A/N: Hi guys, this is my first fanfic about Vocaloid and it's based on a song titled "The Tear of The Sword" sung by Megurine Luka. This is my first story as well, so expect some messed up stuffs. Well actually, this story has been staying on my computer for long, and I never had the urge to post it on the internet. But since my mom found out that I wrote this, she encouraged me to, and… yeah, here I am. I know that my grammar sucks; English is not my first language (and I guess I got some mistakes with the Japanese name labels). I'm using some OCs in this story, so yeah, without further ado, please enjoy…

"What a cruel thing is war: to separate and destroy families and friends..."

-Robert E. Lee

Chapter 1: Apprentice

Long ago, a great war erupted between two great countries. From one of the country, lived a very well-known woman with excellent swordsmanship that made her name spread throughout her own and her enemy's country. She was known as Luka, a woman soldier with a great loyalty to her country. She had sworn that she would protect both her family and her country. She lived in a simple house along with her siblings, Miku, Rin, and Len. She was the oldest of the four, and they lived without their parents; they were killed in the said war, and Luka, as the oldest, had given duty to protect her family, thus, she decided to join the army, although she didn't usually get involved in a battle except it was a must. That afternoon, Luka was sitting on top of her house and watched the sun set slowly as she heard her youngest sister spoke.

"Luka-san? What are you doing up here?" Rin piped up as soon as she finished climbing up the ladder. Luka calmly turned her head to see her yellow-haired sister moved to her side and sat there. She noticed the younger woman's eyes widened slightly when looking at what she just recently saw. "Um… Nevermind, I understand." Rin said.

Luka smiled slightly and turned her attention back to the burning sun which had already splitted in half by the horizon. Her twin lids slowly closed as she enjoyed the warmth of the breeze that flew by. She felt peaceful. "I always like it, to see the sun sets… it made me feel… peaceful." She said just after she opened her eyes again, which were fixated upon the setting sun, ignoring her sister who was looking at her. Rin needed another moment to understand what her older sister meant; she remembered their parents. "…I think this is the peace I can find within this war."

Rin ducked her head, the images of her parents flashed in her mind. She couldn't help but to think of them as they left too early for her. "I wish this war had never happened, that way, we could still be with… with… m-mom and d-dad." She said shakily, tears slowly forming on her eyes. She didn't want to cry, but remembering her parents made her so. Hearing her little sister sobbed, Luka moved slightly closer and wrapped an arm around her, trying to calm her down.

"There, there… its okay, I know it's sad but… there's nothing we can do about it. It had already happened. War is cruel, yes. But I know, peace will come, soon, or later." She said with almost uncertainty, as the war had gone for 2 years, and there was still no sign to its end. She sighed, wondering how the war would end; it had already eaten countless of lives, not counting the innocent ones. Rin slowly wept her eyes and nodded slightly, her head rested on her older sister's shoulder, enjoying her embrace. After a minute, Luka finally broke the silence that fell between them, "Let's get back inside, I think Miku had finished cooking dinner for us." Rin nodded and both slowly got up and climbed down using the ladder; Rin first.

In the kitchen, which was also the place the family usually ate together, stood Miku and Rin's twin brother, Len. Both just finished preparing the dinner for the four. Luka opened the door to the kitchen and let Rin went inside first; she followed almost immediately then closed the door back. She smiled slightly, and thanked Miku and Len for making them dinner. The food was what you can find in a usual family menu, but the atmosphere around them was rarely found on the world. It was warm and loving, as the bonds between the four siblings were quite strong. They ate quietly, enjoying the food. But for Luka, the food was not the one she was enjoying; instead, what made her mood was the smile on her siblings' faces. 'I hope they could be like this… in the time of peace.' Luka silently contemplated.

Several minutes later, after they had finished the dinner along with a simple dessert, each took turn in taking bath, with Luka being the last. Not only being the last to take a bath, she was also the longest one to do so. Because she always thinks about why the war had to happen, why her parents had to pass away in such a discomforting way, time, and situation? Usually, just after she finished her thoughts, she cried. Silent cries that she never had shown to her siblings, because she was their leader now, their only place to find shelter and comfort. And as a leader, and their protector, she must be strong, and must show no fear to do her duty as a sister.

After she got a hold of herself, she finished her bath and wore her night clothing. She waited for the other three to sleep first while she, yet again, be the last to sleep. Because she wouldn't feel that they are safe until they were asleep, peacefully. After minutes of waiting, she confirmed herself that her siblings had already fallen asleep in their room. She slowly and silently walked to her room, stopping at the window to look at the full moon outside. The light from the moon calmed her, soothed her. A small smile formed on her lips when she felt the peace harbored inside her. She continued walking shortly afterwards to her room and settled comfortably on her bed. She closed her eyes and fell asleep.

\-/*(^)*\-/

The next day, she woke up early in the morning, much faster than her younger siblings. She idly stretched her arms upwards and yawned softly. She then got off from the bed and took a bath. Just after she started washing herself, she heard a small noise of chatter outside the bathroom, meaning that the other three family members had also woken up. She finished her bath in a short amount of time and dried herself then wore her usual clothing. She said good morning to the three who answered cheerfully. She then told them to take turns in taking bath, while she would be preparing the breakfast. Yeah, it usually went this way; either one out of the three that made the dinner, or all three of them did, and Luka made the breakfast, but usually Miku helped her out.

