His smile could do wonders to her.
It could make her heart skip a beat, could calm any storm she may be facing, it could ease the rage within her heart in the blink of an eye.
When his attention was on her, she was the happiest she could be.
But,
When his attention was on someone else, you could say it had the opposite effect.
"Here is where you will be placed for tonight's event, Master Kari."
When Shinobu and Sakusa reached the top of the staircase, they were met with a young woman in a floral-decorated yukata with her hair and makeup neatly done greeting them with another smile.
She introduced herself as a hostess of the Palace, and explained to them how the night would work, what they could do, and how it was special from the others at the Palace.
"You will be seated here for when you desire to order something to eat," she explained, "But leaving to walk around and engage with the other guests is highly encouraged for the night."
"Consider this a gathering for people to congregate and interact with one another away from the eyes of the public."
Shinobu wanted to crinkle her nose in disgust at the remark as the hostess spoke.
Pft, she talks as if this is some super-secret gathering between the city's most pompous fat cats or something, I mean Sakusa and I came into town only today and booked ourselves a spot here, so clearly it's not as prestigious as this woman makes it out to be....
"Thanks, thanks." Sakusa said to the hostess, waving her off with his hand a little, taking a seat at the candle-lit high-top she had directed them to.
The second floor had a different feel to the first, mainly due to its smaller size.
Once you reached the top of the staircase, a long hallway containing both high-top tables on the right side and a bar to the left came into view, with a bartender stationed just like the one on the floor below prepping drinks for the patrons.
Passing this hallway led to the wider, more spacious room in the back of the Palace, with sparse and scattered high-top tables sprinkled across the black floor.
The dim lanterns offered a more cozy atmosphere to the place, or at least Shinobu thought so.
But, she was also well aware of why the place was so dimly-lit that night.
This was a night where women were clearly trying to sneak their way into a man's pants and pockets, after all.
It was very Red-Light-District-esque, what this night was supposed to be.
Either way, the lack of light and gentle music in the background played by the string band in the corner of the room meant getting any old man into the mood to make some nasty mistakes for the night would be ten times easier. That subsequently meant that assuring your financial stability for life was that much easier.
Didn't make it any less disgusting for her, though.
As the hostess walked away, Shinobu took her own seat at the table beside her Hashira compatriot.
It took a little bit of a struggle since the chairs were meant for a high-top and she was, well, not exactly a giant like Sakusa, but she managed to crawl onto the larger chair.
She immediately felt irritated, though.
Her legs dangled in the air because of how small she was.
....This is height discrimination. They do this to make me feel small. I will sue this place.
"Pft, hah, look at you, your legs can't reach the floor, you loser."
The butterfly girl jerked her head in the direction of the blunt remark, and saw Sakusa smirking at her from her right, leaning his head on his hand with his elbow on the table. He was pointing at her feet, chuckling.
Shinobu would have started goading him back, commenting on how his swollen physique makes his shirt look like it's constantly on the verge of bursting, or telling him that it's not her fault she doesn't have the body of a gorilla and the brains of a rice field. But instead,
all she could do was bite her lip as she looked at the boy beside her.
The whole place was barely lit, encapsulating the vile reasons for the night in the first place, but, the candle on the table casting a soft glow on his face, that eye that looked at her with such amusement, the gentle glimmer in the ruby red that mirrored the flicker of the small flame, it was almost as romantic as a night like this could get.
She couldn't stop herself from getting sucked in.
But was there any way she could in the first place?
Th-....That look.....in your eye.....
His smile even grew a little, and a light huff of a chuckle escaped his lips.
"What is it, Kocho?" He asked, "Do I have something on my face?"
Her breath caught in her throat for a moment.
God, was he gorgeous.
Sakusa....
Before long, Shinobu smiled too.
Please....
....that look in your eye.....
.....don't give it to anyone else but me....
They remained there for a while, smiling.
She was on a mission with this man, and yet, a moment like this took her mind off of it for now.
"I'm going to go up to the bar, get us something to drink, and talk around with some of the other guests, understand?"
After a few minutes of going over the plans tonight, Sakusa said this to her.
