Fem!Kaito x Sato. Also, gonna be dark and there's gonna be gore, so read at your own risk. Also, obviously, age gap.

Watching through this anime for the second time now and I just wish there was more Kai screen time :c

I don't own Ajin: Demi-Human.

8888

There was something off about the atmosphere in the prison that morning...everything was so completely not out of ordinary that it made my skin crawl.

Maybe it was the way the guards were making rounds literally like clockwork, instead of merely an approximation of it. Maybe it was the way that the rotations seemed just slightly off, apparently to accommodate a maintenance crew's work but nevertheless leaving a blind spot.

We were let outside for our daily free time, the girls and boys were allowed to mingle under supervision. I briefly entertained the thought of escaping as I sat in my favorite corner of the yard, where the cement was crumbling slightly and I could pick away at it for some idle amusement.

If I didn't say anything, the other prisoners left me alone; guards too. I wasn't important enough to be untouchable, but enough that no one would seek me out if I kept to myself. It didn't feel right, but I suppose it was inevitable I'd get recognized in a crowd like this. Plus, it distracted at least some of them from the reason I was in here in the first place...

As we were led back to our cells, we passed a corridor that was suspiciously empty, though I could hear a faint sound that was almost like footsteps and...something being dragged? My golden eyes narrowed, and I glanced ahead where Takeshi was walking with his group. Takeshi's cell had been down that corridor up until the day before, when he and several of his neighbors had needed to be suddenly relocated due to some electrical problems.

My eyes flicked between the corridor and the way ahead, and after a brief contemplation, slipped away, easily avoiding the notice of the guards as I made my way down the corridor. I'd probably get in trouble for this later, but I'd cross that bridge when I come to it.

Soon, all signs of life vanished behind me, and my footsteps echoed quietly in the empty corridor. I ran my hand along the wall, idly following the cracks in the stone with my fingertips. As I came to a corner, I suddenly felt that I wasn't alone, so I cautiously peeked around, only to find that there was no one I could see in the hall.

Something dripped onto my face and slid down my cheek, causing me to stiffen. It was warm, and I knew the smell. Wincing, I glanced up at the ceiling and saw a dead guard suspended in midair. Now, this by itself wouldn't have necessarily been too surprising to me, but the fact that there seemed to be nothing holding the guard up at all was unusual. Unusual in the sense that I should runrunrun and hide.

"Oh! It's you."

My head whipped around, and I saw an older man with short silver hair walking towards me. No, that wasn't accurate. I saw an older man stalking towards me, with a bloody knife in hand. The man was smiling with squinted eyes. He looked very familiar, but I couldn't think of how at the moment. The man was deceptively harmless looking, and if he hadn't been exuding such a deadly aura or holding a murder weapon, many would write him off as un-threatening. I swallowed and willed my knees to stop shaking, crouching into a better fighting stance. This was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

"I don't believe we've formally met," the man continued, "I am Sato."

Fuck.

Fuckfuckfuckfuck I was so fucked. I was distantly aware of the guard's body falling unceremoniously to the floor near me, but I didn't take my eyes off of Sato for even a second. I'd have to get the knife somehow; that was required if I was going to survive this.

"What's with all the cloak and dagger?" I asked lightly, forcing a smile to grow on my face, "Doesn't really seem like your style."

Sato chuckled. "It's just a different kind of game I'm playing right now...it serves my interests if no one knows I'm here, so that no one wonders why I'm here."

"Don't suppose that bodes well for me then, huh?" I said with a laugh, and found myself backing into the wall without realizing.

"No, probably not," Sato agreed, closing the distance between us, his leg sliding between mine but stopping just short of actually touching me. I pressed back against the wall. Sato opened his eyes fully and stared at me, his arms hands lightly at his sides but the rest of his body a coiled spring. My heart ached slightly at seeing his red eyes, another set coming to mind...

"So, you're Kairi," Sato said quietly, his voice a low rumble that I could feel in my ribcage, running down to my toes and up to my face. A vaguely familiar sound I'd heard somewhere before...

