Business As Usual
Chapter 20: Killing the Boss
Miya's Note: Whoo, sorry this took so long. I was having difficulties, as well as trying to get all nice and settled in to college.
Again, I must remind those of you who haven't already to read White Flag. For those of you who have already read it, the same goes for you, because I completely re-wrote it, and it's WAAY better now (and a bit longer).
To Cat Paws: Thanks for the review, but I just have to tell you the same thing as I told Shiri Makatami in the note to her in Ch. 19: Please, even though you can't take back your last review, try not to put spoilers in your comments. Thanks a bunch.
To DSC: I do hope you read this. The moment I read your review, I had the urge to reply to it. You're the first to actually notice my annoying little plot-holes. Yes, I did notice the problem with Vincent, about half-way through writing Ch. 19. There are a few others in there, though most of them don't have to do with contradictions of FF7, but with contradictions of myself. I will eventually fix these, because I'm going to stick together a little "Final Draft" (which I've started already) that'll hopefully fix some of my careless errors (and my typos!). As for Zack, Sephy, and others, they're going to come in later. As of now, they don't fit into the storyline, and any appearance of them would seem forced and unnatural. Reno and Rufus are kind of in a world of their own, and other characters only seem significant to the two of them when they directly affect their lives.
As far as BC goes, I'm currently writing this based on the little knowledge of the Turks and other members of Shinra Inc. gained from the main FF7, and not the other members of the FF7 Compilation. Simple as that. Those are the Squenix people's interpretations. This is mine. They don't exactly agree, and that's what fun about this. I get to be anti-official! (Meaning, this story is meant to show how I thought a lot of things were from my experience playing FF7. For example, I cannot, for the life of me, imagine the Turks having as many members as they do in BC. That just seems to make them less significant.)
Other than that insanely long explanation, I'd like to say "thanks"! I'm extremely glad that you like my story enough that the nitpicks didn't detract too much. I pride myself on my characterization, and I'm glad you appreciated it. Thanks again.
To Mikie: Hey, I want to know if what I heard from Jasmine is true, but from you. And be truthful. If it is true, and you're honest about it, I won't be angry. You know what I'm talking about. I do appreciate all of the fans you got me, and I appreciate your reviews very much. But I take these things very seriously and am more offended than anything that there would even be rumors of them. Thanks, Mikie.
To Shiri Makatami: Now I'm confused. But it's okay. Thanks a bunch!
To cinnakat: All that I can say is "WHY ARE YOU APOLOGIZING IF YOUR SISTER'S BEEN MISSING?" You don't need to feel obligated to make BAU your first priority! I just hope everything is going well for you.
To corkykiggs: I'd really love to know your ideas of who Nora and Feltz are. I want to know what people are thinking. As far a the thing with Shinra goes…I sure as heck didn't feel sorry for him. XD
"Alright, Boss. Bye," said Reno into his PHS after he finished a briefing with Tseng. "One motorcycle? Did you arrange this?" Reno asked, making doubly sure that the channel that connected he and Rufus to Tseng was tightly shut off.
"No, Reno. They could only fit one motorcycle on the helicopter."
"The richest, most powerful company in the world could only afford to make a helicopter that could fit one motorcycle?" The redhead threw his hands up to the sky in exasperation. "And I thought you offering to catch me was embarrassing."
"It got you to jump, didn't it?"
Reno stopped for a moment and stared at the blonde, his eyes flinging daggers at Rufus. "You sick, twisted bastard."
"I know you wouldn't have it any other way."
"Don't even go there."
Rufus stepped to the weapon crate and pulled a crowbar free from its tape on the lid, using the bar to pry open the wood of the box.
"Anything good in there?"
"Of course. I packed it from my personal collection."
Reno leaned over the crate as the blonde pulled the packing from around his weaponry. "I don't know whether to be scared or not that you own that many guns."
"Oh, you should be." The blonde pulled the last weapon from the crate after hooking the others to various places in and on his clothing. The last, he simply held in his hands.
"Is that a sniper rifle?"
