Disclaimer: down own bleach and elfen lied
Elfen Lied: Heart Within the Sword
Chapter 3: Starting Over
Loneliness... that was all she felt as she walked down the empty streets. It has been two days since she had seen him, and now she wants to return to see him once again. She then finally stumbled upon her goal, The Maple Inn. Staring pass the doors, she can see them, all of them repairing the Inn, but there was only one person missing, he was... As she looked away, she began aimlessly wondering through the streets once again.
'How long has it been since this chain has appeared?' she thought as she looked down toward her chest, ever since she woke up she had notice this odd chain on her chest as well as the growing hole where the chain is placed. 'Day by day, I can feel the loneliness grow... I despise it... I despise how everyone I see are so happy... I should have just killed them all...'
The dark thoughts grew and grew as she continued walking, but unknown to her, the chain also began to shrink as her mind stumbled into darkness. Just then, a voice was heard from behind her, "Yo! Not so fast now miss!"
Turning around, she was greeted by a young man dressed in a very unusual outfit, a black kimono. That wasn't the only thing that stood out about him, his orange spiky hair as well as his gigantic sword was also an attribute that was very noticeable. "What do you want?"
"Wow, we got a feisty little spirit now don't we?" The young man began, "But do not worry, I am not here to hurt you, in fact I'm here to send you to a better place actually."
"A... better place?" she questioned, "There.... there is no such thing as a better place..."
"And how would you know? Just gotta trust me on this one miss, you will see when I perform the Konsho." He began with a little bit of irritation from her, "Oh almost forgot as well, my name is Ichigo, Kurosaki Ichigo, and you?"
"...I'm Lu – no... I'm Nyu."
"Well pleasure to meet you Nyu, now just relax, and it will all be over." Ichigo said as he approached Nyu. Lifting his sword into the air, Nyu observed as he then hit her head with the pommel of his sword. Suddenly she felt all the darkness in her lift away, "May you rest in Soul Society Nyu."
That was all she heard as suddenly a ray of light surrounded her and her vision faded into darkness.
Slowly opening her eyes, Nyu realized that she was no longer in the small house where she woke up in before with Kreme and Bollet. Instead, she found herself laying on a bed that was covered with a curtain. Slowly shifting her eyes to observe her surroundings only to noticed a figure sleeping on a chair beside the bed. Focusing on the figure, she realized it was Mariko sleeping soundly. From the looks, she must have stayed with Nyu during the period of her sleep. Smiling, she slowly reached her hand towards Mariko's to wake her up. As their hands made contact, immediately Mariko's eyes shot wide open and she quickly pulled her sword out and pointed it right at Nyu's throat.
"...." Mariko stared into Nyu's eyes with intensity as she lowered her blade, "Don't do that again, I don't like it when people wake me up from my nap."
"R-Right...." Nyu began nervously, "I'll remember that the next time I try to wake you up..."
Mariko then stood up and walked toward the other side of the bed. She then approached a small table right by Nyu's bed and picked up a small necklace.
"They left this for you when we took you here." Mariko explained as she handed Nyu the necklace.
As Nyu observed the necklace, she was amazed as to how pretty it was. Even though it was not as luxurious as most necklace she had seen in the human world, the necklace that was handed to her however had a very unique design. The chain was made out of steel as most necklace were but what it was hooked to seemed like a wooden pendant. It had a very unique design with holes in different areas. Nyu then noticed a hole at the edge that protruded out of the pendant. Out of curiosity, she positioned her mouth between the protruding hole and gave a deep breath and blew into the pendant. It made a high pitch noise as she continued blowing it, but was abruptly stopped as Mariko suddenly slapped it away from her mouth.
"Would you not blow that inside here!" Mariko yelled, "This is the fourth division's base, where all injured Shinigamis go to recover, there are plenty of sick and wounded Shinigamis and the last thing they would want is to be disturbed by such a high pitch sound!"
"I'm so sorry! I didn't know!" Nyu frantically said, "But I was just so curious as to what it was.. I guess I kinda got carried away."
Mariko let out a big sigh as Nyu tried to explain herself, "Don't worry about it, this is an Ocarina. Your friends asked me to give this to you a few days ago after we took you in."
"A few days ago?" Nyu questioned, has it really been that long since she was unconscious? "How long have I exactly been asleep? And how is Kreme and Bollet? Are they ok? Can I see them?"
