CHAPTER 9:

Minutes later, Rude approached his boss, his lover and his off-beat friend. For a moment, no words were spoken. He knelt down before Reno, who quickly wrapped him into a tight hug, tired and weakened. He simply sat for a moment, holding Reno close, neither of them paying mind to the blood that now stained the both of them. Rude slowly pulled away and looked over into the eyes of his boss.

"Sir, I'm sorry. I lost control." Rude said to Rufus.

"You did what you felt you felt you had to do. There's no shame in that. It was either you or him. You know that Shinra techs will make this disappear. You are protected."

Rude nodded, as Rufus pulled out his cell phone, turned it on and made a call, stating that he needed a car to wait for them. This was a cover-up. He didn't want the public to see them looking like this.

"Gentleman, let's get out of here." Rufus said, pulling himself up to a standing position. "Rude, I would like you to go first. Vincent and I will help Reno." Instinctively, the two men, in sync, pulled the injured Turk up on his good foot, placing each of his arms over their shoulders, crutching him so that they could at the very least get to the car.

Rude lead the way, stepping over rubble in the destroyed hallway, and continued to keep a sharp eye on his surroundings, just in case. He stepped out into the darkening alley way, the sun was continuing to set behind buildings. Rude noticed that the last two Turks were waiting just a couple of yards away. Tseng had regained consciousness and was now on his feet. The two sets of eyes widened when they saw the state of Rude.

"Rude! Where's President Shinra? What on Earth did you do?" Elena squeaked. She took a step backward, just one, before composing herself and standing still. Demanding answers from Rude was not the wisest of ideas, being that he out-ranked her in seniority, but she could not stifle her curiosity. Why is he bloody like that? Where the hell is Rufus? Where are the others? What happened?

Without answering Elena, Rude turned and motioned for Rufus and Vincent to bring Reno out. At the sight of their boss, Elena and Tseng instantly ran to him, relieved to see that he appeared to be all right. Tseng quickly took Rufus's place, providing himself as a crutch for Reno. Letting his boss do it when he was able-bodied enough was not what he approved of as the head of the Turks. Rufus did not exert himself if Tseng was around. Freed, Rufus stretched, popping his shoulders and they all stood there for a moment, waiting for Rufus to get the call that the car had arrived.

"Tseng, may I ask what happened to your face?" Rufus asked, eyeing his employee and friend. From Tseng's brow bone to almost the middle of his cheek, he had broken into a deep purpling bruise. His left eye was nearly swollen shut.

"It's nothing, sir." Tseng replied. He knew that Rufus would press on, but he thought that he could hold his pride for a couple more moments. When Rufus Shinra asked something, he was really demanding it. Rufus never begged for a thing, as long as Tseng had known him. That was part of his power and mystique.

"Let me rephrase that. Tseng, tell me what happened to you, now." Rufus instructed. He waited patiently, watching Tseng begin to move his mouth, trying to form words to explain his present state. He looked around the small crowd nervously, not sure where to begin or what to say. He just wished Rufus would forget about it and leave him be, especially when his eye caught the glare of Rude's sunglasses. He just knew that Rude had a daring look in his eyes under them, as if telling him to go ahead and tell himself into another punch in the face.

"Sir, it was Rude." Elena said for him. Rufus turned his attention toward her only for a moment before she continued. "Reno was being a complete jerk to me and Tseng stepped in and told him to knock it off, and then the fags decided to gang up-" She was cut off.

"Fags, Elena? It seems to me that you have some form of resentment toward the chosen lifestyle of two of your co-workers. Do you have a problem with them that you would like to discuss?" Rufus said, pausing to give Elena a moment to reply.

"Don't you? They're freaks. What they're doing isn't…natural. It's disgusting." She replied, trying to very slowly form her words, nervous under the blue stare of her boss.

