2: What? No mini-bar?

Reno was sprawled out on the grass near the runway of Midgar light air field. His head was resting on his black bag full of junk food, materia and potions. Elena was sitting beside him with her nose in a book as they waited for Cid and his highwind. Finally the tall pilot came, his goggles on top of his head and cigarette behind his ear.

"Get your skinny asses moving then!" He growled. Reno opened one eye and closed it again, cursing to himself that he had to work with AVALANCHE. Feeling a boot kick at his ribs, he sat up in annoyance, and saw it was Elena with the offending foot still jabbing him in the ribs.

"All right!" He snapped harshly, grabbing his bag and ungracefully getting to his feet. Cid was already half way to the highwind, which was at the end of the runway. Reno decided sauntering was all he felt like doing at that moment; Elena whirled back to him when he was taking too long in getting to the highwind. She practically dragged him there, cursing under her breath.

He didn't think his day could get much worse, but once on board he came face to face with a cheeky grin belonging to a face he'd rather not look at.

"Oh great." He did not hide the sarcasm in his voice. Yuffie Kisaragi was one of his least favourite AVALANCHE members, her persistent chattering and self-important obnoxiousness really cut into him, especially since Elena had pointed out that Yuffie was really quite a lot like Reno. He couldn't see that personally, but it still pissed him off that Elena even attempted to compare them as being similar.

He pushed passed her, gripping onto his bag full of materia for his life. He couldn't trust her getting anywhere near materia, the bratty little thief.

"Hey Turkey! Good to see ya again!" She quipped, following him as he made his way to a spare seat.

"Piss off." He collapsed into the chair, hugging onto his bag and closing his heavy eyelids. Elena sniggered.

"Oh, poor widdle Reno's in a mood." She jested.

"Right, you son's of bitches, we're off." Cid shouted so everyone could hear. The blonde Turk ran off to watch as they took off; unfortunately Yuffie had travelled in the highwind enough to no longer be impressed by the take off. She sat at Reno's feet, her nimble fingers quietly un-tying his boot laces and re- tying them together without him realising. His headache had eased by now, but he was tired and in a bad mood for travelling with such unfavourable company without even Rude there to lighten his spirits. He remained in that seat for the entire two-hour flight; finally Yuffie had got bored with her attempts at winding him up and gone to talk to one of Cid's good looking co-pilots.

When the highwind landed, Elena came over to him and encouraged him to move, he stood up and took a step forward. His foot did not move as he had expected it to though, causing him to trip up, falling flat on his face. Bursts of laughter echoed around the deck, mostly coming from Yuffie, but Elena was enjoying herself too.

"Yeah, yeah, very clever." He manoeuvred his legs around and undid the laces, tying them up properly before getting to his feet and following every one out onto the green grass of the fields outside of the Mideel Forest where the town was situated.

"It's a half hour walk to Mideel." Cid said, looking off to the forest with a cigar in his mouth. "I'll see you suckers there." With that he strode off, his long legs taking him there twice as fast as anyone else could travel.

Reno was glad of his sleep in the Highwind, the headache had totally gone and his mood was lighter, despite the 'shoelaces tied together' trick he had just fallen victim of.

He walked between Elena and Yuffie breathing in the fresh country air as they walked along.

"There had better be some hot-honeys at Mideel." He said this more to himself than the women accompanying him, but saying it out loud would be a good opportunity to get them back for the bad day he had had.

"You think with your dick far too much Reno." Elena said, staring at him intently.

"Well, he hasn't got enough brain cells to think with his head, so I suppose his dick is the next best thing." Yuffie chided, the feminist side of her shining through. Elena and Yuffie continued, actually getting along with one another now they had found a mutual dislike of Reno's womanising tendencies.

"I doubt his dick is much bigger." Yuffie burst out laughing, to which Reno narrowed his eyes, smirking a little

"Yeah, yeah, girls. You both know you want a piece of me." The women just looked at each other and laughed harder.

By the time they reached the newly built town of Mideel it was dusk. The quiet town had been rebuilt a little further off from the lifestream that had destroyed the town three years previously. It was much larger than it had been before, sustaining a large population.

Cid had already checked into a hotel and was in the bar on his second whisky. Reno was the first to get to the reception desk; he leant over the desk casually, grinning widely at the brunette behind the desk.

