Disclaimer: I don't own Vocaloid or any of its characters.

Another update! I hope this is getting more and more interesting to the readers out there, though. I love the reviews I got from the last chapter and I thank all of you for your suggestions. :D

Wither.

"Captive"

The sun shone brightly signifying that it was now morning; flocks of birds chirped merrily outside the fields, and the wonderful fresh scent of the plants filled the surroundings with its liveliness. Butterflies and bees immediately began to gather near where the flowers were while the soft howling of the wind created a peaceful rhythm within the area.

Windows opened and the children's laughter broke the supposedly silent streets. Stalls were rapidly set up by some of the townspeople, hoping to quickly earn as much profit as they can by opening their stalls early in the morning to attract customers.

Rin was wandering around the streets looking for accessories she could buy for the upcoming ball she was invited into by one of her friends. The accessories she had were all beautiful, but none were suitable for such a grand party as that; it would take something more than just pure glittering gold to impress the people. Something special. That would hit the mark, yes.

She looked at the tall buildings around her and remembered what took place last night. Len, was it? Yes, it was that thief's little name. Surely he was an entertaining guest, and she was really looking forward to seeing him again tonight. Thinking about him made Rin giggle unconsciously, and while she was distracted by her thoughts, she nearly bumped into somebody tall and familiar-

"K-Kaito!" She exclaimed in surprise, as she had not expected to see him here. He had gone hunting in the dark forest not far from here for the past two weeks, and she did not expect him to be back this soon. Not especially when he was nabbing something he claimed to have seen roaming around in the night. A 'monster', that was what he called it.

"Rin? What are you doing here?" He asked, a nervous smile unknowingly forming on his thin lips. He seemed to be thinking for a moment before he actually chuckled.

"I was bored, so I came out for a walk. Meiko isn't even back yet, yeah." Rin didn't even take a minute to reply to his question since she had already anticipated him to ask that. Kaito had always been very concerned about her life, and he had always treated her like his sister. It was actually good to see somebody this caring to her at times like this.

"I see. Well, I'm sure she headed to the market to buy some wine, perhaps? You know how muddleheaded she can get without her wine!" Kaito giggled and slapped his forehead, remembering how Meiko once claimed that she was going to die of asphyxiation if she went without wine.

"I know that, but… She went out before morning! That drunken mistress… Argh! I hope she comes back for lunch…" Rin looked down and trailed off, mumbling something incomprehensible before turning back to look up at Kaito.

"Hmmm. Well, if there is nothing else, I'd better get going then. I need to stock up some supplies for my next hunt. I think I'm going to succeed this time." He smirked, and Rin knew that when he had that look on his face, it would mean that something bad was actually going to happen soon.

"W-wait a minute," Rin interrupted his thoughts all of a sudden with her curiosity before continuing, "y-you know, I have nothing to do till' Meiko gets home, and I don't know when she will come back. I'm just going to ask you if you need any help… I c-can do anything! Really anything!" she tensed up, clenching her fists till they were pale, unaware of the beads of perspiration that had already formed on her palm.

"This isn't a game, Rin. The monsters really exist- I saw them with my own eyes! No one believed a single thing. I… I want to prove it to them, okay? I want to do it myself. Besides, you are afraid of monsters, right?" He stared straight ahead of Rin, at the gate of the town just across the blue flowing river. Dangerous creatures such as those… they should be captured as soon as possible.

"… Fine." Rin looked at the cold hard stone floor and kicked a stone pebble several meters away from where she was in an attempt to vent her frustration and cool herself down. She sulked before continuing her statement, "Are there any other jobs for me? L-like… You know, errands I could help with? Just give me something to do, okay?"

"Sure!" Kaito sounded sort of glad that Rin gave up since she was the stubborn type who got everything she wanted and needed. He added smugly, "Why don't you go find some herbs near that well there? You know… The place I brought you to several weeks back? That! I think Meiko could use some herbs."

'What for, when she just drinks all day? I know I'm useless and you don't want my help, but…' Rin shrugged and furrowed her eyebrows, staring into Kaito's piercing and icy cold stare before muttering, "… I remember I think. Fine, I'll go there and… pick… herbs."

