Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 78: Looking Towards the Future

Reno took a seat in the briefing room, settling himself into a chair between Rude and Liam. He noted, with no small amount of amusement, that Ryu seemed to be making a point to situate himself as far from the bald Turk as physically possible… and then mentally sighed as he realized that, as entertaining as it had been, he was going to have to do something about that. Couldn’t have the rookie panicking every time Rude walked into a room, after all.

Veld waited patiently at the head of the table for everyone to get comfortable and quiet down… which, as every last one of them who hadn’t been present for what had gone down in Costa del Sol was anxious to hear about the results of the mission, didn’t take long.

“I expect, by now, the majority of you have heard that we had a very eventful, and ultimately fruitful, weekend,” the Turk leader began. “First and foremost… Remy was successfully retrieved from her captors, and is recovering at home. As usual, she’s quite eager to be back at work as soon as possible.”

“Heh… why does that not surprise me?” the redhead snickered. Remy was almost as bad as Tseng at times when it came to work. She’d come back – on restricted duty, of course – not even two weeks after having her hand mangled by falling debris and almost bleeding to death the day the Sector 6 reactor had blown. Though, truth be told… he’d be glad to see her back on her feet again sooner rather than later, after the way she’d looked when he and Kai had pulled her out of that Zeshou hideout.

He heard a faint snort of laughter from Rude’s direction in response.

“The second announcement,” Veld continued, pointedly ignoring the interruption, “is that, thanks to the tireless efforts of Rude and a fortuitous discovery made by Liam and Petra… we have finally identified and eliminated the Zenshou’s buyer. With no further… orders… being placed for our technology, we expect that they’ll decide Shinra is a bit too difficult a target to spend any more effort on. There’s little to no profit in it for them without a buyer on stand-by. Rude will be keeping an eye on the situation for awhile yet, but unless we find cause to reopen the investigation, our Zenshou problem is officially dealt with.”

“We’re not going after them, sir?” Liam asked, curious, and Veld shook his head.

“No. We’ve expended far too many resources on this matter as it is, and come dangerously close to needlessly losing personnel. We’re not the planet’s police force. If they’re not interfering with Shinra interests, they’re not Shinra’s – or the Turks’ – problem.” He paused, for a moment and sighed. “Which… brings me to my next announcement.”

Reno sat up slightly in his seat, eager to hear what was to become of Kai… though judging by Veld’s tone, it wasn’t going to be good news.

“You’ve all likely noticed that Kai hasn’t joined us for the morning briefing today,” the Turk commander began on a somewhat solemn note. “Kai has been suspended for gross insubordination and interfering with an active field operation.”

The murmurs began immediately, with most of the rookies at the table voicing their shock and confusion. Reno, however, stayed silent, waiting for Veld to continue. The senior Turk gave his subordinates a few more seconds of conversation, before calling for order.

“Quiet down,” he commanded, and the discussion abruptly ceased, “Kai has been… having a difficult time dealing with the fallout of the Wutai mission this past summer and, in her quest for revenge against the Zenshou, made some very poor choices that put others in danger. As such, during her suspension, she will be taking a sabbatical away from the city to get her head on straight and sort through some personal issues.”

“Hang on… she’s just up ‘n leavin’ Midgar?” Reno asked, blinking in surprise, “Where’s she goin’?”

“She didn’t say… though, knowing Kai, the trip will likely involve a tent and a fishing pole,” Tseng interjected before Veld could answer.

Reno frowned slightly, but sank back in his seat in silence to allow the commander to continue. He supposed he shouldn’t have been so shocked by the thought of Kai taking off into the woods. It was… kind of what she did. Still… a part of him worried that this was less a camping trip to figure things out, and more an opportunity to go after the Zenshou on her own without Turk regulations tying her down. He glanced over at Tseng, but his mentor’s expression remained unreadable. If he, too, suspected an ulterior motive, nothing in his demeanor gave it away.

“I realize this probably comes as something of a shock… particularly to those of you who were not directly involved in the last minute operation in Costa del Sol over the weekend. Kai will be back. She’s an exceptional Turk, and I’m not about to fire her over this matter. But she’s needs some time to herself right now.”

