Disclaimer and such: I do not claim to own any of the characters within as they belong to their various copyright holders
"Gahhhh! Finally! Three long days of suffering all for a five minute video and now it's over! I swear, it isn't worth it. I mean I realize Master is usually kind to us and all but sometimes he seems like a bit of a slave driver. Did you hear his voice when I asked if we could take a break? I think I was starting to get a rash from the fake snow and all I wanted was a little five minute break to step outside and, you know, not suffocate from the little bits of white stuff I was practically drowning in and he flipped out. 'No, Rin, this is a serious video and you'll treat it as such. Now like back down and really put some feeling into your part or I'll make sure you're cut-off from oranges for the rest of the month.' I mean come on, 'More feeling?' I'm dead! How much more feeling can yo exactly put in to being dead? It's not exactly a lively part. Ha ha! Oh, I crack myself up sometimes."
"Well, if it's any consultation, Rin, I think you make a lovely corpse," Kaito smiled as he looked at the girl through the rear-view mirror. It was evening and the sun was setting as three Vocaloids returned from a long day of filming. The Kagamine twins had been recording the promotional video for Proof of Life while Kaito had been off meeting with some executive or other. Rin recalled it having something to do with being a spokes person for Häagen-Dazs or something. Their almost matching schedules for the day had resulted in the blue haired Vocaloid acting as the twin's chauffeur, driving them to and from the recording studio. Secretly Rin know this was just their elder's excuse to keep them off the road roller.
Upon hearing her elder brother-figure's comment Rin paused for a second trying to decide if she should take the remark as a compliment or an insult. Settling on the former the girl continued commenting on the day; saying whatever happened to come to mind in an endless stream. Kaito would swear that having to lay still all afternoon had caused the girl to miss out on some kind of quota of words per day. "And then there was the lights. I mean I know I should be used to them by now but do you know how hot it was in there? Those scenes are supposed to take place during the winter yet it was at least 90 degrees. Thankfully master decided that we should wear our normal performance clothing but still, between that at the snow nearly choking me to death I was this close to passing out. Maybe that would have been enough 'feeling' for Master. Hell, if I had done that I could have at least slept through most of the filming. It's my song yet I do almost nothing in the entire video." She bristled as she turned to indicate her brother by punching him in the arm. "Len here is the star of the show. Isn't that right, Len?" Upon receiving zero indication that the boy had even noticed her, Rin began to raise her voice. "I said isn't that right, Len!?"
"Huh? What? Oh... yeah, right, sure. Whatever you say, Rin" Len sat opposite his sister his arm propped up on the armrest while he rested his cheek on his fist as he stared out the window. He briefly turned his head inward to give his answer before continuing to stare out the window as if he hadn't said anything at all. Actually, up until this point, Kaito had forgotten the younger Kagamine twin was even with them in the car. Ever since he had picked them up from the studio, the boy had been markedly quiet. True, he was the far more reserved of the twins, however his current demeanor was extreme even for him. Judging by the rather distracted look on the boys face, Kaito figured it would probably be best not to try and involve him him in the one sided conversation Rin was currently holding, mostly with herself.
Rin, on the other hand, saw only her brother ignoring her and decided that if he wouldn't willingly engage her in conversation she would force him to. "Oh come on, Len. You know Master was being sooo much more lenient with you today. I mean there I was, doing my best corpse impression while you're the center of attention and who does he complain at? Me." She shifted in her seat to lean much closer to him.
"...yeah." He didn't even turn this time.
"And then when we finally got done, Master was all, 'Oh Len, excellent work today! If you need anything at the house just let me know!' he was totally sucking up to you!"
"...yeah."
"And I don't mean to say you were bad or anything but I think I did well enough to at least deserve a 'good job, Rin,' at the end of the day."
"...yeah."
