A/N: Here I am with my first multi-chaptered story. Please be patient with me and point out where I can do better to make reading a more enjoyable experience for you all! Still quite a dinosaur when it comes to technology T^T

Luka's POV

"Luka-chan!" Miku's protesting voice makes me laugh as I continue running down the path, one of her red and black rubber bands clutched in my hands.

"That's not funny!" she complains yet again, pelting after me with half her hair wild over her back. I just grin back at her, waving the rubber band triumphantly over my head.

I turn to face forwards again, narrowly avoiding running into a tree, veering off the path and into the familiar trails of the forest I love. I have been living in this town, tucked away at the top of one of the smaller mountains of a huge chain and half-surrounded by forest, since I was born twelve years ago. And for seven years of that time, I have been friends with Hatsune Miku. She is a petite little girl with the most amazing turquoise hair and eyes, four years my junior, and always wears her hair in twintails tied up high. Her voice is high and sweet, like a bird's, and due to her cheerful but shy disposition, she has often been bullied. I am her protector, and the only friend she's got.

However, that is all going to change today. I am leading her to our favorite place to say goodbye to her, hoping to have at least one more memorable day with my twintailed little friend. My steps falter and she almost catches up to me, but I quickly pick up the pace and hurtle into the bushes. Miku's cry of frustration makes me giggle slightly; I am going to miss everything about her when I'm gone.

Shaking the bad thoughts out of my head, I turn past the stunted elm to our favorite place, a little clearing we found while exploring the forest with her dog, Ken-chan, the largest Akita-Inu I have ever seen. He towers over us and has a bark so loud we can feel it rumble through our bodies. The sunlight falls over the emerald grass, it is a pretty green, but the color of Miku's hair is prettier. Just as I flop down on my back, an out of breath Miku arrives panting and pouting at the edge of the clearing.

"Luka-chan, give it back..." she whines, giving me the puppy-dog look that melts my heart and makes me admit defeat. I toss the rubber band back to her, and she ties her hair up again.

"Nee, Miku-chan," I look up at the sky, watching the clouds drift across the brilliant blue surface, the same blue as my eyes and Miku's favorite color. She looks at me, head tilted the way she does when she's confused, and I know she has picked up the serious tone in my voice.

"I'm moving," I say, not the type to beat around the bush. I watch her eyes widen and pain fill them, her hands start to shake as she asks in a trembling voice, "You're joking, aren't you, Luka-chan?"

"Miku-" She cuts me off, the trembling in her voice has increased and I know she is about to cry, "Tell me you're joking… you can't go… please…"

"I'm sorry, Miku…" I drop the honorific completely and approach her slowly, "It's true."

Just as her knees give way I am there for her, my arms wrapped around her small body as she sobs into my shoulder. "You can't go, Luka! I don't have anyone else but you; I don't WANT anyone else but you!"

Tears fill my eyes as I bury my face in her hair, inhaling the sweet scent of Miku. The smell of cold, fresh mountain air and flowers… It will be the scent that will invade my dreams in the years to come. Patting her head as gently as I can, I say fiercely, "Miku, I promise you I'll come back for you. When I'm eighteen, I qualify as an adult, and I can make my own choices. And my choice is to be with you. So wait for me, okay?"

She looks up at me, biting her lip to prevent more tears from leaking down her cheeks, and replies, "Okay. I'll wait for you, Luka, for as long as it takes."

I smooth her hair back and press a kiss into her forehead, hearing her whimper a soft, "I love you" into my shoulder. Crying myself, I repeat those three words to her.

That was six years ago, and the smell of Miku still invades my dreams every night. I have met many pretty girls and handsome boys over the course of those six years, but none have appealed to me the way Miku does. Lying in bed waiting impatiently for the sunrise, I toss and turn restlessly. It is my birthday today, and I am moving back to my old hometown. Dad has rented me a place there and from daylight on I am an independent woman. I skipped grades in Elementary and High schools and already have my college degrees in Japanese Literature, Music and English, I have no career path just yet and my parents are willing to wait a little longer. Miku is my first priority now; I wonder how she has changed. I never managed to find the Hatsune family's phone number, and "Hatsune Miku" always came up blank on all the social media I tried out. I tried just plain "Miku" but even then came up empty-handed. I guess that is what you get when you live in a village in the mountains.

I wonder… Does Miku still love me? Or does she have a boyfriend or a girlfriend? A sweetheart like Miku will definitely have boys, and girls, lining the street outside her house, what if she has completely forgotten about me and this promise? Is it strange that I still remember every moment of that last day together, down to the way the sunlight struck her face and illuminated her tears?

I sigh, turning once more and then sitting up suddenly. The cat-face shaped wall clock stares nonchalantly at me, Try to scare me if you like, I am not speeding up. It is 2:18am, tick tock, tick tock… I feel like punching the smug look off that clock, but wisely hold myself back. My mom got me that as a gift from China, I should be nicer to it. The clock seems to say, Yeah, you should be nicer to me, Luka-chan, and stop staring at me. You're making me nervous; I'm going to slow down…

Argh! Megurine Luka, you are going crazy, imagining a clock talking to you! I flop back down on the bed and stare off into empty space again; thinking of what could possibly happen when I go to find Miku tomorrow, uhm, today.

The worst-case scenario will be a blank look and a "Who are you?" I guess, and next worst will be "The Hatsune family doesn't live here anymore" or something along those lines. Or maybe Miku will recognize me and is willing to be friends with me again, but no longer loves me. She might have a lover to introduce me to, or she might have gone down the wrong path and takes drugs, sleeps around and drinks too much. Even so, I will still love her, and I will try my best to win her over again.

