They'd signaled Citiciss to be ready, since someone outside meant someone could spot him a great deal more easily than they could when their field of view was limited by a window. Watching as the two figures, one of whom just might have been little Yukari Fukamachi, as they strolled around in the nice sized garden around the side of the house the two tracker-Zoanoids listened to hear any conversation that they might be having.

They didn't manage to hear anything, though, since the people on the ground were just a little too far away for them to hear, and the wind wasn't helping this time. The sound of footsteps on the rooftop behind them alerted the Zoanoids to the fact that they weren't the only ones on the rooftop anymore. Before they could turn and confront the person standing behind them, they each felt a strong hand close around their necks.

Itching, burning pain spread through their bodies, and before they could so much as scream they felt some other presence invading their minds...

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Aptom grinned as he felt the Zoanoids becoming a part of his body. It looked like he was going to have to hunt down a Citiciss if he wanted to make sure that Chronos wasn't going to be able to find out too much about the Guyvers' safehouse. And, as far as Aptom was concerned anything more than the fact that it was there was too much for those bastards to know.

So Aptom was going to find that Citiciss and then he was going to have some tasty Zoa-bird for a side dish. No one except him was allowed to threaten Guyver I; either of them. Though the fact that these little appetizers were so interested in little Yukari wasn't exactly what he'd been expecting. He'd pretty much expected that Chronos would be out for both of them, since they were both causing the same amount of trouble for Chronos.

Though at the moment that amount was none, so really they shouldn't be so concerned about what two little Guyvers were doing way out here. The fact that those little Guyvers seemed to be taking a vacation from doing stuff to piss Chronos off was kind of unexpected, but with how badly those two had been shaken-up by what had happened to their friends, maybe he shouldn't expect them to do anything for awhile.

Aptom just hoped that they'd get over their issues with confronting Chronos' new Zoalords sometime soon, or he was going to have to take it upon himself to shake them up again. Those two were thickheaded enough that Aptom wasn't sure they'd be able to adapt with any real speed, but then again he could always hope for them to get their heads on straight.

Before he had to resort to something drastic like beating the reluctance out of them.

Though he wasn't going to count on those two coming to their senses anytime soon. That meant that he'd have to keep busting his ass to keep those two idiots from getting themselves killed by Chronos. Or captured, in Yukari's case. Though why Chronos would even bother capturing her in the first place, Aptom wasn't sure he wanted to know.

Aptom almost found himself wondering why Chronos didn't seem interested in Sho, but for the moment he had far more interesting things to concern himself with. That tasty little Citiciss was going to make a nice between-meal snack.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Sitting in Prof. Odagiri's garden, playing with a flower that she had picked, Yukari tried not to think of anything in particular. At least, nothing pertaining to the... currant situation. The feel of the sun on her face was nice, at least where it got past her hat. Yukari was glad that they had managed to find some clothes that would hide their identities from anyone or anything that might have been watching them.

She just hoped that nothing would happen while she and Sho were trying to enjoy the day with each other. The shriek of something in pain drew Yukari's attention away from the flower she was holding. Looking up toward the roof of Prof. Odagiri's house, Yukari just managed to catch sight of something that looked very much like the wing of a bird.

Though it would have had to be a very large bird, to have a wing that size. And the only birds that grew to be that size were... Dropping the flower, Yukari ran over to the back of the mansion, calling the Guyver even as she turned the corner. Yukari could hear Sho's voice, calling out and asking her what she was doing, but she wasn't going to stop.

If that wing really did belong to one of Chronos' bird-type Zoanoids, then everyone in the mansion - all of her friends - could be in very real danger. Flying up to the roof of Odagiri's mansion, Yukari was confronted by the strangest sight she had ever seen thus far.

Aptom had his hands wrapped around the neck of the birdlike Zoanoid, and most of the Zoanoid's body was almost completely absorbed into the Zoanoid eating Lost Unit's body.

"Hey, little girl!" Aptom called, grinning happily at Yukari as he finished absorbing the bird-Zoanoid. "You got all dressed up nice and came to watch me eat," Aptom cackled.

