A/N Yo I'm back! I didn't think I was going to continue this so soon, but I got a major inspiration! (I'm not sure if it was due to the vicodin, my surroundings, or to the two people [yes, only two, but please refrain from scoffing at that] who favorited my story- tusake16- and are now following me- TsukinoAmaya! Thank you two very much! It gave me a major confidence boost and made me very happy :) yes, I'm a sap, but whatever.
Back to the story! I just recently started my vacation, and had a marvelous epiphany as to what the next installment would be about! Surprising, because today I started to get a migrane. Not fun. But here I am!
Now, this takes place later in the night that the first chapter left off on. It's a really sudden change (only slightly "off topic" from what the first chapter was about). So I'm just saying, it happens only hours after Rin and the rest go to bed.
Skrillex: oi! Pass the rum!
Author: um, I don't... that's not really a good I idea.
Allen: hey, I found you guys!
Edward: huh. When did you get here?
Allen: just landed a few hours ago. The plane was running a bit-
Skrillex: OI. PASS. THE. RUM.
All vocaloid characters and ideas belong to their respective companies.
Emergency Vacation
Len's pov
"*static noise*"
I raised my head mere inches off of my pillow. Someone was talking downstairs. Possibly Luka or... I don't even care any more. It wasn't Rin or Gaku, because they went to bed already. I glanced at my clock. 2 am.
What the heck were they taking about at 2 am?!
"Ugnnnnn..." I rolled over and went back to sleep.
Not twenty minutes later, my sleep was interrupted again.
I heard the handle on my door turn and click back. The door opened and someone entered, closing it behind them. I heard light footsteps near the edge of my bed. Ok, no rolling over and going back to bed now.
I raised myself up on my arms, getting ready to jump whoever this intruder was. I turned and almost fell back down.
"Jeezus, Kaito, what are you doing in my room?!" The seventeen-year-old twitched and turned to me. He had his scarf wrapped twice around his neck and was worrying at one of the ends with both of his hands. He looked slightly scared, which was out of character for the usually calm teen.
"Len, you're awake." He lunged forward and hugged me. Well, he tried to hug me, at least.
Because I was propped up on my arms, when he wrapped his around my shoulders, they collapsed under me and we slumped to the bed.
Kaito isn't necessarily heavy, but he isn't quite light either. Suffice to say, the breath was knocked out of me.
"Kaito, what are you doing?!"
He sat up and leaned forward. "THEY'RE AFTER ME."
What.
I heard someone- possibly a couple someones, it sounded like- stomping up the stairs. Both of our heads snapped up at the sound.
Kaito turned back to me, an almost frantic look in his eyes.
"Hide."
Gakupo's pov
A scream rent the air and jolted me awake. After a seconds pause I was throwing off my blanket and yanking my door open. I stopped for only a second to figure out where the now repeated scream was coming from.
Across the hall- Rin's room.
I sprinted down the hall until I came to her already open door, barging into her room without a second thought, almost running into the intruder. I assessed as much as I could in the low light.
Rin was in bed, at this point she had the covers clutched in her hands and looked scared stiff. I acted on instinct and reached out to yank the person back out into the hall.
This person has some fast reflexes, because they turned and ducked my grab and punched my in the gut. Hard.
I collapsed equally as hard on the carpet, trying to regain any oxygen I could.
"Seriously, the lot of you. You're all strung so high." A decidedly female voice issued from the figure leaning over me. She turned and flicked the light on.
Rin gasped. "Gaku!" She let go of the covers and ran over to me, her hands fluttering a bit before she rested one on my shoulders and the other on my arm. "Are you okay?" Without waiting for an answer, she rounded on the women who still stood over us. "Oi, what the heck was that f-... master!"
I looked up at that. The master was our manager, the person who organized the whole thing. Everything. She didn't see us much except for at concerts, and it was a rare occurrence when she showed up at the vocaloid house.
"Sorry about that, Gakupo." She stepped one foot back and extend a hand to lift me up. I accepted it and she and Rin helped me to my feet.
"I didn't mean to scare you, Rin. I did knock, but I guess you didn't hear me."
"I-It's fine.." She stuttered.
"Well at least everyone is up now. Except I can't find Len, and Kaito ran off up here somewhere. If you guys could help me find them, that would be great."
