Well... Here's an update after... Like... EIGHT MONTHS. HOLY CRAP IT'S BEEN EIGHT MONTHS. AM I SO LOST THAT I DON'T EVEN REMEMBER MY STORIES? IT'S ONLY FOUR MONTHS AWAY FROM BEING A YEAR T_T
"Rinto? Wake up, please..."
I can't...
"Yes, you can. You're wasting time."
Rin's eyelids fluttered as she blinked. She was aware of a terrible pain in her waist and her ankle. She stared into the light, and coming to, realized that she was in a large, very plushy, bed. Her fingers curled into the soft mattress and she blinked into the light.
Immediately, apologies bubbled over her lips as she sat upright, wincing as she touched yet another tight bandage around her head. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry, I messed up and I was careless- I took the wrong route, it was dark, and I kept going, and... Is your package okay?" she cried as she clasped her hands together. Feverishly she continued, "And I'm sorry for falling on you and-!"
She was interrupted by a cool hand against her cheek, and his frown. "Be quiet, Rinto."
She nodded abruptly and shut up.
"The package is fine." he removed his hand and raised an eyebrow. "But you are not. Your ankle is broken- It's a wonder how you even got here, and actually, I'm somewhat impressed." His tone was brittle, his stare lightly accusing.
She bit her lip and looked down at her hands, and then at her ankle. It was bandaged neatly.
"Th-Thank you, Master." she mumbled quickly.
"It's fine," he responded contritely, and, stepping back, he brushed his hands against his clothes. "Actually, since you can't move around, I'm heading to the bakery and grabbing some dinner for us. All right?"
She nodded quickly, lips tightly clamped together. God, but she was stupid. Now he'd be doing work and she felt oddly...
Guilty.
Like she'd let him down- Which she had, but on any other day Rin wouldn't have cared squat about what she did to him. Now she felt an uneasy feeling droop in her stomach, and her eyebrows rose, meeting together.
"Okay," she relented quietly. "I'm sorry again-"
But the door slammed, and he was already gone.
~PURE MADNESS~
Gakupo closed the door and sighed quietly, reaching his hands into his pockets. He shortly drew one hand out to mess with the ruffled, lacy collar with the bright purple pendant in the center, but the sharp, cool wind sent his hand right back into his pockets.
That had scared him worse than he thought he would; Rinto stumbling in, his ankle completely destroyed- And then straight off collapsing into his arms.
To think that idiot had actually worried his head off about the package, when, really, he ought to have been caring about himself and his health.
"Master, the package, the package-" he kept mumbling deliriously as Gakupo had carried him to the bedroom. "I failed to get it, didn't I?" And then Gakupo had been forced to completely knock the guy out so he'd stop blabbering about the damned package.
It had scared him though... And why was that guy so light, anyway? And so feminine? Gakupo wasn't so quick as to jump to moronic conclusions about his own feelings, but he had the oddest suspicion that he was starting to get attracted to Rinto.
It was starting to give him a headache, honestly.
~Pure Madness~
"There's a Duke that lives up in the mansion. You've heard of him, I presume?" Rei stirred sugar into his tea- More than he usually had, anyway, as consumed with thought as he was. "Duke Gakupo?"
"Of course," Len said flatly. "Who hasn't? What does he have to do with Rin?"
"Well, you know how he charms girls to his mansion and there's a rumor that he traps them?"
"Yeah, I- Holy hell. You can't- Wait, are you serious? Rin's been kidnapped by that lunatic?" Len stood up, his entire face dark with incredulity.
"Sit down, Len." Rei said lightly. "I said nothing of the sorts. I merely wanted to know if you had heard the rumor."
"Well, yeah, I-"
"-Sit down, Len. Anyway, Rin's gone there to save her friend."
"Her fr- Oh. Oh. Green haired girl?"
"Gumi," Rei said bluntly. "Gumi is her name, and yes, Rin's gone to save her, because they're very close friends. Were very close friends, rather. So, Rin cut her hair to make herself look like a boy, is calling herself Rinto, and she's been trying to get close to the Duke so she can free Gumi."
"Rin," Len banged his head onto the desk. "Rin, you are an idiot.""Well, I knew that," Rei dismissed the statement with the wave of his hand. "But the point is, we're trying to push Rin into killing the guy off. He doesn't deserve to live, you know?"
"What?" Len looked up at that, a frown crossing his lips. Narrow suspicion laced its way into his dark blue eyes. "Kill him?"
"Well, yeah. The guy's a creep. He's been kidnapping girls since the beginning of time."
"From what I heard, girls go on their own. He doesn't kidnap them. And I don't approve of you doing either of these things: Meddling in Rin's business and trying to get her to murder him."
"Don't you hate this though?" Rei demanded spitefully. "The fact that Rin didn't tell you all this, ran off, and is being brainwashed by his charm?"
Len flinched, but immediately said back in a calm voice, "I trust Rin. If she didn't tell me something, there was a reason. And I love her, of course, which means I have to have a certain faith in her. I know she'll do the right thing."
"Oh, come on. Half the time she doesn't even think-!"
