So yeah I've been back for a few days… It's gonna be a hectic few months while I get my life sorted. Joy I'm graduating in May. Good thing I have a few chapters stored up.

Disclaimer: I don't own FFVII nor its characters. I also don't own the ideas taken from Love Monster.

"Sir there's a puppy here to see you." Rufus stared at his intercom for a few moments, wondering what Zack could be there for, before he pressed the button and called for her to let him in. A few moments later and black haired wolf practically burst through the door and plonked himself in the guest seat.

"You know Rufus every time I come in here it's like your office gets creepier and creepier. I mean how did you even manage to get all those spider webs on the ceiling anyways?" Rufus shrugged his shoulders. He didn't care what people thought of his office. It was his office after all and if he wanted to cover every square inch of it with spider webs, then he would.

"What are you in here for Zack? Did you find out something interesting? I thought that you were just going to wait till I called you." Zack looked a bit sheepish.

"Yeah well, you see, about that…"

"What did you do? Don't tell me that they're already suspicious of you. I thought that you were better at infiltration missions than that."

"Yeah, well that weasel's a bit more perceptive than I thought he would be. I mean, yesterday he was alright but today he was all protective over the little chocobo and I couldn't even get two words in before he was hissing at me and everything."

"So you want to give up on getting information on the two of them?"

"Nah the little chocobo's too interesting. I mean I've never seen someone that good with materia but so terrible at hand to hand before. Plus Luxiere said something interesting today." Rufus raised an eyebrow at this.

"Oh?"

"Yeah, something like how the weasel was the only one that the little chocobo had so if I did anything to the two of them I get the feeling that Luxiere is going to do more than just scold me."

"So what are you going to do then?"

"Well you said Tseng was interested in Reno right?"

"Reno?"

"It's the weasel's name." Zack quickly waved off Rufus' question. "So he's interested in him right?"

"He was the one that suggested that he joined Shinra, meaning that he thinks that he might have some use for the Turks, why?"

"Well we just have to get Tseng interested in him enough so that he'll pull the weasel out of the cadet programme, then I can talk to the little chocobo."

"Are you sure that this is a good idea Zack? Luxiere seems to think that the little halfling needs Reno. You might be putting him in a really bad position if you take him away."

"What's going to happen Rufus? I mean it doesn't look like he has any kind of signs of bruising or anything from any other the other cadets, so he's obviously not being bullied."

"Zack, you know for a wolf, you're not exactly the most observant of creatures." Zack pouted at his words and Rufus just sighed. "What about if we… Drop some hints on how to get into the Turks." The wolf seemed to perk up at this.

"I knew you'd see things my way."

"It will at least give you time to get to know the halfling. Whether or not the weasel lets you get near him or not, you can at least get to know him well enough to form some kind of friendship before you forcefully drag him to be your student."

"What do you mean forcefully drag him?" Zack stared at Rufus innocently. "I'm merely doing what I think is best for the cadet. I mean someone with that much control with materia, it would be a waste to see him stuck in the regular army. They don't even let them use materia down there." Rufus waved him off.

"So what's your plan? I know you have one." Zack grinned.

"First of we need to get Tseng a bit more interested in the weasel." Rufus frowned at this.

"I'm starting to dislike this plan already."

"Not like that. I mean get some information that Tseng doesn't already have about him. Something that will sedate his curiosity."

"And how are we going to do that? He has all the same contacts as I do, not to mention I get the feeling he probably knows all about us going off to watch that halfling every morning." Zack grinned at that.

"He doesn't have the same contacts as me. I'm pretty sure that I can get at least a little bit of information about Reno that Tseng can't. Anyways, just leave that to me. I'll send you whatever I find and you can give it to Tseng to look over. After that we need to get Reno to do something Turk like that will catch Tseng's attention enough to want to pull him out of the cadet programme, but not enough to get him kicked out of Shinra."

"I would prefer to have him kicked out to tell you the truth."

"It's probably just a momentary interest because the weasel has the right stuff to get into the Turks. No point in having a perfectly good Turk kicked out of Shinra just because you don't like him. Hell you haven't even met him yet."

"Your point is?"

"Fine we won't give him any ideas about what to do. If he gets into the Turks then he gets into the Turks, if he doesn't, then all the better for you ok?" Rufus seemed to think over this for a moment before he nodded his head in agreement. "Right, well then I'm going to go talk to some people and I'll get back to you when I have the information that I need."


Cloud fell back on his bed, glaring at the ceiling, not wanting to look at the monster on the other side of the room. One look at he thought that he'd start throwing things at the weasel in anger. "Reno are you trying to get us kicked out of Shinra or something? Lieutenant Fair is a First Class SOLDER. I mean he could just say one word and we'd be kicked out for good." The weasel was casually peeling off his uniform as if he didn't just have a fight with Zack.

"Why would he do that? He seems to be so interested in you I highly doubt that the thought of doing that would even cross his mind."

"What do you mean?" Reno scoffed.

"Please don't tell me you're that dense." Cloud turned around to look at Reno properly.

"I am that dense. Now what are you on about?"

"Didn't you find it weird that he knew your name? I don't know what he's trying to pull but he's obviously going out of his way to talk to you." Reno grabbed a towel and pulled it around his shoulders before he started making his way towards their bathroom.

"Well I wouldn't blame him for being curious. After all I am… Half. He's probably never seen someone like me before and he's probably just curious."

"Or he could be like that cat and looking to get into your pants."

"Well at least the Lieutenant hasn't pushed me up against the hallway walls and threatened me." Cloud muttered quietly, Reno's ears swivelled back against his head as he stopped at the bathroom door and pinned Cloud with a stare.

"What was that?" Cloud froze.

"Nothing…" Reno started making his way back towards Cloud.

"No you definitely said something. What did you say about that cat? What did he do to you? I swear I'm going to kill him."

"Nothing Reno. He didn't do anything. Besides, the commander stopped him before he could do anything to me."

"Damn it Cloud, it's not what he didn't do, it's what he was going to do that's the problem. What would you have done if the commander didn't show up? Why didn't you report him?"

"Because nothing happened Reno."

"Yeah, nothing happened THIS time. What about next time? What if no one's around at the time. Damn it Cloud you don't THINK do you?"

"I'm not some weak female Reno. No one asked you to protect me." Reno glared at him for a long time before he turned away and started making his way to the bathroom again.

"You know what? Do what you want, but if something else happens, don't expect me to just sit around and do nothing… And if something does happen, you'd better tell me or I won't be happy when I find out."

"You mean if you find out." Cloud rolled his eyes

"No, I mean when."