Always There

Chapter 4: Confrontation

At that particular moment, you could have heard a pin drop.

Everybody went about eating their soumen quietly, all the while managing to maintain the awkward silence slowly filling the room. Maiyu scanned her misfit family nervously, taking quick notes about everyone's current behavior. Nana was too engrossed in her food to really pay much attention, although she did every once and awhile glance over towards Nyuu just to make sure that she didn't spontaneously transform into her depressive and murderous split persona. Nyuu was completely oblivious to the source of the tension also, as she struggled with the slippery noodles on her chopsticks, trying desperately hard to get something in her mouth.

Maiyu's eyes then slowly came to rest on the two cousins, Yuka sending death glances towards her male counterpart from across the table, while Kouta was doing all he possibly could to avoid her threatening stare. Maiyu seriously thought at that moment, she could run into the kitchen, grab a knife and cut the negative aurora passing between them right down the centre it was so thick. Frankly, it was downright scary. She had seen them fight, but they usually somehow always managed to get over it. In all honesty, she had never seen Yuka this upset before and it was, in truth, absolutely frightening.

She wished she could help; there was nothing she wanted more then to be able to even just reassure the both of them that it would pass. But this had gone on all day. Both she and Nana had arrived home from their extremely long walk with Wanta exhausted, looking forward to a relaxing bath before dinner. As soon as they opened the door however, they immediately regretted even ever stepping into the house. She had been greeted by a sulking Kouta sitting slumped over in the dining room, followed by a fuming Yuka in the kitchen mumbling constantly under her breath, venting her anger on the meat and vegetables she was cutting up.

Maiyu hoped that it would all be over by morning…and there was only one way to find out.

Shoving the rest of her food as quickly as possible into her mouth without choking, she abruptly jumped to her feet. "Well, I'm tired so I'm off to bed now! Goodnight everyone," she announced as she bowed politely, breaking the all too uncomfortable silence before heading to open the shutter to her room.

Both Kouta and Yuka, glad for the distraction, naturally cheered up instantly to wish the young girl well, "goodnight Maiyu, sweet dreams."

"Yeah goodnight," Kouta called out after the young brunette as she closed her door.

Turning his gaze to back in front of him, by complete accident, for the first time in hours, they made eye contact.

And this time, Kouta noticed more longing, need and loneliness rather then anger…and he knew all too well why. He tried to show her that he was truly sorry by transpiring it through his gaze, but was distracted when a loud 'thunk' came from up the other end of the table. It was Nana. She had probably just finished her tenth bowl of food and had slammed in down on the table in triumph, sighing in satisfaction as she did so.

"Well, I'm just as tired as Maiyu, but I think I'll go for a bath first." Rising gradually from her place and stretching before she moved, the pink haired Diclonius began towards the bathroom only to be halted by someone's grasp.

"Listen Nana, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind Nyuu joining you for a bath?" Yuka finally had the opportunity to get Kouta by himself and she was going to use it. Matching Yuka's pleading stare, she found herself at a loss for what to do. She had no problem bathing with Nyuu, it was Lucy she was afraid of, and going off alone would be giving her the perfect opportunity for the red haired girl to extract her revenge. Nana knew all too well that she had no hope of beating Lucy in combat…if they did end up fighting, she wouldn't stand a chance.

Kouta now knew the whole story now between Nana and Lucy, Nana had it explained it to him once while they stayed up together talking a few nights ago. Not really wanting to face Yuka's wrath but also seeing the necessity in doing so, he tried his best to calm the girl's nerves by reassuring her as much as possible.

"It's okay Nana; Nyuu won't hurt you…will you?" He asked turning to the girl in question. She just smiled and nodded. Kouta returned his gaze to its original position and grinned, "See? You'll be fine."

"But…but," she tried to argue back, "you know it's not Nyuu I'm scared of." Nana stared at him, her expression a mixture of both absolute terror and desperation.

"What on earth are you talking about?" Yuka butted in, but Kouta just ignored her.

"Don't worry, she won't hurt you either," he said firmly, keeping his eyes glued on Nana. "I give you my word."

Not wanting to cause a fuss, although incredibly shaken by the idea, she hesitantly agreed. "O-okay…"

"Go on Nyuu," Kouta encouraged, ushering her towards the door, "go take a bath with Nana okay? And be nice."

Jumping up from the table in excitement, Nyuu ran to the other side of the room, grabbed Nana by hand and ran down the hall towards the bath ecstatic at the chance to play with someone in the water.

"Wow I don't think I've ever seen someone that excited about taking a bath before," Kouta stated lamely.

