Stitching Our Hearts Together

Chapter 3: Taste

Uta opened the door to his studio apartment above the shop, Juuzou following along behind him. The humming of the white-haired boy kept Uta's lips slightly upturned, enjoying the tune that rang from him. His apartment was simple. A small kitchen with a small table took over one corner. Another held a desk consisting of a computer and a lamp. One wall was home to his bed, large with black sheets. On that same wall was a door that lead to his closet. Odd works of art hung over all the walls. It wasn't anything impressive, but it was home.

Leaning down, the dark-haired male picked up a few items of clothing that were scattered around before making his way over to his closet. "Sorry, this is about as clean as this place gets. I hope you don't mind, Juuzou." He opened the closet door, throwing the articles of clothing inside. The apartment really wasn't all that messy, but he knew it could use a little bit of cleaning. It wasn't like he'd expected to be inviting anyone up.

Juuzou ran over to Uta's bed, jumping on top of it with his outside slippers still on. Outstretching his legs without bending his knees, he took a few bouncy movements toward the wall. He began to observe a piece of art hanging above the backboard. It looked dark, and something about it called to him. The twisted trees in the painting looked demented. Demented was a word he'd heard many times throughout his short life. When he noticed Uta walking into the kitchen behind him, he jumped down and followed him. "Lots and lots and looots of sugar in mine please, Mr. Ghoul!" Juuzou sang the words out happily and Uta nodded.

Uta brewed the coffee while Juuzou seated himself at the table. The stitched male's legs kicked back and forth and his upper body swayed from side to side. Finally finishing, Uta placed two black mugs of coffee onto the table. Juuzou's fingers went up into the air, wiggling about excitedly as he resembled a vulture about to attack it's prey. A psychotic vulture. Uta smiled at him before getting an idea. "Would you like some candy with your coffee?" He was only making an assumption that candy might have been something he'd be interested in based on his request for the massive amount of sugar in his coffee.

Juuzou's face lit up, and that was all the answer Uta needed as he walked over to one of the counters and pulled a bag of assorted candy out from underneath. He then pulled out a bowl, poured it in, and then set it on the table in front of Juuzou before sitting down across from him. He usually stocked up on it for the children of his human costumers, the ones he only kept allowing in as a cover up. "Thank you!" Juuzou started laughing, his fingers doing the wiggling thing again before he pulled a strawberry sucker out of the bowl. He unwrapped it and began stirring his coffee with it, causing Uta to tilt his head to the side, having never seen anyone do such a thing.

"You're from the CCG, aren't you?" Uta asked after a few moments of watching the other. He brought his cup up to his lips and took a sip of the hot coffee before setting it back down.

"Right you are," he responded with a chuckle before he began humming once more. "That's why I have to kill you." His words rang from his mouth like they were no big deal because to him, they really weren't. It was disappointing to know he had to put an end to someone as pretty as Uta, but that was just how things worked.

Uta let out a sigh before he rested his elbow on the table and his face in his hand. His other arm extended outward, and his fingers began tracing over a mark carved into the wood of the table. "That's kind of a shame, because I can already tell that I really like you." His tone rang with disappointment.

Juuzou stopped stirring, tilting his head to the side as he shoved the sucker into his mouth. He looked over Uta, trying to comprehend what he'd meant by that and a weird sense of awareness to how he was feeling himself suddenly came over him. His facial expression changed into one of slight confusion as he looked over at Uta's frowning face. The face caused the edges of his lips to turn down, the flavor of the sucker in his mouth not even enough to upturn them once more. He started to feel a bit uncomfortable, unsure of what he was supposed to do next. He wondered for a moment if this was what it was like to feel nervous. That's when Juuzou started to reach his hand down and into his pocket. He pulled out a knife. In the blink of an eye he was bringing that knife down on top of Uta's hand, his mouth in a slant as he shoved it through, pinning him to the table.