[Dimensional Secrets]
Street lights were lit everywhere, illuminating a single man's outline. He sat on the damp sidewalk, ignoring all the strange looks he was getting from the various strangers that passed him by. He didn't care; he had other thoughts that occupied his mind in the moment rather than caring of his clothes getting wet. When he awoke, he found himself in an unfamiliar street, lying on his back side while pelts of rain hit his face. Len Kagamine pushed himself in an upright position, wincing when his muscles gave a painful jolt that sent him falling back down to his original position. It took him awhile, berating himself if he should wait until someone comes and took pity of him or he ignores the pain than let his pride get damaged from embarrassment.
It didn't take him that long to pick that his pride as a man was much important than let a stranger that took pity of him to help.
He struggled to sit upright, and by now, his arms and clothes were all covered in dirt and grime. That may also be the reason why he was being stared at strangely by the people. He didn't give a damn in what they thought, they didn't know him anyway, so why bother in even caring in what they think?
Len felt that it had been hours since he barely moved from his spot, but in hind sight it had been hours since he did move. He didn't know where the hell he was. Everything felt weird to him, but at the same time, it felt nostalgic even. He didn't get why he got that particular feeling while his eyes roamed around the place.
The place where he found himself after waking up, the streets where all damp and littered with various bottles and garbage. The sewers could easily be smelled from where he sat. The walls were all heavily filled with graffiti. The street lights are all dimly lit, as if the people in charge of it got too lazy in changing the lights to brand new ones. Len could see a drunk sleeping on the sidewalk, a gang of boys mugging an innocent man, and others were either smoking in corners or sharing their drugs with one another.
Len had a fair share of his own drugs in the past. His eyes glazed, thinking back to the time when he was a poor boy, living with his abusive father while his mother ran off with a rich man leaving them both to rot. As a child, Len learned to be independent in his own way. He pick-pocketed to earn himself some cash to buy the food he and his father needed, he didn't have the leisure to feel bad of what he was doing. He needed to live and in that time, he was already getting desperate. His father still did work, but was barely even getting money of the job he had. Sure, the man still enrolled him in a school and paid for his tuition but there was no kindness in it. He only wanted to get rid of Len during the days while he would bring back another woman every week.
He learned to live with how life was set out for him. He needed to cope with something while he endured his father's angry drunk beating, the horrible disgusting sounds coming from his father's room every night when he would get home and smell the unmistakable perfume of a woman, and the lack of a stable payment. Len got himself involved with the wrong sort of people.
No sooner, he found himself addicted to drugs and alcohol and willingly joining in gang wars. He learned his lesson though, when he and his lot of delinquents were arrested and put in juvie. His father came the next day to bail him out, and he had never seen how furious his father looked that day. He looked as ready to commit murder.
Since he was a minor, the police had to grudgingly drop the charges against him and labeled it as mingling with the wrong sort of people by mistake. Later that night, Len found himself in a heap of his own dried blood and aching limbs after his Father had beaten him up as a sort of a 'reminder' what would happen if he would do anything stupid again. He did, of course, learned his lesson, deciding that he would avoid his old peers from now on. As expected, they weren't happy of his sudden leaving. Again, he found himself hurt and aching all over. Every time he would try and move a single muscle, a jolt of unbearable pain would shoot all over his body. He felt his eye lids grow heavy with pain and exhaustion.
Now, he found himself back at the unfamiliar street, looking much older than what his age is. He needed a nap.
It wouldn't hurt to do that, his muddled mind responded.
With that, his eyes screwed shut and welcomed the blissful darkness to engulf him.
~X~
When he found himself coming back to consciousness, someone was slapping his cheek. He groaned, swatting the hand away from him irritatingly. All he wanted to was sleep, and stay asleep forever.
"Hey, wake up already."
Len cracked one eye open to look at where the offending hand belonged to the person with the courtesy to wake him up from his blissful slumber rather rudely. He wasn't much of a morning person, he hated being woken up rather suddenly, but when light struck his eye, he didn't have a choice in the matter.
The person moved away when he sat up from where he slept on the rock-hardened sidewalk. He glanced around, taking the new atmosphere where he thought was once a glum-looking street, now bathed in golden light and dews visibly sparkling on the grass. Finally, he noticed the woman looming over him, watching him with curiosity that made Len uneasy to say the least.
"Who the hell are you?" Len asked, mentally kicking himself for being rude.
The woman raised a single eyebrow in question, watching him in amusement than being offended.
