Ugh I'm so sorry for not updating in goodness-knnows-how-long... Blame holidays and backlog of artwork for GCSEs I had to do. And computer games. I got a bit carried away with them... So here. Have a nice long chapter...

It's late... forgive me if there are any mistakes or anything. As always, I'm welcome to comments and reminders on inconsistencies!

So updates will be slow slow slow from now on because I have school and GCSEs this yearrrrr... Ack. But enjoy this chapter. Hopefully...

Vocaloid (c) Yamaha

Hatred

The day had passed ever so slowly. Len had not been able to sit still for five minutes straight at a time and even so, his foot continued to furiously tap at the ground as his mind raced. On the other hand, Miku was happily munching away on biscuits and cake, oblivious to the weight of the events that were to unfold that night.

"So… you think… the plan's gonna… work?" asked the girl in between mouthfuls of a cookie.

With a shrug, the blond answered, "Most likely so, since I was the one who planned it after all. Of course, things can still go wrong."

"Hey, hey, can I come too?"

Len hesitated. Usually, his reply would have been an immediate 'no', but something in his mind told him that this could be an exception. He quickly thought up of an excuse for himself to let the annoying girl join him that night.

"Hmph…" began Len, trying to sound the same as always and not as if he'd let some softer side of him take over, "This is your mess to begin with, so I guess you're the one who should fix it. Naturally, fixing it yourself would be impossible so I suppose you can only help since I was the one who came up with an almost-flawless plan."

Miku had stopped listening after getting permission to tag along and so the rest of the cleverly-hidden insult didn't reach her… although either way, it probably wouldn't have reached her anyway. Nothing much could burst that girl's bubble. She laughed and cheered, "Yay! Feels so cool to be part of a rescue mission!"

The boy could barely believe himself. What had made him allow that girl to join in? Why did he feel as if he didn't hate the girl anymore? Not that he liked her – no that would be disgusting – but he just felt as if… as if she had done something for him and he was in her debt. He hated being in people's debts. It was so bad it was on the same level as being called a dog. It meant that if people wanted something, they could always bring that back up and people always helped you only for their own selfish reasons. Even so… then why did this girl help such a hated being like himself?

Shaking his head, Len refused to think any more of it. It was just getting too confusing and for some reason, his chest ached from it all. No, it was his heart that was aching, and it was aching so much… so badly. Why? Not knowing why only irritated the blond even more.

...

Night fell and covered the world in its inescapable darkness. The Organisation headquarters loomed silent and imposing in the black world. Inside, four people were currently in the head of the Organisation's office: Gumi, Gakupo, Rin and the head himself, Shion. They had been in there since the night before and things were getting boring. Very soon, the green-haired girl would run out of patience and who knew what she would do then?

In some other part of the building on the ground floor, were two more people: Len and Miku, who had happily tagged along. The boy moved quickly, slinking like an alley cat within the shadows. Impatiently, and all too often, he would have to snap at the girl to 'hurry up!' or 'be quiet!' as she enthusiastically followed behind.

They had a system going – Len would silently go on ahead to knock out any guards then beckon for the girl to follow. He had already taken out all the ones in the surveillance room and had disabled the CCTV system to be safe, all without being caught. Of course, he didn't exactly enjoy the job but he didn't find it boring either. To be perfectly honest, this all had a sense of thrill to it and the blond wasn't entirely sure he'd be able to hold back his excitement if things got out of hand. He had been trained to kill and, if worst came to worst, kill he would.

Before long, the duo reached their destination. They hovered outside the door to Shion's office for a while, waiting with baited breath to listen for some sort of movement inside but it was deadly silent.

Heart pounding, Miku fiddled with her thumbs. Deep down, she was scared – just a tiny bit – but she refused to let that show. Otherwise, she'd end up getting mocked by the stupid blond again. On the other side of the door, Len was standing with his back against the wall, blue eyes fiercely cold. They focused intensely at the door, almost as if to see through it.

