Superhuman
Who Is This Raven-Haired Boy?
All I could see in front of me was a smeared canvas. My eyes only captured the blurry outlines of each distinct person that meandered about me. I brought my trembling hand up to my face. I could hardly see that either. My long, dark tresses were wet and I was beginning to shiver. I stood cemented in place for a few more moments before a shrill sound pierced my ears. Turning to the sound's origins I could barely make out the figure of my swimming coach, Kurenai, standing beside me.
"Two more laps Hyuuga, and then you can go." I heard her order. I nodded and then dove back into the frigid pool. My skin suddenly felt numb as I was engulfed by the icy water. Soon, I broke the surface and began swimming around the pool's edge while taking in the occasional gust of air. I wasn't wearing my goggles so my eyes began to burn from the heavily chlorinated pool. I finished my laps quickly, and when I did I swiftly pulled myself back onto the tiled floor.
"Hinata! That was so fast!" I heard the padding of feet approach me from behind. My vision was still clouded, but by the voice, I could already tell it was my friend Kiba. I turned around and smiled at his blur of a head.
"When did you get here?" I asked, having not noticed my friend's entrance. But who could blame me? I was practically half blind at the moment and it was noisy after all. I stood up and walked towards the benches to retrieve my trusty sports bag and towel with my rambunctious friend following suit.
"I got here the minute you jumped into that ice pit. Your coach was eager to kick me out though, but she's gone now." He answered.
"Oh, I see." I nodded my head thoughtfully. "What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be at Track?" The voices of all the other people continued to echo around the pool room.
"Aren't you quick to the point? Here," he placed a slip of paper into my still wet palm. "The principle wants to see you after practice."
"What for?" I mentally raised an eyebrow as I slipped the paper into the pocket of my bag.
"I don't know. She probably wants to put you in detention because you always get straight A's and win the swim meets." Kiba joked.
"I didn't win the last swim meet," I muttered.
"Don't kill yourself over it." Kiba said. He paused for a moment before saying, "You guys should get new bathing suits, the ones you have now are so ugly."
"What's so bad about black? You can't go wrong with that. Plus, it looks fine with Hinata's pretty gray eyes." Someone said from behind me.
"Hey, Little Miss Prom Queen," Kiba chanted. I turned around to see a bobbing ball of pink advance towards us.
"Don't say that. Prom isn't until a month from now. I guess I can count on your vote though, huh?" The ball of pink giggled before turning to me. "Hello, Hinata."
"Hello, Sakura." I greeted softly.
She placed her hand on my shoulder and said, "Let's get changed, practice is over anyway."
I nodded my head in agreement before telling Kiba good-bye. Sakura and I dashed over to the girls' locker room entrance, creeping past those who chose to linger and cautiously avoiding any potential slips or falls. Once inside the small room, we went towards our individual lockers to begin changing.
"Whew! I am so glad practice is over." Sakura groaned while drying her shoulder-length, bubblegum-pink hair that provided for the floating ball illusion earlier. "That pool is always so cold! With all the advanced technology we have now, you'd wonder why they haven't fixed the heater already. We have rotating skyscrapers but we don't have adequate heaters! Blegh!"
I stuck my hand inside my bag as I reached for my contacts case. I began putting them on when Sakura started talking again. "I can't wait 'til we get out of here. Spring break is just outside of this school's walls. Do you want to hang out at my place when we leave?"
I blinked my final contact into place. I turned to my now distinguishable pink-haired companion and said, "Actually, the principle wants to see me before I leave."
Confusion flashed through Sakura's emerald green eyes before fading in an instant. "It's probably nothing important." She shrugged, flipping her hair back for emphasis.
"I suppose not." I wrapped a large towel around my body and then strategically removed the wet bathing suit from underneath before proceeding to fit on my white sundress and the rest of my attire. Stepping into my sandals, I pulled my bag onto my shoulder and walked towards the door that led into the gym hallways.
"I'll see you after break!" I called out to Sakura before exiting the locker room. I strolled through the hallways, navigating my way to the principle's office. A few more left turns, a climb up a staircase, and one moment of feeling lost later, I was standing in front of a secretary's desk. The woman looked fairly young. She would have looked pleasant if it were not for the scowl on her face.
