Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 34: Nature Trail to Hell

“Rude? Might I have a word in private?” Tseng asked. The rookie looked up from the new training schedule he’d been studying and nodded. Reno shot him a questioning look from across the room, but the bald rookie could only shrug. He couldn’t even begin to guess what Tseng might want him for so early this morning, but he hurried to followed the Turk lieutenant back to his office and somewhat nervously took a seat in front of his desk. Tseng smirked.

“Why is it that anytime I ask to speak to someone privately they assume a reprimand is in order?”

“… Because that’s usually the case, sir,” Rude hesitantly responded. The senior Turk chuckled softly.

“Fair point,” he chuckled, with a dismissive wave of his hand. “But at any rate, you’re not in trouble… I actually need to ask a favor of you.”

One of Rude’s eyebrows rose in curiosity. Typically, he was simply ordered to do something. Not asked.

“A favor, sir?”

“Yes,” he replied, and sighed heavily. “I have decided that it’s time… past time, really… for Reno to move out on his own.”

Rude frowned deeply.

“… This doesn’t have anything to do with that Halloween prank, does it, sir?” he asked in concern, “Because if it does, I want to be clear that it was just as much my idea as his. It’s not fair that Reno take all the blame…”

“Your loyalty to your friend is commendable… but this isn’t a punishment,” Tseng replied, smiling slightly. “I only ever intended to house him for a few months. Just until he acclimated to life outside of the slums. He’s been with us more than half a year now. However, I have found letting him go to be… a bit more difficult than I’d anticipated. Which is why I’ve decided that I should do it sooner rather than later.”

Rude tried – and failed – to fight down a grin.

“You mean before you talk yourself out of it, sir?”

“… Essentially,” the Wutaiian responded in an awkward voice, before clearing his throat. “Which brings me to my request.”

“Which is?”

“I don’t want him to feel… abandoned. Leviathan knows he’s had enough of that in his lifetime. Which is why I would like to rehome him in the same building you currently occupy. I think he would feel better knowing that he has a friend nearby. And quite frankly, so would I. If you’re willing to have him as a neighbor, of course.”

Rude’s grin widened slightly. Was he kidding? Of course he was willing. Having Reno living down the hall from him would be blast. Particularly since it would mean an end to that annoying curfew that, more often than not, resulted in the pair having to cut their fun short in order to avoid Tseng’s wrath should the redhead be returned to him late.

“Judging by your expression… perhaps I should reconsider the wisdom of this idea…” the Turk lieutenant suddenly added. Rude shook himself from his thoughts.

“I-I… no! I… mean… I think it’s a terrific idea, sir…”

“That’s precisely what worries me…” Tseng snickered quietly.

“… I’ll keep him out of trouble, sir,” Rude quickly assured his superior.

Tseng laughed outright at that boast. “Rude… That is something even I have been unable to do. But I’m glad to see you’re enthusiastic about this. I’ll begin making the arrangements. It may take some time… I believe the building is currently at capacity. It probably won’t be until sometime after the holidays.”

“Yes, sir,” he replied.

“Oh… and… don’t say anything to Reno just yet. I’d like to do so myself.”

“Yes, sir,” Rude nodded.

“Thank you. You’re dismissed.”

The rookie got to his feet and slipped out of the office, heading back to his own desk, a faint grin still firmly in place. This was going to be fun. No… better than fun. Reno had quickly become his best friend, and now he was practically going to be his roommate.

Rude really hadn’t had many friends growing up… and certainly none he was as close to as the redhead. He’d been such a shy, introverted child. Hell, he still could be, more often than not… though Reno liked to push him out of his comfort zone on such a regular basis that he’d undeniably improved in that respect in recent months.

His musings were interrupted by a loud groan from the tiny office he shared with his friend.

“Oh, quit whining. Every rookie has to do it. It’s standard training. You got the rest of the morning to get your equipment together, then we’ll go over some basics after lunch. We’ll be leaving at four a.m. tomorrow… back on Saturday”

“Oh, you gotta be shittin’ me!” Reno groaned again. “What the hell, Kai? Tseng doesn’t even get me up that early!”

Kai was snickering loudly as Rude rounded the corner. “Well, ya know what they say… The early Turkling gets the worm,” she teased, cheerfully, before turning on her heel and all but skipping off toward the lounge.

“The fuck’s that even mean?!” the redhead yelled after her. Rude chuckled as he walked into the office, and returned to his desk. He had a feeling he already knew what that was all about. He’d had his special training with Kai just a few weeks before Reno had been recruited.

“Let me guess… Survival training?” he queried as he sat down. His fellow rookie sighed and sank down petulantly in his chair.

“Yeah,” he grumbled. “What the fuck am I gonna learn from freezin’ my ass off in the middle of the Ifrit-foresaken woods anyway? It’s almost fuckin’ winter for fuck’s sake. Who in their right mind goes campin’ this time of year?”

“Kai does. She camps year-round, from what I hear.”

“I said their right mind, pal. Kai’s completely outta hers.”

Rude snorted in laughter and picked up his schedule again. “It’s not so bad. Goes pretty quickly, actually. You might even end up liking it. Kai really knows her stuff.”

“Tch… yeah, right. That midget’s got it out for me,” the redhead muttered, “I’ll be lucky if I make it back in one piece.”

“She’s five feet even… I don’t think that technically qualifies as a midget,” Rude teased him. Reno glared at him.

“Yeah, well, I’m almost six feet tall, and the Doc says I got another year or two before I’m done gettin’ any taller. Trust me… from my point of view, she’s a fuckin’ midget. A really annoying one.”

Rude laughed again and turned away from his friend to check the morning announcements on the company intranet. “Wouldn’t let her hear you call her that…”

The redhead chuckled in response.

“Hey, give me some credit, pal. I don’t have a death wish.” He paused for a moment, studying the other rookie. “So, speakin’ of people who could kill us if we pissed ’em off enough… What’d Tseng want?”

“…”

Rude cringed slightly. He’d been hoping his friend wouldn’t ask. Tseng had ordered him not to say anything. The redhead studied him expectantly for a moment and then simply rolled his eyes.

