To Bone, Through Marrow

001 / Kissing No One, Sucking Teeth

Chapter 001
Suggestive

THERE was always something when it came to Mineko. She always had something tucked up her sleeve, stuck to her skin with tape, and armed with a defensive line of curses. She was ready whenever, and nothing ever got to her unless she wanted it to.

"So, was it big?" A group of girls sit down in a corner booth at the local Grill and Krill, all giggling and squealing, loudly, amongst themselves. Other customers only throw weird looks their way, scoffing at their behavior, and continuing on with their previous conversations. The group is oblivious to the fact their circle seems to be disrupting the other attendants.

    "No!" One of the girls cringes, tapping on her phone before she's showcasing what it was she had on her screen to the others. They gasp, faces gone red as they take a moment before howling in laughter. It's a shock a staff member hadn't gone up to their table yet, discipline the girls and threaten to throw them out if they were to continue being loud and disruptive. Mineko would've gone up already if it weren't for the claws dug into her thighs.

    "So, Mineko-san," a man in a black fedora and trench coat speaks; otherwise known as Kian. He sits across from the short girl, brownish-gray hair a deep contrast to the hat that sits tipped atop his head. He has sunglasses on, not bothering to remove them despite sitting within a well lit diner. Mineko wants to rip them off, peeved by the way they fall down his nose whenever he chews. She bites her tongue, tastes the blood, and gulps it down with fervor. "You ready for your next assignment?"

    No, I'm not, is what she wants to say. She wants to throw herself across the table and dig her teeth into his clavicle, grin in ecstasy at the screams of horror and peril as she moves on from him to the group of loud girls. She'd use their bones as toothpicks afterward, and toss them into a pile once she was done with them. No bother wiping her bloodied hands when her tongue would hungrily lap at the digits.

    But, she relents, "yes, sir. I'm awaiting orders." Her nails dig further into her skin, having already ruined her tights.

    The man claps and smiles, "great! Here," he slips a hand beneath his coat, a yellow manila folder pinched between his nasty fingers. "You'll be accompanying a young man to a dance tomorrow evening. You'll find your target there. He's the flashy man with lots of accessories and women on his arm."

    Mineko nods, taking the folder from the table. She crosses her legs and opens it up as if she were to read a book. Dinner is served, she nibbles her lip, ripping the flesh from it before chewing it between her incisors and swallowing. There was something about slowly eating oneself from the inside-out—outside-in? She frowns once her eyes reach the bottom of the page, "what's the pay?"

Tsk, tsk, the fedora wearing man shakes his head, the click of his tongue like a record Mineko doesn't wish to listen to. She feels the folder crumple within her grasp, and places it down as to not do so any further.

"You'll get what you deserve when you get the job done," Kian stands, tossing some yen on to the table, ¥737 to be exact, and tips his hat at the frowning Mineko. "Now, Mineko-san, I expect to hear from you in 48-hours."

As Mineko watches the man leave, she feels a sudden weight drop on to her shoulders. Her hands lay on her thighs, holding herself upright despite the feeling of hurling over and upchucking the pastry and bits of skin from her lips she just ate. Her eyes begin to swirl, maddened by the man's quick disappearance, and she's not sure she'll be able to walk straight on her way out.