Author's Note: It seems a little odd that I've done this for four years, but I look forward to it every time, and I hope you do as well. Tio's another person that's been way too nice to me for the little-over four years we've known each other. She and I were on the original roster of The Writer's Den, which is a great bond to have between people. And besides, anyone who gives her copy of A Clockwork Orange to you on a whim is a good person to keep around, eh? Happy holidays to Tio, my poke-sister across the pond.

-

"Thanks for meeting me."

Yuffie looked back at the car he'd gotten out of. The windows were tinted, and it was dark out anyway, but she could definitely see a gun held out the window, trained on him. Other than that and a bit of a drag in his step, he was the same man she'd tried to kill before – no handcuffs or anything. "Sure," she said, "but I'm not sure why."

He lit a cigarette and sat down. He'd asked her to meet him at the lake by Junon, between there and the Mythril Mines. The clock was pushing midnight and he was just relieved to see that she'd shown up.

"I won't kick it around too much," he said. "Basically, they're putting me to death tomorrow."

The ninja thought the gun might go off at that second, but it didn't. She'd never had that much emotional attachment to Reno – they didn't exactly have a thrilling business relationship, and there was nothing outside of that – so she thought the twist in her gut was the general reaction to any distant relative's passing. ". . .Oh," she said.

"Yeah, I killed Tseng. Well, I didn't mean to, but it was my fault, so what the fuck, right?" He flicked a pebble into the lake.

"I thought Sephiroth killed Tseng," she tried, sitting next to him. He was either harmless or she was surrounded by potential demise. "At the –"

His laughter cut her off. "Naw, that was totally to screw with you guys. Laney's quite the actress when she needs to be, isn't she?" He chuckled a few more times and let it go. "He was re-elected when Reeve took over, and at his party, I poured him a shot. Turns out, he was all-fuck allergic to bourbon, and they think it was intentional so I could move up to Captain." He shrugged. "If y'ask me, the logic makes no sense, because it happened in broad daylight and there's no way they wouldn't've caught me, but whatever. So they've got me on premeditated murder – hell, even manslaughter's a death penalty when it's the Turk Captain, so I'm dead no matter how you look at it."

"Oh." It was all she could say. They were quiet for a few moments and he didn't seem to mind at all. She finally asked, "So why're you so calm about it?"

"I've had time to think," he replied. "I mean, I've been as closed to death as a still-breathing man can get, and that was without preparation. I've been thrown out of a helicopter – that's a fun story I could've told you someday. I fucked myself up something crazy in the pillar incident. You AVALANCHE creeps actually did get in a good few shots – bet you didn't know that your fire Materia back in the underground tunnel's the reason I'm blind in my left eye, huh?" He thought it was a lot funnier than she did. "My brother used to beat me within an inch of my life anyway. Son of a bitch ended up on the strip with a pink feather in his hat, selling ass for gil, and I'm the screw-up son. I should've died a few times by now, so I figure I'll go in peace on this one. Besides, why start caring about stuff now?"

She nodded a few times. As far as Turks went, Reno had a pretty good hold on making sense and being philosophical when he needed to. Then again, they'd had one conversation and she'd never spoken to the others, so it was possible they were all great thinkers and he was a moron. She thought she'd have some fun and give the dead man walking some credit, though. "So why come to me? I mean. . .shouldn't you be spending your last night getting sauced as a biscuit?"

