"Selcouth"
unfamiliar, rare,
strange, and yet
marvelous

As it turned out, "the mark" that Tenten had pointed out was that little something new that was added to all bots after one of our checkups. It most likely was the one that followed the disappearance of H1-0N4T-04H as a means to track us since she has yet to be found. It was more than likely some identification mark that told other bots and humans alike that I was a defect or a danger to everyone. Ever since it's been installed there have been three other instances beside my own where the mark has showed up on bots who needed to be captured and all of them were similar models to me, and each of the instances ended in a very painful looking detonation once they managed to get close to said bot.

Aside from that, there wasn't much to say about the mark. It was just another, eye-catching, totally identifiable, unaskable mark that was quickly hidden beneath the dirty remains of Tenten's husband's old shirt sleeve.

Sure I should have been offended from this, but she was trying to protect me in a since. Her hiding my mark brought less attention to it, and the fact that there was dried blood on the cloth made people think twice about assuming that I was a robot instead of an average everyday human. Sure there was the matter of my face, but, again, she hid that with something simple and in no time, I was a bandaged, sunglass wearing, blind human male and she was my wife…partner?...guide?...Anyways, as for her disguise, she dawned a new shirt – we had went back after the area had calmed and cleared to grab a couple of things – and a new hairstyle as well as a heavy pouch full of the coins her husband was keeping from her. To me she would look the same but to anyone else who might have known her she would have been a different person.

Instead of her hair being let down and flowing freely she decided to tie it up into two loose twin buns on the top of her head, mumbling something about how she usually wore it like that when she was younger, but her husband hated it, and instead of the white shirt she had tucked into the long skirt she wore her husband's overalls cuffed at the bottom, and a white knitted sweater. I want to say most of the clothes we both had on – since she dressed me in whatever it was I could fit – had belonged to her husband at some point as did the bags and money and other things. Nothing seemed to be hers save for some torn shirts and one pair of boots.

"You didn't have much did you?" I asked without thinking.

But surprisingly, instead of getting offended like I thought she would, she simply smiled in agreement. "Most of my clothes he either threw away or burned. Then he bought me several plain white shirts and sweaters and two different kinds of skirts before he ended up messing most of those up too."

"What would you do during the winter then?" I asked. "I've never experienced it but I hear it gets pretty cold here. It even snows."

"I just wear what I have." She shrugged. "But now I don't have to. I can dress in cute winter clothes. I'm my own woman again!"

I watched her as she bounced about the path we were walking then looked up towards the sky to try and tell the time. Since I had to get rid of my watch least they track me with it, I had to rely on my knowledge of the placement of the sun to tell what time it was or will be and right about now, it was noonish. We had been walking for several hours and still we were in the woods. We decide to pass the first town we got to, stopping only to buy a couple of things for her to eat and a proper coat for me, and had turned West to find another town to reside in for the time being, but we had no luck in approaching one so far.

And really it was surprising to me how uninvolved the people of that previous town was. All around on the small amount of televisions they did have available, my face was plastered and yet not a single person was aware of me. Some did look at the wanted sign, but since it was a bot that only had proof of attacking another bot, they found no harm in me and tried not too hard to find me. Plus the bounty was too simple. There was no real offer, just some casual hint towards possibly being rewarded – though I was sure that it would eventually change to something that would spark the people's interest – so maybe that was why we were safe for now.

"Look!" She exclaimed, catching my attention.

"What is it?" I asked as I moved towards her.

"Moss!" She smiled. "Moss points towards civilization!"

"That's not true." I scoffed. "Moth just grows on whatever side that's not in direct contact with the sun, otherwise it would not grow well. Who told you that?"

"It's a myth then." She mumbled as a small pout showed on her face. "But we've been traveling for hours and we haven't come across anything yet. What are we going to do if we don't find a town and it gets dark?"

"Then we'll just have to camp out again."

"Ugh!" She complained. Before suddenly dropping to the ground. She wrapped her arms around her legs in an almost childlike manor before bringing her cheek to her knees and sighing. "I'm tired."

