My Own Chapter 8
Title: My Own
Author: Kate/Kaeda
Rating: PG-13
Pairing(s): one-sided Elena/Tseng, Elena/Reno
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, the characters of the Turks, Elena, or anything else. I am a poor college student with nothing to my name. There's no point in suing!
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
----Chapter 8----
No matter how surreal life gets, it always manages to regain its usual pattern of normalcy, and my life was no exception to this monumental rule. A week after the Reno incident, everything returned to normal, life moved on. Sparring with Tseng and Reno was a bit stressful but every time I was down there in that fake dojo I managed to gain a little more internal strength from that sword, and an inkling of intuition told me that one day I wouldn't need the sword to spar against Tseng, that I would be able to draw enough inner strength to fight him hand to hand, eye to eye, breath to breath.
But when would that day come?
And would I be strong enough to handle it?
-----------------------------------------------
I came back from the office late on a Friday night, alone. All seemed well in the world; it had been a bright, cheerful day, the Mako haze around the city making the view from my window appear almost angelic, and Tseng had talked to me. It seemed as if my life was finally getting back on track.
Oh, how wrong that was.
I turned the key in the lock, let myself into my apartment, and was about to collapse on the sofa with a huff after a long day's work when I noticed something shiny lying on it. I'd almost sat on a sword.
Wait. Not a sword.
THE MASAMUNE.
I swear to god, I stared at it for an eternity before I finally realised the implications of it being there. Either Sephiroth decided to give me a handy new present again, or he was in. my. apartment. I opted for the latter when I heard a noise in the kitchen, and peeked around the corner to see him downing one of the Mystery Beers that had made Reno and I so plastered the week before.
Sephiroth. In my kitchen. Drinking beer.
See, I told you my life wasn't back to normal. Not by a long shot.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded, annoyed at all these males who just thought they could barge in and drink my alcohol. What the heck was up with that?
"I left my drinks here. Somebody's been drinking them." He gave me a glare with those cat-slit pupils and I shivered. "Did you drink my beer?" He shoved one in my face and I blinked at it curiously.
"Why did you leave your beer in my kitchen?" I placed my hands on my hips and stared at him with a surly gleam in my eye. "Reno drank two. I can't help it if he's an idiot and a drunkard." Sephiroth didn't laugh, just raised one delicate silver eyebrow.
"Two? I'm surprised he didn't go unconscious." At least the Mystery Beers were now explained - somewhat - but what were they? As if hearing my unspoken question, Sephiroth thrust the bottle out so that it rested just in front of my eyes, and I read the label. 'Sephy's Home Brew'. Damn it, I knew I'd missed something important in my label glance last week.
"'Sephy'?" I asked archly.
"Shut up," he muttered darkly. Changing the subject, he added, "I felt you use my sword, finally. It's about time you got around to doing that." But I wasn't about to be foiled. The man was in my kitchen, storing his stupid alcohol in my fridge, and he expected to just waltz in and do whatever he pleased?
Never mind that he was Sephiroth. No one did that to Elena and got away with it. I grabbed one of the other beers on the table and pulled up a chair, about to pop it open and take a drink. Sephiroth deftly snatched it back and glared at me expertly.
"You can't drink that," he told me, cursing. "It'll get you drunk in no time flat. It's brewed for an Ancient's constitution." I glared at him and peered in my fridge before taking out some grape juice. Oh well, I never said I was that interesting. I poured it in a glass and sat back down, peering at him, trying to look as pure, innocent, and young as possible. Maybe I could get some answers.
I should have remembered that my look didn't fool him.
"What are you doing in my kitchen?" I asked again. He looked irritated as he regarded me with an even fiercer glare than before.
"I told you. Getting my beer. You should be grateful I haven't killed you yet, you know," he added conversationally. I mulled between two options, jumping immediately into a defensive stance and getting laughed at, or quipping back. I chose the latter.
"You wouldn't kill me. You need my fridge."
"This is all very redundant. I can come and go from anywhere I choose to. I chose your apartment because I didn't think you were stupid enough to drink something that was obviously mine." The last part was delivered in a growl.
"Hey! Reno, it was Reno!"
