Bad Move, Kid {Kairi}

He was more used to blades and bullets hitting him than a tiny little fist. Hell, he even swore the Heartless had claws. So when his arm was punched, Reno bit back a snort. Was that supposed to hurt? Well, it wasn't as light as a feather but by no means did it do any actual damage. That was what kept him from instantly hitting back of course, the fact that any of his enemies- imaginary or not- would've tried to land a much harder blow when his eyes were closed than that little punch. And he was the one with the nerve?

Then his skin began to tingle. It was the creepy-crawly feeling he gets after being stared at for a certain amount of time. The corners of his lips curled up into a smirk, and one blue-green eye was cracked open to look at his "attacker."

There was a hand. In his face.

And it was beginning to glow.

Without saying another word, both his eyes flew open and one hand reached out to snatch the tiny wrist of the other's. With a short, quick motion, his other hand tightened on the hilt of his Mag Rod as it slid out from inside his sleeve.

"What the hell, yo?" He asked, narrowed eyes watching the stranger's every move. "What part of hands to yourself didn't you memorize?"

He would have laughed at her first few attempts at trying to break his grip, but dammit, he wanted answers. One red eyebrow quirked at the girl's glare, because he wasn't stupid, and even he could see it held some actual heat. What's rich coming from him? The fact that he's the one making sense in a conversation for once? Yeah, if he looked at it that way he could understand.

"You aren't the one who just had a rude awakening." He said, grip tightening on his Mag Rod while loosening around her wrist. She started up again and he listened to her words, trying to figure out just what the hell was happening. As far as he can remember, they've never met before. So what was this little black-haired spitfire trying to do? Was she wanting to start a fight? Because damned if he'd start it by hitting a girl, sudden annoyance or not.

"I didn't start this, princess!" He said, more of a growl than anything at that point. Of course, he didn't know she was really a Princess. But her attitude reminded him of the children back in Gaia, mainly the girls who would do something bad then throw a fit when they were caught, thus acting like a spoiled Princess. "What in Shiva's name do my emotions have to do with this?"

She reached out and touched his face, and his green eyes widened in confusion. From her earlier comment he expected her to slap him, not simply land her hand on his face. But a stranger's hand, especially someone who just recently punched him, in such close proximity was never a good thing. He angled his Mag Rod so that the tip was to her side, and he gave her a small warning shock right before he was blinded by a sudden light. For a single heartbeat, Reno was frozen, not knowing whether the light came from the brat in his hands or not. Then he realized she wasn't in his hands anymore, he was in hers.

So naturally, he almost toppled over the edge to his death.

"Dammit, kid!" Reno shouted, scrambling as he felt Gravity tugging him down, nearly too far. His hands- well, one Mag Rod and one hand- latched on to the ledge as his lower half dangled over the side, opposite from the girl. Meaning he had nothing to stand on. Knowing that if she was the source of this god-awful light, she could probably see perfectly fine, so she'd probably try to loosen his grip on the ledge as well. And from her ranting and raving, he wasn't sure that breaking his hands to do so would be beyond her.

"Let's see if I'm right, yo." He snapped, the smirk now replaced by a sneer. Quickly and with a grunt of actual effort this time, the Turk pulled himself back up onto the ledge and dive-rolled, hoping she'd have the sense to move the eff out of his way before he crashed into her. Due to the light, he still couldn't see a thing, which caused a minor panic. He'll trap her in a pyramid the mere second he sees the brat again. Trust. Or he'd shock her, whichever comes first. "I remind you of some prick, ain't that right?"

If only Rude were here. Those shades of his actually would've come in handy for once. The light may have faded, but there were still large dots swimming across his vision as he tried blinking them away.

The spots before his eyes faded, and Reno paused, wanting to spend a heartbeat or two memorizing what the girl looked like before he trapped her in a pyramid for Merlin only knows how long. She pushed him off the Bailey, so it's not like he would be considerate enough to sit down and talk to her about her problems. He had enough of them anyway, and didn't need some overactive child with a temper as well.

