Prologue: Lost and Found

Warning! This chapter is a very long read! It is a 9k monster, so please do take breaks if you need it. :) There will be mild mentions of blood and gore inside this chapter. Please be aware of the Mature rating. Thank you!

A faint smell of rotting wood and old earth dirt wafted to her dead senses. Her skin felt dry and heavy, much like stretched, neglected leather. There were something crunching outside, the sounds fading in farther distance. Outside? Where was she? She didn't know, but it was dark. She knew it was dark. It pressed hard into her mind, making it difficult to miss.

And it was also cramped. Her naked feet brushed across splintered wood, and limp hands bumped into more walls. She found herself curled into a loose ball, so she could breathe a little more freely in a tiny, neglected, ash-blanketed space. Dirt, haven't had any moisture in what must be decades, felt like hard shards and grains of broken glass jabbing and grinding hard into her body, making it uncomfortable and painful to lay on long.

Her muscles, sore, twitched alive when more dust rained on her skin, and she inhaled too deeply. Dust, awful sandy flavor dancing and rubbing across her dehydrated tongue and scratching past the roof of her mouth, caught in her throat and she choked and wheezed. Between her coughing she stopped whimpers at the back of her tongue from echoing out, but couldn't prevent her body from trembling, her bones feeling brittle. Her torso felt...ragged, weighed with unknown burdens and fat with gaping wounds that hardly bled at all.

She didn't remember pushing herself off the tiny patch of dried old earth with clumped dirt and what felt like hard, sharp rocks that was shaped strangely, but she did. She thumped and rubbed her sensitive back against the wood, pulling a wince from her, with splinters catching her clothes. Muffling her whimpers with a ruined bellowing sleeve, her eyes caught some small lights, barely there and dimmed. She looked up. Those grey-blue eyes shrunk at the sight of crisscrossing debris of long woods and large gravels that narrowly missed her death stopping mere inches before her head, her mind turning into a chaos of panicking thoughts. How would she get out of this tiny hellhole? How, how, how?!

She felt so utterly weak, but her instincts were scrambling for her to survive, to live. So, she pushed. After two miserable attempts, her knees and thighs growing black with bruises, she finally stood on her feet. Reaching up her scrawny, stick arms, with the dirty white sleeves falling into huge bag of cloths at her armpits, she pushed and pulled her way through. Her arms took on small pieces of the rubble within her wounds, sticking out of the fleshy red. She fought to stop herself from crying, to pay her injuries no mind when her pain receptors screamed with offenses at her boldness. Her inky black hair was gray with spilling dust and her skin, already so pale, was paler with a thick layer of it.

Her face took on a mask of dirt, her eyelashes were colored ashen, blurring her wet sight. She blinked them away, her hands too busy to rid the dusts sitting at her eyes, as her determination was too strong to let herself die needlessly.

She grabbed a hold of a huge piece of a wooden board, smack right down the middle among the mess. With a clumsy grip, she tugged. Hard.

Booming sounds of collapsing debris were deafening, blindsiding her. It happened so quickly she didn't have time to shield her own body from being impaled except to squeeze her eyes shut and prayed to all the gods above to give her some mercy and a quick, fair death she thought she deserved.

But, her heart still pounded. Her wounds still throbbed with blood dribbling at every heartbeat. Air rushed out of her nostrils and her lungs inflating with returning oxygen, in a never-ending cycle of breathing. She was expecting a violent death would be suffocating, soul-splitting painful yet brief, but...

Her eyes, bleary, peeled opened, and saw the rubble at her feet.

Not one debris touched her, not even on her bare feet. All jutted away from her, sticking close to the wall, as if to avoid her entirely. She looked up.

The sky, gray with heavy clouds with no sun to be seen, was a welcome sight, if not foreign and carried a sense of foreboding of sad, awful things ahead. There was nothing she could see, but the fat, pregnant clouds floating by happily.

A strangled word wormed its way out of her throat, "H-how...?" How did she survive?

Something inside of her urged her to hurry out of this hellhole. She didn't dare to be deaf to it. Gulping, she surveyed the well and saw nothing but rubble. If there was a ladder, there wasn't one now.

Why would anyone put a ladder in an empty well? Why did she expect one here?

The urgent demand grew stronger, and she discarded the puzzling thought in favor of living.

Seeing no other way she pressed a foot on a board, and winced when it wobbled under her weight. Grabbing the walls, she slowly, but surely in a snail pace crawl, made her way higher to the mouth of the deep man-made hole. Alternatively switching her feet to another piece of debris, it creaked underneath her feet. With a yelp she drove her nails into the walls, from desperation to keep herself from falling.

A slow agonizing minute passed, before the board became still and stable for her to continue on. Her nails were skewed from her sudden action, dibbling blood spots across the mess underneath her soles. She bit her lips, combating the crying growing from her belly. Just one pain after another...

