It had been a few days since Rin and Lancer had first had sex. The past few days went by like they usually did, Rin going to work and classes, but now her free afternoon's and nights were spent with Lancer. They no longer held themselves back from each other, and Rin was starting to get a bit exhausted. She didn't get much sleep most nights, but she didn't mind all too much. At least, she didn't mind when it was happening, but at times like this, she really missed her peaceful nights. She was at work, and she still had 4 hours until she got off, and then she still had a few classes to go to.
She sighed to herself as she realized how careless she had been. Tonight, for sure, she would get some sleep. She would lay down the line with Lancer tonight so she could finally get some well needed rest….Or so she told herself. But, then again, she had told herself the same thing yesterday, but once he had started kissing down her neck, she couldn't resist. She was currently organizing some papers in the holding room, but she only had a few more minutes until her lunch break.
She had been trying to focus lately, but with the lack of sleep and the constant thoughts of Lancer that conflicted her mind, she found doing anything increasingly hard.
Rin glanced down at her watch and, seeing the time, left the room to take her break. She walked out of the building and headed for the café across the street. She normally brought her lunch, but this morning she had been too tired and had forgotten to pack one. She had enough money to get a little something, and besides, she really enjoyed the things the café had to offer.
As she entered the café, she automatically spotted a seat next to one of the windows in the corner of the shop, and briskly made her way to it. She realized when she sat down that it was the perfect looking spot to see the entire shop.
Not long after she had put in her order for a turkey sandwich and a small tea, a young male around her age came walking over to her table with what looked like her order. He was wearing the apron of the café, so she obviously assumed he worked there. He had long silver hair that was pulled back in to a low pony tail, but it still came down to his waist. His skin was a perfect pale porcelain, and his mouth held a small grin. She couldn't help but stare at him as he made his way over to her. He was very beautiful, and if it weren't for his broad shoulders and obviously chiseled arms and height, she might've been able to mistake him for a girl.
Rin was pulled out of her thoughts when the young man finally got to her table. He gently set down her food for her, and as Rin looked up to thank the man, she gasped rather loudly from surprise. After she realized how loud it had been, she could feel her cheeks heat up pretty fast. She glanced down at her food, but she wasn't really focused on it.
"Miss, are you alright? Did I do something offensive?" She looked back up then to the man in front of her. Her eyes involuntarily widened when she saw his eyes again. They were startling and beautiful, but something had caused her to remember something she wasn't very fond of. His eyes were a bright crimson color, but with a slight ring around the pupil of white. It reminded her of Illyasviel. So much so that, if Rin hadn't known any better, she would've thought they could've been siblings. But... it wasn't possible, right?
She heard the man's voice again, and she finally registered what the man had asked before.
"Oh, I'm sorry! It's just, you reminded me of someone I used to know. It startled me, is all. I didn't mean to make any trouble for you." She quickly tried to push it all off to avoid any more of a scene, but the man didn't seem satisfied with her answer. "Thank you, by the way. For the meal, I mean." She bent her head slightly towards the man, hoping that he would leave after that. But to her surprise, the man took a seat across from her.
She couldn't help but give a look of confusion, but she couldn't find any words to say to him. The man extended his right hand out to her, and offered her a gentle smile.
"Nice to meet you. My name is Ingrum. Ingrum Kieran." His voice was very smooth and deep, and Rin found herself almost mesmerized by it. She couldn't help but think about how many girls would fall for that voice, if his looks didn't already hook them. She couldn't think of any way out of the situation, so the reluctantly reached out her own hand and gave his a firm shake.
"I am Rin. Rin Tohsaka." She gave him a polite smile, but she couldn't shake the uneasy feeling she got from his resemblance to the Einzbern family. The bright, big crimson eyes were basically a family trait that all the Einzbern's had. That and his silver hair. He seemed to hold himself with a certain amount of elegance, but it was more easy going and gave off a peaceful aura to him. He seemed nice enough to Rin, anyways.
She wasn't sure if she could necessarily consider him harmless yet, but so far so good.
"Please, don't let my presence disturb your eating." He told her, a sweet smile once again plastered on to his face. Something felt off about it though. Maybe it seemed fake, or maybe he just seemed like he was hiding something, but Rin couldn't really tell.
She picked up the sandwich and took a hesitant bite from it, not breaking eye contact with the man once.
"How is it? I certainly hope it suits your tastes, Miss Rin." At this, Rin narrowed her eyes. She figured it was just because he worked here, but she wasn't fond of being called Miss, anything.
"Just Rin would be fine." She told him before continuing with her sandwich. By his facial features, Rin could tell he was a bit surprised by her statement. After a moments pause, he simply gave another slight smile and nodded his head in acknowledgment for her request.
"So, come here often?" He asked, and by his tone, Rin could tell he was trying to be funny by using a common pick up line.