They were both going to get up at sporadic times during the night until closing to mingle and make small talk with the 50-or-so other guests at the ball/gala/whatever this sugar-daddy-speed-dating thing was, finding anything they could on the Seraphim. Sightings, descriptions, documented encounters, anything these sleazebag fat cats had that they could hand off to them.
These kind of people practically ran the city and were around when Irire and Razel attacked the first time, and Nagasaki was one of the largest cities in the area and was subsequently attacked only months later, so there was enough attention already drawn to the existence of demons.
The butterfly girl did have some slight concerns, however.
One of them being that Sakusa was not exactly the friendliest type of person.
Maybe it was because he seemed to be relatively calm around her recently, but the fact that he was someone with anger issues had slipped her mind.
Still, she had enough trust in him now to not mess up and assault someone.
.....maybe not that last part.
Sakusa left the table, and as he walked away, Shinobu kept her violet eyes on his back, leaning her head on her hand.
Yes, it was cliché, and yes, she felt flustered and angry the moment she caught herself doing such a thing.
But there was something about him.
His long black locks tainted red at the ends swaying with every step his large legs took, his imposing, wide back and broad shoulders giving him a v-shaped figure, the way his smell of campfire smoke and slight cinnamon wafted away from her as he walked away, this man was frustratingly hard to look away from.
He was odd.
The redhead boy in question approached the bar as various others began to pour into the main room with beverages in their hands, all dressed in formal attire, expensive yukata and all, with each new patron taking a big step to the side as Sakusa walked past them.
That's a benefit of being the largest person in the place, he shrugged.
He turned his nose up to everyone who walked in.
None of them looked like someone he could just go up and talk to without flashing his bicep tattoos as a demonstration of his status as the heir of a massive family, and it didn't help that he caught the eyes of a few wives and mistresses of the men he hoped he could get something out of taking peeks at him.
The crimson-stained Hashira clicked his tongue in his annoyance. Tch, horny old hags, why does everything have to be so goddamn difficult...
He reached the bar pretty soon after that. Once the crowd settled into their candle-lit tables and started to mingle with one another in the other room, the hallway where the bar was located was pretty clear.
Saksua did have some concerns, though.
Leaving Shinobu on her own like that, wouldn't it make her a perfect target for some greasy old skinbag to try and get his hands on her?
The boy halted his pace and turned his head back right away, his breath hitching in his throat for a moment in worry.
But when he saw that the butterfly girl was only looking off into the distance at a group of patrons in the corner with a bored look on her face, he let out a sigh of relief.
Phew...no creeps just yet....
He turned back towards the bar, shaking his head with a smirk on his lips.
Fufu...man, if Kanae were to see her with some old man trying to get at her like that, she would-
Sakusa paused.
His smirk faded into a tight-lipped scowl, and he shook his head, ignoring what he thought to himself.
.....ha....still stings, huh....
Letting go was definitely difficult.
When he reached the bar, the man behind the table, a middle-aged westerner with a dirty blonde crew cut and bushy moustache approached him in a black waistcoat, dress shirt beneath and neatly-done bow.
Sakusa raised his eyebrow at the man.
Who the hell is this guy....?
Aw, fuck, do I have to speak in english for this guy? Shit, I don't remember half of what Father taught me....
The man smiled at him and dropped the glass he was drying on the table, and Sakusa cleared his throat.
"E-Erm.....two-
"Ah, let me just stop you right there, sir." The man said, holding up a hand.
.....huh?
Sakusa looked at him with a dumbfounded look on his face.
"Oh....you speak japanese...?" The redhead mumbled.
"Well, I was born here." The man shrugged.
".....ah."
Sakusa wanted to collapse on the floor in embarrassment.
He cleared his throat, and tried again.
"A-Alright, well moving past that," he held up two fingers, "Let me get a bottle of sake, and-
Sakusa suddenly froze, and looked back at his table.
Oh, shit, I don't know if she can drink this stuff....
"Um, on second thought," He turned back around, and stuck his thumb up to his mission partner.
"Do you have like chocolate milk or something that I can give to shrimpy over there?"
The bartender stared at him for a second, with a questioning glare.