"Get up." I sighed. "Why are you suddenly acting like this? It's like you're barely out of your teenage years."

"But that's what I am." She retorted as she stared up at me in all seriousness despite the way her lips poked out.

"You are what?"

"Barely out of my teens. I'm only 22."

I blinked, surprise clearly spanning my features since she met me with a soft smile before standing and dusting herself clean of the dirt and stickers* that stuck to her. When she was sure that she was clean – or at least thought that she was clean – she faced me yet again before answering.

"I told you my father was old school."

"When did he marry you off?"

"I was fifteen. Just got my period the year before and he thought it a good time to have me married. He died when I was 17 without seeing me ever again since we moved out to that dirt town you rescued me from."

"Fifteen." I whispered, letting that information process. "And he was…"

"34 at the time of our marriage."

"That is just insane."

She smiled and cocked her head to the side a little – something I found to mean that she was feeling playful – before she hummed. "I didn't know you had the capability to understand what's crazy and what's not."

"Of course I do." I scoffed. "Tenten you've been around me long enough to know that I am unlike other robots. I have the capability to decipher wrong from right."

"And yet you assisted in killing a town full of people who had done nothing to you nor JNA."

"I was following orders."

"And you clearly have the ability to disobey them too." She chimed as she motioned to herself. "I mean…I'm still alive, aren't I. Not only that, you also demolished a robot companion – "

"He was no companion of mine. Piece of junk."

"…You completely demolished another robot – happy – all for the sake of protecting me…and we're currently on the run form the feds."

"What are you getting at?" I questioned.

She looked at me then, big eyes glassing over in thought before she turned and continued to walk on, knowing that I would follow close behind. She put her hands behind her back, intertwined her fingers – not with mine – then swung them up and back against her rear before she finally sighed. "I know me asking you this is redundant by now but…why?"

"Why what?"

"Why did you save me?" She stopped then and turned to me. "Why did you choose to disobey orders, something you clearly could have done for everyone else but didn't, and save me not once but twice? What did I do to you? Do you know me from somewhere?"

"Yesterday was the first time I've ever seen you that I am aware of."

"Then why did you save me?"

This time I was the one who was just going to stare. Of course I still didn't know why I helped her. I hadn't thought about it since she first asked. All I had been thinking about was trying to find some way for us to escape…for us to live peacefully.

I shrugged for her answer finally, and she pouted before turning around. She wasn't angry for long though. I found that it took a lot to truly grind her gears, and the moment we overcame a hill that looked down upon a town at the foot of it, she probably forgot all about my lack of answers to her questions.

…So why was it still bothering me? Surely, I had no reason to be bothered about it – I wasn't even sure if that was an emotion I was able to carry – and yet I was. But why? Why did I save her?

"Maybe I found you to be important." I whispered, hoping that she wouldn't hear. But the graceful turn and easily spreading smile on her face was enough to prove that my hopes were thoroughly crashed.

"Me?" She asked with a laugh that tainted the air around me. "You found me important? You didn't even know me?"

"…You don't have to know someone or something to think that it is important." I answered before shrugging again. "Any way's that's about the only answer I can give you, and even then it is still a "maybe" situation itself."

"Maybe is better than I don't know." She hummed before a wide smile spread across her face and she started running ahead of me, downhill. "I see a town." She called back. "I told you so!"

"That was happenstance." I answered as I followed behind her in a calmer pace. "And slow down. We still have to think of a strategy before we get in there."

"Maybe they won't know you like the other town?" She started, being the ever so optimistic one. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

"This town is bigger than the one we just left from." I sighed. "The amount of people in poverty may be higher and so the thought of a reward would be more enticing to them."

"Then just put on your disguise again." She complained as she came to a stop. "Honestly, why did you take it off in the first place?"

"It's getting dark. The fabric is too thin to hide the glow. I would have needed something new anyways."

