]A/N: Seriously, I love you guys. Every review, story alert, and story face brings a big smile to my face and it's possible that they make me giggle like a school girl. Seriously~ They make me want to write more…which results in faster updates, oh ho! I'm going to try for Monday and Thursday updates from here on out.
So, uh, before you start reading, prepare yourself for some craaaazy stuff this time around! Seriously. This chapter. It gave me so much trouble. So do the next couple chapters. Aaaah trouble.
Ah, also, because I fear it may be causing some confusion…How to put this, ha ha. The Fai in the fic is the Fai as we know him from TRC, but his name was always Fai. This isn't really a spoiler for the fic here or anything, just something I think I need to say.
Anyways, this time I'll keep it short!
Thanks to my beta, as usual, couldn't do it without you~
True Despair - I'm glad you're loving the mystery! There's even more here, ha ha ha.
To. Touch. The. Sky. - I'm glad the dialogue makes you laugh! I notice that I tend to have some pretty dialogue-heavy parts, so I'm really glad to hear that.
1337kitsune - Aaah, I'm so embarrassed! I do my review replies last, and I usually forget to check them! Also, that's a really cute idea, but unfortunately, I can't stray from my outline or my entire fic falls to pieces. I write down rough outlines of all the chapters before I get started on a fic, and that keeps me on track and keeps everything from rambling on and on like I usually do, a ha.
A Better Nothing - Yui as Freya just clicks so well, doesn't it? If you take into account what 'Yui' did for 'Fai', if you get my drift. Well, switch around the names and it makes sense, I just don't want to spoil this for anyone who hasn't read that far, a ha.
The next day was a good one. Everything at work went smoothly, Fai was only slightly annoying, there wasn't any rain at all, and he got paid. Yes, a good day indeed. The thought that the day marked the end of the week of required waiting for Fai to be claimed didn't even cross his mind as he fell asleep.
In fact, it didn't occur to him until the next morning, when Fai woke him up with endless poking.
Kurogane shoved at him and sat up, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Fai, where do you get all these ways to wake me up? At least you didn't try to grope me agai - the fuck are you wearing?!"
"Kuro doesn't like it?" Fai asked, sitting on the bed in a white-and-pastel blue maid costume, complete with ridiculous amounts of lace and frills, no shoes, thigh highs, and…was that a garter? "Tomo said it was for Fai, so Fai wore it!"
"Take that off!" Kurogane yelled, ignoring the heat that rose in his cheeks - and. What the hell as Tomoyo thinking? No, that was exactly the point. She [I]wasn't.[/I] When Fai started to pull off the costume, Kurogane sputtered. "Not in here! Go to wherever your clothes are and change there!"
"Oh." Fai stopped for a moment, then leaned forward on his hands. He stuck his face close to Kurogane's. "Does Kuro know what today is?"
"It's…Wednesday." Kurogane thought back on it, counting off on his fingers.
"Does Kuro know what's special about today?" Fai seemed tense, on edge.
"…No?" Kurogane said after a moment. Without hesitation, Fai launched himself at Kurogane, knocking Kurogane back down. Fai wrapped his arms around his neck, swinging his legs in the air.
"Today is the day that Kuro becomes Fai's master! It's been a week!" Fai smiled.
"Has it been?" Kurogane tried to shove Fai off him, but gave up after a few pushes. "Don't you have to listen to me then?"
Fai shifted and pulled back, resting his hands on Kurogane's chest. "But Fai doesn't want to. Fai told Kuro before! Everyone says Fai is broken. So Fai won't listen." The android pouted.
"Whatever. Get off me, I have work," Kurogane said. Fai let go, laying back on the bed as Kurogane stood. Kurogane went to the bathroom to shower, and when he came back out Fai was still laying there. Kurogane started to dress, silently, and Fai didn't say anything. With a shake of his head, Kurogane spoke. "Go get changed out of that."
"Kuro doesn't like it?" Fai asked, tilting his head.
"No, not really," Kurogane said, tying his tie in a mirror.
"Tomo gave Fai a hat too."
Kurogane paused in his tie-tying, glancing over at the android with an 'are you serious?' look before turning his attention back to the mirror as he finished the tie.
Fai was silent a moment, then started to giggle. "What?" Kurogane looked over again, eyes narrowed.
"Kuro is lying! Fai can see it! Kuro doesn't mind the outfit. Kuro even likes it at least a bit." Fai laughed. "Fai knows because Kuro's heartbeat went a little faster." He sat up, smiling, then stood up on the bed and took a few steps across it before stepping onto the floor. As soon as he hit the floor, however, his foot slipped on the hardwood and he fell back. He landed square on his ass with a little yelp. "Ow…."