“For fuck’s sake, if he told ya not to tell me, then just say so. Not like I’m gonna be mad at ya for followin’ orders…”

---

Kai stubbornly crossed her arms over her chest, openly glowering at her commanding officer. She’d been in such a good mood just a moment ago. Before the son of a bitch had intruded upon her morning coffee. Tseng, meanwhile, merely gazed back at her, unperturbed.

“Why do you wanna go? You hate roughing it,” she finally demanded. Tseng returned her irritated look.

“I told you after that last incident on the gauntlet… I won’t let him be injured under your supervision a third time. If that means inconveniencing myself for a few days, then so be it. You’re too reckless with him, Kai.”

“Oh, for Titan’ssake…” she grumbled, “Tseng… I know we don’t always see eye to eye on shit, but come on. He’s supposed to be training to be a Turk, not a desk jockey. They kid’s gonna get hurt once in awhile. It’s a fact of life. Don’t you think you’re being just a little overprotective of your precious baby Turkling?”

Tseng snorted derisively. “Weren’t you the one who told me I’d end up getting him killed?”

“You’re just gonna keep throwing that back in my face, aren’t you?” she said, rolling her eyes. “Let it go, already. You know damn well how full of yourself you can be sometimes. I was pissed at you, alright? I said a few things that weren’t… entirely warranted.”

“I’m still going with you.”

Kai shook her head, annoyed. “Ya know what? Fine. You wanna tag along, go right ahead. I’m guessing you could probably use a refresher, anyway.” She stood up and strode out of the lounge, taking her coffee with her and muttering to herself as she went. “… Asshole probably doesn’t even remember how to pitch a goddamn tent…”

Well… if Tseng wanted to join them, she was going to ensure that the rookie wasn’t the only one learning a thing or two. That in mind, she suddenly paused and turned back after a a few steps. She grinned widely, changing course and knocking on the door to Veld’s office.

---

“You can’t be serious.”

Veld raised a challenging eyebrow at his lieutenant, who quickly appended a “sir” to that statement.

“Kai has a valid point. She is the team’s current, undisputed expert in survival training, and it has been quite some time since you went through that training yourself. I think that, if you insist upon accompanying your rookie into the field, that it’s only fair you actually participate as opposed to merely supervising. And that means temporarily relinquishing command to your instructor.”

When the Turk leader had called him into his office a few minutes ago, this was the last thing he would have assumed they’d be discussing. Tseng glared at Kai. How dare she go over his head like this? It was outright insubordination, and the Wutaiian Turk was not the least bit amused.

“Or… you can stay here,” Veld added. “That’s my verdict, and those are your options.”

He recognized that look in his superior’s eyes. Veld wasn’t going to budge on this. In fact, Tseng was quite certain his mentor was thoroughly enjoying putting him in this position. And he knew perfectly well it wasn’t just Kai who felt he still occasionally needed a minor lesson in humility.

“So be it…” Tseng sighed softly, defeated. “What time do we leave tomorrow?”

“Four, sharp,” Kai replied, grinning just a little too widely for Tseng’s taste.

---

It was still dark when Tseng slipped into Reno’s bedroom and roused the younger man from slumber. The redhead moaned softly from deep inside his little cocoon of bed clothes… He’d taken to the habit of burying himself in blankets ever since the weather had started to get colder. That is to say… moreso than usual. The teen had always chosen to sleep curled in on himself and hidden beneath the covers. Now, though, instead of a lump beneath the sheets, there was simply a large pile of fabric that snored occasionally.

He prodded the mound a second time and was rewarded with a somewhat disoriented grunt a moment later. The blankets spent several seconds shifting this way and that before Reno finally poked his head out near the foot of the bed. Tseng snickered at the sight.

“How in Leviathan’s name can you sleep like that?” he asked, amused.

“It’s how I always sleep,” the redhead replied, with a jaw-cracking yawn. “It fuckin’ can’t be time to get up already…”

“I’m afraid it is, unless you’d prefer to skip breakfast in favor of an extra half hour of sleep. Though I should warn you… Kai will probably not be feeding us until lunch time.”

Reno’s stomach growled in response, and the rookie sighed, groping for the workout clothes he’d discarded on the floor a day or two ago, and dragging himself out of his nest.

“So you’re really comin’ on this nightmare trip from hell, too, huh?” he asked, sliding into a pair of sweatpants.

“I am. And I hope you’re planning on wearing more than that for the trip…” Tseng commented, as he headed for that door.

“Tch… Priorities, boss. Food first. Then I’ll worry about clothes.”

The younger man stretched his arms upwards, over his head, until his shoulder cracked. Tseng flinched at the sound.

“That can’t possibly be good for that shoulder. It hasn’t been healed all that long…” he tutted as he followed his charge out into the hallway and towards the kitchen. Reno shrugged and headed straight for the fridge.

“Feels pretty damn good…” he replied as he helped himself to cold pizza from two nights ago, and leftover spicy noodles from the night before. Tseng reached for the bowl of fruit on the counter and set a banana in front of him as well.

“Eat something with some nutritional value, please…” he chided, and then went to fix his own breakfast.

“Yeah, yeah…” Reno mumbled around a mouthful of noodles. “Huh… Ya know, I think these things are actually better cold…”

“And with that declaration, a thousand years or so worth of Wutaiian gourmets just rolled over in their graves…” Tseng replied, shaking his head. His mother had always been particularly strict about that dish growing up. It had to be eaten hot, or not at all. She had declared that to do otherwise was an offense to the ancestors. Though… to be honest, he himself rather agreed with the redhead.

“So… what exactly do we do on this trip, anyway? I mean… it’s not like I’ve never slept outside before. Hell, when I was twelve, I was out on the streets for like… two months after the shithole I was livin’ in caved in on itself.”

“Sleeping outdoors is only a small part of it. Kai will be demonstrating a number of general survival, tracking, hunting, trapping, and foraging techniques,” Tseng replied. He spread a small spoonful of raspberry preserves over a piece of toast and joined the teen at the table.

“Hunting? Tch… please. I’ve eaten so many cripshays, I got that shit down.”

“Thank you for that visual,” he replied, pausing mid-bite in distaste.

Cripshays. Those ugly little insectoid scavengers that infested the slums. He’d always found them more than a little unsettling, with their large, protruding, beetle-like horns and their bizarrely squashed, yet undeniably humanesque, faces. Plus… he knew what sorts of things they ate, and it didn’t exactly make them appealing as a meal.

“Ya know, they’re actually not so bad…” Reno mused, “Taste kinda like a –”

“Please don’t tell me,” Tseng quickly cut him off. “I’m attempting to enjoy my breakfast and I really have no desire to know what those creatures taste like.”

Reno snickered and returned to his own breakfast. “So I guess that means we’ll be huntin’ somethin’ else, then…”

“It largely depends on where Kai is taking us… but there are many things that can be found out on the plains and in the southern forests. I suspect, though, that she’ll stick primarily to fishing, as it requires less energy to be expended… a benefit one should always keep in mind when you have few resources and don’t know when rescue might be coming.” He sighed and shook his head. “And if Kai holds true to form, I’m fairly certain we’ll be arriving at our destination with very little or no food.”

Reno choked slightly on a slice of pizza, and looked up at him, horrified.

“W-wait… The fuck dya mean we’re not takin’ any food?”

Tseng couldn’t help but chuckle. “Survival means surviving off of what is in front of you. Were you really to find yourself in such a situation, it’s unlikely you would have had time to pack a picnic beforehand.”

The redhead calmly stood up and walked back over to the fridge, returning with half a roasted chicken from the weekend, and the entire fruit bowl. Tseng laughed outright, then… but refrained from telling him about the small stash of ration packets he’d stowed in his own pack last night. Just in case.

---

“GOOOOOOOOOD MORNING, my little Turkling!” Kai shouted enthusiastically when Reno opened the door to her rather persistent knocking a short while later. The redhead stared at her blandly for a moment.

“Kai, it is way too fuckin’ early for that shit.”

“I concur,” Tseng added, approaching the door. “Kindly have a little respect for my neighbors and keep it down.”

“Oh, come on… Aren’t you two even a little bit excited? We’re headed out into the great outdoors! Living off the land! Sleeping under the stars!”

Reno snorted. “Does Nicky’s Pizza deliver to the ‘great outdoors’ by any chance?”

Kai rolled her eyes dramatically and pushed past the redhead and into the apartment. “You’re completely spoiled, ya know that? Tseng, you’ve completely spoiled this poor kid.”

“Just because some… if not most… people prefer a bed to a sleeping bag and actual food to pine cones and moss doesn’t make them spoiled,” Tseng shot back as he hefted his pack and swung it onto his shoulders. “Shall we go? I assume you’ve arranged to have the helicopter drop us off in whatever Leviathan-forsaken location you’ve decided to take us to…”

The other Turk grinned widely.

“Not on your life, Tseng. We’re going chocobo-back. Now hurry up. We have a train to catch to the city departure gate.”

“… Oh, hell, no!” Reno replied, dropping his own small pack on the floor at his feet. “I am not gettin’ on one of those mutant feather dusters again. Forget it.”

He stubbornly folded his arms over his chest and glowered at Kai.

---

Kai snickered loudly as the brilliant white chocobo carrying the redhead on its back streaked past her, circled back, and then ran full tilt in the opposite direction. All the while, Reno was shouting increasingly profane epithets at the bird and clinging to the reins with a white knuckled grip.

“Thought you said he’s done this before,” she said to Tseng, who was riding beside her, shaking his head at the display.

“I never said he was good at it.”

The rookie yelped as the chocobo tried to throw him, and wrapped his arms around the creature’s neck. Tseng hurried to spur his own mount forward.

“Where the hell are you going?” Kai asked.

“To rescue him, before he kills himself.” Just as he said it, the chocobo finally succeeded in dislodging its rider, sending Reno tumbling to the ground. He rolled to a stop several yards away from the bird. He was on his feet again, moments later, storming threateningly up to the chocobo and seizing the reins to yank its head down to eye level with him.

“Listen, you bastard son of a pigeon… We’re not playin’ this bullshit game anymore. Either quit fuckin’ around, or you’re gonna be my mid-mornin’, pre-lunch snack!” he growled before Tseng could reach him. The chocobo warked indignantly and jerked its head up, pulling the reins from his hand. Then it leaned forward and head-butted him, hard, sending Reno flying again.

Reno landed flat on his back, and Kai and Tseng hurried over to him, quickly dismounting as they reached the fallen Turk.

“Reno?!”

“Hey… you okay, Turkling?”

The redhead didn’t answer right away. For a few moments he simply laid motionless on the ground, staring up at the sky.

“I FUCKING HATE CHOCOBOS!” he finally declared, shouting at the top of his lungs. Kai burst out laughing and climbed back aboard her mount.

“Well, you can always walk,” she snickered, and took off again at a slow trot. Reno groaned, and shut his eyes.

“Ya know what? I’m just gonna stay right here, laying in the mud for the next three days. Pick me up on your way back,” he muttered. Tseng chuckled and pulled him to his feet.

“Stop being so melodramatic. Come on… you can ride with me for awhile.”

---

They spent the better part of the morning heading south over the plains… then through the swampy area at the foot of the mountain range that divided the eastern continent… and then through the cavernous Mythril Mines, where they were regarded with no great curiosity by the multitude of workers from Kalm. According to Tseng, they were used to seeing travelers pass through, as the upper levels of the mine were a well-used shortcut through the mountains. On the other side, Reno had spotted an odd-looking sturcture that his mentor had informed him was Fort Condor, but the small group had started to head back north again before they drew close enough for him to get a particularly good look at it.

By noon, they’d reached a river, and started following it west, toward a dense forest set against the mountainside.

“… ‘Kay, maybe I’m totally turned around at this point… but, aren’t we, like… almost to Junon?” the redhead queried as they stopped to let their chocobos drink and rest for a few minutes.

