Andromeda

The Inner Man – Episode 15 – Unspoken

Chiko was getting increasingly annoyed by the minute. He hated what it was that he was forced to do. He had spent an hour trying to get himself out of this mess, but it was no use. At this point he was stuck having to deal with it because it was already happening. He could not believe that he was being forced to do something like this. It was unspeakable to force him to do this, though he had already done his fair share of speaking on the matter. But even still he wanted to beat someone up for putting him into this position.

There was no reason for him to have to deal with this problem, he was not even the one that had done this either. He could kill her for doing this to him, if it was not impossible for him to do such a thing. However, in spite of him not being able to place his vengeance on person that put him in this situation he was still a little comforted by putting the two monkeys in their place for laughing at him. They were laying engraved into the wall at home twitch painful after he was finished with them.

Chiko still could not believe the trouble that one-day that he was gone had screwed up his life so much. He could just strangle her for doing this to him and all she could say to him was, "Tee hee!" It was so nauseating having to listen to her voice in his head. The thoughts that went through that empty head of her were so grating on him that he gave the doctor another beating for simply that. She had put him here right now, and would not come out at a time like this to deal with this stupid problem that she went and did yesterday. He was going to kill her if he was ever in his own body again.

It was the simple the well-known fact that he could not stand the school or most of the students in there. They were all children running around without much care about anyone other than themselves. He was forced to spend most of his day with them every single day, and now this. If she did anything more to him like this he did not know what he was going to do with her. It was so annoying now that she was out there. Everything was different now with all of that having changed the situation. He was no longer alone anymore; he had to hear that voice in his head. It was so grating listening to it just pop up every so often.

If this continued he was going to go insane from not being at peace. He thought it was bad enough that every so often it felt like he lost control of himself and there was someone else there inside him. But now it was certain, he knew who it was and had to live with the constant possibility of that happening at any point in time. He did not know what he was going to do anymore with her just appearing whenever she wanted. Chiko needed to know that he had some sort of control; it was his body now after all. That stupid doctor put him inside this body on accident. It was not by his choice to be place in a body that already had someone living in it. But the fact was that it was his now, not hers anymore and she needed to learn that. However, he had serious doubts that she even comprehended the situation that they were in anymore than she understood that she was not even real. He could kill the doctor for doing this to him, not only did he completely and utterly screw over the last remaining piece of his life by putting him in the body of an eight-year-old girl. But then to top it off and put in him inside a body that he create a mind for already that had even less intelligence than an eight year old girl. If it was not for the fact that he had one problem after another continually being dropped on him, he would have killed the doctor already and just screwed the small pieces of his shattered life that he still had.

And now this, he could not believe it. He had been shouting in his head for the last hour for whatever futile reasons that he could come up with. It was really unbelievable the stupidity that the girl possessed that she would go and do something like this. This was her mess that she made for him and she was refusing to take responsibility for it. She had gotten upset at him for yelling at her for ten minutes straight when he learned about this. Now she was so scared to even approach him that she was hiding away in the recesses of his mind not responding his pleas to come out. It only made the matter worse for him now that he had to live through it. It was so horrible and terrible that he could not even utter the words it was unspeakable. "I'm going to kill you two when I get back," he muttered through is teeth.

"Did you say something, Kohana?" Nobu asked.

His voice snapped Chiko out of his internal argument and popped him back into reality. Chiko flailed about with his hands a little bit being surprised back and trying to let Nobu know that there was nothing wrong, when there clearly was something seriously wrong. "N-no no, I didn't say anything."

"Oh…"

Chiko sighed. Nobu did not really know his situation, about all he knew was whatever everyone else in class knew. Which was pretty much that he lived with Mashiro and that was about it. The only one that really saw him in a different light was Sakura, though that was not by choice. She just happened to have the ability to be in places where she really should not be, but managed to get there anyway despite of that. So it was often that she saw Chiko's other side, which namely was beating Mashiro to a pulp for being an insensitive jerk. Nobu fortunately was not present during these outbursts of his and he wanted to keep it that way. Chiko did not even want Sakura near him; it was a pain having her around him so much and even more so with Mashiro near. He did not need another lightning rod for things, not to mention that Chiko had even more troubles lately than ever before with everything that was happening to him. If Sakura was close to him at the worse possible time, she could get caught up in his problems. Chiko did not want to involve the children or the school anymore of his problem they were already jeopardized once.

