Disclaimer: Final Fantasy does not belong to me...however much I may like it to. I own no characters, places etc. etc. so please don't sue me! I'm a nice person :)

Author's Note: Chapter Three...PLEASE review as I really enjoy reading your views and they inspire me to get better! It would make me very very happy! Anyway stop reading this and get on with reading the fic! Hope you enjoy! :)

Chapter Three: Invitations to Act

The red head rubbed his temple roughly, attempting to remove the beads of burning sweat that glistened off his pale skin, like rain drops upon darkened emerald leaves.

There was definitely no denying that this was one of those really, really rare occasions that he wished he had a haircut like Rude's, and if he was being honest, he was one boiling step away from asking to borrow Elena's lady shave and just ripping it into his flame red locks.

He made a soft sort of half grunt, half moan, as the young man lifted himself gently and began making his way over to the fridge that lay over the other end of the staffroom.

His suit seemed to have become a giant incubator, and each space between fabric and skin was pulsating with hot steamy trickles of air, making him feel like he was in his own personal sauna.

An almost elated sigh of relieved joy escaped from his slightly parted lips as he pulled open the white plastic door and slumped his whole form against it.

''Reno...what are you doing?'' There was no mistaking the bald Turk's voice, after all, he spoke rarely, and when he did, people tended to notice.

The red head's friend and partner in the working sense had entered the staffroom shortly after him, and had seemed relativity comfortable, his suit remaining straight and dry, his face seemingly free from the effects of the humid environment.

''Yo...Rude...I just needed...a moment with the...fridge...''

''Hm.'' The standing man raised a silently amused eyebrow, before proceeding to the large sofa on which Reno had previously been seated, in the centre of the room, and slowly relaxed himself into the cushioned surface.

The red head remained still, his back and side mingled together, pushing themselves tiredly against the shelves that jotted out of the refrigerator, his body to exhausted and drained from his heated exertions to even recognise the painful sensations, and instead busying itself with the enjoyment of the chilly air.

A few quiet minutes ticked by, as Reno remained in place, seemingly refuelling his energies, and as Rude rested silently, his body still reclined upon the seating furniture, the pair remaining uninterrupted and purely comfortable with each others company. Though for both of them, the calm atmosphere they had created came to an end rather too soon.

The blonde haired female bust through the door so quickly that for a moment she only appeared to them as a pale blur against the dark backdrop of the plastered walls.

Elena's entrance had been so unexpected that the red head even gave a muffed yelp, which of course he quickly turned into a cough, before turning to his bald partner with raised eyebrows, as if expecting to share a look of exasperation at the blonde's unseemly form, only to find the man, lying quite still on the sofa, unmoved and unshaken from his doze, and Reno mused at how he managed to stay so chilled in such situations, yet if you even tried to take away his shades, he would transform into a shaking mess of a man.

Elena looked from the red head to the bald, a slightly quizzical arch forming upon her eyebrows, as if she was both confused and annoyed at the sight which met her chocolate brown orbs, and proceed to nod slowly, ''Rude...Reno...''

''Yo Laney...'' The red head raised his left hand and gave a small salute of acknowledgement, while the bald on the sofa just grunted, not bothering to lift himself.

The young blonde placed two rather disapproving hands upon her hips and pulled out her most patronizingly knowing tone, ''You two might want to get up.''

''And why may I ask, oh great one, would we want to do that?'' Reno had an eyebrow raised in mock protest, his tone challenging, yet with a hint of playful charm.

A confident smirk graced Elena's rose tinted lips, ''Because...Tseng is coming.''

Rude sat bolt upright immediately, two strong hands coming up to his shirt collar and straightening it, even though it had been perfect to begin with, whilst Reno remained where he was, he body still sprawled out by the icy food keeping piece of equipment.

The blonde sighed before making her way over to join Rude on the sofa, running a slender hand through her short, straight locks, and Reno was quick to catch the slight reddening of her skin, Well at least I'm not the only one being affected by the damn failure in the air conditioning system...you'd think that Shinra would have fixed it by now...I bet checkout girls work in better conditions than this!

