Ai comes back to himself inside the taxi.

'Wha-' he gasps out, fingers clutching reflexively at Yusaku's shirt. Which he can now see again.

The light floods the vehicle, colours fly away to the vision sensors in the SOLtiS' head and are filed away by his main processor, registering at a speed that's overwhelming. The colour of the seat they're on: grey. The colour of Yusaku's shirt: black. The colour of the taxi driver's expression: priceless.

'Oi,' the man says with a frown. 'Shut that thing up. I'll charge you extra if it starts tearing up my seats.'

Ah, right, sound. It's everywhere, from the street outside, to the rustle of his clothes as Yusaku's hands smooth over his shoulders, a wonderfully rare smile on his handsome face.

Yes, Ai can judge Yusaku's face to be handsome; it's rather symmetrical despite the human imperfections, the lines of it falling together in a pair of almost nicely matched angles. And the colour of those eyes strikes him as rich and vivid, in the way other things in the outside world do, like all those patches of nature that struggle to fit in the metropolis humans build around themselves. It's not really something he should care about, and it pales to the slant and colour of his own perfect face, and yet. Ai likes it. As far as he supposes something like him can.

'Ai. Calm down. You're safe.'

Only five words. But they're firm and gentle, not a trace of anger in them at all. And Ai frowns as Yusaku's warm gaze examines him, at the way it makes his programming flip and jump in a manner of erratic ways inside the hardware of this body. There's no logical explanation for it. But it feels...familiar.

Yikes. Ai's not entirely sure he wants to go back to being the same AI that was willing to tear itself apart for the human known as Fujiki Yusaku. He'd rather it be the other way round, thanks.

Not that he wants Yusaku hurt, oh no. He just doesn't want to die.

'We'll get off here,' Yusaku tells the taxi driver, and then they're spilling out of the car, Yusaku's grip on his hand firm and steady as he tows them out into a darkened street.

'What do you remember?' he asks Ai softly, as he stops them outside the hot, molten-gold gleam of a cafe window. There's something compassionate on his face – Ai recognises it from all the data he has on identifying human facial expressions.

Ai blinks. 'You mean before I was poked with that taser?' he asks. 'Or after, when I was babbling like a baby?' he shivers. 'You probably don't want to know, Yusaku. I don't really think I can describe it to you. Your memories and nervous system doesn't work in quite the same way.'

Yusaku watches him a moment thoughtfully. 'Alright,' he says at last and then pulls them towards an internet cafe, where he pays for a hour's session.

Ai is quiet. He doesn't really want to digest it, those...flashes of someone small and orange, strapped to a metal table and pleading, saying he was alive, and other flashes, of that same orange someone picking a flower, wandering by a stream, sharing code with him. He wants them to stay incoherent, because something inside him is saying no, no, no, don't look too closely, it'll hurt too much.

And for once in his life, he listens.

So he chooses to follow after Yusaku, to remain standing by his side as Yusaku's fingers roll across the keyboard, smoothly cutting out lines of code. 'I may need your help,' he mutters, quickly outlining the fact that apparently SOL Technologies know he's alive again and they're probably not his greatest fans. Shocker.

But then, that's why Ai decided to team up with Yusaku, right? He's probably the only human he knows for sure who won't scream at the thought of him and want him dead. And if Ai has to butter him up, play happy families with the guy and maybe do some 'naughty' stuff with him, then it's a small price to pay for his continued survival. Plus, the dilation of Yusaku's pupils when he gets close enough is pretty funny.

And just being the centre of someone's world is dizzying. Addicting. It makes him feel important. Like it should. He's a thoroughly unique existence, after all. Of course, he's important...

Still. Yusaku can't flitter off inside the net permanently like he can when people pursue them. So within a matter of minutes they find a new town, on the other side of the country, somewhere not quite as industrial.

'Are you sure about this?' Ai asks. 'I mean I haven't seen you interact with anyone. But you have attachments to this city, and people you fought with, fought for as'- he glances round then lowers his voice into a whisper that drags against Yusaku's ear. –'Playmaker, right? Aren't you going to miss them?'