"Yes. Isn't it beautiful?"
"You own a fucking sniper rifle." Reno ground his teeth together slightly. "Now, I think I have every reason to be afraid."
"Oh, yes. Do be afraid. I can be quite threatening with weapon in hand." Rufus checked the sight on the rifle by aiming at Reno's forehead.
"Point taken." Reno pushed the barrel of the rifle away from him.
"You know that I wouldn't fire, Reno."
"No, I don't. Not after yesterday."
"I told you that I am not the same as then." The blonde slung the rifle over his shoulder by the carry strap attached to it.
"Just because you say that doesn't mean that I can bring myself to trust you."
"Point taken," Rufus mocked the redhead bitterly with his own words.
"Changing subjects. So, who's riding bitch? I'm assuming me, since you seem to be better at everything else, so driving a motorcycle shouldn't be any different."
"Actually, you will be driving. My skills in that particular area are significantly under par, as I never took the time to learn. That is why I have a chauffer."
"Wow, I don't believe it. I'm actually better than you at something for once."
"Are you jealous?" Rufus asked, sitting backwards on the motorcycle seat after cutting off the cords that held the surprisingly small parachute that kept it from breaking as it fell. He rested one foot on the tire guard, and left the other hanging freely, leaving Reno room enough to sit in front of him.
"It's dangerous to ride that way."
"You didn't answer me."
"Yes, and turn around."
"I was thinking we could skip the plan and try for a drive-by shooting, but if you actually want to risk your life and limb by being the bait to draw Kisiragi from his hideout, be my guest."
"I'd rather stick to the mission plan. Plus, I don't want to risk getting mad at you and pushing you off of the bike while you have your back turned," Reno sneered viciously. "I need you for this."
"Testy, are we?"
"You can't say that you blame me, can you?"
"No, I guess not. Get on the bike."
Reno didn't say anything, but swung his leg over the seat and pulled his goggles down over his eyes. He shivered slightly, though Rufus wasn't sure if it was from revulsion or not, when the blonde turned around and wrapped his arms around his partner's waist.
The motor of the bike practically exploded into life and flew forward with a jerk that probably would have flung the blonde if he had remained in his former position.
"Where are we headed?"
"Just keep going straight. When you see Wutai in the distance, begin to slow down. Make a wide circle around the city. You should be able to see the wooded area where the hut is hidden from fairly far away. It is the only true forest in the vicinity of the city. Park far enough from it so that nobody will be able to hear the engine. We will walk from there."
"Okay."
Reno found himself surprised at Rufus' speed as he ran through the woods, especially considering what he guessed must have been an extra fifteen pounds of weaponry strapped to his body. "You sure move fast for a guy who doesn't get out of the Shinra building that often," he gasped, trying to keep up.
"I work out. That is what the gymnasium is there for. Plus, you must remember that I train with your coworkers quite often."
"So do I, but damn."
"I also don't smoke." Reno could hear a note of disgust in the blonde's voice at the last word.
"Hey, I quit for a while! Then that bastard Pulitz got me to start again." Reno sped up as much as he could, and, to his surprise, the space between him and the blonde lessened. "And, you know what? I think you'd look good with a cig. It'd suit your whole high class ensemb."
"I will never start smoking."
"You drink, you kill, you screw, and you think smoking's gross. That's just weird."
"I thought that you hated it, too. So, why are you encouraging me to start?"
"It's for the look."
"You're telling me to smoke for the fashion statement?"
Reno shrugged. "Whatever you want to call it. Yeah, I guess."
Rufus stopped in his tracks, and Reno ran right past him. The blonde raised an eyebrow and began to move again, quickly passing up the Turk once more. As he brushed by the redhead, Reno noticed an amused snigger on the blonde's face, and thought he heard a taunting whisper of "That is so gay."
"You're one to talk, you pretty-boy!" the Turk yelled. Rufus just laughed, confirming that what Reno had heard was correct.
From the depths of the forest came a light. The two continued to run, soon breaking free from the darkness of the woods into sunlight. They looked down upon the small valley that contained Wutai within it and a small hut far closer.
