A/N: Sorry for the delay.

As always, please have fun reading ^_^

Chapter 6

Adventures of baby Rai - 1

After revealing the truth to M-21, Tao and Takeo and receiving an interesting response (touching too - a small part of him agreed grudgingly) from them, Frankenstein returned to Rai's bedroom to check on him. He was still sleeping soundly. It was a Sunday, so Frankenstein decided that he could spend the rest of the day carefully going over everything his master might need during his time in this form and also approximately assessing how long it might take for him to regain his original form based on the admittedly small amount of vague information he has. With that in mind, he proceeded to his underground laboratory.

Meanwhile, M-21 and Takeo were kicking themselves mentally for what they had done. After the initial flood of relief that washed over them upon hearing that Rai was safe and his health condition was not as dreadful as they had thought had subsided, it dawned upon them that the 'child' they had babysat this morning was actually the Noblesse.

M-21 wanted to wring Tao's neck. It was entirely his fault. If he hadn't interfered, M-21 would have quietly deposited the child in Frankenstein's hands as soon as he'd found him attempting to climb the sofa. He wouldn't have ended up buying a damn baby carrier for the man who had saved their butts on several occasions.

Takeo on the other hand, wanted to dig a deep hole and bury himself inside. He'd never felt so stupid ever before in his life. He should have listened to M-21 when he said that he could sense Rai-nim's power emanating from the child. But he had been distracted by most beautiful child he'd ever laid his eyes upon.

In the meantime, while M-21 and Takeo where agonizing over what had already occurred, Tao was smart enough to utilize the time in a more fruitful manner. He'd always wanted to test this on someone and now the opportunity has just presented itself to him, gift wrapped in a pink bunny suit.

Rai woke up upon hearing Frankenstein's voice uttering some unintelligible words. And upon opening his eyes, he came face to face with a pair to pitch black staring right back at him curiously. It was Tao. He was saying something, but the noblesse couldn't hear him. He could see Tao's lips moving, but he only heard Frankenstein's voice and even that sounded strange.

He couldn't understand a single word that was being said and strangely, Frankenstein's voice sounded completely devoid of any emotion. The usual warmth that always crept into Frankenstein's voice while addressing him was absent. There wasn't a hint of concern in this voice. Besides, where is he? The voice sounds so near, but why couldn't he see Frankenstein anywhere?

In the lab, Frankenstein felt the softest brush of his master's mind against his own, calling out to him. It surprised him at first, since his master rarely used this form of communication, unless it was absolutely necessary. Then he felt the discomfort coating his words. What could have caused that? He shrugged out of his lab coat and rushed to the elevator that would take him to the floor his master was in. When the elevator reached the right floor and doors opened with a ding, Frankenstein ran towards Rai's bedroom, not wanting to keep his master waiting. He skidded to a halt in front of the Rai's bedroom, only to find the door slightly ajar.

Frankenstein could feel the distress rolling off of his master in waves as he sat in the midst of a sea of silk bed sheet, wide eyed and frowning. That was enough to set off his already precarious temper. He entered the room and noticed Tao there and the way he flinched upon seeing him gave away that he'd been up to something mischievous and also that he's mostly likely the cause of his master's distress.

Tao gulped when he saw Frankenstein enter the room with a deep scowl plastered on his face. Flames of purple and black were materializing around him, making him look even more ominous. Today was probably a very unlucky day for him. It's barely noon and he'd already annoyed Frankenstein twice. He tried to look as innocent as possible.

"B-boss." He said, as a way of greeting and cursed himself internally for stuttering.

"May I know what business you have in this room?" Frankenstein asked condescendingly, with a bone chilling smile plastered on his face thinking, 'If the kid has any sense of self-preservation, he'd tell me exactly what happened.' Then he heard his master's distressed mind voice. "Frankenstein, what are you saying? It is incomprehensible to me."

He was confused. What did his master mean by that? He glared at Tao, who was obviously the culprit.

"What did you do this time? He says that he couldn't understand what I'm saying!" Frankenstein growled at Tao.

Tao was clever enough to know that the only reason he was still in one piece was because of the bit of information that Frankenstein needs from him. Well aware of the fact that whether he's going to get butchered or not depends on what he's going to say next, he chose his words carefully and said:

"I recently came across an article while browsing the net; it said that children learn rhymes and such quickly when it is recorded and played to them in their mother's voice." He stopped, trying to gauge Frankenstein's reaction but he only seemed impatient to hear the rest. So he continued, "Rai has been struggling to learn math right? So...since you are the closest to him, I recorded tables and some basic formulas in your voice and stuck the earpiece on him so that he could learn it while he sleeps -"

"Take it off."

Tao's heart dropped to his stomach when he heard those three words. He was hoping that comparing Frankenstein's way of caring for his master to that of a mother caring for her child would please him enough to spare his neck.

But now it looked like he cannot escape being skinned and dipped in vinegar.

Response to reviews:

Ningen: I'm glad you enjoyed it. I too enjoyed writing that part where Franky watches his master sleep peacefully while fighting his overprotective instincts ^^ Also, I'll probably be writing another one-shot with Rai, OL and Franky. It'll be similar to 'A noblesse fairy tale' or more like a sequel to it. While NFT explores Rai's life before Franky's entry, this one will concentrate on the changes Franky had made in Rai's life.

kaih: Thank you ^_^ I'm not sure whether you'll find this chapter cute as well...it turned out totally different from how I'd planned ^.^'''