"Hey Hey! Hold it here I can't answer everything you ask you know!" Mariko began, "However, you've been asleep for just about a week now. After our battle.. you fell into a coma like state and have been nursed here by the fourth division. Everyone here is amazed at your ability Nyu, you were able to activate your Shikai right from the start and not only that, your Zanpakuto... the tenth division captain has taken a liking to you. He plans on taking you into his division actually."
Nyu didn't know what to think as Mariko told her about what has happened while she was absent, 'Me? A Shinigami... and already there is a division waiting for me once I recover? But... what about my friends? I can't just leave them there when we barely met!'
"Do not worry about your friends, Kreme and Bollet." Mariko began as she noticed Nyu's change in facial expression, "They will be fine... besides they are only spirits, not Shinigamis, so they are forbidden to enter Seireitei. I'm sorry if it is inconvenient but it is the rule, however you can come visit them though."
"Really? If so, let us go visit them after!" Nyu exclaimed with joy.
"Sorry to tell you this, but if you want to go back and visit your friends, your going to have to first go to Shinigami Academy honey." Said a female voice as two figures entered through the curtain, it was soon revealed to be Matsumoto and Hitsugaiya.
"Shinigami… Academy?" Nyu questioned.
"It is where you'll be going to get proper training before joining my division." Hitsugaiya began, "I can't just let an inexperienced Shinigami enter my Division that easily. Even though you have already acquired Shikai, a Shinigami still must go through the basic procedure of going to school."
"Oh Hitsugaiya, go easy on her, this is her first time here." Matsumoto began, "How about this, Mariko, since you know her the most would you mind taking her to the Academy please? They have already assigned a class for her and if you have time show her around as well."
A look of frustration appeared on Mariko's face for a second before turning into a defeated sigh, "Fine... I guess it is better if I do show her around. When you are better, Nyu, be sure to meet me at the 11th division's base, it won't be far from here. I'll also inform the 4th division to send a Shinigami to escort you there."
"Alright Mariko... thank you for all your help!" Nyu replied cheerfully, but Mariko's annoyance was still present and that bothered her.
Silence ensued between the two until Hitsugaiya spoke, "If you two have nothing else to say to each other, we should leave you to rest now Nyu. There are things that we must discuss about as well, so rest well and meet up with Mariko later."
Nodding in response, Nyu watched as the three began their way out of the room. 'Things they must discuss?' Nyu thought to herself as she laid down, 'what could it be I wonder... what if its about me?' As she thought about it, her eyes were heavy and drowsiness slowly crept up to her. Soon she was no long awake but slept humbly in her bed.
"What I find most interesting about Nyu... is her other ability." Hitsugaiya began as he walked down the streets of Seireitei with Mariko and Matsumoto. After leaving the Fourth Division's base, Mariko had told the tenth squad captain about her encounter with Nyu and how she had an unknown ability that almost defeated her. "The ability you spoke about Mariko, I believe it is similar to Ichigo's"
"..." Mariko did not know much about Ichigo Kurosaki, she had only met him once during his fight with Kenpachi but she had also heard about his battle against Byakuya and how his victory was due to a mask which resembled a hollows appeared on him. It gave him tremendous strength which almost defeated Byakuya, just like Mariko and Nyu. "Are you saying that there may be a link between Nyu's ability and Ichigo's?"
"For all we know, it is the same ability that Ichigo possesses. The only question I have is how did she attain it?" Hitsugaiya pondered on that question as they continued walking. The rest of the walk was silent as the trio thought about the mystery around Nyu.
"You know what I need right now?" Matsumoto suddenly began, "I need a drink! All this thinking is hurting my head!"
The other two let out a big sigh of disbelief at what Matsumoto had just said, but agreed about it either way. There was no way they can solve this mystery now, not with such little information about the horned girl.
"Well, you two can have fun drinking but as for me, I need to return to my base." Mariko said.
"OK!" Matsumoto began, then she quickly grabbed Hitsugaiya's arm and dragged him along with her, "Now come with me Mr. Captain! We are going to have lots of fun drinking this thing away!"
"NO! I DON'T WANT TO! RELEASE ME NOW MATSUMOTO!" Hitsugaiya began as Mariko stared in amusement at the scene she was witnessing. As they were out of sight, Mariko finally continued on to the 12th division's base to await Nyu's arrival.