"Well, we're here. What's the plan, Rufus?"
"Why don't you ask Tseng? You do realize that you still have a PHS, correct?"
Reno frowned slightly and flipped open the small communicator, pressing in the combination that would reopen the channel and contact the Turk leader. "Hey, Boss. Yeah, we're here."
Rufus pulled a small earpiece from his pocket and pushed it into his ear canal. The conversation between his partner and the black-haired Turk entered his mind.
"How is Rufus doing?"
"He's fine."
"You should tell him that I keep having to give you reminders of what we're here for, even though you're the Turk and I'm the guest," the blonde butted in, toward his partner.
Reno waved his comment off.
"What was that?"
"Rufus is being a pain in the ass."
"Rufus, is this true?" asked Tseng jokingly.
"Of course, Tseng. How else would I keep Reno in check?"
"Shut up, Drama Queen," Reno hissed, covering the microphone.
Rufus smiled, pushing the PHS away from the redhead's mouth so that he could talk without the Wutaian hearing. "Oh, so we're back to pet names now, are we?"
"Back to the mission," said the unruly Turk with a cold change of voice that would have sent chills down any normal man's spine.
But Rufus was no ordinary man, and Reno knew this well. He took his boss' presence to mind as he closed the PHS without turning it off, attaching a headset over his ear , the microphone hanging over his mouth.
"Is everything alright?"
"Yeah, Boss. Any special orders?"
"Just please, please try to keep Liu from doing anything stupid. I don't want her to get herself killed, especially not by my men."
"Alright. I'll try."
"I as well," Rufus said into Reno's microphone.
"Thank you both."
Reno stood in front of the hut, his electro-mag rod at the ready. He heard a rustling in the grass that caused him to turn quickly. Before him stood a man who looked the spitting image of a younger version of Tseng.
"Who are you, and what do you want with us?" asked the man, who Reno figured had to be the target.
"Are you Jiang Kisiragi?"
"Yes," stated Jiang darkly.
Reno pulled out his mag-rod. It sparked slightly, and the Kisiragi son, who, by the looks of it, was even younger than Reno himself, stared warily, running his fingers over the hilt of a katana. The redhead brandished his weapon in attempt to send out a bolt that would stun his target momentarily.
More sparks came, but the mag-rod stayed otherwise inactive.
"My name is Reno Kiribani, and I am with the Shinra Special Forces division, the Tactical Urban Reconnaissance and Killing Specialists," said the redhead in attempt to disarm the other man with words instead of with his suddenly inoperable weapon.
"If you truly were a Turk, you wouldn't be telling me that."
"I am here at the orders of my boss to kill you for plans to assassinate the President and Vice President."
Jiang smiled. "Too bad you only brought one uncivilized weapon to compete with my skills as a swordsman."
"That's the thing. I didn't."
Jiang was about to respond, but whatever he was about to say was forgotten as a bullet drove through his left temple.
Reno smiled grimly as Jiang Kisiragi fell. "It's a shame. This is always so easy."
The Turk began to trudge back up the hill from which he came, occasionally checking his surroundings for any traps. But it wasn't his sight that would warn him of another presence, but his touch.
He swatted at his neck as he felt a small twinge of pain. Between his fingers, and out of the soft skin there, a small dart protruded. He pulled it out quickly, wondering what kind of poisons it carried.
"Damn. Spoke too soon again. Tseng, Tseng, do you hear me?" he said into his headset.
"Reno, what is it?"
"It's…a dart…" he mumbled feebly, unable to think of anything more to say. He held his electro-mag rod before him in attempt to put up a last defense against his invisible assailant. This time, it didn't even flicker.
Reno felt suddenly queasy, losing his balance and toppling, half conscious, back down toward the small Kisiragi hut.
The assailant finally showed form, dashing behind Reno's twisted body and picking it up. The figure, a feminine one dressed all in black, held up her hostage between herself and the barrel of Rufus' sniper rifle.
