Luka-

Hatsune Miku is holding my guitar.

Really, that's all I could really bring myself to think. I attempted to comprehend what she was doing there, whether or not I should approach her- I couldn't even feel the least bit relieved my guitar was in safe hands. All I could repetitively think, like a broken record, was, "Hatsune Miku is holding my guitar".

Everyone else around us seemed to realize this fact as well, seeing as uproar was beginning to build around us. Hushed, surprised whispers and excited, fascinated squeals proclaimed her name, and it was no mystery that she was realizing her cover had been blown. She looked about frantically, like a frightened rabbit, her feet nervously shuffling as she stepped from side to side. Then she looked at my guitar still held carefully in her arms, then to me.

Hatsune Miku is holding my guitar… Hatsune Miku is looking at me! Hatsune Miku is… running towards me?

Without warning, the teal-haired angel before me suddenly leaped into action, sprang forward and reached out with one of her hands. Instinctively and in a swooning haze, I reached back despite the heavy bags weighing me down, only to be pulled from my love-struck state of mind and off the ground as she grabbed my wrist and plucked me from off the sidewalk. People who had begun to descend on us with camera phones and pens became a blur as we pushed passed them as they called out her name, begging for her to grace them with her beautiful presence a moment longer.

I didn't have the mind to ask her where she was taking me and why. I didn't think to thank her for rescuing my guitar. I simply and blindly followed behind her as she pulled me along, getting lost in the sensation of how smooth the skin of her hand was as it tightly grasped my wrist. Wherever she was taking me, my mind could only think it would be paradise. My goddess, who I'd only marveled at on television, was talking me somewhere, and no matter where it was, I would follow her!

Even of that place turned out to be the deserted stairway leading to a clearly not-so-popular strip club located beneath a set of shady apartments. Miku finally let my wrist go and sent me stumbling down the stairs to the door while she peered up out of our clever hiding place and into the darkened streets. Judging by the lack of excited shouts and enthused screams, we hadn't been followed. The only noise that echoed around us was the loud, thumping music coming from beyond the door to the club ("Club Cheeks" it seemed to be eloquently named) and our own, ragged breathing as I dropped my heavy bags.

Miku continued her fidgety vigil for a moment longer before she ducked back down into the stairwell and approached me, remaining a few steps up as she reached up to smooth back some of her blue-green bangs that clung to her face now moist with nervous sweat. She still held my guitar, pressing it closely to her body that moved back and forth in time with her long breaths she gulped down. The two of us remained silent, catching our breaths, gulping air and nervously looking to one another and shifting our gaze elsewhere. I personally was trying to contain myself, clutching at the inside of my now dirty sleeves and biting my lip, trying to keep myself from overwhelming my goddess with whatever my jumbled mind would have me say.

"U-Um-"I began to speak, my voice shaking and cracking.

"I'm so sorry! I-I don't know what came over me!" Miku interrupted, presenting me with a very deep, clearly apologetic bow. I contained an attracted giggle as she stumbled and fell down to the next lowest step mid-bow, gasping and nearly dropping my guitar- honestly, though, if she had dropped it, I wouldn't have been concerned or angry. I couldn't get angry, not at her. She straightened up with a relieved sigh and wrapped her arms tightly around the black case of my instrument, getting a better grip on it before. "I mean… I grabbed you without even telling you… I couldn't help myself!"

All I could do was stare back at her as she continued to apologize. What do you say to the person who you most look up to, anyway? My head was full of mismatched words and confused phrases that didn't fit together, leaving me with a growing headache as I tried and failed to come up with something- anything- to say to my goddess, who was lowering herself quite a lot from her lofty place to plead for my forgiveness.

"Ah… I…" I stammered, averting my gaze to my feet so I could better concentrate. Maybe she was doing it on purpose, but the way Miku apologized was overwhelmingly cute, as needless as it was. "It's fine… I actually should thank you… for rescuing my guitar."

"Your gui- Oh! This thing, right!" Miku piped up, lightly smacking the hard case with her hands, making a hollow, quiet thump that matched the sound of my heart. "You should be more careful- if you're not, it will get stolen again." I lowered my head in embarrassment and shame as I rubbed the back of my head.

"Y-Yeah…" I muttered, keeping my eyes fixated on the ground. She didn't notice, judging by how casually she was speaking, but her presence was growing more and more overwhelming the longer we stayed only an arm's distance away in the narrow stairwell. It was becoming difficult to breathe or think… and it was wonderful. Call me a masochist, but I loved the feeling that was overcoming me and holding me defenseless. I gulped, trying to prepare words. "I'll try…" I reached out, only to have my fingers brush against hers. For once, the both of us jumped and gasped. The nervous electricity that flowed through my body must have passed through our short contact, and it caused her to drop the guitar case. We both reached out in surprise, narrowly catching it before it tumbled to the ground, our fingers now entwined and layered on top of one another.

