A/n: This is rated M! Proceed with caution! (I tried uploading this earlier but FF was being a lil poop) I'm not too assure this chapter turned out all too great, but please review regardless!

Testing The Waters

.

.

Chapter 24

.

.

.

"—What?"

Surely she knew he wasn't hard of hearing, although despite that, she deliberately repeated herself. "Have sex with me."

He tensed with shock, his shoulders rising an inch in his discomfort. Maybe he was formulating an answer, or maybe he was trying to overcome the surprise, but he took a long time to answer.

"That's not funny." He eventually growled.

"It's not a joke."

"Tachibana—"

"It's not." She insisted.

"Stop fuckin' around!" He whorled a glare at her, anger and annoyance bare in his expression.

She rose up into a sitting position and stared blankly. "Why do you think it's a joke?"

"Because!" He snapped. "Why the hell would you ask that!"

"Because I want to."

"What sort of logic is that?!" A flush of embarrassment started to creep up his neck as he shot up from his seat.

"Do you have a girlfriend?"

"N-no but—"

"Do you think I'm unattractive?"

"It's not that—"

"Then what's your excuse..?" She drawled, her eyes pouring intensity into his own.

Was she being serious?

Before he could snap at her again, she rose up from the bed and snatched the scruff of his Samezuka swim coat, "W-what're—" Soft, warm lips met his in a messy collision. The surprise attack had rendered him stiff as a board. It took him a moment to regain his senses, and when he did he clasp her shoulders, keeping her at a safe distance. What was this all of a sudden?! "I'm not going to have sex with you!" He glared, his cheeks already filling in a dark color.

She mirrored the glare. "Why not."

"I already told you, didn't I?!" His voice was rising in volume. "Why do you want to have sex with me so badly?! Why don't you ask Haru?!"

Her eyes widened, then—what surprised him more—unshed tears welt up in her waterline, brimming and glazing green orbs in dissatisfaction. Finally, in a wobbly, snappy voice, "It's because you understand!"

He blinked, his glare slowly melting away. She leaned her head against his chest in a manner that resembled defeat—from what, he didn't know. Unable to wrap his mind around everything happening, he let her speak in that quiet, pathetic voice he was beginning to hate. "It's because you understand." She repeated. "No matter what I do, I can't do anything right and.." Her voice broke off. "I want to feel something."

The anger was slowly evaporating as he stared at the top of her head. "Tachibana," He pulled her back so that he was looking straight into her eyes. How had that annoying little girl—who had managed to make him forget his sorrows for only a moment with her irritable personality—turn into something like this? Someone so pitiful and selfish that admittedly wanted to use him as a source of relief from whatever she was feeling? His gripped on her shoulders tightened and she flinched.

She was right, he did understand, better than anyone else—and that's what had made it all the more worse.

His jaw clenched, fixating a hard glare at the younger teen. He would only be doing this as repayment for making him laugh that day—for making himself feel something—and only for the sake of that.

"Tachibana," He growled again. He watched as she blinked up at him. He scoffed, prying his hands off of her and crossing them across his chest. "We're only doing this once. After that, don't bother me with this again."

Her eyes widened with disbelief, and then she nodded. "..I understand."

He fished into his pocket, plucking out his phone. With quick fingers, he sent a text to his roommate. 'Ai. Find something to do for about 2-3 hours.'

'Is something wrong, Rin-senpai?' Was the quick reply.

'No. Just keep yourself busy for a few hours.'

'Oh, alright Rin-senpai!'

He couldn't find the will to look Mamoru in the eye when she plopped back onto his bed. He swallowed the thick lump in his throat and locked the door—not wanting to take any chances of someone catching them in the act. When he turned back towards her, he exhaled a deep sigh. "Let's get this over with."

"You don't have to sound so upset about it." She teased with a grin. "It's not very romantic."

"Shut up." Was his obvious retort, a twitch to his eyebrow to add effect. The grin widened when he settled beside her. The annoying flush crept up his neck as he glared at nothing in particular. After a few more prolonged minutes of silence, he glanced at Mamoru, who was waiting for him to make a move. The blush thickened, and he rubbed the back of his neck. Remembering something, he stood and neared his desk, pulling out the drawer and taking out a small packet. Mamoru's eyebrows flew up in surprise, and he had only guessed that she was marveling at his supposed libido.

The blush worsened. "Captain Mikoshiba gave me these as a prank!" He snapped at her suggestive look. "It was a joke and I forgot to throw them out!"

