~A few days later~

I slowly opened my eyes to see the brown haired woman staring back at me. She stood behind the half circle.

"Good morning!" Ms. Kimura smiled happily.

I looked at her and yawned. It was so hard to sleep. The chains around my wrists kept my hands above my head unless I stood up. The woman wrote on her clipboard.

"So how old are you-?" She wanted me to finish with my name. I stared up at her. I didn't want to tell her my name. I never want to hear my name again.

"Six." I answered.

"You don't want me to know your name? I told you mine." She looked nicely down at me.

"No."

Her smile faded into a frown. It reappeared after a short thought. "Is it okay if I name you?"

So i'm some sort of pet?

Pathetic.

"It will be better than being called five." She pointed out.

"Sure." I looked at her. "Why does Kurama call me five?"

"Because-" She trailed off as her partner entered the room with a bowl. He stopped at the edge of the circle.

"You shouldn't be talking with the diclonius." He said harshly.

"Why not?"

"Because Chief Kurama ordered you not to."

"That's not a very good reason!"

"Fine!" He thrust the bowl into her hands and took her clipboard. "If you want to get killed by this freak, then you can take care of her!"

He stomped away, back into the other room.

His words stung.

Ms. Kimura looked sympathetically down at me.

Why does everyone hate me?

They don't even know me, and they judge me.

"Don't mind him." She said, touching the tip of her shoe onto the thick yellow line on the floor. She looked into my deep red eyes. "I know that you can't help that you were born this way." I inhaled, surprised. She looked down at her foot that was lightly dragging along the edge of the line. "You don't want to be a diclonius, do you?"

She looked back into my eyes with her brown ones. "No." I smiled, so happy to have someone understand.

My stomach growled. Aimi giggled a little and stepped over the line dividing us.

She got to her knees and started feeding me the food from the bowl. She fed me like I was her child. I was so happy.

"Can I ask why you don't like your name?" She asked, setting the empty bowl on the ground.

"I-"

It played again through my mind.

"Mom!" "Kirai! Run! Get out of- Gaaaaah!" "Heheheh. Do you love me yet, mommy?" "Akuma stop it!"

"-Did something... I shouldn't of done.." I closed my eyes.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She stroked my pink hair. I shook my head, squeezing my eyes shut. "That's fine." She smiled. "Why don't we come up with a name for you?" I smiled up at her as she looked off in the distance.

"Aimi?" I asked. "Do you have any children?"

"No." She sighed. "But i'd like to... I'm just not allowed." She snapped her fingers. "How about Suzu?"

I smiled. "Or Suzy!"

She hugged me.

I immediately sat straight up, feeling something nearby. She let go.

"What is it?" Aimi asked.

It kept coming closer. Walking steadily.

I could feel the heavyness in the air.

It dug deep into my heart.

"You all deserve to die." It translated through my horns and into my mind.

"Now where are you?"

She kept on walking. The feeling disappeared.

"Hey?" Aimi asked me, holding my head up with her hands. "Are you okay?"

I slowly opened my eyes. "What was that?" I uttered a retorical question.

"What are you talking about?"

"I could feel someone nearby... I could hear what she was saying..."

She looked at me with a deep ponderous look. "Hmmm... It could of been-" She looked back to the other room at her partner.

"No." I answered. "It was a girl's voice..."

You all deserve to die.

It sounded like the girl I had a dream of before my hands came out.

Aimi looked at me confused. I felt stupid.

I decided to change the subject. "What are the arms called?"

"Arms? Oh!" She smiled. "Those are called vectors."

"Vectors..." I looked down and saw the line. "What's the line for, then?"

"That's how far they can reach." She pet my head and sighed. "A lot of the people here are afraid of the diclonius. They make sure that everything is recorded and kept up to date. We do these things to keep us safe."

"Are we really that bad?" I looked up at her as she stood up. "Are we really that scary?"

Are we so far from human?

"To some people you are..." She picked up the bowl. "But I don't believe that you are." She winked at me and left the room.

I rested my head on my right arm and closed my eyes, sighing.

I did my best to fall asleep. I finally did.

"Kirai!" Mother called sweetly from the kitchen. "Come eat your breakfast!"

I tied my shoes, sitting on the bed. I watched my older brother jump down from the top bunk and run out.

"I'll see you tonight, kiddo." She told him. "Have fun at school!"

"Okay, mommy!" Kirai happily said back.

I came out of my room after mom left for work and sat at the table. I ate some of the breakfast, knowing it wasn't for me. I looked up to see Kirai staring at me.

"What?" I asked.