"I didn't know you were here; sorry for interrupting your meal," Yukari said, bowing her head slightly. Then she turned to look at Sho, who had just transformed and flew up to meet them. "Oh! Sho, what are you doing here?"

"I saw you up here, and I thought you might need my help, Yukari. I guess I didn't really need to come," Sho said, laughing slightly at his own overreaction.

"I guess I didn't need to, either," Yukari said, rubbing the back of her head as she giggled in embarrassment.

"You two always did that," Aptom said, smirking at the two Guyver Is. "You're predictable. I knew you'd be up here once you saw that bird-brain's wing flapping around."

"I guess we did kind of overreact there," Sho said, sounding chagrinned. "Sorry, Aptom."

"Please," the Lost Unit rolled his eyes. "It isn't like either of you to just ignore something that could be a threat to the people in that house," Aptom made an off-handed gesture at the mansion he was standing on. "I know you two; I know how you operate, and I know how you react to things you think of as threats. I was expecting this."

Without another word to Aptom, Yukari and Sho both descended back to the garden outside Odagiri's mansion. Shedding their armors, Sho and Yukari went back into the garden while Aptom finished eating his meal. Sitting back down beside a bed of purple Irises, Yukari touched the petals of the flower closest to where she was sitting.

She was glad to have Aptom there as a last line of defense against any Zoanoids that managed to get past them, or any that attacked while they were away for some reason. Yukari didn't want to think about the kind of situation that would require them to all leave the house at once, though Akane and Agito had been in and out at odd intervals. And they were both being so secretive all the time.

She and Sho had talked about that, speculating on what the tow of them might have been doing. It had to be something to do with that para-military force that they had built to fight against Chronos with them. There wasn't any other reason that they would be so secretive, at least none that Yukari was aware of.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Once he'd finished with his meal of fresh Zoa-bird, Aptom extended a pair of wings from an insect-type Zoanoid that he'd eaten about half a year ago. Aptom wasn't too concerned about remembering its name; it was just another meal to him. They all were.

Sho and Yukari were the only ones that he considered worthy of his time; the only ones that he was interested in.

As he left the mansion behind him, Aptom thought over what he had learned. It wasn't really much more than what he knew before: Chronos was interested in Yukari more than Sho, and they intended to make some kind of drastic moves against her. What was interesting was that the orders to capture Yukari had come from the Lady Mirabilis herself.

Though, judging by the information that he'd managed to pull from the minds of his newest meals, the male Imakarum was pretty interested in her, too. That was really interesting; Aptom smirked as he flew to the temporary place he had made for himself to stay in for awhile. He'd probably have to move soon; no matter how easy the Zoanoids were to kill, none of them were that stupid.

It made hunting them more challenging, and that made it more fun.

But for now, Aptom wanted to rest up a bit before going on his next hunting trip. There would be more than enough time to pick his targets and find out what those two Zoalords wanted with his prey. As he continued to make his way to his temporary resting-place, Aptom started to plan his next hunting excursion.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

As they moved throughout the city, blending in with the population in order to be more effective as they gathered intelligence about Yukari Fukamachi's habits and proclivities. So far, though, there had been no sightings of the girl. Even after more than a month and a half of discreet surveillance in the city near where she had been spotted more often than not.

As they made their way to the next block, the pair of Zoanoids that had been assigned to patrol this area of the city for this time of day chatted amiably. They weren't exactly getting lax about their duties, but they were both slowly settling into a routine. Looking around only occasionally, since by now all of them knew what Yukari Fukamachi looked like and they would know what to look like when they were looking for her, the two Ramotith moved to cross the street.

Once they stood on the other side, both of them headed toward the flower shop that was their last stop of the day. As they settled in to watch the people as they walked in and out, and made their rounds of the little store as they shopped. Every now and then one of them would make the rounds of the little store and look at the faces of the people shopping.

Another Zoanoid, one of the rare Valvas models, came into the store then. The two Ramotith nodded to their fellow Zoanoid. Valvas were good at tracking people by scent, and more than that they already had the scent of Yukari Fukamachi imprinted in their minds. That would make it even easier for them to find the little girl and bring her back to Chronos.

