This was longer than what I originally wanted, I kept writing and thus this was the result. Also I'll try to get another chapter soon, no promises.

Everything felt like a dream at that moment. He felt light headed, his body was barely responsive. His mother was standing right in front of him, so full of life, the way he envisioned it in his fantasies over and over again. But there's no way that can be, she was gone. He must be dreaming, a delusion in his own personal hell. No, it still felt all too real to be a dream.

His mother Tokimi stared at Chrono in awe, studying his features. The thing that stood out the most about him was of course his swirly hair. The exact same style of hair that she has, no matter how many times she used her comb to try and change it. There was still something about his face as well, something so familiar about it that she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Um, hi?" She waved at the curly hair boy, Chrono though didn't wave back. All he could do was stare at his supposedly long deceased mother who died giving birth to him.

"Detective, what's going on here?" asked the doctor.

"I'm not sure really, that's something that I'd like to know too," he said

The mother continued. "My name is Tokimi Shindou, what's yours?"

There was a pause before he snapped out of his trance. "Chrono Shindou…" he responded weakly.

She taken aback. 'Shindou? So he has the same surname?' she thought. "And why does his name so similar to my daughter's?'

"Oh really? What an odd name…"

'You gave it you me.' he thought, he decided to stay silent.

"...You look beaten up pretty badly, I hope you're parents won't get too mad." She didn't really know at this point what else to say, but she wanted to know who this mysterious young man was. Her attempts failed however as he was keeping silent. She feared that she somehow upset him.

Seeing as the boy was staying silent, Kogami decided to press Chrono with questions himself. "I found this in your wallet." He took out an old worn out photo of Chrono's mother and father in a restaurant. Chrono in his mind panicked once he saw it. "Please explain to me why are you using the Shindou surname, how did you get this photo, and what's your connection to Miss Shindou?"

He glare pierced Chrono, the curly hair boy unable to respond. What would he say? He doesn't know what is going anymore, he doesn't know what to think! All of a sudden he is now in this unknown world, his dead mother appears and now he's being bombarded with all these questions. How would they react if he told the truth? There's no way they would believe him!

Before Chrono could responds, Tokimi swiftly snatches the photo from Kogami's hands. She examined the photo front and back as she couldn't believe what she was seeing. "There's no way…"

"Miss? What's wrong?" The detective asks.

She stares at the photo for a moment before she decides to do something that might possibly be stupid. Her husband might get pissed at her. "Doctor, does the boy have anywhere to stay?"

"Hm?" the doctor was caught off guard by the question. "From what I can tell, not at the moment."

"I see. So is it okay if I can take him home with me?"

The detective eyes bulged. ""What?!"

"Hmm, he is well enough to be checked out of the hospital…" doc pondered as he rubbed his chin, "so it's fine if he agrees."

He turned around to Chrono. "So are you okay staying with her?"

Chrono looks down to his hands. To be able to spend time with his mother would be a dream come to for him. The stories that his dad and aunt told about her wasn't enough. This could be his only chance to do so. But what would he say to her? She is his mother and that she was dead for years until now? Despite his fears, he still wants to go with. "Its fine, I'll go."

Tokimi was joyful at his response, Kogami thought otherwise. "Can I talk with you for a bit?" He said as he pulled her outside the room while Chrono and the doctor looked at each other in confusion.

Once they were outside, he turned to glare at her. "What are you thinking?!"

Tokimi looked visibly confused. "What?"

"You don't know anything about that boy and yet you invited him into your home!"

"Come on, the boy had nowhere to go. Where else would he be able to stay?"

Kogami was exasperated. "When I called you in, I just wanted you to just talk to him, not make him stay in your home…"

She sighed, putting she hand on his shoulder. "Look. I know you're just worried for Rive and I, but believe me, I know what I'm doing."

"...Fine, fine. But I still haven't gotten any info out of him."

"Don't worry, I'll talk to him," she replies as she opens the door and goes back into the room.

Kogami, seeing as he wasn't really needed anymore, he turns to leave. "I guess I'll just get something to eat before the mountain of paperwork I'll need to do…"

Back in the room, Tokimi cheerfully walks into the room. "Okay so are we ready to go?"

