What if Vocaloids had an anime/manga style setting? Something to show a world they come from and a reason for their dancing that maybe no one understands? I have very recently fallen in love with Vocaloids and, and randomly the other day my crazy brain came up with a whole modern day/fantasy/supernatural genre themed world for them. Rated M for language and Femslash/Yuri pairings.
Legal disclaimer: Not sure if I need one but I don't own anything, all rights to Vocaloids. Lol
The train sure is crowded tonight… Haku thought idly as she swayed gently in her seat with the side to side motion of the car as the train sped down the tracks. The motion used to make her queasy when she was younger but now that she was eighteen it didn't have an affect on her at all anymore. Well… mostly not, anyway. Infact she was bored, her idle gaze shifting from out the window to gaze at the passengers and back again off and on as she sat listening to music on her iPhone. It was the newest model; everything she owned was the newest and nicest and best there was. The result of having rich parents she supposed. Buuuuuuuuuuut…
Letting out a little sigh Haku shifted her bottom on the train seat trying to get more comfortable, then winced as some of her long black hair cascading down her back in a long loose ponytail, tied back with a thick purple ribbon looped in a bow at the back of her neck, got caught in the crack between her seat and the isle seat beside her. The man sitting beside her didn't seem to notice, all his attention apparently focused on some official looking papers, his business suit marking him as someone probably taking his work home with him. Haku sure knew how that went…
Setting her iPhone carefully in her lap so it wouldn't slide off with the motion of the train she leaned her head a bit to the side to work at freeing her hair. She took very good care of her hair and if this snapped some of the strands it would take a lot of work to keep the ends from fraying. Luckily she got the strands loose and tucked it back behind her against the seat back before shifting uncomfortably once more. She caught her reflection in the darkened night window of the train beside her seat, a forlorn expression on her face narrowing her dark brown eyes. Train rides were so dull…
Picking up her iPhone again she began to fiddle with the glittery pink device. It hadn't been glittery when she'd gotten it; another result of idle boredom one afternoon. She tried to focus on the song currently playing, one of her favorites from her her favorite pop idol Megurine Luka. The woman was perhaps a little bit old for a pop idol at twenty years of age, but to Haku that just gave her an air of maturity that she found… well, extremely appealing to say the least. But even the talents of Megurine Luka couldn't stave off the idle boredom of this train ride.
A little notification sound plinged from the earbud in her ear and she glanced down at her iPhone screen. Bluetooth notification? She tilted the screen up to see better and blinked a few times at the notification saying there were connectable devices in range. What devices? She perked up a bit as her interest peaked slightly and she tapped the notification with her thumb. The screen shifted to show a list of detected bluetooth devices and she stared at the name on the screen. TramSpeakers114? She turned her gaze up toward the ceiling of the car she was in. There were speakers mounted along the edges, for announcements or emergency notifications. But… her eyes narrowed. There were a few scrapes on the edges of the wall and ceiling where the mounting had been done, but none on the speakers themselves. She ran her gaze along the ceiling for some length and saw the same on multiple of them. They looked new, much newer than the train car.
The corner of her mouth pulled up in a little smirk. The train car was so dreary, surely everyone would feel a little better with some music? Whoever the idiot was that had installed bluetooth speakers in a public train without hiding the signal had not done their job properly, and now Haku had a chance to share Luka's music with the whole train. Noticing there was a password caused her only a momentary annoyed frown, but it shouldn't be hard to hack it. She caught her lower lip between her teeth in an unconscious gestures of focus, producing a cute little look on her face that she was completely unaware of.
