"Come on Tarot, get it. Get the bug. Just one more."

Ivy was in the grass out by her mother's garden. She pinched her diary to her knees—adding to the scorpion with its stinger pierced through a bleeding heart—in between pointing to crickets. Ivy didn't want to hurt the bugs herself, so she was relying on her specialist to terrorize them half to death. Of course, now that she needed him to, Tarot simply sat looking at her, flicking his tail. Ivy moved her hand closer to the bug to aggravate it, and as she intended, it jumped. Tarot was suddenly very attuned to the bug, his ears and whiskers erect. He took a step forward, coming to his paws, his eyes on that spot. With another step, he made the cricket jump again, and the chase was on. Ivy watched guiltily as she waited for Tarot to injure it.

When Tarot finally lost interest, Ivy collected the bug. "I guess that will have to do for now," she remarked as she dropped the bug into a glass jar. She pinched the side and titled the jar to see what they had caught. It was mostly dark, and they just looked like a small collection of black.

Ivy stood and started to walk toward the house, which was quiet without so much as a light on. "Come on, Tarot. Let's go," she called back. Tarot, on his own terms, of course, arose and trotted to catch up with her; his tail high in the air.

The two reached her room and she clicked on a dim light. "Hey Luna," Ivy said gently, advancing toward the small nest she had made for the tiny creature. "Tarot caught you some—Tarot leave her alone!—Tarot caught you some crickets."

Ivy reached into the jar and extended a bug to the bat. Luna reached out, then began to chomp down on it. With this Ivy smiled, relieved, and scattered the other few insects around the bat.

As Luna chowed down, Ivy moved onto her next order of business. As she strapped her messenger bag across her chest, she looked out the window. Damn, it's dark out.

It was a long walk to Ringo's from her dad's house, and though she had taken it many times, it always made her uneasy. Ivy picked up her phone and began to tap it on the top of her dresser, looking out the window during her internal debate. She bit her lip, then made her decision. "Better him than anyone else," she reasoned.

Ivy's attention was on her phone as she headed out the door, finding the unprogrammed number in her recent calls. She decided it would be simpler to call. She was slightly surprised when he didn't answer, but assumed it was just a part of his game of chase (when in actuality, Ren was busy with another girl). Ivy left a message anyway.

"Ren, it's Ivy. I'm on my way to buy some herbs if you're still anxious to accompany me. Call me back."

Ren pulled back from his goodbye kiss, finally ridding himself of his current girl. He watched her walk away, and she kept looking back to make sure he was still watching. But when she was finally out of sight, Ren pulled out his phone to check it. His eyes widened with surprise and he smiled in delight.

MISSED CALL: Ivy
NEW VOICEMAIL

"Well, what do we have here?" he gloated as he went about investigating this wonder. I knew it wouldn't take too long, he thought admiringly to himself as he held the phone up to his ear.

After he listened to the message he checked the time on the missed call. It wasn't too long ago, but still, she could be anywhere. He looked up to one of his bats, hoping he hadn't missed this opportunity.

"Where is she?"

The bat returned a brief trill and Ren looked back at the street.

"I see."

Ivy was strolling along down the street, clutching her messenger bag as usual, when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun frantically and smacked Ren, who had suddenly appeared, across the face.

"Ow!" he yelled irritably as he held a hand up to his face.

Ivy quickly drew her hand back to cover her mouth, now that she saw who she had hit. "Sorry!"

Ren was pissed. He turned back to look at her, but saw her off the defensive for the first time. "Do you want me to- Um- Ren I'm so sorry-" Ivy kept reaching her hand out and drawing it back, unsure of what to do.

"If you weren't such a fox I'd be a hell of a lot more upset," he snapped, unable to control himself as well as usual. He lowered his hand to pull up her chin and make her look directly at him. "But never do it again."

He stepped forward, heading down the sloped sidewalk. That was it? Ivy thought. That's weird. "You mean you don't want me to kiss it to make it feel better?"

Ren halted, then spun around. "Well, since you're offering..." he said with an improved tone.

Ivy stepped forward, then passed him. "I'm not offering, just asking," she replied, back to her unapologetic voice. "What are you doing, sneaking up on me anyway?"

"You called," Ren declared as he fell in step with her, still unhappy without his kiss.

She sighed. "Yeah, I guess I did. But I could have managed on my own," she added quickly, turning to him a bit as she again clutched the strap on her bag. "I just figured it wouldn't hurt to have you." She again faced ahead. "Besides, if I give you a few minutes now it means you'll bug me less later."

"Oh sweetness," he nearly laughed, "it means no such thing."

They didn't say much as they walked together. "So I'm thinking about getting a snake bite," Ivy eventually piped up.

"A what?"

"A snake bite. It's a piercing. I would get my bottom lip pierced twice, once on each side," she said. "I would get hoops. I like the hoops better because of the way they run with the natural lines on the lips."

That came out of nowhere. Ren was amused when he concluded, "Are you trying to make small talk now?"

Ivy shrugged. "I've told you it's weird when you're here and don't talk."

"Well, let's see," Ren said, stopping her. He again bumped up her chin, leaving his hand there as she looked up at him shyly. "Where would they be again?"

