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Diversification	By : RandiLynne Category: Final Fantasy VII > Het - Male/Female Views: 798 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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And what sort of plan might Reno be scheming? Quite
simply, he was going to utterly waste every second of his free day. Somewhere
around eleven in the morning, Reno
awoke to a newspaper swatting down on his arm. Startled by the hit, his eyes
jerked open and he sprung to life in a sleepy daze. He rubbed his neck as pain
shot down his spine from Ava�s misadventure in tub dunking and finally turned
to view the smirking face above him. What
a surprise, Rufus. A death glare shot toward the blonde in the overly plush,
fancy robe.
�Man� what the fuck?� Reno whined.
�Quit being such a lazy ass and do
something with yourself.� Rufus disarmed himself, tossing the paper onto the
table with a whack. Before a smart
remark could be made, Rufus disappeared into his room.
�He did that just to piss me off.�
Reno grumbled,
eyeing Reeve and Ava as they sat at the table, each with their jaws somewhat
gaping in disbelief. Then came the blatant laughter.
�I believe he did.� Reeve
chuckled, replaying the sight of Rufus wandering out of his room, grabbing the
morning paper and smacking Reno
over the arm with it for no apparent reason.
�I�ll have to remember that one.�
Ava smiled a sickeningly cheery smile while Reno glared her down.
�Yeah, try it, McCall.� Reno threatened, rolling onto
his feet. His usual suit was likely sopping wet in the bathroom as he�d left it
last night, so he opted for a casual outfit dug out of his suit case before he
trudged into the bathroom under the gaze of the two at the table. The door
slammed shut and more laughter came over the kitchen while he grumbled,
stripping off his pajamas. �I can hear you.� He called in a sing-song tone.
The laughter died into conversation by the
time he�d finished dressing in the black shirt and a pair of pants not too
different from his uniform slacks. He tested the suit still hung over the
shower rod, finding it remotely dry. It would need to be pressed back to shape,
and that would be his excuse for escaping the idiocy. The black attire and
white shirt were pulled down and folded beneath his arm as he left the
bathroom, eyes focused on his socks as he shuffled into the living room.
�I need to take this in to be
fixed up.� He murmured, slipping his shoes on while giving a pointed look to
Ava. Though she felt some remorse for her little payback in the tub, she simply
gave another wide smile. Despite the fact that she looked sweet with that smile
plastered over dry pink lips and her hair a mess atop her head, he knew better
than to assume the smile meant anything nice. The only response was the view of
his back as he headed out into the mild weather Wutai held.
Once the suit was dropped by the
cleaners with a two o�clock pick up, Reno found himself wandering down the
quiet streets somewhat lost in a memory. There had been some good times had at
the local bar with Rude and the rest of them. Mainly Rude, though. He
considered Rude to be not only his partner, but his closest friend. The idea of
Rude being shot simply annoyed him to no end. On a whim, he pulled his phone
from his pocket and put in a call to Elena.
�Yeah?� Elena�s feminine voice chimed over the line after two
rings.
�Yo, �Laney. How�s Rude doing?�
Though his words were short and pointed, he couldn�t avoid the tone of concern
that bubbled up.
�He�s doing well. Dr. Lockton said he�s making good progress, he�s been
awake and dying to get out of bed.� Elena was truly nice, when they weren�t
bickering about something.
�Good. Anymore news on the bastard
who did this?� Now the anger became evident.
�Well, not really. We think it�s a group, though. There�s definitely
more than one involved. Wealthy, smart and concise. I�d say they�ve held quite
a grudge, considering they�ve given problems not only to Rude and Tseng, but to
Reeve as well.� Elena informed, causing Reno to nod every few words as he ate up the profile.
�Just great. Those are the worst
cases� those crazy fucks will go to any lengths to destroy whoever or whatever
has them ticked.� An exaggerated sigh escaped parted lips.
