'CUZ THIS A FILLER
A FILLER TONIGHT
AND NO ONE'S GONNA SAVE YOU FROM THE LAME SHIT THAT WE WRITE
...YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I MADE A MICHAEL JACKSON REFERENCE SHRIMPY HUMAN
I SAID THAT I'D SHAME YOU WITH MJ AND HERE IT IS
The perk of a school shooting - those very words in that order sound wrong but trust the sentence - the one perk is that our little target, Miku Hatsune, had a lot of time to forget the heiress thing. She was still indeed an heiress, and Luka's home was suddenly surrounded by secretive, tall guards in black suits, but they didn't bother anyone - not Luka, not the kids, not Miku. Why, Ryuto would explore the grounds in the morning, meeting each Patronus as they passed by and gaining peculiar admiration from them all.
Everyone insisted that she stay at Luka's house. Even Len, a particular grouch in the morning, spared her a touch of personalized hatred on the topic.
While gulping down coffee, he had demanded exactly, "Where the hell are you going to go, not to mention by yourself?"
Miku had gnawed her lip to the point of blood. He didn't shut her up. He just opened a long window of silence.
She really didn't have anywhere, and it was a scary thought. Practically her whole life she followed the children. She cleaned them up and chastised them, occasionally cooked, definitely cuddled, and in the strangest way she depended upon them. If she tried to abandon them, something, Len or herself, would pull her straight back. As she was without school in a huge house with countless quiet rooms, she skimmed her options countless times. When she was that thorough, she depressed herself.
Honestly, though, she forgot after thinking about it. So many Patronus came by, doing various things, and she had some very polite conversations with Rin and Rinto. They were each kind and attentive. Rin was the more awkward one, but she believed in personal space and so the tealette came to prefer her company.
Now, Rin was still utterly fascinated by the tiny girl. It was why they did not touch each other - her small hands and tiny smiles might crack in the wrong hold. Everyone knew that the human girl was a crybaby and they wouldn't trust her strength.
Miku wasn't totally used to any of them, but her stomach grew strong enough that it didn't drop when Len glared at her. They greeted each other even though distaste was not masked when they did. Miku was not his friend. The idea was to tolerate one another for as long as necessary. Essentially, they were waiting each other out and she was patient.
Little by little, their belongings were moved to the mansion. Cases full of clothes, mostly. Some toys and books and special crayons. The kids were more delighted by the Patronus, which were moving the things in. A good portion of them did not like children, but they were respectful and obedient. The ones that did, however, fancy the company of her little ones, would give piggyback rides and presents.
Surprisingly, the most prominent in this fact were the Kagamines.
With vague joy Miku had been sitting in the kitchen, thumbing through a history textbook that she liked. She entrusted her siblings to the Patronus, for once feeling truly safe about leaving the room. And she was only in the next room, so she could snap out in a second if necessary.
The words she stumbled across were plain and unbiased. They recorded everything that they could tell, all the numbers and names most prominent. She never liked her history class, but she very much enjoyed plainly spread facts. They were easier to understand and didn't bear as much pain as a primary source.
When the giggles bounced into the kitchen, though, she lit up and whirled around in the chair. Lui carried Ritsu into the room while Lily walked behind them with bundles of clothes in her arms. They, for the most part, were grinning.
"Lily-nee-chan," Ritsu cried, "has modeled before!"
"Really?" Miku rose from her chair. She believed it, she just knew that Ritsu wanted to really sell her on it. The redhead was set down and rushed to her. His hair had been done in a fashionable assortment of an up-do. He wore a very cute dress of white with elaborate red trim. He insisted that Miku feel how soft the bows were, and how light the fabric felt. He loved it; he wouldn't stop talking at any point. Lily seemed to glow with pride and affection as the skirt whirled lightly in the air. The tealette knew immediately that it was a gift, and wondered if Lily would like a gift in return.
"Hes such a darling," the blonde woman sighed. "It's virtually impossible to find a boy with keen taste these days."
"Well, we don't quite know if he's a boy anymore," Miku noted. "He's still deciding, I suppose."
"Oh, I meant no disrespect, Miku-sama-"
"And I heard none." They smiled evenly at one another. Their eyes, then, followed the little one. Ritsu pulled Ring through another sampling of his lovely outfit, pressuring her to feel all the silky crimson ribbons and frills. He didn't let her rest, "and see how it flows when I turn like this, Momma, see?"
