Yuki waited quietly, listening for any and every noise. She knew her target would be passing by this corner, as it did every day. The pathways led straight to this chokepoint and there was no avoiding it. After so long, she'd finally get her revenge, finally she'd be the one to get the drop on her target. She froze up, hearing the sound of footsteps approaching. Was it her? Was it the one Yuki was waiting for? She listened closer, grinning in satisfaction when she recognized the rather clumsy sound of her prey's walk. She bent her knees, loading her body up to spring out ambush the individual. The footsteps were getting closer, and as she saw a foot round the corner she attacked.
Nyu never saw it coming, and with a yelp she was tackled by her twin sister. Yuki could not cherish the victory though, as she had not taken into consideration the doorway to the closet that was located in the path of the tackle zone. She also did not consider how the door opened inwards, so when the weight of the two young girls collided with it, it provided little to no resistance. What followed was the crash and bang of the closet's contents falling and burying the twins in a pile of various cleaning products.
Kaede slowly peered into the hallway where the closet was, staring at the heap that was her two eleven year old daughters and a vacuum cleaner. She couldn't help but chuckle at the image, clearly the result of poor planning; she wished she had a camera to capture the moment, both so Kohta would be able to see the mess his little girls had made and also as a way to possible get back at the girls should they try to pull something on the adults. Yuki would just die if her friends saw how she was not only tangled up with the vacuum cord but also being sat upon by Nyu.
"Augh…..what hit me?" Nyu asked as she sat up, placing her hand on the back of Yuki's head as support, Kaede giggling more as Yuki's face was pressed into the floor. Kaede just pointed down, Nyu glancing at her mother then looking down. Nyu then blinked, cocking her head to the side in confusion. "Oneesan, why are you lying there?"
"Get off me!" Yuki shouted as she pushed Nyu off, who fell onto her rump with a light thud. "It was because you fell on me!" Yuki sat up, glaring at Nyu.
"I did?" Nyu scowled as she tried to think through what had happened. "Does that mean you were hiding in the closet then? Why were you in the closet Oneesan?" Nyu asked as she cocked her head to the side again. It was something she always did whenever she was confused.
"Wait, what? No! I wasn't in the closet, why would I be in the closet!" It was Yuki's turn to be confused.
"Then how did I fall on you if I fell into the closet and you weren't in the closet?"
"Um, well…that's not important!"
"Alright girls, we need to get you ready and off to your aunt's." said Kaede as she just watched the two with a smile. "So get up and get moving, please."
"Ok!" Nyu said as she was already on her feet and running to her room, Yuki standing up and brushing herself off before following her energetic twin sister. Their mother just watched them go, shaking her head as she walked over to the mess the two had made and quickly began cleaning it up. The two always managed to make her laugh or at least chuckle every day. Though she couldn't lie when she said it reminded her of her own times with her sister, the twin's aunt, Nyu. Not to mention that the twins looked just like Kaede and her sister had when they were younger. Both Kohta and Kaede deeply missed the ditzy woman and the times they had spent together for so long. Despite the years that had passed, it never did feel the same to Kaede without her sister around and she wouldn't be surprised if Kohta felt the same. Those pains, however, were eclipsed by the wonderful memories she had of Nyu. Besides, Kaede felt it'd be more insulting to her sister if all she felt was pain towards Nyu's absence. Both she and Kohta knew that to honor their lost friend and sister, they had to live a happy and full life. It was exactly what the couple was doing and they would never cease doing so.
"For you, Oneesan." Kaede said with a smile as she wiped away a tear that had crept its way into her eye. She sometimes had dreams about what life would have been like if Nyu had been alive; of course those dreams became nightmares when Kaede thought about the two Nyu's uniting. Even thinking about it made her shudder; the world might become unhinged if that level of Nyu-ness existed.
She looked down the hallway, watching said daughter approaching her with a little skip in her step, a smile on her face as well. That infectious smile of hers, it was something Kaede could never ignore and it always made her smile when she saw it as well. Yuki was not far behind her sister and carried a backpack with her, which more than likely contained either schoolwork or a random assortment of books. Both girls wore something atop their head to hide their horns, Nyu choosing to sport a pair of ribbons wrapped around them while Yuki had a simple beanie. Yuki was definitely the brightest of the twins (not that Kaede thought of Nyu as stupid) as the girl was just fascinated with learning. She seemed to have this hunger to learn that could never be satisfied and it was craving to learn about anything. It made Kaede happy to see such dedication, but it did worry her some in regards to her social life. She had some close friends, Kaede knew that, rather it was how she never was out and about playing with other children. Of course, Kaede was never a social bug herself and she managed, quite well she might add. This is why she was not too worried about Yuki; she would eventually find her place.