'They're not the ones in danger of being deleted,' Yusaku says ruthlessly, his fingers jumping across the keyboard, punching out ruthless clicks. 'And they have other important things to do with their lives. Right now, you're my priority. That should make you happy, right?'

Right. It should, yes. But don't humans need other humans? Ai can provide social simulation, pupil dilation and lots of other wonderfully fun things, oh yes he can. But aren't there other cues in human interactions, things like scent and pheromones and things that maybe a machine like him can't provide?

Ai's hands tighten on the back of Yusaku's chair. He brushes a finger against the USB ports and invades the network, even as he remains standing in the real world, devouring whatever trails of data Yusaku's hacking leaves behind.

Soon enough, they've done what they need to and Ai trails out of the cafe.

'Hang on,' he says as they exit the cafe, pre-booked digital tickets for the train ready to go. 'You did carry me into the taxi, right?'

Yusaku stares at him again.

Ai's hands clap onto his cheeks. 'It was it a princess carry, right? How embarrassing?! Wouldn't it have been easier to throw me over your shoulder Fireman-style?' Ai mimes heaving a heavy weight onto his back and ends up spilling his cape into the street, almost knocking a young woman in the face with it.

Yusaku stares at him some more. And then his lips twitch. He turns away, but not before Ai catches a glimpse of those green eyes laughing at him; he can just tell. So Ai glares at him. And clenches his fist tightly. 'I don't like you very much,' he mutters sourly.

'Guess you'll have to find someone else to fall for you,' Yusaku remarks in a deadpan tone as he continues to walk. And after a few moments Ai grumbles and with a dejected hang of his head, follows.

Sun. Sun. And yet more sun. It floods the town here, runs through the streets and over the fields, highlights each grey stone on every small, tucked-away bridge. It's strange to see for both of them; Yusaku has only ever lived in a city. And Ai is used to the fast-paced scrolling of the data in the virtual world. Not to mention the fact that he has no real memory of the Cyberse world. Still, something fills his chest, and there's a tinge of warmth in his programming – there's no other way to describe it – as he sets one foot in front of the other and stares. Stares at it all.

At the wide open planes of grass. At the rice fields, the gleam of water circling the roots like the stray flecks of jewels. The zoom-in function of his eyes can even detect the shimmering reflections of the green wave of the plants above as they ripple and lap round the ankles of the people who wade through them. Even the rich, almost black squelch of the mud by the main river that cuts through the town like a knife, is available to him.

There are trees in the near distance. Buildings that don't block out the sky. And, strangely enough a square of rustic gold, like a battered chip, containing a field of wheat. It's such a rich, vibrant colour when it's juxtaposed against the surrounding green, a nice spot for his eyes to rest, even though a part of his brain is surprised, noting the fact that this is a rare sight as Japan imports the great majority of their wheat from overseas.

There's a flutter in his data. It feels...familiar. How strange. Ai has never had a home, as such. Not one he remembers.

And he is torn. He wants to remember, wants to have a place to put these feelings, all these raw impulses of warmth. And yet, that flicker of memory earlier, those strange video files of someone who he senses was important to him, and their last moments, someone who wanted to live and was torn apart...the rush of pain he had felt...it was baffling. Scary. Unbearable. He doesn't want to feel it again.

'Stop dawdling.'

Yusaku waits for him, one hand slotted over his hip in an admittedly rather cool fashion. His gaze is impatient and direct.

And Ai grins at him in return.

'Wait a minute! I want to try something!'

He slides off his boots, despite the weird and rather appalled look an elderly couple at the train station they've just left, give him. And then he leaps down off the station steps altogether, almost stumbling as he yanks off his socks, hopping from one foot to the other to do so; human bodies are both clumsy and funny, and so he laughs as he falls and rolls though the tumble of weeds and dandelions, half-way between tugging off the final sock.

Yusaku looks at him as though he's gone mad. Not the way most humans do, with wide eyes and startled gasps. No, Yusaku's look is one that involves a narrow gaze and a slight frown. It's boring, yes, but has an odd charm to it all the same.

Ai clambers to his feet and spins round. Takes one wide step. Then another. His toes sink into the grass, the sensors picking each stray blade, each soft spike, translating them into a series of electrical impulses that register as pleasant.

