They'd signaled Citiciss to be ready,
since someone outside meant someone could spot him a great deal
more easily than they could when their field of view was limited
by a window. Watching as the two figures, one of whom just might
have been little Yukari Fukamachi, as they strolled around in
the nice sized garden around the side of the house the two
tracker-Zoanoids listened to hear any conversation that they
might be having.
They didn't manage to hear anything,
though, since the people on the ground were just a little too
far away for them to hear, and the wind wasn't helping this
time. The sound of footsteps on the rooftop behind them alerted
the Zoanoids to the fact that they weren't the only ones on the
rooftop anymore. Before they could turn and confront the person
standing behind them, they each felt a strong hand close around
their necks.
Itching, burning pain spread through
their bodies, and before they could so much as scream they felt
some other presence invading their minds...
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Aptom grinned as he felt the Zoanoids
becoming a part of his body. It looked like he was going to have
to hunt down a Citiciss if he wanted to make sure that Chronos
wasn't going to be able to find out too much about the Guyvers'
safehouse. And, as far as Aptom was concerned anything more than
the fact that it was there was too much for those bastards to
know.
So Aptom was going to find that Citiciss
and then he was going to have some tasty Zoa-bird for a side
dish. No one except him was allowed to threaten Guyver I; either
of them. Though the fact that these little appetizers were so
interested in little Yukari wasn't exactly what he'd been
expecting. He'd pretty much expected that Chronos would be out
for both of them, since they were both causing the same amount
of trouble for Chronos.
Though at the moment that amount was
none, so really they shouldn't be so concerned about what two
little Guyvers were doing way out here. The fact that those
little Guyvers seemed to be taking a vacation from doing stuff
to piss Chronos off was kind of unexpected, but with how badly
those two had been shaken-up by what had happened to their
friends, maybe he shouldn't expect them to do anything for
awhile.
Aptom just hoped that they'd get over
their issues with confronting Chronos' new Zoalords sometime
soon, or he was going to have to take it upon himself to shake
them up again. Those two were thickheaded enough that Aptom
wasn't sure they'd be able to adapt with any real speed, but
then again he could always hope for them to get their heads on
straight.
Before he had to resort to
something drastic like beating
the reluctance out of them.
Though he wasn't going to count on those
two coming to their senses anytime soon. That meant that he'd
have to keep busting his ass to keep those two idiots from
getting themselves killed by Chronos. Or captured, in Yukari's
case. Though why Chronos would even bother capturing her in the
first place, Aptom wasn't sure he wanted to know.
Aptom almost found himself wondering why
Chronos didn't seem interested in Sho, but for the moment he had
far more interesting things to concern himself with. That tasty
little Citiciss was going to make a nice between-meal snack.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Sitting in Prof. Odagiri's garden,
playing with a flower that she had picked, Yukari tried not to
think of anything in particular. At least, nothing pertaining to
the... currant situation. The feel of the sun on her face was
nice, at least where it got past her hat. Yukari was glad that
they had managed to find some clothes that would hide their
identities from anyone or anything that might have been watching
them.
She just hoped that nothing would happen
while she and Sho were trying to enjoy the day with each other.
The shriek of something in pain drew Yukari's attention away
from the flower she was holding. Looking up toward the roof of
Prof. Odagiri's house, Yukari just managed to catch sight of
something that looked very much like the wing of a bird.
Though it would have had to be a very
large bird, to have a wing that size. And the only birds that
grew to be that size were... Dropping the flower, Yukari ran
over to the back of the mansion, calling the Guyver even as she
turned the corner. Yukari could hear Sho's voice, calling out
and asking her what she was doing, but she wasn't going to stop.
If that wing really did belong to one of
Chronos' bird-type Zoanoids, then everyone in the mansion - all
of her friends - could be in very real danger. Flying up to the
roof of Odagiri's mansion, Yukari was confronted by the
strangest sight she had ever seen thus far.
Aptom had his hands wrapped around the
neck of the birdlike Zoanoid, and most of the Zoanoid's body was
almost completely absorbed into the Zoanoid eating Lost Unit's
body.
"Hey, little girl!" Aptom called,
grinning happily at Yukari as he finished absorbing the
bird-Zoanoid. "You got all dressed up nice and came to watch me
eat," Aptom cackled.
