Within a week of his arrival to Kaede House, Tomo was already settled into the swing of things and being treated as if he were with them from the beginning. They had a curious interest in him at first, but it would be a lie to say they didn't feel at least some awkwardness. Now that was no longer the case. He had his own daily rut now that the others had come to memorize. He would most likely be the second one up, following either Nana or Yuka. After breakfast, he'd work in the garden until it was lunch time. Then he took a long walk around the neighborhood, and when he came back would either go back to the garden, or help the others. And he did all this with what was regarded as his constant smile, always willing to help any of them when asked. Or at least, that's what he wanted them to think.

The gullibility of these people, including Lucy and Number 7, was something that made Tomo wonder how in this world any of them had survived so long. Suspicious though they must have sounded, they all accepted his story at face value. Looking back now, it was a good thing that, in boredom at the facility, he had listened to the scientist talk while they experimented on him. Their complaints about weather, commuting, and their own personal stories made for good templates for himself to use now. Everything was going so well with his original plan that he found it almost disappointing. It was a full week before the heat from Lucy's and Yuka's verbal bashing of heads died away. Until then, the two refused to say two words to the other, and nobody dared speak the ones name in the presence of the other. But by now they had, more or less, "made up." Tomo knew it was going to take more then that to drive the wedge between them, thus creating the moment he needed to steal Lucy back were she belonged. His walks had proven to be useful on two levels also. One, it was a good way to observe humans and adopt their patterns of behavior he wasn't familiar with. This was how he learned most of the proper techniques and principles for carrying for a garden. And two, it gave him some time away from the house to rest his mind.

Every smile, every friendly word he gave the humans was a disgusting, disgraceful act that made him ashamed of himself. Even pretending to befriend a human. He was finding this to be more torturous then anything he'd ever suffered at the facility. This time was greatly needed to remind himself of why he was here in the first place. To calm his nerves. The most difficult person he had to endure this from was Kohta.

Whenever he would place an arm around Lucy or so much as speak to her, Tomo wanted nothing more then to forget about his mission and rip Kohta's body apart. Very...very...slowly. But he could tell that Lucy greatly much cared for Kohta, and killing him would probably not help his chances at convincing her to leave with him. But their relationship was so far the biggest obstacle he had to find someway of overcoming. But for now, he'd just shallow his pride and let it go. For now.

You should just kill him now, the voice suggested while out on his most recent afternoon walk, the sun bright and its rays powerful on him. The sky was a sea of blue, with almost no cloud cover to cool the summer sun. But Tomo ignored it. The hate burning within was hotter then any star. He'd just seen Kohta give Lucy an affectionate peck on the cheeks, sending angry through his veins so powerful it burned him and boiled his blood. In that moment, Tomo's diclonius instinct to kill had never been stronger. He wanted to kill them all. To listen to their last cries of death while his vectors painted the house with their blood and decorated it with their guts. He quickly left for his walk without saying anything to anyone before it became to powerful.

"Not yet," he said cravingly, lusting he could do just what the voice suggested.

Why not? If you kill him, then nothing can come between you and Lucy, the voice edged him on, its tone bland, yet surprisingly demonic. And with every word it spoke, he felt his instincts becoming harder and harder to suppress as it began to envelop him. He could imagine the boys lifeless body laying at his feet even now. The image was very satisfying..

"He will...but not now!"

Do you want him to win Lucy for himself? Another wave of angry swelled up inside him. Though not aimed at the voice, but at Kohta. Lucy was his. No one else could have her. How dare a weak human think he and a diclonius could be together. It was the ultimate blasphemy. Like a human longing for an angel.

"NO," Tomo shouted. He breathed in deeply through the nose, then released it slowly through the mouth. He repeated this process until his temper had been quelled. And soon, the lusting was gone. "The time isn't right," he said composedly, his fury now fully subsided. He resumed his walk, heading now back for Kaede House. He paced in and out of the shade cast by trees and the surrounding houses, enjoying the changes for cool to warm. Reaching the outer gate, he took one more deep inhale and exhale, comprising his fake smile, and opening the door with his now signature energy.

Nana sat on her heels as they stuck out from behind her sandals with the pink ribbon in the front. She was on the stone pathway leading from the gate by the dog house, pouring in a pile of dried dog food for Wanta into his bowl. It was hard trying to feed him the proper portions (which she had only just recently learned), as he kept sticking his head into the bowl, trying to devour his food before she was done.

"You must be hunger," she laughed at him as a small amount of food was kicked over the edge of his bowl. After finally managing to give him food, Nana wiped away a droplet of sweat from her brow, looking up at the suns rays as the came in through the gaps in the trees branches. She removed the blue shirt she was currently wearing, revealing a mauve tank top underneath, hoping to expose her skin to a cool, and currently nonexistent breeze. The gate was thrown open, catching her attention as Tomo came inside, wiping away sweat from his face also.

"Woo, it's a hot one today," he said emphatically.