Reno looked at her suddenly. "I'll pretend those last four words didn't come out of your mouth if you don't tell anyone about my hooker brother." They looked at each other blankly; there really was no emotion – no compassion, no understanding – between the two, and he liked it that way. "Really, Laney's a wreck and can barely stand on her own two feet. Rude's on vacation – chances are, he doesn't even know about it, and who'm I to drag him back from Costa to watch me face the firing squad?" He grinned. "Yeah. The firing squad. Reeve said lethal injection so I'd go quietly and I almost shot him on principal. I mean, what fucking fun is that?" He flipped his cigarette out into the lake, watching the sparks settle around them. He'd never been here before, but he thought that this was probably the right time to get a first impression – at peace and in the middle of the night. "My family doesn't care about me, and frankly, I don't even know where they are anymore. But I felt like I should tell somebody everything on my mind, and the most detached people that still understood the situation were you guys. You and Vincent were the least connected, and the others would've probably just killed me, so that narrowed it down quite a bit. And seeing as how Vincent trained Tseng in and he just creeps me out in general, it came down to you. Glad you showed, by the way. Thanks."

"Yeah, no problem." Yuffie had her sandals off and was moving them around in the grass. It was nice to talk with a near-stranger once in a while. "Wutai's boring," she confessed with a sigh. "I actually hoped you wanted to fight or something. Godo's got me at all the publicity events these days, what with my 'saving the world' and all. He doesn't want a damn thing to do with me until I go out against his orders and do something important."

"I thought about it," Reno said, lighting his second cigarette. He lie back against the grassy hill and looked at the sky. "Fighting, anyway. I figured if I walked up and belted you in the face that we could go a few rounds before one of us died. I figured you'd fight back, too. But there's that damn guy in the car with the gun, and he'd have my head popped open in a second or two."

"Who is he?"

Reno shrugged. "Some random SOLDIER trainee. I think he's on the squad tomorrow, actually. I've seen him shoot, and he's damn good – I mean, no one'll ever use the term 'the next Sephiroth' again, but if they did. . ." He breathed out hard. "I'd invite you to the execution, but that's a pretty heavy downer. 'Hey, babe, wanna come watch me get shot in the face? Maybe we can get lunch afterward – ha, gotcha.'"

"Say that again."

"Ha, gotcha?"

"No," she said. He looked over and saw her brows furrowed – he hadn't noticed her lie down. "Call me that again."

"Huh? Oh." He reached over and ruffled her hair. "Cheer up, babe. Before long, there'll be more important things to get bummed out over." He stood up and looked around, brushing the grass off his pants and puffing at his cigarette a few times. "D'you need a ride somewhere? I think they want me back in the cell soon."

Yuffie'd never seen someone so close to the end that carried himself as well as Reno did. He moved like he was ten years old and climbing his umpteen-thousandth tree. He walked, talked, and did everything he might do in a normal day, but he was talking about dying the next morning. He was too honest to be lying about it, and that might've bothered her more than anything else. "My bike's parked over the hill – besides, who wants to risk being depressed?" She smiled sadly and he nodded, rocking on his heels. "While I'm here, though. . .any. . .last wishes?"

"Um. Hmm. Yeah, actually." He said it like she'd asked if he'd ever seen Loveless while it had run in Midgar. "I mean, if you want to, I'd love to be sprinkled in Mideel. Back home, y'know? I'll tell them to release the ashes to you – they usually do that when it's an employee. It doesn't matter where; just somewhere in Mideel. But if you're not going that way or anything, I can leave Rude a note or something."

"No, I can do it," she insisted. For some reason, she felt it might make her a better person. He was making her think too much, and she didn't like it at all. "Yeah, I'll just stop in tomorrow afternoon and see when I can. . .pick you up." She was glad it was dark; if he didn't see tears in her eyes, she didn't have to admit they were there, nor did she have to ask herself why they were. She had no connection to him, and she had no reason to get upset. She smiled and tried to make up for it. "Yeah, I'd like that."

Reno smirked the smirk that Yuffie imagined he'd smirked a thousand times before, walking over and kissing her on the forehead. He patted her shoulder. "You're a doll, babe." He spit his cigarette over her head, turned, put his hands in his pockets, and started walking. "I'll see you on the other side."

He disappeared into the car and out of her life, as quickly as he'd emerged into it. She left as well, almost wishing the words 'Reno' and 'friend' weren't as awkward next to each other as they had been, lying on that hill.