Chapter 5: Tavern x And x Debt
It was a lazy evening in a lazy tavern. The last streaks of sunlight had just died down on her glass of apple soda as she sat by the window. Her eyes remained glued to the outside in anxiety.
The day before, Hanako had somehow managed to escape her tricky ordeal. She knew she should have left the town-- hell, the country-- after that. Yet, she could not bear the disappointment.
"Want another glass, miss?" The friendly waiter called out from behind a mountain of plates.
"No, it's okay." She waved him away. The five glasses she had downed in the past hour had her feeling quesy. She could not imagine how Hisoka could keep entire bottles of vodka down without showing the least bit of tipsiness. And there she was, drinking soda.
She walked over to behind the counter, asking the closest waiter to prepare the bill on her way. Sighing contently when she noticed the ladies washroom was unoccupied, she entered through the long empty hallway.
A minute later, she was washing her hands. She had to admit, the tavern had one of the most well-kept washrooms she had ever been to. It even had an entire A/C unit installed. In the... washroom. She had no idea how the ventilation worked but no wonder the stuff here was so expensive. There was even a shower inside. Could she even call it a tavern anymore?
She opened the door into the hallway, debating the logistics of it in her head. Sure, the establishment is named Tricky Tavern (for no specific reason really, as far as her knowledge went) but is that enough to warrant its identity? What kind of requirements does an establishment need to follow to be classified as a tavern. Did it even matter whether the place was a tavern or not? Good food is more important anyway-
"Don't move." The command was issued in a low raspy voice, accompanied by a prick at the back of her neck. She instantly recognised the aura and mannerism.
"Feitan." She hissed before she could stop herself.
The hallway was deserted, being long and angled enough to not allow a clear view from the outside. She cursed her luck, though she doubted he would have restrained himself in a crowd. Still, it would have provided her with some cover, rather than leaving her cornered in a narrow space.
"So you know who I am." He pressed the tip of the sword in further. "How?"
A drip of blood rolled down her neck. She could sense the misery of death in his bloodlust. She could sense her own death swirling around in the palm of his hands.
"I learned about you from an... acquaintance."
"Name."
"Don't know- but from what I could tell after talking to him, he has some sort of vendetta against you. Apparently, he or someone he knows-- couldn't discern which-- hired you for a hit and you turned against them."
"Hmm..." Feitan took a moment to absorb the information. "You don't work for Saibara?"
"No. I don't work for anyone."
"Then why tail me? You have personal vendetta against me too?"
"No, I-" And then it hit her-- the stench of blood. A moment later, a cacophony of screams rang out from the dining hall.
"What did you do-" She turned around to face him, except his expressions gave him away as ignorant.
"What do you know about the creature I fought on the bridge yesterday?"
"You think-" it had returned. "-about as much as you do. Maybe less."
"Useless bitch."
She sensed the image before it came true-- him plunging the sword deep into her neck, blood splurting out onto the walls.
Hanako blinked. His bloodlust had told her he'd be doing exactly that a moment ago. Yet, there she was, still alive.
"Why did you-" Hanako began.
"You didn't tell me why you were following me-"
"I don't think that should be top of your priority list right now." The twisted yellow creature from before was standing at the end of the hallway, its powdery body stained with blood. The screams from the hall had died down by now-- quite literally.
Feitan's aura spiked as it approached. After a moment of hesitation, he withdrew the sword and held it against the creature in a fighting stance.
"Will deal with you later." He warned, before racing forward.
Hanako struggled not to blink as she watched his blur of successive motion slice apart the monster. She could follow his movements with her eyes, but just barely. They were clean, elegant, and occurred when she'd least expect them. Mid-air, he would let out a burst of aura and twist his body in order to turn back. And it all appeared to be second nature to him.
When he finally stopped his barrage of attacks, the tavern was left dead silent. The strange yellow powder lay scattered on the floor and some even stuck to the walls, slowly sliding down.
Before either of then could recover, Hanako decided to launch her own attack. Gathering her aura, she took a step forward.
Feitan glanced back at her and she froze. "I did not forget about you." His brows crinkled into a frown as he approached her, slowly and calmly.
Hanako's heart was beating rabbit-fast. Not because of the impending doom of Feitan's bloodlust, rather her sight was locked onto the creature's remains-- as the powder soundlessly meshed together once more. How could he not notice. It was right behind him. Its Zetsu was just that good?
She watched in horror as it formed a huge mouth-like cavity, looming over Feitan.
He finally noticed her distraction. "What are you-"
In one quick swoop, the creature swallowed him whole. Just like that.
