We first talked when we were six.

I was walking home, and so was she. She talked to me first.

"Hi!" was the first thing she said to me. Even back then her high-pitched voice was adorable.

"...Hi." I was unsure of what to say. My parents' endless repeats of rules like "don't talk to strangers" were stopping me from getting too comfortable around her, not to mention my tendencies to treat everyone coldly.

"I'm Miku! You're in my class at school, aren't you?" She was very excited when she talked to me. I didn't know what to say back, so I just said the first thing that came into my head.

"...Why are you talking to me?" was my blunt reply. I was always never one to try and sugarcoat conversations.

"Because, you look like an interesting person!" she answered happily. I gave her a look; even as a kid I knew that you shouldn't go and try to talk to strangers just because they looked interesting. More likely than not, those 'interesting' people were the ones that would hurt you the most.

"Still. Go away." I crossed the road and sped up my pace, leaving her to walk on her own. Within minutes, I was in the comfort of my own house. I looked out of the window and saw her walking along, staring at the ground. I could see her frown from all the way across the road. My six-year-old self felt slightly bad - only a tiny shred of guilt in my heart - but I didn't even intend on apologising. I just walked up into my bedroom to go god knows what.

Looking back, I really wish I wasn't as harsh on her. She could've ended up somewhere better if I had tried being her friend.

The next day, I went to school and she was there. Of course, she tried talking to me again.

"Hi!"

"Get lost." It seemed my coldness had doubled overnight. Yet, still she persisted.

"Wanna play a game?" Her enthusiasm had not been affected at all by my cold response.

"No. Get lost." I really don't know why I was being so mean. I should've embraced the opportunity I was given. It wasn't like I had made any friends in the class. I was too scared to talk, too scared of failure, too scared of rejection.

"But I just wanna-"

"Get lost before I tell the teacher." I was really getting annoyed.

"...Fine." She had given up. Head bowed, she trotted over to her seat and ate a leek quietly. I noticed the teacher looking back and forth between me and Miku with furrowed eyebrows. He looked at me directly in the eyes, to which I just took out my tuna sandwich. I think he let it go, as he didn't say anything of it. I wish he did say something.

We were six then. Over the next seven years, we just existed, not acknowledging the other in any way. Somehow, we always ended up in the same class. Every once in awhile, I would glance catch her looking my way. Still, I thought nothing of it, and not as much as a word was exchanged between us.

This silence was broken when I was thirteen, and she was twelve. I had ended up as a loner, and had no friends. She was best friends with these blonde twins who had joined earlier on that year. They were inseparable; every day they walked to school together, every day they ate lunch together, and every day they walked home together. Therefore, I was surprised when I saw her shuffling along the road, all alone, no blonde twins in sight.

Naturally, I didn't talk to her. Hell, I doubted she even remembered who I was. I kept walking, and crossed the road when there were no cars passing by. She didn't notice me. She was too busy looking down at the ground, seemingly lost in thought.

Her head wasn't up. Of course, she coulnd't have noticed the man who had sneaked out of a dark alleyway that led to god knows where. She didn't even have time to scream as he put one of his dirty hands over her mouth and dragged her into the deep, dark depths of the alleyway.

I was thirteen, and I was not at all brave. I had no strength at all, and I knew that it was utterly stupid to try and be a hero and save her from that disgusting man. But I did.

It was reflexive. I sprinted across the road, narrowly missing being run over by a speeding black car, and followed her and the man into the darkness, the risks of what I was doing not crossing my mind once. All I knew was that I couldn't let anything bad happen to Miku.

I heard a very short scream, so short that one might have thought that they imagined it. But I knew it was Miku's voice. Even though I didn't talk to her, I heard her talking during class. There was no mistaking it.

I raced towards the sound of the scream, and what I saw horrified me to the core. He had his trousers and his underwear bunched up at his knees, and he was trying to unbutton Miku's school shirt with the hand that wasn't covering her mouth. Her teal pigtails were dishevelled, and tears were streaming down her red face. She looked at me, her terrified, teal eyes silently begging me for help.

Everything I saw was tinted red. I'm not even sure what happened next. Everything was blurry.

The next thing I remember is that I was in bed at home. My eighteen-year-old brother, Luki, was asleep in the pink bean bag chair next to my bed. I didn't want to wake him up, but the desire to know what happened to Miku was overwhelming. I tried to speak, but my voice was extremely hoarse, and the words wouldn't form properly. I quickly fell into a coughing fit, which managed to wake Luki up.

