Always There: Chapter 7

The Promise

The sky was a bloody, tragic red as the lips of the sun fought to stay on the horizon…nightfall was approaching. A young raven haired boy sat silently on the concrete's edge; casually banging his feet against the cement in time to the song he was quietly humming to himself…his favorite tune from his music box…the one she liked.

A seagull's echoed cries reached his ears and for a brief moment he paused in his reminiscence to admire the bird, watching it glide effortlessly through the sky, landing gracefully in the orange tinted azure ocean as it fed on a small catch of prey…

If only that girl could fly away like that…she just seemed to be so lonely and miserable.

She didn't deserve to suffer…that was it. Next time he came back, he would find her and make her happy for the rest of her life. He didn't know exactly how he was going to do it, but he made a silent vow to himself that he would do whatever he could to alleviate her pain and make her smile…

'She was acting so weird though…I wonder what's wrong with her…?' He considered this for a brief moment before quickly deeming it to be insignificant. 'I sure wish I had her horns though!' He laughed at the irony. He wanted them so badly because they really did look awesome, but she always said that they gave her so much trouble.

"Kouta! There you are! Where have you been? I've missed you so much!" He didn't have much time to see who it was before he was tackle-hugged around the neck and almost fell off the ledge and onto the polluted sand of the beach.

"Hey Yuka, come on! You're being ridiculous!" He sighed, exasperated with how 'clingy' she was being.

"How can you say that Kouta! You're leaving tonight and I won't see you again for a whole year!" She whined, and right on schedule, as what happened every year, she started crying…again.

"Where have you been the last two days? I missed you so much!"

"Well, when I snuck out of the house, I met this really strange girl-"

'No…you're mine. You're only allowed to be mine!'

"You did WHAT!" Kouta winced as her voice climbed to an unbearable level, looking over at her cousin in surprise. She was teary eyed and that was no shock, but he couldn't understand why she thought he had to be around her every waking second of the day! He about to protest, saying that he had the right to do whatever he pleased but was instead interrupted by another familiar voice.

"Kouta! Look! I found a ton of pretty seashells!"

Kanae…his annoying little sister…

"They don't look so great to me!" He teased, turning away from her in mock disappointment. She was stunned to say the least; furious and confused as to why he was being so mean when she had gone to all this trouble to find him something that he would like.

Why had he been so mean to her and on her last day too…?

Why didn't he tell Kanae how much he did indeed cherish his little sister that he always felt an obligation to protect?

Why hadn't he told Nyuu exactly how he felt about her before she ran off into the cold and stormy night…?

History does indeed repeat itself.

"Dammit…Nyuu! Nyuu where are you!" Kouta screamed through a now impossibly thick sheet of rain. Nothing was visible in front of him, even his vision was clouded as the rain began rapidly pooling in the corner of his eyes. At this rate, he was sure that he had a better chance of either catching pneumonia or getting himself lost before he ever found Nyuu in all this mess. Finding the adolescent cherry haired girl in this kind of weather would have to entail a miracle, and the young university student was not one to believe in those kinds of things. Besides, he couldn't find her if he really did get sick…he'd be useless. Perhaps the best thing he could do was find some shelter and wait out the storm, and pray that Nyuu wasn't already dead. Despite himself, Kouta couldn't help but imagine the various, scary scenarios of what may happen if he was not to find her.

Falling down a cliff…

Wandering onto a road and being hit by a car or truck…

Slowly contracting some disease from being exposed to the elements like this…

Some man finding her and taking advantage of her innocence…

So many things that caused him to involuntary shudder…the cold was biting at his skin ferociously and he was losing feeling in his legs. His breathing quickened, leaving ghostly puffs of air dispersing constantly in front of his face. He didn't know what to do. He was trapped and everything was going wrong…but he couldn't, he wouldn't lose her a second time. He couldn't bear the thought of it.

He had a promise to keep after all…

Now she was horribly lost.

Even though she knew this she continued to run, keeping her arms up just above her forehead, trying to make what was a pathetic excuse for a makeshift visor to keep out the ferocious and seemingly torrential rain that continued to slap her in the face. Her lungs were burning with the strained effort to keep breathing whilst having run so far, and her legs were slowly losing the momentum to keep her upright. She was in trouble, but she had no other choice but to run. It was her fault that Yuka and Kouta were always fighting. It was all her fault for everything…she had no where else to go and so, she kept on running.

It was better when nobody knew anything. The reemergence of scattered memories had ultimately destroyed her home. At least before hand, the feelings that she and Kouta had developed between each other were untainted by stains of blood and tears. She suddenly fell over…hard, landing in the mud. She wanted to get up and keep going… to keep running…but what was the point? She had nothing to go back to, and she had been deemed to be the root of all chaos ever since she had reunited with Kouta…it would be better if simply died here anyway. Her skin was pale and she was violently trembling, the cold had become almost unbearable, even worse then the horrible torture experiments she was forced to undergo at the facility. Mud was caked in every nook and cranny of her sodden frame. Technically she was a mess and even probably looked dead to the casual observer.

