and the adventure begins...

After Reno had gone back to Healin Lodge for the night, Cloud was left to ponder whether he was really going to take a Turk job again. Whether he was going to risk his life for Gaia again.

Letting out a long, drawn out sigh, Cloud collapsed on his bed and stared unblinkingly at the white ceiling of his room in the dark, his mako-tinted eyes taking in every inch of the minute details above him. It wasn't the first time he had left home, wondering if he'd ever come back to see the familiar scenes he had left behind. But back then he never really had a home. Nibelheim was almost a childhood prison for him. Somewhere he escaped out of to prove himself to the accusing townsmen, to Tifa. Once he came to Midgar it was no different. He was a wandering mercenary, only with AVALANCHE for as long as the job would pay him.

That was when it all changed. He had friends. Friends who risked life and limb on the journey with him. And here in Edge he finally had a home and a family. Marlene. Denzel. Tifa. Was it selfish of him to want to finally stay with the family he longed for for so many years? Or selfish to take the risk of losing it all forever?

"Dilly dally, shilly shally," A voice sighed from the open door in front of him.

Cloud sat up in his bed a little and upon seeing Tifa standing in the doorway, he collapsed back onto his bed. Tifa smiled at his succinct recognition and slowly walked into his room, sitting on the edge of his bed. "Thinking of running away again?" She asked, turning halfway on the bed to look at the languid blonde.

"I…" Cloud couldn't bring himself to look back into those dark brown eyes urging him to cast away his doubts. Maybe it was because this time he didn't know if Tifa even wanted him to go. Geostigma was over. The remnants were gone. From her perspective, he didn't need to fight anymore. "I don't know," Cloud finished in a low voice.

Tifa smiled sadly and turned away from the blonde, looking at the hardwood floor instead of at Cloud. "It's important, isn't it? Reno acted like it was pretty urgent, chasing after you like that," She laughed a little at the recent memory and then sighed, letting the night air envelop the room before saying cheerfully, "You better go then!"

Cloud looked at her in mild surprise. "Huh?" And here he was, thinking she was going to beg him to stay or something. Seriously, who was going to make those insanely fast Express Deliveries when he was gone?

Tifa hopped off the bed and spun around, smiling at him. "You thought I was going to ask you to stay behind, didn't you?" She grinned, smacking him across the shoulder playfully. "Dilly dally, shilly shally! When have I ever backed off from pushing you to face your destiny?" She punched her fist into her palm in almost a gesture of triumph. "I'm Tifa Lockheart, remember? We'll be fine when you're gone! Don't worry!"

Cloud sat up on his bed slowly and swung his legs over the side. "But…" He started, looking up at her concernedly.

"Nuh uh!" Tifa placed a finger on his lips and bent down to his eye level, "None of that, Cloud Strife! You gotta save the planet again, right?" She grinned one last time before walking towards the door, but stopped with one foot in the hallway. "Come back soon, 'kay?"

"Yeah…" Cloud closed his eyes with a sigh, lying back down on his bed, "I will."


"Morning, sunshine. Let's get goin', yo," Reno called out from his place by the bar as he watched Cloud slowly clunk down the stairs and into 7th Heaven. From the looks of it, the delivery boy didn't seem to get much sleep the night before. Honestly, Reno couldn't blame him. He was dragging the savior of Gaia back into battle for the third time in the short twenty-five years of his life and forcing him to pick up his sword and take the lives of the world onto his shoulders again. But he had no choice. Cloud was the only guy who could beat Sephiroth, so he was definitely the only guy in Gaia that could beat Kir Facaz. Even so, the red-head almost had to hold back a wince as he saw the tired face of the young man before him, mature beyond his ages. If Reno wasn't the most immoral Turk there was, he probably would have felt a jab of guilt every time he looked at the other man.

"We'll be waiting for you, Cloud," Tifa said from behind the bar counter, a meaningful smile on her face, "Don't get in too much trouble."

Cloud subconsciously touched the red ribbon on his left arm and nodded, letting his childhood friend's words sink into his heart and the musky smell of the bar he called his home be left imprinted in his mind. "I'll be home soon," He said in a low voice as he closed the door softly, watching the open sign swing back and forth for a few moments before turning towards his motorbike.

"Get on, yo," Reno nodded towards the front of the bike, already sitting backwards on the seat - as usual, "It's not like Kir Facaz is gonna wait for us to get outta here before he annihilates everything in his path." If they didn't get to the Wutai Continent before long, that casually stated tease would soon become more than just a joke.

"Yeah." Cloud climbed onto the bike and started the engine. After taking one last glance behind him at 7th Heaven, he sped off into the distance, sliding his goggles over his cerulean eyes as he road away at top speed. First it was Sephiroth and now this Kir Facaz calamity. But killing-machine or not, he wasn't going to let this experiment destroy his home, or his family. He was through with running away.

Reno pointed in general southward direction over Cloud's shoulder, "We're heading to Junon, yo. We can board a ship from there to the Western Continent."