Completely overlooking his recent statement, Yuka persisted to change the topic.

"So," she started, maintaining her downcast gaze. "More secrets are revealed in the world of Kouta are they? Secrets which of course I know nothing about…"

"Believe me…you wouldn't understand even if I explained it to you. I sometimes even have trouble," he countered trying to reassure her, "so there's no point in worrying about it."

"But I want to worry Kouta!" She screamed passionately, throwing her hands down hard on the table to prove her point. "Why won't you let me worry? Haven't I explained that enough already? Don't you understand?"

He looked towards her pleading expression, at a loss for what to say next.

"Yuka, please understand…it's not that I don't want to tell you, it's just that I can't tell you. He explained calmly, but this only infuriated his cousin even more.

"WHY NOT?"

"Because nobody should have to see that kind of world…and the people who have a glance, inevitably end up getting dragged in…with no escape." He replied distantly, cringing as he thought about what both Nana and Nyuu must have endured during their time in the 'special facility'…he could only imagine. That was yet another detail Nana had filled him in on, life as a test subject, chained against a wall and having random heavy objects thrown mercilessly one after the other until eventually the pain was so strong, it knocked them unconscious. He had been unfortunate enough though to be dragged into that world of darkness and pain by Lucy when they were young and he never wanted it to touch his family. Burying the past was indeed the best option at the moment.

Stop talking in riddles! Yuka demanded, "You're treating me like I'm worthless and I'm sick of it!"

"I'm not! I've known Luc-…I mean, uhh…Nyuu since we were kids…she was so lonely and-"

"You knew her when we were kids? How?" She interrupted. Yuka's voice was but a mere whisper, but at Kouta's revelation, it was suddenly filled with hurt, surprise and mainly…hate.

"Why? How?" She repeated, absolutely furious and dumfounded at the same time. "Was I not good enough for you?"

"No, no, no you have it all wrong! I met her by complete coincidence when I snuck out of the house to do my sketching." He retorted. He panicked, afraid that Yuka was once again going to either slap or punch him.

"S-so you remember then?" She questioned, her tone morphing into a soft and curious one.

"Remember what?"

"Everything," Yuka stated hopefully. "So you got your memory back then?" 'I may still have a chance…'

"Uh yeah," he replied unsteadily. "They just ummm…returned to me one night while I was sleeping," he lied.

'That's another detail you don't want to know.'

"Wow that's unbelievable! It must have taken something miraculous for that to happen," she exclaimed excitedly, obviously completely forgetting about their fighting in an instant.

"I wouldn't exactly have called it miraculous," he said, laughing nervously. 'More like horrific…'

"What did you say?"

"Oh me? Uh nothing…" he lied again.

"Hey Kouta?" Yuka asked shakily. "So…do you remember the festival we went to as kids?"

"Yeah why?" he asked, completely oblivious as to where the conversation was headed.

"Do…do you remember the promise you made to me?"

"Promise?" Kouta repeated. If only he could remember…

People were trudging past the stall in an endless line, one behind the other…almost marching in time with everyone else.

"Oh no, it cracked!"

"Oh wow! You really suck at this!" Kouta stated very matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, let me see you do it!" Yuka snapped back.

"Okay."

Slowly the young boy began edging the pin slowly around the picture, gradually cutting as its form slowly came into view.

"There I'm finished!" He stated confidently. True to his word, the shape of the animal turned out to be a simply carved cat…without any cracks whatsoever.

"Wow…it's so good! It's perfect!"

"Yeah big deal, anybody could do it." Kouta said, obviously impressed with himself. With new found enthusiasm, Yuka started another one readily believing that this time, she'd get it right…to no avail.

"Oh, it cracked again!" This was getting to be very frustrating.

"You're such a spaz!" Her cousin tormented, "get it right once and I'll do whatever you tell me." Kouta promised, honestly believing that she would never accomplish her goal.

"Don't act like you're so cool!" She said, poking his cheek lightly. "Just you wait, next time you see me I'll be able to do it without a problem then you'll be sorry!"

"Well keep practicing and I guess we'll see what happens," he encouraged her, smiling to himself as he observed the look of fierce determination on her face.

"And when I get it, you'd better believe that I'll make you do whatever I say, I'm serious!" She declared loudly.

"Don't worry, I'll remember!"

"Uh, hey yeah I do! What about it?" He asked, genuinely perplexed as to what this had to do with anything.

"Ummm…well…" She turned away out of timidity, her cheeks flushing madly with embarrassment.

