Chronic Subterfuge

Reno cautiously enters the room, peering a head inside before completely sliding his whole body in, and gently closing the door. He sighs when he sees his little sister is still sound asleep; her scarlet hair messed about on the pillow.

He scratches his head while looking at the bouquet he was holding on his right. A dozen or maybe more purple tulips were wrapped together by violet Japanese paper. The difference of violet and purple? He really didn’t know, and didn’t really care. It wasn’t his idea in the first place to bring flowers to his little sister.

He wasn’t the kind to visit people when they were in bed, he didn’t like it, especially when that person is his sister. He couldn’t turn down an order from The President though; it was his job to follow orders, no matter how ridiculous they may be.

Reno steps in front of the side table, and literally dumps the tulips in the vase, not arranging it whatsoever. He pulls a chair from the corner, accidentally making a harsh dragging sound. He freezes as Nero shifts in the bed, moving only his eyes to look at her.

The girl wriggles, found her position uncomfortable, before rolling back to face opposite of Reno. Reno sighs, it was in The President’s top orders not to wake Nero intentionally, and with what he did earlier, it would be considered “intentional” by The President.

He raises his arms and stretches, and then pulled his arms back on his head. All he had to do now was wait, and to Reno, waiting wasn’t a good job. For all he knew he could be waiting until Christmas for Nero to wake up.

He smirks when he remembers the incidents on the helicopter, wait till everybody finds out his sister and The President was an item! He wondered if it was a good idea telling everybody. He himself didn’t even know if the two had something going on, but, oh well, it couldn’t hurt right?

It made him wonder how they got acquainted so fast, with Nero only been assigned as The President’s personal bodyguard a year ago. One year is considered long for having a hard job like the Turks have, but one year for love didn’t sound right to him.

One year, but a lot has changed since the Healing Rain. Shin-ra was up and about again, this time, allied with the WRO. The WRO is an organization which Reeve Tuesti, -former leader of the Urban Development Department of Shin-ra- had formed. Just thinking of it made Reno’s head twist, it was pretty complicated, but to make a long thought short, Shin-ra wasn’t the same as it was before. Everything from the past Shin-ra were taken out, and replaced with new ones, including the staff. The only thing that wasn’t changed, were the Turks.

Shin-ra’s goal today as Reno sits on the chair and props his feet on the bed, was to protect the Planet from anyone who dares to harm it. The same goals as WRO.

Since Shin-ra’s change, AVALANCHE’s goals had also been the same as of the WRO’s. In other words, the three groups now acted as one.

“Hmm…? What happened?”

Reno lifted his feet from the bed, and stood up in front of his confused sister, who was still rubbing her sleepy eyes. The girl sits up, blinking, and then throws a fit with her eyes wide.

“Oh my dear God! Did I just sleep on duty?!”

Sometimes his sister could be a bit clumsier than him, but he loved her for that. Makes him realize he’s not the only clumsy person in Shin-ra.

“Nah, you got shot remember?”

Reno tapped a finger on Nero’s head, resulting in a glare from her. He disregards the glare, and instead snatches the vase of flowers from the table and shoves it in his sister’s face.

“So, how do ya like it? Your brother bought you flowers! Nice eh?”

Reno always loved to see his sister’s smile; she took the vase from him and said thanks while arranging the flowers properly. Just as the flowers were in a nice position, her hands stop and her face depicts a confused one. Nero slowly turns to his brother with a grin,

“Okay, whose are these from?”

Reno puts up a hurt act, pouting his lips to his sister.

“Aww… You don’t believe me?”

His sister gives him a ‘don’t lie to me look’, and he succumbs, shrugging his shoulders.

“It’s from The President.”

Nero looked at the tulips. Was it coincidence that The President chose her favorite color? She shook her head, it must be, she never told him anything about her personal life. She felt her face; it seemed to be heavier for a reason. Sure enough, there was a bandage on her right cheek, where the graze once was.

“How long was I out?”

She asks her brother who shrugs, meaning that it wasn’t too long or it wasn’t a big deal. Unknown to her though, it was also Reno’s “job” not to tell her how long she was out, which was approximately a day. She had lost a fair amount of blood, the bullet was a bit deep, and hard to take out, but she made it.

He watches as her sister examines the wound on her lower shoulder, and realized she was wearing what they called “patient’s robe”. He pulled on the drawer of the table, and there was a neat pile of Turk uniform in there, he took it out, and chucked it on her sister’s face.

“Get dressed, Tseng’s expecting us.”

He winked, walking to the door and shutting it with a thud that made Nero’s ears flare. She sighs, but complies, nonetheless.