Because You Make My Heart Race
"C'mon, Luka, please!" Rin begged, making it all the more awkward for the elder pinkette who'd been pounced on by the younger girl in the middle of the street.
"Rin, I'm not going to go out with you," the woman said sternly. "First of all, I'm not interested in girls. Secondly, you're just a kid. I'm not going to feed into stereotypes and be some creepy woman preying on young girls."
For a moment, Luka thought she saw tears in Rin's eyes, but as swiftly as that occurred, determination filled those young, bright blue eyes as the girl exclaimed, pointing at Luka just to make it all the more dramatic, "Make no mistake about this, Luka Megurine, I will not give up on you. No matter what it takes, by Valentine's Day, you'll be my girlfriend!"
"You're insane, Rin," Luka sighed, ignoring all the questioning gazes that had landed on her from the people passing by on the street.
"That gives me thirteen days," Rin announced, nodding proudly. She smiled, so incredibly cocky for a fourteen-year-old girl pursuing a twenty-year-old woman, and said, "I'll see you then, Luka."
"You intend to win me over without seeing me for two weeks?" Luka questioned, curious despite herself. But Rin, having already turned to leave, just cast a smile over her shoulder and disappeared into the crowd, never to be seen again for two weeks.
However, it wasn't like Rin was absent in Luka's life for two weeks. No, Rin had more class than that.
The next day, Luka awoke to a note placed on her bedside, covered in a sticky note by her roommate, Cul, informing her that it had been passed on by a little blonde girl. Luka sighed and opened the letter.
The first reason why I love you: Because you never smile unless you're happy. When you smile it's pure, sincere, and the most beautiful smile I've ever seen.
She frowned at the letter, shaking her head with a roll of her eyes. Rin was absolutely insane. Did she really think anything was going to come out of such a lifeless compliment? Luka didn't always smile sincerely, right? Like when she was working with troublesome people; well, actually, no, she didn't smile for them like her colleagues did unless they did something that merited a smile. Well, whatever, that meant nothing, anyway.
Luka proceeded to get up and get on with her day, flanked by her roommate and best friend, Cul, who immediately questioned, "What was that letter about?"
Luka, seeing no reason to hide it, handed the letter to Cul, who quickly glanced it over. The redhead smiled. "Aw, that's so sweet."
"She's fourteen, Cul," Luka said crossly. "Don't go getting any creepy ideas."
"You're the creepy one for even thinking it," Cul replied, smirking at her friend, who went bright red in response. Cul chuckled and walked ahead of the pinkette. "C'mon, Luka, we'll be late."
Luka, in response, scowled, pushing thoughts of a certain blonde girl out of her head for the rest of the day. However, those thoughts were forced back into her head when she was at the grocery store the next day, in the midst of talking to Cul on her cellphone. The ongoing music on the speakers was cut off as a lifeless voice droned, "The second reason why I love you: You pretend that you're a complete daredevil, but, really, you can't handle it when one little thing in you schedule gets changed. You get flustered and, quite honestly, that's one of the cutest sights I've ever seen."
Luka ran up to the cashier to see who is was that had called the announcement. The only person there, Neru Akita, just shrugged while taping away at her cellphone and replied that a little blonde girl asked her to say it.
Luka didn't want to admit that she'd accepted Cul's offer of making a recording of Rin's message from their cellphone conversation. She put that recording in her bedside table's drawer, along with the letter.
The next day, Luka was called into her boss's office. Her boss, Yukari Yuzuki, was smiling as she passed on Rin's next message. "The third reason why I love you: You're always doing something new with your hair to get a compliment. Then you pretend you don't care about the compliment, but, if you don't get one, you mope around for days on end until someone notices the new style, which cheers you up in an instant. I love your hair, too, by the way. That one small braid you have today is cute."
Luka was terribly embarrassed to have her boss transferring this message, but her boss seemed quite alright with it. Still, it was so unprofessional. Besides, shouldn't that brat have been in school?
The next message arrived while Luka was watching one of those morning news shows that were on so early they shouldn't count as morning. The broadcaster, after giving news of some community event or other, casually continued, "The fourth reason why I love you: When you can't sleep, rather than wake someone up, you find something quiet to do by yourself. You're too considerate to bother anyone when you're bored, unlike yours truly."
Luka had to stop herself when she found herself smiling at the screen as the teal-haired broadcaster continued with what she'd been saying. No way was she going to let that child get to her.
The strangest way that Luka had gotten a message was the one written in grains of rice on a plate brought in as an appetizer before her supper at her usual restaurant. The fifth reason why I love you: Because you'll stop smiling at this the moment you realize you're doing it. And, sure enough, Luka's unintentional smile dropped into a stubborn scowl.
The next one came in the morning, written in the frost on Luka's bedroom window. Luka laughed the moment she saw it, smiling. Then, she shook her head, catching herself. No. Rin was a child. This was wrong. The sixth reason why I love you: Because you'll always try to do what's right, even if it's the last thing in the world that you want. Like admitting to being given too much change. Your moral compass is crazy.
"You're really not even a little interested?"
Luka jumped and glanced back at Cul, who leaned against the open bedroom door, inspecting the window. Cul stared at Luka then as the woman said indignantly, "She's just a girl with a crush, Cul. She probably had a fight with her parents or something and is trying to screw with them by chasing after another girl."
Cul shrugged and sighed. "Whatever, Luka. Just remember that true romantics are rare nowadays. You may be throwing away your last chance."
"You sound like an old lady," Luka snorted disdainfully.
Cul cast her a mildly annoyed look before walking away. Luka watched her go and, once the redhead had left, snapped a picture of the window. She looked at the picture and smiled.
