Man in the corner of the eye

"May I ask you a privet question?" Roxy puts her elbows on the edge of the bathtub, resting her head on her palms, looking at Ryu who's covered with water to his chin.

"I'm strongly against you using the toilet while I'm bathing." 

"Oh yeah that's mutual. But I meant to ask if you had puberty?"

"No, My surgery postponed that, doctor said That'll happen when I'm 20 or something."

"Good to know, but I think your other will reach maturity sooner, brace yourself."

"Kay, now please give me a moment. I have a meeting with George." 

She looked at the rubber duck, flicking it meanly before heading out of the bathroom. An invisible tendril was waiting neat the door, nearly stumbling her. Safe to say they didn't make up yet. 

After getting her balance she glanced something dark in the corner of her eye, turning her eyes she found nothing. She tilted her head, eyelids wider than usual.          

Karaza grabbed the Tabaco refills from the vending machine and walked to the usual shaded bench, reading some catalogs. The beekeeping training she's in is held only three days a week, and after yesterday's dream she prefers to stay occupied. 

Her smoking buddy was closing his eyes, smoke rising to the sky from his kiseru, neglected. With the quietness of a feather she sat near him. Knowing this was a habit after long nights or difficult surgeries, or after explaining the same thing three times for the patient's family. After enough stories she came to her mind that she thought of doctors as magicians with obsidian scalpels and white coats. Although they didn't wear white here, and their scalpels were made with a marital shaper than obsidian. 

She lit the pipe and browsed the catalog, seemingly relaxed until she felt something, someone is behind her. Not a fun idea since a wall of a building was behind the bench, not enough space for anyone to be there. 

'Of course bunch crazy stuff gonna happen after a whole tornado collapsed into a monster.' She thought, letting out a long drawn out sigh. Remembering last night. 

The nameless surgeon opened his eyes upon the interruption of the silence. Half startled since he didn't sense her existence prior. 

"Sorry, I will be quieter." 

"You don't have to." He said after a pause, remembering that's his smoking buddy isn't well adjusted, despite being good in hiding that. 

He looked at his pipe, all smoke flew to the sky. He looked at it, disappointed before standing up and stretching his arms. She wasn't paying attention to the catalog, just letting a long silent sigh through her nose, chest moving is the only cue to that.

"Wanna go to the store?" He offered.

He grabbed a drink and she browsed a children story about a kid and her raccoons friend. Similar to stories about kids and their dogs in the dukedom. Absolutely astonished.

"Raccoons live in dumpsters? Cruel."  He comments after knowing about the co worker pet thing, while they walked back to the bench.

"I guess so. I almost believed it was a code for something else." 

"You mean a slang."

" I was probably making a stupid face."

"Well in doubt just smile and nod along , works all the time."

The nice conversation stopped when a man with blond hair walked passed her, she almost turned her head back, but she caught up to the fact that her mind was playing games with her, and that was a mere stranger. 

Her freshly lightened mood got sour again.

 When they reached the bench a curly haired woman was sitting there, sipping coffee. Karaza looked at her name tag, she knew how it sound but knew she can't pronounce some letters in it. So in her mind she was the woman who smoked cigars occasionally.

"Why you're not going home kid?" She asked the surgeon.

"I have a double shift in...an hour or so." He looks at the clock in the hospital wall. 

"You youngsters, good luck then. Check on be 34 for me will ya."

"Yes ma'am."

He looked at his senior walking away, some gray hair reflect the sun, contrasting the dark curls. His eyes turn to his companion who was looking down.

"You know, senior came from a place of battles and stuff, I can ask to her if you need an advise." The friendness of his tone was coated by a layer of seriousness. 

 She locked eyes with him for a second before looking away, the expression of care hurt to look at for too long. 

"No, the city stuff are actually easier. But there is another part of me.." 

Her hand pulled her hair tightly, she swallowed the shakiness of her voice.

