When Rin answered the door he was greeted by a water bottle and hand towel that came flying at his face. He barely caught the water bottle; the towel landed on his head. He stared in disbelief at Daphne who stood on his doorstep, grinning.
"Come spar with me," she said.
"Right now?" The towel slipped from Rin's head. Daphne? Daphne wanted to spar?
"Yeah. What? Do you have pressing plans? It's Saturday. I'm surprised you're even awake."
He was still in his pajamas. Shit. It was too late to close the door. He stood grimacing for a second and Kuro wandered into the front room from the kitchen, curious.
"Who is it, Rin?"
"It's Daphne." He stepped out of the doorway to allow Kuro to see onto the porch.
"Daphne!" Kuro let out a happy mew and scampered forward to meet Daphne who bent down to pet him. They'd taken an instant liking to each other when they'd first met. Daphne had bowed to Kuro like someone would have at his shrine once upon a time and the gesture had instantly won Kuro over. Daphne looked up from petting the cat sidhe.
"So, how 'bout it?" she said. "I was thinking we could do sukiyaki. If you win, I'll buy it, and if I win, you'll cook it."
"But either way we're eating sukiyaki…"
"That's kind of the point, dumbass."
Rin grinned at her. "All right, then. You're on."
"Sukiyaki! Sukiyaki! Sukiyaki!" Kuro danced happily in circles around Rin's legs. "You're the best, Daphne!"
Smiling, she patted the cat sidhe on the head. "What did he say?" she asked, glancing up.
Rin had never quite figured out how Daphne was able to tell when Kuro had spoken, but she was. She didn't seem able to distinguish words for herself, but she always knew when he said something, particularly if Kuro was addressing her. Then again, Rin didn't really understand exactly how it was that he himself could talk to Kuro in the first place, so he'd never really tried to figure it out.
"He said you're the best," he replied.
"Aw, thank you, Kuro. You're pretty fantastic yourself." She gave him a few final pats and then stood up. "Well?"
"Well, what?"
"Go get changed. Unless you want to go to the gym in your pajamas."
Right. He'd forgotten again.
"I'll be back," Rin said, and hurried into the house to put on some workout clothes. On his way back out he grabbed Kurikara and his wallet and when he got to the porch, Daphne was showing Kuro a few leg stretches.
"You ready?" she asked, straightening up as Kuro tipped over.
Rin nodded. "Let's go."
They jogged to True Cross Academy, and Rin nearly passed out on the stairs to the Upper Ring, his legs burning. He was in decent shape, or so he'd thought, but what was supposed to be a warm up had him hurting before they even got to the gym. Daphne just chuckled at him, stretching at the top of the stairs while he panted his way up.
"Holy…shit," he breathed once he reached her, collapsing at her feet.
"Something tells me this will be an easy match to win."
"Don't be so…sure."
Perhaps the statement would have been more convincing if he'd been able to get it out in one breath. As it was, Daphne just laughed and pulled him to his feet.
Once they got to the gym—appropriately empty for a Saturday morning at a school—Daphne shed her sweatshirt and shoes, tucking them off to the side. Rin set his stuff next to hers and removed Kurikara from its cloth. Daphne walked out into the sparing ring, just a circle painted on the mat on the floor.
"You know, you wouldn't have to deal with carrying that thing around if you just got the tattoos." She crossed her hands behind her head and drew Castor and Pollux from her shoulders.
Rin shook his head. "No thanks." Even just watching Daphne do it gave him the jibblies.
"I came here to get away from all of this," she mused, turning one of the blades over in her hand as she inspected it. "Pretty stupid, huh?"
"Maybe you don't need to get away from it," Rin replied.
Daphne looked at him, totally silent, and she kept looking so he started to get all shifty, but he wouldn't take it back. He of all people understood that you couldn't run away from who you were—and being an exorcist seemed just as much a part of Daphne's DNA as being half-demon was part of his. He stepped into the ring.
"Come on, then. Let's do this."
Daphne secured her grip on her blades and fell into a basic stance. Rin followed suit, and they eyed each other for a second, both waiting for the other to make the first move.
Mephisto had been putting a lot of pressure on Rin as of late. He was the closest with Daphne and Mephisto's deadline for getting her to teach in the cram school was fast approaching along with the end of the school year. Rin didn't really know how to get her to talk about it aside from just flat out asking, and that obviously wouldn't work, so he'd just kind of left it alone and dealt with Mephisto's little outbursts as they came up.
Daphne led an attack, stepping swiftly forward and bringing one of the blades up to bear. Rin countered, so did Daphne, swinging her other blade around so Rin had to counter that one as well, but he was ready.
"You gonna draw that thing?" Daphne asked, taking another swipe at his head.
Rin dodged. "No."
"Is this how you always fight?" Swipe, swipe, dodge.
"I don't know how things work in America, but around here people tend to freak out when they see blue flame. I think it might have something to do with, oh, I don't know, Satan."
Daphne laughed, ducking the next two moves he made at her left and right sides and countering with a quick slice of her own.
"Americans love blue flame," she said. "Very patriotic."
Then she kicked it up a notch.
Sparring against Daphne only served to remind Rin why Mephisto wanted her in the first place. She was a beast. So much speed, so much agility. She was an equal—no, greater match for him, at least in his human form. Only a minute under her new attack and Rin had no choice if he wanted to win. He drew Kurikara.
"That's more like it!" Daphne grinned, the blue light of his flames illuminating her face and her eyes. Somehow, she managed to come at him with even more speed.
Rin was stronger now, better aware of his surroundings and Daphne's movement, but even then she kept him at bay. Some kind of energy was generating as he worked, as they worked. Rin could feel it start to buzz and crackle in the air, but he ignored it. He had to. Daphne went right, he went left. He took two steps forward, she took two steps back. Kurikara clashed against Castor, then Pollux, making that distinctive metallic clang that happened only when two demon swords collided. Dodge, swipe, dodge. They fought and fought and fought, but neither could gain the upper hand. It got difficult to take enough air in to keep going. Daphne started to slow as well. He swung at her, but the motion was weak and sloppy. Daphne only just managed to block it even so.
They both stepped back in sync. Hesitated for a moment. They were breathing so heavily it seemed like they might filter all the oxygen out of the room and suffocate themselves. Then Daphne grinned. She threw her swords down and collapsed on the mat, spreading her arms out and going completely limp. Rin followed her lead. He sheathed Kurikara and then rolled over onto his back. The mat was so wonderfully cold on his skin.
"Should we call it a tie?"
It took Rin a second to gather enough air. "We didn't decide what to do for a tie."
Daphne laughed, but it barely made any sound. She was quiet for a moment, breathing deep. "I'll still buy sukiyaki. If you want it."
If he still wanted it? What kind of a question was that? Rin scoffed. "Duh."
Laughing again, Daphne rolled over and scooted across the mat so her face was right above his. She smiled, then slapped his chest.
"Let's go."
From the shadows of the observation deck up above the gym, Mephisto watched as Daphne struggled to her feet, then pulled Rin to his. A smile spread out across his mouth. Together the pair of them fighting was more powerful than they realized, more powerful than even he had anticipated. That was good. It would be needed. Those distant rumblings in Gehenna demanded his attention. He would have her on his staff. So help him, he would. It was just a matter of whether or not what was coming would arrive before they were ready.