A/N: This is my first fanfic in a long time; (Don't want to get rusty!) I tried to portray Reno the best I could with what I got from the game and the movie. Without farther ado... Please enjoy!
Kai Halsey leaned back in her chair, bored with the lack of entertainment at headquarters. She was a new member of the Turks, working a desk job until her training was complete. Nothing was going on in Midgar and AVALANCHE had been inactive for some time. With the lack of threats and riots, one would think they disappeared.
Kai swept her long brown hair out of her face sighed quietly, twisting a paperclip.
'I have a mound of paperwork to do before I can go back on the field and no will to do it…' she thought bitterly.
"This place gets so boring… so fast…" She tossed the tangled lump of metal onto her desk and stood. Her supervisor looked up and grinned. He was a short pudgy man, highly respected by no one but himself.
"Where are you going newbie?" he asked, giving her the once over. Kai rolled her eyes, the lack of tact the men had in Shinra was appalling.
Sure she was attractive; pretty face, smooth skin and light, lively honey brown eyes, but that didn't make it right.
And besides, didn't most white collar men go for the tall, blonde secretaries with big boobs? Kai was on the short side, petite but thankfully not without a chest; although the attention she had been getting since she became a Turk made her wish otherwise.
"I'm going to go find me something… fun to do." She smirked at the thought, turning to leave. Her supervisor's face went from playful and flirtatious to serious in a split second. He stood, smoothing his trousers.
"Halsey!" he called after her. Kai groaned mentally and turned.
"You haven't finished your paperwork yet." He smirked, like he knew a dirty secret, watching her with his piggy eyes. Kai didn't like the look at all.
"If I have to, I'll call Tseng and have your training pushed back." Kai clinched her jaw and it didn't go unnoticed by her supervisor. She was stuck; if she left now, her training was sure to get pushed back, but if she stayed, Kai had to sacrifice her dignity.
"Screw it, I'm leaving," she muttered, walking out before he could say anything. Kai strolled down the hall and hopped on the elevator. She pressed the button to the first floor. The elevator beeped in compliance and the door slid shut.
'Why the hell did I sign up for this?' Kai thought. She leaned against the glass, staring at Midgar and beyond. The thick, brown haze in the air was horrible, even though headquarters was located on the upper plate. Kai thought of her little sister, Hanna, at home in Kai's apartment, probably asleep by now, and smiled.
'Oh… that's why…'
Kai and Hanna's mother had died several years back; she had some sort of infection that wasn't treated in time and their father died in the war. That was four years ago; Kai was seventeen and Hanna only five.
Now twenty one, Kai had to carve out an existence for her and her sister in this wasteland of a city. She had been working at Shinra for almost four months and hoped to get enough money to get out of Midgar.
'I bet this place was beautiful once…' Kai stepped out of the elevator, spying an old friend. She grinned and waved.
"Hey Rude, I haven't seen you in a while." Rude looked up and nodded in greeting. Kai met Rude when she first joined the Turks; he was kind, did his job well and was one of the few men who respected her. He was a professional, unlike the fiery redhead, Reno behind him. He was scruffily dressed as usual, missing his tie, his shirt wrinkled with the top three buttons undone.
"Hey newbie," Reno smirked; looking away from the secretary he was seducing. The blonde pouted and sent Kai a scathing glare with one flick of her golden locks.
'Don't glare at me honey, you can have him…' Kai thought with distaste, crossing her arms and leaning on the counter. Reno was the sort of scum that gave the Turks a worse name than they already had. And although he wasn't bad looking, tall and lanky, with a sharp angled face accented by two curved tattoos as red as his hair, Kai wouldn't touch him if she was offered a million gil.
"Greetings scum sucker," Kai said cheerfully. Reno scowled. He wrapped his arms around his skinny torso and shivered theatrically.
"Oh, so cold." He grinned a toothy grin, favoring her with his gaze. Kai stared at him stonily. Rude watched the exchange with mild amusement; the pair had hated each other ever since Kai arrived. Reno leaned lazily back the counter top, flicking his bangs with his right hand.
"You know, a pretty girl like you should try to be more…" he glanced back at the secretary with what he must have thought was a charming smile. The blonde's gaze flicked back to Kai for an instant, a triumphant look on her face. Reno turned back to Kai, much to both women's displeasure.
"…Alluring," he purred. Rude snorted in amusement. Kai rolled her eyes at Reno's antics and addressed Rude instead.
"How can you put up with this scruffy sleaze bag?" Rude shrugged in response.
