A/N: Hey, it's number ten! That means I'm 1/10 of the way done with this project! ...I'm not sure which is worse; the fact that I noticed that or the fact that I'm actually excited about it. Well anyways, thanks to everyone that's stuck with me through the first 10 and here's hoping for the best with the next 90!
First we had LeonxIA and now we have LuixLola. Random selection must like for me to have new Vocaloids paired with old Vocaloids.
Many, many thanks to these wonderful reviewers: princedwardriviera, TheNextAlice and Ten-Face. You guys helped me to get to the (not so) great milestone of 1/10 the way there!
Song: Garden Lullaby - Gary Stadler
Couple: LuixLola
The young boy felt a sigh escape his lips as he watched the last sliver of the late summer sunset dip below the horizon. The air was still thick with the heat and sticky moisture of the recently departed day and the boy couldn't help but shift restlessly. He had come out into the gardens to get away from all the hectic activity inside, but the hot air made him uncomfortable.
Although, he knew that he would pick the uncomfortable feeling of the hot air over the uncomfortable feeling of being in that house any day.
It wasn't as if the individuals in the house were annoying or rude; they had been rather kind to him actually. But the day had consisted of tiring self-introductions and other platitudes, most of which he responded to with a slight smile and a deep bow. When he didn't respond with an introduction of his own, the individual would look at him strangely, perhaps make some form of nervous remark, before moving on to the other new recruit, Ring.
As the introductions continued to drag on and the number of odd stares he received increased, he couldn't help but feel his smile become more strained. After the long precession line was finished, Ring went off somewhere with several of the girls, chatting happily as she motioned animatedly. He was left alone.
That left the young twelve year old in a house of strangers with no one to spend time with. For reasons he couldn't quite explain, a suffocating feeling of panic descended upon him as this realization struck him. He knew he had to get out of there. Now.
So he had found his way into the backyard of the giant mansion he was now supposed to call home. As his eyes surveyed the backyard, he noted how it was comparatively small to the house. But in his mind, this wasn't an unwelcome revelation. On the contrary, he quite liked the cozy, almost secret feeling.
He was just about to take a meandering stroll through the scattered tress and flowerbeds when something out of the ordinary caught his eye and caused him to stop. In the rapidly fading light, he saw someone bending over one of the flowerbeds and throwing up dirt as they worked. It wasn't anyone the boy knew, which was odd considering he had supposedly just been introduced to everyone that lived here.
Maybe this person was a gardener of some sort? But…a gardener that came when the sun was nearly setting? Any way he thought to look at it, a gardener being here this late was most definitely atypical…
Curiosity quickly overriding caution, he took a few hesitant steps towards the figure. As he drew closer, he noticed that the individual was muttering to themselves as they went about their work. He stopped just a few steps behind the individual's back, not quite sure what to do with himself now that he had reached this point.
"It's a wonder any of these flowers survive at all; no one really cares for them besides me. They're always too busy with their careers to stop and do anything else…Well whatever, at least I had time to pull weeds today."
The boy felt his heart jump in his chest as the individual stood up abruptly and turned around to leave, only to stop short when she – for she was indeed a girl – came face to face with him. Her face showed easily readable surprise as the two of them stared at one another in silence for what felt like forever to the young boy. He could feel his cheeks flush in embarrassment as the woman's eyes ran up and down, evaluating him.
"…Who are you?" The woman asked, her evaluation apparently done. The question wasn't threatening or mean; it was simply asked out of curiousity.
He wanted desperately to answer, he even moved his lips in an attempt to form words, but he knew the effort to be futile. No matter how desperately he wished to talk, he wouldn't be able to.
He was too scared.
"Can you…not talk or something?" The girl asked after several more seconds of silence. The young boy's face dropped considerably and gave a deliberate shake of his head as his smile tinged with sadness.
"I would ask what exactly you're doing in this house if you can't speak, but I'm sure that the producers must have something in mind," She said as she scratched at the back of her head and looked off into the distance, "Well, are you just gonna stand there and stare at me?"
