A/N: This one is waaaaay too long compared to the first two. ^-^ I can't write short
stories, so nyah!!!
Warnings: Undisguised shounen-ai (Rufus/Sephiroth); uncensored foul-mouthing (Reno);
fighting, violence, blood 'n' stuff; arrogant snottiness (Rufus, duh); simpering mushiness
(Rufus again. O_o..).
Colors of My Life
***Green Eyes***
Paper. A petition for... SOLDIERs' training
sessions to be limited to nighttime, after curfew, or to be moved from the city streets.
Trash.
Another paper. What's this one? A bill. Dumping in the
harbor waters forbidden; sign on the dotted lign please.
The paper was crumpled by the slim hand clad in the
fingerless glove, crumpled and tossed into the trashcan out of pure spite.
Small yellow squares; phone message.
You father called; your work is awful.
That means we're running at max efficiency.
Heideggar called; a detachment of SOLDIERs will be
sent to Junon for last-minute training before shipment to Wutai.--
Shipment? Are they humans or boxes of
guns?
--Please meet them at the airport; a speech for
encouragement would be appreciated.--
A speech. Bah. Not to SOLDIERs.
Make horse-face speak his own speeches. Pure annoyance now; he never
could stand Heideggar. And the message was ridiculously long. Rufus reached
for his tea and took a sip, making a mental note to fire his secretary and get one who
could sum up a message in a single sentence.
--General heading troops will be Sephiroth.--
The young vice-president choked on the likewarm
liquid. And spit tea onto the paper, blurring the blue ink of his secretary's
favorite "Mako" pen. He could still read the name, however. It
hadn't been his imagination.
--The plane will arrive in three days.--
Not a lot of time.
--Tseng will arrive with new Turk recruits at 7
p.m.--
Today!? Rufus glared at the clock on
the cream-papered wall. 6:30.
--Make final selection and send back to Midgar for
training ASAP.
Rufus crumpled the note, then smoothed it out again,
careful not to smear any of the wet ink on his gloves or skin. Tseng and his
recruits--Heideggar, the Turks, and Rufus's father usually narrowed the candidates down to
four--would likely arrive by helicopter. Tseng would bring them to the meeting room
for his approval.
"Hell... Sephiroth..." The idea of
seeing his friend and once-lover again after almost two years apart quickly chased all
thoughts of Turks from his mind.
He saw Sephiroth in his mind then, saw him as he had
last seen him, standing shirtless under the glare of spotlights on the helipad, long
silver hair blowing in the wind from the helicopter blades...
Something he had kep locked away inside of him broke
then as his stomach twisted into knots and his heart threatened to break at the poignant,
bittersweet memory. Rufus couldn't hold back a near-silent sob, and a tear escaped
to roll down his pale cheek.
~
Plush.
That was the first word that came to mind when
trying to describe the meeting room. It was practically identical to the meeting
room in the Shin-Ra Headquarters in Midgar, with a long dark table lined with cushion
chairs on the long sides and a single chair at the head, behind which three large windows
gave a spectacular view of the ocean. The carpet was a rich maroon, and thick enough
to make each step a disturbance as feet sank at least half an inch.
Four people, three young men and a young woman, were
lined up at the end of the table, nervously watching the blonde vice-president in the
chair at the head. A bored expression was on Rufus's face. Tseng stood just to the
right of the chair.
"This is the best you could find?"
"Yes sir."
"They look like a bunch of pathetic
children," Rufus spat. He was actually younger than all of them, but they
didn't know that because of how he acted. It was only three years for the largest
difference, after all.
"Each of them has proven advanced fighting
skill against a SOLDIER, First Class."
"Oh, really?" Rufus appeared to be a
bit more interested now.
"Yes sir."
"Hm. Well." He smirked.
"Sephiroth and a squad of SOLDIERs are coming here for training. We'll see how
your recruits stand against them." Rufus stood, signalling that the
"interview" was over.
Tseng moved to teh recruits and motioned for them to
file out. Three of the recruits, two men and the woman, immediately turned and
walked out in perfect, almost military, step. The remaining recruit--a young man
with unkempt red hair and piercing green eyes, who looked very out of place in the starved
uniform--glared defiantly at the Turk leader.