�I know, they�re dangerous. Just be careful, I�ll call you if I hear
anything. Tseng�s coming back, I have to go.� He could hear Tseng�s voice
as Elena�s phone clicked off. With that, he hung up, shoving the silver plastic
phone back into his pocket.
During his conversation, Reno had strolled into a
narrow alley to seek refuge from several of the merchants attempting to sell
goods. Noticing a dingy spot on his left shoe, he hunched down beside a large
box to clean to stain away. A rather impulsive, but odd movement considering he
didn�t usually mind a worn look. As he wiped at the spot with his thumb, the
sound of muffled footsteps caused him to freeze and silently move backward
until he became flush with the wall. The footsteps ended not five feet from
him, and he was suddenly quite appreciative of the massive box beside him.
�So?� A male voice, gruff and old,
asked.
�They�re here. Only two of them,
plus the corporate assholes, in a room at the inn.� Another male voice, this
one more youthful, answered.
�The boss�ll be pleased to hear
that. Gives him time to move on the other three, since they�re not such a pain
all broken up.� The older voice said.
�So what should I do?� Asked the
younger man.
�Keep an eye on the quartet. Make
sure they don�t leave in a hurry if their friends call cryin�� The man�s voice reminded
Reno of an old
mobster similar to those in the movies. Perhaps this was some sort of gang, but
at the moment, he had to find out who they worked for.
Glancing around, he found a glass
bottle�though he regretted leaving his weapon of choice in the room at the inn�which
made an exaggerated smash against the wall when he separated the glass at the
center. The two men were drawn to the noise and as they stalked around the box,
he took full advantage of the surprise wrenched in their gut. Swift movements
brought Reno to
his feet, a hard kick dealt to the older man as he knew the ancient lungs
wouldn�t withstand such force with any sort of composure. Sure enough, the dark
skinned man fell backward against the opposite wall in a struggle to gain his
breath. The younger man, appearing only about fifteen or so, stood wide eyed
like an idiot. What impressive
adversaries!
Reno burst out into laughter while dealing a
devastating blow to the young man�s face, glass shards digging into his flesh
with force. Crimson liquid rolled down the glass bottle as the redhead held it
low and threatening. The boy sprawled backward, joining the wheezing old man
against the wall.
With a predatory swagger, Reno cornered them with
the bloody bottle held just inches from their faces as he spoke in a low voice.
�Who do you work for?�
�Fuck off, Turk!� The boy had the
nerve to spit a combination of saliva and blood at Reno�s face, earning him a hard kick in the
stomach. The brunette whined and hunched over, clenching his abdomen. These guys are pathetic, Reno thought, but the way the boy spoke the word Turk gave
Reno
gooseflesh. Someone�s definitely holding
a grudge.
�I said, who the fuck do you work for?� Reno never raised his voice, instead opting
for that classic tone of indirect threat.
�We�ll� never tell you.� The old
man grumbled.
�Is that so?� A sarcastic grin dominated Reno�s lips, the sharp blades of the bottle
brought to press small indentations in the older man�s cheek.
While Reno
poured his attention into carving small divots into the supple flesh, the boy
recovered from the stomach injury, taking the opportunity to give a surprising
punch to Reno�s
jaw, sending him back enough to remove the imminent threat of the bottle.
Reno gaped while slender digits rose,
pressing against the sore spot on his lip where he found a drop of blood.
Turquoise eyes narrowed, finding an anger swelling in his stomach as he reached
for the giant box, hefting it into the air with a grunt. A force unseen in the
late lazy days allowed him to push forward and smash the brunt weight of the
box into the young boy, causing a howl of pain and the sound of bones snapping to
pierce the otherwise silent air. Definitely
broke a rib, there. Reno
growled, using the box to scrape the boy from the wall and throw both the boy
and the box to the alley floor in a heaping mess of splintered wood.