"Elena," he gave me a wounded look, as if I thought he was stupid. "There were three beers missing. You said Reno drank two." I groaned despite myself and held my head in my hands. When he didn't say anything for awhile, I peered out at him, wondering if he was going to kill me now.
Obviously not. Now he had his feet propped on the table, as if he owned the world. The idea of scuff-marks on my kitchen table was not a pleasant thought, but I'd finally realised that I couldn't exactly boss him around, and I didn't exactly want to know what would happen if I really irritated him. Sephiroth was dangerous. I was foolish for provoking him. Even though it was kind of...fun.
"You're spunky," he commented, as if the thought had just hit him. "You're tough, but filled with youthful spunk. I appreciate that. You're worthy of my gift." With that, he took a final swig of one of his beers, pushed the chair back deftly, and stood up with such grace that I felt overwhelmed. He was like Tseng, multiplied by thousands. However, since I wasn't in love with him, it had no effect on me except for a bit of awe. He bowed to me graciously, almost mockingly, then disappeared around the corner to the living room. Alarmed, I raced after him, and when I reached the living room, both Sephiroth and the masamune were gone. The curtains billowed around my open window like butterfly wings, and I huffed in annoyance and closed it.
When I went back into the kitchen, I cleaned up the empty bottles he'd left and put my glass in the sink. I peered into the refrigerator again just before I went to bed and noticed something I hadn't before. There was a large sign, right next to the rest of his 'Sephy's Home Brew', that said,
"Drink this, and regret it."
As if I wanted to.
----------------------------------------
Reno and I had a very strange relationship. I would catch him staring at me across our office sometimes, although it seemed strange to me that a man such as himself would have such an attachment to a silly girl like me, or to any human being at all. Reno seemed like cold, polished steel - he had a distinct personality and was attractive and everybody wanted to be around him, but on the inside he wouldn't let anybody truly close to him, or so I'd thought. But for some reason, he seemed to hand me his heart in a box, and I didn't have the heart to tell him I didn't deserve it.
He would often appear at my apartment after drinking heavily, and his breath stank of beer. Those nights he slept on the couch and got nothing from me, although after he was asleep I often watched him from my bedroom door with a small smile on my lips, and occasionally I would smooth his hair as if he were a small child, running my fingers over his scars. Other nights he would suddenly be at my door, on me the moment I opened it with a hungry mouth and hungry fingers and a hungry life. It was as if he tried to use me to drain the loneliness from him, the loneliness all Turks suffer; we are slaves of our jobs,
heartless assassins, the elite, but in the process of being elite, we lose a certain facet of our humanity as well.
I don't think I loved him.
I don't think I even truly knew what love was.
Tseng was the ephemeral phantom who haunted my dreams. Reno believed that I was over him; that he'd been nothing more than a crush, an infatuation that had disappeared once I had a true relationship. But I knew the truth. I would never fully escape from Tseng; the man was unforgettable, and would haunt me until my dying day.
Sometimes I would trace Reno's scars beneath my fingertips while he slept, watching as the sun rose above Midgar to start another day. I could never truly understand my feelings for him; did I like him, was I simply fond of him? Or was I letting him blot out the stark loneliness in my own life as well as in his?
One night, he came to my apartment with a cheesy grin on his face, red hair mussed like he'd been in a brawl, which was hardly unusual. He was carrying a bottle of wine by the neck and when I answered the door, he held it up so I could see what it was.
"I figured we could actually have a nice dinner tonight." It was so out of character for the drunk bastard that I nearly laughed in his face, but I was sleeping with him and it was a sweet gesture. I think some little part of my heart softened at that moment, and I let him inside.
We sipped our wine and told raunchy jokes over dinner, his eyes glowing with the familiar Mako tint in the florescent lights of my kitchen. It was very warm and comfortable and as he fell asleep beside me that night, I began to wonder for the first time in my life, could I settle for something less than true love at first sight?
----------------------------------------
A week after that pivotal night, Tseng gathered us all in his office to discuss another assignment. His eyes were hallowed and pale, as if he hadn't been sleeping well, and he shoved a stack of documents towards Reno, Rude, and I without hesitation.
