Chapter 2

Petals fell from the trees as the wind blew and Lucy's hair swished to the side of her face. They both stood and stared at each other. Neither of them said anything.

Lucy POV

Can I trust this guy? What is he talking about? I don't own him. The wind caressed my bare arms. It's going to get a little chilly later on. I probably should've worn the shirt with sleeves on instead of the tank top.

"Leave," I order.

"No," Akeno shakes his head. "That is one thing I simply refuse to do. I've come this far. I don't want to go back."

"You don't have to go back. You just have to leave," I clarify. "You're free now."

"Could we at least be friends," He holds out his hand for me. I don't take it. "Allies?"

"Allies for what," I ask. "Those dumb scientists wouldn't come after me if they wish to live."

"That is quite true but now that I'm out they might be coming back," Akeno states.

"They always do. Assholes. When will they ever learn?"

"Probably never. Humans tend to learn the hard way."

I frown. "What is your plan?"

"You don't trust me?" A smile tugs at the ends of his lips.

"Of course not. I'm no fool."

"You truly do live up to your reputation Lucy," Akeno smirks and pushes his hands into the pockets of his pants. "It really was an honor to meet such a beauty and a talented killer all at the same time." He turns to leave.

"Wait!" I don't know why I just called out to him but that seemed to stop him before he could even take another step. He turns his head. "Where will you go?"

"I don't know," Akeno shrugs. "I never really thought about it. All I really thought about was to meet you and get some food in my belly." His belly rumbles. I grab him by the arm and pull him along with me up the stairs.

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

Akeno (Number 43) POV

Lucy tugs me along with her, gripping my arm tightly, and made us travel up the stairs. Where in the world is she taking me? Maybe she will accept me. Maybe this whole plan might work.

Lucy sure is aggressive.

Shut up.

We stop at a large building which seems to look like an old Japanese restaurant. It has to have at least 6 or more rooms. She takes out a key from the pocket of her shorts and opens the door.

"This way."

I reluctantly follow after her. She leads me into a room that seems like the kitchen.

"Sit down."

I obey of course. I have no clue what's occurring right now but I'm sure I'm bound to find out soon enough. I look around. I haven't seen a kitchen like this since I killed my parents at the age of 3 and had to leave the house. The police were coming. I couldn't have stayed there. I didn't mean to kill them. I…just couldn't control the strength of my vectors and the voices inside were screaming at such an unbearable volume that I just couldn't handle it. I just let go. Now they're dead. It doesn't really bother me much anymore since that's all I can remember from that day. I can't even remember what they looked like.

There is a stove and a fridge a few feet away from the stove. There are so cabinets next to the fridge and also a counter. Lucy uses her vectors to open the fridge door and takes out something frozen. She places it in the microwave. Ding! When it's all finished she grabs a fork and places the plate in front of me on the table.

"Eat," Lucy encourages me.

"What?"

"You said you were hungry," She raised an eyebrow. "Here's some food. Eat. Eat it before it gets cold again."

"Oh," then I picked up the fork. I dug in. I don't want to make her feel bad or anything. Once the food touches the taste buds on my tongue a strange electrifying sensation went through me like lightning, "this is delicious!" Soon, in no less than four minutes later, I was finished and the plate was empty.

"That was scrumptious," I compliment. "Did you make it yourself?"

"Yes actually," She nodded. "I was planning to save that for my lunch this afternoon but I figured that it's better if you have it. I can always make more."

"Thanks," I grin but Lucy looks away. Did I say something wrong?

"Don't mention it." Her cheeks turn a faint pink color. Is she blushing? "I'm not blushing if that's what you're thinking."

"Of course I wasn't thinking that," I scratch my head. "Where would you get such a paposterious idea like that?"

"You were staring at my cheeks."

Lucy is a feisty one! Don't get yourself killed "Akeno". Since when do you embrace the name your human parents gave you when you were born anyways? Akeno is such a horrid name. Why not pick another one? I swear, you have such plebian tastes.

We'll discuss this later and I like the name Akeno. It has a certain sound to it that makes me feel at home, you know? Oh that's right, you wouldn't know. You barley even have a name yourself.

"Um…," I don't know what to say.

"Never mind," She shakes her head. "It's of no importance nevertheless."

I get up and place the empty plate in the sink. "Would you like me to wash the dishes?"

