ToRA (Kekkai Sensen Fanfic)

Chapter 10

Memories of hunts have always been vague. I remember everything up until the moment I pounce, and then it's a blur of blood and the sounds of a successful endeavor. Over the years, they've slowly gotten more and more understandable. Less blurred and difficult to understand.

Still, I couldn't really say what I had done besides killed and eaten based solely on what I could remember. So I was rather confused to wake up and not immediately be greeted by the sight of countless bodies. In fact, the only thing I could see was half a chest and an arm. Of a living person. It takes me a good few minutes of bleary blinking to realize that it's because I'm against that person. Or more accurately, I'm sitting in their lap straddling them as a child. I can tell by the smell that it's him again.

I don't mind his smell. It's similar to peppermint, with a hint of something sweet and exotic, and blood. I don't mind it at all.

I move the arm that had been underneath me, between my body and his, to rub at my face. There the sound of something snapping shut, and I look back to see a closed laptop on the dining table. So... he was sitting at the table, with me asleep in his lap. It's a lot better than waking up like this in a bed anyways. That would have been way more awkward.

"Sleep well?"

His voice sounds tired. It takes me a long moment to find my own, and even when I do it's just a vague humming noise. He doesn't seem to mind too much. I notice that it seems very bright. When I look towards the window, I feel confused. Wasn't it just barely evening? How is it already morning? Longest I've slept after hunting was 12 minutes, not 12 hours!

"You've been asleep since last night. Is that your version of a food coma?"

Did he just say it's been an entire 24 hours? That's... absolutely unheard of. Though I suppose it would make sense considering the amount eaten compared to the usual solitary hunt every week. Not to mention I hadn't had anything to eat since he brought me here... maybe that was also why I felt so tired. As it is right now, I feel full and content. Not sleepy, just bleary from having just woken up.

The most forward thought, however, is that this is rather comfortable. He has one arm around me to keep me from falling while limp in slumber, the other that was probably typing at the keys of his laptop now resting in his lap near me. Though he's not exactly soft, the slight plumpness of my child body is enough cushion to not feel like I'm sleeping against the floor.

Even though it's comfortable, it's still awkward from my view. I don't really know this man too well, only his name and some basic facts, even though somehow I've managed to imprint on him. I also.... I'm not really used to close contact with others ever since I became this way. So once I'm awake enough, I shimmy off of his lap to stand next to his chair. He just watches me, mostly, as I look around and try to figure out what to do next. I notice there's a rather lack of... evidence. The apartment doesn't even appear disheveled, and not a single speck of blood can really be seen. I get the feeling it's not Veded's work, though the pleasant smell of her cleaning products hangs in the air.

"What time is it?"

"A quarter to six last I checked. Mind if I ask you something?"

"You would ask it anyways. What about?"

"You. Or the other you, rather."

"Yeren."

"Yeren? Is that it's name?"

"No. It's me, so it's name is still Kuja. I just call that part yeren, or wild one. Vaguely, anyways. I don't think that's the proper translation."

"Do you share consciousness?"

"We are the same being in the end, though memories are hazy and vague. That part of me is not meant to remember killing, only to kill and feed to continue existing. So yes, we share consciousness since there is only one, but I will not remember the events that occur. Don't try anything weird. I still get glimpses."