The Turks Christmas Special : Five Bold-Faced Lies

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They awoke on their own time the next morning, which probably had to do with the fact that their time seemed to be long before the rest of their roommates'. They found this out when, at nearly ten in the morning, four separate alarm clocks went off and the same number of people leapt from their sleeping bags or beds, the latter having been snatched up quite fast. Reno was going to ask what was going on that was so important, but in what seemed to be one fluid movement, their roomies were all dressed and shoving them out the door into a wave of other people.

"Hey! Hey! What the hell?!" Nobody seemed to notice that Frankie the Mute had just become a lot less muted and a lot more feminine. These whatever-enthusiasts also seemed not to notice Reno was wearing a Turk suit, and he fell down more than once in the mob of people, all of whom were wearing those strange pouches.

When they were all finally out the door and Yuffie has relocated her partner, they went with the crowd to seem not as suspicious. The ninja was worried about where they were going, and that was because she was afraid they had found out what she'd known for years.

Da-Chao.

It wasn't the actual Da-Chao that was her secret; that would have just been stupid. The Wutain people worshipped the giant sculpture, though no one actually knew why. It was one of those things that kids knew to do from their parents, but they couldn't for the life of them figure out which parent had started it or where the carving had actually come from. It was just one of those mysteries of life that was taken in stride.

What wasn't taken in stride was what Yuffie had found inside, and what was more than likely being hunted today: her garden. She in no way had a green thumb, that wasn't it, but with all the exploring she had done up in that mountain, she had come across a treasure that kept her happy. What she had found was a Materia garden.

Someone, years ago, had done something to make Materia grow right out of the ground in a secret cove within Da-Chao. She didn't dare tamper with the soil it came right out of, but she did take the Materia when it was fully formed and keep it in another cavern she had found for emergencies.

In her absence, somebody had done some exploring, and that didn't sit right with her. In a sudden sense of urgency to protect what was hers, she grabbed Reno's hand and they moved to the side, into the line of people that were running, and kept up a much swifter pace. Up ahead she saw people -- no, not just people; that was Chekov and the other was Gorki -- handing out large, machine-powered chisels and spades, along with what Yuffie and Reno didn't know to be Rude's father's tank parts.

Chekov gave Frankie a spade, shoved him forward, and Gorki was about to pass what appeared to be part of a blown up turret to Reno when they both saw who he was and the entire line halted. No one seemed to notice that Frankie had suddenly stopped in his tracks when he saw just what they were doing to the mountain. Under the disguise, Yuffie's eyes were clouding; they were attacking her beautiful homeland with pick-axes, sledgehammers, jackhammers, and anything else sharp and assertive.

And her father was standing atop the highest peak, watching it all; instructing them where to dig.

Reno was having more trouble than she was. The two moderators of this whole thing had his arms pinned to the ground and had positioned themselves to the point where he couldn't move his legs. Both were shouting at him in an alternation of Wutain and one of the three languages he'd actually taken time out of his life to learn, and Yuffie's name was coming up quite a bit. "GODO!" one of them finally screeched, and down he came, leaping distances only a man like himself could.

"Where is she?!" he screamed upon seeing who had been caught, even pushing the incognito Yuffie right out of the way as he did. He drew a short, sharp knife and rushed toward the downed Turk, waving it like he was a three-year-old with a rifle. "Where the hell is my daughter, you rat-bastard scum?!"

Reno looked perplexed, and Yuffie's blood ran cold. It was all over now; in her brief moment of overwhelming nationalism, she'd forgotten all about the truth; about the fact her father certainly knew she'd gone to Reno; even about the lie she'd told the redhead himself. The jig was up now; no way was she going to let her best friend take the fall for her stupid fucking mistake.

No, he wasn't just her best friend, and that enthused her further. He was something more; they had a bond that couldn't be touched by their former rivalry; by meddling parents and legal restrictions of this-is-moral-this-is-illegal or whatnot. She surged forward with this knowledge, painfully tearing off the wig they'd tied into her real hair. "Daddy! Leave him alone!"

Even the miners stopped their work at this. Godo had figured his daughter had left for good this time and therefore had ordered the rape of their land and her greatest treasure. He wasn't proud of the decision, but there was nothing else to do. He'd found journals upon journals about the place, and had declared that it was free for the taking. He certainly couldn't just leave it alone; someone else might find it on their own and use it against the town.

"What are you doing?!" Yuffie continued. "You're going to tear down Da-Chao for some stupid Materia?! I'm here now, it's mine, and I'm not leaving until I know those mountains are safe from your shit! You hear me, Godo?!"

He turned around and she stopped again. On his face was a look that said all he'd wanted was his daughter back; he always looked half his age when in power, but right now he looked twice it. The knife slipped from his hand and his fingers began to tremble. One might not peg him as a family man, but he'd been immensely worried when she left suddenly. Without the usual fight, it was possible something had seriously happened to her, but he didn't want to show a considerate side in a time of need.

"Yuffie. . .you just left. . .I thought. . ." He broke from his trance for a moment and rifled through his pockets until he found a cardboard box, price tag still on it, and held it up for her to see. "Is it. . .are you really. . .?"

Reno couldn't believe what was going on here. Godo wanted him dead for taking his daughter? But if Godo didn't know she was at Reno's and she had actually just left, that meant the Turk had been getting lied to for a few days now. He was a Turk; he was a killer; his health could drastically improve and it would help him out a lot; but one thing he refused to be was a liar. Liars and traitors were scum to the Turks, and Yuffie knew that. And now Godo was standing there, facing his daughter, and holding up the remains of a box for a home pregnancy test.

There was no kind way to put it.

He'd been used by Yuffie Kisaragi.

Reno wouldn't go down like that. Chekov and Gorki had released him now, probably just out of surprise that she had passed right under their noses. The Turk stood up slowly, meeting Yuffie's eyes as he did so. Silently she admitted her mistake; he didn't know by eyes alone whether she was asking for forgiveness or not, but he didn't care right now.

He'd been used.

And what surprised him was that it hurt.

Turning on his shined heel, he walked away, pulling out his phone and telling Rude to bring a two-seat plane and a stiff drink, pretending not to feel her heart break behind him.

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Author's Note: A short one, I know, but it holds all that needs to be written.