Neo Gen. 2:

I hated days like today. You know, the days where nothing happens, nothing at all. School held no interest to me, my friends always seemed like they were busy with their families, and I didn't have a girlfriend to fill up any time either. I pretty much had nothing to do except keep my grades up and read some manga.

I don't know if I was fortunate or not, but Fate seemed to deem my boring life over at seventeen.

"I'm home!" I called into the house.

"Ah! Welcome back Sanget." I heard my mom call from the kitchen down the hall. "How was school today?"

"Same as always mom." I said as I started to go upstairs. "Any news on dad today?"

"No, it still seems the company needs him over in the Italian branch." Mom called back.

Geez, if they needed him that often, why couldn't we just move there? Then I'd at least be able to see him more often. Sure, dad could be a bit off, but at least he brightened up the house. Everything just seemed quiet without him around.

"Sanget! When are you going to move?" I heard my sister say. I looked to see my little sister standing behind me on the stairs.

"Sorry Sugu." I said as I moved out of the way.

"Geez, space out like that more often and I'll just push you out of the way." Sugu huffed as she brushed by me and went to her room. She came out a second later with a small handbag and a necklace on.

"What's the occasion, going on a date?" I joked. She just brushed past me faster and practically ran to the front door. "Wait Sugu! I was kidding! Hey, just wait a-" the door slammed shut. I sighed. Sure she was fifteen, but she was my little sister, it was my obligation to pick on her.

I just went to my room and dropped my bag on the floor. I flopped face first onto the bed and sighed. Now when she came home, it was going to be supper awkward for both of us. I turned over and picked up my laptop and began surfing the Internet for a little bit. I stopped, however, after I heard a loud Splat on my window. I stopped what I was doing and looked over at my window.

There was a large green smear across the entire window. Who would do such a thing? I wasn't even sure where someone would find something that would do that. I got up and opened the opposite window, ready to clean it off when I noticed a small grey box sticking to the mess. I reached out to grab it, but when I did, the green mess moved.

I tried to move back, but the ooze got my middle finger and held on. But what held onto my finger was red, not green. I was even further confused when the goo turned into a chameleon. It was sticking to my window and looking straight at me. But the box was still stuck to it's back, which it propped toward me.

I hesitantly took the box, which came off with a sickening Schloop. When I had the box in hand, the chameleon let go of my finger and crawled down the side of my hose and seemed to disappear from sight. Thoroughly dumbfounded, I walked back to my bed and sat down and stared at the box.

It was small, about the size of a ring box. And wouldn't you know it, inside, I found a ring with a neatly cut diamond with a note stuck in the back. As I took it out and unfolded the piece of paper, I found it to be an entire sheet.

And I could tell why it needed an entire sheet. My dad never really did have very good handwriting.

Dear Sanget,

As you get this note, a very special selection is being taken up in my office. Whatever it is you do receive, know this, Don't lose it! It will save your life more than you know; other recipients have said the same. You'll know when you're needed.

Love from your father,

Lamborghi

This was just crazy. I mean, sure, my dad did crazy things, but to send me a diamond ring? And how would this save my life.

Wait. From the way this note sounded, he didn't even know what I was going to be getting. I scanned the note again, and sure enough, 'whatever' did not sound like knowing.

"Sanget? Did you drop something?" I heard my mom call as she climbed the stairs. I closed the box and slipped into my pocket. I don't know why, but I felt like my mom shouldn't know I had a more-than-likely priceless ring in my possession of unknown origin.

"No mom, I just…uh… found a letter from dad." I called.

"Really?" My mom asked as she came into view. "I didn't bring any mail up here."

"It came, uh, in my bag. Yeah, someone must have slipped it in." I lied. I was horrible at lying.

"Your bag? Are you sure it's from your father?" my mother smiled.

"You want to check the writing?" I said as I handed the not over. My mom took the note and scanned over it. She stopped smiling.

"Well, it is your fathers style of writing." She said. She quickly folded the letter and put it in her pocket. "Sanget, I want you to go get Sugu and bring her home."

"Um, I don't know where she we-"

"She's downtown at a karaoke bar with three friends and their dates." Mom said shortly. "Get Sugu and bring her home. Ignore any struggling, she needs to be home."

"Mom, there are, like, seven different karaoke bars downtown, how-"

"Look, she's in the Hong Kong Bar near the station, room 207. Don't ask, just go." Mom began to leave, but then looked back. "And take whatever Leon gave you. I need to make a few calls." And she left.

I had never seen my mom so serious before. The only time I could say she was anywhere near this demanding was during the lunch hour. But that was demanding, this was serious. And who was Leon? Whatever, I'll just ask when I get home.

I didn't bother changing out of my school uniform; I just headed downstairs and put on my shoes. I don't know why, but I began running to the nearest station. The Hong Kong Bar was three stops away, so I took a breather on the train and pulled out the ring box.

