Chapter 53 - 52

At some point we reach what I assume is his house, not as shabby as the ones I have seen so far in the slums, but not the best one of this black district either.

Black… If I remember correctly it belongs to the military, the soldiers, and it seems that they have their own separate special circle for themselves, however such things do not seem to prevent the status difference visible on the big and fancy houses on the main street from the small apartment buildings on the sidewalks.

And yet, even if not as big, his house still has some charm, brick red walls on the outside, a little green area on the front, and some steps leading to the entrance.

"My place is on the second floor, is not much but is cozy, feel free to make yourself at home!" He says after passing the front door and going into a hall, two doors on the sides, ending up with some black stairs.

As we walk deeper in he gives a quick look back at the footprints that I have been leaving in our path, walking barefoot all the way with dirt on the sole of my feet, and he says lowly: "Well, I have to get that cleaned up before anything else too."

Not caving in from continuing to support me with his arm he works around to reach for his keys once we reach a wooden door, this one hand job proving to be harder than he expected when he almost drops the keys a few times.

"Welcome to my humble home." He says when the door finally creaks open to reveal a one room apartment with a small kitchen to the side, a sofa with a television in the middle and a bed at the end, that shitting place hidden somewhere with a door.

As we walk inside Connor starts kicking his clothes out of the way, the once nice looking place overwhelmed by laziness with most of its free space filled with junk and clothes, making him chuckle his embarrassment away.

"You can say I didn't expect visits today, hahaha." He chuckles, whispering: "Or ever…"

As he pulls out a single chair from the side, brushing the paper on top of it to the floor, he makes me sit on it while he goes in search of something further into his home, or rather, head deep into his wardrobe since this house is not big enough for me to even lose sight of him, and his constant blabbing gives me enough time to analyze the place deeper. 

I sniff the somewhat stale air, feeling the cozy warm place, no air drafts from the ceiling nor the entrance, these mechanizes on the walls working wonders at keeping the place safe, closed in, and warm while giving the option of opening up and letting the outside air in if wanted to.

As expected of such feeble creatures, so much care and work towards keeping the wind and rain outside while warm and cozy inside…

Conner finally comes back with something that I soon discover to be the cloth pieces they put over themselves, somewhat always being the first thing they care for when assisting me, what's the deal with that?

He glances at me, however, with the clothing open in front of me, only to look away while swallowing, nervousness clear in his actions as he licks his dry lips.

"Well, uhm… you should take a shower first, right? A shower, sho-wer, do you understand? Clean yourself? Of course, of course not, sigh…would be that easy now would it…" He says, looking desolate as he goes to a door on the side: "I will fill the water up, yeah, then we see after that I supposed… Is not possible that he doesn't know how to take a shower right? I'm not that unlucky am I?" I keep hearing him mumbling as he enters the other room, turning some sort of creaking wheel that opens up to the sound of rushing water.

"Come in!" He says, not long after appearing at the doorway and shushing me in. "While is still warm. S-see?" After talking and trying to make me understand something Conner stays still, awkwardly waiting for a response at the open door where foggy steam comes out from. 

"Oh come on! Get in here please! I have to go back to the troops before they miss me, come on!" He says a little more desperate, moving in the same place before coming closer while making motions towards the door.

Before he can reach me however I dodge to the side and away from his grasp, standing up while at it, but the following moment that I realize the awkward situation we are in and having to play nice as to not blow my cover away and lose my new hiding place I end up making my way towards the door, sniffing the warm misty air.

The place is quite white, a better and newer version of the shitter my old crumbling place had, plus some sort of container that had been filled with warm crystal clear water.

…Oh, I see…

I walk over the bathtub and, as I look inside Conner brings something square that smells nice and putts on the side, together with other things. "Here is the shampoo, soap, and…" He keeps talking until, finally, he leaves, literally leaves the house, not only that room, and his fake calm demeanor in front of me is broken when I hear him rushing downstairs, only to go back to quickly clean the corridor and rush back down towards the streets, leaving me alone in his home.

Busy day to be a soldier, I think as I enter the water and quickly dirty it. I used to clean myself with running water too when living in the wild, is hard to clean my scales on my own and sometimes things get stuck in between, so waterfalls were used to clean myself up, however I've never soaked in like this, especially in warm water.

Is nice… I may start doing this in the wild too, fire up some wood, cut a big trunk inwards and fill it with water… uhum, would be nice.

Once the water turns cold I leave, somewhat cleaner from the mud, but without brushing my hair or using soap my state may still look deplorable for human standards.

I don't care though, is has been a long day already, far too long, so I go towards the bed and, stealing all the blankets from it, humble up underneath it where is dark and cozy, hindering any remaining light from reaching me by covering myself in cloth, like humans like to do; or at least in a similar way I would say.

But I could not expect that such busy strange day would end up in such peaceful manners now would I?

Things are quiet along the day on my end, people too busy and worried not only with what has happened until now but with their daily chores too, but none did matter for me as the day passed and I slept soundly, not waking up even when footsteps sounded downstairs, and only when the door softly opens that I slowly blinked the sleep away.

But it is already too late.  

As I turned around to look at the door a hand has already reached out towards me, making me surprised not only for his presence but for my lack of guard for nobody has ever sneaked on me before, ever, but this guy just did it now and so easily to boot!

I cannot accept that is as purely skill on his part, it must have something to do with this biding we are in, this… this contract!

The surprise of his presence there lets me in a state of shock for a few seconds and as his hand squishes my shoulder tightly his face comes to view, and his cold silver glinted blue eyes curve in satisfaction as a rare as dangerous smile curves his lips a little, sending shivers down my spine as, for once, I fear what may be the outcome of this, especially when his voice, usually so cold and monotone, carries a hint of something else in it as he says:

"I finally found you, Seiji Koshiro. I won't let you escape me ever again."

Well damn if I'm not really screwed now.

*-*-*-*-End of Volume One-*-*-*-*