A/N: So here is thw next chapter. Sorry for the long wait but I had to write some more. This chapter is not the longest but it's definately a very complicated one. Again though if you are missing the updated follow the story.

Some revelations up ahead but no spoilers, do not worry

As usual I do not own "The Noblesse" or any of its characters. I only own this story and my OCs.

Chapter 9: In this room

…South Korea…Frankenstein's home…Sara's room...

Inside there was only a bed at his left, a small closet at his right and a big window up ahead, where she was sitting by on a small divan under it. She was looking outside but she slowly turned to him. She looked tired he thought. He sighed and went to sit on the side opoosite from her so he was looking at the window and at her.

"What is it?" she asked calmly. She was looking at him without malice or even sadness. She looked straight into his eyes without giving away any ill intent. M-21 didn't think he could trust her yet though. But that didn't mean that he couldn't be civilized.

"You haven't come out for breakfast…or lunch"

She turned her head back at the outside world "I wasn't feeling like eating…or seeing anyone for the matter" she answered with a firm voice. M-21 was about to say something when she suddenly turned to him, looked in his eyes and asked "Tell me, are you angry with me?" Her eyes, sure without overconfidence, were boring onto his. Like a friend asking a friend.

"No, I'm not angry" he said "You have to eat though"

"I will eat but after you tell me the real reason why you came here. It couldn't have been just that you were worried for my nutrition, right?"

He half smiled and now it was his turn to look away from her eyes "You understood that, didn't you?"

"Yeah, I guess. Just like I understood, after the fight, that you threw the name 'Conrad' not because you knew what it meant to me but because you wanted to fish out reactions" she shrugged "And you were right on point".

M-21 felt a little guilty then, as he thought that maybe he didn't measure what the consequences would be. Frankenstein was right; he was becoming pretty reckless. Then a thought crossed his mind.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" he asked so sincerely that even he felt surprised with himself. Of course it was risky but he felt that genuine care was much better approach for her than intense emotional extraction of information. At least in this case. Besides she looked like she wanted to talk but didn't trust anyone to actually listen to her.

"Do you really want to know?" she sounded skeptical.

" I just want to know-…"

"What?"

"…if it really hurt. If I really hurt you by saying those things about...Conrad"

Truth was he was thinking it all day. He too would have reacted violently if someone was mocking him about his comrades and especially about M-24. And now that he was thinking of it again...he did, recently. He didn't want to be that kind of a bastard by mocking people who meant a lot to others. Her reaction was an indication of that.

Or at least what was what he thought.

She sighed and turned to the window. She said nothing and then "Conrad was the name of the head scientist of my project".

It was like a lightning stroked him. His eyes opened even more.

"What?" That was the only thing that came out of M-21's mouth when he heard her.

He couldn't believe that he tried to fish out emotions from her by using the name of the one that performed experiments on her …no wonder she reacted like that. He would know it hurt. After all, he had his fair share of them bastards who tried to make him and his comrades, tools just to see how far they could be pushed and how much they could be altered. "I'm sorry. I did not..."

"Forget what you said back then. It doesn't matter" she reassured him with a dismissive tone and a similar hand gesture. Still looking outside she put her hand through her hair. Sighing she looked at him; these back and forth between them looked kind of funny to her.

"Did you really not know who that name belonged to?" she asked already believing now that he had no idea but still…she would prefer hearing it from him directly.

"No, I didn't" he just said. She believed him. She truly did. But she was still surprised or maybe even disappointed.

"Huh" she said "Did you have any major scientist overseeing your…project?" she asked calmly and in a casual tone. M-21 though, could swear, he felt that she genuinely cared to know and it wasn't just small talk from her part despite the nature of her voice.

"Yes. Dr. Crombel" he answered trying not to feel affected even though it wasn't easy to just forget what he did. Still he felt that with each day passing it was affecting him even less.

"Crombel… I think I've heard the name. Many years ago…many years…"

"How did you know of him?"

"Heh…it was Conrad who had told me about him. He didn't like him much you see" then she paused as to remember something else "In fact I think he despised him. Conrad used to mention him as someone that didn't deserve to be called a scientist or something like that…Out of curiosity, what happened to him?"

"He died" said M-21 with finality.

"I see… Did you kill him?" she asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Frankenstein did" he responded without a pause.

She rose her eyebrow at him "Did you at least manage to lay a couple of punches before?"

"How did you know?" said M-21 surprised.

"Heh…You seem like the type" she said in a lighter tone.

He smirked and it wasn't long after that, that he asked "What happened to Conrad?"

'And there went the lighter tone' Sara thought. "Honestly I don't know. He could be dead, he could be alive. I have spent so much time in repression, I lost many things that went on…"

After that she went silent and went back looking outside. The wind was taking all the dry leaves and was making them dance as they were balanced on nothing but air. No control of their own movements…just like a human experiment…just like them she thought. How much had they changed the routes of their lives…?

