Echo the Ethereal Swordmaster - I think you're falling into "redhead=Reno" syndrome. If you aren't careful you're going to start seeing even Anne of Green Gables as Reno (heh, fancy that). I loved Death the Kid too, but felt sorry for him, since I have a very similar habit of not being able to go anywhere until my room's presentable (which can become a lengthy process when you've just raided your wardrobe for that one white shirt!). I'm waiting to see what happens to him in the original.

ZakuReno - I'd think Reno's a sadist, not a masochist, in the actual relationship. The way he off'ed Corneo was... very sadistic. Which is why I love him (and I just made myself sound like a masochist). This chapter is the grounding for the relationship between the two, a bit of foreshadowing to show just who's the boss in the relationship... or at least that's my plan. I'm not sure if the ending's romantic or just plain scary... but Reno's a sadist in this novel, so I guess it's pseudo-romantic.

Chapter 9: Seduction Game

Hell Camp was in the past and it was Monday morning. Arien was fighting pain all over her body as she crawled out of bed. Sunday had been an off day and they had thoroughly enjoyed the sun, even Tseng.

Well…

There was now a profound awkwardness between Reno and her. Probably because of Friday night. She really could not remember what she had said… she vaguely remembered hearing Reno swearing like some inmate, and then she had far too much beer, and then everything had faded into a haze. Despite her upped alcohol tolerance, she'd never outdrink the two Turks. They really drank like hoses. She had woken up in underwear with Reno's arms securely around her midriffs, his face buried in her hair, and had promptly screamed and kicked him in the groin.

Well, tried. He had scrambled out of the way before her foot made a connection. On hindsight, it was probably a good thing it had turned out that way, since Reno would probably kill her if she actually managed to get a kick in. And then she had stormed off, and things had been awkward since. She also remembered Reno bugging Rude about something on the phone, but she had no idea what, nor did she particularly care. Sunday had been dedicated to enjoy the last of the sun before they headed back to Midgar - the nickname "Rotten Pizza" really fit the city, she thought, especially after seeing Costa del Sol - and Reno had forgotten to wear protection against the sun. Which had deprived her of sleep as a result.

Arien grimaced as she stood in front of a mirror, doing her tie. Why he had decided to ask her escaped her. She had been just settling into the bed for the night when she heard a knock on her door; she had groaned and grabbed the pistol from under the pillow. Unlocking the safety, she had gotten out of the bed, padded across the carpet in slippers, then had yanked the door open with her gun pointing at whoever would be at the door.

"Whoa! Watch it!"

"Reno, I'm wiped. What do you want?"

"Is that how you speak to your seniors?"

"It's after hours. Right now, you're just a redhead standing in my doorway."

"Whatever. Do you have sunburn lotion?"

And it had gone downhill from there. Reno had sunburns on his back - places where he'd have to have tentacles to reach - and she had ended up putting the lotion on him. Awkward experiences were piling up on top of another. She remembered the sensation of his skin under her palm, slick with gel. He had stretched like a cat…

And then, as if he deserved some reward, Reno had kissed her, taking her completely unawares, before she could react. And then she had kicked him out of the room, and he had left with a smirk on his face. That bastard.

Arien sighed as she pulled the jacket off the hanger. The best thing to do from now on was to avoid him. It was going to be far too awkward to do anything else. First that night, then that kiss… awkward! She had an urge to yank on her hair to assuage her embarrassment, but she also knew that won't help.

Just deal with it. He probably doesn't remember anything about it anyway.

Yes, but she did, didn't she?

Grabbing the keys, she went out the front door. The building was peaceful as usual, with beige and taupe exploding all over the place. Her loafer heels made muffled noises as she walked down the corridor and into the elevator. She sighed in relief when she saw that it was empty; she was not ready to face him yet.

"And so," Arien said, slumped onto the table, "I avoided him all morning."

Ivy was watching her as she stirred her after-lunch coffee. Arien was slumped onto the table, clearly sleep-deprived and looking tired. She had just returned from Costa del Sol and Ivy had asked her for lunch in the upper-floors dining room. Arien had obliged, and then Ivy had asked what was wrong. She had never seen her friend looking this tired.

"I think you're missing out," Ivy said as she stirred the sweetener into her coffee, "he might be your soulmate."

Arien sat back so quickly her hair flew.

"Soulmates?" she echoed.

"Well, you know, that one guy out there to complete you?"

"Ivy, sweetie, I know you mean the best, but soulmates only exist in card aisles."

"That's not true!" Ivy exclaimed. Arien winced. "I know there's someone out there for me, that one guy who'll be my perfect match. I know you have one too."

Well, so much for optimism on Monday at noon. Arien sipped her tea. It was getting cold. "And you seriously think Reno's the soulmate for anyone?" She paused. "Apart from Rude, that is."