"I'm sending you to Gongaga, all three of you. I will also be going, but I will be traveling with Scarlett." Reno groaned; the man had a healthy dislike of the blonde woman and made it known quite often. "This time we are going to be investigating the reactor there, and Scarlett has other business as well. You three are to guard us while we are accomplishing this. There have been reports that Avalanche is in the area. I do not want to see them on this mission."
I stared at the files. Gongaga was halfway across the world, on the other continent and I wasn't sure how I felt about going so far from home, but I -was- a Turk, and Turks do what they must, after all.
"Why're we going to the middle of a stinkin rainforest?" Reno whined.
"Tseng just explained," Rude rolled his eyes.
"Don't be incompetent," Tseng snapped. His face was stern and his eyes flashed, and I felt a little bit of my stomach churn from his gaze as it passed over me.
"S-sir!" I was rigid in my seat, at full attention. Had I been any more of a soldier at that moment, I would have snapped into a crisp salute, but Turks disregarded such frivolities. "Is it really necessary to send all of us away for the mission? As we are Shinra's elite, it can't be wise for us all to be gone from Midgar at the same time."
"This is on Shinra's orders, Elena," Tseng said soothingly. "The President is rather adept at taking care of threats, wouldn't you agree?" I blushed, remembering Rufus from that day several months before in Junon. The man had been almost as unsettling as Tseng himself.
And that was when I first met Sephiroth.
I shivered. Damn him.
"Sounds like a fun trip," Reno drawled sarcastically. "When do we leave?" Tseng gave him a pointed look and gestured to the documents in front of us. Apparently, we left within the next two days. Reno got a lazy grin on his face. "I get to room with the Rookie."
My face turned red. Tseng's eyebrows shot up. None of our coworkers knew about our relationship, and I preferred that it stayed that way.
"You will room with Rude, as usual," Tseng told him coldly, and that was that. I felt a little shiver of pleasure tickle its way down my spine at the almost jealous note in his voice; perhaps there was hope after all? Reno had his eyes narrowed.
"Whatever you say, Boss," he said mockingly.
I sensed there would be trouble from this. I could feel it.
But then again, we were Turks.
Trouble was attracted to us like a magnet.
...to be continued...
Author: Kate/Kaeda
Rating: PG-13
Pairing(s): one-sided Elena/Tseng, Elena/Reno
Disclaimer: I do not own Final Fantasy VII, the characters of the Turks, Elena, or anything else. I am a poor college student with nothing to my name. There's no point in suing!
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
----Chapter 8----
No matter how surreal life gets, it always manages to regain its usual pattern of normalcy, and my life was no exception to this monumental rule. A week after the Reno incident, everything returned to normal, life moved on. Sparring with Tseng and Reno was a bit stressful but every time I was down there in that fake dojo I managed to gain a little more internal strength from that sword, and an inkling of intuition told me that one day I wouldn't need the sword to spar against Tseng, that I would be able to draw enough inner strength to fight him hand to hand, eye to eye, breath to breath.
But when would that day come?
And would I be strong enough to handle it?
-----------------------------------------------
I came back from the office late on a Friday night, alone. All seemed well in the world; it had been a bright, cheerful day, the Mako haze around the city making the view from my window appear almost angelic, and Tseng had talked to me. It seemed as if my life was finally getting back on track.
Oh, how wrong that was.
I turned the key in the lock, let myself into my apartment, and was about to collapse on the sofa with a huff after a long day's work when I noticed something shiny lying on it. I'd almost sat on a sword.
Wait. Not a sword.
THE MASAMUNE.
I swear to god, I stared at it for an eternity before I finally realised the implications of it being there. Either Sephiroth decided to give me a handy new present again, or he was in. my. apartment. I opted for the latter when I heard a noise in the kitchen, and peeked around the corner to see him downing one of the Mystery Beers that had made Reno and I so plastered the week before.
Sephiroth. In my kitchen. Drinking beer.
See, I told you my life wasn't back to normal. Not by a long shot.
"What the hell are you doing here?" I demanded, annoyed at all these males who just thought they could barge in and drink my alcohol. What the heck was up with that?
"I left my drinks here. Somebody's been drinking them." He gave me a glare with those cat-slit pupils and I shivered. "Did you drink my beer?" He shoved one in my face and I blinked at it curiously.