Kai smirked. “Hey… you’re not as dense as ya look, kiddo,” she replied, and and teasingly ruffled his hair, earning an irritated look from the rookie. She pointed towards the west. “See that little tail on the mountain range, other side of the forest? Junon’s right behind it.”

“Then why the fuck didn’t we just fly to Junon instead of spendin’ six goddamn hours goin’ the long way?!” he groused.

“What fun would that have been?” Kai asked, grinning, “I’d have missed out on your amazing chocobo-riding skills… and Tseng would have missed out on your constant whining.”

Reno eyed her, visibly annoyed.

“Anyone ever tell ya you’re a fuckin’ sadist, Kai?”

If anything, her grin only widened.

“Oh, honey… You haven’t seen anything yet,” she laughed, “Alrighty… Mount up! We’re almost to our camp site.”

Reno sighed and glared at his chocobo for several moments before finally climbing back aboard. He’d ridden double with Tseng most of the way here… but for Ifrit’s sake, it was embarrassing not being able to handle it on his own. Hopefully, he could at least make it the last little bit of the journey without his mentor’s assistance. Preferably without getting thrown again.

And he hoped that this trip would be the last time in a long time that he had to get on one of those feathered freaks. In fact, if he never had to do it again, he was pretty sure he could die happy. The long ride seemed to have tired the bird out some, because it wasn’t nearly as keen to try and shake him now… though it still seemed less than pleased about the whole being ridden thing.

“Hey, when are we gonna eat lunch?” he asked, falling into line between the two senior Turks. Four a.m. had been quite some time ago, and even though he’d snuck a little something along for the rode, his snacks were, by now, long gone. And he was starving.

“Soon as we get our camp set up and catch it…” Kai answered from up ahead of him.

“Catch it?” Reno groaned, and glanced back at his mentor. Tseng gave him a look that rather pointedly said ‘I told you so’.

“Damn right, catch it. Hmm… I’m in the mood for trout, personally.”

“Tch… Know what I’m in the mood for?” the redhead asked, smirking coldly at his bird. “Chocobo. Bet that shit taste just like chicken…”

The declaration was answered with an angry wark, and the redhead suddenly found himself upended again, tossed by the avian directly into the nearby river. Both senior Turks were laughing as he surfaced, sputtering.

“Reno… perhaps if you didn’t intentionally antagonize the creature, it would be a bit more amiable towards you,” Tseng chuckled. Reno trudged back up onto the bank, wringing water from his clothes.

“Or maybe it’ll fuckin’ reconsider bein’ such a bastard after I’m done spit-roatin’ it!” the redhead growled angrily, storming past the chocobo and down the trail. “Fuck it! I’ll walk!”

Kai giggled maniacally as the redhead marched himself off towards the forest and gently spurred her own mount forward, following him.

“Well, someone’s getting a little cranky. Did our little Turkling miss his nap?” she snickered, more than loud enough for the redhead to overhear. Reno ignored her.

“Leave him be, Kai. He’s spent his entire life in the city. This is all very new to him,” he said, shaking his head, “Besides which… I suspect his mood will improve once he gets something to eat. I take it we’ll be working for our meals on this trip?”

“Yep. Got a nice little spot picked out near the river. Lots of fish, and maybe some small game if we’re feeling adventurous.”

The Turk lieutenant sighed softly.

“I was afraid of that…”

---

“Ow! Son of a bitch!” the redhead shouted as the rock he was using as a makeshift hammer missed the tent stake and came down squarely on his hand instead. “Kai, what the hell’s the point of this shit?”

The diminutive Turk rolled her eyes. “Ya want somewhere to sleep, don’t you? Trust me… as much as I like sleeping out under the stars, this isn’t the time of year to do it. It’s gonna get cold tonight, and we might even get some rain.”

“Okay, lemme rephrase that,” he scowled, “What the hell’s the point of me doin’ this shit? Believe me… I’m not planning on makin’ a hobby of this campin’ bullshit.”

Tseng chuckled as he set down an armload of firewood near the ground Kai had cleared for their fire.

“The point is to learn how, Reno. In case you don’t have a choice in the matter someday. I trust you recall our trip to Gongaga? I certainly wasn’t planning on spending the night in the middle of a forest, but circumstances dictated that it was necessary. It never hurts to be prepared.”

“… Fine,” the rookie muttered and finished driving in the last stake. “But for Ifrit’s sake… can we eat yet?”

“Is the tent up?” Kai asked.

“Tch… Yeah…”

“Is the fire built?”

“I’ll fucking eat sushi. Come on… I’m starvin’. It’s a legit medical condition. Ask the Doc!”

“He is technically right about that, you know. Ward put a rather tersely worded note in his file regarding caloric intake… of which she makes a point of reminding me every time he loses so much as an ounce between visits,” Tseng interjected with obvious exasperation. He folded his arms over his chest. “Besides which… You dragged us out of bed at four and now it’s nearly noon. I’m hungry as well.”

“Oh, alright. If you’re both going to whine about it…” Kai replied, grinning at her temporary subordinate with the knowledge that he had to do whatever she told him to for the time being. “Tseng… Get that fire going. Reno, you and I are gonna do a little fishing.”

“Finally,” the redhead sighed and hurried to leave his mentor behind, following Kai off toward the river.

The senior Turk grabbed a few things from her pack, and they wound their way through the dense foliage and popped out on the pebble-strewn bank a short distance away from camp. Kai walked out on a large, flat-topped boulder overlooking the water and settled down cross-legged on top of it.

“First things first,” she said, handing him a spool of translucent fishing line, and a folding knife. “Cut us four or five… eh… six foot, or so… lengths from that.”

Reno shrugged and did as requested, while Kai pulled out a small package containing hooks of varying sizes.

“Now… You’re lucky. I’m not making you make your own hook today. But if you ever had to do it, one of the easiest ways is to find a branch with some nice big thorns. Clip it down to the right size, and instant fish hook,” she said, grinning. “But for this trip, we’ll just use these.”

She handed him one of the sharp little hooks, and picked up a piece of fishing line.

“This is called a palomar knot,” she continued, “Double your line over into a loop, and then put the loop through the eye of the hook.”

Reno watched as she demonstrated and did his best to follow along.

