PFfft to "Oh dear" reviewer on chapter 20; /I like the way you think./ Maybe I will end up doing an alternative ending to this story. I feel committed to ending this story in the way I have imagined, but there's nothing saying I can't go back and write it to finish up in a different way, as well. They do it in movies. Almost all of my fics do not have plot before I write them, but this is one case where an exception exists; I know where I'm going to, this time.
I am encouraged that you liked the cuteness of the last scene! I'm not accustomed to writing fluffy lemon, it goes a little against my grain and leaves a weird, slightly unpleasant taste in my mouth. But I kind of felt like I owed it to Kaito to have a non-NCS scene once in a while. And I was kind of mean to him earlier on, you know.
My bgm for this chapter is Bryan Adam's "(Everything I Do) I Do It For You."
I'm stocked back up on beer and there is plot, let's get this puppy done.
...
"She shouldn't have gone back," Mikuo said in a low voice. Taito lifted his head and turned it to listen to his friend. It was another day of going from store to store, standing on street corners to hand out flyers, knocking on strangers' doors. Another day wasted, another fruitless search. "Going back for a picture, how stupid can you get? Like a picture is worth losing someone over? Why does Rin have to be so stubborn?"
"Sounds like she's just like you," Taito offered. "An idiot, and stubborn. I'd like to meet her." Taito gave a small, quirky half smile at his own words.
Mikuo snapped back, "Well, /you're/ just like-" He stopped, not able to figure out the end part of his reply, so he just scowled and let the words drop off. Taito was quiet for a moment.
"Like Kaito?" Taito asked into the silence.
"What?" Mikuo looked back at his friend in surprise. "No. What, why? How are the two of you anything alike?"
"Seriously?" Taito had to ask. "If you put a purple wig on him, the guy could pass for me easily. He could replace me in our Master's home and nobody would even notice. Except for the hands thing, of course."
Mikuo looked at Taito oddly, and the dark-purple haired Vocaloid male looked blankly back at him.
"That's... just stupid. You're Taito. Nobody can replace you." Mikuo said after a moment, then shook his head in frustration. Mikuo didn't catch Taito's pupils enlargening slightly at that, and the dark-purple haired Vocaloid didn't give any indication of the change in facial expression to help him out, either.
"It's been over four days," Mikuo was looking down at his hands, the flyers with Rin's picture on them crumpling as he clenched his fists in angry helplessness. Taito looked at the teal-haired male's face expressionlessly. It was no wonder Mikuo was upset; at this point, the likelihood of Rin's still being alive was growing more and more slim.
Taito watched his friend carefully, but the male Vocaloid didn't say anything more. "Do you wanna try K Street next?" Taito asked in his light voice after a moment.
"No, I don't want to try K Street!" Mikuo suddenly raised his voice, attracting the attention of nearby pedestrians as he flung the flyers out in a flurry of paper before him, holding his arms out wide in front of him as he continued to yell. "I don't want to try the market, the police station, K Street, any street! I just want my damn friend back!"
"Then don't throw your flyers all over the street like a dumbass," Taito said in the same light tone.
"I don't know what else I'm supposed to do," Mikuo quieted down, his face making a pained expression, his teeth clenching. "This is so fucked up. Every minute I waste out here on the street, all I can think of is, is she still alive? Is she still even alive?
"I don't even care if her Master hurt her. I don't care, I... just... want her back. I... I never visited her as much as I should have. Why didn't I spend time with her more? Why didn't I... why didn't I ever tell her that I liked her? I just... if I see her, if I talk to her again, I won't ever, ever be afraid to say it to her, again. I won't worry about anything, I won't ask for anything. I just want her back, Taito."
Mikuo felt tears raising up hot in his eyes and angrily tried to push the shameful feeling away, but it wasn't any good. He bowed his head and tried to hide his face with his hair as tears rose up despite his best efforts, to roll silently down his cheeks.
Taito watched, his face a mask of pure, unexpressionless stone. It was actually surprising that it had taken Mikuo this long to crack under the weight of his anxiety for Rin.
