Disclaimer: I don't own Vocal to the oid, y'all!

Chapter 9: Seeking Answers That Lead To More Questions

A small gust of wind blew inside from a nearby window as Rin stared at her garden from inside her room. A look of melancholy and reminiscence crept onto her slightly pale face as her lips moved to address her butler, "Is there something you need, Mikuo?"

Mikuo bowed in respect and answered, "My mistress, it's your brother-"

"Is he alright?" She turned towards the slightly older boy with a look of worry and concern, "He's alright, isn't he? He must be…"

The teal-eyed servant shook his head, "He's as fine as he could be, mistress, nothing is wrong." He took her sigh of relief as a sign to continue, "In fact, he requests your presence in his chamber."

Rin raised a thin eyebrow as she asked, "Did he say why?"

Mikuo shook his head in negativity. "I'm afraid not. All he told me was to come and fetch you."

The blonde nodded and Mikuo took that as a silent 'lead the way' as he walked his mistress to her sibling's room. The entire walk there was long, and dare Mikuo say it, a bit awkward as neither of them said a single word. In fact, when teal eyes spotted the familiar wooden double-doors of his little master's room, he nearly let out a sigh of relief as he knocked on said door.

An almost forced "Come in" was all they got as permission to enter. Mikuo took a hold of the golden handle on the door and silently opened it, watching silently as Rin ran up to her brother while cautiously closing the door behind him. Eventually, he made his way up towards the young boy's bed and bowed once he got there, "Is there anything else you need?"

Oliver shook his head slowly. "No, this is all." He looked at the butler nervously and let out a small cough, "If you don't mind, I'd like a bit of privacy. I need to tell Rin-nee something important."

Without another word, Mikuo nodded in understanding and left the room. As soon as the door closed shut, Oliver looked at his sister with a sad smile. "I can feel myself getting weaker and weaker each day, Rin. I'm afraid I'm not like you, and one day-"

"Don't say such things!" Rin could feel her tears threatening to spill, but she refused to cry in front of him. She shook her head furiously as she said, "You'll get better, you just need to keep on taking your medication and-"

"Rest." It's that one word that seemed to have done it as Rin let her tears fall. Oliver knew this would happen as he made no motion to comfort his saddened sister. Instead, he kept on talking, "I would love-" A sneeze, followed by a painful series of coughs, "-to see big sister happy before I-"

"Please don't say it, I can't bear to hear it…" Rin tried her best to smile but it came out shaky, "I will try my best to be happy for you, Ollie."

Oliver shook his head at the sentence, almost as if disagreeing with it. "That is not what I meant," he closed his eyes and leaned back onto the fluffy pillow beneath him, "I want to see Rin-nee with her pair."

Rin knew what he meant by pair, and she damn knew that Oliver knew her pair was long gone. Even after grieving over it and spending countless days and nights locked in her room, Oliver stayed as stubborn as ever and seemed to have transferred Rin's hope into him. Which is why Rin refrained herself from shouting as she said, "My pair is gone, Oliver. Gone to the world beyond, and he will never come back. Nor shall I find another."

Oliver smiled faintly and muttered a 'that's what you think' as he let sleep claim him. Upon seeing his chest rise up and down in a more-or-less steady pattern, Rin considered him asleep as she smiled and got up from the tall chair that was usually left next to his bed. She tucked her brother in and leaned down to place a quick kiss on his forehead.

'You have the greatest intentions,' She turned around and walked towards the door, her high heels making a small sound that seemed to echo throughout the room. 'But it's all in vain.'

She took one last look at her brother's sleeping figure before opening the door and walking away, ignoring the stinging sensation she felt in her eyes as she refrained anymore tears from falling from them.

Len sighed as he watched the rain fall down gently, and he almost laughed at how the weather seemed to mirror his emotions. He had just woken up from yet another 'memory', and he dearly wished for them to stop. Those memories were what caused his mind to wander, and he really didn't wish to go any deeper into the meaning of those weird dreams.

"Something troubling you?" Len nearly jumped in surprise as he turned around and saw a pink mist of light.

"Luka…" Len shook his head and turned back around in his chair, "No, nothing's wrong."

"I don't believe you," Luka floated over towards him and put a hand on Len's shoulder as an attempt to comfort him, momentarily forgetting she was a ghost and all Len felt was a cold rush of air. She looked down at him the same way a mother would to her child and said, "I've seen you like this before, honey. And I may be able to help you if you just tell me…"

Len looked down at the wooden floor as if it held all the answers to his problems. "Well… It's my dreams…"

Luka gave him a warm look and a comforting smile. "Go on."

