Standard Disclaimers Apply

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:Restart/

Kyoko was speeding down the highway as she told Kanae everything that had happened. Coming clean about the fact that she had been lying to Kanae for years had been hard, and Kyoko had been close to tears yet again as she begged for Kanae's forgiveness. They drove along in silence for several minutes as Kanae tried to process everything that Kyoko had told her. It was a lot to take in, and it was almost impossible to believe a word of it. She couldn't have had the scene at work just a few minutes ago not transpired… Then again she would still be as oblivious now if it had not. She didn't like that. Kanae would be lying to herself if she said she wasn't hurt by her friend's obvious distrust in her. They had been friends for years and Kyoko had hidden something from her, when she had thought that they could tell each other anything… she looked down at her lap sadly. What else could Kyoko be hiding? Had she never truly considered Kanae a friend at all? Perhaps she had never really forgiven Kanae for her cold treatment of her so many years ago. She sighed lightly, and glanced over at the only person she had ever really considered a friend with a small sad smile.

"I'm sorry you felt you could not trust me, Kyoko… I promise never to tell anyone."

Kyoko voiced a small exclamation of surprise, looking at Kanae with wide eyes. Regret clouded her face a moment later, "no no Miss Moko! That isn't it at all! I trust you with my life, really I do! It's just… I made a promise to someone not to tell…"

With those words a weight was lifted from Kanae's heart. So it hadn't been that after all. She knew Kyoko too well. Even if she hated his guts, if she had made a promise to him, she wouldn't have broken it. She was that kind of person. She shared a small smile with her best friend, relief clear on her face. "I see. So he made you keep quiet…" Kanae hesitated a moment, knowing how dangerous a topic this could be, "… why though? Why would sh- he teach you something like… that?"

Kyoko's face went dark for a moment, a war of pain and rage being fought beneath the surface. Kanae could feel it coming, that strange ability of hers which only surfaced when she was truly angry. Just as quickly as the ominous feeling came it went, and Kyoko sighed, "I'm not really sure. I had always loved to tinker with anything electronic. I guess he thought I could be useful… I think… I was trained to be his helper, and maybe… his scape goat too. In case things went south." She gritted her teeth, her hands clenching the steering wheel as she fought back tears at such a pathetic confession. He had used her from the beginning; she had been blinded by her love, and let him. Truly pathetic.

Kanae looked at her with sad eyes… if ever she saw Sho again she'd unman him with her bare hands! Though… she'd be fighting with Kyoko to get to him first. She looked out her window at the blur of trees and sky, unsure of what to say to her friend when she realized just how fast they were going. She spun around to look at the speedometer with wide eyes and gave an involuntary yelp of fear, "Kyoko! You're going 30 miles over the speed limit!"

"Eh?" Kyoko pulled away from those taboo thoughts to stare at Kanae, who was gripping her seat with all she was worth.

"Don't look at me look at the road! And slow the hell down!"

"Ah!" Kyoko eased her foot off the gas pedal, giving Kanae an apologetic grin. She hadn't been aware of how fast she was going; worry for Ren must have made its way to her foot. "Sorry Miss Moko, I guess I'm eager to get home."

Kanae frowned, both guilt and worry flashing through her head. "I'm sorry Kyoko. This is my entire fault. If Ren…"

"No!" Kyoko clasped one of her friend's hands, "this is my fault! I never should have lied to you! If Ren… fails" she choked on that word, "then the guilt is mine and mine alone!"

Kanae winced a bit at how tight Kyoko was holding her hand, but let it go. She was genuinely worried for the AI, and not just a little bit. That in itself worried Kanae; she didn't want her friend to get hurt yet again. She placed her other hand over their clenched ones and looked out windshield.

They were almost there.

.

Ren settled himself in the familiar confines of Kyoko's computer, preparing himself for a full systems check. He mentally chided himself for what had happened in Kyoko's office, it was his own fault that he was now damaged. He had been curious to see the one Kyoko called 'best friend'. The woman was spoken of highly by Kyoko and he could tell she loved her very much. They had known each other for nearly two decades and had gone through many hard times together, how could they not love each other? They had a bond so deep and strong it was beyond Ren's understanding, he had only 'lived' for a little over two weeks after all, how could he fathom a bond forged by such an existential amount of time? He was overcome with several powerful emotions, they were so very complex and deeply intertwined in his thoughts, overlapping and confusing him as he tried to sort it all out in his matrix. He recognized dread, perhaps fear. There was affection he felt for Kyoko but also something else. An emotion linked to Kanae Kotonami and the bond he had seen between her and his friend… it was powerful, it didn't feel good at all though. Almost like the feeling of dislike but not quite the same… perhaps it had a twinge of possessiveness to it, something that vaguely shamed Ren. Kyoko was not his by any means… and he had no right to dislike Ms. Kotonami, he did not know her, beyond what Kyoko spoke of her, and everything she said was praise for who she was.