"Hey baby. Do you have room at the inn?" He brushed his hands through his messy red hair as she answered.

"Er…yes. Do you have any preferences on what room you would like to stay in?" He licked his lips and looked up to the ceiling

"Yeah, I'll have whatever your favourite room is." He smiled to himself, proudly thinking; 'Damn Reno, you're smooth.'

"Certainly." He mistook her smirk for a flirty smile, so smiled back, fluttering his eyelashes. "How long are you staying?"

He inhaled, and clicked his tongue

"Oh, well, I don't know yet. That depends on if I meet someone special who might hold me here for a while doesn't it?" She typed something into her computer.

"What's your name and contact details?" He chuckled softly.

"You're a fast mover, I like that in a woman. My number is.." He gave her his PHS number, and name and she handed him a key.

"Enjoy your stay Sir." He clutched the keys and leant further over the desk, looking straight into her dark eyes.

"I think I will." With a sly smile he pushed himself off the desk and sauntered towards the stairs, looking back at her before he went up. She gave him a sickly smile and flirty wave. He nodded to himself in self-satisfaction as he climbed the stairs. 'Babe Magnet.' He smiled smugly and took a look at the number on the key ring. Number ten. If this was her favourite room it would probably be really nice, girls always went for the nicest rooms. He unlocked it and swung the door open. His jaw dropped. If this was the best room then what were the others like? The wallpaper was peeling off, mould grew in patches on the ceiling, the bed didn't look like it would hold his weight, let alone the combined weight of himself and the women he planned to bring back to his room. He'd just have to make sure he narrowed his 'babeometer' down to thin light women. 'Shouldn't be too bad.'

He dumped his bag down on the rickety chair in the corner and collapsed into the bed, "Ummff.." the bed was less than comfortable, springs stuck into his back and the mattress was lumpy. He was pretty sure that the sheets hadn't been cleaned in a long while either. But that would just make him feel more at home; he couldn't remember the last time his own sheets had been cleaned. Deciding that actually, he'd rather not spend too long on the bed for fear of backache, he got up. He picked up his bag and sat in the chair, which was mildly more comfortable than the bed. He undid the clasps and groped about for some biscuits, walking was hungry business. He found the biscuits all right, but there was distinct lack of orb like shapes as he searched. He spilt the contents of his bag out on the floor to be certain he wasn't just accidentally missing them. All his materia was gone, his jaw dropped and eyes narrowed. "The little bitch.." He jumped up and wrenched his door open angrily, eyes scanning about for signs of where Yuffie might be staying. Elena came out of a room

"Where's the ninja brat?" He demanded angrily, clenching his fists. Elena pointed to the door with the number three on it, her brows pushed together in puzzlement. She opened her mouth to say something, he only caught

"Don't go…" before he reached it. He didn't bother knocking, instead storming straight in shouting

"KISARAGI! Where's…" He was stopped short when he saw that she was undressing, standing there only in her bra and beige shorts that were always relatively near falling off her anyway due to the top button being missing. His brows rose and he pursed his lips together, whistling softly. He muttered a "Sorry" and darted out, leaning against her door, biting down on his lower lip and smiling mischievously at Elena.

"I was about to say don't go in, she said she was going to get changed." Reno hadn't minded going in at all.

"Mmm…she's hot for a brat." Elena scowled at him and crossed her arms. The door opened suddenly causing Reno to fall back into the room. Yuffie caught him under the arms before he fell to the floor and pushed him back onto his feet. To his disappointment she had got changed into a black zip up top. A sudden pain erupted at his cheek; Yuffie had slapped him hard with a black look on her face.

"I said I was sorry." Yuffie just shook her head. "Yeah, anyway, the reason I came in was because you're busted, Give me my materia back." He thrust his hand forward, palm up, his lips pressed together in renewed anger.

"I'll consider them as payment for not knocking first and glimpsing a little too much of the girl of your dreams. Dreams being the only place you'll get to see me as exposed as you saw just then." Reno tsked and shook his head.

"I want that materia back brat." He spat, unclasping his Electro-Mag rod from his belt and turning it on. "This is how farmers get their cows to do as they want, fitting that I'll use it on you if you don't give them back."

