Hihi! I hope I didn't get Hojo OOC. Let me know if I did and I'll fix it ^_^

Enjoy!

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Despite wearing a glove, Elena still felt squirmy as she carried a helicopter part dripping in black, oily liquid to Hojo's Lab. She was worried that it would soak through the glove and onto her hand, but so far, nothing of the kind had happened.

The 68th floor brought back bad memories-memories that she couldn't forget. The first and only other time she'd visited the lab was when Hojo was experimenting on a creature he called "Red XIII". She hadn't thought wolves could show much emotion, but it was clear that Red XIII had. The look on the creature's face was one of desperation and fear, leaving Elena wishing she could do something to help the poor thing. After that experience, watching Hojo do all kinds of strange and inhumane things to the wolf-like animal, Elena had been dreading ever having to go back to the lab again. She didn't really have much choice, though.

So Elena was both relieved and nervous when she saw that the chamber in the center of the lab was empty. She hoped Hojo hadn't done anything to harm Red XIII.

As Elena entered the lab, the thin, raven haired scientist caught her eye. He looked as if he was made of pure evil by the way his steely eyes glinted off the reflection of hundreds of flashing buttons around them. Elena dreaded to think what each of them were capable of.

"What do you want?" The elderly man snapped at her. His voice was even more infuriating than his looks, which made Elena want to be sick. The man must have been exceptionally smart for Shinra to hire him-but then again, the company wasn't exactly known for the prettiest and sweetest workers in Midgar.

"Well? I do not have time for idle nothings!" Hojo waved a thin, bony hand in her direction and began to walk away.

Elena nearly tripped on a loose cable on the ground as she attempted to go after him. "Er, excuse me, Sir. I came on behalf of Tseng of the Turks, to deliver this...He would like you to find out what this black substance is, and how and if it could affect a helicopter's engine."

Hojo swiveled around, scowling at the pipe in her hand. "Do not hold your breath. I will alert Tseng once I am finished."

With that, he whisked the pipe from her grasp and walked away, leaving Elena to stare at his lanky back, irritated at his attitude.

"Thank you Sir."

If he heard her quiet mutter, he sure didn't acknowledge it.

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The clock ticked 4pm and Elena was already halfway through her stack of paperwork. It seemed as if she was the only Turk that had to stay back later to finish off work, despite Reno having done not even one sheet of his own. She hadn't seen him since the helicopter trip.

And then, of course, he just happened to show up.

"Rookie, get your ass up outta that chair and put it to work. We've got some catching up to do from earlier."

Elena was unsure as to what he was implying, until she finally remembered. Gym. "Wait a second, so now it's back to Rookie!? Sir, why!? Did I let you down somehow?"

Reno let out an overly dramatic sigh. "Have I ever told you you talk too much?"

"Y-"

"Don't backchat! Get the hell up before I kick you there!" His personality matched his hair unmistakably.

Elena, who now felt both useless and pathetic, gathered up her confused emotions and walked out the door, trying her best not to appear weak in any way.

She didn't feel very accomplished, though. Especially when Reno shoved her into the empty elevator, a satisfied smirk plastered all over his face.

One thing was for sure. It was the longest and most awkward elevator trip Elena had ever been in.

Reno didn't look too bothered, though, leaning lazily against the cold, hard wall and tapping his fingers against the railing.

"You know," Reno said suddenly, "I reckon Mr Pres and his Daddy have got a soft spot for blondies. Just look at Scarlet. That blonde bimbo doesn't know left from right, but she still got the job. Just goes to show that all ya need these days are looks and you've scored."

Reno really knew how to make a woman mad.

She glared deep into the back of the man's thick skull, wishing that she would someday get the opportunity to give him what he deserved. "That would explain a lot, Sir." She hoped that her constant ending of sentences with 'Sir' got on his nerves.

He turned to her with a flick of his fiery red ponytail. A grin was forming on his lips. "You're sayin' I'm good looking, Rookie?"

She'd really done it now.

Elena turned away and glanced into her reflection on the wall, faking the act of tidying her hair.

"Who said I was talking about you, Sir?"

Reno took her hand and slammed it against the wall-just as the elevator door opened.

"Hey, what're you doing!?"

A tanned arm pulled Reno into a tight lock, tight enough for him to be unable to crane his neck in the direction of his captor.

"Jen, I-" He croaked.

"Reno! You're in big trouble. If you were trying to hurt Elena, I'll make you hurt three times as bad. And if you were cheating on me with Elena, you'll be wishing you were-" Jennifer, as Elena finally realised, must have been Reno's latest girlfriend. Not surprising, judging by the way he acted like king of the universe all the time.

When Reno released himself from Jen's grip and kissed her, Elena felt a chord twang inside of her. She mentally slapped herself ten times over to try and put the thoughts out of her mind, and when that didn't work, she pictured Tseng dancing naked. And then she had to try and clean those dirty thoughts from her mind.

"Babe," Reno finally said after ending their kiss, "I'd never cheat on you. Especially not with her."

Elena felt like her gut had turned inside out. He really had no sense of respect at all.

