Intertwined Destinies
DISCLAIMER: I don't own DBZ or Elfen Lied.
CHAPTER 2: A Second Chance
Kouta and Yuka walked to the Maple Inn. Yuka was holding the pink-haired girl's hand as well as Goten's in the other while Kouta managed the heavier weight and carried the teenage boy. Along the way, Yuka worried that somebody would come across them and make a scene, considering they were shepherding two wounded teens, one of whom wasn't even conscious while the other one was very poorly dressed for being in a public setting. Luckily for them, the streets and back alleys of Kamakura seemed to be strangely deserted, which Yuka found to be rather odd since it was only an hour after midday, and the small town should be bustling with people, but it was a fortunate coincidence since it allowed both Kouta and Yuka to return to their residence completely unmolested.
As they walked up to the house, Yuka glanced once more at the girl at her side, with her weird hair color and other oddities.
"She sure is a strange girl, isn't she?" Yuka remarked. "I mean, pink hair? I wonder if it's dyed. And red eyes. Those are probably contacts, I suppose. And that headband makes it appear that she's got horns."
Yuka glanced a bit closer at the girl, even as she kept twisting her head around in every single direction to look at everything; the trees, the falling leaves, and the sky above. It was like the girl was utterly amazed by life itself. After more closely examining her features, Yuka had a realization, and she gasped out loud. Goten looked up at her.
"Kouta, look!" she cried.
Kouta came to a stop. "What is it?"
"They're sticking out of her head!" she said. "They're real! Her horns are real!"
"Cool!" Kouta said, staring at them, before suddenly, his eyes grew wide, as though remembering something he didn't want to...
A tiny girl, around the age of Kanae, horns on her head, short, neatly cut pink hair. A single word. "Liar..."
Kouta pressed one hand to his temple as the vision disappeared, retreating back into the depths of his subconscious.
"What's so unusual about that?" Goten asked innocently.
"What do you mean, sweetie?" Yuka asked. "It's not really normal for people to have horns."
"But what about us?" Goten asked, his tone indicating his confusion.
"What do you —" Yuka began, and it was only then that she caught sight of the wagging, furry appendage poking out behind Goten's back, and she gasped again, caught off-guard for the second time that day. "T-Tails!"
"What?" Kouta inquired, sounding a bit dazed from his experience. "What are you talking about, Yuka?"
"These kids have tails!" she said, sounding irritated that he seemed to be only half listening. "Pay attention!"
"Really?" Kouta asked and then he too got a glance at the older boy's tail. "Wow, cool!"
Goten looked down, seemingly upset by the older teens' remarks.
"Is there something wrong with my tail?" Goten asked them, sounding utterly devastated.
His tone instantly grabbed at Yuka's heart, and she released the pinkette, kneeling down next to the little boy.
"No, of course not, honey," Yuka replied, already feeling guilty about her momentary lapse. "We're just surprised, that's all."
"Yeah, it's actually pretty neat," Kouta added. "It's not the kind of thing you see every day. I like it."
Yuka nodded at Kouta in silent thanks for his support.
Goten brightened considerably upon hearing this and he smiled up at the older two. Once they were sure that the little boy's feelings weren't hurt, they marched up the path towards the large structure. A nearby sign boldly proclaimed, "Kaede-Sou" in Japanese. Yuka pulled open the bamboo door and ushered Goten and Kouta inside the rather spacious building, the horned girl still twisting and craning her neck every which way to get a look at everything around her.
"This is the house you're going to rent me?" Kouta asked, taken aback at the sheer size of the place.
"It was a traditional Japanese restaurant, but they went out of business a while ago," Yuka informed him with a shrug. "My mom says as long as you clean the house everyday you don't have to pay rent."
"But, er..." Kouta said as a thought occurred to him.
"What's up?" Yuka asked him.
"How many rooms does this house have?" Kouta said pointedly.
"Let's see..." Yuka said, quickly calculating them all in her head. "Ten, if I remember correctly."
"And I'm supposed to clean them all?" Kouta said incredulously. "Without any help?"
"And the garden," Yuka added, seeming to almost enjoy Kouta's apparent indignation, but not in a smug or cruel way; it seemed like something more akin to gentle teasing than an outright arrogance.
"Wait," Kouta huffed. "So basically I'm supposed to be a free caretaker?"
"Nyuu?" the horned girl said, glancing over at Kouta and Yuka with the typical expression of confusion on her face.
"I'd be glad to help!" Goten piped up. "Me and my Nii-chan! Mommy always made us... made us..."
And with that the little boy hung his head as tears began flowing down his cheeks.
"Oh, sweetheart, what's wrong?" Yuka wondered as she knelt to try and comfort the distraught child.
"Mommy... M-Mommy!" the boy sobbed.
