A/N: Good news! I managed to find free time in between my thick homework pile and school schedule to write this. Partially the reason why chapters are coming "fast" is because I'm getting a lot of plot bunnies. Let's hope they keep hopping around in my mind, but don't be surprised if I suddenly crash with a writer's block. -knocks on wood- Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4: The Opera Ghost

Rin felt a certain uneasiness as Kaito stroked her side, yet she could not help her heart pounding beneath her chest. However as Kaito sung with her, she felt empty. It was nothing like her duet with Len, which felt so full, like her heart was being filled up like a glass. She found that not as much heart and soul was in her voice as she sung, and even though Kaito sang passionately to her, there was something strange about the way he sang. It mostly seemed as if it was a lustful desire—a great want. With Len, she could also feel a great desire coming from him, but when they sang together, she felt as though they were one. Kaito made her feel as though she was still a separate being from him. Rin began to feel slightly guilty allowing Kaito to brush her body sensually.

At that moment during their song, Kaito decided that it was time to wander the stage when they reached a certain section in the song. He drifted gracefully backward, still facing Rin and holding his arms out reaching toward her. She attempted to respond appropriately, but the moment he stepped back far enough, a backdrop from above suddenly quickly fell down and crashed on Kaito. The strings from the orchestra pit below shrieked from the sudden crash and collective gasps from all over the stage area sounded in the air. Kaito's face carried a strange sense of fear and confusion as he struggled out from under the backdrop and stumbled to his feet. He looked above him to attempt to spot the culprit, but to no avail—he was already gone.

"Who allowed that to fall?" He demanded.

"It must have slipped! I must have not secured it tight enough!" A backstage worker shrieked from above, rushing to the ropes to pull the backdrop back up, "I beg your forgiveness!"

Kaito heaved a heavy sigh and rubbed his head, stepping toward Rin. He glanced at her for a moment, but then continued on his way.

"I need a rest, maestro."

"O-of c-course." The maestro stumbled all over his words.

Rin could sense all the murmured conversations around her and she immediately knew what everyone was talking about. The rumor that only those who lived in the Vocaloid Opera House knew of—the rumor that they kept only to themselves. The rumor of the Opera Ghost. She spotted Miku off stage and quickly ran toward her, hoping to find some sort of explanation.

"What's going on?"

"I don't know—this is the first time he's ever made a daring move like this..."

Rin looked up towards the catwalk to try to get a glimpse of Len, but she could not find him. She thought to herself how "Opera Ghost" was such an appropriate name for him.

"What about Kaito? Is he all right? I rushed over here once I heard the crash."

"He seemed all right..."

Miku sighed in relief. Rin felt even more guilty that Kaito had been intimate with her, but was relieved that she didn't see him in the act.

About an hour after the incident was when everyone just barely started to recover and gain their composure. Set builders and stage workers began their tasks again and chorus members and dancers began changing their costumes. Kaito seemed to have regained his composure as he stepped onto the stage with Rin. He had started to draw close to her, and even at one point grasped her hand.

"You're not still scared are you?"

Rin flushed, "No, I'm all right."

She quickly glanced off stage hoping to not see Miku staring at them, hoping that she was off in the dressing rooms changing costumes. Her heart immediately sank when she spotted Miku's face with wide eyes and mouth slightly parted open. Rin quickly drew her hand away from Kaito and held it to her chest, rubbing it as if she had held her hand to a fire. Thankfully, the maestro broke the tension as he raised his baton.

"Let's start from the beginning of the duet, then—"

"This outrageous!" An enflamed voice came from the back of the auditorium.

From the back, the two opera house managers came storming in, one holding an envelope above his head and the other following quickly behind. Both were speaking to each other as if they were arguing. When they had reached the stage, the cast and workers had emerged from behind the curtains in nervous curiosity. Once again, the manager holding the envelope raised it above his head and shook it vigorously, a defined frown on his face. The two opera house managers seemed so flustered and furious that neither of them spoke right away, as if still in a complete shock, until someone had shouted from the back,

"What is that letter?"

"It's from..." the manager holding the envelope shook his head as if he could not believe the words about to pass his lips, "the Opera Ghost!"

An erruption of murmurs and gasps emerged in the air and once again, Rin looked up to the catwalk to see if she could spot Len peering down at them. Or perhaps he was in one of the boxes in the house? She still could not find him.

"Well, what does it say?"

"It says—" The manager began, opening the letter with shaking hands out of fury and disbelief, "That we must fund an entirely new production, and that if we don't comply to his wishes, that he will 'continue causing us grief.'"

There was a cry of complaint, particularly from the prop and set builders and the tailors and tailoresses.

