Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 4: Yuffie Goes Baywatch

“Reno, you idiot… You’d better not be dead,” Yuffie muttered as she prepared to jump. She stepped off the bridge and into thin air, plunging into the river. She surfaced briefly to take a deep breath and then dove under the water. The current was slow, barely noticeable, and the water under the bridge was deep and murky. Yuffie swam for the bottom, finding that she couldn’t see more then a few inches in any direction. She felt her way along the riverbed until she couldn’t hold her breath any longer, and then kicked her way to the surface, head emerging from the water, gasping for air. She dove again, desperation growing, and searched once more, this time encountering a coarse sack with a rope tied to it. Yuffie pulled the rope toward her, and screamed, bubbles of air erupting from her mouth and escaping to the surface, the sound carried by the water in a strangely muffled echo, as she found Reno’s motionless body at the other end. Using the edge of her Conformer, she sliced through the rope that held him trapped at the bottom of the river, then held onto him tightly as she swam for the surface. By the time she reached the shore, she was panting, clawing her way onto the land and dragging Reno behind her.

“Um… Ok, now how did Cloud say he did this?” she wondered aloud as she knelt beside Reno, thinking back to when Cloud had told her how he’d saved a girl in Junon who’d nearly drowned.

“Uh… Right… Tilt the head back… Pinch the nose,” she said, following her own instructions, and leaning down to press her lips over Reno’s, breathing gently into him. She felt his chest rise as she did so, but he made no other movement. She did it again, more confidant this time, but still nothing happened.

“Gawd! Come on ya stupid Turk! I’m trying to save you here!”

She gave him a third breath, and then a fourth, and finally Reno coughed, drawing in a strangled gasp on his own. He alternated between coughing up riverwater and gasping for air for a moment, before opening his eyes.

“Y-Yuffie?” he questioned, a mixture of shock and relief evident in his aquamarine eyes.

“You’re not dead!” Yuffie exclaimed throwing her arms around him and hugging him in a deathgrip.

“Yuffie… Let go… Can’t breath…” he choked out as she squeezed him. The ninja released him.

“Sorry.”

“You… saved me?” he gasped incredulously, still breathing heavily.

“Yeah… Well… I’ll probably regret it later,” Yuffie replied.

“Aw… Admit it… You could never live without me…” Reno said, managing to sound cocky despite the fact that he was still desperately trying to catch his breath.

“Gawd… I can throw you right back into that river, you know,” Yuffie replied, rolling her eyes.

———-

“There was really THAT much materia?!” Yuffie cried.

“Will you keep it down? I’d rather not wake up the whole damn town,” Reno hissed as the made their way back to the hotel. Entering silently, they crept up the stairs that led to their rooms. Yuffie reached out to open her door when suddenly Reno grabbed her arm.

“What…”

“Shhh!” Reno replied, raising a finger to his lips. He pointed to the door, which Yuffie now noticed was open just a crack, the light inside the room glowing brightly. Reno pushed the door open just wide enough to see inside.

“Shit… Come on Yuffie… We’re gonna have to find a safer place to spend the night,” he whispered softly, as he dragged her back down the stairs.

“Reno, what’s going on?” she asked quietly. Reno didn’t speak again until he’d led her out the back door of the hotel and halfway down the street.

“My friends from the river are in your room,” Reno said, “Guess they found out I wasn’t here alone.”

“What do we do now?” Yuffie asked.

“Find a place to get some rest, then tomorrow figure out what’s going on and get the hell out of here.”

Yuffie mentally added ‘steal lots of materia’ to that list and nodded, “So where do we sleep? I didn’t see any other hotels in town, did you?”

———-

Several minutes later, she found herself sitting in a shadowy alley between a bar and an weapons shop.

“I am so not spending the night here,” she said, crossing her arms stubbornly and wrinkling her nose at the smell of cheap liquor that wafted through the air from the building to her left.

“Sorry princess, but you don’t have much of a choice,” Reno replied smugly.

“Creep.”

“Baby,” he retorted.

“Jerk!”

“Brat.” Reno’s grin widened.

“I knew I’d regret pulling you out of that river,” Yuffie stated, and stuck her tongue out at him. Reno smirked as he sat down beside her and leaned back against the wall of the items shop, folding his arms behind his head and closing his eyes. Yuffie glared at him, but if Reno noticed, he ignored her. Finally, she gave in and leaned back as well. A few seconds of sitting like that was all she needed to be able to tell that she’d never in a million years get to sleep in that position. She sighed and tried stretching out on her back, but that was almost worse. She curled up on her side, but no matter which way she turned, something kept poking her in the ribs.

“Hey, Yuff… What’s with the gymnastics?” Reno asked, raising one eyelid to watch her.

“I can’t get comfy!” she complained.

“Well, now you know why they don’t make beds out of concrete,” he snickered. He watched as Yuffie continued to toss and turn.

“That does it… I can’t sleep like this!” Yuffie moaned in frustration.

“That’s your problem, brat,” Reno responded with a soft laugh, and closed his eyes again. Yuffie stared at him, part of her wondering why she’d bothered to save the bastard from a watery grave, and the other part wondering how he could possibly be comfortable sitting like that.

‘Hmm…’ she thought, ‘Well, he’s got to be softer than the ground. Besides… He owes me…’

That thought in mind, she pounced on him, settling herself on his lap. She leaned her head on Reno’s shoulder, ignoring the feel of his still-damp clothing. ‘Much better,’ she thought, yawning.

“Uh, Yuffie… Do I look like a pillow?”

“At the moment… yes,” she stated. He sighed and silently admitted defeat. He was too tired to argue tonight, and at least she was warm… a nice change from the chilly river.

