"Anne!"

The cries did not have to travel far since her parents were at the front of the crowd, the status they held allowing them to step beyond the thick red rope that prevented the masses from interfering with the return of the Choginga Dai-Gurren and its passengers. A soft sigh of relief mixed into the sounds of her parents and siblings fretting over her, four pairs of hands fluttering around her as though to ensure she was all there.

"I'm ok, I'm ok," she told them, gently making room for her to breath. Faces looked up and down at her, concern painted on all of them...

"I heard you piloted Gurren Lagann for the first time in battle," Dayakka said, placing his hands on her shoulders.

As she nodded, the concern on his face melted into a mixture of pride and nostalgia. Anne felt her own face change, a smile forming as she delved into her own memories. Even the concern on her mother's face softened a bit.

"That's my girl!" he said.

Just like that, the tense moment of reunion became a reliving of those few, delicious moments piloting the legendary Ganmen. There certainly was no need for them to know how close to death she had been. If it hadn't been for...

"Viral!"

A chill flew through her back, and she had to remind herself to breathe. Her heart thudded in her chest as she felt Viral approaching her and her family from behind her. The last time she'd spoken to him had been within the confines of her room. Since then, she'd gone out of her way to avoid so much as making eye contact with him...even to the point of ignoring him saying her name.

And Viral was not the type of person who would allow himself to be ignored for long.


That was it. He'd just about had it. The worst thing is that he wasn't really sure what he was fed up with. Since that day he'd left her sobbing in the bathroom, he'd tried everything from casual conversation to putting himself in her path to waiting for her in front of her room... Somehow, she'd managed to avoid him for the entire trip home.

As he made his way towards the Rittona family, his mind replayed every emotion he'd had to endure over the past 24 hours. Anger, frustration, sadness, fear, loneliness, disgust... Hell, half the time he didn't know who or what the emotions were directed towards. The irony is that he was grateful for those emotions he was uncertain of. The more general ones...like the loneliness...

Straightening himself up, he deliberately stopped a few inches behind Anne, his left shoulder close to touching her right one, and she had nowhere to go, sandwiched between him and her family as he glared down at the top of her head briefly before looking at her family.

"It's been a while," he said, more a statement than the typical greeting between friends or comrades. "You all look well."

"So do you, Viral," Kiyoh said, smiling softly. "Thank you for taking care of our Anne. You were the one who helped her pilot, yes?"

"Just like the old days," Dayakka commented. The wistful smile quickly melted as the look in his eye dimmed, showing his transition to the more pressing matter at hand. "What's your opinion on them this time?"

There was no need to say who them was. Quickly, he rewound the encounter in his mind before opening his mouth again.

"They are just as...perhaps more ruthless than their predecessors. The one we spoke with wanted death, no matter whose blood was shed. It was like..."

The silence grew before Anne shivered, reminding him how close he was to her.

"It knew how much I wanted to avoid bloodshed," she continued. "And it deliberately tried to cause as much as it could. They want to control by despair and fear again. That little skirmish was only the introduction. We must prepare for what will be done in the future..."

"Oh, yes," Dayakka said quickly, remembering the role his daughter now played in the Earth. "Let's get you settled and home before you have to head to Kamina City. It was good seeing you again, Viral. I'm sure we'll be in touch."

He was surprised at his lack of surprise at the tinge of jealousy that shot through his mind as he saw Anne's siblings grab each of her arms, chatting happily with her about all that had gone on since the last time they'd met. Please...please... Before he knew it, he'd taken a step forward and had to restrain himself from reaching out for her. Damn it, what had come over him? He found himself steadily taking on qualities of these humans. All he'd wanted was...

Anne glanced over her shoulder at him, her gaze anything but blank. He'd thought she was mad at him or wanted to keep her distance...but even he knew sadness when he saw it. What the hell was she sad about? With one question answered, another replaced it. Well, at least she wasn't mad. So there was still hope... But hope for what?

Viral lifted a hand, scratching at the rough patch on the back of his neck. He immediately stopped, snarling at the pain he felt as he snatched his claws from behind his neck. He'd always done that when he was thinking, and it'd never been that sensitive before. Pulling his claws in front of him, he stared at the bright red color that painted the tips of his claws.