After everyone was clean, Luka, Rin and Len settled down on the table while Miku went to the front door to check whether there was something. The other three, on the other side, hadn't started eating yet; they waited patiently for the teal-haired girl to go back inside the room and sat together. Shortly enough, Miku opened the kitchen door and showed a small parchment rolled and tied with a thin rope. "There is a message from the Captain for you Luka-san." The teal-haired girl answered the question that lingered in the family members who were sitting around the table.

Luka took the message from Miku's extended arm and opened it. She read silently, while the others held their breath, waiting for her to say something. Finally, Luka put the scroll down and placed it beside her plate and said calmly, "I have to see the Captain soon; he said that there is something important for me to know."

Her younger siblings' expression didn't change, thus, she smiled warmly, "Don't worry, I'm not in that much of a hurry as he didn't mention that I have to see him now. I could still have breakfast with you guys." Her effort was a success, all three of them exhaled in relief. Shortly, after Luka's initiation, they started eating in silent but engaged conversation. Shortly after they finished, Luka set off to see her captain. She wondered what news he had for her; she hope it isn't a bad one…

\-/*(^)*\-/

"Last night, we have spotted and attacked our enemy's small force of recon squad. It consisted of a six-man cell. We managed to ambush them before they managed to reach their destination, nor fulfilling any act they planned." Luka's captain spoke to her. She was inside her captain's room, alone. She didn't expect that there was an infiltration unit from the other country that managed to slip inside hers. At least she didn't have to worry about them anymore as they were successfully ambushed by her country's army before they managed to fulfill their wretched plan. "However…"

Luka diverted her attention back to her captain. "We only managed to eliminate five, the last one managed to run away from our ambush squad. We didn't have any idea on how he looks like as his head was covered in bandana, and he also covered his lower part of his face, thus, we can't pinpoint how exactly he looks like."

Luka immediately feared that the lone surviving member of the enemy recon squad would enter her house at night, and slipped inside without her knowing he was there, and murdered her entire precious family. She calmed herself down before asking further, "Why are you telling me this, sir?"

The Captain sighed slightly, and decided to tell his lieutenant the truth. "Well, it's because, the incident happened near where you lived, so…"

Luka's heart missed a beat, her fear of the enemy killing her entire family returned, only stronger this time. She didn't know that she was so careless that she didn't even notice a fight had been going on near her house. She also feared that she won't notice the intruder in the event her fear became reality. "I... I see…"

Her captain noticed the slight change in her tone. "I only called you here to inform you about it. You have currently no assignment at the time. You may go back now. Take care, and stay alert Luka-san."

She stood up calmly and bowed slightly, "Yes sir." She left shortly afterwards and made her way straight to her house. She told her younger siblings about the situation and that they must be always on alert until at least the intruder was caught. Thankfully the three immediately understood and she silently thanked them for not asking them why, and she didn't have to tell them that the fight occurred nearby. The rest of the day went by like usual, but she couldn't sleep peacefully at night with her mind focused at the intruder.

\-/*(^)*\-/

Several days later, when Luka was sitting on a bench in her front yard, a young man came to Luka's house. She wondered who the stranger was, as she didn't expect anyone to approach her at the time, nor did her captain inform her about it. She asked the man what he was doing there.

The stranger calmly answered, "I have heard tales of your swordsmanship from my family. I wanted to learn such swordsmanship, please do take me as your apprentice!" he said while bowing slightly to the pink-haired woman in front of him.

She scanned the man from head to toe. From his appearance, she could tell that he was around her age. 'Is he serious about learning the art of swordsmanship? He looks really innocent. But… where are his parents? I don't sense any other presence around.' She silently wondered why. As she couldn't figure out the answer, she asked him, "Where are your parents?"

The young man straightened up slowly and answered in the same tone, "They were killed in this war. I don't have any other place to go, so I decided to join the war myself, and make them pay for killing my parents!"

Luka blinked several times, she didn't expect that the stranger in front of her would have the same fate as she had. 'Maybe I could teach him a thing or two…' She smiled evenly then stood up and asked again, "What is your name?"

The stranger's eyes lit up with confidence and answered, "My name is Ryuu, Luka-san." He bowed once more.

Luka's smile grew wider, "Okay then, Ryuu-kun, come back tomorrow in the afternoon, I'll be waiting for you here." She finished talking while tucked some of her hair behind her ear.

Ryuu straightened up and smiled, then bowed again, "Thank you Luka-san! I promise I won't let you down!" And with that, he began running back to his house.

Luka just smiled as she watched her new apprentice ran energetically. 'I hope things will work out for both me and him.' She silently thought.

\-/*(^)*\-/

Ryuu was in his house, writing a letter to someone. He wrote it slowly and carefully, his expression was blank, a straight contrast to his expression earlier in Luka's front yard. On the letter, was written:

"Commander, I am sorry that we didn't inform you as soon as we had managed to infiltrate this country. But there was some trouble, we were ambushed by their forces and we were obliterated. I was the only one who survives the ambush, but don't worry, I also have good news. I have managed to become the apprentice of one of the important soldiers here. And it was Luka, the one with excellent swordsmanship that managed to take down 3 squads of ours single-handedly. I'll try my best to gain more of her trust and I'm sure I will be able to steal those documents. You have nothing to worry commander; after all, you chose me to join this black ops mission. I won't fail.

Regards

Ryuu"

A/N: So that's it for the first chapter! I know it's short, but I tell you, the second chapter is far longer than this one. Please review my story, I accept critics and stuffs but, please, no flames. Just want to let you guys know, I'm posting the next chapter in a day or two. I've finished this story, though, so I only need to post it here :D See ya!