Jade, Wine, and Turk training

By Kimetara

Multi-part

Disclaimer: Again, chapter 17.

Chapter 20: Frustrations

          "Reeve?"

          "Yes, Elena?" Reeve asked sweetly.  Elena being his secretary amused him to no end.

          Apparently she didn't see the funny side of it.  "Shut up with the sappy tone," she grumbled.  "Cloud's on the line."

          "Oh?  Alright, thanks Elena."

          "Uh-huh, sure."  Elena hung up, leaving Reeve grinning.

          "Hey Cloud, how are you?" he asked cheerfully in the mouthpiece.

          "..."

          "...Cloud?"  Reeve's eyebrow rose.  "You know, there's no point in calling if you're not going to talk," he pointed out.

          "...Reeve."

          "Yes?" he responded patiently.  Having to be an executive in a corrupted company did have its upsides.

          "...about the wedding..."

          Reeve sat up straight.  *Don't tell me he's backing out now...*  "What about it?"

          "...is Tifa going to be there?"

          Reeve frowned.  "No, we weren't able to get a hold of her..." he answered regrettably.

          "Oh."  There was a pause on Cloud's side of the line.  "I'm getting worried about her, Reeve."

          "Yeah?"  This comment ticked Reeve off.  "Is that so?"

          "What?" Confusion tinted the blond's tone.

          "You're just getting worried, huh Cloud?" he started.  And once he started, Reeve found he couldn't stop.  "Just now.  Two years after she left, and now is when you start worrying.  Yeah Cloud, that's great for you.  Well guess what?  The rest of us have been worrying for the past, you guessed it, TWO YEARS!" Reeve yelled.  He knew he shouldn't be yelling at the blond, but his obsession with Aeris and his ignorance with Tifa, not to mention missing Cid's wedding, had caused Reeve's resentment to build.  And four years was quite a while.

          "...she's capable of taking care of herself..." Cloud's voice carried a guilty tint to it.

          "She's alone at God knows where!  Cloud, yeah, she's tough and a world-class fighter, but even Tifa's going to have some trouble if she ends up getting jumped!"  Reeve sighed, rubbing his temples, thinking about the million other things that could have happened to Tifa.  "But...anyway...what were you trying to get at?" he asked wearily.

          "...I'm going to go look for her."

          "Are you now?  And why, pray tell, did you feel the need to inform me of that decision?"

          "...I'm leaving now.  I might not make it to the wedding."

          Reeve blinked.  Oh no, no WAY this was happening to him.  "Cloud, don't be an idiot!  You can look for Tifa after the wedding, one more month isn't going to make a difference!"

          "No, I need to look for her now.  What you've said only confirms it," Cloud answered forcefully.

          Reeve opened his mouth, then closed it.  He'd unknowingly trapped himself, and he knew it.  "...alright...but why are you calling me?"

          "...why do you think, Reeve?"

          Reeve groaned.  "Fine, I'll tell Barret..."

          "Thanks.  I'll try to get back in time."  Cloud hung up.

          Reeve stared at the phone in his hand.  *Since when did I become a damn messenger boy anyway...*

~~~~~

          Cloud saddled the new gold chocobo he'd bred after Tifa took Nathan.  This one was a girl...although he was silly, he couldn't help naming her after...yeah...  *Aeris.*

          While riding off from Nibelheim, he told himself he was looking for Tifa.  And, in a sense, he was.  Well...to the extent that if he happened to find her, he'd talk to her and try to make her come back.

          What he was really looking for, though...what he barely acknowledged even to himself...was Aeris.

          Once again, the hero of the Planet was on a quest for his angel.

          He knew better than to let his friends in on that, though.  They would have gone ballistic.  So he said he was looking for Tifa.

          And after what Reeve had told him, he would be.

          He'd just be looking for Aeris at the same time.

          Nothing wrong with that, right...?

~~~~~

          "I win!" Tifa cheered triumphantly.  She'd been getting really good at 5, and lately had been giving Reno a run for his money.

          "Yeah yeah yeah..." he grumbled.  "You're still down by 20 games, you know." 

          Tifa flashed Reno a wicked grin.  "At this rate, I'll be ahead by 20."

          "Sure..."  Reno started a new game.

          After winning three straight times, Tifa gave Reno a thoughtful look.  "What's wrong?"

          "Nothing.  Just having a bad day, I guess," Reno hurriedly answered.

          The brunette cocked her head, debating whether she should press the matter or not.  At the end, she shrugged, deeming it wasn't any of her business.  Instead, she asked a different question.

