Rintigale

Chapter 2

It's been a month since Rin first injected the sperm. He has noticed the egg grew as time passed and is now the size of a football. "I think it'll hatch soon," Rin said to Koda who was stretched out on his bed. She looked up at him from her manga and noted, "Maybe. It's definitely gotten bigger." He sighed and said, "I know. The shell had hardened some too. I'm hoping that's a good sign." Rin scratched his head then sat on her stomach. He had a small twin bed so his options were sitting in her or the floor. The floor is definitely cleaner now that Rin is just waiting for the results. Koda set her book down and asked, "So what are you going to call it?" Rin said, "Well I haven't decided yet. I want something that has my name in it a little, but still seem a little fierce. Like you know how Dragon sounds like something cool, I'd like something like that." She sighed as she thought then offered, "What about Wolventig? It's kind of got your name in it." He shook his head then asked, "How does Wererin sound?" Koda laughed and said, "It sounds like you're a werewolf." Laughing, he puffed up his chest and teased, "Well I am a Wolfe." She laughed even harder and started to snort...which made them laugh even harder. After they calmed down an idea hit Rin, "What about Rintale?" Koda shook her head and suggested, "Not fierce enough but I like the idea. What if it were Rintigale?  It has harder syllables which makes it seem tougher." Rin nodded and said, "I like it. Let's go with that." He got up and walked back over to the tank pressing his fingertips to the warmth of the glass. "Come on little Rintigale. I can't wait to see you," he told the egg quietly. Koda propped herself up on her elbows watching him as a smile crept into her face. She decided now was a good of a time to ask as any, "So what made you want to make this little one?" Rin shrugged and simply replied, "If there's a good way to get known in a small town and you have no talents, this is as good of a way as any." "Why do you want to be known? Your mom is already all over the world." Koda mentioned. He looked over at her gently leaving against the tank and said, "I want to be known for who I am and what I've accomplished, not my mother and her accomplishments." She nodded understanding his logic.

Koda was satisfied and plopped herself back down on his bed. Sadly, Rin relaxed his stance a little too much. The incubator tipped and knocked the egg over. Rin quickly stood up and stabeled it, then looked in to check on the egg. Koda joined his side in a moment of seconds to check on the little one. She took a deep breath and said, "I think he's okay." He agreed and then when back to staring lovingly at it. After a few moments Rin noticed something that they had both missed. A hairline crack had formed along the side. "No no no no no..." Rin repeated as he opened it and pulled out the egg. He looked at it and noticed the egg had more cracks where it had fallen. Koda saw how upset he was and wrapped her arms tightly around his shoulders. Rin looked as defeated as he felt. At least until he felt the egg wiggle in his palm. "Wait." He said add they watched the egg wiggle even more. Soon a small snout was poking through. Rin realized that it was having trouble and so he peeled some of the shell back. Curled up inside was the smallest, most adorable creature the two had ever seen. The Rintigale had the eyes and head shape of an owl, the ears and snout of a fox, a trio of red, white, and black colour, the fuzzy fur and tail of a rabbit, and the body type of a lizard. He dumped the little one onto his hand and it was just a little bigger. It opened its eyes slowly and looked up at the two curiously. Rin. A 14 year old, scrawny, organized, clumsy, kid. He created life. He created a new species. He created an animal. Koda stared at it wide-eyed and asked, "What are you going to name it?" Rin looked at it thoughtfully for a few moments then suggested, "Dil?" She looked at him and asked, "Where did you come up with that?" He just shrugged then cooed the small creature in his hand.

Dil grew up fast and would eat just about anything. Rin had sent pictures of it to his mom; however, she never responded. Koda came over more often then before to play with the little guy. The two trained Dil to do little tricks like roll over, jump through a hoop, play dead, and hide, in case someone tried to steal him. Dil is only 2 months old and is already the size of a full grown iguana. Rin and Koda kept his existence a secret, with the exception of the pictures, especially at school since he was not very well liked and they thought someone might take him as a prank.

Koda laid on the couch with Dil curled up on top of her as she stroked his fur. "So what's next in your plans with this one." Rin sat at her feet and started petting him as well. "What if I made him a mate?" She looked at him wide-eyed and asked a little more loudly than Dil's liking, "Are you crazy? We don't know how fast these things breed. They could fill this house faster than if we shouted outside, 'House party, all invited!'" "We also don't know his life span. This could be his prime and were already too late," he rebutted. Koda scooped him up in a cradle and sat up. "I suppose. Plus he could be lonely." Rin nodded and watched the little one as it sleepily yawned in Koda's arms. "Or he could be the little baby we thought he was," he said still on his own train of thought. She realized this and jokingly rolled her eyes knowing he wasn't paying attention to her. Koda handed Dill over carefully to Rin who was excited to hold his "son". Yawning, she headed for the door to head home sine her parents were concerned how much time she was spending over here, at a boy's house, alone. The Astleys knew Rin's mom was gone a lot and they also trusted their daughter to stay the night and keep him company, mainly because they thought Rin was gay; however, Koda has stayed the night every night for almost 2 weeks and they didn't approve. Koda never told them about Dil so she just said that Rin has been really stressed out because he's alone so much. Her parents of course empathised with him and bought their phony story. She quietly slipped out the door leaving Rin in the middle of his living room with Dil. He hadn't even noticed. Rin actually hasn't noticed a lot of things recently; nothing school related of course, he values education too much. Although, things like food, bathing, and other necessities were not on his priorities list. He's lost a little more weight and has gotten a lot less sleep because he's so focused on Dil. Another thing he hasn't noticed is a student following him around more often. Koda has noticed but she didn't think a whole lot about it, probably just another weird kid who thinks he's cute. After a few more minutes of snuggling Rin looked up and called out, "Koda?" No answer. He noticed her missing blue and grey sketchers and figured she had went home. Rin laughed to himself knowing he had lost his train of thought and decided to go to bed. Dil was placed in his little blanket nest on the floor next to Rin's bed. The little Rintigale yawned again and curled up falling fast asleep. Rin noticed a small, vibrant green sticky note on his book bag next to his desk. "Property of Derrik Stryder," was inscribed on the crumpled note. Rin crumpled it up and threw it in his trash can. Derrik Stryder was just below him in class ranking. He was in all of Rin's classes and was even his locker neighbor. They talked on occasion but only if they were in a group together or ran into each other in the hallways. Recently that seemed to happen more often, not that Rin really noticed considering he had other things on his mind. Derrik one had an obvious crush on Koda but she blatently shut him down, although, not quite as bad as Fred. Rin finally threw on pajama pants, took off his shirt and crawled into bed awaiting to play with his rintigale again in the morning.

A cold hand slammed down on Rin's mouth and his eyes flew open. His eyes darted around the darkness of the room and his hands clawed at the hand over his mouth. Another hand grabbed both his wrists in one swift motion and pinned them over her head. Rin tried to wiggle free but the hands pushed down harder and he let out a small squeal of pain. A ruff grunt was heard above Rin and the hand released his mouth for a second. It was soon replaced by a damp towel with an odd chemical smell that made Rin slowly lose conciousness. Dil woke up and noticed something was wrong when there was a large leg in front of his bed that was clearly not either of his masters. He hid under the bed scared of what is happening. The large leg walked out of the room carrying a large body and holding something that looked like Rin in his arms. Dil curled up until he heard the front door close. He scurried onto the bed and looked for Rin to no avail. The little rintigale curled up on his pillow and let out a small, desperate cry.