She turns her eyes towards us, me still holding the chief up, and as I look into her eyes, I only receive a blank stare. No emotions inside them... they are as cold as ice. She just sits there, waiting for something. My heart aches in pain as I realize what she's waiting for. An order. She's waiting for someone to tell her what she must do. Tears gather on my eyes, as I try to reach her with my voice: "Reiko-chan?" She doesn't move, doesn't speak. It even looks like as if she didn't even hear me.

"Reiko, kill this man." The chief's voice is happy, as he has achieved what he wanted. I throw him into the wall, so hard, I'm sure he's at least unconscious if not dead. I look at Reiko. Her eyes followed every movement I did, and her eyes are now focused on my stretched hand. I see her traveling downwards, down my arm, across my chest... and finally, she's looking at me directly into my eyes. "Die," is the only word she whispers, before launching at me, her hands in front of her as she tries to choke me to death. I move just in time, and her hands only clutch empty air. But, the order was given and she obeys it like a clock. Immediately, when she realizes I'm not there, she turns around and sees me just a few feet away. She spins like a spinning top and before I can even feel her, she's already by my side, and with her fist planted deeply in my stomach. I choke and barely avoid biting my tongue. She retreats, to only then raise her leg and give me a kick right on my chest.

I fall backwards, surprised on how quick and deadly she can be. Those two blows really hurt, and I bite my lip until I draw blood out of it to stop my pain. She's ready again, and jumps to me, her right hand stretched over her face. I know what she's trying to do. I taught her that move, so I know how to block it. She pretends to hit me on the neck, and cut my spinal cord. That would mean instant death. When she's just 10 centimeters away from me, I crouch quickly, and again, she hits nothing but air. I haven't got the time to talk to her... not that she would listen anyway. For what I read on that folder, when the mind controller is implanted, there's no way the person can break it's control. It blocks every feeling, and makes pleas and begs unbearable to her.

I am held against a wall now, my back pressed on it, and my sweaty hands searching around for a way of escaping. By now, I could've hit her too... after all, I was her master, and I know how to neutralize her... but I just can't bring myself to do it. The mere thought of hurting her is disgusting to me, and I can't move my hands when it comes to trying that. She's looking at me again, and I see she's no longer attacking me. She's just looking at me, as if she was trying to find a way of keeping me steady long enough to deliver a deadly hit... oops, that's exactly what she's trying to do. I see her eyes lightly wander to a table nearby and quickly grabs a scalpel. It shines briefly on her hand, just a second after she throws it to me. I move my head to the side, and the knife misses barely. It's sticking in the wall now barely two centimeters away from my ear, it's handle shaking with the power it was thrown with. I look at it, utterly amazed that she actually tried to kill me, when I realize I've made a terrible mistake. I stopped looking at her... I lost my concentration... but now it's too late. I feel the presence of someone over me, and before I can even turn my head, I receive a blow so hard on my stomach, every bit of air leaves my lungs, and I feel as if I am slowly drowning on a pool with no hope of getting air.

I look at her through blurry eyes, and I see she's bent over me, with her knee firmly planted on my abdomen. That mask of seriousness that seems to be plastered on her face is driving me crazy. It looks so weird to see her killing someone and not even feel at least a pang of regret... I can almost see her when she killed that police officer, so long ago... the agony she felt, compared to the nothing she's feeling now is so contrasting... it just isn't her. "Re... Reiko." My voice is harsh and throaty, since her knee is still pressing my lungs. I try to speak, to tell her something... anything... to make her come back... but I can't. It's as if I was hand and foot tied... I just can't do it. But then, she does something, and it surprises me so I forget to breathe. She bends forward even more, until our noses are touching, so I can look at her straight into her eyes. I see they are glassy and teary. The ice glare on them is a deep contrast to all the feelings those tears mean. A low whisper leaves her lips, and reaches my ears. Her voice is low, but not because she can't talk... it looks like it's so low because of the strain she's putting on it... "I'm sorry." She then lightly brushes our lips together, before grabbing my collar and throwing me across the room, to hit the wall so hardly I'm sure I must have broken something.

