Chapter 2:
First Impressions
The sun had risen and was now residing somewhere in the middle of the polluted sky, hardly any sunlight pertruding from the malicious clouds. As far as Rin's guesses go, for Rei had a watch and was now gone, it was sometime between ten o'clock and noon.
Rin just layed there stifly on her cot, gazing up at the sky with a blank expression.
The slums that she lived in where hard to describe. The entire area, which was quite large, was classified as the "Slum's" but each portion, every nook and crany of it was labeled and 'owned' according to clan.
Each clan would have as few as 20 people in it, or as many as 150. Each one was almost like a gang, but not quite.
In Rin's case, she lived in the clan called Malevolent. Malevolent was the biggest, most dangerous of the other twenty or so clans in the Slums.
Each clan wasn't very. . . friendly, with each other to put it simply. Like gangs, they fought each other to gain dominance, not to mention a handful of people in the clans were drug users and heavy drinkers or smokers.
Not just any one was an official member of the clan or 'the higher up's'. Some people only lived within the clan because they had no where else to go. And picking to live in Malevolent was the smartest choice Rei had made for him and Rin; they were guaranteed protection from other bloodthirsty, jealous clans.
Each clan was like a tiny town, or a big village. They had their own reserved living areas and an area that was almost like a town square, but it isn't as noble and independant like you think. These are the slums we're talking about; dark, dank, poor, scary.
With Malevolent, their town square was basically a large warehouse in the center of their 'society'. They would have little 'meetings'; not like many people usually went, so it was mostly a hangout for the bravest residents of the clan. Like Rei who would drag along Rin, hating to have her being alone lon ger than necessary.
I know what you're thinking, "Why would he drag his sister to something so dangerous?"
Well, it's because it's not as dangerous as everyone thinks. The people who are usually there are actually decent compared to others in the clan. And for the toughest clan, they had welcomed the two orphans with open arms and kind of in a way cared for them ever since, less now than in the beginning, but they weren't completely forgotten.
On to the living area's. Out stretching from the town square, dubbed homebase or HQ, were cramped, winding and considerably dark alleyways. Some people lived in the alleyways, sleeping on the cold, hard, cracked and uneven pavement. While others resided in the small one-room stone rooms that were opened to the rest of the alley by one wall.
Rin and her brother were one of the unfortunate souls who lived in these alleyways, off into a corner under a tin awning belonging to one of the house's which is where one of Rei's few friends, Kaito, lived. Kaito was the one who let them live near his home providing them with cots that many other people in the alleys didn't have the luxury of.
Rin turned her head to glance at the empty cot beside her and sighed. She had no idea where Rei would go before she awoke, or why. Most of the time he would return late at night or on rare occasions, pop up during the middle of the day. Rin didn't dare question where he went. It was a part of their silent agreement of personal space.
Suddenly, Rin sat up on alert of footsteps behind her. You can never be too safe in the Slums. She turned slightly and lifted a hand in a silent greeting at the familiar face.
"Hey kiddo." the blue haired man said gently with a smile. Rin nodded.
"Your brother left already?" with another nod from Rin, he sighed and crossed his arms. "That's Rei. When you need him, he's no where to be found. When you want him out of your buisness he seems to be everywhere." the man chuckled softly. Rin stayed quiet.
Rin was suspicious that Kaito knew where her brother would disappear to, which made her distrust him even more. She was his sister and she had the right to know where he disappeared to! But of course, she didn't say anything knowing it would be an inappropriate time.
A silence as the man looked up at the sky looking down at them from the brick and gray stoned walls.
"Why do you need Rei, Kaito?" Rin asked cautiously. Even though Kaito was the one who cared for them since they came to live in this clan-Kaito being five years older than Rei and also orphaned-she was still wary of the man. Even after eight years she couldn't trust any outsiders, only confinding to Rei.
Kaito smiled sadly at her tone. He understood where she was coming from, but she's been around him-more or less-for years. "Nothing big, but we have a newcomer who wants in and I need his help in checking out the kids background." Rin's ears perked at the word 'kid'.
She's always tried to make friends with the other kids her age in the clan but it seemed like they already had their group of friends and Rin just couldn't find her way in and fit among the others. Just like a puzzle piece that accidently got mixed in to another puzzle box where it didn't belong.
Trying to not appear too interested, she started to pick the dirt from under her bitten nails and calmly asked "What do you mean by a 'kid'?" all too curious. The girl didn't want to get her hopes up about the newcomer being too young to be a friend.
"Teenager. Says he's 15." Kaito shrugged passively. Rin's heart started to beat rapidly with excitment. He was her age!
Turning around from her seated position to face Kaito more clearly, she murmered nervously still looking downwards,"I c-could. . .help since Rei's not here, if you want. . ."
Kaito beamed at her. Maybe she was finally coming out of her shell! Kaito nodded joyfully, making his bangs flip and expose a vertical scar on his forehead.
