Chapter 1

A bead of sweat rolled down Kito's forehead and dripped onto his nose. He barely noticed, as he absentmindedly swiped at it with his greasy sleeve.

There it was: the loose wire that had been causing all of his problems! Kito grabbed a metal clip to secure it, and reached for his caulking gun.

"Keep working!" screamed Sergeant Kyle, delivering hard kicks to his men, as he walked by. The Sergeant's boot connected with Kito's hand, nearly breaking the bone.

Kito winced in pain, as the metal clip went skittering across the floor. Ignoring his injury, Kito scrambled to pick it up. He didn't want Kyle to single him out for 'special treatment'. The last soldier who received such treatment spent three days in the Sanitorium. Kito had heard rumors that the man had nearly been executed, as the cost of returning him to full health had been prohibitive. Galactor liked to get its full value out of a man, and that didn't include footing expensive hospital bills.

Rank and file soldiers were expendable. Everyone knew that. A man's only hope of survival was to do his job, and blend in with the crowd.

The latter part, at least, wasn't too difficult. The regulation uniform and haircut made everyone look alike. You had to be very familiar with a person to recognize them without intense scrutiny.

Kito continued working, using his silicone caulk on the wire to prevent its coming loose again. Do your job; don't make a fuss. It had become his motto.

How had he gotten to this point? Did he deserve this miserable, unappreciated excuse for a life? Once, he had been happy: even, carefree. Once, he had been a boy: a boy who liked to play in the dirt, and build model engines… It couldn't have been that long ago, could it? A little more than a decade. But it seemed like a lifetime ago.

He could still remember that day, eleven years ago…

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He was just putting the finishing touches on his motorcycle model. He was so proud of this one: it was his best work yet. The kit was meant for much older kids, and yet, he had been able to complete it with seven days of solid work.

When Kito grew up, he wanted a real motorcycle. He would get on it and drive far away from this orphanage, to wherever his fancy took him. The thought made him smile.

He was just about to pick up the model and secure it in his storage locker, when a small toddler ran by, careening into the worktable as he went. The model shook, then fell to the floor, breaking into dozens of pieces.

Kito was crestfallen. He had spent so many hours on this kit, and now, it was broken. He didn't even know if he could fix it. It wasn't really the boy's fault: he looked as if he weren't even two yet, but still…

Mournfully, Kito began picking up the pieces. As he did so, a young girl with long, dark hair came running up. She looked to be about Kito's age.

"Jinpei!" she cried, in a lecturing tone, "You have to watch where you are going!"

The girl knelt down in front of the boy, placing her slim hands on his chubby cheeks, encouraging him to look at her.

"Do not hit the table, Jinpei." she said firmly, and the boy nodded.

"No hit table!" he cried, grinning.

"That's right, Jinpei. No hitting the table." the girl repeated, and then she removed her hands from the boy's face. The toddler ran off, happily squealing at his freedom.

"I apologize." she said, turning to Kito. "He's just excited. He's not two yet, and doesn't really understand. I'm sorry about your model. It looked beautiful." She bent down, to help him pick up the pieces.

"That's… that's okay." Kito was stunned. In the few weeks he had been at the orphanage, no one had offered any kind of friendly gesture. Even while he had lived with his uncle, he had been a loner, not making friends easily. The reaction of the kids here, to his presence, only caused him to fall back on his old habit, of sticking to himself.

Kito looked at the girl. She had a pretty enough face, he supposed, but her body was skinny and gangly. She wore patched blue jeans, indicating that she wasn't part of the 'girly-girl' set he had seen around the playground.

But what struck him most, were her eyes. They were a deep, clear green color, and he felt like they could see right inside of him.

"No, it's not okay." she insisted, shaking her head. "It's broken, and it will take a lot of work to repair. I…"

"You… what?" Kito asked, curious, despite himself.

"I could help you." she offered. "If you want."

"Help me?" he said, surprised. "Do you know anything about motorcycles?"

"Yes." she smiled, and her whole face lit up. "I want to get one, as soon as I'm old enough to drive."

"Me too!" Kito grinned. "They're so much more exciting than cars… so…" he searched for words.

"So open!" she finished for him, making Kito grin wider. "You're not enclosed. You're out there, with the road."