To keep her eyes open was taking every bit of strength she had left, and even then she couldn't see anything…what was the point? Tears poured from her eyes as she realized what was coming. It was a familiar fear…dying. It wasn't supposed to be like this though…she just wanted to be with him. Was it really that much to ask? Apparently so. More tears came, mixing with the blood on her face from the grazes she had received from running through the trees.

"Kouta…"

And then, just like that, Nyuu surrendered to the darkness…

'I'm so stupid…'

"Ah!" Yuka stumbles on the stairs but managed to quickly regain her balance. She hadn't been able to sleep since her fight with Kouta. Now what was she going to do? She had finally accepted that no matter what she did he would never look at her the same way. It was all over the instant he had laid eyes on Nyuu eight years ago. She should have known, at if she had seen it back then she could have at least told herself it was just a stupid childhood crush…that it was nothing serious. But she had been brewing, crying, laughing and rejoicing about being with him during that whole eight years and now, it had all been shattered.

Just because she had accepted it, didn't mean that she could live with it.

Yuka knew that even though she now acknowledged Kouta's true feelings…that didn't mean she could just continue with life as if she were oblivious. Having to watch another girl so easily win the heart and body she had been after for so long laugh and play with him would undoubtedly tear her heart to shreds…

'Not that he hasn't done that already…'

She would have to move out. In fact, that's why she had come down from her room in the first place. To tell him…first thing in the morning, she was going to start packing. At first, she had hindered her decision, all for the good of both Maiyu and Nana. The young brunette detested the idea of having those two already rejected girls growing up in a broken household. But it was now getting past the point of intolerable and she didn't think that she could hold out much longer. Unfortunately though, all was dark and quiet downstairs, save for the constant ravaging of the storm outside.

"Kouta?" Yuka asked quietly, looking around for any signs of movement. She suddenly felt a slight breeze whip her skin, making her chilly. Upon closer inspection, she found that the front door was wide open allowing icicle rain droplets and storm debris to hurl its way into the house.

"What on earth…?" She wondered out aloud as she crept towards the origin of the draft, her arms tucked tightly at her sides as a pathetic attempt at keeping warm. 'Who was stupid enough to leave the door open like this…?'

Closing the door and thinking nothing other then how strange it was, Yuka continued her search for her cousin, trying hard to convince herself that she had made the right decision despite the phenomenal amount of pain that was resonating in her chest. She was doing the right thing, she knew. It was time to finally let go…he would understand…he had to.

However, it was only after searching out the entire house at what seemed like a snails pace did she come to the horrible realization that neither Kouta nor Nyuu were actually there. The aching in her chest abruptly jumped to a healthy throb as she began to panic, not really knowing what she should do. Her first thought had been to call the police but then after some the anxiety wore off she realized how livid Kouta would be…not that she really cared anyway. Although Nyuu's horns were gone, she wouldn't even dare to take any risks. Especially considering that, after the state they had found her in when she returned, whoever it was looking for her the first time had no intention of leaving alive. It was amazing how spiteful she was; despite her logical side chastising her for being so irrational…it was her love doing this. After being ignored for so long it couldn't help but be annoyed. Her devotion and affection for him had been growing rapidly since the day they reunited, but in a time span of less then a few hours it had seemingly shriveled up and died…nothing was left.

Her feelings fading? Yes. But far from just giving up and letting fate just sweep it away.

"Why did it have to be like this…?" She whispered to herself, slowly leaning up against the smooth cool glass from one of the windows. Going out in this weather had been deemed to be a suicidal and a rather idiotic ordeal…she didn't know exactly why Kouta had decided to go out into this storm with Nyuu, but she really didn't want to think about it either…

'Maybe they're eloping…' She cursed hotly under her breath as she gathered a blanket and pillow, prepping herself to sit by the window and wait for their return. She knew that he would never do anything like that. He was always nice to all the girls and only had their best interests at heart.

All accept her that is…It was going to be a long night…

"Wake up!" The man ordered gruffly, unbuckling himself from his chair and rising. "We're here."

The younger one grunted and made a lame attempt at sweeping away the intruding limb from his face. "Just five more minutes…" His partner only sighed, exasperated. He couldn't believe that their boss had insisted on taking the 'young pup' out on this expedition to gather some experience. He was causing more trouble and taking more time to deal with then it was worth.

"We have to give our report of what we saw to Director Kakazawa. You should know after the discussion I had with him on the phone that he does not like to be kept waiting." He had said this a little more harshly then intended, but it worked. Before he could count to three the young man was up on his feet, seemingly ready for action and gave a somewhat amusing and pathetic salute to his Capitan. "Yes sir, sorry sir!"

