Robotic City, Poetic Love
Chapter One: Love at First Sight!
Kiba wakes up early in the morning and feels like having some eggs and ham for breakfast; he walks around the huge mansion and starts to look for the kitchen. Finally, he gives up when he get lost and arrives back at his bedroom.
"Damn it…this mansion is like a maze."
Kiba walks into the bathroom, brushes his teeth and he then takes a shower. The warm water feels nice on his cold, naked skin. "I hate this mansion; it's so gloomy and so very cold." Kiba turns off the water and gets out of the bathtub.
Kiba had been living with his mom while his dad worked in a place call Future City. His mother had passed away in a car accident last month, and his dad 'asked' Kiba to live with him in Future city. Kiba hated leaving his school, job and work behind.
Kiba knows he knows how to take care of himself, but his father refused to let him stay behind. "Why can't I stay?" He had asked, "I can get my own apartment. I have my own job now and I can afford to pay the bills." Kiba had told his dad.
"Because, my boy, we don't want you to be all by yourself, I want you to be around me in case you run into trouble." His father told him. Kiba really appreciated his father's gesture. But his father works all the time and Kiba isn't really around his father that much, he might as well be back in his old home.
Kiba sighs. It is going to take him a while to settle down: start a new college, get a new job and make new friends. The door bell suddenly rings and makes Kiba jump. He wonders who would come here this early in the morning.
He finds his way through the huge mansion after what seems like eternity. He opens the door and sees a young guy smiling brightly.
"Good morning, Kiba!" The young man says his voice as sunny as his smile.
"Hi…umm…who are you if you don't mind me asking?" Kiba asks looking in wonderment at this unexpected visitor.
"Oh, sorry, my name is Hige. I am one of the interns at your dad's company. Your dad asked me to come and show you around the city. If you'd like, that is."
"Thank you. Come on in." He offers standing aside to let Hige in. "I'm sorry I made you stand in the cold outside so long. I can't seem to find my way around the house yet."
"Don't worry about it." Hige says stepping inside, "I can't imagine trying to remember my way around a place like this…." Trailing off he turns to the small boy hidden behind him. "Oh, by the way, this is Toboe. He works for your dad's company too. He never goes anywhere, so when your dad ask me to take you out, I asked your dad to let me take Toboe with me. I hope you don't mind."
Kiba then notices a small boy standing behind Hige. The small boy is so tiny Kiba totally missed him when they came in. Toboe looks so cute and so sweet.
"Hello there, Toboe. It's nice to meet you." Kiba says.
Toboe blushes and lowers his head. Kiba smiles gently at the boy. He'd never seen anyone as beautiful as Toboe. "So, Toboe, are you hungry? Do you want something to eat? How about we go and have some bacon and eggs for breakfast? You like that?" Kiba asks these questions in rapid fire succession.
Toboe nods shyly. Kiba smiles again. Maybe this new place isn't so bad after all.He muses to himself I get to start my day in this new city by having breakfast with a very friendly guy…and a very cute boy.
They move out of the house and get in a car that is waiting for them. Toboe shyly sits next to Kiba. "Let's go to Silverwolf Grill, they have the best ham and eggs." Hige says.
"Silverwolf Grill. Right Away." The car says.
"Did the car just talked?" Kiba blinks.
The car starts and pulls into the street were it then navigates itself to the restaurant. Hige grins, "Everything here is automated. You just tell the car where you need to go and it'll take you there."
"Wow, very high tech." Kiba says.
"Wait 'til you see the city." Hige says.
Toboe opens his jacket pocket and lets a palm size kitty comes out. The kitty rubs her face on Toboe's hand. Toboe takes out a small piece of candy and feeds it to the tiny kitty.
"Does your little friend there have a name?" Kiba asks as he looks at Toboe. The small boy doesn't answer; he just lowers his head and hugs the kitty tight to his small chest. This show of shyness makes Toboe even cuter and more fascinating. Kiba is determined to get to know Toboe better, He's so adorable, I'd like to know why he's so shy.
Kiba tries to break the ice with the petite bishounen. He slides closer to Toboe and reaches for the kitty. "Do you mind if I hold the kitty for a little bit?"
When Kiba tries to touch Toboe, the small boy jolts and jumps away from Kiba. Hige shouts, "Toboe, it's okay!"
"I'm sorry…I don't mean to scare you." Kiba apologizes to the frightened boy. He feels bad that he scared to boy so badly.