"You girls ready?" asked Kaede as they both walked up to her.
Nyu nodded her head, always excited to travel anywhere. She was an explorer of the world in a similar level to how Yuki was an explorer of books. Nyu was always looking for somewhere new to go and explore, which had pros and cons of its own. It was great for Kaede to see her daughter so active and having fun, the problem could be keeping track of the goofy little girl. Kaede smiled as she looked at Yuki, who was adjusting the straps to her backpack, "You ready Yuki?" she looked up at her mother and nodded. "Alright, let's get going then. I'm sure your aunt is anxious to see you two again."
"She's always excited to see us mom," Yuki said with her usual calm tone. She really did remind Kaede of herself when she was younger. Not very excitable and quiet, and according to her teachers Yuki was this way within school most of the time. She'd answer most questions she was asked politely, but would not usually continue a conversation beyond that point. Kaede was happy to at least know Yuki fell under the category of "polite children."
"True, true, now let's get going you slowpokes!" Fortunately it wasn't a school day, which meant Kaede was not in too big a rush. Still, she needed to get to the hospital and the bus ride to there would take a good thirty to forty minutes.
"Ok!" shouted Nyu as she rushed out the door, Yuki and Kaede following at a more leisurely pace. Kaede was glad that Kanae lived close by, as it meant that Kohta and Kaede could be more secure in the knowledge their children were somewhere safe. Well, relatively safe considering Kanae had taken up responsibility (one she choose to do without input from Kaede or Kohta) of teaching the girls the martial arts. It didn't really bother the parents that the twins were practicing the martial arts knowing that such training would give the twins another sense of protection; rather it was that Kanae didn't tell the two of them. They had discovered the lessons when the twins had come home, Yuki blabbering on about the different techniques she learned leaving Kaede to wonder if she was going to pass out from the lack of air she was inhaling; while Nyu on the other hand had quite the black eye that Yuki had been so kind to give to her sister.
Eventually, Kaede was between the two girls as they walked down the street holding Nyu's hand as the excited girl watched whatever happened to be going by, whether it be sentient or not. Yuki walked quietly on the right side of her mother, also watching the surrounding but with less interest then her sister. It wasn't long before they had reached Kanae's house, as she only lived a couple blocks away. Nyu was first to the door, knocking rapidly on the door before waiting for an answer, shifting on her feet continuously with excitement. As the door opened, Nyu sprung in an attempt to hug-bush, Nyu's combination of "ambush" and "hug", her aunt who had opened the door. It was futile however, as Kanae quickly caught the young girl and spun around with the momentum before setting her down, grinning. Kanae lived alone in the small house of hers, though according to Kohta she had recently begun dating someone she had met at a gym not to long ago.
"So close there Nyu, but you just weren't fast enough!" said Kanae, ruffling up Nyu's hair and chuckling at her adorable little frown.
"Ah man! I'll get you one day obasan! I swear it!" Nyu said, pointing right at Kanae.
Kanae just grinned and poked Nyu's nose, "I know you will, but it won't be today!" She then pulled her hand back and turned to look at Yuki. "And how are you Yuki? Brought more books to read, hm?"
Yuki nodded as she looked up at her aunt, "Are we going practice more today?" she asked, the excitement quite obvious in her eyes. Kanae watched her, and then glanced up at Kaede, who nodded her head. A big smile appeared on Kanae's face as she looked down at Yuki. "Sure will! So you best be ready."
Yuki was now smiling, spontaneously hugging her aunt and causing her to chuckle. Kanae patted Yuki's back before pulling back and looking at her. "Now go put your backpack away alright?"
"Alright!" Yuki vanished into the house, Nyu blinking and looking around for her.
"Oneesan vanished!"
Kanae slapped her forehead, Kaede chuckling as she looked at Nyu. "She just ran inside was all, go find her and give her a big hug." Kaede said.
Nyu gasped at the idea like it was some huge revelation, "Great idea okaasan, love you bye!" she said before vanishing into the house after her sister. Kanae was shaking her head, chuckling some while she looked at Kaede.
"She is something; I'm not sure how you or Kohta manage." Kanae said.
"If you had grown up with my sister, you'd understand where I get my experience from." Kaede said smiling. Kanae chuckled at this.
"Good point, and don't you worry about them practicing. I'll make sure they don't get hurt, alright?"
