The sun rose a minute earlier in the sky today than it did the previous morning.

The bells of empty glasses clinking around in the kitchen sink could be heard all the way inside the guest bedroom, and it was endless. Each little movement echoed through the walls, and if you tried hard enough, you could hear the neighbour snoring all the way from next door.

"Just take a day off from work until you're feeling better."

"Easy for you to say. You're not the one making sure there's food on the dinner table."

The married couple's argument from the living room was louder. I stared up at the ceiling, watching a thick orange light seep through the windows to replace the darkness. The city was beginning to get warm.. enough snow had melted away to make way for grass, and plenty of flowers were beginning to blossom in preparation for a new season.

"You didn't have to go into the rain. I told you I'd go looking for him myself, you were the one who held me back and told me not to."

"Pushing the blame on me now? I'm not the fucking kid who ran off during the night, troubling others who have absolutely no relation to them. After agreeing to pay for his bloody education, the least he can do is stay out of trouble."

"And he was! He didn't ask for you to get him, he was waiting out the storm. Don't you dare push this onto him!"

More arguing. Some muffled screaming.

It all ended so suddenly with hurried footsteps and the front door closing with a loud slam.

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By the time I came out, Rin was airing out the laundry over a clothesline with some clips by the balcony alone. She wore shorts and a shirt that seemed far too big for her body, easily flowing beneath her thighs. The vague wonder of what would happen if a gust of wind took over was slightly worrying, not only because of the laundry possibly floating away, but with how snall and light Rin was, she'd likely be carried along with it. Of course, she didn't seem the lightest bit concerned.

Maybe I should stop being too paranoid.

She was staring at the smaller city buildings and occasional scatter of trees and grass below, while in the background, the television ran a few pop songs on repeat. My sister was lightly swaying to the beat, most likely to distract herself from remembering what happened a few hours prior, and she clipped a pair of brasserie to the line.

Her movements stopped when she turned around and met me right in the eye. She stopped dancing on her toes and instead froze to blush, likely at having been caught. "Morning, darling. You're up early." She blinked twice, lips spread into a grin.

Eight in the morning wasn't exactly what I'd call early. Still, for the sake of response, I offered a weak smile and nodded my head in return.

A pair of shoes and the coat that always hung off the rack was gone by the entrance. "Did he go out?"

"Len? Yeah, he's at work. He'll be back around six o'clock tonight."

"Do you need help with that?" I stepped forwards, taking a garment out of the basket ー a long white dress that nearly trailed across the floor, and lifted it to hang on one of the higher lines. Rin ruffled my head with an absent hand appreciatively, before heading back to work.

We finished quickly and she walked to the kitchen, taking out a pan and preparing some pancake batter while the fresh scent of water and rose-scented laundry detergent entered from the open doors and windows. Upon a closer look I noticed she had dark circles beneath her eyes, and her brows were just gently stitched together as if she was frustrated but was failing at hiding it away. Because of me, I thought quietly, because of me.

It can't just be because of me.

I mean, the only fault I've done was taking my phone out when it wasn't charged. I never asked him to go looking for me.

Nobody asked him to steal away their daughter, but he still did it. There's no reason for me to feel guilty about it.

Or I'm lying to myself.

Fresh pancakes settled in front of me with a fancy plate and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and Rin was biting on her nails while she prepared her own batch. She was still biting them even after she finished cooking, being more focused on staring at the blue sky outside as if she was praying to the clouds.

I cleared my throat. "Sis, is... is everything okay?"

Rin hesitated.

She met my gaze. "He has a fever."

I didn't have time to question her further.

Her next few words came out in a rapid rush, not once stopping in it's best like a demi-semiquaver on slur. "He's sick and he has a fever and even though he pushed himself into going to work today, I made him feel worse about it!" A gasp of breath, a whine, and she broke our line of sight to bury her face into her palms without any hesitation to cry.

Rin clapped her cheeks and looked forwards in determination. It was almost like all signs of her former stress faded away, all in the flash of light. Her eyes were still red with dark circles beneath, but she seemed calm enough to force herself through it.

"I'm so sorry, Lui.. oh, gosh, I wanted to tell you that we're checking out the new school for you tomorrow morning. You don't mind, do you?"

"Tomorrow's a Saturday, isn't it?"

"Their administration will still be there so the gates are open. I have a friend who's a professor, too, you won't have to worry too much because I'm sure she'll look after you."

I felt her pull my body towards her own and leave a tender kiss on my head. I tried to smile.

She smells like Mum.

"Fine with me."