The blonde cursed from his post on the hill. She knew he was there.
"Reno, is something the matter? What was that noise?" Rufus heard Tseng say from his headset.
The woman who held Reno hostage seemed to be hearing it, too, and she paused, lowering Reno slightly, but not enough to give Rufus a clear shot.
"Tseng?" she said nervously into Reno's microphone.
"…Liu? What are you doing? How did you get hold of Reno's PHS?"
Her voice became cold. "He's my hostage, Tseng, and there's nothing you or anyone else can do to stop me. I will bring your precious company down if it costs me my life in the end. What you have done to us is wrong. You are a disgrace to the name of Takawa-Li."
With those last words, Tseng's sister flinched from behind her human shield, leaving her left arm unguarded. Taking a moment of opportunity, Rufus aimed and fired. Liu dropped her hostage with a scream. Reno, not quite unconscious, groaned slightly.
"Liu! What is it? You must stop! There's another man there with you, a sniper…you'll get yourself killed!"
"I…don't care. He will die like this worthless man will when the poison sets in. He will die like you will when we invade your headquarters and bring Shinra down!"
"There's one problem!" yelled another voice from upon the hill. Liu looked up to see down the barrel of the same rifle that had wounded her arm. "You are unguarded, and I have the upper ground, and the upper hand. It is only because of my loyalty to Tseng that you are not already dead. I will not guarantee your life, but I will give you the chance to defend yourself."
"What are you rambling on about, Shinra scum?"
"Do you know who I am, Kisiragi?"
"I don't care who you are. You are all bastards." With that, she spit toward him, though Rufus was too far away for it to reach him.
Still holding the rifle toward Liu's head, Rufus pulled his identification from his back pocket and threw it on the ground before her. "Pick it up."
She did, looking at it with eyes that hid her sudden and unexpected fear at the name on the card well, but not well enough, and Rufus smiled faintly and sinisterly in triumph.
"You," was all that Liu could say.
Rufus dropped the sniper rifle, and ran at her, throwing his jacket and the rest of the weapons off as he did as well. "Fight me," he hissed, a slightly manic gleam in his icy glare. "Draw your sword and fight me."
She paused, unwilling to fight an unarmed man, no matter how much she hated him.
Rufus jumped the rest of the way down the hill, landing directly in front of his enemy. He looked into her eyes, and she withered under the gaze. "Are you afraid of me? I assure you that I have no weapons. I prefer to make this a fair fight. First, I would like my identification and your hostage, in return for giving you a chance to kill the man you hate most. After all, Shinra Incorporated would collapse if I were to die today."
She shoved the I.D. into his face. He took it with a menacing grin. "Take the Turk as well," sneered Liu. "He will die anyway."
"I doubt that." Rufus turned away, knowing fully well that his adversary would not attack him if he could not see her. "After all, you got him from behind, and it is against your policies to backstab. It will not kill the strong."
"We are ninja, not samurai."
"You are a Takawa-Li. Tseng informed me of your family laws."
Liu was silent.
"I also know how this poison works," Rufus continued simply. "It is the same thing you use to bring forth the rite of adulthood in your young. It will only kill you if you allow it to. Am I correct?"
"…Yes."
"Reno," said Rufus.
The redhead merely groaned.
"Whatever you do, do not fall asleep."
"But…hurts."
"I don't care. Don't fall asleep. I will help you shortly."
"Fight me," hissed Liu.
"Don't, Liu. He will kill you," Tseng yelled so loudly that Reno had to shake the headset the rest of the way from his ear.
Rufus turned quickly. "Draw your sword."
"You are still unarmed."
"Remember that I have trained with your brother. I am far more capable of defending myself than you would imagine. Plus, you are injured."
"Rufus…be…" Reno muttered slowly. "Be…careful."
Liu drew her sword with a graceful swipe that made the air before her ring. Rufus gestured for her to attack.
He had her right arm held above her head before she realized what had happened. "What? How did you…?"
"Say goodbye to your brother, Liu Takawa-Li."