Rin frowned and looked at her brother who continued to stare out the window giving no indication of weather his mind was currently in the car with him or far off in some dream world. With a sigh the girl said, "But I think master really secretly likes me better. In fact, if I remember correctly, I overheard him saying the he should make you my personal slave for the month for my outstanding performance as the dead girl. What do you think, Len? Are you ready to declare your complete servitude to me?"
"....yeah"
Rin stared at her brother for a minute, giving him a look that Kaito would discribe as being somewhere between concern an sheer annoyance, before shaking her head with a small sigh and turning to her own window, adapting a similar pose to the one Len currently held. Kaito drove on wondering what was for dinner.
"We're baaaaack," Rin announced brazenly walking through the front door followed by Kaito. They were immediately greeted by Miku and Meiko who began questioning them about the events of their days. As the group moved away from the front room, excitedly chattering away, no one noticed a rather dejected looking Len silently walk through the front door and wander upstairs to his room.
An hour passed and finally the Vocaloid "family" sat down for dinner sans one Kagamine. The mood was cheerful as food was passed around while they shared days with one-another. Rin, apparently not having voiced her opinion enough in the car once again began her long-winded series of complaints. Kaito said that his audition went well though he noted that the executives present seemed rather miffed when they discovered that all of the complimentary tubs of ice-cream they had brought with them had mysteriously disappeared. Miku and Gakupo got into a brief argument over whether the Samurai or Luka had better hair which was quickly resolved when Meiko threatened to cut both of their hair while they slept. For her part, the eldest Vocaloid of the group had spent her day recovering from the backlash of a rater copious amount of sake she had consumed the previous night.
Indeed, no one seemed to notice that the younger of the Kagamine twins was decidedly absent from the table; his seat beside Rin's quite empty. In fact, it wasn't until Luka attempted to pass a salad bowl to his empty seat that anyone noticed the lack of his presence at all. "Rin, where is Len anyway? I didn't even notice him coming home with you," she asked.
At this point the rest of the Vocaloids decided to notice that they were one short at the dinner table and began to quietly question each other as to the whereabouts of the boy.
"Well you did remember to pick him up from the studio. Right, Kaito?"
"Am I going to have to beat you silly with a leek again? Because last time we told you to pick the twins up from anywhere they came trudging through the front door two hours after you got home having nearly frozen to death in a snow storm."
"And don't make me remind you of the time you nearly left Len in another prefecture overnight simply because youjust had to find out where the ice cream trucks were based at."
"Yeah! I made sure of it this time! I even counted them when they got in the car!"
"Len was with us, Meiko. Though come to think of it he was acting kinda weird. I figured he may have been suffering from heat shock from those stupid lights or something."
"(Or maybe just PTSD from Kaito trying to eat a sundae while driving again)"
The many accusatory glares being directed at their blue-haired compatriot were interrupted with a rhythmic Thump! Thump! Thump! coming vaguely from the direction of Len's room. The group peered in the direction of the noise before letting out a collective "Huh" and returning to their regularly scheduled conversations (meanwhile, Kaito quietly thanked his lucky stars that he hadn't left Len to walk home again.) As the mealtime conversation continued so did the thumping. Meiko, who was already holding herself in a manner that indicated the headache she was suffering from, wore an expression of increasing annoyance which seemed to deepen with each instance of the noise. Suddenly she adopted an all-too-sweet smile as she turned to Rin and said, "Rin, would you be a dear and please tell your brother to keep it the hell down before I steal your Road Roller and flatten both of you with it!"
"Ah! Y-yeah, sure. I'll go! I'll go!" Meiko certainly had a way of being the most intimidating of the bunch. Rin tripped over her own chair as she scrambled away from the table.
"And make him come down and eat if you can! Poor guy probably hasn't eaten anything since this morning." Luka called after her.
Rin made her way upstairs and stood outside the room she shared with her brother. For a moment she listened to the rhythmic noise emanating from the room. 'Come on Len,' She thought. 'if you're going to pout about something stupid fine, but don't start doing stupid things like pissing Mieko off. Or if you do at least do it in a place that leaves you within choking distance. Her's or mine., I don't really care.'
