Days continued, and Kain used more and more outrageous ways of getting the football team into shape. Rose did have to give him credit; they were looking good. But the first real sign of it working was when they won two games in a row and were hyped up for the third. They had changed the mascot from that of a puma to the hellhounds. There had been a big conference about it, asking the coach to step up and give a speech or response as to why it was changing. Kain had simply stepped up to the podium, sternly told them to go away and mind their own business, and they strangely had left. People had brought complaints against his teaching style (both English and coaching), but for some reason, at the pivotal moment, the accuser decided he was going to drop the charges for no particular reason. The football team, though hating his harshness and how cruel and sadistic he could be, came to love him for his honor and the fact that in all, he wanted them to win more than they did, and he did it for their benefit. They were quickly getting into better shape than they had ever been, and the three boys in his English class now had Bs instead of Fs.

It was a few days before the third game, and the cheerleaders were all sitting on the bleachers, watching the team who stood around in the two-mile track. There was a large fence on both sides of the track. Kain walked down to meet them.

"Hey, coach, what's with the fence?" one of the football players asked.

"Oh, that's to keep you from cheating and leaving the track," Kain responded calmly. "Today, you're going to be running."

There was a collective groaning from the team. Kain fixed them with an icy glare, and snarled, "I'll give you a head start. Get going."

He turned and headed toward a side path, which had a gate across it. He quickly unlocked it, walked through, and disappeared. A few seconds later, the revving of an engine was heard. Suddenly, out of the side path and around the corner, rolled a gigantic truck. Kain calmly leaned out of the side and gave them a malevolent smile.

"Start running."

The football team all shared a look, then turned and hightailed it down the track, trying to get as far away from the coach as possible. Suddenly, from in the bleachers, Rose started laughing, and Metowaka, Diana, and Kairan all looked at her funny.

"What's up, Rose?" Diana asked worriedly.

"Oh, nothing," Rose responded with a shake of her head. "Just amused, that's all. That's Kain for you. Glad I'm not down there."

Kairan gave her an odd look.

"No 'Uncle' Kain this time, eh? Just plain old Kain?"

"You know what I mean," Rose growled. The girls shared a look, excluding Rose from it.

"What?" the crossbreed demanded.

"Well, you know, Rose," Diana stated with a shrug, "there are a lot of rumors that you two are sleeping together. You two are always together."

Rose looked at them, astonished. "Do you really think that's what's going on?"

"Well, let's be honest," Kairan added. "You haven't had a date the entire time you've been here, and there are plenty of cute guys who have been interested in you. It's not like you're actually discouraging the rumors, dear."

Rose sighed. "You're right, I suppose."

It was time, then, for Rose to actually start combating rumors, and she had a feeling that Kain was not going to be happy one way or another.

"It was rather strange," Kain was saying the next day to Rose as she sat on one of the tables in his room. She had dropped her first class of the morning so she could sleep in and have Kain's class as her first class of the day. It was late afternoon, long after her classes, and she was spending some extra time with Kain helping him grade papers before going home.

"I didn't get any of my normal death threats and attempts on my life," he continued. Ever since the school had come to the collective conclusion that Kain and Rose were sleeping together, both had suffered multiple attempts on their lives and threats of all sorts. Rose's came from the angry female population who wanted to go out with Kain, and Kain's was from the male population who either wanted to go out with Rose, or who felt he was threatening their relationships with their girlfriends.

"Yeah, neither did I," Rose added. Kain shook his head.

"Rather bizarre." He looked up at her. "Do you know why?"

"Uh," Rose hesitated. She knew inevitably he'd find out, and better from her lips than someone else's, but she still wasn't sure how he was going to take the news.

"Yeah?" she finished almost as a question. Kain gave her a quizzical, and, at the same time, suspicious look. She coughed slightly, looked down, and swallowed.

"I went out on a date last night."

" . . . " Kain blinked at her, trapped between confusion and rage. "You did what?! How long have you been going on dates without my knowledge?"

"Last night was the first one. I did it so that these rumors would stop." She looked up at him almost fearfully. "You're not too terribly angry, are you?"

