Hello again. I'm alive, which is a good start. Sorry for the lack of activity on this site - I've had exams and writer's blocks and whatnots.

So yay, a new chapter! Unfortunately, it's insanely long, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. The writing style probably changes countless times throughout since I wrote it on a number of different days. I know I've not explained every little detail in this chapter - I hope to do so in a mini special chapter. And in case you don't guess (because of my pathetic and varying literary skill) the italic bits are flashbacks.

Introduction finished. Over and out.

Enjoy!

Vocaloid (c) Yamaha etc.

Past

"I hate that guy. Who does he think he is? Even now…"

Gakupo listened in silence to Gumi's complaints. The green-haired girl sighed. Won't he ever talk again? But more than that, she missed his smiling face and that youthful purple fire in his eyes. It had been extinguished long ago, back when they were mere children who knew nothing of the harshness of reality. And whose fault was it that Gakupo should lose his cheerfulness forever? Of course, it was that blond bastard's fault – he was the one who destroyed everything.

"I'm glad we've broken him, though," she whispered, staring up into the night sky. In front of them was the tall building which served as the headquarters for the Organisation. Their plan was almost complete. All that remained after completing it was to catch the prey using the bait. Luckily, they knew all the ins and outs of this building and took careful note of the security and traps. It was easy once you knew how.

Gumi turned around to watch Gakupo pull up beside her, Rin hauled over his shoulder, although he took care not to hurt the girl too much. Honestly, he was still so kind to people. Gumi knew that she for one would not have been so kind and caring towards others. The only person who mattered to her now was Gakupo.

With a sour expression, Gumi poked Rin on the cheek. "Hey, what do you see in that dumbass anyway? What makes you like him so much?"

"What makes you hate him so much?" the blonde retaliated calmly. Rin tried to sound as unperturbed as possible. She had already decided that these people (that Miku had accidentally befriended) wouldn't let her go until they had done what they wanted with her. And that was the scary part – what did they want?

"Why do I hate him?" repeated the older girl in a scathing voice. "I hate him because of everything he put us through! I hate him because he's a selfish, obnoxious, thieving imbecile! He deserves nothing better than death!"

At that point, Gakupo placed his free hand gently on Gumi's shaking shoulder, instantly comforting the furious girl. He had always been able to soothe her in that way, even when they were little. He was able to reason with anyone and everyone, tactfully and easily, and he always had this certain air of… likeableness about him.

But that was when they were little… all those years ago. It seemed as if centuries had passed since then. Times were different now. And so was Gakupo…

...

"Big sister! Big sister! Come over here! Look what we've found!"

With a sigh, Gumi made her way over to where her younger sisters were standing in a small circle. She stood over them all and saw the fluffy white rabbit shaking in the middle of the circle of feet. Picking up the poor thing, the green-haired 'big sister' walked back over to their old-fashioned, Japanese-styled house, her sisters following behind in a long train consisting of five younger girls, all with the same shade of bright green hair.

"Big sister, is it gonna be okay?"

"Is it hurt?"

"Shall we tell Mummy and Daddy?"

"It's really cute!"

"Is it going to die?"

Although such questions at rapid-fire would have driven any right-minded sister insane, Gumi was all too much used to it and simply smiled. "Don't worry, Mr. Rabbit will be fine. Big brother will help it to get better, so don't worry, okay?"

The five young girls, not one of them half the height of their big sister, gave a small cheer and one of them clapped gleefully, relieved that the small little bunny rabbit that they had found would be alright. Big brother was very good with animals, especially the smaller animals, and he was always so kind and gentle towards them when healing their wounds.

They found him out in the back yard with a wooden katana, panting as he faced off a man about twice his age and many more times his height. The girls stood patiently on the walkway, in awe at the ongoing battle. The young boy's waist-length purple hair was tied back and flowed like a river as he moved, dodging and parrying blows from the older, sterner-looking man.

Grinning with amusement at the spectacle, the girls waited with baited breath for the outcome of the round, although it was obvious who the victor would be. Things like this were decided form the moment they began; the moment the old, supposedly-experienced man had had Gakupo chosen as his opponent, his fate had been decided. And according to Fate, he would lose. And lose he did.

