Facing the consequences

Summary: I didn't have the slightest idea as to why she always waited for me late at night, healed my wounds and always gave me a scolding the instant I wake up. It was a regular routine, but why did she think it was okay to leave?

Forgive me for starting another fanfiction! I have a weak will when it comes to writing new plots!

Some curse words were tossed in there, sorry. I promise not to use it much longer in the next chapters.

Please enjoy!

Disclaimer: Just the plot. Nothing more, nothing less.

"You're late."

"…hmmn…"

She sighed. I could tell she was irritated with me, but my mind was in a jumbled mess. I couldn't think straight, hell I could barely walk straight. My skull was probably flooding with blood after getting bashed with a pipe so many times, I was afraid I was going to faint right then and there and there was that knife that sliced me at the arm. Then there was also, the fact that I was tripped off and banged my legs against the concrete when I was trying to get out of the brawl.

And yet again, in the dead of the night, she sat there at our small kitchen table. An empty cup of coffee in her hands and her eyes staring daggers at me, wanting another explanation; in short, this was a regular thing, so just because my head was in a whirl of confusion, I knew what was going on. She walked towards me, catching me before I fell to our dusty wooden floor.

Yes our, I lived with a few other people in our small and cramped apartment. We didn't have enough money to move into an actual house yet and that's where some of the riskier jobs came in.

"You're hurt again."

"No shit Sherlock."

She stayed silent, lugging me towards the bathroom, careful not to bump me into anything. Then she turned towards the bathtub and dropped me in there. I winced. I guess she wasn't in the mood to be gentle tonight.

"Careful!"

She didn't say anything and wordlessly started stripping me of my blood soaked jean jacket and my black crusty black shirt. I looked at my battered and bruised body; my vision was slowly coming back to me. I was a piece of art, wasn't I? Looking at all of the old and new scars stitching themselves over my multiple bruises from the various fights I got into. Street fights were just the worst kinds to get into.

I felt a cold wad of paper towels pressed against the cut of my skull and I jumped in shock of the touch. She didn't do anything, but give me an emotionless face. She was so used to seeing blood it was like finding trees in a forest; to her, blood was the most common thing in the world. Then she turned it to a new side and began dabbing it on the cut while I clutched the rims of the tub.

It hurt so much!

She tossed the blood soaked towel away and walked towards the medicine cabinet, taking out the disinfectant and wounds of bandages along with some pain killers. When she set them down, she began working her magic, her healing touch, something that most of us in the house didn't have. Of course, most of us in the house didn't know the first thing of domestic house skills in cleaning and cooking so this would probably tie into being able to work on wounds. I just watched her, feeling my head getting heavy and soon my eyelids followed the gravity.

"You're an idiot."

"I know."

"You're not careful."

"I know."

"You're not thinking straight."

"Shut up, I know."

"You're a pain to deal with."

I fell asleep.

When I woke up, I found myself on a bed that wasn't mine. Of course it wasn't since it was my turn on the pull out couch last night. Since we only had two usable rooms, we gave one to the girls to share and the others for the guys to rotate in. The guys' room was also a combination of being our workplace to make sure we didn't get cheated out of our payments.

We just really wanted to get out of this neighborhood.

I tossed to my side, and soon bolted up in pain. It hurt like hell. As if my body was burning and I just couldn't fight the fire with only screams of anguish. The door burst open and I found Rin standing there with helpless eyes. I forced a crooked grin as she ran towards me with tears in her eyes. I flinched when she wrapped her arms around me and forced her lips on mine.

I knew this kind of thing wasn't right. I knew that if this continued then I would only hurt her and myself even more. I knew that this was just her way of forgetting. I knew all of this and yet I didn't do a thing to stop it.

You see, when we were really young, we lost our parents. Our house was burned down and we were sent to live with different relatives who despised our relationship that was developed when Rin went into an emotional breakdown. Hey, even I was disgusted and irritated that I was some toy that was used to comfort Rin whenever she was stressed or remorseful. But I'm her brother; I'm supposed to be there for her no matter what.

