It all began late one October evening. My friend Akita (Akita Neru to be exact) had come over to my house to seek refuge from her brother, Nero, who was bawling his eyes out all the way from Nagoya after losing a hockey game. Ten hours, sitting in traffic, from Nagoya all the way to Sapporo, I was surprised she didn't snap sooner. We had just settled ourselves on the couch in our PJ's with a snack, watching Monty Python and the Holy Grail, when my own brother, Mikuo, entered the room. His usually cheerful face was replaced by a stern and serious look.

"Miku, phone for you. It's Rin." He flung the cordless phone over the couch and into my lap.

"Awwww, and it's the French Taunter too! Mikuo-onii-chan, why didn't you tell he I was busy?" He looked as if he could rip apart the fiercest lion with his bare hands at that moment.

"Ok, Ok! Don't give me that look! Rin, what's up?"

"Finally! I thought you'd never answer!" "Well we were watching the Holy Grail and-…"

"Miku, I don't care about that right now, just turn on the news!"

Akita heard the command (as we have super sharp hearing to pick up the correct notes when matching pitch from an instrument) and quickly flicked on Hokkaido TV. It was around 11 and that's when the news usually starts so we got lucky. A pretty newswoman appeared as the news began

"Good evening I'm Saki Fushimiya. Today the family of Yuki Sohmozaki was shocked and bewildered at this stunning event. The 17 year old daughter of actress and model Ran Tani was found washed up on the banks of Tokyo Bay last month Dead. She had been kidnapped by ex-boyfriend Akito Pingyi, a Japanese-Korean transfer student, raped, then tied up and thrown off the Rainbow Bridge with her wrists slit. Her funeral was last Friday.

"Yesterday, the police reopened her coffin to check to see if fingers found at the scene match the missing ones, only to find it empty. There was a frantic search but it was for nothing. Until today. Spatial Archeologists headed to the site of 2001's Tycho Magnetic Anomaly 1 (or TMA-1), in the Tycho Crater of the Moon, to find more answers. Instead they found the body of the missing Sohmozaki, leaning against the Monolith. It was covered with strange markings that were not there upon burial. The body is being sent to the United States Base of Columbia Hills on Mars to be analyzed before returning to Earth." Rin spoke.

"Hate to break it to you, Miku, but Len and I are on layover in Barcelona, and we can't make it." I stared at the phone.

"What?"

"Oh. AGGGH! Meiko! Why must you be such a ditz!" she yelled exasperatedly.

"Just go to our homepage or to the US's space program homepage and you'll see. Aww, shoot, gotta run. Len's hitting on a bunch of Swedish models and their getting a little frisky, Bye!"

And she hung up. I quickly accessed NASA's website and logged in. There, in bold Arial font was a list of names. Akita and I quickly scanned through the list. Famous astronauts, scientists, physicists, aeronautics professors, and a few great minds of the digital age were all on the list. And at the bottom, in bold letters, was this:

Meiko Sakine

Kaito Sakine

Miku Hatsune

Mikuo Hatsune

Rin Kagamine

Len Kagamine

Gakupo Kamui

Luka Megurine

Megumi Poid

Neru Akita

Nero Akita

Haku Yowane

Dell Yowane

Teto Kasane

Ted Kasane

You are to report IMMEDIATLEY to the nearest spaceport for transportation to International Space Station 5 where you will await orders until further notice.

Dr. Heywood Floyd, Head of department of Aeronautics.

Akita made a quick phone call home to Nero, saying that they had to go. I did a quick glance at Mikuo, who winked and said "we'll be there, you go on ahead." So after Akita and I packed our things, we set off for Sapporo airport in Akita's yellow V8 BMW. We then caught a plane to Tokyo, and headed to the Spaceport wing of their transportation.

A pretty lady at the desk spoke as we rolled on up.

"Ohayo Gozaimasu! How may I help you?"

We had forgotten it was almost 2:30 am, but Akita and I shrugged it off. "Um, we're here for one of the special flights specified on the NASA website." Her face darkened.

"I'll need to see proper identification and the list which your names are on."

Akita pulled the paper out of her carry-on and pushed it forward. She had highlighted our names so now they looked like Miku Hatsuneand Neru Akita. We both brought out our Driver's Licenses, our passports, and our official Vocaloid ID cards. Finally when she was satisfied, her smile returned and she printed tickets. "Enjoy your flight! I hope you figure out this mess!" we waved goodbye to the woman and marched into our gate.

Akita flopped down in a chair and moaned "What I would give for a Breakfast Burrito right now…" I fidgeted with my passport, which would not go back in its case. "So would I. I saw a Mc Donald's on the way here, want me to run and get you one?" She nodded. "I'll watch the stuff." Wallet in hand, I marched over to the said fast food restaurant.

Waiting in line was annoying, and my skirt was being ornery so I tried to flatten it. While this was happening I could hear two people speaking Russian. I switched my voice regulator to International languages and listened.

"…NASA's getting involved, this is a HUGE mission." Said one

"Vladek, how can you be sure? What if their theory about those markings is right? What would it do?"

"Dimitri. If it was at all right, which is physically impossible on all levels, and then we can start worrying. There is no way-NO WAY!-that this girl has any relation to them!"

"But Vladek! The royal family was huge! To get rid of all traces of it, they had to kill more than 300 people! And they don't even know if they got them all!" "Dimitri, there is no way that the royal family of Lunaria could have survived. And even if their script is burned into the Sohmozaki girls skin, she can't be the incarnated one, according to Dr. Johannes' theory. It has to be someone else…"

I switched back to Japanese as I approached the counter.

"Four Breakfast Burritos and Two large Cokes, please." The cashier punched it in and said "8000 yen please!" giving her the change, I grabbed the bag and cradled it in my arms, the cups of soda in my hands and dashed back to the gate. Akita was texting on her phone, which was usual for her. Not looking up, she spoke in a bored voice,

"So, you got them?" I nodded and pulled two out, tossing one to her.

"Yup. I got two extra."

"Sweet."

She grinned eagerly, unwrapping the paper and taking a big, satisfied bite. And well so did I. Between bites of burrito she mentioned the two Russian men I had seen earlier. She swallowed, and sucked on her coke for a moment, then said,

"Seemed like they were talking about дом." She said the last word in Russian, her favorite language to speak in. It meant "Home". I didn't say a word as I finished my first burrito.

"It also sounded like they were talking about 心の王子様, eh, Ohime-sama?" she grinned. "Aw, shuddap, or I'll eat your burrito." I said slyly and began sucking at my soda.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Ok, new story to satisfy my cruel obsession with 2001. DARN YOU STANLEY KUBRICK!! =0 Anyway…

There will be two (maybe more) pairings in this story, and everyone will be apart of this.

The Russian is actually Home and the Japanese is "Kokoro Ouji-sama" or "Heart Prince"

ALL WILL BE EXPLAINED IN TIME!!!