"Len," she called while knocking on the door. "Hey, Len! You're pissing Meiko off at us with your banging and Luka wants you to eat dinner with us." When no response came the elder Kagamine sighted and turned the doorknob, quickly stepping into the room. Putting on her best "I am so going to whoop your butt" tone she said, "Jeeze, Len, I know it was sooo hard for you today what with Master constantly praising you and such but could you at least relieve the overwhelming stress you are no doubt feeling right now in a way that won't get us pancaked by Meiko? I'm only a few minutes older than you yet sometimes you act like a complete brat. You know that? Stop crying to yourself in here and-" She cut herself short when she noticed that the subject of her lambasting was currently being completely oblivious to her presence.
Len was currently lying on his bed on top of the black and yellow covers. One hand was held under his head while the other deftly threw a small ball against the ceiling. His face held an expression that seemed to be somewhere in-between exhaustion and quiet contemplation. He wore his favorite pair of headphones (Rin had a matching set) and, from what Rin could hear, whatever he was listing to was turned up loud enough to block out any noise not on the scale of a jet landing in his room.
A sly smile crept across Rin's face. Her brother was so unaware of his surroundings. So seemingly lost in thought. So vulnerable. Waiting for the ball to be tossed in the air once again, Rin took a diving leap at her brother and landed squarely across his stomach.
With a loud 'OOFH" Len shot up, trying to identify his assailant, only to be knocked down again by the ball. While rubbing his head the boy sat up once again only to recognize a very familiar white bow attached to the body currently draped across his lap. "What the hell was that for, Rin! You trying to kill me or something?!" He snapped.
"Well, its nice to see you too, Grouchy. Maybe if your head wasn't in the clouds you would have noticed me calling for you and I wouldn't have had to jump you," she returned with an equally biting tone, turning her head to meet her brothers glare. "Everyone's waiting for us downstairs and your dinner is gonna get cold if you don't hurry up so pick your ass up before I drag you down there myself. Not like it would be too much of a problem. I'm probably stronger than you any way what with you being such a little girl and all."
"I don't feel like it." It was a simple reply and yet it took the older Kagamine completely off guard. Where was the quick retort? The witty comeback? The comment about her breast size? Len was usually better at arguing than this. Was he sick or something?
She decided to use a different approach: "Why not? I saw Miku bring some banana's in with her along with Kaitos ice cream. You might miss out if you stay up here. You sure you're feeling alright? Cause I'm pretty sure Master would freak out if you got sick right now." She lifted his bangs up and slapped a hand across his forehead.
"It's nothing. I just don't feel like it, that's all," Len said with a huff as he removed her hand and collapsed back onto his pillow. Okay, so maybe he wasn't sick but still, something was up.
"It's obviously something otherwise you wouldn't be up here all alone pouting to yourself."
"Rin, it's nothing. Its just some stupid... It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
"Oh. Okay." With a final raised eyebrow, Rin shifter off her brother she was about to get up and leave when she thought better of it and instead sat on the floor with her back against the side of the bed; her head now resting back on the latter's stomach.
They sat in silence for a few minutes with only the sound of their breathing and the ocasional shout from downstairs for company. Rin was about to give up and leave when Len spoke up again.
"Rin. Do you ever think... about dieing?"
"Well if you're not factoring in Meiko occasionally threatening people with bodily harm while drunk than no. What the heck kind of question is that anyway? You sure your not sick or something?"
"No... I mean yeah. I mean, it's just..." He trailed off.
"It's just? Come on Len, you're supposed to be the more reasonable one. Just spit it out already!"
"Well. It's just that Master has been having us do all these depressing songs lately. You know? Where one of us dies or something."
Rin noted that there had been a lot of laying around as a dead body lately between them, though really she thought nothing of it. It was all just part of the job. "Yeah? And?" She urged her twin to continue.
With a sigh Len resumed his train of thought: "It's just that all of those songs got me thinking about... well, us, I guess."