"Luka! Oh my god, you're alright!" He quickly wrapped his arms around me in a soul-crushingly tight hug, and I had trouble breathing. Luckily, he let go after only about a second.

"Miku…" I croaked. I know - it's weird, isn't it? I wake up after encountering a rapist and the first thing I ask about is a girl I hadn't talked to in over seven years…

"Miku? Is that the girl who…" Luki's sentence faded into nothing. I nodded my head almost imperceptibly and he winced slightly.

"She's… alright." My eyes narrowed. I wanted to know what happened to her. I needed to know what happened to her.

Maybe Luki could see it in my eyes, for he gave me a few details. "She's… not in the best mental condition… she's really traumatised, and she isn't speaking."

My eyes widened, and my hands clenched into fists. I wanted nothing more than to strangle that dirty old man for even daring to think about Miku in that way, nevermind actually touch her like that.

I shuffled in my bed, and tried standing up. Thankfully, it seemed the only thing that was not functioning like normal was my voice. I knew a cup of water or two would fix that in no time, so I was not worried.

Luki jumped up, and tried to keep me from getting up. "No no no, don't get up, your foot will hurt really badly," he said. I gave him a confused look and got up either way.

I cleared my throat a few times before trying to speak. "My foot's fine," I rasped.

Luki was clearly very confused. Then, slowly, he moved to the side. "...She's in the spare bedroom."

I nodded my thanks and walked over to where the spare bedroom was. I was a bit confused myself - Luki made it seem like there was something wrong with my foot, but it didn't hurt at all, not even when there was the pressure that was my body weight on it.

I got to the spare bedroom and walked in. On the bed was Miku, her small frame taking up not much space at all on the white sheets. She was sleeping.

There were wet patches all over the pillow, and someone had undone Miku's hair from her pink hair ties, leaving it to rest in a pile behind her head. I decided Miku looked better with her hair up. She didn't look like herself at all with it down.

Only when Miku stirred a little in her sleep did I realise what I had been doing. Staring at girls you don't even know very well was creepy, right? I quickly left the room and shut the door quietly behind me, making my way back to my bedroom. Luki had left, and had put a mug of tea and a plate of tuna sandwiches on the table. Smiling, I walked over and picked up the sandwich. Luki always knew how to cheer me up.

I was about to take a bite out of the sandwich when my body stopped me. I looked at the sandwich and sighed, before picking both it and the mug of tea up and walking into the spare bedroom with them. I set them down on the end table before hastily walking out. It wouldn't have been good to stay there and stare at Miku. She might've woken up. I don't think she would have appreciated me looking at her like a creeper after what she had went through.

I returned back to my room and got back into bed. All the warmth had left the pink sheets. I shivered, before closing my eyes. I fell into a dreamless sleep.

Luki didn't let me go to school for the next week, and, to be honest, I didn't really want to. News had spread that someone attempted to rape Miku, and that I was there. I just knew I would be bombarded with questions from people who had never even so much as acknowledged me before about what happened. That's how kids are. Too curious for their own good.

When I did go back to school, people did try and talk to me. I treated them coldly, as to be expected. By lunch, everyone had given up trying to talk to me. I was grateful.

During the day, I kept an eye out for Miku's friends, the blonde twins. I didn't see them.

The next day, Miku came back to school. Again, people asked her questions, but she politely refused to answer them. She seemed quieter. I understood why.

Throughout the day, Miku kept to herself, and only talked when she needed to. During the last class of the day, music, our teacher told us to get into pairs for a project. Everyone in the class had a partner, except for me, Miku, and this boy with blue hair named Kaito. He was known around school for being a nice, genuine guy, someone who couldn't even hurt a fly, and had an unhealthy passion for ice-cream. When he was within five feet of Miku, I could tell she was scared, as she was shivering, and stuttering her speech. It pained me to see her like that, so I stepped between the two.

"She's my partner." I said while looking at the wall to my left, though my words were directed to Kaito.

"I don't mean to be rude, but-"

"I said that she's my partner. Now go." I cut him off. Kaito gulped, and quickly made his way over to the teacher. I sat down in the chair next to Miku, still not meeting her eyes. So, very softly, I heard something come out of her mouth.

"Thank you…"

It was so quiet that I wouldn't have heard what she was saying if I wasn't sat in such close proximity to her.