Feeling her heart go out to the tiny figure, Yuka reached forward and pulled him into a hug.
"It's okay, baby," Yuka cooed. "Everything's going to be okay."
"N-No, it w-won't," Goten sobbed. "N-N-Never again..."
Yuka pressed her face close to his hair and began murmuring reassurance into his soft, spiky locks, just to let him know he wasn't alone and that she was there for him. Goten felt soothed being cradled by the strong, older woman. It was so comforting, to have somebody hugging him and caring for him and watching after his welfare, like his mommy and Nii-chan did, and slowly he felt himself calming down as his sobs reduced to a few pitiful whimpers.
As Yuka was busy comforting Goten, Kouta shifted position to more comfortably accommodate the teenage boy, who, he could swear, was getting heavier by the minute, but apparently, that slight movement was enough to rouse him and he let out a low groan. Kouta jumped in surprise, almost dropping the older boy onto the floor as he did so.
"Ah, he's waking up!" Kouta yelped, startled.
"N-Nii-chan!" Goten exclaimed. He quickly wriggled out of Yuka's grip.
Yuka moved up to Kouta alongside Goten. "Set him up against the wall, Kouta," she advised him.
Kouta did as he was told and laid the teen up against the wall, relieving himself of his load. Slowly, as though it took him a great deal of effort, the older boy opened his eyes, blinked two times, and then glanced at his surroundings.
"Hello," Kouta said with an encouraging smile.
"Where... am I?" he asked as he tried to get up, wincing as mortal pain assaulted his senses. His body felt tender and sore and he could swear that he was dripping blood. His clothes felt like torn and limp rags.
Yuka and Kouta moved to help the teen.
"You're in Maple Inn on the coast of Kamakura, Japan." Yuka answered, reaching forward and placing two hands on his shoulders to help guide him up into a sitting position. "Careful, now. Easy does it. Don't overexert yourself. Some of those wounds look serious."
"Japan?" the older boy said, blinking.
I've never heard of such a place, he thought. Am I still on Earth?
"Yeah," Yuka said reassuringly. "Oh, I'm Yuka, by the way."
"Kouta," the dark-haired man said in a friendly tone.
"Oh, Gohan. My name is Gohan," the boy replied. "Son Gohan."
"G-G-Gohan?" Kouta said, trying, and failing, to suppress the mirth he felt at the rather odd name, and he burst out laughing.
"W-What's wrong?" Gohan asked him.
"Oh, sorry, it's j-just that y-your name, heheheheh, m-means... hahahahaha... cooked rice!" Kouta chuckled.
One of Gohan's eyebrows twitched. What? I was named after food? But I thought I was named after Dad's grandpa! He sighed wearily as he grabbed his forehead in dismay. Oh, Father... that's so like you.
Yuka punched Kouta in the arm. Hard.
"Stop it, Kouta!" she demanded. "Don't laugh at the poor boy! You're being rude!"
"Okay, okay," Kouta said, trying to placate the fiery girl. "But you don't have to hit me, you know."
Yuka merely sighed. Goten moved up to his older brother, eyes shining with brotherly concern.
"Are you okay, Nii-chan?" Goten inquired.
Gohan smiled down at his younger brother. "Hey, don't worry. I'm fine," he lied, trying not to remember the last few moments... before. "I'm just a little disoriented is all. You don't have to be upset now."
Goten smiled brightly and leaped forward to hug Gohan.
"Oh, I'm so happy, Nii-chan!" he said.
Gohan ignored the savage jolt of pain Goten's touch brought to his body; it felt like he had been shoved headfirst into a meat grinder, but he'd be damned before he let Goten see how badly hurt he was — he didn't want to scare him, so for now he just grit his teeth together and endured the weariness of his body and the pain in his bones as much as possible. Well, it certainly wasn't like he hadn't been hurt before.
Just then, however, the horned girl chose to make her presence known, apparently tired of being ignored.
"Nyuu!" she cried, jumping over to Gohan and his little brother. "Nyuu, Nyuu, Nyuu!"
Unfortunately, since the girl didn't have pants on (or underwear, for that matter) this created quite a nice, unrestricted view into the young woman's... private zones, and Gohan felt his face growing hotter with each passing second as blood rushed to his face and... other areas.
Oh no, no, no, no, I can't be seeing this! he thought. It's wrong!
"Ah!" he cried, covering his eyes up. "Please, no more!"
The girl stopped jumping around and looked at him, confused. "Nyuu?"
"That's enough!" Yuka commanded. "You can't flash people like that. You make them feel uncomfortable when you do that."
"Nyuu?" the girl said, now tilting her head to the side, as if desperately trying to puzzle out what she had just said.
Kouta sighed in exasperation. "She still can't understand what you're saying, Yuka."
"Oh," Yuka said, her face flushing with embarrassment. "Right."
