Venus Flytrap–Caught at last

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Rin couldn't believe he'd kept his secret power a secret for so long. It had been around, what, six, seven months since the power popped up? Longer? Rin had always been shit at keeping secrets, but he supposed it was easy for him now because no one was really asking him if he had the power to manipulate heat, so that wasn't really his credit to take.

He trained it whenever he went out hunting, which was often. Marshal was one of their best hunters and she was stuck waddling around the house with a belly full of three kids all squirming and kicking her and probably each other all the time. And Marshal never wanted Shura to leave her side and was terrifyingly clingy, so there went another hunter. At the moment, it was only Rin, Ryuji, and Kinzou hunting for the whole group, plus extra food for marshal to keep the babies all healthy.

Over the Fall and past month of Winter, they'd struggled with food going scarce, so Rin had skipped more than a few meals to give Marshal enough to keep the babies alive inside her. He knew in his mind that life would be much easier without three new babies to have to care for in the future, but he couldn't be that cruel. Those babies had a right to live just as much as he did. So, as a result, Rin sacrificed a few pounds so Marshal could gain more as the babies grew.

Winter was ending very slowly. Marshal figured the Groundhog had seen it's shadow so there would be six more weeks of Winter, whatever that meant. Warm clothes and blankets were hard to come by, but Shiemi and Izumo had stumbled upon a warehouse with some thick yarn amongst other crafts supplies. Shiemi was now teaching both Marshal and Shura how to knit. Izumo already knew how, so virtually, the women were all knitting blankets or hats or anything else that could keep them warm. Izumo was secretly working on a few sets of clothes for the babies as a gift for Marshal.

Yukio was also working on something that seemed important, as he was often frustrated over whatever it was. Kinzou soothed him as best he could, but Yukio seemed very invested in whatever he was doing. Kinzou had found a good few breast-feeding tank tops in the closet of the master bedroom and was waiting until their surprise baby shower to give them to Marshal. Konekomeru had made several pairs baby booties out of deer hide, keeping the fur on the skin to make them warm and comfy. Shima had found a nice diaper bag in a house a few blocks over. Chelsea was working on making deerskin baby carriers. 

Rin himself was making swaddles for the babies in his spare time, having learned to knit for fun when he was younger. It was a free class and he didn't want to be home, sue him.

Of course, he could get them done faster if Ryuji didn't keep demanding his attention whenever he caught Rin alone in a secluded space. There wasn't much to do since they'd finished repairing and securing the house as best they could, so he supposed the boredom was setting in or maybe Ryuji just wanted to keep warm. Whatever the reason, Rin didn't mind all that much. It was nice to forget the pressures of life once in a while. Although, the looks and eyebrow raises he and Ryuji both got from everyone else when they saw the bite marks or dark bruises left behind from the fun times always made Rin blush heavily and look away. Ryuji didn't seem to care at all. He wore the marks like they were awards.

Izumo wasn't as....active as the boys were and rarely joined in on the fun, but she let loose occasionally.

She also seemed to wear the marks left over from the fun times like awards and Rin had no idea how she and Ryuji did it.

When Sachi asked about the newest bite mark on his shoulder, Rin's face burned so hot that he thought his powers might have flared up. "I'll tell you when you're older." He told her. She sighed and nodded and they went back to their training. She got that answer way too often to try pestering her father for it.

§~•~§~•~§

Everyone usually stayed downstairs from dinnertime until they went to bed. Marshal had a hard time moving around, so she was almost permenantly confined to the furniture in the living room downstairs. Everyone knew her mood swings usually went between clingy, super emotional with a side of tears, and super happy, so they all resolved to stay with her until bedtime.

There was thankfully a guest room downstairs that was missing it's bed, so Rin, Ryuji, and Izumo gave her their King-sized matress and just slept on the floor. After a while, it hurt Rin's back and his body was incredibly stiff both with the soreness and the cold that creeped in at night. They'd given all their thin blankets to Marshal until they could make her a heavier blanket to keep her warm, so all they had was each other and their clothes.

A month without blankets and they'd combined the twin matress, the beanbag chair, and all the cushions from the furniture downstairs in the middle of the living room to make a giant bed that everyone but Marshal and Shura slept in a pile on.

