RinXLen Adolecence Ch. 3

Rin climbed up the old tree and hung their backpacks on one of the branches, just high enough to be hidden from the streets, but low enough to retrieve at the end of the day.
Len helped her climb down the branch before he began to have doubts about skipping school.
"Are you sure we can take today off?" He asked as she slung her arm around his shoulder. "Don't you have a project due?"
"No." Rin said smiling. "It's not due till tomorrow, but I lied to Mom so I could finish it early and we could spend today together."
"Won't we get stopped by the police if we're caught wandering around in our uniforms?" Len said motioning towards Rin's white button top, dull gray skirt and navy blue knee-high socks with the school's emblem proudly stitched for the world to see.
"That's the beauty of my plan." Rin said rolling up her sleeves and pulling down her socks until the emblem was completely gone. "We're going to a place where there are no cops and no people during the day."
Len was curious, but he trusted Rin so he followed her into town.
They turned into a public park that was near their school and Len marveled at the silence in the air. The park was completely abandoned, save for a few people.
"It's perfect!" Len cried.
"I knew you'd like it!" Rin said smiling. "No one would look for us here when school is right there." Rin pointed to the large gray building that peeked over the tree tops and Len recognized the medieval style battlements as those of their school.
"Oh," Len said "Are you sure it'll be safe if school is right there? What if a teacher sees us?"
"I don't know." Rin admitted "What are the odds they'll recognize us?"
"Well let's see." Len said sarcastically "How many twins go to our school?"
"Oops." There were no other twins.
"Come on then," Rin said. "Let's go where they won't be able to see us!"
Rin lead Len down near the river that cut through the park. She watched the building and made sure that the school disappeared below the trees where no teacher could see them from the school windows.
Len and Rin sat in the sun and watched the river flow by. They chatted occasionally, but every so often their conversation would be broken up by comfortable silence. Sometimes the twins simply ran out of things to say to each other, but it was seldom awkward when this happened.
"Say," Rin asked Len for the hundredth time. "Where do you think we'll be in a year?"
"Well," Len answered sarcastically. "I would hope we'd be in school instead of skipping."
Rin scowled "You know what I mean. Where will WE be?"
Len held Rin's hand and thoughtfully watched leaves drift away on the surface of the river. It wasn't a foreign concept; he'd thought the same thing many times. But the fact of the matter was that he had thought of it often and still didn't know.
"I'm not sure." Len admitted "But so long as I have you I think it won't really matter, will it?"
Rin stared at him hard, and Len feared that he had said the wrong answer. After a silent moment Rin surprised him by pulling him into a hug.
"You really surprise me sometimes, Len." She said sincerely.
"I d-do? How?" Len stammered as his face flushed in the heat of the sun.
"You're not the totally goof you seem to be." Rin smiled playfully.
Len felt saddened as she pulled away from hugging him, but that only lasted a moment before something in the river caught his eye.
A snake-like head bobbed above the water for a moment before disappearing below the gentle waves.
"Rin, look at that!" Len said pointing to where the shape had disappeared.
"What?" Rin asked scanning over the surface of the river.
"Keep watching." Len said as he searched for the shape.
Suddenly a black head emerged from the water. It was the long twisted neck of a bird, with sleek black feathers. Len could see the whole form of the bird, its whole body submerged except for its neck which bobbed above the surface. It had a long sharp orange beak and it seemed to be swimming like a duck beneath the water.
"Wow." Rin sighed.
"I've never seen anything like that." Len said finally. They watched the bird swim away in silent appreciation.
Len glanced down at the grass where Rin and his fingers were intertwined and he smiled. It was one of the few calm moments that he relished.
Then suddenly Len felt his collar tighten around his throat until it was a noose pulling him up onto his feet. He gasped in surprise as Rin screamed in shock.
"Hahaha, I've caught you two skippers!" Their homeroom teacher Hiyama-sensei had grabbed Len by the back of his shirt and Rin by the wrist and he proudly held them out in front of himself to admire the startled looks on their faces.
"Hiyama-sensei!" Rin cried out beginning to fear the wrath of their mom when she found out about their skipping.
Len gaged as he tried to pull his shirt away from his throat.
"I can't breathe!" he complained.
Hiyama-sensei tightened his grip on Len's shirt and began to drag the children away from the river side.
"Just wait until your mother hears about this you two, you punks are in so much trouble!" He half-scolded while grinning wickedly. He loved getting children in trouble, almost as much as he liked scolding them about their behavior later. It was a strange and twisted rush to know that he had exposed something dirty to the light, and he was almost juvenile about seeking out wrong doers.
Tears built up in Rin's eyes and blurred her vision as Len choked beside her. In frustration she twisted her arm away from Hiyama-sensei, but he grabbed at her angrily.
"Rin, help me." Len pleaded as his face turned blue. Hiyama really was choking him, but he was too busy grabbing at Rin to notice.
Rin angrily placed a well-aimed kick into the seat of Hiyama-sensei's pants and their teacher groaned as he released Len and curled up on the ground, writhing in pain.
"Run, Rin!" Len commanded.
Rin didn't need to be told twice. In a moment after reflecting in horror that she had assaulted a teacher she was at Len's side running as fast as she could away from the park and away from their teacher who helplessly called at their backs: "You kids' ll pay for this!"
Rin was exulted as she felt the breeze caressing the side of her face and as she flew down the busy streets of the city as fast as her short legs would carry her. She felt freer than she had in weeks, with no one and nothing to stop her or hold her back.
Len however saw danger down every street. He wasn't running to have fun; he was fleeing the scene of a crime. He scanned every street they passed searching for a safe place to pull Rin to, away from danger and being caught.
"Let's get off of the street." Len gasped over his shoulder.