Chapter 11 - The Umbilical Cord

Revised on 1/4/12.


Report number 23.

Hello. This is Kisshu. Unfortunately, our alliance with the Mew, Midorikawa Retasu, has not been very fruitful. So far, we have lost a 'Mew Aqua', due to the fact that it has merged with the Mew. In addition, Pai has become more and more distracted by his work with her. I'm beginning to be concerned that there is more going on between those two than he is going to admit to. He would probably make a remark about my adoration for Ichigo if I confronted him about it, but if something is happening, I don't like it.

On another note, our Chimeras seem to be less and less effective against the enemy. I really wish that we could just win this damn war so that my people could have a reasonable place to live…


(Retasu's Point of View)

As strange as it was, I enjoyed my relationship with Ryou, although not for the expected reasons. It was nice to have someone to go out on dates with; it came me something that I couldn't get from my relationship with Pai.

"That was a pretty good movie, huh?"

I nodded in response to his question, although I didn't know if the movie was actually that good or not. I only paid attention to it up to the point where Ryou took my hand and held it for the rest of the film, causing me to nearly have a nervous breakdown. Afterwards, we sat on a bench in the park, his hand still on mine. I blushed the whole time, mostly staring at my feet, glancing up at Ryou every now and then. I liked that soft smile that he wore when he leaned his head back against the bench; it was calming, peaceful.

"This is nice. I like being with you."

I looked up in surprise at his words, but I quickly returned my gaze to my feet. "Y-yes… it is nice," I said hesitantly, stealing small glances at him from the corner of my eye. He squeezed my hand at this, and then sat up, opening his eyes to look at me.

"I'm really glad that I have you as my girlfriend. As you know, I don't really have much of a family. Just Keiichirou, really," I don't know why, but I always felt nervous around Ryou – more so than with Pai. There was something odd about Ryou. I had always known him to be more harsh and judgmental, and I could never understand his sudden interest in me. And what made it worse was that I couldn't tell if he was serious or not. "I do hope that we can spend more time together, Retasu."

Of course, none of that prevented me from developing a crush on him.

I felt so comfortable resting on Pai's chest. Even if he made me nervous a lot, I found his presence to be comforting in an odd way, and although he never spoke out loud how he truly felt about me, he always found a way to show it through his actions. Ryou always felt like a stranger to me, but when I was with Pai, it was more like I was with an old friend. I let out a blissful sigh as I wrapped my arm around his waist. "I'm glad that you're here." The words tumbled out of my lips before I had time to think about what I had just said. I blushed, and Pai said nothing, but simply continued to stroke my hair. I knew that he was happy. I closed my eyes, running my hand along his smooth abdomen, listening to his heartbeat. I opened my eyes and gazed down at the sheets, admiring how they fell over his thighs. There were so many things about Pai that were peculiar to me: the fact that his heart was on the right side, his ears, his absence of a navel, his long limbs. And I loved every single part of him.

Although I didn't want to think about it at that moment, I couldn't stop my mind from wandering to the conversation that I had earlier with Ryou about his family. I had been curious about Pai's heritage –and why his anatomy was different from a human's and for what purpose - for a long time, but I had never really had the courage to ask him. Again, before I had a chance to think about it, the words carelessly fell from my lips. I instantly regretted it.

"Pai-san, what is your family like?" His whole body tensed at these words, and his hand stopped stroking my hair. I lifted my head to look at him, only to find him staring blankly at the ceiling. I could feel the fear steadily creeping into my immediate awareness. "Pai-san…?" Suddenly, he pulled away from me, peeling the sheets from his body as he sat on the edge of the bed. "Pai-san, what's wrong?" He wordlessly began to pull on his clothes, staring at the ground. I chewed my lip nervously as I sat up, one hand holding the sheet to my body, the other reaching for him. As my hand touched his shoulder, I repeated my question, not gaining any response. He didn't even bother to shrug my hand off to show that he was angry, he just acted as if I had ceased to exist. A sick feeling crept into my stomach, as well as an odd feeling of déjà vu.

