Chapter 20: Change?

As Alex woke up he noticed two things, first of which was the ragging handover he had. Now when it came to hangovers Alex had two ways of dealing with them, one: don't get one, it's not that hard of a concept but in practice it can be easy to forget about. Failing that his other solution was to lay in bed and hate himself until it went away. Now that was his plan until he noticed thing number two. There was someone on top of him and considering the amount of skin he felt it was obvious they were both mostly naked. Alex still had his pants mostly on although they were down to his thighs, the person who he was sleeping with had nothing but a shirt or some sort of dress that was pulled down to expose her chest. So on the plus side he had gotten laid, on the downside he couldn't remember who it was or what they had exactly done. He moved slowly as to not wake the still sleeping person up and saw short dark brown hair.

"No." He whispered as to not wake her up. He slowly moved her over to get a better look only to have his fears confirmed. "Oh for fucks sake." he grumbled recognizing his 'friend' Minatsuki. Now the fact that he had fucked someone he knew was bad enough, after one night stands people tended to be a bit awkward about things. Then there was the second issue that he had slept with a psychopath. Now he wasn't a fan of rules but 'don't stick your dick in crazy' was one he tended to follow. He promptly sat up and stretched, cracked his neck, and got out of bed only to then realize he was in her room, not his. He sighed and started gathering his things, he was halfway to throwing his shirt on when he heard her speak.

"Leaving me all alone already?" Alex froze in place for a moment before turning to see Minatsuki who was now sitting up and holding her head. "What, you won't even cuddle first?" She smirked as Alex realized she was mostly naked and instinctively turned his head earning a scoff from her. "Oh come on you've already gotten a damn good look, don't get weird about it just because we fucked." Alex just blinked at this before looking back to her but still making sure to keep his eyes on her face. Seeing this she laughed at him before standing up and walking up to him looking him up and down with a smirk

"Like what you see?" Alex watched closely as she let her dress fall to her feet leaving her completely exposed before him. Alex couldn't help looking down at her body, he had seen most of it before but now that he had an unobstructed view he noticed what looked like scars all over her body. "You don't need to answer that." She then walked past him and into the bathroom. Alex took this moment to take a look at her scars before asking.

"What are you doing?" She turned around giving him a condescending look.

"Jumping in the shower. You can join me or sit out here and wait, I don't care either way." Alex honestly just wanted to grab his clothes and go but her next sentenced stopped him. "Or you can sneak out like an asshole. whatever works for you." This stumped Alex long enough for her to jump in and start her shower. Alex said nothing putting his clothes back on and putting hers into a pile on her bed. She strangely seemed much more comfortable about talking about them having sex in comparison to their kiss. Well to be fair the only time they talked about it they were still pretty drunk and the sex was actually wanted by both of them as opposed to her kissing him. Still though he had expected her to be the more freaked out one. He chuckled at that, it was strange how awkward he felt about this. It hadn't been his first time but he had still never had sex with one of his friends. So there he was sitting on Minatsuki's bed seriously wanting to go grab a cigarette. But he couldn't bring himself to leave. After a few minutes of waiting she stepped out one towel wrapped around her body and drying her hair with another one. She looked over to him raising an eyebrow "You're still here?" Alex nodded saying.

"We need to talk last night." Minatsuki rolled her eyes almost looking annoyed that he had even brought it up.

"Are you going to be weird about it?" Alex shrugged and said.

"Don't plan to." Minatsuki decided he was probably telling the truth and sat down.

"Alright then, let's talk."

"Alright, how much do you remember?"

"Well we got wasted at your party, I dragged you to my room, you started feeling me up, I liked it, then we fucked." Well that matched up with what little he could remember but there was still one very important detail he needed to know.

"Anything else?"

"Look if you want a play by play you're going to have to remember yourself beca-"

"No." By now Alex remembered enough to get a general idea of what they had done. There was still that one thing he didn't remember and frankly the possibility of what it meant scarred him more than anything else in the world. "I mean... Do you remember if I used a condom?" He sure as hell didn't remember buying any, there hadn't been any reason to. And he seriously doubted Minatsuki was getting laid enough to have her own stash. As he brought up the question her eyes widened and she looked visibly sick for a moment.

