Chapter 2!
I'm posting a second chapter early because if people didn't really know where this is going, and aren't sure whether or not to follow, they can see where the story is going more.
Please enjoy!
Nai's wailing made it easy for Tsukumo to find him and Akari. The whole troupe of Circus followed the girl to the alley where Nai was crying.
"Nai!" Tsukumo enveloped the boy in a hug. Nai began to hiccup.
"Akari!" Hirato knelt beside the doctor. He felt the lump on the doctor's head and frowned deeply.
"Both Nai and Akari need medical attention." Jiki said. Yogi knelt beside Nai and stroked the white-haired boy's back. As Nai leaned back, everyone could see Nai did need medical attention, but he didn't look o hurt. A large bruise was on Nai's left cheek, and Nai's nose bled slightly. Yogi pulled Nai away from Tsukumo to better hug the younger boy.
"Karoku." Nai hiccupped, pointing at the open window. Just then, Karoku stood up and looked out at the troupe. A gash on Karoku's forehead was a reason for concern, but other wise, Karoku looked fine. Akari stirred in Hirato's arms as Hirato lifted him. A whirring sound told the troupe that the 1st ship had arrived.
"Well, glad they're here. Better late then never! Hey, where's Gareki?" Eva asked as Tsukitachi and Kiichi descended. The two landed and walked up to the group.
"Gareki?" Yogi called out. Nai started crying harder. This cause Karoku to jump out the window and run to Nai. The troupe looked down at Nai, who was crying very hard.
"Nai, where, where is Gareki?" Tsukumo asked, feeling dread rise in her chest. Tsukitachi and Kiichi looked worried as well, seeing the tattered and tired state their comrades were in.
"Quick, let's leave the alley first," suggested Jiki. The group staggered out of the alley, just in time to meet the convoy from the academy. Out of the carriage stepped out a young girl with long black hair, another young girl in glasses with a camera and a pixie style hair-cut, a boy around Gareki's age with glasses and short blonde hair, and finally, Tsubame. Tsubame ran right up to Tsukitachi.
"Where is he! Where is Gareki!" She shouted, tears building in her eyes. Tsukitachi looked to Hirato for assistance. Hirato was still holding Akari, and Yogi had picked up Nai. Karoku was being supported by Eva.
"Nai, can you tell us where Gareki is?" Yogi asked, setting Nai down. Nai buried his face in Yogi's shirt and started taking deep breaths.
"On the ship," Tsukitachi suggested, "Akari needs medical assistance." Everyone nodded and began beaming up one by one. Tsubame looked at Hirato and Tsukitachi with pleading eyes.
"We'll keep you updated, I promise. Stay safe, and stay strong!" Tsukitachi told her. Tsubame nodded, and ran back to her friends. As soon as everyone was aboard the 1st ship, the carriage and the occupants left to return to the school.
The troupe sat in the 1st ship's recreation room sipping tea. Akari and Karoku were in the med wing. Akari had woken up upon entering the med-wing and was rather shocked to find himself being carried around princess style by Hirato. Nurses had gathered around and taken pictures just before Akari had woken up. Akari had tried to yell at Hirato, but other doctors made him stay quiet and accept treatment.
"There are the others who need treatment more than I!" Akari argued. Hirato raised an eyebrow.
"Truly, there are not." Hirato said. Akari had shut up and looked down, his face red as this fact connected dots in the brilliant doctor's mind on the situation. Soon after their medical examinations, which concluded two nasty concussions, Akari and Karoku where allowed to leave the med-wing entered the recreation room. Akari and Karoku had bandages around their heads, Nai had a bandage on his cheek, but other than a few band-aids, everyone was fine.
"What happened?" Hirato asked. He was facing the dark clouds outside as he asked the question. Karoku blushed.
"I was knocked out the entire time." Karoku mumbled, sitting next to Nai who had his face buried in the steam of a cup of tea. Multiple plushies surrounded Nai, but the young boy looked depressed. Yogi was on Nai's other side. Tsukumo served Akari and Karoku tea.
"I am not exactly sure what happened, but I will recall all I remember." Akari announced, not meeting anyone's eyes. "During the initial onslaught, Gareki was able to carry Karoku and lead Nai and me into the alley. He assisted both of us through the high window and was about to join us when Uro appeared behind him."
"Uro! Impossible!" Tsukitachi argued. Akari sighed.
"I agree it was unexpected. Later, Uro said something along the lines of 'My Master will turn things around for us.' I'm not sure what he meant." Akari sipped some more tea.