Unfortunately for her the debris stopped several feet below the opening, leaving her stuck. But, she thought she could reach her exit and pull herself out of the hell-trap. There were only several more inches above her, she could reach it on her toes.

...Provided that the rubble didn't collapse before she could edge her way out.

A nervous inhalation for a courageous breath, she flailed her bloodied fingers to the sharp corner of the wood, desperate for a good grip. A moaning creak crooked her feet, and her breath caught in her lungs, trying to keep her movement at minimal. The blood didn't help grabbing a grip any easier, and she cursed for it. The moan grew louder, nettled by her mere presence. The rubble began to cave again.

The corner of the wooden month bit into her palms, and she forced every last bit of her strength she still had, and strained her lithe body out. Her feet dangled off the debris, just as it fell to yet another loud boom. It triggered something inside of her, and next thing she knew, she fell face flat on more ground. Much softer dirt, at that she was relieved. Her fingers fisted the earth, fighting the trembles of the quiet fear pounding its way inside her heart.

Whatever courage she had left, it stopped her sobbing at her tonsils. She could feel it bubbling, but it didn't dare to leave. Not when the urgency became stronger than ever. Her mind's eye felt nothing but one dimming presence a mile away from where she was. How could that be? She didn't understand why or how she knew there were no life outside of that one. And that sole life is dying.

She breathed again, to calm her exploding brain from erratic confusion of words and strange commands of her emotions. The air carried no dust to assault her poor lungs with, but it was rich with death.

She didn't want to open her eyes. Her shoulders shook. The courage faltered when one sob ran from her too-wet mouth.

But, she need to move. The instinct wouldn't let her stay defeated to her swelling grief she didn't understand. So, she lifted her head, black hair, still stained with dust, fell over her shoulders, almost to shield her eyes from dreadful sights.

Everything she saw was charred and in piles of rubble. Feeling lightweight, she thought for several seconds that she had become a ghost and floated restlessly away from the pile of woods, to what was once her own home. Boulders of former walls and roof strewn across the stone floor-or now large pieces of gravels she didn't realize she was so careful stepping over large cracks.

The once-large house looked like something very large had dropped their weight on it and punched it very thoroughly and stomped away with little recession, almost like a child throwing a tantrum and stormed away when they failed to get what they wanted.

It was then that she knew she wasn't dead when she saw a large pool of scarlet colored fluid was leaking out from what must once be the front door, and dripped over some debris.

She didn't know she let out a loud wail. Her eyes were spewing heavy tears and her nose damp. She didn't know her feet carried her away from her dead brother's invisible body nor had she jumped so gracefully over large cracks and holes among the stairs with too many steps. Or that she kept running and running until she stopped when she heard wheezing gasps of air and weak pleas.

It was those heart-rending sounds that stopped her grieving, even if it was only for a short moment. The urgency she felt pulled her closer.

It was that one life dimming away, threatening to be gone forever, unless she interfered somehow.

Among the heaps of twisted cars, halved buildings, scattered black capstones, and too big holes, within one intersection he was there. His bottom half of his body was underneath a large piece of asphalt, with rich blood flooding from there. She choked. That little noise pulled his attention toward her, his head, with his chin was roughly scarred by the road, weakly turned to her with pained golden eyes. With one arm mangled, he could only pushed his free hand few centimeters toward her and whispered, "...don't want to...die."

She flinched, but her feet flew across the scrambled road.

"Please...don't let me die." He sobbed, "I don't want-" a gasp, and more of his lifeblood spewed from his choking mouth. His hand went lax, when tears trailed from his eyes.

Thudding her knees painfully onto the hard concrete before the poor boy, she grabbed the arm and shrunk her broken nails into his so white skin, his skin that was too cold, "You will live!" She barked, sobs choking her alive, "Live, you bastard!" Her screaming command jolted that one last bit of stubbornness into him, and he grabbed the hands that held on to him so tightly.

His grip was weak, but he was trying. His desperate eyes gazed deep into her own, and he choked. He was trying to say something, but couldn't. "Save your words!" She cried, and she scanned around wildly, "Anyone?! Please help!" She never let go of the boy who she was certain she knew the name of.

Genos.

That's right. His name was Genos, wasn't it?

A long timed neighbor with beautiful golden hair (now streaked and matted red), and sweeter than her mama's homemade daifuku but with a streak of stubbornness that nearly outranked her own.

No. No. She would not let him die, dammit!

"Help! Help! Anyone!" She didn't know why she was so sure there was only one life left in this doomed city earlier, but her voice got away from her. The echoes of her cries were loud in her ears, but she continued, her hold on the boy never once loosened.

A soft tug ended her pleas and she looked down, her big tears made a clean pathway of dirt on her dirty face, with Genos smiling. He was smiling so painfully, yet it was so serene, even with blood ruining his handsome face. He struggled to raise his hand, the very tips of his fingers gazed across her jawline, "han-thank...you." At that his hand fell.

