Ni
(Chapter Two)
"Rise and shine!" Rin yelled, bouncing on the edge of Len's queen-sized bed. He blinked sleepily and stared at her with glazed eyes.
"Rin, what the duck are you doing? It's like, 5am," He muttered and yanked the blankets over his face, rolling over with a grunt.
"Len, Len, Len!" She chanted, continuing to bounce on her knees. "Its 7am and time to wake UP!"
With a resigned sigh, Len heaved himself into a sitting position and glared at Rin. He felt ridicules though, knowing his hair would be all over and the dark bags that were for sure under his pale blue eyes. Rin hid a smile and bonded out of the room, her hair held back with her trade-mark white barrettes. Hiding a smile of his own, Len swung his feet to the floor and stumbled his way to his bag, half awake. He was pretty sure he had a photo-shoot today with the rest of the cast of Kagamine Fever, so he pulled out his regular outfit for public appearances or filming/photography sessions. After he had finished his outfit change, he stood in front of the mirror for his usual two-minute critique. Knee length black shorts, white and yellow school uniform top. Yellow belt and tie. Slightly smoothed down hair.
"Good to go," He mumbled, and followed in the path of Rin out the door and to the lobby, where a couple girls from the show had already gathered. Rin was talking to them, which was unusual, because the Kagamine's didn't usually get to interact with the cast.
"… And then there was this explosion, and I woke up. I think someone died, too, but I don't remember who. Probably you, Luka!" Rin was in the middle of saying, and the trio gave a round of giggles before Len's presence was noticed. "Oh hey, 'twinny'. Or should I say, sleeping beauty. You snore." Rin teased him easily, giving a side glance to Luka. Len shook his head. Leave it up to Rin to befriend her cast in five minutes AND managed to make him look dumb.
"Do not," He protested quietly, giving a small glance at Miku. He immediately blushed. In the TV show, Miku Hatsune was Len's love interest and they'd shared a couple of screen kisses. Having never spoken out of character, Len wasn't quite how to react. Fortunately for him, the show director chose that moment to motion him and Rin over. Relived to escape potential awkward silence, he nodded to the girls and made his exit, darting across the room to Mr. Lee.
"There's a photo-shoot today for next seasons promotional posters, covers and merchandise. We're talking about three- four hours, plus make-up. So let's move guys!" Mr. Lee relayed to them in a quick tone, as he always did. For a short and slightly pudgy Asian man, he sure threw out information fast.
"Luka is awesome! She's so serious and sincere," Rin whispered to Len as they rushed for the door and into their limo. "Did you see her hair today? How come she and Miku get awesome hair? All I get is blonde… which I already had!"
"Technically, its yellow," Len commented evenly, but smirked. "Although it does look more blonde then any yellow I've seen!"
The pair continued their sleepy chatter until they arrived at the big doors of some American photography mall. To their complete surprise, the rest of the cast was already waiting outside the door!
"But we left before them…" Rin whispered to her twin-for-the-day, raising an eyebrow. Len only shrugged in reply and hopped out to saunter into the building, flanked by Rin and the others. Rin soon began to notice something, although Len seemed oblivious. Miku kept shooting glances Len's way, as if 'checking him out'. Or whatever these silly Americans called it. At first, Rin thought her interest cute, but when she sidled up next to him and began a flirtatious chatter, she began to be annoyed with it. Her irritation was, fortunately, cut short as the group of photographers entered the large, well-lit room, followed anxiously by a small make-up crew. The show consisted of five main characters, including the Kagamine's. With a crew for make-up, the process only took 15 minutes, tops.
"Don't read it now," Rin caught Miku whispering in Len's ear as they all made their way to the photo area. A puzzled look crossed Len's face as he slipped a piece of paper into his back pocket, but both their attentions were yanked away from Miku and the mysterious note as the photographer called out for them. Striking their classic pose in front of the green-screen, the Kagamine's thoughts soon turned all to looking good and doing what the photographer asked. After their single shots were finished, the rest of the cast joined and it was more of the same. Posing, smiling, laughing, bending, smirking, glaring.
"I don't understand how models do this every day," Len groaned quietly to Rin during their break time. The other members were getting their own single shots, so the Kagamine's finally had a chance to sip on some tea and relax.
"I think its fun," Rin answered lightly, watching the others do their thing. "My feet just start hurting after a while. More than half of these pictures aren't even used, anyway!"
Len laughed softly at that and closed his eyes. Photo-shoots really weren't so terrible if Rin was there, he silently decided. In fact, they could even be –
"Kagamine! Len! You're up!" The photo director called out and Len wasn't able to finish thinking his thought before he was thrown into the loops of the shoot again. This time, it was couple shots with him and Miku. Following directions, the stood facing each other, their fingers intertwined and foreheads together. Len took into account his partners appearance, which looked better than usual. Her long flowing electric blue ponytails, big filmy blue eyes, and cute blue schoolgirl outfit. In the show, Miku was presented as a gladiator from another humanoid planet, so she had various mental attachments on her arms to represent her alienated form. Len found himself blushing despite himself. Before he became an idol, his luck with girls was rare. He was shy and awkward and they usually laughed at him. But here he was, holding hands with a really cute girl…
"Stop it," He chided himself inwardly. "She doesn't really like you. Only her character does, and that's cause it has to."
But try as he might, he couldn't shake away the warm feeling in him, especially when they had to engage in a few different screen kisses. But a nagging tang of guilt kept his emotions at bay, because he knew that buried deep in his bad at the hotel was a notebook full of songs that were about a different girl…
The shoot was finally a wrap, and the pair was back in their limo. For quite a few minutes, they rode along in silence. Which was odd, because they were usually always talking.
"Len…" Rin broke the silence. "What did Miku give you earlier?"
"I dunno," Len replied, his voice sleepy. His sleepless night didn't help with his tiring day, and all he wanted was to sleep. "Some note. Haven't read it yet."
Rin nodded her response and sighed an exhausted sigh. Hesitantly, she leaned towards him and rested her head on his shoulder. Len, with a look of surprise, glanced down at her.
"Don't get ideas, pimp," She whispered, eyes closed. "Your shoulder is the only pillow I got in here, even if it is rather… boney." Rin gave his shoulder a poke to prove her point, then let her breathing get slower and heavier as she drifted off to sleep. Len, pleased, smiled and rested his own head against the window. The rest of the ride was quiet as the teens slept peacefully a well needed rest.