"Sir…Rufus, don't! Stop, please…you have to…"
"Reno, do you have enough strength to move?"
"…Yes, I think so."
"Turn off your PHS."
"No, stop!"
Tseng was cut off suddenly. Rufus wrapped Liu's arm around her own body, turning her away from him while bringing her closer. The katana was dangerously close to Rufus' side.
He snapped her neck, and she fell, the blade still clasped tightly in her fingers.
The blonde stepped over the corpse. "Are you alright, Reno?"
"You killed her?"
"I did."
Reno's lips shut together firmly, forming a thin, straight line.
"I want you to try and stand."
"I don't think I can."
"Believe me when I say that the more that it hurts, the better it is for your health. This poison is designed to test will power. If you give into the pain, then you fall asleep and simply never wake up. If you fight it, despite how much it hurts, you live."
"I don't like this stuff."
"I, personally, find it rather intriguing."
"You would."
Reno fought to stand, getting most of the way before dropping back down to his knees. "How do you know about this crap, anyway? Did Tseng tell you?"
"Not quite. It was more like he gave me a hands-on demonstration."
"He used it on you?"
"Yes, after I told him that I wanted to be stronger."
Reno looked incredulous.
"What? Did you think that Turk training was the only kind that I received from your boss?"
"How did you convince Tseng to give you his family secrets?"
"I can be quite persuasive sometimes. I am sure that you know this from experience."
"Point."
Rufus smiled triumphantly, but the familiar toothy smirk faded quickly. "Oh, dear."
"What is it?"
"You've been poisoned."
"I know this. Thank you, oh obvious one."
"Do you know what this means?"
"I'm in lots of pain."
"I see that. But, mind-bending agony aside, this means that I have to drive the motorcycle."
"Oh………oh…oh, shit. I hate my life," groaned the redhead in an obvious mockery of the other man.
"Oh? So nice of you to finally join the happy family," sneered the blonde. "This also means that we have to find some way to transfer you from here to said motorcycle. I guess I get to carry you around, after all, along with Tseng's sister."
"You're taking her with us?"
"Yes. Tseng is her last living relative, as we have otherwise wiped out the ancient Takawa-Li family line."
Reno's eyes widened. "Shit."
"He loved her far too much, but I guess that is one thing that I cannot blame him for. Mother was perhaps undeserving of such adoration as I still give her."
The redhead changed subjects. "That's a lot of weight to bear, especially with your guns."
"I am leaving those. They are mere possessions. Plus, I would love to see the outcome of the Wutaians finding them."
"If children find them, people could get killed, or it could completely shatter their culture. Wutai doesn't have guns."
"I know."
"Wow, you're an asshole."
Rufus simply shrugged. "I'll take that as a compliment."
Reno tried to stand, not wanting in the least to have to degrade himself enough to let Rufus carry him through the woods.
Though he managed to get to a crouching position, he couldn't rise farther. "How did you deal with this shit? I swear that you're a fucking masochist."
"Perhaps. Do not feel bad. I couldn't stand either."
"How long does it last?"
"Approximately twenty-four hours. Do not worry. I will get you the antidote when we get back to Midgar."
Reno watched, his entire body aching, as Rufus ripped strips from his discarded jacket and used them to harness the corpse of Tseng's sister to his back, her quickly stiffening arms, the katana finally loosed from her fingers, wrapped dangerously around his throat and her legs around his waist.
Rufus knelt next to the Turk. "Take my hand. I will try to help you to walk."
"So, you're not carrying me?"
"I can see you do not want that." The look in Rufus' eyes could have almost been described as soft.
Reno merely complied, rising to his feet with the blonde's help. He fell forward against the other man, a shiver running down his spine as his cheek brushed against Liu's cold hands. Rufus held him up.
"Just carry me, Rufus, if that would be easier. It doesn't matter anymore."
The Vice President nodded his head, bending slightly and lifting Reno, with some effort, into his arms.
