After Effects

By: Yuffie Kisaragi
(A/N: I got my two reviews! Thanks you two! ~tosses cookies to her fans~ Okay, ON WITH THE FIC! I hope you like it!)

Chapter Two: Found

"You. Like. Him" -Tifa Lockheart

Yuffie struggled with the straps that held her down to the bed. They hadn't done anything to her yet, but she was going to make sure they didn't.
*Almost there. * she thought, trying to pull her already red hand through the strap. It worked. She pulled a piece of metal out of her mouth and worked frantically with the other locks. Each one clicked open easily, then she hurried off the table.
For the first time since she'd gained consciousness, she looked around the room. White walls, white tile floor, one wall made of a mirror, looked like a lab to her. *One-way glass?* she wondered. She glanced around the room again and saw a small metal table. She glared at the mirror/glass and walked over to the table.
"Hell with you all!" she screamed and threw the metal table as hard as she could at the wall. It bounced off harmlessly, but she still felt better. "I'm gonna blow this joint," she muttered under her breath, and headed towards the door.
Outside of the door were three guards, armed with guns. Yuffie's eyes got a mischievous look to them once again. She pulled a small green orb out of her headband and held it in her palms. "Fir 3," she whispered and all three guards burst into flames. She tried the door. Unlocked. Without thinking, she thrust open the door and ran down the hallway, tripping the alarm.
Yuffie burst around the corner and saw the old man (Beorc, but she doesn't know his name). She smirked and, with an added burst of speed, jumped over him. A shot fired from behind her, a bullet ricocheted off her leg brace. "Oh, shit!" she said running off towards a set of stairs, but turned left into a closet. She looked around and saw her shuriken and precious materia. *Why keep them here?* she asked herself inwardly. She heard footsteps outside of the door. She grinned the grin of a trouble maker and burst out the door, casting Ice 3 on everyone, then took off towards a window. Her only escape.
She looked down, two stories, not *that* big of a jump. She jumped down, then realized her mistake, five more guards below her. She pulled out another materia, quickly casting haste on herself, then stop on her enemies. She landed, her knee crunching. "Ow!" she cried out, then looked around the alley. She ran quickly, even with her left knee throbbing mercilessly. She looked around the street she was on. It looked familiar.
"Junon!?!"

Lord Godo continued to pace, although everyone from Avalanche was already at his palace.
"Lord Godo?" Tifa asked finally. "Who are we waiting for? Everyone's here."
"You'll see, Tifa," he said. The door opened, drawing everyone's attention and in walked the Turks. Elena's eyes got wide.
She turned to Reno, "You never said that we were working with *them*!"
"You never asked," Reno replied. Lord Godo stepped forward and shook Reno's hand.
"Everyone needs to work together," he said, casting a look around the room. "I hope to find my daughter before something really bad happens."
"If it hasn't already," Reno muttered.
Cloud glared at him, "Lord Godo, sir. Where was the last place she was seen? That way we have an idea of where to look."
Godo nodded. "The last place she was seen was in Junon. Please don't return without her. Dismissed."
Everyone filed out of the palace.
Reno and Rude walked behind Cloud and Tifa. "Seems Avalanche isn't very reliable anymore," Reno commented to Rude, who stayed quiet.
"Seems the Turks are down to rescue missions for less money than they used to." Cloud shot back.
"Says the fearless leader who has been taken over by Sephiroth before."
Tifa glares at Reno, "Murderers!"
"*We're* the murderers? Do you know how many people lost their lives when you all blew up those reactors? I had friends and family around that area. As did Elena and rude. Hell, I knew some of those soldiers you all killed. But *We're* the murderers." Reno rolled his eyes.
Cloud brought up his sword and Reno pointed his night stick at him. They looked to be ready to exchange blows, when Vincent suddenly stepped between them.
"We're working together for now. So, both of you, shut the hell up about the past and get along until Yuffie is safe at her palace again."
Reno and Cloud glared at each other for a moment longer, then Cloud sheathed his sword and sighed. "You're right, let's go."
Cid led the way to his now-fixed Highwind. Once inside, everyone assumed his or her normal places. Reeve with Cait, Yuffie's place empty, Elena on the deck watching the scenery, and Rude and Reno in the mission room chatting.

"Beorc! She's escaped! Out on the streets now, sir!" Rohan hated giving the bad news.
"No shit! Go find her!" Rohan started out the door when Beorc started after him. "Never mind, Rohan. You stay here. I will go with my select few." Rohan's eyes gleamed with hatred towards the old man, but Beorc paid no attention and walked out.

