Disclaimer: Finial Fantasy belongs 100% to Square Enix. Plotline is our own.
Chapter Five: Dating and Training
One morning around breakfast time, everyone who was sitting at the table to eat heard a scream.
"'LANNA!" Ryu yelled from her room. Alanna jumped.
"What did you do?" Piper asked around her pancake. Alanna shrugged, completely at a loss.
"'Lanna 'Lanna 'Lanna 'Lanna!" Ryu came charging into the room, a pair of scissors in her hands.
"It's long enough now. CUT IT OFF!" Ryu exclaimed, handing the scissors to Alanna and pulling her pony tail over her shoulder. The lower section of it was red, while the rest of it was medium brown.
Reno had been surprised when he realized her hair wasn't actually red, but brown.
"You might as well leave it red and long." Tseng pointed out. Ryu looked at him confused.
"Why?" She asked. Tseng pointed to Reno.
"You're his double." He said. Ryu sighed, and took the scissors back. Reno scowled. After the talk with Ryu in the helicopter they'd been much friendlier. They'd learned to trust each other, and the one time he'd accidentally pushed her too far, she'd broken down, letting him see a side of herself she hid so carefully. He tried to protect her like a brother would.
"You don't like it long, yo?" He asked her, surprised. She shrugged.
"It's nice, but it gets heavy, and in the way. Unlike yours, my hair is pretty thick so it feels like it weighs a ton." She said frowning.
"Cut it." Reno said with a shrug, "It's not like that small of a difference is going to matter. Someone could just assume I cut my hair finally." He winked at Ryu, "You're still gonna have to keep it red, Little Me." He added. Ryu grinned.
"I can deal with being a red head." She said, giving the scissors to Alanna again. She went around to the other side of the table and hugged Reno and impishly gave him a kiss on the cheek, making him go red. He still wasn't used to that. She pulled on his bangs.
"Be good niisan, while I cut my hair." She teased before she dragged Alanna out. Reno scowled after her but he couldn't stop the delighted twinkle in his eyes. Rude saw it and wondered.
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"What is Ryu to you?" Rude asked Morgan as they were sitting in the basement, going over some of the finer aspects of bomb making.
"She's my girlfriend." Morgan told Rude. Rude raised an eyebrow.
"You certainly don't act like it." He said. Morgan just grinned.
"Ryu and I decided it was better if we didn't act all cuddly in public, particularly around co-workers. You might get the wrong idea that we couldn't do our job properly." He said. Rude grunted.
"Would you kill her if you had to?" Rude asked quietly. Morgan looked over at the reinforced wall.
"I wouldn't have to because she would only be being doing what was best for the planet, which Shinra claims to have in its best interests." Morgan responded, avoiding the question.
"You wouldn't shoot her," Rude stated, the question in his voice gone. Morgan shrugged.
"Would you shoot the girl you've loved for over three years? The girl that means the world to you?" Morgan asked. Rude shook his head.
"I wouldn't know. I don't have a girl I care about." Rude said.
"Would you shoot Reno?" Morgan asked going for the next best comparison. Rude shrugged.
"If I was ordered to," Rude said.
"Ouch." Morgan said, "That's cold."
"That is the way of the Turks. We devote all to Shinra." Rude said. Morgan shook his head.
"Not happening. I've already made promises to Ryu that I am not breaking, not for a company." Morgan said firmly.
"What kind of promises?" Morgan sighed.
"The kind that turns guys into saps for making them, but you can't not make them once you find the girl. But you wouldn't get it, since you haven't found that girl yet." Morgan said and turned back to the problem at hand.
"You love her that much?" Rude asked surprised. Morgan shrugged uncomfortable flushing a bit red.
"Yeah, I do," he admitted. Rude nodded his head and fell silent.
"Don't let Reno know you're sleeping with her then. He thinks she's still innocent, and that he can keep her safe from the horrors of the world." Rude said suddenly.
"Isn't that my job?" Morgan asked. Rude shrugged.
"She calls him niisan." he began.
"It means brother in Japanese. She picked up bits of the language both from 'Lanna and a friend in high school." Morgan said. Rude nodded his head.
"Reno lost his family when he was young. He joined the Turks at sixteen. Shinra and killing are all he really knows. She could be him, they are alike enough. It's like she's his conscious, his sense of right. Or like an older sister who needs protecting." Rude said. Morgan grinned.
