Chapter 2.

plop... plop... plop...

Kuroda was frozen in shock. His hands were the parts of his body that were moving, they were trembling slightly despite the mildly warm weather.

"Kuroda! If you don't answer I'm going to come into the lab without your permission!" concern and irritation were apparent in Hisako's voice. Although Kuroda heard the housekeeper clearly, his ears were numb and refused to allow Hisako's warning to register in his mind.

"Good grief, Kuroda," the Hisako sighed. With a surprising amount of force, the elderly housekeeper forced the door open with a small grunt.

She clicked her tongue in disapproval when she saw the disorderly state of the laboratory.

"You should clean up the lab, it's getting too messy," Hisako chided the man while shaking her head. The housekeeper didn't notice how deathly silent Kuroda was the entire time she had entered the laboratory; she was too busy worrying about the papers scattered across the dusty wooden floor. Hisako slowly knelt down on the floor on her knees and she let out a shaky pained breath.

"My, my... my back is such a burden nowadays. It's not like you're making it any better Kuroda," Hisako grumbled as she rubbed her back. The small smile on her slightly wrinkled face betrayed her scolding.

After she had managed to gather all the papers, Hisako used her hands and tried to push herself off the ground. Her eyebrows were furrowed in concentration and she looked like she was struggling greatly. Kuroda finally moved and grabbed the housekeeper's worn hands and gently hoisted her up.

"Why thank you Kuroda... oh dear, did you spill the rice and fish? I'll have to fetch a mop to clean it up," the elderly woman sighed again and set the neatly stacked papers on the desk.

When Hisako was about to leave, Kuroda spoke up in a low voice, "Hisako, did you notice anything peculiar last night?" His was still looking at the ground and his hair covered his eyes.

"Hm?" the woman blinked and stared at Kuroda strangely. For a few moments, the housekeeper tapped her chin in deep thought.

"No, I do not believe I did-Kuroda, what's bothering you?" a frown creased the woman's face.

"Nothing you should be worried about. Go fetch the mop," Kuroda ordered tersely.

"Alright... if you say so," the frown remained on Hisako's face and was present even when she left the room.

When the housekeeper was gone, Kuroda managed to move his feet. He turned to face the doll. It continued to lay on the table, staring back at him with its wide emerald eyes.

Seya... I need to talk to Seya about this

Kuroda let out an exasperated sigh and scratched the back of his neck. The man grabbed the doll and made his way through the laboratory, careful not to knock anything over. He left the house quietly without bothering to tell Hisako he was leaving.

A few minutes after Kuroda left the house, Hisako returned to the lab with a mop and a wooden bucket.

"Kuro-" the woman stopped herself mid-sentence when she realized she was talking to herself. The troublesome man was nowhere to be found.


Kuroda walked down the quiet road with a black, silk bag slung over his shoulder. It was still early in the morning, so the children weren't out and about playing. The only sounds were the birds twittering and his wooden *geta crunching against the grey, gravel ground. It was actually quite a pleasant morning. The air was slightly cool-but not cool enough to make someone shiver. The sun was barely peeking above the grassy hills yonder. The air was sweet and refreshing like barely water. It was the kind of morning that would make an elderly grandpa smile and spread his arms majestically as he sighs, "I feel like I am young again." However, Kuroda was too preoccupied to enjoy the morning. His mind was clouded with a flurry of thoughts churning around restlessly.

The raven haired man snapped out of his deep thought when he noticed he was in front of the grand entrance of Seya's mansion. Two guards stood in front of the gate and regarded Kuroda suspiciously. One of them eyed the bag Kuroda was carrying.

"State your business," the guard on the right grunted. Kuroda looked down at the guard. The stocky guard gripped his staff tighter when he noticed Kuroda was looking at him with a rather unimpressed gaze.

"I need to speak with Seya," the dark haired man asserted in a gruff voice.

"And how do we know you just want to speak with Seya-sama? For all we know, you could be another of those crazy maniacs that tried to kill our master," the guard on the left scoffed.

"Tell Seya that I'm a childhood friend. If that's not enough, tell him my name's Kuroda," the tall man scowled darkly at the guards, who stiffened when they realized who they were talking to. Kuroda... the wealthy and mysterious man who rarely bothered to come out of his house... much less associate with anyone who wasn't interested in his business of the Hybrid Child.

"Of-of course," both of the guards ran off to fetch their master.

Idiots. If I happened to be one of those maniacs that they were talking about, I could easily be pretending to be Seya's old friend. What kind of fools would leave the gate unattended and believe a stranger? Seya is lucky that he hasn't been attacked again. He's a fool for being so trustworthy and lax.

Kuroda shook his head disapprovingly with a scowl on his gloomy face. It only took a few minutes for Kuroda to see three figures moving towards him not too far away.

"Seya-sama, he says he's a childhood friend," the guards explained as they led their master to Kuroda. Seya appeared to be agitated and cautious, looking at his guards grimly. The frown on his friend's face told Kuroda that Seya wasn't as foolhardy as he thought his friend was.

