Author's Note: Hello wonderful people! This fanfic was my first attempt at a real romance, and for something written by an amateur who had no idea what she was doing this became surprisingly popular. As a result, I have gone back and began editing to flat out rewriting the older chapters so that the writing style in them will better match my current style of writing. I am not a fan of how novice me wrote so, for quality's sake, I have begun fixing up older chapters.
I hope that new readers and old readers alike will appreciate these new versions of some chapters. I have added new scenes, gave better description in some weak places, and improved characters where they just fell flat. I'm not a great writer, but that's not going to stop me from giving my best as I continue to grow as an author.
Disclaimer: If I owned Vocaloid MikuXLen would be official and Yowane Haku and Akita Nero would have voice banks. In other words, I don't own Vocaloid.
-Ray
Miku Hatsune sighed as she watched the clouds slowly pass by. Her best friends in the entire world, twins Rin and Len Kagamine, sat under a tree and rested their eyes. Only Miku took interest in watching the clouds, but she wasn't the only one who loved to soak up the sun.
"Would you like some company?" asked a mischievous girl with chin length blonde hair and large turquoise eyes.
"I thought you were asleep," Miku mumbled, barely moving her lips in the process.
"You thought wrong," Rin replied as she flicked Miku's nose.
"Hey!" the girl laughed as she rubbed the spot Rin had flicked. Sitting up, Miku sought her revenge by flicking Rin on the side of her head.
"You flick hard," Rin complained as she began to run her hand back and forth on the top of her head.
"Someone has to keep you in place," Miku smiled.
Throwing herself down, Rin said, "I don't know how I manage to put up with you every day. You never grow up!"
"Neither do you!" Miku laughed as she, too, lied back down on the freshly cut grass. The twins and Miku had decided to spend their first day of summer break in the park, a practice that had been tradition since Kindergarten. "I can't believe we'll be seniors this school year," Miku sighed.
"Feels like yesterday we started junior high," Rin said, "Where does the time go?"
"Time always goes by faster when you're not looking," Len said from his place under the tree.
"Enough with the proverbs, Len!" Rin joked as she nudged him with the tip of her worn out sneaker. Leave it to Len to be the philosophical one.
"Still," Miku stretched the tips of her fingers to the ends of her toes, "it feels as if we woke up one day and find that over ten years have passed."
Miku Hatsune was a cheery sixteen-year-old girl and younger than the twins by eight months. She had hip length silky turquoise hair and beautiful matching eyes. Her skin was pale white and her lips a glossy pink. Miku was never really the kind of girl to wear make-up; she preferred to simply throw on a random set of clothes and tie her hair up in their signature twin ponytails. Not that Miku was a tomboy, but she would always rather play sports with guys than go shopping.
Rin Kagamine was similar to her best friend, except she called herself a tomboy and couldn't care less about appearances while Miku cared a little. Miku did like to wear dresses and do girly things once in a while, but Rin wouldn't be caught dead doing either. Rin's blonde hair was just barely shoulder length, and she always wore a white headband to keep her hair back, though she wore other colors sometimes. Once Miku had placed a headband with a bow on it on Rin's head, leaving Rin furious that Miku would try to pull such a stunt. Rin actually liked getting into fights and would go against anybody stupid enough to challenge her, making it no surprise she had been suspended from school a few of times. The girl was tougher than almost every boy in school.
Len was Rin's opposite. Len didn't like fighting or getting dirty, so much that Rin would often joke that he was more connected to his feminine side. His shoulder length blond hair was usually twisted into a ponytail to keep from getting in his eyes. When he was a kid he was picked on a lot for hanging out with girls, and when he was in junior high some kids teased him so badly that Miku, having enough, punched one of the kids in the face. Miku may have lost her reputation as the good girl, but since Len was her best guy friend she figured it was worth the loss.
"Hey, Miku," Rin said, "want to get some frozen yogurt?"
"Sure!" Miku chirped as she bolted upright. "I'm getting strawberry!"
The girls jumped to their feet, but Len didn't move. "Come on, Len," Rin said as she began to pull on her brother's arm. "We're getting frozen yogurt."
"Go on without me," Len yawned, yanking his arm free from Rin's grasp. "I would much rather stay here and take a nap."