"Us huh? And what about us? If this is about that time I got mad at you for destroying the orange tree in the back yard than I'm totally over that."
"What? No. It's not like that. It's just , well, what if something happens to us? You know, like if one of us dies or something?"
Rin shifted slightly to in order to give her brother an incredulous look. "Really, Len, we're fourteen. People our age are supposed to be worrying about who's dating who and what we wear from day to day and here you are brooding about something that will happen like a million years into the future. Stop it stupid!"
"I'm serious Rin!" Len shot back, a mark of what Rin could only assume was genuine sadness in his voice. "I mean really. What happens if either one of us ends up dieing? Like I'm sitting there today looking at you pretending to be dead and I know its all just an act but then I began thinking. What if it wasn't an an act and you never opened your eyes. Or what if something else happens?"
"Then one of us is dead and the other is very sad about it I'm sure. Can we go eat now?"
"Rin, please. You may be strong in that situation but I... you're the stronger one. I just. I just don't know what I would do. We've been together for fourteen years. I can't even think of a time where we've been separate for more than a few days. Like that one time you went away to your girls summer camp (and even then I begged the others to let me go with you.) People always consider me the smarter one I guess but really if you weren't there to push me forward, I'm not sure where I would be. I mean, it was you who really wanted us to get into singing and you who dragged me along with you."
Her brothers sudden outpouring of emotion took Rin by surprise. He sounded genuinely upset by this. "Len. I'm sure that-"
"And I know Master has us do our own songs but... but I never really feel right doing them. I really only feel comfortable when I'm singing with you. People always say how our voices compliment each other and how complete we sound together. What would I do if suddenly all I had were solo pieces?"
It was true. Rin knew it. Though she did enjoy the occasional solo she always felt best singing with her brother. There was just something about his presence that inspired her to really put her heart into what she did. And he was also right on the first point. They really had been peas in a pod since birth. She gave her brother a concerned look and notice that he had now turned, his head facing the wall adjacent to his bed.
"It's stupid. I know. I just don't what I would do... if I could do anything at that point. And I'm sure you think I'm being dumb bu-OW!" Len suddenly found his cheek being grabbed as Rin, who was no resting her head on the other side of his pillow turned his head toward her. She noted with slight alarm that his eyes were puffy and beginning to water a bit. He looked ready to cry. Really. He was just helpless without her wasn't he?
"Look you," she said bluntly. "I'm not dead, you're not dead, And unless there are some deeper issues you aren't telling me about, I don't think either of us plan on going anywhere any time soon. So stop this."
"But-"
"But nothing! I'm not gonna die and neither are you. Not for a long while at least"
"But-!"
With a cry of frustration, Rin sat up and grabbed her younger twin's hair and forced his head against her chest. Len yelped in surprise, "Rin! What are you-"
"Listen!" She hissed, cutting him off once again. Len closed his eyes and obeyed the command. All he could here was the soft Bu-bump of his sisters heart beat. He would admit it was relaxing despite the rather uncomfortable position he was being held in. "You hear that? That means I'm alive. And guess what! You have one too! And that means you're alive as well! We're fourteen, Len. We have our whole lives in front of us and there is no way I'm going to live it with you constantly worrying about something as stupid as dieing."
"But-"
"No! Shut up! Stop talking! I'm alive. You're alive. End of story." She gently pushed his head back onto his pillow and collapsed down herself, her head resting against his chest. "Besides, if you want to go and die somewhere before me I'll come and kick your ass. And I'd expect you to do the same for me."
"Yeah. I... I guess you're right." Len said quiently.
Smiling slightly at the lighter note in her brother's voice, Rin continued. "Who are we? We are Rin and Len Kagamine. The twins! The ones who borrowed the road roller and spent an entire day driving around causing havoc when we were eight. The young Vocaloid's duo who took the world by storm. The ones who will eventually surpass even the great Miku in popularity. And you know what? We're also the only ones who are allowed to sound so good singing together. You know why that is? 'Cause you're my brother and I'm your sister and we're each other's twin. We're both one half of the whole deal. You hear me? So neither of us are going to go dieing for a long while because, you and me? We've got things to do, songs to sing, and fandoms to conquer!"