We looked up and into each others' eyes, and I felt intoxicated just sharing that one, simple gesture. Her eyes were large and full of a wide range of emotions as the two of us kept our hands in place. They were like precious jade, and they drew me in, even if she didn't mean for them to. Had she not spoken up, I would have thrown caution to the wind and pressed my lips against her glossy, perfect lips.

"I-um… if it's not too much trouble, could you… play something for me?"

Miku-

It was horribly stupid of me to have done what I'd just done. I'd blown my cover in public, and I was certain people at Crypton would catch wind of it- how I knocked out some guy with a bag full of magazines. Even considering the circumstances it would be considered bad publicity for me to have hit a guy on the street- even if he happened to be making off with someone else's guitar, it seemed.

That was nothing compared to what I'd done afterward. That girl… her long, soft-pink hair, her slender figure- she looked like an angel, distraught and fallen from heaven (though I wasn't sure what she was doing with all those bulky bags). If I did nothing and simply let her be, I would have regretted it. She was perfect, and every inch of my body and mind told me I needed her so… I took her. She didn't put up much of a fight, and, in fact, willingly allowed herself to be taken, but I still felt horrible for having gone with my gut without a second thought.

Which brought us to a sketchy part of down in a dark stairway leading to a shady strip club. I still held her guitar, without really thinking about it, and she let her bags fall to the ground as she weakly rested herself against the walls that rose up around us. She seemed so uncomfortable and uneasy I couldn't help but apologize, even if it meant I'd lose my footing while I did so. I stumbled and stammered, trying to find just the right words to make her seem at ease, but she continued to stare, looking like she was about to hyperventilate or explode- or both. And, when she finally spoke, she averted her eyes away and cast her gaze to the ground.

'She must be mad,' I thought to myself. 'Even when you're an idol, you still can manage to make people upset…'

Much to my surprise, though, she shyly thanked me for "rescuing" her guitar, and I felt my lips curve into a relaxed smile. The instrument must have been pretty special to her, since she used the word "rescue" like it was her child or something more organic that just a guitar. My worry melted into relief as I tried to give her advice on keeping her precious instrument safe and hand it back to her. She still seemed overwhelmed by something, and despite the fact we had been stationary for a while, her breathing sounded uneven, like she was still trying to catch it. And her cheeks… they were as red as two, ripe tomatoes! What in the world could she have possibly…

My thoughts were interrupted as our fingers briefly met and I released the precious object much too early. The both of us gasped in surprise as the case plummeted to the ground and I, not wanting to further upset the girl I had carelessly plucked off the street, attempted to right my wrong and catch it before it hit the stairs. Much to my surprise, my hands didn't find the cold, textured surface of the guitar case, but warm flesh. The two of us had reached out to catch the guitar, and it seemed the both of us had succeeded in doing so, my hands resting on top of hers.

Strangely enough, I wasn't compelled to pull away and apologize. I looked to her, meeting her gaze, and felt my heart skip a beat. Her eyes were the most beautiful things I had ever seen- deep, alluring blue pools that beckoned me close. I hadn't the slightest clue what was coming over me, why my heart had begun to beat so fast or why an intense heat began to build in my cheeks, but it compelled me to act before I did something I'd regret. I'd brought her there for a reason, after all, it was best I cut to the chase before I gave in to the power of her eyes.

"I-um… if it's not too much trouble, could you… play something for me?"

"Play something?" She froze up, like I'd thrown her on a stage and asked her to play for an entire crowd instead of just playing for me on a deserted stairwell. "F-For you?" She looked horribly nervous, and it made me feel almost bad for even bothering to ask, but I had to hear her play. I had to know if even stealing her away had been worth it, and that my intuition –as little as I have- had been right.

"Is that alright? I mean, I'm just curious." I lied to her. I didn't want to add to whatever pressure was making her sweat bullets by telling her my motives. "I actually used to play guitar when I first started out. Lately my managers just want me to sing, though."

"I remember…" The pink-haired girl told me shyly, like she was guilty for having known. "I've watched your career from the beginning… I mean, that doesn't sound creepy, does it? I'm just a really big fan!" I couldn't help but lightly chuckle over how much she was getting worked up, as horrible as that was. The way she fidgeted and looked about frantically while she struggled to find words reminded me of myself when I was first inducted into Crypton: a shy, bumbling mess among such famous faces. Had I been this cute back then?