The two walked down the sidewalk, Chiko still trying to find a way out of this even at this point. He had been tempted to run away several times, but he really did not know where he was going to run. The whole area was just the neighborhood, so most of the houses were blocked with gates and fences everywhere. There was hardly anywhere for him to go to get away from him. 'What am I going to do, argh!?' he said to himself has he frustratingly ran his hands through his hair panicked.

"Something bothering you, Kohana?"

"Huh? Oh, n-no n-nothing. Heh," he said trying to laugh it off while he was thinking to himself about it. 'Yeah, I don't want to be here with you. You might be 'friend', maybe but this is not what I want to do to spend my free time doing!' Chiko continued along the path keeping his distance and trying to find something to get him out of this situation that he was dropped in.

"You sure? You've been acting a little strange the since we started walking."

'You'll have no idea how much I want to just tell you right now…' Chiko just ended up repeating the same lines he had been using since this started. He really did not have anything else that he could say, at least anything polite that he could say. It was painfully obvious that he had plenty that he had to say none of which could be spoken though. Chiko even had some choice words that he generally did not speak that he felt like using right now.

He could still hear the echoes of those monkeys voices in his head it made him nauseous having that run through his head. His face was flat and twitching with his veins popping listening to their voices play through his head. Chiko was getting fed up hearing the sounds as he stopped suddenly the noise becoming too much for him to forget. He had his head tilted down blacking out his eyes with a heavy shadow as Nobu looked back at him confused. There was a heavy dark aura around him, that was scaring Nobu. Chiko's whole body was twitching having to constantly hear them running around in his head. He had enough and shouted in a burst that rocked the trees and knocked Nobu to the ground. "I can't take this anymore! AH! I'm going to kill you monkeys right now, I swear!"

Chiko then suddenly pulled out the monkeys that were making noises in his head glaring at them with eyes that make even the most cold-hearted person afraid. The two monkeys immediately froze up like ice while they sat in fear of what was going to happen next. He then suddenly was handed a metal pipe that had a happy heart shape on the end of it and swung it backwards behind himself with the sound of every single muscle tightening. Chiko was at full tension and then released everything all at once swinging down whacking the two monkeys sending past the entire class of students that were following behind Chiko and Nobu. The speed that they left the area created a large wake behind them that blew most of the students into the open out in the street.

It was then with Chiko settled down that he noticed his entire classroom in a pile. The fact that the entire class had followed him with nothing better today only made him even angrier. The children realizing that their cover was blown trying to feebly find ways to act as though it was all simply a coincidence that they were here. A very large coincidence that only someone that was a complete idiot would actually believe, at which point Sakura stepped forward. "Hi! Kohana!" Everyone was sweating in embarrassment at this point while Chiko only continued to get angrier.

Chiko was then suddenly over taken by a strange shrieking repulsion over his entire body that left him in cold chills. He looked down to see that a confused, dazed and more than likely unconscious Nobu was laying on the ground next to him with a clear view up his school uniform. She immediately took over and Chiko was thrown back into a cell practically not able to control himself at this point.

Kohana shrieked out loud which had everyone in the pile at a lose with the sudden change. She then proceeded to bring her foot down in a sweep that picked up Nobu's unconscious body by the chin. The swing of her foot continued to follow through as she spun around with him at the tip of her toes to send him flying into the pile of students. "You pervert!" After that out burst from her, she sped down the sidewalk out of sight leaving everyone confused with a lot of stares at an obviously unconscious Nobu.

Even though Chiko was angry for everything, he was glad to be out of that situation now. He doubted that he would have handled it in the same manner; he did not even know that Nobu was there. The reaction did seem to be pretty natural though, so it would be easy to get away without having to explain himself. It did mean that Nobu had to be kicked around and beat up for that to happen, but at this point Chiko was just glad to be rid of that. He just had to have a talk with Kohana now and get his body back under his control.

'Stop already and let me out of here!' There was unfortunately no reply to his shouts to her. She seemed locked in a panic to get away from everything. Chiko found it to be rather amusing, though he needed to stop her so that she was thinking straight even partially. She was running off of pure emotions at the moment, which was over riding his ability to regain control. He could not understand how an artificial intelligence could have emotions, let alone stronger emotions than him. It was not something that he could understand, even though the doctor had explained it to him.