Then the door creaked even wider and my sister pulled away from me. Her remorseful self soon reverted back to her regular façade. There she was, our personal nurse, at the door, holding a tray with a bowl of ramen steaming inside. A cup of tea was set beside the bowl and a pair of chopsticks was wrapped in a red string. Of course she would do anything to embellish the situation to distract ourselves from reality.

Eh…she was doing a bang up job, I guess.

Her eyes still held that same emotionless look as she casually walked towards us and set the tray on the bed. She pulled up a rickety stool and untied the chopsticks. Her fingers took hold of them and she swirled them around the steamy bowl, plucking a few noodles and held them up. I glanced towards Rin who nodded with worry and I leaned towards the other girl. She fed me the ramen wordlessly and when she was down, she stood up and left, leaving the entire set of food.

The door followed her and it shut closed.

"I should've stayed up to dress your wounds!" Rin cried out, her eyes flooding with tears and her body trembling. I waved my hand at that.

"You need to concentrate on school."

She bit her lower lip. I silently grumbled at this. I had to make her feel better, so I forced myself to move upward and captured her lips onto mine. She seemed to have calmed down and soon left the room with a less wary atmosphere. As I watched her, I looked down at the tea cup and began to drink.

It was sweet.

She came back to my room after I found myself waking up from my second slumber of the day. When I checked the clock, it said twelve in the afternoon; Rin was probably at school.

"You kissed her again."

"I don't have a choice."

"Yes you do."

Then she grabbed the tray and departed without giving me a chance to respond. I know I had another choice; I know I did, but…it felt like that would kill her instead of help her. I decided to ignore the girl and fell back asleep. It was kinda hard the third time.

After my third awakening, I was on the pull out couch with two of the others sitting on the other beat up looking couch. They were chatting amongst themselves with the aroma of food wafting itself in the air. It smelled really good and my stomach was grumbling like crazy.

"Ah you're awake." Meiko stood up with a cocky grin on her face. She crossed her arms while walking towards my beat up self. "About time, we've been waiting to talk to you."

Oh great, that meant I had another job to do.

"That could wait." The voice called out from the kitchen and I craned my neck while adjusting into a sitting position. Her blank stare was still fixated on her face. "It's time for dinner." Then she resumed setting up the small table with a plate of meatballs and pork chop. It looks like we had enough money to buy more than one type of meat this week.

When we served ourselves food, Rin plopped herself next to me, talking about what she was learning at school. Meiko listened with the same smile stitched on her face. Unlike me, she was genuinely listening, probably wanting to know if her old boyfriend was still doing well. Kaito didn't appreciate the conversation one bit.

I looked back at the kitchen where she sat. Her hands wrapped around a cracked cup of coffee. They were always grasped around the object; it was like her veins were flooded with the bitter liquid. Why did she like bitter stuff anyway if she made everything sweet?

"I'm gonna do my homework," Rin whispered to me after she finished her meal. She left the dish on the paper dressed coffee table and walked towards the girls' room with her bag in tow. When the door shut, Meiko stood up again and stretched her arms. She set her plate on Rin's and weaved her way through the cluttered floor and towards the bathroom.

Kaito turned to me with a sympathetic look. He always tried being the big brother of the group even though he knows that he could never fulfill the role. He would never be able to fill in Leon's shoes. Never, no matter how much he wants to try.

"We're almost over half way with the debts." With that, he left to the guys' room, probably going to see if he can hack his way into another system.

Then it was just us.

"I'm going to work."

"Playing maid?"

"Yes."

"Get me a souvenir."

Her chair screeched in response and soon the open and shut of our rickety door followed. I was left alone with only the static of our busted TV giving me a companion; albeit an annoying companion, but a companion nonetheless. I grumbled while positioning myself on the couch and tried lulling myself to sleep in order to muster up any mobility before my next job.

I came back with a batch of new cuts and bruises, but this time, a black eye was added to the mix. Meiko just knew which jobs that at entertained me at first only to have me become the entertainer at the end. Apparently all of my jobs end up with me getting the crap beaten out while I leave a bunch of thugs lying on the ground before I collect my pay. Meiko has a sick sense of humor is all I could think of with my bored mind. I reach for the controller and click the TV on to find that an old fashioned, black and white movie about a crappy mystery murder was playing. The loud and raspy voice of the detective came to my ears and I watched him talking to the maid.