I just nodded my head in response, still not looking at her, before raising my head to look at the teacher. He seemed surprised that I had went to Miku to be her partner, though I understood why - the teacher knew I preferred to work alone, so he let Miku work with the blonde twins while I worked by myself.

He looked at me and raised an eyebrow. I just shrugged, looked at Miku, then looked down. He dropped it, then started to explain what the project was.

We had two weeks to compose a song and record it. The only thing that made it different to other songwriting projects we had is that the lyrics had to be in a language other than English. I considered myself lucky. I'm fluent in both English and Japanese. This project would be a piece of cake.

When he let us talk to our partners to discuss the project, I only spoke the minimum amount. "I'll write it. You just sing it." With my few words said, I got up and walked into one of the adjoining practice rooms. The teacher didn't say anything. He always let me use the practice rooms whenever I wanted.

I didn't expect Miku to follow me in. I was going to growl at her to get out when I saw the look on her face. She looked so scared, so vulnerable. I couldn't kick her out.

Instead, I opened the door behind her and grabbed an empty seat from the classroom. I pushed the soft piano bench towards her before sitting at the piano with the plastic classroom chair and started work on the song.

I had a basic structure, melody and chord progression written out in no time. I wrote it all down on some blank sheets of paper and sheet music before trying a piano version of the song.

It worked really well. In my mind I had planned for it to be a rock song, with guitars, drums and a bass guitar. I had it all figured out. Well, all of it except the lyrics.

I have never been good at song lyrics. Composing the song itself was easy, not to mention more fun than coming up with lyrics. It was not uncommon for me to sit there for hours and hours and hours after school some days, only to come up with two verses and a chorus.

I grabbed an acoustic guitar off of the wall and pulled a pick out of the holder on the wall. I checked the guitar was in tune with a few strums before starting the song.

Every time it came to the time when the vocals would come in, my mind would go blank. I had no clue at all as to what to sing about. The only word I managed to get out was 'boku' before my mind went blank. I started the song up for the fifth time, already knowing what would happen.

As the moment for the vocals to come in drew closer, the less of an idea as to what I could sing about I had. I was expecting to just have to start again from the top yet again when I heard a voice singing to the song.

"Boku, doko, shiro, kuro,

Kimi ni aitakute

Mata namida nagasu dake nandarou

Kokoro no okusoko

Tozashita omoide

Todokanai koe ga hibiki atteku,"

I let the chord first chord ring out, as I hadn't expected anyone to sing. When it registered that Miku had lyrics, I started playing arpeggios to add to the music. Her voice truly was beautiful, and the lyrics she had came up with were deep and meaningful. To think that she had come up with lyrics that fit the rhythm of the song in the space of about four minutes was incredible. I continued strumming the guitar, and Miku continued singing.

"Zutto, tsuzuku, shiawase dato

Omotteita watashi wa

Anata toiu hikari kiete

Nagai yoru ga kuru no

Kimi ga mada waratteru

Yasashisa ni michi afureta

Mune no naka tojikometa

Taisetsuna ano egao o…"

When Miku stopped singing, my strumming died out. I didn't really know what to say.

"You speak Japanese?" was the only thing I could think of saying.

She looked at me warily before nodding slightly. "Yeah… My parents are Japanese."

"That's cool. My native languages are both English and Japanese." I don't know why, I just felt like talking to her. So I did.

Miku looked at me and blushed. She looked like she enjoyed speaking to me. Which must have been a first for anyone, ever.

"...What's it called?" I asked. She thought for a moment before speaking.

"Hope."

"...I like it." I got all the papers together and got one paper folder to put them all in. In permanent marker, I wrote ''Hope' by Miku and Luka' on the front. Then I got a blank piece of lined paper and handed it to Miku.

"Write the lyrics that you just sung down." With that, I got up and grabbed one of the electric guitars from a stand, and turned on the computer at the other end of the room. As I waited for the computer to load up, I snuck a glance at Miku, only to see that she was staring at me. Immediately, she looked away, and started writing down the lyrics onto the paper.

My gaze lingered on her for a few seconds after she looked away, before I opened up the workstation. I clicked a few things before nodding, and picking up the electric guitar. I strummed a few chords to check that it was in tune before I plugged it into an amp and put a microphone in front of it. Then I got to work recording the guitar.