In his destruction, Reno hadn�t noticed the
old man�s approaching hand until he felt a vise like grip around his neck. The
man was holding him with one hand while holding the apprehended bottle
frighteningly close to his temple. The man was stronger than Reno had
anticipated and they struggled for quite some time before the dark haired man�s
eyes simply rolled backward while quite a gory mess of brain matter escaped a
large exit wound on the side of his head. Almost afraid to look, Reno gave a side glance
only to find he was staring into a silencer a ways down the alley. Explains the lack of noise. The shot must have been a difficult task; between the
struggling men it would be hard to get a clean aim.
Hesitantly, Reno straightened out his shirt and turned
toward the gunslinger, half expecting to find another Turk. No such luck. At
the T of the alley, he found a tall man with long black hair. The red cloak
immediately gave him away, just a short second to the shiny golden boots and
claw. Vincent Valentine. He sure had been a strange occurrence as of late,
saving Elena and Tseng from torture and now practically saving Reno from at the least, a very bad headache.
Vincent slid the silenced pistol into a holster beside his hip while
approaching down the alley with drawn out steps.
�Worthless, utterly worthless.�
The smooth voice as Vincent neared the scene. A small whimper came from beneath
the box, in all the commotion Reno�d
forgotten about the boy.
�I�ll say.� He brushed a bit of
blood from his lips with the backside of his hand.
�I believe your problems are
deeper than you might assume. Ancient grudges are the least of the issue...� Vincent
spoke confidently, kneeling down to sweep several wooden planks from the boy on
the ground.
Reno mirrored Vincent, though his attention
was set on milking information from the dying boy. �One more time, kid, or I�ll
leave you here to die. Who do you work for?�
��sl..sla�� The boy mumbled beneath
his breath. A clear attempt to talk, but in his weakness unable to form words.
Something had to be done to preserve any information he might have.
�He�s got something, but it seems
he�s too weak to say it.� Vincent observed.
�If I save your pathetic life, you
will tell me.� Not a question, a demand. Reno
swept the kid from the ground and over his shoulder, glancing toward Vincent.
�He�ll be ready to talk, now.� And with a devious smirk, he shuffled down the
alley.
The whole ordeal rolled right off
his shoulders with a shrug once the boy was resting in the clinic bed, the
phone again brought from his pocket as he dialed out Tseng�s number.
�This is Tseng.� Came with the third ring.
�I have a little information.� Reno said with a smile, as
he proceeded to tell Tseng of the entire situation.
The tale took no more than a
couple of minutes, leaving Tseng quite silent. Why would anyone choose such
fools as henchmen? Then there was the whole Vincent Valentine to the rescue,
for a second time, detail. What did Vincent have to do with all this? Or was he
just in the right place at the right time, doing more favors for them? The
situation was only becoming stranger by the second. The alley meeting was quite
unprofessional and did not fit the description Elena had given, but perhaps the
event was untied to Rude�s shooting. Anything was possible.
�Shit. I just don�t get this whole
thing.� Reno
cursed.
�It is rather odd. Vincent ought to consider taking up his old career.�
Was that a joke? A light chuckle confirmed his suspicions. The ever serious
Tseng, joking around. What was the world coming to? �I�ll contact Vincent and see what it is he has to say about all this.
Have the doctors notify you when the kid is ready to talk, perhaps we�ll gather
a name to shed some light on this. Call if you hear anything, I�ll do the same.�
Tseng was gone, and Reno
approached the nurse outside the door.
�Call me when he wakes up, I�d
like to make sure he�s okay� took a lot to save him from that creep.� Reno lied, handing the
nurse a piece of paper with his number on it.
�Sure.� She nodded, stuffing the
white paper into her pocket.
It was only two o�clock, and so
far the day wasn�t going as he�d planned. A lazy, vacation sort of day was the
original plan. Now he�d been in a fight and half immersed in a mysterious plot.
A drink sounded quite good, but he couldn�t very well stroll into the bar with
blood on his lips and splattered on his face and clothing. So he opted for
picking up his suit and returning to the hotel to wash up.
