Chapter Nineteen
-Rin-
I open my eyes to see my mother dangling over my bed. She smiles warmly. "Good morning, Rin," she says, her soft voice ringing through my head as I drowsily sit up. I hold her hand, smiling back.
"Good morning, mother."
Suddenly, she is torn from my grasp as she is brutally taken away from me, helplessly fighting back an invisible force that slashes her to shreds. I rip the covers off of my body, ignoring the icy rush of the open air as I scream in horror. I reach out, desperately trying to get a hold of the pieces of her again…
…Only for her remains to disappear in to thin air.
I jerk open my eyes. Gah, it's just another dream. Ever since I was a little kid, I've always had dreams like these. They're always short, brutal, and… I hate to say it, but foreshadowing. Sometimes, they hint at things that end up actually happening to me somewhere along the way. I hate dreams. They scare me until I literally have to force my eyes open at night. Still, after all these years… I can't connect the dots, though I've learned to predict them, and I've learned to believe them, no matter how crazy they all seem.
Suddenly, a thought comes over me. Today. I have to tell Len today. Suddenly, I'm not so sure if he'll believe me… Of course not. He'll probably think I'm insane after I try telling him. Heck, I don't blame him. If there's one thing I've really learned… it's the fact that I am totally, one-hundred percent in…sane.
There's no way he'll believe me. He'll have to hear it from me, Ann, and Al. Maybe even Oliver might be able to help convince him, too. Something just gives me the worst feeling that he won't take this well. But what are we supposed to do after? Tell our parents? There's no way they'll take it well either, unless they still remember Ann and Al. Will Len remember Ann? I didn't remember Ann. I seriously doubt that he will.
Letting out a heavy, shaky, undulating sigh, I get up from my bed as the cold air attacks me all over again. Not caring to take a shower, I throw on a pair of yellow fitted sweatpants that say Kagamine down the side in white letters. Over that, I put on a white V-neck t-shirt that shows off my inexistent chest. This is much better than those stupid skirts that Gumi and Luka try to throw me in.
Quietly, since it's still early, I swing open the door to the sound of something sizzling. It's not long before my nostrils are filled with the mouth-watering smell of bacon being cooked. I walk into the hallway to see Luka cooking breakfast in the kitchen.
"Up already?" she asks, pushing the basket of rolls to the side to make room for the plate of bacon.
"Yeah… that smells really good," I say, drool practically dripping from my mouth. I reach over to grab a roll, only for Luka to smack my hand away.
"Uh-uh-uh," she sings, "I believe in eating as a family. You've got to wait until I call the boys down. If you really want to eat that bad, you can go ahead and call them now," she suggests. I cross my arms and storm up to Len's room.
Once I reach the closed white door, I knock lightly. No response. I knock again, but this time harder. Still no response. Biting my lip in irritation, I attempt to try and kick open the door, only to wince in searing pain as my foot seems like it catches fire.
"Who is it?" calls a muffled voice from inside the room.
"Rin," I respond through clenched teeth as I jump around like an idiot, trying to keep balance while clutching my toes in pain. Suddenly, the door opens to reveal Len standing in a pair of black sweatpants and a yellow V-neck t-shirt. Strange…
"Good morning," he greets me. With a subtle toss of his head, he flings his shiny, silky blonde hair out of his blue eyes… Gah! He drives me crazy when he does that! He gives me a smile, exposing his perfect white teeth… You can't be thinking like that… Just hurry up and get this over with…
"L-Len…" I start.
"Yeah," he smiles, "What is it?" Ugh, I can't ruin his perfect mood like that…
"Len, we're like… matching," I say, offering a pained smile. He looks down at both of us and chuckles.
"You're right," he grins, "That's weird… Hey, are Kaito and Luka up?" he asks.
"Well, actually, Luka is up cooking breakfast right now. I haven't heard from Kaito yet," I shrug, not meeting his eyes.
"Breakfast? I have a feeling she wakes up early a lot," he says, scratching the back of his neck. I think back to all the times that Luka has texted me at six in the morning on a Saturday.
"Oh, you don't know the half of it," I sigh, shaking my head.