How could he 'dislike' a woman Kyoko loved so deeply? Why did he 'dislike' the fact that they had known each other for years? Why did he feel this strange, illogical emotion towards them and their bond? If anything he should be thankful for Kanae Kotonami's existence, which made Kyoko; his one and only friend's existence so enjoyable! And part of him did feel that way… but it was a lesser part, much smaller than the part of him who did not like that bond… finally he had it, his sluggish emotional programming giving him the answer at long last.

Jealousy.

Ren sighed, a truly illogical emotion to have. He wondered at himself, questioning his own mental state. Such human responses from him were unacceptable… he was not human, and he never could be. He jerked his thought processors back to the problem at hand as his back up systems sent his main matrix another warning. Foolish thoughts would have to wait as he repaired himself.

Kyoko's face from minutes previous flashed through his mind, the wrongness of it worrying him even as he commenced his self diagnostic. Why did it look that way? All twisted and… wet. If Ren's avatar had been active it would have had a deep frown on it. His diagnostics were running slow, he knew it was his fault, his thoughts were off in several different directions, slowing his self check considerably. He tried to collect himself, to focus solely on his current predicament, but every time that face would come to the forefront of his central processor and he'd once again become distracted from his diagnostics. It was only when he ran across damages he had not previously been aware of; damages which were not caused by his being dropped, that he was finally able to store thoughts of Kyoko and focus all his processors on the problem.

His emotional programming kicked into high gear, flooding his central processors with fear and confusion as the results of his check became evident.

Self Diagnostic Results:

Linguistics Component Heavily Damaged

:Initializing Auto Repair Sequence:

...Auto Repair Sequence Failed: Missing necessary file …

Main Consciousness Matrix Damaged

:Several Programs Are Corrupt:

WARNING! Immediate repair Necessary! Decay Spreading!

Main Personality Matrix Damaged

:Several Programs Are Corrupt:

WARNING! Immediate Repair Necessary! Decay Spreading!

Ren was unsure as of what to do. He did not know why or even how his two Main Matrixes could have suffered such serious damages. When he tried to get to the source of the decay his diagnostics simply came back with Cause Unknown. The decay was indeed spreading, the slow breaking down of certain files was just slow enough and subtle enough for him to not notice until now. He fought back panic at the thought that he could very well be dying; that Kuu had missed something extremely important in his initial programming and that he was faulty in some way and completely irreparable. He calculated the rate of decay, trying to figure out how much time he had before the decay reached the most important files of his matrixes… the results sent sharp spears of fear through out his entire programming. At the rate of decay, he had one week before total shut down.

One week to live.

What would it feel like to die? That thought scared Ren, he did not want to die. He was not ready to face oblivion so soon after being activated. He wanted to continue experiencing new things with Kyoko, he wanted to see a sunrise as well as a sunset. He wanted to return to the amusement park and experience vertigo and dizziness and nausea. He wanted learn new things, explore new places. He wanted to talk more with Kyoko, learn all there was to learn about her, see her laugh and smile and argue and…

Amidst the pain and sadness, Ren finally realized what had been wrong with Kyoko's face. She had been crying, a physical manifestation of extreme sadness and pain. Ren's own pain could have been reflected in that heartbreaking image of Kyoko. She had been afraid for him, she had been crying for him, because she cared about him deeply. That helped to alleviate his own sadness and fear slightly. He placed Kyoko above himself and could not stand to think that she had made such a face because of him.

Pulled away from his own pain by that of Kyoko's, Ren's emotions shifted to something else, something utterly unidentifiable. It was pleasant and made him feel good, but his emotional processors could not identify it. It was far to complex, something that had never initially been programmed into him, but had formed there on its own. It had grown as Ren had grown, fueled by his closeness to his new and unexpected friend. It was close to the feeling of friendship, but stronger somehow. A mixture of awe and fondness and camaraderie… but so much more, and so much more powerful. Ren tried to focus on it, to distract himself from his own reality, however he realized the harder he focused himself on this strange unidentifiable feeling, the faster the decay moved. The complexity of something which was never meant to be there overloading his processors.

Ren froze with shock, he had accidentally identified the source of the decay. That emotion… whatever it was, was the cause for the breakdown. It was far to complex a thing for his Central Processors to take in and so it was overloading his systems. Somehow, something had happened to him in the time he had been with Kyoko to cause this fatal… glitch.

Ren was very confused, how could something so deadly feel so good? How could something that was never meant to be part of his systems exist? Such a thing was impossible. The illogic of it all made Ren very angry, the emotions of pain, sadness and anger were potent… but stronger than that was the feeling of utter and complete helplessness.

Only one thing was certain for him, he could never allow Kyoko to make such a painful face again. Not because of him at least, and so he would not tell her of this development. He wanted to see her smile and laugh for him before he shut down permanently. He didn't want his final memories of her tainted by the knowledge that he was causing her pain and sadness.

.

Kyoko threw the car into park and turned it off, not even bothering to grab her keys as she leapt out and ran for the door, Kanae followed just a heartbeat behind, just as eager to know the status of the AI. Their progress however, was waylaid by the presence of Chiori. She was standing outside Kyoko's door with a worried look on her face, when she saw the duo she ran to meet them speaking as she went. "Oh, Kyoko thank god you're here! I tried calling but you wouldn't answer your phone!"