She looked back at the Son brothers, now concerned for their welfare.
"Do you have any place to stay around here?" she asked them.
Gohan's face darkened as he struggled not to succumb to the memories now playing through his head — the return of an old enemy from their past, the subsequent battle that followed, then looking on as the monster tore Earth apart like butter, grabbing Goten, expecting to die, the only consolation passing through his mind the knowledge that he was soon to be reunited with his father...
"No, we don't," Gohan said, making a visible effort to keep a lid on his emotions. "Our family is dead."
"Oh my!" Yuka said. "Oh, I'm sorry. I-I didn't know."
"No, of course not, how could you?" Gohan said, a tiny quiver in his voice the only outward manifestation of his inner turmoil.
"Oh, I've got an idea!" Kouta said excitedly. "Why don't you stay here with us?"
"What?" Yuka said. "But Kouta, I'm not very sure that's such a wise idea..."
"Why not?" Kouta argued. "It's perfect. We've got all of this extra room, and face it, I'm gonna need some help keeping this place clean every day. I can't do it alone. It's not that big of a problem, really."
"Well, I don't know," Yuka said, sounding unconvinced.
To be brutally honest, she had been hoping for some time alone with Kouta, to get to know him all over again. For eight long years, she had been dreaming of him, of seeing Kouta again, having him reenter her life and sweep her off her feet in a romantic reunion. So far, Yuka had been disappointed by their return to each other's lives, and she kept convincing herself that she just had to give him time.
But that was very selfish of her, and she had to consider these two boys who had lost their home and family. It was the moral thing to do, to offer them a home, at least until they could find one on their own. Her burning, longing desires for Kouta were at war with her conscience and her aspiration to help two lost souls who clearly needed a helping hand, and the fiery brunette didn't know how to handle it.
"Really, you don't have to take us in," Gohan insisted. "I'm sure we can find our own place around here somewhere. And I wouldn't want to be an imposition to you. We'd probably just get in the way here."
"But Nii-chan, we don't have anywhere to stay!" Goten protested. "And you're hurt so bad!"
"It's okay, Goten-chan," Gohan said. "I'll think of something."
And now Yuka's heart went out to the brothers in front of her, their plight and struggle to move on with their lives, with their family gone and nowhere for them to stay, removing any last hint of doubt from her mind.
"You'll do no such thing," Yuka said firmly. "Kouta is right, we have plenty of room here."
"Are you sure it's all right, Yuka-san?" Gohan asked. "We don't want to trouble you."
"No, it's no trouble," Yuka said. "At least stay here until you find your own place. Besides, your brother has a point. You need to recover."
A hopeful look stole over Gohan's face, and the tailed young man smiled for the first time since waking up. Wincing as a fresh wave of agony hit him, he struggled up to his feet, fighting hard against the sluggishness of his own muscles. It felt like his whole body had been turned to Jell-O, and Kouta and Yuka reached forward with worry.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Kouta said with concern.
"Yeah, we should call a doctor," Yuka said. "Or maybe take you to the hospital."
"No, please don't," Gohan insisted. "I'm... fine..."
He finally made it to his feet and then, Gohan surprised Yuka when he clapped both his palms together and bowed quite respectfully, inclining his head deeply in thanks. Yuka was a little shocked by such courtesy.
"Thank you very much for your generous hospitality, Kouta-san and Yuka-san, and allowing both me and Goten-chan to stay here with you two," Gohan thanked them, further inclining his head in appreciation. "I promise to repay you for your kindness someday."
Such a polite young man! Yuka marveled. Indeed, it was truly refreshing to meet somebody who still treated others so honorably; it seemed less and less people acted this way anymore. It'll be nice to have somebody around who knows proper manners.
"Well, thanks, Gohan-san," Yuka said with a bright smile.
"Nyuu!" the red-eyed girl suddenly squealed.
With that, she clutched at her crotch and began darting to and fro, making everyone wonder what was wrong with her.
"What's the matter?" Yuka asked.
"Nyuu! Nyuu!" she squeaked frantically.
With every passing moment, she was becoming more and more frenzied, as if something was deeply bothering her, causing the horned girl great distress — but because none of them could understand her, the reasons for this eluded them.
"Nii-chan, what is that girl doing?" Goten inquired innocently.
"I don't know," Gohan muttered with a shake of his head. He was dismayed to find even that tiny movement hurt a lot.
"What do we do?" Yuka asked. "We don't even know her name."
"Why not call her Nyuu?" Gohan suggested, masking the agony he felt in his voice. "That seems to be all she responds to."
And the newly christened girl Nyuu knelt down on the floor, whimpering pitifully as she writhed around and twisted both her legs together, obviously feeling very uncomfortable about... something.
"That seems like a good idea," Yuka said cautiously.
