Final Fantasy - All Series Fan Fiction ❯ Final Fantasy VII: Reverie ❯ After The Slaughter ( Chapter 43 )

On board Tseng and Leira had different feelings about their arrival. Lieandra was anything but happy. She wanted to be back with Reno. She also wanted to finish her mission. Tseng on the other hand was set to enjoy a brief vacation in the sun and sand. He could not go back to his homeland of Wutai so he figured Costa del Sol to be the next best thing.

As they landed a Shinra officer came running out to greet them. He was dressed in a blue t-shirt and a matching pair of shorts. He waved the two over to him and saluted them. "Hey there! What's up? I'm Resident Officer Ocho!" he said excitedly.

Tseng and Leira exchanged glances. "I'm leaving today before the kid kills me!" he continued. "Rufus is really angry at me so I'm glad you sent out a replacement."

Leira was distressed. Her eyes widened as she glanced at the two men. "What have you gotten me into?!"

Tseng scratched his head. Just as he was about to answer her the President of Shinra, Inc walked out of the villa. The three saluted him.

President Shinra was a large man. His suits had to be custom tailored. It was strange for Leira to be viewing her employer wearing a floral print shirt and striped shorts. She was used to seeing him in business suits.

The President's pudgy features crinkled as he studied the new protector of his son. His mustache suddenly curved into a frown and he glared at Tseng. "This is the one you and Reeve wanted to look after my son? What were you thinking?"

Tseng was in shock. He glanced around wildly as he tried to think of the right words to defend himself.

"Are you out of your mind? Look at her!" the President barked.

Rufus' first protector paled. He didn't want to stay in Costa del Sol under the Vice President. He looked at Tseng and Leira uneasily, his eyes pleading for them to get him out.

"I like her, father."

The foursome turned toward the villa. There standing in the doorway was the Vice President himself, Rufus Shinra. Lieandra was in awe at the sight of him. She had never met the President's son before. She was immediately drawn to him. His dark sunglasses added to an already present mysteriousness that surrounded him.

The twenty one year old eyed Leira approvingly. He ran his right hand through his orange red hair and approached the group. "You've done well, Tseng."

The Turk nodded at the young man as he began to calm down.

Rufus than turned his attention to his former protector and lowered his sunglasses so his brilliant green eyes were visible over the darkened lenses. "What are you still doing here?" he asked menacingly.

Former Resident Officer Ocho fell backwards onto the sand, "I'm just leaving! Really, I'm leaving right now!"

The Vice President watched as the man in blue crawled his way through the sand and boarded the helicopter. He stood still until the helicopter finally lifted off.

"I don't know, son. You seem to go through more protectors than any of the other Shinra employees." Remarked the President.

"There's a good reason for that, father. You never assign me any good people." Said Rufus flatly.

President Shinra scowled at his son and went back into the villa leaving Rufus to deal with the new arrivals. "Your new title is Resident Turk Elite…"

Leira winced at the title Resident. "Resident? You mean I'm going to be living here for good!"

Tseng gave her a slow nod and put his hands on her shoulder.

Rufus led them behind the villa. "This is the guard quarters. You will be spending the majority of your stay here. There are other Residents that you will be working with. As of now there are only two others. I laid the rest of them off, in the hope that I would be seeing you here soon." Those words were directly aimed at Leira.

"What have you gotten me into?" growled Leira.

"The Vice President asked for you specifically when given the option of receiving a new protector." Her former boss whispered.

"Why?" Leira was beginning to like her stay here even less.

"Why, Miss Thompson? It's because you have experience in many fields. You were Shinra military, a Turk, and now…" he focused his green eyes on her, "Now you are an Elite. There is more that I will tell you later."

Lieandra was becoming increasingly uneasy. She wanted to be back with Reno more than ever. "Where are the others?"

Rufus grinned at her. "The Resident SOLDIER and Resident pilot will be arriving in the next two weeks. They took leave time together. You'll meet them soon enough."

"I know the both of them personally." Said Tseng gently. "They're good people."

"Yes." Said Rufus as he put a finger to his lips. "I will leave you with Tseng for now. He'll show you around before his leave is up. I myself have other pressing matters to attend to." With that Rufus went back to the villa.

"Come with me. I'll show you the guardhouse." Tseng took her by the hands and led her to the back of the villa. "They also call it the guest house. Unless you're someone damn important you'll be living here."

A small white house could be seen behind the villa. It had very small windows and didn't look like it could support too many people.

Leira was beginning to feel slightly claustrophobic. "Are the other Residents going to be living here too?"

"No. They will be staying underneath the inn." Came her answer.

The waves crashed against the sandy beach. It was a sound that Leira had admired for a long time. She had developed mixed feelings for her stay.

Tseng opened the door to the guesthouse. From what she saw, it looked larger on the inside. There was a radio room with no windows. On the other side of the wall was a small dining area and a table and four chairs. Tseng led her past the tables and into another small room.

next three days." The head of the Turks told her. "These are the sleeping quarters. This is also where we'll be staying together."

"We! You mean we're going to be sharing the same bed." Something else to worry about… Leira thought to herself.

Tseng looked hurt by her words. He averted his eyes and looked over at the wall. "Would that be so bad?" He muttered.

"What?" asked Leira. She had heard him but she was afraid to say anything to him.

"Nothing. I'm going to walk around for a while. I would ask of you one thing though."

She became curious as to what he may want. They were on an orientation so she wasn't prepared for any crucial missions.

A smile seemed to light up Tseng's features. "Leira, I would like you to join me for a walk. I've never been able to talk to you as a friend, always an employee. Would you join me later?"

