On the quietly lit street, Ivy sensed Ren's presence, though he didn't make a sound. He was still, watching her with pocketed hands. "I missed it," she said to him quietly. She dropped her hand from the peeling paper, but her eyes did not move away from the funeral notice outside her grandfather's house.

"You couldn't have gone anyway," he replied. "It was held during the day, and you don't exist in that world anymore." Ren continued to watch her and she still didn't move.

"Are you mad?" she asked.

"I was," he admitted, but he couldn't be angry with her just at this moment.

She finally turned back to look at him. "I knew you'd find me."

With this acknowledgement, he walked up to her. She was completely still as she looked up at him. He sighed, then admitted, "I shouldn't have left you alone."

"No, you shouldn't have," she replied evenly, then she added, "it was a really dumb move on your part."

Usually this would have angered Ren, but it didn't. She wasn't all that threatening. And she seemed to be ok. He caught her chin, keeping her gaze on him. He smiled just the tiniest bit. "Still feisty?"

Ivy rested a hand on his wrist just under her chin. She twisted her head, taking her chin from his grasp, but only so she could turn her cheek back into his open palm, closing her eyes. "Still feisty," she replied.

Ren actually felt relieved with this. Though she wasn't jolly at the moment, this same circumstance would have sent her into a deep depression before. And he liked it when he could dismiss her feistiness as cute.

He slowly reached out and pulled her against him, kissing her head and giving her, well, some love. "I'll call Anju next time I need to leave," he told her, weaving his fingers into her hair.

"Call Anju anyway," Ivy said. "I like her better."

He pulled back to take her chin to look up at him again. "I'm afraid you're stuck with me, love." She sighed and cast her eyes aside, but she was still calm. Ren liked her in this state, being somewhat vulnerable and letting him close. He watched his hand as he reached out to brush a red strand behind her ear. "Do you want to go home?" he asked.

Ivy lowered her eyebrows and shook her head, looking back up at him, becoming a little more alive. "No," she proclaimed. "There's still plenty of night left, I want to be outside."

"Have it your way," he said as he turned, placing a hand on the small of her back to encourage her forward.

Once they worked their way back into the city, Ivy eyed a metal bench. "Just there," she motioned. Ren accompanied her. Once they were seated, Ren again rested his arm behind Ivy. She had turned towards him, bringing a knee up onto the bench as she twisted around. Ren saw her look around anxiously, first biting her thumb as she thought, then bringing her hands together to twist the snake around her thumb.

"Have you figured out your affinity?" he asked.

"No!" she burst, still looking around. "There seems to be no pattern, I can't figure it out." Ren studied her, frustrated. It wasn't as cute this time. It was important, and he wanted to figure it out just as much as she did. She turned her head to study the other side of the street. There were fewer people on this street, which only offered a grocery store and a couple convenience stores at this hour.

"Ivy," she heard from behind her. Ivy recognized the voice, but couldn't place it. She whipped her head around, and immediately knew why she was confused.

"That's the first time you called me by my name," she remarked. Hiro stood behind them, and Ivy looked up at him a bit surprised. Ren, on the other hand, was giving him a murderous glare.

Hiro smiled and dropped his eyes smoothly for a moment before he looked up at her. "I finally feel confident enough not to hide behind that dorky nickname," he replied.

She raised her eyebrows and pouted her lip a little, as though to say she was impressed.

Hiro saw Ren, but he didn't care. He saw Ren as no threat with this new mentality. Ivy wasn't really sure how to react to this, so she asked, "How have you been?"

"I've been great," he replied, leaning a hand on the back of the bench. Ren now turned his focus to it, seeing this as vile trespassing. He was so outraged he couldn't even speak. He started to think of how he would deal with this, or how he would deal with Ivy afterwards. Hiro continued. "I went to the science fair last night."

"Oh yeah? How did that go?" Ivy asked, fully engaged in the conversation.

Hiro smiled and for a moment lifted the hand that Ren was glaring at before planting it again. "I won."

"Oh, congratulations, Hiro! I'm so happy for you," she praised, smiling.

"Thank you," he said happily, nodding his head. "So," he began, leaning in a little more, "I was wondering if you would do me the honor of allowing me to take you out for a celebratory dinner?"

Ivy had not only been engaged in the conversation, but was watching Ren out of the corner of her eye. She saw he was about to finally say something, and quickly held up a finger to his lips. "Oh Hiro, that sound like a lovely offer, but I'm sorry, I'm tied to this one."

Hiro glanced at Ren. "Are you sure? He kind of looks like a jerk," he declared. Ren's hand resting behind Ivy began to dent the metal.

Ivy full on covered Ren's mouth at this, using her whole hand. "I know, but still," she answered. As she spoke, she readjusted so she was sitting on both her knees, making sure to lean forward as she settled in. It worked, and Ren instinctively turned his eyes to her bust. It gave her the moment she needed. "Thank you, though. You've actually helped me figure out something very important."

