To Be A Scrapper (Suzuya Juuzou)

Chapter 22

"It's coming!" Rei called out as the squirrel sprung from its place towards me, obviously aiming for the trunk right behind me.

"Oh no you don't," I grumbled as I lunged towards it.

My hand wrapped around something furry as I found myself losing balance and slipping from the tall branch. I bit my lip to keep from screaming as my empty hand reached out blindly, a wave of relief washing over me as I managed to grip the branch.

My body dangled in the air, my hand carrying all my weight as the squirrel desperately struggled against my hold. I'd managed to grab it by the tail, but that left it free to move its body and try to escape.

"It's biting me!" I yelled as I flailed the squirrel around, trying to get it to stop. That's when I heard it, the dreaded sound of wood snapping.

I found myself suspended in mid air for a few seconds before feeling the hard ground colliding against my body. My vision blurred for a few seconds, my head spinning as I blinked fast in an attempt to shake the wooziness off me.

Immediately a wave of laughter rang through my ears and Rei's head popped into my line of vision. He was standing above me, looking down while chuckles left his mouth.

"Rei!" I groaned as I painfully sat upright, needles shooting through my whole body at the movement. The squirrel was still trying to escape, even more desperately this time because of the sudden fall. I reached my other hand and wrapped it around its neck, twisting it until I heard a familiar 'crack' and the body went limp in my hands.

"Finally!" I groaned as I tumbled back to the ground, Rei sitting beside me with his own bird in his hands.

"We should really hurry up. Mama's gonna call us back at any moment," he said while plucking the bird's feathers and throwing them on the ground next to him.

I inwardly groaned as I forced myself to sit back up. Grabbing the small knife from my pocket, I set the dead squirrel in my lap and started cutting it's skin open.

"Next time we should go for a rabbit or something," I said, my eyes finding Rei's as he shoved a raw wing inside his mouth. Fresh crimson immediately sprung from his lips, trailing down his chin and into his lap. His bloody hands were too occupied with the wing to wipe it off.

My stomach growled loudly as I decided not to wait any longer, tearing a piece of the squirrel's leg and pushing it in my mouth as well. The metallic taste of blood immediately invaded my taste buds as I felt the warm liquid run through my teeth, the excess dribbling down my chin as well. My tongue darted out to pick it up as my hands worked on tearing another piece of meat, this time from the squirrel's stomach. I took a mouth full of the still warm meat, sighing in pleasure at the nice feeling on my tongue.

"Mm," I mumbled with closed eyes. "Hey, it's still warm. Want a taste?" I asked, my cheeks stuffed with meat and red liquid.

I ripped another leg from the squirrel and threw it to Rei, watching as he caught it with his mouth and set the bird on his lap, grabbing the squirrel's leg and biting around the bone.

"Oh," he moaned. "It is!"

I opened my palm just in time to catch the dead bird's body as Rei flung it to me. I threw him my squirrel and immediately took a bite from the bird's neck. A different flavor invaded my taste buds, mixing with the warm blood in my mouth to create a delicious explosion.

"Hey!" I growled, making Rei stop dead in his tracks. "I get an eyeball."

Rei grinned sheepishly, one eyeball already between his teeth as he threw the squirrel back to me. Catching it, I popped the remaining eye out and held it between my thumb and index finger, rolling it around before putting it in my mouth. The slight saltiness was the first thing I noticed right before a wave of blood that invaded my mouth as I bit into it, the eyeball exploding in my mouth. I swished the blood between my teeth, taking in the tender feeling of the warm liquid and strange texture of the eye.

"Darlings! Time to come back!" I heard Mama's voice call from the distance. I threw the dead bird at Rei before standing up and brushing the dirt off my ragged clothes.

"Lets go," I extended my hand out for Rei to take and help him up. He pulled on it and got to his feet before brushing himself as well.

"Right."

The walk back to where Mama waited was quiet, both of us full with eating our catch on the way back. The carcasses were left behind halfway when they were rid of all good parts.

After a few minutes I finally saw the familiar figure of the huge woman I called my Mama. Just like ours, her face and hands were stained in blood. My eyes reached her just in time to see a long arm drop from her grasp.

I smirked to myself.

"So Mama was out hunting too."

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Why do you take so long to update author-san?!

I'm sorry guys! I was going through a hard time at school and literally no ideas came to me!

This wasn't the original chapter I had started writing, but that one is taking too long so I wrote this filler to keep you guys active. I'm already halfway done with the other one, so expect it soon! If I can find smoke inspiration... -_-

Goal: ten votes and four comments.

Bye c: