"You know most people would be far happier to see an Idol like me walking alongside them and talking to them." Ai pouted as she walked alongside Markus, who did not seem big on meeting her again, if anything, he decided to outright ignore her. But the problem with that is that she ended up following him and Markus knew if he ran away like that, he would be attracting unnecessary attention to himself. "Or make a reference to A Certain Magical Index by quoting the main character's most famous catchphrase." She added in as Markus's right eye twitched at that as Ai continued on. "Are you in fact a big otaku fan of sorts~?" Ai asked with a knowing smile.

'Just ignore her, Markus.' Markus thought to himself as he was trying to speed walk away from Ai, who seem very insistent on following him for some reason unknown to him. 'At some point, she will surely get bored of walking after you and then leave you alone, she cannot stay for here for long after all, she is an Idol so she has to be busy or someone has to be searching for her if she doesn't check in or something, so basically all I have to do is outpace her.' Were the thoughts that traveled through Markus's mind as he continued to walk.

"Hey~!" Ai continued as she tried to get Markus's attention. "Are you ignoring me? That's incredibly rude you know?" She complained to him then she started poking him in various parts of his body, causing his eye to twitch beneath his shades. "Hey stranger, are you really going to keep on ignoring a cute girl like myself? That's a curse waiting to happen to you, you know?" Ai replied as she did everything she could to get on Markus's nerves.

Markus continued his best to ignore her, and then she grabbed his shades and try to pull it off, causing him to react and instantly grab his shades back and keep it on. "Oh, for crying out loud, how long are you going to keep on doing this?" Markus snapped back as he then realized at that moment, he lost his patience and gave Ai the win she wanted. Then he groaned as Ai smirked at him happily as he finally responded to her. "Oh great." He muttered, there was nothing else he can do to stop her now. "What is it you want?" He questioned in exasperation.

Ai looked utterly cheerful as she gained her first victory against Markus and only in their second meeting as well, as she looked thoughtful over what she wanted from him first. She had a lot to demand from him, considering the way she looked thoughtful over it and then she came to a choice as she made her first demand. "I want to know your name." She said as Markus blinked and paused at that in befuddlement. "Well in our last meeting, you got to know my name since I introduced myself, therefore it is fair for me to learn your name." She said to him.

Markus just stared at Ai for a couple of minutes, making her feel self-conscious before he let out a groan and spoke. "Markus, my name is Markus Redgrave." Markus introduced himself to Ai, whose eyes seemingly shined brighter at learning that. "And before you ask, it's my given name first and then my surname." Markus added in before Ai could ask, and Markus became aware of the differences that eastern people and western people introduced themselves, and Markus couldn't figure out why, for the life of him, is it important to introduce one by your family name first and then given name.

"I see, I see~!" Ai nodded in interest as she stared at him, a bit too much for Markus's comfort. "So where are you from Markus? Can't imagine a westerner being native around here, even if you look relatively well adjusted to living in Tokyo." She commented to him as Markus took some distance from her to regain some personal space of his. "Hey now, no need to be so distant from me, I won't bite you know~?" Ai said cheerfully at him.

"But you will harass me and take my stuff without my permission if given a chance." Markus deadpanned at her, as Ai stumbled and turned red at that. "Don't deny it, you did that in our first meeting and you literally just tried to do that so I would speak to you." He said as Ai had literally nothing to say to that. "I feel like this is going to be a mistake but you already know my name and honestly speaking? I don't care enough that you are literally going out of your way to bother me." Markus said to her.

And the sad fact was, Ai was actually tolerable compared to some of his more determined stalkers in his old life back home, those Legion Assassins would follow him everywhere in the Mojave no matter where he was. And then there was that time early on when Victor would have followed him to various locations, in hindsight it was kind of creepy, but he did provide valuable aid to Markus when he got ambushed by enemies that were out of his league and then some. And that wasn't even getting into nasty stuff when he went outside of the Mojave. The Ghost People were one nightmare he absolutely didn't want to remember at all if he could.

"You changed your tone quick enough for me though~!" Ai giggled in amusement. "Are you sure it was because you don't care anymore or perhaps you actually want to get to know me~?" Ai smiled knowingly at Markus. "I wouldn't blame you; I am a famous Idol and a number of people do say I am rather cute and lovely as far as females look you know." Ai pointed out to Markus as she kept praising herself to him.

'Ego much?' Markus thought flatly at that. "You are objectively attractive, but so are many other people when looked at it from a certain point of view." He said so rather nonchalantly he actually broke Ai's rhythm. "And also, I am pretty sure you would not be having the best of days either when cleaning up after a cockroach colony caused by some stupid delinquents that like harassing people because it makes them feel good about themselves to pick on others." Markus said bluntly as Ai shuddered at the idea of dealing with a cockroach colony, but she was able to figure something out from what Markus said to her.

