A Masked Secret
Summary- "Uta-san, there are worse things than Ghouls out there, don't you think?" Uta looked at her curiously, "After all, something isn't born evil. It's created."- In which a friendship turns to more and secrets drag you into a pit of despair that you can never recover from. "You have your secrets Uta-san, I also have mine."
Chapter 1
She and Him
The mask shop was silent except for the scratching of a pencil on paper. A pale man sat on a stool, his hand wrapped around a pencil as his abnormal eyes stared down at the sketchbook. His eyes were red with black scelera, signifying he was a Ghoul.
Suddenly his nostrils flared and he reached into his desk, pulling out a pair of work goggles that he snapped on over his eyes. The dark lenses of the goggles made his eye color unidentifiable and his eyes appeared to be normal. A moment later the door to his mask shop opened and a girl entered. The mask maker sniffed the air again, noting that she smelled distinctly human, but not quite. She didn't have the smell of a halfling, but not the smell of a normal human. Brushing it off and ignoring the curiousity in the back of his mind, he looked at the girl.
She didn't look to be too old, maybe early twenties or even younger. She was pale with white hair that swept across her face in bangs and was kept in a messy side ponytail that trailed down her side and easily reached her hip. Her eyes were almost hidden in the shadows of her bangs and the mask maker couldn't determine a color. Her body was mature despite her height, and her face narrow. A black petticoat covered her body and black leggings into black boots covered her legs. Makeup covered her face and the smell was covering her human scent, perhaps that was why she smelled so different? Lucky for her, skin and smell could have awoken his hunger. After all, he hadn't eaten much since his last corpse a week prior and he had only had small meals upon a single corpse for three weeks. He had a small meal the day before, a snack really. Leftovers had dwindled and Uta would have to find a new corpse soon.
"Are you the mask maker?" Her voice was deep and sultry, a calm tone taken. She was interested in the masks the he could tell as she gave appreciative glances to several of his fine crafts.
"What gave it away?" he asked, his tone curious and innocent yet she regarded him with slight caution. No doubt his troublesome appearance, his black hair in a ponytail and half shaved, his pale skin and his tattoos.
"Perhaps the masks." she conceded, "Do you do custom designs?"
"Mm." the mask maker nodded, already reaching for his supplies. He paused when she reached into the black bag that was at her hip and pulled out a worn black leather bound sketchbook.
"I'm an artist and I wanted to give masks a shot. I'd like my designs to come to life, but I'm not a proffesional mask maker, nor do I have the materials." explained the girl as she flipped through the book. The pages were old and his eyes watched as she turned quickly yet gingerly, taking care in not ripping the pages.
"Perhaps, if I like your design." the mask maker demurred as she stopped on a page and flipped the sketchbook to show him. The mask maker eyed the design. For a new mask maker, it was a work with promise. The mask was from the nose up with a cut out going around the left eye to show the skin. It only showed the left eye, the right side having light carved designs covering right side of the mask dropped down the cheek and curved with the jaw, resting just below the lips. The sides had a feathery appearance to them, the feathers drooping down the side of the face. In the margins messy handwriting had arrows pointing colors, black feathers and light silver ink over the carvings with the mask being plain white. It was simple, yet elegant.
"What inspired you?" the mask maker inquired. A mysterious smile came across the girl's red painted lips.
"That's a secret." she answered, "Now how much will it cost to comission you to make this mask?" The mask maker ignored the question as he looked over the design again.
"It was quite rude of me, I didn't introduce myself. But neither did you." he finally said after a moment. The girl's lips curved into a smirk.
"Is that your way of asking my name?" she asked. The mask maker looked at her.
"Is that your way of avoiding the question?" he retorted. She chuckled, and it was a chuckle not a giggle or a laugh. A chuckle didn't describe the noise she made either, but it would have to do, he decided.
"You may call me Shi, you are?"
The mask maker didn't comment on her deflection, "My name is Uta, Shi-san."
"A pleasure, Uta-san. Now, the mask's price?" she inquired once again. Uta almost deflected again, just to annoy her, but a sudden smell hit his nose as he heard the door to his shop open.
"Shi-san, if you could perhaps step into that room there and close the door? This client is a bit... troublesome." Uta told her, gently putting a hand on her upper back and gesturing to the door that led to the stairs to his apartment. Shi didn't question it, only giving a suspicious and slightly annoyed glance to the mask maker. Uta closed the door as his new client turned into view.
"Fen-san." Uta greeted, a tight lipped smile hiding his annoyance at being interupted with the strange human he had just hidden from the predator. Although, Uta was a predator himself.
"Uta-san, is my mask finished?" Fen was a Ghoul who had little patience and had already been in the shop twice that week. Luckily, Uta had finally finished his mask.
"Yes." Uta nodded and lifted the mask from a stand, "Would you like to try it on or have it wrapped?"
"Wrapped-" The Ghoul paused and sniffed the air before lowering his voice, "Uta-san is that human I smell?"
"I have other clients, Fen-san." Uta dutifully replied. His eyebrows creased in annoyance when Fen headed towards the door that Shi was behind. She was no doubt sitting on the stairs right there, as it was impolite to enter ones home without their permission.
"Fen-san, take your mask and leave." Uta ordered, wrapping the mask in tissue paper and gently placing it in a box. When Fen didn't turn around, Uta focused killing intent in his direction. Uta was getting annoyed by this client's nosy behaviour. It was quite rude.
"It's just a peek, the human's dinner isn't it?" asked Fen. Uta tossed the box at the Ghoul, stepping in front of the door.
"I have other customers, humans included." Uta calmly stated, eyes narrowing at the Ghoul.
"Tch, not even sharing with your customer." complained Fen, but he backed off. He left with his mask after another minute of complaining. Uta opened the door after waiting a moment to make sure Fen wouldn't happen to "forget" something.
"Not even any yelling. A pity." said Shi dryly as she stood up from where she was politely sitting on the stairs that led to his loft apartment.
"I'm still waiting on that price, Uta-san." she added after a moment of silence where Uta returned to his work station.
"Come back in two days." Uta told her, smiling to himself. Shi narrowed her eyes as if seeing his smile despite his back being turned to her.
"Fine then. I'll be back in forty-eight hours exactly. You better have the damn price by then, Uta-san." Shi snapped in a less than intimidating tone. Her tone sounded more amused than anything.
Uta looked up from his work bench at her retreating form. His eyes followed the sway of her hips until she left. It was then he felt the wanting. Her intoxicating human smell was in the air and Uta pushed his goggles back to rub at his eyes.
'Humans,' Uta sighed as he looked down at the sketchbook she had left which was absolutely doused in her stench, 'And I fed yesterday too.'