He could remember yesterday very well, it was clear to him, as it was to look through his eyes to see his hands. It all started when he had finally regained control of his body after having been in hiding for more than a day. Once the two of them had settled down from their overly excited hugging that had left him unable to breathe things were finally put into place for Chiko. The doctor explained to him as he did to Mashiro about what happened and why the girl known as Kohana appeared. During the of course of the lesson Chiko was held back by Mashiro from completely killing the doctor a number of times. It was also Mashiro's unfortunate circumstance of being nearby to Chiko when the doctor gave him discipline while he was speaking.

Once he had reached the end of the lesson Chiko was in pieces almost from the crushing weight of random figures of animals that were on top of him. He tossed them aside where they gathered with all of the rest of the leftovers and Chiko sent the doctor flying into the bathroom for good measure.

"You know I'm going to be the one that fixes that thanks your temper," Mashiro said to him while there were flailing noises and cries from help coming from the bathroom.

"My temper!? If I saw correctly, that bathroom was already a mess before I put him in there!" Chiko said getting in Mashiro face.

"There something you trying to get at then say it!"

"You broke it first with your temper!"

"With good reason! I don't need some whiny child telling me about my temper when his is no better!"

"Good reason? I think I had just as much good reason to put him there. Even more than you!" The two were now rolling around on the floor grabbing at each other face and flailing around into whatever was near to them. In spite of Chiko small size he was doing well for himself to keep Mashiro off of him, they seemed to be evenly matched. The fighting continued on the floor even as the doctor was crawling out still trying to get their attention.

"You should be kind to your elders you know. I'm not as young as I used to be." The two continued to ignore him completely distracted by their fighting until the doctor dropped large metal elephant between them that forced them to separate as it fell through the floor into the pile as well. The gap in the floor made the two come to their senses as the doctor whacked the two of them with his paper fan to have their attention. "Really, I'm not a young as I used to be."

"I heard you the first time, and you aren't old. You are only thirty-six, so stop complaining!" Chiko said yelling back at him. The three stared each other down for a few seconds until they all settled down seeing that they were not going to get anywhere simply fighting. Chiko and Mashiro sat down with their arms crossed and the doctor opposite of him was adjusting his glasses. There remained a silence between them for several minutes until Chiko spoke up. "So doc, I'm back and whole right? You fixed me."

"Well I cannot be certain from the earlier scans that I made what the state of your mind is. With you settled back as the dominant persona I can examine you to see if it is 'fixed' as you say." The doctor pulled out a few of his instruments and had Chiko lay on the bed again so that he could look at him a final time.

"No funny business or I'll kick you."

"But…"

"I said no! N O. Understand?"

The doctor sighed and nodded to him not giving a verbal agreement to Chiko, which had him a little worried. Chiko knew that he did not have much of a choice in the matter though; he had to know that he was back and that stupid girl would not return again. He did not need another incident at the bank. Even though he could not remember the bank too well, there were images in his mind that made him shudder. Chiko knew that the doctor was insane, this was just further proof of that fact. It was proof that Chiko had regretted receiving since it meant that things were screwed now. He was uncertain what sort of damage publicly she caused, but it was not something that he wanted to think about too much. Chiko was afraid of what he was going to learn in the next day about everything she did in his place.

The doctor had finally finished with his examination with the starting of a black eye. Chiko sat up trying to restrain himself while the doctor began to speak.

"From what I could learn Chiko does have control over the body once again. But it is not permanent anymore like it was before. Since the other personality has been awakened to this extent and remained in control the barrier between the two is no longer as strong. The line that divided them is gone and the two will begin to bleed into each other."

"What?! You have got to be kidding me! I'm not staying in this body if I have share it with that, t-that thing!"

"I'm no thing, I have a name!"

"Shut up I wasn't asking…you!" Chiko paused blinking not realizing what just happened until he got to the end. It was then that he began to understand in part what the doctor was talking about. "She didn't just?"

Mashiro nodded a little blank faced still in shock of what just happened. The doctor on the other hand was excited and grabbing at Chiko wanting to hear his daughter's voice more. Chiko immediately responded to his advances on him again by punching him in the face to get him off of him. He could not believe that things just got worse for him; it was bad enough being inside this child's body and now sharing it.

