"Take it back!" A nine year old Kouta yelled at his little sister. He had just slapped her for claiming his friend was about to kill them. "Take it back or I'll hate you! I'll hate you forever!"

She looked at him with a mix of fear but growing hurt. "Brother don't hate me! I…"

And before his eyes Kanae was ripped in half. Her blood splashing all over him. He stood there shaking, her warm blood dripping off of him, unable to move, unable to even scream. He locked onto her now lifeless eyes; they held the tears of his last words to her. That was when he finally screamed, a wordless cry of anguish and pain.

"What's going on…" His father had been coming over to see what the commotion was about. Before he even understood there was danger his head was torn from his body.

Kouta turned to see his dad also just lying there in a pool of blood. It was a small mercy that at least he couldn't see his father's face. "Dad?" He turned back to Lucy. She was splattered with blood but was just standing there looking at him with empty unfeeling eyes.

"Did you… did you do this to them? Why?" He began to shriek. "Why would you do this to me?! I thought we were friends!"

"What are you talking about?" Lucy asked sounding surprised. "We were friends, that's why you're still alive." She then turned around and began to slowly walk away from him. "And now I'm going to kill that stupid girl."

"Yuka?" He whispered. He thought about poor Yuka.

With a shout he ran and tackled her.

"Stop it!" He shouted. He was terrified and crying but he had to make her stop. "Stop it! I'm begging you! Please stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" He began slamming her back down again and again with each of his cries. He didn't think about the fact he was putting his life in his own hands. All he could think about was that he couldn't let this happen to Yuka.

And as he sat on top of her yelling and pleading he dimly realized that her expression had changed. The uncaring face turned into one of dawning realization and pain, as though she had woken up from a dream and was now as horrified by things as he was. As she was staring up at him he saw tears in her eyes.

"Why are you crying?!" He screamed. "You did this! This is all your fault!"

"Kouta…"

He felt something push against his chest and knock him off of her. She scrambled up to her feet and ran.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" She yelled out as she escaped the train car.

Now alone with the bodies of his father and sister Kouta curled up and closed his eyes. He tried with all his might to make the bad things he'd seen go away.

XXXXXXXXXX

Kouta's whole body was shaking. His knees suddenly gave and he found himself on the floor staring up at the now adult Lucy. She was just standing there looking at him, her face consumed by guilt and sorrow.

"Do you remember now?" She asked him quietly.

"I… I remember, I remember all of it. We… we were friends, I really liked you. How… how could you have done that?"

"I am not a human Kouta," she told him.

As if performing a magic trick the photograph of his family, a mug, and a book all began to float through the air in front of her.

"I am what is called a diclonius; these horns are just part of what makes me different from human beings. I also have the power to use invisible hands and arms called vectors to move things… or tear things apart."

"I don't understand," he said weakly.

She gave him a weary smile and the objects were all returned to their original places. "What's not to understand? I'm not human, I'm a monster."

"No you're not!" He said angrily and got back up to his feet. "The little girl I knew back then, and the person you are now, neither of you were monsters! Just because you have horns or magical arms that doesn't make you a monster!"

"Kouta," she said sadly. "How I wish I could have known you sooner! You are the only one, the only one who has ever known the truth and still been kind to me! Everyone else has always treated me like I was a freak or a monster. My life has been nothing but one long hell. The only happy times, the only happy memories I have are of that summer with you." She looked away. "And of our time together now, being with you has been my one and only joy."

"Then why? Why?!" In a rush he grabbed her roughly by the arms and glared at her. "Why did you kill my family?!"

She looked scared, but did not try to pull away or fight him.

"I… I did it because I saw you at the festival with Yuka. You'd told me your cousin was a boy and when I saw you'd lied to me I thought it meant you never really liked me. It broke my heart and I decided to hurt you the way you'd hurt me."

"You killed my father and my sister because I lied to you?!" He demanded. "I lied because I cared about you and didn't want to hurt your feelings! I was nine! What does a nine year old know? And how many lies have you told me Lucy? Does that give me the right to kill you?"

Looking him in the eye she slowly nodded. "If you want to kill me you can, you have that right. I won't stop you. In a way, dying at your hands would be the best way for it to end. At least I would be with the person I love."

He let go of her and stepped back. "Love? Is that one more of your lies?"

She slowly shook her head. "I have always loved you Kouta, that is the truth. If you believe nothing else, please believe that."

