A/N: Didn't you guys enjoy the last chapter? Because I'm starting to see a pattern here with your response dwindling everytime it's Kuro's point of view. Does this mean you don't enjoy his story so much?

Anyway, here's the next chapter. I hope you guys like this one. Just a bit of a disclaimer about the characters used. I do not own Solaris or Xerxes Break and the OC Kamaji belongs to Justice Tokidoki. I hope I wrote him like the way you imagined it. ;)

Enjoy~

Yuui ran a towel through his wet hair as he emerged from the bathroom, steam from the shower swirling past him as he paused at the threshold. A beam of weak sunlight fell across the floor from a gap in the curtains. An ancient analog clock ticked away the seconds as the hour drew to a close. He walked inside just as the clock gave a loud twang to indicate that it was ten in the morning. Solaris made a face as she woke, her dark hair spilling over one creamy shoulder as she sat up, lazily pulling the sheets up with one hand as she eyed Yuui.

"Leaving already, Break?" she asked with a quirk of her brow. Yuui dropped the towel on the plush carpet covering her floor and walked over to where he had discarded his clothes last night.

"When have I ever stayed for breakfast, love?" he asked, grabbing his jeans. "Really, though, did you have to tear my shirt to shreds?" he said, casting a mournful look to the tattered remains of what he had been wearing the previous night. Sighing, he picked up his purple hoodie and pulled it on.

"You were taking too long to get it off," Solaris said with a wicked grin.

"So you decided to use your lovely assets and destroy it?"

"Of course," she fell back into the pillows, "and I had been hoping you'd stay a little longer."

"You don't want that, love." Yuui shook his head. "I'm only good for a casual fling."

"A girl can dream, can't she?" Solaris countered evenly.

"I'd be a terrible boyfriend, Solaris," Yuui said.

"I'm sure I could cure you of your cheating habits," she suggested playfully, sighing in defeat when Yuui said nothing. "I left some fruit on the counter last night. Take one before you go."

"Have you seen my left shoe?" Yuui asked as he tied the laces on the right one.

"You kicked it off in the hallway. I'm going back to sleep," Solaris grumbled as she turned away from him, the sheets slipping down to expose the smooth expanse of her back.

"I'll lock the door when I leave," Yuui promised as he slipped out.

True to her word, Solaris had left some fruit in a plastic basket on the countertop. Yuui grabbed an apple on his way out, waiting to hear the beep of the lock on her front door before biting in.

Out in the streets, the sun struggled to break through the perpetual cloud cover that hung over Cavahall, admitting defeat and vanishing altogether by the time Yuui discarded the apple core. He glanced at the holographic clock hovering above the street, cursing under his breath when he realized it was nearly half-past ten. He'd barely make it to the other side of the city in time for his first meeting. So he broke out into a quick jog, cursing the fact that Xerxes Break wasn't supposed to be rich enough to afford his transport.

"Wotcher, Break," said a perky waitress with short, spiky, pink hair when he finally arrived at his destination twenty minutes later. "Your friend hasn't arrived yet."

"Thank you, Tonks," he said, giving the girl a charming grin as he moved to sit at an unoccupied table.

"So, what will it be today, Mr. Sexy Accent?"

"Don't let your boyfriend hear you calling me that, love. I don't want an angry werewolf coming after me for stealing his girl," Yuui teased as he leaned back in his chair. It was only in the Liberalist-controlled sectors of Cavahall that one could openly talk about Unnaturals without fear of being picked up by Company goons, so Tonks merely returned his grin with one of her own.

"Oh, Remus knows he's got nothing to worry about."

"If you say so." He chuckled before picking up a laminated menu from the tabletop. He scanned the list for a moment, glancing towards the door when the bell chimed. A black-haired boy of fifteen rolled in on a wheelchair, and Yuui dropped the menu. "I'll have two scoops of dark chocolate, and my friend will be having a large caramel crunch."

Noting the boy coming towards them, Tonks hurriedly removed a chair from the table to make space for the boy to sit, giving him the same cheerful greeting she had given Yuui as she walked past him.

"You're the only adult I know who insists on getting me ice cream for breakfast," the teen said by way of greeting as he settled at the table.

"Don't say it like it's a bad thing, you brat," Yuui drawled.

"It's good to see you too, Break. I'm doing great. Thanks for asking."