"Kuroda," Seya sounded rather surprised when he looked up and saw his old friend.

"Good morning Seya. That wasn't much of a greeting, now was it?" Kuroda replied with his eyebrows raised.

"Ah-excuse me. Good morning to you too Kuroda. Here, come into my house. We can discuss whatever you want over a cup of tea and castella," the violet eyed man smiled good-heartedly at Kuroda.

"Castella? I thought that you didn't like sweets like me," Kuroda didn't bother hiding the surprise in his voice.

"Oh-my apologizes, I forgot that you don't have a sweet tooth like I do now. We can have some *nikuman instead," Seya offered as the they walked down the pebble pathway leading to the mansion.

"Did the Hybrid Child I gave you five years ago you convert you to a sweet tooth?" Kuroda asked. Coincidentally, the mellow voice of a young male called out, "Seya-sama!" just a few yards away.

An attractive looking man jogged up to Seya. His hair was orange like the color of the evening sun when it hovered over the horizon, and his eyes were a gentle sea blue. The moment Kuroda saw him, he knew the male was one of his creations.

"Yuzu, I thought that I told you to stay in the house," Seya sighed.

"I tried-but the look on your face told me something wasn't right, so I got worried," the younger male protested.

"Yuzu, I'm going to be fine," Seya gave the concerned man a soft smile, "I just need to talk to Kuroda about some things alright?"

"Al-alright Seya-sama," Yuzu glanced at Kuroda, who was studying him with an unreadable expression on his face. Unsettled, the young male bowed at the two men and walked away quickly.

"He's grown quite a bit Seya," Kuroda commented, eliciting something between a sigh a chuckle from the other man.

"Yes, but sometimes he acts like a child although he has supposedly grown-up."

"Sounds a lot like his owner," the dark-haired man remarked.

"Oi, oi Kuroda," Seya smirked as he pulled the shoji door open, revealing a quaint room which consisted of a *tatami mat and a chestnut colored lattice ceiling. In the middle were four *zabutons set on the dark wooden floor.

"Please, have a seat," the brunette gestured politely. Kuroda sat down on the soft grey pillow.

"Thank you," he grunted and set his mysterious bag next to him. Seya gave Kuroda one of his warm smiles and gracefully sat down on the zabuton opposite to the raven-haired man. A maid walked into the quiet room carrying a tray with steaming nikuman and a black kettle. She set down the tray in between the two men and proceeded with pouring the tea into two small clay cups which she handed to Seya and Kuroda.

"Thank you Natsuko,"the maid smiled at Seya and bowed before she exited the room.

"Such a gentleman," Kuroda muttered and took a sip of his tea. Seya ignored his friend's remark and continued to stare at Kuroda with a troubled expression on his face.

"Kuroda, did you want to talk about Tsukishima?"

Kuroda choked on his tea and sputtered. His body racked with harsh coughs.

"Are you alright?" Seya looked even more concerned. After Kuroda stopped coughing, his throat felt raw. He looked up at Seya.

"I want you to look at this and tell me what you think."

Seya nodded carefully and watched curiously as Kuroda reached for his bag. The brunette gasped when Kuroda took out the object he had in his bag.

"Kuroda, what in the world?!" Seya exclaimed, "Did you make this?"

"No... I found this doll this morning," Kuroda turned the doll over and stared at the doll's face with his steel eyes.

"May I hold it?" Seya asked, a serious frown was etched on the brunette's face. Kuroda handed the doll to Seya, who gingerly took it. The man turned the doll over with his hands and scrutinized it.

"It looks exactly like Tsukishima when he was a child... The resemblance is uncanny," Seya murmured. Suddenly, the brunette's eyes widened.

"It blinked," he gasped, looked terrified and fascinated at the same time.

"What?" Kuroda grabbed the doll from Seya's hands and stared at the doll in shock. Although it was just for a split second, Kuroda was sure that he had seen the doll blink.

"Kuroda, what's the meaning of this?" Seya's normally calm voice was starting to crack.

"I'm not sure myself, but there's one thing I'm certain of," Kuroda laughed bitterly, "Someone must have made this to taunt me."

The man set the doll down on the floor with a disdainful look on his face.

"Ku...ro...da...Se..ya," although it was barely a whisper, Kuroda knew that the doll had just spoken... Or maybe he was going insane.

To be continued


geta: "a form of Japanese footwear that resemble both clogs and flip-flops" (Wikipedia)

nikuman:Japanese porkbun

tatami: a traditional Japanese straw mat which is used as flooring material

zabuton: a Japanese cushion used for sitting

Author's note-February 28, 2015

I've been using Wikipedia for most of my research (Wikipedia knows all XD), so I'm not entirely sure if all the definitions of the Japanese terms are accurate...

Anyways, I'll try to have the next chapter finished by next week *rubs hands together*.

Zia jian!

-ShootingStar103

OC two: Natsuko

-meaning of name: child of summer