Then she spoke. He was honestly expecting more acccusations- like what, was he not properly sprawled out on the ledge? The Turk blinked, because she said nothing of the sort. His eyebrows quirked in confusion, and he half-heartedly scanned their surroundings for this "Axel" she apparentally mistook him for. His hold on his Mag Rod loosened, and hesitantly lowered to his side.

"I may not know who you are, yeah," he started, the steel-like gleam in his eyes growing softer the longer he watched her, "And the only 'Axel' I know is on the armoured trucks back at Shrina..."

She was- he couldn't- some sort of distraction tactic, right? He trailed off, his epic "Take this, twerp" speech falling apart as he watched the doe-eyed girl before him begin to tear up. His expression was a mixture of apologetic and horrified, mainly because he personally compared watching a kid's waterworks to watching a train-wreck in motion.

"But it takes more than that to take a good Turk down, yo." He said, suddenly feeling like he had to convince her that he was fine lest she start crying on him. Out of habit, he lifted his left arm, bending it at the elbow to prop the Mag Rod on his shoulder. His sneer had vanished, now replaced by a crooked grin. It seemed she really didn't mean to attack him, but had done so only after mistaking him for someone else. And boy, did he pray for the man she was actually after, because she fought decently for being such a small girl. To him, at least.

"What if we start again?" He offered, outwardly looking as if the past few moments hadn't happened- which meant his posture screamed "lazy"- while inwardly he was praying to the Lifestream that she didn't break down. In greeting, he held out his right hand. "The name's Reno, kid. You gonna tell me why I'm glad it ain't Axel?"

Oh damn, she was starting to break down. He could see it, she had her hands in her hair and her mouth open to cry- or, stare at him in that brilliant impression of a gaping fish pose. What?

She was smart, not immediately reaching for his offered hand. He wouldn't have, especially not if the hand belonged to a person he nearly killed on accident. But, since he was the owner of the hand, he knew nothing would happen and she'd be safe. It's not like he had plans to pick her up and toss her over the edge- but, had she been Elena, he would've done so in the blink of an eye. The thought made him chuckle, remembering the happier times back at Shinra when the Turks were all in contact- hell, when they were in the same world.

His eyes narrowed again, more in observation than anger this time, at the slip up of her name. Or that's what he thought it was. Either way, he decided it was best to let her believe she fooled him. After all, it wouldn't be good to start off their second introduction on the wrong note...again. The way she spoke of Axel made him wonder how she really felt about the man, seeing as how she was confident enough that he wouldn't have fallen over the edge like the Turk. But then she says he probably wouldn't walk away without a few bruises.

One, thin red eyebrow quirked at her last comment. Or moreso the tone, as well as the way she looked up at him with those doe-eyes. He slipped the Mag Rod back up into his sleeve out of habit, now that they weren't fighting. Did she really think she had to make up for it?

No, did she realize what she was walking herself into?

He shook his head, trying to bite back his smirk. Poor girl, obviously she wasn't used to dealing with Turks.

"Don't worry about it, yo." He said, a lame attempt to gloss over the situation before he said something stupid. Not that he was that wild- regardless of his "reputation, which was mainly gossip anyway- especially because he didn't know how old she was. Hell, he didn't even know if he could make a joke without shattering her bubble of innocence. "You already apologized, and it was a mistake. Besides, I've been through worse, kid." He winked.

Both eyebrows rose at her correction, and he couldn't help but mentally smirk at the change of her tone. But as she continued, the Turk rolled his eyes up towards the skies.

"And if I would've had my eyes open, I could've stopped you before you even thought of pushing me." He told her, wondering how women could constantly blame themselves for one little thing. But he did nothing other than stand there and stare back at the girl, obviously not knowing what she was expecting.

But since when has he been one to give others exactly what they expect? Never.

