Chapter 23 - Twenty-Two

I clearly see beyond the kid's actions as his body starts to turn away from me and his feet back off, and reading his moves and mood gives me the advantage of time as I manage to reach out and hold him before he could give more than one step towards the door, barely able to turn around before I grabbed him.

"Ah! W-wait up! I say sorry alright! Ya stop!" He starts struggling against my grasp, his hands over mine at the back of his neck as his legs try to push him forward, and for a moment it feels like I'm holding a rat by its tail, making it desperately try to escape as futile as may be, stubborn in its wish to stay alive.

His attempts only put fuel at my desire to break him, but not his bones and body, that has always been so easy, a simple step on top of the ribs, or grabbing a little too strongly… no… I have always enjoyed breaking their spirits first, that was an art on itself.

And the first step is to let the prey know that there was no escape and, no matter what I wish to do with them they would be at the mercy of my desires, and since this kid seems so full of life, cursing me while still struggling, I harden my grip a little and, holding him by the back of his neck bring him up in the air at the same time I choke him a little, which makes the kid desperately try to easy my grip with his hands, his nails nor even marking my skin at his attempts.

As I walk towards the window an idea surges in my mind and since it was more like a hole on the wall than a proper window, with no glass nor wood in it, it offers no resistance as I hold the kid outside and give him a good view of the exterior and how high we were, at the top of one of these many crooked buildings.

With my hand squishing his neck he cannot even beg, but I could tell he has been trying to since the moment he realized his life is in danger, I'm that good at reading my preys after all.

"Stop." Suddenly I hear someone speak from inside the room, and without giving in nor lightening my grip I look behind only to see the man in black, Takamori, standing behind us, one hand at the wall to help steady himself as the wound on his head had reopened and is painting his milky white skin with red again, curving along with the yellow orbs that stared me down..

Such an appetizing figure painted right in front of me… what a waste.

That thought makes me even more annoyed and angry. Such. A. Waste!

"Let's all calm down and talk this out mister…?" Takamori keeps talking while looking at me and when I do not respond, neither with words or actions, he starts to stare back and forth between me and the kid. "There is no need to kill the kid now is there? Please let him go, whatever he has done to deserve this there must be another way to repay than his life."

He talks too much.

Mouth open and close and open and close, don't they ever get tired of this?

Because I just did, and I let it very clear when I ignore Takamori and go back to the kid, who has just started to make a funny sound from his nose and mouth from trying to breathe more air than I'm allowing him to.

Well, he just made this boring, I realize, especially for reminding me the denied fancy meal once more, this forsaken back and forth play, this growing hunger, and this… scary situation I'm in, of not being confident with my own body, this strange curse running thought my skin.

I don't like to be challenged like this, even in the jungle, hunting alone, I had some sort of… control.

But not here, everything is messed up.

And that makes me even angrier.

As I appear to hesitate Takamori gets closer, thinking I've stopped because of his words, but as soon as he gets near I reach my peck of annoyance and simply open my finger up and, to the surprise of them all, let the kid fall and drip from my fingertips to what would be certain death for him.

Only that Takamori is fast and grabs the kid over the window, his small body struggling to keep its grip while the kid coughed and tried to breathe while being so close to death altogether.

And suddenly I'm just tired, especially when the rain comes and the sun with it amidst the clouds, the water dripping in distinct drops on the rooftop, creating a symphonic lullaby over their grunts and wheezing.

My eyes land on the body full of maggots inside the room and with quick steps I grab it and throw it out of the window, right beside the struggling duo only to see that, after maintaining the position for a few seconds the kid finally stops coughing and, seeing the situation he is in, hanging outside the window with only Takamori's hands to keep him away from death, he thinks fast and swings his body to the side, the uneven put together buildings having more than enough crevices for him to grab unto, right about the time Takamori couldn't take anymore and let go, hearts beating frenetically at the near-death experience as the kid, with one last look above; and some "Fuck ya!" or "Ya cunt!" shouting; climbs his way out of there and into the buildings, deciding to avoid us for obvious reasons.

Lucky bastard.

Pity that his brain decided to function only now and make him run away, we could have some fun time together…but I guess I have made an interesting impression towards my neighbors didn't I?

Ignoring all the rest and deciding that I could deal with the food problem tomorrow since I've already filled my stomach on ghoul meat before entering the town I lay on the rag to the side and turn my back towards the human, not at all threatened by his presence.

And yet I would have never guessed how foolish and… intriguing humans can be; or rather, some rare individuals among the herd of meaty bodies, some that I would realize that were funnier to play with, and amusing to observe too.

I guess is one of those moments where a wolf gets so fascinated by the prey that, instead of running away, approaches the wolf that the hunger is forgotten for a moment as they only stare at each other, trying for the first time to read its mind, to get beyond the chase, the adrenaline, and see the creature in front of it, to see beyond that mother nature has made them for, the hunter and the prey, only beasts.

I wonder if the wolf will decide to eat this odd fascinating and easy prey… or if will let it go to hunt it in another day.

Sometimes even the hunter gets bored of chasing sheep… and gets fascinated towards anything that breaks the pattern.

So tell me, Takamori, are you a wolf in sheep's clothing? Or just a strange sheep? Or something completely different, none of it at all?

Because otherwise why would you approach the one who just coldly tried to kill a kid right in front of you? Who ignored your pleas and even brought you here against your will?

Do you have no sense of danger? Or are you just overly confident?

And why did it matter to me this much? I want to know so badly… So I can break you better.. indeed.

He kneels beside me and says nothing, as if knowing his words would do him no good, and reaches out towards my head and back as I look at him over my shoulder, watchful eyes looking at every move of his, only for him to reach a lock of hair softly and, seeing that I have no reaction, to grasp my hair once more, this time getting more of it on his hands and locking it in place with something, a low ponytail being quickly made and once finished he quickly let's go.

For a moment our eyes keep locked on each other's, the hair mostly out of my face now as he softly smiles.

At that he simply stands, walks towards the door, and leaves, letting me confused and alone in that room, reaching for my hair out of reflex and feeling that the annoyance before is now… gone and something came in place, curiosity, fascination, intrigue, they all are a too light word to be used here…

One of the first to make me want more than simply his flesh… I wanted to eat his thoughts away.

And I'm so hungry that I could eat it all entirely… eat it all.