Note: This chapter contains sexual content.
-Faith, Love, and Forgiveness - Chapter Four: Routine-
Kaeda House: The next morning
"What the HELL are you two doing sleeping together?!"
Yuka's loud yelling woke both Mayu and Nana up at the same time, and both came running to it's point of origin: Kouta's room. Standing right outside his door, the two could see a highly angry Yuka berating Kouta and the older Diclonius for sharing a bed, but stopped when Lucy sat up and looked around in apparent confusion.
"Nyu?"
Looking up, "Nyu" jumped out of bed and threw her arms around the other girl's waist.
"Yuka! Yuka!" she exclaimed happily. Instantly, the brunette's expression softened and she hugged "Nyu" back. "You poor thing... you must have woken up as Nyu during the night and gotten scared."
"Nyu..." the Diclonius Queen repeated mournfully.
Yuka rubbed "Nyu's" back comfortingly as she glared as her cousin.
"Kouta, you're a real asshole, you know that?"
"What?! SHE got in here with ME!"
"And instead of walking her back to her own room, you ignored her, and went back to sleep!"
"Kouta asshole!" Lucy repeated.
Out in the hallway, Nana was clamping a hand over her mouth to muffle her laughing. She knew damn well this was Lucy trolling Yuka by pretending to be Nyu, and the Sipelit found it utterly hilarious.
"Girls, would you mind taking Nyu to the kitchen for me? I'll be there in a few minutes and we'll start on breakfast."
As they headed down the hallway, Nana whispered "nice one", to which Lucy replied, "I have no idea what you're talking about.", but gave her younger counterpart a slight smile as they took their seats at the table. By the time Yuka got to the kitchen, "Nyu" was asleep again, and "Lucy" was awake (with absolutely no idea how Nyu got into Kouta's bed, of course.)
"I don't know what goes on when the other one is awake. Sorry, can't help you." Lucy told her when she asked about it.
To her credit, Yuka didn't press the issue any further.
One hour later
After breakfast, Kouta and Yuka left for college, Mayu went to her school, and Nana took Wanta for a walk, leaving Lucy home by herself. She was offered the chance to come along, but passed on it, preferring to use the time to FINALLY take a shower and wash the rest of the dried blood out of her hair. Yuka and Mayu had wiped most of it off her skin, but that was for better visibility of her injuries, not hygiene.
After toweling off, Lucy took a good look at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. Her horns were both gone, but she knew from experience they'd grow back in time. There was a large abrasion on her side that she had no idea how she got, and numerous gunshot wounds that she had no idea how she survived.
The front door opened and Lucy heard someone coming down the hall. As she had guessed, it was only Nana coming back from her dog-walk. As she walked by, she smiled and waved at the older Diclonius as she passed by on the way to her room.
"Nana..." Lucy called, bringing the young girl back to the bathroom. "Yes?" the Sipelit asked, still somewhat intimidated by her older counterpart.
"What happened to my hair?"
"Nyu cut it." she said.
"With what, a rusty kitchen-knife?" the elder Diclonius asked in irritation, "It looks like she did it blindfolded."
Nana smiled, "I think you look pretty with shorter hair." Lucy sighed, deeply annoyed that her other half could run around doing God-knows-what with her body, and she wouldn't even be able to remember it. "It doesn't matter what my hair looks like, Nana. I'm still not pretty." she retorted.
"I bet that's not what Kouta thinks. " Nana teased.
"Mind you're own damn business." Lucy glared at the younger girl before rudely shutting the bathroom door. The Sipelit just smiled wider, clearly having seen the blush that bloomed on the Diclonius Queen's cheeks when Kouta was mentioned.
Deciding not to push her luck, Nana started on a bit of light housework. Now that she had a little more experience with it, she could manage small tasks like sweeping or washing dishes without A) botching it up or B) hurting herself in the process. She briefly considered asking the older Diclonius for help, but decided against it in favor of giving her a couple of days to recover.
In the bathroom, a naked Lucy was still staring at her reflection in the mirror. She never really considered herself 'pretty', let alone 'beautiful'. Frankly, she still didn't, and probably never would. She wasn't interested in fashion or makeup or looking attractive like so many millions of "normal girls" were. Kouta called her "beautiful, even when she was crying", and that was all the validation she needed.
Smiling to herself, Lucy couldn't believe how dramatically her life had changed over the past few days. Kouta had at last accepted her apology and forgiven her for murdering his family. Nana forgave her for the sheer cruelty she had been forced to suffer. Her heart that had once known only bitterness, hate, and despair was now filled with hope for the future.
And best of all, she finally felt like she belonged at Kaeda House. For the first time in years, she was happy. Leaving the bathroom, she returned to her room to get dressed for the day. She had no work or school obligations to attend to, but didn't want to just lie around and do nothing. After deciding on a red jumper dress with a red and pink striped top underneath, she left her room to go find Nana.