"So, are you an Exterminator of some kind?" Ai asked curiously, it was strange to her that a foreigner would be working as an Exterminator of all things here in Japan. Usually, the bread and butter involving foreigners is that they were usually tourists, businessmen, clients, or something of the likes that would make them kind of important.

"Not an Exterminator, just a Handyman." Markus corrected as Ai's eyes rose at that in surprise as far as she was aware that wasn't exactly a high paying job either. "I may be from America but I am an…Immigrant of sorts." Markus clarified to Ai a bit. "Albeit an unwilling one." He muttered under his breath as Ai tilted her head in confusion.

"How can you be an unwilling immigrant?" She asked, wondering how that worked as Markus wondered if he should tell her any more than he already has. After some thought though, he decided he already told her too much in his opinion.

"That's a more personal thing to me, and something I rather not share at all right now if possible." Markus answered to AI, who deflated a bit at the deflection but could clearly tell that Markus was not going to tell her anymore, and decided to drop it. "So, since we're playing twenty questions here from what I can tell, hope you don't mind answering a few questions of my own." He said rather than questioned, because he didn't know whether or not Ai would count that as a question and would rather retain as many trump cards as possible.

Ai beamed as she saw this as a chance to learn more about Markus and make him fall for her and become her friend. "I do not mind~!" She said charmingly before she coyly smiled mischievously at him. "But don't expect me to tell you my three sizes or anything like that, I may be an Idol that loves her adoring fans but there are some secrets that a woman cannot share with the opposite sex." She said to him.

Now Markus looked at her in utter confusion, the fuck were three sizes or whatever the hell she's talking about? Was she actually someone crazy and somehow actually knew how to hide her insanity from public viewing or whatever? Markus felt that Ai was going to be causing him headaches for quite some time, so he decided to roll with it. "No actually." He started off. "The first thing I want to know is why on Earth are you following me?" Markus asked, cutting straight to the point.

Ai blinked at that before she smiled again. "Well, there's a number of reasons for why I wanted to see you again." She said as Markus raised an eyebrow at that as Ai gained a pout on her face. "You said that Idol music wasn't good, and I refuse to accept that! I'll have you know that music sung by Idols are worth it!" She declared to Markus as Markus looked utterly unimpressed with her to the point that Ai looked kind of self-conscious now.

"So, you basically stalked me because I have an opinion?" Markus muttered in disbelief at that.

"W-w-w-well when you put it like that, it sounds kind of bad." Ai admitted as she turned a bit red at that hearing Markus's blunt words about it.

"That's because it does sound bad!" Markus retorted instantly. "Seriously, I can't be the only person who doesn't like Idol music so why am I the exception or focus for you then?" Markus questioned Ai as he couldn't follow her train of thought. "Besides, as I said before; Idol music isn't that great to begin with." He added in as he caused Ai's left eye to twitch a bit at that then.

"Well certainly your noted distaste for Idol Music does offend me, especially since I put my heart and soul into making them sound as wonderful as ever." Ai started off as she spun around him and then got really close into his face. "But the one thing that do interest me about you aside from that are your eyes." She said quietly as Markus got some distance from her and instinctively put his hands on his shades. "I really don't get it; your eyes are actually very pretty." Ai chimed in as her own eye seemingly sparkled at that. "Most people would consider that be an attractive point about themselves."

"My eyes are not an attractive part about myself!" Markus retorted instantly at that in annoyance as Ai's eyes blinked at that and Markus felt annoyance at himself for letting that loose. It really wasn't a neat part about himself, people obsess over the strangeness of his eyes, especially since they were uncommon when compared to other wasteland tricks and oddities. Ghouls, Super Mutants, Deathclaws, Radscorpions, hostile robots, giant ants, giant Lizards, Cazadores, Night Stalkers, and other wasteland creatures were far more common. And people sometimes comment on his eyes looking like organic jewels. Which sounded creepy in and of itself, but add in crazies that want to scoop them out, and you become a target of annoying assholes. So, all in all, it just caused more trouble for Markus.

"Really though?" Ai questioned with her head tilted curiously. "I think your eyes look wonderful." She complimented and for some reason…that actually kind of made Markus feel happy about himself…the fuck? "Your eyes are unique, one is red like rubies, the other is blue like aquamarine, I think they make for a rather pretty color when put together to contrast." She said…actually earnestly…at least that's what Markus thought?