"Uh, yeah, sure I guess.." I ventured, still slightly out of breath from the punch. She has a good arm.
The master led the way out of the room. The master is about 24, very young for a manager, but entirely too sharp to be one, which was probably why she was one of the best in the business. She's about five feet tall, give a couple of inches, possibly 7 if she was wearing heels. She has natural light blonde hair, which at this moment was in its usual unruly mess of of loosealmost-curls and weird twists. Her eyes were a greenish light blue with a brown sunburst around the pupil. Her lips were big and slightly pouty, both just overly full. At the moment she was wearing tight black leggings where the insides of the legs were leather, a generic black t-shirt with some band or fandom on the front, and high-top pumped sneakers. There were a lot of woven bracelets on her right wrist, and two bangles on her left.
She stopped outside of Len's open door and motioned to the interior of the room. "I looked around a bit, but I didn't see him. Unless he has a hiding place somewhere..?"
"Last I saw of him, he was going to bed. And Len doesn't sneak out at night, so..." I trailed off as I turned on the light I walked over to his closet door and slid it open. There on the floor were Len and Kaito, huddled next to each other.
They blinked at the light before they registered that someone had found them and they stiffened, eyes widening as far as they would go.
"Don't take me!" Kaito yelled, leaning father into Len.
The master appeared -somehow- over my shoulder and looked down at them. "I don't know why you're being negative about this. And sorry. I didn't mean to..." She petered out, looking actually embarrassed. Huh. Well that's a first.
Rin came around my right side, leaning forward and looking back over my other shoulder at the master. "Seems like you're apologizing a lot tonight." She remarked, fixing a skeptical look on her. Kaito and Len were standing up and trying to look for an gap where they could exit the closet, but found none. I grabbed Rin around the waist and pulled her back with me so they could move.
"So where are you taking us?" Kaito asked once he was free of the confinement. He had somehow gotten his scarf tangled around his neck and arms, and turned to Len so he could untangle it.
"So we are going somewhere?" Len glanced over as he unravelled one end of the scarf from Kaito's upper arm.
"Wait, what?" Rin and I asked at the same time.
Kaito's pov
Len trailed behind me as I followed Rin, who was hanging onto the hem of Gakupo's shirt. We were all behind the master, who was leading the way downstairs.
"What did you do to Kaito?" Len asked around me.
The master grunted something unintelligible as she came to the base of the stairs and kept walking down the hall. There as some sort of commotion going on in Luka's room farther down, and it seemed to involve a lot of hushed shouting.
"You guys get Luka together and then come meet us in the living room!" The master shouted down to them. Miku poked her head out of Luka's door "yeah, be there soon." She whipped around as Luka herself stumbled out behind her, wearing only her underwear. "Dammit." Miku hooked her arms around her and backed her back into the room. Meiko stuck her head out, saw us and closed the door as she pulled back.
"You guys are always so happy in the morning!" The master stated, heavy on the sarcasm, as she turned to the right and continued down the next flight. She suddenly halted halted at the base, causing Rin to stumble into Gakupo, who reached back to steady her, and Len to run into my back. He pushed away with both of his hands but kept them there, presumably in case we were stopped again. I wasn't quite sure.
The master quickly slid her left foot out to the side and stepped that way, sliding her right foot in next to the other one, somehow turning herself to the right in the process. She flourished her hand as it cut to her side and she formally bowed. I raised an eyebrow. Sometimes she went overboard.
None of us moved. The master snapped back up to her full height and straightened her arm, palm flat and facing up, fingers together, and motioned to the couch in the center of the living room. "Sit." She commanded.
No argument there.
Gakupo strode forward and claimed the left arm of the couch, Rin sitting next to him and pulling her feet up next to her. I finished walking down the stairs and sat on the other end of the couch, Len perching on the arm next to me. As the master turned and walked up to the lounge, he leaned down to whisper in my ear.
"What happened to you?"
"She stormed into my room and pulled the covers off of me." I started.
Len waited a moment. "That's all? What, you didn't punch her or shout something stupid, like 'five more minutes, mom'?"
"No, she just didn't expect me to only be wearing boxers."
Len turned to face me and took in my hastily pulled on flannel pants and my scarf. No shirt, because I hadn't had time to grab one. The master had frozen wide-eyed, then spun and marched out of my room and next into Meiko's. "I was trying to get away from her as fast as I could." I admitted.