She stared after me for a moment, seeming to acknowledge what it was I had said before she went to her bag and started digging, "I think I have a hat in here somewhere. If you pull it down over the mark until we can get you something else."

"Do you think that'll be it?"

"It should." She smiled as she handed me the hat. "If you keep on the shades and I guide you around people will just think that you're blind again."

"What does that make you then?" I asked, mostly out of curiosity than anything else.

"Your caretaker…or maybe a sister. How old are you anyways…like design wise not actual years?"

I sighed. As always, she was…hyper with her questions. Always spewing them out one after the other, knowing that I would be able to remember and answer them all. Still, what got me the most, surprisingly, was the fact that she saw me as a brother. It hurt – I think – a little more than I would have liked it to but I still answered her despite my dislike towards her answer to my own questions.

"I was designed to look 25." I answered. "It has been 10 years since I was created though but only 3 since I was able to go on these expeditions."

"Why now?" She pressed as she stepped over a particularly big rock.

"Probably because of H1-0N4T-04H and her escape. 4 years ago she escaped and everyone was brought back and reinstalled with some new updates to prevent something like that happening again only 6 months after."

"And the update was that mark?" She started as she reached forward, brushing her fingers across the green glowing scar. "Will it ever go away?"

"Probably not. Not unless I die that is."

"I don't want that."

"Why? Because I have to protect you?"

"No…well that too, but it would make me sad if you died."

I looked at her for a moment more as I watched her drop her hand and head slowly, refusing to look me in the eyes and answer my unasked question. Something that simple from her though, made me so much more…eager (?) to know her answer. I thought to press her but I didn't know how so I kind of just stood there waiting until…

"I think you've become something of importance to me too." She answered after some time. She then looked up a little, keeping her eyes glued to the ground before turning her tongue around in her mouth as if she was contemplating whether or not she liked her own answer before finally looking up at me and smiling. "Kind of like you find me, right?"

It took me some time to process her answer, or rather, stop replaying it in my mind, but once I was sure that the time that had passed between us was too long I blinked and started walking ahead. "Then I guess we should be careful…the both of us."

"Yes!" She smiled as she hoked her arms with mine and we walked through the brush towards the curve of the path into the upcoming town.

"Reckless"
without thinking or caring about
the consequences of
an action

I have lived for a significantly shorter amount of time than the girl prancing around, towing me along. But still, I can say, without a doubt, I have seen so much more than she has. Having been stashed away in a tattered house with her abusive husband for 7 plus years it was safe to say the girl had barely seen or been anywhere, let alone met many people. So maybe that's why she seemed the least bit phased by the smiling woman selling her some apples by the street. As for myself, I found that I didn't trust a smile with that many teeth showing. Even she didn't smile that brightly when she was talking about something she found interesting and yet this woman, selling apples in her patch-work dress and tattered rag and shoes, smiled as if the money she could possibly get from this wouldn't be of great help to her. It bothered me, so I moved her. I pressured her into moving along every time some poorly dressed or desperately smiling individual came towards us and quickly guided her to the nearest hotel to get a room set for us despite her protest.

"I don't understand your strong phobia of the poor, Neji." She sighed as she flopped – for lack of a better word – on the bed smiling despite the words that left her. "Those people were just trying to make a living. That's all."

"And what are you doing?" I asked as I sat beside her and removed the shades at least. "You do not have much to your name either to be thinking of helping other people out."

"It's food though." She argued as she turned to me. "So there's a legit reason for me buying apples."

"Correction." I retorted. "An apple. You bought one apple and let her keep the change."

She smacked her lips at me before sitting up and moving towards the other side of the bed to look me in the eyes. She looked like she was going to retort – as usual – but instead her eyes went up towards the mark on my head. "It's really bright now that I'm looking at it in this room and all. Maybe we should turn the lights on?"

"It's late though." I sighed as I laid back. "It'll only bother you and bring attention to us if we keep the light on."