          "Hey Reno, how'd you get those two scars?"

          "Hmmm?"  Reno looked up.  He'd really been concentrating on the game; Reno didn't like losing so many times...and whenever he stopped, Simone's words from yesterday played through his mind.

          Tifa reached out and lightly traced one of the scars on Reno's cheek.  "These.  How'd you get them?"

          Reno barely kept himself from gasping.  *What did she ask again?  Oh yeah.  Scars.  Right.*  "Shinra."

          Tifa's brows furrowed.  "Why on earth would they do that?"

          "Insubordination,"  he answered simply.  "And also because Rufus enjoyed that sort of thing," he added on.  "You know how pretty boy Shinra had that whole 'fear' obsession."

          Tifa shook her head slowly.  "Why did you stay with Shinra?"  She looked Reno straight in the eye.  "Don't tell me you enjoyed doing their dirty work."

          Reno shrugged casually.  "Fine then.  I won't tell you."

          A slim brown eyebrow arched.  "If you did, then you wouldn't have been punished for insubordination," Tifa pointed out.  "And you wouldn't have let us go at Wutai."

          "Yeah?  I just did that because you guys helped us save Elena.  I always repay my debts," Reno answered coolly.

          "Is that all?" Tifa inquired, becoming slightly annoyed.  Reno hadn't acted like such a jerk for a long while, and she was beginning to wonder why.

          Reno himself wasn't sure.  He hadn't enjoyed being with Shinra, he just stayed there because of the paycheck...and later on because of the other Turks.  "That's all you need to know," he found himself saying.

          Tifa frowned.  "What's the matter?" she asked gently.

          The redhead blinked.  What was with this girl?  Here he was, acting like a complete ass, and she's all nice?  "You're being stupid, you know that?" he let slip, before he could stop himself.  "You're gonna end up getting hurt."

          At the first comment, Tifa had appeared upset, but when Reno spoke the second, she gave a small, sad smile.  "That's alright.  I get hurt a lot, but as long as I'm still standing, I'm okay."  She paused.  "So, again, what's the matter?"

          Reno looked at her, confused.  "Why would you want to put yourself in a position to be hurt?"

          "If it helps others, then it's worth it," she answered simply.

          "Somebody's going to end up taking advantage of you."

          "Going to?"  Tifa laughed.  "Take a look in the mirror, Turk."

          "Yeah, exactly.  And look where it's gotten you."

          "It's gotten me playing games and chatting with a former enemy," Tifa replied easily.

          Reno growled.  "Quit being so optimistic, won't you?  You're kidnapped, imprisoned in a trailer, headed to God knows where for God knows what!  That's where all your do-gooding got you!  And you haven't helped anybody!"  The redhead barely refrained from hitting the table.  *Why am I getting so worked up over this?*

          Tifa looked at him oddly.  "I helped you, didn't I?"

          "What the...  I tried to kill you multiple times.  I'm the reason you're here in this trailer.  Why in the name of all things holy would you care whether you helped me or not?!" Reno demanded.

          "...I...don't know.  I just do," the brunette answered softly, looking away.  Even though she was sure in her beliefs, Tifa felt awfully naïve at the moment.

          Reno felt his frustration with the woman in front of him drain away.  "...you're too nice, Tifa."

          "I grew up believing there isn't such a thing," she pronounced.

          "People have died from it," Reno stated flatly.

          "Well...at least they died for a good cause..."

          "They died because they were idiots."  Reno's voice was harsh.

          Tifa shrugged.  "It's a good thing we don't all have your attitude, Reno, or else the Planet would have been destroyed by Meteor."  She didn't speak it as a put-down, just the truth.

          And Reno had no counter.

          After a few short moments of awkward silence, Reno stood.  "It's time for Matt's watch," he spoke curtly, before walking out the door.

          Tifa watched him go, a thoughtful gleam in her eyes.

(Long) AN: Hmm...I'm not sure whether the last conversation made sense, lol.  It took me longer than usual to write this chapter... 

I realize that to most Cloud fans, it seems as though Cloud's a bit OOC.  However, when you consider that during the game he hardly paid any attention to Tifa unless Aeris wasn't there, and that he is depressed, it really does seem likely he'd act in such a way.  Also, I didn't have Cloud be completely uncaring of Tifa's situation, just that he placed his own as his first priority (a very human thing to do).

*sigh*  I seem to have hit writer's block again...  Please R&R