"Shit!" The thought of any kind of contraceptives had somehow slipped her mind until he had brought it up. And now they could be in serious trouble.

"That's what I was afraid of." There was an uncomfortable silence as they both took a moment to let reality set in. Then Minatsuki turned to Alex and almost shouted at him.

"Why the fuck didn't you pull out?" This sudden outburst from her took him off guard and he yelled back.

"Because I was drunk, why didn't you get off of me?"

"I was drunk too dumbass!" Alex groaned and dragged his hand down his face, they needed to be mature about this.

"Look, we BOTH fucked up and now we need to deal with this so lets pretend we know how to be adults about this and figure out what we're going to do."

"So what ARE we going to do?" Alex sighed, he didn't want to make this a big deal. All the bullshit aside he liked Minatsuki, they got along pretty well and to be honest she was one of the few people he actually considered a friend, hopefully they could just go back to how things were before their one night stand. Unfortunately he didn't know if morning after pills were sold in Deadman Wonderland, he'd certainly be finding out though.

"I mean, I guess we just go back to things were and hope I didn't knock you up." Minatsuki wanted to get up and smack Alex in the face. Go back to how things were? Did he really think things would just go back to normal like nothing had happened? Of course he fucking did, he was an idiot. Hell, he probably didn't know she had been a virgin before last night.

"Oh so you're done with me already?" Alex paused at this. While she didn't show it Alex could hear an underlying sense of hurt from the girl. But why? He had never gotten the feeling that she had feelings for him until that reaction. Then again if she did that put the kiss and her embarrassment when talking about it into perspective. He decided to try and test that theory saying.

"Look if you want to get together, I'm willing to try but yo-"

"No." She cut him off. The idea wasn't completely unappealing but she'd need time before jumping into a relationship with him, that is if she even wanted to at all. "I'm not ready for...that, not yet at least." In Alex's eyes that was a no to the whole love thing. So what was it then? Maybe she wanted to make hooking up a regular thing? That sounded nice actually. Someone he could just work off some stress with no strings attached. So he asked.

"Well how about friends with benefits then?" She laughed at this.

"You mean fuckbuddies?" Alex shrugged.

"Well thats one word for it." She thought about this for a moment coming to the decision that it wasn't a bad idea all things considered. Really what was the worst that could happen?

"Sure, in that case." She pulled him onto the bad and rolled on top of him before discarding the towel she had kept on her torso. "How about we find out if you're as good a lay sober as you are drunk." Alex smirked and started feeling up her hips as she took his jeans off. He was certainly going to enjoy this development in their weird little friendship.

.

About an hour later the two of them made their way to the cafeteria where they found Ganta and Yo. "Alex, i'm going to ask you this once." Yo asked sitting across from the slightly younger man "Did you sleep with Minatsuki?" Now any normal person would have denied this. There simply wasn't any benefit to telling Yo the truth, He had a habit of being over protective of his younger sister and would likely do something drastic. Alex however didn't really care about causing a scene and answered honestly.

"Twice." There was a moment of complete silence as Yo recovered from the surprise of Alex's statement. He then stood up and slammed his hands onto the table growling out.

"You son of a bi-" He was cut off by a sharp pull at his ear. He looked over to see Minatsuki looking to him with a glare. She then pulled him down and in her sweetest voice said.

"Yo, try to break my toy and i'm going to use you as my personal stress ball." She then changed her voice to a snarl. "And trust me, you won't like it the way he does." She let go and Yo was stuck there wanting to strangle Alex who sat there with a smirk on his face. Yo decided he needed to just walk away before he said or did something he'd regret. Minatsuki then sat down next to Alex who raised an eyebrow and asked.

"So i'm your toy now?"

"You were always my toy, I've just found a new use for you." Alex rolled his eyes.