Leira just nodded her head at him. He was right. While they had carried on a friendly employer to employee relationship they never had had any bonding experiences as far as friendships were concerned.

"Good. I'll see you then." He turned and left her alone, wondering. She watched as he left her. He had his dark blue blazer draped below his elbow. His long black hair was tied back so tightly.

She didn't know too much about him. She'd had a slight crush on him ever since Reeve introduced them. She knew that he was from Wutai and had been living in Shinra territory since he was a child. She was also told that he had had a girlfriend and had split up with her sometime ago. She always admired how pleasant he was to look at. He was tall and slender, maybe just a little heavier than Reno but only by a couple pounds she guessed.

The Turk didn't know what to do. She walked around for a little bit and explored the shopping areas.

"You know," said a strange voice, "I think he likes you." There was no one around her. She looked around. She even started to search herself. It was a male voice that had spoken. Leira shook her head and suddenly noticed that her summon materia was glowing.

"What are you looking at?" she turned around again and felt silly. A man was standing there. He was tall and had very little hair.

"Who are you?" Leira asked.

"I'm the accountant for this place. I work in the basement quite a bit. I usually end up getting out during the day and enjoy the sun."

Deep down Leira had wished her Hades summon materia had talked to her.

"I heard the helicopter touch down and saw Ocho hightail it out of here. I guess you're the new guardian. I think I've seen you here before with that Reno guy from the Turks."

"Yeah, that was me." She said politely.

"Y'know that guy kind of looked like Tseng."

"That's him." She was becoming bored with the conversation.

The man gave a thoughtful grin. "You attract them don't ya?"

"What do you mean?" she was becoming angry.

"It's as I said, first you show up with that Reno guy and than Tseng, I bet you'll have Rufus eating out of your hand soon. It appears you've already forgotten about that guy from before." He seemed to be feeding off of her anger.

"Tseng is…was my boss. There is nothing between us. And Sir, I have no idea who you're talking about!"

"Easy girl," he smiled, "in time you will."

The man tucked his hands in his pocket and walked away. Leira rubbed the back of her head and turned to look behind her. She was getting a headache for some reason. When she glanced back at the direction the man was heading she saw nothing and her materia had stopped glowing.

Tseng lie down on the sand in his uniform. He had his arms folded underneath his head staring up at the stars. Leira too was in her Turk uniform. She lie there mimicking his position. It was a lovely clear Costa del Sol evening. All the stars were visible. The waves crashed against the beach before them.

"It's nice out tonight." He said to her. "I used to stare out at the stars when I was a child. I saw quite a few of them when I crossed the ocean with my parents."

"What happened to them?"

"They died during the trip. We were heading to Junon from what I can remember. There were so many diseases floating around…my mother and father had fallen victim. I was set adrift with their corpses for days. Somehow I ended up landing on Midgar's soil."

Leira raised an eyebrow. "Than it is true. You are from Wutai."

Tseng nodded. "It's not that hard to hide, look at me. At least I have my health. When I washed up on the shore I too had become infected and was sentenced to die. I was found by Professor Gast. He took me in and cared for me as if I was his own child."

Leira was silent. If anything she was beginning to feel a little bored.

Before she knew what was happening she felt herself being pulled over in his direction. Tseng had taken her by the wrist and had planted her on top of him.

She straddled his hips and looked down into his brown eyes.

"That's better." He said to her.

"What's this?" Leira asked.

He put his hands on her thighs. "This is a dream that I've been meaning to share with you." He said softly.

Leira felt herself moving towards his body beneath her. She was wondering what his thoughts would be if she just kissed him…just once. She didn't know if this was truly the time to share what feelings she did have for him. She had pretty much given up on Reno. Whenever he called he would only want to talk to one of the other Residents or Tseng himself.

She kissed him softly on the lips. For a split second she realized that he wasn't kissing back. She lifted her head to find him smiling at her. He put a hand behind her head and pulled her back to him. This time they shared the kiss.

Tseng began to push her blazer down from her shoulders. He had been waiting to share his feelings for his former employee. He had been scared because certain relationships were frowned upon in the organization. He also had a friend in Reno and didn't want to disrupt that friendship by getting close to his girlfriend.

Leira began to unbutton Tseng's shirt. Once finished she pushed it apart and ran her hands along his chest. He had no chest hair. From what she was able to distinguish from the two other Resident's she gathered that it had something to do with being from Wutai. She found that that was another attractive quality about Tseng. His kiss was very passionate. It felt like he had been holding back for a long time.

She broke off and kissed his neck working her way down to his chest. She paused to look back at him. Tseng rolled them both over so he was above her. He unworked her shirt and kissed her neck and the space between her breasts. He returned to kiss her again on the lips while he ran his hands along her sides.

Leira felt him against her. She was becoming lost in the moment. She had never experienced anything as beautiful. Reno was usually a little harsher. She had become used to him and in effect had become a little aggressive herself. Tseng was a little softer and "adult".

She rolled him over to once again take her place above him. She worked her hands down to his waist and undid his belt and pants. She put her hand inside and moved around him.

He stopped kissing her briefly and closed his eyes lost in her touch. His lips parted as he breathed in deep. Leira noticed how beautiful he was. The way his body reacted to her touch, how gracefully he sighed.

Tseng began to unwork her slacks. Her being above him made it easier to slide them down. Everything seemed to melt away as they lay in each other's company, fulfilling each other's wants and needs.

Somehow they had managed to travel into the guesthouse. Tseng and Leira lie in bed. Their naked bodies lie underneath the covers to keep them warm from the cool outside air. Even in sleep they held each other tightly. Tseng held Leira's head close to his chest.