A vicious punch knocked the heavy door from its hinges and her charges scattered to safety. The young woman turned as blood dripped from her ruined hand and looked defiant as garnet red eyes glared in challenge to a pair of aquamarine and whatever lay behind the other male's sunglasses.
She was locked into a holding cell and prayed they wouldn't torture her. She was tough for her young age, had already lived through a lot and was already in so much pain.
Another person wearing the same outfit as her captors took her into what she could only assume was an interrogation room and she was escorted to the desk and told to have a seat. The redheaded man from earlier with his odd tattoos examined her with a passive face.
He slid a box in front of himself "give me your hand, Tifa Lockhart" he politely asked her in a way that was actually a command.
She didn't ask him how he knew her name and she presented it to him as it trembled.
He cupped her mangled hand in his own surprisingly elegant hand. The long fingers were warm as he traced along the fractured bones in a surprisingly gentle way as he examined them. "I have to set these before they start to heal or you will need extensive surgery to repair the damage" he explained, looking at her.
"Do you know what you're doing?" she asked him.
"More than most doctors" he said, "but we have no anesthetic here and are miles from the nearest town. Do you wish me to?" he asked her and she nodded and then cried out as he went to work on manipulating her hand to align her shattered bones.
She was sweaty and ashen when he stopped; he gently massaged ointment onto her split knuckles and then bandaged it up in an expert way and went to wash his hands.
"Thank you" she said. "You would have made a good doctor "she complimented him, that she used the past tense for this didn't go unnoticed by him.
"I doubt my patients think so" he darkly said.
"What are you going to do with me?" she asked him.
"Although you're an Avalanche member, you're still a seventeen-year-old girl. My quarrel isn't with children, not even the ones you broke your hand helping to escape when they were never in any danger from me. I've been in touch with Vincent Valentine, who was once one of us; he's coordinating with me to drop you off to rejoin your allies. You were never here as far as President Shinra's concerned" Reno explained as he put the first aid kit away.
"Thank you, you're Reno. Vincent pointed you all out to me" she explained. "It was a: know your enemies kind of thing."
"Ah yes, the famous Vincent Valentine. I would attempt to take him back into the fold, but he would make a lousy Turk how he is now" Reno said.
"Why?" she asked him.
"He's way too emotional, that doesn't suit being a Turk at all" he explained.
"What about me?" she asked him.
"You would be lousy as well, you're too soft hearted and look what that got you: a broken hand" Reno observed.
"So, you're not the sort to give into emotions?" she asked him.
"Not when I'm working" he said with a cool smile and amusement in his voice.
"Then I would rather be soft hearted then jaded like you" she observed.
"You're not even a woman yet, you have years to become cynical" he said glancing away from her.
"You don't look much older than me" she challenged him.
"I'm twenty, going on thirty-five. My chosen career tends to age you and I've been doing this for two years" he explained to the young woman, she seemed so innocent to him and he rather found that refreshing "But I guess your chosen path will hardly have you picking out a prom dress any time soon."
"Why, you aren't going to volunteer to go as my date?" she asked him just as darkly as he had.
"I know that you already have a suitor picked out for that. Besides, I'm the last person a father would trust with his innocent daughter. I would be far too likely to take her parking and get her in trouble" he returned, studying her. This forced her to wonder if he meant get her in trouble with her father...or the other kind of trouble.
"Isn't it my choice who I go with as my date? I like a bit of danger and haven't ever...parked before" she said with a challenge in her voice that made his lips quirk. She was a feisty one. He liked that in a woman...girl, he reminded himself.
"Very well, the next time Nibelheim high school hosts a prom, I'll be sure to ask you. I clean up well and look great in a tux...or so I'm told" he said with a smirk that made him look...sexy and dangerous at the same time and she was reminded that he wasn't just your average guy. But a trained killer.
"I would like that" she bravely said.
"We can argue over whether you want to have roses or orchids of your corsage later. Now is there anything you would like to do before I lock you back into your room? It's nothing personal, but I can't have my enemy running around unleased...No matter how innocent looking the package is."
"I would like to look at the stars for a short while" she requested.
"That seems like an odd thing to do, but I shall personally escort you" he said, placing his hand on the small of her back as they walked outside and she sat on the bench there and wasn't too surprised when Reno sat beside her and slouched back against it. The moon was full and she couldn't help noticing that his pale skin in the moonlight looked so stark as it bathed his face. His angular features looked somehow softer and more vulnerable at the moment.
"What so fascinates you about stars?" he asked her.
"When I was little, my father used to say that if I ever felt alone or in a strange place, to look up at them and know that he was looking at the same ones and thinking of me" she explained, smiling at the memory.
"I thought he was deceased?" he coolly observed.
"I like to think he's still looking at them and thinking of me. Did your parents and yourself have stuff like that too?" she asked him.
"That's classified information" he automatically responded.
"Come on, it's a general question" she objected.
"I never knew my parents; I was left on the doorstep of an orphanage as a baby" he said, wondering why he was sharing this with her.
"That's awful" she said aghast.
