.Toxic

It had been roughly a week since she'd left him. Seven days since he'd driven her away. He couldn't help it. This is what he did in relationships: he poisoned them because that was just his nature. He couldn't be happy in a relationship - he had to cheat or fall into self-destructive behaviour, or simply vanish. This time, he'd picked a fight with the petite ninja and she'd fled his apartment in a whirlwind of black hair. He hadn't heard from her and he hadn't heard from her friends, either, which didn't exactly sit comfortably with him. He half expected Valentine to pop out of the shadows and poke his eyes out with that damned claw.

He had been sitting on the roof of his apartment building for hours with his pack of cigarettes, and he was surprised to find his apartment door open upon his return. He pulled a small handgun from the inside of his jacket pocket and followed his gun into his home. He nearly dropped the weapon when he saw Yuffie sitting on a pile of luggage in front of his television, her arms crossed.

"Yuffie, what are you doing here?" he asked, suddenly and irrationally angry. She didn't answer him; she just got up and shoved a little green crystal into his hands, making sure he didn't drop it. Materia.

"I don't use this stuff, Yuff. You know that. Now what are you doing here?" He tried to give the materia back to her, but she shook her head.

"Moving in, what does it look like?" She walked over to the table and took a drink from a bottle of beer. "That materia is yours. I had to go all the way back to Wutai to get it, Cloud wouldn't give me his," she complained. "Then I had to go and master the damn thing." Reno shook his head as if to clear it, scowling at her.

"Yuffie, you're not moving in here," he said, trying to make his voice sound as stern as possible. "We talked about this-" Yuffie cut him off by waving her hand about dismissively.

"Yeah, yeah. You poison everything you care about, including your liver and your lungs. That's why I brought you that materia." Reno made a noise like an agitated cat. Her eyes and voice softened, a rarity for the bubbly ninja. "It's 'Heal'. You can use Esuna when things get too poisoned for you."

Reno stared down at the little ball of materia in his hand, not moving for what felt like several minutes. And then he was across the room and had her in his arms, and he thanked the water god's scales for everything she was made of.


I'm Red, and I'm a fluff addict.

Peace, love, and chai~