Author's Note: Oh my god, I've been bailing and wailing for so long after watching Mariko's death on Youtube over and over again. I read a fan fiction for Mariko's death by cluekitty and it was REALLY good! It makes me cry every time Mariko says "Daddy". It tears me up inside when Kurama hugs Mariko and says, "Warmth. Love. Joy. You had everything taken away from you…" WAHHH!!! So, here's my tribute to Mariko, the misunderstood little Diclonius.

Warmth. Love. Joy.

Tribute to Mariko, Elfen Lied

The first glance… The first glance when the little pink haired Diclonius girl looked at a tall man with black hair and rectangular framed glasses, she knew he was her father at birth. Mariko's pink eyes lit with hope and rejoice. The sight of her father was like looking at the sun rising from beyond the horizons of the sea or mountains. It was sign of a fresh and blissful day. She noticed her father's face, astonishment was written all over his face, unlike fear of which others plastered it onto others' faces. Mariko couldn't tell if it was from happiness, or just plain shock, but she pretended it was happiness. She didn't want anything to ruin this moment. Nothing will.

"You're my daddy?" Mariko finally managed to speak after taking in the picture of her real father. Her voice was full of youth, young, and had a drip of sorrowful venom. Kurama, her father, flinched slightly as she said daddy. The way she has said it, stung his heart with regret.

"Mariko…" He mumbled to himself, though he knew she has heard it. The moment he said her name, she knew for sure Kurama was her true father at birth. Finally, they can be reunited and be together forever. Forever and he'll watch her grow up.

Mariko's big, spacious eyes couldn't get wider, "Oh Daddy…" Her small lips started to form a true smile. It was small, but enough to show Kurama that she was waiting for him all this time. She leaned against her wheelchair and tried with all her strength and might to stand up, just for her father to be proud of her. Of course, being trapped within the chamber, cell, dungeon—call it whatever one wants too—she never truly learned how to walk and struggled. 'No, this is for Daddy!' Mariko finally pushed herself up and took a few steps towards her Daddy. She held out her only arm, "Daddy… I've been hoping to meet you." She saw his mouth, slightly open in surprise.

He couldn't believe it. Kurama was actually seeing his daughter take her first few steps in success. Deep down, his heart pounded, telling him to just run up to her and embrace her, tell her how much he loves her and missed her. Though, his common sense spoke to him otherwise; it told him to leave her. She was just like any other slaughtering child he had to kill.

Mariko kept smiling, waiting for her Daddy to run to her, embrace her and tell her how much he missed her and apologized for making her suffer. Though, her false thoughts were disrupted as she tripped and fell to the floor hard. Kurama's instincts took over as a parent and guardian and stepped forward, letting out a small gasp. He hoped that she wasn't hurt. He would never want to see Mariko's child blood spilled.

Mariko quickly lifted her face, still lying on the floor; a frown planted itself on her façade. "Oh Daddy…" her voice ringed with hope and desire.

Kurama didn't know what to do. It was hard… To see his daughter so weak, so limp on the floor as she called out his name. He seethed as his choices started dividing into millions of different roads. Ever so slowly, he reached for his gun, and pulled the trigger, creating the deafening clicking noise he has heard so much after killing an offspring with horns upon their heads. He couldn't bear to see her daughter's shocked eyes as he pointed the weapon at her with deadly accuracy.

It was as if all of Mariko's hopes and dreams have shattered like a glass heart being dropped to a bottom of a cold empty well. Nana looked away. The mature Diclonius felt pure pity for Mariko. Nana knew that Kurama was not her real father, but she was happy and glad to even have an adoptive father like Kurama.