"I'll try not to let him find out his dear big sis isn't as innocent as he thinks, but he'll get a shock the first time she makes a connection that's in the gutter." Morgan said.
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"Do you notice anything funny between Angeal and Mary?" Morgan asked Matti. They were sitting outside Tseng's office dressed in the Turk uniform of black slacks, white button up shirt tucked in with a black tie, and a black suit coat that zipped rather than buttoned up. Rude was in Tseng's office with Reno. Ryu was still in Reno's office reading, of all things, a flight manual.
"Yeah. He won't hit her." Matti said.
"Not that. Is it just me or is he more on edge then normal around her?" Morgan asked. Matti shrugged.
"Maybe a little." he admitted, "What do you think it means?" Morgan shrugged.
"It could be anything I suppose but what I find more curious is that Mary is trying to be a girl all of sudden. She's wearing skirts and dresses when she's not training, or acting as Angeal's doppelganger." Morgan said. Matti nodded his head.
"I noticed that." He admitted. It had shocked the hell out of them when Mary, one shopping trip after they had gotten paid, had bought a pink skirt decorated with white and black flowers and a white tank top to wear with it. Alanna and Ryu had all but fallen over laughing at the sight. Piper had just smirked as if she too knew what was going on.
"What I find strange is that Alanna is getting away with stealing Genesis's clothes. That man is so vain and anal about his clothes." Matti said. Morgan shrugged.
"Maybe she's beginning to rub off on him." Morgan suggested. Matti snorted.
"I didn't think so either." Morgan agreed before Reno and Rude came out. He stood and trailed behind Rude, as Tseng motioned for Matti to reenter the office.
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"Go on you two. We can survive a night without you." Mary said, shooing Piper and Matti out of the apartment.
"I feel like you're going to destroy the place while we're gone." Matti said shaking his head. Ryu grinned.
"Don't worry daddy dearest. Turks honor, we won't break anything." She teased. Matti scowled at her as she laughed and walked away.
"Turks honor, bullshit." Alanna muttered even as she laughed. Ryu stuck her tongue out at her.
"Go have fun." Mary added.
"Thanks guys." Piper said before Mary closed the door.
"Where'd Piper go?" Zack asked as he came out from his room a few minutes later, looking for her.
"She's on a date with Matti." Morgan said.
"Oh." Zack said heading to the door
"Zack!" Mary and Morgan leaped for him, pinning him to the ground.
"You can't interrupt their date." Alanna told him sternly.
"But I am bored." Zack protested.
"Then play one of your games with Cloud and Morgan." Ryu told him.
"You know Ryu, you and Morgan should have gone on date night with them. I'll sit on Zack if you want to go." Alanna said. Morgan looked up from his spot on Zack's back and shook his head.
"Nah we're good. We can't let Reno know right now that Ryu and I are dating. He'd pop a fuse. We should let him get used to the idea slowly." He said. Ryu nodded her head.
"Besides, we won't have a puppy making Morgan nervous." She pointed out.
"Speaking of Zack," Mary said, "While we have him, maybe we should talk to him about that."
"Talk to me about what?" Zack asked.
"I don't think you meant it Zack, but you keep monopolizing Piper's time. Matti and Piper haven't had much time to be together, and couples need that time if they're going to last. You've got to start giving them time together." Ryu said as Morgan stood and joined her on the couch. She cuddled up against his side.
"You two don't seem to need much time alone." Zack pointed out. They both smiled and went a little red. Alanna snickered.
"Where do you think Ryu has been sleeping?" She asked as Mary got off of Zack and allowed him to sit cross legged on the floor in front of them all. He looked puzzled for a minute, then his eyes widened as he stared at Ryu and Morgan in shock. Mary grinned.
"Actually I wanted both your help Alanna and Ryu's for a project." She admitted. Ryu and Alanna looked at her puzzled.
"Uhh what mischief are you planning?" Ryu asked worried. She remembered some of the tricks Mary had pulled. Mary mock scowled at her and twined a strand of her bright blonde and dark blonde streaky hair, the blonde dye was wearing out.
"I actually want to dye my hair." She admitted. Zack made a bored face and laughing Morgan had tossed a game controller at him.
"Then why do you need our help? You've dyed your hair before." Ryu pointed out. Mary shrugged.
"The kit isn't like ours back home. And Ryu you need to touch up your roots again. I figured Alanna could help us both." Ryu shrugged.
