Chapter Ten
Midnight City - M83
Raiu slipped the sunglasses on her face as her and Uta exited the building. He was taking her back to the hangout place. The streets were awfully busy for it being this close to sundown. She had to hold onto the back of Uta's jacket so she wouldn't lose him in the sea of people. She had been so busy with work that she barely saw him for a while. He popped up at the apartment, like he usually did whenever he wanted to hang out, and told her he wanted to take her back to the hideout.
It had been a week since her and Uta drank. She must have been far drunker than him because she barely remembered what happened. She woke up tangled in her comforter with Uta asleep next to her. She didn't question it because it was a better option than him leaving intoxicated. She had been fine and didn't have a hangover. He, on the other hand, had been a little cranky when he woke up. She had made sure he was okay before he left.
He led her to the subway. He passed the people with ease. She let go of him when they made their way towards the people waiting to get on the train. He looked back to make sure she was still with him. They stood quietly with the people until the train came. They hopped on the third carriage and made their way to the back. They stood in the corner by the exit. Raiu had her back against the wall with Uta facing her. He reached up and poked the lip ring. She crunched her eyebrows in confusion. "Is it sore?" He asked. "No, I don't even know it's there half the time."
She had gotten into a bad habit of chewing on it absentmindedly. As soon as she spoke, she began to chew on the metal rod. She looked around the carriage. Not many people were with them. It was mainly business men on their way home after work. There were a few teenagers in there. There was a pregnant lady standing near Raiu and it blocked her view of the rest of the people. She looked back at Uta. He was looking past her, at the wall. He seemed to be thinking about something. She smiled. He sure did get lost in thought a lot more recently. In fact, he did it more ever since the night they got drunk. He won't tell her what happened. No matter how many times she asked, he would just tease her about it. He teased her about saying she did all this things she knew she wouldn't do. She was just curious as to what happened. She didn't know why he won't tell her. It's not like something bad happened, but it's like he's using it against her.
Just then the pregnant lady moved to sit down in a seat. Something caught Raiu's eye. She looked over and saw it. Across the car, diagonal from her was a man dressed in a suit. He seemed normal looking. He had brown, clean cut hair. His dark brown eyes glared at the wall in front of him. On his lap was a large white briefcase. Oh shit. It was a box carrier. There was a Dove on the car with her and Uta.
She kept her eyes on him and placed a hand on Uta's chest. She felt him look at her. "Don't look, but there's a Dove with us." She whispered quietly. "Where?" Uta leaned closer to her. "He's on the far left at the end. I don't think he's noticed you yet. He's not even looking over here." She whispered and turned her attention back to Uta. He was very close to her. She could feel his breath on her neck. He had his face on the other side of her head, to where the man couldn't see it. He put his hand on the wall behind her. "Play along. I just said something funny." She hadn't heard Uta speak so seriously before. This was new to her. She giggled obnoxiously and lightly pushed his shoulder. She forced herself to smile as if she was the happiest girl ever. "He's still not looking." She whispered. "Good." She felt his other hand touch her waist. It made her jump.
They stayed like that until they arrived at their stop. He took her hand and took her to the doors that were about to open. She was behind him when she saw the Dove stand up and make his way over to the doors on his side of the cab. She saw him turn his head to look over at their doors. She leaned against Uta's back. When she made eye contact with the man, she winked at him and smirked. She saw his face grow red and look away. Typical human, they were embarrassed by simple things. When the doors open, Uta lead her out of the train. They walked up the stairs and into the city streets.
She felt eyes burning into the back of her head. She looked back to see the Dove staring at her. His eyes were narrow. The blush that was once on his face was gone. His eyebrows were scrunched as if he was trying to figure out if he knew her or not. This was bad. This was very bad. They didn't need that guy identifying Uta out in the open. She didn't need him finding her with a Ghoul.
She stopped walking. Uta looked back at her to see what was wrong. She reached up and placed her hand on the back of his neck. She pulled his face close to hers. She smirked devilishly and whispered, "He's watching us." Uta understood and stepped closer to her. "Kiss me." She simply stated. She knew he wouldn't get it. She sighed with a smile and explained. "Public displays of affection avert the eyes. Kiss me."