There was a long pregnant silence. Mariko slowly let her single arm drop and tears started developing in her eyes. Her little heart broke into pieces and the tears ran down her cheek and fell into her lap. "All this time, that I was locked away in that dark room," Mariko remembered the prison. It was not her home. No, it was like a dark Hell that she was locked in, "I was looking forward to the day we'd meet." She sniffed and ignored the continuous flow of tears streaming down her pale flesh. "You'd say, 'Come out,' and there'd you be," Kurama held the sympathy and lament in his dark midnight eyes. How he wanted to stop her suffering with a sincere apology including hugs and kisses. Mariko continued, "with Mommy… waiting to take me home." Mariko gave a small hopeful smile, hoping that the speech would convince him. "So we can be a real family." Yes, she would like that. The idea of waking up every morning to her mother's delicious cooking, two smiles on her parents' faces was pure bliss. "You and Mommy would tell me, 'Mariko we love you much.'" She could imagine that, "And now, we meet," Nana's face was broken with pity and sorrow. How much did this little girl suffer?

"Like in my dreams…" her face broke into a pitiful façade. "How could you do this to me? How could you?" she closed her eyes, refusing to let any more warm tears out. She lifted her head to the sky and poured her heart out, "You were supposed to be my Daddy! You were supposed to take care of me! Oh Daddy!" though, the tears still streamed down her face. It was like a small waterfall, but instead of beautiful, it was heartbreaking. "No Daddy!!!"

Kurama's face couldn't look more discomforted. He held the look of self-regret for himself. Seeing the tears was like flames stabbing his heart. He knew that he was the cause of all the tears and broken pieces of what used to be her heart. Mariko continued wailing as if it were the end of the world. He still held the gun in the same position, "It's my fault… I had to kill so many other people's children…" he could hear the gasp of the babies and the cries of their parents. "But, I kept you alive because you were my daughter." He lowered his gun slowly, but raised it again, "I had no right to be so selfish. It was my sin from the beginning, that you'll have to pay."

Mariko wiped away the tears, "Then why did you let me live so long," she wanted to hurt her father, hurt her like she did to so many others, but something held her vectors back, "when all you knew was that all I did was suffer? How could you Daddy?" she continued wiping her tears with her single arm. The thin ribbons holding her hair felt tight around her horns. "I thought you loved me." She never felt so much sorrow. Is this what dying felt like?

Nana immediately whispered to her Papa, "This is dangerous!" Mariko gasped to herself and saw the more mature Diclonius tugging against her father's shirt. "Papa, we should get out of here!" Nana didn't want to see her adoptive father die, more rather than see him die.

Mariko's fury grew, "'Papa'?" she repeated, the tears stopped, "But why? Why is she allowed to call you Papa? She isn't your daughter!" How could that girl? How could her real father replace her for someone just the same species? "How could you abandon your daughter to grow up alone? How could you?!" Mariko has always thought better of her father. A single vector reached out and slammed Nana against metal fences and started choking her. The rage and fury only built up, replacing her sorrow with anger. She felt a small piece of fake happiness replace her heart.

She heard her father scream out the girl's name, "Nana!" How she hated that… Mariko wanted her father to say her name, and only hers.

"Hey Daddy?" Mariko put on a fake smile she has put on for so many years. Kurama faced her to see a tortured child. "Would you be sad if she dies?" She asked with her head tilted slightly to the left.

Kurama let out a small-exasperated gasp. He couldn't help but think of what he has created. Not a monster like everyone else thought, but a young girl that is so confused, so misunderstood and so miserable, she was too scared to show it. She was young, and has killed many lives and treated it all as a game of hers. A fantasy, so that her father would be proud of, "If you don't know, I'll try it so we can find out." Her voice… so innocent, so pure… She was never the image of a killing machine.

Mariko summoned two more vectors and immediately started beating Nana. She heard the gasps and yells of pain from the girl; they were like music to her ears. It was lovely. 'Maybe this will make Daddy proud.' Mariko thought to herself.

The father couldn't help but see two of his daughters suffering. Mariko was suffering from loneliness, while Nana was suffering from the rapid beatings. He didn't know what to do. Once again, the roads split into double the many tracks. Kurama slowly lifted the weapon, planning to end Mariko's suffering life quickly, but then slammed it on the ground furiously. How could he think of that? Ending his daughter's life when she hasn't even known the truth of how he even felt.

