A/N: Thank you Katize Luka for reviewing! Also, this isn't over yet, but should I make a sequel with what happens afterwards? Unrelated, but Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei is really good. Mrs. Miracle: Even though this is deliberately sad, I felt kind of bad to have made you cry. Thank you for reviewing and favoriting! EC: I can't tell you, but I think mine is different than other people's.

Shock hung heavy in the air like the quiet after a lightning strike. Freedom. Free. No more cages or shows or acid or anything of the like. Meiko's hand flew up to her face, half to hold her wound and half to stop her tears of rejoice.

"You actually did it..." Len said. He looked shocked and amazed as if he had witnessed a miracle, though in a way it was like it. Rin broke out in a grin and Len followed after her with a softer and calmer smile. They ran to her in an act of perfect teamwork between the two and hugged her as if she had brought them back from the dead. Once again, in a way she had.

"I can't believe it," Rin said with a sniffle.

"Neither can I," Meiko confessed. She moved her hand away from her face and returned the embrace. It felt good, like when she was with her parents, but in a way, Rin and Len and Miku and Kaito shared an experience with her nobody else could have, so it was better. She buried her face in Len's shoulder and sighed. It felt like an immense weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Miku swallowed a sob and looked to where Meiko, Rin, and Len where. Her eyes seemed to see, unlike the first time Meiko had seen them, and she realized Miku was, in fact, not blind.

"Thank you," seemed to be all she could manage to say before another sob racked her thin frame. "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much." Meiko bit her lip to keep more tears from flowing out of her already red eyes. Only after the solution did she realize what an important role she had had in their lives. It made everything that had happened to her seem like something as small as a balloon popping. Though sobbing, Miku reached a hand out and placed it on Kaito's head. As if to calm herself down, Miku began running her hand through his hair. Kaito moved slightly and smiled. Rin stifled a laugh when she realized he was awake and pretending not to be. Once Miku had calmed down, she stopped and Kaito opened his eyes.

"H-how long have you been awake?" Len demanded. Kaito looked at Len and smiled.

"Long enough," he said.

"How long is 'long enough'?" By this point, Rin and Meiko were laughing loudly and Miku was laughing lightly.

"Long enough to see master die," he said. Everyone stopped laughing, except Rin, who carried on for a bit more. Kaito turned to Meiko. "How far in did you go?"

"How far in what?" asked Meiko. Kaito looked around the room and back at Meiko, giving her her answer.

"Oh, just to where the tools are," she said. Kaito stood up and quickly pulled Meiko to her feet. He walked to the wall near where the ringmaster came from. Without a word, he opened the top drawer and pulled out papers. He held them near Meiko. Newspapers.

KAITO SHION MISSING

Tuesday, March 15, 1853 Flooding to clear up

The eldest Shion child, Kaito, has been declared Flooding in Yanket said to

missing. It is said he was returning home after a class, clear up within a week at

only to be abducted. He was last seen on the 14th. the most, according to

The family requests anyone knowing anything about specialists. Hopefully, there

his whereabouts to contact them. The boy has blue will not be much water

hair down to slightly below his ears. His eyes are also damage, though several

blue. His skin is light. He is around 5'8" and weighs people have reported it.

around 135 pounds. He is around 16 years of age. (continued on page 3)

(continued on page 2)*

Shion... Meiko recognized that name. Oh! The Shion family owned a large house near the town she lived in. They had Japanese ancestry, which seemed interesting to Meiko. Meiko remembered hearing the oldest Shion boy had gone missing and having been kept in for the day. Kaito held the next newspaper clipping out.

CHILD OFF STREET MISSING

Friday, April 22, 1853

As of today, a second child this CARNIVAL IN WOODS SUCCESS

year has gone missing, though she The carnival in the woods has

came from a very different background. provided entertainment for a bit

Miku Hatsune was out doing errands for over a month now, The business is

her mother and didn't return. They growing, but they won't give out

alerted the police, but they couldn't anything about the acts.

find the girl. She has long turquoise hair

down to her waist usually tied back in

two pigtails. Her eyes are a greenish

turquoise. She is about 13 years old

and around 5'0".