'Oh…I don't like where this is going…'

"Nyuu wait!" Nana called from the bath as the hyper Diclonius ran from the room completely soaked and covered in nothing more then a towel. But of course, she wasn't listening. Her one and only brain cell insanely focused on finding Kouta as quickly as possible.

"Kouta! Kouta! Kouta!" She chanted happily, jumping from one room to the next, running as fast as she could. Nana was struggling to keep up with her…she wasn't as fast on her feat, another attribute in which Lucy also had an advantage and so obviously Nyuu shared in that trait as well. Finally after frantically searching for her, Nana spotted her around a corner sprinting across the wooden floor.

"Nyuu you can't run otherwise you'll…"

SLIP

BANG

"Fall," she finished hopelessly…too late. Letting out an exasperated sigh, Nana walked towards her, getting ready to help her up. "Hey Nyuu are you-" "AAAAH!" Nana suddenly collapsed to the floor, crying in agony as her head throbbed in tremendous pain. The pain was all too familiar. It only came about when… "Lucy!"

"Hello," she spoke in her usual emotionless voice, her face depicting exactly the same thing.

"Wh…what do you want?"

"To live a peaceful existence without inference…from anyone."

"Where's Kouta?" She asked, this time in a much harsher tone.

"Why should I tell you? What are you going to do to him?" Nana challenged her.

"Fine, don't help. I'll find him myself."

"I think I know what I want you to do…"

"Oh really?" Kouta asked, once again skeptical.

Lucy pulled up beside the door where she had heard people talking…Kouta was definitely in there…along with someone else as well. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fits in frustration as she realized who it was…it was her…again. But she couldn't kill Yuka; she had promised herself that she wouldn't hurt anymore people. She had to give up killing. Kouta was her final shot at finally living the life she had always wanted…no, she wouldn't touch Yuka…

"Kouta…" Yuka mumbled, shifting closer and closer. At the sound of someone's voice, Lucy looked up through the crack in the door where it hadn't been completely closed, watching attentively for any plausible excuse for her to back out on her promise.

'It…it was because of you…because of you Natsume is dead!' She thought silently, eyeing the women in massive displeasure.

"I love you Kouta! I love you so much!" It was then, in only a second, Yuka suddenly dived for a very surprised Kouta's lips and as they connected, Lucy felt her last wall of restraint shatter into thousands of tiny pieces. It was gone.

That was it…she couldn't hold back her anger any longer…even if she tried.

With strength she didn't know she even had, Lucy sent her four vectors surging through the wooden shutters, smashing them in the process as her invisible arms closed in on her target. She may not be able to kill her, but there was nothing preventing her from teaching the 'stupid girl' a lesson…a warning…she would pay for the pain she had caused this Diclonius.

"You…you killed her! She was my only friend and you killed her!"

As one of her groping see-through arms came into contact with Yuka's sweater, she lifted her roughly by the collar before slamming her violently against a wall, holding her there as she struggled weakly against her grasp.

"N-Nyuu…wh…what a-are you doing?" The young university student managed to choke out through a relatively closed off throat…her vision going incredibly hazy.

Kouta, having been in somewhat of dace for the past thirty seconds as everything happened, finally managed to snap out of it.

I-is that Lucy? It has to be, Nyuu wouldn't dare hurt Yuka…'

"Lucy stop it!" Kouta screamed.

"No, b-because of her…Natsume is dead! It's all her fault and she'll pay for it!"

Desperately trying to find a solution, Kouta did the only thing he could think of. Running up to the infuriated girl he closed his arms around her torso, engulfing her in a frantic embrace, naturally causing her to blush. "Please stop…" he whispered this time but in a more pleading tone. "I know that…I know that your past is full of horrors that I can't even begin to fathom, but…" He took a breath before continuing. "If you want to be able to get over your suffering, you can't keep doing this, it only makes things worse."

Of course he could never imagine what she had been through…she suffered in experiments that were worse then torture, chained there against their will. But it wasn't only the scientists who had caused her grief. Naturally because of her physical abnormality, she also had to endure bulling and teasing from kids when she was younger. A boy named Toboe had even gone as far as murdering her dog…her only companion. And so far she had successfully sought revenge on every single person that had caused her pain. She had wanted this time to be no exception…but to this person in particular, she just couldn't say no.

'The things I'll do for Kouta…'

Regrettably releasing Yuka from her grasp, Lucy recalled her vectors, letting her drop to the ground…alive.

'Don't think you're getting off so easily…' Although Kouta had saved her this time…he couldn't protect her forever.

It was declared…now, it was war.

Now, things were definitely falling apart…and it wasn't long before everything would collapse, trapping everyone inside.