Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen Lied.

Everything smelled so good! Street vendors were all about, cooking fried foods, selling candies and all sorts of appealing treats. Nana could feel her mouth begin to water. She had to blink her burning eyes because she had been staring at some food for quite too long.

Suddenly, something grabbed her prosthetic arm, and nearly took it off with the force of it. Nana let out a little yelp, and pulled harder on it with her vectors.

Mayu gasped, and took her arm back , realizing what she had almost done. "I'm so sorry, Nana! I'll be more careful next time!"

"It's okay, Mayu. It was only an accident," replied Nana, "Were you trying to get my attention about something?"

"Yes, that street vendor over there is selling some sweet onions and shitake mushrooms that I think will really compliment the Udon soup we're making tonight," explained Mayu with a small smile.

"That sounds delic - " began Nana, being cut-off by the ear-piercing, heart-stopping screech of gunfire.

"Are you, Makoto Nagahashi?" hissed a husky man, bearing a lone pistol, on the sidewalk opposite to where they were standing.

A man in front of him began to inch away, sweat sliding down the sides of his face. He looked white, as if he'd seen a ghost, or perhaps, in his case, the grim reaper.

"Why do you want to know?" he questioned.

The man holding the weapon jammed the nozzle of the gun into his victim's forehead as he spat, "It won't matter to a dead man. Are you Makoto Nagahashi or not? And don't you lie to me. I'll hunt down your family and kill them all if you do!"

The man staggered backward, but the attacker insisted in pushing the death-weapon into his forehead.

"Y - Yes, I am Makoto Nagahashi," he answered nervously.

-BOOM-

Cop sirens went off, but it was too late, the hitman was already long-gone before they even arrived at the scene. On-lookers stared at the dead man, some shielding children's innocent eyes, others walking by as if it had never happened.

"What is this world coming to?" whispered Mayu, tears filling her eyes.

"Should we buy the onions and mushrooms now?" asked Nana, still staring at the man with a sad and questionable gaze.

Mayu turned to Nana quickly, tears trailing down her face, and springing into sparkles in the air with her quick motion.

"Nana! I can't eat after seeing someone die!" she cried.

Nana opened her mouth to say something, but couldn't form the words. Her stomach grumbled, she was still hungry. She couldn't understand why Mayu wasn't.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Mayu. You aren't used to seeing people die, though I am. I think it affects you more than it does me. I'm still hungry, and I'm sure Kohta and Yuka will still want to eat dinner also," stated Nana.

Mayu wiped the tears from her innocent eyes. "I'm so sorry, Nana. Forgive me for lashing out at you like that. I know I haven't seen things as bad as you have. I will still help you make dinner, but I'm afraid that I won't be able to join you to eat it."

Lucy stood from a corner, watching the scene play out. It was nothing new to her either, and she didn't feel bad for the dead. After all, she was going to kill all of the humans anyways, she considered his death painless and quick.

'Humans are despicable!' she thought hatefully, 'I know I'm not perfect either. I know that they would consider me a ruthless sociopathic murderer, but they are none to judge. They deserve all that is wrought upon them.'

The bandana she wore to cover her torn horns tickles her neck. Why was she watching Nana, and that little girl? Why bother? She knew that Nana could no-longer sense her, she had found a way to block herself out to the other diclonii, and silpelits.

She found herself following the two back to the inn that Kohta managed for Yuka's family. She watched through a window at nothing but an empty table and chairs. She didn't understand why she was staring, why she was so distracted by Kohta. He wasn't even there, but she still was waiting. She needed to leave, but she couldn't. She could hear the tune of Lilium ringing in her ears, images of Kohta winding it up as a child reflecting in her mind's eye.

She found herself humming the tune subconsciously, and she couldn't find it within herself to stop. Before she knew it, hours had passed by, and Kohta, Mayu, Nana, and Yuka had gathered around the table. Fresh hot bowls of steaming Udon soup sitting before all of them, excluding Mayu, who chose to only have tea. Lucy could smell the scent of the food waft in the air, lingering as a tease.

To her dismay, Yuka was sitting right next to Kohta, having a happy conversation with him. He was smiling, laughing, as was she.

'She wouldn't be so happy if she knew that I'm not dead,' Lucy's mind hissed in contempt.

She noticed that Yuka had still left a bowl, silverware, and an open seat for Nyu. Why did she bother? Lucy knew that Yuka hated her, and still she left an open welcoming spot for her. Was it some sort of way to get Kohta to think she was being kind or something? It only enraged Lucy even more.

Yuka began to pick up the empty bowls around the table when they all had finished, but Mayu and Nana took them from her. Lucy observed arms waving, and heads shaking and nodding. She could tell the Mayu and Nana had offered to clean up, and in the end, they won, Yuka had accepted. She also noticed Mayu wink at Yuka. Yuka blinked back at her in confusion, and her cheeks immediately flushed a bright red as she apparently understood the subliminal message Mayu was giving her.

Mayu shuffled hurriedly into the kitchen with Nana in- tow. Nana staggered into the kitchen with a surprised expression, nearly dropping her stack of bowls.

"What was that all about?" she asked, completely oblivious.

"Shhh, keep it down," whispered Mayu in warning, her pointer finger in front of her lips as she spoke to help symbolize what she meant.

"Sorry," whispered Nana apologetically.

"Yuka loves Kohta," whispered Mayu, suppressing an excited giggle.

"What? How do you know that?" asked Nana.

"She told me she does, but she didn't think she was worthy of him. She thought that he loved Nyu or Lucy more than her, well she didn't say that, but I know that's what she's thinking. Besides, she said that she doesn't mean to be jealous of him, and that she really loves him a lot, she has since they were little."