"I see." Rufus stated, slowly taking a few steps toward his dark-haired friend, stopping inches in front of him, open to the perfect view of all of his subordinates. "Tseng…" he stated, to get the man's attention. When dark eyes met his, Rufus placed a gentle palm against the unharmed side of his face, bringing his chin up slightly before pressing his mouth hard against Tseng's. The darker haired man's eyes flew open wide in shock, and he would have drawn back, had it not been for Rufus's free arm winding around his waist. He had no use of his hands, and even if he did, he would have never pushed his boss away. A Turk refusing Rufus Shinra was something that was just not done. Odd as it was, the shock of Rufus kissing him in front of everyone wore away quickly, and Tseng started to enjoy the warm feeling of his boss's soft lips, especially when the kiss softened. His eyelids suddenly closed, the tenseness in his body laxed, and he began responding to the kiss. Tseng was what he would call straight, but this felt good. He would do anything for Rufus, anything in the world, and he would do it with a smile. He was proud to have his first male on male kiss with Rufus. When the blond man pulled away, separating their mouths and the warm closeness that their clothed bodies radiated, Tseng audibly made a loud groan of protest. His cheeks instantly burned with his embarrassment.

"Very good, Tseng." Rufus whispered, with a smirk crossing his lips as he reached up and softly tapped the underside of Reno's chin up, closing his once gaped open mouth. That done, he stepped away and turned to face Elena who looked as if her eyes were very near bursting out of their sockets.

"They're not freaks. I've seen freaks. Now, needless to say if you value your job, I had better never hear that from you again, because your boss enjoys a man's company just as much as a woman's. I'm one of those freaks." Rufus responded to her coldly, but didn't lose the smoothness of his voice. Tseng still stood, shocked and breathless staring at his boss. He had heard rumors about Rufus liking other men, but was never given any proof of it until that moment. He also had never been so out of breath with just one kiss. In his head a million thoughts whirred around, making it impossible to do anything but stare.

"Sir, with all due respect, HOLY SHIT that was hot, yo!" Reno finally exclaimed, causing Rude to clap himself on the forehead in embarrassed drama.

"Oh really?" Rufus asked, trying not to look pleased with himself, even though he was, very much. Though Rufus Shinra liked to act as if nothing mattered to him, he liked being the center of attention. He had confidence on his own, but it really helped when someone boosted his ego.

"Yes really, I've got wood." Reno replied before even thinking about what he just said. This earned a very light blush to cross over Rufus's face as he tried to hide a smirk. Reno of course did not really have any so-called 'wood'.

"Reno! Don't tell President Shinra about your trouser shenanigans." Rude grumbled, trying to remain stern instead of laughing at his boyfriend's silliness. Leave it to Reno to say something like that. Rude knew that at least half of the people standing in this alleyway thought the same thing, but Reno was perhaps the only man in the world that would actually voice something like that to his boss. Growing up in the Slums, he had no idea what social grace was. That was part of his charm. That may have even been one of the reasons why Rufus held him in such high regard. Reno was entertainment; just watching him do his everyday things could make anybody laugh. He was such an awkward man.

"Why not? We're all amongst men. Right, Elena?" Reno asked, raising his eyebrows sinfully. She scowled at him, but there was something deeper, she looked put out. Maybe she's just pissed off that Rufus just made a move on the guy she wanted, yo. Maybe she should have made that move faster. It's her own damn fault and I am not going to feel sorry for the bitch. She can run home and cry about it for a while, and get over it in the same shoes. Tseng looked like he liked that, though. I don't know what the hell is up.

Rufus's phone rang, and when he flipped it open, apparently he had a text saying that the car was ready and waiting for them.

"Well, this has been illuminating. But we are finished here. Job well done, now let's go get that foot checked out and you can all go home."

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END!

***Note: Thanks to all of my readers!! I will continue on both the new relationships of TifaxCloud and RufusxTseng. For the record to anyone left concerned, Reno's foot is fine, it just broke a few bones, heals up nicely, and the KPS is never seen again. The cover-up goes over perfectly, and Elena does not go home and kill herself, or get fired from the Turks. There we have it.