"Right…" he muttered to himself under his breath before stepping out onto the landing pad of the facility, the blades of the giant flying machine still turning swiftly and creating quite the noise. Maybe, because of the noise, the director already knew they had arrived. Somehow, it was an unnerving thought.

They remained in silence the whole journey to the 'head-honcho's' office; a group of soldiers wordlessly leading them down bleached white halls with large thick, steel, coded doors, large red numbers printed boldly on each one. He really had no idea what they meant and although he was curious, he knew better then to ask.

The stopped abruptly in front of a similar door, minus the bright red paint. The soldiers pressed a series of buttons and swiped a card, allowing entry. The stood to the side, consented the two men to walk through. Even before they had a chance to take n the surroundings of the abnormally large room, they were met with a very dark, demanding voice, and the older of the two men instantly realized who it was.

"Now tell me what you saw that day about a week ago after our facility personnel were massacred. My assistant told me you saw something very interesting indeed." The elderly man leant back into his dominant black chair, regarding the partners from a distance. A malicious smirk crept onto his lips as he thought about what he had heard.

Perhaps the 'Queen' that was so vital to his plan but thought to be dead would still prove to be useful after all…

"Well…um…we didn't see all that much sir," the younger one stuttered. "But like we said…when we were sent to investigate a large proportion of dead bodies found on the town bridge, we noticed something very strange." It was here that the older male took over, not relying on his adolescent counterpart to relay the information steadily enough. The director's petulant stare was indeed intimidating, even to him.

"We found two blunt, bloodied horns amongst the bodies. But as we were examining them, we saw a girl with cherry colored hair who just snatched them off us and shattered them to pieces while they floated in the air." He stopped for a breath, having a hard time even believing his own words as the director looked on, listening intently.

"She was bloody too, but most of it was on her face. I was suspicious immediately, but I questioned her as a civilian just incase she was innocent and had somehow gotten caught up in a really bad mess…" The man continued to speak, but Kakazawa wasn't listening anymore. He was already last in his many menacing thoughts, digging up plans he thought would have long since remained abandoned…

Like re-capturing Lucy.

"…and then she stumbled off, something about having to get home…I offered her a ride but she just plain ignored me. I had no idea this was important until I told my boss and he-"

"That's quite enough," the director's voice interrupted, echoing throughout the entire room, dominating and impatient. "You've been most helpful," he said in a slightly mocking tone. This caused both the men to come to high alert, realizing the menacing tone laced with his words of gratitude. They backed away slowly, but this only caused the man up the other end of the room to snicker in delight.

"Scared are you? You should be. I don't usually let people who know as much as you escape…alive." Unbeknownst to each other, they latched their hands together, temporarily naïve to what they were doing whilst in fear for their lives. The soldiers that had remained stationary for the most part of their conversation suddenly snapped into action; pointing their rifles at the two men's heads.

"P-please…" the younger one begged, "I-I have a wife and…and a new baby…"

The elder one said nothing, his fear rendering him unable to speak. Instead he slammed his eyes shut, his features clenched in panic as he acknowledged the barrel full of gunpowder currently aimed at his head.

"But you're lucky this time," came the controllers voice after what had seemed like an eternity. Immediately, the soldiers relented and backed off as the men gasped for air in relief, still clutching each other tightly. "I have a use for you."

Not bothering to give them the time to recover from what was obviously a horrific psychological ordeal, he continued to relay his orders to the men, saying things as they came to mind…

"I need you two to find an assassin that has been known to have come into contact with 'the girl' you two saw. His name is Bando. Find him, and I will let you go. Don't, and you know what will happen. He gave a nod toward the guards at the doors and the two policemen didn't need to look behind them to know what he meant.

'What have we gotten ourselves into…?'

"Oh my God, Nyuu!" Kouta rushed over, dropping his useless torch into the leaf litter as he fell to his knees in relief, hugging her trembling form close. "Are you okay? I was so worried!" He sounded like a baby…he couldn't believe that he was about to start crying. 'This was all my fault…I let it get out of hand…' He noticed quickly though that she hadn't woken up yet, her lips a deep blue color…Was she dead?

He didn't even allow the thought to penetrate for even a minute before he began to violently shake the limp girl in the hopes of arousing her from her hopefully just deep sleep…

Still no reaction.

It really was his entire fault? She was dead! He should have come sooner; he shouldn't have let her run away. He shouldn't have let things get so bad at home…

So many things he shouldn't have done and yet now, there really was nothing her could do…this time, he really did cry…

"Kouta…" the deep yet feminine voice of the pale girl in his arms woke him from his self-blaming state as she turned to look him in eye. It was then he saw, in his embrace was not the happy, somewhat dimwitted girl Nyuu, it was the other one…the one who had taken away his beloved family…

Words couldn't even begin to describe how unbelievably happy he was when he realized that although she was undoubtedly cold from being exposed to these elements, she was indeed alive.

