Disconnection

6: Resumption

Author Note:

Was I procrastinating?

Maybe.

Did I work on the chapter halfway through, and decide I hate how it went?

Yes. Definitely.

So this chapter is essentially a rewrite. The scene below is completely different from what I had going originally.

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Zohakuten watch emotionlessly as the slayer on the ground gasped for air. Blood dripped out his mouth, a hand pressing against his newly opened wound. To try and stop the bleeding he supposed.

But it was futile.

He knew this.

The attack from the spear in his hand was way too precise and violent to call that injury a simple scratch. Huffing, he raised his left hand.

No.

This wasn't his body. He was borrowing Aizetsu's body for the time being. That demon is too weak, always falling under peer pressure when he's forced to fight alone. It always turned out that way when he goes into a one-on-one fight.

Heaving a sigh of hatred, Zohakuten hisses. "You better stay down! Die- you imbecile!"

Pointing the yari at the slayer, not even stronger than a Hashira, Zohakuten backed up. Forcing himself to glare through Aizetsu's body. It was a complicated thing to do while possessing the sorrow demon's body. And he knew why without being told. Aizetsu wasn't the clone for hatred or anger like Sekido.

So to expect him to be able to express a menacing facial expression was out of the table. The only thing the hatred demon can force out was some stupid sort of pouting expression. No doubt.

Slamming the end of the spearhead down at the slayer still shaking and gasping for air, Zohakuten scowls. Watching as the yari connected with the human's skull.

The scream of pain was music to his ears. In one way or another.

Yet...

"So annoying..." He held a hand to his left ear. Blue eyes formed into a glare, coming off uncharacteristically cold. "You're damn loud. Shut it!"

Kneeling down, he reached out with his free hand, and grasp the messy hair of the slayer. Not batting an eye when the slayer groans. Fresh red blood flows from the head injury. Forcing him to look into his now blue eyes. Instead of his usual rich golden ones, hugged by a deep red color sclera.

He clicked his tongue.

Tilting his head.

"So? What does he even see in you? Why must Aizetsu be so empathic towards a mere human? To you?" Zohakuten questions, voice coming out shaky. No surprise. "I find myself taking over his conscience more times than I can count."

Letting go of the slayer's hair, he flexed his fingers. Opening and closing his hand as he made a brief effort to count. Extending a few fingers up as he counted, dropping the spear, he incorporated his right hand into his calculation.

Six times. Seventh.. this is the seventh time he took over the sorrow demon's body, wasn't it? The last time he had to step in was roughly 30 years before now.

"Who... who are you..?" The young slayer rasped out, breathing heavily. His question seemed to die out. Zohakuten blinked, staring from within Aizetsu's body. Tilting his head in curiosity.

Coming to a halt in his counting, the hatred demon stared with dispassion into the slayer's dark purple eyes. 

"Zip it!" He forces Aizetsu's vocal cords to work harder so that he sounds more like himself. And not a second copy of the emotion clone he was possessing. They're the same person, a different version of Hantengu.