Desha's Reno of the Turks Fan Fiction

Chapter 43: Reprimanded

Reno frowned in annoyance, watching Rude’s leg as it vibrated, up and down, the heel of his foot tapping softly against the tile floor in an almost painful, at this point, rhythm. He sighed and leaned back in his chair, folding his hands behind his head.

“Fuck, man. Would ya relax? You’re gonna jackhammer a hole right through the damn floor ya keep that up much longer,” he said at last. The movement abruptly stilled and the other rookie looked up at him.

“Why aren’t you nervous?” Rude demanded.

“Tch… Come on. I know we –” The scowl shot at him from his friend’s direction caused him to pause and rephrase. “I, okay? I screwed up. Totally on me. But seriously… what’s the worst that’s gonna happen? We get put on some shit detail for a week or two? Or he turns Kai loose on us for extra training and she tries to kill us on the gauntlet like she does at least once a week anyway?”

His fellow teen snorted in derision. “You say that now…”

The redhead rolled his eyes and lazily spun his office chair in a slow circle.

“It’s not like they’re gonna kick our asses to the curb. I mean… six months ago, I mighta been a little worried about somethin’ like this, but now? I know I’m not gettin’ fired, and long as I can be reasonably certain I’m not on my way back to Sector 2, Tseng can inflict whatever hellish punishment on me he wants and I’ll take it. ‘Cause I can deal with anything, long as it’s not a one-way trip back down.”

The other rookie didn’t look especially convinced. But Reno was being perfectly frank. He could take any punishment… suffer any abuse… as long as it wasn’t that. And Tseng had promised him a long time ago that he’d never do that to him. It had taken some time, but eventually, the redhead had come to trust the the Turk lieutenant’s word. When he made a promise, he kept it.

“… ‘Sides,” he added with a smirk, “I don’t know what’s got you so freaked out, Mr. Perfect Record. You tried to stop me. If anyone’s in deep shit over this, it’s gonna be me.”

“Hmph… You’ve never been reprimanded by Tseng.”

Reno raised an eyebrow. “Bullshit. I lived with the guy for the better part of a year. You know damn well how much trouble I got into when he first brought me up here.”

Now, it seemed, it was Rude’s turn to smirk. And he took full advantage of it.

“You’ve never been formally reprimanded,” he amended.

“Neither have you, ya asshole,” he snickered. “You just let Sato tell ya one too many stories about what Tseng supposedly does to him when he fucks up.”

He heard a slightly manic giggle behind him and turned to see Kai, her short figure silhouetted in the open doorway of their office.

“Just keep telling yourself that, my little Turkling. You’re going to find out what it’s like shortly,” she said, grinning widely. She turned to Rude. “But… Tseng would like to see you first.” Her grin widened wolfishly. “Seniority and all, you know. So get a move on.”

Rude groaned and got to his feet, casting Reno a somewhat resigned look, and made his way past the senior Turk.

“Good luck! Try not to let him smell your fear!” Kai called over her shoulder. She giggled again and strolled into the office fully, taking up Rude’s recently vacated seat behind his desk. “Soooo… Are the rumors true?”

Reno snorted softly. “Which ones? If you’re talkin’ about what the girls on forty-eight are sayin’ about me… then yeah. They’re all true,” he replied with a suggestive leer.

“Oh, get over yourself,” Kai chuckled. “I meant did you and Rude really take off after a couple of Zenshou assholes, in the dark, without backup, and without telling anyone what you were up to?”

“… Maybe.”

The senior Turk shook her head.

“You’re a fucking moron.”

“Takes one to know one,” the redhead retorted, with a laugh.

“I’m serious. Those Zenshou guys fucking ruthless, and by the sound of things, we cost ’em some pretty nice merch that they probably already had a buyer for. You’re lucky they didn’t take it out of your backside. Plus… leaving Remy and Luca in the lurch like that? Dick move, kiddo. You can’t just run off like that, even if you probably aren’t gonna be needed.”

“For Ifrit’s sake, Kai… Tseng send ya in here to reprimand me for him or somethin’?”

“Oh, this is nothing compared to what Tseng’s gonna do to you,” she snickered. “I’m just taking the opportunity to say my piece before he tears into you. And I’m warning you right now… you better not ever pull that shit on my watch.”

“… Alright… I get it, already,” the redhead sighed. “I fucked up. Lesson learned.”

“Hope so. ‘Cause that’s one lesson you’ll need to remember for the rest of your career as a Turk. Rookies that forget it tend to end up dead.”

Reno sighed internally. He wished the others would stop reiterating that point. He knew what he’d done was dumb… and dangerous… and inherently selfish. And, to be fair, he knew he was being a little flippant about it when the others came in and berated him for it – Kai was the third person to do so since they’d gotten home – but he really did get it. He was going to be careful not to let it happen again. He didn’t need to be constantly reminded of the fact that he’d come somewhat frighteningly close to not returning from Icicle Inn.

