Disclaimer : I do not own FFVII, Crisis Core, Advent Children, or any of the characters that you recognise. As much as I love these guys, they belong to those other guys.

Chapter 2 : Don't I Know You From Someplace?

Reno mentally prepared himself for what he would find as he took off in the direction of the sound. Most likely it was some tourist who had wandered too far off the path or had taken a wrong turn on the ski slopes and either gotten lost or ran upon on a monster or two. The monsters that roamed the Planet these days were nowhere near as fierce or terrifying as they had once been when Mako reactors were still in use, but there were some who still hid in remote areas. Reno was more than capable of taking out the stragglers, but he generally found that if he avoided them, they left him alone in return.

Racing along the worn path, Reno heard the woman again and put on a burst of speed as he realised he was close. He couldn't help but think the voice was somewhat familiar, but he quickly pushed that thought to the back of his head as he spotted the source of the sounds up ahead. Narrowing his eyes, he could make out the body of a Bandersnatch trapped below a fallen tree, though it seemed to be dead or at the very least unable to move. He also saw a pair of well padded legs sticking out from under the same tree, although whoever they belonged to was still very much alive as they twitched and flailed, trying to scramble out from under the trunk of the tree. Reno slowed to a jog as he got closer, his fingers tightening around the handle of his axe slightly. He might be retired, but that didn't mean he wasn't still wary of strangers in strange places.

"Need a hand over there?" He called out, his voice muffled slightly by his scarf. The legs stilled for a moment as whoever it was called out in surprise. Obviously they didn't expect anyone to be around these parts, despite their calling for help.

"Uh, hello? Can you help me? I was attacked and then this tree fell on me. I can't get out!" An equally muffled voice called back. Reno walked up to the fallen tree, his hand relaxing slightly. Whoever was under there, they weren't in any position to be jumping up on him. He leaned over the trunk when he reached the woman, craning to try and see her face.

"Attacked and trapped one after another? Some luck you have!" Reno couldn't help but smirk behind his scarf.

"Tell me about it." The woman mumbled as she turned her head to look at him. She was dressed similarly to Reno, with a scarf wrapped around the lower half of her face and a woolly hat pulled down over her head, although hers had a ridiculously large pom pom on the top. She also had a pair of goggles on, which made Reno think she had perhaps been skiing although there was no sign of her skis. Reno rested his foot on the log and leaned forward a bit more, his arm draped across his raised knee.

"Well, looks like your luck has changed. You woulda been here overnight if I hadn't been nearby." Reno continued to smirk. It had been a while since he'd had a one on one conversation with a lady, and going by her voice he was taking bets that she wasn't much younger than him. And hopefully cute! He might even manage to wrangle a date out of her as a thank you if he was charming enough.

"Yeah, yeah. Listen, can you call for help? The Bandersnatch is taking most of the weight of this but I'm not exactly comfortable here so the quicker this log is off me the better!" The woman patted the tree with a gloved hand, as if Reno hadn't noticed it. "I dunno if you noticed but I'm kinda trapped under it."

"Now, now. Is that any way to speak to your saviour?" Reno drawled as he straightened up and walked round so he was standing beside her head. He noticed a few strands of damp coal coloured hair peeking out from behind her hat. She had obviously been here long enough for the snow to start melting slightly beneath her, but that didn't mean Reno was in too much a hurry. What fun was playing the hero without some dramatics?

Even with her face hidden, Reno could feel the woman giving him a look of disbelief as he crouched down beside her and felt along the underside of the tree carefully. Standing back up, he looked around, scanning for something.

"Not to be rude, but… Are you planning on calling for help? This thing is pretty heavy, I doubt one person is gonna be able to lift it off…" She trailed off as Reno suddenly jogged out of sight. She craned her neck to see where he had gone. Surely he hadn't just ran off and left her?

As soon as the thought was out of her head, he reappeared with a sizeable boulder in his arms. Laying it down a few feet from her, he disappeared again, and returned moments later with a short but sturdy looking log. Sliding one end under the fallen tree and balancing it on the rock, Reno pushed down on the other end of the log. He grit his teeth as he struggled to apply the right amount of leverage to lift the tree slowly so that it didn't move in such a way as to roll back or forward and accidentally crush the girl. He couldn't very well claim back a date in gratitude if he accidentally killed her.

With a creak that sounded much louder than it probably was in the silence of the surrounding trees, the fallen trunk slowly lifted up off the girl and the wolf's body. Reno pushed a little more and then held it, looking over at the woman who hadn't moved. She seemed to be staring at him. Reno knew that even with all the padding of his layers, he didn't look like much so she probably assumed he didn't have much strength. Hence her surprise when he managed to free her single handedly.

"Any time you're ready. This thing isn't heavy at all, yo." He grumbled as the girl seemed to come to her senses and scrambled free. As soon as she was clear, Reno removed his weight from the short log and the trunk slammed back down, muffled slightly by the Bandersnatch body still underneath. Reno barely had time to call out and warn her as the pressure coming back down on the dead wolf caused a spray of bloody and gore to shoot out from either side of the trunk, covering the girl and the surrounding snow. He gawked as the girl lay still, her arms spread in disbelief as she stared down at her now sodden torso and legs. Reno expected her to scream, but she was obviously made of tougher stuff as she simply spluttered a few expletives and scrambled to her feet.