"It can't hurt." Alanna grinned.
"Girls night ladies?" She asked as Morgan rolled his eyes and facepalmed.
"Well Piper isn't here…" Ryu pointed out.
"Like Piper would enjoy this." Mary said.
"Well all right." Ryu said giving in. Mary pulled them both off the couch and all of them laughing dragged them down the hall. Ryu blew Morgan a kiss.
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Piper walked alongside Matti as they returned from their date night. They had gone to an arcade and now Piper was carrying a big Chocobo plushie.
"You're easily amused." Matti said grinning down at her. Piper grinned back.
"I can't help it. It's sooo fluffy!" She giggled, hugging it. Matti laughed.
"So you did have fun." He said. Piper nodded her head.
"It was sweet of the others to chase us out of the apartment for a date." She said. Matti grinned.
"Hopefully they haven't destroyed anything." He joked, a little bit worried. Tseng was rubbing off on him.
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"Ermm…" Angeal said staring at the black haired young woman dressed like Mary who sat on the couch with Alanna and Piper. Ryu was leaning over the back of the couch scratching Alanna's back while Alanna leaned forward a pleased look on her face.
"Please don't stop. I'll purr if you keep doing that." Alanna said. Ryu laughed and scratched more vigorously.
"Your back always itches." Ryu told her. Piper turned to look at Angeal.
"What's with that face?" She asked. She was cuddling her stuffed Chocobo in her arms. The others turned to look at Angeal and realized it was Mary sitting on the couch with them.
"Nothing." He muttered and walked away. Ryu giggled and Alanna grinned.
"Riiiiggghhhhtttt tough guy, we'll all just pretend your jaw wasn't on the floor then." She muttered.
"Wha…?" Mary said confused. Alanna and Ryu laughed.
"Angeal likes you, Mary." Alanna told her. Mary shook her head flushing.
"No way, a guy like him liking me? I couldn't get the guys back home to like me. How can I get him to like me?" Mary protested. Ryu shrugged.
"I dunno but he does, maybe you know it's that killer and slightly girly body you've developed there. Or maybe that you like cooking, or you're not a geek like me and Alanna, who knows but he sees something he likes." Ryu retorted. Mary flushed redder and shook her head.
"I doubt it." All three of them sighed.
"You'll never know Mary until you try." Alanna said.
"I'll try when you make a move on Genesis." Mary retorted. Alanna flushed.
"That's not fair Mary."Ryu protested.
"Genesis is an arrogant, vain, snotty jerk. No offense 'Lanna," Ryu said rubbing at a knot she found in Alanna's back.
"He is." Alanna acknowledged with a sigh, as Ryu worked on the knot that had been bothering her all day.
"He's got to figure out who he likes before anyone can make a move on him. Angeal on the hand he already knows he likes you. He just won't act on it, because I bet you his honor says its wrong." Ryu continued.
"When did you become all knowing?" Mary grumbled.
"Never said I was, just that I see things differently than you do." Ryu reached over and tugged on a strand of Mary's hair.
"And I believe whole heartedly that both of you deserve happiness and will push you both to ensure you get it." She said blowing them both raspberries as Piper nodded her head in agreement.
"So no getting all depressed either of you." Piper added lightly punching Mary in the arm. Mary turned and tickled Piper.
"Mercy." She yelped, squirming away.
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Later that night, Ryu slipped from the room she shared with Mary and Alanna and crept down the hallway towards Morgan's room. Piper and Matti openly shared a room, so Morgan had a room to himself. As she passed Sephiroth's room, the silver haired general came out looking for midnight sugar. Ryu cursed as Seph eyed her, she was right near Morgan's room and couldn't think of one good reason why she should be in the hall. They stared at each other wide eyed. Slowly Ryu backed towards Morgan's door, as she brought her hand up and made the Jedi mind trick gesture.
"These aren't the footsteps you heard." She whispered before opening Morgan's door and slipping inside. Once the door was closed, she leaned against it and giggled. Little did she know Seph was staring at the door stunned beyond comprehension.
The next morning, as Alanna passed Morgan's door, she banged on it saying loudly,
"I heard that last night." She was answered by a snicker and a giggle.
