It was dark out and Aerith knew she shouldn't be out alone. The slums were dangerous during the day, more so at night. Not only was it dark out, Aerith was a little lost. She wandered around, looking for some landmark or something she recognized. Finally, her surroundings became more familiar. When she was about five minutes from home, she saw a man. A Turk, actually. A Turk with bright red hair, to be more specific.
He's kind of messy looking for a Turk… but I suppose there's no mistaking the blue suit. Maybe he'll just ignore me.
With that thought, Aerith continued to walk, past the man.
----
Reno lit another cigarette and leaned back against the wall. What a boring night, I've been standing here for how long? Not a single fight. No excitement. Isn't it supposed to be a dangerous area here? He sighed. Maybe I'll just go somewhere… what's that?
Reno heard footsteps approaching him. He reached for his electro-rod, which was leaning against the wall beside him. To his surprise, it wasn't some drunks looking for a fight. It was a young woman carrying a basket of flowers. She looked nervous and was walking fast. Reno, being the guy he is, couldn't help but check her out as she hurried past. Grinning, he followed her.
----
Oh god, he's following me. Maybe I should just ignore him. If he's still behind me when I get home, I'll… I'll deal with it then.
When she had reached the door, she turned around to see the Turk grinning at her.
"Why are you following me?" she demanded, hoping to sound more confident than she felt.
The Turk continued to grin at her, and replied, "Wanted to make sure you got home alright, gorgeous." He reached into her basket and pulled out a flower, smelling it. "Name's Reno. Maybe you'd be kind enough to lend me some shelter for the night." He offered the flower back to Aerith, still with the ridiculous grin on his face.
Aerith thought about what the Turk, Reno, had just said. Realizing what he was suggesting, she swung her basket at his head. Reno was caught totally off-guard and the basket hit him, hard. He blacked out but not before seeing the look of shock on the flower girl's face.
----
When Reno awoke, he had no idea where he was. It certainly wasn't his apartment, too clean. He saw a vase with a few flowers sitting on a small table in the room. Suddenly, the events from last night resurfaced in his mind. He tried to sit up, but the room started to spin and he fell back down onto the bed.
"Shit… she must've hit me hard…" he mumbled to himself.
"How're you feeling?"
Reno nearly jumped off the bed at the sound of the quiet voice. He looked over at the door, the woman from the night before was standing there with a basin of water and a small cloth.
"I'm sorry about last night. I didn't mean to hit you so hard… I wanted you to leave me alone." She put the basin down on a table next to the bed and dipped the cloth in. Wringing the excess water out, she placed it gently on Reno's forehead. "I wouldn't try getting up for a bit. I think I hit you pretty hard."
"Yeah, wasn't expecting it," he muttered. "Don't you have some healing material around?"
"Sorry, Mr. … uh…"
"Reno. Just Reno." He went to get some material out of the hidden pocket in his jacket, only to find he wasn't wearing it. "Where's my jacket?"
"Oh, I hung it up to dry, you fell in a puddle."
"Oh… you didn't have to bring me in here, you know."
"I felt bad."
Reno sighed. "There's a hidden pocket in the lining of my jacket. There's probably some material in there."
Aerith nodded, then, realizing Reno's eyes were closed she said, "Okay, I'll go get it." When she returned with the jacket, she reaching into the pocket and pulled out the green ball of material. She walked over and handed it to Reno.
"Thanks babe."
At that comment, Aerith almost hit him again, but remembered he was already injured thanks to her. Instead, she said, "Aerith, my name's Aerith."
"Aerith…" Reno muttered. "You know, a girl as pretty as you shouldn't have been wandering the slums alone, especially at night."
"I can take care of myself."
"Yeah, I noticed." Reno's trademark grin crept across his face. "But you must have liked me a little, you did bring me in here after all."
Aerith huffed. "Feeling better, then?"
"Why, yes, I am."
"Shouldn't go to work then?"
"Nah. Tseng and Elena are with Rufus. He's in Costa del Sol, I believe. If anything serious happens, Rude'll give me a call."
"Oh… um… okay…"
"So, how 'bout I take you out for lunch or something. It's the least I could do after you brought me in. Although, the most I could do…"
"Lunch is fine," Aerith replied quickly, seeing where he was going.
Reno laughed and stood up. "Great! Let's go." He grabbed his jacket from her and headed for the door.
AN: Alrighty, so, what do you think? This story was inspired by Nanami. She and her friend recently went to a con dressed as Aerith and Reno. They went on stage and did a skit, involving Reno hitting on Aerith and Aerith hitting Reno with her basket. I decided that it was such an awesome story waiting to be written. The chapters will be short, and the story probably won't be too long. Anyway, I love obscure pairings and this one was just too prefect.