This is what happens when I promise to write a birthday fic and - two months after said person's birthday - finally ALMOST finish the fic and then lose it. Computers...they hate me. This is why I'm not allowed to use my computer - every time I touch it, THE THING BREAKS SOMEHOW!

So yea, I'm a little sad. XD

"They can't keep us apart."

"They can...and they will."

"But not if we fight."

"Len, what can we possibly do...?" She felt like she couldn't simply melt in her lover's embrace anymore, not after her parents told her that they knew she'd been sneaking off to meet with a boy they didn't approve of. Arranged marriages were in no way uncommon, and while Rin had accepted the fact that she would be married off to some middle class boy by the time she turned seventeen, she hadn't expected that sometime beforehand, she would meet another boy of an even lower social class than she...and that she would fall in love with him, no less!

He wasn't like the others. Len cared for her; he really did. Since he didn't have money in his pocket and her family barely had a few cents to their name, his interest with her couldn't have been involved with the riches and jewels that could be exchanged between families, as most arranged marriages were primarily centered around that. He had a heart, and he wanted her to be happy. He wanted to be happy, too, with her, because he seemed to know that that was the only way the two of them could truly enjoy themselves.

She had first met Len in town when she was supposed to meet with the Kamui boy that her parents wanted her to marry, whether she loved him or not. Perhaps, had she not approached the blond when she caught him gazing at her, she'd be happily engaged to Gakupo now with no troubles at all, just waiting for the ceremony to come so they could spend the rest of their lives together. But instead, she was trapped between a forced engagement and her true love.

"We can elope." He gave her the most obvious answer, of course, but she had already thought of such an option time and time again. They wouldn't be able to afford living on their own; how could they just run off? They'd be dooming themselves. And if she were to try to return to her parents, they would turn her away for the scourge she put on their name.

Rin held his azure gaze for some time, her jaw clenched while deep in thought. Then, she shook her head gently, chewing her lip while she lowered her head to stare down at their laps. Her legs had been wrapped around his waist for some time, and his arms kept her close to him as he tugged his hands through her shoulder-length hair. She massaged his shoulders gently, her fingers pressing into his skin where she felt the knots were the most tense. "We can't do that," she whispered, and she looked up through her thick eyelashes to meet his loving and concerned gaze. "There are too many risks..."

"But think of the possibilities, Rin, if things were to go right for us!" he pointed out excitedly, his joyous smile enough to make her heart skip another beat or two. "We would be able to be together forever, without your parents getting in the way." One of his hands travelled down to her hip, and he squeezed it lightly, though it was enough to send a shock of electricity through her unsuspecting body. His voice dropped even lower - husky sounding, pleasant, tempting. "Maybe we could even start a family of our own."

"Len..." She didn't know how to respond to an offer like that, and the only thing she could do at the moment was simply look away from him while biting on her bottom lip to prevent that smile from creeping up on her face. Her cheeks colored a gentle pink, like that of a Carnation in full bloom; she let out a soft sigh before blindly moving her hands up along her lover's neck to cup his face, her slender fingers brushing gently along his smooth skin. She could feel the muscles in his face tighten in a smile at her touch. "I...I want to...Really, I do. But..."

"'But' what?" Len mumbled quietly, and he grasped her chin with his thumb and index finger so he could meet her gaze without her turning away. His eyes searched hers relentlessly until she spoke up.

"I..." She sighed - forced a little laugh to escape her lips, and he knew it was almost a spiteful one. Unshed tears glistened in her eyes when she met his again after another brief shake of her head, and her quivering hands made their way behind his neck. She laced her fingers together to hold him in place, making that chortle sound again before she mumbled, "I can't just leave my parents."

Len had never been more shocked in his life. He released his hold on her and nudged her away, forcing her to let go of him so that he could rise off her bed and turn away from her. He raked one hand through his bangs in exasperation. "You're kidding, right?" His words were harsh, cold. "You hate your parents. Why would you stay here with them?"

"I don't hate them," Rin explained desperately, standing up as well. She crossed the room over to him in only a few steps, walking on the tips of her toes so she wouldn't stomp around and wake her parents. "I hate what they put me through. They care, Len, they really do. They just..." She sighed and shook her head. "They just express it differently."

"Differently?" Len whirled on her, rolling his eyes. She really wanted to just hit him for such an attitude, and even though the desire for a strong smack was building up within her as he continued to taunt her with a tone that severely ticked her off, she knew she couldn't bring herself to do it. Because even though he was spouting nonsense about how she was just too afraid to stand up for herself and live her life the way she wanted to, she could sense that he had good intentions behind his words.

