[Hey guys, SOOOO sorry for the update time- how long's it been, a year or something? I kinda let the story slip for a while, but no worries- for the time being, I'm back in business ;3 Hope you like- think it's about time we had these two meet!]
Suou flinched as she woke this time, panting lightly, and wiped the sweat off her brow.
This time had been different. This time, that face had been much more vivid…the darkness of that gaze…the way the navy irises clashed with bright red pupils, that looked like embers dropped in the ocean…she'd never seen this face before, she was sure of it. Not as far as she knew, anyway…
"SUOU!" her mother shouted.
"Coming!" she yelped, pulling on a tank top absentmindedly.
"That's what you said twenty minutes ago!" the shrill voice countered. Suou flushed red with embarrassment- she'd fallen back asleep? Well, it was very common for her, so she couldn't say she was surprised, but all the same, she normally could faintly recall rolling back over…
I've never seen him before…but…ugh! Screw it, Suou decided. If he's important, I'd know who he was…
Suou presented Wirsch-sensei with a late note after pleading continuously with her mother to sign it. She had been doing homework the night before, and it was raining when she'd fallen back asleep, so it was excusable; the teacher took the note without looking at it, shrugged with a half smirk and motioned to her seat.
The window was far more interesting than that day's history lesson- World War II was "fascinating and all," but she couldn't find the vigor or interest to focus on the monotonous voice of her professor. She noted that the eggs in the nest outside had not yet hatched despite summer's rapid approach, and wondered to herself whether or not they would…mmh, something would come and eat them…nice day, the rain had vanished from before…
That man, the one with the black hair and the dark blue eyes- he had shoveled the last bit of dirt atop a painstakingly dug but nonetheless crude grave. A large city was in the background- Suou couldn't tell which one it was, it looked completely different from any she'd ever seen before- but she knew he was in the outskirts of wherever it was.
"Yin…" He dropped a couple silver hairs on the top, keeping a firm grasp on only one for himself. "I couldn't move fast enough…I was rash…I only wish I was the one who paid the price for it…"
He rose tenderly, but fell into a rougher stature, an indifferent, calm and cold businesslike posture. This man didn't mess around. She noticed his hands, and suddenly felt her cheek sear- she couldn't put a finger on why, exactly. It was like they had made contact before, once…it was burning hot…
His eyes flickered up, but after a second, he glanced back and became fixated on her, eyes widening. He took a step towards where she stood, filled with uncertainty.
"Suou?"
Her cheek was burning, burning hot-
"Suou, wake up!" Wirsch-sensei shouted as the classroom snickered, some condescendingly, others affectionately. "Geez, you're a heavy sleeper…"
"Sorry!" She touched her cheek, where it had been pressed against the sundrenched desk…it was flushed.
"Get started on your homework earlier," he grumbled. "Then maybe you'll have enough energy to stay awake during class. Not like you don't have it every other hour of the day."
Suou scribbled notes dutifully for the rest of class, but in the back of her mind, that voice was echoing like a shout in a cave…no one had said her name like that, not even her parents. It was like he knew her…
"Was that really-" Hei stopped himself. He started to open his mouth, but decided no sense was to be made of this.
He'd only just buried Yin, only just put to rest the woman he loved more than life itself, perhaps the truest friend he'd ever known...Mao put aside, she was his right hand, his motivation, and now...gone?
He stood up gruffly, unsure what exactly to make of himself. What was he going to do now, go back to killing Contractors? Not that he'd ever stopped...he had nothing left, though. He'd chased all the loose ends, fried anyone who got in his way...everything had been so good, and it was gone all at once. One mistake, one wrong step. That's all it had taken.
He glanced around to make sure there was no one waiting to rob the grave. Nope, nothing much- well, maybe a stray Specter...Specter? He looked back at the being of mist and wind, hoping with all his heart that it might be Yin's shape, that somehow it had survived...
But it wasn't. It didn't have the shape of a fully developed Specter, nothing like Yin's, although it did have a form...something hauntingly familiar seemed to make up this being's essence. He felt chills go up his spine as he recognized a single braid dangling from the head, shoulders just broad enough to hold a rifle...he hoped with everything he had that he wasn't mistaken now, that there wasn't another hope about to be swiped away from him...
"Suou?" he dared utter, just as his hand seared hot. It was only a moment, as the Specter- well, it was odd. It didn't flit away through a powerline or sink into water- it just...vanished.
"Couldn't have been," Hei muttered. But at the same time, he was thinking, Must have been. He didn't know how, why, or anything else, but the gut, the instinct he had- the thing that made him human, not just Contractor- was screaming it.
