LI

Bewegung

Opening her eyes Kyou yawned as she noticed the light shining into the room, she really wasn't in the mood to get up yet. "I… want… to… sleep…" She murmured as she rolled over again, keeping her eyes opened she could see that Saeko was doing much better at standing, unlike her.

"Why do you even bother to get up, you don't have to go anywhere?"

She hesitated for a moment. "Well I uh…" She stopped and looked behind her as if searching for someone to back her up but Kyou had already noticed that Dreachon wasn't present in the room. "He isn't here you know?"

"I know that and I am getting up early so I can help the others with the household. Besides I know that he is just downstairs waiting for me, master always waits for me."

Kyou got up at hearing her answer. "You are just stupid, after all those humans have put you through you still go and cling for having a master. Have you forgotten what your previous master did to you or have you become so soft with your new life?"

"How dare you!" Saeko blurted. "My master is nothing like that man before, he is not like him! Master cares about me and keeps me safe! Master loves me!"

Standing up, she eyed at Saeko, to think this girl was so gullible to think that way. How naïve she was, it was almost sickening to her. Sure he had helped them but that did not mean that Kyou was just going to forget about all she had been through, now it was starting become clear that the only person she could really thrust was herself, Saeko and Nana had already been turned by these humans. "Why do you keep calling him master, he doesn't even like that and you know that!?"

"Even with master not liking it being called that, it doesn't change how I feel about him or that he will always be my master for as long as I live. I want to serve him to the best I can, serving him gives me a meaning to my life. I want to be at my master's side for the rest of my life!" Tears ran down her cheeks.

"You're even dumber than I thought you were, even if you are one of my kind, I think they should have just left you there. Our species is never going to survive with a weakling like you, just wait until my hands come back!"

"NNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Saeko lost herself there; shooting out her vectors she catapulted Kyou into the nearest wall. "How dare you say that, after all we went through to save you and your sister this is your way of saying thanks!"

She was becoming so angry and yet she was also starting to feel guilty. "I hate you… I hate you… I HATE YOU… I HATE YOU… I HAAAATTTTEEEE YYYOOOOUUUU!"

Saeko yelled as loud as she could, she couldn't care about it anymore.

"Oh so that is what it takes before you finally fight back, perhaps if you were better back then you could have put up more of a fight, maybe those humans would not have cut you into pieces!" Kyou insulted her, a vicious grin visible on her face. "You are just an idiot and a coward!"

"Why… are… you…this…cruel!? What… have…I… ever… done… wrong… to…you!?"

She scoffed at hearing that, even pinned against the wall by her vectors there was no way that Kyou was going to just give in to this weakling. To think that one of her kind was so weak that she needed a master to serve just in order to have meaning in her life. "What you have done wrong is not listening to your instincts, have you never heard the voice in your head? The voice that warns us that all humans are a threat to us?"

Saeko suddenly released her grip. "You're lying, there is no such voice. You are just making this up…"

Lading on her feet Kyou grinned as she stood up against. "The only one making poor jokes is you with you serving a master gives meaning, you're just pathetic."

Saeko froze on the spot "Is that so?" A sharp rasping voice came from behind Kyou.

"Thank you very much, it is much appreciated." Arakawa mentioned as she received the paper, already from a quick glance she could tell there were plenty of Inns mentioned on it. Saying her farewell she headed back to her office for the time being, now along with all the other notes she had received she could start the process of eliminating them.

Just skimming through them while walking there were already some that she could remove as she had been to those before all of this mess started. Well as long as she could easily and quickly eliminated the addresses the sooner she could go out and find Lucy. Yet it did surprise her how many were present in the area, she would need to be very meticulous about her search if she didn't want to waste her precious time on some wild chase. "I am not going to stick my neck out for you anymore than I strictly have to." She mumbled.

Having no qualm about going through the trouble not to mention the danger of capturing Lucy herself she would just leave that to others, even with her supposed less hostile side there was no way she was going to take any unnecessary risk.

"Well kids this is soon going to be over, you should have taken the offer when it was given to you." She began to think back about them, if she did go through with this their lives would be torn apart. Still the lives of a few students didn't way up to what she could gain. "For your own sake you had best leave her alone, I hope when they come that you will have deserted her." Whispering such things seemed odd to her but in reality she was starting to grow concerned about them, they will still kids so to speak and kids with no clear idea what was going on.

"Excuse me sensei?" She looked across her shoulder only to see a student of the late professor Kakuzawa standing there. "I have this for you; it was in my mother's collection."

