Comradery
Rude peeled the bloodstained leather gloves off of his hands. His left hand ached unmercifully and was badly bruised.
Just then, Elena walked into the locker room. Rude looked up at her, nodded a greeting and went back to tending to his injured hand. He was hoping to get a spare pair of gloves on and casually leave before she noticed anything. However, Rude was bloodier than he realised and Elena took immediate notice of this.
"You're bleeding?" She asked, concerned.
"It's not my blood...," Rude answered quietly as he began to rummage through his locker. His voice was flat yet noticeably pained. He knew the moment he heard his own words that it would be impossible to hide his injury now.
And just as Rude expected she came right over to him. "Let me see."
"I'm fine..."
"I can tell you aren't. Just let me see, ok?"
Rude turned to face Elena. The concern in her voice made it impossible to deny her request. There was blood on his jacket and shirt. His normally pristine white collar and cuffs were splattered with red.
Before Elena could say anything Rude held his injured hand, trying not to wince in front of her. "It's not my blood," He repeated. "It's his..."
- - -
By "his" Rude had meant the associate of Don Corneo whom he had been sent to take care of. This man had been selling Shinra secrets to various underground organizations. Now that Corneo was gone all of his cockroaches were swarming to take his place. Some of them had been close confidants of the fat old bastard and many of them knew things that they shouldn't. As well as knowing how to make a profit from them.
The man was now dead of course. Rude had seen to that. He and Reno had ended up chasing him through the tunnels under Midgar. Reno had lost sight of him, but not Rude. He cornered his target and prepared to take him out. The guy was quick however, and shielded himself with the thick piece of pipe that he had been wielding. Rude's fist hit the pipe hard, resulting in agonizing pain. But Rude didn't even flinch. He never showed pain in the eyes of a target. Ever. He would suffer in silence rather than show any signs of weakness. He had been shot before, stabbed before. And unless he couldn't get back up there was no way he'd let anyone know that he was suffering. He could always take stock of his injuries later when the job was done.
Rude had responded to the target's attempt to defend himself by ripping the pipe from his grip with his good hand. He then threw the pipe down and did his job with swift precision. And he only needed one hand to do it.
Reno had reported back to the president after Rude took the target out. He wanted to go to a bar afterwards. The red head knew that Rude was somehow hurt by the way he held his hand. Reno figured that a few drinks would probably ease the pain.
"You ok there, big guy?" Reno had asked as they made their way out of the tunnel.
It's not too bad...," Rude had responded, briefly holding up his hand. He let Reno know that he could go on without him after he reported to Rufus. He'd catch up with him later, after he put on some fresh clothes. He hated looking sloppy. Reno was concerned but let it go at that, not wanted to ask his taciturn partner too many questions when it was already clear that he was in pain.
- - -
And now Elena was here doing the opposite. Insisting on helping him when he wasn't used to being nursed like that. Booze was Reno's universal cure for injuries that didn't require immediate medical attention. Rude had followed this prescription for years and had fared just fine. But Elena was different. And Rude felt a little uncomfortable being handled this way by her. But he wouldn't hurt her feelings by protesting. She was still new and he didn't want her to think that he didn't appreciate her concern for a fellow Turk. So he held out his injured hand and she took it gingerly, running her fingers over the bruise.
"Is it broken?"
Rude shook his head. "Does it hurt when I touch it?"
It actually did. But Rude simply shook his head. He didn't want Elena to think that her tiny hands were hurting him. He was supposed to be more reliable than that.
"Well", Elena said, "Maybe it's just badly bruised then. "Can you make a fist?"
Rude nodded. He'd been making fists all his life hadn't he? Of course he could make one now. But he found that he had a hard time doing it without wincing in pain. He turned his head away, not wanting Elena to see his face. Not even his ever present sunglasses could hide the extent of his agony. It was worse than he initially thought.
"Squeeze my hand," She continued.
Rude squeezed carefully. She may be a Turk but Elena's hands still felt so small compared to his own. But he was unable to squeeze with any amount of strength at all. Even trying to sent jolts of pain through his had and up his arm.
"It hurts...," His voice was nearly inaudible. Revealing his pain verbally to Elena was difficult. He wanted her to think of him as unbreakable. Not just because he was a fellow Turk, but also because he felt protective of her.
Rude had been fond of Elena ever since she joined the Turks. Sure, her looks had something to do with it. Rude never had a problem admiring a pretty face. But her attitude was oddly attractive, even if it could be annoying and inconvenient at times. Maybe she talked too much. And maybe she was a bit airheaded. But certainly not stupid by any account. He found her sweet if a bit naive. And she was always trying to prove herself. Elena was much tougher than she looked. And Rude admired a lady with some toughness to her.
When Reno was teasing or tormenting her, Rude would try to be kind. He began to talk to with her more than he normally talked to people that weren't Reno. As a result Reno mistakenly thought that there were sparks between them. But Elena liked Tseng. And Rude wouldn't try to interfere with that. Even if he wouldn't say no to her himself if she were interested.
When Elena had went after Cloud on her own in Wutai Rude had been very worried about her. He knew the extent of Don Corneo's perversions. Had that fat son of a bitch touched her Rude would have personally torn him limb from limb. But thankfully he hadn't. Rude never found out how Elena was captured. He didn't want to embarrass her by asking and have her mistakenly think that he thought her incompetent.
After Corneo's demise signaled the end of the incident, Rude had spoken with Elena privately as Reno happily made his way back to the bar.
He had apologized for snapping at her when she wanted to go after Cloud during their time off. He told her that he had only wanted her to sit back and stop obsessing over work. He didn't want her to become like Tseng, who was overly serious and didn't know how to relax. He couldn't have lived with himself if the last words he had ever said to Elena were "You're making my drink go sour."
He was just glad that she was ok now. It felt good to get it off his chest. He did care deeply for his fellow Turks. Rude was very protective of the people who were dear to him. And there were so few that were. He just wanted Elena to know that she was one of them even when she messed up.
- - -
"You want to go to the infirmary?" Elena asked.
Rude shook his head. The situation made words difficult. Even with someone he had grown comfortable with.
"I think you should take least for the swelling," Elena insisted, letting go of Rude's hand and making her way over to her locker. She rummaged through it and came back with a bottle of pills which Rude took in his good hand.
"It's just an anti-inflammatory," Elena said. Take a couple. In fact, keep the whole bottle in case you need more."
"Thank you, Elena," Rude said sincerely. He noticed that Elena had loosened the cap for him. He felt touched by her kindness. Perhaps being nursed occassionally wasn't so bad after all. He leaned down and lightly kissed her cheek. He hadn't planned on doing that. The moment just seemed to suddenly call for it.
"You're welcome," Elena replied, blushing a bit. "Take care of that hand. Put some ice on it too."
"I will... Do you want to come with me?"
"To a bar with Reno?" Elena replied.
"Lucky guess."
"More like too predictable to get wrong," Elena laughed. "No thank you. Not really my scene you know. And I hate being around Reno when he's plastered."
Rude managed a rare smile. Elena smiled back and went to her locker to fish out what she had came for.
Rude changed his jacket and gloves, annoyed that he didn't have a spare shirt. He'd just have to be a little sloppy tonight. He walked out of the locker room and into the elevator. He had a red head to meet up with.
~Fin~
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