"Yeah," Cloud said again, making no effort to hide his succinctness. But something suddenly occurred to him that threw all thoughts of keeping his mouth shut to think out the window. "Reno."

"Yo," The Turk replied, twirling his baton between his fingers, the danger of dropping it from a motorbike moving over a hundred miles per hour only making the usual habit all the more fun.

"I was just wondering," Cloud mused as he looked up through his goggles thoughtfully, "You're a helicopter pilot, right?"

Reno scoffed and tapped the blonde's head with his E.M.R. as if insulted. "No shit, I'm the best, yo!" He yelled proudly over the raging sound of the engine.

"Then why aren't we flying one of the Turks' copters?" Cloud demanded irritably.

"Uhh," Reno stammered, scratching the back of his head guiltily, "Well, you know how I took up this mission on my own accord, right? If Rufus ever found out I hacked into the main system with his password, he'd kill me, yo. There are some things he keeps from us Turks after all."

"So--"

"So," Reno interjected before Cloud could throw another disbelieving comment at him, "I can't use any equipment that belongs to us, Turks, yo. That's like blatantly pronouncing that I ran off to do a mission with AVALANCHE. For all they know, I'm just slacking off, or brooding over the fact that I'm on probation because of Tseng."

Either Reno was genuinely scared of Rufus's wrath enough to resist stealing a Turk copter, or the red-head had clearly decided not to plan out this mission very well. The fact that the Turk was cynical and sadistic enough to just take on the mission and drag Cloud to the depths of despair with him just for the hell of it was also another possibility. Cloud suppressed a loud groan to mutter in a low voice instead, "What an idiot."

"Yo, I heard that, Spiky!"

The delivery boy was about to kick Reno off the bike again just out of sheer annoyance, but paused as he glanced up at the beautiful mountain scenery in the distance. He smirked to himself, "I'm just saying that it's more trouble for you is all."

"What?"

Cloud's custom-made motorbike was perfectly capable of going through rocky ravines, but Reno without a doubt had a little trouble staying on. Perhaps more than a little trouble. As Cloud's bike raced through the steep mountain range, the Turk could only grab the seat and hold on for dear life. If his hands even so much as slipped and he fell off, there was little doubt that Cloud would leave him behind and zoom off into the distance. The guy was just a jerk like that sometimes.

"Yo, Cloud! Fucking slow down, god dammit!" Reno yelled, his voice fluctuating amusingly as Cloud weaved in and out of the myriad of boulders and drove straight across the smaller rocks.

Cloud glanced at the sun slowly setting in the blood red sky and skidded his bike to a stop, promptly sending Reno flying off the back and into the mountain side. "It's getting dark. We should camp out here."

Apparently face-planting into the grass in the shade of the mountains, Reno could only respond with a "BHUCK YOH, COWHD!"


Cloud blew on the fire that he had been attempting to make despite the wind billowing through the darkness. It was a surprisingly disappointing practice. Every single time he emerged seemingly victorious with a blazing flame, the wind snuffed it out.

Reno watched Cloud blow on the - now - ashes for nearly an hour before finally nudging him with his shoe, "Give it up, yo. We can live without a fire."

Cloud turned to the long-haired mercenary's silhouette in disbelief. Was he crazy? It was beyond freezing on this mountain and they were going to risk spending the night without a fire? This may not be one of Reno's more ludicrous stunts, but it was definitely mental.

Reno reached his hand over towards the motorcycle and grabbed something, throwing it on to the ground by the fire. It glowed nearly as bright as a flame would, but shone in multiple colors.

Cloud scrutinized the leather sack on the floor and widened his eyes. "My materia bag! We can't just leave this here all night. What if bandits sneak up while we're asleep and pull a Yuffie on us?" It tired Cloud out just thinking about the trouble he and his friends had to go to in order to get their materia back from the thieving little ninja.

Reno shrugged, "These mountains are completely isolated, yo. No one but an idiot like you would drive their motorbike up these steep sides. Your materia is safe and sound." He gesticulated with a lazy hand at the small pouch of glowing materia, "And you wanted light, right? Perfect solution."

Cloud looked at Reno with an odd expression of mixed feelings on his face. He appreciated how Reno cared for what he wanted, but this wasn't exactly what he wanted the fire for.

Reno squinted at Cloud, scrutinizing him carefully, "Yo, what're you sitting there with a dumb look on your face for? Get over here and go to sleep, yo."

What're you, my mother? Cloud thought, watching Reno yawn loudly as he lay on the ground with his hands as a cushion behind his head. The blonde sighed and abandoned his dying fire to go sit next to his only companion on these cold, lonely mountains. It didn't matter if he was freezing anymore. He needed to rest up for the next day of travel.

Easier said than done. Hours past and Cloud still didn't get a wink of sleep. The mountain wind seemed to blow right through his clothes and the fact that they had no - nor any form of - blankets whatsoever didn't exactly help either. All he could think about was how much he'd love to be in Costa Del Sol right now. So far, this journey really sucked.