"What are you doing?" Kohana said rushing over to try to reach the doctor when Chiko snatched back control stopping her. It was then that he realized that she had far more control over things than he thought initially. He was going to kill the doctor right now; unfortunately she was restraining him enough that he was paused in mid action shaking to get free.

"Give me back control, I'm going to kill him!"

"No, stop!"

"Shut up already, this is my body now!"

Mashiro finally came around to his senses and jumped on the bed to hold back Chiko. "We need him alive and able to speak to explain this, then you can kill him."

"Grr…fine."

"Daddy!" Kohana said hugging Mashiro suddenly knocking him down on the bed with her over top of him. It was not much of a surprise to Mashiro as it was to Chiko who suddenly ripped back control of his body.

"Eww! Get away from me!" Chiko crawled up the side of the wall almost to get away from Mashiro wiping himself off. He could not believe the amount of control that she had over the body. Chiko could not stand the idea of being that close to Mashiro, it was just not right for him to be that close. He wanted to ring that girl's neck for putting him in that position, but he could not even touch her. There were veins popping on his head in frustration as did not know what he was going to do now with the situation changed in this fashion. "Arr ahh! This could not possibly get any worse!"

Chiko dropped himself back on the bed with a heavy frown that ran across his face. However, that expression did not last long as it turned to shock and confusion as a loud noise cracked through the room. Everyone paused not know what was going on anymore, it was as though something was breaking. It was then that the loudest sound was heard as the entire floor of the room gave out and fell down into the den below. A large plume of smoke rose out of the crash filling the entire room

Once the smoke and dust settled it could be seen that the bed was on top of the mess that had Chiko clinging to it by the headboard and Mashiro was lying upside down on the ground at the edge of the pile. Around the pile were all of the assorted things that the doctor had dropped on them. The numerous holes that were created in tossing them aside had weakened the entire floor that it could no longer withstand the weight. It was fortunate that most of the things on the wall were still up in the room, but the bed was another story.

It was then that Chiko lost his grip and slid down the bed turning around in the process hitting his head on Mashiro's head. The two lay on the floor dazed as the doctor crawled out of the rubble that fell on him. The doctor approached them and pulled them out of the room into the living room where it was cleaner. They slowly regained their senses looking around trying to figure out where they were now.

Chiko was fighting with Kohana inside his head for control when the doctor coughed loudly to get everyone's attention. He seemed to be serious at this point, Chiko turned to look at him to see what it was that he wanted them for. He was growing tired already of having to forcibly keep Kohana in check so that she did not take over his body whenever she wanted. It was a tiring effect mentally and he did not know if could keep it up. At this point he was afraid that she was going to win and he would become locked away again. He hoped that the doctor had a solution putting her back where she belonged, hidden away out of sight of him.

"As you can see the effect has already begun. The two minds will continue to fight for dominance in the body with the barrier gone."

"Is there anything that you can do?" Mashiro said. "This c-c-can't BE healthy." Kohana had regained controlled and was snuggling up against Mashiro holding his arm tightly. Mashiro tried to pull out of the grip, but she was far too strong for him. His face was twitching slightly with uneasiness having her over him. It was true that he sort of became used to this today, but knowing that Chiko was in there as well trying to fight it back was unnerving for him. He did not know what he was going to do anymore with the two of them in there fighting for control always switching out without warning of any kind.

The doctor was having some adverse reactions to Kohana being close to Mashiro. He tried to speak several times, but was having trouble forming words. "A-at this point, I really don't know anymore. This has advanced far beyond what is theorized in the scientific community. It was believed that it was possible for two minds to exist in a body, but it was deemed far too hazardous to the health of the host body to even be attempted."

Chiko broke through Kohana nauseating hugging to get out a respond even though not in complete control. "Hazardous, am I going to die?"

"I don't know right now. Your mental and physical scans are stable right now, but I really don't know what will happen at this point. I don't even want to speculate about what is possible."

"I need a better answer than that."

"That is all I have right now. I will have to look over the results more thoroughly to provide you with a better answer."

"And what about-"

"Daddy!"

"Her, is there a way to control it?" Chiko said struggling to finish speaking before he lost himself again. It was clear now that there was no way that he was going to be able maintain complete control all of the time. Though he needed to know that he was the one in charge, he needed to be able to put her in her place. Unfortunately, she was completely ignoring him at the moment too distracted by Mashiro. He was growing tired of this, but knew that he could not do anything about it. It was just enough for him to be able to speak at this point.