“Then tie it, loosely, same way you’d start tying a shoe… grab the loop, and bring it down and around the end of the hook. And then pull the other end to tighten.”

The redhead pulled, and then yelped as the hook slipped slightly in his grasp, skewering his thumb. Kai snickered.

“And yeah… try not to hook yourself,” she laughed. Reno glared at her, as he tried to work out the least painful way to dislodge the damn thing.

“Ha, ha… real funny.” He tugged at it experimentally. “Ow! Dammit!”

“Oh, hold still you little wimp,” she laughed, and gripped him firmly by the wrist, holding it steady while she extracted the barb. Free at last, Reno stuck the injured digit in his mouth and kept it there until the coppery taste of blood had subsided. Kai, meanwhile, tied on the remaining hooks and baited them. She got up and moved toward a large branch that was hanging over the water.

“Now what are you doin’?” he asked, vaguely curious.

“Well… We could spend time making a pole… but why do that when we have a convenient branch?” She pulled it in toward them and looped the free end of each line over the branch, tying each one off several inches apart, and them dropped them into the water.

“… So… That’s it? We just sit here and hope the fish are stupid enough to get caught?”

The branch suddenly shook slightly, and Kai smirked as she hauled in one of the lines. A large silvery fish wriggled in the other end.

“You were saying?”

“… Thank fuck fish are stupid,” the redhead grinned.

---

When they returned a short while later, Tseng was carrying another large armload of wood into camp. He had amassed quite a large pile, in fact. Probably enough for most of their trip. Kai frowned, and folded her arms over her crest.

“I thought I told you to get the fire going…”

“I was just about to do so,” he replied, ignoring her obvious annoyance as he moved to stack a few of the larger branches in the center of the small fire pit.

“We were hoping to eat lunch sometime before dinner…”

The Turk lieutenant smiled and made a slightly over-flourished gesture toward the pile of wood. Reno’s eyes widened as it burst into flames, burning warmly in its little makeshift fireplace.

“How’d you do that?!” the redhead asked. Kai merely rolled her eyes.

“That’s cheating.”

“That’s being prepared,” the Wutaiian retorted. He rolled up one sleeve, revealing to his rookie a faintly glowing green sphere snapped into a bronze armlet that encircled his wrist. Kai stormed up to him.

“You’re supposed to be learning to do all this without help. I’m confiscating that materia. Hand it over.”

“As you wish. It’s already served its purpose, anyway,” Tseng said as he calmly unfastened the armlet and handed it to her. The younger Turk snatched it from his grasp and tucked it into a pocket.

“You know… if I weren’t so hungry, I’d douse that fire and make you start over.”

“You only asked me to build the fire, Kai. You didn’t dictate how I was to go about doing so. If you really wish to lead, then next time, I suggest being more specific in your instructions,” he replied, in an uncharacteristically smug tone of voice. Kai glowered at him, but didn’t answer. Instead, she planted herself on a large log near the campfire, and started to prepare the fish for cooking.

Tseng glanced over at Reno and smirked.

“I could cook them for you as well…” the Wutaiian offered. Kai snorted in response.

“The object of this training is to learn how to survive, Tseng. Reno’s cooking is practically lethal, and yours isn’t much better. The fact that the two of you haven’t poisoned one another, yet, living together is a miracle. I’ll handle it myself, thanks…”

The redhead snickered loudly. “Guess that means we can just kick back and relax, huh, boss?” he said, grinning at his mentor. Kai glanced up.

“Ooooh, no you don’t. You two go get water from the river for us and the chocobos, and then head back down the trail to that patch of wild strawberries we passed on the way in. They’ll be good energy… for the five mile hike we’re going to take after we eat.”

“… Seriously?” Reno groaned, his amusement quickly turning to dread. “Haven’t we done enough travelin’ yet today?”

Tseng snickered and placed an arm around the redhead’s shoulders, guiding him off toward the water source before he could complain further.

---

Their return to camp several hours later was made in darkness. Reno was exhausted. Kai’s ‘five mile hike’ had stretched on for, what he was fairly certain, had been significantly more than five miles. It felt more like twenty… though that may have had something to do with the fact that about half of it had them heading uphill.

They’d covered navigation… rock climbing… tree climbing… plant identification… animal identification… tracking… and all of it while constantly moving. Reno’s feet hurt. His legs hurt. Actually, just about everything hurt, given that he really hadn’t had time to recover from spending the first half of the day on the back of a goddamn chocobo. He plopped down on the ground next to the fire and leaned back against one of the logs with a faint groan of relief.

“Hope you were paying attention,” Kai said, grinning down at him. “Because first thing tomorrow, we’re doing it all over again.”

“… Fuckin’ sadist,” the redhead muttered, as he yanked off his boots and tried to massage some of the ache out of his feet while the fire warmed him up. The air temperature had dropped once the sun had gone down, and it was very apparent at the moment that they were well into fall.

He had to admit, though… it hadn’t been all bad. A kid like him didn’t see much in terms of plant life down in the slums. There certainly weren’t any trees… at least none that hadn’t long-since died. He’d known that leaves changed colors this time of year, but he hadn’t realized just how many colors there could be in one little forest. Oranges and reds and yellows and browns of all different hues, along with a few stubbornly green trees that seemed to be holding out to the last possible moment to give in to the season. It was… pretty. He couldn’t deny that he’d been slightly captivated by it all.

Still, though… he’d be glad to get to bed. The sights may have been interesting, but the day had been a long one. He was hungry and he was tired.

Reno stifled a yawn as Kai ignored his comment and divided up the last of the fish between the three of them. They’d picked up a few other things on their hike as well. Blueberries, for one, which the redhead had happily crammed into his mouth by the handful as soon as Kai had informed him they weren’t poisonous, as well as some bright blue flowers, she’d called chicory. He hadn’t liked that nearly as much as the berries… it had been a little too bitter for his taste… but she’d informed him that the roots could be used to make something similar to coffee in the morning, so he was reserving judgment for the time being.

