Identity Disorder {A Juuzou Suzuya Story}

Chapter 6

Arima struggled to keep his eyes opened as they tiredly stumbled upon the familiar words on the page. A hand held his head by the jaw as it was supported by an arm resting on his desk. His bright eyes ached under the slightly dim lighting of his lamp and behind his glasses.

He tried to focus on the words, though they were already well known in his mind and brought nostalgia. He almost found it hard to believe that only a few years ago, he was reading it for the first time. Found it hard to believe that the girl who once stayed in his home was not there anymore. He looked up at the sofa across his office and felt his eyes warm as he remembered the small girl camping out on it. She threw a tantrum over the fact he was barely coming home anymore and takeout was getting boring and tasteless... Back when she showed emotions because she wasn't able to when she was taken.

When she grew upset, she would show it. When she was happy.... Maybe not as well...

He chuckled.

He remembered her stomping her way inside with a blanket and sitting on his couch with a book stolen from his shelves in hand. And she would watch him work and read until he finally agreed it was time to go home. Most of the time, she would have already dozed on the sofa and so he would carry her back to his car and go home just to carry her inside.

It felt so hard to believe how much she has grown under the man's care. He chuckled.

Well she has not really grown much in height...

His sleepy chuckles began to turn to soft snores as he began to slip unconscious. Memories of the small girl flying around his head as he dreamed.

Buzz..... Buzz...

He groaned, exhaustion in his bones as he reached across the table blindly for his phone. He sighed in relief when he grabbed the phone in hand before holding it to his ear.

Only one person would dare call him this late.

"Did you fall asleep at work again?" The girl's drawling teasing voice asked and chuckled when she got a silent answer because she knew she was right.

"Well, I'll make this quick so that you can go back to your wife." She laughed at her own joke causing the man to roll his eyes.

"Hahaha..." He laughed fakely in a monotone that made the girl laugh harder.

"Well, I have forgotten my keys somewhere and I have no clue where, so I'm locked out. And... Um... I'm being..." She lowered her tone and the man rubbed his face once more. "I'm being followed." She whispered and it was enough to wake up the man as he stood from his desk.

"You did not go home right?" He questioned, slipping on his long white jacket before opening his office door.

"No, I'm actually closer to yours but I remembered you didn't have a life." She joked as if she wasn't scared.

"Tell me where you are, if it goes bad before I get there, handle as much as you can."

"Okay... I'm near a... Candy store?... Oh! The one you took me to when I was twelve." He nodded as he slipped into his vehicle and started it. He was suprised she remembered such a mindless thing as it happened about seven years ago.

"They're getting closer." She whispered as she rounded a corner, only to curse when she reached a dead end. She gasped when a quick hot numb burning sting was delivered across her arm and it made her drop her phone. She turned, trying to keep her pulse steady and her panic at a minimum.

"Yeah, it's her alright." One of them grinned and she eyed the tail that stood behind him. It had thorns that decorated it and the site caused her to look at her arm that still felt warm as the blood ran down it.