Disclaimer: I don't own Elfen Lied.

Nana is returning from Bando's beach shack. Is she truly ready to take on Lucy? Speaking of, is Lucy also ready to take on Nana, a close relative?

Last Minute

Nana hurried back and arrived at the Kaede Inn's gate. Checking her watch, the digital numbers warned that it was 7:55. She had only five minutes to get back in her room!

"Crap!" she cursed.

Thinking quickly, she used her vectors to vault over the gate and land on the unlit part of the pathway. Wanta once again walked out of his doghouse and looked in Nana's direction.

"Shhhhh Wanta", she whispered.

It worked again, until she inadvertently stepped on a pile of broken glass, giving off a loud crunch. Wanta panicked and began barking like crazy. Nana wasted no time in getting to the ledge. She ran across the lawn and vaulted herself back onto the wooden ledge.

Whisking her head in the direction of the horizon, she saw that the sun had completely set. It just turned 7:59. Nana has less than sixty seconds to get back in her room. Yuka was known to always being punctual. So punctual, in fact, that she was sometimes accurate to the second. Or in terms of extreme exaggeration, even to the millisecond.

Hurrying the best she could, Nana crept along the ledge as quickly as possible. She finally reached her window and quickly jumped back into her room. Made it on time, barely.

Yuka's footsteps resounded from the staircase. Nana opened her schoolbag and started doing her homework. A few seconds later, Yuka knocked and opened the door: Mayu's last attempt to open it dislodged the chair.

"Nana, you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, just fine", Nana muttered back after forcing a frown.

"That's good, just go to bed as soon as it hits 9:00, okay?"

"Sure".

Yuka left Nana to her studies. Fortunately for Nana, all that there was to do was to study for tomorrow's Algebra test. Her facial expression lightened up into a smile.

"Haha, maybe one day I can become a secret agent!" she smiled to herself. "You know, that soldier on the beachside isn't half bad as I thought he was. He may not be a very kind person, but he sure is a good listener and adviser. I wish I knew more about him… Hah, what am I thinking? Enough chitchat, Nana! You need to study! Not to mention, prepare yourself for tomorrow…" sigh

In Lucy's room…

"I still don't get it", Lucy said as meditated in her own room. "Nana, wanting a rematch? What's gotten in to her? Then again, she sounded awfully serious and enraged. And I know what rage can do to a diclonius. Especially one like her. I guess I should apologize to Nana. But then again, that would only encourage her to take advantage of my brief weakness. I've got to follow through with what she said. Besides, I have to teach her a lesson. However, there is no way in hell that I can think of seriously hurting her. But what if I revert back to Nyuu in the middle of the fight? I'd be dead meat! Speaking of, I need to find a way to control my other side better."

Lucy was starting to panic. She quickly countered her negative thoughts by reassuring herself.

"It's okay", she told herself. "You'll deal with it when the time comes. You've escaped a high security facility, survived an army of highly trained soldiers, and even survived an attack from "the ultimate diclonius", Mariko. How can tomorrow be any worse after all that?"

Finally achieving a small sense of mental calm, she rested her head on the pillow. Lucy reached up and felt the stubs where her horns once were.

"Heh, you truly are queen of the diclonii", she sarcastically bragged before falling asleep…

Back in Nana's room…

"Nana, Nana, wake up Nana", a voice echoed in her head.

"Ugh, who is it?" Nana mumbled in her sleep.

"It's me, Kurama, remember?"

"PAPA!?"

Nana sprung awake and looked up. The man wore a blue suit, complete with a purple tie and glasses. It really was him! It was Papa! But when she looked around her, there was nothing but a completely white background. The sight of so much white blinded her so she looked back at her papa. Was it a dream?

"Papa, what are you doing here?" she asked absolutely dumbfounded.

She still had no idea about her whereabouts or exactly what was going on.

"I thought that I might pay you a visit after seeing how you still have difficulty getting to the life of a civilian", Kurama said.

"What?"

"Your conflict with Lucy, Nana. Although I agree that her inconsiderate comments towards you were uncalled for, I was shocked by the brashness of how you acted towards her. Even back at the facility where you endured brutal experiments worse than that, you still held your will. Why is that so?"

"Papa-I…well…it's because you were the only one that I could look to." Nana answered as tears welled up in her eyes. "You kept me going. You were the only person in my life that understood when I suffered. Now, I don't really have anyone I can turn to in my life anymore! I don't have anyone that I can call a papa! And besides, I don't even have what almost everyone else does: real arms and legs!"

Kurama continued to look at Nana with a sympathetic look of empathy on his face.

"Nana, you know that I will always be there, even in death", he comforted. "You may find this hard to believe, but I feel that the bad side of Lucy is no more. She was born a good person, and years of mental torment made her snap. When I looked into her containment cell, I could see that. Lucy is a relative to you now, a fellow diclonius. You should at least give her a chance, just like everyone else in your household. After all, she's been kind enough to do the same for you now. Even if you won't kill her, making her fight you again won't ease any pain that she's cause you. But if you must stand by what you've said, well, I guess you got to do what you got to do."