Reno could tell that the combined weight of the two bodies that Rufus Shinra carried were too much for the blonde, but marveled at the fact that the thin, frail-looking man carried them on nonetheless, trudging slowly through the woods and looking the exact opposite of how he normally did. Sweat fell down his brow and into his sight, causing tears to swell from his reddened eyes. The golden hair that reminded Reno of spun silk stuck haphazardly to his cheeks, which shown bright pink under the wet strands.
Rufus gasped raggedly, the arms around his neck obviously making it hard for him to breathe. The bedraggled image of the weighed-down Rufus began to fade from his vision, but a hoarse and pained voice kept him from falling out of consciousness.
"Stay awake! I don't need more dead weight," it said.
Reno remembered very little of the motorcycle ride, or the helicopter ride that followed, but what he did was the image of Rufus collapsing to his knees when they reached the Shinra building.
It made Reno feel as if the poison were nothing.
"I don't want it. I want to wait this out," said Reno as Rufus handed him a small vial of antidote.
Rufus smiled, sitting on his own bed next to the redhead. "I had hoped you would say that. I could have probably very easily found the antidote inside of the Kisiragi hideout, but I chose not to, hoping that you would eventually choose to take the test unassisted."
"I wouldn't exactly call this unassisted. You've helped me out a hell of a lot."
"But you are the one who has stayed alive."
Reno chose not to argue.
"Let me see your identification."
"Why?"
"Just give it to me."
Reno did. Rufus looked at the number printed under the Turk's name and sat next to the small personal computer at his home desk. He accessed the redhead's files, typed in a few things that Reno couldn't make out from where he was sitting, and handed the card back.
"What'd you do, Rufus?"
"I gave you unlimited access to these quarters. Feel free to take any remaining items from your old apartment that you wish to keep and move them in here."
"You're letting me move in with you?"
"You practically live here already."
Reno stared at the card and let out a small grunt of a laugh.
"What is it?"
"I'm just thinking how nice this big, soft bed's gonna feel when I'm finally allowed to go to sleep."
"That is all?"
"Yeah, that's about the gist of it."
"If you weren't poisoned, I'd hit you for that."
"You know, despite the way you try to be, you're such a hopeless romantic."
"You get that from my wanting tobeat you senseless?"
"No, from you letting me move in with you. It's kinda sweet."
"So you did think of something else."
"After the fact." Reno looked up into Rufus' face. "What's his story?"
"Hm?"
"Tseng. Did he tell you why he became a Turk? He doesn't seem like he belongs here."
"He doesn't. He always had too much heart to be in Shinra Incorporated. That is why I gave him a desk job. You were really replacing him when you joined, you know, although he would never admit it."
"What about Rude?"
"He doesn't like to lead. He needed somebody to take Tseng's place in the field who could give him the sense that he was following somebody he could trust. Tseng…well, he joined for all of the wrong reasons."
"What were those?"
"I shouldn't be telling you that, but perhaps later I will nonetheless. For now, I have an idea that may make this more enjoyable for you, since you refuse to take the antidote."
"By enjoyable for me, do you mean enjoyable for you?"
"Perhaps just a bit, Reno."
"Then I think that I may like this idea."
"Come with me." Rufus helped Reno to stand again, supporting him as they walked into the bathroom. It was back to perfection, every broken aspect of it now fixed as if by magic. It really paid to have the money to get things done, thought Reno.
"What are we doing?"
"Taking a shower. The warm water will help the poison to flow through your system faster, and will take some time off of your sentence."
"Isn't that cheating?"
"Maybe a little, but I don't like to play fair."
"Do I have to do anything?'
"No, Reno. I am pampering you this time."
"I really don't know if I'm gonna like that."
Rufus whispered into his ear. "I'll make sure that you do. Now, stop trying to be such a gentleman. It doesn't fit you."
At first, the water actually hurt as it hit Reno's over-sensitized skin, but it wasn't long before the massive pain began to dull away, turning into a kind of strange euphoria like the kind he had heard of from reading things about faraway peoples who danced for pain until the pain became too great to hurt anymore.
