Chapter Ten

"Whew! What a work out!" Len heard Shion-senpai say to his the other guys on the team as they finished up soccer for the evening. He normally didn't linger long, but today he lingered long enough to catch sight of Shion-senpai, who'd uncharacteristically stripped off his shirt. The days were slowly beginning to warm up now that summer was on the horizon, and today had been no exception, having been warm enough for them to really sweat while doing really nothing at all.

"Kagamine-kun?" A voice called to Len, making him turn around to see his homeroom teacher briskly walking up to him. This came to a surprise for Len since his homeroom teacher also their Maths teacher, not PE.

"Sensei?"

"Is it alright if I borrow you for a moment?" he asked, his voice very quiet and shaky. There was something in this shaky mannerism that made Len feel like his stomach was going to drop that second. Nothing good was going to come out from this, which he was sure of.

"Alright?"

"Let's head to the office, it's not a conversation we should discuss with students around."

Len had just realised the guys from the field were approaching, wanting to know what was happening. "Ok," Len nodded. He didn't give the students a second look as he followed his teacher away from the field. Hopefully by the time this discussion was over, they'd be gone anyway.

"Are you sure you have nowhere to go?" His sensei insisted, his voice unable to hide the panic. "She was spotted outside the apartment door. I just don't want to let you go home knowing she's there."

Len nodded, trying to keep himself calm. His sensei had almost avoided the conversation at first, asking silly things like how it was going and if he was struggling with anything (Maths in particular) before Len had coax him to talk. From what was said, it appeared his mother had decided to "drop-by" and a neighbour had called the school to warn them of her being there. There were no legal statements stating she had to stay away from them, yet the neighbours knew she was bad news. Clearly, they'd decided to inform the school that Len needed to stay as far away from her as possible.

The thing was… where could Len go? The last time this happened he had to book a hotel room because that was all he could do. There wasn't anywhere to go! "Kagamine-kun?"

"It's alright. I'll steer clear from home," he said, standing up. "If you excuse me, I have to go pick up my sister." And with that walked out the office, ignoring his teacher who called after him. There was no time to be dawdling, he had to grab his things, get Rin and bolt. It could be a couple days before they could really go home. There was only one problem. Where were they going to go in the meantime? Maybe if he asked work, he could borrow one of the upstairs storage rooms for a few nights?

There was so much to think about. Len quickly walked back down to the lockers, and peeked inside. It was noisy and foggy, and he could hear people talking. He'd have to be quick. Slipping inside, he shut the door as quietly as he good before manoeuvring past the rows of lowers towards the back. He made a sharp turn into the final lane, but he'd barely turned that corner when he went face first into someone. He'd been so unprepared for the jolt that he lost balance and fell to the ground. "Len?" Of course it was going to be him. Why would it have been anyone else? Len looked up at Shion-senpai who was now kneeling down, looking concerned. "Are you alright?"

"Y-Yeah," Len replied shakily, getting to his feet. He walked past Shion-senpai, grabbed his bag and tried to make an escape, but Shion-senpai was quicker, and blocked his escape path. It appeared several other guys had moved in to see what was going on. "C-Can you please move?"

"What's wrong? Why are you in a rush?"

"T-That's not any of your business."

"So you're going to leave here and not shower?" Shion-senpai looked confused, if not a little disgusted in the thought.

"I don't have time for this," Len hissed and tried to work his way around him. "Please move!"

"Not until you tell me what's going on!"

"It's not any of your damn business!" Len growled through a clenched jaw. Every muscle in his body had stiffened. His hands hurt from the tension in his body, and began to squeeze them together in order to relieve the pain. "Look," he said stiffly after a moment. "I don't mean to be rude or anything, but I have something very important to do, and I'm wasting time every minute I am here because I'm squaring off with you. Now, move out the way!"

He'd expected Shion-senpai to back down, but he didn't. Instead, Shion-senpai squared his shoulders and add further pressure to his body, becoming a hard shield. "Something bad has happened, hasn't it?!"

"Shion, I said move!"

"I won't move because something bad-"

"EVERY MINUTE I WASTE IS ANOTHER MINUTE RIN IS IN DANGER, SO FUCKING MOVE!" Unable to suppress the boiling rage in his gut, he attempted to push Shion-senpai out the way. Unfortunately, he'd barely moved an inch with Len's attempt.

"Why is she-?"

"DAMN IT SHION!"

"I'm not letting you walk into something dangerous!"

"THIS HAS NOTHING-"

"THIS HAS EVERY DAMN THING TO DO WITH ME!"

Len took a step back, surprised at Shion-senpai's outburst. All of a sudden, he felt as if he'd lost his nerve and nervously took another step back. The fact was, Shion-senpai was a lot bigger than him, and could squish him if he wanted to. "This doesn't have anything to do with you," Len said after a breathless minute. "Look, the situation can be resolved if I catch up to Rin."

"And where do you go from there?"

"Well…" Len bit his lip. He really didn't want to explain to Shion-senpai why they couldn't go home. He knew exactly what he would say. "I…"

"What happened?"

"I can't tell you what happened. It's none of your-"

"Say that one more time and I'll slap you."

Len's voice died and he felt speechless, breathless; if not a little dizzy. He'd never seen Shion-senpai so angry, so…

"What happened?"

So scared…Shion-senpai was scared. Len stared at him, just stared. Why the hell was he scared? It wasn't like he had a dangerous and probably drugged up and drunk mother at their house, waiting to ruin his life. He would go home and be safe, he would-

"Why is your mother at your place?"

Well shit. Len slapped a hand over his mouth only too late. Had he said that out loud? He took another step back. The dizziness was getting strong, and for a moment, everything had blurred. He was going to faint, any minute, he was going to faint.

"Len, why is-"

"NO!" Len yelled, turned around and raced into the crowd behind him, wiggling his way out and making for the door. Shion-senpai was faster and got there in time to prevent Len from leaving.

"Len!"

His vision was beginning to go black around the edges and he took several steps back. His body was trembling hard and his breathing hitched, coming out in loud huffs. He could feel sweat dripping down his neck, and making his skin crawl.

"Len!"

NO! RIN… RIN IS!

"LEN!"

His hands gripped his arms, tightening, tightening. Voices sounded blurred, and his vision darken. Head throbbing, legs shaking, weakening. Shion-senpai was stepping closer…everything else was out of focus, just Shion-senpai and the door he couldn't reach.

Then, everything got loud. So loud he couldn't shut them out, even after he clamped his hands over his ears, the voices wouldn't go. They were awful, saying horrible things. Rin screaming, crying. He had to get to Rin! Rin was in danger. Pain spread across his chest and suddenly… he couldn't breathe and the floor dipped. The last thing he could hear was his name being scream as the blackness finally stole his vision.

Someone was talking. It was distant. Wherever he was, he felt warm and safe. He tried to focus on the words, but he couldn't quite catch them.

"…akupo…outsi…safel…"

What did that mean?

"…Len…po…out…"

It didn't matter, he didn't understand. He'd just sleep… for… a… little…long…er…

A/N: ...uh oh...

P.S: I updated the summary to sound better.

P.S.S: Tomorrow's my Birthday, so as a treat, I updated ;) I hope you all enjoyed!