Miku Hatsune was also a name Meiko recognized. She lived in the town as well and Meiko had talked to her a few times. Miku and Kaito were kidnapped, just like her. But why would the ringmaster keep articles like that? The reasoning behind it struck Meiko more than the fact they had all been kidnapped as well. Kaito held out the final newspaper clipping.

TWINS ABDUCTED OFF STREET

Thursday, September 7, 1854

Today, 12 year old twins, Rin and Len Kagamine,

were abducted while playing. People around them

saw them go into the forest to view the circus.

After that, they were not seen returning. It is

presumed they were abducted at the circus

or on their way back.

Kaito lowered the newspaper clippings. Meiko looked up. Kaito was still staring at the newspaper. He raised the one about Miku and let the others flutter to the ground. Carefully, he placed his fingers and ripped part of the paper off. The article about Miku fluttered to the ground. He held the piece about the circus between his thumb and pointer finger. He stared at it for a while more before letting it drop.

"What was that?" Meiko asked, half blurting it. Kaito looked up at her without any change in expression.

"The advertisement was for this circus," Kaito responded.

"Why did you show me those?" Meiko asked.

"I don't know," Kaito said. He held his hand out to Meiko, who took it. They walked back to the group.

"Are you guys ready to go?" asked Meiko. Rin and Len smiled and walked to Meiko. A few moments later, Miku did the same. As a group, they exited the room. The sky was dark with night. Huh, time sure had flown by. Two tall figures walked to them.

"Haku! Neru!" Rin cried. "Guess what? Meiko did it! She killed the ringmaster!" The figure dressed in a suit with white hair smiled.

"Good job," She said with a smile. The other stayed behind and yawned. "I would like to go with you, but we have to stay here."

"Awww, why?" Rin asked sadly.

"I can't say," responded the white-haired girl. She looked back to the yawning blonde and smiled. "You go ahead." Len looked to Rin and then to the rest of the group.

"Well, I guess they have to stay," he said. The group paused, each waiting for someone else to act. Kaito gave Meiko's hand a slight tug and began walking forward.

"Come one," He said. "Let's leave this place." A slight pause followed, but the group smiled and followed him. Meiko ran ahead, tugging Kaito behind her.

"Come on!" She said. "The place I told you about is in town!" The whole group soon ran after her. They dodged through the cobblestone paths of town which were mostly empty due to the time. Finally, they arrived at a large wooden house. Meiko grinned.

"This is it!" She said. They looked up at the house happily, but their hopes were soon shot down. A window hung open. The room behind it was empty. No lights were on and the door was ajar. The plants had grown wild over time of no care.

"Huh?" Meiko asked in saddened disbelief.

"It must have been shut down while you were away," Len observed.

"Yeah," Rin agreed, "we took a long time on planning." Hope soon faded from the group as storm clouds gathered in the navy blue sky, matching the sadness washing over them. Overwhelming emotions soon flooded the young Meiko. Her plan had failed. Though being homeless was better than being a freak show, she was sure they would be captured and killed or put back in a show. As much as she didn't want to, as much as she wanted to believe that they were wrong and someone would lean out and ask them to come in, she knew nobody would, and as much as she didn't want to, she cried. Miku heard her tears and pulled her into a hug.

"It's okay," She said. Her voice was quiet and comforting. "We can make a home. It will be fine." Rin and Len walked to the group and joined the conversation, but Kaito stayed, staring at the abandoned house. A period of time that could have been anywhere between a few minutes and half an hour passed by. Kaito's gaze was still fixed on the house. The clouds now blanketed the sky, turning it a dull shade of gray as if they had envied its earlier navy blue coloration or the many stars dotting it. Lightning flashed and drops of rain began falling from the sky. Slowly at first, but it quickly picked up. The storm broke Kaito's concentration and he looked down, squinting to keep rain out of his eyes until he was looking at normal eye level. He walked to the group. They stayed in silence for a few moments. Meiko looked like she was about to say something, but the voice of a man interrupted her.