"Clumsy," Kurogane growled, going over to help him up. He extended a hand and Fai took it, pulling himself to his feet.
"Fai doesn't like these!" Fai whined, pulling at the thigh-high stockings. "But Tomo said Fai has to wear them, because it's part of the outfit! Fai has a hard time walking…but at least Fai can slip and slide all over the house on the floors. Fai had a bit of fun earlier."
"Don't slide around the house. God, I need to fix that glitch in your vocal units. I'm tired of hearing 'Fai this' and 'Fai that'. I'm going downstairs. You," Kurogane looked at Fai, "are going to change out of that. That's an order." Fai laughed as Kurogane left the room, then went running after him, falling against Kurogane's back as he slipped again. When Kurogane growled Fai backed off, laughing still. "Didn't I tell you to change?"
"But Fai's clothes are downstairs," Fai said, smiling brightly.
"Whatever," Kurogane muttered, ignoring him as he went downstairs and stomped into the kitchen. "Tomoyo!"
"Good morning cousin," Tomoyo said, cheerfully. "Isn't Fai cute?"
"No," Kurogane growled, then glanced at Sakura and Syaoran and groaned. "All of them?"
"Well, a pink maid outfit for Sakura, I couldn't resist," Tomoyo said, with a laugh. "And a classic black and white butler outfit for Syaoran! It's fitting, don't you think? Now it's like you have a set!"
"Everyone on the street is going to think I'm a pervert," Kurogane muttered as he sat to eat. "If I actually cared what they thought, I'd be pissed at you." He started to spoon sugar into his coffee. "So, no one's claimed Fai."
"I figured as much. That's why I brought that over." Tomoyo gave a happy sigh. "He's so adorable in it, don't you think? I brought a few other things as well, but that one took the most time, so I wanted to make sure it fit him." When Kurogane just grunted, she giggled. "So, what are you going to do?"
"Change his build, put my name as owner," Kurogane said, as if it were all obvious.
"You're going to steer him away from companionship-build, hm?" Tomoyo giggled. "You know, you could always just download a few household programs into his hard drive. He could help out with some things, at least. If you downloaded some basic cooking programs, you probably wouldn't have another incident like last time. Did you get the right skin color to replace the samples from work?"
"I can't even talk to you about this," Kurogane said dismissively, waving a hand in the air. "And yes, I did."
"If you don't want him, just sell him," Tomoyo suggested.
"No," Kurogane said, impatiently. "I don't want to."
"You say that with such conviction. Are you sure you're going to change him from companionship-build?" Tomoyo giggled when Kurogane's cheeks pinkened, just barely.
"Shut up! It's not like that." Kurogane lowered his voice. "He's interesting is all. All his components and programs are from Celes Corp. And quite a few of them are fighter-grade parts."
"Fighter parts tend to run pretty smooth, even for android joints, you know that. They do their best to mimic the human joints so that they can use all the motions and techniques they've been programmed with, right? They're all cutting edge, leading the fields and so on." Tomoyo tilted her head, hands resting in her lap.
"Right, but that doesn't explain what a companionship-build android is doing with them. Speaking of fighter-builds though, we finally finished one with all the motion capture. They might let me go soon, if the test runs prove positive. They've got all the data, after all, and the learning programs for later are state of the art." He paused, coffee cup halfway to his mouth. "…It's a miracle they haven't already. Anyways, what I'm saying is that it's weird. He doesn't seem new, but most of those parts are. But there's no sign that he's been updated. I would know if he was, I know the signs."
"All dressed!" Fai said, hopping into the room wearing his old jeans and t-shirt, his hoodie tied around his waist.
"And all done. Sakura, Syaoran, when you go out today take Fai with you and get some clothes for him. He is [I]not[/I] running around in a maid costume." Kurogane glared at Tomoyo, who just giggled innocently. "And neither of you go out in those either. Change into normal clothes."
"But they're all so cute," Tomoyo whined. "At least keep the outfits around for Halloween!"
"Halloween!" Fai echoed, clapping. "That sounds fun!"
"Whatever, we're going to work!" Kurogane said, and that was the end of that. Still…
"Fai seems different," Tomoyo commented when they left Kurogane's house. "More…energetic. As if he's not holding back. Don't you think?" She looked up at Kurogane.
"Don't know what you're talking about," Kurogane stated, looking ahead as they walked. "It's not like I've changed his programming at all."