While it was true that she probably should have just taken it easy for the first few days, she really was grateful for all that her 'family' had done for her, and so decided to go and help the young Sipelit clean house for a while.
She found Nana in the 'utility room' (as Mayu had once called it) staring at their washing machine, presumably trying to puzzle out how to use it.
"Select load size... ok. Select temperature... let's try cold, warm. Select cycle...? Regular sounds ok."
Lucy smiled in amusement, deciding to just be quiet and see what happens.
"Add detergent... ok, I think that's enough. Close lid... ok. Now all I gotta do is wait!" Nana said with a confident smile on her face. And wait she did...
After about five minutes, Nana took a peek under the lid and sighed. "I don't understand why this is so complicated. I followed the directions, so what's the problem?" she asked out loud.
"Press the start button."
The purple-haired girl almost collapsed on the spot. Spinning around, she held a hand against her chest like she was afraid her heart was about to give out.
"Lucy! Oh, please don't ever do that again!"
The older Diclonius smirked slightly, "No promises."
"What are you doing up? Aren't you tired?" Nana asked.
Lucy shook her head no, "Do you want some help? I'm not doing anything at the moment."
Nana's expression broke into a bright smile as she nodded, "That would be great!"
For the next couple of hours, the two Diclonii worked side by side in much the same way they did when Nyu was the one holding the reins, except quieter and with far less mishaps. Every now and then, Lucy would speak up, but most of the conversing was prompted by Nana, who was trying to build what could be considered at least a half-ass rapport with the older girl.
After several attempts with little success, Nana decided to up the ante. "You know? Kouta sure is cute. You think he'd go for a girl like me?"
"Excuse YOU?" Lucy asked, giving the Sipelit a very hostile glare. Nana put her hands up and giggled, "Calm down! I didn't mean it!"
After a few tense seconds, they went back to washing dishes. The brief moment of playful teasing had ended, so Nana decided to let her know her real opinion on the matter. Turning to face the older Diclonius, she reached out and took hold of her hands, giving her a sincere smile that she was hoping would both calm her down, and let her know what she was about to say was genuine.
"Lucy, I don't think there's any better match out there than you and Kouta. I really mean that. You two just... you belong together." Nana said, her voice a bit softer than usual.
A little bit taken aback by the Sipelit's words, Lucy could feel herself blushing (faintly, but still visibly). Just as she was opening her mouth to speak, the front door slid open and in walked Kouta and Yuka.
"We're home!" Yuka called. Giving the pink-haired girl a look that clearly meant, "We'll talk about it later", Nana headed to the front door to greet the two of them while Lucy continued washing dishes.
A few minutes later, the cousins and Nana entered the kitchen to put away groceries. "Nyu, what are you doing? I'm glad you want to help, but you should wait a couple of days first." a concerned Kouta said. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine." she answered without turning around.
Yuka gave the Diclonius Queen a disapproving look, but made no comment. Kouta, Yuka, and Nana resumed their idle banter as the former two began putting the groceries in either the cupboards or refrigerator.
A few minutes later, Mayu arrived home from school. Naturally, she went right to the kitchen and joined everyone else.
"Oh! You're up! How're you feeling?" she asked the older girl.
"Fine."
"Did you sleep well?"
"No."
"Lucy's been helping me clean all day, so she's probably a little tired." Nana added.
Kouta walked over and gently touched her shoulder. "Why don't you take a nap? I'll come get you when dinners ready."
The pink-haired girl just nodded, dried her hands, and walked out without a word.
Three hours later
Once dinner was over, Kouta invited Lucy to come watch TV with them in the living room.
"Why?"
"We always spend time together after dinner." he replied.
She didn't really want to, but agreed anyway, and joined the rest of them.
The pink-haired girl sat stiffly between Kouta and Yuka on the couch, while Nana and Mayu sat on the love seat. It took over an hour for her to even speak, and the only reason she did was to answer a rather unexpected question from Mayu.
"Nyu, do you not like us anymore?"
This caused a dramatic change in Lucy's expression.
"N-No, it's... It's nothing like that."
"Could've fooled me..." Yuka muttered loud enough for Lucy to hear it.
After a long pause, the elder Diclonius sighed and shook her head.
"Mayu, it's like this... I never had a family when I was young. I was an orphan, and lived with other children in an orphanage. Aside from Kouta, I didn't have a single friend when I was a child."
"Lucy..." Nana quietly said with more than a little sadness in her voice.
"Kouta wants me to be part of the family, but I'm... not sure I can. I don't know what to say, or what to do, or how to act. I'm scared I'm going to blow it, so it's just... it's easier to just not say anything..." she finished quietly.
Silence. Whe Lucy started to walk out, Yuka reached out and grabbed her arm.
"Please stay." she implored. "I'm sorry. That was completely uncalled for. I didn't know that's what was bothering you. I shouldn't have jumped the gun like that."
"It's fine."
When she walked out anyway, Nana called out to her.
"Lucy, please! She said she was sorry!"
"Keep your panties on, I'm just going to the bathroom."
Smiling gratefully, Nana relaxed, and the five of them spent the next two hours peacefully watching TV together.
Over the course of the next few days, Lucy slowly started getting used to the routine. She'd wake up, help out a little with chores, then go take a nap. When it was time for dinner, Kouta would wake her up, and she'd come eat with everyone else, then spend a little "family time" with them afterwards. No matter what happened after that, Kouta always made it a point to come hug her goodnight before going to bed.
Routine, yes, but strangely comforting. As her body adjusted to being more active, she began napping less, and had started waking up on her own right around the time Kouta and Yuka got home
Then, just over a week later, something unexpected happened. She was in the kitchen with Nana when the cousins arrived home with groceries. As her and Nana were helping put them away, Yuka noticed a problem.
"Kouta, where's the Curry Powder?"
"Curry Powder?"
"Yeah, you know... for the CURRY we're making?"
After a long pause so he could go over the receipt, Kouta said sheepishly. "Umm... I guess I forgot it."
"Are you stupid or something? How hard is it to remember the main ingredient in Curry?!" Yuka ranted. The young man tried to placate his cousin by suggesting they just go back and get it, but that just prompted Yuka to continue acting like a salty little bitch. After a couple more insults, an extremely alarmed Nana noticed Lucy's vectors materializing and seriously began to panic.
"I CAN'T go with you! I have to start on dinner! If you'd remembered it like I asked you, we wouldn't have this probl-"
"Ow!"
Kouta, Yuka, and Lucy all three turned to see Nana painfully clutching her face. Immediately forgetting about her argument with Kouta, Yuka rushed to the Sipelit's aid. "What happened? Are you ok?" Yuka asked.
"I'm OK, I just hit my head on the cupboard." Nana claimed. As soon as Yuka saw blood, the argument was forgotten and Nana was ushered to the bathroom to wait.
"Nyu, go with Kouta back to the grocery store. Please don't let him forget about the Curry Powder this time, ok?"
Lucy nodded, and Yuka hurried off to take care of Nana's "accident".
"Alright then, we'll be back soon." he announced.
Together, the two childhood friends left Kaeda House and began walking towards the nearby grocery store. Lucy wasn't sure if Nana had pulled that little stunt so she could spend some time alone with Kouta, or if she was worried about her getting violent and attacking Yuka.
Either way was fine by her.
"Are you sure you're up for this? I don't want you to strain yourself." Kouta asked.
"I'll be fine."
He smiled at her, "You look so happy right now, you know that?" he teased her. Lucy blushed lightly, smiling back at him as they walked. "I AM happy. I finally got out of that damn house for a while instead of staying inside all day and night. Even better, I'm finally getting to spend time with you, and that's something I don't get to do much of when we're at home."
"Can't really argue with that. Privacy is hard to come by when you live with as many people as we do." Kouta said.
"I know you want me to spend time with everyone else, and that's fine, I really do like having them around, but sometimes I just..." Lucy paused, thinking of the best way to word the rest of her sentence. "You don't have to explain, Nyu. I get it. I'm glad we're getting to spend time together too." he assured her.
Coming up on a busy intersection, Kouta took one look at the traffic jam and sighed, "Me and Yuka were here a half-hour ago and it was nearly deserted."
"I guess that's just how things go sometimes." the Diclonius said with a shrug. The two of them walked over to the cross-walk and pressed the button. While they waited for the light to change, Kouta reached down and took her hand in his.
"What are you doing?" the Diclonius asked in embarrassment.
"Just so we don't get separated, that's all." he said with a slight smile. "Besides, we held hands all the time when we were kids." The signal changed and the two hurried across the street. Lucy couldn't help but feel a bit flustered. Her experience with showing affection through physical contact was severely limited, with Kouta being the first guy she'd ever kissed, held hands with, or even hugged.
As far as she was concerned, she wouldn't object one tiny bit if he was also the LAST guy she ever kissed, held hands with, or hugged.
They made it safely across and a few minutes later were in the stores crowded parking lot.
"Hey, I don't want to embarrass you or anything, so if you want to let go, I won't be upset."
Lucy smiled affectionately at him and squeezed his hand gently, "No, thank you."
For a moment, the two just looked at each other, both of them silently wondering if they were falling for the other, and if the other was falling for them. The were so caught up in staring at each other they didn't even notice they were being watched by a car full of men.
Their moment was woefully short-lived, courtesy of the rain that started as a light sprinkle, but quickly turned into a downpour.