The man next to her had stopped asking questions for a while now but strangely she didn't feel like he had asked out of a spying cause but out of care.

He now understood her and he was starting respecting her pain more. Well, to be honest she stopped being defensive, snappy and too closed herself so she guessed that it was a two way thing.

"I..I was not…I mean…" Sara started.

He touched her shoulder and she looked at him "Sara…you don't have to tell me about your time in the Union labs if you don't want to" he said seriously.

She looked at him with interest "What happened to you? You are behaving differently…"

"I understood some things after our little fight" he withdrew his hand but didn't stop facing her.

"Me too. But I don't think it is the same thing…" she tilted her head as she was looking at him.

M-21 raised his eyebrow "Huh…What did you understand? Did it have to do with my transformation or did you finally understand that agitating me was futile?"

She was caught by surprise and as soon as the answer occurred to her she couldn't utter it and she hastily turned away from his gaze.

M-21 smirked and some of his hypotheses were confirmed. Her body posture, her urge to hold her arm tightly…and then there was everything else he had noticed about her from the first time she set foot in the house. He told no one because he never encountered anyone that was this…

…this familiar.

"Sara I want to ask you something now, and I want you to look at me" as soon as he said that she led her eyes back to him and her uncertainty was obvious. Her mask was already cracked and the few pieces that were left where crumbling down now too. His gut feeling was being confirmed by the second.

"Sara, please answer me why did you feel so surprised and disappointed when you saw my transformation?" His voice was calm and low but most of all, knowing.

Her answer unsure and her voice breaking "I just didn't know that you had undergone such an alteration…I thought it must have been painful and surely you… Look I didn't want to attack you, if it is about it-"

"It's not about that. And seeing as you have trouble answering this question I'm starting to see that..." he didn't know how to express it and by this time he was already closer to her.

He felt surprised by how much she was not reacting negatively to him. It was like the façade she had put on wasn't able to hide her true emotions anymore…Emotions that looked like they were able to burst any minute now.

"Tell me Sara, why did I feel like I had seen your face before when I first saw you coming in?" she didn't answer but to her credit she tried to hide her reaction to his question; no use though.

M-21 wasn't lying; he did feel like a pang of lighting crossed his eyes and a familiar face was in front of him even though he didn't remember if he ever saw that face before.

He froze in his place when he saw her entering. And then she left his field of vision as she fell down. Thankfully Takeo caught her. He himself left his trance and tried to be useful but…that nagging in his mind…

His voice rose a little bit "And why do you feel the need to provoke me with your remarks every time we meet? Or did you think I hadn't noticed by the third time you tried to do that? What were you trying to pull out of me really?" and his eyes remained focused on her. She was getting tense and her posture was defensive.

"Look…I am sorry if I made you angry…I'm really sorry" not even she believed herself now…She was avoiding answering, for she knew she wouldn't be able to do so for long.

Suddenly he got hold of her shoulders and let his voice betray his impatience that was torturing him for days "Tell me Sara, why…why every time, before you enter the room I know you are there… by your scent?! How is it that I actually recognize your scent? Why does your voice feel recognizable to my ears? It's not your energy, otherwise Tao and Takeo would have mentioned it"

"Did you tell them that?!" she responded surprised and kind of afraid – at least that's what it sounded like to M-21.

M-21 raised an eyebrow "You sound as much surprised as scared, why?"

Her eyes widened "What are you talking about? No! You are wrong" but the tears were already pooling in her eyes and her voice, even denying it all, had confirmed it once again.

"I didn't tell them…" he sighed but he wouldn't let this slide. Not until he had some answeres. The opportunity was perfect. She wasn't reacting violently.

"Why" he lowered his tone "were you looking at me so caringly when you saw my transformed hands? Why do I think that you…" he paused for two seconds and thought hard if he should say it.

'Oh to hell with it'

"…know me?" he finished with a low voice.

It was a long shot, he knew that, but he took the chance. He was thinking for all week about that possibility, and while he rejected it many times as wishful thinking, he just couldn't resist humoring himself and indulging in considering it true.

"Why…Sara" he sounded exhausted "Tell me…what you are hiding from me? Did I encounter you in the past? Did they make us fight each other? Is that why you were behaving like th-…"

Her arms were suddenly so tight around him that for a moment he thought she was finally attacking him like a caged animal that just had enough; a single word was heard.

…Tao's computer room…

Tao thought that it would help if there was a visual from what was happening in that room…but then again that would have been creepy even for his standards. Fifteen minutes had already passed.

They all three knew that the situation was a 20 minute-situation. He had to talk with her. There were other kind of situations like the three minutes one and the ten minutes one. But those were completely on another level and they were sure that none wished those were to be in the near future.

