Okay so this is kind of my first Vocaloid fanfic. I'm a little nervous 'cuz Idk if it's any good. I re-read it like 5 times but I'll let you guys be the judges. R & R let me know what you think! :) Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Vocaloids... lol if I did, I think it'd be the end of the world. ;)

Alone

"Why didn't you wake me up sooner!" My classmate Teto yelled while we sprinted down the streets on our way to school. The chilly, spring morning wind was blowing in our faces as she tried desperately to curl her hair into her trademark magenta drills.

"Why couldn't you wake up to your alarm clock like a normal person!" I shot back, making it apparent that I wasn't very thrilled about having to run to school for the fifth time this week. My voice was muffled by my toast hanging from my mouth and we were both slightly panting as we rounded the corner; the school finally starting to come into view.

"It didn't go off!" she glared at me through her bangs.

I just rolled my eyes, shoving the rest of my breakfast into my mouth. "My ass, I heard it beeping out of your window!"

"...Oh."

I sighed as we charged through the iron front gates and into the rundown brick building that some call school; I personally like to call it prison. Please, I can't get another tardy, I pleaded to no one in my head, feeling panic rise within me as each precious second ticked by. Aunt Lilly will kill me, or worse, take away my oranges!

We didn't even have enough time to go to our lockers and dashed through the already empty, brightly lit halls. My lungs were burning and our steps echoed through the school as the open class room door at the end of the hall began to close. Almost... I stretched my hand out in front of me, my heart about to pound out of my chest. ...there! We burst through the door, panting like dogs and about a second later the bell rung.

Oh my God, that was way too close... I sighed and nearly fell to my knees in relief when I heard someone clear their throat.

I hesitantly looked up to see my math teacher, Mr. Hiyama, glaring at us. He was clearly a little pissed that we were holding up his *cough* boring *cough* lesson, so I quickly hurried off to my seat near the window with Teto following directly behind me.

As Mr. Hiyama began to write the notes on the chalk board, I could feel my adrenaline slowly ebbing away and I began to write. Then I felt a poke on my shoulder and turned to Teto, sitting in the seat behind mine. 'What is it?' I mouthed, looking out of the corner of my eye to make sure teach didn't see us.

"See, we made it," she whispered back with a smirk on her face. "You were worried for nothing Miss straight A student."

I frowned and turned back around. So I was good at school even though I hate it with a passion, big deal. I knew a lot of the people in my classes thought of me as a nerd, and that didn't really bother me. It wasn't a bad thing to be smart, was it?

"Rin..." I heard Teto begin quietly. "YOU'RE SO FREAKING CUTE WHEN YOU POUT!" she squealed and grabbed me in a hug around my neck, practically strangling me where I sat. C-can't b-breathe!

"Miss Kasane! Miss Kagene!" Mr. Hiyama shouted, making Teto release me, just as I was about to pass out I might add, and sit back down in her chair. "I would hope that you realize, that I can fail you both without having a second thought." he said menacingly, narrowing his dark eyes at us.

"S-sorry," I stammered, shrinking back in my chair under his intense gaze. Great, not this again. I shrunk down even farther and after a few more seconds of glaring, the lesson resumed.

Why do I always feel like I don't belong here..., I thought as I was taking notes, discreetly turning back to look at Teto out of the corner of my eye. She was mouthing things to her friends across the room and trying to contain laughter when they mouthed things back.

To be completely honest, even though Teto has been the closest thing to a friend I've had in the month I've lived in this town, part of me knew we really weren't friends. When I moved here she was always so nice to me, she would come to talk to me and sometimes eat lunch with me. But when it came down to it, I could always tell that when she was talking to me, I always got the feeling that I wasn't the one she really wanted to talk to.

She puts on the act that she has fun with me and calls me cute probably to help me make other friends, but it's always the same. I'm alone, all alone except for the friend who only hangs out with me because of pity. The past month has been nothing but an act for me, and for her. She acts like she likes me, I act like I'm oblivious to the fact that she doesn't.

...

By the time school finally ended for the day, I was so tired I could barely keep my eyes open. I waited outside for Teto like I usually did and when she turned to me from her friends, I saw the light in her eyes dim a little, no matter how hard she tried to hide it with a smile.