"Oh, of course not," he assured her.

'I'm furious,' he growled to himself mentally instead. Rose glanced away from his gaze out the window and her eyes widened.

"Are you sure?" she asked, looking back at him worriedly.

"What would make you ask that?" he responded pleasantly. She decided not to mention the fact that the church's crosses from across the street had begun to twist and knot in unnatural ways with no obvious reason why they were moving. Kain finally sighed deeply, as if letting out some tension, and the crosses stopped bending.

"With who, may I ask?"

"Will Giovanni."

Kain paused. "He's on the football team. Rose, he's not the . . . type you'd prefer. And he definitely wouldn't be any good for you. Do you want me to tell you every little dark secret he possesses? It would do you good to know."

"No, no, no," Rose responded. "I don't want to know all his little secrets. I'd like to believe for once in human goodness."

He met her gaze for a long moment and didn't say anything. Then he sighed and told her, "All right, I promise I will not interfere with this. I won't meddle."

"Thank you," Rose answered.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Kain walked over to it, opened it, looked out, and calmly shut the door again. She watched as he walked over to the window, opened it, and started to climb through it. Blinking at this, Rose walked to the door and opened it to see a huge collection of women, all with cards or hearts, desiring to get to Kain. Rose glanced out the window and saw he was hurrying to his car. A malicious thought struck her, and she turned to the girls and said, "There he goes! He's heading for his car!"

All the girls immediately made noises of surprise and went racing after him while Rose chuckled to herself malevolently. She grabbed her backpack and headed home.

For a couple of hours she sat around, did her homework, and watched television. As she was starting to consider dinner, there was a knock on her door.

"Yes?" she called.

"Open. The. Door," was the softly growled response from the other side. Rose's eyes widened and she hastily dropped what she was doing, grabbed the doorknob, and opened the door enough to peek outside. Kain stood, glaring down at her, covered in flowers, lipstick marks, and had a very furious expression on his face. She immediately swung the door open fully and Kain stormed in and sat down on her couch, glaring at her.

"Why did you do that?"

Rose let her head drop and looked at her feet, looking very like a child who had misbehaved and knew she shouldn't have done it.

"Well, it was funny at the time."

"And after I had just promised I wasn't going to get involved in your love life, too."

Rose looked up at him, eyes widening, as she managed out in a whisper, "Oh shit."

"Yes, you had better curse," he retorted, standing. "Congratulations, Rose. You've just encouraged me to meddle as much as possible in this affair, so I hope you're happy."

She edged away as he stalked closer until she ended up pressed against a wall, Kain towering over her.

"What are you planning on doing?" she squeaked.

"Oh nothing much. I'm just going to make you chose between him and me."

"Agh." She slipped past him and retreated into the kitchen. "I can't make that decision," she continued. "I don't know him well, and I don't know if I would be happy staying with you for the rest of my life."

Kain was silent for a moment, and she turned as he stated softly, "If that's truly how you feel." To her surprise, he had a very hurt expression on his face, and he turned away and started walking toward the door. Fear ran through her that he would leave and she'd never see him again and spurred her to dart across the room and wrap her arms around his waist, burying her face against his chest.

"I didn't mean it," she told him, voice muffled. "I really didn't mean it. I'm just so confused by this all." She looked up at him, grabbed his face, and pulled him down to kiss him. She sighed deeply as she let him go.

"I did the one thing that Dad warned me never to do when it came to you."

"And what's that?"

"Trust you."

He chuckled softly and dryly. "In most areas, he's right, don't ever trust me. But keep in mind, Rose, I will never betray you, and on that you can trust me completely." He paused, then looked down at her.

"Well, it's almost winter break. We're do back at your parents' house then."

"Yup, that we are. I get to go home." Then she grabbed his face and pulled him down and kissed him passionately.

"What are you going to do about your boyfriend?" Kain teased her, biting her ear lightly.

"Fuck him," she growled vindictively, not wanting that topic to come up in the foreplay.

"I should hope not," Kain retorted, pulling her toward her bed. "That's my job."

"That's not funny."

"Yes it is."

"No it's not."