"I personally say we should disregard this pathetic threat." The other opera house manager intervened.

"And what if the things he does are far worse than what happened today?"

"Oh, what could he possibly do? He's only one person—and we're not even entirely sure he exists! This could be some mindless prank from someone trying to show a little humor!"

Even though the opera house manager had convinced some of the listeners and put some relief on them, Rin was not at all in belief of it. She knew for a certainty that the "Opera Ghost" did in fact exist—she knew better than anyone.

"And what about the missing divas? Was that a prank, too?"

Both opera house managers let out cries of frustration, one tangling his hair and the other tearing the paper and envelope before stomping on it.

"Enough of this nonsense! On with the rehearsal!"

And with that, everyone quickly rushed to their places.

The rehearsals following the falling backdrop incident seemed to be far more rigorous than usual. It was as if the frustrations of the opera house managers and the maestro were being used to push all the cast members at once. Rin found herself exhausted earlier and earlier in the day, but forced herself to keep singing well, in fear that Len would not accept her. She would continually glance up at the catwalk to see if she could see him there peering down at her, but she could never find him. However when Kaito would approach her, she would always feel a heavy sense of dissatisfaction from afar—a feeling of complete anger and almost blood lust. When it became too overpowering, Rin would force herself away.

It was several days before the performance now and they were being pushed as hard as ever. Rin was reasonably upset and full of fatigue. At that moment, she did not wish to step out onto the stage so that she would not deal with the stress that would come with it. It was one motion after another, one task following the other, and it seemed long, endless hours prevailed in the day. She attempted to remind herself why she was there and of her dream that she had promised she would accomplish for her father. However, surprisingly to her, part of her fatigue was her wanting to see Len and hear his voice once more. She felt that if she were to hear it again, it would rejuvenate her even if he had used his voice to seduce the other divas. In desperate need to talk to someone—at that moment, Rin decided to sought after Miku.

When she had found her friend in the dressing room, applying the last bit of her make-up, she had put on a weak smile and approached her. Usually, at Rin's presence, Miku would turn around and smile brightly at her, but this time, she remained facing toward the mirror, her expression growing more grave. Rin immediately noticed this and slowed her approach to a more hesitant walk.

"Miku...?"

Miku lowered her head.

"Miku, what's wrong?"

A heavy sigh escaped her lips and she froze for a moment before standing up from her seat. She turned and slowly faced Rin with a serious expression. Rin could immediately tell what was on her mind—she could see her glassy eyes, and read the sighs that passed her lips—it was the look of one longing for someone.

"Is it true?" Miku quietly mumbled.

"What is?"

"That you and Kaito are... lovers...?" She said the last word so quietly that it was almost inaudible.

Rin was quite taken aback when she heard this, "What?"

"There are rumors flying all around the theater... that you and Kaito are lovers."

"No! That's not true!"

"But what of the way he holds you during those duets? What about the way he looks at you when you pass him? What about the way—"

Rin could not take much more than that, "Miku, he's only acting and getting into his part. I assure you we haven't exchanged any sort of vows that would proclaim us as lovers." Strangely enough, Len was on her mind at that moment rather than Kaito.

Miku looked slightly more relieved—a small smile spread across her face, "Just don't change and drift from me, all right?"

Rin chuckled, "Why would I do that? We are friends, after all. And if you have feelings for Kaito—"

Rin was suddenly interrupted by an incredibly distraught cry that came through the dressing room. Catching both of their attention, Rin and Miku looked to find one of the tailoresses tearing through a pile of costumes and moving from place to place vigorously searching for something.

"What's wrong?"

"Over half of the ballerina's costumes have gone missing! We cannot find them anywhere!"

Suddenly there was a distant voice that came from the theater, "Everyone, get out here now."

Miku and Rin ran with the gathering crowd onto the stage where the two opera house managers stood, both with dark circles under their eyes and pale complexions. They folded their arms and their shoulders were tense as if a vicious chill had overcome them. Scanning the crowd and seeing that everyone was there, one began to speak.

"It would seem... that costumes have gradually been disappearing."

It seemed that many of the chorus members were aware of this already and began shaking their heads in disbelief.

"Now, whomever is behind this... must be here in the theater. If you are here among us—know that once we find you, you will be immediately terminated from your position if the costumes do not return to us by the time the performance comes. And hopefully, this will be the end of it."

It quite wasn't.

In the next few days, more costumes had gone missing and even some of the set pieces and props had gone missing. At this point, everyone was absolutely furious which had made the rehearsals even more exhausting. Rin was at her limit, and even though she had a hesitant Miku to talk to, it wasn't quite enough to relax her.

