sear

verb /si(ə)r/

1. Burn or scorch the surface of (something) with a sudden, intense heat

2. (of pain) Be experienced as a sudden, burning sensation

3. Cause to wither

4. Make (someone's conscience, heart, or feelings) insensitive

{~.~ Prologue ~.~}

Cold, Persian blue eyes bore dangerously at the figure across the classroom. That damned turquoise-haired boy was always capturing attention from all and he never left any for Len. The blonde boy could feel his blistering blood surging into his veins, like molten lava. How could he do this to him, leave him in the shadows, while taking all the fame? When their eyes met, Len compelled himself to smile at Mikuo.

He would make that damned turquoise-haired boy pay, he'd make him pay for taking everything away from him. Len would leave him in the darkness and see how he liked being left in pure emptiness again. Mikuo would pay for all those time that Len was in pain, every last moment. His cold eyes returned when the other boy turned his attention to the people surrounding him. Len should have never asked to become friends with him, and then he wouldn't be suffering so much. Mikuo would regret taking away everything important to him.

The blonde boy still remembered their first meeting, as if it were imprinted within his memories. At that time Len was the one who had everything, while Mikuo was in the darkness. He reached out a single hand and the turquoise-haired boy took it. But as their years of friendship grew Len's status of everything slowly slipped away from him. Mikuo had stolen it all from him. This was what he would pay him back for befriending him?

Len's paper was littered with pencils markings. The student behind him perked beneath his shoulder to glimpse at what he was writing. "What are you writing…" his voice died away as he stared at the words in horror.

Die. Die. Die.

The blonde boy smiled at the student and crumpled the page up with nonchalance. "It's nothing." No matter the innocence in his smile the student could see rage in his cold eyes. He smiled back, but quickly retreated to his seat. 'Damn, he saw.'He would leave this case alone for now, his focus was on Mikuo. Len wanted the boy to feel more pain than he was in. How would he do it?

"Mikuo-kun!"

"Hey, Mikuo, you're girlfriend's calling for you." The surrounding boys teased the blushing Mikuo with puckered lips and winks as he brushed them off and ushered the girl out into the hallway. Len's eyes observed the couple carefully. His eyes stared long at the girl while they shared a kiss. Her, it would be her.

{~.~.~}

"Hey, I was thinking you and I could get together to do homework. We haven't hung out in a while." He was always this thoughtful, thinking of his friend's being before his, and he never thought of the consequences. "I'm also inviting Rui-chan." Len knew he hadn't mistaken those words for another.

"Your girlfriend, right?" Mikuo could never read his emotions, even in his cold eyes. Len feigned curiosity his eyebrow rising as well as his eyes from the textbook. His blue eyes traveled along the blush that painted on the apples of his cheeks. On the other hand, Mikuo had been too easy to read, he was an open book, showing all his expressions and thoughts. He was pathetic.

"Y-Yeah," his turquoise hair fell forward as the boy leaned towards his friend, "so are you coming or what?"

This boy was pathetically foolish. "Yeah, I'm coming." And he forced a tight smile as Mikuo mirrored his look in joy. He waited for a chance to come, but it came to him. Mikuo was just making this effortless and he was too mindless to even see it. He had no right to take away what was Len's. That damned boy wasn't capable of simply seeing through the lies all these years from Len. He didn't deserve to have all the attention from everyone.

Len was just brushed off people's shoulder, his existence at the level of dirt. He wasn't paid any heed after Mikuo was brought out. However, he would not stand in his shadow any longer and he'd strike when the time was right.

He eyed the golden eyes and dark hair of the girl before him. He almost pitied Mikuo for inviting her. The girl was still blushing ever since the two were left alone and his blue eyes never left her. As the host Mikuo was supposed to offer treats, yet there had seemed to be none and he entrusted Rui into Len's hands while he left to the convenience store.

His cold, Persian blue eyes watched as the girl shifted in her seat with discomfort. "What's wrong?" the tension was broken and other words slipped from his lips. Rui waved off the question, but she never intended to become caught in the conversation that Len was offering her. Before long she was laughing as the blonde boy told her many things about Mikuo.