Without further ado, he expertly kicked the door open. Miku could only gawk – these things only ever happened in movies but now here it was happening, right before her very eyes. She grinned deviously and joined Len in the now-empty doorframe, expecting some form of exciting scene with rope-bound hostages or beaten and battered people, but what was laid out in front of her in that brightly-lit room caused her to rethink whether this was really like an action movie at all.

"The fuck is going on?" Len had stolen the words right out of her mouth.

With a quick sidelong glance, the turquoise-haired girl saw an expression of distaste – almost close to pure hatred – emerge in the boy's features.

"Ah, Le~n!" whined the Master Shion, inky-blue eyes on the verge of tears, "You have no idea what these people have put me through! I've been bored –"

"Shut up you worthless man," snapped Gumi.

In that room with the lights on, Shion sat on a sofa beside Rin on one side of a rectangular glass coffee table. Opposite them on another sofa (which had been moved in from another room, Len easily noticed) sat Gumi and Gakupo. But what made the situation even more ridiculous was the assortment of cakes and drinks and ice creams laid out on the table as if this was some casual picnic or party.

Shion turned his attention to Miku, who was blinking as if in a dream.

"I can't believe you brought her along too, little Len… Ugh, the girl who made friends with the enemy."

Beside him, Rin raised an eyebrow, "Says you."

Miku was puzzled. This wasn't what she had imagined. Judging by Len's face, this wasn't what he was expecting either. Apart from confusion there was something else in those ice-blue eyes: pain. For some reason unbeknownst to the girl, Len was hurting on the inside. She may appear to be stupid, but she was good at observing people. However, she was unable to read people's thoughts. As her mind strayed from her original aim and began thinking about how cool it would be to have telekinetic powers, Len stayed as angry-looking and pained as before.

Shion and Rin began an argument with each other and Gumi glared at the two. As usual, Gakupo appeared to be calmly asleep.

Suddenly, Len shouted above them all, "Will somebody tell me what the fuck is going on here?"

With swift reflexes, Gakupo stood up and drew his katana in case anything happened. His deep purple eyes fixed upon the blond boy, steely and determined, ready to react at the slightest hint of danger.

"Basically," began the Master Shion, briefly closing his eyes and frowning, "I was having a tiring day at work without my dear Len again –"

"Cut to the chase," interrupted Gumi. She carried on from where the man left off, "So being the dense person he is –"

"Hey! I'm not dense!" whined the man like a child. With a pout, he continued in a blubbering mess, "So stuff happened and blah blah… in the end, the most important thing which happened was that she," he nodded in Gumi's direction, "Threatened me to hand over my secret stash of limited edition ice cream, or else she'd wipe ice cream off the face of the planet."

"So we had lots of ice cream," shrugged Rin.

Miku tilted her head to the side like a curious dog. With a smile, she said, "And cake, I can see. Ooh, can I have some cake too?"

As she helped herself to some black forest gateaux, Gakupo lowered his weapon and the shadow of a smile flickered in his eyes for an instant. The mood in that room at that moment was strangely calm and almost happy. Everybody seemed to have forgotten what the situation was supposed to be, and even Gumi managed to crack a grin at Miku's attempt to wolf down a slice of cake in a matter of seconds. Rin simply laughed and Shion watched on like a parent.

Speechless, Len just stared, his expression unreadable and his feelings unknown to the rest of the group. He glanced away with a forlorn look in his eyes. He didn't quite know why, but he felt left out… isolated even. There were a handful of seconds where he gazed longingly at the group of people in that room. He was supposed to be angry – he had done so much and this was what had been waiting for him after so much hard work, stressing and preparation. Hoping nobody had noticed his softening features, he quickly recomposed his façade and returned to a steady, cold glare with his blue eyes. Nonetheless, his feelings remained unchanged on the inside.

Alternatively, Rin had seized the chance that this friendly atmosphere could have been the ticket to getting out of this mess unharmed. Hesitantly, she began trying to negotiate her way out.

