A/N: So, this is a thing...
Anyway, the title of this fic was inspired by the song N.Y. State of Mind by Nas so there's that.
It all started with a faded star. A [birthmark] found on a certain family connected to destiny. In a certain small town, a young boy was found with nothing but a guitar, the clothes on his back, an expensive watch and the name Joshua. Joshua Yuuki is his new name but he never forgot the emptiness he felt. As if he was a void waiting to be filled. Nothing he did managed to fill it and, despite his new family's attempts, he was still empty. Bereft of [purpose] and [identity].
This is the story of a boy living with an [identity] not completely his own and searching for [purpose]. Of a town quiet and small that's going to spark an entirely new problem all over the world.
In a small room, the occupant wakes up, his eyes a calm but bland gray with sharp eyes and slightly tan skin, his brown hair cut short as strands seem to splay on his face. He wore a cross of gold around his neck and a white shirt with boxers. The young man leaned forward, yawning as he stared at the room. Barren aside from a desk, a few posters of his favorite artists and a few dumbbells strewn around in a corner of the room along with foam pads on a few walls and thick curtains due to all the noise complaints they got from his music.
Sighing, the young man gets up from his bed, smacking his lips as he pats at the nightstand beside his bed. "Wh-What time is it?" Finally, he manages to grab what he's looking for and brings it to his face. In his hand was an analog watch with small scratches found on the glass and the metal and even then one can tell that it's expensive from a designer brand. He stares at the hands before scoffing. "Oh right, the time wasn't right since the beginning. Haven't cared enough to fix it either."
Putting it on his right wrist, he pats at the nightstand and comes up with a handful of bracelets and wristbands. First a red string wristband, followed by two rubber wristbands, black and white, before adding a steel bracelet and finishing up with a bead bracelet that had black beads. They clink together as the young man shakes his left wrist as he stumbles to his desk and removes his phone from its charger.
He turns it on and his eyes widen. "Shit."
Meanwhile, downstairs in a small kitchen, a young girl is humming a song she heard her brother blast in his room once. Her brown hair up in a ponytail as she wore an apron over her shirt, glancing at the time and her golden brown eyes widening in realization. "It's that late?"
She looks at the table, breakfast splayed out as she huffed. "Is he still asleep? Jeez."
Sitting down, she claps her hands together and begins to eat. Patting her own back as she compliments her own cooking.
Finally, as the time was nearing and she put on her backpack she started to hear a struggle. Her own mouth curving into a smile as she heard her usually calm and placid brother in a flurry. Though she couldn't help but remember her first meeting with his adoptive older brother.
His blank expression and his mouth in a frown as she hid behind her parents. Her own surprised expression when he gave her a brotherly peck on the forehead that she was unused to at the time. The revelation that that's how siblings act in foreign countries. Not to mention the repeat offense afterward for years to this day. Yet, despite that, the Yuuki Family have only been able to add a bit of a spark to his eyes. None of them have been able to give him what he needs. He has a bit of an [identity] but no [purpose].
That doesn't take away from the fact that Joshua is still a part of the Yuuki family, and if his closet filled with designer brands is anything to go by, he's happy with it.
Still, his laziness is a bit of a problem. Mikan Yuuki leans on the side of the doorway as she waits for her brother. The tumbling got louder as repeated curses were heard in the second floor of the Yuuki household.
Finally, she heard him say, "Mikan!" he yelled, jumping down the last five stairs grabbing ahold of the opening to the kitchen and stumbling in. "Why didn't you wake me up?"
"Because you said you could wake up on time." Mikan responds, putting on her shoes as she stomps down a bit to fix them before proceeding with the other. "Did you stay up late?"
"No." He admitted, shoveling the food down like a man possessed, taking a moment to enjoy his sister's cooking before chugging down the orange juice. "I stayed up early."
"That's still late!" She retorted, glaring at the imaginary back of her brother eating her food. "C'mon, you're in your first year of highschool, be a bit more responsible."
"Nah." Was all he said as he stepped out of the kitchen, revealing a windbreaker that was black on one side and white on the other with red located where the hood is and a bit lower near the chest. He also wore black baggy pants. She stared at him like he was crazy. Barely anything of what he was wearing was up to regulations in his school and he's been scolded for it before, the only thing that is is the white button up that was unbuttoned to reveal a black shirt.