"In the dreams, I always see two children." Luka nodded as a sign to show that she was listening. "The dream is very vivid, as if I've actually lived it, as if it's a memory… And it feels as if it's telling me their life story, since it seems the dreams come in chronological order." He forced his eyes to come off from the floor and onto Luka's motherly gaze, "What do you think it all means?"

The older woman sighed. "You know, you remind me so much of my little girl…"

Len raised an eyebrow, "You had a daughter?"

She nodded, "Uh-huh. When she entered her teenage years, she always locked herself in her room and didn't come out on days end." Her soft gaze turned into a saddened one as she continued, "She never told me of her troubles until I found her harming herself the one day she forgot to lock her door. I was beyond angry at her actions but I didn't have the heart to yell at her when she hugged me tightly and cried out a river on me." Tears threatened to spill at this point and Luka's voice started to crack, "I tried m-my best to h-help her, b-but she e-ended u-up… E-Ended u-up…"

"I'm sorry for your loss, Mrs. Kamui," It seems that the roles reversed as Len eneded up trying to comfort Luka.

Mrs. Kamui sniffed as she tried her best to smile, "It's alright. That's actually the reason as to why Gaku and I can't pass towards the other side. We don't mind it much, though. Serving mistress is good enough."

Len nodded, causing a thick layer of silence to envelop them both. After an endless amount of minutes (or hours? Neither knew…), Luka was the first to end the silence as she smiled and said, "Well, Len, about your dreams… I think I know what it is they mean."

The blonde smiled happily, glad that someone knew the answer. "Please tell."

Luka shook her head, "I'm afraid I can't, for it is not the time for you to know."

Len groaned in frustration as he leaned back onto the chair and placed a hand on his forehead to soothe an incoming headache. He barely registered Luka's warm 'good luck' as she left the room to give the troubled boy some space (even though he's clearly had enough of that these past few days).

'Somebody,' He turned his attention back towards the rain, which seemed to have turned into more of a storm, 'please tell me what the hell is going on with me…'

" Unbelievable." Kiyoteru silently watched as Meiko paced back and forth in a frantic motion, "After all the times I've told him 'don't go into Mist Forest, honey, it's dangerous', he STILL doesn't listen to me…!"

"It's not like he had any choice," Both adults turned towards Piko, who blushed when he realized he was the center of attention, "W-Well, that's my th-theory, since he, y'know, d-disappeared right b-before the m-mist disappeared as w-well..."

Kiyoteru hummed in thought as he looked over at Meiko, "The kid has a point, Meiko."

The woman's chocolate brown eyes widened as she looked at Kiyoteru in shock, "So you're telling me he was kidnapped?!"

'Oh boy…' Kiyo tried to soothe the panicked woman as he got up from his place on the couch and trapped her in a warm hug. "I'm sure everything is alright, Mei-chan. Lily is out there as I speak searching the forest for your son."

"Sir," Kaito spoke up and looked at him with a puzzled look, "with all due respect, why would you leave your wife to do the task alone? Isn't the forest, like, dangerous?"

"Lily isn't searching on her own." Kiyoteru gave Kaito a reassuring smile, "She's got my best team of men searching with her, as well as little Yuki."

True to his word, Lily was indeed searching for the missing boy by following the only lead he had left behind. That said, she may as well be following an escaped gorilla from the zoo judging by how many bananas she had found within the hour she spent looking.

"Man," she sighed as she found yet another banana peel, "how big is this kid's stomach?"

"Mrs. Hiyama…" Lily turned around and saw one of her team members, Tonio, give her a horrified glance, "S-Something's f-following us…!"

With a raised eyebrow, Lily turned around towards her teammate's cause of worry. Behind a huge, thick bush was a creature that Lily had never seen before. It's piercing red eyes seemed to be eyeing them all hungrily as if choosing which of them were to be eaten first. She immediately hid her daughter behind her as she took a gun out from her coat pocket and pointed it straight at the horrifying beast, "What are you?"

"Well, that's a tad rude," the beast left it's place from behind the bush and revealed itself to the police, "usually people ask 'who are you', not 'what are you'. I'll have you know, I'm somewhat human!"

"M-Mistress," Another figure stepped out from behind the bush, only that this one seemed a bit more human than their 'mistress', "Th-This is s-serious…!"

The beast turned towards her servant and glared, "Oh, relax for once in your life, huh, Ted? No puny human-made gun is going to kill me, much less harm me. Heck, the most it can do is give me a tiny splinter!"

Lily's expression never changed as she kept the gun pointed towards the beast's chest. She glared at the inhuman thing through her now messy bangs, "Leave now and there won't be a single problem tonight."