"Uh....yes, yes, I do."
"Can I ask how old she is though?"
Sakusa scowled at the question and slammed his fist on the table. "She's old enough for you to shut it and just give me my damn drinks, bushy-lip."
The bartender took that as his cue to stop speaking, quickly preparing a bottle of sake with a cup and, of course, a tall, cold glass of chocolate milk.
"Here." He slid the glass and bottle across the table, "Your sake and your.... chocolate milk."
The redhead nodded, tossed a few loose bills on the table as a tip, and proceeded to walk away from the table,
but lightly bumped into someone.
Someone with a sly smirk on their full lips and a revealing rose-gold dress on their body.
"Woah, woah, easy, cowboy, you don't need to go so soon~"
Shaken up a bit, it took a little while for Sakusa to respond to the pair of hands on his chest and the seductive tone of the woman standing before him, but when she came into view, he couldn't help but sneer.
For one thing, she was a little too close for comfort. Her chin practically touched his chest as she leaned into him, and he had to stretch his arms out past her to keep his drinks from falling.
Secondly, that smirk on her lips was incredibly unnerving, like she was peering through his clothing like she had x-ray vision and she was pleased with what she could see.
Creepy....
"Before you run off somewhere, why don't we get to know each other a little bit~?" The woman said, breaking the silence.
"My name is Mai, and who are you, stranger~?"
Sakusa felt a chill run up his spine as she spoke.
Something was off about her.
"U-Uh, Kari. Sakusa Kari." The redhead introduced himself nonetheless. He broke away from her contact pretty quickly, though, putting his drinks on the bar table again as took some steps back.
The blonde quickly closed the distance however, leaning against the table in front of him, blocking his path.
She snickered, sizing him up without any intention of hiding her doing so.
"So, Sakusa~," Mai said, rolling his name off of her tongue. "Have we ever met before?"
"Huh?" The man sneered, "No, why the hell are you asking?"
"Oh, I dunno~," The older woman replied. She put an elbow on the table and leaned her chin on her hand, looking at Sakusa through the corner of her eyes.
"I just felt like your energy was familiar to me."
"My energy?" Sakusa scoffed, raising an eyebrow.
"Mmmhm~" She nodded.
Her words seemed to slur as she continued to speak, with the occasional sigh mixed into her smooth, silky tone of voice.
"Oh, you know....the sort of vibe a man gives off when they reached a certain strength~......the scent of power, of superior status over the mongrels and low-lifes, the way they keep their head up high and force the lower class to feel inferior~,"
"You could almost call yourself an alpha, an apex among all these other invertebrates~"
Sakusa crinkled his nose slightly in confusion at the woman's words.
Huh? The shit? What the hell are you saying to me, woman?
"I-I don't understand." He muttered, shaking his head slightly incredulously.
Mai's smirk grew even wider as she slid closer to the redhead teenager, giggling a little as she gazed up into the taller man's eye.
"I can tell just at a glance that you're a man who desires and craves more than what you're getting, Sakusa~. All powerful men do. You're fearless, daunting, and an alpha such as yourself needs certain....Requirements in the kind of people they engage with,"
Mai then squished her breasts a little with her arms, puffing them out a little as she winked at him.
"You get what I'm trying to say~?"
Sakusa wanted to run. Punch this woman in the face. Scream his head off. Among other things, of course.
This woman was vile, nothing more than the other succubi occupying this dreary place looking for a good time, some money, or a way to slither their way into a rich and powerful family to leech off of for the rest of their lives.
In other words, definitely not his type.
Sure, boobs are cool, but wearing a dress like that just to accentuate them just seemed over-the-top to the extreme.
He only felt disgust from this woman. No attraction, interest, or even lust.
But at the same time,
Ugh....I need information though, don't I.....
If I can get this cunt to spill on something she knows around the city since I've been gone, maybe I'll be able to tolerate her for a little while longer....
Deciding to ignore the nasty feelings in his stomach, Sakusa cleared his throat, and put on a feigned, gentle smile.
He continued to talk to Mai, asking her questions to get her to open up, using every last inch of his willpower to avoid kicking her down the stairs and out the door.