It'd be kind of interesting to see just what Lord and Lady Mirabilis had in mind for her, since those two were the ones that had planned to capture that little girl. Maybe they were going to torture her for information, maybe they just wanted to kill her personally. Whatever those two Zoalords wanted, it was certainly going to be interesting to watch what they did when they got their hands on her.

Their shift over, but without so much as a hint of Yukari Fukamachi's presence, the three Zoanoids turned and left the little flower shop. Maybe their replacements would have better luck.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

There had been more than a few close calls over the last six weeks, what with Zoanoids looking for anyone who looked or smelled like her, that Yukari had decided to stop going out with Natsuki on her shopping runs. Sure, she could help carry out the bags of groceries, but if her help would be putting Natsuki in danger, then it wasn't worth the risk.

And anyway, that didn't stop her from helping to put up those groceries when Natsuki got home with them.

There were almost enough things to do around the house to distract Yukari from the fact that she was essentially a prisoner inside the mansion. In fact, she had taken to asking Shizu to let her help with the cooking just so she would have something to distract her from that fact. Shizu had welcomed the help, and she had also seemed to understand Yukari's reasons for wanting to do such a thing.

Shizu, while a bit too obsessed with Agito than what Yukari thought was safe, could possibly be the most understanding person that Yukari had met. Tetsuro, while he understood her better on a personal level given the fact that they had been friends for so long, was still a boy. That didn't mean that she didn't like to speak with him about things, it just meant that he sometimes didn't fully understand what she was getting at.

As of right now, though, Yukari was dusting the shelves of Prof. Odagiri's large personal library. This was one of the places that Yukari liked to stay when she needed to be alone; to think or just to take a break from everyone else in the house. It was sometimes nice to be around so many people, but as an only child Yukari still felt a little crowded at times.

Talking to Sho had helped Yukari to realize that she wasn't so alone in feeling that way. Her and Sho's lives were so similar in some ways that Yukari felt as if she'd grown up with him. They even shared a father, though that was a painful subject to think about at times. They didn't usually talk about their shared past, her and Sho, to avoid opening up old wounds.

Mizuki probably wouldn't have approved, citing the need for her and Sho to talk about the things that upset them, just to make sure that they knew where they stood with one another, and so there wasn't any awkwardness between them. Or, maybe she wouldn't say anything like that.

Mizuki seemed to be, not more withdrawn exactly, but more careful about when she spoke and what she spoke about. Maybe that was just a side effect of her crush on Sho, though. Like her, he was on the shy side, and like her he could easily be driven off if someone was too aggressive in pursuing him.

That was probably why Mizuki was so much more reserved-seeming than Yukari had ever remembered her being.

Finished with her dusting, Yukari curled up in the large, squishy chair that she had discovered on her first exploration of the library. Neatly folding the cloth she had been using to dust, Yukari pulled a plastic bag out of her pocket and tucked the used cloth inside, then she stuck the bag back into her pocket and slumped into the chair.

With lunch already over and dinner not for a few hours yet, Yukari found herself with nothing else to do. Of course, there was always the option of going back to her and Sho's room and napping until Shizu called her to help with making dinner, but Yukari wasn't tired enough or bored enough to do something like that.

She wasn't in the mood to read, at least not any of the books that were in Prof. Odagiri's personal library, so there went that idea. Rising from her seat, Yukari turned and left the library. Maybe she could ask Shizu for some knitting lessons; it would be something to do, at least. Maybe she could make herself a scarf, or a blanket for when it got cold.

When she had made it to Shizu's room, Yukari raised her hand and knocked three times on the other girl's door and waited to be acknowledged. Or not. The door opened, and Yukari found herself staring at Shizu.

"Oh, hi Yukari. What are you doing here? It's not time for us to start dinner yet."

"Um, Shizu, I was wondering if you would teach me how to knit," Yukari said, paying close attention to the expression on the longhaired girl's face.

"Of course!" Shizu exclaimed, grabbing Yukari's left hand and pulling her into her room. "I think I have a spare set of knitting needles that you can use, and I know I have enough yarn to at least get you started on something."

