A/N: A/N: REVIEW FOR IT FEEDS MY ENGINE OF CREATION!

AAAAAAAAAAAAARGH!

I can't sodding take it anymore!

The latest episode of Darling in the Franxx just tore ours heart out and stomped on them!

Ground it to little bloody pieces, and all because of a certain character-GEE, GUESS WHO?!-and I've had enough! I WAS going to wait until the series finished before writing THAT story, but I'm afraid the show has forced my hand. There's a particular character there who I've had it UP TO HERE WITH-not 002!-and after the DELUGE of messages I got, I no longer see the point in doing so. I had meant to hold this story back until winter, but I can't take it anymore. So here it is:

MY LAST NEW STORY FOR THE YEAR!

Ben Howard's Black Flies is an inspiring song for this!

Now I ask you this, dear readers...

...what's wrong with being a monster?

Bit of wordplay on the dialogue of episode 13, here...

"I will drown you in crimson."

~?

Two Monsters

Who am I?

Back then, that question never even crossed my mind.

Yes, I was trapped in that room for as far back as I can remember.

It felt like I had even older memories, but I soon forgot them. I didn't know who took care of me, either.

Probably a stand-in for what you'd call a mother. I can't remember who she was, or even what she looked like.

One day, for the first and only time, that "someone" brought me something that wasn't food. I remember. It tasted horrible.

It was a picture book.

As I turned the pages, its bright colors jumped out at me, as did various shapes. It had words too, but I couldn't understand them. And after that day, she never showed up again. Anyway, this book was my first "pretty thing". The outside world surely had many more. That's what I innocently believed in that moment.

It turns out that I was half-right...

...and half-wrong.

(...Scene Break...)

THUD.

She jumped when they threw the boy into her room.

Jerked from her slumber by the harsh sound, the little oni scrambled upright with a shriek, flinging herself against the wall as far as her chains would possibly allow. The interlocking links rattled harshly at her legs, jerking her backward with a start. She half-expected someone to grab her and drag her outside, to haul her away from more experiments. More shocks. More pain.

Instead, a corpse landed at her feet with a harsh crunch.

Distantly, she heard a strange alien voice bark at her.

One she couldn't understand in the least.

She'd never been so grateful for that.

"Stay put, freak."

She knew at once he was dead; because he wasn't breathing; because his neck was facing in the opposite direction. Because he wasn't moving. Yes, he had to be dead. There was no other explanation. He lay there at her feet, his blue eyes listless and vacant, his straw-gold hair matted against his forehead, face frozen in surprise, mouth open in a round O. She knew at once without checking that he didn't have a pulse. He was dead, dead as can be. He was even missing an arm. She knew he was dead, her small mind. And yet...

Large, emerald eyes observed the man at the door for a long moment; glowering at his masked face.

She continued to glower at him, watching, waiting, until the door finally slammed and silence consumed the room once more. She scowled, her thin lips forming an angry line. She hated him. Just as she hated this place. All of them. Everything. She wanted to tear him apart, rend him limb from. But she didn't have the strength, and her feeble efforts only earned her more pain and punishment. Punishment meant needles and shocks, not sleeping, endless agony. Yes, she couldn't and he knew it and she hated them for that, hated these "things" for what they were doing to her.

As ever, the chains prevented her from rushing the door.

The boy was dead.

Twitch.

Curious, her sorrowed gaze, those bright eyes, fell back to the boy.

They remained upon him, examining him for what felt like the longest time. Questions bounded around in her mind, bouncing off the walls like small rubber balls. What was he? Why was he here? Was he like her? Did they expect her to eat him? She didn't want to. He smelled funny. After another solemn moment, they dropped to stare into her lap. What was the point of throwing a corpse in here, she wondered? More importantly, why was it starting to move-

Then it came back to life.

"Owowowowowow! That gave me such a crick in the neck!"

She yelped and instinctively ducked her head as the body started shouting.

Because now it really was moving!

With a scream that would've made the Devil himself run for the hills, the boy lurched up, grabbed his neck, and wrenched it back around. Bones popped-muscles stretched-his wounds slithering shut. The severed stump of his arm twitched, sprouting bone then muscle then flesh before her very eyes. leaving him looking at her in quiet disbelief. A beat of silence passed. Then another. And another still.

