Runaway

It's three hours past midnight.

It's three hours past midnight and Rin is executing the thirty-minute escape plan she made a year ago because tomorrow her parents are going to drag her to visit (for, what, the fifth time this year) one of the most insufferable bastards on this forsaken earth to discuss her upcoming wedding.

And honestly, she could have tolerated it, she would have tried, but he's the youngest and they would need heirs and she was not going to get pregnant with him, of all people. Unfortunately, her parents are hell-bent on making an alliance between the Kagamines and the Shimodas and they refuse to entertain the notion of reconsidering this arrangement.

So she's running away.

During one of those bullshit pre-wedding trips, she'd been allowed one hour and a pocketful of change to run loose in one of the passing cities (of course with a chaperone), but she's a pro at hide-and-seek and had dodged him easily. One set of the cheapest clothes imaginable, cleverly tucked under her usual clothes, was a convincing potbelly. Her mother had complained about her gaining too much weight.

"It's not healthy to eat so much," Mother says. Whatever.

Anyway, it's three hours past midnight and she's snuck out of her bedroom and is on her way to freedom. She's memorized the guard shifts and knows that the one who drinks the most is on duty by the north gate. His partner is bribed.

She's ushered out the gate quickly, and soon finds herself along the river. Its roar should block out the sound of her footsteps and gain her some time because no one goes to the river at this time of the night. No one except her.

She draws the cloak around her tighter and starts walking.

A pair of rough hands shake her into consciousness.

The next thing she notices is the heat. Her clothes stick to her skin. Her forehead feels damp.

She also has a headache.

"I think ye got heatstroke, kid."

It's too bright to open her eyes wider than slits. Home is usually dimmer than this, even on the brightest of days. She tries to sit up. Her head pounds harder and she gives up.

There's a shuffle, then a few minutes of silence. The voice returns and slaps something cold over her head. It's also wet. Everything's wet. Where is she?

Another voice. Too far away for her to hear properly. A woman, maybe. It carries her inside. The floor is cold. It holds a cup to her mouth.

"Drink," it says. She does. Some of it spills out. A part of her thinks how pathetic, I must look like an infant while the rest doesn't care.578Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1I9oJm4Hmu

The water is delicious.

A few minutes or a few hours later, she thanks the doctor and her husband for their generosity. The husband, a farmer, says "Hiding on a hay wagon in this weather? Ye practically askin' for trouble," while the doctor just tells her to drink water. The last time she drank river water she got diarrhea, but she isn't going to argue this one. They're surprisingly nice to her, given that she stowed away and probably wasted a large portion of their day, but she won't look a gift horse in the mouth. Even though she's never owned a horse.

Anyway, she's stuck in an unfamiliar village (but all villages are unfamiliar) with no money and no food. And if she's correct, it's only a half-day journey from her home and she does not want to risk being caught. She might be able to find food on the road, but she doesn’t know shit about edible plants and animals. Besides, she can’t even hunt.

Not that she would want to. Watching the servants gut fish is disgusting enough; actually doing it makes her want to puke.

She definitely can’t go back to the doctor, and anyone else she comes across stares at her like she’s got the plague. Bribery’s not an option, and besides, she would just use that money to buy food herself.

Alright. So she’s screwed.

Maybe she can set herself up as a street performer. Dance or something. That would be a great idea if she weren’t wasting what little of a head start she had by wandering around like this.

Ugh. This would have been so much easier if she’d brought more money and oh, look, that guy looks like he’s leaving. Are eighty-year-old men easier to convince? She might as well go find out.

“Hey, uh, sir?” she asks. The man turns around, and it turns out he isn’t eighty after all. He also looks confused and kind of annoyed. “So sorry to bother you, but —” Quick, make up a tragic backstory he can’t possibly refuse, “— my parents are dying of a deadly illness and the doctor here doesn’t have the medicine to heal them and I need to go somewhere that has a doctor who does so can I please come with you?”

He’s still annoyed, but maybe she’s getting through. “I really really need it! The doctor said they might die soon, and I’d pay you but I don’t have any money...”

Rin plasters on her best ‘pity me’ face and waits for a response. After another minute of deliberation, the man sighs and waves her on the horse.

“I’ve got a schedule to stick to so don’t expect a ride back,” he says. Fine by her. It's not like she's planning to come back to this dump.578Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFSjbas4TTo

The sky is darkening rapidly. They've been on the road for maybe an hour before Rin realizes that hey, maybe travelling with a total stranger in the middle of fucking nowhere isn't the best idea, but it's too late for her to back out now.

He travels faster than she expected. She isn't any kind of expert on horses, but by the time they reach civilization again, the poor thing looks ragged. Stranger doesn't notice or doesn't care. She gives it a reassuring pat on its side.

They enter a farming village even smaller than the last. The horse is barely going at a walk. He stops it in front of a house near the edges of the village and gestures to it.

"Here you go," he says.

Rin takes a closer look. It's shabbier than she expected. "The doctor lives here?"

"No, I figured you were lying about your parents."

Damn. She needs to brush up on her acting skills.

Behind them, the door opens with a slam, and a disheveled woman pokes her head outside.

"The hell's going on?"578Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIR3pRyUg2b

(A/N: this is probably shit. If it is, sorry for making you sit through all that.

Chapter 2 is coming some time on 2088. If this site is still up by then.)

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