I couldn't believe I was doing this to myself. Was I so desperate for a friend that I would knowingly keep someone that doesn't like me by my side? Apparently I was. It hurt to see a fake smile everyday. Why can't it be real for once? Just that thought itself felt like daggers stabbing at my heart.

"Hey, Rin," Teto smiled one of those so-cheesy-you-know-it's-fake smiles at me. "Sorry, did you wait long?"

"Nope, not at all." I put on the best smile I could and we began to walk back in the direction we came from this morning. It was warmer out now than it was then, and because of the short blue and black checkered skirt and t-shirt I had to wear everyday, I was grateful that I wasn't going to freeze my ass off.

Neither of us talked, because we had nothing to talk about really. I tried to start a conversation every once in a while, but it would only last for a minute or two. I was actually more surprised that I could talk to Teto at all, seeing as we never had anything in common to begin with. I guess that was just another sign of the act I was putting on, all a part of the show. I was just that desperate.

I really didn't understand though, why would she hang out with me if she didn't like me? I knew that she felt bad for me but-

"Hey, it's Kasane." I heard a girl say to her friend as we walked past them. She sounded like she was trying to whisper but come on, I heard her all the way across the freaking street. "I can't believe she's still hanging out with the loner."

"I know right," her friend replied, also completely failing at what they thought was 'whispering'. "What's she thinking; it's like social suicide."

Teto stopped dead in her tracks and looked around frantically, eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "Um, I need to go Rin," she said a little too quickly.

"O-okay," I replied as I felt my heart drop. I knew what was going to happen next. "See you-" She took off running in the opposite direction, even managing to leave a dust cloud in her wake. "...later."

I sighed and continued to walk home with my head hung low, hoping that my blond bangs would keep my hurt expression from being seen. This happened everyday, yet it still never got any easier. Teto would always freak like that when she was seen with me outside of school.

I really didn't get what was so weird about me anyway. Maybe it was because no one knew anything about me other than the obvious shy demeanor and good grades, but then again no one even tried to find out more.

Even Teto didn't, she would only ask the usual 'What's your name? What's your favorite color?' It never really got much deeper than that even though I still to this day wished that it would. I... guess I just wanted a friend that cared...

The only reason I lived in this hell hole was because my parents died in a fire last year. I can still remember that day because it's the day that replays itself in my nightmares.

I had said goodbye to my parents that morning and ran off to school, but when I got back that afternoon, there were sirens blaring, fire trucks out front and my home was up in flames. Some neighbors were staring at the house in shock, others were crying for fear that my family and I were in there.

I remember the smell of the putrid smoke, suffocating me even from a relative safe distance, and the heat that made me believe that I had literally dropped into Hell. Tears started to flow down my face and all I could think was, Where's mom and dad? WHERE ARE THEY! Please don't let them be in there!

Before I knew what I was doing, I was sprinting toward the burning inferno, praying with everything I had that they were safe. I had to see for myself that they weren't in there. Now that I think back, I'm glad that a fireman stopped me from actually going in. Once the fire was put out, the bodies of my parents were discovered in the basement. I would've died before I had even found them.

As far as I was concerned, my world ended that day. At the time I didn't care if I died; if they were gone, I wanted to be with them. However, after my aunt Lily took me in and I moved away from those memories, I realized that I didn't want to die and that my parents didn't want me to die either. They would want me to live and be happy even without them. So that's what I was going to do, and hopefully the pain I still felt from their loss would lessen.

Well... if I could get people to give me a chance, I would. Unfortunately, I was still strictly in the "Work in progress" zone. My sixteenth birthday was tomorrow and I had hoped that I would be past that by then.

It was never like this when my parents were still here. I had friends in my old school, not many, but I had never needed tons of friends. I had hobbies and plans for my future but after the fire, I stopped doing anything. My "friends" abandoned me because I was no longer the happy, outgoing girl they once knew and I couldn't even bring myself to sing or dance anymore. Just because I would remember how my parents used to smile at me when I did.

...

I was almost home when I started hearing rustling noises. There were large sections of trees near my aunt's house that kind of separated one house in the neighborhood from another, so it was relatively secluded where I lived. I knew that the rustling had to be coming from somewhere in the brush, but the question was, what was it? After a few moments of listening to silence I thought, It must be a squirrel or something, and kept walking down the block.

The rustling continued though soon after that, almost sounding like it was getting closer and this "animal" seemed way bigger than a squirrel.