Rin wasn't looking forward to doing that for another six weeks, but it was unavoidable. He frowned at his dinner and looked up to see Marshal's plate. It seemed both Yukio and Kinzou had sacrificed their portions to the woman tonight. Rin blinked and looked back down at his own food, frowning. He'd gotten so used to giving up his meals that he almost never felt hungry. It probably wasn't good, but he just couldn't make himself eat much these days.

"You need to eat, Rin." Ryuji nudged him. Rin looked up at him and saw the worried expression on his face. He frowned. "What's wrong?" He wondered. Ryuji sighed. "You can't afford to skip meals nearly as often as you do. You're already getting sluggish. If you can't keep up out there, you'll get killed. Eat." He insisted.

Rin nodded, finally picking up his squirrel and starting to eat. He hadn't noticed, but he was getting sluggish. It was already hard enough to keep moving with his body frozen solid, but without food? He'd be way too slow even for the zombies.

It happened in a second. Chelsea was in the kitchen laughing about something with Kinzou. She often used her hands to gesture widely as she spoke. Whoever had cut the meat had left the knife on the bar counter and Chelsea's hand hit the handle of the knife hard enough to send it flying into the living room.

Instead of catching the knife before it hit his daughter, Rin thrust his hand out and released a wave of heat so hot it was almost visible. The knife melted instantly and the goop fell on the coffee table in front of Sachi's plate.

Before anyone could ask him what the hell that was, Rin passed out and fell backwards, the recliner's soft material catching him.

He hadn't been eating properly, he was freezing, and he'd just used up all the heat he had to stop the knife from impaling his daughter's face.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin was greeted by Marshal's smiling face when he finally woke up. Pale light spilled into the chilly room, but he actually felt warm, for the first time in a while.

"Good morning Rin. How'd you sleep?" She greeted quietly. Rin rolled over to face her and shuffled closer to the warmth. "Good. First time in a while I've been able to feel my hands. What about you?" He wondered. She gave him a half-smile. "They've started to kick. Just woke up."

"I'm supposed to call Shura when you wake up, but I wanted you to get the chance to be fully coherent before they cornered you." She told him honestly. Rin frowned, struggling to remember what had happened before he'd passed out. He couldn't.

"What am I explaining?" He asked. "You were pretty tired, so it's no wonder you don't remember it. Chelsea was gesturing with her hands, hit the knife on the bar counter, it went flying towards Sachi, and you put your hand out and melted it on top of the table. Then you passed out." She explained. "I don't see why they're fussing so much about it, so what you have some kinda heat powers? It doesn't really change anything other than proving you should eat more so you don't do that again." Marshal rolled her eyes. She had a way of simplifying things that made them seem easier than they were.

Rin curled in on himself and groaned. "I don't wanna talk to anyone. I wish they were all like you. You're easy to get along with. You don't freak out." He whined. Marshal reached out and hugged him as well as she could with her large belly in the way.

"I know. It's okay, I'll be right there. Your emotions are probably all over the place after not eating enough, probably being dehydrated, and then the whole heat power thing. I'll even hold your hand if you want me to. You're still a kid and they'll have to deal with me if they try to make you let go." Marshal offered, giving a sympathetic smile. Rin sighed and nodded, getting up from the matress.

He was pulling Marshal up from the mattress when the door opened. Kinzou had come to check up on them.

He went to help Marshal stand too, but Rin waved him away. After two failed attempts to help the woman stand, he turned to the man with a chagrined look on his face. "Alright, help."

Kinzou snickered as he and Rin both pulled Marshal up. "We need to keep an eye on you." He told Rin, shaking his head fondly. Rin tilted his head to the side in confusion. He helped Marshal waddle out of the room and down the hall into the living room where everyone was waiting. At the serious expression on Ryuji's face, he shrunk more into Marshal's side. They sat down on the loveseat and Rin brought his knees to his chest, hugging them right to himself.

The silence made him nervous. Finally, someone spoke up. "Rin, do you remember what happened at dinner?" Shiemi asked gently. He shook his head. "I told him when he woke up." Marshal said.