"Owowowow," he muttered softly, rubbing his neck, patting at his bloody orange shirt and dark pants. "Damnit, that really hurt, dattebayo! S'what I get for trying to escape...

Then he saw her. A smile flashed out like sunshine.

"Hello."

She watched him for a long moment, considering. She'd seen strange things here before. But this...?

"Ah?" she rasped.

When he didn't immediately respond, her bright eyes gazed into his silent profile, her stoic expression peaking into a curious expression. He felt...pure. She couldn't think of another way to explain it. There was no other word for it. His mind was simple and clean and she didn't feel any of the fear she felt from the others. There was something else there too, but she remained hesitant; reluctant to approach this strange new guest in what had been her room for as long as she could remember. He regarded her curiously, and she him, and for a moment there was silence...until the boy spoke again.

"Who're you?"

She growled at him.

"Who, me? I'm Naruto!" More of that sunbeam smile, his fists proudly planting on his hips. "Uzumaki Naruto! You?"

...ah?"

Whiskered cheeks drew down in a slight pout.

"I get the feeling you don't understand me, ya know."

She bared her teeth at him in what she hoped was a menacing gesture.

"Grah!"

It...did not have the effect she intended.

"Hey, what's this?" spying her storybook at her side, he reached for its worn cover. "Looks like a book, or...?"

"Ah?!"

Bright eyes cut to him in a panic. Instinct overtook the horned one all at once. Flailing, she clawed at him, trying to snatch the book away. No! That was hers! No one else could touch it! Unfortunately he proved far more nimble than her and easily evaded her clumsy attempts to reclaim her prize, unbound by chains as he was. Frightened out of her little mind, she did the only think she could think of.

CHOMP.

He recoiled with a start.

"Ow, what the hell?! Why'd ya bite me?!"

His startled yelp came out of nowhere, catching her off guard, and she retreated, clutching the book to her chest and bracing herself for a blow. The others always hit her when she bit them. She expected this to be no different. But no pain came. No blow to the head followed, nor did she find herself crushed to the floor by angry men shouting strange things she didn't understand. In truth, it left her at a loss. Flatfooted, she stared at him in abject confusion. While she couldn't communicate with him, she could read the hesitation in his aura, a wariness.

"Awwi?"

"Eh? Why am I alive?" the boy tilted his restored neck aside, utterly misinterpreting her in his ignorance. "Dunno. Just am, I guess. S'always been like that, I guess. I die...and then I come back a little later." His smile seemed a little forced to her in that instant, frail, even. Fragile. "What about you? What's your story?"

"Awwi."

A beat of silence passed between them

"You really can't understand me, can ya?" he deadpanned.

Baffled by his seemingly endless optimism, the little oni growled.

She stared at him, taking in his every feature. Like her he was clad in little more than rags, though his orange-blue jumpsuit admittedly looked to have seen better days. What were those? Why were they so bright? They were almost pretty, even. It made her curious. Yet that curiosity was shadowed by fear. Fear of him. Of the unknown. Of...everything really. For someone with so little contact of the outside world, he was an anomaly for her, a conundrum that she didn't truly understand. Was this a trick? Something meant to make her lower her guard? She didn't know. Didn't understand.

And what she didn't understand she feared.

As such, she nearly bit him again when he inexplicably grabbed her ankle.

"Ah?!

If she'd felt panic before then this was true terror.

Her mind revolted, bleating loudly.

No!

Stop!

Let go of me!

She didn't like being touched! Touching meant pain! Pain meant experiments! Experiments...agony...shocks...

...why wasn't there pain?

There should have been pain. by now.

Flnching, the little oni dared to open her eyes.

"Hmm? 002?" as she looked on, the blond lifted her ankle slightly, examining the bracelet there with almost childlike curiosity. "What's this? Some kind of number? A code? Oni? No, Zero Two? Geh, I never was very good at reading before they nabbed me...

The little oni frowned at him.

"Eo To?"