I got it done after two goes; on the first go, I realised I had never started actually recording the guitar, and had to redo it again. Luckily, I don't think Miku noticed my mistake.

I finished recording both guitar parts, then checked how much time I had left. Fifteen minutes. I recorded the bass guitar next, as there wasn't a drum kit in this particular practice room that I could use. As soon as I saved the work I had got done, I heard the bell that told students and staff the school over that it was time to go home. I sighed, and shut down the computer. I picked up the folder and checked to see if Miku had written up the lyrics.

I smiled at the piece of paper. It had the title of the song along with our names across the top of the page, and underneath it had both the Japanese script and its English translation. She outdid herself. I only expected the Japanese lyrics Gently, I put the piece of paper in the folder, before walking towards the door.

"Wait…" Miku's small voice stopped me in my tracks. I turned my head slightly towards her. I waited for her to speak.

"...C-Can I walk home with y-you?" she asked timidly. Straight away I knew why Miku wanted to go with me. There was no way I could refuse her request without coming off as a total douche who didn't care for others.

"Yeah."

I heard her shuffling behind me. When I heard a soft cough behind me I turned around to see her stood there, cutely scratching her nose. I had to suppress the smile that was threatening to show on my features. Hastily, I walked out of the practice room and put the folder on top of the existing pile. Only when I was sure that Miku couldn't see me did I let the smile show.

Form that day on, Miku walked home with me everyday. The walk was more often silent than not, but it wasn't an awkward silence - it was a comfortable silence. After a week of walking home together, I decided to sit at Miku's table. Since the twins had left, the table that Miku usually sat at only had one, sole occupant. I was going to sit in the my regular spot outside when I noticed the tealette looking my way. As expected, Miku blushed and looked down at her food, which was a leek sandwich and a small bottle of vegetable juice.

I was pretty sure that Miku wouldn't mind me sitting there, so I got my lunchbox, went over to her table and started to unwrap my sandwich. She glanced up at me, a look of confusion settling over her flushed face.

"Why…?" she asked.

I just shrugged and took a bite out of my sandwich. She didn't prod further, and just ate her own food, the same comfortable silence settling over the table as when we walked home.

This routine carried on for the next two years. We'd eat together, work together in class if we needed to, and then walk home together, all in that same comfortable silence. When one of us saw that the other was a bit down, we wouldn't question it - but we always knew when something was up.

When we were both fifteen, things changed. I first noticed how she looked a lot more tired. Even during a few classes she fell asleep and ended up getting a detention for it. I waited behind for her every time this happened, but I didn't ask about what was happening.

Then, she ate less and less as the days went by. Before, she used to open her lunchbox excitedly and dig into the leek-related food item. Now, it was like she had to force herself to swallow down a few bites. Again, I didn't ask.

During gym classes, she had to regularly sit out. Every time we had that lesson, she would go up to the teacher and just sit out to the side. At this point, I definitely knew something was up with Miku. She usually loved gym class. But, of course, I didn't ask. I didn't suddenly have the right to know about what was going on in her life. ...If only I had asked.

Despite all these things I noticed, there were a lot of things I only discovered after it happened. I never knew that she lived with an abusive mother. I didn't know that she had a younger brother who had been murdered by his mother. I didn't noticed the self-inflicted scars that littered her wrists, her thighs, her legs. And, most foolishly of all, I didn't notice that she was in love with me.

I only managed to find out these things when Miku didn't come into school one day. Although her condition was getting worse and worse every day, she still managed to keep a perfect attendance record since the day she had gotten back after almost being raped. I knew something was up when she didn't come into school.

I sat through half of my first class before raising my hand to ask the teacher to go to the bathroom. It was a Thursday, and I had music first lesson. We were covering some theory that I already knew. The music teacher liked me, and he let me go. I didn't go to the bathroom, though. Instead, I went into the classroom I knew was both empty and had broken window locks.

I shut the door behind me, then raced over to the window. I opened it, then jumped through it. Fortunately, this classroom was on the ground floor, so I fell onto the grass fasely, before climbing over the gate, leaving the school grounds. Then, I started my walk to Miku's house.

When I got there, it looked deserted. I could hear nothing coming out of the house, and all the lights were off. Admittedly, I was slightly wary as to whether or not I should go in or not. But then I remembered Miku could be in there. I walked in without hesitation.

As soon as I opened the door, the strong scent of blood invaded my nostrils. My heart dropped. No.

