A/N: I didn't really like this chapter, but I went through it and did a few improvements and I don't think it's too bad now. Let me know what ya think. It took me long enough, but for some reason it doesn't seem finished to me. Talking of finishing, this fic will finish soon, but there's still a few more chapters, so don't panic lol.

Chapter 14

"There may be one of me, and three of you-" Reno said loudly. "-but if any of ya touch me, you'll all bite the dust."

Reno stood up, albeit slowly, and held the gun up to the other three women. Elena noticed that he had a slight wobble in his step as he walked over to Elena's hiding place and parted the bushes. The blond wasn't even going to begin to wonder how Reno knew she was hiding there, and put it down to pure Turk instinct as she stepped out into the open. Elena saw the other three Shiso more clearly, and noted the confused and terrified expressions on their faces. Two of them were staring at their now dead leader, and the other one was looking right at the Turks, with an unreadable expression on her face. Slowly, she reached towards her pocket…

"Reno!" Elena screamed. The redhead turned back around the women and cocked his head slightly to the left. The woman, who had momentarily been reaching to her pocket, was now holding a gun in her hand, and aiming it shakily at Reno. The redhead smirked and tightened his grip on his own gun, while narrowing his eyes as if aiming. Slowly he clicked the safety catch off.

It was almost like a battle of will. For some reason, Reno seemed extremely reluctant to shoot, but from the expression on his face, he knew exactly what he was doing.

However, there was something odd about the way the redhead was holding the gun. His grip was too tight, and his hand was slightly shaky. His wrist was a lot scrawnier than Elena had remembered it being, and she wasn't actually sure that it could take something as swift and powerful as gunfire. The tendon tensed up as Reno put a little pressure on the gun trigger as though preparing for the worst. Elena trusted Reno's reflexes and knew he would beat the Shiso if he wanted to, but she became more concerned when he sighed slightly and lowered his weapon.

"Reno, what are you-?" Elena began. Reno silenced her instantly by raising a finger to his lips. Slowly, he made his way back over to the three women, all of whom were slightly taken aback by Reno change of plan. Elena followed hesitantly.

"Listen…" Reno said quietly to the Shiso. The angry one had lowered her weapon upon Reno's approach. "We all know ya not gonna shoot me-"

Upon these words, the gun was raised again. Reno looked a little bit shocked, but he stood his ground. "Shut up!" The woman said forcefully.

"Fine…" Reno raised his hands in confirmation that he wasn't going to get his own weapon back out again. "Whatever way ya wanna play this, but I know ya ain't gonna shoot me. Ya need me, right? Plus, if ya were gonna do it, ya would've already done it by now."

"Will you shut up?" The woman with the gun said. After a moment of just staring, she finally spoke something Reno could argue with. "Irikushia will come back, without you or not."

"You two!" Reno said suddenly. "What d'ya think of all this?"

The remaining two Shiso remained silent, but Elena noticed how they didn't look particularly angry like the other one.

"I see." Reno shook his head.

"You will die." The armed woman said.

Reno sighed and shook his head yet again. Then, with cat-like reflexes like which Elena had never seen before, he drew his gun from his pocket and shot the woman down dead. The whole thing was over in a split second.

"I don't think I'll be the one doin' the dyin'." Reno poked the dead body with his toe gingerly. "Unless anyone else wants some?" he looked at the other two who shook their heads hastily. "Good."

"Reno?" Elena pulled on the redhead's sleeve. Reno turned sharply, with his gun still in his hand making the blond jump slightly. "Can we go now?"

Elena was desperate to leave in case something else went wrong, because knowing their luck, things would quickly turn nasty again if they stuck around. These two Shiso were either too scared of Reno to stand up to him, or they were being completely sincere, either way, it didn't mean the others would follow suite.

"Wait 'Laney." He put his hand out to silence her. "Where are the others?" he asked the two women.

"They're scattered everywhere…" the taller of the two said. "Don't worry about them… just leave while you can."

