"What did you do to me, you perv!?"
Jun yelled with rage, grabbed his pillow and smacked it on the man's head. A muffled grumble was to hear under it and the blond pushed it to the side with a glare. His hair was more disheveled that it already was.
"What the fuck...?" He mumbled rolling to his back and rubbing his eye.
"That's my line!" The angry young man pointed at himself with his thumb "What am I doing in one bed with you, half naked!?" He winced as the headache pulsated within his temples with the sudden anger rush.
The man ran a hand through his face and yawned.
"Oh. About that..."
[Rewinding time a few hours back...]
"I told you not to look." Juto sighed, releasing a cloud of cigarette smoke.
"Wha-what was that? What are you? What the hell just happened!?"
Jun mumbled the questions that whirled in his head, visibly shaken. The man stepped up to him and grabbed his arm to pull him up. Seeing as he can't calm down, he crouched in front of him and grabbed his shoulder.
"Pull yourself together." Juto shook him, forcing him to focus.
"Pull myself together? PULL MYSELF TOGETHER? After what I just saw!? After- after all this-... and-... how even!?"
He gestured wildly, not looking up at his savior or whatever he was. The man's eyebrow twitched and he gave the shoulder a firm squeeze, shaking it impatiently.
"Just calm down, I'll explain everything, okay? Look, I'll even walk you home-..."
"Let me go!"
This conversation was going nowhere, and all the screaming was calling for unwanted attention. Getting fed up with Jun making a scene, the man bit down on the cigarette in his mouth and delivered a sharp punch right in the gut. Jun gasped for air, when everything around him turned dark, and his limp body fell in the man's arms. The lump of flesh that was set on fire earlier was reduced to a sizzling pile of ash by now.
Juto carried the unconscious body to a nearby alley, put it gently on the ground resting the back against the wall, and started to search through the pockets. He was looking for something, anything that could give him a hint about where the young man lives. He wanted to bring him to his apartment, pass him to whoever lives there and leave, being sure that after he wakes up with a hangover, he will think it was all just a dream. However, there was nothing, no business card to look up, no notes, the ID didn't have that kind of info and his phone had no number set to dial in case of emergency.
He stood up and took another deep drag, exhaling loudly. Not good. Not only he can't bring the lad home, he was unable to investigate the area he came from as to why the Sha possessing him grew so big. He wasn't sure if it was his own oversight, or a fellow ripper wasn't doing their job right. He shook the unconscious man and patted his cheek, but he was knocked out for good. Not a chance that he wakes up anytime soon.
Juto finished his cigarette and extinguished the butt with an annoyed stomp to the ground. It was dangerous to just leave him here, or any place for that matter. He didn't want to bother with leaving him at a hospital, and it was bugging him who let the Sha go unnoticed under their nose. With that in mind, he picked Jun up and decided to take home with him. At least the small body was light enough to carry in his arms.
[Back to the present time...]
"You bastard! You knocked me out!"
Jun tossed the pillow at the man again, but this time he blocked the impact with his arm. He was already up from bed and put on a black t-shirt.
"I'm sorry."
"And you still didn't explain why we slept in one bed! And where's my shirt?"
"Here."
Juto picked up the white piece of clothing from the floor next to the bed and tossed it at Jun's face.
"You took it off in the middle of the night. By yourself, half asleep."
The blond man recalled a groan waking him up, followed by rustling when his companion stripped the shirt off and just put it to his left - on top of Juto's face. He grabbed the shirt and dropped on the floor with an annoyed gesture.
"Oh... yeah. I... tend to do that when I feel too hot during the night. Even if I can't recall it in the morning."
Jun scratched his head with embarrassment. He smoothed the fabric of the shirt and put the arm in the sleeve when Juto continued his explanation.
"As for the shared bed... normally I'd take the couch, but it's already occupied, and I refuse to sleep on the floor."
"Mhm. If you say so." Jun replied slowly and raised his eyebrow. He was buttoning the shirt.
"It's big enough for us both. I mean, you take what, one third of it?"
"Okay okay, I get it!"
The smaller man threw his hands in the air in a surrendering gesture and stood up. He swayed and rubbed his head again. The change of posture brought the numb headache back. Juto grabbed a pack of cigarettes from the nightstand.
