Kurosu walked down the metal halls of Istas making a clank with each step. The tail of his double breasted trench coat followed right behind him as he continued on his path. He stopped himself at a steel door labeled 'Dr.Kiru' and knocked on it softly. "Hello..........Dr. Kurotsuki...........Mothe-." He stopped himself from uttering the word: Mother. How could he call a woman such as her that when he thought himself less than deserving to be her son? "I came to get my BioTech tuned."

"You're not allowed to call her that, now are you?"

He could hear the rustle of paper being whisked into the air. Then the sound of something mechanical hit the floor with a loud clang. Followed by that something organic crashed into the door in front of him on the other side. What the hell is in there. The door slid into a crevice on the left and the sight of a long black haired and red eyed young woman was rolling around in pain.

Even though her stature was that of a thirteen-year-old, she wasn't too short to be called a child but not tall enough to be an adult either. She was essentially below average height, but her round baby face suggested she was merely a child. She soon settled down and began to rub her head. "Ow, ow, ow, owie! That hurt my head~!" She looked up and saw a pair of the same red eyes she had tower above her head. She immediately knew who it was and her eyes became the shape of hearts-unbelievable as that sounds. She talked with a tone laced with so much affection it would kill the manliest of men. "Kuro~! You're here, you're here! You're really here! Did you come all the way from Itanta just to see me little ole me? I have such a loving and caring son."

"She's really happy to see her 'loving and caring son'.....srk......ha! Loving!? Caring!? I don't think that describes you well, huh?"

He laughed awkwardly, holding out his hand to his mother. "No, Dr. Kiru, I just came to get my BioTech tuned. I've been using it quite often lately and it's starting to bug out a bit. Didn't you get the message that me and my squad were coming....?"

"Mmmm......Nope!" She grinned in ignorant bliss despite being a pretty intelligent doctor. A cute pout appeared on her round childlike face afterwards. "And why don't you call me mom? Even mother would be fine seeing as it would fit that strict demeanor of yours. I know I don't look like I can bear children, but you, your brother, and sister are proof of that fact. And I'm fi-....just know I'm old enough to be your mother too!" Kurotsuki continued her rant. "Your father sure treated me like a woman. He certainly did in bed as well~. Ehehehehehehehe........" She began to drool and daydream about her husband.

Kurosu motioned to his hand. "Hand in waiting here....."

"Oh! Right! Thank you, Kuro. Hehehehe. I was in my own world for a minute." She took his hand and dusted herself off.

Kurosu looked around her lab for a moment. "Dear Gods, there really was a bull in here....." He said to himself.

Papers were scattered all around the gray steel floor, certain devices and medical instruments were strewn everywhere, chemical residue smeared the counters, and the chair she apparently sat in was on the floor two feet away from her desk.

Kurotsuki snapped out of her trance and looked around her lab. She started laughing nervously twiddling her fingers. "You see I haven't been feeling well and cleaning this mess is just so hard and that bastard Hawkin has been working me to the bone. And how the hell am I suppose to clean a lab under the pressure he puts me under! It's not fair!" She cried out. Tears were on the verge of spilling from her eyes.

Kurosu had a soft spot for women in distress. Even if they were crocodile tears, seeing a woman cry was his weakness and seeing his mother's eyes water drove to do what he did next. He rubbed through his short white hair and sighed giving into her whims. "I'll help you after you I get my BioTech tuned, okay?" He didn't mind doing a simple task like this if it was for his mother. Plus, her tears were the final punch to the organ he called a 'caring heart'.

Her eyes lit up like a fireworks show. "Really, really, really!? You will!? I knew I had such a lovely son!" Kurotsuki hugged her son's waist. "Well, you know the routine. Clothes off, undergarments on, and go lay on the uncomfortable coldness that is a Bio Scanner." She pointed to a metal machine resembling a table with a strange surface.

Kurosu nodded. "Understood." He began to take off his black trench coat, then his other clothes.

Once he got to his underwear his mother threw one hand in the air and the other over her eyes. "St-stop, stop, stop! Just your clothes! What the hell did I tell you! 'Undergarments on'!" She wasn't very good with naked men even if it was her son. Looking back at it, she remembered her first night with Kurosu's father. Most of the time was spent shielding her eyes from his....body. "Ehehehe~. Not there Shirosuke....." She returned to her perverted daydreams just like that. Although as easily as she returned, Kurosu easily broke her out of it by not calling her anything but what she wanted him too.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

"Understood, Dr-." A scalpel passed by his head, cutting a lock of hair off. He looked at the owner of the scalpel, smiling side to side, then at the fallen lock of white hair.

