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.)

It Starts

By:ClassicLit

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Wutai

It was already six in the evening and the rain still hasn't stopped. The grayish sky turned platinum about three hours ago as the sun's last, weak rays were hidden from view. The rain drops made a soft, almost inaudible pitter-patter on the concrete. Perhaps the sound was almost inaudible; to her it was quite loud. She was currently sitting in the Temple of Leviathan, the outside section of it, listening to her father babble on about one thing or other. She really was not paying attention; she was concentrating too hard on trying to fall asleep. The only deterrence from that plan was the annoying sound of rain drops, and the cold wind that picked up no more than ten minutes ago. Yuffie loved these kind days. When the rain fell in thick sheets, and the platinum sky had an ethereal glow. The only reason this particular day was more of a torture than bliss was because of the speech that Godo decided to give to the masters of the Pagoda. This of course under normal circumstances would not concern Yuffie, but her father was extra excited that his daughter is seventeen and could participate in this gathering. Thus, he dragged his very much protesting daughter to the Temple.

He was drowning on about how it is the responsibility of the Wutaian people to worship the gods who are kind enough to protect the nation. Yuffie almost snorted at that. Protect the nation? Since when was this happening? Did she miss something? Last time she checked, the said nation had a huge war with the ShinRa and didn't come out victorious. Thank Leviathan Reeve was the new president and Wutai was being 'modified' without any outside interference, except for help that is. Her mind drifted slowly away from her thoughts and to the 'lecture'.

"And it is of concern…" that is as far she got before her head fell limply onto her chest. She could have sworn that instance that she had ADHD. It became a reoccurring theme. When her father started up on something serious, she would space. Her train of thought stopped abruptly though when she saw a shadow, out of the corner of her eye; move quickly and quietly towards the Pagoda. She froze looking as the figure entered the building. The platinum sky did not allow for her to see the person at such a distance, seeing as it was darker than was expected at six in the evening. Yet, what she did see did not please her one bit. The figure was tall, and she could tell that it was male. He was carrying something that was by the looks of it both large and heavy. By the height alone she could tell he was Wutaian, and if he was not Wutaian he would not, by the rules, be able to enter the Pagoda. She frowned thinking quickly. Who was guarding the Pagoda? The guards, but they were not a tall a threat to the man, if he was as intimidating as he looked, even from this distance.

She looked at Godo, and to her relief found that he was too concentrated on listening to himself and would not notice if she slipped away. The small platform that she was sitting on was right on the edge and she easily slipped through the bottom crack of the railing. Staniv, one of the masters of the Pagoda, noticed her actions though, as he was sitting right beside her. Yuffie looked up from her crouching position under the outside platform and gave Staniv the most imploring look she could possibly muster, complete with a pout and puppy eyes. Against his better judgment Staniv nodded once as a small smile spread on his face. Ever since she was a kid he could never say no to that face. Yuffie smiled and whispered a quick thanks, which only Staniv heard.

Yuffie broke into a sprint, keeping her footsteps as quite as possible. When she got to the Pagoda she silently checked her shurikens and took in a deep breath before proceeding. As she guessed earlier the two guards, who were guarding the Pagoda, were unconscious. One of them was lying face down at the bottom of the stairs, and the other was on his back opposite the stairs. As far as Yuffie could tell they were not dead, just knocked out. She did not concern herself with them for too long as a noise was heard upstairs. It was not at all loud, but Yuffie's tense nerves made her extra sensitive. She gulped and sprinted up the stairs as fast as she could until she got to the third floor. She stopped at the entrance and saw…

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Midgar

"Reno, get your ass up!" Elena's voice drifted to Reno's ears. "There is no way I am coming up with any excuses as to why your sorry ass is late for work this morning." There was a loud beep as Elena hung up the phone and the message recorder fell silent. It took Reno the better part of ten minutes to actually register what was going on around him. When it clicked though, Reno jumped out of bed and…fell on the floor in a heap of black sheets. Reno untangled himself from the mess with more trouble than he originally thought and made his way slowly to the bathroom. He dragged his feet and in the process tripped on one of the many articles of clothing that were scattered on the floor. He cursed under his breath as he finally reached the accursed bathroom.

After somehow managing to take a shower and dress without killing himself, Reno finally made his way to his car. He grinned when he saw his 'Old Glory'. Please don't ask…yes he named his car, who doesn't? (Disregard that question.) In fact, as Elena predicted, he was running late. Seeing no other option Reno's 'Old Glory' sped through the streets at break-neck speed.

He arrived at the ShinRa building two minutes before his due time at work. Usually he would not put in the effort to get to work on time, but this day was when Reeve would give the Turks a new mission. Reno was getting bored and traveling somewhere seemed like a good idea…at the time.

So Reno made his way to the office with a bounce in his step that was very much unnatural for him this early in the morning. He arrived at the destination thirty seconds before he had to. Elena gave him the most shocked look, while a ghost of a smile graced Rude's lips as he saw his partner drag himself into Reeve's office and fall into a comfortable armchair right next to his own chair. Reeve walked in thirty seconds later punctual as usual.

"Good morning" he said jovially while glancing around at the Turks. When his eyes fell on Reno he did a double take "Why Reno! I was no expecting you here so…on time." He finished lamely while looking at Elena and Rude for answers. They both shrugged while Reno rubbed his temples irritably. If they thought he didn't notice the wordless exchange, they were deeply mistaken.

