Disclaimer: See chapter one

Chap. 13

'Gasp!'

Kenji's head jerked up from bed with wide eyes. He was breathing raggedly and his face was lined with sweat. 'What was that?' His head felt a little dazed. Was that I dream? But it doesn't feel like one. Indeed, Kenji hadn't dreamed anything, at least not that he could remember. Shaking it off, Kenji roused from bed and out of his room. It was a little late in the morning, but still early enough. He walked toward the bathroom and closed the door behind him. Approaching the sink, he began to wash up, but the normally cool teen felt a little shaken. 'What...is this?' The unknown dream was still troubling him. More like a sensation now. And a dark one at that. Finishing up, he exited the bathroom feeling at least a little better now that he was cleaned up. Just then, Yugo exited his bedroom and approached the bathroom, almost colliding with Kenji.

"Oh. Kenji. Sorry. I didn't know you were awake."

Kenji had anticipated that seeing that his older brother had left the room in only his underwear. That and his keen zoanthrope hearing heard the commotion Yugo and his wife had been making sound during the night. Sounds that made him wish he wasn't a zoanthrope.

"Hey, you okay?"

The wolf zoanthrope must have noticed Kenji's ruffled expression. Kenji quickly brushed his hair somewhat with his palm, "Yeah. Just a bit of a rough night, that's all."

Yugo gave him a thoughtful gaze, "Well, I'm going to be at a meeting today." His face darkened, "Something's come up."

"Oh?"

"I'm not sure what it is yet, but I suggest you keep your eyes open, okay."

Kenji blinked, but answered, "Sure."

Yugo strode into the bathroom, leaving Kenji with that dark foreboding feeling once again, only deeper. 'What does it mean? Does it even mean anything?'

The answer...was not going to be pleasant.

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Nagi found herself walking alone through town in the afternoon. Alice had gone to work at the hospital as usual and Yugo had a meeting at the NGO. She wished she could talk to one of them, but she didn't want to trouble them any more than she felt she already had. The newlyweds had taken her in their own home and took care of her. There was no need to burden them with anymore of her problems. She would figure a way through it somehow. But how would she? She didn't even know what was up with her. Who was the girl that spoke to her? And what had she become when she fought. Somehow, she felt that she didn't want to know, but the question would be present regardless. Perhaps if she remembered how it happened to begin with. But her memory at the moment was still vague. But...there was an image.

'A silver...creature...a zoanthrope perhaps?'

Nagi sighed to herself as she continued to walk. So far, all this did was give herself a headache in thinking about it. Sighing once more, she looked to the side and into a restaurant. Groups of customers lined up inside and workers all moved around in their duties. One person caught her eye though...

'Isn't that...Shin?'

Indeed, the dark-haired youth was moving around in the midst of the people, holding a plate of food. Nagi watched as he virtually soared through the crowd and managed to make it to his table and the awaiting customer. Deciding to say hello, Nagi turned to the door and entered in. At that point, Shin had stopped for a moment to pick up some fallen trash.

"Hello Shin."

Shin looked up to see the slender brunette standing over him. He quickly stood up and dumped the trash, all the while keeping eye-contact.

"Hello, Nagi. What brings you here?"

Nagi shrugged, "I was just in the neighborhood and I saw you through the glass. So I figured I'd come in and say hello."

Shin smiled lightly, "Well, thank you. Hey, you want something to eat?"

"Well, I really don't have much money on me..."

Shin simply held up his hand, "No way. My treat."

Now it was Nagi's turn to smile, "Thank you."

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Halfway across town, Rei too found herself walking alone through the streets after school. Normally she would have been hanging out with Uriko, but she decided to just be alone today. Truthfully, she had never been out by herself often. At the old orphanage, she wouldn't venture very far due to the fact that she felt so lost. She didn't know who or what she was. It was only with the help of Shin that she was able to come to understand what she truly was. A slightly altered clone of Uriko, created as a weapon for the sole purpose of assassination and death by the Tylon Corporation. After she had been liberated, those memories haunted her for quite a time. It was only through the care of Shin that she was able to dispel her demons. Though they still reminded her of what she was, she now knew that that was her own person now.

Because of him...