Ivy slowly raised a hand, and moving as little as she could, pointed to the two spots. Ren smiled as he envisioned it. "So you want to look like you have little fangs?"

"I... guess..." Ivy replied, not really sure how to respond to that. Ren kept his eyes on her enticing lips, reaching his thumb up to brush against them. At this she knocked his hand away and continued on.

Ren let her walk ahead of him, just so he could watch her strut. When Ivy noticed, she prompted, "Get up here next to me."

He obliged and they walked for a minute. "You'd be cute whether you chose to get the piercing or not," he answered finally.

"Did it take you that long to figure it out?"

"Not really, I know you just like hearing my voice," he said smugly. Ivy huffed at this, but refrained from saying anything to avoid another 'you're exhausting' conversation.

They had worked their way into the worst part of town, and up ahead they could see three men congregating on the corner, acting like they owned it. Ivy discreetly reached out and took Ren's hand, which he looked down at. "This doesn't mean anything, it's simply to make us look like something we're not," she stated.

"Whatever you say, beautiful," Ren responded, beginning to slightly swing their hands together. Ivy huffed at this as well, but went along with it anyway. However, Ren was ready to have much more fun with this new twist.

As they approached the men, Ren dropped Ivy's hand and wrapped his arm around her. He rested his hand on her hip and pulled her against him. He took this golden opportunity to lean down and kiss her cheek before nuzzling his face into her hair, placing kisses wherever he pleased.

"Ren, what are you doing?" Ivy asked quietly. They were getting nearer to the sketchy looking men.

Ren drew back from his most recent kiss to speak softly in her ear, "Don't worry, this doesn't mean anything. I'm just doing it to make us look like something we're not."

"Haha, funny. Now cut it out Ren," she said anxiously. But that was the last thing she could say without risking the others hearing her. Her pretend-boyfriend simply went in for another kiss on her neck, and she became that much more appealing with the added anxiety from his actions.

When they were close, Ren hooked his fingers under the hem of her shirt, slowly allowing them to creep up. He pulled her a little closer before Ivy took hold of his jacket. She jerked him behind her just as they passed the men, causing him to let go while she said, "Baby, you have to pay attention to where you're going."

The men watched and one commented to the others, "Damn, if I had a girl like that, no way I'd be taking her out around here this late."

Another replied, "Man, if I had a girl like that, no way I'd be takin her out of the bedroom, if you know what I mean." The other men laughed loudly and agreed with him, adding their own comments.

"I'd take her out of the bedroom. I'd take her in the shower, on the table, up against a window-"

"Or you mean she'd be takin you!"

Ren was about to look back and glare at them for so much as envisioning her, but stopped when Ivy tightened her grip on his jacket. He reached up and gently pried her hand off. He didn't move it away, however, and held it at the same spot against his chest, and was again smug with himself for taking advantage of the situation. "Don't worry, Ivy," he assured. "Nothing will happen to you while you're with me."

With these words she surprised him by returning his grip. He again came alongside her, and noticed her eyes were glazed. "What is it?" he asked, confused.

"Just the bullshit I have to deal with simply because I'm a girl," she said. "And I hate that the best solution to deal with it is having to rely on a man for protection from the other ones. I want to be able to just go out at night and be as carefree as you are."

Ren didn't know what to say to this. He had never thought about this before and didn't know what to make of it. He just squeezed her hand momentarily before lowering it back between them, feeling it was the best thing he could do.

"Just let go whenever you want," he said quietly, looking back ahead of him.

He continued to pick at it in his mind, then felt a second hand on his arm. He glanced down to see Ivy pulling herself closer to him. She rested her cheek by his shoulder, and he felt her stress level decrease a bit. Even if I calm her nerves, this is a win-win situation for me, he realized. "Well then what makes you trust me?" he asked, unable to keep himself from bothering her again.

He heard her sigh, though it was shaky this time, before she answered, "If you were going to do something to me, you would have done it already. You've had the opportunity." She paused as they reached the alleyway, ending the conversation. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

Ivy left Ren to watch in the shadows. She knocked twice on the heavy door before she stepped back. Some music and chatter could be heard between the door opening and closing.

"Who the hell is it?" Ringo demanded as he stepped out. Then he saw Ivy. "Ohhh. My, my. If it isn't the little skank. I heard you went on a date with Raiden while I was away. So what is it? Am I not good enough for you? Too old?" he spat, advancing toward her.

"Look Ringo, I'm just here to buy and go home. That's all."

"How about this," Ringo said, grabbing Ivy's arm, "I'll take you on a date right now, and you'll like it-"

Normally, Ren would let this situation go on a bit longer, allowing the girl's stress to build up, unconcerned by what happened to the human. But this time he couldn't stand to see the man's distasteful hands on her. Ren didn't let it go on a second longer: he didn't want any hands on her but his own.

His eyes were immediately illuminated, and out of nowhere a swarm of bats came and surrounded Ringo. He tried to swat them away as Ren advanced. Ringo still clutched Ivy's arm through the cursing and swatting in the black cloud. He released her only when Ren, veiled by the bats, came up and punched him in the stomach. Once Ivy was freed, he quickly and calmly found her hand, holding it so she knew it was him, and swiftly led her away from the scene.