Reno opened one eye to peer over at his still wide-awake partner, "I don't think you know this, but your shivering is causing a minor earthquake in this general area of the Eastern Continent, yo."

Cloud hugged his knees tighter to his chest and managed to reply through chattering teeth, "W-wha-what?"

Reno pushed himself up into a sitting position, "Are you cold?" He leaned over, looking at Cloud's face closely.

The shivering blonde buried his numb face into his knees and snorted to himself. "W-what a profound deduction," He managed to get out sarcastically, despite his shivering - which was actually starting to resemble more the likes of a seizure.

"Well, at least you still have enough heat in you to be making wisecrack at me, Spiky." Reno paused for a moment, watching the blonde huddle by himself in the cold wind. From the training Tseng had the Turks go through, a little chilly mountain air was among the least painful of his past sufferings. Though, apparently, the army hadn't inflicted nearly enough torture on their soldiers to make Cloud immune to it. "You have got to be fucking kidding me, yo," Reno eventually rolled his eyes sighing, "Get over here, blondie." He put his arm around Cloud's shoulders and pulled him over so his head was resting on the Turk's shoulder.

Cloud immediately pushed Reno away, looking at him oddly, "What are you doing?"

Reno pulled Cloud towards him again, "Don't be stupid, yo. I'm just trying to get your retarded body warmed up. If you shiver the whole night, not only will the whole mountain fucking collapse from the unbearable shaking, neither you nor I will get an ounce of rest. Just go to sleep, yo."

Barely giving him time to even feel surprised at Reno's sudden grab at him, Cloud was struck with a flash of memories as the familiarity of the position immediately reminded him of Zack. During a mission back when they were in the army, their unit had to trek through a blizzard in the Wutai Mountains and camped out just like this. That was the night Zack had found out Cloud was really sensitive to cold. A lame weakness, really - which Zack concurred with at the time, seeing as he teased the little trooper to oblivion for the rest of the night. But despite the jokes and playfully thrown insults, Zack had held Cloud the whole night. Just like this. Wait a minute… Fuck, he really needed to stop thinking about Zack.

Admittedly, leaning against the red-head's chest did make Cloud feel a whole lot warmer. A little too warm actually. He was about to push himself off Reno's chest and insist on sleeping in a less girly position, but slowly the light of the materia before him began to fade away.

Reno looked down at the blonde under his arm and snorted when he heard the slow and steady breathing that indicated the other man was already in a deep sleep. "Well, that didn't take too long, yo," He couldn't help but chuckle to himself. It was still hilarious that the hero of the planet was this sensitive to a little cold. Though it was more disbelieving that the usually nonchalant Turk would actually go so far as to warm the other man with his own body heat.

Without thinking, his hand suddenly reached out to stroke over the blonde's cheek, initially with an intention of feeling how cold the other man really was, but when Cloud pressed closer to his hand, like a dog urging his owner to pet him more, Reno stared at the blonde and did a double-take. Wait, what the fuck? Since when did Cloud's sleeping face look so cute?

Reno shifted a little to get a closer look at the blonde's face through the dim light of the glowing materia and his eyes widened at the difference in appearance the other man had when he was sleeping. The constant furrow Cloud usually had when he was stressed - which he usually was - had softened in slumber and the bags under his eyes slowly disappeared as the man relaxed. He just looked so calm, peaceful, and almost… defenseless.

It was the last description of the other man that made Reno's heart skip a beat and heat rise up in his body. Belatedly realizing how close his face was actually getting to the blonde's, the Turk immediately jerked away and turned his head to look at the materia instead of focusing on the increasingly attractive male resting on his chest. No, no, no. This was just plain wrong. On so many levels. And the fact that Cloud appearance was usually completely androgynous didn't exactly help the fact that Reno was getting somehow aroused by a man.

It wasn't exactly new territory for him, contrary to popular opinion that he flirted with everything that walked - which wasn't completely untrue in itself. He had experimented with other guys before during his training as a Turk, half because he was just curious and half because he and the other man that was involved usually just wanted to get a release. It wasn't like he had enough morals in him to feel mentally distressed about it anyway.

But in all those other situations, it was just the sex. He had gone through it because he was aroused and needed some outlet to take the stress off his back. It was never the man he was with that turned him on. He was completely straight and he knew it. Down to the bone.

Which was exactly why the situation right now was so fucking disturbing. The way the stupid chocobo's body was pressed against him was doing god knows what to his hormones and it took every sliver of moral in him to tell himself that - for once - what he was doing was actually wrong.

Fuck, come to think of it, he didn't even know what the fuck he was doing. But Reno knew the one thing he could do at that moment. Sleep. Forget about it. The heat would go down after he slept it off. That was the obvious solution.

It was harder than it looked.


As the sun began to warm the horizon and the dew collected on the scarce leaves scattered across the mountain, a steady ray of heat and brilliance shone through Cloud's pale eyelids and roused him from his deep sleep. And a deep sleep it was. Cloud didn't remember the last time he slept so well since he joined AVALANCHE all those years ago. Since the day he lost Zack on the cliff over Midgar, he had almost forgotten the physical warmth of another human being.