Hiro smiled again, flirting, "That's what I do." He leaned back, beginning to step away. As a farewell he said, "Just let me know if you change your mind."

"I will," she replied. "Take care, Hiro."

He waved and disappeared with a pleasant stroll as Ivy looked after him.

Ren quickly knocked her hand away, furious. "What the hell was that? What the fuck did I tell you?" he demanded.

But she ignored this, quickly turning to look at him. "I know what it is."

Ren's anger was thrown off. "You weren't paying attention at all, were you?" she asked. She shook her head, continuing. "You said when we bite, we suck out that quality. The college girl was thinking that she might look slutty, that her roommate was annoyed with her. The waitress didn't think she could do her job. Hiro has always been so unsure of himself that he could never even use my name or look me in the eye for more than a second, and now he's so confident you didn't even deter him. I'm drawn to insecurity. Self-doubt."

Ren took a moment to process this. Ivy continued. "I bet if we go back and look at that waitress we'll see she's now confident as well."

Ren just looked at her, all of this was happening just as quickly as she was talking. "And you know how else I knew you weren't paying attention?" she asked, leaning forward to put her hands on his cheeks.

"How?" he asked callously.

Ivy's first foot slid to the ground as she said, "Because I actually admitted to being with you for once," her second foot hit the ground, "and you're not gloating." He thought back and realized that she was right. She took one of his hands in both of hers and pulled, encouraging him to stand up. "Come on, let's go find that waitress." He did stand, slowly, and as he rose she saw the dent in the bench. Her eyes widened. "Did you do that?"

Ren tucked her under his arm and didn't look back. "Let's go."


The two stood across the street, watching the smiling, assertive waitress as she worked. "Looks like a correct diagnosis," Ren said, calmly watching the girl as he stood upright with his arms folded. He turned to Ivy, looking down at her as he uncrossed his arms, tucking her under one and pulling her against him. "Are you hungry?"

"I could go for one more before I call it a night," she replied.

"I have just the one," replied Ren, extracting his phone. After a moment, Ivy heard, "Hello sweet Hana, what are you up to?... I'm sorry, darling... No, it's not you, I've just been busy... Yes, I really want to see you... Ok, I'll be at your place in a few minutes, bye."

Ren snapped his phone shut and put it away. "I've made us a reservation," he remarked.

Ivy laughed and shook her head. "You're horrible," she said, thoroughly enjoying his comment. And how he loved that she enjoyed it.


Ivy leaned on the wall right next to the door, waiting. Ren watched to make sure she was situated, then knocked on the door. Hana answered in tears.

"What is it?" Ren asked, doing a damn good job coming off as though he cared.

"You hung up without saying you love me!" she cried.

Ren discretely glanced at Ivy. He saw her melt a little bit against the wall, her lips parted. She looked back at him with hazy eyes. "You can't even look at me!" Hana cried. Ivy's eyes rolled back with anticipation. He knew then that this girl sounded delicious.

He looked back at Hana and entered her apartment. "Darling, how can you say that?" he asked, taking her in his arms. He made sure to rest her head against his chest, looking away from the door. "Of course I love you."

"No you don't!" she cried. "You haven't called me in weeks! You probably just want sex!" She was so beside herself that she didn't even make the connection that both his arms were around her when she heard the door close.

As she continued to sob, Ren looked up to watch Ivy approach. "Not at all, I'm here to make you feel better."

"You didn't even know I was upset until now!" Ren tenderly gathered her hair and pulled it away from her neck, then loosened his hold on her. She looked up at him, a bit upset at this move. As she started to complain, Ren watched Ivy slowly move her arms to hover around the sides of the girl, her mouth moving closer to her neck. Before Hana had realized anything, Ivy had bit down.

At this Ren released Hana, allowing Ivy to take her into her adoring grasp. She wrapped one arm around Hana's waist, the other coming around to rest on her bare chest. Hana looked up at Ren, frozen, a look of shock and pain on her face. Ren simply looked down and smirked, not bothering to pretend to care anymore.

Ivy wrapped her arms tighter around the girl as she continued, her upper hand sliding under the pink straps of Hana's nightgown.

"Ivy," Ren warned, giving her a heads up. He reached out to cover Hana's face and erase her memory. As he finished so did Ivy, pulling back. As she released, she let the girl fall through her arms to the floor.

Ivy again closed her eyes, brushing her lips with a sprawled finger before she slowly opened her eyes to Ren. "That was delicious," she breathed, extending a hand. Ren reached out to take it, holding it up as Ivy stepped over the girl. As he pulled her along, he turned to place his other hand behind her, delightfully watching her in her bliss. Ivy came to a bit more and said, "I owe you dinner," as they walked out the door.