Disclaimer: I do not own either Sailor Moon or Elfen Lied. This story is not for profit, just for fun.
Forward: This story takes place a little after the final arc of Sailor Moon. It does not match any timeline in Elfen Lied
My Friend the Diclonius
Near the Central Tokyo Shopping District there are a lot of hotdog venders. Like much of the western culture that finds its way to Japan, there was a big boom in business followed by a steady decline once the novelty wore off. Hotdogs are still big though, and venders wander about the malls and outlet stores toting their wares.
Mizuni peeked around an alleyway corner at the hotdog vender pushing his cart by. This was a game of patience and stealth; the vendor was still not in range of her vectors and it would be foolish to try and steal from his cart in the open. Mizuni adjusted the cap she wore to cover her horns and waited for the vender to get close enough. She had not eaten since yesterday afternoon and the pangs of hunger from her stomach were unbearable. But such was the consequence of a life on the run.
Mizuni was not entirely human. She was an offshoot mutant called a Diclonius, but she did not know that. For as long as she could remember she had always just been The Freak. She didn't even know if Mizuni was her real name. It was the name given to her by the child welfare service that had placed her into foster care. What she did know was that she was different; that her cat-ear horns, magenta hair and eyes, as well as the strange "ghost hands" she produced set her apart.
Most people she knew simply called her The Freak. Her foster parents had called her that. Whenever something went wrong The Freak was probably responsible, and when her two older foster brothers wanted to vent their anger and aggression The Freak was always a handy target, at least until that fateful day when Mizuni discovered her vectors. After that she no longer had a foster family.
There was no time to reminisce about the past for Mizuni though. The hotdog cart was getting closer and she had to eat. Steal or go hungry; that was the first lesson she had learned when she began life on the streets. Mizuni tensed herself to spring into action. She could just feel the hotdog cart at the very edge of her vector range. She let it get a few more feet before she sprang into action.
With astounding speed two of Mizuni's vectors whipped under the cart and yanked the wheels off of the side furthest away from her. The cart tipped over with a crash and foil-wrapped hotdogs as well as condiment bottles spilled onto the sidewalk. The vender, cursing a blue streak, ran to fetch the wheels of the cart that Mizuni had hurled into the street. Mizuni's four vectors quickly grabbed four hotdogs and drew them around the corner to Mizuni's waiting hands. She stuffed them into an old knapsack she had found and hurried away before she was discovered.
Once Mizuni could be relatively well assured that she was not close enough to her crime scene to be tied to it she pulled the first hotdog out of her knapsack and unwrapped it. Mizuni was in heaven as she began eating and filling up her empty stomach. She stepped out of the alleyway to make her way to a public park where she liked to eat. Sometimes, if she was feeling generous, she would share some of her food with the pigeons. They too lived like vagabonds, scavenging for their food and fighting to stay alive, and Mizuni saw them as kindred spirits of sorts.
As she stepped on the sidewalk, Mizuni was too absorbed in her hotdog to notice a blond-haired figure, also not paying much attention to her surroundings, rushing toward her.
-:-:-
In another part of Tokyo, a number of men were gathered together in an abandoned warehouse. For the past several days a number of trucks had come and gone, dropping off refrigerator boxes as well as a number of innocent looking crates that held not so innocent cargo.
Jotoma Timura took another drag off of his cigarette as the latest crate to arrive from the research facility was opened. He looked down his clip-board at the inventory; two dozen custom-made .30 caliber assault rifles with almost a hundred thirty round clips to go with them… and that was just one crate of weapons.
Jotoma scowled to himself as he checked off the list on his clipboard. Some of his superior officers had complained that this much firepower was unnecessary. After all it was just one rogue diclonius. But Jotoma had seen firsthand what this diclonius was capable of and the images had remained burned into his mind. No, it was better to err on the side of caution, and Jotoma Timura was well known as being very cautious.
Near a control console a fax machine whirred as it printed out a message from the research facility. One of Jotoma's junior officers took it and quickly read over it. "Sir, the profile you requested had just arrived."
"Ah, excellent," Jotoma declared as he read over the target profile. It had taken months to piece together the few clues about the rouge diclonius. They hadn't even known she was here until her foster family was found dead. They were able to backtrack through child welfare service records and found that a strange girl was born with horns and left unclaimed at the hospital by her parents. The hospital staff had named her Mizuni and placed her into foster care when she was old enough. She should be about sixteen now.