“Unfortunately, that means that we’re down a regular trainer,” Tseng added, “I myself intend to be back up to that task by next week… though if I’m to realistically have any hope of that, I’m going to need to dedicate a significant portion of my day to rehabilitating my ankle. Rude… Reno and I are going to need some of your time to fill in the gaps on the training schedule.”

Rude gave a grunt of acknowledgment and nodded.

“That mean I get to run gauntlet day?” he asked, side-eyeing the rookies.

“I’ll let you and Reno sort that out between yourselves,” Tseng replied, and several of the rookies collectively groaned. Reno snickered quietly, suspecting that they had been hoping that “gauntlet day” might get put on hold with Kai being absent. No such luck for them, unfortunately. The gauntlet, though almost universally despised by those who hadn’t yet mastered it – and a few who had – was a pretty useful method of gauging a rookie’s progress.

“Now that that’s out of the way…” Veld said, “Sykes, building security has requested some extra help with a materials transfer this morning. See to it.”

“Yes, sir,” the younger Turk replied.

“The rest of you… get to training. Dismissed.”

The assembled Turks gradually got to their feet and trickled out of the conference room… though both Reno and Rude hung back, cornering Tseng before he could disappear to whatever physical therapy he had scheduled for himself.

“Boss…” the redhead began, “You sure Kai’s just goin’ for a long walk in the woods?”

Tseng sighed softly and shook his head.

“I… honestly don’t know. In fact, I’m not entirely sure she’s decided exactly what she intends to do. When Veld and I spoke to her after her evaluation earlier, she seemed very conflicted.”

“So you’re just gonna let her run off?” Reno replied.

“What other choice do I have? I can’t very well follow her around indefinitely, making sure she isn’t doing something that might get her killed. She promised me that she wouldn’t do anything foolish while she was on leave. I can only trust that she will keep that promise.” He frowned thoughtfully before continuing, “To be be fair… I think deep down she understands that she needs to just let this go or it will consume her, but it may take her some time before she’s actually capable of doing so.”

“Tch… ‘course she couldn’t just hang around Midgar ’til she comes to her senses. Ya know… where it’s safe.”

Tseng smiled somewhat sadly. “You can’t constantly protect everyone under your command, I’m afraid. Now… you and Rude have rookies waiting for you.” He shook his head and sighed heavily, “And I, unfortunately, have an appointment with my physical therapist… which if past visits are any indication, I’m sure will be the epitome of unenjoyable. Get to work.”

With that, he took his leave from the conference room, leaving the two younger Turks to their own devices. Reno sighed and turned to his friend.

“Well, great. One more thing for me to obsessively worry about,” he muttered, “Anyway… guess we better decide who gets gauntlet day so I can plan the schedule for the rest of the week. Wanna flip me for it?”

Rude cocked his head to one side, considering the proposition…

“Heads or tails?” he asked.

“Tails,” Reno replied, and the next thing he knew, he was being hoisted bodily off the ground.

“H-hey! What the fuck, man?!” he shouted, as he was summarily tossed over the larger Turk’s shoulder, head over heels, landing on his back in the middle of the conference table with a loud grunt. He lay there, dazed for a moment, trying to figure out what in the Nine Hells had just happened.

“Heads. I win,” Rude declared, smirking.

“I meant flip a coin, you dick… Not me,” the redhead groaned, sitting up. His friend merely chuckled and helped him to his feet. “I liked it better when you just threw me in the pool.”

---

By the afternoon, Tseng was rethinking his brilliant idea to speed along his recovery through any means necessary… and was very grateful that Reno and Rude were handling training without him today, as, at the moment, he no longer wanted to move. His ankle was presently elevated on top of a spare chair, ice pack draped over the joint as it throbbed in time with the seconds ticking away on the wall clock.

It… was possible he’d pushed himself a little too hard.

He didn’t dare call Justinia for advice, however. One ear had already suffered her wrath today. He didn’t really want to risk the other unless he had no other choice.

Really, he’d been doing fine up until he’d decided on a third round of strengthening exercises after his therapist had ended their session for the day. He’d even been able to put some weight on the ankle for a short while. The Turk lieutenant sighed and let his head lean against the back of his desk chair. He should have quit while he was ahead. Hopefully, this was just a minor case of overwork, rather than re-injury. Like it or not, he was going to have to take things a little slower.