Once more, he wanted to form an answer, but he didn't know how. He wanted to let her know that he wanted to talk with her; he wanted to let her know that he wanted to be friends with her.
To his surprise, he heard her give a deep laugh.
"You don't have to look so distraught," She said as her voice continued to bounce with laughter, "If you really want to, we can talk."
How? He wanted to ask.
As if in answer to his unvoiced question, the woman bent down on the ground and picked something up that the boy hadn't noticed before. When she rose again and presented it to the boy, he couldn't help but tilt his head in confusion.
She was holding a notebook that was filled with rows and rows of numbers. He took it reluctantly into his hands and looked up at her.
"It's my journal where I keep track of the growth of the flowers," She explained in response to his confusion, "Just turn to a blank page and write what you want to say. I just finished gardening, so I'm gonna go sit down. You're free to join me if you want to."
Without waiting for any sort of confirmation from him, the woman headed off towards the side of the garden where a bench was set against a fence. She sat down with a satisfied smile and closed her eyes in contentment. The boy simply stared at her for a few moments before he quickly walked over to where she was sitting and plopped down next to her.
Taking the pencil from its location inside the spiral on the side of the notebook and turning to a blank page, the young boy quickly scrawled on the page. Once he was done writing his message, he turned to look at the woman, but her eyes were still closed and she seemed to be ignoring him. Reluctantly, he gently tapped on her shoulder.
Her eyes opened instantly and she turned to look at the young boy who was holding out the notebook with nervousness coloring his eyes. She gave a slight smile and, to the boy's infinite relief, took the notebook from him.
"My name is Lui; what's yours?"
The girl turned to him and gave a slight smile before she handed the notebook back to Lui.
"Lola," She answered simply. The young boy's face lit slightly as he once more turned to scribbling at the notebook Lola had given him.
"It's a pleasure to meet you Lola. What exactly were you doing in the garden earlier?"
"That? I was just tending to the flowers. There were some weeds that needed to be pulled. I guess it could have waited till tomorrow, but I wanted to get it done today."
She was gardening? Lui allowed his eyes to sweep over the woman. Her short, cropped black hair and startling red eyes didn't really fit with the image he commonly associated with someone who liked gardening. Add in the fact that she was wearing tight fitting black, leather pants and a shimmery black shirt that hung off one of her shoulders, Lui couldn't help but doubt her claim. From what he knew about gardening, which he would admit was very little, this girl seemed very unlikely to engage in it.
"I can tell by the look on your face that you don't believe me," Lola said, which caused his face to color in embarrassment at being caught, "Well I suppose it's up to you if you want to believe me, but it's the truth. I love gardening, whether it fits with my 'persona' or not."
The was silence once more as Lui stared down at the notebook in his hands, trying to formulate another question. He felt like the last question had struck a nerve, and he was afraid that he would lose the only person who was willing to speak with him. He needed a safe conversation and fast.
"I didn't see you earlier today when I was being introduced to everyone," He wrote quickly, "If you don't mind my asking, where were you?"
"Ah," Lola said when she read what he wrote, "You must have been one of the new members everyone was talking about. Isn't there supposed to be a boy and a girl coming? Where did the boy get off to?"
Lui felt his face heat in keen embarrassment; Lola didn't realize that he was the boy who was arriving. He knew that many people had incorrectly thought he was a girl before, but somehow Lola thinking it made his heart sink.
"Actually, I'm the boy. Ring's the girl and she's hanging out with several of the other girl's in the house."
"…You're a boy huh?" Lola said as her eyes once more swept over Lui, "The way you're dressed up I would have never guessed. How old are you anyways?"
"I'm twelve."
"You're that young?" Lola said with what sounded like disgust, "They never listen to me when I tell them it's not good for young kids to be exposed to this stuff. I mean look at you! You should be wearing T-shirts and baggy pants, not clothes that makes you look little better than a desperate hooker!"
As Lola continued to speak, Lui felt his face continue to heat in embarrassment. He looked down at the outfit the producers had told him to wear, and he couldn't help but pull uncomfortably on the shorts he was wearing. It hadn't been his choice to wear this clothing; when the producers brought him to the house, they gave him the clothing and told him to wear it. He was afraid to argue with them out of fear that he would disappoint them.
