New law of Beast Taming

"You finally stopped walking. Was it fun making me walk around the town? You could have stopped in between and explained yourself at least. It would have helped me out."

Amane decided to walk out of the shadows and she watched Aqua look startled by her sudden appearance.

Aqua opened her mouth to respond but no words came out. She had been rendered speechless suddenly. But she also gathered herself and decided to pull her head out of her thoughts.

"I am not acting like myself today…? How fitting. I am feeling like myself today as well. I think I need to lie down and rest now."

Aqua spoke these words but she made no move to get up and lie down. She still looked dazed as she looked at the setting sun.

"Ahh, so what happened? Are you going to tell me anything at all? You look a lot more tired than before. Don't tell me! The time you spent with me and Sakura was not to your liking and…"

"Don't talk about that time. I do not want to talk about anything concerning *her*"

Amane was startled by the sudden fierceness of Aqua's words. And for what it was worth, Aqua looked surprised as well at the loud noise she had produced.

But she decided to calm herself down and take a few deep breaths.

"I apologize. I did not mean to speak so rudely to you. Maybe I am feeling a little under the weather. I should head home now."

Aqua could not believe the words escaping her mouth. This was not what she had planned to say to Yoko Tsurugi at all.

Aqua had come here to force Yoko Tsurugi to go with her and then exchange her in place of her other half. That had been Aqua's plan all along and she had steeled herself to follow through.

But now that it was time for her to carry out her plans, her heart refused to follow through. There was a certain pang in her heart where her other half had been and it protested this move.

'Tsk, you might be gone but you will not stop being an annoyance to me even now. You were truly in love with Yoko Tsurugi, right? Even your left-over presence would not let me hard this woman.'

Aqua gritted her teeth until she tasted blood in her mouth. She knew that there was nothing else she could do about this situation and that sucked.

In her distracted state, Aqua forgot to keep her guard up. She felt a palm sliding against her forehead and checking her temperature. It startled Aqua and she took quite a few steps back.

"Oh my! You don't seem to have a fever but you certainly are ill. How did this happen to you? What made you lose your other half?"

For the first time in her life, Aqua felt a tiny both of hate make its way into her heart. She hated how Yoko Tsurugi was speaking so casually, almost as if she had nothing to do with this situation.

Moreover, she did not sound worried about Aqua's other half, but she sounded curious to know more.

And despite all this, Aqua could not bring herself to hate Yoko Tsurugi at all. Her instincts and feelings would not allow this to happen.

'Tsk, I hate my body and my awareness of my surroundings. This was not supposed to happen to me. God, I wish my other half was here.'

"Aqua, is everything alright? You can tell me anything and I will try to help you out."

Yoko Tsurugi's words were encouraging but they sounded empty in Aqua's head. She could not help but sigh as soon as she heard them.

She wanted to believe Yoko Tsurugi, but hope had been diminished from her life slowly. She could not take this anymore.

"There, everything would be alright. You are just going through a rough patch in your life. Things would start to pick for you soon enough. You just need to wait around a little more and see."

Aqua opened her mouth to speak but then closed her mouth. There was a lot she wanted to speak about, but her mouth refused to open and form words.

Only tears struck Aqua's eyes and she ended up sobbing out loudly. She could not help herself there and her sobs echoes throughout the park.

"Let it all out. You need to cry and let your sadness pour out of you. Things would get better soon for you."

Aqua assured the female in her arms. The more she assured Aqua, the harder Aqua cried in her arms. In the end, Aqua fell asleep and refused to wake up for the time being. Amane could tell that she was exhausted.

But this was not what concerned Amane. She had felt Aqua's aura and it had an incompleteness to her.

The beast-like entity that made up Aqua's other half seemed to be missing. Someone or something seemed to have ripped that entity out of Aqua's body and consciousness.

'If someone does have this kind of power, then it is dangerous. This is too much like those from my past. They all should have been dead or sealed up. But it seemed as if someone had decided to wake these scientists up.'

The more Amane learned about this situation, the more she wanted to deny everything and live a happy and carefree life.

Things were… not looking up for her now.

She remained in her current position for about half an hour before Aqua stirred and woke up. Aqua looked marginally better than before and she also looked well-rested.

There was still a deep sadness in her eyes, but it was no longer that soul-consuming feeling she felt before.

"Are you finally awake now? You sure took your time."

Amane teased Aqua but the other had no energy to even push Amane away. She only ended up leaning more and more into Amane's side.

"Be quiet. Just let me rest a little bit on your arm. I am tired and my eyes refuse to open."

Aqua complained as she threw her body against Amane's side. She seemed to be getting comfortable in her current state.

"Hey Yoko, do you know how long I have been with my other half? My whole life. But despite that, I never bothered giving it a name or calling out to it. It even asked me for a name once but I ignored it."

"How weird…I thought I would be happy to be the owner of my own life again. But this is difficult. This loneliness is not what I expected my freedom to be."

Aqua finally seemed to be in a mood to talk about her feelings. She was feeling comfortable and warm in Yoko's presence.

Once again, she did not know whether it was because of the lingering influence of her other half or because she was beginning to develop feelings for Yoko Tsurugi as well. But one thing was for certain - she could not sit here and waste her time.

She needed to act now.

"Hey Yoko, can you help me out with something? I know you are busy but I do need your help."

In the end, Aqua decided to brave her feelings and ask for help. Sitting still would not help her out and she could not live a life without her other half by her side.

"Ah, so you finally decided and are now asking for my help? But are you sure you want my *help* with this?"

Yoko Tsurugi's words made it sound like she knew what Aqua was planning here. That did take Aqua aback a little but she took in a deep breath to calm herself down. Things were alright and she had not been caught for now.

"I do want your help but I will not force you to do anything for me. The decision to do anything to help me out is yours."

Aqua forced these words out. Her mind and her heart were at war with each other. They both wanted different things from her.

"Fine, I will help you out. So Aqua, lead the way."

Aqua suppressed her shock at the easy acceptance and started to walk back to the lab she had been in before. It was going to take some time to get back home.

Yoko followed behind her but she was never too far to be out of reach or sight. It seemed like Yoko's offer of helping Aqua out was genuine.

Her decision to use Yoko Tsurugi made Aqua feel a little guilty. She was sure that this decision would be one to haunt her later.

'But I need my other half to be with me. Her presence will let me get over this in the future.'

This was something Aqua believed in. She was willing to bet anything that this was going to be the truth.

"We are here. This is the lab I was commissioned in. Let's head in now so that I can show you around."

It was weird that there seemed to be no one in the lab. Even the lights were turned off and the experiment chambers were empty. Aqua could not help but feel as if this was a trap laid out specifically for them.

"So, this is the lab you were raised in? It's interesting. Do you mind if I look around? Maybe I will find something of notice."

Aqua had no idea what Yoko hoped to find in here, but she let Yoko look around for now.