Gohan reached forward, concerned over what was affecting Nyuu, trying his best to ignore the pain that even that small action brought him, shooting through his entire body like it was an electric shock.
"Hey, are you okay there, Nyuu-san?" he asked her worriedly.
Suddenly, the girl straightened up. "Nyuu..." she said softly, a satisfied look on her face.
"Look, I think she's feeling better," Kouta said.
"You think so?" Yuka said with a sidelong glance at him.
Suddenly, a soft trickling noise could be heard as the smell of urine reached their noses, and a yellowish puddle spread out beneath Nyuu's bare legs. And just like that, the reasons for Nyuu's increasing anxiety now became crystal clear — and everyone stepped back to avoid being peed on, shocked and rather startled by this bold act on Nyuu's part.
"Yuck!" Goten declared innocently. "Nii-chan, why is this girl peeing?"
"Never mind, never mind, just never mind," Gohan sighed, hoping Goten would just forget the incident.
Wow, this girl seems to be the opposite of Gohan-san, Yuka mused. He's polite and kind, but Nyuu-san seems to know nothing about social customs... either that, or she doesn't care about them. Now look how dirty she's become... Nyuu-san needs to be cleaned up. Yuka sighed. I guess it's up to me, then we can try to figure out what to do with her.
Yuka took the girl by her arm and lifted her up.
"Kouta, stay here and clean up this mess, I'll take Nyuu to the bathroom," she said. She looked over at Gohan. "Your room is on the first floor, the third down the hall, on the left. You can't miss it. You and Goten can share a futon in there together."
"Okay, thank you, Yuka-san," Gohan said.
"And once we've gotten Nyuu cleaned up, we really need to patch up some of those wounds," Yuka said, glancing at Gohan in concern. "You can't go untreated that long. You may get an infection or something."
"Well, if you say so," Gohan answered. He flinched as another pain shot through his body. "You have a point, Yuka-san."
Yuka took the pink-haired girl and led her up the stairs, hurrying a bit as she moved.
Kouta sighed. "Why is it always me...?" He shook his head. "Well, I better get started. You don't mind helping me, do you?"
"No, of course not," Gohan said. He looked down at his little brother. "Hey, Goten-chan, why don't you go outside and play?"
Goten nodded eagerly. "Okay!"
Gohan stared after him as he took off out the door, amazed at the resilience of youth. It was all he could do to contain his own emotions, and he knew he was very close to a breakdown... but he couldn't do that here. It would lead to too many awkward questions.
"Um, Kouta-san, I want to go check out my room," Gohan said. "Is that all right?"
"Well, I suppose," Kouta said. "Just don't forget to help me."
"I promise I won't," Gohan said as he headed up the wood stairway.
Walking down the hall to the room that Yuka had indicated, Gohan entered the small area, and now he was sure that he was finally all by himself, he fell in an undignified heap by the door, sobbing brokenly over all that had transpired, all that he had lost...
They were dead... everyone he knew and loved... they were gone... and it was all his fault!
After the Cell Games, Gohan had fallen into a deep, worsening depression he let no one know about. He had lost so many to that vile beast... his beloved daddy, Son Goku, who had decided to remain in the afterlife to avoid their enemies coming after him. Trunks, who had returned to his future world to deal with the androids, and helped his planet rebuild. Even Sixteen was gone; as an android, he could not be wished back to life. But for the sake of everyone around him he tried to hide his emotions and never let them see the pain he felt on the inside...
Then, something miraculous happened, which brought back hope to his life, for a while — the knowledge that he was going to have a little brother. For the first time in a long time Gohan had a genuine happy smile on his face whenever he greeted someone. Even Gohan himself was completely unaware how deeply his pain ran, and life moved on, helped by Mirai Trunks returning from the future after the death of his mother. Things seemed to be slowly getting better and Gohan felt he could truly recover from his bad experiences.
Then, seven years later, tragedy struck anew. A strong enemy, far stronger than Cell and Bojack could ever hope to become, attacked the Earth. Gohan and the others put up a valiant fight, but no matter how strong he and Vegeta had grown, nothing they did even fazed this new foe. Seven years spent putting his body through hell to try and honor his father's memory, and it was useless. He might as well have done nothing! Near the end, as the battle drew to a close, he'd expected to die, and utterly beaten, too weary to fight anymore, he had welcomed it — at last he would finally be with his dad again. The only thing that enraged him was his mom and younger brother had to die with him.
Gohan grabbed his little brother, wanting to comfort him during their final moment. He remembered clinging to him tightly as the continents ripped apart and magma erupted from all of the cracks, as the oceans vaporized and the sky went totally black... and then after a long period of nothingness, he had awoken here, in this strange world. Was it his home? How could it be? His home had been destroyed. Gohan had lost all of his loved ones, and now he and Goten were the only survivors.
