worn out.

T For Tedious

Everything became repetitive. Over and over. Like rereading a book, or a sentence over and over. It made him nauseous; it made his head spin sometimes, the routine hurt. Litterly, it stained his body blues and reds and all sorts of greens. Going to Kyoto was a break in the monotonous schedule. How odd it was, it made him feel a spark of something akin to excitement.

He almost smiles, crouched over the bleeding leader.

Ryuki is knocked out; his body is slumped on the rusted, brown floor, a stream if crimson dots from his forehead to his mouth and down. Atsu coughs into his sleave, he spits out pink saliva. His dead eyes look up and he stares at them all. The temperature drops to below freezing. "May we leave?"

Despite being terrified, they shake their heads no. No, he cannot leave. They needed him. The kid was going to rat them out, they didn't know they worked with his parents. Only Ryuki knew that; only Ryuki had met him.

The paralyzed teen can still remember seeing Astu in the kitchen that day, covered head to toe with bandages; and where he wasn't dresses in white 一 no, it was pink, blood leaked through一 it was scarred a fleshy red; the boy was wearing short sleeves.

"Why?" He sounds like a child. He can feel the waves crashing against him, the sand slipping between his frozen toes. He can hear her gurgling in the water. It was so stupid to go to the beach in the winter; there were no lifeguards around. "Why not?"

Kayano and Kanzaki stare, fear in imbedded into their reflective eyes. Shined with a teary gloss. Kayano attempts to choke something up, but it gets stuck in her throat. Like candy, like syrup. Sticky and sweet. Too sweet, it's sickening. It tastes bitter on her tongue.

"H-hey A-atsu?" Kayano's voice is scared and fragile. Like eggshells, but he's not stupid. It's fake. She's trying to sound afraid, but it's all fake, she's not trembling with trepidation, she's giddy. Atsu's lips quirk up slightly, twisting into a ghastly smile. The change in appearence is so small that only get himself knows.

His eyes are hollow and cold staring at nothing in particular; ignoring the world around him until it all becomes static and the senseless whirring of waves on the sand.

The monochromatic boy hums in response to his usually bright classmate, his nimble fingers toy with the pocket knife in his hand. His black, soulless eyes meet her yellow, fearful ones. He gives her a smile of plaster. "Yes, Kayano?"

_

They found where the warehouse was. Karma smirks and Nagisa shrinks into his bruised skin. Sugino grins joyously, his hands on his hips. "C'mon, let's go."

It is cold, the wind whispers noises into the empty streets and hollow laines. There is no-one around, perfect. Karma's sadism is showing and he has made no attempt to hide the bloodlust wavering off of his body.

Waiting outside with one knocked out man for each assassin-in-training, they creak the door open to find a group of thugs standing guard. Karma smiles and punches one in the face, the highschooler falls back and grasps at the bruising skin.

"School trip guidebook page one-thousand and forty-three: What to do when a group member has been abducted. If there are no leads on the perpetrator, or perpetrators, think back to any colloquialisms, accents, or linguistics quirks, that might be an indicator to if they're foreign or local. If not, and the perpetrators were wearing school uniforms, prefer to page one-thousand three-hundred and four." Nagisa monologues. Atsu looks at him as he flips the pages with unadulterated boredom.

"Page one-thousand three-hundred and four." The blue haired boy-girl turns one more page.

"If the perpetrators are in school uniform, you might be dealing with a rival school out causing trouble-"

Kayano gapes, her eyes go soft at the sight of the familiar blueberry hair. "You found us!"

"Being unfamiliar with the area, the culprits will have to stay in a narrow perimeter after the initial kidnapping; so somewhere secluded but not far from the scene of the crime. If this is the case, consult page one-hundred and thirty-four."

He ignores her- no, he doesn't hear.

He flips the pages back, Atsu yawns. His head is becoming fuzzy and his arms hurt. No, everything hurts. His lungs burn.

He makes the bandages loose on himself and left them drop around him. If anyone questions him about the wounds he'll say the best him up for not responding to them.

"My mach twenty birds eye view map of popular and/or likely hideouts for abductors to hide."

Kanzaki let's out a soft sigh of relief. Finally, they are safe, at least she hopes so.

"Alright, so what's it going to be, gentlemen?" Golden eyes look through the crowd, his tan skin is split into a large, callous grin. "Fight or flight? We'll go easy if you back down now, but after all you've put us through you're not getting out of this unscathed. That's a promise."

His eyes because slits, demonic, almost. It's almost as terrifying as the dark haired boy's smile. A shadow lays like a blanket over his glowing aureas orbs. Daggar like glares thrown at them.

He looks at Atsu, bloodied nose and bruised face. His fists clench, his malicious smile pours into a frown. He looks into those blank black eyes. They aren't there. In another world, a place uninhabitable by anyone other than himself. He has built a castle with no doors. He surrounded himself in walls of boredom and apathetic behavior and routine.

Ringing ran throughout the warehouse. Karma looks as Atsu picks it up and speaks in a language unknown to him.

"Hei, mor, får. Jeg vil være hjem snart. Hvordon er Kanashi?"

T is for Tedious;

I cannot see through the mist

My mistakes are too many to list

And as I float, adrift

I suppose I am an artist

Painting a picture with my fist

Drawing hibiscus flowers

And the beach with drops of rain

Falling down

Splattering crimson on the white sand of a blank canvas.