Redheaded Stranger

Chapter 4
Clothes, Tattoos and Scientists

After his shower at Irvine's, Reno had taken his leave. Irvine was not very happy with his decision to still go out with Selphie, but tough. He wasn't about to break his date with her just because they had fucked. Besides, it was Selphie's right to go if she wanted, and he was going to show her a really good time with any luck.

Since his stay at the Garden was indefinite, he was provided with a room. Clothes, on the other hand, was a different matter. All he had was what was on his back when he arrived to this world. He had plenty of Gil on him, but didn't think it would do any damn good here. The next morning, he went to Selphie about his dilemma, and was surprised to find that his Gil was the same as theirs. It was strange, but he wasn't about to complain about it.

Selphie offered to drive him to Balamb to go shopping, and he readily agreed. He wanted to have more time with her to put on the charm. He knew she would be tougher to get in the sack than Irvine had been. Easy or hard, he loved the game. He wasn't looking for a meaningful relationship, and he always made sure that was known by his sex partners. Most of them were looking for the same thing, making it that much simpler.

"How do I look?" he asked her, coming out of the dressing room. He was wearing a simple pair of black slacks with a red, long sleeve, button down shirt. The top buttons were undone, and she could see his muscled chest.

"Really good," she answered with a slight blush.

"Thanks, babe. Should I wear this tonight?" She gave him a thumbs up and he chuckled. "How about trying something on for our date. My treat."

"You don't have to do that, Reno."

"I want to." He walked over to a rack with dresses, and picked a short red one with spaghetti straps. "Try this on."

"If you insist," she said, taking the dress.

"I do. Come out when you're done. I want to see you in it."

"Okay." Reno sat patiently to wait, and when she emerged from the dressing room he whistled with approval.

"Oh yeah. You're wearing that, babe."

"You really like it? I don't usually wear red that often."

"Why? You got something against red?" he asked, purposely twirling a strand of his hair around his fingers.

"Oh, no......I didn't mean....I like your hair." She was blushing, and it was getting deeper by the second. He stood and walked over to her with a smug smile. He took her hand, and walked her over to the full length mirror on the wall.

"Look at yourself. You're beautiful in red." He stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders, and he could feel her trembling slightly. He met her eyes in the mirror and smiled. "Are you afraid of me?" he asked softly.

"No," she answered boldly, staring back.

"Good. Lets get you some shoes to go with it." It wasn't much longer before they were done, and he even managed to buy her a red lace bra and panties. It took him about ten minutes to get her to agree to that. He convinced her that she might as well match all over, succeeding in making her blush again. He'd never been with a woman who blushed so much. He actually found it to be a turn on to know he was affecting her so strongly.

When the cashier was ringing up the purchases, Selphie noticed that Reno hadn't gotten any underwear and she pointed it out, thinking he must have forgotten.

"Don't wear 'em, babe." The old man at the register made a disgusted grunt, and Reno looked at him with interest. "Whats the matter, gramps? Never heard of going commando?" Selphie was blushing again, but was laughing at the exchange. The old man said nothing, and Reno shrugged his shoulders with indifference.

On the ride back to Garden, Selphie asked him about his world and what he did there. He told her about his job as a Turk, but didn't go into too much detail. Some of the jobs they did were on a need to know basis, and even though Selphie wasn't from his world, he didn't think she needed to know everything. He talked about Rude, his other fellow Turk's and Rufus. He even talked about Cloud and his gang of friends. All in all, he enjoyed talking to Selphie. He was going to enjoy fucking her even more.

XXXXX

By the time they arrived back at the Garden, it was noon and they were both starving. They went to the cafeteria, and ran into Zell who was just coming to get something himself, so they joined him. Like Selphie, Zell asked him about himself, so he went through the same thing as he did with her, only telling him what he thought he should know.

"Being a Turk, you must fight a lot. Kinda sounds the same as being a SeeD," Zell said, stuffing his mouth full of hot dog.

"Yeah. Hey, you can really put those thing away," Reno commented with a smile.