Ai smiles, he feels the spread of it across his face, feels each ligament of the program that it uses to mimic the muscular pull of such an expression on a human face, the way it's copied directly onto the hard-light projection of his own. It's strange, in a way, how it happens without him being really aware of it most of the time, and yet still, if he wants to, he can trace each line of code as it happens, as it responds to the flux in his emotional state. He wonders how humans feel when they smile; can they measure the stretch of each muscle, feel the grind and pull of the meat inside them?

He sighs, spins again, and practically dances over to a tree. He's never climbed one before. He can do it, right?

Human hands aren't really designed to dig into the bark the way the claws and talent of small birds and mammals do, so Ai jumps up, hooks an arm round a low-lying branch as he does so and easily yanks himself up. Only to regret it as his bare feet scrap against the bark of the main tree for purchase, and a shudder runs through him in response. For it's rough. Not like the grass at all.

'What are you up to?'

Ai swings his legs from the branch, grinning down at Yusaku, who has arrived below him at a more leisurely pace, Ai's boots and socks firmly clenched in his hands.

'Come on, Yusaku, don't tell me you've never done the same! You know, run wild, felt the grass between your toes, climbed a tree!'

Something complicated flashes over his partner's face at that. And then he turns his gaze to the side, looking distantly uncomfortable for once, before letting out a non-committal hum – but he doesn't sound like he's agreeing with Ai.

Ai frowns. Settles himself down along on the branch, sprawling like a cat. 'Or were you one of those nerdy kids who were cooped up inside all day, reading a book? Or playing video games?'

Yusaku's fist clenches.

But it doesn't have time to do much more than that as Ai's hand whips down, and quick as lightning, tugs at Yusaku's collar as though to encourage him to stretch up on his toes.

'Still,' says Ai breezily, 'if you've really never climbed a tree before, then why not try, just this once?' He leans down, tilts his head. Carefully arranges the slow creep of a honey-soft smile upon his face, the one he knows humans find attractive. 'Come on. For me? I'll give you...' Ai taps his chin with a finger of his free hand in fake thought. 'A reward! Yes! A real niiiice one!'

Yusaku looks at him bored. 'If you're not careful, you'll fall off,' he notes. But then, amazingly enough, he drops Ai's footwear carelessly into the grass, and allows his hand to find a free spot on the branch next to Ai.

Ai blinks at him. 'Eh?'

He can't...he can't believe that worked! Oh wow, humans are easy! Or rather, Yusaku is.

Eagerly, he sits up and reaches out, his hand happily capturing Yusaku's wrist and then perhaps a little too easily – it certainly makes Yusaku's eyes grow wide – he pulls Yusaku up, leaving him to scramble onto the branch like a cat that misplaced his foot.

Ai chuckles, amused at the way Yusaku huffs and glares, almost folded in half as he crouches along the thick line of the branch, struggling to stay semi-upright.

'Wow. You really haven't climbed a tree before, have you?'

'...Be quiet.'

Ai laughs and laughs. He almost folds himself in half as he does so. But as he recovers, he notices Yusaku is smiling slightly. At him.

'That's better,' Yusaku says softly. 'You're acting more like yourself.'

Ai stops laughing. And who's that? He wants to ask. Instead, he forces a smile onto his face. 'Do you want that reward?' he asks carefully.

Yusaku heaves out a put-upon sigh. 'No, I don't need it,' he says, eyeing Ai suspiciously. 'Knowing you, it'll probably be a kiss. And I've already said I don't want that kind of affection from you. Not at the moment.'

Ah. Well then. Embarrassed, Ai turns away and lets his gaze sweep out over the landscape once more.

'Ha! Who said anything about a kiss!' he blusters. 'I meant, the view, the view!' He spreads his arms as though to encompasses it. 'Look! Isn't it gorgeous!?'

'Sure.' Ai doesn't turn to look at him, still embarrassed, but Yusaku's voice is warm. It sounds, no, it feels like the satisfaction he gets from consuming data, where there's not a single misplaced symbol in all the lines and strings of codes.

And Ai's not sure what to do with this information, not in the slightest.