And for how long he remained there, crying and sobbing and venting all the horrible, raging pain in his heart, Gohan couldn't say, but he did realize he had to pull himself together. He could not afford the others to see him this way. He... he had to be strong. For Goten.
Wiping the tears away from his cheeks, Gohan rose into a standing position. Okay, I just got to bottle up my emotions, he thought. I can't let anyone see them. If Kouta-san and Yuka-san ever found out what we are they'd kick us out on the streets. And Goten... h-he deserves a home, no matter what I've done. I owe that much to him, at least.
Well, it's not like he hadn't practiced hiding his emotions before. Feeling much more composed than before, Gohan headed out the door and made his way downstairs, annoyed to find he was still struggling against his injuries. But he found when he took it very slowly, then the pain went down to a barely manageable level. As he made his way to the front hallway, there was Kouta, just now sitting up with a squeaky clean floor surrounding him. As Gohan returned, Kouta shot a highly annoyed glance in the half-Saiyan's direction, and with a wince Gohan remembered he had promised to help Kouta clean up the spot Nyuu-san had peed on.
"About time you showed up," he said. "I thought you said you were going to help me."
"I'm... I'm really sorry, Kouta-san," Gohan said sadly. "I forgot."
Kouta sighed. "Well, never mind. It can't be helped, I guess. I don't think I could do much physical work with those wounds either."
Just then soft footsteps caused Kouta and Gohan to look over to the stairwell. Yuka was coming down the stairs, holding Nyuu by the hand to make sure she knew which way to walk. Gohan noted that the girl appeared a bit better dressed this time; instead of an old white shirt to wear, she was wearing cyan-colored boxer shorts, and a simple white undershirt.
Those must be Kouta-san's clothes, Gohan realized.
"Sorry to leave you with the mess," Yuka said.
"Well, it was kind of hard to clean it all alone, but it's finally finished," Kouta told his cousin.
"I should have helped him," Gohan said guiltily. "I promised Kouta-san."
"Kouta, were you planning to make him work?" Yuka demanded. "And in his condition? You idiot! He could have died!"
"Yeah, you're right," Kouta said sheepishly. "Sorry, Yuka-chan."
Yuka blinked at the sudden change in appellation, which generally denoted closeness between people, and blushed just a tiny bit. Feeling a little flustered, Yuka turned to face their houseguest, determined to look anywhere but Kouta. "Just don't worry, Gohan-san. Kouta-kun was able to do it himself, so it doesn't make a difference."
Kouta felt a bit touched by Yuka's change in appellation as well, and a genuine smile came over his face upon hearing it.
"Well, whatever you say," Gohan said.
"In any case, Nyuu-san is all cleaned up now, so that's something positive, at least." And then Yuka frowned a bit. "But I washed her hair completely, and it stayed pink, which means that's her natural color."
"So?" Gohan said, a bit surprised. "What's wrong with pink hair?"
Yuka gave Gohan a very weird look. "It's just not a normal hair color, Gohan-san."
Gohan flinched quite noticeably. Once again, he cursed his own ignorance of the world he had landed in. Where he came from a wide variety of hair color was quite common, but it was clearly not so in this strange dimension. How he wished he hadn't opened his mouth! Now he was only a breath away from discovery, and it was all his fault!
Seeing that Gohan looked highly nervous, Kouta emphasized with the tailed boy and quickly changed the subject.
"That's fine, but you know, you didn't have to make her wear my underwear," Kouta complained.
It worked like a charm as Yuka focused her attention on her cousin. While the two were busy chatting, Nyuu moved her clothes around in confusion, so that Gohan and Kouta could get a nice look at her rather large breasts and her bare gleaming skin. Gohan struggled to keep a level head even as Nyuu kept continuously flashing them. The cousins seemed to take it all in stride, but Gohan found that he was having a hard time concentrating. Focus... focus... he told himself.
"What else was she supposed to wear?" Yuka retorted. "I'll buy Gohan-san, Goten-chan, and Nyuu-san new clothes later."
"Oh, Yuka-san, y-you don't really have to do that," Gohan protested with a soft blush.
Well, at least he was distracted from Nyuu-san...
"Nonsense!" Yuka said, waving a dismissive hand. "You need proper clothing, those ones look pretty ragged. Besides, you're going to need to look properly dressed if you wanna find your own place after this."
"Well, okay, but I promise to pay you back somehow," Gohan insisted.
"That's okay," Kouta said. "Just take your time with that, okay? You don't have to pay us back all at once, you know."
"Thank you," Gohan said gratefully.
Kouta and Yuka exchanged a look and smiled. Another jolt of pain flared up in Gohan's body, and the hybrid tipped over, almost falling to the floor in agony. Kouta and Yuka moved forward to help the young man.
"Are you okay?" Yuka asked worriedly.
