"It fine, just the two of us."
Len stared at the half-eaten bowl of rice. He ignored everything else that was around him, the loud boisterous chattering, the soft music playing in the background, the cheerful laughing. For some reason he paid no attention to anything else.
"Hey, Len!"
He snapped out of his trance and smiled at the person like nothing had happened.
"What is it? Did something happen?"
Miku pouted. "You weren't listening, were you? I just said that nii-san went in my room while I was changing. Didn't he know of knocking?! And he had the nerve to—"
"—Kaito! Give that back!"
Len diverted his attention to his sister in the background, forgetting Miku was talking to him.
He witnessed his sister and Kaito having some kind of spat. Kaito was holding a bowl in his hand, out of Rin's reach, and she was trying to get it back while shooting various insults at him.
By looking at that scene, he felt himself getting colder. His sister was so close that a slight breeze would cause her to fall on Kaito.
"I didn't know he could such a pervert." He turned away to give a response to Miku, deceiving her into believing he was paying attention to her.
She bought it and continued with her tale. Len ignored her completely.
When he looked back, he found Kaito rubbing his sister's head while the other was pouting. He didn't know he could so much annoyance from one action.
He apologised to Miku saying he needs some fresh air and left the restaurant.
'You lied.'
Staring up into the night sky, he paid no heed to the tiny ice crystals melting into water, making his hair damp. His breath turned into vapour in the cold atmosphere.
Sometimes he wondered when was it he became such a contemplative person.
He vaguely thought that she might acknowledge his absence.
A huge span of falling white against the inky black canvas. Huh, since when was he poetic. His mind had no thought in particular, just some things bouncing in and out of his mind.
A soft sound drew his attention. He turned to see a cat rummaging a dustbin to far from him. With a slight interest, he watch it take a scrap of food and ran passed his legs to an alley next to him. As he looked back up in the sky, a pair of meows could be heard.
Ah, it had a friend.
Len took out his phone and saw no new messages, disappointed.
He suddenly had a stray thought, a memory. Should his delve into this memory? Why not, nothing interesting is happening right now.
A picture came to mind: a lonely birthday celebrated with his sister.
To him, it was vague, he did not remember much. There was just a cake and his sister. She had to get a knife to cut the cake. Their sixth birthday.
Oh, they made a wish on that day. He wished for a new toy to play with, while she wished for their parents to come home on this date. His memory of his feelings at that moment was a question. He didn't remember much of what he felt, but he remembered the curiosity when his sister was crying.
Maybe he had forgotten if he was sad that their parents never came, or maybe he didn't care. His precious sibling was enough.
A smile came to his face at the memory.
Another one appeared. It was in middle school, he was alone in the library waiting for his sister so they can go home.
The door opened and he looked up from his book, Rin was there. But something was wrong. Her fringe was covering her face; he couldn't see her eyes. He didn't had time to greet her because she suddenly walked to him and forcefully dragged him out of the library, barely allowing the time to pack his things.
She remained silent the entire time she dragged him out of school. He tried to speak to her but he was ignored. She froze for a second when a bunch of students passed by.
He gave up trying to talk to her and did not try to get out of her grip knowing it was futile. Taking the time to examine her, he took notice of her sweat drenched hair and trembling form.
He wondered what happened, worried for his sister.
They stopped in a park. He noticed no one was around.
In a shaking and cracking voice the words she said: "Len… Promise me. That no matter what, you won't abandon me."
It lacked any sort of conviction as if she didn't believe in what she said.
To say he was confused would be an understatement. He didn't understand what would make her to do such a thing.
"Rin, I don't—"
"Promise me."
She was trembling again; he saw a tear flow down her cheek. His heart clenched at the sight.
Without knowing what would calm her, he promise: "I promise you that I won't abandon you. You're my precious sister I won't hurt you."
She relaxed the moment he finished his oath. Tipping her head up to look at him, she smiled, a sad but hopeful smile.
He began fussing over her, fixing her bow that was askew. Taking out a tissue to wipe her tears. With the same smile on her face, she took his fussing without any issue.
They were at the age of eleven.
Len lips became a thin line, neither a smile nor a frown. He couldn't decide if that was a good memory. But in the end, he settle for an 'it happened' title.
Apparently, her "friends" decided to bully Rin and they dumped her in the end. But they didn't know what a fragile thing Rin was, something like that could break her. She could handle strangers bullying her but when her friends turned on her, she nearly couldn't handle it. They probably thought that it would not bother her. She thought the same would happen to him, so she made him promise her. What a funny joke, he knew he would never abandon his precious sister. Nothing was more important to him but her.
He sighed.