Rufus watched, his curiosity piqued, as Tseng
discreetly drew a gun and spoke to the man in low, sharp tones. The vice-president
recalled that this particular recruit had been the only not fidgetting nervously during
the interview.
"Tseng. Wait."
The Turk leader turned. "Sir?"
"Go. I will handle this."
"But--"
"GO."
Tseng narrowed his eyes, then saluted smartly and
left the room, closing the door silently behind himself.
The recruit's eyes moved to Rufus as the white-clad
young man moved around the table.
"What's your name?" the vice-president
inquired.
"reno."
"Why did you not follow orders?"
"Tseng's full of shit. He's nothing but
an ass-kisser. That's the only reason he has the cushy job he's in."
Rufus lifted an eyebrow slightly. "How
did you make it through selection with such... strong opinions?" And such a
lack of respect or restraint.
"I whipped Rude, I whipped every SOLDIER they
sent at me, and your daddy thinks the Turks need my spirit," Reno sneered.
Rufus shook his head. "You'll never make
it as a Turk, Reno. Even if I give you my approval, Rude and Devon would tear you
apart once their lives depended on your doing a decent job."
Reno pressed his lips tightly together, his narrow,
attractive face darkening as his wiry frame shook with repressed anger.
Rufus stepped closer so that they were nose-to-nose.
They were the same height, and rufus realized with a start that the boy was
probably younger than he, despite his first impression. "How old are you?"
Rufus demanded.
A spark of confusion appeared in Reno's eyes.
"Eighteen."
Rufus moved back a bit. "Go. You'll
be tested when the SOLDIERs arrive, just like everyone else."
Reno narrowed his eyes, then spun on his heel and
stalked out. Rufus saw Tseng grip the boy's arm and lead him off, already starting
the lecture the vice-president knew would come.
"He does have a great deal of
spirit,"Rufus said aloud, speaking to the hidden machine which recorded everything
that happened in the meeting room. "However, that is not always a good thing.
We'll see how he does against Sephiroth."
~
The phone beside his bed rang insistently,
obnoxiously loud. One hand shot out from beneath the covers, fingers groping for a
snooze button without realizing that it was not the alarm that was ringing. He
pushed the large speaker button and withdrew his hand as the ringing stopped.
"Mr. Shinra, sir?" Tseng's voice.
Bah.
"What?" Rufus growled, voice muffled by
the blanket over his head.
"The SOLDIERs arrived an hour ago--"
"WHAT!?" Rufus sat straight up, the
covers falling together at his waist.
"It is five in the afternoon, sir."
Rufus looked to his clock. It was flashing 12:00. "Sephiroth had
agreed to testing the recruits against his SOLDIERs, but Reno has been missing since last
night."
The slightly opened door caught the young VPs
attention.
"What do you want us to do, sir?"
"Um... Send Sephiroth and the First Class and
your recruits to the training arena with instructions to wait. Send someone to find
Reno. I'll be down in..." He scooped up the watch on the table and looked
at the face, noting the time. "...Ten minutes."
"Yes sir." The line went dead, and
Rufus pushed the speaker button to hang the phone up. Then, with a sigh, he moved to
the closet to get dressed.
He stared for a long moment at the limited selection
of clothing. He had an absurd number of multiples of the same outfit, with a very
few other articles of clothing. A brief moment of insanity allowed him to break out
of his usual pattern and dress light in a black tank top and jeans, a white trenchcoat
hanging open from his shoulders. He admired his reflection in the closet's
full-length mirror as he pulled fingerless black gloves onto his hands. He tamed his
hair with a comb, then opted for a light coating of hairspray instead of the usual bottle
of gel.
"Pretty little prince..." The voice
was quiet enough to be dismissed as imagination, but Rufus was looking around warily as he
left the room, locking the door.
~
Rufus had just walked through the doorway to the
training arena when Reno came running up to crash into him.
