Daggers and Flowers

Chapter 18- The Boat Ride

The Vigo disappeared as quickly as it appeared, even with WRO soldiers spread throughout Junon. It made Yuffie uneasy. She winced as she rifled through her bag of Materia in the back of a WRO truck. She had gotten a few cuts on her leg from the Vigo. If she hadn't been so quick and if Vincent hadn't distracted the thing, she would be one leg short. She found a Cure and pulled her injured leg onto the bench. She unwrapped the gauze bandages and winced.

The three cuts were red and angry, but at least they weren't bleeding any more. She wet a square of gauze with peroxide and hesitated.

"This isn't gonna be fun."

She psyched herself up and began wiping the dirt and dried blood from the cuts. It stung like hell, but it was better than losing the leg. Casting Cure would heal the cuts and prevent infection, but it wouldn't clean her leg for her. Yuffie finished cleaning the cuts and cast Cure.

As she cleaned up, the truck door opened. She turned to the end of the truck expecting to see Vincent or a soldier. She frowned as a kid climbed in. He was around Denzel's age and he had smudges of face paint from the festival on his cheeks and forehead.

"Can I help you?" She asked. The kid smiled nervously.

"Your friend wants to talk to you."

"Which friend?" Yuffie wondered why Vincent sent a kid to get her instead of a soldier.

"He didn't say." The kid hesitated. "He's got red hair...."

Yuffie rolled her eyes. Of course, Reno was in Junon. Tseng and Elena were. She briefly wondered who was guarding Rufus. She hadn't ever seen Reno without Rude. She grabbed her shuriken and waved the kid to the door. "Alrighty. Take me to him."

She scoffed as the kid led her into a nearby alleyway. The kid approached Reno with his hand upturned. Reno gave the kid a few gil. The kid cleared his throat and didn't withdraw his hand. Reno sighed and gave him a few more. The kid thanked him and ran out of the alley. Rude was nowhere to be seen and the alley was empty but for the two of them. Yuffie approached Reno.

"Little grubby-"

"What is it with Turks and alleyways?" Yuffie punched Reno in the shoulder. "Seriously, you can't pick up a phone?"

Reno rolled his turquoise eyes. "Nice to see you too, Yuffie. But I don't have time to joke around."

Yuffie cocked her head and narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

Reno looked around them but they were still alone in the stinky trash-filled alleyway. Yuffie wondered where Rude was hiding. He leaned toward her and whispered.

"I found Lyra and the Remnants. They made a friend and they're headed to Nibelheim."

Yuffie snorted and punched his arm again. "Shut up."

"I'm serious." Reno leaned back and put his hands in his pockets. "They're on a boat right now. I watched them leave."

Yuffie spun her shuriken in her hands. How the heck did he find them? And where the hell were they hiding?

"Is this gonna be a race?"

Reno shook his head. "Nope. We're still looking for them. I hoping we'll take a detour through Costa del Sol."

Yuffie considered his words. It was hard to tell if a Turk was lying or not, and Reno was one hell of a Turk. She looked around the alley behind him, wondering if Tseng or Elena or Rude were hiding from them. She mentally kicked herself. She should have taken Vincent or one of the soldiers with her.

"Thanks, I guess," she mumbled. Reno didn't move. He scratched at his head and took a few steps back. He got halfway down the alley before he sighed and turned back.