"Very funny." Alex reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box of pills. "Here, you should probably take some of these." Minatsuki gave him a puzzled look before looking at the box. She breathed a sigh of relief when she realized he had gotten her plan b. She then popped one of them into her mouth.

"So are you two like a thing now?" Alex and Minatsuki both looked to one another, then to Ganta, then they laughed.

"No no no. We're just fucking. Nothing serious." She said

"Oh..." Ganta fidgeted. Alex didn't know what but he could tell the kid wanted to say something. Thankfully he got it out before Alex got bored. "So how are you going to explain that to Shiro?" Well that was easy.

"I'm not." Ganta was surprised at this, honestly it just seemed irresponsible.

"But what if-"

"She doesn't need to know anything changed, hell nothing HAS changed." Ganta understood that, if they wanted to keep that private outside of certain people then that was their right. But that wasn't the case, Alex just seemed to not want to explain sex to Shiro. Which he also kind of understood, but still it needed to happen.

"But what if she you know..." Alex made a motion telling Ganta to continue. "Walks in on you two, Alex you know she can find us anytime she wants."

"Well I'll deal with that when it happens." Ganta gave him an incredulous look. Why was he just brushing it off? Did he

"Really Alex, you're just going to let her find out by walking in on you?" Alex caved at this admitting.

"Look I really don't feel like giving her 'the talk' okay? If you want to then by all means be my guest." Well at least he was being honest about it. Ganta just hoped he'd wouldn't have to be the one to explain it in his place.

"I'll do it." Both Teens turned to Minatsuki who had the most innocent look on her face. Okay maybe Alex did need to talk with Shiro.

Hunter hadn't expected to get any visitors, After all everyone he knew from before lived in America but the guard had lead him to the visitation area. he walked into one of the visiting rooms not sure of what to expect as he sat down in the metal chair and scooted into the table making himself comfortable. He didn't need to wait long after four minutes a woman walked in. She had a slightly lighter skin toan than Hunter did with the same black hair, they shared a few facial features like their nose and eye color. She wore a forest green blouse and a black work skirt that fell below her knees. Her kind face had a deep smile on it as Hunters eyes widened in shock.

"Mom?" Maria Jefferson nodded before speaking with an all to familiar hispanic accent.

"Hello Sweetheart." Hunter stood and they walked over to one another before hugging in a tight embrace. They held each other tighter than they ever had before, only breaking apart so that she could kiss his forehead.

"I don't understand, you came all this way just to see me?" She looked at him with a dead serious look in her eyes.

"Baby I'd fight the devil himself to see you." Hunter wanted to cry hearing that. He and his mom had always been close but he didn't know if she would even be allowed to see him. But hearing the determination in her voice shattered any doubt he had about it. "Let's take a seat." Hunter nodded and sat back down in his seat, his mother sitting across from him. "So how are you doing,

"All things considered? Not that bad. I made some friends, I'm getting in better shape, and I probably have more money now than i've ever had before." He purposely failed to mention the carnival corpse and the fact that he had been beaten, cut, stabbed, and had gained what were basically superpowers. He didn't need her worrying more than she already was. His mom nodded before asking.

"Are you eating well?"

"Of course." He was telling the whole truth this time, he had always tried to keep a healthy diet and just because he was in prison didn't mean he had an excuse to pig out. Maria then brought the topic back to something that had caught her attention earlier.

"You said you've made friends, tell me about them."

"Well there's Ganta, He's even younger than me but he's a good guy. Rin, she's kinda prone to getting into trouble but she's pretty fun to be around. Haru, although I honestly can't get a good read on him. Shiro is like a kid and is almost superhuman. And then there's Alex who-"

"Wait, Alex? The boy you were arrested with?" She grew concerned at this.

"Well... yeah?" Hunter didn't see the issue, he considered Alex to pretty much be a brother. Sure they didn't always get along but really who did?

"Hunter he's a monster, you know he's killed dozens of people" Oh that was it. She had only heard the stories about Alex as 'The Demon of New York'.