"No kidding," Nana agreed, petting Wanta on the head as he ate spiritedly, spilling more of the bowls contents on the ground then in his belly. As Tomo came down the walkway, his shadowy silhouette lingered for a moment once he came in line with Nana.

"What's that," he asked. Nana looked up at him confused at his question. He pointed toward the area of her arm just below the shoulder. She looked at where his finger had gestured and felt her heart sink as she saw a small, barely visible joint line and a small change of skin tone between her shoulder and arm. Oh no. She had completely forgotten about her prosthetics.

"Oh um...this is...um," she stumbled. She was by no means prepared for this question or situation. She had no idea of how to explain this to him. How could she have forgotten? She guessed that she was just so used to the others knowing she no longer noticed it herself. She hadn't needed a reason to hide them anymore. But now, how to explain it to Tomo? Nana remembered Kohta telling them a somewhat "fragmented" version of things when Lucy finally came back. But no one found it necessary to say anything about this to Tomo. He didn't know anything, and it probably would have been better if it stayed that way.

"Are those fake," he asked sounding astonished as he brought his gaze closer to the where her flesh and limb joined. She did not look at him. This was not out of embarrassment or shame. It was because she was desperately trying to think of a good lie. Unfortunately, fibbing was not her strong point.

"How do you control these?" He squinted his eyes as though inspecting them, and was so close now his nose was almost touching. Nana sighed heavily. There was no other way.

"I need to tell you something," she said looking into his deep blue eyes, her face grave. She used the next several minutes to explain about how she and Lucy were diclonius, how Lucy had tore her body apart, how she'd killed many innocents, and everything else she and the others and been hiding from him. Unlike when she told these things to Mayu, who appeared horror struck, Tomo just starred back at her almost disbelievingly.

"Let me get this straight," he started, "Your both these...diclonius things? Your born with these horns, and four invisible hands that have a lot of strength and can cut through anything?" Nana nodded at everything he was saying, confirming he had heard right. "But Lucy lost her horns somehow? And with these hands, Lucy cut off your arms and legs, killed several other people, and you just let her live with you? Yup that makes all the sense in the world." His blatant sarcasm on that last statement was not lost on her, even though she was relatively new to the term. She stood up, twisting at the joint of her left arm to release it. Using one of her vectors, she grasped the limb out of her connected arm, letting it float for a second. Tomo's faced widened with awe, as Nana was sure he saw nothing holding up her arm as though a grim specter were there carrying it. Feeling she made her point, she attached her arm with a click.

"Our vectors can also stop most bullets and ammunition," she further expounded on. Tomo was at a lost for words and look almost fearful. "But I've never used my vectors for bad. I'm a good girl," she added quickly in as sweet and gentle a voice as she could muster.

"Why didn't anyone tell me," Tomo demanded, finally believing her.

"It wasn't that we were hiding it, it's just...difficult to explain," she said, sounding disappointed with her excuse. It was hardly a acceptable reason to keep from someone they were living with a former, possibly still, murderer. Luckily, Tomo seemed to accept her reason, as the temper slowly rising in his face lessened, replaced by a more serious expression.

"What about Lucy," he asked cautiously. Nana was even more uncertain how to answer that one. She wanted to immediately put on a smile and say that Lucy was a good person now. To say there was no need to worry and that she no longer used her vectors against humans. But she wasn't so sure herself these days. She diverted her eyes from him again, as her gentleness in her face was lost to and marked with doubt. She decided on the truth. Tomo deserved that much.

"I'm not sure," she said, "I want to believe she's a good person, but..." She grasped the joint of her arm, remembering how Lucy ripped her body to shreds, even after she was defeated and asked for mercy. She still remembered that look in her eyes. Like a fire colder then ice. Not something you forget easily. The memory could now instill fear inside her.

"What do you mean you don't know, you live with her! And you still let her live with you guys after all you told me she's done!" He sounded both amazed and appalled at their recklessness. Nana's face fell even more. Tomo knelt down next to her, placing a brotherly hand on her shoulder. His hand, despite the summer weather, felt cold and clammy.

"Look Nana, I've traveled to a lot of different places. I've seen many things, and if I learned one thing from all of those experiences it's that a tiger doesn't change its strips," he said, trying to comfort her.

"What does that mean," she asked, not sure what he meant by that. She wasn't even sure she knew what a tiger was either. But she did know what strips were. Tomo sighed pityingly before going on.

"What I mean is that a person can't change who, or what they are," he explained, sounding a bit irritated, "Like yourself for example. You'll always be a diclonius, and you can't change that. And Lucy will always be a murderer. You can't change the past Nana and you can't change what's inside you." Nana had been wrestling with this very thought for months now. She wanted to trust Lucy, to be her friend and believe she'd changed. But as Tomo just stated, you can't change the past. And her more then shady past was too stained with blood to ignore.

"Well I'm going to go do some work in the garden," Tomo said as he rose from his knees. Just before he shut the front door behind him, he turned back to Nana. "Let me ask you something, do you trust her?" It was a cruel thing to ask. It was exactly what her inner voices were battling over right this very moment.

