Where did I come from?
What appearance am I donning?
No one knows.
That's right, I'm a dream-eating monochrome baku.

A black-clad figure glided across the wooden stage in a lithe flourish. The cane the person held swooped in different directions, piercing the air repeatedly as the tune played out.

Is this lady
having trouble sleeping in the dead of night?
In that case,
how about I cast a spell for you?
Look, let's make a pinky promise.

Luka Megurine watched the figure in motion, a blonde boy by the name of Len Kagamine. He was not actually singing, but mouthing the lyrics in sync to a recording. The song audio had already been taken care of in a sound booth prior to tonight and would be added in editing.

A studio staff was creating videos for a rhythm game series coming out based on songs made by the fanbase, so Luka had heard. It was like "Project Diva" and then some letter, or something. Of course, Miku was slapped onto promotional art for the games, though there was no reason why the most popular Vocaloid wouldn't be. And in the end, Luka thought, it would promote all of the crew—Miku, Rin and Len, her, Kaito, and Meiko.

As the artificial lighting strained her eyes, Luka leaned back in her chair and closed them for a bit. It had been a long day for the female, having had a fair bulk of screen time (even though Miku clearly had it the worse out of all of them, and that in itself made her feel unjustified in feeling tired).

Did you have a scary dream?
Leave it to me.
I'll eat it up completely.
No more worries; rest in peace
Forget all those terrible things.

Luka had to admit, rest sounded really nice right now. Amidst all of the cameras. spotlights. props. awesome-but-impractical costumes, songs, retakes, and cheap assorted studio snacks, she wanted a change in scene. Preferably one with peace and quiet.

Luka didn't dare move, however. He would lecture her endlessly if she left before his session was over. She did it once and then was promptly subjected to an irked chastisement.

Does this lady
say she has another favor to ask of me?
I won't refuse
since this is what truly makes me happy.
So let's make a promise with a kiss.

Len glanced over to Luka's direction, in that perfected art he had of being able to naturally watch something offstage during film time. Quickly, the woman straightened her posture and looked as if she were intently focused on his performance, and relaxed when the shift in his visage signified that he was done checking over her.

Would you like to dream some more?
Leave it to me.
I'll give you everything.
Sweet stories
and savory, naughty fantasies
I'll eat them to your heart's content.

Harsh, arrogant, passionate, overly-expecting of others, and greatly talented, Len Kagamine was supposed to be Rin Kagamine's male parallel; they were two sides of the same coin, to make use of a cliche (At times, however, it seemed his person boasted of being the shinier half of that metaphor.). Luka wondered how they could be so different, but at the same time a part of each other.

Len was spoiled, and therefore very demanding, and Rin could just direct her dazzling and chipper demeanor towards someone and they'd be all over her. Rin's good traits were more readily apparent, and Len was the opposite. At least, when it came to people he worked with professionally.

You couldn't tell from his songs and how he acted in public; the Len out there was melded "into character." Either he was invested into adopting the personas his music dished out, or was the kind, naive, and charming boy interviews and the fans knew him as.

That wasn't to say Len was a bad person. If anyone would argue that claim aside from his other half, it would be Luka.

It's fine if you have more, even more wishes
Confess your desires.
You'll never again be able to escape from
this abysmal paradise.

She knew. She just knew he wasn't two-dimensional. Because Rin certainly wasn't just the cheery little sisterly girl. So by that logic, Len wasn't just the bratty "prince" (the nickname some of the production crew called him by). Something about him, it was something so...he was so...interesting, to put it conventionally vague.

Interesting. The word was so uninspired, and Luka hated it, but hell, she didn't want to put in any more thought into figuring out the enigma of a boy. She already thought about him enough as was.

Well, when the full moon rises, my job is finished.
The payment will be...you're well aware, right?
Inside those eyes...those vivid dreams
Shall I take everything, everything you've got?

And about that passionate part of him.

Her ears heard that trait of him everyday whenever he practiced loudly in his room, singing out notes over and over again. She knew the fact that his door was always open was very much intentional.

She saw it when she happened to see his face through the open door of his room—at the moment, the crew all lived near the building the shooting took place for convenience's sake—taking in the sight of his face scrunched up in disgust; when the note didn't sound right to him. Or, she would see how he nodded curtly and moved on.

She felt it, too, when his voice rang out and reverberated throughout the building, its enticing tone vibrating throughout her body.

