Someday, It'll Be Different.(Private)

Aya put her own plate away before too long, washing it throughly. She didn't like to leave things half done.

"I'm going up stairs for now. I'll talk to you later Hiroshi." Leaving the older man to his own thoughts, she headed up stairs. She considered going to her room but then thought against it. She wanted to know a bit more about Junpei so she gently knocked on the door. "Junpei? May I come in?"

Junpei was once again sitting in front of his computer. Among the games and programs open on his desktop flashed multiple colors that lit up the room. He usually didn't use the room's light. He was fine with the darkness. The knock at his door was unexpected; he clicked the editorial program to 'STOP' and his headphones went silent. "It's open." He idly said, looking toward the door.

Junpei's room was that of a typical boy his age. There were CD cases splayed on his desk, his backpack and clothes haphazardly strewn on the floor next to the closet, two guitars (one acoustic, one electric) sat next to his bed and various books were crammed into the bookshelf behind the guitars. Needless to say, it was a little messy. He sat in his swivel computer chair with his feet up on the seat, his knees up next to his chest. "What's is it. Need something?"

"Um.." Now that Aya was coming face to face, she was starting to lose a bit of her nerve but she needed to ask before chickening out. "I was just wondering if I could listen to some of the music you made? I've always had a soft spot for different kinds so.."

"Uh?!" Junpei was taken aback for a moment. He forgot to actually close the programs on his computer. That combined with the mountain of blank CD's on his desk would easily give away what he was doing. Not only was he not used to people coming into his room, he was now conscious of his need to clean it... Well, someone else was bound to find out sometime. He scratched his head in frustration, tussling his hair about. "Yeah. Come on over." He removed his headphones and beckoned her over.

Standing from his chair, he offered it to Aya while handing her the headphones. "You know how to work a computer, right? Click this button to play a song, and this button to move to the next one. Browse all you want." He turned and started tidying up his room a bit. One thing Aya would immediately notice about Junpei's music is that they were typically without lyrics. Though the mood and genre of different songs varied, they seemed to heavily ride upon eliciting and capturing some emotion throughout the track. They were the kind of songs you could listen to for days, and the sheer amount was staggering.

"I do. They're different from back home but the same applies." It seemed like a 'older' model then the computers back at home she saw sometimes. They were way out of date but a computer was a computer. The young woman sat on the bed, taking the computer and began expertly skimming through it. Computer work was something she was good with, only helped with her Reploid nature.

What caught her interest was the music she listened too. They were well done, no vocals but the instrumantals were top notch. For a time she simply lost her self to the different sounds, letting her mind and imagination take her to other places for a moment.

She wasn't sure how long she listened, but finally she paused it. "..That..was amazing. How long have you've been doing music?"

Junpei had almost finished cleaning his room. He stuffed some discarded papers into a garbage bag. It was nice to have comfortable walking space in his room. Too bad it'd be in its same wrecked state within a week. Junpei was far too inattentive to his own room to keep it clean. Aya's voice snapped him out of his cleaning focus. "Six or seven years now? Glad you liked it. If you want, take any of the players in the top drawer there. They shouldn't be damaged or anything, I just upgrade a lot." He pointed to his desk as he left the room. He made his way downstairs to throw out the garbage.

When he came back he sat down as his desk. He started working on the last of his homework. In their day and age some of the professors still gave work on paper. How incredibly outdated... Though he was aware someone was in the room, he didn't seem to care either way.

Aya continued to listen after the explanation. Seven years was a long time to work on something like this; but the talent showed. She was still amazed on the sheer variety of these and the pure emotion, all without having a single vocal placed on them.

"Have..you thought about selling your music one day?" Aya asked after a bit when he came back to do the last of his homework.

"Maybe." was Junpei's quick response. He'd never been much interested in selling his work. Playing anonymously for parties, clubs and the underground was fun and it brought in plenty of revenue. Selling it seemed like too much of a hassle. He liked to keep to himself; evident by only his father knowing of Junpei's DJ moonlighting. Selling his music would make keeping things discreet a bit more difficult.

He remembered something. "Oh, hey. Tomorrow we'll be leaving early to get to St. Augustine. I've got class tomorrow so I'll take off after you get situated. Claire's good at what she does, though, so you'll be fine." He was also taking Mary's first opinion of Aya into account. Any help Claire could get was good for her as well.

Aya left that line of discussion alone, feeling she had hit something of a wall. It was that and she wasn't horribly interested in what he didn't want to do when it came to things like that. It was his business and she didn't want to pry.