But the redhead had no idea of the consequences.
Blowing a strand of hair on her face every once in a while beginning to grow boring.
She sat at the table, 'looking pretty' as Sakusa said earlier on, with her elbows on the table, supporting her head as she played with a loose violet lock draped over her face.
Shinobu couldn't say she enjoyed it, however.
Ugh, I'm so bored...
The violet-eyed Hashira felt the occasional pair of eyes on her as she sat quietly, but in all honesty, she paid no mind to them.
They were all creeps, anyways.
Her eyes, though, kept returning to the boy approaching the bar table.
She studied him.
The way he effortlessly pushed through the crowd of patrons as they all gathered to the sides as he walked past them, the way he approached the bar table and leaned onto the wooden plank and sparked up a conversation with the westerner bartender.
Ah, well, I guess I can't blame the guests for moving out of the way of a giant like you, Sakusa...I mean, you were Uzui's size at one point, and even now, you're still big....
She chuckled when she watched him blush a little, pondering what he could be so flustered about.
Pft, you big, handsome idiot....always doing something stupid...
He held up two fingers, though, and looked back at her.
O-Oh, crap-
Shinobu darted her head in the other way as quickly as she could when his eyes turned towards her direction, pretending to be lost in the clouds.
She couldn't handle the embarrassment of being seen observing him like that.
The butterfly girl tried hard to retain a calm demeanor, but once Sakusa turned back around, she let out a sigh of relief.
Pheww...
As the redhead continued to converse with the bartender, Shinobu furrowed her eyebrows as the man raised a questioning eyebrow at her partner.
Her gaze immediately turned back to Sakusa.
Oi. What are you planning, dimwit.
Then, the bartender pulled out a bottle of cold sake, and then, a glass of chocolate milk.
P F T -
wHAT?!
She could instantly imagine what the crimson-stained idiot said to the man after he looked back at her.
"Yeah, so basically my partner is a child, so give her the most childish thing you have :)"
"Hey, so I have a tiny pipsqueak to take care of right now, so do you think you could give me some chocolate milk to distract her and her little pea brain for a while?"
Goddamnit, you're such a prick, Sakusa....
Shinobu fired daggers at the boy from across the room, but they faded instantly when she saw a certain blonde come into view, quickly approaching her partner from across the hallway.
Mai!
Annoyance transformed into worry as the older woman bumped right into Sakusa as he pulled away from the bar, leaning in with a smirk on her lips and putting her hands on his chest.
The butterfly girl bit her lip and her gaze softened.
She didn't like it.
Don't....touch him like that, you bitch.....
Part of her wanted to intervene as she watched her talk to him, to go and break up their conversation and drag that redhead idiot right out the door, as far away from that woman as possible.
The thought of him talking to her for even a second longer was puncturing a hole in her stomach and churning it up inside.
Even still, Shinobu could only let out a short huff in her displeasure, watching him from her spot at the table.
Hmph....it would be rash of me to get involved when Sakusa is just doing what he said he would do....no, no, I can't go.....I just have to trust him not to do anything stupid.....
The look on her partner's face did give her some reassurance, Sakusa didn't try and hide his distaste for the woman groping him just yet. Maybe if she just let things be, Mai would get the message and buzz off, and she wouldn't have to go through the embarrassment of being seen intervening when it wasn't her place.
The longer she watched him talk to the blonde girl, however, the harder it became to just sit around and do nothing.
Lack of knowledge on what they were discussing over there was eating away at her.
What would she be saying to him?
What underhanded tactic would she use to get into her partner's pants?
How would she use those ungodly things on her chest to lure him in?
Just what is she planning?
She started to fidget with the hem of her uniform top, her concern written across her face.
They continued to stand there and talk, and with the commotion around her keeping her from being able to piece any of their conversation together on her own, her worry only got worse.
Why, though.....
The ravenette's sinking feeling gnawed at her from within as she watched the scenes unfold.
Why do I hate this so much....
The way Mai touched his hand and let out a laugh, the way Sakusa let her do so.
Why do I hate that....why does it make me feel so angry....