"No, no, it's okay. Sorry, Kiba. Toboe doesn't like people to touch him. About a year ago, someone broke into his house and killed his parents, right in front of him. He's been in shock ever since. Toboe doesn't talk or let anyone get close to him." Hige says.
Kiba doesn't know what to say except to keep muttering, "I'm really sorry...."
Toboe ducks his head and lets his kitty go. The kitty walks up onto Kiba's palm and meows at Kiba begging for pets. Kiba obligingly starts to pet her and then glancing up he smiles at Toboe, "Thank you."
Kiba plays with the kitty until the car stops. Hige smirks, "welcome to Future City."
Kiba looks around and exclaims, "Wow!"
"Wild, isn't it? Future City is the busiest city in the world." Hige says.
"I'm impressed." Kiba says staring around him in unabashed awe. Everywhere he looks, he sees metallic skyscrapers reaching over the clouds; they are so high and close together they block most of the sky. There are shops everywhere on the street selling everything imaginable; Businessman, techmen, OLs, school boys and girls, all hurrying up and down the street at a dizzying pace.
Kiba gets out of the car, followed by Toboe and Kiba. There are a lot of people on the street and everyone keeps bumping into and pushing at each other unintentionally. Kiba walks close to Toboe, shielding him from all the bumping and pushing people. Toboe keeps his head down and follows Hige without even looking at anyone on the street.
The restaurant is full to overflowing. "Those people are paying, let's get that table." Hige walks to the table. The people at the table stand up and leave to allow Hige to sit down. Kiba says 'thank you' to the customers who are leaving only to be ignored.
A young woman in a police uniform walks into the store and looks around. Hige jumps up and says, "Hey, pretty lady! Pretty lady! Come and sits with us! We have an extra chair."
"Thanks, that's really nice of you. I think I'll wait for another table." The lady says looking away from Hige to continue scanning the room for an empty table.
"Please, it will make my day if I can have breakfast with a pretty lady."
"Isn't it too early to flirt with girls?" The woman says with an arched eyebrow.
"I can't help it, you're too pretty not to flirt with." Hige says giving her his most, he thinks, charming smile.
"Goodbye." The lady walks away.
"Hey, wait! At least tell me your name!"
"There is no need for you to know my name."
"If I don't know your name, you'll be on my mind for the rest of the day…I won't be able to eat, to sleep…I'll go totally crazy!!! A hard working and devoted officer like you doesn't want a crazy guy to be running around your city, right?"
"You're already crazy. There is nothing I can do." She leaves in an obvious huff.
"I won't give up that easily! I'll find out who you are, officer!!!" Hige shouts at the retreating backside.
"Detective." Kiba corrects Hige.
"What?" Hige looks at Kiba, confusion evident on his smiling face.
"She is a detective, her name is Blue." Kiba says rolling his eyes in amusement.
"How do you know?" Hige asks Kiba.
"It's on her name tag. She was wearing a name tag that reads Detective Blue. You were too busy flirting to notice." Kiba says.
"Welcome to Silverwolf, the best restaurant in town. What would you like today?" The table says.
"Two coffees, two egg and ham breakfasts and one cookie with milk," Hige orders looking down at the table so it could hear him clearly.
"Thank you." The table replies. The center of the table opens up; two cups of coffee and a cup of milk come out of the opening. Hige takes one of the coffees handing the other to Kiba and then hands the milk to Toboe.
Toboe pours some milk into his hand. The kitty meows cutely and licks the milk on the hand. Kiba stares at his coffee.
Hige says to Kiba, "Hey you're not used to all this, the talking car and table thing, are you?"
Kiba shrugs, "It's cool, very impressive. I got my coffee, didn't I? So it really doesn't matter." Even if he wasn't used to it, it was pretty fun seeing it all in action.
"Don't worry; you'll get used to this city in no time. The rest of the world is going to be just like here in a couple of years anyway. Future city is expanding its technology to the cities all over the world."
Kiba looks around. The city looks so…mechanical. Little things about the city bother him. Everyone on the street keeps moving and bumping. They're all going somewhere, doing something; they don't even look around to see who they're bumping into.
Kiba remembers when he said thank you to the customer who left them the table; the customer walked away without even looking at him; there was no 'you're welcome', not even a nod or a smile. The person just charged out of the restaurant at high speed. Not that Kiba was expecting a 'you're welcome' or a nod. It's just…everything in the city feels so cold.
TBC...