"Thank you, I'm looking forward to it." Here she finally stood. "I'll let you finish your homework and rest..good night Junepi."

She then headed to her room to go to bed, in a better mood then she had been in a long while.

"Night." Junpei called after her exit. Quiet returned to his room, so he retrieved his headphones and switched on the music. Like that, he passed the time in in a musical silence as he worked until turning in for the night.

The last light in the house to flick off that night belonged to Hiroshi's bedroom. He'd just finished up his work for the next couple days. Hiroshi cracked his knuckles and stared at the ceiling. Life around the house was probably going to get more lively from now on. It would, if he had anything to say about it. Hiroshi snickered to himself and powered down his computer.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The next morning, Junpei was up early. He had a piece of toast in his mouth and a plate of breakfast at the ready for Aya. Hiroshi had his head down on the table, still half asleep.

Aya had done her usual routine before she came down stairs, she was still somewhat sleepy but that was normal. Hiroshi had about the right idea when he was halfway sleep on the table.

"..Morning.." Aya called, closing her mouth with a cute yawn as she went to sit down and grab something for the day.

"Mm." Junpei answered with a mouthful of toast. Hiroshi groaned into the table. He wanted to go back to sleep so badly. It wasn't that he hadn't slept well, he just felt lazy this morning. "Breakfast." Junpei slid Aya's plate of food onto the table at the kitchen's border. He finished up making a plate for his father and placed it in front of him. Hiroshi lazily lifted his head and stuffed a large bite into his mouth.

"I wuv vood..." Hiroshi mumbled incoherently. Junpei's cooking wasn't great, but it was decent. Neither Junpei nor Hiroshi could cook nearly as well as Aya. The two were typically busy and never took the time to improve that skill. As long as it was edible.

"Just drink some damn coffee already." Junpei scolded his lazy father.

"That's sissy water. I have the energy of a thousand suns on cocaine." Hiroshi dully answered, almost falling asleep. "But only after 7 AM."

"You're lucky you don't have to get your lazy ass up earlier." Some of his coworkers worked through the night or came in hours before the sun rose.

"Stars have to sleep too, sun! Ha! My humor is astronomical." Hiroshi joked with a whine. He took another bite.

Junpei sighed, irritated. He wanted to punch his father for the terrible pun, but decided to stop this line of conversation before setting himself up for a migraine this early in the morning. "Hey, eat up. We'll be leaving soon." He told Aya while cleaning up the kitchen and eating simultaneously.

Aya couldn't help but giggle slightly at Hiroshi's comments, the man's humor was strange but it was funny in its own way. She had never heard of cocaine and the sun combined together like that. It was different. Before too long she finished and stood up from her meal.

"I'm done. I'm ready when you are Junpei." To be honest, she was excited and looking forward to spend time with the children.

Junpei nodded and scarfed down the rest of his breakfast. It was about time to leave. He needed to catch the train after dropping Aya off. He left Hiroshi to his lazy morning. His father had to be at work soon, but he was still in his pj's. As they were headed out the front door, Junpei's watch beeped. He took a step to the side of the doorway and guided Aya to the side as well. His watch showed it was 7. Hiroshi dashed by the two in a blur, completely dressed and suitcase in hand. He dove into his car and sped away once again. Junpei closed the door behind them as if it were normal.

A short while later, the two arrived at the orphanage. They were greeted by Claire in the first room. She was holding a child by the waist in both arms. They were scrambling, trying to fight one another. "Junpei? You don't usually come visit this often." She noticed Aya come in, too. "Oh, hello again! Aya, was it? Don't tell me you came to adopt!" She joked. The two boys suspended at her waist flailed harder, still trying to fight. "CALM DOWN!!" She erupted. The two boys wore nervous expressions as they stopped struggling. "Sorry... What can I do for you?"

Junpei ignored the scene, another normal occurrence. "Got some help for you. She wants to help out here, maybe take some of the edge off?" Claire looked relieved, but very happy.

"Wow, that would be amazing! And I'm sure you'll do fine. Mary was telling me you were kind. Do you have any questions before we start? Have you taken care of children before?"

Aya was watching the two children try to beat each other up with slight amusement, it was just like back at home when she had been taking care of children. Reploid and human alike. This time would be a bit different because she would be taking care of more then just human and Reploid children; there were a lot more races around.

