Four

in which black realizes that human females can be frightening creatures.

Within the quietness of the drawing-room, Black found a little piece of Utopia. A divine tool that roused his imagination and derived inexplicable tingles from deep within his godly spirit.

His own guilty pleasure, stood erect on a set of wooden shelves that acted as a second wall.

Black had found books!

The concept of thoughts, imagination, and explanation written on a stack of sheets isn't unheard of. Of course, there are books in the godly realm. Books that meticulously talked about the creation of all things, the magic that set the universe in motion, and explained all the mysteries that lay beneath the known.

But, for some unknown reason, Black had always found them numbingly boring.

At the time, when his partner, Zamasu, would force him to read, Black linked it to the fact that he (unlike Zamasu, who seemed to drink the words in those books like he drinks his finest tea) wasn't much of an intellectual, and had little to no affinity to reading.

But the earthling written books had sure proven otherwise because Black found himself enamored by them, a reality for him that registered under both perturbing and exciting. He shouldn't be fascinated by anything the mortals made, after all, they were wretched creatures far beneath his class, that's how he came to know them throughout the time he was annihilating them, so why was he starting to think better of them? A thought that should never cross his mind… ever!

That is not to say that his opinion about the humans had made a 180 turn, he still thinks that they were a destructive mistake the gods' have made, but the books (more than the entertainment) it had offered a deeper insight into the humans' way of thinking. What made them tick, the reasons behind their actions (the good and the bad), and the whirlwind of emotions they went through, thus why a minuscule part of him was starting to understand them… and he finds that sickening!

More surprisingly than his newly-found twisted interest in humanly produced things, and more surprising than the uncouth, Ox king having such a large library with such a refined taste in books, Black is more alarmed by his inability to just… let go. Why he can't just seem to drop those interests of him.

And he blames it all on his stupid bride-to-be…

Black shuts the book in his hand, closes his eyes, and exhales deeply as memories of what had conspired rush into his mind. Memories that he was trying his damnedest to forget. The incident that was the reason he was introduced to books in the first place in order to avoid her.

He couldn't believe what she had done!

That she had actually dared to touch him —more intimately than before— to glue her body against his, to place her lips upon his own.

It was revolting!

And what's even more revolting is that he can't seem to stop thinking about it…

Repulsive. Sickening. Nauseating is what he was supposed to feel about the kiss, but outrageously enough, he doesn't. Black leans his head against the back of the chair, he stares upwards and releases another frustrated sigh. Even now, 3 days later, he can distinctly recall the lingering taste she left on his lips, the soft, plump sensation, down to how her breath smelled when he inhaled her… and how his body had responded…

Zamasu had once told him that in his creation, his body was made under a slight influence of the mortals. It was so that he would experience their urges and learns to loathe them more, it was why he needed food for sustenance, unlike his Kai, who can live solely off the energy of the world (the Kai fancied tea and pastries, though he doesn't need to eat them). And aside from the need to eat and drink there were other urges… other urges that Black learned to ignore…

He winces at the thought, his tightening grip on the book in his hand compress the paper together, he can't ever recall a time when he was as confused as he is now, and it's so unbecoming of a god like him.

What's keeping him here? One might wonder. Why is he enduring all that is happening to him? Why won't he just end this ridiculous game he's playing, blow everything up and rid himself of all and any confusion? Black had certainly thought about it before, that his trip to this time was hassle he didn't need, but every time he tried going back to his own timeline a magnetic pull anchors him in his spot and steers his energy away from his limps to settle in the pit of his stomach, stirring, twisting and causing an uncomfortable feeling that doesn't seem to simmer down until he decides to stay.

Had that vile human infected him with a disease of some sort? Or was it the doing of his unquenched curiosity? That there might still be something here for him to discover? Whatever the reason, Black believes it's best not to delve too deep into the reasons. A tiny voice at the back of his head warns that the answer might shatter something valuable in his existence.

A soft knock brings him back to reality, Black straightens up as the door slowly opens. He's not at all surprised when the girl enters with a tray in hand. She's been trying to win him back ever since and he's been ignoring her… more prominently than before.

He narrows his eyes as she avoids them.

"I-I brought you some tea and cake," she says and hastily places the tray on the table next to his chair seemingly uncomfortable under his glare.

Quite frankly, Black is pleased with this new arrangement of theirs; she grovels for his approval with all those treats she brings while he treats her like a servant, unworthy of his blessings. It works perfectly well. He's happy. So he returns to reading and pretends she's not in the room anymore as he takes a sip of the fine tea she made. He is content.

"Um…" her voice disturbs the peace and he shoots her another glare. She fidgets and averts her eyes, squeezing her hands together in that nervous manner of hers he became accustomed with in the last few days. "I'm sorry!" she blurts, "I've said it before but I wanna say it again. I know I shouldn't have done what I did… and I promise I won't do it again!"

This wasn't the first time chichi had apologized, nor the second or third, in fact, he'd lost count of how many times Chichi had apologized since then, but where they stood now is not something he'd like to change, so he answers, in the same manner, he did her last apologies; he grunts and resumes reading, completely disregarding her. She doesn't deserve his forgiveness.

A minute or two of silence passes before he hears a semi-huff, semi-sigh followed by footsteps, then the creak of the door as it opens and closes with a faint click. Finally, peace and quiet again… but it doesn't last longer than another minute or two as the door opens up again and he peers over his book to find the girl standing at it with one hand still on the door handle, and the other clenched by her side. "Is that all you have to say?"

He is confused, she's displaying a different reaction than the usual. "Yes," he replies with a condescending tone and dismisses her with his hand as he follows, "don't forget to close the door behind you."

Black was unprepared for the fire that instantly ignites into those fierce eyes of hers. For a split of a second, he thought that Chichi was perhaps superior to the rest of her race, for a split of a second, he thought of her as a force of nature that needs to be reckoned with. She was like a tornado that crossed the space between them to stand directly at his face, grabs his book, tosses it away and leaves Black both speechless and paralyzed.

And during that split of a second, Black felt threatened!

His eyes locked onto that fire and couldn't look away as she clenches her fist around his collar and pulls him to her face. "You know what? I'm really tired of trying to get you to forgive me, I am even more tired of the way you're treating me right now. And to tell you the truth, I don't even think what I did was wrong; we're engaged, and I kissed you as engaged people are supposed to do! So stop being a jerk and Deal with it."

Stunned, he stares in silence as she releases him with a 'Hmph' turns and stomps towards the door, her silky black hair swaying left and right, the exact opposite motion to the swaying of her hips and when she slams the door shut in her departure, and Black becomes hyper-aware of the changes his body had undergone just now.

Heightened body temperature and increased heart rate were not from rage, that much he's sure of as he runs his hand across the hardened member between his legs and groans.

Yes, that vile human had definitely infected him with a disease of some sort…