Heat Lighting [Scaramouche | Reader]

14 - playing with the dog

I hate you, ah!

Everyone is better than me, I think

Everyone is better than, better than me

Everyone is better than, better than me

-Better Than Me—The Brobecks-1:18

—

The soft breaths of the woman that laid on top of him were null to stop the overflow of emotion that stemmed in his eyes. Silent tears escaped, crystalline and clear, and reflected the light that still thrummed from his chest throughout the room. He still avoided the sight of [name] even with her hair tickling his nose and her body pressing him into the floor. Every time he looked at the recognizable features of the person he made so many irreversible mistakes with, he felt his chest tighten with guilt and another emotion he couldn't discern.

The mark on his chest wrapped around his chest and shoulders, extending from the space between his collarbones all the way to his shoulder-blades. He didn't understand what was going on. Why did the tracking mark fail into a Fingerprint? Inevitably it still tracked his person of interest, but it also caused him to act strangely. The Shogun couldn't explain this to him and her familiar wouldn't do any better while dealing with the mess her master created. The only way to figure out Fingerprint would be through [name]. And the worst part is that she was too good for him.

Too good for him, a liar, a thief, a selfish person who couldn't figure out his own life if he tried.

She slept atop him now. When his eyes cascaded over her slumbering form, a soft glow emitted from her chest in such a comforting light that there was no question of how much he cared for the woman. His hand brushed over her head, but not a glance was spared in her direction .

"I need to fix this."

—

The light of the shrine was glowing warmly from the fire of the lanterns as a man made his way up the stairs that started at the bottom of the mountain. The fabric that hung from his hat swayed in the breeze that accompanied the cold night. Silky smooth presence oozed from him when he glided over the wooden platforms and into the shrine. Shrine maidens shrunk away from him and patrons avoided him, but he didn't care.

He silently slunk onto the porch to the right of the sacred tree that tried to pull him in at first sight. When he walked through the wooden path that wrapped around the building he found a woman smoking her pipe while leaning against the railing. Her gaze was pointed toward the sea rolling in the distance.

"How appropriate of a Priestess to smoke," He chided to start a conversation.

"How bold of you to appear in front of me again," The woman blew the smoke out of her mouth.

Grey color swirled translucent into the blue sky and twinkled among the stars. The lies that fell unspoken between the two individuals flowed in an electric state through their words. The woman turned around and set her pipe in her left hand, away from the man, as she leant on the railing. A sigh escaped her lips, the sound loud and heavy in the silence of Narukami's night.

"How is she?" The woman asked.

The man crossed his arms, "Fine."

"Is she really fine," She started, "or are you here to find a way to make her better?"

A 'tch' came from the man's mouth, "I always hated when you were right."

"So did Ei."

A wistful smile spread across the lady's face and the frown on her companion's only got deeper.