"How could Kohta love Lucy, she's mean!" exclaimed Nana a little too loudly, forgetting to whisper.

"Nana!" hissed Mayu.

Nana cover her mouth, with an 'oops' expression on her face.

"I don't know why, but the point is that we're giving them 'alone time.' You know, to bond closer together. If Kohta loves her back, we could be like a real family. Kohta could be the Dad, and Yuka the Mom. I already told Yuka that she would be a great Mom!" explained Mayu.

"That would be nice," thought Nana aloud.

Yuka sat back down at the table, her cheeks still red as she smiled a Kohta. She wanted to say something, but she found that her mind couldn't seem to produce thoughts into words anymore. She couldn't stand staring into his eyes any longer either, they were piercing her soul, or at least that's how she felt. She diverted her gaze to the table and twiddled her thumbs nervously.

"How are you doing, Yuka?" Kohta asked, breaking the silence.

"Wha - What do you mean, Kohta?" stuttered Yuka, her cheeks flashing even brighter, and her hands becoming clammy.

"Well, you've been through a lot lately," explained Kohta sympathetically.

"Me!?" exclaimed Yuka in astonishment, "You're the one who's been through a lot! Don't worry about me! That's definitely the last thing you should be worrying about!"

"Yuka, don't lie to yourself. You've been through a lot also! You've been taking care of Nana and Mayu like a Mother would her own children. Don't think I've not noticed. You took care of Nyu when she was here too! That couldn't have been easy, and still isn't," stated Kohta.

"But you've been through worse. Lucy died, and - and you loved her, didn't you?" Yuka blabbed out, covering her mouth afterwards for accusing him of something she shouldn't have. "I'm sorry Kohta, it's none of my business, forgive me, please!"

Kohta was initially shocked, but he grasped his air of calmness back quickly. "I did love Lucy, and I still do, but its complicated. I've realized that I can never love her the way I want to. She committed something unforgivable. Something she can never atone for. I can never make amends with her for what she did."

Yuka was curious. "What did she - wait - it isn't any of my business to ask you that."

Kohta placed his hand on top of her's, she immediately stopped twiddling her thumbs and went still. His eyes glazed over with fear, hate, sadness, insanity. He blinked away his emotions with a set of tears.

"Lucy killed Kanae, and my Father. I can never forgive her. I can never forgive myself. Kanae - " Kohta paused for a moment as his voice broke when he started to cry even more. He regained some of his composure before continuing where he had left off, "- she tried to warn me. She told me that she had seen Lucy kill a lot of people at the fair. She tried to save me, she wanted to protect me, and I told her I didn't believe her. I told her that I would hate her for the rest of her life if she didn't apologize to Lucy."

"Kohta," whispered Yuka, tears sliding down her face as horrible images swept over her mind.

"Lucy killed her on the spot. I can never forgive myself. I screamed, and my Father came over to see why, and Lucy killed him too!" his voice had become lower than before, he was mad, at who, Yuka couldn't tell.

Yuka pulled him into her embrace, hugging him and running her fingers through his hair. Not one bit of her was nervous any longer. She felt sadness, almost numb. She had loved Kanae and her Uncle too.

"I'm so sorry, Kohta," she said sympathetically.

"I asked Lucy why, why she had killed my little Sister and my Father. She told me it was because I'd betrayed her, I'd lied to her. The day before, I told her I was going to the fair, and that I couldn't see her. When she asked with who, I told her my cousin and I were going together. I said you were a boy, because I didn't want her to be jealous. I knew she liked me. She watched me at the fair, and saw that I had lied to her. That I was with you, and that you were a girl. She killed my family out of jealousy," explained Kohta furthermore.

"Kohta, I - " began Yuka, being abruptly cut-off.

"She told me she was going to kill you," Kohta whispered almost hesitantly. "I begged her not to. She kept saying she would kill you, and then come back for me. I kept on begging her not to, and she reluctantly agreed not to kill you and I. She just left. That was the last I had seen of her until just recently. She told me she had taken on a split personality so that she could be with me, and not remember what she had done to me. She told me that she had always ached to apologize to me."

"I told her I loved her, but couldn't forgive her, and I kissed her. I couldn't help it. I always wanted to, and when I did, it felt so wrong. I remembered what she had done, and I couldn't bare it. I tried, but couldn't find it in my heart to forgive her. She told me that she would keep the human race from dying out and becoming diclonii for me, because she loved me. And then, she died."

"It's my fault," whispered Yuka, staggering backward and away from Kohta. "It's all my fault Kanae and your Father died!"

Kohta grabbed her had, to keep her from moving further away, "No, it's not," he reassured, "It's my fault for lying, but it is Lucy's fault for doing what she did in response to it."

"I wish you hadn't had to go through all of that, Kohta. I wish I could take the pain, and guilt away from you. You don't deserve it, not one bit!" cried Yuka.

"You can't take back the past. You don't deserve such pain either. I'm just glad she listened to me, and didn't kill you. You're all I have left, Yuka." stated Kohta.

"I'm not good enough for you Kohta. You deserve better," Yuka admitted, more tears sliding down her face.

Kohta frowned, wiping away her tears with his thumb, and then wiping away his own with his shirt-sleeve.

"But you are good enough, Yuka. You're the only one I can tell this to. You're the only one I can trust completely. I love you, Yuka," Kohta softly whispered, clutching Yuka's hand tighter.

"Oh, Kohta," Yuka exclaimed in shock, she couldn't hold her tears back, whether they be tears of joy or sorrow. "I love you too, so much!"

Faster than she could react, she felt his lips crushing her own passionately in a kiss. The kiss felt true, though, she hated to think that she might just only be the element to fill the empty void that Lucy had left in her destructive wake.