"…Sorry," Lola said with a long sigh as she collected herself, "I really shouldn't be taking this out on you. I guess I'm just…annoyed. It's not your fault or anything like that."
"It's alright."
"Not really. I've been told I have a really bad temper when I get worked up about things. Actually, now that I think back on it, my short temper's the reason I ended up cutting and dying my hair. It's also the reason that I wear colored contacts…"
"If you don't mind me asking, what exactly do you mean by that?"
"You talk like a little gentleman, don't you?" Lola asked with a wide grin before she reached over and lightly ruffled Lui's hair, "To answer your question, when I first came into the business and it was only me and my brother – Leon, if you wanted to know; you probably met him earlier - around, the producers kept talking about how I needed to change my voice to fit my image. If you can imagine it, my hair was curly and blonde back then, but apparently that image didn't fit with my naturally deep singing voice. Some people even mistook me for a boy because of my voice, which just managed to piss me off to no end."
Lui couldn't help but think how her situation was similar to his own. True, her problem was that people mistook her as a boy because of her voice instead of his problem which stemmed from his looks and attitude, but still, he felt an odd sort of kinship with this woman he had just met.
"So one day, I had enough of them telling me to change my voice; I knew it was never going to happen, no matter how much they asked. So that evening, I went out, got my hair cut short, got it dyed black, and bought some red contacts. Want to know the first thing they did when I showed up the next morning? They complimented me on my singing voice. If Leon hadn't stopped me, I think I might be in jail for murder charges at this point."
"Why did their compliments make you angry?"
"Why? Because I was exactly the same damn person! But suddenly, they're saying 'Oh her voice sounds so good now!' or 'She sounds like she improved a lot!'. I didn't change one thing about my voice; it was just the idiot public being influenced by what they saw rather than what they heard."
As her rant ended, Lui gave no response. He instead continued to stare down at the notebook that rested in his lap. His mind was buzzing with questions he wanted to ask and comments he wanted to make. He wanted to let her knew that he understood what she went through; he wanted to let her know that he was sure he would appreciate the sound of his voice no matter what she looked like; he wanted to let her know that he would never judge her based on looks.
But he couldn't help but remember how he had thought it was out of character for her to be gardening when he first met her. The thought caused his cheeks to color with shame.
"Sheesh, listen to me rant on and on about my problems to a twelve year old kid!" He heard Lola say from his side, "Guess I just took advantage of the fact that you can't talk to force all my problems on to you. Sorry."
"Please don't concern yourself with that. But…I think it's only fair that I share something with you."
"You really don't have to," Lola said with a shake of her head, "I was really just ranting away and you happened to be here to hear it."
"No, I want to tell this to someone. Would you please listen?"
"Alright, alright, write away."
The two of them fell into silence once more as Lui began to write slowly and methodically in Lola's notebook. He wanted to make sure he worded everything perfectly before presenting it to the older girl. After several minutes of silence, Lui was satisfied enough with the results that he handed it off to Lola.
"I actually can talk. I'm just scared. Ever since I was first selected to be a part of this group, the producers kept talking about how they would find me the 'perfect' voice to fit with my image. They had me try lots of different styles and ranges, but none of them seemed to please them. Everything I did wasn't good enough. I wasn't good enough. It scared me. I guess I thought if I didn't talk they couldn't tell me I wasn't good enough. If I didn't talk, the public wouldn't tell me that my voice wasn't good enough. I've gotten so used to it, that it's almost like there's this barrier whenever I want to talk and no matter how hard I try, the words won't come out."
Lui watched anxiously as Lola read over the words he had just written. When she set the notebook down on her lap, apparently done with her reading, she turned to look at him. To his surprise, her eyes were hard and angry. He wanted desperately to apologize, but she still held the notepad, cutting off his only means of communication.
The next thing that happened was even more surprising than her angry glare.