"Thank you, Kanae. Also, mind telling Yuki in particular not to practice on her sister without any supervision? Nyu was rather lucky she landed on the bed last time Yuki tried a hip toss…" Kanae chuckled nervously.
"Yeah, will do. Sorry about that. So do you and Kohta have a long work day today?"
Kaede nodded and sighed, "Yeah, you may have to give the dinner. I apologize, Kanae."
"Oh, no worries. Never bothers me to feed them. It's usually the girls who complain about my cooking anyways." She said with a grin while Kaede chuckled.
"Alright, thank you very much Kanae. Now I need to get going before I miss the bus. Don't hurt my girls you got that?"
Kanae gave a mock shifty glance, "I have no idea what you are referring to…" Kaede chuckled and looked past Kanae.
"Bye girls! Play nice!" both she and Kanae flinched when they heard a loud crash, followed by Nyu innocently saying, "oopsie…". Kanae looked at Kaede.
"I'll handle the demons, don't you worry! Now get going before you are late!" Kanae said.
"Alright, bye." Kaede then turned and left, beginning her walk down the street as Kanae turned and went back inside her home. Kaede began her walk back to the bus station, which wasn't too far from Kanae's home. Though Kaede didn't mind walking through town, the hospital where she and Kohta worked was on the other side of town from where they lived, so it was just easier and quicker to take the bus over. She watched around, glancing around at the various people going about their commute. Occasionally, she'd spot a diclonius amongst the commuters some of which had various headwear to hide the horns atop their head. Kaede herself also wore something to cover her horns, choosing a pair of ribbons like Nyu had. Before, she never would have chosen them, but after the incident she found them to be a nice choice over a hat. She wondered if this was something she had inherited form her sister Nyu when Kaede, Lucy, and Nyu had merged personalities. Whatever it was, the hospital also played a role in choosing ribbons. Doctors weren't allowed to wear hats beyond religious purposes, and Kaede found the ribbons cast her in a more innocent and charming persona. Something that was really beneficial as it meant she was less intimidating to any of her patients.
It'd been over ten years since their existence was first shown to the world, and it was difficult for Kaede to judge just how humans and diclonius were getting along overall. She did her best to keep up to date on such matters, but with her work and raising the twins she didn't always have the time to check on international news. What she did know though was that diclonius had to be careful regardless. Some people were more accepting of the new race, and in some cities of Japan they were generally welcome. However, she also knew that because of the power a single diclonius had, they were sometimes attacked by frightened people or socially exiled from communities. It was mainly for this reason that Kohta and her had decided to live within Kamakura rather than move elsewhere. It was one of the few places where diclonius were accepted as a part of the community. Granted, Lucy and Kaede's/Nyu's fight may have made a rather large mess, and in the aftermath relations between diclonius and humans were tense within the city. When people found about the diclonius, especially upon discovering the incident had been caused by two fighting, skepticism about diclonius quickly began to grow. It took a couple of years before tension began to dissipate, but it wasn't until word got out of Kaede's work in the medical field that coexistence between the two species could begin. When she and Kohta married it also helped to relieve some of the ever-present tension, or at least within Japan. It was a sign to people that there was a possibility for peaceful coexistence.
Diclonius were still seen as a threat though; there was no doubt about that. She didn't have to search deep into news articles to understand how some people were reacting around the world. Some countries were rather frightened by the notion of such powerful individuals roaming free and this led to a furious crackdown by some countries. This fear was easily noticed due to the rise of private security firms dedicated to dealing with diclonius. Most were small companies that worked within their respective counties, but most noticeable was the large organization Hephaestus, a company that had evolved to the level of a Private Military Corporation. The residents of Japan never really saw much of Hephaestus and its troops mostly because the company has its headquarters within Germany and worked mostly with the European powers, but also because Japan had its own forces to deal with rowdy diclonius. Kaede hoped things would never escalate to the point of requiring a company dedicated to the art of killing her race to station itself in Japan. It was not an environment she'd ever want to watch her children grow up in, and though she wasn't always able be a major activist in positive diclonius-human relationships, she always did her best to set a good example for her race.