The beast let out an annoyed 'humph' as it sat down with it's legs crossed on the floor. "Whatever. Humans are never any fun." She looked at all the police people with a raised eyebrow, "You guys lookin' for something?"

Upon feeling as if the thing was expecting for her to answer, Lily replied, "What's it to you? You've got no business asking about this investigation."

"Again with the rudeness!" The beast's demonic wings stretched out behind her as she elevated herself up, all the while keeping her previous sitting style, "I was just trying to be of a bit of help! Usually people like you only come near here if someone ends up 'missing' or something!" She laughed and leaned her head back as if she had just told them the funniest joke in the world, "Ha! You silly humans classify them 'missing' when they're really all dead!"

'I'll have to tell Kiyo to stop all the other searches then… Maybe even cancel this one as well…' Lily shook her head at the thought. There was no way she was letting poor Meiko down, she had to find the boy! And the beast seems as if she knows something on the case… With a sigh, Lily said, "Do you happen to know a boy with blonde hair and blue eyes?"

At this, the beast's eyes seemed to have sparkled as she grinned in a mischievous way. "So what if I have?"

'So I'm dealing with a cocky bastard, good to know… Not.' Lily's glare intensified as she grinded her teeth, looking as if she was trying to get the words 'don't test me or you'll regret it' engraved onto the beast's brain. "If you have, we would very much like him back, you son of a-"

"Nuh-uh-uh~!" The winged creature shook her index finger while looking at the detective with a playful glint in her eye, "You wouldn't say that in front of the little one, would you?" The monster laughed in an almost mocking way as she pointed towards Yuki, "The poor thing looks scared to death!"

Lily's blue eyes widened as she remembered her daughter. She looked down behind her to see the little thing trembling, all the while hugging her legs tightly as if it was a lifeline, her amber eyes sealed shut in fear. Lily's motherly instincts soon kicked in as she took the shaken girl into her arms and tried to soothe her fear with a small lullaby, rocking her back and forth at the same time to comfort her.

Teto Kasane watched the scene unfold in front of her as she watched them with an almost jealous look. She decided she had had enough of this motherly affection as she uncrossed her legs and flew up a little higher to try and look intimidating, "Alright, alright, that's enough!" She looked down at mother and daughter with an annoyed glare as she continued, "I'll lead you to the one you search for, but!"

A pause followed, and Lily was too tired for the beast's attempts at suspense. "But?"

The girl's glare hardened as she said, "But you can't contact anybody while you're there. Not only that, but you can't leave until I deem it acceptable for you to do so." She went back to her mischievous manner as she stretched her arm out towards Lily's chin, "Now, I believe I'll be needing those things you call 'cellphones'. If I don't receive each and every one of your gadgets, I'm afraid you'll have to become my bedtime snack."

A.N./ Man, this chapter was a pain to make… But I did it! :3 Suffered a couple headaches that made me feel as if I was going to faint, but all is well! I feel much better now, though my head still throbs every now and then… Enough about me and my uninteresting health issues, let's talk about updating. I have an upcoming science project that's worth a HUGE percent of my final grade and I'm gonna spent a ton of time on it trying to make it AWESOME. So, long story short, I won't be updating for a while. If you do see me updating as I normally do, assume I'm procrastinating 'cuz my lazy mind usually prolongs assignments to the point in where I'm rushing my ass off trying to finish [Insert Completely-Unnecessary-Assignment-That-I'd-Probabl y-Not-Need-The-Knowledge-Of-Later-On Here] the day before it's due. I'm not necessarily proud of it, but, *shrug* it keeps me young and partying. XD Roll the review replies!

MizuneMinamiki: What does 'fan forking' even mean? *imagines* y'know what, I don't want to know... xD How can you not fangirl over Kaito? I've gotten over him (not completely, though *wink, wink*) and now I'm fangirling over ZOLA project. They're just so... *Q* /shot xD Especially KYO, FYI. Coincidences always seem to amaze me. It's just so... Weird, you know? Just one of the wonders of life. :D

Scarlet Eventide: And now I bring you another big gap. *bows* I'm so sworry, Scarlet-chan! ;^; Sonika does need more love. I mean, c'mon, she has an awesome voice! :D

Yeungeo: Yeah, about that... So, yeeeeep~ *awkward moment* I apologize for making you wait so long, dear.

Guest (Chapter 2): *u* Thank you so much!

The defender of pokespe (Chapter 5): Defender 4 Prez! Let's start an awesome anime revolution! xD

Reviews are love~ ;3