"No," Lucy frowns. "Leave them. It's Nana's turn to do dishes tonight and we all promised her we'd leave her all the dirty dishes so she could get the hang of washing them."

"Nana?"

"Nana is another Diclonius," Lucy explains. "I thought you would've sensed her by now."

"Nope, I only sensed yours because yours is the strongest in the area and I was already close enough. When I mask my own aura it makes it more difficult for me to sense others." This is so unexpected. "I thought Number 7 was killed by Kurama's daughter."

For the first time Lucy smiled, and laughed! She gave a slight chuckle actually but that still counts as laughter in my book. "Many also thought she could kill me but they were wrong. She only managed to cut off one of my horns and the scientists sliced off the other. Kurama's daughter was blown up along with Kurama himself. I saved Nana even though I hated her with all my heart for wanting to take me back to Kurama. I bear no ill-will towards her any longer but it still infuriates me how they thought that his daughter was powerful enough to kill me."

"Well thank you for the clarification," I smiled.

"Any day," her smile disappeared. "You won't attempt to do the same thing will you?"

"Same thing? You mean try to kill you? Of course not."

"Good." She got up from the chair, "because if you even try it or even think it, I will have to kill you."

Number 7, alive? Well this is a fine new coat of paint. Do you suppose she might mess up what ever you're trying to get her with Lucy? If so, you could kill her.

I'm not risking anything with Lucy and why would I kill Nana…I mean Number 7. I need her to keep her alive. She can keep her life, I will not stand in the way of it. If she's happy then fine. We won't bother this human town but we'll need to cover the others.

What devious plot are you planning? Is it even devious at all? I don't know whether to be proud of you or to be utterly disappointed.

I will not comment.

"Where are you heading now?" Lucy asks while taking out a bag of chips from the cabinet.

"Probably going to find a place suitable for sleeping in these kind of conditions for a while and maybe try pick pocketing for some money," I jumble together a list of things I'm supposed to do. I need money. I need food. I need clothes. I need everything! Is this why humans always complain they never have enough? Money is such a pain or at least when you don't have any.

Lucy POV

I can't believe I'm going to say this. I just can't…let him leave or at least know that he's going to be alright. What is this feeling? Do I care for this boy I just met a couple minutes ago? He is a fellow Diclonius after all. Maybe that's why I don't want him to die. He's also the only male Diclonius I've ever seen. Who knows when I'll meet another one? Hmm…he might just be the only one. I should ask him about that later. I look away to not see his face. "Why don't you stay here?"

"Really?"

"Really what? You didn't answer my question."

"Do you really mean what you just said?"

"Of course. Saying and asking things without actually meaning it when you absolutely demand an answer is meaningless. So what's it going to be? Do you want to stay here or not?"

"Sure…but wait," He thinks for a minute.

"What now?"

"Are you the only one who lives here?"

"Of course not," I cross my arms over my chest. His face falls.

"Oh."

"So yes or no?"

"I said I'd stay but wouldn't you need to check with the rest of you 'family' first?"

"I'll talk to Kohta at 3 when he's back from his class," I assure him. "Knowing him he won't mind."

"Who's Kohta?"

"He's the boy he took me, Nana, and a runaway girl named Mayu in," I smile. "He also was the boy who introduced me to the once unfamiliar feeling of happiness 8 years ago. I'm sure he'll take you in too."

"Okay," was all he said.

Nana POV

It's starting to get late. I run up the stairs and Mayu follows slowly after me with Wanta.

"Can you slow down Nana," Mayu pleads.

"Okay," I smile at her. "I'm just so excited. Tonight I wash the dishes."

"I've never seen someone so excited to wash up dirty plates before," Mayu says.

I frown.

"Oh no," Mayu pats my shoulder once she catches up. "It's a good thing."

"Do you think Yuka's home?"

"Probably," Mayu picks up Wanta. "She said she was going to be back at around 7."

"What time is it now?"

"8 o clock."

"Oh no!"

"What's wrong?"

"We're late for dinner," I panic.

"No we're not," Mayu assures me. "Trust me."

We head for the house and come running through the doors and into the kitchen. "Yuka, sorry we're late!" My eyes widened. That's not Yuka. In the kitchen stands Lucy and a boy with pink hair with horns on the top of his head. He's another Diclonius. But how can this be?

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