Sugar-Coated Accident
Chapter Twenty-Six
"A Bad Case of the Hiccoughs"
Len's dreams were plagued with apocalyptic visions that night; of sharp, striking images, brim-full with enough pain and woe to render a normal person insane.
Naturally, his dream involved Rin.
Rin's name was practically synonymous to impeding doom, anyway.
Especially if she was trying to force Len into a dress.
During the dream (or nightmare, as it were) the majestic blonde had stood, oozing pride and arrogance, attired in a regal yellow and black gown. Her eyelids were painted yellow, lashes thick and spiky, lips pulled upwards in a horrible sneer. Screams could be heard in the distance – in her kingdom of woe and treachery – where, in the apex of it all, ruled the young, pretty princess of but fourteen years.
Len hovered in the background, side-stepping over lifeless corpses, holding a tray laden with a china tea set.
His evil sibling, meanwhile, was laughing, the cruel sounds lost to the wind and the dead bodies scattered about her feet on the dirty floor. Standing on corpses – some green, some blue, all covered in red - Rin looked down in distain, screaming, with an insane sort of joy;
"I did it! I killed everybody I wanted to kill! Hahahahaha!" She snorted, squeezing her make-up caked lids shut. She was crying with sadistic glee, clutching her stomach. "I did it, Len-kun! Look, Len-kun! Len-kun! Len-kun!"
"LEN-KUUUNNNN!!!!"
Rin's high, girlish scream invaded the blond's eardrums like a swarm of angry wasps. Len winced in agony, curling up into a foetal position. He couldn't move – it hurt too much – and still the voice continued, "Len-kun! Len-kun!" A disgusted 'humph.' "God. How lazy."
"Maybe he's tired? He still looks half-asleep," said a second voice. These tones were light, concerned, so…
Was it Miku?
But no, that wasn't right. Miku was dead. Rin – well. Len – killed her! He could remember taking the knife; turning to the beautiful princess; whispering in her ear 'I'm so sorry…' He could remember her screaming.
He could remember all the blood.
He killed her.
But wait…
Was that all in the dream, or did it really happen?
Bleh.
He'd figure out whether Miku was alive later, after he'd stopped feeling so crappy.
"Like hell I'm just leaving him, Miku-chan," said Rin coolly. One could hear the disdain drip from her words, like lethal poison. "Going shopping for yutakas is a family occasion."
"W-Wha'? Yutakas…?" Len frowned, a few yawns punctuating his sleep-induced slur. "Why does the… T-the evil prin'ces… wanna yutaka?"
Rin smirked at this, rapping her brother on his forehead. Len moaned, and tried to push her hand away.
"Hmn. He's still in lala land." Rin turned to point at her twin-tailed subordinate. "Miku-san! Resort to Plan B! Fetch me the bucket!"
Miku tried to protest. "But Rin-chan! That's so mean. What if-"
"Just do it."
And when Rin used tones like that, it would take a braver, infinitely stupider person than Miku to defy her.
"Yes, my lady," whimpered Miku.
"I really, really hate you."
"I know!"
"I mean, I really, really, really really reeaaa~lly hate you."
"Teehee~ I feel so flattered!"
"Argh!" Len snarled, glaring at Rin from across the breakfast table. "I'm telling you I hate you, and you… You're…" He stumbled over his words, cheeks flushing – though this was due to anger. The sudden rush of heat was a sharp contrast to the icy feeling still running up and down his spine. "You're just sitting there DRINKING TEA like it doesn't even bother you!"
Rin shrugged, taking another sip of the warm liquid. "You'll get over it. You always do. Incidentally… Want some tea, Len-kun?"
"No," said Len petulantly, arms folded.
"But you'll catch a cold!" protested Rin, eyes zeroing in on Len's. "You need something warm into you to fight away all the nasty germs and bugs! I can't have you getting sick!"
"AND WHO'S FAULT WOULD THAT BE?!"
At that exact moment Teto skipped into the kitchen, hair neatly curled (surely it took her an excess of two hours to style it like that every day? Ahh. That was, indeed, a mystery).
"Morning!" greeted Teto. Your regular happy-go-lucky character. "We're all gonna go yutaka shopping for the Obon festival! Yayyy!"
"I know," Miku smiled. "I'm looking forward to it!"
The twin-tailed Vocaloid had been silent throughout breakfast, sensing the waves of 'sibling rivalry' emitting from the Kagamines. She felt safe talking to Teto, though. The red-head was less likely to pour scalding tea over her head.
"Teto-chan's looking forwards to it, too! Kyahhhh~"
Len rolled his eyes at the 'happy!happy!happy!' atmosphere, resting his head on the table with a dull 'thunk'.
