Disclaimer : I do not own FFVII, Crisis Core, Advent Children, or any of the characters that you recognise. As much as I love these guys, they belong to those other guys.

Chapter 4 : Let's Mosey

"So, what brings you to Icicle Inn?" Reno propped his axe over his shoulder, casting a sideways glance at Tifa. She looked at her feet as she kicked at the snow.

"That obvious I'm a tourist, huh?"

"Well, ya did take a rather spectacular wrong turn on the slopes. Most locals tend not to get lost."

"Hey, it's not my first time here! I just got bored of the regular routes and thought I'd try something new." Tifa flushed, obviously annoyed at herself for veering so far off the track. Reno grinned to himself.

"Yeah, yeah. Well, lesson learned. I ain't always gonna be out there ready to save yer ass whenever you take a detour and decide to go Bandersnatch huntin' at the same time. What happened anyway?"

"It was nothing I couldn't handle." Tifa sniffed, tilting her chin upwards. Reno knew for a fact Tifa could take care of herself against a single wolf, but for all she knew he thought she was some weak little girl. " I managed to take care of the wolf no problem but in the scuffle, it knocked me into that tree. I had just taken care of it and was too busy looking for….. Aw no, my snowboard!" Tifa suddenly realised that in the excitement of her rescue, she had totally forgotten to relocate her board. Damn, it was one of her favourites.

"Uh huh. So how'd you end up trapped?" Reno raised an eyebrow questioningly. He made a mental note to look for her board when he was back at work on Monday, but chances were the snowfall would hide it from view before then.

"I wasn't paying attention." Tifa admitted with chagrin. "By the time I heard the crack, it was too late. The tree wasn't particularly heavy, but the way it pinned me beside the Bandersnatch meant I couldn't get the leverage to free myself."

"Yeah. Lot of the old dead trees up here will fall over without much persuasion. Hence my job of takin' them down before they get a chance to fall. " Reno turned to look at her. "When random tourist girls don't come crashin' in and do my job for me, of course."

"Don't worry, your job's safe." Tifa giggled slightly. She was glad his little quiet spell was over with. The conversation was taking her mind off how cold she was getting. Trying to wipe off blood with wet snow was maybe not the brightest idea she'd ever had. Cocking her head slightly, she stared at him. She suddenly noticed how striking his eyes were. They almost glowed when he laughed, kinda like… One of them. He couldn't be, could he? A SOLDIER? They're all gone.. aren't they? She felt the pit of her stomach clench slightly as she stared into his eyes. They were impossibly turquoise, so much so that they reminded her of the ocean at Costa del Sol. She shook her head slightly. If he had been a SOLDIER, he wouldn't have needed the boulder or the log to get that tree off her. Unless he was hiding his strength?

As she thought about it, she realised that he hadn't questioned her story either. She opened her mouth to say as much when she realised she was still staring at him and felt her cheeks flush. She quickly looked back down at her feet. Reno noticed her cheeks turn slightly pink and grinned to himself. He'd noticed her staring at his eyes but he didn't exactly mind. Hers were easy to get lost in, too. He looked back in the direction they were headed as she spoke again. He felt himself stiffen slightly as the next words left her mouth.

"You don't seem to be surprised that I managed to take down a wolf by myself."

"Uh… Well… I figured if you snowboard, you probably have decent enough strength in your legs. 'Cause, y'know, balance n stuff. And it wasn't like it was a full pack." Reno blurted out. He knew fine well the strength Tifa had in her legs. He had been on the receiving end of her blows enough times to know how strong she was. Not to mention he had seen them often enough stretching out from beneath that ridiculously tiny skirt she used to wear. He was pretty sure she wore it as an extra distraction for her opponent. Sure as hell worked on him more than once. He cleared his throat and continued. "You don't seem stupid enough to take detours on your own unless you could handle yourself."

"Hmm. That's true." Tifa mused aloud, staring ahead as she noticed the rooftops of a few cabins coming into sight. Reno followed her line of sight and smiled.

"Hey, that didn't take long." He pointed ahead. He tilted his head to look at Tifa and noticed she had started to tremble. Just in time. She's gotta be freezing by now.

Reno started to jog in the direction of the village. His scarf and hat was starting to itch, and the quicker he got Tifa back on her way, the quicker he could get home and have a well earned beer. Though I gotta admit, her company hasn't exactly been terrible.

He sighed to himself. This has turned out to be quite a strange Friday.

AN: The name for this chapter has nothing to do with anything really. It just always made me laugh when Cloud said that.

This is the last update for the night. Honestly. xD I have like 10 chapters done already, all of which I've churned out in the last 24 hours. When you got it going, you just gotta roll with it! If you could drop me a message to let me know what you think I would really appreciate it :3 This isn't going to be a serious fic, but it would be awesome to hear what people think of it either way.

Huuuuge thank you to h34rtilly for being my first reviewer and my first follower! I really really appreciate the feedback :3