"I didn't know you were here; sorry for
interrupting your meal," Yukari said, bowing her head slightly.
Then she turned to look at Sho, who had just transformed and
flew up to meet them. "Oh! Sho, what are you doing here?"
"I saw you up here, and I thought you
might need my help, Yukari. I guess I didn't really need to
come," Sho said, laughing slightly at his own overreaction.
"I guess I didn't need to, either,"
Yukari said, rubbing the back of her head as she giggled in
embarrassment.
"You two always did that," Aptom said,
smirking at the two Guyver Is. "You're predictable. I knew you'd
be up here once you saw that bird-brain's wing flapping around."
"I guess we did kind of overreact
there," Sho said, sounding chagrinned. "Sorry, Aptom."
"Please," the Lost Unit rolled his eyes.
"It isn't like either of you to just ignore something that could
be a threat to the people in that house," Aptom made an
off-handed gesture at the mansion he was standing on. "I know
you two; I know how you operate, and I know how you react to
things you think of as threats. I was expecting this."
Without another word to Aptom, Yukari
and Sho both descended back to the garden outside Odagiri's
mansion. Shedding their armors, Sho and Yukari went back into
the garden while Aptom finished eating his meal. Sitting back
down beside a bed of purple Irises, Yukari touched the petals of
the flower closest to where she was sitting.
She was glad to have Aptom there as a
last line of defense against any Zoanoids that managed to get
past them, or any that attacked while they were away for some
reason. Yukari didn't want to think about the kind of situation
that would require them to all leave the house at once, though
Akane and Agito had been in and out at odd intervals. And they
were both being so secretive all the time.
She and Sho had talked about that,
speculating on what the tow of them might have been doing. It
had to be something to do with that para-military force that
they had built to fight against Chronos with them. There wasn't
any other reason that they would be so secretive, at least none
that Yukari was aware of.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Once he'd finished with his meal of
fresh Zoa-bird, Aptom extended a pair of wings from an
insect-type Zoanoid that he'd eaten about half a year ago. Aptom
wasn't too concerned about remembering its name; it was just
another meal to him. They all were.
Sho and Yukari were the only ones that
he considered worthy of his time; the only ones that he was
interested in.
As he left the mansion behind him, Aptom
thought over what he had learned. It wasn't really much more
than what he knew before: Chronos was interested in Yukari more
than Sho, and they intended to make some kind of drastic moves
against her. What was interesting was that the orders to capture
Yukari had come from the Lady Mirabilis herself.
Though, judging by the information that
he'd managed to pull from the minds of his newest meals, the
male Imakarum was pretty interested in her, too. That was really
interesting; Aptom smirked as he flew to the temporary place he
had made for himself to stay in for awhile. He'd probably have
to move soon; no matter how easy the Zoanoids were to kill, none
of them were that stupid.
It made hunting them more challenging,
and that made it more fun.
But for now, Aptom wanted to rest up a
bit before going on his next hunting trip. There would be more
than enough time to pick his targets and find out what those two
Zoalords wanted with his prey. As he continued to make his way
to his temporary resting-place, Aptom started to plan his next
hunting excursion.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
As they moved throughout the city,
blending in with the population in order to be more effective as
they gathered intelligence about Yukari Fukamachi's habits and
proclivities. So far, though, there had been no sightings of the
girl. Even after more than a month and a half of discreet
surveillance in the city near where she had been spotted more
often than not.
As they made their way to the next
block, the pair of Zoanoids that had been assigned to patrol
this area of the city for this time of day chatted amiably. They
weren't exactly getting lax about their duties, but they were
both slowly settling into a routine. Looking around only
occasionally, since by now all of them knew what Yukari
Fukamachi looked like and they would know what to look like when
they were looking for her, the two Ramotith moved to cross the
street.
Once they stood on the other side, both
of them headed toward the flower shop that was their last stop
of the day. As they settled in to watch the people as they
walked in and out, and made their rounds of the little store as
they shopped. Every now and then one of them would make the
rounds of the little store and look at the faces of the people
shopping.
Another Zoanoid, one of the rare Valvas
models, came into the store then. The two Ramotith nodded to
their fellow Zoanoid. Valvas were good at tracking people by
scent, and more than that they already had the scent of Yukari
Fukamachi imprinted in their minds. That would make it even
easier for them to find the little girl and bring her back to
Chronos.