"But Len," Miku play whined, "it won't be any fun without you around."
"Isn't Rin enough?" Len asked.
"Yeah, Miku," Rin placed her hands on her hips. "Aren't I enough?"
"No," Miku answered. "You can't have the three musketeers when only two of them are present. You can't have a trio with only two. You have to come. You complete the group, Len."
Chuckling, Len pat Miku on the head and said, "Fine, you win. I'm coming."
"Victory!" Miku cheered as she pulled the boy to his feet. Miku always forgot how tall Len was until they stood close to each other. As kids Miku had always been at least two inches taller than him, but after his growth spurt at age sixteen Len had surpassed her in height by a whole head. Len would often tease Miku about their new height difference by resting his chin on the top of her head at random times. Miku would respond by elbowing him in the ribs.
"Come on, slow pokes," Rin called from the sidewalk, "I'm not getting any younger!"
"Better listen to the princess," Miku sighed as she headed towards the blonde.
"You haven't given a command yet," Len smirked.
"Haha, very funny," Miku said. "Those princess jokes are getting a little old."
"Maybe I'm not joking," Len suggested as he walked alongside Miku.
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"Hey, it's Luka," Len pointed out the moment the three of them walked into the frozen yogurt place. "And Kaito and Meiko, too."
"You know those people?" Miku asked, raising her eyebrows.
"They live in our neighborhood," Rin answered as she waved at the trio sitting at the back table.
"That explains it," Miku silently mused. Rin and Len lived in a gated community, and almost nobody was allowed inside unless he lived there. The few times Miku had actually visited she was invited way ahead of time. Normally, in days they were going to hang out together, Miku just stayed outside the gate as she waited for the twins to met her. It was a good thing the gate keeper, Mr. Kamui, was a funny, talkative man because sometimes Miku would wait for a longer time than expected.
"Rin, Len," the girl with the pink hair, who Miku assumed was Luka, greeted, "nice seeing you two here."
"Who's your friend?" another girl asked. She looked like she was college aged, Miku quickly decided. She had brown hair cut in a bob and a pair of piercing brown eyes. She was dressed in a pair of dark blue skinny jeans, red converse, and black T-shirt.
"This is Miku Hatsune," Len introduced. "You must remember her from one of the times she had visited."
"I'm Luka. I've heard so much about you, Miku," Luka said. She was, Miku noticed, very beautiful. She had clear milky skin, pink lips, hip length pink hair, and eyes the perfect shade of blue. She wore a knee length jean skirt and a pink, floweral pattern shirt. Luka seemed to be around Meiko's age.
"It's very nice to meet you," Miku said. Now that she thought about it, she had seen the three of them before when she was actually allowed past the gate. She noticed them looking curiously at her, especially Luka.
"And that's Meiko," Rin pointed out the brunette, "and that there is Kaito."
Kaito's hair was a nicely trimmed dark blue and his blue eyes shone playfully, almost like a child. He wore shorts and a T-shirt that had a college sports team logo on it.
"Nice to meet you," Meiko said.
"Hey," Rin said, "since we're all here why don't we hang out?"
Since no one saw a problem with Rin's suggestion, the six of them ate frozen yogurt and talked together as if nothing was wrong with the world. Miku learned that the trio were twenty years old, in college, and were currently on break. Miku even observed their personalities: Luka seemed very mature but, by the way she smudged some of her yogurt on Meiko's face, she also had a mischievous side. Kaito was more childish than he looked, acting more like an annoying little brother than a friend from college. Meiko came across Miku as a scary woman, giving death glances to Luka for decorating her face and Kaito for basically just existing. Meiko actually seemed relieved when her cell phone went off.
"Hello?" she answered. Her jaw visibly clenched, and when she spoke it was stone cold. "I understand." She hung up and turned to her friends. "Luka, Kaito, we need to go." As the three of them got up she asked "Hey Len, wanna come with?"
Len pressed his lips together and furrowed his brows. Miku could tell that he was debating with himself whether or not to go, and she could tell he was about to refuse.
"Go on, Len," Miku encouraged, "you won't hurt my feelings if you do."
"Are you sure?" he asked, his eyebrows now bolting upwards. "You're not trying to get rid of me, are you?"