Haku didn't think of herself as especially intelligent or witty, but her teachers had all always told her she was far too smart for her own good, and not just because she always got straight A's in everything. To her it was just more distraction to fill her idle hours. Her parents might be rich, but there was a reason for that. They were both extremely prominent scientists and therefore were always gone, always at the lab or on projects abroad. Oh they saw she was well cared for of course, providing for her in every possible way. She had her heart's desire at her beck and call at all times, had been enrolled in a fancy private school since she was a child, and allowed to pretty much do whatever she wanted to. Yet what kind of life was that for a child? Being attended to and waited on by maids and butlers wasn't the same as having friends, and all the other kids at her school were so… stuffy. Even getting her father to let her ride the train instead of being ferried everywhere in an expensive private car had been a battle until her father had finally relented, but even that novelty had long since worn off, even after she had moved out to her own little house. Her parents provided for her, cared for her, but didn't really LOVE her, at least not that she had ever seen. They were never around, and she had nothing to do but study and fill her idle hours in any way she could.
Tapping the screen a couple of times to bring up her apps and open the custom code breaking one she had written herself, Haku ran a pattern algorithm on the password to the speakers. It would take a few minutes and in the meantime she switched the screen over to the song she had been listening to a moment ago, turning the slider bar back to the beginning of the song so it was ready to play once the password cracked.
The train shuddered as it pulled into a station and slowed to a stop at a platform. She glanced up briefly as the businessman beside her got up as though to leave, her gaze following him for a brief moment as he headed down the aisle, and then a flash of pink caught the corner of her eye through the windows of the doors and her breath suddenly stuck in her throat. It couldn't be… no way… could it…?
It was. Megurine Luka strode onto the train with a confident sort of commanding presence that made Haku at feel intimidated, safe, and anxious all at once. Anxious for a chance to meet her, to talk to her, anything… Luka stepped into the train with her perfect pink hair falling in waves down her back tied high on the back of her head with a thin red ribbon, framing her perfect form encased in skin tight black pants, stiletto boots, and a shirt that left her lower arms and shoulders bare, and matching fingerless gloves. It was a hunter's outfit, a warrior's pose. Her gaze swept the inhabitants of the train car, her piercing eyes sometimes grey, sometimes blue, and everything in between depending on the angle the light hit them as she looked for… what? A seat maybe? Why was a pop idol on a public train anyway?
Haku shifted further back in her seat shrinking in on herself trying not to be seen. Then she froze. Why not be seen? How many times had she dreamed of a moment like this? How many times had she wished fervently for such an opportunity? She'd even had dreams that started like this that left her gasping on waking with funny feelings deep inside that she couldn't explain. But… but… all that aside, there was no way she could approach her. This was Megurine Luka! She was famous! How could such a wonderful and beautiful woman as her possibly want anything to do with an ordinary girl like her? She shrank back into her seat after all wishing she had the nerve to approach her.
The train lurched as it took off from the platform once more, and Luka casually reached a delicate looking hand up to grasp one of the overhead handles. She didn't make any move to take a seat as her piercing gaze continued to scan the train car. If she wasn't looking for a seat, what was she looking for? Haku's grip on her iPhone tightened as she realized she could offer the woman the seat next to her. The businessman had left after all! She turned her dark eyes to glance at the seat by her… and froze.
The businessman hadn't gotten off the train after all, he was back in his seat… and he was staring right at Haku. She blinked several times trying to comprehend why he suddenly looked so… so pale… and his eyes were so… round… and all one color… swirling black orbs filling her vision. She couldn't see anything else, couldn't breathe, couldn't do anything but stare deeply into his eyes. She felt an awful wrenching sort of feeling deep within herself. Not a physical sensation, but painful just the same if in some other way that she couldn't understand or even begin to describe. It went on for years… it went on for seconds. She couldn't tell, all she knew was that every ounce of her being seemed to be getting sucked out of her somehow. She felt weak, felt her eyes trying to close, felt her muscles giving up. She was going to die.
Unbeknownst to her Haku's free hand slipped down into her lap to bump the still active screen of her iPhone still held in her other hand laying against her leg. The pattern matching algorithm had cracked the bluetooth speaker's password and connected to them, and her hand happened to hit the play button on her favorite of Luka's songs right at the beginning where she had prepared it minutes before, a cover the idol had done earlier the previous year. Every speaker in the train car crackled to life and suddenly Luka's voice filled the train, much to the confusion of the idol herself as she had been looking the opposite direction when the businessman had sat back down. Luka had only just turned around in time to see what was happening, just in time to see the flow of life energy the suited man was sucking from Haku's soul. No one else present on the train could see it of course, but Luka could, and she started rushing forward even as her own voice came over the speakers singing Gishin'anki.
