Summary: AU: After the events transpired at the end of Elfen Lied, a new set of problems arise. Kouta is suddenly accused of a crime he didn't commit, and is sentenced to death. His punishment, he is sent to Deadman Wonderland. The question is, will he escape this nightmare alive, or will he die? Read on to find out! Reviews appreciated.

*Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or contents from Deadman Wonderland, or Elfen Lied, they belong to their respective creators.*

Kouta in Wonderland

… … …

Chapter 3: The Dog Race

By the time Kouta woke up, he found himself lying on the infirmary bed. He felt his head to check if he was really still alive. He sat up on the bed, only to fall back onto his back because of how much pain his abdomen was at the moment. He closed his eyes to qualm the pain away, and it did little by little.

"Yo, new guy." A new voice broke through his reverie.

Kouta opened his eyes again, and looked toward the direction in which he heard the voice coming from. To his surprise, on the bed opposite from his lay the gray haired boy from earlier. Kouta, in his grief and in the wake of the accident, forgot all about the boy that got slashed by Chief Warden Makina. It was then that he noticed the bandages on his chest and stomach.

"You…" Kouta managed. "You got slashed with that sword…"

"Ah, this?" the other guy pointed to his chest, then laughed. "Don't worry. I seem to be accumulating new injuries everyday, so it's fine!"

"How is being slashed in the chest fine?" Kouta asked, eyes wide.

"Well, it's only a scratch on the surface, and the Chief Warden never kills anyone without reason, plus she only grazed the outer layer of my skin, so it's only a flesh wound." The other guy smiled and closed his one visible eye to display humor. "What's your name, new guy?"

"Fujiyoshi. Fujiyoshi, Kouta." Kouta introduced himself.

"Wait, you're the guy that everyone's been talking about. They called you the guy that killed a bunch of middle school students and got sentenced to Death Row."

"But that's not true! I wasn't involved at all! I was there, and the real murderer is still out there! He's known as the Red Man!" Kouta babbled.

"So, let me get this straight." Yoh said. "You're saying you're innocent, and you've been framed somehow, and the real killer is still out there. That would mean that you're not supposed to be here."

"That's right! I was falsely accused, yet no one around here believes me! I don't believe for a second that I killed those kids, because I went nowhere near them! I swear it was the Red Man!"

"Red Man?"

"That's what the guy was wearing at the time!"

"Well, I won't judge you any other way. The name's Takami. Takami Yoh. But, you can call me Yoh." The gray haired boy said. "It's nice to meet you. I hope we can still be friends."

Kouta thought for a second, and decided to accept the hand of friendship Takami was giving him.

"Thanks, and you could call me Kouta."

Just then, the nurse walked in, and checked on Kouta's condition, and walked back out. She seemed to be a little out of whack, but Kouta ignored that, and continued to talk with Yoh. While they were talking about themselves, Kouta's stomach decided to present itself and make a huge growl that made both grow silent.

"Well, it seems like you haven't eaten in a while, huh." Yoh chuckled.

"Well, I haven't eaten anything since I got here." Kouta said, his cheeks brightening up. "By the way, how long have I been out?"

"Um, about 24 hours." Yoh said. "Don't worry. It's perfectly normal to get hungry after not having anything to eat after all that time."

"So, what do I do about food?" Kouta asked.

"Well, how much cast points do you have?" Yoh asked.

"Cast points?"

"Oh, that's right." Yoh said, just realizing. " You're new, and you probably haven't been given the memo about the place."

"Can you explain what this place is about and what it does?"

"Well, I've been around this place for quite a while, so I pretty much know the place." Yoh said. "It's like this, first Deadman Wonderland, as you know, is a place for notorious criminals are sent to when they have been caught and committed heinous crimes. If you are on Death Row, you have been punished for real, and the only way you die is if you suffer their penalties. This works because of the struggle for survival."

"What are the suits and the electronic collars for, anyway?" Kouta asked.