Mariko was shocked. The man started walking towards her, but Mariko was only full of fear. She didn't know what he was going to do. Was he going to hurt her? No, instead he embraced her with all his might. Kurama took in the scent of his daughter's soaked tears. It was salty. He mumbled into Mariko's small ears, "Warmth. Love. Joy… You've had everything good taken away from you." He rubbed his daughter's soft silky hair the way he imagined how it would always feel, "I was the one who took it. Mariko, not a moment has gone by since the day you were born," he could hear her stifling gasps, "that I haven't been thinking of you."

"Daddy…" Mariko looked up with more hope. Was this pseudo? No… It was what she has heard many others called love. "I'm so sorry Mariko." What Kurama, her loving father, said, made her broken heart repair itself. She felt like a new person with a whole heart. She knew that her father has always loved her. Mariko, for the first time ever, gave a true smile of happiness. Kurama picked up his daughter, holding her light frail and weak body as he promised her, "From now on, we'll always be together." What he said was true. He had always wanted to be with Mariko, forever.

Mariko looked up with hopeful eyes, "Do you mean it Daddy?" her voice was like angels singing in Kurama's ears. So this is what they call daughter, father love… Kurama smiled and nodded.

"I promise you." He turned to see a man with a small device that would destroy Mariko. At birth, the scientists had found out Mariko was born with 27 vectors and predicted she would be trouble in the future. Kurama would not allow the director of the organization to kill his only family left, so instead they implanted bombs inside Mariko's body, just so that if she were to disobey orders, she would die in a large explosion. "Go ahead, do it."

"But…" the man had witnessed the heart-touching moment of daughter and father. The scientist was hesitant, "Chief… Don't tell me you've been planning this all along." He didn't want Kurama to die, nor did he want to see Kurama's happiness disappear.

Kurama continued looking down into Mariko's pink eyed gaze, "I've worked for the director for many years now…" the images of the harsh missions he had to accomplish, to see so much bloodshed popped into his thoughts, but soon disappeared as he saw Mariko's curious eyes. "I know the kind of measures he takes." Kurama started walking down the stairs of the rooftop, and continued staring into Mariko's blissful eyes.

As they walked down the stairs, Mariko asked him questions, "Daddy…" her heart fluttered as she said his name. "What was Mommy like?" Mariko has always imaged her mother, with the same beautiful pink hair as hers, and possibly the same horns as hers. She was hopeful, but never knew what or even who she really was.

Kurama responded as he took the last step of the stairs and continued towards a bridge, "She was beautiful… Just like you." He remembered her. He had always loved her till the day she died. He promised her to keep Mariko alive, and to love her as much as he loved his wife.

"Daddy?" Mariko asked as he stopped in the middle of the bridge.

He had to tell her the truth. Kurama couldn't bear to keep it a secret any longer, "Mariko… You should know this much. I'm happy I have a chance to tell you." It was true. He wanted to pour his heart out, to heal his daughter's infected wounds in her heart and give her the love and care she deserved ever since she came out of her mother's womb with a short crop of bright pink hair and small horns upon her head. "Your mother loved you so much. She loved you until the last breath she took." Tears began to swell in his midnight blue eyes from beneath his rectangular glasses. "Both of us loved you. More than you can ever realize…" the tears ran down his cheek and fell onto Mariko's cheek.

Mariko didn't know what to say….

Five seconds…

She smiled, and cuddled into her father's warm shirt.

Four seconds…

She couldn't be any happier with Kurama's answer.

Three seconds…

Kurama couldn't be any happier with Mariko's small hands gripping his shirt.

Two seconds…

The two could only stay silent, and feel the warmth, the joy, and the love that emitted off of Kurama towards Mariko. They were both happy, like father, like daughter.

One.

There was a loud boom, and Mariko and Kurama was sent to Heaven, where the two can relive both of their lives… From the moment Mariko was born, to where she was being fed as a toddler, to where she scraped her knee and her parents immediately tended to her knee, to where Kurama gave Mariko a ride on his shoulders, to where they said good-bye and she went to school… to where they both died, to just rejoice together with their last moments, to live happily.

May Mariko Rest in Peace

Author's Note: Hope you liked it because it took me a long time!!! I was supposed to be doing homework buuuut… Yeah… Anyways, reviews much appreciated~

-Karasu Kaguya