"Was that... a memory?" she asked slowly.
"Yes." He replied without feeling. "I never expected your mental avatar to end up this deep inside my mind. That's never happened before. I'm sorry."
They just stared at each other for a minute.
"What are you," Lucy eventually asked, "that they'd hate you so?"
"Their savior." Naruto replied bitterly. "Now's my turn. Who and what are you?"
"My name is Lucy. I'm a diclonius."
Naruto "hmm"ed. "And what is a diclonius?"
"A mutant. As appearances go, only our horns set us apart from humans – well that and our tendency for brightly pigmented hair and eyes. What really makes us different is our vectors; invisible arms that vibrate at incredibly high frequencies. They can grab or slice anything in their reach." She paused. "Mine are two meters long," she added almost as an afterthought. "Now it's my turn again." It took her a moment to articulate her question.
"You said you were their savior." She said cautiously. "What does that mean?" Naruto answered in monotone.
"It means that when an all-powerful demon attacked their village, my father sacrificed his life to seal it away inside of me. Then, the hypocrites living there decided that I was the demon rather than the demon's jail. Irony of ironies, they decided they'd avenge all the loss of innocent life inflicted upon the village by killing me."
Lucy looked at the floor. "Do... do you hate them now? Humans?"
"I did. I still hate some of them, but there are also humans that I love now. I've found it's a mistake to make blanket judgments like hating all humans. If I hate someone now, I hate them on a personal level."
Lucy nodded slowly. "Can I ask you a favor?"
"Do you think this is a dream?"
"Hmmm?" Kouta sat up and looked at his cousin.
"Somehow it was easy to accept what was going on in the moment," Yuka continued, "but now that I'm sitting here thinking about it I keep expecting to wake up. I mean, are we really sitting across from a half-demon who's somehow linked his mind to the mind of the horned girl we found on the beach? It's ridiculous."
Kouta took a moment to collect his thoughts, then answered, "I suppose it's possible, but I'm going to act like this is definitely reality. If it is a dream, I won't be any worse off for it, and if it's reality, then I'm making the decisions I want to make.
Yuka sighed. She'd been hoping for validation, not logic.
"How long have we been sitting here anyway? I need to go to the bathroom." She peered disgustedly at what was really just a butt-sized hole in the wall, leading to a small pit dug in the dirt. She decided she'd rather wet herself.
Just then, the red-head girl sat up ramrod straight, eyes wide and breathing heavily. Naruto sat up next to her, stretching and yawning.
"Sorry," he apologized through his yawn, "coming out of a comatose state so rapidly can be stressful if you're not used to it."
"It's alright." she quickly accepted. Immediately she looked down at the floor, refusing to meet the eyes of the two humans.
"This is Lucy." Naruto quickly introduced, patting the girl's shoulder. "She's been through a lot of stress recently, so let's not bug her right now." He stood up. "You can rest here for the moment Lucy. I'm going to get these two back to Kaede House." He turned to face the teens in front of him. "My clone confirmed it's clear. It's safe."
Kouta sat up out of bed with a yawn. "Darn!" he muttered as he felt the memories of his time dreaming slip away. "I can never remember my dreams!"
Minutes later he was downstairs sipping at some green tea as Lee poked at a large pot of stir-fry. Lee had generously offered to cook for them this morning, and pretty soon Yuka would show up and they could all have breakfast together. Kouta was actually feeling pretty good about the whole situation. Lee seemed like he'd be plenty easy to get along with, and with Yuka here too he might actually have some friends for once.
Yuka's voice rang out as the front door opened. "Kouta! Lee! I'm here!"
"Great!" Lee called back. "Breakfast is almost ready!"
Yuka entered the dining room as Lee set three places at the table. The three sat down and gave a quick "Itadakimasu" before digging in.
"Whoa." Kouta exclaimed upon first taste. "This is really good Lee. Where'd you learn to cook like this?" He stuffed a few more bites into his mouth.
"I lived with my godfather for three years after my parents died." Lee explained. "He would never do any cooking himself, and the old bastard was too cheap for pre-prepared food. I had to either learn to cook for myself or endure the same bland flavors every day."
"Oh!" Yuka exclaimed as she and her cousin suddenly turned sullen.
"You've lost your parents too?" Kouta asked quietly.
"Bah!" Lee dismissed them. "I got over it a long time ago. No sense dwelling on the past." He quickly resumed eating.
Unable to come up with any decent replies, Yuka and Kouta returned to their meals as well. After a few minutes of awkward silence, Lee spoke up.
"Oh, by the way, my cousin will probably show up sometime today, so don't be alarmed if she's here when you get back from school."
"Cousin?" Yuka and Kouta chimed in simultaneously.
"Yeah." Lee confirmed, looking confused. "Her name is on the lease, right next to mine. Didn't either of you notice?"
He got some confused head-shakes in response.
"Well, it's there. Besides, this place is plenty big enough for three people."
An hour later, Kouta and Yuka were at school. Naruto was back in his safehouse, slowly painting suppression seals onto an outfit for Lucy.
"The memory jutsu worked perfectly. Kouta and Yuka remember their walk ending with nothing unusual going on."
"Thank you." Lucy replied.
"You know," Naruto began, "I don't really think this is the best way to go about an apology. It's better to get it all out in the open all at once. Then again, I'm pretty much a 'rip-off-the-band-aid' guy in everything I do. Maybe there's something to be said for the subtle approach."
Lucy stayed silent.
"Just a tip - if you want to begin righting your wrongs to Kouta, you're going to have to develop your social skills a bit. Even though I know you care a whole lot, your demeanor just screams apathy. Besides, that jaded expression doesn't suit you. I prefer it when pretty girls like you are smiling."
Lucy actually frowned at that. Naruto sighed.
"I can see I've got my work cut for me. Ah well. I've never been one to abandon a kindred soul."