There was an instant shimmer of light in the air, and suddenly there was a tiny, tiny damp place on the ground under Mikuo's bowed face. The teal-haired male turned away from Taito, not wanting to be observed in that moment.
"Let's just... try the corner shop, one more time." Mikuo's voice was thick and quiet, he didn't lift his head though. Taito saw the teal-haired male's hand reach up to touch against his face, wiping away the moisture there angrily.
Taito's eyes narrowed. "...Yeah. It can't hurt."
...
The house was utterly silent. The darkness of the night was complete; there wasn't even the light of a crescent moon to betray him as Taito silently walked out of the house, the car keys in his hands.
It hadn't been easy to get the things he'd needed; it had meant leaving Mikuo alone for part of the afternoon to acquire the right supplies. He knew that Mikuo wouldn't hold it against him, and he'd had an excuse ready, in case the teal-haired Vocaloid male had asked him, but it had been unnecessary.
After Mikuo's outburst on the street earlier that day, the teal-haired Vocaloid male had been subdued, quiet, focusing only on doing the only thing he could do in these circumstances: keep trying, no matter how pointless or hopeless it seemed. Taito resented that he'd had to leave his friend's side for even a moment, but there was no way Mikuo would go for the somewhat insane plan Taito had hatched in that moment when Mikuo had bowed his head down, had turned away from him, because the teal-haired male was ashamed of crying in front of Taito.
Taito turned the car on, placing a set of ugly yellow rubber kitchen gloves on the seat beside him. He wasn't sure how things were going to go down; maybe he wouldn't even need the things he had bought. But, considering what he did know... it didn't hurt to have more than one plan to fall back on. Taito's blue eyes narrowed again, as he remembered Mikuo's form from that afternoon. Taito pulled out of the driveway quietly, and took off down the road, leaving his Master, and his friend, behind him sleeping in the house.
...
Rin couldn't sleep. Her face and body hurt too much. The metal restraint around her left ankle kept her from being able to move far from her spot on the floor. She had pulled and pulled against it the first night, hours after Master had left and she had recovered enough strength to struggle again, but it had been useless. All she had gained was an angry, raw, red place on her leg for her troubles.
Rin's hands weren't bound, so she was able to bring her trembling fingers back up to her face again, feeling the nasty injuries that Master had cut into her soft, girlish face. He had brought a mirror, so she knew how badly the rough cuts under her fingers looked.
He had laughed at her after he had done it. Told her that she was ugly now, and no one but Master had wanted her even before this. Reminded her how she was the last Vocaloid of the stock the store had on hand, when he had purchased her. Told her she was worthless now, even to him. Ugly. Ruined.
The other things Master had done were worse. Much, much worse. Rin pulled her legs up against her naked, bruised body, and tried not to flinch at the feeling of her flesh pulling against the other cuts and injuries on her body. The long, sharp knife that Master had delighted to use on her was off to the side of the room, near the door, and out of her reach. She couldn't see it in the dark, moonless night, but she knew it was there, and it taunted her and laughed at her, letting her know that things weren't over yet.
The early summer weather was still cold at night, and Rin shivered. Her stomach hurt, badly. Her backside hurt, too. In the darkness of the night, the memories flooded over her. Master laughing. Master hitting her, kicking her. Cutting her golden hair and flinging it into her face.
Master turning her over as she screamed and struggled with everything she was, whispering to her that while Kaito was gone, she would take his place for everything he needed to do for Master, from here on out. Master as he pushed against her back entrance, tearing her open, so that the blood flowed. Master holding her mouth shut as her eyes went crazy from fear and pain, cutting off her airways so that she suffocated as he raped her, again, again, and again.
Rin closed her eyes, trying to shut out the memories. She thought she should cry, but the tears were dry for now. She felt like a doll, something to be used, broken, and thrown away with the rest of the garbage.
But hell if she would give Master Kaito.
Never. Her trembling fingers felt gently against her face, obsessively.
Never.