Disclaimers apply. I don't own Xiu Mei, Nero, or Pike, or H.I.V.E.

This is called a pre-chapter XD

As promised,


Kobayashi and Nero.


The tenderness befitting any mother surprised the headmaster, watching the Kobayashi boy as he shut ANIMA down.

The progress Kazuno had had the past two years stunned the ruling council. The work of a genius, something no scientist in G.L.O.V.E. nor anywhere else in the known world could emulate, and Nero felt pride well up in him that it was his students who had achieved so much in so little time.

The headmaster had congratulated Rhinnes on their success earlier on, but Tyler had declined gratification. "It was all Kazuno, sir. What I did, well, you could find a dozen other people around the world who could do it better than me if you looked hard enough. But Kazu..."

Maximilian Nero entered the room just as Kazuno threw a blanket over the silver-colored body. "Your work..." He began. Kazuno jumped visibly at his voice, facing the headmaster with the oddest mixture of awe and something else Nero couldn't identify. His eyes calm, Kazuno waited for Nero to finish his statement.

"You treat the machine like a child. Any reason for this?" Nero asked, approaching the student.

Kazuno fixed the tie to his long hair before answering. "It gives the artificial mind room to grow. It can't simply gather data; that would only make it like any other machine. It has to think." He replied.

His voice had broken, Nero noticed. He remembered when the Kobayashi boy was younger; so much a child that his mind startled everyone. Now, he sounded much more matured, and looked as such.

"Headmaster...

"Do you know what happened to Madame Saturn? I haven't seen her since we first booted up ANIMA." Kazuno was genuinely concerned, his brow knit with worry.

Nero said nothing.

"Then she's dead." Kazuno said.

The Asian boy looked as though he had long accepted this fact when Nero's eyes rested on his face. He held no sadness or anger in his features; Kazuno's expression was tired.

"She hasn't died yet." Nero said, sighing. "But she will, soon. It's only a matter of time. She knew it. I knew it."

"Well... I wish she could have at least said goodbye." Kazuno said.

Kazuno walked past Nero with a small bow of his head.


Back in room 76, Kazuno was lying once more in his bed, unmoving.

He was allowing his newest discovery to sink in, wondering if he should cry, or keep a strong face. She couldn't be dead yet, but... How could he know?

"Kazu, you in here?"

Tyler found the Asian on the bed. Kazuno remained motionless, but his eyes met Tyler's. The Aussie jumped over a bunch of packed luggage and sat at the foot of the bed.

"You excited? We're finally seeing the outside world, after almost four years. I thought you'd be wrapped."

Kazuno breathed a sigh in response.

"Well don't get all mouthy." Tyler said dryly, stretching out leisurely beside the other. He rested his chin on one hand, facing Kazuno with a pointed look. "You're worried about something. Mind telling me what it is or do I have to force it out of you?"

"Sounds attractive." Kazuno murmured, chuckling.

"Well you know me." Tyler slung an arm around the Asian, Kazuno turning to the side to get into a more comfortable position.

The two lay there warmly, taking the time to rest. Their classes had been suspended, as did the classes of all those in the Omega Black stream. All they had to do was wait for the order, and they'd be shipped out on the next chopper.

"Madame Saturn." Kazuno said suddenly, breaking the silence they'd been laying through.

"What about her?" Tyler asked, feeling Kazuno tense in his arms. "She's... dying. Maybe dead already. She was supposed to help me with—she was going with us to—I thought..."

The tears had begun flowing before he even realized. Tyler held him closer, comforting Kazuno to extents only he could tap, the ones only he had the right to.

"Come on. She didn't want you to waste your time sulking. Think about it; she didn't need to see you succeed because she was already completely certain you would. She knew, Kazu. She always knew that sort of thing."

Kazuno cried it out for a good twenty minutes before either of them said anything again.

Tyler looked at the clock on the table before packing that in as well.

"Let's get some sleep." He said. Kazuno nodded from his position in the bed. Tyler joined him, almost knowing what would happen in a few hours more....


They boarded the helicopter, all of them, with implacable anticipation.

Kazuno sat beside Tyler, strapping in before finding the Aussie's hand with his own. They smiled at each other, Kazuno barely catching the withering look on Xiu Mei's face from the seat on his other side when they did.

"You two." She muttered, shaking her head. Kazuno ignored the reaction, and Xiu Mei looked even more let down.

"Hey, you're Kobayashi, right?" Said someone from across him. The girl, whose eyes were trained on the window, spoke with perfect accent to Kazuno without making eye contact.

"Kazuno. Yeah. You are?"

"My name is Mary Gulo. I see you around the lab sometimes, but I just drop by. Bio department." She introduced, her eyes finally resting on the Asian. They shook hands with a little difficulty, restrained by the already affixed seatbelts.

"Good to meet you. I work on-"

"I know." She interrupted. "I heard about the AI project. I think that's pretty cool."

"Well it's actually being kept under wraps." Tyler said. Mary grinned at him. "Yeah, well, so is our project." She said conspiratorially.

"What is it?" Kazuno asked with some interest. The boy beside Gulo elbowed the girl, but she just shrugged it off. "Cloning. Hah." She whispered, just as the hatch opened, and Dr. Nero entered the helicopter.

Mary gave them a wink before returning to the window, her expression suddenly turning back to placid, as though she had never been the girl who'd just revealed to them an enormous H.I.V.E. secret a moment ago.

The helicopter took off, and Kazuno shifted in his seat. Nero was sitting near the front, talking to the pilot. Kazuno just watched him, wondering.

He remembered the first time he saw the headmaster. Respect came with fear, as was the typical reaction towards the enigmatic man. Then the kindness he was shown made Kazuno look up to him like.... like a father to H.I.V.E.

And now, watching as they lifted off, flying farther and farther away from H.I.V.E. and all that Kazuno had gone through, trapped in that school... He saw Maximilian Nero for the first time.

The excitement, he read in the older man's eyes. The placid expression hid the pride he had for his students, the concern for their safety. Nero was, for all intents and purposes, human, and something Kazuno realized he could understand.

The headmaster had been leading him by a string, and without Kazuno realizing it, Nero had been the reason he'd gone on and developed his mind so vastly, so well.

Now that he realized it, Kazuno felt what he should have known he was feeling a long time ago:

An immutable love for Maximilian Nero.


SHORTCHAPTERISSHORT

Ah yeah XD Well, the next part is supposed to be the sort-of-climax for this arc of the story. We'll get there eventually.

THANK YOU to the readers who stuck through this 8D

Reviews are what keep me writing.