"You see Reeve" he began sweetly with a smirk on his face "one of your most diligent workers" he shot a dirty look at Elena, who was trying her best to look as innocent as possible "decided to get my 'ass up' because she would not make any excuses as to why I'm late. Now, I am going to say once and for all…" He paused for dramatic effect, which didn't work because Reeve and Elena burst out laughing. Reno all but growled "Go ahead then, steal my thunder." He announced pompously, while puffing out his chest "I should warn you though…" Again he was cut off by Reeve's and Elena's laughter. He was about to comment on how they were laughing for no good reason but saw exactly what they were laughing at. As the reader might have already guesses, they were in fact laughing at Reno.

Reno's feet, which were on the floor, were turned each to the opposite direction giving a very good imitation of a ballerina. He was slouched but still trying to puff out his chest. In his effort his back caved and he looked like a woman trying to show off her chest. Overall he gave an impression of a duck who was about to enter the water and found the temperature too cold. He sighed and leaned back into the armchair. It was way too early for this he decided as he closed his eyes. Reeve was the first to recover and began speaking even to the chorus of Elena's giggles.

"Alright, let's get back to the main objective." To this Reno raised an eyebrow.

"There is a main objective?" He asked curiously with big, innocent eyes (that were completely fake). Reeve shook his head with a small smile, but decided to ignore the comment.

"I got a call two days ago from Lord Godo and he had less than good news." The three Turks looked at each other in confusion. "It seems that someone broke into the Pagoda and dropped off a body of a young man…who is Godo's nephew. On his body were engraved two words 'IT STARTS'." The room fell eerily silent. The only sound that was heard was Reeve opening the folder and distributing the files with information as well as photographs. "The princess was the first to see this…" He was rudely interrupted by Reno.

"You mean the brat?" he said, and tried to give Reeve an innocent look while the other growled. There was really no use in trying to dissuade Reno from the nickname so Reeve decided to ignore the red-head and continue on with the story.

"As I was saying…" he said slowly while giving Reno a pointed glare. "an investigation needs to be run. Since Wutai is still rebuilding and the police force is not as strong as is preferable I offered Lord Godo my help." He looked around at the Turks and smiled ruefully "So who would like to go?" he asked nonchalantly as if he was asking one of them to get lunch. He was greeted with silence.

Elena was as white as a sheet with wide eyes. After seeing her reaction at the pictures Reeve knew that the real thing would be worse. Rude was quite, as always, and seemed to be turning his options over in his mind. He couldn't go though, Reeve knew. There were too many details that needed taking care of from the last case. Rude had enough work without worrying about a murder in Wutai. This left Reno. When Reeve even thought about breaking the new to the red-headed Turk he winced as he knew colorful language would follow his proposal. He looked at the young man and almost did a second double take for the day. There was Reno actually studying the file. To Reeve's relief he red-head was not just studying the file, but doing so with an amount of interest. Unknown to Reeve of course, Reno was so interested because this was his ticket to getting out of Midgar. There was no difference in the murder. Reno would have gotten a dozen cases like this one within the next couple of weeks, but there was a difference between solving this case in Midgar or in Wutai. The other thing that kept Reno reading the file was some instinct that told him that this was going to be much more interesting than it promises to be.

"So…" Reeve said hesitantly. Thankfully though he was interrupted by a drawl that suited only one person in the room.

"Got you covered shweetheart." Reeve couldn't hold back the sigh of relief as it escaped his lips. He shot Reno a thankful smile and clapped his hands together.

"Alright, then it's settled." Upon hearing those words Elena raced out of the room with a hand covering her mouth. It was painfully obvious where she was going. Reeve laughed whole-heartedly feeling the responsibility, of making Reno do something that the young man didn't want to do, lift from him.

Rude and Reno wordlessly went out of Reeve's office and Reno stretched his hands while putting them behind his head. Reno's smile grew as he saw his partner take off his sunglasses and give Reno a thorough check over.

"You don't have a fever?" was the curt question that made Reno burst out laughing. Rude smiled a bit and put his sunglasses over his eyes again.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&Wutai

Yuffie was reading a book in the library when her father walked in through the large double doors. He smiled lightly at his daughter. She finished the book she and closed it.

"And they lived happily ever after." She said a bit sarcastically. "This is so cliché" she continued "how often if ever do you see that happening."

"Maybe that'll happen to you some day." Godo said while smiling while Yuffie winced at the implication and made a disgusted face. "Yet, I have not come here to discuss this particular matter." As he saw relief wash over Yuffie's face he smirked a bit "You are spared…for now." When Yuffie opened her mouth to say something that he could only assume was another one of those sarcastic comments he seemed to be getting often from his daughter he raised his hand. "I do have a meeting to hurry to. I only came to say that there will be a man from ShinRa sent here for the investigation." A look of pain crossed his face and he turned away from his daughter's questioning gaze, but on second thought smiled and turned back "It would be nice of you NOT to bother the poor guy." With that he closed the door and heard something that seemed particularly heavy hit the door at the spot that he stood at not more than two seconds ago. He continued walking and grinned at his daughter's childish behavior.

I truly hope you liked this chapter. Please tell me what you think! Interesting, bad, good, boring…you get the point. Thank you so much for reading.