"Part of me that I wish it could get magically fixed doc."

He looked at the ground as he heard that, words resonating more than they should. He didn't say much, just carefully untangling her fingers from her hair. 

-

Four years ago the mercenary lit her pipe, looking at the undestroyed, blue moon of the dukedom. The wounds of a difficult mission stung with every move under the bandages and the antiseptic, even inhaling a smoke was the chore of them all. 

She recognized the sound of footsteps walking closer. 

"Good after midnight, young master." She turned her head, trying not to focus on his cats patterned pajama pants. 

"Lively as ever huh?" He chuckled at the made up greeting, sitting next to her. A leather bag in his lap. He took out the blue eraser shaped gem, a tiny grater and a small bottle of water. He started to grate the gem into the bottle.

"Young master! you don't have to." She whispered to him, extending her hand to stop him.

"But I want and I can." He said in the arrogate tone of a master, before giving her the bottle with a cheesy wink. She couldn't help but smile.

"Say Cherry...Are you in love with Henry?" He whispered, eyeing her not so subtle reaction, almost spitting out the medicine, giving him a mortified look. 

"Really? My condolences." His eyelids rose, giving the 'Oh this is bad' look.

"Did anyone else..."

"Nope, lucky for you I'm the only one who saw you run into acid trees and coming back dragging his unconscious body with that desperate look on your face." 

The tips of her ears were burning red. She didn't say anything.

"Henry?! Out of all the jacked men in the troupe? Work on your taste sista."

"You're such a kind young master!" She snarks.

"No seriously, someone from the Marquis Jasper family? Even I not noble blooded enough in their eyes."

"I know who I work with, young master." Anger slipped unwillingly to her tone, and the humor left his face for a minute.

"I tell you what, there is a great brothel in the-"

"Young master please.."

" Hear me out, hear me out. You will forget him just like that!" He snapped his fingers with a mischievous smile. The edges of her lips curved upward. 

"Though you'll forget your money too." He took the chance to joke again, making her chuckle.

"Thanks, Young master."

-

In the shabby apartment Ryu was bandaging his sprained wrist, some tendrils playing restlessly with his rocks, Roxy was scrabbling. Both trying to not look at the corner of their eyes though they know damn well that there is someone standing behind them. 

Was it behind Ryu, or behind her? It was behind both, like it had clones or simply because it was a fragment of each mind.  

She looked entirely focused on the book in her hand, the faint movement of her shoulder was watched from behind. 

In an instant she was no longer writing in the table, she's now mid air, jumping toward the apartment's door, hand almost touching the handle. 

A shadowed hand grabbed her ankle, snapping her away. Falling on the floor.

Ryu got the hint, multiple tendrils marched toward the door handle, dodging the multiple shaded hands that tries to grab them, almost reaching the assumed goal. That is until two other hands creeped behind him, choking his neck and covering his mouth.

He marched stabbing tendrils from his back, the thing was unfazed, until the tendrils wrapped around it like a mummy, trapping it. 

Ryu untangled himself hastily and ran toward the door. With his attacker detained and Roxy's attacker busy nailing her on the ground he grabbed the door handle, which refused to open. 

It didn't take another second, the shadowed man freed itself from the tendrils and jumped on him, pinning him to the ground. 

His pupils turned narrow, he was about to release his blood lust but he locked eyes with pinned Roxy, shaking her head to him. 

' We are still in the human territory. Don't risk getting caught.' Is what she would say if her mouth wasn't covered. 

His pupils raced looking for a solution as the hands squeezed his air pipes and covered his mouth and nose.

'Morph, Morph.' He yelled internally.

'Crap, he doesn't have much oxygen in his system.' Roxy struggled, not in a better situation her self.

'At a breaking point he will morph and release blood lust.. No can't risk that.'

She summoned her treasure box, a string of grass flies out of it, dashing toward the attacker. Turning into a flying knife.