Someone knocked on his office door, startling him, and the Wutaiian Turk hurriedly kicked the ice pack to the floor and out of sight, and shoved the second chair into the corner.

“Come in,” he called out, and made an effort to look busy and unconcerned.

“Hey, Boss,” Reno chirped, as he walked in, “How’s the rehab goin’?”

“Well enough,” he responded, as he turned slightly to face his protege… and then visibly flinched as the still-tender limb bumped into the leg of his desk. Reno smirked.

“Heh… well enough, huh?” he snickered. His gaze dropped to the floor, and he bent down, retrieving the ice pack that was peeking out from beneath the desk. “So… How bad didya hurt it?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Tseng stated firmly… though he didn’t sound especially convincing even to himself. Reno rolled his eyes.

“Come on… I’m not gonna rat ya out to the doc. Seriously… how bad is it?”

The Turk lieutenant sighed and shook his head.

“… Hopefully not so bad that I’ll have to rat myself out…” he grudgingly confessed, “Though it does seem rather swollen at the moment.”

“I mean, I know I’m not exactly one to be givin’ advice here, considerin’ my track record with on-the-job injuries ‘n not listening to the Doc… but maybe take it easy at first?” the redhead offered, grinning as he dropped into one of the chairs opposite the senior Turk and tossed the ice pack back to his mentor.

“Noted,” Tseng sighed. He reached for a small box that had been sitting on his desk for the last hour and passed it over to his protege. “This arrived for you a short while ago. How was training?”

Reno grinned as he opened the box and dumped his replacement PHS into one hand. He flipped it open, inspecting the device briefly, before snapping it shut again and tucking it into his jacket.

“So… I’m pretty sure Liam’s got a thing for Zephyr…” the redhead replied, snickering quietly, “But, yeah, nothin’ major to report. We ran through some basic hand to hand drills, did about an hour in the pool, ‘n then hit the gun range. Ryu’s aim has seriously improved… When’d he start practicin’ in the mornings, anyway?”

“Shortly after you left for Wutai,” Tseng said.

“Ya know, he apologized to me again this mornin’…”

“For the incident with Rufus?” the Turk lieutenant queried, quirking an eyebrow.

“Yeah… I mean, I don’t see what the big deal is, though.”

Tseng chuckled softly. “Would you have called me something so disrespectful your first week on the job?”

“Well, not to your face…” Reno teasingly replied, drawing a deep laugh from his mentor.

“To… for example… Veld, then?”

“Boss, I still wouldn’t call you an asshole where Veld could hear me. I don’t particularly enjoy gettin’ my ass kicked.”

Tseng smirked in response.

“Okay, okay… I get the point,” Reno snickered.

“You outrank Ryu. Moreover, it’s no secret that your position in the Turks is more than simply as his superior, even if our newest members are likely not yet aware of your future promotion. A certain amount of fear of screwing up is inevitable in such relationships. You were certainly no fan of disappointing me as a rookie…”

“Yeah, I s’pose you’re right,” Reno replied. He leaned back in the chair, folding his hands behind his head. “Heh… For the record, I’m still not a fan of doin’ that.” He paused for a moment frowning slightly. “Hey, Boss? Can I ask you somethin’?”

“Always,” Tseng answered.

“Do things… change? I mean, like… does everyone start treatin’ you different when it’s official?”

The senior smiled slightly. “I would be lying if I told you that nothing will change between you and the others when you eventually become my second in command,” he replied, “But… it won’t be as devastating as I’m sure you’re envisioning. They will remain, as always, your family.”

“So… I was thinkin’ about what you said this mornin’…”

It took the older Turk a moment to determine what precisely the redhead was talking about. Reno had a tendency – particularly when he was preoccupied with multiple concerns – to jump from topic to topic without much of a logical progression between them. At least no logical progression that Tseng could follow. He was fairly certain it made perfect sense to the redhead. It was something he’d simply gotten used to over the years. Instead of immediately asking him to clarify, he generally just let his protege get to his point in his own time.

“I’m… gonna talk to Rude ‘n see what he thinks about separate offices,” Reno finished somewhat hesitantly. He exhaled slowly before going on. “I think you’re right. We’ve kinda outgrown the old one.”