Len rolled his eyes and tilted back until he was leaning against the back of the couch, his torso twisted to compensate for his legs still facing off the side of the couch.
"At least she didn't come barging into my room to wake me up," said the sixteen-year-old who was wearing fleece pajama pants and a matching buttoned up shirt.
Rin's pov
Gakupo's hair was loose and down, hanging in straight waves down past his waist. So when he sat down, he had to pull it over his shoulder to avoid sitting on it. When I sat next to him I reached out and picked up the mess and started to comb through it. He closed his eyes and let out a gust of air that he had been apparently been holding.
"Are you okay? It looked like she hit you pretty hard."
He looked down at his stomach and pulled up his shirt. There was a faint row of four spots that looked like they would line up with the master's fist. "For the most part yeah. Those should go away in a couple of days so I'm fine." He let his shirt fall back down over his slightly muscled stomach. "It just knocked all of the wind outta me." He turned his face away from me so I could comb the top of his hair and start to smooth it back. "What about you?"
"Oh. Well, she ran in and yelled 'Where are you?!'. Woke me straight up, and all I see is her silhouetted by the door frame. Thought she was an intruder or something of the sort." I admitted kind of sheepishly. I reached my right hand around so he could see it. "Hair tie?"
"Yeah, here," he pulled two off of his right hand and gave them to me. I slipped one onto my wrist and hitched the other on my knuckles. I tightly combed his hair back and tied it in a low pony tail. Then I started to section and braid it.
Luka came stumbling down the stairs, obviously still hammered from last night. Miku was hot on her heels in case she was actually in trouble of face planting. Meiko shadowed them by about 6 feet. Luka practically fell off of the last step, and dragged herself to the nearest beanbag.
Miku dropped into the next one, exhausted from having to deal with Luka, and Meiko decided to lean up against the wall.
I was just finishing the braid and tying it up when the master came back down. She looked around, saw that the rest had come down, and moved so that she was standing in front of the tv where everyone could see her.
I rested Gakupo's braid over his shoulder and he leaned forward. "So why have you gathered us here today?"
"I hope not for some freaking concert," Luka warned, looking like she was ready to kill someone.
"Not a concert, but we are going somewhere. I'm not going to tell you just exactly where quite yet, but I will eventually. For now however, you guys need to pack. Think warm. Don't bring jeans," The master thought about it for a second "and don't forget sunscreen." She walked around the couch and turned back. "Meet me out at the van in thirty minutes. You need to have your passports ready to go." She turned around and headed up to the kitchen, leaving us stunned.
"So do we just do what she asked?" Miku broke the silence first.
Kaito answered. "Well we don't have much to go off of, and we're kind of required to take her word for things and just obey her."
"It's not like we have much of a choice." Meiko reasoned. "She tells us to do something, we do it. She tells us to pack for someplace warm, we should probably go start packing." She turned and started heading up the stairs, calling back to us "you have less then thirty minutes, I suggest you start packing."
That jolted us. Everyone started to get up. Kaito stood and helped Len pull away from the back of the couch, and I got up and waited for Gakupo. We headed for the stairs as Miku helped lift Luka up out of the beanbag. Kaito and Len were behind us. We got to the second floor and started down the hall for the other flight. Len hugged Kaito and left him at his door as we passed. When we got up to the third floor we split up and headed for our own rooms. I needed to change into some actual clothes, and out of my yoga pants and tank top. Then I had to start packing, but before that I needed to find my suitcase...
Gakupo's pov
Well if the master had planned on surprising us, she completely and utterly succeeded. Right down to the fact that I couldn't find my coat. Or my shoes. That was either due to the fact that I just misplaced them, or Luka or Miku had "hid" them somewhere. Probably in plain sight, probably in a place I usually don't go or wouldn't go. Like the girls' bathroom. Or Meiko's room. No one EVER went in Meiko's room.
I changed out of my flannel pants and t-shirt and into sweat pants and a different t-shirt. So original, I know. I may be packing for warm weather, but that didn't mean I had to wear cargo shorts on a cold plane. At what was rolling into 3 am.
