- A Final Fantasy VII Reno Fanfiction - by Nightcrawler666 -
Dun Dun DUN! Next chapter ;) Aww poor Lou… :'( I don't own Dangermouse, but it'd be cool if I did… And I don't hate it as much as Lou, more like as much as Reno hates it (not very much)!

Chapter 9 - Let it all out

After 15 minutes of Reno and Zack searching the hospital, there was really only one place she could be that they hadn't checked. Then again, she might have left. Zack had forced that out of the question.

"You go in! It probably isn't the first time for you anyway!" Zack argued.
"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" Reno snapped, genuinely offended.

"Well, this is no way the first time you've been into a ladies' bathroom." Zack said, in a stating-the-obvious kind of tone. Reno huffed a long breath out and headed back to his Hospital room.

"Wait! Where are you going?" Zack called after Reno, running after him like the puppy his old mentor used to refer to him as.
"Elena and Aerith, dimwit."

"Hey, um 'Laney… We need a favour." Reno said, scratching his neck. Elena jumped up from where she was sat on Rude's lap, waking him up.
"What is it?" She asked, reluctant to help.

"Can you and Aerith check the ladies' room for Lou?" Elena's face went blank and she took Aerith by the wrist, dragging her out. Zack, being himself, blew a kiss after Aerith. In return he got a giggle and a blush accompanied by a sharp elbow in his ribs.

"Lou?" Elena said, peeping her head around the door. The room had ivory tiles on the floor, and halfway up the wall. The rest of the way it was baby pink. Aerith followed the young Turk in and pointed to the cubicle on the end, the only one with a shut door. A faint sobbing was heard.

"Lou…" Elena repeated, this time in a more sympathetic tone. Aerith gasped when she heard the muffled crying from the girl that, in her head, she had given the award of 'strongest woman emotionally'. But now, she just seemed so vulnerable then, and Aerith couldn't stand it.

"I'm fine, Elena." She lied. Opening up the door, Lou stepped out. Her mascara, applied so well before that it looked as though her lashes were really that long, was dripping down her face with the streams of hot tears she cried. Lou tried her best to smile, but burst back into tears and held her face in her hands.

Aerith and Elena walked over to comfort her, seeing clearly that she was in great stress. Lou sniffled a little and tried to push her away. Then, she started crying again.

"Lou? What's wrong Lou?" Elena asked. Aerith decided at this point it was best to move out, incase Lou was about to reveal something extremely personal. After all, her and Lou weren't that friendly with each other yet.

After Aerith had left, Elena repeated her question.
"What's wrong? You can tell, me I promise I won't tell anyone."
"Promise?" Lou said, her head jerking up from her hands.
"Promise. Don't be afraid to cry either - it's good to let it all out." The Blonde Turk reassured the other.

"It's Reno. He-"
"What did he do to you? Lou you have to tell me! I might be able to help you, if you just tell me. God, that little bastard's gonna get it this time." Elena shouted, practically exploding. Lou looked petrified.

"I can't tell you, Elena. Not now."
"Why not?"
"It wasn't… He didn't do anything." Elena's face looked shocked.

Zack and Reno had been waiting outside the bathroom when Aerith came out.
"Lou's crying." She'd said. Reno smacked his forehead and turned to the wall, repeatedly smashing his fist against it. Aerith proceeded to pull Zack away, back to where Reno was meant to be.

He was still there when Lou ran out. Actually, she ran into him.

Reno lifted his head from the wall and let his muscles relax again. If anyone was going to talk to her, it was going to be him. He turned to the door and took a deep breath, lifting his arm to knock on the flimsy white wood. The door opened, and before Reno really knew what was going on, Lou charged out and crashed into his chest. She looked up at him with blurry eyes, crying, and then pushed him away and kept running.

Lou pulled away from Elena and made for the door, pulling it open and running out into a wall of unexpected muscle. She looked up through a river of tears to see Reno, and was slightly comforted that she wasn't in the arms of a complete stranger. He looked worried and empathetic, but Lou shoved him off of herself and ran.

She got home and decided to take a shower. She kept her hair down, deciding to wash it, and stripped herself free of her vivid yellow tracksuit. After the workout at ShinRa earlier, she really needed a shower. Mind you, Lou always took a shower when she was sad, a bath when she was angry. The water was her way of relaxing.

She was almost finished drying herself when a loud knock resounded from her apartment door."Coming!" She shouted, not wanting them to go away. Any company was going to be adored at this time.