"Wow. This is probably the worst rescue ever. And I've seen some pretty shoddy rescues…" She grumbled as she shot Reno a look, her arms still held out from her body as if she was trying to avoid touching the gore despite being covered from the chest down.

"At least you're out from under the tree." Reno raised a gloved hand to his mouth to stifle a laugh as he spoke. She obviously realised he was about to laugh at her misfortune and raised a single finger, pointing at him in a way that even without seeing her face, said Don't you dare… loud and clear. The image of this girl, standing in the pure white snow, covered in blood, with a pom-pom hat on, waving a threatening finger at him was too much. Reno couldn't hold back his laughter as he doubled over, clutching his stomach. His laughter was short lived and turned into a yell of shock as he felt a pile of snow being dumped over his head. He stared at his feet in disbelief as the slush slid from his head into the ground beneath him.

Wait, red snow? Aw hell no…

Reno jumped back and stared at the girl in horror as she burst out laughing, a second handful of what could only be described as a Bandsnatch coated snowball in her hands.

"Are you serious?! Did you actually just throw gut-flavoured snow at the guy who just saved you? That's pretty low, yo!"

"Hey, you laughed at me first! You deserved it!" The girl giggled as she lifted her goggles off her face and settled them on the brim of her hat. Reno barely had time to grumble about ungrateful damsels in distress before he noticed her eyes. They were a deep brown, flecked with a rich crimson which twinkled in amusement. Long dark eyelashes framed them, and Reno thanked his lucky stars that his hope that she was cute was going good so far. She almost seemed familiar. He was still staring slightly as she picked up handfuls of snow and attempted to use it to rub off the blood from her suit. Reaching up, Reno brushed off the remaining snow from his neck, his nose wrinkling as the red and white mush flicked onto the ground at his feet.

"Yeah, yeah. Guessing you're not exactly a girly girl if splattering someone in blood is your idea of a just reward?" He couldn't help but grinning beneath his scarf as he walked over to her and helped her to brush off some of the snow. As he got closer, he couldn't help the nagging feeling that her eyes were familiar. He ran through his mental catalogue of girls he'd met whenever he'd wandered into the village for supplies, a drink, or even for some company for the evening.

"You could say that. Though I've seen quite enough bloody and gore to do me a lifetime." Even muffled behind her scarf, Reno could hear a hint of sadness in her voice. Damn, he'd just met this girl, he didn't want to be dragging up the past of someone he didn't even know.

"Yeah, well, this snow is only gonna do so much for cleaning. And when it melts, you're gonna be freezing and pneumonia is not fun, yo. Best to get changed out of those clothes asap. Where are you stayin'?"

"Wow, you're suggesting getting me out of my clothes and asking where I'm staying already? Fast mover, aren't you?" Her eyes twinkled again with merriment. Not afraid of getting messy AND flirtatious? Reno was glad that he'd heard her shouting for help.

"Hey, I'm just playing the knight in shining armour here. How you want to thank me for my services is your call." Reno smirked. He folded his arms across his chest and cocked his head to the side. The girl let out a bark of laughter and waved her hand at him.

"Sorry, sorry. I'm just kidding. I'm staying at Icicle Inn. I was snowboarding and decided to take a different track. I don't even know how far I am from where I started."

"You're a fair bit away. Probably a good few hours walk back. You're closer to Modeoheim than Icicle Inn out here." Reno shifted his weight to one foot, gesturing over his shoulder with a tilt of his head. "You'd be best rentin' a snowmobile to get back before dark. Not sure if there will be any left in town at this time mind you."

"Oh, great." The girl grumbled, crossing her arms across her chest and mirroring his pose. Reno couldn't help but notice how her jacket strained slightly across her bust as she folded her arms. It took a well practiced amount of willpower to keep his eyes on hers.

"Look, I'm just about ta clock off for the day. Why don't I walk you back to town and you can rent a snowmobile and be on your way back home? I'd offer you a place to stay til mornin', but I wouldn't want you takin' advantage of my hospitality." Reno chuckled. The girl unfolded her arms and he saw the sides of her eyes crease with a smile.

"Yeah, I can tell you're not that kind of girl," she replied, earning a bark of laughter from Reno. He appreciated a bit of flirtatious banter, and she was giving as good as she got. "I'd really appreciate that. I'm starting to really feel the cold out here."

"Hey, it's no problem. It's about a half hour walk back to the town, so you'll have time to warm up there before you set off. But only if we get going now."
Reno turned to make his way over to his axe which he had abandoned in his search for a boulder earlier. "I guess since we're gonna be spendin' a bit more time together I should really get your name?" He asked as he picked up his axe and turned to face her. As she reached up to pull down the scarf covering her face, Reno mentally crossed his fingers that the rest of her face was as promising as her eyes. His breath caught in his throat however as the scarf slid down to reveal a familiar petite nose and full, pink lips that were upturned in a smile that he doubted would be present is she realised who he was. He swallowed hard as her smile widened further as she spoke.

"My name is Tifa. Tifa Lockhart."

AN: Dun dun dun! Reno's been flirting with the enemy! Is she still the enemy? Who knows how he views her right now! Fun fun :D