For the next following years after that incident, the twins whole world consist of each other. They stayed out of the way of their classmates, only interacting when necessary. Some of the teachers started getting worried but in due time they forgotten about their lack of social life.
Their parents didn't notice, they stopped noticing a while ago, only talking when basic needs popped up. They soon learn to take care of themselves. Doing things that help each other, like helping in their homework when they are in need, fixing stuff around the house, cooking, cleaning.
It took a while for the twins to realise, but they had been slowly building a wall to cage them from the world. They did not mind; the world isolated them, everyone abandoned them. They only had each other.
"It's fine, just the two of us."
Len grimace, that thought just came to his head, it was a rather unpleasant one.
He should figure it out earlier, how had he not? Unlike him, Rin always had a need that had to be satisfied, he should have known. She had always been a people person, he noticed that, but after that incident, she didn't meet new people, so he assumed that part of her disappeared into the outside world.
But it didn't, it just remained dormant inside her, waiting for someone to wake it up.
They were around eighteen, seven years in the cage, two years to build it; yet in a blink of an eye, none of that mattered anymore.
A man, around the same age, he approached them, no, Rin, he approached Rin. He asked whether she could come with them to some movie. He brought company. Rin blushed, and she reluctantly agreed, not before asking if I could come too. The man looked at me surprised, as if he just had taken notice of the sibling but agreed as well. Len was sceptical, and even cautious. He stood near Rin and didn't let her out of his side; he had to protect his precious sister after all.
This continued for a few weeks, Kaito, the man's name, and his friends invited the twins to various outings. Len was didn't like it but came along for Rin, and she enjoyed it slowly making new friends. The same didn't happen to Len.
Soon Len did not have Rin's undivided attention anymore.
Len didn't notice but he was unconsciously clenching his fists together, he realised when he felt a slight pain and saw blood bleeding from crescent shaped wounds.
'You lied. If it was just fine, you wouldn't have left.' He bitterly thought.
He stared across the street where a bunch of people were having fun and talking to each other. Among them was a blonde, smiling happily, oblivious to his grief.
The boy stood by her side the whole time. Unwavering, unchanging, all just for a single person. He was utterly devoted to her, but nonetheless, his actions went unnoticed, seemingly meaningless. But yet he continues to stay by her, no matter how her feelings are. One might even wonder why he continued doing this; maybe he was a masochist.
A broken expression appeared on his face. His cerulean eyes were filled with sadness and hopelessness.
"…you liar. You left me. You abandoned me. You lied. Why did you left your brother? I kept my promise so why did you—"
His voice cracked, he repeated those last few words for a long time like an endless mantra. Water flowed down his cheeks, and he slid down until he was crouched on the dirty pavement, making himself as small as possible. It seemed like he was trying to hide from the cruelty of the world, wanting to escape it. Onlookers ignored his dilemma and went on with their own world.
Snow gathered on him, no longer it would melt from contact. Do you think its because his will is disappearing?
"why did you? You left me—lied to me. You didn't want me anymore, you wanted him, them not me. Do you hate me? Am I not enough, I must be if not why did you left me? You abandoned me. My world, our world… it's gone…"
The bird had slowly left it cage, it wanted to roam free, however it forgotten that it left someone behind. Another bird that needed the bird, if not it would not cope.
But the ignorant little bird left, it left the being that cared for it so deeply, it was not to blame but, it should have known that leaving that sad bird behind, would cause it to break. Without the ignorant bird, the sad bird didn't know what to do anymore. It is no longer needed it, so what is its purpose? The sad bird whose whole existence belongs to the ignorant little bird.
It tried to follow it into the sky, but the door was shut tight. No longer it can be open again. It can only reach out to it. The cage that was their sanctuary was now its prison. Unable to leave, unable to cope.
All it can now do is watch the other bird soar high into the sky. Now the bird would just unwillingly crumble down into an empty shell, nothing would remain. It wondered if it was the only one happy in the cage. It can only hope that the bird comes back and save him.
However, once something is broken, it can never be the same again again.
"…Rin…"
Three years later…
Rin was sad again.
Len recently found out that her boyfriend of two years left her for another, and that caused Rin to be heartbroken. He found Rin at his doorstep late at night. When he looked at her, he saw a lonely, sad child waiting for someone's comfort; his heart broke at that sight.
Even though he felt sadness for his sister, he couldn't help but feel the overwhelming happiness of seeing Rin waiting in front of his apartment.
She said, "Hey, nii-san… Can I stay here for a while? I don't want to see him anytime soon." Her saying that made him felt happy—alive again. His sister might have just thought of it as favour.
To him, his meaning had came back.
His precious Rin.
There slight hints of Len having feelings of Rin. Well that was my first time writing a fanfiction. So...review? I would like to know what you guys think.