Dreams

Chapter 17: The Girl in Purple Dress

Rin squeezed her eyes tightly and covered her face with her own pillow, counting sheeps under her breath. What she disliked about Len's bed was the hard mattress. How could he even sleep on this long flat piece of stone? She growled as she put the pillow away and stared at the plain ceiling. She should have brought her whole bed along if she could. Sighing away, Rin got out of bed and dragged her feet out of the room.

She headed towards the dark living room and as usual, Len was sleeping on the couch. His sleeping posture was weird. Both his right hand and right leg were dangling at the side of the couch while his left hand and left leg were resting against the back rest of the couch. Despite that, his sleeping face looked so serene. Shaking her head in disbelief, she brought his loose hand and leg upwards and carefully tucked them back on the couch. Yet, he was not stirred.

Rin squatted and rested her head on her palms while her gaze was settled on the face of the sleeping man. Not only his face looked serene, it looked so innocent and adorable. A bubbly feeling mounted within her, making her feel like giving his cheek a pinch. For goodness sake, why did Len has to be so...?

A sudden loud snort came from Len startled Rin, causing her to freeze on the spot. Her widened eyes fixated at him as he shifted a little, then he turned to his right side which was facing Rin. That was not good. She crawled backwards and unknown to her, she accidentally hit her bottom against a small round table. She yelped softly and crawled forward again.

She desperately placed her hands on the free spaces of the couch and tried to stand up, of course, without waking Len up. As she supported herself up, her body leaned so close to his arm that it barely brushed against each other. She bit her lower lip with a blush. The feeling of touching him was overwhelming but she had to control herself. At the same time, she did not want to control herself...

This was definitely an awkward torture.

"Just a touch, Rin. You won't die from a light touch," she muttered softly to herself as she reached out to his arm and gave it a poke.

She blushed harder. Just a light touch could send her heart racing and make her wanting to give him another poke. She did again, but this time her fingers gently brushed against his skin, allowing herself to feel the warmth passing through the contact. How she wished she could just grabbed his arm and hold onto it till she was satisfied.

"You..."

Rin yelped again and withdrew her hand in an instant. She spun her head around and caught sight of a figure standing next to the small round table. It was Len's mother. Oh, the horror!

"It's not what you think it is, Ma'am!" Rin spluttered and stood up. "I was just... just..."

Upon seeing Rin went all speechless and terrified, she asked, "What are you doing here so late at night?"

"I was just... you know, he had a bad sleeping posture... and I thought..." Rin fidgeted with her fingers and looked down shyly. "It's that I... I went to fix him..."

"Huh?" Len's mother was clueless about her disconnected speech. "Then... why are you here?"

"That... I couldn't sleep!" Rin spluttered again and lowered her head even lower. "I'm sorry."

"Come here."

Rin looked up and stared at the motherly figure waving to her. She looked at Len who was surprisingly not awake by the small commotion caused by her, then back to his mother again. She walked towards her and was led into her bedroom.

"Come in," his mother said, and after the both of them stepped in, she closed the door behind them. "You can't sleep, you say?"

Rin nodded.

"Was that because of the audition tomorrow?"

Rin nodded again. The woman's eyes softened and she patted her back gently.

"Be calm, Dear. Just do your best and give everything you got tomorrow. By the way, have you decided what clothes you're going to wear?" she queried.

"No, not yet. I don't really have any pretty clothes which can appeal to the judges," Rin answered. "Should I wear something flashy? Or maybe something very appealing? If so, I have to ask my friends whether they have any of these."

"Flashy and appealing? I think that's not necessary."

Len's mother chuckled as she walked towards her wardrobe and took out a long piece of dark purple dress. The dress was sleeveless and had a small black flower brooch at the left chest area.

"You can wear this dress. I think it fits you quite well, considering the contrast of the purple dress and the colour of your hair, and it matches your eye colour very well." She placed the dress right in front of Rin and smiled. "Try it on."

Rin hesitated for awhile before she reached out for the purple dress. Not only was it pretty, the fabric was smooth and thin. Of course, it was not that thin which one could see whatever she wore beneath, but it would be nice and uncomfortable to wear. Overall, it was well-made.

"Th... Th... Thank you," Rin stammered and hugged the dress with a light blush. "I'll try it on."

As Rin rushed to the bathroom to put on the dress, Len's mother silently chuckled to herself before laying back down on her bed.

"She is so much like that mysterious girl whom Len used to talk a lot about..."

-:-:-:-

"Len! Look!"

Len combed his fringe upwards and turned around as the cold wind brushed against his skin. A girl in long purple dress was running towards him with her finger pointing at a tree. She wore an excited smile as she ran closer to him. Her dress fluttered, so was her medium-long hair. He looked at the tree quizzically. Was there anything so interesting about it? It was just a short fat tree! Maybe because it was fat which made it interesting to her.

He felt a tug on his sleeve and a voice broke the short silence, "Follow me!"

"W... wait! Why?" he stammered in confusion as he was being pulled by her.

