Chapter Twenty-One
With Yukki fast asleep, Reno had had enough of the children's room; so, after a brief taunting of Rude - who was at least as out of his element with this assignment as he was - he set about trying to find Yuffie. So far, his progress had been slow; he had to be careful, after all, not to run into Genesis or Angeal. But, at last, he had spotted her.
Her back was turned to him, and she seemed focused on the casing of a window. Drawing himself up tall and swaggering into the room, Reno coughed gently to alert her to his presence.
She started, turned quickly, and seemed to step deliberately in front of the window frame.
"Trying to escape, are we?" Reno asked with a smirk.
"Of course not!" she snapped. "And I'm sick of you insolent SOLDIERs accusing me of -"
"Honey, honey, I'm not a SOLDIER," Reno interrupted. "And I'm not accusing you of anything."
"You're...not?" Yuffie asked, obviously more than a little surprised.
"Nope," he answered with as charming a smile as he could muster. "I just had heard of...well, the escapade the other night...and I saw you prying the casing off and assumed that you were probably trying to disable the sensor." Yuffie flushed, and seemed about to spout off at this comment, so he hastened to add, "Which I would not have in the least blamed you for doing, I might add, had you in fact been doing so."
Frowning, she asked, "What?"
"Well, it's a prisoner's duty to escape, isn't it?"
She nodded slowly.
"Even a royal prisoner's."
She nodded again.
"Even a beautiful princess'."
Her frown returned. "You said you are not a SOLDIER...but who are you?"
"I," Reno sighed, "am but a humble servant of my country, who - like you - is bound by duties of my own."
"Then you are an enemy of mine," she declared matter-of-factly.
"I certainly hope not," he answered.
"What else can you be? I am a kidnapped prisoner, and you are one of my kidnappers!"
"I hope," Reno returned, edging closer, "we two intelligent adults can see outside of that narrow scope."
"Oh?"
"Yes...we are what our countries make us...but we are also human beings, who can understand and sympathize with each other's plights, are we not?"
Yuffie scoffed. "I don't sympathize with kidnappers."
Reno fought the urge to frown. She was being very difficult, this one. "But perhaps I sympathize with you," he contended.
"Then let us go."
"What?"
"If you sympathize with us, let us go."
"Oh, would that I could," he sighed plaintively. "Would that I could be the means of liberating such a beautiful songbird, setting her free when she's been ensnared by darker forces. But you know that it is not possible."
She scoffed again. "Then you are not sympathetic...if you are not willing to help, you do not care."
"Oh, but I do!" he declared adamantly. "You know that I - like you - have a duty to stop you from escaping. But..." He trailed off, smiling. "I'm sure the SOLDIERS would not look kindly on a renewed escape attempt."
"Are you threatening me?" she demanded hotly.
"Of course not! I am saying that I am glad that I did not witness such a thing - because I would have been duty bound to report it, if I had. But, since I didn't, we may still, I hope, remain on good terms?"
Frowning hesitantly, Yuffie nodded. "I suppose I hope so," she answered at length. "Even if you are a Shinra lapdog."
Smiling broadly, Reno declared, "You are too kind, my fair princess."
To this, Yuffie only rolled her eyes.