“Eat up!” Kai said, cheerfully, handing him his dinner. He grinned faintly and bit into the soft flesh, glad to have something hot to eat. He had a feeling it was only going to get colder as the night wore on. The redhead finished it off long before his fellow Turks, and yawned.

“… Fuck… I’m beat,” he sighed, leaning back against the log. Tseng chuckled.

“There’s no need to wait for us. Go to bed, if you like.”

Reno sat up and stretched slightly, yawning again. “Fuck it… Think that’s what I’m gonna do. ‘Night…” he replied, dragging himself tiredly to his feet and trudging off towards the tent. He slipped inside, leaving the pair behind and crawled into the warmth of his sleeping bag. It wasn’t long before he drifted off.

---

A short time after Reno had retreated to their little shelter for the night, Tseng finally allowed a small yawn himself, and Kai laughed softly.

“Oh, please… don’t tell me I managed to wear you out, too…”

Tseng snorted, and shook his head. “No… That accomplishment goes to Reno, I think.” He looked down at the fire and smiled slightly. “You know… there are few things on this planet that can make a person start to feel their age like having to keep up with a hyperactive seventeen year old.”

“Thinking about retirement already, Tseng?” she teased, prodding the campfire with a stick.

“I think I have a few more years left in me. Besides which… if I’m so ready for the old Turks’ home, what does that make you? You’re only four years younger than I am.”

“Four and a half. And it makes me four and a half years farther from being an old fart than you are,” she snickered. “So… before we gotta put you out to pasture… mind if I ask how the rookie’s doing?”

Tseng raised an eyebrow. “In what way?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, alright?”

The Turk leader’s eyebrow arched higher in response. Kai rolled her eyes at him.

“I just kinda… feel like maybe you’re… ya know… smothering him. Just a little.”

“I beg your pardon?” Tseng replied, slightly taken aback. Kai sighed.

“I knew you weren’t gonna want to hear that. Look… I just mean that… it seems like you’re holding onto him awfully tight.” She paused for a moment and seemed to be considering her words. “… He’s your rookie, Tseng… He’s not your kid. Sometimes I wonder if maybe you forget that.”

She cringed slightly and seemed to be bracing herself for the inevitable onslaught. Instead, Tseng merely sighed.

“I know.”

Kai looked up at him in surprise, and he smirked.

“I realize that I’ve become very… attached to him. Perhaps more than I should have allowed. I hadn’t realized though that it’s progressed to the point that others are beginning to notice.”

The diminutive Turk snickered quietly. “Oh, please… Progressed? Tseng, every last one of us has been able to see how much that rookie means to you practically since the day you first brought him in. You can’t help it… you’re his mentor. Veld’s always been the same way with you, in case you’ve never noticed. I’m just saying… ’cause Shiva knows no on else has the balls to say it to your face… he’s not really a kid anymore. He’s a Turk. One that you’ve still got on a nine o’clock curfew. Maybe its time you start letting go a little.”

“I plan to,” the Turk lieutenant said softly. “I’ve… already begun, in fact. He’ll be moving out on his own in the near future.”

---

The sound of voices roused a slightly annoyed redhead from sleep and he silently cursed the fact that it took next to nothing to wake him up. He could hear Tseng and Kai outside through the thin walls of the tent, speaking in low voices… probably trying their best not to wake him. He sighed and rolled over, intent on willing himself back to sleep.

“… He’ll be moving out on his own in the near future.”

Reno’s eyes shot open again immediately, and he sat up in the sleeping bag.

“Seriously? You’re kickin’ the poor kid out?” he heard Kai ask.

“Kai, for Leviathan’s sake…” Tseng’s voice sighed. Reno hurriedly fought his way out of the sleeping bag and all but threw himself through the tent’s doorway.

“You’re kickin’ me out?” he asked, hurt by the idea. Sure, he’d known for a long time that living with Tseng was never meant to be a permanent arrangement… but… so soon? He knew he could be a pain in the ass… but he hadn’t realized Tseng was that sick of him.

Both Turks looked up in surprise as his unexpected reappearance. Tseng recovered slightly more quickly than Kai did.

“Reno. I… hadn’t realized you were still awake.”

The redhead stomped over toward the fire, ignoring the cold ground on his bare feet, and glared at his mentor.

“When the hell were you plannin’ on tellin’ me I had to leave?!”

“Reno, I’m not –”

“Tch… Save it. Ya want me gone, fine. I’m fuckin’ gone.”

Tseng roughly pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath. “Reno, will you please let me finish a sentence before you –”

The redhead scoffed and stormed off into the darkness of the surrounding woods.

“Reno!” Tseng called after him. He ignored him.

“Tseng… just give him a minute, will ya?” he heard Kai say, “He’s not gonna go real far barefoot.”

The rookie growled in annoyance and pushed deeper into the forest, until the light from the campfire was hidden by the brush. A cold wind whipped through the trees and he shivered slightly. He wasn’t even sure why he was so upset. Even he hadn’t been planning on staying with Tseng forever. He wasn’t dumb enough to believe for a second that was even an option.

But just… knowing that the son of a bitch was discussing it with everyone else before he even mentioned it to him… it bothered him.

And just where the fuck was he gonna go, anyway? How soon was Tseng expecting him to leave? He wasn’t just gonna toss him out before he found someplace else, was he?

The redhead stopped in his tracks and shook his head.

“For fuck’s sake… don’t be a fuckin’ moron…” he muttered to himself. Of course Tseng wasn’t just going to chuck him out onto the street. He wasn’t some slimy landlord down in the slums who booted you the second you were late with your rent – or the second he found someone willing to pay more for your apartment. Tseng was his mentor… and he’d promised him, from his first day on the plate, that he was going to take care of him. And he doubted there was anything that could have made Tseng, of all people, break his word.

Reno quickly realized that he was getting himself worked up over nothing. Well… maybe not nothing, seeing as he didn’t really want to leave Tseng’s apartment just yet… but definitely getting far more upset than he should have been. It was just… he’d been left to his own devices to survive so many times in his life already. It was still hard to let himself believe that this wasn’t going to turn out the same way sometimes.