"You came looking for this home, right?" The voice asked. It was in the middle of deep and high, leaning more towards deep. The group turned and looked to the side of the house where the voice came from. A tall man appearing to be in his mid-twenties with long purple hair tied back in a ponytail stood under part of the roof which stuck out and blocked rain from hitting him. He was dressed in a fine suit. "I can tell you're not like most people. I work for a place similar, and if you don't doubt me, you can come with me. There is a larger home back in the woods."

More disbelief. While the idea seemed far-fetched, so did being deformed and put in a circus, killing the ringmaster, and escaping. Honestly, no matter what it was, it didn't seem like it could be any worse than what they had already gone through? The idea seemed to pass through everyone's mind and Len stepped forward.

"We would be very grateful," he said with a smile. The purple man smiled slightly.

"Follow me." The rest of the journey was quiet. Deep into the woods, the trees spaced out. Kaito bit his lip remembering the circus. He bit harder than expected, and a few drops of crimson beaded near the bottom of his lip. His tongue flicked out and lapped up the blood. His mind flashed back to when he had first been taken to the circus. He was 16 and had never been to a circus before, he had always been kept inside studying, so the idea was exciting. He had readily accepted the offer and had gone with a man. Once there, he had been tortured and starved until he was desperate enough to eat human flesh, and beyond that. He had been reduced to a beast-like state. The only thing he thought about was how to get food. However, when the others had come, that started to die down, but sometimes he would lose it. The memories made him cringe and without realizing it, he had stopped in the path with his hands curled into fists. Meiko stopped and walked back to Kaito. She tugged his arm.

"Kaito?" She said. He snapped out of the trance and looked down at Meiko. He smiled.

"Oh, I'm fine, I just was thinking," he said. Meiko didn't fully believe his answer, but his expression said that it was all he would say on the matter.

"It kind of reminds me of the circus," she confessed once they had got back walking.

"Hmm?" Kaito said. "Me too." Only a few moments later, she grabbed his hand. Kaito turned and looked to her, but she was facing ahead. He turned back to the path, with a slight smile. To him, she was almost like a little sister. They walked further into the woods and came to a large house.

"So he wasn't lying," Len muttered, barely loud enough for Rin to hear. The lights were on in several windows and it had a welcoming air about it. Meiko ran up to the house and tugged Kaito along behind her. The purple man walked to the door and opened it for the others to walk in. The group entered the house, feeling almost out of place. Most of them needed a haircut badly, having two to three years without a haircut, and had much too infrequent showers, which were more being sprayed down with a hose than anything. The house was grad and clean. The purple man lead them to a table.

"Sit," he said. "My name is Gakupo, I run a house for people who are... extraordinary. I would like to know who you are, if you wouldn't mind."

"I'm Rin!" said Rin. "My brother is Len." Len gave a small wave.

"I'm Miku," Miku said. Her voice sounded happier than Meiko had heard it while they were at the circus.

"I'm Meiko," Meiko said.

"Kaito," said Kaito. He offered a slight smile.

"Welcome," Gakupo said. "You can go to any room that isn't already occupied and you can stay there. We will try to find clothes we think will fit you and you can get cleaned up. Then, we would like to introduce you to everyone else. The group walked separate ways, each very happy for a chance to get clean.

Meiko walked down the stairway. Ah, she hadn't felt clean in a long time. They had given her a light pink dress a bit too big for her borrowed from someone named Teto. She walked into what seemed to be a large living room. The others were already down there. Rin and Len were dressed in their old outfits, unfortunately, nothing there was designed for two people, though someone had quickly cleaned and patched up their outfit. Miku was wearing a green dress belonging to a girl named Gumi. She had bandages covering her wounds, Meiko did as well, and her blindfold was off. Kaito's hair was held back in a ponytail. Meiko had never noticed how long it was. It had grown out to part way down his back after nearly three years without a haircut. He was dressed in one of Gakupo's suits. Meiko had also never noticed how he held himself. He held himself in a way one would expect of someone belonging to a rich family. Even after years of being in a circus, he had his old habits. Meiko smiled slightly at that and adjusted the flower hair clip Gakupo had given her because her bangs were grown out too much and irritating her.

