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 Four...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 Four: Unseen in the Twirls

The young Turk stood on the threshold, his feet steadfast, seemingly allowing his fear to seize control of his entire body, making it seem as if an invisible force field stood between him, and his dreaded destination.

His face was noticeably whiter than usual, which was surprising, as his complexion had always been pretty pale, apart from the two red tattoos below his beautiful aquamarine eyes of course, which presently were staring ahead, unblinking and glazed, widened with doubting nerves.

The skin coating his strong, slender hands was beginning to moisten with warm, rough, grit like sweat, that made him feel uncomfortably sticky and unclean, a feeling which only increased when the nervous condition threatened to spread under his suit and take effect on the rest of his body.

He had been standing there for what seemed like an eternity, the passing hordes brushing past him going unnoticed, the red head appearing somewhat in a hypnotised state, and even when a firm hand was placed on his shoulder, he didn't acknowledge its presence until the small thumb began to move in a half circle, delivering a familiar comfort to his form.

''Don't worry Reno...I'm here...it'll be ok...'' He didn't turn to face the young woman, but her voice was unmistakable, and the gentle natural perfume emulating from her was unique to her and her alone.

When he spoke, his voice was quiet and serious, ''I know...it's just...it's so...'' the right words seemed to evade the young Turk, and as he closed his thin lips, a small, muffled yelp sounded from the back of his throat, somewhat similar to that of a terrified canine.

It was large, enormous to the extent of the ridiculous, the bright white lights inside, appeared to drain the sanity out of its transfixed captives, who stalked around in groups like hungry hyenas looking for prey, and the rumbling vibrations of sound that escaped across the entrance took on a seemingly alarming, ominous edge.

Reno's gaze flickered slightly, as he raised his chin, elevating his line of sight, so as to allow his mind to take in and process the glittering letters displaying above him, clearly stating, much to his dismay, 'Shinra Styles – Edge's No1 Department Store'

He let out a groan and slumped his head back down as if the invisible strings that were holding it in place had snapped, and in one long, drawn out motion, he shifted his head to the side, his gaze locking with the intended brunette, who in turn shone him a warming, understanding smile.

While the moment was sweet, it was somewhat short lived as the two were pulled apart by a a pair of desperate hands, belonging to the hyper active ninja, who proceeded to force herself in between the Turk and the brunette, like some kind of partition wall, whom Reno formed an intense desire to knock down with a bulldozer.

She had a sickeningly cheery smile plastered upon her face, and her tone was as energy induced as always, ''Ready to shop Turk boy?''

His response wasn't so much in words, but rather a series of low grunts, which seemed to exasperate the young ninja immensely.

''Oh stop complaining...scaredy cat...''

The red head whipped around to face her, clearly feeling a need to defend his pride, ''I am not!''

Yuffie stuck out her tongue, and pushed her hands to her hips threateningly, ''You are too! I can smell your fear from here!''

A disbelieving huff pasted through his lips, ''Bollocks.''

''I can! I am, after all, the best, most amazing ninja in the world!''

The Turk couldn't withhold his amusement and outburst a single shot of laughter, before regaining some composure and managing to retort, ''Yeah and I'm the milky bar kid...''

Before Reno could flash the brunette a proud smirk of achievement, he found himself colliding with a perfume display right inside the entrance to the store, the young ninja clutching her sides with merciless laughter at her own quick attack.

The red head pushed himself up in a comically ungraceful fashion and began straightening his shirt, and nodding his head, trying desperately to both reassure himself and regain some sort of dignity, ''It's cool...everything's cool...''

Though this apparently just seemed to inflame Yuffie's amusement factor tenfold and soon the brunette had joined in, the pair becoming overwhelmed with waves of hysterical laughter, leaving Reno to pick up the perfume bottles and replace them upon the display, under the scrutinising glare of a rather plastic looking sales assistant.

The red head looked up at Tifa, a hopeful quirk edged upon his brow, ''Well...what do you think?''

There was a long, drawn out pause as the brunette nodded her head slowly, almost as if trying to tease him, and when she spoke, her lips tried to force back the smirk that hinted at the corners of her pale pink lips, ''Yeah...yeah, it looks...good.''

Reno stood, hands on hips, and head cocked to the side, his hands holding onto the sides of the suit jacket, in a somewhat nervous fashion.

True, he wore a suit each and everyday, but that was always the same; navy blue, with a crisp white shirt, no tie, as was his preference, though the suit he wore now, whether or not due to the fact he usually wore nothing else than his uniform, appeared shockingly different.

It was black for a start, well the jacket and the trousers were anyway, and the material being so much darker than his normal shade, seemed to make his pale skin look even more flawless.

The shirt underneath was an eye-catching bright crimson, the colour almost twinning exactly with the Turk's spiky, flowing locks and in between this and the jacket lay a waistcoat, dark in shade, though stitched with flame red thread, much similar to the tie, which hung perfect underneath his collar, and though the brunette had managed to persuade him to wear the foreign item for once, his shirt still lay un-tucked and the jacket unbuttoned.

Reno seemed to doubt the young woman's response and was about to interrogate her further, when a very ecstatic and rather excited Yuffie ran around the wall, and into the changing rooms, carrying what looked like a balled up top in her right hand.

She stopped the moment her eyes met with the newly suited Turk, and stared at him for a few moments in silence, before breaking out, once again, into a wide cheerful grin, ''Awww! Don't you look cute!''

Cute! This seemingly innocent comment, made the red head grow even more unconvinced of the choice outfit,''What do you mean cute? I'm a Turk...I'm suppose to be...mysterious and... and menacing!''