"You ok? Need something?"
"Yeah... bathroom... for now." Jun slowly moved to the only door in the room. "Don't think you're off the hook, I have more questions for you later."
He pointed at the blond man with a threatening glare and moved to the adjacent room, which happened to be a small living room connecting all the other areas together. Juto just shrugged, put a cigarette in his mouth without lighting it yet and followed suit. He mentioned which door was the bathroom and they both passed by the couch. Jun took a peek. It was certainly occupied, judging by the blanket hiding someone underneath. Jun couldn't even see their face as the body was covered from head to toes.
"Gosh, you two are loud so early in the morning..."
A drowsy male voice spoke from underneath the blanket, without bothering to look up.
"At least you weren't brutally awakened with a pillow to the face." Juto complained.
"Well excuuuse me for reacting to being kidnapped."
Jun huffed and locked himself in the bathroom. He carefully leaned over the sink avoiding getting dizzy again, washed his face and gargled some water to get rid of the dry aftertaste of alcohol from last night. He combed through his hair with his fingers to put it somewhat in order. After splashing some more water, he sighed and looked at his face in the mirror. The cold water cleared his mind a bit. He still felt the aftermath of yesterday, but aside that, he noticed that something in him changed for the better. All the weariness, frustration and hopelessness plaguing him for weeks sort of vanished. Just as if someone would sweep it away off his mind. In that moment Jun realized something and put a hand to his chest, clenching it on the shirt, still staring at his reflection.
"Or like... someone would rip it out... of my body."
He said under his breath with a trembling voice. He remembered how the blond man cut through him with a giant claw, without doing any damage and then he was holding some sort of monster, before destroying it. Was that black thing the possible embodiment of his bad mood? He needed to know.
He quickly opened the door and stepped into the living room.
"Hey tall guy! We need to talk!"
"Geez you startled me!"
The drowsy voice from before spoke again, and Jun looked in its direction. He was about to ask where Juto was, but he screamed in fear at what he saw. A skeleton was staring back at him and yelled in response, triggered by Jun's sudden reaction.
"What!? What is it!?"
Juto bolted into the room from the kitchen and Jun instantly glued himself to his waist, trembling and pointing at the bone figure, not able to say a word. The man tilted his head and raised an eyebrow.
"He gave me a frighten!"
The skeletal man was visibly distressed, despite the lack of features on the skull. He was leaning against the couch and clutching one hand to his chest.
"That's... wait, what exactly do you see?"
"Are you blind!? There's a fucking skeleton, right there!" Jun blew up at him with a hysterical voice.
"You got possessed and exorcized and still can't see me?"
The skull tilted to the side. Juto just shrugged with a puzzled expression, when Jun grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled closer to his face.
"What's going on here?" He asked through his teeth.
"Come, let me show you something."
The skeleton took Jun's wrist, making the young man shiver at the cold touch, but the sensation was soft like a skin, unlike hard bones. They went to the bathroom and stopped in front of the mirror.
"Is this better?"
Jun looked up and gasped. What he saw in the reflection was himself and a young man next to him, smiling and waving at him. He had a pale skin and messy brown hair. He was half a head taller, and his built was pretty average. Jun looked back and forth between the mirror reflection and the skeletal figure with a puzzled expression. He then took a deep breath and ran a hand across his face.
"I... I need to sit down..."
Jun shuffled to the couch. He sat on it sighing heavily, leaned with his elbows against his knees and rubbed his temples with his eyes closed. The two men looked at each other and took a seat too - Juto leaning back in an armchair and the bone man on a pillow, facing Jun across the table. After a moment of silence Juto spoke up.
"So, what do you want me to explain?"
"Everything."
"Where should I start?"
"What happened yesterday...? What was that... ugly thing? And what are you?"
"Well-..."
"Juto, is it okay to tell him?" The skeleton asked with concern.
"So your name is Juto?" Jun looked up at the man in the armchair, who made a grimace at the other.
"What were you supposed to call me in front of mortals?" He huffed.
