Chapter 2: A Walk In The Park

A full day passed without any more 'interrogations' against Sasori. He lay in the plain hospital bed resting and slowly mending his broken body.

I'm sure that I'm not the only one who has been bored shitless in a hospital bed before. Doesn't help that I'm thirsty too.

He looked around, tilting his head forward eyeing the room from his bed. It pained him still to do that action, but he felt like he was dehydrating. He found a jug of water on a table close to the window. There was only one problem... getting to it.

I can't rely on other people to come running to my aid. No one know's me here. I should've asked that girl that was here yesterday.

His mind drifted to the image of Amelia Evans in the chair opposite his bed. Shaking his head, he began to move, hissing in pain as he did so. Sitting up, the pain got worse as his cracked back was supporting his broken shoulders and head. "God damn." he grumbled.

He tried to stand up, succeeding for a brief second before collapsing to his knees.

"Gaah!"

Letting out a cry of pain, he slumped onto the floor. A few seconds later a woman, who he presumed was another Pandora came through the door.

"Are you alright? What are you trying to do!?" she exclaimed.

Sasori just turned to face her, not saying anything. Just staring. "I... I was thirsty." He looked down awkwardly. Not knowing what else to say. The Pandora in front of him held out a hand, which he promptly grabbed and she hoisted him up onto the bed leading him to hiss oncemore.

"Fuck, I thought I'd have healed by now." he groaned.

"How the hell did you think you would have healed by now?" He looked up again, taking more of the physical features of her face in. She was tall, young and had long red hair with bangs either side.

Damn, are all the girls here pretty or something? Sasori proceeded to push the thought out of his brain.

Sasori finally realized that she had asked him a question, "Well, for starters I heal faster than regular humans. I have advanced tissue regeneration."

The redhead stood there working out how he had such a thing. "So you're not human then."

"Not exactly."

"Then what are you?" she asked, leaning over him with her hands on her knees. Subsequentially pushing her breasts up. This had not gone unnoticed and Sasori cheeks began to turn a light red.

"I'm Sekirei #109, Sasori. And since I've just introduced myself to you. Care to tell me who you are?"

She stood up straight again, letting her chest go to a less provocative position. "I'm a third year here at West Genetics. Arnett McMillan."

"Arnett..." he said softly. She looked interestingly at him, wondering what caused him to say her name in such a way. "Would you mind doing me a favour?"

"Uh, sure. I guess."

"Can you please pass me a glass of water. My throat is killing me." he smiled pleasantly.

"Oh, yeah." she replied, grabbing a cup.

X-X-X-X

"Did you hear about the guy falling into the courtyard?"

Kazuya and Satellizer were sitting in the canteen eating lunch. It's all they had been hearing all day. Repeated rumors about the mystery man slamming into the concrete in the center of the campus.

"Yeah, I heard he jumped from a plane without a parachute!"

Kazuya rolled his eyes. What kind of moron would jump out of a plane without a parachute. Or at least checking for one! He turned to notice Satella wasn't really eating her food like usual. Normally she'd wolf down burgers from Burger Queen.

"Stella-senpai? What's wrong?"

She looked up, realizing she had been daydreaming a little bit. "N-nothing! Just wondering what this guy's purpose is here." I can't believe one singular person can reinforce us. We're some of the best Pandora's the world has to offer.

"Yeah, it is a little odd. I heard rumors coming here that he's some sort of lab creation."

Satellizer looked at him in disbelief. "You know, technically we're all lab creations. We all have stigmata implanted within us. Even you have a body made from it partially."

He grabbed her hand that was on the table causing her to blush. "Hey, I said I heard rumors. I never said I believed them." She looked down and smiled after his reply. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry Kazuya." She continued to eat her lunch.

The whole school is talking about him, it won't exactly quiet down until he reveals himself either. But then it'll cause even more of a stir. She sighed in her mind. Things are never normal around here.

The school bell rung, catching them both off guard. "I guess it's back to classes we go." Kazuya stated unenthusiastically. All Satella did was nod in reply. Kazuya contemplated her sullen replies at lunchtime; It's not everyday I get to have lunch with Stella-Senpai in the cafeteria. But today it seemed different. She seemed more out of it.

X-X-X-X-X

Amelia Evans was no longer a 'soft' person so to speak after the events of the 11th Nova Clash in Alaska. Her memory still had clear visions of Chiffon Fairchild sacrificing herself for her fellow Pandora, researchers and even for Amelia. It made her feel guilty being at West Genetics; the fact that she had turned into a NOVA of her own free will using the Mark IV drug, taking Chiffon away from West Genetics and lastly, killing so many Pandora's on the field.

Although the last memory was not by option, it was just the unfortunate way the NOVA had taken over the 'Maria' Clones. There was another mood to these memories, and that was anger. She never found out what Dr. Oohara was trying to do with the 'Maria Lancelot' Clones.

Stupid woman. It's almost messing with fate. There's saving the human race, then being desperate. At the current moment in time, human's are certainly not desperate.

Following her thoughts, she contemplated what other kind of experiments were going on behind her back without the Pandora knowing. Afterall, if one woman can do it, she certainly wouldn't be the only one.

Despite her guilt and anger issues caused by the memories, her brain kept focusing on Sasori from time to time. She was walking to the hospital to see him, although she might let the 'interrogation' go a bit this time.