She looked up at me and said, "Your hair's wet."
I felt somewhat inferior and scratched the back of my head. "W-well, I-I had swimming practice." I stuttered. I gulped down dry air and continued with a bit of reestablished confidence. "Um, the principle wants to see me, I'm Hinata Hyuuga."
"She's in there. Just walk in." The frowning lady nodded over to a door that was a few feet away from her desk.
"Th-Thank you." I offered with another loss of confidence. In a few quick strides, I found myself in a nice, large, well-lit office. A few meters ahead, I saw a woman with long blond hair scribbling something down onto paper. I cleared my throat to signal my arrival and she looked at me.
"May I help you?" She asked with professional poise.
"Um, you wanted to see me." I replied.
"Ah yes, Hinata Hyuuga, correct?" She put her pen down and continued, "Actually, Ms. Hyuuga, I don't really have too much to tell you except that someone is waiting for you outside. Your father sent them, I believe. I'm sure you'll know who they are."
"Okay. Thank you." I turned on my heels and slipped out of the office. I snuck past the seemingly miserable secretary and avoided her intimidating gaze. My trip through the school took longer than I would have suspected. My footsteps bounced on the walls of the hall as I pushed through the front doors.
A cascade of warmth spread over my skin. It was a nice contrast compared to earlier. The sun still beat high above me against the blue sky. I smiled to myself. It felt so nice.
"Excuse me, are you Hinata Hyuuga?" I was snapped out of my thoughts when I heard a woman's voice approach me. I scanned my surroundings and spotted her climbing up the steps. She was slim, and to accompany her stick-like figure her face was thin as well. Her dark hair fell barely past her chin and it seemed to reflect tinges of blue in the sunlight. Her amber eyes stared directly into mine.
"Yes." I answered. I tilted my head to the side and blinked at her in confusion. She halted a foot away from me and extended her hand towards me, leaving it hanging in the air.
"It's nice to meet you Miss Hyuuga. My name is Konan." I looked at her outstretched hand for a few more seconds before looking at her face. I couldn't help but stare at the piercing under her bottom lip.
My stares went unnoticed. "Oh! I'm sorry." She brought her hand up to her lips to cover her piercing though she didn't seem embarrassed like I was for being caught staring.
"Huh? No! I'm sorry, I shouldn't have stared." I lifted my gaze and looked into her eyes, which were heavily applied with makeup, as I felt a faint blush color my face.
"It's fine." She straightened her back and her expression became serious. Another surge of inferiority swept over me as I stood beneath her gaze. She continued, "Miss Hyuuga, I would like for you to come with me please. There is car waiting for the two of us just down the street. Your father, Hiashi, sent me to pick you up."
So my father is at another business meeting, I thought. Usually he would pick me up after school unless he was called away for work. I nodded my head at her and she began to walk away. I followed her off the school grounds to a sleek, black car that was parked on the side of the cobblestone road. She opened the back door and gestured for me to get inside. I acted accordingly and slid into the back seat. Konan slid inside after me and shut the door.
"You're not going to drive?" I questioned her curiously.
"That is taken care of." She told me. She pulled a small device from her pocket and tapped it with her fingers. Immediately, a holographic screen appeared from the small contraption. She tapped the screen and a keyboard popped up. So it wasn't holographic, huh? She punched in a few letters and turned the device off. The car immediately jolted forward, driving automatically. I looked at her with puzzled eyes.
Sensing my bewilderment, she turned to me and said, "This vehicle is one of the more advanced prototypes of its kind. The latest edition you could say. There are a lot more features to it, but those aren't necessary right now. I understand that you may be a little shocked, after all, Konoha hasn't fully indulged itself in these technologies like other cities have."