He took a slow, calming breath, and forced himself to relax. This wasn’t his worst case scenario. It was just… the next step for him. That in mind, he turned and started back the way he’d come from.

Or… at least he thought it was the way he’d come from. Admittedly, he hadn’t really been paying that much attention to where he was going. After about five minutes, however, with no camp in sight, he softly cursed under his breath.

“Oh, that’s just fuckin’ great, Reno… Now you’re lost,” he muttered. He sighed and reached for his phone… and realized that he’d left it in his jacket. In the tent. “And… you’re an idiot.”

The wind picked up again, chilling him. Well… if nothing else, he figured he should at least head back to where he’d stopped the first time. Obviously that was closer to camp than he was now. And when he didn’t come back, Tseng and Kai would start looking for him. Hell, they probably were already.

Reno hugged his arms to his chest for warmth and started back. Kai was never gonna let him live it down when she found out that he’d gotten himself lost in the Ifrit-forsaken woods during fucking survival training. For that matter… Tseng would probably never let him live it down, either. He snorted a soft, self-deprecating laugh. He’d totally deserve it, too… Running off like that was dumb. Running off with no boots, and no jacket was even dumber.

As he walked, he suddenly realized that nothing was looking familiar. He had to be getting close to where he’d started from by now. With a groan, he stopped short. Unless, of course, he’d gotten himself turned around in the dark and was walking in the wrong direction again…

“Craaaaaap…” he whined in frustration. He should have fucking stayed put. As soon as he’d realized he didn’t know where he was, he should’ve just sat the fuck down and waited for Tseng and Kai. It’d probably take them twice as long to find him, now…

The redhead sighed and leaned back against a tree. If he started yelling, they’d probably hear him… but dear Shiva, it was gonna be humiliating. But he didn’t really have much of a choice. He pushed off the tree trunk and stood up, ready to swallow his pride and call for help… but hesitated when he caught sight of a faint glow some distance away in the trees.

“Oh, thank Ifrit…” he breathed. The campfire. Had to be. Apparently he’d just wandered around in a big circle. He grinned and headed straight for it, moments later, emerging from the trees and into…

… someone else’s campsite.

The three men sitting around the fire looked up in surprise as the equally shocked redhead staggered out of the brush.

“Who the hell are you, kid? Where’d you come from?”

Reno blinked and backed up a step. They were all Wutaiian, and looked distinctly out of place, particularly so close to a pair of Shinra military bases. Tensions between Shinra and Wutai had been running high for the better part of a year. It hadn’t erupted in open violence just yet… but there were more than just murmurs of war amongst the higher-ups in the company at this point.

At least two of them were armed. He could see the glint of gunmetal peering out from beneath their coats in the firelight. There was a map spread out on the ground near the fire, and he had little trouble figuring out that it showed the location of Junon… The military base was circled in blue.

“I asked you a question…” the man said, somewhat threateningly, and his two companions got to their feet.

“I… uh… was campin’. With my… family. I-I got up to take a piss and kinda got lost,” he hurriedly replied. Not a total lie. He certainly wasn’t about to tell these fuckers he was a Turk out here for survival training. Particularly when he wasn’t armed and had no backup. “Thought this must’ve been our campfire. We didn’t know anyone else was out here…”

One of the men laughed. “Just a damn kid…” he said, elbowing his compatriot. Reno relaxed slightly as they seemed to back down… but his suspicions were well past roused. These guys were up to something. He glanced around their camp as subtly as he could.

Wooden crates were stacked near their tent, covered in a tarp… He could just make out a little bit of stenciled lettering on one side that looks suspiciously like the latter end of the word ‘Explosives’. That, and the map, with a Shinra military installation circled? Yeah… something was definitely not right here.

“You guys… don’t happen to know which direction Junon is, do ya?”

“Why?” their apparent leader gruffly demanded.

“‘Cause that’s the direction I came from…” he lied. “We were camping just a little ways from the ridge. Near the river. Can you tell me how to get back?”

No way was he about to tell them where Tseng and Kai really were, just in case these assholes got any bright ideas. But if he could find the river, he could follow it back to them, even if he had to go a little out of his way to do it. The sooner he told them about this, the better.

“Sit down ‘n warm up, kid. Jin here’ll go find your parents for ya…” the man replied, nodding to his friend. Something about his tone of voice didn’t exactly inspire relief in the young redhead. The one dubbed ‘Jin’ got to his feet and headed off into the trees. Reno somewhat hesitantly slid into his vacated seat.

---

“I knew I should have gone after him immediately,” Tseng grumbled as he and Kai made their way through the underbrush. “Reno?!”

“Reno!” Kai echoed him, shining a flashlight out into the darkness. “Well, sorry. I didn’t think he was stupid enough to run off barefoot into the forest in the dark!”

“He was angry. And obviously not thinking clearly at the time,” the Wutaiian Turk replied, through gritted teeth. “And now he’s missing. Reno!”

“Oh, would you relax? It’s not that cold out tonight, and we haven’t seen any evidence of predators. He’s a smart kid. He’ll be okay.”

“For your sake, he’d better be.”

“Oh, now it’s my fault?” Kai replied, incredulously.

“Yes,” Tseng hissed in reply. Because if it wasn’t her fault, then it was his, and right now guilt was far too distracting. He’d berate himself later… once he had his rookie back.

“Ugh… You are unbelievable,” Kai muttered as she shoved past him and started down the trail that led to the river. The redhead had been heading roughly in that direction. Hopefully they could pick up his trail without too much trouble. She doubted he was going to any great lengths to cover it, but the moon was little more than a sliver tonight, and their flashlights only did so much.

If he really was lost, and not just somewhere sulking, eventually he’d realize that if he made it to the river he could follow it back to camp. And the kid was smart enough, he’d probably realize that fairly quickly. That is, if he was trying to get back. Teenagers could be unpredictable, and from what she knew of his childhood, Reno was no stranger to sleeping out in the cold. The little shit might just decide to hunker down somewhere until morning just to make them worry.

Kai glanced back at Tseng, who had fallen some ways behind.

