The Mysterious Moogle

Seven: The Longest Night

Yuffie whistled as she stared at her surroundings. "Nice place ya got here, Turkey." She smirked as she realized it looked exactly like she thought it would. Small. Simple. A bit messy. Somehow, that type of apartment seemed to fit Reno perfectly. "I like it," she said as she set Moggy on the kitchen table. She sighed, crossing her arms over her chest.

She really did not want to have to say it...but with Reno not contributing to the conversation at all, it seemed as though she might be forced to blurt it out.

Ah, screw it.

"Thank you, Reno. For letting me stay here with you for the night, I mean."

Reno nodded, shrugging off his jacket and throwing it in a heap in the corner of the room where a bunch of other discarded clothes were scattered. "Sure," he said. "Still can't believe you were too stupid t' realize how much of a threat this is." He held up the letter and waved it around a few times. He made a clucking noise with his tongue, shaking his head and placing the piece of paper on the table next to the sleepy moogle.

Yuffie rolled her eyes, but decided not to say anything. She would've shot back some indignant comment in response, but she really didn't feel like arguing. Especially when she...well, when she owed Reno for doing something like this for her. "So...uh...you gonna give me a tour or what?" Yuffie asked expectantly, still glancing around the apartment.

The redhead turned around to give her a funny look. "Not much to see, princess." He pointed to the area to his right. "Here's the kitchen." He took a few steps to his left. "Here's where I lounge and watch TV." He patted the big, dark green sofa lovingly. Yuffie stifled a laugh when she saw the look of appreciation on the Turk's face. "My room's the first door on the right, and the bathroom's the second door on the right." He gestured to the two doors a little ways away from where the TV was propped up against the wall. "That's about it," he finished, plopping down on the couch with a satisfied sigh.

"Oh," Yuffie murmured. "Okay, then." She tapped her foot a few times, wondering what to do or say. In all her years, the ninja could say that she'd never been placed in a situation like this before. "Um...Reno? You're not gonna tell Reeve or anyone else at the WRO about the letter...are you?"

The Turk leaned his head back on the sofa, looking at her upside down. "What else would you have me do?" he asked with a trace of confusion in his voice. "Technically, I'd be following protocol. For once," he added in an undertone.

Yuffie bit her lip, walking around the sofa to take a seat next to him. "Look...I really don't want anyone else to know about my little problem here. Kay? So can you just...keep this whole thing between us?" She emphatically gestured between them with her hands. "Please?"

"Hmm..." Reno stared at her for a few moments, obviously contemplating the pros and cons that would ultimately result from agreeing to her plea. "Well, only if you tell me all your suspicions about who we could be dealing with here."

Yuffie's stomach did a weird little flip-flop when she heard him say we. She tried to push the giddy feeling away, suddenly fearing that she was very stupid for even reacting in that way.

"And you have to fill me in on all the missions you've been on in the last year, too," he added casually. "Then, maybe I can actually help you out a bit. Since you would never dream of letting the WRO know about any of this." His voice was filled with sarcasm.

All the missions in the last year!? Gawd...this is gonna be a long night. I can barely remember what I had for lunch yesterday...The ninja sighed, but agreed to his demands with a small nod. "Okay. Fine. Whatever you want."

Reno nodded, sitting up slightly. "Good. Didn't think you'd cooperate so easily, kid." He smirked. "I'm not gonna lie."

Yuffie huffed, jutting her chin up defiantly. "Well, maybe you don't know me as well as you think you do."

"Maybe not..." Reno glanced over at the kitchen table, where Moggy had curled herself into a ball on top of Yuffie's letter. "Okay." He clapped his hands before rubbing them together a few times. "Feel free to start explaining any ol' time now."

She nodded before taking a deep breath. "Well, my first mission for this year was in Corel." She bit her lip as she tried to remember every single detail. "And there was nothing to it, really. All I had to do was check out why there were some nasty smells comin' from the newly-established mines." She noticeably grimaced.

"What happened, yo?" Reno wondered aloud, waiting for the petite ninja to continue.

Yuffie shook her head a few times, looking anywhere but into the Turk's aquamarine gaze. "Trust me. You don't wanna know."

Reno shrugged nonchalantly. "Try me."

"...It was just an old guy with really bad digestive problems." Yuffie let out a huge sigh. "And halitosis. And social problems," she said with a shudder. "He really creeped me out."

Reno cocked a brow. "I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that he's probably not our man here." He nudged the ninja with his elbow. "You thinkin' the same thing?"

Yuffie nodded. "Yup. I didn't do anything to piss him off. I have no idea why, but he actually liked me a lot for some weird reason..."

"Weird is right," Reno muttered under his breath.

