling me as well. Our eyes meet for a brief second before he smiled and got out of the helicopter. I smiled too and quickly began to grab my luggage. I slowly made my way out of the chopper and set my hefty bag down to brush my hair out of my face.
"Ari!" I heard a female shout and looked up to see Eva running full speed at me with her arms wide open. With a leap, she latched herself on to me and knocked us both on to our asses. "I was so alone! Don't leave me for extended periods with that red pervert again!" she cried out exaggeratedly as she sat back on her knees. I laughed as I looked at Reno who held his hands up in a mock defense.
"I didn't do shit, yo" he said and rolled my eyes.
"Extended period, Eva?" I asked as I looked at her, her ice blue eyes shimmering with happiness, "I was hardly gone for two weeks" I said and Eva flipped her long tawny hair behind her shoulder.
"Any time spent with Reno feels like an eternity," she said with a huff, "besides you're my partner, there is no one else who id rather spend time with" she grinned.
"Yeah, except for Tseng" I mumbled which got me a firm punch in the shoulder. I grinned at Eva who had a very defiant pout on her lips. That pout soon went away as I punched her shoulder back. Our relationship was one that was founded on the shared acts of violence that we both had. We both laughed as Eva stood up and hauled me to my feet as well, and with her being a very adamant and self proclaimed Mother Chocobo, she carried away my luggage bag for me; probably fearing that I would hurt myself. As the four of us walked into the Shinra Electrical Power Company, our boss, Tseng, waited for us at the top of the stairs.
"Welcome back, Ari" he said in his usual deep and monotonous voice. I smiled and nodded.
"Good to be back, Sir" I said and Tseng nodded curtly.
"I have a mission for you four" he said, sending us into a silent astonishment, "head to the Briefing room as soon as you settle in, Ari" and with that, he headed downstairs. I looked at Eva who was blushing madly and I smiled.
"I think I might need some help settling in" I said sarcastically, "that bag is just too heavy for me to carry." Eva smiled as I nudged her with my elbow.
"Can I help to?" asked Reno, getting that mischievous look in his green eyes. Eva and I looked at each other; I could tell by the look in her eyes that she would kill him if he came along.
"Sorry Diablo, no matter how much you look like a woman, it's a true girl's only thing" I joked and Reno put his hand over his heart.
"Ouch babe, No need to be so mean" he whimpered and Eva and I laughed as we headed down to the Living Quarters of the Company building. As we walked, Eva was oddly quiet.
"What's wrong?" I asked and she peered at me from the corner of her eye.
"What's going on between you and Reno?" she asked and my face went red.
"What do you mean? There's nothing going on, I assure you" I said defensively. It was a lie though, for the last few weeks I've began to have feelings for Reno…even if he was a giant, gossiping man whore. I looked down at my feet, I didn't like to lie to Eva but I know she would slap me every way till next Sunday if I told her I liked Reno. She and Reno were like gasoline and fire, two things that should never be around each other unless someone wanted a lot of trouble. Every time that Reno and Eva were around each other, it would almost certainly end with Reno getting a bloody nose or split lip.
"If you like him then I…I'll stop wailing on him" I heard Eva mumble and I looked at her. Did she just revoke all rights to beating up Reno? I laughed out loud.
"That's funny Eva, I swear I just heard you say you would stop wailing on Reno if I liked him" I said through my laughter. Eva stopped dead in her tracks and I turned to look at her.
"I did say that and I wasn't joking" she said sternly. I looked at her dumbfounded and she slowly looked down at her feet. "You're my partner and my best friend, Ari. If you're happy when you're with Reno then I don't want to mess that up by beating him all the time. I have seen you in your darkest hour and ever since you met Reno, I have never seen you unhappy. I may not like the guy but I've realized that you aren't the same, I can see how happy he makes you and I just feel that if I keep slapping him around then he won't want to be around you because I'm around you 24/7." I was honestly shocked into silence by Eva's speech and I put my hands on my hips with a shake of my head.
"Eva, I honestly don't know what to do with you sometimes. I will admit that Reno does have a certain…je ne sais quoi…that makes me smile but I know you don't like him and since we are together 24/7 then how can I expect you to manage keeping you shit together if we start to date?" I asked and Eva looked at me.
"If it means your happiness then I'm willing to risk my whole life. You're my partner but also my best friend…and considering our past together, I just don't want to see you upset any longer." She said with a huff and began to walk down the hallway again. I stared after her in amazement. I had known that she would always consider me her best friend but I didn't know that she would go so far for me. I shrugged and walked after her, happy that she upheld the same loyalty to her best friend as I did.
"Well, you are right…" I said as I caught up with her, "there is a little something going on between me a Reno but it's a one sided thing. He wouldn't date someone like me after all"
"What do you mean by someone like you?" she asked skeptically
"Some sewer rat from the slums" I said and was rewarded with another punch from Eva.