When Reno burst through the hotel doors with a
swollen lip and a bloody face, all eyes were on him. The hotel room was as he
left it, though Reeve and Ava sat on the couch while Rufus typed away on his
laptop. Rufus glanced up from the screen, his expression growing in curiosity.
�What happened?� He asked, while
Ava rose from the couch to get a look at Reno�s
lip.
�Ow! Don�t touch it.� Reno growled while Ava
prodded at the wound with a stiffened finger, �Ran into some trouble out in
town. Two guys apparently involved in the current attacks. Nearly ended up with
a smashed face, before Vincent Valentine showed up. Tseng�s on it, though.�
�Whoever hit you wasn�t a very
good shot.� Ava marveled, striding over to the freezer to gather a little bit
of ice.
�Yeah, but it hurts.� He whined,
perhaps exaggerating the situation a tad.
�Nothing you can�t handle.
Vincent�s really becoming quite the hero, isn�t he? I�m sure Tseng will make
sense of this.� Rufus mentioned, casually returning to his work comforted by
the fact that Tseng would call him if anything important came about.
Thanks for the concern, boss� Reno
smirked. Ava was wadding a towel around several ice cubes over by the counter,
which surprised him. Perhaps she was still trying to make amends for shoving
him into the tub. Despite her intentions, she was tending to his wounds. When
the cool fabric of the towel was dabbed against his lip, he sucked a breath
past his lips, glaring at Ava. Wounds to the mouth always did hurt worse than
many other types of injury. At least he hadn�t bit his tongue when he weathered
the blow. She used the corner of the towel to clean the drying blood from his
skin before handing the ice and cloth to him so he could hold the swelling at
bay.
�Vincent� quite the mystery, isn�t
he?� She mused, recalling a bit of the information she�d heard about Vincent.
�He said something about our
problem being deeper than we might assume. Ancient grudges are the least of the
issue... he mentioned.� Reno
cocked a brow, amused by the baffled look on Ava�s face.
�What an odd statement.� Rufus
said, glancing up over his laptop again. �I wonder what exactly he meant.�
�I didn�t have the chance to
question him, the damn kid I smashed needed to get to the clinic. He was on the
verge of telling me who he works for, but he was too weak. Tseng said he was
going to contact Vincent, though�� Reno
informed, shaking his head.
�The clinic�s going to contact you
when the kid recovers?� Rufus asked.
�Yeah.� Reno nodded.
�What a strange thing�� Ava
trailed off, tapping her index finger against her chin thoughtfully.
�Strange, indeed.� Reeve added his
two cents, before rising to his feet and strolling to the fridge.
Reno had one thing in mind; getting a drink.
He lazily moved into the bathroom, closing the door to clean his face and hands
in private. The task didn�t take long, and he took a quick second to jostle his
hair. Surprisingly, his clothes remained relatively clean. He was glad he
hadn�t been wearing anything light in coloration. As cleaned up as he�d ever
be, he hovered over the sink with a sigh. This whole situation was taking a
toll on him, but he wasn�t about to show that to anyone. A deep inhalation
gathered his nerves, a twist to crack his back before he strayed back out the
door into the kitchen.
One conclusion that came to mind
when he entered the kitchen was that again, he did not want to drink alone.
Just as it did the other night, the thought of drinking alone seemed utterly
depressing. Usually, he had Rude or Elena to sucker into a night of booze.
Tonight, there was pretty much one option. Ava was busy with a tossing a couple
dishes into the dishwasher when Reno
strolled by and snaked an arm over her shoulders, hustling her into the living
room. Cobalt eyes widened, peering at him in curiosity.
�So, I�m cashing in that rain
check.� He stated simply, as if she had no option aside from accompanying him
to the bar.
She cleared her throat, tucking
unruly strands of chestnut behind her ear with her fingers. �That so?� She
asked.
�I�m afraid you don�t have a choice.�
That grin slipped over his lips and she felt like smacking it off his face.
�I�ve heard about the bar here� legendary.�
She said.
