Fly Away
A series of Reffie, Yuffentine, and Clouffie drabbles that may or may not fit together.

By: V. RayZ

Lilac eyes watched the people run through the rain, trying not to get wet. She had her hood pulled up and had her hands tucked in the pouch pocket on the front of her hoodie, but did not move from the safety of the awning. She watched the child running toward his mother's car in pure glee, eyes wide and hair sticking to his face. She had never been allowed to do that. Her mother had made her be proper, always wearing the traditional garb, but her father had not really been involved in her life. Her mother died when Yuffie was five, when Chekov took over Yuffie's life. Chekov had been a firm believer in playing in the dirt and rain would help a child grow, but Godo disagreed.

She shook her head to clear the memories from her mind, then walked through the parking lot of the grocery store. Since natural gases and coal had taken the place of MAKO, more people decided to drive vehicles. She had a motorcycle, but had decided against driving it in the rain. Instead, she had driven her little grey pickup truck. Never in her life had Yuffie Kisaragi thought that she would drive a truck, but her little grey pickup truck was her favorite vehicle for times when her motorcycle was deemed inappropriate.

"Hey! Hey, you!" She glanced around to see who was yelling and why. A tall man in a navy blue suit was standing behind her truck, waving his hand wildly at her while trying to keep dry by holding his briefcase above his fiery red head. She cocked her head to the side, curious as to who he was and what he wanted.

"What?" she hollered back, beginning to notice how wet her hoodie was getting.

"Hurry up and get over here so I can get in your truck and outta this rain!"

She stopped a few feet away from him, leaning against the bed of her pickup and eyeing him with distrust. "Who the hell are you?" she replied, watching the man. He was taller than she, about six feet or so, with long crimson tresses that were soaked and dripping. He had x-shaped scars beneath each green eye and his suit was fairly messy. The jacket was unbuttoned, his shirt untucked and haphazardly buttoned, there was no tie in sight, and he seemed too pale. She knew him as a Turk, but had forgotten his name over the past four years.

"Oh, c'mon, Princess," he shot back. He watched as she stared at him in curiosity before letting his jaw drop. "You really don't remember me?"

She let a laugh tumble from her lips. "Oh, I remember you, but your name escapes me." She looked thoughtful. "Was it Vegas or something like that?"

He glowered. "Reno."

"Ah," she replied in quiet revelation. "Reno. Right, the loud-mouthed one who was friends with the bald rude guy, whose name matched his attitude - Rude - and the blonde bimbo who talked too much - Elena." She quirked an eyebrow. "Whaddya want?"

He indicated to the passenger side door and replied, "To sit somewhere out of the rain would be a good start." She merely looked at him with her odd purple eyes. "Fine. There's a bounty on your head and Reeve sent me to make sure that you're safe."

She laughed loudly. "A bounty? And you're my bodyguard? That's gravy!" She wiped a strand of wet ebony hair from her eyes and unlocked her door, looking back up at him with pure amusement. "Want a ride somewhere?"

He dead-panned. "Dude, I'm supposed to be a bodyguard, sweet cakes. Like, I can fill you in on the details and all that."

She remained stoic, watching him become red-faced. "Right. Want a ride? Or are you content in the rain?"

He sighed and nodded, then waited for her to lean across and unlock his door. The truck started up and they were off. The inside of her truck was just as small as it looked. With fairies hanging on the mirror, Wutainese dragon seat covers, and the word "Serenity" written in Wutainese on the floor mats, he decided that it looked a lot like a teenager's truck.

"So, start filling me in."

Her voice had caught the Turk off-guard and he looked at her for a moment before nodding. "Godo has a lot of enemies in Wutai, as you probably know. People are angry that he has not fixed up the town with the gil that you left for him to do so, but he claims that he needs more gil. The entire town is in an uproar over everything going on in the political area and there have been threats against Lord Godo and yourself."

She shook her head, hmphing with a sarcastic smirk on her face. "I'm not even there and they're gonna take it out on me." She sighed. "Well, Reevie sent ya, huh?"