Kyoko frowned at her, worry for her friend tempered by curiosity as to the reason behind the urgency on Chiori's face. "What is it Miss Chiori?"

Chiori fidgeted, glancing at Kanae and then at Kyoko's door. "Kyoko there was someone inside your home earlier. I only saw them leaving so I couldn't stop them but it like he had taken some sort of device…"

Kyoko's body flooded with ice cold fear, a very new kind of panic filling her as she grabbed Chiori's shoulders and shook her, "what did he look like? What did he take?! How long ago was it?!"

Chiori fell back in surprise at how powerful a reaction her words brought. "W-well… it was an hour or so ago… H-he had blonde hair, um… he was tall too. I think he had a pretty boy face, but I can't be totally positive as I only caught a side view…" Kyoko hadn't stayed still long enough to hear all of what Chiori said. She was already running for the house, throwing the door open so hard its doorknob lodged into the wall and stuck there. She made to run straight for the living room when a whimpering sound to her right distracted her.

Worry for her dog had Kyoko nearly ripping the bathroom door off its hinges, but that worry was quickly mollified as Corn jumped up on her, licking her face and whimpering some more. "Good boy Corn, I'm sure you tried to stop them."

She turned back towards the living room her two friends now right behind her as she made her way to her computer. Both Chiori and Kanae gasped at what they saw there, neither had expected quite what they saw. Kanae had only learned a short while ago about Kyoko's alternate life and Chiori had never known the extent of the technology at her friend's fingers. She was slightly jealous of her, but that was dampened by the worry she now felt.

Kyoko turned the computer on and sat in her chair, grabbing the keyboard and entering her password quickly. They all waited with baited breath as it booted up. Kyoko could hardly breathe, and Kanae and Chiori both had their heads cocked in curiosity.

Ren's avatar popped up almost immediately, locking eyes with Kyoko he smiled gently. "Kyoko it's okay. I'm okay… however I cannot fix my linguistics component unless I get a certain file from LME."

Kyoko had never been so happy to hear that metallic and false voice emanating from her speakers. She laughed with relief, wiping away a few tears which escaped her eyes. Ren frowned at her reaction, which held very conflicting emotions on it.

"Why do you cry?" He asked.

Kyoko laughed again, euphoric to know that her friend was still here, and just the same as ever… though she missed that velvety voice of his, "Sometimes people cry when they are happy, or relieved. Not just when they are sad."

His frown faded slightly, a smile fighting at his lips now, "how illogical."

She smiled brightly, "Yes, there is nothing logical about us though is there?"

Ren shook his head no, then realized they had company when Chiori (who seconds before had been frozen solid with shock, her jaw falling through the floor) gasped and nearly shouted, "What the hell is that?!"

Kyoko flinched, wanting to beat the hell out of herself for being so careless with Chiori, when she suddenly remembered the reason for her presence. "Ren apparently there was an intruder in my house, if you are here then what did they…" Kyoko trailed off as Ren's face slowly shifted from a half smile to surprised shock.

"Shit!" He muttered, and suddenly there were several windows of code held in his hands like cards. He searched through them fervently until he came to one which made him frown. His lips twisted in a sneer as he threw the window at the screen, enlarging it so Kyoko could clearly see what it said.

When Kyoko absorbed the enormity of what had happened and who was responsible she gritted her teeth with rage, a whispered "Sho…" from behind her setting her off.

Several knickknacks exploded as Kyoko screamed in rage, "Shotarooooooo!!!"

Chiori read the message aloud in a confused whisper, "You'll always be second rate…?"

Prince was gone.

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The limo came to a stop in front of a line of condos, the driver looked over his shoulder; "We are here Mr. Hizuri."

"Thank you." Kuu replied. He grabbed his briefcase and got out, looking at each door until he spotted the right one, then making a beeline for it.

As he approached the door he could hear many strange and concerning noises coming from behind it. Shattering porcelain and glass, as well as shouting, he thought he may have even caught a bit of a computerized voice but he was unsure. Was he too late then? Could that be Kyoko's enraged 'ability' flaring up because her source had gotten the Armadillo Sec Program and Ren? There was no time to waist.

He knocked on the door and waited several minutes, when no one came he knocked again, thinking they may not have heard him over their raucous. When his knock was greeted with total silence the second time he sighed. Either they weren't paying attention or they were being very unwelcoming. With a shrug he simply let himself in, following the sound of voices in conversation until he came to the living room. He paused for a moment, taking in the rather surprising sight while no one seemed to notice him.

He smiled at Ren's image on the computer, he'd missed his son! His smile was immediately wiped off however when his son began to speak, and the horrible sound emanating from him was not the perfect and beautiful voice he had given him.

"What on Earth have you done to my son?!" He barked, immediately conversation stilled as all eyes fell on him.

Kyoko hadn't missed the use of the word 'son' and so assumed he was the maker of R.E.N. She closed her eyes and bowed her head in shame and acceptance.

Ren simply sighed.

:To Be Continued/...