AN: R&R ;). God keeping these to only 200 words is a pain; but I want to challenge myself :p
Squint
-3-
Life was better when you didn't have to face it.
Once upon a time, Gin had wandered Rukongai, red eyes wide open. He took it all in. He saw the ribs of the starving poking out like quills. He saw the bodies that littered the ground – just step over them, his father used to say. Blood splattered walls like paint; some didn't even bother to clean it up. People were killed right there, publicly. Dog eat dog, survival of the fittest: the strong lorded over the weak.
Like that one day, that fat man.
"Why don't you gimme that food?" The fruits were snatched out of Gin's hand. The man took a huge bite, high off his followers' laughter. "The hell is this?" He spat the persimmon out on the floor, stomping it into the dirt. He grabbed the rest, dumping it.
Gin remembered the next moment with amazing clarity. How, in one effortless, almost natural motion, he'd taken the knife from the man's pocket. The way the man's "friends" had scattered like dandelions in the wind. The way his blood spewed.
But most of all: the feeling. Part of him was contented – the starving of a hungry soul satisfied.