Authors note : Two updates in one day! woot! . Well this chapters full of quite a lot of emotion, lovely lovely. A bit of suspense too, I guess. Once again, I spent a while trying to describe everything properly. Please enjoy!!


Chapter 9 – Control

"Reno?" he heard the voice, but he couldn't quite gather the energy to reply.

"Is he awake?" a different voice, male. He finally managed to open his eyes.

"Reno!" Elena gasped, relieved. "How are you feeling now?"

He tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come, he was exhausted, and the pain in his stomach was coming back to him. Elena put a hand on his forehead.

"Elena, I'm gonna have to get back to the office. Are you going to manage okay?" Tseng said. Reno noticed him for the first time.

"Are you gonna check out tha…?" Elena began.

"Yes. I'll get on it right away." Tseng cut her off, looking at Reno.

"Elena?" Reno finally mustered up the energy to talk, albeit quietly. "You know what happened, before I passed out…?

"I need to know if you meant it or not." She said quickly.

"…Yeah, I know. And I did. I also meant what I said before that."

"You weren't in the right mind then, how can you have meant any of it?" she found her eyes stinging with tears. "Reno. Tell me the truth?"

"I am in the right mind now, aren't I?" he smiled lightly, "And I know I meant it."

"But…why? Out of all the girls you can pick? I just can't believe some one like you would pick me."

"Someone…like me?" he smirked

"Well…You're the charmer aren't you? Everybody falls for you. I mean look at me!" she found herself angry and she didn't know why. "Don't mess with my heart Reno. I'm not the kind of person who can handle it." She wiped the tears from her eyes and turned away from him.

"Elena?" she felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned around. Reno had sat himself up and was smiling kindly at her. "Believe me. You would know if I didn't really like you. The people I don't like, they're the ones who usually get a bullet through the head." Elena couldn't help but laugh.

"But…love?"

"If I didn't, would I do this…again?"

He pulled her into another kiss, just as passionate as last time. But it was different. She was slipping. The protective barrier she had placed around her heart all her life was melting away with this kiss.

"Well?" he smiled. Elena stared at him. She had never seen this side of him before. She liked it, but she couldn't shake the feeling that this wasn't real.


"Tseng?" Tseng looked over at Rude, the usually silent, stoic Turk was standing next to him, concern etched on his face. "What happened to Reno?"

Tseng put the little computer chip he was working on down on the table.

"He…That mission, to get Claudia. She shot him. This was imbedded in the bullet." He pointed at the chip. "I've got no idea what it is, but it seemed to have a great impact on the way Reno was acting."

Rude nodded. "Have you tried asking Hojo?"

Tseng kicked himself for not having though of it earlier. "Of course…" he strode out of the room in search of Hojo.

His luck seemed to be stretching out today, as he bumped into him on the way out of the room.

"Hojo! Get in here." He said, rather rudely.

"What?" he said coldly as Tseng dragged him into the room.

"What…is this?" he said holding up the chip.

"Hmm, yes. I recognise this. It was in a bullet, no?"

"Right. What is it?"

"It is…something I developed a long time ago."

"You made it?"

"Yes. It has blood on it. Who was shot with it?"

"Reno."

"Ahh, yes. That loud-mouthed red-head. Did it control him?"

"Yeah, from what Elena was saying, it did." Tseng was slightly confused

"Then, the other part must have been used. It won't work otherwise."

"Other… part?"

"Yes. In the form of a small needle. It goes…just here." He put a finger to the side of his neck.

"Oh great." Tseng sighed. "So what does it even do anyway?"

"It greatly amplifies the emotions of the victim. Some say it turns them crazy. There have been reports of people's lust and desire to kill going completely out of the window. They were confiscated and destroyed; it must be 10 years ago now. I don't know where this came from."

"Lust and desire to kill? Oh shit, Elena." Tseng grabbed his jacket and hurried back to Reno's apartment.