"Of course I have." He said, as if he'd decided what she would do to make up for her mistake. When in reality he had no clue whatsoever. She stood then offered him a hand, to which he blinked at in confusion for a moment. He couldn't decide if it would be worse to ignore the help or accept it; the victim was either her feelings- again- or his pride. Reaching up, the redhead placed his hand in her much smaller one and stood, putting only the least amount of his weight on her aide. He didn't want to knock her over, afterall.

"These things?" Reno asked, eyes widening slightly at her curiosity. He released her hand, raising that very one up to trace the thin lines that curved below his eyes. Leave it to her to bring Axel back into the conversation. Hmph. Perhaps she didn't hate the man as much as she wanted him to believe? He smirked anyway, tilting his head just enough to give her a sly look. "They're what happens when you're at the pub with the rest of the Turks, kid."

Idly, he wondered if she was even old enough to drink. Probably not, which meant the story wouldn't be nearly as funny as it would if she'd experienced the feeling herself. Hence why he called her kid again.

Wait. Their hair was similar? Impossible! He was the only one who could successfully pull this hairstyle off, obviously. Anyone else who tried simply looked like an idiot. An idiot he took great amusement in laughing at.

"I'm sure, yo. You're lookin' at an only child." He said, pointing at himself. Naturally, he knew he didn't need to reach up and fix his hair- it looked better whenever he let it do its own thing. "So I guess this Axel of yours is a redhead too?" Rhetorical question. "Not a common colour, I suppose. Unlike yours." He motioned to her own hair, unaware it was dyed to be that shade.

The Turk paused, having a sudden epiphany. Or something like it.

"Let's try it this way, yo." He began, reaching into his pocket for another cigarette. It just hit him that he never bothered lighting another after the Heartless attacked, and it would give him something to do. Expertly he continued speaking, even with the cigarette now between his lips. "You tell me what this twin of mine- obviously less handsome than I am, y'know-" because he wouldn't be Reno without a comment like that, "-did to make you want to push him off the Bailey, and we'll call it even." Watching her with green eyes, he lit the cigarette, quickly returning the lighter to his pocket.

Knowing better than to mention anything, Reno kept his mouth shut when he saw Shio lift one hand to her cheek. Typical sign of someone without tattoos of their own, so he was used to it. Damn right he took one to many something or anothers to the head that night, because as fearless as he was on Missions- or as talented as he was at masking his fears- he was terrified of needles. He shuddered just then, merely thinking about the horrid things.

Again, she corrected him. Of course he knew her name was Shio, it's not like his memory was that poor. Still, the way she continued to speak up made his eyes shine with amusement. Almost as a sign of voluntary disregard for her preference, Reno moved the cigarette from his lips and tilted his head back, exhaling near perfect smoke rings up into the air. Already he felt a small part of his tension burn away as the nicotine hit his system. He also noted that she hadn't made a comment on his smoking.

"We talkin' real danger or kiddie danger?" He couldn't help but ask, not interested in hearing some sob story about a mother's broken crystal vase and that she was used to keep the children quiet. Chuckling at an idle thought, the redhead took another drag from his cigarette. "So you're mad at him for putting your little friend in danger?"

Perfectly acceptable reason, one he knew from personal experience. But something didn't add up. Shio didn't mention anything about what happened to that friend of hers, so he assumed they didn't die because of Axel. So what was she pissed at? These thoughts happened all at once, as he was used to thinking on his feet. Having a general idea of where on the Bailey he was standing, he took three steps backwards until his back hit the wall, where he could lean against it.

"Or maybe you were an easy target." He said, taking another drag. "Ain't no one that ticked unless it's personal, yo." More smoke rings. Endangering a friend was personal, true, but not enough to push someone to their death. Even though Axel apparentally wouldn't have died. He didn't really know why he kept asking questions, but there wasn't a good enough reason to leave her alone. Maybe he lied, and answering his question was only a small part of her payback. The other part would be to entertain him for a while, because it'd been quite a while since the last time Reno held an actual conversation with someone other than himself. His ranting and raving at Heartless while destroying them most certainly did not count.