"Do you have a brother or a sister, Karen-san?"

Karen's breath catches suddenly and she turns to me, curious. "Why do you ask?"

"Because," I reply, shrugging, "I can never remember if you mentioned one."

Karen looks away to the rock near the giant tree. "You're only ten years old. You forget easily."

"No. I KNOW you never mentioned one." I watch as she walks to a boulder near the giant tree.

Karen hesitates before replying, "Once."

I blink, uncomprehending. Once? "Once?" I ask, voicing my thoughts.

"Her class was in a fieldtrip to see Rafaelo and the 'wonders' of Elayah." Karen's voice was bitter. "It was about seven years ago, and Rafaelo, the last and 'greatest' B'T, broke loose when her class was inside his cage. Her friend was caught and eaten, and I saved Carrie." She fell silent, before continuing, "And due to shock, she lost her memory and became one of Elayah's faithful servants." She looked up to the tree. "She forgot everything...including me."

I watch as her face looks wistful. "You're very sad about it, ne?" I observe.

"She was the only family I had," she replies. Quietly, she turns to me once more and sits beside me. "After I lost everyone in the nuclear war a few years back, I took care of her. And I lost her, too."

Normally, Karen would evade all these questions. But, perhaps, she is opening up to me. Perhaps the pain is lessening. "What's her name?" I ask her. "Is she still alive?"

Karen gives a small smile. "Carrie. Her name is Carrie."

I frown. "Is she still alive?" I repeat.

She laughs hollowly. "Oh, yes. Alive, but with the Elayah." She hugs her knees. "With the false knowledge that she is actually SAFE!"

'The same Elayah that Karen turned her back against,' I think. Then, suddenly, have an idea. "Hey! Since you lost your little sister, and my brother's in Berlin, can I be your brother?" I ask eagerly.

She turns to me, frowning. Then, she begins to smile. And laugh. Hard. I've never heard her laugh before. Butnevertheless, I am insulted.

"It was just an idea," I tell her, hurt.

She gives a final laugh before forcing herself to stop, wiping her eyes. "Oh, I wasn't insulting you," she assures me. "It just struck me funny that you think you lost your brother. I see how much he cares for you...and you him."

"Nothing is the same without him," I tell her slowly.

She looks down at me. "Nothing was the same, too," she replied quietly. "Not after I lost my sister." With this, she looks away again.

A strong wind blows to us and I shiver involuntarily. "I love Kotaro. It isn't easy being without him. But--"

She stands up and turns to walk to the giant tree once more. "At least--he won't forget you," she says quietly. Then, as if compelled, she adds: "Like Carrie did."

Forget?

I remember suddenly that time before Kotaro left a year ago. I was crying, persuading him to stay with me.

He knelt down in front of me and had pulled me into his arms. Then, he kissed me. I was too young, too innocent to feel anything when his lips were on mine. But I wanted more than ever for him to come back. I want him with me!

Forget.

The idea of Kotaro forgetting me is absurd...and frightening at the same time.

Could I possibly live in this world alone? In a world without Kotaro?

~ * ~

"Did you get a letter from Kotaro yet?" Karen asks me. It's been five years since Kotaro left for Berlin, four years since Karen told me of her sister.

I turn to her briefly, then back to the boulder that is in front of me. "Yeah. HAIYAH!" My fist slams into a rock and it splits to two.

"Well?"

"He's going to Peking for a convention. Something about live robots." I shrug. "He invited me,though, to come."

At the mention of "live robots" I hear Karen suck in her breath. "You're going, right?" she asks cautiously.

"The idea of listening about Technology and Biology being combined is NOT my idea of fun," I tell her, shaking my fist from a few dust that came from the boulder.

"No. But seeing Kotaro after five years is."

I stop and stare at her curiously. "How...?"

She smiles. "I know you love Kotaro. I know you want to see him again." She turns away. "The time has come for me to give you this."

I near her, curious, as she points to a tree stump next to her. "What is it?"

"It's called the Messiah Fist." Then, she asks, "Teppei, do you want to protect someone?"

I pick up the device. It is metallic, and shaped like my lower right arm. "Yes," I answer immediately.

"Do you love someone?"

I glance at her. 'What is she getting at?' "Kotaro," I tell her seriously.

"And you want to protect the one you love?"

With my life. I slip the metal through my right arm and punch the air cleanly. "Yes."

"The Messiah Fist will help you." She puts a hand on my shoulder. "Go to the Peking Conference. Protect Kotaro."

~ * ~

Protect Kotaro?

I am nervous, and lost. I'm in a place I don't know, and, worse, I'm having second thoughts. The memory of Karen's story about her sister forgetting has set the fear in my mind.

What if he forgot me? What if he can't remember me?

Then, I hear a loud gasp from a group of people. Then, a name. Mine and Kotaro's last names.

"Professor Takamiya!"

KOTARO!

I turn to that group and see a robot woman holding a blond man in her mechanical arms. The man was gasping for breath, his face pale.

I feel a surge of anger fill in me. An anger I cannot understand...

"MESSIAH FIST!" I scream, punching the air with my right arm. Sharp claws break the woman's grasp, as well as destroys her circuits. I rush to the blond man's side, helping him up and dusting his suit. "You okay?" I ask him.

But he isn't looking at the destroyed machine, or anyone else or anywhere else. He is looking at me.

And we recognize each other.

I blink.

"Professor Takamiya!" one man cries.

I blink again, feeling the blond man tense in my arms. "Kotaro," I whisper.

He smiles, draws me closer, and kisses me on the lips...different from his kiss goodbye five years ago. "Teppei."

And I know he never forgot me at all.