"Listen Rin," Len says suddenly, placing a hand on my shoulder. "Can I ask you something?" he asks. This is so different than how he was around me just a couple days ago in the frozen yogurt shop…
Placing a hand bravely on his, I push him away. "Len, I can't do this. There's something really important that I need you to know first," I say suddenly. There's no turning back now. I swallow as his face falls at my rejecting gesture. "Len, we're…" I start, taking a deep breath, "We're twins, okay?" I finally say. It comes out sounding more like a whine than a statement.
"Rin," he says, lifting my chin up with one finger as the cold air overwhelms my shaking body, "I don't understand."
"I need to take you to go meet someone," I say, taking his hand as I open the door and pull him out of the room. I trudge right past Luka, who's humming a tune peacefully as she cooks the scrambled eggs. She doesn't notice us as I put on my flip-flops and Len puts on his shoes.
"What do you mean we're twins?" he asks dumbfounded, "What-"
"That's not how I planned to tell you at all," I interrupt him, closing my eyes as we walk across the path and turn onto the sidewalk.
"Then… how did you plan to tell me?" he asks, tramping along behind me.
"I honestly have no idea," I reply, not even bothering to turn around to look at him. We walk in silence for a couple more minutes until I turn onto Ann's street.
"Where are we going?" Len asks like a little kid.
"We're going to go meet our birth mother," I reply, biting my lip and wincing, waiting for his reaction. When I don't hear anything, I turn around to see Len shaking his head.
"Rin, this is ridiculous," he scoffs, "I'm going home." Something in my chest feels as if it's falling straight down as my lips part in shock. Instinctively, I snatch his wrist.
"Len, just listen to me, please!" I beg. "Just hear me out okay?" I ask, a little bit softer. I watch his features soften as well. "I didn't believe it either at first," I tell him convincingly. "Just wait. I'll all be explained in a minute," I sigh, turning around to ring the doorbell.
In an instant, the door swings open, only for Ann to smile at us both. "Rin…" she breathes, "Is this Len?" I nod my head, swallowing. Len furrows his eyebrows, his eyes widening as he does so.
"He doesn't believe me," I say limply. Ann lets out a sigh, her smiling fading.
"I knew this kind of thing would happen. Len, I'm Ann. Come in. We have a lot to tell you," she says, holding the door open wider.
As soon as we're on the couch again, Ann begins telling Len the entire story. I listen to him as he asks the exact same questions that I did, some kind of unidentified emotion swirling through me- something that I had never felt before. It gave me a bitter taste in my mouth and my vision kept getting all blurry.
"So that makes Rin and me… cousins now?" he concludes. I hear him swallow as he turns to look at me, his face stricken with shock and worry. Ann gives a slow nod. "R-Rin," he whispers, his teeth biting down on the soft tissue of his bottom lip.
"I know…" I start, finding his hand and giving it a gentle squeeze.
"You two weren't… in love, were you?" Ann asks suddenly. Len and I both look up at her quickly, and then at each other. I watch as his cheeks burn a bright red, which is okay, since mine are probably doing the same thing.
"I-In love…?" I repeat dumbly. "N-No," I say, yanking my hand away. "T-That's… no!" I stammer.
"Definitely not," Len agrees, looking a little hurt. Gah, I feel bad now. I didn't have to tell him.
"Oh, good," Ann says, relaxing. No. This way… it just makes things right.
"Len," I suddenly say, "We should be going. Breakfast is probably on the table."
"R-Right," he sighs, standing up from the couch. "Bye, Ann," he adds, giving her a slight wave. I stand up as well.
"Feel free to visit any time!" she says, waving back to us both.
"We will," I call back as we leave through the door and run out into the light fresh air. "Len…" I start.
"Forget it," he hisses, rending away from me and stomping away. Crap.
Yeah, yeah. I know. Another lazy chapter. Oh well. I hope you guys enjoyed it anyway! Make sure to drop a review! ;)
For those of you MikuxKaito fans, that's gonna grow in the next couple chapters (especially in the next couple Miku ones)!
Enjoy!
Almost forgot about Quote Time: "I believe in eating as a family." - Luka
I got this from my family. On Sundays we usually eat together (and the bacon, toast, sausage, eggs, rolls, and all that junk is all good too).