Wait what hell was he feeling right now? Was he feeling kind of relieved that someone actually appreciated his eyes for the first time in his relatively short memory span? Yeah no, enough of this good feel moment and getting back to keeping his distance away from Ai, this was a trap, much like the way those thugs in Freeside lured him into an ambush. "You got close enough to get a detailed look at my eyes and thought clearly well enough to say something poetically nice about them? Are you an Idol or a Stalker?" Markus asked, defaulting to sarcasm to keep some distance.

"Hey!" Ai pouted angrily. "I'm trying to compliment you, you know? A lot of people would desire to be in your position to be like this." She said to him.

"You mean getting stalked by an egotistical Idol?" Markus commented to her, causing an invisible blow to land on Ai. "Who also has a habit of taking random stuff from people like you did with my shades and tried to do again?" He also added in as another blow landed on Ai. "Who is also currently following me trying to get into my personal space without care for said personal space and making me extra uncomfortable?" Markus finished as Ai nearly staggered at the final blow to her ego.

"You really are a mean person, Markus~" Ai whined to him as Markus clearly still held his flat expression at her. "You're never going to be popular with the ladies that way, if this is your common way of treating a woman." She added in as Markus snorted at that. "Oh, you think you have enough charm to get a lady to like you?" She questioned archly at him.

"That's assuming I even care enough to want to get in a relationship." Markus said flatly. "A relationship is a two-way street of trust, support, give, take, and a few other tidbits, and most of the time, it usually degrades into a mess if neither partner is ready or whatever." Markus said, his opinion of how relationships work, the Hostlers were one clear example of a dysfunctional relationship and he would hate to raise kids, because Markus is pretty damn sure he would traumatize them and sent them on the path to revenge to kill him at some point, knowing how his luck rolled.

"Wait, you don't want to get into a relationship?" Ai then asked in actual confusion. "But I thought most guys want to get into a relationship with some good-looking girl or guy, I don't judge really." She said as she added in that last tidbit as an afterthought as Markus raised an eyebrow at that. "I mean you are in your twenties from your current look so I imagine you do want some sort of relationship to be in with to have someone to love or care or be loved and cared for in return." She said to him, sounding kind of passionate about it.

Markus shrugged indifferently. "I'm the kind of guy that lets the dice roll where they land and work with the hand that I'm dealt with. If it happens it happens, if it doesn't happen then tough luck for me then; but that's my issue to work out." Markus said calmly. In truth Markus would like to get into a relationship with someone he loved and trusted, but his love life wasn't exactly ideal all things considered as the closest woman he would have technically been in love with is Cass, and that was another can of worms he very much preferred to keep on the downside.

"…But what about love?" Ai asked a bit more seriously and Markus now sensed she was sounding a bit more curious about this topic. "Don't you feel empty if you're not loved? Don't you have a need to be remembered, cared for, or loved by someone else? Sorry if this not making sense to you but you don't want that connection to love someone so much and be loved by someone else to feel complete?" She asked.

"And who says I'm not loved?" Markus questioned as Ai blinked in surprise at that. "Love comes in many forms and in many definitions. There's the love between siblings for example, then there's the love between brothers and sisters-in-arms when they go off to war. There's also love from parent to child." He said as he noted in an instant at the way Ai's eyes flinched at that, and he made a note to himself that Ai clearly had parent issues of some kind. "There's also the love between a pet owner and a pet as well, and there is also the love that friends have for one another." Markus said to her.

Yes, Markus for his short life has never been founding wanting of being loved, and wasn't that the gospel truth of his existence? He had so many people that loved him, not as lovers or what not, but as friends, comrades, companions, and more. ED-E, Veronica, Boone, Arcade, Cass, Lily, Raul, and Rex stood out as his friends that loved him and did their best to aid him. There was also the bond of friendship that he formed with Christina, Waking Cloud, Followers Chalk, and Roxie when he got shanghaied into those various misadventures. Then there was the bond of comradery that he formed with countless soldiers, rangers, and personal of the NCR and the Iron Revolutionaries' Paladins, Knights, Scribes, and Squires. Then there were the people of Goodsprings, Primm, Freeside, New Vegas Steel, the Boomers, Great Khans, Dead Horses, Sorrows, Chairmen and even House of all people.

Yes, Markus has never found himself without being loved in some way shape or form. It's the reason why he decided to take on the role of Ambassador for the major factions in the Mojave, because their support gave him strength. They gave his life meaning and a reason to care for, and when he entered this new world, not having that support stung. Which is why what Kai-Ming and Wu-Fei did. Matter so much to him, they gave him a reason to care, a pair of friends to love and be loved. Even though neither Wu-Fei or Kai-Ming knew how much it meant to him, Markus would know; and that would be enough for him.