"Hmph…" Reno frowned and put his gun back into his pocket. "Why don't anyone know 'bout you?"

"Please…" the more talkative Shiso said, bending down and leaning on one knee. "Don't tell the Shinra that we're here."

"Hmm…" Reno pondered on this for a minute, and Elena really did not like the look in his eyes. She knew the best thing to do would to tell Tseng about this tribe, since they were descendants of Jenova apparently. "Can do." Reno said, raising his arms in surrender. The woman raised her head and smiled.

"Thank you…" she said sincerely. "You… you killed Rei. Thank you."

"She was one of those, huh?" the redhead sighed and scratched his head. "Well… we'll be goin' then if ya don't mind."

Reno turned to leave, and Elena wasted no time in following him. She was glad to finally be given the chance to return home, but before they could take more than three steps a voice called them again.

"Wait, Turks…" The two of them turned around to see the woman was now holding a very familiar green bag. Elena recognized it as the duffel bag she had brought he things along with her in. "Here…" The Shiso walked over and handed it to Elena, who promptly checked inside. As well as the clothes the blond had packed, there was Reno's materia and a whole load more materia which Elena assumed was the missing destruct materia. The young Turk had to stop herself from laughing slightly at the reward for their suffering. The whole mission had been a little over-the-top, but at least they were now likely to make it out alive.

"Thank you." Reno said sincerely.

"You're… Reno?" she said. Elena had only just noticed that she had a slight accent, and English probably wasn't her native language. Reno nodded his head slightly. "I'm… Mariko." She smiled warmly. "Sorry… for what happened… I hope you didn't get too hurt?"

The Shiso woman looked unsure, but Elena could tell she was sincere when she spoke, and Reno seemed to understand as well. "No problem." The redhead said, grinning weakly. "I've been in worse crap than that."

"Thank you… for being so understanding." The woman apparently named Mariko said slowly. "Please… leave before others come."

"Right…" Reno smiled and the two Turks turned to leave, but this time, Reno was the one to interrupt their exit. He took the gun out of his pocket and looked at it, ignoring the nervous glances he got. "Wait a sec… where's my EMR?" he asked.

Mariko coughed slightly and the other Shiso simply looked terrified by Reno's angry glance. "Where is it?" he repeated.

"Reno, please…" Elena almost begged. "We can get you another EMR… let's just get out of here."

"No!" Reno said angrily. I'm not leavin' without my EMR." It was times like that Elena wasn't sure whether to take the redhead seriously or not, but from the tone of his voice, she figured he was being completely genuine.

"Mr. Reno?" a small voice cried out from somewhere behind the bushes. It was vaguely familiar to Elena, but she couldn't quite place it. A small figure came out of the bushes holding Reno's EMR.

"You?" Elena suddenly recognized her. It was the little girl that had been locked in the cell with Elena and her father. "You got out?"

"Yup…" She smiled and held the weapon out to Reno. "Mr. Reno, I found this in an open cell."

"Thanks, kid." Reno took the rod, slightly taken aback by the child's honesty and helpfulness.

"Kayla?" Elena bent down so she was at the little girl's level. "Where's your father?"

"Daddy's sick…" Kayla said sadly. "He's still in the cell."

"C'mon." Reno clipped his EMR onto his belt with a satisfied expression on his face. "We'll go get 'im."

Reno took the girl by the hand and the three of them prepared to leave, however Mariko spoke one last time.
"You… you're a good man, Reno." She put her hands together and smiled kindly. "Good luck." Reno smiled and waved before turning to leave.

"And, Reno?" Mariko called after them. "Your hair… it's very pretty."

A/N:

That's it for this chapter. As usual, try to tell me what you think, any points for improvement or whatever. By the way, I added the little girl called Kayla and her father again, they were in a chapter earlier in the fic, I hope you can remember them. Also, I added the line at the end for a reason, I wonder if anyone can figure out why?