Rin POV
"You have gone nuts."
I stared below me at churning water, and he grinned.
"All you have to do is jump. Unless you're scared."
"WHAT? I. AM. NOT. SCARED!"
"I think you are." He yawned, and looked at me with an amused smirk that irritated me to no end.
"Fine!" I growled. "You do it then!"
"You first!"
"What, so you can walk away, laughing at how stupid I am to fall for your tricks?"
"Hmmm." He surveyed me, and then pushed what can only be described as a frond of hair out of his eyes. "How about we jump together?"
"What? No! They only do that in cheesy romance movies!"
He rolled his eyes. "In what cheesy romance movie have you seen two lovers holding hands and jumping off cliffs?"
"Um..."
"Ex-actly."
"Okay, but you have to- AAAAAH!" He had shoved me! I cut through the air, but my wings automatically sprung out, thinking I had taken off for flight.
Uh-oh.
Flaming wings + Churning water = Bad.
I tucked in as I sliced through the water. My wings fizzled and hissed, and my back burned so badly that I screamed. Actually, scratch that. I'd been screaming for a while now. I writhed in the water as my wings struggled to stay aflame.
"Rin!" Kuo's head burst through the waves. "Rin! Aw, crap it-!" He caught sight of my wings, and I thrashed in the water.
"Help..." I mouthed through the painful masquerades of fire and water that trapped me.
He took my hand and powerfully surged towards the shore. He pulled me out, his face a mask of terror and guilt.
"Rin! I'm really sorry..."
I managed to laugh bitterly, as the noises of crackling and sizzling subsided. "Nah. It was kinda my fault, maybe I should have warned you about that teeny side effect."
"You idiot!" A gorgeous teal-haired girl burst through the waves and shook her fist at me.
I groaned. "Sorry, Miku, for polluting your waves."
"What are you doing here you no-good birdbrain?"
"None of your business, whale tail."
She peeked at her green, scaly, tail and pouted. "Nuh-uh! My tail is beautiful!"
She took a pearl studded comb from her hair and began brushing it agonizingly.
"Seriously, though, get off my l- whoa... Who are you?"
Her eyes fell on Kuo and widened. She giggled, disappeared, and reappeared on a rock in front of us. She flipped her hair.
"You mermaids. Flirty and stupid as ever." I rolled my eyes in disgust and turned away.
"What's your name?" Miku cooed. Kuo grinned in a loopy way, and I facepalmed. Stupid mermaid charms.
"Hey! Snap out of it, moron!" I pulled him away, but he shook me off and turned to Miku.
"Hi...you're pretty." He said, his words rushed.
"I know." Miku rolled her eyes, and then batted her long eyelashes, drawing him in. She was about to pull him in the water, and probably drown him, but my wings extended and I brushed them against Kuo, burning his...er...rear end.
He hopped up, his eyes clearing as he glared at me. "What the hell, Rin?" He argued.
"When you're done swooning over fish-breath over there, I'm on the way back to the castle." I sent a fleeting wave at him, and he sheepishly caught up with me.
"And I wasn't swooning!"
"Hi...you're pretty." I mocked, my voice a dopey imitation of his.
He flushed red.
"Shut up!"
Mikuo POV
My face still red, I looked back at the beautiful mermaid pouting on the rock, and then looked back to the adorable phoenix princess sarcastically smirking in front of me. How weird did that sentence sound? Very weird.
I laughed nervously. "I really wasn't intentionally flirting."
Rin sent me a glance that questioned my intelligence.
"Miku's mom is a siren and her dad is a merman." I frowned. "She can lure people in with her voice and beauty."
"Rin, I really didn't mean to- Whoa!"
My foot caught on a rock and I fell forward onto her.
"Aah! Kuo!" She stammered as we toppled on the ground, palms together.
She looked up at me, her blue eyes startlingly wide.
"What the hell, Kuo?"
"It was an accident!" I blushed, getting off of her and helping her up.
"Uh-huh."
"Wh-What's that supposed to mean?"
Rin merely smiled infuriatingly, and I followed her to the castle. "Rin! Riiin!" I complained. Her wings were slowly regaining their lovely tricolor flames.
"Come on, whiny."
"Hey, Rin!" Kaito came out, his expression irritated. "Where am I sleeping?"
"Um." She said brilliantly. "With your brother, I guess."
"Sure." I said with a grin. "Wait, what?" The thought came rushing into my head more clearly. I grabbed Rin's shoulders. "You are nuts if you think I am sleeping with him."
She sent me a sheepish grin and Kaito yawned.
"Well, it's either you, bro, or... Rin herself."
I froze at the thought of my perverted brother sharing a bed with poor, innocent, Rin.
Wait, scratch that. I don't think Rin is very innocent in any aspect. But she was surely too innocent for my brother's... um, suggestive, antics.
"KAI-TO!" I roared. "Fine, you can sleep with me." He grinned and went back inside.
"I can take care of myself." Rin blushed.
I rolled my eyes and shot a look of disgust after my moron of a brother.
"Look, Rin, if Kaito catches you alone or something... Just avoid him, kay?"
"What? I'm practically engaged to him, moron."
I turned fiercely on her. "I don't care. He can be very, very, weird."
She shrugged. Was she really that childlike?
"Y-You know wh-what? Let's j-just go inside." I said, my head tilted exasperatedly.
"Okay, then."
Rin climbed the velvet-lined stairs hesitantly, then stopped in front of her room.
Then she stepped forward and hugged me.
Like in the anime, it was somewhat slow-mo, and golden beams lit up the air in my imagination.
"R-Rin?" Her small fists tightened around the clothes I was wearing.
"I had fun today. Thanks, Kuo. Good night." She smiled, and then walked back into her room, her eggshell bow fluttering behind her.
I slowly came to my happy senses. "Yeah, good night Rin."