Chrono curiously looks behind her, but sees no sign of the detective. "What happened to the other guy?"

"Hm?" she turns to inspect, "I don't know, he probably just left."

"Oh."

Seeing how sulking he was being, she decided to try and cheer him up. She walks up to his bed and quickly flicks his nose, earning a slight blush on his face.

"You didn't answer my question silly," she laughs.

"What?"

"I said are we ready to go?"

Chrono's confusion dissipates and a smile slowly forms on his face.

"Yeah I am."

The doctor smiles at the two. "I see that I won't have to worry about those two." Chrono starts climbing out of his bed, making the doc worry about his injuries.

"Hey, slowly there," he said as he tried to help him, "remember you still have some stitches, I don't want to make you into a pin cushion redoing those again."

Chrono groaned in pain trying to stand up. Getting a better look at his body, he was covered in bandages and bruises. He also noticed that his body felt weak and his body was trembling. "Ugh, how long have I been out?"

"For about two days," the frog-face doctor responded.

"Two days?!" He shouted in shock.

"That reminds, you should really get something to eat right now," he said as he patted Chrono's back. "All we need is for a for papers to be signed and you should be good to go."

"Thanks doc."

"It's no problem at all."

As they walked down the hallway of the hospital, Chrono couldn't help but feel an uneasiness. He glances to his side, his mother walking beside him. How will his new life turn out.

The drive to his mother's home was a quiet, but not before a hectic string of bad luck. The moment he entered a room, a can rolled right in front of him and ended up slipping on it, slamming his head on the floor (miraculously not breaking open his head. Then in the cafeteria, his hand slipped when carrying a bowl of soup and spilled it all over him. Then when entering the car, he bumped his head on the doorway. Such bad luck.

Now with just the two of them in this tiny car, they didn't really know what to talk about to each other. When they left the hospital, the doctor gave him some painkillers (which did help a lot) and informed him that he needed to come by every so often to check on his stitches. The hospital was able to provide him with some clean clothes since the last ones he had was extremely tattered, not that he wanted the trench coat anyways. Now that he thinks about it, Chrono never got the doc's name. Oh well, frog-face would have to do for now.

"Well, here's our stop," she said as she was getting out of the car.

They soon arrived at the Tokimi's place. It was a brown, two-story modern looking house and looks rather nice actually.

'Is this really where I'm going to be staying at?' Chrono thought. He hasn't lived in one ever since his dad faked his death and the place was taken away from them.

He got of the car feeling anxious about entering in what might actually potentially be his new home (once again bumping his head once again bumping his head on the doorway). He began following his mother, taking in his surroundings until he got a glimpse of something. A girl with green hair. He did a double take but, no one was there. Hm, maybe he was just imagining it.

"I hope you like our home," she conversed. "We have a spare room upstairs though we'd have to take out a lot of stuff since we were using it more as a storage place." When they arrived at the door, they heard loud footsteps coming from inside the house quickly getting nearer and nearer. "Maybe this is a good time to say that I have a daughter."

"A daughter?" He replied.

At that moment, someone opened the door. "Welcome back, mom. What are se having for dinn- Wait, who's this guy?" The person reveal was a young girl who a lot like Chrono. She had wild, curly red hair as he did, but was long enough to be tied it up in a puffy ponytail. She had the signature swirl like him and his mom, but unlike them, her end of the swirl curved down to her shoulders. She wears a red and white baseball T-shirt with black shorts. She had grayish-silver eyes like her mother and she was short, almost reaching Chrono's shoulders. If he had to guess, she would probably be two or three years younger than him.

"Chrona, this Chrono," Tokimi replied. "He'll be staying with us for now. Chrono, this is Chrona, my daughter."

'Daughter? Does this mean she's my sister?' Today just keeps getting more and more unbelievable to Chrono. "Um hi," he greeted her.

"Hello…" Chrona stares at the strange boy with bandages all over his body. He looked so much like her mother and had a face that was kind of similar to her dad as well. is this some family member she didn't know about? Before she could ask, the other two had entered into the house.

"I'll start on making dinner so you wouldn't mind cleaning up the guest room upstairs, wouldn't you?" Tokimi continued.

"Yeah, but seriously WHO is this guy?"

