• Raindrops splashed onto the sidewalk as a young form ran down the empty street, panting for breath. Behind the young man were two men dressed in black chasing him.

    "Get back here!" one yelled as the boy stumbled over the sheath of the small kodatchi he was carrying but kept running, glancing back to make sure they weren't about to grab him. He didn't see the another man step out and rammed right into him, falling on his butt. He looked up in fear and saw who he'd bumped into, another young man his own age with chestnut brown hair and red eyes,only one being visible. Another man stepped out,this one obviously older with white hair and icy blue eyes. The latter glared at the men who ran up to the three.

    "Hey, care to help us catch that one?" one of them asked as the other approached the boy. The older white-haired man stepped in front of him and whipped out a gun.

    "What was that?" he asked as the brown-haired one helped the other boy to his feet.

    "Who are you?" he questioned as the other's golden eyes widen in shock.

    "I- I'm T-Toboe. My name is Toboe Ookami,"he said, tilting his head at the one that had helped him up as he smiled.

    "My name's Joe,"he replied as the white-haired man loudly told the other two men to get lost, having not been able to get any information from them. The white-haired man then turned to Toboe and offered him his gloved hand.

    "Hey, I’m Albert Henrich," he said as Toboe took it, still looking confused. "Do you have any idea why those men were chasing you?"
    Toboe just shook his head.

    "I don’t know, but they just tried to kidnap me, I can tell you that,"he said,dreanched to the bone and very in danger of falling ill. Albert frowned and placed a hand on his shoulder.

    "Do you have anywhere to go where you would be safe? You’re welcome to stay with us."he offered, thinking it better to try a legal way instead of just taking him home and probably ending with him listed as a missing person. That would probably end in them getting in trouble for kidnapping instead.

    "I’m staying in an abandoned building. I dont really have a home ever since my parents died."he said,wondering if these guys were really who they said they were. Albert shook his head.
    "Then it’s way too easy for them to get to you. ’Specially if they know where you live,"he said as Joe nodded.

    'If these guys are working with those men from before Im screwed, 'he thought to himself until he heard Joe talking.

    "Come on,it’s starting to get cold."he said,placing his coat over Toboe's thin shoulders. The slightly younger,shorter boy looked up in surprise and Joe simply smiled at him. Toboe nodded and followed them to the outskirt of the city where a large mansion sat. A woman about Joe and his own age walked out and called to them.
    "Joe, Albert. Come on in, it’s freezing out here,"she yelled before seeing a drenched Toboe between the two. He was shivering like crazy and so was Joe,altho not quite as bad since Toboe had been out in the rain alot longer. She gasped and dropped her dishcloth before rushing to them as they neared the porch.

    "Oh my gosh, what happened? Who is this, Joe?" she asked, almost frantic. She knew that in weather like this hypothermia and pneumonia were very easy to catch when wet. She hustled the three men inside and rushed to start a blanket warming up over the fireplace before bringing back a towle and starting to dry the boy's base-of-neck length hair. Toboe just blushed and seemed puzzled about what all the fuss was about as an old man with gray hair and a beard walked in to see as well.

    "Well, well. Who is this?" he asked,looking from Toboe to Joe to Albert, who answered.

    "This is Toboe Ookami. We found him being chased by some men in black and offered him a place to stay for awhile," he said, putting emphasis on the men's discription . Gilmore narrowed his eyes.

    "I see. And is there any reason why Joe is soaking wet?" he asked.

    "I gave Toboe my jacket to keep him from getting any wetter than he was. It didn’t work too well,"he said, grinning sheepishly. Gilmore chuckled and walked over.

    "Welcome, my name is Dr. Issac Gilmore," he said, offering the boy his hand. Toboe took it and the man smiled.

    "If you want, I’m sure we could find you something else to wear and we could throw those clothes in the dryer," he said.

    "He can borrow some of mine. It should fit,"Joe said, having finished drying his hair. Gilmore nodded and Joe showed their new guest up to his room to find something for him to wear. Toboe took a baggy red shirt and a pair of bluejeans into the bathroom to change, coming out a few minutes later looking a little embarrassed.

    "Is it okay, Toboe? I can find something else," Joe said. Toboe just shook his head.

    "Nah, I’m just not used to wearing someone else's clothes,"he said, explaining his blush. Joe just laughed and nodded.

    "I know that feeling," he said, letting Toboe set the sheathed blade down and taking him back into the living room where the two were wrapped up in a blanket and told to stay still. Toboe's hair gradually got drier and took on a dark brown color with tints and hues of deep red. Joe looked at it and smiled. He liked it for some reason and blushed at the thought, looking away. Toboe noticed and tilted his head.