My whole body went rigid and still. Yes, this was definitely familiar. The hyper-awareness of everything near my skin, the vague crawling sensation and brief flutter of panic at suddenly beginning to get much less air. "I. Thought. You. Had. To. Yell," I forced out, my tongue like a mechanical object with rusted joints. I couldn't open my mouth at all.

The look Sato flashed me would have had me shrinking away if I could move. "Do not compare me to an overeager child like Kei," he said, crucifying me with his crimson eyes.

Suddenly, inexplicably, Sato leaned closer, reaching a hand out and gently fingering my ear. "What is this?" he asked.

My heart was pounding so fast I was certain that Sato could feel my pulse. The stiffness was starting to drain away from my face, so maybe I wasn't dead just yet. My heart beat faster as I lowered my eyelids and leaned slightly into Sato's hand, knowing the shadows from my eyelashes would disguise where I was looking. "My earring?" I asked, "I dunno, I think it suits me."

The man laughed, then looked slightly surprised that he had laughed. The hand holding the knife shook, and the hand on my ear slid back until it was cupping my cheek. It was smooth, like Eriko's hands had gotten once she couldn't go outside anymore. Did all such imperfections get smoothed away if you were an ajin? Was it all at once, or did it happen little by little until nothing was left?

My only experience with ajins had been Kei, who, with his smooth pale face and red eyes made me think jokingly of vampires. The man currently invading my personal space, however, didn't give off that impression at all. Instead, I could only think of a snake rearing up before it struck to kill, though the suffocating pressure of his voice was definitely contributing to that image. I was starting to be able to wiggle my toes again, and my face felt almost fine, but my chest was stuck stiff.

"Are you afraid of me?"

My eyes snapped forward to look at Sato with wide eyes. When had his face gotten that close? I found my eyes drifting away again, like they were trying to hide, but Sato dropped his hand to my chin and held my face up firmly. "Are you afraid of me?" he repeated, softer, but with the same rumble beneath it as before. I felt it cover my body, but it seemed less overwhelming the second time around.

I swallowed. "I'm afraid," I said slowly, "that if I'm not careful, then Kei will grow up to be just like you."

Sato blinked, and for a brief, tantalizing instant his eyes looked like Kei's. He seemed confused, something about his expression uncharacteristically coltish, though I couldn't place what it was exactly. Maybe it was in the slight softness around his mouth as he asked, "And that's a bad thing?" He was so close that I practically inhaled the words.

"Yes," I gasped.

Something flickered in Sato's eyes, and I could feel his heart beating almost as fast as my own as he pressed closer so that our chests brushed against each other. What was going on? "You're not what I expected," the man said, moving his hand up my face to run his fingers through my longer, dyed hair while his other hand remained tightly clenched around the knife. "I knew you were loyal to him, and that he had abandoned you. I thought you'd be more despondent."

Sato's eyes had squinted shut again, hiding his unnerving gaze, but I was fairly certain he could still tell that I was glaring at him, because a vulpine smile crept across his face. This was probably a poorly thought out decision on my part, but spending more than a few minutes without getting murdered by a guy started to make you feel a bit more confident. "If Kei doesn't want me around then that's all there is to it," I said shortly.

Sato cocked his head. "But he does! And much more than want you around..."

I felt a shudder run through my body, but froze when I realized that it was the feeling of the ajin's voice wearing off. Wouldn't do to let him realize that. "And I'm supposed to believe that you're his new confidant? Whatever. If you're going to kill me, could you just do it already?" The hand holding the knife had loosened its grip.

The man sighed. "You young people are all the same. It's a shame you're not an ajin, sending you to one of those labs for a little while might make you more agreeable. Then again, it didn't seem to help much with Kei..."

My blood boiled, and in one fluid motion I lunged forward, grabbing the knife from Sato's hand and slashing him across his back. We fell to the floor, Sato frozen while I landed softly on top of him. I glanced at the knife before looking back down and the older man, smirking a little despite myself. "Maybe this is overkill," I admitted, "but you just pissed me off. You can't move now, your nerves are too damaged. Isn't it cool what you can do with a well aimed slash and an amazingly sharp knife? I knew killing you was pointless, and you didn't seem like pain would do much to you either. Oh don't look at me like that...I'm not sure what Kei's told you about me, but with my background it's inevitable that I've killed some people before." I hated killing people, actually, but circumstances had forced me to more than a few times.