Kaede looked up and towards the bus stop, noticing it was pretty quiet, with two other individuals there. One she didn't recognize as it was just a random commuter using this particular stop on this day, but the other individual had been boarding the bus here for a couple weeks now. While he himself didn't seem to draw much attention, it was what he wore around his neck that always drew her eye. She didn't recognize what country the man was from, but his dog tags clearly indicated he either currently served or had military service with a country. It wasn't military personnel that made her wary; as any that tried to give her any trouble very quickly discovered she could return the "trouble" tenfold. What the dog tags hung between though did cause some apprehension. She remembered when she had first seen him and saw the two bones that hung on his necklace, she had guessed they originated from some small animal or something. However, upon closer inspection she realized that he was actually wearing a pair of diclonius horns, drilled through to allow the chain to pass through them. Most people were oblivious to what they actually were, but it raised questions for her. What it was about him that put her off was how casual he seemed about them. He never made an attempt to keep them from view and occasionally she'd see him rub his thumb across them like a worry stone. It was also the difficulty at gauging his feelings that put her off. It wasn't that she was not able to sense his emotions; rather it was how calm he always seemed despite wearing what would be considered offensive to some in public. Yet he didn't seem to wear them to gloat and boast about his achievement of, Kaede assumed, killing a diclonius. It was this indifference that was interesting. She did her best to maintain a friendly smile as she walked up to the stop, saying a simple hello to them as she sat down to wait.
All of them kept to themselves as they remained there; waiting the few minutes it took for the bus to arrive. When it did, they all waited for passengers to disembark and then the three of them boarded. Kaede was second in the line, and she was surprised at how packed the bus was this particular day. Almost every seat was taken, with only three seats open, including a row that had none. She frowned when the stranger ahead of her took the empty seat, leaving only the empty row which could fit two people. So as she paid her toll and took her seat, it was clear she'd be sitting next to the man with the dog tags. She maintained a friendly demeanor as he sat down next to her, Kaede giving a polite nod before turning to look out the window. As the bus began moving, she couldn't help but glance at the horns on the man's neck, though she did do her best to pretend she was just looking around at the scenery. Course it was a pretty awful attempt, as there never was much to look at when on a bus and it was pretty clear her attempt had failed miserably when he spoke.
"Don't worry, they aren't trophies if that's what has you worried." She blinked and looked at him, the man returning the look with a friendly smile. "It's not hard to notice how you keep looking at the horns." Kaede gave an embarrassed chuckle and smile, rubbing the back of her head as she did so.
"My apologies, sir." Kaede said. She was caught off guard slightly by his heavy European accent, though she couldn't place the exact country it was from. She wasn't too familiar with the typical physical characteristics of the European nations, but if she did have to hazard a guess, she'd have placed him with a nation closer to the Mediterranean based upon his dark brown hair and matching eyes. Based on his slightly tanned skin, she could assume he probably spent a lot of time outside.
"It's fine; they aren't what I would call a subtle fashion statement, especially to individuals who recognize where they originated from. Probably don't portray me in the best light either." He chuckled some, yet to Kaede it sounded almost like it was a sarcastic laugh. Those horns held some history for this individual and Kaede wasn't guessing it was the best of times.
"I still apologize for staring at times. Sometimes I can't help it, especially with how you wear them so openly; not that I'm trying to be insulting." She had to admit this wasn't the easiest of conversations for her, mostly because she was trying to not sound rude as she talked. However he didn't seemed phased at all, rather he chuckled once more and this time with what actually sounded legitimate.
"Not to mention I wear them with these." He said as he patted the dog tags, "Most individuals, diclonius especially, might be cautious of an ex-soldier who not only waves his service in everyone's face but also that he had killed diclonius before. Quite a dodgy thing to do on my part honestly. " Whomever these horns belonged to, Kaede could easily recognize they must have been important in some way to this man judging by the sadness in his tone at mentioning the killing of a diclonius. At this point, despite her curiosity, she figured she wouldn't press any on the subject. She did not have to though, as he picked the conversation back up again. "It's not something to really boast about; at least I see no purpose in doing so."
"If you don't mind me asking, and feel free say if you wish to not discuss it, why kill them? Obviously being a soldier entails the possible use of lethal force, that I understand, but why were the orders given in the first place?"
"The only time we were ever ordered to kill a diclonius is for the same reason we might be ordered to kill any other bloke, and that was because they were a threat to people's livelihood. Any other time, it was just a matter of survival. It was a simple as kill or be killed in most cases." He had begun to rub his thumb on one of the horns, looking ahead as he spoke.
"I see then…" Kaede didn't feel any bit satisfied with the answer, because it only left more for her. What constituted as a "dangerous to society" diclonius in the eyes of, wherever he was from? While it might be good to hear he's only killed them out of self-defense in some cases, that vague description of "dangerous" still left her upset. "So then, when is a diclonius dangerous to society?" He looked at her, his thumb still rubbing the horn, taking in her question before looking off ahead as he thought about it. "I'm sorry if that seems offensive or insulting," She said, "but it's fears like that that make life difficult for diclonius around the world." It hadn't been her goal this morning to get into an argument about racism towards diclonius, and it really was not the way she wanted to start her day either. She was glad when she noticed he didn't seem angry or even offended by her question.
