Fic: Teamwork (FF7 Nanaki and Reno)
Title: Teamwork
Author: Tripsoverhercats
Rating: General (minor swearing)
Challenge: FF7 - Nanaki and Reno working together. - Nanaki, Reno
Author's Note at end....



"You have got to be kidding me," Reno stared at his partner, red brows climbing upwards in sheer astonishment. He had to have been hearing things, it was shock from the wound, yeah, cause there was no way that he had just been told to...

"Strip." There was no teasing in the voice, just simple, calm rationality... except for the fact that Reno had just been told to...

"Strip? My clothes? Are you insane, why the hell should I do that? Who's the one shot here, you or me?" He paused to fire a few bullets back the way they came, keeping their pursuers heads down and well away from their scant sanctuary. "You get hit with a Confuse or something?"

A sigh. "Because I'm going to wear them and decoy them away so you can get some clear shots in."

"Oh... like they're going to mistake you for me at all fuzzy butt."

A wolfish grin over a yellow eye, Nanaki chuckled at his temporary partner, "You would be amazed."

Reno groaned. It had started so well too...

*****

Reeve rubbed at his temples and sighed. On the surface the offer was good, Rufus Shinra's loan of the Turks to ferret out the saboteurs would be useful. Some people had taken it into their heads that no power source not wind, water or chocobo power would bring about the wrath of the Planet and should be destroyed. Which had been creating a lot of problems and Barrett was about ready to stop being simply defensive and start shooting up large pieces of real estate. The Turks on the other hand could be more precise when ordered to and could be... discreet.

But simply letting Shinra turn his people loose, that didn't quite sit as well. Reeve was paranoid enough to want his own people there, his own eyes on the scene. The most recent reports were centered northwest of Gogonga, which limited some of his options. Barrett was busy further north, by Corel, Cloud was a possibility... no, best leave him out of a joint Shinra operation... Cid... no... ah! Cosmo Canyon wasn't far, and while Nanaki had little love for Shinra, he wasn't too pleased with the tactics of the newest "planetary defenders".

"I think we can come to an agreement, Mr. President," Reeve said, a small smile twitching across his face. The was Rufus's eyes narrowed in suspicion was almost delicious... perhaps he should send a Cait along... very quietly.


*****

This was just about the most surreal experience of Reno's life... and that included the night with the 2 bottles of brandy, a rigged set of dice and the dancing transvestite. The big wolfcat was actually shimmying into his own clothing, leaving his pasty white ass nearly swinging in the breeze. Good thing he'd decided to put on boxers yesterday morning, though if that furface so much as snickered at his mating lizard pattern (just about every position a body could manage, and a few it couldn't) he was going to stick his magrod somwhere unpleasant. Amazingly, Nanaki's thumb joint could be opposable when he wanted it too, he managed the zip on the pants all his own (there was no way in hell Reno would have zipped them up himself... no sir he was not ever going to be able to claim that bit of indignity) and was shrugging handily into the jacket.

"Fortunately, you're a slob Reno. The bad fit looks right." Nanaki shook his head, letting his mane fall over the collar, flowing down in a reddish tangle that... if you were almost completely blind... look like Reno's own hair, come loose from his tie.

"Shut it fuzzy, this is not going to work. I walk on two legs, not four... how the hell did you manage to talk me into this? Hit me with another Cure damnit."

"Need the mana, you're not going to die and I'm well aware of how humans walk."

Nanaki twitched his ears around and a satisfied grin passed across the bestial face. It looked an awful lot like bared fangs to Reno. The wolfcat eyed his materia setup one last time and nodded, suddenly lurching up onto his hind feet. "Now shout and get their attention. Then be silent."

Shout... hell yeah, Reno could do a shout. "You son of a bitch!"

Nanaki lurched out of their retreat, a stumbling shuffle that... that looked a lot like a wounded man trying to move. And from the back, with his tail stuffed inside the pant legs, all you saw was the dark suit and flash of red hair moving further into the trees. "You son a bitch," he repeated in a low murmur. This... could work.

He raised his gun and waited for his shot, a smirk crossing his features.

But there was no way he was ever going to tell anyone what had happened here.


*****

It took a while for Reeve to stop laughing, so it was a good thing that the Cait was fairly autonomous and could take out the two people circling around for an attempted counter-ambush with a well placed Frog-All. Nanaki’s own diversion looked like it was working well, Reno had taken down enough of the attackers that the wolfcat was able to take down the rest with spells. Including a few live captures, Reeve noted once he’d regained his composure. Good, Reno could get information from them, this was looking like the break they’d been needing.

But first… he needed to put some video recordings in a safe place…



Author's Note: I spent a long time staring at the pair, trying to get them to give me something to work with when all of a sudden, Nanaki turned, looked over at Reno, grinned and then said, "Strip." After Reno and I stopped gaping at him, I poked Reno and said... "Well, you heard him." The story soon followed.