Author's Note: For HollowPoint
Sleeping Ruko
"Quick, Rin, we have to hurry!" exclaimed the valiant knight Oliver, swooping up beside the girl. "We have to save Ruko!"
Rin, in the middle of a modern day market place, doing her grocery shopping, paused and glanced up at the boy who sat atop a white stallion, already feeling the dread creeping up. All she'd wanted to do today was get the grocery shopping done and read a book. That was all. Was it really so much to ask for? People in the crowd were already whispering to each other, wondering if they were filming a movie of something of the like. Rin sighed and wondered, "What in the world are you talking about?"
"The wicked witch Tei cast a spell on the prince-ess, sending Ruko into a deep slumber!" Miki joined in, rushing up to Rin on foot from the same direction Oliver had come. She stopped before Rin and clutched the girl by the shoulders, gazing desperately into her eyes. "Please, Rin, you're the only one who can save the prince-ess!"
"Why in the world, pray tell, would I be the only one who can save Ruko?" sighed Rin, waving away a shop owner who had come to ask her what was going on. She gazed at Miki's nun-like outfit and wondered, "What's with that costume?"
"Why, I'm the town's priestess!" exclaimed Miki, appalled and shocked by Rin's ignorance. She held the back of her hand to Rin's forehead, brow creasing in concern. "Are you ill, Rin? Has the witch cast a curse on you that has caused you to forget?"
"I'm perfectly fine," Rin retorted coolly. "You two are the ones with the problem."
"Rin, we desperately need your help!" exclaimed Yukari, appearing as though out of nowhere. "My fellows mages and I can only do so much! Aria and the others are doing the best they can to fend off the witch's attacks, but no one can manage to make it into the castle! You're the only one who can do it!"
"And why is it that I can do it?" Rin wondered absently, shifting her grocery bag to her other hand as her arm grew tired.
"Because your love for Ruko will give you the power to surpass all obstacles!" Oliver proclaimed, radiant sparkles forming around the majestic boy as he prepared to go off on an elaborate, eloquent speech expressing the love between the two that would leave the audience in tears.
"My love for Ruko? Are you insane?" Rin sighed, shaking her head dismissively. "Dating doesn't always equate to being in love. Besides, how do you know she's under a curse? She probably just spontaneously fell asleep, as per usual."
"Her love is too powerful for her to bear," Miki gasped, overcome by emotion as she clung, teary-eyed, to Yukari to prevent herself from falling. "Isn't that just so incredibly beautiful, mage Yukari?"
Rin pushed the bangs that had fallen before her face back, exhaustion settling in from listening to this insanity. "It's far from that, and would you stop acting like such an idiot?"
"It is, priestess, it is," Yukari, emotionally unstable herself as she ignored the last part of Rin's reply, expressed.
"Look, I'm in charge of cooking supper tonight, and I've got a book I wanna finish, so I really gotta finish this grocery shopping, so if you could just—"
"Rin, are you saying that you care not of what happens to the prince-ess?" exclaimed Oliver, utterly appalled. He cast his golden gaze to the crowd and wondered, "Did you hear that, good people? She refuses to save the prince-ess! Our dearest Ruko will forever be captive of the curse that forces the prince-ess into an eternal slumber, only ever to be woken by true love's kiss!"
"Since when did true love's kiss become part of this?" Rin mumbled.
"Please, dear citizens, lend us your support and help us recruit the only person who can rescue the prince-ess!" begged Oliver, gesticulating toward Rin. "We need you to tell her what she can do, help her see the power she so mindlessly controls! The fate of our kingdom rests on your shoulders!"
"Rin, you should do it," said one of the shop owners that Rin often visited.
"Only you can do this," another said passionately, stepping forward.
"Are you serious?" Rin sighed, casting a deadly glare at her joyful friends. "You really believe all this trash they're spewing?"
"Save the prince-ess, Rin!" exclaimed a little boy, looking up at Rin with excited eyes. Rin resisted the urge to glare at the boy since it wasn't his fault that her friends were such idiots, but, come on, really?
. . .
"Okay, so what you're telling me is that Ruko was hanging out with Len, just playing around and stuff," Rin wondered as she unsheathed the sword she'd been equipped with and sliced cleanly through the thin branches blocking her path as they trudged through a murky forest.
"Uh huh," agreed one of her companions, Yuuma, who claimed to be a priest-apprentice under Miki's guidance, as he followed behind her, grimacing at the mud squelching beneath his feet.
"Then Tei got jealous, accused him of cheating on her, and cast a curse on Ruko so that Len could never see the 'prince-ess' again," the blonde clarified.
"Correct," stated Rion in her nasally voice, wincing as a branch Yuuma had been holding back was released and nearly hit her in the face. As Yuuma's familiar, Rion the rabbit glared at him with a pout tracing her lips but said nothing.
"And you decided I was the only one who could rescue Ruko because . . . ?"
"You're the knight in shining armour who can save the prince-ess!" exclaimed Yuki, who was apparently Rin's squire and meant to go with her wherever she went.
"Isn't a knight usually a boy?" Rin sighed as she pushed aside more brush, still trying to figure out how they'd conjured up this entire forest and the castle in the distance while she'd been grocery shopping.