Maid, huh, the maid was always the culprit of the crime and it made me grin in irony. Our little maid here was always the criminal anyway. Meiko came back and watched with me, complaining about how the case was already pointing at the victim's wife despite it being the vengeful maid who the victim promised to marry years before. She laughed at how the maid sobbed her story to the indifferent detective before getting taken away. Then the movie ended and it hit midnight, I lowered the volume, knowing that Rin was fast asleep and Kaito probably hit the desk to sleep.

"Tonight's job is the usual. A shifty old man's asking for someone to deliver his package to a woman across town. No questions asked and no comments either."

"No brawls this time around?"

She laughed as if it was the funniest thing in the world. "You're known to be a magnet for fighting, so unless you disguise your blond hair then maybe there won't be any brawls." The brunette flashed me a smile, a sarcastic one at that.

"You're not funny."

"I'm trying to be real."

"I hate that word."

"You hate a lot of things." She stretched out her arms once more. "Get some sleep, champ, you're gonna be making another evening trip across town."

Meiko departed back into the girls' room. Then almost immediately, she walked through the apartment's door and closed it, fixing all three locks.

"Still up?"

"Yeah; I'm just wasting space as usual."

"I'll make coffee."

"Nah, I don't like anything bitter."

She didn't respond and I heard sounds of glass clanking against one another. The sound of the stove turning on flared in the air and I adjusted myself into lying down, grabbing the fallen blanket that was stitched with different colored patches. Not the coziest thing in the world, but y'know, whatever worked was whatever we got. She entered the small living area and sat down on the other couch with a single cup of coffee. Guess she didn't make any for me.

"So did you get me a souvenir?"

She took a sip of her drink then dug into her bags, one of those fake ones that look real, and took out a few crystal figurines. She placed them on the table and got up, retrieving the stack of filthy plates.

"These are a lot of figurines."

I inspected them. It looks like we'll be able to pay some of the debts with these. We'll have to check them out later when Kaito wakes up.

"I don't like doing this."

"Too bad, we don't have a choice."

"We always had a choice."

"Stop saying that!"

I get so mad whenever I spoke to her. Whenever I was alone with her, it felt like I was arguing with a brick wall. She never expressed any emotion, nor ever do anything on impulse. It was like she was some sort of frozen mask on her facing, never threatening to fall off to show her true colors. What an annoying girl.

Also, she keeps talking about there being another way out of this life. As if. We were drowning in so many debts that it was impossible to continue going to school, so I had to drop out, she had to drop out and Meiko and Kaito had to leave their university to help out. We conjured enough money to allow Rin to continue going to school; we didn't believe that Rin should be tainted by criminal filth.

"You have to stop getting into pointless fights."

"I can't control that."

"Yes you can."

"Tell those bastards that, not me!"

"I'm going to wash these. Give the figurines to Kaito when you can."

Then she left with the stack and I could hear the sink run with water. I grumbled and forced myself to sleep.

It wasn't that hard the fourth time.

I ran with all my might, my leg was still kind of sore and my head hurt like crazy. My lungs were yelling at me to slow down so my heart wouldn't burst out of my chest. However, I had to deny the request. I had to get this mission done already so I could get my pay and avoid anymore confrontations. I gritted my teeth, hugging the package against my chest. If Leon was here then this stuff wouldn't have happened. Lola wouldn't be lying in the hospital, Sweet Anne wouldn't have had to force herself to taking a various jobs concerning modeling and we wouldn't have to fit five people into a small, feeble apartment.

That and along with a lot of debts piled on our shoulders. Kaito and Meiko tried keeping us together, picking out jobs and trying to work with what we got. They sacrificed a lot with trying to keep the atmosphere from falling apart and breaking into a million pieces. I could tell that they were tired, but so was I.

I was tired of having to live a life based on lies and underhanded deals. I was especially tired of having to life live as though there was nothing but money to live for. The reason for working felt really dirty to me because of the jobs I had to do like running illegal packages or having to run around with messages. If it concerned making black market type deals, phones weren't the best means of communication.