"Not a spark of decency, I see?" She said mockingly.
Len shook his head, mentally slapping himself for being rude. He wasn't usually rude, but ever since he met her in his teenage years, he began to slowly change from the quiet boy he used to be. Until that accident in the summer of June, that's were his life began to spiral down into chaos.
"Let me rephrase that," he tried again. "Where am I? Most importantly, who are you?" He asked the woman slowly.
She snorted, giving a wide toothy grin that hit him feeling déjà vu. He suddenly felt dazed, a rush of memories flooding his mind that it couldn't process it properly. Len had to place a hand to hold his throbbing head; he couldn't hide his wince in time because the woman noticed and stared at him worriedly with mesmerizing sky-blue eyes.
"Are you all right, wait, what am I saying? Of course you're not, stupid of me to ask that. Do you want me to take you to a hospital?" She took one of his arms and wrapped it around her shoulder. She made to stand up, but a hand stopped her.
The woman glanced down to look at him, seeing him shake his head. Reluctantly, she sat Len back down in the pavement, while she sat next to him as well. Both lapsed into silence. Len could be heard heaving while he tried to bring back his normal breathing while the woman stared out towards the sky as dawn finally broke the night sky. He was deeply surprised when she was the first one to break the awkwardness between them.
"I haven't introduced myself yet, and you did ask who I am," she laughed lightly. To him, it sounded almost angelic in his ears. A laugh so eerily familiar to him. "My name is Rin Megurine, what about yours?"
He contemplated if he could stay silent. His conscience won the inner debate. He sighed, of course, he did ask the woman who she was. It was common courtesy to introduce himself as well.
"Len. My name is Len Kagamine." He finally replied after a few minutes of silence.
"Kagamine?" she said, testing the name on her tongue.
Something flickered in her sky-blue eyes that Len couldn't decipher. Her gaze seemed to turn distant, and for Len, he noticed that Rin might not have even seen him anymore. He wouldn't think of bothering whatever she was reminiscing, but he was getting cold, and he didn't want to get sick.
He cleared his throat, successfully snapping Rin's attention back to reality. Like a switch, she gasped, seeing him shiver in the cold dead of night. She made to remove her jacket – Len tried to reject the offer but Rin is more persistent than he thought – placing it over his shoulder.
Rin placed his arm over her shoulder and carefully stood up, bringing him along up to his feet. Both walked in a frustrating slow pace towards whatever destination they needed to go. They didn't talk on the way, content to hear the other's breath, and enjoying the cold starry night. When it was obvious that neither of them would speak, Rin coughed lightly and smiled next to him.
"Isn't the night sky beautiful?" she told him, gazing up.
Len raised an eyebrow, wondering why she asked such a random question. He remained silent when he saw that she wasn't done speaking.
"I always liked star gazing," she told him. "It reminds me of the old days. No, that isn't right, he was the one that showed me how beautiful star gazing is and I learned to love it too. Before, I didn't really get why a lot of people would look at the stars and stare at it for a long time. They are just a big ball of burning gas that is millions away from us, but he disagreed.
"He told me that those were the souls of our dead loved ones, turned into stars into the sky to always watch over us. They are able to see what we do, as if they are guiding us. He always did find comfort in looking at the stars and I began to feel comfort as well. Ironic isn't it? I didn't believe in superstitions but when I met him, my views started to change."
She glanced at him with a rueful smile, which seemed to stir something in Len that he couldn't understand or even decipher. Before he could even dwell in it a little longer, she turned her face away from him. He tried peering to the side to look at her, but her face was angled in a specific manner so he couldn't even glimpse at it. Just when he was about to give up, Rin turned to face him again. This time, with a cheerful grin that contradicted what her eyes were reflecting, she faced him.
"Sorry, Did I bore you?" She grinned, asking even though she made it quite clearly that she couldn't care less what he felt in the moment.
Len looked at her in amusement, opting to stay silent instead. Silence lapsed between them again. What Len didn't know, with not choosing to answer, Rin increasingly became anxious. It wasn't like her to feel like this, to feel anxious and desperate for a reply, even a snort would be fine to hear from her temporary companion and patient. So in a desperate attempt to have a sort of reaction, she couldn't help but blurt our suddenly, "Wonderful weather we are having, isn't it?"
He looked at her then, raising an eyebrow in amusement. Finally, looking at her blushing and embarrassed face, he snorted. She could only raise an eyebrow in question, deeply insulted that he would laugh at her, until she realized that it is night time and barely enough clouds in the sky. She flushed. Oh, how she wanted to melt into the ground in that very moment.