But before he could mutter even a word she abruptly pushed her way out of his warmth and weakly crawled away through the mud. "You shouldn't have come after me."

Shocked at her sudden distant demeanor, he quickly followed after her. "Why not?" The storm had died down a little, the largest noise now being the wind howling through the tress, creating the impression that there were ghosts floating above his head.

"I know I'm not wanted in that house…I'm not wanted anywhere." She stated rather matter-of-factly. She huddled herself in the crook of a bolder, bringing her legs up close to her torso a fair distance away from were Kouta was slumped in the forest floor grime. He regarded her through the rain, noticing that, even though she looked absolutely tragic at this point, her hair seemed to dance gracefully in the harsh wind, occasionally wisping across her face every now and then. Those familiar deep ruby eyes were still shining brightly through the fury of the rain…everything…everything about her was just so…undeniably beautiful.

"You are welcome and will always be welcome there," he stated firmly. "I don't care what anyone else thinks."

She laughed then, not a joyful, carefree laugh, but a sadistic one. "Kouta…you're too deep in denial. I was not supposed to come back, didn't you know?" She arched an inquisitive eyebrow at this, awaiting his answer. He said nothing for a moment as he pondered her question…then came up with his response.

"Why did you come back then?" He challenged her, watching her cautiously from his spot a good distance away. He thought that he'd caught her off guard, but she didn't seem too put off by it. "Because I wanted to," She said simply. Despite the cold weather, she felt a heated blush creep its way onto her blanched cheeks as rapidly tried to hide it within the folds of her legs. Kouta only smiled as he scotched his way over to her, removing his drenched outer light blue vest, getting it ready to use as a pathetic excuse for a blanket. Spreading it over her lean, exposed shoulders he gave her a small hug before getting ready to help her to her feet. She hesitated as she looked at him, meeting his gaze directly for the first time that night.

"What is it?"

"Why did you come back for me anyway?" She asked harshly. Although a little thrown off by her tone, he just guessed she was back to her same old stoic self again. He sighed inwardly to himself at the thought. He actually quite liked the Lucy that smiled…(even if he had only seen her smile that one time one the steps…it was still a smile!)

"That's easy," he whispered, perfecting his jackets position on her shoulders. She blushed again when she realized how close his face was and again tried to turn away.

And again, he laughed.

"What's so easy?" She asked quickly, trying to hide as much of her embarrassment as possible. Kouta said nothing…and then…he began to hum…

What was he humming? It was hard to hear over the wind, but she caught glimpses of it through calm patches of stillness and was eventually able to decode his cryptic answer.

Their song… 'Lilium' And through its echo, he played to her an underlying message through its melancholic tone.

A silent, wordless promise…

A promise made so long ago, even she struggled with the memory…

And yet…

'I'm sorry, Kouta…this is all my fault. I'm still alive…I shouldn't be because…because now, you'll have to die too. I'm so selfish…please forgive me…but promise to allow me to stay with you, in that house for just a little longer…

'I don't wish this to end…not just now…'

'It looks like I'll succeed in remaking the world after all…

A/N: Hello everyone, back with another chapter for you guys. I've revealed some of my plot in this chapter and maybe it'll be some food for thought for you all. I'm planning quite the twist as well at the end for this story, so I hope that you'll all look forward to that. Don't worry, I know it was a bit jumbled but I've portrayed it al like this for good reason, there is a method to my madness so don't panic. Everything is supposed to be falling apart right now so I can bring it all together neatly at the end. But whether I bring it together neatly and happily or neatly and tragically you won't know unless you keep reading! Sorry that it took me so long to update, school sucks. But thankfully, I got sick this week, thus giving me valuable time to write and get this up for you all.

I dedicate this chapter to all my good friends on the forum, especially my very huggable friend, Diclonius-Calvin! Thanks for all the cuddles dude! I'm in a super happy mood now despite the fact that I'm really sick! I just love being donned with so much attention! -Tackle hugs- YAY! I'm so happy!

Author's Note, 9th March 2006: Okay people, can I please get some reviews here? I've typed up the new chapter to this story, chapter eight which is called Complications but there is no chance of it being posted until I get some more reviews! I hardly know anyone on my alerts list, and the hit count is up past 3000 now. Honestly, am I doing something wrong here? I don't know unless people tell me. From the reviews I receive, everyone thinks I'm doing fine. I'm all for constructive criticism, just not flaming. Please…it doesn't take much to review…a few more and I'll update, okay?

Please review!

Warui-Usagi