He was pretty sure his dreams would be doing an excellent job of that for the next few nights, anyway, if last night was any indication. To say he hadn’t slept well was an understatement. He’d been haunted by images of that dark figure watching him from the alley after they’d been granted their reprieve. It still sent shivers down his spine every now and then even while he was awake. The worst part was that he’d never really gotten a good look at the male Zenshou, so in his dreams, he was still a faceless, menacing shadow. It creeped him right the hell out.

Kai stood up and tussled his hair as she walked past him, to which Reno responded with a vaguely annoyed glare.

“And get a haircut, will ya?” she teased, as she tugged gently on his pony tail. By now, it reached just above his shoulders. “Seriously… the resemblance to your mentor is starting to get a little weird.”

“Ya know… the girls on forty-eight all love my hair,” he shot back. “Can’t get enough of it.”

“No accounting for taste,” Kai grinned, slipping out the door. “But for the record… It’s a kinda makes you look like a girl.”

“Tch… then how come you never hit on me? Thought you were into chicks,” he called after her retreating form.

“Told ya before…” he heard her say, already halfway down the hall, “I prefer blondes.”

Reno gave a loud snort of irritation and rolled his eyes. He didn’t give a shit what Kai thought. Besides… he’d learned a long time ago that there were a surprising number of women who were really into guys that weren’t huge and buffed out, with slightly more delicate features. And more than a few them were seriously turned on by redheads. If growing his hair out got him laid more often – which it certainly didn’t seem to hurt, at least – he’d grow it down to his goddamn waist if he could manage it.

He sighed and leaned back in his chair, wondering when Tseng would be finished with Rude. He kind of just wanted to get this over with. Not that getting back to training had any particular appeal to him, but he’d been overly lazy since moving out just a few days ago… and unexpectedly restless because of it. He’d always been a little high-energy, but now that he was regularly eating three meals a day – and consuming an obscene amount of caffeine in the mornings – his energy levels by the time he was fully awake were off the charts. A few days without his normal workout routine, and he was quickly finding himself growing desperate to move around and burn some of it off.

Thankfully, he didn’t have to wait long. About five minutes later, Rude walked through the door, looking as thought he’d just gone through a war. Reno raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

“… Fuck, man. What’d he do to ya?”

Rude just shook his head. “He wants to see you now.”

Reno suddenly wasn’t quite so eager to get this over with.

---

“Come in,” Tseng replied to the somewhat tentative knock on his office door. It opened a crack… just wide enough to admit a familiar figure. “Close the door behind you.”

He heard an almost inaudible sigh as the redhead obeyed the command, and saw Reno visibly wince at the loud click as it latched shut. Had the subject not been so serious, he might have been tempted to chuckle a little at the behavior. Apparently, like Rude, someone had ‘warned’ him about the horrors of a formal reprimand ahead of time.

He strongly suspected Sato. Or perhaps Kai. Both Turks occasionally had a slightly sadistic streak, particularly when it came to teasing the younger members of the team. He’d actually thought Rude was going to faint at one point.

“Sit,” he commanded, nodding to the chair in front of his desk, and his protege silently took a seat. Tseng leaned forward, elbows resting on top of the desk, and steepled his fingers before him, gazing at the teenager appraisingly. For several moments, he simply let that gaze linger. It was one of his favorite interrogation tactics, and never failed to make his subject feel ill at ease.

And it certainly wasn’t failing now. Reno shifted uncomfortably in his seat, dropping his eyes to the floor, occasionally daring a glance up to see if Tseng was still staring at him and immediately looking back down when he saw that he was. At last, the Turk lieutenant took a deep breath and began.

“I believe Remy has already expressed her displeasure over your behavior during the mission to Icicle Inn. I will do the same in due course. But first… Explain yourself,” he said, darkly.

Reno swallowed sharply and opened his mouth to speak. On the first attempt, no sound came out, and Tseng had to resist the urge to smirk. That tone of voice was always effective but it seldom literally rendered someone speechless.

“… We… I saw someone watchin’ the same door me ‘n Rude were s’posed to be watchin’,” the rookie managed at last. “I figured they had to be the assholes our guy was there to meet so… I went after ’em. Rude just followed me in case my ass needed savin’. It wasn’t his idea.”

He had to admit, he was a little impressed. Most people would go out of their way to spread the blame around in situations like this. Reno seemed almost eager to take it all on himself. Granted, he was far more at fault than the other rookie, but it was still admirable.

“What were you thinking?” he demanded. Reno ducked his head and mumbled something. “Speak up. And look at me when you do.”

