Rin Tohsaka tilted her face towards the warm sun and took a long, deep breath to calm the cravings stirring in her chest. Standing on the roof of her school, she panned her cerulean gaze across the sapphire blue sky, dotted with wispy white clouds and the tiny dots of far flung birds. Even standing in the shelter offered by the water tower overhead, she could feel the stiff breeze plucking at her lengthy black hair.
Her empty lunchbox sat beside her on the concrete pedestal supporting the gallon of water and, glancing down at it, she had to smirk. Rin knew what her fellow students said about her when they thought she couldn't hear them; that the high and mighty Tohsaka was too good to eat lunch with the rest of them, that plenty of boys wanted to ask her out but none had been able to muster up the courage to even approach her yet. The girls felt that Rin stole their thunder whenever she did decide to eat at a table with them, and weren't exactly thrilled by it.
She also knew that these were only the most polite ways these whispered comments had been phrased, but the knowledge didn't bother her in the slightest. Why should it? Rin firmly believed that pettiness was a choice and if that was how her classmates wanted to spend their time, then that was their decision to make.
The truth of the matter was far less malicious; Rin knew she had a few aristocratic airs and graces from her upbringing, but she had no grand delusions about being better than her classmates, despite her straight A grades. She was smarter than most of them, that was an undeniable truth, alongside an incredibly gifted Magus from an incredibly distinguished family, but she never looked down on anyone else just because they didn't share her gifts.
Instead, she ate on her own because companionship with her classmates had always been stifled and difficult for her. A good reason, but not the only one. With a cursory glance around the empty rooftop to make sure she was still alone, a gesture that was quickly becoming a habit, Rin slid her hand into the pocket of her school jacket. She needn't have bothered though; no one had ever disturbed her on the rooftop ever since she'd started eating her lunch there and it didn't look like today would be the first time that was about to change.
From where she stood, the Magus could hear the ever present hum of conversation in the yards below as students enjoyed their lunch break together. While close in proximity, they might as well have been miles away for all the chance Rin could be a part of such a carefree lifestyle. No, she was meant for something much more, as her father had told her almost ten years before and that responsibility had created a gulf between her and then as wide as any ocean.
Brushing away the melancholic memory, she pulled the pack of cigarettes out of her pocket, alongside their accompanying lighter. Even now, Rin couldn't help smirking at the sight of them; the Marlboro Red colours ironically matched the crimson shade of her school uniform almost perfectly.
With the breeze plucking almost playfully at her pigtails, Rin opened the pack in and deftly slid a cigarette free. She quickly stuffed the pack back into her pocket and lifted the stick to her lips, holding it in place between the very tips of her fingers. Turning her back to the wind, she hunched her shoulders against it and flicked her lighter into life. As always, it took two or three attempts before the flame sparked and held.
Leaning her head forward, she touched the tip of her cigarette to it, drawing on its butt lightly. Rin let a small cloud of grey smoke puff past her lips as it ignited, before straightening back up and tucking her lighter back into her pocket. The cigarette's ember flared as she filled her mouth with the thick, heavy smoke. Lifting it clear of her lips, she let the barest wisp of it escape lazily past them before drawing the mouthful down into her petite frame, revelling in the soft burn caressing the back of her throat with its passage.
Rin's slender shoulders rose as she filled her lungs to the brim with the thick smoke, her modest breasts pressing against her form fitting school jacket. Holding it there for a long second, she savoured the rich warmth of it inside her, before exhaled a focused, thin plume of wispy smoke into the air. It flowed from her body in a fluid stream, snatched away by the breeze almost as soon as it left her lips. Her shoulder fell and, with them, so did her stress level as her cravings began to subside.
Her muscles reflexively loosened as the cigarette did its work on her system. It wasn't that school had her wound up about anything in particular; no, that would have been too ordinary for a girl like Rin Tohsaka. Instead, it was the fast approaching Holy Grail War that prickled at her nerves. Sooner, rather than later, she would have to summon a Servant and enter into a pact that could end with her death. That would be enough to make any teenage girl a little bit twitchy, but the thought only made her smile. Rin knew that her magical inheritance was second to none that she knew of, matched only by her knowledge of the arcane arts. Still, there was never accounting for sheer, dumb chance in something like the Grail War.
The last wisps of smoke had barely been whisked away by the wind before Rin set the cigarette back between her lips and took another slow drag from it. Her cerulean eyes flickered to its glowing tip, watching as it burnt bright for a second before fading away into grey ash. Lifting it free of her lips, Rin let her hand drop to casually hand by her side as she leaned back against the concrete support block behind her. She tossed her head to clear a stray lock of hair from her eyes as she inhaled the thick, oily smoke down into her lungs. This time, the burn was less severe as it blossomed across the back of her throat, though it did still tickle a little. Almost enough to make her cough, but not quite.
Though she'd been smoking since the age of thirteen, Rin did indulged the habit irregularly enough for the strength of it catch her by surprise sometimes. Habitually flicking the butt of her cigarette, the school girl looked down in time to see a hefty head of ash break apart as it hit the stone tiles at her feet.