He stared at her. She was just standing there looking at him in such misery. He remembered the lonely little girl he'd known so long ago. How could he feel sorry for the person who had destroyed his life? Who had murdered poor little Kanae and his dad right in front of him. Yet he did feel sorry for her, and he did believe her when she said she loved him.

Maybe that just made him a fool.

"Why did you come back here after all this time?" He asked. "You knew what you did to me, why did you come back into my life? And why did you tell me the truth now?"

"I came back because in all the years since that night I have always, always longed to find you and apologize to you for that I did. I have never for one day not thought about you. Of all the pains and abuses I've suffered over the years the worst was knowing how I'd hurt you. Even if you couldn't forgive me I wanted to tell you how truly sorry I am." She looked at him and a single tear fell. "I am sorry Kouta, please forgive me."

She was a murderer and a liar. She was not human. She was the lonely little girl he had befriended. She was the beautiful woman he had started to have really strong feelings for. She was all of these things at once.

"Lucy I… I can never forgive you for what you did."

She lowered her head. "I see," she said softly. "I understand Kouta, and even though you hate me I'm still glad I was able to at least apologize to you. I'll leave now, I promise you'll never see me again." Her heart ached as she turned to go, but she'd always know that this was how he would likely answer. How could anyone forgive what she'd done?

As she started to leave he grabbed her again. This time it wasn't rough though. He put his arms around her waist and held her there.

"Don't go."

"What? Kouta how can you say that? Don't you hate me?"

"I… I can never ever forgive what you did Lucy, but… the little girl I met that day in the hills, and the person you are now. I love them both. I know it doesn't make any sense but I don't want you to go. I don't hate you Lucy, I love you. Please stay with me forever."

She shook. He loved her; he wanted to be with her. Even if he could not forgive her those words from him were enough. "Kouta! I love you too!" She turned around in his arms and kissed him.

XXXXXXXXXX

The Next Morning

Stumbling about on her bad ankle Yuka entered the dining room of the Maple Inn. "Kouta? Are you up yet? I don't smell anything cooking. Are you not making breakfast?"

She entered the dining room and kitchen to find them both deserted. The dishes and left over food from yesterday were still on the table. That was definitely not normal. She hurried over to his room as fast as she could on one and a half legs.

"Kouta? Are you feeling all right? Is anything wrong?"

She opened his bedroom door without knocking.

What she found was his bed still perfectly made and all the shelves bare and empty. The closet door was open too and there was nothing there either. The only thing here was an envelope on his desk with her name neatly written on it.

Hurrying over she tore it open and quickly read what he'd written there. When she was done she slowly crumpled up his letter and began to cry. "Kouta you idiot."

A few days later a couple police men showed up with a picture of Lucy asking questions. She was apparently connected to the murder of the coed that had shocked everyone at the start of the school year. Hearing this Yuka feared for her poor cousin and immediately told them everything about Lucy. The police were grateful for her cooperation, but frustrated to learn that she and her cousin had left together three days ago. Yuka had no idea where they were now.

XXXXXXXXXX

Six Months Later

On a crowded Tokyo metro a weary businessman stood there unaware as an invisible hand lifted his wallet and swiftly took it unobserved to the other end of the train car. It disappeared beneath the coat of a girl with dark brown hair a baseball cap and sunglasses.

At the next stop the girl got off and made her way to a small one bedroom flat in the working section of Tokyo. Once she was inside she tossed away the cap and wig. "Kouta! I'm home!"

"Hey Kaede," he came out of the small kitchen wearing dirty denim shirt and jeans. He had a job working construction. They both had fake IDs they'd purchased a week after coming here. They were saving as much money as they could as quickly as they could. They planned to move to America as soon as they had enough saved and then start a new life together far away from here. "Dinner is almost ready."

"Great!" She gave her husband a kiss. She'd informed him that her real name was Kaede and that was what she went by now. From beneath her coat she produced a couple dozen wallets and billfolds. She systematically began going through them, separating the cash out from the worthless credit cards people carried. When she was done she would use her vectors to carefully shred the rest and then dispose of it through the garbage disposal. They had to be very careful not to leave any evidence of who they were or what they were doing.

She noticed Kouta frowning at her as she worked. He didn't want her using her powers or committing crimes, but she had convinced him that given their circumstances there was just no other way. She had promised to never kill again, and that had satisfied him.

He eventually gave her another kiss and headed back to the kitchen to finish with dinner. They didn't have a luxurious lifestyle and had to always be careful, but she was free and she was with Kouta.

The world was heaven.

THE END