"Maybe, I might be able to give you a mental suppressant that would allow you maintain control longer, but…"

"But what doc?" Mashiro said.

"She's my daughter, I can't just do that to her. She has as much right to being free as you do."

"D-doc, this is not the…t-time for what's right. She is fake…I-I'm real…that is a-all that m-matters."

"But its not…"

"Doc, you have to do something for him. Chiko is the one you need to be thinking about."

"Its not that simple!"

"Nothing ever is, but right now Chiko needs your help," Mashiro said. 'Not to mention I need you to get her under control. Its so weird having him this close, I can only imagine how he feels about this.' Mashiro knew that the mind of Kohana appeared to be real and there have been endless debates over AI rights, but this was not the time for it. Chiko was the one that needed to be in control, there was too much right now for it to be screwed up by Kohana who did not comprehend what was happening. "Doc, she already exposed us. We can't afford another mistake that could cost Chiko his life and everything that we have worked for up to this point!"

The doctor sighed looking down at the ground knowing the heavy burden that was being carried. He understood the importance, Mashiro knew this, but he had to remind him of the fact. Mashiro could not lightly step around the facts anymore; something had to be done if things were to continue safely.

"Very well, I understand." The doctor stood up and walked over to the stairs. "I just need my things, I'll be right back." He quietly disappeared as Mashiro focused back on trying to find some way out of Kohana's grasp.

"Can't you do something back her?"

"What's wrong daddy?"

"I-I'm trying…she's t-too strong…right now."

Mashiro got up from the couch hoping that she would fall off of him, but she was still clung on to him. He carried her around the room on his arm feeling like it was going to fall off at any point. He did not know what he was going to do with her if the doctor's medicine was not successful in getting her under control. It was uncertain right now if she could even be trusted to take on Chiko's life, she got lost the first time coming home. Mashiro sighed out loud sitting himself back down on the couch knowing that there was not going to be a way to win against her like this.

It was not long that the doctor returned to the living room with a few things in his hand. He walked to Chiko sitting down next to him while he was still clinging to Mashiro. The doctor pulled out a vial along with a needle to inject Chiko with. He quickly filled the tube and stuck the needle end into Chiko. The doctor then cleaned up his things and walked away shaking slightly.

Mashiro looked back at Chiko to try to see if there was an immediate change or not. It was not apparent to him, though he did notice that his arm was free from the grasp of the tiny hands. He looked at Chiko hoping that it was him and not Kohana. Mashiro was still a little worried that it was not going to work. He was afraid that she would end up jumping on top of him because something suddenly came over her. Mashiro pulled away from him a little uncertain out of fear of what was going to happen next.

Chiko could feel something happening as he seemed to have feeling back in his hands again. It felt like he had his body back and there was not a struggle to maintain it. He could not even hear Kohana right now, which made him happy. It was freeing to know that there was not someone else in his body thinking thoughts at the same time. He could pick up on some of the things that she had been thinking and it made him want to throw up. Chiko did not know how long this was going to last, but he was glad to finally have control again. "I'm back! For real this time."

"You are sure?"

"Yeah, I'm sure," Chiko said kicking Mashiro in the shin.

"Gah! Yeah, that's you. Ow, that hurts."

"I'm making up for the time I didn't get to kick you."

"Thanks…" Mashiro hobbled over to the doctor to get his attention, who seemed to be distracted by something else at the moment. "So doc, how long this going to last?"

"What? Its enough for a few days at best, you'll need to take regular injections to be able to maintain control. But remember that this is only temporary; if you go without the injections too long you will lose control. Also, this does not prevent her from coming out still. All this does is weaken her mentally enough that you can exercise control yourself. She still exists in your mind and can at any time surface if you become too weak mentally or physically. She will remain present able to see what you do, there is the chance that strong emotions or mental stimulation will cause her to take control. This just allows you to hold more control, but remember you are on a balancing scale."

"Can she hear me?"

"Mostly, it will be like listening underwater, not all of it will be clear."

"But our minds are separated now, right?"

"They should be for the time being, but you two will probably share thoughts between each from time to time depending on the circumstances."

