Standard Disclaimers Apply: Feedback on this chapter would be greatly appreciated! I'm unsatisfied with it… I feel Ren and Kuu's interaction was very ooc, but I couldn't think of a way to change it… if enough people declare it is too ooc then I will endeavor to change around the first half to the best of my ability! Thanks guys!!

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:Restart/

Kuu glared down at Kyoko silently waiting for her response, though he seemed to give off a hostile aura, Kyoko could not feel it. Instead she felt nothing at all from Ren's maker.

"Kuu," that grating voice emanated from Kyoko's high end speakers. "Please stop this nonsense. We have more important matters to attend than this." The golden haired Adonis glared down at his would-be father, a frown of disapproval clear on his digital face.

Kuu pulled his angry glare away from the cowering girl in front of him and directed it at Ren, "That's no way to speak to your father!" in an instant Kuu's angry demeanor faded and a pout took its place. "No respect from kids these days!"

Ren grit his teeth, and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "You are the one acting childish. I know you are up to something, and your scheming has placed Kyoko in danger."

Kyoko peaked up at the intimidating gentleman in front of her, confusion coloring her face. Were all Americans this… bipolar? She took in his blonde hair and brown eyes, eyes which seemed warm and loving- not at all mean or vengeful. The gentle lines at his mouth and eyes denoted a face quicker to laughter than anger, and he emanated an aura of perpetual confidence and calm. When the man redirected his attention to her, catching her stare she blushed, but didn't look away. The anger which she had seen on his face and heard in his voice but had never felt was completely gone. Instead there was only amusement, though she could tell he felt deeply chagrined.

"Kyoko, I'm Kuu Hizuri. Ren's father you could say. I'm very sorry about all this." He said. Then in English he added in a pensive voice, "I really did bite off more than I chew with this one…"

"I hope you choke on it." Ren grumbled, then reverting to Japanese, so that everyone could understand he told Kuu of what had transpired. Showing him the message the hacker had left in lieu of the Armadillo program.

Kyoko continued to watch the strange American carefully, hoping to get a grasp of his personality and thoughts. It did not escape her notice that everything Ren said to him was accepted without a hint of surprise or anger; Kyoko's eyes narrowed slightly, "you already know all of this right?" She said in English, "How?" Her English was almost perfect, though not rivaling the two Americans' grasp of her language, which was foreign to them; there was barely a note of an accent. She wanted him to know that resorting to his language wouldn't throw her off. Though, admittedly she didn't know what he meant by biting and chewing. He had nothing to eat on him.

Strange Americans and their strange expressions…

Kuu stared at her for a moment, his eyes boring into hers as if searching through her very soul. Just as quickly as his intense scrutiny started, it ended. A bright smile was on his face, and Kyoko questioned if she'd seen things right. "Well well well, Ms. Mogami… that talent of yours really is something isn't it? Truly unique."

Kanae and Chiori looked at each other, confusion all over their faces. Unlike Kyoko they didn't speak English, though Kanae prided herself on her grasp of French. Both of them were still trying to recover from the information overload Kyoko had already given them. And the arrival of the American only worsened the situation for them.

Seeing her friends' chagrinned expressions Kyoko smiled at them, apologizing before continuing the conversation in Japanese again, "how much do you know?"

Kuu placed a finger on his chin, a small mischievous smile on his lips. "As a matter of fact… I know everything." Behind him on the massive computer screen, Ren's avatar shook his head and huffed. "I've been following all of your movements from the moment you stole Ren from the LME mainframe."

At that the avatar stiffened, his look of irritation flowing into one of suspicion. A moment later Ren was holding a screen in his digital fingers with code streaming across the face. "You've been spying on me." The look on his face made Kyoko quail before him. This was the dark side of Ren's code, the Demon King. Kuu broke out in a sweat, though he hid it with a smile. "You had a spy bot inserted in my code! You've been watching everything I do- everything I think, the whole time!" Ren's avatar shattered the screen in his hands, a visible representation of what he did to Kuu's precious back door.

"It was only a means of protection! A way for me to find you in the event you were somehow hijacked! And that's exactly what ended up happening."