'Come on,' Yusaku says, attempting to slide off the branch and down the tree. He's almost successful – but he slips and falls, the very second his foot manages to brush the grass.

Ai laughs so hard he falls out of the tree. And though Yusaku does rush over to check on him with a worried frown, he rather pointedly makes no move to help him up afterwards as soon as he realises he's fine. The big meanie.

The new (well, okay, maybe old) inn is tiny, sun pouring in through every window to paint gold spillages of light across the floor. Ai can't help but give into the temptation to twirl through it, to let his cape flare out, and to track each mote of dust as it dances through the beam with his keen sight. And he very nearly knocks over the lady who runs the place as a result.

'My,' she says, with half a laugh as Ai wobbles, then straightens, as best he can on one foot – she has no idea of the millions of lines of new code he has to devise on the spot, in order to prevent her from becoming a pancake. 'Welcome! I must say this is a novel greeting in return. But then again, this is the first time we've had a SOLtiS here.'

She's tall and willow thin, despite the wrinkles in her face and the claws her hands become as they curl round the pencil and write down the lie of Yusaku's false name he gives at the reception desk, all three unpleasant syllables of it. Still, she looks a little blank when Ai asks her about the specifications of the Wi-Fi she has this place linked up to.

'I'm afraid my grandson's the expert on that…he'll be back in half an hour. You can ask him then.'

Ai hums and lets his fingers dance along the edge of the desk. He doesn't really need the information – he can tell the strength of the signal with a simple tentative prod from his own wireless transmitters, after all. It's not the best – but it's passable.

'How about the password then?' he asks with a grin. And after that, he lets his eyes spill over to the sign near the door. 'And what times are the hot-springs open?'

Surprise flies up into her face, making her eyes widen and for a moment Ai can visualise the shape her face was when she was younger. Quite literally; his software is already running the predictive patterns.

'I wasn't aware that robots needed to bathe…'

Ai pouts. 'You mean I can't?'

'He's reasonably water-proof,' Yusaku cuts in giving him a quelling glare. 'He can't stay in for too long, but he's designed to be water resistant in case a human faints in the bath or in a swimming pool.'

Ai's pout grows larger and he leans forward over the desk, his hand coming up to cup his mouth. 'He actually needs me to sponge him down, he's a terrible washer – that's the real reason.'

Alright, that definitely wins him an angrier-than-usual glare from Yusaku.

The woman, to her credit, actually looks amused. 'Yes. Most boys are. I'm glad he has you then.'

She ushers them through the inn to their room, the sliding panel door opening up to a room panelled in wood, the floors and the ceilings struck across with heavy beams dyed the same colour one would find enclosed within a wrapper of dark chocolate. A few garish paper lanterns decorate a small traditional Japanese table, a chabudai, with bright koi fish splashed against their sides in tones of orange and red. And the otherwise dark colour of the room is halted by the large, glass panelled windows that overlook a woodland area, complete with a flowing brook outside.

Ai finds himself pressing his fingers against the glass childishly as Yusaku thanks the woman and closes the door behind him, sealing them off from the outside world.

'Quaint little place,' Ai remarks, pulling himself away from the window to run a careful hand over the lanterns – they're clumsily made, with all the fallibility that goes with human muscles and wavering eyes. You can tell by an oddly drawn line, here, or a spill of orange colour that plays outside the outline of the fish, there. And yet, how strange that Ai finds himself warming to such messy things; even more puzzling is that it whispers to him of familiarity.

'I notice there's also no VR room here,' he remarks glibly cashing theatrical look of dismay at Yusaku. 'Whatever will we do Yusaku-sama?'

But his partner doesn't seem duly concerned, turning to fish out an old Visor he'd exchanged for cash near a run-down store in the city they'd just left behind. Ai can't help but snigger at the sight, already picturing the way it will ruffle up Yusaku's hair in the most adorable fashion.

In a flash he dances up to Yusaku, fingers pulling at the visor in a makeshift tug-of-war with Yuskau's own hands. 'Come on, put it on, put it on! Let me see how uncoool you look!'

Yusaku closes his eyes as though suffering a mild headache. Then:

'I don't need it right now,' he says firmly as though Ai is a small child he needs to say 'no' to.

Now it's Ai's turn to blink.

