Beyond the Reflection

Disclaimer: I do not own FFVII.

Summary: When Reno takes on the investigation of a case in Wutai, he gets more than he bargained for. Mainly: one obnoxious, spoiled, sarcastic, and infuriating brat. (Among other things of course.)

The Three Within

By:ClassicLit

Thank you so much for the reviews; they were absolutely wonderful. I hope you like this chapter. Sorry for the late update!

"Well, go ahead then Turkey. What the heck happened?" Yuffie asked impatiently as she completely forgot about her planned actions of screaming at Reno for the ice and devoted her full attention to the reason that got the Turk so distressed.

"I think I cleared up most of the story….at my expanse." He said slowly, wincing at the sound of his own voice. It was raspy and his throat in need of water, but he simply cleared it and went on at Yuffie's puzzled expression.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Flashback

Demetri stood still, looking at the Turk's narrowed eyes and doubtful expression.

"And who pray tell were you taking orders from?" Reno drawled lazily, as he leaned back on the trunk of the tree. Demetri smirked, knowing that his next words would cause that casual expression of the hotheaded Turk to change.

"Inside the actual corporation." Reno didn't react in the way that Demetri expected however. In fact the red-head didn't bat an eyelash.

"Tell me something I don't know." Reno said while shrugging his shoulders. Still wearing the same indifferent expression as at the beginning of the conversation.

"Fine." The ex-SOLDIER answered back just as casually. "I was taking orders from Rufus." Reno perked up at that. What the hell was this guy talking about? Demetri grinned at the calculating look. "That's right Rufus. While his father was the president, Rufus controlled more than a third of the SOLDIER forces. So he used them to get his 'beloved' old man to start a full out war with FIST. Of course, everyone knew ShinRa would win, but that would drop the rating of President ShinRa even further. This would cause unrest everywhere else…The thought was, that when Rufus would come to power he would look like a savior. Needless to say, AVALANCHE intervened and you know the rest." Demetri took a pause, examining his shoes, as if they were, for the sake of the event, the most interesting things in the world.

Reno lifted a delicate eyebrow at the prolonged speech. Ah, so that is why President ShinRa sent the Turks on that spy mission a while back. That did make sense, but there still was something bothering him.

"Rufus never gave orders himself. You must have received them from someone third person." Demetri smirked.

"I guess Turks aren't as dumb as I came to believe. I did receive the order form the third person. And yes, it is exactly what you are thinking. This person…or rather three are still within the new organization of ShinRa." Reno narrowed his eyes and pushed off the tree trunk.

"Who?" he asked genuinely curious.

"My, that wouldn't help my cause now would it?" Demetri asked with a note of amusement lacing his voice.

"And what exactly is your cause?" Reno asked getting a bit agitated with the prat standing across from him.

"What was FIST's cause." The other answered smugly.

"This isn't the same ShinRa anymore. It changed. You don't need to kill the company for the "sake of the people"." Reno emphasized the last part with a clear sarcastic undertone to it.

"FIST changed as well. It isn't working for the "sake of the people" anymore." Demetri repeated the hand quote gesture. "It's working for itself." Reno sighed. This was complete bullshit. This guy should have been shot a long time ago. This shouldn't even have been a problem Oh and Reeve could go screw himself with the policy that workers, unlike Rufus and such, were actually genuine. They were just as screwed up as the employer. Reno remembered another detail that he would like to find more about before killing this nuisance.

"So what's the deal with the mirror form the Pagoda?" The Turk asked flippantly as he leaned his frame back on the trunk of the tree behind him.

"For me to know and for you to find out." That was what Demetri said before Reno lounged at the ex-SOLDIER, pitching his weight forward and landing a rather hard punch across the brunette's cheek. The other staggered back, but didn't loose his balance, immediately jumping back a few feet and freezing in a pseudo defensive stance. Reno was about to launch another attack, but was stopped by the ringing that came from the pocket of the opponent. Demetri swore under his breath while agitatedly removing the offensive PHS from his pocket and flipping it open. 'Text message.' Reno guessed with a bit of amusement. Out of everyone the red-head Turk was probably the only person to stop a fight to let his opponent answer the phone. The Turk rolled his eyes at himself.