"You seem to know him well." Her smile never left her lips as she looked at the boy with gleaming eyes. He could see stars sparkling in them. She was charmed. He smiled and leaned forward.

"Yes, but not you."

"What?" Lust and seduction played well, as their eyes met. He had her in his clutches.

{~.~.~}

"I'm back!" with arms full of bags, Mikuo stepped out of his shoes and came home to silence. Odd. "Rui-chan, Len-kun?" silence still went on, and then a soft sound from above. He looked up at the ceiling; they must have been in his room. "Great, I invite them to do homework and instead they go through my things."

He set down the bags of treats and strode up the stairs to his room. Mikuo grabbed at his handle and opened his tightly shut door. Why would they close the door? "Hey, what are you two…"

Len grunted as he was hit ruthlessly. It was only a short second that he fell until Mikuo grabbed him and readied to hit again. "Mikuo-kun, stop!" Rui had attempted to hold him away. "Please, I'm so sorry!"

"Don't touch me!" his eyes filled with sheer hatred, as he glared dangerously at the girl. She flinched in fear. The girl was merely dressed, yet did no actions to cover herself. She held their eyes, hers painted with fear and his with hate, yet tears threatened at his eyes. "How could you?!" although he looked at Rui he spoke to both. "Why would you do this, why?!"

Below him, Len gritted his teeth. He relished in seeing the horror and hatred that shook him as he walked into his room. He had waited so long to see that pain twisting in his eyes, and he had come at the most ripest moment. Rui pushed Len off, but could not utter a word when Mikuo charged at the blonde. "Why, you ask?" it was his turn to strike and it had only caused more screams of Rui, but both boys ignored her. "I'll tell you why."

His finger pointed at the picture of him and Mikuo on the floor. At the time Mikuo was just introduced to Len. They were at soccer and Len wanted to have this moment as the first day of their friendship. He regretted asking for the picture, and he wished he could have destroyed that memory before it had been too late.

"You took everything away from me! All I did was reach my hand out that day at soccer and you took it, but that's not all you took from me. You stole all my friends, all the attention, and my pride. You took every last drop and left me in your shadow. Once people paid attention to you they tossed me to the side, as if I never existed. I was treated just as low as you were before we became friends," he spat out the words, like poison, "even my girlfriend ran off to you."

Those painful memories were too fresh. A group of boys had gathered in the class and Len had asked them if they would want to practice some soccer. That look of disgust on their face scarred Len. It made him feel like a disease, something that could harm them. It stung him.

"Sorry, but we promised Hatsune." As they left the blonde boy could hear them. "Jeez, what an annoying person."

"Yeah, he thinks he can just become friends with us just because we know Hatsune?"

"What was his name?"

"Kagamine, or something like that."

"Wait, you're talking about the Kagamine who used to be so popular?"

"Yeah, him."

"Ha, he probably only asked us, because he's jealous of Hatsune."

"How pathetic."

Len felt his own tears, but he held them back. He was turned away, because he was thought to be jealous of Mikuo, and they were right. He was jealous, but he was wanted to be remembered again. All Len wanted was just to be accepted and noticed again. "People began to think I was bothersome. They knew Hatsune Mikuo, the teacher's pet, the smart kid, the popular boy, but what about Kagamine Len? I was forgotten! I want it back, I want everything back! Disappear from this world!"

The pain from collision of cement and skin would never compare to being stripped of happiness. Mikuo cried; he sobbed and screamed in pain. "I don't want to see your face again!" and the slam from the door echoed in the quiet neighborhood. Rui wept, as she dragged herself up from the ground and ran off. But Len sat on the cement. He sat in silence and let rage consume him; he let it devour his mind, his soul, and his whole being.

Ah, the pain, it hurt too much. Somehow hatred throttled him and he let it wrap its tendrils around his heart. Revenge had never been more sweet, but why did tears plague him? Len gripped his hands and vigorously wiped at the tears. It hurt; it hurt too much.

"I hate you, Hatsune Mikuo," with barely enough strength he lifted his head to the sky, "I hate you!" yet hatred couldn't compare to this unbearable pain.

{~.~ Prologue ~.~}