The shadow of a person shifted its weight to the side to dodge, rolling on the floor and becoming behind her. Locking Roxy's arms behind her back with its arms, same with her legs. While maintaining more hands around her neck and mouth.

She lets out a muffled sound which snaps Ryu back to reality. The two lock eyes. 

Roxy's attacker uses her as a shield against the flying knife heading in their direction. Letting a creepy smile when her knife stabs her in the heart. 

The knife cuts more of her skin. Ryu's resisting body turns limp, eyes focused.

A burgundy ball with one eye, jumps out of the stabbed human body. Flying in the air, aiming to land on Ryu's attacker. Disjointed pupil looking down at the enemy. 

Ryu exploits the spilt second distraction of his attacker, not to run away but to fake an attempt to get behind it and lock its arms like Roxy's attacker did to her.

While Ryu's attacker was startled with the double attack Roxy's attacker registered a sensation, a sensation of its black bloody goo spilling out of its body. Invisible tendrils turned visible. They traveled almost a complete circle around the flat to successfully stab it from behind impaling their way from the back to the stomach. The shadow started evaporating.

On the other side Ryu's attacker couldn't handle the fear, the fear of getting stolen by a parasite. It chose to end things its own way, evaporating into a dark gas. 

The burgundy parasite landed on Ryu, splashing blood on him. He held her in his hand and stood up shaking and panting to catch his breath. 

He slammed a glass of water while true Roxy stayed on his shoulder. 

He walked to the girl's body, staring at the exposed beating heart.

"Wanna a bite?" Ture Roxy asked in inhuman language, one he understood.

"Chill, I just think it is pretty." He replied. Putting the burgundy ball on the body, letting her crawl her way to the heart. A gentle tendril covers her chest with the closest cloth while he shyly looked away. 

One extremely thin tendril pierced through her skin in an attempt to act like a stitch, closing the wound and stopping the bleeding. Though it wasn't needed for long as the body regenerated. 

The disjointed pupils returned to the human eyeballs, and good old Roxy woke up. Ryu on the other hand was sitting and supporting his back on the wall, not as energetic.

"That... was an experience. I'll say that much." He told. Roxy was trying to open the door, which didn't happen.

"It's not over yet."

"I could use some information." 

"These things appear when someone feel trapped, from what I got told at least."

'Trapped with someone that is.' 

  She sat next to him, drinking some cold water. 

"I think we should cancel our deal." She said, looking at the cup.

"Since when you though about that?" it was weird to talk about that now, but he rolled with it. 

"Since the auction fiasco thing. I realized I bit more than I can chew."

"With the Karabora or me?" That felt like a trap question, but she's gonna answer anyway.

"With the deal. I never made a deal where I needed the other party more than they need me before. But that's a one thing. You needed me to be a friend, I don't think I can be that, I never thought I could from the beginning. I lied to you. I will compensate you probably."

He was looking and listing to her attentively.

"You said and I quote ' I will see what I can do.' I don't feel like lied to."

That was a good news to her.

"Although you practically ditched me for a tornado."

"What?"

"Waking up that thing was my role, yet you handed that to a TorNaDo."

"...That's what you're mad about."

"Well excuse me for being sensitive." 

They got snarky with each other, back to normal.

"Well, I had fun training in the wild and hunting down fruit land merch. You are kinda sorta my friend, in your own weird way." He looked upward with a smile.

"Really?!"

"Well until you ditched me."

"I'm soowwyyy." 

A click of the door stopped the conversation, they cautiously touched the handle which finally opened. 

At the near park they were holding hands and jumping in a circle, celebrating the freedom. One old neighbor thought they were developing a tradition for the bread cult. 'What a cute friends.' She thought.

As for the retired mercenary she went home, banged her head on the wall for saying such embracing things, took sleeping bills she brought from the dukedom so she will not have to deal with the man behind her, or the stuff that comes out of her mouth.