Ok so I 'spose I've got some explainin to do.
All my other stories are on hiatus.
I'll give you the short version: I'm suffering from some serious writer's block. I'm drawing a blank over here. I need some time away from both BAMS and Secret Sins so I can get myself excited about them again. So I'm writing this.
This is actually an idea I got around the same time I started writing Secret Sins, but wanted to save it for when I finished BAMS (which isn't going to happen anytime soon OTL)
But I really wanted to post SOMETHING, so I've been working on this for a couple weeks. I'll continue if I get at least one review~
Disclaimer: once upon a time, I didn't own Vocaloid. And so I cried.
The city lights all shine too bright against the chill of ether anesthesia
At 2 AM, insomnia has taken me and things are changing rapidly
My stomach feels like a hundred degrees
Running low on fuel like a lighter without its oil
Oh, wouldn't I be relieved
If you could tell me that all of this has been lies
Rin Kagene groaned as her favorite song, 'Meltdown', rings from her phone, echoing loudly all throughout her empty apartment. She rose out of her blankets with a quiet whine, wanting to chuck the phone at the wall. She reached over through the tangle of sheets and fumbled around for the stupid thing, finding it and shutting it up after a few moments of suffering.
...Another day of the prison known as school.
She rolled out of bed and blew a sad kiss in honor of her brethren, AKA her sheets and comforter, before shuffling over to her dresser. She changed into her school uniform and pulled on her socks, long navy ones that go over her knees. She made her way drowsily to the bathroom and dragged a hair brush through her long blonde hair, clipping back her bangs with four white clips and tying her favorite white bow on her head.
After washing her face and washing her face, Rin padded out of the bathroom and into the kitchen, picking up an orange from the bowl on the table and slipping into her shoes. "I'm off," she called, yet she knew she would receive no answer.
It's the same process every day. Wake up, get dressed, hygiene, orange, and the usual attack from...
"Rinnehhhhhhhhhhh~!" A force tackled the blonde in a hug from behind.
...Kasane Teto.
"Oi, Teto, get off me..." the girl whined, trying to push her off with no success.
"But I wuv you~!" She protested, nuzzling the girl's cheek affectionately.
"Aha, so you finally accept that you're a lesbian?"
Teto grinned and released her. The two continued walking and matched their paces. "Only for you, babe."
Rin laughed. "Aw, Ted will be so disappointed."
"Well he'll have to accept the fact that you're my uber-sexy waifu, won't he?" Teto said as she skipped alongside her.
Meet Teto Kasane, Rin's best (and only) friend. The girl is a walking and talking ball of energy and french bread. They met a couple years ago when Rin transferred here from the States when she was 14. Teto was just as much of a loner as she was, being the crazy and misunderstood girl she is. When she saw Rin one day sitting alone at lunch, she automatically claimed her as her soul sister. At first, she was a bit of a pest, but she began growing on the normally antisocial girl until they were best friends.
When they reached school, they had to bid each other goodbye for the reason of separate classes. Teto was a year ahead of Rin, in her final year of high school. Rin was only 16. She was terrified of the day Teto were to graduate (which she was sure to, since she was an honor student, even if she acted bonkers most of the time). She'd be left alone in a sea full of sharks, also known as her peers.
Rin didn't miss the sight of Lily Ijime staring her down with her critical blue eyes as she took her seat in homeroom. Rin naturally avoided eye contact and kept to herself as she pulled out her notepad full of songs and poems that she loved to write. She slipped it under her textbook whenever Hiyama Sensei glanced over.
"Okay pupils," he began.
Rin rolled her eyes. Pupils. Who calls students "pupils" now a days? C'mon Hiyama Sensei, stop acting older than you look.
"Today we'll have a new student joining us in class today. Kagamine-kun, you may enter."
The classroom door swung open, revealing a boy that just reeked of troublemaker. There was no other word to describe his aura other than that. He waltzed in without a care in the world, even wearing a somewhat bored expression on his handsome face. Rin rolled her eyes once more when she saw the girls practically swooning in their seats.
"You may introduce yourself," Hiyama Sensei instructed.
"Kagamine-kun" took a breath and eyed Hiyama Sensei, still with that bored expression. He seemed to have gone out of his way to look casual and careless, wearing a dark gray hoodie underneath his standard black blazer instead of a collared white shirt, unlike the rest of the males in our class. His blonde bangs were as messy as his ponytail. He had his hands in his pockets like a normal teenage boy would.
But his eyes told another story to Rin.
They were the brightest of blues, strikingly icy and cold. They seemed like they had seen it all, and wasn't impressed in the least. They seemed older than the boy who possessed them, and clearly not friendly at all.
"My name is Kagamine Len, 17, nice to meet you," he announced in a slightly accented voice, though Rin couldn't tell what kind it was.
"You can sit by Ijime-san. Ijime-san, please stand."
Lily stood up, winking at Kagamine and twisting a strand of her long, honey blonde hair that made me glare at my own blonde locks in envy. Kagamine looked her over, as if one would look at a menu in a restaurant. He seemed fairly interested, and he took the seat to her left.
