AN: HURRAY! I reached my goal of 1,000 hits! Thanks so much, guys! You keep this fanfic alive. Your dedication is incredible! But I've set a new goal now: 100 reviews! Think I can pull it off? Let's see.
"Gawd, how do you guys wear this crap?" Yuffie whined, shifting her little form inside the much-too-loose white undershirt and navy pants she wore over her outfit. "I feel like I'm wearing pajamas."
Reno narrowed his eyes and handed her the extra navy coat in his hands. "It's not like we have a choice," he retorted. "Turk's standard uniform."
Yuffie pulled on the jacket and zipped it up halfway. Reno's size was at least four times larger than hers. His extra jacket hung off her form like a hand-me-down. "Ugh, it's huge," she complained.
"If you want look like a Turk, you're going to wear it," Reno ordered. "Otherwise, you're not going into that reactor."
"Fine," Yuffie at last agreed, sliding a tie around her neck. She fiddled with it for a long while, trying to remember how to tie a half-Windsor. It looked more like a knot than anything when she was finished.
"…Need some help?" Reno asked, trying to hide the amusement on his face.
"I've got it," Yuffie snapped. She untied the knot and began again, looking determined.
Reno rolled his eyes and reached out, taking Yuffie's hands in his own. "Here," he said, crossing the tie correctly, "like this." He pulled the fabric down through the knot and slid it up, folding her collar over it. "There. Perfect."
Yuffie avoided his stare coolly, barely noticing his hands resting on her shoulders. After a while, she caught the glint of his cerulean eyes, allowing herself to be trapped in his gaze. She got that cold feeling again, trying to make herself immune to it before it was too late… But soon she was on the verge of trembling again, and she had to look away.
Reno sensed her discomfort and let his hands slide down her shoulders, brushing her palms on the way down. "We'd better get going or we'll loose sunlight," he suggested while he slung his bag over his shoulder, turning to leave their room. "You look great, by the way." Reno grinned and swept out of the room like a shadow without another word.
Yuffie clutched her pattering heart, cursing Reno out for making her lose control again. 'He's the devil!' her mind shouted, picking up her things to hurry after him before she lost him in the snow again.
He was waiting for her, however, outside of the inn, hands in his pockets and pack hanging off his shoulder. Another smile crept up on his face when he set his eyes on her, his thoughts wandering from their destination for a moment. 'She'd make a great Turk,' he thought to himself, imagining Yuffie with a nightstick and sunglasses, standing beside him as they exited the Angel. Now that was a badass team. Of course, Reno knew it was totally improbable, as Yuffie was a ninja, and spent her days traveling alone, conning people out of money and materia. It would take some sort of miracle to get her to change her ways.
Reno's thoughts were interrupted as Yuffie cleared her throat. "Well," she began, heaving an uneasy sigh. "You ready?"
The redhead just nodded and turned on his heel, leading the way over to the crest of Icicle Hill, easily scaling his way down through the snowy field to where the Angel rested. It had begun to flurry new flakes, but he'd heard from the locals that it was just a weak system trickling in off the coast. Other than that, the skies looked clear for Reno.
After Yuffie had climbed in and secured herself, the pilot beside her started the engines, his fingers skillfully fluttering across the several consoles before him. Before Yuffie could even count to ten, they were lifted off and gaining altitude rapidly.
"Where to from here?" Reno asked over the whirring of the blades.
"West by northwest," Yuffie calculated, gazing out over the sea with thought while Reno dipped the helicopter in that direction. It would be another long ride as before, and she was prepared for the worst of motion sickness, although it seemed she was handling it rather well so far. So well even, that she thought about dozing off for a while…never before had sleep come this easy to her while in an aircraft. Her eyes grew heavy as she gazed one last time at Reno, the sound of the chopper blades almost lulling her to sleep within minutes of their departure...
And just as early as she'd fallen asleep, Yuffie was woken once again. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes to see a strained look on Reno's face in place of the relaxed one he'd had on before she fell asleep. He was pulling against the joystick, his sunglasses sliding off his nose due to perspiration.
"What…what's going on?" Yuffie gasped, fully awake now. Her eyes flashed outside the windshield, squeaking as she was met with pure white for miles. The snow clashed against the window at incredible speeds, the tail of the Angel quivering in disagreement with the wind.
"We're in the eye of the storm!" Reno shouted, pure terror in his voice. "Her tail's gonna rip off, I've got no control!" the whole console began to shake, and soon, Reno's hand was slipping on the joystick.
"It's no good, we're going dow—!"