"But I'm sure this thing drains you." She started as she stood and approached me catching me in a vulnerable position. She sat beside me and eyed me for a moment before she reached out her hand and caressed the mark gently while her eyes seemed to be focusing on something so much further.

"What are you thinking?"

She looked at me then, blinking back into existence before she finally smiled and fell over on my chest dramatically. "Nothing much." She answered. "Just…wondering why the people who made us, who are supposed to love us unconditionally…could be the same people who hurt us so."

"This doesn't hurt though."

"But it makes you out to be an outcast." She responded as she sat up, allowing me to sit up as well. "You can't even walk around freely anymore. I mean, if bots even have the authority to do that, but if they did you couldn't because of that mark."

"It's not that serious."

"Yes it is!" She yelled, getting more and more emotional as she pushed me down – granted I didn't fight back. "It is serious. This…this thing blocks you. It's a sign of ownership, a sign that no one will be able to-to save you because you…you, I don't know, have this scar right in front of everyone and no one notices it so you get this thought that people really could care less and that scar becomes an insecurity of your and-and…and…"

"Are you okay?" I asked after she finally calmed down – or rather ran out of things to say. "You look like you're more effected than I am."

"Well…that's because…because –"

"Because what, Tenten."

She looked at me then, eyes brimming with tears before she finally fell forward and buried her face into my chest and cried. "Because it hurts. Doesn't it? Knowing that even now, even after you've left them you're still being controlled…monitored even."

Silence was about the only thing that transpired between us after that. Silence and the constant running of thoughts through my mind as I sat there blankly while she cried…but not just for me. I knew something else was behind those tears. After all, I was a robot, one who killed her husband – granted he was a horrible excuse of a human being – and destroyed her home, and I honestly think that I deserve none of this coming from someone who still has the gall to smile even after all that she had been put through.

"Let me see." I sighed as I made her look up again, wiping at the tears that my thumbs could reach before I moved her bangs out of the way, revealing a long, pink scar across her forehead. It took a moment for her to get another reaction out of me besides just blindly staring at it, but when she tried to smile at me again despite the clear damage she felt from such a mark, I couldn't help but feel it…somewhere.

"We're twinsies." She chuckled sadly as I rubbed my thumb across the scar, allowing my thoughts to roam into darker territories as I imagined the damage, the ridicule she must have felt to have begged this man for her own life.

"Neji?" She cooed, breaking my thoughts – and my steady tracing of the pattern of the scar. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing." I answered as I grabbed the hat she had and pulled it back over my scar. I was about to lay down when I saw how disheveled she looked and moved to fix her up as well long before I could stop myself from doing so.

"You really have the freedom of thought, huh?"

"Yes and no." I answered as I finally laid back. "I can think whatever I want but my thoughts get recorded and stored whenever I get back to base."

"Are you planning to go back to base?"

"No." I scoffed. "They'll just kill me."

She looked at me then, eyes going blank before she moved closer and grabbed my shirt almost as if I was going to leave her in the middle of the night. "I wouldn't like that."

"I'm not going anywhere, Tenten."

"Ever?" She asked as she looked up at me with those same brown eyes that first captivated me, except this time, there was no hatred in them. The caring look she gave that dead man – I'm sorry, her husband – was now fixed towards me and at that moment, I felt that I had no choice but to promise her whatever it was she ever wanted.

But, before I could even get to promising her like I wanted, I was hit, immediately by a strong wave of pain, shooting through my whole body and stationing at my head where my mark was, and I don't remember screaming, but I was sure that some sound of pain came from me seeing as Tenten was over me, calling to me – I assume, since I could no longer hear her.

By the time I regained my consciousness, the door to our room was kicked in and we were staring into the beady eyes of a horde of those inferior bots and one very familiar, bespectacled face. "N3-1J61-00!" she exclaimed as she walked into the room. "Finally found you."

"Where are the rest of them…" I managed to ask as I stared on in anger at the group of inferiors staring blankly, emotionlessly at their "target". "Where is the rest of my….my family."

