Beyond the Rules

The Boy and the Girl moved toward each other. Both felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity, though their scant memories told them they had never met.

Yet they clearly had a great deal in common.

Both were remarkably perfect beings. Each could faintly sense the immense power hidden within the other, and both knew little about the world, still learning to adapt to it.

Separated soon after their creation, they had now crossed paths again, drawn together by fate.

They drew close, less than a foot apart, then reached out in perfect unison and clasped each other's hands.

The instant they touched, a flood of information poured into both their minds.

Hazy scenes from the laboratory beneath the House of Evolution mingled with memories of the sealed room, less than ten square meters in size, at the Abnormal Human Research Center. Their memories intertwined and imprinted themselves on each other's minds.

At the same time, they came to the same realization.

We share the same blood.

Each could sense the other's surging vitality. The sound of blood coursing through their veins reached both their ears with perfect clarity.

That extraordinary power in their blood, so alike and so far beyond ordinary humans, along with their inexplicable affinity, left no doubt that they came from the same source.

Their personalities, however, were different. Personality might not show in one's blood, but it shaped how one acted.

The Boy was arrogant and cold; the Girl was carefree and lively.

Realizing how close their bond was, the Girl hesitantly said, "Big brother?"

Neither knew which of them had been born first. But the Boy's forceful nature made him more willing to take the role of elder brother, and the easygoing Girl's instinctive choice of words settled the matter between them.

In fact, while