"Please continue." Hirato ordered from his window spot. Tsukitachi and Akari traded worried glances before Akari continued.
"Gareki faced Uro and deflected a swing from the bunt of a gun with his injured arm. From the resounding crack, it would not surprise me if Gareki's arm is officially broken. To protect Nai and myself, Gareki closed the shutters after pushing Nai and me down. By the time we had gotten up and opened the shutters, Gareki had been thrown across the alley and Uro was kicking him in the midsection. I wasn't able to hear what Uro said." Akari glanced at Nai.
"Said he was special." Nai hiccupped. Karoku frowned and hugged Nai closer.
"Does this have any meaning to anyone?" Tsukitachi asked. Jiki was glaring daggers at Hirato. Tsukumo answered.
"I believe it does." Her bell like voice rang clear in the silence. She kept her eyes on Hirato's back. Hirato swallowed and turned.
"Akari, please finish your report." Hirato asked. Akari nodded.
"Uro successfully invalidated Gareki and was walking off with him. I confronted Uro, unfortunately, I am not skilled in the field and I was quickly taken down. After my hit, I do not know what happened." Akari sipped his tea some more. Eyes turned to Nai.
"Gareki, I couldn't hear Gareki's voice at all." Nai teared up some more. "Uro, he was kind, but he wouldn't give me Gareki. He said that he didn't want to hurt me, but since I wouldn't let him leave, he hit me, and, and, he took… he took Gareki!" Nai's tears boiled over his lids and streamed down him face. He didn't openly sob, but Nai was crying steadily.
"What does this mean?" Eva asked.
"Does it have to do with the slave ship Gareki was on as a child?" Jiki asked. Silence.
"Yes." Hirato answered. The resounded silence was deafening.
"What do you mean?" Eva demanded.
"Eva, that slave ship was supposed to have no survivors." Tsukumo said softly.
"Which slave ship was…oh God no." Eva stood up and staggered to the wall. Covering her mouth with her hand, tears rolled down her face.
"Hirato, what was so important about that ship?" Tsukitachi asked. Kiichi watched everyone in rapt silence for once.
"That ship had test samples. It was full of lab rats. Each slave was given different doses of a drug to turn them into Varuga. They were trying to see something about if small amounts could be controlled by the person. We know Gareki was small and his food stolen. For Gareki to not be affected by the drug, over the three weeks the ship was sailing, that means over two weeks of not eating. Gareki should have died on the ship, of starvation, but he didn't. He did get food, but I'm sure from where. He might have been given food with a different drug; there was evidence of more than one drug. Gareki endured physical torture of constant beatings as people stole his food and fought around to kill off more inmates to get more food.
"Still, each slave was considered a lab rat by the Kafka. They were being transported to a city to see if the Varuga curse could be spread and controlled. That is why we sunk the ship. If the Varuga cells had hatched and taken over the men and women on the ship and spread, it would have been a catastrophe.
"More importantly, Tsukumo and I rescued one person from the wreck. A young adult in a chef's uniform. It was Uro. He prepared the food so all the food had the drug. But that can't be true, because Gareki didn't any food with the drug for over two weeks. The crew, the staff, the slaves, everyone except Uro and Gareki were getting addicted to the drug and turning into Varugas." Hirato was interrupted.
"But if Gareki is fine, what did he eat. Uro wouldn't break orders and help one boy." Akari argued. Hirato nodded.
"I agree. So how did Gareki survive? He once said that the people he thought were his parents had sold him. I investigated the ship's stops and looked for those people for Gareki. When I found them, they admitted to having sold a baby they had been raising for a couple of years. They baby had been left in the middle of town, abandoned. The family had grown poor, and Gareki was so anti-social that his adopted parents didn't even know him, and had no qualms about selling him for money. I decided to look for Gareki's parents. This past year, I've been looking and I finally found his parents. I found them the same time I asked him to join the ship. It was the easiest solution." Hirato went silent.
"Who are his parents?" Jiki asked, looking through persons' profiles on his computer.
"Parent. Gareki had a birth mother, but his father was just some donated sperm. It was impossible to trace the sperm for a father. Gareki's mother, however, had been infected with the Varuga cells. While she was carrying Gareki, the cells over took her body and were threatening the baby. This woman, it seemed was a willing test subject for Kafka. Gareki's birth was an experiment to see if having a Varuga human give birth, how might the child be? Fortunately, it seems Gareki's mother became attached to her unborn child and escaped the lab. She killed herself in the woods, hoping her child wouldn't be born, to save him a caged existence. The collapsing of her cells stopped the spread of the Varuga cells. The Kafka members found the woman's corpse and cut out the child, about 8 months through, and revived it in their lab. Then, they tried raising it in the lab.