She grabbed that hand, his words struck her silent. Her face slowly morphed into something else.

And she shrieked, scattering the silence of the death.

It was from her screaming that the old man appeared at the bend of a building, his face ashen and damp and he was gasping for air, "Please, dear gods, don't let me be too late again!" He was an odd looking man, with odder hairstyle and a long, large nose, but she failed to regard much beyond that.

She already lost so much. His torso gathered in her arms, and she wept heavily over the boy named Genos.

The old man shoved her away, though he didn't look like he had intended to handle her so roughly. Before she could roar some choice words for him, he barked, unhanding a strap of his fairly large backpack, "Move, young lady! There's a chance he can still yet to be saved!" Clicking something inside that strap, robot arms branched out from the backpack, whirring with life.

She fell backward, gravel jabbing her in her rear, but she didn't feel anything from it. Her attention was caught by these arms, not knowing what she was supposed to feel, heaving away the boulder that trapped and killed the boy. It fell far away with a loud crash, crushing a remnant of a former building into thousands of smaller pieces in a loud crunching. But the old man didn't acknowledge it, instead keeping his focus on clicking away on some small device in his frail hands.

With a series of noisy clicking, these robot arms purged themselves into the still body of Genos. "What are you doing?!" She was outraged at the disrespect of the newly dead, jetting herself off the ground and slammed herself into the old man-or at least, she tried to. One remaining arm stopped her, wrapping itself around her waist and picked her off the ground.

The old man wasn't phased at all by her actions, he looked up to her with his face grim, "I'm saving him the only way I know how." He gestured to his spidery machine appendages, "These things are my own invention, meant to be used for life saving situations. They will keep his heart beating," one was needled inside his chest, right where his heart was once beat and was thrusting into it with a bouncing motion, "keep his consciousness stable," a outspread hand-like fingers were grasping over Genos' forehead, "and to level out his blood loss," a thick red and white coiled arm was grasping at the stomach, where it was halved by the asphalt, and it swirled with a circular movement, "until I am able to take him to my lab and do what I can.."

At lasts she allowed a whimper escaping her lips, her body slacked against the steel appendage, bone tired, "But...he's dead."

"For less than a minute." The old man said, though he seemed to slump, "I just hope I didn't come too late for one individual..." He scanned around his surrounding, "I've found only you and the boy alive." Never mind that the boy wasn't. Removing his sad eyes from the boy, fieriness took over his tired expression, "I will not let any more lives to be lost to that damn cyborg if I can help it!"

She opened her mouth, "I-" She was interrupted.

A groan and weak gurgling just came from Genos, thought to be dead.

Pride lifted his mouth into a small smile, the old man nodded, "Ah, so he lives! Good." He pressed more buttons, and one additional arm slipped out from his backpack, much larger than its brethren. Before Genos, it flattened into some form of a metal cot and slid underneath his body inside the ground. It twitched, as if it was stretching itself further and pushed outwardly, peeling him away from the mangled ground. Genos' butchered arm, by all graces, was barely affected by the strange, sleek machinery.

She looked on, a little confused, but understanding its purpose. The old man saw, and nodded, "Yes, quite right. There's too much of a risk moving his body-even if it's not savable." All of the appendages never removed themselves from the boy, still whirring with life to keep him alive. They simply floated with the cot-like device and carried themselves with it.

"You must come with me. A familiar face would be good for your friend." The old man murmured, and with a quick glance at her bloody wounds, he added, "you could use some help too." though he didn't release her from the robot arm still grasping her tightly at her waist. But, being so tired and a little glad that Genos might still yet live, she didn't make a single peep. Dazed, she stared at Genos the rest of the way to wherever this lab was, and became deaf to the old man's worried muttering.

She didn't notice the change in the atmosphere, when the old man brought them to inside of some kind of vehicle and were brought a long way away from the doomed city. Nor had she realized she had been long since released from the robot arm and was dumped onto a cold bench and took attention from some helper bot with her injuries she barely felt at all.

It was only by the old man's insistence that she went to eat something and drink water that she saw where she was. A white place full of whirring machinery and computers. Genos was laid across a metal bed, his body encased inside a large dome of a black machine, with only his head outside of it. His head though wasn't free of these fancy devices either, having contained a mask with too many wires and tubes that hid his face from her view but his eyes.

He breathed still, which brought her a little joy in such a dark place she found herself to be in.

How long had she been sitting on that chair? She was already cleansed of her wounds and with them nicely wrapped with thick gauges, with a clean change of clothes. These clothes were pretty plain and a bit on thin side, but they felt much better than that odd, dirty priestess outfit she wore before.

With yet another sigh to add for that day, she resigned herself to wait, in the hopes that Genos would awaken soon.

A clank aroused her, and she looked to the door, the doctor-or who she thought was one- rolled in with one of his many handheld devices, "Oh, you're here again." He wasn't surprised by any means, though he smiled, "Though, it seems that your shock has lessened some. You were pretty out of it for the past few days. Haven't had a chance to get your name from you, let alone the boy you were with."