"Great...just great..." he huffed, wiping his hand on his clothing, refusing to care about the fabric when he had bigger issues on his mind. First, his mind, now his body; he seemed to be falling apart at the seams.

"Just...great."


"I'm glad you've been so well," Anne told them all, smiling at her family as she relaxed on the couch, recovering from a rather large meal with a soothing cup of jasmine tea. Kinian had done well for herself, rising to the top ranks of the Earth's defensive Grapearl squad. Anne had spent most of dinner going into the more mechanical details of piloting Gurren Lagann. Kittan had gone the diplomatic route, and although he may not realize it, Kiyoh was infinitely relieved. There had been a certain amount of trepidation in choosing to name the only boy after her brother who had died while piloting a Ganmen, fearing that he would follow his fate. Thankfully, his gift for languages and extensive patience made him more suited for politics than battle. He could pilot if he wanted to, but it wasn't his career of choice, and that suited them all just fine.

It seemed that no matter what the topic was, she always managed to link it back to Viral. She had felt horrible, absolutely horrible about the way she'd snubbed him the past few days. It had been selfish self-preservation, and Anne had not problem admitting that fact. The problem was that she didn't realize how much she'd affected him in the process. Although it was only a glance that she'd spared him as she'd left the Choginga, his body posture had been very telling.

Viral was lonely. He'd missed her and the time they'd spent together, and that fact was in the slightly pained look in his eyes and the way his hand had been slightly extended. And he called her a child... Well, he hadn't said as much, but that's what she knew he was thinking. She was pretty sure, anyway.

Lifting her cup to her lips, she finally became aware of the silence around her and the weight of everyone's eyes upon her.

"Anne?" Kinian said, leaning forward on the stool she was sitting on. It wasn't until she felt her sister's fingers wipe away the tear trailing down her cheek did she realize she'd started crying. As she felt the first sob rise up in her chest, Anne felt a certain sense of resignation. If she couldn't tell her brother and sister, who could she tell...

"I'm so sick and tired of crying," she laughed, the tears falling more steadily as she took Kinian's hand between hers.


If he kept snarling like this, he was convinced that his face may well get stuck in this position. Of all the blasted doctors to end up with...

Leeron flounced back into the room, a folder in one hand and a clipboard in the other as his signature red-violet heels clicked away on the tiled floor. He sat himself right next to Viral, who shifted over as far as he could before falling off the stiff hospital bed.

"Well, I just don't know what to tell you," Leeron reported, opening the folder as he clamped it down on the clipboard, lifting up a page and glancing over it, oblivious or ignoring Viral's reaction to being so close to the fabulous man. "All of your tests came back within the expected ranges. Nothing seems to be..."

Silence filled the room as he flipped to the next page, a serious look coming over his face. "My, my...that's a bit unexpected."

"What is?" Viral asked, the change in atmosphere catching him more than a little off guard.

"Your genetic structure is having a bit of a crisis, it seems. I've never really paid much attention to the deviation in your genes when compared to other beastmen since your body is of a totally different composition, but this result is atypical even for you..."

"Could you just get to the point?"

"I could, but then you'd just bother me with more questions. But that's fine. You can stay here all day, if that's what you want."

"Fine!...wait, no. Not fine! Just get back to what you were saying in the first place. What the hell is going on?"

"Your cellular structure is constantly regenerating. While most people and beastmen have a certain threshold where that regeneration process slows down, you do not, and that's what keeps you so young and nubile. But that process seems to be...altering, somehow.

The cells are still regenerating, but they are also changing with each new generation. Nothing too significant, but if we presume that this process has been happening since Lordgenome gave you your new body, then the disappearance of the scales on the back of your neck may only be the tip of the iceberg.

I'm not certain I would call it evolution, per se...but I simply don't know what else to call it. However, if you are evolving, in any sense of the word, then the only logical conclusion is that you can put out your own Spiral energy."

The pages rustled as Leeron let them drop, turning his critical gaze to Viral. Spiral energy? Evolution?

"...am I turning human?"

