Don't Play With Fire (Turks FFVII)

IX) Invasion

"Who the #$%^ is she?"

"Kat, this—"

"I'm Elena." The blonde's voice is all too excited as she sticks her hand out for me to shake. "Here to replace Reno!"

"Replace Reno?" I repeat, looking to Tseng for an explanation. He shakes his head.

"Not permanently, just while he's incapacitated."

"So she's leaving after he—"

"Well, no—"

"Then what the—"

"Kat." Tseng sighs, closing his eyes to regain his composure. I scoff, eyeing the woman across from me, irritated by the life in her eyes and that eager-to-please smile. "She's more than qualified." I roll my eyes, understanding the implications he's making. More qualified than me.

"Fine."

With that, Tseng turns back heads back into his office, pinching the bridge of his nose. I sigh, slumping in a lobby couch and staring far, far away from Elena as I sip on my paper cup of black coffee. Instead of taking the hint, she sits down next to me, face flushed.

"Okay, I can't be the only one here who thinks he's cute."

I snort, choking on my coffee. Gods. Ew. When I finish coughing the hot drink from my lungs, I wipe the tears from my eyes and look at her. She raises her eyebrows, both confused and concerned.

"Wait, Tseng?" I ask, though I know what she's going to say.

"Well, yeah." She laughs, hanging her head and tucking her short hair behind her ear. "He's become something of a legend to trainees."

"For his looks?"

"No, no." She looks up sharply, brown eyes wide. "That's just me. Unless you agree?"

"Uh—"

"Oh, gods." She buries her face in her hands and peeks at me through her fingers, horrified. "Someone said something to me about you. Like, he let you in with practically no training and—" She shivers. "I didn't think he was into redheads."

"What?" I can't help but laugh, utterly confused by the twists and turns of this conversation. "I'm sorry, but what are you implying?"

"Well, I thought you two, y'know...?" Her face goes redder than before. "Did I misread that, too?"

"Elena..." I sigh, rubbing my face. Shaking my head, I stand. "Don't worry about it. Tseng and I will never be something."

I head toward the elevator, following whatever direction the person before me entered. Taking a deep breath, I wander down an unfamiliar hallway, lost in my head. It's harder than I thought, working here with him. Everything's so different. When he used to come home, everything was okay. We could forget my parents' mistakes for a while as we begged Uncle Tseng for stories from his work at Shinra's Headquarters or when it was just the two of us sitting outside on the porch. What did we use to talk about? I can't remember. I do know that for a long time, he hated me. Hated my guts. So why did he change his mind about Taavi?

"It seems I run into you more than I expect to lately."

"And you seem to take more walks than I expected," I retort, looking up to see Rufus passing by. He pauses and I turn, offering to walk with him. He doesn't say no if that means anything.

"Sitting still gives me a headache," he admits, eyeing my uniform. "Decided not to follow the dress code?"

"I'm off duty," I shrug, swinging my loosened tie absently. "At least I'm wearing the thing."