"You have no idea," Selphie said, getting a quick glare from Zell. "Well, it's true." He thought for a moment, then gave in with a nod of agreement.

Reno eyed Zell again, looking at the tattoos on his face, that were much more elaborate than the two red markings he had himself under each eye. Zell caught him staring and got a little nervous.

"What?"

"Nothing. Just admiring your tattoos."

"Oh. I noticed you had some yourself," Zell said, indicating the his ink.

"They don't compare to yours though. That's some incredible work there," Reno said, reaching his hand out, touching the markings on Zell's face. Zell flinched slightly, not expecting the physical contact. "Sorry, I didn't mean to offend you, Zell."

"No, that's cool," he said, shrugging it off as nothing. Selphie giggled a little, and Zell looked at her confused.

"What, Selph?"

"Did you think Reno was flirting or something?"

"No! Damn, Selphie." Reno smiled inwardly at their conversation, because that was indeed what he had been doing. He was just being careful about it, because she was there. He wondered if Zell had anymore markings that were out of sight. He'd find out eventually.

"I'll see you later, Reno. Come to pick me up around 6:00 tonight. We'll go from there," Selphie said, getting up from the table.

"Sure thing, babe," he answered, and watched her cute ass walk away. He put his attention back on Zell once she was gone. He was back to stuffing his face with hot dog, and Reno smiled. "I don't care for those myself," Reno said. "Not the kind that's in a bun anyway."

"What do you mean?" Zell asked after swallowing a mouthful, then taking a drink of soda.

"Dick." Reno said, making Zell sputter and cough, spraying soda all over the table. "Whoa, you alright there?" he asked, getting up and pounding Zell on the back. His coughs subsided, and Reno sat back in his seat.

"You're...gay?"

"Bi. I'll eat a pussy, or suck a dick. It's all good to me," he said, louder than Zell would have liked. Two female cadets were walking by the table at that moment, and they both giggled in shock. Reno gave them a smile and they hurried away, blushing like Selphie.

"I'm cool with that," Zell managed, speaking much quieter than Reno had. "Irvine is bi, too. It's no big deal to me. The way you just threw it out there caught me off guard is all."

"Didn't mean to shock you," Reno said, secretly enjoying Zell's obvious discomfort.

"That's alright."

"So, Selphie tells me you're a martial artist. I have a similar fighting style. Maybe we could spar sometime before I leave."

"Sure. I don't get the chance to spar much. Not too many others here at the Garden take martial arts up."

"It's a date then," Reno said, getting up and patting Zell on the back before walking away. He couldn't help but smile at the look on Zell's face when he said 'date'.

XXXXX

Laguna sat impatiently in his office, waiting for Dr. Odine to arrive. He wanted to be able to answer Squall's request as soon as possible. It was an amazing prospect to know that there were other worlds out there besides their own. He was sure Odine would jump at the chance to study this finding. Odine rushed into his office, without warning, bouncing around excitedly.

"Odine, how many times do I have to tell you to knock," Laguna said with annoyance.

"Yes, yes. I am sorry, but zis iz very exciting, no?"

"Will you sit down," he said, pointing at the chair in front of his desk. "When can we send some scientists to Balamb? I need to inform my son," he said as soon as Odine settled down in the chair.

"Zat iz hard to say. I would like to examine zis stranger first, if possible."

"Why?"

"He iz from another vorld, zat iz why." Laguna could tell that Odine wasn't going to make this easy. Nothing was easy when it came to the head scientist of Esthar.

"I'll inform Squall, but this stranger may not agree to this. You have to be prepared for that. Either way, I'm ordering you to send who you can to inspect the Fire Cavern."

"Ordering me?" Odine said, looking put off.

"That's right. I do control your funding, if you remember," Laguna said pointedly. Odine looked none too happy, but silently nodded in understanding. "I'll inform Squall and give you the verdict. Until then, go back to the lab and decide who you're going to send." Odine left without a word.

Laguna shook his head at the retreating man, trying to understand why he kept the bastard around. He had no liking for the man since finding Ellone in his lab so many years ago. Pushing the thought from his mind, he went to work on calling Squall with the news.