"…Is it really that simple?" Ai asked as she lost her peppy cheerful look and looked more…self-conscious now, and this was something that actually put Markus more at ease, she felt less fake, and more real. "Is it really simple to find love? As an Idol you know that there plenty of people fans that love us for what we do and what we sing for, so in a way, I am loved by my fans and there is love there between us." She started off but Markus interrupted her.

"Is that really the kind of love you're looking for?" Markus asked as Ai blinked. "As far as I'm concerned from what I've been taught about Idols, unwillingly by my friends at that." Markus said and added in that last tidbit as an afterthought. "I may not care about the Idol Industry or whatever, but from I've been told there's a lot of tidbits that go into your contracts with companies and the likes that makes it impossible for you to have a social life or whatever." Markus said as he continued. "But the gist I get from it is, the fans of Idols and the like is that they only like a picture of you who are on stage but not you for who you are in person." He said, confusing Ai.

"What do you mean by that? I'm loved by my fans and they love me for my songs and my dances." Ai replied to him. "They cheer for me, they shout my name, and are happy whenever I am on stage and…" She said before Markus cut her off.

"That's not love, that's obsession." Markus said bluntly as Ai recoiled at that. "They only see you for what they want to see and nothing else. Anything that violates their image of you is nothing more than rage inducing and a right for them to feel angry and betrayed to an extent. However unreasonable they are about or they think they're being reasonable about it." Markus said bluntly.

"Th-that is love!" Ai said sounding actually kind of angry as Markus was curious as to why she was so offended. "They recognize me, they see me someone to devote their time and attention to…there's a lot about the importance an Idol has with her fanbase!" She said to Markus as she strove to defend her fans and the way she believes love is like or what she knows love to be.

"Quick question." Markus spoke. "Is that really the kind of love you want?" He asked seriously as Ai stopped in her tracks and was left unable to say anything. "If that's the love you seek then you clearly don't need much in life, because that kind of love in my opinion…is the shallow type." He said as Ai flinched at that.

"I…that's." Ai stammered out, completely flatfooted as she was overwhelmed by Markus's blunt words on what she believed love to be. "Love…it's not that easy." Was all she could say in a weak defense as Markus raised his eyebrow again.

"Is it really supposed to be easy?" He asked as Ai blinked at that. "Relationships as far as common sense tells me, is that they're supposed to be hard work and time consuming to maintain, but if you are willing to maintain that relationship then a couple in love will go that far. It's a two-way street of sacrifice on both sides, albeit the costs vary from relationship to relationship and the kind of relationship that people have." Markus said to Ai with a surprising amount of knowledge. "If a relationship that one calls is love is built on give and take or whatever, and nothing else, isn't that just a lie?" Markus asked as unknown to him Ai's very being flinched at that.

"I…that's…" Ai looked legitimately confused by what Markus said to her. "Lies are more than that…they have reason…and…" Ai tried to retort something but it seems like Ai was having a great deal of difficulty trying to put her words into her mouth to say it. But for some reason unknown to Markus, she didn't have the ability to speak anything. Did he actually touch a nerve of some kind perhaps? "E-excuse me I have somewhere to be!" She suddenly said as she rushed off to somewhere else, leaving Markus by his lonesome now.

Markus blinked at that. "Huh well that was unexpected." He muttered to himself before he shrugged and walked off. "Bright side is, she's no longer near me." He said in a pleased tone before he paused and looked on the ground and picked up something, looked like some kind of rabbit themed pouch of some kind. "Was this Ai's by chance?" Markus questioned as he looked at it in confusion.

He decided to open it, as he had no concept or care for the idea of privacy, and considering she violated his personal privacy, he considered this to be a fair treatment. And he blinked as he saw several tickets to see B-Komachi, was Ai planning on giving them to someone or using them against him for something? He shrugged and pocketed the tickets, never let it be said that Markus was willing to deny free shit whenever he could. He had stolen more than his fair share of crap before, and being part of the Homeless Community for a bit meant taking whatever he could.

Then he paused as he found some kind of necklace attachment of some kind that Kai-Ming told him about was a locket. Normally they can be used to hold stuff or whatever, it was a small pink heart shaped decoration that had small hinges at one corner, and some locking mechanism on top of it. Out of curiosity, Markus opened it up and blinked at what he saw inside. Inside were photos of two babies, both with blonde hair but strangely enough…one baby had ruby red eyes, and the other baby had aquamarine eyes. Why did Ai have a locket of sorts holding a picture of two babies inside? And also, more importantly.

"What the fuck?" Markus said quietly as he blinked at the photos of the two babies that each had his eye color.