'Great... how we gotta walk home in the rain.' Kouta complained silently to himself as he and Lucy hurried inside.
As they headed over to the spices, the Diclonius seemed to be less "holding" his hand and more "clenching" it. "Are you alright?" he asked in concern. Lucy nodded, telling him in a quiet voice that being in crowds was difficult for her.
Whether it was "anxiety in crowds" or "desire to murder crowds", he didn't know, but since holding hands seemed to be helping in some way, he silently tolerated her death-grip on him (even though he was sure if she squeezed any harder, she was going to break something).
After a few minutes, she seemed to ease up a little bit. Letting go of his hand, she adjusted the ever-present bow she wore to hide her horns, then grabbed it again as soon as she was finished.
"Are you sure you're ok?"
"For the last time, yes." she answered, her voice tinged slightly with annoyance.
As soon as the words left her mouth, a loud thunderclap roared so loudly it almost seemed to have come from inside the building itself. Lucy, more than a bit scared of storms, screamed loud enough to be heard by the entire store.
From then, until the moment they walked outside, the Diclonius clutched his entire arm.
Soon after, the two of them finally began heading back towards Kaeda House, thankful that the store had offered to lend them umbrellas for the trip home. With hands still entwined, they headed down the street, enjoying each others company despite the horrid weather conditions.
When the wind picked up, Kouta steered them towards the awning of a nearby store to wait for the rain to ease up before continuing on their way. The store was closed, but that suited them just fine. They were there for shelter, not shopping.
Closing their umbrellas, the human and Diclonius sat down next to each other on the dry concrete, their backs against the exterior wall. Neither of them noticed the same car full of men drive slowly past them.
Without even realizing it, both of them reached for the others hand as soon as they'd settled down to wait out the weather. "I'm sorry..." Lucy said shyly, "I'm not trying to invade your personal space or anything, it's just..."
With a knowing smile, Kouta reached for her hand again, and she happily gave it to him.
"Kouta?"
"Yes?"
"Thank you for letting me come with you." she said.
"You don't have to thank me, I wanted you to come." he replied, lifting their entwined hands and lightly kissing hers.
The pair settled into a comfortable silence, leaning against each other as the rain continued to pour down. As they waited, the Diclonius recalled what Nana said to her the day after she woke up.
"It doesn't matter what my hair looks like, I'm still not pretty."
"I bet that's not what Kouta thinks!"
Out of curiosity, she decided to call the Sipelit's bluff.
"Kouta, do you think I'm pretty?"
"Huh? Where'd that come from?" he asked her.
"I'm just curious."
After a few seconds of wondering whether or not this was a loaded question, Kouta turned to face her, prompting the pink-haired girl to do the same. "To be completely honest, not really. Pretty is what you were when we were kids, and we're not kids anymore."
Lucy considered his answer for a moment before speaking.
"So, what am I now?" she asked.
"Well, I know this probably sounds cheesy, but to me, I think you're beautiful. I've thought that since the day me and Yuka found you on the beach. Any girl can be "pretty", "sexy", "hot", or whatever... but real beauty comes from the soul, not from makeup and clothes. That's the kind of beauty you have, and there aren't many girls I could say that about."
The Diclonius Queen's red eyes looked directly into his blue ones.
"You really think I'm beautiful?"
Yes, she was a killer... Yes, she was sadistic at times... And yes, the number of innocent lives she's ended or ruined go far into triple digits. Kouta knew all of that, but forgave her anyway when he finally saw how deeply her heart was scarred by regret and remorse. She wanted to change, but couldn't do it alone.
"Yes, I do. I wouldn't say it if I didn't mean it."
Reaching up, she wrapped her arms around his neck and lovingly pressed her lips against his. The kiss they shared the other night was nice, but it was also short. This one was much longer and much more passionate, but still a bit clumsy.
"Aww, look fellas, I think they're in love!"
Jarred out of their romantic bliss, the couple looked up to see four tattooed, rough-looking men standing over them, grinning to each other. "Who the hell are you guys?" Kouta asked as he and Lucy got up. "Who? Us? We're just the neighborhood watch, that's all. We drove by and saw you two, so we stopped to make sure you wasn't doing something illegal like trying to break into the store." one of the men, presumably the leader, answered.
"We're just here until the rain dies down, then we're leaving." Kouta answered calmly.
"What brings lovebirds like you two out in this kind of weather? Doing a little shopping, are you?" one of the men asked.
"We're getting Curry Powder, if you must know." Lucy spoke up with an icy glare. If Kouta wasn't with her, she might have seriously considered just killing all of them and going home.
Despite that, she had promised not to kill anymore (with the obvious exception of doing it to save someone's life) and she intended to keep that promise.