"Mom, he's really not all that bad. Yeah he's made some mistakes but he says he's trying, and I believe him." She leaned forward placing her hand on his and looked into his eyes.

"Hunter do you really believe that?" Hunter looked back into her eyes.

"Absolutely." He honestly did. Hunter didn't know what Alex had done in the past and he didn't care. Alex was trying and that was enough in Hunters eyes.

"Okay, if you trust him then I can give him a chance" Hunter smiled at this asking.

"That's enough about me, how are things at home." She tried to keep herself from crying as she said.

"I'm lonely Hunter, I miss you" Hunter frowned at this, oh how he wished he could come home. "My students have been treating me very nicely." He smiled at this, she teaches second year Spanish in high school. He didn't have her as a teacher however, choosing to learn Japanese. After all he didn't need to take her class, she had taught Spanish to him as he was also learning english.

"How's dad?" She looked sad at this saying.

"He went back to the base, I think he's trying to keep his mind off things." Hunters father had never dealt with loss very well, when their dog had to be put down he had left for almost a month and came back looking like he had fought an entire bar. As Hunter was about to ask another question the warden herself came into the room. It seemed their time was up.

"Ma'm your time is up plea-" Hunters mom turned around marched right up to Makina and in her native language of Spanish all but shouted at the warden.

"tratar de entrar entre mí y mi bebé de nuevo y voy a estar atrapado aquí con él!" Hunters eyes widened as she threatened Makina. He still remembered what had happened to Yo just a few weeks ago. To his surprise however Makina didn't make any move she just calmly said.

"mis disculpas, tómese su tiempo" Hunter didn't know why but Makina had actually relented. His mom turned back to him and placed her lips on his forehead giving him one last kiss before being escorted out of the room. A chill then went down Hunters spine as he realized he was all alone with Makina who was now watching him with predatory eyes. "Your mother seems to care a great deal about you seven-three-one-five." Hunter didn't understand where she was going with this but he still nodded. It was true he was her world. "For her sake try and stay alive." Hunter was surprised at the fact that he hadn't been threatened or hurt by the woman as she walked out. H smiled to himself, he had needed to see her. Even if he didn't know just how badly.

Alex walked into the room to see that Rokuro was asleep. He walked over, placed the bag he was carrying down, and kicked his fellow ex-Undertaker over waking him up with a jolt. He looked around panicking for a moment before finding Alex in what little light there was.

"Oh, its just you. Are we going to have a repeat of yesterday?" The bruised and bloodied young man seemed honest to god bored.

"No, it'd get pretty boring if we just did the same routine every." He chuckled out looking through his bag for the tool he needed to start things off after finding what he was looking for Alex hid the tool in his jacket sleeve and walked over to Rokuro pulling him up so that he was sitting up rather than laying on his side. He then wrapped his hand around Rokuro's throat and began to choke his captive. Rokuro was able to keep a defiant face on for almost a full minute before panic spread across his features, then he opened his mouth desperately trying to get air into his lounges. As he sat there thrashing his head and doing his best to inhale Alex moved his hand in front of Rokuro's mouth and a cold metallic object grabbed one of his molars. Rokuro was then given a second to catch his breath, after all he was going need it. Alex slowly started twisting the players as Rokuro started gasping out in pain before starting to outright scream as the tooth shattered into three pieces from the force of Alex's grip. The jagged tooth pieces pushed and cut apart Rokuro's gumbs. Alex then pulled back as hard and fast as he could pulling the shards of tooth out with a wet ripping sound. Rokuro breathed heavily as Alex threw the pliers to the ground and grabbed Rokuro by the chin and forced the bound man to look up at him. "Now then, ready to spill the beans or will I have to start getting creative?" Rokuro looked up before spitting blood into Alex's face. Alex blinked at this in surprise before calmly wiping the blood out of his eyes and turning back to his bag. "You know, if I didn't know any better i'd say you were getting off to this." He then pulled out a pair of wire cutters and a blow torch which he turned on before looking over his shoulder with a smirk. "Don't get me wrong, I do too but this is a bit extreme don't you think?"