"Are you sure?" Tomoyo looked off. "Even so…Kurogane, don't you think you've changed too? Since he's been around?"
"What?" Kurogane looked over at her, and Tomoyo smiled.
"You just seem different, that's all. Like, the other day, you seemed very upset that he got hurt."
"He got shorted out," Kurogane corrected. "If someone hadn't see him in the parking lot, his entire system could have crashed-"
"And usually, you wouldn't care, unless it was Sakura or Syaoran." Tomoyo laughed. "Maybe you just can't see it. It must be a woman's intuition."
"See what?" Kurogane snapped.
Tomoyo just laughed again and changed topics. "Well, anyways, back to Fai! You've tried to search all his files, I'm sure. Maybe something snuck on." She frowned. "You've got virus blockers on your computer, right?"
"Don't change the subject." And yet, he took the bait. "Of course I have blockers, I'm not stupid!"
"Well," Tomoyo said, looking back. "That is up for debate."
"You want to say that to my face?" Kurogane yelled, making a fist. Tomoyo just giggled and broke into a run, and Kurogane chased after her, spitting out curses. Tomoyo (who had been in track and field in high school and college) made it there moments before he did, jumping into a closing elevator and leaving him in the lobby, growling unflattering things under his breath as he glared.
"Ah, Mister Suwa," a voice said from behind him, cool and collected, and Kurogane straightened, turning to face it.
"President Celes," he replied, automatically.
"Please, Ashura is fine." Ashura Celes smiled, long black hair pulled into a ponytail. "We really aren't that formal of a building, are we?" Despite his words, he looked nothing but formal in his suit, hands pocketed.
"No, I guess not," Kurogane said, then cleared his throat. "Did you need something?"
"Oh, no, I suppose not. I was just curious." Ashura looked towards the door. "You usually walk to work with a young blond man, correct? I've seen you from my office window." He chuckled. "Not just you, of course. It's interesting to see people come in at the beginning of the day."
"Oh, yeah. That's Fai. I…found him. He's an android. No one claimed him…So I guess he's mine as of today." Kurogane shrugged.
"He had no listed owner?" Ashura raised an eyebrow.
"No. He's a custom job too, so I couldn't find a producer. There wasn't any ID code either."
"That's quite a mystery. Did you look into his hardware?" Ashura asked, and Kurogane nodded.
"It's all Celes Corp. The data though…It's all blocked by firewalls." Kurogane rubbed the back of his head. "My two androids at home have some impressive hacking programs," Kurogane admitted, "so I think they'll be able to break it. Then I can fix up some glitches. He has a problem with his vocal programs. Maybe his aware programs too. He always says 'Fai', never refers to himself as 'I'."
"I see. 'Fai', was it?"
"That's what he says," Kurogane nodded.
"I see," Ashura repeated, and gave a cool smile. "Well, even if we didn't hire you in that capacity, you are a talented programmer. I'm sure you'll be able to get past his walls."
"Thanks for the confidence," Kurogane said. When Ashura just nodded his head, then walked off, Kurogane rubbed the back of his head, moving for the elevators. Everyone knew the head of the building was an odd man. Rumors flew around as rumors will do, but Kurogane had never really listened to them. Maybe he'd make a detour before going to work. It wasn't like he was really needed at this point - coming to work was just a formality.
Only half of the third level of the building was for android design. They designed everything from the androids themselves to the things they would wear when leaving it. Kurogane wasn't sure why they needed to design specific clothes for these new fighting androids, but Tomoyo was head of that project and she seemed to be rather excited any time it came up. That was Tomoyo. It didn't matter what she was designing, just that she got to be creative.
"Oi," Kurogane said, knocking on her door frame. She looked over her shoulder at him, then back at the large screen on her wall showing 3D renders.
"What can I help you with?" She asked, all business, as she looked over the images.
"What do you know about Ashura? You know, head of this project."
"I know…he prefers everyone to call him by his by his first name. In his younger days, he was a programmer, and he founded Celes company with a few others. He's the one that proposed this specific project, in fact. He wants fighting-build androids to have a much wider variety of skills. I expect he'll continue on with this until they're perfect. From what I understand, that's what he always aims for, perfection." She tilted her head and reached out to the screen, touching one of the images. "Red." The color on the outfits turned to red, and she 'hmm'ed softly as she looked them over. "What do you think of this in red?"
"It's alright. What do you think of him?" Kurogane asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Now, that's a bit tougher." Tomoyo smiled. "I think he is an intelligent man, but that's obvious, isn't it? But…" Her smile faded, and she frowned slightly as she crossed her arms. "I've heard things. Old stories. He's enough of a mystery that I think those might be real."