"Don't 'nah' me." She glared at him, her head tilted down at him as he sat down and began to put on his shoes. "You're already a clumsy mess, I don't need you being an irresponsible one too."
He grabbed his bag, standing up to his full height as he smiled softly at his sister before hooking an arm around her shoulder and kissing her on the forehead. "See ya Mikan, good luck at school!"
Mikan simply stared in mild embarrassment as he ran away, waving at her as he left the premise of the Yuuki household.
Joshua Yuuki takes a step into his fate as he steps out of the premise of the Yuuki household, as is usual for those who were born under a certain [star].
Right in front of him is a utility pole at the outer corner of the Yuuki household and on it are a bunch of black marks resembling a hand. Looking at it, Joshua smiles. "One more time, why not."
With that, he stepped forward before jumping up as high as he could, using the wall that marks the Yuuki property to go higher as he reels back his hand before slapping onto the pole with a mighty slap.
He falls, tripping and generally making a fool of himself as Mikan laughs at him but above all the vague hand-shaped markings is one clear hand-shaped mark made out of a black material.
It was almost as if he dipped his hand in ink before marking the utility pole. Or maybe even [black paint].
This cycle repeats, as it has since he was young. A touch and a mental order and a black liquid will begin to follow his finger, or really any part of his body. It was a boring [ability] in his own opinion, his foster father, the mangaka Saibai Yuuki, thought it was wonderful as an artist himself. Yet, it always bothered him that the [paint], as Joshua has referred to it as since he first found out, was always black. It simultaneously acted like ink and paint but seems to vary depending on Joshua's own intentions.
If he's ever helping his father out with inking and lineart the [paint] would become more of an ink whereas if he dragged his finger across a wall it'd take on more paint-like qualities as it was obvious in his usual trek. Every wall, post, and even the ground he walked on had the occasional strange black marking showing a finger, a foot, a hand, or even a leg. At this point-.
"Joshua!"
"Fuck." Was all the young man could say as he leapt up the wall, separating the school property from the road.
"Don't even try it!" The black haired and buxom young lady scolds as she chases after the young man, grabbing him by the leg and stopping him from leaping over the wall leaving him hanging there half in the school property and the other half out in the street. "You're late!"
"I overslept." Was all Joshua had to say on the subject, as the brown-eyed girl's brow twitched. "I was busy Yui."
"Don't lie to me Joshua Yuuki, I've known you for the three months we've been in school." Yui Kotegawa says as she began rubbing the space between her brows as she continued, "And the [single] time I haven't had to stop you for breaking dress code is the first day of school. Besides, I know your working schedule."
This stops the young man as he turns to Yui with a confused face. "How do you know that?"
She reaches into her skirt and reveals her phone. "I got your sister's number when I went to drop off your homework last time you were absent. She tells me anytime you have work and she didn't tell me anything today. Though I don't know what job needs you to miss school days."
"How do you know she's not lying?" Joshua asks as he rests his elbow on the top of the wall while peering down.
"Because she is a responsible and mature young lady unlike her older brother." Yui says while glaring at the young man.
"That's a bit cruel Yui. I thought we were a bit closer than that." Joshua notes as he began swinging the leg on the outside that she was holding on. "Besides, it's just the dress code, I literally break no other rules. Hell, I attend the detentions you assign me so can't you let my tardiness slide this one time please?"
"I cannot." She shot down instantly, "Your…[accidents] are already a blemish on this school's moral integrity." She says, her eyes closed and face blushing at the memory and the feel of the young man's hands on her own body. "And while your clothes do break the dress code, your grades are exceptional, and your attitude is generally praised by teachers and classmates alike," she blushes at the memory of some of the phrases used to describe the young man along with her own complicated feelings, "you are still late." She glares up, aiming for the young man only to find no one before taking a look at her hand after noticing a weird but familiar feeling.
Her hand was slick with black [paint] she grimaces and glares simultaneously while shaking her hand to get rid of the liquid in her hand. "Joshua Yuuki!" She yells to the sky.
"Need some help?" Joshua's head pops up as she blinks. "The gate's closed already, also."
