A/N: I know, I know; another story? But yes, of course XD. Due to certain things, this'll be a main story, dropping some others to the back burner.
Anyway, I'm leaving the rating to the readers. If you want it to go up because y'all want more stuff, then sure. I'll do that.
Dr. Faker could come off as a harsh man, a cruel monster, or an uncaring parent. However, it was all an act to deter his oldest son from becoming what his father was. Faker did not wish the fate he himself had been assigned to onto his own son, especially with the younger blonde hitting the age where signs were imminent that this was Kaito's fate. But still, Faker chose to hide the largest secret of the Tenjo family form both Haruto and Kaito, hoping an entirely different future for them. Unfortunately, there were signs that the eldest Tenjo boy was starting to come of age; and Faker was doing everything to stop the change.
Kaito was not fond of the sudden attention his father was giving him. Haruto was the one who needed such care more, yet Faker seemed troubled whenever the Photon user was in the vicinity. The younger blonde, of course, did what his dad told him to do, albeit with a lot of resistance in some situations (especially the no meat rule; Kaito longed for a steak every now and then). But for hell's sakes, he was nineteen. He didn't have to follow Faker's ridiculous orders. But Haruto would look down upon such harsh actions against the old man, so Kaito begrudgingly did everything that was asked. Faker looked relieved with this new regimen, but something just did not settle with the eldest Tenjo son.
His father was hiding something. And he knew it was something life changing…
The old scientist hoped his research on what his son was becoming would help stop such a horrible fate, using women discarded on the street to hopefully find some answers. Byron, and occasionally Kazuma, would pop by. Oh, yes, those two knew exactly what the Tenjo family was; after all, Kazuma and Byron both had problems of the same nature within their families, even though Chris had yet to exhibit the symptoms and the other boys were still too young to even realize what was happening to them. Still there was nothing that could be had with anyone; and Faker was running out of time. The doc was even considering the woman who was betrothed legally and permanently to Kaito as soon as he came to age, but she was awfully busy with preparing herself for the union of her and the young blonde that she would only answer to Faker's calls if Kaito's true abilities arose.
It was quiet tonight, the scientist noted, almost too quiet. His sons were probably asleep at such a late time of night, but Kaito was more likely to be awake; yet another bad omen. Byron, unfortunately and permanently sealed in his Tron form, gazed carefully at his friend from a nearby computer. A frown was etched into the man-child's face; Faker was thinking quite hard about the issues of his lineage instead of the subject at hand.
"Oi, Faker," Byron called, hopping off his computer and approaching his friend. The old blonde sighed heavily and moved his gaze to the tiny boy approaching from the side.
"Yes?" Faker drew a hand through his hair, ending up pulling a chunk of blonde with it. He hissed through his teeth and discreetly disposed of the hair.
Byron crossed his arms. "For god's sakes, maybe you should pull your head out of the ground for a moment and just think about what is here in the present." Of course, the man-turned-child was mad, but not for the reasons most would assume. This was his closest friend, for crying out loud. Knowing what the rest of the city was going to do if Kaito did not take after his father, and said father was trying to prevent the action from happening, Byron had to smack the guy back into his right mind instead of stand by and watch as everything crumbled.
"I am." Well, to a point, he was. Faker was not in a mood to discuss the politics of this strict, yet old-fashioned, city. However, he knew how dire it was that he had an heir succeed him and carry on the legacy of the Tenjo family. After all, their line was of the purest and most ancient; last thing they needed was for the whole goddamn aristocracy to start dirtying the reputation. But then, there was Kaito, who had already gone through enough shit to last two entire lifetimes. He did not need the weight of an entire world on his shoulders, especially a world that was falling to shambles and that only existed within the confines of Heartland City.
"Faker, Kaito will have to deal with becoming a leader eventually," Byron stated, placing his gloved hand upon the older man's shoulder. "He will not like it, and neither will you. However, he is nineteen; the signals of what he is will start to show. Who knows? Maybe he will be like Chris, and not have the symptoms for years." He cleared his throat, releasing his grip and backing away slightly, but never dropping his gaze. "Kaito is, however, your heir; he does not have a choice other than leading this city."
Faker watched as Byron left the platform, hopping down to the ground before travelling to the computer which had gone into Sleep Mode due to not being used. The man-child was right, and unfortunately so. However, the old scientist was still going to do everything within his power in order to keep Kaito from all the bullshit hidden inside Heartland City.
Hopefully, Kaito would be able to live a few more years without knowing what he truly was.
Byron was busily conversing with the computer, telling various programs to cooperate with colourful threats that would probably hurt a woman's ears. However, with their current subject unresponsive for the time being, it didn't exactly matter how much the two men cursed. They had to figure out if this woman, close to becoming a full-fledged adult, could have the process of doing so stopped. Unfortunately, the scientists were low on time, and this woman was probably the last experiment they could perform before shit hit the fan.