Was she really? For days? All she remembered were blurs. "My name is Kagome Hi-" Wait, what was her family name again? "...? I don't quite remember actually..."

The doctor blinked, "Must be the shock again," he murmured apologetically, "It will come to you soon enough, Miss Kagome." He swiped across a finger on the device, to perhaps put in her name, "I am Doctor Kuseno." He greeted himself politely, "May I have your friend's name?"

"Genos." She said without thinking twice, never removing her gaze from Genos' white face. He had such an odd name, but it fit him.

He quirked a brow at it, but he nodded. Seeing her dismayed face, his shoulders stooped and the doctor patted her arms softly, "He'll be fine child, just give him time to recover." The doctor's words were firm but there was something about the way he was staring at her companion that scared her so much she dragged her eyes away from the comatose Genos.

It was that sharpness of knowledge that told of an impeding doom—or unfortunate news. She wasn't sure how, but she saw the very air shifting around the older man, coiling tight of his body. If she had to explain it, it was like watching someone's very emotion take a physical form and twist to their very thoughts and whims.

The air swirled and twisted violently—frustration and concern. Her brows furrowed. How did she know that?

It only became clearer when she looked closer. When she stopped fearing for Genos' life.

Dr. Kuseno exhaled, "His body may not."

Everything came to a screeching halt, "What?!" She yelped, "But he's alive, isn't he?!"

The air of fierce determination became fixed, more solid, "I cannot and will not do anything he does not wish me to-but he will need to know he will be spending the rest of his life inside that machine." Dr. Kuseno turned his back, ignoring the wide-eyed horror etching within Kagome's face, "That's how damaged his body is. I cannot fix his spine. I cannot fix his organs he lost. There is little else I can do but to take the most drastic measures to ensure he will live his life as much as normally as possible." He clicked his fingers toward an idling, human-bodied robot among a busy wall, to emphasize his answer. He left, letting the automatic door to slid close after him.

Dr. Kuseno was glad not to see nor hear the emotions fleeing from the girl.

He spent his days drafting up a prototype for a human boy. It was obvious what the boy's answer will be, but his hands are tied until Genos could loosen them with his confirmation. Who would be a fool to choose living life inside a machine over walking among ordinary people with a body of a machine that looks like a human?

This latest project would be his first to make a cyborg to have a face of a human with functions just like a human. Dr. Kuseno had helped created hundreds of bodies for humans and the intelligent species, but he never attempted anything further than making the bodies simply functional. Simply a robot body with a human brain. He never bothered to entertain an idea of actually going far past that, thinking it impossible.

Having a body of the machine to be like a human? With eating capabilities? With a bowel movement? Why, even feel emotions like a human? A cyborg with the capability of simulating sex and sexual functions?

Hah! As if his peers would have thought it possible.

But, their great deal of losses were of his blame. His own lack of action caused careless deaths from a scheming acquaintance of his-he just didn't know which one but he would make sure they would pay as well. That boy deserved so much more, than just to be a boy. He deserved to live.

That girl made that clear, her eyes were bright with fondness and grief of this Genos.

With that in his mind in a looping repeat, Dr. Kuseno slaved for a scientific miracle for so many hours and days, waiting for the day Genos would wake from his coma. With only his little helper bots to keep him company and to remind him to take a much needed break, he didn't realize a week had gone by.

One of the little bots beeped and a message flashed across its glass belly that simply said: Genos?

"Yes, yes, you're right. I should check on him." Dr. Kuseno stretched, his legs sore from disuse. He found the girl just outside of the room Genos resided, upon a bench. It was clear she was far from well-rested, her face haggled from what must be the nightmares she had.

Kagome tucked her knees to her chin, her arms were wrapped around her legs with a dazed look at the entrance of Genos' room. She pulled her stare when she detected the doctor's movement and looked at him, her face an indescribable emotion. With a nod of acknowledgment Doctor Kuseno briskly entered the door she was scared to enter.

Feeling somewhat brave she followed.

He was scanning Genos' brain for activity for, already, the third time he had been in this room. His hands moved swiftly over the tools and his eyes removed from the scans and refocused on the blueprints drawn before him upon a cluttered table.

She inhaled shakily, seeing Genos brought little tears to her eyes, and forced herself away from him, "How long do you think it'll be before he wakes up?" Her question was left unanswered for a short moment.

He turned to look over at her, "That will depend on him. My creations will keep him alive but at this rate, I think it might be a few days more before he regains awareness." His dark eyes watched as her expression dropped.

"Oh."

His well-worn white lab coat swishing to his swift movement, he turned to give her a firm look.

"You should try talking to him."

Her eyes widened, "Would that really work?"

