Chains That Bind Us

I

I've been in this ward for two weeks now, I know I should've eaten before I left, but I didn't have enough time. When Doves are after you, you tend to not want to go outside, let alone feed. I heard my stomach growl and cursed at myself. This Ward was too full of weirdos in black trying to meet this random guy. I knew they were ghouls from their scent so I knew they weren't doves, but that still didn't mean I could trust them.

I decided to get ready to head out for the night. Dressing in my only dark coat, my only coat to begin with, and left. Climbing the fire escape, I used the rooftops to find my prey. It took quite a long time to find anyone, and even then they were never somewhere that was dark and secluded. Maybe the people of this Ward were just too cautious.

Finally there was a stray sheep who decided a smoke in an ally was a good idea. Quick and easy, I'll just jump on top of him and break his neck, won't even need my kagune. I stepped onto the ledge of the building and fell, as I planned. But, I didn't plan for the man to look up at me.

And I didn't plan for him to have a silver briefcase.

Oh shit

I couldn't dodge as he swept his briefcase in an arc, throwing me into a wall. I heard the dark haired man click a button on his case and a glowing orange bikaku quinque. Shit. He swung the whip like weapon and I jumped out of the way.

I said, "I've killed Doves before, and now you know my face, I can't let you live, not like I'd let you live in the first place." I felt the skin on my back tear and my kagune protrude. Mine was an ukaku therefore vulnerable to the bikaku attacks.

The man laughed, "I-"

Not even one of his words left his mouth before I shot my kagune at him. I stuck his heart. He was down in a matter of seconds.

I was never scared that I'd loose to him, only scared that the others would come looking for me once he was dead.

I straightened up and walked towards the new corpse. I pulled one of his arms off with a satisfying pop and was about to take a bite, when I sensed someone behind me. From the smell, it was two ghouls. Slowly I turned around.

It was the red head from earlier and she was accompanied by a guy. "See, U-chan," she said, "you were right, he's very strong." She turned her head to me, her playful smile widening, "Too strong. He's a threat to you, killing in our territory."

The guy, apparently called U-chan, had long, bleached blonde hair pulled back with a headband. He had dark sunglasses and kept his hands in the pocket of his black hammer pants. Slowly, he raised a hand and pulled off his glasses to reveal his activated kakugan.

"You're right."

The man leapt towards me and kicked me in the jaw. I fell to the ground but was quickly back on my feet, shooting at him with my kagune. Every shot, he dodged. He flipped and turned and finally ended up centimeters away from me. Agonizing pain spread across my torso and I looked down to see the man had one of his hands inside my stomach.

Coughing up blood, I used my kagune to slash down, cutting off the arm. The man looked at me and tilted his head as if in confusion. "I really liked this shirt."

I pulled the arm out of my stomach and threw it to the side. I swung my fist at him, he dodged to the side, right where I wanted him to. Quickly I swiped my leg around him and he fell to the ground. He flipped back on and, using his only arm, he reached for my wrist to pin me. I saw through the move and instead stabbed through him with my kagune. I heard a crack in my wrist and saw he was squeezing it until the bone shattered.

"U-chan!" The red head yelled. "We should head back for now."

"Itori, I want to hear him scream." He put more pressure onto my hand and in retaliation, I stabbed deeper into his chest.

"I'm not going to." He pressed harder and I stabbed further. The pain in my wrist and stomach was excruciating, but if never give this jackass the satisfaction.

"I want to hear it as much as you do," Itori said, "but let's do it another time."

I felt the pressure in my wrist vanish and I fell to my knees. "Fine," the man said as he licked my blood off one of his fingers, "but next time I won't stop."

I glared at the back of his head as he started walking off. Standing up, I yelled at him. "What's your name?"

He paused an looked over his shoulder. I continued, "Your name couldn't be 'U-chan'."

The man was silent for a couple seconds.

"The names Uta, I rule the underworld in this Ward, and I don't like it when rats sneak in and eat my food. Especially when I can't exterminate them."