Summary: Tao looks after the Raizel Knights.

Set post-season 4.

Happy birthday, oceanlover4evr! :D She asked for the RK.

Checking In

By Dark Ice Dragon

"Sooo," Tao said, parking his butt on the kitchen counter, his hands by his thighs. Boss was downstairs so for the moment he was safe from Boss' wrath of dirtying the counter. "Do ya need a taste tester?"

He grinned as Miss Seira looked at him over his shoulder, a small smile on her lips. In front of her, the stove was covered with bubbling pots, each one filled with something that made Tao's mouth water.

"Are you asking because you want to help, or because you want to taste some before everyone else?"

Tao chuckled, leaning back and swinging a leg. "Both." No point trying to hide the truth, not when he didn't have to. "So can I?" he asked, leaning closer to her, trying to angle for an innocent grin.

Miss Seira's smile twitched wider. "You can have one bowl."

Tao whooped, hopping off the counter and dashing to where they kept the bowls. "Thanks, Miss Seira!"

xOx

Tao ambushed Regis when he saw him come down the stairs. Tao slung an arm around his shoulders and Regis squawked when Tao poked his forehead with a finger.

"Did ya do yer homework?" Not that he had to ask - Regis wouldn't have left his room if he still had stuff to do. That wouldn't have been responsible of him.

Regis sniffed. "Of course."

Tao grinned, ruffling his hair. Regis' hair sprang back into place as soon as Tao lifted his hand away - it had to be some sort of inherent noble power that meant it was almost impossible to make their appearance scruffy, no matter how Tao tried.

Before Regis could glare at him, Tao said, "Do you wanna play some Counter-Strike to celebrate?" Regis had a small competitive streak that made playing games with him fun and got better every time he played - and why he and M-21 had a tendency of snarking at each other every once in a while.

Regis smiled at him instead. "All right."

xOx

Tao found Takeo and M-21 on the balcony and he leaped at them, slinging his arms around their shoulders. They didn't stumble, taking his weight with no trouble. He even dangled a little, thanks to the difference in Takeo's height, and he snickered as he swung his legs.

"What were ya doing?" Tao asked, trying to see just how high he could get his legs with each new swing.

"Having a quiet chat," M-21 said, but there was a smile on his face anyway.

"Ya love me," Tao said, squeezing his arms to give them an extra hug.

He heard their soft huffs of acknowledgement and laughed.

xOx

Tao ducked into Boss' lab, following the hum of the machines. Boss was by one of the smaller ones, Raizel-nim sitting close by. He couldn't smell anything, so Boss probably wasn't trying out a new recipe.

"Hey, Boss," Tao said with a wave, "do you need any help with anything?"

Boss hummed, glancing at him over his glasses. "There's some results I would like recorded."

"On it, Boss!" Tao saluted him and went to the usual place to get started.

xOx

Tao stretched as he left the main lab, his spine cracking. That was everyone checked on and they were fine.

He blew the hair out his eyes as he walked to his security room. He'd done the same in the DA-5, but it had been a cursory check, just to make sure they could still fight. He'd done it because he'd had to - being the weakest, he had to prove his usefulness in other ways or else he could have been scrapped.

With the Raizel Knights, it was the opposite - he checked on them because he cared about them. He wanted to do it, to see how they were, to make sure they weren't needing something physically or mentally.

Now that was done, he could start working on his own stuff.

xOx

"We finally have some peace," Regis grumbled, and Takeo looked up from the book he was reading. He glanced at the clock and frowned.

"When was the last time we saw Tao?" he murmured, still loud enough that the others in the living room could hear.

When was the last time Tao had checked up on one of them was a more accurate question.

"I saw him at dinner," Miss Seira said, Regis nodding next to her.

Takeo shared a look with M-21. "We saw him just after that," Takeo said, watching M-21 pull out his phone and send a text. Four hours wasn't too long to have not seen Tao, but still...

"Have we seen him leave the house?" Takeo asked, and was met with shaking heads.

M-21 frowned at his phone. Still no response? Tao tended to answer after a few seconds.

Tao could be busy, but he could have gone out and might have gotten into a fight. Takeo stood up.

"Miss Seira, can you check his room?" he asked, turning to her. She nodded. "Regis, the main lab, and M-21, the roof. I'll go to his security room."

Once they had checked the main places Tao could be and he wasn't there, then they could start to worry.

xOx

Regis had been quiet as they walked down to the lab and Takeo nodded to him as they parted ways. As much as they commented on the amount of noise Tao could make by himself (or could make them make because of something he'd done), that was still preferable over silence.

Takeo opened the door to Tao's security room and sighed, his shoulders relaxing at the sight of Tao curled up on his keyboard.

Tao didn't stir as he approached, or when Takeo touched his shoulder.

He lifted Tao up from his chair with well-practiced ease, carrying him against his chest. All Tao did was turn towards him, trying to burrow into his warmth. He was a little colder than usual, and hm, even with the master computer there heating the room, maybe they should convince Tao to bring a blanket down with him as well. That shouldn't interfere with his typing.

After making sure the last thing Tao had worked on was saved, Takeo left the room.

The door to Frankenstein's main lab opened as he neared it and Regis walked out. Regis' expression cleared at the sight of them, though he frowned at Tao's sleeping form.

"Again?"

"Again," Takeo confirmed as they walked upstairs.

"This is becoming too much of a habit," Regis muttered. "We should check on him more often."

Takeo nodded.

"Set an alarm every two hours," M-21 said from the top of the stairs, his arms crossed and Takeo smiled at him.

"If he complains," Seira said next to M-21, "we'll remind him that he does the same for us and we should repay the favour."

It was only fair, seeing how often Tao checked in on them.