Reno lounged on the edge of the roof, listening to the small sounds below as Tifa closed up the bar. He smiled a little as he heard two sets of footsteps coming up the stairs; yeah, he’d figured Cloud had spotted him.

That was, after all, the point.

“Reno, you’d better not tell me you have another delivery you want us to make,” Tifa stated, emerging into the warm night air. “Not after the last one.”

“Nope. Just wanted someplace to take a break and watch the city for a while. Figured this was one of the quietest places I’d find. No interruptions. Well, except you two.” He squinted at them. “Oh, hey, if you want some privacy, I can go…”

Tifa glared. Cloud shifted, looking a shade uncomfortable. Score.

“Don’t tell me Rufus Shinra couldn’t buy all the quiet he wants.” Cloud’s eyes narrowed a bit. “It seems to be what Shinra’s best at, buying things you shouldn’t be able to.”

Reno looked over at them, thoughtfully. “You really don’t get Shachou, do you?”

Tifa frowned. “I think we get him just fine. Not that I’d want to,” she added under her breath, and Reno smirked for a moment.

“No, you don’t,” he stated. “That thing with Sector Seven, for instance? He was frothing over that for weeks. He hates that kind of thing.”

“And that would be why he tried to execute me and blame me for Meteor?” Tifa asked in a sardonic tone.

Reno shook his head. “I’m not saying he’s nice, Tifa. But the old guy… he was a slime. Rufus-shachou is an ice cold bastard, but he’s honest about it. Always.” Tifa’s skeptical look was edging closer to puzzlement and Reno continued, encouraged. “Look, if it had been the old guy, he would have told you that he wanted to give you a medal for trying so hard against Sephiroth, and he’d have walked along with you and chatted and smiled. Right up until he locked the gas chamber door behind you.”

“Hmm.” Tifa sucked on her lower lip.

Reno’s eye fell on Cloud’s sword and he grinned. “It’s like swords. If the old boss had carried a sword, he would have kept it in a fancy walking stick and twirled it around like it was nothing but a flashy toy. He’d only have taken the blade out when he stabbed you in the back with it. Now Shachou, he’d never cover it at all. And he’d put the edge against your throat from the word go. Who’d you rather deal with, in a fight?”

Now Cloud looked startled, and a little thoughtful. Reno shrugged.

“Speaking as the sword, I prefer Rufus-shachou.” He looked out over the rooftops, feeling the serious mood on him like cloth he could rub between his fingers. “He uses us well.”

And then purple and blue flowered against the night sky, followed by a distant boom a moment later, and Reno bared his teeth. Rude did such fantastic explosions. “Ah, there’s my cue. Later.” He flipped over the edge of the roof, gripped a drainpipe with gloved hands to slow his fall down three floors and landed astride his bike.

From the roof he heard, faintly, Tifa’s voice exclaim, “Wait a minute! That’s over at the old warehouses; that’s where our next delivery was coming in!”

Reno laughed.

End