Tseng chuckled quietly. “I thought you might come to see the value in having your own space.”

“Heh… yeah, well… there’s that, and there’s the fact that Rude’s not real happy ’bout the current state of our office. I think I mighta finally become too much of slob for him to tolerate,” the redhead somewhat sheepishly replied.

“You do tend to procrastinate for more than you used to when it comes to tidying up…” Tseng chuckled. Reno rolled his eyes.

“Anyway… I’ll let ya know what we decide. He’s coming over for my first lesson tonight.”

“Lesson?” Tseng repeated, cocking an eyebrow in curiosity.

“Yeah… Rude’s gonna teach me how to cook!”

“I was under the impression that Rude felt you were much too dangerous to be allowed in a kitchen unsupervised,” the senior Turk teased, smirking slightly.

“Nah… just his kitchen,” Reno shot back, grinning. “He thinks I just need a good teacher, since I never really had one before… so we’re gonna give it a shot.”

“Let me just make a note to have Dr. Ward, as well as the Sector Three fire station closest to your apartment, on alert tonight,” Tseng said, jokingly reaching for a pen.

“Ha. Ha,” the redhead dryly replied, “You’ll be singin’ a different tune when I’m bringin’ stuff into the office that’s even better than Rude’s. I mean… how hard could it be when you’re learnin’ from someone who actually knows what they’re doin’?”

The phrase “famous last words” flashed briefly into the Wutaiian Turk’s mind, and he smile slightly.

“I’ll alert the city’s emergency search and rescue units as well,” he assured his protege.

---

Reno grinned widely as he cracked open a beer and leaned back against the counter. It hadn’t taken long to get things cleaned up for Rude’s visit. Hell, it’s not like he ever really used the little kitchenette, to begin with. The closest he ever got to cooking was usually just shoving something in the microwave. But he’d still made an effort. The handful of dishes that had been sitting in the sink since sometime before he’d left for Wutai had been dutifully washed and put away, and he’d tossed a few of the more questionable leftovers from the fridge, as well has having shoved the pile of dirty laundry that had accumulated outside of the bathroom door under his bed for the moment.

Before all of that, though, he’d taken a few minutes to stop by Kai’s apartment on his way home after work. He’d found the place empty and dark, its sole occupant nowhere to be found. Her motorcycle, too, was missing from it’s usual spot in the parking lot. Apparently, wherever she was going… she’d already left. Reno had tried calling her, but it had gone straight through to voicemail.

He wished she’d at least stuck around to say goodbye. He kind of understood why she hadn’t, though. The little chat they’d had in the park had made it abundantly clear that she felt guilty about what she’d done, and the redhead wasn’t nearly naive enough to think that one little pep talk and knowing that he forgave her for it was going to magically make everything better. If he’d done something that stupid and had it blow up in his face like that, he’d have been kicking himself for a very long time, and the redhead had no doubt that his friend and fellow Turk would be, too.

Reno wondered how long she’d be gone. Veld hadn’t explicitly said just how long Kai was officially suspended, after all… which meant that her little “sabbatical” could last a week or a month or even longer. It was one thing knowing that he wouldn’t be seeing her around the office for awhile… but it was something else entirely knowing that he wouldn’t be seeing her at all for Shiva only knew how long.

His quiet reverie was interrupted by a sharp knock on his apartment’s door. Reno pushed himself upright and set his half-finished beer on the counter, before hurrying over to answer the summons. Just as expected, he found Rude outside, a bag of groceries in hand, patiently waiting to be let in.

“Sweet! I’m starved… Let’s get cookin’!”

Rude stepped through the door and chuckled.

“We will… but first, we have to go over the basics,” he replied, before producing a gift-wrapped box from behind his back. “And I got you something…”

Reno blinked in surprise, as he accepted the present. “What’s this?” he asked, slightly confused.

“Just something I thought you might need if you’re going to be cooking for yourself more often…” his friend replied, with a slightly mischievous smirk. Reno shrugged and tore into the wrapping paper, making quick work of it, before pulling the lid off of the box… and immediately rolled his eyes when he saw his “gift”.