"Curry, huh? Yeah, it's good stuff. Anyway, me and the boys appreciate the cooperation, so you two have a nice day." one of the men said. "You too..." Kouta answered warily. The four men started to walk off, but their presumed leader stopped them and they turned back to Kouta and Lucy.
"Oh, I almost forgot to mention we'll be needing some compensation for having to take time out of our day to check you guys out." he announced, making the rest of them laugh.
Trying to defuse the situation before it got out of control, Kouta agreed. He didn't want to risk their safety by refusing, nor did he want to risk putting Lucy into a position where she felt like killing them was necessary.
"It's just the two of you, so... we're fine with ¥25,000. Protection ain't cheap you know..."
The pair looked at each other in disbelief.
"We've got about ¥1,100 left, and that's all." Kouta replied.
"Which you're not getting." Lucy added coldly. Had Nana been present, the look on Lucy's face would have immediately made the Sipelit piss her panties.
The men laughed in amusement, making jokes at the couples expense. "Your bitch got a mouth on her. I wonder what else she does with it..." one of them asked.
"She's not my bitch, she's my girlfriend." Kouta retorted.
In spite of the situation, the Diclonius couldn't stop herself from smiling sheepishly upon hearing him say that.
"Look, we're reasonable people, ain't we boys? We know times are tough and all that, so how about this: You can keep your pocket change, just let us borrow your girlfriend for a couple of hours. How's that?" he asked with a sleezy grin.
"We're leaving. Come on, Kouta." The couple picked up their umbrellas and turned to leave, but the man closest to Lucy made the horrible decision to forcefully grab her arm and yank her towards him.
"Hey!" Kouta stepped up to confront the man, but the apparent leader of the group roughly shoved him backwards against the wall. "Ok, kid. Looks like you want to do this the hard way." he threatened as he pulled out a knife.
Lucy immediately released her vectors. The man threatening Kouta yelled painfully as one of the vectors broke his arm. The man next to him suddenly found himself violently thrown to the concrete by an invisible force. When he tried to get up, a vector lifted him several inches off the ground, flipped him on his back, and started brutally pummeling him. The third man was slammed face-first against the brick wall and began bleeding from a broken nose.
The Diclonius turned to look at the man holding her arm. He looked from Lucy, to his battered friends, then back to Lucy. Deciding the risk far outweighed the reward, he wisely let go and ran. The other three frantically got up and ran for their lives. Lucy watched them go, but made no attempt to stop them.
Suddenly, Kouta grabbed her by the shoulders and turned her around to face him. "Nyu! Are you ok? Are you hurt?" Unsure of what to say, she just shook her head no.
"Oh, thank God..." Kouta said, wrapping his arms tightly around her slender body.
"But... aren't you disappointed?" she asked. Hearing this, he just smiled at her and shook his head no. "Of course not." he said reassuringly.
Lucy just smiled in relief. His reaction to how she handled what had just happened was... unexpected, but it was exactly what she needed to hear. His praise and acceptance of her, even the parts of her she was scared and ashamed of him knowing, gave her faith and hope, not just that she could live a "normal" life, but that she could live it with HIM.
She threw her arms around his neck and kissed him again.
"I love you..." she whispered in his ear.
"I love you too, Nyu."
"Kaeda." she corrected him.
Seeing his confusion, she explained it as simply as possible. ""Nyu" is the other one's name, and "Lucy" is what they called me at the Institute. My real name is Kaeda, but honestly, I don't care what you call me".
"Is it ok if I keep using Nyu?" he asked.
Though she was partial to 'Lucy', she understood that most everyone except Nana was still accustomed to calling her 'Nyu'. Though she had never really been the flirty type of girl, she decided to have a little bit of innocent fun at Kouta's expense.
"Only if you kiss me again."
When he started laughing, her heart swelled with affection. She had cringed internally as soon as she said it, but seeing his reaction went a long way to easing her insecurities.
Feeling a little emboldened by the events of the last few minutes, Kouta spontaneously (but carefully, just to avoid being aggressive or rough) pulled her tightly to him and accepted the Diclonius Queens offer. After hearing a faint gasp, he hesitated out of fear he might have accidentally hurt or scared her.
One look at her face convinced him otherwise. There was surprise on her expression, sure, and a bit of embarrassment too (if the blushing was anything to go by), but he could also see her happiness, love, and excitement as clearly as he could see her pink hair.
Kissing her firmly, his arms encircled her waist, and he got a bit of a shock when Lucy bit down on his lower lip. Kouta might be a virgin, but he wasn't a complete prude, and he responded to her playful nip by touching her lips lightly with his tongue. Lucy dropped the bag containing their purchases and gripped Kouta by the hair, relaxing her hold a little when he flinched and yelped painfully.
