Rentarou's lips curved into a half smile as he watched Enju from a distance in her school uniform surrounded by her friends on their way to school. The girls laughed at some comment about their favorite show – though the name of which he could never quite remember. At some point Rentarou had stopped worrying about his own happiness in favor of Enju's and to see her lead as normal a life as he could offer. Satisfied with what he witnessed after walking her to school he turned and headed toward his own, dreading the pointless classes that he continued to be a part of at Magata High School.
Maybe twenty steps toward his destination had passed before there was a scream behind him. It curled his toes and shook his foundation when he recognized it as Enju's causing him to bolt in the direction he had last seen her without a second of hesitation. In the distance he saw a circle of people, adults and children alike, shouting angrily at something in their center. Rentarou had a sinking feeling that the middle contained his Initiator and that somehow it had been discovered that she was a Cursed Child.
"Enju! Enju!" Rentarou shouted as he pushed through the people and children reaching a collapsed Enju. She was limp in his arms as he held her close in his arms kneeling down to her small frame. He shook her lightly, "Enju!"
"Re-Rentarou?" The weak voice brought wetness to the edges of his eyes and he clutched her to his chest.
The weight of worry began to slip away from him but a moment after the girl in his arms became rigid and tiny hands clawed at his back digging nails deep into his flesh and drawing blood. Her body began to tremble and she screamed into his chest before pushing away from Rentarou and scrambling to her feet. Enju broke through the line of people and ran down the street at an inhuman speed screams of agony trailing behind.
Rentarou broke out of his confusion and chased after Enju calling out her name. His heart was pounding so hard it felt like his chest could crumble at any moment from the force and his lungs cried for oxygen. The world had grown dark by the time he caught up to where she had finally stopped, her body crouched over as tears and dribble fell from her pained face. Rentarou approached slowly, "Enju..." his voice a gentle worried whisper.
"Get back!" She managed to bite the words through tightly clenched teeth. Her body seem to convulse under her uniform and she held herself tightly, nails ripping at the fabric as if her skin were aflame with an itch she couldn't quite scratch. The familiar sound of bubbling and crackling sending a clear message to Rentarou.
"Enju, Enju no we can still stop it. We just have to-" He tried to approach her, his hand shaking and his face wet with tears. He had trouble believing that the day had come, the time where she crossed over and no longer could hold back the Gastrea infection. For a moment time seemed to stand still as Enju looked up at Rentarou with soft red eyes, eyes she had looked up at him with many times, filled with love.
Then it happened, her body erupted. The flesh of the girl he so lovingly had caressed and felt so many times against his own hard skin scattered across the asphalt in red chunk. The roar of the monstrous beast echoed through the streets as its hardened skin glimmered with Enju's blood. It towered over Rentarou and looked down at him with malice.
At that moment Rentarou's eyes snapped open. His body was covered in sweat, his heart was racing, his face streaked with tears, and he could feel the iron of his blood from where his teeth had pressed too deeply into his lower lip. Only moments passed before he recognized the room of their home, the small bedroom with the cracked window where the moonlight lit the room. As his breathing slowed he could feel the light breath against his neck from the small body lying beside him with her arm draped over his chest clinging onto the white tank-top he slept in and her legs tucked in against his side.
He reached up slowly with his hand and placed it against the one she held at his chest. His fingers smoothed lightly along her knuckled and the back of her hand, then down along her thin arm – such small fists and arms that packed the amount of strength of twenty grown men, maybe more. Her skin was so soft and smooth like the skin of young girl should be. A soft heart beat pounded against the arm she was cuddle up against and her chest expanded and fell against him in soft rhythms that he could follow and be mesmerized by. She's human, he thought to himself, I don't care what anyone says, she's human and I'll save her.
The glinting of orange on the horizon signified that his nightmare had woken him not too long from morning. It felt like he hadn't slept at all and a light pounding at the back of his skull signified a long day ahead of himself. Further sleep wouldn't help anything, so he slid out from under the clutches of Enju and silently left the room sliding the door closed. He made a b-line for the bathroom, relieving the stored up liquids in his bladder and starting the shower. The water took far too long to heat up - the dreadful effects of an aged boiler in a run down apartment, but it was better than being homeless. He stood under the warm water with his head hanging right under the shower head, the water drowning out sound as it pounded against his scalp and cascaded over his ears and face. It was his own personal bubble of comfort and it eased his headache.