"S-so since everybody's here, perhaps we could… you know… let this whole issue go? I mean, why don't we all just… have some cake and ice cream and let that be the end of that?"

Seeing Gumi's sharp stare, Rin immediately realised that she had made the wrong decision and that her diplomatic skills weren't as good as she'd hoped. The green-haired girl suddenly flared up and sneered, "Are you stupid, Blondie? He –"

Miku butted in with a laugh, "Haha, I call Len that too!"

That appeared to be the cue for Shion to give his opinion, "Well, I call Len cute and s–"

"What the heck?" yelled Gumi, "I'm the one talking here!"

She was possibly about to continue ranting when Len glared daggers at her. Such intense killer intent shut her up quite quickly. Trying not to show her fear, Gumi lifted her chin up defiantly.

Once again, Rin seized the chance in the gap of silence which had surfaced. She spoke hurriedly but was cut off by Gumi once more, "Look, Len, about before –"

"Nobody freaking cares about that anymore!"

"I do! And I have to apologise and clear things up with Len –"

"He killed all my sisters!" shrieked Gumi as the argument reached its climax.

Silence descended yet again. The air tensed as the two warring girls glowered at each other. Casually, Shion took a sip from his cup of coffee and did his best not to make eye contact with any others; Gakupo sat back down with his weapon sheathed, but kept a wary eye on the events which were unfolding.

What broke the silence wasn't another shout or a gunshot, no, nothing of that sort. What broke the silence next was laughter, cold and scornful.

Smirking, Len stepped fully into the room, sweeping his gaze across the audience staring at him, concentrating on nobody in particular. He found it amusing as they all gawked blankly at him as he happily stood under a glaring spotlight, taking centre stage. Raising his eyebrows, he commented, "I remember that."

All of a sudden, he began to laugh, clutching his stomach as if he had been told some funny, everyday joke. When he finally stopped, he wiped a tear from his eye, grinning all the time.

Gumi had had enough and couldn't take it anymore, "Stop laughing, you sick bastard! What's so funny? Do you have any idea how much that… that…"

Concerned, Gakupo gently placed his hand on his sister's shaking shoulder. He only ever had eyes for his dear sister. Even now, as it was all the more likely that Len would attack, Gakupo kept his weapon sheathed, his priority to calm and reassure his sister.

With another laugh, Len sauntered over to the other side of the room and perched on the desk as he would on a windowsill. There he sat, swinging his legs like a toddler, smiling a scarily innocent smile. After humming to himself for a bit and ignoring everyone, he reached for a piece of paper and started folding it into an aeroplane.

Watching him, Rin ventured, "L-Len would never… they… they must have been orders or something…"

She glanced at Shion for some sort of confirmation from him, but got nothing. On the other hand, Len laughed again and he flew the paper aeroplane back to the doorframe. Running a hand through his shock of blond hair, he smirked and sighed, replying, "Nope. Haha, I remember that time quite clearly and I'm quite sure that I acted on my own."

He looked up and surveyed the five faces gawking at him, each with their own unique display of emotion. The one he like the most… without a doubt, he liked that green-haired bitch's the most: that mask of pure hatred, those passionately glowering eyes, overflowing with the urge to see him dead. Yes, that was the expression he had seen so often, always directed at him; people that wished to see him gone, dead, hurt… all of them wore that face. Even those distrustful adults back at the orphanage and those other kids who continuously picked on him: they all wore that face. Len had come to both love and hate that face: he loved it because it meant they paid attention to him – they proved his existence; he hated that face because it had always caused him grief and suffering.

But at this moment in time, he loved it.

After making sure he had everyone's attention, he grinned and began his little monologue, "Hmm… let's think why I decided to do that at that time…"

As he continued, he gave his reasons, counting them out on his fingers.

"One: I was bored.

"Two: they were in the way.

"Three… Well, it was a game, wasn't it?"