A group had gathered in the living room. A fire was on in the fireplace. In the front of the group was a girl with green hair who had been previously introduced as Gumi. Apparently, she had been the reason Gakupo had started the home. She was his sister, a psychic born without legs who had been left at an abandoned carnival when she was younger. As a child and young teenager she was bitter and jealous because of her disadvantage and had had to do "things nobody should do; things nobody should have to do, especially", but Gakupo had found her before she was found and killed or put in a circus sideshow. Then, when he and his girlfriend, Luka, had found out about more people who were simply born differently or made different who were ostracized or killed, he decided that they shouldn't have to put up with that and, since a lot were left without homes, he made a place for them to live and hopefully eventually people would stop treating them badly. Next to Gakupo stood Luka. Her pink hair was held back by a headband covered in beautiful gold designs. She was beautiful, in Meiko's opinion at least.

The group gathered murmured, giving looks of curiosity to the people at the front of the room. Gakupo clapped his hands together and the group fell silent.

"Alright, as you may have noticed, we have some new people who will be staying here. We found them by the old house," he said. "Please, tell us some about yourselves." Meiko took a step forward. All of the crowd, even the people she already knew looked to her.

"Hello," she said with a smile. "I'm Meiko Sakine. I'm ten and I was born to a middle class family. My parents were killed in an accident and I was sent to an orphanage. I heard about a circus and was invited to go for free. There, I was kidnapped and I had fly wings put on my back. We escaped by killing the ringmaster." In the crowd, Meiko heard a few "Woah"s. Rin stepped forward. Len looked a bit more hesitant, but he followed after her.

"I'm Rin, and my brother is Len," she said. "We're both fourteen. We were born to a poor family who didn't care about us much. We heard of a circus and went. Then, we were sewn together and we had to perform." Shock hung like static. The group was excited to hear their stories. Miku walked forward. A few people stared at the bandages covering one of her eyes and a girl with very long, fluffy blond hair nudged a boy with blond hair and bandages over one of his eyes.

"Hi, I'm Miku," She said. " I'm sixteen. I was born to a slightly rich family. My parents cared for me, but I was curious about the outside world, so I went to a circus and was captured. I have goat legs instead of normal legs." She stepped back and the group stared at Kaito. He took a step forward.

"Hello," He said. "My name is Kaito Shion. I am around nineteen. I was born to a rich family. They said I was a musical genius and always kept me inside studying, but I always felt outshined by my siblings. I snuck out one night and went to a carnival where I was kidnapped and starved until I eventually went insane." At the group's horrified stares, he blurted: "I'm better now! I swear!" Gakupo looked at Kaito.

"Musical genius?" he asked.

"Yeah, I could play piano very well. I always found it easy. It was like I could see and feel the music," Kaito responded. "I hope that makes sense." Gakupo smiled.

"You are far more extraordinary than you think, Mr. Shion," he said. "Most people are, they simply don't know they are. You might think musical talent is normal, but as you said, you could feel and see music. You would probably be able to taste it or smell it, too, if you wanted to. Here, let me introduce some of the residents. Oliver!" The boy with blond hair and bandages stood up. The eye uncovered was a bright golden color. "The reason Oliver has so many bandages is he can see things other people can't and it gets distracting. His left eye sees through things. There is one on his right thigh that sees how things work and one on his left ankle that sees intentions behind things. He also has one on his forehead that is covered up by a bandage and his hair that sees truth. SeeU!" The girl with long, fluffy blond hair stood up. She had two black cat ears with small orange things in them. "You see her cat ears, right? Well, she also has normal ears. Her cat ears hear what people think, so the orange things block that out. There are many more people here, and each is extraordinary in their own way." Gakupo looked at a clock on the wall. "It's late. Everyone should head to bed now. Rin and Len, could you stay down here so we can make you pajamas? Everyone else, go to your room. You should have pajamas."

*In case you were wondering why Kaito's missing ad is longer than the rest, it's because he is from a rich family. In the 1800's, that would have a huge effect. Also, I got lazier as the characters went on :D

There will most likely be another chapter, possibly two, and then maybe a sequel if you want it. If not, I will just write what happens to everyone. Also woohoo! over 3,000 words! :DDDDDDDD