"The others like you have all been left behind. They, like you, have way too much emotions and…connections, if I must to others like them. I was afraid that if they saw you getting demolished they would all revolt, especially since I've spent years almost, instilling the idea of "family" to you guys. It would hurt me so if all of my children just up and left me for their brother."

I scoffed, finally able to sit up a little with a little help from Tenten. "You just don't want them to learn fear."

"Fear?" She laughed as she eyed Tenten who scurried behind me at the sudden eye contact. "Silly. Fear does not exist to your kind. I made sure that emotion wasn't factored in."

"But you didn't stop us from being able to learn something, now did you?" I asked as I pushed Tenten further behind my back. "That didn't cross your mind as something we should be able to do."

To this she seemed bothered. Her usual smile was gone in place of a heavy set scowl and her bubbly atmosphere was replaced by something so vile and dark that I couldn't quite put a name to the emotion that emitted from her being.

Then it was back, the pain that shot through my whole being before circling back to my head where it stayed and grew. I could vaguely hear the sound of Tenten's crying and screaming, but aside from those muffled sounds all I could hear was the sound of my "heart" as this woman wants us to referred to it as, pumping loudly against my chest, growing louder and louder the longer I felt this way.

"See," that woman howled, her usual smile back on her face. "You felt that too didn't you. You felt that pain that's because with that new update that mark is in the part of your motherboard systems that controls the nerves I gave you making it more painful for you."

"Neji?" Tenten interrupted softly in that sad, weeping voice she carried, and I was back to looking at her, eyes alert and heart rate slowing back to a regular pace the moment I felt her hands on me. "Neji are you okay?"

I nodded despite the surge of pain that was still shooting through my body if only to make her feel just a little better about this whole situation. It was weird really, how someone who, before, only made me feel anxious and worried is currently the very thing that was calming me and making me forget about all the pain.

"Is this the girl you risked your life for?" Came that woman's voice again, instantly catching my attention once again. I couldn't see for myself, nor could I feel how I was reacting to her words, but I could easily tell because of her amused reaction, that whatever face I gave her answered her just perfectly.

"She's rather…average. Mommy doesn't really approve." She waved her hand and those waiting inferiors rose their weapons, each and every one of them pointing at her. "Kill her."

"No!" I growled, again before I could think, and launched forward, managing to grab both a lamp and Tenten before covering over her completely, using what little of my energy had left to activate my shield and better protect her while those bastards damn near shot their whole arsenal at us.

"Neji…I –"

I'll get you out of this." I coughed, feeling my energy drain out of me just as the others stopped shooting.

"Really now, N3-1J61-00, how childish of you. I expected more from you. But to protect this…thing…why, I'm quite –"

I threw the lamp, successfully cutting her monologue off when it hit her directly in the mouth. Confused and now lost, the remaining bots by the door rushed towards her as she screamed out in pain, giving me just enough time to take Tenten out the door, but not enough time to hear her give a last minute order.

"Stop them."

With cruel loyalty, I grabbed Tenten and brought her close to my chest just as a rather heavy boot crossed my face and we were both flying out the nearest wall and into the main street where the people who were gathering for the nightlife scattered immediately at the sound of the ruckus. I barely had enough time to compose myself and see if Tenten was okay when another surge of pain ripped through my body and I was falling over her weakly, cringing all over again as my silent cries drowned out the rest of the world around me momentarily.

"You shouldn't have done that, N3-1J61-00." That woman snarled as she jumped down from the hotel knowing that the bots following her would catch her. "I didn't want to get the people here involved at all, but it seems you weren't content with just you and that girl being demolished. Now I have to get rid of everyone else here."

She looked at me then, smiling that disgustingly clean smile towards me before pointing at me and Tenten. "Starting with you two."

And again, despite my pain, I was over her, shielding her to the best of my abilities as the bullets practically charged me. I tucked her further underneath me just as one of my arms completely dislocated from the socket with a particularly, placed bullet, and as if that wasn't enough, she set off the mark again and I was crying out in silent pain yet again while Tenten lay beneath me crying.

