Chapter 8.
Both Rin and Len were given a long talking to when they came home so late. Kiyoteru droned on about 'not going astray' and glared at Rin a little too much for her liking. She quickly lost her temper. She always got blamed for everything. Sure, she did half the stuff she got blamed for, but not everything was her fault. She didn't even want to be with stupid Kiyoteru anyway.
"Excuse me, but we don't know if she's dead or alive!" She then paused. "And to be frank, you act like you don't care. Me neither," Rin grumbled, storming up the stairs. When she finally got to her room, a horrible sinking feeling fell upon her. She had said that she didn't care whether Miku was dead or not. She mentally kicked herself. Repeatedly.
She was left alone for a while, with only her lighter to keep her company. She had half expected Len to visit her, but she assumed she had upset him. It truly sucked to be her.
Eventually, however, Neru came to her room. She didn't knock, or ask if she could enter. She just barged through the door, closed it, and plunged next to Rin on the bed. She swiped her hand through Rin's lighter impulsively, leaving Rin to stare at her quizzically.
"What?"
"Why have you just done that?"
"I wanted to know whether it hurt," Neru replied matter-of-factly. "I wanted to know whether you put your hand in the flame to punish yourself. I wanted to know if it gave any kind of relief."
"You're worried?" Rin flicked the lighter on and off. "It only hurts if you keep your hand in the flame. The closer to the base of the lighter, the more intense the heat is."
Neru nodded reluctantly. "Of course I am. I acted like a diva this morning, and I feel guilty. If she's dead somewhere, then I've treated her like shit for too long a while." Neru took the lighter from Rin's hand, and began to flick it on and off for herself. After a moment, she put her hand in experimentally.
"We're all in shock," the younger girl reasoned. She took the flame away from Neru gently, before she really did start to hurt herself. "I'm feeling pretty awful myself." She paused for a second, meeting Neru's eye line. They both looked so solemn. "How's Len?"
"I dunno. He seems vacant. Like a zombie or something."
Rin shifted uncomfortably. "My bad. Do you think I should talk to him?"
"If you think that's best. He probably knows you didn't mean it…You were the one who went to try and find Miku with him after all. Usually when he's gotten upset before, he just dies for a while. Nobody sees him. Then he comes out just like he was before. Happy and cheerful and everything," Neru explained. She paused for a second, biting the inside of her lip.
"Weird…" Rin mumbled. "I'm going to go talk to him. In fact, I haven't eaten anything either. I'll tell you if he's a zombie afterwards."
Neru smiled at her friend. "Sure," she mumbled, wondering whether she was supposed to sit in Rin's room and wait. Her golden eyes noticed that Rin took the lighter with her.
Rin knocked on Len's door politely. "Len? Come have dinner with me," she said, knocking on the door a little more before beginning to slide the door open.
"Don't come in!" Len yelped, turning sharply. "I'll meet you downstairs." He was rooting through his drawers, trying to find what he needed. He stuffed an envelope in his jeans pocket hurriedly before looking at himself in the mirror. He was breathing heavily as he brushed a stray strand of hair away from his forehead. He thought he looked innocent.
A slow smirk crossed over his face, as he began to think of what he looked like. "A whole graveyard in my closet," he whispered to his reflection, chuckling to himself. The chuckle turned to a splutter, and within a few seconds, Len was doubled over with laughter. There were even tears in his eyes.
Len's room was messy. There were clothes strewn around everywhere, which of course, was quite normal for a boy of his age. However, if you looked behind the posters that were hung up, there were indentations in the wall. That was less normal.
The indentations had been made by Len's own fists. It was what he did when he stayed in his room due to 'sadness'. Whatever that was.
He paused for a moment, once again looking in the mirror. He swept the same piece of hair back and forth, wondering where it looked best. In the end, he gave up. It would move about anyway, when he and Rin were out.
The blonde haired boy went to the kitchen and took a seat. Rin had warmed up leftovers, and was dishing them out onto two plates. Len smiled to himself. It was like having a servant. Or a slave. Whatever.
"Here you go." A plate was placed in front of him, along with a knife and fork. He looked at the food with a glum expression and began to eat.
The pair sat in silence for a while. All that could be heard was them eating and breathing.
"I'm sorry, by the way," Rin mentioned casually, catching Len's eye. He held her gaze accusingly.
"That's okay."
"But you're upset!"
