Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Interludes – Scene 37

Scene Notes: Reno kept a close eye on Elena before she was officially a Turk. This is the first time they met… though Elena doesn’t even remember it.

From Chapter 38: Restoration:

“Lucky he was there… or you might not have walked away from that.”

“Oh, it wasn’t luck,” Reno chuckled, “He was watchin’ me. Not constant surveillance or anything… but when he had the time to do it, he was keepin’ tabs on me. Tseng was pretty sure he wanted me for the Turks right from the start… but I was just a kid. Wasn’t ready. He didn’t want to lose track of his potential new recruit, though, before he got around to actually recruiting him. I kinda got the feelin’ that might not’ve been the first time he’d saved my ass, either.”

“That’s almost creepy…” Elena giggled.

“Tch… no it’s not. I watched you for months.”

“W-what?”

“Yeah… Soon as Tseng told me I could have a rookie, I started goin’ through the candidates in the recruitment program. Had it narrowed down to five or so, and started keepin’ an eye on ’em… during training and outside of training. Eventually, I was only watchin’ you.”

---

Reno yawned and made his way into the park. It was too motherfucking early for his taste. And too damn cold, too. He dragged the hood of his sweatshirt up over his head and shoved his hands into his pockets before plopping his ass down on a nearby bench. His fingers closed around his half-empty pack of cigarettes and he pulled one free, placing it between his lips before digging a little deeper for his lighter.

Five fucking thirty. He hadn’t even had time for breakfast. He bit back another yawn and lit the cigarette, taking a long drag off of it and exhaling a cloud of smoke into the chilly air. It was gonna be one hell of a cold Halloween this year if the current trends kept up. Though on the bright side, that might also mean an early snow… and the redhead absolutely loved it when it snowed in Midgar.

He flicked the ash on the ground and yawned again, wishing he hadn’t stayed up so damn late last night when he’d known damn well that he had an early morning. This was his first chance at getting an up close look at one of his choices for a new rookie… outside of hiding in the shadows at the recruit training facility, that is. And this one, in particular, was of special interest to him.

He had it narrowed down to five… and now he was just beginning the process of whittling that number down even farther. Tseng had advised him to observe only… not to actively engage without a good reason. Technically, they weren’t even supposed to know they were being considered for promotion yet, after all. But the redhead had his own way of doing things. It wasn’t long before the sound of rapid footfalls on the concrete pathway reached his ears, and Reno grinned to himself as he subtly glanced in its direction.

She really was a little thing up close, he mused as she approached. Couldn’t have been over five and a half feet… and that was being generous. Alert, honey-brown eyes spotted him almost immediately as she rounded the corner, and just as quickly refocused on the path ahead of her… though he wasn’t sure if that was because she’d decided that he wasn’t a threat, or if she’d simply opted to avoid eye contact because his presence in so isolated an area made her nervous.

He smirked and set the cigarette back between his lips, inhaling deeply… and waited. Just as she reached him, he exhaled, enveloping her in a cloud of smoke.

“Ugh!” she muttered, coughing, and waved it away from her face with a disgusted look before glaring at him and continuing on.

Reno snickered quietly to himself as he watched her go. Well… she was definitely the non-confrontational type… but judging by the look she’d shot him, she was more than a little willful in spite of it. There were pros and cons to that.

He studied her as she glanced back in his direction, as though to make sure he hadn’t decided to follow her. Not complacent enough to assume that he wouldn’t. That was good.

She also had a seriously nice ass. That was good, too… though for entirely unrelated reasons. If she didn’t end up being his top pick, he was definitely going to consider hooking up with her at some point. For some reason, though… he had a good feeling about this one already. Which unfortunately for his sex life, might put her off limits for the foreseeable future. Sleeping with one’s protégé was… not explicitly forbidden… but somewhat frowned upon, even among the Turks. And besides which… this wasn’t something he wanted to risk screwing up for a quick fuck.

Reno stubbed out the cigarette on the edge of the bench and flicked the butt into the bushes behind him. One down… four to go. He just hoped the next recruit on his list wasn’t such a fucking earlybird.

~fin~