"You wanted me?" He asked.

"You are aware that tonight is the Masquerade and that employees are to arrive promptly at seven?" Rufus posed.

"I'm aware, but it doesn't really matter because I'm not going."

"You will attend; all employees must be present during all official ShinRa events. Refusal to comply will result in you being fired for insubordination. I expect to see you there on time. " Rufus smirked, obviously satisfied with the power that he held over the Turk.

Reno held back the annoyance that threatened to surface. He replied with a simple, "Yes, sir," and left. Not only did he leave Rufus's office, but left the entire ShinRa building. Frustrated, he jumped onto his motorcycle and took off down the streets to find something to wear to this pretentious ShinRa Masquerade.

He would rather have been facing down Bahamut.

Reno came out of the bathroom in just a pair of dark, midnight blue boxers after taking a shower. Dreading, he was simply dreading, going to this thing. The world wouldn't end if he didn't show up. According to Rufus, however, his not going would be like the third coming of Sephiroth. Intense, blue eyes stared at the clothes laid across his bed and all Reno could do was sigh.

He put off getting ready for a little longer, and instead walked to the kitchen and grabbed a beer. It was going to be a long night, and this beer surely wouldn't be his last. Somehow he was going to make it through all this, Reno just couldn't comprehend how.

Leisurely, he made his way back into his room and then his cell phone began to ring.

"Hello?"

"How's it going?" Rude asked.

"How the hell do you think it's going?" Reno replied

"You haven't done anything but grab yourself a beer."

Reno contemplated lying to Rude, but knew that the bald Turk would be able to tell.

"I'm working on it," he replied. "I'm not some damn woman who takes three hours to get ready!"

"Yeah well, I'll be over in thirty."

"See you then." Reno mumbled and tossed the phone on the bed.

Reno started to slip on his black pants and tripped over one of his boots. He caught himself before he fell on his face and kept himself from crashing to the floor by holding himself up in an almost push-up position.

"Shit," he mumbled.

Quickly he picked himself up, resumed getting ready for the Masquerade, and hoped that Rufus would not be calling to check up on him. Reno threw the rest of the clothes on, and then made himself into a picture of perfection. Hair perfectly styled into place, shoes shined so you could see your reflection in them, and not a rumple to be see on any article of clothing that he wore. The last piece to complete the whole thing was the mask. It was Reno's favorite part of his costume and couldn't help but smirk at this piece of art.

His phone started going off, signaling Rude's arrival. Reno let out one last sigh before he flung open his front door and made his way out to the car where Rude sat waiting for him. It was odd to see his fellow Turk decked out in such attire, but then again, Reno himself probably looked just as weird.

"Just get this fucking thing going before I decide to bolt."

Rude only nodded and the car sped off.

The limo softly stopped and a well dressed man opened the door to let Yuffie and Tifa out. Tifa already had her mask on, and Yuffie followed suit after exiting the limo. There was a mass of people loitering outside, trying to enter the building, while the two walked down a small roped off area that lead directly to the front doors of an ancient looking building.

"Well, I didn't think that ShinRa was going to deck out the area this much." Yuffie whispered to Tifa, keeping very close.

"It's ShinRa, what did you expect? I mean, they had enough money to try and destroy the world. A small party like this is simple pocket change for them. Though, it's not that small anymore is it?"

"Nope, easily two hundred outside and maybe triple that inside." Yuffie replied.

"No pick-pocketing."

"Bleh at you."

"Bleh back." Tifa retorted as they entered the building.

As soon as the car stopped, Reno looked out at the grand building that stood enormously before him. It was pure elegance, the best ShinRa could buy. Rude stepped out of the car and began to stroll up the walk. Unlike Rude, Reno hesitated for a moment before he too started the walk, the long walk, to certain agony.

Once he entered the grand ballroom Reno spotted Rufus, Tseng, and Rude. Rufus was chatting up some female guests with Rude and Tseng watching ever vigilant by his side. Rufus caught Reno watching him and smirked before continuing on with his probably scintillating conversation.

It wasn't long after he had made his way down the long stairs to the actual ballroom –forty three seconds to be precise- until some brunette woman with green eyes asked him to dance with her. She was attractive enough, and the look on her face told Reno that she'd be crushed if he refused. Aw, Reno the softy. No, actually, Reno was on strict orders to be on best behavior and to be courteous to all guests. Courteous, meaning Reno was unable to refuse to dance with anyone that asked. At least she was attractive.

Yuffie was probably right on the number of people inside. The entrance was above the main ballroom floor, everything located within the building was gorgeous and well designed. If it didn't look like gold, it was either silver or brass or something expensive.

"Pocket change? Damn. Awesome pocket change, I believe." Yuffie commented as they walked towards the staircase down to the floor below. Every single person there was well dressed - even the bus-boys running around with drinks and snacks.

Before they even finished walking down the staircase several men asked Yuffie to dance, and Tifa had already chosen one man to dance with.

"No, thank you." Yuffie repeated about bajillion times (only seven times in reality). Tifa was lost in the dancing crowd as the ninja made her way to the bar, while more men asked Yuffie to dance. She believed that some of the women where glaring at her, or maybe they were plotting something. Sighing, she finally sat down at the bar. Yuffie looked over at the bartender -who was the only person without a physical mask, he had one painted on.

"What would you like tonight, madam?"

"Your specialty."

After dancing with twenty nine women, Reno had, simply had, to grab a drink at the bar. He took a shot and downed it quickly. It burned horribly on the way down, but the relief that it brought was worth the acid-like burn. Reno returned to the dance floor, this time with a beautiful raven haired girl, who had a less than beautiful voice. Her voice grated on his last nerve and it was threatening to kill him when she began to complain about him looking at Tifa as she arrived.

Tifa was dressed in an incredible purple dress with a corset top that was embroidered with lovely white and black flowers. She was absolutely stunning. That was when Reno caught sight of Yuffie. She wore a dark, midnight blue dress that had black lace down the bodice of the dress –that he would later find out was backless. Yuffie the mischievous, materia seeking, pick-pocketing, ninja princes looked like an angel.

"Reno, are you even listening to me?" The girl, whose name he didn't care enough to remember, whined.

"No, but then again, I have never been listening." He said as the song finished and the dark haired girl ran off angrily.

Reno's eyes followed Tifa as she went to go off dancing with some guy.

"Strife, you must be gay, because you have no idea what you're missing right now," He mumbled to himself.