Well, from all the feedback I got on my last chapter, I take it most of you liked me toning down on the descriptive language. I tried writing in more action, less talking about the color of the walls of the room in which the action is taking place, and you all seemed thrilled. Good. I hope this learned lesson can help my writing style. If anybody else has any more suggestions to help me grow as a writer, please, hit that little blue button and say your peace. I'll thank you for it. (Just don't be a flama')
Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen Lied, but I own the Elfen Lied section! Over 90 reviews and climbin' - That 100-review mark is almost within my grasp!
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"Nyuu-Nyuu-Nyuu-Nyuu…" Every lyric in Nyuu's melody was accented by a little splash as she sang and played in the large bath. It was a strangely beautiful sound, even though all of the words were the same and there seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the pitch of her voice, everything still fell into place and was harmonious, like the sweet tune of birds in the morning. Unfortunately, the other woman in the bath was couldn't appreciate it because she was wrapped up in her own thoughts and worries.
Yuka had unconsciously sat as far away as possible from Nyuu while still soaking in the warm bath water. She wanted to think about things seriously, but it was hard to do anything seriously with Nyuu around.
"Nyuu-Nyuu, Nyuuuu…"
The young brunette tuned her friend out as the tense struggle continued inside her head. Yuka was actually confused as to how she felt about Nyuu's return; after everything that had happened that day, she didn't know if she was relieved to have her back alive and well…
"Yuka!"
…or aggravated. Seemingly growing tired of her singing, Nyuu had decided that Yuka looked a little sad and splashed her in the face. The diclonius held an instinctual feeling that splashing would make things better and happier; she didn't really know why, she just knew that it would make Yuka smile…
"Nyuu! That stuff is hotter than you think!" Yuka chided, peeling her now-wet hair from her scowling face. Nyuu instantly shrunk away and searched her memory for the words you said when people looked like that.
"Nyuu…is sorry…" The combination of quavering words and wide, sincere eyes melted away Yuka's irritation. It was simply impossible to stay mad at the girl.
"It's okay. Just…don't do it again please." Yuka leaned back and closed her eyes, attempting to just enjoy the warm water while Nyuu slowly slid back into her corner. But just relaxing was impossible; her cluttered head wouldn't clear no matter how hard she tried.
Nyuu had been horribly hurt, and everyone had been worried, but now she was back, and it was like nothing had changed. She was all over Kouta again, and Kouta was loving it again, and everything was hopeless again…but that train of thought was unfair. To Nyuu, anyway, Kouta was being a horrible pervert. The dim girl, however, didn't deserve the bad thoughts that sometimes crept into the subconscious, Yuka reminded herself. It was unclear why she was so attached to Kouta, but it was completely innocent…although sometimes it didn't seem that way…and she wasn't trying to hurt anybody. Nyuu obviously couldn't know the feelings that Yuka had; she didn't even know how to pronounce love.
No…Nyuu just had some strange fixation with him…it wasn't love. It couldn't be love. That girl wasn't mature enough for love; she couldn't understand it, she couldn't have it. She could have adoration, she could have admiration, she might be able to have a crush, tops. But her Kouta addiction wasn't love. She was just…a rather affectionate person, and she probably just…got clingy to him because he helped her at the beach that day.
Yuka continued in this fashion until she had completely convinced herself that Nyuu didn't have any real feelings for Kouta, he was merely her favorite toy. And coming to this conclusion made the young woman feel much better about everything. Nyuu, after all, was fickle, and forgot about things easily.
"YUKA!"
She forgot about things very easily. Another spray, this one larger, crashed down on Yuka like a tidal wave. Taken by surprise, Yuka swallowed some of the water and began to choke and cough.
Why hadn't she smiled? Nyuu honestly hadn't forgotten Yuka's request, but she did it anyway because something inside her was sending her fuzzy messages. The water that filled the tub was nice, it felt warm, but even warmer things came when she thought of sloshing it around. Nyuu knew she didn't have any real reason to believe in her splashing, no one had ever told her anything about it that she could remember, but she just felt so certain about it…
"Nyuu!" Yuka recovered, stifling the urge to scream. "I told you that I don't like that!"
"But…but…" Nyuu was hopelessly trying to find words in her sparse vocabulary to explain the abstract nonsense going on in her head, but nothing came and all she could do was cower under Yuka's glowering gaze.