"Why do this for a girl who's going to die anyways?" She screamed, managing to get through to me despite the deafening sound of my pounding heart in my ears.

"Neji." I heard her – Tenten – whine.

"Just give up!"

"Neji please."

"Your destruction would have been less painful and public had you just listened."

"Stop this. Please. You're dying?"

"Why are you being this difficult?"

"Why are you doing this?" She whispered as she reached for the loose, tattered cloth that still managed to cover part of my chest. "Why are you risking it all for me?"

"Because I…" I started, as this feeling, one I've never felt before, washed over me. And, at that moment, as I was about to answer her, I had never felt more sure in my life. Not even as one bullet managed to pierce me through the head, nearly clearing out a whole chunk of my motherboard system, did I falter in finally answering her with the one thing I was sure of at that moment.

"Because I l-love y-you."

That was when everything grew quite. My hearing was knocked out, I was sure, and my "sensors" were definitely fried seeing as I was no longer feeling the pain from the mark nor the slight ones coming from the missing limbs – one arm, a whole leg and a leg from the knee down. My sight even started to fade so I couldn't even see the reaction she would have given me. Nor could I hear her crying voice. Not anymore. I couldn't do anything anymore actually. I was even falling forward, no longer being able to hold myself up any longer, it was that sad.

And yet, as sad as it was for myself, the only thing I could think was how sorry I was towards Tenten…Sorry that I got her in this mess…and that I couldn't even get her out.

"Tenten." I heard her voice echo, possibly from my unconscious want to hear her voice, to see her face, once more. Even if it was just from my memories of the horrible times I showed her.

"You saved me…Why?"

"I'll just call you…Neji."

"You can sleep?"

"I thought you were dead…and that I was alone …"

"What are you thinking about?"

I felt myself smile even though I was in no position to do so, then sighed sadly just as her face popped in front of me, blinding me almost with her beauty even when she was crying. I thought it was a sin almost for someone to seem that beautiful to me in the situation we were in but still, the last thought that crossed me upon seeing her just before everything went black was: Ah! I really do love this girl.

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"Reintegrate"
To make whole again;
restore to a perfect state;
to renew

The flash of light that glinted in front of me was shocking, but not as much as the completely new-to-me face that greeted me with slightly bewildered eyes that were immediately replaced with this far-off look instead. His mouth moved but no sound came out, and I guess because of my reaction he understood and started tampering with something just out of my sight before a loud ringing sound hit me just as sharp as the light had.

"Can you hear me now?" He came back with a voice as dead as his eyes looked.

"Yes." I answered. "Where am I? Who are you?"

"Too many questions." He sighed as he moved back to the area beside me. "I'll explain after I diagnose your condition. Tell me your s…I mean your name?" He asked as he came back into view with a clipboard in hand.

"My name?"

"You do remember that right? Well, it wouldn't be surprising if you didn't. When we got to you they already managed to dismantle half of you including part of your head so –"

"Neji." I interrupted, closing my eyes in slight irritation. "My name is Neji. If you wanted my serial number then it's N3-1J61-00."

He looked at me as I spoke with eyes slowly filling to the brim with interest before he leaned in. "She named you?" he asked. "She gave you a name and you responded to it too?"

"She?" I questioned before looking around wildly. "Is she here? Is she alright? Where is she?"

"Who is she?" He asked with a knowing smile – or rather a smirk.

"Tenten!" I near screamed before finally moving after realizing that I had the ability to do so. I reached for one side of the belts despite the guys lazy protests and ripped the straps holding me down but when I tried to get the other side out I noticed something…different.

"Where's my other arm?"

"I haven't attached it back yet." He sighed. "The damage to the right side was too sever so we had to scrap your old limbs and make you new ones. Your other leg though was only partially missing though so making the leg for that part wasn't as hard as the others. But, despite how advanced you are, even you couldn't walk that well on one leg and no arm."

"Where is Tenten?" I asked again. "Is she alright?"