As he stood up and walked towards the spot where he usually teleported from, I bolted up from the bed, grabbing his arm as he began to teleport. "Pai-san, wait! Stop!" As I felt the ground fall away from me, and then return again, I realized that I had teleported with him. I released his hand, swaying dizzily from the sudden teleportation before I realized that he was walking away. "Pai-san, please talk to me!" I pleaded as he walked through the maroon space with me running after him, not looking back at me. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to upset you! I'll do whatever I need to fix it, just tell me what's wrong!" I grabbed his hand, and he stopped. After a moment of tense silence, he whipped around to face me as I simultaneously released his hand. He opened his mouth to speak, but snapped it shut into a deep frown as he looked behind me. Curious, I turned to look over my shoulder, only to have my heart leap into my throat. Kisshu was staring at us, his mouth agape. After another few moments of silence, Kisshu's mouth closed, and he narrowed his eyes into a glare as he looked at me. It was under his scrutinizing gaze that I realized that I was completely naked.

I moved to cover myself up, but that proved difficult with only my two arms. I started tearing up as I heard Pai start to walk away, and Kisshu made a move to follow him. I didn't miss the disapproving glare that Kisshu shot me as he walked past. I felt my knees tremble as tears started to roll down my cheeks. I shivered in the cold of the room, wondering how things had gone from perfect to horribly wrong so quickly. I nearly jumped out of my skin at Pai's voice coming from an arch that he had left the area from. "The medical bay is a few doors down that hall. You can find some robes in there." I silently nodded as I heard him walk away again, leaving me alone. I took a minute to attempt to collect myself before I started to walk down the hallway that Pai had indicated, my arms wrapped around my chest self-consciously.

I peered through various open doors before I found the medical bay on the right. As I walked into the bay, I couldn't help but stare at the mural on the vast ceiling. I had let out a gasp unknowingly as I saw it, for I had not expected something of such beauty and artistry in the medical bay. It looked like something that would be painted on the ceiling of a church. Pulling my gaze away from the ceiling, I turned my attention instead to a metal desk near the corner of the room. I walked over to it, noticing an open book on the cold surface. The symbols on the page were unfamiliar for the most part, but I did recognize the symbols that made my name. I smiled at this, for I knew that it must be Pai's journal. I scanned the page, counting how many times my name appeared. On that single page, I found it eleven times, and when I turned back a page, I noticed that the whole page was filled with my name. I blushed at this, smiling sadly as I thought of how he was currently angry at me for unknown reasons.

I was startled out of my quiet reverie at the sound of a piece of metal falling to the ground. I whipped around to see Taruto staring at me. As I turned, I noticed that his eyes immediately fell to my breasts, causing the both of us to blush. I dove behind the desk, peeking over the top to find that Taruto had courteously turned around. "I-I'm sorry!" He yelped, flinching as he realized what he said. "I-I mean I'm sorry that I had to see that! You're no looker." He spat, and although I knew he was just being childish, the words still hurt. "Oh, damn. I'm sorry, I didn't really mean that." He growled as he rubbed the back of his head, clearly conflicted as to what to say. I resisted the urge to giggle as he subtly glanced over his shoulder before looking forward.

"Um… Taruto-san…?" I began meekly, causing his ears to twitch slightly. "Do you… um… know where I might find some clothes?" He immediately stood up straight, his arms clenched to his sides. Poor, poor Taruto.

