The Serpent Inside (A Karmagisa Fanfiction)

8: Realization

3rd POV

Karma and Nakamura watched Kayano and Nagisa from the bushes.

"Nagi!? Who does she think she is!" Karma gritted his teeth together.

"What does that damn Kayano-chan think she is doing with my Nagi!?" Karma hissed in his mind before freezing, realizing what he just thought.

"Wait... MY Nagi? Since when is Nagisa-kun mine?! And since when is he 'Nagi?!'"

Nakamura chuckled silently as she slipped away from the sadist, her work there was done after all. Looks like Karma was even more love struck than she had thought.

A few rage-filled moments later, Karma realized Nakamura had abandoned him, and he decided to leave as well. The walk back to his manor wasn't that long, he didn't need to take the train. Standing up, Karma snuck out of the park before walking home and going inside.

Groaning, Karma flopped down on his bed, his thoughts all over the place.

"What the hell... why am I getting so fussy over Kayano-chan giving Nagisa-kun a nickname? They're best friends after all, they don't even use honorifics... I wish I didn't have to use honorifics... thinking back, we were on and off back in first year... why did I let that go!?" Karma roared in his mind.

Karma let out a sigh and flipped over, deciding to take a nap. He could figure all this out later.

Time Skip

At school the next day, Karma walked in a much earlier than usual, to find the room completely empty except for a single black bag sitting on Nagisa's desk.

"Nagisa's here already?" Karma murmured under his breath as he threw his bag down and went out back. Karma took in a deep breath of the crisp mountain air, looking at the nearby forest. He was just skimming the trees when a speck of blue caught his eye. Looking closer, that speck of blue was a pigtail, and a blue pigtail could only mean one thing: Shiota Nagisa.

Karma smiled a little, looking at the bluenette, just to notice he had begun to fall. Karma sprinted towards the tree, just managing to catch Nagisa in his arms.

"How are you still asleep Nagisa-kun?" Karma whispered, looking down at the teen in his arms. A feeling of protectiveness filled Karma to the core. A longing to keep the boy in his arms safe from harm, safe from everyone else. Karma wanted Nagisa to be his, and no one else's.

Karma smile faltered as he recognized the makeup covering part of Nagisa's face and neck. He'd seen that before, it was some kind of skin-colored covering stuff. He'd seen Nagisa use it to hide bruises before, did that mean his whole face and neck was covered in bruises!? Using his hand, Karma wiped a bit of it away to see greenish-blue scales.

"What the...?" Karma muttered.

Nagisa yawned, and Karma noticed the boy had fangs. Karma almost screeched, but held it in so to not startle Nagisa, who was just waking up.

"Ngh... Karma-kun?" Nagisa muttered.

"Oh, uh, here." Karma set Nagisa down.

"Thanks... why were you holding me?" A semi-conscious Nagisa asked.

"You fell out of a tree." Karma giggled.

"Oh." Nagisa yawned again, rubbing his eyes. A breeze blew past, and Nagisa's eyes shot open, feeling the wind on his sensitive scales, a hand shooting to cover them from view.

"Oh, right, care to explain the scales and fangs Nagisa-kun!?" Karma demanded.

"U-Uh..." Nagisa murmured.

"Don't tell me it was your mother." Karma snapped. Nagisa shook his head.

"No! It was... my father." Nagisa admitted. Karma laughed.

"Real funny Nagisa-kun... ha ha ha."

"I'm not kidding! He injected me with some serum and look at me! I'm a freak..." Nagisa started crying.

"Nagisa, you aren't a freak. I promise you." Karma said, pulling Nagisa into a close hug.

"I've got scales and fangs!"

"And I'm a sadist who beats people up for fun! I'm not a freak, so neither are you!"

"It's not the same!"

"Look, I don't care what other people say, but in my eyes, you aren't a freak!"

"How can you say that?!"

"Because I love you Nagisa!"