I understood exactly what she was saying. At this time, the world has become immersed in so many advance technologies. Many cities were now giant networks of machines with minds of their own. Only a few places remained isolated from the growing world of machinery. Konoha was one of them. It was a waterfront city with cobblestone paths, canals and beige, clay buildings. It was a work of art as far as its architecture went. Even though our town didn't look like a giant block of metal, it imported and exported several different technologies like cell phones that you could just fit in your ear or sun glasses that were pretty much portable computers. Konoha was just as advanced as other cities, only it wasn't fully immersed in them like Konan said. As I thought it over, I realized that my father never mentioned buying one of these cars. I looked at Konan questioningly for a second, but she didn't notice. I decided to dismiss the thought.
I stared at passing buildings and people as the car continued to cruise along the road, stopping every now and then for each blinking of red, yellow, or green. Konan and I remained silent and I barely paid attention to where the car was going. The ride home was longer than I anticipated, we were still in the car and it had already been half an hour. I could have walked home in only twenty minutes! That was when I started to notice that we were driving towards the edge of the city, which was most definitely not where my home was. I turned to Konan with a worried look but she paid no heed. The car came to a smooth stop. I looked outside and found that I was not familiar with this area of Konoha.
"Miss Hyuuga."
I turned to Konan, who had stepped out of the car, with eyes full of distraught. I had no idea what we were doing here.
"Th-This isn't w-where I live." I told her.
"I know that." She replied. My breath caught in my throat as I began fearing the worse. This was all a sham! Was I being kidnapped? Was this some sort of murder attempt? Maybe I was going to be held for ransom!
"Please, don't be afraid." Konan said calmly. "You won't be hurt. All we need is your full cooperation."
We? So there were more of them? I felt my heart race in my chest. It felt like it was going to pop out.
"Can you step out of the car Miss Hyuuga?" Konan asked.
"You s-said my f-father sent you!" I pointed my finger at her accusingly but my voice didn't possess the edge I was hoping for. My words came out in a faint whisper and my head began to feel dizzy.
"No, I'm afraid not. I understand what I said before Miss Hyuuga and I'm sorry for deceiving you, but you won't be harmed I assure you." She continued to speak in a calm voice and without a choice; I slipped out of the car with my belongings in hand. I kept my eyes on the ground for a moment. When I looked up, without a chance to react, I saw Konan reach towards my face with a small object in her hand. I felt something cold touch my forehead and suddenly, everything went black.
...
...
...
My eyes fluttered open and light glared menacingly into them. My head was in a daze and I found that I could barely move. I seemed to be laying down on a cold surface. I could feel the chill on my skin.
"She's awake." It was Konan's voice. Two figures loomed above me. They were fuzzy at first, but soon they came into focus. One of them was Konan and the other was a man with a very pale and gaunt face and think, red hair.
"Excellent." The man said. He turned to me with an observant look. "She's smaller than I thought she would be."
I tried to speak up but, my mouth had trouble forming words. I only choked on my breath.
"She can't talk." The man observed.
"It's only a side affect. She'll regain her voice soon enough." Konan told him. She took her turn to examine me and said, "Sorry about this Miss Hyuuga. The effects of the APHYX will reside momentarily. We had to make you unconscious in order to keep our location confidential."
"Konan, pull up her file." The man ordered. Konan nodded her head and went off somewhere. I heard her heels click-clack on the floor as she walked away.
"Hello, Miss Hyuuga." The skeletal man greeted me. "Sorry for the inconvenience. Like Konan has already said, it was simply to keep our location confidential."
I looked at him with fear. I wanted to crawl away and hide but my body wouldn't budge.
"Nagato." Konan was back and she was holding the same device she used earlier in the car in her hand. The same 'holographic' screen was being projected from the contraption.
"Thank you, Konan." The Nagato character took the device from the thin women and continued, "Hinata Hyuuga. Age seventeen. Currently a junior at Konoha High. Straight A's, member of the swim team, daughter of Hiashi Hyuuga, CEO of Hyuuga Corp."
Did they really know that much about me? I tried to move again. This time I could curl my fingers a little but my limbs were still immovable.
"You make an excellent candidate." The man nodded.
"An excellent c-candidate for what?" My voice sounded raspy but I was glad that it was back.
The man simply smiled, then said, "Candidate for a handler."
