a/n: I made big? changes to the first chapter. It doesn't really matter if you already read it, but go look at it if you want? I think it's better?! lolol

two years later.

chapter 3

runes

Rays of sunshine shot through the castle windows like hot lasers. It was a mission for Rin to avoid being melted as she hoisted her bag down the hallway.

Classes were over for the day, and most of the student body was outside, cooling off by the lake. But Rin would rather get work out of the way before she took any time for herself. So she was heading to the library.

It was only mid-September, but third-year classes were already proving to be quite a bit of work. Not like Rin minded. She didn't hate work. In fact, being immersed in a set of problems or an essay was a wonderful state of mind to be in. School work was solvable. When you finished it, you were finished with it. She enjoyed the feeling of working towards a finite, definite goal.

She found a spot in the library, away from people and the sun. A nice, secluded corner, under a lower roof than the rest of the castle. She spread her books over the table. What subject should she do first… Well, she was struggling with Ancient Runes, so it'd be best to start with that.

Only…

Her Runes notebook… Wasn't there.

She double-checked the piles on the table, turned her bag upside-down. Poked her head under the table and chairs. There wasn't anywhere else it could be.

Did she drop it somewhere?

Impossible, but there wasn't any other explanation.

A small lump of panic was forming in her chest. She had to go look for it. Quickly, not bothering to pack up her things, she left the library and ran up the stairs. She checked everywhere she could think of.

An hour of wandering abandoned corridors left her empty-handed. Frustration swirled in her head. The walking had left her tired and sweaty in her school robes, and it was like she was carrying around the weight of her school books on her shoulders, even though she'd left them in the library.

Well, she should be getting back. Evening was coming in, and the library would be filling up with students who wanted to study before dinner. She didn't want to leave her table unattended for too long.

The most pressing issue, though, was the Runes homework that was due tomorrow.

As she stood frozen and indecisive, a voice called out her name.

"Rin!"

Miku hopped up beside her, posing in a cute way that only Miku could pull off without looking like she was trying too hard. Her teal hair clashed horribly with the black and yellow accents of her Hufflepuff uniform, but Miku pulled off clash.

"Hello."

"Hey, Amano." Len appeared on Rin's other side.

Miku and Len had been hanging around each other more than usual, Rin noticed. Had they become better friends over the summer? Rin knew that Len was friends with Miku's brother, so maybe the three of them hung out?

With Len on one side and Miku on the other, Rin was sandwiched into a situation she didn't want to be in. Even as she began walking, they followed her. She tried not to mind.

"So, how's life?" Len asked. "I haven't talked to you in a while."

Rin shrugged. The question was too open-ended for her to answer easily, so she didn't bother.

"How far are you in that Runes homework? Professor Mizki gave us a damn lot, didn't she?"

Oh yeah, he was in her Runes class. Could she ask him for his notes…? He probably wouldn't be nice about it… But then again, she really needed them.

It was a happy coincidence that he was asking about Runes, then.

"Speaking of Runes…" she began, and Len listened with a sparkle of interest in his eye. "Did you take notes for today's class?" She avoided his eyes, but Len stepped around to her front.

He smirked like he owned the world and she didn't. "Of course I did. What, did you think I just sit in class and not take notes? Heh, I wish. I'm not that smart."

"Len," Miku said in a warning tone.

Len cleared his throat. "Yeah, yeah. So? What about it, Amano?"

There was something strange about his behaviour. He was a faraway figure, so Rin hadn't interacted with him for months, and it wasn't like she knew him well, but something was different.

"Could I borrow them?"

He stared at her for a few seconds, evaluating something. The way he looked at her reminded her of the hot patches of sun in the hall—her instinct was to shrivel away.

"Oh?" Len crossed his arms thoughtfully. "Why?"

"I can't seem to find mine…"

"Why not? Did you lose them? That's rather careless of you—"

"Len." Miku came between them and grabbed Len's tie. A tiny "ah, crap," sounded from Len's throat as Miku tugged at his loosely-buttoned shirt. "Stop being an arse. Just give her the notes."