Jotoma had seen death before, but nothing could compare to the butchery that this rogue diclonius had inflicted on her foster family. There were no current photographs of his target, but she would not be hard to spot, her horns would tell them exactly what she was. Jotoma finished his cigarette and flicked it onto the floor where he extinguished it with his boot. He was here to find the rogue diclonius, Mizuni, and he would not fail.
-:-:-
Usagi Tsukino kept checking her watch as she raced home from school. A new Sailor V. movie had come out and she wanted to get opening day seats. Of course, it could be considered just a little pointless to see the Sailor V. movies as Usagi knew the real Sailor
Venus, but she enjoyed them all the same.
The last few months had been hectic for Usagi. The final defeat of Chaos had nearly destroyed her and had left emotional scars that would not quite heal. She was also in her last year of high school and with her eighteenth birthday just around the corner she was going through a lot of stress; but she had matured greatly during that time. But right now, Usagi was more concerned about unwinding for a while.
Across the street, Usagi's friends, Naru and Umino waved as she ran past. Umino was hardly recognizable from the gawky nerd that Usagi had known since junior high. He had grown quite tall and had started to fill out his lanky frame with some muscle. He still had coke bottle glasses and his hair was still a mess, but at least his acne had cleared.
Usagi waved back to her friends. "Are you guys sure you don't want to come see the new Sailor V. movie with me!" she called out.
Naru cupped her hands around her mouth to be heard across the busy street. "Sorry, Usagi, but there's a new art display at the museum that I've been wanting to see, and Umino promised to take me to see it!"
"Ok, but you guys are going to be the ones missing out!" Usagi called back. She checked her watch again. "Gah, I'm barely going to have enough time to get home get changed and get to the theater!" She took off in a full run. Usagi was so absorbed in monitoring her time that she completely missed the person stepping out of the alley in front of her. Serena could not avoid a collision and she and this stranger both went head over heals and landed in an ungainly tangle of arms and legs on the sidewalk.
Mizuni growled as she extracted herself from the klutz who had just knocked her over. She looked at her half eaten hotdog laying in the gutter and snarled. With one swift move Mizuni got to her feet and roughly pulled Usagi to hers. "Why don't you pay attention to where you're going, bone-head!" she spat.
Usagi looked the girl she ran into up and down. She was nearly as tall as Usagi's friend Makoto, but not so muscular. What immediately caught Usagi's attention was the girl's magenta colored eyes and shoulder length hair. They immediately reminded her of Chibiusa, her future daughter. 'Could this be another person from the future crystal Tokyo?' thought Usagi. "Sorry about your hotdog," said Usagi at last after a few uncomfortable moments of silence. "How much do I owe you for it?"
"Nothing," said Mizuni. "Don't worry about it." Mizuni turned to walk away. She was feeling a bit irritated about being knocked over, but she was not interested in causing a scene. She had only gotten a few steps when she felt a hand grasp her arm.
"Hey come on, let me make it up to you," said Usagi. She felt bad about ruining this girl's lunch, but she also wanted to investigate her further. All thoughts of seeing the Sailor V. movie had disappeared.
Mizuni shrugged Usagi's arm off. She was about to tell Usagi to get lost, but it had been a long time since anyone had been genuinely apologetic for anything they had done to her. Mizuni sighed and placed both her hands on Usagi's shoulders so she could look her straight in the eye. "Look, I appreciate that you want to replace my lunch, but don't worry about it. I'm not a sympathy case and I'm not good company. So please, do us both a favor and just leave me alone. Ok?"
"I was just trying to be nice," said Usagi softly as the strange pink-haired girl turned to leave. She had been spurned by people she was trying to be friendly with before, but experience still did not ease the sting of rejection.
Mizuni stopped in her tracks. She couldn't remember the last time someone had shown her kindness. A small part of her, a part that she kept buried and usually refused to let out for fear of rejection, was genuinely touched. She was a loner, but was still lonely.
"Alright," Mizuni sighed. "I'll let you buy me lunch, but then you scram, got it?"
Usagi grinned as she grasped Mizuni by the hand and pulled her down the street. "I know a great place to eat! It's a local arcade and soda shop that's run by a friend of mine and they make great burgers. My name is Usagi by the way, what's yours?"
"Mizuni," Mizuni replied. She shook her head as she allowed herself to be dragged along by a pigtailed girl who had the strangest hair she had ever seen. 'What have I gotten myself into?' thought Mizuni.
-:-:-
Mizuni could not help but wolf down her food. Usagi had decided to try to ferret as much information out of Mizuni as possible and had outdone herself with burgers fries and milkshakes, though it would set her back financially for a couple of weeks. However, Usagi was unable to get much information from Mizuni as she paused only to nod, grunt, or give short answers.