Doctor Kuseno rubbed his chin, "There's no way of really knowing, but he should be able to hear you." Her eyes drifted between him and her sleeping companion. Her hand twisted on the skin of her elbow, her lips reddened from the sudden compulsive need to chew. Images of his smiling face and blurred pictures of a cozy home faded in and out of her mind's eye. She could remember him, so obviously they had known each other from before. So why couldn't she recall anything else?

"Will you try?"

The air around the doctor swirled rapidly, almost violently—whipping her senses into a panic. Was this emotion one they called determination?

"I will!" She stated confidently, hoping against all hopes that he would wake soon.

The doctor smiled, "Then please do." With that he grabbed all of his papers and files and left her alone with Genos, who breathed still so shallowly in his little metal coffin.

At a loss she stared after Doctor Kuseno's back and the door that clicked close after him, what should she say? She couldn't remember much of anything about herself.

But it was worth a try.

"Hi, Genos, so um..." She dragged a chair closer to Genos, combing her hands through her hair in an attempt to tame it from the horrible sleep she had the night previous, "I'm not sure what to say, so I guess I will start with the basics. So, um," she lightly kicked her feet into the air, "Do you know that my favorite color is apple green?"

Or, she thought that was her favorite color. She wasn't sure, but that was the color that appeared in her head first. Kagome didn't think Genos needed to know about her amnesia. And she didn't want to remind Genos of the dire situation he was in.

"I miss eating home-cooked foods. Doctor doesn't have much but ramen here..." She rambled, grasping anything tangible to say, "But, I don't have anywhere else to go. I think, if he will let me, maybe I can cook for him and you?" Did she really know how to cook? Kagome wanted to say yes, but again she wasn't so certain.

"Oh, I wonder if there's any television here? Maybe he got Sailor Moon, or some anime channel." She rambled away, "Didn't you like Dragon Ball? Or maybe..." Kagome stopped thinking too hard on what to say, and allowed her mouth to do the talking.

The shallow breathing and small beeping from the surrounding machines and wires were her only company.

At some point, she fell asleep, her back bunched over the chair uncomfortably. Quickened beeping didn't jostle her, but wheezing words did, "Th-that looks," Kagome's face twisted in response, but her eyes remained close, "unnnncomfortable."

"Huh?" Kagome lifted a hand to rub her glued shut eyes, "what did you say, doctor?" Somehow her brain was convinced the unknown voice was that of Doctor Kuseno's.

"I, I wish, but," another wheeze, the voice became crackly, "no. It, it's me, Ka-go-gome."

Her eyes shot up and saw dreary, blackened golden eyes of Genos'. He smiled, though it was clear he had to force himself to, "So, you lik-like apple green color?"

Kagome didn't realize she was crying, attracting the attention of an idling bot, who by then alerted the doctor.

Doctor Kuseno stormed in, his mouth gaping with surprise, "Oh...Oh!" He rushed to the machines showing the boy's vitals and blew out a heavy sigh of relief when he saw it functioning as normally as possible given Genos' condition, "Well, welcome to the waking world, my boy..." Throwing a secret glance to the girl, who was holding her hands on her mouth to muffle her sobs, he smiled at his patient with a touch of grim, "Hope your dreams weren't too bad."

Genos choked a chuckle, "I...I was lost for a lit-little while, but Kagome's vo-voice helped me find-find my way out."

The doctor wrote that in his mind and filed it away for later should he gain more patients in similar conditions, "Good, good! I'm glad she helped." And dourness stole his expression, "I'm sure you are...aware of the condition you are in, Genos?" He flickered his eyes to the metal machine that contained the boy's body. He ignored the whimper his words inspired from Kagome.

Genos coughed, "Yeah, it-it's kind o-of obvious." He didn't wish to look, plus the mask that grappled the lower half of his face sort of prevented him to, "Yo-you're the doc-doctor? Kag-Kagome mentioned you."

Doctor Kuseno smiled, a little flattered that Kagome thought enough to talk about him, "Yes. I'm here to help you...But, I need to know if you will be up for 20 Questions game." He patted on the clipboard-like device in his hands, "I do not wish to drain you anymore than it is. I am aware how much energy talking requires..."

He gulped and shuttered when he found even a simple motion was beyond uncomfortable, "I, I am up for it. I'v-ve been sleeping too much, s-so..." Genos looked like he shrugged, though it was impossible when his body was all but invisible.

"Good, good, I hope you don't mind," he turned to her, "Kagome," he patted her shoulder, and made a gesture toward the door, "you seem like you could use some food in your belly. Why don't you go eat?" A tall helper bot whirred to life at the doctor's command.

Seeing the silent request to give them some privacy, Kagome numbly nodded, "Oh, well," She met Genos' dull eyes, "oh-okay, I'll be back, okay Genos?" She smiled brilliantly and gave a short wave, before following the impatient robot out of the room.

When the door slammed close, the doctor gave another rush of air and he shot Genos a miserable look, "Genos, I do not wish to be the bearer of bad news, but," he glanced at the metal coffin, "your body cannot be saved."

