Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Bullet ❯ Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Characters belong to Square/Enix and were created by Nomura

~I~

Rufus Shinra's office in Junon had a gorgeous view of the ocean.  He rarely enjoyed it though, which was a damned shame. Today he had a meeting with Tseng about his impending mission in Wutai. A hard copy file was spread across his desk, including a regretfully grainy picture of the most stunning young man Rufus had ever seen.

Rufus skimmed his personnel file and arched his eyebrows, both intrigued and admittedly impressed. "I remember hearing about him a couple years ago," Rufus remarked idly, "Is it true that he demanded training to become a Turk in exchange for the information he had?"

Tseng nodded, "Yes. I was in fact the one who spoke with him after his capture by Rude.  He claimed that he had joined one of the gangs in order to get close to the mob and glean sensitive information on its inner workings. He wanted to get caught so he could pass it onto the company."

"Well, I must say that he sounds like a fascinating character, but do you think he can handle this sort of mission? There will almost certainly be an assassination attempt, considering the tenuous peace between the company and Wutai."

"He's a very competent combatant, sir," Tseng replied, "If you'll refer to his scoring on the final--"

Rufus made an annoyed sound and waved a slightly dismissive hand. "I can see that, but you know I'd much rather see for myself. Is there any way that I can get the surveillance tapes?"

"Of course."

Rufus lingered over the file, his eyes frequently settling on the picture of him. He was certainly attractive. Rufus could easily imagine him standing by his side as his slick, Turk bodyguard. Of course that was no reason to agree to the assignment but it was tempting. 

"Why is he being considered for this mission, Tseng?" Rufus asked, his tone light and expression bland.

There was a long pause and Tseng looked uncomfortable. Rufus frowned deeply and shook his head slowly. Could his father be so predictable?

"Let me guess," Rufus interrupted the silence cooly, "My father isn't taking the death threats seriously."

"It's not that. He's well aware that you can take care of yourself. In his mind he's sending two capable Turks to negotiate."

Rufus signed softly. He couldn't argue with that logic and even felt a glimmer of pride over the compliment, as vague as it was.  "Alright, fine. I will trust you even without seeing the tapes, though I would like to see them at some point. Is there anything in particular I should know about Reno that isn't in his dossier?"

Tseng grimaced a little. He seemed reluctant to speak but seemed to know better. Rufus would just continue to press the issue. "He...is very friendly."

Rufus was amused. "Well, that's fine. I don't mind conversation."

"He just has very few boundaries, sir. Should he say something out of line, please don't take it seriously."

Rufus raised an eyebrow at Tseng. He had a feeling that Tseng had just implied that Reno might flirt with him, but maybe it was just wishful thinking. "You know I'm no shrinking violet, Tseng. Should Reno offend me, I'll tell him as much. End of discussion. However if you think it will be a problem...."

In the ensuing silence, Rufus could practically hear the thoughts moving through Tseng's mind. It was as though some deeper plot was at work, and he was trying to decide if it was a good idea to put it into motion. Rufus wanted to ask him, say something about it, but stayed mum. He trusted Tseng, even loved him a little, and decided to let it go.

Eventually Tseng replied with words measured with the utmost care. "I think that you could stand to learn something from one another."

Tseng left him to that little revelation. Rufus wondered what he could have possibly meant by that and if he were referring to professional or personal. Once more his eyes strayed to the picture, and his fingertips lingered over the line of Reno's jaw and the curve of his smirking mouth.

He truly hoped Reno was as good at his job as he was pretty.

*****

Reno skimmed the mission dossier, picking out the most important directives. He really didn't like reading, not because he was stupid but because it had the distinct flaw of not being interactive. Reno preferred talking to people and reading their expressions. The paperwork could claim all it wanted that it was expected to be fairly straight forward body guard work, but he was going into hostile territory with the goddamn president's son. That did not seem straight forward; it seemed like it could present some complications.

