Battle Boy (Toriko fanfic) (boyxboy)

Chapter 9

I've begun to watch for him.

Not consciously, at first. Only when I began to question my own interest in wandering yet not quite looking for much did I decipher that goal. Not looking to look, but waiting.

Toriko has come by since then. I wasn't home, and there was nothing left behind as a message of why, only his scent around the base of the tree. I didn't send a Robin to ask. If possible, the fewer hunting trips I participate in the better. I'm not a hunter at heart.

Not for food, at least.

The food given to me still remains. I couldn't eat it, but I couldn't dispose of it either. So it's been sealed into a long-term box that preserves freshness- something I can't recall the name of and don't really care to either. At least it's portable.

Just in case.

Today, I find him again.

Kind of.

In truth, it's more the other way around.

He appears one day just as I'm keen to turn around my long route to head back home for a day or so, and from all directions possible, he comes up from behind. Following my own path, as if it had been made for his own ease of passage.

Maybe, in a subconscious way, it had been. I've been pacing the same trails for a few weeks now. It is inevitable they would begin to show signs of passage there. He does not seem surprised to find me, but I'm certainly not of the same mind. A large blind spot such as behind oneself is guarded very tightly, yet for him to come up so easily...

Is that really possible for me not to notice him at all?

Something must show on my face when I turn around, because he seems entirely too amused for a human chef just out and about on a waltz through a forest. I blink, and then fold my arms over my chest. A twisted inhuman form again today, but I don't feel an agitation to match it like before. Just the same numb apathy as usual hours.

"Isn't it a bit late for lunch, Ash Chef?"

It's definitely past lunch. The sun is already dipping low, bathing the forest is hues of russet and gold. He's still here though, and given this is closer to the edge of what could be claimed as belonging to me... It's possible I simply missed him.

"Must it only be for lunch that I pass through your territory, Beasty? There are more meals in a day."

Oh, good. I didn't miss him, then. He simply wasn't there yet... until he was. Behind me, even.

Not even bothered by my appearance, or the rasping two-toned voice that's replaced my own.

"Impressive you get anywhere at all, if you spend each meal so languidly. Humans do not move so quickly around as forest creatures."

He pauses, looking a little... perplexed. He reaches a hand up to scratch the side of his head in an idle movement, before speaking.

"Would you like to join me for dinner, Beasty?"

That doesn't answer that question at all!

I'm of half a mind to say no, since he clearly avoided that one. Still... I've been watching for him as it is, and now he's here. A brief moment of company amidst the emptiness. I frown. Well, I attempt to out of habit, but a canine face doesn't frown. Instead, my teeth are bared slightly. Not the intended effect.

Yet he just looks amused again, as he waits for my response. I blink again.

I'm not sure I have an answer to that for the moment. No good way of agreeing without seemingly overly interested or on the edge of hostile. My expression evens back out as I think, and once it does, he speaks again.