"Hey, it's alright-" I assured her before distant voices cut me off. I dared not poke my head from out of the stairwell, judging by what I could hear.

"She might have gone down this way!"

"I hope so, I really want her autograph!"

Normally I'd jump at the chance to indulge my fans. They were the thing I loved the most about my job- the ones I sang for and smiled for. But, at that moment, there were more pressing matters involving the blushing beauty before me and her guitar. For once, the great, loving Hatsune Miku had no time for her fans. She had committed blasphemy as an idol for focusing her attention only on one person when her love was supposed to be for everyone. In one night, because of one, small, gut decision, the Hatsune Miku they all knew began to change.

"You can preform for me later." I whispered, hopping down the last remaining stairs and picking up one of her bulky duffle bags. The girl whipped around, looking from the patch of sky we could see at the bottom of the stairwell to me, her rosy-pink hair flying around her as she did. "Right now, we need to find a place where we can be alone."

"Alone?" She spoke in a heated whisper, like I'd just asked her to do something lewd. Her frantic jittering stopped for a moment as the blush on her cheeks grew and a curious look of enthusiasm suddenly shown in her eyes. Had it been what I'd said? I just said that I didn't want to be around anyone else, that was all. The voices coming closer seemed to snap her out of it, and she turned her head back and forth once more.

"But how are we going to get out of here without them seeing us?" She asked, holding her guitar case close to her while grasping at her other bag. She was ready to go, but had no idea how we were going to get out of the stairwell when there was one, clear answer staring us in the face beyond the heavy, wooden door before us. We both shared a look before turning to it, and she immediately began to stammer what could have possibly been an objection.

"I'm sorry, but it's the only way!" I insisted, reaching out and grasping, once again, at one of her wrists. "But, before we go in, could you tell me your name?" I tried to lighten the mood by giving her one of the smiles I normally gave my audience- the smile that elicited cheers and shouts and, in this case, deep blushes. "I'd rather know a girl's name if I'm about to go into a strip club with her."

"I-It's Luka…" The girl finally managed after a short spurt of even more stumbling and stuttering. "Megurine Luka." Her name suited her- just as soft, just as sweet. Her full name exited her mouth as a heated, quivering whisper in a voice normally reserved for couples talking to one another in bed. In that moment, had I been a boy, I would have eaten her up like a hungry wolf would a plump sheep. But I wasn't a boy, and never would be, so instead, I smiled at her again and turned the knob of the door.

"Luka, huh? That's a cute name."

Luka-

Every New Year, my parents and I would climb one of the tallest peaks surrounding our tiny town to watch the sun rise. I always thought that was the most magnificent view I would ever see, no matter how many times I made the journey to see it. But, that night, that view was easily trumped by the view of the city from the window of Hatsune Miku's apartment. She lived on the top floor of a posh apartment building that towered over everything else like a great, glass monolith in the center of the city. From the top floor, in the cover of night, everything below looked like a colorful collection of twinkling gems, or a swirling galaxy of multi-colored stars.

That being said, it might have simply been the fact I was in Hatsune Miku's apartment, and everything involved after I walked through her door was too amazing for words. My heart hadn't stopped beating since we arrived- even harder than when we were forced to rudely force our way through a strip club where we had obviously not been welcome (everyone from what few customers, to staff members, to the girls themselves were more than happy to point us to the rear exit). No, this was twice as- three times- a hundred times more overwhelming! Everything was neat and clean, and her house smelled like fresh flowers and the distant smell of cooking that lingered in the air. This must be how she smelled most of the time, and now I was surrounded and completely enveloped by it. Just that alone was intoxicating.

"Enjoying the view?" I pulled away from the window as my goddess called out to me. It occurred to me for the millionth time that we were in her apartment, alone, together. If her presence hadn't been causing me to panic before, it certainly was now. My unnatural feelings for another girl had always been something I kept in the back of my mind, but now they were staring me in the face with beautiful teal eyes sparkling with youth. I had to take a cleansing breath to ready myself before I turned to her. Naturally, it did nothing to calm my frantically buzzing nerves.

"Y-Yeah. I've never been this high up before." I admitted through a forced, pleasant smile. My goddess laughed quietly, eyes momentarily shut in pleasure and lips parted just enough that I could barely see her teeth. She must have carefully calculated everything she did to be perfect and alluring- nothing she did was clumsy or awkward, especially compared to me: the pauper in her brilliant presence. "The view… it's really breathtaking."

That wasn't a lie at all, seeing as my view was now the object of my forbidden affection.

"Really, I've never really even noticed." She chuckled, sitting on the couch just barely beyond and setting two cups on the short table before her. They were filled with a light-brown liquid with ice cubes just barely poking out from the swirling, nearly-white murk. "You must probably new to the city if you haven't even been this high up before." Her voice was lightly mocking, like how someone would tease a small child for believing in Santa.

"Y-You got me there." I nervously chuckled as I slowly padded over to the couch she was sitting on. I was unsure if I should sit myself next to her- it was like considering sitting next to royalty. I chose to awkwardly stand beside the white piece of furniture as Miku began to take small, dainty sips from one of the cups. I watched, transfixed, as the moist ice cubes caressed her perfect, pink lips as she drank- probably the first time in my life I considered wanting to be an ice cube. "I actually just arrived, if my bags didn't give it away."

"Oh, right!" Miku exclaimed, pulling her mouth away from the rim of the cup and accidentally leaving behind a transparent trail of saliva. I tried to disguise a hitched breath as a cough. "I'm sorry, I really hope I'm not keeping you from meeting whoever you're staying with!"

"No, not at all!" I fervently shook my head. "To be honest, I don't even know where I'm staying… the person who agreed to house me hasn't returned any of my calls."

"A relative?" Miku asked curiously, lifting the glass to her lips again. The last bit of her final word was slightly drowned in the light-brown liquid that bubbled around her lips as she spoke.

"Not exactly." I told her nervously. "It's just some person I met over the internet who had a spare room." The sudden sound of coughing filled the room as Miku slammed her drink back on to the table. She hunched over, coughing and gasping for air and, at first, I assumed she had possibly choked on an ice cube. But then she raised her head- tears in her eyes from most likely choking on her drink- and shouted at me, causing me to take a step backward.

"I object!"

"W-What?" I asked in surprise and confusion. Miku sat up and placed her hands on the arm of the couch so she could push herself up even further. Before I knew it, she was leaning dangerously forward, her face close enough to mine that I could feel her breath against my face. She looked at her with an unmovingly stern look, like a strict parent. "They seemed really nice!"

"I'd make sure to sound really nice, too, if I wanted to lure someone into my rape dungeon!" Miku scolded. "Do you even know this person- do you even know their name, or what they look like?"

"I know their screen name-"

"Unacceptable!" Miku interrupted, reaching out and grabbing my shoulder. "You're real lucky I found you before you found whoever this weirdo is! Honestly, didn't your parents ever warn you about this sort of thing? This whole thing smells real fishy to me, and it would be irresponsible to let you just go along with this creep from the internet's plans!"

"You really think they're out to do something bad?" I asked her, cocking my eyebrow. The fact this was my one place to live she was talking about forced me to be skeptical.

"When you're dealing with things like this, it's best you consider the worst!" Miku told me firmly. "This world- this city is a dangerous place for girls like you- so accepting and trusting. If I let you go to find this internet person, I'll never forgive myself…" She turned away from me and looked down at the floor, nibbling at one of her knuckles in thought.

"M-Miku…?"

"I've decided!" She shouted again, causing me to jump. "Until you find a safe, legitimate place to board, you're staying here with me!" It took my brain extra long to process her offer, seeing as part of me thought I'd misheard while another began to believe I was simply dreaming. This sort of thing was reserved for fiction and fairytales- a poor girl getting a chance to shack up with the person who she loved the most. It all seemed way too perfect to be true. "And I'm not taking no for an answer!"

"But-"

"Hey, what did I just say?" Miku asked with a slight smile on her face. "And, as for your first payment, I want you to play for me!"

"Play?" My mind had shut down completely trying to comprehend what had just happened. No way my goddess had just offered me a chance to live with her, that was… impossible… and wonderful.

"Yeah, you know, your guitar?" Miku warmly smiled as she slowly drifted back onto the couch. "I totally forgot I'd asked you before in the rush to get here." I was hesitant at first, still trying to get ahold of my malfunctioning mind. "Please, I'd really like to hear you play." She seemed so eager and asked so sweetly, she could have asked me to do anything and I would have done it without question. Her eyes pleaded and her lips were plumped into an innocent pout as she requested I play something for her. I wasn't sure if my music was worth her time, but there was no way I could say no to her now.

"F… Fine. Just don't laugh, alright?" I muttered, turning to my guitar case that was set against the wall along with my other things at the far edge of the room. The first person who would ever hear my songs would be the girl who I'd fallen head over heels for- I was hopelessly panicking but also heavily excited. If god existed and answered the prayers of sinners, I desperately pleaded with him to give me the ability to play at my best. A single wrong note before my goddess would ruin me, I just knew it.

"I won't, I promise." Miku assured me sweetly as she sat back on the couch. "You're just like me when I started out, after all."