They sat in the large bathtub, Rufus behind Reno, the redhead resting comfortably in between the legs of the man that he could once again touch without fear or revulsion. The Turk leaned back completely against his revived lover's chest and stomach, falling into a kind of trance from the beating of water and the slow movements of Rufus' hands as the blonde caressed his skin like they used to do at night sometimes, the only difference between the then and the now being the soap that covered those long fingers and scraped away the dirt on the skin beneath them.
They didn't have sex. They didn't even kiss. All that ensued between them was that soft and wonderful touch, but it was enough.
It was strange how easily Reno had forgiven him.
But Rufus did strange things without ever realizing he did them..
Things that could change a man.
A man like Reno.
It was only the Turks and Rufus who attended the Wutaian-style funeral for Liu Kisiragi-Takawa-Li. Tseng stood in the front, his Turks behind him. Rufus stayed in the very back, isolated from the family-tight group of mercenaries. AsLiu's body burned as a torch meant to guide the lost souls of the mourning to peace, Tseng Takawa-Li chanted a prayer to a deity none present knew, in a language none of them understood.
Tseng, for the first time to Reno, seemed foreign in both body and soul.
Afterwards, Rufus stayed behind with the Wutaian, and Reno watched from afar, feeling utterly at a loss,as the blonde spoke to the grieving man.
Then, he saw the both of them make a sudden move. Rufus' body blocked the maneuver so that Reno couldn't see what it was for. All the redhead could tell was that there seemed to be a struggle.
The redhead ran back toward them as fast as he could manage, Rude soon following suit. The both of them stopped dead in their tracks as a shot fired.
Everyone was still. From far away, the great city of Midgar loomed over them as if trying to fall upon them. The sound of the shot still rang through the air when Reno realized what had happened.
Tseng had tried to shoot himself, and it was Rufus who had stopped him.
"Let me go, damnit!" Tseng screeched, trying to move the gun to face his head.
"Stop struggling, or I will shoot you myself, and my shot will not be fatal," Rufus hissed, moving the pistol farther away from the Turk.
"I will find a way, Rufus, even if I have to fucking take you down with me!"
Reno stood like a statue. He had never heard Tseng talk like this before.
Rufus grabbed Tseng by the elbow with his other hand and broke the black-haired man's arm at the joint. Tseng screamed and dropped the gun, holding his arm to him, though it stuck out in a strange direction that just a yell and a grasp could never fix.
"You are a fool, Tseng, as I once was, but you will learn to live again."
The blonde picked up the gun and swept past Reno and Rude, who ran to their leader's aid.
"Tell me now, Rufus," said Reno, standing in front of the blonde's desk as the Vice President signed papers with the rhythm of a machine.
"Tseng left Wutai because of his sister," he stated blandly, still signing the great stack of paperwork that littered his desk from days away from the office.
"Why?"
"At thirteen, Tseng was given the same poison that Liu used on you, but she was young and knew nothing of the ways of adults, and she found the antidote and gave it to him." Rufus kept signing.
"And?"
"And he took it, because he didn't want to hurt his sister. But their father found out." Signature. And another.
"So he just left?"
"He didn't want her to know that she had made him a disgrace to their family, so he made himself into one, and became an enemy." And sign again. And again. And again. And Rufus dotted one last "i" in "Shinra" and stopped, looking up at the redhead and resting his head in his hand. "Anything else?"
"Why did he become a Turk? Wouldn't it have been better for him to stay in SOLDIER?"
"He was too smart for them. Heidegger saw him one day and recruited him on the spot. I found him, going crazy with remorse,and made him what he is today: a de-clawed Turk."
"Is he gonna be alright?"
"He will recover, from both his broken arm and his broken heart, over time."
"You saved him."
"That was the little Reno in my head telling me to do the right thing."
"Don't flatter me. I think I may have let him die, if I had been in your place."
That seemed to Rufus a very odd thing for Reno to say, indeed.
Miya's Note: Yay, they're back together…even though they were never really apart…
Don't worry. Their relationship confuses me, too. That's why I love it.