Though the two cops watching from their car found their little make-out session entertaining, they still had a job to do. Chirping the siren to get their attention, they turned on their red lights, got out, and started approaching the couple. Lucy didn't need to ask what the sudden, desperate look from Kouta meant. It was a silent plea for her to stay calm.
Or, more likely, a reminder not to kill them.
"This stores closed, what are you kids doing here?" one of them asked.
"We're just waiting for the rain to let up a little bit, that's all." Kouta explained. The cop nodded, seemingly satisfied with the explanation. His partner, however, pulled out his flashlight and stepped closer to Lucy.
"Excuse me, miss. I need you to hold still for a moment."
Unknown to either the police or Kouta, Lucy readied her vectors in case the situation went South. Knowing how badly murdering them would damage her newfound relationship, she decided to simply cut off all blood supply to their brains for a few seconds. This would drop them almost instantly, and would likely do just enough damage to muddle their recollection of events so they wouldn't have to worry about getting reported or investigated over it.
If they didn't end up brain-dead vegetables, that is. Life would be so much easier if she could just kill them, wash the blood off, go home, and have dinner.
Turning on his flashlight, the cop peered at Lucy's clothes for several seconds before turning to his partner and informing him she had what looked like blood on her shirt. With both cops now scrutinizing the Diclonius's outfit (which Kouta knew did indeed have blood on it), he really started to panic. Those cops were gonna get suspicious, call backup, and force Lucy's hand. Just as he thought the situation was going to boil over, the cop who discovered the blood turned around and grabbed him roughly by the shirt.
"Hey, punk! Did you hit your girlfriend?!" he asked roughly. In genuine shock, he looked at Lucy, then the police, then back to Lucy.
"N-No! Of course not!" he said. The other cop put his arm around Lucy and walked her a few feet from where Kouta was frantically trying to explain that no, he had not in fact committed domestic battery, she had a nosebleed. When they tried to confirm this with Lucy, she went along with it, telling the police how she had "a medical condition that makes her prone to random nosebleeds".
"Are you SURE about that? Look, if he's abusing you, you need to tell us." he whispered, but Lucy wouldn't budge, and stuck to her story.
After talking it over with his partner, the cop let go of Kouta, but informed them that the local loitering laws meant they had to move on despite the severe weather. After a couple of fake sneezes from Lucy, they relented, and offered to drive them both home.
Seeing them get out of the back of a police car obviously alarmed the residents of Kaeda House, but the police officer driving simply told everyone that they had stopped under an awning for shelter and had been offered a ride home. Thanking every god he could think of that no mention of 'blood', 'abuse', or 'girlfriend' had been made, the cousins at last finished making dinner and the makeshift little 'family' finally got to enjoy it.
Watching them with a knowing smile, Nana knew there was more to the story than the cops simply giving them a ride home, but didn't say anything. The whole point of Lucy going with Kouta was to give them at least some degree of private time, so it seemed obvious to Nana that whatever happened on their errand should also be considered private.
With dinner over and the table cleared, the residents of Kaeda House more-or-less went their separate ways. Yuka and Kouta retired to her room to study for an upcoming college exam, while Lucy, Nana and Mayu decided to watch TV together. In truth, Lucy had zero interest in the movie at all, but was trying to get used to being around everyone else, so she accepted the invitation and found herself in the middle of the couch with Mayu and Nana sitting beside her.
"I don't understand..." Nana said, "if that man's the bad guy, why are those policemen not shooting him?"
"They're trying to capture him, not kill him." Mayu answered.
"You mean like the one that captured Kouta and Lucy?" Nana joked, earning a giggle from Mayu and a glare from Lucy.
"They gave us a ride home, that's all."
Both girls just looked at each other with a grin, but didn't push the issue any further. As soon as the movie was over, Lucy returned to her room, undressed, and got into the bath. She had been there all of five minutes before the door opened and she was then joined by Nana and Mayu.
"Hi, Nyu!" Mayu said.
"We hope you don't mind having company!" Nana chirped.
After several awkward seconds had passed, Lucy just sighed and got up to leave.
"Come on, Nyu... you love taking a bath with us!" Mayu protested.
Rather than argue that NYU loved bathing with them but Lucy did not, she gave in and sat back down. Mayu ran back to get her favorite shampoo, leaving the two Diclonii alone. Looking at Lucy, then back at herself, Nana couldn't help but feel a little jealous of the older girl. Somehow, the Diclonius Queen seemed even more beautiful when Lucy was "behind the wheel" than she was when Nyu was in control.
"Go ahead and ask, I know you want to."
Nana wasn't expecting that level of openness, but certainly wasn't going to pass it up either.
"What REALLY happened to you and Kouta?"
Lucy looked embarrassed for a moment, telling the Sipelit the same thing that she had told them earlier. "It started raining, we took shelter under an awning, the cops gave us a ride back home. That was all."