"Stories?" Kurogane asked. After a moment, he stepped in, closing the door behind him.
"I heard, back in college, he designed and hand-built an android. He took really basic hardware and expanded it with his own code. For a college sophomore, it was quite impressive." Tomoyo pursed her lips. "I heard the coding used stayed ahead of it's time until well after Celes company was founding - and that's why it's called Celes company. Most of the code used to found their androids was that. And even past then, I heard that he continued to write new code for his android."
When Tomoyo stopped, Kurogane narrowed his eyes. He had grown up with Tomoyo so he knew when she was holding back. "There's more to it, isn't there? Besides, that's more or less public knowledge."
Tomoyo turned to face him entirely. "I heard he wanted to create an android that was, for all intents and purposes, human, to replace someone he lost. I heard he even studied brainwaves and brain development for a few years. And even while doing that, he was designing android bodies that would mimic humans in every way they possibly could." She 'hmmm'ed softly, tilting her head. "But I heard he failed…"
"That line of thought isn't unheard of," Kurogane said, shaking his head. "So, what. There's plenty of people who are trying to make androids completely human. But that's just a dream." He frowned.
"It's not that," Tomoyo said thoughtfully. She looked off, out her window. "I heard that after his initial research, they decided it could have uses for fighting-build androids."
"How?" Kurogane raised an eyebrow.
"I don't know." They stared at each other a moment, and Kurogane shook his head and turned back for the door. "Kurogane! Wait!" Tomoyo called, and the tone of her voice made Kurogane turn. "One more thing," she said, softly.
"What?" Kurogane asked, curiously.
Tomoyo turned back to the screen and, after a moment, an image of Fai in his maid outfit popped up on it. "Isn't Fai absolutely adorable like this?"
"Delete that!" Kurogane snapped before opening the door and stomping out.
"I'm home," Kurogane called when he opened the door, reaching down to pull off his shoes.
"Welcome home master!" Sakura said, coming into the entry way. Fai followed her, rocking back and forth on his feet. He was wearing something new - grey jeans and a grey, thin, long-sleeved shirt over any other layers. "We did as you said, and got Fai several new clothes. Two pairs of jeans, three shirts, plus what he's wearing now." Sakura gestured at Fai.
"That's fine," Kurogane said, waving his hand dismissively. "How's dinner coming along?"
"Almost done!" Sakura reported.
"Good…After dinner, we're going to work on Fai." Kurogane looked at the android. Sakura did the same.
"Is Fai broken?" Fai asked, pointing at himself.
"No. Maybe. But we've got work to do. Sakura, all your firewall blasting programs are up to date?"
"Yes."
"Good. I have a feeling we'll need them." Kurogane narrowed his eyes before going upstairs to change. For once, Fai didn't follow, but that was probably because Sakura had grabbed his arm and led him off to the work room. If Kurogane had to guess, she was probably already making the preparations. When he went back downstairs, Syaoran wasn't there, but dinner was on the table. Well, it was hard to hook up that many wires by oneself, even for an android, and especially if one of the androids you were connecting was yourself. He picked up his plate and walked to the work room with it, leaning in the doorway as he ate.
Sure enough, there was Sakura and Fai sitting on the floor, and Syaoran was between them, connecting the wires from each of them to each other and to the main computer.
"Got all the open ports?" Kurogane asked, and Syaoran nodded. Kurogane nodded back and set his plate aside when it was empty. He sat in his chair and leaned back. "Alright. Fai. Change your listed owner to 'Kurogane Suwa'. Understand?"
"Understood." Fai opened his eyes. "Processing, complying. Completed. Would you like to enter a password?"
"Yes. Tsubasa, with a capital 'T'. Now, change your build to 'Household'. Understand?"
"Understood." Fai stared off at nothing. "Processing. Processing. Request denied."
Kurogane leaned forward. "What do you mean request denied? Change your build to 'household'."
"Request denied," Fai repeated.
"Reason?"
"Password required."
"Capital T. Lowercase s, u, b, a, s, a."
"Incorrect password. Permission denied." Fai's fingers twitched, and Kurogane frowned.
"Alright, if it's time to play hardball." Kurogane cleared his throat. "Sakura, time to do your magic. Change his build. Program Mokona authorized." Mokona was simple but elegant hacking program. It was also, very, very annoying if you were the one getting hacked by it.
"Understood," Sakura said, keeping her eyes closed. "Firewalls met."
"Activate Mokona," Kurogane ordered.
