| Irai mumbled and groaned as she woke up. She opened one sleepy eye to look out of the window at the dark sky. Irai closed her eyes and rolled around in the bed until she rolled into Ren's sleeping form. She wrapped her arms around him and buried her head into his back. Then she wrapped her tail around him and held him against her body. Ren and Irai spent the day before resting and healing, as both were still bruised up when they woke up. Irai could walk with very little pain, but her back still throbbed. Ren, however, could barely move without suffering pain, so Irai took care of him most of the day. She cooked for him, cleaned up for him, and even offered to clean him in the bathtub, but Ren denied her the chance because he wanted privacy. Irai had convinced Ren to stay in the bed with her on the night of the forest attack. She told him that he was "too bruised up to be sleeping on the floor," despite his protest. He then asked her to wear a shirt, but both nights she was in the bed with him, she removed the shirt because she couldn't sleep. In truth, however, she wanted to be with Ren because she was scared. Her fear reached new heights when she woke up from falling unconscious when Ren was carrying her after the attack. The weapons used were those she had never seen before, and had Ren not told her what to do, she would have been helpless. She found herself growing more and more dependant on him as every day passed. To Irai, Ren was her protector. He had put himself in between the attackers and her in the forest and defended her when she was in his school. His touch eased her mind and his confidence reassured her despite her fear of being in a new world. Whenever he would leave her, her fears started rebuilding, but once he returned, she felt at ease again. Irai snuggled up to Ren as she started to drift into slumber once again. Her mind slowly drifted off as her eyes became heavier and heavier. She closed them slowly, unable to stay awake any longer... Ren's clock made a loud buzzing sound that startled Irai. Her eyed opened in surprise as her arms squeezed Ren's waking form. He mumbled for a little bit before turning off the clock and rolling onto his back. He wrapped an arm around her, causing her grip on him to ease a little as he rubbed her back. Slowly, Ren sat up while Irai pulled herself up with him. Irai released her grip on him as Ren got out of bed. She slipped out from under the covers and stretched out on the bed. She watched him go through his clothes and pick out some before yawning once again. Then she forced herself out of bed as she stood and stretched some more before she walked up to Ren and leaned against him. "Why do you have to wake up so early today?" "School..." was the mumbled reply from Ren. As Ren went to change, Irai walked to the kitchen, looking around for food to prepare for breakfast. She cut Ren an apple and added a few pieces of bread with it. She prepared the same thing for her as Ren entered, filling the kettle with water and putting it on the stove. Once the kettle started whistling, Ren took the kettle off the stove and prepared the tea as she carried out the rest of their breakfast to the living room. Ren brought out the two cups of tea and handed Irai one of them before he took a seat on the couch near her. She leaned against him as they started eating their breakfast and drinking their tea. Ren ate his apple quickly and finished off the bread before he started sipping on his tea while remaining silent. Irai was finishing up her apple when she looked up at Ren and smiled. "Is it alright if I go with you to school?" "I don't think so..." was his reply. Irai put her cup down before se continued. " Please Ren, I don't think I can manage without you." She wrapped her arms around him as Ren became speechless. Her gaze was fixxed on his face as he struggled to say something. " It's..... well...... okay." was all Ren could force out of his mouth. Irai gave him a quick squeeze before she hurried to Ren's room. She grabbed a pair of khaki pants as well as the shirt that Ren wore the first day she saw him. Se pulled the pants up her legs quickly, almost tripping onto the bed before she buttoned up the shirt. She returned to the living room to see Ren ready to go. He wore a blue jacket and a blue hat as he handed her a black jacket. She slipped the jacket on and zipped it up as Ren grabbed his backpack, still covered in paint. Ren turned off the lights in his house before he opened the door, Irai following him. It was a cold morning for Irai as she stepped out of house. She immediately started to shiver as she was thankful that Ren gave her the jacket. She held onto one of his arms as he lead her through his neighborhood. As their walk continued, she started huddling herself