"Course you can!" he jutted out a hand to help up Rin but she ignored his gesture leaving him standing there awkwardly with his arm outstretched and raised herself up from her cot. He withdrew his hand understandingly.
"Follow me this way."
Her curiousity over ruled her timidness and she obeyed.
Kaito walked down the alley with Rin following from a distance behind him. The passage being too narrow to stand beside him with a suitable space in between.
You wouldn't tell by looking at her, but Rin was dreadfully nervous, but exciteded all together.
Her brother would do these questionings regularly when he was around at the time and from what he told her, it seemed almost fun. Not to mention that if it went smoothly and this new kid got accepted she would have a new friend and wouldn't be so lonely anymore!
After about ten minutes of walking down the alley; ten minutes of Kaito chattering loudly to her from her spot far behind him and occasionaly saying a greeting or two to other people moping about looking like they were in a lost daze, they made it to HQ.
Waiting for her to catch up only to realize she was content with where she was, he opened the beaten, wooden door (With the go-ahead nod from the two armed clan guards on opposite sides of the door) and held it open for Rin. With a flourish of his arm, she hurried into the familiar warehouse shying away from the guards that made her feel uneasy.
Blinking a couple of times to get used to the difference of lighting, she squinted in the dimly light room.
Her eyes roamed over the familiar atmosphere searching for the questionee.
The familiar, old, red and battered couch sat off against a wall to the right, a heavy wood coffee table sat in front of it as usual. When she would sit-and sink- into the ancient couch next to Rei she would be mesmerized by the marks on the coffee table. Each time she sat there, she would try to create a picture by connecting scrapes and scratches formed by pocket knives to burn marks from snubbing out cigarettes.
Diagonal from the couch, against the wall currently in front of Rin was the makeshift bar. The wooden tabletop of the counter was also destroyed, and included some holes with splintered edges near the bottom formed from the kicks of angry drunks. A book shelf behind it held various bottles of cheap alchohol.
She knew the room like the back of the room, but that didn't conquer the feeling of disgust and intimidation.
In the center of the room was a poker table where bets of all kinds were made. Rin shivered at the thought.
Her eyes were drawn to a stray armchair placed half-assed against another wall. Her favorite thing in the room was the flickering pink neon sign of a bunny girl's silhouette from Playboy. She looked at it with a grimace. Next to the sign was injection needles (no doubt used and disease riden) all stuck in a dart board yellowed from age. The room contained no windows, the only lights coming from the neon bunny girl and a single dimly lit lightbulb from the middle of the ceiling. The walls were made of the familiar gray stone of the Slums.
The orange dog-shaped radio at the edge of the bar's counter was unusually silent compared to it's usual annoying white noise.
This was the main hangout room of the HQ.
And it was empty.
Kaito came up from behind her and startled her, breaking her out of her thoughts. "He's back here." And with that the man pulled back a frayed and washed-out curtain covering an open doorway and disappeared behind it. Rin followed carefully.
She always knew there was a room behind the curtain but she's never gone behind it, or was ever told what layed beyond it. She clenched her fists at her sides.
A small cold room, surrounded with stone walls was what rin noticed first. It was dark, the only light filtering in eerily from the slightly pulled to the side curtain behind her. There was a dinky little aluminum table in the middle; that she could tell from the reflection it gave from the minuscule amount of light.
Something told her this might not be so fun. It was actually kind of scary.
Rin could see the outline of Kaito's crossed arms out of the corner of her eye standing off to the side, his dark blue eyes gleaming.
A sound from behind the table alerted her. It sounded like a low whistle.
She noticed a shadowy figure she hadn't seen before when observing the room. The figures build wasn't small and scrawny, but it wasn't big and muscular either. It was about in between.
A shiver shot through Rin and she froze when the shadow lurched to the side slightly and spoke in a way that sounded like the figure was grinning.
"Hey there, cutie." And the shadow leaned forward to have his face illuminated by the light.
AAAAAAAND-CLIFF HANGER! xD
I was extremely happy with the reviews I got on the last chapter so I worked as hard, and as fast as I could( SIX HOURS! *dies*) to write this next chapter! I made this one a bit longer than the last. In this chapter we got a bit of explaining going on so you have a better picture of the Slums and HQ(Anyone whose listened to the song would understand the description of HQ ;D). And oh! Kaito! I included him aswell in this story. I might add some other Vocaloids to the story also, but they might not have as big of a role. Hmm, lets see what else. . .Right! I would like to thank one of the anon reviewers especially as well as Morrumotto-chi! One thing I hate about Anons is that I can't shoot them a Private Message to thank them personally! So i'll do it right here, So Anon, if your reading!;
I'm glad you liked the first chapter so much! Well, you've been waiting, and Tada! here you have it! I know, they have such a sad life. And it'll get deeper as the story progresses. Thank you so much for your Review!
When the next chapter is going to be up, I don't know. It all depends on Reviews; they feed my fingers and give them energy! So leave a review and tell me what you thought!
Till next time,
Sabby-Sama