Requiem

Disclaimer: I do not own Elfen Lied or any of its characters besides my own original characters. This fanfic contains bits of info from the manga as well as the anime. I haven't written a fan fic in a while but I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 1: Seven Years Later

"Everyone! Dinner Time!"
A familiar voice echoed throughout the Maple Inn to its tenants, the ritual summoning for the 3rd meal of the day. The voice belonged to Mayu, now 18 years old, starting her first year in college, and the cook of the house smiled to herself

"I really out did myself this time" she thought with a giggle as she took in a whiff of her grand meal. Hurried footsteps, somewhat hollow sounding, approached excitedly towards the dining area, skidding to a stop just in time to reach its resting spot before falling over.
"Oh Nana…"

Mayu giggled again, her friend did love food so and never missed a meal, in fact she was always the first one there. Emerging from the kitchen with the evenings meal Mayu smiled to see the two other people she had come to see as family sitting across from the purple haired, horned girl who was dancing in excitement for food as if it was her first time trying soumen again. Kouta and Yuka were smiling as they received their plates and expressed their gratitude by complimenting everything from the smell to the presentation of the steaming meal in front of them.
"Thanks Mayu! It looks great!"

Yuka now 25 smiled up at the raven haired girl with the cheery disposition as she clapped her hands together and recited the traditional "Itadakimasu!" before she began to eat. Her cousin, Kouta, also 25 smiled a little less cheerfully as he followed Yuka's lead.
"He's been so gloomy since then…seven years ago"

Nana thought to herself, she was careful not to speak about it anymore for each time she did she got yelled at or got a cold stare from the blue eyed boy. "He really is troubled of Lucy-san's death…" It was understandable though since he had killed her himself, but it was the letter he found that troubled him most of all. The letter was from Lucy when she and Kouta first met and Kouta still had it with him occasionally re-reading it when he thought nobody was looking. "The letter from Lucy-san…I wonder what it said…" Thought Nana as she snuck glances at Kouta, but in her own mind she corrected herself "No not Lucy-san. Kaede-san."
As soon as Nana thought that Kouta caught her staring at him causing Nana to blush and look back down at her plate flustered. It was silent as meals often became at the Maple Inn for nobody really knew what to say around Kouta anymore and after so many years of trying to get more than a one word response from him the girls of the Inn just gave up all together.
"Thanks for the meal", said Kouta as he stood up and took his half empty dishes to the kitchen to clean them up. He walked out of the dining area without another word and headed to his room where he spent most of his time nowadays doing who knows what besides reading that letter over and over.
A sigh came from Yuka as she watched Kouta leave so suddenly without so much as a smile or any sense of his old self. She wondered if the boy she had loved for so long would ever return to his previous self, or if he would be this depressed shell of a man for the rest of his life; She knew it was wrong, but she couldn't help but feel jealous of Nyu even though Nyu was no longer with them.

"He always cared more about Nyu than he did about me…." Yuka thought to herself feeling disgusted by her own selfish thoughts, but she couldn't lie to herself and say that she was okay with Kouta's feelings. She had loved him since childhood, but he would never feel as strongly about her as she did about him because Nyu…no Kaede-chan…would always take up a huge part of his heart.
Kouta lay on his back staring at the ceiling of his room letting his mind wander, but found it would always find its way to thoughts of Nyu. Pushing himself up Kouta grabbed a small box on the floor near him and opened it looking at its contents: a jade rock and a folded up piece of paper worn with age. He reached in and gently picked up the paper, unfolded it and let his eyes scroll along the childlike handwriting; he knew the words written down on the tattered page so well he could recite them by heart, but that didn't hold the same meaning for him as reading it did. Kouta stared at the last two words on the page, so lost in them that he had lost all sense of time.
….Love, Kaede…….

(A/N: So I know its pretty uneventful so far, but I wanted my first chapter to just be like a pick up from the end of the manga/anime y'know? What they're all doing now. I didn't bring in Nozomi since I have not finished the manga yet and do not know if anything had happened to her, I only know about Kaede because X3 well I was an idiot and didn't think Wikipedia had spoilers haha ;;;; Trust me a lot more will happen in chapters to come! I hope you like it so far !!

PS: I know I switched perspectives a lot, I tend to do that in my first chapters…I usually write as an outside observer, but sometimes well this weirdness happens HAHA . I mean hey its summer and I'm starting freshman year of college in August so not exactly professional level writing here Lol!! Is the structure odd? Sorry this A/N is so long!

PLEASE REVIEW ))