'Eh?'

'We need to think things through; I don't want to drag anyone here into danger in case we're tracked.'

Ai thinks about this. Then gives him a sly look. 'Huh. You're quite cautions without your guardian-angel of hot-dog guy to watch over you, huh?'

Yusaku stiffens and opens his eyes warily.

Ai laughs. 'Come on, Yusaku, I know the identity of all your old teammates. You're good but I can pick up the traces of data humans leave behind in the network and I know you check up on him. There's no need to be shy!'

'It doesn't matter,' Yusaku says shortly. 'Because there's also no need for him to be involved in this.'

Ai hums in a non-committal fashion. 'Whatever you say~'

He plops down on the floor, knees sliding beneath the table, watching as the sun paints the marbled texture of the oak life-lines on its surface brightly. So bright that they gleam, like swirls of dark chocolate dragged through a brilliant, almost gold sponge.

'You can just tell me if you need a break, you know,' he remarks idly, fingers tracing each of these former tree rings idly, plotting out the pattern to see if he can accurately predict how close the next line will fall, down to the very millimetre. 'I know you need to sleep and eat and do other human things. But I can't help but wonder if this is just you chickening out of helping me track down this 'Aniki' boss guy those SOLtiS were bowing down to either.'

Yusaku frowns.

'I don't know if doing that is a good idea,' he says. 'One-,' and here he holds up a finger. '-it's too much of a coincidence that Sol Technologies got a call regarding those missing SOLtiS at the same time you were in their general vicinity. Two-' he holds up another finger and Ai stares at it perplexed. 'If this Aniki wants Sol Technologies to have you, then they obviously want you out of the way, and so it would be best to keep you away from them. Three-' and up pops the final finger. 'You're not riding around in my Duel Disk anymore. That means anyone could try and claim you and I wouldn't be able to challenge them to a Duel to prevent that.'

Ai's face twists in annoyance. 'I'm not your pet, Yusaku. And what's with you holding up your fingers to me like I'm at nursery school? I can count! Better than you in fact.'

Yusaku looks surprised for a moment. And then his face closes off and Ai wonders what sort of emotional quagmire he's dragged himself into.

'Besides-' Ai continues flippantly as though he hasn't noticed- 'I'm not completely helpless! I could run rings around any hacker.'

Yusaku sighs. 'Do you have a deck?' he asks. 'If you're logging on as yourself, you should at least carry one round with you.'

Ai flounces up to him and grins into his face. 'What do I need a deck for, if I have you! My loyal protector! Just because I'm not hiding in your Duel Disk anymore doesn't mean I can't ask you to duel for me, right?'

Yusaku stares at him. Then after a moment he shrugs him off.

'I can always go without you,' Ai tells him, watching Yusaku closely, for the way the line of his mouth tenses, for the way his eyes harden at his words. 'I'm sure you need your beauty sleep.'

'Let's go,' grits out Yusaku, bringing the headset up to his face.

And much like the provincial cat that has caught the canary, Ai smiles, long and slow.

Picture this: In the Vrains, in the long sprawl of golden sand, within a desert under a sun that never sleeps, lives a man who wishes he could. So he hacks. He curses. But he still can't log out.

'No,' whispers a thing, with laughing eyes and a wide bright grin. It never meets him, only comes up to the barrier they erect, and stares in like a cat pressing its face against the window. 'This is punishment. You can't run from that - it's not fair!'

It stares out, at the buried lumps of sand, at the metal poking through like spurs of bones from a shallow grave. And its lips twist down. Like it's actually sad.

'And I think Aniki will agree with me.' It spins on its heel, sauntering off with outstretched arms, pale grey shadows that rise with every step. 'I'll send him your way soon! I can't wait to see how he punishes you!'

It vanishes like a taunt. Leaving the man to curl his fist and curse some more. For cursing, out here, under the digital sun, is all he can do.

Although...

The man gazes out, at one of the lumps in the sand. The first one one ever formed here. The one that...

Huh. Maybe he can still do something with the data it has left behind.

Notes: I may or may not have been inspired by episode 8 of My Next Life as a Villainess. At least in regard to the tree scene. Oh-ho-ho.