Kagami groaned. His short-term memory crept back into the spinning space trapped
behind his closed eyes, accompanied by the lingering tension of a stale adrenaline
rush. That was no catnap. He felt himself reawakening from a state of forced
stupor, heavy enough to bury him beneath its hazy cloak, demanding slumber whether
it be night or day. His body certainly held a rigid position quite unusual for
natural sleep; it was the sort of surreal situation a reanimated victim of taxidermy
might face, given a second stab at life. He opened his eyes. Fixed in a standing
position, he stared into the bowels of a long alleyway. In helpful explanation,
his memory supplied him with the words he'd last heard: "Puppet scent...
Put your hands flat on either wall. Don't remove them."
He'd underestimated her again.
Before he could further reflect on his recent embarrassment, something sharp,
cold, and suggesting of fatality nicked the skin behind his jawbone. Kagami
stiffened. Akabane's voice, resonating sweetly against the alley's grimy walls,
removed all doubt that the Babylon City blond was in danger. "I see you
had tried to interfere with our delivery, Kagami Kyoji-kun. Lady Poison was
not pleased."
"Regardless, I am no challenge for you right now."
Leaning towards Kagami from a peripheral angle close behind him, Akabane let
a serene smile respond to his prey's feigned coolness. "You are only a
challenge when you have the ability to run away? Your mirrors are useless when
your body cannot move." The scalpel migrated to Kagami's back with powder-soft
pressure, although they clearly heard the individual threads breaking in his
suit. "Invisible or not, you will definitely feel something when I press
here..."
A shudder welcomed Kagami's taut body to a draft. At the slight movement, pieces
of his blazer drifted apart like the Earth's plates separating over a feverishly
expanding core. Indeed, he felt his muscles involuntarily clench, sweat prickling
through his skin where the heat of his fear congregated. "You ruined my
suit." He wondered how long Akabane had been waiting there for him to revive,
delicately shredding his clothes for his own demented amusement. The sliding
fabric took lighter pieces with it. Soon, patches of purplish-blue joined the
pile of talcum white, mockingly devoid of blood for the time being. Kagami grimaced.
"My shirt, too..." he continued in a voice of disdain, his words trailing
off to near suffocation when he spied a 'J' carefully cut into one of the scraps.
"No challenge, but fortunately you are still entertaining. Tell me, why
I should let you go now, just to watch you retreat from battle another day?
Playing unfairly is better than not fighting at all." As if to somehow
illustrate that point in blood, Akabane ran his scalpels three inches down Kagami's
left scapula, provoking a hiss from his victim. The Doctor regarded him narrowly
through the sharp slit in his hat, excitement coiling within the one eye that
was visible to Kagami. Kagami stared back past his dangling earring. The silence
stretched too long and Kagami stopped holding his breath. Meanwhile, Jackal
lowered his weapons and sighed.
"You're confusing me. Whatever plan you have in mind, I can't figure it
out."
Kagami arched a brow warily but said nothing.
"You actually enjoy this, don't you?"
"Was it that obvious?"
Doctor Jackal smiled affectionately at him as one might to a small puppy in
forgiveness for wetting the carpet. "Lady Poison's puppet scent wears off
when the subject is mentally normal..."
Flushing deep pink, Kagami slid his hands free from the wall and turned around,
a flustered attempt of explanation dying on his lips.
"Thank you," Akabane said politely, striding past him. "You masochists are always blocking my path."