Chapter 60

Reno had been watching Rufus Shinra's office door for the past five minutes. Aura had gone in to give him his daily treatment, and even though Reno had paperwork to do, he couldn't keep his eyes off of the door. Despite what the President had said multiple times about leaving Aura alone, the man had yet to alter his behaviour, and Reno was getting damn sick of it. The second the command for Reno to get in there came though the speaker on his desk, Reno was on his feet and striding toward the office. He walked in without hesitation.

Aura was perched on the edge of Rufus' desk, applying ointment to his arm. Rufus was sitting in his chair, his pale eyes already on Reno. "Come and sit down, Reno." Wondering what it was that Rufus had called him in for, Reno moved forward, taking up a seat opposite the President at the desk. Rufus just watched him, his free hand sliding slowly along the desk around behind Aura, close, but not quite touching her, not yet. Reno's eyes followed Rufus' hand, knowing exactly what the man was trying to do. He blinked and looked back up to meet the President's pale blue eyes. Rufus smirked at him.

"You called, Sir?"

"Yes. You saw Tseng earlier. I'm assuming it was to make a report to him?"

"Yeah, yo."

Rufus raised a blonde eyebrow. "Well, as Tseng is unable to come and make his report to me, you'll need to inform me yourself."

Reno nodded, leaning back in the chair, "Yeah, okay."

They both watched as Aura turned and picked up a clean bandage. As she began bandaging Rufus' arm at the wrist, Reno began telling him everything he had told Tseng. When he was done, the man nodded. "You and Rude will investigate our warehouses in Midgar tomorrow."

"'course, yo." Reno's eyes went back to Aura as she secured the bandage. "That was my plan."

"Was it?"

"Yeah, if we figure out which one they've gotten into, then we can check inventory of what was in there… if they've taken stuff we may be able to track it."

Rufus nodded his agreement.

"Done." Aura said softly, sitting straighter on the desk. Rufus looked at the bandage and smiled at her.

"Thank you."

Reno bit back a snarl when the other man's hand went to Aura's knee. Swallowing, he drew a slow breath and focused on releasing it just as slowly. "Which one of you," began Rufus, trailing his fingers up the outside of Aura's leg, "do you think is more brave?"

Reno looked quickly at Rufus. What was the man doing now? The game had just changed.

"…Sir?" he asked, uncertain. Rufus often flicked between personalities at a rate Reno found difficult to keep up with.

"Just curious." Rufus drawled, his hand sliding around behind Aura who glanced quickly at Reno.

"I don't know." Reno replied, his teeth clenched. If Rufus thought he was just going to sit there and watch this, he was mistaken. "But you need to get your hand off Aura."

"Do I?" Rufus' tone was mild and unconcerned.

"Yeah, you do." Aura said flatly. She slapped his hand away and went to stand up, but Rufus blocked her by moving his chair closer to the desk. Reno saw Aura's jaw clench and she glanced at him again. "Back up, yo." She motioned for Rufus to get out of her way.

Reno got to his own feet when Rufus didn't move. The President was looking directly at him, barely sparing a glance for Aura, and Reno knew this was entirely for his benefit. "Do you think I'm being inappropriate, Reno?"

"Yeah." Reno was impressed with his self-control in replying simply and without the rest of the language he felt like throwing at the man.

"You… are so often inappropriate…" Rufus mused. Reno took an involuntary step forward when Rufus closed a hand around Aura's wrist and drew her off the desk and closer to himself.

"Not like this…" Reno's voice was low, "I don't wear a tie… I don't talk fancy… but I don't act like this…"

"No?" Rufus' feigned surprise "Were you not fucking Cissnei every chance you got…?" Reno felt Aura's eyes on him, but he kept his own gaze on Rufus, "in the office… all over the place…at least until she became more interested in Zack Fair than you."

Not knowing how to respond, Reno was silent for several moments. "Not once did that interfere with my job."

"Good." Rufus released Aura and moved his chair back, his icy eyes still on Reno. "I'm glad you know how to separate your priorities. Keep it up."

Reno just stood, staring at Rufus, while Aura picked up her basket and strode from the room. He had no idea what the fuck the man was playing at. He wasn't the only ShinRa employee to be fucking another. Tseng and Elena were clearly at it and, shit, Zena had fucked just about everyone he knew. Including Rufus, who had fucked half of them himself. What was the man's issue?

"Draw up a roster for patrol for tomorrow before you go home." Rufus said, dismissing him with a wave of his hand. Reno nodded silently and returned to his desk, thankful that he had begun the roster earlier.

After he had finished the stupid pile of paperwork he had to complete, Reno went to the training room to workout for a while. When he'd showered, he went up to Aura's workroom to discover that she had gone, and he figured he probably should have checked on her earlier. Nothing had happened to her, but he supposed that being used by Rufus to get to him wouldn't have been easy to swallow.

The sun had set by the time he walked through Aura's swiftly growing garden to her door. He thought briefly about using the key she had given him that morning, but wasn't sure. She had said he was allowed to let himself in when she wasn't home, but he wasn't sure what the rules were when she was home. Trying the handle, Reno found the door was unlocked, and he figured that solved the dilemma for him. Slowly, he pushed the door open and stuck his head inside.

"Aur?"

She was standing in her living room in a towel and Reno slipped inside before closing the door behind himself. "Hey…" he said, eyes moving over her.

"Hey."

"…Are you okay?" he asked, wary of the fact that she was just standing and looking at him.

"Yeah, fine."

"I… I should have come to check earlier." He said, "Just got distracted by paperwork… then I had to go work some stem off."

Aura gave a half-shrug. "It's okay."

"Is it…?"

"Who's Cissnei?"

Reno resisted a sigh. "She… was a Turk."

"Is she dead?"

"No."

"What he said… was it true?"

"…Yeah." Reno didn't know where this was going. Probably exactly where Rufus Shinra had wanted it to go. Aura nodded, not looking at him. "Aur…" He moved toward her, "Are you gonna go get jealous on me, yo?" Green eyes flicked directly to him, and her voice was quiet when she spoke.

"No…" Reno leaned closer to hear her, "I… I'd always known you… you'd… had…" she made a face "lovers." He watched her look away again, "But that was when it was a different life. When I didn't know anything, any of them… it was separate."

"And now?" he asked, and she looked at him again.

"What did she look like?"

Reno shook his head, "She… had dark eyes… Red hair…"

"And you were together…?"

"Not really."

"What does that mean?" she asked, "not really?"

"It means… We… would have sex…" he gave a shrug, "but it wasn't as if we were in a relationship…"

"Did you love her?"

"No." Reno paused when she gave him a questioning look. "Aur… it wasn't what you're thinking. It was just fucking." She looked away again and he tilted his head. "I know you don't understand that." He said, "We were both lonely… and it was a way to ease the stress of the job. A way to connect."

The look she gave him then gutted him, and he couldn't help picturing her sitting alone for years in the house he'd gotten her. By herself. Waiting for him to visit every so often. "I see." Was all she said.

"Aura…"

"It's fine." She said, turning away, "I'm not jealous."

Reno moved closer again, wrapping his arms around her. "I think you are." He murmured in her ear. She went to move away, but Reno didn't let go. "There's nothing to be jealous of." He breathed. Aura tried to pull away again, but he held tighter. "It was nothing. It didn't mean anything." He gripped her more firmly. "It was so long ago. It was before I ever considered that I was in love with you. Years ago." She pushed at his hands, but he refused to release her. " Aura, listen to me."

"I am." She muttered, "I told you I'm not jealous."

"But you are." He pressed his cheek to her hair, holding her firmly to himself. "I need you to understand what it was. Nothing like you and I. It was emotionless fucking."

"But I wont understand, will I." she elbowed him in the chest and pulled away, but he grabbed her again, holding her tightly as she shoved at him, "You can't tell me that it was emotionless, but a way of connecting because you were lonely."

Reno shook his head, confused. He hadn't thought she would be this upset by learning about people he'd fucked in the past. It wasn't as if she'd been unaware of it happening. He didn't understand what this was. "Aura…" he breathed.

"Let me the fuck go!" she shoved at him again and he released her, lifting his hands in surrender. Aura adjusted the towel that was still wrapped around her as she glared at him.

"What is this?" he asked softly.

"I'd assumed," she muttered, her eyes now on the couch and not on him, "that you'd had a random string of people you would fuck. I'd assumed there had been lots of them." She drew and released a shuddering breath, "But this was more than that, clearly. This was enough of something for Rufus Shinra to mention. He threw it in your face. That's not nothing."

Reno watched her carefully. She was acting as if he'd cheated on her. He hadn't. "Aura, listen to me." He said slowly. "Rufus is fucked in the head. He always has been." Her green eyes lifted to meet his again. "Half the time I'm scrambling to figure out what game he's trying to play, and then even if I do he changes the rules arbitrarily. I have no idea what he's trying to do. I have no idea why he says what he says."

"But it was still true." She said, "She was someone you went to time and time again…"

"Yes." He said, moving toward her again, "And she came to me." Aura took a step back.

"And you never told me."

"…I never told you about any of them." He said, another step taking him closer to her again. "Should I have?"

"I…" she moved sideways, away from him. "I don't know…. Maybe you should go."

"No, Aur…" Reno shook his head, "Don't…"

"Don't what?" she asked, putting a hand out when he moved closer again. He took hold of her wrist but she pulled it away. "Don't touch me."

Reno stood, stung. "I… Aur, I… I don't understand."

"Neither do I…" her voice was quiet again, and Reno began fighting panic. He reached out to her once more, "Reno…" she backed up again. "Please…"

He stopped. The frown creasing her features was uncharacteristic and the frustrated way she ran her hands though her hair screamed confusion. He didn't want to push her any more than he already had. "We need to talk about this."

"Not now." She turned away from him.

"Do you really want me to leave?" Reno tried to swallow the hurt as he asked the question, but it flooded him an instant later when she just nodded, her back still to him. "Okay…" he ran his hands over his face, "Okay, Aur…"

Forcing himself to move, Reno turned toward the door. When he reached it, he looked back at her. She hadn't moved. "I love you." He said, before opening the door and making himself walk through it. The moment Reno had closed the door behind himself he heard her cry, and he sank to sit on the step, unable to walk away. Leaning back against the door, Reno just listened. He had no idea what this reaction of Aura's was. It was clearly more than just simple jealousy. She didn't act this way with Zena and she had actually seen him with Zena, so he did not know what was going on or how to make it better. He needed to talk to her, and he needed her to talk to him. He would have to wait, however. Until she was ready.

Reno sat on the step for two hours, until the light inside Aura's house went out, and then he walked home.