Not long into the morning he had finished getting dressed and was in the midst of finishing breakfast as well as packed boxed lunches for the both of them. Yesterday had lead them to a sale on mushrooms, and so breakfast consisted of mushroom in beef broth, mushroom omelet, and stir fry mushroom on rice – the left overs which were being used for lunch. Just as he set down the plated on their dining table, a bleary eyed and bed-head Enju slid open the door.
"Good morning, Rentarou," the small girl mumbled as she clung onto the pillow from their futon, an odd ritual she kept whenever he left bed early. She had likely clung to it all morning, basking in his scent and slowly ebbing warmth.
"Ah, Enju. I was hoping the smell of food would wake you. Good morning, hurry up and get ready before the food gets cold." Rentarou waved her to the bathroom as he turned to tackle the dirty dishes. Most people hated washing dishes, and Rentarou was no exception, but he had long realized that in a small apartment, even one missed washing of dishes would easily lead to a mess that no one would want to clean. So he bit back his distaste for the mundane task and got through them as quickly as he could.
Soon enough Enju was her energetic self, fresh out of the shower and dressed in her school uniform she hugged Rentarou and kissed his cheek affectionately. "Ah, Rentarou! This looks delicious! Thanks for the food!" she squeaked before dropping down in front of her own meal and shoveling down omelet and beef broth.
"Yes. Slow down though, before you give yourself a stomach ache." Rentarou picked at his own plate, avoiding Enju's eyes for a moment as the wetness she left on his cheek dried. She smelled like cherry blossoms and the scent hung around him for a moment. But it wasn't the flustering that she caused in him that had his eyes downcast, it was the uniform she wore so proudly that bothered him. The images of his nightmare were still clear in his mind and it was difficult knowing the reality of the situation that her life was on a strict timer, constantly being strained and tested as they fought the Gastrea.
"Rentarou?" She poked around some mushroom in her bowl before looking up. "Is mushroom good for growth?"
"Eh. I guess so, I don't think it's as high in protein as meet but its definitely better than just eating rice." He at a particularly large piece of mushroom so as to prove his point, a piece of rice stuck to his cheek.
"I just want to grow, maybe if I had boobs like Kisara you'd be happier about getting married to me." She peaked into her uniform at her nubile chest. "I know you like big racks."
"Why are you making me sound like a pervert? You're fine the way you are." He frowned at Enju, but didn't bother to correct her again, for the hundredth time, that they were not going to get married.
"Ah! Does that mean you think I'm cute, Ren-ta-rou?" she teasingly punctuated his name, then reached across the table and took the piece of rice from his cheek eating it and glowing with pride. "You'll be my husband yet!"
"Don't be such brat! Hurry up or we wont make it to school, I don't feel like speeding like hell is after us on our bike today."
"Okay, okay! Think we'll get any jobs today?"
"Well we better soon, Kisara is starting to blame me for our lack of business. It's irritating."
"Don't worry. We're the best team ever, the city just doesn't realize that yet!" Enju pumped her fist in declaration, then finished her food. "Okay let's go! I can't wait to get to class today! We're doing pottery today, it's a lot of fun!"
Her energy and voice drew Rentarou away from his darkness and he had soon put his nightmare in the back of his mind. Enju always sounded so happy around him and strong willed, he knew that behind that there were horrors that would probably drive anyone else to broken tears, but she was so strong.
Not long after the school session was over, Rentarou found himself in the Tendo Civil Security office sitting in a chair across from a irate looking Kisara. The office was a little shabby, some old desks and chairs sat scooted to either side, unused. The rent for this place had been cheap, however, and Kisara was adamant about wanting an office because of professionalism so here they were. He sat silently, leaning back in the wooden chair and inspecting his varanium ammunition for flaws, but mostly avoiding the dense uncomfortable silence between himself and the President, as she liked to be called.
"We missed two jobs, Rentarou! TWO!" She glowered at him over her fists which she had been resting her head on. "You should have left class to respond to the situations!"
"I told you, Kisara, I had an exam and the professor wasn't taking any excuses."
"It's President Tendo at work and your job should come first!"
"If I don't pass high school I wont be allowed to remain a promoter. You know the rules implemented by the association."