"A game?" screeched Gumi, face red with anger, "What sort of demented teenager thinks killing innocents is a game?"

"Mmm… good question," Len replied calmly, purposely winding up the girl even more. "Apart from the fact that was five years ago. And I'm fourteen now. Do the maths."

The blond smirked and shrugged. Seeing the girl was too angry to counter back, he carried on in a frustratingly matter-of-fact manner, "Besides, we're going to play the same game now, aren't we? I can tell. Just because you can't get over what you did yourself those five years ago. To be frank, it was your own fault. I don't see why you're trying to pin the blame on me."

Shaking her head, Gumi hesitantly tried to deny whatever it was, "N-no… Never. It… it wasn't…"

At that point Gakupo spoke up and backed her up. "Silence boy. My sister does not wish to remember."

"Pfft," Len sneered again and hopped down from the table. "I even let you have more than what you bargained for. Now hurry up and tell me the rules. I'm getting bored."

Gumi stepped up to the challenge and confronted the blond. He may have been shorter, but his presence was no less imposing. "Three groups as before. Only one group lives."

"Hmph. I couldn't care less. Two groups, three groups, the answer will be the same."

"Group one will be you. Group two will be your pathetic Master. Group three will be that blue girl –"

"Turquoise," corrected Miku as politely as possible. She still earned a scary look from Gumi.

"Whatever… the blue girl and your twin sister. Choose who gets to live."

"Me, of course," answered the boy straight away.

Rin was shocked at his immediate response. Did he not even have to think about it? Not even a single second to consider? She stole a glance at the master. If he was surprised, he certainly didn't show it. Unfortunately, the news hadn't seemed to have sunk in for Miku yet.

"Well then," sighed Gumi, "Let's change this slightly. Two groups get to live. Choose who dies."

"Can that be you?" Len grumbled.

Naturally, Gumi had planned all this out from the start. She knew, to an extent, how the bastard boy thought. She understood how his mind worked. This was how:

He would never consider letting himself die, so that option was out of the question already. His second thought would be that we wanted to carry on living with his Master Shion. That man meant a lot to the boy, Gumi knew, since he had been there since the boy was no older than five. She had checked up on the boy's background and found that he had been sent to the orphanage at around the young age of three and had spent time there until the day the orders to eradicate the whole orphanage came. Len was about five. His previous memory had pretty much been perfectly wiped, meaning Shion was the closest thing to a caring family member that Len had ever had.

Consequently, that meant Shion would probably stay. But then there was his twin sister. The blue girl was only part of the package since she was here. But that was something Len had accounted in his thoughts that Gumi didn't know about. As of late, Len had realised that he was quite in Miku's debt. She had helped him and pulled his spirits up when he was on the verge of intentionally hurting himself again. And then, of course, there was Rin, who had taught him how to love. She had taught him what it was like to care for a real sister and what a normal life was like. Without her, things would have gone very differently indeed.

And so Len was actually having to think. It was easier to just do away with all of them. That way he didn't have to feel guilty about saving a family member but not the man who gave him a chance at life; that way he wouldn't have to feel guilty about saving a man who meant so much to him, but not saving the girl who was kind and blood-related.

Biting the inside of his lip as he struggled in his dilemma, Len averted his gaze and avoided Gumi's triumphant, penetrating stare. What was he meant to do? Who was he meant to save? Who did he love more: the person who taught him how to love, or the person who told him not to have feelings? If he didn't know how to love, he wouldn't have been emotionally hurt like this in the first place. If he didn't have feelings, he would have stained his hands with blood so many more countless times. He just wanted a normal life with a bit of thrill, like any average teenage boy. Why did things have to be so damn difficult?

Len felt as if he was on the brink of madness. He felt torn and scared and so many confused emotions all at the same time. Just then, he recalled his sister's brief and abrupt phone call to him. He reminded himself of those harsh and uncaring words she had said to him.

"Blond bastard, I'll give you ten more seconds."

Based on those facts, Len made up his mind.