Reno raised an eyebrow, smirking at her question. "Reevie?"

She grinned lop-sidedly. "Yeah, I began calling him that after we found out that he was the man behind the cat mask. Anyway, so he sent you?"

"Yeah. We knew that you and Laney'd probably bite each others' heads off by the end of a conversation and Rude's on guard duty with your old man, so that left me."

Yuffie pulled onto a narrow road just outside of Glasgow and the truck bumped along, causing Reno some discomfort. She laughed at the scowl on his face. "Sorry, darlin'," she said, mimicking his Midgar accent quite well. "I live out here in a one-story ranch house with two bedrooms, one that has become a kid's room for when Teef's kids come over, a den, a living room, a bathroom, a laundry room, and a huge arse barn in the back. I board chocobos and teach people - usually kids - how to ride. I also have two dogs, two ferrets, and numerous cats."

Reno shuddered. "You live on a farm... You're telling me that the princess of a tourist trap lives out here with a buncha animals...?"

She laughed. "Yeah, Reno. I live on a farm. Where I take care of chocobos and other animals. Get used to the fresh air, because I'm sure that this feud is gonna last awhile."

He glared at the window for the rest of the ride. Fields upon fields stretched out across the plains. He had known that Glasgow was a little place near the chocobo ranch that Chocobo Bill had once owned, but this was ridiculous. Even Bill and Billy had given up ranching and had moved to a town near the Gold Saucer. Not Yuffie, though. She decided to become a farmer. Why had Reeve not mentioned that before? Reno just knew that bastard was laughing his ass off in Junon. At least it had stopped raining, he mused.

They pulled down a long gravel lane that had a fence on either side until two dogs raced toward them. One was a blue heeler and the other was an Australian Shepard. Yuffie called to them out her rolled down window, yelling at them to get up to the house. The two dogs were obedient and sat on the front porch of her home until Reno stepped out of the truck.

"The blue one is Casey and the white and red one is Surk. They won't bite if you're nice."

Reno eyed them warily. "Yeah, I'm not a dog person."

She rolled her eyes and grabbed her purse from behind the seat. "Casey, Surk, c'mon. Inside."

The two dogs cast a glance at Reno before following their owner into the house. Reno started in after, but Casey began growling, blocking the doorway.

"Er... It's okay, Casey. Good girl. Don't bite Reno."

Yuffie whistled loudly, drawing the dog's attention and granting Reno entrance. "First off, Casey's a boy, Reno. Both dogs are. Second off, if they are growling at you, then lower your eyes to the ground so they don't think you're challenging them. This is their home, after all."

Reno nodded, shoulders slumping. Damn, this was going to suck.

------

A chocobo warked in greeting to the petite woman in an over-sized flannel shirt and jeans. She patted it absent-mindedly on its head, then continued to watch the gorgeous sunset. She loved the late evenings, especially after a good, long rain. The deep purples and blues of the coming night sky seemed to remind her of the good ole days of chasing Sephiroth. She had not seen nor talked to any of them except Tifa, who was married with twins. Sean and Sky were two, hence the play room that Yuffie had created.

She wondered idly if Tifa knew about the bounty...

Shaking her head, the ninja continued to take care of the animals in her barn. There were twelve chocobos in all, each with its own unique personality. Mint green eyes watched her from the door to the barn, silently assessing her movements. She was so cautious, ever careful to keep her guard up with the chocobos, but sweet and innocent at the same time. Reno did not know how she managed to keep them all quiet, but they alerted her as soon as the man stepped completely into the barn.

"What do ya need?" she called, never looking back at him. He decided that it must have been her ninja senses.

"Just watching you," he replied in his Midgar slur. "Jus' doin' my job, sweet cheeks."

She turned and looked at him for a moment, chocolate bangs falling over one eye, head cocked to the side. She seemed to be trying to figure him out. He felt uneasy all of a sudden. As if she was breaking down the barriers that every Turk was trained to use. She could strip away a layer just by looking at him, a layer by talking to him, a layer by looking cute, and another layer just by being near him. He was undeniably attracted toward her - however lustfully it may have been - so he decided to blame the layer stripping on that: lust. He had not been laid in...