She blinks at that and moves to check and sees he's right. She blushes as she checks her phone, ignoring the streaks of black in her clothing as she checks the time and pales. Soon, she began warring with herself, either accepting Joshua's help or gaining a blemish on her spotless record.
Joshua waits, genuinely worried as she simply raises a hand. "...Please."
Joshua simply smiles before reaching down. "Gotcha, sorry about the [paint]." He adds, as he helps her up.
"It's fine." She mumbles, blushing, while looking away.
Sadly, Joshua slips, taking Yui with him as both of their hearts leap into their throats.
"Shi-!"
"Kya!"
Quickly, Joshua lands first stumbling a bit before extending his arms to catch Yui. Sadly, when he did both of them fell as Joshua was not balanced.
Taking a moment to reorient himself, Joshua turns to Yui, who was blushing up a storm. "You o-." He stops when he flexes his arm and feels something in his grasp. It was soft, pliable and warm like skin, there was even a hard part poking at his palm. Yui's brown gazes into Joshua's gray before both of them look down.
There, reaching under her top and even her bra is Joshua's hand, squeezing as Yui bit her lip to silence the moan bubbling up as Joshua lets go and tries to apologize with his own face flushed. "Ah, sorry, I-um-."
"How shameless!" She yells while swinging with an open hand.
Like a corpse with a red handprint on his cheek, Joshua stumbles into his class, mumbling out, "Here." In english before stumbling onto his desk.
"Seems like the famous 'Yuuki Luck' struck again, who was it this time?" A young man called out from the back of the room, his black hair spiky and pointed back with gray eyes. "A teacher, the nurse, no wait," he narrows his eyes as Joshua stumbles onto his desk, leaning his back on the wall and looking despondent, "Kotegawa, it's gotta be."
"Yes, Kenichi." Joshua mutters with blank eyes that cause flashbacks to junior high in Kenichi's mind, "I could never have guessed."
"Chin up," Kenichi Saruyama says, patting Joshua in the back with a grin, "it'll be like usual, you'll get slapped after apologizing and tomorrow it'll be like nothing happened."
"Oh~, did Joshua's luck act up again?" A voice spoke from beside the two boys, a brunette girl with a slim but curvaceous figure. Her brown eyes are laced with amusement and something else when she looks at Joshua. "And it was Kotegawa~, has she grown any since last we met?"
Joshua's hand twitches as he stares blankly to the sky. He says nothing as he finally rests his head against the window and just says. "Yeah, Risa."
"Oooh~." A different girl spoke up this time, Mio Sawada, Risa Momioka's friend, a girl that was slimmer than Risa but had black hair in twintails with brown eyes. "You usually never admit it. Was it that good of a grab this time?"
"Jealous that won't happen to you?" Kenichi mumbles under his breath as Mio quickly whirls to him.
"I don't wanna hear about that from you." She quickly sniped back as Kenichi smiled.
"I meant the 'good' grab, with how flat you are. Not the grabbing itself." Kenichi explained as Mio blushed in anger and the two reverted to their usual banter.
Risa meanwhile just laughed as she watched the two go at it. She turned to the resident hunk, tall, strong, and handsome. A trio of attributes any girl would be interested in. She and Mio thought so at first during the last months of junior high.
But the more they hung out, the more they realized something. He's [stuck] in between two times and doesn't want to improve. Or more like he doesn't have to.
His [identity] is stuck between when he was first found by the Yuukis and the modern day whereas his [purpose] is too half-assed to really make him improve.
Being with people will help him find his [identity] but a [purpose] is something he has to find for himself. For now, Risa wants to help him.
She can see it. Everyone can. There's something [special] in him that is just waiting to come out. He just has to-.
"Risa?" His voice spoke, smooth and worried as she looked into his eyes. "Ya good? Class is starting."
"Oh." She finally noticed the stares she was getting. Feeling a bit embarrassed she returned to her seat as the class representative called for the beginning of class.
Like usual, class droned on to the students, more so for the lazy Joshua who felt off throughout the entirety of the day.
This was blatantly obvious to the rest of the class and everyone else as the usually placid teen frowned with intensity at the floor.
To everyone, Joshua Yuuki is a very peculiar person.
"Joshua Yuuki!" A loud voice rang out from outside, rough and angry. "Get out here!"