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We went out for grocery shopping sometime in the afternoon because Rin decided it'll be easier for her to get things down before I finish my break and get back to school. It felt weird, with her hand slinking through my own like I was five years old again, going for sprints to the market whenever our Mum requested fresh celery or new packets of milk for whatever she needed to prepare dinner that night. And I'd always walk back through the front door with a lollipop in my mouth that my older sister treated me to.

She did ask me if I wanted any by instinct, a few orange-flavoured ones in her hands.

Her cheeks flushed when I let out an amused laugh. She didn't understand why, though, and I didn't bother explaining it to her.

Rin never changes.

"I think I'm going to make steamed salmon for dinner~" She was singing, a light bounce in her feet. It was interesting to watch how easily she managed it while walking in heels. "With fries, and cream, and we'll watch enough movies to last til' midnight."

I walked behind a few steps, a bag of rice against my chest while bags containing raw fish were slipping from my fingers.

I wonder.

I wonder how many trips like these she had to go alone.

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We ate dinner tonight alone, going against expectations of Rin's husband coming home before sunset, and while we did watch one television show that lasted twenty minutes and she was putting on her giggling act that tried to relax me ー proving an effective distraction from me asking her whether anything was wrong, the woman still sent me to bed earlier than she promised. Her excuse was about needing the both of us to wake up on time for checking around the new school campus.

It was for something else.

She took a long warm shower in the bathroom, and while I pretended to be in bed, I saw her walk into the hall through the gap in the door an hour later.

She sat by the entrance and stared towards the wall clock, counting down to who-knows-what, and her eyes were slowly closing and her body was swaying from keeping her back straight.

I was going to lift her onto the couch or bed once she fell asleep, I promised I was ー

And she did.

She closed her eyes and leant her body sideways until she was resting completely on the wooden floorboard. Her hands were out cold, and she didn't move at all. I pushed the door open by an inch and took one step towards her limp body but just as the clock hit midnight, the jingle of keys were heard and the front door burst open.

Len Kagamine slung his coat on the rack and aggressively tossed his keys into a little glass bowl by the shoerack, looking like a complete wreck. The same dark eyes that were identical to his wife's, and his blond hair was swept up in the air like it'd been rampaged by an entire tornado.

He was likely about to storm into his bedroom and fall asleep in all that fury but stopped in his tracks before he could carry out the rest of his actions.

He eyed the woman's body on the floor and for a moment I thought he was going to fling his shoes off and kick her to the side for blocking his path, but instead bent down, shook her shoulders ー and after there was no response, lifted my sister onto one arm and stabilised her with another before retiring into their shared bedroom. An obvious click sounded once the door closed behind them.

Thankfully he hadn't noticed me.

I took that as a cue to get back inside my own blankets and fill my thoughts with something else.

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"Stop moving so much please." Her hands were fixing a cool patch onto his head and Len was busying himself by landing both palms onto the roundness of her arse, appreciatively groping it. Rin let out a squeal. "Not now! You're sick, you've got a fever, I'm not letting you go to the office today until I'm sure it's gone down and honestly the last thing I want right now is to catch your flu because I gave in to having sex with you."

"What if you don't give in?"

"Are you suggesting you'll be a good boy today?"

"Nah.. I was thinking of being a little more rough in the bedroom, if you know what I mean."

"No."

Len let out a whine and buried his head head deeper into my sister's lap.

Apparently he'd really gotten sick after searching for me that night in the rain (which I hadn't asked for, mind you), and because he'd skipped taking medication in his show of storming out from the apartment the previous morning, leaving wife internally frantic the entire day, now he's reduced to a mess spread out on the couch who still needs his wife to nurse him back to health.

She gently combed through his hair with a few fingers, trying to soothe away the pain. A cold bowl of chicken soup lay untouched on the coffee table.

I wasn't working particularly hard to be noticed. At first I thought he was purposely ignoring me, but upon a closer peek I noticed that those sharp blue eyes were unusually cloudy and his cheeks were redder than I've ever seen.

He didn't look at me once ー as if he couldn't even notice me.

Maybe that was the truth.

A sharp burn rushed up my chest and I was reminded with that feeling of guilt. Rin had her back turned towards me, facing the television, and her arms gently cushioned her husband's neck while the man was preparing to close his eyes. It didn't seem like it was of his own will, because his lips issued another protest when she traced her fingertips over his lashes and forced them to close.

It was silent, like he'd actually fallen asleep. And then a mature voice broke through with a deep tenor, though the words were drowsy and dragged on each syllable. "I don't want to go to sleep.. not yet."

