Strange Bedfellows

“Strange Bedfellows”

~One~

Cloud Strife had heard the rumours, of course, but had decided to let sleeping dogs lie.  What could Shinra do with a handful of Turks, even if Rufus was still alive?  Actually quite a bit, but most of it was beneficial so far.  It wasn’t hard or guilt-inducing for Cloud to turn a blind eye.

Six months after Sephiroth’s defeat, things were looking up, and Tifa had managed to even re-open The 7^th Heaven.  Cloud began a small delivery service in order to re-establish some semblance of communication between the surviving cities.  He didn’t really do it for money, nor did he entirely do it for the greater good, but he enjoyed the solitude of the road.  Tifa would say that he enjoyed it a bit too much, as would his other friends and former comrades in battle. 

Life was still confusing for Cloud and his memories were often quite jumbled and foggy.  It was so hard to be separate from Zack and his own individual.  He sometimes found himself questioning his every turn of phrase, every movement and gesture, and wondered how much of him was still just a pale imitation of Zack.  It was exhausting.  Cloud liked to keep himself busy so that he didn’t have to think about the past so much anymore.

A month after The 7^th Heaven’s grand re-opening, Cloud’s desire to stay out of Shinra’s business came to an end.  Well, the desire was still there but the ability was quite suddenly gone.

In the middle of paper work that included trying to figure out the shortest itinerary for his latest jobs, the phone on his desk rang.  Relishing a distraction from the technical, boring aspects of his current profession, he picked up the phone. 

“Strife Delivery Service,” Cloud answered, not bothering to mask his slight boredom.

“You won’t believe who’s standing in front of me,” Tifa replied, calling from the bar’s separate phone line.

“Who?” Cloud asked, mildly curious.  He idly wondered if it was Vincent, who was even more reclusive than Cloud.

Tifa paused; he heard someone laughing and a vaguely familiar voice in the background, “C’mon, give me the phone!  You’re gonna ruin the surprise!”

Cloud stiffened slightly, “Tifa…Who was that?”  Oh god, please don’t tell me…

“Hang on,” Tifa told him and he frowned as he heard the scratchy sound of her hand muffling the mouthpiece.  Cloud just barely heard Tifa using her take-no-shit voice on the person in question.

“If you try to take the receiver from me one more time, you’re going to become re-acquainted with my boot in that smug, pretty face of yours, understand?” Living in the slums of Midgar for too long had given a sweet, spirited girl a hard edge.

Meanwhile, Cloud really hoped his suspicions weren’t right.

“Tifa?”

“I’m still here,” she replied airily, “I won’t keep you in suspense.  It’s Reno.”

Cloud groaned softly, “wonderful.  What does he want?”

“He says…that he has work for you,” Tifa replied.

“Great,” Cloud muttered.  That means Shinra has work for me. I wonder what they really want…

“Do you want me to kick him out?”

Cloud considered it, but in the end his curiosity won out.  “No, send him up.”

“Are you sure?”

He snorted softly, “I think I can handle one Turk.”

“Alright,” Tifa was kind enough not to remind him that it wasn’t too terribly long ago that Reno had been a handful for them, even when he was fighting alone.  But things were different now and anyway, Cloud didn’t think he was coming around to make trouble.

After Cloud hung up the phone, he crossed the small room that doubled as office and bedroom to retrieve his sword from a lonely corner.  It never hurt to be paranoid when it came to dealing with Shinra.

Much to his surprise, Reno actually knocked.

Cloud stared at his sheathed sword and wondered just how paranoid he was.

“C’mon Strife, you gonna let me in or what?” He heard Reno whine slightly from the other side of the door as he knocked again.

His eyes narrowed. He couldn’t decide if he was very damned paranoid or just in the mood to get a little payback for the past.  Cloud removed the giant sword from its scabbard and went to open the door.  He pulled it open and at the same time brought the sword up in a sharp outward sweep. Reno cursed, jumped back, and barely got his EMR up in time to block Cloud’s trajectory toward his throat.  The dull clank of metal against metal seemed to echo down the hall.

The Turk’s eyes widened, “Fucking shit, I hope this isn’t how you greet all potential customers.”

Cloud scowled, “Let’s cut to the chase, Reno.  What does Shinra want from me?”

Reno grinned rakishly, “Put away the sword and I’ll tell you.”

Cloud shook his head, “I don’t think so.  Tell me anyway.”

The red-head rolled his eyes dramatically.  He surprised Cloud by dropping his arm and tapping his EMR against his upper thigh rather than making a show of blocking the sword at his throat.  “It’s just like Tifa said: I have work for you.  God, get a grip, yo.”

Cloud narrowed his eyes and searched Reno’s face, trying to find the lie.  Of course it was pretty much futile.  He was a Turk, after all and lying was just another part of their job description.  He sighed softly and moved the sword away from Reno’s neck.

“Fine.  Come in.  Close the door behind you,” Cloud told him as he returned his sword to its scabbard but moved it to rest next to his desk, just to keep it near him.

“Damn,” Reno whistled, “is this your bedroom and office?”

“Yes,” Cloud replied coolly.

Reno chuckled and shook his head, “Geez,  y’know even Rufus keeps the two separate….”

Cloud found himself smirking slightly.  “So the rumours I’ve been hearing are true?  Rufus is still alive?”

“Heh, think you’re real clever, eh?  You would’ve found out soon enough.  So…You want the job or not?  You know that the company will pay well.”

Cloud turned away, pretended to be very interested in the paperwork scattered across his desk.  “Money isn’t the issue and you know it.  What’s the delivery and why come to me?”

“You’ve got a good rep going and you don’t turn down jobs that might be dangerous.  As for the delivery, it’s just supplies going to Junon.  You know, they still haven’t recovered from that Weapon’s attack.”

“Hm,” Cloud nodded, “I know.”

An edge of impatience entered Reno’s tone, “So…What’s your answer?”

Cloud sighed softly, “I need to think this over.”

“Of course,” Reno replied gamely, “That’s perfectly understandable.”  He joined Cloud at the desk and took up a pen and paper, “Let me just leave you the number for—“

Cloud grabbed his hand, stilled it.  Reno raised his eyebrows and his lip curved into a suggestive smirk.  “Well, well…I had no idea you swung that way, Strife.  Not that I’m complaining…”

“Shut up,” Cloud snapped, despite the faint blush that heated his cheeks.  Maybe Reno would think that he was just really pissed off, and while that wasn’t quite off the mark, he also couldn’t completely deny the affect of his flattery.  “If you’re going to give me a number, give me yours.  As far as I’m concerned, I’m working for you, not Shinra.”

“Ri—ight,” Reno chuckled a bit too sardonically for Cloud’s taste, but he managed to restrain any violent urges.

Cloud scanned the scrap of paper handed to him, taking in a series of numbers scrawled in messy, barely legible handwriting.  “Hm,” Cloud grunted, “I’ll get back to you when I make my decision.”

“Great,” Reno grinned brightly and it was almost disarming, “So we’ll be seeing a lot more of each other, eh?”

“God, I hope not,” Cloud muttered.

TBC….