"Well, d'ya wanna at least learn their names?" she asked, adopting his Midgar accent. She laughed at his blank expression. "The chocobos," she added, confused as to what he had been thinking about.

"Sure," he replied.

Reno walked over to her as she fed the first one. "This is Santa Maria. She belongs to the mayor's daughter." They moved onto the next one. "And this is Fredrick, he's the mayor's son's." And they went down the row, then across to the other six. Santa Maria, Fredrick, Chelly, Gevrok, Malestrom... But he was not really retaining information. Reno Zanard was too busy watching the ninja farmer. Her movements were precise, never faltering, always perfect. Her words were spoken quickly in her Wutainese accent, making it sometimes hard to understand. She had a small smile on her face as she spoke. He felt as if he could be at ease suddenly. As if she would never view him as only a Turk.

"And this one's mine," she spoke softly, petting the black chocobo. "Cloud called her a failure because she wasn't a gold chocobo. I think that she's gorgeous."

Reno studied the rather anti-social chocobo, noting the similarities between her and a certain AVALANCHE member. Her eyes were garnet red, feathers black as midnight with an interesting crimson tipping, the way she seemed to take to Yuffie and not Reno...

"She was Vincent's at first," the ninja said quietly, seeming to take on a different tone of voice. She seemed distant... "He and I... We hung out a lot, but his mercenary work was booming near Midgar and really shitty here. Since Cloud had given me a gold chocobo and Vincent got the black one, I traded him. He needed to go places, mine was only being used for recreational purposes. So, I got Chloe and he got Jonah." She shook herself out of the trance and grinned at Reno. "Anyway! C'mon, Turkey, I'll make dinner."

The two of them left the barn, Reno helping her close the large door at the front to keep out coyotes, wolves, or monsters. They walked to the house, where Casey and Surk allowed Reno to enter without too much of a problem.

-----

Two months went by quicker than either of the two would have thought. Reno was becoming more and more interested in the goings on of a chocobo farm and Yuffie was becoming easier and easier to talk to. They got up early and took care of the chocobos, had breakfast, went to town for whatever they needed, went home for lunch, worked on the fences - which were in constant need of repair - took care of the chocobos, had dinner, then had the rest of the evening to hang out. They usually sat around and talked or played cards, occasionally watching a movie. That evening was no different... Until there came a visitor.

A loud knock on the front door caught Yuffie's attention at eight-thirty that night. Casey and Surk did not bark, which made Reno extremely curious. "Maybe I should answer-"

But Yuffie was already throwing the door open. A tall silhouette stood there for a moment. No one said a word or, it seemed, even breathed. Yuffie threw her arms around the person and their arms wrapped around her petite waist. The golden glint of a claw told Reno who it was. Casey and Surk pranced around Yuffie's legs, pawing at the person's legs for attention. Reno stood, clearing his throat.

Yuffie turned and grinned at him, small hands resting on her visitor's shoulders limply. "Oh! Reno, you know Vincent, right?"

The tall gunslinger stepped into the light and Reno was a little taken aback. Though her eyes were crimson, a red cape took the place of his cloak, so that his face was fully exposed. A thin scar ran from his left temple to the left corner of his mouth, increasing the red head's curiosity. "Hello, Reno," Vincent said, casting Yuffie a look of confusion.

"There's a bounty on the ninja's head," Reno said to clear things up. "Reeve sent me two months ago to watch over her. Kinda like a secret service of one, y'know?"

Yuffie grinned at her dark comrade. "He's been a great help here, but we haven't seen much action when it comes to abnormal behavior in town." She flipped her hair out of her eyes with a hand, the other hand still on his shoulder. Reno got the feeling that there was more between the two that anyone else knew. And he also got the feeling that he should not have known either.

"Still," Vincent said softly, "You should not be alone. I will stay for a while... At least until this mess has been cleared up." Yuffie looked down and away from him, not being completely satisfied with his response. She dropped her hand from his shoulder, crossing her arms across her chest and looking over at Reno with an oddly bitter smile.