Finally Mizuni declared herself stuffed to capacity and announced it was time to leave. She got up and bowed to Usagi. "Thank you Usagi," she said. "I really appreciated lunch, but I have to go."
"Hey, I'll walk you home," Usagi offered. She was determined to find out who Mizuni really was, even if it killed her.
Mizuni shook her head. For the first time she did not want anyone to see where she slept out of paranoia, but out of embarrassment. She was afraid that if Usagi found out she was homeless she would be rejected again. "Sorry, but I'm going to have to insist that I go home alone. But hey, I'll see you around your school later, if that's ok."
"Yeah, it was fun hanging out with you," said Usagi cheerfully. "I'll see you tomorrow, same place."
"Sure, see you tomorrow, Usagi," said Mizuni. While she really did want to hang out with Usagi, she was feeling a little uncomfortable with the positive attention she was receiving. She had no idea what the proper reaction to kindness was. Without a backwards glance she hurried out of the arcade and down the street to her hiding place.
Usagi watched Mizuni go for several minutes. She had a good idea that Mizuni was hiding something and she wanted to find out what.
-:-:-
It took about half an hour for Mizuni to reach her destination. Her "home" was an old abandoned maintenance room in a subway tunnel. Mizuni had found it months ago and decided that it would be the perfect place to hide out. It had electricity, running water in a still functional bathroom, and an old cot that whoever was stationed there could use for a nap if he needed it. She snaked her vectors under the door and undid the latches that she had put in place to keep intruders out. Within the room were her few meager possessions; a few changes of clothes she had stolen, some soaps and shampoos that a hotel had thrown out, a comb with a few teeth missing, some candles she had found in the trash, some matches, and a few old tatty books.
Mizuni lit a candle and selected a book to read. She preferred to use candlelight so no one could detect an unauthorized use of power in this part of the subway tunnel. She pulled her hat off and hung it on the edge of the cot and began to read.
-:-:-
Usagi felt very nervous and creeped out by her surroundings. She had followed Mizuni down this old subway tunnel, and now Usagi was pretty sure she knew why Mizuni had declined to let her walk her home. Despite all rational thought telling her to turn around and go back the way she came, her conscience and heart would not let her. Usagi could sense just how lonely this girl was and really did want her to know that at least one person cared.
Usagi crept as silently as possible down the subway tunnel. She wasn't sure where Mizuni was, but was sure she had gone this way. As Usagi pressed forward into the gloom her foot hit a discarded pop can, causing it to clank a few feet down the tunnel.
The noise was enough to alert Mizuni to an intruder. She could tell that it was a little ways past her door and that the person was still facing away from her. Mizuni quickly kicked the door open and sprang into the tunnel. The person was just at the edge of her vector range of twelve feet so Mizuni quickly swept the person's feet from under them before she could get a good look at whoever it was. Once her eyes adjusted to the darkness she could not believe them. It was Usagi! The little moron must have followed her. Feeling both defensive and disgusted Mizuni quickly rolled the girl onto her back and lifted her by her shirt collar.
"You just don't know when to quit do you?" hissed Mizuni only inches from Usagi's face. "So, what hair-brained idea brought you down here?"
Usagi's eyes began filling with tears. "I didn't come here to spy on you! I came because I was worried about you. You're not very good at hiding the fact that you're all alone."
Mizuni sighed and removed her hands from Usagi's uniform shirt. She had apparently underestimated this girl. "Why don't you come inside? I guess I owe you an explanation."
Usagi meekly followed Mizuni into the maintenance room. She quickly took in the surroundings, but found her eyes drawn to the horns on Mizuni's head. Usagi hesitantly reached out her hand to touch one of the horns. "What are these?" she asked.
"The bane of my existence," growled Mizuni as she brushed Usagi's hand away. "These got me abandoned as a newborn and abused in foster care. It's because of these damned horns that I am out on the streets. All my life people have called me The Freak when they've seen them. That's why I cover them." She slowly turned to face Usagi, her eyes full of challenge. "You think they're weird too, don't you?"
Usagi grinned and shook her head. "I think they're cool, even cute! They look like cat ears sticking out of your hair!"
Mizuni laughed at the description and gave Usagi one of her rare genuine smiles. "You really don't mind them, do you?"
"Not one bit!" exclaimed Usagi. The wide smile slowly faded from her face as she really started to look at Mizuni's living conditions. No person should have to live like this. "Do you really live here by yourself?"
"Yeah, and I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell anyone I'm here," said Mizuni. She really did not want anyone to drop in on her unexpectedly.