Walking through the double doors to the building, she gained glances from around the room. Despite being a growing presence in the Chevalier, Amelia had still never been accepted as a Pandora. Others still looked down on her. She knew there were the few that didn't like Elizabeth Mably. But it still didn't make her feel better. Not being accepted somewhere is one of the hardest environmental pressures to a person's life, and Amelia was not about to change her attitude just to 'fit in'.

X-X-X-X-X

Sasori continued to lie in his bed. Suffering from boredom more than his injuries he decided to grab a magazine from his bedside table that Amelia had been reading whilst waiting for him to return to consciousness.

He took a look at the front cover, his left eyebrow raising in the process. "Baby makes problems for family." Reading the main story on the front page, the only thought that ran through his mind;

What utter bullshit.

A knock at the door interrupted him. #109 looked up to see non other than his interrogator at the door.

"And to what do I owe the pleasure?" he said coyly.

Amelia chuckled at his way of saying hello. "I'm merely here to see how you're doing."

"... and to ask me some more questions I bet."

Sasori couldn't help but smile. It was actually nice to have someone to talk to. He had no friends or family here so he was alone the majority of the time.

This time Amelia decided to sit on his right side on the bed. She let off a smile which Sasori had never seen before. Around him she had never shown any hint of a happy facial expression. It had always been 'deadly serious'.

"So. How are you feeling?" Amelia never was one for small talk. Straight to the point.

"Still dealing with a few cracks in the bones but other than that I feel fine. Compared to some this is a walk in the park."

"A few cracks? They were broken not a day ago."

Sasori chuckled, "I have regenerative tissue. It heals quicker than humans without the need to operate."

"So you're invincible, to a certain point of view?"

"I wish. I have my own weaknesses just like everybody else." His smile turned into a depressed looking face.

My only weakness is love itself.

He glumly reminded himself of his situation. It was the one thing all Sekirei wanted than to fight. To find their Ashikabi, and find love. It sounded very corny in his mind but it was true. He had a friend once who stated Sekirei's were made to love, not fight. He laughed out loud at his thoughts catching Amelia's attention and confused face.

"Something funny?"

"Ah. Just memories. Sorry."

"Nothing to apologize for. Sometimes memories can be good." Her mind warped to Gina Papleton and Rattle, her fellow E-Pandora's... now unfortunately deceased because of the Mark IV drug.

He looked up at her from his hands, watching her face. She seemed in a trance herself now. "Memories are one of the best things in this world." Amelia turned to look at him; as if to debate his statement with a confused face.

"It's one of the many things that make us human." he continued.

Amelia had never thought of memories, good or bad, as a valuable thing. More as a curse for her lack of sleepless nights.

"But you're not human." she butted in, killing the atmosphere.

"The fact that I'm 99% genetically the same, I still qualify as human. Just not native to Earth. Hell even I wish I knew where I came from."

"You don't?" she asked gently. Despite her lack of 'softness' in the personality department, Amelia knew when she would be touching upon a subject of delicacy.

"No. We were found in a ship by the company you know as Mid-Bio Informatics."

"We?"

Sasori sighed, now he was going to have to tell her everything to get her to stop asking questions. "I said I was Sekirei #109 when I met you, correct?"

Amelia just nodded, giving out a "mhmm".

"That implied there were #108 before me. The head of MBI, Hiroto Minaka was going to create a tournament, where we all fought for our respective Ashikabi's to the death. But since the NOVA's first incursion in 2012, he didn't go through with it." He paused slowly, everytime he mentioned the word 'ashikabi' his mind warped to the fact he hadn't got one yet. "In one way, the NOVA's are the best thing that ever happened to the remaining Sekirei."

The ashen haired girl found that funny. That one's best thing, was another's worst. "There are many people on this planet who would not agree with you... although, in some ways I agree with you. The NOVAs are what allowed me to become a Pandora in the first place."

"You weren't always a Pandora? You weren't born with stigmata implanted?"

She shook her head solemly, "I wish I had been. But the E-Pandora project helped me become one."

He smiled at her gently, "And how to you feel about your wish coming true?"

"Excuse me?"

"Well, you're a Pandora now aren't you? You can fight for your people, the one's you care about most."

An image of her little brother crossed her eyes for a brief second. "Yeah. You're right... Again." she smiled again. She stood up, "I should get going, get some rest. When you're up and about tomorrow there'll be even more time for you to talk to others. Not to mention the stares you'll be getting from the students." A grin appeared on her face before she stepped out the door with a faint, "See you around."

Truthfully, Sasori wished she hadn't gone. But in a way, the best rest was sleep. He was uncomfortable when Amelia sat beside him but felt comfortable at the same time. Again, he chuckled off the contradiction his mind created but couldn't help but notice he got warmer around her.

I wonder if I'm reacting to her... He shook his head on the pillow. She's only one of two girls I've even met. I can't narrow it down just yet.

He tried to gain some more sleep to make the day pass quicker, finding it becoming increasingly more difficult when his mind warped to an image of Amelia.

I hate my brain sometimes...

A/N: Hooray! The scene breaks worked this time!

Again I appreciate the reviews and the time you guys take to make one. It helps keep the motivation up for writing this piece which in my mind is going well so far.

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