"Just try to stand up," Kouta told the younger man.
"I'm... I'm all right," Gohan said, gritting his teeth against the pain.
"We need to go get the first-aid kit," Yuka said, laying her warm, delicate hands on Gohan's shoulders. "If you don't wanna head to the hospital we should at least do all we can to disinfect and treat those cuts."
"Later, all right?" Gohan snapped, flinching at his own harsh tone. "S-Sorry! I just mean... I need some time to catch my breath, okay?"
"Okay then, just sit down," Yuka said, helping Gohan into a sitting position on the floor. "Just relax and take it easy for a while."
Gohan sat there, calming his nerves with the meditation exercises Piccolo had taught him, and pretty soon, his body felt a lot better. At least it didn't feel like one giant, throbbing ache, anyway. Just then, little Goten ran in the room, carrying something in the ball of his fist.
"Hey, hey, Nii-chan, look what I found!" he cried happily. Then he stuck his fist out, palm open, to reveal a rather large frog. "Look! Isn't he the most exciting frog ever? I named him Gohan in honor of you!"
Gohan felt the familiar grin he always felt when Goten was doing something cute or innocent. He was so carefree and happy and full of life, just like... him. Sometimes he was so similar to him that it hurt his heart just to think about him, but most of the time he really loved being near his younger brother. Whenever he was feeling sad Goten always knew how to cheer him up.
"Hey, yeah, he looks pretty neat," Gohan said.
Yuka held a hand to her mouth to stifle her giggles at this rather innocent scene unfolding. Kouta just seemed confused.
"Can I keep him? Can I keep him, huh? Please, Nii-chan, can I?" the little Saiyan hybrid begged.
"I'm afraid that's not my call to make, Goten-chan," Gohan said. "You'll have to ask our hosts about that."
"Hosts?" Goten asked, blinking at the unfamiliar word.
Yuka decided to take charge of the situation, and so she stepped forward. "Of course you can keep him, honey," she said warmly. "But you need to find something to put him in and take care of him if you want a pet."
"YAY!" Goten cried, leaping forward and hugging the older woman. "Thank you, Yuka-san, thank you!"
Yuka smiled as she laid an arm around Goten's shoulder.
Disengaging from Yuka, Goten flew over to Nyuu. "Nyuu?" the horned girl asked, tilting her head at the smaller boy.
"Nyuu-san, Nyuu-san, look!" he said, holding up the frog for her to see.
"Nyuu!" the innocent girl squealed, moving to grab the frog.
"Nuh-uh!" Goten declared, withdrawing the frog. "You'll have to catch me first!"
And Goten fled. Nyuu gazed after him confusedly for a few seconds, and then with a happy chirp, she chased Goten out into the yard, child and older woman having fun together as they raced around in circles.
Yuka sighed. "She is just like a little girl."
Gohan nodded in agreement. "I think Goten's found another play mate."
Kouta frowned. I wonder who she is, though...
Suddenly, Gohan's stomach let loose a colossal growl that could be heard throughout the entire room. The two cousins turned to stare at him. He clutched at his belly, looking very sheepish all of a sudden.
"Um, oops!" Gohan said nervously. "Sorry. I-I guess I'm kinda hungry..."
Yuka sighed. "Okay, we can eat first, but then we've really gotta treat you. We can't just leave you like that."
"Okay, after lunch, I promise, Yuka-san," Gohan agreed.
"Sounds good to me," Kouta ventured.
As Gohan moved away with the other two to eat some food, walking very slowly to make sure his body didn't flare up with agony, he stared one more time at his little brother and Nyuu-san chasing one another in the yard, happily playing with each other and genuinely enjoying life to the utmost fullest. Gazing out at the innocent pair, he made a vow.
I won't let anyone destroy your second chance at happiness, Goten-chan, he promised determinedly. He clenched a fist as he turned back to Yuka and Kouta and followed them into the dining room. I swear. They'll have to get through me first.
A few miles away from the inn, within the bowels of a laboratory facility located on a tiny island far away from Kamakura, construction crews were working together to repair all of the damage the facility had apparently taken recently. Observing the construction effort was two people, a man and a woman, gazing calmly at the destruction.
The man had several bandages, an eyepatch, and stood there haphazardly, as if he wasn't accustomed to his own limbs. He wore glasses across his eyes and possessed a calm, stoic, emotionless demeanor. The woman wore her chestnut brown hair in a tight bun. She carried herself with a professional, serious air, and seemed to be taking whatever had happened to damage the facility seriously. The man was the Chief Director for their facility, Kurama, and the woman was a personal assistant to the General Director, named Shirakawa.
"The cage, the partitions, five locks, and a security system," Shirakawa dispassionately, turning to glance at the man. "Everything was perfect. The reason the shutter system opened all on its own is still unclear."