Jen frowned and looked from Elena to Reno. "Reno, that's not a nice thing to say!" She whispered, obviously not realizing the fact that Elena could hear her quite clearly.

"Fine." Reno rolled his eyes. "I'd never cheat on you. Especially not with Elena. That better?"

Before Elena had the chance to take in another word, she quickly slipped out of the elevator and down the hallway to where she knew the change rooms were. She couldn't take another minute of the bastard, and the fact that she would be spending a long afternoon and evening with him didn't help calm her down at all.

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Elena slammed the changeroom door shut in her rage, and only afterwards did she realise that she wasn't alone. There were eight other women getting dressed into their gym uniforms, chatting and laughing with each other.

It was then Elena realized how pathetic she seemed-having not a single friend that she trusted.

"Not that it matters." She mumbled, walking over to the shelf to collect her outfit.

She nearly had a heart attack when she unfolded her shorts-someone had cut a hole in the back.

Red-faced and filled with shame, Elena scanned the room for any signs of suspicious people, but of course found none. The women looked like giggling schoolgirls, and considering that, any one of them could have been the culprit.

Unfortunately, Elena wasn't wearing black underwear that day. It was as if the planet was against her-of all the days, she just happened to be wearing underwear with little yellow chocobos etched all over.

Humiliated, she got dressed and tucked her black singlet-shirt in as far as it could go. It reached-just, but she knew it wouldn't last long.

She was the first to walk out, and when she did, she heard snorts and giggles from behind her.

If that's what the bitches are like, I'm dreading to hear what Reno's gonna say. Elena thought, wishing to Odin, Shiva and Ifrit that they would spare her her modesty.

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It only got worse. It turned out that today; Reno was giving a special training session to ten Shinra employees-women only, of course, so Elena wasn't alone. And Jennifer was one of those ten women.

Jennifer was the closest thing she had to a friend-she'd never really spoken to anyone else, so she wasn't sure if the latter was a good or a bad thing. For all Elena knew, Jen could turn out to be the Slut of all sluts, or the Bitch of all bitches, and in that case, she would consider the janitor a closer friend.

The other nine women stood in a line on a long, blue gym mat and began to stretch. Elena followed them, doing her own set of stretches that were both more effective and more impressive.

"Rookie, step into line!"

Heads turned to see Reno, who was wearing a sleeveless black shirt and matching shorts-identical to Elena's but different to everyone else's. Elena was proud to know that the Turks got their own gym uniform. Not that it was much of a surprise-the Turks stood out amongst all the other Shinra employees, with their dark blue suits and the shady atmosphere they brought.

Elena stopped her stretches and stood up straight, looking around to make sure she was actually standing in the line. Everyone had taken a step back. Was she really that unpopular? Was it the fact that she was a female Turk, the fact that she was blonde, or the fact that she was a newbie?

With a huff, she took a step back. She didn't go unnoticed.

"Rookie, get over here!" Reno shouted at the top of his voice.

Elena knew better than to do anything against what he said. If the situation got any worse, she'd snap.

The laughs and whispered bitching Elena heard as she stood next to her new trainer sent her into a state of silent embarrassment. She could feel her cheeks burning up to the point where she decided it was a new record. She'd never felt so shameful since the day she accidentally saw her childhood friend naked-and he was a guy.

"Yes, Sir?" Her reply came out as a squeak, which made the other women burst into laughter-except for Jen, thankfully.

"Shut up!" Reno snapped at the crowd. "Rookie, why the hell did ya start your stretches without me!? There's a reason a newbie is called a newbie, and you're about to find out."

Elena tried to keep her gaze set on the wall in front of her, desperately hoping it would make her appear more confident.

It didn't work.

"Fifty push-ups, on the ground, NOW!" Reno pushed her to the floor and held his foot up on her back like a stool.

Elena, for the first time in the past few hours, smirked. She could handle this without any trouble at all. Ever since she and her childhood friend got separated at the age of five, she swore to herself that she would train morning and night until she was fit enough to handle anything that got in the way of finding him. While she had basically given up on her search for him, the exercise she'd put in made her the quick, stable, and strong woman she was today.

Fifty push-ups later, the other nine women were staring in awe and jealousy at the fact that Elena was hardly puffed at all. Reno didn't look too upset, either.

"What next, Sir?" Elena asked with a hint of smug-ness in her voice.

Reno's forehead creased into a light line of defiance, and a grin tweaked at the corner of his lips, threatening to rise. "One-hundred squats. Facing me."

The women giggled and began their whisperings again. Elena felt like she was about to die, but she went ahead anyway. She had to prove she was better than they thought she was, even if it meant flashing her chocobo undies to the world.

Those squats were the longest squats she had ever done in her life-or at least, it felt like it. The women behind her were laughing so hard that they were having trouble breathing-even Jen.

"Wark wark!" One of the women teased, motioning the movements of an obese chocobo.

It had never been so hard to block the voices from her mind. Strangely enough, they drove her on, and made the challenge more worthwhile.

When she was finished, relief swamped her, and she let her head hit the ground. She smiled. She'd done it. She'd shown them all.

Even Reno looked proud.

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Was it alright? ^_^ Reeview? xDD