She gave a slight smile to him, but decided to answer seriously. "No actually, not really. Only when I forget my lunch or I feel like a change in pace. But to be honest, I really do enjoy the food and atmosphere here. Very peaceful. I like it." Though Rin got a peaceful vibe from this man, she still felt it necessary to get to know more about him anyways, just to be safe. She didn't think it would be very hard to get this individual to open up a little, but she would give a show of trust and interest for him so he would feel more apt to talk.
"Did you just recently start working here? I've never really seen you around here, and I'm sure I've never seen you anywhere else. I would've remembered a face like yours from anywhere. Have you recently move here?" Rin leaned forward slightly towards the man, and gave a slight grin as she relaxed her posture.
She knew that she at the very least had the man's attention, but she wasn't sure if he would really share any of that with her. Until, of course, she saw his eyes and posture relax and slightly lean forward as well. His mouth slightly parted, and Rin anxiously waited for any information on this man. She couldn't shake the feeling that he would somehow be involved in something big in her future.
As soon as words started to form on his lips, however, his posture suddenly went to one of stress and he leaned back in to the seat. Rin caught his eyes flick to the side to look out of the window, but at what she wasn't sure. She didn't want him to know that she had noticed his eye movement, so she kept her eyes trained on him. She was about to say something more to try and prompt the man to talk, but before she got the chance, he stood up.
"I'm sorry, miss, but I think I need to go now. I certainly hope you enjoy your meal, and I would like to see you again. But for now, I must say good bye." He bowed his head towards Rin before walking off in the direction he had originally come from. She quickly turned her attention out the window, but she didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Maybe he actually had a girlfriend and he thought he had been caught?
Rin didn't really get that kind of vibe from the situation, but she couldn't necessarily rule anything out at this point. She stayed seated and continued with her meal, and then walked to the front to pay. She looked behind the counter, looking for Ingrum, but couldn't catch sight of him. The cashier obviously noticed her looking for someone, and gave her curious look.
She figured it couldn't hurt to ask, so she did just that. But, as it turned out, he had left about 5 minutes ago, and in quite a rush. Hmm, Rin thought. Maybe it really was something simple as just seeing his girlfriend. Rin still wasn't completely sold on that idea, but it would have to do for now. She told herself she would come back tomorrow and try to talk to him again, but for now, she would go on with her day.
She walked back over to her workplace, and the rest of work went fine. Could've gone faster, if you asked Rin, but work wasn't really meant to be fun. She went on after wards to her Judo, Kendo, and Naginatajutsu classes. She had changed in to her appropriate clothes in her car, and the classes went as well as expected from someone who was completely exhausted. She had gotten thrown on her ass more times than she could keep count of, and she would probably have plenty of bruises on her body from where she was unable to block her opponent. Normally she wouldn't of had so much trouble with this. It was normally pretty easy, but along with her exhaustion, Rin was also troubled by other things. For starters, she couldn't keep her mind from wandering back from Ingrum. Normally she would've thought constantly of Lancer, and Lancer only, but she still wasn't sure if Ingrum was in any way a threat.
She knew that if she said anything to Lancer, he would get jealous and then try to tell her that she was over reacting. And besides, she wasn't really in the mood to argue over whether or not she had flirted. And she couldn't really say for sure that she wasn't overreacting, but still. Normally she had a pretty good sense of who was a threat or not, but with Ingrum, she was clueless.
Add all that to the fact that since she had stepped foot out of that café, she had felt a pair of eyes on her. It wasn't an overly strong sense, but it was still bothering her. But no matter how often or how long she looked around her, she couldn't catch sight of anyone watching her. But the feeling still hadn't left, and it had been hours since she had been inside the café. She couldn't help but wonder if the feeling of being watched had any relation to Ingrum, and she wasn't too big on the concept of coincidences. He had to play some kind of part in all of this, right?
Or, could it be the same person who might've been outside of the café that Ingrum had gotten upset over? He had obviously sensed something and gotten uncomfortable about. But what? Her mind kept going in circles with all the possibilities, but she couldn't come up with anything definitive. But then again, it's not really like she had a lot of useful information to start out with.
It was almost the end of her Naginatajutsu class, and she was just knocked down on her butt for about the millionth time. Her spar mate held out his hand to help her up. She was normally superior to this particular student, but today he had dominated. He was about a year younger than Rin, but he was very skilled with a naginata. He wasn't too bad looking either, but it was something Rin had never really paid attention to. She hadn't really been interested in having a relationship with anyone since she had left Shiro.
"Hey, are you doin alright? You've seemed a little off today. Is everything okay? I've noticed you look a bit thinner than usual. And you kinda have dark circles around your eyes. Have you been taking care of yourself like you should be?" The younger man asked. Rin recalled his name now. Adrian. His name was Adrian. If she recalled correctly, he was originally from Germany. He had moved to Japan about 3 years ago. Though she knew the basics about him, she had no idea that he would've paid that much attention to her.