"We wear the gray skin-tight suits to mark us as prisoners." Yoh explained. "Plus, the collars we all wear are designed to mark us, like dog collars, but they come with special features. Basically, if you're out of line at any point, they could choose to release the toxic poison that's flowing through these electronic collars, and kill us like viruses. It's also a race against time, because once you wear these collars, you could die after the timer set on them run out. You have 72 hours to eat antidotes called 'candies' to reset the timers, or stop the spreading of the poison if you run out of time."

"Where do you get these candies?" Kouta asked.

"Candies are usually found in the gray essentials sacks all prisoners are given. At other times, they're found when you get a certain amount of cast points, or win an event. Some of these events are labeled such as 'Dog Races'." He explained.

"Dog Races?"

"Dog Races entail the prisoners who compete in them to gain cast points and run through an obstacle course of death. They end when there's only one winner remaining. The sick part about Dog Races is that we're the entertainment, and if we fail, we're killed." Yoh said through gritted teeth. "It's a sick program, and we risk our entire lives all for the sake of entertainment and being used like circus animals."

"And the Cast Points?"

"Since we can't buy things using money, we use little cash cards with a balance called 'Cast Points'. It's like buying things with a debit card, and if you run out of cast points, you have to earn them the same way as all the things. In other words, if you want to pay for meals, candies, or other supplies, you have to participate in these games, and win."

"T-That means you played in these…games…and survived?"

"Not without a price to pay." Yoh said sadly. "I risk my life trying to gain these cast points, but they're worth it in the end…"

The atmosphere between the two young men grew silent and a little awkward. On the one hand, it seems as if they weren't going to execute Kouta, but if they did, they would force him to do it by starving the prisoners and placing them in live or die situations.

Suddenly, the vent over them broke and crashed to the floor between both beds. Yoh and Kouta looked up to see who was coming down. In a flash, a white figure jumped down from the vent and landed lightly on her toes with both arms spread eagle.

"Kouta! You're awake!" Shiro exclaimed, and glomped him while he was still in shock.

"Ah! Shiro!" Kouta shouted. "You're alive!"

"Of course! It's all thanks to you that Shiro's still alive!" Shiro cried happily and addressed herself in the annoying third person. while holding him in a death grip.

"Hey, let me go!" Kouta begged. "You're crushing me!"

"Oh! Sorry!" she apologized and let him go.

"Umm…this is awkward." Yoh cleared his throat from the other side of the room. "Do you guys know each other?"

"Yes!" Shiro exclaimed childishly. "Kouta is Shiro's bestest friend in the WHOLE world!"

"Uh, Shiro's?" Yoh asked, and Kouta shrugged. "Well, it's good to know you have a reliable friend, huh, Kouta-kun?"

"Yeah…I guess." Kouta sweat dropped when Shiro hung her arms around Kouta's shoulders. The whole time, Kouta thought about resisting temptation and looking away from the young energetic woman's large chest that was literally pressing onto his own.

"Oh, Shiro. Let me introduce you to Yoh-kun." He said casually gesturing to the gray haired boy. "Yoh- kun, this is Shiro."

"Hi!" Shiro waved.

"Anyway, sorry to interrupt," Yoh said abruptly. "are you going to enter the Dog Race?"

"Uh…Do I have a choice?" Kouta asked, sweat droplets forming on his face.

"You don't have much choice if you wanna eat and get that antidote."

"Hey, Kouta?" Shiro asked expectantly. "Can we get sweet beans afterwards?"

"Sweet beans?"

"Yeah! If we win, we can eat sweet beans together, like friends do!"

"Hmm…okay? It's not like I have any choice in the matter…"

"Then, let's go!"

… … …

The next day, Kouta and Yoh were getting ready for the Dog Race in the locker room. He was surprised people get to wear things besides the prison uniform. Apparently, if you had enough Cast Points, you could buy a T-shirt and some jeans instead of the uniform. You only wear uniforms if you have to wear it, or if you're low on Cast Points. The only thing you can't do is take off the 'Dog Collars', that's what he decided to call them.

