Author's note: Thank you guys for all the support. I hope I can make it up to all of you wonderful readers with this chapter. This was something I came across in the newspaper the other day and thought of doing a bit of reading on this topic, that's when I came up with this. I'm sorry for the last two chapters; actually I was too busy with college admissions. Gomen. Thank you again.

Disclaimer: I do not own Black Cat anime or manga; they belong to their respective owners. Though Misao and Kitai are mine and mine only!

Summary: It has been four years since Train Heartnet left the Vollifieds. Oh yes, Eve was officially adopted by Sven as his daughter. She's in eleventh grade now next year she'd be graduating from high school. She's seventeen, Sven thirty-four and Train well, I'm guessing his age to be 27. Please Review.

Chapter 9: Hope and Faith.

Trring! Trring! The phone rang in the living room, "I'll get it." Eve said.

"Hello? Eve?" the voice from the other side asked. Eve was a bit surprised to hear from the person after quite such a long time, "Dr. Tearju? Is that really you? I mean-" Eve was cut in by the woman on the line, "Eve, could you come see me this Saturday? If you aren't too busy with school?"

Eve thought for a moment, the carnival day was nearing and the workload at school was pretty heavy too. "Who is it Princess?" That one voice was enough for Eve to quickly make up her mind.

"It's alright. I'll drop by. Yeah, bye." Eve put the receiver down.

Eve turned to find Train looking at her expectantly as if still asking for an answer. "Dr. Tearju. Nothing important." She was too overwhelmed to even reply in complete sentences, she tried hard to act normal but every time he was there in front of her, she just simply couldn't keep a check on her tumultuous emotions. She had been avoiding him for the past three days, or at least trying to… She would grab the slightest opportunity to stay away from him, no matter how much her heart longed to see him; this would spare both of them the trouble of going through pointless embarrassments.

It's just a crush, just a crush… It'll go away soon… It'll, trust me… she thought, as she walked towards her room, leaving a quite astonished Train behind.

On Saturday, Eve landed up on Tearju's door. Strangely, the door was open. Eve was taken aback "It's six in the evening, why is the door open? Oh no…" Presuming her creator to be in some kind of danger, Eve rushed inside. The lights were down and Eve sensed some movement towards the passage on her left. It was dark and dead quiet; stealthily she crept inside, a slight creak on the wooden floor made her stand upright, only to realize that it was her own feet making the noise.

As she turned left, she found the door to the room there half open. It was the study room as she could recollect from her last visit two years ago.

As she was about to get inside, she felt a strong hand on her right shoulder, she sprang and her hair transformed instinctively. "EVE!" she heard a woman cry.

Dr. Tearju Lunatique was lying against the wall, her face as pale with fear as a ghost's.

Eve sighed, "It's you…"

She looked at her with bloodshot eyes, "What do you think you were doing? Attacking me like that? I could've been killed you know…" She was right, for the spikes had missed her by a few millimeters.

"What do you mean?" Eve retorted, "Your front door was wide open and the lights were off… I thought there was some intruder and that you were in some kind of danger…"

She said all this in one breath and looked concerned. Tearju got up and smiled; she walked forward and hugged Eve.

"You've grown up, Eve." She said satisfactorily, "But even after not seeing you for the past couple of years, I can tell that you're not quite yourself, today. Is something the matter?" she asked as let go of her.

"It's nothing, everything is alright." Eve said with unfaltering eyes. "I'm just a bit tired of all the pressure that's been building up at school, home and…"

Tearju smiled, "No matter how much you try, you can't lie to me, Eve. If you ever want to talk about it, you're free to do so. Anyways, have a seat in my room as I prepare some coffee for both of us and then we can talk over."

Eve slowly walked into the room they were standing in front of until then. The computer screen was on; some recent research that Tearju was working on. Eve, driven by curiosity, started reading-

"Nano technology in medicine is a relatively new concept but very effective if it is tapped properly. Molecular nanotechnology is highly theoretical; the proposed elements of molecular Nano technology like Nano robots and molecular assemblers are far beyond current capabilities."