Cloud heard a low murmuring from somewhere above him and suddenly remembered what had happened the night before. But something was different somehow… Maybe it was the fact that Reno's original one arm slung over his shoulder had somehow cloned itself and wrapped itself tightly around the blonde's waist. Yeah, that could be it. Cloud looked up at Reno, who had an eerily dazed look in his eyes, and asked warily, "Uhh, Reno?"

"One million five hundred and seven… one million five hundred and eight… What comes after eight again?" The red-head mumbled, staring drowsily ahead of him, evidently not hearing a word of what the other man had just said.

Cloud narrowed his eyes at the red-head, now somewhat doubting his sanity. "Reno. Reno!"

Reno jolted out of his daze. "I swear to God I'm straight!" He blurted out without thinking and immediately cursed himself for it. "Idiot. Idiot. Stupid idiot," He muttered under his breath, mentally smacking himself.

Pointedly ignoring the Turk's evident actions of borderline sanity, Cloud pushed himself out of Reno's arms and stood up, "What were you doing?" He asked through a yawn, stretching his arms as he glanced down at the red-head.

Reno looked away, not wanting the other man to see his blood-shot eyes from lack of sleep. Especially since it was because of him. "Uhh, not counting sheep…?" He replied slowly, wincing as he said it. Damn it. This is what lack of sleep does to him. It makes him more of a moron than he is already.

"Yeah, I could see that," Cloud said, raising an eyebrow at the other man. If this guy was going to act this stupid every time he woke up, Cloud was going to seriously have to reconsider accompanying him on the mission and just go after himself. Then again, seeing as he didn't know jack shit about the mission at this point, he was probably going to just have to live with it. "Well, whatever you say then," Cloud said with a noncommittal shrug, "We should probably get going if we want to arrive at Junon before late afternoon."

"Yeah, that'd be good, yo," Reno replied sleepily, the last two words cut off by another loud yawn. It took nearly all his willpower to jump up from his position sprawled on the ground and walk over to the motorbike just mere meters away. Not to mention the fact that his muscles ached like fucking hell from trying to keep his hands off the defenseless little chocobo head. And even that wasn't completely successful, seeing as he ended up hugging the other man like he was his unborn child.

As he felt the familiar touch of the red-head's back against his own, Cloud revved up the engine. But before he kicked off to speed down the mountain he turned to the red-head behind him and said in a low voice, "Hey, thanks by the way."

"For what?" Came Reno's lazy voice, the slow drawl nearly completely droned out by the sound of the engine.

Cloud laughed softly to himself at the Turk's indifference and turned back to the front, sliding his goggles over his blue eyes, "For staying up with me all night, what else?"


By midday, Cloud and Reno had already made their way down the steep mountain sides, thankfully with Reno still intact and on the bike.

That is, until Cloud felt the Turk's head lolling onto his shoulder as he drove the bike steadily towards the ocean. If Reno was planning to reach Junon in one piece, it was doubtful that it was going to happen at this point. Cloud was initially just going to leave the Turk be, seeing as he had spent the entire night keeping him warm after all, but after Cloud realized belatedly that his heart actually skipped a beat at the red-head's touch - well, that just made him ten times more irritated that he should have been, or rather, shouldn't have been.

Cloud nudged Reno's head lightly with his shoulder, "Reno." The red-haired Turk groaned, but seemingly refused to move an inch, only causing the blonde to get even more annoyed at the incoherent reply. If other man was planning on some sort of affection after the night before, hell, he wasn't getting any. "Reno, get off," Cloud muttered, elbowing the other man in the ribs. Hard.

"What?" The Turk jerked awake momentarily and glanced at the glaring blonde for a few dazed seconds before realizing what he was doing. "Oh, uhh, sorry, yo. Keep driving and shit, I won' bother ya," He mumbled back, slurring his words as he let his head fall forward instead. It was enough that the top-notch engine was roaring away in their ears without Reno's mumbling.

But it wasn't as if he could really help it. After staying up essentially the entire night, he was just about to doze off for the fifth time, which wasn't exactly the brightest idea, seeing as he was already in danger just from sitting the opposite way on the motorbike. Then again, what was a guy to do?

After making sure the Turk wasn't going to do anymore weird things behind his back, Cloud rolled his eyes and turned his focus back onto the road in disbelief and exasperation. Of all the people he had to work with to save the entire planet, this guy just had to be the one. This cynical, completely apathetic, lazy, incompetent Turk. For all the other man cared, all of Gaia could probably blow into smithereens and Rufus and his men wouldn't take anything to heart. Then again, maybe Cloud was exaggerating. Cynical, apathetic and lazy, yes. But - even if he had to dig deep down for it - Cloud had to admit that Reno was one of the more competent Turks, loyal to Shinra up to the point that it was almost ridiculous and insanely devoted to his work.