"Wish I could tell you ma'am, we were mostly told that a diclonius was out and about killing people and were told to eliminate them. We only became involved when the situation needed a dead diclonius; we were never told why they might be acting in such a way. The higher ups, damn tossers, would brush off the question if anybody raised it regardless, so we simply did what needed to be done and we took out a threat to innocents. Same way we'd handle any human who reacted in such a way." He had turned to look at her as he said, looking her in the eyes the whole time. He then looked away as he started speaking once more. "Most of us never looked forward to the idea, I say most because there were some amongst us that were some serious nutters. None of us..." He paused for a moment; no, rather he hesitated. "None of us killed a diclonius beyond orders or necessity."
He did seem genuine in his words, though the hesitation at the last statement did catch her attention. "Where are you from? It's pretty clear that you aren't a native to Japan." She said.
He chuckled, "What gave it away? I thought I had been hiding my accent pretty well." She shook her head at the response. She knew he was trying to lighten the mood in regards to the subject matter they had just discussed. She decided to go along with it, mostly because she didn't want a sour morning, so she simply smiled at his joke. "Originally, I was born and raised in France, and then I moved to the England when I was eighteen. It was in the United Kingdom where I did my service. It's been close to two years since I left."
"I've never visited either of those countries, let alone Europe for that matter. Though they seem like they'd be nice vacation destinations. You live within the cities?" She asked.
"When I moved to England my time was first spent within London until I signed up for service. I never really spent much time in one particular location as I was always on active duty during my entire service. As for France, I grew up in rural areas. My family was always struggling for money so I never got a chance to see the big cities; course there was no real reason to go to begin with." He shrugged at the thought as he looked at her, "Not that it really bothers me; I've done plenty of traveling to satisfy myself." He smiled as he looked at her.
"You said you are no longer serving, right? What brings you here then?" She asked him. Needless to say, the reason she loved Kamakura was because of how quiet it was. There were no big factories, no big businesses beyond stores and other shopping outlets, and certainly no military installations as far as she was aware. The closest thing she could think of in regards to a military station was the diclonius research center off shores. Though granted it was a stain on the history of human-diclonius relationships, the government and local authorities had decided to reinstate it as a research center. However, she knew as well as others that it was not as dreary and hostile a location for diclonius as it had been before. It had a two-part job nowadays; one was to research diclonius as it had before, though with far more humane conditions and experiments. Its secondary part was to act as a shelter for diclonius that may have been on the run from mounting discrimination or simply had no place to live. People were still weary of it at first, as residency there required adult diclonius to participate in the research; as years went on though the government and agencies had kept to their word and from what Kaede could understand the dark history that surrounded it was slowly beginning to fade. She could never believe that it'd ever be gone though, and that only diclonius desperate for food and shelter, or ignorant to its past, would choose to live within its walls.
"Business trip, actually. I work for a weapons manufacturer and Kamakura is really just a stop on where I need to be." He answered.
"Interesting profession, must suit you rather well then."
He gave her a smile, though Kaede noted a slight change in his attitude. It was small, but she noticed a hint of sadness; rather, it was a sense of dread that passed over him. It was gone a moment later, replaced once more with that calm demeanor. "It is and does, I can't lie about that."
A thought crossed her mind about his story, in regards to Kamakura simply being a "stop" along the road. If he was just passing through, then why had she been seeing him at this same stop for the past couple weeks? "If you are only passing through Kamakura, then why have I been seeing you on this bus for a couple of weeks now? Seems like a long time to be sitting at a 'stop'." She said to him.
This time she could see his eyes shift some, the same look she sees when her children try to lie to her. It was not there for long though, as the man was quick to regain his composure. "Not all business trips go smoothly ma'am, it sucks yes and I wish I knew why I was being held up here. However, all they tell me is that I need to wait here." Kaede nodded her head, still a skeptical about him. He then sighed and rubbed his head, "I'm sorry if I seem so evasive. In all honesty I'm not supposed to talk about these things with non-specified individuals." Now it was her turn to be confused once more; just what was he talking about she thought. "My employer is quite an arse about keeping business dealings quiet, but I have to listen our else the bloody bastard will fire me."