“… Yes, sir,” the rookie replied, cautiously raising his gaze to meet the Wutaiian’s. He swallowed again. “I said… I wasn’t thinkin’. Sir. Or… at least I wasn’t thinkin’ about what I shoulda been thinkin’ about.”

“I see. And just what were you thinking about?”

Tseng could actually see Reno making the effort not to look away from him. He seemed to be having an easier time of it than Rude had… but by a slim margin. Eye contact was intimidating. That was one of the earliest lessons Veld had ever taught him and one that he’d never forgotten. It was effective in an interrogation… and it was, perhaps, even more effective for disciplining a rookie.

Reno’s shoulders sagged.

“That… if I caught ’em… I could prove that I didn’t need to sit around headquarters just… training… all the time. That I know what I’m doin’. That… I dunno. That maybe I’m ready for my own assignment once in awhile instead of just followin’ everyone else around like a fuckin’ puppy.”

That very nearly broke Tseng’s mask of abject disapproval. It had been years… but he’d expressed much the same sentiment to Veld once. During his first formal reprimand. One that had been wholly deserved. Really, it had been nothing short of brutal at the time, though looking back, Veld had actually gone fairly easy on him, all things considered. Particularly given how much grief he’d had to take from Heidegger when the bill for the damage had come in.

“And so, to that end, you decided to ignore your orders, leave the rest of your team without backup, and race off into an unsecured area, in the dark, after two – or potentially more – subjects, putting both yourself and your partner in danger. In doing so, you failed to notice yourself being flanked, and as a result, you were ambushed. Does that about sum up this idiotic debacle?”

Reno nervously cleared his throat. “Er… Y-yes, sir.”

“I hope you realize the extent of just how utterly foolish that was.”

“Yes, sir.”

“You could have been killed.”

“I know, sir.”

“Rude could have been killed because of you.”

The redhead did drop his gaze again at that statement, sinking down lower in his seat… no easy task, given that Tseng had intentionally replaced the comfortable chair that normally sat there with a hard-backed, unpadded wooden one borrowed from one of the interrogation rooms.

The guilt on his rookie’s face was unmistakeable… as he’d expected it to be. He’d long-since determined that Reno was, by nature, a protector. He’d allow himself to be hurt before he allowed anything bad to befall someone else. He’d seen it a number of times already… prehaps most recently in Kalm when he’d let himself fall through the ice in favor of pushing Rufus to safety.

“… I know, sir,” the rookie finally replied, and this time Tseng didn’t force him to look up. He doubted he’d have even been able to if he tried.

“You’re not yet ready to take the lead on an assignment. Not by a long shot. I think this incident more than proves that,” Tseng continued. “Reno… you cannot give orders until you learn to follow orders.”

“Yes, sir,” he answered, quietly. “… I’m sorry.”

“Very well. I think I’ve made my point. You may go.”

The redhead scrambled to his feet eager to retreat from Tseng’s relentless stare. Just as he reached the door, Tseng smirked slightly.

“One more thing,” the Wutaiian Turk called after him, and the rookie’s hand froze a fraction of an inch from the doorknob. He turned back slowly to face his mentor, very obviously fearing the worst.

“Yes, sir?”

“Traditionally, I would be withholding this information until Friday evening… mostly out of pity, to limit your suffering. But I think, under the circumstances, you’ve earned a little extra punishment.”

“S-sir?” Reno queried, nervously. Tseng smiled, and by the expression on his rookie’s face, it had come across exactly the way he’d wanted it to.

---

Rude didn’t look up immediately when the door to his and Reno’s office opened. He was finishing up a report for Tres in an effort to stop thinking about his own conversation with the Turk lieutenant.

“… How bad was it?” he asked. When his friend’s only answer was the soft squeek of him slowly planting himself in the office chair behind his desk he glanced up… and his eyes widened slightly. “Reno?”

The teenager was pale. Well… paler than usual, at any rate. Reno was always a shade that somewhat resembled porcelain, owing both to his naturally fair skin and a lifetime spent out of the sun. The other rookie stood up and rounded his desk, coming over to check on him.

“Reno?” he repeated, a little concerned. “What’s wrong?”

The redhead slowly looked up at him.

“He did it to torture me,” he replied, a slightly shell-shocked expression on his face.

“What?” Rude prodded, “Reno… what is it? Are you in more trouble than we thought over this?”

He silently shook his head in the negative.

“Then what?”

“… Hell Week,” he finally replied. “It’s startin’ on Monday. He told me now. Just so I’d have the whole fuckin’ rest of the week to drive myself nuts about it… And he ordered me to tell ya that you’re not to discuss it with me. Like at all.”

Rude whistled softly and gave the younger teen’s shoulder a squeeze.

“And I thought my reprimand was bad.”

~end chapter 43~