Not quite as oblivious as she seemed, Nana asked the Diclonius pointedly what they were doing under the awning. "I just told you, we were waiting for the rain to lighten up." Lucy told her with obvious irritation in her voice. "I know, but what were you doing WHILE waiting on the rain?" Nana asked, undeterred by the other girl's tone.
"We..." she started to say, but stopped. Nana didn't get to hear the rest thanks to Mayu's return, but she could tell from the reaction she got that they certainly weren't just sitting there talking the whole time.
It took a while, but eventually, the older Diclonius relaxed enough to actually bathe instead of sitting there quietly with her arms crossed. Not long after that, they finally succeeded at getting her to open up enough to carry on a conversation with them.
After Nana and Mayu left, Lucy stayed in the water for several more minutes as she replayed the days events to herself. She loved Kouta, of that she was certain. She was equally certain that he loved her, but the question on her mind was HOW did he love her? And the only one who could answer that question was Kouta himself.
Deciding to go talk to him as soon as him and Yuka had finished studying, she wrapped a towel around herself, left the bathroom, and ran right into him as she turned the corner, causing him to drop the books and materials he was holding.
"Oh, Kouta! I'm sorry, I didn't..." she started but he just shook his head, "Don't worry about it, we just finished." he said as he bent down to pick up his books. Lucy leaned down to help, but as she did, the towel slipped and fell to the floor. It didn't bother her, but she couldn't help but smile when she saw Kouta turn around in an effort of respect her modesty.
"Are you going to bed?" she asked, hoping that his answer would be 'no', and thankfully for her, it was. "Can I come talk to you then? If you're not tired, I mean..."
"Actually, I kinda wanted to talk to you, too." he replied. As he went on to his room, Lucy hurried back to hers to find something a little more appropriate than just a towel. A few minutes later, the Diclonius was sitting in Kouta's room wearing, ironically, the same white button-up shirt she had worn the day she (or rather Nyu) met Kouta, together with a pair of plain white panties.
Sitting side by side, she listened patiently as Kouta recounted what he and Yuka had been studying. Never having gone to college, the Diclonius had little idea what he was talking about, but she was happy to listen nonetheless. After a few minutes, Kouta reached for her hand, which she gladly gave him.
"Nyu, I'm not sure how I actually feel about you..." he said.
Lucy's heart plummeted to her stomach. "You... you're about to tell me you just want to be friends, aren't you?" she said in barely above a whisper.
Kouta blinked in surprise, looking at her in confusion. "I... I thought that's what YOU were going to say." he admitted.
"Kouta, I... I want to be friends, yes... but I also want more than that. Remember when you told those thugs I was your girlfriend? I... I don't know why, but part of me was so happy to hear you say that, even if it wasn't actually true." she said.
`"I... I think I'd rather it be true next time." Kouta said quietly.
"Kouta..." Lucy said, a faint blush on her cheeks. Acting much braver than she actually felt, she turned to face him and wrapped her arms around his neck. He responded by wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her closer before leaning in and lightly pressing his lips against hers.
"Do... do you want to be.. um..." he stammered, blushing so much it made her giggle just to look at him.
"Your girlfriend?" she asked. When he nodded, she kissed him again, teasing him a little by touching his tongue with hers. "I'd love to be your girlfriend, Kouta... even if we have to keep it a secret for now." she said.
He hadn't actually SAID anything about keeping it a secret, but was greatly relieved to know that she was willing to do so.
"I love you... and I'm so happy you stayed." he told her with a smile.
"I love you, too... and so am I." she said, meaning every word of it. In a very short amount of time, the couple went from simple kissing and cuddling to full-on making out.
As they kissed, Lucy noticed he had reached a hand out, but hesitated and pulled it back.
"It's OK, I don't mind." she smiled. She had assumed he was reaching to touch her face, so it came as a bit of a surprise when she felt his hand on her breast instead.
She gasped and he immediately let go of her.
"I'm sorry... you said it was ok, so..." he apologized.
"I thought you were trying to touch my face, not my..." she blushed. "But... you can... if you... still want to."
Kouta slowly reached a hand out and lightly touched her breasts, then took a deep breath and gently squeezed them over her clothing. Lucy replied by kissing him a bit more passionately than before, which in turn prompted him to keep doing it.
As things quickly escalated, he tried to unbutton her (or rather HIS) shirt, but after only the second button , he seemingly lost his nerve and stopped.
"It's ok... you can keep going."
"Are you sure...?" he asked.
The pink-haired girl nodded, so Kouta resumed unbuttoning until it was fully opened and her milky-white breasts were exposed.
Lucy. in spite of her almost total absence of any sense of modesty, couldn't stop herself from blushing.
"Umm... you... I mean... I thought you were wearing a bra... I'm sorry."