But it didn't prevent Cloud from using his mind to send death rays at the other man and make a failed attempt to will him to obliteration as Cloud felt the red-head begin sliding his back across his own. Sweet Shiva, now what was he doing? "Seriously, Reno, cut it out." He turned his head to look at the Turk through his goggles. "Could you please stop squirming on the seat? I'm going to kick you off agai--oh shit!" Cloud swore as he hastily reached over with his right hand to grab the red-head's collar just before he slid off the seat.

"What the hell--AGH, FUCK!" Reno choked out as he was dragged by the neck of his suit back onto the bike properly. "Shiva, that was a close one," Reno gasped out, rubbing his bruised neck with one hand and clutching the seat of the bike with the other, "Yeah, never falling asleep backwards on a bike ever again, yo. That was a fucking close one."

"Maybe you should just stop dozing off randomly," Cloud said exasperatedly, "Didn't you get any sleep last night?"

Reno flinched noticeably, belatedly hoping it to be covered up by the steady bouncing of the bike over the rugged terrain. "Uhh, I…" He stammered out rather lamely. Like hell he was going to let the other man know he actually spent the entire night with temporary insomnia just because he was turned-on. "Well, er, that's just because… I mean, well… You snore!" He blurted out finally.

"Yeah, that's what I thought--wait, what?"

Reno smirked to himself and folded his arms triumphantly, rather proud of his hastily conjured cover-up. It honestly wasn't that clever, but Reno was too tired to think otherwise. "That's right, yo! Like a shittin' old man you snored!" He continued derisively.

"Okay, that's it. Screw kicking you off the bike, I'm gonna--" Cloud swung his fist around to punch the red-head in irritation, but was stopped short by Reno's hand. The blonde looked over his shoulder to glare at the Turk and was met with the red-head's own sardonic grin.

"What, you wanna fight?"

Cloud's blue eyes met with the red-head's crimson ones for a few moments before he smirked back at the Turk. After the battle to save Gaia those few years ago, Cloud had ceased engaging in any fights whatsoever if he could help it. It was just in his nature. Exhausted from the wars he had fought all his life, all he wanted was some peace. But it was something in the Turk's eyes. That playful, yet sadistic, look in his gaze roused the childhood feeling in him again, that childish urge he always had that caused so many cuts and bruises. The Turk was so dynamic it sucked Cloud in, no matter how taciturn and reticent he wished to be.

"You don't stand a chance, dumbass," Cloud found himself joking back, a contumelious sneer on his own usually expressionless face, "What was that you said back at the bar again? 'Cloud lost to me twenty-seven times'? What a joke."

"Well, you know what?" Reno jumped up and snatched out his stun baton from its holster. "I'm gonna take that challenge, yo!" He sprang up into the air and brought his E.M.R. down upon the motorbike rider, letting out his signature battle cry. "Uryaa!"

Lightning fast, Cloud kicked the switch on the side of his bike and pulled out his First Tsurugi, the six-part fusion sword he had used to defeat Sephiroth back in Edge. He only needed the base three parts for his little scrimmage though. As if Reno actually deserved the full First Tsurugi. Spinning around in his seat, he caught Reno with the blunt side of his blade and flung him back into the air.

"Holy fuck, I forgot how gigantic that sword was," Reno muttered as he back-flipped midair and soon came soaring back down to earth. He landed with his hands on the metal-covering over the tire and spun his legs around in a windmill, effectively kicking Cloud clean off the seat.

"Shit." Cloud just barely grabbed the edge of the seat in time to swing himself back up onto the motorbike, landing with his feet on each of the handlebars. Immediately after regaining his balance, Cloud had to almost rely completely on reflex to block another swift blow of the E.M.R. and dodge two other kicks. Ducking under Reno's leg, Cloud reached up and grabbed his ankle, twirling his sword twice for momentum before swinging it around and--!

"Shit, Cloud, move the bike!" The Turk suddenly yelled, twisting his leg out of Cloud grip to brace against the incoming impact.

Without even a second of a hesitation, Cloud instinctively moved his legs just the slightest amount the first direction that came to mind, enough to maneuver the motorbike around whatever obstacle that was behind him. As they zoomed by, Cloud realized that it was all for what? There was nothing there. Reno smirked and took this moment of hesitation to strike Cloud across the head with the stun baton.

Cloud stumbled from the electric shock and almost lost his balance on the handlebars, but not before he bent down and launched himself off into the air. He spun around meters above the motorbike and split his huge broadsword into two. "Pretty dirty trick there," He called out as he sliced down at Reno.

"Oh, fuck." Reno muttered, though not forgetting to flash the blonde a smirk, as he looked up at the two swords coming down at him at an insane speed. He leaned back out of the way at the precise moment and flipped over Cloud's head to face him from the front of the bike. "I'm a Turk, what can I say?" The red-head grinned, tossing his stun baton from hand to hand, "All's fair in a game of… yo, what was the saying again? …Fuck it." He snatched the baton from the air and swung back to attack the blonde once more, but before he could even move his feet an inch, Cloud suddenly pointed behind him.