"You're weird," he grinned at her.
Rin flushed again, wondering why she kept on blushing around him. It wasn't like her to feel that way, even feeling love in completely an unknown feeling for her. Suddenly, an old memory that she had almost completely forgotten resurfaced, bringing her in a daze.
"What are you doing?" A boy sat down next to her, his face blurred.
She glanced besides her, smiling, and her cheeks flushed. Every time, she mused to herself. She didn't understand before why she would always feel light and giddy when he would always be near her, any 12-year-old would have already understood this kind of feeling, but not her. The feeling felt alien to her, something she usually wouldn't feel around anyone. She thought that she was coming down with a sickness, even fancied the idea of going to the doctor for once, immediately dismissing it as ridiculous. She decided to consult the books in the library instead. To her child curiosity, she found out that she liked him, not the like feeling of being comfortable around someone because they became friends, no, what she felt was greater than that like, she "like-liked" him. She read on further, founding that, when a person would like someone, they tell them their feelings. She paused.
Looking at the boy she liked sitting next to her, grinning so care-free, did she have the courage to tell him how she felt? No, she didn't. She couldn't. She's a coward even to her own feelings, and she didn't want to risk their friendship with one another because of what she felt for him that was beyond friendship. For now, she would keep what she felt for him a secret a little while longer.
"Nothing," she smiled. "I just wanted to watch the sunset here."
He smiled at her affectionately then, making her heart skip a beat or two. "Let me join you."
Sitting down beside her, together, they watched as the sun slowly lowered and touched the horizon, leaving a beautiful spectrum of light and dark intermingling with one another for dominance in the sky. Then the memory broke. When Rin looked around, the surroundings changed.
Her surroundings were ablaze with fire, she could her screaming, sirens outside, something kept falling profusely down her cheeks and when she made to touch what that substance is, she found out she was crying. She looked down on her lap, she was cradling a man's body, bloodied and bruised he was, but somehow he still had a smile on his face. Her throat felt dry, smoke already entered her lungs, and she felt she was being cooked alive. She didn't understand why, but she hugged the man close to her body, burying her tear-streaked face at the crook of the man's neck.
Everything became a blur to her then, she started screaming, the door was knocked down and fire workers shuffled inside and took her by the arms. She knew she struggled back to her position when she sat cradling the man's body, her efforts were in vain and soon she found herself outside the burning building. She was gently led inside the ambulance waiting a few feet away and was driven off to the emergency room.
More memories flashed her by in a blur, she didn't understand. She felt a migraine come, and her head ached as if a thousand needles were being hammered into her skull. She screamed, wailed, pleaded for help. But no one came to help her.
Rin was jolted out of her trance when a hand gently touched hers. In surprise, she looked beside her to be met by worried cerulean looking eyes. Her sky-blue eyes widened a fraction, surprised to be caught living her past memories and forgetting she had a weakened companion next to her. His eyes seemed to be asking the silent question, Are you all right?
Surprisingly she understood it. She smiled and patted his hand around her shoulders reassuringly. No words were needed or said for the duration of their walk.
~X~
Hearing the unlocking of the door, the door slowly creaked open, showing two figures. One was undoubtedly a female while the other a male. The female grunted in exertion, carrying the man's limp body inside and gently laying him down on her old and somewhat moldy couch, but all the same, it still served its purpose as a couch.
"I'll get the first aid kit in my room, you can just rest." Rin informed him, standing up and dusting her pants before walking into her room and shutting it.
Len didn't answer, choosing to painfully lift his arm to cover his eyes. To him, even lifting a single finger or keeping his eyes sent waves of different painful jolts throughout his body. When he was being supported to walk, he had being coming in and out of consciousness. Now, he only wanted to sleep.
Rin re-emerged from her room, carrying a small box containing all of the first aids needed. When she arrived at her living room, though, she found him fast asleep, his arm still covering his eyes. She didn't know why she did that or what possessed her to even think of such a thing, but she still kneeled down beside him, gently removing his arm of his eyes and placing it beside him before planting a soft kiss on his fore head. She let her lips linger for a moment longer, but when she finally pulled back, the spot where she kissed him still lingered with warmth.
On cue, Len's tense muscles finally relaxed in her touch, releasing a content sigh of relief.