The man had tried to block the boy's onslaught by holding his own wooden katana horizontally above his head as the boy delivered his strike. But what happened following the ear-splitting CRACK of splintering wood almost scared the old man to death. He dropped the two halves of his wooden toy sword and barely dared to breathe as he stood immobilised, the younger boy's katana barely a millimetre from his face. If this had been a real fight or had they been wielding real weapons, chances were, the man would have been dead.

Gakupo closed his eyes briefly and exhaled. Upon opening his eyes again, he lowered his weapon carefully, and held it by his waist. Then, following tradition, he bowed respectfully to his opponent, who was still shaking with the shock of it all. The young boy happened to glance in the direction where the girls were standing and smiled his timid little smile as Gumi waved. His deep purple eyes sparkled with life and elation. Any other time, he would have run straight over to where his adopted sisters stood, but he was still training today and could not leave until the master, his foster father, would allow it.

Gumi remembered the day her father had brought Gakupo home. Back then, he was a rough youth with a hard background, disowned by his own parents for reasons he had never mentioned. Gumi's parents had had many children, but they were all girls. Coming from a traditional samurai lineage, her father had dictated that he would have to have a male heir to which he would pass on the family heirloom and tradition.

At first, the choice to choose a coarse orphan was a strange decision, but it turned out that the boy was a genius, having a one-of-a-kind talent and ability to control a sword. He was perhaps the most skilled in the world in wielding one sword and was not incompetent at manipulating two either. This was a natural talent that he had and a natural talent which had been honed by the expertise of Gumi's father and sharpened and improved until it became the most dangerous thing any swordsman would ever face.

Gakupo himself enjoyed his training and worked extremely hard all the time, never giving up and never submitting to defeat. His uncouthness had long gone and had been replaced by such a level of politeness and gentility that even the finest and most highborn of gentlemen were not able to match it.

And so it was that Gakupo came to join their big family, the only member to not have green hair. Although this drew a lot of questions and insults towards the poor boy, he always answered calmly and tactfully, in a way so that he easily got his point across without objection and the other would not be offended. Such manners had been taught to him mainly by Gumi's mother, a kind and caring woman. The young boy was treated as a big brother amongst the girls. He was two years older than Gumi, but acted a lot more mature for his age than most boys did.

Later on in the day, when his training had finished, Gakupo sought out his sisters. They showed him the injured rabbit with worried faces, but he assured them that it would be fine. He ushered the younger ones out of the room, leaving himself alone with Gumi. Together, they talked about trivial things whilst she helped him with cleaning the bunny's wounds and bandaging it up again. Animals loved the boy, at least, more so than they loved her. Either way, Gumi didn't mind.

As she watched Gakupo neatly tie up the bandage, she noticed that glimmer of happiness in his deep purple eyes. They had been there from the day she had first talked to him. Always, always, he had such a happy, calm and gentle expression. His smile was shy and modest and his personality was warm and loving. No wonder all the girls came to watch him whenever he participated in the local festivities and sword events. And even more came to watch his elegant sword-dancing performances. They didn't come for the other participants – they came for him.

Well, at least that meant he was popular. With a stretch, Gumi stood up and followed Gakupo as they took the little rabbit back outside to show the younger ones. For the next few days, they took care of the animal and helped it to recover. When the time came for it to be released back into the wild, they held a mini goodbye ceremony in which the younger sisters actually cried as they bid farewell to the fluffy white rabbit.

...

"I don't care about rabbits!" yelled Rin.

"Well you should care, girly, 'cos Gakupo's real nice to them," shot back Gumi as if that were a valid argument. The man in question appeared to be taking a quick nap on a sofa.

Inside the headquarters, it was pitch-black, and as the three sat down in wait for a certain someone, Rin was getting awfully restless. Where was Len? Surely he couldn't have just left her? He did sound quite… cold before. Perhaps he just needed some time off, alone. But what if… what if he didn't come back? After all, there's a limit to how much a human being could be hurt. And he was a human being with feelings, just like the rest of them.