After the orphanage, she found herself alone frequently after school since Shin went to work. She never went far from the home either and always stayed in the immediate area. But Uriko and Kenji often hung out with her and took her around town. But during this, she had never gone out by herself...until now.

'Wow.'

Rei stopped in front of a small, glass-window store. Shown on display behind the glass were several portraits of artwork. The various colors and paintings captured Rei's eyes. Especially in her sight was a lovely portrait of a moonlight lake. The waters of the picture shone like a crystal.

'It's beautiful.'

Rei continued to stare for a few minutes before she checked the pocketbook in her book bag. Seeing the money, she looked back up and the painting and entered in, intent on getting it.

'He'll love it.'

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Nagi had seated herself by the window, eating the meal she had ordered, courtesy of Shin. Shin had stopped by to talk with her frequently whenever he had a break from his duties. Right now, he was just coming from giving another customer their meal.

"So where were you coming from before you stopped here?"

Nagi took a roll of noodles and chewed it before answering, "Well, I was just walking around really. Just thinking to myself."

Shin took a seat across from her, "About what?"

Stabbing the fork down, Nagi answered softly, "Well...I'm still trying to remember what happened that put in the hospital. But my memories of that time are still vague. All I see is flashes and broken images that make no sense."

"I see..." Shin could relate to that. Before he met Kenji and Uriko, he had been plagued with dark imagery of his own past. A past that made no sense until later on when he learned that he was programmed by Busuzima to be a soulless assassin. That was almost at the expense of his friend's lives, including Uriko.

"So anyway, enough about me. What about you, Shin?"

Shin blinked out of his thoughts, "Huh? What about me?"

"Well, I know very little...no scratch that. I know nothing about you. Come on. I pretty much told you everything. Now it's your turn."

Shin scratched his neck, "Well, there's not much to say really."

Nagi sat back and folded her arms. With a sly glance, she spoke, "Oh come on. There must be something. What do you do for fun? What's your girlfriend like? Do you have any...?"

"I don't have a girlfriend."

Nagi blinked, "Are you kidding? Why not?"

"I don't have time for it. I'm usually busy with either school or work."

"Well, don't you take days off?"

"Well, Ms. Saori says I should, but I honestly can't. If I'm to take care of Rei, then I can't relax now."

Nagi cocked her head slightly, "Oh yeah, Rei. She's your sister, right?"

The golden eyes of the harpy zoanthrope lowered, "No. Not really. I'm her guardian, sort of."

"Really?"

A sudden crash alerted their attention and both of them turned to the source. One of the customers was in a fit of anger and had currently tossed his plate away. One of the worker moved to calm him down, but the man had grabbed him and pushed him away and into a table. Shin moved in between him and the enraged customer.

"Whoa, what's the problem?"

The man didn't reply and lashed out with a punch. Shin swiftly ducked the blow and moved to the side. The man then turned again and swung once more. However, the second punch had little effect and Shin jumped back. The man gave an enraged growled and charged. Shin decided it was time to employ some of his techniques to disable him. As soon as he came close, Shin ducked low and dashed forward, going right under the man's right side. As soon as he was behind, Shin shot his arm up in a chop and smashed into the man's underarm. The man cried in pain and Shin grabbed the arm and flipped him over his shoulder, slamming him into the floor and knocking him out.

"Shin. What happened?"

Saori had emerged from the back to see Shin standing over the fallen man. Shin looked over at Saori and answered.

"I don't know. He just went berserk."

However, Shin was standing in a very peculiar position, covering over the man's head with his legs. The reason being, so that the man could revert back to normal before his deformed head could be seen by everyone else.

The man was a zoanthrope...

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Above in the rooftops some blocks away, a certain figure was looking over the building. A dark smile was on his face as his silvery hair bristled in the wind.

'It has begun. Soon, it will reveal itself and I'll be there to destroy it. Gaia...you will die.'

Looking down, he saw a group of three moving away from the streets and down an alley. He watched them carefully, knowing full well what they were. Zoantropes...The smile grew even more.

'But until then, I think I'll have some fun.'

With these dark thoughts in mind, the zoanthrope monster, Xion the Unborn, dove in on his next prey.

Prey or victims? Either way works for him...