The blonde inched closer to him, tilting her head up to the larger man. Shinobu couldn't see the look in her eyes from where she sat, but she could already tell what it would be.
Mai's eyes would be slits, looking up with a glossy lust caking overtop.
I hate that too.....
I hate it all....
....so just stop it, Sakusa.....
The way he let her feel his arms from over his shirt,
Stop it....
The way his lips curled up and he let out a chuckle as they kept talking,
Stop that, please.....
Don't look at her like that....
Then, he smiled.
.....Sakusa....
When he did, when Shinobu caught a glimpse of the smile that brought her so much peace and comfort,
she felt her heart crack.
N-....No.....
...nobody else, Sakusa.....
The red-stained boy let out another painful laugh with the blonde woman, before returning to that smile once more, his ruby eye reflecting the candlelight from the bar table, mixing the deep scarlet with the flickers of yellow-orange of the flame. Not even the flames could hide the look in his eye from her, though.
The smile, the laugh, the shimmers of affection that even she could see from this far away, everything she had grown to desire,
Please, just look at me....
Before she knew it, Shinobu was on her feet, racing towards him.
Not her, not anyone else.....
Her bottom lip quivered with every step she took, and her hands balled into fists by her side, her head tucked low and and her eyes pointed to the ground.
Me....and only me.....
The butterfly girl shoved Mai to the side with one brisk push, forcing a yelp out of the blonde as she fell into a high-top behind her.
Ignoring Sakusa's look of shock, she snatched him by the hand, and jerked her her head up to face him.
Don't ever look at anyone else like that but me!
"E-Erm-...." Sakusa moved to speak up, but clamped his mouth shut when his gaze fell upon the glossiness of Shinobu's violet eyes.
He let her drag him down the stairs without so much as a goodbye to the woman he was about to get some information out of.
But, at the same time, he was alright with that.
Some things just matter more to him.
Before long, he and Shinobu were out in the dark of the night, just outside of the Palace entrance, standing beside the building.
With his arms crossed over his chest, Sakusa took a step closer to the shaking butterfly girl, who had her hands glued to her sides again.
He spoke with a gentle tone, one he was barely able to muster before they had met.
"Hey," He said, leaning down a bit to approach her a little more,
"You okay....?"
He was met with a brisk slap to the face.
Wha-
Sakusa clamped his hand over his cheek in shock, and reeled back with an offended look on his face. "O-Oi, what the hell was that for?!"
"You're such an asshole!"
The redhead flinched at the sudden outburst.
Shinobu jerked her head back up to face him, fresh tears staining her cheeks.
Both teens could only look at each other in place for a moment, with Sakusa's expression softening the longer his gaze locked onto hers.
"You....." The ravenette squeaked , before finding her voice once again. "You're so confusing!"
"You always do those stupid things you do, where you somehow make me feel so good! You tell me you'll protect me and then you go and put your life on the line for me without hesitating, how the hell can you expect me not to feel so safe with you after that?! How can you share your food with me whenever I'm starving, hold me when I need you, push me to be the best and strongest version of myself every single day, spend so much time with me and listen to whatever it is I have to get off my chest...."
The memories continued to flood in. That night in Nagasaki at the summer festival, that evening in Shimabara when Sakusa first declared that he would always protect her, that first time she ever got to see him smile, only making the flow of tears worse.
"How, Sakusa...." Shinobu raised one of her hands and pressed it to her chest.
"How the fuck can you think that you get to be so perfect to me, and expect me not to want to have it all for myself?!"
"Your smile, your gaze on me and me alone, your attention, your hand under my leg while you carry me, or when you grip my ankles to keep me upright on your shoulders, the way you make me flutter anytime you do literally anything around me, why do you have to be so stupid and assume that I wouldn't crave those even more?!"
A silence overcame the duo, with Shinobu's strained panting the only sound between them as she waited for something, anything, from the speechless redhead.
"Kocho....."
The butterfly girl furiously wiped the tears from her face, keeping her lips in a tight scowl to keep them from quivering, staring up at the boy in front of her.
Her eyes shot open, however, when an arm found its way to her waist, and the other at the back of her head, as she was pulled into a strong, broad chest.