"I was getting there, Kamaji." Yuui rolled his eyes. "I'm guessing you had another row with your mother since you're being snarky with me so early in the morning."

"It's nearly eleven," he snapped, making a face. "And, if you must know, yes, I did have a row with the crazy woman who calls herself my mother."

"Is she still insisting that you wear the prosthetics she got you last year?"

"She doesn't get that I prefer the wheelchair." Kamaji sighed, pulling at the bangs that were falling over his eyes, exposing the blond hair that had begun to show at the roots.

"Well, she did spend a lot of money to get you the legs," Yuui pointed out as Tonks arrived with their orders.

"Here you go, boys," Tonks said as she sauntered away.

The teen waited until she was gone before speaking.

"I never asked her to spend it on me," he grumbled as he stabbed the spoon into his ice cream. "On top of that, she doesn't want me to associate with Liberalists anymore. Who the hell does she think she is, trying to dictate who my friends are? You don't see me complaining about her associating with the bastards who took away my dad."

"She works at a hospital, Kamaji," Yuui said as he eyed the way Kamaji continued stabbing at the frozen treat.

"A hospital that's funded by The Company." The boy stopped to glare at Yuui. "They took away my dad and threw him into the Gladiator Program, and that woman prefers to pretend he died in a tragic accident."

"All right, all right," Yuui said as he picked up a spoon and dug in. "No more talk about your unreasonable mother. Eat your breakfast before it melts."

"Did you know that Steel is back?" Kamaji said as he moodily picked at his ice cream.

"I wasn't aware of that," Yuui said, letting a bit of curiosity color his tone.

"He is." Kamaji nodded. "I saw him heading towards the hospital with Nixon a few days back. But he kind of looked like shit, and he was missing an arm. And," the teen paused, glancing around for a moment before lowering his voice as he leaned towards Yuui, "I think he might have lost his mind during the time he was missing."

"Really?" Yuui let his eyebrows rise in surprise. "What makes you say that?"

"I might have overheard him raving about being from another world when I dropped by at the hospital to see Masooma."

"That does sound a little strange," Yuui agreed, biting back a pleased grin as he took another bite of his ice cream.

Heh, what a small world? Yuui thought as Kamaji launched into an account of what he had gathered from Steel's ravings and his personal theories on what it meant. I seem to have found all of Mokona's friends.

-0-

Fai came to with a weak groan, his whole body shuddering as it tried to reject the Cerellium still embedded in his flesh. He tried not to whimper when his skin sizzled as soon as it came into contact with the bars of his tiny cage. He barely had any room to move, but even so, he tried to curl in on himself, trying to get as much distance between himself and the Cerellium bars as possible.

Rubber soles squeaked against the tiled floor somewhere behind him, letting Fai know that he wasn't alone. It only took him a moment to realize that he was still trapped inside The Company. He closed his eyes, trying not to despair as a wave of disappointment washed over him.

I was so close…he thought mournfully.

Cold fingers grabbed hold of his hair and used the grip to pull his head to one side, nearly touching his face to the Cerellium bars in the process. Fai hissed at the rough treatment, but the person holding him didn't seem too bothered as they only tugged harder to expose his throat. A cold needle pressed against his jugular, piercing through the flesh, flushing a cool liquid into his bloodstream with a sharp click.

"I don't understand why Director Bia won't let me put you in Research and Development. Or even the Breeding Program," a familiar voice said, though Fai couldn't recall where he had last heard it. All he knew was that it wasn't Naba, though he didn't know if he wanted to be happy about the change or worried. "You would have been such a wonderful specimen to study."

He shuddered as the cold spread through his body, slowly concentrating around the bullets inside him. He gritted his teeth as the cold sensation was slowly replaced by an uncomfortable warmth that had him sweating in less than a minute.

"What did you do to me?" he demanded, gasping in shock as the warmth morphed into a burn.

"Don't worry, I just gave you a nanite shot to extract the Cerellium from your body," the woman said dismissively, and it was then that Fai finally recognized the voice.

"Akira," he hissed venomously as the female scientist stepped into his field of vision. The woman in question merely quirked a brow at his display of hostility before she entered a code to unlock the cage and took a step back. As soon as the door clicked open, Fai exploded out of cage, his lips peeled back in a vicious snarl. He enclosed his hands around the woman's neck as he pushed her into the wall. "Syaoran-kun is dead because of you!"