"Asobasa ta shisen wa maadaa, (That idle gaze of yours,
kumo no naka mitai you wonder, Like your head's just stuck in the clouds,
kanjirareru no wa sugoi, Sensing a menacing bloodthirstiness,
Sakki you feel it kyoui All around you.)
Only seconds had passed as the words began to wash through the train and Luka had only managed a few steps yet the life energy flowing out of Haku had already began to change her, warp her appearance. The color drained from her long hair starting at the tips and working up toward the roots in her head, the entirety of it turning a silvery white in moments as though the color were being drained from it just as the life was being drained from the girl, and her eyes changed from a dark brown lightening up and turning a bright red. Haku's mouth was opened in a wide "O" shape as though to scream but no sound came out. Yet the moment Luka's words hit the air she could feel the power in them, even if no one else could… except for the Souldrinker.
The suited man shrieked in pain and the life energy flow cut off abruptly as it recoiled away from it's meal, causing Haku's now red eyes to flutter as she sagged back in her seat gasping for breath, her hands going to her chest in a subconscious defensive manner. The Souldrinker experienced a degree of pain from no more than Luka's recorded words, the power within her voice such that it came through even speakers. Yet that was a mere shadow of her true power of course, and as she drew up beside the pair she let it loose, raising her arms over head in a precise dancer's pose as she began to sing along with her own recording.
"Koko de wa sema sugiru kara, (This place is suffocating us,
Dokka e ito ka ima kara, so let's make a run for it now,
Hamidasu kanjou no iro try and guess the color of the feelings
Kimi ga ate te miro" I'm about to lay bare before you.)
The creature didn't last long with her full voice in it, her hips swaying to her song coming now from the speakers as well as herself, her arms stretching out and whirling about in a dancer's arc overhead, the sonic vibrations shooting forth from her whenever a wrist twisted or an elbow bent, always aimed at the thing on the train seat. No one but she could see the waves of sonic energy she was producing as she sang, no normal human could, nor could they see the life energy streaming out of the Souldrinker as it sagged back in obvious pain before the light left it's black orbs and it sagged back in it's chair. No one else could see… except for Haku.
The silver haired girl's now red eyes were wide as she panted, out of breath from her ordeal as she watched the whole the thing. She felt weak down to her bones like she hadn't slept in weeks, or months, but that was nothing to what she was seeing now. What WAS she seeing now? Her idol had rescued her from… something, whatever it was, that was for sure. The train car had emptied out in a hurry though in truth the creature hadn't lasted even a few lyrics into the the verse, only a few dance moves from Luka and it had collapsed.
"Are you alright?" Luka asked, and Haku jumped at the question as the music continued to play on the speakers overhead. Luka was looking straight at her, and Haku felt her heart racing, though whether from what had happened or from anxiousness at the other woman's presence she had no idea.
"I… I think… so…" she spluttered out, tapping the stop button on the music on her iPhone, then suddenly finding she couldn't stand to be within arms reach of the now dead creature she shuddered and jumped up from her seat. Or tried, anyway. Her body was just as weak as it felt, and with a cry she began to topple forward as she got up, her arms pinwheeling as she tried to catch something to stop her fall… and found there was no need as she was caught in Luka's arms. She looked up at the slightly taller woman shyly through her now silvery white bangs… wait… silvery white? She blinked and groped frantically for her loose ponytail and pulled a handful around to look at it. Silvery white…
Luka apparently could see the confusion and upset starting in her face and she made a soothing shushing sound barely audible over the mostly empty train car clattering. "I'll explain, but first let's get out of here. My name is Megurine Luka. Do you have somewhere we can talk?"
