THE AWAKENING: BIO-GENETICS

"I'm sure by now you have noticed some loopholes about Yuki," Anzai began in a serious tone.

Shino gulps hard.

"She's a very strange person, from the start, and also her interest in Hiro... I don't wanna conclude on anything but I want to be sure, but this is a start of how mysterious Nagami Yuki can be" Anzai said dropping a transparent tablet before Shino.

Shino took it to read the contents, it was Yuki's profile before Black Storm day.

"This is...." Shino's eyes trembling.

Anzai nods.

"There's no info about her, how's that possible?"

"She's blank, we couldn't trace a family or anything, all we know is that she was present on a black storm day, the same spot Hiro was in," Anzai said as his eyes narrowed.

"You mean she has known Hiro way before Black Storm?"

"It's not certain yet... still there's a high possibility her social files were damaged during black storm day just like some of yours were but still..."

"You still suspect something," Shino said for certain.

Anzai nods.

"Which is why I want you to keep an eye on her, Commander Shino, and gather what you can"

***

Present Day

"I will come with you!" Shino said in a high-pitched voice sliding down the rock towards Yuki.

"Huh?" Ten made a sound dumbfounded he didn't expect that.

He watch as they walked further ahead.

"Ten"

He turned at the sound of his name.

"Haya-chan," he said elatedly.

She blush when she read his lips but more when she saw his happy expression when he saw her.

"Mind giving me some hand" she intoned holding up a bucket of fertilizer.

***

"Wow Haya-chan, you planted these?" Ten said amazed seeing the large rice field, covering the entire area they were in.

Haya giggled.

"Well I did have some help," she says pointing at Raiden, Kaname, Usagi, Emiko, and Sakura.

"But rice is mostly planted on wet season, it hasn't exactly rained since we got here" Ten reasoned.

"Oh about that, I worked on some sensor sprinklers like the one we have back in the base, I just redesign it to suit the field, when it's time, the sprinklers come up like rain wetting the ground. Look I placed them above the trees so that it will seem just like rain" She explained.

"Look at the tiny pipes, I connected the sprinklers all the way to the beach so that we have endless supply" She continued, before turning to Ten.

Her mouth shut instantly when she saw him staring with a big smirk on his lips.

Her cheeks heated.

"W-What?" she said shyly.

"You're a genius Haya-chan" he comments.

She blushes more.

"A pretty genius actually" he adds scratching the back of his hair.

"P-Pretty" she stammers.

"Yes you're very pre-"

"I heard you the first time!" she said in a shrill tone placing her palm on his face, covering his eyes, her face all red.

"Hey, I can't see!"

Haya gasp feeling his hand tapping her palm against his face, she quickly pulled away.

"Sorry"

"It's okay," Ten said chuckling.

"Aww... they are so cute together, don't you think," Usagi said squeaking.

"I say Ten doesn't know how to flirt," Kaname said huffing.

"You just happen to be the expert don't you, you damn perv!" Emiko snaps at him with white eyes.

***

The birds chirped as Yuki and Shino searched the area for Hiro.

"Where has he gone off to now," Shino said sighing, his gaze turned to Yuki with an unreadable expression but even behind the mask he could tell.

"You're worried about him," Shino said for certain.

Yuki's body stiffens at his words.

"I just don't want him to blame himself all the time, it doesn't help" she states.

"Hiro has a good heart, he might be naive sometimes but he always has a habit of putting others before himself," Shino said with a smile against his lips rubbing his prosthetic arm with the other hand.

"Yeah, he's like that" Yuki said with shaky eyes remembering when the Alpha pinned its tail on her arm, and then Hiro coming to her recuse, the wild look he had.

"He goes through odd lengths to protect the people he cares about," she said faintly but Shino heard her.

"You aren't just worried about him, you are worried about the strange connection he has with the Queen Kaiju".

The breeze bluster around harshly, Yuki's eyes widen at his words.

"Am I right, Yuki?"

Her eyes trembled.

"Tell me, Yuki, is there something you know that we don't"

She held her head.

"Something about the Kaiju or the Alpha's, you seem to know why they are after Hiro, do you know why they want him?"

Yuki's head sparked and it burned, her fingers clenched her head tightly.

"The voices," she said so faintly that Shino almost didn't hear her.

Shino's looks turned puzzled.

"...they just won't stop"

"What won't stop?" he asked.

"Yuki... Yuki?.... Yuki!"

He placed a hand on her shoulder, her body instantly stopped trembling.

"You shouldn't ask too many questions, Shino-san"

Shino froze at the name, she was doing it again just like she did before, sounding like a different person altogether.

Shino lets go of Yuki, his face turning stern.

"Who are you?" he demands in a serious tone.

Yuki slowly turned gaze to him, Shino froze with wide eyes when saw her eyes, her violet eyes were lighter than normal, and within were golden spiral lines like a coding, something he couldn't understand.

And more, she looked... his eyes trembled, she looked sad?

Yuki's sad eyes were fixed on him, he could see it, he could feel sadness, he could feel a deep pain he couldn't explain, and it made his heartache, what pain could she have possibly experienced and more how and why was a girl like her so sad.

Shino's look turned downhearted, just by gazing upon a flush of sadness and emptiness, he was on the verge of tears.