A/N: I am not deaaaaaaaaad. I'll update other stuff soon too. ...Come to think of it even though it's the holidays I haven't been very active...

One floor above Rei, Aria breathed.

The breath slid down her windpipe and rattled in her chest, a horrific reminder that she was still alive but Rei wasn't.

even though it should have been the other way around —

Her heart was racing, pounding in her ribcage like it was never going to be stopped, but she needed to collect her nerves. The textbooks were still lying in a mess on the floor, and she bent down to pick them up, deliberately going slow to calm her mind. It was impossible that he was still around (even if it was as a spirit) because after all, didn't Izanami-no-Mikoto-sama promise her that she would not touch Rei? Didn't she? (But she knew somewhere in her heart that promises could be broken and gods were adept liars.)

liar liar pants on fire —

"Sensei?" Her student's quiet voice (quiet because she knew Aria had to think) reminded her that she was there and she had seen. Another pair of hands began to help, speeding up the process (but she would really, rather not want the help). In no time at all, the textbooks were in a pile in Aria's hands, and she looked up to smile shakily at the girl looking at her.

"Thank you, Miku."

The girl nodded, features fixed emphatically, her dark blue hair swinging in time. "Anytime."

=-x-=

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.

.

=-x-=

"Who was that?" After waiting for about an eternity for the dreaded question, Miku finally dropped the bomb. Her eyes glinted with curiosity and she skipped ahead, balancing two-dozen textbooks in one hand. Sometimes Aria forgot how strong her friend/student/fellow Miko/fellow undead was, compared to herself, and it...frightened her.

(frightened her

— knowing what that power was used for

— knowing where the power came from

— knowing the source of that power was just as powerful)

scary. scary scary scary scary easy kill scary scary horrible blood scary —

"Aria!" She was on the floor, weight on her stomach, a girl on top of her (a monster on top of her, a killer on top of her) — she blinked. A face came into focus — black hair golden eyes — she blinked again. The light shifted and a face with softer cheeks and teal blue eyes replaced the previous face. This face was worried, muscles under the eyes twitching in an effort to not cry. She opened her mouth to rasp out a I'm okay but an invisible pressure closed around her throat and she thrashed, limbs flailing about in fear.

(it reminded her horribly of how she died)

Her right hand connected with something solid and she pushed with all her force. Both the weight on her stomach and the invisible pressure disappeared, replaced with something that was a mixture of a yelp and a cry, then the faint rustling of clothes, followed by a huge smack that could only come from colliding with the wall, and a last cry of freaking hell.

"What the heck Aria!" Aria struggled up, leaning on her elbows as she found a cursing Miku. A slim hand had sneaked its way to her nose, red and sore, and no doubt dry even though it should have gotten a nosebleed. "I have a nosebleed!"

Aria sighed, her racing heart slowing down once her mind realized that no, she wasn't going to be killed. Again.

and again and again and again and again —

"Miku," she spoke slowly, clearly, looking pointedly at the girl, "we both know that we don't bleed." The girl slowly slid her hand down and frowned, clearly displeased that her trick was seen through. She tsked childishly and turned away resolutely, keen on ignoring yet still standing up with the stack of textbooks. Aria thought that she was going to just walk away, but when Miku's back hit the wall and stayed there, she smiled, the corners of her lips tugging up.

"I am not waiting for you all day, you know!"

=-x-=

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.

.

=-x-=

"I will not be waiting for you." Rin paused to slice off a piece of meat from her steak before continuing. "That was what I said twenty minutes earlier when I asked for you to come down for dinner."

"I'm sure you had a wrong definition of ask then. If I recall, knocking briefly on someone's door before walking away does not imply ask. Do you need a dictionary?" He pulled the seat back, mentally cursing when the legs got caught in the carpet.

"No no, I couldn't possibly ask someone like you to find the dictionary. I am afraid you would only retrieve a magazine since all books are the same to you."