"Even I can't tell you the answer to that," he shrugged, crossing his legs and assuming a pondering pose, his delicate fingers holding his chin as he stared off into nothing. "I'm not certain there are tests to show if you were. We wouldn't know it til it happened at this point. Whatever 'it' is, anyway."

He stood up, going over to the computer terminal that sat in the room, entering a summary of the visit, the scientist in him taking over quickly.

"Seeing as how Lordgenome didn't intend for anything to live much longer with the Anti-Spiral scheming away, he couldn't have thought through the implications of your new body much. It was only supposed to stand the test of time...maybe join the Anti-Spiral. It certainly is fascinating though."

Fascinating, he said. Great. All he wanted was to become this nutjob's personal experiment. He grabbed his shirt from where it still sat on the bed, pulling it on. The sound of the seams stretching let him know he'd yanked it a little too much, and he hopped there wasn't a hole in the flimsy fabric. Human clothing could be such a pain sometimes...

"Here's your slip. Just pass it to the nurse on your way out. Call me if anything else worth mentioning happens, love."

Viral left to escape the wink as much as the room and the revelation that had occurred in there. You think he'd be used to the bends in the road that life kept throwing at him. But the thought that he may be developing Spiral Energy... A slight, but genuine smile touched his face. How much more powerful would Gurren Lagann be if both he and Anne could pilot it with the force of their energy? The Anti-Spiral wouldn't stand a chance.

Anne. He'd see her tomorrow at the Earth Council meeting. He had a feeling she'd insist on being on the front lines, and he wasn't going to let her do it alone. Still, he wasn't sure how to break that awkward wall that had sprung up between them.

His feet almost took him past the attending nurse who sat at the front desk, a fairly attractive beastwoman, the horns that erupted from her head curving down to frame her petite face. She smiled brightly at him as he passed her the slip. She...

"Tell me something. How would a guy go about apologizing for something he didn't know he did?"


Although she wasn't surprised at the fact that her brother ignored her presence, it still hurt. It had been three days since she'd told her little brother and sister about her feelings for Viral. While Kinian clearly had no idea how to take it, Kittan certainly made his opinion known. Mother and father wouldn't stand for it. Of all people, why Viral? What was wrong with her? She obviously needed to settle down and stop playing at this whole ambassador affair...

He'd gone on until Kinian had punched him squarely in his nose. She hadn't broken it, but he'd had to make more than one excuse as to why his nose was swollen. At least he'd had enough sense to keep to one simple lie. He'd rather break a few oaths than let the others know about his sister's "problem."

"Problem my ass," she grumbled over her coffee as she poured herself a cup from the open bar at the far end of the room.

"That's a new scent."

The cup and its contents almost went on the floor as she realized that Viral had appeared next to her, helping himself to some tea. He rarely drank anything stronger than that due to his heightened senses.

"My sister and I went shopping yesterday, and I thought it was nice. Change can be good sometimes."

Most of the raw emotion from the trip gone, Anne looked up at him, giving him a hint of the smile he was used to seeing on her face. It obviously caught him off guard, and she noticed the box that he was holding under an arm, managing to make his tea single-handedly.

"What's that?"

She had no idea that Viral could turn that shade of red, and it was a struggle not to burst out laughing at the slightly sheepish look that came over him. To his credit, he recovered quickly, pulling the box out from under his arm and all but thrusting it at her, forcing her to put her cup down.

"I have no idea what the hell I did to upset you on the trip home, but I'm sorry. Things have been..."

"Awkward between us, I know. I'm sorry too," she finished, finally noticing the slight movement within the box.

Slipping a freshly manicured nail into the lid of the box, she lifted it slowly, and could have cared less who saw the look of pure pleasure that came over her face. Nestled in small scraps of fabric was a baby mole-pig, a ruddy brown color with a small bow tied around its tail.

"Viral..." she said, craddling the box in one arm as she reached in and nuzzled the tiny creature.

"She's a descendent of Boota, Simon's mole-pig."

"I know who Boota is, silly. Oh, Viral, you complete sweetheart."