The rest of class went as usual. Hiyama Sensei drilled the students with tons of hard questions until they reached the end of the period, when he was to leave and be replaced with their math teacher, Honne Sensei. Since Honne Sensei was running late, they had free time until he arrived.
Most of the class crowded around Kagamine, asking questions like where he was from, what was his accent about, why he wasn't wearing proper uniform, if he was single, etc. He'd answer every other one, with vague answers like "out of the country", "didn't know our language very well", "because I wanted to", and "depends on who's asking."
Rin wished Teto and her were in the same year, so she'd have someone to talk to instead of having to drone out the swoons of girls Kagamine would wink at when they asked him a question.
She decided to pull out her notebook and try to finish the song she was writing. She had yet to come up with a name for it, but already had several lines of lyrics:
Since the very moment we were born, we've been lacking something
And when I realized it, I was already by your side, somehow
It's not that there is any
Concrete basis to this
But with you by my side, I can complete what I lack
That's how I feel
She came up with the lyrics at about 2:30 AM a couple nights ago, out of the blue. Since most of her most creative and successful ideas come to her at that time, she decided to just roll with it.
She tapped her orange and yellow striped mechanical pencil against her bottom lip. She'd caught a severe case of Writer's Block once again, and still needed to come up with the music to go with the lyrics as well. She was about to write something down, but all the sudden her notebook was ripped out from under the pencil. Her head snapped up to see Lily smirking down at her, holding it in her perfectly manicured hand.
"What's this, Kagene-chan~?" Lily asked, swinging the notebook leisurely between two fingers.
Rin usually kept to herself when Lily bullied her, but her notebook was an exception. No one can touch it but herself. No one.
"Please give that back to me, Ijime-san," Rin asked, trying to contain her temper.
"I just asked a question. Ya gonna answer or do I have to look through it myself?" Lily threatened, that annoyingly coy smile on her beautiful features.
"It's... It's private! It's really important to me, so if you could just-"
She ignored Rin and opened the notebook, to her horror. "'I can't figure you out at all, so when I'm not aware at all, there's no possible way you can steal my heart~!'" Lily cried in an over dramatic voice, reciting the lyrics to a song called "Melancholic" that Rin had written about a year ago.
Her face burned when she felt all of her classmates' eyes on her. She hated how she blushed so easily, from her head to her toes in red. "G-Give it back!" she protested.
"Tch. Touchy touchy, are we? Fine, it's not like anyone wants to hear your stupid lyrics anyway," she huffed and threw Rin's notebook onto the floor.
Rin could feel tears brimming at the edges of her eyes, but quickly wiped them away. She reached down to pick up her notebook, only to have someone else snatch it up before she could.
"Here," an accented voice said.
The blonde looked up to see Kagamine himself standing in front of her, holding out the notebook. His face remained expressionless, but those icy eyes of his burned into her, examining every detail. She took the notebook feebly, probably looking as pitiful as she felt. "T-Thank you," Rin said in a shy voice.
He stared at her even more. Then he did something... strange. He took in a deep breath, as if he were... sniffing? What the hell...?
A look of interest overtook his face for a moment, and he opened his mouth to say something when Lily butted in and grabbed his arm. "Len-kuuuun~! Don't waste your time with her, she's not worth it. Come play with me for a while, ne?"
She pulled him away, even though he kept looking at Rin strangely, as if she had sprouted a second head or something.
What in the world...
"I could feel his eyes on me for the rest of the morning, till I finally escaped at lunch," Rin told Teto.
"Really? That's creepy... And you said he sniffed you?!" she asked incredulously, stuffing her mouth with rice once again.
"Yeah! Then he stared at me like I was some rare species of a bug!" the young blonde exclaimed.
"Hmm... This is why I wish we were in the same year. I must protect my Rinneh from freaks like this!" she proclaimed, holding a fist close to her chest. Rin had to fight a smile at that.
"Anyway, the girls are swarming him like moths to a flame. You'd need a crowbar to pry Lily off his arm," Rin said while leaning against the tree behind her.
Teto and Rin usually ate lunch out in the courtyard, which was surprisingly pretty empty most of the time, even though it was such a beautiful place on a nice day. Though, today, since Kagamine was eating out here somewhere a bit away from the two, most of the kids from her year occupied their special place. It somewhat irritated Rin, as if it was ruining an escape for her to just be with her best friend without any drama or bullying.
"Hey, Rin, where's your lunch?" Teto asked and raised a dark pink eyebrow.
"I- uh- didn't bring one! I'm not usually hungry, so..." Rin lied horribly.
Rin's stomach betrayed her and growled loudly. Her cheeks flooded with red. Teto glared at her and Rin laughed nervously.
"It happened again, didn't it," Teto deadpanned.
"Maaaaaaybe..."
"Ugh! Screw it, Rin! Start standing up for yourself for Pete's sake!" Teto scolded and reached for the girl's bag, searching for Rin's bento for proof.
She pulled it open, to find various eraser shavings in the rice and other food. Rin could practically see a vein pop in her forehead when she slammed it shut. "Here. Let's share," she said in a strained voice.
