Warning: This chapter contains slight gore and child experimentations. Be warned.

Several weeks had passed after Kazama and his children moved into his home and the trio had been happily living there ever since.

Tenshii and Kuze often takes care of the house when their beloved "Mother" leaves for a mission, they find ways to have their own fun while waiting for their chocolate buns that Kazama would buy for them after a mission.

"Brother.. Why do aragami exist?" Tenshii looked up from her porcelain tea set, meeting the older boy's eyes. "Well.. Papa told us that things went wrong in the past, and Aragami are here because of it." Kuze gave a simple explanation as he sipped from his tea cup, a reserved smile painted on his pale face.

"..the aragami.. what if they are God's punishment to us for treading the forbidden path?" Tenshii's eyes wandered over to her windowsill. The sun was shining over the green patches of grass as they danced merrily along the wind.

"Who knows, Sister.. Who knows.." Kuze closed his eyes, his sister is truly a born poet, such a sentimental thought.

"Do you think we can go to town today, Brother? I want to see the town today..!" Tenshii's dark eyes shimmered with childish innocence as she gazed on her brother.

"We can lock the house right now, Mama did tell us that this place is well-secured." Kuze gave in immediately to his sister's desire. That burst of energy she has when she finds something interesting. Kuze finds it adorable.

Such a doting brother he is.

"Yay! I'll get the keys!" Tenshii went off her little stool as she daintily reached for the keys.

A little walk wouldn't hurt, wouldn't it now?

Meanwhile, a child's muffled scream of pain could be heard from the inside of Rui Schaden's laboratory as the young child's body convulsed, suffering greatly from the effects of the young researcher's experimentation.

Wisps of platinum gold hair gently danced from the researcher's movement as he injected another dose of prototype bias factor onto the poor child, earning another pitiful scream from the tormented soul.

"Tsk. Noisy brat. If you lot were not that useful I wouldn't have bothered with you." cold lavender orbs looked down on the child's pitiful form as a click could be heard, signaling that someone has opened the door to his little laboratory of horrors.

"Hello there, Rui-kun." a masculine voice echoed from the doorframe, immediately upon hearing that, the young man who had cruelly experimented on a child was gone and in his place was a young man filled with childish admiration.

"Dr. Johannes! A pleasure to see you." Rui smiled from ear to ear, not even attempting to hide his glee.

"Yes, yes. I came here to ask for the report on the bias factor you have been developing." Dr. Johannes reciprocated the young man's smile. "As of now, none of these children were compatible with it...." Rui's gaze trailed down, ashamed that he has failed his master.

"Now, now. Don't feel down, Rui-kun. Failure is needed in order to succeed. How about you go to town today for some sightseeing? You must be tired from all these work." Johannes's gaze was locked on to the children who were deemed as "failures", none of them were able to become compatible to the bias factor they had developed.

A waste of resources, as Johannes would like to say. Of course, not in front of his precious tool whose eyes were glazed over with admiration towards him.

"I'll do as you say!" Rui immediately discarded his white lab coat, revealing a lavender turtleneck and his cool blue jeans. "Yes, now then. Enjoy yourself, Rui-kun." Johannes' smile never left his eyes as the foolish researcher exited the room,

"My precious tool."

The outer ghetto was as lively as ever as two children walked together hand in hand, relishing in the scenery of human beings doing their daily lives.

"Brother.. It's so lively.. I could watch them forever..!" Tenshii's eyes glistened, Kuze nodded with a smile, watching fellow humans are one of their favorite hobbies, despite being humans themselves.

"Sister, shall we? our clothes attract attention." Kuze gently tugged on his sister's hand as the younger sibling obliged, following her brother along the way, their eyes glistening with amazement with human civilization.

Or what's left of it now.

Rui's platinum blonde hair stood out of the crowd as his head bobbed left and right, searching for children he would deem as good candidates for experimentation.

for his guinea pigs [children], he prefers the quietest among them. The meekest, and weakest of hearts as Rui hates noise. Especially when doing his work.

"Too whiny..." He mumbled, looking at the cheeriness that the children exude, disgust was visible in his eyes until he saw a certain child clad in a black dress, standing in front of a stall. a light brown cloak covered her petite form, but it failed to cover her doll-like gestures that exude elegance.

That child is Perfect.

Rui immediately shot forward to collect the child. Hopefully, this one would not only be the perfect guinea pig, but also the successful guinea pig.

Tenshii's dark eyes were clear and alert, she had noticed the strange blonde man who was looking at the children who were playing nearby,

Ara? was he one of those men that her Mama Kazama warned her about?

Hopefully her brother would come soon. He had only bought some candies from the nearby stall and told her to stay put there as young boys were fighting for the delectable pieces of sweets on display.

Too dangerous, he said.

now, the blonde man's eyes were on her, wild, crazed, and depraved.

Like the aragami she used to run from. It was as if he was going to kill her the very second she'll come into contact with him.

Tenshii stood her ground. staring heavily as the blonde man tripped on a stray can and fell in front of her feet.

"What a clumsy mister.." the dark haired girl mumbled, holding out a hand to the fallen researcher who took it gratefully.

Rui was ashamed to fall in front of this guinea pig. Blood rushed to his cheeks, as an embarrassed blush coated his face. Thoughts of painful torture that he'll inflict on this insolent brat engulfed his mind in an attempt to clear away his embarrassment.

"Mister. Next time. Look where you're going..." a nonchalant voice rang out. The blonde researcher was flabbergasted— a young child, whose age he cannot fathom, scolding him? a grown man?

"You— you insolent-!" The blonde researcher's embarrassment peaked as he glared at the white haired child who had suddenly appeared after the perfect guinea pig had helped him up.

"Thank you for taking the words out of my mouth, brother.." Dark eyes stared coldly at Rui as a shiver went up his spine.

"Let's go home, sister.. Mama told us not to talk to strangers..." Kuze's stare was as deadly as his sister's. Giving the grown man another chill on his spine.

"Especially creeps like him.." Kuze mumbled as he took his sister's hand as Tenshii grumbled about how their trip was disturbed by that creepy man.

"I hope he trips on another can again." Tenshii grumbled as she kept close to her brother.

* E x t r a *

"It was a good thing that we managed to hide their files, Kazama-kun." Dr. Sakaki smiled at the young veteran as he sipped on his tea cup.

"Yes... Never did I even imagine that Rui would turn his gaze towards them..." Kazama sighed, visibly shaken by the news that his children had came across a "blonde creep."

"You cannot protect them forever, Kazama-kun. Something needs to be done." Dr. Sakaki set down his cup.

"Yes.. I know.. despite our post-apocalyptic situation, status and power does still have its merits..." Kazama sighed again.

"Yes. Yes indeed, Kazama-kun." the doctor could only agree with the veteran gunner.

***

Amen. This meeting was never really planned, but here it is. xD