Genos turned his sight to the wire-covered ceiling, "I...I see..."

"But!" Genos blinked and turned to look at the doctor again, "you can still live. Perhaps not like you once were, but you can still have a body."

"I-I thought you said ma-my body can-cannot be saved?" He inquired, curious and a touch of confusion that hurt his dazed head a little more than it should.

Doctor Kuseno shook his head, "Not your body, Genos. I can make you a body, and," he sighed, "I want to try my damnest to make it as close as a human body's as possible." Genos remained quiet, but listening. "But, this does mean you will, essentially, be my...how do I put this in the nicest way possible..." The doctor frowned, his nose screwing up with thoughts.

"Lab rat, y-you mean?" Genos showed no expression to reveal his feelings on the matter.

He shuttered with an effort to deny the boy's words, but Doctor Kuseno's chest slumped with defeat, nodding, "We-well, I wouldn't put it as that way, but yes." The doctor turned his device to show the image from it to Genos, "This is a blueprint I'm drafting for you. I've never created a body with a whole intention to make it like a human before, so this will be my complete first."

Genos stared at the doctor. He did not believe him to have any reason to lie. The man's determination to succeed in creating a fully functional body would be the most inspiring reason why he'd trust him. A man like that would have too much on the line to fail. His eyes trailed over to where Kagome had left.

"I want to do it," he tried to lean his head up to show the stubbornness in his eyes but to no avail, "I want to stay with her."

Doctor Kuseno smiled, turning away his device from Genos, "Alright my boy, we'll get started immediately. Hope my questions won't be too intrusive."

While Genos struggled to answer every question as precise and truthfully as he could, his mind continued to drift back to the girl who hardly ever left his side and who wept over him.

Genos spent the next hour speaking with the doctor about his abilities, physical prowess, and psychological stability. As the older man had mentioned, it was quite intrusive but necessary. As they went through each question one by one, the reason he asked them became clearer. There was more to making him a body than just knowing his height and weight. There were certain habits, senses and movements that he would need to be able to recreate with this new body. So Genos withstood the inquiry for as long as possible.

"Thank you, Genos." He shuffled his papers around, clicked around in his touch tablet, and gave him a sharp stare, "Get some rest for now. By the time you wake, you'll be a new person."

The blond nodded, his head trying to loll over to face the exit. Images of a blue-eyed, black-haired girl filled his mind as he slowly drifted back into the abyss of his dreams again. Soon, he'd be able to live again.

He wasn't aware that the girl was at his side again, suffering yet another bout of uncomfortable sleep. When he realized the truth though the following day all it did was to give him more courage to suffer through impending numerous of surgeries and transference, that would soon separate his brain from what was left of his original body.

It took many months and many incidents where Kagome slept wrongly, Genos was at last able to take his very first step.

It was awkward and shaky, but he did it. His body was still at best a prototype, but the doctor wanted to test the ties between his brain and the new body first before he could go further, to prevent any potential disaster may end what life Genos still contained. The body was essentially all crisscross of wires and metal, his face wasn't even his own face. Kagome having trouble recognizing him and differing him from other helper bots was enough to clue him in.

The doctor assured Genos that he would have his face back, in due time. But until then, he'd have to deal with being inside a strange, foreign body. Learning how to operate it was the most difficult part. It was almost like trying to operate a cut string, that would always swing the opposite way than you intended it to. It was bothersome. Eventually though Genos got the hang of it, if a little wobbly and with little accidental craters behind in the walls and the flooring where Doctor Kuseno assured him it was fine and even expected.

With a victorious triumph when he made it all the way across the room he turned to Kagome for praises. But, she only smiled at him with a ting of sadness, her hair unkempt from horrible sleeps she had all the months past (and it wasn't blamed on the horrible position she chose to sleep in). It was obvious that she had little energy to even disguise her uncertainty of Genos being a cyborg. She didn't take the news too well, still, less so when she realized the only thing that Genos would still have of himself was his brain.

If Genos could frown he would have. He turned to the doctor, wishing that the glass eyes would show his concerns. Thankfully Doctor Kuseno seemed to get the hint and gave a tiny sigh, "Give her time. She will get past through this, as well as you will." He softly advised.

Genos hated Kagome's sad expressions. He hated it. For the first time since he woke he hated that wild cyborg that destroyed all they knew and loved. Genos was too distracted to even grieve over the death of his family and Kagome's he was close to.

Now that his brain was essentially cut off from his own body, his emotions seemed to be a little dull, perhaps dead. Genos was going through the motions just so he can live. Live for himself and Kagome who cried so hard over him. So it was little strange to be feeling something near explosive.

It wasn't until he heard Kagome's squall and the bots' loud complaints that he saw he left about two great holes from his mechanical fists.

Only the doctor was able to make a sly remark, "Well, glad to know your arms are functioning correctly."

