Tifa slowly regained consciousness, aware of a heavy pressure. When she opened her eyes, she had to stifle a scream. The pilot's face was right in front of her, blood all over his face from a gash on his head. She remembered the helicopter falling, not being able to stop herself from screaming, and the pilot trying to calm her down, then nothing.
Reno groaned as he came to. He felt pain in both his arms and his head, and opened his eyes, looking straight into his prisoner's eyes, then hurriedly looked elsewhere and saw that the windshield was gone. When he went to push himself away from Tifa and stand up, he realized there was a problem.
"What's wrong?" Tifa asked.
"I think both my arms are broken." Reno said, managing to stand without using his arms. Taking a deep breath to fortify himself against the pain, he grabbed hold of the windshield frame and pulled himself through, but he wasn't able to land properly on the ground, and he passed out again when he hit the ground.
"Are you okay? Hello?" Tifa was worried as she called out to the pilot but got no response. She was still shackled, but she managed to get herself out the windshield as well, and when she felt her feet on the ground, she went to check on the pilot, but the chains kept getting in the way, so she just stayed by his side until he woke up again.
"You might as well get out of here." he told her when he opened his eyes and saw her still there.
"How?" she replied, lifting her hands up as much as she could to indicate the shackles.
"The key's in my left pocket."
Tifa got the key out and Reno was able to use his hand to free hers, then she unshackled her ankles. Rubbing her wrists, she looked at him. "Thank you, but I'm not leaving you like this."
"Why not? Leaving's the easy part, you just walk away without any hard feelings."
"That's not how I do things. Is there a first aid kit in the helicopter?" Tifa went to get it as soon as he reluctantly told her where it was. She also grabbed one of the parachutes to use as a pillow for the pilot. "What's your name? I'm Tifa." she asked as she put the parachute under his head.
Reno frowned. He didn't like getting personal with anyone, even before he joined the Turks, and names were quite personal. It had served him well to have the targets on missions just be nameless faces. Even the constant parade of one-night stands, he never learned their name or volunteered his. He had his real name erased when he passed his training, known only as Reno since then.
"You do have a name, don't you?" Tifa asked again, as she tended to his head injury.
"Yes, but that's none of your business." Reno answered, somewhat disconcerted by her gentle touch and her breasts being almost in his face. She obviously didn't understand how things worked. The longer she stayed with him, the less chance she had to escape before the rescue team came..
"Why are you so sensitive about telling me your name?"
He took umbrage at being called sensitive. "That's personal." he told her.
"And you don't think taking me captive was personal?"
"No, it's just my job."
"Well I was studying to be a nurse, so taking care of you is my job, and it would help me to have something to call you."
He sighed, realizing she wasn't going to let it go. "Reno." he admitted reluctantly.
"Reno." Tifa smiled. "Your head is as good as it's going to get right now, you'll probably need stitches. I don't know how to take care of your arms."
"I do." Reno explained the steps and Tifa reluctantly followed his instructions, starting by taking his jacket and shirt off, and that's when she saw the bruising on his chest.
"I don't think you broke any ribs, but I can't be sure." Tifa said, examining his chest, and recognizing the pattern of the bruises. "It looks like you got whacked by my restraints during the crash."
"Don't worry about that, just set my arms." Reno ordered her, trying to ignore how relaxing her hands on his chest was.
"Okay." Tifa said, not looking forward to it.
"What's your problem?" he asked when she was done, trying to act like the pain didn't bother him, he was a Turk, after all. But the sweat on his forehead and his skin getting paler gave lie to his façade.
"I don't like hurting people, no matter the reason." Tifa explained.
"That's a surefire way to get hurt yourself."
"I guess we'll have to agree to disagree on that score. What are we going to do for food?" Tifa asked as she made sure the splints on his arm were secure that she had fashioned with some parts from the wrecked helicopter.
"There should be some MREs next to the where the first aid kit was."
"Which one would you like?" Tifa asked him when she got back with them and some disposable utensils.
"I don't care, food's food." Reno answered.
"Okay, then you can have this one."
Reno turned sullen as Tifa tried to feed him. He didn't like being vulnerable, especially with someone whose behavior he didn't understand.
"What's wrong?" she asked when he refused the food at first.
"Nothing." he pouted.
"Then open up." Tifa put the spoon near his mouth and Reno was going to refuse again, until he realized her cleavage was in his line of sight, and his mouth opened up obligingly.
After he had finished his meal, Tifa used a piece of gauze to wipe his mouth, and he winced when she accidentally touched his chest. "Sorry about that." she said.
"Don't worry about me, I'm fine, I'm a Turk after all." Reno told her, trying to ignore her doubting glance about his stoicism.
"You don't like needing help, do you?"
"I'm a Turk." Reno repeated.
A little while later Tifa used Reno's matches in his other pocket to start a campfire, and heated water from a nearby stream to give Reno a sponge bath. He was feeling extremely uncomfortable by having her touch him so much, and he wasn't sure how much was due to the fact that he hadn't had sex in two weeks, or that he was basically her prisoner now due to his injuries. But all she was doing was taking care of him.
"Is this really necessary?" Reno asked her.
"Making sure you stay clean and don't get sick is really necessary." Tifa stated. "Are you blushing?" she suddenly asked, noticing how red his face got the lower on him she went with the warm damp rag.
"No I'm not dammit! The water's too hot, that's all." Reno exclaimed, feeling his face get hotter.
Tifa decided not to mention that the skin on the rest of him didn't get red, just his face. When she was done cleaning him, she rinsed the rag out, then dumped the makeshift pot out, then refilled it to heat water up for her sponge bath. Reno tried not to look directly at her, he just focused his eyes on her shadow. When she was done, she got another parachute from the helicopter to use as a makeshift quilt for them to sleep under.
"Why are you sleeping next to me?" Reno demanded to know.
"You're injured, I need to stay close to protect you if anything attacks." Tifa explained as she snuggled against him. "Besides, out here there's safety in numbers."
"I know that." Reno muttered under his breath. He wished Rude and Elena would hurry up and find him and he could go back to where things made sense to him.
Suddenly she turned over to face him. "Why do you have these?" Tifa asked as she ran her finger over his facial tattoos, needing to talk to get relaxed enough to sleep.
Reno tensed up. "Keep your hands to yourself!" he growled. His tattoos were off-limits to everyone. The only people who knew what they represented were dead now, and he wouldn't tolerate their desecration. Anytime one of his nightly conquests touched them, he'd kick them out of his place, or leave theirs, no matter what, even if they both were about to climax.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you." Tifa said.
"Well, you did." Reno snapped, then started to feel a little ashamed at his attitude as he saw the hurt on her face. Not sure how else to apologize for his outburst, he kissed her.