As I cracked it open, I saw the ring there yet again. But this time I had the urge to put it on. I had never worn pendants or rings before, but the ring fit my ring finger perfectly. I admired it for a second before I realized what I was wearing. I quickly snapped the box shut and shoved my hands in my pockets as the station I needed was called.

It was slow going getting through the station, but thankfully mom was right and the bar was near: just a block down the way. As I got closer, I could see that Sugu and her friends actually leaving the establishment, so at least I wouldn't have to go through any hassle of finding out whether or not mom's room information was accurate.

"Sugu!" I called as I got closer to her. "Hey! Sugu!" She didn't seem to hear me.

Or she was ignoring me, because she immediately dipped her head and directed her group away from me.

"Oi! Sugu!" I called out angrily. Apparently I was garnering the attention of her friends, because they were tugging on her sleeve and pointing at me. This also caught the attention of the four guys they were with.

I immediately began to question why my sister and her friends were out with these guys, because they were at least my age, if not a bit older. I don't think the glares we were holding were helping any.

"What do you want Sanget?" Sugu asked as I finally caught her.

"Mom wants you home." I said simply.

"That's it? Mom could have just called me. She didn't need to send you."

"Well, mom said she had some calls to make. So come on, we need to head home."

"No."

"Come on Sugu, now's not the time to be stubborn. Mom said she wanted you home, now."

"And I said I was having dinner out." Sugu said. "And I'm not going to let mom dictate my life."

"Really Sugu, now isn't the time to complain. You can fight for your independence later, but we need to get home. So come on." I emphasized as I grabbed her wrist.

"Hey." One of the guys said as he grabbed my wrist. "If she says she doesn't want to go, then she doesn't have to."

"Look, I know your having a grand time out here, but family matters take precedence." I glared at him.

"And her preferences come before that." A second guy said.

"Guys, I don't like the look of you to begin with, but stay out of our business."

"Right now, she is our business." The first guy said. That garnered a weird look from all of the girls and myself.

"Dude, that just sounded creepy."

"Argh! Enough already!" A third guy snapped. "I've had enough of this already. You three made me suffer through that party, now you can't even deal with this pest. I say we just cut our losses and run." As to emphasize 'cutting', he pulled out a rather intimidating hunting knife.

"Where the hell did you hide that?" I asked in disbelief. It seemed like he pulled the knife from his back, but he had to have been sitting at one point.

"Just move a little Shaun, I'll take the hand." The third said to the first. In compliance, the first moved his hand up to expose my wrist. The knife started to fall.

I had no choice but to let go of my sister and get away. But as I did, the lat guy of the group grabbed Sugu from behind and made a run for it. My attention was split, but I knew I had to go after Sugu.

I pulled my hand harder and avoided the first fall of the knife. I did not expect the following uppercut. I just barely got out of the way, but there was now a long gash across my uniform.

Now the two of us were at a standoff. I was to far away for a strike, but he was blocking the way to Sugu. I glanced around and saw that Sugu's friends had already run off and that the other two also had knifes drawn.

"You know kid." The first guy began, "This was supposed to be a simple grab and go. But you just had to go and make it complicated didn't you?"

"What are you talking about? What does my sister have to do with any of this?"

"She was just the easy target." The third guy said. "But the real point of this was that no one would guess that we took her. But now that you know what we look like, I'm afraid we can't let you go." He smiled. I didn't like his smile. There was no joy in it, or any that I would know of. It looked like the smile of a sadist.

"And what do you plan to do?" I spread out my arms. "We're in the middle of downtown. Any second now, police are going to be here to see why there are three men wielding knives against a high schooler."

"Are you sure about that?" The third guy said. "Take another look. Go ahead. I promise we won't attack."

I didn't like it, but he seemed too confident. I took the chance and slowly looked around.

There wasn't anybody even close to us. In fact, the street looked deserted.

"Wh…whe…where?" I stammered.

"Where did everyone go? Ever heard of willpower?" The third man snickered.

"That's kind of general." I said.

"Well here's a lesson." He said as he flicked his knife. It seemed to spark, and it was shortly consumed in a red flame. "We can do just about anything with our 'will'." As he said that, I glanced at the other two knives. One was sparking green, and the other was misting.

"What…what are you going to do to me?"

"Simple. We're going to make you disappear. Piece by piece." The third smiled.

"Nirika, now isn't the time." The one I identified as Shaun said. He was holding the misting knife. "He just needs to stay out of the picture until the boss can assume power. And if we hold him, then it won't take long."

"They won't have the set without him." The sparking knife holder said.

"Che, you two are no fun. This is why I like my unit better." Nirika sneered. "Fine, let's just bag him then."

They started to advance on me, and I just backed up. I didn't want to turn and run, they could just stab me easier like that. But I wasn't going to get away like this. They were going to rush me any second now, but I didn't have anything to fight them with, not even a decent sized stick.

If I was going to die like this, the least I could have done was get my sister home. But I couldn't even do that.

As Shaun thrust his misty knife at me, the last thing I thought as I threw up my hands was, 'I wish I could have at least defended myself.'