"Why did you leave your beer in my kitchen?" I placed my hands on my hips and stared at him with a surly gleam in my eye. "Reno drank two. I can't help it if he's an idiot and a drunkard." Sephiroth didn't laugh, just raised one delicate silver eyebrow.
"Two? I'm surprised he didn't go unconscious." At least the Mystery Beers were now explained - somewhat - but what were they? As if hearing my unspoken question, Sephiroth thrust the bottle out so that it rested just in front of my eyes, and I read the label. 'Sephy's Home Brew'. Damn it, I knew I'd missed something important in my label glance last week.
"'Sephy'?" I asked archly.
"Shut up," he muttered darkly. Changing the subject, he added, "I felt you use my sword, finally. It's about time you got around to doing that." But I wasn't about to be foiled. The man was in my kitchen, storing his stupid alcohol in my fridge, and he expected to just waltz in and do whatever he pleased?
Never mind that he was Sephiroth. No one did that to Elena and got away with it. I grabbed one of the other beers on the table and pulled up a chair, about to pop it open and take a drink. Sephiroth deftly snatched it back and glared at me expertly.
"You can't drink that," he told me, cursing. "It'll get you drunk in no time flat. It's brewed for an Ancient's constitution." I glared at him and peered in my fridge before taking out some grape juice. Oh well, I never said I was that interesting. I poured it in a glass and sat back down, peering at him, trying to look as pure, innocent, and young as possible. Maybe I could get some answers.
I should have remembered that my look didn't fool him.
"What are you doing in my kitchen?" I asked again. He looked irritated as he regarded me with an even fiercer glare than before.
"I told you. Getting my beer. You should be grateful I haven't killed you yet, you know," he added conversationally. I mulled between two options, jumping immediately into a defensive stance and getting laughed at, or quipping back. I chose the latter.
"You wouldn't kill me. You need my fridge."
"This is all very redundant. I can come and go from anywhere I choose to. I chose your apartment because I didn't think you were stupid enough to drink something that was obviously mine." The last part was delivered in a growl.
"Hey! Reno, it was Reno!"
"Elena," he gave me a wounded look, as if I thought he was stupid. "There were three beers missing. You said Reno drank two." I groaned despite myself and held my head in my hands. When he didn't say anything for awhile, I peered out at him, wondering if he was going to kill me now.
Obviously not. Now he had his feet propped on the table, as if he owned the world. The idea of scuff-marks on my kitchen table was not a pleasant thought, but I'd finally realised that I couldn't exactly boss him around, and I didn't exactly want to know what would happen if I really irritated him. Sephiroth was dangerous. I was foolish for provoking him. Even though it was kind of...fun.
"You're spunky," he commented, as if the thought had just hit him. "You're tough, but filled with youthful spunk. I appreciate that. You're worthy of my gift." With that, he took a final swig of one of his beers, pushed the chair back deftly, and stood up with such grace that I felt overwhelmed. He was like Tseng, multiplied by thousands. However, since I wasn't in love with him, it had no effect on me except for a bit of awe. He bowed to me graciously, almost mockingly, then disappeared around the corner to the living room. Alarmed, I raced after him, and when I reached the living room, both Sephiroth and the masamune were gone. The curtains billowed around my open window like butterfly wings, and I huffed in annoyance and closed it.
When I went back into the kitchen, I cleaned up the empty bottles he'd left and put my glass in the sink. I peered into the refrigerator again just before I went to bed and noticed something I hadn't before. There was a large sign, right next to the rest of his 'Sephy's Home Brew', that said,
"Drink this, and regret it."
As if I wanted to.
----------------------------------------
Reno and I had a very strange relationship. I would catch him staring at me across our office sometimes, although it seemed strange to me that a man such as himself would have such an attachment to a silly girl like me, or to any human being at all. Reno seemed like cold, polished steel - he had a distinct personality and was attractive and everybody wanted to be around him, but on the inside he wouldn't let anybody truly close to him, or so I'd thought. But for some reason, he seemed to hand me his heart in a box, and I didn't have the heart to tell him I didn't deserve it.