"I'm going straight home after this, anyway," Miku said, "no sense in making you miss out on something." She folded her arms. "Plus, I would never get rid of you. You still owe me ten dollars."
"Funny," he said as he stood up to follow the other three. "See you tomorrow."
"Bye Len," Miku waved.
"I wonder why they had to go," Rin said, but by the look on her face she might of had an idea. Her eyes were wide and her lips were slightly parted, a look Miku recognized as one Rin had when she was on the verge of discovering something.
"By the way Meiko acted while on the phone," Miku said, "it must be important." Miku looked at Rin's half eaten yogurt. "Are you going to finish that?"
"Yes!"
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Miku and Rin were walking to Miku's house together. Miku had said that she could go alone, but Rin insisted on walking with her. Miku eventually gave in because arguing with Rin is like banging your head against a wall, you get nothing out of it but a headache.
"I just can't help but wonder," Miku mumbled aloud, "why did they have to go so suddenly like that?"
"Well it didn't concern us so I don't think we need to worry about it," Rin said. By the concern in tone of her voice, Rin knew way more than she was letting on.
"Rin," Miku began, meeting her best friend in the eye, "you're not keeping something from me, are you?"
"Don't be silly," Rin forced a smile on her face. "We're best friends. Why would I keep secrets from you?" Miku noticed that Rin was using her innocent voice, like when she was caught doing something she wasn't.
Miku shrugged. "I can't help that I have a natural sense of curiosity. I might as well be a cat that's how certain I am my curiosity will kill me." Miku gave up on getting Rin to talk so she tried to joke around. It worked.
Rin let out a little laugh, but her laughter was lost when a loud noise came from the front.
"What's that?!" Miku nearly shouted. Her heartbeat had quickened and her urge to run increased in a matter of seconds. Miku tensed all over as she asked, "Rin, do you think we should run?"
Before Rin could say anything a person was violently thrown and slid until he stopped roughly twenty feet in front of them. The person, unaware of the girls, hopped to his feet and prepared himself for something. Suddenly, a huge wolf jumped out of nowhere and attacked the man.
"We need to go!" Rin said as she tried to pull Miku away, but Miku wouldn't budge. Miku should've been scared, but she was far too interested in the sight before her.
Miku studied wolf as it fought the man. The wolf had long, shaggy, yellow fur. It was the largest wolf Miku had ever seen, for even in pictures and on television had she never seen a wolf so big. After she took in the wolf she looked at the man. The man had military cut black hair and he was pale; not pale like Miku, who's skin tone was fair, but a snow, papery white. To her surprise, he was fighting off the large wolf with some ease.
"What's going on?!" Miku unintentionally said aloud. Rin again tried to pull Miku away, but Miku's feet were glued to the ground.
"We need to run!" Rin pleaded with Miku. It was hopeless, Miku, in her stupid state of mind, was not going anywhere.
The man noticed their presence and began to move towards them. The yellow wolf tried to attack from behind, but the man, seemingly aware of the sneak attack, smacked the wolf away as if it were nothing more than a fly. The wolf flew into a tree, causing the tree to break. The wolf looked at the girls and let out a soft whimper.
"Get behind me!" Rin ordered Miku as she positioned herself in front.
"Rin, I-" Miku didn't get to finish.
"Just stay behind me!" Rin ordered. "I'll protect you!"
"Don't be an idiot!" Miku said. "You'll get yourself killed!"
"We promised that we would always protect each other no matter what," Rin said, "remember?"
"This isn't what I had in mind!" Miku yelled. "Please, don't risk yourself for me! Don't put your life on the line for me!"
Rin only held her ground and balled her hands into fists. "When we promised to protect you," Rin said carefully, "we had more in mind then you would have ever known." Miku didn't know what Rin was talking about, but she had never once in her entire life heard the blonde speak in such a determined voice.
The man quickly approached the girls. Miku noticed that the man's eyes were red. Blood red. The eyes had a look about them that made you believe that they could see into your very soul. Miku wanted to squeeze her eyes shut and scream. However, she had no control over her eyelids, and her throat was too tight to make a sound. The next thing that happened surprised her more than everything else in her entire life combined. Rin jumped into the air and when she landed she, too, was a huge, yellow wolf.
