Chapter 5: Memories of the Unwanted Past

"Ah~ That was tiring~" Rin said as she plopped down on the couch in the lounge.

"It really was, even though it was just a redo of yesterday," Miku said and plopped down next to Rin.

"And tomorrow, we're leaving," Mikuo said plopped himself next to Miku and immediately leaned on Miku's shoulder.

"Yeah, but we're leaving late," Len said and sat next to Rin, slinging his arm over Rin, and Rin automatically snuggled into Len's chest.

"Sometimes, you two act like you're dating," Neru commented on them.

"So what? I don't care," they said at the same time.

"And yet, you act like twins at the same time…" she muttered.

"Alright, who's up for midnight McDonalds?" Mikuo said, jumping up.

"What? I thought you lost all your money in the bet we placed with Rin and Miku?" Len asked. Mikuo chuckled.

"Yeah, I did!" Mikuo said proudly.

"How can you be so proud about something like that?" Nero commented.

"Well…" Mikuo hung his head. "I don't actually know… I just feel all hyper and proud…"

"You know, pride is one of the deadly sins… you should be careful Mikuo… you might be one of the deadly sins!" Rin said and snuggled closer to Len, in which he blushed at a bit.

"WHAT? No way!" he said and stood proudly. "I will forever be a guy, representing one of the heavenly virtues!" he said and crossed his arms over his torso and stood in a dramatic pose.

"Drama queen…" Neru said to herself and shook her head, hiding her smile.

"… Still on midnight McD's?" he asked.

Everyone mentally facepalmed at his love for McDonalds.

"Meiko…" Len said sleepily as he tiredly lifted a box. "Can I go to sleep?"

"No,"

"Oh, come on! It's already 3 a.m. and I haven't even had a blink of sleep!" he whined.

"Hearing you whine is reeeeaaaalll amusing," Meiko said sarcastically, lifting two boxes at a time.

"Come on! Have Mikuo help you or something!" he whined and yawned.

"As I said before, it's fun hearing you whine," she said with such thick sarcasm, even a crazy person knew to shut up, and just do his work. Sadly, Len didn't.

"Plllleeeeaaaasssseeee?"

"Urgh, FINE! GO TO SLEEP, I'LL JUST MAKE KAITO HELP ME!" Meiko yelled, and within a second, Len was gone, leaving the boxes on the ground. Meiko facepalmed and sighed. "Len and staying up late do not go together…" she mumbled but smiled.

"Meiko~~" Kaito whined.

"What now?" Meiko asked.

"When are we leeeaaving~?"

"After SeeU and Yukari comes,"

"… Who's SeeU and Yukari?"

Kaito got a blow in the head, and he fell of the chair he was sitting.

"I see birds chasing stars!"

And another blow in the head he got.

"So… SeeU and… Yukari, is it?" Meiko asked at the two girls standing in front of her.

"That's us," they said together. Meiko smiled at them.

"Well, I hope you two get along with the others, since you're new. But I don't think that'll be a problem, since Aoki and Rion are here too," Meiko said and smiled at them warmly. "I hope you like working here with the rest of us,"

"Of course we will, Meiko-san," they said, again, in unison.

"Well, hurry and ride in the van, we're going to be late…" Meiko said and left. SeeU and Yukari smiled at each other and jumped into the van.

"Welcome, SeeU-san! Yukari-san!" Rin said as they jumped in.

"Thank you, Rin-san!" SeeU said.

"Thank you!" Yukari said and sat next to Len. "Len-san, is it?" she asked, and leaned closer, sparkles in her eyes.

"Yeah," Len said, slowly leaning away.

"I'm such a big fan of yours!" she said and leaned even closer, much to Rin's dismay.

"I appreciate that very much…" Len said, and leaned away even more. Rin felt something in her snap, as she pulled Len away from Yukari and sat in between the two, clinging onto Len's arm. Len sweatdropped at her and shrugged.

'Better have it this way… than having that girl leaning into me every time I answer a question…' Len thought.

Yukari just blinked at Rin innocently, not getting why Rin did that. Yukari simply shrug and sat next to Rin, chatting endlessly with SeeU.

"I can't wait to see Aoki and Rion again!" Yukari finished her long talk.

"Yeah!" SeeU agreed. Rin huffed and clung tighter onto Len.

