~Tomoe X Reader: Book One~

19. Incompetence

Mizuki's eyes narrowed to almost slits, lips curling into a small smirk. "So you're the other familiar," he said, voice ending in a hiss, but it occurred to you that most of his sentences ended like that. He was a snake shikigami, after all.

His grip released from your wrists, the tips of his fingers grazing against your skin as he pulled back, and it made you quickly brush your hands together to rid the strange, tingling feeling.

He turned towards Tomoe, unfazed by the flames, and bowed in a such a way you couldn't tell if he was being polite or just mocking your familiar.

He straightened with one hand touching his chest, wearing a rather unconvincing close-eyed smile.
"I've heard about you, already, but I'm sure you don't know me. My name is Mizuki," he introduced himself, and Tomoe's ears twitched.

"Pleasure," The fox answered, in a monotone, flat voice.

You took a step to the side, inching away from Mizuki.

Meanwhile, Tomoe's blue flames had turned into a pillar of angry fire that stretched tall above the cheerful green trees lining the school street.

Mizuki grinned. "You seem a bit agitated, kitsune. You also seemed to refer to (Name)-chan as that earlier. She isn't a plaything, you know. Even dogs are called by their names."

His face somehow darkened, even though his smile didn't falter. "I don't like you."

Tomoe gritted his teeth. "I'm glad we feel the same about each other."

You took another step away.

Mizuki let his hand fall to his side, then thrust it out in a quick, swooping motion,  while puffs of mist materialized around him, and when they cleared, there was an albino snake coiled next to him that was so large it would barely fit in a semi truck.

It's head alone was bigger than you, and it's fangs were as long as one of your arms.

It's tongue flicked out, looking like, for lack of a better description, like the worlds largest red fruit roll up.

You were okay with animals, but not this, and you were frozen, petrified by this beastly reptile.

Oh, wait. I technically have control over Mizuki, still. I think.

"Mizuki, can you... uh... get rid of that thing?" You choked, and the shikigami looked lazily over to you.

"I don't know, can I?"  He said, and smirked.

If you weren't so scared, you would have rolled your eyes so far back into your head you retinas detached. 

"What are you, my English teacher?" You hissed. "Put the snake away and don't attack Tomoe."

Mizuki groaned, suddenly looking like an angry child. "Do I have tooo?" He whined, and you nodded, folding your arms, pushing your fear into a teensy little ball in your stomach.

Mizuki lifted his hand, and the snake puffed away in a white cloud of fog.

"Good. Now let's go to the shrine, and sort this out," you said, as calmly as you could, cutting off whatever Tomoe was about to say. "I'm sorry I'm ordering you around, Tomoe, but...
Tomoe, don't hurt Mizuki today, okay?"

The white-haired yokai stiffened, the divine order settling into him.

*******

"Why the hell did you just invite your kidnapper into this shrine?!?" Tomoe bellowed, and you rubbed your temples.
You were all back in the shrine, sitting around the table in the main room, almost like civilized people, except for the fact Tomoe had set fire to it a few times already.
A small snake that was barely bigger than a worm was slithering around Mizuki's finger while he stared at it with a child-like expression that made it almost hard to link him to the same Mizuki that was literally pinning you against the wall only a few minutes ago.

You looked down, clenching your hands together. Why can't I speak...?

The snake Mizuki was playing with evaporated, and he leaned forward, folding his arms on the table. His green eyes were focused on Tomoe, and his pupils looked like almost slits.

"Why weren't you with her?" He asked, voice laced with contempt. "I mean, a familiars duty is to protect their god, correct?"

Tomoe gritted his teeth, and you were starting to wonder if he ever had to go to the dentist. I mean, he was so angry, all the time, and he ground his teeth together a lot...

Tomoe, though, actually didn't have anything to say, just sat, with an angry aura radiating off of him. His hair was ruffled, and you noticed he overall seemed extremely stressed, or at least had been, and there were faint purple markings under his eyes, a furrow in his brow. He flicked his hand through his hair, adjusting it, and your attention caught on the few white hairs that had wrapped around his fingers.

Oh my god...

Is he... shedding? I mean, he is part fox, but...

Mizuki, satisfied with Tomoe's silence, moved on.

"It was too... easy."

You looked down, hair shrouding your face, your expression, your emotion.

"She was actually pretty light, at least me, and I had no problem carrying her to the Yonomori shrine. But what happened after that..."

Mizuki smirked, leaning even closer to Tomoe's shadowed face.

"...-Long story short, he trapped me in a familiar contract with him." You said, quietly, so quietly, still looking down at your lap.

There was a sudden commotion, the scraping of the table moving, and you looked up, standing up and stepping back.

Tomoe's arm was out and he was standing up, his fingers wrapped around Mizuki's throat, and the table was completely flipped over and out of the way.
One of Tomoe's sharp nails had dug into Mizuki's skin, and a bead of blood slipped down the shikigami's neck and slid down over his collarbone, then into his shirt, where it was soaked up by the fabric.

A bolt of lightning fizzled in Tomoe's palm and he pulled his hand back.
"So that's what happens when I disobey an order," he said, voice low and dark.
Tomoe's purple eyes were shadowed, yet almost glowing, as he gazed down at Mizuki, who was coughing on the floor.
"I'm willing to go through pain a thousand times greater if it means I get to kill you, snake."

...Well, I'm guessing they're not going to get along, then.