He would often appear at my apartment after drinking heavily, and his breath stank of beer. Those nights he slept on the couch and got nothing from me, although after he was asleep I often watched him from my bedroom door with a small smile on my lips, and occasionally I would smooth his hair as if he were a small child, running my fingers over his scars. Other nights he would suddenly be at my door, on me the moment I opened it with a hungry mouth and hungry fingers and a hungry life. It was as if he tried to use me to drain the loneliness from him, the loneliness all Turks suffer; we are slaves of our jobs,
heartless assassins, the elite, but in the process of being elite, we lose a certain facet of our humanity as well.
I don't think I loved him.
I don't think I even truly knew what love was.
Tseng was the ephemeral phantom who haunted my dreams. Reno believed that I was over him; that he'd been nothing more than a crush, an infatuation that had disappeared once I had a true relationship. But I knew the truth. I would never fully escape from Tseng; the man was unforgettable, and would haunt me until my dying day.
Sometimes I would trace Reno's scars beneath my fingertips while he slept, watching as the sun rose above Midgar to start another day. I could never truly understand my feelings for him; did I like him, was I simply fond of him? Or was I letting him blot out the stark loneliness in my own life as well as in his?
One night, he came to my apartment with a cheesy grin on his face, red hair mussed like he'd been in a brawl, which was hardly unusual. He was carrying a bottle of wine by the neck and when I answered the door, he held it up so I could see what it was.
"I figured we could actually have a nice dinner tonight." It was so out of character for the drunk bastard that I nearly laughed in his face, but I was sleeping with him and it was a sweet gesture. I think some little part of my heart softened at that moment, and I let him inside.
We sipped our wine and told raunchy jokes over dinner, his eyes glowing with the familiar Mako tint in the florescent lights of my kitchen. It was very warm and comfortable and as he fell asleep beside me that night, I began to wonder for the first time in my life, could I settle for something less than true love at first sight?
----------------------------------------
A week after that pivotal night, Tseng gathered us all in his office to discuss another assignment. His eyes were hallowed and pale, as if he hadn't been sleeping well, and he shoved a stack of documents towards Reno, Rude, and I without hesitation.
"I'm sending you to Gongaga, all three of you. I will also be going, but I will be traveling with Scarlett." Reno groaned; the man had a healthy dislike of the blonde woman and made it known quite often. "This time we are going to be investigating the reactor there, and Scarlett has other business as well. You three are to guard us while we are accomplishing this. There have been reports that Avalanche is in the area. I do not want to see them on this mission."
I stared at the files. Gongaga was halfway across the world, on the other continent and I wasn't sure how I felt about going so far from home, but I -was- a Turk, and Turks do what they must, after all.
"Why're we going to the middle of a stinkin rainforest?" Reno whined.
"Tseng just explained," Rude rolled his eyes.
"Don't be incompetent," Tseng snapped. His face was stern and his eyes flashed, and I felt a little bit of my stomach churn from his gaze as it passed over me.
"S-sir!" I was rigid in my seat, at full attention. Had I been any more of a soldier at that moment, I would have snapped into a crisp salute, but Turks disregarded such frivolities. "Is it really necessary to send all of us away for the mission? As we are Shinra's elite, it can't be wise for us all to be gone from Midgar at the same time."
"This is on Shinra's orders, Elena," Tseng said soothingly. "The President is rather adept at taking care of threats, wouldn't you agree?" I blushed, remembering Rufus from that day several months before in Junon. The man had been almost as unsettling as Tseng himself.
And that was when I first met Sephiroth.
I shivered. Damn him.
"Sounds like a fun trip," Reno drawled sarcastically. "When do we leave?" Tseng gave him a pointed look and gestured to the documents in front of us. Apparently, we left within the next two days. Reno got a lazy grin on his face. "I get to room with the Rookie."
My face turned red. Tseng's eyebrows shot up. None of our coworkers knew about our relationship, and I preferred that it stayed that way.
"You will room with Rude, as usual," Tseng told him coldly, and that was that. I felt a little shiver of pleasure tickle its way down my spine at the almost jealous note in his voice; perhaps there was hope after all? Reno had his eyes narrowed.
"Whatever you say, Boss," he said mockingly.
I sensed there would be trouble from this. I could feel it.
But then again, we were Turks.
Trouble was attracted to us like a magnet.
...to be continued...