He hesitated before leaning in. She swallowed the lump in her throat and met his lips with hers. He kissed her softly. Her eyes closed and her world went silent. In an instant, she forgot what she was supposed to be doing. She was too focused on how his lips caressed hers. She focused on syncing her lips with his. Half of her brain was screaming for her to pay attention to the actual matter at hand. The other half was a haze of hunger and passion. She didn't realize she stopped breathing until he pulled away from her. She fluttered her eyes open.
Everything came back to her suddenly. Uta raised his head and looked behind her. She guessed the guy wasn't there anymore because he grabbed her hand and began walking again. Uta didn't say anything to her the rest of the way. Good. She didn't want to talk about that either. She felt heat creep up her face when she realized this was the second time they had kissed.
Raiu found herself walking through the door of the hangout. She had been here previously. He had brought here when she was sick that one time. She vaguely remembers the people. She vaguely remembers even getting home that night. Uta really did like to do shit that she wouldn't remember. He also liked to annoy the snot out of her.
She guessed that's sort of how they became friends. He followed her around and annoyed the shit out of her until she gave him attention. When she finally did after a couple days, she found that they got along marvelously. They would talk for hours about things or sit in silence for hours, each doing their own thing, enjoying the company. She assumed he drug her here in her sickness to test her friendship and her word. Would she run and tell? He could have easily killed her. She had been weak from her sickness. She couldn't even have run very far. Her legs were screaming at her when he took her out that day anyway.
The place still looked the same. The floor was checkerboard tile. The walls were a muted dark grey. It was very cold looking. There were two couches around a glass table in the center of the room. In the back left corner was an adjacent room with a lower ceiling. She could see a wooden desk with papers and craft materials on them. On the other side of that same back wall with the adjacent room was another adjacent room that she knew had stairs that lead to the second floor. She didn't know what was on the second floor. Uta flopped on the couch with his arm around the back. Raiu followed him and sat next to him.
"So what are we doing today?" She picked at her nails. "I'm going to tattoo you." She looked at her with a smile. "Woah, woah, woah hold up. I already let you near me with a sharp needle. Now you wanna come near me with a sharp needle gun? I don't think so." She scoffed and crossed her arms. He simply stared at her with that same eat shit grin. "Besides, what if you mess up? I can't exactly regrow body parts here." She grumbled. "I'm not going to mess up. If you don't believe me, I've already tattooed myself."
He said as he pulled off his hoodie. He was wearing a cut off grey shirt. He looked good in it. He looked real good in it. He turned towards her to show her his left arm. Her eyes widened. On his bicep was a star shaped flower. It looked like he inverted the design. The star was black with his skin tone showing through to make the designs in the flower. Her mouth fell open. She grabbed his arm and pulled it closer. She brushed the flower with her thumb, almost as if she didn't believe it was real, like it would rub off and it was a joke.
"Uta you did this?" She looked up at him with a grin. "This is brilliant. It looks so professional." She released his arm. His smile grew at her reaction. "How many times did it take to get it that good?" She crossed her arms. Her grin turned Cheshire. "Three times. I have a handle on it now. I won't mess up. You can even tattoo me if you want." He stood and walked into the room on the left. He disappeared into it and reappeared with a box.
He set the box down on the table. He opened it to reveal and tattoo gun, a small plastic bottle of black ink, vinyl gloves, and a jar of some kind of pale paste. He pulled a roll of paper towels out from under the glass coffee table. Her smile dropped. "You weren't going to let me say no, where you?" Her question was answered by him pulling the vinyl gloves on and setting everything up. He stood from the couch. "Take your top off." He said with a grin. "I bet you've been waiting to say that line, you smug bitch." He snorted, "A little." Raiu laughed and pulled her hoodie over her head.
She was only wearing a black spaghetti strap tank top under her grey hoodie. She stretched her back, popping it. "Where are you going to permanently keep from getting a respectful career?" She teased him. "Lay on your stomach." He motioned to the rest of the couch. "Can I trust you behind me with a sharp object?" He just stared at her. She rolled her eyes and lay down on her stomach. She had her right arm hanging off the side of the couch. Her left was tucked against her chest. She felt him move her tank top up to reveal her lower back.
She heard the gun start. "Woah, you're gonna freehand it?" She asked, startled. She looked back at him to find him sitting on the floor in front of the couch with gun in hand. He just looked at her with that same aloof expression. "It would make me feel a hell of a lot better if you traced it out first." He sighed and stood, venturing back over to the left adjacent room. He came back with a black marker. He sat back down and she soon felt the light strokes of the cold marker tip on her skin.