Still! He didn't even listen. If he was hurt because of what he heard over the phone, then there was some explaining to do. Rin had seen how much pain he held in those blue eyes of his and she pitied him. She didn't want him to hate her. What if he did? What if there was no going back?

But it wasn't even my fault! Rin scowled at the floor. It hadn't been her talking on the phone – it was the green-haired bitch. She'd used some voice-changing device and the memory on Rin's phone in order to replicate Rin's voice. Admittedly, that was quite clever, but now, because of her everything was falling apart again. Len had to understand that those insults were nothing but lies! All that time, Rin had been crying, tied up on a chair, close to giving up on life. But now, her nerves were steeled.

Perhaps it was slightly her fault. After all, Rin was in a mood with her brother and did tell Miku to pass on her vaguely insulting message. But that was a joke. He would have known it was a joke… right?

"Listen when people are talking!" Gumi shouted sharply, poking Rin on the cheek. "Did you hear a word of what I just said?"

"N-no. Sorry," stammered the blonde. She had been too busy thinking about Len. How was he now? Was he okay?

"I said that I'm telling you the rest of the story. So listen. And then you'll understand why I hate your impudent twin so much."

...

Crying. Shouting. Fighting. Why couldn't it all just stop?

Gumi held on to her youngest sister as the girl cried her eyes out. The rest of them were hiding behind her, clinging tightly onto her clothes. They were all crying, some harder than others, but Gumi tried her best to keep those tears from falling. She was scared – more scared than the rest of her siblings – but she had to keep her composure for everyone's sake.

"The answer is no." Her father was talking to some strange men. They had just barged into their house, wrecking everything, shattering the ceramic pots and upturning furniture and slashing tapestries. They were all wearing suits and were dark-haired, armed with handguns. As intimidating as they were, Gumi's father managed to keep a calm outer façade, not showing the slightest hint of fear. Courage is the mastery of fear, and Father had an awful lot of courage.

Minutes passed and the argument got more heated, turning into a debate then a war with words. One of the strange men threatened to shoot. Still, the answer was a firm 'no'. But no what?

Just that moment, a door slid open and Gakupo stepped into the room with wide eyes and an expression of shock. "Father… what's going on?"

The suited men turned around and grinned slyly. Before they had the chance to take action, Gumi's father barked an order that was not to be ignored. That one word made all the difference… at least, in the short term.

"Run!"

...

Looking back, perhaps it was a stupid thing to have done. After all, it didn't really make that much of a difference in the long term. What would have happened if they hadn't ran at that moment in time? Would they have escaped? Maybe things would have turned out better? If they hadn't run away, maybe… just maybe two less lives would have been lost.

Gumi shook her head and mocked herself with a scornful laugh. Now wasn't the time to think about the past. There wasn't anything that could be done now to change it anyway. Back then they had just been two young children, naïve and scared, listening obediently to a father's commands. Even so…

"So what were the men all about?" butted in Rin quite indelicately.

"Can't you see I'm having a moment of reminiscence here?" shouted Gumi. Suddenly, her vision blurred. Her heart felt heavy with grief. Finally, the tears fell, tears which had been held back for years and years. Angrily, she wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and gave a defiant sniff. Seeing this, Gakupo silently moved over and embraced his sister. He didn't say anything, but those warm purple eyes were all that Gumi needed to be comforted once more. They were so expressive sometimes… like now. Those eyes pitied her somewhat and seemed to say: "It's not your fault".

"Of course it's my fault, you idiot!" wept Gumi bitterly. If only she hadn't taken his hand and ran back then. If only they had stayed. Then perhaps Mother and Father wouldn't have had to die.

"It was my fault." For the first time in a long time, Gakupo had said something, although he only spoke loud enough for his dear sister to hear. His hands were shaking as he hugged her tighter. he carried on quietly in a wavering voice, "If I hadn't run back then… if I had stood and fought… or just given in… then nobody would have died because of my rashness and cowardice."