Yuffie shrieked as Reno's words were cut off and a loud crash echoed in her ears. She was jerked forward, her head hitting the console in front; the only thing keeping her from going through the windshield was the belt across her shoulder. The helicopter rolled for what seemed like forever, the eternity filled with Yuffie's screams. The machine came to a stop at last, upside-down and filled with shattered glass and snow and blood. Yuffie released herself from the seat and came crashing down to the ceiling, feeling glass fragments jabbing into her body. She rolled onto her back and cradled a broken arm, struggling to sit up. "Reno!" she cried, crawling to his limp figure, flat on his stomach, eyes heavy with fading life. "Oh, God…Reno, please don't go," she begged, shifting his paralyzed body into her lap. "I still have so much to tell you...!"
Reno laughed through his tears, grabbing her sleeve with a bloody hand. "Yeah, me too…" he gasped, labored by crushed lungs. "It was nice knowing you…Yuffie… Yuffie. Yuffie…?"
"Yuffie! Wake up!"
She sat up straight, almost choking herself on the strap across her shoulder. Yuffie's eyes went wide as she felt a hand on her shoulder. "Reno!" she gasped, never so happy to see him in her life.
"Yeah…" he said with a knit brow. "We're here. You okay? You don't look so good."
Yuffie wiped her wet forehead with the back of her hand, sighing as she realized it was just a dream, unclipping her seatbelt. "Uh…yeah, I'm alright," she lied, standing with on wobbly legs. "How was the ride?"
Reno shrugged and tossed Yuffie her bags. "Nothing special," he replied. "We had a good tail wind, probably what got us here so fast."
Yuffie nodded in understanding, following him outside into the open snowfield, neglecting to tell him anything about her horrid nightmare. 'It was nothing,' she assured herself, heaving a trembling sigh. 'Just a bad dream, nothing more…it doesn't mean anything.'
"There it is," Reno announced, pointing through the light flurry of snowflakes at a tiny house, sitting alone on the white plain, a small stream of smoke billowing from its chimney. He started off toward it, pacing his steps so that Yuffie would not be left behind. She followed close to him, her eyes never leaving the small abode they were headed for. "Hey, what's the guy's name again?" Reno asked, glancing down at the Turk-dressed ninja beside him. "And his wife?"
"Jon and Grace Arrington," Yuffie replied, gathering as much information as she could from the paper she'd destroyed in Junon. "They have a son, Kris. He'll be the guide, I suppose… He mines the materia for selling in places like Costa del Sol and Mideel."
"How do you memorize all that shit?" Reno laughed, sliding his hands in his pockets.
"I'm a ninja," Yuffie remarked. "You have to keep your facts straight when you're someone like me."
Reno just smirked and shook his head at the irony. In order to be a good liar, you had to know all truth…
"Hey Reno," Yuffie piped, looking up at him. "Don't you think I should have a fake name? Something to cover in case the W.R.O. finds out? Reeve knows who I am…"
The redhead just shrugged. "What did you have in mind?"
"I don't know…just a name. What would you call me if I was a Turk?"
"Yuffie."
The ninja sighed. "Don't you guys have aliases or something?"
"Not really."
"Oh, come on. Just pull something out of your ass!"
"…Something."
Yuffie growled, resisting the urge to knock him in the head. That was the second time she'd got a reply like that! The first being on her 'date' with Cloud at the Gold Saucer.
"Okay, how does this sound?" she asked, making a dramatic hand movement. "Roxy Hemmingway…"
"Sounds like a hooker name," Reno muttered. "OUCH! What, I was just telling the truth!" He rubbed his red cheek as Yuffie walked fuming beside him.
"I like it. And I'm going to use it!" she announced spitefully.
Reno sulked all the way to the little log cabin, stepping onto the porch before ringing the doorbell. Yuffie fixed her suit and stood proudly, trying to act as Turkish as possible. Footsteps were heard from within, and the storm door slowly opened just a crack, a large, gray-blue eye peering from behind the screen. "May I help you?" said the timid woman.
Yuffie nudged the stiff, un-personable Reno. He blinked and then cleared his throat. "Good afternoon," he said in a monotone voice. "I'm Reno Bellanger of the Turks, head of the Occult Materia operation?"
The little woman heaved a sigh and opened the storm door fully, pushing the screen door outward to let them in. "Oh, you're here!" she said happily as Reno stepped over the threshold, making room for Yuffie to follow. He wiped his boots once on the carpet at the door closed behind them.
"Jon, Kris!" the tiny woman called up the stairs. "The W.R.O. men are here!"
