Naril: ehe...hey guys Thank you so much for the LOVELY reviews. You know they make my day. ... sorry it took so long to update though! I kinda forgot...
Reno: WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU FORGOT?
Naril: ...well... I kinda had a lot to...uhm...do?
Reno: And that means you FORGET ME?
Naril: Hey, I'm updating now right?
Reno *grumbles*
Naril: Enjoy!... and review!
Chapter 4 – Fear of the Dark
I am a man who walks alone
And when I'm walking a dark road
At night or strolling through the park
When the light begins to fade
I sometimes feel a little strange
A little anxious when it's dark
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a constant fear that something's always near
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a phobia that someone's always there
Have you run your fingers down the wall
And have you felt your neck skin crawl
When you're searching for the light?
Sometimes when you're scared to take a look
At the corner of the room
You've sensed that something's watching you
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a constant fear that something's always near
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a phobia that someone's always there
Have you ever been alone at night
Thought you heard footsteps behind
And turned around and no one's there?
And as you quicken up your pace
You find it hard to look again
Because you're sure there's someone there
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a constant fear that something's always near
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a phobia that someone's always there
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
Watching horror films the night before
Debating witches and folklores
The unknown troubles on your mind
And though your mind is playing tricks
You sense, and suddenly eyes fix
On dancing shadows from behind
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a constant fear that something's always near
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a phobia that someone's always there
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a constant fear that something's always near
Fear of the dark, fear of the dark
I have a phobia that someone's always there
When I'm walking a dark road
I am a man who walks alone
Iron Maiden
Yuffie woke to a bright light burning through her eyelids.
"Aww…damn!" She groaned, dragging the covers over her head. When she found it did not really help in making the day go away, she wiggled further into her huddle of blankets.
Underneath the layers upon layers of fabric she could still make out the chuckle from where she guessed the doorway to be.
"Hangover?" An all too familiar voice drawled, clearly highly amused.
Hangover? Throwing back her covers, she groaned at the bright light cutting into her eyes which already were reduced to slits. After a moment, she managed to open them enough to make out the redhead leaning in her doorway.
"What're you on about, Turkey?" She croaked, before clearing her throat quickly.
"You remember anything about last night?" Reno asked, tilting his head to the side slightly, all the while studying her curiously, any previous amusement gone instantly.
Yuffie's red-rimmed eyes widened. The bar! The really annoying waiter and…nothing. Wait!
"Bastard drugged me!" She suddenly exclaimed, immediately clutching her head which seemed to want to explode with the noise. "Owww….Leviathan, this is bad!"
Reno simply watched, unusually silent and an odd expression on his face that her barely functioning brain could not identify this early in the morning.
"When you get over yourself, come downstairs, brat. Reeve called and there's something you gotta see." With that he turned and walked away, leaving her to gather the strength to follow.
Squinting against the light, the ninja crawled over to the edge of her bed, groaning. She would never drink again! Why did people do this to themselves voluntarily anyways?
With what seemed to be enormous effort, she managed to drag one leg over the edge of the bed, to land on the floor with a thump. She then closed her eyes for a moment, deciding that this alone had been quite the feat.
From below she could hear the TV and the news-speaker who sounded way too over-excited for this early in the morning. At least she thought it was early in the morning. For all she knew it could be midday already.
"…still given no statement as to how the fire broke out, however, eye-witnesses claim to have heard an explosion. So far the number of casualties within the WRO have not been confirmed but it should be…"
Within a split second, Yuffie was standing upright, ignoring the head- rush this caused and then darted down the stairs.
Reno was perched on the armrest of the sofa, aquamarine eyes trained on the television showing footage of the WRO-headquarters, smoke coming out of the window that Yuffie realised to be her office.
"…Of course we'll keep you updated on further development, but so far we don't know what exactly happened." The voice of the reporter babbled on, but the ninja barely registered it.
"I had a feeling something like this would happen." The redhead said suddenly, but did not elaborate, narrowing his eyes at a close-up of the explosion site.
"Care to share?" She asked, unable to hide the worry in her voice.
"WRO's got a mole." He stated out of the blue, only then turning to face her.
"What?"
"Next time it comes on, look at the broken windows. It blew from the inside. That means the bomb was in your office. How d'you think it got there?"
"But…but…" Yuffie stared into his hard eyes, barely able to take in the seriousness of that revelation. She thought of all the people she had worked with, all those she had walked past countless times in the corridors. Could one of them be the one after her?
Reno seemed to be able to read her thoughts, because he got up and turned to look out a window. "I know you don't wanna believe it. I talked to Reeve and he doesn't either, but it has to be one from the inside. Wouldn't surprise me either; he took over loads of people from Shinra…like me."