Yuffie ran with a major limp slowing her down to the elevator. She took it down to the small town below. Once there, she looked around, trying to remember which house was a little girl that Cloud had once saved.
"Yuffie?" a girl asked.
"Priscilla!" Yuffie let out a sigh and started up the steps toward Priscilla, who was standing on her small porch. *Ow! Shit, I think I hurt my leg!* "Do you have a PHS or phone or something I could use?"
"Nope, sorry. Where's Cloud?"
Yuffie shrugged, panting heavily. "That's who I'm trying to get ahold of." She heard the elevator. It was slow, but not slow enough. "D'you have a chocobo I could buy for 100 gil?"
"Yeah, sure. C'mon, to the stables." Priscilla sprinted down the steps, Yuffie hurrying behind her. Adrenaline keeping her from collapsing in pain. They were almost at the chocobo stables when a voice called out from behind them.
"STOP!"
"Shit," Yuffie pun around, shoving Priscilla behind her. Twelve guys were standing in formations of three stood with guns ready. She knew it would be stupid to try, but oh well. "Priscilla," she whispered through clenched teeth. "Run to the chocobo stables and stay there." Her hand dropped down to her shuriken and she heard Priscilla run to the stables. She waited, as did her opponents. One man flinched, and she sent her shuriken flying, beaming three fours guy in one hit. (Like dominoes, y'know. She hit the guy in front who tumbled backwards into the other three, guns going off and killing the others, yada yada. I hate writing fight scenes.)
She pulled out an Ultima materia and that blasted the rest of them. She heard a muffled scream from behind her and whirled around to see the old man hold one hand over Priscilla's mouth. The other hand held a gun to the girl's temple.
"Miss Yuffie, you need to come with us. Otherwise, you may be the reason of this little girl's death."
Yuffie let out a sigh of defeat and dropped her bag of materia and her shuriken. The man started towards the elevator, Yuffie followed, her limp worsening. A shot was fired somewhere behind them and Beorc swung around to see a red head holding a gun.
"Damn, I missed," he said, dropping the gun and picking up his night stick.
"Reno!?!" Yuffie cried. Forgetting about the girl, Beorc loosened his grip on Priscilla's arm. She took her chance and sprinted away. Beorc reached out and caught hold of Yuffie's arm,
"Take one step closer and she dies!" Reno looked as if he was going to take another step, then thought better of it.
"Get out of here!" Yuffie cried suddenly. "You can save me some other time. The base is on the upper plate!" Beorc hit her in the face with the butt end of his hand gun. Yuffie cried out, then looked back at Reno meaningly. "I said get out of here! Go! NOW!" Reno looked taken aback. He was, after all, there to save her.
"Yuffie," Reno growled. "I'm not leaving. I've got to finish my job." He glanced past the ninja and her attacker. Yuffie, catching the hint, suddenly ducked and caught Beorc off-guard. Poor Yuffie was instantly covered in blood and brain-matter.
"Oh, GAWD! Disgusting!" she tried to wipe off, sitting on the ground, he legs out in front of her. Reno and Rude laughed.
"Ready?" Reno asked. Yuffie went to stand up, but crumpled. Reno looked down at her, she was holding her left leg, a look of pain poorly camouflaged in her eyes.
She hastily pulled out a restore materia and cast Cure 3 on herself. "Better?" Reno asked. She tried to stand up again, but only crumpled.
"Are you alright?" Reno asked, walking over to her.
"My leg got hurt." She explained how she'd escaped from the second story window and how the adrenaline must have kept her from crumpling. Reno laughed at her.
"You," laugh. "Jumped!?! Out of." Laugh. "A second story." Laugh. "Window!?!" He laughed some more. Rude didn't look amused though.
"It's not funny, RENO!" she screamed. She tried to use Cure 3 again.
"Better?" he asked, finally stopped laughing.
Yuffie stood up carefully and tried to take a step, and would've fallen over if Reno hadn't caught her. "No use. I must have torn something major."
Reno looked at Rude, who shook his head and started walking away. "Aw! C'mon, man! I've got a bad back!" Rude ignored him and continued walking away. Yuffie looked at Reno quizzically. Reno sighed deeply, then picked her up.
"H-Hey! P-Put me down!" Reno shifted her so that she was laying across his arms and supported her left leg as well as he could. "Reno!"
"Nope."
"Rape!" she screamed.
"Everyone knows that I'm trying to help you. So, do yourself out and just wrap your arms around my neck so you don't fall." Yuffie glared at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. His eyes flashed and he grinned at her.
"Oh, Gawd!"