Rin seemed just as surprised at his words as I was. "You have to fully recover. It's not like you get a break like this everyday, rest as much as you can." She brought her own mouth down to his face and caressed the man's ear with her lips.

"Stay with me? Please."

"I have to go ー"

"Please. I'm sorry for what I said yesterday.. I didn't mean it, I promise."

"Len, I already told you that I have plans, and you agreed to it.. in your own words, 'fine, do whatever the fuck you want, just don't bother me about it and I'll stay out of your way.' Are you telling me that those just slipped out without your jurisdiction?"

He slipped into the quiet.

"... honestly, you can bother me anytime you want.."

The only sound he released after that were more breathing, and something that sounded like a gentle snore.

Blond curls waved through her fingers like golden silk and wine, and there was no denying her addiction towards it. I cleared my throat, garnering enough attention for Rin to notice me. She broke into a smile, ushered me closer so I stood in the center of the rug, in front of the closed balcony doors. I met the sight of Len Kagamine with eyes closed and the steady rise and fall of his chest, asleep. An unfinished bowl of chicken soup lay by the foot of the couch, looking nearly untouched.

She struggled to escape his weight. Rin took all of four minutes to fix a cushion beneath her husband's head and the blanket over his body.

The morning sunshine filtered through the glass and it illuminated the way my hair was still damp from a cold shows.

Rin stood up, skin bathing in the crimson glow like emerald shining in a pit of rubies. Her lips were rose petals and her fingertips were the lightest prick of thorns on an untrimmed stem, growing from the woods where light was scarce and yet managing to define the delicacy of a winter flower.

She flattened the dark green skirt she wore with her palms, flashing her signature smile ー the one that reached her eyes, as her hands locked with mine. "Ready to go?"

I didn't speak. Just nodded.

"Great! We'll grab breakfast on the way. Give me one more minute."

My sister bent on her knees to fix the patch on her lover's forehead even though it didn't seem anywhere near falling.

He coughed in his slumber, causing Rin to soothe his hair away from his face once more in hopes that it'd be more comfortable to breathe. She must've noticed that we were short on time because those small shoulders stiffened when all I did was tap a foot against the carpet by instinct. There was a grateful sigh behind my back when I walked towards the front door instead of waiting around for her to stand back up and make the first move to leave.

She must've been hoping for me to look away.

Rin was shy. The show she put on with smooching her husband was private and personal. Rin wasn't the type of person who idolised putting affections on display for the entire world. I could, in fact, predict that she was sneakily kissing his cheek ー if not his mouth, at this very moment.

Even if I couldn't see it.

But I heard it.

Softer than a baby's coo.

The soft sound of her lips smacking against his skin and the gentle, "I love you," That followed afterward.

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The school was much classier than I'd ever expect. The staircase leading to the building was lined with fountains on both sides, and each had small fast-moving fishes rushing upstream. It wasn't a particularly rare species but the sight was alluring all the same.

Trophies and medals decorated the entrance hall with frames and frames lining up each wall to flash the images of former protégés and famous names that previously attended the school. It must've been to encourage determination, but I only felt intimidated by each passing second.

Also they had pretty girls.

I won't lie.

Nice uniform skirts that went below their knees and pretty ties that fell over their chest. One of them smiled at me, and I sent nervous grin in return.

"Are you sure there isn't a slot you can fit him in?" Rin was frantic in the other room as I sat in the waiting area, shifting through whatever magazines they had on display. "I'll pay if he can take the entrance exam in advance and enter immediately. Please, we're really desperate."

I could hear her bargaining for little more than an hour and getting nothing out of it. She left the room looking fairly ruffled, and her hand pulled onto the sleeve of my wrist before I could say anything about it.

We left the building, meeting the wind's transition of winter to spring, and while I breathed in the crisp air, Rin was doing anything but.

Her body shivered beneath the cold and she drug her jacket tighter around her shoulder ー the cloth was huge, effectively drowning the woman in dark leather. When questioned whether it was her husband's, she dismissively denied it and confirmed that it was our father's instead.. it didn't take me long to recognise the piece and nod my head. I wasn't sure about what to say. I wasn't even sure if my dad wanted her to have that jacket.

"You're doing good in school. They saw your examination grades," Rin spoke up, entering a convenience store that was just a little way down the street. I followed behind her. "And they would have taken you in already.. but the problem is, it's the end of the school year and they think it's a horrible time to accept new transfer students."

That doesn't sound too bad. "Doesn't the school year start in April?"

She took a basket off the rack and began filling it with instant soup packets.

I had to reach for one when she struggled even gracing it when she was stretching on the tip of her toes.