"Hey, watch it, Reno!"

Reno stopped mid-lunge and rolled his eyes, "Playing the exact same trick as the original user is just stupid, yo. Even Elena knows that. And she's the newbie."

Cloud shook his head in dissention and quickly grabbed Reno's shoulders to spin him around to the face the front, "No, you idiot! Look!"

"Huh?" Reno said intelligently as he watched the scene unfold before him. He tilted his head in confusion. For some bizarre reason, Junon was approaching them at an awfully high speed. The red-head must have been more tired than he originally thought. Wait a minute… that wasn't right. Reno's eyes widened, "HOLY SHIT!"

Noting that the moronic - and probably already disorientated - Turk wasn't going to move an inch on the handlebars, Cloud quickly spun the motorbike around with his legs and threw his weight backward, so the bike was skidding towards the city on its side. It initially didn't put much of a stop to the motorbike, which was previously moving at a near two hundred miles per hour, but fortunately, it slowed to a halt just before hitting a group of men at the edge of the city.

Cloud and Reno, on the other hand, weren't nearly as lucky. After getting dragged in the dirt for about a mile, they came out of it heavily bruised and covered in dust - ironically, a result after remaining completely unscathed from their light duel.

"Ugh. We're here," Cloud groaned from his place half under the bike. So far, this journey really sucked.

"Damn," Reno coughed out in the swirls of dust around them as he slowly pushed himself off the ground, "We got here faster than I thought, yo."

As the red-head reached down to help pull Cloud's left leg out from under the motorbike, the group of Junon men stepped closer, curious as to how two complete strangers miraculously teleported to the edge of the city using no more than a dust storm and a blazing red commodity. Upon closer scrutiny, however, it seemed the blazing red commodity wasn't much of a stranger after all.

"IT'S YOU!" A rather large man yelled suddenly, pointing at the red-head in rage.

Reno glanced up with raised eyebrows, curious as to what sort of odd stranger would be so rude as to spontaneously shout at mere travelers. Upon closer scrutiny, however, it was evident that the oddly rude organism was not much of a stranger either. "IT'S YOU!" The red-head pointed back, equally loudly but less enraged. On the contrary, it looked as though the Turk was genuinely amused.

Cloud brushed the dirt off his clothes and looked between the two men, nonplussed, "Who?"

The man jabbed his finger into Reno's chest with a frightening look of rage. Though it seemed that the frightening way the man's face was deepening into a dark prune color was more amusing, as was evident from the way Reno merely shoved his hands in his pockets and shrugged with a nonchalant look on his face in reply. It was a rather impressive feat of courage, considering the man was almost twice his height. "Hey, I remembah yous," The man said dangerously, "Yous da one who cheated me and mah buds off a' money da last time dat Rufus or whatever came ta Junon!"

Cloud stared at Reno incredulously. "What the hell?" He mouthed at the red-head.

"Yo, about that," Reno said, a calm yet silently derisive sneer on his face, "I'm actually surprised you remember me, yo. Trauma too big for you, big man?"

The lethal-looking man and his cronies just glared at Reno in reply. One even cracked his knuckles menacingly, though it seemed to only augment Reno's amusement. "Turns out yous ain't much uhva poker playa afta all!" The man continued to yell, spraying spit over every surface within a five meter radius, "Jus' a lyin' cheat!"

At this, Reno laughed loudly, a mocking tone in his words, "Well, in the end I figured I didn't need to cheat much after all, yo. For a scary-looking muscleman, you sucked like shit!"

"Why ya little--!" Finally unable to hold back their anger, each of the thugs pulled out their own guns and began shooting at the two men.

"Blast," Cloud groaned at his companion's childish insults and pulled out his sword again to block the dozens of bullets flying their way. He was about to swing his First Tsurugi at the thugs to knock them unconscious when Reno suddenly surprised him by using the force of his sword swing to launch himself into the air.

Reno pulled out his retractable stun baton and snapped it out in the air. "You're gonna hurt someone with those, yo," The Turk grinned mock politely. He fell from the skies and whacked the leader of the group over the head with enough force to concuss him for a week. The red-head then used the unconscious man as a pad to back-flip to Cloud, who was still standing there in an offensive position.

Reno rolled his eyes and grabbed Cloud's hand, pulling him away from the now even more furious thugs. "You idiot, there's no point wasting our time fighting these morons, yo. Just run!" Just barely dodging the spray of bullets behind them, the two men dashed behind the inn and into the shadows.

Cloud shook Reno's hand off his and rounded on the other man the moment they were out of sight. "What have you gotten us into now, Ren--" He began irritably.

"Quiet, Spiky!" Reno slapped a hand over Cloud's mouth as the thugs charged by them towards the beach.

"They went down there, I saw them!"

"Don't let those cheats get away!"

As Cloud listened to the retreating footsteps, he mentally groaned and wondered exactly how he got himself involved with this stupid conflict. Oh yeah, he accepted Reno's stupid ass job. Right. Cloud pushed Reno's hand away and looked around the corner before hissing, "You're a fucking idiot, you know that?"