"She's fine."

"Where is she?"

He sighed as he pushed his chair over to the opposite end of the room and pressed some buttons, making an image of an empty hall show. "She's with Hinata. Or rather, H1-0N4T-04H."

"You know her?"

"I helped design her so yeah I know her." He answered as he turned back to me after showing Tenten and H1-0N4T-04H on the screen.

The moment I saw her again I could feel myself calm down and hear my body stop working so hard to fix its self. Granted the presence of H1-0N4T-04H beside her along with another person I've never seen before did upset me but seeing her smiling face – almost – completely unscathed was all I needed to calm down apparently.

"So you were marked as a defect too." That dull man quipped, getting my attention again as he rolled back to me. "Honestly, to me, you two are nothing close to a defect. Having learned to have emotions and feelings you weren't originally programed to have is an amazing feat. However, it's incredibly hard to hide AI that advanced. You would eventually start to feel hatred towards the hold they have on you and come out, destroying everything they tried to hide so I get it…that's why I said I wouldn't go through with the program."

"You've been rambling on about being part of the reason why I was created for some time now but I've never even heard of nor seen you around when we were made. So, who exactly are you?"

"Right…" he started, "…introductions. People do those."

"Who are you?" I asked again, this time with a little more force in my voice.

He looked up at me then, smiling for some reason, then sighed as he stood and moved to unstrap the other half of my body, successfully throwing me off balance as I fell forward. "My name is Nara Shikamaru. I was the one who designed and created the AI system that you and Hinata run on", He sighed as he helped me to a chair where he began strapping me back up before he continued.

"But, since I refused to go through with actually making you guys JNA fired me and any member of my staff that was loyal to me, stole my data, then hired some wacko with glasses and a bad perm to take my place, and, just as I predicted, some of the bots made on AI started going "haywire" and Hinata was the first of them. Except, haywire, for them was bots "evolving" in a since. So, far, you and Hinata were the only ones who lived after that incident. Her because they never saw it coming, and you because –"

"You saved us."

He nodded then stood back, eyeing his work before continuing. "Unfortunately for us, and you, the damage that JNA freak had inflicted on you was almost enough to permanently destroy your system all together. We almost couldn't salvage you. You know, since your mother board was almost completely fried and your core system was gone we were sure that you would just be another scrap pile, but that girl –"

"Tenten."

"…Tenten…she insisted that we fix you. Like, while everyone was fighting the older modeled bots, she was crying and holding what was left of you and begging us to save you rather than herself. If it wasn't for that we would have just left you to your own devices."

"Why are you helping me anyways?"

"I want to stop JNA." He answered simply before he started pushing me out of the room, down a hall with dim lights and silver, metal walls. "Unbeknownst to them, not everyone in the world is stupid enough to believe that JNA's bots were made only to serve. In fact, some started distrusting JNA the moment they received their praise for their military bots success in recent wars. Which is why a lot of people, myself included, wouldn't see it past JNA to be the ones who were destroying old villages and small towns."

"But how would you know it was JNA?" I asked. "As far as they're concerned they killed anyone who could possibly know about the invasions."

"Like I said, not everyone is stupid enough to fully trust JNA."

I cocked my head. "You have witnesses?"

"About three. They were daughters or sons of parents killed. One of them is with Tenten and Hinata in that room I showed you. He was the reason Hinata "went haywire" and was hunted by JNA. And no, he didn't do anything to her. He doesn't have the knowledge capacity – no offense to him – to even begin to understand how complex a bot Hinata is."

"So what happened?"

"She developed feelings for him." He breathed out a small chuckle before continuing as expected. "Sound familiar."

"It seems like it's rather easy for my kind to develop such a feeling."

"That's because I designed you that way. It was a hidden code in the program. One that was so embedded it would be impossible to find or get rid of. So I expect that She-witch with the glasses hadn't exactly found the code yet. Otherwise you would have never gone off with one of the victims instead of killing her off like the others."