Suddenly huge gashes ran across Sato's chest, blood spraying everywhere. Before I could even process what had happened, something invisible picked me up and slammed me against the wall, holding me suspended several feet in the air. The a familiar, horrifying sound, as the wounds on Sato's chest healed and he stood up, the smile on his face much more frightening now. The invisible grip on me tightened and I felt something like claws digging into my throat. I couldn't breathe. This was it. The inevitable that I'd prolonged had at long last arrived.

Sato slowly walked towards me, his expression inscrutable. "That was misinformed of you," he said. "not that you've really affected the outcome anyway. Die."

I braced for whatever was coming, stars in my eyes from lack of air. Maybe I'd pass out, that would be nice, then I wouldn't have to endure whatever sadistic death Sato was going to give me. A girl could hope.

Something licked my face. I blinked. The grip around my throat relaxed, and air flew back into my lungs. As my vision cleared, I could see that Sato seemed even more confused than I was. Then again, maybe I was just loopy from the endorphins.

The thing was still licking my face. How long was its tongue anyway? The only thing that ever licked my face before had been a dog, and this was extremely different! Damn, why couldn't I see it?! What the hell was this?!

"You can't see it?" Sato asked. Oh, I had said that out loud. I shook my head, feeling the thing's tongue starting to dart around my mouth. Nope, not today. I was drawing a line in the sand. "But if you can't see it..." Sato continued, seemingly oblivious to the fact that I was fast approaching the possibility of losing my first kiss to some invisible thing. "then that must mean..."

Abruptly, I could feel the thing crumble around me, and I fell to the floor, landing in a pool of blood from the long dead guard. Rather than try to isolate what hurt, I tried to determine was hurt most, and found myself at a loss. Sato, meanwhile, was still staring off into space a few feet away. "I have been encouraging it to be independent," he mused, "but this is ridiculous. And if she couldn't see it, then that can only..." his eyes flickered open and snapped toward me.

I tried to scramble away, but Sato was too close and moving to fast. Before I could even blink, I'd been pushed back against the wall, Sato's mouth on mine. I tasted blood in my mouth, my own blood, he was biting me, he was licking up all the blood, Sato was kissing me. My stomach felt like it was floating out of my body and bursting out though my skin at the same time. I choked on a pained gasp as his tongue forced it's way past my abused lips and plundered the inside of my mouth, relentlessly. I changed my mind, the invisible thing with the long tongue would have been better.

Weakly, I pushed the knife into Sato's throat, hard enough to break the skin but not enough to kill him. The man let out a low hum. Sato's hands, which had ended up on my shoulders, grabbed me so tightly it hurt, and without warning, he lunged forward, arterial blood spraying everywhere before he slumped over my body. I gasped for air, his blood dripping down my face. I couldn't help but look down at where his head was resting lifeless against the collar of my jumpsuit, my eyes wide with shock. My lips were swollen and bleeding, and everything smelled and tasted like iron. Why...?

Then that sound, and Sato lifted his head and opened his eyes. They were dark and clouded with something I didn't want to think about. "I don't really want to kill you, girl." He said gravely, as though it was a prophecy for disaster, "I don't want to kill you."

At this point I didn't dare say a word. I just trembled. Sato blinked, and his eyes cleared. "Oh. What a shame, you're afraid of me now."

I squinted my eyes shut and gritted my teeth, before mustering whatever bravery I had left to meet Sato's eyes. "That's better," He said. Sato ran his hand over my face, smearing the blood slightly, before suddenly standing up. "Tanaka," he said into a radio, "it's time to go. Any luck on your end?"

A faint crackling noise that might have been words if I had been closer and a little more with it. "No, no, sorry, I got distracted. I found something new."