"Hey! Don't be such a jerk!" Yuffie yelled indignantly. "I heard that!"

The redhead flinched under her scrutiny. "Well, I'm the jerk savin' your sensitive ass here! Get over it."

"Ooooh, you really make me so mad sometimes," she huffed, flipping her hair out of her eyes and crossing her arms over her chest.

"I can tell, yo."

The ninja had to take a few calming inhalations...followed by therapeutic exhalations.

Alright...I'm okay. He's a jerk, but I can get over it!

She chose to continue explaining as though nothing had just happened. "...the next mission was in Junon."

"And?" he pressed, leaning closer to her a fraction of an inch.

She shook her head. "Again...nothing too climactic or crazy happened. Reeve sent me there to negotiate some WRO-related crap." She smiled when she remembered something. "The diplomat for Junon was a cute old lady. The day we met to discuss things, I knew she looked familiar, but I couldn't place my finger on it. But then I remembered who she was after she asked me how Cloud was doing!!"

Reno's face scrunched up slightly. "What does Cloud have to do with any of this, princess?" he asked in a tone that sounded remarkably like anger. Well...Yuffie thought so, at least. And she was a bit confused by it, to be honest.

"Cloud?" Yuffie's brow furrowed. "Oh, right. That old lady – Matilda was her name, nyuk – she remembered me from the Avalanche days. Cloud saved her granddaughter, Priscilla, from drowning when we were passing through the lower territory of Junon." A smile formed on her face. "And Matilda was just as nice as she was all those years ago."

"Alright, no 'fallen comrades' to look out for in that case, either..." Reno contemplated out loud. "Any other missions?"

Yuffie had to think about it for a few minutes, but she honestly couldn't think of one that would've resulted in an enemy hell-bent on hurting her purely for revenge. "I can't remember the specifics." She shook her head a few times. "But I can tell ya that the most recent one was...oh, there was another one was in Junon, too! I totally forgot about it, nyuk!!"

Reno looked apprehensive. "How recent was this mission?"

"It was...let's see...I missed Denzel's birthday because of it, so that would've made it..." she started counting off fingers, one by one, "four and a half months ago. Yeah."

"Shit," he cursed, leaning forward to wipe his face with one of his hands anxiously. "What did you do on this one?"

"Just a casual beat-down of some stupid assholes. They liked to call themselves a gang, I think. Trying to do some drug and weapon deals, or something illegal like that. I forget what they named themselves, though. It was probably some dumbass name, like-"

"Yuffie, you are an idiot!" Reno cut her off angrily.

"What!?"

Reno groaned, face-palming once more and trying to set his face in a calm expression before looking at Yuffie again. "Just how many of those thugs did you take care of, kid?"

"All but..." Yuffie trailed off, her eyes widening into huge saucers. "Oh...oh, SHIT!"

"Lemme guess," the redhead sighed. "Every single guy...except one." He shook his head in annoyance. "That was the one who just happened to get away."

Yuffie nodded nervously. "Mmhmm." She stood up and started to pace around. "But this can't be that big of a deal, right? I mean, come on! I'm the GREAT NINJA YUFFIE, for crap's sake!"

Reno rolled his eyes. "No one's invincible." His tone had become deathly serious. Yuffie's stomach performed yet another cartwheel at the mere sound of it. He was starting to sound as though he...as though he actually cared. That thought scared Yuffie more than anything else. And she had no idea why.

"If you really are so great, then why did this guy manage to escape right through the WRO's hands?" he snapped.

The ninja crossed her arms sheepishly. "We...I just...He-"

"Don't try to come up with some lame-ass excuse, Yuffie. Just admit that you messed up." He stood up quickly and was eye-to-eye with her in less than three strides. "And that maybe, just maybe, you'll need a little bit of help for once."

"...So let's say that I did need help..." Yuffie stated slowly. "This is purely hypothetical, of course!" She quickly added when she saw Reno's triumphant smirk start to appear on his face. "But...okay, well...what could you even do? The WRO never managed to ID the jerk, I don't know where he is, and to be perfectly honest, I have no clue what he looks like, either. They were all wearing ski-masks and hoods at the time!"

Reno nodded slowly, absorbing each of her statements in turn. "Number one: be on your guard. Number two: tell Reeve. And number thr-"

"I am not telling Reeve!!" she cut him off with her exclamation, putting her hands on her hips in the trademark stance. "I thought we already went over this."

He nodded again. "Sure, we did. But I changed my mind. Tough shit, kid."

"Gawd!" she screamed, slapping him on the chest and pushing him back as hard as she possibly could. He staggered back a few paces and she had to contain her joy at the tiny success. "Number one: you gave me your word, Turk! And number two: I have a goddamn name! And it is not kid!"