She did not reply him, neither did she bother to. She stopped right in front of the tree and pointed upwards. "The birds... can you see them?"

Len looked up as told, only to see two small colourful birds sitting on one of the branches. He had seen this specie before but he was not sure about the name of these birds.

"What are they?" he asked the girl.

"I don't know," she replied with a shrug.

"Hmm..." Len sighed and turned around, beginning to walk away. "It's time to go home..."

"Len, aren't you going to catch them?"

"Are you crazy? It's impossible to catch them." Len flapped his arms, mimicking a bird flapping its wings. "They can fly!"

"But..."

"But what?"

She looked down with tears welling up in her eyes and muttered, "My mother said... if a boy and a girl see those birds in pairs, the boy and the girl will get along with each other. If they catch the birds, they will be together forever."

Len's face fell upon hearing that and he said, "You're in your cheesy mode again."

She blushed and retorted, "Well, what's wrong with being cheesy? I just thought that... if we catch the two birds, we can be together forever."

"Stupid," Len mumbled and looked away, trying to hide his faint blush. "We don't have to catch them just to be together forever. What counts is actually our hearts."

"Our hearts?"

"Yeah. If we truly want to be together forever, we will make it happen even without charms," Len answered as he lowered his head even more, desperately trying to hide his flushed face from her. "If you want to be..."

"Then, do you truly want to be with me?" she interrupted him.

He looked up, finding himself staring straight at her closed-up face. Since when did she moved closer to him? He continued to stare at her while she moved closer and closer until he could feel her hands move up his chest and her light gentle breath brushed against his chin. Closing his eyes, he felt her warm hands wrap around his neck and her hot breath on his lips. He instinctively leaned in and rested his lips on something soft and moist.

Then, he heard a soft moan, "Len..."

That voice...

It was not hers at all.

Who was it?

His eyes fluttered open and he saw a different person in front of him. He pushed the person away and saw a little girl in chains looking down on the grasses with tears welling up in her eyes. Her body was shaking in fear.

"Len," she called out to him softly in a shaky voice. "Don't leave me... Don't return to her side. Please..."

The girl in heavy chain leaned closer to him, as if she wanted to place her budding lips on his. He slowly backed away. This was wrong. He was not a pedophile!

"Len..."

He moved backwards without knowing that the whole garden scenery had changed.

"No, you're not her. You're not..." Before he could say anymore, his foot slipped and he felt his body become lighter than before.

No, he was not floating.

He had fell off the rocky cliff instead.

"Why, Len? Why did you break your promise?"

Len sprung out of the couch and looked around the living room frantically. Beads of perspiration rolled down his forehead as he panted heavily. The feeling of falling off the cliff felt so real in his dream that his whole body twitched and jerked in response. Was that what most people called it hypnic jerk?

"Len, you're awake. Good," his mother's gentle voice calmed him down for some reason. "It's time for breakfast."

Len wiped his perspiration in relief. It was finally morning and he did not have to sleep anymore. It was quite strange to think like this but he had been dreaming for the whole night. There were a few dreams, as far as he knew, but he could remember a little. Of course, the last dream he had before waking up was as clear as crystal. There was another dream before that dream. What was that again?

"Good morning!" Rin greeted him all of a sudden as she walked past the living room.

Right then, he had a somewhat strange feeling linking to the other dream which he was trying hard to remember. He frowned and thought hard. That feeling was so familiar, yet so distant.

"What happened, Len?" his mother asked worriedly upon seeing the stressed look on his face.

"No, it's nothing. It just..." He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed. "Why do I feel like I was being harassed in my sleep?"

Rin, who had already heard his soft mutters, gulped and immediately hid her flustered face behind her bread while Len's mother just smiled, pretending not to know anything.

"Well, son," she began. "It must be a dream."

Hi guys, thanks for reading up to Chapter 17.

Next, I would like to thank those who had reviewed Chapter 16. Thanks for all those encouragements. Hope to hear more from you again! :D

Here are the reviewers:

- XxKAGAMiNEMiRRORS002xX
- YellowFluffiesForever22
- DarkestThingInTheLight
- Gruesome Deaths
- seraphim. 159

Lastly, I would also like to thank those who had story alerted and favourited this story.

Preview of the next chapter:

Chapter 18: When Things Changes

"About Kagamine..." he added softly, still looking down on the wooden table. "I mean the female Kagamine."

Len gulped. What was he afraid of? It was not like he did anything bad to Rin. But why did he feel like avoiding this topic? He bit his lower lip hard and convinced himself that there was nothing to be afraid of. He had to face it, even though he knew he definitely did nothing.

"I like her." Kaito pressed his palm on his right eye as he continued to look down, avoiding Len's gaze. "And... recently... I don't know why I have this feeling... that..."

Kaito paused again and clicked his tongue. There was another silence between them. The waitress returned with their orders and after sensing the cold air around them, she hurriedly ran back into the kitchen.

"Len," Kaito spoke again, but this time he sounded serious. "What is your relationship with Rin Kagamine?"

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