A Masked Secret

Chapter 2

Face

Uta was putting the final touches on the mask Shi had comissioned exactly forty-seven hours and twenty minutes after she left when the door opened. She had entered the mask shop with more confidence than her previous visit. Uta looked her over, his goggles had already been perched on his face in wait of Shi. She was wearing the same clothes as the previous visit with the only difference being her bangs were behind her ears today.

Her eyes were... off. Uta looked at them intently as she approached but the dull dark grey eyes were off-putting. They were normal eyes, nothing different. They just didn't look natural on her, as if her eyes were supposed to be brighter and a different color. Uta brushed it off as his creative intuition demanding brighter colors on her (After all the only color she had was her red painted lips).

Uta looked at the clock, "You're forty minutes early."

"Is that your way of asking for more time?" asked Shi, pulling a stool up to the work bench and pulling her sketchbook to her. It hadn't been flipped to any other pages, much to her surprise. As if Uta knew what she was thinking, he spoke.

"It's rude to look through an artist's sketchbook without asking." he stated. She nodded in appreciative agreement. Uta finished the mask a moment later and he lifted it up. He appraised it once before reaching to Shi. He tilted her head up and lifted the mask to her face, gently placing it around her features.

Uta, focused on the mask, took no notice of how beneath the foundation and makeup that covered her face, Shi was blushing and surprised at the bold move he had made. It was bold and strange to put a mask on a client without asking, at least she thought so. Appraising the mask maker again, Shi figured that Uta was a bit of a strange man.

Uta's eyes followed the elegant mask. It fit her nose fine, she had a small nose and small but pouting lips. Her eyes were big yet narrow, and still that offputting shade of gray that he just couldn't appreciate. The edges didn't fit right though, while the top of the mask reached her hairline and the bottom just reached the base of the bottom of her nose and the right side was perfect in following her jaw and reaching just below her lips, the sides reached out to on her ears. The sides needed to be adjusted to just rest before her ears, the feathers would cover the piece that hooked onto her ears like the ends of glasses. Delicate ribbon tied behind her head to give it a masquerade appearance.

"I didn't measure your face so I estimated." Uta said as an explanation before he pulled off the mask, tugged the edges and with a nod he dropped it in a mold.

He looked at the clock again, "Ten minutes."

And sure enough, ten minutes later after using tools that Shi hadn't expected to be used in mask making, the mask was done. Uta once again, without asking, simply tilted Shi's face up and fit the mask to her face. He stepped back to admire it.

Her pale features against the black feathers gave contrast. The black feathers mixed with her hair and covered her ears, the feathers cascaded down beneath her chin and rested almost to her collar bone. The single eye hole had been given a bit of a feminine shape and Uta had taken a bit of stylistic charge and added a black outline to give the appearance of eyeliner or eyelashes. The carved designs were a light silver. The designs were simple, it was an abstract hand reaching out to another hand. At least, that was what Uta had seen while creating it. Another could see something different in the twisting lines.

"Beautiful." Uta breathed as he admired the mask. But not only the mask. Uta's eyes appreciated the woman wearing it. Then, he realized that this was a human he was admiring.

'Human's are food,' he chided himself, 'Don't get attached.'

"It is, I'm not even mad with the design you added. How much?" inquired Shi as she lifted the mask from her face gingerly. Uta didn't answer, putting the mask back on her face and reaching behind her head to tie the ribbon. His fingers brushed the tips of her ears, and he felt more earrings than he realized she had. He thought to his own piercings, his two eyebrow piercings and his lip. Not to mention the several that decorated his ears.

"Uta-san," Shi said patiently, "The price?" Uta hummed as he stepped back to look again. The mask was simple to make. He had used light metal for the mask itself, and feathers were easy to come by.

"Nothing." he decided. Shi gaped at him, and Uta found amusement in how undignified she was for the first time since they met.

"Nothing?" she repeated.

"Nothing." he agreed.

Shi's eyes narrowed at him, "No, I am going to pay you."

"Perhaps..." Uta trailed as he weaved through the rows of masks.

"What?" Shi asked eagerly. Uta found her eagerness surprising. Weren't most humans frugal and greedy? He found that to be the case often, Ghouls too.

"Perhaps..." Uta stopped and turned to Shi. He tilted his head as she leaned forward, looking intently at him in wait. He gave his usual smile.

"Nothing."

"Uta-san-"

"Shi-san." Uta replied teasingly. Shi frowned as she pulled at the bow Uta had made with the ribbon. She removed her mask and stood. She placed it cautiously on the table, as if it were fragile, and she walked to Uta. Uta breathed in the smell of makeup and human once again and his pulse raced. He put a hand to his neck, internally frowning over his pulse. He wasn't hungry, so his pulse should have stayed steady despite the human. He had made sure to eat that morning so that he wouldn't be hungry for Shi's visit.

"You know what, Uta-san?" Shi suddenly decided, putting her hands on her hips. Uta cocked his head at her to show he was listening.

"How about I take you out for lunch or something since you don't want to be paid?" suggested Shi. Uta found that funny.

"I'm fine." he answered, lifting a mask from it's mannequin and holding it to his face to look at her. Shi frowned at his lack of care.

"No, I don't care if you just get coffee or water or something. Hell, it doesn't even have to be me paying for my mask if you don't want it to be. It can be as friends or acquaintances or something, I'd feel better at least treating you to something." Shi huffed, moving her hands from her hips to her chest where she crossed them. Uta shrugged at her.

"Alright, it's settled then. When are you free?" Shi asked brightly.

"Never." Uta replied just as brightly, "I'm always working." He gestured to his eyes and the masks around them. Shi sighed.

"Fine then, be that way. Next time I have a mask design I'll be sure to stop by, Uta-san." Shi grabbed her sketchbook and bag, sliding the mask into her bag with careful hands. She started towards the door and suddenly Uta felt like he had missed something. Something like a chance or an opportunity. When Shi was gone, he found that he missed her smell. She didn't smell just like human anymore, now her lingering aroma gave off hints of something spicy. She smelled less like meat and more like something pleasant.

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