The next reason appeared in the form of words carved into the snow outside Luka's work. Luka smirked. Rin really wanted to make a point, huh? The seventh reason why I love you: Because you'll scowl at some stupid joke and then laugh about it later when no one's looking. Luka glanced around herself swiftly before snapping a picture on the snow and promptly destroying the message. Well, Rin may have noticed that about her, but that didn't mean she wanted other people to.
The next morning, while Luka was in the shower, Cul knocked on the bathroom door and entered before a response came. Luka glowered through the shower curtain and snapped, "What the hell are you doing?"
"The little blonde asked me to pass along a message."
Luka widened her eyes and threw the curtain back, dashing out of the bathroom, toward the front door. She was sure she'd catch the blonde brat this time.
"Luka, you're not wearing clothes."
The pinkette froze as her roommate called that out to her. Face going bright red and then ice pale, she turned, frozen, to glance at her roommate, who had politely averted her gaze with a smirk. Luka hurriedly made her way back into the shower and silently listened to Cul's message.
"The eighth reason why I love you: You're incredibly impulsive. You never think things through. You just do them. Right?"
Luka remained silent the entire time, glad that the curtain hid the smile on her lips and the blush on her cheeks.
As Luka was at work, she was interrupted once again by a coworker who approached her and said that her client, a young blonde girl, had requested that they pass along a note. Luka opened it on her lap, unable to resist, glancing down at it while her client babbled on and on.
The ninth reason why I love you: Because everything about you makes my heart race. Your personality, your looks, your attitude, everything. There's nothing about you that I don't love.
"Hey, are you even listening to me?" the black-haired client, a woman named Mew, questioned. However, Luka didn't notice, as captivated as she was by the note.
The tenth day was probably the most extravagant. During their walk to work, Cul was incredibly on edge. Luka found herself getting excited, hoping it had something to do with Rin, but she refused to let her roommate notice. Then, Cul glanced at her phone and, with a large smile, exclaimed, "Look up, Luka!"
And Luka did, though she'd already started to before Cul had said so. A plane zoomed around the sky, waving a banner that informed her of, The tenth reason why I love you: Because you refuse to sell out or lie or anything like that. You're true to yourself and your morals, and nothing will ever change that. Well, maybe this might, huh?
"If you won't have her, I will," Cul informed her roommate. "There's only three days left until Valentine's Day."
Luka snorted, refusing to let it show how much the banner had moved her. Instead, she replied, "I'll give this to her: she has spunk. But that doesn't mean I'm going to go out with her."
"You're the one who's insane," Cul sighed, grabbing Luka's wrist and dragging her along to work even though all Luka wanted to do was admire Rin's offering. Luka stared at it longingly as they left.
The next reason was listed in the newspaper that Luka read every morning. In the ads, one read, The eleventh reason why I love you: Because you're open-minded. You'll hear someone out, no matter how much you dislike what they're saying, and you're willing to adjust. Hey, while we're talking about that, try to keep an open mind about dating girls, huh?
Luka had to laugh, especially since there was a ring of truth in the last phrase. She was starting to think that maybe, just maybe, dating Rin wouldn't be too terrible.
While walking down the street the next day, Luka caught sight of Rin in the crowd. Eyes sparkling with determination, she chased the blonde down the street before catching her and spinning her around. Wait, no, that wasn't right. This was a guy.
"Name's Len, Len Kagamine," he introduced himself. "Rin's my sister." Then, he cleared his throat. "The twelfth reason why I love you: Because you're the most stubborn, self-absorbed, frustrating person I know, but somehow, with you, it's just plain adorable." He smirked, but shadows lingered in his gaze. "Hurt Rin and I'll get you, got it?"
Luka, meanwhile, was grinning like a fool. Then, dreamily, she said, "I don't think that's something you'll have to worry about," before heading off for her day.
"The thirteenth reason why I love you." That voice came from behind Luka from an absent-minded white-haired boy with a green eye and a blue eye while he continued reading a book in the waiting room of the dentist's office. "Because you know that you love me, too."
Luka smiled fondly at the boy, who didn't even glance at her, and whispered, "Yes, I do," as thoughts ran through her head.
There aren't that many people in the world who'd go to such lengths to show someone how they feel. In this world, romance is a fleeting ideal, and everything can be done so easily now. The beauty of romance has died. Instead, now, all we need to do to find someone to love is send them a text or give them a call, ask them out, and be done with it. There's no chasing or wooing or courting to be seen. A computer monitors break-ups and make-ups. But, in this world, a true romantic still lives.
On Valentine's Day morning, Luka woke up, got dressed, and went to work. Only, something was different when she went to work. Someone already sat in her chair, and that someone was a little blonde girl named Rin Kagamine, who stared at the pinkette with a question on her face.
"So?" Rin wondered, not smiling in the slightest.
"Aren't you going to ask properly?" Luka huffed, a little let down after all these days of romance.
Then, with a tiny hint of a smirk on her face, Rin wondered, "Luka Megurine, will you be my Valentine?"
Luka smiled broadly and replied, "Yes, Rin, I'll be your Valentine. In fact, I'll be your girlfriend. You win."
Rin smiled then and replied with that same cocky attitude she always wore, "Of course I win. There was never any doubt. Now, do you want to hear the fourteenth reason why I love you?"
Luka nodded, expecting some extravagant speech, woven together with beautiful, well-planned words. Instead, she received one short phrase, one phrase that told her more than anything else ever could.
"The fourteenth and final reason why I love you: Because you are you, and that's all I'll ever want."
Author's Note: I love this pairing. They're so cute. Here's the first place pairing. I'm pretty sure half of my readers skipped over the other first place pairing when they saw it was Rin and Len :P