Wearily she looked at the book she was handed, it sure was big. "What about it?"

"It has all the Inns listed in Kamakura of the last ten years, would that be good enough you?"

Arakawa smiled. "Yes it will be more than enough, thank you so much for helping me out here. I will be certain to keep it in mind when your grades come in." Seeing the student leave she felt more excited than ever, with such a book then was no doubt in her mind that the Inn she was looking for was likely somewhere between these pages. So close to victory she began to feel sorry again for those kids, perhaps it would be better to let them live their lives.

Shaking her head to clear it of such vain thoughts she opened the door of her office, she had already enough work to do so she needed to keep a clear head. She couldn't worry about the fate of a couple of kids who didn't listen to her warnings.

Her own future was at stake here as well and it was not just her professional career or her desire to be counted as one of the nation's greatest scientists, no her actual life was on the line as well. The chief would kill her the moment she was no longer useful.

Doing her best not to let her behind touch anything Kyou kept weeping, it hurt so badly that she wasn't even sure if she could sit for the next few days. Getting caught red-handed she had been on the receiving end of one serious spanking by Yuka. It wasn't helping that she was also getting pretty desperate to go to the toilet, she shuddered already at the thought of having to sit on her behind. It was going to hurt her a lot more than that she wanted it too.

"O-Onee-chan, are you alright?" Ryou carefully approached her as she sensed the pain her sister was in. "Why did you have to go into a fight with Saeko onee-chan?"

She puffed as she gave her answer. "Because she annoyed me with her whole master thing, she is an idiot, a baka!"

"You shouldn't be mean to her, she has been very kind to us. Also why is she a baka?"

Turning on the spot she looked at Ryou. "Because she is stupid enough to call somebody else master, she has a free life and she wastes it by trying to please somebody else, it is stupid! Really all she wants to be by his side and whatever that jerk tells her to do!"

"B-But if she feels happy about that… shouldn't it then be okay for her… if she is fine with it… to me it sounds wonderful… to have a special person."

Kyou sighed as she heard her sister talk like that. "Are you really going to call him master now too!?"

Ryou let a short smile. "No I won't because I don't know what a master is… I never had a chance to say anything back… they also didn't speak to me at all that often."

Shrugging her shoulders she let out a deep sigh. "You just hopeless sister." After that she got up as now she really needed to use the toilet.

"O-Onee-chan… please stop this fighting with others… I don't want any more trouble… I really like this place and these people… please make up to them." She pleaded as her sister disappeared around the corner. Being left alone she started to wonder why Saeko was a baka because she called somebody her master, was there something that she wasn't aware off.

"…Maybe I should ask Saeko onee-chan what a master is?"

His fingers kept tapping on the controls impatiently. "Out of all the times you could have picked it has to be now. I cannot maintain my surveillance off the Inn without access to this Nexus, you do understand that Dogo?"

"I am fully aware of the possible consequences my lord but the system suffered more damage than anticipated, unless the Nexus is shut down and allowed a reboot there will be unacceptable drops in the efficiency of all systems. As my primary objective is the continuation and integrity of this Nexus I will not allow any breach of protocol."

"That will leave me blind for the most part, how long before the shutdown is in effect? For how long will we need to deal with this blind spot?"

Dogo's answer was swift. "In less than one megacycle my lord. Then the Nexus will be offline for approximately six megacycles. During that period the entire grid cannot be accessed nor can I provide any form of backup."

He pondered about it. "That will leave a considerable hole in the security measures around the Inn, with my armor damaged beyond my ability to repair it I will need to use the data-core with my Rakhan. Have it prepared for launch, I will look for a suitable place to land it."

"Initiating refueling and rearming sequence, launchpad omega is being cleared for launch. I will also upload all relevant data-trax to the ships data-core, that should enable you to remained informed for the time being though any further planning will need to be done by yourself and the others."

"It is nothing compared to the data-cores of this Nexus. Tell me one thing first Dogo, did the emperor have a hand in this? I will not hold it against you if he gave the order."

Dogo gave only a small nod but it told him more than enough, his time had come to an end.

"So that is it then, we are entering the final stage of this conflict. Well I will need to collect then everything that I might require during your absence, to think it is all coming down to this now. Ah it was expected of me anyway to solve this mess on my own. Until the end times then brother." He left Dogo for the time being, there was nothing left to say.