Several more days passed. Genos was finally able to control his body with a little less effort than was previously. The doctor glanced over his form, watching with pleased eyes as the new cyborg went through the chorus of practiced motions. He'd do this. He'd get through this hell. There was still so much he needed to see and do. He'd be damned if he let the fact that his real body was gone stop him. He shifted his position to flow easily into the next segment of the chorus. Kagome sat not too far away. Her eyes were still dark and her hair stuck out every which way from the lack of proper rest. But something was different about her today. She cocked her head to the side and watched noiselessly as he completed the set.

"You're almost there, my boy." Doctor Kuseno piped up as he jotted a few more notes down, "Now we can go about reconstructing your face and body."

"Really?" Genos exclaimed, feeling more excitement rush through his veins of electricity and wires than he ever thought possible.

"Really," The doctor popped his pen closed and motioned for Genos to follow him, "Let's get started."

"Right!" Genos responded. Just little bit more time. He cast a wayward glance towards Kagome. Her face was stuck in between confusion, awe, and nervousness. If Genos still had the ability, he would've given her a reassuring smile. But he could only give her a soft nod of acknowledgment before disappearing from her sight.

Kagome deflated into herself, once the monstrous-looking Genos was gone. Of course she knew it was him. Of course that Genos had the nearly exact same mannerisms she remembered him to have, just with somewhat of a different voice.

Of course Genos died.

And she couldn't help but feeling the weight of that failure upon her shoulders. She couldn't forget how the nauseating way his lower body was smeared underneath the giant asphalt. She couldn't forget how his beautiful golden hair was ruined with streaks of red and his face sore with a mask of blood.

Bloody hell, she couldn't even forget these little sounds he made while dying.

Her brain seemed to be convinced that the Genos she saw, wasn't the Genos she knew, even though he was the exact same person inside some different body with a little bit of his personality adjusted.

Throw in the sight and smell of death, she was haunted with nightmares for months since, where she'd be all alone and at mercy of whatever ungodly creature that doomed the entire city within a matter of hours. She was at an eternal struggle understanding what to believe. Kagome knew she was being weak, but as someone who failed to remember much of herself, the first thing she saw was darkness and a pool of blood, watching the only person she thought she did remember dying before her eyes, and was now sitting alone and lonely in some stranger's lab, it was inevitable.

Bless the doctor's heart, but he was too distracted to give her the attention she need. The only company she had were these little helpers. It weighed hard on her mentally, emotionally, and physically.

Genos was facing multiple tests for his body, leaving him little time to bask in her miserable company, if at all. He seemed to be enjoying his new body, oddly enough, but perhaps he was appreciative of the new leash of life he received.

At least he knew to be grateful.

Kagome felt like she was sucking life out of everything, and that made her heart heavy.

With a sigh and yet another strand of hair being stuck behind an ear, she got up and returned to the comfort of her own domain she was kindly given by the doctor. Perhaps she would leave soon, to get a new leash on life herself. Maybe that was what she needed. Anything to keep the nightmares at bay.

The following day she packed what little she had and never spoke a word to anyone when she moved to leave all that she knew in the past seven months.

Kagome stood at the threshold of the two worlds. One path led to the surface and the other back to Genos. But she didn't hesitate, she kept on walking. Kagome didn't flinch when the large door pulled open to the open world without a complaint.

"Kagome?" She stopped, nearly jumped at the crackly sound of his voice, but she didn't look back. She didn't want to look. She didn't want to look at Genos who doesn't look like the Genos she remembered.

Genos, thoroughly frightened at the idea of his only friend leaving him behind, approached, his footsteps still heavy. Even in this prototype of a body, he could sense the pain that she was in.

"Are you leaving?" He asked, a feeling jumping through him that felt oddly similar the skip of a heartbeat. He wanted to reach out and physically comfort her.

She nodded, still refusing to look at him, "There's no reason for me to stay. You're getting your new leash on life and I think it's time I found my own way." Something cold grasped her hand-but they weren't large and demonic-like of a giant claw of the machine like she was expecting. Startled, she turned to see what it was and her eyes widened at the cold familiarity of his face, a small gasp whooshed from her dry, chapped lips. Genos had a face-and while it wasn't to the exact likeness, they were close enough. His eyes being the most stark difference, with similar hue surrounded in pitch black.

The doctor had installed eyes of similar color to his original ones in this body and they shone bright—the fierce edge of determination sharpening his gaze.

The bulky body he once had yesterday was traded into something a little closer to a grown boy's anatomy. His golden hair was almost the same, though needing a little more trim-the doctor proved himself to be an amateur at stylizing hair but it was clear he put his heart into making that hair for Genos. His skin was paler, almost glass-like, compared to his previous life's freshly pink peach. The hands that grasped her own...