Yuka wanted to slap the poor thing. She didn't, but she really wanted to. Nyuu had done it on purpose because she knew that it would annoy. It seemed like the girl was laughing at her, mocking her at every turn, rubbing it in that she had Kouta under her spell…Yuka wanted to smack her and yell at her and make sure she knew that Kouta wasn't hers and never would be…but, she wasn't to blame. She had the mindset of a toddler. Yuka chanted it like a mantra under her breath until she had squelched the second violent coming of her jealousy. It was getting harder and harder to squelch.
"Nyuu…just….finish your bath." Yuka got up and left, splattering water all over the slick tile floor as she walked, and grabbed the big, fluffy towel, leaving the second, more of a tattered rag, for Nyuu. As Yuka dried off and calmed down, she became almost disturbed by her sudden anger. All Nyuu had done was splash and…strangulation was the first thing that had come to mind. And it had only been a day since Nyuu got out of bed; already all of the bitterness was back, stronger even? Yuka thought about apologizing to Nyuu, but decided that maybe it would be awkward and the girl wouldn't understand the reason anyway. She just needed to take Nyuu's actions in stride.
"Nyuu…is done…" A tiny, almost scared voice peeped from behind. Nyuu rose up out of the water, without a trace of modesty, and carefully padded her way to Yuka, having to vigilantly watch for puddles.
The brunette felt another pang of hopelessness at the sight. Nyuu's hair had finally been washed free of all the disgusting red and her shimmering pink fell around her face perfectly. Every inch of her bare, wet skin was flawless, even though it had been covered in cuts and bruises just days ago. Her thin legs that were searching for dry patches on the floor seemed to have grown longer and her chest…Yuka looked down at her own and heaved a very miserable sigh.
As Nyuu began to dry off with the ratty cloth she had, Yuka began to regret leaving it for her. It was filled with holes and didn't hide as much as the young woman would have liked. If Kouta saw…
"Nyuu…I want you to wait here, okay? I'll bring your clothes back for you."
Not understanding the request, but not wanting to upset Yuka anymore, Nyuu gave a shy nod and sat down on the cold floor.
"Nyuu will stay here…"
"Good, I'll be right back." With that, the door opened and shut, waving a chill gust of wind over Nyuu's still damp body, making her shiver. Nyuu frowned and curled up to stay warm, she didn't like being alone.
Seconds seemed to tick by at an excruciatingly slow pace as Nyuu searched around the bathroom with her eyes for something entertaining or funny, but all she could find were cracked tiles and moldy pieces of wood – that and the water. Nyuu stared at one of the little puddles on the ceramic floor and studied her reflection. She tried making some funny faces to pass the time, but it wasn't much fun without anyone else around to laugh with. But as she turned away from the water and began to pout, something struck her.
Laughter, the exact same laughter that Nyuu wanted to hear right now, it came with the thought of the water. Full of joy and excitement, with a familiar tone that made Nyuu feel giddy every time she heard it; the laughter seemed to fill Nyuu's head along with the visage of a shallow stream surrounded by beautiful green plants. Slowly, the entire memory came back. There was splashing, so much splashing, and it was so nice…Nyuu couldn't help but break out into a smile.
She couldn't help but think that, if only Yuka could see it, feel it, she would smile too.
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"Okay, so I just turn the heat up like this…"
"Wha- No, NO! Don't do that!"
"Oh, okay. Sorry. …how do I do it?"
"Just…just let me do it." Nana shook her head as she reached up and turned the heat on for Kouta, who looked on humbly.
Mayu couldn't believe what she was seeing – her completely clueless friend was teaching somebody how to cook! Kouta was even less informed in the art of cooking than Nana? It was unbelievable, but Yuka had ordered him to help with dinner, while she went to take a bath with Nyuu. Kouta didn't complain, but then again, he didn't say anything until a bucket of cold water had been splashed on his head. Mayu hadn't heard what Nyuu said to Kouta, and he refused to tell when asked, but whatever it was, it had caused him to fall into a semi-conscious state.
"Errm…maybe that isn't how you do it either…" Nana sheepishly grinned as the curtains caught aflame from the jets of fire the old gas oven belched out. "Stupid stove…"
Screaming out in shock, Mayu ran to the sink and began trying to put out the small blaze with handfuls of tap water while Nana frantically apologized. Kouta was able to stay relatively calm, however, and soon doused the fire with the fire extinguisher that had been put in one of the many kitchen cabinets.
"Mayu…maybe you should do it." Kouta said, smiling at the girl who was taking in huge breaths in an effort to calm down. She was blanched from the alarm and looked rather ruffled, which slowly changed Kouta's smile into a look of mild concern. "Hey…it's okay."