"Yo… Yowane Haku… I… I live nearby…" Haku managed and at Luka's nod she let the idol help her to the doors of the train. Despite her weakness Haku didn't want to sit back down, so she leaned against the other woman's soft body, pressing into her leathers. She felt her cheeks flush at the contact, but she truly didn't think she could support herself at the moment and besides Luka didn't seem to mind. In fact the idol was all business like as they waited in silence for the next train station, then helped her step down onto the platform with a courteous hand and a reassuring smile. Haku smiled back and looked around. "Where now?"
"I have transportation waiting." Luka replied, and Haku blinked in surprise.
"You had transportation? Then why were you on the train to begin with?"
Luka smiled again. "You're quick on the uptake aren't you? I like that." Haku flushed in embarrassment at the compliment but Luka continued. "Like I said, I'll explain but let's get out of here first."
The idol lead the way out of the station as the train pulled away taking the… whatever it was with it. Luka pulled out her own cell as they went, an Android from what Haku could see, and tapped the screen a few times to connect a call. All she said into it was "Dispatched, still aboard, needing cleanup." Then she ended the call seemingly without waiting for a response, slid the phone back into a pocket, and they rounded a corner to find a sleek motorcycle waiting. It was sleek but not small, yet not large enough to be considered a hog either. The handlebars were only slightly curved and though you had to sit upright in the seat and slightly forward it was still comfortable enough. Luka lifted the helmet off the handlebars and pulled a key from her pocket then paused a moment before handing the helmet to Haku. "I only have one, I wasn't expecting passengers tonight." she explained, then studiously ignored Haku's objections and attempts to give it back. She swung one leg over the front part of the seat and indicated the back part behind her with a toss of her head, her pink cascading hair flicking with the motion. "Hop on."
Haku took a deep breath before settling the helmet on over her hair, trying not to wince as she caught a view of the now silvery white locks out of the corner of her eye again. Then with a hand from Luka to steady herself she managed to sit on the back without too much worry of falling off despite her weakened state. Luka kicked the motorcycle alive with a roar and a rev or two on the engine before taking off into the streets of the city. With Haku pointing the way and shouting where to turn they arrived at the small house her parents kept her in within a quarter of an hour, and she clung to the idol the whole way, still anxious about the contact but still not wanting to let go. Yet at last they pulled up outside the small house and she sighed regretfully when it was time to let go in spite of the anxiousness.
With Luka's help keeping her upright they approached the front of the house and Haku opened the door to the entryway. It was a modest sitting room, but Haku hadn't wanted anything large when she finally moved away from her parent's wealth and maids and butlers, so she had this quiet place to herself for the most part.
"No one else home?" Luka asked as Haku flicked the light on and they walked inside.
"No, the maids only came by once a week or so to clean up." She replied automatically, not thinking since the question was so in line with her own thoughts, or maybe she was still just feeling off from her… ordeal. Luka raised a questioning eyebrow at her but Haku cleared her throat as they moved into the modest sitting room and glanced toward the back where the kitchen was. "Would you… like something to drink? There's… uhm… orange juice and water, I suppose…" she trailed off.
Luka flashed a small amused smile and lowered Haku into a cushy looking arm chair. "You're still weak, I'll get them if that's alright." It wasn't a question, but it was polite nonetheless, and Haku let herself drop the last couple of inches into the chair as Luka turned toward the kitchen. She came back a moment later with water and orange juice both and handed Haku a glass of water. "Start with this, you'll feel better in a few minutes."
Haku took the water with a grateful smile and asked, "What exactly happened?" She raised the glass to her lips and sipped at the water.
Luka settled herself gracefully onto the only other seat in the room, the end of a small love seat near the armchair. She looked a little bemused for a moment before letting out a small but cute little sigh. "It's… it's a lot to explain. I suppose I should start by telling you what that was. We call them Souldrinkers."
"We?" Haku asked between sips of her water.
"We…" Luka breathed with a pause before finishing, "Are the Vocaloids."