I stopped and cautiously turned toward the trees. I knew that if I got attacked or something, the house was only another block away so it wasn't a difficult run. My heart was pounding as I stepped even closer and yelled, "Hello?" Yes Rin, let's talk to the wolf that could potentially jump out and tear you apart. Ah, stupid logic. But what if it wasn't a wolf? I could only hope by that point that my curiosity wasn't going to get me killed. "Hel-"

"There he is!" A voice suddenly rang out of the trees and I was so surprised I almost fell backwards, clutching my bag to my chest like a shield against a possible animal attack. The bushes near me violently rustled again and the voice yelled, "Hurry up and get him! Don't let that reject get away!"

'Get him'? What are they chasing? Don't tell me... are they bullying someone?! I pushed my way through the brush just in time to see the backs of two boys running as fast as humanly possible after something, or as they seemed to be implying, someone.

"What the hell are you guys doing?" I called after them but my yell went unnoticed as they were starting to disappear the behind trees. "Hey!"

I began sprinting after them, just hoping that I was completely wrong about what they were doing. There was no way I was just going to walk by and let someone get hurt if I could potentially help them!

"I know you guys are out here!" I stopped and started listening for any possible movement, but there was none. Everything around me was completely silent to the point where I started to get a very eerie feeling. The trees weren't moving in the wind, the birds had stopped chirping and even the air had a feeling of heaviness to it.

It's almost like I'm in another world, I thought. There was something different in the air, but I had no idea what it was. I took in a deep breath and that's when I smelled it. S-smoke!

My brain kicked into overdrive, my panic apparent in my voice. "Hey! Someone! Where are you guys! We need to get out of here!" I knew that smell anywhere, I could never forget that smell.

I continued to run, searching for anyone that could be in danger if there was a fire. Please let everyone be okay!

The smell got stronger as I got deeper, but even then I still barely saw anything. There wasn't any thick, black smoke like I was expecting there to be.

Then I suddenly caught a glimpse of something yellow out of the corner of my eye and I almost tripped trying to stop myself. I started wheezing with my hands on my knees before I looked up to see a boy with blond hair and blue eyes, exactly the same as my own. He was sitting up against a tree trunk, looking so exhausted I was surprised he still had his eyes open. His head was hung limply onto his shoulder and his eyes looked partially glazed over as he stared straight at me, no emotion on his face.

"Are you o-" I gasped when I saw his arm. It was gushing blood from three long gashes that looked almost like... claw marks. "Oh my god!" I ran over to him and frantically tried to get him to respond to me.

"Tell me what happened. It's going to be okay but please you need to stay awake!"

The boy's cloudy eyes moved slightly to meet mine and he groaned in pain before mumbling, "It's fine. Just go."

"No way in hell!" I yelled in his face, even surprising myself. "You need help and I'm going to help you!"

He tried to push me away but even that slight amount of movement made him begin to wheeze in exhaustion. I took a look down at his hands and noticed that all the grass near him was burned to ashes. That must've been where the smell came from...but how-

The boy groaned again and thinking fast I started tearing off bits and pieces of my uniform to attempt to stop the bleeding as best as I could. "Come on dude, stay with me." I said as his eyes began drooping shut. If he passed out, I didn't think I'd be able to carry him.

He locked his cloudy eyes with mine again and I smiled at his will power, "Good. Now where did those other kids go? Are they hurt too?"

"No," he spat bitterly. "And they're long gone." I just nodded in confirmation, I must've been right then; they were bullying him.

"Let's get you out of here," I smiled as I finished wrapping the torn cloth around his arm. The bleeding had stopped a little but I still needed to get him some actual bandages. "Can you walk?"

He blinked a few times at me and it was strange, he was already starting to look much better. The color was even starting to come back to his eyes and face. It was nothing short of a miracle, considering he seemed like he was close to death a few minutes ago.

He's going to be okay. I sighed in relief and held out a hand to him as I stood up and brushed ashes off of my knees. "Come on, that torn shirt won't hold forever."

The boy hesitated and dropped his head for a second as if he was deep in thought. His spiked bangs hid his expression and just when I was going to persist, he reached his other bruised but uninjured arm up and placed his hand in mine.

*Nervously paces back and forth* ...So...um...what do you guys think? Ik it might start out slow but it'll get better I promise...