The ninja gathered her wits then. "What d'you mean? I thought you were glad he…"
-"I am. But let's face it, I'm a security risk and if Reeve allows one, he'll allow more." He looked outright miserable; shoulders slumped more than usual as he said this.
"Do you mean they bought someone?" The ninja whispered, slowly comprehending.
The redhead nodded, still turned away.
For a moment, Yuffie was silently contemplating whether to dare ask the question that appeared in her mind. She shifted uncomfortably and sat down in the chair to her right.
"Turkey?...say,…would you still plant a bomb in a building if you were offered the right amount of money?" She finally stammered out the words, wondering how much had changed since the days of meteor.
"You do realise that used to be my job?" The redhead shot back, but his voice was neither sarcastic nor sharp. If anything, he sounded a little sad perhaps.
"I'm asking you now." She did not back down. It was the closest she had come to an opening since meeting him again, she wanted to use it.
He did not answer at first, but then he did shake his head. "No, I wouldn't."
There was silence.
"The suckers could have killed me!" She muttered in disbelief as once more the TV showed the crater-like site of the explosion on one side of the WRO building.
"Nah, they knew you weren't there." Reno plopped down in the armchair, taking out his EMR to twirl it around one-handedly, grateful for the new topic. At her confused gaze, he sighed.
"We pissed them off."
The ninja just stared at him, not quite following his logic.
Rolling his eyes, the redhead got up. "The letters they sent were to brag. They wanted us to know exactly what they wanted and show us that there's nothing we can do about it."
Yuffie watched as he started to pace the room, never stopping his fiddeling with his weapon.
"But we pissed them off, because we took the thing they wanted out of the equation, at least temporarily." He gave her a meaningful glance out of steely blue eyes.
For once Yuffie was starting to really get worried and could not think of a witty comment.
"The good news is it means they don't know where you are. This is them telling us they're not amused." He cast another glance at the TV, before snatching the remote from the table and turning it off.
The ninja had grown considerably paler as the reality of the situation started to hit her. Someone was out for her blood and it was not just some monster in the forest that she could easily dispose of.
"How d'you figure?" She asked when her voice returned to her.
The ex-Turk avoided her gaze, instead looking out the window as he placed his EMR back in the holster he now wore in plain eye-sight on his belt. "Because it's what we would have done." He muttered eventually.
Silence followed and Yuffie reached for the small throwing stars she kept in her pocket unconsciously. "So they might figure out we're here?"
-"With the preparations we took to leave no trail?" Reno turned to face her with a humourless smirk. "Don't worry, princess. But you might wanna avoid going outside for now."
The young ninja gulped again, knowing he was dead-serious. Nervously she turned to the window checking for the watchers she suddenly thought to be there.
Reno sighed and scratched the side of his head. "Look, I didn't mean to scare you, but you gotta know this is no joke."
"Nah,...it's fine..."
But it was not and she was afraid he knew it too.
They spent the rest of the day in front of the TV, rarely speaking. Yuffie knew her vacation had ended. It was hard to even think of the few days on the beach now. A sense of foreboding had set in. Both occupants of the house felt it.
That night, the ninja found herself lying in bed with a gnawing feeling in the pit of her stomach that she had not had since she had been a little child in her much too big room in the pagoda. She had crawled under the covers without even trying to get some dinner down and pulled them tight around her body. Wrapped up like in a sleeping-bag, she tried to let the warmth lull her to sleep. It did not work all that well.
She had intently listened to any sounds Reno made where he had still been watching TV downstairs. It reassured her, that she was not alone in the big house. As he turned it off, she was startled by the sudden quiet.
Then his footsteps sounded on the stairs, and she felt relieved. The relatively old wooden floor creaked every so often.
When it grew quiet and the light in the room across hers went out from where she could see it underneath the door, which she had kept in her sight all this time, that was when her imagination went wild. Every crack of the wooden ceiling made her jump and she drew the comforter over her head, gripping it's edges tightly.
After a second she realised that this meant she would not be able to see possible assailants, also, she could not breathe all that well. Hesitantly, afraid that someone was already watching and would see her once she moved, she turned onto her stomach and peaked out underneath her hiding place, towards the door. At the same time she was mentally kicking herself. She was a ninja! She was not meant to be scared of anything. Yet the things Reno had told her and the sudden realisation this morning, that these guys had no qualms about anything, did worry her more than a little.
The window was on the other side of the room, was not this a more likely place to break in? Her mind was already painting the most horrible scenarios. Pathetic! She screamed at herself silently. She had faced Sephiroth with her friends, whilst the world was nearing apocalypse. But that was the thing was it not? Then she could have died either way, she had just been taking her chances and her death would have meant something too. She would have helped save the planet after all. Outside the branches of the trees rustled against the glass of her window and she shivered.
This night would bring no sleep for her. With a sigh she curled up her legs underneath her and gulped down the lump forming in her throat.
°°°TBC°°°