Miku said, "We both owe you thanks. That dress is perfect on him, and I'm very grateful that you spend time with him."
"I wish I could have a child like him," the Patronus whispered. She still gazed at the child but her blue eyes were far away.
"One day you will," the girl assured. There came a day like that for many women.
Lily only chuckled. "Not in the least, Miku-sama. The difference between a child and a Patronus is that we were created for a different reason. You were made out of love and a decision to bring another creator into this world. I was made to guard whatever you wanted to make. We were intended, but for entirely different things. Only man can create. The subhumans do whatever our creator tells us to do. And it is so that I protect."
"You're not allowed...to have a baby?"
"Not legally, not morally, not physically." Bitterness clouded her voice as her eyes became increasingly distant. She pressed her ruby lips together and didn't look healthily angry. Miku was scared to ask another question.
Shockingly the anger faded, and her glittering smile returned. She tapped the tealette on the nose. "But, it's for the best. If Patronus weren't sterile we'd have a million little Rintos running around, if you know what I mean."
The appropriate words finally fell from her mouth. "I'm so sorry, Lily-san."
Now cool blue sadness tinted her words. "I'm not gonna lie, sometimes I do hunt for a family like an idiot. I find a man, so sure that he's nice. We're together...but after a while he gets bored of me. It really does hurt. And then I go out and I do it all over again. We take our identity to the grave, so I guess we never trust each other. They think my job could be anything. That's why Len is always calling me a whore. And maybe...he's right."
"It's not right," Miku snapped. "No matter what, he should never speak to someone like that. Especially not his sister. You're a nice woman, Lily-san, you should be treated with absolute respect. Really, I ought to put Len in a time-out sometimes!"
The simple words filled the blonde with new hope and the warmth of the sun. "Thank you very much."
"A-attention!" All the Patronus in the living room, which was pretty much just the 2 series, Ruko, and a couple of random dudes, rose. Len had been standing, he just got into line. He looked dully at her.
Miku passed a swallow of nothing, her throat dry. She was very tiny. They were huge. She was not the best at math but this was freaking danger.
"We are in the house for a majority of the day, and in that time we are in the presence of no less than four children," she began. Someone coughed but it was quiet as if death lingered in the room. She could've dropped a pin and heard it echo.
"Because they are children, they m-may hear the things that we talk about. They may or may not think that it's alright to...say these things. I don't want them to start cussing at school or their mother, not even knowing what it means. So...I've st-started preventative measures."
She groped behind her and fumbled with the mason jar. Her clumsy hands almost lost it to the ground, but she caught it in time and raised it up. The cheap tape and Sharpie drawings were courtesy of the kids. Everyone stared at the colorful, giddy label, "Swear Jar," with confusion.
"This is a Swear Jar," she said stupidly. "For every swear word you utter in this house, you put in a dollar."
They blinked. Everyone. Anxiously, she gripped the cool glassy surface and coughed. "Any questions?"
"Do we get fined even when the kids aren't around?"
"Yes. Swears are indecent, and you're better off not saying any of them."
"Do certain gestures get counted as a swear?" "Do dirty jokes constitute a swear?" "How about innuendos?"
When Miku didn't have anything to say, Len snickered. He was patronizing her for every second he stayed in the room. "What does count as a swear? Don't tell me I'd have to pay for 'butthead.'" And here she was thinking he would never utter a word as comically childish.
"W-w-well, I've comp-comprised a list of things..." She reached around and grabbed a paper packet. She handed it to him. This packet was not decorated, nor was it touched by a child, because they were very, very bad words. Her face burst into flames of shame - writing this out had been awful, even if it was for the greater good. He skimmed through it until vague horror flickered in his eye.
"Where did you hear this one?" He barked, holding up an open page.
"Ask him." She pointed to one of the random Patronus. Len reared his head and growled at the poor guy, who sheepishly stepped back. It was wrong to put people on the spot, but she needed to enforce the idea.
Miku stole the last fragments of attention by clearing her throat. "Ultimately, this is not a guideline. It is a rule. Everyone follows, understood?" Almost everyone was completely silent and she decided to take it for a yes.
It was then that Rinto smiled down at her a little too fondly. "I notice you did not put a fine on any...frisky fun. You should know that I don't charge either." Then he winked.
No one had ever joked with her as shamelessly as Rinto did, at least no one that she cared for, so her cheeks were set ablaze.