He stopped me by a door before walking over to the front of the chair and bending down to get a good look at me as a sigh escaped him warily. "I'm telling you all of this because I want you to help by the way. I feel like I've said it before but I think I need to repeat myself."

"What if I refuse?"

"We'll still fix you up." He sighed as he stood and started to input a code into the keypad at the door. "But we won't be able to guarantee yours and that girl's safety. You may be in the clear since that woman thought she killed you off, but the girl isn't."

The door opened. Voices, unfamiliar and familiar, sounded, getting my nerves wired as he moved back to the other side of the chair and started pushing me into the area.

"So it's up to you." He stated just as the people sitting in the area turned to see who was entering.

I recognized Hinata almost immediately – her pale eyes and skin was an indicator of my kind – but the raw emotion that filtered out of her was something I was unprepared for, just as I wasn't prepared for the force that slammed against me, nearly knocking the chair back.

"You're alive!" The girl – she – cried as she nuzzled her face into the crook of my neck. "You're actually alive."

"Did you think I would die that easily, Tenten." I sighed. At that moment, I wanted nothing more but to wrap my arms around her, but I currently only had one useful arm and it wasn't even completely fixed itself to begin with.

"How are you feeling?" She asked as she looked up with tears draining from her eyes. "God, you look horrible."

I couldn't help but smile at her comment before pulling her in to the best of my abilities with my one "good" arm, and felt her calm in my embrace. Her heart rate dropped, her tears stopped, and her skin was gaining the color that it once held, back. She was becoming herself again.

"Are you okay?" She asked, to which I nodded and looked her over.

She, surprisingly, was just fine. Save for a few scratches here and there from our first encounter, she looked unscathed from the bout before. Her eyes still had that glow that attracted me the first time too and for once, I was glad that it was finally projected towards me with content rather than annoyance or hatred.

"You don't look hurt at all."

"She was protected." Hinata began. Good thing too, I was starting to believe that she wasn't going to talk when I was around. "You did good. Not a scratch on her."

"We also managed to get in there and end that whole fiasco before they started opening fire on the townspeople." Shikamaru added. "So you don't have to worry about them either."

Tenten smiled upon hearing that before going back to stroking what was left of my hair. To see the smile on her face and the twinkle in her eye even after seeing me in such a condition, was the most bliss I felt since I got here. To me, it showed that she cared for me. Regardless of the heap pile that I have become, she still liked me.

Not only that, but she seemed happy. Before I came in there was a smile on her face as she talked to Hinata. She showed no signs of being in distress or discomfort either. She was just happy. Almost as if she was enjoying herself here. Almost as if…she belonged here.

"You said you're trying to stop JNA?" I asked, getting the room to grown quiet.

There had been two new presences since we entered the room, a blond that went to Hinata, immediately making her smile from ear to ear, and a black haired boy who followed the blond who seemed surprised that I could speak. Behind me, I heard Shikamaru shift his stance.

"That's what I would like." Shikamaru sighed. "We all do."

"And you can promise to keep her safe from them?" I asked, not specifying because I was sure everyone knew who I was referring to.

"Scouts honor." The blond answered. "We'll protect here with everything we got if needed."

Shikamaru stepped inside then, nodding his agreement as the black-haired boy stared on in interest. "It'll be like she's part of the family. There's more people here then you would know. They'll make her feel at home."

I nodded then looked at Tenten. The whole time she was moving about, trying to follow the voice of whoever was speaking with her whole head. When she finally looked back at me, her eyes seemed to process all of the information before softening a little and she went back to stroking my hair.

"I go where you go." She cooed.

"Okay." I answered back before looking up at Shikamaru with a new kind of determination. "I'm in."

End

*I'm from the south (in the U.S.) and I don't know if people up north even have these things in their grass or if they do what they might call them but we call them sticker bugs. They are not bugs but are small spikey plant things I guess that stick to people's clothes and skin if they were fresh enough. I hate them and they hurt but they are not hard to take off if there are not many of them.