On the computer screen the background faded from white to black, spreading from Ren's avatar like a dark fog. The look on his face was positively terrifying, a look so vicious it had the group of humans fearing for their lives. "You did this on purpose. You knew everything did you not? About Kyoko Mogami and her mysterious partner, their plan to take me… You used Kyoko as a means to perform experiments on your greatest accomplishment. You knew her; somehow… you knew she would do the things she did. And you wanted to see what affect that would have on me. You have been right there, watching everything! My every thought and emotion…" His voice trailed off and Kyoko absently noted that the combination of the look on his face and his broken, emotionless electronic voice could almost be comical, if it weren't down right terrifying.

Kuu was visibly leaning away from the screen; there was no smile on his face now. Kyoko could feel the remorse and sadness rolling off of him in waves. "You've misunderstood son, please-"

"I am not your son!"

Kuu flinched slightly, and Kyoko could feel the pain that sentence caused him. "Ren please calm down. You need to give me an opportunity to explain myself, there is much more to all of this then your skewed interpretation." Ren glared down at him silently, "I'm sorry that I invaded your privacy s- Ren. It was rude of me to do such a thing, but please give me a chance to tell you why… Ren you know time is running out."

Kuu held the avatar's eyes, trying to convey his message without saying it out loud. Surprise colored the digital face, lessening the intensity of Ren's angry glare. "You know…"

Kuu nodded once.

Kyoko looked between the two, sensing that she was missing something extremely important. She cocked her head and threw Ren a questioning glance before asking aloud, "Know what?"

Another look passed between Maker and Creation before Kuu turned to her, a smile gracing his lips once again. Kyoko noted it didn't reach his eyes. "I know who's behind the theft of the Armadillo Program as well as the identity of your little partner. You should pick your friends more carefully."

Kyoko frowned, "the one who took Prince was Shoutaro Fuwa… are you telling me that he was my partner all along?"

A knick knack exploded near to where Kuu was standing, causing him to look around in shock. He finally noticed the wreckage in the living room. There was a shattered mirror and several shattered pictures, as well as many shards of other knick knacks who had met their demise earlier. Amusement tinged his voice as he said, "no, Sho Fuwa simply works for him also."

Everyone fell to the floor covering their heads as the glass of the mirror and several windows exploded. Ren's anger was completely forgotten as he looked on at what was happening in the living room. He was suddenly very grateful that (whether intended or not) the computer had been spared from the demolition. He finally understood what Kyoko had meant about her anger, she truly was a wonder. He never believed that such a thing were possible, then again it wasn't the first time the girl had changed his perceptions of life and was possible and impossible. "Kyoko is this necessary? Now you have destroyed your home, you will be wasting our time cleaning the mess you made, instead of learning all that Kuu knows." Regardless of his opinion of her, this reaction truly was foolish. Why react to such news with anger? What was done was done and though she could not change it, she could certainly fix it… If she stopped making the house explode that was.

Kyoko gritted her teeth; it was unbelievable that she had been working with that person! Her partner was working with Sho also which made Sho partners with her! It was unacceptable! Had that demon thought her incapable? Did he think Sho Fuwa was better than she? She remembered the message left behind in the wake of Prince's disappearance, you'll always be second rate… he had walked right into her home, bypassed all her security and taken a Sec Program which was supposed to be unbeatable.

The cold hand of dread and loss squeezed her heart, sapping all her anger away. She truly had been bested by him.

Ren's irritation slowly grew; the girl was ignoring him completely. "Kyoko, stop this now."

He noticed movement at the far reach of his camera's peripherals and swiveled to see Kuu walking towards her slowly. He had a strange look on his face, like understanding and sorrow. Just as Ren was about to call out to Kuu to demand what he was doing, Kuu raised a hand and slapped Kyoko across the face none too gently. Surprise had Ren frozen completely still as he watched on.

As Kyoko turned her head to look up at her assailant, Kuu leaned down to be eye level with her. Staring at her intently he said in a voice both soft and intense, "will you sit there and give up? Will you allow him to have the last laugh? Stop pitying yourself and wake up! Ren needs your help to fix what you have started, will you sit there and let those two get away with this?"

For the span of a heartbeat, no one moved or even breathed. Ren watched on in fascination, unsure whether to be angry at Kuu for touching his friend in such a violent manner, or grateful to him for freeing her from her dark thoughts. Slowly Kyoko moved a hand up to her red cheek, never breaking her gaze from Kuu. As her fingers touched the tender skin there, life flooded her eyes once again and she gave Kuu a small grateful smile.