The man was the stereotype of a biker punk, from the pompadour down to the tip of his boots. Surrounding him are a bunch of bikers. What would usually be a terrifying scene for anyone…
The sliding door of Joshua's door was slammed open. "Don't you dare!" Yui yelled as she looked around for the tall foreigner.
Risa, Kenichi, and Mio simply shook their heads. "Too late."
"Damn it!" She yelled for everyone to hear as the students peered out, acting as if they're watching some soap opera.
"How long do you think this one's going to take?" One of them asked.
"Before he beats them or Kotegawa interrupts him?"
"Either or."
"This one seems pissed. So maybe a minute or two."
Joshua stepped out, the guy in front of him getting closer, his face scrunching up as Joshua asks, "So, what do you want?"
"Fuck you mean what do I want?" He asks, shoving his shoulder. "You beat up one of my boys."
There was a beat of silence until Joshua tilted his head in confusion. "Who?"
"Argh! One of my boys! He was wearing what I am!" he yelled, getting in Joshua's face as he scrunched his face.
"Please step back." Joshua asks. "I might catch whatever it is that makes you unfashionable."
This seems to shock the thug as he simply gapes, something that Joshua takes as permission to continue. "'Cause if you're going for the biker style, at least choose either American or Japanese and stick with it. I couldn't recognize him because he's wearing a uniform usually reserved for bosozoku, but now you're wearing leather jackets. Lemme see," he says, walking around him and looking for a brand before scoffing, "at least you've got the punk part down but at least have the decency of robbing large stores if you're going to cheap out. I buy stuff from the nice people you robbed to get this. That's why I beat up your 'boys', 'cause he had no decency."
They froze, their anger boiling over in the silence as he grit his fist. "You…!" He didn't finish as he swung, roaring as the rest of the school watched in anticipation.
All except for one who was trying to stop them.
But while he swung, Joshua took a deep breath.
His arm lashed out, his knuckles colliding with the jaw of the thug as he froze mid-swing. He then fell, his legs weak as he stared at the shaking limbs. "W-What?"
"Boss!" One of them yelled before charging forward along with the others, only to be met with Joshua's fist, a pressure behind his eyes that caused them to hesitate when striking at him. In return, they were knocked down with one punch that was almost gentle. Almost.
"There it is. Joshua's famous [Debilitating Strike], one hit and they're down!" One of the students exclaimed as he leaned forward to see Joshua aim at certain spots in the body to knock them down quickly.
Barely even a minute later, the dozen of punks were numb, unable to move as they tried to struggle. "I won't go any further because your 'boy' didn't hurt the people manning the shop. But if I hear that you or anyone connected to you hurts them." he reaches over, grabbing him by the hair and glaring down at him. "I won't be so kind."
The punk nodded quickly as Joshua simply smiled enigmatically before releasing his hair.
Then he registered the second aura of anger.
"Joshua~." She growled through grit teeth, glaring down at the young man as he refused to look up. "How many times are we going to have this song and dance?"
"Erm." Joshua mumbles, scratching his head.
"Yikes, it seems like he was caught this time." One of the receding students noted.
"Let's get going before she decides to scold all of us."
With that, the event came to a close.
Not for Joshua though.
Sitting on his heels is something Joshua has gotten used to. At first it was painful but like most things, with time, it got better.
Now if only the reason he was used to it wasn't because of the scolding of a pretty woman. Hell, the first few times his mother has been around is usually spent scolding the young boy because she's the one that's called whenever they get in trouble.
Granted, Joshua changed that after the first four times but that doesn't really matter.
"Shit, Yui really doesn't hold back." Joshua grumbles under his breath as he rubs his leg, his headphones in his ears as he listens to music.
The smooth voice of Elvis Presley graces his ears with [Wonder of You], the soft and old feeling of the song giving Joshua chills as he imagines a desolate landscape bereft of humanity or any signs of life with the song being the only thing that's playing. The atmosphere would be perfect if it was a metropolitan area.
Regardless, Joshua stumbles his way into the direction of his home, wishing for holy absolution in the form of a warm bath and bed. He almost missed the sound of something flying over.
Almost.
A light catches Joshua's eye and he looks up, only to see something fall into the atmosphere at incredible speeds. "What the-?"