———-

It was nearly afternoon by the time he awoke, the sound of people walking down the street interrupting a very pleasant dream. Reno woke to find himself flat on his back, one of his least favorite positions to sleep in as it always left his muscles stiff and sore. What was more, he was pinned in that position by Yuffie, who looked to be quite content sprawled across his body as though he were a mattress, head pillowed on his shoulder, her breath softly tickling the side of his neck.

‘Well… At least she’s not as annoying when she’s asleep,’ he thought. He winced as she turned in her sleep, driving an elbow into his stomach, ‘I take that back… She’s still annoying… Just quieter.’

“Come on, brat… Time to wake up,” Reno said, poking her. Yuffie muttered something that sounded vaguely like “No,” and curled an arm around his neck.

“Hey… Sleeping Ugly…” he said, shaking her. She hugged him tighter, refusing to wake up.

“Well, if that’s how you’re going to be…” he drawled, smirking to himself. He rolled over, taking Yuffie with him and pinning her under his body. Just as her eyes snapped open, he leaned down and kissed her as over-dramatically as humanly possible.

“Mmmph!” Yuffie’s startled cry was muffled into incoherency. Reno pulled away and grinned at her, taking in the malevolent expression in her eyes, and deciding it was worth having her along just to annoy the hell out of her.

“You creep!” she seethed.

“Well, good morning sunshine,” Reno replied, grin widening. Yuffie’s eyes narrowed, and Reno didn’t even notice the movement of her hand was until it collided with his face, delivering a stinging slap. Reno recoiled, rubbing his cheek.

“Ow! No wonder you don’t have a boyfriend,” Reno said.

“Are you naturally this obnoxious, or do you practice?” Yuffie retorted, noting with satisfaction the handprint now clearly emblazoned on Reno’s face. She sat up and stretched.

“A little of both,” he replied, grin returning, “And one of these days you’ll realize just how much you adore me for it…”

“Gag me.”

“But for now, how about we just find out what all this materia hoarding is about so we can get out of here?” he continued. Yuffie brightened at the mention of materia.

———-

“Looks like they’re a little paranoid,” said Reno, as he peered over the row of hedges bordering the yard of the large house belonging to the mayor of Duraman. Several additional guards had been posted outside the house.

“How are we gonna get past all that?” Yuffie asked, shoving Reno over to get a better view. Reno scowled at her, and then turned his gaze back to the property.

“Very carefully,” he replied, “Come on.”

They crept along behind the hedges. Reno suddenly stopped, and then disappeared into the bushes. A moment later, he reappeared and pulled Yuffie in with him. They emerged on the other side, a massive maple tree in front of them.

“How are you at climbing?” asked Reno. In response, Yuffie swung herself into the branches with practiced ease. Reno followed her up with only a little more effort. Now above the guards, and concealed by the leaves, they hid, climbing higher, careful not to make too much noise in doing so. It soon became clear to Yuffie what Reno intended. The branches of the tree arced out, sweeping over the roof of the house. They had only to climb out onto the branches and hope they weren’t seen.

Reno went first, after making sure no one was watching, slipping out onto branches that looked like they shouldn’t have been able to support his weight, and jumping gracefully onto the gently sloping rooftop. He waved for Yuffie to follow.

Yuffie crept carefully out onto the branches, feeling them bend precariously under her own weight, and jumped… but at the same time she pushed off, she heard a loud crack as the branch she was standing on snapped. She bit back a cry of surprise and lunged for the roof, fingers falling short of the edge by a fraction of an inch. Yuffie closed her eyes, expecting as any moment to slam into the ground below, but a hand clamped tightly around her wrist and pulled her up. Before she realized what had just happened, she found herself safely on the roof, clinging to Reno’s arm.

“Just can’t help falling for me, huh?” he said, teasingly. Yuffie groaned at the horrible pun. Getting into the house itself from the roof was simple, and soon they were exploring the second floor. Bedrooms, guest rooms… Nothing of any real interest, and no one else seemed to be on the floor with them at the moment. Just then, a door at the end of a hallway caught Reno’s attention. He eased the door open, and seeing that no one was inside, he crept inside, pulling Yuffie along behind him. It seemed to be some sort of office. A large desk sat at one end of the room, its top littered with papers and files. Along one wall were a number of file cabinets, and on the opposite wall hung a huge map of the planet. Reno headed for the desk and started looking through some of the papers on top of the pile, skimming their contents briefly.

“Why are you wasting time in here when we could be checking out that vault?” Yuffie asked impatiently.

“Yuffie, we’re not here to get that materia… We’re here to find out what these people are up to.”

“But Reno…” she whined.

“Just help me look, would ya? And don’t just glance at the files… It’s not like there’s gonna be one labeled ‘My Ingenious Plan for World Domination’ or something,” Reno replied, still rifling through the pile. Yuffie pouted and picked up the nearest folder.

“Uh… Reno?”

“What now?” he asked, looking up in annoyance. Yuffie held up the folder. Written in bold letters across the front were the words “The Plan”.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Reno said, not sure he believed anyone would label something so obviously.

“So now can we go see the vault?” Yuffie asked with a pleading note to her voice.

“Let me see that,” Reno replied, snatching the file from her hand. He skimmed over its contents.

‘Looks like I’ll just have to find that vault myself,’ Yuffie thought to herself as she backed away from Reno. She was out the door and down the hallway before he even looked up.

“Yuffie, you’re not gonna believe this, but…” Reno looked up only to find her gone, “Dammit Yuffie…” he hissed, “Why can’t you just do what you’re told for once?”