"Thanks, Shizu."

"Of course, Yukari," Shizu said, letting go of the other girl's hand as she walked over to her chest of drawers and started rifling through it. "It's really no problem at all. I can see that you're genuinely interested in learning this, so that will make it more easy to teach you."

"Oh," Yukari said, sitting on a cushion facing Shizu. "I didn't think about that."

"It's not a problem, really," Shizu said, smiling as she handed a pair of needles and some thread. "First, you need to learn how to start."

"Okay."

"Now, watch what I do," Shizu said.

"All right," Yukari said, carefully watching Shizu's hands as she worked.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Mizuki was just starting to get hungry, when she heard Tetsuro calling her. Dinner was just about to be ready, from what Tetsuro had said. Setting down the manga she'd been reading, Mizuki hurried down the hallway and to the dining room. The smell of fresh, warm food made her mouth water, and when she sat down at the table Mizuki smiled at Shizu and Yukari.

"Thank you for making this wonderful meal, you two," Mizuki said, picking up her chopsticks and starting to eat.

"You're very welcome, Mizuki," Shizu said. "Yukari did an excellent job on her part, too."

"Yes. Thanks, Yukari," Tetsuro said, raising his glass to toast the both of them. "Thank you both."

"You're welcome," Yukari said, ducking her head slightly in embarrassed pleasure. "It was really nothing. I got to practice a lot at home, after all."

"Yeah, but I did too, and even I'm not quite this good," Sho said, smiling at his counterpart.

"Thank you, Sho," Yukari said, blushing slightly from all the praise.

The rest of the meal was eaten in silence, or at least as close to such as was possible under the circumstances. Once they were finished, Shizu, Yukari, Mizuki and Sho shooed the others out of the kitchen so they could wash the dishes. Once the four of them were done and had put up the last of the dishes, they left the kitchen and went their separate ways.

Shizu and Yukari returned to the former's room to continue the latter's knitting lessons, and Sho and Mizuki left to take a walk around the garden. The rest of the mansion's occupants returned to their respective rooms.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

Outside the mansion, concealed from both the occupants and any... unwanted visitors, a large humanoid form made its way away from the mansion. This new apparition was tall, easily six feet if they were an inch, and covered from head-to-toe in a long, dark coat. Nearly waist-length pale blonde hair, tied into a tight braid, was just visible tucked into the collar of the jacket.

The people that were staying in that house, if something of this rather impressive size could truly be called a house, were completely unaware of the fact that those pathetic Zoanoids were not the only ones who had taken an interest in them. Though, if that Lost Unit found out about his new associates'... visitors, it was likely to become rather troublesome.

They would most likely need to be more cautious in how they approached the situation. Their trump card would be of no use to them if they were dead.

XxXxXxXxXxXxX

The day was just coming to a close and Yukari, Sho and Mizuki had all gathered together to watch the sunset from the large bay window on the second story.

"I can't believe that it's been almost three months since we all met," Mizuki said, staring at Sho and Yukari with a fair amount of astonishment. "It just doesn't seem possible."

"Oh, right," Yukari said, having been absorbed in watching the play of colored light in the clouds. "Tomorrow makes it official, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Sho said absently, staring out at the blazing light of the setting sun. "Wow, I guess it really does. I can honestly say I wasn't expecting this situation to last so long," Sho said, scratching the back of his head the way he sometimes did when he was feeling awkward about something. "I just thought you would disappear, or I would disappear. Or something like that."

"I guess not," Yukari said. "I just wonder how this is all even possible. Us being together, you know?"

"I know," Sho said, leaning back in his chair. "And sometimes I wonder... nevermind."

"What is it, Sho?" Mizuki asked, sitting up and leaning closer to her childhood friend. The male version, at least.

"I wonder what would have happened if you and Akane had gotten here sooner. It's just, I wonder if that would have changed... things. Maybe stopped them from happening," this last part was nearly a whisper, but just loud enough that Yukari and Mizuki could hear it being said.

"Sometimes, I wonder about that too," Yukari admitted, sharing a commiserating glance with Sho.

There was really nothing to be said after that.