The three followers fell silent, and Rin immediately knew what was up.
"This is just some big thing Ruko set up, isn't it?" she questioned.
The three followers exchanged glances while the savior steadily continued onward. Finally, Rion piped up, "The prince-ess is a very romantic person."
"It's either that or she just fell asleep and you're all hoping to leave me with no free time."
"That too!" cheered a pinkette kittyler, swinging down from the trees and landing in front of Rin, who gazed at her with irritation. "Name's Nekomura Iroha. Pleasure to meetcha!"
"I already know you," Rin stated.
Then, the mecha-cat-girl leaped on Rin and covered Rin's mouth, giving her the stink-eye as Rin's three followers gazed at her. She let out a tense chuckle before hissing to Rin, "Are you trying to blow my cover here? Snipers aren't supposed to be well-known!"
"You're a sniper?" Rin laughed. Iroha had always been enthusiastic, so she'd found it odd that she hadn't been part of Rin's party. Of course, no one could take Iroha seriously. "I guess you have to keep hidden since you're really not that scary."
"How rude!" exclaimed Iroha, scowling. "And here I was coming to give you some top-secret information on the whereabouts of the prince-ess!"
"Seriously, were you all playing some weird fantasy RPG while I was gone or something? What's with all this random magic and prince-ess stuff? While I'm at it, what in the world is a prince-ess?"
The four RPG-obsessed Vocaloids exchanged glances in a silent conversation before Yuuma finally explained, "Well, Ruko isn't really a prince or a princess, so we figured that we'd make up the title prince-ess. I think it works quite well. Yukari and Miku were quite proud when they came up with it."
There was only so much nonsensical speak that Rin could take, so she moved Iroha out of her path and continued through the forest. "Screw this, I'm going on by myself."
"But you need our help!" exclaimed a tiny voice on Rin's shoulder. Rin looked down to a little blue fairy and flicked her off. Iroha swiftly caught the blue-and-purple-haired girl in the palm of her hands. The little creature straightened herself up and began to shout at Rin. "What are you going to do without our help, you jerk?"
"Poor Aoki," Iroha pouted as Rin continued through the forest.
. . .
"Ruko, wake up!" snapped Rin, storming past Tei without a second glance to where the prince-ess lay asleep on a beautiful bed. In the end, the knight had been unable to shed her loyal companions, so the four and the tiny fairy filed into the room and huddled around the prince-ess.
"Rin, you're supposed to defeat Tei first," complained a guard Rin had pushed back, Meiko, as she followed into the room.
"Follow the script," whined Tonio, following her.
"So there is a script," mumbled Rin, not quite paying attention as she pushed Ruko's hair away from the closed eyes that fluttered a tad, telling Rin that this was definitely a ruse.
"Tonio!" hissed Aoki.
"Oh, whatever," sighed Rin. She leaned down toward the prince-ess and placed her lips against Ruko's. She stayed in that position for a moment, reddening as she felt all the gazes on her. She figured that she might as well play along since Ruko went to all this work for it. It was sweet, in a way. Other than the fact that it'd ruined Rin's plans for the day. She pushed her bangs out of the way as they fell before her face and pulled away. Of course, as she'd expected, Ruko's arms circled around her neck and pulled her back downward into another kiss.
"The prince-ess is awake!" exclaimed Miki.
"When did you get here?" Rin heard Yuuma wonder.
"Ruko has been saved!" cheered Oliver.
"It's a happily ever after," Yuki said dreamily.
"What about Tei? We haven't defeated her," expressed Iroha, sounded disappointed that it was over already.
Rin pushed Ruko away to face her friends. "Look, guys, it's painfully obvious that Ruko set this all up so just give it up already. It was romantic, now it's done. How did you get Tei to play along, anyway?"
"Let's go on a date now, Rin!" Ruko squealed, jumping up on Rin. Rin rolled her eyes as those arms coiled around her waist, hugging her from behind. "We can talk about it later, on our date."
Rin smirked and began to pet Ruko's head. "Yeah yeah, you don't have to go through all this to take me on a date. We are dating you know."
"But this is so much more romantic!" Ruko purred. Rin caught the prince-ess as those heterochromic eyes closed and Ruko fell forward, dozing off once more. The blonde smiled fondly at the hopeless romantic.
Bonus scene: How Ruko got Tei to play along
"C'mon, Len, we've gotta go!" insisted Ruko, dragging Len along by the wrist in the darkened hallway.
"Where are we going?" Len asked groggily, using his free hand to rub his eyes.
The light suddenly faded completely and Ruko's voice came ominously in darkness. "Somewhere."
"Ruko?" Len asked uncertainly.
Then, the hand wrapped around his wrist released him, and he was suddenly pushed forward, stepping into nothing.
"Have a nice date!" called Ruko.
As Len fell down a trapdoor in the floor, he screamed out for Ruko. He landed perfectly in a chair in a brightly lit room. Candlelight flickered on the table before him as the scents of a gourmet meal wafted to his nose.
"Hello, Len," said Tei invitingly on the other side of the table.
Author's note: Not much to say about this insanity. Hope you enjoyed it! Please review if you have the chance.