"I was going to!" Len spluttered, brushing Miku's bangs out of her eyes. Something fluttered between them as Len lowered his voice. "Calm it."

Miku pouted, pulling his hand off her face. "I only like nice guys, you know."

Len rolled his eyes, but it wasn't mean-spirited. "I am a nice guy."

Miku laughed despite herself. "Sure you are."

Rin felt as if she could leave without being noticed. The two of them seemed far away, despite being right in front of her. There was something almost like guilt tugging her away, as if she was trespassing on private property. But her need for Len's notes kept her heels rooted.

Len pushed Miku off of him with a humoured snort, turning to Rin. "Okay, fine. I'll lend you them." He pulled them out of his bag without having to search for them—he sure was organized. "Here."

She took the book, relief flushing her stress away. "Thank you."

"No big deal. Bye." He yanked Miku's arm and dragged her down the hall. Miku nearly toppled under the sudden force. She waved quickly to Rin, a note of apology in her expression.

She didn't have to apologize. Len wasn't nice to her, but then again, there were very few nice people in the world.

She found Len strange, though. There were aspects of him that she didn't understand. Like how attention-thirsty he was. Rin found that he was constantly shining spotlights on himself, as if he couldn't stand when no one was looking at him. It was kind of amazing. Didn't he get tired of it?

Pushing Len out of her mind, Rin opened his notebook. She flipped through to the last filled page.

He had neat handwriting. There was a loopy, excessive flourish to it. His writing matched his personality.

His notes were kind of difficult to understand, though. He used short-forms and references that Rin couldn't wrap her head around. Well, she couldn't complain. She'd just have to figure it out.

Finding her place back in the library, she settled on skipping dinner in order to catch up on Runes. She meticulously went through Len's notes from beginning to end and copied them into a new book—thankfully the term had only started, so there wasn't much to copy. By the end, her hand hurt, and she wished she was back at home where she had a keyboard. And a photocopier.

The homework was made more difficult by the fact that she couldn't understand Len's notes. But she was chugging her way through, slowly. She was about halfway through when a realization crept up on her.

Len was in her Runes class. That meant he had the same homework as her. Wouldn't he need his notes, then?

The homework was due tomorrow...

She had to get the notes back to him, then… She didn't want to be the reason why he didn't finish his work. He cared about his marks, she knew, so it wouldn't sit right with her to put him at a disadvantage.

No, wait. Len wasn't that careless. He probably took all that into account from the start. He probably had a backup plan. He had friends in their Runes class, right? He'd probably share their notes.

But none of his friends were particularly studious (bar Mikuo, but he wasn't taking Runes). Rin doubted they took notes at all, let alone good ones.

Why was she so worried about him? He was a confident, bright person. He could take care of himself.

But Rin hated being a burden.

She was going to find him.

She hadn't even finished the homework herself, but she packed up her things, acknowledging that she'd probably have to stay up late to make up for all the distractions. It was okay, though. She wasn't the kind of person who needed much sleep.

Luckily, she caught him leaving the Great Hall after dinner with his usual group of friends.

"Well, if it isn't Amano again."

Kaito and Mikuo let out light "hey"s and Fukase nodded sunnily. They were a friendly group. Rin felt herself relax—which was strange considering she didn't notice she was tense in the first place.

"Kagamine—you don't need your Runes notes?"

"Well, don't you need them?"

"Yes, but I don't want to keep them from you if you need them. They're yours, after all."

"Huh."

Rin felt a sneaking something on her head, and she froze. Len had threaded his fingers through her hair, feeling it experimentally. She wanted to step back, but it felt like there was a thin, ephemeral thread between them that would snap if she dared move.

"Aw, aren't you nice," he drawled.

Kaito was hiding peals of laughter behind his hand. Fukase was smiling nervously at the two blondes, watching from the side like a witness to a car accident. Mikuo was checking his watch, muttering, "Oh, come on."