"The child seemed to have increased intelligence and ability to learn. They set the child in the middle of the town for a family to raise it, to see how the child's social interactions might be. Their, Gareki's adopted family found him, and three years later, sold him back to Kafka. Whether Kafka planned this or not, we don't know." Hiratoa went silent.
"Hirato, you sound like you know a lot, and you're still holding something back." Akari noted. Hirato nodded.
"The two head scientists were Nisu Arumerita and Nie Arumerita." Karoku looked shocked. Hirato continued. "At that time, Kafka was able to look publically good so many people volunteered for money, and Circus couldn't arrest someone just for being in 'Kafka.' Though, this was the turning point. Finding donors was very hard to do, especially for genetic experiments on humans. I do not find it strange or hard to think that Nisu Arumerita donated his own sperm for the experiment." Hirato's theory was met with silence and shocked looks. "I also think, this might have skewed the data on the child we would come to know of as Gareki. Arumerita was a genius, his son is as well. If he did donate his own sperm for the experiment, could that not make the child already extremely smart?" Hirato glanced at Karoku and Akari.
"It is very possible." Karoku said eventually. "It would explain why Gareki was transported like Nai and I were. When I first saved Nai, I used my won cells to grow him his human body off his Niji body." Karoku said. Even though his voice was calm, you could see the shock and fear in his blue eyes. Karoku would have been three years old when this had happened, and he knew nothing of the experiment. Karoku knew his parents worked in a lab for Kafka, but doing those experiments…
"So, Gareki and Karoku are family?" Nai asked, his eyes lighting with hope. Everyone glanced at Nai. His face had crumbs from the cookie he had been nibbling. This silence was deafening again.
"It appears so, Little Nai. Karoku said, hugging Nai close again. It occurred to everyone, Nai seemed to learn things very quickly as well.
"Is Gareki human then?" Kiichi asked. Akari nodded.
"His genetic make up is 100% human."
"Does Kafka know that?" Eva asked, looking over her shoulder at the group.
"No. They don't." Tsukitachi said. "Otherwise, they wouldn't care about Gareki."
"Are they going to hurt Gareki?" Nai asked.
"We don't know, Nai." Tsukumo answered honestly. Nai nodded and swallowed painfully.
"Let's go to bed!" Yogi exclaimed, overly happily, dragging Nai and Karoku with him.
"Yes, all of you guys get in bed." Hirato ordered. Everyone moved to follow the order except Akari and Tsukitachi. "You too Akari, rest up and heal." Hirato ordered. Akari scowled.
"This is not the time to relax. We might be able to track Gareki…" Akari was cut off as Hirato walked up to him and clamped a hand over Akari's mouth. Hirato leaned in so he was centimeters from Akari.
"Heal, rest, now." Hirato ordered. Akari's eyes were lit with a fire, and Tsukitachi could have sworn he saw lightning. Akari surrendered though, and leaned back into the couch. Tsukitachi turned to leave, but he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, he turned just to see Hirato walking towards him. Akari was blocked by Hirato's body, but for a second, Tsukitachi thought he saw Akari's red face. Shrugging, the 1st ship captian went to bed, followed by Hirato. Akari left the room a minute later and also went to bed. The ship was silent in the dark clouds as it sped to its desired location.
Gareki gasped as he came to, his stomach on fire. A throbbing pain radiated from behind his eyes. Gareki tried to roll into a ball to stop the painful stretching, but found hi couldn't move. Something was holding him down.
Carefully looking around him, Gareki saw an iron band was over his chest, ankles, and wrists. The Gareki noticed his clothing. Garbed in only a cotton dress that reached his knees, Gareki felt exposed; he wanted a tight shirt around his body and he hated how the fabric rubbed his shoulders. Gareki struggled trying to loosen his find a way to loosen his bindings.
"Now, now, don't do that." A familiar, yet cruel voice said. Gareki froze and felt a breeze as someone passed his feet. A bright light flicked on, illuminating a cement room that had every tool for any type of lab or garage was visible. Gareki flinched as the light blinded him. As his vision came back, Gareki saw a familiar outline.
"Hello, Gareki, nice to meet you." Gareki gasped as the face became clear. His stomach dropped and his body went cold. The face was… but it couldn't be! He didn't have a scar on his face! But there was no doubt who Gareki was looking at.
"Remember me? I'm Karoku. The one you shot?"
Well, chapter 2!
Please review!
Love,
Burning Bright