"Thank you, Rin! Now I really need to go, so… I'll see you another time, maybe? Till' then, please take care!" He nodded his head and waved good-bye before walking swiftly away from the clueless little blonde girl who was still pouting her lips and thinking of the reasons why he could not let her go investigate as well- she was just as capable as him! The thing about how dangerous it was was stupid. They were just lame excuses to her. If there were indeed demons and monsters living near town, then she surely wanted to be the first to see them!

Rin folded her arms and started walking towards the gate. She stared at several messy and overturned stalls while proceeding towards her destination and the weeping children settling near the town square; it was very common to see such things happening, especially when they were poor.

"Jewelries! We have them! The Phantom thief brought them here again!" One of them said while sobbing, grabbing and staring into the chest containing tons of mixed jewelries- necklaces made of fine and pure gold, beautiful glittering crystal earrings…

Rin didn't seem to hear anything as she continued making her way into where the wishing well was.

{Wither}

The green trees surrounding the huge well in the middle of the ground seemed a little eerie. Nothing could be heard except for the rustling of the grass and Rin's small little footsteps. There were no animals present, and even the birds seem to be keeping too quiet since they would usually be chirping here and there. The ground was rough and hard with stones and broken branches everywhere. Rin tried to be careful in her steps even though her anger had not completely disappeared yet.

She stopped in her tracks, scanning the area briefly before walking towards the object of her desire; the funny looking leaves resembling the shape of an umbrella just beneath the odd huge tree.

She stomped towards them and started gathering and grabbing all the funny leaves she could see, ignoring the fact that they could be some poisonous plants in disguise.

'I have to pick herbs while he is out there, having fun.' The more she thought about it, the madder she was. She knew she was looked down upon as someone weak and feeble from Kaito's perfectly unreasonable and stupid excuses.

"I'll show him… I can do anything I want! I'm not weak, even!" She screamed angrily, her hands almost crushing up all the herbs she was grabbing with that much of a force-

Swoosh… Swoosh…

Rin froze all of a sudden, dropping the various plants she had gathered on the ground. Did she just… hear something? This was funny… Nobody was here when she came! Animals don't make those weird noises, and there were no humans in sight as of now. So then why-

"Eeeyyaaaahhhh!"

That noise! It sounded like someone was screaming for help and groaning in pain. Rin stood up, sheer fear dominating her expression as she began to panic and tremble. She inspected all four corners of the area but saw nothing striking or strange.

"W-what do you want?" She mustered up all her courage to utter those few words, and continued to be on her alert, preparing to strike at anything that may leap towards her. However, there was no response.

"Hey, if you are going to scare me-" She stopped when she saw a very strange shadow moving- almost as if it was dancing- behind the dark bushes. She tried to slowly approach it, but was taken aback with surprise when it suddenly ran deeper into the woods.

"W-what? Running away? You won't get a-away so easily!" Rin yelled, picking up a small branch she saw on the ground before charging towards the strange unknown shadow, following it into the deep darkness before she disappeared from sight.

It was fast- it looked as if it was rolling on the ground, but no. Even if Rin ran with all her might, she was unable to catch up with that thing.

She finally came to a halt when she saw where the shadow hid itself into; a huge ancient-looking castle filled with cracks and a mysterious aura. It was tall, reaching out high up to the vast blue skies. There were several windows but they all looked pretty worn-out with the exception of one in the middle. There was a wooden gate standing in the middle as if to welcome the girl warmly, imploring for her to come in as an uninvited guest.

All of the trees surrounding the castle were old and almost dead; leaves were withering and there were no sight of any common animals here.

Rin took a brave step forward before walking forth towards the castle. She gulped and forced herself to swallow her own fear, seeing that it was nothing but just an old castle abandoned by others in the past.

Once she stepped in, though, the gates closed with a loud and heavy metal 'clank!', almost scaring her to death. She observed where she was quietly and carefully, taking care not to let anyone or even anything to hear her loud and heavy breathings.

It was dark, but she could see quite well with the help of the torches that lit the area with its flames that seemed to be dancing in the night. There was the soft dripping of droplets of water before it eventually turned louder and louder. There were spiral stairs decorated with grand red carpets heading upstairs, but Rin did not have the courage to proceed any further.

"Hello? Anybody there? Come out now!" Rin forced herself to speak while waiting for the funny source of the shadow to arise.

Clank, clank.