Demetri closed the PHS putting it back in his pocket and picking himself up from the fighting stance.

"We will continue this." Reno smirked and shrugged his shoulders. His mag-rod already hanging lazily from his hand.

"Unless you'll get scared." Reno mocked "And then we'll see."

"Be sure to get ready Turk." Demetri said cockily and started running away from the sighing Turk.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Flashback

Reno made a face at the end of his story. This was supposed to be a simple homicide case. He was supposed to be in Wutai and back in Midgar within a week. Now he has to find the three who are trying to ruin ShinRa and deal with the rising FIST. 'Fan-fucking-tastic.' Reno though to himself as he slid down even further in the chair.

"So that means that the killing in the Pagoda was…?" Yuffie went off with a shake of her head. Reno shrugged his shoulders.

"No idea pest. I know just about as much as you do." He said lazily, rubbing his eyes and giving up on his side mission of trying to keep them open altogether.

"Well then, let's think about this." Yuffie said with a sigh. Reno opened his eyes and widened them artificially.

"You can think?" he asked, sounding genuinely surprised. Yuffie didn't waist time in picking up a pillow that was lying next to her and throwing it at the Turk. To her disappointment it wasn't so much of a punishment as she would have hoped. He simply grabbed the pillow and put it under his head with a content sigh and an idle 'thanks, brat'. She rolled her eyes.

"Turkey, figure it out." She demanded pompously and pointed an aggravated finger at the aforementioned Turk. The other opened one of his eyes and made an idle grab for that exact finger, but Yuffie pulled it back in time and Reno's hand landed on his knee rather hard. The red-head hissed and glared at the smirking Yuffie. 'Brat.' He thought lazily to himself.

"I'm heading back to Midgar." Reno said rather suddenly as the thought occurred to him. If anything Reeve would know more about this, plus whatever the 'three' in ShinRa are planning should connect directly to what happened in the Pagoda." He looked outside the window to see that it was getting dark outside. The sun's weak rays were fading slowly at the horizon and the sky was bleeding a beautiful shade of crimson.

"Better get some rest." Yuffie broke the silence jovially. "Long trip for us tomorrow." Reno's train of though froze. 'Did she just say us?'

"Here you go again with the 'us' business." He said with a shake of his head. "YOU, princess, are NOT going anywhere." He said this in a final tone that definitely didn't allow any room for discussion.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Next Morning

Reno was driving through the town with the red lights again. I was once again a very tedious and horrendous experience. But you know what made it worse? Yuffie was with him this time. Yes, yes he really didn't want to take her. Blackmail is a horrible thing. Reeve unfortunately listens to her! Life is unfair that way.

Yuffie was sick as usual. Her motion sickness not giving her a break even when they had to stop every 20 feet. Even though, in a way the fact that the car screeched to a halt every so often, made her sick to begin with. Reno didn't make it easier either. In his fowl mood, he more than likely stopped so sharply on purpose. She was absolutely sure of it.

As they stopped at another red light she turned to him with a glare. He almost burst out laughing at the failed attempt to look intimidating. It was in a way absolutely adorable. Like a little Doberman trying to be scary before he grows up. The fact that she looked a bit…alright scratch that…VERY sick wasn't helping the picture.

"If you make another stop such as this one, I am going to stick my shuriken up your ass." She grounded out quietly. Reno smirked at her.

"Blunt today, are we not?" He asked with an exaggerated innocence to his tone.

"I'm always blunt." She said with a sigh as she leaned her head against the seat. She really was feeling horrible.

"It really is a mystery why I haven't shot you yet." Reno sighed himself as he looked miserably at the red light that didn't seem to have heard his silent threat to turn green. Yuffie didn't dignify that statement with a comment.

This was going to be the least enjoyable stay at Midgar that she could think of, but she really wanted to get to the bottom of this.

HOPE you enjoyed. Please R&R..