Just then, the doors to the locker room burst open and a huge man followed by some other guys marched in like a gang. Many of the weaker prisoners looked toward the men walking in, everyone that is, except Kouta who was busy getting ready. The people around him noticed this, and backed out of the way to let the huge man go closer to him. The twinkle in the man's eyes was unmistakable, and read of a bloodthirsty mafia boss that wanted people to notice him and bow down to his greatness.

Yoh poked at Kouta to get him to turn around. What Kouta was looking at didn't seem to register that bad, until he read the situation.

"He's a guy you don't wanna mess with." Yoh said.

"Why?" Kouta asked.

"His name is Kazumasa Kozuji. He's notorious for being involved in serious crimes in the past. Even when he wasn't a former gang leader, he's certainly still brutal now." He explained.

"That just makes him a big bully." Kouta said.

"Hey, you!" He called out to Kouta, but Kouta didn't seem to be listening to him, aware that he was the only one talking at the time. "It seems like we have a new fella. Shall we tell him the news?"

His supporters all nodded and added big smirks to their faces. Kouta didn't like that one bit.

"Let me give you some of the rules here, as a gesture of good will." Kozuji taunted. "Let's get some things straight. Rule number one, I'm the one that rules here, two you must listen to everything I say, and lastly, do everything I say. If you fail to listen to me, if you look at me the wrong way, if you so much as disobey my orders, I'll kill you…if anything else doesn't." he laughed and flashed an evil grin at Kouta's direction. "Let me use your friend as an example."

One minute he stood facing Kouta, the next he was right next to Yoh, and beating the crap out of him. In the wake of his anger, Kozuji broke his arm and warranted yet another injury onto Yoh who tried to look away from him, but looked like he was bored of the situation, so Kozuji decided to punish him as a result.

"This is what happens when you fuck up." Kozuji spit on Yoh's unconscious form, and the men surrounding him laughed and walked away with him.

But, before they could reach the exit, Shiro popped out of nowhere and spin kicked Kozuji in the jaw and knocked him to the ground, effectively causing everyone in the room to stare at her in shock.

"Don't pick on Kouta!" she shouted, anger written on her face and body language. "Or I'll get really mad!"

It was a silly threat, but a little girl like her did knock the biggest man to the floor, and had him staring up at the girl. He wasn't filled with fear, but more with anger that he was caught off guard in front of such a girl.

"Hey, kid!" Kozuji shouted to Kouta. "Is this your little girlfriend? I urge you to get your head out of the gutter. 'Cuz you don't get to make the shots here, and your girlfriend won't be there to defend your ass." He said seriously, and got up to walk out of the room. "See ya' at the Race." He smirked before leaving.

Kouta was torn between the decision to quit the race, and step out of it completely, but he knew if he wasn't going to enter the race and win, he'd starve to death, or get killed by the dog collar in 18 more hours. Even if he entered and he had a chance, he'd get killed by the course, or the other inmates. Which ever way he saw it, he'd get killed regardless. If you were torn between the options of whether you die by poison or die by sick contests, you would choose the more sensible one that killed you instantly. Kouta closed his eyes, and remembered if he somehow managed to survive until the end, and stay away from the others, like being last, he'd get a better chance for survival.

Originally, he felt like dying either way was bad, but thinking about the choices, he wouldn't like the idea of going down without a fight. If he was a man, then he'd better face it, and win the Dog Race, and prove to Kozuji that he'd beat him and prove him wrong.

"We're going to enter the race together! Right, Kouta-kun?" Shiro asked.

"I don't know, Shiro…"

"We have to! You promised you would eat sweet beans with Shiro!" her cheeks puffed out cutely and turned a light red at the innocent statement.

"Ok, but either way, I'm still going to enter the race." He said confidently.

… … …

Later, the prisoners, including Shiro and Kouta, were lined up at the start position in the wake of the Dog Race. Shiro was stretching while Kouta shifted from foot to foot nervously. He never knew the extent of how the race was going to be, but once he heard that there can only be one winner, and therefore, one survivor, Shiro had to die with the rest of them. Wait! What was he thinking? He was probably the weakest looking guy in the course! He'd probably be the first to die anyway, and what would the point be if he got killed?

"This is hopeless." He murmured.

"What?" Shiro asked.

