The Maiden and the Monster
Chapter One

'Once Upon a Time'


Ask anybody about Hatsune Miku, and they would have described her as a sweet-natured girl; always polite and always smiling.

Her hair was a lovely turquoise colour, and fell to her waist. However, it was always tied back in a pigtails; it interfered with her work less, as she wondered her small village, sewing seeds and tending to the livestock.

Because Miku lived in a rather poor town, with only a few thatched cottages and a windmill, she wore simple clothes. However, her father was a merchant, and occasionally he would bring home lovely dresses made of fine silks (or at least, as fine as he could afford- but Miku was his only child, and he doted on her). When she wore the soft fabrics, Miku could imagine she was a princess- perhaps the ruler of their kingdom wore such things?

But Miku would never wear these in public, for fear of dirtying them. She was very practical in that manner.

There was, however, one problem.

Although Miku was as courteous a girl as you would ever hoped to have met, she was completely blind – her eyes grey and unfocused, completely useless.

From the day she had been born, to the proud age of her current sixteen years, she had never even seen her own mother's face.

Because of her condition, Miku was forbidden from entering the forests that surrounded the small village. Her parents fretted she would be attacked by bandits or – worse still – wild animals, and she would be unable to defend herself.

Sadly, as Miku was unable to participate in strenuous manual labour like the other villagers, they soon began to resent her.

The children, especially, would cluster in groups, and bad-mouth the turquoise-haired girl, for – as they believed – being 'too lazy' to work as hard as everyone else.

One day, as Miku was stood outside enjoying the gentle breeze, she overheard a conversation-

"I mean, really." The voice was quite high and sharp, laden with dislike; it belonged to a rather short girl called Neru. "There's nothing physically wrong with her. Why should I work hard all day when she basically gets to sit at home all the time?"

"I know," agreed Teto sympathetically. "All this work is so- urgh! It makes my skin crawl."

"That's called sweat, dummy."

"Perspiration, I think you'll find. Ehe~"

"Sweat or perspiration, I couldn't give a damn. I suppose Little Miss Perfect has never worked so hard as to sweat before- or maybe she sweats perfume, being so perfect and all."

"Hmm, yathink? Maybe we should find out?"

"Yeah. Work her in the fields until her hands bleed. Gah!" At this point, Miku could hear a scuffle- Neru had kicked at the dusty ground with her cheap, straw zori. "My fingers were so numb yesterday, I couldn't sew my dress together properly! Doesn't the hem look crooked?"

"Maybe a little. Hee. Do you think Miku-san can sew?"

Neru snorted derisively. "Don't make me laugh! God, she must have it so easy. Her parents must do all the cooking and cleaning- ha, I bet if she tried to sew and poked her finger with the needle, they'd be all over her." Here, Neru did a rather cruel (but uncannily accurate) imitation of Miku's mother's voice; "Oh my gosh, my darling! My baby! Are you alright? Here, let me kiss it better…"

At this point, both Neru had Teto had burst into peals of cruel laughter.

No longer able to stand it, Miku wheeled about on the spot, and began walking towards her house. Or at least, she thought she had been walking towards her house- but, quite suddenly, a pair of strong arms caught her. Her slender frame crashed into a taller, more muscular one.

There was an 'oof', a moment of disorientation, and then Miku felt herself being pushed back. Fingers gripped round her arms, and her face felt red; somebody was staring at her. Scrutinising her.

"Miku-san," said the calm, masculine voice.

Suddenly, Miku knew who it was.

"Hello, Ted-san," Miku formally greeted Teto's older brother. She would have bowed, but he still had hold her upper body.

"Miku, did you get lost?" he asked. Ted was always rather nice to Miku; he seemed far too mature and understanding to poke fun at her. "You were walking towards the forest."

"I- oh!" Miku gasped, her mouth a perfect circle. "T-thank you for stopping me…"

She assumed she must have been more rattled by Neru and Teto's comments than usual. What with being so upset, she must have strayed off the correct path somehow; too sad to notice. If Ted hadn't stopped her, she…

Miku shuddered.

Horror stories of the forest's dark, foreboding depths crept into her mind. If the rumours were true, worse creatures than animals lurked the trees. There were tales of babies being taken from their beds at night by disfigured creatures, of the cannibalistic woman in red with the crazed eyes, of the ghostly children in kimono that circled strangers and sang them a haunting, goodnight (last night) lullaby.

For somebody who had never seen another human being, these creatures seemed more fearsome to Miku than they would to most; distorted beings with bulging eyes, bloody faces, patchwork bodies.

Real life nightmares.

"Please watch where you are going, Miku-san," said Ted, releasing his hold of Miku's arms. "You could get into real trouble one day, and nobody will be there to catch you."

He had been holding her with a tad too much force, and left marks on her skin when he withdrew.

Miku could tell Ted was smiling. "You're such an airhead. Lost in thought, eh?"

"Something like that." Miku returned the smile. "Thank you again."

"No prob. Just keep out of trouble, kay? Wouldn't want you to get eaten or somethin'." Ted reached down to ruffle Miku's turquoise hair. Then, with a jovial whistle, he walked off. Miku heard his retreating footsteps.

In the background, there was a commotion-

"Tedddddddd!" squealed Teto. "I missed you! Eee!"

"Ow! Whoa, no! Get down! Stop it, Drilly! You're too big and old to jump on me like that!!"

"W-whaaa? I'm not FAT!"

Miku heard this exchange, and sighed mournfully to herself. It seemed she would never be able to converse with her fellow villagers like Ted and Teto did- not so carelessly, with such genuine happiness. People either took pity on Miku, or resented her. Nobody would joke with her, or sing, or laugh, or just stop and talk for a few minutes.

N-no, Miku shook her head. I'm being selfish. After all, I'm lucky to be alive. The doctor said I almost didn't survive…

Being blind isn't a setback. My negative mentality is. I'll have to overcome it somehow.

Maybe, if I prove to Neru and Teto how much I want to fit in, they'll let me be their friend?

And maybe Ted will take more notice of me…

At this thought, Miku's cheeks flushed pink, and she grew quite flustered. Trying to wean her mind off any such Ted-related topics – her heart was beating quite erratically in her brittle ribcage – she tried to gather her bearings, and headed towards her cottage.

Even if she couldn't see, she could still scrub floors.

She needed to do something to take her mind off Ted.


a.n: Lol another fic? XD Eh. I was listening to the Vocaloid song 'the Maiden and the Ogre' when I wrote this. I think it's a very pretty song C: And I wanted to write something fairytale-ish. I might try to make it darker later on, though? XD And depressing like. Anyway. Enjoy. I don't suppose it will be too long.

I got distracted reading fairytales whilst writing this. There are some really weird ones out there :\

Read, review, relax!
Reiimuu C: