Chasing Chise

Chapter 4

That day I stayed put. I knew that even a foot outside that room would inevitably cause me to come across some poor soul that I simply would not have the mercy to leave breathing. I hadn't wanted to kill something - anything - so badly since my past life. Certainly, I'd had close calls in my short time here, but I hadn't been so caught off guard in my memory. In fact, I had never in either life had to bring myself down from such a potent bloodlust. I'd never had the need to. I had gotten too lax. I wouldn't be making that mistake again.

There was a half-second where I questioned why I had stopped myself. Had I gone soft? Was I actually considering a human being worthy of life for the first time? Or was it because I was smarter than allowing myself to slip up around Gojou Sensei? Surely it was the latter. I knew better than to flip my switch for the first time in a thousand years while in between the most powerful shaman in the world and his students.

I had been close before. Many times in my first years at the school my instructors had pulled wild traps in hopes to force violence out of me. Thankfully, they were too proud to realize that a thousand-year-old soul as myself was smarter than letting me be provoked by petty trainers. That didn't mean that I hadn't licked my lips every so often imagining how their jugular would taste. Of course, it had been a long while since someone had been stupid enough to try me.

That nail... it wasn't even a powerful curse. Average at best, that curse was only barely strong enough to kill the curse running away, but it had been so close... close enough to taste. How long had it been since I had been that close to cursed energy? At least five years. I never even allowed Fushiguro's animals near me because I was too tempted. This was bad. Maybe if I tried to sneak away for a week. Just one week. I could warp to an island forgotten to man and finally allow myself to live as I had so long ago even if it was for a short while.

I shook my head. No, I couldn't. Gojou had always kept a close eye on me. He would follow me easily. I was far too out of practice to even consider a confrontation with him. I didn't even have my greatest weapon anymore.

With that final thought, I forced my eyes closed and mind blank. It was never wise to dwell in the past. That's why I had tried to accept this new opportunity. I had let myself pretend I wasn't a homicidal maniac. So far I had fooled everyone. I had played my part of the peaceful pretty healer so well that I almost convinced myself it was true. But I had played it for too long. My time was running out.

The next day at training we pretended nothing had happened. Kugisaki formally gave me her heartfelt apology, and I gave her a smile and told her to forget about it. With the problem solved the two of us seemed to fall into place with each other. We would never be best friends, but we would get along just fine.

Itadori on the other hand stayed attached to my hip. The sweet boy was wriggling himself deeper under my skin, and I couldn't bring myself to stop him. I just had to keep telling myself it had nothing to do with the way he looked. At least for the most part it was true.

Fushiguro seemed a bit peeved at this honestly. It made sense. For years we had been the three musketeers with Gojou; the only noise we were used to was his endless rambling, but now we had two more who were far more inclined to be talkative than we were. Even one of them was now talking my ear off without stopping for breath.

It was precious.

The first time we truly came together as a class was when we went to dinner together in Tokyo for the first time. It was some quaint sushi bar downtown that Kugisaki had heard of. Fushiguro even got us a private room that I was personally very thankful for.

We laughed and ate until our stomachs bulged, and I could barely see straight for being so drowsy.

"Say, Su," Kugisaki started suddenly, "Why did your parents name you such an awful name?"