He hated to admit it, but he was fucking nervous. Not so much that he was going to be escorting Rufus Shinra to Wutai, but because he was doing it without Rude. It felt weird and he wondered why. He was tempted to call Tseng, but figured that would be a futile effort. The man was crazy good at the fine art of misdirection. He rarely outright told Reno that he wasn't privvy to certain information, he just controlled conversations expertly. If Reno tried to call him about why he was doing this alone, they'd probably end up discussing etiquette when interacting with Rufus or something so ridiculously boring that Reno would do everything in his power to end the conversation quickly.

If he were to be perfectly honest with himself, he was a little nervous to meet Rufus, too. He'd seen him around the office a few times on the rare occasion that he'd come to HQ. Serious as a heart attack was how he thought of him. He never spoke to anyone aside from Tseng and old man Shinra, and created a buzz of anxiety. Rumour held firm that father and son did not see eye to eye about how to run the company. As the story went, Shinra gave Rufus the vice-presidency when he was sixteen, but the constant clashing of ideals eventually led him to assign Rufus permanent residency at Junon.

Everyone seemed to be afraid of him. Reno was intrigued.

"I can hear you thinkin' over there," Rude's voice broke through his meandering thoughts.

Reno glanced over at his partner, who had paused in his own work. Neither of them liked pencil pushing but Rude was slightly more patient with the process.

"Why do you think they're assigning me this mission solo?" Reno asked.

Rude snorted, "You don't know?"

"Know what?"

"About Rufus."

Reno made an annoyed sound. He hated when Rude toyed with him. "C'mon man. Don't fuck with me."

Rude took off his glasses, which meant serious business, which meant whatever he was about to say was very fucking important. Reno couldn't help but get excited over the prospect of learning a new Shinra secret.

"Listen, no one ain't supposed to know this, but most Turks figure it out anyway. You ever look at the Turks roster?"

"Sure, hasn't everyone?" Reno shrugged.

"You remember that one Turk is identified numerically?"

"Yeah, always figured it was that Valentine guy or somethin'"

"Nah, he's on the list of deceased or missing," Rude shook his head. "That unknown Turk is Rufus fucking Shinra."

Reno's eyes widened. "You're joking! So what is it? Some honorary title?"

"The way I heard it, Rufus trained as a Turk. Not with the collective group or anything, but he went through same as you an' me," Rude explained

"Seriously? I mean...really? The old man let him?" Reno was stunned. Turk training was notoriously dangerous. He just couldn't believe the old man would let his own son go through that.

Rude shrugged, "Heard the president didn't have much choice in the matter. Anyway, I figured it was a pretty smart idea."

Reno thought about it and after a moment, realized it was a pretty clever move. Rufus would no doubt be a target by criminal organizations for assassination or kidnapping. What better way to make it harder for detractors than to make that target among some of the most dangerous men and women in the world?

"Damn," Reno mused, "That's so..."

"Crazy?" Rude suggested.

"No way!" Reno exclaimed, "That's fucking brilliant!"

Rude shook his head, "Whatever you say, man. Just be careful, okay."

Reno rolled his eyes and got up. "Ya worry too much, yo. I'm gonna step out for a smoke."

He left the office he shared with Rude with a bounce in his step. His nerves had been replaced by excitement. Reno couldn't wait to get a moment alone with Rufus so they could talk like a couple of normal guys.

Unbidden, Reno recalled the first time he'd seen Rufus in person. They'd actually passed each other in the hallway, Reno coming from Tseng's office, Rufus on his way there. He'd looked pissed and Reno had given him wide berth, but not without favoring him with a good once over. Reno hadn't been able to help himself. The man was drop-dead gorgeous. He'd be lying if he didn't admit to the shiver of lust he'd experienced at that moment.

Reno sighed softly as he pushed the memory away. It was one thing he hated about being a Turk. His social life was all but shot. He hadn't properly dated anyone in months. There had been that secretary from HR awhile back, but she hadn't been into him so much as she was into dating a Turk. She'd been a good lay at least, until she started getting really kinky. The night she'd tried to get him to fuck her with his EMR was the last straw.

Reno stepped onto the elevator, swiped his keycard, and keyed in the level for the employee commissary. There was a balcony there he liked to smoke on because the view was gorgeous. As the elevator went down, Reno tried to push away the sense of loneliness that sometimes disturbed his thoughts.