Before he could air this question to the rest of the party, their familiar Raven haired superior entered the room, less dramatically than Elena of course, yet he held around him a clearer air of authority and Reno definitely found his presence to be more imposing.

Tseng eyed the red head on the floor, though kept his face straight and turned to the others, giving them a greeting nod, before using a spare hand to close the door behind him.

He gave each Turk a look that signified their need to pay attention, before proceeding into the room further, his voice soft, yet forceful and his eyes remaining penetrating and confident, yet seemingly fixed upon no-one in particular, ''Next Saturday...there will be a ball...held by Shinra...to celebrate the company's...revival...''

Reno didn't need to view his fellow Turk's to know their reaction, as he could basically feel the glow from Elena's face as it lit up with a girlish excitement, while he could perfectly imagine the panicked look behind Rude's dark shades as the thought of dressing up and being forced, no doubt, into socialising with strangers hit him like a billboard to the head.

The raven haired man didn't allow a great pause before continuing, ''Now, I'd like you all to come.'' Reno raised an eyebrow, You mean we HAVE to come..., ''And I will expect you all to be on your best behaviour...'' In other words, no drinking, no cussing and no having fun in any way, other than when entertaining the shareholders...

''You will be representing Shinra, if you let this company down, there will be consequences...'' The last four words had a certain bite to them, assuring the Turks that he was being deadly serious in the threat.

''I would also like you all to make yourselves..presentable, after all image means a lot, and feel free to bring...guests...but remember to consider your chosen partners...carefully.''

A guest mm... Reno stroked the edge of one of the refrigerator shelves in thought, A night out may be just what Tifa needs to cheer her up...plus...every girl likes getting dressed up...and dancing...and being in the company of the great Turk Reno... A small, proud smile played across his thin lips, as he made a mental note to pop round to Seventh Heaven later that evening.

Tseng seemed to signify the closure of the subject with a straightening of his jacket, proceeded by a slight out take of breath, though not quite a sigh, ''Now...Rude I need to see you in my office...Reno...Elena...'' He nodded swiftly to the pair, before turning and exiting the room, following by the bald Turk, who seemed more than a little apprehensive.

Once the door came to a soft close, Elena shifted her gaze to the red head, her eyes brimming with a certain joyful clarity, her disapproving nature dismissed for this moment, ''So then, who are you gunna bring!''

Reno smirked and decided to play it dumb, ''To what?''

''To the ball you dumbass! What else?'' She didn't seem to have picked up on his teasing expression and instead looked at him like he was completely brain dead.

The red head's response was a simple shrug to which he received, in turn, an exasperated sigh, followed by a rather unexpected statement, ''Well just don't go leaving it until the last minute, and end up bringing that Lockhart woman.''

The pure block of silence that followed, seemed to give him away immediately, and soon Elena's eyebrows were raised to an obnoxious level, ''You can't be seriously considering bringing her...''

Again Reno decided not to respond with words and instead just gave her a look that clearly said, 'Yeah, what of it?'

''Tifa, but...she used to be in AVALANCHE...'' The blonde got up to get a better view of the male Turk and soon his eyes fell upon her disappointed, but not all together surprised expression, one which he'd seen her wear many times before, ''Didn't you listen to anything Tseng said?''

The red head shifted his gaze away, and racked his brain, trying to think if at any point he'd missed the raven haired Turk mention anything along the lines of 'Don't bring Tifa' or 'Tifa would be a bad choice for a ball guest', though when he found no immediate evidence of this, he looked to Elena for an explanation and a memory jog.

''He wants us to be careful about who we bring...and I...I just don't think an ex member of a terrorist group is a good idea frankly!''

Reno's brow furrowed slowly, a sudden realisation hitting him, that once again the blonde had picked up on something he, himself had not, and soon he felt a rush of anxiety induced aches.

The blonde sighed and gave him a look, as if to say 'You know I'm right...as always' before proceeding out of the staffroom, leaving a confused Reno to his thoughts and to the contents of the fridge, which he soon began to devour in an attempt to fuel his poor dried brain.

The young Turk had only been in his office for approximately thirty minutes when his work phone began to sound out an incessant drone of a beep.