It seemed to come closer, gliding over the short buildings of Sainan before finally crashing into the forest away from the city.
No one else seemed to have noticed so Joshua was of the mind that he should too.
But something compelled him to.
It spoke from his very soul like it did with anyone else that needed help. It wanted him to help whoever was in the crash.
In the end, Joshua clicks his tongue and slides his phone from his pockets and dials Mikan. "Hey Mikan. I'm going to be home late and call Ms. Mikado. Something might have happened."
Hanging up before she could answer, Joshua began to run towards the location, controlling his breathing as he sped up and finally spotted what he was looking for.
It was a spaceship. It was the only way he could describe it. It was futuristic with two wings and a cockpit.
"Peke? Peke!" A voice spoke from within, causing Joshua to turn to it as he jogged towards it. "Where are you?"
"Hey! Is someone there? Do you need help?" Joshua asked as he tried to wipe away at some of the dirt on the tinted glass of the ship or pod.
"Wait!" She calls out as he pressed his hand against the glass.
A second later, his body jumped, an unfamiliar feeling coursing through his body as crackles of electricity course through his body, locking his muscles as they jerked sporadically and his mouth was clenched shut for all of three seconds, nearly knocking him out as he fell down, the world blurry and unfocused as he coughed, trying to blink away the dark spots in his eyes.
Finally, after a bit of breathing, he could hear the woman, or more like a girl, calling out. "Are you okay? I'm sorry but the crash knocked around some of the parts of my ship and activated one of the self defense systems. I can't turn it off!"
"...Shit." Joshua mumbled, getting up as he forced his muscles to move as they spasmed from time to time as he managed to ask, "Are there any more? Self-defense systems I mean."
"No," the girl said before the silhouette behind the tinted glass seemed to scratch at her head, "I built this ship from an escape pod and random pieces strewn about and the self-defense system came with the original pod."
At this, Joshua spoke up, "So, you made something that is supposed to keep the person inside alive into something that flies? With just random things?"
"Yes?" She admits, tilting her head to the side. "It's what I usually do when I'm bored."
"Who-What kind of person has the time and patience to do that?" Joshua asks, shaking his head in disbelief.
"Me." She said, raising her hand as if it was the simplest thing. "I'm Lala Satalin Deviluke, I come from the planet Deviluke a few million light years away."
Joshua just stared at the silhouette like she was insane. "Is that accurate?"
"Probably not." She admits with a shrug. "I might be off by a few light years but I was running away so I didn't have the time to confirm my accuracy."
Joshua simply looked to the sky, sighing in relief when he found nothing. "Ok, well, let's find a way to get you out there without making me or you crispier."
"I could handle it, but I'm stuck right now." Lala admits to Joshua who began circling the space ship, inspecting it with his, admittedly, lacking knowledge of space ships. "So, what's your name?"
"Hm?" Joshua looked up. "Joshua Yuuki, I…don't really have a way to introduce myself aside from that. Can't you do something from the inside? Like an ejection option or maybe unscrewing something?"
"Oh. That's what I forgot!" She exclaimed, muffled by the glass and the material of the spaceship as she seemed to knock at her head. "And here I was sure it was up to galactic standards."
"...How do you-Actually, what even are the galactic standards for a spaceship, I'm curious." Joshua asks as he continues circling it, not spotting anything that could work.
"Well, I don't know~!" She exclaims, rubbing her head. "I didn't pay attention to the lectures on them."
Joshua ignored that part. "Does this thing even count as a capable sea-I mean, space faring vessel?" Joshua points out. "I mean this is an emergency pod meant to keep the person alive, not to move."
"It held up well enough until we got close." Lala explains, "I had someone else with me but I accidentally used an invention of mine to warp them somewhere else. Though that's probably good since he probably wouldn't have been able to survive the crash."
"Huh. Sounds advanced." Joshua points out as he tries to get closer but a spark dissuades him as he jerks his hand back.
"Yup~. He also has my Omni-tool so I can't use that either." She adds as an afterthought.
"Do you even know what's wrong on your side?" Joshua asks as he squats down, looking at the torn up ground. "I get the feeling that the self-defense system was made for defense against certain beings and species."
"I don't know~! I didn't create it." She admits as Joshua's brow twitches.