Mayu glanced up at Kouta and gave a shaky nod, but she didn't look okay at all; she looked like she needed some reassurance. Kouta walked up to her and crouched down to her level, placing a hand on her wobbly shoulder.
"It's all taken care of, we just have to make sure not to let Nana near that stove ever again," he kidded, trying to rouse a smile.
Hearing his joking remark, but completely foreign to the concept, Nana practically threw herself to the floor in front of her guardian. "I'm so sorry Kouta!"
"Hey, I'm not serious! Come on now, don't feel so bad…" Kouta turned away from Mayu and towards the guilt-ridden Nana, with the same reassuring tone.
"B-but, I made a big mistake…"
"Well, yes you did, but you didn't mean it. Just make sure you learn from your mistake and you'll get better."
"B-but I already made this mistake twice! I'm never going to be able to use this s-stupid stove!" Nana moaned, turning her head down and on the verge of tears.
"Hey…" Kouta took his hand away from her shoulder and lifted her head back up so she was looking at him again. "Are you going to let this stupid stove beat you, Nana?" Nana answered with a little sob and Kouta stood back to his full height again.
"Are you going to let this dumb chunk of metal beat you?" Kouta said, louder. He turned around, giving the oven a defiant stare, "Do you hear me, I called you a dumb chunk of metal!" and followed it up with a nice kick that rattled the door and made the pots on top jump. Mayu and Nana looked on with confusion written on their faces as Kouta kicked it again, "Brainless-" and a third time, "-Jerk!"
"…Kouta…what are you doing?" Mayu ventured.
"I'm showing this thing its place!" Kouta responded, with a serious face but a sparkling eye. "Come on, Nana! You have to show this thing that you're better than it!"
To Nana, yes, it did seem strange, but so did everything. Timidly scooting up to the oven, she tapped it with her right foot. "Like that?"
"No, you have to hit it hard, and tell it what you think of it!" Kouta said, very loudly now, and gave another example. "Piece of garbage!"
Nana felt skeptical, but she kicked it again, harder this time. "Meanie!"
"That's it! Keep going!" Kouta encouraged, letting his grin show. Nana stopped her sniffling and kicked again, and again, and again.
"Meanie, meanie, meanie!" She felt better with each blow and had to remind herself not to go overboard and break the oven.
After Kouta chimed in with another boot and jeer, "Hunk a' junk!" Nana couldn't help but beam.
"Mayu, you too! Are you going to let this thing get away with scaring you?" Kouta asked, turning to the bewildered child. Mayu thought about it for a moment, but shook out of her stupor and broke into her own smile.
"Yeah…this is for messing with me!" She picked up a wooden spoon from the counter and gave the already abused appliance a good slap. She moved up next to her friend and the two girls gave the machine a merciless beating while Kouta backed off and cheered them on.
"Loser!"
"Dork!"
"Moron!"
"Uh…meanie!"
"You belong in the dump!"
"Yeah, you meanie!"
"You're not good enough to reheat a can of soup!"
"Mayu! What's something else I can call this thing?"
"How about trash?"
"Yeah! Trash!"
Kouta laughed and cheered, whispered new insults into Nana's ears, and eventually tore the girls away from their unfortunate victim. "I think he's learned his lesson now girls," Kouta said, checking the stove for any real damage. Just scuffs, as he had thought. "But you can't do this on your own, all right? If you hit him too much, he might break, and then Yuka won't be able to make you anymore yummy stuff, okay?"
Mayu almost rolled her eyes at the bit of common sense, but Nana nodded and made a mental note to not ever do it again, no matter how large the temptation.
Kouta looked with relief on the girl's happy faces. Both of them had completely forgotten all about their bad feelings during the scuffle and were laughing in between warnings and threats of future punishment to the stove.
"All right now, I'm going to go and throw away these curtains before Yuka sees them." Kouta said, rolling up the charred cloth. "Mayu, I want you to go ahead and get dinner going okay? And Nana, watch how she does it."
"Okay, it will be delicious!"
"Yeah, and I'll get it right this time, I promise!"
Kouta gave one last smile and left the room, with thoughts of how to quell Yuka's inevitable fury at the stove's condition dancing in his head. Mayu turned to her friend and giggled before turning the heat up correctly for her.
"Aren't you glad Kouta is back?" Nana asked, after practicing the proper knob-turning method a few times.
"Yeah! He sure is more fun than he has been in a long time!" Mayu agreed. "I think he might be happy because Nyuu woke up."
"Yeah…" Nana half-heartedly replied, remembering her problem. It was only a matter of time…
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