Awkwardly, Rin sat beside them, not too sure what to do. Was she meant to stay quiet? Instead, she took to looking round the room at all the dark shapes and shadows. The seconds ticked by, kept perfectly in time by an office clock on the wall. Twiddling her thumbs, Rin stole a glace to her left and saw her captors sitting beside each other on the sofa. Hesitantly, she said, "Um… so you were saying…"

Gumi turned to face the blonde and blinked. "Oh, yeah." Something felt different. For now, it felt as if she were telling a story to her younger sisters. Strange. Why couldn't she hate this stupid girl? Only a few moments ago… why had things suddenly changed?

"The men…?" prompted Rin, curious to hear the rest of the tale.

"Scrap the men. I was gonna tell you why I hate that brother of yours."

"Did he lie to you?" whispered Rin. After all, that's why she was angry with him in the first place. If she hadn't been so angry, then she wouldn't have wanted to go off with Gumi and Gakupo for some shopping trip and then she might not have ended up in this mess. She bit her lip and furrowed her brow. There was no use regretting anything now. If he had lied, he had lied; if she had got into trouble, she had got into trouble… and a big mess.

"Did he lie to me? What sort of a suggestion is that?" Gumi laughed scornfully. "Why would I care if he'd lied? No. He did worse than that. He betrayed us. Then we had to carry the blame for failure. When we were ambushed, he decided to save his own worthless life and leave us. When we were blamed for this and that, he stood out of sight and didn't give a shit about us, even though we'd saved his skin twice before. And then… afterwards…"

"Five years ago," said Gakupo emotionlessly. His speaking surprised Gumi and even more so when he continued: "Five years ago, he murdered five innocent bystanders. He shot them down, one by one, oldest to youngest. Such a cruel action, especially since the poor five girls were simply at the wrong place at the wrong time. They did nothing to deserve such a terrible fate. And yet, he was kind enough to end each one's life in a painless, instant way. One could argue that both sides balance each other out, but Gumi and I will never forgive him for such an act. There was no reason to kill our guiltless sisters."

"Wh-what are you talking about?" stammered Rin, struggling for words.

"We're saying that he killed our sisters!" yelled Gumi impatiently. "Honestly, there's a limit to how dense you can be, you know."

"Len would never do such a thing!" insisted the blonde, defending her brother. "He's kind and caring and he wouldn't ever just go and shoot innocents for no reason! You must have made a mistake. Surely –"

"What would you know?" countered Gumi. "The person he was is different to the person he is now. In some ways, he hasn't even changed a bit. For example, he's still as bratty and cold as he always was. You think he's being kind because he wants to be? He's only putting on a show for your sake. Tell me, how can you trust him? How often has he lied to you? Or rather, how often has he told you the truth?"

Following this, Rin was rendered speechless. It was stupid. Why didn't she have anything to fight back with? Maybe it was because everything Gumi had said was true. Stubbornly, Rin shook her head. No! She refused to take that for an answer.

Suddenly, the door opened. At the same instant, Gakupo unsheathed his katana and stationed himself by the entrance. An unwary man with inky-blue hair strolled in and only paused after taking a couple of steps. He frowned as he saw the visitors in his office. The point of the katana was aimed at the middle of his spine.

"Long time no see, Master Shion," grumbled Gumi, her green eyes frosty.

"Nice to see you too… you two…" came the answer. The Master laughed to himself, pleased with his little joke. Rin stared unbelievingly at this man. Was this person the head of the Organisation? He looked like such an… airhead. "So what are you guys doing in my office at this unruly time of night?"

"Playing a game of chess with your pet dog."

"Eh? I have a dog?" the man stared at Gumi with an expression of genuine confusion.

Rin sighed. Was this man really the head of a top-secret, treacherous organisation? As Gumi had said to her not too long ago, there was a limit to how dense a person could be.

"Oh! I see!" said the Master with a self-satisfied grin. "You mean Len, don't you?"

"Yeah, although we've broken him, so chances are, he'll give up and admit defeat. Or perhaps he won't even care anymore. A broken dog is better off dead."

Master Shion shrugged and sat himself down onto the sofa beside Rin, loosening his tie. With a smirk, he spoke in a soft yet dangerous voice, "Well, let me tell you a little secret. You think you have me now? Well, maybe you have. But you guys have only managed to call check. The person to call the final checkmate will, of course, be my cute little Len."