"Why not?"

Why was everyone being so thick these days? She wanted to bang her head against the wall. "First of all," she said, "that redhead's more trouble than Midgar Zolom. Second of all, I don't believe in soul mates. What if your soulmate was some truck driver in Mideel? You're screwed."

"If he's my soulmate, I'm bound to meet him someday," Ivy defended.

"Maybe Reno's your soulmate."

"I don't think so. He doesn't notice me."

"Fine. Maybe he's Scarlet's soulmate. They've certainly screwed enough to be an item."

"That's just rumours."

"And the underwear story too?" She snorted. "Forget it. If he's my soulmate, I'm going to start collecting cats." She stood up. "I have to go. Need to be back by one."

"Okay." Ivy waved with a coffee cup in her hand. Arien walked off and went upstairs, wondering just what exactly had gotten into her friend's head. Soulmates were such a defeatist idea. How on earth did such an idea come up? She walked to Reno's office - if such a room could be called an office - after remembering Tseng telling her that Reno was doing a target search and she was to help out. So much for avoidance. For a fleeting moment, she irrationally hated the Director.

Arien knocked on her neighbour's door, heard him yell "Yeah?" and entered the office. Reno was smoking - and was also scrolling through something at his computer, which was situated on a small computer desk in the corner. He looked up, his face filled with mirth. "Here, read this," he said, laughing. "This is the funniest shit ever."

Arien pulled a chair over and sat down, leaning forward to see what Reno was laughing about. It was a messaging client of a dating service. She stared at him. Why was he using a dating service? Was he that depraved? Or deprived? She wasn't sure which one would fit him better.

"Um, what are you doing?" She asked. "Aren't we supposed to be doing…"

"I am," Reno interrupted. "Target's fifty-three, Shinra employee in the HR. He's been date-raping and the victims are gonna gang up on him and sue, so we need him dead and gone before the high and mighty gavels."

"I thought Shinra had the control of the press."

"No control's gonna cover this up once it leaks. The press loves dirt, and it's just easier to make him disappear than try to prove he's some poor innocent fuck-up."

"All-right. So what's so funny?"

"These guys," Reno said, laughing. "They're so desperate to get laid they must have slapped their half-stiff dicks on keyboards and hit send."

Arien shot him a sceptic glance, then looked at the screen. There was one on-going conversation with a man - presumably the target - but there was an influx of other messages, all from different… men, from the looks of it.

"Who's the profile?" she asked, pointing.

"Well, I made it. Oh, I borrowed your pic. I edited it, don't worry," he added, seeing Arien's lips part. "No one'd notice it's you. But these guys are pretty desperate. Here. Read the profile."

So she did. After reading, she stared at him in shock. "How on earth did you make someone this obnoxious, stupid, and crazy?" She asked in disbelief. "And they want to talk to her?!"

"Yeah. Here. I asked to pull this guy's teeth out." Reno was choking with laughter. Arien skimmed through it, and saw "CAN I PULL OUT UR TEETH. JUST ONE" as one of the messages sent by "JenniTrixi, 21". He leaned forward and typed a reply from the target in question. "Oh, by all that's holy…" more laughter.

"Wait a minute, this guy wants to meet you after you asked him to pull his teeth out?" She asked after reading the message twice to make sure she hadn't missed anything in terms of context. "Is he crazy?"

"Nah. Just really desperate. Some guys'll do anything to get laid." He scrolled through.

"I knew men weren't the smartest creatures on the planet, but I didn't know it'll be this bad," she observed as she scrolled through the message page, which seemed to have slowly spiralled from "unforgivably cruel" to "really crazy". "That's it. I'm confiscating your penises."

That apparently tickled Reno's funny bone. Or something, since he laughed even more. His shoulders shook as he laughed, his laugh throaty as he faced down, his laughter finally dying down into a chuckle. He looked up switched windows again, and checked the new message. "Got it. He wants to meet 'Jenni' tonight in one of the clubs downtown." He wrote down the name on a notepad, then tapped the cigarette in an ashtray. Arien was staring at Reno's profile, somehow finding his jawline as he looked at the screen attractive, the way his neck muscles were slightly visible under the skin, the Adam's apple that moved as he swallowed his coffee.

"And you too?" Arien blurted, then cursed herself. Reno turned, a faint grin on his lips.

"Me? Nah," he said casually. "I'm not that desperate."

Should have known, Arien. Dumb move.

Just as Reno was about to speak, Tseng came in. "Did you find him, Reno?" He asked as he turned the lights on.

"Uh, yeah. He's gonna show up in Sector 5 downtown tonight." Reno squinted as the sudden light assaulted his eyes.

"Good." Tseng's gaze fell onto the woman sitting next to the redhead. "Bring Arien with you."

"Yeah, sure… wait, what?!"