"I'm not judging." She raised her hands up in surrender with a snicker. "What you do in your free time is not my business."

"I told you it was a prank!" He snapped.

"Yes, yes." She smiled innocently.

Auburn eyes narrowed at her smug look. He sighed, plopping beside her once more. Awkward silence trickled into the air, and he knew she was still expecting him to make the first move. He didn't know how to approach something like this with a friend. Yes, regrettably, he considered her kind of like a friend—sort of. Yes he had had hook ups, but those were with girls he barely knew who had no relation to a close friend—so quite honestly, it didn't matter. He's also had no experience with romance as opposed to random hookups. Dating was a distraction from his goal. He wouldn't be able to give a girl the proper attention that was required within a healthy relationship—and she would more or less be a hindrance to his training. He had no time for girlfriends.

"Rin.." She had been calling him by his first name ever since she had gotten here. The name rolled off her tongue easily, the sound surprisingly sending a jerk to his nerves. It put him on edge, the way she was acting. Again, she was acting strange. Something was definitely wrong, yet he couldn't pinpoint exactly what. He was still surprised someone like her could possibly be related to Makoto. The contrasts in their personalities were striking—although they did have something in common. They hid things, like there true feelings, and their true intent. It was eerie how Rin could not read either of them, or predict their real thoughts—and he thinks to himself that that may have been the only similarities they shared. Even when Mamoru had suddenly upped and left, Makoto had still acted the same and if he had not heard it from Haru, he would've guessed nothing was amiss. "—Rin." The sound of his name cut him off, and he blinked back into reality. He glanced at the younger Tachibana, and frowned. He wasn't so sure he could really go through with this. "Rin."

"What is it?!" He finally snapped, on edge by the intense atmosphere.

"What are you waiting for?" She tilted her head.

"I can't do this." He muttered. To do this would be hurting Makoto.

"You said you would..." She said. "You said you would." She repeated, a little more stronger.

"I can't do this to Makoto." He looked away.

"What does Makoto have to do with any of this?"

"He's your cousin!"

"My cousin," She echoed. "He's my cousin." She looked up at him. "Not my keeper. It wouldn't matter what I did, because we're only doing this once, right?" She smiled thinly.

He glared at her. "You're really persistent."

"It's one of my finer qualities." She returned.

It was silent again. "Why do you want to do this?" He couldn't help but ask again.

"Because you understand." She repeated. "And because I want too."

His eyes narrowed, one, two, three minutes passed and he exhaled a sigh. "Only once." He said again.

She nodded, pressing her lips to his.

This kiss was hesitant, almost portraying in neon lights of how insecure she was feeling. The feeling of her lips against his wasn't unwelcoming, or unprecedented like the one prior, although it was still novice to them both. They were still staring at each other through the kiss, the awkward sexual tension starting to prominently wave it's flag. He pulled away a few inches. "Tch. You kiss like a grandma." Before she could comment, he drew her face in, regrettably missing the awkward contact. He molded his mouth against hers, apply the barest amount of pressure. She returned his actions albeit a bit shyly, before growing more confident. He smirked a little into the kiss, burning auburn still clashing against forest green. Then, surprising her, he bit her bottom lip, earning a breath of surprise. Using the opportunity to his advantage, he granted her with an open mouth kiss, a slick tongue licking at the rim of her mouth. With this new sensation, her eyes had finally shut.

He guided her hands to his chest, his own finding her broad hips. Following his lead, she allowed her hands to slip under the hem of his shirt, exploring defined, firm muscles. In more awkward silence, he pulled away, slipping off his shirt and coat with the quick motion of his hand, tossing it somewhere along the room. She had unzipped her sweater, rolling it off her shoulders and started to fold it. His eyebrow twitched, and in an impulsive act of impatience snatched her sweater and tossed it somewhere along his room as well. She stared at her empty hands for a moment, taking a moment to realize that her sweater was not in her hands any longer, and in fact thrown across the room.

"—Someone needs patience." She bantered.

"Shut up." He muttered, pulling her to him once more. Their lips collided again, a little more naturally than before—seeing as Mamoru was slowly learning from his advances. Somehow, one moment turned to the next, and now she was melting into his hands, her own tangled in strands of maroon. Her thought process was muddling into something incoherent, and she could tell by the way he was leaning forward that he was feeling it too. He started to tug at the hem of her tank top, pulling away a few inches. "It's.. not too late to back out." He breathed, small bursts of arousal starting the stir within the pit of his abdomen.