"Okay. Um....what exactly did you do to....melt that knife?" Shiemi continued her unsure questioning. Rin opened his mouth, but he didn't know what to say at first.

"I....It started a while ago. Like, when we were still in New Jersey. After I crashed the van." He started. "Um, it started as just this raw heat. It kinda burned at first, like I could feel the burn, but it didn't hurt." Marshal nodded encouragingly and he pushed on.

"I didn't know how hard I hit my head, so at first I thought it was in my head. But then little fits would come and go where the heat would just rise to unnatural levels and then I'd have to pull it back in. Once I realized that it probably wouldn't go away, I started training to control it instead. I-I didn't want to hurt anyone. I've been training it all this time so when I needed it in a situation, it would be available and I could explain later. But I-I didn't really know how to bring up having this power, so I just kept brushing it off. So, um, yeah." He finished in a way that reminded Yukio that as much as his twin had changed and developed and matured, Rin was still Rin. He wasn't a completely different person like Yukio often thought. And it also reminded him that Rin got nervous when people were angry at him or seemed upset at him.

He stood and walked over to Rin, crouching next to the loveseat. He pulled Rin's hand up and made him open it, spreading his fingers. He placed his own open palm against it. "Show me." He said. Rin blinked in surprise. "You're not mad?" Rin asked quietly. "No, I'm not mad, but I will be if you're bullshitting me. So show me." Yukio answered impatiently in his usual way.

Rin stared at their hands and concentrated, feeling the heat in Yukio's body, greater than his own. He pulled that heat forward to the surface of Yukio's hand and pulled it to his own, stealing the small amount of heat.

Yukio raised his eyebrows. "Huh." He said, taking his hand away. "Man, that feels weird." He muttered before standing up and going back to standing next to Kinzou.

"He's not lying and really, how do you bring up some wierd power you picked up randomly if it's never really relevant?" He pointed out, shrugging.  Ryuji sighed.

"Are there any ways you could have used it to help us with anything in the past?" He questioned. Rin winced. "Not really. I can locate people's bodies within a certain radius, but whenever I try with animals, they're too small and too quick to keep track of. If I strain it, I can track a buck, but that's it and it gives me a headache. And zombies are dead, so they've got no body heat. If this was fire, it might be more useful, but it's really not? I can just...manipulate heat. Large amounts at my healthiest. I've tried using it to help us during winter, but I'm not strong enough or warm enough to spare that much heat. I've been giving it to Marshal or Sachi most of this Winter." Rin answered, playing with his hair and entirely avoiding looking at anyone in the room.

He was acting, strangely, like a cornered, nervous teenager. He was almost twenty, but he entirely missed the last few years he'd had to enjoy life and he'd had an unpleasant childhood. Rin should be childish, but he didn't really act that way most of the time. He was always keeping an eye on everyone, training and raising the kids, hunting, making plans for runs and any time they had to do something big. Rin was ignoring that part of himself because he didn't think it was needed.

Ryuji wished he wouldn't forget so many important things about Rin. Like how he needed downtime from being the Leader entirely. Rin was tired. He wouldn't admit it, but he was. He hadn't wanted to be the leader in the first place, but he'd taken up the role to help them survive in the outside world after Kyoto. It was time for a break.

"I'm not mad at you or anything. It was a weird situation." He finally said, walking over to crouch beside the loveseat like Yukio just had. "How about I take over looking out for the group for a while. You can be in charge of helping Marshal." He offered.

"Is that okay?" At Marshal's nod, Rin hesitantly nodded too. "Good. Now eat." He handed Rin a plate of food that looked to have someone else's portion added to it and he went to object, but Marshal's hand over his mouth stopped him.

He looked up at her indignantly. "You're gonna be skin and bones if you don't eat better, kid. And with your affinity to heat, you're probably worse off than the rest of us in the cold. Eat the food Rin." She ordered him. He scowled before starting on the food. No point in arguing with the vicious pregnant woman.

Everyone split up to do whatever needed to be done today. "C'mere, Rin." Marshal slid an arm along his shoulders and pulled him against her side in a vague form of cuddling. He could get used to just attending Marshal instead of being the Leader.