"As you wish my Lord. It has been an interesting experience to serve you. May the emperor and the gods favor you."

Nyu sat down as she brought a tray of some cocoa with her. "Here I think this will help you dear." She smiled as she handed one of the cups to Saeko. "Are you feeling better now?"

Without saying a word she just gave a slight nod, her head still staring down at the floor.

"You don't really want to talk about it do you, was it that painful what she said to you?"

Another slight nod before she took a small gulp from the cocoa.

"You know that you can talk to me about anything?" She got ready to leave the room. "If you want to talk about it I will be in the bathroom, you can come and join me there if you no longer want to be alone in the room." Barely had she made to the door when Saeko pulled on her dress.

"P-Please don't leave me alone… I hate being alone…" She pulled even harder now.

"Then let's take a bath together shall we?" Nyu grabbed her hand as she led her to the bathroom. "You can talk while you refresh yourself, perhaps we can even do something different with your hair." Nyu smiled and it seemed she finally got through to Saeko.

"Is it wrong for me to have a master?"

"Do you think it is, personally I don't really think it is so bad as long as he is good to you. besides why are you asking me this now all of a sudden?"

"B-Because Kyou-chan told me I was an idiot for still sticking to a master."

Now she knew what had been troubling Saeko, it all started to make sense to her now. Hopefully a good bath and a chance to say what was on her heart would help her.

Yuka bit her lip as they cleaned the wound on her knee, she had made a nasty fall on one of the stairs. "If you move it will only hurt more." The nurse warned her.

"I'm sorry, you just surprised me sensei." Yuka answered her as she did her best to keep her knee still. "Guess I should have been a little more careful?"

"It are only a few scratches and some bruises, couple of days and you knee should be fine but until then she should give it some rest. Do you participate in any clubs that do hard physical exercises? If so I would have to advice against it for the rest of the week."

Yuka felt like she was going to blush, there was no club that she was a member off. Ever since Kouta made it clear that he had no intention of joining any club she had done the same, how stupid she was starting to feel over it.

"Would it be alright for me to walk on it?"

"That shouldn't be a problem just don't walk on it for too long and you want to cool it when you get the chance to help deal with the swelling."

Getting up slowly from her chair, Yuka was about to give her thanks when the nurse raised her hand. "I am not done with you yet, there is also a nasty wound on your head, please sit down again."

Reaching for her forehead Yuka could actually feel it, it even hurt to her touch. "Guess I have been a little too anxious to go?" She laughed about it.

The nurse stopped as she reached down for her pocket, picking up her pager she looked at Yuka. "I am sorry but I have to go, seems like a student got caught in a serious accident. I will have one of my assistants treat your wound." Making a bow she quickly left the room.

"Well that is just wonderful." She growled, now she was stuck here until somebody would come and take care of her wound. Gazing at her watched she knew that Kouta's class was likely over by now , she hoped that he was coming to see how she was doing.

It was a welcome thought that made her blush, it made her feel a little silly but then she really wanted him to come see her and take her back home. Time seemed to slow down as she waited for either Kouta or one of the assistants to come over, she was normally pretty patient but as the time went by she started to get pretty bored not to mentioned annoyed.

"That is it, I am going to let Nozomi-chan or Nyu-chan treat that wound." She mumbled but as she walk past it she took a moment to have a better look at it in the mirror. "Well that doesn't even seem to be a bad as she made it sound like."

There was some relief as she heard the door behind her open but the moment she turned around to look it was replaced by despair.

"Well I certainly did not expect to find one of you here." Arakawa smiled as she stood there. Taking a few steps back Yuka looked for a way out or for a chance to get past her, this was not the assistant she had expected to see. "Get away from me!"

"No need to be so hostile. I just want to have a little word with you and then you can leave."

Putting the last pot on the stove Nana was satisfied with her latest attempt at cooking, it had taken her some time but she was happy with the result. Only thing left now was the cleaning up.

"Well that was easier than I had thought." She giggled as she cleaned the last piece, now she was fully done and could afford some time to enjoy herself. Looking up at the ceiling she was surprised by how quiet it was in the house, a bit surprising as four more people were present as well. Scratching the back of her head she started to wonder what they were all up to, Nyu had told her that was going to take a bath along with Saeko but the twins were being suspiciously quiet.

"What are the two of you planning on now?" She asked herself as she left the kitchen and headed towards the stairs, that was until she heard a strange sound coming from the living room. Creeping closer she silently slid the door open to have a little peek inside, what she saw shocked her as she wasn't prepared for this.

