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Adjusting his sunglasses, Rude stared at the piles of paperwork that had accumulated on his desk. Grudgingly he took a pen out of the top pocket of his coat and pulled some of the more urgent papers close to where he was sitting. It was only 7:38 in the morning, and the other desks in the Turk office were vacant. Rude was morning person, and was almost always the first one to arrive. Then it would either be Tseng or Elena, and then Reno, who would trudge towards his desk about 8:10 looking half dead.

The distinct chime of the elevators sounded the arrival of Tseng, who walked casually to his desk, carrying a black leather briefcase.

"Morning Rude," Tseng said as he walked past.

"Good morning, sir," Rude replied, never taking his eyes or his concentration off of the paperwork.

Tseng sat down and began to unpack his briefcase just as his phone rang. He picked it up and answered it with the curt greeting he always gave; "Yes?"

Rude looked up at his boss. Watching the way his eyes had narrowed and his face set in a grim look, he knew Tseng was most likely talking to the President.

"Yes, sir, I'll be up in a minute." Tseng hung up the phone and looked at Rude. "I'll be back." Tseng got up and walked to the elevators, almost bumping into Elena as she got off.

"Ohmygosh! I'm so sorry sir!" cried the frazzled Elena.

"No worries, Elena," replied Tseng as he gallantly held his arm out, motioning for her to step out first.

"Th-thank you, sir!" Elena hurried to her desk and sat down. She was grateful it was just Rude in the room. Elena knew her face was bright red, and she also knew he wouldn't say anything about it. Reno, however would have picked up on it the minute he saw her near-collision with Tseng and would have relentlessly chided her about it until Rude finally stepped in.

"Good morning, Elena," Rude said, eyes never leaving his desk.

Elena flipped her computer on and waited for it to boot up. After typing in her Shinra username and password, she glanced up at the clock. It was after 8:00.

"Reno's lucky Tseng isn't here to see him come in late...again," commented Elena. As if on cue, the elevator chimed, and a very hung-over Reno entered the offices. Taking small, stiff looking steps, he made his way to his desk, uttering a pitiful sounding "Ow..." with each movement he made. Elena looked at him and was about to make a snide remark until she noticed the brownish stain on his wrinkled white shirt.

"Oh, gross, Reno! You wore that same suit yesterday!" She vividly remembered him spilling his cup of coffee down the front of himself the morning before.

Ignoring the stiffness and pain in his arms, Reno raised them and smirked. "Can I have a hug, Elly?"

Disgusted, Elena turned to Rude, hoping he would take control of the situation before it got too out of control. Rude stared at Reno for a while before shaking his head.

"Reno, go wash up and get to work, before Tseng comes back. None of us wants to have to listen to another one of his lectures."

Reno stiffly waddled towards the small washroom at the back of the office. "Where is Tseng, anyways?" asked Reno.

"I'm not really sure, but I would guess he's with the president right now," replied Rude.

Tseng walked into the elaborate office and sat down. He wasn't quite sure what the president had in mind. Since the Turks usually got assignments from Heidegger, he assumed that the president needed something from him unofficially.

"Tseng...I have a favor to ask of you." Tseng found himself inwardly groaning. "My niece is coming this afternoon. I would like you to escort her here."

"I have a meeting with Reeve and Scarlet this afternoon. However, I'll see to it that either Reno, Rude or Elena get your niece safely here."

President Shinra considered it. "Send Rude. I don't want Reno within a mile of her."

Tseng shook his head. Reno had made sure that the whole building knew of his successful womanizing history. However, he also knew that Reno took all his missions seriously and could be trusted with just about anything. "I can understand that, but I assure you, Mr. President, Reno is completely business-like on all his missions."

"In all honesty, I would prefer that it was you going, but since that's not possible, I want you to send Rude. Here's all the information, she'll be at the train station at 2:00. You're dismissed." With that, the president turned his chair to face out the window, indication he had nothing more to do with this conversation.

Tseng walked out of the office and headed up to the floor the Turks used. He knew Rude wouldn't be very happy with his "assignment", but he would just have to deal with it. The elevator stopped and Tseng stepped out onto the floor, nearly tripping over a haphazardly discarded blue Turk jacket. A blue tie and two black socks were scattered not too far away from the jacket, and two black dress shoes were in the corner. Tseng frowned. Reno habitually worked barefoot or without a shirt on. When Elena had started to complain, he had apologized and went into the bathroom, as if to properly dress, only to come out in a pair of bright green boxer shorts for the rest of the day. Although Tseng had dismissed the other two Turks so that he could reprimand Reno in private, Elena had not complained about him not wearing a jacket or socks since then.

Tseng walked over to Rude's desk. "I was just in the president's office. Rene Shinra is coming in at 2 this afternoon, and he needs someone to pick her up."

Rude looked up. "I suppose I'm the someone'?"

Just as Tseng was about to answer Rude, Reno came out of the washroom. "Did I hear something about picking up a girl? As we all know, that's my specialty."

Tseng pressed his fingers to his temples. "Rude is going at the request of President Shinra. End of story."

Elena laughed. "The President is a smart man!"

Reno glared at her momentarily. "Yeah, I guess you're right. We wouldn't want little Rene flinging herself on me. I might get hurt. It's tough living with these looks..." sighed Reno.