-The Next Day-
Nyu slowly entered the 12th division's headquarters, looking around for signs of Mariko or her friend, Yachiru. At a glance, there was no one in sight, " Hello? Anyone here?"
"What do you want?" a voice boomed behind her.
Quickly turning to see who it was, she was then greeted by a gigantic figure staring down at her. Immediately she froze at the sight of the man as he stared down at her, she noticed that one eye was patched and his hair was spiked up at the end and contained bells at each tip.
"I said, what do you want?" He repeated with a growing annoyance.
Nyu was still to scared to even respond to his question, then another voice behind him spoke up, "Don't worry Captain Zaraki, Kenpachi. That is Nyu, the one I'm suppose to give a little tour with." The voice turned out to be Mariko, who was then accompanied by Yachiru.
"Oh, is that so?" Kenpachi said with a big grin. He then began walking around Nyu as he observed her, "Tch, you reek of blood, but yet your far to weak for my taste."
Nyu's expression suddenly changed to that of sadness and shame as Kenpachi spoke, noticing the change in expression Mariko instantly butt in, "Well! Sorry but I think I should take Nyu around and show her the place! I'll see you Captain Zaraki and Yachi – san!"
Grabbing Nyu's hand Mariko quickly sped out of the 12th division's base leaving a confused Kenpachi on what had just happened, "I never finished examining her..."
"hehehehhe! It was your fault for being too rough on her Ken-Chan!" Yachiru began, "She must have been really scared!"
"I was scary?" Kenpachi questioned, "... I was just trying to get to know her..."
Mariko had just finished giving Nyu a tour of Seireitei. She showed Nyu where all the division's bases are and also her own as well as the meeting center for emergencies, it wasn't such a great tour though, especially since Nyu was in deep thought about Kenpachi's words. 'You reek of blood... I know my sins are great... but can't they be forgiven?'
Noticing the mood, Mariko then spoke up, "Don't worry about what Kenpachi said Nyu, that was the life you had before, this is the life you have now... you can change things and make it better, trust me."
Nyu looked at Mariko for a second and flashed her a little smile, "Your right, I guess I shouldn't worry to much about my past..."
"You shouldn't even be thinking about it... well... here we are, the Shinigami Academy." Both Mariko and Nyu stopped in front of a golden gate. Behind it stood the Academy for Shinigamis and the place where Nyu shall be learning to become a full fledge Shinigami. "Well.. after you enter this gate, your going to be on your own, no need for me to hold your hand now."
The academy was no different from any other schools back in the living world, which reminded Nyu once again of her times with Khouta and Yuka. She stood there in thought, remembering all the good times they had, '…. I want to see them again, even though we won't be able to live together anymore, I still want to at least see them...' Looking straight toward the golden gate, Nyu's eyes suddenly glowed with a renewed determination, 'I must become a Shinigami! If I am ever able to reunited with them, I must start this life a new!'
"Mariko," Nyu began catching her attention, "you are right about one thing, the past is the past. Now that I am here, I must start a new... to atone for everything I have done."
"Hmph, good luck with that." Mariko said, "Atoning for all your mistakes won't be easy, for all we know it can take an eternity for that to happen."
"Then watch me Mariko!" Nyu suddenly yelled as she turned to face Mariko, "I will become a Shinigami in no time! And with that I shall make up for my past life, my past mistakes!"
A smile crept upon Mariko's face as she listened to Nyu, "Then you should hurry up to your class and begin, your already late if I'm correct"
A look of surprise appeared on Nyu, and quickly she turned around and ran through the gate, as she did she screamed back toward Mariko, "JUST WATCH ME MARIKO, I'LL BE BACK IN NO TIME AND I'LL PROVE YOU WRONG!"
As Mariko watch her run toward her new class, as well as new life, she couldn't help but smile once again, 'You remind me of myself, when I first stepped onto this Academy... perhaps you will prove me wrong... ha ha I shall wait for that day.'
Turning away from the academy, Mariko began her way back to the 12th division's base to continue on her normal life, as Nyu has now taken her first step into a new life.
note: Blah so many things been going on that I have not been able to even finish any more chapters lately =[ Sadly this chapter seems like just a little filler for me... well I guess its fine for now, I was planning on making it longer but I new I was losing motivation for this chapter. But anyways at least its done! Hopefully i'll get the other one up soon alright thanks for the read! ^^