"Papa?"

"Yes, Nana?"

"Did I fail to make you proud?"

"No, you didn't. The fact that you did your best everywhere, be it enduring the experiments or trying to live a peaceful life, already makes me proud of you to the fullest."

"Thank you Papa."

"Well, time's up. I think it's time you woke up."

"But I'm already awake."

"No, I mean really awake. Weren't you just studying for an Algebra test? That was my favorite subject back in secondary education, you know? I've got to go. Goodbye, Nana."

"Goodbye", Nana said, "Papa".

Then the white background began to fade away.

Snore Snore

Nana was snoozing at her desk, after last night's exhausting hour of studying.

"Looks like it really was just a dream", she groaned. "What time is it?"

The analog clock on the wall read 7:00.

"Wow, perfect timing. I didn't oversleep. I wonder if Mayu-"

Immediately, Nana felt a pang of guilt. Why did she so recklessly berate Mayu as a reason for the loss of her limbs? An apology was in order. That is, after she had gotten ready for school.

Opening her wardrobe, Nana took her usual school uniform out before taking out her purple necktie hair ribbon.

"Geez, I really need more horn accessory options", she giggled to herself.

Then someone knocked on her door.

"Come in", Nana replied.

It was Mayu. She had brought the breakfast to her on a tray.

"Look Nana, I'm sorry if I'm the reason why you-" she started.

Nana shook her head in response.

"No Mayu, it's my fault. Gomen nasai. I shouldn't have yelled at you like that. It was supposed to be between Lucy and me. Even then, I'm starting to have regrets challenging her."

Mayu smiled after hearing Nana's heartfelt apology.

"You really mean it?"

Nana nodded her head.

"Hey, it's okay", she reassured after setting the breakfast tray down on Nana's desk. "I know what you've been through in the past with her. Anyway, if you're still up to the rematch, I'll be there to cheer you on!"

"Arigato Mayu!" Nana said with gratitude. "Where are Kouta and Yuka?"

"Oh, they had to leave early for some subject tutoring. When you finish breakfast, meet me downstairs so we can head to school!"

"Okay!"

On the road to the University of Kamakura…

Lucy trudged along the concrete, grumbling about how she had to walk all the way to the university. Although it was only a little over a mile away, the way the streets were arranged made it look longer.

Yuka and Kouta just had to take the car: the only car that they had. It was a silver Toyota Avalon XLS to be exact.

"There's not a single damn taxi in sight!" she grumbled. "There are tons of them around Kamakura, why the heck are none of them around here?"

Well, at least she wasn't grumbling about yesterday's incident, although she sure as hell clearly remembered it. Lucy glanced around and checked where she was. Figures. She was using an alleyway to cut across and try to get to the university on time.

"Haha, silly me", she laughed.

Lucy ran off to get to the nearest main street. She hailed down a nearby taxi and got in.

"University of Kamakura, please", she requested.

The driver plainly nodded and accelerated across the intersection. Lucy looked outside the window, still thinking for the umpteenth time about how to defeat Nana without causing much injury. Any injury for that matter. Then another horrifying thought set in.

"Even if Nyuu doesn't pop in unexpectedly, what if I still lose?" she asked herself. "Come to think of it, she had the upper hand before. Longer vectors, that weird ability to disable my vectors, and if she wanted to, she could've taken off my leg. Although I know that this isn't a death match, I don't know how much Nana really wants to try and beat me up. Damn, it's bad enough that I lost both of my horns. I haven't even tried using my vectors yet. What if they've been weakened? Or worse, what if they don't come out?"

Then her braver and more rational side stepped in.

"What!? Calm down, you shouldn't be worrying like this! You've spent the entire last night meditating. Don't-"

"Hey miss, we're here", the cab driver interrupted.

"Arigato, how much do I owe you?"…

Later in the afternoon at Kamakura High School…

Nana tried to concentrate as she filled in another bubble on her test answer sheet, but she couldn't. It wasn't the fact that Algebra was the last class of the day or that this wasn't one of her strong subjects: it was that her duel with Lucy was to take place soon afterwards. She began to profusely sweat as she watched her watch change its digital numbers faster than usual.

Although no one else noticed, Mayu did. She had been watching her horned friend throughout the day and saw that Nana was getting tenser with each passing second. No doubt about it, Mayu will still be there to cheer Nana on.

As soon as everyone handed in his or her tests, the dismissal bell rang and everyone promptly left at said cue. Nana looked at the clock on the wall a bit longer though. It looked like the last minute had finally gone by.

No turning back now! Nana gets ready to go to the Kamakura graveyard. Who will emerge victor? The fight ensues next chapter: Tooth and Nail.