He looked shamefully down. "Nothing."

He stood up and stared at me again. I looked at him innocently from the chair. He put his hand to his chin, like a critic judging a painting.

"What!" I pleaded with my older brother, my three year old voice bouncing off the walls of the quiet house.

He shook his head. "you can't go to your first day of school looking like that!"

I jumped off of my chair towards him. Kirai responded by backing away. "Looking like what!" I searched myself, frantically. I looked perfectly normal.

Kirai shook his head again. "Your horns!"

I put my hands on top of them. "What's wrong with them?"

He facepalmed. "You're really that stupid? Nobody has horns!"

"Nobody?" I said slowly.

He sighed. "Of coarse not!" He turned to leave the room.

"Wait!" I said, grabbing his arm. He quickly ripped it out of my hands and rubbed it. "What do I do!"

"I don't know! Can't you figure these things out on your own? Stupid!"

I followed Five year old Kirai into our room. We gathered our school stuff.

"Here." He said, shoving a light blue, wool hat onto my head.

I followed him outside. We walked down the streets until we reached my preschool. Kirai left me there. He continued to his own school.

I suddenly jolted awake as I heard the door open. Kurama came into the room looking more serious than usual. I took a deep breath. I'm not ready to do another test! He stopped in front of the line. I stood up to rub my eyes.

"Five." He began.

"My name's Suzy." I corrected, smiling.

He remained serious. "Suzy. Did you feel anyone near here a few minutes ago?"

I opened my mouth, surprised. How did he know? "Yes! It was a girl..."

"Yes." He confirmed.

"Who was it!" I eagerly asked.

"She is a diclonius, like you." He answered. I smiled. It quickly faded.

"Why is she allowed out, and not me? Am I not doing the tests right!"

"Lucy escaped on her own." Kurama answered like it was the end of the world. My mouth was agape again, amazed. "But that's not the main reason why I am here." I looked at him, scared. "I noticed how you and Ms. Kimura were getting along. I just saw her in the hall on my way here..."

I smiled happily. "What did she say?"

"She didn't say anything." My smile faded. My heart beat faster. "You see, when Lucy escaped... She was determined to kill everyone in her way. And... Ms. Kimura got in the way.… She's dead."

I fell to my knees.

She was perfectly fine a few minutes ago!

She was living

Breathing

Talking

Loving

Aimi is gone. She's dead. Never coming back.

The only person that's ever loved me in my whole life.

"She's dead..." I whispered under my breath.

"Y-you killed her!" Kirai yelled.

"Of coarse I did. Are you stupid?" I smirked. "And now it's your turn!"

I looked up just as Kurama left. My eyes closed.

I woke up in the dark room. I cried. A cold hand rested on my shoulder. I opened my eyes to see the girl crouching beside me.

"So she's dead... What of it?" She stated like it was no big deal.

I lifted my head from my hands. "What of it!" I asked angrily. "She was the only one who cared! Sh-she actually loved me..."

"Did she?" The girl questioned.

I seriously thought about it.

All those smiles... Were they fake?

Acting like a mother... Was that fake too?

She named me... Was I actually like a daughter to her? Or was I some sort of pet?

The girl laughed. "Of coarse she loved you. She was the only thing in the world that actually loved you"

"and now she's gone..." I finished, the tears stopping. "It was her, wasnt it?" I clenched my fists.

Lucy

"It was the diclonius."

"How is it that she can escape? Why can't I?"

She shook her head. "You're too weak."

"What?"

"You can't accept what you are. What you did. Until you do that..." She stood up. "You will be stuck here in hell."

I looked up at her.

"So what are you?" She asked, putting her hand out.

I reluctantly took it. "I'm a diclonius."

She helped me to my feet. "Exactly. Now was that so hard?" She smiled behind her bandages. She looked at me carefully. "I know exactly what you want." I looked at her surprised. "You want to be loved.… Too bad you will never have it again."

"What?" I uttered. It felt as if she knocked the wind out of me.

"Can't you see it? They all hate you. Nobody will ever love you again. There's nothing left for you in this world." She darkly laughed.

"You're wrong!" I yelled, knowing that she was right.

She knew I was lying. "I know how to change that, though." I looked up at her. "I know how to create the perfect world. A world where everyone loves you. Where everyone is like you. Nobody would ever pick on you for being a diclonius."

"H-how do I make that happen?" I said, taking her cold hand.

I watched as her bandages fell from her face. She looked just like me.

She was me.

Her eyes glowed with excitement and her lips curled up into a dark smile.

"That's easy." She giggled. "Just kill everyone you hate."