against Ren, shivering as she tried to become warmer. After was seemed an eternity of walking in the cold to her, they arrived at his school. The wave of heat that hit Irai's face was a relieving one as Ren lead her through the school and to his locker. Once there, Ren emptied his backpack of most of his books and two bags into his locker as she looked around. Almost all of the eyes in the hallway were on her as she edged closed to Ren, nervousness and fear starting to fill her heart. Ren finished unpacking and shut his locker before wrapping his arm around Irai's waist. She calmed down as he lead her through the hallway and into one of the smaller rooms. He took a seat at a desk as she took the seat right next to his. Before long, more men and women Ren's age entered, some of different colored skin, but all human. One of the guys in the room took a seat near Ren and started asking him questions. "Your parents were still on vacation, Ren?" Ren nodded. "So how was she?" Ren shook his head at the man. A look of disappointment came on the man's face as he stood up and walked away. Irai was curious as to what he meant as she tugged on his sleeve. "What did he mean when he asked 'how was she'?" He smiled at her. "He probably heard about what happened in the forest. So I shook my head to let him know that he doesn't have to worry." "Okay" was her one word response as he let out a sigh. As all the people took a seat, a human noticably older in age, entered the class. He looked stunned at first when he saw her, but he resumed in his duties as he prepared his desk. Ren took out a book and opened it up, but she didn't bother looking into it. She knew how to speak common, but she didn't know how to read it that well, so instead she leaned against Ren and closed her eyes. ---------------------------------------------------------- She felt Ren shaking her as she slowly opened her eyes. Irai realized that she fell asleep against Ren as she took a look around her. Only Ren and the older man were in the room as she stood up slowly. Ren grabbed his bag, already packed up, and lead her out of the room and into the hallway. Irai followed Ren through the hallway and to his locker, where he picked up another book before closing up his locker. She started walking once again with Ren when she heard a voice behind her. "Hey you bastard and you little bitch!" Ren stopped her as he turned around. She took a look behind her and saw Mark pointing a dark object at her and Ren. Worry started to fill her as she remember the promise he made to kill both of them in the forest. Ren stepped in front of her, hiding her behind him. "What do you want, Mark?" "Your death." was his harsh reply. Three sounds, similar to a thunderstorm, filled her ears as she felt Ren's body jerk against her twice. Panic started to fill her heart as the sounds of screaming and yelling filled the halls. She could not see Mark through Ren as she continued to hide behind Ren. Without warning, Ren fell to the floor as a pool of blood started to form under him. Irai cried in anguish as she turned him over quickly to see two holes in Ren's body, one in his left arm and the other in his chest. Irai continued crying as her tears fell on Ren's body. Out of the corner of her eye she noticed the black object that Mark used to kill Ren. When Irai looked for Mark, she saw him pinned down by two other men as he fought against their grip. Her sorrow turned into anger and hatred as she grabbed the weapon and pointed it at Mark. Her hands trembled as she pointed the weapon at Mark. Irai wanted to kill him for killing Ren, but at the same time she didn't want to kill him. Two inner voices started to sound in her head as one told her to kill him while the other told her to spare him. Tears blurred her vision as she started to pull the lever on the weapon. But Irai couldn't do it. She dropped the weapon and fell down onto Ren. She couldn't kill Mark, even if he did kill Ren. Irai laid her head on Ren and put her hands on his wounds in a futile attempt to stop the bleeding. She cried and cried into Ren's shirt as she started talking to Ren softly. "Please don't die Ren...... I need you Ren....... Please don't die now...... You're too good of a person to deserve to die.... Please don't die Ren......" Irai continued to repeat herself as the whole world went silent to her. Her cries slowly became tears of pain as she felt something burn her forehead. She screamed as her eyes were filled with an incredibly bright light, blinding her vision of Ren. The light continued to fill her vision as the pain slowly went away. Irai suddenly remembered the last time her eyes were blinded like that as she started to weaken. " The rite of passing....." was all she could mumur before she fell unconscious. |