"Nothing." He responded back, and Shiro flashed a positive smile.

How she can be anything but nervous and scared was unusual to him, and even now, the prisoners to either side of him were trying very hard not to let fear show on their faces, but couldn't hide it in their eyes. The only ones without a care would be Kozuji and Shiro. He was beginning to have second thoughts.

"Ready! Get set! Go!"

The signal to go went off, and the prisoners around Kouta rushed off ahead in the blink of an eye, even Shiro was fast. Kouta blinked and ran also. Along the course, a bunch of platforms on the track started falling, and with them several people fell in. Kouta avoided them as much as possible. Then, after that came the loop. He gathered as much momentum as possible and ran up and through the loop obstacle.

In the wake of the second obstacle, there came several blades out of the floor and the ceiling that swayed back and forth. Kouta paused to watch several prisoners get severed and chopped in half, or sliced into pieces because of the blades. His eyes widened, and he was starting to doubt if he'll survive this one, then he looked on ahead and saw Shiro gliding through the obstacle as if it was a playground.

He gulped and slipped through a gap between the blades, and did it fast enough to get everything through in one piece. He was finished with the first set, and proceeded to finish the other eight saw blades. After seeing a pattern with the blades, he began weaving his way around them. After getting out of there alive and one piece, he ran on, careful of other objects, like boulders and other sharp objects flying at his face, trying to take his head off his shoulders, as the ones in front of him have always done. When he was at the point where he couldn't avoid an oncoming blade, Shiro bumped into him from behind, and knocked him to the floor, narrowly avoiding the flying object.

"Can you get off me, Shiro?!" he panicked, and continued running with Shiro following behind him.

He ran through a course where every other platform fell and he'd have to react fast enough to avoid falling into the abyss with sharp spikes that could kill on contact. He gulped and lost focused, and the platform started falling, with him going with it. He thought it would be the end for him, and closed his eyes to await his impending doom. He immediately thought of his surrogate family back at home, and the memories of peaceful times, back to when crazy things weren't happening to him. But, before he could hit rock bottom, Shiro came in and kicked him in the chest, and knocked them both over to the other side, on stable ground.

"Hi, Kouta!" Shiro exclaimed.

"Hey, we don't have time for this, Shiro!" Kouta cried frantically and scrambled to get up and out of the daze. "If we don't take this seriously, you could kill us both!"

Kouta continued running while avoiding more objects and boulders flying at him, and platforms falling. Soon, it became a pattern, but whenever it seemed like Kouta was going to die for sure, Shiro intervened at the perfect time, or by luck happened to be crossing his path and end up in questionable positions, he avoided some impossible traps.

Then, the final leg of the race came and Kouta saw the finish line. He looked behind him, and saw only Kozuji following him. Kouta thought by now that the big man would be killed by something, his huge size a disadvantage, but Kouta made no complaint. If he could finish the race, he would win by default.

The moment of truth came and he took a few steps forward and the tile platform in front of him exploded, like a mine field, and fell. He slid and avoided getting caught up in it. He realized why this last leg looked easy right then. The whole floor was filled with mines, and they fall after exploding. He had to be extremely careful. He ran, jumped, and with the aid of Shiro, kicked Kouta out of the way of some platforms and onto others.

He continued on without trouble until the three were surrounded by the abyss and every tile around them was gone. Kouta looked up and saw that he was facing Kozuji on another platform near him, and Shiro on a different one, just smiling there. Kozuji looked pissed. Just then, the bell rang, and staffs rained down from above and Kozuji and Shiro caught them. When the last one fell, Kouta took it and held it in front of him.

"I get it now." He said. "This is where we battle each other until there's only one left standing."

"That's right, kid" Kozuji agreed, smirking. "Your luck is about to run out. You may have survived up until now, but this ends here!"

Kouta looked over to Shiro who just kept the staff behind her back, and smiled obliviously at Kouta.

"Don't mind her. Relax, I don't hit women." He said. "Besides, she'll die anyway. That leaves just you and me, kid."

