Volatile Shadow

13. Meeting an old friend.

TAKEDA POV:

"10 years, huh?" I reach out for one of the cigarettes in my pocket, its case is already half-empty.

"Yeah..." Seraph sighs, his arms are resting on the balcony railing, watching the distant city below. He's not focused on anything particular. "Feel old yet?" He asks me in a dull tone.

"Still got another decade before I can get called old man..." I retort back, "-and no, you can't call me that anymore."
I'm only 3 years older than him, I don't know why the hell he started calling me that.

"You still remember that?" He tilts his head to my direction, I can partially see the smile on his face.

"You practically made that my second name." Even with the annoyed retort, I can't hide away the mirrored expression. "I'm not even that old..." I mutter.

"Sorry to hurt your feelings." He says, though I doubt the apology is genuine.
"...Old man."

"There it is..." I resignedly sigh. He's definitely going to start calling me that again...

The cigarette finally lights up, its herbaceous aroma already reaches my nose.

I notice Seraph's observation of me handling the cig; I offer him the case, curious if he wants one too.

"Don't smoke..." He waves it away, uninterested. "I still remember what happened last time..." He grumbles.

Oh yeah. "I remember. Especially the part when you went into a coughing fit." I chuckle.

I vividly remember the moment we first tried smoking together. That didn't go so well..."I'm surprised Uriel didn't give you a hiding when we were caught." Dad wasn't so lenient on me when he found out...

"I thought my life was gonna end right then and there..." He softly smiles at the memory of our youthful delinquency. "We were stupid back then."

"You say it like you're sure we've improved since then." I jokingly snide at his comment. "How do I know that you're not still an idiot?"

"I'm not." He sounds more defensive than I expected. "I've changed since then..."

"Somewhat?" I raise an eyebrow, wanting to toy with him further.

"By a considerate amount." His voice suddenly sounds serious.
"I've changed."

"For the better?" I ask him with genuine curiosity. Is that a touchy subject?

"Yeah... For the better." Seraph has his steel gaze on me, he's serious when he says it. "I'm not a kid anymore."

He's right. He's not a child anymore; At least not Physically, that's for sure.

Seraph's fully grown into an adult. No longer the short kid I would tease whenever I saw him. He's grown tall.

Back then, I used to tower over him. Now, it's only by 2 inches.

He doesn't look lazy either, the outlines of his suit give hints of a strong physique under it.
I wonder how hard he can throw a punch now? The scrawny kid that I knew definitely couldn't.

"I can see that." I say, confirming his claim. I blow out another puff of smoke into the air, the wind has only picked up slightly. With how the clouds are turning out, things might get worse.

I suddenly notice Seraph's gaze on me, or to be specific, the details of the ink on my fingers.

"Where's yours?" I suddenly ask him, pointing to his ink-free hands.