A/n: Tiny chapter, but it's the final set up for the rest of the story. YAY! Also, I had a few questions: How do you spell Hoshi? Do you use and 'e' at the end or not? I had looked up the name on behindthename(dot)com to get the spelling I use now, but while I was researching the character I noticed a lot use 'Hoshie'. Do you care which spelling is used? The same with Ham Egg. One word or two?

This chapter isn't even a thousand words. That's sad.

Chapter Four

Still sporting a knot on the side of his head, Tenma popped a few pain killers and tried hard to focus on the screen before him. It was only a few days after the Nanite conference and to his annoyance the Minister of Science had assigned him to the team that was currently trying to fix the bugs in the nanites programming and design. Apparently, the President was extremely pleased with the idea and wanted the nanite functioning as soon as possible.

One of the flaws that Tenma would acknowledge about himself was that he was not a team player. To him, being able to 'play nice with others' as Elefun like to put it wasn't a very important trait. That's why had all but begged the Minister of Science to allow him to work by himself. It hadn't worked. And if that wasn't bad enough, Most of the team he had been assigned to seemed completely incompetent, and the one worker who may actually know what he was doing was more annoying than those who didn't.

"Speaking of which," Ham Egg, the competent scientist on the team, continued his tirade that Tenma hadn't been paying any attention to, "Do you know her?"

"Know who," Tenma asked distractedly with disdain evident in his voice, not caring that the question proved he hadn't been listening to a word the other scientist had said. His fingers flew over the control panel as he reviewed the schematics for the nanites, trying to figure out why the microscopic machines tended to over replicate despite the many safety parameters installed.

"That woman who cracked the tablet over your head." There was a smile evident in Ham Egg's voice. Tenma froze and shot the short fat man a dark look.

"You mean Hoshi Elefun?" His eyes narrowed as Ham Egg's face lit up.

"The Valkyrie is related to Elefun? How perfect is that! That will make finding her even easier."

Any hopes of returning to his project vanished as Tenma turned to Ham Egg. "What?" The look on Ham Egg's face caused a strange mixture of foreboding and anger to stir within him, which he tried to quickly excuse. If anything, suspecting the scientist had a crush on his rival should be amusing. Hoshi was about as eloquent when it came to romance as he was, as proven over the few gatherings he had attended and Hoshi had dragged the poor boy who had been caught in her trap. It was especially when the poor sap tried to take Elefun's place as referee between their arguments. He dearly loved crushing their spirit with a few choice sharp words, not because he had anything against them really-it just riled Hoshi up so much it was worth the few punches thrown at him.

"I'm going to ask her out for a date."

There was no way Tenma could excuse the flare of outrage, but that was the last thing on his mind. "Hoshi?" he sneered, "Why would even think about asking her out on a date? Obviously you don't know her."

Instead of being offended (which was secretly Tenma's intention), Ham Egg shrugged his shoulders. "What's to know? She's a nicely shapely woman with curves in all the right places. Sure she's a little on the short side, but I'm kind of tired trying to kiss tall women." Ham Egg paused, almost recognizing the warning signs of Tenma's teeth grinding and his fists clenched. Almost.

"She-" Tenma seethed, "Where to start with her! She's infuriating! She will argue everything down to the tiniest detail! She doesn't trust anyone- human or robot! She tries to keep medical technology as old-fashioned as possible and tries to rationalized with emotions when really it's…" his mouth snapped shut before he could divulge Hoshi's dark secret.

Ham Egg shrugged his shoulders. "So she's a little quirky. That makes her even better."

Tenma grinded his teeth, trying vainly to keep the emotion fueling him unnamed. He couldn't afford to name it, let alone acknowledge it. "If you're so intent on ruining yourself, who am I to stop you? Just don't claim I didn't warn you."

The short squat man smiled slyly as he watched Tenma attempt to work despite obviously being distracted. "Do you know why I'm not heeding your advice?" He asked off handedly. The look Tenma gave him obviously said 'because you are an idiot' but it didn't faze Ham Egg. "You only see the worst in people. I bet you couldn't tell me one positive aspect of Miss Hoshi."

Positive aspect? Tenma scoffed at the idea. Did it really matter? Hoshi was annoying either way. Not to mention foolish and irrational. He supposed some could call her dedicated and passionate. She certainly never took no for an answer- though for the life of him he couldn't understand why some might consider that a good thing. But he had to admit, she was a genius in her own right, and did have a strange capability to care for anyone (himself included if he was honest.)

And Ham Egg was right about one thing, she wasn't exactly ugly. Maybe not beautiful as some might define it, but pretty enough.

He quickly boxed those ideas away and returned to his work without another word.