"Ummff." She had slapped him again; he rubbed the sore spot on his cheek and tightened his grip on the electro rod. "Well, looks like I'll have to teach this little cow a lesson." He had set the rod on a low dose, just enough to stun her a little. She screeched out as the electric bolt jabbed at her. He realised that suddenly her shuriken was in her hand, she thrust a blade dangerously close to his throat, he gulped as he felt the blade push into his skin. At that moment Cid came in, wondering where everyone had got to.

"What the fuck? Now, now children. These are not fucking toys!" He grabbed Yuffie's shuriken without harming Reno's throat and grabbed Reno's weapon as the redhead checked for blood where the blade had pushed against his throat.

"Now. What's all this idiocy about?" He demanded like an annoyed father.

"She stole my materia." Reno jabbed a finger in Yuffie's direction.

"He's a pervert. He came into my room when I was undressing." Cid sighed in annoyance

"For the love of Gaia; GROW UP YOU LITTLE SHITS!…

"Yuffie give him back his materia"

"But-" She interrupted, Cid's angry expression stopped her short though.

"There will be plenty of cloth-headed materia owners, who you don't work with, to steal materia off in Mideel." Reno flashed her a superior smile, as she reluctantly handed back his green orbs.

"Where's my Poison materia?" He demanded, seeing it missing. She sighed and fished the orb out from her pocket, thrusting it into his hand violently. "Not so hard now was it?" He fake-smiled. "I can use this on you later if anymore goes missing." He added, Cid shot him a threatening look.

"And you, Reno, get a girlfriend and quit bugging women who are well out of your league for Gaia's sake." His smug grin faded, it was Yuffie's turn to flash him a jeering smile.

"I'm going back down to the bar, perhaps we can start asking about these rumours whilst drunken tongues run free." He disappeared off, leaving the other three in Yuffie's room. It wasn't until now that Reno noticed Yuffie's room was ten times nicer than his one. The wallpaper was new, the polished floorboards had an ornate Wutai rug in the centre and the bed was twice the size of his with clean sheets and a multitude of comfy cushions. She had two sturdy armchairs and a mini bar. He didn't care about the other things, what pissed him off was that she had a mini bar and he didn't.

"Elena has your room got a mini bar?" He asked as Yuffie pushed them out so she could lock her door.

"Have you drunk everything in yours already? You're pathetic. No you can't have anything from mine. You do know that the stuff there isn't free don't you?" Reno hung his head muttering angry words under his breath.

When they got to the bar he asked Cid quietly if he had a mini bar in his room. Cid gave him an odd look.

"We're at the bar now kid. What do you want with my mini bar stuff?" Reno shook his head and quietly told him the state of his room so the girls wouldn't hear. Cid sniggered.

"I don't think the receptionist took kindly to your flirting boy. Women have this tendency to get pissed off with womanisers. You got what you deserve." He turned back around and scanned the fairly empty bar. It was still early.

Reno ordered a double shot of whisky and downed it, asking for another.

"Slow down with those kid. We've got work to do remember." Reno was beginning to get pissed off with being called a kid, He was twenty-five. Ok, maybe he looked a year or two younger to some, but he certainly was not a child. He went over to the table where Yuffie and Elena were sitting, not talking to one another. He scanned the room, making a mental check of everyone in there. An old man with a wooden pipe was nestled in one corner, Reno couldn't tell whether he was asleep or just naturally that slumped. 'Mental note: make sure I die before I get old…Hell, of course I'll die before I get like that, I'm a bloody Turk, I'm lucky to have seen twenty-five.' A young couple were kissing at the other end of the room and a middle-aged man sat at the bar along from Cid. The only ones that stood out as remotely out of place was a group of about six kids, all staring at them intently. The eldest looked about his age, the youngest looked about the same age as Barret's kid, Marlene. It was still early enough for kids to be in the bar because food was still being served. But unless the guy at the bar was their parent there was no responsible adult looking after them, which was law in Midgar bars if not Mideel bars.

"What do you think to those kids?" He leant over the table to ask Elena, she had seen them too, but was clearly as clueless about them as he was. He shrugged and drank his drink as slowly as he could; he finished in a couple of minutes rather than a second.

TBC...