Takeo was pacing in the computer room for the last three minutes. The pace was really slow and given the fact that Takeo was doing it so gracefully one might not even notice that he was anxious…Well, he and Tao weren't best friends for nothing, and if Tao was honest with himself, he was a bit anxious too. Sara's powers were something unknown to them and they didn't have all the facts, he was sure of it. And if that was not enough, the footage of their last encounter with her at the living room was something to go by; that and the freshly covered bullet hole on the ceiling. That hole…

"Do you think we did a good job, covering the hole on the ceiling?" asked Tao if only to distract Takeo from his pacing that becoming less graceful by the minute.

"Oh I certainly do hope so, otherwise Frankenstein will have our rears for sure" he said half-jokingly "But that is not what concerns me right now" he stopped and looked at Tao playing that familiar game, that he never really bothered to ask what it's called "Aren't you worried that we don't know what is happening?"

"Of course I am, look, I have beaten my scores two times already" he stopped the game and turned around to face him "At least we don't hear shouting or anything breaking"

Takeo smirked and then looked skeptical "It's nice of you to see the silver line but is that good actually? What if…" he stopped himself, not even wanting to think it…He had to trust M-21 for he had a strong will to resist… "How long until the check point Tao?"

Said man looked at his overly precise clock on the screen "About two minutes?" he said unsure of what to make of Takeo's deciding voice "Why? What are you planning?"

"Huh… You know me so well my friend" he said with a smirk on his face as he was leaving the room "I'm going in when the time comes, that is if he doesn't come out".

"Hey Takeo!" he got up quickly and hurried behind the taller guy "Wait I'm coming with you!"

It was her hug that had surrounded him and her smell came to haunt his senses again. He hugged her too. Her tears fell on his blouse.

He sighed "So I was right" he stopped his realization and he grasped that he wasn't able to think of many things right now.

His mind was in shock and he was still hugging Sara as her silent sobs were still there "You do know me" he continued while his eyes were looking at the wall behind her. She was trying to control herself and pretty soon she stopped and slowly but surely took her distance from his embrace. He let her, but his eyes were now on her, burning to see everything that her face could betray about what she knew before she would hide it again from sight.

She was breathing deeply, it was a long time since the last time she let her feelings show and she was amazed from the fact that her energy didn't ride along with them. She was thankful but… She looked at him, her eyes full of something he couldn't quite figure and her determination was suddenly evident in her body language.

For a moment he thought that she might attack but he discarded it as soon as it came to his mind. No, she was getting ready to do something else; much more difficult to her apparently.

"I do…originally I was a part of the M series" she turned her eyes to the door "That's how I know you…I…" she closed her eyes and fresh tears run down her cheeks "I was originally named M-42. In the beginning we were mixed men and women; later that changed" her voice was fluttering like a leaf in a storm, threatened to be ripped and blown away in the abyss.

The man in the room got up and stood in front of her, looking at her with calm and understanding. She had her eyes downcast now and he resisted raising her chin up "What happened?" he asked yet such a simple question was hiding a thousand more in it that couldn't be expressed.

She raised her eyes and looked at him with a knowing smile "You don't remember, do you?" her voice defeated.

"No" he gently shook his head but his sight never left her.

"They did a number on you, didn't they?" It was sympathy that in her voice, he could tell.

"I'm sure they did many things to you that…" how could one voice the things that the Union did to the likes of them. Were there actually any words suited to describe them? He didn't know how to continue.

She silently side-smiled "You have no idea" and then she proceeded to come closer to him "We have a lot to discuss I assume"

"Sara, you can be sure of that" he said and the steps were audible now. Tao and Takeo had come to check on him. The twenty minutes had passed apparently. Strange, to him it felt only a couple minutes since they started talking "But, I think it would be best if we discussed it over lunch?" he proposed smirking as Takeo opened the door.

At the door Takeo and Tao saw them close in regards of distance and Takeo went ready to reach his gun when his comrade said loudly "Takeo can cook something good in no time, right Takeo?" at the last sentence he turned to his friend and with an assuring look, that the gunslinger knew all too well, he told him that everything was okay; more than okay perhaps if Takeo could guess by the slight smile that was threatening to become an even bigger one, on M-21's face. Had he cracked her? Tao from behind was cheering and was already suggesting meals he would have liked to have.

"Ah, Takeo" interrupted M-21 "we need something quick and nutritious, we have a lot to discuss" he turned to her "and the lady here missed breakfast, we shouldn't keep her waiting for long, she is hungry" at that the girl raised her eyes suddenly to him "Isn't that right Sara?" the man next to her said knowingly. If Sara was honest with herself she would admit; it felt good.

A/N: So this chapter is much shorter than the previous ones but I wanted to cut it here 'cause...cliffhanger? Hehe don't worry I will try to update much sooner for the next chapter. I really wanted to get this out of the way so the story can continue. So...did you see this coming?

I would like to see some reviews in order to know how you are following this story, is the timeline clear to you? I'm saying this because there are going to be some back-in-time scenes in the next chapter and I hope you are following would be nice to hear from you.

Until next time AND...have a good day~