"Rin… you're cutting my blood circulation…" Rin looked up to see Len's face all blue and pale. Her eyes widen and she let go of Len's arm.

"I'm so sorry, Len! I didn't notice that I held it too tight!" she said frantically rubbing Len's arm, hoping to soothe the pain.

"It's okay…" Len mumbled. Rin sighed in relief and sat normally, not clinging onto anything, for the first time in the two-hour drive. Len sighed, seeing her slight pout and slung his arms over her shoulder. Rin looked up at him and smiled a little.

"So sweet~" they turned to the front to see Neru, Miku and Mikuo taking their pictures. "Do more sweet poses so we can sell it to your fans that actually think that you're dating!"

And so, the screaming, pleas and begs takes place. Poor Kaito for being stuck with them, and thank god Meiko wasn't with them, or else they would have been kicked out of the van.

"You have a lot of time to spare, so go ahead and look around, while Kaito and I set up the–"

"NOOOO NOT HEAVY WORK AGAIN! I HAD ENOUGH!"

And the third blow of the day!

"The birds are chasing stars again~"

Make that the fourth…

The others simply sweatdropped at Kaito's idiotic behavior.

"So… why don't we share our life stories? Or something…" Nero suggested, while they were hanging out in one of the apartment rooms Meiko and Kaito rent for them. Miku immediately tensed up when she heard the word 'life story'. Mikuo noticed it and held her hand.

"I guess…" SeeU agreed and sat up straight. "How should we decide who goes first?" she asks.

"I say we go for rock paper scissors!" Yukari said and turned to Len. "Don't you agree, Len-san?"

"Uh…" Len scratched the back of his head and nodded awkwardly.

"Grrr…" Rin gritted her teeth. Neru noticed it and smirk.

"What's wrong, princess? Are you jealous that someone is trying to steal your precious prince away from you?" Neru teased. Rin blushed bright red and started to spluttered a lot of things that can't be called a word… except for 'I'…

"Wh–N–I–Don–It's–No–I- IT'S NOT LIKE THAT!" Rin finally screamed and covered her flushed face with a pillow. A red one. How ironic.

"Really~?" Neru taunted.

"SHUT UP!" Rin screamed and ran into the nearest room. Which just happened to be the bathroom. Where she washed her flushed face and sat in the tub peacefully.

"Hey, Rin?" Len knocked on the door.

"What?" Rin answered, her voice muffled.

"Aren't you coming out? It's been half an hour…" he said.

"Not until that Yukari gets away from you!"

"Are you… jealous?" Len asks. Silence greeted him, but he could feel that Rin was blushing.

"… Maybe…" she finally answered. Len chuckled and leaned on the door.

"Don't be," he said simply.

"You say it like it's so easy…" Len felt the door being pushed a little, and he guessed that Rin was also leaning on the door.

"That's because it is easy,"

"How would you know? You've never felt it before…"

"Felt what?" Len said, genuinely confused.

"Nothing," Rin said quickly. Len felt the door being unlocked, so he stood up straight. He felt Rin hug him, and he looked over his shoulder. The sight almost made him have a nosebleed.

Rin rested her head on Len's back, her cheeks flushed, eyes half-lidded and her natural pink lips forming a cute, little pout.

"Its just that… Yukari is being a little bit too close to you…" she mumbled and buried her face into his shirt.

"Um… well…" he quickly turned around so that he could stop his nose from bleeding.

Suddenly, clicks and giggles can be heard.

"…" both were silent, as they already knew what those sounds were.

"NEEEEEERRRRRUUUUU!"

"… And that's how me and SeeU got here!" Yukari concluded her 20-minutes story.

"But I wonder… where's Rion and Aoki?" SeeU asks.

"They're usually helping Kaito and Meiko set up the huge tent," Miku answered.

"Shouldn't we help…?" Nero asked.

"Nah, they can do all the work…" Neru said and laid on her stomach. "So, next is Miku's turn!"

Miku tensed up and gulped. "W-Well…"

"Come on, Miku!" Rin said, grinning at her.

"I-I…" Miku felt the warmth of another's hands on hers. She looked down to her hand and followed the connecting arms and to the shoulders, to see none other than Mikuo.

The only one that knew of her past.

The past that she wants to forget.

"You don't need to tell them if you don't want to," he said in German, knowing that the others wouldn't understand.