Faker sighed harder, rubbing at his dull violet eyes. He was exhausted, and it had been forever since he had eaten properly. If Haruto knew of the condition his father was in, there would be a tough scolding and the forcing of cereal or oatmeal in the man's future. Of course, Haruto's future, similar to his brother's, could not be avoided either, even if the boy was only seven years old. But Haruto's fate could wait; Kaito's situation was far more serious and there was less time to be had with it.
The woman lying on the examination table in the middle of the room (which had once displayed the coordinates of dimensional portals; since Chris had taken up that project, the projector had been moved elsewhere) was young, possibly Kaito's age, maybe a little older. She was close to becoming an adult; however, she appeared to be malnourished beyond acceptable standards, and the outcome of such treatment had seemed to seal her fate to die as soon as the time came for her to mature. However, Faker planned to keep her at the Tower until she was able to be on her own again. He did not condone the mistreatment of these poor women; at least, he didn't consider his experiments immoral, and neither did the subjects he had tested on. It was for a good cause; and the females accepted that they were serving a duty for their leader, even if they didn't comprehend why he was performing such tests.
"Her vitals are stable, finally," Byron spoke after a few more minutes of trying to get his technology to work with him. "Shall we start this dose now?"
"Yes," the old man confirmed. His friend initiated the injection sequence. Faker had to admit that, even after all his years of doing these kinds of things to others, it still disturbed him to see the robotic arm come from the ceiling above, and inject the poor woman with a serum that would either halt her maturing or fail to do a single thing whatsoever. The female didn't seem to mind, or even notice, the needle piercing her arm several times, making sure that the concoction got deep into her bloodstream. After several minutes of this, the arm pulled back, allowing the raw skin at the crook of her elbow time to heal. Byron disengaged the program with a few curses, and went over to the woman, using a stool to stand on, and checked the piercings in her skin.
"All is well, Faker," spoke the masked scientist. His friend gazed uncertainly at the woman, who was still asleep, and would stay that way for a few hours more. "Should we move her to her own quarters now?"
"Have one of the nurses do so," the old man replied, standing from his seat near a massive amount of controls and highly advanced technical equipment. "I also want staff to monitor her closely."
Byron nodded. "Don't fret, Faker. Hopefully this will turn up some useful results."
Faker dropped his gaze to the floor, sadness somehow managing to seep deeper into his soul. "Yeah… hopefully."
…
…
Kaito found himself wide awake, despite the time nearing one in the morning. Currently, he was pacing around in one of the kitchens the Tower housed; his mind was racing with thoughts of impending doom, as if someone—or something—were out to get him. He hadn't a clue as to why he was so paranoid, but he had an aching feeling that it was relating to the strange occurrences he had been noticing as of late. For one thing, his father was being allusive as of late. Which was nothing new, but the time periods were getting longer and closer together. Kaito hardly ever saw Faker anymore, and it was a definite shock, especially after the War. Oh, and another thing: Kaito was beginning to notice that his cravings for meat (approaching rare and, when he was hungrier than per usual, completely raw) were stronger than he'd ever felt before. Sure, he'd restrained from eating meat for years in the past, especially when he had been hunting Numbers, but it had never gotten this bad. The blonde found himself occasionally staring at raw hamburger patties in the supermarket for minutes on end, wondering what it would be like to actually eat something that had come from a living being, without cooking it. It disgusted him, yet he couldn't help but comply slightly with his instincts.
Which sort of explained why he had parked his ass right outside the freezer and was staring into the confines of the white metal monster which held the shit he had been contemplating about for the better part of the month. Of course, he was considering just ripping a package out of the freezer and letting it defrost so he could test his theory out, but that would be going against his father's wishes and he didn't want to disappoint his brother with rebellious actions. Their little family was starting to become a family, and Kaito's teenage actions, which had yet to leave him, would fracture what fraction of trust the three had with each other.
That steak was looking pretty good right about now.
Shaking his head, the blonde stepped away from the chilly appliance and slammed the door shut. He was exhausted; yeah, that explained it. Recuperating from whatever the hell the Numeron Code had done to revive him was one trip he would like to get over, and quickly. At least he was grateful to be back with all of his friends and family. Thinking about it now, he was an asshole for having left Haruto, and Faker, and everyone else to mourn over his death. Ryouga, for one thing, after hearing the news of what Kaito had done, after the war, had scolded the living shit out of the poor blonde. It wasn't like Kaito could have helped it either; considering that his depression had played a role in that decision, and Mizael's ridiculous antics and desires, and Don Thousand's spouting of bullshit to everyone, it wasn't hard to imagine why Kaito took the (sort of) easy way out.
