Disclaimer: Final Fantasy VII and all associated materials are property of Squaresoft.

Born To the Purple
By: Nanaki BH

He cautiously pushed himself up on his palms. His mind, at first, felt blank, confused. The only thing he understood was the voice at the back of his mind that told him he had to move. The weight on his back gave and he managed to escape, only to collapse the next second. For a while, he just laid there, eyes closed, breath labored, mind racing to try to remember what had happened and what was going on.

He cracked open an eye to take a look around himself. Right. He put a hand to his head, realizing that he must've had a slight concussion that jarred his memory. The bar he was in was a mess; bodies everywhere, all victims to the explosion. He coughed. Once. Twice. Blood. He dragged a white sleeve across his face, staining it red.

"I seem to have… bad luck with explosions."

It was a vulnerable admission. But he wasn't invincible, after all. Rufus Shinra was only human.

He tried sitting up but hissed in pain, feeling a sharp, gnawing pain spread through his middle. Still, he forced himself to knees. It seemed he'd landed on a rather sharp, serrated piece of something or other; a sheet of glass, he thought, but it was hard to tell with the gore. Its cool, smooth texture was its only give away as he pulled it from himself.

The wound immediately began to gush and he felt faint and nauseous at the same time. It was his own mistake, forgetting to bring cure material with himself. He pressed a hand to the wound, trying to stay the bleeding. The air felt thick and dusty and it was getting hard for him to breathe. His eyes burned and watered; he ran an arm across his eyes and only made it worse.

It seemed as though there were no survivors, which was such a pity considering that no one had done anything wrong. Everything was sudden and unexpected. His Turk was missing, too; his red-headed escort. He was a bodyguard, for God's sake; he was supposed to protect him. Reno wasn't allowed to get drunk and let his guard down. Where was he when he really needed him anyway?

"Reno," he called, his voice somewhat shaky. "Reno, I'm bleeding."

There was no response. He felt his consciousness begin to slip and he fell forward, catching himself just in time with one hand. Only one hand wasn't good enough to keep him steady, though, and he collapsed. If he didn't do something fast, he feared it would be the end.

"Reno," he called again, this time pleading. "Please, Reno. Where are you?"

He coughed again, red blood spilling on the bar floor. If something didn't happen soon…

Reno…

Some rustling drew his attention and he tilted up his head just enough to look. There he was; Reno, looking like his knight in shining armor. He was propping himself up against the wall but his condition seemed nowhere near as bad as Rufus'. Reno opened his eyes tiredly and looked at him, apparently too exhausted to display any sort of emotion. Silently, he motioned him forward. Even though all of Rufus' limbs felt worn out, he continued on; doing his best to drag himself to where Reno sat.

Rufus collapsed again beside him, completely spent.

"Cure," Reno muttered, pressing his palm to Rufus' injury. The pain immediately began to dissipate but Rufus knew that it wouldn't be a permanent fix. "They're on their way," he told him.

"You already called for help?"

"It was the first thing I did."

"You idiot," Rufus muttered weakly, grasping Reno's pant leg. "The least you could do… How… How can you be so calm right now?"

"You think I'm being calm?" Reno sunk a little lower and took the hand Rufus had been holding onto him with. He placed it palm down on his chest, right above his heart. "Calm? You nearly scared me to death."

"Me?"

Lower still, Reno laid himself down next to him. He closed his eyes and placed a gentle kiss to Rufus' lips.

"Yeah. You."

Reno passed out smiling.

Author's Notes: I've been killing for ideas lately for my claim on 30kisses. This one felt very real. I wanted to go for something that would actually happen to them. Ten to one, they've experienced assassination attempts more than once, so here's a little instance of that. Next, believe it or not, I want to try something AU. It might happen. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading; as short as it was. Feedback's always appreciated!