But, that hit doesn't register, as I am still so surprised by her words I let myself slid down the wall without any attempt of stopping it. She... she talked... she said she was sorry... she had a conscious thought... for a moment she controlled herself... she's fighting the mind controller... I raise, this time, hope flaming inside my heart. I can make her wake up... if she's trying so hard, then so should I. "Reiko, listen. Fight it. I'm with you. If getting you back, means having my butt kicked over a thousand times, then so be it." She doesn't answer... not that I expected her to do it, but a little barely visible nod on her head gives me hope that inside that body, her mind is still listening to me. I stand up, and a sudden pain bursts in my chest. Here goes my rib... but I don't have time to think anymore, as she starts attacking me again. She runs to me and directs a hit right to my face. I move it again, and her fist makes a hole on the wall. I can see as blood starts coming out of the wounds she made to herself, and decide to make this as short as possible. If I don't hurt her, then she'll hurt herself while trying to kill me.

The order was given, and she won't rest until her mission is complete. As I am beginning to understand my voice somehow brings her closer to reality, I start speaking: "Reiko, I know you can do it. Remember what I used to admire the most about you? It was your will power. If you want to defeat that thing, you can do it. I know you can." She raises her knee, trying to kick me with it, but I move out of the way. I try to make her stop the hit before it's too late... I don't wanna see how she breaks her knee against that hard stone wall... but she stops just in time. She ends with her right fist still planted on the wall, the left leg doubled at the knee, as if she was some sort of ballet dancer... she looks at the wall, and I can't guess what her net move will be... . I prepare myself for anything, but for what she did next. She turns, moving just her waist and her free leg. She finishes in a position that would be difficult to achieve even for a professional ballet dancer. Then, when her free leg is aligned with my face, she stretches her leg, and hit me right below the chin with her foot. I fly off onto the table, medical instruments spreading on the floor. I rub my chin as I stand up. Where on Earth did she learn to do that? Women can really be a box of endless surprises sometimes. Mentally, I check if there are any broken bones... nope, lucky me. With that blow she could've killed a normal guy... thanks God I'm not normal...

"Reiko... that was good. If you keep this up, I'm gonna have to defend myself." A sudden glitter fills her icy eyes. She isn't asking me to hurt her, now is she? I can't do it, not even if she asks me for it... "You want me to hit you back?" I ask fearing the answer I'm gonna get. However, she doesn't answer, she just raises her hands into an attacking position, and waits for my next move. That was her reply. A yes. I crouch the same way she did, and thank myself for not teaching her the secret Tiger Fury move. I didn't have the time to teach her that move, but now I'm grateful, cause it may mean life or death. If I can hit her before she does, the battle is gonna end quickly. The Tiger Fury is a secret technique my own master taught me, and it has two steps: attack and defense. All I have to do is hit her abdomen with my right leg, while I defend myself with my hands. It's very much like a true tiger: attacking with your front paws and blocking the attacks of the other with the back ones; that's where its name comes from.

So, here we are: student versus teacher. Who's gonna win? That's a very good question, but I don't like any of the answers. If I do, that means I'm gonna have to seriously hurt her, and if she does, then I can start saying goodbye to life. I feel sweat running down my back. This is a moment in my life that I could gladly not live through. It's such a tough decision . . but Reiko has already taken it for me. As I continue to think about what to do, she yells a fight cry, and jumps towards me. For a sudden realizing moment, I see that her hands are on the same position as mine... her legs are moving faster that then usually do... she's using the Tiger Fury attack!! My body freezes in fear. When did she learn that technique? I never taught it to her... and she never saw me do it... except for that one time, when I showed it to her, as a demonstration of what she should do if she wanted to be as good as me... my brain screams at me the answer: She learnt how to use it by only watching me do it one time!! I never thought she had that ability... but now it's too late. I see her holding my hands down with her own, and her leg comes up, and hits me fair and square under my chin. I can only feel pain, as I vaguely see myself flying backwards and don't even think about the impact I receive.