    "You okay, Joe? Your face is red,"he said,placing a hand on the cyborg's forehead. Joe nodded.
    "Yeah, I’m okay," he said, smiling and waving off Toboe's concern. 006, introduced as Chang Chanko, chose that moment to bring dinner in. By that time everyone was too busy eating to question anything. Afterwards most of the cyborgs were looking at a very drowsy Toboe. He yawned and curled up on the couch beside Joe, looking as though he were about to go to sleep.

    "So these guys that attacked you? They never said what they wanted, did they?" the one called Jet asked. Toboe sleepily shook his head and Francious shot a furious glance at the orange-haired boy.
    "Jet, now isn’t the time for this. The poor boy is exhausted," she snapped before softening her gaze and her voice as she turned to the boy in question.

    "You can tell us what happened in the morning. Your bedroom is this way," she said,getting up and showing him to a medium-sized room with one window and a large queen-sized bed and a dresser. Toboe smiled, thanked the girl and lay down. He was out like a light.

    The next morning Toboe awoke and heard yelling. He sat up and found that it was about 11:00 in the morning. He looked out the window and saw several men in black uniforms fighting with the family he was staying with, all of them clad in red. He rushed out,finding Francious on the porch and asked what was going on.

    "Go back inside Toboe,"she told him,"It’s not safe."

    The boy just shook his head and put a hand on the hilt of the weapon that was already strapped to his waist.

    "If they're here because of me, it’s not fair for me to let you fight on your own," he said, rushing in and quickly taking out one of the men.

    After another hour and a half of fighting, the enemy was gone and everyone else was exhausted. Jet turned and smiled at a panting Toboe.

    "Not bad, runt. Where'd you get that thing, anyway?"

    Toboe looked up and stood,sheathing the kodachi in a smooth movement.

    "It was my great great Grandpa's. He fought in the Meji Revolution and this sword was kept in the family. Its really weird tho cause it's still in pretty good condition,"he explained. Jet just patted him on the back and they went inside for breakfast.

    A few months passed and nothing major happened. Toboe had the flu once, but other than that and a few random attacks nothing sinister came their way. Jet commented on that once.

    "It’s so weird," he'd almost yelled,"We know he still exists and he knows we know. You would think he'd have sent something stronger than a few units of brainwashed drones after us by now!"

    Albert simply shrugged.

    "Maybe he thinks we're not that much a threat, or maybe since he was after Toboe and he's with us, they don’t wanna send anything that might possibly get mad and harm him too," he explained. Gilmore agreed with that and everyone just settled back down.

    Toboe himself was enjoying his time there. The people were nice, Joe had become his best friend and most importantly, nobody treated him any different because he didnt have a home or anything else. They didnt even question it! After almost a year there, the boy was completely at ease unless he was fighting. Gilmore and the others had even allowed him to take a class on how to use his sword properly!

    One morning, though, he awoke the about 5:00, drenched with sweat and panting. He'd just had a horrible nightmare. He shook his head,brown hair swinging by his chin and neck as he stood and walked into the living room, An hour later Joe joined him downstairs,finding it odd that the boy was awake at this hour. Joe's friend ususally awoke about 9:00 or 9:15. He only woke up earlier or later if something was wrong. He sat down beside him and touched his shoulder.

    "You okay?" he asked.

    Toboe nodded.

    "Hai, I’m all right,"he said., Joe remembered the boy was at least half Japanese as well. Joe smiled a little.

    "Then why are you up at this hour?"

    "It’s nothing. It was just a bad dream."Toboe definitely didn’t like the way this was going. Joe was worried and he asked questions when he was worried. Toboe turned to look at his friend's face and saw only concern for him.

    "Do you wanna talk about it?" he asked. Toboe just shook his head and smiled.

    "It’s okay. It was just a dream right, Nii?" Lately Toboe had taken to calling Joe his brother. The older boy found it endearing and since Toboe liked it too the others just accepted it. Joe nodded and they settled back to pass the morning.

    Later on that same day came another attack. This one, however, was different. There were swarms of insects and robots along with one cyborg much like themselves. He had his emotions but he was completely loyal to the Black Ghost. Codenamed 0018, he was a thin blond young man in his early 20's with spiky hair and an aptitude for agility and traps. While Toboe helped in taking care of the bugs, anyone of the cyborgs who could had taken a shot at the other cyborg, but none of them could actually hit.

    "Is that the best you can do? Come on,"he taunted before leaping out and punching 007 right in the stomach. Albert, who was nearby, aimed his hand at him and was taken by surprise when 0018 ,the new cyborg, accelerated and sent him flying into the cliff face. The insects were now pretty much gone as well as the robots, 005 finishing the last one as Albert was thrown.

    "Well, well, let’s see how well the rest of you fair," the new arival sneered before accelerating again. 006 was tossed into the ocean immediately and rammed into 008, who pulled him ashore only to be zapped by the electric setting on 0018's gun. Both of them landed unconscious on the shore. 005 flung boulder after boulder at him as the agile boy drew closer.