"I have experience. My adopted grandmother owned a place called Sunny Side Care for children. I worked there before it had to be closed." Aya said, glancing around. "Um..just one question. What are the common races here? I need to know just in case they might have any reactions to things I might not know about. Or anything else I need to know about the children."

Claire thought for a moment, going through a mental roster of all the children at the orphanage. "There isn't a particularly dominant number of a specific race here. We get kids of all kinds and colors all the time. Though, I guess if you want to get technical, these children are most commonly hybrids. We only have a handful of kids that have only one racial bloodline." She set the two children down at her sides. "You two run along now. And BEHAVE." She gave the last part a stern punctuation. The two boys ran upstairs.

Junpei had been hanging back during her explanation. He checked his watch. "I'm gonna run. Take care." Junpei waved dismissively as he exited the building. He was sure Claire would give her a rundown; he wasn't needed there. Besides that, he enjoyed his quiet time. Junpei made his way toward the train station.

Claire sighed after the college student left. "Different decade, same kid..." She mumbled to herself before speaking to Aya again. "There isn't too much to know about these kids except that they'll get out of hand if you let them. You've worked with them so you know how they can be. I'll teach you about some of their allergies and other necessities as we go along and they become more relevant."

A small "Hi." came from behind Aya. Mary made her way into the room. Claire watched her approach with a smile.

"And just what are you doing up so early?"

"I wanted to wake up and see Aya!" She smiled brightly.

Aya wondered a bit about that. "..Different decade same child? You mean he stayed here? Anyway, you can inform me of anything along the way and I'll pick it up as I go." Claire looked young still but she probably wasn't human so she probably had a longer life expectancy. Or at least keeping their youth for longer periods of time.

Before she could say anything, Mary came over and Aya's smile gained more warmth as she crouched down. "Hey Mary! I missed you! Come here." She held out her arms for a hug.

Mary jumped into Aya's outstretched arms for a hug. Claire watched the two and answered Aya. "That's right. Junpei grew up here until he was adopted." Mary gave her a look that caused Claire to cover her mouth. "Oh, crap. You didn't know. Crap! Pleeease don't let Junpei know I told you! He doesn't like talking about himself. You know what? Forget I said anything!" Claire laughed nervously. Mary pulled at Aya's hand.

"We should go meet everybody." She said. Some of the kids were already awake, restless as they were. Mary led Aya upstairs toward the playroom and bedrooms. Claire stayed behind for a moment, mentally kicking herself for being such a blabbermouth. She followed the two shortly after.

Aya smiled a bit and let Mary take her along the way. She noticed how Claire acted and tried to reassure her. "It's fine. I know how to keep a secret. I like Junpei I don't want to upset him or make him close up on me." She wasn't sure if Junpei was lonely or was completely happy how he was. Aya simply wanted to be their friend, it just felt like the right thing to do.

She wondered what some of the other main children were like; she was curious.

Claire exhaled a nervous sigh. "Good, good! Thank you. Let's move on before I blab on about something else I shouldn't." She did that sometimes, much to Junpei's dismay. She was honestly trying to work on it. Mary led the way toward the playroom, but stopped before entering. She held Aya back from going in as well.

"Wait..." She instructed. After a few moments, a grunting noise could be heard above the door frame inside the room. Mary waited patiently as the noises grew more strained.

"Waaah!" A dark-skinned girl slightly taller than Mary fell from above the door frame and toppled to the floor. "Owie, owwww~!" The girl rubbed her butt in pain. She wasn't wearing shoes, and her clothing looked a little small on her. The most noticeable feature on her was her fangs. Claire came forward with a stern look on her face.



"What did I tell you about pouncing on people, young lady?" She placed her hands on her hips, looking none too happy.

"But I wanted ta welcome the new girl~! I got excited and couldn't sleep..." The tanned girl climbed to her feet.

"All the more reason to LISTEN! What if you hurt poor Aya? You know you're stronger than most of the other children here!" Claire scolded her. The girl looked down at her toes apologetically.

"I'm sorry, Miss Aya~. My name's Akua. Mary told me you were nice. I just wanted to play~!" She had a bit of an accent and exaggerated some of her vowels in a childish manner. She looked about age 7.

"You are being too loud. Shush." A small boy appearing to be Mary's age sat in the corner of the room. Rather than playing with toys, he had a collection of books strewn about him haphazardly. In his hand he held a test tube holding some strange liquid. There were various other vials near him as well. Claire looked like she was about to have an aneurysm.

"ISAO! No more 'science'!" She started approaching the boy to relieve him of his experiment.