"In time, we'll figure that out," came the cold reply from Kurama. "Right now the top priority is finding Lucy and killing her."
"Killing her?" Shirakawa asked in disbelief. "Not capturing her?"
"Yes, this incident has proven she is far too dangerous to be kept alive," Kurama answered as he glanced down at his hands. They had a strange wooden quality, as if they weren't truly hands, and slowly, as if his hand wasn't taking orders from his brain very well, he clenched it into a fist as he recalled the cause of his injuries late last night as one of the facility's most dangerous specimens escaped...
Kurama stared at the blast door, hiding horror beneath his usual emotionless facade as the door opened and a figure stepped through. His soldiers all raised their weapons, ready to fire at what emerged. The figure, a completely naked female wearing only a helmet, moved forward with slow, deliberate precision, seemingly oblivious to her own nudity. Around her lay twisted and mutilated corpses in pools of their own blood, the testament to how deadly and dangerous this seemingly innocuous girl was. Kurama noted all this with complete confusion.
How can this be? The guards had hollow reinforced steel bullets in their guns! he thought.
"Ready to fire, sir!" one of the soldiers called, cradling his gun close to his body.
"Wait for my command," Kurama replied. "Not before."
The girl headed towards the assembled soldiers, moving as if she wasn't used to walking in her own body, or as if she had been locked into one position for a very long time. She came to a complete stop before the congregation and only a single word issued forth from the concealed helmet, spoken with iciness as cold as the void between galaxies and totally devoid of emotion.
"Kurama..."
"Lucy..." Kurama whispered darkly.
Just then, someone stepped out of another door, a young woman carrying a tray of coffee. She stumbled a bit before tripping over her own two feet, falling flat on her face right in front of the girl named Lucy. Kurama's already pale face whitened even further as the girl he had personally taken under his wing stood up next to the cold-blooded murderer, completely oblivious to the danger that her life was now in.
"Kisaragi!" Kurama shouted, losing his characteristic "cool." "Move! Get out of the way right now!"
"Uh,Kurama-sempai, I'm really sorry," Kisaragi apologized, working her way back to her feet. "I messed things up again."
"Kisaragi, run!" Kurama yelled. "Just run! Now!"
"Hey, what's going on here?" Kisaragi asked, noticing the naked girl for the first time.
"Run away!" Kurama cried, growing frantic.
"Huh?" Kisaragi said, turning to face Lucy. "Who are you?"
The helmet shifted, very slightly, so slightly, in fact, that few people would even notice it, but Kurama had seen it, and he knew in his heart that Lucy had marked this girl as another one of her many victims. If she hadn't intended to before, then she would now after his emotional outburst. Kurama tried to move towards the doomed girl, to try and help her in some way, but he was held back by one of the guards.
"No, Lucy!" Kurama shouted desperately. "Don't do it!"
Underneath the helmet, Lucy's smirk was hidden, but her actions spoke for herself when Kisaragi's head twisted around and ripped itself right off its neck, that dumb, searching expression forever written on her face. The body, which should have fell, hung there in the air like a marionette as the head dropped like a stone.
"No! Kisaragi!" Kurama roared, trying to move towards her corpse, but he was still held back by one of his men. "Open fire! Shoot her!"
The soldiers complied, opening up a hail of gunfire that would have ripped through any normal human girl instantly. However, the soldiers' bullets never reached their intended mark; instead the headless body of the late Kisaragi hung there, suspended in the air, and every one of the bullets tore through it like teeth tearing through a piece of bread. Flesh shredded like meat being put through a grinder, blood spattered across the room, but not a single bullet ever made it past the human shield Lucy had created out of the dead girl.
"The damn bitch is blocking them!" one of the soldiers shouted as they kept firing for as long as they could.
Eventually, they ran out of bullets, and Lucy dropped the body, no longer in need of its protection. The corpse didn't even bear a passing resemblance to Kisaragi anymore; flesh hung limp off of completely shattered bones with blood congealed in the cracks and dripping onto the metal floor. Her limbs were all twisted and bent out of the shape from the force of tens of thousands of multiple impacts, but Lucy just stood there, still nude but otherwise unharmed! As a final insult, the human shield she had used twisted to the side with a sickening crack as her spine snapped clean in two, leaving poor, powerless Kisaragi dead, mutilated and deformed beyond all recognition.
"Hurry! Don't hesitate!" Kurama ordered. "Keep shooting her!"
"But we're out of bullets!" one of the guards said, fear filling his voice.
"You fucking bitch!" another guard cried, running at Lucy rather recklessly with his gun raised, as if to strike her with the butt of his rifle, but Lucy simply ripped his still-beating heart from his body, throwing his body towards one of the walls.