“Really?” he groaned, lifting the fire extinguisher out of its confines. Rude just snickered and made his way into the kitchen. Reno snorted quietly in laughter of his own, before setting the extinguisher on the counter and tossing the box into the trash. “Okay, so now that we’ve gotten the whole ‘laugh at Reno’s expense’ thing outta the way, can we do this already? I wasn’t kidding… I’m hungry!”

“I told you… Basics first,” Rude replied, as he began rummaging through several of the kitchen’s cabinets and drawers. In short order, there were several items laid out on the counter… a number of which Reno had long since forgotten he even owned. In fact, several of them, the redhead was pretty sure, had been gifted to him by Rude when he’d moved into his first apartment, because the gourmand Turk had found his meager kitchen supplies severely lacking.

“Lesson one…” the older Turk continued, carrying a large soup pot over to the sink and turning on the tap, “How to boil water.”

“… Wow… You’re not gonna go easy on me, are ya, pal?” Reno deadpanned, sarcastically. He rolled his eyes and pointedly walked over to the stove, turning on one of the burners. “I know how to boil water…”

“Humor me,” Rude replied, handing over the now partially filled pot, “You’re a beginner. I’m starting you out with something easy.”

“Alright, alright…” the redhead sighed, taking the pot and setting it on the stove, “So what are makin’, then?”

“Homemade pasta with meat sauce.”

“Tch… okay, I know this is beginner level, but even I know how to open a freaking box of spaghetti ‘n dump it in a pot of boiling water…”

Rude snorted softly and started unloading the bag of food he’d brought in. Eggs, tomatoes, onions, garlic, ground beef, olive oil, various spices… A far cry from what Reno normally associated with making pasta. He usually just grabbed a box of spaghetti and a jar of sauce.

“No pre-made pasta allowed,” he replied, as he pulled out a bag of flour. “We’re making it by hand.”

“… We’re doin’ what now?” the redhead replied with a vague note of confusion.

---

Rude took a swig of beer and leaned back in his chair as he watched his friend polishing off his second helping of the fruits of their labor with gusto.

Really, things hadn’t gone badly at all. Granted… he’d handled most of the more difficult steps and relegated the redhead to mere observation… but Reno had managed pretty well with the more basic tasks he’d been given. Most importantly, nothing had been incinerated. There may actually have been hope for Reno yet, he silently mused.

Of course… hand-made pasta wasn’t exactly the most difficult of things to make. It was quite literally only four ingredients… and that was if you counted water as an ingredient. Even the meat sauce recipe wasn’t particularly involved. But that was the whole reason he’d decided to start with the dish. For its simplicity, the results were fairly impressive. Going by past experience, Reno’s biggest issue in the kitchen – aside from his tendency to take shortcuts – was that he attempted to do things that were just way beyond his current skill level and then fail epically. Rude hoped that by showing him that you could end up with great food without getting too complex, he might be a little less likely to take on harder recipes before he was ready.

And thus less likely to burn something down or poison the people he was feeding.

Reno finished off the plate and set it aside, before letting himself fall into a relaxed position on the couch, one hand over his stomach in content. Rude snickered softly.

“So? How was it?” he asked. The redhead grinned and reached for his own beer.

“I still don’t see why we didn’t just save some time ‘n make the shit in the box,” he replied, somewhat teasingly, earning an annoyed glare from the bald Turk, “But… it turned out pretty good.” He smirked, knowingly. “And I didn’t set anything on fire this time.”

“Hmph…” Rude chuckled, “Let’s keep it that way. Same time next week?”

“I’m game if you are,” Reno replied.

Rude grinned and leaned his head back against the cushions, exhaling a long, slow breath. “Hmph… Feels good to finally be able to relax and do something I enjoy. Seems like I’ve been on assignment forever.”

“Tell me about it. I was startin’ to wonder if you guys were ever plannin’ on comin’ home,” Reno snickered, “You been by to see Remy yet since they let her outta the hospital?”

The older Turk shook his head. “Not yet. Thought I’d give her some time to settle in first. I was planning on dropping off a little care package for her tomorrow night, though. You?”

“Nah… I figured she’d still be on some pretty hefty painkillers. Didn’t wanna bug her right away. I know how much it sucks to be in pain ‘n just wanna sleep through it as much as ya can.” The redhead sighed and pulled his knees to his chest, curling up on the couch. “I’ll be glad when everyone’s back where they belong… ya know?”

