It was so simple, so average, so normal, yet just the smell of it brought tears to her eyes and a low rumble to her stomach.

Eggs and bacon.

It had been a very long time since I had a real meal. The Alien's had a food of some sort that they ate, but it was more like pastes and cardboard than real food. And while the other's would consume the paste and board greedily, I was only able to nibble on the stiff food.

But now, as the gooey middles of the egg yolks broke on my tongue, I swear I heard angels signing in the background. And the bacon, Amazing! The meat was filled with fat that was no doubt terrible for me but at the moment the chewy fat on the strips of meat were the best delicacy in the world.

And the whole time I ate, Keiichiro was doing tests on my body. He attached small suction cup like circles attached to wires to my temples, throat, wrist and ankles, typing furiously away at his computer while Ryou just sat next to me, an amused smile playing on his lips.

When I finished my plate, Ryou handed his to me with the food untouched. I felt bad for taking away his breakfast but that feeling went away once my stomach demanded that I take his plate with a mad growl.

"I really have no clue how they did it," Keiichiro mumbled, leaning back to view all the screens at once.

"Did what?" I asked around a mouthful of toast.

Keiichiro seemed to understand as he turned toward the two of us, a smile glancing across his lips as he looked at me stuffing my face ungraciously. "How they were able to turn a human, how already had the influence of animal genes added to her DNA, into an alien creature like them. It's just beyond my understanding."

A flash of my dream crossed through my mind but I pushed it away and instead cut apart the egg whites on my plate. "Well, they are Aliens, so I would think that they technology was alien to you as well."

He opened his mouth to say something then closed it with a snap. "Not helping," He grumbled, turning back to the computer with a harrumph.

I looked at Ryou, who was silently shaking from laughter, and shrugged my shoulders before returning to the plate with renewed fervor. Once I had cleaned that plate off with a piece of toast and my stomach finally quieted down, I cleared my throat. "So what was this mechanism Ryou vaguely told me about?"

"Right!" Ryou said, standing up and crossing to a metal box in a corner of the room. "I was talking about these." He held up four metal tubes that looked eerily like large bracelets. "Keiichiro and I have been working on these for a while once we agreed that kidnapping you and holding you captive would be the best actions to take. They're Reverse Interspace Nullifying Gravitational Sanctions. Or 'RINGS'. They'll make it so that you can't fly or move from one space to another." He came over and helped me out of all the wires before fastening them to my wrists and ankles.

They fit snuggly but didn't move around too much or would rub my skin raw. The cool silver of the metal actually looked nice, like I was just following the latest trend. "But I can still feel the pull of weightlessness that helps me to levitate." I said, confused.

"Yes, well…Come here." He waved me over to, next to a mattress of the floor. "Stand on this and allow yourself to be pulled up into the air. The limit is three feet, just so you know."

I positioned myself on the middle of the mattress and effortlessly allowed her body to rise up against the forces of gravity. But, just like he warned, as soon as I reached three feet a small buzz was all the warning I had before I was falling fast down to the ground. The air raced out of my lungs as I landed on the mattress, suddenly very thankful that it was there under me. I coughed out the last of the air in my lungs and sucked in a dusty breath. "What just happened?" I asked, looking down at my hands. I tried to lift one up but had to fight a resistance of weight.

"Warning one of three: Weighting down." He stepped over and passed a key card through a small slot in one of the Rings. All of the weight that was holding me down let off immediately and I sat up, looking at the Rings circling my limbs with amused wonder. "If you raise up higher that three feet you will activate a gravity heightened system that added about fifty pounds worth of weight to each hand. That's about two hundred pounds in all. But that's only warning one. If you raise up over three feet a second time in the span of one hour you will have an electric shock course through your body. Not enough to damage anything internally but enough to defiantly hurt and send your hair standing up. The third time will be an injection of tranquilizer. You'll be out like a light in no time if you try it a third time. So I advise against it."

"No kidding." I said, reaching a hand up and taking his to pull me up. He pulled harder than was necessary and caught me in his arms.

"The only place that you can be higher than three feet is your room, so that while you sleep you won't accidentally set off the restrictors on accident." I looked at him oddly and he said, "Your beds higher up than three feet. But I warn you, put both feet out that window and you're tranqed. Try to shift space, you're tranqed. No warnings for those."

"But why do you need to warn me? I'm not going to do any of that."

"It's not you he's warning," Keiichiro answered. "It's the visitor in your head that he's warning."

"Oh." I said, not knowing what else to say. I mean, what can you say to something like that? 'Oh, well I'll just pass the message on.' Or, 'Oh, well I'll be sure to post it on our internal messaging board.' No! "I think I'm going to go take a shower now." I said, pulling out of Ryou's arms and turning toward the stairs.

"Alright." Keiichiro said absentmindedly.

"Then we'll see you afterwards. It's Sunday so the girls should be coming in soon then we open soon after. I'll inform them of our circumstances while your upstairs." He gently pressed his lips against my forehead. "See you soon."

I stretched my lips into a smile and turned away, dropping the smile and walking out of the room as quickly as possible. I barely felt the floor under my feet as I raced up the stairs, through the kitchen and up another set of stairs, stopping into my room only to grab my towels, basket of shower items and my hairdryer.

I stepped into the bathroom, stripping of the clothes that reminded me of what I'd gone through. Everything was reminding me of the before. Of hanging with the guys. Of being free to go wherever I wanted. I had no limitations before and yet at the times I would have given anything to get away from it. Now, I was trapped. I couldn't go out wherever I wanted alone because they could find me. I can't go out running with Mafin because they could find me. I doubt it will be easy to go to school when I have ears like an anime character.

I stepped into the shower, allowing the warm water to soak the bandages surrounding my body before I started to slowly peel them off. The cuts and scraps had healed over so I no longer needed the cloth anymore. But it was weird to look at the bloodied bandages then at the smooth skin that they once covered. It was as if I never had been hurt in the first place.

But I let that idea wash away with the grime covering my body and let a sigh mix in with the hush of falling water. Yes, I was restricted more than ever. Yes, I no longer had the freedom that I had taken advantage of before. But I was now with the man I love. Soon, I would be surrounded by my friends and would be accepted back into the life I was forced to leave behind.

But was it really what I wanted?

I didn't know anymore.