At this point, she wasn't sure if he was lying or not. If he was lying, then he was quite adept at it. She couldn't pry anymore though as he said a quick "Excuse me", then reached up and pulled the cord running along the wall of the bus, signaling for the driver to stop. He stood up and looked at her with a smile once more, "It was a pleasure talking to you, always nice to start a day with some good conversation."
She smiled back and nodded, "It was, my name is Kaede by the way, forgot to introduce myself." He was not able to hide it this time, the hesitancy evident on his face as he looked around nervously. She raised an eyebrow at his reaction, and it also put her on edge. She was wondering what it was about her name that put him on edge, though she found out quickly that it wasn't necessarily her name that upset him.
"No offense, but…I'd rather keep my name a secret. It's stained with enough blood already." Her eyes widened some in surprise, not having expected that answer. He gave her a curt nod, and before she could ask anything else he was off the bus and walking down the street. He didn't cast a second glance at the bus as it drove past him, though Kaede watched him with a mix of curiosity and anxiety. He seemed like a nice individual, but his last comment had her a little worried. Was he referring to the weapons he built as the source of his discomfort, or maybe his past experience? If so then, why be worried about saying it now when his past was, well just that, his past? She kept thinking about this until it was her turn to signal for a stop, where she thanked the bus driver and began the short walk from the bus stop to the hospital.
She greeted the receptionist at the front desk as she walked into the hospital, waving and smiling at the many familiar faces of the staff as she made her way through the hallways. Things seemed rather quiet today, which was good for two reasons. One: it meant people weren't being hurt (or at least not enough to require medical attention), and two: it meant she'd have a quiet work day. Least she hoped it would remain that way. The bus ride was still on her mind as she entered the locker room and grabbed her white coat the doctors wore before heading to the clinic. It was where she always worked when she wasn't needed for any surgeries. She wondered where Kohta was at the moment, probably assisting the doctors who were performing surgeries. Course with how quiet things seemed he may have been floating around helping wherever he can.
As the hours rolled by, things remained as quiet as they had been when she first arrived that morning. Currently she was checking on a young girl whose mother had brought her in due to the little girl's coughing fits. Kaede didn't see anything serious, so she gave the little girl a warm smile as she sat down in a stool nearby. "Well, it just appears to be a bad cold is all." Kaede said as she quickly wrote down a prescription for the girl and handed it over to the mother. "Just give this to her twice a day and if things haven't improved by next week, bring her back in ok?"
"Thank you doctor." The mother said as she waved her daughter over.
"Anytime!" Kaede said, still smiling as she looked at the little girl. "Now, unfortunately I couldn't pick a medicine that tastes good," Kaede giggled some as the little girl frowned, "But if you want that nasty feeling in your throat to go away you need to take it, ok?"
"Ok…" The girl said in a somewhat dejected tone. Kaede held back another chuckle, but she couldn't help but be amused at how adorable the girl looked. It reminded her of her own twins, especially when they had to take some form of medication.
"Thank you. Have a nice day you two!" Kaede said, watching as the mother returned the goodbye then walked out of the room with her daughter. After they left, Kaede decided she take a break and made her way towards the cafeteria. As she made her way inside, she couldn't help but feel giddy inside when she saw Kohta sitting at a table eating with the head of surgery, Doctor Hiroshi Morioka. She quickly got her food and made her way over, Hiroshi looking over first and smiling when he noticed her. Kohta looked over just in time for Kaede to plop herself down next to him and kiss him. Kohta was taken caught off guard by the sudden assault, but having regained his composure he gladly returned the kiss to her.
After a few moments, they both were interrupted by the elderly Hiroshi speaking up, "Children, what have I said about the hospital being a family orientated atmosphere?" Kohta and Kaede separated, Kohta chuckling nervously while Kaede blushed some, rubbing the back of her neck. Hiroshi then chuckled softly, shaking his head as he spoke, "You two haven't been separated for that long, have you?"
Kohta smiled softly, looking at Kaede. "A few hours is to long for me honestly." Kaede rolled her eyes, smiling still though at how sappy Kohta could be at times. Hiroshi just gave them a deadpan look. The couple knew that he wasn't against their displays of affection (to a degree); rather the older gentlemen just enjoyed picking on the two of them. They had only been working at the hospital for three or four years now, and Dr. Morioka had been a good mentor and friend ever since they first arrived. He was in his early sixties, his grey hair and somewhat wrinkled skin providing evidence of that. He had been the reason Kaede had been hired, along with Kohta. The idea of a diclonius working within a hospital was not something the owners were very ecstatic about and for a year or two, Kaede had a difficult time finding work within the hospitals because of the discrimination and fear. However it changed when Kohta had met Dr. Morioka. Kohta had taken up a job offering in the Kamakura hospital despite Kaede being unable to join him at the time because the couple needed money if they were to be able to raise the girls in a comfortable home. He worked alongside the old surgeon for about a year, and eventually Dr. Morioka finally decided to give Kaede a chance. Kaede always smiled when she thought about how Hiroshi had described Kohta's attempts at convincing them to hire Kaede. "It was like a child begging for candy I swear! 'Oh doctor, she's super wonderful at fixing people up, she'll be able to fix up anybody, and she also has wonderful hair!' " He would also say it with a goofy tone to his voice and usually would throw in random things about Kaede at the end to further tease the couple; however the people within the hospital knew that he never did it out of malice. A few months after putting in a good word for the diclonius, Kaede was finally given a chance as was hired.