Elena smirked. "Let me assure you they hurt me more then they hurt you!"

"Is jealousy rearing its ugly head?" asked Reno.

"Yeah, you'd know about ugly heads, you, you, tomato head!" cried Elena.

"Tomato-head? Tomato-head?! Elena, you think of the dumbest insults. In fact, I wouldn't even-"

"Enough you two," rumbled a deep voice. Rude had stepped in between Reno and Elena. Even though he knew they would never actually get into a physical brawl, the two seemed to settle down a little quicker when Rude was towering over them in his no-nonsense manner.

"Thank you, Rude," acknowledged a stressed out Tseng.

Rude nodded and went back to the paperwork on his desk. The rest of the day seemed to go rather smoothly, and before long, it was time for Rude to leave. Locking up his desk for the night, he walked out to the elevator.

Rude had never met the President's niece, and from the stories he heard, he was glad. The entire Shinra clan was immensely wealthy, and also very snobby, arrogant, egotistical, haughty, had been so lost in thought, he didn't realize he was already at the train station. Shaking his head, he looked at his watch. He was early. As usual. He sat down on a bench and crossed one leg over the other. After about half an hour, a train pulled to a halt. Standing up, Rude straightened his uniform and brushed off the dirt he had accumulated from sitting on the dirty bench. He watched as people got off the train, looking for the president's niece. He spotted her the minute she got off. There was no mistaking Rene Shinra. She looked exactly like her cousin, Rufus. The same thin frame, same floppy blonde hair, same turned up nose and the same piercing blue eyes.

Rude sighed as he walked up to her. She looked at him condescendingly and asked, "Are you the Turkey my uncle sent to pick me up?"

Rude rolled his eyes, glad they were hidden behind the ever present sunglasses. "...Let's go."

Rene had always found the slums fascinating. Maybe because it just boosted her ego, knowing that she was better off than any person she looked at. They had only been walking a few minutes before a grimy looking man stepped right in front of Rene's path. "What's a purty lookin lady like you doin' here in the slums? How bout if I-"

Rude interrupted the man by stepping in front of Rene and grabbing the vagrant's wrist, twisting it around into a very painful, unnatural direction.

"I suggest you leave. Now." Rude calmly whispered to the man. Once Rude let go, the man groaned painfully as he ran away.

Rene stepped away from the Turk. "Geez, what a barbarian! No wonder you have this job. You don't have enough couth to do anything else."

Rude grunted in response, desperately wondering why Reno couldn't be in his place. He would have gladly done ten times the paperwork to get out of this. Even Elena would have been able to handle the girl's attitude better than he could.

Unsatisfied with the lack of a response she got from the Turk, Rene tired again. "I am more than capable of taking care of myself." Still no reply from Rude. "In fact, I think I'm just going to stand right here until you apologize to me."

Rude stopped. "Apologize? For what?"

"For that unpleasant scene back there," said Rene sadistically.

Rude shook his head and began to walk away. True to her word, Rene didn't move an inch. He stopped and looked back at her.

"You want me to apologize to you for not letting some sleaze take advantage of you? Do you have any idea what he would have done to you if you were by yourself?"

Rene batted her eyelashes innocently. "Why, no, whatever would he have done?"

"...If I apologize, can we get out of here?" Rude was usually a man of principles, but he was willing to do whatever necessary to get away from Rene as fast as possible.

"You have to get on your knees and beg." She laughed as she knew that would never happen.

Rude smiled as he pulled a small circular green orb from his pocket. Rene's eyes widened, suddenly intimidated. She heard Rude mutter something softly as a green glow emitted from his hand, and then felt her eyelids become heavy as she began to collapse into a deep sleep. Rude caught her just before she hit the ground and hoisted her onto his shoulder. Still smiling, he put the sleep materia back into his pocket, wondering why he didn't think of that sooner.

By the time Rene woke up, she found herself seated in the front seat of a car. Rude turned his attention away from the road to briefly look at her. Wow, if looks could kill,' he thought. Oh well, at least she's quiet.' Pulling up to the Shinra building, the two entered and got on the elevator that went to the president's office. When the doors opened, they found President Shinra and Rufus waiting.

Leaving the girl to the family reunion, Rude walked back to the elevator and pushed the button for the Turk floor. When he got off, he saw Tseng gently banging his head on his desk repeatedly and Reno and Elena face to face shouting silly insults at each other.

"Pork brain!" yelled Elena.

"Banana lips!" countered Reno.

Rude walked over to Tseng's desk and cleared his throat. Tseng looked up at Rude who had an eyebrow cocked. "I don't even know, Rude. Don't ask. Did you get the president's niece back okay?" Tseng asked.

"Yeah. I need about fifteen drinks, but we got back okay."

Tseng laughed. "So apparently all the stories are true."

"She's ten times worse in real life."

Rude went back to his paperwork. When he had finished, it was time to go home. He stood up and stretched. Reno walked over to him. "Tough day, huh?"

"Yeah, looking forward to the weekend." replied Rude. "You up for a drink?"

Reno snorted. "Who, me? The perpetual alcoholic? You don't need to ask me twice. Let's go!"