"Do not worry. This one is rather safe." His speech was rather proper. He mixed the liquid in his test tube with that in a beaker after checking a note. Suddenly, a large green cloud burst from the test tube, splashing directly into Claire's face. The front of her body was coated in a green dust. "...Oops. Well, this may be volatile, but the vapor is not poisonous. Probably." The book on the boy's head twitched a little. The cat ears hidden underneath twitched in anticipation of the berating he would soon receive.

Aya waited patiently for Mary to get her other friend, more then curious about a few things. She loved children honestly and wanted to have some of her own one day once she finally found the right person to settle down with. When the young girl presented herself, she noticed the fangs and her energy signature. It was something she encountered before, though she didn't know the name.

"It's okay, I'm a lot stronger then I look too. See, I'm plenty strong!" She flexed her rather small muscle. She was just being silly to make her laugh. "Nice to meet Akua. I've never heard of that name its pretty."

She was going to further comment when a young boy 'Isao' came into view with some strange test tubes. Was that really safe to have those around? Where had he even gotten them? That couldn't be a good idea to have them around. Then some liquid splashed on Claire, but her sensors told her the chemicals mixed inside were not dangerous.

"Uh.." Aya started. "Where does he get those test tubes?"

Claire made an about-face and stomped out of the room. "I'm going to change! When I come back, those containers had BETTER be put away!" She called back angrily. Akua's expression was slightly nervous. She didn't understand why Isao had to mess with chemicals. He just sorta did it. It annoyed Claire to no end. At least he stopped using harmful materials.

Akua giggled at the Reploid's display. She liked her own name. It didn't sound too feminine, but had a pretty ring to it. Isao looked to answer Aya, his expression unchanging. "Junpei brought them." Akua flailed her arms wildly.

"Awaa~! You weren't supposed ta rat him out!"

"It should be fine. He only procures dyes and safe materials for my experiments."

"Mixing colors ai~n't an experiment! Any baby could tell you that~!" Akua taunted with her hips cocked to the side.

"Life is an experiment. A certain intelligence quotient is required to grasp the concept, if you even comprehend the vernacular." Isao crossed his arms and scoffed. In response, Akua stamped her feet and pointed at him angrily.

"NOBODY here understands your bookworm-speak! You're such a freakin' nerd!" Isao uttered a low hiss at her words. Mary decided to step in and mediate. Again.

"You're both being rude! Aya's gunna help take care of everyone, so we should be nice." The Nosferatu and feline demon settled down. They apologized to Aya for their outbursts.

"I am Nobu Isao. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Aya." Isao came forward, offering a handshake.

Aya was relieved that was dealt with, she was going to step in if things had gotten out of hand but thankfully they didn't need it. "And its nice to meet you and everyone else too. I'm not too good with science but I had someone who was really into it. What do you guys usually do around here for fun?"

"Everybody likes to do their own stuff, but we usually go outside to play." Mary answered.

Akua chimed in happily. "More importantly, it's almost breakfast time~! The other kids're gonna wake up soon, and that means food~!" Isao was busily putting his books and equipment away. Akua gave the cat demon a sour look. "But now it's gonna be late 'cuz somebody messed it up for us!"

"Sacrifices must be made in the pursuit of science. I will not apologize to the bottomless pit you call a stomach." Before Isao could react, Akua leaped over to him and pinned him to the ground. "U-unhand me!" Akua sat on the boy's back and began forcefully tickling his ears. "Nyaaaah! Stoppppp iiiiiiiiiit!!" It seemed as if he'd lost all strength.

"Not so high an' mighty with a~ll your big words now, are ya~?!" Mary rushed over to the squabbling twosome and tugged on Akua's shirt.

"Akua, stop it! You said you weren't gunna bully him anymore!" Mary was no where near strong enough to pull Akua away.

"Not until he apologizes ta my tummy~! And besides, he's soooo~ cute like this!" This spectacle appeared to happen often. The kids were paling around, no one was getting hurt at least.

Aya wasn't took taken back by this, she had experience with children and knew from experience how much of a handful they could be when they really wanted. But she couldn't just let things run amok. So when Akua began her 'toture' of the young Cat Demon she decided to intervene.

"If you won't let him go, It seems you leave me with little options Akua." Aya said in a mock serious tone, then before she could react she began tickling her sides. "Tickle attack!" It would get her to release Isao without having to really move her. Aya while not a combat Reploid was still stronger then a normal human.