Hit Singles

oOoOoOoOoOo

Rin Kagamine frowned and piled up the messy slush with the side of her foot. She was a little chilly in this alley with only the soft streetlamp glow to lead her; and without a coat or a sweater, or, hell, even proper-length pants.

What was UP with February? Couldn't it just order all this snow to MELT? Like, completely? Because slush was the worst of all.

In fact, it was February 14th. Inside the Vocaloid Academy, the teen couples were cuddling, and talking, and partying. Last that she'd seen, Miku was snuggled up with Kaito as she yelled haphazard (and wayyyy off) guesses to Gumi's one-man charades game; Gakupo was making passes at Luka as she attempted to repair Miku's mess of dinner; and Neru and Dell were challenging the other to find the coolest Valentine's day e-card.

All those damned lovebirds.

Rin had just barely escaped before the Valentine's were gonna be handed out.

She hugged her chilled, bare upper arms, and looked up at the sky. Though it was only 6:30, it was already dark—another curse of winter. Her annoyance with the holiday wasn't centered around the fact that she was single.

It was the fact that Mikuo wasn't.

Rin exhaled to the icy hang of the air. The stupid blue-haired idiot had been claimed by, who now? Oh, yeah, TETO. Like, WHAT THE BLOODY HELL was up with that? Guys are dumb, dumb, dumb.

Suddenly, she felt the weight of a jacket being slung across her shoulders. "You're seriously out here in mini-shorts and a freaking tank, Rin-chan?"

Rin looked up and caught eyes with her younger brother, Len. His blonde hair was pulled in the small ponytail as usual, and his bangs were messily splayed along his forehead and in his eyes. His cheeks were tinged pink already from the night air, and his eyes were like bright jewels at the sight of her. "That's Rin-sama to you," she snapped, but gratefully snuggled into the warmth of his jacket. She was happy to have her brother joining her—he was her other half, after all.

Len sighed with an amused lilt, used to her antics. He moved to stand beside her on the sidewalk and looked around. "Now, what's so special about staring at the entrance of the grocery store? Trying to summon a few oranges to your hands?"

Rin nudged him hard in the ribs while giggling. "No, Len-kun." A sudden shiver tore up her spine in a defying manner.

Len caught that action. "So why are you outside, freezing? I know Miku's cooking is pretty damn bad, but..."

Rin craned her neck to look in her brother's eyes. Why was he so tall now? Retarded kid and hormones and blah. But he was looking concerned, all of a sudden. "It's 'cuz of Mikuo..." she admitted, even alarming herself with the quickness that she revealed this truth.

"Oh..." Len's voice faded off, and he fixed the jacket as it was slipping off one of Rin's narrow shoulders. "That must suck today, ne?"

"Ya THINK?" Rin pouted childishly and kicked the pile of slush, making it spray all over her, the road, and Len. "And what would you know about it? It's not like you're crushing on anyone."

Len shrugged. "You're just right, Rin. I'm faking all my understanding sentiments cuz I'm not a pathetic love-sick girl."

Rin whirled around at him, her mouth popped open in dramatic-shock. "LEN!"

Len cringed and laughed as she smacked his shoulder. The jacket slipped off during the action and fell straight into a puddle of slush. "Great, Rin—you're cleaning that when we get back home."

Ignoring her brother, Rin was all of a sudden awash in a wave of cold. The shivers came fast and admittedly uncomfortable, very much like how her rejection had been—! She turned her face down, and sighed, "This holiday discriminates."

Len was grinning down at her in a conniving fashion, and Rin just barely saw the expression out the corner of her eye. Oh, she knew that grin...he was about to do something stupid...

And stepping back to get enough space, Len did. She couldn't help but stare in utter alarm at her embarrassing older brother as he started the dance the Single Ladies' dance like a complete and utter fool. He was singing it off-key which just made it worse.

Heat flooded to Rin's cheeks. "GAWD, LEN!" she started yelling, but her voice was cracking with the uninvited attack of giggles, "SOMEONE'S GONNA SEE YOU!"

His blonde hair flopped in his eyes while he finished up the last dance move, and his eyes were bright azure in amusement. He loved embarrassing his little sister. She was silly when she got so angry.

He dodged another hit from her, then stepping towards Rin, he unintentionally crushed his jacket deeper into wet slush. Len suddenly wrapped his arms around Rin's torso, picked her up slightly, and spun her around fast.

Rin laughed louder than she'd ever meant to. His grip on her was way too tight and she nearly couldn't breathe, but when he set her down on the messy concrete again, she missed his protective warm hold on her. "I hate hyper Len!" she exclaimed. She reclaimed his caring arms around her when she fell into his chest, giggling madly.

"You're just annoyed that I can actually pick you up now." He patted her head brotherly-like.

Rin sighed and hugged him tightly. When they were like this, she had zero need for that stupid jacket, or the safety of indoors, or even a stupid boyfriend!

Like reading her thoughts, Len said to the top of her blonde head, "Hey, you want me to kill Mikuo for you?"

"If anyone, you'd be killing the girl he left me for. Teto." Rin said abruptly before he uttered another word—"And don't quote our songs."

"Darn it."

A long moment passed, in which the two siblings both absently listened to the sounds going on inside the building behind them. It seemed as if Dell and Haku had gotten into an argument—again. Miku was cheering them on, chanting, 'Fight! Fight! Fight!' until Kaito shut up her up abruptly. Obviously with a kiss, right? That was something that a pathetically smitten Kaito would do. Rin absently wondered where Teto and Mikuo were. Last she'd seen them, they were setting up the table for the dinner, sending fluffy smiles and blowing kisses and stuff across the table. What a mushy mess; it was like an explosion of cutesy stuffed animals had drowned the creepy chimera redhead and the tall graceful teal-haired guy.

Rin shut her eyes tight, and said loud enough so he could hear her speaking into the fabric of his shirt, "Ahh~, Len! I don't need that stupid Mikuo."

"Mhmm!" Len had one of his arms along her shoulders, the soft fabric of his translucent black arm warmer pressing the back of her neck. His other hand was on her head, pushing away her headbow, and he rested his chin on top of his fingers.

"Yeah...See, everyone has these dumb relationship issues! Like, Luka and Gakupo NEVER stop arguing, and that stupid fight Miku and Kaito had the other day? Some of the fights get repaired, but most of the time they don't, and then all we're left with is sobbing and the blueprints on how to sneak into Kaito's refrigerator." Len chuckled at this. "But me and you! —All our fights are resolved! We're forever, right?" Rin squeezed a hug around his torso again, tight as she could. "Len and Rin~..."

"Yep!" Len grinned widely into her hair. "Forever, that's for true."

Rin was smiling sweetly again. The two siblings stood out there in the alley for a long while. Rin wasn't cold anymore, and both were getting a little tired, influenced by the lies of early darkness and the smell of dusk in the air. They heard the Valentines being handed out inside the Academy, and a few askings of where the twins were. They were somewhere wayyy more peaceful than inside, that's where...

Rin knew that she hand't been telling a word of a lie—her and her brother didn't get along all of the time, but they always made up. Mirror images or just twins, they surely needed each other—for comfort, protection, friendship, and just for a smile on unhappy days. Neither needed a date, not on Valentine's Day and not ever...they were simply complete with the company of the other.

Rin giggled, cutting the silence, and said, "Well, we'll be forever if you don't ever dance like that again."