It'd be kind of interesting to see just
what Lord and Lady Mirabilis had in mind for her, since those
two were the ones that had planned to capture that little girl.
Maybe they were going to torture her for information, maybe they
just wanted to kill her personally. Whatever those two Zoalords
wanted, it was certainly going to be interesting to watch what
they did when they got their hands on her.
Their shift over, but without so much as
a hint of Yukari Fukamachi's presence, the three Zoanoids turned
and left the little flower shop. Maybe their replacements would
have better luck.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
There had been more than a few close
calls over the last six weeks, what with Zoanoids looking for
anyone who looked or smelled like her, that Yukari had decided
to stop going out with Natsuki on her shopping runs. Sure, she
could help carry out the bags of groceries, but if her help
would be putting Natsuki in danger, then it wasn't worth the
risk.
And anyway, that didn't stop her from
helping to put up those groceries when Natsuki got home with
them.
There were almost enough things to do
around the house to distract Yukari from the fact that she was
essentially a prisoner inside the mansion. In fact, she had
taken to asking Shizu to let her help with the cooking just so
she would have something to distract her from that fact. Shizu
had welcomed the help, and she had also seemed to understand
Yukari's reasons for wanting to do such a thing.
Shizu, while a bit too obsessed with
Agito than what Yukari thought was safe, could possibly be the
most understanding person that Yukari had met. Tetsuro, while he
understood her better on a personal level given the fact that
they had been friends for so long, was still a boy. That didn't
mean that she didn't like to speak with him about things, it
just meant that he sometimes didn't fully understand what she
was getting at.
As of right now, though, Yukari was
dusting the shelves of Prof. Odagiri's large personal library.
This was one of the places that Yukari liked to stay when she
needed to be alone; to think or just to take a break from
everyone else in the house. It was sometimes nice to be around
so many people, but as an only child Yukari still felt a little
crowded at times.
Talking to Sho had helped Yukari to
realize that she wasn't so alone in feeling that way. Her and
Sho's lives were so similar in some ways that Yukari felt as if
she'd grown up with him. They even shared a father, though that
was a painful subject to think about at times. They didn't
usually talk about their shared past, her and Sho, to avoid
opening up old wounds.
Mizuki probably wouldn't have approved,
citing the need for her and Sho to talk about the things that
upset them, just to make sure that they knew where they stood
with one another, and so there wasn't any awkwardness between
them. Or, maybe she wouldn't say anything like that.
Mizuki seemed to be, not more withdrawn
exactly, but more careful about when she spoke and what she
spoke about. Maybe that was just a side effect of her crush on
Sho, though. Like her, he was on the shy side, and like her he
could easily be driven off if someone was too aggressive in
pursuing him.
That was probably why Mizuki was so much
more reserved-seeming than Yukari had ever remembered her being.
Finished with her dusting, Yukari curled
up in the large, squishy chair that she had discovered on her
first exploration of the library. Neatly folding the cloth she
had been using to dust, Yukari pulled a plastic bag out of her
pocket and tucked the used cloth inside, then she stuck the bag
back into her pocket and slumped into the chair.
With lunch already over and dinner not
for a few hours yet, Yukari found herself with nothing else to
do. Of course, there was always the option of going back to her
and Sho's room and napping until Shizu called her to help with
making dinner, but Yukari wasn't tired enough or bored enough to
do something like that.
She wasn't in the mood to read, at least
not any of the books that were in Prof. Odagiri's personal
library, so there went that idea. Rising from her seat, Yukari
turned and left the library. Maybe she could ask Shizu for some
knitting lessons; it would be something to do, at least. Maybe
she could make herself a scarf, or a blanket for when it got
cold.
When she had made it to Shizu's room,
Yukari raised her hand and knocked three times on the other
girl's door and waited to be acknowledged. Or not. The door
opened, and Yukari found herself staring at Shizu.
"Oh, hi Yukari. What are you doing here?
It's not time for us to start dinner yet."
"Um, Shizu, I was wondering if you would
teach me how to knit," Yukari said, paying close attention to
the expression on the longhaired girl's face.
"Of course!" Shizu exclaimed, grabbing
Yukari's left hand and pulling her into her room. "I think I
have a spare set of knitting needles that you can use, and I
know I have enough yarn to at least get you started on
something."
