Pairing: Reno/Yuffie

Summary: Sometimes we need to get close to losing the ones we love to get courage and let them see what we truly feel. Oneshot.

Disclaimer: I don't own Reno and Yuffie, and I'm not making any profit of this story.

It's A Nice Day, Kid

He'd been waiting for this day, saying to himself that it's nothing special and that he's too lucky to get into a big trouble. He'd been on tens of missions and had already gained a nickname Lucky among the Turks. So yeah, it's no big deal, it would end up just fine, like always...

But as they walked side by side in contented silence he couldn't get rid of a feeling that he came to say good bye.

"Isn't it a nice day, Reno?" She squinted at the setting sun, smiling at it, as its amber-red rays caressed her ivory skin.

She looked happy and beautiful. And it brought a ghost of a smile to his face. She didn't know he had to go, and he wasn't sure he wanted her to know. Of course he would tell her, but not now, not when she's so happy. A little bit later.

"Yeah, it's a nice day, kid," he simply said and fell silent again.

She hated being called a kid. She ceased being a kid a long ago, and he knew it. But he wanted to say it, wanted to see a flash of anger in her big chocolate brown eyes.

Too bad, it sounded miserable. So miserable that she didn't even hit him, or growled at him, or told him to stop calling her that in an aggravated voice, like she would normally do. She just stared at him, her face thoughtful and alert, her eyebrows furrowing in suspicion.

"Reno?" She asked him quietly, and he felt pierced with her stare. He just smiled at her, unable to hide the sadness that suddenly squeezed his heart. All of a sudden it was too much for him to fight it. It's time.

"I'm going on a mission..." Words felt strange on his tongue. "There are chances I'm not coming back."

She let out a gasp and threw herself at him, her arms going around his midsection and her body pressing itself to his in a way he'd been dreaming of for what seemed to be his whole life. He hesitantly embraced her and drew her to himself, as she burried her face in his chest.

"I'm sorry, Yuffie," he whispered. He never meant to leave her like that. She needed his friendship, just like he needed hers. He never meant to strain her confidence in him being always there for her. But there were things in his life he could not control or change.

"I don't want to lose you, redhead," she whimpered, not even trying to stop her tears or at least hide them.

"I know, ninja princess, same here." He held her tight as she cried quietly.

He didn't say anything calming and didn't make an attempt to cheer her up because he knew that there was not much hope that he would come safely out of this. Some members of the group would die this time regardless of the efforts, and they were all warned of the possibilities.

So is this the last time they are having a talk? Is this all they have left? Is this all he would be recalling when on the mission, which could be his last one?...

He touched her silky black hair and was surprised to hear his voice crack, when he spoke, "Yuffie... can I... may I ask you a favor?"

She lifted her face up and looked at him. Tears were shining on her insanely long lashes. "Yes?"

"Kiss me like you mean it," he half-breathed, half-moaned helplessly, cupping her cheek and brushing off the dampness with his thumb. If she didn't love him back, he was asking her to at least give him this small gesture of care.

There was a surprise on her face as he leaned down to her slightly and looked at her pleadingly. She didn't move and seemingly stopped breathing, and he was almost ready for a rejection. But the next second she lifted herself on her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his feverishly, her hands encircling his neck, her pained sob drowning in a passionate kiss they were suddenly sharing.

Oh, man... He could taste salty tears on her soft-warm lips, and he wasn't sure who's they were anymore. Tongues danced and brushed, sliding, caressing, memorizing, driving them to madness...

He didn't want to let go of her graceful body, it fitted perfectly in his embrace. But he had to. As if hearing his thoughts she gently broke the kiss, and he pressed his lips to her forehead, looking straight ahead at the sun through the misty haze in his eyes.

"I have a favor of my own to ask of you," he heard her say. There was nothing childish in her voice anymore, as if her ever-present mask had just fell off. And when she met his eyes her gaze stunned him with utter seriousness. "Come back home to me, Reno."

The smile that followed was a mixture of sadness and happiness, of pain and love.

It made his heart jump. And it gave him a hell of a reason to fight and beat any demon that would appear on his way back home... to her.

The End

I think it's too much fluff and OOCness, so sorry about that. It just came out the way it did...