Though she always felt the pressured that she had to prove herself and that she didn't want to ruin the surgeon's reputation by failing him, she was actually glad for it. It made her work that much harder and she did everything in her power to save the people she worked on. She had never failed a person yet, and she owed it to this drive that she felt.
Hiroshi pinched the bridge of his nose before looking at them as he stood up to take care of his food, "Just do me a favor, if things get heated, make sure you aren't on my floor, alright?"
Kaede put her face in her palms, Kohta almost choking on his drink as he watched the doctor go. "Morioka!" he shouted, hanging his head as he heard Hiroshi laugh. "He can be cruel sometimes…"
Kaede pulled her face from her hands and then leaned against him. "Yes, yes he can be. Least it means these days are not too boring."
Kohta looked at her, smiling. "Yeah, no kidding. So the girls give you any trouble this morning?"
"I learned Yuki likes to snuggle with vacuum cleaners." She giggled when Kohta looked at her with a very bewildered look.
"Wait, what?"
"Yuki decided to surprise Nyu with a rather violent 'hug'. Unfortunately, Yuki didn't count on the closet door popping open and dumping its contents upon them."
"Sounds like a wonderfully exciting morning their Kaede." Hiroshi said as he sat back down across from them.
Kaede nodded, sitting up off of Kohta and looking at Hiroshi. "Oh, it was indeed. So I see nothing much is happening today."
Hiroshi shook his head, "Nope, which is why I'm going to let you get off early Kaede. The only surgery scheduled for today is removing some poor boy's tonsils, nothing I can't handle. Kohta will be helping me, but you can head home early tonight before Yuki manages to give Nyu a black-eye again." Kaede hadn't forgotten the time the twins came home from their aunt's, only for Nyu to walk in with a black eye form where she had been punched by Yuki during a martial arts lesson. Kaede definitely gave Kohta's sister a mouthful that day about being more careful when teaching them those things.
"Thank you, when am I dismissed then?" Kaede asked.
"Another hour or two in clinic duty, then you are free to head home. Sound good?"
"Yeah it does, thank you very much sir."
"I've put up with you two enough that you can refer to me by my name, sheesh." He looked at Kaede, "I swear it's like dealing with my own children when I'm around you both." He said with a smile, Kohta and Kaede chuckling.
Kohta looked at Kaede again, "So anything else happen?"
Kaede's thoughts then came back to the ex-soldier on the bus that she ran into, "Yeah, I ran into an interesting individual on the bus today." Both the doctor and Kohta looked at her. "An ex-soldier, born and raised in France and served in the British army."
Hiroshi raised his eyebrows in surprise before they lowered back down as he spoke, "That is quite a life right there then. So why was he here?"
"I've seen him at the bus stop over the past couple weeks; he said he's here on a business trip for some, weapons manufacturing company. Of course he said Kamakura was just a 'stop' on his way, but...even that doesn't seem right."
Kohta spoke this time, "Huh, an interesting reason then. He mention a company name or anything?"
Kaede shook her head, "Nothing. The weirdest thing though, is when I asked for his name he suddenly looked frightened to say it, so instead he told me 'there's enough blood on my name,' and just left." Both Kohta and Hiroshi looked at one another before back at her. Kaede kept going though, feeling the need to mention the man's horns. "It was odd too because he wore a pair of diclonius horns with his dog tags." She reached up and lightly touched one of her own horns as she said it.
"That is, well for the lack of a better term, rather creepy I'd say." said Hiroshi. "Creepy and rather insulting to diclonius at that."
Kaede looked at Hiroshi, "He said he wasn't wearing them as trophies either; in fact when he mentioned having killed diclonius he actually sounded sad about it. Often times I'd even see him rubbing his thumb across them."