Yuffie gazed around the little cabin curiously, having never seen anything like this. The walls were covered in beautiful, shaped furs, and the placed smelled like fresh pine. A fire crackled in the living room where a lone rocker sat, still teetering back and forth.
She lifted her eyes to the balcony above as two men descended the stairs; a short, balding man was in front, probably Jon, followed by a skinny, pale, blonde-haired kid behind, most likely Kris. He couldn't have been more than eighteen years old…
Jon immediately walked up to Reno and held out his hand. Reno took it a bit reluctantly.
"Well, hello there! It's nice tah meetchya, mister…?"
Reno smiled awkwardly at the title, "Oh, just call me Reno," he said, released his hand. Kris just gave a lazy wave and put his hands in his pockets.
"And who is this lovely lady?" Jon asked, looking at Yuffie. He took her hand in both of his, shaking it lightly.
"This is…" Reno faltered, almost laughing as her fake name made its way to his lips. "Roxy Hemmingway. She'll be accompanying me to the reactor."
Jon laughed aloud and placed his hands on his hips. "Reno and Roxy! What a pair!" he chuckled, his green eyes twinkling. "Welcome to Arrington Island. The land has belonged to my family for seven generations. We're happy to let you come and quarry our great materia. What type is it that you're looking for again?"
Kris butted in. "It's the Occult Materia, Dad," he interjected, "and it's not exactly great. The stuff is dangerous, according to the W.R.O. guys I spoke to. I'm so relieved you could take it off our hands. I've been afraid to go near the stuff ever since it appeared at the bottom of the reactor."
Reno's eyebrow lifted as the young man spoke. "You know a lot, kid," he remarked. "You've done your homework."
Kris nodded. "Materia is my field of expertise. And just by what I know, I was smart enough to stay away from that stuff. I'm glad someone who knows what their doing is here to take care of it."
The way he spoke about it made Yuffie even more frightened to go down into the Reactor than she had been before she arrived. Could it have had anything to do with the crazy man who'd attacked them at Icicle Inn? How did it all connect back to the Occult Materia that Reno was delivering? She'd have the question him later about it all…
Sensing the tension in the air, Grace clapped her hands together and smiled. "Well, you all must be tired from that long trip… We have our guest bedroom set up for you to stay the night. Why don't you all take a rest and you can go in the morning?"
Yuffie stared at the low, logged ceiling above her, stretching her arms above her head, unable to fall asleep with so many thoughts whirring around in her mind. She had so generously given up the bed to Reno, as she had taken his in Junon, and still felt bad for getting him wasted that night. He had begun to protest, but she knew that he couldn't turn it down. She knew he wasn't asleep either, as the sound of swishing liquid could be heard from the fur-covered in the middle of the room. He was drinking again…
"…Reno…?" Yuffie asked timidly, rolling onto her side so she could look at him. Only his outline was visible in the darkness of the spare bedroom. He stopped drinking and let the bottle fall down to his side. He didn't say anything. "Um…what is the Occult Materia exactly…?"
Reno huffed a bit, taking another swig of his drink. "I don't know," Reno replied vaguely. "I haven't been assigned to any other collection other than this one. None of the Turks have. It's usually the W.R.O. personnel that takes care of it, but this mission was especially dangerous. Reeve wanted somebody who was prepared for rigorous conditions to work this case."
Yuffie thought for a moment before asking, "Well, why are you transporting all the materia if you don't even know how to handle it?"
Reno just grunted and returned to drinking. "That's Reeve Tuesti for you," he remarked between swigs. "All I know is that the materia is dangerous in some way, and needs to be extracted carefully. That's all Reeve would tell me about it."
Yuffie was silent for a moment. "…Do you think that man was right? The one that said we'd suffer despair?"
Reno heaved a dry laugh. "Yuffie, the man was off his rocker," he assured her. "Why in all of hell you're worrying about it, I don't know. Just relax, you're overreacting."
Yuffie agreed with him silently, although deep inside she was still shaking with fear. What if he was wrong and they were to suffer a fate similar to her dream? What if that man attacked again, and this time didn't miss with his daggers? What if…what if she lost Reno out here? What would she do?
Yuffie shivered at the thought. She pulled her furs up closer around her, but it didn't help.
"Reno…?" she whispered again, biting down on her lip.
"Mm?"
"I'm cold."
"Hmph."
With no more than a rustle of blankets, Yuffie shifted into the empty space beside Reno, and it only made her shiver more as his hand slid gently around her waist…
AN: On no's! Sexual tension. What will become of their relationship now? Read, review, and find out! Next stop: the Collapsed Reactor. Chyahaha!