If she remembers me and still loves me, it will be the best. If she opens the door and starts crying like she definitely would if she still is the same Miku, listen to my awkward "I'm back" and then throws her arms around me sobbing, "I've been waiting, what took you so long?" I will be in heaven. But what are the chances of things going my way? With my luck, everything that can possibly go wrong will probably go wrong.

I sit up suddenly and stare at the clock, which gloats, Nice try, Megurine, but it is 2:20am. Happy waiting. I scowl at it and flop back on my bed with a heavy sigh. I majorly hate time right now, and all the rules that govern it. I can no longer remember them; I haven't taken science in a while.

My phone rings and I pick it up immediately, "Hello?"

"Whoa, why so aggressive, Luka-chan? Did I wake you up?" I growl in response to the overly-cheerful voice of my overly-cheerful blond friend, Lily.

"I couldn't sleep," I admit, and Lily sighs, "It figures that you stress yourself out on your birthday. You do that every year, Luka-chan, what's up?"

Since I have nothing to do and this will definitely make the dreaded time pass, I pour it out to Lily, along with my worries about Miku's reaction and what can generally go wrong tom—today morning. Lily listens patiently, not interrupting at all, which comes as quite a surprise. I wonder if the blond has fallen asleep listening to me, she usually is never quiet.

"Well, Luka-chan, have you considered… that you are in love with this girl?" Lily asks at last, making me blush. I have left out the confession part, after all, for fear of how Lily will react to my sexuality. Still, Lily is my best friend, and she is so loose about sex that she probably, hopefully, will not be offended by it.

"Yeah… She confessed to me back then, and I… returned her feelings…" my heart is doing somersaults in my chest right now. If Lily is disgusted, I have no idea what I can do. Still, I cannot hide my sexuality from my friends forever.

"Is that why you don't look at anyone else, be it guy or girl?" Lily asks, she does not sound disgusted or surprised by my sexuality; there is only curiosity in her tone.

"Uhm… yeah…" I reply awkwardly, not sure of what I should say. Why is she acting so neutral, so… normal?

Lily squeals, nearly bursting my eardrums in the process, "Don't sound so awkward, I'm bisexual, by the way. This girl must be quite the looker to catch your attention for so long, Luka-chan!"

"Her name is Miku. Hatsune Miku," I reply, smiling slightly because even though I said her name minutes ago, Lily cannot remember. She is bad at remembering names, and homework. It slightly surprises me that Lily is bisexual, but I kind of expected that. I have often heard her drooling after both boys and girls in school, but I never wondered much about it.

"That's a cute name! She sounds like she has her hair in pigtails, and she bounces around like a ray of sunshine," Lily says excitedly as my eyes flit to the clock. The clock seems to be seething, Well played, Megurine, well played. It is 3:24am. You win, for now…

"Well, that is what she used to do," I reply, feeling worry bubble in my chest, "But what if she's changed?"

For the next three hours, I discuss my worries and feelings with Lily, who teases me mercilessly about my non-existent sex life as well, until the Sun finally rises and I leap out of bed. Too nervous to feel sleepy despite the fact I had no sleep that night, I race into the bathroom to get ready. I shower in cold water to help snap me into reality, though the floral aroma of my soap lures me into another dreamland. I almost spend twenty minutes in there before I snap out of it, rinse off the soap suds and dart out the door, dripping wet, to my closet. While towelling off, I look through my closet and settle on a simple white button-up top and a short black skirt with gold trimmings, pull on my black thigh-highs, and pair it all with my favorite gold knee-high boots.

"Why are you up so early, Luka?" Mom looks down at me from the top of the stairs, her slightly white streaked pink hair messy around her head. I look up at her from my position barely out the door, toast in my mouth, and mumble something that hopefully sounds like "I've got a promise to honor."

Before she can reply, I dart out the door and race to the bus terminal. I board the bus that is headed toward my old hometown, giving myself a mental prep talk about all the things that can go wrong, and how I should react. About my new house there I am supposed to properly move in to, I can always call Mom and Dad to deliver my bags to my new home later, along with the car they promised me. It is probably my big brother Luki's old BMW convertible, but I love that car so it does not matter. If Miku is not there, I guess I will hang around for a while and think of what to do with my life, and if she is I will plan based on who she has become or still is. Firstly, I have to find out if the Hatsune family still lives in the same house, just across the street from my old one and a few houses down from my new one. I keep thinking and planning courses of actions on this painfully long journey.

Finally, the bus trundles up the mountain to my stop. I rush off as if I am being chased by a bunch of angry tigers, pelting down the achingly familiar paths to the Hatsune residence. The beauty of living in a little village in the mountains is that things do not really change much, though electricity occasionally fails and telecommunications barely exists here. My eyes scan the new nameplates outside the front gates as I speed by, Kamui, Kagamine, Megpoid, Shion. I recognize none of them; it makes my heart sink as I round the familiar corner, nearly out of breath. Will they still be living here, considering that the Ono, Akita,Yokune and Sasazaki families no longer did? Halting before the house Miku lived in; I close my eyes and take a deep breath for mental preparation. I look up at the wooden nameplate, where two letters are engraved in black.

"Hatsune"

Miku still lives here. Miku still lives here! My heart hammers uncontrollably in my chest as I race up the pathway and knock on the door. An unfamiliar face greets me, a lady in a maid outfit, and I inquire in as composed a voice as I can manage, "Is Hatsune Miku in?"