The ninja saddled up to the brunette, but her gaze remained on Reno, along with a cheeky smirk, ''Yeah, whatever you say cutie pie...''

The red head made a soft growl before turning to the mirror to check over his appearance, leaving Tifa to deal with the ninja.

''Now Tifa, what do you think of this?''

The brunette scanned her eyes over the piece of clothing in Yuffie's eager hands and soon a low arch formed upon her brow, ''It's a plain, white t-shirt Yuffie...it's kinda hard to have an opinion on it.''

The ninja waved her free arm about in a sort of excited protest, ''Yeah but, I was thinking...an afternoon with glitter pens, and the 'World Encyclopedia of Materia' and this could be quite the pulling outfit!''

A single eyebrow raised above its normal height, while the other remained in place upon Tifa's, otherwise still, face, ''Right... but I thought you went looking for a dress for me...?''

Her eyes widened so suddenly, she almost looked like a cartoon character, ''Oh yeah...that...'' A small nervous smile appeared upon her lips, ''I'll be right back!'' And with that the ninja darted from the room so quickly she somewhat resembled the road runner and Tifa shared a smirk with the reflected form of Reno, displayed upon the mirror.

With their gaze locked together, he cocked an questioning, if slightly amused eyebrow, ''Cute?''

Tifa shrugged her shoulders, while her allowing her smirk to increase, ''Meh.''

A silent yawn crept slowly from the red head's parted lips, as his form slumped lazily down upon one of the velveteen chairs, his feet too tired and sore to bare the full weight of his frame any longer.

After the ninja returned from her mission empty handed, Reno had been forced to spend the last three hours traipsing around the department store in a seemingly endless search for 'the dress' and it had not been, what he would describe, as an enjoyable experience.

The group had come across many dresses, so many in fact that the red head had begun to lose count, not to mention fear for his sanity and each and every time there had been something 'wrong' with them, whether it be that they were too short, too long, too dark, too light, too heavy, too frumpy, too slinky, too boring, too wacky, too slutty, too tight, too baggy, too formal, too casual, too gothic, too medieval, too modern, too bright or just too weird, every single one was 'wrong'.

It had rather shocked the Turk when they actually managed to find one that both Yuffie and Tifa seemed to like, though oh course he didn't hold too much hope that she'd like it enough to buy it and end his misery.

''Yo, you got the damn thing on yet?''

For a while all he heard in response was a gaping void of deathly silence, but eventually he heard a rustle of fabric and a quiet voice call back from behind the curtain.

''Ok, I'm coming out...''

Reno let out a relived sigh, Finally... and propped his head up against the wall, as he leant his chair back slightly.

It would have been an understatement to say that he was stunned by what he saw, when the young woman emerged from behind the drapes, and glided across the room towards him.

The smooth, silky material hung off of her like floating liquid, falling upon her curves like a second skin, though not appearing tight or strained, and as the skirt area flared out, it created an almost classic twist, though still kept the look formal enough for the event for which it was intended.

The sleeves were nonexistent, her arms so well toned that to cover them up would be almost like an insult to them, the straps remaining a healthy thickness in order to support her curvaceous lines, though not chunky in the slightest.

It was sapphire in shade, the deep, glimmering blue bringing out her crimson tinted eyes beautifully and complimenting her darkened brown locks to the point of perfection.

It was simple, elegant, and somewhat pure in design, as though the maker had only owned this one piece of fabric and had been forced to make the single plainness to shine by itself, and if that had been the case, they had succeeded brilliantly.

Yuffie, who had been sitting cross-legged on the royal blue carpeted floor, hung her head back and allowed her mouth to fall open in a delighted surprise, her voice not more than a whisper, ''Beautiful...''

''Yeah she is...'' She turned to see the red head, who proceeded to pull himself from the chair, his mind and body seemingly transfixed by the brunette, to whom he began to approach.

Yuffie cocked at eyebrow and muttered after him, though she knew he wouldn't hear, ''I was talking about the dress...''

Tifa stroked her hands down the sides of the material somewhat nervously, before resting them upon her hips, while lowering her chin, allowing her criticising gaze, a better view, ''So, what do you think? Good enough for Shinra?''

''It's perfect, every other girl there will be jealous, even more so than Rude is of my amazingly good looks!'' She flashed him a disbelieving smirk, as he grinned enthusiastically, refusing to deny his somewhat cocky claim, ''I'll have to fight to get a single dance with you...''

Tifa's lips parted slowly, ''Well then...'' her hands reached down to his, and pulled them into position, one upon her waist and the other entwined with her own, while her free hand rested upon his shoulder, ''...we'll just have to dance now!''

The ninja watched the pair with some degree of amused confusion, Dancing in a changing room...and they say I'm weird... As they twirled together, the red head stumbled and almost lost his balance, causing the brunette to giggle, in an almost childlike joy, as her head rested down upon her dance partner's shoulder, in an attempt to calm herself.

Yuffie let a small smile grace her delicate lips, she couldn't deny the fact that Reno possessed an uncanny ability to make her friend happy, in fact he seemed to live off of it, as if he need it more than air, as if he needed her more than-

Oh...my...Gawd! The ninja's eyes narrowed as realisation hit her like a Materia to the head, and she cursed at her own stupidly for not seeing what had been growing in front of her, steadily,from the first moment he'd ever entered Tifa's bar,''He's in love with her...''

A/N= Ok this took me a little while longer to get up than I'd expected...but I had to catch up on some sleep, and then I got distracted by the weirdness thing on the Eurovision semi final... I swear I heard one singer belt out 'Screw the gypsies!'' And the dude looked like Mario...but taller...It was incredibly distracting!