Cloud looked around, Elena was the only Turk who hadn't taken off, Rude and Reno had disappeared.
"Let's take shifts," Barret suggested suddenly.
"We won't have to," Elena replied, pointing at Rude and Reno, who was still carrying Yuffie in the same position. "They've already rescued her."
Cloud met them halfway, Yuffie was glaring at Reno still. "What's the matter, Yuffie? Why aren't you walking?"
"She hurt her leg. How far of a walk to the Highwind?" Reno asked.
"Too far to make before night fall, so we're going to make camp." Cloud replied. He was probably right. The sky was already turning a deep shade of violet. "Let me take her from here."
"No," Reno replied quickly. Yuffie and Cloud both looked at him, surprised. "If we trade her off, it could worsen her knee injury. I can take her the 20 feet from here to the camp."
*What the hell has gotten into him?* Yuffie wondered. Reno carried her to where they'd started making camp. He set her down gently, then took off his jacket.
"You'll need to keep it propped up, okay?" He slipped his jacket under her left leg.
Yuffie was amazed at how nice he could be when he wanted to. "Yeah, Kay. Can you have Tifa or someone come over here to help me get my brace off? It's hard to do without bending my knee. Besides, it'll help keep the swelling down and it'll be easier to figure out what's wrong."
Reno shrugged, "Where's it unhook?"
Yuffie's eyes got as big as saucers. "*You* don't know how to figure out what's wrong with it."
"What are you talking about? I'm trained in first aid. Now, where's your brace unhook?"
Yuffie sighed and reached into her pocket for a screwdriver, then handed it to him. "Upper thigh." Reno grinned. "You go higher than my brace and Barret will kill you, if I don't first!" Reno reached up her shorts a little and unhooked her brace. "And at the bottom of the brace." Reno unhooked it.
"Where's it hurt the most?"
Yuffie looked up into his blue eyes and felt her pulse quicken slightly. "Above the knee cap."
"Okay, now hold onto something so you don't try to hit me or anything when it hurts too bad." Yuffie laid her hands flat on the ground on either sides of her. She felt Reno's warm hands feeling around her kneecap. She cringed in pain when he hit the tender spots, pulling up big lumps of grass. After what seemed like an eternity to Yuffie (only about 1 minute) Reno stopped. She sighed and loosened her grip on the grass.
"Well, I think you sprained your knee. The muscle is tender, which may mean that it's bruised. I'll find some ice, pillows, and a blanket for you. You really need to keep it propped up." He walked off towards everyone else to get what he needed, or rather, what Yuffie needed. Tifa walked over to her.
"Hey, kiddo. How's your leg?"
"Reno says that it's sprained. Bruised the muscle or something like that." Tifa followed her gaze, which was following Reno's silhouette. Tifa giggled. "What?" Yuffie looked at Tifa, the look of being confused plain on her face.
"You like Reno," Tifa replied with another giggle.
"Nu-uh!" Yuffie replied angrily.
"Admit it!" Tifa whispered. "You. Like. Him."
"Okay, but you can't tell anyone! Or...Or...I'll tell Barret where you were last week!"
"I was out house-shopping."
"Yeah, right. You were by Cloud's side the whole time! And I was being held captive and knew that!" Yuffie glanced up and saw Reno approaching. Tifa glanced back, then winked at Yuffie and left.
"Hey, Pest. Brought you a bag of ice, a couple of pillows, and a blanket. Want help propping your leg up?"
"Yeah, I can't hold my leg up, keep it straight, and put the pillow under it."
"Okay. I'll hold it up, slip my jacket out, and you put the pillow under." Yuffie nodded. "On three. One..Two..Three!" The plan worked perfectly, only causing Yuffie some severe pain. She let out a small yelp.
She closed her eyes to hold back the tears, but failed. A solitary tear streaked down her face and she felt a hand wipe it away softly. She opened her eyes and saw Reno sitting beside her, one hand one her cheek, and looking at her with a soft look in his eyes.
"Get off me," she said softly, but firmly. He brought his hand back and the cold look returned to his eyes.
"Sorry, Pest. Here's your blanket. 'Night!" He walked away.
"Damn," she said softly to herself.

Reno couldn't understand what had happened. One minute, he's making sure she'll be okay, a tear streaks down her face. The next, he's wiping away the tear and wanting to kiss her. She tells him to leave her alone, and boom1 There he is. Alone by the fire, on first watch...with Vampire Boy.

End of Chapter Two: Found

(A/N: Thanks for reading. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! Longer than the first, I think. I'm not sure if this will end up completely like a Reno/Yuffie fic, but maybe it will have more romance later on. As always, Review! {*sigh* Oh, Gawd! There's no way to make this sound like it came out of my mouth! ACK!})