"Here,"

I handed the package to a lady with long blond hair tied in a long side pony tail. She blinked while glancing between the package and me.

"Want to come in?"

Oh hell no I don't. I ran across town to finish the job and it was close to midnight. I was not going to enter some rich woman's house on account of pity.

"No."

"Just for a few minutes."

"No."

"It's pretty cold outside."

"No."

"It's getting really late too."

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

"We're having a party and I'm sure you're famished."

"I said no, lady, I'm in a hurry."

I scowled; this woman was getting on my nerves. She scowled and handed me the bundle of money the old man was waiting for. I nodded to her and sped off before she could utter another word. What did I look like to her? Did I look like an easy catch for her rich skinny fingers to grasp for? Pfft. Rich women were so easy to analyze.

When I returned, the trembling old man ran out from his store and thanked me while I handed him the money. I held my hand out for my payment and he handed me the manila envelope. I grinned.

"Pleasure doing business with ya."

He ran back inside, locking it quickly and I sneaked around corners of buildings and past some alleyways. And then…I came face to face with another group of gang wannabes smoking up the place with noxious fumes. Don't these people have anything better to do?

"Looks like the piece of shit is here."

"Didn't we beat the crap out of him earlier this week?"

"Kid heals up fast."

I scowled at all of them. It was the other way around, people. I'm the one who beat the crap out of them. I rolled my eyes and began walking away; I was really tired from all the running. Also, I didn't need any new injuries to blanket my body. I heard them follow me and I groaned in annoyance, casting my eyes around my current environment. Trashcans were around me with plastic bags flying around everywhere along with useless ads getting carried by the wind.

When I turned around, reaching for a trash can lid, bright lights blinded me. The group, in turn, did the same thing and gasped at the sight. Who was it that made these jerks lose their breath?

"Step away from the kid, he's with me."

The voice was feminine and I could immediately tell that she was here; looks like she wasn't waiting at home as usual. Then the lights dimmed down and I saw her body being flooded from behind with the light. She took off her helmet and held it at her hip, giving them a bored look.

"Who's she?"

One whispered and the others starting talking really fast.

"I can't believe you don't know who she is!" One exclaimed in horror.

"The Joker of the night," I stated with a piqued interest.

"Run children, I want the kid."

They scurried off, with a dirty dust cloud behind them. She turned off the engine of the motorcycle and swung the key ring around her fingers with the various keys jingling.

"So what does the Joker want with me?"

"I'm taking you home."

"What, you didn't bring any souvenirs back?"

"Get on the motorcycle."

I did so, and she took her place in front of me, kicking back the break and twisted the handle. The engine roared and I wrapped my arms around her delicate waist; she was cold to touch. We were driving well into the night, scarring the road with the tires of the raging motorcycle and I could feel myself flying from it. It was a fun sensation and I was happily awaiting the chance where I could earn enough money to buy myself a motorcycle and ride it legally. Maybe I could even bring Rin to school and make her friends confused. I grinned at that.

That was definitely something I plan on doing when we pay off everything and stray from this crook-like life style. She stopped in front of the apartment building and I hopped off. She drove the motorcycle to the back alley, taking a while; she was probably working on the chain so that no one would take it. I don't know why she's insecure about it; everyone in the building knew not to mess with her.

We both climbed up the flight of stairs and finally made it to our apartment number. I threw myself on the couch, wincing at the springs hitting my sore body, but slowly eased into the frazzled fluff of the furniture. The sound of glass clinking together made my relaxation decrease.

"Did you find out the price of the figurines?"

"Each was around three thousand."

"I brought seven."

"Twenty one thousand then," I paused. "They were pretty small, were they the less noticeable ones?"

She didn't say anything and I felt irritation soar within me.

"You were supposed to take the important ones! How else are we supposed to pay off everything?"

"We work in good, healthy jobs."

Always the same answer. I gritted my teeth and decided that I would ignore her. Just then, Meiko busted out of her room and stomped towards the kitchen. Yeah, justice was being served right then and there whereas I was sitting and gawking at the static filled TV. I heard a slap and winced, knowing that she got hit by the brunette.