"I'm gonna go take care of his chocobo, okay?"

Vincent shook his head. "I can do so withou-"

"I've got a stall to fix up for her. Besides, I need to check Georgia Rain anyway. She's new." With that, Yuffie pulled her work boots on and grabbed her jacket and flashlight, then headed out the door.

Vincent sighed, looking at Casey, who was obviously in need for some attention from the man. "She's going to be mad at me for awhile," he said aloud to nothing in particular.

Reno remained silent, but slipped out the back door to check on his charge. He stood in the shadows of the barn, watching her silently as she led the shimmering gold chocobo into the barn. Jonah strutted with an arrogance that reminded Reno briefly of Yuffie on any other day.

"Shouldn't've gotten my hopes up," she said to the chocobo. "Best I could have hoped for was that he would stay as long as Reno because he's so fragging paranoid. He's probably pissed that I didn't call him on his PHS when Reno showed up." She sighed as she pulled the saddle and such off the golden beast. "I don't know what my feelings for that man are anymore. I mean, I thought that I loved him, but maybe I was just alone and he's so mysterious."

Reno ran a hand through his hair, a queasy feeling in his stomach. He really should not have been hearing that conversation, but he could not help himself.

"And Reno... He's not nearly as horrible as I thought he would be. Two months living with him has made me wonder why I'm with a man who wants to keep our relationship a secret. Vincent's so... so..."

"Hey, are you okay?" Reno could barely believe that he said anything as he sauntered into the barn.

She looked up at him with wide eyes. "Did you... Did you hear anything I just said?"

He raised an eyebrow. "Talking to yourself, princess? Sure sign of psychosis." She replied by sticking her tongue out at him. "Careful, sweetheart, I'll take that as an offer."

She smirked. "How d'ya know that it wasn't?"

The two stood there, scarcely four feet apart, eyes locked. Jonah affectionately nipped at Yuffie's hand and she continued to get his stall ready. Reno stared at her as she moved, still wearing jeans and a baggy flannel shirt with her work boots. Her hair had grown longer, hitting her at shoulder length, and was pulled back in a sloppy ponytail. She was beautiful, he decided right then. She was beautiful and Vincent knew it, that was why she had referred to him as being paranoid.

"Yuffie?"

Both people in the barn turned to look at Vincent Valentine, standing there in blue jeans and a black tee-shirt.

"Can we talk?" he asked, stoic as ever.

She looked at Reno, took a deep breath, then nodded. "Reno, you wanna leave or take care of Jonah?"

"I'll take care'a'the bird," he replied, not really wanting to leave the comfort of the barn. It was always so serene in there, he had found out over two months.

Yuffie hugged him thankfully, patted Jonah on the head, instructed Reno on which greens to give the bird, then walked out of the barn with her dark lover. She stepped over to lean against the fence, staring up at the stars. "What, Vincent?"

He took her hands in his. "I am sorry for sounding like an ass," he told her. "You know that I wish to be here with y-"

"Then fucking act like it," she shot back, cutting him off. "If you want me so bad... If you want to be with me so bad... Fucking tell someone. Tell everyone! Don't make me keep this a Leviathan damned secret for my entire life." She pulled her hands from him and stuck them into the pockets of her faded blue jeans. "Tifa doesn't know, my friends in town don't know... Hells, I don't even know if we're together more than half the time. You take off to Midgar for a week or a couple months and I don't hear from you, then you randomly appear in the doorway... It's been this way for more than a year, Vincent. I'm ready for a real relationship. I'm an adult. I need someone to love me. To hold me. To be here for me."

He licked his dry lips, claw clenching and unclenching unconsciously. "Yuffie... I do... I do not wish for marriage. I can never be a father..."

She looked away, tears welling up in her eyes. "Well... The kid thing wouldn't've been a problem for me, Vincent. But if you didn't want a real relationship, it woulda been grand for you to have told me." She began walking up to her house. "Stay tonight, but I would recommend finding an inn room when you come to Glasgow again."

