Shinra Inc.

Shinra Inc.

I don't own SquarEnix, Final Fantasy or the characters in my fics, but I wish I did so don't sue me.


Reno awoke to Rude shaking him. "I'm awake. I'm awake." Reno rubbed his head and looked at the time on his watch.

"Oh shit!"

"Yeah, we're late. Hurry up, Reno!" Rude said, fixing his suit.

Reno rushed out of his room and into the bathroom. Within a matter of seconds, he was in the kitchen, grabbing a bagel; the first thing he saw. Rude watched in amazement as Reno brushed his hair and ate while putting his boots on with one hand. Reno was finally ready, still holding a piece of bagel in his mouth. They rushed out the door, practically falling over themselves to reach the elevator. Reno pushed the button a million miles a minute until the elevator door opened and they walked in. Rude pushed the button where Rufus' office was located.

Rufus did all the little tedious jobs his father didn't want to do like sending the Turks on their missions and paperwork; things that had to do with actually running the company. All Shinra ever did was go to press conferences and make announcements.


So there he was in front of Reno, looking at him. Yet again. 'Why does he only bother looking at me like that? I don’t see him giving Rude those looks'.

"Reno, did you hear what I said?" All the Turks had their eyes on him as he looked down.

"Reno?" Rufus said with a concerned look.

"Sorry, Sir. I was admiring the view from outer space for a second."

Rufus looked at him with calm, mako eyes. The Turks looked stupefied. Their vice president Shinra was expressing feelings of sympathy for once. "Reno, I want to see you after the meeting."

Reno had a way of ticking people off real bad; to the point of making them want to physically harm themselves. Defiance was his best maneuver to get them to that point. With an occasional sarcastic spurt to stick with it, Reno liked every minute of it; the sounds people made as they groaned, huffed, and puffed. That was the only reason he would do this; it was the only way he would ever get Rufus to make those sounds outside of his bedroom. The V.P. was the most wonderful guilty pleasure of all but he never admitted it to himself.

'Why am I so worried about this I usually don't care about anything…?' Reno stayed after the meeting. As the door closed, Rufus motioned for Reno to sit in the chair.

"Reno, I noticed that you weren't paying any attention whatsoever," Rufus said, straightening out his papers on his desk.

"Yeah, sir, I never do. You should know that by now," Reno said with a devious smirk on his face.

"Reno. I'm promoting you." Reno fell over the back of the chair with a thud. "Are you okay, Reno?" Rufus said with a flinch as he watched him fall over.

"You’re promoting me, why…? Because I bothered you and did listen to you at all during the meeting?" Reno asked, getting up and looking at him with a dumbfounded look on his face. Rufus just smiled. Reno walked over to the V.P. and tilted his head. "Are you crazy?"

Rufus chuckled softly. "Now you don't have to come to the meetings and be bored out of your mind and I won’t have to tell you to pay attention all the time."

Reno stared at his superior in amazement. "You mean it? No more ‘average life’ business for me?" He was almost ready to hug him in gratitude.

"That's right... and what do you mean ‘average life’?" Rufus said brushing some of the hair from his pale colored face.

'Man, I thought for sure he was going to fire me this time'. "Nothing, nothing at all."

Reno jumped in the air and gave a loud whoop. "Woot! Uber cool! My first promotion! Thanks, sir!" So caught up in the moment, he couldn’t control himself and jumped on the vice president, wrapping his arms about his neck.

"Uh, Reno... Please control yourself and get off before I change my mind."

Reno just fell on the ground and composed himself as quickly as he could. "Sorry, sir, I just got carried away,"

"It's alright. Try to control yourself next time." Reno nodded and grabbed his promotion papers from Rufus and went out the door. 'This is great I can't wait to tell Rude'.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reno grabbed the keys out of his pocket and was about to open the door as Rude opened it for him after hearing the rustling from behind the door. "Hey." Reno just jumped and almost fell in surprise that Rude was home before he was. "Hey, Rude, guess what," Reno said in a sing song voice.

"Monkeys can fly? Wait… You found a brain?"

Reno just shrugged his sarcasm off and walked inside, grabbing a beer for him and his roommate. "I got a promotion to Black Ops Strategist." Rude just laughed hard and sat on the couch

"What's so funny Mr. Clean?"

"The V.P. played you good," Rude said, opening the beer, licking the foam from the top before it could reach his hand. "What are you talking about…? I know you’re just jealous of my promotion and stunning good looks". Reno said snubbing his nose in the air.

"Yup, Reno, that's exactly it. You’re so hot I'm melting"

Reno just looked at him and stuck out his tongue. "But really, what did you mean by he played me?" He knew his friend wouldn't tell him a lie even if the truth hurt so bad it would kill him. Rude was one of those up front guys who didn't like to sugar coat anything; even if he had a gun to his head he would probably still tell the truth and bluntly. Even if they only known each other for seven months, it felt as if Reno known him for years. It was like being brothers, almost having everything in common but polar opposites of attitude. Reno would lie; to almost anyone about stupid things if he didn't know them well enough. Yet he would stand up to anyone who would criticize him or his friends; most of all his ideas but since he didn't have many of those there was no problem there.

"Black Ops Strategists have to talk in meetings and by the way you weren't listing in the meeting today, he probably thought that if you were talking you would pay attention more."

"He lied! That bastard; lied straight to my face. He told me I wouldn't have to go to the meetings anymore". Reno's eyes just glowed with annoyance. Rude could tell that he was going to throw another tantrum like last week, when Elena brushed the redheaded Turk off for a SOLDIER of lower rank.

"It's not all that bad, Reno. You could have been fired for that." That was truth enough to calm the fuming man down a little so he could breathe. All Rude could hear was cursing under his breath as he walked in his bedroom and slammed the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Reno…

"Huh?"

Reno…

"Who are you?" Reno said as he got up off the ground. Everything was white; no color to behold. The only color left he could see was in his hair; a vibrant red still. A silhouette appeared in front of him. The voice seemed so familiar but he just couldn’t put a name to the voice.

You came.

"Where am I?"

In your dreams.

"Then who are you?"

The question is… Who are you?

"Who I am?" Reno just looked at himself; a mysterious puddle of mercury had collected at his feet that clearly hadn’t been there earlier. Reno laughed.

"I'm Reno, what do you mean: Who am I?"

Oh, you’re so much more than Reno; so much more than just Reno. The silhouetted man revealed himself before him fully; Rufus Shinra. Eyes glowing intensely and looking into Reno's wide eyes, staring deep in his soul almost seeing every painful thing that ever happened to him.

Suddenly, he fell; like an ethereal angel falling from Heaven, his blonde locks splaying around his face. Reno fell on his knees and gasped for air, Rufus was on the floor out cold.

"Sir. Sir."

Reno held Rufus’ head as he yelled for help; his cries for help were lost in the echoes of the white world. Reno was panicking. He looked down and suddenly Rufus’ eyes were open, looking at Reno almost as if he was searching for something; an answer, maybe, or a question.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"RENO!"

Reno sat straight up in bed and rubbed his head until he noticed that Rude was there standing next to his bed. He looked at Rude and then back at his sheets for a second.

"Reno, are you alright? You were screaming in your sleep."

Reno looked back at Rude. 'What's going on? What was that about? Why was he in my dream?'

"I'm fine, just nightmares, I guess," he tried to explain weakly.

"Aren't you a little old for nightmares?" Rude said with a hint of amusement in his voice.

“I don’t think you’re ever too old for nightmares.”