Kito was thrilled that she knew exactly why he loved motorcycles. He had never met anyone else who did, before.

"I'm Kito." he said, introducing himself.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" the girl said, offering her hand. "I'm Jun. It's nice to meet you, Kito."

"And this," she continued, as the toddler came back to her and crawled into her lap with a contented sigh, "is Jinpei."

"Is he your brother?" Kito asked curiously.

"Not really." Jun replied, "But it kind of feels like he is. I found him wandering at the edge of Mt. Jupiter about six months ago, and I've kind of felt responsible for him ever since. He's really a cute kid."

Jinpei looked up at Kito, giving him a wide, drooling grin. It was already obvious that he was going to be bucktoothed.

Still, Kito appreciated the warm welcome.

"Nice to meet you, Jinpei." he smiled, ruffling the little boy's hair. For his age, he had an awful lot of it. Jinpei laughed and clapped in response.

Jun and Kito became fast friends, and took turns looking out for the adventurous Jinpei. Jun helped Kito put his motorcycle back together in record time, and then they began to work on newer, more difficult model kits. She even helped him build a working engine.

They were the happiest days of Kito's life: the first time he had ever had a real friend.

And then, one day, that was all taken away from him.

Kito and Jun were out on the playground, drawing out plans for their new project: a model Harley, big enough for them to actually sit on. Jinpei ran off, and Kito had offered to go after him.

"I'll be right back!" he promised.

It was the last time he ever saw Jun.

He came back with Jinpei, a few moments later, but Jun had disappeared. Their Harley plans had fallen into the dirt, and there were footprints all over them. Kito picked them up, concerned.

"Have you seen Jun?" he asked, frantically searching the playground for her.

But all the other kids shook their heads, or turned away without answering.

Kito was scared, but he didn't know what to do. He held Jinpei, clutching him tightly. The toddler had already realized that Jun wasn't around, and began to cry loudly.

"Shhhhh…. Jinpei…" Kito said, trying desperately to soothe the boy, "It will be all right…"

The problem was, Kito wasn't sure of that, himself.

Jun didn't return all afternoon. Then, that night, at dinner, he heard a rumor that she was in the hospital. But no one knew why.

The uncertainty lasted for days. Kito took care of Jinpei, figuring that it was the least he could do, for Jun. He just wished that it could be more.

Then, about two weeks after Jun had disappeared, he was on the playground with Jinpei, when two men approached them.

One was the orphanage Administrator. Kito hadn't talked to him, much, but he certainly knew who he was. The other man was a stranger. He was impeccably dressed, wore glasses, and had a bushy, brown mustache.

"This is the boy, Jinpei." the Administrator was saying. A cold fist of fear clenched itself around Kito's heart.

"What do you want with Jinpei?" he asked boldly.

"The good Doctor is going to adopt him." the Administrator informed Kito.

"Adopt him?" Kito protested, "No, you can't!"

The Doctor crouched down to look at Kito, eye to eye.

"And why not?" he asked, calmly.

"Be-because…" Kito stuttered, "Jun will be so upset! She'll be expecting to see him, when she gets out of the hospital!"

"She's like a mother, to him." Kito added, hoping that this man would show some mercy.

"I am adopting Jun, as well." the Doctor told Kito, smiling. "She told me about Jinpei, and how he needed to be with her. I'm sure she'll appreciate that you were taking such good care of him, in her absence."

"Jun… and Jinpei… adopted?" Kito was stunned. Adoption was every child's dream, but few at the Mt. Jupiter Orphanage ever realized it. Kito was happy for Jun and Jinpei, but he realized what this meant. His only friends would be gone, forever.

"I can promise you, that they will have a good life, and I will teach them how to protect themselves." the Doctor said, seeing the stricken look on Kito's face.

Kito believed him, but that didn't make it any easier to bear. As he watched Jinpei walking away with the mustached Doctor, his chest heaved with quiet sobs.

He had thought, at that time, that he would never feel worse than he did at that moment.

He was wrong.

A few months later, Kito overhead some older boys talking in the dormitory, one night. They bragged about how they had taken Jun from the playground, and violated her.

That was why she had ended up in the hospital.

That was the first time in his life, that Kito had felt like he wanted to kill someone. But it wasn't the last.