THE WOLFE: I do not own the Elfen Lied Manga or Anime. I do not own any characters save James and Sarah Mickenley. This story goes into both the anime and the manga, but mainly the anime. And before you ask, no, James is not me! Read, Relax, and Review!
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
CHAPTER 1: THE MAN WHO HEARD A CRY
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
The lone man walked down the street, his slightly long grey trench coat tailing behind him. A car passed by, splashing water towards him. He ignored it as it soaked him. He shifted the pack on his back slighty. "What a dreary day." he muttered. It had stormed earlier that day, making the whole city rather unsightly. The man's stay was not looking too good. Oh well, he thought, thus is the price I pay for trying to find a nice place to stay while he conducted his work later that month. The sooner he found an Inn, the better.
As the man walked in the direction of the nearest Inn he was told of, his thoughts drifted back to where he had been only hours before. It had been a rather good bit of negotiating to simply convince the Yoshikowas to let him leave. They didn't much like the thought of their valiant defender leaving them. He felt a wave of saddness as he remembered the night before and the morning he left.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
"As good a dinner as i have come to expect from you, Miahka." the man said, smiling back at the beaming young women as she picked up the dishes. "Thank you James." She replied. He stood to help her as the others finished their food. It had been a few months after James, Chiaki, and Sarah had returned after thier battle with something, no none really cared about the specifics. They were just happy to have their sister and friends back, safe. One thing still bothered James though.
During the battle with an enemy that had tried to kill the Yoshikawas, whom was trapped inside Mars by James, James had apprently heard a young women crying for help. No none else had heard it, but it had haunted James from that point on. It was as if this voice were calling out to him specificly, and a few days after the fight he had dreams of a town. He decided, in secret, to find this town, so as to try and end these cries of help. He had found the town a few weeks ago, and had spent the time making plans. James had decided to go there under the guise of being a med school student, his normal facade for where he lived, and to work as a security guard in a highly secret research facility to earn some money. The place was rather eager to hire him after reading his resume.
Now he was at the hardest part: telling the others. As soon as he mentioned his plans, Miahka and Sarah were protesting.
"You can't leave us to go and try to find a voice!" Miahka argued.
"We need you here, incase of an emergency!" Sarah pitched in.
The arguing continued on for a time, untill Chiaki finally spoke, "I think we should let him go." When other two asked why, she only answered "If he wants to go he can. If this person needs him, he should go try to help her! who are we to try and keep him to ourselves! If there is a problem, we can take care of it without his help." Defeated, the others stopped complaining. They had all gone to bed disgruntled. In the morning, James had made breakfast for all of them, and prepared to leave.
"Do you think this will get you off James?" Miahka asked. "No, but I hope you guys can last a few days without me, because I'm leaving, whether or not you like it. Besides, it's only for a few hours today to look for a place to stay, so I'll be back later. Goodbye." And with that, he turned to go out the door. Before he could leave, Chiaki had run up and embraced him from behind, tears running down her eyes and voice breaking, startling him. "Don't go getting yourself killed, you hear me? I would never forgive you for that..." She began to sob openly, and James turned to comfort her, but the door was already shut on his face. He stood, stunned, but not for long. James turned towards his Bike and hopped on, roaring down the road, soon to slip and crash the damn thing from the rain, having to put it in a shop for minor repairs.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
James stopped in front of a large building. This looked like the place. He took a look around, but didn't find anybody. James stood in front of the closed Inn and sighed. James turned to leave back down the road. "Can I help you?" came a voice from behind James. He turned to see a young woman with short brown hair carrying an umbrella looking at him with a quizical look about her. Maybe she knew who owned the place.
"Yes actually. Would you happen to know who owns this place?" James replied. "Oh, that would be me, actually. Why did you want to know?" "I was looking for a place to stay for my studies. You see, I'm going to attend the Med School nearby (I don't know the name, was it ever mentioned?) and I wanted to find a place a little quieter. Alas, it seems this place is closed." He turned to leave.
"Wait," the girl said after a short pause," It's not closed. Well, not for long anyways. My cousin, Kouta, is going to attend the college as well, and is coming in a five days. My family is going to let him stay here as long as he keeps it clean, but I guess you could stay too."
"Ah thank you!" James replied rather too excitedly. "I'll come that day." As he was about to leave, he spun around and asked her her name. "Yuka. you can call me Yuka." She gave him a slight smile as he ran off.
"A bit of a wierdo, but a little company could do Kouta some good." Yuka muttered behind James' back as he walked back down the street, towards the town. "I heard that" came a distant cry, making Yuka jump.
James laughed as he walked down the street. There was still a slight drizzle, matting down his silver hair. As he walked across a bridge, he heard a faint whimper from below. James looked over the edge to see a small girl holding a puppy in her arms huddling under the archway. It looked like she only had on a brown sweat shirt. He sighed, hefted his pack, and slung himself down the off the bridge, silently hitting the ground a few feet away from her. As he straigtened up, she curled up even more, frieghtened.
"Don't worry. I'm not here to hurt ya." James extended his hand, but she still stayed back. He sighed again. "What are you doing out here in this weather? Shouldn't you be at home with your parents?" At this she violently yelled "I'm not going back there! I'm not going to let him..." the girl began to sob. James asked the girl her name. "...Mayu..." was all she said. "What happened to you? Who did what to you? " As she told him, James could feel a deep feeling of anger growing inside of him. A perverted Step-Father. He had had his fill of perverts in the past. A nuisance to the world, surely.
James helped Mayu stand up, pulled some cloths and money from his pack, along with an umbrella. He handed it to Mayu. "To make up for what that man did. Not all of us are evil." With that, he left. "See you around, Mayu!" She just stared after the strange, kind man. She looked down at her dog. "Well Wanta, wasn't that nice of him?"
He continued to walk back to the bike store, arriving half an hour later without anymore encounters. He paid the bill and rode the bike back to the Yoshikawas'. This time, he hadtires with better traction on.
0O0O0O0O0O0
"He's back!" squealed Sarah, running away from the window to greet her brother. The others ran to the door as well. as soon as he walked in, he was pumlled by hugs and questions of what happened. After he told them all the events, getting repremanded for not wearing a helmet while driving his bike, and four days and five nights of getting accustomed to James' idea, Sarah had an announcement.
"I have been accepted to the same Medical College as James. This means i'll be going with you in the morning." She cried triumphantly. Chiaki cursed herself for not thinking of the same strategy. James merely chuckled and welcomed her along.
"Come on guys, it's just a little town. It can't be that hard to find this woman there. I mean, what's the worst thing we could run into?" Oh how deluded he was...
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
END OF CHAPTER 1
________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
THE WOLFE: Yeah I know, not to long or exciting, but I just wanted you guys to get a feel of who this guy was and why he is there. I promise, the next chapter will be better (A.K.A.: Have Lucy in it, lol). Hope you enjoyed.