It appeared to struggle with him for a while, lurching around-- until it abruptly stopped. And then, it's next target was her.
Feitan. The creature had managed to defeat one of the most powerful members of the phantom troupe (to the best of her knowledge, at least). It had been sliced and diced into countless pieces in a staggeringly short amount of time but had gotten back together even quicker. What chance did she have?
Her aura pulsed with excitement, itching for a good fight-- a byproduct of spending too much time with Hisoka. There was no way she could defeat it but-
Sure, the creature had been cut up a lot but had it ever been blown up?
A tight smile came over her face. It couldn't hurt to try. She waited for it to begin its mad dash towards her. It looked like a giant yellow face, its powdery features sloshing around with its sloppy movements. Despite its apparent clumsiness, she had to admit that it was fast.
She carefully waited until the last minute to jump as high as she could, narrowly dodging its attack. Then, twisting in mid-air, she gathered as much aura as she could in the palm of her right hand and aimed down.
"Wha-" She passed straight through the creature, unable to come into contact withe even a grain of it. When she looked around, she realised it had split into two. While attempting to reduce the damage of her fall, she lost her balance.
Without missing a beat, the two halves of the creatures slammed back together-- into her. As her body was being crushed in its tight embrace, she wondered what Hisoka would think of her if he'd see her now. He'd find her pathetic, stupid, reckless, weak. She had always tried so hard, yet...
Dark spots clouded her vision as her breath was slowly forced out of her. No, wait- those were not-
A hard kick met her rib and she was launched out of the death trap. She landed with a painful cough on the ground, back where she had started. Her head pounded but her heart was singing with hope. Feitan was still alive.
She pushed herself to her knees, and then back up to her feet.
Feitan was standing next to her, panting and coughing out bits of the powder. The creature's body once more was spread all over the place, torn apart by the man's skillfully sharpened blade.
"It won't-" He forced out in between deep breaths. "-come back together for a few seconds more."
Her brain was bursting with questions. "Did you let yourself be eaten on purpose? How did you survive in there witn that pressure." And the most important of them all. "Why did you save me?"
"No time." He warned her. "Figure out a way to kill it."
Hanako slowed down her thoughts, zeroing in on her target. It couldn't be cut. It couldn't be blown away since it could just fall apart and then come back together. Its weakness was- was... Its biggest strength was its mouldable body. If they could somehow use that against it or...
She glanced at the man and saw a reflection of his own mental calculations on his tense face.
"We could trap it in a space?" She suggested.
"It's stronger than it looks. It will eventually break out and hunt us down." He scowled as the pieces began moving back together. "It requires a permanent solution. A way to kill it."
She thought back to the first time she had seen the creature. It had appeared seemingly out of nowhere-- either the trenchcoat man had transformed into it or it had been hiding under the bridge all along. How had they managed to escape it the last time? When they had fallen into the river, why had it not... followed?
"That's it." Adrenaline pumped through her veins, the exhilarating feeling of a sure victory brightening her features.
"What?" He narrowed his eyes down at her.
"The only thing left to do- is- is run!" She grabbed his sleeve, forcing him to turn around. "Let's go."
"Are you stupid? A permanent solution-" But as the creature finally recovered and prepared for its next attack, they had no choice left but to run. Feitan wrenched the sleeve out of her grasp with a curse but followed her nevertheless.
Hanako led them into the ladies washroom, controlling her running pace to match with the timing of her future attack.
"In here." She pulled a reluctant Feitan into the bathtub with her, drawing back the curtain. The close proximity with his bloodlust made her cringe but she managed to balance it out enough to keep her sanity.
"Why the fuck-"
The creature crashed through the doorway, the door and adjoining wall blasting away in the opposite direction from them. She saw its shadow getting bigger and bigger as it slowly moved towards them. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. And then, the creature launched itself towards them.
For a split second in the panic, Hanako lost all hope in herself.
Feitan grabbed her arm as he braced to dodge the attack and a rush of blood reached her head from his bloodlust. Idiot. Her hand brushed the smooth metal of the tap and she willed every fibre of her being to hold on to it and twist.
Just as they jumped out of the way, the creature slammed into the bathtub, with enough force to wrench the curtain rod out of its socket. A shower of cold water greeted it in the tub, as it lay tangled in the torn curtain. It thrashed around, only succeeding in worsening its fate.
A minute in and it calmed down, now turned into a solid brown goo. Feitan took a step forward to peer into the tub, brows raised.
Hanako took that moment to disappear.