She scrolled down further as the piece of text had gripped her attention; she sat down on the chair and then continued reading-

"… Making use of Nano robots, introduced into the patient's bloodstream to repair, or detect damages and infections. The blood borne Nano robot would be between 0.5-3 micrometers in size, to facilitate normal capillary functioning. The success rates of these cell repair machines are enormous. Comparable to the size of viruses or bacteria, their compact parts would allow them to be more complex. The early machines will be highly specialized. As they open and close cell membranes or travel through tissue and enter cells and viruses, machines will only be able to correct a single molecular disorder like DNA damage or enzyme deficiency.

…The Nano particles can prove to be extremely useful in oncology. If Nano particles could do more things other than imaging the infected sites; multifunctional Nano particles that could not only detect but also successfully treat the affected area. It could replace the conventional radiation and chemotherapy in future; a promising new technology that could shape the future of cancer treatment."

"So you've helped yourself, I see…"Tearju said as she entered with two coffee mugs. "Now, Eve, I'll talk to you about it later, but first I want to know what's going on? I mean at home. I know, I'm being interfering but you're my daughter after all, no matter Sven adopted you. Forget about what I said earlier, I want to know what the problem is?" Eve sweat dropped at first, but then she saw Tearju's serious face and realized that she really wanted to know, she hesitatingly spoke, "Well you see, it's just that I-I've—" She was at a loss of words again, and she hated this feeling. Tearju smiled, "You like someone, is it? Someone from class?" Eve nodded to say no.

"No? Then I think you should just give him some time. He sure is quite dense at these things, but I'm sure he'll come round. Have patience and be true to your feelings; don't hide them, at least not from yourself, thinking that you're being imposing… Have hope; because without hope there wouldn't be anything in this world, and have faith, faith in him, that one day, he'll realize your true feelings." Tearju said in a soothing voice. Eve looked at her with surprise "How'd you…?" Tearju smiled as Eve tried hard to conceal the faint blush creeping up. She wanted to talk about her feelings being one-sided for he surely loved Saya, but then decided against it, wanting to suppress the turbulence that was threatening to break out any moment.

"Now, Eve the matter I wanted to talk to you about. It seems you've already read about my recent project; I want your help in this research that I'm conducting Eve. This is a great task, Eve. Many lives could be saved; many families could be saved from breaking down.

Eve, you were created as a weapon, a tool of mass destruction. But you resolved to walk on the right path and serve the society by ridding it of its trash elements. This would be your ultimate accomplishment, Eve. You'd no more be a weapon, but a life-saver. I want to use the Nano technology to treat ailing people, and I need your help, Eve.

I'll talk to Sven about it too, since we need his consent as your parent, but first I want to know what you think…" she paused, Eve was listening intently, she continued, "I still don't know what might be the outcome, but I know that we've got nothing to lose here, so Eve, will you help me in my initiative towards a better future?"

Eve sat still for quite some time, lost in deep thought. She finally broke the silence in the room, "But we need a research subject, a human being. Who'd volunteer for something as new and unpredictable as Nano technology?"

Tearju's eyes became dark; she sighed when they suddenly heard some rustling noise. As Tearju, turned, Eve could see behind her two little girls in their pink pinafores, one had a teddy bear in hand, while the other sleepily rubbed her eyes. Eve noticed each of them had their flaming red hair tied into two cute ponytails. They were twins, and looked so alike that it was difficult to tell them apart.

"Luna, Luna… I was sleeping, and she pushed me out of the bed." One pointed at the other accusingly, and then suddenly they broke into tears, "The room was dark and I got scared… You were not there."

Tearju smiled at them as she engulfed them in a hug, "Awww, my sweeties, I'm sorry. I thought you were stronger than the other four-year olds." She laughed. Both the girls pouted, when they noticed Eve sitting there. "Beautiful… She looks just like you Luna… You two are just like us..." One of them said. Eve was enjoying their cute accent and the way they almost ate half the word they said.

Tearju then realized that she needed to introduce them, "Ladies, meet Eve Vollified, she's the daughter of my friend Sven Vollified, who is a sweeper. She herself is also one, and a very adept one, I say."

Eve gave a nod as a 'hi'. Tearju continued, "And Eve, meet Kitai and Misao."

They came running towards her and one of them jumped into her lap, "Eve… Eve… How—"

They kept on asking things; Eve smiled back at them as she answered their questions.

Hope and Faith huh? Not a bad start… she thought.

...to be continued.

A/N: Misao means faith and Kitai means hope in japanese, at least that's what I found out from google! Please excuse my mistake in the choice of names and their meanings.