She took her into his arms and gave him a warm hug. Lui was too surprised to return the action, and by the time he realized he should probably hug her back, she had already broken away and was sitting once more on her half of the bench. It had been such a sudden and unexpected action that Lui couldn't help but wonder if he had just dreamed it.
"This is why I keep telling the producers to stop involving kids in this industry," Lola said with a hard edge to her voice, "But if you want some advice from me, I say screw the public. If they're not happy with your voice, it's their loss. Besides, I'm sure your voice is perfectly fine. When you start talking again, I would love to sing a duet with you."
Lola looked over at him then and smiled, and Lui couldn't help but smile back broadly as his cheeks flared with colored. He realized as he smiled that it was his first honest smile since he had arrived at the mansion that was to be his home.
"Man, would you look how high the moon is up," Lola commented as she handed the notebook back to Lui and stood up from the bench, "We should probably head back inside, don't you think?"
Lui stood up hastily next to her and scribbled another note before quickly handing it to her.
"I know this may be rude, but do you think I could ask how old you are?"
"How old I am?" Lola echoed in confusion, "Well, I just turned twenty-five recently. Why do you ask?"
She was significantly older than him. As he allowed his eyes to sink to the floor, his heart sank more than he expected; why exactly was he so sorely disappointed in the fact that she was significantly older than him?
Suddenly, Lui felt his head phones being removed from his head. He looked up abruptly to see Lola holding them in her hand with a smile. Once more, she ruffled his hair, which caused an intermingling of joy and displeasure to run through Lui. Ruffling a person's hair was something you did to children, not to someone you thought of as an equal.
"Don't look so downtrodden. Someday you'll be as old as me and then you can complain about all the kids they're bringing into this line of work," She said, misinterpreting the reason for Lui's sudden down-hearted nature, "Until then, just keep doing your best. I'll be there to watch you grow into a wonderful performer and beat up anybody if need be."
With her message delivered, she began to head back towards the house. Lui watched her retreating back for a few moments and gripped the notebook he was still holding tightly in his hands. He had to thank her! He had to thank her! She had been so kind and all he had been able to do was complain and use up pages in her important notebook.
The first friend he made in his new home and he couldn't even thank her properly.
He opened his mouth and willed the words to come out, but he was met with silence. He prayed desperately and shut his eyes as he tried to deconstruct the wall his mind had built. But it was hopeless. The words he so desperately wanted to say were locked away.
Unexpectedly, he felt hot, bitter tears begin to roll down his cheeks as he wept silently. Why couldn't he say it? Why couldn't he say it?
Thank you.
Thank you.
He just wanted to let her know.
But although his mouth was open and his lips were moving, no sound escaped. His silent thanks could be heard by no one.
"You're welcome."
Lui felt his heart stop in his chest as he heard the sound of a familiar voice and felt a slim hand tousling his hair. When he opened his eyes, he was looking at the gently smiling face of Lola. He quickly worked to wipe his tears away as the older woman gently played with his hair.
"You wanted to thank me, right? Well, you're welcome," Lola answered in a low and comforting voice that caused Lui's heart to pick up speed. He quickly pulled out the notebook and prepared to write the question that plagued his thoughts.
"Don't worry about writing," He heard Lola say, causing his to raise his head to look at her, "You want to know how I knew what you were saying, right?"
Lui answered her question with a nod of her head.
"Because you're a little gentleman and you would never let me leave without thanking me," Lola said with a wide grin. Lui stared at her in surprise for a few moments before he felt his face break into a smile of its own.
"Ah, there you go; you look much better when you smile. Now come one, we better get back before everyone starts wondering where we are."
With a strong nod of his head in agreement, Lui and Lola headed back towards the house together. As the two of them walked, Lui couldn't help but continue to steal glances at Lola's hand that was dangerously close to his own. If only he was a little bolder, he would have reached out and held her hand the entire walk home.
Instead, the two of them walked in a comfortable silence as Lui hoped that someday he would be able to find his voice once more. Maybe it was wrong; maybe it was just a one-sided precocious crush that could never be a reality, but when that day came, Lui knew exactly what would be the first thing he said to Lola.
I love you.