At the end of a long day, she had almost crawled back to her room filled with the flowers that she had not bothered to take and throw out even though they were long dead. Closing the door behind her, Rin leaned back against it and heaved a heavy sigh before looking forward to the mirror at the other end of the room. She stood there a moment before deciding to change into her nightgown—a long flowing white dress with a wrap covering her shoulders, lined with lace and silk. As she came from behind the changing screen, she brushed her fingers against one of the dead roses and flinched at its roughness. Once again she had turned toward the mirror, but this time, she approached it, hoping in the back of her mind that if she would get closer, somehow Len would be there staring at her. She touched her hand to the glass, however, and found that she brushed the hand of her own reflection.

Gazing into her own face, she saw an expression of dissatisfaction. Was that night the end of it? Was the dream to only last for that moment? How she had longed to return to that enchanted world. After waiting, still hoping that Len would somehow respond to her, Rin had approached the candles and hushed them away with a gentle breath. She collapsed on her bed, and even though she was perfectly exhausted, she could not bring herself to sleep. For a moment, Rin lay there in complete silence and stillness. The dim blue moonlight drifted through the thin windows and fell onto her skin. Even though sleep was not about to overtake her, Rin closed her eyes and listened to the wind that whistled outside, trying to find a melody in it.

Gradually, she began to hear one.

It was such a lovely melody—and somehow familiar. Then she remembered... it was the song Len had written—the song that they had sung together. Deep breaths passed from her body, she could almost hear his voice echoing behind the wind. However, gradually it grew stronger and stronger until it seemed as if the singing was right there next to her. Rin slowly opened her eyes at that moment, and even though the singing had stopped and could no longer hear the voice, she could see a figure staring at her from the shadows.

The figure had at last stepped forward into the moonlight, illuminating his face, bathing it in enchanted light—it was unmistakably Len. Rin immediately shot up from her bed at his presence, but before she could say his name, Len had put a finger to his lips and slowly approached her and kneeling at her bedside. For a while, not a word was spoken between them—only Rin's deep breathing sounded in the air until she had at last decided to speak words that had been swirling around in her mind.

"So... you are the Opera Ghost."

Len smiled at the name, "Apparently I am."

"Then are the rumors true?" Rin quickly added, desparate to ask the question so that she could hear an answer, "That you had kidnapped the previous divas before me?"

"Yes, that is true." He calmly said.

"Then..." Rin bit her lip, "Did you sing with them like you did with me?"

Len's eyebrows furrowed together in deep confusion and with a hint of disgust, "There was no possible way that I would sing with them—they were too horrible."

"Then what did you do with them?"

"I escorted them out of the opera house." He said rather simply.

Rin clutched her bedsheets, processing his words. Had she worried for nothing? Why was she so jealous? Yet somehow she knew the answer to that when Len stood up and leaned forward towards her, taking her face in his hands. Her heart began to pound rapidly as she could feel his breath brushing against her skin and his nose nuzzling against hers.

"Your voice is the only one that I have ever wanted." He whispered, drawing in closer to her.

The air between them slowly grew thinner and thinner until their lips gradually touched. Rin could feel the fire burning in her chest now as his hands brushed the sides of her neck until the fell onto the tops of her shoulders. The feeling against his lips against hers was as hypnotic as his singing. Slowly she lifted her hands to touch him, but he had pulled away. Slightly disappointed, Rin gazed into his eyes captured by the moonlight as he spoke to her.

"Will you do something for me?"

"What is it?"

"Please tell the opera house managers to change production..."

"Then was that you taking the costumes and set pieces and props?"

Len smiled, "Yes."

"Then it was you who set the backdrop on Kaito?"

Len seemed to grimace at the name, "I absolutely cannot stand seeing you in his arms. His voice is far too dull to even compare to yours. He basks in your glory while remaining a lowly rat."

Rin stared at his expression for a moment. She didn't exactly approve of him attacking Kaito in such a way, but she could see the same expression in his eyes that she had seen in herself whenever she had gazed into a mirror. He looked at her almost pleadingly, and finally submitting, she said,

"I will try to convince the managers."

Len breathed a sigh of relief and lifted himself away from her and began walking away from her bedside, but he found himself caught. Looking behind him, he found Rin clutching onto the back of his cloak and looking up at him with longing eyes, her face catching the moonlight perfectly.

"If I do that—will you stay with me for a little while longer here?"

To that immediately Len turned around and leaned toward her once more, "Of course." He whispered.

Rin wrapped her arms around him to draw him closer to her—and he willingly came. Len again lifted his hands to her cheeks and once more they leaned in for a kiss.