"It does. Thank you, darling." Rin ruffled my hair appreciatively. She went to the snacks aisle next, telling me to pick out anything I wanted because she hadn't offered the last time we went shopping. I refused, and she continued; "But this means we have to wait an entire month ー do you think you can handle waking up before the break of dawn and taking a few trains each morning just to get to school on time?"

This time, I raised an eyebrow ー cocking my hips to the side and doing my best dad impression. Rin recognised it within a heartbeat and the laugh she released was music to my ears.

I lowered my voice.

"'Course I can, I'm a Hibiki."

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Len Kagamine was still sleeping on the couch by the time we got back. I went into my room to return my certificates into a box while Rin decided she'd pack the groceries into the kitchen before cooking dinner and taking up a bath. I stepped back out to the living room and went to ask her if she needed any help, but instead of seeing Rin in the open kitchen ー with her smiles that looked like crescent moons and her blinding eyes, I saw the bare back of a man.

Or maybe not so bare. He was standing at the kitchen counter, and a familiar pair of slender legs wrapped around his hips.

"You're still sick..." Said my sister's voice.

"No kidding. I'm intoxicated by you.." Said the man's voice in return. He was carrying a teasing lilt.

My next mistake was looking down to avert my eyes. Standing out against the wooden floorboard was dark red lace.

I couldn't identify what it was at first. Lingerie?

And then the realisation followed. Yes, Lingerie.

Oh, no, no, I can't be walking into this, not now, not when I've only been here for less than a week.

Too late. Her husband moved his hips back. For a moment I thought he was going to turn around and catch me watching them in the act, and maybe kill me on the spot. But instead he did something vastly worse that I wouldn't even imagine.. grabbed onto her thighs, took a deep breath, and forced himself to knock into her body. There was no denying that that was supposed to be the first thrust, especially the way she leant back and looked towards the ceiling like she was seeing stars.

Rin let out a cry and he groaned into her shoulder. On the kitchen counter. The place they prepare food and most likely often eat their breakfast, lunch and dinner at, every day.

I ran into the bedroom and locked the door behind me.

God knows I'm never eating there again.

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"I made your favourite for dinner today."

I was thirsty.

Rin already made use of the kitchen (for proper food) while I was in the bath, and by the time I came out, they were doing more than just cuddling on the couch so I decided to make the wise decision of waiting until my sister came to knock on the bedroom door and call me for dinner herself rather than cursing my eyes to fall seven levels down into the layers of hell.

That means the only glass of water I've had all day was in the morning, fourteen hours ago. All because I didn't want to intrude on, ehem, a married couple's 'love-making'.

None of this means I'm holding my curiosity back in chains.

My head is resting on a pillow, back against the side of a wall ー but the door across the room has a slight gap that's left open and I can see them standing all the way in the kitchen.

"You're so sweet." Len cooed. She was stirring some mushroom soup on the stove and her husband was irritating her by dropping all his weight against her body. His chin rested on her shoulder. "Can I kiss you as a thank you? I think if I do it real quick, you won't get sick."

"Oh, no. If you're feeling better tomorrow you can cook my favourite, though. As a thank you."

"Cheeky.. but okay."

He let out a sigh and she frowned.

The light flickered all the way from the living room, and both of them looked towards it at the same time, most likely having similar thoughts about needing to change it.

"By the way, I'm still upset with you." Rin turned off the heat and walked to the fridge to prepare some glasses of water while her husband kept attached to her like a koala on a tree. She didn't seem too bothered, so they likely did this often. Not that I wanted to analyse their relationship. Not at all. "If you really want to make me happy, go wake my brother up for dinner and talk to him tonight. I think he heard what you said the previous morning and I don't want that kind of scene stuck in his mind."

He unlaced himself from her and turned solemn. "Rin."

"Len." She mocked. "Now."

He stood his ground, and she spun around to glare at him.

I knew she'd back down and apologise, telling him not to think too much about it and let her words be a forgotten request, I just knew it. Rin was never stern, and she was always the one who followed others' rules rather than setting them. They were locked deep in each other's eyes and it was only a matter of time until she moved her gaze down and went for me herself.

Or so I thought.

Len Kagamine was tense for long enough.

He bit his bottom lip, broke their contact first, and walked towards the room I was sleeping in ー following his wife's orders with no more protest.

oh boy. this chapter feels somewhat.. incomplete to me, but i don't know what else to do so i'll just probably come back to edit this later.
anyways i'll likely be uploading a (T-RATED? WH?) new fic somewhere around this month, or the next if i don't have enough time. so beware Xu Lu's m-rated lenrin streak stories are coming to an end.