I pulled my duffel bag out from under my bed and started stacking my clothes in it. Cargo shorts, board shorts (because I like having pockets, dammit), t-shirts, tank tops (because what else could you call them), various other items as well. I ducked into my bathroom to grab the bag that I keep in the cupboard that has all of my toiletries in it. Once I had all of that stuff, a pulled on a pair of socks, grabbed a sweat shirt, and headed for the first floor, my duffel over my shoulder. I didn't pass anyone on the way down, but as I passed their doors, I could hear Rin, Len and Kaito in their rooms packing.
I didn't hear Meiko, however, and when I knocked on her door, she didn't answer. I thought it was a better time than any to see if my shoes or coat were in there. I took the chance and slowly turned the handle and cracked open the door. I stuck my head in and looked around. Clean, neat, nothing laying out, orderly. There was even a picture of her boyfriend on her desk. Tall, brown hair, brown eyes. Generic. I scanned the room, but didn't see anything of mine. I'd ask her downstairs, just in case it was hidden a bit better then usually.
I closed her door and continued down to the living room. I looked around, but didn't see anything abnormal. On to the lounge and kitchen then, I guess. When I checked the lounge I did find my shoes thrown in a corner. I'm still not sure if that's my fault or not.
As I passed the open kitchen window, I saw Meiko inside putting together some food for everyone. That, or she just really liked eating a dozen scrambled eggs. I'd be willing to bet on the first. I bent over the counter.
"Hey, Meiko,"
She turned to me "hm?"
"Have you seen my coat anywhere?"
"...I might have seen it in the girl's bathroom yesterday.." She ventured, somewhat hesitantly.
I sighed. "Well at least I know where it is. Thanks, though." I waved and continued on.
I passed the entranceway and turned left. I passed the archway that led to the kitchen, the pantry, the washer and dryer, the linens closet, and had to turn left again.
While each individual bedroom upstairs had its own closet and bathroom, there were communal ones at the back of the house on the first floor. A girl's and a boy's. Why? Because we don't want guests going into our rooms. And sometimes, it's just easier to use them than walk upstairs.
The girls' came first, then at the end of the hall was the door to the boys'. I stopped just outside the girl's bathroom. I didn't want to enter girl territory, and I sure as heck didn't want to put my life- threatening or at least my face- on the line.
But I wanted my coat, and this was supposedly where it was. I decided to knock in case there was someone inside.
Nobody answered.
I opened the door and walked in real fast. I wanted to minimize the amount of time I spent in here.
Inside there was a floor-to-waist counter that ran along the left wall, and two thirds of the far wall. The last third was taken up by a walk-in shower. Ceiling-high mirrors sat atop the counters. The near, right corner was taken up by two bathroom stalls. The mirror continued on the adjacent wall, except there it was floor-to-ceiling with a ledge running at about the height of my elbows. The mirror also had towel/clothes hooks embedded every two-and-a-half feet.
I can't say that it's more plush than the guys' bathroom, because it isn't. It's just about the same. Except that the coloring in this one was light golds and white, while the other was silver and grey.
And there on the last hook was my coat.
I ran forward and snatched it off of the hook. I made my way as fast as I could to the door and made it out before anyone came in. I just leaned against the wall next to the door, gathering my wits.
Rin found me there. She walked around the corner and stopped. I turned and saw her standing there. Oh crap.
"What are you doing outside the girls' bathroom?" She asked, her eyebrows pulling low over her eyes.
I brandished my coat. "Had to get this back." I didn't want to make up a story, because that would just seem suspicious. I also just didn't want to lie to Rin about anything. She didn't deserve that.
She smirked at me "Aww, and nobody saw you? What a waste. We were hoping that at least SOMEBODY would see you! I guess you're too sneaky for that to happen. Oh well." She walked up and linked her arm in mine, tugging me to my feet and leading me back around the corner. We passed the closets again and turned back to the right again. she glanced back over her shoulder briefly to say "Miku even bet ten dollars that you would get caught. Haha, well Meiko just won ten bucks!" We passed the kitchen as well and headed for the lounge. Once we got there Rin dropped her stuff off on the couch. I let mine drop to the floor. I followed her to the kitchen window where we both sat down on the stools there.
I heard a few people coming down the stairs with their stuff in tow, and soon enough, Len, Kaito and Luka came walking up the stairs from the living room.
