Tainted Blood

Chapter 8

by. SilverWolf-Ryuki

A/N: If there are mistakes in this chapters, gomen ...Microsoft Word suddenly decided that high lighting the word and pressing backspace shouldn't be enough to delete the word. And high lighting the word and typing a new word apparently doesn't delete the old word either. At the rate I type, I don't usually notice it. So, please tell me the mistake, and I'll correct it.

Also, Ren's horse's name was not made up. It's all in the show. Gohuku Seitai Gojyoto and Gohuku Seitai Yonjyoto are two of the lowest of the five strongest zombies in the Tao family.

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From Last Chapter...

"Two sacred bit-beasts," Rei whispered to Kai as they walked down a dark hallway. Kai nodded.

"The -"

"Yeah,"

-

"You still have not answered my first question." Ren said after a while of silence. "Why are you here?"

Almost everyone jumped. Even though they were used to interruptions after periods of silence, the dark hallways, echoing footsteps and haunting whispered around corners does take its toll on people.

"Actually," Tala said conversationally, a surprising thing, since he always seemed to be slightly alert and tense. "We wandered in."

"We're searching for the sacred bit-beasts," Kai revealed. "Or the golden spirits as you know it."

"Which ones are you looking for?" Ren asked without turning around.

"All of them." Lee answered. "Rei here sensed some in this direction, so we wandered in."

"I assume you've got Voltaire's,"

"Yeah," Kai answered quietly.

"I see."

Mariah, Mariam, Lee and Rei exchanged looks.

"And do you want the ones in my possession?" Ren asked, once again disrupting the silence.

"Not as much as I would like Dranzer," Kai replied. "We don't want the other bit-beasts much, except as assistance."

Ren gave a small chuckle that sounded like a sneer. "I shall think about it."

It wasn't until several minutes later; the others realized that Ren's horse was no longer with them.

-

"Ah... this is really good!"

Mariam smiled brightly as she took a bite of the strange-looking English desert. Ren peered at her from the corner of his eyes, uninterested, as he sipped his tea. Dinner was finished and everyone was satisfied. Those who didn't choose to make themselves resemble turkeys were eating desert.

"It's called... a cupcake." Ren said, in his usual bored voice.

Mariam looked at her food, interested. "A cup-cake...is it made in cups?"

"Who knows," Ren shrugged.

"I shouldn't have eaten that last bowl..." Lee groaned.

"Serves you right for eating so much," Mariah glared at her brother as she stuffed a spoonful of ice-cream into her mouth.

"When was the last time we ate like this?" Rei asked.

"You mean, when was the last time we ate food this good? Or when was the last time you guys ate like pigs?" Kai raised an eyebrow at Rei.

"Good question," Tala hiccupped very loudly. "Ah shit..."

Mariah, Mariam, Lee and Rei all gave a snort of laughter. The corner of Kai's mouth twitched. Ren still looked bored.

"Tell me about your horse."

Ren looked at Kai, and then looked up to his ceiling. "His name is Hakuoh. And the spirit you want is Kakuoh, Bason's 'pet horse'."

At then, Bason, Ren's spirit, made a small sound of protest. Mariah smiled. "Kakuoh is the horse spirit, right?"

Suddenly, the door burst open.

"What do you want?" Ren said immediately, without turning around to see who it was. "Jun?"

"Papa finished his new project," She said, "He's also equipped it."

"Jun," Kai frowned, "your sister?" He motioned towards the tall, slim girl with green hair. Some of her hair stuck up, like Ren's.

"One of them," Ren shrugged. "He's equipped it too? How does he know that it's strong enough?"

"Because he managed to kill Gohuku Seitai Gojyoto and Gohuku Seitai Yonjyoto with the practice weapon," Jun said darkly.

Ren looked mildly surprised. He sighed and stood up. "I suppose he requires my presence?"

"Why else would I come?" Jun nodded. "Your friends..."

"They are all coming with me." Ren said shortly and motioned for everyone to follow. They all exchanged looks, and followed Ren, not wanting to get lost in the long, dark hallways.

"What is this project?" Kai asked as everyone struggled to catch up with Jun without running.

"Roboto..." Ren muttered. "Humanized robot with...extraordinary powers..."

"Instead of using Zombies," Jun finished for Ren. "But this one...prototype, with artificial 'human' brainwaves,"

"Wonderful, army of robots..." Lee muttered to Rei.

"Be grateful they don't use zombies," Rei whispered back.

"We're not planning to attack you." Ren said from ahead, somehow overhearing the conversation.

"We know, it just that those two..." Mariah glared at them. "Terrified of inhuman things, unless it's a bit-beast,"

Rei and Lee opened their mouths to protest, but Tala smirked. "It's OK, you don't have to hide it anymore..." He mocked.

"Shut up," the two Chinese boys growled.

They stopped and Jun knocked the large door. "Papa, it's us," she called.

"Come in," replied the voice.

The door groaned as it was opened. Jun led them into a surprisingly light room. It was filled with machineries. There was also a large capsule-shaped glass case filled with liquid. In it was a boy. He had turquoise hair and wires attached to his head.

Tala froze as he faced the case. He looked away quickly and took a deep breath.

"What's wrong?" Mariah asked.

"N-nothing..." Tala whispered.

"Hello,"

An old, thin man with a mustache and spiky hair emerged. Ren nodded to him with respect. "Hello father,"

Jun turned to the others. "This is our father,"

"I am En Tao," The man said as his beady eyes scanned the group. His eyes fell on Kai. "Hiwatari," He whispered. "You have the..."

Kai nodded.

En eyed him for a few seconds more before turning to the glass case. "Ren, remember him?"

Ren nodded. "I made his instinct chip,"

"Very nicely made, though it did take you fairly long," En rested his hand on the glass. "I've put him back to increase his humanity by a bit more."

"Wow," Mariam breathed. "He doesn't need air?"

"No, he does," Tala mumbled. "It's oxygen liquid."

Kai raised an eyebrow at Tala.

"Don't ask," Tala frowned.

Then, suddenly, the machine beeped loudly and a feminine voice said, "Process finished. Prepare to drain oxygen liquid. Waiting for further commands."

"Please drain the liquid." En spoke.

"Command accepted. Processing..."

The liquid began to leak away. The wires fell off of the boy's head and he fell against the glass case.

"Drainage complete," the voice said, and another beep sounded.

The boy in the glass case started to cough out liquid and gulping deep breaths of air. His eyes opened slowly. His eyes were the same colour as his hair. The glass case tipped open, and a curtain fell over him. Minutes later, he emerged, fully dressed. His eyes were wide and he looked around.

"Hello," En said.

The boy looked at En. Suddenly, his blank expression turned into a small smile. "Hello,"

The smile remained on his face as he turned to see everyone in the room. He also grabbed his own hair to see it would come off. It was almost as if he was memory-less, except he knew every thing a person would need to.

"What is his name?" Rei turned to ask En.

"He is...Zeo."

"Zeo," The boy repeated. "I am Zeo."

TBC...

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Ryuki: Here's another chapter. Hope you liked it. And to WindWitch – Here's Zeo for you. It's AU, but this whole story is AU, no? Zeo is actually, now I realized, going to help my plot. Thanks again for a great idea.