Rude nodded in agreement… and then chuckled.

“I’ll be glad when everything in my office is back where it belongs, too,” he teased. Reno rolled his eyes and chucked a throw pillow in his general direction.

“Yeah, I know… I’m a fuckin’ slob, okay?” he laughed… and then sobered surprisingly quickly. “Um… actually, I kinda wanted to talk to you about that…”

“I’m not giving you an extension. You have until the end of the week to clean up the mess.”

Reno snorted softly and sat up, downing the remains of his beer.

“Yeah… fuck you, partner,” he snickered, “No, I mean… Tseng had an idea. I told him I’d run it by you ‘n get back to him.”

“…? What’s up?” Rude asked, curious.

“So… ya know how you’re buildin’ up your intelligence database ‘n collectin’ all that gear that lets ya spy on people ‘n shit…” he began, and Rude detected a slight note of hesitation in his voice. “And I mean, I’m gonna be meetin’ with rookies one on one a whole lot more ‘n just generally havin’ a lot more to do than I used to…”

The older Turk smiled a little sadly, as he realized where this was going. It was something he’d been thinking about lately, too, as a matter of fact.

Reno heaved a sigh and dropped his gaze. “Tseng thinks… it might be time we maybe oughta have our own offices. And I kinda think he might be right.” He quickly looked up at his friend again. “I mean… I’m not sayin’ I don’t like sharin’ an office… It’s just…”

Rude shook his head and got out of the chair, moving over to the couch to join the redhead.

“We have different needs,” he stated, simply. “I need more space and organization, and you need more privacy. Simple as that.”

“… Yeah,” Reno sighed. Rude gently elbowed him.

“Quit acting like I’d be moving to Wutai,” he chuckled. “Separate offices isn’t the end of the world.”

“I know,” Reno snickered, “And I know that we need to do it. We’ve just… been together since almost day one. It’s gonna be weird.”

Rude grinned and wrapped an arm around his friend, dragging him closer. “You can come visit whenever you want.”

“Tch… get off me already,” Reno laughed, playfully shoving him away. “I just said it was gonna be weird… I didn’t say was gonna be cryin’ over you movin’ down the hall.” He paused and looked over at him. “So… I guess we’re doin’ this?”

“Sounds like it,” Rude nodded.

“Heh… I’ll tell Tseng first thing tomorrow. He said you could have Tres’ old office, by the way. I mean… if you’re good with that.”

Rude blinked in surprise, caught slightly off guard by the new information. He hadn’t even been in his late mentor’s office since the day he’d helped Tseng clean it out. There really hadn’t been a reason… beyond perhaps slipping inside to think about the old days, which, honestly, wasn’t really something he was inclined toward to begin with. It was just an empty room.

And yet, as soon as Reno had so casually mentioned that it could be his… he suddenly knew that he wanted it too much to even consider turning it down. Rude had never been an especially sentimental person. He didn’t hold onto much in the way physical objects unless he had a use for them, and had very few possessions he was emotionally attached to.

But somehow, Tres’ office was different. He didn’t really know how to explain it… he just knew that it was what he wanted.

“Sounds good to me,” he said with a nod. The redhead smirked slightly, apparently having caught the note of excitement in his voice.

“And he’s plannin’ on movin’ me over to Shay’s old office…” Reno added, and Rude couldn’t help but snicker. That office was just a couple of doors down from Tseng’s.

“Moving you closer so he can keep a better eye on you?” he teased. Reno jokingly flipped him off.

“Yeah… keep laughin’, asshole,” he grinned back in reply, “Keep in mind, I could always tell the boss you wanna stay right where you are. I get a nice new office, ‘n you can keep our broom closet.”

Rude smirked and reached behind him, fingers clamping around the pillow that, not long ago, had been lobbed at him by the redhead. He swung it at his friend, nailing him firmly in the face.

“Oh… that’s it,” Reno said, swiftly ducking beneath the pillow on the subsequent backswing and diving for its twin on the other end of the couch. “You’re goin’ down…”

Rude merely grinned, and prepared for the coming onslaught.

~end chapter 78~