"Uh… yeah… just um… follow me I guess." He said as he began to walk towards the other end of the bay. After a moment, I moved out from behind the desk. He once again glanced over his shoulder, blushing as he looked forward again. Even the tips of his ears were red. I couldn't help but sneak a small smile. Once he reached the end of the bay, he opened the door to a small closet, reaching inside for a white robe. Without turning around, he held out the robe for me, which I happily took. I pulled the plain garment over my head, and I once again noticed Taruto staring at me when the garment no longer covered my eyes. "They look good." He muttered, and once he realized what he had said, corrected himself to "it looks good. 'It' meaning the robe. Not your-"

"Yes, Taruto-san, I understand." I said, my voice shrill with embarrassment. We stood in awkward silence for a few moments before Taruto made a move to leave. "Please wait." I said, and Taruto stopped, raising an eyebrow. I suddenly realized that I had no idea what I wanted from Taruto. "Um… I ended up teleporting here with Pai, but he and Kisshu ran off, and I have no idea where they are." Taruto looked as if he were about to speak, so I quickly continued. "I don't think I should go find them though, because they looked like they were going to argue." Taruto snickered at this, much to my surprise.

"Yeah, they're probably fighting." He said with a smirk. "Kisshu doesn't like the fact that you two are sleeping together, so I imagine that he wasn't too happy to have you show up naked." I blushed at this, stammering. Taruto rolled his eyes at this. "Come on, Fishie. Considering the amount of time that he spends with you, and the way that you look at each other, it was pretty obvious. Kisshu was just in denial about it." I chose to say nothing at this point and simply stared at my feet, my cheeks red. I looked up at the ceiling, suddenly remembering the mural.

"Taruto-san?" He grunted in response. "Who painted this mural?"

"Kisshu did."

I stared at him. "Really?" He pointedly rolled his eyes at this.

"Yes. Really." I looked up at the mural again.

"It's beautiful."

"You want to get a closer look at it?"

"Can I?"

"Of course."

With that, Taruto walked behind me, wrapped his arms around me and lifted me into the air. I let out a yelp of surprise as we flew up to the mural. "T-Taruto-san! Y-you don't have to do that! I'm probably way too heavy…" Taruto kindly chose to say nothing and simply brought me eye to eye with one of the figures on the mural. It was a boy with long, flowing black hair and ornate face paint seated upon a throne. "Who is this?" I asked, pointing to the figure.

"That is Deep Blue." He said solemnly. "He is our deity. We must obey his every command." I looked at the figures surrounding Deep Blue, noting their various features. Although Kisshu still had room for improvement, he was certainly skilled. I looked at the figures at the feet of Deep Blue with a frown. They were twins with forest green hair and piercing gold eyes, and between them they held a basket of vegetables and wheat.

"Who are these figures?"

"That's Kisshu's self portrait, and the girl is his sister." I furrowed my brow and looked up at Taruto, who was clearly straining to hold my weight in the air. "He hasn't seen her for a very long time, so he has a huge gap in his life. She was put into the same lab as Pai, and he hasn't seen her since."

"Wait, what lab?"

Taruto's eyes widened nervously as he looked down at me. "Haha, did I say lab? That not what I meant… what I meant was-"

"Taruto, that's enough. Let Pai tell her himself." Both of us looked down to see Kisshu floating towards us. I blushed, looking away as Kisshu scrutinized me. Things were even more awkward then they were before now that not only had he found out about my relationship with Pai, but he had also seen me naked. Suddenly, I felt Kisshu's arms wrap around me, taking the burden of my body from Taruto. The younger of the two audibly sighed in relief as I was transferred to Kisshu's arms.

"I'm sorry." I whispered, although I wasn't sure about what in particular at that moment. In response, Kisshu's grip on me loosened for a moment, causing me to cry out and throw my arms around his neck. When I stared up into his face, he was smirking down at me.

"It's fine, Iruka-chan. No more secrets from now on though, okay?"