Grey smoke coiled from the tip of the cigarette in lazy spirals, swirling languidly past her shoulder when the breeze caught it. Its scent filled her senses and Rin rolled her tongue hungrily around her mouth, savouring the lingering, ashy taste of smoke. She set her left hand on her hip, cocking it to one side as she brought the cigarette back to her luscious lips, assuming a very businesslike stance without even realizing it.
Her drag was long and hard, eyes again drawn to its tip for a brief second as its ember flared bright, before she lifted her gaze to the clear, sapphire blue sky high overhead as she filled her mouth with smoke. It flowed over her tongue, deliciously warm and delightfully smooth, before she dropped her hand back to her side and drew in a deep breath. Again, her slim shoulders rose as the flavoured vapour flooded into her lungs, no longer tickling the back of her throat as it caressed its way through her throat. She exhaled another long, powerful plume of grey smoke into the air, watching as it expanded before her face, swirling and coiling back in on itself over the space of a few heartbeats. She watched as it slowly dissipated, the breeze still for the moment as it allowed her to enjoy the spectacle.
There was something mildly exciting about smoking on the rooftop of the school, where anyone could, technically, discover her secret little habit if they happened to wander up there. Not nearly as exciting as casting magic, maybe, but it still sent a timid tremor of pleasure through her body to so blatantly break the rules. She flicked the butt between her fingertips, letting another light head of ash fall to break apart on the toe of her shoe.
Lifting the cigarette back to her lips, Rin took another firm drag from it, her eyes idly scanning the rooftop as she filled her mouth with the thick smoke. Practically salivating, she lifted it clear, closed her lips and inhaled through her nose, drawing the cloud of thick smoke down into her body. Her breasts rose, pressing pleasantly against the fabric of her school shirt as they rose with her shoulders. A forked stream of blue tinted smoke billowed from her nostrils, rolling down across her neck and chest, where they broke apart quickly.
Clearing her throat in a distinctly unladylike way, Rin flicked another head of dark grey and black ash to the stone at her feet. She'd already smoked half of it, which only testified to the strength of each drag she took from the cigarette, but even then, she had no clear comparison; she knew of no one else at the school who actually shared the habit with her. It wasn't really considered an attractive quality in either boys or girls, which generally discouraged people from taking it up. Of course, this hadn't stopped Rin from doing it anyway. It wasn't like she'd ever tried to impress any of her classmates before, after all, and a little perfume tended to get rid of any of the lingering smells that could give her little secret away.
She brought the cigarette back to her lips, where it bobbed as she took a long, deep pull from it. Its tip flared, ember burning deeper into the tobacco before fading into dark ash once she'd had her fill. Lifting its soft butt clear of her lips, she let them drift closed and inhaled the smoke through her nose again, eyes growing heavy lidded as she focused on the warm sensation of it flooding through her body, allowing the knots along her shoulders finally loosen.
Slipping her left arm across her chest, Rin tucked her hand comfortably into her armpit as she tilted her head back and exhaled a thick, long plume of grey into the air overhead, shoulders falling slowly as the smoke drained from her lungs. Her cerulean eyes watched the cloud break apart and dissipate as the wind whisked through it. A customary flick of its butt and the cigarette was back between her lips, trailing ash.
Her latest mouthful of smoke left her lips in a soft sigh, erupting into the air in a rough, slowly expanding cloud without much form. It unfurled in front of her face, unmoved by the sporadic breeze, slowly and sinuously coiling back in on itself, moving sluggishly as it fell away from her face. Taking a quick breath, Rin blew into the cloud of grey smoke, watching with pleasure as the force created a vortex through its heart. With more smoke trailing from her cigarette's smouldering tip, she swept a hand through the already broken cloud, sending it fading away into nothingness.
Lifting the white and gold stick, Rin turned it slowly between her fingertips, judging that she probably only had one good drag left in it. Smoke flooded from its tip, looping fluidly through the air in mesmerising, repeating patterns. Something about the sight did as much to set her senses at ease as the scent and taste of the smoke itself. Smirking tenderly, Rin brought it to her lips and took one last, long pull from it.
As soon as her mouth was full of smoke, she lifted her cigarette clear of her lips, wisps billowing from its tip. Her shoulders rose as she inhaled it down into her lungs, a final soft warmth rolling through her entire body. Eyes fixed on the glowing ember perched between her fingertips, Rin exhaled the lungful of smoke through her nose, letting it flow down over her chest in a lazy flood of thick gray mist.
Licking her moist lips to savour the last traces of the smoke's taste she could, Rin pushed away from the concrete block and flicked the spent butt over the railing ringing the rooftop, angling it away from the front of the school. Satisfied with her break, she swept one of her shoes through the ash surrounding her feet, dispersing it with ease.
Heaving a contented sigh, the Magus packed back up her lunchbox and spared a glance for the sky, the breeze plucking wistfully at her pigtails. Her cravings were satisfied for now, but of course, the urge would wake again just after school. The thought just made Rin smile.