"It was part of the job description, right under the work benefits. Warning, you may be partnered with a womanizer." Reno frowned, studying his partner. Meanwhile, the secretary was struggling with no avail to get his attention again, trying to distract him from Rude with her breasts. Kai was wondering if the buttons on her blouse would hold.
"Man, the ice queen got to you too? Damn." Reno pouted dramatically. Rude smirked but said nothing, not wanting to add farther insult to Kai. The secretary spoke for the first time.
"Don't worry about them Reno, I'm no ice queen," she sneered, sticking her chest out farther. Something in Kai snapped at her words. She didn't know if it was the long sleepless days, the bills pilling up at home or the mass of paperwork here, but Kai decided revenge was necessary. Suddenly she had an idea.
'Ice queen huh?'
"You know Reno," Kai started, walking closer to him. There was a glint of mischief in her eye. Reno watched her warily, unsure what she was up to. The blonde eyed her, like a viper ready to strike.
"I bet you're an ass because you can't handle a real woman." Kai stated, gazing pointedly at the blonde. Rude grinned openly at Kai's boldness, shaking his head.
'Who knew she had it in her.' He thought, watching Reno try to process this information. The secretary reared, angry.
"I AM a real woman little girl!" she shrieked, tossing her hair. Kai glanced at her coolly, indifferent.
"First of all, I'm talking personality, someone deeper than a damp napkin. Besides, I'm sure those love pillows of yours aren't real, right?" The secretary shrank back as if Kai stung her, her face red in anger. Reno gazed at Kai as if he was seeing her for the first time, his mouth open in a small o of surprise.
"I don't need to deal with this!" The secretary stomped off in a huff. Reno turned back, flustered.
"Hey! Why did you go and scare off my date like that?" Kai rolled her eyes in response and headed to the front door.
"Just say she's your lay and get it over with. See you later Rude." Kai waved to Rude, who was struggling to keep his composure. He stifled a grin and nodded back.
"That bitch," Reno muttered, shoving his hands in his pockets, watching Kai exit the building with her head held high.
"You asked for it," Rude informed him, observing Reno calmly through his shades.
"What does she know? It's not like anyone would ever want screw her."
'I wonder if that statement will bite you in the ass Reno,' Rude contemplated those words for a moment before responding, an interesting thought in his mind.
"I bet you could get her to go out on a date with you," he said carefully. Reno gave him a sour look and fished a cigarette out of his jacket.
"What are you on man? Where you in this room? She hates my guts! Why would I want to go anywhere near a buzz kill like her?" He lit the cigarette, puffing on it thoughtfully. A thin halo of blue smoke wafted round him. Rude shrugged in response to Reno's questions.
"Fine then; I bet you two thousand gil that you can't get her to date you." Reno smirked arrogantly, inhaling deeply.
"Two thousand you say?" when he spoke, the smoke wafted out like fog, curling around his grin. Rude nodded sagely, pleased his ploy worked; wordplay was not something Reno was good at.
'If there's one thing Reno can't resist, it's a challenge.' Using that to his advantage, Rude set Reno up with the one person his job position didn't work against. Rude watched Reno slowly make his decision.
"So if I get her in the sack, you'll give me two thousand gil?"
"That I will," Rude chuckled. Thankfully for Rude, Reno had a one-track mind; beer, woman, and money outweighed any complications he may have getting them. The only way this plan would work though was if Kai acted like Rude expected her to, besides the initial rage from the thought of dating Reno.
"I like a challenge; alright, it's a bet." Reno stuck out his hand. Rude grabbed it, sealing the deal; thinking of all the horrible things Kai would do to him if she found out.
"There's only one rule," Rude added.
"You can't tell anyone about the bet; if you do, no gil."
"Always with the rules… I won't tell a soul," Reno waved it away, his gaze drifting around the lobby. The secretary from earlier was standing on the far side of the counter, stealing glances at Reno.
"Now if you excuse me there's a lonely woman over there that needs my attention." Reno took one last drag on the cigarette, ground it out on the counter and strolled over to meet the blonde, taking his suffocating confidence with him. Rude shook his head, scraping the cigarette off the marble.
'It's a good thing Reno likes challenges…' Rude was wondering if he was going to regret this. Dealing with Reno was a challenge in itself; who knows what it would be like with Kai as well.
"This should be interesting," he muttered, watching Reno escort the blonde secretary out the front door.
A/N: That's all for now, please comment and I'll keep posting!