I felt a wave of relief wash over me at Kisshu's forgiveness, and I let a small smile form on my lips. I noticed that Kisshu glared at the mural before he looked back to me and started floating leisurely to the ground. When our feet were once again on the ground, I couldn't help but notice that he didn't let go immediately. I furrowed my brow at this, but I quickly replaced it with a smile as Kisshu pulled away. Suddenly, I realized that my hand was resting in his. "Retasu, I am sorry that I doubted you before. I suppose that I am jealous both of you and of Pai. It's wonderful that you love each other." He said with a sad smile. "I just wish that the one that I loved cared for me." I didn't know what to say, so I simply squeezed his hand.

"You should go. Pai is waiting for you."

I nodded. He knew that I knew my way to Pai's room, and that made me a little embarrassed, but I tried not to show it. On my way out, however, he grabbed my arm, pulling me around to face him again. He briefly looked panicked, but he quickly composed himself and smiled slightly. Wordlessly, he ran his fingers along the back of my ear, all the way down to my lobe. "Hurry along, Retasu."

As I made my way to Pai's room, I thought about Kisshu's parting action. I had thought that I knew what it meant, since Pai had done that to me several times, but now I wasn't so sure what the meaning was. As I lost myself in thought, I failed to notice how close I was to Pai's room until I was right outside his door. I stood there for a minute or so before I knocked. I received no response, so I slowly opened the door. The area where he slept was empty, but I saw smoke drifting from the small science lab that he had attached to his room. I slowly made my way to the room, stopping in the doorway to take in the sight before me. Pai lay naked on the dissection table, save for a white sheet draped over his lower half, once again staring at the smoke coming from the incense burning on the tray on his stomach. "It's strange, but I've always felt the most comfortable on an operating table." He said plainly, as if he were simply discussing the weather. I noticed his scars much more in the eerie light coming from the lamp overhead.

"Bianai. That is what Kisshu and Taruto are, as well as most of the inhabitants of our planet." He began, winding his fingers through the smoke. "The Bianai are superior creatures that once inhabited this planet. Many of the great 'mysteries' of this world have roots in the culture of the Bianai. Their technology was advanced, but they had to start from scratch when they moved to a new planet, and they were in even worse shape after the first generation died out. Eventually, the Bianai caught up to where they had been. They started experimenting as their technology got more advanced. They wanted to find a way for their species to be continued, even as more and more of the population turned out to be infertile. They started to try to 'grow' babies in tubes, and then when the time was right, they transferred the babies into the womb of the women who had been a major part of the 'conception' process."

Pai removed the tray from his abdomen and set it on an empty table. As he spoke, he absent-mindedly ran his fingers over where his navel would be. "Eventually, they found a way to grow the babies in the tubes until they had matured enough to be 'born'. However, catastrophe struck, as it always does. Once the Bianai found out about the human race, they were enraged, and they started to try to grow the perfect machines to wipe out the humans." I felt nauseous as he continued, for I understood what he was telling me. "Even I don't know how they did it, since the labs were all destroyed. All I know is that my number is 137, and there were 136 before me. I was the only successful one. I barely remember the others, but I know that I was the only one that actually seemed Bianai. All of the rest were horribly deformed, and they were eventually exterminated."

Finally, he turned to look at me, his eyes sad. "I was not made to express feeling or to have a mind of my own. I was made for the sole purpose of blindly obeying. I know that is hard for you, and I am sorry." He sat up, holding his hand out to me, and slowly I approached him, putting my hand in his. "And I am sorry that I treated you like that earlier. That was wrong of me. Perhaps it was my instincts kicking in, but I still shouldn't have done that." He said softly, staring sadly at me. I shook my head, smiling sadly.

"It's okay." I murmured as I wrapped my arms around Pai – who had swung his leg off the table at this point – burying my face in his shoulder. "It's okay, Pai-san." He wrapped his arms around me in a tight embrace before grabbing my shoulders and pushing me away slightly. I have no idea where the urge came from, but I ran my fingers along the backside of Pai's ear, repeating the gesture that both he and Kisshu had done to me. I immediately knew the meaning when he broke out into the sweetest smile I've ever seen.

I love you.