Tying her hair up in a very high ponytail, she walked to the door in her dressing gown.
"Lou!" He said, smiling slightly. It was Reno. Lou shut the door again, only for him to open it again once she'd sat down on her sofa.

"Reno, get out." She murmured, her head between her knees.
"No. Well, not until you tell me something, yo. What was up with you earlier. You know you can tell me."
"Tch. You sound just like Elena did earlier." Lou said. Reno let out a sigh.
"Yeah, but I know how to let someone finish." Lou's eyes widened. "What?" He asked.

"How…? Were you listening to that?"
"What, you and Elena? No, I didn't hear a word. Except for Elena… But all she said was 'Bastard'." Reno finished.
"So how did you know she didn't let me finish?" Lou asked, after a long, awkward silence.
"She never does! It's one of her many annoying traits, I guess." He asked, laughing.

"Well, I'm still not telling you." Lou said, crossing her arms and slouching. Then she realised she was still in her dressing gown.
"Um, I need to get dressed."
"Why? You're not goin' nowhere." Reno said, plastering his usual smirk onto his face. Lou pulled a clearly disapproving face then walked into her room. Reno followed.

"Reno!"
"What?"
"Get out!"
"Why?"

"You're never going to be in my room, got it? Now fuck off out! Oh, you can leave my flat too. Go on. Get out, go bar-hopping or something." Lou shouted. Reno looked shocked somehow, and leaned against the doorframe in protest.

"No." He said simply, then began to fiddle with his EMR.
Lou let out an irritated breath, then replied with:
"Fine. You can stay. Oh, Reno…?"
"Yeah?"
"What do you think I was upset about earlier?" Lou asked, and he thought about it for a while.

"I don't know, woman shit or something' right?" He replied.
"Yeah, 'Woman shit'… Is that a technical term, or-" She started, but was stopped before the end.
"Oh, shut it." Reno said, canning Lou completely save a few giggles. He knew he was beaten and so did she. No need to rub it in.

Later, when Lou had successfully struggled into her pyjamas with an arrogant Turk stood (oblivious to her need of privacy) in the doorway, she was sat with said Turk on her sofa, watching cheesy fails of horror movies.

They'd just got to the part of classic film 'What lurks beyond your cat-flap' where the demon comes from the garden and through the keyhole, then possesses the cat. The cat runs rampage around the house and trashes everything. Then it eats the baby.

Reno was sat there, just patiently waiting for something interesting to happen, when Lou picked up the remote from his lap. He jumped like hell, gaining a laugh from Lou. After she'd stopped her display of amusement, she started to flick through the channels.

"Oh, oh! Put that on! Put it on! Lou! That one!" Reno shouted out, pointing at the screen and trying to snatch the remote. Lou managed to get him away from her, just enough to see what he was going on about.

"Reno, we're not watching Dangermouse." She sighed.

"B-But… Dangermouse is amazing! Put it on! Please! I know! If you don't watch Dangermouse you have to tell me your secret." Reno blackmailed, smirking as always. Lou reluctantly flicked it over to Dangermouse.

About an hour later of annoying dialogue and ridiculously bad animation, Lou fell asleep. Reno saw this and launched himself from the couch, turning off the TV and picking up Lou to take her to her bed. Afterwards, he went into her bathroom and took off all of his clothes save his boxers. He made his way to her mangled old couch and snatched the blanket off the end, trying to fit his lanky self onto it while laying lengthways. There was a muffled chuckle from Lou's room.

Reno sat bolt upright and stared. Lou laughed again, louder this time.
"Go back to bed." He commanded.
"You want me to get out the airbed?" Lou offered, pointing to a large cupboard to her right.
"No, I'm alright. Go back to bed. Why are you still awake anyway?"
"I'm a really light sleeper. It felt cold in my bed, so I woke up." Lou explained.

"Follow me, Reno."
"What? No! I'm fine here, yo." Reno said, then sank back into the lumpy cushions of the sofa.

He felt himself being tipped, then fell on the floor. Lou was dragging him by his feet.
"Ow! Get off me, crazy bitch!" He shouted, trying to detach her from the end of his legs. Then, she lifted him up onto her bed by his waist. Upon being released, Reno made a move to go back to the couch. Lou pushed him back down.

"Is this rape or what?" Reno said, partially to himself but loud enough for Lou to hear it.
"No, because even if I did want to… thingy, it would only be rape if you didn't want it to happen."
"Meh. I guess you're right there, yo." Reno accepted his defeat and sank into the mattress, asleep before he knew it.