"That's besides the point!" She slammed down her fist, but then sighed. "You're right. But how are we supposed to compete with other groups if we can't work during peak hours!" She hid her face behind her hands, "we're running out of money and if we don't get paying work soon we might have to shut down way before we've even really had a trying start."
Rentarou place his gun on the desk and stood up to get around the desk and stand behind Kisara. His hands rested on her shoulders and he lightly massaged them. It seemed to take a while, but eventually she relaxed into them, leaning her head against his arm and sighing again. Deep down she knew that she couldn't have gotten very far without Rentarou. It'd been a while now since they'd began a relationship, one they kept hidden from Enyu more so to spare her feelings than to be unkind, and it had been Kisara who insisted that they also separate their work and relationship because it made things easier for them both.
However, right now, with the stress of losing a business and not finding work, along with the continued need for dialysis, was really getting to her and she appreciated the sudden shift of work into affection. Rentarou had never been one to easily convey his emotions and thoughts, but his silent caressing and physical affection always seemed to come at the right times, it came naturally to him even as Kisara sometimes shied away.
Thus, it was a bit of a surprise to have Kisara stand in front of Rentarou suddenly and embrace him, catching him off guard enough to bring a rose color to his cheeks, if faintly, but he soon wrapped his arms around her in response. Her hair smelled of roses and it was silky smooth to his touch as he rested his cheek for a moment on the top of her head. The embrace could have lasted an eternity and neither of them would have complained, but it wasn't long before they loosened enough to kiss each other. The kissing went from light pecks and tender exploration to hungrier longer lasting indulges with tongues dancing together and giving rise to panting, heated breaths.
Rentarou pushed aside some paperwork eliciting a frown momentarily from Kisara, but he pulled her by her waist and pushed her onto the cleared space before she could open her mouth to complain. Instead, she let out a whimper as his teeth dug into her neck and his body pressed into hers parting her slender legs. Her lengthy hair was the only thing that allowed his prowling mouth to leave a line of reddish purple bruises on her neck as it hid their lewd implications. Nothing pushed Kisara so quickly into the mood like the near ravishing of her neck and the stiff strong fingers that he currently pressed against her inner thighs.
"Rentarou, no. Wha-what if someone comes in? This is work, mmf, this is where we work." But her weakened words went unanswered as his lips carried him to her collarbone. Here he had to be careful to not leave marks, as tempting as it would be, but he was able to move aside her school uniform collar enough to nibble at it.
His fingers of his left hand trailed along her inner thigh slowly riding up her skirt to the warm nether regions. They crawled slowly letting the finger tips act almost as feathers along the supple thigh inching closer to her blue spotted panties that were soaked with a wetness she could only turn red at his discovery. His fingers pressed against that wetness and he kissed her with a hunger that was met with soft moans from his pressing digits. Her knees pressed against his sides and her nails trailed up his shirt and dug into his skin unable to speak but wanting to draw him into herself, pained that they were not bare skinned. The thought of this pushed her to reach for his pants, wanting to feel what she knew would be pulsing under his slacks, what was currently pressing immense heat against her a cupping palm.
But the shrill sound of Rentarou's cellphone shattered the moment into a million pieces. Enju had changed his ring tone again to her high pitched voice nearly yelling, "PICK UP, STUPID. PICK UP, STUPID," likely a consequence of having forgotten to answer a call at some point. For a moment Rentarou and Kisara stared at each other, a tempting moment to try and ignore the call and try to restore the mood, but they both knew it was futile.
Rentarou reluctantly answered the call: "Yes, Enju?"
"Stupid, it's past dinner time! Where are you? Are you going to make me starve?"
"Okay, calm down I'm just at the office with Kisara, going over some work." He idly ran his thumb along the cheek of a still out of breath Kisara as he said this, noting that she was still too flushed to correct him. "I should be home soon, I'm leaving now."
She pouted as he hung up, probably the cutest he'd seen her in a while and likely the effects of actually being stressed out enough to let her guard down. He knew it wouldn't last, tomorrow she'd probably yell at him for distracting her today. Still, he took advantage of the moment and sucked tenderly on her puffed out lower lip and kissed her again before taking his leave.
She glowered after him as he closed the door, Enju was always cutting their time short.