"No… I didn't—" Akira started to say, but Fai squeezed his fingers around her throat, cutting off her excuse. Her hands clawed at his arms, uselessly trying to make him let go.

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't snap your neck right now," he spat.

"You'll… die… the nanites…" She choked, her legs flailing beneath her as Fai tightened his grip even further.

"I'll be gone before anyone notices you're dead." Her eyes bulged in their sockets as Fai began to lift her off the ground.

"Leave this room… they explode—" Her lips began to turn blue from the lack of air as she weakly beat at his hands.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he growled, loosening his hold on her just enough to let her answer.

"The nanites act as… range limiters," she gasped.

"Explain," Fai demanded as he exposed his claws. He felt a vindictive pleasure in watching the way she flinched when one claw nicked her skin. He bared his fangs, grinning at the terror that shone in her eyes.

"They're keyed-in to this room," she answered in a rushed manner. "If you walk out without deactivating them, the explosives mounted on them go off and you die."

"You know how to deactivate them?"

"I might," she answered suddenly appearing less afraid of him now that she wasn't choking, "but if you think I'll do that for you, think again."

Fai glared at her, digging his claws deeper into her skin, but she seemed to be regaining her composure.

"You should let go of me now, 224." She smirked at him.

"You're in no position to be making demands. I could rip out your throat before you could draw another breath."

"But you won't," she pointed out with a smug look on her face. "If I die, you have no way of leaving this room alive."

"If you're not going to deactivate them, I'd rather die with satisfaction, knowing that I killed you first."

"You're bluffing, 224." She laughed, pressing her throat into his claws. Fai hoped his shock at the gesture didn't show on his face as her smirk widened. "You don't strike me as the suicidal type."

"You don't know anything about me."

"Perhaps not." She shrugged. "But I do know this: You've got someone in the city that you want to get to, and you won't be able to do that if you're dead."

Fai thought of Kurogane and Mokona, waiting for him somewhere in Cavahall. He thought of Sakura and her sweet smile and her sparkling green eyes. And he thought about how the light in them would dim upon hearing the news of Syaoran's death. Maybe once upon a time, he might have considered his own death a fair trade for the life he had unwillingly taken once again, but now…he'd rather be there to help Sakura pick up the pieces than to let her grieve the death of two loved ones.

"See? You're not really going to kill me," Akira said as she seemed to notice Fai's hesitation. "Now, how about you let go of me, and we put this silly little act of defiance behind us? I'm only allowed a limited amount of time with you, and I'd much rather spend it collecting my samples."

"I could make you deactivate the nanites," Fai said coldly.

"And I could activate the explosives embedded in them instead."

"You could be lying about the nature of the nanites," he ventured.

"You're welcome to try out that theory if you want," she said, giving him a sly look as she continued, "but are you really going to gamble your life on the chance that I might be trying to trick you?"

Fai grit his teeth in frustration as doubt began to settle in. He could try and risk everything, but if she was telling the truth, he'd be dead before he could find someone to disable the explosives.

"You see, 224?" she said when she saw his resolve crumble. "You don't have any leverage against me. You could kill me and you'd be dead anyway, or you could let go of me and let me do my work, and maybe I can let you out of this room."

Fai didn't miss the fact that she said nothing about deactivating the nanites, but he knew he didn't have much of a choice. Until he figured out a way to disarm the explosives, he couldn't risk another attempt at escape. She knows she's got me backed into a corner.

"So, what will it be, 224?"

"My name is Fai." He glared, though he did let go of her.

"I see that Naba didn't manage to break your spirit after all." Akira massaged her throat as she walked around him. The Cerellium cage that he had woken up in now lay on its side on the floor. Without sparing him another glance, she bent down and pushed it under a work bench cluttered with delicate-looking tools and instruments that Fai couldn't even begin to understand the purpose of. Opposite to the work bench was a metal table, much like the one that he had been tied to when Akira and Kyle had inserted the implant into his spine all those weeks ago.

How long have I been here? He wondered distantly as he watched Akira type a series of instructions into a holographic screen.

"What are you going to do to me?" he asked in an attempt to distract himself when his mind flashed back to the day she had made him turn Syaoran.