Chiko did not like the sound of that, it was apparent that he was in control again. Though he was not so sure about how much control this really was in the end. All the medicine was doing for him was tipping the balance in his favor enough. He did not have to maintain the struggle, but he could feel at times that he had to focus. It was going to be hard going through the day having to remember to keep her in check all the time. But he hated the idea of her doing something during class that he could not explain, which gave him enough of an incentive to make sure that did not happen.

Chiko stood up walking over to the doctor and Mashiro. He looked up at them with a serious look, "I might not say this very often, but thanks." Chiko let a small grin reveal across his face as he looked away. It took Mashiro by surprise who did not know what to say.

The doctor unfortunately did know what to say, "If you feel that way, would wear this for me? I just finished making before Mashiro called me and I haven't the chance to see how it looks on you."

Chiko had not even turned around and veins could be seen popping in anger. When he did turn to face the doctor his fist was coming around the side of his waist in full swing. The punch slammed into the doctor's face so hard that the wake left a spiral of dust around his arm blown away. The resulting impact sent the doctor out of the house and into another person's house before disappearing as a star in the sky. Chiko breathed heavily afterwards with a pleased expression across his face. Mashiro was twitching in shock as he had felt the impact of the punch from where he was standing.

"Give it rest!" Chiko shouted, even though the doctor was no longer in the room. Chiko then marched off with his arms out from his side angry looking like he wanted to break something else. Mashiro managed to find himself and walked in the opposite direction not wanting to approach him at the moment. He had to figure out how he was going to clean up the huge mess that there was in the room that was now an extension, vertically, of his bedroom. Mashiro looked up at what had been his room sighing as a piece of wood fell down kicking up dust. It made him cough. "This is going to be a long week…"

The night passed along quietly as the doctor finally returned from wherever he had been. Everyone settled in getting rest, though Chiko was opposed to the doctor staying around further. But the doctor insisted on remaining so that he could monitor him for a while. It was not something that he was pleased about, the doctor screwed up so many things already who knew what further he would screw up. There was unfortunately no parting with him though.

Morning came and Mashiro made breakfast for the three of them, which was a little unusual for him. The doctor had quite the appetite for food, which surprised Mashiro. He barely had anything left in the kitchen from yesterday and now he was completely out of food after breakfast was finished. Chiko was still waking up as he was walking away from the table though.

"What's wrong with you?"

"Kohana woke me up at 4am, 5am, 6am…if she wasn't inside me I'd kill her already." Chiko walked off ready to leave for school grudgingly at this point when something stopped him. Kohana was saying something to him, though he could not completely understand what it was that she was telling him. After she repeated it a few more times, he screamed out loud, "What?! Oh, you better hope we stay like this forever, because the moment I get out of this body the first thing I'm going to do is KILL YOU!"

The shouting got Mashiro's attention along with the doctor's, both approached Chiko confused. All they saw was that he was angry again like last night when he punched the doctor out of the house. This made Mashiro immediately recoil in fear to keep a safe distance. The doctor was not so smart about it though and approached him.

"What's wrong?"

"I can't believe it. She actually made my life worse, when I thought it was not possible. I can't believe it. Oh, I'm going to kill her right now."

"Chiko!"

Chiko looked up at the doctor venomously as though he was blaming him for all of this in spite of him not understanding what he was talking about. "You!" Without even thinking, Chiko jumped up and throttled the doctor knocking him over to the ground. He proceeded to bang his head against the floor until Mashiro leapt in to try to stop him. However, he was met with a look so dark that Mashiro did not even need words. Unfortunately, Mashiro while sweating and shaking attempted to pull Chiko off of the doctor. It was at that moment that Chiko lost control.

Kohana released the doctor and immediately clutched onto Mashiro's arm that was pulling him off the doctor. Mashiro flailed around trying to get Kohana off of him as the doctor regained his breathing. After several minutes of struggling everything calmed down and they were all standing apart from each other Kohana still in control at the moment.

"So dear, what was it that you told Chiko?" the doctor asked politely.

"Oh, I just wanted to let him know that I setup a-"

"Don't say it! I told you not to even utter those words again!" Chiko had finally stopped Kohana from running away from Nobu and the others. It took him a while to bring her under control and take back his body that he lost briefly. He had been arguing it over with Kohana, which had been enough to break her concentration that he was able to exercise control finally. She had been in control from the strong emotions that she felt that it was blocking any attempts he had to assert himself. It was thankfully for him, his ticket for getting out of that stupid situation she had put him in.