He didn't have to answer it to know it was Tseng, after all Elena would just barged into his office if she wanted something from him, and Rude, well he hardly ever used the phone because that would mean he'd actually have to speak.

A sigh escaped past his thin lips, as the red head trailed his fingers along the wooden surface and onto the green answering button.

''Yo, what-'' He was cut of instantly by the soft, yet deeply stern tone which was indeed, as he suspected, a tone only able to be created by his raven haired superior.

''Reno, I'd like to see you in my office...immediately.''

He didn't even have a chance to reply before an unmistakable beep once again sounded from the machine, though he still muttered to himself, ''Coming Sir...'' as he lifted his slender body from the comfort of the swivel chair, the swivel chair in which he'd spend many boring afternoons swinging round in until he had felt like he'd had seven shots of vodka.

Great...I wonder what I did this time... Whenever he was called to Tseng's office, it was rarely for congratulations, or praise, and he had a feeling that this time it wasn't one of those special occasions.

The raven haired Turk's office was only down the corridor, so he was there in no time, and although his walk had been quite relaxed, he was now starting to feel a growing mass of nervous energy in the pit of his stomach, his mind likening the situation to one of a naughty student being sent to go see the headmaster.

He knocked on the door tentatively before popping his head around the plank of wood, ''Sir?''

Tseng didn't look up from his papers, or bother to respond with words, and instead raised his unused hand, and gave a swift flick of the wrist, commanding him in silence to enter.

After a few moments and a few more scribbles upon the report in front of him, the raven haired Turk leaned back slightly, and began flicking through the piles of papers on the corner of the desk, ''You intend to bring Miss. Lockhart to the ball.''

Note to self...never tell Elena anything...she's a blabber mouth... ''That is correct Sir.''

''Good.''

Reno was in the process of concocting a list of reasons in his head, as to why he should be allowed to bring the young brunette when he his face suddenly contorted into a strange sort of confusion as his ears processed the words, which he was sure must have been misheard, ''Huh?''

''An ex member of Avalanche coming to our ball would be quite an asset...after all, if our most extreme haters have come to admire us...well...it could be useful in impressing our new image...''

The red head's brow contorted further, but this time in anger rather than confusion, not liking the idea of his friend being used by the corporation as some kind of deal breaker.

''I've talked to the President and we both agree...during the ball...we'd like you to...show her off.''

There was a slight pause, as Tseng seemingly waited for a response of agreement from the red head, though when all he received was a grimace in return, he leaned his body forward, keeping his eyes locked on the Turk standing in front of his desk, ''Do you have a problem with that Reno...?''

His voice basically dripped with a soft, yet deadly venom, the threat obvious and yet delivered within such a supposedly well meaning question, there was no denying that Reno's superior had become more detached and unfeeling since the encounter with the remnants, after all the mental torture they imposed upon him, well...it wasn't something that would heal as quickly as the physical wounds which he had obtained, though he had no idea how Elena had coped so well, but he did have a hint that she was masking away her true feelings, as so many females seemed to have the ability to do with such ease.

The atmosphere was growing tenser with each passing second, and suddenly, almost subconsciously, Reno found himself backing away, his body telling him to get out of there, ''No...Sir...''

''Good.'' The raven haired Turk flashed him the hint of a smile, that seemed rather clearly false, and turned his head back to the work upon his desk.

Just as the red head turned to leave the room, Tseng spoke, almost to softly to hear, but yet again with such a clarity of sinister authority, ''Oh and Reno...''

He shifted his head around to signify he was listening, ''You and Rude will being heading out on a...special mission...the day after the ball...you will report here at six am on Sunday morning, and don't go makingany plans for the following months, as this one will take you both quite a while to complete...And of course I will be expecting your complete efforts in dealing with the work's matter...discreetly...''

A deafening alarm bell seemed to ring within Reno's mind, as if trying to warn him, though about what exactly he couldn't be sure, but what he was certain of was the way things were sounding, at least to him anyway, were that this mission was something dangerously close to Shinra's...old...style.