A name? He'd given her a name? She'd never had a name before...had she? If she'd possessed one, she couldn't recall. That memory had been lost long ago, swallowed by her captivity. But why? Why had he given her a name? It made no sense, yet some small part-an increasingly large one!-seized at it as though she were drowning. For one who'd seldom known happiness of any sort, she'd gladly grasp at whatever she could find. The syllables tasted strange and foreign on a tongue not meant for human speech, but she forced them out in spite of her struggles, weakly, faltering in her ignorance.

Zero Two!

"Oho, she speaks!" blue eyes burned with excitement as he scooted closer to her. "Can you understand names? Do you know where we are?"

"Eo To!"

He squinted at her.

...I'm not sure if you're messing with me."

Excited, one of her hands grasped his, shaking his arm in clumsy delight. Was this what joy felt like? Surely, it must be. Unbidden, an image from the picture book conjured itself in her mind, though she didn't understand it, not truly. Not yet. A startled squawk leaped from his lips as she rattled him too and from with all her considerable strength. Naruto for his part, found himself all but powerless to resist, and was thrashed to and fro like a rag doll. All the while, she shouted the name he'd given her:

"EO TO!"

"Ow! My ears! Jeez, alright, alright! Lemme go!"

Tears surfaced, and she frantically scrubbed at them with her sleeve.

"Hey, don't cry! Whatcha sorry about?" he muttered, glancing aside. "You're happy, I get it."

Silence hung over them like a wet blanket, cloying and heavy.

At last, Naruto spoke into it.

"Wanna be my friend?"

Zero Two bristled in disbelief.

Why was he extending his hand to her?

And why, for that matter, did she suddenly want to take it?

Was it a human gesture? Did it mean something important? Surely it must.

After all, he'd just given her what no one else had. Something she'd never known. A name.

Zero Two, sad, lonely, misunderstood little monster than she was, dared a smile and accepted his hand.

...awwi."

They were, each of them, children.

Little wisps in the way of life, monsters shunned by all. At present, they lacked the strength and power to rebel against those who held them down. But that would change. For now, they had no place in life, no holding in society. They were, in a word, outcasts and nothing more. Rejects. Fodder and fuel used for the sake of the advancement and survival of the human race. No one paid them any mind, nor any heed. This too would change one day. A monster, and a boy born to contain something far, far worse than a monster. But could not a monster befriend another monster?

Couldn't they?

Couldn't they coexist?

Couldn't monsters fall in love?

Looking back, Zero Two realized it was this moment that changed everything.

A/N: I regret nothing. If ya'll want HiroxZero Two then by all means, stick with the anime. Its really on a tear. But if you're in the mood for monsters and madness and all manner of fluffy bits, well then, pull up a chair, grab a bag of popcorn and enjoy! Hate can be a wonderful motivator I find, and while I won't bash characters, there's one I'm not going to tolerate. Should she attempt to pull any bullshit, she's going to get knocked right back into place.

HERE WE GO! FULL SPEED AHEAD!

In the Immortal Words of Atlas...

..Review, Would You Kindly?

And enjoy the preview!

Oh, and fuck Ichigo.

(Preview!)

"Why are their memories still present?!"

"Darling."

"Why're ya licking me, oi?"

A beat of silenced pushed between them.

...I didn't say stop."

"Can't you see she's killing you?"

"Annoying."

She stiffened.

"What..what did you just say?"

White teeth flashed in a rictus of a scowl.

"I won't say this again. Get the hell out of my way."

"Listen to me! Can't you see she's using you?! She's a mon-

CRUNCH.

Zero Two watched the scene between them with intent, her legs kicking absently against the table.

As such, she had a prime view of her "Darling" and his eyes as they snapped red. She hummed softly to herself as the boy pushed himself to his feet. Without warning his hand cracked out, striking Ichigo across the face and flinging her to the floor. A single backhand. Nothing more. Nothing less.

"Annoying annoying annoying annoyingannoyingannoyingannoyingannoying!"

His shadow seemed to loom over Ichigo.

As if it would swallow her whole.

A hand snaked out in a flash.

Seized her by the collar.

"Yeah, she's a monster." he growled, revealing sharpened canine teeth as her jerked a thumb over his shoulder. "A beautiful monster. Guess that makes me one too, for choosing her. What of it? Perhaps you should speak more softly to us, Ichigo-chan. These days, the enemies of these monsters are dropping like flies!"

R&R~!