"Thank you, Mr. Hizuri. You are right… I will not submit to him! I will show him just who is second rate!" She held her fist up, shaking it in the air in front of her, "you better watch your back Shoutaro! I'm coming to take Prince back, and I'll show you just how far I can bury you in the dirt of my success!"

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Sho sat in his car, tapping a hand impatiently against the steering wheel, while the other held a strange box like device with several blinking green lights and a USB port. It was a unique device, something he had created himself in the case that he should ever come across something to massive to store on a disc. This was the first time he'd put it to use.

He looked at the nondescript grey box with a self satisfied smile on his face. He wondered how Kyoko reacted after realizing that, not only was he closer than she had thought, but he was still capable of outdoing her at every turn. This amazing little program he held in his hands had referred to itself as Prince, a designation it claimed Kyoko had given it. Sho snorted, of course she would give it such a name, but the fact that it was self aware shook him to the core. A sentient program was a thing he had never thought possible, the implications were endless and the possibilities infinite.

But what was Reino up to? That was a problem. Sho did not want to hand this treasure trove over but he knew if he took it and disappeared it'd only be a matter of time before Reino caught up with him. The man was an excellent tracker, it was almost abnormal.

As if summoned by his thoughts the very man he was waiting for pulled up behind him in a shiny yellow Porsche, it made Sho want to gag. What a freak.

They both got out of their vehicles, walking towards each other with wary footsteps. It was no secret they detested each other, however a series of unfortunate events thrust them into an uncomfortable partnership of sorts. They each needed the other for their specific talents; it benefited them to withstand the other's presence.

Sho held up the nondescript box, a smirk on his face. "What are you up to Reino?"

Reino snatched the item from his hands, holding it up to his eyes like it were the greatest thing he's ever laid eyes on. A smile spread across his face and a wave of nausea hit Sho at the sight. There was nothing at all pleasant about Reino.

"Good job Sho, maybe you do still have more talent than my precious Kyoko."

Sho's indignation flared, hating to be compared to her on any level. "What exactly are you planning?"

Tapping the box against his lips, Reino made a quick hand gesture as he walked off into the massive building they were parked in front of. Grinding his teeth, Sho Fuwa followed.

Ten minutes of extremely uncomfortable silence later, they were in a room with several networked computers. Without hesitation, Reino walked over to the closest one and connected the box. He sat in a chair with a smug smile as the download began initializing.

All at once, the computer screens went blank. Many colored pixels began forming together to create an image, an avatar for the Armadillo Security Program. Reino looked almost like a kid, nearly bouncing in his chair with excitement, and laughing too.

Only, Sho noted, no kid would sound that twisted. He shifted uncomfortably, giving his unwanted partner a look of disgust before turning back to the image forming in front of him.

Moments later, a male figure stood in the center of the screen. He wore a black business suit and red tie, Sho couldn't help but note how handsome the figure was. He beat down the spark of jealousy; this was just a program after all.

Reino leaned forward, "Hey!" He called out.

From under black bangs, eyes nearly as dark opened to stare at him. "What do you want with me?" The figure asked. Its voice was smooth and deep.

Sho glanced around the room in surprise. On every screen the face of the avatar stared out at them, eyes questioning. It was slightly unnerving to see the same visage on every screen of every size, all with their eyes pinned on them. He frowned and looked on Reino, "Exactly what do you want with it?"

Reino ignored him in favor of asking the program a question, "What do you call yourself?"

The digital man cocked his head slightly, "I am called Prince."

Reino frowned, "typical." He whispered. "Very well Prince, I want to ask you questions about your programming."

The avatar frowned, "My programming? It is modeled after the program called Project R.E.N."

"It is exactly like his?"

The being was silent a moment, completely frozen with its head cocked to one side. "No," it said a moment later. "He is more advanced than me. My original programming is still present."

Reino nodded, that sick smile still on his face, "Good." He turned to Sho, "This is where you come in."

Sho frowned, "What?"

"I need you to… adjust some things for me."

Sho's jaw dropped, "you want me to rewrite his programming?" He stuttered a moment, "Something as complicated as that could take months!"

Reino shook his head, "Not all of it, just… tweak certain aspects."

"What the hell are you planning Reino?!"

Reino's smile grew as he stood up and walked towards Sho. Slowly he held his arms akimbo, "I plan on presenting the world with the very first AI to ever be created. And in so doing, become one of the richest and most powerful men on Earth." He began laughing, "And I will start my plan… by eradicating the original." He glared at his partner, "Get working."

:To Be Continued/…