"Not as much as the guy I knocked out over there, yo," Reno snickered, gesturing for Cloud to follow him as he peered around the corner himself to see if any other thugs were around. "He challenged me and Rude to a game of poker the last time Rufus came 'round to Junon, yo. Stupid choice, really. Rude got completely stripped of his money, but those goons didn't even consider the idea that I was cheating their asses until they had to resort to betting off all their clothes. Too simple." Reno laughed again before edging along the wall towards the entrance to the inn.

Cloud stared at the red-head's back in disbelief as he walked into the inn behind Reno. The blonde had figured as much. To be a cynical Turk like him, one had to have amazing dexterity of the fingers, not to mention deceptive skills second to none. Small wonder the thugs ended up stripping down to the depths of humiliation in a poker game against the other man.

Cloud closed the door behind him only to find the red-head searching through a - he glanced over the man's shoulder in dismay - seemingly empty wallet.

"Yo, how much money you got?" Reno muttered to his companion as he turned out his pockets.

Cloud shrugged, holding up his arms as if to signify his lack of money. "Almost none," He said before slowly scrutinizing the other man, "Didn't you bring any?"

"What, you kidding me?" Reno said with a short laugh, waving a very thin wallet in front of Cloud's face, "Only a couple bucks. I thought you would bring some, yo."

"You're the one who dragged me on this mission, so should you have all the stuff we need?" Cloud demanded, narrowing his eyes at the red-head.

The other man was evidently forgetting that the two of them weren't exactly on a Turk assigned mission here. Otherwise, Reno would have loads of money to spend on a whim. The red-head groaned loudly, "You idiot, I--"

"Umm, we have one room for fifteen gil. Is that cheap enough?" The old innkeeper cut in tentatively from behind the counter.

The two stopped arguing for a moment to stare at the innkeeper oddly as the words slowly sank in. "We'll take it!" Reno replied quickly, grabbing the keys and walking briskly up the stairs to the rooms.

"Hey," Cloud called after him as he began to walk up the stairs at his own pace. This insanely cheap room was really suspicious. Maybe it was filled with cockroaches or something. Or haunted by some ancient ghost of a Wutai warlord that was going to kill them in their sleep, which was, er, highly unlikely. But as he walked through the open door of their room, all he found was Reno gaping at… a single twin-sized bed? What a rip off.

Reno turned to Cloud awkwardly, "Uhh." Panic rose somewhere in the back of his mind the moment he realized he would have to spend yet another night sleeping in close quarters with the blonde. He was going to need sleep at some point on this mission. But along with that fear of insomnia came a surge of euphoria and an ounce of, what was it, desire? Fuck. Wait, what the hell was he thinking? This was a bad idea no matter how he looked at it. Not to mention the one clear fact he had in his mind at that moment. If he slept next to that guy for another minute, his fucking retarded body may not be able to hold back this time.

"Well, that was a complete waste of fifteen bucks," Cloud commented irritably, clearly annoyed at the fact that there was only one bed. But it wasn't just annoyance that showed on his face. Needless to say, this was an awkward moment.

Reno started to move towards the door again, "Yo, do you… wanna change rooms?"

But Cloud just brushed past Reno and into the room, "There's no point. Even if we wanted to, we don't have enough money for it anyway." Another awkward silence floated on by, to the point that Cloud couldn't take it anymore. "I'm going to take a shower." He said quickly as he walked into the bathroom and slammed the door closed.

Reno nudged the room's door closed with his foot and walked over to collapse on the bed in a daze. It was enough that Cloud actually agreed to this, but as the usually composed Turk heard the shuffling of clothing and slow rush of water, his mind was happy to conjure all sorts of imaginative images of the blonde as he showered innocuously. He closed his eyes to try and ignore the myriad of images flashing through his head. But that made it even worse. It seemed like his mind was a little more creative than he thought because soon the images began to warp into scenes of what Reno could possibly be doing if he was in there with the other man. Suddenly, the room began to overflow with what seemed like a stifling heat and…

Fuck. This was wrong. Reno sat up abruptly and shook his head fiercely. How could he call himself a fucking Turk if he couldn't even control some fucking hormones? "This is killing me," He muttered, as his ears couldn't help but start focusing on every minute sound the blonde made in the other room. Realizing what he was doing yet again, the red-head decided that maybe life would be much easier for him if he just went off to go sleep on the roof. Right now, fighting those brainless thugs was a much better alternative to fantasizing about another man. This was getting fucking out of control.

Now resolute about his decision, Reno jumped up off the bed and made for the door, but before he could reach for the handle and bolt out of the room, there was a soft creak of a door behind him and the sound of the voice he had been trying so hard to banish from his mind just moments before, "Wow, fifteen gil and they don't even get us some shampoo? Hey, can you go ask for some--Reno? What are you doing?"

