55
Separation
It was the moment that Furuichi couldn't feel Oga anymore that he panicked. The human was about to go to the supermarket, but as he exited the apartment building, Furuichi only felt the cold breeze and an emptiness that took the silvernette a second to name. You're a grown man. You don't need him watching over you every second of the day anyway, you said it was creepy and that you wanted nothing to do with him. The silvernette continued to berate himself with these kinds of thoughts because it felt much better to bicker with himself than to focus on the weird independence he now had back. It had been two months since Furuichi kicked the demon out of his apartment.
Even after Furuichi brought himself to forgive Oga, Furuichi couldn't bring himself to invite Oga back. Maybe it was pride. Maybe it was fear. Only those maybe's didn't seem to matter anymore.
Furuichi shifted his focus from his thoughts to the ripe produce in front of him. Did the silvernette want the usual side dishes or try something new? Reaching for a cucumber, a memory stung the center of his forehead, a memory involving the demon Furuichi tried to keep hating so much. Oga had never tried cucumber before, and found it rather bland, then choked on the piece in his mouth when Furuichi explained that in American spas they used to put the slices on their eyes. "What kind of barbarian puts food on their face? And I'm a demon!" Furuichi dropped the cucumber, left the grocery basket at the door and went home as quickly as he could. The world seemed too big without the loud, handsome demon. It would always feel that way if the sudden disappearance of the demon's aura meant that Oga had actually moved on. Furuichi's knees gave out under his weight when he managed to get through his front door. His chest cramped and his breathing went shallow. His mind raced with thoughts of Oga never coming back. Thoughts of Oga being with another man or woman or demon or whatever. Thoughts of seeing Oga on the street and the demon not recognizing the silvernette. Sweaty open palms braced themselves on the wooden floor of Furuichi's home. He needed to find Oga.
…
Oga was back in hell for jury duty. Yes, even demons had jury duty. Trials went a lot smoother than human trials too since everyone is predisposed to being bad in some sense, the demons on trial would come to a quick consensus and then they could all go home or back to work as usual. Besides, having a quick break from following Furuichi all the time would give the little human the space he needed, or wanted rather. Oga felt awful for nearly forcing himself on the little human, drugging him with a potion to make him forget everything, and then feeling so guilty breaking the spell in order to get kicked out in a way he deserved, like a dog.
Aoi did her best to console the uncharacteristically brooding demon, but he pouted no matter what she told him. The blunette supposed her words didn't help either since dating her standoffish blond human, Hilda. She sat in the seat next to Oga's, vigilantly listening to the case as Oga yawned beside her. She was just about to jab her elbow into his rib cage from a particularly snargle sounding yarn, when he bolted upright
While jury duty was mandatory, it wasn't nearly as important as getting summoned. Aoi saw his mark pulse with a bright red glow around his left forearm. She thought it would be funny, as Oga raised his arm to be quietly dismissed, if it might be the little silver haired human who found a way to Oga's direct line.
Oga vanished in a puff of smoke, to pop out on the other side. The human realm. Oga looked around since his summoner was not in his immediate line of sight. As Oga looked around, he didn't think he knew where he was at all. Some sort of abandoned warehouse by a river, Oga's spirits sank, guess it wasn't Furuichi after all. As the demon tried to walk around to try and find his summoner, Oga found that he couldn't step outside an invisible circle.
"So, it is true? You can't walk outside of a devil's trap."
"Furuichi?"
The silvernette's footstep sounded behind Oga, yet when he turned, the little human wasn't there. "Furuichi? Where are you? This isn't funny."
"Oh, is the big, bad demon scared?"
Honestly? Yes. Oga thought. If Furuichi had read up on enough legitimate demonology to successfully cast a demon's snare on his first try, only God knew what Furuichi would be capable of now. "I can see it. You are scared."
Furuichi's tone of voice wasn't snarky, the silvernette wasn't enjoying the fear in the demon's eyes in any way, the human was just awestruck. "Don't worry," the silvernette stepped out of the shadows before Oga, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to talk."
Oga had enough sense to not trust the human, but ignored it.
"I want to get back together on one condition."
"Are you...bargaining with me?"
Oga had met a lot of humans who have tried to bargain their way out of their contracts before, none of them were as smart as the silvernette though. None of them bargained to be in a relationship either. "Well, I suppose so, but I'm not giving you my soul."
"I'm a demon. How else do we bargain?"
Furuichi made a show of pretending he hadn't thought any of it through. "There's always moral injustice, karma, guilt."
Oga winced. "Yeah, I guess guilt would be a reasonable bargain."
"We can get back together only if I have a way to stop you when you go on a rampage again."
"...You'll get back together only if you can control me?"
"You see? This is what I mean!"
Oga couldn't deny the temper stirring in his body and if the trap had not been set up, well, the silvernette made a fair point.
"It's not about control. It's about trust! I can't trust you when you get angry. Hell! You can't trust yourself either!"
Oga scrubbed his face hard with his hands, tugged at his hair and then plopped down on the floor like a child. The demon sat there with his arms crossed and a pout on his lips for several minutes until Furuichi cleared his throat. "Do we have a deal? I mean you can do that, can't you?"
Oga continued to stay quiet, yet nodded stiffly. Of course he could, demons had access to all sorts of magickal items and spells and potions and the like. To succumb to becoming the human's pet however,...
Furuichi took a cautious step inside the circle, worried about stepping on the tail lashing about in deep thought. Oga hadn't known the human was inside of the circle, until sweaty, lily white palms began to knead at his shoulders. Oga groaned, eyes rolling back, and a soft sigh escaping his lips. "Please? You were so sweet and gentle after I had the potion, but I missed your roughness, I just need some reassurance."
Oga sighed through his nose.
"Alright, little human. You have a bargain."
…
Furuichi stared at the necklace made of jagged teeth from shamans centuries old on the dining room table. "What is this again?"
"It's a charmed necklace, the spell caster places it over their victims and utters a single word. When the word is said, the victim is forcibly smashed into the ground."
"I just said that I wanted reassurance, not to hurt you! All I would have to say is a holy word, if I wanted to do that. And why do you keep saying victim!"
"Demons are too strong, and simple 'sit' or 'stop moving' spells are too weak and easily broken by us. And holy words...hurt way more than this would. This is the best way."
"Urgh...fine. Are you ready?"
"...as long as I'm with you. I am ready for anything."
Touched, Furuichi gave Oga a well deserved peck. Taking the necklace and placing it around Oga's neck, Furuichi uttered "Kumquat."
"'Kumquat?' What's that?"
"A kumquat is-"
SMASH!
"Ouch!"
"Oh fuck I'm sorry!"