Pain is what keeps me awake. If it wasn't for it, I would've already passed out. Every little nerve on my body hurts... but it's a consolation; it tells me I'm still alive. I try to move my head, to see what's going on, but it feels too heavy. It's as if I'm carrying a ton of concrete over my shoulders... something blocks my view on my right eye... I blink several times, trying to make it go away, but it just stays there... I then see a flash of red, and I know what it is... it's blood. Through my other eye, I can see as Reiko walks towards me. When she's just by my side, I see her raising her hand to give the final blow. I close my eyes, waiting for it to come... a strange thought crosses my head... she's just doing what an ancient Japanese law said... for a student to prove its worth, she/he needs to kill its master... and that's what she's about to do now... I feel very proud, knowing I was able to train such an excellent student... I relax, my mind making me see her how she truly is... a see a picture of her... she's smiling, her giggles reach my ears... I see her hair, long as it should be swaying behind her... that's how I'll always remember her to be...

"WAIT!!" A scream makes me open my eyes. My vision is better now, and I can see as the door is open, and four Senshi and Tuxedo Kamen are standing there. I see Sailor Moon with her kaleidmoonscope in front of her, traces of energy still leaving it. I see they are all looking at us, horror evident in their eyes. "Reiko, what in the name of Serenity are you doing?" asks Venus, her usually clean blue eyes full of fear. I believe Reiko wont answer, but she does, in a cold voice which send chills up my spine: "My orders are to kill Inoue Hiroshi." She then gives their back to them, and prepares to send the last blow again. Faintly, I hear a cry in the distance, and suddenly, an orange thing surrounds Reiko's stretched hand, and prevents her from moving. I recognize it as Venus' chain. I thank her to my insides, because that gave the time I needed to recover... at least the 50 percent of my strength. I roll out of the way, while Reiko stares at the chain which holds her hand.

I stand up, my hands supporting me in the wall... if I didn't have that support I would've already fell to the ground. Reiko then speaks again: "Anyone who interferes on my mission is considered an intruder and must be terminated." Her voice is so robotic... it's like she was a machine, not a human. Her form shimmers, as she transforms into Sailor Mercury. This is getting hard, I think, while I clean my view with my arm. I try to locate the source of the bleeding, and I feel pain on my upper forehead. How did I manage to get hurt there, is a question I can't answer. As soon as she transformed, Reiko turns around and pulls the chain to her. Venus is caught distracted, and the weapon disappears in thin air. Mercury looks at them coldly, and vanishes from sight. Before any of them can react, she has hit them all, alternating kicks, punches and some well given elbows. It all took her less than a second to do, and then she's back to where she was before. The warriors are on the floor, surprised and very hurt for what had just happened. For the common eye, it appeared as if she had teleported somehow, but for me, being trained on that type of movement too, the truth is revealed. She moved so fast human eye couldn't catch her, managed to damage everyone, and then returned to where she had been previously.

"Hiroshi-san, what's going on?" says Jupiter, who being the strongest, has recovered first, and is now trying to stand up. "They did it. They implanted her the mind controller again, and the order was to kill me. Now, she's trying to kill you too." Sailor Moon stands up, grabbing the scepter she had let go before, and points it to Mercury. "I'll heal her." There's no need for me to stop her, since Tuxedo Kamen does: "Sailor Moon, Mercury's illness isn't a negaforce induced one. It's human evil. You can't heal her with the ginzuishou." "He's right. We have to defeat her first. For what I read before, if we beat her in combat, the mind controller will over load and loose it's control on her. It's the only way to make her return to us," I say, wondering just how we're going to manage to do that. For what I've seen, now she's more powerful than I am, and with her quick moves, she can defeat the Senshi quite easily. Mercury stands in the middle of the room, surrounded by both sides, but looking calm and straight. I know that inside her there's a turmoil of held back emotions, that are fighting to come out, but are being stopped by that little artifact on her neck.

Her neck! That's it! She told us that right after the first surgery they tried on her, her neck was her weak spot. If we can hit her there, she'll probably loose the battle. "Listen. Hit her neck. It may be the only way to stop her!" I tell them, knowing that Mercury won't care about what we say. Her mind has only one purpose, and that is destroying me, so anything that appears to do nothing with it, will slip down unnoticed. They acknowledged my information nodding their heads, and then the real battle started. Jupiter jumped forward using some karate move, and tries to hit her neck with her fist... but Mercury is quicker, and swiftly moves out of the way, to then send her friend flying through the room as I previously did. But Makoto-san seems more ready for that than I did, and before she hits the wall, she turns around in the air, and makes her feet land on the wall first. Then, using the same impulse Mercury gave her, she launches herself back into action. However, Reiko had been waiting for her, and just ducks, making Jupiter fly past over her head. That was the moment Mars' and Venus' had been waiting for.