Sitting in the middle with her arms crossed Kyou just sat there looking at the TV and doing nothing really besides watching. Nana didn't know what to think of it, she normally never was this quiet when doing anything besides sleeping and even then she made plenty of noise.

Shifting her gaze she caught sight of Ryou as well, much like her sister she too was paying attention it seemed only to the TV for the moment.

"Wow they really are behaving themselves, no wonder I didn't hear them." She whispered to nobody in particular, well if they kept doing what they were doing there was no risk of Kyou getting into more trouble like she usually did. Thinking about it now did seem like the perfect for herself to relax a little, if the twins didn't make any trouble then she would take the time to enjoy herself.

"Time to look for some snacks." She told herself as she tiptoed back into the kitchen, given she had gone through all the effort of making dinner for the rest well then she had certainly deserved a little treat. Right now there was just one thing really on her mind, some tasty taiyaki or perhaps some ice-cream would be just the right thing to satiate her appetite for the moment. Licking her lips at the thought of it she opened the fridge and screamed as a horrible sight unfolded in front of her.

The sound of a faint laughter coming from the living room told her enough.

"What do you want from me? Don't even think I am going to let you kidnap Nyu-chan!" Yuka clenched both her fists, she was not planning on giving up anything without a fight. Seeing that she was visibly upset Arakawa gestured for her to calm down. "Please neither of us is going to be helped by attracting any unwanted attention, I know you and your boyfriend are doing your best to keep those girls hidden and away from others. I have to admit I am impressed that you have managed to have lasted this long." She clapped her hands.

Even with those words Yuka was feeling anything but comfortable at the moment, she had a real uneasy feeling about this. "Just what are you trying to do here?"

Taking a seat Arakawa just smiled. "Not much really, I just wanted a little talk with either of you in the hope that I could convince you to do the right thing. It is for in your own best interest to hand over those girls."

"As if!" Yuka sneered as she kept her distance, every muscle in her body was feeling tense and she knew perfectly why. If this assistant got any dumb ideas about attacking her then she would not hold back. "I know that you people can't be trusted, the moment we hand over those girls we will be killed by you people!"

"Now that is a cruel accusation, I can assure you that as long as you cooperate with us you won't get hurt and there is a good chance the charges arrayed against you might be dropped. That is provided we can all do this nice and quietly."

If they really wanted to play it like that then Yuka had heard enough, with them wanting things quiet it was just like the others had said, they wanted the girls for their own gains.

"You think you are smart don't you?" Letting out a quick smile she waited for the moment.

"Eh?" Arakawa looked at her, not certain on how to reply "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like. You come here with that smirk on your face as if you have already won, well I have news for you. We are not going to give up those girls, not for as long as I draw breath will I let them become experiments for twisted people like you."

Arakawa decided to look the other way, not bothering with that petty insult she had more pressing matters to deal with. This girl was not going to achieve anything with such senseless insults. "Are you done yet, I expected for you to be a bit more grateful. Here I am offering you and your boyfriend a way out and you just throw it back in my face."

"You offered us nothing, besides you have forgotten one little thing." Yuka pointed to behind her and a sudden creeping feeling started to sneak up on Arakawa. Surely this girl was hinting at what she feared she was hinting. "Eh, I am not going to fall for that." She replied with a nervous sounding voice."

"That is likely for the better as you know that friend of us." She point to behind her again. "Is standing right behind you and he doesn't look happy with you."

Her eye twitched a little as she heard that, she had to be kidding. There was no way that that guy was just suddenly behind her, she would have heard the door open. But what if she was right, oh god what if he really was standing behind her and still had that intend on using her skin to deliver a message. Eventually her nerves got the better of her and as she dared to take a peek she noticed there was somebody standing behind her.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! She cried at the top of her lungs as she jumped from her seat and dove behind the nearest large item she could find.

Surprised and dumbstruck by what just happened Kouta look at Yuka for some explanation but before he could get anything out of her she had already grabbed his hand. "Kouta don't ask just run!"

"Yuka. Care to tell me what that was all about, why was that assistant there with you?" He finally got the chance to ask as they stopped just outside of the school. "What went on there?"

"Kouta." Yuka coughed as she regained her breath, already her knee was starting to ache. "She just walked in as I was waiting to have to have my injuries treated."

He stepped forward. "Did she hurt you!?" She had to smile at hearing him ask that.