"I don't know," she answered truthfully. Tomo looked disappointed at her.

"Well, if I were you, I'd keep an eye on her. Your the only one who can stop her if she hasn't changed," he advised before finally leaving her to her thoughts. His words felt like a heavy weight on her mind and conscience. What if Lucy wasn't changed? Would she kill again? Would it be someone from Kaede House? And if it was, then their death would be all her fault. Papa had told her to do whatever it took to be happy, and she was endangering that by allowing Lucy to stay here. And she could have been the one to prevent it, to save them. Dread began rising in her as though it were eating her from the inside. But then Nana remembered something. She recalled all the times Lucy and Kohta had been together. And, even though it was faint, she saw a small sliver of happiness in Lucy.

"Everything's going to be fine," she told herself. What was even sadder, was how feverishly she was trying to force herself to believe it.

Nana was alone in the hallway with no clue has to how, or why she was there in the first place. No sound could be heard from anywhere inside. Even the natural sounds of her own body, such as her breathing and heartbeat seemed muted. The house was as eerily silent and foreboding as a graveyard. Outside the sun was bright, casting its rays through the windows. Then, the light turned as swiftly to darkness as a candle being flickered out of existence the wind. The house began to rumble, but still Nana did not move. She wondered why she was not running for cover and instead seemed content to stay rooted as the rumbling became stronger and more violent. The house was still again. Nana felt the small pressure of some liquid dripping on the top of her head. She reached up to wipe the crown of her skull with her palm and felt a warm, oozy substance. Brining her hand back to examine what had dripped on her, she saw her entire hand was a dark crimson. It was blood.

Nana looked all around her as mountains of blood gushed from the walls and fell from the ceiling. The blood began dripping and falling heavier, covering everything, and herself in blood. As the blood ran down her arms and legs, the house began to shake with more vigor then it did previously. She screamed in terror and bolted for the upstairs, hoping to find the others. Screaming their names one after the other, she looked inside all the rooms to find them empty, save for the puddles of blood now filling them. Nana ran back downstairs, slipping on the red soaked stairs as she did. She tumbled painfully down them, banging her head many times against the mahogany wood. She clumsily got onto her feet once she reached the bottom landing, running frantically to search for the others. She searched the kitchen, the bathroom, and still found no sign of them. Starting to feel apprehensive that she would never find them, she finally came to the living room. And it was there that she found them. Kohta, Yuka, Mayu, Tomo, and even Wanta were sprawled out everywhere.

This room was not bleeding like the others, but was still just as red as the rest of them. In every corner of the room, she could see a different limb or body part scattered about randomly. Some parts were so mangled they were unrecognizable. But sitting in the center of the room, placed in a neat circle, were their heads, their eyes lifeless and empty. Standing in the middle of that circle, was a solitary figure. Even a mist all this murder and violence, her clothes and body were clean and unstained with blood. She looked up at Nana, her face a mixture of insane pleasure and lust.

Lucy gazed at Nana, who was shocked into submission. She started to laugh dementedly, starting barely audible, then rising to a crescendo. Nana wanted to run, but was bound to stare at the heads of her family laid out ritualistically at Lucy's feet. Then she felt it. A blunt, sharpness cutting into her, her arm being sliced away as blood sprinkled forth from the open wound. She fell to the floor in agony, clutching her arms as the house continued to vibrate and blood rained down on her, both from her wound and the house. Almost tauntingly, Lucy slowly stepped forward. Nana begged for her to stop, that she didn't want to feel anymore pain, but then she felt that same sharpness cutting at her leg. She screamed to the heavens, her yells muffled down to nothing by Lucy's continued cackling.

Number 7 tossed and turned violently in her bed, her body sweating profusely. Tomo stood just at the head of her bed, one of his vectors extended and inserted very precisely into her brain. It was a neat little trick he learned while at the island. By placing his vectors into the part of the brain that controlled dreaming of a sleeping person and vibrating it only so slightly, emitting a signal similar to that of sound waves sent out by bats, he could force that person to dream about whatever it was he wanted. From reliving a horrible memory, to bringing to life their worst fears. It took an impressive mastery of vectors to perform however. If he vibrated them too much, then their brain would explode from the inside out. If he placed a vector in the wrong place, then he could rupture a blood vessel, killing them instantly. It required a remarkable amount of precision. Tomo smiled to himself at how easy it was to him while he watched Number 7 turn over again and again underneath her covers. Deciding he'd done enough for one night, he removed his vector from her brain, her body still jerking between grunts. He watched her for a moment, enjoying the lasting effect it was having on her.

"That should be enough for her to see my point," he mumbled proudly as he walked toward her bedroom door. Just as he was about to close the door behind himself, he looked back to watch her one more time as she whispered "no more pain."

"Sweet dreams now," he said childlike as he slowly walked back to his room, leaving behind a still convulsing Nana.