But of course, a good Turk doesn't ask questions, so he nodded and left as quickly as his feet could carry him, suddenly realising why Rude looked so apprehensive before.

The brunette's face lit up when Reno staggered in through the door of 'Seventh Heaven', though the same could not be said for the young ninja, sitting on the stool beside the bar, whose head shot up like an alarmed meerkat, ''What does that smelly ginger want?'' Her words had been muttered more to herself and Tifa, but they were just at the right pitch and volume for the Turk's well trained ears to pick up on, and his top lip curled into a strange sort of half grimace.

Why does that incessant little brat insist on calling me a ginger...my hair is clearly red...twit...

Tifa tried her best to hide the smirk of amusement that had began to form upon her pale pink lips, but failed miserably, as when she opened her mouth, her voice came out as a high pitched, desperately suppressed giggle, ''Hey Re...did...did you want a drink?''

Reno fidgeting himself up to the bar, and shook his head, his eyes fixed on the glass in her hand, determined not to make eye contact, ''No thanks...I...I actually came to ask...well to invite you...to-'' He was more than a little annoyed when he was interrupted by the nagging voice of Yuffie Kisaragi.

''Spit it out Turk boy, we ain't got all day!''

The red head turned to face her, his face burning with a childish anger, ''Shut it you little twerp!''

''Reno!'' Tifa's expression was one of pure frustrated disappointment, as if to say 'How old are you...?' Though this just seemed to egg him on.

''What? She's the one who started it!''

At his point Yuffie had jumped from her seat and brought herself a hairs breath away from the young Turk's face, ''I did not! You stupid, scrawny-''

The brunette turned her current expression upon the ninja, though she added a hint of shock to her voice, obviously expecting for the young girl not to be so rude, ''Yuffie!''

The pair continued to spit out insults at one another for a good few minutes, their voices raising in tempo and volume with each word, until Tifa could take it no longer and slammed both her hands down, hard upon the bar top, silencing the ninja and the red head immediately.

She looked at them both for a few moments, arms crossed and a solitary eyebrow raised in disapproval, ''Now...Reno...say sorry to Yuffie.''

He opened his mouth in protest, but held back when he was met with a death glare from Tifa and instead shifted his eyes about before muttering quietly, ''Sorry Yuffie...''

The ninja looked rather over pleased, though the smug grin soon disappeared when the brunette turned to her, giving her a look that clearly said 'Your turn', 'Fine...'' She took a deep breath and barley whispered out the apology.

Tifa smiled with a proud sense of achievement and sighed before turning her attention solely to the red head, ''Now...you were saying?''

''Huh? Oh yeah! Right...do you...do you wanna come to the Shinra Ball with me on Saturday...I'd...I'd really appreciate it and...it'll be fun...promise.'' He locked eyes with her this time, though his voice still had a hint of a nervous waver, and the snort of amusement from the ninja sitting beside him didn't help matters.

Tifa furrowed her brow in thought for a few seconds before warming her features once again with a smirk, ''Well...I'll have to get a new dress...''

Although she hadn't actually used the exact words, he knew this was her way of saying 'yes' and he couldn't hold back his own elated, yet charmingly Reno style grin, ''I was told I have to get some new threads myself-'' He was interrupted the second time that evening by the young ninja, but this time it was with a very high pitched and excited shriek.

When both Tifa and Reno looked at her with complete confusion, she decided to elaborate on the frightening, yet power noise, that had escaped her, ''We can go shopping!''

The pair matched expressions exactly, their eyes widening, and their brows rising, and both, in a sort of rhythmic harmony, said simultaneously, ''We...?''

Yuffie seemed to ignore their flashes of pleading fear and instead jumped up excitedly, ''Yeah! I mean come on, we all know I have the best taste here...you need me! Plus you don't want to leave it up to Reno to tell you what looks good, do you Tif! So I think Thursday would be a good day hm? Oh this is gunna be so cool! We can get shoes and pretty dresses and makeup and a comb for Reno-''

She went on yammering for quite awhile and Reno slumped his head down upon bar, eventually droning out her voice and instead focusing his mind upon the creation of ideas on how he would deal with and in fact just get through a day of shopping with a very beautiful woman and a hyper active ninja.