Kohana had set the whole thing up the day before when she was in his body. Chiko did not know it until she had brought it up in the morning, which at that point he suddenly gained the memories of that moment. He understood what she had done and could not take it. Once he had left the house and got to school he had tried to get out of it with Nobu, though the other students prevented him. Then Sakura had just pulled him away and he was left trying to claw his way back futilely.

He was then forced to walk with Nobu after school. Kohana was so happy and Chiko was so depressed. He could not even get her to come forward though to take responsibility, having some stupid childish reason about him needing it. Chiko did not understand her logic.

'Why can't I say it, there is nothing wrong with the word.'

'Grr…its just wrong!'

'Why?'

'Why?! Why? Why should I have to explain it? It should be obvious.'

'I don't see what is so wrong with going on a-'

'There you go again! Stop it!'

'Date.'

'Argh! Now you said it! Take it back right now!'

'Why? I don't understand what's wrong with saying it. Its normal.'

'For people of the same age! And different genders!'

'But you're a girl.'

'I am not a girl! You are, not me!'

'But you're in a girl's body right? So you're a girl. Tee hee!'

'Tee hee? Gah! You'll never understand.' Chiko sighed out loud and began walking back to the house too tired to argue with her about it anymore. He just wanted to get home and rest. There was going to be plenty of trouble when he got to school tomorrow, but he was just going to have to deal with that when the time came. He had enough of this day that did not want deal with anymore of it.

A darkened figure stood before The Superiors, they had just finished their meeting. The figure was escorted out of the room leaving The Superiors alone. The five looked at each other not speaking, but having already come to some agreement. The matters in Osaka were becoming more troublesome by the day and tensions were increasing from the numerous syndicates that existed there. They did not like what was happening in Osaka, the city was too unstable.

"This could be useful."

"I would agree, though we cannot trust him."

"No, but he will be an important pawn."

"Yes, having someone from Section Three in our pocket will be important for what is to come."

Chiko walked to the back of house, the doctor told him that Mashiro was waiting for him. He did not know what it was that he wanted, but it sounded serious for once. The doctor remained in the house as Chiko approached Mashiro. "The doc said you were back here."

Mashiro turned to look back at him, he was leaning against the fence that went around the backyard. "Yeah, something we need to deal with."

"I'd rather not."

"Even still, it was not settled."

"Its in the past, I prefer not to have to dwell on it."

"But we are just going as though it did not happen. We can't ignore it forever."

"Maybe so. While I haven't sorted it all out yet, I know I have to move past it."

"Yes, but still. I didn't want you to have to see that."

"Hehe, well there are a lot of things I shouldn't have seen in the last few months. Things that I wish that I could forget, but that haunt my nightmares. Even so, saying that and you saying you want to talk about it is not going to stop them. This is something I'm going to have to deal with on my own."

"You aren't alone."

"Yes, I know. But still, all the words won't fix this. I don't blame you for this. I've had plenty of time to think about it and I know this is not your fault. It is not going to be easy and trust will not be easy. But in time…"

"Yeah…"

"One step at a time, right?"

"Yeah…"

The preview for the next episode:

"Well I'm back in control finally. Gah, how long has it been since it was just the two of us doing a preview?"

"Tell me about it, a lot has happened since then."

"Yes, nothing is the same anymore."

"But there is still more to do, a trail to follow."

"Right, new things coming over the horizon. You think you can handle whatever it is that comes at us?"

"Don't worry, you got Mashiro!"

"And Kohana!"

"What are you doing here? This preview is just for Mashiro and me."

"Whaaaat?! But why? I want to do it with you too!"

"Grrr...I don't need you making matters worse for me!"

"Get her off me!"

"Hehe, one way to solve matters."

"Help me!"

"Oh wait, almost forgot about the preview. On the next episode of The Inner Man, Breadcrumbs. The trail has been followed for a while, where does it lead to?

"Trail huh? Getting all serious on me huh?"

"Yeah, we’re coming to the climax soon your body going to hold out?"

"As long as you don't kick me too much."

"Right, don't miss it. Who knows where the kicks will land! Tee hee!"