Len caught one glimpse of Rinto's suggestive expression. He wasted no time grabbing his "brother" and dragging him out the front door for a private conversation. Miku and the rest were sitting ducks with the keen opportunity of eavesdropping, as the door clicked peacefully shut. There on the opposite side of the door was unintelligible whispering, growling, crashing, and the occasional, but very blatant, cuss word.
"Len-nii-san?"
He glanced up momentarily from the high school pamphlet. He gave not a single legitimate fuck about the school, but he wanted to know something about it before he had to take Miku every day from Wednesday onwards. He didn't know what was worse; the part about Miku or institutionalized education. He didn't know how many people were around in the morning or in the afternoon; to his annoyance it would be something he learned on the field instead of in the comfort of solitude.
Never mind it, anyhow. He met large brown eyes within seconds. "What?" He grunted.
"Why are your teeth so sharp?"
He unconsciously prodded a pointed canine with his tongue. With the faint tinge of blood he concluded there was truth to her statement.
"Because I was made that way."
"What for?" What for. Where did these children learn to be so insistent? Their sister, most likely, who had adopted it from her air-headed mother.
Ignoring the urge to string a few curses into his words, he came up with the purest statement and answer, "To bite. Hard."
"You don't...really bite people, right?" She said this with a hint of nerves in her voice.
"Not often. Not when they don't taste very good."
Her brow wrinkled. "What kind of people taste good?"
"That's not what I meant when I said that," he grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose. If Rinto had been present this would be a lot worse, he supposed. That idea still didn't make him feel better.
"You just don't bite?"
Not wanting to prolong this kind of conversation, he agreed. "I guess." He returned his attention to the plain white pamphlet and wondered if their security was any better than her old school.
"..." the creases of her frown deepened. "Why are your teeth sharp then?"
Miku was scared. What else she could be, she didn't know. The uniform was new, crisp and uncomfortable, the way all new uniforms are. It was very different from her old school - a white button-down, starched and pressed, dress shoes as black and shiny as oil. The socks had changed to thigh-highs in blinding white. The tie was now a red bow.
She tried to fix the skirt to feel less short, even though the length was barely different from her usual. When she was sitting in this chair, it just seemed even smaller...
"Miku-nee, sit still," Ritsu urged.
"Sorry," she squeaked. The brush traveled through her locks and tugged, uncaring, at every tangle. But she bit her lip and took the shots of pain that came with styling hair as long as her own. Of course it was hilarious that a six year old could manage her hair better than herself.
Luka picked up strands and sectioned two halves. In between she examined the fine strands, gently stroking them as if threads of gold beneath her fingers. She really did admire the color and the health, it reminded her that Miku had naturally looked like Ring even as a child.
"Lovely," she sighed. Her smile perked.
"L-Luka-sa- I mean, nee-san," Miku mumbled, "I look okay, right? For a school as fancy as this one." An ache tingled across her scalp.
"I would think you look perfect. But that's not the response you really want, is it? You want to know if there's something you can fix about yourself. That would make you less uncomfortable."
the words sank through. Miku nodded slowly, only to be scolded by Ritsu as he pulled her hair through the hair tie. "Stop fidgeting, Miku-nee-chan!"
Luka giggled. "You look fine. There's no reason to ever worry."
"You never have to, so of course you'd say something like that." The compliment in Miku's statement was hidden by the moping tone.
So Luka felt freedom in the honesty of an entirely new sibling. "I didn't have to worry. But not for the reasons you're thinking."
"Why then?" The tealette asked. Finally her hair was done. She nervously clawed through aqua tresses and seemed to find invisible tangles worth investigating there. The Little Ginger attempted in vain to pry her hands away.
"I was homeschooled."
The girl gaped. Her parted lips never got the chance for use. "MIKU! IT'S SEVEN-THIRTY ARE YOU GOING TO SCHOOL OR NOT!?" Even from downstairs Len's voice rattled her very bones and convinced her to leap straight from the seat.
"P-please...please wait!" She squeaked. She grabbed her little brother by the waist ("WAAAH MIKU-NEE!") and scrambled out of the room.
Luka sighed and turned the brush over in her hand, not conscious of its weight in her palm. How lively and loud things were when children ran all over the house. She'd always wanted people to take up the extra space in the vast, echoing walls. It was such such treat. She only wished thet felt like they a family and not neighbors.
A sideways glance in the floor-length mirror revealed a grown woman with a confident, cool expression. A mild and flavorless smile fell across her mouth. Somehow it tasted bitter.
She missed their vibrant faces already.