"Understood. Activating Mokona programs. Soel program, engaged. Large program, engaged." There was a whirring to announce the shift of functions, and it was the only sound for several minutes as Sakura worked.
"Status," Kurogane said, watching carefully.
"Firewall break down in progress. One percent," Sakura said. Ten minutes later, the result was the same.
"Syaoran, log in and help," Kurogane ordered. Syaoran nodded and complied, sitting there, eyes closed. "Damn it, why is this taking so long?" Kurogane growled. "Maybe I should just set you both to work over night on this….Keep on working, I'm getting a glass of water." He stood up and halfway to the kitchen the phone rang. Half an hour later (when he assured one of his colleges that they could start downloading the programs into the androids at work at any time), he finally got his water and went back in. "Progress?"
"Three percent," Sakura and Syaoran both said.
"That's it?" Kurogane growled, and they nodded. "God, what's he got hiding in there?" He sat back down and turned to his computer, unlocking it with his password. "It's like we need some kind of zapper to get in under the castle….Syaoran, diagnostic cover approved for hacking programs, load it up. Maybe we can cover it."
"Yes sir," Syaoran said. "Copying. Zipping. Sending to Sakura."
"Received. Unzipping program. Downloading. Applying to program," Sakura replied.
"So long," Kurogane muttered, focusing on his computer screen, when there was a small 'ping' and a notification appeared on the action bar. "E-mail," he muttered, clicking on it. "What? It's just a picture of a phoenix."
"Password accepted," Fai said, and Kurogane spun back around in his chair. "Guard program activated."
"Wha-" Kurogane started, and that's when Fai's eyes narrowed.
"No. Access denied," Fai said, "You can't do that to me." For a moment there was just silence.
And then there was screaming. Sakura's eyes snapped opened and she lifted her hands to her head, clenching them in her hair as she just screamed.
"Firewalls breached," Syaoran reported, staring ahead, speaking while Sakura screamed. "Designation Sakura's systems crashing. 20%. 30%. Warning. Warning. Firewalls breached. Systems failing. 50%. 60%." His eyes widened. "Designation Syaoran's systems are under attack. Systems crashing. 10%. 20% 30%-"
"Disconnect! Damn it, disconnect, both of you!" Kurogane yelled. He couldn't even hear himself over Sakura's screaming, and was reacting before the words even left his mouth. He grabbed the wires from Syaoran and pulled them out roughly. Syaoran inhaled sharply, then fell forward on the floor, limbs twitching at the shock of the sudden disconnection. Kurogane reached out to do the same to Sakura's when something passed over him, sending all his hairs to stand on end and sending tiny shocks across his skin. The lights went out, plunging them all in darkness. He stood there as Sakura's screaming continued, then stopped abruptly. The computer behind him shut off, a sound marked only by the fan's noise stopping. All other sounds in the house died. It was almost silent again, but for one sound.
"No, no, no, no, no, no, no…"
Whispers in the dark, repeating that same word, over and over again-
"No, no, no no no no…."
The lights flickered back on. Kurogane glanced down at the scene. Syaoran was holding Sakura. The male android looked dazed, pupils contracting and dilating wildly in an attempt to adjust, his hands still tightening and relaxing against Sakura's shoulder's, while the female android just stared off into space, pupils so wide that Kurogane could see the circuits.
"No no no no nononononono-"
"Fai!" Kurogane snapped.
Fai was backed into the corner, eyes wide, pupils pinpoints in a sea of blue as he stared at Sakura and Syaoran. He kept on whispering. "Nonononono." His hands lifted to his face, shaking. "I'm sorry, I - I'm sorry. No no no no nononono, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry Kurogane, Sakura, Syaoran-"
"Fai!" Kurogane yelled, and Fai looked up at him, stared a moment, silent. Before Kurogane could take a step, Fai was yelling, scrambling to his feet, and running out of the room.
"NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO ACCESS DENIED, ACCESS DENIED, NO NONONO-" came the yells, muffled only by the walls. The yelling was quieted further by the slamming of the front door. Even then, it continued, from the outside and growing distant.
"Syaoran, get Sakura back online," Kurogane said, running out the door.
"But-" Syaoran started, but Kurogane was already at the front door.
"Just do it!" Kurogane yelled, pulling on his shoes, grabbing his jacket, before he was outside. He hit the sidewalk and looked both ways. He barely saw the flash of blond hair down the street, so that was the way he went, running headlong down the side walk. When he got to a four way stop and looked the other three ways, there was no sign of him. He cupped his hands around his mouth and called Fai's name, but the only answer he got was the echo.