That was beside the point. Kaito needed to get his shit together, even if it seemed like he'd had in the month that he'd been living a normal life (if you could consider being a rich ass young adult still living in a Tower the size of Everest normal). Ryouga sure as hell envied the blonde; getting the Lords into school, as well as having them all renovate the Kamishiro estate, was nothing short of a task only God himself would take on. Yuma was, out of all three of them, the most recovered; now that he was dating Kotori, the boy seemed a lot happier, even without his glowing ally beside him anymore. His parents, even after the whole Interdimensional imprisonment thing, were almost always adventuring nowadays, however. Poor Yuma was coming to terms that his parents would never change, despite dangers faced in the past.
"Kaito."
The voice was eerily familiar. The blonde turned around from having been eyeing the fridge like a hawk and met the eyes of his father. Faker had a frown that dragged his wrinkles further down in such a way that his skin looked like it were about to fall off. On top of that, the old guy seemed extremely alarmed by his son's presence in the kitchen.
"Dad, what are you doing here?"
"I should ask you the same thing." Faker, without warning, came into the kitchen and grabbed Kaito by the elbow, dragging the young man out into the hallway. The younger blonde gazed at his only parent in shock for a few moments before tearing himself away from the scientist.
"What are you doing?" Kaito angrily inquired, glaring at the older man. Sure, Kaito wasn't exactly happy with all the touchy-feely going on as of late, but this amount was a little too much for him to deal with. "I can go back to my room on my own, without a babysitter."
"I know, but I can't have you staring at stuff like that." Faker dragged a hand through greying hair. A clump came out along with his wrinkled palm; this, naturally, worried his son, but the old man stopped a response from the younger before anything could be said. "Go to your room. I have some, ah, issues to discuss with you once you get some rest."
Kaito, not knowing what to think, obliged. He knew his father was getting old, but to see the guy quite literally falling apart perturbed the Photon user greatly. However, upon reaching his bedroom and seeing the bed, he had a new burst of energy. This was another odd thing he had noticed with his body, although it probably came from his days of endless Numbers Hunting. However, instead of being constantly tired, he found the day extremely draining, zapping nearly all of his energy. At night, his senses came to life, instead of quieting for a restful sleep. So he found himself napping quite often during daylight hours, and working on research by lamps when he should have been like the rest of the residents of the city.
A deep throbbing started up behind his sternum, but he simply ignored it. Before his mind decided to take a completely different path, he got out of his boots before entering completely into the room. At least he had forgone his Deck Cases tonight, because he was not in the mood to carry around his cards. Dropping his coat onto the chair beside the desk, he stretched and raised his gaze to the windows which crammed a quarter of the ceiling, in a partial dome. How his father had managed to put it into the design of the Tower was beyond him, but it gave the Photon user something to watch to calm his nerves.
Kaito found himself lying on the bed in only his boxers and staring up into the stars. He hoped that they held the answers he was looking for; perhaps they could tell him why his behavior was changing. Or maybe… they knew why he felt so out of place nowadays. Like he wasn't supposed to be among the people that walked within the city… it felt truly odd to him. Of course he felt this way; his father built the damn city, for god's sakes.
For some reason, he found it rather easy to shut his eyes and sleep. Although it was a restless, dreamless sleep.
…
…
Faker was a cursing, furious mess by the time he got to his own quarters. Slamming his fist down on the wall as he entered and slipped off his shoes, he glared angrily at the moonlight shining in from the ceiling-to-floor windows lining the living room. Oh, he wasn't mad at his own son; of course not. He was mad at the course that his son's life was heading on. Kaito's maturity phase was coming closer, and approaching a lot faster than expected. Unless that woman Faker had taken in could wake up within the next few days and show that she had adverted turning into an adult, then there wouldn't be hope for keeping Kaito normal.
Faker stared at the phone for a long time. He had no choice but to call the female he and his wife had arranged to be married to their son, the heir, so many years ago. But he was very, very nervous. If the female knew, she would not leave her home for many nights, until the announcement had been made that Kaito had gone through maturity was given to her. Faker didn't want to trouble the poor female, but he didn't exactly have much time.
He turned on the screen for the phone and dialed the number. After the third ring, the woman's face came on the projection on the wall. Of course, she was dressed in pure white robes, hood pulled over her face, signaling that she had sensed Kaito's change in behavioral state. Despite the distance, she could sense clearly whenever her betrothed felt under stress; that's why she had been the first choice from the other seven bloodlines.
" 'Tis almost time, is it not?" she inquired, the corners of her mouth lifting just slightly.
"Yeah, he's getting close." Rubbing his temples, Faker sighed. "I suggest preparing yourself now; it seems like the change is pretty damn close."
"I shall do so, my lord." She bowed her head forward, and he caught a glimpse of her hair before she righted herself to a proper position.
"I want you here at the Tower," Faker stated before she could leave the call. "If he goes into maturity and it's difficult on him, I want you to be here. Now, before you start saying that you'll just be a bother, know that I truly do want you here. Kaito needs you."
She was silent for a few moments. Then her lips curved into a tiny smile. "I shall come to your residence, my lord."
A/N: How'd the first chapter go? You enjoy? Good. Now review. *snuggles readers*