Rin was surprised yet happy that she had decided not to give the whole "standing up for yourself" lecture and just let it go. She passed Rin her chopsticks to borrow.
As the blonde ate, Teto laid back in the grass, staring up at the bright blue sky. She took a deep breath. "Who was it this time?" she finally said after a few minutes of silence.
Rin shrugged and chewed on some egg. "Dunno. Didn't see 'em. Probably Lily again, though," she said boredly.
Teto picked at some grass. "How can you be so nonchalant? Doesn't it hurt?" she asked after a moment.
RIn glanced over and saw Lily giggling obnoxiously about something Kagamine said. "I guess... I'm just used to it."
Teto laughed bitterly. "That's a sad thing to be able to say, Rin."
Rin looked over at the girl's laying form over there, staring at the sky. Her best, and only, friend.
"Hm. I guess," I mumbled.
The bell rang in the distance, signalling the end of lunch. "See you later, Teto," Rin said as she packed up my things and turned toward the school building.
"Right..." Teto said, not quite looking at her.
Rin started to walk in the other direction, but she stopped when Teto called, "Hey, Rin!"
"What is it?" she turned and asked.
"Can I... Can I walk you home tonight? Please?" she asked and wore a guarded expression.
The blonde raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, sure, I guess."
"Thanks," was all she said before she took off to go to her own class.
Rin stared after her in confusion. Why was she acting so deep and... well, un-Teto like all the sudden? She decided to just let it go and get back to class.
And don't think she didn't feel Kagamine's eyes on her still as she walked back to class.
"Honestly... That girl..." Rin muttered and glanced at her watch once again
The sun was already almost set, and she was still waiting for Teto to arrive while sitting on the school steps. The fall air was getting chillier by the minute, and she wasn't sure she could take waiting much longer. After another 15 minutes, she gave up and threw her backpack over her shoulder, beginning her way home.
It got darker and darker as Rin walked, and she worried that creepers might find a small girl like her to look like a target. She decided to take a shortcut through the woods; that would get her to her apartment much faster than going by the usual path.
The sun was finally gone, and darkness enveloped the woods as she crunched her way through the leaves. She was sure she was about as noisy as a mama cow, but didn't really care. In her mind, there's usually no wildlife or anyone out there as far as she knew, so she could be as noisy as she wanted, right? Besides, being loud is one of her few specialties.
"Hey, where are we going Len-kun~?" an all too familiar voice asked.
Rin stopped in her tracks and whipped her head around in search of her tormentor. She held her breath when she spotted two figures near a tree not too far from her. She crept over to peek around a tree, squinting to see what they were doing.
"Len-kun~?" Lily asked again.
Kagamine was silent as he pushed her up against a tree. Rin blushed slightly and felt ashamed to watch such an intimate moment between the two. Still, why did they have to do it out here? It's too cold. Rin wanted to shout out at them, "GET A ROOM," but decided not to make a bad impression in front of Kagamine (even though he already creeped her out) and insure even more bullying from Lily in the future.
"Ooh~ So you don't like taking it slow, I take it~?" Lily purred, but Rin could tell that she was slightly surprised.
"Silence," Kagamine- Len- hissed at her coldly and neared her neck.
Dayum. Someone's kinky, Rin couldn't help but think.
She could practically see Lily blushing like a fool as she squealed when Len put his lips on her neck. She was about to take her leave and give them some privacy when she heard Lily scream loudly. Rin looked at them curiously. What was that about? Aren't they just making out...?
"EEEK! What are you...! Please...! Stop it!" Lily shouted.
Curiosity getting the better of her, Rin crept closer to get a better look at what was happening. Come to think of it, she couldn't hear any kissing noises, as gross as it sounds...
Lily's blonde hair glinted in the moonlight as her head lolled to the side. Her hands fell from Len's shoulders and went limp by her waist. After a few moments, Len finally moved away and stood back. Lily fell to her knees and onto the ground unceremoniously, making a loud crunching noise when her head hit the leaves. Rin squinted at her neck to look for hickey or something, when instead she saw...
Rin's hands covered her mouth to keep herself from gasping in horror. What were those two marks...? Why were they bleeding...?!
She didn't think before she took a step back and into the leaves. The crunch of the leaves echoed throughout the woods. Her eyes widened in terror and a lump formed in her throat when Len's head snapped in the direction of the sound, his gaze landing straight on her.
Suddenly, he was standing right in front of Rin, so close his messy bangs brushed against her forehead. But that's not what horrified her.
His eyes. They were no longer their striking blue hue.
They were a dark crimson.
Ho, a cliffhanger. And a cheesy as hell one at that XD.
Now, some author's notes:
Just to be clear, Rin's school uniform is based off of the one she and Miku wore in Project Diva.
Yes Rin's hair is long. Pay attention to the lyrics of a certain vampire song by Len and you'll know why~
Explanation for Lily's last name: "Ijime" is "bully" in Japanese romaji. I may be incorrect, though, so correct me if I'm wrong.
Idk about you, but one of the first things I notice about new people is their eyes. But maybe it's just me ._.
R-review? ;w;