There was a long heavy pause in the air for a moment or two. Haku had no idea what to say to that so she just looked at this beautiful woman who an hour gone she would never have thought she'd actually get the chance to meet and now all she could think was that if Luka left her alone right then she might actually curl up and die.
After a moment Luka continued. "The Souldrinkers look like normal people in every way from day to day, except for when they need to feed. When that urge comes on them it's so powerful they can't resist it beyond basic reasoning, which is why that one attacked you in such a public way, though usually they try to be a little more circumspect than that if they can."
Another pause as Luka apparently tried to think of exactly how to put it and Haku slipped another question in. "What are the Vocaloids?"
"We're a group of people who have discovered that we can fight them. We have the ability to see their energy draining abilities, and we can hurt them with our own sonic energies."
"Sonic energies… you mean singing?" Haku asked, and Luka smiled again.
"You really are quick. Yes, singing. Our voices have power, our very bodies have power, but there's far more to it than I can really get into right at the moment."
"But you have this power."
"I do."
"So all idols can kill them?"
Luka shook her head. "We're all just ordinary people, and we do with our lives what we want to for the most part, and I happen to be an idol. Yet we are organized and live together in our compound so we can train, and when a threat is detected someone is sent to deal with it, depending on who's strong enough to and whose closest.'
"So that was an especially strong one then?" Haku asked, setting her empty water glass down on the table before stopping with a pause even before Luka started shaking her head and she corrected herself. "No, it couldn't have been, you killed it so easily, which means you're just that strong." She looked up but her weakness made her sway and lean back into the armchair again. "You were just close by."
Luka nodded with that smile again and reached down to lift a cup of orange juice and push it gently into Haku's hands. "That's right, I was hunting it. How are you so quick to pick things up? Are you a genius or something?"
Haku spluttered in her orange juice and shook her head in denial. "Nono, I just… I've lived alone for a long time and I… well I learned to think things through is all…" she trailed off weakly, not wanting to get into her past right at that moment.
Luka tilted her head quizzically in another of her cute graceful gestures but nodded acceptance. "Well, you have it right, that one was really weak, it must not have been very old. Even a recording of my voice was enough to hurt it, though I don't know how my music ended up on the overhead speakers in a public train."
Haku blushed and tried to bury her face in her cup under the guise of taking a sip of the juice but Luka saw it anyway. She smirked, thinking that must be a story for later, but didn't press it right then.
"Why are you telling me all this anyway?" Haku asked suddenly, and when Luka tilted her head quizzically she added, "About the Vocaloids I mean. I've never heard anything about them, and if you were out there fighting monsters I'm sure someone would have ended up on the news or something by now. Which means it must be secret, right? You could have just told me I was attacked and you helped me out of it right?"
Luka narrowed her eyes over her amused smile and flicked her loose pink ponytail back over her shoulder with a casual flick of a wrist. "Normal people can't see the what the Souldrinkers do, or the sonic energy that Vocaloids produce. Only those of us with the ability to be Vocaloids can see it, let alone fight it." She paused very intently to punctuate her point as her eyes, very blue at that moment, peered right into Haku's now red ones. "You could see it, I saw it in your eyes afterward. Some of it anyway, after I broke the Souldrinker's hold on you. If you hadn't, then I wouldn't have explained. I would just have helped you home and left. It's so rare for someone to survive a Souldrinker attack any Vocaloid would have helped you home at the very least."
Haku swallowed the mouthful of juice she had too hard at that and choked on it for a moment, the implication unsettling her so. "Then… then it really could have killed me…"
Luka nodded with a sympathetic look on her face, and she reached a hand out to take one of Haku's gently, reassuringly. "Yowane-san, it only takes a short time for a Souldrinker to feed. Twenty or thirty seconds usually, sometimes longer if the victim is especially strong willed, full of life energy. It drains a person of their very soul, their life energy, and reduces them to a pale husk. If my music hadn't come on the speakers when it did, interrupted it in it's feeding on you… I might not have been in time, even though I was so close when it struck. I wasn't watching you when it happened, and I… I might not have been able to…"
Luka trailed off but didn't move to take her hand back, and Haku squeezed it tightly trying not to feel anxious about doing so, but to her surprise she got a squeeze back. Luka looked up and caught her gaze again and the two women stared at each other for a very long few moments before Haku managed to get something out.