“Keep close, will ya? I don’t need two Turks going missing tonight.” She stopped short at the sight of a faint foot-shaped outline in a soft patch of earth and grinned. “Gotcha… Hey, Tseng! He definitely came this way.”

The pair hurried along the path, following the signs of his passage as best they could in the dark. It wasn’t long before they heard the loud rustling ahead of them of someone making their way through the underbrush.

---

The longer he sat, the more wary of the strangers the redhead became. Their ‘friend’, Jin, had been gone while by then, and the apparent leader was watching him intently. By now, he was absolutely certain these guys were up to something… and that that something involved the Shinra base at Junon. Which meant that he really needed to find a way to get the hell out of there and find Tseng and Kai.

Preferably without getting shot in the process.

“Sooo… You guys do this a lot?” he queried.

“Sure, kid… Sure. All the time,” the more talkative of the remaining two replied, with a somewhat disquieting grin. The other man snickered softly, and pulled out a knife to sharpen it. Reno glanced toward the trees.

Maybe he should just risk making a run for it. He had a feeling these fuckers didn’t plan to leave any witnesses. Hell, probably the only reason they hadn’t already tried to off him was because they were waiting to make sure they got his ‘family’, too. Reno tensed, readying himself to sprint for it. If he was lucky, he could make it into the shadows before they could draw and open fire. If he could just get out of sight long enough to shake the inevitable pursuit, he could disappear into the forest.

Without warning, several gunshots echoed among the trees, and the man across from him looked up, grinning coldly.

“Sounds like Jin found your parents…”

The rookie heard the soft click of a gun being cocked, and slowly shifted his gaze to his left. The second stranger was now openly aiming at him.

“Get up,” he ordered. Reno scowled and slowly got to his feet.

“Take the brat out away from camp, will ya? Don’t want his blood attracting anything tonight,” their leader said. The redhead sighed softly, and looked over at his would-be captor.

“Tch… This fuckin’ trip just keeps gettin’ better and better. What a pain in the ass.”

Before either man could sort out what he was up to, the rookie dropped low to the ground and swept the man’s legs out from under him, sending him sprawling. He aimed a sharp jab at his gut, and another at his throat, leaving the man alternatingly coughing and gasping on the forest floor, and then wrenched the weapon from his grasp, turning it on his partner.

“Drop it, asshole. I’m in a lousy mood tonight,” he growled as the remaining stranger drew his own gun. The sound of someone forcing their way through the foliage behind him garnered a smirk from the man.

“Forget about someone?” he snickered. Reno grinned right back. He was betting that sound was his own teammates… not Jin heading back. A deadly-looking blade sailed out of the shadows and embedded itself in the man’s arm. He shrieked in pain and dropped the gun.

“Nope,” the redhead replied, smugly, as two distinct figures emerged from the trees. Kai had the bastard pinned on the ground seconds later.

“Are you hurt?” Tseng asked, and Reno shook his head.

“Nah. You?”

“We’re fine. We met one of your new friends a short distance from here. He was kind enough to direct us to his camp,” the Turk lieutenant replied. He smiled coldly. “With… a little persuasion, that is.”

“Are you two gonna spend all night chatting or are you going to give me a hand with these idiots?” Kai groused as she forced her prisoner to his feet and marched him over to the campfire.

---

Some time later – after Junon had been contacted and the three captives had been remanded to the custody of the Shinra army – Reno found himself back at camp, reclined against a log, sleepily staring into the flames. Tseng took a seat on his backrest, and rested a hand on the teen’s shoulder.

“I should formally write you up for doing something that foolish…” he said, crossly. He glanced back toward their tent, where Kai had already turned in for the night. “Fortunately for you… I’m not technically in command at the moment. And I’m much too glad to have you back safely to be especially angry with you for your lack of judgment.”

“… Yeah. Sorry for pullin’ that on ya,” Reno answered without looking away from the fire. “I guess hearin’ you say you didn’t want me livin’ with you anymore just kinda… freaked me out.”

Tseng snorted softly.

“I did not say that I didn’t want you living with me,” he countered, “And had you not run off like a petulant child, I would have explained precisely what I have in mind for you.”

Reno cringed slightly at the obvious disapproval in his mentor’s tone. Tseng noticed, and let his hand drift gently over the back of his rookie’s head.

“I’m not ‘throwing you out’, Reno. And you will always be welcome in my home… but I can’t keep you there forever. You need more space and more freedom than living in my guest room can provide, and it’s long past time you had it.”

“So… How long do I get to stay?” he asked, hesitantly. A part of him wondered if he’d be moving out as soon as they returned to Midgar.

“You can relax for awhile yet. The place I’ve chosen won’t have a vacancy until after the first of the year,” Tseng chuckled. The redhead finally did look up at him, curious.

“W-wait… You mean you already got me set up somewhere else?”

He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. On one hand, it meant that he wouldn’t have to worry about finding a place on his own. But it also meant that he now had a specific deadline. His time as Tseng’s roommate was officially counting down.

“Don’t sound so concerned… I’m quite certain you’ll approve. Particularly when I tell you who your new neighbor will be.”

“The fuck’s that s’posed to mean?” he asked. Tseng laughed quietly.

“I thought you might be a bit… hesitant… about moving out. That’s why I’ve opted to place you in the same building Rude lives in.”

Reno sat up, and twisted around to face his mentor.

“Rude? I’m movin’ in with Rude?” he sputtered, a grin spreading across his face. Tseng sighed and shook his head.

“The fact that I received much the same reaction from your partner in crime should probably worry me… but, yes. Your new apartment will be upstairs from his,” Tseng snickered.

Some of the tension in the redhead’s body eased, and he leaned back against the log again.

“I’m sorry…” he sighed. “I shoulda known you weren’t just gonna fuck me over.”

“And I should probably have discussed this with you before we left… but I was concerned that you’d be preoccupied with it for the duration of your training. As I keep telling you, I have no intention of abandoning you, Reno.”

“I know. Just… After awhile ya kinda just get used to no one wantin’ you. It’s hard to let it go.”

“Please try,” Tseng replied, softly.

Reno smiled slightly at the dancing flames. “I am.”

~end chapter 34~