"But wait!" Teto turned, staring at Len. He was slumped out across the table. "But Len-kun doesn't look happy! He looks all depressed and icky-ish and… Oooh!" The girl squealed loudly. "Len-kun, your pyjamas are all wet! Did you forget you were wearing clothes when you went into the shower?"
Rin began to laugh her 'Daughter of Evil Maniacal Cackle ©', clutching her sides as though they were ready to split.
Len turned to glare at his sibling, ready to kick her under the table – but then he lowered his foot, thinking better of it.
Rin was wearing shoes.
He was not.
She was the one with the advantage.
"Whatever," the blond snorted. "And I didn't get into the shower with my clothes on. These two-" A pointed glare at Miku and Rin "-thought it'd be funny to wake me up by dumping a bucket of water over my head! Ice-cold water!"
Miku flushed at the accusation, staring down intently at her lap. At least she had the decency to look ashamed.
Rin was still laughing.
"Y-Yeah," the blonde hiccoughed, grinning weakly. "Because you wouldn't get off your lazy ass! Neru-san and Haku-san are gonna arrive soon, and then we're all going to get our yutakas! Can't be late, Len-kun!"
"But the water was freezing," Len hissed. "You must've left it in the fridge overnight!"
Len's angry exclamation made Rin burst into fresh peals of laughter. Tears were dribbling down her cheeks, just like in Len's dream/nightmare.
It was all the confirmation Len needed.
She really did leave that bucket of water in the fridge all night.
"You would've thrown that water over me anyway! Even if I did get up on time," said Len, glowering. What a mean, horrible, underhanded, bitchy thing to do. Len couldn't believe it – well… He could.
He was talking about Rin.
One time she nearly hit Gakupo with a road roller! Compared to that, drowning someone in their sleep was child's play.
"Well, no," said Rin, once her giggles had subsided. She was still hiccoughing. With each 'hic!' her head jerked a little, making the oversized ribbon bounce. "I was actually going to use it on Kaito-nii."
"Kaito-nii?"
"Yes," Miku clarified, nodding her head – thus breaking another of her short silences. "We wanted Kaito-nii to go shopping with us, but knew he probably wouldn't without any… Um…"
"Persuasion?"
"Exactly! So we thought maybe, if we threatened to tip water on him…" Miku smiled nervously, noting (for the first time) just how childish their plan had been. "We thought he'd come with us," she finished.
Len felt his heart skip a beat. His voice was deadpan, however, when he asked; "So did it work?"
Rin shook her head. "I guess he outwitted us all, 'cause he'd already gone grocery shopping with Mei-san."
"But Kaito-nii hates shopping with Meiko-san!" said Len disbelievingly. "And she hates him double – no, triple – that amount. Remember last time, when Kaito crashed the trolley into a wall…"
"…and spilt all the food on the floor…" Miku continued.
"…and smashed all those bottles of sake…" said Rin.
"…an' Mei-chan got all mad an' went 'you're such a fucking waste of space, you fucking bastard – I'm gonna get my hands round your neck and THROTTLE you, you- fucking- get back here!!! Face me like a man! I'LL FUCKING CASTRATE YOU!'" Teto finished brightly.
…
There was something inexplicably wrong about the cute, innocent Teto cursing like that; something all the Vocaloids picked up on. Three pairs of eyes stared at Teto in astonishment – quite literally shell shocked.
"…Teto-chan, you never swear," said Miku after a vast, all-encompassing awkward silence.
Teto smiled. "I was just repeatin' what Mei-chan said, uh huhhh~ Teto-chan doesn't even know what half that means! Teehee~"
Rin hiccoughed again.
"Okay," said Len, with a little more force than was necessary. He slammed his palms against the table, making the assembled Vocaloid jump.
(All apart from Teto. She had, like, no reflexes whatsoever. It was strange.)
"I'm going to go get changed. I can't exactly go out dressed in my pyjamas."
"Awww!" Rin giggled, grabbing hold of her brother. "But those pyjamas are sooooo cute. They've got little oranges and bananas on 'em!"
"No."
"Buuuuttt~" she continued to wheedle, "Haku-chan will like them!"
"I said no."
"Kaito-nii might have a thing for-"
"Shut up!"
a.n: ahh. a chapter where nothing happened. damn it -_- i had the whole thing planned out, and then only a quarter of what i planned ended up in here xDDD why does this always happen to me? why do i get distracted so much? why? wwhyyy? –laments- i guess it drags the story out more... heheh... i love all my reviewers, & the peoples who fave/alert this fic =D even if i waffle a lot and prolly don't deserve it. but i will keep on going!
that's not actually a good thing xD
xP