"Ha… Haku is fine…"
Luka blinked for a moment taken aback, then smiled that small yet radiant smile again. Haku thought perhaps it was a special pleased smile she didn't show very often. "Alright then, Haku-chan. Then you may call me Luka."
Haku's cheeks blazed. How many times had her dreams gone like this…? Well… the last bit anyway. Not the whole attack and possible death parts… "L… Luka…"
Luka's smile remained for a moment or two before she turned her head to glance around at the small sitting room. "I know you probably have more questions, but I really need to call in and make sure the cleanup crew got the body out of the train and dealt with any potential leaks."
"Leaks? You're with the government?"
Luka shook her head, her pink ponytail swaying behind her. "No, we're a private organization. The government doesn't know we exist, and neither does the public. We're still trying to figure out how this happened and where these things are coming from before we take it to the government." She paused a moment before adding in a lower voice, "IF we take it to the government…" She sighed and made to stand up.
Haku was about to ask what that IF meant but as the other woman stood she suddenly got worried this meant she was leaving and reached a hand out to snatch up Luka's. The idol paused a moment and looked down with that small smile again. "Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere, just need to make the call."
"Then you'll…" Haku swallowed hard and forced the words out. "You'll… stay… with me tonight?"
Luka tilted her head a bit at that for a moment before saying, "No." Haku's heart fell into her stomach before she noticed the smile. "No, you're coming back with me I think. We have medical staff who will want to examine you before we leave you alone. Like I said, survivors are rare, and they'll want to look you over."
Haku made a face. It wasn't exactly what she wanted but… well… it was better than staying here all alone.
Her face must have visibly fallen because Luka squeezed her hand again. "Don't worry, I'll stay with you the whole time we're there ok?" After Haku nodded she pulled her hand back and went to step toward the hall. "I'll just be a moment. You can get a bag with whatever you need together for the next day or so. If you feel up to moving?"
Haku managed to get up on her own finding she did feel a bit better, taking it slowly and gave a small nod. Heading back deeper into her small home to her bedroom she pulled out a small overnight bag from under the bed and put a change of clothes into it, a simple pair of black pants and a white v-neck tshirt. Simple, but still expensive designer cut. She glanced at her reflection in her stand mirror, her silvery white hair and red eyes making her wince, but she considered her clothes. Another simple yet designer affair, and wondered if she should change. When she thought about surviving a life threatening ordeal her imagination conjured up images of blood and sweat and injury, yet she still looked as fresh as she had an hour ago, with no visible marks. She glanced at her hair and eyes in the mirror with another wince. Well, almost no visible marks…
Deciding it would be better to be ready quicker and worry about a shower later (if they had a compound and overnight facilities they must have a washroom and shower) Haku retrieved her rose scented soap and lavender shampoo and conditioner, her personal hygiene products, and her iPhone charger and added them to the bag. Zipping it closed she left her ornately frilly room behind and joined Luka in the entryway.
"All set?" Luka asked, and Haku nodded. "Good." She stepped outside once Haku had opened the door and the two women paused in the front yard as Haku hit the lights and locked the front door. They headed back out to the front walk where Luka had parked and Haku paused and looked back. Luka turned when she noticed Haku turn and tilted her head questioningly. "Something wrong?"
Haku stood staring at the little house for a long moment or two before answering quietly, "I… can't help but feel like something in my life has ended tonight…"
Haku blinked in surprise as Luka's hand came up as though toward her cheek, both women froze for a moment before the hand seemed to change direction and lay reassuringly on Haku's upper arm.
"Not ended." Luka said. "Changed, maybe, depending on how things go, but not ended."
With that Haku slid onto the back of the motorcycle as the engine roared to life once more and the two women zipped off down the street, pink and silver hair streaming behind them like banners.