"Where's Miku?" Meiko asked, peering out of the window.
Kaito answered. "She's packing Luka's stuff, because Luka... wasn't cooperating?"
"Ah." Meiko turned back to the stove. "Well breakfast is ready, so you can all come get a plate. Eat quickly, because we only have about ten minutes left before the master wants us outside." She started handing plates out of the window for people to take.
Kaito spoke as he sat down on a stool to eat. "Well, I would say that judging from the fact that the master wants us to have our passports, and clothing for warm weather, I would surmise that we will be flying out of the US, and into a more tropical environment."
A/N I set the vocaloid house in Seattle, Washington, not far from my own Portland residence. I wanted to place them in a more city-like area, and choose somewhere close to where I live so that if I wanted I could incorporate the surrounding landmarks or maybe add weather factors. I've never lived anywhere but Portland. Sorry if that seems a bit selfish :/
"Or just someplace hotter," suggested Meiko as she started putting dishes away. "I hope it won't be overly humid..." She pulled a worried face.
At that moment Miku stumbled down the stairs with two rolling suitcases. Presumably, one was hers and the other was Luka's.
She seemed to have been listening to our conversation as she descended the staircases. "I packed some anti-frizz hair stuff if that's what you're worried about. And a ton of moisturizers."
"Yeah, our makeup artist would kill us of we ruined our skin or hair!" Rin giggled. "Imagine the master's face as she yelled at us about it!"
Miku took up the impression. "'I've got stylists running up my back about the state you guys are in! What the freaking 'ell were you thinking? What am I, your nurse?!' Hahaha!" she broke away from her overly stern face and wide eyes to flash a big grin.
Meiko toweled off her hands, tossing the rag into the sink as she turned back to her plate of eggs. "Well, better hurry and eat before the master is hounding OUR backs about being late."
We all nodded and dug into our plates, scarfing as much as we could, as fast as we could. While it was an often joked about subject, the master's wrath was something to be avoided at all costs, if possible.
While Meiko shoveled eggs, she passed Miku her plate, who in turn walked over to the nearest chair in the lounge and plopped down there to eat. Technically, the area we had deigned as the lounge, and therefore furnished it as such, was actually supposed to be a dining room, formal or not. Our house has an odd layout, yes, but it actually suited the needs of a group of teenagers better than any logical layout.
With all of the social living areas located on the first floor- except for the top-floor lounge-, and all of the bedrooms located on the floors above, we had our privacy, as well as guests didn't have any reason to be trespassing around upstairs, as anything the could need was right here.
Also, since the "dining room" came before the living room, we could hang out there pretty much undisturbed.
My thoughts were interrupted when my plate became empty. Everyone else was just about finishing up. We had just over five minutes. Time to cram in the last minute details.
I looked next to me to see that Rin has just finished as well. I held my hand out near her plate, offering to take it with mine.
Rin leaned back away from it. "Mm hm. Thanks Gaku!" She smiled as she got up to go get our bags in order.
I headed for the kitchen with Len on my heels with a similar stack of cleared dishes. We came around the corner and went over to the sink to leave them there. The maids would get them when they came later that week. Len turned his face to me as we walked back.
"So where do you think we're going?"
"I don't know. We could be going anywhere from Miami, to Rio, or Africa. I guess we can sneak a look at the flight screen at the airport and see where our plane is headed."
"It could be a connecting flight."
"Yeah, but we might be able to gauge the general direction."
Len nodded his assent, then veered off to where Kaito stood with their bags.
Rin had hers on the floor at her feet. Mine was next to it. Miku rushed past me to turn off the lights in the back hall. Luka had her bag in hand and was dragging it behind her as she headed for the door.
"Here," I picked up my bag and then Rin's, slinging mine over my shoulders, looping my arms through the straps, and wheeling hers in my right hand.
"It's alright, I can carry m-" I threw my left arm around her shoulders and steered us both to the door. Rin snagged our coats from the back of the couch as we passed it, and we were on our way out. She scowled but accepted the gesture.
Luka, Kaito and Len were already out on the sidewalk. I wouldn't be able to see them if the street lights weren't casting a yellow glow from farther down the street.
Miku and Meiko came out behind me and Rin, murmuring to each other, making sure they had checked everything. They seemed to finally agree that if they had forgotten something, then oh well. They joined the rest of us out on the sidewalk.