Lucy then walked up to the remaining guards, chopping them to pieces, tearing them in two, ripping off heads, cutting apart limbs, and shredding them as she slowly approached Kurama, who watched with complete horror, unable to hide his emotions like he usually could, and knowing with chilling, utter certainty that the same fate was about to now befall him.
"It's down to you and me now," Lucy said, her voice as icy as it had been before.
"You won't get away with this," Kurama declared. For his defiance, Kurama was thrown back into the wall with impressive force. A cough forced its way out of his mouth. Before he could stand, he was then tossed up at the ceiling, smashing into the unforgiving metal headfirst — he swore for a second he was seeing stars before he slammed into the ground and all the air left his lungs. For a few minutes, Lucy toyed with him, hurling him up and down and bashing him against the wall, the ceiling, and the floor. Kurama felt flesh bruise and bones dent and for a few minutes, it was like being sent through a washing machine, on rinse cycle, pounded and crushed as the world spun and twisted in his field of vision.
Then, just when he thought he couldn't take anymore, Lucy finally relented, leaving him gasping and panting and wheezing for air on the cold metal floor. Covered in black and blue marks, feeling as though he had been hit with a truck, Kurama managed to work his way to all fours and glared at Lucy through one bloodshot eye.
"Like I promised, I won't kill you," Lucy said coldly. "Such a fate is too good for you. However..."
Kurama's arm bent to the side as bone snapped in half and a loud, anguish-filled cry erupted from his throat before Lucy crushed it in her invisible grip. Flecks of blood flew from his mouth and Kurama fell to the floor with as he felt pressure building on his limbs.
"You'd be surprised what you can live through," she said with a giant smirk as the sound of ripping flesh filled Kurama's ears...
After that they'd shot her with a .50 caliber rifle, but not even that could slow her down — she'd just fallen into the ocean with little more than a head wound, while the facility had taken dozens of casualties, all brave soldiers lost in the battle to save humanity.
Lucy, what are you up to? Kurama thought. What is your motive?
"Kisaragi, I'm sorry," he whispered. "But I promise I won't let your death be in vain."
"Hey, Chief Kurama!" Shirakawa called. "Are you there?"
Kurama returned to his surroundings and turned to gaze at her.
"Is there a problem?" Shirakawa asked with some concern.
"No, no problems," Kurama replied emotionlessly. He turned away. "The Special Assault Team has been assembled. If we don't stop Lucy mankind will perish. With them on her trail, the Queen is as sure as dead."
And he walked off, leaving Shirakawa standing there as confused as ever.
Hey, another chapter done! Onto the power levels for this fic.
Gohan: 1,020,000(1)
Goten: 1,000,000(2)
Power levels before the fic began.
Gohan: 15,000,000(3)
Super Saiyan Gohan: 750,000,000(4)
Full Power Super Saiyan Gohan: 7,500,000,000(5)
Normal Power Super Saiyan 2 Gohan: 15,000,000,000(6)
Full Power Super Saiyan 2 Gohan: 75,000,000,000(7)
Goten: 1,000,000
Super Saiyan Goten: 50,000,000(8)
(1) Gohan is severely weakened from his battle. Just give him time, and he'll recover, like a true Saiyan. ^_^
(2) Goten didn't receive very much damage in their battle because he wasn't strong enough to defeat it, and Gohan protected him.
(3) Yes, I know many complain about how Frieza's maximum was 120,000,000, not 12,000,000, but in my opinion the Daizenshuu does not make that much sense with regards to power levels, since it also lists Gogeta's maximum as 2,500,000,000, but using logic, that makes no sense! If Gohan's base is stronger than Frieza's, and Gohan was a weakling as an adult then that logically means that Vegeta is stronger, and the x 50 increase from a Super Saiyan would mean his power level is at least 6,000,000,000, which is more powerful than Gogeta, in his fused state, no less! Honestly, power levels don't make much sense so you should use them as you see fit. Just don't complain about that.
(4) Super Saiyan is a times 50 increase.
(5) I envision Full Power Super Saiyan as being a times 10 increase from regular Super Saiyan and times 500 from base form, and when a Saiyan masters the full powers of their Super Saiyan transformation, times 50 is the starting power and times 500 is the maximum amount of power which they can generate in the first stage of Super Saiyan.
(6) Super Saiyan 2 is a times 2 increase from the Full Power Super Saiyan transformation in its starting power and a times 1,000 increase from the base strength of that particular Super Saiyan in question.
(7) The first level of Super Saiyan has a fully mastered form, so why not Super Saiyan 2? If not, then consider this my own take on a canon element. Once that Saiyan masters the Super Saiyan 2 form, it turns into a times 5 increase from the Super Saiyan 2 state, for a maximum increase of times 5,000 from that Super Saiyan's base power level.
(8) Goten has yet to fully master the effects of the Super Saiyan transformation.
As always, please review!