"Oh, I'm sure even a magazine would have the definition of something as simple as ask. Then again, I don't expect you to be even able to find it."

"The same goes to you as well. I am not even sure if you could recognize what a book is."

"Well I'm not sure if you even have the brain cells to read."

The shfff of cutlery against steak brought them back to their senses, reminded them that their parents were present to watch their childish squabbles and they were not at all pleased at this immature display. Len immediately shut up and concentrated on cutting the stupid piece of meat, smirking when he looked up to find his sister frowning, not happy that she didn't get the last say. In your face! That'll show your meager brain cells.

She must have activated twin telepathy somehow because the hand that was clenching the steak knife whitened and he had no doubt that in her mind, she was summoning up a list of 100 ways to kill you brother. (Actually, make that 101 ways because she was probably adding killing with a steak knife during dinner to the list. He really could guess what she was thinking.)

"Rin, I understand there's a new transfer student?" Their mother addressed Rin and she snapped to attention, back straighter than before if that was even possible, and nodded. His sister had always aspired to become a woman like their mother — strong, strict, beautiful, graceful...blah blah blah — the epitome of women (apparently, according to her diary).

"There has. In fact, there have been a total of fourteen transfer students." He perked up, interested in the conversation now. The sudden influx of students was strange, especially so in this small neighborhood school, not to mention the boring act of moving into this small town. Father hmmed, and Len blinked, surprised to find the head of the family interested in such a mundane matter. After all, their father was never interested in anything school-related, preferring to leave such matter into their mother's hands. (Which was probably also why Rin was the more, ah, lovable one.) And he couldn't picture his father being curious about school when for the last ten years he showed no interest in anything except for his business and spiritual matters.

Their father believed in gods, and perhaps that was why he planted all those sakaki shrubs, Len realized. After all, these plants were sacred in the Shinto religion, and the town had plenty of Shinto shrines, didn't it? Len himself passed by a few shrines usually when he was walking to school (unless it was raining because he disliked walking down staircases in the rain).

(It was just bad.)

"I do hope that you will take care of them properly, Rin. This would make up for you missing out on the President seat." Leave it to their mother to drop insults like it was nothing, and he could see that it affected his sister, from the subtle tightening of knife and the slight wrinkle in her brows. As much as he appreciated the mutual hate they had for each other, he couldn't help but feel an inkling of pity. Mother had been harsh on her when the results for the Student Council President seat came in.

Harsh wasn't the word to describe the screams during the night.

"Yes, Mother." Her unclipped hair was covering her eyes now, but twin telepathy told him that there was anger and disgust swirling beneath those cerulean depths. Both twins disliked their mother — and it wasn't just because of the way she treated him. At least that was something they had in common, whether they wanted or not.

"I'm done," the clank of knife and fork against empty plate announced his exit from the stressful conversation, and surprisingly, his father's too. He blinked, staring at his father's cold blue eyes, still surprised. Perhaps even his father felt that such a conversation was too hazy, touched on topics too close to heart — who knew, maybe he did have some kind of fatherly feelings for them. That was until his father spoke. It had been such a long time since Len heard the head of the family speak without a shred of distaste (towards his incompetent son).

"Don't scramble up things of the past, Maika. Rin here is guilty enough as it is. I'm sure she'll work hard...won't she?" The sentence was directed at Rin but his father's gaze shifted minutely in his direction, the underlying hint clear as day for Len.

It seemed that the gift to insult people by dropping hints ran in their family.

He bit down hard on his bottom lip as he climbed the stairs to his room (and his freedom). Just when he thought that father and son had something in common the father just had to shatter everything into dust. Just like always.

But he should have learnt not to expect anything. He should have learnt.

A/N: Miku finally appears! What is with the Kagamine family? What is the relationship between IA (Aria) and Rei? And Miku? And Len? And basically every single character?

...As if I'm going to tell. /winks