A/N=Yes I know, I know, not much Tifa in this at all, but I said this would be Reno centric, after all it's about his struggle to come to terms with his feelings, thus we need development time with him and his life!

I've literally written out every chapter outline for the whole fic now, so I should be getting out the chapters quicker and easier! I've got to warn you that, although there will be nice bits and funny bits, the ending ain't gunna be overly fluffy...and to be honest we're gunna be going deeper into Reno's character and his devotion to Shinra...and it's not gunna be pretty...I've already got a sequel for this planned because the ending just begs for it, but anyway! I'll stop blabbing now!

Oh and I hope you all got the billboard to the head joke...if not...shame on you! If you haven't seen Advent Children though, then...I'll forgive you...just xD

And another thing, if Tseng and Elena seem a little off or OOC it's because they're meant to be (Well Tseng more than Elena) I know I haven't driven him totally off the edge, but I definitely wanted to give the hint that things aren't quite right with him atm and the sense he is becoming even more apart from the others, and we'll be exploring him and Elena's state of mind in later chapters and in the sequel. (Oh and I don't mean, 'state of mind' in the crazy sense...well...kinda lol)

Ok technically this is the end of the A/N as below I'm just gunna rant a bit about a certain event which took place this evening which I just feel I must write down!

Ok so...'chavs'...or 'pathetic teenagers with no ambitions, brains or prospects' as I like to call them...I swear tonight I was this close to running out of my house, chasing them down the street and knocking their bloody lights out, all in my froggy pyjamas. A frightening thought indeed.

My village used to be all right...well kinda all right, but since I was ten it seemed to start becoming infested with idiotic twits... and since then a lot of things, that I won't go into right now (I could literally write for pages about this but...) have contributed to them picking on my street, and my house...

They've broken about...ten car mirrors off, damaged our door, thrown things over our back gate, including bricks, and huge bottles, plastic luckily...but still full of drink and rather heavy... and once they even stuck a firework to our lounge window and nearly lit it, but thankfully my dad ran out and stopped them (my mum was sitting by that window, and the curtains were closed so she couldn't see what they were doing, and if they had lit it, and if it had gone off, she would have most definitely have been hurt, after all, having a window blasted at you ain't gunna feel like a mass of fluffy pillows...) And lots of other things I can't be bothered to name atm...

But anyway, back to the point! A few months ago, my dad put up two security cameras, either side of the gate, to catch the little twerps on film! And actually...it worked pretty well, and we even got one to pay back the damage they had done to a neighbours car, because we had them on film, clearly ripping off his ring mirror...

But basically, now a group of three fifteen/sixteen year old boys have taken it upon themselves to rip the cameras down in some strange attempt to stop them being caught...

And tonight was one of those nights...but the thing that amuses me beyond belief is the fact...because the camera submits the pictures onto a computer directly...we have the like...buggers... on film doing it! How thick are they?...I mean...really...if you're gunna try and rip a camera down at least cover your face! But no, their they are, clear as day, committing the offence! It amazes me that they actually have enough common sense to feed themselves!

Plus my dad ran after them and frightening the hell out of them, which again amuses me, because they act so tough and full of themselves, but show them an angry, fully grown male, and they literally turn into snivelling little kids...

Unluckily my dad didn't catch them this time...but I swear if I'm actually dressed next time they try it (and they will try it again...I can promise you that!)...I will chase them myself, and catch them (I'm quicker and smaller than my dad after all!) And made sure they know what real fear is, because while my dad may be scary in the, 'I'm a big man and I could squash you like a bug' kinda way, I'm scary in the, 'I will slowly and painfully tell you how sad and pathetic you are, whilst also torturing you with the pure glare of despising hatred from my oh so brilliant eyes, plus I'm a girl...I can shout and yell for hours without getting tired! Not to mention the fact I'm quite the sprightly fighter!'

So yeah...to conclude; Chavs suck!

Anyway to finish up on my rant! This would have been out a good three hours ago if I had been calm enough to finish it...but I had to wait...I was pretty angry...if you couldn't tell ;)