"We have had this discussion before, if you're a sewer rat then I'm one too" she said and cracked her knuckles, a threat to stop me from saying anything else against myself.
"Oh well, still doesn't mean that Reno would date me" I said and quickly ran ahead before my shoulder received another blow from Eva's fist. I quickly punched my code into the keypad on the door knob and darted into my room. Eva followed me and threw my luggage at me as I lounged on my couch.
"Hurry up and change 'cause Tseng wants us in the Briefing room remember?" Eva nagged and I rolled off the couch. First day back and I have a mission. I groaned as I shuffled into my bedroom and opened my closet door. Black suits hung in a row, each of them the same as the other. I picked the first one in the row off the rack and threw it on my bed. I slowly slipped out of my jean shorts, tank top and sneakers and replaced them with my black suit and a pair of black shoes. Giving myself a quick look in the mirror, I hurried out of my apartment and Eva and I walked to the Briefing room together. It was a silent walk considering that Eva had given me the go ahead to date Reno but I felt terrible. Since Eva was my partner and best friend, I wanted her to be happy too but that was a little hard when the guy she likes has an emotional range of a dead stick. I knew Eva wasn't the type to give up so easily but to me, she needed someone with a little more…depth, someone who wasn't an emotionless pillar. Soon the Briefing room came into view and Eva and I sped up our pace to make ourselves not seem like complete slackers. The room was barely lit with a large oak table in the middle of the room. Rude was there but Reno wasn't which was odd since most Turk partners were always at each other's sides.
"There ya are, babe. I was wondering if you would show your pretty face around here" said Reno as he walked into the room. I smiled as I turned around and, yet again, plucked the cigarette from his lips and took a drag off of it.
"Can't really skip out on a briefing now can I?" I said and put the cigarette back in Reno's mouth. The red head grinned and folded his arms across his chest.
"I have" he boasted, puffing his chest out.
"Ya? And what happened when you went for your mission?" I reminded him and it popped his bubble of confidence.
"He got his ass handed to him" said Eva, trying to get a daily jab at Reno in. I raised an eyebrow at her and laughed. Reno let out a snort and sat down beside Rude, who was waiting patiently for the briefing to take place. I sat between Reno and Eva, not wanting bloodshed in front of Tseng and also just wanting to sit beside the feisty red head.
"So babe, are you doing anything after this mission?" Reno asked as he snaked an arm around the back of my chair and draped it over my shoulder. I blushed madly and shook my head.
"I might take a few hours to get back into life here but other than that, nothing" I said and Reno chuckled.
"I can help you get back into life" he said sexually and I nudged his ribs with my elbow. Reno only chuckled more and leaned in really close to my ear. I could feel his hot breath tickle the cusp of my ear as he whispered to me, "ya know, you look so cute when you blush like that, yo." I almost fell off my chair when he said that but I kept my composure and turned my head to look at him in the eyes, a mistake I regretted. There was something about Reno's eyes that just made me want to stare at them. I wasn't really a big fan of the color green but Reno's made me stop everything. We sat there for a few seconds, cerulean staring in emerald, before Reno began to move closer to me. My heart nearly jumped out my throat as I felt Reno's breath over my lips but all too soon, I was jerked backwards into the arms of my partner.
"Oh no you don't!" Eva threatened as she glared daggers at Reno who stared them back at her.
"What the hell, yo?" he finally asked as he flopped back into his chair. Once I knew the red head wasn't looking, I shot a glance at Eva with a pout on my face. My partner wagged her finger at me in hopes of trying to shame me. I rolled my eyes at her before turning to the front of the table where Tseng had secretly appeared.
"I want you for to take a chopper out to the Temple of the Ancients." Tseng ordered and was about to leave but not before getting a cry of dismay from Reno.
"What are we heading out there for, yo? Ain't anything out there except for rubble" he asked as he kicked his feet up onto the table as he reclined in his chair.
"We have reports of an unknown life form out there. Now go take care of it" Tseng explained vaguely and left the room. I looked at Eva who shrugged, her face as red as a tomato and I shrugged as well. Slowly I got up from my seat and headed for the door, Eva followed me and Reno and Rude behind her.
"So…who wants to fly us to the location?" I asked as I shoved my hands in my pockets. Without a word, we all turned to Reno, who was the most capable flyer out of all of us. He held his hands up and shook his head.
"Hell no! I've had my daily share of flying today, thank you very much" he protested. We all let out a sigh of disappointment and Eva and I looked at Rude, who remained silent.
"Looks like you're flying Rude" I said and grinned happily. I heard the older man let out a small groan as we all headed for the chopper.