"He's a…" she looks onto Chrono, "I don't really know. He's a mystery."

Chrona deadpanned. "Why would invite him if you don't know him?"

"I... just wanted a chance to get to know him."

Chrona stare at her mother with judgemental eyes, but just decided to go along with whatever her mom was planning. "Fine, I'll just go fix up that room for him."

"Thank you, I'll have dinner ready soon."

"Yeah sure." She looks back to Chrono, still unsure about him.

"I'll be busy in the kitchen so make yourself at home," Tokimi said to Chrono as she exited the room.

With Chrono by himself, he began exploring the house. It was rather big house, for him at least. He went room by room, carefully avoiding the kitchen. Minutes has passed and he eventually got bored, trying to think of something to do. He sees the TV in the living room, but he's too afraid to touch the remote. Maybe he could help his sister at the very least. But once he was going to help, he sees her quickly walking down the stairs, go into the kitchen, and then runs back up the stairs. She sees him as well, but quickly disappears back into the next floor.

"She avoiding me…" Looks like getting to know is off the table. Though, there is still one more thing he could do.

He walks into the kitchen while his mother preparing dinner. Chrono carefully walks up to her, his mother completely unknowing of his presence.

"Hey miss?" Tokimi jumps in surprise from being absorbed in her work. "Sorry! I just wanted to see if you wanted help."

She calms down seeing it was Chrono. "No it's fine. You don't need to force yourself."

"Well you are letting stay here so I've gotta do something. Also…" he runs the back of his neck. "I'm pretty bored."

She shook her head while laughing. "Alright, you can help me cut the vegetables while I cook."

He got to work, expertly and quickly cutting as Tokimi watches him. "Wow, you actually know your stuff. If Chrona even tried to do this, she'd cut up all her fingers."

He laughs at the thought. "This isn't much really, I learned how to more or less take care of myself."

"Oh really? Were your parents around?"

Chrono gets a somber look in his eyes. "No, my parents weren't around much when I was growing up." If only she knew.

"I see…" She paused for a bit, debating what she should say next. "Chrono, where did you come from?"

He stayed silent. He wanted so badly to tell her she is his mother, the person he wanted to meet the most. But…

"You know I'll believe you, no matter how ridiculous."

"Eh? What are you talking about?"

Tokimi takes out a piece of paper from her pocket and presents it to Chrono. He curiously grabs the paper and unfolds it. A wave of dread pulses through his body as he recognizes it. It was the picture of his parents at a restaurant.

'Wasn't this given back to me?' He remembers. He takes out his wallet and pulls out the very same picture as the one she has, even matching some of the stains in the back of the pictures.

"You know that picture is one of a kind,'' she continues, "that picture was taken on the day I told my husband that I was pregnant. It was the first time I got pregnant, about 16 years ago. Of course my husband was thrilled at the news and we were excited and ready to become parents. Someone came by to take our picture at that moment."

Chrono listens patiently, eating up every word she says. This was the very first time he ever heard the story behind the picture that he carries with him every day.

"...Something unfortunate happened a few weeks later though. I was having stomach pains and I got worried. I went to the doctor and when he examined me, he told me that I miscarried…" She clenches her hands at the memory while Chono could only stand in horror, knowing exactly who the child was.

"That feeling of being told that never went away, even after having Chrona…" She catches and quickly tries to correct herself. "Sorry, I didn't mean to go off like that!… I just wanted to say that the picture is one of a kind, for you to show up with another copy means something unbelievable, right? So anything you say, I'll believe you."

"..."

"Chrono?"

"...Your my mother."

"What?" She said in shock.

He looks into her eyes with a serious gaze. "I come from another world. I don't know how or what exactly is going on, but in that world, you're my mother."

"...So you're my son?" she mumbled, trying to digest what he had told her. She noticing how old he was. "The same one that I lost?"

"Probably."

She stares at the curly hair boy before pulling him in for a hug. Chrono instinctively almost pulls away from her until he noticed her smiling.

"Thank goodness!" she cries. "I'm so glad you're here."

Chrono was speechless. "Do you actually believe me?"

"Of course I do," she replied. "Besides, you do like a lot like your father now that I think about it."