I continued to stare into the glaring light above me.
"If you want to know what that is, I'll have to explain a few things first." The man stated matter-of-factly.
"W-What are those things?" At this point, my 'paralysis' seemed to have melted away. I slowly brought my arm up to my face to shield my eyes from the light. My limbs felt like jello and I fumbled a bit until I was finally able to sit up. I noticed that I was sitting on a metal table. An operating table? I shuddered at the thought. I could see my reflection on its surface. So, I was still in one piece, according to what I saw.
"Miss Hyuuga."
I flinched. I had almost forgotten that I was in an unfamiliar place, stuck with two strangers... Maybe even more. I darted my eyes around the room, but there were no others.
"What am I doing here?" Fear was still evident in me voice. Surely I was still in one whole piece but, what if things didn't stay that way for long?
"We are recruiting you to be a handler." Konan answered in an apathetic tone.
I opened my mouth but I wasn't able to get a single word out because Nagato began speaking before I had a chance.
"Miss Hyuuga," He cleared his throat and continued, "We are an organization involved in the science of robotic technologies. If you think you've regained enough strength to walk, please come with me. There's something I would like to show you."
I could only stare, something I had been doing a lot in the past few hours. I didn't want a part in this... thing they were doing, but I slid off the metal table in consent. Konan and Nagato led me outside the room into a hallway where I followed them to an elevator. From there, we entered another hallway and they brought me to a large metal door.
"I'm sure you will be quite fascinated about what we will be showing you." Nagato said. He placed his palm flat on the doors surface. I furrowed my brow at his action. Suddenly, a screen appeared on the large, metal frame. Letters scrolled quickly across the screen before diminishing. The screen began to blink green. Then the giant door slid open.
Nagato turned to me, "It was reading my DNA sequence. It's pretty low-grade technology, but it's enough to keep this room secure. Follow me please."
All I could do was blink. Konan placed her hand on my back and led me inside. My jaw dropped and my eyes lit in awe as my gaze landed across the room. There, I saw a dark-haired boy. He seemed to be laying in a capsule of some sort. Wires were connected to the contraption that he lay in. Inside, thin dark rods of metal framed every limb of his body. His eyes were closed, he appeared to be in a deep sleep. He looked so peaceful, but his breathing was labored, coming out in harsh quick gusts. A few patches with attached wires were placed along the sides of his forehead. A large monitor hung on the wall on the other side of the room and the beeping of the machinery filled my ears.
"Wha--" But that was all that I managed to let out. My mouth couldn't even form words to express my awe and surprise.
"His name is Sasuke Uchiha." I turned to Nagato as he spoke. "Last year or maybe even two years ago, he suffered in a near-fatal car accident. Truthfully, he would be dead by now if we hadn't gotten into the picture. He sustained multiple injuries: broken bones, severe wounds, burns, and several contusions to the head. He was a wreck. It was alot of work, but we did fix him up quite nicely, no?"
I agreed with Nagato, the boy looked like he barely even suffered a paper cut his entire life. His skin was absolutely flawless.
"He was brought here by someone who would prefer to remain anonymous. It seems that normal doctors weren't able to help to him. It was a desperate plea actually. I would have refused at first, but the staff at the hospital decided to run a few tests to document his condition. I'm glad they did. They had decided to take a neurological test. When I looked through his file, I noticed that they found a profound amount of activity in the brain." As Nagato spoke, I noticed that I had trouble following his story. What did any of it have to do with me?
"Prior to this wonderful find," Nagato said, gesturing towards the boy, "this organization of ours decided to undertake a project in engineering a robotic alternative in surgery to, give second chances to those who are limited in life. This project also seems to reduce mortality as it is. It came as someone's request and we consented. Basically we were to develop synthetic bodies that humans can tap into, bodies that they can control from anywhere around the world. However, we found trouble finding humans who fit the part of a 'host', host being the term because they harbor the mind to drive the 'android'. Being a host is harder than one could anticipate. It involves a lot of mental strength and we had a difficult time finding a way to connect the human mind to the android's system."