"Oh nothing much," Akira said with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Originally, you were only brought here to get that nanite shot and have the bullets removed, but I convinced the directors to let me have you for the whole day. Now, I'll be collecting samples from you for my research."

"What sort of samples?" He narrowed his eyes as he remembered what Naba had said to him. He found it a little surprising that Akira was choosing to answer his questions now when she had treated him just as condescendingly as everyone else in The Company before.

"A little bit of everything, really," she said without looking away from the screen. Fai came to stand behind her. Now that she had convinced him of the futility of trying to murder her, she didn't appear worried about what he did. He stared at her unguarded back, imagining how easy it would be for him to kill her where she sat. She was the reason Syaoran was dead.

It will be so easy to kill her right now, Fai thought as he slowly unsheathed his claws. I can avenge Syaoran-kun and let Kurogane deliver the bad news to Sakura-chan. She'll be devastated, but she's a strong girl. She'll learn to move on.

Fai pulled back his arm, preparing to stab his sharpened nails through Akira's back when he heard Kurogane's voice inside his mind.

Go ahead. Take the easy way out. Act like the coward you truly are. It's not like you owe it to the princess to explain why the kid died because of your weakness.

Fai's hand froze inches from Akira's spine, his eyes widening as he stared at the words she was typing without really registering anything. Cavahall's script was a lot like the one used in Ceres, though with his mind still reeling from what the echo of Kurogane's voice had said, Fai couldn't be bothered to try and understand it. He staggered away from the scientist with a small gasp. His bare back collided with the chill of the metal table, but he barely even noticed it, realizing with some surprise that his hands were trembling.

What am I doing? He thought, bringing a shaking hand to the same level as his eyes, staring at his claws like they belonged to someone else. I can't die like this. I have to be the one to tell Sakura-chan about what happened to Syaoran-kun. She deserves to hear the whole truth from me.

"Get on the table, 224," Akira ordered as she finally turned around to face him, quirking a brow at his unsheathed claws. Immediately, Fai slammed an emotionless mask on his face as he shrunk his claws.

"Why?"

"Because I need to collect tissue samples, and I can't do that if you're standing up," she snapped as she walked over and pushed him on the table herself. "I'm going to take what I want, whether you like it or not. Though for the sake of saving myself from a headache and you from a lot of unnecessary pain, it's best if you cooperate."

"What you going to do?" Fai asked, stubbornly remaining in a seated position.

"Are you deaf?" Akira looked irritated now as she pushed on his chest, digging her nails into his skin as she forced him down on the table. "And here I thought you were actually intelligent. Now stay still," she instructed as she held up an empty syringe and used it to draw his blood. "Don't move," she ordered again as she started to put it away.

"Are you going to use that to turn more people?"

"Of course not," Akira said as Fai watched her transfer his blood into a glass tube. "According to my research on the process of transformations, only blood given from a willing Vampirosa can trigger a successful transformation. All my test-subjects went insane within a day of turning, regardless of the sire. I even tried using a pureblood as a blood source, but it's always the same result. I had hoped that I could cause you to trigger a release of the sanity hormone with the Neural Implant when you turned your apprentice, but I guess I was mistaken about how much it could influence you."

"Why are you telling me all this?" Fai didn't bother to hide his suspicion. She's being far too cooperative. He glared at her back through narrowed eyes as watched her move about her work table. She doesn't have to answer me at all and yet she's not even offended by the fact that I'm not acting like a scared slave.

"Would you prefer it if I ignored you altogether?" she asked as she picked up a device that was shaped like a gun, except that the front part of it consisted of a thick, elongated needle and the back end consisted of a removable glass vial. "Most of my test subjects are usually either unconscious or mentally challenged. Sometimes both," she added as an afterthought as she collected a set of glass vials similar to the one attached to the gun before returning to his side. "I rarely get a chance to interact with something as intelligent or fascinating as you. You could say I'm curious to see how someone like you would interact with a superior being if they were to treat you as an equal. Turn over." She prodded him in the side with a finger as she set down the empty vials on a shelf below the table.

"The last time you had me on my stomach, you stuck a mind control device in me and made me attack my friend."

"Don't worry, there will be no mind control devices this time," she promised before giving him another impatient prod in the stomach. "Now turn over. I want to start with a sample of your bone-marrow."