Chapter Thirty-Six
Saya woke up very slowly, her body protesting each moment of waking life, and her mind remaining foggy for quite a while. But she didn't need it to defog to know what had happened; there was only one thing in the world that made her feel like this in the morning. And then she remembered. He was dead. And it was her fault.
Saya didn't know what to think or how to feel, and almost in response, her body curled into a ball as she lay on her side facing the window. She had killed Kensuke. She could claim temporary insanity; most would believe that, the man had almost killed her a few times. However, he was family, and he had never actually attempted to kill her, no matter how angry he was. But last night, when he pulled the gun out and pointed it at her head…and then there was Kyo. Kensuke had threatened to kill her and Kyo had threatened back. Saya had had no clue who was lying and who was telling the truth until she saw how Kensuke had reacted. Kyo had provoked Kensuke to attack him and forget about Saya. After she saw that, she felt a strong instinct to trust her belief that Kyo was lying intentionally to shake up the old man. It was a brilliant strategy, so long as it really was false. But Saya was still alive, wasn't she? There had been enough times when Ichiro was gone when Kyo could have easily carried out his threats, and yet he only responded to her with a mild disinterest. Saya turned to see if Kyo was sitting in his chair. She was infinitely surprised to find him lying on his back on the bed beside her.
He was sleeping lightly, but still sleeping. He didn't look like he was going to wake anytime soon, which meant he had probably stayed awake as late as he possibly could making sure no one would come. She knew that no one besides the two of them knew what had actually happened; as far as the others were concerned, an idiot girl was found with a scary man in the same room as a dead body. She knew it didn't take any sort of education to figure Kyo had murdered Kensuke. Had she not seen the gun lying next to her foot and picked it up, they all could have continued on with their lives, and no one would have said anything. But now…she felt foolish. She should have let Kyo end it.
She didn't realize it until that moment, but she had been staring at Kyo the entire time. He looked peaceful while he was sleeping, but she had learned that most devils do; one only had to know Hotaro to understand that the waking person and the sleeping one are two very different individuals. She had come to like Kyo's profile, and as she stared at it from where she laid at his side, she lifted a hand, and, without even realizing it, starting from the top of his forehead, drew a line with her index finger down his face, outlining it from her perspective. As she drew near his eyes she suddenly remembered what they had looked like as he stared back at her from on top of Kensuke. She had immediately understood why he had kept them covered, they were so unnaturally and frighteningly red. She had not had a clear look at them since, but she thought that if she could see them again, perhaps under different circumstances…She felt a hand grab her wrist, and everything else all happened so fast that it was a complete blur, but she found herself looking up into Kyo's face. He was straddling her, looking into her face with a look not so much of anger or hate, or even fear, but of perfunctory action. It was as if he was not even human, much less a demon, but was a robot, trained to execute this action. She wished she could see his eyes; perhaps they betrayed some emotion, but his hair covered his face enough so that she could not see them…Then she felt the pressure at her throat. He was strangling her…
-
Kyo had abruptly felt that something was not right even while he was asleep. His senses rapidly cleared to realize that someone was touching him. He impulsively carried out the actions that led him to sit on top of Saya, choking her to death. Looking down into her face as she began to choke, he was abruptly shaken into the situation. He recoiled his hand, moved off of Saya, and left the room, not knowing what else to do.
Saya herself was far too shocked to call out after Kyo. It had obviously been a misunderstanding from his reaction, but she didn't understand why. Who woke up to being pleasantly touched by a friend (she certainly wasn't an enemy, so she thought this term fit as good as any other) by attempting to kill them? She figured she shouldn't take it personally; they had only known each other for a short while, she didn't usually sleep with him in his bed and he had been unconscious of the situation. Literally. Who wouldn't have reacted the same way if they woke up in a strange situation, she supposed. She would have run down after him, but, like he had assumed the night before, she was too sore to move, and even if she yelled, she didn't think he would come back.