I turned to look at Nagato as he continued to pace around the room. "Well," he continued, "That's when I came up with a brilliant idea. We invented a stimulator that resembles the world exactly how it is. This stimulator is transmitted into the brain of our subjects where they are able to touch, smell, and hear exactly what is around then. The world is supposed to feed them with this kind of information. They in turn respond to these external forces, that is, that is what they would do if this system was flawless. It is still a little faulty. Our neurological receptors aren't as sensitive as we would like them to be. Miss Hyuuga, we have discovered all we need to know about gravity, magnetism, and electricity and we have been able to put them into so many uses. However, the human mind is difficult to unlock, its secrets still manage to elude us despite our greatest efforts. We built all the machinery we needed, the robotic body the stimulator and a few other things, but we were missing the right mind to use."
"Now with this boy… he seemed to be our good luck charm. The accident put him in a coma-induced state. His body still maintains its basic functions, despite it being immobile. His heart beats, his lungs breathe, but his mind has been locked away somewhere in the darkness that shrouds him. Also, on top of that, a number of his muscles seem to be failing at the moment – paralyzed, to say the least. But, like I said, his neurological activity is very impressive, just as a desperate attempt, we put him into the system we developed and it worked. Though, we thought it was going to end in disappointment like our other tests, after a while the android body began to move in correspondence with the activity in the boy's brain. Since then, we've found several more hosts and it has been smooth flowing. Several of our android models have already been sent out, but we kept this boy's for safe keeping. It seems that due to his head injuries, the brain has surpressed almost all memory of his life. We figured that after trying to interact with his android body. It acts almost like a lost child, other subjects have functioned quite well, all of the hosts' memories and actions have been introduced to those bodies with no problems. Our androids were sent out on their own, that is until, one of our androids was destroyed due to some... trouble cause by a human a few months ago. We've been recruiting Handlers since."
"I suppose that you still don't understand as much as I would like, however, you will in time. Hyuuga Hinata, eighteen-years-old, straight A student, shy and very quiet, received many awards for artistic abilities and swimming, correct?"I nodded still unable to speak. "Miss Hyuuga, you have been recruited by our organization to serve as a Handler. Your job is to manage one of our many selections of androids. You must not reveal this project to anyone. It is strictly confidential. If you do happen to speak a word about this, let's just say, there will be consequences." He brought his hand to tap at the back of his neck as he smiled at me. I was confused by this. Was it some sort of code? "It won't be an easy task," he continued, "but we feel that you have great potential in succeeding in this program."
I finally found my voice again. "Wait, why me? I don't know anything at all about this kind of thing: robots, mechanics… Why couldn't you choose someone more knowledgeable in this field?"
"We have been involved in this project for many years and we have gone through many different steps before arriving to this point. We actually operated on human subjects to give them robotic body parts... but... those didn't work out too well. A lot of thought was put into choosing our Handlers, and we have chosen a select few and that happens to include you."
"So... what... what are the terms of being a Handler?" I questioned.
"It's best that you stay with your android partner at all times. That is what I strictly advise." Nagato responded.
"And my father?" That was a matter left unsolved.
"Fortunately for us, he will be on an extensive business trip this month. Actually, your android will pose as a foreign exchange student under your hospitality. We'll just make up a form and send it to your father, in case he chooses to return home early."
"Do you think that would work?" I had troubling this believing this plan would go through well.
"So I take you accept the role as a Handler?" Nagato arched a brow.
This is what it all came down to.
I slowly nodded my head. "Wha—Who's android will I have?"
Nagato smiled and turned back to the dark-haired boy.
I slowly walked across the room, past Konan and Nagato, towards the 'sleeping' boy. A panel of glass on the capsule was the only thing that separated me from him. I slowly put my hand on it and peered at the boy. I took in the seemingly silky ebony hair that fell over his porcelain skin, the straight nose, his heaving chest, and the pale lips that seemed to be set into a frown. So, the beginning of my 'adventure' would begin with the boy who seemed to start it all?
[Roll Credits]
Written by Starry Deluge
Editted by Neon Light Show
Inspired by a host of things!
Feedback appreciated. :)