    "Too slow," 0018 smirked as he sped past him and delivered a hard kick to his back, the sound like two armored cars colliding as a jolt of electricity also hit him in the neck. 005 was down, finding the breath had been knocked out of him and his body was in major shock from the electricity. He passed out from the jolt. 002 and 009 tried to rush him, but the boy jumped over Joe and rammed his fist right into 002's nose, causing him to land against one of the boulders 005 had thrown, knocking him out. While in the air, 0018 aimed his blaster at Joe's chest and pulled the trigger. It would have hit, too, if Toboe hadn’t flung the sheath at him at the same time 003 yelled for 009 to dodge. The wooden article hit 0018 in the face and caused him to move over, scoring 009's arm before he could totally get out of the way. The brown-haired cyborg yelled in pain and clutched his arm before looking up as 0018 accelerated towards Toboe. He picked him up by the collar and shook him hard enough to daze him.

    "All right, runt. I’m sure the boss has had just about enough of you resisting. Why don’t you be a good little g--" 009 chose that moment to ram into 0018's side, releasing Toboe from his grip and knocking them both to the ground. 0018 stood up first with a battered Joe right behind.
    "Aww, wanting to save your friend. How nice. But it won’t work. What Black Ghost wants, Black Ghost gets, and Black Ghost wants the git over there," he said,pointing at Toboe.

    "No. I won’t let him change Toboe, too,"Joe yelled angrily. He knew exactly why Scarl,the leader of Black Ghost, wanted his friend. He wouldn’t allow Toboe to become a cyborg like him.

    "Then die, you stuborn prototype,"0018 yelled, obviously expecting a victory. The two rushed at each other, pulling their guns out simultaneously. They raised their weapons and just as they fired, Joe tripped. Toboe saw his opportunity without seeing the blast heading his way. He flung the sword at 0018, which struck the cyborg through the heart at the same time his laser tore a hole through Toboe's left side and out the back. Both fell to the ground ,one dead and the other seriously wounded. 003 and 009 both ran to him as he attempted painfully to get up.

    "Don't move," 003 commanded as 009 lifted him. Both of them as well as Gilmore rushed towards the medical room in hope of repairing the gaping hole before their friend bled to death. Toboe had passed out shortly after being picked up and as soon as they reached the medical room, 009 was told to put him on the bed and leave. He did so but sat outside the room for what felt like hours, head in his hand. He felt guilty. One moment of clutziness may have cost him his best friend. As they awoke or found themselves able to move, each one came in and awaited to hear how their friend was. He may have looked like a wet dog when he first came to them but he was definitely a special part of their family. He'd helped 006 in the kitchen, sat around with 004 reading books, played sports with 008, watched 002 or 007 either play video games or recite poetry in their respective times, and just about everyone else had something they enjoyed having him around for.

    About two hours later, Gilmore and 003 walked out. Gilmore seemed a little nervous and uncomfortable about something and 003 was white with shock.

    "How's Toboe?"Joe asked immediately. Gilmore rubbed the back of his head, looking still more uncomfortable.

    "Well, Toboe's fine but we umm..we learned something. Joe, you better come with us. Its a little shocking," Gilmore stated,leading 009 down to the lab where Toboe was about ready to awaken. The others waited at the door,able to clearly see their friends from where they were sitting. Something seemed different about their younger friend but they couldn't quite place it until...

    Toboe opened his eyes and looked around.

    "Joe,"he asked quietly as he started to sit up. Joe walked towards him with his hands out to prevent the younger boy from straining himself.
    "It’s all right Toboe. I’m here, and you’re--"Joe cut off when he took a look at Toboe from a distance. ALL of Toboe was outlined against the sheet from his waist up.

    "T-Toboe. You’re a..."

    Toboe tilted his head and looked down. He blushed and looked beside him to find the linee strips and his um...personal item setting beside him. He then looked at Joe as the young cyborg fully comprehended what he was seeing and the others came running down the stares.
    "HOLY SHEEZE! Toboe's a GIRL!"Jet yelled, clearly freaked out over the new revelation. 003 covered her mouth with her hand and gasped a little.
    "Oh..my,"she stated,shocked.
    007 covered his eyes and turned around yelling,"My EYES! I cant beleive this," as 006,who was standing beside him passed out.
    002 just shook his head and left the room,face red,along with 004,005 and 008. The latter commented,"I think I've had enough for today."
    001 smirked from where his basket was floating above them.
    "I was waiting for you guys to notice,"he laughed.
    Joe only stared. His face heated, and he swallowed.
    "T-Toboe...y-you're a...a...,"Joe didnt get to finish as his world fuzzed over and went black.
    He collapsed onto the floor out cold. Gilmore looked at the two on the floor and shook his head.
    "It was shocking but not THAT shocking,"he said as 005 walked back down and removed 006 while 003 helped Joe move towards the couch.