"A-ah, right! It's Will, I'm sorry. It's just that you never have guests and all..." He lowered his skull in shame as his voice faded by the end of the sentence.
"Whatever." Juto huffed and grabbed a cigarette.
"I'll make some tea!" Skull man quickly stood up. "By the way, I'm Quincy."
"I'm Jun."
The young man followed Quincy with his eyes until he disappeared from his line of sight, then he looked back at Juto.
"Mortals, huh?" He asked.
"So the 'ugly thing'..." He exhaled a cloud of white smoke as if thinking how to explain it best. "They're called Ashavre, though we just say Sha. Have you ever heard the stories about people who suddenly did things nobody expected they would do? When someone commits a suicide, and their family is baffled, that they never noticed. When a man suddenly becomes a monster to their family, and the wife says it's not the man she married anymore. When a friend hurts another friend their only excuse being 'I don't know why I did that'. When a doctor can't tell what's wrong with their patient, despite them being ill. When you feel sad for no reason. When you feel angry for no reason. When you feel very tired even though you didn't do anything tiresome. Incurable depression, intrusive thoughts, paranoia, and so on. When you feel something bad is happening to you, but you can't tell what is causing it."
He paused taking another drag. Jun gulped, clenching his fists unconsciously. He averted his look.
"That is what Sha does. It's a parasite, a corrupted lost soul that possesses people and then influences their mind bit by bit by growing inside, in hope that it can take over the host at some point and continue on their own. Some of them succeed. But most fail miserably and just annihilate their host from within."
"I... wasn't feeling well for weeks..." He said quietly. "So that means..."
"It was a close call! A couple more days and you'd be dead!"
Quincy came back holding a tray with three white cups, spoons, a teapot and sugar. Jun felt a lump in his throat at those words. The skeleton put the cups in front of them and poured the tea.
"Jut- I mean Will said that your Sha was really big! No wonder it could control you in the end."
"Speaking of which." Juto shifted in his seat "I am a ripper. My duty is to remove Sha from human bodies..."
As to demonstrate what he means, a series of faint symbols started to glow along Juto's arm, before it transformed into the big clawy hand that Jun saw the other day. His eyes turned black in the process. He pointed with one blade at Jun and he instinctively leaned back, gulping.
"I have no clue why a Sha as big as yours went unnoticed all this time. I'm responsible for the south-west area of the city..."
His blade moved closer, and stopped inches from Jun's chest, making him feel tense.
"So my question to you is, where are you from?"
The backside of the claw brushed against his chin, tilting Jun's head up. Jun raised his hand and hesitated a bit before he pushed the claws away.
"I'm not from here. I live in the north part of the city. I only came here to check out that bar and have a drink, that's all."
"Is that so?" Juto's glare quickly shifted to Quincy "See!? I told you it wasn't MY fault!"
"Okay okay, point taken." The skeleton raised his bony hands in defense. "But it's still alarming, nonetheless."
Jun sighed. Finally things started to make some sense. There were still other things that bothered him, but he wasn't completely in the dark now. Their attention wasn't focused on Jun, so he relaxed a bit and reached for the tea, putting some sugar in it first. He was about to drink it but he hesitated for a moment. A thought went through his mind that maybe it's spiked. After all, Quincy was concerned about filling Jun in on the whole Sha thing.
Something entered Jun's field of vision. Juto's clawy hand moved across the table and it shrunk a bit, just enough to hold to objects. He added half a teaspoon of sugar to his tea and picked the cup up. When the took a sip, his arm was already back to normal, the transition was smooth. Jun glanced at Quincy who took a gulp from his cup, and it looked funny how the liquid just disappeared within the invisible body rather than spill through the gaps in the jaw.
Reassured that they probably wouldn't risk it to drug themselves as the tea came from the same pot, he took a small sip himself.
"I will have to go and investigate the north area then. Somebody is slacking off." Juto said between sips.
"Or worse..." Quincy was worried.
"So... you two are going around and... rip Sha out of people...?" Jun chimed in.
"Oh! No, I'm not a ripper, I'm-..." Quincy paused and looked at Juto, who nodded at him. "I'm actually a reaper."
Jun almost choked on his tea. And here he thought nothing will surprise him anymore.
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