That passion was the only thing about him most people who were aware of his actual behavior would admit to like. His harsh air drove people away from him, other than Rin. They really were like brother and sister, how they often bickered with different subjects. Despite that, the two still had each other's backs, and it was clear to everyone that they were close.

And Luka didn't know what to think about her relationship with Len. Sure, she listened to his ravings, gave him bananas, let him run his hands through her hair, took his insensitivity with a grain of salt, made him go to bed when he was still playing video games at three-in-the-goddamn-morning, gave him the bowl to eat the cake batter out of when she was done with it, and was honestly nicer to him than he deserved, but...

"You didn't notice I have a different hairstyle today, of course." Luka had, but was it a necessity to point it out?

"White horses are kind of lame. Machines won't get tired. Or die." How sensitive of him.

"Mistakes can be cool." Indeed.

"Bananas, now." Yes sir.

"Pay attention when I speak to you!" She was.

Sometimes he was just so aggravating.

First, she was just nice to him out of courtesy. Luka didn't know how she had become intrigued with the boy with a rude mouth, but with such unguarded eyes and a wonderful touch—like whatever object of his focus was so rare and invaluable. The boy not wanting to admit with words how much he enjoyed playing with long, strawberry hair.

There were times when she rather appreciated that Len.

What a pitiful face
This is reality
Didn't you chose this for yourself?
If you just indulge yourself in "dreams", your dreams will never come true.
Welcome to a monochrome world!

The rest of the song played out, and the studio people clapped politely. As soon as the directed yelled out, "Cut!" a wide, confident grin appeared on Len's face. The dream-eating spirit was gone, and so returned the cocky 14 year-old idol from wherever he was shoved aside. After most of the applause had died down, he then went into his dressing room to change out of his outfit.

As people began to move about and engage in conversations, Luka felt a light tap on her shoulder from behind her.

"Good news, that was the last one!" Rin sighed in relief.

"Ah, I see." Luka smiled slightly. The three were actually the last divas present in the area. Everyone else had retired to their rooms for the night.

"I'm sorry Len has to keep you here too." Another sigh, but this time apologetic. He got mad at Rin as well if she left. There was even one instance when they fought when Rin went to the restroom. They refused to speak to each other for a day after that, and it resulted in the two girls only going between Len's performances.

When Luka responded that it didn't bother her that much, Rin scratched her cheek and said, "It's because he likes you, though. He thinks he's independent and whatever, but he doesn't know what he'd do without us women." She winked, and Luka chuckled.

"Maybe that is so."

"Trust me, it is. There's not a lot you wouldn't know about your other self."

Just then, in casual attire, Len came up to the both of them. He didn't seem tired in the slightest. "Let's go. I want bananas."

"I'll get it," Luka stated.

Blue optics narrowed. "Don't keep me waiting."

"Yes."

With a glare from Rin toward Len's direction and the beginning foundations for an argument forming, probably about how Len ate too many bananas and shut up they're healthy and too much of a good thing isn't a good thing and like you're one to talk and whatnot, the trio exited.

The song featured in this chapter is "Dream-Eating Monochrome Baku".

Special thanks to the . mad . nimrod for making the cover picture for this story! You're awesome, man!

Okay, there's a version of World is Mine that really should be more popular that it is. It's a cover with Len made by Orebanana, and on YouTube it's labeled as the "Selfish Len" version. It's sooooooo cute. uvu Basically instead of Len being the guy who puts up with the princess, it's the male version of World is Mine with a "prince" instead.

I've wanted to do something with this version of the song for so long, and it looks like I've found it. Unlike my other works, this will be multi-chapter, as the note at the beginning of this author's thing implied. I have quite a few ideas with this, but don't expect it to be filled to the brim with extreme drama. I hate writing for that genre. If at all, I will make use of light drama, probably if I run out of ideas.

Aaaah, I'm so looking forward to writing for TsundeLen and a Luka who will put up with his shit. Rin will probably be a strong supporting character throughout all this. Perhaps I can even stem out into other characters. We'll see how that goes.

Oh crap, I just really hope I don't screw up with characterization on this one. I want to portray Len with the prince persona, but with his core traits still being there if you dig a little. The hardest part of an AU is molding the AU to fit the character. A lot of writers forget that it should never be the other way around.

Alright, that's my mind dump for now. Until then!