"It's fine.." She trailed off, unabashedly slipping off her own top.

It took a few moments of fumbling with each others clothing, but they both eventually ended up nude. Rin didn't spend too much time admiring her body, seeing as this was not an act of romance, as opposed to an act of impulsion. That feeling of arousal started at ebb at him, and he carefully tore at the wrapper of that inconspicuous packet, rolling the thin rubber of the condom onto himself. Wordlessly, he towered over her, his mouth find hers once more. Nervous, although not voicing her own discomfort, she wondered vaguely if this had really been a good idea. That thought had been demolished upon feeling the unmistakable poke of Rin at her inner thigh. "Tachibana," He started again. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

There—a way out. They could forget this had ever happened and—"I'm sure." Why was her mouth betraying the small voice at the back of her head? It didn't matter though, because now she felt the push of something thick in diameter against her entrance. She braced herself, sucking in a breath. The pushing continued for a bit, and she winced at the stretching. Finally the odd feeling of fullness enveloped her as she encased him in her moist heat. He waited a bit for the pain to lessen, and when she nodded up at him, he moved. Her hands reached up to grasp his shoulder blades, finger nails jabbing into the mildly tan flesh. The pain wasn't unbearable, although the feeling of him plunging in and out—and in and out— was gradually strange and uncomfortable. Brushes of pleasure would sometimes tingle above her bikini line, although they would fade when Rin aimed for a different spot.

He didn't seem to have much of a problem as far as she was concerned. Heavy pants and the occasional groan would exhale from his lips, baring his sharp shark-like teeth. Stimulating his rather rough libido, he dipped his head, mouths meeting in a messy, disorganized kiss of tongues and teeth and swollen lips. He started to pick up the pace, that odd sensation increasing into something more and—there! There! A surprised moan tore from her throat, and he realized with mirth that he had finally found a spot she particularly liked. He rather enjoyed the wanton sounds she started to make, refraining from commenting on how sexy she sounds panting into his ear—because this wasn't an act of romance, but an act of impulsion. Hissing, cursing, groaning, moaning, and grunting were thrown between the two, sweat slowly starting to slick up their molding bodies.

The tension was starting to be too much, building higher and higher—and higher—until he reached his limit and released into her warmth. Subconsciously, he growled out her name. "Mamoru." But he couldn't find the will to be embarrassed as his muscles relaxed, causing him to collapse onto her. He panted heavily, trying to regather himself as he lain strewn over the younger Tachibana. Finally summoning the strength, he rolled off of her and onto his back with a sigh.

.

.

.

Silence.

.

.

.

Wordlessly, he peeled the used condom from his softening length and with skilled aim tossed it into the trash bin beside his desk. He laid back down, his chest still heaving up and down with exertion. He swallowed thickly, and risked a peak to the other teen. She was staring at the bottom of Nitori's bunk, her expression blank. Slowly, her eyelids fluttered close.

"...Tachibana?" He tried.

"—It's nothing." She said. She hefted herself up into a sitting position. "It's fine."

He frowned, an odd feeling stirred in his chest. "Oi.." He started.

She heaved a sigh, her shoulders slumping an inch. His eyebrows furrowed when she looked back at him. A small, strained smile had appeared onto her face. "It's fine." She repeated. She threw an arm across her chest, stretching a bit. "I think I should go home now." She mumbled.

"Oi, Tachibana." He snapped, feeling a tinge of annoyance and even smaller spark of concern pinch at his insides.

She paused, her back facing him. "What is it?"

He scowled. "Look at me."

"No."

"It wasn't a question." He placed a hand to her shoulder, forcibly making her face him. Thick, prominent tears were rolling down red cheeks. He cursed,"You damn idiot." He growled. "I told you not to force yourself, didn't I?" He grit his teeth, but he didn't glare—instead pulling her into his arms, their naked torso's pressed tightly together, although nothing sexual was evident in this gesture.

"S-sorry.." She mumbled into his chest.

"What the hell are you apologizing for?" He snapped, holding her tighter. Her bottom lip started to tremble, and slowly—her defenses started to fall, that ache in her chest starting to throb as the day's exhaustion was finally being let out, and blubbering into Rin's sweaty chest. "S-sorry.." She cried. "I'm sorry."

"Shut up, will you?" Despite his rough tone, his expression softened. "It's not your fault."

.

.

.