"So you just know nothing at the moment?" Joshua asks as Lala's silhouette nods. "You don't even understand how just slapping two things together could affect the finished product?"
She chuckles as she looks away. "No."
Staring at her, Joshua mumbles, "You're a horrible inventor."
"Hey~!"
"Anyway, how does this thing decide what it shocks or not?" Joshua asks.
"It works on a scanner that is supposed to scan for certain hormones, like adrenaline, and filter through the others to confirm whether they're friendly or not. But the scanner is broken so it's shocking everything." She explains.
"I thought you said you didn't pay attention."
"I had to find a way to confirm whether my tutors found out I was cheating or not. And my parents." Lala admits, scratching the back of her head.
Joshua had no retort to that and simply hummed. "Makes sense."
Neither were really going anywhere aside from getting to know each other through idle conversation.
"Fuck it." Joshua mumbles after three minutes of staring. "Hey, Lala, prepare yourself."
[Paint] began to fall from his forearm under the sleeve of the windbreaker he's wearing, covering his hand in the black liquid as he sucked his lips in and squinted as he placed his hands on the tinted glass.
When nothing happened, Joshua released a sigh in relief, meanwhile Lala was confused. The sensors are very sensitive where even a touch could tell a lot about a person, yet the only thing the sensors are catching is that something is near that has adrenaline as a hormone among others. Yet there was nothing signifying that he was touching it, almost as if he wasn't touching it with his hands.
"Thank god." He muttered under his breath. Preparing himself, he rolls his shoulder and slides the hand down towards the gap. "Right, get ready, Imma try to hold it open."
She did so, removing the seatbelts as she prepared to leap out from where she could see the fingers, anticipation in her heart as she shook. "Ready~."
Taking a deep breath, he begins to pull the cockpit open of the singular seating spaceship, his muscles straining and his teeth grit hard enough for them to nearly crack as she glares up to keep his focus.
Finally, after much straining, at least three inches were visible, enough to slide a few books through but it wasn't enough and the cockpit was fighting back. If he lost his focus for even a second, it'd force itself close and cut off his fingers, which would be pretty bad.
He's a bit attached to them.
The joke caused a chuckle as he took another deep breath and heaved the closing cockpit with more force, using every bit of his strength to open it.
Finally, after at least half a foot was visible, something snapped and the cockpit flew open. "Yay~!"
A pink blur knocked into Joshua as both of them hit the ground. Joshua took the moment to regain his breath as he looked up and into the greenery of the forest. The edges of his eyesight was blurry and his arms were aching, the weight on his chest is not making it better.
"Lala, would you mi-." He stops mid-sentence as his breath was caught in his throat at the sight he was seeing.
At the moment a woman with long flowing pink hair was on his chest, her body pleasantly plump in all the right places with a beautiful face, pointed upwards to the darkening sky with wonder and curiosity glowing in her bright green eyes. If Joshua had to describe the scene, the closest he'd get to is something along the lines of 'a premonition'.
This is the story of a [white canvas].
A [canvas] that had much hidden in it.
This is the story of the [colors] of a person and just how much they can reveal.
This is the story of how I gained an [identity] and a [purpose].
The two individuals, one frozen in wonder and curiosity as they stared at the sky while the other was in shock as he stared at the woman's body. "Wh-Why are you naked?" He asked, his eyes gravitating towards the two glorious orbs on her chest.
"Well, Peke is my costume robot so I don't use normal clothes. And when I sent him somewhere else my clothes went with him." She explained, causing Joshua to nod along despite not picking up much aside from 'naked girl'.
"Ok, um, right." Came Joshua's expected response as he wiggled uncomfortably. "A-Are you cold? You're kinda…naked."
"Ah, right." She blinks, seeming to have come to a realization as she stood up, not doing much to cover her body as her hair did some of the work. "I probably shouldn't walk around naked."
"I thought that was common sense. Here, take this." He said, taking off his windbreaker and giving it to her but she didn't grab it, instead her eyes were focused on the trails that were quickly dissipating caused by the [paint] that came from him. "What?" He asked, feeling a bit self-conscious.