They too jump towards Mercury, who's still on the floor. They try to hit her with their legs, but she's faster, and gives a leap into the air, making the both of them hit each other. She's still rolling on the air, when a rose appears from nowhere and scratches her arm. She somehow looses her balance, and lands a bit clumsily on the ground, but never falling to the floor. The cut on her arm is bleeding... those Tuxedo Kamen's roses must be as sharp as a knife. She merely looks at it, and then turns her view to the couple who's still on the door. Sailor Moon is surprised and Tuxedo's arm is still stretched. Mercury doesn't even stare at them for more than a second when she's already headed towards them. With that movement, she's giving me the perfect aim for her neck. She's running with her head tilted a bit to the side, and that leaves her neck totally unprotected. Besides, right now, she's completely focused on the couple, and has completely forgotten about me... and that is exactly what I need.

Before she can even see me, I jump into her direction, and I am by her side instantly. I can see her neck hair stiffen when she realizes what a mistake she has done. She tries to move away, but I'm quicker. Stretching my hand, I lightly brush it across her neck, making sure it goes over the red spot. Immediately, she stops moving. She freezes in mid air, her eyes open wide, and her mouth opens in a silent scream. I beg for her forgiveness, since I know the pain she's going through is worse than hell. I jump away from her, and quite timely, because she falls to the floor heavily, her body completely paralyzed. Her eyes have turned light blue and her face is tightened in pain. Her hands are clenching and unclenching quickly, as her whole body spasms in complete pain. She's crouching into a fetal position, her mission completely forgotten as the pain is so big. Then, her mouth gives up, and the higher screech I have ever heard leaves her lips, and makes everyone cover their ears. "AIEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!" It's as if she has forced her vocal cords to give their best, because I've never heard her scream so high. I bet that if this was a cartoon, several windows would've broken. She's now grabbing her head in desperation, and has her eyes shut completely. She's trashing from side to side, trying in vain to make her pain get better.

It seems as if hours have passed, but I know that no more than ten seconds have gone through the clock. Finally, she seems to calm down, and when her head stops moving, I can see tears trailing down her cheeks, and that she's biting her lower lip so tight it's white. She slowly un-crouches, and stretches on the floor, her hands leaving their firm grip on her head. Everyone stands still for some moments, until she slowly tries to stand up. She's dizzy and is very clumsy to do so. When she's finally completely up, she opens her eyes, tears still coming out of them. She doesn't even bother to brush them away. The only thing she does is look around the room, until her eyes land on me. I can look at them straight, and they are as icy as they were before. She says, in the same robotic voice she had before: "Kill... kill Inoue... Hi... Hiroshi." Her voice is harsh and forced, but she doesn't care. She suddenly seems to have another loose of balance, and her body wavers from one side to the other, until she recovers and steadies herself. For some reason I can't understand, she closes her eyes again, and opens her mouth, but no sound comes out of it.

Her hands return to her head, and she grabs it firmly. Her fingers entwine with her hair and her forehead wrinkles in effort. "No... not anymore." The voice was hers, but her original. Not the robotic one she had been using, but her true voice. The one I love to hear. The one I know means she's getting some control over her own mind. Strain is evident on her body, as it trembles all over, and a blue aura surrounds her. "Kill Hiro... Hiroshi," again the robotic type. "I said... NO!!" The true voice emerges from all around her, and suddenly her aura explodes. I can hear a cracking sound, as if a glass had just been broken. Her body stiffens completely, and another scream is done. Obviously, this time it doesn't match in tone or feeling the other one. The first one meant true, sizzling, and barely standable pain, but this one was yelled because of determination. Sweat covers her forehead, as electric bolts ran through her body, making it stiffen and then relax as if she was a punching ball.