"I'm not. I know Kiyoteru annoyed you, and…that's okay,"Len reasoned. "Have you finished eating?"
There was still a reasonable amount of food left on her plate. She nodded anyway. She wasn't hungry.
"Lets go out then, if you're finished."
"Again? Is that a good idea?" Rin frowned slightly. Kiyoteru would go crazy on her if they went out again. It was so dark outside, and after Miku…
"No."
Rin expected Len to be grinning goofily, but he wasn't. His eyes were focused intensely on her. Daring her.
"Where to then?"
"Just, about. I can show you some beautiful places."
"But it's pitch black outside, Len-"
"Are you coming or not?" He asked, standing up abruptly. She bit the inside of her lip and stood up, not even bothering to put the plates away.
'She certainly trusts me,' Len thought to himself. She was being submissive. Obedient. She was allowing herself to be led through the chills and darkness of the night.
And she was okay with that.
"Where are you taking me?" she asked. There was fear in her voice, but only of the dark surroundings. The cold was making her uncomfortable, and Len hadn't shown her anything particular interesting yet. He had hardly talked to her, in fact.
After her eyes had adjusted to the dark, Rin had been able to recognise roads and paths. That was until she had been dragged into a forest of some sort. There were noises that she couldn't place, and when she ran her hand along the bark of a tree, it was rough and scratchy on her skin.
She wondered whether Len knew where he was going. All there was was trees and trees and trees. Eventually, however, he came to her stop.
"The river," he said. Rin wasn't quite sure if he was talking to himself or to her, but there was awe in his voice. He pushed his foot into the sand at the sides of the river, and closed his eyes for a second, before turning to Rin with wide eyes.
He asked her whether she thought it was peaceful.
"It's nice," Rin admitted, alert to all the sounds around her. She was worried. What if an urge suddenly over took her and she wanted to kill Len? She'd be in the perfect place, right?
"Sit down," Len urged her, sitting on the embankment himself. "We have time."
They didn't have time, seeing as they shouldn't have even left the house.
Sat side by side, Rin felt a wave of nausea. This was all too much. In the forest, so late at night, with her doppelganger. And her lighter. At least that was a comfort.
"Rin, when Miku went away, do you think she was scared?"
"Scared of what, exactly?"
"You."
There was an awkward pause. "She was scared of you getting harmed, I think."
Len nodded intently, before looking into the dark river. "Do you believe that perhaps we are doppelgangers?"
"No."
"No?"
"No!"
Rin turned, as she heard Len chuckling. He was still looking into the water.
"I think we are," he said softly. He came close to Rin, taking a handful of her hair gently and holding it next to his. "Same hair. Same eyes"- he looked into her eyes- "Same lips, same skin, same feet, same sadness, same loneliness, same mind."
He reeled off the list easily, took hold of Rin's shoulders and frowned. "You know it's true."
"I don't see why you're so happy about it," Rin huffed, shaking herself away from Len's grasp. She didn't like this one bit. He knew. He knew about her, and if she was going to kill him, then surely in order to survive, he would have to-
She began to panic just as a hand encircled her wrist.
"I've waited a long time for this," he breathed. His nails were digging into her skin and she didn't like it and she felt scared. Of Len.
"Len, let go."
"But I have so much to tell you! There's so much you don't know about doppelgangers. For example, do you remember this historic place you found during your computer sessions?" He paused, waiting for a reply that wasn't coming. "Luka and Luki Megurine, drowned right here. Poor, poor Luka.."
"Luki killed her?" Rin gulped. So Luki was the killer? Awful. Absolutely horrible.
"Huh?" Len looked surprised. "God, no. She just did her job very badly. I told her not to-"
"You-"
"Don't speech above me, if you don't mind," Len hissed. His eyes narrowed dramatically with some form of hate as he spoke to her. "Yes, I did know her. We were 'doppels' together. She told me these lovely stories about how one day I'd find my doppelganger and she put in the most gruesome murders ever. I was delighted."
Rin squirmed. Len would have been…ten years old, if the murder happened four years ago, was it? Or was it three? The details had blurred in her mind. But she did know that Len must have been one screwed up kid.
AN: I'm sorry if there are mistakes in this, and I know you waited a long time! It's quite long, so, I hope that makes up for the lateness a little. This story is obviously coming to an end. :( The reason I took ages was because of school and things, I mean, wow, it's all going down at school, gosh. Anyway, hope you enjoyed this, and if you have time, please leave your thoughts!
