Tamiya paused as a distant signal came into her awareness. It felt frustrated and hungry, yet wasn't moving. Curious, she altered her path and continued on until she stopped at the porch of a little house. The door was unfortunately locked, and there were far too many people around for her to break it down.
Narrowing her eyes slightly, she walked behind the house and out of sight of the street, then halted right beneath a low window. She could just smash it open, but she had no wish to deal with glass shards inside her. After examining it for a moment she split off a part of her into a long rope and slid it in a gap of the window panes, wrenching them open forcefully.
Immediately several smells wafted through the air: a mix of old blood, urine and other bodily fluids, as well as the faint odor of rotting flesh. Tamiya gripped the windowsill and climbed inside.
Her heels clicked on the clean floor and she glanced over the house, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. The signal she was interested in was coming from further within. She followed it into a bedroom, looking down at the scraps of flesh and dried blood scattered on the floor, then up at the person—her species—lying half-in half-out of the bed. It was an old desiccated-looking man, save for the twisted eyes on stalks and sharp blades that emerged from his neck and dug into the floor.
"What do you want?" a mouth somewhere asked harshly.
Tamiya tilted her head. "Why aren't you getting food?"
"I can't. My body's dying and won't obey me, and I already ate the other humans who lived here. Are you going to help me or not?"
"Of course." She stepped over the remains and hauled the other Parasite onto her shoulder. As she walked towards the exit she noticed the smell of excretory matter coming from him. "You're unable to control your bodily functions?"
"I told you, I can't control the human part at all. There's prey outside, isn't there?" Tamiya tensed as his tendrils began to move frantically, already reaching for the open window.
"Stop that. I need you to look human." He growled but complied, his blades and teeth merging back together as gray strands sprouted from the top of his head. Still distrustful, Tamiya kept an eye open in the back of her head, watching his movements carefully as she slowly unlocked and opened the front door.
Then she slammed it shut an instant before a tentacle crashed into it and left a splintered dent. The Parasite's wrinkled face glared from behind her. "Let me feed," he snapped. "I haven't eaten in days."
She didn't care. "Be a bit more patient. You can wait another hour. But if you threaten our safety, I will not hesitate to kill you." As evidence she twisted part of her hair into a blade-edged rope and pointed it directly at his throat.
He snarled and bared sharp teeth, but replied, "Doesn't matter. I can't hunt anyway."
"Then I'll bring live prey to you." The Parasite froze and stared at her. "Are you going to behave?" she asked. After a long pause, he nodded. She pulled back her blade but continued to watch him warily when she opened the door once again. True to his word he didn't move this time, even as she walked into the street.
"Why are you doing this?" he asked suddenly. "I thought you'd just take me out and leave me somewhere."
As Tamiya walked she turned her head and answered in a low voice, "I have an idea that you can help me with." One that Shinichi Izumi and his friend had given her. "You don't want to stay like this, do you?"
"Of course not. But what else can I do?"
"You could join a different body."
The Parasite stared. "...that's possible?"
"As long as your new host body doesn't reject you, then yes." He fell silent at her answer. She strode onward, ignoring the stares she was getting from the people passing by.
"Er, excuse me."
Without bothering to stop Tamiya glanced over at the business suited human male who'd spoken up. "Yes?"
"Is he alright?" The man gestured vaguely towards her shoulder.
She mimicked a pleasant smile that she'd seen on television, pressing down on the other Parasite's back in warning when she felt him shift around. "He's fine. He just needs someone to take care of him."
"...I see." The man had started to follow her and rubbed his neck as he spoke—an indication of nervousness, perhaps. "Um, do you need help? I can carry your, er, father for you."
Tamiya smirked slightly when he assumed the two of them were family. Although they were in a sense related, it was no more than any two humans were. A huff from the body she held indicated the other Parasite felt the same way. But this human's willingness to aid them solved one of their other problems.
"He is not that heavy," she told the man trailing behind her. "However, I would like your help with something else if you have the time."
"Of course!" he replied energetically. Tamiya smiled, already planning where to dispose of his body.
