Of all the stupid things Reno had ever done in his life, he was pretty sure this was the worst. He never should have tried to bet with those guys. He should've known he would loose. He should've known. After all, Lady Luck had never liked him before, why should she she start now? But worst of all, was what he got by loosing. It was this price he had to pay that made the bet so bad in the first place.

He knew it wouldn't have been so bad, if some small part of him hadn't wanted to do this in the first place. Then, he could've just gotten it over with and never thought twice about it. But this was something he wanted. This was something the guys constantly teased him about. Looking back, Reno knew that was probably the reason Rude ha put it up as his penalty for losing in the first place.

(Damn,) Reno found himself thinking as he slowly trudged down the streets of the city. (I can't even remember what we bet on.) And that, only seemed to make it all worse, because it ment that whatever the bet had been about, it hadn't been anything important or meaningful. Infact, Reno was almost completely a hundred-percent sure that the whole point of this stupid bet he could no longer remember was just so that they could all manuever him into this position. This potientially life-threatening position that could possibly get him killed.

Suddenly, Reno felt the urge to turn around, run home, and hide. But he couldn't do that. He had made his bed, though he couldn't remember where or why, and now he had to lie in it, not under it. He just had to-

-walk up that sidewalk-

-ascend those stairs-

-ring that ceepy doorbell-

-and ask one simple but completely life-changing question-

"Tanis will you go on a date with me?"

Tanis Valentine -adoptive sister of the great "vampire", Vincent Valentine, five foot three with off-the-shoulder, chestnut brown hair, slightly wavy and always held in a high ponytail by the pink-bow ribbon she had gotten from Tifa Lockhart as a sign that she was part of the family, except for the few short strands that fell out to frame her face and the shaggy bangs that almost always fell into her deep brown, almost black eyes, but were most usually held out of them by her gold-wire framed glasses- stared at Reno in complete disbelief. She knew in her mind that there was no way in all the hells that she could've heard him correctly. But, somehow, she also knew that she had.

Reno had just asked her on a date.

RENO had just asked HER on a DATE.

And now, he was staring at her expectantly waiting for a reply, but Tanis couldn't make her mouth work enough to give him one. She just stared at him, dumbfounded, wondering at this strange feeling in her chest, until finally she was snapped out of her stupor by the sound of his voice.

"Righ, what was I thinking," Reno sighed. "Why would you even, I mean, hell, you hate me, and this was so stu-" He shook his head, and turned to go. "I never shoulda..."

"Yes."

The redhead paused, and turned back around, blue eyes wide and mouth hanging open stupidly. "Wait. What?" He blanched suddenly as a thought hit him. "Oh, Shiva, you really DO hate me?!"

"No dork," Tanis covered her mouth and giggled slightly. "I ment 'yes, I will go on a date with you.' Sorry, it took a minute for my brain to connect to my mouth, but I didn't think you were serious."

"You thought..." Reno blinked. "But, I am. If I wasn't, I wouldn't have spent the whole walk up to this creepy mansion worrying that you would get mad at me when I told you that I only worked up the guts to ask you since I lost a bet with Rude, Tseng, and Elena and the condition of my loss was that I had to ask you out, because the guys know I'm completely crazy about you and...oh crap I can't believe I just told you all that..."

"So, where are we going?" Tanis asked, nonchalently studying her fingernails. "And what time. Or, were we going to go now, because if we are, I'd like to tell Vincent bye."

Reno stared at the brunette blankly and she broke into a wide grin. "What?" She asked. "Despite your reasons, you still asked me on a date because you like me, and I'm still accepting." She paused. "Unless...you're retracting your offer."

"NO! No! It still stands and, we can go whenever you want! Anywhere you want!" Reno nodded vigorously.

"Give me five minutes," Tanis replied, with a small wink, leaving the redhead to do a small victory dance in her living room.