The Turk stopped in his tracks and, despite himself, turned around to respond to his name out of habit. But the moment he caught sight of the blonde, golden hair dripping with water and a towel around his waist, his defenses shattered. "I, uhh," Reno stammered as his fucked up imagination suddenly hit him with a vision of Cloud, not dripping with shower water, but with hot sweat, and his waist not covered by a white hotel towel, but with himself, draped over the other man and pressing against him-- "I wasn't peeping at you taking a shower!" The red-head said quickly, half from an attempt to abruptly cut off the disturbing, yet strangely arousing, image and half from an odd urge for retribution. It didn't exactly work.

"You weren't doing what?" Cloud stared at Reno suspiciously and then grabbed a towel from the bathroom counter to throw over his dripping wet hair, "Okay, maybe I should just rephrase my question. Where are you going?"

"Not to the bathroom?" Reno blurted out without thinking, yet again. He didn't count exactly how many times he said fuck in his head, but the number was probably close to the hundreds. "Wait, I mean, I wasn't going into the shower after you--Wait, I mean--agh, fuck."

Cloud just continued to stare at the red-head with narrowed eyes. "Oi, what the hell is wrong with you? If I didn't know better, I'd probably think you were some clone doing an extremely bad impression of yourself. Are you seriously right in the head right now?"

The guy had a point. Reno really needed to get out of there before he made an even bigger fool of himself. "N-nothing's wrong! I'm just, er, going for a walk, uhh, because… because…" He spun around quickly to avoid the blonde's scrutinizing gaze. Plus, his face was now roughly the same shade as his blazing red hair. That too. "Fuck--I mean, yeah, a walk! Don't wait up for me!" And with that he nearly wrenched the door off its hinges and slammed it behind him.

He heard the blonde mutter something through the door behind him but at that moment he didn't really care what sort of comment Cloud made about his sanity. Hell, if he was in Cloud's position right now, he'd probably have himself admitted to a mental hospital.

As his mind went through the conversation he had with the blonde only seconds before, Reno let out a heartfelt groan and slid down the wall to sit sprawled in the hallway. Fuck going on a walk. He was so mortified, he had trouble breathing, much less physically moving his legs. That would require some form of coordination. And with the way his brain was working right now, he was going to have to fuck coordination as well.

"God dammit," Reno muttered as he buried his face into one hand, the heat from his cheeks a stark contrast to his cold palm. He sat there for a few moments just trying to regain control of his wild imagination and breathing rate.

Wait a minute. What the hell was all that back there? That wasn't like him at all! Reno cursed yet again as he realized he was acting like a complete girl about the whole thing. "Idiot," He muttered to himself, "What are you thinking, yo? Fucking idiot. You're a highly-skilled, amazing, undeniably awesome, and completely straight Turk! Get a grip, get a grip, get a grip." He uncovered his face with his hand and punched the hardwood floor hard enough to even make himself wince. "Cloud Strife is fucking off limits, Reno. You know that. He's a guy. You like girls. Girls are sexy. Girls are soft, hot, and SEXY. You are straight. You are straight. You are straight." Reno chanted to himself incessantly for a few moments before deciding himself that, yes, indeed, he was straight and he believed it heart and soul.

There we go.

With a deep breath, Reno pushed himself off the floor and stood before the door. "You like girls. You are straight," He muttered one more time before swinging open the door, his usual grin plastered on his face, "Yo, I'm back."

"Wow, you walk fast," Cloud commented flatly from somewhere on Reno's right. He was fully clothed this time, but the fact that he was lying on a bed affected Reno more than it probably should have.

"Uhh, yeah," Reno said, staring intently at the opposite wall.

Cloud squinted at the red-head's appearance carefully, "Hey, your hand's red, and I heard a loud bang in the hallway. Was that you--"

"I'll sleep on the floor," Reno said quickly, walking briskly to the head of the bed to grab the pillow and throw it on the floor, "You take the bed. I've slept in worse places." There, that was it. Just act normal. This was just a fluke. He couldn't be, in any way, shape, or form, attracted to this guy. No fucking way.

"Hey!" Cloud sat up and glared at the red-haired Turk lying on the floor, "Give me back my--"

"You get the bed, so no complaints, yo! G'night!" And with that, Reno closed his eyes and spoke no more. The faster he fell asleep, the less chance he'd get to think about any perverse things he could potentially do that night. That couldn't be too hard, considering the fact that didn't get a wink of sleep the night before. And he couldn't possibly manage to attack Cloud while he was sleeping. He was sure of at least that.

Or else, that would be seriously ridiculous.


well, i have fun writing these fight scenes, haha. dream #563: to write a fight scene on cloud's motorcycle. CHECK.

hmm, poor reno. if it really was possible to attack cloud while he was sleeping, that would be seriously ridiculous huh? nudge nudge wink wink. i guess all i can say is, look forward to the next chapter?

every review eightdimensions reads, her writer's blocks go kablooey. her motivation goes shmazam. and her updates appear like zafoom. (i really have no idea where i got those words.)