When Ryu came out into the kitchen Seph opened his mouth to say something to her, but as she was running late, she made the same gesture and said,
"This is not the Turk you are looking for." Grabbing her breakfast, she left the room at a run. Seph and the rest of the SOLDIERs stared at her confused, as the few doppelgangers lingering burst out into laughter.
"Oh, she did not just do that." Matti said laughing.
"She did it last night too, when Seph caught her in the hall." Alanna told him when she stopped laughing. Matti snickered, as Seph's confusion grew.
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"Today you learn how to parkour." Reno said. Ryu smiled. She'd been waiting to learn how to do this. Cloud entered the room.
"Sorry I am late, Reno." Reno shook his head.
"Ryu was a bit late too, so no big deal." Reno told him. He turned back to Ryu.
"Cloud is going to be learning how to parkour as well. So you might as well learn it together." Ryu nodded her head.
"Fine by me, niisan." She said.
"Cloud will also be sparing against you, to give you an idea what it's like to fight a SOLDIER." Reno added. Ryu nodded her head.
"Still okay with me," She told him calmly.
"Well let's begin then."
That's how Ryu and Cloud stared training together. Cloud helped Ryu learn how to take down bigger opponents, seeing as he wasn't much bigger then she was and it wasn't something Reno often had to worry about even if he was really skinny.
"You're fast for a girl." Cloud said during one of their joint training sessions, grimacing as Ryu scrambled out of the way. She stuck her tongue at him.
"Just cuz I am a girl, doesn't mean I'm slow." She said slightly insulted. Cloud grinned.
"You've been learning awfully fast. What did you do before you came here?" He asked. Ryu stuck her tongue out and held her silence until Reno called a break.
"I was a senior in college. I was majoring in Medical-Biology." She told him. Cloud scowled.
"What does that mean?" He asked, unfamiliar with the terms. Ryu sighed. She'd forgotten about the culture differences.
"I was in advanced education for medicine, to become a doctor." She told him. Cloud looked confused.
"And coming here you can just suddenly fight like this?" He asked. Ryu shrugged.
"Apparently I had it in me all along." She said. –Or a certain bitch goddess is helping all of us, no matter how unlikely that is- She said to herself.
"Hey, get back to it." Reno told them grinning. Ryu snapped a mocking salute at him.
"Yes niisan, on it." She said brightly. Reno scowled at her.
"Keep it up and the Director will think you're as cheeky as I am." He told her. Ryu saw Cloud's eyes light up at the mention of Tseng. She filed it away for later pondering; right now she had a SOLDEIR to out parkour and fight.
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"Hey, Chocobo, why the long face?" Ryu asked as she leaned against the back of the couch, looking over Cloud's shoulder. The little blond jumped, startled both by the nickname and by her fairly quiet appearance.
"Nothing..." He stammered. Ryu hopped over the back of the couch and plopped on to the seat next to him.
"Little liar." She teased, reaching over and pinching his cheek. He flushed. Ryu treated him just like he was a little brother. She did it to all the SOLDIERS. Well, not to Angeal or Genesis. She treated those two as elders. She treated Tseng and Rude with respect, and the times the doppelgangers had been around Vincent they had all but tip-toed around the undead Turk.
"Confess or I'll tickle you." She said. She'd found out, quite by accident one day in training, that Cloud was VERY ticklish. Like Reno said, Turks fight dirty.
Cloud sighed, and set his magazine down. He looked around the room to see if any of the other SOLDIERs were around.
"I just... I don't know what to do. I really like someone but I don't think they like me back." He admitted. Ryu grinned. She'd already figured out that Cloud had a long standing crush on someone.
"You never know until you try." She pointed out. He flushed.
"It's well embarrassing." He said, squirming in his seat. Ryu leaned over to whisper in his ear,
"What? That you're gay, or that you like Tseng?" she asked. Cloud stared at her. Ryu shrugged.
"Didn't take much to figure out where your eyeballs were glued all the time." She said.
"Do you think...?" Cloud started. Ryu shrugged.
"I dunno. You'd have to ask Matti, or Reno and Rude." She told him. Cloud looked down at his linked hands. Ryu stood and ruffled his hair.
"Don't worry about it Chocobo's Ass. What will be, will be. And there isn't a damn thing we can do about our silly little hearts." She said before she disappeared, leaving a very embarrassed and stunned Cloud staring after her.
Alanna laughed herself silly when Ryu recounted Cloud's reaction to their nickname for him to her. The others had been less then amused.