A kiss to the top of her forehead was the icing on the cake that led to her downfall.
"I'm sorry, Kocho." A deep, low tone mumbled into the top of her head.
"I'll be better, I promise." was all he said.
He didn't let go, something Shinobu had mixed feelings over.
She tried so hard to remain angry at him, but the tears began to stop the longer she felt the heat through his black dress shirt, and the familiar comfort she slipped into with the scent of his smoky musk. Before long, she had melted, bringing her fists up and balling them against his chest.
"Sakusa.....you....stupid dummy..."
"Yes, yes," Sakusa breathily chuckled into the top of her head, "I guess I am a dummy...."
"But from now on, I'll be your dummy, alright~?"
Shinobu flushed beet red, and let out a shocked whimper into his chest.
She didn't pull away, though. Rather, she buried herself deeper into him.
Maybe it wasn't his smile she hated to see on someone else so much.
Maybe, it was this.
Smothering herself in him, Shinobu Kocho broke out into a gentle smile.
An violent explosion that blasted a gigantic hole in the front of the building shattered the moment.
Both Hashira's eyes shot open, and they detached from each other instantly, turning towards the destruction.
"Oh my, oh my, I interrupted something, didn't I~?"
Shinobu's eyes shot open at the sound of the voice.
No way!
Sakusa's eyebrows furrowed in reaction as well, and he clicked his tongue.
Tch, you gotta be fucking kidding me...
Standing in the middle of the street, staring them down,
was Mai, her eyes flashing a bright gold with a sadistic smile on her lips.
The redhead was in disbelief.
I didn't even sense a single drop of demon blood from her not even ten minutes ago!
"You kids seem to be having a nice time out here, wouldn't you say~?" The blonde spat, holding her left arm up at a 90 degree angle with her palm facing behind her.
She let out a giggle, and her smirk grew wider.
"You mind if I join~?!"
Cracking and warping sounds began to cry out as her arm morphed and transformed. The bones shifted until her arm was completely flat and became a triangle-shape, extending and stretching outwards until her entire forearm with her fingers as the tip became a giant, thin triangle.
Black scales filled her skin and sharp jagged teeth began to protrude out of the corners of her arm, until, finally,
her entire left forearm had become a monstrous lower jaw, almost in the form like that of a crocodile.
Shinobu and Sakusa instantly put up their arms and got into a combat stance.
Tch, this isn't good, The butterfly girl clicked her tongue, we left our weapons back at the rooms because we weren't expecting any demons tonight....
"Oi. Kocho."
Shinobu turned her head towards her compatriot at the sound of her name being called.
"Get to the inn." He calmly told her, "Bring me my blades, and get your needleblade."
"I'll hold the bitch off until you get here, got it?"
The girl nodded firmly. She was full of confidence in him, after all.
As she vanished from sight and dashed away, she was without a single worry.
The rooms weren't far away, and with Sakusa's stamina and sturdy frame, there was no way he wouldn't be able to last the few minutes it would take for her to get their weapons.
He's strong, no matter what demon comes up against him,
She even smiled a little again.
My Sakusa will beat them to a pulp!
As Sakusa stared down the golden-eyed demon, and Shinobu rushed away into the dark,
another figure, cloaked in the shadows, was chuckling to himself.
"Fufufu~.....this should be fun~....."
*O k a y
So
This time I actually have reasons for being late again lol
One, personal issue involving an ex literally voided any motivation I had to do anything for like three days straight, so I couldn't finish this chapter in time
Two, I was sick which SUCKED
Three, I'm in the process of making something I like to call the 'appearance guide' for all the characters I invented for this story! I'm almost done that so expect it soon, it will help the new readers understand what my characters are based off of, as well as the ones who have reached this far get where I got the inspiration for these guys when I first started making this story. It will be updated as I release each new character, but to be honest, there aren't that many more to release, really, so the updates won't be that often, so don't expect to have to hop back and forth between the guide and the chapter you're on to understand who you're seeing.
And uh
Yeah
Hope you enjoy the guide when that gets released, it's almost done so I might have it done on the very same day
And yeah
c y a