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chapter seven | innocence
The hunter, lead me to the front of a smith's shop, a small little hole-in-the-wall shop that sold metal works with the forging workspace viewable in the back. Swords and armour sets decorated the walls and the warmth that enveloped me upon entering through the threshold. This place was a hunter's den.
Following the hunter further into the shop, my pale coloured eyes scanned my surroundings out of curiosity. Each and every blade in this room could turn me to dust, yet not a speck of fear fell upon my being. Curiously, I leaned closer and peered at a particular blade out on display. It had a pure white blade, as if it had been carved out of ivory stone, and the hilt was a hazy green lacquered to a glass-like perfection.
"That's a hunter's knife, you know." The man spoke up, his deep voice drawing my attention away form the unique weapon. "For hunting your kind in specific."
"Perhaps I am not afraid of death." I countered, my naturally airy voice echoing throughout the empty shop effortlessly. "After all, it is not something my kind are born fearing. Though it is something that looms over both of our kind, the death that follows us is far different from the death that follows you."
Turning to face him fully, I took back my bags to free him to go about his shopping. Exchanging no more words, the hunter went about browsing the various selections before picking up a rather simple booking dagger that looked to be rusted and slightly chipped. Curiously, my eyes were locked on him as he brought the dagger to the smith, who was working at the forge behind the counter.
They exchanged words that I didn't bother to listen to before the smith disappeared behind a curtain further back, returning seconds later with a case made of silver and black leather. They seemed to share a wordless conversation as the hunter finished paying for the case--and whatever sort of weapon was within said case. I didn't really give a second thought to their little hunters' code speak, whether I would get assassinated today or not would make no difference to me. After all, I had decided long ago how my end would be and it for sure would not be at their hands.
I was done letting my fate follow others' hands.
Once we exited the dingy shop, the hunter and I began our walk back to the academy. We had fallen into a comfortable silence, only the sound of our shoes scuffing against the dirt to keep us company. The walk was slow, sundown being still an hour away, and we were both carrying heavy baggage from our shopping excursion.
By the time we had arrived to the gates, the hunter stopped in his tracks and turned to face me with his full attention--the flame like amber colour of his eyes meeting with the hazy sage of my green ones. "You're one of them, aren't you?" His voice was the same velvet deep tone, however it was now laced with a tone that I was not familiar enough with to decipher. "One of the Servants of Disaster's runaway pets."
My body stiffened for a fraction of a second at his words. My mouth ran dry, as if my blood lust was finally at a breaking point, and my mind began to race as I hid my internal warring behind a mask of vampiric indifference.
"So what if I am?" My reply was cold and detached, as if it was not my own past we were discussing. "What difference would that make, we shall never meet again, not unless your people suddenly deem me worthy to be played on that barbaric list."
The hunter looked as if he wanted to say something, however he swallowed his words and simply nodded, lips drawn into a tight line as if to physically seal away his thoughts.
"No difference. It would make no difference at all."
We parted ways once at the centre clearing of the academy grounds, the hunter telling me that he would be reporting to the headmaster and that I should be getting ready for class. Upon returning to my dorm room, which was separate from the main dorm building, I made quick work to organising my newly acquired items into their proper places.
Once done, I changed out of my favourite jacket, hoodie and shorts in exchange for my uniform. My beloved outfit of a black bomber jacket of red and grey details was now hung up at my door, my grey hoodie and black shorts tossed to the side on a chair I never sit in. My body was now hugged by a black dress-shirt, predominantly white--with the intricate black lining design--jacket and overly short, white skirt. I highly disliked this fact.
I just tossed the red ribbon around my neck and headed out the door, my belt bound books in hand.
Though I had gotten to class after everyone else, I had still made it before the teacher. I took a seat at my usual spot by the front, right next to the door, but the most unusual thing occurred. Hanabusa hopped over from his seat near the back and now stood in front of me, hands on his hips as if he was ready to scold me.
"Gin, you're ribbon is untied," he started, "are you trying to turn out as lazy as Akatsuki?" His icy fingers reached forward and began fiddling with my red ribbon, tying it into a neat bow that was perfect in every way that I was not. "There. You both may be siblings, and trust me cousin I love you both, but there's only so much sloppiness I can handle."
"What do you really want, Hanabusa?" I sighed, knowing full well we were not close enough for him to care about my image having a bow or two out of place.
"Make my St. Xocolatl's Day gift bigger than Akatsuki's?"
I stared at the ice user with a blank expression that was, somehow, more dull than my usual blank stare.
"Please?"
I simply started to unbind my books to get ready to take notes for class.
"Pretty please?"
...
"I'll bring you to that new dessert shop for white day." He bargained. "All your can eat and on me."
"Deal."
song: Lauv - Tattoos Together
a/n: Hello all! Hope you're all keeping sane during these concerning times, and hopefully you're practising social distance and not being a selfish git and ruining the efforts of those of us who neither want to get sick nor potentially cause our fellow humans sick.
These are scary, confusing and politically poisonous times, but that's no excuse for being a selfish blob.
Anyways, on to less depressing matters, I'm sorry for not updating this story in so long. Though quarantine has given me all the time in the world, my creative spark has been snuffed out by academics and I didn't want to just hash out some half-baked chapter. You all deserve better than that.
If you have any thoughts or guesses as to where this story is going, feel free to leave a comment! It'll be fun to see the discussions and theories you all might be having and I do hope it'll be something to keep you entertained during all of this.
Anyways, I'll try to get a start on the next chapter to be posted up soon for you all (no promises though) and I hope to see you all then!