"It's ok... W-Would you like me to take it off?" she asked.
"Take what off?"
"The shirt..." she blushed.
Kouta, blushing as badly as she was, just nodded. Lucy reached up and shakily slid it off of her shoulders. For a moment, he almost forgot how to breathe. The pink-haired girl not only had a beautiful face, she had a beautiful body. Slender, but not scrawny, with perfect breasts and milky-white, porcelain-smooth skin.
Lucy looked away shyly, but made no attempt to cover herself up. After several seconds had gone by, she was the first to break the silence. "Umm... you can touch me if you want... You don't HAVE to though if you don't really wa-" she started to say, but was interrupted by him reaching out and gently touching her bare breasts.
The Diclonius gasped, closing her eyes as her heart rate skyrocketed. It was kind of bizarre in a way. She'd touched her own breasts hundreds of times, and never gotten even the smallest bit of pleasure out of it. Kouta does it just once, and she damn near forgets her own name!
"A-Are you sure you don't mind me doing this?"
"Actually, I... I was kinda hoping you would."
Kouta swallowed nervously and continued. A few moments later, she asked if it was ok to sit on his lap.
He nodded and uncrossed his legs so she could sit comfortably.
"That's much better. Thank you." she smiled.
He gently brushed a fingertip over her nipples, and was delighted when she let out a soft, quiet moan in response.
"That feels really good..." she blushed. Naturally, he did it again, this time kissing her as he did. After a few seconds, he got an idea, and abruptly broke the kiss.
"What's wrong?"
Instead of answering, he smiled, leaned down, and gave one of her nipples a gentle lick.
Lucy gasped and gripped him by the hair, softly moaning his name as he opened his mouth a little and lightly sucked on her nipple for a few moments.
The pink-haired girl blushed heavily as he switched breasts and took her other nipple into his mouth.
"Oh, fuck..."
He stopped and grinned teasingly at her.
"Did you just say "fuck"?"
"Y-Yeah... sorry." she apologized sheepishly.
He shook his head fondly before putting his lips back on hers, and his hands back on her bare breasts.
Soon, he felt Lucy trying to remove his shirt. He raised his arms and helped her get it off, then asked her to lie down on her back. She complied, blushing as Kouta slowly climbed on top of her and started kissing her lips. He gradually worked his way down, going from her lips to her neck, then to her shoulders and upper chest.
Lucy blushed and moaned when he started lightly kissing her breasts, and it only got worse as he took her right nipple back into his mouth and shyly kissed, licked, and sucked on it a little before switching to the other.
Eventually, he moved on down and started kissing her stomach. By the time his lips reached the waistline of her panties, it was obvious where this was headed.
Virgins or not, they wanted each other badly, and both of them knew it.
"Kouta...?" she asked.
"Yes?" he replied.
"I want to keep going... please."
"You mean, y-you want me to kiss your... well..."
Lucy smiled shyly as she shook her head. "I want to go farther than just being touched with your hands and lips."
"Like... all the way?"
Lucy nodded, more aroused she'd ever been in her entire life.
Kouta looked at her with a nervous smile, "I'd love to, but I... I've never done that before." he admitted.
"Neither have I, but I don't want my first time to be with anybody but you." she told him.
"But it's OK if your second or third time is with someone else?" he teased.
"O-Of course not!" she said defensively. He smiled and gave her another deep, passionate kiss, loving the way her breathing quickened when he lightly bit down on her lower lip.
"Um... so... how do we...?" he asked.
"I... well, isn't the guy being on top how most people have their first time?"
"I think so. Well, um... I... guess you should... take these off then." he stuttered.
Just as she was sliding her panties down, they heard the sound of footsteps coming towards Kouta's room. Lucy immediately reached out a vector to hold the door shut less than a second before Yuka tried to open it.
"Hey, Kouta? Why's your door locked?"
Thinking quickly, he opened the door just enough for Yuka to see his state of undress. "I'm changing clothes, is something wrong?" His cousin apologized, stating she just needed to get his Applied Mathematics book from him. After giving it to her, she told him goodnight and left. A few seconds later, he heard her go down the hall and into her own bedroom.
Sighing in relief, he turned his attention back to Lucy.
"Maybe we should..."
"Wait? Yeah, you're probably right." the Diclonius agreed.
"You're not upset, are you?" he asked.
Lucy shook her head with a smile, "Of course not, Kouta." In reality, she WAS a little annoyed, but that was due to Yuka interrupting, not Kouta wanting to play it safe.
Slipping her shirt back on, she gave him one final, passionate kiss as she buttoned it up far enough to stay closed (just in case she happened to run into anyone in the hallway). After saying goodnight, she returned to her room and got into bed, hoping that her dreams would make up for Yuka's horribly bad timing.