They are clearly visible to everyone, white light coming from here and there, with cracking sounds each time. It's as if the lightening bolts are coming from inside her... as if she truly was a robot who has having a shortcut. Her torture goes on and on, and I can't stop myself in taking a step forward to try and help her... somehow. I can't think of a way of doing so... just touching her would mean instant death; if my calculation is right, the power that's going through her body is over the one thousand kilowatts. That, and the fact that I know that five *hundred* kilowatts are enough to kill a man make me stop. Then, a longer bolt ran through her, making her whole body stretch and strangely raise in the air... and suddenly it's over. Everything finishes, and she falls to the floor as a spent rug. She's breathing hard and deep, and as I ran to her, I can't help but notice that her fuku has gone up, revealing more of those creamy soft legs... I spank myself mentally, but I don't have time for more, since I'm already by her side. I pick her up, and I put her head on my lap. Her eyes are closed, and her breathing is ragged, as if she was having an asthma attack. I pick up her hand, and softly squeeze it, making her notice I'm here. She opens her eyes slowly, and looks at me. I can see they are back as they used to be, clean and pure. So many emotions on them, it's hard to say she was the same person that moments ago felt as much as a block of ice. The rest of the Senshi have ran to our side too, worried expressions on all their faces.

She lazily looks at them all through semi closed eyes, and when she sees Jupiter, she says: "Ju... Jupiter... I now unders... understand how you... how you felt back on the... the... on the North pole." That's an inner joke I can't get, I'm gonna have to ask later. I see as Jupiter smiles sadly, and starts answering: "Yet you had better luck than I did Merc--" Her reply is cut short, as a spasm hits Mercury. Her whole body contracts in pain, and it arches up, to the near point of breaking her back. Her eyes are opened wide, and so is her mouth. She's making no sound, and then, as suddenly as she raised, she falls back to my lap. There, she starts coughing loudly. It's not a common cough though, it's much more rough and from miles away anyone could see it's hurting like hell. She covers her mouth with one hand, muffling a bit her desperate coughing. It hurts me to hear how ugly it sounds... if I wasn't an expert in Biology I would surely say it sounds like as if something was being ripped from inside.

She doesn't stop. The fit even intensifies, and the shaking of her body makes her fall from my lap and land on the floor on her stomach. One of her hands is covering her mouth as I previously said, and the other one is on her neck, just where the red spot is. But, it's not pain what she's feeling ... at least not pain produced by that. Her coughs fill the air, and I try my best to hold her still, but it's impossible. Every time she tries to stop, another wave comes and everything starts all over again. Suddenly, her coughing is muffled by something... not just her hand... but as if something else was covering her mouth. I can't see what it is though, she's lying on the floor and her head is turned away from me. Then, her coughing stops, and she breathes deeply, before rolling on her back. She now is lying on her back, looking straight up to the ceiling. I look near her head, trying to see the source of that fit. And what I see makes me gasp in surprise. On the side of her head there's a little pool of blood.

Blood. I look at her face, and immediately see there's no wound to have caused that bleeding. That would mean that the blood didn't come from an injury, but directly from inside. I look more carefully at her face, and see that there's a small trail of red leaving her lips and going down and down her chin. "REIKO!" My scream makes her look at me, and I see on her eyes weariness but not pain. "Don't... worry. It's out." Her voice is still rough. So much coughing is the obvious explanation. "Out? Don't talk. We need to get you to a hospital, now!" I say fearing the worst. I know that an internal bleeding is a major cause of death, and in 90 percent of the cases, it's mortal. I can't even think of loosing her again... but she refuses with a nod of her head. "No need for that. Look." She then sits a bit awkwardly, and I help her steady herself by lying her on my chest. She grins at me a weak smile, and opens her hand, which until that the moment I hadn't noticed had kept closed. Inside it, there is a little black crystal. A crystal I had held in my hand just some hours ago. It's the mind controller. It's covered with thin lines of red, which I identify as blood. Her hand is covered with it too, and I again freak on seeing that.

"You sure you're Ok?" I say, my tone caring and protective. "Yes. Don't be such... such a mother hen, Hiroshi. Remember what I... told you at the... at the hospital? My heal... healing powers are well... well developed. I bet I'm already... healed." I still am a bit worried, but the confident look on her face makes me feel more and more sure. Sailor Moon looks at her and, afraid to touch what she's carrying on it. "Mer . . Mercury, what was that?" Reiko smiles weakly again, and sighs in contentment. "Never thought it would hurt so much to get it out." Not exactly the answer she was waiting for, but she doesn't ask anymore. Instead, Sailor Venus does: "You mean you just... spat it out?" "Sort of. If you wanna know the truth, that hit Hiroshi gave me on the neck was enough to loosen it's control a little, just enough for me to be able, at least for a second, to control my body. So, I made it overload by charging it with my emotions. That's how I made it break free from my tissues. That fit of coughing was produced because it wanted to get out. It hurt a lot, but it's finally out of my system."