More crackling; Sato looked back at me, a predatory grin on his face. "You look good like that, It suits you." I found myself once again incapable of moving. Sato bent down and pried the knife out of my hands, smiling fondly at it before sheathing it. He then nonchalantly pressed his booted foot into my throat. "It's for the best if you just go to sleep," he said conversationally, "I'm not taking you with me, but I don't want you looking like an accomplice. Capital punishment would be very inconvenient. Let's do this again some time..."

I dreamed of climbing trees and catching stag beetles, and Kei handing the net up to me, and never once finding a snake among the tree branches.

8888

It was times when I was injured that I couldn't help but think of Kei the most. Pain and injuries were part of the human experience, but as one memorable scene by a river had made clear to me, there were some people who were beyond all that. I'd watch the news as they displayed that same awful mugshot of Kei, and gently touch the bruises collaring my throat, still purple, from an invisible hand with too many fingers, and a man's boot.

At least my lips had healed.

Even though a couple weeks had already passed, I was still being kept under higher security than before, making it difficult for me to see Takeshi, though that was honestly for the best since it had made it easier for me to keep the nature of my injuries a secret. I didn't want Takeshi doing anything rash, or assuming the wrong thing. It would be better if I could keep this to myself for now.

I supposed I should count myself lucky. It hadn't been just anyone I'd run into in that deserted corridor...it had been Sato, arguably the most dangerous person in Japan. That I'd come out of it alive, with only some bruises and memories to show for it, was nothing short of remarkable. Even if I hadn't seen Sato's exploits on the news before, I hadn't even needed thirty seconds in that man's presence to recognize the aura of someone who killed people and liked it.

He doesn't want to kill you though...a traitorous thought whispered in the back of my head, which I promptly squashed. I was already too far gone with Kei, I didn't need to add someone who actually was a sociopath to the list of people I'd grown emotionally invested in. That was just basic self-preservation right there, even if Sato could potentially be a useful ally. Even if Sato did have resources to help Kei that I could never dream of having, I would never trust that Sato had Kei's best interests at heart.

I worried my bottom lip between my teeth, a habit I'd picked up while they were still injured and that hadn't gone away even now that they'd healed. I pressed my fingers gently into my carotid artery, right where the bruises hurt the most, and sighed. I wondered if Sato didn't want to kill me because I was actually an ajin. I was disappointed with myself at how horrified I was at the possibility. What kind of friend was I?

Lying back on my thin futon, I shivered slightly and started counting heartbeats. Sometimes that helped me fall asleep. The sound of footsteps walking past my cell door made a rhythm with my dripping faucet. Why was I still here? As much as I denied it, was I really just here in the hopes that sooner or later, Kei would come back for me?

The sound of my cell door opening made me freeze. What could they possibly want from me this time of night? And...why weren't they saying anything? My stomach suddenly filled with dread as I recalled what some of the other girls imprisoned here said about how some guards liked to get extra...attention...from them. Even going as far as promising them good things for a perverse favor or two...

Hell no. I cracked an eye open, and jolted when I realized that I couldn't see anyone there at all. The door swung shut, and I could hear slow footsteps coming towards me. I felt my pulse accelerating under my fingers and I abruptly sat up, only to be pressed back down onto the futon by a heavy weight on both of my shoulders. Then there was something gently butting into my chin, then an unfortunately familiar tongue long enough to lick my face and wrap around my throat at the same time.

"Where's your master?" I asked, surprised at how calm I felt. Then again, I didn't think this thing would really hurt me, though my bruised throat reminded me to be careful. "Aren't you like his shadow?"

Sato's shadow didn't speak, not that I had really expected it to. I waved my hands experimentally in the air, finding that the shadow seemed to possess a torso, two arms, and two legs. Aside from the long tongue, it seemed like it was almost human-shaped. Careful not to move too fast, I grabbed the blanket and draped it over the shadow's shoulders. "There," I said, "now I know where you are."

Immediately I felt my wrist being grabbed, and the tongue withdrew. Many small sharp teeth bit down on my arm, and I gasped as rivulets of blood started trailing down to my elbow. The tongue started lapping up the blood, and the weight holding me down lessened just slightly. Not wasting the opportunity, I quickly lifted my knee and turned my hips, sending the two of us tumbling off the futon and onto the floor, but with me on top this time.