"That shouldn't be an issue," exclaimed Usagi. She leapt to her feet and seized Mizuni's wrist. "I know; why don't you come to stay with my family? I'm sure they wouldn't mind."
Mizuni bit her lower lip. She desperately wanted to be accepted but she also harbored a deep distrust of people. She had been hurt in the past and had no desire to be hurt again. "I don't know…" she said.
But Usagi had heard the hesitation in Mizuni's reply. She grinned broadly and began loading Mizuni's things into the knapsack. "Don't worry," Usagi soothed. "My family is really nice. Well, my kid brother can be a pain, but all kid brothers are like that."
Mizuni could not help but feel apprehensive as she helped Usagi load her meager belongings into the pack. She looked around her little area and felt a pang of remorse. 'If doesn't work out,' she thought, 'I'm going to have to find a new place to stay.'
-:-:-
Kenji sighed as he looked Usagi's new friend over. She looked the part of a homeless runaway; her clothes were threadbare and dirty and she looked as if she hadn't had a bath in weeks. He also couldn't understand why she insisted in keeping her hat on indoors.
But Kenji Tsukino had decided to share his daughter's compassion. His wife, Ikoku, had insisted that Mizuni not spend one more night on the streets and she was now on her way to the mall to buy some clean new clothes for her.
"Well, I suppose that you'll have to stay in Usagi's room," he said. "We have a few inflatable mattresses you can sleep on, or you can sleep on the sofa, whichever you prefer."
"I think I'll sleep on a mattress in Usagi's room," replied Mizuni. She had deep misgivings about sleeping in the open.
"I think my wife has some spare clothes that should fit you," Kenji continued. "I'll get a few pairs for you while you get yourself cleaned up."
Mizuni quickly made her way upstairs and found the bathroom straightaway. She almost felt like whooping for joy when she saw an actual shower with a number of scented shampoos. She quickly stripped off her clothing and spent a good hour luxuriating scrubbing away the grime and gunk that had accumulated from a life on the run. It had been more than a year since she had gotten a chance for a long hot shower.
When Mizuni had finished she quickly made her way to Usagi's room. A few undergarments as well as a few dresses had been laid out for her. She had just finished dressing when Usagi burst into the room with several large bags.
"Ooh I can't wait to see how some of these look on you." said Usagi as she began unpacking the bags.
Mizuni frowned as she looked around at the general state of disarray that was Usagi's bedroom. "You know Usagi, my living space may have been a little dirty, but at least it was organized. Your bedroom looks like a disaster."
"Yeah, I know, but let's take care of that later. I want to see how some of these outfits look on you."
"Oh I don't think so," said Mizuni sternly. "I can't live in a mess like this. I'll help you clean up this mess and then we can play dress-up."
-:-:-
Later that night Mizuni lay awake as the Tsukino residence settled down. She could hear Usagi snoring gently from her bed; her cute black cat Luna curled up by her pillow. Mizuni felt strange sleeping in a strange home where the people weren't incredibly judgmental, but felt good as well. After a time she rolled over and drifted off to sleep.
-:-:-
Jotoma took a drag off of his cigarette and stared at the rising moon. He was up to three packs a day and readily acknowledged that smoking was a dirty vice, but no method he had tried had helped to kick the nicotine addiction. He stood on the roof of the warehouse and surveyed the vast city stretched out before him.
Jotoma looked at the badly maimed creature that was strapped to a nutrient chair and sitting next to him. She was a diclonius; about seven years old with wispy pink hair and eyes. Her limbs had been amputated and she received all of her fluids and nutrients through an intravenous drip.
Jotoma felt incredible pity for this poor child and deep disgust for the scientists who created this monstrosity. She served her purpose though. The nutrient chair was also part neural inhibitor and it had been discovered early on that the constant bombardment on the diclonius nervous system both inhibited the development of their vectors, as well as enhanced their telepathic range. This poor miserable child was essentially a living radar.
Jotoma turned back to look at the rising moon. 'As soon as we locate and detain this rogue,' he told himself. 'I'm going to give this poor thing a quiet, painless, quick death.' He felt no hatred or malice towards the creature. It was simply the sort of humane disposal that he would have given a cancer-ridden cat or dog.
Jotoma inhaled the last bit of tobacco from his cigarette and flicked it off the roof of the warehouse. Somewhere in this city was his rogue diclonius, Mizuni. Finding her was going to take a lot of patience, and detaining her would require incredible skill. Jotoma slowly made his way from the roof and to the barracks where his men would be sleeping. He elected to set up a bunk away from them and sleep alone. Jotoma always tried to distance himself from those men whom he would be compelled to send to their deaths.