'A relationship is a two-way street of trust.'

'Who says I'm not loved?'

'Love comes in many forms and many definitions.'

'There's also love from parent to child.'

'Is that really the kind of love you're looking for?'

'They only like a picture of you who are on stage but not you for who you are in person.'

'That's not love, that's obsession.'

'Is that really the kind of love you want?'

'Is it really supposed to be easy?'

'If a relationship that one calls is love is built on give and take or whatever, and nothing else, isn't that just a lie?'

Markus didn't know, he has no idea what the heck he's talking about, he even admitted to never being in a relationship before! So why? Why did his words carry such weight in Ai's head as she rushed back home to her babies. Why couldn't Ai get his voice and words to leave her head? Why is she starting to think about her years as an Idol and her own words about lies being a way of showing love?

Ai shook her head as she went back home as fast as she could, Markus was wrong, he was wrong, love and lies were basically the same thing, after all; she's been lying to her fans ever since she became an Idol. Her lies were her way of showing her love, people lied to each other because they never wanted to show others the kind of people they were inside. If people saw each other for what they really were, then nobody could stand one another, and it would be nothing but chaos.

So why? Why was Markus so confident in his answers? Why did he speak so bluntly and so honestly like there was nothing for him to lie about? Why did she feel nothing but envy for the way that Markus stated, in no uncertain terms no less, that he was loved? How can he be so confident in his answers? Why did that bother her so much, the longer and longer she thought about it? Why did his answers contradict her own answers about love?

But really it all came down to one very important question about why his questions nagged at her the way it did. Why did they bother her so much? Ai knew from the get go that when Ichigo recruited her to become an Idol, she was going to have to lie to earn her fame and fans as an Idol in this rather cutthroat industry. Even she knew that her bonds with her fellow Idols, for as much as she treated them and treasured them as her friends, knew for certain that they were jealous of her and wanted to get ahead and were more than likely willing to use her as a stepping stone.

Ai couldn't help but think that already she had met Markus two times, and yet both times, she was left unable to predict Markus or understand him in a conventional way, or at least fully figured him out. When they first met, Markus seemed very aggravated by his lack of success when finding tickets to see B-Komachi, and yet he didn't recognize them at all. And that led to his own surprising reveal about his indifference for Idols, and then he left when she saw his eyes.

Their second meeting, ended up with her and Markus talking about stuff until they got into the topic about love. There, he completely and utterly blew her mind away with what he understood about love from his own personal experiences and knowledge. When Ai heard what Markus said and she couldn't help but compare and contrast it with her own understanding of what love is, it felt like her understanding or knowledge about love was…shallow?

Ai felt her heart clench at that, yes…now she started to figure out what about Markus's words that bothered her as such. Markus's own words contradicted everything she said about love, at the core of his words, love was about trust, at the core of her beliefs, love was all about lies. They had two complete opposites beliefs about love, and yet despite that, whereas Ai felt uncomfortable and still unsure about love to the point she hadn't even said she loved her own kids yet. Markus was brimming with confidence when he said in no uncertain terms that he was loved by his own group of trusted ones.

And yet despite her own feelings of jealousy of how Markus seem to know the concept of love better than she did. Ai also felt something else, something that actually made her more invested in wanting to build a connection with Markus besides turning him into her fan. Could it be possible that Markus could teach what love really is? Could he help her actually achieve an understanding of love?

The idea was something she had tried once again, but that relationship did not exactly work out. But on the bright side she did gain Aqua and Ruby out of that relationship. But for some reason, Markus was different, he doesn't need to have any form of falsehoods on himself to get love. And like that, Ai couldn't help but gain another idea from her own brilliant mind as she smiled at the possibility.

"Markus Redgrave~!" Ai giggled. "I will make you teach me all that you can about love as payment for making me doubt my own beliefs~" Ai said happily as she reached into her pockets as she realized she never got to use the tickets to convince Markus, and knew she could use that as leverage.

And then she felt nothing, and her smile vanished as she started patting her pockets frantically looking for the pouch only to pale as she felt nothing in there. She not only didn't feel the tickets, but she also didn't feel her pouch as well. And then she had to hold back a panicked shriek as she realized that sometime before she got here, she must have either dropped or lost the tickets and pouch along the way. And even more worrying was the fact her pouch had a locket…a locket that had photos of her babies!

"Oh nononononononononononononononononono!" Ai repeated in a panic as she tried looking for it but much to her dismay, the streets were already getting dark and busy with people now. "…I lost it." She said in quiet horror as she looked out into the city where her own custom-made pouch holding the tickets and her babies' photos were out there missing.

It took all of Ai's willpower to not scream in a panic.