"Thanks, Shizu."
"Of course, Yukari," Shizu said, letting
go of the other girl's hand as she walked over to her chest of
drawers and started rifling through it. "It's really no problem
at all. I can see that you're genuinely interested in learning
this, so that will make it more easy to teach you."
"Oh," Yukari said, sitting on a cushion
facing Shizu. "I didn't think about that."
"It's not a problem, really," Shizu
said, smiling as she handed a pair of needles and some thread.
"First, you need to learn how to start."
"Okay."
"Now, watch what I do," Shizu said.
"All right," Yukari said, carefully
watching Shizu's hands as she worked.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Mizuki was just starting to get hungry,
when she heard Tetsuro calling her. Dinner was just about to be
ready, from what Tetsuro had said. Setting down the manga she'd
been reading, Mizuki hurried down the hallway and to the dining
room. The smell of fresh, warm food made her mouth water, and
when she sat down at the table Mizuki smiled at Shizu and
Yukari.
"Thank you for making this wonderful
meal, you two," Mizuki said, picking up her chopsticks and
starting to eat.
"You're very welcome, Mizuki," Shizu
said. "Yukari did an excellent job on her part, too."
"Yes. Thanks, Yukari," Tetsuro said,
raising his glass to toast the both of them. "Thank you both."
"You're welcome," Yukari said, ducking
her head slightly in embarrassed pleasure. "It was really
nothing. I got to practice a lot at home, after all."
"Yeah, but I did too, and even I'm not
quite this good," Sho said, smiling at his counterpart.
"Thank you, Sho," Yukari said, blushing
slightly from all the praise.
The rest of the meal was eaten in
silence, or at least as close to such as was possible under the
circumstances. Once they were finished, Shizu, Yukari, Mizuki
and Sho shooed the others out of the kitchen so they could wash
the dishes. Once the four of them were done and had put up the
last of the dishes, they left the kitchen and went their
separate ways.
Shizu and Yukari returned to the
former's room to continue the latter's knitting lessons, and Sho
and Mizuki left to take a walk around the garden. The rest of
the mansion's occupants returned to their respective rooms.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
Outside the mansion, concealed from both
the occupants and any... unwanted visitors, a large humanoid
form made its way away from the mansion. This new apparition was
tall, easily six feet if they were an inch, and covered from
head-to-toe in a long, dark coat. Nearly waist-length pale
blonde hair, tied into a tight braid, was just visible tucked
into the collar of the jacket.
The people that were staying in that
house, if something of this rather impressive size could truly
be called a house, were completely unaware of the fact that
those pathetic Zoanoids were not the only ones who had taken an
interest in them. Though, if that Lost Unit found out about his
new associates'... visitors, it was likely to become rather
troublesome.
They would most likely need to be more
cautious in how they approached the situation. Their trump card
would be of no use to them if they were dead.
XxXxXxXxXxXxX
The day was just coming to a close and
Yukari, Sho and Mizuki had all gathered together to watch the
sunset from the large bay window on the second story.
"I can't believe that it's been almost
three months since we all met," Mizuki said, staring at Sho and
Yukari with a fair amount of astonishment. "It just doesn't seem
possible."
"Oh, right," Yukari said, having been
absorbed in watching the play of colored light in the clouds.
"Tomorrow makes it official, doesn't it?"
"Yeah," Sho said absently, staring out
at the blazing light of the setting sun. "Wow, I guess it really
does. I can honestly say I wasn't expecting this situation to
last so long," Sho said, scratching the back of his head the way
he sometimes did when he was feeling awkward about something. "I
just thought you would disappear, or I would disappear. Or
something like that."
"I guess not," Yukari said. "I just
wonder how this is all even possible. Us being together, you
know?"
"I know," Sho said, leaning back in his
chair. "And sometimes I wonder... nevermind."
"What is it, Sho?" Mizuki asked, sitting
up and leaning closer to her childhood friend. The male version,
at least.
"I wonder what would have happened if
you and Akane had gotten here sooner. It's just, I wonder if
that would have changed... things. Maybe stopped them from
happening," this last part was nearly a whisper, but just loud
enough that Yukari and Mizuki could hear it being said.
"Sometimes, I wonder about that too,"
Yukari admitted, sharing a commiserating glance with Sho.
There was really nothing to be said
after that.