"Len, please." She attacked him with a fierce hug, burying her face into his chest with a ragged sigh. "Please don't say things like that," she whispered, and she turned her head to the side just enough so that her ear was placed over his heart to hear the relaxing th-thump of it beating within his ribcage. He wasn't wearing a shirt; the warmth that enclosed her body when he hugged her back was relaxing enough, though Rin knew this argument was far from over.

He would drop it for the time being, though. His hands smoothed over the small of her back, over her sides, over her hips, and his wandering fingers left a heated path everywhere he touched as he caressed her thighs through the pale silvery nightgown that covered her thin frame. Len rested his chin on her shoulder, and after a moment, he turned his face into her neck to feel her warm skin beneath his lips. He swayed side to side while holding her in his arms, and she followed his lead, curving her fingers so that he nails dug into his back with each new touch he left on her body.

"I'll think about it, Len. I promise I will," she mumbled into his chest. "I'll consider everything...and I'll let you know tomorrow."

"Thank you..."

:::::

Parents were supposed to be supportive of their child's will - perhaps guide them in the right direction if they're straying from a safe path onto a dangerous and unhealthy one. They were supposed to be the ones that influenced them - the ones who taught them the right from the wrong, and so on. They would have to love their child unconditionally no matter what kind of issues he or she had - because that was the duty of being a true parent.

They didn't see it that way.

He was controlling, fierce, demanding. He hated when people tried to stand up to him, and if anyone disagreed with a single thing that came out of his mouth, they better hope it never got back to him because he would beat them within an inch of their life and make sure that they never even thought of being disrespectful to him again.

She was sweet and tender and timid. Never before had she thought that she could act like such a cruel and heartless woman - she mostly believed this because her own mother had been the same, and she remembered thinking that when she bore a child, she would make sure it got the love and care it deserved.

They would have never met if it hadn't been for their parents' decision to force them into a marriage. Her parents thought it would be good because he was of a higher social status and she was beautiful - there was no way a man could turn down a woman that looked like her. His parents only wanted him to get the hell out of their house - they didn't care who he married or why or how much money they'd have to supply him with to get him to live on his own. She didn't love him at all, but she was quick to learn what kind of a person he was.

No mother would ever want to raise a child under those kind of circumstances, yet she was afraid to leave.

They sat down at breakfast one morning while their daughter was still sleeping - and they didn't have to be geniuses to figure out why the teenage blonde was so dang tired, either. They knew what had been going on with their child, and he had warned the girl - in a rather vicious manner, of course - that it needed to stop so he could have faith in her marriage with the Kamui's only son.

It seemed his order had not been followed.

He came up behind his wife, who was sitting in a chair at the table, and wrapped one arm around her. His fingers felt at her belly; the little bulge had been growing rapidly in the past week, and he had to admit that it surprised him. A smirk was on his lips as he whispered in her ear in a honeyed tone that gave her no choice but to shiver. His free hand played with a lock of her silken hair.

"Rin's disobeyed us, sweetheart," he told her, though she already knew. He let out a long sigh against her smooth neck - once a nice, creamy tone, though it had recently been marked with blues and purples. The subject of his first daughter changed quickly when he jabbed his finger against her slightly-protruding belly. "It seems she'll be of no use to us. We'll have to try again with this one."

The woman couldn't do so much as even let out the breath she'd been holding all this time, her body quaking with the terror of what he might do to her. After all, she knew not to underestimate him. She'd learned that after seventeen years with the man who had tormented her so long - and would continue to do so for the rest of her life. She found herself speaking, but her voice was brittle like it was untrained, though she was really just fighting off tears and pain that she figured would be quick to come if she displeased him. "Wh-What would you like me to do...?"

He grinned against her skin and brought his hand back down to fish for something in his pocket. When he took it out, he set the jar of liquid on the table in front of his wife. "You are going to give this to her. It won't kill her, if that's what you're thinking. It'll make her appear to be dead. We'll arrange the funeral quickly and get her buried - and she'll wake up sometime after she's already six feet under. She'll die quickly after that - and if anyone ever finds out, it'll just seem like an honest mistake."

His wife's eyes widened in shock, and she turned to look at him in utter surprise. "I-I-I can't do that...! She's my daughter!"

"But we have another one on the way." His finger trailed upward from her belly to trace between her breasts, not stopping under he curled it beneath her chin. "And hopefully our new child won't be a disappointment."

There was a pause before he purred in her ear.

"Now get rid of her."

This was actually gonna be a collection of three tragedies, but I felt that the MikuxKaito and PikoxMiki ones were just no good at all, so I left it at this. I mean, if you want to see them, feel free to follow and let me know and I'll post them, but...?

They all actually turned out to be open-ended, more or less.. :P

Review?

(:Mizune