"You're wrong." His grip tightened, but not too much as he didn't want to hurt her, "There's more here than just a pit of hell." For the first time since this 'rebirth', he wished he had his old body back for this once. So he could hold her properly and reassure her of her uncertainties, "You'll be alone again if you go out there. Stay here," He took a step closer, "Let me show you what life is truly like."

Genos turned her hand over in his, "Let me prove to you that there's more to this future, even if it's in this metal body."

Kagome stared at him contemplatively, her bright eyes shone bright against the bags of darkness underneath, "What are you saying?"

"Stay with me and I'll show you what it means to live." He vowed with all of his heart, his voice strong. Even when she thought that he was asleep or not paying attention, he had heard her cries of pain and grief. He had sensed her sadness and wanted to do anything possible to rid her of it once and for all. The way he currently was, she was unable to accept him fully-a blame he couldn't fault her for. Even so, he'd do anything he could to make her life just a little bit easier. One day, he hoped, she'd learn to accept him in this new body. For that's all he ever wanted from her—her acceptance.

She curled in her frail shoulders, pulling away her hand from his grasp. Genos gaped at the action and wanted to reach out and keep it in his own hands, but didn't want to frighten her anymore than he did. So, he kept them at his hips, into tight balls of fists, waiting with a bated breath.

"I'd just hold you back," Kagome murmured apologetically, and moved to turn away.

Genos' voice stopped her, "Is that what you really think?"

There was a cold silence that fell between them. He knew that she was suffering and that he was being selfish but, he didn't want to let go. He didn't want to let her go. She was the only person left in his life. He wasn't about to let her leave without trying his hardest first to get her to stay.

"Do you really think yourself a burden?"

Kagome was silent, nodding her head numbly. "What else would I be?" Although he couldn't see, Genos could hear the start of a sob at the back of her throat. Something in his chest jolted again. An emotion? The dark haired girl turned around swiftly, "I can't even remember anything before that god-forsaken event!"

She had never intended on telling him. She didn't want him to be burdened by that knowledge, but she just blurted it out without thinking. How could she stay? She didn't even know who she was anymore! How was that fair to Genos? He'd have to do nothing but babysit her, trying to bring her old memories she could never remember. How is that fair to him? Kagome hung her head as her tears fell noisily onto the ground, forming small, tiny puddles. "I can only remember you dying, Genos!" She wiped her eyes, "No matter how much I try I can't just forget that!"

He took a step closer, raising a hand, "How long have you really been suffering?" His voice was soft but the air around him danced with a mixture of emotions. Many of which she couldn't put names to.

"Since the beginning I guess," She sniffed, trying her hardest not to go any further into the subject. Her voice became shaky and ladled with a dampness swelling in her throat.

Genos closed his eyes as his shoulders squared, "Then I cannot leave your side." She stared up at him in shock. He took her hands again, but this time he held them together as his fingers curled tightly over her smaller fists. "You remained here this long to stay by my side-even through the darkest times." Surgeries and the transferring of his brain, was far from easy for him, it was near traumatizing. "You can't remember anything but my death as a human," His golden eyes burned her into her stormy ones fiercely, "I can't allow those sacrifices to go unnoticed!" Without warning she was pulled to his chest. It was hard but not cold as she had expected. He was warm and this body was so similar to the one he lost.

Kagome found herself unable to hold back the tears she had been hiding. She buried her face into what was supposed to be his neck and cried heavily, her hands wringing into the seam of his t-shirt.

"Thank you, Kagome," He turned his head and whispered into her ear, "You've done so much for me. So now, let me do something for you."

She couldn't nod, her body was trembling too much for her to do so, "I.. I can't f-forget," She stuttered through her sobs.

"I won't ask you to," He pulled back and stared into her wet face seriously, "I'm just asking you to give this future a chance. A future with me, okay?"

Kagome wiped her tears away, "Okay."

Genos smiled, a genuine, human smile, brushing a tear from Kagome's cheek, "You're not alone anymore."

-End Prologue

A/N: Blame everything on Limitless Musings. Wasn't going to start another fic, but here it is. Experimented with my writing style again, from my usual dialogue-riddled to something more descriptive. Hope the experiment is received well by you dear readers.

Also, check out her Simplicity! It's actually a little spinoff from this fic (or you can view them like Extras like in OPM manga)! There's little spoilers in it, but the plot isn't really fixed yet, so it's interchangeable at any point. :) So don't hold it against her if there's some/huge differences between our fics.

And as expected, Limitless will be contributing to this fanfiction as well (in some form). :D This probably will be maybe 10 chapters, 20 tops, if the chapter length are pretty decent. No clue when I'll update, but it's likely that the chapters after the prologue will be shorter in length though. This prologue is a monster, at 8k words! So do not think the following chapters will be that monstrous too, maybe under 2k at average. And lastly, while the prologue doesn't feel like one due to the sheer length, it's indeed one, to set the story afterward and to also set up the relationship between Genos and Kagome.

Again, blame Limitless for everything. -hearts- ILY bby!

Beta Reader: Limitless Musings