"But they're expecting me to," she replied, also in German. From the corner of her eyes she can see the confused faces of her travelling companions.

"That doesn't mean you have to," he said and tighten his grip on her hand. She closed her eyes and smiled sadly.

"Wouldn't it be unfair if they told their's and I get off the hook?" she looked up at him.

"You know you're not ready to tell them," he said and closed his eyes, remembering the times before they joined the circus.

"… But I still think it isn't fair," and that point, she had already stood up, her bangs covering her eyes. She walked away from her companions, as they stared at her in confusion. She stopped in front of the bathroom door and looked over her shoulder.

"Tell them that I'm not ready to tell… my unwanted past…"

"Hey Mikuo…" Mikuo looked up to Rin.

"Yeah?"

"Why were you and Miku speaking in German?" she asked, confusion evident in her voice.

"It's nothing…" Mikuo said and smiled. He stood up and walked towards the bathroom. "I think it's time for me to 'wake' her up," he walked into the bathroom casually, slamming the door after he entered.

Rin just blinked at the closed door.

"Miku…" Mikuo said and kneeled beside her small, curled up figure.

"I… I just want to forget it… why is it so hard?" she sobbed, wiping away her never-ending tears. Mikuo bit his lip and hugged her.

"I understand…"

"It's a memory I want to forget about. Something you don't understand…" she sobbed.

"You know that I do understand… I've gone through the same thing," he whispered.

"But you had loving parents while mine had always hated me!" she sobbed harder.

He shut his mouth and silently hugged her, stroking her silky hair. Closing his eyes, he prayed that he would be the one to make her forget her unwanted past.

"It'll be alright… It's always been, hasn't it?"

"I guess…" she whispered and fell to a deep slumber, as her tears finally stop falling, leaving a wet trail on her cheeks. He smiles and leaned his head on hers.

"Oi, Mikuo," Mikuo looked up from his knife to Nero and Len, frowning at him.

"What?" he asked, and continued to sharpen his knives.

"What did you do to make Miku cry? She's, like, sobbing so hard… Rin's trying real hard to calm her down," Len stated and sat on the chair in the tent.

"She'll be okay, she's just having a mental breakdown,"

"You know that can cause heart attack, right…?" Nero said awkwardly. Mikuo stopped his actions and paled slightly.

"S-She's gonna be just… fine…" he said hesitantly and gulped. Suddenly, Rin ran into the tent, crying.

"LEEEEEEENNNN!" she screamed and jumped into Len's embrace(In which, Len skillfully caught her with his ninja skills) "M-Miku, s-she…!"

By the time Rin said Miku's name Mikuo was already out of the tent.

"… What happened to Miku, Rin?" Len asked calmly.

"MIKU!" Mikuo shouted, dashing into Miku's tent.

"M-Mikuoooo," Miku said and jumped into his arms. "R-Rin… I accidently slapped her in the face…" Mikuo blinked.

Twice.

Thrice.

"That's it?" he asked with a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"That's it," the teal female replied.

"Next time, hear people out before coming up with negative ideas…" Len said mockingly as he entered the tent, Rin following behind him closely.

"Well, I'm sorry that I was freaking out after Nero said mental breakdown can cause heart attacks," he said sarcastically. Nero came in with a fake, hurt expression.

"Now, I'm the one to blame? How could you Mikuo," he said sarcastically. Mikuo rolled his eyes and put Miku down on the wooden chair.

"Well, time to sharpen my knives again…"

A/N:

And done~ Finally~ 6 weeks without update is just the worst~ sorry to the readers! … Really, I'm sorry. Don't put that 'oh really' face on. It breaks my heart… Not really. But whatever, I'm getting off topic.

I know, I changed my format again… But it's much easier this way! So, I thought maybe I should just go ahead and change it. AGAIN. Sorry about it…

So, as some of you know, I have a twitter and skype account for those who want to chat with me or anything! The names are in my profile. Just go and look at it.

Anyway, starting tonight(yes, it's night here) I will be posting one-shots until tomorrow. I'm pulling an all-nighter. It's a suggested punishment from my friend who I told this about. In my calculation, I might post from 2-4 one-shots…

But, whatever. I really hope you read this long, unreasonable author's note, cause its important. That, and I hope you read the one-shots I'm gonna post…

Please review~

-=Ayanami Chie Wakana=-