Vincent growled and glared at the ground. That was not how he wanted things to go. A hand clapped on his left shoulder and he looked over to see a slightly shorter Reno. "You've just made a huge ass mistake, my friend."

"How would you know?" Vincent shot at the Turk.

Reno shrugged, putting his hands in the pockets of his denim jeans and looking across the back yard at the door that Yuffie was entering. "I've been living here for two months because Reeve made me... But she's one of a kind, Valentine. She's true to you, her feelings run deep, and she can run off anyone that thinks otherwise." He smirked. "I'd give anything for a woman like her. For a woman that's not silicone and make-up... A woman that's a hundred percent real."

The red head left Vincent and walked toward the back door. Crimson orbs stared at the ground, mulling over what Reno had said.

... But she's one of a kind, Valentine. She's true to you, her feelings run deep, and she can run off anyone that thinks otherwise.

A chocobo warked from the barn and he turned to look at the barn, the golden light from heat lamps illuminating the doorway like a golden archway to some religion's heaven. He remembered seeing her standing there the last time he had visited her. She had looked like an angel, bathed in that heavenly golden light.

I'd give anything for a woman like her...

She had been wearing jeans and a tee-shirt, but looked so perfect. Her hair was too short to even tuck behind her ears, her lilac eyes were tired, but she still grinned at him with utter perfection.

A woman that's a hundred percent real.

Vincent felt the bitter sting of tears as he walked back to close the door to the barn. A monster did not deserve an angel. A monster did not deserve to be in that angel's presence, let alone be loved by her. He would get an inn room in the morning. So, he let a tear escape, closed the barn door, and returned to the house. The night was cold, lonely, and long.

-----

Three more months went by after that night. Yuffie was making lunch and Reno sitting at the table playing with Casey when an evil idea crept into the ninja's mind. She took a handful of flour and attacked Reno with it.

"What the-" But he received a mouthful of flour.

"Gotcha!"

Reno immediately retaliated by getting flour on her cheeks and in her very short chocolate hair. Her hair was in short spikes for the spring months, which Reno decided looked very sexy on her. The flour fight continued on, Casey and Surk hiding beneath the large oak table, until Reno randomly kissed her.

The sparks of emotion sent Yuffie's head reeling, but she returned the kiss without a second thought. He tasted like flour, but she honestly did not mind. A high-pitched ringing made Yuffie pull away and look at him curiously, out of breath. He gazed into her eyes for a moment, then grabbed his PHS. She was straddling his waist, watching him with the curiosity of a puppy.

"Reno..." Pause. "Yeah, I'm still here with her. I wasn't plannin' on leavin', why?" Her heart sped up at those words even though she knew that he meant it another way than it sounded. "It's over? I'll let her know... Yeah, I'm takin' my damn vacation." The person on the other line spoke again, but Yuffie was busy getting over to the sink to wash the flour off. The water and flour combination made a lovely paste, but did not seem to want to wash off. "Hell, I dunno. Yeah, I'm off duty now. Whatever, man. See ya."

Reno looked to see Yuffie trying to scrub herself clean and sighed. "The bounty's been called off. Godo wants to see you to know for sure that you're safe."

"I'll call him later," she said softly.

An uneasy silence fell between them as the water ran and he fidgeted. "I'm... I'm off duty now," he said somewhat quietly.

"I heard," was her response.

Neither wanted him to leave. He kept her company and she made him smile out of happiness. "I... I don't want to go."

She stopped what she was doing and turned off the water. Slowly, she turned to look at him, her amethyst gaze meeting his aqua marine. "I don't want you to leave," she said so softly that he could barely hear her.

He was up in an instant and across the room, with her in his arms. Words were not needed, just having her in his arms was enough.

"Are you going to stay with me, Reno?"

He smiled down at her. "Sure thing, sweetheart. As long as you'll let me."

She returned the smile. "Wouldn't dream of having it any other way."

.fin.

This is just the start of a series of drabbles. This seems to be a popular idea - and easier than having 50 one-shots up - so I'm gonna go with the flow for once.