"I didn't know you were part alien. What species? Why are you on Earth?" She asked quickly, smiling with excitement as Joshua scratched the back of his head. Chuckling awkwardly, he proceeded to throw the windbreaker around her shoulders, taking a second to move her hair to the outside of the windbreaker, before zipping it closed. It hung off her frame due to the size of the windbreaker being larger than its supposed to because of Joshua's love for baggy clothes. "Thanks."
"No problem." Joshua says before scratching his cheek. "And I don't think I'm half alien."
"Why's that?" She asked, tilting her head, "I know humans have things like hospitals and clinics, but would the equipment even be able to scan for alien blood, much less find it and categorize it?"
"That's the thing, I don't bleed easily." Joshua explains, extending an arm he points to it, "Whenever they try to draw blood or if I get cut or something a black liquid comes out instead."
"Black blood isn't very rare." Lala points out, "I know at least three alien species that have black blood."
"Well, do they bleed red after a bit?" He asked as she blinked. "Can they manipulate it so that it can come out from their skin without having to cut themselves?"
She held a hand to her chin, her tail, which she has for some reason, swinging behind her, "No, but maybe it's a mutation that happened when an alien and a human have a child."
"And like I said, I'm fairly sure I'm human. And even if I did I never knew my parents." Joshua says, scratching the back of his head as he looks to the side.
"Oh, um…" She spoke, suddenly awkward as she fidgeted a bit. "I'm sorry."
"It's fine, not like I remember much, I got hella sick like ten years ago? Lost most of my memories from my childhood until I woke up here." Joshua said, sucking his lips in and looking to the sky.
Lala hums, "Then… aren't you curious?" Joshua turns to her in confusion. "About your parents."
"I can't." He says. "Nothing popped up even when I used my blood to take a paternity test. I know nothing and have no leads even if I wanted to." He rubs the side of his arm, looking away as Lala walks closer, her eyes reflecting the light of the moon as she seems to peer into Joshua's very soul.
"Are you scared?" She asks, getting to the heart of the problem as Joshua flinches, rolling his shoulder as he grit his teeth while Lala waits patiently.
"...Maybe." He said, neither confirming nor denying as his teeth clenched are curled into fists.
She seems to smile maturely, clashing with her childish voice and general attitude. "Then let's make a deal. You'll protect me." She points to herself before pointing to Joshua whose eyes were wide. "And I'll help you find the truth. Find who your mother and father are. Then we'll come back."
This confuses Joshua. "Huh, why?"
She tilts her head, innocently asking, "Do you want to stay with them?"
"Er, no." He answered immediately. "I-I want to stay with the people who are taking care of me."
"I don't know much," she admits, "but Papa always told me that "the [truth] is what matters, not the [result], if you always strive for [results] you'll get tired but if you pay attention and search for the [truth] then you'll never get tired". Though," she held a finger to her chin in a pondering pose, "he did say it when Mama caught him looking up a woman's skirt."
Joshua looked at Lala, his eyes wide as he gulped, his heart beating and blood rushing as he felt it. [Hunger].
He wants it. He wants to know who are the fuckers who abandoned him. He wants to know.
Why?
Why hasn't he felt this before? The Yuuki family helped him but he was fine with them, he let it go but why?
He didn't want to worry them.
But it was always there. A small ember waiting to be relit.
A flame that was only fanned as more things came to his mind. The flame continued to grow until Lala could see it in his eyes, a black flame.
With a [Dark Determination], Joshua took a deep breath and closed his eyes, extinguishing the flame to manageable levels as he released his breath. Opening them, his usually dull gray eyes were alight with resolve. "Alright, Lala, I accept. I'll protect you and together we'll look for the [truth]."
"Yay!" She said, ignoring Joshua's extended hand and jumping up at him as she hugs him, pressing her breasts against his chest. "I'll do the same."
Joshua was confused but nodded, reciprocating the hug before Joshua led Lala to a nearby store to get her new clothes. Even if there were a few hiccups but that was irrelevant compared to a single thing.
What would he tell Mikan?
A/N: Well here we have a very familiar opening. So, the first Arc isn't going to be that long, maybe in-universe time it will be from a week to ten days but in book it will be five to seven chapters with a similar premise to Stardust Crusaders with a few extra ideas. Its also got its own twist and turns so I hope you're excited about that.
Anyway, thanks khaylittle for beta reading this and I hope all of you enjoyed this.