"You think maybe he lost a diclonius that was important to him? Sure it's not the most common thing to see human-diclonius couples, but it certainly happens from time-to-time." Kohta said, shifting in his seat some so he didn't have to turn his head as much to look at Kaede.
"I don't know Kohta, I wish I did but I don't. He never went into detail beyond how he had to fight some during his time in the army and that was it." She shook her head, feeling Kohta put an arm around her shoulders. "It was just, strange and a little frightening to be honest."
Kohta rubbed her shoulder to try and sooth her, she wasn't paralyzed with fear or anything but he couldn't blame her for being slightly on edge. The person he was picturing in his mind wasn't the kind of person he'd ever expect to run across while on a public bus. "Well, we'll just be more cautious when we travel around town, ok?" He smiled some when Kaede nodded and kissed the side of her head, his wife having a small smile of her own at the action.
Hiroshi stood up as he watched them, "Come on; let's get back to work ok? I'm sure it'll help settle your mind once things get going again." Kaede turned and gave Kohta a quick kiss on the lips, smiling before she stood up, followed by her husband. "I wasn't referring to that kind of work you two…"
Kohta almost fell out of his seat as he went to stand up, quickly looking at the older man who had a grin on his face. "Morioka!"
"That's my name!" Morioka said before turning and walking out, Kaede chuckling at Kohta's defeated expression.
"Come on Kohta, you look like a fool right now." The two made their way out of the cafeteria, giving each other another kiss before they left for their shifts. The hours passed quickly before Kaede got herself ready to leave. Before she did, she gave Kohta another kiss goodbye then walked out into the streets, the sun beginning to set. She was excited she'd get to see the girls sooner, but the excitement slowly became a sense of anxiety as she looked around. Something felt off, though she wasn't sure what. She just shook her head and kept herself ready to protect herself if anything happened as she made her way towards Kanae's home.
Location: Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Kanto Region, Japan
Time: 1900
Date: March 22nd, 2017
"Come in Achilles, you reading us?" A man stood on the rooftop of a building not far from the hospital, watching it intently through the optics of his helmet. The voice that spoke to him came through the receiver located within his helmet, the voice of Muse. Muse was just the codename for headquarters whom Achilles was always in contact with when out on his missions.
"Yes, your good." Achilles watched the hospital quietly, optics focusing in on the target heading away from the hospital. "Just for the record, I still don't approve of this. I understand the need for field testing, but why her?" Because he was speaking into a microphone directly linked into his mask, they heard his natural voice rather than the distorted and machine like result that the voice changer of his mask created. They had questioned why he wanted something so ridiculous and useless, but to Achilles it was far more important to him than they could understand.
"She's the original, and one of the strongest. They figure that, if he can handle the best, then he can handle the rest."
"Please don't ever say that again, you sounded like a complete twat."
"You'll have to deal with me sounding like a twat then."
"Lucky me." He still was unhappy with the reasoning. He knew this was the big moment the eggheads had been waiting for, to see if the years of research had really paid off but he was not happy to know that the test would be conducted on the mother of two girls who weren't even in their teens yet. "I still think we should choose a lesser target. Build him up rather than send him straight into the meat grinder." Achilles had been chosen to be the handler for this test, considering that Aeternus 9 was trained and educated by Achilles himself. He had been up for the idea to begin with, but when he had seen the target he was quickly regretting the order.
"Look, don't complain to me because I didn't give the order. Besides, I'm sure they really won't give a shit if you do complain to begin with."
"You're probably right. Achilles out" He cut the link, the optics over his eyes retracting so he could see the diclonius with his natural vision. It was up to number 9 to choose his moment to strike and how he'd carry out the attack. Achilles was only here to watch, assess, and bail out 9's ass if he screwed up to bad. Of course, bailing out number 9 also meant cleaning up any loose ends he left behind. Achilles let the optics slide back over his eyes as he watched the woman turn around a corner and start down the street. He said a small prayer for her safety, and a prayer for his own sins as he watched her go.
A.N.: As always I greatly appreciate criticism because it only helps me as an author. I would also like to thank Lunar for the help in proofreading this as without help from Lunar, I would have posted this with a rather noticeable mistake that probably would have bugged a lot of fans of the Elfen Lied series. So thank you Lunar for your help and thank you readers for your thoughts and opinions.
This is an extra blip I'm adding to mention that those who have previously read this chapter will notice a change to the ending. I did that because I've decided to change things up with the story and it was necessary to revise this particular chapter. These changes to the story may also mean I'll eventually have to change up the prologue as well, but I'll have to see about that as we go along. I do hope you still enjoy this though!