I looked in the first room to my right. There was no-one in there. I staggered to the next room. There was a woman there, who had teal hair that looked so similar to Miku's own. She was watching TV, a bottle of whiskey in her hands. A bottle of whiskey in her red, blood-stained hands. No.

The last room on the first floor had a puddle of blood in front of it. I already knew what was inside this room before I even walked in. I don't know why I felt like vomiting when I walked in.

On the sofa near the back of the room was Miku in her school clothes. Her hair was tied up in her regular teal pigtails. Her red schoolbag was next to her left hand.

Blood covered her white school shirt. The skin that I was so used to seeing flushed red with nervousness was pale. Her hair, her long, soft, silky hair was more red than teal. There was a massive cut along the front of her shirt, and blood oozed out of it.

No...

I gasped, and staggered further into the room. I knelt down next to her dead body. I felt for a pulse one her cold, white neck. Nothing.

My next memories are practically nonexistent. Everything went red. It was just like when that rapist went after Miku when she was twelve. Except this time, everything was more vivid.

The next thing I remember is waking up at home, in bed. Luki wasn't there this time. I got up. I went downstairs. I saw a letter on the floor, and picked it up. It was for me. The address was written in Miku's handwriting.

I went back upstairs and climbed into bed before I opened it. I read the contents slowly, letting every word etch itself into my being before moving on to the next one. She told me everything. Absolutely everything.

She told me that she knew she was going to die. She told me about her backstory. She told me about how her life changed when I saved her that day. She told me about her worsening condition. She told me that either her mother or the cancer would get her first. She even told me that she loved me.

As I read the last sentence, I knew what I was going to do. End it all.

Some might consider it the coward's way out. I see it as an opportunity to be with her again. That is something I will do anything for. So, I planned it out. I burnt Miku's letter, just like she asked me to. Then, I went and ate four whole cans of tuna. It was a nice last meal. After that, I went to sleep.

That was yesterday. It's Friday today. I've always loved Fridays. The day when Miku first came and talked to me those nine years ago was a Friday.

...It's funny how many things you realise you love when you know they're all about to go. Or, when they are already gone. That's the case with me and Miku.

...I'm an idiot. It was obvious that Miku, at the very least, had a crush on me. But, alas, I was too dense to notice it. Maybe, just maybe, I would have known about her feelings, about her illness, if I tried talking to her on those walks home, or when we ate lunch together.

Actually, no. Fuck that. We both know that I wouldn't have talked to her. That silence would have never been broken. I'm still terrified of failure, like that cold little girl from nine years ago. Some things never change.

Anyway, the whole point of me painstakingly writing out mine and Miku's story. You can probably guess what's going to happen to me.

I don't know who is reading this. It's probably Luki. I'm really sorry, Luki. I know I haven't been talking to you since she died, and that you are worried sick over me. I realise how much it will hurt you to find this letter, then only realise what I've done at the end of it. It's selfish of me, I know, but you've always said you want me to be happy. For me to be happy, I need to be with her. And for me to be with her, I have to die. I'm sorry.

You'll find me in the alleyway where Miku was almost raped. My body shouldn't be in a really bad condition. I'm already burdening you enough, what with having to deal with me dying. I wouldn't want you to have to witness the horrors that I saw.

Don't make too much of a fuss over my funeral. I don't want it to be big. But do try and bury me close to Miku. That's all I ask.

Goodbye for now,

Megurine Luka

PS: As an afterthought, I should also mention that it was me who killed Miku's mother. Even though I don't even remember doing it, it was probably me. But, at least, now I'm dead, so you won't have to deal with a court case, right?

Sorry, again. I'll stop breathing, now.

A/N: That's, like, the most dramatic thing I've ever written. Woah.

I wrote this over five hours last evening and an hour today. it was originally supposed to be a ~1,000 word oneshot. Now, it's a ~5,000 word oneshot. :D

I've not abandoned Improvements. It's just that the latest chapter is really long, and I wanted to write Miku, since she doesn't show up in that other chapter. Oh well. Sorry.

Please review this - I practically live for feedback. So, please please please review. Please. Thanks. And read my other story if you haven't. It's semi-decent.

Disclaimer: I do not own Vocaloid, and the song is 'Hope' by Yuyoyuppe. It's a really good song. I recommend you listen to it.

Edited on 28-5-16 for grammar errors and little continuity errors. If I've missed any, please let me know!