'No!'

Tsuzuki ran as quickly as his feet would carry him into the dense forest. He had been separated from the others, and could not be sure of how they were doing. Could it be the work of the maiden in the lake? No, her influence cannot go outside of that area. Then, it must have been Gabriel. Something told Tsuzuki he should be worried for Hisoka, and worried he was. He stopped in a clearing, lit by the half moon, and once again yelled for his friends. He received no reply, and in a hurry, began to run again. He could hear the bushes moving wildly behind him. He was being followed, but not by anything friendly. It was as if he was a wild animal, being hunted, and he didn't like it.

'Are you human?'

Suddenly, he stopped. His eyes went wide, and he found he couldn't move. The voice had come seemingly out of nowhere, and it was all around him, repeating the question over and over again.

'Are you human? Are you?'

Memories flooded into him like a tidal wave, and for a moment, he almost forgot how to breathe. He saw himself as a child, crying and running away from the other kids. They threw large rocks and sticks at him, and they would not stop no matter how hard they beat him, or how loudly he yelled. He found himself yelling again. All around him, rocks were being thrown and they hit him all over. Bruises and cuts began to form on his face, his arms, his chest and his legs. But, more than the physical discomfort, he felt the emotional scars rising to the surface. He, again, questioned his existence, and whether he was human or not.

"You're human, Tsuzuki!"

The voice was desperate-sounding, and weak, but it also wasn't whom Tsuzuki was expecting to hear. He opened his eyes, unsure of when he had closed them, and found himself looking up into worried amber eyes. Watari sighed as he did so, and took out a rag from his pocket and began to clean his wounds. Tsuzuki was a mess, lying on the ground bleeding and crying, and it cut into the scientist deeply. But, seeing his co-worker smile made him feel so much better.

"You're right. I've always been human."

"Yeah, exactly."

"Watari, what happened?"

"Shh!"

Watari went stiff all of a sudden, and stared out strait ahead with a harsh glare fixed on the shadows. Tsuzuki tried to prop himself up on his elbows, and managed to do so with some difficulty.

"What is it?"

"It's him. We're definitely not alone here."