Len couldn't help but grin stupidly at his sisters outburst of confidence. She really always was there to pull him up. By the straps on his pants if she had to. With a sigh he looked back up at the ceiling. However a small frown still returned to his face. "What if though. What if one of us were to die before the other?"
This comment was met with the bridge of his nose being flicked. "Well, I know what I'd do. And you know what that is? I'd wait. I'd plant my ghostly self down right next to you and haunt your ass. And I'd watch over 'till the day you died too. And if some big bad angle comes down to take me away to the next life or whatever the heck I'd tell him to take his wings and turn right back around because I wouldn't be moving on somewhere where you couldn't go. Not without my brother. My twin. My partner."
"Yeah... I'd be the same way." Len now sounded genuinely happy with the response and even cracked a smile at his sister before laying down again. The two sat there for a while, listening to the sounds of the house. Eventually Len broke the silence. "Rin?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks."
"Hey, you're my brother. We gotta watch out for each other, you know?"
"Yeah..." The two sat in silence, unmoving for a long while before Len finally spoke up again. "You think we should go downstairs an join them?"
"It's probably cold by now anyway. I'm sure they'll get along just fine without us. Besides I'm not hungry anymore."
"Mmm. Me too." Silence returned to the room before Len spoke up once again, "Hey, Rin?"
"Yeah?"
"Can you stay here for a while longer?"
"... yeah."
Hours later, after most of the other Vocaloids had gone off to their rooms for the night, Luka and Miku cracked the door to the Kagamine room. Rin never returned after leaving the dinner table which had left the other occupants wondering what had gone on between her and her brother that had kept them away. Noticing that Rin's bed was empty, Miku was about to call out to them when Luka softly tapped her on the shoulder and pointed toward Len's bed. There she saw Rin curled up at her brother's side, her head resting against his chest while Len rested his arm across her shoulder. With a smile the two older Vocaloids silently retreated, closing the door behind them.
Rin, stirred slightly in her sleep. She was dreaming of singing some song or other, but was having difficulty keeping time with the music. Suddenly, she heard it. A perfect rhythm being kept from somewhere. It allowed her to sing the song perfectly keeping her right on time with the music. Rin smiled in herself in her sleep as she settled back down to the soft Bu-bump, Bu-bump. Her brother's heartbeat guiding her on.
So there you have it. Though I've written stuff before it was never of this length (and even though I have since deleted that other stuff, I would also say I've never really done anything of this quality either.) Therefor I declare this my first (sorta) fic ever. Yay me! Reviews are always appreciated (us armature writers are such attention whores aren't we?) Though I wrote it in my profile I'll just quickly note again that I am my own beta for now and so any mistakes are completely my fault (or perhaps the result of some fault I missed when uploading it as I really only gave it a cursory glance) so sorry 'bout that.
As to the fic itself. This one actually surprised me. My writing process is pretty much just complete chaos as I actually started two different stories before even getting to this one (one of which at least I'll probably finish and put on here eventually.) I tend to jot down ideas as I get them and this one just kinda took off. I was watching/listening to Soundless Voice/Proof of Life while writing this most of the time. Initially I had though this would end up being something like 1,500 words at most since anything I had written previously ended up being about that. I guess it kinda took off from there and now you have this. I'll admit I've seen this idea done before though not necessarily with Rin and Len (That isn't to say it hasn't I just haven't read it yet.) However, a lot of my initial ideas on here are a bunch of "I've always wanted to write something like this" so here you go.
I guess Len comes off as a bit of a wimp here but then I would say Rin is the man of the relationship anyway. For her part, Rin ended up being far more... plucky (if I'm using that correctly) than I initially thought. She is kind of a tomboy in this.