�Yep.� He waved at Reeve, �Don�t
wait up.�
Reno swept the hesitant brunette toward the
door, feeling the tension brewing. Tonight would be fun, at least for him. It
was like having Elena around all over again, perhaps even a little better,
since Ava had that witty attitude.
Not twenty minutes later, Reno had Ava sitting on a
bar stool with a nice glass of vodka chilling on ice. The bar was a little on
the empty side, considering it was a Sunday evening. The quiet atmosphere
weighed heavily on an already deafening silence.
�Do you just dislike me, or what?�
Reno asked,
breaking the silence.
Ava said nothing, only stared blankly
while taking a sip of the clear liquid.
�I mean, did Elena tell you all
about big bad Reno?
The womanizing alcoholic with a lazy yet cocky attitude? The trouble causer,
cold blooded killer?� Overboard, Reno� but effective.
Another blank stare met turquoise
eyes. For a moment, he wondered if she planned to sew her lips shut for the
entire evening. Finally, she averted her gaze to the floor. �It�s not that.
Elena had colourful things to say about you, but she said just as many good
things. You shouldn�t be so hard on her.�
�So �� He began, but found an
interruption when her eyes focused back on him.
�I don�t dislike you. Will you
just drop it?� A sigh emanated from her lips.
�Yeah, yeah.� He closed his eyes
briefly, recalling a similar argument he�d once had with Elena. A bad habit,
perhaps, but he found himself unable to resist tormenting new comers. Not that
he didn�t also try his best to be sarcastic with most everyone. Psychobabble
might have blamed inattentive parents or self-consciousness for the character
flaw, but the cold truth was that he simply had a sick sense of humor. A little
to keep people at arm�s length, as well.
Ava returned to sipping her drink
while the speakers above head sounded out old songs she hadn�t heard in some
time. Reno was
simply wishing that Rude would walk through the door any second and save him
from the boredom hanging on his shoulders. Something had to liven this night up
a little. Or someone. Ava had turned her head away, peering at the photographs
on the wall. Perfect opportunity. Reno plucked a cube from
his drink, holding the leaking ice between his thumb and forefinger. With a
quick movement, he simultaneously pulled the collar of Ava�s shirt away and
sent the ice cube streaming down her back. A shrill squeak broke that awkward
silence she�d created and she twitched like a wounded animal, none to graceful,
desperately trying to pull her shirt away to free the ice. A matter of seconds
and the cube shattered as it fell to the floor, leaving Ava silent as she
whirled in the stool to face Reno.
�You needed to cool off.� He
remarked, a sly smirk painted on his lips.
�And you thought that might help?�
She was fighting to keep her tone civil.
�You certainly are cold now�� He
said, sending a pointed look to her neck and collar bone where goose bumps had
risen.
�Enough.� She cut him off shortly,
a striking harshness in her voice. The vodka was downed without hesitation and
she snapped her gil on the counter, �You said to have a drink with you, I have.
Paid in full. Goodnight.� And she started for the door.
Reno simply watched with a grin. Success. Ava was far too easy. He
brought the small glass from the counter, swishing the ice around before taking
a healthy sip.
Just outside in the darkness of
the setting sun, a figure dressed in black clothing huddled against the roof top
across the street from the bar. A long rifle rested against the roof, the scope
pointed perfectly toward the quaint bar. The mysterious person squinted, gazing
through the scope at a telltale pony tail of fiery red. Perfect aim. The sniper�s forefinger twitched, pulling the trigger
of the silent M40A3.
"Damn,� the voice cursed, along with a shake of the head.

-----------------------------
The cliffhangers just get worse and worse :) Well, that was
the exciting chapter 5. I focused a lot on mystery and finding out just who is
after the Turks. As you might suspect, it's beginning to get dangerous! Well,
thanks for reading and I do hope you've enjoyed this chapter. Please review if
you have a moment.
- 4
- 5
- 6
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Diversification