"Whoa! Sorry, sir!" Panicked,
Reno picked himself up and ran to take his place with the other Turk candidates as the
vice-president glared furiously at him. At the same time, Rufus wondered if Tsengs
lecture had really caused such a drastic change in the boy's attitude.
Sephiroth stepped over and offered a hand to help
Rufus to his feet. Their eyes locked as he pulled the younger man up, and Rufus was
startled by the cold distance in the turquoise depths he had once known so well.
Then, for an instant, Sephiroth's eyes warmed, and he smiled faintly. Rufus's
face flushed, and he looked towards Tseng, who immediately looked away and pretended that
he had not been watching.
Rufus cleared his throat and reluctantly freed his
hand. "Thank you, Sephiroth." As the SOLDIER nodded, Rufus moved to
the center of the arena, standing between the Turks and the SOLDIERs.
"For purposes of determining the skills of
these candidates for Shin-Ra's Turks, each of these recruits shall engage in a one-on-one
battle with a SOLDIER, no materia used." Rufus looked to the SOLDIER general.
"Sephiroth, select three of your troops. You will battle Reno, they will
battle the others."
Sephiroth nodded and began giving out orders to his
subordinates. Tseng moved to Rufus, protesting.
"Sir, Reno is the youngest of the recruits.
He doesn't have the skill to even survive against a warrior of Sephiroth's
ability..."
"Reno seems to be confident in his ability.
I will make sure that Sephiroth does not kill him."
"If you ar esure, sir."
"I am. Reno first."
"Yes sir." Tseng returned to the
Turk side of the training arena, and Rufus stepped to Sephiroth.
"Sephiroth."
"Sir." The SOLDIER's voice was cool
and formal, and something about the quality sent a thrill up Rufus's spine.
"You and Reno will battle first. Don't
kill him, just humiliate him."
"...A grudge, sir?"
Rufus froze, denial on his lips, uncertainty in his
mind. Why did he feel such animosity towards the boy? "He needs
to be brought down. He is too cocky, too sure of himself. He had no respect
for authority."
"I understand."
"Reno!" Rufus called, heading for a chair
on the sidelines. "You're first!"
The young man gripped the handle of a long, thin
nightstick, knuckles white, and stared across at Sephiroth. The two moved to the
center of the arena and assumed their battle stances. It was interesting to see the
contrast: Sephiroth, sword up and ready, gazing along the deadly blade at his opponent;
Reno, hanging back, nightstick at his side in a tense grip.
A split second later, the combatants were blurs,
Reno moving with a speed that surprised both Sephiroth and Rufus, jabbing his weapon in at
every opportunity, the SOLDIER hard-pressed to parry the blows. Sephiroth's Masamune
was not made for battling in such close quarters, and Reno knew it, pushing for any
possible advantage over the more experienced fighter.
Reno stabbed for Sephiroth's groin, pressing a
button on the nightstick to make the air crackle and spark with electricity. The
SOLDIER general brought his blade up under the weapon just in time, carrying it up over
Reno's head, then slammed a foot into the Turk recruit's stomach, throwing him to his back
on the floor.
Reno rolled and jumped to his feet, going on the
defensive against the furious barrage of attacks Sephiroth launched, the boy being driven
backwards by the man's unrelenting power.
Two serious blows made it to Reno's head, each one
opening a gash beneath one of Reno's eyes. The boy stumbled back, hands over his
eyes, blood coursing down his cheeks. He dropped to his knees.
Sephiroth, aware that the victory was his, walked
over to check on his opponent. A cry of disbelief and pain was ripped from his
throat as Reno savagely shoved the metal tip of his nightstick into the bare, unprotected
skin of Sephiroth's abdomen. Electricity flowed through the SOLDIER's body at the
press of a button, and he dropped to the floor.
Pleased that he had not completely lost, Reno gave
in, curling up on the floor, pressing his hands to the gashes below his glazed green eyes
and giving himself up to the darkness.
~
Phew! Finally. The writing of this part
dragged on... and on... and on, especially when I hit the fight scene. Please
review!
Preview warnings: Yaoi overtones in part 4. *wicked
laugh*