Before the shadow could react, I found it's arms and pinned them down, distantly noticing that this thing was honestly way bigger than me but not seeing any point in worrying about that now. "So we can fight against you," I said feeling excited despite myself, "good to know."

Rather than struggle against its new position, the shadow didn't seem to mind, only concerned with continuing to lap up my blood from my arm. Seriously, how long was this thing's tongue? I was starting to feel feverish, though that had to be because of how warm the shadow was; warm enough that I was starting to sweat a little.

The bleeding on my arm had stopped, and with a sound like a whine the shadow's tongue started creeping further and further up my arm until it had reached my throat again. "...play...play..." it whined, before pressing its teeth to my throat. At the sound of it's voice, I gasped. "Sato?" I whispered.

Immediately the shadow's whole body shook underneath me, its teeth slightly grazing my skin. Then it was deathly still, before I heard Sato say, "Kairi?"

Something was different now. Even the way the shadow was holding its body was different. It tsked. "It must have come here on its own," Sato said, a mixture of pride and frustration lacing his voice. The shadow shifted under me, and without thinking I pressed deeper into the hold I was using to keep the shadow from moving.

A pause. "Oh-hoh?" Sato said cheerfully, "what's this? Did my black ghost let you get the better of it?"

I flushed. "Don't sound so patronizing!" I sputtered, "I can bring down men twice my size, easy! I'm not some helpless little girl!"

Sato chuckled, a low rumble I could feel all the way from my hands to my hips. "That so?" Sato asked softly, and my whole body went rigid. Shit.

A weight I recognized as being the shadow's hands pressed languidly on the back of my neck. "A mere human fighting off a black ghost she can't even see?" The older man purred, "It really is a shame you aren't an ajin or I'd take you home with me."

I couldn't feel my face. My toes curled. "Is that what you did with Kei?" I asked hoarsely, "Did you 'take him home with you?'"

The hands around my neck tightened until tears pricked in my eyes from the pain. "Bringing up Kei now?" Sato asked, "You're hurting my feelings, Kairi."

"I just need to know if he's alright!" I said, "Please, you know that much, don't you?"

"Enough about Kei," Sato growled, "you and I are much more interesting." One of the shadow's hands slid from my neck to my face, where it held my mouth open with its...thumb? Immediately I punched the shadow's face as hard as I could. Pain bloomed out from my knuckles, and my body curled in on itself. So fighting it was impossible?

Sato sighed. "Like I thought, it's less fun when I'm here like this." The shadow's hand on my face felt gentler now, but it was hot like a sunburn and I was starting to feel dizzy. "Don't look so down, you're doing very well. It's not your fault you can't hurt a black ghost."

The oscillations between being able to move and being paralyzed were getting disorienting. The shadow's body felt like a vibrating engine beneath me, and by now my whole body felt light and tingly. I panted weakly, finding the iron grip of the shadow's hand impossible to wriggle away from. Was I even moving right now? I couldn't tell.

I heard something I was at a loss to describe, because it sounded like crooning, but that was impossible. For a brief moment, I was back in a forest colored summer, the sounds of cicadas and the smell of mud and itching bug bites and Kei was there, looking at me with those solemn eyes, and saying...

"Never change."

I whimpered. "Kei..."

Sato sighed again. "If I give you something nice, will you stop wishing I was Kei?"

A tongue too long to be human and yet much more familiar than any human tongue darted into my mouth and down my throat. I felt like I wanted to throw up, but the rumbles in Sato's voice made that impossible. Having been paralyzed by an ajin's voice a fair number of times now, I had concluded that calling it paralysis wasn't quite accurate. For me, at least, it felt more like I was being tightly held, like I could hang loose in my own body and not have to worry about anything.

Teeth gently nipped at my lips, and blood trickled down into my throat with the shadow's tongue. Wait...since when had the shadow been on top of me? It seemed so light now...

"Don't worry," Sato said, "next time you can slice me up and kill me all you want."

I woke up on the floor, alone.