Somebody- Or rather, something, finally emerged from behind the curtains to face Rin. The darkness was however too overwhelming for Rin to see it's face. Rin, although still afraid, strode closer to the mysterious thing… and almost screamed when she inspected its face.

She gasped in horror at what was in front of her- something purple. Something huge. Something… with the head of an eggplant and the body of a funny horse. It was not exactly the head of an eggplant, but it just resembled one, except for the fact that this thing here had… a pair of eyes. And mouth.

"What, you jealous of my magnificent face? Now be quiet or I will have to silence you!" It warned Rin, and she immediately hushed in fear of offending this weird and funny-looking creature here since she did not know where she was, and things were not to her advantage.

"Good. I don't care what you think about me, but you are going to save us all, get it? You are going to save us!" It repeated once more, glaring into Rin's sapphire fear-filled eyes.

"W-what? S-save you all?!" She spoke, although she was not really allowed to do so. Somehow her fear of this…thing here lessened when she heard that it was requiring for her assistance in some matter, and it seemed desperate. Its voice was… almost like it was crying, but was trying to convert the sadness and fear to hatred and anger.

"J-just do what I say, get it?! Listen! You need to save us and break this horrible curse we have here! You just need to do something simple- meet up with 'him'! Fall in love! The end. That a deal?" It questioned, now sounding very excited about what Rin's answer would be.

'We…? So there are more! What does this mean? Am I going to die? Kaito is right after all. Creatures…' Rin shook her head and slowly backed off, watching cautiously at the figure in front of her.

"No? Why not? Are you… afraid of us, too?" It looked at her with teary-eyes, hoping that Rin would at least show some sympathy towards it.

"L-look. A-anybody would be afraid! You are a… I don't even know what y-you are! You were the one luring me here, r-right?"

"I did that because I needed help…! If we don't get rid of the curse we have on us, our souls will disintegrate and we will never become back to normal again!"

"I-I'm not trusting you! You… How would I know if y-you are lying to m-me?"

"Stop asking! Just... Why would I lie in this state?"

Rin didn't bother to counter back its argument anymore. She didn't know why, either. Maybe it was because she knew it was partially right about everything. Now, why would that creature lie when it was in... that state? Maybe everything it said was right after all. Maybe...

"Are you helping or not?!" It roared in fury, giving Rin some time to consider.

"... I..." Rin thought for a while, eventually coming up with an absolute decision before adding, "... am not going to help."

This creature truly deserved some sympathy for whatever had happened to it, but whatever had happened to it had nothing to do with her! Rin was not even sure if she would be used by that thing! There was completely no reason to trust that thing, even if what it had said was true. She was not going to be as gullible as anybody else. This thing here was not going to trick her into becoming its food.

"You...!" It glared at Rin with its suddenly bulging red eyes before charging towards her insanely. Rin quickly turned around in one swoop and rushed towards the entrance of the castle.

She tried pushing the gate open but it was futile; it would not budge. She tried forcing her weight onto the gate to pry it open, but it did not work. Horrified and trapped, Rin slid down unconsciously and started trembling furiously. Her face was as pale as a white sheet, and she felt so cold… cold enough to transform herself to ice.

"I won't let you go unless you help us!" The creature roared with anger, towering over the poor little girl. It was no longer giving her a choice.

"I… not… you… force…" Words simply slipped out of Rin's mouth subconsciously. They made no sense due to her constant shuddering.

She wrapped her arms around herself, prepared for what was to come next, for the creature aggressively attempted to strike Rin with its long legs. She squinted her eyes and forced herself not to see her incoming doom.

…

"What are you doing to Rin?! Stop!"

That a cliffhanger? Errr, you can guess who said that, but I won't reveal it until the next chapter. =X

Nothing much, yeah… No Len in this chapter. B-but have no worries! Len will appear in the next chapter as… the… b-beast and the thief! By the way, I think all of you can see where this fic is going, so yeah. I'll try to make it different, and there wil be a plot twist on this. Something unexpected will happen…

Not sure if this chapter is up to s-standard… And I don't know if I made any mistakes, so I apologize if I did… S-sorry if you found this chapter to be boring. It was kind of necessary for the whole thing to go the way I wanted. Now time f-for me to go sleep. I hope you enjoyed reading?

Review, please? Even if you hated it? T_T Review!