And with that, Anne leaned in his direction and pressed her lips to his cheek before she realized what she was doing. A soft gasp from some woman in the room brought her back to her senses even while they were still fully engaged in what had happened. That inviting musky scent of his lingered, mixed with the scent of some type of soap. She'd obviously caught him off guard, Viral's fingers covering the light pink kiss stain that now adorned his cheek. Part of her wanted to reach up and wipe it off, but even if she'd wanted to, his large hand now completely covered it as they stared at each other. Her lips parted to speak, but it took a moment before she could get the words out.

"Umm...thank you, Viral. Thank you."

It was only as she grabbed her cup and made her way to her seat near the head of the table did she realize what she likely would have done if her hands hadn't been full. Only the wide mouth of the coffee cup prevented the worse of her blush from being seen by those around her. Still, she wasn't that surprised...

"Not surprised at all," Kinian had told her once Kittan had been kicked from Anne's small apartment. "You followed him around like a lost puppy when you were younger, and you never really showed any actual interest in any other guys. I thought you may have just been...into beastmen, but now I see it was just Viral-sama."

A smirk had curled Kinian's lips, laying out on Anne's bed next to her.

"Well, if I was going to go that route, I'd have gone after him too. He does make that beast nature of his a sort of charm."

Anne giggled a little, the sobs having subsided after the stoic manner in which she'd taken her brother's criticism. But it was so much more than Viral's physical appearance. She knew that if Viral had been human, she'd have fallen for him just as hard. But he wasn't...and therein was the problem...

Her eyes flickered up from her cup, watching Viral take his seat across from her as discretely as she could. More than a few eyes were on her as the rest of the council filtered in, and she pointedly ignored the burn of Kittan's eyes from his position much further down the table. The kiss mark was still on his face, but he quickly snatched the fabric napkin off the table and wiped it off. Just as she was telling herself that it didn't matter.

"All rise."

Her mask broke for just a moment as she watched Viral take the napkin and, with everyone's attention on Rossiu's entrance into the room, slip the pink stained white fabric into his coat pocket.

She could hope...at least a little.


Well, it had worked. Now he could understand the incessant gifting of flowers and trinkets that kept the number of flower and jewelry shops at such a high level. Even so, he hadn't thought it would work quite that well. It had taken a bit of work to hunt down the breeder who was making a rather substantial living off the beloved pig-mole's offspring, but he'd done it. The price he'd paid was more than worth that moment. They all took their seats as Rossiu took his, and he hid the satisfied smirk behind a hand as the talking started. He still wasn't sure why he'd felt compelled to keep the napkin, but it had felt right. For the moment, it seemed that things were calming down from the whirlwind of insanity that had been the past few weeks. It would undoubtedly pick up again, but he would be able to handle it, so long as she was there.

"Anne, you will help to coordinate the defense force between the Spiral beings."

Viral's attention went to her and her attention went to Rossiu.

"Excuse me?"

"I said that you will be working with the other military forces to set up a strategy..."

"You are not sticking me behind another desk, Rossiu," she said, standing up and putting the box on the table. "You...hell, Earth needs me piloting Gurren Lagann."

"There are others..."

"Don't give me that bullshit. I am the best damn chance that we have, and while I do not have the extensive experience running drills and fighting imaginary foes, I do have the power, and I intend to use it."

Rossiu opened his mouth and she slammed her hand on the table, a squeal erupting from the box.

"Don't you dare argue with me. I don't want to bring up the past, but I will. I'm not a diplomat, and the only reason I've been tolerating that Ambassador job you shoved down my throat is because I wanted to serve Earth the best way I could. Right now, I need to be in that Ganmen, and ever person here at this table knows it."

"Anne, please calm yourself," Kittan said.

"You shut up. There's a reason you are at that end of the table and not here." The man turned red, the fury evident as she turned her attention back to the president of Earth. "I am piloting Gurren Lagann, and you can find someone else to take care of the paperwork this time around."

With that, she all but snatched the box off the table and stormed out the meeting room, her heels clicking steadily as she left. Viral watched the door slam behind her before getting up as well.

"I suggest you listen to the woman," he told Rossiu, a glimmer in his eyes. Anne...his Anne was back. He couldn't help but smirk to himself as he followed her out, beaming with a certain sense of pride at the outrage that erupted behind him once the door was closed.