Reno smirked at her reaction. "Fine." He walked forward again to stare her down. "Yu-ffie." The way he said her name sent chills down her spine. Even though he was probably mocking her at the moment. "You need to tell Reeve."

She shook her head adamantly. "No!"

"If you don't, then I will," he shot back with another smirk.

"You wouldn't."

"Yeah, I would."

"If you did, you'd be putting a lot at stake, Turkey," she replied matter-of-factly.

"What the hell's that supposed to mean!?" Reno's brow furrowed in confusion as he crossed his arms.

Yuffie let out a few mischievous laughs. "Weeellll...I know where you live now, Turkbrain! Put two and two together and you'll have your answer."

"You know..." Reno started, completely closing the distance between them. "For an amateur ninja with a knack for stalking people...that sounded incredibly suggestive."

Yuffie gasped, instantly blushing and looking away from Reno – looking at anything but Reno. "Your thick head's always in the gutter, ya idiot. That's not what I meant!"

"Well, I knew it was one of two things. Either you'd sneak in here late at night to screw my brains out," - Yuffie's blush darkened more, if it was even possible - "or to slit my throat while I slept. I guess I just hoped it was the first one."

HOPED!? What the freakin' hell!?

She had to clear her throat because she feared it would sound squeaky, high-pitched and nervous if she hadn't done so. Not like she cared how she sounded in front of Flameball, though. "I'll leave you wondering on that one, then."

What...What the hell!? Why am I flirting!? Why is HE flirting!?!?

Her internal conflict never seemed to stop. The questions kept coming. But she kept ignoring them.

"Maybe I don't want to be left hanging..." he murmured as he leaned in closer. And closer. And closer...

Yuffie saw him shut his eyes, and she did the same, mostly out of pure anticipation. Was he about to kiss her? Did she care?

Why the hell didn't she care!?

…

…

…

She felt his hot breath on her lips. They were nearly touching her own. Just a few more seconds and---

"KUPOPOPOPO!!"

Yuffie jumped backwards a foot, tripping over a random shoe on the ground and falling – rather unceremoniously – onto her butt. "GAWD!" Moggy's sudden shout had scared the shit out of her. But she'd never admit it. Ever. At least, not to Reno. Definitely not to Reno. "Eh...heheh...that stupid shoe came outta nowhere!" she randomly blurted out, quickly jumping up to rub her sore behind. "Time for bed, Moggy! Right? Right. Okay, goodnight! Thanks for the help and everything, Turkey, but I'm pretty tired, so...uh...YEAH, goodnight!"

She darted over to the kitchen table, grabbed Moggy and the letter, then ran straight to the door that she knew led into Reno's room. It was the only place of escape. It was her only choice. Other than the bathroom, she mentally added. Gross...

She swung the door open quickly and slammed it shut behind her, leaning back against it to catch her breath. "Oh, gawd...what did I just do!?"

A few moments later, she heard Reno let out a heavy sigh from the other room. "Guess I'll be sleepin' on the couch, then..." she heard him mutter to himself.

Yuffie had to clamp her hand over her mouth to calm herself down. She wanted to laugh. She wanted to scream. She wanted to blurt out all of her thoughts to any person that would listen – the closest person just happened to be Reno – which was exactly why she had to remove herself from his company!

She didn't want to say it out loud.

Gawd, she could never say it out loud.

She was starting to...well, she was starting to think that she liked Reno.

She liked Reno.

RENO! Of all people...

"I like Reno..." she whispered with a small smile.

...Maybe she could say it out loud, after all.

Moggy simply looked up at her. "Kupo!" she squeaked happily.

In that moment, Yuffie had never been more confused by what Moggy had voiced. Because to her...it had sounded remarkably like the moogle had just shouted out, "DUH!"

She shook her head a few times. "Fine, Moggy. I. Like. Reno. Happy now?"

The moogle nodded several times before darting over to Reno's bed, motioning for Yuffie to follow. "Kupopopo."

Yuffie snuggled into the warm sheets, sighing contentedly. Tomorrow was definitely going to be a confusing day, but for right now, she felt happy. "I like Reno...?" she mumbled to herself, closing her eyes and drifting off to sleep.

^O^...^O^...^O^...^O^

Okay, yes this was very short. But it was very necessary. The next one will be longer, I promise.

Speaking of which...I am SO SORRY for the delayed update! It's been awhile...please don't lose faith in me, guys. I just had a busy couple of months. :( It's all in control now, though.

Anyway, hopefully this chappie didn't get too fluffy.

Let me know what ya thought. REVIEW PLEASE!?

AND THANKS FOR READING!! XD