"It taught me early that I can only depend upon myself. I don't regret it" he replied.
"But with the resources you have at your disposal. Haven't you ever thought of trying to track them down?" She asked him.
"I don't see the point in trying to find people who went out of their way to lose me, that seems redundant to me. If they wanted me in their lives, I would be there" he replied in a world-weary way that made her heart go out to him. He continued his tale, "I grew up in the slums where there is no natural lighting, I didn't see stars until I left when I was eighteen to become as I am now. I do like to look at them upon occasion myself, though I don't think anyone is looking at them and thinking of me in any positive way" he observed.
"I shall from now on just so you know someone is. It might make you feel a little less lonely" she promised him.
"I don't recall saying I was lonely. That's very kind of you and is so very like what I know of your personality" he noted.
"There is more to me than meets the eye. I have layers and layers to explore..for the right male and perhaps I shall let you do that someday and I don't mean my body" she added.
"I never thought you did" he replied and she appreciated how he looked her in the eye when he spoke to her and not down as most people did.
"We should get you to bed and I shall take you there, not in the traditional sense of the offer of course" he said with a rather boyish smile.
He walked to her room and took a bottle of water from one of his colleagues and fished a pill box out of his pocket.
"These are the closest I have to pain killers, they are strong sleep sedatives that I take when I have trouble sleeping" he explained. "They will help you sleep as well."
"I guess having trouble sleeping is a sideeffect of your chosen career" Tifa observed.
"You have no idea" he said in an onimous way. "I'll take one first so you don't think..." He offered when she took one out of the proffered box and down it with a sip water.
"Some people trust other people" she said before going into her room and he stood confused at this. Why would anyone trust him?
He stood and pushed in her chair when she joined him for breakfast as he had asked her to, not insisted.
"How did you sleep?" He politely asked.
"As well as a tasty mouse can in a nest of vipers" she replied and awkwardly reached for her knife and was surprised when Reno took it and cut her sausage into bite sized pieces as smoothly as if he dealt with an injured friend every day.
"I'm no snake" he replied to her grateful smile."You'll have to have a doctor look at that to make sure I didn't miss anything" he said as his gaze settled on her bandaged hand.
"I couldn't see you missing a thing" she replied as she took a bite of her scrambled eggs.
"I rarely do" he replied.
An agent came and whispered something into his ear. "You had best eat up, your escort is here" he told her.
Vincent stood a short distance away and communicated with her by simply beckoning towards her.
"He's a chatty as ever" Reno observed as he stood beside her.
"Will I see you again?" She asked him.
"Of course, I'm your prom date. What colour dress are you wearing so I can match my tie and vest to it?" He asked her.
"You don't seem the type to wear a tie but I think aquamarine to match your eyes "she suggested.
"I'm full of surprises and have many layers to explore as well" he said in an amused voice.
She suddenly beckoned at him herself and he leaned down, intriqued and blushed in a way he wasn't aware he was capable anymore when she pressed a kiss to his cheek.
"I must say that I wish all my enemies could be half so pleasant" he said by way of farewell.
"I could say the same about you" she said with a smile.
"Can you trust Vincent?" He suddenly asked her.
"Of course" she said.
"You trust a man who is literally infested by demons and another man who is on the payroll of your enemy. You should be more careful with the company you keep" Reno cautioned her.
"Conflict makes strange bedfellows, not literally of course" she replied. "How can I thank you for..." She said holding up her hand.
"Buy me a drink when you're of age and we'll talk about the bad old days" he suggested.
"You think you'll know me in the future?" She asked him.
"I'm positive" he said.
"I like roses, they're more romantic and everyone needs little romance in their lives, even Turks" she called over her shoulder as she went to meet the shabby gunman in his elaborate outfit.
The Future
"Reno, would you like another beer for closing time?" Tifa asked him as she started to close down for the night.
"I have to leave early to go on mission. Why I didn't really drink tonight" he replied.
"I hope you make it back okay" she said to him with a friendly smile.
"People say I have a horse shoe crammed up my ass" he said with a laugh.
"I would hate to see how it got there" she said and then served her stragglers and then closed up for the night and Reno helped her by wiping down tables and putting the chairs on top of them.
"Good night, I have to run to the grocery stop" she said.
"Hop in" he said opening his passenger door.
"You have to be up early and it's five minutes' walk from here" she pointed out. "I forgot to get something for Denzel's lunch tomorrow."
"Then it will take less than a minute to get there, you run in and are back home before you know it. I don't want you walking alone this time of night" he insisted.
"Sexual predators have to beware of me, not the other way around" she debated.
"So you don't have to hurt them, get in" he insisted and she did.
They paused when they got back to her place, it was a perfect night that was warm with a gentle breeze and the moon was full and lit up the sky and the stars seemed so close it was like you could reach out and gather them in your hands.
"The sky's so beautiful tonight" Tifa breathed, awed by the natural beauty.
"Do you still look up at the stars and think of me?" He asked her and she giggled and got out of his car.
"Good night Reno" she said giving him a mysterious smile.