~ Ties of Love ~ [Sequacious x Vampire]

[Kirksome]

Rin wasn't blind to the fact that the demon was intentionally running faster than him. In fact, he bitterly welcomed it. It was now clear how she was feeling; she had that bounce to her jog that revealed that she was trying to show him up. He knew better than to challenge her when she was like this, so even though he didn't like giving up, he slowed down to make sure she stayed ahead of him--that was obviously what she wanted. He soon discovered that this was unnecessary; she was doing a fine job of keeping ahead of him herself. He rolled his eyes, feeling slightly annoyed at her attitude, and sped up.

The 10 laps were complete. The teacher brought her clipboard out and examined it for a second. Her brow started to furrow. "Stretch out for a few minutes," she ordered, and headed over to the bleachers seemingly to scribble things on her clipboard.  

[Kirksome]

Rin placed his legs out in front of him and tried to stretch. He got down, maybe an inch, before his hamstrings started to sear with pain and he had to bring his body back up. He gave Lundi a sidelong glance and bitterly watched her being flexible and sexy. He of course knew how flexible she was, but he had never seen it from a distance like this. He rolled his eyes and brought his legs out wide, as per the teacher's command. He again tried to stretch, but this time the inside of his knees hurt, so he sat up straight again and decided not to even try anymore. Instead, he resolved, he would glance subtly at Lundi the whole time while pretending not to care about something so below him as stretching.  

[Kirksome]

Rin glanced bitterly at Lundi when she started to laugh. It was a really mean laugh. She was obviously making fun of him for his attempts to stretch. What a b***h. He lowered his eyes and very deliberately looked away. Why was she being so mean to him? He brought his knees up to his chest and ran a finger across the floor in an attempt to make Lundi pity him, or at least feel bad.

But just then, the teacher called everyone up, announcing that they were going to be working dribbling drills for basketball. Rin usually liked basketball, but today he really didn't want to do anything so... effort-ful.  

[Kirksome]

Rin instantly brightened when he saw Lundi asking for help. No matter how bitter he had felt, he could never stay angry at her. He smiled and told her, "It's not too hard. You'll pick up the rules as we go along--just remember to only dribble with one hand, and to not go anywhere without dribbling," he demonstrated by bouncing the ball on the floor a few times. "And only throw the ball in the opponent's hoop." Was there anything he was forgetting? Probably. He'd remember soon enough.  

[Kirksome]

At first, it seemed to Rin that Lundi was intentionally sucking at basketball. Maybe she was trying to make him feel good. Maybe she finally realized that she couldn't use her magic to make herself great at everything. Maybe she was pretending to suck for some unknown reason. However, as time passed, it dawned on Rin that Lundi really couldn't play basketball. She just plain stunk. Well, that was one thing that he could to that she couldn't. The only thing, maybe. Rin smiled and decided to flaunt. He kept himself open during the whole game, yelling, "I'm open! I'm open!" but to his embarrassment, the only time he got the ball was when it rebounded off the backboard into the out-of-bounds and he was the closest available person to retrieve it. To make matters worse, Lundi soon left the game to resume stretching, and he knew that even if he did get a chance to show off, Lundi wouldn't see it. Sighing, he eventually drew out of the drill to join her. "Hey," he said as he sat down. It felt weird to be initiating conversation after all the silence. He hoped that Lundi wouldn't think it was weird.  

[Kirksome]

She...she might stay? For the whole rest of the school year? Rin smiled. Everything else seemed insignificant. They would have another good, few months together--and, maybe in that time, Rin could convince Lundi to stay permanently. He scooted closer to her, and wrapped his arms around her body. "I'm glad you've decided to stay," Rin told her. "I would have been pretty lonely if you left. Then I'd have to try to follow you, and then I might die or something going into the land of demons, and I--" He stopped. Was Lundi really sensitive about the human stereotype of all demons being evil? Or were they really all jerks, like mythology said? In which case, Lundi wouldn't really have reason to get indignant.  

[Kirksome]

Oh. That was ominous. He knew he shouldn't ask--but his natural boy side kicked in. "Like what? Worse than death? Like torture? How? Why?" He really wanted to know! It hadn't really occurred to him before, but what exactly did these demons consider right and wrong? The couldn't all be that evil--for Lundi loved him, and how could a creature that loved be bad?  

[Kirksome]

Rin frowned in thought. "Why would you keep a pet that wanted to eat people?" This was a legitimate question--but there was something more pressing to also ask, "Why would you keep a pet big enough to eat people?" Yeesh. That's just dumb.