Len's eyes flashed in warning and he rose, slamming his hands flat against the desk, rattling it a little bit. "Don't you dare meddle where you don't belong, Rei. This is what got you in trouble with Rin the last time, too, and I don't really want to have a repeat."
"She's doing it, Len!" Rei glared venomously at his friend (or ex-friend) and growled beneath his breath. "She's getting involved with people who are going to hurt her, and I'm just trying to keep her safe, dammit!"
"I understand," Len said quietly, his voice softening as he did indeed understand Rei's intentions. "But you have a really crappy way of wanting to protect someone you love."
Rui looked up from the corner, her head bowed. Tears rose in her eyes and she frowned. "Really, Rei-Rei, Lenny is right. You love Rin, but you're going to need to do a better job that this. I would apologize, firstly, and then secondly, if you're going to protect her, stop trying to get her to kill the Duke."
Rei stopped abruptly, staring at both Rui and Len respectively. "I... But she'll... She'll never forgive me anyway, and so I will observe and help from afar."
Len and Rui exchanged exasperated looks. "Rei-"
"And besides, Len, don't you know that Rin might fall in love?"
"WHAT?" Len stood up again, his eyes blazing. "FALL IN LOVE?" He continued thundering, shadows darkening over his eyes. "NEVER! I WON'T ALLOW IT!" He almost flipped the entire table in rage, yelling at Rei.
As Len waved his hands in the background, yelling at a smug Rei, Rui rolled her eyes, sinking into a couch with her overly sweet cup of tea.
"Why me?"
~PURE MADNESS~
"I'm sorry, Master," Rin apologized for like the millionth time. "I'm really, really sorry."
"Please be quiet," he frowned, looking over from his desk. "I'm doing some very important work right now and I can't deal with your... Apologies, or anything in general for that matter."
Rin nodded silently, watching him from her spot. "Um, are you... Well, do you need anything?"
"With you in that position, it's going to be hard for you to help me at all." he sighed, turning to her. "You can try to rest and get better, at least." He stood over her bed and leaned forward, frowning. "And it's not really going to be good for either of us unless you do so."
"Okay," she said softly, and eventually, with the dim lights and the heavy feeling of safety that settled over her, Rin managed to drift off to sleep.
~PURE MADNESS~
Gakupo wasn't really sure what was happening, but it was definitely happening. He had just been sitting at his desk when Rinto had opened his eyes sleepily from the cot and mumbled about water.
So Gakupo had watched him get up and go get his water, and then drag himself back to his bed. But halfway before making it to the actual mattress, Rinto had conked out on the floor.
Gakupo nearly flipped out, standing up quickly and practically running over to Rinto's side to make sure he hadn't been hurt further.
But no, Rinto was just asleep.
As Gakupo grumbled a little bit, he scooped up the small, light figure and carried him without much difficulty to his bed. There was only one, unfortunate, little problem-
Rinto had been hanging onto him then, and he still hadn't let go.
Gakupo sat by the bed tiredly, his face cradled in his palms. He looked down at Rinto, who had his face pressed into the ruffles of his shirt. His hands were gripping onto the sleeves, and he was curled up awkwardly.
But really, it was kind of... Cute. In a weird way. He looked all vulnerable, holding onto him and stuff.
Gakupo's face reddened and he looked away, temper flaring. He liked girls. Girls. Not girly boys that worked for him, and got themselves in trouble, and looked...
Looked...
So damn cute when they held onto him like he was their purpose of life...
"Don't leave." he'd mumbled, clinging onto him. "Don't want to sleep yet."
So Rinto sleepwalked and sleeptalked. Excellent, just brilliant.
"I'm scared," he continued saying in a slurred, sleepy voice.
"Of what?" Gakupo genuinely wondered what could be scaring Rinto in the safety of his dreams.
"I'm scared of letting them go," he'd responded.
"Letting who go?"
"My mom," he sighed, "And my dad."
"What happened to your mom and dad?" Gakupo, curious now, tilted his head and looked down at the subconscious boy.
"Dead," he responded, the word long and drawn out. "They died in a fire."
"I'm sorry," he said, partly because he had to, partly because he realized something peculiar- Rinto had come here on the basis that he'd wanted to earn money for his mother and sister. Gakupo smiled slightly.
"Really? Do you know anything about it?"
"Of course," he sang sleepily. "It was on purpose. An ... Arson." That alerted Gakupo. He raised his hand to place it gently on Rinto's hair. It felt nice. All soft and silky. He threaded his hand gently through it, only partially thinking. He was very tired, and not quite in the right mind.
"Who did it," he breathed quietly, looking down at Rinto. To his alarm, Rinto seemed to have finally reached his emotions, because his teeth were clenched together. Tears trickled gently down his face.
"I miss them," he said in a soft, dazed voice. "So much." A faraway look on his face, he looked up with his eyelids near closing over his enormous blue eyes.
"I imagine you do," Gakupo rested his face against the younger's head. "I'm sorry."
Rinto's fists loosened and he sunk against Gakupo, finally succumbing to complete sleep.
Gakupo followed shortly after, his head falling against Rinto's.
"Good night..."
Well... Review, plez? I tried putting fluff in this to make up for RantSensei's lack of fluff, LOL.
