At eight o clock, Reno made his way to Yuffie's door, praying she hadn't told Shake that she was going out. When he reached her door he leaned close in shock. He could hear someone crying inside. He knocked tentatively.
"Yuffie?" he asked carefully. "Are you all right?" He heard a chocked sob from inside.
"Reno, I-I'm sorry, but I can't go with you tonight. I-I don't feel very well."
"Yuffie let me in."
"No, I don't feel well enough to go…"
"This isn't about you going out with me. It's about what's wrong with you. I know you're not sick. Let me in and tell me what's wrong." There was a hesitation on the other side of the door, then it opened just enough for him to slip through. Reno heard the door close quietly and he turned to face Yuffie. His jaw dropped as he looked her over. She was wearing a beautiful royal purple cocktail dress, but it was torn across the bottom and shoulder. Yuffie's eye was bruised and her lip was swollen. The tears were streaming freely down her cheeks. "Dear God. What happened?"
Yuffie cast her eyes to the floor. "There's this guy from back in Wutai. Godo wants me to marry him and quit hanging with AVALANCHE…and you. His name is Ching-wei, but I don't want to marry him. He's known for drinking too much, even more than you do, and he was married before. He beat his wife. She ran off and killed herself because she couldn't take it. Anyway, I keep going to these meetings out of Wutai to stay away from him, but this time he followed me. He was watching us when you asked me to go out with you. He came to my room about forty-five minutes ago while I was getting ready and…and…"
Without knowing what possessed him, Reno gathered Yuffie in his arms and held her close. "I'm calling Godo. If that idiot still thinks you should marry that son of a…" Reno trailed off as he noticed that Yuffie's breathing had become slow and steady. He pulled himself back from her enough to see that her eyes had shut lazily and she was sleeping peacefully. He smiled and gently slid one arm under her knees and the other under her shoulders. Reno lifted Yuffie carefully and carried her to the bed. He laid her down and pulled the blanket over her, then hesitated. A moment later he kicked off his shoes and cautiously crawled under the blankets beside her, wrapping his arms around her waist.