Kouta raised his staff in defense. Kozuji went for the attack, and lunged at Kouta. Kouta moved to the side, and soon found himself on the end of a barrage of fierce attacks from his opponent. Now, the platform he was on was tilting over because of the shift in weight. Kouta looked on, and jumped onto a closer one, and hopped over when that one exploded in a split second. He looked up to find Kozuji's staff just a hair's breadth away from his forehead.

"You ready to die?"

"No…" he whispered, and raised his staff to go for the final attack.

"It's a shame a kid like you has to die this way." Kozuji said, trying to sound remorseful, but in reality was enjoying seeing the distraught in Kouta's face as he prepared for death. "Anything you'd like to say before ya die? Oh, murderer?"

That opened his eyes.

"I-I'M NOT A MURDERER!" he shouted, silencing everyone in the crowd.

"Huh?"

Just then, Shiro barreled through the air and kicked Kozuji in the face, and knocked him into the spiky abyss below.

"I TOLD YOU, DON'T BULLY KOUTAAAA!" Shiro declared.

The force of Shiro's landing made the platform both she and Kouta were standing on more wobbly. Kouta's side starting tilting, and the crowd roared to life again. Kouta started slipping, and Kouta was gripping the edge of the platform.

There it is again. He was probably going to die, and this time, he might not be so lucky. He closed his eyes, and once again, memories of much happier times flooded his mind. He remembered the time not too long ago when Nyu/Lucy, or Nyu at the time, broke the clock that she was trying to fix. It was a fun time for everyone, back when he thought Nyu was innocent, only to find out later that she was a bloodthirsty monster that killed on instinct. Sure, he judged her, but that was after he realized that Lucy was the murderer of his beloved sister and father. In time, he grew to forgive Lucy, but then all this shit started to happen, and he was instantly brought back to a horrible, twisted game. He wished he could go back to those innocent times, and be with his friends and family, but he was going to die now…where are they anyway?

With a final though, he let go of the platform, and the platform evened out and straightened. He felt himself falling slowly. Maybe death isn't so bad after all…But, before he could hit the spikes, a small, but strong hands gripped onto his outstretched arm and kept him hanging. Kouta cracked open his eyes and looked up to his savior. To his surprise, he saw an image of a young albino girl in a white dress, around seven years old, and looking comically angry at him with puffed out red cheeks. He opened his eyes wider when he heard a familiar voice.

"KOUTA!" Shiro shouted, breaking through his thoughts, and opening his eyes to the sight of Shiro dangling off the edge with only her legs keeping her on the platform, and the rest of her hanging upside down, carrying his weight up.

"Wh-What the hell do you think you're doing, Shiro!?" Kouta cried, exasperated.

"I'm saving you!" Shiro explained as simple as it is.

"Why?" Kouta whispered.

"Be-because…" Shiro, somehow managed to pull some super human strength and launch herself and Kouta into the air and knock him over to a safer platform.

Kouta landed on his back, and got up with sore limbs, aching from the deadly obstacle course race. He looked back over to see that Shiro was falling into the spiky abyss, her eyes closed from exhaustion. It became clear to him that Shiro has only been trying to protect him the whole time! He shoved his wavering thoughts to the side, and grabbed Shiro's arms and prevented her from meeting the same fate he almost did. He remembered the promise they made earlier, or the promise Shiro made him agree to. He smiled at the thought. This was what Shiro was thinking?

"You idiot…" he said, and pulled Shiro up onto the platform, and lay her down. "We need to get some sweet beans…"

The crowd that had previously been cheering for one of them to die had become 'boos'. Oh, well, at least the two of them were still alive when the timer went off, signaling that there would be no winners, and a tie was unacceptable. Kouta accepted the loss, and grinned at Shiro's knocked out form.

"Thank you…Shiro..."

… … …

A/N: Another chapter up and I will get to the best parts. Don't worry! The epic stuff will come out later! The things at school have become very difficult, and have profusely messed up my schedule, so therefore, I have little time during the weekends to write and upload chapters. Well, I guess that's life. Please, give me recognition, and review my story! Thanks!

Next Chapter: The Hidden Truth of Deadman Wonderland!