The blood in his mouth felt foreign, out of place, thick with its metal tang. He spat it out, only to feel it filled his mouth yet again. He tried to open his eyes only to close them again as his vision swam, adding that sour taste of sick to the already thick taste of blood. He coughed and felt his lungs shook painfully with the force. Another was forcing its way through and again he coug-

A rough hand grabbed his jaw and yanked his face up. The cough spluttered into half a sneeze and a choked up wheeze.

"Well…" a familiar male voice came from above him, from the direction his face was forced to face. He guessed it belongs to the man currently gripping his jaw painfully. "It seems that our pretty boy had finally open. his. eyes" and with each pause the man fingers pried his eyes open, left, and then right. The finger stayed on his right eye, stopping it from closing back like his left.

The face of his captor swam into focus…

"Ta…nu…ma..?"

"Hello, Natsume."