~X~
Light penetrated through the half-closed maroon curtains, hitting the sleeping face of one Len Kagamine. It irritated the man on the couch as the light tried penetrating through his closed eye-lids. He tried turning around, but he had completely forgot he was sleeping on a couch thinking he was still in his comfortable bed, and promptly rolled over the edge. He hit the ground with a dull thud, having fallen head first. Len groaned from where he was awkwardly positioned on the ground, his feet still on the couch while his back on the ground. It took him awhile to remember where exactly he was and it took him even longer to finally pick himself off the floor.
"Note to self, never roll to the side again when sleeping on a couch." Len mumbled, rubbing the sore spot in his head.
Just then, he heard the door click open, he presumed as Rin's bedroom. Rin strolled out of her room, wearing an over-sized shirt that stopped just before her knees, her blonde hair unruly, and her eyes still half-closed. She glanced at him, feigning a yawn.
"I heard something fall and I reckon that it's you. Are you okay? No brain damage or concussions?" Rin asked lazily, passing him by to get to the kitchen and make breakfast.
He gave her a deadpan expression, but he doubted that she could see it. However, something she said triggered a nostalgic memory he thought that he had completely forgotten in the past.
"Ow!" He yelped, shooting the black-haired woman a reproachful glare.
The woman smiled sheepishly, holding the pack of ice bags more gently this time and slowly lowering it to the bump in her husband's aching head. They had been married for 2 years now, and honestly, it has been the best 2 years of their lives. Now, he wanted to step forward more. It's time they finally start a family, the only problem is how he could discreetly tell his wife without freaking her out completely. If he were lucky, he would only get a slap on the cheek.
"Is something on your mind?"
He shook his head, glancing behind to look at her affectionately. Even after they had married, his wife could never really remove her habit of blushing furiously when he would show any signs of endearment towards her. Len laughed then, trying miserably to block her punches. He had to admit, his left arm started to ache though.
"So, are you going to tell me what's on your mind?" She smiled at him, flopping down beside where he sat.
This is it. He had to tell her now what had been plaguing his mind for a week. He cursed his friend for even mentioning that sensitive topic to him when they coincidentally met at the bus stop to work. Sure he had been happy when they met, they chatted a little of where they are now and what they are doing, so Michael was ever so surprised to find out his friend already married and expecting a child soon. He congratulated the soon-to-be father and joked that he better make him the child's godfather. They soon broke out laughing. The very idea of making him a godfather was simply ridiculous.
After that, they went to a small café and had coffee. That's when the sensitive topic arose. To say he was shocked was an understatement, he was completely embarrassed!
Staring at the beautiful green eyes of his wife, he sighed.
"I-I have been thinking for a while… and I-I think… it's time to… you know… have our own c-child." He inwardly cursed his stutter, he wanted so badly to punch himself but sadly she was still staring at him, open-mouthed.
She continued to gape at him, staring at him as if he was something other worldly. A heavy silence lapsed between them in which Michael continued to stare intently at his wife while she continued to gape wordlessly at him. Her mouth closed and opened again but no sound came, promptly deciding to close it again. He could see the conflicting feelings flash pass her green eyes like a cinematic film. He started panicking inside when he finally saw her eyes blank of any emotion, betraying nothing for him to see.
"Can you please repeat that?" She asked all too calmly that it scared him.
Len nodded nervously, inching away from his suddenly calm wife slowly. "I-I s-said is… if you want to… um… finally want to have children?" He squeaked the last part when she suddenly lunged at him.
Her small thin arms wrapped around his neck tightly. She buried her head on his chest, breathing in his scent deeply. He was utterly confused. Earlier she was acting all calmly but now she suddenly hugged him? He could never truly understand how the female mind works. He stroked her hair gently, whispering soothing words beside her ear, rocking back and forth.
"Oh Len! I thought you would never mention that!" She wailed, finally looking at him with her tear-stained cheeks.
He just grinned, bending down to capture her lips with his. They kissed each other passionately, their minds clouded with lust as they both stared each other in the eyes. Wanting more to have more of her sweet taste, he pinched her, eliciting a gasp of surprise from her. Taking that opportunity, he opened his mouth, sticking his tongue inside. He let it roam around the hot cavern of her mouth and a few times their tongues would battle for dominance. Evidently he always won. Getting a bit impatient yet still be gentle at the same time, Len pushed her down slowly on the sofa they were both occupying. They kissed, licked and sucked, every bit of it pleasurable for them, yet they wanted to go deeper. They neededto go deeper. Growling almost possessively, he loomed over her, noting the flushed cheeks and the disheveled look she had. He wanted to take her there and then.