"What was that Kuro? I know I didn't hear 'Dr.' come out your mouth. Did I?" Once a tone laced with love and affection was now laced with something more akin to killer intent; killer intent aimed directly at Kurosu.

He nervously gulped down some saliva. "Yes..........mother."

"A little scare like that made you break your own rule. Ha, weak!"

"Good! Now, get on the machine and lay down~." She said skipping over the console controlling the table.

Kurosu cringed at the ice cold feeling of the table along his back. If there was one downside to getting a person's BioTech tuned it was having to lay on a cold piece of metal that was known as the BioTech Scanner. "I'm ready to start."

Kurotsuki started the machine and it began scanning his entire body. It instantly picked up the implants around his spinal cord and brain. "So, tell me how you are Kurosu."

Kurosu stared at the steel ceiling above him. "I'm doing fine....just a bit tired from the missions we've been getting. It's like we're being used solely just to do grunt work. I don't want a suicide mission, but.....I feel useless. We're soldiers........yet we run off to stop petty thieves. We have the power to do more than just that....we could go on the battlefield."

Kurotsuki frowned. "So what are you saying? You want to go out on the battlefield again. To take so many lives all in the name of war...........to see the people you love and care struck down before. I would've thought after the Chrona's Fields and the Ngozi Genocides you would've realized: the battlefield isn't pretty. War is hell, sweetheart, and I pray to the gods everyday that I don't have to experience that same hell again as I do the same for you."

Chrona's Field.....my first real taste of war. I lost a lot of good friends that day even a brother. And the Genocides.....all those people. Kurosu felt a stabbing pain in his heart and that knife was called past. "Please, don't bring up Chrona's Fields. I lost to many people that day." He gripped his hand tightly in anger. "I even lost the meaning of what brother meant. I look at Mukora's face and I can't help but remember the things I did during the Genocides. I haven't even been able to touch grandfather's sword since then......." He trailed off, not wanting to speak another word on the subject of his war campaigns.

"I'm sorry Kuro......I didn't.......I just don't want you thinking that war is the solution to strife."

"I wish it wasn't but the cold hard truth of our reality needs it to solve problems. War and death are the only ways to solve the problems in our nation and if it helps the lives of the people in it. I'll gladly do what has to be done. The only thing talk does is prolong the inevitable and gives the enemy a chance to stab you in the back when you don't expect it."

I wonder is that you talking or father. Kurotsuki lamented the thought of her son thinking like her father. "And by killing you only bring misfortune to others. It's a never ending cycle that you soldiers are continuing to prolong. I never wanted you to become a soldier like your grandfather, Kurosu. I never wanted any of you too, but please don't take on that his views on war. I love that man and I hope he wakes up from that coma of his, but I his ideals are flawed Kurosu. They shouldn't be entertained in the era we live in today. You're only pushing ideals that fit a age long past, and by doing so you continue this cycle."

Kurosu sighed. "I'm........I'm not taking on anyone's views. I know....I think I know why I'm fighting. I'm not even sure why I do the things I do now. All I know is that I want to see a world brighter than our own now. One where children don't have to signup as a Trainee or Cadet just to feed themselves. Where we don't look down on other races because they're not completely human. My sins....our sins will be the seeds that will bring new life into our nation. I just want my dream to come true....that's all."  

As much as Kurosu wanted to say he knew what he was doing with all his heart he couldn't. He had a dream, but no reason why his actions would justify achieving that dream. He wish he could tell his mother why. The truth was he wouldn't only be lying to his mother but he'd be lying to himself if he did. He didn't know, but in the end...he did lie. "I know everything I'm doing is for that dream. It's contributing to something. I just have to see it through."

'What a load of bull! Me and you both know that's a damn lie. You're in this crap for revenge and revenge only. Hehehehe....I'm glad you're my host. You're entertaining, for a human.'

Kurotsuki smiled wryly. "I sure hope that dream of yours happens. Gods know war hasn't been kind on our family." A awkward silence loomed over the two. "On another note, have you visited your sister yet." She said trying to break the silence.

"She's......Shiro is doing fine. I visited her last month. You know she's actually getting out soon. Told me to give you a message.....," Kurosu stopped, reluctant to relay the message to his mother.

Kurotsuki sighed and drew a hand across her face in frustration. "What did that damn girl say?"

Kurosu cleared his throat and delivered a rather vulgar message. " 'Go kill yourself you shit eating lolita slut and stop sending me your damn letters'. "

Kurotsuki's hands halted. ".................l-lolita......slut....I'm.....going to wring that girl's neck when I see her!"