"I knew you could hear me back there. I hope you can forgive me for the pain I gave you," I say, hugging her tenderly, but with a grip so firm not even a bomb could have separated us. "Hey," says Reiko, while cupping my face into her hands, "you're completely forgiven. Nothing happened. And yes, I could hear your voice, I just couldn't answer you. The feeling of being powerless to do what you please is something I don't wish to anyone, not even my worst enemy. I now understand how you felt Mamoru-san." The addressed man was thoughtful for a moment, and said: "Pretty similar it must have been... but let us not talk about it."

"Yeah, we should be going now," I say, wondering just how have we managed to stay awake after all these emotions, surprises and heart attacks. I stand up, and help Reiko in doing the same. She fails in supporting her own weight, and almost fell to the floor again, when I grabbed her waist and pulled her up. She smiled at me tenderly, and moved her hand up to caress my hair, when her legs got weak again, and she doubled over in defeat. I then understood the physical and emotional strain she had gone through was taking it's toll, and decided what to do next. I pulled her up to me, and take her in my arms, making her head rest on my chest, and her long legs hang over my arm. After all, she's a little girl, no matter what anyone else says... she's a scared little girl... she's my little girl, and since now, I'm never gonna let her go... never. She didn't say anything, just relaxed on my embrace and let her eyes fell close. She wasn't sleeping, as I could notice. Her breathing didn't slow down, she was just resting from all the excitement she had gotten on one day. Everyone stood up too, and walked together out of the room. I stayed behind, carrying Reiko on my arms.

I had this strange feeling on my heart. As if a chapter on my life had just ended, and together we were going to write the next one. I looked around the room, and noticed that the boss was still laying on the floor, on the exact same place where he had landed. I then know he's dead. Dead for good. With the boss gone, the agency will soon scatter. So, our main problem is solved. No more scares, no more fear about them coming again. We are ourselves again. We are free to do as we please, as we always wanted to. Reiko sighs on my arms, and I can hear her whisper clearly: "It's finally over." She opens her beautiful eyes, and stares at me. I can see there are some tears on them, and I smile at her reassuringly. "Yes. It's finally over. As it should've been always." She smiles back at me, and closes her eyes again, too tired to say anything. But, her smile is enough for me to get everything she didn't say... a picture paints a thousand words they say... and it's true. The happiness that simple gesture showed could never be expressed in words... so I did what was obvious: I hugged her tightly, still not believing I had her back and forever.

At this time, when I am ready to leave, grief settles upon my heart. I look around the room again, drinking on every detail. It's true that whenever you leave your home, it hurts... it doesn't matter if it wasn't a very pleasant home... it was your home for a long time, and we humans tend to get attached to material things... as it's happening to me now. Reiko seems to have felt my sorrow, and raising, nestles her head on my shoulder. "You feel it too?" she says, her tone low as a whisper. "Yes," is what I say, and there's no need to say anything else. We both are feeling the same, and perfectly understand the other. "Hiro-chan, you think we can ever get over it?" Her question is the same thing that was troubling me. Aren't we going to miss this? The days when we were the most wanted ones of murderers, mercenaries and hired killers? When we could ran around buildings unnoticed? When we could feel the delight of fear and the pleasure of a well done mission? Indeed we will. It was a part of our lives, and that can never be changed. We will always remember this, and even yearn for these days to return... but the past is the past, I say to myself.

"Of course we will. And know why? Because all these memories will soon be erased by new ones of us together." She snuggles deeper against me, and I barely can hear her reply: "I trust you, Hiro-chan." Hmm, nice pet name she came out with. Hiro-chan? Sounds good to me. I close my eyes, and silently close the door for my past, and open the door for my future. "And I love you, Reiko-chan." I then walk outside, following the others footsteps. This was the end of it, and the beginning of another stage for us. I can fear what is to come, I can wonder if we will make it... but what I know for sure is that together, we will face it. And that is enough for me.