"Mine."
"So what do you want for breakfast?" Rin called from the kitchen, opening cabinets to get some pots and pans.
He was jolted out of his memory, belatedly hearing faint screams and a car crashing in his mind but shook it off as nothing. No, that memory was anything but nothing; it was the day his life changed for the worse. The very memory he tried suppressing after all this years of pain and torment.
"Eggs and toast are fine," he mumbled, silently sliding to sit down on one chair behind the counter.
He observed her, his lips pursing as she glided past him with grace so hauntingly familiar but again, as he tried remembering the woman's face in his dreams, the woman's face would always become more distant, the memory slipping his fingers, leaving a painful ache in his chest. Why did it hurt to remember such a woman so much? He didn't have an answer to that. Almost mechanically, he reached for the toast Rin had placed infront of him and began nibbling. Chewing with painstakingly slowness, he noted the familiar burnt of the toast, wondering why such a taste would bring teary memories of the past. The past he locked away years ago and now trying in vain to remember it all again. He didn't notice the pair of eyes looking at him almost calculating, the green eyes boring down on him and felt that if she stared any longer, he doubted there won't be any holes in his head.
"Will you be fine?" Rin said, finally breaking the tensed silence.
Len looked up, surprised that she had spoken first. He smiled, nodding in the affirmative. Closing his eyes in satisfaction, he missed the odd look Rin shot at him across the table. For some unknown reason that Len didn't know, he felt at home, he felt perfect, content but what baffled him is why he felt this way in a house of a stranger he barely even knew. A stranger that only took pity in him that night.
The time flew by them that they even barely noticed only when Rin spared a glance towards the clock on the wall and almost squeaked in panic. She gave him an apologetic look, finishing her breakfast before sprinting to the bathroom taking extra clothes with her. Len stared at her back in amusement before turning around to face his breakfast when he heard the bathroom door slam shut. Suddenly, he lost his appetite.
Why did he have a feeling that something is definitely wrong and repulsive about the current situation he found himself in? Why did it sicken him so much? Why did it feel like that he was betraying someone close to his heart?
/"Please don't leave me…not again…"/
/"Promise me. Promise me that you will love me forever."/
/"I promise! I love you so damn much! I…I can't…not again…"/
/"I'm sorry…"/
Len jolted out of his memories when the door to the bathroom finally slammed open, revealing Rin in formal clothing, her silky raven-locks still dripping with water at the ends. She ran from room to room, clutching heavy looking documents – Len could only guess – and sprinted to the door in a flash. Before she closed the door completely, her head poked inside again and glanced at him.
"Do you need anything that I can buy for you?" Rin asked him.
He shook his head indicating for a 'no' and proceeded to continue staring at his breakfast. Rin observed him a moment longer the, shrugging, she left, gently closing the door behind her as she did so. Once Len made sure that she wouldn't hear anything, he stood up, taking his unfinished breakfast to the sink.
Walking around the rather cramped apartment, he amused himself of the different things scattered around the room. Picking up one from the stack of scattered things, he came upon a CD. He flinched, dropping the CD case on the floor while he stared at it in horror, as if it became some sort of alien that was out of this world.
"It's not possible…" He whispered almost inaudibly.
His hands shook, and his steps faltering.
"It's just not possible," He whispered again, more frightened than ever.
Len turned around abruptly, his feet slamming on the hard wood floor, his breath ragged while sweat poured down his temples. He didn't stop when he reached Rin's room. Slamming the door open with such ferocity, the pictures hanging on the wall rattled and shook before coming to a standstill once more. He ran inside the room with only one thing in mind: The Drawer.
He didn't pause as he ran straight towards the drawers, rummaging through all the things crammed deeply inside. The only thing that could confirm what he had realized is true or not, he clung to this, his life line. Finally his fingers brushed the small familiar circular metallic buried deep inside of all the knick knacks. His breath hitched.
A gun clicking could be heard.
A horrid feeling settled in his gut, fearing the worst. He slowly turned around, bringing his hands up above his head. He came face to face with Ruth, wielding a gun pointed at him.
"So you realized it too?" She asked calmly, her eyes shining with unshed tears.
"Yes," he told her somberly, his eyes piercing with melancholy. "You're not my Rin."
"And you're not my Len!" She cried out hysterically, pulling the trigger as she continued to point it at him.
Screams could be heard, a cry, blood spilling everywhere and then darkness.
-THE END-