Kaito sprung out of his room to fend off the busty woman and I growled in irritation. Why did Kaito always stand up for her? She doesn't even defend herself, so what's the point of making other people do that? For a while, I rolled around the question in my head, but decided that it would it would be best to leave it alone or I'll be the one getting hit. He pulled Meiko away from the kitchen and to the guys' room to calm her down. I looked back to find that the stools were thrown to the side and she was sitting on the floor with a blank look.

Her eyes stared at the ground in a stone hard gaze and I saw something I never expected to see from her.

Our Joker of the Night was crying.

A week later, I was sitting in the tub once more. My arms were bleeding this time and my jaw was sore. She was kneeling by the bath tub, scrubbing the blood off of my face and shoulders. Her eyes looked tired and I felt like something was off with her tonight. I think she caught me staring at her and thus the scrubbing became harder and I screamed in pain.

"You have to stop running head first into a fight."

"Pfft. That's how I win most of them."

"No, that's how you lose most of them."

"Stop telling me what to do!"

"I'm only giving you good advice."

"No, you're just trying to use your own status to rule over me! I'm not a kid anymore, y'know!" I yelled, smacking her hand away from me with the sponge flying to the tiled floor and her hand frozen in the air. This was another thing I didn't expect from her. Her eyes were wide and looked as though it was dilated. It looked like she was ready to hit me with the way her shoulders were tensed, her breath was in place and it seemed like she recollected her composure.

Wordlessly, she grabbed the sponge, dumped it into the bucket of warm water, squeezed it and began scrubbing once again.

"I'm not gonna apologize." I retort.

She didn't respond and went to cleaning the blood around the cuts.

"I don't know why you do this stuff for me."

Again, no response; she sprayed the disinfectant on my cuts. I yelped once more, but she kept my tensing arms down.

"You don't get anything in return, remember?"

I felt her hands freeze, but resumed working on the rest of my injuries. Within minutes of silence, she was done treating them and I began pulling myself up from the tub. For an annoying girl, she knows how to do the job right when it comes to cuts and bruises.

"I'm doing what Leon told me to do."

I froze when she said his name. How long has it been since she even spoke of him? I think it was a week after he died that she stopped saying his name. It was like after his death she cut off everyone from her life and only did what she wanted to do or what she was told to do. I dunno; I was too worried about Rin at the moment since Leon was our steady benefactor. He was also the only other living relative we knew about and was actually close to.

In all honesty, I never questioned her relationship with Leon, probably because it looked like she was a charity case. She was probably there to serve food and other stuff; after all, she looked way too innocent to take on jobs like this. Even if she was the acclaimed Joker of the night that was talked about in these streets; she looked so useless.

When I hit the bed – it was my turn to sleep in the guys' room – I thought long and hard about Leon. Lola was still unconscious in the hospital and Sweet Anne was gonna return to us pretty soon. That meant we had to move more stuff around and divide up our little portion of food as best as we can. I grumbled and turned to my side, careful not to put too much pressure on my healing arms.

Without realizing it, I fell asleep.

It was a strange week. When Sweet Anne came back, something weird happened:

Our Joker of the Night disappeared.

Gaaah why can't I stick to one fanfiction? I can't seem to control the muses I get and thus this fic was born, along with half of the second chapter. It was vague, I know, but some stuff will be explained later on in the next few chapters. I'm not gonna expand this fic to like ten chapters, I already have a terrible record of getting past three or four chapters and then having writer's block (.-.).

Oh yeah, also, I keep seeing all these fluffy Len x Miku fics and I wanted to do something darker (I'm such a nonconformist haha). It'll get lighter sometime along the way, I plan on it, and yay for adding in first gen Vocaloid!

To those who read Whatever it Takes, I'm actually writing the chapter, trying to make it longer and getting to the chapter after that. There's also some Len x Miku fluff in it since someone mentioned it in their review (I think? My memory is kinda waning on me about this topic).

To those who read Selective, I scraped an entire chapter so I've been reworking on a different one. Sorry.

On another note... um... if anyone has Skype, wanna chat? I've been wanting to talk to other fanfiction members for a while now, but I'm kinda shy about it. Send me a PM or something if you wanna chat and I'll send you an invite!

~Ventus