"Is that so?" He flustered."Mis- Mom, I'm really happy to finally- Oi! Behind you!"

"Eh? What's wrong" She looked behind to find the pot boiling over. "Oh god!" She hastily turns off the stove. "Heh, I almost ruined dinner there."

Chrono sighs at his mother's clumsiness. She seems so genuine and nice though. Is this really how his mother was like?

Chrona enters the room and sees the mess on the stove, but ignores it. "Hey mom, I've finished fixing the guest room. When is dinner almost ready?"

"Yeah, it won't take long. Especially now with Chrono here helping me." She patted his back proudly.

Chrona eyes the redhead boy before going off into the next room. "Yeah, yeah. Call me when it's done."

He stares at her as she leaves the room. 'She's rather… serious,' Chrono thought. Is it that she doesn't like him? "Is she always like this?" Chrono tell his mother.

"Well yes, she has always been pretty serious and quiet girl," she responded. "If you're so worried of her not liking you, she acts that way towards most other people."

"I see." Even if she doesn't now, he hopes he can get along with her.

The evening went well for the three… mostly. They eat dinner together, Tokimi chatting about their lives while Chrona stayed generally quiet as if lost in thought. One thing that still was bothering Chrono was the fact that his dad wasn't to be seen. As it turns out his dad, Rive, was out on business and wouldn't come back in a few days, which honestly in Chrono opinion would be easier on him not having to explain his story to one more person.

After dinner, they decided to go off to bed. Chrona guided him to his new room which looked to be almost twice the size of his old room. The room barren besides some essentials, a desk, a lamp, and a bed. It still has some boxes filled with junk in the room, but not that he minded.

The first thing he thought now having a room for himself was go take a shower though he had to be careful because his injuries. He hadn't bathed in so long that he was aching for one. Wait, now that he thinks about, he was pretty clean was he woke up from the hospital. Maybe one the nurses there… No, he probably shouldn't question it.

As it turns out, all the hot water was used up, so he had to take the shower in cold water. Such bad luck.

He got a look in the mirror after the shower. His eyes no longer had the amber tint. His face hadn't changed much within the last few months, though his hair looked much longer. He felt uncomfortable seeing his hair like this so he attempted to bundle the back of his hair into a small ponytail. "Now I like Kamui..." He decided not to.

He quickly changes into the spare clothes that his mother has given him to go to bed. He picks up his dirty clothes off the floor and finds that he had left his deck in his pocket. He looks at it in disdain and shoves the deck into the drawer of his desk when he heard a knock on the door. His mother was standing at the doorway.

"How do you like the room?" She asks.

Chrono sits down onto his bed. "Yeah feels pretty cozy actually."

"That's good to hear. I was worrying you were feeling uncomfortable." She enters the room, looking around to see if Chrona did a good job.

There was one thing that kept bugging her though, ever since she knew the truth about The swirly hair boy. "I've been meaning to ask, how did you come here? To our world?"

"I'm not really sure," he tells her. "I was in my world and before I knew it, I was here."

"Really? Your loved ones must be looking all over for you," she worried. "If that's the case then you can stay with us for now. We'll help you any way we can to get you home, you can count on it."

A lump formed in Chrono's throat. "Thank you, I really appreciate it," he smiles

Tokimi nods. "You're welcome. Now you should go to sleep, there are some things to do tomorrow."

"Right, goodnight."

"Goodnight, don't let the bed bugs bite."

Right when she leaves the room. Chrono's smiles disappears. He let the rest of his body crash onto his bed, completely exhausted from that conversation.

"A burden once again." He looks up to his window, looking up to the night sky and seeing moonlight shine into the warm and cozy room. It is a great contrast to that void he was in. It only made him feel guilty. Why should he so comfortable? To be able to meet his mother and his sister and live in this comfortable house when he was the sole purpose of the destruction of his world. Everyone is gone because of him. His family, his friends, every living being on the planet. And he had to lie about it his own mother's face.

An image flashed in his mind when his came to this world. The image of Shion of Tokoha with such distressed faces. They must be in this world too, they're not dead here. What are they up to? Where are they now?

That thought lingered in his mind as his eyes grew heavier and he drifted off into sleep.