Meiko was the one to speak first. "Well, the master should be in the van, over in the parking garage." She tightened her grip on her suitcase. "C'mon, let's go." She assumed the front position and led us to the right down the sidewalk. We were en route to pass the edge of the house and aim for the small adjacent parking garage where our cars were stored. Almost all of us had our licenses to drive, Miku, Len and Rin just getting theirs' just this year when they turned 16. Kaito got his last year: He's 17. Luka is also 17, but she hadn't ever bothered about it, and nobody wanted the seemingly always drunk teen on the road anyway. Meiko and I being 18, have had our licences for two years. So suffice to say, there were various types of cars housed in the garage, ranging from convertibles, to a sports car, to a couple four-row vans that we used when we all had to travel together.
As we walked, the street lamps threw blurry shadows on the ground. Rin made to put her coat on, as Seattle in May didn't exactly make for warm weather. I lifted my arm off her shoulders while she put it on over her leggings and and t-shirt. She shivered and leaned into my side. She still held my coat, draped over her left arm.
I looked up as we reached the car garage. Already parked out on the street, the master waited for us in a glossy black four-row van. While tall, it was also streamlined so that it could go faster.
As we approached the car, the drivers door swung open and the master leaned out, standing up so that she could rest her arm on the roof of the car and then over at us.
"Dude, how long does it take to walk down a sidewalk?! C'mon, our flight leaves in two hours, and it'll take us twenty to get to the airport. Get in!" She snorted at our blank expressions (the only way to react when she finds fault in what you do) and climbed back down into her seat. I guess she pressed a button on the inside, because the rear doors hissed out and slid back to let us in.
The van was standard, with two front seats, two back rows of two, then three seats at the very back. The trunk door popped open, and all of the roll-on suitcases went there, while the three duffles were just going to be put up next to our seats.
Meiko, Miku and Luka claimed the back three seats, Len and Kaito got the middle two, so Rin and I took the front two. As the last one in, I hit the button for the door to close and sat down. Once Rin and I were bucked, she yawned and leaned over into my shoulder. I lifted my arm and put it around her side. I could hear the others shifting into more comfortable positions as well. It was still only about 3:30 am, and even I was still tired. Maybe we could all catch twenty more minutes of sleep until we got to the airport.
That thought was blasted out of my head when the master flicked on the CD player, allowing the last couple bars of M.I.A.'s paper planes to die out, only to be replaced by Midnight City by M83. Both respectable songs, but neither easy to sleep through.
So much for sleep, I guess.
A/N So what did you think? Ok, some of you may have already noticed my pairings in this. Obviously there's my main pairing , the one that I am following: GakupoxRin. I have also been having Len and Kaito spend a lot of time around each other, but I might just leave that at friendship. And then I have the frenemies, Miku and Luka. I guess we'll just have to see where that goes...
Also, I would just like to point out, in case it has become apparent that i use only four viewpoints, that I may or may not dedicate whole chapters around my more side-characters, Miku, Luka and Meiko, and their personal lives.
Oh and heads-up, the next chapter will be the brief car ride (or maybe not) and at least the airports and flying. If that ends up being kind of short, I will go on to their first day in their destination.
Allen: And we would also like to inform you about something else!
Edward: You guys talk too much! Just end the chapter!
Author: Well it's kinda important...
Skrillex: Huh? Wait, what are we talking about?
Edward: I don't even know.
Author: Well if you would just let us-
Allen: -Explain, then you would understand!
Author and Allen: *Deep breath* ALL READERS! YOU CAN HAVE SOME SAY IN OUR STORY!
Allen: If any of you dear readers have some suggestions, opinions-
Skrillex:Innuendos?
Allen: - Innuendos, sure- that you might like to see, put them in a review! Even if we don't use them, we will honor you with a mention in our next chapter!
Author: Or E-mail me at pinemartin.k ! A great friend of mine has already requested a LenxLuka story! I already figured out the place, time, setting, and some other stuff, but I haven't written it yet. Sorry Bri :( But when I do, I will post it as a tangent chapter in this story, and also as it's own story, so be looking forward to that!
Allen: We cherish all requests and suggestions, so don't be shy!
Author: Signing off for now! Bye!