Rin tentatively tried to duck out of his grip, but it was too firm a grip to let her break out without a fuss. Len noticed her small movement, though, and stepped closer, as if to prevent her from moving again.

"So, do you need your notes?" Rin tried again. "I can give them to you if—"

"I don't need the notes," Len said, looking as if his mind was somewhere else.

"Oh. Okay."

Several moments passed. Rin waited as Len stared into space, stroking her head like she was a cat.

...When would he be done?

...What was he even doing, anyway…?

"What are you doing?"

"Hmm?" His gaze focused on her. There was a perplexing shade of mirth in his eyes.

"Um, Kagamine?"

"What?" Now he sounded bored?

Rin was at a loss. What a strange, strange person.

"S-So you're sure you don't need the notes."

He withdrew his hand easily, rubbing it against his robes as if cleaning it. "I'm fine, Amano. Do you really think I'd be so stupid as to put you above myself? I've got myself covered. Relax."

He'd delivered his words like he expected her to give a reaction, but Rin simply nodded. "Okay. That's good."

"Unless." Len held up a hand, stopping her from turning around and leaving. "Did you want to work on Runes together?"

"...No. Why would I?"

He clicked his tongue. "No fun," he muttered, brushing past her. Kaito followed, after an uncertain glance at Rin.

"Sorry," Mikuo offered. Fukase smiled weakly. Rin looked back blankly as they all left.

Well, she'd better go finish that homework.

It was quite late as Rin tucked herself into bed that night. Her roommates were already asleep, so she did her best to not disturb them.

Her mind wandered to her notebook. She was positive that she'd put it in her bag after class. Where could she have dropped it? There were no rips in her bag. It was truly a mystery.

But then again, she was in a magic school. Maybe these things were normal in Hogwarts? Maybe a house elf stole it or something.

Well, it didn't matter anymore.

Len closed his Runes book, sighing heavily. Maybe if he hadn't been wasting so much time with Kaito stealing the first years' snacks, he wouldn't have had to work so late into the night. Still, the work was surprisingly easy using someone else's notes. His own notes were lazy and thoughtless. If he'd just put the effort into making good notes for himself, his life would be unimaginably easier.

Then again, he didn't have to now.

The next day in Runes class, Rin went to Len's desk and held out his notebook.

"Here."

"Thanks." Len granted her a smile.

She was halfway back to her own desk when Len called out to her again. "Oh yeah, Amano, come over here a sec."

Len pulled a book out of his bag. A pristine copy of the school-issue notebooks; on the cover, in neat, stick-straight print, was written 'Rin Amano - Ancient Runes'.

Len disguised his smirk of amusement with a kind smile. "I found this in the hall yesterday. You must have dropped it. So that's why you needed my notes, huh? Well you better be careful from now on, okay?"

Rin took the book like it was money. She stared at Len with astonishment. Len just kept smiling.

"Well, thank me, will you?"

"Thank you."

Len sat down that evening to do his homework. He let out a small laugh when he saw the fruits of his efforts, splayed on the pages of his own Runes notebook.

There, in straight, neat writing, were the notes Rin had taken for today's class.

He'd been struggling with Runes—it was a famously difficult subject—and was honestly kind of worried for himself, so he only did what he had to do. The spell was an advanced one, but Len was able to master it.

To get the enchantment to work properly, he'd needed to keep Rin's notebook for a night, and he needed her to keep his. His plan was rough, but he'd improvised his way through it. In the end, Rin had acted exactly as he'd expected her to, and voila. Here he had his key to doing well in the class.

She'd make a good study buddy.

"Thanks, Amano."

a/n: I am ahead in writing this so weekly updates might be a thing? they'll be more of a thing if you (((review))) also I am really happy with my quality of writing for the next chapter and also my plans up to chapter 7 sooooo! I'm excited, I think. I'm starting to like this story.

next chap, we skip to fourth year! that's the last time skip for a while, I promise.

review for love :D