"Believe me when I tell you, Sakuraba, nothing gave me more pleasure...than putting my knee to his back and hearing a crack."
Neku tossed, his mouth snarling .
"He was so fragile it was patheticly easy."
His fingers gripped the sheets as if he could squeeze liquid out of them.
"If he hadn't screamed, Sanae wouldn't have been in time to prevent me from snapping his skinny neck. I wouldn't have killed him of course, but he'd have been immobilized, with all his nerve endings intact, so he could feel every...single...breaking...bone. I do enjoy hearing him squeal like a pig!"
Sanae was awakened by an enraged roar and a thud. He groaned and slowly got up. He didn't need sleep very often, being what he was, but the rare times he did get to snooze were pleasing on so many levels.
"Sounds like Phones woke up on the wrong side of the bed, and the bed threw him out."
"Your psych should have lasted until tomorrow night, Sanae" Joshua grumbled from the couch. He was paying for his little escapade into Neku's room. All his muscles ached terribly, making him want to do nothing but sleep, eat, and gripe.
"He;s your Proxy, Boss. I blame you for this..."
"I did pick well, didn't I?" Joshua smirked "Now go make sure he didn't hurt himself."
As Sanae went to check on poor Neku, Joshua eyed the window with a scowl.
"You never did play fair, Sarahara. Depriving my proxy of his rest is low even for you...and you've sunk pretty damn low. Count yourself lucky that the Council halved my strength and my power. If they hadn't, you'd find more than a vending machine on your head for even touching Neku's mind."
"Ah, but I didn't touch his mind, my Kiryu! I simply told him some stories about our times together!"
"I am not, nor will I ever be, yours, first of all. Second of all, don't. He doesn't need to hear any of that before bed, especially the way you tell them. If we lose because my teacher can't keep his eyes open, I'm calling bullshit and Sanae will void the contest."
An uproarous laughter rang from outside and through his aching head. He cringed and snarled
"And what is so amusing?"
"If you lose, my Kiryu...you won't have the strength of will to 'call' anything!"
"Ok, now you're just doing it to piss me off. Regretably you have a point. Touche. But don't go patting yourself on the back just yet, because even if I can't say anything...Sanae will. And he's a stickler for good sportsmanship, especially in contests of fate. It's one of the reasons he's been Producer for so long."
"Hanekoma won't always be there to hold your hand, Yoshiya. I was there before you two met. Do you remember the class sleepover?"
"That was utterly humiliating and Father swore he'd disown me if anything like it happened again. I still detest you fully for that, Sarahara."
"But you were so adorable hanging from a noose in the gym, pig blood staining your hair a delightful shade of crimson..."
"Mixed with my own actual blood from you, once again, breaking my nose...and I even sported a black eye and two broken ribs thanks to your buddy Gariko deciding that I'd make an excellent piñata."
"and you were in your underwear."
"And I was in my underwear..."
Apollo chuckled darkly. Joshua shook his head
"Words cannot convey how much I loathe you."
There was a pause.
"That will change, my Kiryu. That will change."
"If you think it's going to be easy, Apollo, maybe I better remind you about that little incident with my other form."
Another laugh erupted out the window "We stripped you of your true form, Yoshiya! It poses no threat to me anyway. I'm ascended."
Now it was Joshua's turn to snicker, his eyes turning into slits as he growled feraly, the very...very faint outline of a tail curling and whisping beside him.
"It wasn't my Composer form I was referring to."