"Yeah, um…I've just been feeling a bit…anxious lately. I guess I haven't been doing all that I should. But I'm fine, really. I've kinda snapped out of it." Rin tried pushing it off like a regular occurrence, and gave him a small reassuring smile. But when she looked back at him, she saw that he was obviously not convinced.
He gave her a disapproving look, but didn't say much more. Just the regular stuff about watching over herself better and if she needed anything that he was there to talk. She thanked him for his concern, but promised it was nothing to worry about. He left not too long after that, and Rin once gain helped clean up. She was done and walking out by about 5 o'clock.
She still felt troubled about the events of the day, and as she walked to grocery store, she still couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. She was really starting to feel uneasy, so she quickly got what she needed from the store for dinner, and started walking home.
She hadn't really been paying attention earlier due to her thoughts, but now she realized the streets were much emptier than normal. She was walking back to her car, but the uneasiness that she had been feeling was still growing. She felt that she needed to get home as soon as possible. She wasn't really sure what she was worried about, but she knew now that it wasn't just her imagination.
After what seemed like the longest walk of her life, Rin finally reached her car and opened the trunk and quickly put in all of her groceries before getting in to the car. Once inside, she felt a small relief that nothing had happened, and she was starting to feel silly with how much she had overreacted.
She started the car and started driving home. The car ride was going pretty smoothly, and she was very relieved. She started to giggle slightly at her foolishness, and she knew that when she told Lancer about it, he would probably laugh at her as well. She was driving up the hill that would lead to her street, currently. Rin knew the curve in the road was coming up, and that it was a pretty bad fall off the side. She was going about 60mph, but she knew she had to slow down to about 50 in order to safely make the turn.
Rin saw the curve coming up, and started to take her foot off the gas and applied it gently to brake, but the slight pressure didn't change her speed. She put her foot a bit harder down on the brake, but still, nothing happened. Rin was starting to get frantic, and slammed her foot repeatedly down on to the brake, but she didn't slow down at all. She knew that her probability of surviving a drop of about 40 feet going at this speed probably wasn't so great. She pulled the emergency brake, hoping that it would work. It was her last hope, and probably the only thing that could keep her from death. But it too, did nothing.
A thought suddenly popped into her head, but she knew that her chances of surviving that probably weren't much better than the fall. But it was the only thing she could think of. Rin didn't think Lancer could get here in time to do anything, and even if he could arrive before she fell, what could he do? She didn't think he had enough strength or speed to either stop the car or get her out in time.
Her mind was made up. She gripped the handle of the door, and without further hesitation, pushed it open as best as she could, and threw herself out of the car.
Rin's body slammed against the pavement and rolled forward multiple times. She could feel the new bruises and multiple cuts she was getting. But those things weren't what she was really focused on. Adrenaline had long ago started pumping through her, and she couldn't feel much of the pain that was being inflicted to her body. She felt her head slam against the pavement a few times, and she was getting pretty woozy.
After what seemed like forever, Rin finally stopped rolling, and lay on her back. She was about a good 30-40 feet from where she had started, and she could see where her car had broken through the small railing on the side of the road. She lay there for a moment, trying to steady her breathing. If she kept on with this breathing pattern, she would probably hyperventilate and pass out. She sat up as best as she could and put her head between her knees and stayed that way until she felt it was safe to stop.
Rin heard her name being called from somewhere, but she wasn't sure where it was coming from. She felt hazy, and she couldn't get her gaze to focus. She recognized the voice, but she wasn't sure whose it was. She figured the adrenaline had already started leaving her body, and she was about to lose consciousness.
Rin tried to push the darkness away from her, knowing that that was never good in a situation like this. She needed to get to help. She needed Lancer. She reached out her thoughts to him, desperately trying to hold on to anything that would keep her from the darkness.
She suddenly heard a voice far off in the distance again, but she was sure it was in her head this time. But she could barely hear it, even though it sounded like the person was yelling. She felt light all of a sudden, and the darkness swarmed even closer to her than before. Rin found it very hard to fight it off this time. She was ready to give up to it, much too tired to continue, but the voice she thought sounded familiar earlier was getting louder in her head. It still wasn't much, but it gave her something solid to hold on to. If she could just reach it, she knew that she could stay awake. But it was so far away, and it was so hard to move any closer. She reached out her hand to the voice, but right before it came in to clear view, the darkness grabbed her and pulled her back. She felt it holding her, and she clawed at it, desperate to get away and to the voice, but it was much too strong.
Before long, Rin felt herself being pulled far, far away. Away from the oddly familiar voice, away from consciousness. And it wasn't too long before she stopped fighting it. She let it drag her off in to the cold, lonely darkness. She felt sad that she couldn't be with the warm voice that she was sure was there only a moment ago, but it didn't matter much anymore. Nothing really mattered anymore. She was once again pulled in to the darkness, and there wasn't a thing she could do about it….not anymore.