"She'll provide good assistance. You're far too noticeable, Reno. He may notice something is amiss if you're in his proximity. After all," Tseng pointed at the profile, "he may know you. It's less likely he'll know her."

"Yeah, whatever."

Arien looked at the two men sourly, but said nothing. So much for her plan to avoid Reno. Either someone was having a cosmic laugh at her expense, or she just had a terrifyingly bad luck. Why couldn't it be Rude? As a matter of fact, why couldn't they just report this to the police and leave it to the law enforcers?

"Maybe Reno can cross-dress and bait him out," she said without thinking. What had happened to her brain today? Words were popping out of her mouth the moment the thought entered her head.

The entire room froze. Then Reno shot her a dirty look as Tseng turned around. The director really had to walk away quickly so that neither of them would notice his lips twitching. Laughing would not have been a good decision, and Tseng did have an image to maintain.

She knew Reno would get back at her. She knew it.

Reno had picked the outfit - go figure - and Arien had discovered that it was a strapless and backless affair that barely hit her mid-thigh. It was seven in the evening and she stood in her office, standing and holding the dress at arm's length, looking at it with distaste. It was black but she just knew it'll hug her body like some clingy lover.

"Dressed?"

She turned and saw Reno standing in the doorway, left arm propped against the frame for support. "Did you pick this out?" She asked, carefully controlling her voice. She was feeling rather vindictive.

"Yup."

Is this how he likes his women? She wondered. The dress had cups sewn in - way to deal a blow to her ego - and she realised she'd have nowhere to keep her gun, except maybe in her purse.

"Where am I going to put my gun?" She asked at the lewdly smiling man.

"Beats me. I'm gonna be around, so hopefully you won't have to use it." He turned to leave. "Get dressed."

The room was filled with darkness once again as Reno closed the door behind him.

Resolutely, Arien began to change. Although she had never told Reno her size, the dress fit her well; it was likely he had just looked her sizes up in the database. The black sandals were impractically high. When she turned on the lights to apply make-up, she was acutely aware of her white thighs, and she was extremely conscious of them as she click-clacked her way across to get to a mirror. As she applied the red lipstick and the eyeliner, she wondered for the fifth time why this was necessary. Hair went up, leaving the nape of her neck almost dangerously exposed. She packed a Glock 17 into her purse, and then walked out after a final check.

Reno whistled when he saw her. "Nice," he said as he helped her put on a shorter coat.

"Is this what you want your girlfriends to wear?" She asked curiously. "I thought men didn't like their girlfriends looking this loose."

"Well, no," he admitted as they began walking toward the elevator. "But it's a job, Arie."

'It's a job'? What kind of a response is that?

The bar was already starting to get crowded, and it took some to find the target, who was seated at the counter, drinking by himself. She casually sat down next to him, took off her coat, crossed her legs. "White wine spritzer," she said to the bartender. Then turned and said, "Hi. Do you mind company?" Reno was sitting some distance away from them, keeping an eye.

"Er, no," the man mumbled, his eyes going straight to her chest area. And then down to her lap. Where it lingered.

Hello, my face is up here, not between my legs.

After some small talk - his name was Harrison, he was fifty-three, worked for Shinra Company, blah blah - she stood up, cocking her hip slightly. "It's getting crowded here," she said, placing a hand on his thigh. "Do you want to go someone else?"

"Actually, I was waiting for someone…"

"Oh, sorry." She turned. "I guess I'll see you ar…" Her sentence was stopped before she could complete it, as the man interrupted her.

"Wait. I guess she's not coming," he said, hastily standing up. "So, uh, yes?"

She kept a careful distance with him as they walked out, acutely aware that Reno was somewhere; she just was not sure where he was. She walked some distance with him, sometimes falling onto him on purpose, clutching onto his arm for support. It was foggy and tiny drops of moisture fell onto her coat as they walked, him making advances and her making empty promises.

The rendezvous point was in a relatively unoccupied street, and Arien guided him there, not answering his questions of "where are we going?". When she caught the sight of red hair coming their way, she sighed in relief. Maybe her relief was obvious, for Reno had grasped her hand as she passed. She remained in the shadows, a little distance away, as she heard Reno saying something about girlfriend, and then a sickening crunch and a thud.

The drive back was in silence. Arien had nothing to say, and Reno seemed to be concentrating on driving. But she later heard Tseng and Reno arguing. She had been changing back into her uniform when she heard some loud voices from the office across the corridor.

"No," Reno was saying. "It was too damn risky. Next time, I'm going solo."

Risky? Risky of what? About the only risk she had was flashing everyone in the bar, and about the only danger Reno had was tripping over some rubbish in the street. The target had never been a combatant, and couldn't find the right end of the nightstick even if he had tried. Arien frowned as she zipped up her jacket. The risk Reno had apparently seen eluded her.