Shaking her head she explained how she got them, it did seem to help him relax a bit. "Let's go home shall we, I think we had enough excitement for the day."

"I'm sorry Yuka but I have an extra study hour that I have to attend, you go ahead and I will see you there. And please be careful, I don't want to see you get hurt."

It made her blush to hear his concern for her. "I will Kouta and you be careful too." Planting a quick kiss on his cheek she watched him leave. She would have to walk the rest of the distance on her own, looking over her shoulder quickly to make certain that she wasn't followed she took off.

The warm water flowing over her back tickled a little though even this nice sensation wasn't enough to really lift her spirit. "Normally you like to take a bath, guess what she said really got to you did it?" Nyu asked as she noticed it, she did feel better as Saeko started to talk again.

"I'm just not happy with her being here, she harms people I care about and she calls me an idiot. Why is she being so mean to all of us when we just want to help her?"

"I don't know, I guess she still has trouble in getting used to people. Nana-chan told me they treated her really bad in that place, maybe that is why it is hard for her to trust others."

She had given thought to that but then both she and Nana had endured just as much as Kyou had and neither of them felt the need to be that rude to others.

"I just don't like her." She huddled back up, her arms wrapped around her legs as Nyu emptied another bucket of water on her back. "She keeps lying to me and being mean to me, even master does not get any respect from her and he did a lot for them both."

"I know but maybe she doesn't know that?" Grabbing the sponge she was ready to give her a good scrubbing. "For that matter you really seem to think highly of him don't you?"

Saeko turned on the spot nearly getting the sponge pushed in her face. "Well off course, he is my master after all, even if he says that he doesn't want to be called that way he will always be that to me."

Nyu giggled at hearing her answer. "Wonderful isn't it to have somebody special, tell me Saeko-chan are you planning on staying with us when he leaves?"

She didn't hesitated for a moment. "My place is at his side for as long as I live, though I will be sad to leave this family behind. I hope that we can still come to visit you all from time to time, I would also like to spend the summer with you all and go swim in the sea."

"I would like that as well, why don't we make a promise that this summer we will all go to enjoy the sea and the summer festival like a family. Pinky promise."

Confused Saeko gazed at her as she had no idea what Nyu had just said to her. "What's a pinky promise?" Though for some reason she raise her own arm to mimic Nyu. Having their pinks interlocked Nyu explained to her what she was doing. "It's a very special kind of promise, just repeat after me okay?"

Nodding her head slowly she repeated the words that Nyu said to her. Still no idea what she had just said and why Nyu had even picked those words she did feel better having made this pinky promise. Maybe she could do something like this as well with him, that was a nice thought. Looking down at her pinky she was feeling anxious about making such a promise with him. "Ehm, Nyu-san can I make a pinky promise to anybody?"

Nyu bend over. "Of course you can but the promise becomes stronger if you do it with only special people and remember your pinkies really need to interlock with each other."

Halting to catch her breath Arakawa smiled as she wrote down where she was, already she was getting a far clearer idea on where this Inn was supposed to be. It was a shame that the girl had managed to get away from her but she had been able although it was with some considerable difficulty to track the boy. Given the direction he was travelling she could already eliminate another large amount of inns as they were not even close to the route he had taken thus far.

"Don't mind me." She muttered as she kept focusing on the boy in front of her, every time he stopped and this was something he did with annoying frequency she had to avoid his look. Really she would be glad if he could stop doing that, it was really starting to get on her nerves not to mention some people were given he an odd look. Pushing such thought aside she focused again as she noticed that the boy had started to move again. Taking a moment to look at one of the street names she was surprised that they hadn't walked all that far really, surely it couldn't mean that Lucy was hiding well within the city limits.

All this time she had assumed like most others that she would be hiding outside at just at the outskirts of the city, it was much too dangerous to keep a diclonius within the city. It had been the only explanation others had been able to give why there had been no reports of abnormal deaths. She still couldn't believe it and yet when she went over it again all the evidence she had gathered or witnessed so far was all showing the same thing, Lucy and the other diclonius were all hiding well within the city. Somehow able to suppress their instinct they had managed to escape detection by not killing anybody.

It was nothing short of amazing when she started to think about it, she knew that no less than two more were likely with her and if it had been true of what she had heard then it was likely that two more could be hiding with her.

The concept of no less than five diclonius hiding somewhere within city scared her, it was also one that made her cautious, surely it would be unwise to arouse their anger prematurely. If provoked there was no telling how much damage they could cause.